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This column is all about providing ongoing support (in and outside of your learning setting).

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This column is all about providing ongoing support (in and outside of your learning setting).

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This title really sums up this column's contents--keep the learning going in a variety of ways!

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This title really sums up this column's contents--keep the learning going in a variety of ways!

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Here, you'll find information on extending learning, more aligned to the "what if" and extension beyond your time with learners.

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Here, you'll find information on extending learning, more aligned to the "what if" and extension beyond your time with learners.

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The resources below all support learners in practice and application of skill and learning.

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The resources below all support learners in practice and application of skill and learning.

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If you want to read more...check out these resources!

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If you want to read more...check out these resources!

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In this column, you'll find information and guidance for offering feedback to learners.

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In this column, you'll find information and guidance for offering feedback to learners.

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Check out what LB can do for you within the video attached below.

Or you can check out the website: https://www.livebinders.com/welcome/

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Cognitive Coaching Framework.Support Functions (Karen Sarafian at Foulks Ranch)

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If you're a trainer, you want to make sure your learners have access to the right content at the right time. This is why you need effective job aids.

3 Secrets to Creating Effective Job Aids

Keep It Relevant

It may go without saying, but keeping your content relevant to your learners is a key ingredient. By presenting relevant information to your learners at the right time, you will keep them engaged.

For example, if you're training a coffee barista, then put a job aid next to the mocha machine so it can be easily referenced. This serves as a perfect complement to the learning process and ensures the learner's success with a common on-the-job task.

What are the demographics?

How much prior knowledge do they have on the subject?

What are the average education levels?

What task is this supporting?

How much of a priority is this task?

How difficult is this task?

When you are providing learners with job aids, be sure the included information is supplying them with the right content, in the right format, at the right time.

Make It Pretty

The next secret to making effective job aids is to use basic graphic design principles to make sure you're making the most of the space you have. You don't have to be a professional to adopt a few simple principles that make your job aids more effective.

Here are 5 design principles to get your started:

For non-designers who want to create dazzling designs , look to design tools such as , and PowerPoint for easy-to-use applications. Using these tools, you can transform your training materials and enhance your learner's experience.

Presentation Matters

Go a step further by providing answers to these questions as well:

How long after the training is the employee going to be performing the task?

What kind of technology will the employee have access to?

How much time will the employee have to execute on the task?

From here, you can determine how durable the job aid needs to be, how large it should be, and how your learners will be handling it.

Following these secrets, you can create more effective job aids for your learners. Not only will these secrets improve your training, but they will help your learners complete their on-the-job tasks effectively.

Want $100 off your job aids? See how produces high-quality materials for your training using checkout code: IACET100

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3 Secrets to Creating Effective Job Aids - Mimeo.com

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If you're a trainer, you want to make sure your learners have access to the right content at the right time. This is why you need effective job aids. It may go without saying, but keeping your content relevant to your learners is a key ingredient.

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16 Curation Tools for Teachers and Students

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This post brings together a suggested list, a curated list if you will, of 16 curation tools for teachers and students from the Shake Up Learning community.

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Listen to this post as a podcast:
If no one has ever encouraged, pushed, or insisted that you build more higher-order thinking into your students' learning, it's possible you've been teaching in a cave.

Higher-level thinking has been a core value of educators for decades. We learned about it in college. We hear about it in PD. We're even evaluated on whether we're cultivating it in our classrooms: Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching, a widely used instrument to measure teacher effectiveness, describes a distinguished teacher as one whose "lesson activities require high-level student thinking" (Domain 3, Component 3c).

All that aside, most teachers would say they want their students to be thinking on higher levels, that if our teaching kept students at the lowest level of Bloom's Taxonomy -simply recalling information-we wouldn't be doing a very good job as teachers.

And yet, when it's time to plan the learning experiences that would have our students operating on higher levels, some of us come up short. We may not have a huge arsenal of ready-to-use, high-level tasks to give our students. Instead, we often default to having students identify and define terms, label things, or answer basic recall questions. It's what we know. And we have so much content to cover, many of us might feel that there really isn't time for the higher-level stuff anyway.

If this sounds anything like you, I have a suggestion: Try a curation assignment.

When a museum director curates, she collects artifacts, organizes them into groups, sifts out everything but the most interesting or highest-quality items, and shares those collections with the world. When an editor curates poems for an anthology, he does the same thing.

The process can be applied to all kinds of content: A person could curate a collection of articles, images, videos, audio clips, essays, or a mixture of items that all share some common attribute or theme. When we are presented with a list of the "Top 10" anything or the "Best of" something else, what we're looking at is a curated list. Those playlists we find on Spotify and Pandora? Curation. "Recommended for You" videos on Netflix? Curation. The news? Yep, it's curated. In an age where information is ubiquitous and impossible to consume all at once, we rely on the curation skills of others to help us process it all.

In an educational setting, curation has a ton of potential as an academic task. Sure, we're used to assigning research projects, where students have to gather resources, pull out information, and synthesize that information into a cohesive piece of informational or argumentative writing. This kind of work is challenging and important, and it should remain as a core assignment throughout school, but how often do we make the collection of resources itself a stand-alone assignment?

That's what I'm proposing we do. Curation projects have the potential to put our students to work at three different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy:

Understand, where we exemplify and classify information

Analyze, where we distinguish relevant from irrelevant information and organize it in a way that makes sense

Evaluate, where we judge the quality of an item based on a set of criteria

If we go beyond Bloom's and consider the Framework for 21st Century Learning put out by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning, we'll see that critical thinking is one of the 4C's listed as an essential skill for students in the modern age (along with communication, creativity, and collaboration) and a well-designed curation project requires a ton of critical thinking.

So what would a curation project look like?

Suppose you're teaching U.S. history, and you want students to understand that our constitution is designed to be interpreted by the courts, and that many people interpret it differently. So you create a curation assignment that focuses on the first amendment.

The task: Students must choose ONE of the rights given to us by the first amendment. To illustrate the different ways people interpret that right, students must curate a collection of online articles, images, or videos that represent a range of beliefs about how far that right extends. For each example they include, they must summarize the point of view being presented and include a direct quote where the author or speaker's biases or beliefs can be inferred.

Here is what one submission might look like, created on a platform called eLink (click here to view the whole thing).

Because they are finding examples of a given concept and doing some summarizing, students in this task are working at the Understand level of Bloom's. But they are also identifying where the author or speaker is showing bias or purpose, which is on the Analyze level.

Ranked Collection: Students collect a set of articles, images, videos, or even whole websites based on a set of criteria (the most "literary" song lyrics of the year, or the world's weirdest animal adaptations) and rank them in some kind of order, justifying their rankings with a written explanation or even a student-created scoring system. Each student could be tasked with creating their own collection or the whole class could be given a pre-selected collection to rank. This would be followed by a discussion where students could compare and justify their rankings with those of other students. (Bloom's Level: Evaluate)

Shared Trait Collection: This would house items that have one thing in common. This kind of task would work in so many different subject areas. Students could collect articles where our government's system of checks and balances are illustrated, images of paintings in the impressionist style, videos that play songs whose titles use metaphors. It could even be used as part of a lesson using the concept attainment strategy, where students develop an understanding of a complex idea by studying "yes" and "no" examples of it. By curating their own examples after studying the concept, they will further developing their understanding of it. (Bloom's Level: Understand).

Literature Review: As the first step of a research project, students could collect relevant resources and provide a brief summary of each one, explaining how it contributes to the current understanding of their topic. As high school students prepare for college, having a basic understanding of what a literature review is and the purpose it serves-even if they are only doing it with articles written outside of academia-will help them take on the real thing with confidence when that time comes. (Bloom's Levels: Understand for the summarization, Analyze for the sorting and selecting of relevant material)

Video Playlist: YouTube is bursting at the seams with videos, but how much of it is actually good? Have students take chunks of your content and curate the best videos out there to help other students understand those concepts. In the item's description, have students explain why they chose it and what other students will get out of it. (Bloom's Levels: Understand for summarization, Evaluate for judging the quality of the videos)

Museum Exhibit: Task students with curating a digital "exhibit" around a given theme. The more complex the theme, the more challenging the task. For example, they might be asked to assume the role of a museum owner who hates bees, and wants to create a museum exhibit that teaches visitors all about the dangers of bees. This kind of work would help students understand that even institutions that might not own up to any particular bias, like museums, news agencies, or tv stations, will still be influenced by their own biases in how they curate their material. (Bloom's Level: Understand if it's just a collection of representative elements, Create if they are truly creating a new "whole" with their collection, such as representing a particular point of view with their choices)

Real World Examples: Take any content you're teaching (geometry principles, grammar errors, science or social studies concepts) and have students find images or articles that illustrate that concept in the real world. (Bloom's level: Understand).

Favorites: Have students pull together a personal collection of favorite articles, videos, or other resources for a Genius Hour, advisory, or other more personalized project: A collection of items to cheer you up, stuff to boost your confidence, etc. Although this could easily slide outside the realm of academic work, it would make a nice activity to help students get to know each other at the start of a school year or give them practice with the process of curation before applying it to more content-related topics.

Most of the above activities would not be very academically challenging if students merely had to assemble the collection. Adding a thoughtfully designed written component is what will make students do their best thinking in a curation assignment.

The simplest way to do this is to require a written commentary with each item in the collection. Think about those little signs that accompany every item at a museum: Usually when you walk into an exhibit, you find a sign or display that explains the exhibit as a whole, then smaller individual placards that help visitors understand the significance of each piece in the collection. When students put their own collections together, they should do the same thing.

Be specific about what you'd like to see in these short writing pieces, and include those requirements in your rubric. Then go a step further and create a model of your own, so students have a very clear picture of how the final product should look. Because this is a genre they have probably not done any work in before, they will do much better with this kind of scaffolding. Doing the assignment yourself first-a practice I like to call dogfooding -will also help you identify flaws in the assignment that can be tweaked before you hand it over to students.

It's certainly possible for students to collect resources through non-digital means, by reading books in the library or curating physical artifacts or objects, but doing a curation project digitally allows for media-rich collections that can be found and assembled in a fraction of the time. And if you have students curating in groups, using digital tools will allow them to collaborate from home without having to meet in person.

Here are a few curation tools that would work beautifully for this kind of project:

Elink is the tool featured in the sample project above. Of all the tools suggested here, this one is the simplest. You collect your links, write descriptions, and end up with a single unique web page that you can share with anyone.

Pinterest is probably the most popular curation tool out there. If your students are already using Pinterest, or you're willing to get them started, you could have them create a Pinterest board as a curation assignment.

Symbaloo allows users to create "webmixes," boards of icons that each lead to different URLs. Although it would be possible to create a curated collection with Symbaloo, it doesn't allow for the same amount of writing that some other tools do, so you would need to have students do their writing on a separate document.

Diigo is a good choice for a more text-driven project, like a literature review or a general collection of resources at the beginning stages of a research project, where images aren't necessarily required. Diigo offers lots of space to take notes about every item in a collection, but it doesn't have user-friendly supports for images or other media.

I'm so excited about all the different ways we can use curation in the classroom, and I would love to hear your ideas as well. Please share them in the comments below. If you have links to student samples, share those, too! ♦

Curation is just one of the modules in JumpStart, my new online technology course created especially for educators. I thought carefully about what specific skills teachers need to make the most of classroom tech, chose 9 of them, and designed hands-on projects that will show you exactly how to use them.

If you're ready to take your tech skills from so-so to rock solid, this course will change everything for you.

Learn more about the course here.

There's more where this came from.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. To thank you, I'll send you a free copy of my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half. I look forward to getting to know you better!

