Finally! the fMRI studies provide evidence.
Judy Willis, a neurologist, provides an engaging and lucid evidence-based explanation of our conjecture on Edutopia's blog.
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label immersive learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label immersive learning. Show all posts
Friday, April 15, 2011
Finally! A neurologist illustrates how video gaming can train the brain and enable learning
We have been claiming that repeated game play helps to learn.
Finally! the fMRI studies provide evidence.
Judy Willis, a neurologist, provides an engaging and lucid evidence-based explanation of our conjecture on Edutopia's blog.
Enjoy!
Finally! the fMRI studies provide evidence.
Judy Willis, a neurologist, provides an engaging and lucid evidence-based explanation of our conjecture on Edutopia's blog.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Conversations with Harlina Sodhi, SVP at Reliance Industries, a change catalyst and Learning visionary
As recently appointed Senior Vice President of Learning and Organization Development for Reliance Industries, an ultimate Change Catalyst, and a believer of the “Tao of Cricket”, Harlina Sodhi is leading the effort to bring progressive and process driven, workforce training and development to Reliance Industries that is in line with company’s Strategic and Business Transformation goals.
This interview with Harlina is the eleventh in our series about learning, games, social media, crowd-sourcing and work performance.
RD> First, on behalf of the PAKRA team, we would like to thank you for being completely instrumental in implementing PAKRA system at your past employer - Genpact. Next, sincere congratulations for seizing this vast opportunity at your new gig -- Reliance. This is awesome news.
HS> Thank you. This is a huge opportunity for me to lead and execute on Reliance vision of getting to be the world’s best company for learning and development of workforce. And as you know, the reason I passionately spearheaded the efforts in Genpact for PAKRA is because I believe in the value that it offers. Right product and platform in the right place at the right time is PAKRA !
RD> So! Are you a gamer?
HS> I play Chess. A strategy-based game intrigues me. Also I am an avid car rallyist …but I am also pleased to share, ever since I got my smartphone, I don’t literally have to risk my life but am able to simulate the experience by playing mobile games like www.carsvideogame.com and Angry Bird
RD> How do you learn?
HS> I learn by doing. Tell me - Show me initially, and then I have to do it and then I can teach one. Learning that involves different levels of achievement motivates me.
RD> You and I are more or less in the same age group (Well! I am older ha!) -- do you think the way we learned and ways we were taught is different from the younger generation that is getting into the workforce? If yes, how different?
HS> It is completely different. The younger generation, in particular when you consider that places like in India and other emerging markets where the median age of an employee is 35 years, learn differently and want to be taught differently. For example, their attention span is short, (140 characters Twitter revolution), they learn on-the-go and they want to pull information when they need it in small chewable chunks. They want technology-enabled learning with streaming media, threaded conversations, blogs, games, simulations and not just a teacher delivering lectures and batch-based learning events.
RD> What role do you see for immersive learning using Games and simulations in today's workplace?
HS> The DNA is changing and being reprogrammed. In a place like India, that leap-frogged it’s growth using technology (i.e. the dabbawallahs, the dhobi, the Tuk-Tuk driver and the person living on the street all have cell phones and are probably playing Angry Bird as they stand at traffic lights), user-driven content is how information is being managed and leveraged. Also, many more women are in the workforce today than 25 years ago and they are influencing their children. This is what economic growth brings. In such type of a growth environment, immersive learning is what all are demanding. It is user-driven need and the role is very strong.
RD> How do you anticipate Social Media and crowd-sourcing will be used in business applications and Learning?
HS> It is coming and vehemently needed as platform for peer-to-peer learning. By “it is coming” I mean that not too many businesses are into it, yet. Like, any adoption cycle where you have innovators, early adopters, initiators, and laggards, here too there are businesses who are innovators and early adopters. Ease of use will drive the utilization of these tools. As you know, this is the ultimate Web 2.0 architecture. It will drive the business applications and how work gets communicated and learned. Based on what I hear from my colleagues and networking groups, there is a demand for a platform that enables the adult-learning paradigm. Brick and Mortar learning and communication channels are more symbolic.
RD> From at multinational companies like Xerox, Zenta, GE, Genpact and now at Reliance, what do you see as trends for Learning and Talent Development offerings in business environment?
HS> It has substantially evolved since I started my job at Xerox when I was 21.
First, for content trends: I am hearing and seeing need for short content and immersive focused delivery that enhances Leadership attributes. Also, I am seeing more demand to provide on-demand domain expertise.
From delivery perspective, I am seeing the movement away from the traditional Level 1 to 3 evaluation based Kirkpatrick model to Level 4; is “Impact on Performance” and ROI and significantly towards Bloom’s taxonomy based learning delivery.
For technology, I am seeing more and more demand for platforms (such as PAKRA) that provides on-demand push and Web 2.0 technology for small and targeted content, games and simulations for immersive learning, peer-learning online community and coaching and mentoring accountability where all this links it to real work performance.
