Have you ever shared your thoughts with someone? On a grander scale, have you tried sharing your work or a potential masterpiece with like-minded people? Sharing your work simply means that it is where your mind is at. It is where your expertise can be found. The patterns of your insights showcase your expertise areas.Of course you can imagine the satisfaction you get when you receive the approval of people you respect. But the approval of like-minded people is not the only thing. Rather, it's making your work bigger than yourself that matters.    In this fourth installment of my five-part blog series about The All-New TrainingMagNetwork.com Open Learning Environment, I'm going to talk about the importance of sharing your work. The Internet and a good portion of its supporting technology has been the result of open sharing of ideas.Inevitability of Sharing InsightApart from the climate of openness, we can't expect to enjoy what many would consider to be the greatest invention of modern times. Buzzwords like "open source," "collaboration," and "crowdsourcing" are all synonymous to the sharing of ideas and the climate of openness thatit entails.Although the effort to share one's ideas is not something recent, modern development made it easier to collaborate. According to Josh Lerner and Jean Tirol in their book The Simple Economics Of Open Source, "While media attention to the phenomenon of open source software has been recent, the basic behaviors are much older in their origins. There has long been a tradition of sharing and cooperation in software development. But in recent years, both the scale and formalization of the activity have expanded dramatically with the widespread diffusion of the Internet."On a more limited scale, programmers have been sharing source codes as early as the '60s and the '70s and this has been called "sneakernet" due primarily to the actual movement of files through people wearing sneakers. I'm sure you can imagine the inconvenience but you get the picture. There is no way ideas can be prevented from getting shared.Matt Ridley shows that the great progresses experienced by human history have been the result of collaboration or the "meeting and mating" of ideas.I like the book Show Your Work by Jane Bozarth. It suggests a profound change of our outlook. When we share our work, we actually learn a lot better.I recall a story from a toxic waste company client about how they apply "Chalk Talk." After each training they ask participants to use chalk and blackboard (may be flipcharts, white boards and markers) to talk about what they have learned.This is a powerful self-learning process that enables the learners to articulate what they know and correct themselves along the way. Let's call this the digital tracker.At TMN we allow members to capture trends and patterns. They discover and learn and track what they are good at and they show it off in the "Trending Report."How is Openness Beneficial to Organizational PerformanceThe advantages of collaboration to organizations are enormous. Bozarth opined, "Showing work offers increased efficiencies, the possibility of innovation and increased ability to improvise, and promises correction of longstanding deficits in organizational communication."In another study, Martine R. Haas and Morten T. Hansen proposed that, "An organization's  capacity to share knowledge among its individuals and teams and apply that shared knowledge to performing important activities is increasingly seen as a vital source of competitive advantage in many industries."While it's nice to think about the solo working genius, it's undeniable that we are at a time when certain problems are just too big for the individual to solve alone. We need the insights of other like-minded people whose expertise are in other areas.ConclusionThe pattern of your insight is a clear predictor of where your expertise lies. While the solo genius presents an attractive picture, sharing these insights expands your horizons. It is only through openness that ideas take on a new life because they meet and mate with other ideas. Innovation becomes possible and inevitable when ideas are shared. Problem-solving is facilitated by not one person but through the contribution of others.References Martine R. Haas and Morten T. Hansen. Different Knowledge, Different Benefits: Toward A Productivity Perspective On knowledge Sharing In Organizations. Strategic Management  Journal.   Paul Hendriks. WhyShare Knowledge? The Influence of ICT on the Motivation for Knowledge Sharing. University of Nijmegen, TheNetherlands.   Josh Lerner and Jean Tirol. The Simple Economics Of Open Source. NATIONAL BUREAU  OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH. 1050 Massachusetts AvenueCambridge, MA 02138. March  2000.   Jane Bozarth. Show Your Work: The Payoffs and How-tos of Working out Loud.   Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