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To Boost Higher-Order Thinking, Try Curation

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A digital curation project is a fast way to engage critical thinking in any content area. Here's how it works.

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Where such trainings were once the sole responsibility of state and district organizations, many teachers are now seeing the value of venturing out to amalgamate their own professional learning experiences. While no two paths are the same, there are four components of effective do-it-yourself (DIY) professional development that all educational professionals should consider.

Twitter

Twitter is a microblogging platform that allows users to publish posts of 140 characters or less in length. Educators the world over have adopted this social network as an always-open staff lounge where ideas, best practices and resources are shared with one another in the context of a professional learning network. In Why Teachers Should Try Twitter, William Ferriter shares his reason for taking his professional development to the network:

I finally understand how much differentiated learning matters. My own motivation levels have skyrocketed. I'm accessing ideas connected to my professional interests, and have taken ownership of my own learning.

Though these may be Ferriter's own words, the attitude expressed in them about leveraging Twitter for differentiated professional development is shared by many who have Tweeted and been Tweeted back at.

Blogs

In addition to Twitter, educators are making blogs an integral part of their DIY professional development. While many enjoy reading what others have written, writing your own reflective blog posts is a highly effective technique to improving your instructional practices. In their Teacher Evaluation Model, the Marzano Research Institute identifies reflecting on teaching as "a vital meta-cognitive step in teacher development." What you post at first doesn't really matter. The practice of consciously reflecting on your classroom practices and documenting what you are learning does matter. There are a number of platforms that teachers are choosing to host their professional blogs, Edublogs, Weebly, Blogger and Wordpress being the most popular among them.

Edcamps

Edcamps are cropping up across the country. Depending on where you live, you might have already attended one yourself. If not, it is quite likely that you have at least heard about the e dcamp movement. Edcamps are a type of teacher-organized unconference that allows educators to get together, often for only a day, to engage in discussion-based professional learning. What makes edcamps really unique is that there are no planned sessions at the beginning of the event. Attendees gather in the morning to suggest topics and offer to facilitate sessions, which are then displayed on a large schedule board for others to view and attend. Tom Whitby writes in What Makes Edcamp Popular with Teachers that "Edcamp's success is based on trust and respect, as well as a personal drive for professional development." While these often take place on a Saturday, those who attend are there not because they need professional development credits, but because they want to learn.

Hangouts

Google+ is quickly finding itself the host of burgeoning community of educators as well. As on Twitter, users are sharing content and ideas with one another in a professional learning network. Additionally, they are utilizing Google's social networking platform to Hangout. A Google Hangout is a video conference with the potential to broadcast up to ten people at a time. For innovative educators, this technology has opened up a number of opportunities to connect and grow together. Whether participating in a distance-based book study, hosting a weekly educational podcast, or simply logging on to talk informally with a few friends about what's going on in your classrooms and schools, Google Hangouts is providing teachers with a way to connect instantly with other do-it-yourselfers. This past January, Google Hangouts even served as the platform for the first entirely online Edcamp, Edcamp Home, which allowed ambitious educators from all around the world to experience the unconference from the comfort of their couches.

At the heart of any approach to professional development is an attitude about how, when and where we learn best. In today's educational ecosystem, the answers to these questions can largely be found online. While Twitter, blogs, edcamps and Hangouts aren't all that should be included in a comprehensive professional development plan, the learning experiences and opportunities enabled by utilizing them far outweigh the takeaways from a district in-service training. This might be due to the nature of the teacher-generated interactions, the opportunity for knowledge construction, or even the access to educational experts and thought leaders. Regardless, the emergence of DIY professional development isn't a fad or a passing trend. It's a reflection of our culture, one that will see more innovation in education during the next ten years than it has seen in the past hundred.

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The 4 Components of a DIY Professional-Development Toolkit | Edutopia

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Where such trainings were once the sole responsibility of state and district organizations, many teachers are now seeing the value of venturing out to amalgamate their own professional learning experiences. While no two paths are the same, there are four components of effective do-it-yourself (DIY) professional development that all educational professionals should consider.

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As of late, I have been working with quite a few districts on personalization through a variety of blended learning strategies. My experience in this area began over three years ago, thanks to having the opportunity to coach teachers and administrators at Wells Elementary School. As we are now in our third year together, they continue to take feedback and act on it to improve their practice. I can honestly say that I have learned so much from them over the years as to what pedagogically-sound blended learning really is, and, in my mind, they are a global exemplar for others to emulate.
Their influence can be seen and heard in my writing, presentations, workshops, and work with other schools. Throughout this school year, I have had the honor of working with all the K-12 schools in the Corinth School District in Mississippi. They are a 1:1 district who have really begun to hit their stride and push the envelope when it comes to the purposeful use of technology aligned to research-based pedagogy. They have made some incredible shifts, including a shift towards station rotation and choice boards. You can read more about their progress in this post.

After my fourth coaching session with them, the principal asked if I could create a choice board for his staff to work through and learn to use even more technology tools effectively. I was excited because I always ask the schools I work with to reflect on the feedback that is provided and determine how to best use my time when I am there next. Ownership of learning shouldn't just be for students. I was also equally terrified as I had never created a choice board of my own. Typically, I only share the ones created by Wells (TX), Snow Horse (UT), and Corinth Elementary (MS) as well as Corinth Middle School. As I have stated for years, don't ask others to do what you have not done or are not willing to do yourself. Challenge accepted!
On a recent Sunday, I began my choice board journey. Since I had already provided numerous workshops and sessions in the district, the foundation was already set to move forward with this. First, I did a few Google searches for editable templates, which led me to an array of examples in Google Slides. I then chose one that aligned to the content, in my opinion, developed a learning target, created nine different activities, and hyperlinked to supporting resources. Since pacing is a pivotal component of both personalized and blended learning, I did another Google search for ways to integrate timers into Google Slides. In literally fifteen minutes, I had my choice board created.

The key with a choice board to use as a part of professional learning with adults or classroom learning with students is sound blended pedagogy. In addition, below are some tips that I have used with the schools and districts I coach:

Use pre-made templates (just make a copy).

Use a timer for pacing and self-management.

Behind the scenes, the teacher works with at-risk students or those who need extra help. If you are leading professional learning, this frees up time to answer questions and provide feedback.

Add links to your Learning Management System (Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, etc.) to see student work and to hold them accountable.

Monitor regularly to ensure on-task behavior.

Create a scaffolded formative assessment for all students to complete once they are finished (3 questions or more that increase in difficulty). For professional learning, you could have attendees share what they have created or learned using Google Forms.

If students or adults finish the required choices and formative assessment, have them choose other activities.

Consider using Google Slides and add either anchor charts or essential content for review to assist with completing the board.

For more edtech tools, click HERE to access a resource curated by Tom Murray.

HERE you can view the choice board activity that I created based on the story at the beginning of the post. You will see numerous slides before that actual board that allows access to the presentation as well as some content slides to review prior learning. The iteration that you see was updated and tweaked numerous times thanks to the feedback I received from the Corinth School District, Jill Bromenschenkel, and my wife. Going forward, I will definitely be integrating more choice boards and station rotation into my workshops. It's vital that anyone leading professional learning practices what he or she preaches.
Choice boards, both digital and non-digital, represent a pedagogically-sound virtual or #remotelearning option, especially for our youngest learners. If they have been implemented prior to extended school closures or breaks consider incorporating them into a distance learning plan. In the case that they haven't been used, I would suggest creating a short video explaining to learners how to complete the board and how to submit or show work when finished.

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Choice Boards 101: Strategies to Ensure Classroom, Professional, and Virtual Learning Success

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As of late, I have been working with quite a few districts on personalization through a variety of blended learning strategies. My experience in this area began over three years ago, thanks to having the opportunity to coach teachers and administrators at Wells Elementary School.

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Learning can happen anytime, anywhere, with those around us serving as invaluable sources of inspiration, experience, and knowledge. In many respects, the world is our teacher, but we must be aware of how to tap into the educational opportunities it can offer. Both social and informal learning models are rooted in this ideology. In this article, I'll delve into the differences between Social Learning and Informal Learning, and share tips on how to use both in eLearning.

Social Learning Vs Informal Learning: 3 Plus 3 Useful Tips Towards An Effective Learning Strategy For Each

Social learning is a cognitive process that encourages the learner to expand their knowledge base and master a specific task or skill through observation and instruction. This takes place in a social environment, wherein learners can carefully examine and evaluate the actions of others. A behavior or idea is typically modeled for the learner, and then they are asked to imitate or perform this behavior on their own. Vicarious reinforcement may also be involved, which allows the learner to expand their comprehension by monitoring the consequences or rewards of another person's actions. For example, if someone else is reprimanded for exhibiting a certain learning behavior, they will then avoid that behavior.

Informal learning, on the other hand, is a more impromptu form of education. It is usually unscheduled and happens "on the fly". For the most part, learners gain knowledge and develop their skills by participating in online discussions and presentations that center on their personal interests and activities. It's often helpful to look at informal learning as an unforeseen side effect of carrying out normal everyday activities. For example, if you learn more about a particular topic by reading an article posted on by a friend, this would be an example of informal learning. You didn't logon to the site expecting to educate yourself; it just happened! However, as you'll discover in the tips section below, the informal learning process can still be integrated into the design of eLearning experiences.

3 Tips For Designing An Effective Social Learning Strategy

1. Both show and tell.
Social learning is all about learning by watching, then doing. To take care of the "watching" aspect, live modeling and verbal instruction, are key to the eLearning experience. Show your learners how to perform a task or process by walking them through each step, and allowing them to observe andretain the information they need to do it on their own. You should also include verbal instruction, such as communicating the mental processes that you go through when solving a problem. You can do this in the form of a tutorial, live presentation, or even an eLearning scenario that provides immediate feedback in case they take the wrong branching path .

2. Grab and hold their attention.
Social learning relies on having the full attention of the learner. If they are distracted, then they simply won't be able to effectively observe the behavior or retain the key bits of knowledge they need in the real world. This means that you will have to make the eLearning content compelling, emotionally centered, and relatable in order to hold their attention. Tie it into real world objectives or goals, so they are aware of the fact that what you are teaching is going to benefit them once they step away from the eLearning environment.

3. Practice makes perfect.
Practice makes perfect, as they say, and this is also true for social learning. Once the learner observes the desired behavior or in-depth process, they are then asked to perform it on their own or in group. Simulations are ideal tools for this application, as they give learners the opportunity to carry out the task on their own, without any risk involved. Before they step into the real world, they can be sure that they know every detail and all of the steps that are required.

3 Tips For Designing An Effective Informal Learning Strategy

1. Offer "moment of need" resources.
One of the most significant benefits of an informal learning strategy is being able to help learnerswhen and where they need it the most. If they are on the sales floor and need to know how to carry out a transaction, they need access to resources which can help them every step of the way. Ensure that you have prepared learning materials and activities they can use to expand their understanding and develop their skills whenever they feel the need. Also, make it mobile-friendly so that they don't have to wait until they get home to access the resources on their laptops or PCs.

2. Build an online learning community.
Informal learning relies heavily on a learning mindset. If your learners are aware of how much spontaneous learning can benefit their lives, they are more likely to seek out and participate in these "unscheduled" educational activities. Give your learners a list of resources, such as articles and blogs, they can use to access information anytime, anywhere. Encourage them toengage in online forums and social networking sites where they can take control of their own learning experience.

3. Create blog-based online activities.
Encourage learners to start a blog and post recaps of the online lesson or interesting ideas that they have about related topics. Give them complete creative freedom to customize the blog as they like. You might even ask them to start an online portfolio of their best work, so that they are able to use it as a reference, get peer-based feedback, and possibly show it to future employers if applicable. Have them post links to articles and eLearning videos they found informative, or develop their own resource list that may eventually help others to broaden their understanding.

