Tag: 4MAT
The 4MAT Hemispheric Mode Indicator measures our preference for right-mode of left-mode thinking. With an awareness of your natural preference for one mode of thinking over another, trainers, instructional designers and learners can more readily recognize how to stretch into their under-utilized learning mode. Most of the participants in our 4MAT instructional design courses and train the trainer courses share with us that the right-mode learning strategies are most likely to be missed.
We know now that the right brain plays an essential role in learning. As recently as the early 1980’s, neuroscientists believed the right side of the brain was mostly unnecessary. Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Roger Sperry, shared in his 1981 Nobel lecture, the right hemisphere was “not only mute and agraphic but also dyslexic, word-deaf and apraxic, and lacking generally in higher cognitive function.” Sperry made it sound like our right brains might be non-essential.
What if you only had a left brain? If we look at patients who have suffered damage to the right brain, we will find a list of symptoms and inabilities that give insight into what would happen if you found yourself missing the right part of your brain. Here’s what that might look like:
- You wouldn’t understand a joke.
- You would have no idea what Forrest Gump meant when he shared the metaphor “life is like a box of chocolates.”
- You would not be able to make sense of a map or any other visual tool.
- A 2-year could draw a more realistic house, cat or dog than you.
- You would have no concept of what Bob Dylan meant when he sang about “a rolling stone”:
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
All of the problems associated with right brain damage are related to the ability to relate one thing to another. The right brain enables us to make connections and synthesize which are essential acts in learning and innovation.
Without well-crafted right-mode learning strategies, learners have difficulty integrating learning into their lives. The 4MAT instructional model intentionally creates balance by moving the learner through a complete learning cycle while integrating both right and left-mode strategies. We have to constantly ask ourselves, “How balanced are the learning experiences I am creating?”
What do you think gets in the way of effective use of right-mode instructional strategies?
May 14, 2012
What we think and what we know are two different things. Thinking is what is happening in our minds – the mind chatter we listen to. Our consciousness, on the other hand, holds all that we are aware of including that which we cannot put into words (yet). Making the distinction between thinking and knowing is important when designing and delivering training experiences.
Learners know much more than they can quickly put into words. This is especially true when first exploring new content.
In his book, The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle shares, “All true artists whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness. The mind then gives form to the creative impulse or insight.” To ensure learning transfer, learners must be equipped with the ability to adapt the content – to get creative. Tapping into the full potential of our creativity requires that we make time for reflection.
The problem with many learning experiences is that they are emphasize thinking over knowing. The 4MAT model intentionally balances this focus. Here are two (of the many) ways that the 4MAT model equips learners for success:
- Encouraging Learner Reflection: The 4MAT instructional design model intentionally builds in reflection points for the learner to explore and synthesize what they already know with the new information being given to them.
- Mental Imagery: The 4MAT model integrates right-brain instructional strategies which enable learners to express what they know (consciousness) but may not be able to fully express in words (thinking).
In the rush to shorten a training design, we have to be careful to honor and maintain the balance between thinking and consciousness.
May 13, 2012
I recently facilitated our 4MAT Advanced Instructional Design Course with the Aveda Global Education Team. In this experience the group discovered their 4MAT learning style results and then overlaid this with their 4MAT Hemispheric Mode Indicator results. As we explored how their natural learning preferences influenced design and delivery approach, the group began to explore creative ways to increase retention of information by engaging the right brain. The learners were assigned to groups to reprocess the brain research shared on the impact on learning of right- and left-mode strategies. One particularly creative group came up with an interesting exercise to explore the differences between right- and left-mode processing.
Here’s the directions for the activity they designed:
- Draw two charts each titled with “How does this make you feel?” On one chart, draw a series of interconnecting squares. On the other chart, draw a collection of interconnecting spirals.
- Divide participants into two groups and assign each group a chart. Ask each group to answer the question, “How does this make you feel?” Invite each team to write their answers on the chart.
- Have the two groups switch charts. Repeat the process.
