This post and the later part(s) (I'll post later) are designed to accompany the visuals (below) from my session at the AITD 2012 conference. The posts are more or less the words that went along with my presentation, adding depth and detail to the quick succession of images in the presentation. My advice though is to begin by going through the presentation visuals, then after having a look through, come back to the following text to help you get a broader picture of the overall messages and ideas.
Too often L&D seems to be stuck in a box labelled 'Formal Learning'. As participants for my session entered the room they were met with the short video/images of the man breaking out of the box and seeing a whole world of new idas flying by and towards the future!
No prizes for guessing that the man in the box is a typical L&D professional (in fact it used to be me!). At the conference I then introduced myself, outlining a bit of my L&D background and how I'd moved past being the 'man in the box'. I explained that this presentation is really two things,
a summary of my own journey as my eyes were opened to the benefits of the design thinking process for learning
an introduction to Design Thinking and benefits for L&D and organisational performance
Design
What does Design mean to you? Spend a moment or two considering this question. I asked the audience to do just that and then canvassed the audience for some of their ideas - a good mix of traditional ideas of design as being about objects and others who focussed on design for learning. But let's be clear here, to define design is really pretty simple and I like the quote from Marty Neumeier's book, The Designful Company.
I really wanted to encourage the audience to see learning design as just a subset of design generally and doing do provides us with an opportunity to borrow tools from the design profession and then mix them with traditional L&D tools.
Design Thinking
Let's not complicate things here, Design Thinking is really just thinking lke a designer. (but first we need to understand how designers think and work!)
I used a part of Tim Brown's TED talk urging Designers to Think Big to link my presentation to a recurring theme throughout the conference, the changing landscape of workplace learning and changing roles for L&D professionals. (I also referenced Tim's book Change by Design, a great starting point in learning more about Design Thinking) I emphasised that in changing workplaces the flexibility and creativity underpinning Design Thinking provides an approach that allows Learning Designers to be more creative and adaptable to changes in workplaces or learning needs.
Above are three tenets of Design Thinking. I'll focus on two of these, Human Centred and Co-creative; and let's replace 'Human' with 'Learner'. Design Thinking for learning puts learners' needs at the front, that's what we design for, helping workers to do their jobs more effectively today and into the future. So, in order to become to be Learner Centred we are now able to borrow some of design's research tools to learn more about our learners, to collect their stories. For without an in depth understanding of actual learners, their environment and work habits how can we expect learning tools to meet actual needs? (I will go into more detail on these research tools and approaches in a later post)
This sounds pretty logical really, we must undestand the learner in order to design learning. But what about co-creative? Well, now let's go a step further! Where possible the best learning solutions will be designed when the creative process has included ideas and input from future learners. So, Learning Designers do not sit in an office, they go out into the real world to see learners and understand their needs....and then they work with future learners to begin the creative process of designing learning solutions...the work is collaborative. Co-creation also moves L&D away from being a 'pusher' or fountain of knowledge and instead gives learners a voice so that they can 'pull' the knowledge and skills they need to perform more effectively.
This picture of the design process above is one reason why the beginning of the design process may seem a bit messy, because by including more voices early in the design process there is a less direct, more messy, pathto a solution. But it is this very messiness that allows us to end up with learning solutions that are more likely to meet real performance needs in real workplaces. The lesson I emphasised here was to hold back from solution mode..... I know, we all like to be seen to solve problems quickly..... however we should spend time in the messy zone, looking at problems from different perspectives.
Where to from here?
I hope you're getting interested by now. It can be a little hard to get across in writing the energy levels from the presentation and even the full range of information covered. I will end this post here, about half way through the presentation, but I will continue later on. From here we move on to looking at why learning designers must remember that it's all about the delivery, later I'll look at design tools and design frameworks before linking Design Thinking more specifically to L&D, to the formal/informal learning debate and finally to making a case for creativity, innovative thinking and a stronger design mentality generally within the L&D profession.
Just over a month ago I was given the opportunity to present a session on 'Learning and Design Thinking' at the Australian Institute of Training and Development's 2012 conference in Sydney, Australia. I structured the session by following my own introduction to Design Thinking over the last 5 or so years, whilst at the same time providing attendees with a background to Design Thinking ideas and methods that can support innovative Learning Design. In the session I covered broad ground however the content was specifically designed for the audience and the occasion - the real aim being to encourage innovative thinking in learning design.
The image above is part of a small animation that played as people entered the room, as it ran I explained that many L&D live in a world of formal training and workshops and that this session was about encouraging us all to look up out of the formal box to consider alternative learning design tools and approaches. The words streaming up the page were small 'tasters' representing some of the ideas and influences that would be covered in the session. These ideas floating past also encourage us to look up from how we do things today and be more open to the different ideas and approaches that are all around us. In this month's 'Training and Development' magazine you can find a brief article that touches on some of the ideas from my presentation. I will post the full conference Prezi presentation on this blog next week along with accompanying notes.
