Category Archives: Practice

Practical solutions and activities for effective brain friendly learning design and delivery

Evaluation is NOT hard…

... but it is essential A couple of weeks ago Ally and I spent an extremely enjoyable day with the Brain Friendly Learning Group, a UK networking group for brain friendly trainers set up by Stella Collins. In the morning we ran a session about music in the training room (there will be much more on this [...]
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10 ways to split big groups into small groups or pairs

As trainers we are constantly looking for fresh and interesting ways to subdivide our groups into smaller groups and over the years I guess we all have our favourites. So what are yours? As a starter for 10, here are my top 10 (in no particular order!) that I have begged, borrowed, designed and stolen: A continuum of [...]
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There is no such thing as a difficult delegate

Last week, Paul was running a workshop with a new group with a new colleague who was familiar with the group. At the end of the session, the new colleague expressed surprise that a normally difficult learner seemed very happy and didn't disrupt the group. Paul reflects on this experience and pinpoints the reasons why he believes the normally difficult delegate responded well during the session.
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A design for design Part 2

In the final instalment, Paul explains how the subject of the training is like The Olympic Games. This conclusion then influences the content sequencing and ensures that the learning is layered by starting with the common basics and layers complexity as new understanding is gained.
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A design for design Part 1

Paul reflects on a highly enjoyable afternoon with a client designing a 2 day training session around a very specific process. By challenging the common design practice of training the sequential process in a logical fashion, he demonstrates how to increase effectiveness by beginning with the learning outcomes.
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