For those of you who haven’t yet decided to follow Mission to Learn on Twitter (You know who you are.), here’s a round up of some exquisite links I’ve tweeted lately on the general topic of brain science and the human mind: A Brief Guide to Neuroscience (The Guardian) Just  what it says it is - a quick run down on one of the trendiest of sciences these days. What is Working Memory and Why Does it Matter? (National Center for Learning Disabilities) I mention working memory frequently here on Mission to Learn. This post gives you some of the essentials in the context of learning disabilities. Matters of the Brain: Why Men and Women Are So Different (Live Science) It’s not because men’s brains are from Mars and women’s are from Venus. Read this post to get some of the real reasons. Student’s brain flatlined during classes (Boing Boing) Well, we’ve all had those kinds of class experiences, eh? Maintain your brain: The secrets to aging success (Science Daily) It’s not all about genetics and fate. This brief review of a journal article suggests the path research on brain aging may take. What Eating Too Much Sugar Does to Your Brain (Psychology Today) Hint: it’s not good. And when you consider that "the average American consumes 156 pounds of added sugar per year…" Overeating may harm memory (Andrew Weil) Remember: you really need to watch what you eat. Dr. Weil explains why. Good list of Ideas and Resources for Keeping Your Brain Sharp (The New York Times) A good list that hits on many of the themes I cover regularly here on Mission to Learn. Being an active, conscious, healthy learner pays off. The brain… it makes you think. Doesn’t it? (The Guardian) An interesting dialogue between two experts on the unconscious brain. You brain is not as rational as you may think it is (The Daily Beast) An article focused on Leonard Mlodinow’s very interesting book Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior. Enjoy - and I hope to see you over on Twitter. Jeff Related posts: The Start-Up of You - A Conversation Worth Catching

Often one of the main barriers to solving a problem is an inability to see the problem in a way that is likely to spark solutions. A source I return to again and again to help me with tackling tough problems is James Adams’ Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas. Here are six blocks he identifies to perceiving problems and the information that might help us solve them: 1. Seeing What You Expect to See - Stereotyping Recently I encountered a scene familiar to any parent: I came home to find that the chairs in my living room and dining room had been converted - with the aid of a blanket - into a house by my five-year old. These were no mere chairs in his eyes: they were building materials for an entire fantasy world. Kids provide a constant reminder of how limited our perspectives on the world often become as we grow older. To a large extent, this isn’t a bad thing: we have to be able to rely on certain preconceptions, assumptions, and even stereotypes about the world around us in order to make sense of things quickly and get through our daily lives. Problems arise, however, when (a) the foundations for our preconceptions are faulty, and/or (b) we operate on autopilot and don’t periodically test our preconceptions. As I argue frequently on Mission to Learn, cultivating consciousness and a propensity to ask questions is essential for effective learning. They are also essential for problem solving - which, after all, is a learning process. If you find yourself facing a tough problem, step back a bit and consider whether any preconceptions or stereotypes you hold may be interfering with your ability to find solutions. 2. Difficulty in Isolating the Problem Sometimes we know there is a problem, but we’re not sure what it is. If you plant a seed in your garden, for example, the expected outcome is that a plant will grow. If it doesn’t, then you have a problem, but the nature of the problem may not be immediately clear. Was the seed bad? Is the soil too acidic? Did you not water enough? Did a bird or squirrel dig up the seed? Often we jump too quickly to an answer to define the problem - e.g., "The seeds I bought are bad" - and end up investing in unnecessary and sometimes costly solutions - e.g., buying new seeds. We’d be better served by pulling back, looking at the larger objective - which would seem to be successfully growing a plant - and then investigating and experimenting as needed to determine the real problem. Are there tell-tale scratches and holes around where the seed was planted? Have nearby seeds grown successfully, and what was different about how they were tended? This is a simple example, but a little bit of footwork can go a long way in isolating problems of any size. 3. Defining the Problem Area Too Narrowly I run into this one all the time in consulting. A prospective client will call up and say something along the lines of "We need you to find a learning management system for us." A key question to ask in this situation, or in any situation where a solution has been proposed but the desired objective is not clear is … wait for it … Why? Go back to the gardening problem above. I noted that the objective here seems to be growing a plant. But what if the real objective was to get more fresh vegetables into your diet? In that case, growing plants is only one of many options. You might also, for example, consider making a trip to the farmers market  a part of your weekly routine. Or maybe join a local CSA. If you don’t have the problem defined correctly in the first place, you will completely miss these options. To help illustrate how we often perceive the problem area too narrowly, Adams’ uses the classic nine dots puzzle. If you haven’t done this before (or even if you have), try connecting the nine dots below using only four lines and without lifting your finger from the screen. (You can view one popular solution to the nine dots problem here. Adams offers a number of others in his book.) Nine Dots Puzzle: Draw four lines to connect all the dots 4. Inability to see the problem from various viewpoints An ability to see a problem from the viewpoint of everyone the problem impacts not only helps with arriving at consensus around the solution, it can also help greatly in conceptualizing the problem and overcoming some of the barriers already noted. Simply put, when we have to step outside of our own viewpoint, we are bound to see the problem differently, possibly define it differently, and develop different options for solving it than we would when relying solely on our own preconceptions and biases. Adams notes that "The architect must view the design of his buildings from the perspectives of his clients, his builders, suppliers, architectural critics, and others in his profession as well as his own." I like the "architect" metaphor both for the reason Adams suggests and because it implies thoughtfully designing solutions to problems rather than defaulting to knee-jerk options. Next time you are faced with a complex, challenging problem, perhaps think of yourself as a solution architect. 5. Saturation Many years ago in grad school I spent an inexplicable amount of time studying avant-garde poetry and art. A common refrain across nearly any avant-garde group in any part of the world is "Make it new!" The driving idea behind this refrain is that we tend to lock in on familiar elements of the things around us, and after a while, we begin to ignore them to the point that we can’t really even recall them in any great detail, much less fully appreciate them. Try, for example, to draw the heads side of a penny (or a coin in the currency of your country). Don’t worry about your artistic skills, just focus on details like whether you are able to face Lincoln’s head in the right direction or put the right text on the drawing. Chances are high you will make mistakes and leave some things out. It’s too familiar for your to "see" it clearly. Avante garde artist know that the way to shake up our saturated minds is to "defamiliarize" things and help us look at them afresh. This results in things like slapping a mustache on the Mona Lisa. (See the image at the beginning of this post.) By doing this, Marcel Duchamp shocked viewers into seeing the iconic Da Vinci painting with fresh eyes. So, the next time you are faced with a perplexing problem, it may be worth asking "How can I slap a mustache on this thing?"  6. Failure to utilize all sensory inputs Often when attempting to solve a problem the solution is right in front of us, but we fail to perceive it. This may be because we are using the wrong senses. We might be looking, for example, when we should be listening or smelling. If you want some excellent exposure to and practice in using all senses for solving problems, I highly recommend reading Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s venerable consulting detective often uses multiple senses in getting to the root of mysteries that flummox everyone else. Take, for example, the story "Silver Blaze" in which (a) the fact that a dog did not bark (hearing), and (b) that spicy food was used to mask the taste opium (taste) factor significantly into Holmes solving the case. When wrestling with a tough problem or trying to develop ideas, take a moment to consider whether you are taking all sense into account. Sometimes it may help to block off one or more senses - for example, simply closing your eyes - in order to become more aware of what the other senses might reveal. As Adams’ puts it, "Problem-solvers need all the help they can get. They should therefore be careful not to neglect any sensory inputs." *** So, those are Adams’ six "blocks" (the gloss on each is my own, other than where Adams’ is quoted). I plan to write more about this book over the coming months as part of my own effort to absorb its lessons better - and, I hope, to be of help to you in the process. In the meantime, how have you overcome some of the blocks described here in your problem solving and innovation efforts? Are there other importan blocks you think need to be highlighted? Please comment and share your thoughts. Jeff P.S. - Not yet subscribed to Mission to Learn? That’s an easy problem to solve. Just click on subscribe by RSS or subscribe by e-mail. No related posts.