In the previous tip we talked about sharing your insights. In this fifth installement of the five-part blog series about The All-New TrainingMagNetwork.com Open Learning Environment, we will talk about presenting yourself as an expert and specialist of a specific field.TMN members can share with friends, peers, leaders and if they wish, in the world of social media like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. We encourage TMN members to announce and celebrate their accomplishments.On the other hand, people with whom members share their achievements are likewise provided the facility for feedback by sharing ideas and comments. Mobile apps and digital watches are so good at this. Their entry to the market is by providing people immediate/instant feedback - whether they are walking, running or consuming calories.Feedback is key for people to correct and achieve their goals. In the Path2X (Path to Expertise), our members accomplish this through Path2X eShare.Path to Expertise ProgressThe classic resume is static. It is insufficient because it fails to provide the reviewer a better perspective of the capabilities and experiences of an applicant. With teams, leaders have no immediate way to assess capacities,  status of ongoing learning and new skills developed by team members. They have to wait for evaluation and assessments which may happen only once a year.In Training Mag Network we try to provide a dynamic way for leaders and members to update interests and skills development. TNM members share their Path2X progress with their leaders, bosses, friends, peers and team. These people are able to comment and have discussions with the member/owner of the report. They can drill down into what resources the TMN member has "actually" studied, reviewed and submitted insights to. Members can share the Path2X report as often as they like. The Path2X Progress Report helps the member "celebrate, announce and demonstrate" their deliberate efforts in building skills and expertise.The graphics below is an illustration of the Path2X Progress Report.The Importance of VisibilitySeth Godin talks about connecting with the customers and standing out as an expert in this short clip of an interview with Bryan Elliott.In the world where competition is the norm, how do you stand out against everybody else? Nowadays, it's not enough to be good at something or be connected to someone, you have to standout. According to William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson, "In today's workplace, creativity has trumped loyalty; individuality has replaced conformity; pro-activity has replaced hierarchy. Those who succeeded were aware of their talents and confident enough to use them to stand out and consistently deliver value to their teams.References William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson. Career distinction: stand out by building your brand.  Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Most content are unnatural. It emanates from a higher plain with an objective source and is written in a perfect world. Hence most content is not understood by people. On the other hand, certain content that people understand may not be really recognized immediately as content. These are ordinary things we see, feel, touch, smell and use every day.Factual vs Real-Life Content  ̶  Which One Works?When unnatural content is taught, this results in unnatural learning and consequences that  are highly ineffectual. Likewise, they are costly. Most of all, they fail on the job because it is not based on reality (unnatural content) and therefore beyond the reach or comprehension of people intending to use them.But why does content tend to be unnatural instead of natural? What can be done about it?Move Away from Factual Learning into Reality LearningThe natural way people learn is through the wholistic approach. This means that as we learn, we strive to understand the whole and not just the parts. I spoke of SLOMO learning in a previous tip because we need to slow down our thought process and look at the whole picture. We lead our minds to think of facts and events and make our own interpretations of things as fused and connected items.This is automatic and unconscious. One's natural tendency is to look at things in its totality. The disconnect starts when we talk about facts separate from events or events separate from facts. And when we talk about such items, we inhibit or disallow learners to have the opportunity to reflect and form their own interpretation. The disconnect happens because designers are in a "reality distortion" mode.Have you seen the movie/documentary, Steve Jobs? Steve Jobs has the habit of being cocooned in his own world because he creates distorted realities. The best part is, he succeeds in bringing his audiences and customers to believe in another reality. Many of them follow him. They buy into a dream, a new reality that Jobs has created in their minds. The distortion becomes productive when customers purchase the product and the experience is fulfilled. However, it fails badly when customers do not experience the promised distorted reality.In learning design, we distort reality without realizing it. How do we do that? In a manner that we present content that is far from real-life. We tell the learner to learn content as if it is separate from reality and experience. The consequence of this is that, we stress on recalling the facts. So we make them memorize and