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Creating Passionate Users: Crash course in learning theory

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on 2006-07-31 by jaoverla

en utmerket blogg om læring

on 2006-09-12 by marshallk

from rudivs

on 2006-10-25 by vahidm

what is learning? how does it work?

on 2006-11-14 by mikeheth

ABC of interesting instruction.

on 2007-08-31 by dstanford

A great, broad summary of key learning principles used to teach effectively

Public Sticky notes

One formula (of many) for a successful blog is to create a "learning blog". A blog that shares what you know, to help others. Even--or especially--if that means giving away your "secrets". Teaching people to do what you do is one of the best ways we know to grow an audience--an audience of users you want to help.

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So, as promised in an earlier post, here's a crash course on some of our favorite learning techniques gleaned from cognitive science, learning theory, neuroscience, psychology, and entertainment (including game design).

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Talk to the brain first,

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And to the brain, a dry, dull, academic explanation is definitely CRAP (regardless of how much your mind cares about the topic).

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Learners are not "empty vessels"

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co-creation

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your job is to create an environment where the chances of the learner "getting it" in the way that you intend are as high as possible.

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he benefit and/or reason why you should learn something needs to come before the actual content.

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To find a "meaningful benefit", play the "Why? Who Cares? So What?" game

Highlighted by tellio

One formula (of many) for a successful blog is to create a "learning blog". A blog that shares what you know, to help others. Even--or especially--if that means giving away your "secrets". Teaching people to do what you do is one of the best ways we know to grow an audience--an audience of users you want to help.

Highlighted by marcok

Redundancy doesn't mean repetition--it means "say the same thing again, but differently." And "differently" can mean:
* From a different perspective.
* Using a different information channel (channels include things like Graphics, Examples, Prose explanations, step-by-step instruction/tutorial, case studies, exercises, summaries, bullet points, commentary, devil's advocate, Q & A, personal POV, etc.)

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the more senses you engage, the greater the potential for retention and recall

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Real-life learning is never terse; it's choas and confusion punctuated with moments of insight ("Ah-ha!") and clarity. It's a wave, not a straight line.

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So, as promised in an earlier post, here's a crash course on some of our favorite learning techniques gleaned from cognitive science, learning theory, neuroscience, psychology, and entertainment (including game design). Much of it is based around courses I designed and taught at UCLA Extension's New Media/Entertainment Studies department. This is the long version, and my next post will be just the bullet points with the pictures--as a kind of quick visual summary.

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evidence that suggests your brain behaves this way even if the "conversation" is between a human (you) and a book or computer screen (or lecture).

Highlighted by tellio

Crash course in learning theory

Highlighted by kevinsport

So, as promised in an earlier post, here's a crash course on some of our favorite learning techniques gleaned from cognitive science, learning theory, neuroscience, psychology, and entertainment (including game design). Much of it is based around courses I designed and taught at UCLA Extension's New Media/Entertainment Studies department. This is the long version, and my next post will be just the bullet points with the pictures--as a kind of quick visual summary.

Highlighted by maartencannaerts

here's a crash course on some of our favorite learning techniques gleaned from cognitive science, learning theory, neuroscience, psychology, and entertainment (including game design). Much of it is based around courses I designed and taught at UCLA Extension's New Media/Entertainment Studies department

Highlighted by rogerboeken

Crash course in learning theory

Highlighted by kkirwin

Crash course in learning theory One formula (of many) for a successful blog is to create a "learning blog". A blog that shares what you know, to help others. Even--or especially--if that means giving away your "secrets". Teaching people to do what you do is one of the best ways we know to grow an audience--an audience of users you want to help.

Highlighted by mjnorris

One formula (of many) for a successful blog is to create a "learning blog". A blog that shares what you know, to help others. Even--or especially--if that means giving away your "secrets". Teaching people to do what you do is one of the best ways we know to grow an audience--an audience of users you want to help.

Highlighted by bernardbates

One formula (of many) for a successful blog is to create a "learning blog". A blog that shares what you know, to help others. Even--or especially--if that means giving away your "secrets". Teaching people to do what you do is one of the best ways we know to grow an audience--an audience of users you want to help. It's what I try to do here because--let's face it--you're just not that into me ; ) But I assume (since you're reading this blog) that you ARE into helping your users kick ass. So to make content that's worth your time and attention, I try to make this a learning blog. I reckon y'all could not care less what I had for dinner, who I ate with, or what I think about the latest headlines.

