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We all agree this is a fast changing world. "At times of change, the learners are the ones that will inherit the world, while the knowers will be beautifully prepared for a world which no longer exists." — Alistair Smith Darwinian Remember "Darwinian"? From Merriam-Webster Online: 1. of or relating to Charles Darwin, his theories... Read More ›

I was introduced to a fascinating phenomenon in 2002. Someone had pinned a note on the staff notice-board. My first thought on reading it was taht the tpysit had faleid to use the slelpckehcer. But the wolhe dumconet was wtirten lkie tihs.It went on to explain that most people could read and make sense of writing, despite jemubld ltertes in wrdos. As long as the frsit and lsat letter of each word did not sfiht their position, trehe was litlte preblom.Text of this sort was not new to me. I was familiar with the writing of dyslexic students who were adept at constructing words, phrases and sentences like those shown here.Jumbled-letter word messages caused a swell of activity in emails and on blogs at that time. Recognition was facile for jumbled-words that were correctly positioned in text. More so than the cognitive gymnastics needed to make sense of text where the positions of correctly spelt words were jumbled in the same sentence.The phrase, ‘too sense to muddled any make’, may demonstrate this.ResearchSpeculation arose as to why most readers found it easy to make sense of jumbled-word texts. There then followed a flurry of research as academics looked into the psychology of the phenomenon. The term ‘jumbled-word effect’ was introduced.One of the initial proposals was that the first and last letters were important to the recognition of words. Soon it was revealed that the first and last letters were not especially the ones used when recognising and reading jumbled-words in text. Further to this, particular words with their interior letters muddled in special ways were identified as being difficult to decipher.When carefully disarranged words are chosen it is possible to construct sentences that are arduous to understand, as in the example:A dootcr aimttded magltheuansr of a tageene ceacnr pintaet who deid aetfr a hatospil durg blendur.More recent postings on blogs have perpetuated the ongoing debate about the phenomenon.Other languagesInterest in the psychology of reading was stimulated by these curious observations, so much so that programs were created to jumble the interiors of words in texts, expressly for the purpose of creating material for use in further research. As well, investigations were conducted on possible occurrences of the phenomenon in other written languages.Some findings are posted by Matt David of the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit. It seems that vowels, and their juxtaposition to consonants within the jumble, have some bearing on the readability of words. Compared to other languages, significantly fewer vowels than consonants are involved in the makeup of words in the Hebrew language.Apparently Hebrew writing is rendered quite unreadable when the interior letters of its words are scrambled. This suggests that the presence of vowels and their position in the jumble of letters may indeed have some role in affecting ease of recognition of jumbled-words.Ordered letter pairsAt the University of Maryland, Jonathan Grainger and Carol Whitney drew on the work of earlier researchers. They proposed that recognition of jumbled-words was sustained by what they referred to as ‘ordered letter pairs’ or ‘open bigrams’. The mind seems to latch on to particular letter combinations when recognising a jumbled-word.A less academic perspective by The Escapist claims that the context of a word in text is more likely to assist its recognition than does the arrangement of the letters that make it up.This is a plausible idea if the sentence or phrase, rather than the single word, is considered as the unit of meaning. How often has a typo, where letters of a word are accidentally jumbled, escaped the eye of even the most scrupulous proof reader, by virtue of the meaning of the misspelt word being subsumed in the rest of the text?Perhaps the mind uses a range of indicators in attempting to interpret meaning from jumbled-words in texts.Who kwons?

