What I'm Learning, A Blog

Hello my name is Dwayne, and I"m a coffee addict. (Hi, Dwayne!). I've been drinking coffee since before I started shaving. During my undergrad at McMaster, I even worked at a cafe for a while, where I learned to make cappuccino's and espressos before there was Starbucks in Canada. I am also the owner of an embarrassing number of stove-top espresso machines that I've picked up at garage sales. And since I very generously bought my wife, Tricia, an electric espresso machine for her birthday two years ago, our morning latte's have been an integral part of wake-up routines.  

Since returning to Ottawa in 2002, I have also become a loyal customer of Bridgehead Coffee Houses, a locally-owned purveyor of fair-trade, organic and shade-grown coffee. On a recent visit there, I saw an ad for a "Become a Barista Seminar," that Bridgehead was holding at a local cooking school called the Urban Element.  "Hmm...," I thought, "might be good to know what I'm doing," so I signed up for tonight's class. 

Urban Element has a great TV-show-like kitchen for cooking classes, including a gleaming, 4-foot-wide Synesso Cyncra espresso machine that costs more than most of my friends' cars -- and likely has more horsepower too. We were about 12 participants, including two women who said that their husbands had sent them. (Say, there's an idea....), and two Bridgehead staff with an encyclopedic knowledge of all things coffee led us through a hands-on bootcamp on how to make espressos and lattes. 

It seems that being a barista is akin to being a wine steward, but only more complicated since it involves much more than operating a corkscrew and pouring. For example, to make the Perfect, Platonic Form of Espresso, one should:

• choose the correct blend of coffee  -- Brazilian, Ethiopian Sidamo, and Peruvian were mentioned as having the right mix of notes due to the types of coffee grown and their lower altitude; you don't have to buy the "Espresso" blend, although that is fine too. 
• choose higher-quality varieties grown for artisanal markets that are:
  •  organic (grown without pesticides and fertilizers), 
  • shade grown (under other trees which ensures the right amount of sunlight and preserves habitat for other creatures), and 
  • fair-trade (grown by growers' cooperatives and sold at higher than market, guaranteed rates)
• select the right roast of coffee -- traditionally people use darker roasts for espresso, but you can select other types according to your preference. (By the way, darker roasts actually have slightly less caffeine per unit of mass than light roasts, but because darker roasts are lighter, you need to use more grounds per shot -- so it pretty much comes out the same);
• grind your beans just before you make your espresso; if you wait too long, it oxidizes and doesn't taste right;
• grind your beans using a "burr" grinder to get the right consistency and shape to the coffee grounds -- the old Braun grinder just crushes the beans inconsistently; 
• clean and dry your portafilter (the receptacle that holds the grinds on the machine when the water pours through);
• "dose" the grounds into the "portafilter" evenly so that there is the same depth of coffee throughout -- if they are uneven, the water will flow at uneven rates throughout the grounds;
• "tamp" or press the grounds into the portafilter so that the grounds are packed evenly and are level -- again to ensure consistent rates of flow;
• use a non-automatic machine that heats the water to between 198 and 203 degree Fahrenheit -- better machines -- i.e. ones costing several thousand dollars -- apparently let you adjust this temperature since as in the Olympics, even a few tenths of a degree can make a difference;
• turn the machine on the non-pressure setting for 4 seconds to saturate the grinds in the porta-filter;
• turn the machine on full pressure to "pull" the espresso for a further 20 seconds -- any shorter makes it too sour, any longer, too bitter -- in order to draw exactly 1.25 ounces of espresso; you can tell by the quality of the foam or crema on top whether you got it right.

NB: For a 12 ounce, medium latte, you'd draw a double shot, and then add 10-ounces of micro-foamed milk (a whole other process!), preferably in a pattern that produces tulip, a dove, or the Virgin Mary in the surface of the foam. 

Given that it was an evening session, I didn't actually drink much of the coffee that we made. But I left buzzing from the complexity of the process and impressed by the knowledge and skill of the Bridgehead staff. I now see why they charge $4 for a medium latte: they need to pay for their Master's degrees in Java-ology. 

But I was also amazed at how any field of knowledge, even something so every-day like making coffee, has been refined to such a high degree of what Jacques Ellul called "technique".  Having seen the right way to do it, I only hope that my morning joe can live up to my new expectations.

Of course, it might be easier if I had a new Synesso machine to work with...."Trish...!"

You’re at a conference. In yet another workshop enduring yet another death-by-PowerPoint presentation by a panelist who drones out the slides in a monotone, oblivious to the experience of her/his audience. 

After 30 minutes, you look around the room: 25% of the people are still listening, half are checking their Blackberries or Twittering, the rest are dozing. Needless to say, engagement and deep learning ain’t happening for most folks today.