Highlighted by rudyleon

here's a crash course on some of our favorite learning techniques gleaned from cognitive science, learning theory, neuroscience, psychology, and entertainment

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s not overwhelmed by the amount of code, and can focus on just the part you're talking about, but still be able to see how that new code relates to the rest of the code. Our rule of thumb in our books is to show the same code context two or three times before switching to just the snippets (alt

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Even if a learner is personally motivated to learn a topic, if the learning content itself isn't motivating, the learner's brain will do everything possible to look for something more interesting.

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This is not a comprehensive look at the state of learning theory today, but it does include almost everything we think about in creating our books.

Highlighted by vuorikari

here's a crash course on some of our favorite learning techniques gleaned from cognitive science, learning theory, neuroscience, psychology, and entertainment (including game design). Much of it is based around courses I designed and taught at UCLA Extension's New Media/Entertainment Studies department

Highlighted by pdrovandi

Die Autorin reiht nicht Theorien aneinander, sondern übersetzt wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse und praktische Erfahrungen in einfache Ratschläge für alle, die im weitesten Sinne als Trainer, Lehrer oder Programmdesigner unterwegs sind. "So, as promised in an earlier post, here's a crash course on some of our favorite learning techniques gleaned from cognitive science, learning theory, neuroscience, psychology, and entertainment (including game design)."

Highlighted by hartmut_haefele

Die Autorin reiht nicht Theorien aneinander, sondern übersetzt wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse und praktische Erfahrungen in einfache Ratschläge für alle, die im weitesten Sinne als Trainer, Lehrer oder Programmdesigner unterwegs sind. "So, as promised in an earlier post, here's a crash course on some of our favorite learning techniques gleaned from cognitive science, learning theory, neuroscience, psychology, and entertainment (including game design)."

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Pacing

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Surpriselearning_1

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Picturesandwordschart

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One formula (of many) for a successful blog is to create a "learning blog". A blog that shares what you know, to help others. Even--or especially--if that means giving away your "secrets". Teaching people to do what you do is one of the best ways we know to grow an audience--an audience of users you want to help.

Highlighted by vkidd32

ou ARE into helping your users kick ass. So to make content that's worth your time and attention, I try to make this a learning blog.

Highlighted by vkidd32

it does include almost everything we think about in creating our books

Highlighted by vkidd32


Even if a learner is personally motivated to learn a topic, if the learning content itself isn't motivating, the learner's brain will do everything possible to look for something more interesting.

Highlighted by vkidd32

the learner's brain will do everything possible to look for something more interesting.

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Learning is not a one-way "push" model.

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Learning is something that happens between the learner's ears--it's a form of co-creation between the learner and the learning experience

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your job is to create an environment where the chances of the learner "getting it" in the way that you intend are as high as possible.

Highlighted by vkidd32

Learning is much more effective if the learner's brain knows why what you're about to talk about matters. The benefit and/or reason why you should learn something needs to come before the actual content.

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Why? Who Cares? So What?

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To find a "meaningful benefit", play the "Why? Who Cares? So What?" game with someone else. Describe the thing you're trying to explain, to which the other person asks, "Why?" Provide an answer, to which the person then asks, "Who cares?". Provide an answer, to which the person asks, "So?" At this point, when you're nearly ready to kill them for not getting it, you probably have the thing you should have said instead of whatever you said first (and second).

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The most compelling and motivating reason/benefit is almost always the thing you say only after you've answered at least three "Yeah, but WHY do I care?" questions

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The most compelling and motivating reason/benefit is almost always the thing you say only after you've answered at least three "Yeah, but WHY do I care?" questions.

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Use visuals!

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Use redundancy to increase understanding and retention.

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Redundancy doesn't mean repetition--it means "say the same thing again, but differently

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different perspective

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different information channel

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The best learning experience considers the way you'd learn that particular thing in real life -- but offers it in a safe, simulated, compressed form.

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Maintain interest with variety and surprise.

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Use conversational language.

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Use mistakes, failures, and counter-intuitive WTF?

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People usually learn much more from failures than from being shown everything working correctly or as expected.

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Describing the things that do NOT work is often more effective than showing how things DO work. (We call this the "WTF learning principle").

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showing is even better than describing. And even better than showing is letting the learner experience.

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It's tempting to want to protect the learners from the bumps and scrapes experienced in the real world, but in many cases (with many topics) you aren't doing the learner any favors.

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Use the filmaker (and novelist) principle of SHOW-don't-TELL.

