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By Sue Mennell (January 2008 Issue)
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Usually, when people make New Year resolutions, it involves giving something up, or not doing something, such as not smoking. Apparently, though, the mind doesn’t register negatives. So if you resolve not to eat chocolate, the mind only registers ‘eat chocolate’. Or if you resolve not to spend your evenings slouched in front of the TV… well, you can work it out.

So instead of making resolutions, this year I’m setting goals – things to do. One of them is to get as many of you as possible taking part in the TJ Online Daily Discussion Digest. Believe it or not, there are still people out there in the world of learning and development struggling along without the wonderful support mechanism that it offers.

Everyone who subscribes to TJ can receive the Digest and post messages to it at no extra cost, but just 20 per cent of you are contributing to the discussion. Come on the other 80 per cent!

The Digest offers a great opportunity to network with other L&D professionals, and a chance to tap into their wealth of knowledge.

It’s time to explode some myths:

  • Reading through the Digest is time consuming. It needn’t be. You can always select the items you want to read, then jump directly to them using the index hyperlinks.
  • I don’t need the Digest as I’m moving into a new role. Hold on a minute – moving to a new role is just the time when you need help and support. Our contributors
    probably know more about your new job than you think.

My second goal for 2008 is to get all of you using the Member Zone. Our readers asked for somewhere on the site to place resources for sharing with other members, to showcase articles and to ask for help. Now it’s set up and ready for you to make use of it.

Imagine the scenario. Someone asks for help and you have the perfect resource. You drop a line to the Digest offering to send it to them. Suddenly you are inundated with requests for your resource and you spend your day emailing it out. Instead, why not upload your resource to the TJ Online Member Resource section. That way, everyone can help himself to it, leaving you to get on with something else. It also puts an end to ‘me too’ messages.

If you just want to share your resource with the person making the request, you can contact them direct to ask if they’d like it. If you are able to share the resource with everyone, post it in the Member Zone, then send an email to the Digest to let everyone know it’s there. You can include your website address and information about yourself with your resource.

If you have an article you’d like to share, send it to me and, provided it is relevant for our readers, I’ll add it to the Member Articles section.

Finally, there is no charge to place a Help Wanted listing, and it is a chance to offer opportunities to others within the network. Use this section when you just need someone to come in and run the odd session, if you need a speaker, or perhaps need someone who speaks a foreign language. We’re not talking full recruitment ads here. This is just for when you need a helping hand.

Accessing items in the Member Zone couldn’t be easier. Log in at www.trainingjournal.com, open the Member Zone from the navigation bar on the left hand side of the page, then open the page within the Zone that you want to visit. Click on the item you need to open or download it.

This month’s Digest

Paula McMullan specialises in training within law firms and she aims to structure all her workshops around the principles of accelerated learning. She asked: “To what extent can we introduce accelerated/brain-friendly learning to our services when we have limited time allocated for the training and no direct contact with delegates before or after?”

Paula wanted to know about the applicability of brain-friendly learning when learners either have a set syllabus to adhere to (e.g. compliance training) or when there is limited time and resources and set material to cover.

She said: “My experience is varied, as you would expect given the varied make-up of our delegates. I have had feedback such as ‘best training I’ve ever had’ from one delegate, and ‘the interaction got in the way of the lecturing’ from another on the same workshop!”

Acknowledged brain-friendly learning expert Kimberley Hare, of Kaizen Training, sent in a reply which included the following: “In my view, brain-friendly learning works in all situations and all contexts – provided you focus on the principles rather than the ‘techniques’. The principles are: keep it real, facilitate creation rather than just consumption, honour uniqueness, make it rich and multi-sensory, and remember that state is everything (well… almost!). It’s not about the ‘sizzle’ – koosh balls, bunging on some baroque music or using trivial games or energisers – it’s about making sure that the learning sticks.”

Search the archive for the full postings from Paula and Kimberley, plus replies from other readers including Salli Glover and Stella Collins.

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