For a truly memorable and engaging eLearning experience, consider using both models in your instructional design strategy. This gives learners the opportunity to expand their knowledge base and skill sets beyond the borders of the virtual classroom, so that they can become lifelong learners who seize every chance to improve their personal and professional lives.

Want to know how you can use social media sites to develop interactive and collaborative eLearning experiences? Read the article 12 Golden Social Media Rules For eLearning Professionals to discover how Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks can be used in social learning environments.

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Social Learning Vs Informal Learning: Can You Tell The Difference? - eLearning Industry

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Learning can happen anytime, anywhere, with those around us serving as invaluable sources of inspiration, experience, and knowledge. In many respects, the world is our teacher, but we must be aware of how to tap into the educational opportunities it can offer. Both social and informal learning models are rooted in this ideology.

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What Is The 70 20 10 Model?

70 20 10 is a Learning and Development theory that encapsulates all of the different ways that people learn. Learning from experiences, interacting with others, or through training, are at the core of this approach.

Organizations use this model to shift their focus from training to performance so they can provide their workforce with a more holistic approach to learning. Maximizing the impact of learning through experience, socialization, and formal training methods enables businesses to create and support high-performing workforces.

Why Use This L&D Model?

Around since the 1980s, one of the primary reasons organizations have adopted the 70 20 10 model was to implement a learning strategy that maximizes workforce Learning and Development, while boosting employee performance.

While traditional learning, delivered through formal training programs, might be most effective to address skills gaps, performance issues, or retraining needs, 70 20 10 focuses on learning in the context of the workplace. It aims to make good employees great by providing a diverse range of opportunities to learn through different methods.

It's important to note that the 70 20 10 ratios aren't set in stone. They should be viewed as a general guide to each type of learning. The specific breakdown may vary depending on your organization's Learning and Development needs.

The 70 20 10 Breakdown

The 70 20 10 model states that people obtain:

70% of their knowledge from job-related experiences,

20% from interactions with others, like coworkers and managers,

10% from formal learning events.

70% Of Learning Is Experiential

Experiential learning happens through completing daily tasks, resolving issues, and regular practice. This learning is informal, typically self-directed, and enables employees to learn through on-the-job experiences. It's beneficial for employees as it allows them to explore and refine their job-based skills. It also enables them to make their own decisions in order to complete assigned tasks. Employees are encouraged to address challenges, ask questions, learn from their mistakes, and be open to feedback on their performance.

By completing a task, your employees are more likely to it pick it up more easily and quickly than they would if they were just instructed on how to do it. And they're more likely to retain that learning as they've experienced it first hand.

Ultimately, this part of the model is about autonomy. Your employees are learning through doing. And in the process, they're becoming more knowledgeable and prepared for future challenges.

20% Of Learning Is Social

Social learning happens by interacting with and observing other people. In the workplace, this occurs through co-workers and managers. By completing tasks or projects and overcoming challenges together, your employees learn from their peers while working towards a common goal.

Learning from others can also be achieved through mentoring and coaching. For example, if a given role requires strong negotiation skills, the best way for an employee to learn this skill is by being guided through a negotiating scenario by a peer or manager who's adept at this skill. The employee could first observe a mock negotiating scenario and then be coached through one. It's trial by fire, without the real-world danger of course! The employee learns through observing and interacting under the guidance of others, an opportunity that may not be possible to achieve through a more formal type of training.

The effectiveness of social learning heavily depends on the culture within your organization. It's important to look at how you can support and facilitate social learning. Embracing it can lead to a more productive work environment and stronger culture through building teams who are willing to support and learn from each other.

10% Of Learning Is Formal

Formal learning, the most well-known aspect of the model, is learning that's delivered in a structured way. Used to improve employee performance through goal-orientated and Instructor-Led Training, it complements the experiential and social learning methods. It's also great for establishing baseline knowledge for a given topic.

Formal learning falls into two buckets, face-to-face and online. Face-to-face takes the form of training sessions, tutorials, seminars, workshops, and group presentations delivered in one place, that's typically a classroom-like setting.

Online learning, delivered through a Learning Management System (LMS), allows you to provide training in a wide range of formats, from SCORM or xAPI-based courses to webinars and videos. Your teams' can learn in their own time, at their own pace, wherever they are. And you can easily track training progress to measure the impact of your programs on workforce performance.

Meeting Your Employees' Learning Needs

Learning and Development according to the 70 20 10 model primarily happens through on-the-job experiences and socialization.

However, it's argued that this model doesn't focus enough on more structured learning methods. Formal learning, even though it makes up the minority 10%, is vital for achieving your corporate learning objectives.

Get started with this model by identifying how it can help your organization to achieve its employee development goals. Experiment with different breakdowns to see if it will meet your workforce's needs. You'll soon discover if it's the right learning strategy for your organization. Download the eBook How To Leverage The 70 20 10 Model For High Performing Employees and get to discover all about the 70 20 10 model, an L&D theory that encapsulates all of the different ways that people learn. Join the available webinar, too, to find out more insightful information about the 70 20 10 model.

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What Is The 70 20 10 Model In L&D? - eLearning Industry

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70 20 10 is a Learning and Development theory that encapsulates all of the different ways that people learn. Learning from experiences, interacting with others, or through training, are at the core of this approach. Organizations use this model to shift their focus from training to performance so they can provide their workforce with a more holistic approach to learning.

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Whether it's positive or negative, formal or informal, any type of feedback from a supervisor or colleague can clue an employee in on where they stand performance-wise. These types of assessments are especially important when an employee is exhibiting troubling behaviors or attitudes, and the right feedback can help them improve significantly.

Unfortunately, not all "constructive criticism" is actually constructive. Framing and delivering your feedback the wrong way can make the recipient feel personally attacked, which only leads to defensiveness, hurt feelings and ultimately, demotivation.

Fifteen members of Forbes Coaches Council each share one key communication strategy that results in useful, constructive feedback, rather than useless or harmful criticism.
1. Focus On How To Change 2. Ground Your Constructive Criticism In Behavior 3. Give Your Intention Some Attention 4. Point Out Opportunities, Not Faults 5. Have A Private Conversation 6. Prepare The Recipient For Feedback 7. Use Emotional Intelligence 8. Build A Bridge, Don't Burn One 9. Start With What Is Working 10. Know When To Get To The Point 11. Focus on a Behavior That Can Be Changed 12. Maintain Collaborative Communication 13. Discuss Behavior, Impact And Action 14. Use Criticism Well 15. Show Respect And Stay Objective

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Council Post: 15 Ways To Offer Truly Constructive Feedback

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Whether it's positive or negative, formal or informal, any type of feedback from a supervisor or colleague can clue an employee in on where they stand performance-wise. These types of assessments are especially important when an employee is exhibiting troubling behaviors or attitudes, and the right feedback can help them improve significantly.

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contributed by Laura Reynolds

While assessment gets all the press, we often misunderstand effective feedback for learning.

When feedback is predominately negative, studies have shown that it can discourage student effort and achievement (Hattie & Timperley, 2007, Dinham). In my experience, the only thing I knew is that I hated public speaking and I would do anything possible to get out of it. As a teacher, most of the time it is easy to give encouraging, positive feedback.

However, it is in the other times that we have to dig deep to find an appropriate feedback response that will not discourage a student's learning. This is where the good teachers, the ones students remember forever in a positive light, separate themselves from the others.

A teacher has the distinct responsibility to nurture a student's learning and to provide feedback in such a manner that the student does not leave the classroom feeling defeated. Here you will find 20 ideas and techniques on how to give effective learning feedback that will leave your students with the feeling they can conquer the world.

20 Ways to Provide Effective Feedback

1. Feedback should be educative in nature.

Providing feedback means giving students an explanation of what they are doing correctly and incorrectly. However, the focus of the feedback should be based essentially on what the students is doing right. It is most productive to a student's learning when they are provided with an explanation and example as to what is accurate and inaccurate about their work.

Consider using the concept of a 'feedback sandwich' to guide your feedback: Compliment, Correct, Compliment.

2. Feedback should be given in a timely manner.

When feedback is given immediately after showing proof of learning, the student responds positively and remembers the experience about what is being learned in a confident manner. If we wait too long to give feedback, the moment is lost and the student might not connect the feedback with the action.

3. Be sensitive to the individual needs of the student.

It is vital that we take into consideration each student individually when giving feedback. Our classrooms are full of diverse learners. Some students need to be nudged to achieve at a higher level and others need to be handled very gently so as not to discourage learning and damage self-esteem. A balance between not wanting to hurt a student's feelings and providing proper encouragement is essential.

4. Ask the 4 questions.

Studies of effective teaching and learning (Dinham, 2002, 2007a; 2007b) have shown that learners want to know where they stand in regards to their work. Providing answers to the following four questions on a regular basis will help provide quality feedback. These four questions are also helpful when providing feedback to parents:

What can the student do?

What can't the student do?

How does the student's work compare with that of others?

How can the student do better?

5. Feedback should reference a skill or specific knowledge.

This is when rubrics become a useful tool (single-point rubrics, for example). A rubric is an instrument to communicate expectations for an assignment and a useful way to provide effective feedback for learning. Effective rubrics provide students with very specific information about their performance, compared to an established range of standards. For younger students, try highlighting rubric items that the student is meeting or try using a sticker chart.

6. Give feedback to keep students 'on target' for achievement.

Regular 'check-ins' with students let them know where they stand in the classroom and with you. Utilize the '4 questions' to guide your feedback.

7. Host a one-on-one conference.

Providing a one-on-one meeting with a student is one of the most effective means of providing feedback. The student will look forward to having the attention and allows the opportunity to ask necessary questions. A one-on-one conference should be generally optimistic, as this will encourage the student to look forward to the next meeting.

As with all aspects of teaching, this strategy requires good time management. Try meeting with a student while the other students are working independently. Time the meetings so that they last no longer than 10 minutes.

8. Feedback can be given verbally, non-verbally, or in written form.

Be sure to keep your frowns in check. It is imperative that we examine our non-verbal cues. Facial expressions and gestures are also means of delivering feedback. This means that when you hand back that English paper, it is best not to scowl.

9. Concentrate on one ability or skill.

It makes a far greater impact on the student when only one skill is critiqued versus the entire paper being the focus of everything that is wrong.

For example, when I taught Writer's Workshop at the elementary level, I would let students know that for that day I was going to be checking on the indentation of paragraphs within their writing. When I conferenced with a student, that was my focus instead of all the other aspects of their writing. The next day would feature a new focus.

Utilize this strategy when grading papers or tests to provide effective feedback for learning. This strategy allows you the necessary time to provide quality, written feedback. This can also include using a rotation chart for students to conference with at a deeper more meaningful level. Students will also know when it is their turn to meet with you and are more likely to bring questions of their own to the conference.

11. Educate students on how to give feedback to each other.

Model for students what appropriate feedback looks like and sounds like. As an elementary teacher, we call this 'peer conferencing.' Train students to give each other constructive feedback in a way that is positive and helpful. Encourage students to use post-it notes to record the given feedback.

12. Ask another adult to give feedback.

The principal at the school I taught at would often volunteer to grade history tests or read student's writing pieces. You can imagine how the student's quality of work increased tenfold! If the principal is too busy (and most are), invite a 'guest' teacher or student teacher to critique work.

13. Have the student take notes.

During a conference over a test, paper, or a general 'check-in,' have the student do the writing while you do the talking. The student can use a notebook to jot down notes as you provide verbal feedback.