When I first moved to Learning and Talent Development functional area, they typically reported to Human Resources. Progressive businesses are making Learning and Talent Development professionals report to Business and Operations leaders. The reality is that the accountability and responsibility of managing and recruiting high-performing employees still lies in the hands of Business and Operations leaders with Human Resources being an key enabler. That reality will not change in my life-time. With such organizational restructuring, these businesses are able to actualize the value of the monetary investment they put in on-the-job training and talent development efforts.
RD> What is your recommendation for someone entering the world of Learning and Talent Development professionals?
HS> Stop focusing on how many courses the employee completed. Stop focusing on how satisfied the learner is with the trainer or coach. Do not use test scores as the only way to measure ability of an employee to do their job. Focus on real work performance of the employee and how well they can apply the skill you just trained and coached them, to their day-to-day work interactions and the work itself.
RD> Thank you for your time Harlina. If some one can implement change and manage the associated change in an organization, you are the one. Wish you all the best at Reliance.
HS> You are welcome! Talk to you soon.
This interview with Harlina is the eleventh in our series about learning, games, social media, crowd-sourcing and work performance.
RD> First, on behalf of the PAKRA team, we would like to thank you for being completely instrumental in implementing PAKRA system at your past employer - Genpact. Next, sincere congratulations for seizing this vast opportunity at your new gig -- Reliance. This is awesome news.
HS> Thank you. This is a huge opportunity for me to lead and execute on Reliance vision of getting to be the world’s best company for learning and development of workforce. And as you know, the reason I passionately spearheaded the efforts in Genpact for PAKRA is because I believe in the value that it offers. Right product and platform in the right place at the right time is PAKRA !
RD> So! Are you a gamer?
HS> I play Chess. A strategy-based game intrigues me. Also I am an avid car rallyist …but I am also pleased to share, ever since I got my smartphone, I don’t literally have to risk my life but am able to simulate the experience by playing mobile games like www.carsvideogame.com and Angry Bird
RD> How do you learn?
HS> I learn by doing. Tell me - Show me initially, and then I have to do it and then I can teach one. Learning that involves different levels of achievement motivates me.
RD> You and I are more or less in the same age group (Well! I am older ha!) -- do you think the way we learned and ways we were taught is different from the younger generation that is getting into the workforce? If yes, how different?
HS> It is completely different. The younger generation, in particular when you consider that places like in India and other emerging markets where the median age of an employee is 35 years, learn differently and want to be taught differently. For example, their attention span is short, (140 characters Twitter revolution), they learn on-the-go and they want to pull information when they need it in small chewable chunks. They want technology-enabled learning with streaming media, threaded conversations, blogs, games, simulations and not just a teacher delivering lectures and batch-based learning events.
RD> What role do you see for immersive learning using Games and simulations in today's workplace?
HS> The DNA is changing and being reprogrammed. In a place like India, that leap-frogged it’s growth using technology (i.e. the dabbawallahs, the dhobi, the Tuk-Tuk driver and the person living on the street all have cell phones and are probably playing Angry Bird as they stand at traffic lights), user-driven content is how information is being managed and leveraged. Also, many more women are in the workforce today than 25 years ago and they are influencing their children. This is what economic growth brings. In such type of a growth environment, immersive learning is what all are demanding. It is user-driven need and the role is very strong.
RD> How do you anticipate Social Media and crowd-sourcing will be used in business applications and Learning?
HS> It is coming and vehemently needed as platform for peer-to-peer learning. By “it is coming” I mean that not too many businesses are into it, yet. Like, any adoption cycle where you have innovators, early adopters, initiators, and laggards, here too there are businesses who are innovators and early adopters. Ease of use will drive the utilization of these tools. As you know, this is the ultimate Web 2.0 architecture. It will drive the business applications and how work gets communicated and learned. Based on what I hear from my colleagues and networking groups, there is a demand for a platform that enables the adult-learning paradigm. Brick and Mortar learning and communication channels are more symbolic.
RD> From at multinational companies like Xerox, Zenta, GE, Genpact and now at Reliance, what do you see as trends for Learning and Talent Development offerings in business environment?
HS> It has substantially evolved since I started my job at Xerox when I was 21.
First, for content trends: I am hearing and seeing need for short content and immersive focused delivery that enhances Leadership attributes. Also, I am seeing more demand to provide on-demand domain expertise.
From delivery perspective, I am seeing the movement away from the traditional Level 1 to 3 evaluation based Kirkpatrick model to Level 4; is “Impact on Performance” and ROI and significantly towards Bloom’s taxonomy based learning delivery.
For technology, I am seeing more and more demand for platforms (such as PAKRA) that provides on-demand push and Web 2.0 technology for small and targeted content, games and simulations for immersive learning, peer-learning online community and coaching and mentoring accountability where all this links it to real work performance.
When I first moved to Learning and Talent Development functional area, they typically reported to Human Resources. Progressive businesses are making Learning and Talent Development professionals report to Business and Operations leaders. The reality is that the accountability and responsibility of managing and recruiting high-performing employees still lies in the hands of Business and Operations leaders with Human Resources being an key enabler. That reality will not change in my life-time. With such organizational restructuring, these businesses are able to actualize the value of the monetary investment they put in on-the-job training and talent development efforts.
