Serendipity and Learning

We discussed this last week at a training session. The objective of the session was to imagine any object as any other object and engage with the object completely. So, I first picked a bench and imagined it to be a bicycle. Then I picked up a bag and pretended it to be a book. And then a steel tumbler as a phone and so on. In the discussion that ensued, the takeaway was not that, we believe that the tumbler is a phone, but the fact as an actor one has to make the audience believe that the tumbler is a phone. The actor who cries in a crying scene is not as good as the actor who makes the audience cry in the crying scene. And that led to the story that children find more joy in their imagination than in an actual toy. The process of making the toy builds up the imagination that is far more rewarding then mere ‘unboxing’. So, a cardboard quiver made of cardboard, double sided tape, a satin ribbon is far more fun than a plastic quiver. The cardboard quiver has de...

Actually the title is a misnomer. You can substitute Martial Arts with just about anything. But let us stick to martial arts for now. How does one learn martial arts? First you need a master. Second, you need to be physically conditioned to learn. You cannot get up one fine morning and decide to learn martial arts. Well, you can, as long you know that you are committed to it. Third you need to be committed. Fourth, you need discipline. Fifth, you need to unlearn. And unlearning might be the biggest hurdle to learning.  Unlearn to look the person in the eye. Unlearn turning away your body when you are fighting or sparring. Unlearn using your technique rather than your instinct and then make that technique your instinct. Unlearn not to rest when you are in training. Unlearn to keep those hands up, keep the guard up. Unlearn to react and learn to drive the direction of the fight... Unless you do this, it is not possible to learn. Rather all the techniques they teach you is fo...

The apps market is a pretty crowded place. Anyone who has searched the iOS store or the Google Play store will tell you that is quite tough to cut through the clutter despite the best efforts of the designers. Yet, in this space, over all these years, there are brands. As usual, we were trawling through the app store on what we could download – looking  for that mix of cost and space and entertainment that can be branded as education enough to be ‘marketed’ and ‘justified’ and then made available to the kids. And then, all of a sudden, the little one says, Chillingo – they make good apps. They made Cut the Rope. Endless Road is also nice – therefore this (whatever we were looking at) must be nice. So, we googled, read through the Chillingo site and promptly downloaded whatever they had to offer. And then after a moments reflection, “even Half-Brick is good – they made Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja”. Now who said, making space in a digital store is impos...

Recently we downloaded this game – Pudding Masters and we have been having fun playing it. The game is unique in the sense of its ‘money making ‘ model. Traditionally, most apps offer a 'freemium' model – where one gets a few levels free – and we pay for the rest of the levels. The Angry Birds and Cut the Rope app fall in this category. Then there are those who offer in-app purchases like some random thing like a jetpack or gold coins or bananas or some such thing to make progress inside the app better. Pudding monster (like Push Cars before it - though Push cars does both) sells solutions. The question I have in my mind – is it easier to sell 'solutions' or 'challenges’? For a person like me, buying a solution is an ‘ego’ issue – I would rather do it myself whereas the challenge of unlocking newer levels is more amenable to my ‘ego’. I personally feel that selling ‘challenges’ works better than selling ‘solutions’ at an app level. But ...

Over the last few weeks, while working on creation of various learning workshops, I think I am in a position to formulate the thumb rules of creating an immersive learning experience. a) Create original content b) Touch different learning styles c) Use metaphors both as examples, but also as activities d) Connect, ruthlessly and relentlessly to the work e) Bring in a 'lateral' learning experience f) Ask, ask, ask. Tell little. g) Share your passion on the subject (corollary: let your trainer have passion on the subject) h) Create a 'learning atmosphere' in the room i) Create competition j) Get people to work in groups Developing thought...

Over the last few months, I have been busy creating learning courses, attending some courses and watching people teach - this will continue to be a big part of my own learing and I strongly suspect that what I have seen so far is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. And this has led to some interesting thoughts in my head. One is that, I dont think we emphasize enough on getting content right. Content has to fine tuned every now and then to a) meet the needs of the audience b) to reflect contemporary reality and research c) updated with relevant pedagogy. I have found trainers sheltering under the argument that goes that fundamental stuff does not change, hence our course does not need to be updated. But that is a fallacious argument. The underlying content may not change, but the language has to reflect the reality. For example, if you are showing a video in which the conversation and look and feel is distinctly 1990, the language used and the settings are a distraction from...