Monthly Archive for October, 2009

The Ten Laws Of ULearn-ing

Published
by
admin
on 13/10/2009
in inspiration and learning
. 4 Comments

enyaAnother inspiring week at the ULearn conference over in Christchurch NZ last week. A deeply impressive place and space, for those who don’t know about it. To all of my Aussie and Asian readers especially…. I recommend it very highly. In early Oct each year. And you could even tag it on to a holiday in a beautiful place!

If you’re into outright spectacle, not much beats the grandeur of their conference dinner. Here up above is my rather ethereal IPhone snap of the Enya impersonator (and a very impressive one) who provided some of the entertainment.

As part of my ULearn contribution, I’m now going to offer to you The Ten Laws Of ULearn-ing (well… from my perspective, anyway). While you’re welcome to adapt these to your own conference / session / talkfest anywhere in the world, I have specifically drawn these up for the magic that is ULearn.

So here we go with the Ten Laws:

1. The Law Of Frivolity. You’re a teacher. You have to know how to play (or, I sure hope you do). And ULearn gives you endless frivolous opportunities. The conference dinner (see above), the entertaining sessions, the one-off conversations with interesting people.  Call it whatever you like. Fun. Zest. Excitement. Play.  It’s all there; and it makes for a fantastic three days.

2. The Law Of Insight. Insight has to come before information. The knowledge that you can gather at ULearn is quality stuff. Yet what’s even more important is that you are challenged to develop deeper insights about that info. It’s when you say to yourself: “…..Aha…so that’s how it could work for me.” It’s the insights that will enhance and reform your practice. You get lots at ULearn. I had several powerful ones this year.

3. The Law Of Chronology. You save time by attending ULearn. Wha..? How the heck can you save time when you’ve actually given up 3 days of your holidays to be there? Well, that’s the rub. Where else would you find all of this knowledge (and insights) packed into just 3 days? It would take you months to compile it all by yourself.

4. The Law Of Andragogy. Yeah…OK. It’s a big word. Live with it. It refers to adult learning (as compared to pedagogy ie child learning). It’s critical that you do lots of it. And it’s what you do when you attend a top conference. You Learn (….U Learn?!). But I’m talking about having a lust for that learning. And I mean a lust. If you don’t, then you’re a hypocrite if you’re hanging in on teaching. You have to model that learning desire to kids everywhere. And ULearn is packed with lustful learners (Hmmm… maybe I need to express that some other way!!)

5. The Law Of Community. If you could scroll through all of the attendees, you’d find people who could give you the answers to any professional question you’d ever need to ask. So just ask around, and create a learning community. It might end up just being a 5-min learning community; or a lifetime one.  It’s the new time management. Find someone else who’s already done it, and pick their brains. It saves you having to search for it yourself. You can create these immediate learning communities at breakfast; in the lift; on the dance floor; on a bus ride. ULearn is packed with people who want to share. Get 2gether with them.

6. The Law Of Twitter. Or whatever other online networking environment that takes your fancy during and after ULearn. The point is, it just makes life easier when you network online. Oh yes it does. If you’re still lamenting about and longing for the good ol’ days when everyone just talked to each other in real life, then you may need to get over it. Just take the plunge, and you’ll see how easy it is to source ideas when you need them. It’s what we call Collective Intelligence; and it’s very important that you align with that global intellect.

7. The Law Of The Young. ULearn strongly involves students all through the conference, and because they are the focus of our work, we must pay deep respect to their needs and their future. As well as being super-helpful to the attendees, these young people are a constant reminder of what teaching is all about. And that is: To create inspiring learning experiences for them!

8. The Law Of Consumption. I don’t care what anyone says. If a conference serves up stale sandwiches with spray-on chicken, it’s missed the opportunity to be sensational. The ULearn food is first class. As is the mind food; and the soul food.

9. The Law Of Adulation. For the organisers, that is. Core Education do a brilliant job with this conference. I assure you that the hours stretch endlessly into the distance when they’re getting it altogether. Just bow deferentially the next time you walk past one of them. And it’s the same for anyone who devotes so much professional energy and time to co-ordinating these events. They deserve adulation, because their efforts support quality professional learning for you.

10. The Law Of Returns. Savour your return upon the following year. Expectation is good for the heart and soul. Just looking forward to something is magic in itself. It has deep spirit to it. As you savour that next ULearn experience, keep thinking: which speaker will inspire me to lifechanging action? Which genius will I meet on the bus? What’s the strangest outfit that someone will wear to the dinner? Looking ahead also challenges you to ponder: What will I accomplish between now and then? Now there’s a thought! What will you create between now and then?!!!

Zest Practice

Published
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admin
on 05/10/2009
in inspiration and learning
. 0 Comments

Ever heard of Zest Practice? Probably not, because I just made it up. I’m seeing it as a subtle yet distinct advance on Best or even Next Practice. It’s basically a no-holds-barred exhilarating immersion in your professional work.

Let me build up to this.

Ever heard of ‘best practice’? Who hasn’t? It tends to go along with ‘raising the bar’. Whatever that means. Probably refers to the fact that you’re working so damn hard that you need to drink even more to cope with it all.

World-best practice? There’s nothing inherently wrong with this concept. If you want to develop practice that is of astonishingly high quality, then this is a good thing. It’s just that the term gets bandied around so much these days, and it’s then difficult to know what it really means.

Some advances on ‘best’? Have you ever heard of Next Practice? Best is now, Next is whatever will be the best up ahead. Has been championed by the Innovation Unit in the UK, although first proposed by C K Prahalad, author of The New Age Of Innovation. Here’s a succinct comparison:

Best cf Next

Derek Wenmoth over in NZ has mentioned this in an earlier blog as well. A good summation on Next Practice here from Derek.

Just for the heck of it…. I’d like to propose a further advance on Best and Next. Let’s refer to it as Zest Practice. Why Zest? For starters, it rhymes with best and next. It also indicates that it will focus on spice and energy… which is surely what education needs to be about.

Zest also has intimations of Zen. Given the relentless pace that too many people experience in their lives, they’ll all need a touch of deep spirit and revitalisation if they’re going to thrive through the next five years.

Some key points about Zest Practice??

* It would compel people to turn up. They would want to be there, because they would experience inspiration through the experience. Zest Practice would become a lodestone, a magnet, for inspiring practice.

* It would be provocative to the established order. Until it became the accepted way of doing things, Zest Practice would be considered as too risky by the mainstream.

* It would be based upon deep inquiry. A challenge would exist, and the process of resolving that challenge would necessitate an ongoing model of exploration and inquiry.

* Zest Practice would require a co-evolving learning environment. Learning 2gether, participants would adapt according to the flow of learning that occurred throughout the experience

* Zest Practice would lose sight of the shore. It would be uncomfortable and unsettling, because it would not yet be a practiced part of your everyday routines.

* Zest Practice would require, and indeed, would encourage, a deeper regenerative energy. Too many of our present global structures (including most educational bodies) consume energy, and exhaust their participants. A Zestful approach would regenerate your energy because of your inspiration for accomplishing the experience.

Three questions for you:

Q. Where do you presently engage in Zest Practice?

Q. Where could you engage in Zest Practice?

Q. Where will you engage in Zest Practice?