30Apr 2025 by Katrina Kennedy No Comments
How to Use Quizzes As An Alternative To Lectures

How to Use Quizzes As An Alternative To Lectures

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Let's face it. Lectures can be boring. We're often stuck feeling like we're required to lecture during in person and virtual training. But what if there was an alternative that was more engaging and more effective? Let's give it a try. Answer the following question. We learn new information best when: We listen to a lecture Watch a video Complete a pretest What's your answer? If you answered 3. Complete a test, you are on to something. How often do you find yourself lecturing during training? Are you looking for an alternative method to get information to learners? Are you uncertain what will work? Lecture is an easy solution when we don't know what else to do. We talk through a concept or process, hoping learners will retain ideas and…
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04Mar 2020 by Katrina Kennedy No Comments
Seven Ways To Create An Indistractable Classroom

Seven Ways To Create An Indistractable Classroom

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Their phones are perched on their tables, ready to connect them to their office, their homes, their game scores, and the latest tweets. The phones taunt them to pick them up and interact. My phone is similarly perched in the front of the room. "Just in case." My teenage son is home today (like he is every Friday). He might need something. The amount of tools and technology poised to distract us increases daily. More apps, more productivity hacks, more notifications. More. More. More. In a world of more it can be increasingly difficult to compete for attention when you have a group in a traditional classroom space. So how can you help make your classroom indistractable? I'm generously borrowing the term from Ner Eyal's book Indistractable: How To Control…
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25Nov 2019 by Katrina Kennedy No Comments
How To Increase Learning With Surprise!

How To Increase Learning With Surprise!

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Photo by Ben White on Unsplash Think of the last classroom you walked into or logged onto. What do you remember? If you are drawing a blank, we have a problem. If nothing stands out, there is an opportunity for change. We need surprise. Surprise tickles our brain into paying attention. Surprise wakes us up and reenergizes our minds. It gives us just the little bit of jolt necessary to keep learning. "Surprise can offer excellent support for learning. It helps focus, or re-focus attention and can stimulate problem solving." Jane Bozarth, Let Me Google That For You (LMGTFY) Surprise doesn't have to be big or expensive. There are many ways to build it in with little to no effort. Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash Start Differently Do you start classes with the agenda for…
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21Oct 2019 by Katrina Kennedy 4 Comments
Create A Positive Learning Environment From The Moment Learners Arrive

Create A Positive Learning Environment From The Moment Learners Arrive

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You walk in and scan the room for THE SPOT to plant yourself for the next seven hours. The room's off white, windowless walls loom around you. This is going to be a long day. You take a deep breath, find a seat, and settle in. You shift around a bit, skim through the workbook in front of you, and take a long drink of the tepid coffee you brought with you. In an effort to avoid looking at your phone, you do it again. You get your phone out. It's habit. A few other people filter in, scanning the room for familiar faces before they select tables, leaving a canyonwide space between their mobile devices and yours.  Finally the poor soul enters who must cross the divide, choosing a…
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