A while back I did a series of posts covering my thoughts on how to be a better learner. I have since developed those into a brief book that I am officially launching today. The print version is available through Amazon and other major distributors, but for the e-version, I decided to sign up with Amazon’s Kindle Direct service so that I could make the download available free for a time. That time is now through Friday of this week, and you can grab the Kindle version at: 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner (Kindle Version) Note: You don’t have to actually own a Kindle to read the kindle version. There are a variety of options for using Kindle software. 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner is meant to be a quick read that offers solid, practical advice to avid or aspiring lifelong learners. My perspective in writing it was that lifelong learning is more important now than ever, but most of us don’t tend to give a lot of thought to how to be better learners. And most of us have not been all that well prepared by traditional schooling to meet the challenges and opportunities of our hyper-connected, information-overloaded world. So, I hope you will give it a spin and spread the word to others. If you do read it and find it of value, I’d also be truly grateful if you would consider giving it a brief review on Amazon.com. And, of course, I welcome your feedback in the comments here. Jeff P.S. - I’ll be leading a free Webinar about 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner on Tuesday evening (eastern U.S. time). P.S.S. - 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner press release Related posts: Free Learning 2.0 Report - Updated Version 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 6 - Practice, Deliberately 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 7 - Be Accountable

As I’ve noted before here on Mission to Learn, I am a fan of the courses that the Teaching Company offers, and one of my particular favorites is How We Learn with Professor Monisha Pasupathi of the University of Utah. Recently I returned to the course to start repeating, reviewing, and reinforcing the great material that Dr. Pasupathi covers. Naturally, one great way to support that process - and to be of help to readers here in the process - is to write about. So, here are five  lifelong learning power tips I gleaned from Lecture 14, "Integrating Different Domains of Learning." If you want to learn well, you should: 1. Space your learning Repetition is essential to learning, but simply repeating or practicing material over and over again without a break won’t get you very far - at least not when it comes to retaining what you learn for the long haul. There is a significant body of research supporting the idea that it pays to space our learning activities over a period of time. As the course guide indicates, spacing in this way "appears to make it clear to our brains that we can’t lose track of a skill or ability because we will continue to need it." If you want to dig deeper on the topic, I recommend a very good report on spaced learning research by Will Thalheimer, PhD.  (And by the way, I am engaging in a bit of spaced learning here by going back and repeating lectures I have listened to before.) 2. Vary the context There is also evidence that it helps to vary the context in which you study or practice if you want to be able to apply what you learn as flexibly as possible. It is one thing, for example, to develop a great forehand in tennis when a backboard is your opponent. It is quite another to play against a range of other players of varying capabilities, or to play on different types of courts, or in different types of weather . If you really want to become a great tennis player, you need to be able to adapt to all of these variations and many more. The only way to develop this ability is by putting your forehand through its paces in many different contexts. 3. Make it elaborative "Elaboration" involves drawing associations between new information or experiences and what we already know. As I mentioned in an earlier post on accelerated learning, the use of mnemonics is an elaboration strategy with which most people are familiar. The "method of loci" or "mental walk" in which words, phrases, or other materials are associated with familiar places is a classic mnemonic strategy. Reworking and restating ideas - as I am doing in this post - are also time-honored elaboration methods that support deep processing of new material and lead to much greater retention over time. 4. Make it transfer appropriate You should practice and review in a ways that corresponds to how you will ultimately use what you learn. I often, for example, will go over scales or other musical materials visually by reading through them in print or on a digital device. I may even visualize myself playing scales or the notes for a song. While this sort of visualization can be very powerful in helping me learn, eventually I have to be able to pick up a guitar and make it produce the right sound. This involves not only knowing the right notes, but also having all of the necessary motor skills and tactile sensitivity needed to perform effectively. If I never pick up a guitar at all, it is hard to argue that I have truly learned my scales. 5. Sleep on it Sleep is a topic I touch on in the "Mind Your Body" chapter of 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner, and it is a topic I plan to write a lot more about in the near future. Pasupathi highlights sleep as one of the most direct ways you can support learning because "sleep allows your brain to finalize the various neuronal connections you forged through learning and practice." (Course Guidebook, p. 104) Additionally, sleep deprivation may interfere with the development of new neurons in the hippocampus - an area of the brain critical to long-term memory. Finally - and this is my own perspective - it is simply hard to be as attentive or motivated when you are tired, and both attention and motivation play a critical role in how well we learn. So, there you have it. Thanks for indulging me in a brief session of spaced repetition, review, and elaboration in a transfer-appropriate context. Now I think I’ll go take a nap. (And when I awake, I look forward to reading your comments.) Jeff P.S. - Remember that through this Friday (June 8th) 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner is available for free Kindle download. You don’t have to actually own a Kindle to take advantage of this. Kindle software can be run on your computer and a variety of digital devices. Related posts: 4 Essential Attitudes for Successful Lifelong Learners 10 Last Minute Gifts for Lifelong Learners 10 Gift Ideas for the Lifelong Learners in Your Life

I was out on my daily learning walk this morning and the podcast of choice was - as it often is on Monday mornings - Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation.  While most people would consider this to be a marketing podcast, I think the fact that Mitch’s insights tend to range much broader than marketing have contributed greatly his success. Today, as it happens, the topic of learning was central to the podcast. Specifically, Mitch interviewed Ben Casnocha, co-author, along with LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, of The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career. Right around 25 minutes into the podcast (25:05, to be exact), Mitch and Ben - both of whom are college dropouts - start discussing education and learning. I was struck by the conversation because: (a) it touches on several of the themes that come up in Shift Ed: A Call to Action for Transforming K-12 Education (my book last year with futurist David Houle) as well as in 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner. (Okay, yes, I probably fall in the "narcissist" camp that Mitch highlights earlier in the conversation.) (b) I’m finding that this kind of conversation is becoming increasingly common and mainstream. I sense a growing view - certainly one I share - that education and learning are essentially entrepreneurial activities. We all have to take a certain amount of initiative. We all have to be willing to take a few risks if we want to achieve significant returns that really align with who we are and aspire to be. As Ben puts it, "Most people have to take education into their own hands." He goes on to add that he’s "not wildly optimistic that we can really reform our institutions to teach entrepreneurial thinking." Rather, he says, "Let’s take it right to the individual … and brainstorm wildly different institutions that we can create…as opposed to try to reform what has so clearly been broken for many years." Mitch reflects on his own experience with traditional schooling, saying that he eventually came to the conclusion that "I’m not going to let school get in the way of my education. I’m a passionate reader, I go to events, I’m always trying to learn, I’m always trying to sidle up next to people I think I can learn from. I often say that this podcast is a completely narcissistic act where I get to pen people like you [Ben] against the corner and use you as a sponge to grab information out of. Ben adds: "Everyone needs to be asking themselves every day "How am I investing in myself today. What am doing to become smarter, better, more connected, wiser" … If you are going to live a long fruitful life and have a long fruitful career, one always needs to be improving oneself… Having a strategy for doing that is really important." Amen. As noted above, this conversation starts at around 25:05 and runs for 8 to 10 minutes. I think the whole podcast is worth a listen, but I’d recommend tuning in for this segment of it at a minimum: The Start-Up of You with Ben Casnocha. Jeff Related posts: 10 Brain Links Worth Clicking

Every year for the past five years my wife and I have dutifully put money into our son’s 529 college savings account. Not long ago, we started doing the same for his younger sister. Our assumptions, of course, are that (a) a college education is valuable, (b) everyone needs one, and (c) it costs a lot of money to get a college-level education. But what if those assumptions are flawed? I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel on college or the 529s yet, but it is hard to ignore the mounting criticism of higher education that has emerged over the past several years. While college graduates still tend to do much better economically than non-graduates, it seems clear enough at this point that a college degree is no guarantee of either initial or ongoing employment. Perhaps more importantly, college is far from a guaranteed way of finding the right path in life, and it’s an awfully expensive way to try. For a lot of people - maybe most - it makes sense to wait, or possibly to never go to college at all. In my opinion, that’s one of the key points Blake Boles makes in the video above (click through if you don’t see it), and it’s one that clearly inspires his new book Better Than College: How to Build a Successful Life Without a Four-Year Degree. You can read an excerpt from Better Than College on the book web site, and if you happen to be a student or a teenager, you can get the book for free. I also encourage you to check out Blake’s learning community for self-directed learners, Zero Tuition College. Enjoy, and when you have a minute, let me know what you think. Is college still worth the investment? Are you socking away money for your own higher education or for your kids? Are you worried about whether it will be worth it? What else could you do with $20K? Jeff No related posts.

