Week One
Overview
In week one we will focus on analyzing training curriculum and determining if there is a need for practical application training. More words…..
Reading
This is the reading assignment for week. Read chapters 1,2 & 14 from Smith. Take notes on the following ideas. Words. Words. Words.
Discussion Board Post
For this week’s DB consider the following two ideas:
Idea one
Idea two
Based on what you read in Smith and the ideas presented above, post your response to the following prompt:
prompt
Additional reading
Margaret,
I really liked your insights about the immediate benefits of learners engaging learners (learner to learner content, according to Richard Culatta) in the classroom. I had the same experience training Marines. When I have had the foresight to include learner to learner engagements in training, the payoff has been immediate and substantial. My instructors and I would use it for practical application of skills and it was always a tremendous way to develop and encourage those 21st century skills of collaboration, critical thinking and problem-solving and working creatively with others (although we were not aware of those terms). Your remark about how learning without the social interaction aspect being like ‘walking into a desert’ was right on the money. When we omitted that portion of a training sequence, the instruction was sterile, there was a visible lack of motivation and interest and I just wondered if anything was getting through to them. When we used learner to learner engagement to teach / reinforce skills, the learning was thorough and it happened very quickly because the group was having fun and working in small groups or pairs. That learner to learner process attached a validity to the training that I and my instructors could not have achieved by ourselves. I always found that students teaching students could relate to each other, motivate each other, use language with each other and compete with each other in ways that we could not duplicate. It made the learning fun, social, competitive and most importantly effective.