I spoke at the ATD International Conference last week on myths. I said a number of things (and a number were said about it, too :). However, one comment seems to be getting more traction than others. Moreover, it’s something I say regularly. So I thought I should add it to my collection of Quinn Quips.

The statement is simple:

Learning is action and reflection; instruction is  designed action and  guided  reflection.

What do I mean here? In life, things happen. We make choices, and there are consequences. When we observe them, and reflect, we begin to notice patterns. Some of this  can happen unconsciously, but if we want to improve fastest, reflecting helps. This can involve just thinking, or writing, or diagramming, or other ways of representing the contingencies and emerging models.

However, when we want to guide learning, e.g. instruct, one of the tasks we can undertake is creating a problem, and asking the learner to solve it. If we provide resources, and support the thinking afterwards, we increase the likelihood of learning outcomes.

A critical feature of this statement is that the choices of action that we design, and the choices of resources to support reflection (content  and representation tools), are critical. And, of course, we might need a series of activities (or application opportunities) to support learning.

An interesting option that emerges here is the opportunity for contextual learning. When an individual is engaged in a task relevant for learning, we can take advantage of it. With resources and reflection facilitation, a performance requirement becomes a learning opportunity!

It’s important that we understand the difference, but recognize (and reflect) the core.

So, as you (should) know, I’ve written a book debunking learning myths. Of course, writing it, and getting your mitts on it are two different things!  I’ve been seeing my colleagues (the ones kind enough to write a blurb for it) showing off their copies, and bemoaning that mine haven’t arrived.  Well, that’s now remedied, it’s here! (Yay!)  And in less than a week will be the official release date!

My publishing team (a great group) let me know that they thought it was a particularly nice design (assuring me that they didn’t say that to  all the authors ;), and I have to say it looks and feels nice.  The cover image and cartoons that accompany every entry are fun, too (thanks, Fran Fernandez)!  It’s nicely small, yet still substantial.  And fortunately they kept the price down.

You can hear more about the rationale behind the work  in a variety of ways:

I’ll be doing a webinar for the Asia Pacific region on Thursday 19 Apr (tomorrow!) 6PM PT (9AM Friday Singapore Time).

I’ll be presenting at ATD’s International Conference in San Diego on Tuesday, May 8th at 1PM.

(There will also be a book signing in the conference book store at 4PM. Come say hi!)

There’s a webinar for ATD on May 24th at 11AM PT (2PM PT).

Another webinar, for the Debunker Club (who contributed) on June 6 at 10AM PT, 1PM ET. Details still to come.

Also, Connie Malamed has threatened to interview me, as have Learnnovators.  Stay tuned.

So, you’ve no excuse not to know about the problem! I’d feel a bit foolish about such publicity, if the cause weren’t so important.  We need to be better at using learning science.  Hope to see you here, there, or around.

Consciousness is an interesting artifact of our cognitive architecture. And no, (despite being a native Californian ;) I’m  not talking about social or environmental or higher consciousness. Here I’m talking about our conscious thinking, the insight we have (or not) into our own internal thinking. And it’s interesting  and  relevant.

First, we really don’t have a full understanding of consciousness. It’s a phenomena ew pretty much all experience, but the actual mechanism about how, or where, it arises in our brain is still a mystery.  How do we have this perception of a serial narrative in our head, but our brain is massively parallel?  Yet it’s there. At least, to conscious inspection ;).

Actually, much of our processing  is subconscious. We compile away our expertise as we develop it. We use conscious dialog (internal  or external) to shape our performance, but what we actually  do gets stored away without explicit access. In fact, research says that 70% of what experts do (and that’s us, in our areas of expertise) isn’t accessible. Thus, experts literally  can’t tell us what they do! (Warning, warning: important implications for working with SMEs!)

In fact, consciousness is typically used to deal with situations that aren’t practiced: conversations on topics, dealing with unique problems, and of course learning new things.  Informal learning is pretty much all conscious, while formal learning is about practicing to make the conscious become unconscious!

Which, of course, is why the ‘event’ model of learning doesn’t work. There’s not enough practice, spaced out over time, for that learning to become automated. And we don’t expect our formal learning to get us all the way there, we use coaching and feedback to continue to happen.

As learning experience designers or learning engineers, our job is to make sure we provide the  right support for using our conscious thoughts to guide our practice.  That includes models to explain and predict outcomes, and cognitive annotated examples to model the appropriate solution. And, of course, practice that gradually develops the expertise in appropriate sized chunks and spacing between.  I suppose we should be conscious of consciousness in our design ;). So what am I unconsciously missing?

As I have hinted, I’ve been working on a project that is related to what learning science has to do with learning design.  And I can finally announce the project!  I’ve been writing a book on debunking learning myths & superstitions, and unpacking some misconceptions. I’m happy to say that it’s finally available for pre-order (ATD members here, Amazon here). It’s myth-smashing time!

The focus here is on workplace learning, as the title suggests. There already has been a book oriented toward the education market, but this one is particularly focused on myths that impact learning & development. The title is Millennials, Goldfish & Other Training Misconceptions:  Debunking Learning Myths and Superstitions.   There are 3 major categories of things addressed:

• Myths: beliefs that are the source of effort and investment that have been proven to be false.  It’s surprising how many there are, but they persist. I have addressed 16 of them.  I talk about the appeal, the possibilities and problems, how research could answer the question, and what the research says.
• Superstitions: these are practices that aren’t really advocated, but continue to be observed in practice. And they’re not necessarily the subject of specific research, but instead we can make principled arguments against them. I have documented five of these, with the approaches, the plausible case, and why it’s not accurate.
• Misconceptions: these are topics that are hotly debated, with typically smart people on both sides, but yet contention remains.  After identifying what both sides are arguing, what I try to point out is what is worth taking away. Or when it’s useful.

In each case,  I identify what you  should be doing.  The point is not to just point out the flaws, but have us using good approaches.  And have a wee bit of fun ;).

This book is very much intended as a tool. It’s to pull out when you have a question, and very specifically when someone wants to push you to do something that’s contrary.  It’s a reference tool that you should have on your shelf for when these questions arise.

While the book won’t be available ’til late April, I can now let you know that it’s already available for pre-order.  In conjunction with ATD, the publisher, we’re finalizing all the aspects.  If you’re not an ATD member, you can also get it here.

I’ll be talking on the topic of myths, covering a limited subset, for Training Mag’s Network in a webinar on April 11 at 9 PT, noon ET.  See you there?

And I’ll be addressing the larger issue of being professional about learning science, including myths, for ATD in a webinar on May 24 at 11AM PT, 2PM ET.

Here’s to busting myths!