Serendipity and Learning

 Like Cinema, Sports and possibly Restaurants,  the Learning industry thrived in getting people together under one roof. I say, was with intent.  A few years ago, 2 day and 3 day training were the norm. Over the years, it had shortened to a day or half a day. Or a somewhere in between - 6 hours. This was pre-Covid. What will learning look like in a post Covid world?  For one, all of us, virtual workshop naysayers have moved to virtual.  ( Read here ) 1. The duration of training is a maximum of 4 hours. Though I did attend a fantastic 4 day workshop ( details here ). But of late, much of the work I have done is for under 4 hours, often 2 hours. So, 8 hour workshops are dead forever.  2. More importantly, while we have started using tools like Mentimeter - the interface of these tools is still clunky - so expecting that to improve.  3. I also feel simulation led learning will be a game changer in these times. Because simulations accelerate the learning p...

 A 4 day workshop in these days? Are you crazy? Sitting in front of a screen for 4 days?  Yes. And the fantastic team from Reflexive Lenses pulled it off. And I learnt a lot.  1. The sessions were tightly managed. Started on the dot, finished on the dot. (This is something I have come to love about virtual trainings. Almost every workshop has started and ended on time.) 2. There were many experts. Since this was a deep dive expertise was needed - and the team had an expert assigned to every virtual room. This was very useful - gave us the comfort of small group interaction, allowed us to dive deep and also allowed for expert interaction. This was very well thought I felt.  3. The break out room is a scream. The way it counts down and drags you into the main sessions is incredible. Usually as a facilitator when you get the team to work on activities, it is a struggle to get them to complete and come back to the main discussion. This was superb. 4. Almost all activitie...

 Yes, I can make tea. Not the la-di-dah English variety or the dipped in tea bag variety, but the thing Indians call as tea. It is what you get by the roadside - sometimes - not the roadside brown  kheer that is passed off as chai. But in most places in India (and Nepal), you will get well brewed, with milk, sugar, ginger or cardamom or an assortment of spices that is known as chai masala that is a satisfying brew morning, noon or evening. It all started with trying to go on a fast. And then, the one coffee that I had in the morning (a small cup, again - the filter coffee that is so dear to us) - if I did not have the coffee, I would get a headache. Tea does no such thing, so we tried to switch to tea.  And I wanted to get the perfect cuppa chai.  It started with unconscious incompetence - I had no idea how to make chai.  And so I tried. And moved to conscious incompetence. All my attempts to make tea will pathetic. Too much water. Too little chai. Too much wat...