Sketchnoting: 5 Benefits for Learning

Rachel Burnham writes: This week I have been reflecting on what the benefits are of Sketchnoting for learning.   Sketchnoting combines simple pictures, graphics, text and layout.  I also make use of colour, but some Sketchnoters just use black ink very effectively.  There are no rules in Sketchnoting.  You create a style and approach that works for you. 

Here are 5 areas where I think Sketchnoting can be a useful tool.

1. Note taking

This is the main way I use Sketchnoting, both for taking notes live from presentations and also to summarise podcasts, books and articles.  Some people may find that Sketchnoting works better for them as a way of making notes, than traditional note taking.  I always struggled a bit with note taking because I write very slowly and find spelling a bit of a challenge.  My notes always looked very chaotic.  Sketchnoting encourages you to focus on listening for meaning and key points, rather than attempting to capture everything.   With Sketchnoting, you create notes that work for you.  There is anecdotal evidence of this making a difference for some learners.

Example of Sketchhnote recorded live

Creating notes using Sketchnoting can aid recall.  It makes use of dual coding – the use of both visuals and words to capture ideas and because both are used there are two potential memory triggers. This is different to the idea of learning styles and the notion that someone has a visual learning style, which has little evidence to support it.   There is a very good exploration of dual coding and how this differs from learning styles in Episodes 12 and 13 of ‘The Learning Scientists Podcast’. 

    2. Planning

You can also use Sketchnoting for planning.  This can be helpful when planning to write an assessment, report or article or when planning a project or presentation.   I used to use Mind Maps for this, but I find Sketchnotes are more flexible.  

When I use Sketchnotes for planning, they often look much more ragged and unfinished than my other Sketchnotes, as I keep adding notes to them and often create them much more quickly than my other Sketchnotes.  I often don’t keep these Sketchnotes as they are just part of the process.  

Here is an example of a Sketchnote I used to help me prepare for a presentation I was delivering at the AGM for CIPD Manchester.  

    3.  Retrieval Practice

Sketchnotes can be a useful tool in retrieval practice – that process of actively revisiting and rehearsing material previously learnt, as part of the process of committing it to memory.   For example, you could create a Sketchnote from memory of material previously studied.   This active process of recalling material is much more powerful as a study technique than simple rereading your notes or learning materials over and over. For further information on the effectiveness of retrieval practice, let me again recommend you to the excellent ‘The Learning Scientists Podcast’ this time to Episode 2.

In Learning & Development, I want to emphasise that this technique is only valuable if employees really need this knowledge to perform better.  Often we have thrown knowledge at employees, when actually the issue isn’t a lack of knowledge, but perhaps more an issue of skill or even some other factor in the workplace.   So first we need to make sure that we have properly diagnosed what will make a real difference to workplace performance.  

Even if it there is a knowledge-component, we also need to carefully distinguish whether learners really need to learn this knowledge, so that it is internalised or is it more effective for them to be able to find it when they need it.   It is difficult and takes time & effort to really get knowledge embedded within us, plus much information that is needed for performance in the workplace changes rapidly, so it makes sense to only do this where this is absolutely essential.    And there are times when it is essential that a learner has that material always to hand – but this is far less than we have traditionally assumed. 

So with those caveats, Sketchnoting can be a tool to for use in retrieval practice.   For example, on as part of a longer programme, whether face to face or online, you could encourage learners to create a Sketchnote of key points explored at an earlier point in a programme and thus also bring in an element of spaced practice.

    4. Reflection

You can also create a Sketchnote as part of the process of reflecting on learning, whether that learning is part of a formal programme or has come from experience.   Reflection goes deeper than the recounting of information and facts that might be found within a Sketchnote created for retrieval practice, to include feelings, impact, application, implications for the future and so on.   You could encourage reflection using one of the many reflective practice models, but capture it in the form of a Sketchnote.  

In my experience, some learners like writing reflections, but some find the writing a challenge and prefer to video or capture reflections in a visual format.

    5.  Conceptualising

Sketchnotes can be a useful tool to think something through.  Many people find it useful to explore, through using pictures and diagrams, the relationships between information or ideas and Sketchnotes can be a vehicle for doing this. 

As with planning, the end result may be less finished, more back of the envelope.

