Review Ideas During The Workshop Ask Learners example essay topic

Trainers Tip (Research) Laying Down The Right Memory? Have you ever had this happen to you? One of your learners leaves the workshop, starts to implement some of their new discoveries into the workplace and someone says to them, "you don't do it like that". They promptly reply "Yes you do, David told us it was how we do it on the course last week". The truth is, you never said anything of the sort. So why is this person trying to get us into trouble.

Well they " re not. They really do believe that what they are doing is exactly what you said. It's the same reason why, when several people witness an incident, the police immediately separate the witnesses and ask for their statements in isolation - to stop 'cross contamination' of witness accounts ie of one person thinking they saw something just because someone else said they had seen it. Research from the world of neuroscience tells us that memories and experiences are not stored in a single location of the brain (we used to think of memories as being like little video clips held in a single specific area in the brain and we just needed to trigger the 'play button' to recall everything). The reality is that each part of an experience is laid-down in a different part of the brain - the visual aspect in the visual area (Occipital lobe), motor skills in one or more of the motor control areas in the frontal and parietal lobes etc.

When we want to recall an experience (memory), the brain recalls all it's component parts from each storage area and re-constructs the whole memory. Scientists suggest that it is best to think of memory as a process rather than a specific location in the brain. Back to our original situation - "David told us it was how we do it". What has happened here is that the parts of the memory were either laid down incorrectly during the learning or the recall process is not correct.

It seems correct to the learner, but in this case it is not - in fact they will swear that it is. I see it as a major part of our role to ensure learners leave with memories laid down correctly with an appropriate recall process. So how do we practically do this? Revisit content regularly (avoiding the term review) and plenty of regular feedback. Be creative with your review techniques - keep them short and fun. After each hour, facilitate a 2-4 minute review of that hour plus previous new discoveries.

Build in strategies so that learners review the content the next day for around 2 minutes, then the next week and the next month. If content was discovered visually, review it audit orally (learners talking), then have learners reflect on the value of the new learning for them and how they can implement the new ideas ie variety of learning input methods builds more and stronger connections to the memory. Review Ideas - during the workshop Ask learners to work in teams of 3-4 and mind map information so far making it as colourful as possible (what one learner forgets another will remember, if one learners had laid down incorrect memories, the team will reform that learning ensuring they leave with it correctly stored). Hand out index cards before lunch and at the end of each day, ask learners to write down the 3 key learning points of the 'morning' and how and where they will use these.

Then have them find a partner and discuss these learning points. Today I was facilitating a MS Project workshop so after lunch there were 2 flip charts - 'How to level a plan' and one with 4 diagrams of task linking types. I split the learners into 2 groups and asked one team to create a 'dummies' guide to levelling and the other a step-by-step guide to linking. When they were finished I asked each team to read, check and amend (if necessary) the other teams guide.

This was then transferred to their workbooks. The list can go on for ever - but ensure it is your learners that are doing the work and offering each other validation and feedback ie ensure memories have (and are) been laid down correctly. Review Idea - next day (after the workshop) I often get learners to complete flip charts of key points or processes during the workshop. At the end of the workshop I give 1 flip chart to each learner and ask them to type-up the information and eMail it to each of the other learners. This way, each learner gets key content in their own words, but it ensures that they are reminded of this as they type their assigned notes and as they receive other learners notes.

Review Idea - next week I often take pictures of the workshop as learners are working in teams and the flip charts they create. A week later I publish these on a private web page. You can be sure that every learner takes a look to see the photographs, but of course while they are doing this they are reviewing what took place "Oh, yes, that's when we were doing... ". Review Idea - next month At the end of the workshop, have learners decant the top 3 action points they will implement from their index cards that have been completed throughout the workshop. Ask them to put these in an envelope and address it to themselves.

Collect these and send after 1 month (this acts as a double review - the review of main points and the review after 1 month). Call to Action: Do an excellent job and ensure that the memories and experiences your learners leave with are strong, easy to recall and most of all, stored as a true reflection of the learning. Contact Information David Gibson or Christophe Peter Eureka!