14. Use a notebook to keep track of student progress.

Keep a section of a notebook for each student. Write daily or weekly, dated comments about each student as necessary. Keep track of good questions the student asks, behavior issues, areas for improvement, test scores, etc. Of course, this requires a lot of essential time management but when it is time to conference with a student or parent, you are ready to go.

Returning papers and tests at the beginning of class, rather than at the end, allows students to ask necessary questions and to hold a relevant discussion.

16. Use Post-It notes.

Sometimes seeing a comment written out is more effective than just hearing it aloud. During independent work time, try writing feedback comments on a post-it note. Place the note on the student's desk the feedback is meant for. One of my former students had a difficult time staying on task but he would get frustrated and embarrassed when I called him out on his inattentive behaviors in front of the class.

He would then shut down and refused to do any work because he was mad that I humiliated him. I resorted to using post-it notes to point out when he was on task or not. Although it was not the most effective use of my time, it really worked for him as a way to provide effective feedback for learning.

17. Give genuine praise.

Students are quick to figure out which teachers use meaningless praise to win approval. If you are constantly telling your students 'Good Job' or 'Nice Work' then, over time, these words become meaningless. Make a big deal out of a student's A+ on that vocabulary test. If you are thrilled with a student's recent on-task behaviors, go above and beyond with the encouragement and praise.

Make a phone call home to let mom or dad know how thrilled you are with the student's behavior. Comments and suggestions within genuine feedback should also be 'focused, practical, and based on an assessment of what the student can do and is capable of achieving' (Dinham).

18. "I noticed...."

Make an effort to notice a student's behavior or effort at a task. For example; "I noticed when you regrouped correctly in the hundreds column, you got the problem right." "I noticed you arrived on time to class this entire week." Acknowledging a student and the efforts they are making goes a long way to positively influence academic performance.

19. Provide a model or example.

Communicate with your students the purpose of an assessment and/or feedback. Demonstrate to students what you are looking for by giving them an example of what an A+ paper looks like. Provide a contrast of what a C- paper looks like. This is especially important at the upper learning levels.

20. Invite students to give you feedback.

Remember when you finished a class in college and you were given the chance to 'grade' the professor? How nice was it to finally tell the professor that the reading material was so incredibly boring without worrying about it affecting your grade? Why not let students give you feedback on how you are doing as a teacher?

Make it so that they can do it anonymously. What did they like about your class? What didn't they like? If they were teaching the class, what would they do differently? What did they learn the most from you as a teacher? If we are open to it, we will quickly learn a few things about ourselves as educators.

Remember that feedback goes both ways and as teachers, it is wise to never stop improving and honing our skills as teachers.
20 Ways To Provide Effective Feedback For Learning; A version of this post first appeared on opencolleges.edu.au;

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20 Ways To Provide Effective Feedback For Learning

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One way to provide effective feedback for learning is a 'feedback sandwich' to structure your feedback: Compliment, Correct, Compliment.

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The CEDAR feedback model is a five stage feedback process that is heavily influenced by coaching. The model provides space for the recipient to speak and includes a stage for follow up. The stages are: Context, Examples, Diagnosis, Actions and Review.
Summary by The World of Work Project

A Podcast

We have produced two podcasts on feedback. You can listen to our introduction to feedback below (though it doesn't cover the CEDAR model):

The CEDAR Feedback Model

The CEDAR feedback model is a structured approach to feedback conversations. It is designed to achieve effective and motivating communication of constructive or corrective messages.

The model follows a broad coaching approach in which the feedback provider uses questioning techniques to help the feedback recipient understand the situation and identify future actions.

The model has five stages: Context, Examples, Diagnosis, Actions and Review.

Context

The first stage of the The CEDAR Feedback Model involves opening the conversation and setting the context. It's important for the recipient to be aware of the area in relation to which they will receive. It's also important for the individual to be aware of the importance of feedback itself and how feedback works.

Examples

Having set the scene, you need to provide specific, factual and preferably directly observed examples of actions or behaviors that you want to provide feedback on. Provide enough examples to bring the point to life, but don't overwhelm the feedback recipient.

Diagnosis

Now that the individual receiving the feedback understand the specific areas that have been identified, the next step is to diagnose the situation with them.

This process usually follows a coaching approach. In this model the feedback provider asks the recipient what they think happened and why. This is a two stage process in which the recipient has the chance to speak and in which the feedback provider listens actively to what they have to say. By the end of this discussion both of you should understand what caused the situation to occur.

Actions

Having worked to understand some of the root causes that led to the situation, you can now move on to determining what actions can be taken to ensure the situation is resolved or doesn't happen again.

This stage is also usually undertaken through a coaching approach. Here the feedback provider asks the recipient for their thoughts on future actions and next steps. The desire here may be to provide solutions, but doing so should be avoided.

Actions don't need to be this dramatic!

Review

The last stage of The CEDAR Feedback Model wraps the conversation up. The conversation concludes, but the feedback process doesn't. We should keep checking in the individual and providing reinforcing feedback on a regular basis as well as having a more formal discussion at a set time.

Learning More

Those of you who have spoken to us will know we have pretty strong views on feedback. We understand that receiving feedback well can be difficult and that feedback can feel like a social threat. We also know that receiving feedback can be triggering, causing our amygdala responses (fight or flight) to kick in. Given this, we think it's good to focus on learning to receive feedback well before focusing on giving feedback well.

There are several posts in this site on various feedback tools and models which might be helpful. These include 360 degree feedback, the stop, start continue framework and the COIN model. There are also some tools we think you should avoid, including the feedback sandwich.

Our second podcast on feedback might also be helpful. In it we have a conversation with a feedback specialist, Joe Hirsch. You can listen to it below.

The World of Work Project View
Feedback really is a difficult thing to deliver as well as to receive. The feedback process can be emotive and threatening and appear confrontational, which leads people to avoid it. It shouldn't be like this though. It should be a helpful process in which both parties are aligned in seeking to improve the performance of the feedback recipient. The whole process really should be about what's in their best interest. Of course, reality often doesn't work this way.

The CEDAR model is for adult-adult relationships, not parent-child ones.

The CEDAR model is another useful feedback model to have in your toolkit. As with all models, they each have a time and a place and are better suited for use in some situations and with some individuals more than others. Part of the CEDAR model's strength lies in its anchoring in coaching methods. This approach leads to effective conversations that are adult-adult (which we've not yet written about) and which help the recipient understand and own the areas that should be addressed. The coaching approach is also part of the challenge with the CEDAR model. If individuals providing feedback are not experienced as coaches they may find the questioning approach uncomfortable or difficult and may not achieve successful feedback conversations. Overall, we like this model, but think it's best used by individuals who are already aware of coaching and who have some practice in questioning techniques. For individuals who are not experienced as coaches we'd suggest a more direct and controlled approach such as the COIN / COILED model.
Your Favorite Podcast Player!

You can listen to any of our podcast episodes on your favorite podcast player via podlink.

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The CEDAR Feedback Model: Feedback In A Coaching Style - The World of Work Project

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The CEDAR feedback model is a five stage feedback process that is heavily influenced by coaching. The model provides space for the recipient to speak and includes a stage for follow up. The stages are: Context, Examples, Diagnosis, Actions and Review. Summary by The World of Work Project We have produced two podcasts on feedback.

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The SBI feedback model is a structured approach to providing feedback. It says feedback providers should frame feedback around three things, a specific Situation, the Behaviors that took place and their Impacts.
Summary by The World of Work Project

Feedback can be simple and in the moment.

The Situation, Behavior and Impact Model

The SBI feedback model suggests that feedback messages are structured into three parts: Situation, Behavior and Impact. The SBI model works equally well for positive and negative messages, and is used for delivering one message at a time.

To use the model, the conversation should be opened and the person you're speaking to told that you're going to give them some feedback. Once you've done this, you should deliver your message using this three stage approach.

Situation

The first stage of the model is to lay out the situation in which the behavior that you're providing feedback on took place.

The purpose of this stage is to help the recipient focus on the event, and to help them visualize it. You should be as clear and accurate as possible, but only focus on facts, not emotive words or hearsay.

Behavior

The next stage of the model is to describe the specific behaviors or actions that you're looking to provide feedback on.

These should be described in accurate, factual terms. Do not use shortcuts or ambiguous language as doing so may lead to confusion or miscommunication.

Impact

The last stage of the model is clearly explain the impact of the behavior that you just described. If you're providing positive feedback, be clear to demonstrate how the individual's behavior created a positive impact. If you're providing negative feedback, be clear on the negative impact they created.

The World of Work Project View
Overall we think the SBI model is fairly good. It's effective, can be used to treat people in a very adult way is is simple and easy to remember. It feels clean and honest to us. We recommend this model as a useful and simple tool that those providing feedback should be aware of and practice using. It might not be the best model out there, but its simplicity and effectiveness mean that it should be learned.

Sources and further reading

Where possible we always recommend that people read up on the original sources of information and ideas.

This post is based on our own personal experiences of providing feedback and on review of various articles. We have no specific references for it. If you know who it should be attributed to, please let us know.

Feedback
If you see any errors on this page or have any feedback, please contact us.

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The SBI Feedback Model - The World of Work Project

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The SBI feedback model is a structured approach to providing feedback. It says feedback providers should frame feedback around three things, a specific Situation, the Behaviors that took place and their Impacts. Summary by The World of Work Project The Situation, Behavior and Impact Model The SBI feedback model suggests that feedback messages are structured ...

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Vol. 70

No. 1

Abstract

What Is Feedback, Anyway?

Feedback Essentials

Progress Toward a Goal

"But There's No Time!"

Advice, evaluation, grades-none of these provide the descriptive information that students need to reach their goals. What is true feedback-and how can it improve learning?

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Abstract

What Is Feedback, Anyway?

Feedback Essentials

Progress Toward a Goal

"But There's No Time!"

Who would dispute the idea that feedback is a good thing? Both common sense and research make it clear: Formative assessment, consisting of lots of feedback and opportunities to use that feedback, enhances performance and achievement.

Yet even John Hattie (2008), whose decades of research revealed that feedback was among the most powerful influences on achievement, acknowledges that he has "struggled to understand the concept" (p. 173). And many writings on the subject don't even attempt to define the term. To improve formative assessment practices among both teachers and assessment designers, we need to look more closely at just what feedback is-and isn't.

What Is Feedback, Anyway?

The term feedback is often used to describe all kinds of comments made after the fact, including advice, praise, and evaluation. But none of these are feedback, strictly speaking.

Basically, feedback is information about how we are doing in our efforts to reach a goal. I hit a tennis ball with the goal of keeping it in the court, and I see where it lands-in or out. I tell a joke with the goal of making people laugh, and I observe the audience's reaction-they laugh loudly or barely snicker. I teach a lesson with the goal of engaging students, and I see that some students have their eyes riveted on me while others are nodding off.

Here are some other examples of feedback:

A friend tells me, "You know, when you put it that way and speak in that softer tone of voice, it makes me feel better."

A reader comments on my short story, "The first few paragraphs kept my full attention. The scene painted was vivid and interesting. But then the dialogue became hard to follow; as a reader, I was confused about who was talking, and the sequence of actions was puzzling, so I became less engaged."

A baseball coach tells me, "Each time you swung and missed, you raised your head as you swung so you didn't really have your eye on the ball. On the one you hit hard, you kept your head down and saw the ball."

Note the difference between these three examples and the first three I cited-the tennis stroke, the joke, and the student responses to teaching. In the first group, I only had to take note of the tangible effect of my actions, keeping my goals in mind. No one volunteered feedback, but there was still plenty of feedback to get and use. The second group of examples all involved the deliberate, explicit giving of feedback by other people.