So, what's next on the Learning and Design Thinking agenda? For me Design Thinking is an ever evolving interest. I have already integrated many design tools into my own learning design methods and expect that over the next 12 months I will further refine this. As I discover new ideas and approaches I will continue to post articles that highlight these and outline their benefits to the learning design process.
Another year comes towards to an end and its been another year of great reading for anyone with an interest in learning. Once again I have read from a wide range of areas, all with something to add to how I think of learning. Below you'll find my top recommendations for the year along with a short summary of what I got out of reading each book. I haven't put these in a top ten order this year, there were so many contenders for the number one spot! Do you think there is a standout number one? Let me know.
PresentationZen Design - Garr Reynolds
Probably no real surprise for anyone who has read my blog, I really like the way Garr Reynolds has brought a sense of design to slideware. PresentationZen Design is his follow up to the slide-show stopping Presentation Zen of 2008. It is really an expansion of the design section from the original book, adding a good deal of extra information and ideas along the way. I do not think there can be any doubt that design has an impact upon how learners interact with learning materials, this book is a real help for those who would like to make sure that the learning tools that they design are engaging and effective for learners. Oh, and one extra tip, Garr has his third book, The Naked Presenter about to hit the shelves, I'm sure it will be a great way to start my reading for next year!
resonate - Nancy Duarte
The power of story telling in learning is enormous, we all tend to remember information when its woven into a meaningful and engaging story. Nancy Duarte's second book, resonate, is subtitled 'present stories that transform audiences' . I found that I couldn't put the book down, there is a new idea and lesson on every page. The book mixes things up with a series of illuminating examples of great speeches and great communicators - not all of them expected, they range from Steve Jobs and Martin Luther King Jr to Mozart and Alfred Hitchcock. From each of her examples Nancy draws lessons for the reader and illustrates these story lessons through the use of a 'sparkline' that is a visual way of showing how a speech is constructed. A good deal of the work that I do is really about weaving stories for learners and I found that the book has provided many ideas to improve what I do.
Change by Design - Tim Brown
Change by Design just missed last years's list (I hadn't quite finished it) For those who mightn't know, Tim Brown is the CEO of the design firm IDEO who, in this book shares his ideas on how design thinking can be used within organisations to drive innovation.
The book presents through a range of stories/case studies and provides glimpses of the creative/design process used within IDEO. 'Design Thinking' has (to me) real applications to learning design and there are enough good ideas and new approaches within this book to make it well worth a read!
Drive - Dan Pink
Drive is an easily readable book, crammed with examples and anecdotes, Dan Pink looks to build a new way of looking at motivation. He argues that the established (old) ways of motivating, through what he terms, 'carrots and sticks' don't work anymore (except in particular circumstances) In short carrots encourage us to do something for a reward, sticks can be used to punish unwanted behaviours. Businesses and indeed learning uses both these approaches, bonuses for performance, A+ for excellence etc. Pink argues that there are better motivators in today's world and these are the trio of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Autonomy - we like to be self directed (informal learning), Mastery - we like to be good at things, Purpose - we'll work harder at things when we can see the bigger purpose. A good book and well worth the read!
Switch - Chip and Dan Heath
Made to Stick was Chip and Dan Heath's first book and in fact a key driver to me beginning this blog. So when they released their second book Switch this year I had it on pre-order from Amazon as soon as it was listed! This book is all about how to change, yourself and/or others. I won't go into detail here, except to say that they provide an interesting and usable approach to encouraging change, using a three step approach - Step 1 - Direct the Rider; Step 2 - Motivate the Elephant: Step 3 - Shape the Path. Now these might sound a little unusual, but the model is interesting and as learning is essentially about change, from what we know and do now to what we could do be, this book and it's model for change provides some new ways of thinking about things!
Better than Bullet Points - Jane Bozarth
I'd been meaning to read Better than Bullet Points for a while but only got around to it a few months ago now. As you might have noticed through my reading of PresentationZen and Slide:ology I have an interest in improving the use of Powerpoint and other slideware in presentations and learning environments. Powerpoint however is also used as a starting place for the development of elearning. Unfortunately a good deal of elearning is actually really e-reading and I was keen to see what Jane had to say about using Powerpoint more effectively in the development of elearning courses. Put simply, the book is a great resource for anyone who will be using Powerpoint in the development of elearning courses. The book focuses upon the effective design of elearning first and the use of Powerpoint second. Throughout the book and the included CD-ROM there are piles of practical examples and case studies. An essential addition to your bookshelf!
