How people learn: assumptions for design

　　Assumptions about how people learn:

　　1. Learning is change. It is being formced by some experience of dissatisfaction into encountering a new way of being in the world.

　　Then a good design should be self-conscious about how people change.

　　2.Change is always resisted, and occasionally desired. People are ambivalent about change/ learning, depending on many variables.

　　An accurate force field would be a smart part of a good design.

　　3.Learning is accelerated by reducing restraining forces. Assume that people already have driving forces to learn/ change, otherwise they wouldn't be here.

      The design needs to focus on reducing restraints rather than adding drivers.

      4.People are brimming with life experience.

      A major design task is to help them convert experience into learning.

      5.People usually show up with unresolved self-esteem issues.

      Help people fee safe and capable in the early stages of the design.

　　6.People are subject to gravity. They get tired holding themselves up for long periods.

　　Provide a comfortable setting and take lots of breaks.

　　7.People have different learning styles. Remember the Mayers-Briggs. Some learners are interactive, some reflective; some like structure, some resist it; some need to feel good to learn, some are challenged to learn by new thoughts.

　　A good design will allow for different sytles and not be a projection of the leader's own style.

　　8.Early behaviour will be self-oriented. Don't expect people to work effectively on group or organisation tasks at the beginning. They are working on inclusion and psychological safety.

　　Hold group or organisational activities until later.

　　9.People are a gentalt, not isolated things. Thinking, feeling, and doing are all interconnedted. An activity aimed at one aspect will have profound effects on the other two.

　　Be ready for unexpected effects from activities; remember that an event will kick off reactions in the whole person.

　　10.Inclusion is the first issue. People will learn next to nothing until they feel "in" at a comfortable level.

　　Hold important input until inclusion is addressed, and assist that process in the early stages of the design.

　　11. Remember the bell curve and keep it holy. You'll get an inevitable spectrum on : feelings of relevance, motivation to participate, ability to "process" experience and willingness to follow directions.

　　Don't get nervous when you see people "out of it..."

　　13. A sense of community can facilitate learning. Many People learn faster and better when they feel supported by others, when they sense that they are not along and when they see others struggling with them.

　　Provide opportunities for discovering "I am not along here."

　　14. People learn best when they feel they have some control over the pace and depth of the learning process.

　　Share control by making directional suggestions, allowing "outs" and by believing youself that avoiding is not all bad.

　　15.Transfer of learning depends on how similar the experiences are to the situation back home. The more similar, the easier the transfer is.

　　Do your homework, interview, plan with participants if possible, use roleplays or actual situations.

　　16.People come with a set stance toward authority (you). Remember the dependence/ counterdependence, independence/ interdependence continuum. Your goal is to help them become their own authority in the situation.

　　Don't take it all so personally ... you're probably their father or mother.

　　17.Teachable moments do occur: when solving a problem, when facing conflict, when addressing an inadequacy, when planning for the future.

　　Seize the moments when they occur and plan ways to enhance them.

　　18.Some stress is necessary for learning to take place. Not too much, though.