I’m about to head off to one of a handful of conferences I attend each year. Given that the cost of registration, transportation, and hotel will be north of $1,000, I decided it was well worth jotting down some thoughts on how to get the most of a conference from a learning perspective. I’m looking for a return on investment! Here’s what I’ve got so far. Please comment and share your thoughts about these as well as any additional tips you may have. 1. Attend with purpose I generally register for conferences well ahead of time, and by the time the actual date rolls around, I often find myself sitting on a plane with little more than a vague sense of what I hope to get out of the days ahead. This time around I’ll be writing down 3 to 4 high level objectives I hope to achieve and paying attention to whether I am making progress towards them throughout the event. 2. Review education sessions ahead of time Related to the point above, I’ve already spent some time looking at the various session that will be available at the conference and determining which ones it makes most sense for me to attend. I’ll be putting the times and places into my Google calendar before I go. I also plan to jot down some concrete objectives I hope to achieve in each session along with questions I may want to ask. Overkill? Maybe - but given the money and time involved, I want to get a good return. 3. Take notes Regular readers here know my feelings about taking notes (a topic I also cover in 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner). Writing things down is a simple, straightforward approach to enhancing your learning, but we tend to slack off on it once we exit the world of formal schooling and grades. I’ll have my moleskin notebook handy. On my iPad I’ll also be using Evernote and one of my other favorite note taking tools - Twitter 4. Share your thoughts Speaking of Twitter - I find it a great tool for capturing quick notes that I can also share with others who are tuned into the conference - whether they are actually there physically or not. (I use Hootsuite for Twitter because this makes it possible for me to easily access my own tweets and other tweets to the conference hashtag later.) I also aim to write at least one or two blog posts (probably over on the Tagoras blog) to help me think through and cement key things I learn. 5. Cultivate your network Networking is one of the main reasons people cite for going to conferences, in my experience, but were often pretty haphazard in our networking efforts. I welcome the serendipitous hallway conversation, but I’ll also be spending some time figuring out which old friends might be there as well as new people I may want to meet. And, as the previous point suggests, I hope to make many new connections online and share my learning with current connections. 6. Take advantage of the exhibits I think the exhibit hall - which will be a significant part of this conference - is a great, often overlooked learning resource. In any given field or profession, vendors are usually one of best sources for practical advice and insight into emerging trends. I’ll be spending a good bit of time wandering the floor, getting a general sense of new developments, and tracking down specific vendors to ask questions.  7. Conduct audio and/or video interviews One of the things I like to do on the exhibit floor is conduct interviews with vendors using a simple digital audio recorder, a Flip camera, or my iPhone. The process of coming up with interview questions and then getting the answers is a great learning experience that simultaneously provides me with some excellent content to share on blog posts and/ or YouTube. And, of course, I can easily do the same with speakers in sessions I attend or experts I find wandering the hallways. 8. Mind your body It’s easy to slip into eating too much of the wrong things at a conference - a cookie here, a bag of chips there - and exercise often falls by the wayside. Knowing how important both food and physical activity are for learning, though, I’ll be doing my best to stay on top of both. I’ll also do my best to get a decent amount of sleep, both to make sure I am prepared to learn and to help me consolidate my learning. 9. Review, review, review I’ll say it once again: repetition is the mother of learning. I plan to spend some time during the conference - each morning or evening - looking back over my notes, reflecting on what I’ve learned, and trying to connect it with what I already know. I’ll also make sure to spend some time in the weeks and months following the conference to revisit my notes. (These are all habits of the serious lifelong learner.) 10. Enjoy - and learn from - wherever you are I was at a conference in Las Vegas a while back and I realized, when I was catching a cab back to the airport, that I had not actually left the MGM Grand in three days. That, I suppose, is part of the Vegas experience, but for this conference, I’m hoping I might actually be able to get out and do at least one interesting thing in the Dallas area. Anyone have suggestions? Please comment and share your tips for getting the most out of conferences as learning events. And, if you happen to be heading to the ASAE conference in Dallas, let me know! Jeff P.S. - Regular readers will notice that a lot of what I cover above draws on 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner, a great resource for any conference attendee IMHO. P.S.S. - I’ll be tweeting on @tagoras at the ASAE Annual Meeting (#asae12). I hope to connect with you on Twitter, in person, or both! No related posts.

In case you haven’t noticed, "innovation" is all the rage these days. Indeed, it may have edged out "creativity," though it’s a close call. I don’t know about you, but for my part, I am not sure that either are the magic bullets they get made out to be - there is still an awful lot to be said, in most cases, for focusing on the good ‘ol boring blocking and tackling of getting things done. Nonetheless, I think there is great value in all of us cultivating some of the perspectives and habits that tend to go along with innovation. It was with this mindset that I recently read Tony Wagner’s Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World. I don’t tend to do book reviews in the usual sense on Mission to Learn. Rather, I use the blog as a way to write about - and thereby better learn - key concepts that I find interesting in a book. From a traditional review perspective, I’ll say that Wagner’s book is provocative, full of good stories about young innovators, and well worth the read. What follows, though, is my take on seven key aspects of innovation Wagner emphasizes that, for me, resonate with themes I tend to cover on Mission to Learn: 1. Curiosity Innovation starts with curiosity, and curiosity starts with questions. How does this work? Why has no one ever done that? What if? At it’s best, in my opinion, this curiosity is complemented by a will to learn, a sincere commitment to finding the answers. The tendency for curiosity to atrophy as we age is perhaps the reason why innovation becomes less common. So, be sure to keep asking questions, and maybe embrace the learning habits of your average toddler. 2. Passion Even with curiosity and a will to learn, efforts at innovation can be hard to sustain if you don’t have a real love for what you are doing, if you don’t experience a depth of emotion that helps fuel your curiosity. And aside from providing fuel, passion breeds resilience and faith in the face of inevitable failures. Unfortunately, while systematized, formulaic approaches to education do offer certain advantages, one major disadvantage is that they are not necessarily a great path for finding your passion. Blake Boles makes this point in his recent Better Than College. Wagner rightly emphasizes the role that parent can - indeed, must - play to help compensate for what school usually does not provide. 3. Purpose Effective innovation must be directed towards an end that, even if you can’t quite clearly see it yet, you know is important. In early May, I finished up a manuscript for a new book in which I discuss, among other topics, member-based learning communities as a business model. In my experience, the communities that succeed - like, for example, the A-List Blogger Club - tend to support a blend of passion and purpose (P²). Purpose and passion together breed focus, and they also tend to spawn a great deal of innovative thinking in the "P²" learning communities I’ve experienced. 4. Fun Playfulness. A sense of humor. An ability to take time off. Each of these is these is essential for cultivating and maintaining the ability to innovate. As is the case with both curiosity and passion, so much about traditional approaches to education tends to interfere with having fun - particularly as we age up through the hierarchy of educational institutions. The most successful innovators - and learners - manage to hang onto fun even in the midst of serious work.  5. Collaboration Wagner stresses the value in collaborating effectively with others to generate and develop ideas. It’s hard to disagree that collaboration is a useful concept for would-be innovators to embrace, but I think I may prefer the term "connection." Collaboration is a direct form of connection, but we also leverage so many indirect direct ways of accessing, adding to, and building upon the ideas of others. Indeed, this blog post is an example (even if not a particularly impressive one!) of connecting with and "riffing" on Wagner’s ideas, though I suspect most people wouldn’t say we are "collaborating." 6. Integrated thinking I view integrated thinking as the ability to combine asking questions and drawing connections in ways that frame problems in a new light and lead to novel solutions. This process is at the root of breaking down perceptual blocks and solving problems. I think reflection is also essential to establishing integrated thinking as a habit. By taking the time to review, more fully process, and reflect upon recent experiences we are much more likely to see points of integration where we had not previously seen them.  7. Action bias My wife and I have been reading the fabulous Magic Treehouse books to our five-year old, and in a recent one, Jack and Annie meet four famous innovators: Alexander Graham Bell, Gustave Eiffel, Louis Pasteur, and Thomas Edison. Edison shares with them his famous dictum that creativity is "1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." As good as your ideas may be, in other words, you have to do the work if you expect them to go anywhere. I think one of the dangers of our information-rich world is that it is easier and easier to get a whiff of innovation without every tasting the real thing. Who knows how many ideas briefly spark to life and then die between clicks each day on the Internet. Turn innovators do the work to turn their ideas into reality. *** Those are my brief thoughts on some of the most essential aspects of of innovation identified by Wagner. One important aspect of innovation I have not listed separately - and which is certainly covered by Wagner in the book - is a willingness to take risks. From my perspective, risk-taking is inherent in all of the points above. If you are doing these things, you will naturally take risks, you will fail, and you will keep going. At the same time, engaging in each of these practices consistently over time tends to mitigate risk. In other words, innovation becomes a habit rather than a sudden, frightening leap (even if it looks, and sometimes feel like that at critical turning points). Again, I recommend Wagner’s book. If you have read it - or even if you haven’t - let me know your thoughts on the points above and any others that you think are an essential part of innovation. Jeff P.S. - I should note that Tony was also very kind to provide a segment for Shift Ed: A Call to Action for Transforming K-12 Education (Corwin 2011), which I published with my futurist friend and colleague David Houle.   Related posts: 3 keys to letting curiosity drive your learning