let them take a series of tests.Practical Tips in Design and Development of ContentJust like Steve Jobs, we seduce our learners. In a similar fashion, we appeal to the human experience. Technology and content are just mediums.Seduction today in learning is done with massive efforts through bells and whistles of e-learning. They are not wrong solutions. Yet, when used to seduce learners to learn facts, these tools become ill-used or underutilized. Examples are over-investments in videos, gamification, social interaction, exercises, assessments, etc.Remember, these are only tools to help keep our learners learning. We need to reflect back on the idea that learners look at the whole world and do not split facts and events. They create their own interpretations. Here are four practical tips in design and content development:1. Always add context and meaning in real-life related to the fact. This will automatically lead the learner to his/her natural learning tendency which is the wholistic approach. This will prevent the disconnect between content and reality.2. Start with context, not facts. Avoid making the learners memorize volumes of information that are disconnected from reality. Doing this will provide meaning and help learners to value the facts. 3. Write in the way that learners talk about the content. You immediately connect to your audience if you avoid using technical jargons and instead develop your contents in the context of their own conversations of the topic. 4. Ask learners a question always as part of your content.The purpose is to encourage learners to quickly create their own interpretation of the fact and events. Facts and events are foreign and unknown or removed from the learners until they reflect on them.Until they create their own insights, learners are not applying or understanding the content.Start by asking, "What would happen if you are unable to use this content?""What would happen if your are unable to discover the fraudulent transactions ahead of time?""What would happen if you are able to detect and prevent the fraudulent transaction ahead of time?"In the above examples, you immediately invite the learners to understand the fact and content.ConclusionCurrently, there is a disconnect between content and reality. Learners find it hard to comprehend and apply content to real-life situations. The solution to this predicament is to apply the four tips in design and content development.References  Ray Jimenez. Stop That Dump Truck! Ask Questions to Know What is Important for Learners Ray Jimenez. Slow-Mo Learning is Faster   Ray Jimenez. Creative Musing   Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

The debate between Direct Instruction vs Discovery Learning is not new. It has been around. However, the amazing part is, it still rages on. Should we let the trainers and designers take control of the learning process or should we transfer the steering wheels to the learners? There is no easy answer.Direct Instruction vs Discovery LearningAccording to Jean Piaget, the father of discovery learning, interfering with discovery blocks complete understanding. Therefore, discovery learning should be the preferred way to learn.A. Faye Borthick and Donald R. Jones emphasized the advantage of collaboration in discovery learning and the sense of community that results from it.  They opined that, "In discovery learning, participants learn to recognize a problem, characterize what a solution would look like, search for relevant information, develop a solution strategy, and execute the chosen strategy. In collaborative discovery learning, participants, immersed in a community of practice, solve problems together."On the other hand, experts like Paul A. Kirschner, John Sweller and Richard E. Clark are strongly in favor of Direct Instruction. According to them, "learners should be provided with direct instructional guidance on the concepts and procedures required by a particular discipline and should not be left to discover those procedures by themselves."Personally, I prefer Discovery Learning but I also acknowledge that there are situations where Direct Instruction is the better approach.How Do We Provide Information and Still Make Learning a Discovery Rather than Telling the Learner?Tita Beal who is an Instructional Designer with the American Management Association posed this challenge, "How then can we guide learners toward a skill model, conceptual framework, correct procedure or other "answers" while still providing opportunities to discover, use inductive reasoning and give a sense of ownership over - and therefore more commitment to apply - the learning? In short, how and when do we provide the information and still make learning a discovery lesson rather than telling the learner?"According to Beal, this is an example of direct instruction: "stop and think before responding to identify the stage of the change process -- denial, resistance, acceptance even if grudging orfull commitment?I believe a third option is in order:I usually use the embedded model. This means that in a Story-Based eLearning lesson, I design an event so that the learners need to access a reference guide to find the answers to the problem they are solving in the event.      