Tag Archives: MNISPI
Being Savvy About SAVI (and Accelerated Learning)

Being Savvy About SAVI (and Accelerated Learning)

by on June 3, 2011 in Evaluation, Instructional Design, performance support

A couple of months ago I posted a blog about Accelerated Learning and my experiences with it before I even knew such a thing as Accelerated Learning existed.

I had participated in a program on Accelerated Learning, or Whole Brain Learning, at the Minnesota Chapter of the International Society of Performance Improvement (MNISPI). Mike Willis, Training Director at Andersen Windows, and his staff presented a program on Dave Meier’s Accelerated Learning Handbook.

The Anderson people talked mostly about collaborative learning. They had posters placed around the room and had us create diagrams, place name tags on different parts of a window, repeat what we learned, and team problem solve. They talked about the SAVI Approach to Learning.

The idea of collaborative learning was very intriguing to me. So much of instructor-led training involves a facilitator in an educational setting presenting information to learners with little concern for …

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Accelerated Learning: Where Does It Fit In?

Accelerated Learning: Where Does It Fit In?

by on March 28, 2011 in Accelerated Learning, Instructional Design, performance support

While I was taking classes in curriculum design, we discussed at great length different learning styles: visual, auditory and kinesthetic.  I started thinking about this during a program on Accelerated Learning at the Minnesota Chapter of the International Society of Performance Improvement (MNISPI).

At first I couldn’t think whether I actually applied how training was delivered to these different types of learners. Then I remembered a series of highly successful training programs designed to address the three learning styles at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

The audience for the training programs was junior high school students, and the purpose was to learn about works of art in the museum’s collection.  I always thought that program was extremely innovative.  It allowed the students to interact with the works of art in their own way.

But now I wanted to find out more about Accelerated Learning. My learning style is visual, …

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Re-evaluating Evaluation

Re-evaluating Evaluation

by on March 16, 2011 in Evaluation

For years, I have dutifully included a description of Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Learning Evaluation in every proposal for every company I have worked with.  And every company has agreed to use “Level 1: Reaction,” or―as it has come to be known—the “Smile Sheet.”  Some companies will use “Level 2: Learning” to measure whether the learners have mastered the training course content.  Hardly ever do they use “Level 3:  Behavior,” and they never use “Level 4: Results.”

I have found this to be extremely frustrating.  And as time has gone by, I have started to wonder about the validity of Kirkpatrick in today’s world.  The focus is on the training event itself and the follow-up to that event.  What is measured doesn’t seem to be what companies are interested in.  Company executives are typically interested in the bottom line, not how well their employees apply the learning from a training …

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