Learning Battle Cards (TM) a selection of 10 learning methods - 9/28

Introduction

In this article I will introduce 10 Learning Battle Cards by stating my criteria to select them, and making a short statement about each “learning method”

The selection makes sense in connection with a specific context, and I will argument my choices in connection with the 2 contexts discussed so far.

Context 1: Will be the context of the EARTH being our Client, and keeping Global Warm Up inside the 1.5 °C limit until

Context 2: Will be the context of a small Start-up, whose goal is to attract the best applicants worldwide, onboard them efficiently and keep them.

My initial Criterias – learning power and engagement first selection of cards

I first selected all the cards with a high learning power and/or engagement on the part of the learner. I still had a lot of card, and in a second step I developped a global strategy based on the following principles / hypothesis:

My hypothesis on which my strategy is based

• People have to change attitudes / ways or life, to achieve the goal
• Time is all important, changes have to be made fast
• Methods and goals have to be coherent (more so congruent)
• Money is not a problem – The costs of not acting are so high

The strategy:

A learning process that would find its main hub, in a galaxy of Communities of Practice. To me, Communities of practice are or will be at the center of our learning ecosystems.

The selected learning methods, with one single exception, will only rely on people (technologies remaining in the background). The choice of simulation, the only exception has a strong pedagical role in the learning process, when you want to demonstrate impacts that take time and/or are dangerous.

The selection of learning methods

Article 10 – Communities of Practice

They are at the center of our learning ecosystem – Communities of practice have been defined as such since Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger originally coined the concept.

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. (Ref 1 )

In our strategy, they are the anchoring point of 3 dimensions of learning process – People or Community - that is the The target Group of the LBC framework ; Domain(s): Needs and answer to the needs (that would be in the central part of the Framework : Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes) and Practices that would roughly correspond to the implementation stage of the LBC framework.

Article 11 - Project based learning

Projects are one type of activities you'll always find in a community of practice, looking for solutions to improve everyday practice. Working on a project is a powerful way of identifying best pratices that will emerge during discussions around the project) – It is a very efficient way to educate / train students (meaningful and engaging).

Article 12 – Experimenting

You can look at the Experimenting “learning method” from two perspective: one is from the agile methods of product development perspective, in which, you have idea about a problem that wants to be solved, make hypothesis about a solution, prototype the solution, and test/experiment it. and, two, from a “Learning theory” point of view, you can see “experimenting” as part of the “Experiential learning” theory, after Dewey, Kolb...in which experimentation plays a major role.

Article 13 : Team assignment

Team Learning is a major concept of a learning organisation. in a learning organisation, the team is the learning unit. Team assignments are tasks that a team has to accomplish working collaboratively and/or cooperatively. Again, in a community of practice, tasks are usually assigned to a few members of the community who will work collaboratively

Article 14 : Simulation

When do we need simulations?: When we want to demonstrate impact of decisions or of increase or decrease of some specific variables in a complex system. When impacts, consequences are slow to come, when acting in the real world would cost too much or be too dangerous. In the context of Climate change, Simulations will be the strongest way to show the impact of decisions (or absence of) on let's say sea level, bio diversity, food and water availablility, ...

Articles 15 to 19: deal with roles or functions people have, inside a community of practice or a learning organisation:

Article 15 Facilitation:

Collaborative work, has to be facilitated, most of the time unless all participant are highly experienced with collaboration, a facilitator is in charge of the process of collaboration – participants are in charge of the content and results produced.

Article 16: Mentoring

Mentoring should not be confused with tutoring although some people use both terms indifferently: Mentoring as opposed to tutoring, is usually a long term relationship in which Mentor and Mentee (some call them “protégé”) choose each other. Mentors share experience, knowledge, network with their Mentee and sometimes “protect” them when times get rough.

Article 17: Tutoring

Depending on the context (university of enterprise) the role of the Tutor will be defined differently – the relationship is usually short term – a few months – TUTORS will generally share their knowledge and will give individual support to learners. The relationship is formal, and, generally, learners have no say in the choice of their tutor.

Article 18: Coaching

Coaching is sometimes best defined by what it is not: Coaching is NOT therapy, it is NOT consulting, and it is NOT teaching/tutoring/mentoring – although, in some cases, the coach after asking for permission will share his own experience/knowledge in a specific situation where the coachee would put herself at risk. The coach is someone who will get you to achieve your goals, using your own resources and/or discovering resources you didn't know you had, using coaching techniques and tools that have proved efficient in the past and in which the coach has been trained.

The ICF - International Coaching Federation defines coaching as " a partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential."  

Article 19 "peer to peer learning"

We are all peers, and peer to peer learning is the killer application, the most learning power and best engagement at all granularity levels of your learning

The best way to learn is to teach. Not only the person being taught gains new knowledge, but the peer who is in the teaching role will increase his own knowledge and at the same time will increase his/her skills at listening, communication, ...)

Peer to peer learning is common practice at Google (Ref 2)

To be continued...

Tomorrow: Learning Battle Cards : 10 learning Methods – Communities of practice 10/28

References

Ref 1 Etienne Wenger's Website

Ref 2 : Here’s A Google Perk Any Company Can Imitate: Employee-To-Employee Learning

Previous articles

Article 1: Why should you use the Learning Battle Cards (TM)?

Article 2: How to get familiar with the Learning Battle Cards and Framework (TM)?

Article 3: Learning Battle Cards - Anatomy of a card

Article 4: Learning Battle Cards - Overview of the framework

Article 5: Learning Battle Cards - Context: Client and Budget

Article 6: Learning Battle Cards - Context: Goals and KPIs

Article 7: Learning Battle Cards - Context: Target Group

Article 8: Learning Battle Cards - Context: Needs and Critical Factors