NUGGETS FOR REFLECTION

November 28, 2016

ILLITERACY STATISTICS from the Literacy Project Foundation reveal some disturbing numbers:  “Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 44 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their children; 50% of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level; and, 45 million are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level.”

YEP, IT’S BUSINESS OBJECTIVES!  After many years of isolation within the organizational structure, trainers are beginning to catch up with the needs of their management.  “Training Industry”  reports that the Number One Process Capability for corporate training departments is Strategic Alignment (designing learning programs that align with business objectives).

RE-FOCUSING INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN!  In an issue of “Training & Development,” Paula Ketter writes in her “Editor’s Note” column, “Design of an effective learning program is more than creating a job aid or dumping content into PowerPoint slides.  It is developing learning experiences in a variety of learning styles to engage, train, and educate a multi-generational workforce because as Michael Allen explained to ASTD upon recently winning the Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Performance Award, ‘We don’t care about what people know.  We care about what they can do . . . with what they know.  Our challenge, as effective instructional designers, is to get people to make the leap from knowing to doing and that’s where we often fail.’”

FAILURE IS NECESSARY TO SUCCESS!  In a “New York Times Magazine” article by Paul Tough entitled, “What if the Secret to Success is Failure,” Tough begins by including remarks by Dominic Randolph, headmaster of Riverdale Country School:  “’This push on tests,’ he told me, ‘is missing out on some serious parts of what it means to be a successful human.’  The most critical missing piece, Randolph explained as we sat in his office last fall, is character’ . . .   ‘Whether it’s the pioneer in the Conestoga wagon or someone coming here in the 1920s from southern Italy, there was this idea in America that if you worked hard and you showed grit, that you could be successful,’ he said.  ‘Strangely, we’ve now forgotten that.  People who have an easy time of things, who get 800s on their SAT’s, I worry that those people get feedback that everything they’re doing is great.  And I think as a result, we are actually setting them up for long-term failure.  When that person suddenly has to face up to a difficult moment, then I think they’re screwed, to be honest.  I don’t think they’ve grown the capacities to be able to handle that.’”

More on Wednesday  –  –  –

— Bill Walton, co-Founder, ITC Learning

www.itclearning.com/blog/  (Mondays & Wednesdays)

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 (This is a personal blog.  Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal and belong solely to the blog owner, jhbillwalton@gmail.com, an independent consultant.  They do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that the owner may or may not be associated with in a professional or personal capacity.)