Corporate Responsibility Network FIBS, the leading non-profit corporate responsibility network in Finland that promotes financially, socially and ecologically sustainable business in Finland, has picked CBTec Oy, creator of Eliademy, as one of the most sustainable business and potential solutions to change … Continue reading →

Visit the first PowerPoint awards festival, where you'll find everything you need to create blockbuster presentations.  Take a look around, watch the videos and learn the tips and tricks. Then enter your best presentation for a chance to win a 2010 Microsoft Office Suite, a new Xbox 360 with Kinect, or a trip to the next TEDActive conference in Palm Springs, CA.Check it out:  http://www.microsoft.com/office/powerpoint-slidefest/do-and-dont.aspx

May’s blogger has been a steadfast friend and contributor to ASTD. Allison Rossett is knowledgeable about needs analysis, technology-based learning, persistence and engagement in a world with increasing amounts of technology-based independent learning. Her official bio reads something like this: Dr. Allison Rossett, long-time Professor of Educational Technology at San Diego State University, is a consultant in learning and technology-based performance. A member of Training magazine’s HRD Hall of Fame, Allison serves on the Board for the Elearning Guild and Chief Learning Officer magazine. She was honored when ISPI selected her as a Member-for-Life and more recently when they bestowed the wonderful Thomas Gilbert Award on her. Allison served on the ASTD International Board and more recently received ASTD’s recognition for lifelong contributions to workplace learning and performance. Allison is the author or co-author of six books, several of them award-winners.Recently, ASTD designated Allison a LEGEND, and she writes on her blog that she is still stunned by the label. Really? I’m stunned that it didn’t happen sooner because Allison absolutely knows a lot about a lot of complex issues. More important, people like to hear what she has to say. When I’ve needed help understanding something, finding resources for Learning Circuits, or bouncing around ideas, she’s one of the first people I email. Her responses are not only always insightful, they’re sharp and fun to read.So, with ASTD International Conference & Expo this month, Justin and I wanted to invite a guest blogger who could cover a variety of topics. I instantly thought of Allison. Enjoy!

When I first started writing blog posts, I became almost fanatically interested in what other bloggers had to say about writing.My enthusiasm for this hasn’t changed. But with the passing of a year, I’ve had time to reflect on the advice I’ve met and what it means to me.I’m a Science teacher. Right? Science teachers are expected to know things and be able to teach them to others. When it comes to writing, the dogma that is Science or perceived to be, simply doesn’t work, or so I’ve been told.Coming over authoritatively doesn’t necessarily hit the spot. It can give the impression that the writer is a know-it-all and turn the reader off.Asking the questionIn Virginia Yonkers’ recent post, Do You Hoard Knowledge?, she rightly identifies the wealth of ‘hoarded’ knowledge and opinion that people possess. She suggests that blogging is an avenue where this precious knowledge can be shared. But how does a blogger go about writing posts to pass on knowledge and opinion to others without emerging as a know-it-all? Michele Martin writes about avoiding the know-it-all image when encouraging participation:I've been running an informal experiment here for the past few months, trying to see which blog posts generate the most comments. Hands-down they are the posts where I ask a lot of questions and where I give incomplete answers on topics that interest me. I think this works for two reasons.First, no one is attracted to a know-it-all. Oh, we may want to bookmark their stuff, but that doesn't mean we want to talk to them.I also think it's because by asking questions and not having all the answers, we leave space for comments to happen. As a reader, it feels like there's more that could be said on the topic, so I'm more inclined to comment. Questions are the lifeblood of conversation. They need to be a regular part of posts.While I feel that there may be other factors that contribute to the popularity distribution of Michele’s posts, she has a point. Asking questions around and about the topic of a post is not what one expects from the know-it-all who wrote it. Instead of saying, "I’m a know-it-all," it says, "I’m not sure. I don’t know. Can you help?" What can be more engaging than that?How can a blogger tell what they know by asking questions? One way is by suggesting their current knowledge on a theme or topic, then seeking support for this in a question. But the vocabulary that writers use in stating what they think is also important to conveying to the reader that they are not know-it-alls.Getting the words rightIn matters of opinion, gambits like "I think that . . .", "I feel that . . . "or "I believe that . . . " are more likely to engage a reader than simply stating that it is so. Similarly, when it comes to inferences or conclusions, terms like ‘suggest’, ‘imply’ and ‘may be’ couch a willingness to admit that other deductions may be possible and valid. While many scientists don’t always practice this way of expression, they would be hard pushed these days to claim they were scientists by refuting the principle that alternatives are possible. Conveying this duality in what they write suggests to the reader that they’re admitting they don’t know it all.It also has the potential to imply that perhaps the reader may help with this if they know something the writer does not.Upholding the opinion of othersWhenever a writer feels strongly about a subject, it may be more persuasive to quote someone else who holds the same or similar opinion. The implication is that the view of the writer can be validated through the words and opinion of another. It may save the writer from coming over as a know-it-all.Giving the opinion of another as a suggested way of thinking also deflects the reader’s attention from an otherwise opinionated writer. Here, in a brief excerpt from A Short History of Nearly Everything,Bill Bryson puts this to use:Nearly everyone, including the authors of some popular books on oceanography, assumes that the human body could crumple under the immense pressures of the deep ocean. In fact, this appears not to be the case. Because we are made largely of water ourselves, and water is ‘virtually incompressible’, in the words of Francis Ashcroft of Oxford University, ‘the body remains at the same pressure as the surrounding water, and is not crushed at depth.’ It is the gasses inside your body, particularly in the lungs, that cause the trouble.Bryson deflects the decisiveness of his opening words, "Nearly everyone", by his careful use of the word ‘appears’ and cleverly adds persuasive confirmation by quoting a university authority. Indeed, a writer may not necessarily need to state his or her opinion when using this strategy - one that’s used by some of the best journalists.Writers can endorse their own opinion by quoting the opinion of others, providing appropriate references or links for follow-up by the reader.Why Science?The scientific method claims the practice of full disclosure. It suggests that it’s open for anyone to participate by attempting to repeat the observations or experiments made by whoever is doing the reporting. Through this undertaking, a scientist not only is fair to others but also acknowledges that there may be some possibility that what was found could be and should be challenged by others. Authoritative dogma that does not invite this overt process is well known to stymie opinion and has done for hundreds of years in some instances. The writer who fosters openness by adopting a voice that says ‘your opinion is respected - what do you think of mine?’ presents a win-win option to the reader and encourages engagement.Your opinion is your opinion, your perception is your perception - do not confuse them with "facts" or "truth". Wars have been fought and millions have been killed because of the inability of men to understand the idea that EVERYBODY has a different viewpoint.JOHN MOORE, Quotations for Martial ArtistsA Green Pen Society contribution( 3 ) << - related posts - >> ( 1 )