RD> What is your recommendation for someone entering the world of Learning and Talent Development professionals?
HS> Stop focusing on how many courses the employee completed. Stop focusing on how satisfied the learner is with the trainer or coach. Do not use test scores as the only way to measure ability of an employee to do their job. Focus on real work performance of the employee and how well they can apply the skill you just trained and coached them, to their day-to-day work interactions and the work itself.
RD> Thank you for your time Harlina. If some one can implement change and manage the associated change in an organization, you are the one. Wish you all the best at Reliance.
HS> You are welcome! Talk to you soon.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Conversations with Jill Konrath, a sales thought-leader, author of best-selling books and avid Gamer -- Part II
As an author of several best-selling books such as SNAP Selling (#1 Amazon sales books) and Selling to Big Companies (Amazon Top25 sales book since 2006) , founder of the Sales SheBang and a premier thought-leader for building high-performing sales teams, Jill Konrath brings passion and well-articulated wisdom daily to deliver results to her vast and diverse group of clients.
… Continued from Part I
RD> Your website and our website are probably the only ones that talk about critical-thinking skills for sales professionals. What is your definition of critical-thinking skills?
JK> When I started doing sales, charisma and networking skills were considered as salesperson’s key assets. Also, they needed to have strong product knowledge because it was their responsibility to convey all that knowledge to their customers.
Nowadays all that's available online ⎯ Prospects can go to a vendor’s website or do a Google search and find everything they need. They don't need salespeople for that function. Nor do they have time to meet with a chit-chatty salesperson.
Today the salesperson who wins is the one who is a problem-solvers for his/her clients and who uses critical-thinking skills where she/he can synthesize, curate and dispense vast quantities of information to the client.
This salesperson also needs creative thinking skills by which they are seen as “idea people” who can deliver results for the buyer. Both these skills (creative-thinking and critical-thinking) help them successfully provide the insights on the value of changing from the status quo – and how to do it most easily. This kind of thinking is invaluable to today's crazy-busy buyers.
RD> Are you seeing that many sales managers seeing these two skills as an asset for a salesperson?
JK> I would say, I see it as emerging awareness among sales managers. I don't see it though in middle market and small businesses. In that size company, there's the still the perception that a salesperson needs to be a fearless hunter – who will open the doors. Of course, these businesses struggle because they tell their salespeople to “go get the meat we are starving here.”
On the other hand, larger sales organizations are devoting more time to training salesperson to manage complex situations. They are business savvy and people savvy at the same time. They can navigate these complex buying-cycles.
Recently I was reading the book on successful leaders called Multipliers. In it, the authors Liz Wiseman with Greg McKeown mentions that one factor emerged as the biggest differentiator among successful versus average leaders.
What was it? “Intellectual curiosity”. Those who were intellectually curious and actively listened were able to motivate and facilitate internal discussions with “what if” and “how will” questions that led to multiplying the effect of the results.
RD> It is interesting you said that, I read about an year ago, an interview of Orit Gadiesh, the CEO of Bain Consulting with Harvard Business Review, where she says that, curiosity is what made her successful.
JK> That’s wonderful. I think that “intellectual curiosity” is a soft-skill asset for salespeople. Because if they can provide prospective buyers with new insights, share how other companies are solving problems – they are more likely to make a sale. The salesperson that is curious will step beyond the “old” skills and learn how-to use information to guide the buyer.
The old requirements of a salesperson’s skills are on a quick decline. However, there are many sales leaders who are holding on to that definition, in fact clinging to it. But they will not be able to deal with the new realities. I don't mean to be demeaning about the Sales Gurus of yesterday who still promoting these "old school" skills. Their wisdom was very effective twenty or thirty years ago. But with the advent of the internet and having “crazy busy people” as buyers, their strategies do not work any more.
Salespeople have to become more creative. When my daughter was younger, I coached her Destination Imagination creative-thinking team. I spent a lot of time studying how to help the kids be more creative.
One thing I learned that really stuck out was this: The only difference between people who were creative versus those who weren't was how their perceived themselves. Nothing else. If they thought they were creative, they were. If they didn't think they were creative, they weren't. It was the only variable.
So when sales leaders are asked to train their salespeople to critically think and be creative, it's hard for them to do if they don't see themselves that way. It becomes this vicious cycle. They do not want to experiment. They want binary “right or wrong”. They do not know how to deal with the continuum of possibilities i.e. degree of effectiveness. They are not curious about things like:
− “How can I make it more effective?”
− “What else can we do to make the client excited?”
− “How can we make this interaction where an objection not flare up?”
This lack of curiosity and creativity leads to average or low-performing sales teams. But those who can teach their salespeople these skills will have enormous success.
… To be Continued
… Continued from Part I
RD> Your website and our website are probably the only ones that talk about critical-thinking skills for sales professionals. What is your definition of critical-thinking skills?
JK> When I started doing sales, charisma and networking skills were considered as salesperson’s key assets. Also, they needed to have strong product knowledge because it was their responsibility to convey all that knowledge to their customers.
