Studying Tips

Something I cooked up for student orientation week...

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12 Brain Rules

John Medina's latest book, Brain Rules, has some intriguing points (esp. about sleep). The website has more than enough info; no harm getting the book, though.

Breaking it down

You can teach the rules, give the information or make known the principles - THEN get your audience to apply it.

OR

You can tell your audience to observe, discuss, try and err, experiment, converse - THEN get them to summarise the rules, categorise the information and chart the principles.

Emergent Learning?

I shared the principles with a pastor-friend and told him to apply it in his sermons. Guess his response?

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Core Rigidities from IBM to Churches

(Something from my MBA discussions - I couldn't resist inserting churches into it)

Core rigidities are the dark side of core competencies. They’re our strengths left hardened into anti-innovative and anti-adaptive inertia-creating millstones around the organization’s neck.

Firms need to be on the lookout for this negative transformation because the consequences can be substantial:

• Sales and revenue suffer on account of incompatibility with the way the world or community is changing; branding becomes archaic, no re-invention or re-imagination of the organization takes place
• Competitors which are more flexible will overtake the firm
• Partners and alliances (and even suppliers) may have trouble working with the firm if they have adapted
• Rigidities may revolve around (or be supported by) selected individuals and these may have over time become very senior people; without checking this trend early, it may become very hard to do so in the future given the high-level of seniority behind the rigidities

By definition, a core rigidity would go against the trend of technological advancement. Thus, our core competencies need to be continually upgraded to ensure it doesn’t run behind or fit awkwardly with the latest applications and innovations.

Major organisations/institutions which’ve had their competences become rigidities include:

• IBM and General Electric (both seemed overly impressed with their size and market-share, until Louis Gerstner and Jack Welch shook them up respectively)
• American Express (hung on too tighly to the charge-card concept)
• Microsoft (O/S dominance ‘rigiditized’ them to more important developments, e.g. the mastery of information a’la Google)
• various Ivy League universities (unwillingness to fully embrace e-learning), and even...
• mainstream traditional churches (the ‘fortress’ of their conservative theology makes it very slow in adapting to emergent thinking and culture)

Beyond Discernment

Scan through the brochures all  around promoting theological workshop, seminar, forum, etc. Tell me I'm wrong, but the objectives of these sessions are almost always about 'raising a generation of discerning believers'.

Discernment. Knowing truth from falsehood (and being able to detect the latter even when lodged within the former). Being sensitive to the message of God, knowledgeable of correct Biblical exegesis (or at least know when it's veering off an accepted trajectory).

Discernment. This word virtually encapsulates 'Christian thinking' in some circles today. All other words are mere variations of this one, which is to say that 'Christian thinking' is about ONE thing only: Knowing the truth.

Sigh. That's the plan. To create men and women who go around being able to point out what's wrong and right with what people are saying about God and the world (including, yes, those who use the Bible).

Honestly, it depresses me. 'Raising a generation of discerning believers', IMO, is much less exciting-missional-inspiring-stimulating than nurturing: 

• creative/innovative believers
• explorative/investigative believers
• curious believers
• believers interested in learning about other faiths/worldviews, their data-perspectives, their arguments and their networks of convictions? (okay, I confess I've seen this on one or two brochures before, but these are almost all restricted to Roman Catholic-organised inter-faith dialogues?)
• believers able to accept paradoxes and synthesize multiple (even contradictory) ones

Of course I'm all for discernment (who isn't?), but if I didn't know the Christian community better, I might start to feel we absolutely abhor creative thinking about theology. Do we?

Polling e-learning and Christian education

Want to participate in a poll on e-learning and Christian education at my church's edu-blog?

Learning 2.0

Was glad to know that Bob's also into online-learning. This is quite an encouragement, especially since I was informed (only a fortnight ago) by the rep of a major local institution that Malaysians still need lots of convincing before they associate 'online education' with 'real' learning.

(That institution, however, has taken a bold step in obtaining exclusive rights to market the U21 Global MBA, the only 100% online MBA program represented at the World MBA Tour at Westin recently).

My own take is that, whilst 'offline' forms of learning should still be provided, for schools to NOT have an online element (or to not begin preparing their students for Web-education) is to act and operate as if the Internet hasn't been invented yet.