The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Not a standard learning text by any means! The Black Swan is part philosophy, part economics, challenging your preconceptions and assumptions. I'm sure NNT (as the author refers to himself) would question many of my book choices here as many of them use limited examples and case studies to help to provide proofs for their ideas. NNT isn't a fan of generalising from limited observations, he's an empiricist who probably can only be certain of what he has seen himself. Why is it titled The Black Swan? Simple, for thousands of years (in fact forever) people in Europe would describe swans as being white, that was just a given. Just as the sky is blue, swans were white. But in Australia swans aren't white, they're black. Much of what we assume to be truths are really only theories waiting to be disproved, waiting for a black swan. What has it got to do with learning? Well here's one angle. traditional formal learning is about 'teaching' accepted practice, how to do things, what is right - it teaches what could be termed White Swan knowledge. Informal learning on the other hand doesn't have a set curriculum, it is flexible and ready for Black Swans. A challenging read, best done when you can get some quiet time to think, it also messes with your head a bit, but the outcome is a new way of looking at things and that is always good!
The New Social Learning - Marcia Conner and Tony Bingham
I read this book and said to myself The New Social Learning is the best book I've read for ages, and it is! It looks at how social media can help to create a whole new platform for learning within businesses. This quote from the book begins to explain the book's focus, "In large part, innovation and learning comes from the little moments between the activities we've previously thought of as 'real' work." Social media provides a way of sharing these 'little moments' it is a way of increasing collaboration within organisations, of breaking down silos of finding solutions to new problems in real time. This book is about what is happening in many businesses today and will continue to grow, people are social creatures and social media provides another avenue for people to do what they do best, to learn from each other.
Social Media for Trainers - Jane Bozarth
Social Media for Trainers is a really helpful book for trainers who would like a new addition to their suite of learning methods/tool. I won't go into how social media can be used for learning, Jane's book however provides a series of practical tips, case studies and ideas that trainers can use to support learning. Social media looked at includes Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, Wikis and a bunch of other tools. Whether you're across all these tools or not, this book is a great resources filled with really good ideas for using the new social media tools to improve your learners' experience.
Amazon Kindle
OK, not a book and mine's still on it's way however I already know that it will be worth it. I've been using Kindle on my iPad and that's good, but having all my books with me in a lightweight reader will be great and I can get a new book right away without having to wait for delivery from the US. They're cheap too, mine's going to be the wifi/3G model, $189 Australian, I'll save this in 6 months by buying ebooks instead of 'real' books. I don't like writing in my books, (just a hangup of mine) but in the Kindle I'll be able to bookmark and highlight text to my heart's content, great for helping me find what I'm looking for. (BTW why a Kindle and an iPad? I can never get to use the iPad, everyone wants to use it at once!)
So, another great year of reading, ideas challenged and horizons opened. Looking forward to 2011 now!
A couple of weeks ago I flew up to Sydney for a few days to attend the Australian Institute of Training and Development's 2010 conference. I'd seen the program 6 months earlier and thought that there were a few sessions that looked pretty interesting. I'll give you a bit of a summary in this post and will provide a link to my Twitter feed for the conference, I think that will help to flesh out how I found some of the sessions! I'm writing a brief post on the use of Twitter at the conference as my next post - a sneak peak (hardly any people used it!)
Now I won't give a run down on every session I attended but instead will walk you through my 5 favourite keynotes/workshops and give you an overview of my impressions and the key lessons/ideas I walked away with.
So here are my top 5, in no particular order!
1. Preconference workshop with Janet Clarey
I was looking forward to Janet Clarey's workshop! I write a blog, use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc but what did I know about Social Media really? I use it a fair bit and speak with business clients about how they can use social media to promote learning, however to be honest I still feel like a newbie with much of this!
In a room with about 30 others spread across 5 tables Janet walked us all through different social tools that are available and how they could be used for learning. To be honest I was a bit surprised that so many of the attendees (generally in-house L&D managers) used so few of the tools. The session was very hands on, with a couple of laptops per table so that we could all get in and use different tools. Tools covered included, wikis, blogging and microblogs, social bookmarking and networking, rss feeds and Google services.
Participants were shown in real time the usefulness of much of the technologies (it certainly wasn't a lecture with only one-way information transfer!) Indeed Janet quickly found Jay Cross and Gary Woodill via skype to provide some further input into the session and answer questions!
As the day unfolded I found that I was actually a bit further along with all this than I thought, Janet had even seen my blog! :) As I said however, I was really surprised by how little many of the businesses represented used these technologies at all, let alone for learning!
I found the session excellent and probably a good model for workshops within businesses considering the use of such tools, or who are just interested in finding out what they may have to offer.
Key question: Why aren't more business using social media as much as they could to enhance organisational learning?