Nowadays all that's available online ⎯ Prospects can go to a vendor’s website or do a Google search and find everything they need. They don't need salespeople for that function. Nor do they have time to meet with a chit-chatty salesperson.
Today the salesperson who wins is the one who is a problem-solvers for his/her clients and who uses critical-thinking skills where she/he can synthesize, curate and dispense vast quantities of information to the client.
This salesperson also needs creative thinking skills by which they are seen as “idea people” who can deliver results for the buyer. Both these skills (creative-thinking and critical-thinking) help them successfully provide the insights on the value of changing from the status quo – and how to do it most easily. This kind of thinking is invaluable to today's crazy-busy buyers.
RD> Are you seeing that many sales managers seeing these two skills as an asset for a salesperson?
JK> I would say, I see it as emerging awareness among sales managers. I don't see it though in middle market and small businesses. In that size company, there's the still the perception that a salesperson needs to be a fearless hunter – who will open the doors. Of course, these businesses struggle because they tell their salespeople to “go get the meat we are starving here.”
On the other hand, larger sales organizations are devoting more time to training salesperson to manage complex situations. They are business savvy and people savvy at the same time. They can navigate these complex buying-cycles.
Recently I was reading the book on successful leaders called Multipliers. In it, the authors Liz Wiseman with Greg McKeown mentions that one factor emerged as the biggest differentiator among successful versus average leaders.
What was it? “Intellectual curiosity”. Those who were intellectually curious and actively listened were able to motivate and facilitate internal discussions with “what if” and “how will” questions that led to multiplying the effect of the results.
RD> It is interesting you said that, I read about an year ago, an interview of Orit Gadiesh, the CEO of Bain Consulting with Harvard Business Review, where she says that, curiosity is what made her successful.
JK> That’s wonderful. I think that “intellectual curiosity” is a soft-skill asset for salespeople. Because if they can provide prospective buyers with new insights, share how other companies are solving problems – they are more likely to make a sale. The salesperson that is curious will step beyond the “old” skills and learn how-to use information to guide the buyer.
The old requirements of a salesperson’s skills are on a quick decline. However, there are many sales leaders who are holding on to that definition, in fact clinging to it. But they will not be able to deal with the new realities. I don't mean to be demeaning about the Sales Gurus of yesterday who still promoting these "old school" skills. Their wisdom was very effective twenty or thirty years ago. But with the advent of the internet and having “crazy busy people” as buyers, their strategies do not work any more.
Salespeople have to become more creative. When my daughter was younger, I coached her Destination Imagination creative-thinking team. I spent a lot of time studying how to help the kids be more creative.
One thing I learned that really stuck out was this: The only difference between people who were creative versus those who weren't was how their perceived themselves. Nothing else. If they thought they were creative, they were. If they didn't think they were creative, they weren't. It was the only variable.
So when sales leaders are asked to train their salespeople to critically think and be creative, it's hard for them to do if they don't see themselves that way. It becomes this vicious cycle. They do not want to experiment. They want binary “right or wrong”. They do not know how to deal with the continuum of possibilities i.e. degree of effectiveness. They are not curious about things like:
− “How can I make it more effective?”
− “What else can we do to make the client excited?”
− “How can we make this interaction where an objection not flare up?”
This lack of curiosity and creativity leads to average or low-performing sales teams. But those who can teach their salespeople these skills will have enormous success.
… To be Continued
Conversations with Jill Konrath, a sales thought-leader, author of best-selling books and avid Gamer -- Part I
As an author of several best-selling books such as SNAP Selling (#1 Amazon sales books) and Selling to Big Companies (Amazon Top25 sales book since 2006) , founder of the Sales SheBang and a premier thought-leader for building high-performing sales teams, Jill Konrath brings passion and well-articulated wisdom daily to deliver results to her vast and diverse group of clients.
This interview with Jill is the seventh in our series about learning, games, social media, crowd-sourcing and work performance.
RD> The first question for you, are you a gamer?
JK> I am a gamer. My favourite games right now are word games. I have addictive crossword puzzle syndrome and start every morning with the New York Times crossword. I especially like the Thursday, Friday and Saturday ones which are much harder than the ones earlier in the week. As I've done more writing, word games have helped me learn and write better. I also recognize that Games and Business go hand–in-hand and I love solving problems, so yes! I am gamer.
RD> How do you learn?
JK> First and foremost, I learn by reading. When I'm interested in a topic, I do an immersion in it and read everything that is out there. As I read, I look for emerging patterns and start determining what is effective and what is not.
I want to first learn from the Masters and get a comprehensive picture. Then I start experimenting with different approaches and strategies till I ultimately figure the puzzle out. That’s where “learning by doing” comes into play. When I first got into sales at Xerox, I followed the exact same learning path I just described.
RD> I find that our age-cohort, you and I acquire information and learn very differently from the under-40 generation. Do you agree? What are the differences and similarities you see among those getting into sales profession now versus when we got into our careers?
JK> I am not sure if age plays a role. I think we have adapted to new way of acquiring information (which is not age-dependent). We have become scanners online till something attracts our attention. However, the content summary has to first wet our appetite in small chunks before we pay attention. This is very different to what probably you and I did twenty years ago.