Here is an example of a Sketchnote that I created to pull together some of the findings from some informal research that my colleague Niall Gavin and I did into the uses of Virtual Reality (VR) for Learning and Development.  We read articles, talked to experts, tried out different examples of VR and reflected together on what we had learnt.  As a result of this I put together a Sketchnote showing examples of the uses of VR for learning in the workplace using the degree of immersion as a rating scale.  This Sketchnote is the final polished version, as I reworked it for use in an article – if I was just sense-making for myself, I wouldn’t include such finished pictures!

I hope that this review of these five uses of Sketchnoting gives you some ideas of how you can use Sketchnotes to support learning.  I would be really interested in your ideas and examples of how you can use Sketchnoting to support effective learning – do get in touch to share your thoughts.

Rachel Burnham

16/9/18

Burnham L & D works with individuals and organisations to help them learn and work more effectively.  As part of this I help L&D professionals to be even more effective through updating their skills and know-how.  I have a particular interest in curation and the use of digital technologies in learning.  I frequently Sketchnote at events and offer workshops in Sketchnoting.  

Read and Relish

Rachel Burnham writes: From time to time I see articles that remind us how assorted well known successful people all read a humongous number of books each month. I have occasionally had exchanges with individuals who report ‘reading’ or rather listening to a book a week.  I notice comments from people who have set themselves a target to read a certain number of books a year, but are confessing that they are not succeeding in doing this.  I hear people saying they aspire to read more.  I hear people apologising for not reading much.  And there are services now that claim they can abbreviate books so that you can ‘read’ the key points from 5 books in a day!

I find myself at odds with this. 

Not because I don’t thinking reading books is a good thing.  I love to read, it is my lifeblood.  I have always been a bookworm. I am never happier than when I have my nose in a book – well possibly, if listening to live jazz, played in a garden, whilst reading!  My home is filled with books of all sorts – fiction, histories, picture books, business books, books about gardening, books about physics, books about patchwork, Greek plays (my son’s influence), thrillers, poetry, books about books.  Books are a kind of extra insulation layer to the house.

I usually have several books on the go at a time – usually some fiction, often a work related book of some kind and probably some a non-fiction book. I make time in my week to read.  I turn the television off or retreat to my bedroom to read.  I have been known to take a week off work to read.   But at most I read about 40 books a year – I know, I keep a list.  I have lists going back many years now.  I will never reach the output of books read that some of these articles report or that some people set themselves as targets – I like time to think about what I read.

One of the joys of reading for me, is pausing and pondering – letting my imagination wander, seeing the world created in a work of fiction come to life in my mind or exploring the ideas and connecting them and applying them in life.   I find I can’t do that if I race through a book. 

I think reading is about the journey, not the destination.  For me it is not the ticking off of a checklist or a point towards a target.  I think there’s a risk of missing out on the delights along the way, of not digesting what has been written, so I prefer to take my reading slowly.

Read for pleasure.  Read for learning.  Read to share with others.  Read for information.  Read to be amused.  Read to have your mind boggled.  Read out loud, for the sounds and rhythms.  Read for the pictures and diagrams, for the bindings and design.  Read for the smell of a new book. Read to be provoked.  Read to critique.  Read to have your bias confirmed or challenged.  Read to inform your own writing. Read to apply.  Read to inspire.  Read to fire up your experimentation.  Read to hear other voices.  Read to visit other places or times. Read to escape.  Read to relax.  But above all read and relish.

Rachel Burnham

9/9/18

Burnham L & D works with individuals and organisations to help them learn and work more effectively.  As part of this I help L&D professionals to be even more effective through updating their skills and know-how.  I have a particular interest in curation and the use of digital technologies in learning.  I frequently Sketchnote at events and offer workshops in Sketchnoting.  

Sketchnotes from Learning Live 2018

Rachel Burnham writes: Over the last two days I have had the opportunity to participate in this year’s Learning Live conference organised by the Learning and Performance Institute (LPI) in London.  The event was aimed at Heads of Learning & Development and involved a day and half of conference sessions, a small exhibition and lots of coffee breaks to enable conversations between participants. 

During the event participants were tweeting, posting and sharing video reflections on Twitter and other social media platforms using the #LearningLive.  

Here are all my Sketchnotes from the sessions I participated in:

Day 1 L&D Question Time Panel 

Mobile Learning: A Secret Performance Weapon in Everyone's Pocket 

The Power of the Game Engine

Day 2 Keynote: The Rise of the Humans - Dave Coplin 

Digital Learning Transformation 

Data for Learning's Impact 

Bot Wars!