Forty-five minutes, and 45 data-dump slides later, you are finally invited to respond – well, sort of! "So, if there aren’t any questions, let’s move on to our next presenter in the interests of time…”

Nooooooo!

It’s okay! Wake-up! It was just a bad dream. That would never happen…

Presentations are a staple of meetings, workshops and conferences, perhaps because they seem like an efficient means of “delivering” content.  But it puzzles me why we continue to rely on them so much when our personal experience and research suggests that they are not very effective at producing real learning.

Here are a few suggestions how you can share new information in ways that invoke different Learning Domains and Styles, and that design to put "participation" into your presentation to deepen their own learning. I've broken this post into two parts: 

Part 1. Ways to Make Your Presentations More Interactive and Engaging -- If you can't "Lose the Podium", there are some ways in which you can at least "Loosen" it. 

Part 2. Skip the Presentation  -- Add via Dialogue -- If you have some flexibility with the format, consider not doing a presentation in favour of something more interactive. I'll address this in my next blog post another day. Stay tuned!

And to walk the talk, let’s make this a learning task in itself! As you read, note which ones you’ve tried before, which ideas you might try next time, and which other new ideas you could add to this list. Post your responses, reflections, objections and questions on this blog.

Part 1. Ways to Make your Presentations More Interactive and Engaging:

If you have to make a presentation, here are a few suggestions to make it more effective and interactive:

1. Keep it Short:  No more than 20 minutes since that is the outer extent of an average adult learner’s deep attention. In many cases, you can then use the other 20 minutes  for either a longer Q&A or a more creative learning task where the participants can process what you shared. 

2. Use a pairs exercise as a warm-up: : “Turn to your neighbour and share one strategy that you use to manage your “cholesterol”. We’ll hear a sample.” This will heighten their engagement from the get-go, and demonstrate respect for their opinions. It can also serve as a mini-LNRA to help you pitch your presentation at the right level. You can also weave their questions and examples into the rest of your presentation. 

3. Use PowerPoint to Enhance the Presentation, Not Drive It: Leave lots of white space, use intriguing visuals to convey and reinforce key concepts, provide a clear outline and visual key in the slides so people know “You Are Here”...(Please also see an article I wrote for GLP's Voices in Dialogue on Blending PowerPoint and Dialogue Education"). Better Yet! Dump the PowerPoint and use a Prezi instead! Prezi is a free, online tool to create dynamic, zooming presentations of words, graphics and symbols. (Click here to see some examples of Prezi's I’ve created). It’s much more fun and less linear than PowerPoint). 

4. Invite a few questions of clarification part way through the talk. Rather than waiting until the end. Better to address these types of questions sooner than later.

5. Weave in stories and anecdotes that speak to the Affective domain.  Next time you make or attend a presentation, watch the change in body language and engagement as the audience members hear a story or joke. I guarantee you that most folks will visibly perk-up and listen with heightened attention. (They’ll also tend to remember these better than the rest of your talk!).

6. Invite Questions From the Audience Before You Begin. You can do this verbally, or in written form.  This can serve as a mini-LNRA and help you adjust your presentation to the appropriate level of complexity.

For example, in a recent presentation on RBM that I did for the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, I began by asking them to write their questions about RBM on a post-it and place them on a continuum chart according to their familiarity with the topic (from “New to Me” to “Old Hat”). The type of questions they asked and the location where they posted them on the line gave me a quick read on their comfort level, experience, expertise and attitudes towards the topic. This really helped me adapt the rest of the talk and I referred to their questions during the presentation. 

7. Frame Your Presentation With an Open Question that suggests how the participants can listen more deeply.  For example: “As you listen and watch this presentation on Effective Communication, think about how you would explain this approach to your kids?” Debrief the question after the presentation to kick start the Q&A.

8. Provide the audience with a 1-page handout with a Text Box and/or Graphic that outlines the key content.  Ask the participants to listen to your presentation (Auditory), and read (Visual) through a text box, chart, etc. together and make notes on their questions, objections and suggestions on the page (Psychomotor). Be sure to let them know that you’ll invite them to share their answers afterwards. 

10.  Hand out Opinion Cards for the Audience to hold up as you speak. Red for Disagree, Green for Agree, Yellow for “Huh?” Nothing like seeing immediate feedback while you’re presenting. (Dare ya!)

11.  Invite them to respond via social media.  If you are feeling brave and everyone has access to the Internet, project your Twitter page on the screen and invite the audience to post their questions, and reactions as you go. Here's an example of someone who has done it recently. After all, if they’re Twittering anyhow, they might as well twitter about your talk, eh?  

What additional ideas, questions or suggestions do you have? Please post them on this blog. I'll respond in Part 2 and provide some additional suggestions on how you can Skip the Presentations and Add via Dialogue.

