Do You See What I'm Saying? The Role of Gestures in Learning

Category: Train the Trainer, Blog

Sometimes gestures are simply visual substitutes for speech: every child knows that a finger held to tightly closed lips means "be quiet"; that the thumbs-up sign means "okay." But we also gesture spontaneously as we talk, even on the telephone. Are these gestures meaningful, or are they just so much hand-waving? Recent research indicates that gestures do convey critical, often unspoken, information … In a 1998 study published in Nature, Goldin-Meadow and Indiana University researcher Jana Iverson showed that children and adolescents who had been blind since birth spontaneously gesture when they are speaking, even if they know that they are speaking to another blind person. "I think this really does suggest that gesture is an important part of the whole speaking game," Goldin-Meadow says.

Posted: June 19, 2007 at 7:41 am | 988 Views | Email Post |
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Real Life – A Nice Place to Visit (but you wouldn’t want to live there)

Category: Train the Trainer, Blog

Second Life is a virtual world… It is very similar to real life … There are already many people making a living in the “real” world by earning currency in Second Life and exchanging this into “real” money … Universities are starting to use Second Life (SL) for classes and research projects. Educators are able to meet from anywhere in the world. Companies are developing simulations in SL to train their employees … These are only the tip of the iceberg – and the possibilities for interaction, learning and meaning-making are endless…actually the same is true in real life. We are “making up” our own reality all the time.

Posted: June 19, 2007 at 7:08 am | 664 Views | Email Post |
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Tips from the Team

Category: Train the Trainer, Blog

Our Top Tips for Trainers

Live, breathe, walk and talk the Five Principles of Brain Friendly Learning.
Learn how to get people into a flow state, and then get out of the way.

Movies that every trainer should watch…

The Shawshank Redemption (to learn the value of patience and friendship
Pay It Forward (how one person can change the world – or at least a bit of it)

Books for Trainers

The Art of Possibility, by Benjamin and Rosamund Zander
You Can Have What You Want, by Michael Neill

Posted: June 4, 2007 at 9:38 pm | 1,072 Views | Email Post |
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Get Out Your Interactive Whiteboard

Category: Train the Trainer, Blog

Whiteboards are so often overlooked and misunderstood and yet they are probably one of the most versatile and helpful tools at your disposal. They can help you get away from the ‘death-by-PowerPoint’ syndrome, by creating some of the content as you go, rather than presenting a pre-pre-pre-prepared set of linear ideas that are pretty much set in concrete. With interactivity delegates can be part of the process, the process can react to incoming ideas, and interesting red herrings can be deflected to be discussed later, rather than just losing them.

Posted: June 4, 2007 at 9:34 pm | 1,901 Views | Email Post |
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One Thing at a Time…

Category: Train the Trainer, Blog

When carrying out a task where the level of challenge exceeds the level of skill of the ‘participant’ then a state of stress is experienced … This can explain much of the pressure created by ourselves and how overwhelm becomes self-perpetuating. It is important therefore when coaching and supporting others that we encourage them to focus purely on the current task and ignore any other factors that my be contributing to the feeling of overwhelm.

Posted: June 4, 2007 at 9:24 pm | 797 Views | Email Post |
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