I think people learn differently. My daughter learns via reading and can assimilate and process information and learn by reading just like you and me. My son loves physical learning and being in aviation he learns via simulators.
However both are not afraid of failing and they like failing fast. Our age group probably is more afraid of failing and will spend endless hours to get to the right answer.
For example, the younger generation will crash few planes on the flight simulator and then learn quickly to make correct landings. If I played flight simulator, I would do everything I could to get it right the first time.
Younger people will experiment more and they will say “Oh! That’s ok – I blew that light on the runway and I will do it again and I will correct it.” Whereas I will sit there thinking ‘Gosh I don’t want to blow it. I don’t want to fail.” I did the same when I played PAKRA Games.
… To Be Continued
This interview with Jill is the seventh in our series about learning, games, social media, crowd-sourcing and work performance.
RD> The first question for you, are you a gamer?
JK> I am a gamer. My favourite games right now are word games. I have addictive crossword puzzle syndrome and start every morning with the New York Times crossword. I especially like the Thursday, Friday and Saturday ones which are much harder than the ones earlier in the week. As I've done more writing, word games have helped me learn and write better. I also recognize that Games and Business go hand–in-hand and I love solving problems, so yes! I am gamer.
RD> How do you learn?
JK> First and foremost, I learn by reading. When I'm interested in a topic, I do an immersion in it and read everything that is out there. As I read, I look for emerging patterns and start determining what is effective and what is not.
I want to first learn from the Masters and get a comprehensive picture. Then I start experimenting with different approaches and strategies till I ultimately figure the puzzle out. That’s where “learning by doing” comes into play. When I first got into sales at Xerox, I followed the exact same learning path I just described.
RD> I find that our age-cohort, you and I acquire information and learn very differently from the under-40 generation. Do you agree? What are the differences and similarities you see among those getting into sales profession now versus when we got into our careers?
JK> I am not sure if age plays a role. I think we have adapted to new way of acquiring information (which is not age-dependent). We have become scanners online till something attracts our attention. However, the content summary has to first wet our appetite in small chunks before we pay attention. This is very different to what probably you and I did twenty years ago.
I think people learn differently. My daughter learns via reading and can assimilate and process information and learn by reading just like you and me. My son loves physical learning and being in aviation he learns via simulators.
However both are not afraid of failing and they like failing fast. Our age group probably is more afraid of failing and will spend endless hours to get to the right answer.
For example, the younger generation will crash few planes on the flight simulator and then learn quickly to make correct landings. If I played flight simulator, I would do everything I could to get it right the first time.
Younger people will experiment more and they will say “Oh! That’s ok – I blew that light on the runway and I will do it again and I will correct it.” Whereas I will sit there thinking ‘Gosh I don’t want to blow it. I don’t want to fail.” I did the same when I played PAKRA Games.
… To Be Continued
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Conversations with Maria Palazzi - a commercial animator, decoder of choreographic thinking, user of metaphors for communications, polymath
As, a pioneer in commercial applications of computer animation, Maria Palazzi, the director of Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) at The Ohio State University, shares her views on merging arts, humanities, design and technology to further understand creative and other thinking processes. Prior to her academic appointments, Maria was a senior animator and director for Cranston/Csuri Productions. Her work has been nominated for awards from Clio, and screened at ACM SIGGRAPH and international film festivals. She is an unrelenting champion for increasing participation of young women in computer animation.
This interview with Maria is the fifth in our series about learning, design, games, social media, crowd-sourcing and work processes.
RD> The first question for you is, are you a gamer?
MP> No I am not. Never was into Board games either.
RD> How do you learn?
MP> I learn in a multimodal way. I definitely learn by doing. I also learn by reflection and I have to internalize, process and reprocess it. I read and probably that’s the best way for me to take in information. I draw and I map to make sense of complexity of ideas (perhaps my Graphics background) – that in turn allows me to process the information that I read and heard. Then lately I finish the learning process by reflecting and by communicating and reinforcing my understanding using metaphors. This last part has become more important to me, as I intensively work with multidisciplinary creative teams.
RD> True – the act of rhetoric is to create an image that someone can relate to and makes the content more relevant to the audience. Recently I read a blog written by Jill Konrath – a leading Sales effectiveness trainer interviewing Anne Miller (an author of the book Metaphorically Selling) – who talked about metaphors in sales communications. Tell me more.
MP> Absolutely, it can be used in any form of communication and understanding of complex transactions and processes. The more images you and I bring to the discussion and use the metaphors to communicate, the better the learning reinforcement is for both you and me.
RD> Do you think younger generation especially under-40 are learning differently?