2. Live Idea Generation with Amantha Imber.
I've read and blogged around the topic of creativity a bit, so this workshop by Amantha Imber, had stood out on the program as one that looked pretty interesting, I was right! Amantha is a great presenter, energetic and passionate - her business, Inventium is well worth a look! The session was fun, hands on and practical at the same time - perfectly pitched for a conference audience. Amantha ran us through 6 idea generation methods, they were:
Newsflashing
Fat Chance
Shifting
Assumption Crushing
What would X do?
Mag-a-holic
To get a better idea of these have a look via the links Amantha has provided.
The results of the group's "Newsflashing" activity
Summary, an excellent session!
3. E-Learning is what? with Dr Allison Rossett
This was another session I'd being looking forward to having bought and read Allison's book (First Things Fast) a few months ago. Dr Rossett began by posing the question, E-Learning is what? You read the question and the temptation is to answer, 'it is X!' But it is a good question for as Allison said, "we all see ELearning differently" and in fact, "there is hardly any agreement on what ELearning is".
Now stop and think for a second, ask yourself the same question, what is E-Learning and what isn't? When you begin to get into it you soon realise that so many types of learning are covered by the umbrella term of E-Learning that to measure the effectiveness of ELearning generally is very difficult.
Unfortunately, as Janet Clarey tweeted during the session, too often E-Learning is seen sometimes as the 'bastard child of Powerpoint and HTTP", when in reality the breadth of learning methods that fall under the heading of E-Learning is extremely broad.
An interesting set of 'stats' were Top 5 and Bottom 5 uses of E-Learning.
Top 5 E-Learning practices
1. Tests
2. Classroom Computers
3. Online Tutorials
4. Visuals with audio
5 Scenario-based learning
5 least-used Elearning Practices
1. Online Discussions
2. Human e-coaching
3. Realistic '2nd life(ish)' learning
4. Virtual classrooms
5. Mobile learning
Allison also mentioned an excellent Australian Journal, "Journal of Applied Research in Workplace E-learning", well worth registering and reading! A key message from Allison was that E-Learning can be so many things, as she describes it, E-Learning is like a "quiver of arrows for you to select from according to need"
During the conference generally I was struck by the seemingly low uptake of E-Learning generally in organisations and 'newer' forms of E-Learning in particular. Allison touched on this with her 5 top barriers to E-Learning uptake, they were as follows. (also have a look at an earlier blog post of mine - 'Scared of First - why business is resisting new learning)
5 Barriers to E-Learning uptake
1. Money
2. Hard to change people's existing practices
3. Technology
4. Hesitation to use social sites
5. Preference for classroom learning
Overall I found Dr Rossett's keynote to be a challenge to L&D practitioners out there who may have a particular view of what E-Learning is and whether it would suit the business they work for. My hope is that the session left people motivated to look beyond their current perceptions of E-Learning to explore the wide world of E-Learning formats that are available now and continue to evolve.
4. Unleashing Potential through Creative Thinking & Leadership with Tania de Jong
"Creativity and Artful thinking are in short supply because of the education system" begins Tania de Jong. Yep, I must agree, I've recently read Sir Ken Robinson's excellent book The Element and it is something that I see myself in much of the work I do.
Tania then begin's to explain that her grandparent's invention of the folding umbrella, a concrete example of creativity to be sure, but Tania believes that we are in fact "educating people out of creativity" (a little like my last post on destinationism)
But I think that as far as learning is concerned creativity is taking too much of a back seat to standards, systems, benchmarks and so on. Great, new ideas and innovations do not come from people who are trained to think in one set way. Instead new and better ways of doing things are created by people who are able to bring together two or more different ideas to create an entirely new and unique one!
Tania has broad interests and seemingly clearly superior time-management skills! She runs her own business, heads a charity that promotes music education, is a professional soprano singer and is bringing together a whole range of creativity thinkers for a conference in Melbourne later this year - Creative Innovation 2010! A very busy woman!
The session finishes with Tania getting the whole room to sing (very tunefully it must be said!) and leaving us with a couple of concluding thoughts, "We are all more creative than we believe" and "Follow your heart, remove self-limiting beliefs".
I wasn't sure I'd like the session, but left it having really enjoyed it, excellent!
5. The role of Social Business Design with Anne Bartlett-Bragg
The last of my top 5 sessions from the conference was by Anne Bartlett-Bragg, from the business headshift. Anne began by looking at what a socially designed business looked like, she believes it has the following characteristics:
It is a place where, "the information is not important in itself" but rather, "it is the relationships to other people with shared interests" that is important.
You can also use the following tool to identify the profile for a range of countries, ages and genders. Try your own, it's quite interesting.
Perhaps the message I liked the most however were the, 8 qualities of learning in a socially designed workplace:
Learners are now producers and creators of learning NOT just consumers
Learning can be collaborative
Learning can be personalised
Learning can be informal
Learners can now create, publish, distribute, subscribe, read and re-create content
Learning is participatory
Learners are empowered
Learners are engaged
I wrote a blog post on Read Write vs Read Only a while back so really liked seeing some of the same messages!
