A different way of looking at the training cycle

I am currently reading The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy by Michael Foley.

In it he discusses the concept of the Quest Saga. This comes in several forms but is the basis of some of our most popular literature from Jason and the Argonauts to the Wizard of Oz.

The basis is this:

• Hero gets called to adventure and leaves community
• Hero is faced with some tricky challenges which need to be overcome
• Hero overcomes tricky challenges and wins prize (Golden Fleece, Arc of the Covenant, unspoilt princess…)
• Hero returns home transformed and proceeds to be different for ever

Amongst others,  Foley breaks this down to four stages:

• Detachment
• Difficulty
• Understanding
• Transformation

And I thought:

Oooooh…
that looks a bit like a learning experience

Detachment:

At it’s simplest this could be just about getting the learners into a different environment, detaching them from the day to day

But I think it’s more complex than that.

I think it has more to do with helping, cajoling, persuading our learners to come with an open mind, leave preconceptions behind, suspend their beliefs about the topic or their ability to learn it or even do it afterwards.

Detachment is about being fully open to new ideas, new ways of thinking and doing.

Difficulty:

We have written before about the level of challenge that we expose our learners to. Suffice to say, what ever devices you employ to create a level of challenge for your learners, so long as you keep them in the learning zone you will be enhancing their experience.

Understanding:

Oh that light bulb moment (sometimes its more like a slow moving juggernaut moment) when testing and experimentation becomes understanding. And as we all know, one of the best things about Brain Friendly Training is that we help our learners reach their own point of understanding.

Transformation:

Measuring or observing this can probably be best left until some time after the event when understanding has been transferred to become common practice. This may be behavioural change, changes in practice, changes in structure (it all depends on the learning topic) and may involve a degree of trying stuff out to see what works and what doesn’t;  which is why it is best to look for transformation sometime after the event (after the hero has been back for a while).

Lets apply it to a child learning to ride a bike:

• Detachment: Child feels that it’s time to make the first step towards independent travel
• Difficulty: Child falls off a lot
• Understanding: Child finds the balance point and so long as no cornering is needed becomes an instant expert in linear cycling.
• Transformation: The next time you see the child on a bike it is trying to do stunts, can drift the rear wheel to stop and has mastered riding without holding on.

So there you have it. A slightly different approach to the learning cycle.

Let me know what you think.

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