And don't forget that you can subscribe to this Blog via RSS feeds so that it comes into your inbox directly (see the sidebar). 

It's dark. It smells like sweat. The music is pounding at 120 beats per minutes -- almost as fast as my heart as I rise out of the saddle to conquer the next hill. My thighs burn, I'm gasping for breath. The leader is yelling at us to go faster. There'd better be an ice cream stand at the top! 

I'm here as part of my own "Project 34" effort to stay in shape over the Winter. This year's El Nino has meant that Ottawa has had a fairly mild winter with relatively little snow, and a short skating season on the Rideau Canal. And as I am not much for winter cycling, I decided that the next best thing would be to attend a Spinning Class at my local recreation centre. 

Not to be confused with the ancient art of making yarn out of wool, spinning is kind of like doing aerobics only everyone is on a stationary bicycle. The bikes have a weighted fly wheel at the front and you can adjust a tension knob to simulate going up a hill or release it fully so that you can whip your legs around and get your heart rate up. The only thing that you can't do is coast (very bad idea!), so it is akin to riding a Fixed track bike where your legs are both the accelerator and the brakes. 

Spinning is touted as a great workout that can burn up to 450 calories in 45 minutes, and judging by my fatigue and hunger after the class, something must be burning. But, alas, it's not really cycling. I miss the open road, the wind on my face, the dogs that chase you, and the sense of accomplishment of getting to your destination on your own power. And of course, the ice cream. 

Here's looking forward to Spring. 

Has this ever happened to you? You and your best friend, Eleanor Ray created a great learning design for your new workshop. The opening Warm-Up went brilliantly, the participants were deeply engaged in the first few learning tasks and they were just getting down to some serious application work when WHAM-O! Confusion, pained expressions, discouraged participants and lots of time spent clarifying what the participants should be doing....a real train wreck that throws the rest of the workshop off.

Don't worry, you're not alone. Every year, thousands of learning facilitators and their unsuspecting participants suffer from Sequence & Reinforcement Dysfunction (SRD). I should know; I've been one of them. 

Sequence, as Dr. Jane Vella noted, refers to "the programming, of knowledge, skills and attitudes in an order that goes from simple to complex and from group-supported to solo efforts, from smaller to larger tasks". While Reinforcement is "the repetition of facts, skills and attitudes in diverse, engaging and interesting ways until they are obviously learned". Both are key to sound learning experiences. 

Conversely, she wrote, "when you, as a teacher, see fear, confusion, or reluctance to try in the learner, it is time to test the sequence of the learning tasks. You may find you have not honored learners need for small steps between tasks or their need for reinforcement." (All quotes from page 101 of Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults (Jossey-Bass 2002). 

How You Can Avoid SRD When Designing

Jane then describes how to design an entire learning design that honours these principles, but in my practice as a learning designer, I have found that SRD can also strike within a single learning task if I don't pay adequate attention to the transition from Theory (Add) to Praxis (Apply). Here's a sequence that I found helpful to remember. 

NB: You don't necessarily need to include all of these steps in every case, but too often, I see workshops where the sequence jumps from providing a lecture (Add-A) to "go and work on your own example" (Apply-F). The complexity suddenly redlines and the train crashes. While asking the participants to work on their own examples increases the Relevance and Immediacy of the learning, skipping all of the interim steps can cause SRD and thus compromises the Safety of the participants.

How to Facilitate When SRD Strikes During a Workshop

The best learning design can never anticipate every problem -- we're not psychic and the learning process is too dynamic to predict entirely -- so there will always be times when SRD will strike when you least expect it. If so:

1. Don't Panic! Take a deep breath, don't run for the exit. Pause a second to reflect on the situation. Call a break if you need more time to respond to the problem or if the participants need to take a break to regroup. 

2. Clarify whether this issue is one that everyone is struggling with or just a particular individual or small group. If the latter, go and work with those people and let the others keep working. But if it is everyone, take a few minutes to speak to the large group to clarify the issue.

3. Ask some Open Questions to discern where the confusion lies. Is it....

1. The Learning Task instructions? --> Clarify them briefly.
2. The Theory? --> Walk through it again using a new example and asking them for their questions of clarification.
3. The details of the Case Study or example you provided? --> Answer any questions of clarification. Fill in any details that might be missing. Learners often want more information than you provide.
4. The relevance of their own example to the theory and the learning task? --> Invite them to choose another or suggest another simpler example.

But whatever you do, don't "steal the learning" by doing the task for them.

4. If they are still stuck after Steps 1-3, suggest that the group with the problem take a break until the other groups are done and then address the issue carefully in the large-group debrief. Sometimes seeing how another group completed the task can create a breakthrough for them.