I'm really excited about the new Gmail feature - Gmail motion.  Now you can control Gmail with your body. Check it out at http://mail.google.com/mail/help/motion.html.

自从Eliademy六月推出简体中文版后，亚洲特别是中国成为了Eliademy在世界上访问量增长最快的地区之一。上星期，著名的CSDN对Eliademy CEO Sotiris Makrygiannis进行了在线专题采访，双方聊了关于Eliademy在亚洲地区的服务、B2B和B2C的策略、与区域内其他教育平台的合作关系等等重要话题。详情请阅读CSDN报道。再次感谢同学老师们的支持，我们会继续为为您提供最好的在线教育平台而努力。

At the ending of 2013, IBM revealed its predictions for five big innovations that will change our lives within five years. The number one on the list is "The classroom will learn you". Meyerson said that this year’s ideas are based on the fact that everything will learn. Machines will learn about us, reason, and... Read More ›

I recently experimented with various methods of getting aPPT course developed with Articulate Presenter to the iPAD.HTML Articulate player from eLearning Enhanced: Works great. Just wish they had a quiz component (it's in the works). http://elearningenhanced.com/products/html-articulate-playerFlash on iPAD from iSwifter- works ok.  It executes the Flash content in its own data center and then sends video down the pipe to the user’s iPAD, which has to be connected to a Wi-Fi connection.  http://iswifter.youwebinc.com/     PPT2Video from Wondershare - strip out all the Articulate elements and insert audio on the page.  Don’t try doing anything else while the program translates the file into video.  http://www.wondershare.com/pro/ppt-to-video.html     mLearning Studio from Rapid Intake - Can't wait for this to come out! Like the idea of create once - and let the program decide how to display.  http://www.rapidintake.com/products/mobile/mobile-learning-studio/