- Debrief the exercise by sharing the insights written on each chart.
One of the things I found interesting about this exercise is how the learners described the differences in how the two images made them feel. Some of the words used to describe the differences included:
| Boxes: Linear Image |
Swirls: Abstract image |
- “Retrotastic”
- Organized
- Secure
- Motivated
- Structured
- Deliberate
|
- Softness
- Free
- Relaxed
- Warm
- Comforted
- Inspire
|
As we stood in front of the two images, the entire group began to ponder how balanced their individual approach is to utilizing right- and left-mode strategies. The consensus was that a balance of both right- and left creates the greatest learning impact and that the group collectively tends to lean heavily on left-mode processing.
When the group facilitating the exercise asked the question, “What do we miss when we underutilize right-brain learning strategies?,” the answers shared brilliantly summed up the power of right brain strategies:
- The impact of seeing the bigger picture.
- The ability to visualize how it all fits together.
- The potential power of the mental image created when we use stories, metaphors and visual tools.
- The impact of feeling.
- Full engagement.
April 9, 2012
Our 4MAT team headed to the Serious Business conference in New Orleans to facilitate a best practice learning session and to take in the great line-up of presenters. Sally Hogshead, author of Fascinate, shared a great story about her experience riding Walt Disney World’s Mission to Mars® attraction.
Hogshead shared that when you approach the entrance to the ride, you are given one of two options which we will call “intense” and “neutral.” The intense version promises danger, extreme risk and possible heart failure. The signs posted which predict possible death from the ride, the smell of fear and the attendant’s final warning before getting into the ride all escalate the anticipation of the ride. The neutral ride, on the other hand, promises a fun, safe ride for the weak at heart. Hogshead chose the intense version and lived to tell about it.
The minute she survived the intense version of the ride, Hogshead began to wonder what was the difference between the intense and neutral versions of the ride. She was compelled to go back and see for herself. Are you wondering what the difference was? No difference, whatsoever. Yep, those Disney folks are so clever.
I’ve been researching this concept of what makes an event memorable and believe there are three elements that contribute to the “memorability” of an event: anticipation, the peak of the experience (good or bad) and the tail end of the experience.
Anticipation: Think about how you anticipate and plan for vacations, weddings, that special night out … the more you anticipate, the more positive energy you bring to the experience.
Peak moment: When the peak of an experience is positive, the experience tends to be labeled as positive. When the peak moment is negative, it colors the rest of the experience. Think about that food poisoning from the sushi in Mexico. Food poisoning=Bad Trip.
The Tail End: When the peak positive moment comes at the end of an experience, you walk out on a high. Think of the encore at a rock concert — exploding fireworks, thousands of frenzied fans screaming and the lead singer smashing his guitar. Most excellent.
Marketing expert, Seth Godin, shares:
“Research shows us that what people remember is far more important than what they experience … The easiest way to amplify customer satisfaction, then, is to under-promise, then increase the positive peak and make sure it happens near the end of the experience you provide. Easy to say, but rarely done.”
What can we learn from this? Three ways to make training memorable:
1. Increase anticipation of the event. Think about how you can focus positive attention on the event before the event begins. Themes, invitations, reflective reading, provocative quotes are some of the many ways to get people thinking before they arrive.
2. Increase the “positive peak.” Powerful learning experiences include powerful learning moments. How can you amplify this? Are there any detractors from the experience that you can minimize or eliminate?
3. Create a memorable ending. If you had to graph the trajectory of a learning experience, where does it peak? Is the best, most powerful moment happening near the end of a learning event? Or, does the experience start strong and trend downward from there?
Can you think of an experience that created anticipation and/or included a positive peak moment near the end?
March 7, 2012
In our 4MAT train the trainer and instructional design courses, engaged learning professionals come from all over to explore how to design and deliver learning experiences that create measurable, lasting impact using the 4MAT model. After reading the book, Fascinate, I am wondering if what we are really trying to figure out as trainers is how to become more fascinating.