5. Adapt or redesign the subsequent learning tasks to address the issue. This will allow the participants to "get it" later in the workshop. 

Disclaimer: Designing and Facilitating to Avoid SRD may cause the following symptoms and side-effects: improved learning experience, reduced stress for the facilitators, better learning and retention. Do not use while operating heavy machinery, motor vehicles or LCD projectors. May cause elation, harmony and feelings of wellness and peace. Consult your physician before beginning treatment. Be sure to use the entire prescription before ceasing treatment. Do not ingest.  Look both ways before you cross the street. And never, ever, eat anything bigger than your head. 

The Learning Needs & Resources AssessmentIn a recent conversation with a friend, I was reminded about the importance of learning as much as you can about the participants at your workshop before hand so that you can design a learning experience that is accountable, relevant and immediate for them.

Dialogue Education guru :-) and founder of Global Learning Partners, Jane Vella, suggests that we conduct a "Learning Needs and Resources Assessment (LNRA)" (a.k.a. "Eleanor Ray" if you say it too quickly).

You can conduct an LNRA by:

Asking: about their prior learning, current work, successes/challenges with the topic, what they want to learn, etc. either in person, by phone/email or via a web-based survey.

Studying: reports, evaluations, websites, previous workshop designs and feedback forms, guide books, etc.

Observing: the learners' situation, work place, community, their online social media, etc.

(For more on this, I highly recommend Jane's landmark book, Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults (Jossey Bass, 2002, 2nd Edition) -- see Chapter 4).

Why Should You Conduct an LNRA?

As a designer and/or facilitator, I have found that conducting an LNRA before the workshop can help you:

1. Establish a relationship with the students before the workshop begins by setting a personal tone and inviting them to prepare for the course.

2. Remind the learners about the broad parameters of the course (why, when, where) so that there is no confusion on start times, location, logistics, etc.

3. Demonstrate Accountability to the learners needs by asking for their input before you finalize the learning design. It’s a chance to present the proposed program and ask them to name what they see as most relevant from that range of content and to suggest what else you might want to look at. Sometimes this results in big changes to your design, but even if not, it confirms that you are on the right track.

(NB: the final decision about the course design, however, rests with you as the designer/facilitator. As Jane says, "Learners' expectations inform the design; they do not form the design").

4. Preview the proposed Achievement-Based Objectives (vs. just an agenda for the day), you can convey to them the depth of learning (i.e., following Bloom's Taxonomy) that they can expect to engage in for each content area.

5. Inquire about their previous experience (both general and with the topic), thus demonstrating Respect for their previous learning and experience, and allowing you to create ABOs and Learning Tasks that are Safe and appropriate for the majority of the learners.

6. Assess their comfort level with the content and previous experience so that you can be confident that the participants will be Resources for each other's learning (hence the “R” in LNRA). This takes the pressure off you to be the expert because you can know you can draw on their experience, knowledge and wisdom. Alternatively, if everyone is generally new to the topic, you'll know before hand what additional information you should provide.

7. Build "buy-in" to the program before you start the workshop, thus avoiding the problem of people arriving and saying, "I thought this course was about....".

8. Assess their emotional (Affective) state and motivation for taking the workshop ahead of time. There is a big difference between someone who says, “I’ve been waiting for this workshop all my life” and someone else who says, “My parole officer sent me.”

9. Ask about any other special learning needs: language, caffeine/non-caffeine, scheduling, transportation, mobility, vision, hearing, kosher/halal/vegan/diabetic, learning style, etc. This information is invaluable in creating a safe and welcoming environment for the learners.

10. Suggest some pre-course reading, listening, or viewing or other preparation that they need to do beforehand.

11. Provide some "baseline data" on where the learners are starting from so that you can assess their progress during and after the course. You can compare this to the post-course feedback forms to assess their most significant learning, how their attitudes have shifted, etc. This is incredibly useful when doing a learning evaluation.

12. Understand their work or community environment, and the challenges they will encounter when they return home so that you can design appropriate Transfer Objectives and create realistic Learning Tasks.

Sharing the LNRA Findings

An LNRA is a two-way communication process; it is never just an "extractive" exercise. I find it frustrating as a participant to complete a pre-course survey and then never hear how the facilitators used what they learned.

So, when appropriate, I include a short, anonymous (Safety!) summary of the LNRA responses in the WHY section of the learning design. This honours the time that they took to fill it out, and demonstrates how we used their answers to shape the learning design.

A Podcast Is Worth Several Thousand Words

If you'd like to hear more about LNRA's, I'd invite you to listen to the following podcast that I produced with Jane: The Learning Needs and Resources Assessment (GLP ask that you'd fill out a short info form) or via on iTunes.

The Final Word -- to You!

 How have you used an LNRA in your learning design and facilitation work? Please post a comment below.