Whether the feedback was in the observable effects or from other people, in every case the information received was not advice, nor was the performance evaluated. No one told me as a performer what to do differently or how "good" or "bad" my results were. (You might think that the reader of my writing was judging my work, but look at the words used again: She simply played back the effect my writing had on her as a reader.) Nor did any of the three people tell me what to do (which is what many people erroneously think feedback is-advice). Guidance would be premature; I first need to receive feedback on what I did or didn't do that would warrant such advice.

In all six cases, information was conveyed about the effects of my actions as related to a goal. The information did not include value judgments or recommendations on how to improve. (For examples of information that is often falsely viewed as feedback, see "Feedback vs. Advice" above and "Feedback vs. Evaluation and Grades" on p. 15.)

Decades of education research support the idea that by teaching less and providing more feedback, we can produce greater learning (see Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000; Hattie, 2008; Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001). Compare the typical lecture-driven course, which often produces less-than-optimal learning, with the peer instruction model developed by Eric Mazur (2009) at Harvard. He hardly lectures at all to his 200 introductory physics students; instead, he gives them problems to think about individually and then discuss in small groups. This system, he writes, "provides frequent and continuous feedback (to both the students and the instructor) about the level of understanding of the subject being discussed" (p. 51), producing gains in both conceptual understanding of the subject and problem-solving skills. Less "teaching," more feedback equals better results.

Feedback Essentials

Whether feedback is just there to be grasped or is provided by another person, helpful feedback is goal-referenced; tangible and transparent; actionable; user-friendly (specific and personalized); timely; ongoing; and consistent.

1. Goal-Referenced

Effective feedback requires that a person has a goal, takes action to achieve the goal, and receives goal-related information about his or her actions. I told a joke-why? To make people laugh. I wrote a story to engage the reader with vivid language and believable dialogue that captures the characters' feelings. I went up to bat to get a hit. If I am not clear on my goals or if I fail to pay attention to them, I cannot get helpful feedback (nor am I likely to achieve my goals).

Information becomes feedback if, and only if, I am trying to cause something and the information tells me whether I am on track or need to change course. If some joke or aspect of my writing isn't working -a revealing, nonjudgmental phrase-I need to know.

Note that in everyday situations, goals are often implicit, although fairly obvious to everyone. I don't need to announce when telling the joke that my aim is to make you laugh. But in school, learners are often unclear about the specific goal of a task or lesson, so it is crucial to remind them about the goal and the criteria by which they should self-assess. For example, a teacher might say,

The point of this writing task is for you to make readers laugh. So, when rereading your draft or getting feedback from peers, ask, How funny is this? Where might it be funnier?

As you prepare a table poster to display the findings of your science project, remember that the aim is to interest people in your work as well as to describe the facts you discovered through your experiment. Self-assess your work against those two criteria using these rubrics. The science fair judges will do likewise.

2. Tangible and Transparent

Any useful feedback system involves not only a clear goal, but also tangible results related to the goal. People laugh, chuckle, or don't laugh at each joke; students are highly attentive, somewhat attentive, or inattentive to my teaching.

Even as little children, we learn from such tangible feedback. That's how we learn to walk; to hold a spoon; and to understand that certain words magically yield food, drink, or a change of clothes from big people. The best feedback is so tangible that anyone who has a goal can learn from it.

Alas, far too much instructional feedback is opaque, as revealed in a true story a teacher told me years ago. A student came up to her at year's end and said, "Miss Jones, you kept writing this same word on my English papers all year, and I still don't know what it means." "What's the word? " she asked. "Vag-oo," he said. (The word was vague!)

Sometimes, even when the information is tangible and transparent, the performers don't obtain it-either because they don't look for it or because they are too busy performing to focus on the effects. In sports, novice tennis players or batters often don't realize that they're taking their eyes off the ball; they often protest, in fact, when that feedback is given. (Constantly yelling "Keep your eye on the ball!" rarely works.) And we have all seen how new teachers are sometimes so busy concentrating on "teaching" that they fail to notice that few students are listening or learning.

That's why, in addition to feedback from coaches or other able observers, video or audio recordings can help us perceive things that we may not perceive as we perform; and by extension, such recordings help us learn to look for difficult-to-perceive but vital information. I recommend that all teachers videotape their own classes at least once a month. It was a transformative experience for me when I did it as a beginning teacher. Concepts that had been crystal clear to me when I was teaching seemed opaque and downright confusing on tape-captured also in the many quizzical looks of my students, which I had missed in the moment.

3. Actionable

Effective feedback is concrete, specific, and useful; it provides actionable information. Thus, "Good job!" and "You did that wrong" and B+ are not feedback at all. We can easily imagine the learners asking themselves in response to these comments, What specifically should I do more or less of next time, based on this information? No idea. They don't know what was "good" or "wrong" about what they did.

Actionable feedback must also be accepted by the performer. Many so-called feedback situations lead to arguments because the givers are not sufficiently descriptive; they jump to an inference from the data instead of simply presenting the data. For example, a supervisor may make the unfortunate but common mistake of stating that "many students were bored in class." That's a judgment, not an observation. It would have been far more useful and less debatable had the supervisor said something like, "I counted ongoing inattentive behaviors in 12 of the 25 students once the lecture was underway. The behaviors included texting under desks, passing notes, and making eye contact with other students. However, after the small-group exercise began, I saw such behavior in only one student."

Such care in offering neutral, goal-related facts is the whole point of the clinical supervision of teaching and of good coaching more generally. Effective supervisors and coaches work hard to carefully observe and comment on what they observed, based on a clear statement of goals. That's why I always ask when visiting a class, "What would you like me to look for and perhaps count?" In my experience as a teacher of teachers, I have always found such pure feedback to be accepted and welcomed. Effective coaches also know that in complex performance situations, actionable feedback about what went right is as important as feedback about what didn't work.

4. User-Friendly

Even if feedback is specific and accurate in the eyes of experts or bystanders, it is not of much value if the user cannot understand it or is overwhelmed by it. Highly technical feedback will seem odd and confusing to a novice. Describing a baseball swing to a 6-year-old in terms of torque and other physics concepts will not likely yield a better hitter. Too much feedback is also counterproductive; better to help the performer concentrate on only one or two key elements of performance than to create a buzz of information coming in from all sides.

Expert coaches uniformly avoid overloading performers with too much or too technical information. They tell the performers one important thing they noticed that, if changed, will likely yield immediate and noticeable improvement ("I was confused about who was talking in the dialogue you wrote in this paragraph"). They don't offer advice until they make sure the performer understands the importance of what they saw.

5. Timely

In most cases, the sooner I get feedback, the better. I don't want to wait for hours or days to find out whether my students were attentive and whether they learned, or which part of my written story works and which part doesn't. I say "in most cases" to allow for situations like playing a piano piece in a recital. I don't want my teacher or the audience barking out feedback as I perform. That's why it is more precise to say that good feedback is "timely" rather than "immediate."

A great problem in education, however, is untimely feedback. Vital feedback on key performances often comes days, weeks, or even months after the performance-think of writing and handing in papers or getting back results on standardized tests. As educators, we should work overtime to figure out ways to ensure that students get more timely feedback and opportunities to use it while the attempt and effects are still fresh in their minds.

Before you say that this is impossible, remember that feedback does not need to come only from the teacher, or even from people at all. Technology is one powerful tool-part of the power of computer-assisted learning is unlimited, timely feedback and opportunities to use it. Peer review is another strategy for managing the load to ensure lots of timely feedback; it's essential, however, to train students to do small-group peer review to high standards, without immature criticisms or unhelpful praise.

6. Ongoing

Adjusting our performance depends on not only receiving feedback but also having opportunities to use it. What makes any assessment in education formative is not merely that it precedes summative assessments, but that the performer has opportunities, if results are less than optimal, to reshape the performance to better achieve the goal. In summative assessment, the feedback comes too late; the performance is over.

Thus, the more feedback I can receive in real time, the better my ultimate performance will be. This is how all highly successful computer games work. If you play Angry Birds, Halo, Guitar Hero, or Tetris, you know that the key to substantial improvement is that the feedback is both timely and ongoing. When you fail, you can immediately start over-sometimes even right where you left off-to get another opportunity to receive and learn from the feedback. (This powerful feedback loop is also user-friendly. Games are built to reflect and adapt to our changing need, pace, and ability to process information.)

It is telling, too, that performers are often judged on their ability to adjust in light of feedback. The ability to quickly adapt one's performance is a mark of all great achievers and problem solvers in a wide array of fields. Or, as many little league coaches say, "The problem is not making errors; you will all miss many balls in the field, and that's part of learning. The problem is when you don't learn from the errors."

7. Consistent

To be useful, feedback must be consistent. Clearly, performers can only adjust their performance successfully if the information fed back to them is stable, accurate, and trustworthy. In education, that means teachers have to be on the same page about what high-quality work is. Teachers need to look at student work together, becoming more consistent over time and formalizing their judgments in highly descriptive rubrics supported by anchor products and performances. By extension, if we want student-to-student feedback to be more helpful, students have to be trained to be consistent the same way we train teachers, using the same exemplars and rubrics.

Progress Toward a Goal

In light of these key characteristics of helpful feedback, how can schools most effectively use feedback as part of a system of formative assessment? The key is to gear feedback to long-term goals.

Let's look at how this works in sports. My daughter runs the mile in track. At the end of each lap in races and practice races, the coaches yell out split times (the times for each lap) and bits of feedback ("You're not swinging your arms!" "You're on pace for 5:15"), followed by advice ("Pick it up-you need to take two seconds off this next lap to get in under 5:10!").

My daughter and her teammates are getting feedback (and advice) about how they are performing now compared with their final desired time. My daughter's goal is to run a 5:00 mile. She has already run 5:09. Her coach is telling her that at the pace she just ran in the first lap, she is unlikely even to meet her best time so far this season, never mind her long-term goal. Then, he tells her something descriptive about her current performance (she's not swinging her arms) and gives her a brief piece of concrete advice (take two seconds off the next lap) to make achievement of the goal more likely.

The ability to improve one's result depends on the ability to adjust one's pace in light of ongoing feedback that measures performance against a concrete, long-term goal. But this isn't what most school district "pacing guides" and grades on "formative" tests tell you. They yield a grade against recent objectives taught, not useful feedback against the final performance standards. Instead of informing teachers and students at an interim date whether they are on track to achieve a desired level of student performance by the end of the school year, the guide and the test grade just provide a schedule for the teacher to follow in delivering content and a grade on that content. It's as if at the end of the first lap of the mile race, My daughter's coach simply yelled out, " B+ on that lap!"

The advice for how to change this sad situation should be clear: Score student work in the fall and winter against spring standards, use more pre-and post-assessments to measure progress toward these standards, and do the item analysis to note what each student needs to work on for better future performance.

"But There's No Time!"

Although the universal teacher lament that there's no time for such feedback is understandable, remember that "no time to give and use feedback" actually means "no time to cause learning." As we have seen, research shows that less teaching plus more feedback is the key to achieving greater learning. And there are numerous ways-through technology, peers, and other teachers-that students can get the feedback they need.

So try it out. Less teaching, more feedback. Less feedback that comes only from you, and more tangible feedback designed into the performance itself. And, of course, send me some feedback on this article at gwiggins@authenticeducation.org.

Feedback vs. Advice

› You need more examples in your report.

› You might want to use a lighter baseball bat.

› You should have included some Essential Questions in your unit plan.

These three statements are not feedback; they're advice. Such advice out of the blue seems at best tangential and at worst unhelpful and annoying. Unless it is preceded by descriptive feedback, the natural response of the performer is to wonder, "Why are you suggesting this?"