MP> Well! I read. I don’t think younger generation takes their information by long-form reading that much as I do. Their information intake comes from different sources in shorter spans. I am not judging it, but the only issue I see while teaching students is how they find information. Because my Mom was a librarian and I worked in a library, I was taught very early on how to use a library, my reflexes automatically knew what keywords would lead to faster and more relevant results to find content. When Google and other search routines came along, that transition just made the results be delivered faster to me (from printed cards to my screen). Nowadays, that library visits seldom occur and how to do a keyword search is not a skill that is intuitive to them, , Sometimes working with my students, with all their different devices, they have a tough time finding scholarly information. I find that they struggle to determine what keyword they should put in that makes their search provide efficient and relevant search results. This I think makes their start of their learning longer. Once the information is received, processing the information and complexity of ideas—irrespective of age, I think there is no difference. Then it diverges again during reflection and communication, but that’s more of a style preference. These days, irrespective of age, use metaphors and more non-linear way of communicating simply because interactive learning and media tools make it faster to communicate complex ideas. Of course you must realize I have an inherent bias in my observations because I deal with Arts and Design people.
RD> What is your definition of immersive learning?
MP> It really depends on whether it is a verb or a noun. Sometimes it is how a student or a learner immerses in the content in order to learn and sometimes we create (like in ACCAD) an immersive learning environment where the learners come in to experience. I personally think that creating immersive environments or simulation-lab environments cannot only teaches someone the complex ideas but provide new understanding of old ideas. This is about immersing students in knowledge – then learning happens.
RD> If I understand what you are saying, in the technology world, that “immersing students in knowledge” is what we call “user experience”.
MP> Exactly, after the experience, the learning happens. So! As a teacher, “immersion” becomes a verb. Teaching them how to immerse and then create artifacts where they learn while immersed and then send them to the next level to learn more. Technology enables the building of artifacts. This encourages someone to become lifelong learners.
RD> This reminds me of the movie “Inception”, where you assimilate by building the artifacts and then play out the concepts and then redo for better. Have you seen it?
MP> No! I have not.
RD> You will love it – and try to see it on the big screen.
RD> How do you envision using games/simulations to teach people to use information better and also learn to understand complexity?
MP> A good example of this, is a project called Synchronous Objects that we did at ACCAD. It is about “Choreographic Thinking” based on a dance by choreographer William Forsythe. The dance is called, “One Flat Thing reproduced”. Norah Zuniga Shaw, a professor from the Dance department and I worked on this project to understand how his (William Forsythe’s) choreographic thinking works. It was not meant to be a form of dance documentation, but instead a visual way to unlock the ideas about how Forsythe’s complex systems of organization. The materials we created—animations, graphics, interactive tools—are investigatory as we wanted to probe Bill’s choreographic thinking and they are exploratory as we wanted to discover what we could see in the dance, and how we could visualize those interpretations.
To make Synchronous Objects, we assembled an extraordinary group of graduate students who are animators, designers, dancers, and scientists – as well as an outstanding group of faculty and researchers at Ohio State who brought their expertise the project.
RD> What is your definition of “Choreographic thinking”?
MP> A choreographer’s (in this case William Forsythe) strategies for planning time-based and space-based events and group relationships, and then presenting it in a way, a choreographer presents it to their audience.
RD> This just blows my mind. This is so similar when we think of designing complex simulations of a work process or interactions where eventually there is an output to the audience i.e. the consumer or customer in my world. Tell me more.
MP> When I first looked at it, as a graphics and visual person I could not even understand the complexity and kept asking myself, what am I looking at? I am an animator, I am a visual thinking person, and I never could seem to understand what I am looking at in the dance. I realized soon that what we typically expect a linear experience with a story-line with a beginning and an end like the NutCracker. It was not linear.
He was using this concept called “Counterpoint”, when he was arranging the piece on stage. I have been exposed to the concept of “Counterpoint” from jazz music. My parents had exposed me to lot of Jazz in my childhood. So! What finally helped me, is taking that Jazz metaphor to understand and learn about this non-linear complex narrative or as you would say “immersive simulation”.
We had to then deconstruct that thinking. We had to break it down to little parts of information bits and objects. We had to re-map using many different folks from various disciplines to build relationships among those objects. Then use information visualization skills to reconstruct sets of narrative, while keeping his ideas intact. We had to also determine how different learners would come to the site. By different learners I mean learning styles that different users would be comfortable to assimilate their own metaphors. For example, some are visual learners , some learn by word analogies etc. So! The site presents multiple ways into the material, it is very non-linear. We mined the data from the dance to define each object’s parametric range and what and how they can interact and what relationships can be had.
We have 20 objects – some of those are truly abstract – i.e. you would not assume by looking at the object that it came from that dance. But what the objects do is challenge you to answer the question – “what else might this dance look like?”
RD> To me this latter part of the exercise is applying “Group Theory” and “Topology” from my past life of dabbling in Mathematics. The objects can have certain properties like reflexive, associative and transitive as examples and then as a group or a topologic construct they can behave in certain way and you get more properties out of it that you can visualize. Is the mined data from the project shared with others? Incredible! Still having goose bumps.
MP> [Laughs] To create a continual experience for the audience, we have it available for interactive play at http://synchronousobjects.osu.edu/
We share the objects – of course this is not the only interpretation but it is our interpretation. We had statisticians, anthropologists, geographers, mathematics, neuroscientists, designers, authors – lots of disciplines play with the objects and come up with organizational strategies. We shared with them, how we discovered the objects but then had intense discussions of the relationship of the objects and how they relate to the objects and led them create new prototypes.