It’s a tragic fact that most of us know only how to be taught; we haven’t learned how to learn. -  Malcolm Knowles I’ve been writing about various aspects of self-directed learning for years here on Mission to Learn, but I’ve noticed recently there seems to be a bit more of a general "buzz" around the topic. That got me thinking that I should offer up some perspectives on what is actually involved in being an effective self-directed learner. A key source for such perspectives is Malcolm Knowles, considered by many to be the seminal figure in the field of adult learning. In this post, I "riff" on five essential aspects of self-directed learning that Knowles discusses in his 1975 book Self-Directed Learning: A Guide for Learners and Teachers. 1. Establishing a climate of trust Knowles starts Self-Directed Learning with the idea of "setting a climate" for learning. This is a deceptively simple but critical step. To learn effectively, we must trust ourselves. We must develop a mindset conducive to being an effective learner and embrace a "degree of responsibility." We must also develop practices that enable us to gauge the authenticity and trustworthiness of our teachers and other sources of learning. Without this foundation, the pursuit of self-directed learning is very difficult, and I suspect it is because a "climate of trust" is never established that so many efforts at self-directed learning fail or never get started in the first place. 2. Understanding the "why" of self-directed learning We are always learning, whether consciously or unconsciously, but the "directed" aspect of self-directed learning suggests a motivation, a purpose, a sense of "why." The effective self-directed learner actively seeks to understand her own motivations and purposes. As Leo Babauta (Zen Habits) has argued effectively in a number of places, motivation trumps discipline when it comes to learning habits. For Knowles, the motivations for self-directed learning run very deep, and extend beyond the individual learner. As he puts it: the "why" of self-directed learning is survival (emphasis added) - your own survival as an individual, and also the survival of the human race. Clearly we are not talking here about something that would be nice or desirable; neither are we talking about some new educational fad. We are talking about a basic human competence - the ability to learn on one’s own - that has become a prerequisite for living in this new world [16-17] I make essentially the same point in 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner, but it is worth noting that the prescient Knowles wrote these words more than 30 years ago. 3. Understanding the "what" of self directed learning If the "why" of self-directed learning is focused on the "directed" part of the equation, the "what" is focused on "self." There is a tendency to view self-directed learning as something that happens in isolation; as something in opposition to "teacher-directed" learning. This is a false opposition. Even as self-directed learners, we are reliant on our networks, on our connections with others. And, as Knowles stresses, there are plenty of instances in which we can benefit from formal, teacher-directed learning. Effective self-directed learners recognize when the assistance of a teacher will be of value, but - and this is an essential point - "they will enter into "those taught-learning situations in a searching, probing frame of mind and will exploit them as resources for learning without losing their self-directedness." [21] In other words, they retain their sense of "self" as well as their underlying motivation and purpose for learning. 4. Developing the necessary competencies This is the area of self-directed learning to which I dedicate most of 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner. As with most pursuits in life, being a successful self-directed learner requires a certain degree of conscious effort and practice. We must learn to be good learners. For our most focused efforts, this includes understanding things like how to develop appropriate, measurable learning objectives for ourselves, how to identify strategies for achieving these objectives, and how to interact with others effectively to learn and help them learn. I believe it also involves developing knowledge in less obvious areas like sleep, diet, and exercise as well as in the practice of reflection as a habit. In any case, we need to shed the notion that we emerge from our formal systems of schooling with no need to further develop ourselves as learners. In a world that changes as rapidly as ours does, there is no way we could expect this to be the case. We must continually, consciously develop our abilities to learn. 5. Creating a "learning contract" This last one could be characterized as the "when the rubber hits the road" aspect of Knowles’ perspective on lifelong learning. He advocates creating a "binding agreement" with yourself - an actual document that articulates a clear goal, objectives, and measures and to which you will hold yourself accountable. I’d argue that this level of formal structure is not required for all - or even most learning - but remember that here we are dealing specifically with learning that is directed, even if you are doing the directing. Setting clear goals, objectives, and measures is essential if you truly want to reach - and know you have reached - the destination toward which you have directed yourself. *** So, how are you doing on those five points? What else do you think is involved in being an effective self-directed learner? Please comment and share your thoughts. Jeff Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post What’s involved in being a successful self-directed learner? appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.Related posts: 15 Ways of the Successful Self-Directed Learner 4 Essential Attitudes for Successful Lifelong Learners

This is a guest post by Christopher Hutton of Liter8 Ideas (http://liter8.net) I’m a curious fellow. I like odd topics, and I love discovering new ideas in their natural habitat. There’s always that one more thing that we can go out and find. But how curious are you? If you feel like maybe your level of curiosity isn’t what it used to be, here are three tips to help give it a lift: 1. Stop downplaying your curiosity As Westerners, we too often downplay curiosity as a driver for our education. For too many of us, curiosity is something we encourage in young children, or perhaps, scientists, but tend to deemphasize for everyone else. Many of us perceive curiosity like a toy, something we amuse ourselves with, but rarely use to create real impact or change. But why? Too often it is a mindset that comes about because of age. As we grow older we choose to accept certain ideas as absolute. Nothing ever really changes, and so, little by little, we stop caring, we no longer find joy in the potentially interesting or in the everyday. We’ve "done it all," so to speak. But this notion that our aptitude for curiosity declines with age is a self-imposed myth. There is no neuroscience or psychology to support it. In fact, many of our most esteemed elders have gone out of their way to refute it and assert, as Samuel Johnson did that curiosity is "necessary for a rigorous intellect". But if age doesn’t stop us from being curious, then what does? 2. Actively choose to learn The problem is within us. We CHOOSE not to learn. We choose to not want to know more, and eventually…we don’t. The desire to know more disappears like an ember smothered by a boot. The great thing about an ember, though, is that there’s always residual heat there, often enough to start another fire. 3. Seek out inspiration anywhere you can find it How, then, do we rekindle this behavior, this desire to burn and learn? It only takes a step in the right direction: We must seek it out by (for example): Finding and connecting with people who are passionate about whatever topic has caught our interest Taking the risk of jumping right into the middle of a topic we want to master, even if we are mere novices Accepting criticism as a learning opportunity and fuel for our curiosity Curiosity fluctuates with our will to learn - and vice versa. Protecting and maintaining a sense of curiosity is essential for every dedicated lifelong learner. Indeed, it is the very fuel that lifelong learners run on. Christopher Hutton is the Curiosity Curator at Liter8 Ideas (http://liter8.net). He writes on the topic of Intentional Curiosity, where he helps the everyday man kick-start his curiosity and gets more out of life. You can follow Chris on Twitter as @liter8media. Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post 3 keys to letting curiosity drive your learning appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.Related posts: 7 Keys to Being an Innovative Thinker and Learner

I’ve had the experience before in life - as I am sure you have - of becoming absorbed in a new skill or topic, learning a tremendous amount, but then hitting a plateau at some point and never really advancing much further. For example, I’ve had this happen with studying a foreign language. I could speak Russian quite well at one point, after a couple of years of very concentrated practice, but I never really advanced past the initial level I achieved. Indeed, not only have I not advanced, but my proficiency in Russian has now steadily declined over the course of a decade. Maybe you have experienced something similar with learning a language, or a musical instrument, or with pursuing the advanced skills and thinking that could propel your career forward. In any of these scenarios - and countless others - we may be sufficiently motivated to engage in deliberate practice, and by doing so, achieve a significant level of competence. But eventually, the gains in learning that we get from our practice start to flatten out. We practice, we study, we go through the motions, but we don’t really get better. In the case of my experience with Russian, my motivation began to wane and my pursuit of higher levels of competence - and ultimately, mastery - faded along with it. Recently I discovered recently that Whitney Johnson and Juan Carlos Méndez-García have developed a model that elegantly captures this sort of experience - and the remedy. Johnson and Mendez-Garcia view learning and development as occurring along an "S-Curve" that starts slowly, accelerates for a period, and then flattens out. As Johnson puts in an recent HBR Blog post: As we look to develop competence within a new domain of expertise, moving up a personal learning curve, initially progress is slow. But through deliberate practice, we gain traction, entering into a virtuous cycle that propels us into a sweet spot of accelerating competence and confidence. Then, as we approach mastery, the vicious cycle commences: the more habitual what we are doing becomes, the less we enjoy the "feel good" effects of learning: these two cycles constitute the S-curve. Here’s the S-Curve as it applies to learning: Reproduced with permission.   While I have encountered similar "S-Curve" explanations of personal learning and growth before, I feel Johnson and Mendez-Garcia have done a particularly good job of capturing and illustrating the concept. More importantly, they suggest an approach to breaking through the barriers that may inhibit our learning. By being conscious of our learning cycles - and regular readers here know how much I emphasize consciousness in learning - we position ourselves to jump to a new curve as results on our current learning curve begin to plateau.   Reproduced with permission In the case of learning Russian, it is clear in retrospect that I had reached a point where I really needed to jump to a new learning curve if I was going to attain new levels of learning. This may have meant living in Russia for an extended period of time, or finding a job that required me to use Russian daily to earn my living. Whatever the case, I didn’t make the leap. As it happens, that’s fine with me: I went down other roads and have never looked back (other than in this blog post, of course . Even so, I think there is a great deal to be said for approaching life and learning a bit more strategically, for having a better sense of when it might be time to shake things up, take some risks, and make a leap. As Johnson puts it: The S-curve mental model makes a compelling case for personal disruption. We may be quite adept at doing the math around our future when things are linear, but neither business nor life is linear, and ultimately what our brain needs, even requires, is the dopamine of the unpredictable. So, what curve are you navigating right now, and how soon do you think you may need to make a leap? Jeff P.S. - I am grateful to Whitney Johnson and Juan Mendez-Garcia for granting permission to use the images included in this post. You can find Whitney’s HBR Blog Network post where I originally encountered them at http://blogs.hbr.org/johnson/2012/09/throw-your-life-a-curve.html. I also encourage you to check out a fascinating post in which Juan discusses the S-curve model for Facebook and Dropbox user adoption Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Ready to jump the curve on your lifelong learning journey? appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.Related posts: Are You Ready for Digital Civilization?