As coaches, teachers, and parents, we too often jump right to advice without first ensuring that the learner has sought, grasped, and tentatively accepted the feedback on which the advice is based. By doing so, we often unwittingly end up unnerving learners. Students become increasingly insecure about their own judgment and dependent on the advice of experts-and therefore in a panic about what to do when varied advice comes from different people or no advice is available at all.

If your ratio of advice to feedback is too high, try asking the learner, "Given the feedback, do you have some ideas about how to improve?" This approach will build greater autonomy and confidence over the long haul. Once they are no longer rank novices, performers can often self-advise if asked to.

Feedback vs. Evaluation and Grades

› This is a weak paper.

› You got a C on your presentation.

› I'm so pleased by your poster!

These comments make a value judgment. They rate, evaluate, praise, or criticize what was done. There is little or no feedback here-no actionable information about what occurred. As performers, we only know that someone else placed a high or low value on what we did.

How might we recast these comments to be useful feedback? Tip: Always add a mental colon after each statement of value. For example,

"Good work: Your use of words was more precise in this paper than in the last one, and I saw the scenes clearly in my mind's eye."

"This is a weak paper: Almost from the first sentence, I was confused as to your initial thesis and the evidence you provide for it. In the second paragraph you propose a different thesis, and in the third paragraph you don't offer evidence, just beliefs."

You'll soon find that you can drop the evaluative language; it serves no useful function.

The most ubiquitous form of evaluation, grading, is so much a part of the school landscape that we easily overlook its utter uselessness as actionable feedback. Grades are here to stay, no doubt-but that doesn't mean we should rely on them as a major source of feedback.

References

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. New York: Routledge.

Mazur, E. (2009, January 2). Farewell, lecture? Science, 323, 50-51.

ASCD is a community dedicated to educators' professional growth and well-being.

Let us help you put your vision into action.

We create practical, timely, affordable professional learning to help educators and instructional leaders provide students with a modern, equitable, and quality education.

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Advice, evaluation, grades-none of these provide the descriptive information that students need to reach their goals. What is true feedback-and how can it improve learning?

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Creating Communities of Practice

What is a community of practice?

A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a common concern, a set of problems, or an interest in a topic and who come together to fulfill both individual and group goals.

Communities of practice often focus on sharing best practices and creating new knowledge to advance a domain of professional practice. Interaction on an ongoing basis is an important part of this.

Many communities of practice rely on face-to-face meetings as well as web-based collaborative environments to communicate, connect and conduct community activities.

The first community of practice supported by Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia (ARPD) was a group of committed K to 6 teachers from across the province. This community piloted two teaching resources for students with significant disabilities. View the video to hear what the participants had to say about their experience.

What is the origin of the term 'community of practice'?

While people have learned together through informal communities of practice throughout history, the primary use of the concept originated in learning theory. Cognitive anthropologists Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger coined the term "community of practice" when studying apprenticeships as a learning model-the term referred to the community that acts as a living curriculum. Once the concept was articulated the researchers started to see communities everywhere, even when no formal apprenticeship system existed.

To learn more about the origins and theory of communities of practice, see:
http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice

What are the characteristics of a community of practice?

There are three characteristics of a community of practice:

1. Domain: Community members have a shared domain of interest, competence and commitment that distinguishes them from others. This shared domain creates common ground, inspires members to participate, guides their learning, and gives meaning to their actions.

2. Community: Members pursue this interest through joint activities, discussions, problem-solving opportunities, information sharing and relationship building. The notion of a community creates the social fabric for enabling collective learning. A strong community fosters interaction and encourages a willingness to share ideas.

3. Practice: Community members are actual practitioners in this domain of interest, and build a shared repertoire of resources and ideas that they take back to their practice. While the domain provides the general area of interest for the community, the practice is the specific focus around which the community develops, shares and maintains its core of collective knowledge.

Types of communities of practice

Today, communities of practices are increasingly being used to improve knowledge management and connect people within business, government, education, and other organizations.

The design of the community will look different depending on the purpose and needs of the participants. There are four basic types of communities:

Helping Communities
provide a forum for community members to help each other with everyday work needs.

Best Practice Communities
develop and disseminate best practices, guidelines, and strategies for their members' use.

Knowledge Stewarding Communities
organize, manage, and steward a body of knowledge from which community members can draw.

Innovation Communities
create breakthrough ideas, new knowledge, and new practices.

Support for Implementation

The resources found on this site were developed by the ERLC, a member of Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia (ARPDC), as a result of funding from Alberta Education, to support implementation.

Learning for All | Copyright © 2016
Terms of Use | Contact Us

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What is a community of practice? - Community of Practice

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Creating Communities of Practice A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a common concern, a set of problems, or an interest in a topic and who come together to fulfill both individual and group goals. Communities of practice often focus on sharing best practices and creating new knowledge to advance a domain of professional practice.

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Communities of Practice

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The origins of communities of practice:

In their 1991 publication Lave and Wenger discussed situated learning and created the concept of communities of practice. Their interpretation of learning was that we all learn "on-the-job" or at least in the specific context we operate within. The diagram demonstrates how there is a core and periphery or fringes of practice. Situated learning is then the area where people engage with one another in order to gain new knowledge and understanding. By engaging with other members or learners within the community, we will gradually move from the fringes towards the core.

The reality of communities of practice:

Communities of practice are collectives of people with shared interests in achieving the same goal. Within education the teaching bodies of schools are communities of practice in that all teachers work towards achieving a vision for their students. All of us are part of such communities, but often do not become consciously aware of our engagement within them. For example, in staff rooms or corridors where teachers discuss specific teaching situations or strategies we embody and live the communities of practice. They can therefore happen everywhere. The obvious context is the workplace, but then in today's globalised and connected world, communities of practice can also be experienced and lived online in support or discussion groups on social media platforms. The best examples for these are twitter chats, where educators discuss specific topic areas and share best practice.

What makes and characterises good communities of practice?

In their book Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation Lave and Wenger highlight many aspects in relation to communities of practice. They refer to the practical level, such as the differences between situated learning and traditional apprenticeships. But they also highlight the tensions between the social world of communities of practice and the world of individuals.

To answer the question of what makes and characterises good communities of practice is not as simple as it may appear. For me, they are about sharing best practice, providing good quality feedback and consistent, efficient communication.

Sharing best practice: In order to be able to improve our understanding we need to engage with our learning. By asking others we gain insights and views that we may not see ourselves. The use of reflective models such as Brookfield's four lenses is a good starting point to improve our learning, but it is engaged collaboration with others that leads to deeper understanding.

Providing good quality feedback: As we are worried that we could potentially upset our colleagues, we may provide feedback that is perhaps not of the best quality. Feedback should not be destructive in the sense that it upsets others. However, in order to improve our knowledge we do need to hear constructive suggestions. We may not always like what we hear, but our interpretation of events may be different from those that experience them. And this is where feedback is crucial.

Consistent, efficient communication: In good communities of practice all members will regularly share their learning, their insights, their visions, their ambitions and to this end regular updates are required. Sharing practice and providing feedback also require effective communication. Indeed, every interaction we have with one another can be hugely influential. And so, communication is key.

John Amaechi on communities of practice:

In his talk at the Educationfest 2016 John Amaechi also talks about communities of practice in the context of what he calls "proactive collegiality". For Amaechi communities of practice can only function if those involved are genuinely interested in sharing best practice and providing relevant feedback, being critical friends for one another.

Reference:

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.

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What are "communities of practice"? - Dr Nicole Brown

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Thoughts on what constitutes and characterises communities of practice and what is required to make communities of practice efficient and effective.

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Engagement is a key to successful learning, and the workforce is increasingly tech and media savvy, so of course more and more learning organizations are using social media in training. Social media has training uses before, during, and after training sessions, as an innovative and effective method for delivering content.

Nearly half of learning leaders-45%, according to a November 2015 survey by ATD Research -provide instruction on using social media for learning. If you haven't yet begun employing social media tools in your learning initiatives, it may be time to start exploring the possibilities.

Here are nine ways L&D organizations can incorporate social media into the training process.

1. Virtual Onboarding

Use a livestream platform, like Periscope or Facebook Live, to bring a cohort of new hires up to speed before their first day. Provide a video tour of the office-introduce coworkers, explain first-day expectations, and give a general sense of day-to-day life. These two social platforms have a commenting feature, allowing viewers to interact with and ask questions of the person broadcasting. The default setting for both is public, however, so you may want to set the broadcast to private, as well as schedule the livestream in advance.

2. Build Teamwork and Camaraderie

Create a private group on Facebook or LinkedIn for participants in a training class to get to know each other. Particularly on the more casual of the two networks, Facebook, groups can serve as a virtual meeting space to enable participants to find common ground, which can be a powerful aspect of team building and collaborative learning.

In the case of Facebook Groups, participants don't have to commit to "friending" someone. And groups can be set to private so that only invited participants can join, enabling you do all the fun things Facebook is great for-discussions, photo sharing, file sharing, status updates, event invites-enabling participants to start putting names to faces.

Like the difference between LinkedIn and Facebook generally, LinkedIn Groups are less about getting to know one another than simply existing as a platform to share ideas and discussions. But on the same token, it's probably more important for professional colleagues to be connected on LinkedIn than Facebook. Consider creating a LinkedIn group for post-training Q&As and discussions.

Another medium tailor made for team building is Yammer, which is a closed social network designed for enterprise use, meaning only individuals within a single company can engage with one another. (Think of it the social media equivalent to the company intranet.)

3. Introduce the Instructor and Training Content

Enable your training session to hit the ground running by getting introductions and procedural housekeeping out of the way ahead of time. Facilitators can upload a selfie-style video introducing themselves and providing an overview of the class, including rules, expectations, objectives, and a content outline. As for where to upload the video, YouTube (set to unlisted or private) or a private Facebook or LinkedIn group are good options, as is Yammer.

You could even go a step further and turn this into a virtual icebreaker activity-encourage participants to upload their own short videos, giving their bios along with "two truths and a lie," for instance. In this way, you can begin to create a safe learning environment before participants even arrive at class, saving valuable classroom time.

4. Group Teach-Backs

Let teams decide how to present a group teach-back, whether that's a presentation deck or mobile-device-recorded audio or video. The content can then be archived for future retrieval on the private group page, or YouTube, or even a shared wiki.

5. Engage Learners in Research and Knowledge Sharing

Leverage Pinterest as a collaborative learning tool. Create a custom board for your learners, and pin resources from the web to it to have all in one easily accessible place-or ask the learners themselves to seek out content to pin. You'll want to validate that it's good content, of course, but the act of hunting for the information and posting it gives learners a sense of ownership while reinforcing the information as they go.

6. Capture Real-Time Feedback

Assuming no confidential information is being taught, encourage the use of a Twitter backchannel to capture notes and thoughts from a course or presentation using a unique hashtag. Designate a classroom monitor or projector to display relevant tweets in real time, using platforms like Visible Tweets or TweetBeam, to encourage participation. Provided the backchannel conversation stays on topic and the Twitter-happy participants are still able to pay attention to the instructor, the backchannel can serve as a summation of content, a de facto "parking lot" for questions, and a source of real-time participant feedback.

Another excellent tool for real-time feedback is Poll Everywhere, which lets learners participate in polls or answer open-ended questions via text message, with responses displayed instantly via website or embedded PowerPoint application.

