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.

Let's talk digital and face to face

Rachel Burnham writes: Every now and then I come across an article, in my experience from someone involved in face to face learning programmes, who seems to feel the need to make the case for the value of face to face learning opportunities, and who seems to think that ‘people’ (I am not sure who – it never seems to be that clear), are arguing that face to face learning opportunities are out of date and should be replaced by digital solutions.  There always seem to be a number of these articles in the wake of events, such as last week’s Learning Technologies Conference and Exhibition – or perhaps it is just that I notice them more after this immersion in the world of digital?

And from time to time, I read or hear from an L&D professional, who says ‘But learners prefer face to face’ again as though, the argument is simply face to face or digital – ‘one or the other’ and that someone is threatening that face to face delivery mode and is threatening classroom training.

Different tools for different jobs

My background originally was also in face to face delivery – I imagine that that is true for a great many of us in L&D, particularly of a certain age.   I own that I enjoy working with a group of people face to face and I think it can have huge value. But I also now make use of digital technologies to support learning – both for myself and the people I work with – whether through webinars, Virtual Learning Environments, Twitter Chats, curation of digital resources, on online forums and VR.

I personally prefer not to use the language of ‘classroom’ or ‘teaching’ – too many people have had bad experiences of school and formal education and in any case we, in L&D, are not in the business of education, but as I have argued on many other occasions ‘learning and performance’.

I think that this is an un-needed defence of face to face.  I am not sure that a strong case is being made anywhere that face to face learning opportunities aren’t needed at all or have no place in learning for the future, though we need to reduce the over-reliance on this – all the evidence is that face to face modes of delivery are very much in use in organisations and will continue to have a place in the future – but organisations, if they aren’t already doing so, need to be making much more effective use of digital technologies, combined with and as alternatives to face to face learning opportunities.   This has been the evidence from repeated Towards Maturity benchmarking surveys. 

Face to face learning opportunities and digital learning opportunities are not in opposition – are not either or.

Now the form of the face to face learning opportunities may well need to change.   Content dumping, 'talk from the front' dominated approaches to delivery are not effective – there are years of research into cognitive psychology – spaced & retrieval practice for example, years of experience of practitioners using interactive methods and new emphasis on social learning from peers and impactful experiences that all point to very different approaches to learning that do work and lead to application in the workplace.  The extent to which these face to face learning opportunities need to be ‘organised’ by L&D is in debate and up for discussion.  

And much digital learning needs to change as well.  Traditional approaches to e-learning are being challenged too and there are great examples of much more effective use of digital technologies to enable learning and support performance.

So, please let’s stop talking as though it is one or the other.   We need to move on from this.  

I think it is all about using the right approach in the right situation.  One of my favourite points from this year’s Learning Technologies, was hearing John Fecci, from VR Learning Studio, talking about the value of VR in learning and making the point that it is right in some situations and not in others.  He used a very effective analogy and compared VR to using a microwave in cooking – great for many things but ‘you wouldn’t use it to make toast or do a roast’.   

I think this is a super analogy, with wider application across the choices we need to make about modes of delivery in L&D.      For example, I love cooking on an open-fire – it’s a real experience – I have such strong memories as a child of making fires to cook over, on holiday outside the cottage we rented in Torridon, on the west coast of Scotland.  It was a whole day experience – in the morning, we children were sent out to scour the countryside and foreshore for firewood.   We made soup in a cauldron – always known as ‘witches-brew’ and cooked pancakes/scones on a griddle – we called them ‘crannogs’.  I can see the view of the loch now, the mountains opposite shrouded in mist, smell the woodsmoke and taste the slightly burnt, slight undercooked ‘crannogs’ with butter and raspberry jam – I have a distinct sense of sticky fingers.   It had a huge impact on me.  It was deeply memorable.   I can still cook ‘crannogs’ should they be needed (perhaps something for a future #LnDCoWork Manchester or maybe not?!).  But I don’t want to cook over an open fire, every time I need to satisfy my hunger at lunchtime!

This afternoon, I have an afternoon of gardening planned with a friend.  We will use the right tool for the right job – I have no intention of cutting a lawn with a pair of scissors.  Scissors are great tools, but they aren’t really scalable for a large lawn!   Nor are they great for cutting back ivy up a wall or a climber smothering a pergola.  

Face to face and digital are not in opposition.   Just different tools for different tasks – often best used in combination.  So, let’s celebrate what face to face has to offer and explore the full potential of digital.

Rachel Burnham

11/2/18

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.

Collection of Sketchnotes from Learning Technologies 2018

Rachel Burnham writes: I had a busy day visiting the Learning Technologies event in London on 1^st February – I definitely confirmed that there are too many interesting people to talk to, too much to see and too much to do for a single day’s visit.   

Here are my four Sketchnotes from sessions I attended that day, which look at the uses of AR and VR, learning transfer and the latest report from Towards Maturity ‘TheTransformation Curve: The L&D journey to deliver lasting business impact’.  

Rachel Burnham

12/2/18

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