The Woods Near Anderson Park, Carrboro, NC A few years ago I unwittingly found myself engaged in one of the best habits of my life: the learning walk. It was born out of pure practicality. Initially, I needed exercise, and I also needed to occupy my baby son - and then, after a while, my baby daughter. So, I decided to incorporate a stroller into my sporadic jogging habit. It didn’t take long before I discovered that, with a stroller and child in front of me, I greatly preferred walking. Then, given that the child could not yet talk, an iPod seemed like a good addition. Roll forward a few years, and the stroller is all but gone - though my daughter is still young enough that we set out together some days. The iPod has been replaced by my iPhone, and I carry a small moleskin notebook with me for good measure. Equipped in this way, I set out from my home, office, or hotel room damn near every morning for a 20 to 30 minute stroll. As I have walked, day in and day out, I have learned a tremendous amount. There are three aspects to these walks that I think make them so powerful. Content The first and most obvious is the content involved. I’ve written in the past about my love of podcasts. It takes some effort to find good ones, but once you do, they are truly an amazing thing. I’ve identified a handful over the years that I find very helpful, and listening to these has become a regular part of my walks. As I have also mentioned before, I am a fan of the courses from the Teaching Company. These, too, lend themselves well to listening on my learning walks. Most of the lectures run between 20 and 30 minutes, so the timing is perfect. I should probably note that I don’t walk and listen with the idea that I will somehow magically absorb all of the content that makes its way through my ear buds. I keep the notebook handy so that I can jot down important points or ideas that I want to revisit later. Also, I regularly cycle back through a lot of the content I cover - particularly the Teaching Company lectures. Repetition, as they say, is the mother of learning. Finally, the learning walks are only one part of my approach to covering most of this content. I also read to complement and supplement my listening, and much of what I listen is to related directly to my work or everyday life, so I am constantly putting what I hear and read into practice. Reflection In addition to the content involved, I think the context of walking is very powerful. Walking gets me away from my desk. It gets me outside. It puts me in a better position for reflecting on various aspects of life and work. Indeed, what I find most powerful about the content I tap into during my walks is that it so often sparks reflection. "How does what I am hearing relate to my life and work?" is the question that runs - so to speak - throughout my walks. As I suggest in 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner, regular reflection is an essential part of establishing and maintaining the lifelong learning mindset. My learning walks are not the only approach I take to reflection - just as they are not the only approach I take to content - but I find them to be one of the most powerful approaches I have for combining content and reflection in a highly productive way. At the same time, the walks offer plenty of opportunities for reflection that is closer to content-free meditation. Whenever possible, I walk the fields and woods near my house (see the photo at the beginning of this post). I find the woods, in particular, to be a place where "peace comes dropping slow" and where it is possible to regain a sense of perspective. If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen. - Henry David Thoreau Movement The third aspect of the learning walk that I think is so powerful is simply that it puts me in motion. It gets the blood flowing and it provides me with a daily dose of physical exercise. I’ve touched on the importance of exercise for cognitive fitness in a number of places, including in the last edition of the Learning Monitor (look for a new edition soon). Based on the research I’ve done, I feel certain that my learning walks contribute to my overall brain health - not to mention my more general health. This alone is reason enough for me to keep at it. I have also found, however, that being in motion seems to spark innovation. I get many ideas - indeed, many of my best ones - as I am strolling along, and this is the most important reason that I have my small notebook in tow. I don’t know whether this is a matter of increased blood flow to my brain, the fact that I have established the walks as a context for idea generation, or some combination of these and other factors, but I also don’t care. All I know is that it works, and being in motion seems to be a very important part of the formula. *** So, that’s a quick rundown on my learning walks. If you don’t currently have a habit similar to this, I highly encourage it. If you do have something like a learning walk as part of your regular routine, I’d lve to hear how you approach it. Please comment and share your thoughts. Jeff   Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post The Learning Walk: A Primer appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.No related posts.

  If you are like me, you probably take it for granted that consciously engaging in lifelong learning is worth it, well, just because. You are intrinsically motivated to learn and therefore don’t need a list of potential benefits. Learning is its own reward. Fair enough. But I think it is still worth being clear with ourselves about why we engage in lifelong learning. (You know how much I like asking "why?") Knowing the reasons can help with clarifying our learning goals and planning; it can help keep us focused at those times when maybe learning does not seem like its own reward, when we need discipline; and, finally, it can arm us with some arguments to bring others into the global community of lifelong learners. So, with those goals in mind, here are five key areas in which I think lifelong learning provides tremendous benefits: 1. Economic Let’s start with an obvious one that might win over those less inclined to put the required effort into lifelong learning. I’ve made the point numerous times here on the blog as well as in 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner that we now live in a learning economy. Jobs that require relatively static knowledge - from assembly line work to book keeping - continue to shift to machines. (As Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly put it, "Productivity is for machines. If you can measure it, robots should do it."  ) Most of us will end up switching jobs numerous times. Many of us will switch careers at least once. And even those of us fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to stay in the same job over a long period of time will almost certainly see the nature of the work we do shift rapidly. To thrive economically, you simply have to keep learning. I’d argue, too, that this learning is more than a matter of building skills and knowledge within the narrow scope of a profession. It will be increasingly important to be well-rounded, to have a sense of perspective, and to be able to leverage a variety of learning experiences into generating new ideas and ways of doing things. Harsh as it may sound, the ability to do this (at least for now) is what separates the average human from the average machine, at least when it comes to raw economic productivity. Which leads to my next major benefit area… 2. Intellectual I use the term "intellectual" broadly. It doesn’t mean that you need to be a bearded professor with elbow patches and a pipe or a turtleneck-wearing, cigarette smoking French poet. (Funny how smoking - not such a smart thing to do - and being an intellectual have traditionally gone together.) Rather, I mean that lifelong learning increases your knowledge and - just as importantly - your ability to use that knowledge in diverse and meaningful ways. Lifelong learning opens up and enhances your mind. It fuels creativity and innovation. At the same time, lifelong learning is an approach to living life consciously and deliberately, rather than being guided purely by instinct, emotion, and the desires of others. It is nothing less, I’d argue, than personal philosophy in action. 3. Cognitive As the venerable Wikipedia states it, cognition is "a group of mental processes that includes attention, memory, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions." There is a wealth of both scientific and anecdotal evidence at this point that actively continuing to learn throughout life is beneficial for all of these processes. My own belief is that if you combine active learning with exercise, good diet, and adequate sleep, your mind will perform like a finely-tuned engine in a Grand Prix racer (though feel free to pick your own metaphor). Bottom line: the process of lifelong learning helps to keep your brain working well, and as we continue to live longer and longer, this is a benefit that is hard to ignore. 4. Social Think of it: a huge percentage of what you know came from watching and listening to your parents, experimenting with and testing out new ideas or skills on friends, family, colleagues, and strangers, failing or succeeding in front of others, gauging reactions, adjusting and adapting. All of this is part of the process of lifelong learning, and it is - and always has been - highly social (yes, even before blogs, Twitter, and Facebook). Learning sparks social engagement - we often connect with others because we want to learn from them and with them - and it is also an outcome of social engagement, often without our even realizing it. There are numerous personal benefits to all of this socializing.There is evidence, for example, that people with strong social connections tend to be happier and live longer. There are also organizational and societal benefits. Organizations that learn and adapt are moire sustainable over time. The same goes for societies. And, as John Dewey and others argued long ago, lifelong learning is particular important as an element of democratic societies. Your learning efforts, in other words, support the greater good. 5. Spiritual As with the term "intellectual," I use the term spiritual in a broad sense. Learning, I believe, feeds the spirit. It gives us purpose, it gives us focus, it fuels our sense of fulfillment. Bob Dylan famously wrote "He not busy being born Is busy dying" (from "It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)")  You could easily substitute "learning" for "being born" in this line (though, of course, it wouldn’t make for as good a song). Philosophers since well before Dylan have felt the same. (What, after all, is a philosopher up to if not lifelong learning?) This last one brings me back around to the point I made at the beginning: most of you who read this blog, and particularly those of you who have read this far in this post, embrace lifelong learning simply because it feels right. It is part of who you are. It helps give your life meaning. It is its own reward. The other benefits are important but secondary. I’m with you. Jeff P.S. - Please comment and share your thoughts. Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post 5 Key Benefits of Lifelong Learning appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.No related posts.