7. Connect SMEs Directly with Learners

Use social networks as an open conduit between subject matter experts and learners. Whether using a Facebook or LinkedIn group, or with a designated Twitter hashtag, or as part of a custom wiki, invite participants to ask questions of the SME in a just-in-time setting. Likewise, the SMEs can use this format to offer clarifications or updates to content in an ongoing basis. Of course, this approach requires SMEs who are engaged and committed to paying attention to the designated channel.

Give participants a real-world look into the training content by having a SME livestream from an on-the-job setting. If broadcasting into a classroom, Skype might make the most sense here. However, if the audience is dispersed, such as in a virtual instructor-led training, then a Periscope feed may be preferable.

8. Make Resources and Job Aids Easier to Find

Create a navigation document to help learners locate valuable resources and job aids. A social bookmarking tool like Diigo or Delicious can assist. Or launch a customized wiki to be an online repository of topical audio, video, URLs, files, and photos. The challenge with wikis is that they can become overloaded with content and difficult to navigate, so be mindful of the need for just-in-time access and searchability.

9. Keep the Momentum Going Post-Session

Gather feedback and keep the discussion going well after the training initiative has formally concluded. Have participants post follow-up video-role-playing a process or demonstrating on-the-job application-to YouTube or the private group page.

You can also encourage participants to use the private group page for post-training sharing, discussion, and Q&As. Use media as a post-workshop way for participants to show a picture or video of them demonstrating what they learned back on the job. It can be posted to a forum for the class to see, or may just be reviewed by the instructor.

Additional Resources

Get Social with Caveo
Engage with Caveo Learning on these social networks:

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Engagement is a key to successful learning, and the workforce is increasingly tech and media savvy, so of course more and more learning organizations are using social media in training. Social media has training uses before, during, and after training sessions, as an innovative and effective method for delivering content.

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5 Ways To Use Social Media For L&D

Social media is already the major source of most of the information these modern individuals consume on a daily basis, which is why it is a great idea to leverage it for better and more successful L&D. A lot of corporate organizations already use social media as a means to either train their employees, help them communicate better with each other, or to help them find material relevant to their training. But for those that are not, in this article, we'll discuss a few ways how organizations can use social media for the better Learning and Development of their employees.

1. Onboarding

Facebook Live is a live-streaming platform which can be used to onboard new hires before they even set foot in the organization. It can be used to give the new hires a video tour of the whole organization, introduce them to the stakeholders of the organization, to their superiors as well as their co-workers, to show them the daily routine at the organization, and a lot more, depending upon how the organization chooses to use the live-streaming service.

2. Group Messaging

As mentioned before, communication is very important between coworkers in an organization. Facebook Messenger is an application which is found on every individual's smartphone, which can be used to create groups dedicated to L&D where learners can discuss the courses they took, any specific points about their training, share files or images related to training, or just get to know other coworkers taking the same courses as them. Facebook Messenger can be a great virtual meeting space for employees interested in discussing their training and a tool to boost team-building as well as collaborative learning. And not just Facebook Messenger, but WhatsApp and LinkedIn have a group feature too, which can be used in a similar fashion.

3. Sharing Knowledge And Ideas

To truly create a culture of knowledge sharing in the organization, employees need to be encouraged to use all popular social media platforms to share ideas, and not just Facebook, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp. Pinterest and Tumblr are popular platforms which can be used to post text, photos, videos, links as well as follow blogs related to training or training topics, which increases engagement and gives learners one accessible location to seek out content relevant to their training and development. It also motivates the learners to actually look for good content related to their training and post it, which augments learning.

4. Identify Important Topics And Concepts

Encourage the use of Twitter hashtags to make it easier for learners to find tweets concerning the topics and concepts they're looking for. Twitter is one of the holy trinity of the most popular social media for L&D (the other two being Facebook and LinkedIn) and should be used freely by employees/learners to tweet about their training, post-training videos, infographics, and images, as well as the key takeaways from every course they take.

5. Get Feedback About Courses From Employees

Digital learning courses are getting increasingly learner-centric, which is a good thing, as it is the learners after all which are the most affected by the courses. Get feedback from the learners/employees about whether they liked the course or not, what is it they liked or disliked and what would they like to change about the course is important, as it allows the organization to collect valuable data that can be used to improve courses. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all have a poll option that can be used to collect feedback.

6. Build Buzz Around New Courses

Social media can and should be used to market the digital learning courses internally by sending posts and notifications to employees/learners about new and upcoming courses on the organization's learning portal or app. Don't forget to include links that allow the learners to go directly to the course.

L&D And Social Media

Learning and Development is a field that is inextricably linked to humans and technology. Thus, with advancing technology and consequently, changing human behavior with respect to that technology, L&D must always be on the move to incorporate said technological advancements into itself to help humans learn better. Social media has been around for a long time, and if your organization isn't using it to its full potential, you're sadly doing yourself a big disservice. It won't take much to change that, so do it now!

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How To Use Social Media For Successful Learning And Development

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Social media is already the major source of most of the information these modern individuals consume on a daily basis, which is why it is a great idea to leverage it for better and more successful L&D.

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Vendors talk about social learning like its something revolutionary, but I'm here to tell you its not. Informal learning is an everyday thing. Social media tools are just another platform we use to learn from each-other and find information serendipitously.

For every sales pitch you hear about social learning, for every shiny social network logo you see out there on the web, you should be looking for real use cases and stories of social media being used in a real world setting... with tangible benefit to an organization.

We've found our own niche in the social media solar system... and it takes our team 30ish minutes a week to fully participate. It's become part of everyone's work flow, widely accepted in our company culture, and a launchpad for each individual in our organization to find their own social media and informal learning sweet spot.

We call it #TalkTech. It's a 30 minute chat we hold once a week on Twitter.

Swaying the Skeptics

Many organizations hit a roadblock when a group of people, or one high-ranking person, resists using new social media tools. They either can't see the value or simply don't want to have to learn a new "thing." Whatever the reason, it's important to understand why people are resisting social media tools in your organization. The possible reasons are many:

It seems like more work: We spend enough time sending emails, meeting, IM'ing and (imagine this) actually working as it is. Who wants to add a new mode of communication to our work day?

It's hard to remember to participate: When companies encourage participation on an internal or external social network, they sometimes forget to provide a regular reminder to participate. Other times, they neglect to post mission critical information in the new location. Without incentive to participate, people will soon forget the new activity.

They don't feel comfortable participating: Some people just don't like sharing their thoughts unsolicited on social media. Whether in our working lives or personal lives, opening up on social media is not everyone's idea of a good time.

There's no structure: How do I complete the required training when what's "required" is to continuously participate in something ongoing? There's no box to check when learning socially with peers. There's no course to complete. Without that sense of structure, people will be even less motivated to complete something they may not want to do anyway.

Social Media Chats Jumpstart the Conversation

We decided we wanted to start encouraging our team to use social media tools for personal and social learning late in 2011. We had just given everyone an iPad, and wanted to encourage lots of new learning and exploratory activities people could do on their new devices. We also wanted to learn how to advise our clients on how to best use social media for their own learning initiatives... so we used ourselves as a pilot program.

We started a weekly chat on Twitter focused on emerging learning trends and technologies. It's called #TalkTech, and it happens once a week.

We take turns finding interesting articles and curating them on the BLP blog. We identify three key topics that relate to the articles and pose them in the form of a question during the chat.

Our team gathers on Twitter whenever they are available and discusses the topics, 10 minutes each, for 30 minutes. We log on, we converse and learn something new, and then we're done.

#TalkTech exposes people who often work virtually on their own separate teams to new ideas that expand their awareness of the industry as a whole and emerging trends that are often later integrated into client work. The chat gives everyone at BLP an easy channel for informal and social learning that they can tap into on a regular basis.

Why Social media chats work for learning

We've found social media chats to be the perfect way to get even the most skeptical participant at least a small amount of exposure to social media as a learning tool. I identified some of the common objections people have to social media for learning above, and now I will show how social media chats meet each one of those challenges:

It takes very little work to participate: People are able to take a 30 minute break from whatever task they were completing on a Thursday afternoon and spend time chatting with co-workers about topics of general interest. Since the articles are curated for them, it is easy to participate, learn something new, and be done in 30 minutes. Participation is optional, so no one feels forced to participate if they don't have time.

The weekly chat is a regular reminder to participate: #TalkTech is a recurring weekly event on everyone's Outlook calendar. Everyone in the company knows it's happening and the chat serves as a constant reminder to take advantage of social media tools for personal learning, even if that just means logging in for 30 minutes a week.

It's easy to chat, or just read: People start to feel more comfortable participating in the chat when they see co-workers doing it. Since the topics are posted in our blog and we create a transcript of the chat afterwards, even people who prefer to absorb the content at a slower pace can access the information and benefit from the learning.

The chat provides structure: It's easier to know "what to say" on social media when everyone is discussing the same topic for a set period of time. Instead of trying to figure out what to post about, the chat provides direction... and a clear start and stop time.

Results of #TalkTEch

The longer we have kept up #TalkTech, the more positive benefits we've found. Ideas discussed in the chat make their way into client projects. Information shared by the Learning Services team gets passed over to Multimedia, and vice versa. Virtual team members get a chance to connect with a group they may only see once a week or less. Best of all, we have all gathered firsthand experience participating in "social learning" activities and can share that knowledge and experience with our clients.

eLearning Guild Online Forum

I'll be co-presenting a case study on our use of #TalkTech and social learning for the eLearning Guild's Online Forum in August. We'll share testimonials from team members, describe how to set up a social media chat, and give you our top lessons learned. Learn more here.

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How We Use Social Media for Informal Learning

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Vendors talk about social learning like its something revolutionary, but I'm here to tell you its not. Informal learning is an everyday thing. Social media tools are just another platform we use to learn from each-other and find information serendipitously.

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Note: This site is moving to KnowledgeJump.com. Please reset your bookmark.

The 70-20-10 process is a learning and development model developed by Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger (2000) that uses a three blend approach to provide a development platform for senior managers and leaders:

About 70% of learning is by using challenging assignments and on-the-job experiences.

About 20% of learning is developed through relationships, networks, and feedback.

About 10% of the learning is delivered via formal training processes.

As Jay Cross (2011) noted, the model is a prescriptive method for developing leaders:

"The 70-20-10 model is more prescriptive. It builds upon how people internalize and apply what they learn based on how they acquire the knowledge."

The Center for Creative Leadership (2011), where 70-20-10 was developed, also writes that the model is indeed prescriptive:

"A research-based, time-tested guideline for developing managers says that you need to have three types of experience, using a 70-20-10 ratio: challenging assignments (70 percent), developmental relationships (20 percent) and coursework and training (10 percent)."

Some have been calling for 70-20-10 to be the new learning model for across the organization, however, since it is a prescriptive remedy for developing managers to senior and executive positions, it does not mean that it is a useful model for developing skills in the daily learning and work flows that takes place within organizations because it is being applied in an entirely different context than what it was designed for.

Parts or perhaps all of 70-20-10 may be useful for developing professionals other than senior managers, but since the learning ratios vary greatly between various groups of learners (and even individual learners within a group [see bullet number 2 in the section below]), one has to be very careful about taking this approach.

Using the Ratios

The reason the 70-20-10 model is not easily transferable to the typical learning and daily work flows that occur in organizations is because the ratio of informal to formal learning varies with context. For example, the Informal Learning Blog lists some resources on the ratios of informal learning verses formal learning and the numbers vary greatly. The best researched numbers show an average of 70% informal learning and 30% formal learning. For example:

1. The largest and most comprehensive study is by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor (1996). Their research found that an average of 30% of the learning needs come from formal learning, while informal learning averages about 70%, thus it differs greatly from the ratios that the 70-20-10 model prescribe.

