'I don't have time to Sketchnote!'

Rachel Burnham writes: 'I don’t have time to Sketchnote!’ - is one of the comments I get when I am encouraging people to make use of Sketchnoting.

If you haven’t come across the term ‘Sketchnoting’ before – it was coined by Mike Rohde and is the name for those graphics, which are often colourful and hand-drawn, that combine both words and pictures to share information and ideas.

I have been Sketchnoting for the past 8 years or so, initially to make notes for myself at conferences and presentations, but gradually I have realised what a flexible and effective ‘learning and thinking tool’ Sketchnoting is.

Yes, Sketchnoting often seems to take more time than conventional written-only note-taking – however, if you never refer back to those written notes and find it difficult to recall what you have written, then it is worthwhile investing in the time to develop your Sketchnoting skills.  Both myself and the very many people I have worked with have found that Sketchnotes are far more memorable and the active process of creating them means that you find the information easier to recall. I think this is because Sketchnoting, with its use of both words and simple pictures makes use of dual-coding. Dual-coding has been well-researched in many cognitive psychology studies and is well established as a practice in which the combination of visuals and words help to form rich memories, thus aiding recall and learning (listen to ‘The Learning Scientists Podcast’ episode 12 for a good introduction to dual-coding).

The length of time it takes to create a Sketchnote can vary tremendously depending upon how familiar you are with the material and also with Sketchnoting, plus what the purpose is of the Sketchnote. When Sketchnoting for yourself, you can create effective Sketchnotes in 30 to 60 minutes – as an experienced Sketchnoter I frequently Sketchnote live sessions in 30 to 45 minutes.

Secondly, the very fact that creating a Sketchnote is a relatively slow process is a strength.  As you draw, embellish and colour in elements of a Sketchnote, you relax and can find yourself thinking more deeply and also differently about the topic you are capturing.  By seeking out relevant images to illustrate points and using metaphors for this, you gain a different way of looking at the subject and may find yourself with fresh insights. By taking your time to consider the topic, you become able to reflect on it - I think this makes Sketchnoting (and drawing more widely) a useful tool for aiding reflection and contributing to learning in this way.

If you are interested in how Sketchnoting can help you, your team or your organisation learn, think or work more effectively I would be happy to discuss this with you.

Rachel Burnham

24 July 2024

I help individuals and organisations to use visuals to think, learn and work more effectively, particularly though using Sketchnoting and drawing.

The Smartphone as Swiss Army Knife

Rachel Burnham writes: I found myself looking at my Smartphone last Thursday afternoon and thinking about all the different ways I use it to support my own learning.  As I tend to, I picked up a pen and started to sketch a few of these out – then thought how interesting it would be to hear from other people in my network about how they use their smartphones. 

This is the tweet I shared:

Thank you to all who responded and contributed over the next few days.  I received lots of great suggestions – some I had thought of and lots of additional ones too, plus different perspectives, which is just what I had hoped for.

Many people shared with me the different ways that they used their phone to enable learning – some mentioned listening to podcasts, or using Audible to listen to audio books.  Others mentioned reading articles and blogs and also saving these articles or other resources and making use of tools such as Evernote or Pocket, so that you can return to them.   Many people mentioned watching short videos and some mentioned using screen capture and annotation or specialist apps such as that provided by @Coach’sEye.

For a couple of people a key factor was being able to ‘learn on the go’ and that their smartphone enabled this.  For example, @LindaRuthMcGee shared that she had completed several MOOCs using her smartphone and that its convenience had been crucial to this. 

A couple of people mentioned the importance of access to a search engine, Google, as a vital resource for them via their smartphone.   This led to some discussion about whether the information gathered in this way was learning, or just data.  We had different views on this. Richard Martin @indalogensis homed in on the fact that I had asked about Smartphone use to enable learning and reminded me that our phone is just a tool.  I think the learning comes with how we respond to the stimulus from our phones, whether a tweet, a podcast or a search that we do – does it lead to reflection, insight, action?  So how we use our phones may lead to learning or not. 

You can link this to Harold Jarche’s ‘Seek, Sense, Share’ model of Personal Knowledge Mastery.  Lots of us immediately focused on the ‘Seek’ part of this model in reporting on how we use our phones. 

But people also mentioned using their phones to capture notes, ideas and plan actions eg through use of Trello. The sense-making aspect of Jarche’s model. And some also mentioned sharing, particularly through their networks.

And of course, asking this question on Twitter meant that lots of people mentioned using their phone for conversations with their network – ‘to expand my network’, ‘to learn via my Twitter feed’ and twitter chats.  People also mentioned other networks and groups such as ‘WhatsApp groups’. I particularly liked the breadth of Helen Blunden’s response:

One additional element, that is important for me is that my smartphone helps me to easily collaborate with others and this has been a significant source of learning for me in recent years – one example being my collaboration with @niallgavinuk to explore the use of VR and AR in learning – here is a link to our most recentcuration of resources. 

Taruna Goel @write2tg summed it up for me ‘A smart phone helps me to stay connected and engage in continuous, self-directed learning.’

Reflections

We know that it is really important for us in L&D to be continuously developing our skills and insights, so one step in this direction would be to make sure we are making full use of our smartphone in doing this.   I know that this exercise, has given me a couple of ideas for how I can make even better use of my phone.  

It could be a useful exercise for an L&D team meeting to review and share ideas about how you and your colleagues are using your phone to enable learning.

And this could also be the basis for a useful short session or online conversation with employees – encouraging them to share tips and ideas for using their own phones to support their learning. 

And here is what you have been waiting for, my sketchnote:

Rachel Burnham

26/2/18

Burnham L & D Consultancy helps L&D professionals update and refresh their skills.  I do this through: writing & design commissions; facilitating learning to update knowhow, 1:1 and bespoke ‘train the trainer’ programmes; and the use of Sketchnoting to facilitate learning.