Why are we captivated by some people and not others? Why are we compelled into action by one message and not another? According to Fascinate author Sally Hogshead, the answer is “fascination.” Fascination is the most powerful way to influence decision making. Hogshead shares “7 triggers” that spark the fascination response. Allow me to share how Hogshead defines the triggers along with my own thoughts on how this might show up in the learning experiences you design and deliver:
1. Lust: If you engage lust, you attract others into the experience.
Think about how you invite training participants to move beyond thinking and engage in feeling. How do you invite in emotions? What senses are engaged? Do you tease with intriguing information, attracting the learner into the experience? Hmmm…
2. Mystique: If you trigger mystique, you’ll encourage others to learn more about your message.
How do you spark curiosity? Do you share just enough information before a training session to make learners eager to fill in the gaps? Do you incorporate mythology, stories and intriguing elements into your 4MAT instructional design?
3. Alarm: If you trigger alarm, you compel others to behave urgently.
How you do create a sense of urgency? Do you define the consequences of not acting? Is the consequence significant enough to warrant immediate action? Do you use deadlines, perceived negative consequences and even danger to move learners into positive action?
4. Prestige: If you trigger prestige, you will elevate others.
What evidence of achievement and prestige are incorporated into the training experience? Do training participants receive proof of achievement—certificates, merit badges or cool gear that signifies their inclusion in an elite group of the “all knowing.”
5. Power: If you trigger power, others will defer to you as the expert.
As a trainer, how do you establish your expertise? Do you influence the environment in such a way that learners willingly follow your lead? How might you use this influence to guide learning in and outside of the formal learning environment?
6. Vice: If you trigger vice, your message will tempt others to stray from the path of goodness and light.
As a trainer, think about how you encourage others to move beyond their comfort zones. How do you tap into unspoken desires? Do you leverage the basic needs of humans to be included, to achieve, to be fascinating? Are learners inspired to break with tradition?
7. Trust: If you trigger trust, your message will comfort others and put them at ease.
As a trainer, how do you build trust? Do you focus on a core message that is repeated consistently throughout the experience (4MAT aficionados would refer to this as the “concept”)? Do you bring your most authentic self to the experience? Do you invite in meaningful dialogue?
Fascinate is a book about marketing. Hogshead goes on to share that a company might choose to focus on a dominant trigger or create a combination of triggers to achieve the desired impact with the consumer. What are your thoughts on applying these triggers to creating desired learning impact? Your comments are welcome.
Source: Hogshead, Sally. Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation. (New York: Harper Collins, 2010)
October 12, 2011
“What separates novices from experts?” John Bransford, an education researcher, identified six characteristics which distinguish the understanding of a novice from that of an expert. One of the characteristics is relevant to the conversation around how to help novices gain mastery in a particular area of competency. “[Experts’] knowledge is not simply a list of facts and formulas that are relevant to their domain; instead their knowledge is organized around core concepts or “big ideas” that guide their thinking about their domains.” If you have experienced a 4MAT train the trainer or instructional design course, you are familiar with this idea of defining the “concept” for your course.
In the 4MAT Leading Training Needs Analysis to Define Results-Focused Learning Outcomes Online Course, we delve into how to elicit these concepts from high performers (subject matter experts).
When working with subject-matter experts, the trainer should be focused on determining these concepts, the “big ideas.” This might sound easy. However, it is easy to be overwhelmed or distracted by all the possible content topics and miss the bigger idea.
What if we simply asked the experts to identify the concepts? This sounds like a simple solution, but one of the outcomes of growing expertise (unconscious competence), is the tendency to forget what it is like to be a novice (unconsciously incompetence).
Asking questions that zone in on the different ways that subject matter experts approach the learning content will help you define the right learning outcomes and elicit the content that should be included in your training design.
Here are 10 questions you might use in a subject matter expert interview to help you elicit what master performers “get” that novices need to acquire:
- Was there ever a moment when you had an “aha!” around this and suddenly it all made sense? If so, will you share this with me?