2. These numbers are averages, thus the ratios depend greatly on context, such as the learners' type of job, skill level, organization changes, etc. For example, Loewenstein and Spletzer (1998) who performed another comprehensive study for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor discovered that learning varies from about 13% to 46% for formal learning and 9% to 96% for informal learning (p.40, table2).

3. When one looks at the ratios that show lower levels for formal learning, there is no reliable research. For example, the second one on the list is Raybould (2000), who writes that, "many organizations report that 85-90% of a person's job knowledge is learned on the job, and only 10-15% is learned in formal training events" (p.8). However, the author does not reference any research to back up his claims. Such citations seam to imply, "I saw it on the Internet so it must be true." On the other hand, the references that provide higher ratios for formal learning are the most evidence based.

In addition, the 70-20-10 model was developed in the 1980s when command and control was at the heart of leadership - think of Lee Iacocca, Jack Welch, and Roger Smith who more than likely thought that Learning/Training Departments were solely for their bidding and could offer very little for them personally (Pontefract, 2013). Thus the model is based on the the very thing that many learning and development practitioners are now trying to get away from - hierarchy organizations. In addition, the model was developed before the Internet, thus it does not account for the numerous technologies that have aided formal learning, such as just-in-time learning, elearning, and virtual learning.

The 10% Amplifier Effect

Although training is seen as contributing just 10 percent (actually 9-15%) of a leader's development in the 70-20-10 model, it has what is known as the "amplifier effect"-formal training courses clarify, support, and boost the other 90 percent of the leaders' learning (The Center for Creative Leadership, 2011). That is, training gives the learners the basic building blocks on which the other forms of learning can be built.

This amplifier effect works because each hour of formal learning spills over to four-hours of informal learning for a 4:1 ratio (Cofer, 2000). Bell (1977) used the metaphor of brick and mortar to describe this relationship of formal and informal learning-formal learning acts as bricks fused into the emerging bridge of personal growth, while informal learning acts as the mortar, facilitating the acceptance and development of the formal learning.

Bell also noted that informal learning should NOT replace formal learning activities, as it is this synergy that produces effective growth. This means that those who are calling for lower levels of formal learning are going in the wrong direction if they want to increase informal learning.

Thus, trainers and instructional designers help to develop the organization by establishing a shared knowledge-base on which to build the organization's leadership vision. And as noted in the previous section, while some learners may only need 10% of their learning to come from formal methods, others may need the vast majority of their learning to be more on the formal side.

The 20% Social Effect

S ocial learning is a process of learning caused or favored by people being situated in a common environment and observing one another (Conte, Paolucci, 2001). This allows the learners to not only perceive each other for comparison and self-evaluation, but also see others as a neutral source of information, which may help or speed several forms of instrumental learning.

Recently, social learning has been extended with the use of Social media-communication tools that allows users to create, modify, and/or distribute content (Clark, 2010). Social media includes such tools as blogs, microblogs (e.g., Twitter & Yammer), file sharing (e.g., Flickr & SlideShare), Virtual Meeting Places, (e.g., Adobe Connect & Elluminate), social sites (e.g. Facebook & MySpace), and wikis. For more information see Social Learning and Social Media.

Thus social learning may be done face-to-face or through the use of social media tools. Some of the methods used include:

Networking

Shadowing a skilled performer

Sounding out ideas that promote discussions and constructive feedback

Seeking advice and asking opinions

The 70% Job Experience Effect

The five most important experiences that leaders and managers obtain to gain skills are (Wilson, Velsor, Chandrasekar, Criswell, 2011):

Feedback from their managers and superiors

Job turnarounds

Increasing their job scopes

Horizontal moves

New initiatives

These experiences allow the leaders and managers to learn three important leadership lessons skills:

Manage direct reports

Become self-aware

Execute effectively

While some of the above job experiences may provide new skills and knowledge for job-holders other than leaders, some are difficult to provide. For example, while managers and leaders can normally use their skills across different department levels, shuffling an entire organization through various departments proves quite difficult as many skills are not relevant in other departments and the rotation schedule can prove extremely difficult to manage. Thus other forms of experience must be provided, such as:

Providing new challenges or projects

Representing a team at a cross-functional meeting in order to learn about other functions within the organization

Training new team members or teaching and coaching skills to other team members

Providing increased decision making authority

Negative experiences can also be used for promoting learning, such as learning from mistakes, however since personal reflection often occurs some time after the experience, it is mostly retrospective (McCauley, Brutus, 1988). Reflection can often be hard to accomplish, thus new leaders and managers often need coaching or mentoring to help them through the process.

3-33: A Better Model?

Dan Pontefract (2013) provides what I see is a closer approximation of the learning ratios: 3-33, which stands for 33% of the learning is formal, 33% is informal, and 33% is social. What is most interesting is that the research behind his model revealed that when the learners were asked to give the percentages on how they thought they learned, the numbers were very different than when the researchers actually discovered how the learners did indeed learn. This coincides with other research that indicates what learners are able to judge about their learning experiences (see Learner Self-Assessment Ratings). Pontefract 3-33 approximation is a Pervasive Learning model - learning is a collaborative, continuous, connected, and community-based growth mindset:

One of the other major errors of the 70-20-10 model is that it places reading in formal learning. Since when did reading a book become formal learning? Dan of course places it under the correct type of learning in his 3-33 model... informal. The 70-20-10 error seems to coincide with the command and control culture that was most prevalent in the 1980s-the top leaders viewed popular writers as part of the elite who they could trust and learn from, while the learning/training functions were viewed as someone to do their bidding, rather than trusted partners.

Next Steps
Introduction to Media, Strategies, & Methods
Media:

Strategies:

Methods:

References

Bell, J., Dale, M. (1999). Informal Learning in the Workplace. Department for Education and Employment Research Report No. 134. London, England: Department for Education and Employment.

Center for Creative Leadership (2011). The 70-20-10 Rule. Leading Effectively e-Newsletter. Retrieved from http://www.ccl.org/leadership/enewsletter/2011/NOVrule.aspx

Cofer, D. (2000). Informal Workplace Learning. Practice Application Brief, No 10. U.S. Department of Education: Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education.

Conte, R., Paolucci, M. (2001). Intelligent Social Learning. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 4, no. 1.

Cross, J. (2011). A model of workplace learning. Internet Time Blog. Retrieved Nov 28, 2011 from http://www.internettime.com/2011/03/a-model-of-workplace-learning/

Clark, D. (2010). Instructional Design: Social Learning and Social Media. Media, Strategies, and Methods. Retrieved from http://nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/media/social_learning.html

Loewenstein, M.A. and Spletzer, J.R. (1998). Formal and Informal Training: Evidence from the NLSY. Washington D.C.: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/ore/abstract/ec/ec940090.htm

Lombardo, M.M., Eichinger, R.W. (2000). The Career Architect Development Planner. 3rd Ed. Minneapolis, MN: Lominger Limited.

McCauley, C.D., Brutus, S. (1988). Management Development Through Job Experiences: An Annotated Bibliography. Retrieved from http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/research/MgmtDevelopmentBib.pdf

Pontefract, D. (2013). Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization. MA: Jossey-Bass.

Raybould, R. (1995). Performance Support Engineering: An Emerging Development Methodology for Enabling Organizational Learning. Performance Improvement Quarterly, vol 8(1) pp. 7-2. Available at: http://www.imamu.edu.sa/Scientific_selections/Documents/IT/Raybould.pdf

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor (1996). BLS Reports on the Amount of Formal and Informal Training Received by Employees. Retrieved January from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/history/sept_042897.txt

Wilson, S.M., Velsor, E.V., Chandrasekar, A., Criswell, C. (2011). Grooming Top Leaders: Cultural Perspectives from China, India, Singapore and the United States. Center for Creative Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/research/GroomingTopLeaders.pdf

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70-20-10 Verses the 3-33 Pervasive Learning Model

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Note: This site is moving to KnowledgeJump.com. Please reset your bookmark. The 70-20-10 process is a learning and development model developed by Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger (2000) that uses a three blend approach to provide a development platform for senior managers and leaders: About 70% of learning is by using challenging assignments and on-the-job experiences.

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Creating and using Discord for learning communities

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Creating and using Discord for learning communities

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If you game, you might already be familiar with Discord. Discord is a chat platform that initially grew out of gaming communities. There are chat spaces - called "servers" - dedicated to just about anything. There are servers for work, for play and for learning.

In spring 2020, with teachers looking to meet their students where they were - that is, chatting with friends online - classroom Discord servers were created. More and more educators began looking at using Discord as a place to learn as much as hang out. A year later, Discord is still an option for virtual classrooms and group gatherings.

As mentioned, Discord is a chat platform that works on your browser, via an app or through a downloadable application. You'll need a free account to get started. You can use Discord to both join existing servers or create your own. You can also contact individuals directly through private chats.

Chat servers are where the discussion happens. You can do everything from talking about books in a virtual book club or griping about your latest match over voice chat, depending on the purpose of the server. Within servers, there are "channels" that act as topic-specific spaces where you can chat about a certain thing.

Channels aren't threaded, so they're more like chatrooms than forums. That said, as nothing is deleted and chat is always on, students can just as easily look at old messages after the fact as they can chat live. You can even slow chat down if messages are moving too quickly.

Although Discord is primarily text based, you can also find or set up voice channels, which act as a conferencing space for real-time chat. Discord also supports assigning server roles (such as mods) as well as the use of "bots," which can do all sorts of things, like auto-moderation for language or helping students change their account settings.

Due to Discord's flexibility, there are many use cases for school-focused servers. Some professors moved to Discord for their virtual classrooms, particularly those not bound to a specific learning management system. Others used Discord to help facilitate professional development, such as creating conference servers for backchannel communication and setting up virtual expo halls.

One guide points out Discord's strength at providing ways for students to interact with a course in multimodal ways, such as through link sharing, posting GIFS or using emojis. (You can also add custom emojis to your server, making them unique to your students and your school.) Being able to switch between channels, both text and voice, supports student choice.

Like with social annotation, Discord's live-asynchronous flexibility is especially useful for getting students discussing things without relying solely on "post once, reply twice"-type forums. There are downsides: it can be easy to get lost in unthreaded messages; in busy channels, reading over old, single-line comments can be a challenge. That said, managing server expectations (such as whether there are designated class times or office hours) can help to mitigate these effects.

To start, you can get a feel for Discord by joining a few servers to test things out from the participant's side. If you search for "topic" plus "discord server" on your search engine of choice, you can sometimes find links to servers relevant to your interests posted online. People can also send you direct invitations to private servers.

Discord shared a blog post at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 to help teachers set up classroom servers. Additionally, they created an education-specific template to facilitate quick setup for teachers. This companion guide was still being updated late into the year and gives more detailed setup information.

This guide on teaching on Discord provides some nice basic info, offering a glossary and linking to resources such as useful bots while sharing personal experiences in using the platform. It also points out other use cases for Discord, such as writing groups. Another guide, this one published in early 2021, offers nitty-gritty details like specific role ideas for a classroom server.

Like all online spaces, Discord can have its share of bad apples. For all that servers can be invite only and specific roles can be assigned, it's possible for people to act inappropriately. When initializing servers, be sure to manage roles and double-check settings. Let students know their expectations as digital citizens, laying out a code of contact and sharing server rules early on. This guide provides suggestions on server rules and links to a "sterling model" of a code of conduct (in addition to sharing hard-won lessons).

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Channeling Learning: Using Discord for Education

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If you game, you might already be familiar with Discord. Discord is a chat platform that initially grew out of gaming communities. There are chat spaces - called "servers" - dedicated to just about anything. There are servers for work, for play and for learning.