I discovered why I read blog posts this evening. I’d been sifting through several hundred posts that I’d managed to stack up on my RSS reader.I was aimlessly skimming, culling, skim-diving, reading, passing and bookmarking, when I found that the main reason I read posts is really nothing to do with networking, nothing about blog tagging and in no way connected with a desire to participate. In fact, for a nanosecond, I actually felt a teenzy-weenzy twinge of guilt that maybe, just maybe, I’d started lurking again - back to how I was when I wasn’t a blogger. Like I used to be when I read the web2.0 like it was web1.0.I thought, no, I’m not lurking if I’m not stimulated to post a comment.I thought, hey, does that mean that the post I’m reading isn’t engaging?Well, of course it’s engaging, for I was totally absorbed in its content and had been for several minutes!I proved I wasn’t lurking when I came to the next blog post in my RSS.I immediately dashed in a comment. And in an instant I felt this whelm of relief. No. I hadn’t lapsed into lurking after all.Not!Of course I’d been lurking! To lurk is to be a passive observer - inert - non-participatory - a legitimate peripheral participant. Ah! Legitimate!It doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have an opinion. And it certainly doesn’t mean that my mind is so befuddled that I don’t want to participate.It just simply means that I found the information on the site so fascinating, so absorbingly interesting that I didn’t want to be interrupted by a selfish, opinionated, egotistical act of writing a comment!I wanted to think.As it happens, the particular site I'd been reading wasn’t a blog after all, at least, not the sort of site that I'd call a blog, for I couldn’t have left a comment even if I’d tried to.See if I care.Why do you read blog posts?

We at Eliademy are proud to present the collaboration we have with Eminus Academy. Cherie Enns, an associate professor at the University of Fraser Valley, and Eric Luguya, program officer for the Youth Unit at UN-Habitat are both part of … Continue reading →

This is one of those topics that never goes away. It reigns supreme in just about every needs study for workplace learning professionals. We say we want to do more and know more. We are eager to check out more tools, and get a better handle on the situation. The topic—evaluation. We speak fluent Kirkpatrick. When workplace learning and performance (WLP) professionals are asked about the four levels of evaluation, in the USA and beyond, they respond in unison: "Level 1 is reaction, 2 is knowledge; 3 is behavior in the workplace; and Level 4 is results." But knowing is not doing, not even close.An ASTD benchmarking study looked at course evaluations by Kirkpatrick level. It turns out that while almost every course is examined for Level 1 and a third (a third?!?) are checked for Level 2, only 13 percent of courses are examined for Level 3, transfer behavior. Only about 3 percent of courses are held to questions about influence in the field—Level 4. That data was collected five years ago.Is it different today? Technology has changed the shape of workplace learning and performance, shifting learning, information and support into the workplace, and enabling new ways of capturing and communicating data and meaning. ASTD’s own studies of practice, and others, show steady increases in the use of technology for learning and performance. Might this change the current landscape for metrics in learning and performance? Jim Marshall and I set out to find out. These findings are preliminary. They scratch the surface. Only 110 people responded to our request for participation. We are eager to capture more views from diverse settings. We are eager to find out what you are doing.Let me tease you with snippets our findings:When we asked WHY our respondents gather data, most often they do it to determine participants’ satisfaction with their offerings. Sixty percent reported that they do this habitually. No surprise here. We also measure to fulfill compliance obligations, reported as a habit by 48% of respondents. Only 25 percent of respondents habitually assess to find out if the learning transfers to performance, and 11% have a habit of seeking data about strategic results. Chew on that. No matter the keynotes or magazine covers devoted to integrating talent management with the learning enterprise, only 4% of respondents are investigating this matter. Our curiosity extended to barriers to metrics.Just over half of our respondents said they don’t because nobody asks for this data. Their customers are satisfied with participation numbers. Another constraint is the pushback that comes when line managers and executives are asked to play an active part in answering questions about the influence of performance on the field. These are interesting findings, I think. But we dare not consider them conclusive or actionable, not yet. The sample is too small. You don’t want to spend too long reflecting on findings generated from the practices and opinions of just over 100 colleagues. We need you to add heft to this work.Our study focuses on why workforce learning people gather data today, how they hope to change and improve those practices, and what gets in their way. Please go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/learningmetrics to participate. Your responses are anonymous and very much appreciated. Participation will take only 10 minutes. One other thing—the questions should be interesting to you and will provide you with options for ways to think and talk about our work.Again, thanks.Allison Rossett Website

iSpring Free lets you easily create web-ready Flash presentations preserving every aspect of your original PowerPoint content.        Check it out:  http://free.ispringsolutions.com/free_powerpoint_to_flash_converter.html

