Teaching as Engagement
Girls in one room classroom, Traveling Library at Public School by New York Public Library, on Flickr
I am old enough to have a Mom that taught in a one room school house. I am lucky enough that she passed on her love of reading to me. One of her teaching stories that stuck with me is how she used to require the older kids to teach the younger ones who were struggling. She was not doing that just because she had a lot of students.
An old motto postulates that we only really learn by teaching or using information in a practical setting. Personal experience confirms that old wives tale, if that is what it is. I often verbalize in my own words what I think I am learning; speaking out loud solidifies the message forcing me to actively arrange my thoughts rather than just leaving them in short term memory. It may not be quite as effective as teaching it, but it is a lot better than just passively taking it in. And when people get within earshot they probably think I am talking to myself or I am a little daffy, but that is alright.
It has become a favorite tactic of mine to require new hires to make at least three positive additions or edits to our training materials in their first couple months. It is an efficient way to have fresh eyes improve them and keep them fresh. But the principle purpose is to engage an active stance towards the material so they will remember it. I do not care whether they clarify a process, add something new, or just describe their emotional state or their favorite learning experience. The more rounded the public story, the easier for subsequent hires to identify with the material.
Active Collaboration as Team Internalization
Active engagement is also one of the spin-off benefits of collaborative software like wikis and blogs for disseminating training information, but also meeting minutes, simple projects, and even group debriefings and lessons learned. Having the whole group participate in constructing histories and stories, if you will, adds a whole dimension that is not there when an administrative assistant types it into a word processing document and files it. It has also been shown that the social and public nature of collaborative software increases its effectiveness and produces a beneficial effect on the organization. Teams must construct their stories together to be effective.
Information vs Knowledge
Research on active learning posits there are two components to knowledge; embedding information by the sender, and engagement of the information by the receiver ( Thompson 2009). Thompson suggests researchers and organizations have spent vast sums on decreasing the cost and increasing the availability of embedded information, partly because technology has recently made the largest strides there.
But much of this attention has neglected improving active engagement experiences by the receiver. Without engagement there is only information. Both are needed for knowledge in organizations to increase and permeate corporate identity.
Further, engaged learning is a multi-faceted and “complex process that combines doing, talking, thinking, feeling, and belonging. It involves our whole person, including our bodies, minds, emotions, and social relations” (Wenger, 1998, pp. 55-56). In other words, creating engagement or learning environments that address the holistic nature of the individuals involved will always be more effective.
Technology is making quantum strides at embedding information, and abstractions and codifications (e.g., tags, categories) increases their accessibility, although they lose something in their translation.
If we really wish to learn something though, we need to talk about it, write about it, talk about our reaction to it, even have a beer over it. Because then we will internalize it and we can act on it. And until the organization can act on it, it is just information in a file.
References
Thompson, Michael P., Robert J. Jensen, and Kristen DeTienne. “Engaging embedded information: toward a holistic theory of knowledge transfer in organizations..” Competitiveness Review, 2009 19.4 (Fall 2009): 323(19). Expanded Academic ASAP. Emerald Insight Journals.
Wenger, E. (1998), Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.