RD> This project clearly shows how technology, art, humanities and design can be brought together to create an immersive learning environment to do innovation on a very complex process such as creativity of a dance. Of course, this validates how we can use this project thinking to deconstruct complex human interaction and work processes and recreate new innovations in thinking and work processes.
RD> You know – I can go on talking about this. But I have to let you go soon. I wanted to ask my last set of questions. You have led the path here locally in Columbus to increase women participation in technology -- what trends have you seen in 1990's versus 2000's? How do we increase women participation to join the game/graphics production? Are there gender-based differences in design thinking?
MP> We have a summer program at ACCAD, where we bring young women from 8th and 9th grade schools to participate in workshops. These selected women work with women mentors and use “problem-solving skills and collaborative learning to create digital animation”. We have been doing this now for ten years. There are no gender-based differences in output but how they approach a design is very different from what it was ten years ago. These young women understand what media is and understand what story is. They have already played with Photoshop in sixth grade. So! These young women are much more well-versed on the tools and technology and spend more time in the critical thinking or design side and come up with projects that involve complex thinking and production through a collaborative effort. Lately I have invited the same group back a few times to work on more complex projects and they have amazing retention, and I can see the changes. It then makes computer animation careers much more of a reality for them. The other interesting thing I have noticed is that these children finally see that there is a continuum of careers between an engineer and an artist. They no longer feel that they need to pick one. They want to operate in their comfort zone.
RD> Thank you Maria. It has been really interesting to chat with you. Let us continue our discussions.
MP> Let‘s do so -- because I think we have some opportunities to collaborate.
This interview with Maria is the fifth in our series about learning, design, games, social media, crowd-sourcing and work processes.
RD> The first question for you is, are you a gamer?
MP> No I am not. Never was into Board games either.
RD> How do you learn?
MP> I learn in a multimodal way. I definitely learn by doing. I also learn by reflection and I have to internalize, process and reprocess it. I read and probably that’s the best way for me to take in information. I draw and I map to make sense of complexity of ideas (perhaps my Graphics background) – that in turn allows me to process the information that I read and heard. Then lately I finish the learning process by reflecting and by communicating and reinforcing my understanding using metaphors. This last part has become more important to me, as I intensively work with multidisciplinary creative teams.
RD> True – the act of rhetoric is to create an image that someone can relate to and makes the content more relevant to the audience. Recently I read a blog written by Jill Konrath – a leading Sales effectiveness trainer interviewing Anne Miller (an author of the book Metaphorically Selling) – who talked about metaphors in sales communications. Tell me more.
MP> Absolutely, it can be used in any form of communication and understanding of complex transactions and processes. The more images you and I bring to the discussion and use the metaphors to communicate, the better the learning reinforcement is for both you and me.
RD> Do you think younger generation especially under-40 are learning differently?
MP> Well! I read. I don’t think younger generation takes their information by long-form reading that much as I do. Their information intake comes from different sources in shorter spans. I am not judging it, but the only issue I see while teaching students is how they find information. Because my Mom was a librarian and I worked in a library, I was taught very early on how to use a library, my reflexes automatically knew what keywords would lead to faster and more relevant results to find content. When Google and other search routines came along, that transition just made the results be delivered faster to me (from printed cards to my screen). Nowadays, that library visits seldom occur and how to do a keyword search is not a skill that is intuitive to them, , Sometimes working with my students, with all their different devices, they have a tough time finding scholarly information. I find that they struggle to determine what keyword they should put in that makes their search provide efficient and relevant search results. This I think makes their start of their learning longer. Once the information is received, processing the information and complexity of ideas—irrespective of age, I think there is no difference. Then it diverges again during reflection and communication, but that’s more of a style preference. These days, irrespective of age, use metaphors and more non-linear way of communicating simply because interactive learning and media tools make it faster to communicate complex ideas. Of course you must realize I have an inherent bias in my observations because I deal with Arts and Design people.
RD> What is your definition of immersive learning?
MP> It really depends on whether it is a verb or a noun. Sometimes it is how a student or a learner immerses in the content in order to learn and sometimes we create (like in ACCAD) an immersive learning environment where the learners come in to experience. I personally think that creating immersive environments or simulation-lab environments cannot only teaches someone the complex ideas but provide new understanding of old ideas. This is about immersing students in knowledge – then learning happens.
RD> If I understand what you are saying, in the technology world, that “immersing students in knowledge” is what we call “user experience”.
MP> Exactly, after the experience, the learning happens. So! As a teacher, “immersion” becomes a verb. Teaching them how to immerse and then create artifacts where they learn while immersed and then send them to the next level to learn more. Technology enables the building of artifacts. This encourages someone to become lifelong learners.
RD> This reminds me of the movie “Inception”, where you assimilate by building the artifacts and then play out the concepts and then redo for better. Have you seen it?
MP> No! I have not.
RD> You will love it – and try to see it on the big screen.