6. Being Helpful is the New Black with Annalie Killian
OK, I said 5 favourites! Before I finish I'll add the slideshare presentation of Annalie's slides as I wasn't able to tweet during her presentation, my laptop battery was all worn out! Her's was the final keynote with great slides, until a technical issue left her slide-less! Her slides and preso are worth a look, so here it is! Annalie has been good enough to include her notes so you should get a good idea about her presentation!
I found the conference well worth my time. I connected with a wide range of other L&D people, learnt quite a lot and left with heaps of ideas floating around my head! There were a few nagging thoughts in my head during the conference and continuing still.
How can business be encouraged to see learning more broadly than they do?
Why does learning (as far as business is concerned) need to look like a formal workshop or fairly static elearning formats?
I suppose at the end of the day we as L&D people must speak to businesses in their language, outcomes, targets and budgets. We can't just expect others to see the potential that we see for new technologies to provide new and exciting platforms for enhanced informal learning.
A quick post to review today's excellent TEDx day. For those who don't know of TEDx or TED, a quick explanation. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and is an event originally held in the US where notable thinkers spoke in these three areas spoke to other (invited) like-minded people in a spirit of "Ideas worth spreading". In more recent times talks have themselves spread beyond the three original areas to now encompass innovative and important ideas from any area and the talks themselves are now available free to anyone who wishes to watch and listen at TED.com.
TEDx is related to the original TED but is local and smaller. For example today I attended TEDxMelbourne, an event with a limit of around 100 attendees, at a TEDx day the format is that there are videos of TED talks and live talks, after each talk attendees break into small groups to discuss the ideas brought up by the talk. This format really appeals to me as it really mirrors what I do with this blog and my reading, I like to bring ideas from diverse disciplines together to then exert influence on how I think about what I do, learning and education.
And so to today's event. (with some of my own and others ideas scattered through - it is really what TEDx is all about, it gets you thinking!)
Introduced by Warwick Merry and Rod Sherwin we were told to expect to be "out of our comfort zone" and that whilst we could listen to some of the talks at home the benefit here was that we could then discuss our ideas with others. We were then shown a brief intro to the TEDx concept by Chris Anderson (curator of TED). And so it began....
First up was a video talk by Juan Enriquez. This was filmed in the US at the height of gloom and doom about the credit crisis and the talk begins with a quick review of where things were at in the US (summary not good!) He then used this as a counterpoint to highlight the upside of the future, human's use of science to 'improve' our own biology. That is through our mastery of science we will not just control nature but also control human evolution. My take - yes we are gaining control of a whole lot of new things but in many ways it is just an extension of what human's have done for millennia, agriculture, urbanisation, industrial revolution and so on. For me change is just what happens, I'm an optimist. I'm not meaning that there won't be major challenges and questions to answer about our use of technology, however I believe that human's will work their way trough these issues and then move on again.
The next talk was excellent - Temple Grandin - speaking about how the world needs all kinds of minds. So many good points and a great talk, Temple has autism and as she describes it this means that she has a 'specialist mind', not great at everything but excellent within certain spheres. She describes how she thinks strongly in pictures and how she sees the world in quite a different way to many other people - but she doesn't see this as a problem, but rather as different. In fact the point of here whole talk is that it is the variety in people that provides strength, or as she says, "the world needs all kinds of minds". There is a bit of Ken Robinson in what she says, lamenting the pigeon-holing that occurs in education today. A super talk and well-worth the time to listen to it!
Now we went to the first 'in person' talk of the day - it's good to have a mix of video and live!
Pat Naughtin, who runs a consultancy called Metrication Matters, spoke about the costs and benefits of metrication, or the lack thereof! A one person said afterwards, he didn't imagine that he'd ever be interested in a topic such as this, but the really enjoyed it! A fair point I reckon! Pat is a very good speaker, throwing in a good dose of dry humour along the way. The key point of his talk was that where people don't use metric measurements (mainly the US!) thee are huge financial and other costs associated with this, examples quote included deaths in medical errors, some due to confusion over non-metric measures. The key point I think though is that Pat's talk was about simplicity and communicating this clearly and unambiguously. He showed a slide with 199 words/measures that have been used to describe energy during climate change debates in recent times. How can anyone be expected to really understand science when people trying to explain it use so many different words and measures to try to describe something. It becomes impossible to really understand. Science must use simpler statistics if they hope to clearly understand climate science!