- If there were “one thing” that most people don’t get about this area of content, what would that one thing be?
- What does someone need to understand to do this well?
- Of all the information you shared, what is most important?
- If someone were to get “all caught up in the details” around this content, what “big picture” might they miss?
- When you picture how all this information fits together, what image comes to mind?
- If you were assigned to give someone feedback on applying this, what would you look for?
- If you were watching a high performer and a low performer applying this side-by-side, what differences would you see?
- What kind of situations would require someone to get creative in applying this information?
- Where might the “wheels come off of the track”?
- What advice would you give someone to help them prepare for the barriers they might run into when applying this content?
September 30, 2011
We learn from experience. When faced with something new, we ask ourselves “How does this connect with what I already know?” The 4MAT model of instruction, which we share in our instructional design courses and train-the-trainer courses, guides learners through a complete learning cycle which begins with the learner’s experience.
Simulations are a powerful way to generate a shared experience. There’s a lot of talk about simulations in e-learning environments. In our 4MAT e-learning instructional design courses, we play around with all the different ways we can simulate the personal interaction and reflection that is often missing in e-learning environments. But, what about simulations in live learning environments? We tend to think that learning simulations require a great deal of time, but that’s not always the case.
Last week, I headed over to the Southwest Learning Summit hosted by ASTD Dallas to lead a train-the-trainer workshop on how to connect performance-based outcomes to activity choice. The rest of the time I had the pleasure of participating in the sessions. Diana Monk of Time Warner Cable, opened her 75-minute session with a fun, impactful simulation that took less than 20 minutes. Yes, this was 20 minutes of a 75 minute presentation-sounds like a lot. However, I can tell you it was the most engaging and memorable part of the entire day. (And, our team took home the $10 Target gift card prize-gotta love that).
The winning marshmallow structure
Here’s how she did it:
Time needed: 20 minutes
What you will need:
Paper bags (1 per group of 5 attendees)
10 sticks of dried spaghetti (in bag)
12″ length of string (in bag)
1 Marshmallow (in bag)
2″ strip of masking tape
Scissors
Method:
1-Teams of 5 are formed.
2-Each team is instructed to build a structure that will support the marshmallow without piercing, cutting or otherwise mutilating it. The goal is for the marshmallow to be positioned at the highest point possible from the base. The structure must be stand-alone. It cannot lean on or be supported by anything else, including the people creating it.
3-Teams are given 12 minutes from “Go” to grab their bag of materials and create their structure.
4-Midway through the 12 minutes, the facilitator “remembers” that she forgot to tell us the following: “I forgot to tell you that the winning team members will each receive a Target gift card.”
5-At the 12-minute mark, everyone must remove their hands from their structure. The winning team is determined by the height of the marshmallow from the base.
What could you do with a simulated experience like this? Where might you take the debrief? How could you connect this to content you will be sharing.
August 19, 2011
The 4MAT instructional design model guides the learner through an experiential learning process which begins with concrete experience. In our 4MAT train the trainer and instructional design courses, we find it is easy for trainers to get stuck in a rut of over-using reflective training openings that sound like, “Reflect on a time when…”
At ASTD ICE 2011 in Orlando, I experienced a session being led by the Second City improv troupe focused on how to use improvisational techniques in training design and delivery. Improv is a great way to create shared concrete experience through simulations. Here are some examples shared:
Improv #1: Celebrating Contribution
A learner, “Bob”, is invited to come to the front of the room. The facilitator introduces Bob and sets up the improv by sharing that he will be asking Bob a series of questions. The facilitator explains that the audience’s job is to demonstrate loud, enthusiastic applause to anything and everything that Bob shares. The interaction sounds like:
Facilitator: What is your name?
Bob: Bob
Audience: Wild applause
Facilitator: Why did you choose this session?
Bob: It was closest to the Starbucks.
Audience: Wilder applause
Facilitator: What do you hope to learn from this conference?
Bob: How to make my boss think I am a training rock star.