An example event might be: Compare that to Beal's "stop and think before responding to identify the stage of the change process - denial, resistance, acceptance even if grudging or full commitment?We keep on creating events to help learners discover the content in real life.   You can always provide a link to show learners the key ideas. My suggestion would be to rewrite the content in a way that relates to your scenario.For example: (as an Insight)Why does Gigi suspect Joe's views? What are the consequences if Gigi continues to deny, resist and not accept her tasks/role/etc. as demanded by the situation? On the other hand what would be the benefits if Gigi opens her mind to accept and commit?Observe, that your content is still integrated within the insight. But it is in a story form and related to the decisions that your learners can relate to.ConclusionWhile the debate between Direct Instruction and Discovery Learning rages on, I believe we can come up with a third option where we provide instructions to the learners while keeping the learning process as a discovery scenario. Embedding insight into the content designed in a form of a story, makes it natural for the learners to relate to.References A. Faye Borthick and Donald R. Jones. The Motivation for Collaborative Discovery Learning  Online and Its Application in an Information Systems Assurance Course. Georgia State  University.    Paul A. Kirschner , John Sweller & Richard E. Clark. Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based,Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching. Educational Psychologist.   William W. Cobern, et.al. Experimental Comparison of Inquiry and Direct Instruction in Science.   Jean Piaget, Wikipedia  Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

 In developing a small story-based lesson, it has to be short, snappy, succinct, easy to follow and effective in engaging learners and imparting knowledge.Please preview this demo and then review the explanations below. This is only a small section of possibly several course lessons.There are seven parts of the small Story-Based Lesson.1.  Relocate Traditional Learning ObjectivesMost learning objectives are not well stated. They usually state the trainer's objectives rather than that of the learners' hence, they tend to be irrelevant to the learner's needs. They interrupt the learner. They cause immediate rejection of the content - "here it goes again, very boring topics." Relocate it to the top so learners can view it at their option and lawyers and HR people are happy they see it is there. 2.  Start with a Real-Life IncidentLearners instantly relate to real-life situations. Our brains are wired to respond to stories; a lot faster compared to viewing a factual, theoretical or technical information. The first page should instantly grab learners' attention. Use the characters to have conversations showing emotions and consequences. Use first voice, vivid images and clean page design. No clutter. Focus on one idea in each slide.    3.  Use the Story as the TitleBy using the story as the title, we are quickly engaging the learner. The learner would learn the technical title as he/she goes through the slides.4.  Emotional Flow of the StoryIn the slides, start with the situation, then gradually move to the conflict -"My credit card was declined." Then present the slide with the Story Question.The learner sees the incident then he/she encounters the conflict and now the decision point.     5.  Ask Story QuestionsStory questions are questions that invite learners to become part of the story.This is different from factual or technical questions, which we tend to ask learners to memorize. Our focus in the Story-Based Design is on application questions and not memorization.6.  Use Interactive StoriesWe want learners to recall the facts with the aid of the story. We want them to be part of the story. This is the difference between Storytelling and Interactive Story. In storytelling we (the trainers) tell the story. In Interactive Stories the learners interact with the story.7.  Embedded ContentThe usual way of showing content is by telling and teaching the facts without the context. Learners forget them most of the time. One reason we have knowledge checks is to make sure that learners remember the content. In essence, we force them to learn technical information.In the Story-Based Lesson we embed, insert, combine or fuse the technical content into the lessons. From the start to the end, within the story, the characters are talking about the content. The content is presented as part of the story hence, embedded.8.  