I don’t know yet how consistent I will be about this, but I have started to document bits of wisdom wherever I find them as I am out and about. Seems like a good thing to share here on Fridays. This first one is quote from Benjamin Franklin, "Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late." I found this posted outside a conference room at a client’s offices. Thanks to good ol’ Google, I’ve been able to establish that the additional commentary is from an excellent post on Dumb Little Man titled "14 Action-Inducing Lessons from Benjamin Franklin." Benjamin Franklin is, of course, practically the poster child for lifelong learning. Few have done it better or longer. Enjoy this quote. Reflect on it. And have a great weekend. Jeff P.S. - If you come across "found wisdom" like this in your travels, snap a photo and send it my way with your thoughts (jcobb at missiontolearn.com). I may post it - with credit to you - or ask if you would like to highlight it in a guest post here. Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Found Wisdom #1 - Old too soon, wise too late appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog. Related posts: Found Wisdom #2 - Cow Leash

Through Friday of this week the Kindle version of 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner is available again for free download. Please grab it and spread the word: 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner (Kindle Version) Note: You don’t have to actually own a Kindle to read the Kindle version. There are a variety of options for using Kindle software. In case you don’t already know, 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner is meant to be a quick read that offers solid, practical advice to avid or aspiring lifelong learners. My perspective in writing it was that lifelong learning is more important now than ever, but most of us don’t tend to give a lot of thought to how to be better learners. And most of us have not been all that well prepared by traditional schooling to meet the challenges and opportunities of our hyper-connected, information-overloaded world. So, I hope you will give it a spin and spread the word to others (for example, use the Tweet or Like buttons over to the left.) Also, I’ll be delivering a free Webinar about the book this Friday in collaboration with BlueSky Broadcast. Just click the following link to register: 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner Webinar Jeff P.S. - If you do download the book and like it - or if you have downloaded it before - I’d be truly grateful if you would write a short review on Amazon.com. Or, at the very least, give it a "like" on the Amazon.com page for the book. Thanks! - JTC P.S.S. - 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner press release Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Free Kindle Version of 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog. Related posts: 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner - Free Kindle Version This Week Free Download of 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 10 - Embrace Responsibility

A shot from travels in Thailand long ago. Perhaps just the thing for the aspiring backyard rancher. - Jeff P.S. - This is part of my Found Wisdom series. If you come across "found wisdom" like this in your travels, snap a photo and send it my way with your thoughts (jcobb at missiontolearn.com). I may post it - with credit to you - or ask if you would like to highlight it in a guest post here. Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Found Wisdom #2 - Cow Leash appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog. Related posts: Found Wisdom #1 - Old too soon, wise too late

Back in the heyday of buzz about "the learning organization" as a concept, David Garvin wrote about the Army’s practice of After Action Reviews (AARs).  The practice is deceptively simple, but powerful when done properly, and I think there is a lot of value in it for the individual lifelong learner. So what’s an After Action Review? Fundamentally, it’s an approach to reflecting actively on recent events and learning as much as you can from them. It’s driven by four core questions: What did I set out to do? What actually happened? Why is there a difference between the first two? What should I continue and what should I change? An After Action Review can apply to just about anything at anytime. If you have just completed a project, closed (or lost) a sale, taken a test, weighed yourself, or done anything else in which you care about the results and may want to replicate or improve them going forward, the time is probably right for an AAR. One of the keys to making the review successful is to start asking the questions above as soon after the learning event as possible, so that your memory is clear. (And, of course, there is an argument here for for asking questions and taking notes while you are engaged in whatever activity you plan to review.) In asking and reflecting upon the questions, you should spend roughly 25 percent on the first two, 25 percent on the third, and 50 percent on the fourth. What did I set out to do and what actually happened? Even though they should take up the smallest slice of your review time, it is critical not to skip these first two questions. Garvin notes that organizations tend to jump to the third question - which involves diagnosis and judgement - without establishing an objective view of the facts on which everyone involved can agree. I’d argue most individuals do this as well. We tend to start with "what could I have done differently" or "what went wrong," while holding - consciously or unconsciously - a distorted view of our original aims and the events that occurred. Remember: whether you are talking about a mirror or your mind, reflection is a product of what is actually reflected upon. Take the time to clarify, and withhold judgement as you do. I recommend actually writing down what you set out to do and then what actually occurred. Indeed, this is one of the reasons I advocate both goal setting (prior to a learning experience) and effective note taking (during a learning experience) - these practices help set the stage for higher value reflection. Why is there a difference between the first two? It’s with this question that you become more analytical and start looking at cause and effect. However, because you have taken the time to ask the first two questions, you are much more objective than might ordinarily be the case. If there is a difference between what happened and what you had expected or hoped to happen, what seem to be some of the key reasons? Do some seem more important that others? If you closed your last sale, or past your last test with flying colors, but weren’t as successful this time, what changed? As you can see, this is an exercise in problem solving. Sometimes the solution are quite simple. If the scale shows an increase of five pounds, the half dozen donuts you ate last week are probably the smoking gun. In other cases though, the problems may be much more complex and require some creative o0r conceptual blockbusting to solve. There is also an element of accountability and responsibility here. You have to willing to own up to and accept whatever weaknesses the process reveals. But take heart in the fact that you will almost certainly find strengths along the way as well. What should we continue and what should we change? This question is where the proverbial rubber hits the road. What are you actually going to do as a result of this reflective process? As Garvin suggests, you have to be careful at this point to focus on what you can actually fix. If you failed on a sales call, for example, and price was a key factor, you can’t magically give your prospect a larger budget, but you can shift your targeting to prospects that are much more likely to have the necessary funds. Similarly, you don’t have any control over what the questions will be on a test, but you can control the steps you take to prepare for a variety of different questions. Also, make sure you identify what needs to be "sustained"going forward. That is, what contributed to your success, to the extent that you were successful - you will most likely want to make sure you repeat these actions or behaviors in future situations. Preconditions for Successful After Action Reviews As Garvin suggests, successful AAR’s don’t just happen: you have to be prepared to make them happen. Some of the key factors are: Consciousness and commitment: In the first place, you have to be aware of your experiences as potential learning activities and choose to engage with them as such. Sounds easy enough, but we routinely experience things and then move on without making any real effort to reflect. Open Mindedness and Candor: You have to be willing to lay aside your assumptions and biases and accept criticism from yourself and possibly others who you involve in the process. Constructive Orientation: AAR’s aren’t about beating yourself up for making mistakes. Nor, for that matter, are they about inflating your ego because you did something particularly well. They are about building off of experiences in ways that will enhance your life going forward. Coherence: One of the reasons the four questions are so important is because the provide a structure for the process. The questions, along with the recommended time allocations for them, give you a simple, but effective framework for reflection. You should cap the questions off by always writing down what you have actually learned and what you will do as a result of having answered them. Collaboration: While we don’t generally think of reflection as involving the input of others, getting the perspectives of others can be an important factor in the "proactive" approach of an AAR often. This may mean discussions with others involved in the experience, or it may mean sharing details of the experience with a friend or mentor and getting their perspectives. Consistency: Finally, to achieve the highest impact, don’t think of an After Action Review as something that occurs only on special occasions or after major events. Garvin notes that the Army - unlike many other organizations - has been so successful with AAR’s because it has woven them into the everyday culture. Soldiers and commanders routinely break for quick AAR sessions in the midst of major projects or initiatives. As Garvin writes "Quick feedback led to quick implementation, sharply increasing the rate of learning." There you have it. Make After Action Reviews a regular part of your learning habits, and put yourself on the path to ninja status when it comes to effective, high-impact-reflection. Jeff P.S. - You can access the chapter on After Action Reviews from Garvin’s book Learning in Action at http://ebookbrowse.com/garvin-aar-excerpt-pdf-d289563185 Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post How to Become a Reflection Ninja: After Action Reviews appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog. No related posts.