After a very enjoyable Korean lunch with 4 other TEDx attendees the next speaker (again in person) was Mauricio Buchler. Mauricio spoke about education - obviously close to my heart! he demonstrated an online virtual world he's been working on to assist with English language learning (see here). Mauricio also spoke of his frustration with the education system and passionless teachers, a tricky question really. What comes first? Do people enter teaching with no passion or does it disappear later on? My view is more often than not the latter and it is this that needs to be addressed. Mauricio also believes that passion must be an entry marker for prospective teachers (but how to keep the passion).
Mauricio also spoke of how he believes learning should be fun. OK, my view, yes pretty much, but sometimes more than this it needs to engage learners, this mightn't always look like 'fun' but learners are 'loving' the learning (if you understand what I mean?)
The TEDx day finished with a brace of 3 short videos arounf the theme of success.
First was Richard St John with his 8 keys to success - only 3 minutes long, short and to the point.
Our next video was Derek Sivers - a really interesting talk that shows that there is more than one way of looking at things. What is true and obvious to me is not to another person. I liked his example of how in most Western countries city blocks are the un-named places between streets, whereas in Japan it is reversed, streets are the un-named places that surround blocks. If this confuses you watch the video, t's only 2 minutes long!
The very last video was of Joachim de Posada speaking on really interesting research that links the concept of delayed gratification (in childhood) with later success in life as adults. He shows humourous footage of experiments with children trying to resist the temptation of eating a marshmallow that was put in front of them (they were told not to eat it). I must say that I'd not do well in such a test, now or back when I was a child. Could there seriously be a link between this and later success? Perhaps it has got something to do with the ability to focus. To resist eating the marshmallow a child must keep the thought of not eating it foremost in their mind, they are able to focus their attention. Back in Richard St John's talk he certainly listed focus as a key element of success! (along with persistence)
And so the day ended. I really enjoyed the day. Warwick and Rod were right, I was (happily) "out of my comfort zone" and on top of that I got the chance to meet people in person whom I'd only ever tweeted with, met others for the first time entirely, found many others who read similar books to myself (see my book ideas here) and thought about things I certainly don't normally do on a Saturday. Thanks to all who helped organise the day, I look forward o the next!
Garr Reynolds' new book, PresentationZen Design, is his follow-up to his first book, PresentationZen of 2008. His first book was in many ways a summary of Garr's presentation style, looking at presentation preparation, design and delivery. I suppose it is no surprise that his second book expands on one key area from his first book, slide design - I say it is no surprise because it is Garr's design style that most defines him. If you already have his first book, this new book is really chapters 5, 6 & 7 expanded, however don't take this as a negative, what Garr has done here is to write a whole book about slide design.So what should you expect from a book that's subtitled, 'Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations'?
Design Matters
The title of the first chapter gives you a good idea of the focus of the book - Design Matters. As most people who create slides for learning and presentations are not trained designers, Garr takes us on a journey through his design thinking, drawing heavily on the Zen design traditions of his adopted home, Japan.
It is clear that design matters a lot to Garr....
and quoting the designer Donald Norman,
I mean if it was all about content, why have live presentations and workshops? You may as well just send out pages of text and let people read it themselves! Slide design is Garr's passion, and to be honest, thank heavens it is, because his approach to presentation slide design may just save us all from having to sit through another slideshow chock-a-block full of bullets, complicated charts, corny clipart and flying text!
So what does PresentationZen Design teach us that will improve the design of our slides. The book is divided into three key sections:
Components
In this section the book covers the often ignored importance of Typefaces, particularly the choice of type and it's placement on the slide. Next Garr looks at Communicating with Colour. In addition to looking at some expected terms related to colour and it's use, for example hue, value, saturation, colour combinations, emotional connections and colour choices, Garr brings in aspects from the Zen aesthetic through a lesson in Sumi-e. In Using Images and Video to Tell Stories we enter the area that in many ways defines the PresentationZen style, the use of full screen images to complement and strengthen the spoken and written message - I particularly liked this area! Area covered here again include some technical aspects of image creation and editing as well as reviewing 10 things to avoid when using images. Finally in the component section Garr looks at how best to Simplify Data, how charts can communicate and indeed miscommunicate key messages, I know from experience that many presentations use charts that are barely readable, with far too much data, if all presentations followed the advice given here there would be less sleepy and bored learners and audience members!
Principles
So many slides used in presentations and workshops are full of text, bullet points, charts, and data.
The first part of this section looks at Seeing and Using Space, beginning with a lesson in the Japanese art of flower design, Ikebana. Garr looks at the importance of white space, symmetrical/asymmetrical balance, Gestalt theory and the importance of 'less is more'.
The use of focal points in slide design is illustrated through the Japanese room design feature known as a Tokonoma, in essence this part of the book, Creating Purpose and Focus, is about how to ensure the audience's eyes move see what you want them to see. Too often there is too much clutter on slides overloading the brains ability to focus on what is important, indeed once overloaded it is likely that no information will be retained, so less is actually more.