Policies and References are Repositioned on TopPolicies and references are positioned on the top as links. Learners can review them as requested and mentioned in the story. Contrary to the practice of converting long policies and procedures into dozens and hundreds of slides, we present them in PDF form. There is no need to "glorify" or add multimedia when the PDF can be read faster and searched easier.Some of you may ask, "what if it is required by lawyers?" Then ask learners to read the PDF and you can still collect completion data by using some variables in your software.ConclusionHow does Story-Based Design work?It grabs learners. It is short, snappy and easy to follow. It is relevant. It helps learners to relate to the content in real-life and in meaningful ways and they remember the ideas you want to teach.How does the Story-Based Design save you money?By focusing on the content properly and isolating long readings into PDFs, you just cut your budget. We focus the learners on the main slides where the key ideas we want them to learn are located. Therefore, we prune long and tedious multimedia slides which are only a series of clicks and forward type of technical lesson.    Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Have you noticed in your learning sessions that learners tend to tell their own stories and sometimes it is hard to stop them? Some trainers think of this as wasting time and yet learners telling their stories is one of the best ways they learn.  Source: Google Self-Driving Car Project How do we insert content inside or within learners’ stories?In the world of learning and training, it is often the case that content is thought of as a body of logical knowledge or factual information. The focus is on production and delivery of knowledge and content. The consequences are programs that are heavy on content dump and bore learners. Stories help learners add meaning to the content and therefore make them useful, relevant, and valuable. The challenge is how to bring the natural and organic part of the content to help learners understand its real-life meaning. Story types to help add natural and real-life meaning to contentThese are three story types that you can use in face-to-face sessions, webinars, or eLearning design.Stories on the "improbables"Why do people tend to be attracted to fascinating stories about personal struggles and achieving success like climbing Mount Everest, winning Jeopardy, playing a game, and others? Why are we engrossed with best practices, turnaround stories, and successes against all odds? One insight I discovered refers to what Ray Williams says about the wandering mind. According to Williams, our minds wander and travel around and sometimes we seem to be sidetracked from our tasks. He contends this juggling is actually our brain’s way of allowing for more space for other things that "distract" us.  Williams notes that "the mind goes on a flight" and looks for "what ifs" and we tend to be attracted to pursue these questions. In this mode, we seek out the "improbables". We wonder why, how, and if we can do them. So we role play in our minds how we can carry them out. Sometimes this seems like daydreaming. However, this might be related and adds value to blue-sky thinking, a term used in business brainstorming.Stories on emergenciesWhen people are in an emergency, their minds are most active. In some cases, they tend to interact more with the source of the news or the eyewitnesses of the emergency. This is opposite to the behavior of immediately wanting to warn family members. This tells us how people behave especially when they have the capability to interact using mobile phones. Liang Gao of Beijing Jiaotong University in China, in a study featured in MIT Technology Review, says:The interaction with the source or witness of an emergency perhaps is an opportunity for our learners to be a "newscaster." As such, they learn by reporting an emergency or a critical incident. Newscasting tasks require learners to be researchers, thinkers, evaluators, and story reporters.Stories on deep reflectionsHave you seen Interstellar? I am excited about an upcoming event I am attending on April 19, 2016. Caltech.edu will be sponsoring a dinner for Kip Thorne, the scientist who is the consultant to Interstellar. I am curious about his role in the movie and want to learn his insights.At a dinner last year, I had a conversation with another Caltech professor about the ending of Interstellar. The movie is about different dimensions of space that people must pass through as they  travel billions of miles across the galactic horizon. So, I asked the professor, "How did Kip Thorne arrive at a way to communicate with the audience, the concept of multidimensional space?" He said, "It was so simple, such that, people realize it is a day-to-day phenomenon rather than a farfetched idea. That indeed it is happening now and here, rather than far away in space."  That made me think a lot.There are subjects that place learners in a deep state of reflection. Some are stories that ask questions where  answers do not come easily.Examples:How will DNA technology affect what we learn of other people and our relationships?How will voice recognition impact the work you do for customers?Will you buy a Google driverless car?Would you want to insert a risk-free micro-chip in your brain to boost your memory?ConclusionStories help learners go through deeper learning by placing them in specific situations that make their minds wander about the "improbables," make them act as newscasters, and guide them to reflect on deeper-impact questions. Each of these types of stories help learners assimilate your content better.  ReferencesRay Williams. Is Mind Wandering a Good or Bad Thing? Ray Williams Associates. April 11, 2015Emerging Technology from the arXiv. How Information Flows During Emergencies. MIT Technology Review. January 15, 2014YouTube/Interstellar Movie. Interstellar Movie - Official Trailer 2. July 31, 2014Caltech Employees Federal Credit Union. Friends Dinner & Centennial Gala Celebration Sponsored by the Caltech Employees Federal Credit Union Featuring Kip Thorne. April 19, 2016Wikipedia. Kip Thorne. March 11, 2016Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