Rachel Burnham 

7/9/18

Burnham L & D works with individuals and organisations to help them learn and work more effectively.  As part of this I help L&D professionals to be even more effective through updating their skills and know-how.  I have a particular interest in curation and the use of digital technologies in learning.  I frequently Sketchnote at events and offer workshops in Sketchnoting.  

Pretty in Pink

Rachel Burnham writes:  Whilst talking earlier in the week with Andrew Jacobs about personal curation, lego and learning and many other things, I was triggered to approach an old issue from a different angle. 

I love clothes.  I find fashion fascinating.  I love spotting a trend and I enjoy putting a new outfit together.  But I have learnt that not everything suits everybody and certainly not everything suits me.   Some colours make me glow, and some turn me pale.  Some shapes flatter and some make me feel dumpy.  Some outfits give me confidence to move and work at ease and some stifle and limit.   Not everyone is pretty in pink.  Not every shape of clothes suits every person’s shape.   Not every outfit is suitable for every occasion or this hot weather.

So even if the fashion is for fluorescent neons or crisp white shirts or platform heels I won’t be choosing these.  I love blue denim jeans – they are a classic, ‘timeless’, seemingly loved by everyone – they even come in different shapes and shades.  But I have found they don’t work for my colouring or my shape.  So, I will admire them on others, but find something that works better for me.

And that is a bit like L&D in organisations.   The conferences, blogs and podcasts may be full of some new technology, some new approach to learning or even something that has come full circle and become ‘hot’ again.   But not everything will work everywhere and certainly not everything will be just right for a particular organisation’s needs and current challenges.  So resist the neon leopard platforms and calls to be pretty in pink and find what works for your organisation and do that instead (unless of course neon leopard platforms are just what your organisation needs!).

Rachel Burnham

27/7/18

Burnham L & D works with individuals and organisations to help them learn and work more effectively.  As part of this I help L&D professionals to be even more effective through updating their skills and know-how.  I have a particular interest in curation and the use of digital technologies in learning.  I frequently Sketchnote at events and offer workshops in Sketchnoting.  

Collection of Sketchnotes from eLearning Network event 2018

Rachel Burnham writes: The eLearning Network event held its second event in Manchester on Friday 20^th July 2018.  Here is my collection of Sketchnotes from the event. 

Rachel Burnham

23/7/18

Burnham L & D works with individuals and organisations to help them learn and work more effectively.  As part of this I help L&D professionals to be even more effective through updating their skills and know-how.  I have a particular interest in curation and the use of digital technologies in learning.  I frequently Sketchnote at events and offer workshops in Sketchnoting.  

Collection of Sketchnotes from CIPD NAP Conference 2018

Rachel Burnham writes: Back at the start of June 2018 I had the opportunity to participate in the CIPD NAP conference.   As well as delivering a couple of sessions myself – a fringe session in the form of a hackathon exploring ‘Flexible Working for All’ aided and abetted by a whole team of people, plus a workshop session ‘Surving and Thriving the Digital Avalanche’ with Mike Shaw (@MikeShawLD) – I also participated in a number of sessions.  Here is my collection of Sketchnotes from the event. 

Rachel Burnham

23/7/18

Burnham L & D works with individuals and organisations to help them learn and work more effectively.  As part of this I help L&D professionals to be even more effective through updating their skills and know-how.  I have a particular interest in curation and the use of digital technologies in learning.  I frequently Sketchnote at events and offer workshops in Sketchnoting.  

The real value of instruction

Rachel Burnham writes: On last Friday morning I took part in the #LDInsight Twitter chat run by L&D Connect (every Friday 8-9am – why not join in? And there is also a great chat on the first Tuesday in the month 8-9pm using #LDNights from L&D Connect).  The question up for discussion on this occasion was ‘What have you learned about instructional design that helps to deliver on business needs?’ and as often is the case the chat took off in different directions.  One aspect that was discussed a lot was this term ‘instructional design’.

Some people weren’t familiar with this term or were unsure what it meant, but there were also a number of people who didn’t like the term and who don’t use this term to describe what they do.  I was one of those people.

For me, the term ‘instructional design’ feels too limiting, as though it has already been predetermined that what will come out of the design process is some ‘instruction’.  I use instead the wider term of design, as that feels much more open-ended about what may be produced.   Increasingly, this is not just ‘learning’ materials or programmes, but may be linked to other interventions, not necessarily lead by L&D, to impact on performance.

Some people also commented critically about the process of ‘instruction’ – for some this is simply not part of their practice, others seemed to be saying that this was an outdated practice, others implied that facilitation was a more effective approach.  I thought it might be useful to explore the real value of taking an instructional approach.  