Some thoughts on how an e-education should look like (and I'm not excluding theology and Christian education here!):

• All lessons must be available online (like those of MIT, USQ, Open University, etc.)
  
  
  
• Lessons must take various forms (text, multi-media, etc.), soaking in all the glory of Web 2.0,  with the implication that Library 2.0 has to appear sooner or later
  
  
  
• Lecturer and student contribution to the learning should become near indistinguishable and learning takes a cyber-constructive (or connectivist) form i.e. my education 'emerges' from the conversations, the input, the debates, the projects, etc. No connections, no learning.
  
  
  
• E-discussions and e-collaborations are a central part of assessment - none of that 3-hour do-or-die-in-an-exam-hall crapola! The idea of 'closed-book' assessments must be banished from educational vocabulary once and for all! (except for low-impact formative self-assessments...)
  
  
  
• The 'system' should allow students to work and learn independently of time and space - one loner on the sandy beaches of Jamaica should be able to team-up with three executives in the concrete jungle of Raffles City. 

What else can/should we add? 

(Note: U21 Global presently offers all the above elements but something tells me we're only scratching the surface here...once the magic of cloud-computing, parallel computing and Web 3.0 really take off, heck, we'll be like fish in outer space).

Going Local

So class is dry (or drying up). Life is being sucked out of everyone. Immediate counter-boredom serums include: stories, images, physical activity, etc.

One item in 'etc.' : Speaking in a vernacular language, the more colloquial the better.

Make the switch from, "Advertising must be targeted at market segments", to "Plan to get the FU-YOH out of your clients!" and a huge percentage of students rev back to life.

Slowly sing a popular folk song (in the original language) and you'll sense the class hum back from the dead.

Mimick an everyday exchange in the market between, say, a Chinese 'aunty' and a Malay nasi lemak seller, and you'll be back in business in no time.

If contextualisation is the key to teaching (and it probably is), then local dialects are sure to put the syok back into learning. Itulah best.

Learning@LHC

I've been spending some time beefing up my church's edu-blog. Check it out?

Not By Preaching Alone

If there's one continual rant I'll make (until the Rapture or otherwise), it's the sheer lack of learner-centered education in churches. There's still a lot of "I-Talk-You-Listen", one-way monologuing.

Which is why perhaps all pastors and preachers may wish to try the below exercises. What's the best way of ensuring the trainees below learn well? Tip: It's not by preaching!

1. Trainees : 10 young trainee managers. Learning outcome : To practise good interviewing techniques

2. Trainees : 12 trainee motor vehicle engineers near the end of their training. Learning outcome: To apply the wide range of skills learned during the previous two years

3. Trainees: 4 classes of day-release learners in four simultaneous 1 ½ hour classes. Learning outcome: To become familiar with the first part of an eight-week module in World of Work on ‘Technology and Society’

4. Trainees: 14 adults. Learning outcome: To apply certain general principles of production management and gain increased awareness of the complexities of actual problems

5. Trainees: 15, 16 - 18 year olds. Learning outcome: To consolidate information received in a preceding talk given by a visiting speaker, on AIDS

6. Trainees: 16 learners on Basic DIY course. Learning outcome: To make simple shelves for the home

7. Trainees: 10 learners on a catering course. Learning outcome: To apply the skills of cooking, waiting and associated tasks in a realistic situation

8. Trainees: 14 shop stewards. Learning outcome: To understand the techniques of negotiation and bargaining

9. Trainees: 10 social workers. Learning outcome: To understand how people behave in times of stress

10. Trainees: 8 trainee managers. Learning outcome: To order their problems and tasks in priority so that they can decide when and how to tackle them

Student-Centered Education?

When is a topic always interesting? When do students never fail to pay attention or be 'present'?

When it's about them.

• Does the environment reflect their (colour and deco) culture?
• Are the materials related to their likings and media preferences?
• Have the learning outcomes been set with their collaboration? Do they agree on the relevance to their lives (as opposed to some pre-set curriculum)?
• Has the instructional stimulus been fine-tuned to connect intensely with their feelings and lives?
• Has the method of assessment been agreed upon by them? Can they assess each other?

It's not about ensuring that a resounding Yes is given to all of the above. Hardly.

The critical thing is: Have we asked questions like the above? Are we listening to the unasked ones half-crying out from our students/learners, regarding their education?

