Archive for the 'digital immigrants' Category

What type of learner are you?

How do you learn?

Are you a “just in case” learner?  Who likes to research without a clear specific purpose, who cuts and pastes information into a word document that never gets used. Who has a large pile of dusty conference notes unorganised in your office, a pile of books not finished. Do you enjoy knowledge for knowledge’s sake? Chances are you are using a digital immigrant learning strategy.

Are you a “just in time” learner? Do you only look for information when there is a clear end-goal or outcome? Do you turn to your network of peers and friends to search for this information? Who cuts-pastes, shares, gets feedback and refines before the end product is complete. Who is comfortable using a variety of sources including informal and crowdsourced (eg wikipedia) references. Who is impatient when there is no specifc purpose? You could be employing a digital natives learning strategy.
Not all young people are learning like digital natives and not all “older” people confine themselves to speaking digital as a second language. The good news is that if you continue to work on a second language, it improves. Today, you need to be nimble and adapt to new technologies and find a way to integrate them into your learning. Find a way that makes sense for you.
What is your learning strategy?

Ever feel like you are presenting to goldfish and puppies?

Toddlers, goldfish and puppies are not the most especially attentive of audiences. But you can learn a lot from their attention spans. There’s short. And they won’t hang around if they feel bored.

toddlers-bored

Does your audience ever feel bored?  This often happens when you present too much information with not enough time to connect the dots with vivid examples and practical applications. The result? Very little digestion and a completely unmotivated audience.

Brain studies have shown that using graphics (images, charts, pictures) first while introducing a topic the retention and interest goes up. Digital natives – who have grown up with interactive technology (video games, internet) like to think in fast bursts. Use graphics to quickly show a path, overview a topic or summarise findings.

goldfish

Goldfishes are not known for having long memories.  But to be honest, today’s audiences can often resemble goldfishes. But that’s your fault. Test it. Ask someone who has listened to your presentation one week later, what some of the key messages were and you will be amazed if they even remember listening to the presentation. Boring information is like watching paint dry: it takes up some time and then you forget all about it.  Instead of delivering a “watermelon” of information to your audience, use spaced learning techniques.  Help your audience recall key points but going back to them during the presentation, refreshing them after breaks, inserting colorful summary slides or graphics and giving quick “Q&A quizzes” throughout the day.  The more you create chances for your audience to deepen their understanding, the higher their memory retention.

puppy

(Wo)man’s best friend he may be, but a puppy can be a real handful. Puppies learn through play and massive amounts of interactivity. They bring a digital native attitude to learning.  Growing up playing PlayStation, Xbox, and countlesss other handheld consoles, digital natives expect all experiences to be “fun”. Work and learning included.

Yes. It’s important to treat yourself seriously and be good at what you do. But don’t treat your presentation too seriously if you want your audience to stay engaged and remember what your key messages are. Humour works.  But even if you are not that funny, high amounts of interactivity will help you keep your audience awake. Pop quizzes, short discussion, role plays, two-player face offs (PK games) will all help increase interaction and keep the energy alive!

Is attention span falling?

video-tv

According to media philosopher Marshall McLuhan, the average attention span for a TV viewer was four to five minutes. In 1976.  Today’s action movies with digital editing create cuts every three to four seconds.

Killian Avertising report on a recent study that concluded the average American spends two hours every day watching television. Reading, on the other hand, occupies seven minutes. So why are you forcing your audience to read PowerPoint slides full of text?

If you are presenting to a group of people who are used to watch movies with fast-paced, quick-changing action. And you deliver slide after slide of data-heavy content in a dead-pan voice, how long are they going to stay with you? Three minutes, four tops?

So why do so many presenters present like their audiences have attention spans of three hours.  One reason lies in the differences between digital natives and digital immigrants.blog_tv

Find out if you are digital native or digital immigrant.

Learn more about digital natives here. And digital immigrants here.