Category Archives: Adult Education

Mar 30

Moron Alfie Kohn – Punished By Rewards

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From 2001

I wrote:

On 8 Aug 01, at 16:56, Julian  wrote:

>
> Hello
>
> Is anyone familiar with Alfie Kohn’s book ‘Punished by Rewards’ or his
> general thesis that “extrinsic motivators in the workplace are not only
> ineffective but often positively counterproductive”. Generally speaking
> the idea is if you offer incentives this will demotivate and stifle
> creativity. There are other authors who agree with Kohnyet the
> prevailing thought appears to be swinging away from such a view.

Julian, here’s the deal. Kohn is a writer, and has no training in research
or the interpretation of research. He over-extends his conclusions beyond
the data. I took the liberty of looking at some of the studies he cited to
support his contention. Several I looked at could actually be interpreted
as disproving some of his contentions. Others simple weren’t relevant or
were badly designed.

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Mar 08

Comparision of Instructional Design Models Slideshow

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If you are looking for a fairly good overview of the major approaches to Instructional Design, check out this slideshow on the topic. It includes a nice chart referencing, classroom, product and systems approaches to the design of instruction. Ideal for teachers, designers and trainers, since any person involved in helping others learn should understand the basics of design so they can modify instruction on the fly if necessary.

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Mar 02

Why I Cannot Abide Social Learning “Experts” And Why You Should Beware

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Not a single day goes by without some fool of a social media/social learning “expert” blogging, tweeting or otherwise writing to promote the use of social media tools in classrooms. Every day I see articles (actually, blogs mostly since they require no editorial review) telling us how Twitter is a great tool for creating engagement in the classroom, or that corporate trainers MUST (must, mind you) incorporate Twitter and other social media in their work (thanks Mr. Bingham, Head of ASTD).

Now don’t get me wrong. I love technology. Have done for 20 years going back to the Apple ][ introduction and use as a learning platform (and of course, main frames). I’m active on Twitter. I’m active on Facebook. But here is the problem.

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Mar 01

Elearning, Distance Education, Not Equivalent to Full Time Study

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Even though almost everybody can understand that:

  • a conversation on the phone is not the same as a conversation face to face
  • watching a sport on television is not the same as being there in person
  • watching people have sex is not the same as actually having it

many people believe that e-learning is the same as learning in a live group, and distance education or online learning is the same as full time study.

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Feb 19

Featured Training Tool: Training Needs Assessment Step-By-Step Helpcard

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Training Needs Assessment Step-By-Step Helpcard guides you through conducting a training needs assessment, and it’s all on two sides of an 8.5 x11 inch “card”. Meant for busy people who haven’t time to read books on the subject and need to get the job done NOW. Also an economical job aid to keep with you.

Training Needs Assessment Helpcard (Partial Picture)

Training Needs Assessment Helpcard (Partial Picture)

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Feb 19

Instructional Strategies (Summaries Great For Stimulating Your Thinking)

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Most trainers and educators are somewhat limited in terms of the training and instructional approaches or methods they use. That’s understandable given the huge realm of possibilities for helping others learn. Here’s a list of instructional strategies that can be used in your instructional design and training delivery. Above all a great list for helping you develop creative instructional approaches for all ages, Kindergarten to adult.


Instructional Strategies –

Oct 14

#lrnchat – Meeting of Dunces or Rich Learning Resource? Or Both? Oct. 8th Report

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lrnchat is a twitter based system to chatting which has been trumpeted by at least some of its users and hosts, as being a prime example of how Twitter, and social network platforms can be rich in learning.

Periodically we’ll check in and take a look at the chat, and highlight some of the features, so you can decide on its value. Feel free to surf the transcript for the Oct. 8 version here.

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Oct 11

What Do Intellectually Impoverished Educators/Trainers Do To Make A Living? Why They Make Up New Fancy Sounding Terms

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Traditionally educators and trainers have not been leaders in intellectual pursuits. For example, tradionally SAT scores for those entering faculties of education have been the lowest among all university attendees. Why? That’s a complex question for another time, but it is clear that many people who are becoming “experts” in education and training have little background in learning theory, or hard core research, and their behavior, intellectually, tends to be suspect.

So what do these folks do to make a living. Well, they may not be the intellectual bright spots, but they sure can “invent” silly terms to take things we’ve been talking about (or discarded) years ago, repackage them in fancier terms, and then convince everyone that what they have is special.

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Oct 08

Preventing Conflict – Such A Simple Idea That’s Ignored

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It’s been a decade since I wrote Conflict Prevention In The Workplace – Using Cooperative Communication. Who would believe that still, when it comes to conflict, the old standards of conflict management and conflict resolution still dominate the conflict field, while the idea of preventing unnecessary conflict in the first place is almost never mentioned.

It’s passing strange. It’s clear that once a conflict gets going, it’s much harder to put the brakes on, so why not work as hard at eliminating conflict in the first place, particularly since so much of the really destructive conflicts between people are really not about issues, per se, but about how each of the parties interacts with each other.

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