As we have talked here, for the ADL xAPI design cohort we create an experimental course "Learning Architect". Now it’s time to press "Play"! Because we hope to track learning in open setting. Here is how your learning journal will be crafted: On Proera MOOC platform, Your timestamped activities and the time spent in each... Read More ›

I admit it. I love when people seek my opinion. That happened a lot in Denver, at ASTD 2012:I am entering the field. What do I do to make a success of it? Let’s pretend that somebody asked me to deliver a commencement speech in response to that question, preferably on a lush, ivy covered campus, near amiable watering holes. Thank you for inviting me to share this wonderful occasion with the workforce learning graduates of 2012....Let me begin by congratulating you on your career choice. I am sure you and your family are delighted—after all you could have chosen to go to law school. After years of clamoring for a seat at the table, C-levels are increasingly intrigued by what we can do for them. Pressure for growth, technology, and a competitive landscape create abundance and opportunity for workplace learning people. Every sector, from higher ed to pharma, is seeking candidates whose heads are screwed on right. What do I mean by right? I am talking about heads with an unrelenting focus on performance and results.Everything I say then is from the vantage point of celebration. I think this is a bountiful time to be in our field. I think you can get in the door. That's not the primary challenge. What's difficult is to make the most of it once you are in place.My advice to you as you commence this tasty career…. ·       It’s not about how. It’s about why. Several years ago, I served on a committee to review submissions for awards at an international conference. We considered a four-day course for engineers soon to be tasked with serving as instructors. The course devoted itself to teaching them Instructional Design 101, with half of the first day spent writing letter-perfect, four-part objectives. And so on and so forth. My eyes glazed over. The engineers’ eyes would close entirely. Wrong stuff. A more recent example came from online compliance training I was dragooned into taking. The topic was information security. Screen 3 listed the objectives. Only three of the eight had anything to do with my work and life. How would I endure the next 73 screens? Even animated pandas could not make this e-learning successful. Wrong stuff. In our business, we begin with the end in mind. Heaven help us when those ends are wrong-headed. ·       It’s not about us. It’s about them. Sounds obvious, I know. But I can’t tell you how often I hear people say they want to put the program in the classroom because they themselves like to learn in the classroom. Or they are going to try out avatars because they are engaging. (Are they?)One twenty-something told me that she intended to do coaching for supervisors and managers. I asked why. She said she thought she would be good at it and that coaching was a good way to help people. While eloquent about her preferences and capabilities, she never mentioned evidence. Would coaching work in this case? Shouldn’t she review the literature on that matter? And what of her lack of experience as a supervisor and manager? The fact that she likes people is good but by no means sufficient.It isn’t what you want to do. It’s what the work, worker and workplace demand. There’s the challenge and the opportunity. ·        It’s not any one thing. It’s many things, aligned, in systems.Forget shiny pennies. Mobile learning is an example of just such a penny. ASTD’s chief Tony Bingham loves it. I love it too. I’ve written about it. I see ample potential. But it is no slam dunk in and of itself. No single solution, not mobile or webinarsor games or even gamification, is the answer. The value of each emerges within systems. Our goal is strategic benefit, such as making information available on demand, tracking performance, reminding of expectations, enabling tons of practice, or helping new customer service reps communicate with peers or coaches.Take the job of retirement specialist. Consider the stress the topic provokes in customers. Think about how much there is to know to do this job, and then extend your vision to the attention that regulators pay to it. If you are tasked with developing and supporting these professionals, best not throw a single solution at it, no matter how nifty that solution is. Your program must involve intense and graduated lessons, lots of practice with diverse cases, coaching and feedback, assessments and self-assessment—and that’s the development part of it. Surely you would want to provide human and automated resources available on demand to deal with infrequent questions, lengthy procedures and updates.Mobile? Games? Perhaps. Why not? What’s for sure is that there must be a concerted system. There’s the challenge and the opportunity. ·       The soft stuff is the hard stuff. A few weeks ago I visited Deloitte University with 75 learning leaders. Our focus was leader development. Eric Paul from Dell said to nods all around, "The soft stuff is the hard stuff." And not just for leader development. The retirement specialist can’t just know about retirement, she must want to help. Same for the USPS. My postal deliverers know their job and then they do it with gusto. They stop back, wait a moment or two to get a signature, or brighten my day with a howdy. It’s knowing and doing and caring to exert effort. How do we influence that through training and development?How will you systematize the development of minds AND hearts and bellies? There’s the challenge and the opportunity. ·         No matter how much you know today, success depends on your ability to learn continuously, forever. In the opening keynote at ASTD 2012, Jim Collins reminded us of the importance of humility. Now, as you launch your career, it’s time to weigh the value of humility. If you are humble, you know that you do not know it all. Your humility opens you up to lessons, messages, ideas and surprises. You seek them. Don’t just nod at me, graduates. What are you going to do to systematically assess and develop? How will you push yourself beyond your comfort zone? For starters, let me suggest that you join a local professional association, and an international too. ASTD is a great choice, but not the only one. Consider ISPI and eLearning Guild. Find one I don’t know about.Take advantage of the idea of a personal learning network. Tour regularly in domains with which you are not familiar, where you will encounter approaches that are not old hat to you. I did it yesterday. This morning I contemplated allthat went into the development and mobile support that enabled a British tree surgeon to save a tiny finch. As you refresh your skills and perspectives, you will also inoculate yourself against burn out. There’s the challenge and the opportunity. I think commencement addresses are supposed to conclude with an inspirational quote from someone like John Kennedy or Martin Luther King.  Instead, I’ll turn to baseball. First, Pete Rose: "You owe it to yourself to be the best you can possible be—in baseball and in life." Then there’s the speedy Lou Brock: "No one wants to hear about the labor pains, they just want to see the baby." And finally, Yogi Berra, "I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question." Actually, I’m glad I got to answer a question about advice for new grads-- and I hope my thoughts will also be useful for the old grads who stumble upon these words. That’s what I hope you will be in your career—useful. Just a word, and within it is both the challenge and the opportunity.Allison Rossett blogs at allisonrossett.com. She taught at San Diego State University for more than three decades and now consults and speaks on matters relating to learning, performance and technology. You can reach her at arossett@cox.netand follow her on twitter: @arossett