RD> How do you envision using games/simulations to teach people to use information better and also learn to understand complexity?
MP> A good example of this, is a project called Synchronous Objects that we did at ACCAD. It is about “Choreographic Thinking” based on a dance by choreographer William Forsythe. The dance is called, “One Flat Thing reproduced”. Norah Zuniga Shaw, a professor from the Dance department and I worked on this project to understand how his (William Forsythe’s) choreographic thinking works. It was not meant to be a form of dance documentation, but instead a visual way to unlock the ideas about how Forsythe’s complex systems of organization. The materials we created—animations, graphics, interactive tools—are investigatory as we wanted to probe Bill’s choreographic thinking and they are exploratory as we wanted to discover what we could see in the dance, and how we could visualize those interpretations.
To make Synchronous Objects, we assembled an extraordinary group of graduate students who are animators, designers, dancers, and scientists – as well as an outstanding group of faculty and researchers at Ohio State who brought their expertise the project.
RD> What is your definition of “Choreographic thinking”?
MP> A choreographer’s (in this case William Forsythe) strategies for planning time-based and space-based events and group relationships, and then presenting it in a way, a choreographer presents it to their audience.
RD> This just blows my mind. This is so similar when we think of designing complex simulations of a work process or interactions where eventually there is an output to the audience i.e. the consumer or customer in my world. Tell me more.
MP> When I first looked at it, as a graphics and visual person I could not even understand the complexity and kept asking myself, what am I looking at? I am an animator, I am a visual thinking person, and I never could seem to understand what I am looking at in the dance. I realized soon that what we typically expect a linear experience with a story-line with a beginning and an end like the NutCracker. It was not linear.
He was using this concept called “Counterpoint”, when he was arranging the piece on stage. I have been exposed to the concept of “Counterpoint” from jazz music. My parents had exposed me to lot of Jazz in my childhood. So! What finally helped me, is taking that Jazz metaphor to understand and learn about this non-linear complex narrative or as you would say “immersive simulation”.
We had to then deconstruct that thinking. We had to break it down to little parts of information bits and objects. We had to re-map using many different folks from various disciplines to build relationships among those objects. Then use information visualization skills to reconstruct sets of narrative, while keeping his ideas intact. We had to also determine how different learners would come to the site. By different learners I mean learning styles that different users would be comfortable to assimilate their own metaphors. For example, some are visual learners , some learn by word analogies etc. So! The site presents multiple ways into the material, it is very non-linear. We mined the data from the dance to define each object’s parametric range and what and how they can interact and what relationships can be had.
We have 20 objects – some of those are truly abstract – i.e. you would not assume by looking at the object that it came from that dance. But what the objects do is challenge you to answer the question – “what else might this dance look like?”
RD> To me this latter part of the exercise is applying “Group Theory” and “Topology” from my past life of dabbling in Mathematics. The objects can have certain properties like reflexive, associative and transitive as examples and then as a group or a topologic construct they can behave in certain way and you get more properties out of it that you can visualize. Is the mined data from the project shared with others? Incredible! Still having goose bumps.
MP> [Laughs] To create a continual experience for the audience, we have it available for interactive play at http://synchronousobjects.osu.edu/
We share the objects – of course this is not the only interpretation but it is our interpretation. We had statisticians, anthropologists, geographers, mathematics, neuroscientists, designers, authors – lots of disciplines play with the objects and come up with organizational strategies. We shared with them, how we discovered the objects but then had intense discussions of the relationship of the objects and how they relate to the objects and led them create new prototypes.
RD> This project clearly shows how technology, art, humanities and design can be brought together to create an immersive learning environment to do innovation on a very complex process such as creativity of a dance. Of course, this validates how we can use this project thinking to deconstruct complex human interaction and work processes and recreate new innovations in thinking and work processes.
RD> You know – I can go on talking about this. But I have to let you go soon. I wanted to ask my last set of questions. You have led the path here locally in Columbus to increase women participation in technology -- what trends have you seen in 1990's versus 2000's? How do we increase women participation to join the game/graphics production? Are there gender-based differences in design thinking?
MP> We have a summer program at ACCAD, where we bring young women from 8th and 9th grade schools to participate in workshops. These selected women work with women mentors and use “problem-solving skills and collaborative learning to create digital animation”. We have been doing this now for ten years. There are no gender-based differences in output but how they approach a design is very different from what it was ten years ago. These young women understand what media is and understand what story is. They have already played with Photoshop in sixth grade. So! These young women are much more well-versed on the tools and technology and spend more time in the critical thinking or design side and come up with projects that involve complex thinking and production through a collaborative effort. Lately I have invited the same group back a few times to work on more complex projects and they have amazing retention, and I can see the changes. It then makes computer animation careers much more of a reality for them. The other interesting thing I have noticed is that these children finally see that there is a continuum of careers between an engineer and an artist. They no longer feel that they need to pick one. They want to operate in their comfort zone.
RD> Thank you Maria. It has been really interesting to chat with you. Let us continue our discussions.
MP> Let‘s do so -- because I think we have some opportunities to collaborate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