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let them experience how it works by walking them through a story or scenario, where they can feel the bumps along the way.

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But... with one simple change to the way in which the symbols are presented--and without changing the symbols:

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30 seconds gets most people to 100% accuracy in the follow-up quiz. In other words, by grouping the symbols into a meaningful, memorable pattern, we reduce the number of individual (and potentially arbitrary) things you have to memorize, and increase the chances.

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Since stress/anxiety can reduce focus and memory, do everything possible to make the learner feel relaxed and confident.

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This IS confusing -- so don't worry if it's still a little fuzzy at this point. It will start to come together once you've worked through the rest of the examples.

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let them know that they aren't stupid for not getting it at this point

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But you can't do that unless you know how hard it is for a beginner to learn it. As experts, we have a tough time remembering what it was like NOT TO KNOW, so if you're not sure, do the research. One of the best ways to find out what newcomers struggle with is to visit online discussion forums for beginners in your topic.

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a great way to come up with a table-of-contents or topic list, because what you THINK should be a no-brainer might be the one thing everyone gets stuck on, and what you think would be confusing could turn out to be easy for most people.

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you cannot truly put yourself in someone else's shoes unless their brain and background are a very close match for yours.

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Use seduction, charm, mystery to build curiosity.

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Those who have taught a topic have a big advantage writing about it--they've fielded the questions and watched people struggle.

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If the purpose is learning, the learner has to stay engaged. It's up to you to craft an experience that keeps them hooked. This engagement might be within a single post, or you might offer little cliffhangers or teasers to keep them engaged across multiple posts, if that's what it takes to cover a topic.

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Use a spiral model to keep users engaged.

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Game developers know the importance of "The Next Level", and learning experiences must do the same.

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Each iteration through the spiral should start with a meaningful, motivating goal, followed by the interaction/activity/reading that moves you toward that goal, followed by a meaningful payoff. Ideally, the "meaningful payoff" leads right into the next motivating goal.

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"Imagine you want to do X on your website..." is the goal that starts the topic, but when the topic is complete, the learning content can say, "Now that you have THAT new [superpower capability], wouldn't it be cool if you could do Y?" And off they go into the next round of learning.

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Don't rob the learner of the opportunity to think!

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Rather than simply spelling everything out step by step, ask questions, pose multiple and potentially conflicting viewpoints, show the topic from different perspectives, and set up scenarios (and possibly exercises) that allow the learner to use deeper brain processing.

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Use the 80/20 principle to reduce cognitive overload.

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It's far more important that they nail the key things than be exposed to everything.

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People learn and remember that which they FEEL. Look back at what you've written and if it's dry and lifeless, try to inject some energy. Dry, academic, formal, lecture-style writing is usually the WORST form of learning content.

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Almost any kind of face with a strong expression evokes a part of the brain reserved just for processing faces.

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Never underestimate the power of FUN to keep people engaged.

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so anything associated with fun has a greater chance of being remembered.

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Use stories.

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When we say "stories", we don't necessarily mean actual fictional "John's network went down just as he was plugging in the...", although those do work

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But a "story" can simply mean that you're asking the learner to imagine herself wanting to do a particular thing, and then offering an experience of what that would be like if she were actually trying to accomplish it, with all the ups, downs, false leads, etc.

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A flight simulator, for example, is a kind of story.

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One easy trick for designing story-driven learning is to start each topic with something like, "Imagine you want to do..." and then walk though that experience. It makes the learning organic and real, and helps make sure you get rid of the stuff that doesn't need to be there.

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Use pacing and vary the parts of the brain you're exercising.

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follow a heavy left-brain technical procedure with a big-picture example/story that covers the same topic.

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Memory is a physical/chemical process that happens after you've been exposed to something, and if anything interrupts the process, the memory is not stored. T

Highlighted by vkidd32

If you want someone to remember something, you must give them a chance to process that memory. Relentlessly presenting new, tough information (like tons of code and complex concepts) without also including chances to reflect, process, think, apply, review, etc. virtually guarantees that much of the learning will be forgotten.

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Remember, it's never about you. It's about how the learner feels about himself as a result of the learning experience.

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Use it as a chance to help someone's life a little.

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Remember, it's never about you. It's about how the learner feels about himself as a result of the learning experience

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A successful learning blog is about helping the readers learn and grown and kick ass!

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best way to ensure a low readership is to assume that readers are into you. Offering users nothing but your opinions, however well-reasoned, might not be enough to make it worth their scarce time and attention.

"If you teach it, they will come."

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