When I asked leaders and instructional designers why their courses and eLearning are long, extensive and take hours to complete, they decry, "the SMEs say all content are important."There are a number of reasons why we, as designers and leaders, seem unable to reshape the conversation with SMEs. Although our businesses demand that learning must be shorter, more useful, easier and affordable, we consider ourselves helpless. We succumb to producing long courses (sometimes never deviating) from the SMEs’ PowerPoint slide decks. Far Removed from the Realities of ContentWhen a designer receives a PowerPoint from an SME, he/she usually has no experience relevant to the content. The designer immediately faces a wall. This makes him/her feel incapacitated if the goal is to rewrite the materials into instructional courses. On the other hand, if there is an immediate recognition that the subject is "foreign" to us and our goal is to use a process to make the content useful, shorter, relevant and easy to deliver, our focus shifts from merely converting content to making it immediately useful. When thinking of converting content, we often fall back upon our traditional role and knowledge.  We tend to  organize content into a linear presentation with learning objectives, expounding points and testing learners for retention. The need for immediate content accessibility and usefulness oftentimes, runs counter to the linear teaching mode.Designers’ Thinking and Questioning MindsBy reshaping the conversations with SMEs, we have an opportunity to extract the value from the content into a useful lesson or course. Admittedly, some SMEs are inaccessible and rigid, but many are earnest in making their expert content add value to the learners. I often use the following set of questions.  Let’s review the PowerPoint deck and review the modules and lessons. What is the lesson trying to solve or improve? Where and how are the impacts in the business? (Ask for specific records from company data and also for anecdotal information, e.g. high rejects, high risk in lawsuits, high injuries, high customer complaints, etc.)If you were to rank the most important to the least important content in terms of impact on solving and improving the item, how would you rank them? (This is finding the must-learn)What are the key or essential knowledge and skills that the learners must learn to avoid this problem or improve this item? (Cite the specific problem or concern. Drill down to the details.) What example, story or real-life event may help the learner understand this content faster? (This is adding stories.)What parts of the content will learners likely learn or refer to while on the job? This will be provided as reference and nice-to-learn later on the job. (This is finding the learn-on-need)Reshaping the Conversations with SMEs Means Refocusing Your PurposeIt is my contention that in certain instances, we missed making our content useful, short and easy to use because we provide SMEs with no alternatives away from or to improve linear content presentation. When we shift the conversation to the business impacts, the discussion changes from the courses per se to helping learners do their jobs faster and better. This goal, SMEs and all of us can agree on. Our purpose should change and so should our mindset and questions too. References Tip #52: Are Your Learners as Intelligent as They Can Be?Tip #61: Case Study- Reducing eLearning Cost to 50% by Using Must-Learn Lessons and Micro-LearningTip #82: Role of Stories in Learning - A MapRay Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Studies have shown that more and more companies are using videos and webinar recordings to support learning. The challenge however, is that most videos can be boring, tedious and limits the learner from following their own interests. Most videos and recordings do not allow viewers to instantly drill into the details. It's time consuming to watch the entire thing and it can be difficult to move forward or backwards.Now, preview the Pinpoint Webinar Recording: Developing Micro-Learning for Learners on the Go: Other Webinar Examples:Breaking Training Development Project RulesWrite it Right! Use a Seven Step Process to Develop Learning ActivitiesBuild Trust to Improve PerformanceMain Benefits to LearnersAll the features are designed to allow learners to:Instantly drill down the detailsFollow their interest areasAllow a quick way of referencing back to previous learningSaves timeEngage learnersAccess more materialsSalient PointsSearch Tool - allows learners to search the key ideas in the recording.Table of Contents - lists the main sections of the video.Links - shows learners where to find links referred to by the speaker.Annotations - allows learners to see main ideas.More details - download materials, contact speakers.Chat Transcript - shows learners what the responses of other learners are to speaker's questions and activities.Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Thanks to Clark Quinn  for allowing me to use this chart. It summarizes what Roger Schank presented at the LearnTechAsia, where according to him, "Roger gave his passioned, opinionated, irreverent, and spot-on talk to kick off LearnTechAsia. He covered the promise (or not) of AI, learning, stories, and the implications for education."The idea map summarizes much of what Roger Schank has been a proponent of. Known the world over as the leading visionary in virtual learning environments, artificial intelligence, learning theory and cognitive science, he is the CEO of Socratic Arts, a company that specializes in the design, and implementation of story-centered and learning-by-doing curricula both in the academic and corporate worlds.I am an ardent follower of Schank and other thought leaders who use narratives and stories in learning. Hence, this tip is about my reflections on the Map and an interpretation on how this affects what we do in learning design and implementation of platforms.Theory, Practice and ApplicationAI and Story Memories. A dominant theory of Schank is based on using stories in learning design. He describes this using other terms: scenarios, diagnostics, discovery, experience sharing, and others. In his research on Artificial Intelligence, he postulated that memories are indexed by stories (Tell me a Story, 1995). Stories fuel conversations, discoveries and formulation of self-learning. Schank believes that it is in the exchange of stories through conversations that people learn and unlearn. Without conversations there is no way the learner can reorganize the patterns in his/her mind on ideas. Decision making is facilitated by stories and real-life experiences. In many situations, decisions are hampered with a reference point provided by experienced sources like experts (The Future of Decision Making, 2010).  Diagnostic is key to learning. He proposes that if learners have to learn, they need to diagnose problems and get into the gut of it. The diagnostic approach helps learners come to grips with the real-life essence of the content.  (Teaching Minds, 2011)Testing and Memorization is Counter-Learning. Schank opposes the trend in education and training where learning design relies heavily on rote learning and memorization. He prefers discovery by allowing learners to "act" the content in their own real-life situations. If you want to train for math, let them do math and discover the better ways to apply it in actual professions like being an engineer or to tasks needing mathematical calculations. He observes that most training design are geared towards academic goals rather than personal goals. ConclusionRoger Schank departs from the traditional method of teaching which is characterized by rote learning and testing without context. His preference for discovery learning turns the steering wheel of learning over to the learners rather than the designers. Now, learners are free to learn what they want and how they want to achieve that goal.ReferencesAbout Roger C. SchankTell Me a Story: Narrative and Intelligence (Rethinking Theory)The Future of Decision MakingTeaching Minds: How Cognitive Science Can Save Our SchoolsRay Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

A Harvard Business Review article "What’s Lost When Experts Retire" reminded me about the dire need to rethink our roles as learning professionals and leaders:My sense is that our current of definitions and understanding of expertise may be at odds and stacked against helping novices to become experts.  These are some ideas I have pondered on. I continue to plow the literature on expertise and find it most exhilarating and inspiring. Gladwell’s 10,000 Hours to be an Expert - No Short CutsIn Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell writes that it takes 10,000 hours to achieve mastery. His study reported cases on how mastery requires practice and dedication. Furthermore, Gladwell discovered that no "naturally gifted" performers emerged as experts. So there are no short cuts.  I subscribe to Gladwell’s conclusions that mastery requires thousands of hours. However, this outlook is the far-end spectrum of what expertise is. If we look at expertise as an final end result of capability and mastery, then we may be stuck. Experts are rare and hard to find and expensive to recruit and retain in organizations. How Developers Stop Learning: Rise of the Expert BeginnerErik Dietrich, a software architect has studied programmers and he observed the phenomenon of the "Beginner-Expert." In How Developers Stop Learning: Rise of the Expert Beginner software developers are in high demand and the rapid phase of movement in organizations creates the new type of "Beginner-Expert." These are perceived experts in very narrow skill areas who appear to have earned the reputation of being "experts."  