What happens to our natural desire to learn?

I get all pumped up about the blog, and then life sticks its head in the way. I love life, and I love all the things I have the opportunity to do.

I had a great experience this morning, Elijah (7) says “Dad, I want to learn Spanish.” So I said, cool, let’s do this together. I download some podcasts from iTunes and figure we’ll give it a go.

In a previous post, I mentioned motivation. I love motivation that children have for natural learning. When they are curious or have a desire, learning doesn’t see so bad or tough, or boring.

So, this makes me think- what happened to my motivation and desire to be a natural learner (although I have been blessed to be someone who is interested in always learning). As I watch Elijah go through school (1st grade) I can totally see what happens. Now don’t get me wrong, we love his school and the teachers, they are doing a terrific job. I think as a whole though the system just doesn’t cut it. It doesn’t help students embrace the natural tendency to learn. The funny thing is the process smashes the desire out the learner. And then when we get them at the Corporate level, we either have to figure out a way to put the pieces back together (which orgs. don’t want to spend time on or pay for), or we have to instruct in a manner that fits into the smashed system. Not very conducive for creating prime learning opportunities.

So my question for now readers, what have you done to create an atmosphere that encourages natural learning? What methods work well, what instructional design theories or tactics do you apply to make it all work?

What tools are you using?

What are the biggest impediments?

I’ve got some ideas, but I’d like to hear a bit before I mix it up a bit.

-m

Good Design in my Vacuum

So today I received a frantic message from my wife about how she was going to buy a new vacuum. We have been talking about this purchase, and decided that no -we would wait. So in the middle of giving a training a voice mail is left – and poof the decision is reversed. Frankly, I’m glad, the floor was taking a beating and the the old vacuum just wasn’t cutting it.

This post is not about the decision to buy the vacuum, it’s about the actual vacuum. We’ve been looking at several different brands. Sara’s brother, who has just started selling Rainbow vacuum systems, even came and gave us a demo. We’ve talked to relatives – and finally decided that we wanted to try the Dyson vacuum system. I’ve resisted for a long time, plus we’ve never really been positioned to spend so much on a vacuum. After replacing multiple vacuums, it was time to do something.

As I gain more experience in instruction, training, and design – I become more and more sensitive to design.

Day 1 – the Dyson has impressed me. There is something edifying about the experience or vacuuming with it. Maybe because our old vacuum wouldn’t pick up anything – I have really enjoyed the tactile feel and the way I can visibly see dirt being removed.

It seems that are also a good number of user centric features. For instance – instead of having to carry the vacuum up the stairs to clean the stairs – they built a longer hose (my wife said 17 ft, though I haven’t verified) that doesn’t seem to loose suction. Make sense. It seems to run more quiet then other vacuums I’ve owned. A canister that emptiness from bottom. Smooth lines and curves – it’s actually more attractive then most vacuums I’ve seen (our is the yellow one).

I think Dyson got a lot right.