Finally the section looks at Achieving Harmony in your slide design. Here Garr looks at the 'rule of thirds' and grids in general when aligning aspects of our slides and working to connect the various elements to create balance and harmony. Garr must adore his food, because he loves a Bento Box, I've seen photos of his lunches uploaded via Twitter on more than one occasion! There is a point however, Garr sees harmony in a Bento Box, a balance of flavours, colours, sizes - doesn't food always taste better when it looks good!
Here's an example from my lunch yesterday!
The Journey
Finally Garr provides pages of examples of great Slide Samples that illustrate the principles outlined throughout the book. It is always good to see examples, as just as the book reminds us, visual messages trump the written word.
The book concludes with a chapter on Continuous Improvement, a good way to end, reminding readers that improving your slide design is a journey not a destination, that through continually learning from the lessons that are all around you - Billboards, Advertising, TV, brochures, package design - your slide design will continue to improve.
If you want to design slides that engage your learners/audience this book is the one, it must be on your book shelf!. If you live near me, that is Australia, the book is rather hard to find, (I got my copy via Amazon, click here to get to Amazon), but that's no real drama at least you won't have to drive around looking for it, it's only a few clicks away!
It should come as no surprise to readers of my blog that I'm a fan of the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath - I mean where did I come up with my blog's name!?
Today I was sent a link to a video from a friend in Texas (thank's Sue!) The video features Dan Heath speaking on the subject of 'Selling your Innovation". Unfortunately I'm unable to embed the video in my blog (well I could if I illegally copied it....) however just below is the link to the video. It's quite short, after watching it come back and read what I've got to say about it!
Now, as I watched the video I was thinking, "this is similar to how learners process new ideas". Dan's key pont in the video is the importance of using an anchor and a twist.
Anchor = existing knowledge
Twist= old knowledge with a new angle.
This screenshot illustrates an example used in the video. When cars were first invented Dan Heath asks, 'how would you have described what a car was to a person who had never seen a car?' As it turns out the description that stuck was 'a horseless carriage'. Everyone already knew what a carriage was, so this became the Anchor, next a twist was added, Horseless, now people could visualise what a car might be.
Mirror neurons
Anchor and twist, is a good analogy for how we learn and taps into recent research on a concept known as 'Mirror Neurons' (see an earlier post on this blog) In particular look at the later sections of the post looking at 'Mirror Neurons' and 'How can mirror neurons assist learning'.
Anchors, Twists and Learning
You may understand now why I like the concepts of anchor and twist. The anchor activates the mirror neuron, retrieving existing knowledge. The twist then uses existing context to build a new idea in our mind. I suppose I'm using the idea of 'anchor and twist' as I'm writing this blog post. My anchor is the video and it's take on selling innovation, my twist is to replace the term innovation with learning.
Remember anchor and twist when your designing your next learning program or writing a presentation!
My last post was a list of tips for using Powerpoint/Keynote more effectively - The Powerpoint Dozen! Here is part 2, the slideshow.
The first installment provided the written tips, much like many slide presentations you are subjected to - heavy on text. Now, there's nothing wrong with text, it just doesn't belong in any quantity on Powerpoint or Keynote slides!
Below you will find the slideshow of my powerpoint tips, The Powerpoint 12! In reality, an actual presentation on this would use these slides with the text from yesterday's post forming much of the basis for what I would be saying. I may, at the end of the session, provide participants with the written version as a reference.
I use Powerpoint in some of the workshops I run, not all, but when it suits the audience, venue and most importantly learning objectives. I have, on the other hand, been a participant where slides have been the 'star'! Slides that contained too much text in colours and sizes that were too hard to read and more bullets than Ned Kelly's last stand! That said, Powerpoint can have its place. So I've put together a list of 10(+1) tips for using Powerpoint more effectively.
Plan your workshop. Ask yourself what is the best way to get the message/learning across. If the answer is a slide then use one/two/more! If the answer is something else - activity, discussion, role play, brainstorm, group work .... then use this - don't just use slides because you can!
Story before slides. When building your slides, start by building your story. Do this away from the computer. I use either a whiteboard or large pieces of paper to map out the 'flow' of the session and how slides will fit in with this.
Strictly limit the amount of text you place on each slide (and make what you do use big enough to read). Some people think fewer slides is better but not if that means densely packed text that is too small to read. Each slide is free so why cram it full? How much text? Half a dozen words per slide would be about right - really! Provide a separate handout with the details.
Avoid bullet points. This is the same rule really as my last point! I just wanted to make sure I got the point across. NEVER, fall for the temptation when in a hurry of simply copying bulleted text from workbooks and pasting it into slides. It will be quick but it won't lead to an interactive and interesting workshop.