I think ‘instruction’ still has its place in modern workplace learning and I think it would be a great shame to lose ‘instruction’ from our repertoire of learning methods.  Actually I think it is more dangerous and risky than that.  

To argue in favour of ‘instruction’ seems like a deeply unfashionable thing to do at the present time.  We know that there is huge value in learners owning their development and driving it.  We know that social learning is such a valuable part of learning.  We are learning more from various fields of psychology and other places about what effective learning involves.  And all of this leads to hard questions about the traditional approaches to designing learning and about just how effective they are.   Plus, like many of us in in L&D, my personal preferred style of working would be for something more facilitative – I don’t see myself as an ‘instructor’.  I would ‘kick’ horribly at being described as an ‘instructor’.

But I think ‘instruction’ does have its place.  It is an option.  And sometimes it is the right option.  One of the troubles is that ‘instruction’ has been over-used and sometimes misused, when other approaches would be more effective.  But sometimes, just sometimes it is the right approach.

For example, if someone needs to learn how to do something and there is only one way of doing that or only very limited options in how you do that – then instruction can be a good choice.  This is particularly true if there are risks involved in doing it incorrectly eg with many medical procedures, using machinery or equipment.  The risks can be to other people or to the person learning how to do that task.  I think ‘instruction’ is less helpful as an approach when there a very wide range of ways of doing something and many ways of doing it effectively eg managing people, communicating with customers, working effectively as a team.

‘Instruction’ can also be useful as a strategy for helping people who are novices learn the basics quickly - this was a point made by Owen Ferguson (@owenferguson) in the #LDInsight chat.  Think about for yourself – if you can’t do a task, often what we do is find someone who can already do that and ask them to show us how – that is ‘instruction’ at its most basic – it may not be all neatly planned out and in a session plan, but it is still ‘instruction’.   Or if we don’t know someone personally, we might search for a YouTube video – most video ‘how-tos’ eg use a piece of software, put up shelves, etc are ‘instructional’.  ‘Instruction’ doesn’t have to be face to face, delivered in a group setting – it could be side by side in the workplace, it could be materials based – a video, flow-chart, or set of clear written step by step guide or a piece of e-learning.   The mode of delivery is different to the fundamental learning method. 

Clive Shepherd talks of four fundamental learning methods in his book ‘More than Blended Learning’:

·       Exposition – the delivery of information from subject-matter expert to learner.   It is easy to immediately think of lectures or presentations – not my favourite learning method and certainly if not accompanied by a surfeit of bullet pointed presentation slides!  But watching a TEDTalk or listening to many podcasts or reading a book/article or even a blog could fall under this.  The mode of delivery is different to the method of learning.

·       Instruction – described as a more systematic process with learning objectives, often using a variety of media and practical exercises to help the learner develop the required knowledge and skills. 

·       Guided Discovery – again a carefully structured approach, but the emphasis here is on creating activities from which learners can gain their own insights and come to their own conclusions.   I use this approach a lot – it works well, in my experience, for aiding the development of L&D professionals, because rarely is there one right way of doing things, instead it is about working out what might be most effectively in the particular circumstances and organisational context.  Again, this doesn’t have to take place in a group face to face setting – I have done a couple of MOOCs based on the Curatr platform in which materials – articles, videos, visuals were shared and which we were encouraged to discuss, reflect on and draw our own conclusions from – I think this is also ‘guided discovery’ but in an online format.

·       Exploration – here all the choices is with the learner.  No pre-determined objectives (save those the learner identifies for themselves), no syllabus, no assessment.    Personal research and unconferences immediately spring to mind as falling into this approach.

So for me, ‘instruction’ is one option.  One approach to learning that can be a really good choice in the right place.   I suspect, we need to be using it a lot less than has been the case in the past, but I think it has its value and I would hate to lose it as an option.  

Design is about making choices.  Choosing the right approach, the right combination of media and a whole array of other choices. It is about working with organisations, stakeholders and learners to make the best choices we can, so that the learning is absolutely as effective as possible.   So, let’s not limit our choices because ‘instruction’ has become uncool.

Rachel Burnham

8/7/18

Burnham L & D works with individuals and organisations to help them learn and work more effectively.  As part of this I help L&D professionals to be even more effective through updating their skills and know-how.  I have a particular interest in curation and the use of digital technologies in learning.  I frequently Sketchnote at events and offer workshops in Sketchnoting.