Audience: Applause reaches decibel level equivalent to a rock concert and someone pulls out a lighter
Imagine you demonstrated this in the front of the room with “Bob” and then invited table groups to mirror the same process. How might you connect a simulation like this to training content? In a workshop with content focused on thinking diversity in project planning, innovation or meetings, debrief of this experience might include questions such as:
“How did it feel to have this kind of response to every thought you contributed?”
“Are you typically wildly enthusiastic about every thought shared by your colleagues? Are there people in your life that you tend to “celebrate” by eagerly waiting for their every thought? Are there people who invite the opposite response? Why?”
“What are some typical, less-than-enthusiastic thoughts that occur in the minds of meeting participants (or your mind) in response to comments made by others? What would it take to create a more receptive climate?”
Improv #2: Listening with the Intent to Understand
Round 1: Partner One is tasked with talking about any topic. Partner Two is tasked with listening and periodically interrupting by sharing some reference to themselves and then apologizing for interrupting. This might sound like:
Partner One: I am really busy remodeling my house which is….
Partner Two: Oh, I have remodeled a Victorian house. What a project! I’m sorry, please continue…
Partner One: That’s ok. I just went to the paint store to choose the colors for our front porch…
Partner Two: Really-I have a front porch on our lake cabin. I go fishing there almost every weekend. I’m sorry, please continue…
This continues for 3 minutes or so and then the partners switch roles. The facilitator invites reactions to the exercise with questions like:
“Was it difficult to be the interrupter? How did it feel?”
“What was your reaction to being interrupted?”
“What was going on in your head when you were tasked with being the “Interrupter”?”
Round 2: Partner One is tasked with sharing a statement. Partner Two must begin a reply statement by using the last word of the statement previously shared by Partner One. This might sound like:
Partner One: I am remodeling my home.
Partner Two: Home is truly where the heart is.
Partner One: Is this your first conference?
Partner Two: “Conference” is not the word I would use to adequately describe this event.
The facilitator debriefs the exercise by asking questions such as:
“How did you feel during this exercise?”
“Where was your attention when you were listening to your partner?”
“Was your listening more active when you were “interrupting” or linking to the last word shared by your partner? Why?”
“Compare this experience to the previous exercise. Discuss with your partner the differences in the two approaches to listening. (Reflection time) What did you notice?”
Imagine this improv activity being used to simulate the distinction between listening with attention on “self” and listening with attention on “other”. After the improv, learners could be moved into personal reflection with an invitation to “Reflect on an experience when you felt truly “heard”. What created that feeling? Share the experience with a partner.”
Have you used improv in training? What ideas are sparked by this approach?
PS-When is showed the image to wandering folks in our office, only half guessed that the image represents “Think on your feet=improv”.
July 14, 2011
Our team had the opportunity to work with the Aveda training team to design a curriculum to be used globally to train hairdressers in haircutting. To define the learning outcomes for this project, we interviewed stakeholders including customers, trainers and master hairdressers to define the four learning outcomes that would guide the instructional design process.
An interesting insight on how master hairdressers view the concept of hair design came out of the performance analysis process. Using the 4MAT performance model we share in our Leading Training Needs Analysis to Define Results: Focused Learning Outcomes Online Course, we began to unearth some of the surprising ways that hairdressers view their work. In response to one of the questions, one hairdresser described the process of cutting hair as being similar to carving a sculpture. He went on to compare haircutting to the process of sculpting a large slab of granite into a statue. He shared that when the sculptor approaches the granite, he has to see what needs to be removed to get to the desired result.
Haircutting is similar to the process of sculpting in that the hairdresser must see the “weight” that needs to be removed tocreate the desired result in the client’s hair.
To help a novice gain competency, trainers must create an opportunity for them to “see” what the competent already see. By asking the right questions of a subject matter expert, an instructional designer can uncover the important concepts that must be conveyed in the training delivery. The right questions led to the discovery of a powerful concept , “weight distribution”, which became one of the core concepts shared to help novice hairdressers begin to see what master hairdressers already see.