Becoming great at something comes from studying and preparing yourself academically for the competitive and challenging professional world. However, you can teach, inspire and change people’s lives based on your personal experience. For this reason, the Eliademy team did not want … Continue reading →

Today is the shortest day.Despite the post date, the time of publishing is Sunday 21 June 2009, New Zealand.This time of year, some creatures hibernate. Many travel to the equator. Others consume what they’d hoarded in time of abundance. The last reserves begin to fade, like dying embers in a cooling fireplace.My thoughts move to a phase of reflection. Hibernation becomes more understandable. Resourcefulness is a priority.My skin puckers in a light wind. I begin to look out warm thoughts with the thick socks and woolly singlets.Memories of spring mature with age. I look for jonquils in the scrub.A few nod for me to accept their friendly arrival and shake out their piquant scent.I write haiku, and chide myself for still thinking of winter.The chill that's winterblows a hole in the wood-pileI stacked in summer.Ah! Summer! Do you think the birds will come when it’s here?They’re silent now. Will the sweet blackbird sing for us again?Will grey warblers warble at noon? Will fantails twitter at sunset?Radiating possibility. That’s it.Perish a notion of winter.Cherish warm thought till spring.Of all the pleasure gardens bring,The handsome pied Red AdmiralMust touch the zenith of the springWith form and grace ephemeral;To see these patterned wings full spreadIn all but a fleeting glance,Fine lace veil in feathered thread,Enraptured eyes in tranceWill follow with a languid gazeThe soft hypnotic flutter,Through the soporific haze,Near honey scented bower,Gliding with a liquid easeAbove the blood-red wallflower.Countdown. Nearly two months to go.

