Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - (Page 34)

Transform Corporate Learning With a User Network BY CLAYTON M. CHRISTENSEN AND MICHAEL B. HORN Different people learn in different ways. One of the best ways to accommodate the myriad of learning styles is through a user network, in which participants create and consume content. ll students learn differently from each other. Aptitudes and intelligence strengths differ, as do preferred learning styles and paces. This means that to ensure each student realizes his or her full potential, we need to customize learning opportunities to address each student’s needs. It’s no different when we become adults. Companies have long acknowledged that employees differ from each other in meaningful ways. Just witness the widespread use of the Myers-Briggs test in many organizations and its impact on how people manage. As modern companies increasingly acknowledge that employees learn differently, it signiﬁcantly impacts how they teach and train. Most of us intuitively know that we all learn differently, through different methods, with different styles and at different paces. DID YOU KNOW? Academic research increasingly supports As of June 16, 2008, this contention, as well. This research has there are more than bubbled up under a variety of rubrics, and 2.4 million articles in while there is considerable certainty that English on Wikipedia. people learn differently from each other, Source: Wikipedia considerable uncertainty persists about what those differences are. One of the more well-known theories about how people learn has arisen from Harvard University Professor Howard Gardner’s research. He suggests we each have “multiple intelligences.” According to Gardner, there are eight different intelligences. Most people excel in two or three of them and are weaker in the others. For example, some people have strong “linguistic” and “logical-mathematical” intelligence, whereas others A are weak in those two areas but have strong “bodilykinesthetic,” “musical” and “intrapersonal” intelligence. The other three intelligences in Gardner’s schematic are “spatial,” “interpersonal” and “naturalist.” There are many competing theories to Gardner’s. Some people, for example, prefer to think of cognitive differences as differences in aptitudes, not intelligences. The Ball Foundation has done signiﬁcant work exploring people’s aptitudes and what it means for their learning. It has developed the Ball Aptitude Battery to help individuals understand their learning differences and, given those differences, help them think through what careers suit them best. Corporations increasingly are incorporating this new knowledge of learning differences into their day-to-day business operations. Wynn Resorts is one such company. Buying into the idea that employees learn differently from each other, Wynn Resorts uses a number of methods to determine its employees’ cognitive differences. For example, in partnership with Gallup Consulting, it uses the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment to help its employees understand their strengths and preferred learning styles. How do these intelligences or aptitudes relate to teaching and learning? When an educational approach is well-aligned with one’s stronger intelligence, understanding can come more easily and with greater enthusiasm. Gardner and others have researched ways to teach various content materials in line with each of these intelligences. In addition, a variety of other factors create an even wider range of potential differences among learners. For example, within each type of intelligence or aptitude, people have different learning styles. Some learn 34 Chief Learning Ofﬁcer • July 2008 • www.clomedia.com http://www.clomedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - July 2008

Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 Contents Imperatives Selling Up, Selling Down Strategies Take Five A Customer-Driven Approach to Molding Tomorrow’s Leaders The Home Depot: Accelerated Leadership CLO Profile Birth of a Salesman: Selling Learning to Solve Business Issues Selling Learning’s Potential at Siemens Transform Corporate Learning With a User Network Wiki Training Increases Productivity for RMC Vanguard Mortgage Lessons From the Feds: Mapping Learning to Strategic Initiatives Department of Labor Centralizes Content Synchronous and Asynchronous: What’s in a Name? Coping With Cultural Barriers to E-Learning The Manager’s Responsibility for Employee Learning Case Study Business Intelligence In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - July 2008

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