Training design is focused on improving the skills and competency of a learner. Observing and questioning masters, or subject-matter-experts, will help you identify what to include in your training design. Subject-matter-experts can help you identify what concepts must be valued, what content must be included, what skills must be practiced and what follow-up and support must be offered.
April 21, 2011
In the 4MAT model, lecture happens in the step called “Inform”. In our 4MAT Train-the-Trainer sessions, we invite trainers and instructional designers to evaluate what it takes to deliver lecture well. “Well-organized” consistently shows up as the key criteria we all tend to use to evaluate lectures. Learners often describe painful lectures as “wandering”, “disorganized” and “all over the place”. There are many ways you can organize lecture. In this post, we will explore 7 Ways to Organize Lecture. Before we explore how to organize, let’s reflect on “How much is too much (lecture)?” and “How long is too long?”
How long is too long?
We explored the issue of “How Long is Too Long” when it comes to lecture in a previous post. According to brain expert, Dr. John Medina, we tend to drift off in lecture after the first quarter hour:
“Peer-reviewed studies confirm my informal inquiry: Before the first quarter-hour is over in a typical presentation, people usually have checked out. If keeping someone’s interest in a lecture were a business, it would have an 80 percent failure rate.”
What trainers and instructional designers need to know about the limits of human attention :
-We tend to pay attention according to some “stubborn timing pattern”. In my experience, this pattern runs in 10-15 minute increments. Without some shift in delivery approach, learners tend to drift off. Next to “organized”, the second most cited criteria by learners for evaluating lecture is “entertaining”. There are many ways to shift the delivery approach and increase the entertainment factor: stories, images, interactive processing, visual organizers, visual data presentation, and props all work to entertain and engage.
How much is too much?
-Our working memory can only hold so much information. A good rule of thumb is 5 bits of information, plus or minus 2. When structuring your lecture, challenge yourself to identify the main topics and limit the total to 7 maximum. 5 is even better. Create an experience to reflect and process each of the main topics within your lecture.
Organizing Your Lecture
Once you focus the content, you can then think about how you will organize the delivery of the content. The most obvious way to organize delivery of content is by topics. For example, if you were teaching a product knowledge course, an obvious way to organize lecture would be by product categories. There are many other ways that you can structure the organization of the information. Think about how the learner will use the information to help you determine the best way to structure the delivery of the content.
Here are 7 ways to organize lecture including examples of how this might look in a product knowledge course on haircare products.
1. Topics-organize the training content by categories or subject
Example: The lecture is structured into “shampoos”, “conditioners” and “styling aids”.
2. Problem and Solution-organize the training content around common problems learners face and how the content being explored provides a solution
Example: The lecture is structured around the “5 most common complaints” customers have about their hair such as “My hair is flat.” or “My curl is frizzy.”
3. Cause and Effect-organize the training content around how specific actions create different results
Example: The lecture is organized around the causes of common hair issues and how the products work to address these issues. One cause might be “humidity” with illustrations of how some products attract humidity to produce more curl and others decrease humidity to maintain straightness of hair.
4. Pros and Cons-organize the training content by comparing and contrasting the advantages and disadvantages of one thing over another
Example: Products can be compared and contrasted to competitive products with highlights on what makes “our” product better.
5. Acronym-create acronyms to help the learner understand the structure of the content delivery and to improve retention of the information
Example: The acronymn “ESP” might be used to organize the lecture.
E-Engage the client by asking the right questions.
S-Share the right product solution, linking the product to the client’s needs based on the client’s answers.
P-Provide the client with product usage information and tips.
6. Timelines-organize the training content in past-present-future orientation.
Example: Products can be explored based on when they were introduced.
7. Visual-organize the content using a visual organizing structure such as icons or color coding.
Example: Visual icons are introduced at the beginning of the lecture which represent the different needs of different haircare clients. The icons are used as a coding system to identify the type of clients which would find each product appealing.
What other organizing structures would you add to the list?
March 21, 2011
Previous page
