I have been thinking about the speed in words per minute of our audio training components for people whose English is not their native tongue. This is an increasing probability in our globalized culture.
 
One ESL website uses this rubric for speed of comprehension:
From very slow to fast is 116 words per minute to 201.
 
I then analyzed four speakers we used in a recent Articulate presentation: (dividing the number of words in the script by the total length of presentation)
 
As you can see we are ranging from very slow to fast! The funny thing is that I didn’t hear the difference in speed until I did the analysis. For me it is a call to action to try to slow down my audio which is a challenge because I want this to fit into 1 minute

Suppose we could pick only 5 verbs that would universally help us learn socially. What would they be? Let me propose some and you then tell me how they can be improved.

• Imagine. Instead of telling students what they should learn, help them imagine what they would want to learn. Help them see the cathedral in the rock pile and then let them loose.
• Connect. What happens if 2 or 3 imaginations really get in sync? People who are really willing to do something about it. Then perhaps we see the truth in Sam Walton’s saying: “Our best ideas come from clerks and stockboys”.
• Risk. Ideas plus connection must lead to risk. We must try stuff. T.S Elliot said ”Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
• Reflect. Then we need to think about what we just experienced. By proactive reflection we can avoid the bitterness of which Confucius spoke: By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
• Celebrate. Celebration makes us like children where we are reminded that our hands are full of games, dreams and fantasies. When we celebrate what was learned it becomes easier to imagine what comes next.

Imagine, Connect, Risk, Reflect, Celebrate. What do you propose if you could pick only 5 universal verbs for learning?

I have been thinking a lot about social learning, what we could call the learning that comes from the use of social media and the impact it has on the job, in our service organizations and our social networks:
 
“Social learning is not just the technology of social media [but it]… connects people in ways that make learning a joy…that interest and energize us…. Social learning thrives in a culture of service and wonder. It is inspired by leaders, enabled by technology and ignited by opportunities that have only recently unfolded.”Marcia Conner
 
 
There are things happening that will release people to learn and connect in new ways which we are only now discovering as we go along. It will be interesting to see how this will affect other forms of learning.
 
So when you use Twitter, LinkedIn ,Facebook or whatever, observe how you are learning, what works, how you are becoming more selective and what release you in learning new things.
 

http://www.fastcompany.com/1546824/where-social-learning-thrives

The other day two squirrels got into our house and started raising havoc. They knocked over plants, ran around, chewed in the walls and all of us were getting desperate to get them outside. At one point the nervous tension was just too much for them and one of them chewed the laces off my shoe.

I was glad it was an old pair and not the leather couch but I marvelled how they just had to do something that really didn’t solve their problem at all.

So here is my point about learning. Sometimes we who construct learning exercises just have to get the participants to do something so we get them to chew the shoes instead of solving the real problem. Busy work. Hoop jumping. Fill-in-the-obvious.

I want learning exercises that help me: try out new ideas and think out-loud; practice the skills I need to learn; connect me to others, reflect on my progress and inspire me to continue the change process.

I did get the squirrels out alive and I hope we both learned our lesson.

There is a tool called “the Rule of the Power of Five” designed to help get one’s Butt into Gear.
It is for all the supervisors who want to get their employees to do something.
It is for all the wives who want to get their husbands going on a project.
It is for those without work who have given up looking for a job.
It is for teenagers to get out of bed on time and to pick up their clothes.
Actually I don’t know if the Rule of the Power of 5 can do any of those things. But it does help me when I feel paralyzed because I do not know what to do next.
The Rule of the Power of 5 is designed according to the following specifications:
It needs to fit on 1 page, it needs to be flexible but not be too painful to use, it needs to be useful even if only some of the questions are answered , and most of all it needs to get a person moving!
Where are you stuck on something and can’t get going on a learning project? Do you know how you will feel if you try the Rule of the Power of 5?

Now we will look at ‘WHY” the “the Rule of the Power of Five” works as simple way to generate ideas for learning solutions.
This works because five is a very good number.

• It is enough to stretch our thinking.
• It is enough to practice the art of continually choosing as part of the learning process.
• It is enough to easily keep track of our progress. (But not too high goal that we can’t get started.)
• It is enough to encourage continuous improvement. (At any time, you or others can substitute any of the 5 elements for something better. The method is constructed with planned flexibility so we can learn our way through change.)
• And five is simple enough to build learner agency instead of thinking it is someone else’s job to figure it out.

There is a link in the last slide to a worksheet for the Rule of the Power of Five, you can download and use. Your feedback is welcome.

Hands They are as unique for each of us as our personality.
There is a learning method using our hands that I call “the Rule of the Power of Five”. It is It is surprisingly effective though simple.
Identify something you want to learn. You could phrase it as a problem statement of something that needs to be solved. (You could suggest 5 problems and pick the most urgent one to start if you are having trouble getting going.)
Now list 5 things you already know about this problem.
List 5 questions you would like answered about this.
Find 5 possible resources that would help. Include people and information.
List 5 possible activities that would get you one step further in your learning.
Now you have very good material to start working from. Develop a specific plan based on this collection of ideas, try it and then reflect on the experience. Repeat using the Rule of the Power of Five with the advanced problem or another one on your list. The Rule of the Power of Five can get us started on managing our own learning

This is my 100th 1 Minute Learner Blog. It has taken me over 3 years to get this far since I did the first one: To learn is to live. Gord Jones said if I made a 100 blog entries I would really have learned something in the process. So now I want to ask myself what have I learned this far?
1. Life is a continuous learning opportunity: many lessons unexpected, some unsolicited, but all are valuable. While we can use big words to talk about learning, if even a baby can learn, so can we!
2. I am surrounded by mentors. We can really learn from other people. The dedications I have made for each 1 ML are heart felt. I have so many people unmentioned and my words so inadequate.
3. There is beauty in learning. As I ponder learning, I see treasure, I see art. I see wonder.
4. There is also agony in learning. We hold it all with open hands.

So let’s keep learning.

In the Power of Pull, authors Hagel and Seely Brown declare that the only sustainable competitive advantage is the rate at which an organization can learn. This means in our globalized economy, learning is not an optional, easily-cut luxury.
It must deliver just-in-time answers while continually improving itself as it adapts to change.
What applies to organizations, also applies to us as individuals.
We can’t afford not to learn. Unless we want to automatically be disadvantaged. The problem isn’t that we will make mistakes or won’t know everything. We will do both.
The error is in stopping learning or thinking we know enough so we don’t have to learn.
Learning is not an investment. It is our survival.

Happy learning,
Jim

This morning my son Dan phoned me. He was late for a meeting and his brakes were frozen. The car couldn’t move forward.
While he was trying to push the car and see if he could jolt the brake lose, I started searching the Internet. One workable suggestion I found in a chat forum was to hold a hair dryer on the brake drum to warm it up. Had we not found an answer we could have appealed to a larger audience through Twitter. At any rate Dan tried it along with prayer and 20 minutes later he was on his way.

This is a simple example of social learning. The answer came between the two of us in a social interaction supported by online technical access, our combined evaluation of the options and immediate application of the ideas. All this while he was in Winnipeg and I was near Toronto. Social learning ‘just in time` and at its best.