Learned more about Learning

Posted on October 24, 2008 by Tricia Ransom

I just finished ASTD’s conference, Telling Ain’t Training.  As usual, it was jam-packed with information, some of which I agreed with, and some of which I wasn’t too sure about. However, what is really interesting to me is the use of the web 2.0 technology in training. As the instructor, http://marcrosenberg.com/, explained, web 2.0 technology is using the power of the web to create social learning situations. Not the formal classrooms that we think of, and even more than the virtual e-learning we’re used to (a virtual classroom, or a wbt course). Instead, these new technologies will act like the person in the cube next to you…a community of practice to answer questions you might have. Blogs and wikis to allow learners to learn from each other. Social networks to connect people to each other, all to facilitate learning.

Of course, my first concern was “oh my goodness, I’m out of a job!!” But then I started thinking about it. Would I really be out of a job? Or would I be the person who was championing these technologies? Would I be the one encouraging my learners to learn from each other? Would I move from trying to cram dry information that they may or may not want/need into their heads to a position of teaching them new ways to learn, so they can go out and learn what they need to in order to succeed…at whatever they want!

Think about the freedom and power that training professionals would have in this new world! No longer would be limited to SAP, diversity, mandated courses. Instead, we would “light the fire” in our learners to learn! It’s like when you were in high school, or grade school, and you had that one special teacher…you know the one. They didn’t really focus on the spelling tests and vocab tests and arithmetic drills. Instead, they opened your mind to the possibilities of what that knowledge could do for you.

And that, in a nutshell, is what I want to do. I want to open my learners’ minds to what they can achieve if they use what I’m offering them, regardless of what the offering is. PeopleSoft? I’m don’t want to teach them, “click here, click there”. I have job aids for that. What I want to teach them is “if you use this software correctly, here’s what it’s going to do for you! You know how you hate this one thing you have to do every day? SAP, when used correctly, will eliminate that task from your daily routine.”

So then the question becomes how do you weave these technologies into the training departments offerings? Many of you may be in organizations that are leery of these innovations. Many of you may be leery yourself. So as Marc said, “start small”. I mean, I did. I started this blog. It’s easier than I thought, and actually a lot of fun. I think my next step is to take one of the web 2.0 technologies, and try using it to encourage 1 small part of learning a new software.

As I wrote that last sentence, I was struck by my language choice. I had started to say, “try using it to train 1 small part of learning a new software.” But, here’s the thing — web 2.0 isn’t about training, it’s about learning and encouraging and working together to find an answer. That is what I want o focus on in my training and teaching. I want to encourage my learners to find the answer. I want to encourage my learners to talk to each other. I want to encourage my learners to try something new.

As I always so, things can be better. Notice I don’t say how they can be better, just that things can be improved. Is web 2.0 going to improve training and learning in corporate america? We’ll see!

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Learning about Learning

Posted on October 20, 2008 by Tricia Ransom

I don’t know if I’ve told you, but I’m getting a Master’s Degree in Training and Development. One of the classes I’m taking this semester is Adult Learning Theory, and I just read the most fascinating article. It’s called Cognitive Learning Applied to Older Adult Learners and Technology by Chaffin and Harlow (2005).  One of the more interesting things they were talking about is ageism. Their point is that when people around an older adult believe the adult can’t learn, the older adult won’t learn. Also using words like “dearie” or “Young” decreased the motivation and will for the older adult to learn. It’s almost as if our society is keeping older adults from learning.

This got me to thinking why? Why do we believe that older adults can’t learn? Why do we treat older adults as infantile? I have a feeling this is going to change drastically over the next 20 years or so as the boomers continue to age. As a generation, I cannot see them allowing others to treat them as children, can you?

What implications does this have for me? I know that when I’m writing my training materials I need to keep this in mind. But more importantly, when I have conversations about older adult learners, be they relatives, friends, or co-workers, I need to be mindful of the words I use, and the attitudes I convey.

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Purpose of This Blog

Posted on October 17, 2008 by Tricia Ransom

I just realized that I never told you why I’m writing this blog. I guess the easiest explanation is that it’s to introduce myself to the world! My name is Patricia Ransom, and I live in Chicago Illinois. I’m a trainer — no, not a personal trainer. I am a corporate trainer who currently focuses mainly on computer software systems such as SAP and PeopleSoft.

It’s interesting, because when I tell people that, they automatically assume I’m a techie. That’s the furthest thing from the truth! In reality, I look at myself as a sales person and a translator. I’m a sales person because I feel my biggest job when training is to get my learners to buy into what I’m training…I’m trying to make them as passionate about the system as I am. If I can do that, they’ll learn in my class, and they’ll continue to learn on their own. 

I’m a translator, because I firmly believe that my job is to take the technical techie talk of the programmers and engineers, and translate it into everyday English and analogies that we can all understand. If I can explain a complicate database in such a way that my mother understands, then I’ve done my job. Fortunately for me, I know how to ask the questions of the techie people to get the information to translate it for people like my mother. That’s because I grew up “bi-lingual”.