However, they have only been a few years on the job and have not advanced in their proficiency levels, yet, have entrenched themselves in silos of expertise areas. Dietrich believes this presents a problem because it leads to some form of incompetence, referred to in Dreyfus model of skill acquisition.  I shall continue to digest Dietrich’s observations and reports. What is interesting to me is to review Dreyfus’ model of skill acquisition. The model is a stage or linear growth model of competency. The novice is "rule-based" and "have no exercise of discretionary judgement" while the expert "transcends reliance on rules and guidelines."                                                         The Dreyfus ModelThe Dreyfus model is a good foundational model. It is a static way to capture competency. When compared to today’s rapid phase of change and technologically abundant environments, the model could lead to a restrictive understanding  about how we can leverage the knowledge of novices, advanced beginners and those who may not be experts, as defined by Dreyfus. My view is that there must be a way for organizations to further cultivate and maximize the knowledge of novices and experts alike.  See more.Periodic Table of ExpertiseHarry Collins and Rob Evans from Cardiff University espouse "Interactional Expertise." Collins and Evans’ "Periodic Table of Expertise"Essentially, as an oversimplified explanation, the Periodic Table of Expertise shows:  • Dispositions - expertise comes from constant self-reflection and assessments of one’s      scientific findings and discoveries. Experts persistently subject their thinking to      those of others, hence, the need for interaction with other experts and further      scientific discoveries.  • Ubiquitous Tacit Knowledge - is expertise knowledge derived from simplified      understanding, narrow meanings and access to the primary source of the knowledge.  • Specialist Tacit Knowledge - is expertise that is developed through rigor and depth of     understanding of scientific findings with the capacity to present contradictions and     limitations of expert knowledge.  • Meta-Expertises - suggest the different roles of experts  • Meta-Criteria - suggests the ways expertise is developed and qualifiedThe model suggests that the value of expertise may occur at different levels depending on one’s current competencies. It allows a far broader consideration of the different values of knowledge and contributions. What drew my attention is the idea that different ways people developed expertise is a product of how much they contribute and interact with others and allow modifications and refinements of individual expertise. Critically, it requires that we must always know the limits and contradictions of our own expertise and the ability to clearly articulate these limits.I understand this to mean, that we all have some level of expertise knowledge. However, we have to constantly test it and subject it to other unknowns.  In so doing, the value of our contributions are applied by others with the accompanying unknowns.A good illustration would be this. Many bloggers or reporters of knowledge oversimplify, underestimate and only represent one side of a viewpoint or a scientific finding. They fail to inform their audience about the limits and unknowns.Collins and Evans propose this in their book:See the PDF draft of the book.Expertise Based on "What We Know and Can Do Now" - a Contributions Approach I propose that expertise is not a destination, but rather a momentary state of our value and ability to contribute. By keeping this thought, we may have an opportunity to train and assist learners and workers to look into their current competencies and knowledge while reflecting  on how they may add further value. We can also call this the Contributor-Expert" or "Inverted Expertise Model." What is paramount is that we as learners  must constantly subject our knowledge to the unknowns and limitations so the recipients of such knowledge may be aware of both the value and the limitations. I will continue to study, reflect and report to you my progress. Until then, let me know what you think.A contributions approach has many advantages and will likely reinforce what efforts we invest in training and learning.These are a few of the ideas to consider.   • Learners can think of themselves as immediate contributors and add value  • Opportunities allow them to have self confidence  • They think about immediate applications of what they know because they are      expected to contribute  • Learning is accelerated because they practice, show, preach and share what they know      now  • Learners must subject their knowledge to limits and unknowns.References"What’s Lost When Experts Retire", Dorothy Leonard, Walter Swap.Gavin Barton-Harvard Business Review (December 02, 2014)Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell (June 7, 2011)How Developers Stop Learning: Rise of the Expert Beginner, Erik Dietrich ( 2013)Periodic Table of Expertises,  Harry Collins and Robert Evans (March 6,2013)Dreyfus Model for Skill AcquisitionRay Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning