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Do You Discuss or Dialogue?

It's impossible to be in business—or any group endeavor, really—without meetings. (If you find a way, let me know.)

How those meetings are run makes a world of difference to how productive they are—and how connected people feel to “the cause.”

It can be easy for a discussion to degrade into a monologue by those in charge about what they want, rather than a rich sharing of everyone's thoughts and assessments.

Trainer Tips for Active Adult Brains

We recently posted about how adult learners are active—their brains are always at work, and any learning experience is competing with everything else going on for attention. We wanted to go further and share a few tips for dealing with this state of affairs.

2011 in Review: 11 Best Learning Design Posts

2011's end provides a great opportunity to review the accomplishments of the year. We'll be reviewing this year's best, most helpful content on this blog.

Today: our 11 best learning design advice posts.

42 Things Science Fiction Can Teach Us About Learning – The best of our literature opens a window to who we are and what we're capable of.

Trainer Tips for Goal-Directed Learners

We recently discussed how adult learners are directed, goal-oriented folks. Here are a few tips for responding positively to this state of affairs:

Be open. Shift your own awareness from your content to their needs. Know your material well enough that you can pay attention to your learners.

MM Staff Develop Interactive Sketchbook App

Ian Busch, MessageMakers videographer and video editor, took some time to talk with me this week about his latest side project. Ian is already an award-winning independent filmmaker in his own right. More recently, he's finished his first software application, Interactive Sketchbook for iPad.

Adult Learning Quick Takes: Task-Oriented

We're at the end of our adult learning foundations series focusing on the acronym "ADULT." Today, T:

Adults are TASK-ORIENTED. Their patience for passive listening is limited. After absorbing new information and storing it in short-term memory, they’re ready to actively do something with it.

Trainer Tips for Taming Talkaholism: Self-Editing and Strategic Storytelling

In a recent post about adult learners as life-experienced, we mentioned the danger of being a "talkaholic" trainer. We wanted to expand a little on strategies for avoiding this pitfall.

There are simple remedies for kicking the habit.

Millbower wisely notes that "When we share every nugget of wisdom, our learners cannot discern which specific pieces of information are critical.

Adult Learning Quick Takes: Life-Experienced

We've been working through the acronym "ADULT" as a way of considering some foundational information about adult learning. Today, L:

Adults are LIFE-EXPERIENCED. They bring established values, beliefs and opinions that may align with or contradict the course material.