The Story of Bottled Water, released March 22, 2010 on storyofbottledwater.org, employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand—how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows from the tap. Over seven minutes, the film explores the bottled water industry’s attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces. The film concludes with a call to ‘take back the tap,’ not only by making a personal commitment to avoid bottled water, but by supporting investments in clean, available tap water for all.Check it out:  http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/

Very possibly you have heard of Minecraft, or have children who are passionate about it! Search Youtube with "Minecraft" you will get about 84,000,000 results. Minecraft is a sandbox game similar to Lego that allows the user to create a world using blocks, which means it can be shaped or modified to almost any purpose the user... Read More ›

Eliademy got it’s usual portion of improvements Now you can be guru, sensei or anybody else on your course by customizing your title on Profile page. Course progress is always calculated correctly, even if you delete and add lots of tasks … Continue reading →

A series of posts has recently nudged my interest in language and thinking. George Siemens, in his short post Tool making and language, drew our attention to Edmund Blair Bolles' post, The Idea of Language.In it, Bolles posited that "the ingredients of speaking and toolmaking are similar. Both require a brain capable of complex imitation and a community that wants to share information. Toolmaking also requires hands capable of shaping tools, while speech requires a throat capable of vocalization."Different than chimpsLike the capability of making tools, the ability to use speech is an acquisition most humans own from birth. Peter Turney, in his post Meditation, Language, and Evolution, broached the idea that meditation "seems to involve stopping or altering the internal monologue that usually fills our consciousness." He posited that "this constant flow of language, is the main thing that distinguishes us from our nearest living relatives, the chimps."Peter thinks of the "human mind metaphorically as a chimp mind with language processing bolted on top." But in the evolutionary history of humans, there must have been a time when language was a lesser part of our thinking and communicating. Even without language, our ancestors still had to think.In order to think about complicated or complex ideas, humans today find a need to have the vocabulary of these in order to think about them and relate to one another. I believe that our ancestors must have been experts at thinking abstractly. They would not have had a ready vocabulary to help them with their thinking. Think vocabHigher order thinking skills need vocabulary. But our ancestors, at the evolutionary stage I refer to, would not have had that vocabulary, nor even perhaps the language ability, but they still had to think.Trying to think without vocabulary is difficult to do. But in a creative artistic pursuit, such as in music, or fine art, or even in poetry when thinking on the lines of J K Baxter’s matrix of a poem - not the words and form - the mind thinks abstractly and is facile in that mode. Language gets in the way of this facile thinking.Many who are adept at this mode of thinking simply curtail the use of vocabulary. What Peter refers to as ‘language processing’ is simply shut down. He sees advantages to "moderating the language layer" and suggests that "humans are in the middle of an ongoing evolutionary process; that language has not yet been fully integrated with our chimp cores."Language may obstructI believe that language can get in the way of some modes of abstract thinking. Even the most highly skilled in the use of language have complained about the words getting in the way of what they wanted to express. William Wordsworth did and many poets have met this same impediment. Chicken-and-eggish though it may seem, it is understandable if you ascribe to the idea that words and language actually limit, rather than extend, some if not all forms of creative thinking.Music extemporisation is a mode of thinking I’m familiar with. It is not unlike meditating. It has a similar calming and relaxing effect that is also prolonged, bringing about a feeling of at-one-ness most often met in playing jazz music, a genre based on extemporisation.It’s curious that musicians who are site-readers and who are skilled in the notations and language of music, can often find it inordinately difficult to extemporise. I cite an example of this in Yehudi Menuhin, who had to admit that he could not improvise while he was dueting with Stephane Grappelli. That mode of thinking was beyond him, despite his undoubted superb skill with the violin.

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