Gary Scherling wrote:
>>It's not clear to me that the majority of people are
>>engaged in learning for the joy,
>>vs to keep the job.
Perhaps that is true in most workplaces, but how do you explain the
proliferation of short courses conducted by organisations like "The
Learning Annexe"? or (in Australia) community colleges.
I received a brochure yesterday offering after hours courses in subjects
ranging from cooking or massage to motor vehicle maintenance and hypnosis.
My hypothesis is that adults yearn to learn, but they want to choose what
they will learn.
I have recently been involved in the establishment of a new coal mine.
There is a hunger for training.
We offered a first aid course for employees and their families on
week-ends. The first was filled the day it was advertised, the tenth
commences next week, just three months after the idea was originally
proposed.
People are queuing up to take computer literacy courses. Some of the
training is affected by a reward for knowledge/skills pay system, but
neither of the above have been.
Our objective has been to make learning fun, as well as relevant. The
response has been positive.
Perhaps we have recruited from the right part of the normal distribution
curve. Some people have no interest in learning anything, others are
professional students, but the vast majority are in the middle and will
respond to learning that they see as relevant, valuable and interesting.
Incidentally, we are not dealing with intellectuals here. They are the
people who operate underground mining machinery. For many their most
positive recollection of a classroom was leaving it for the last time.
Incidentally, you should hear them squeal when a training session does not
meet their expectations.
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Some folks say that I tell too many stories, and maybe I do
but I don't know of a better way to explain what I mean!
Abraham Lincoln
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
John Sleigh, head joker
Making Learning Fun
PO Box 1059 Potts Point NSW 2011 AUSTRALIA
jsleigh@mail.enternet.com.au
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--jsleigh@enternet.com.au (John Sleigh)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>