Think like a designer! Consider the font type, colour and size. Is there consistency throughout the slideshow? How are you laying out the slide? Is it visually appealing? Are the colours you're using easy to read? Is the text large enough to read? My suggestion is to look at TV ads! Look how they are laid out, their use of colours (and lack of bullet points).
Do not use cartoonish clipart, what does it add (distraction). If you need an image to support a point, use real images, you can download many images from Microsoft's clipart page. Just make sure to only use 'photos'. These are free, the quality OK but for better images consider sites such as iStockphoto, not free but well-priced and excellent quality. There are other good sources of images but check whether they allow you to copy them and/or pay royalties. But I don't mean to include photos just for decoration. They are there only to support your message, sometimes the slide should simply be a few words, nothing else!
Avoid overuse of Powerpoint SmartArt Graphics. Yes, they do make the job of creating diagrams and charts very simple BUT if you're slide deck is full of these they quickly lose their impact.
Use simple backgrounds. Powerpoint/Keynote provide a range of background themes to choose from.My advice is always to use the simpler themes. Your aim is to communicate your message, not decorate slides with distracting backgrounds.
Vary the layout of your slides. Powerpoint and Keynote have a default layout. Heading at the top, text below. There is no reason to use this layout for all your slides, in fact you shouldn't! Lay your slides out the way you want, not how powerpoint tells you to!
Strictly limit the use of animated text. It doesn't help learning, it distracts from it. I remember once watching a presentation with text zooming onto the slide accompanied by the sound of screeching brakes. Not good (unless it was used just once to a tyre fitting business or auto company, but just once!)
Use a remote. Don't be tied to your laptop. You should be able to move about during the workshop. If you don't use a remote you will feel tied to the laptop (or find yourself rushing back to change slides). I use a Kensington remote presenter. I like it because it's small, simple to use and only has the buttons you need.
Use the 'B' key! I know many people know that if they press the B key on the keyboard during a Powerpoint of Keynote presentation the screen will go black - but I still find people who don't know this! It's important not to leave slides showing after you have used them. Don't just leave them up for no good reason, press the 'B' key (or the 'W' key if you'd rather the screen turn white!)
I am reading a book called Remix at the moment by Lawrence Lessig. Whilst the books main emphasis is upon how restrictive/outdated copyright laws are inhibiting creativity by preventing me from including an excerpt from a film or TV show on my blog (OK I still might do this! But doing so is criminal according to copyright laws!)
My post today though isn't about copyright however! Lessig uses two terms to describe how people use different media:
Read Only: Lessig uses this term to mean mostly a 'one-way' process. I buy a book, I read the book. I can't really do anything else with it.
Read Write: This term is used to describe how people use the media to absorb the message, then interpret part of the original message in a creative manner to create and build something new. Think of me watching films, TV, various videos, listening to music, reading books and blogs. At the end of me doing all this I have come up with an idea infused from all my sources. I'd now like to include my new idea in a presentation I'm about to run.
I've got two options:
create a written document that explains in words only what my new idea is and how it came to me. (or a really boring powerpoint full of lots of words!)
create a multi-media presentation, full of images, video and sound, supported by me speaking and with a written take-away hand-out at the end.
Option one just wouldn't work, would it? (but it's what we all see all the time!) Option two however would technically be illegal (but it would be engaging, interesting and people would learn).
Now for how this links in with learning.
Read Only is how things used to be when it comes to learning, as education for the masses was formalised in the late 1800's education it was a method on transferring knowledge. Today, too often, this is still the case. I just used the word learning, however this type of education was really about teaching. Pupils had their eyes open to receive the knowledge presented to them by the teacher - it was essentially Read Only.
As technology has progressed at a speedy rate, today's learners don't think in Read Only terms. The internet, digital media and cheap, powerful computers have provided people with an option they never had - Read Write. Learners today do not want to sit passively as the 'teacher' provides them with knowledge. They want to interact with the knowledge and ideas to make them their own, to make it meaningful.
The concept of Instructional Design now goes by the wayside, replaced instead by the idea of Learning Design. A small but important shift that puts the learner at the centre of the design process. Learning design then is about building learning experiences that allow the learner to Read Write.
I'm really enjoying Lawrence Lessig's book. It has helped me to see how many changes in education and learning have been driven by culture and change. It helps to further explain why I (and I reckon everyone else) hates Powerpoint slideshows full of text and bullets with a presenter reading the slides to me. I expect more than that, I need more than that and learners need learning designers to provide them with opportunities to Read Write as they learn.
Finally for anyone who's got to the end of this post and hasn't seen Lawrence Lessig present, here is a TED video for you. Lessig's style is different, LOTS of slides (that's a good thing!), but only a few words per slide and a good use of images. The slides support his presentation, they are not the focus of it! In the presentation Lessig explain the ideas of Read Only and Read Write further, I hope you find it interesting.