Bullet-Points on Christian Education

The Church's philosophy of education has always been :

• mono-directional (one to many)
• concerned with truth/certainty
• focused on abstracts and post-worldly issues

The effects of these are:

• Christians remain dependent on the pastor (and his views!)
• Christians are VERY uncomfortable in the face of ambiguity and pluralism
• Christians feel they have to 'fight' for the truth all the time (which is often counter to learning of the rich and fun kind)
• Christians remain 'irrelevant' because our theology is so 'stratospherical' and we have no resources to make an impact on the world

Therefore, we need to transform Christian education to become more (though not solely):

• multi-directional (many to many)
• concerned with practice/service/diversity
• focused on hands-on / high-tech / this-worldly issues

This will hopefully create:

• Christians more concerned about learning and exploration rather than 'knowing the correct things to believe'
• Christians more concerned with 'winning friends' than 'winning arguments'
• Christians more concerned about practical service/giving rather than abstract hair-splitting
• Christians more in-tuned with what's happening in and with the world and constructing Christ-inspired solutions

Learning Pyramid Rant

Many educational institutions at least know about the pyramid and are actively seeking to push their education 'downwards' (even as they continually battle the tempation to do nothing but lecture).

But do you not get the feeling that churches don't want WANT to reach the 'bottom' of the pyramid? We're barely at 'Practice By Doing', aren't we?

And what kinds of 'Demonstrations' are we providing?

The Bane of Learning

I made a remark during a mamak chat session recently. I said, "Christianity is Socialism."

Although it was in (half?)-jest, the responses were an expected mixture of shock, get-outta-heres', duh-ism and the like.

A senior member of the group then said I have a tendency to speak in unqualified terms and recommended that proper explanations must follow.

And of course I agree this is necessary - if one was teaching individuals who were incapable of exploration, self-learning, evaluation and networking with other learners. In a word, if we're dealing with small children.

The obsession with providing answers is a bane of learning. Unless you're teaching prep or junior school, it really should be the last of your priorities. When you give people full-blown answers, people stop thinking. But when you provoke them, a new journey can begin.

So, yeah, I'd join the Socialists because they best reflect Christian values. Go figure.

Self as Data

The class was very silent today. Our facilitator then upped the ante by using the example of our power-down mode to teach Action Research.

1. Define the area of investigation: Why are we so quiet?
2. Define the mode of investigation: Ask the students!
3. Obtain the data: She asked the students
4. Interpret the data: The answers were grouped according to whether the factor lay in the students, the facilitator herself, the subject, the environment, etc.
5. Recommend action.

It's not the method itself. It's about using the particular scenario as a way of teaching the method, employing the present context as data for introducing the tool.

Learning is never so motivated as when it's about one's self.

How Does Your Learning Chart Look Like?

I recall an interview I had with Deloitte Consulting many years back.

This interview was memorable because my potential boss (who never became my boss, *smile*) asked me what I've learnt throughout the past 4 years. And to prove his seriousness, he charted it year by year on the board whilst I spoke.

It looked something like this:

Year 1: MS Office, Project Management Office,

Year 2: Data Conversion, Testing, Balanced Scorecard, MS Project,

Year 3: Call Center Software Functionality, Training, etc.

Needless to say, your chart doesn't have to look like a brochure for an I.T. software cycle training program. But - if the phrase "knowledge worker" or "value-creator" means anything - it should exist (or be easily created) and should show some form of progression and variety.

What have you learnt over the years? Note it down. Examine its breadth and depth. And, best of all, plot the future.

What's measured gets done, and done better over time.

Let Them Learn What You Do

In connectivism, decision-making is itself part of the learning process. This point could translate in to a few useful scenarios.

If your want your customers to understand more about your product or company (as a way of, say, building trust), allow them to participate in the kinds of decisions you make.

E.g. a news organisation could perhaps let its viewers/readers rank the importance of news headlines. This would be especially important if the company is reporting on 'foreign news' and needs some local-community insight into what's deemed important. Local newspapers may also conduct a periodic ranking to get customers' feedback on the importance given to various topics.

Already in education, some programs (e.g. International Baccalaureate) allow students to collaborate with teachers on what issues to work on over the semester. It usually follows that benchmarks and standards for assessment will also be agreed upon.

Part collaboration, part feedback - all learning and goodwill.

How else could we apply this into our business, community, church, etc.?