What does that mean? It means that my father is an electrical engineer, and is fluent in theoretical mathematics and is very linear and analytical. My mother is a child psychologist and a former teacher/grade-school principal who thinks in analogies and connections to existing information. After 46 years of marriage, you’d think they’d have figured out how to talk to each other…they’re getting better, but I learned how to take what dad was saying and put it in such a way that mom could understand, and vice-versa. It’s a wonderful skill that I’ve found INVALUABLE in my professional life.

Just a couple more things — I’m currently working on my Masters of Training and Development at Roosevelt University in Chicago, and I’m married to the most wonderful person in the whole entire wide world — my GG!

So, what is the purpose of this blog? I envisioned it as a place where I could learn about learning, and share that. Also where I could explore thoughts and ideas and questions I have about the world. In short, where I could learn about learning and the world, and the world could learn about me! How is this going to evolve? I don’t know…we’ll see!

ps– has spell checkered ruined anyone elses spelling? I used to be really good at spelling…now I just try to get close enough so the little red line will suggest the right word..sigh.

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September 11, 2001

Posted on September 11, 2008 by Tricia Ransom

Seven years ago today I was living in St. Louis, but working on a project in Houston. It was about 9 AM, and I was late to work. The DJ on the radio started talking about planes hitting a building, but I thought it was a joke…until I walked into the lobby of the Marathon Oil building. The televisions were all tuned to CNN, andthere were the towers with the smoke trailing from them. I didn’t understand what was going on, so I went up to the floor where my project was, and started trying to work, until the phone started ringing. My brother’s wife was in NY for business, and she was in Manhattan. We couldn’t get through to her, and she couldn’t get through to us. Was she in the towers? On the street? We didnt’ know. Thankfully, she found an ethernet cable that was working, and after a few hours was able to email us that she was in her hotel room, and that she was safe. We were sent away from work, and we all returned to our temporary apartments/hotel rooms in Houston to watch TV for the next two days.

After a couple of weeks, the airport in St. Louis opened, and I was able to fly home. That must have been around Sept 22nd. Walking through IAH, that was deserted, was surreal. But the scariest moment came when boarding started. Walking down the jetway wasn’t too bad, but then you get to the end, and you have to make that step onto the plane. For me, that step was more symbolic than stepping over the threshold when I got married. Stepping onto that plane was stepping out of our American naivete of world issues into the global world. No longer could I take certain freedoms for granted, and no longer could I get to the airport minutes before the plane was scheduled to taxi.

I understand the need for national security. My company lost 5 people on those planes. I understand the need to fight against terrorists, however you define them. But for me, that step onto the plane was my step into political thinking. What rights do I feel I can give up for the greater good of the country? Where does the erosion of individual rights end and the country’s rights begin? Have we started down a slippery slope?

I feel very uncomfortable with a government that can tap my lines, read my mail, and imprison me without a warrant, even though I’m an American citizen. I feel uncomfortable with a government that uses questionable means to interrogate people, and defends those means by saying they don’t happen on US soil. I feel uncomfortable with a government that has the perception that lying to the public is for our own good. But, still, I love this country, and I’m proud to be an American.

What’s going to happen over the next years? I have no idea. Will we continue down a path that is Un-American in the hopes that it makes our country safer? Will we give back the indiviual rights, but compromise national security? I have no idea. I didn’t think about things like this until I stepped on that plane less than two weeks after 9/11.

All I know is that in less than one month, the gate area went from being crowded with people welcoming home church groups from missionary works in Central America to being patrolled by the military with machine guns and German Shepards.

What’s going to happen in the future? We’ll see.

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Politics — My View

Posted on September 1, 2008 by Tricia Ransom

My mom always told me that you shouldn’t talk about politics, religion, or money in public. How true that is! However, this is a different kind of election. Regardless if I’m democrat or replublican, this has been an historic election for me and my family. That’s because we’re African-American, black, people of color, whatever you wish to call it.

My parents graduated from high school in 1954 in Illinois and Michigan. My mother should have been valedictorian of her class, but she was black. In the end, a compromise was reached, and she was co-valedictorian with a white classmate who had a lower GPA than she did. My father won a contest with Caterpillar in Peoria, but was denied the prize (an internship at Cat) because he was black. He tried to protest, but to no avail.

Because of my parents, and my grandparents, and my great-grandparents who couldn’t vote, watching Obama’s speech, regardless of my political leanings, was an awesome moment. And I mean that in the fullest sense of the word. It inspired awe in me. Awe in my country. Where else in the world, in one generation, can we go from the images of fire hoses and dogs loosed on little girls in their Sunday best to having Barack Obama accept the nomination for President of the United States of America.

Say what you will about his experience or lack thereof, his ability to lead, or his ability to make a speech. I’m still savoring that America is still the greatest nation on earth. That only in America could a race come so far in such a short time. I’m not saying that we’re perfect; we’re far from that. And I’m definitely not saying that race relations are perfect. Not even close. What I’m saying is that when my parents were young adults, they were kept from jobs and careers because of their race, and now we have a man nominated for President despite his race.

Will he win? Will race relations change? Will new conversations be had? Will people realize the greatness and potential to be had in this county? Who knows…we’ll see.

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