Over on the Learning Revolution site, I’m in the process of launching a new book. This one has more to do with the business side of lifelong learning - as in how to launch or grow an education/training business. My perspective is - get this - helping actual learning to take place is an important part of running a successful education business. To that end, Dr. Monisha Pasupathi, a psychology professor at the University of Utah and star of the Teaching Company course How We Learn, was one of the people I interviewed as part of writing the book. I’m now turning my interviews into podcasts, and I thought this one would be of particular interest to Mission to Learn readers. In our conversation we cover some common myths about learning, talk about how well prepared we are (or aren’t) to deal with a hyper-connected, information-flooded world, and consider the role of the lecture as a form of learning delivery. Have a listen, and be sure to comment and share your thoughts. (I’ve also posted show notes over on the Learning Revolution site.) Listen to the Podcast Podcast: Play in new window | Download | iTunes P.S. - Leading the Learning Revolution: The Expert’s Guide to Capitalizing on the Exploding Market for Lifelong Education is available for purchase on Amazon. You can find out more about it at http://www.learningrevolution.net/book. Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post How We Learn - A Conversation with Monisha Pasupathi appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog. Related posts: The Start-Up of You - A Conversation Worth Catching

With the holidays approaching I’m guessing there are a few readers out there like me looking for gifts with some educational value to them. While there are plenty of options out there for kids, you may find that coming up with educational gifts for the adults in your life is a bit tougher. So,here are some gifts you may want to consider for the adult lifelong learners in your life. Most of them are digital, so you don’t have to worry about fighting traffic or getting them shipped some place on time. 1.  The Classic: A Book Yes, that’s right. The good ‘ol book is still one of the greatest gifts there is. An excellent one to consider this year is Tim Ferriss’ recently-released The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life. It’s hard to beat learning how to cook better and learning how to learn better in one shot. Of course, I am also partial to the much briefer 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner. Personally, I prefer an actual physical book when it comes to gift giving, but giving a digital version is easy enough. Indeed, with the basic Kindle now starting at $69, you may want to consider giving not only a digital book but the e-reader as well. 2. The Gift of Belonging Sign a learner in your life up for a meaningful membership. This might mean an annual museum or zoo membership. (I’m lucky to live not too far from the North Carolina Zoo and we also have fantastic museums in our area.) Or, maybe it means a membership in an association or society of some sort. Don’t just think in terms of vocation: also consider avocation. In North Carolina, for example, there is a great poetry society. Or, nationally, there are groups like the National Gardening Association. Let your imagination - and Google - run wild, and you will come up with some great options. 3. Powerful Note-taking Readers here know I am an advocate of taking and reviewing notes, and I’m a huge fan of Evernote, the note-taking application that syncs your notes across the Web, your desktop, your iPad, and your mobile phone. For US $5 a month, or $45 a year, you can snag a premium subscription that offers some great extra features (and a T-Shirt) for the avid learners in your life. 4. A Chance to Experiment The array of gadgets, gizmos, and kits that the amateur scientist now has access to is really quite astounding. Check out the wide selection at Edmunds Scientific. 5. Lectures to Go Anybody who says the lecture is dead hasn’t experienced the great content available from the Teaching Company or LearnOutLoud. I’d call it brain candy, but it is far too nutritious for that metaphor. A couple of my favorite Teaching Company courses include Robert Greenberg’s How to Listen to and Understand Great Music and Monisha Pasupathi’s How We Learn, but there are selections to cover all interests available from both sites. Pick a topic, and grab a gift certificate. 6. APPlied Learning Experiences My iPhone and my iPad have become two of my key learning devices. While a lot of the available apps for these devices are free, some come with a small price tag - and 99 cents many times over adds up! Help the lifelong learner in your life stay on budget by giving an iTunes gift certificate. This will cover not only apps, but also anything else available from the iTunes store. And be sure to point your recipient to 10 Excellent iPad Apps for the Lifelong Learner. (Note: you can also get Android app gift cards at Amazon.com) 7. Training for the Brain Lifelong learners are always looking for ways to beef up the ‘ol gray matter. Give the learner in your life a boost with Lumosity Brain Games or have a look around at Marbles: The Brain Store. 8. Breaking the Language Barrier Ah, a mainstay of New Year’s resolutions: "This year I am going to learn to speak ___________." Help the learner in your life keep that resolution with some great language learning options like those from Transparent.com, Visual Spanish, or Rosetta Stone. 9. Giving to Learn There are so many ways in which nonprofits support our learning and the learning of others, but they can’t do their work without adequate funding. You can hardly go wrong in choosing an organization to contribute to, but if you are looking for ideas, one of my favorites is Heifer International. Aside from the great work Heifer does, the organizations sends a monthly magazine which is actually well worth reading. 10. Learn to Save the World $25 at a Time Kiva is a nonprofit that facilitates micro-lending to entrepreneurs across the world. By lending as little as US $25, you can help a shop owner in Ghana increase her inventory or a small farmer in Costa Rica build a greenhouse. (Examples of projects I have helped fund through my Kiva account.) Naturally, you can’t help but learn something along the way. US $25 gets you a downloadable Kiva gift card to fund a friend or family member’s account. Got other ideas? Please share them in the comments. Happy Holidays, Jeff P.S. - I’d be truly grateful for the gift of you subscribing to Mission to Learn if you have not already! Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post 10 Educational Gift Ideas for the Lifelong Learners in Your Life appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog. Related posts: 10 Gift Ideas for the Lifelong Learners in Your Life 5 Power Tips for Serious Lifelong Learners A Dozen Favorite Technology Tools for Lifelong Learning

In commemoration of December 17, the anniversary of the Wright Brother’s first flight. I have a particular affection for that event for a number of reasons. It took place at Kitty Hawk, on the Outer Banks of my home state of North Carolina. Kitty Hawk also happens to be where my wife and I got engaged. And, of course, if you know anything about the Wright Brothers, you know that flight marks the high point in a very intense mission to learn. At the time, there was not a lot of reason to suspect that two brothers from Ohio would be the first ones to achieve motored flight. "At first glance, this would seem an absurd idea," writes Robert Greene in his recent book Mastery, The men in the field were all experts with incredible technical knowledge, some with impressive college degrees. They had an enormous head start over the Wright Brothers. Designing and building a flying machine was an expensive venture that could total thousands of dollars and lead to yet another crash. There had, in fact, been many crashes before the brothers took on the challenge. And they were mere bike shop owners, neither of whom had earned even a high school diploma, much less a college degree. How could they expect to beat out contenders like the very well funded Samuel Langley, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institute? By learning rapidly and effectively, that’s how. By all of the accounts I have read, the Wright Brothers were insatiably curious. They had an intense will to learn. And they were not afraid to experiment and take risks. Indeed, they seemed to live for experimenting and taking risks. It was their willingness - and given their financial circumstances, their necessity - to try things and then adjust based on what they learned that made it possible to overcome the barriers that had prevented others from achieving success. As Greene writes, Instead of beginning with a grandiose device to test out their ideas, they would have to slowly evolve the perfect design, just as they had done with the printing press and the bicycle. They decided to begin as modestly as possible. They designed various kites to help them determine the perfect overall shape for a test glider. Then, based on what they learned, they fashioned the glider itself. They wanted to teach themselves how to fly. Obviously, they succeeded. So, how will you teach yourself to fly in the coming year? There are at least three key lessons to be taken from the Wright Brothers (and I encourage you to add others in the comments): Small steps count - the key is to take the time to learn from your results Curiosity and motivation often trump money and other resources You have to be willing to take a few risks along the way I will stop with those three, because I think if you focus on just those in your own learning efforts you will be sure to take flight in 2013. But what do you think? What other lessons can we take from the Wright Brothers and others like them as we continue the mission to learn in the new year? - Jeff Update: Here’s one of the ways I’ve learned to fly so far: 7 Things I Learned from My Flying Trapeze Lesson. Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post How will you teach yourself to fly in 2013? appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog. No related posts.

Note: The free download is no longer available. Because of the way that Kindle Direct Publishing works, this was a limited time offer. I will continue to offer 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner for free as Amazon’s terms allow. The best way to know when I do this is to subscribe to Mission to Learn for free. I’m also checking into whether I can just start making it free as a PDF download - stay tuned. Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Free Download of 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog. Related posts: 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner - Free Kindle Version This Week Free Kindle Version of 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner

Is our desire to be engaged, effective lifelong learners beaten down, if not killed outright by the time we leave high school? That may be too bleak a conclusion to draw, but the findings of a recent Gallup survey are disturbing nonetheless. Gallup surveyed nearly 500,000 students in grades five through 12 from more than 1,700 public schools in 37 states in 2012 and found that by the time students get to high school only about 4 in 10 qualify as engaged. As the writer of the Gallup blog post on the poll argues, you would hope these numbers would be exactly the opposite - that students would become more engaged as they go through school. Larry Ferlazzo rightly points out that this is not a statistically valid survey: there was no random sampling involved; schools and students participated on a volunteer basis. Still, a sample of half a million is hard to ignore. You could also debate whether the best possible questions were used to measure "engagement." Here’s the set of questions (again, thanks to Larry for digging these up): 8. I have a best friend at school. 9. I feel safe in this school. 10. My teachers make me feel my schoolwork is important. 11. At this school, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day. 12. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good schoolwork. 13. My school is committed to building the strengths of each student. 14. In the last month, I volunteered my time to help others. I’m sure your average committee could debate these forever, but my main concern in administering this kind of survey would be that the same questions are asked in the same way across the group of participants - which does appear to be the case. In the end, you can only rely so much on this or any other survey, but the results do reinforce the need for diligence in at least a couple of areas. First, every lifelong learner - or budding lifelong learner - needs to be as conscious as possible of the forces that may dampen motivation and engagement. School is not the only place we encounter these of course - a significant amount of data suggests that engagement levels at work are often as bad or worse than what the Gallup poll shows for school. It’s worth asking yourself questions similar to those in the Gallup survey and see how you fare. Second, parents - as always - need to be highly aware of the impact Education (with a capital "E") as an institution can end up having on intrinsic motivation to learn. None of us want disengagement to be the result, of course, and I have no doubt that the average teacher works hard to keep students engaged. Still, when you move so many people through a large system, a certain amount of disengagement seems inevitable. Parental engagement in maintaining engagement and cultivating lifelong learning is essential. What do you think? How much weight do you give to the Gallup poll results, and how concerned should we be about the current state of student engagement as a foundation for lifelong learning? Jeff Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post A Bad Start to Lifelong Learning? appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog. Related posts: The Start-Up of You - A Conversation Worth Catching What does it mean to be a lifelong learner? 5 Key Benefits of Lifelong Learning

Are you a free range learner? If you are reading this post, then chances are pretty high that you are. You probably like to read. You are probably constantly consuming content from a variety of devices - your computer, your phone, your iPad, good old-fashioned print books. And from a variety of sources - blogs, videos, podcasts, magazines and journal, social networks. But, as Maria Andersen points out in this video, having lots of content available to consume is not the same as actually learning. I stumbled across her TEDx talk as I was doing a little free range learning of my own and I thought it was worth highlighting here. I’ve included some notes I took below (You know how much I believe in taking notes!) These are intended both to help the time-starved and also to add a bit to the thoughts in the video by linking to related resources here on Mission to Learn. Naturally, I also encourage you to take notes of your own. Notes Video at: http://youtu.be/mWdSz2nHQNY @3:09 - The Internet is great for finding information, but information alone is not enough for really learning. If you want to master something relatively complex on your own - e.g., "How to be a good cook" - how do you do that? @3:50 We’re all familiar with scenarios like saying to ourselves "I am going to learn learn X language and then never really going anywhere with it. You might buy software, sign up for a Web site, but then never really use it, etc. @4:25 - Most humans have an optimism bias: we tend to overestimate what we can actually accomplish. I suspect (and Maria seems to imply) that the easy availability of information on the Internet may actually inflate optimism bias. @4:55 - The talk moves towards what it really takes to synthesize information, apply it, and "innovate on that information." Just "consuming information is not the same thing as wisdom, understanding, and knowledge." The elements of the "recipe" follow: Ingredients @5:40 While not sufficient, well-vetted, timely information is essential for learning. Free information equals "ingredients" in abundance on the Internet, but having information - even high quality information - is a bit like having flour and sugar with no instructions on how to use them to bake a cake. You also have to have directions. Directions These include: @6:30 Part of the direction we need when dealing with information is how to filter our and absorb the truly useful stuff so that we don’t get overwhelmed and experience decision fatigue - basically the problem of having so much information that we are paralyzed, unable to act. Note: To continue with the "recipe" metaphor, I think this would have been a good place to discuss "sifting, paring," and other ways of "prepping" information so that we can be sure it is useful to us before making the effort to move it into long-term memory. Finding could curators, checking sources, using algorithm based applications like Zite are all potential approaches here. While Maria indicates early that we need to focus in on high quality information, I think the talk would benefit from a bit more guidance on how to do that before discussing how to move information into long-term memory. Re-engagment (@07:10). Discussion of Ebbinghaus‘ research and the need for repeatedly re-engaging with information over time to help prevent forgetting. Some level of memorization is necessary for truly learning. "Just Google it" is not an answer because you have to know enough to know what to Google in the first place - not to mention to know how to assess and use what you find. @08:20 - To really learn, you need to re-engage with old ideas in new contexts - i.e., with the new information and experiences you have accumulated - to "innovate" with it, to have those "a-ha!" moments. Reflection (@08:35). Writing is one of the great, time-honored way to engage in reflection. Blogging is a an excellent option. Writing about it enables us to synthesize information. Maria notes that this often leads to you discovering your own stuff and re-reading. Other ways: Taking a shower! Swimming laps, etc. Peaceful moments of relaxation. Free your brain to wander. Adding Spices (@10:30). Basically, social learning. Things like book groups, a weekly dinner date - actual physical community. Or, Twitter. Facebook, and other social. Places to get "social cues" that encourage us, directly or indirectly, to re-engage and that also give us new resources. Of course, for these activities to be truly effective, you have to cultivate the right connections. Cook Time (@12:45). Discussion of the 10,000 hours concept. Maria notes that a college degree requires between 2,500 and 4,500 hours of study, and this time is not all specific to one topic - most students only get around 1,000 - 3,000 hours on a specific topic - which highlights the importance of continued learning after college, and even well beyond grad school. @13:30 -Discussion of the process of writing a dissertation as a sort of "ultimate free range learning experience." But only 30-60% of PhD students complete their dissertation within 7 years. These are people who have demonstrated they are good learners, and yet are unable to complete a free range learning project. Certainly the prospects for less accomplished learners don’t look good! @14:40 - Maria notes that, in writing her own dissertation, she took the approach of always "focusing on the next hour." She leveraged her social network to tweet about what she was learning, basically a play-by-play way to hold herself accountable through interaction with her social network. @15:10 - One way to ensure that learning goals are met is to set a challenge for yourself that is hard to postpone. (To extend the "recipe" metaphor a bit, this would be like knowing you have guests arriving at 6:00 for dinner.) Provide just enough pressure to "cook" your ideas, but not enough to be negatively stressful and counter-productive. This TEDx talk was a challenge for her, she notes. Another example might be buying a non-refundable ticket to Spain if you want to learn Spanish. Without the pressure and structure of an educational system, you must provide that pressure for yourself. @ 17:05 "Free range does not mean free ride. Learning is hard. It is hard inside of school and it is hard outside of school. There is nothing that is going to make learning painless." But having recipe helps. Maria makes a final plea to not throw away the educational system just yet and suggests that if potential PhD students are not able to successfully engage in free range learning then maybe most of us are not ready to be effective free range learners. We need the support of educational structures. (Though I would argue that those educational structures need to do a much better job of empowering students to become free range learners. This is a point I’ve made in various places - like in this interview about Preparing Adults for Lifelong Learning with The EvoLLLution.) Jeff P.S. - If you enjoyed this post and video, you might also enjoy: What’s Involved in Being a Successful Self-Directed Learner 15 Ways of the Successful Self-Directed Learner Finally, you may also want to check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner. Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post What’s It Take to Be an Effective Free Range Learner? appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog. Related posts: Free Kindle Version of 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner - Free Kindle Version This Week

Note: Registrations for this free online course close on Friday, February 8 - so sign up now! I noticed a post on this free MIT course, Learning Creative Learning, over on Lifehacker. It looks like it could be of interest to a significant slice of Mission to Learn readers, so I wanted to go ahead and throw up a quick post about it. You can find out more and sign up over on the the MIT Learning Creative Learning site. JTC Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Free Online Course: Learning Creative Learning appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog. Related posts: Get creative and solve problems by busting these 6 perceptual blocks Free Kindle Version of 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner - Free Kindle Version This Week