You probably already know that there are different learning styles. These are the ways people learn best.
There’s verbal, visual, auditory, kinesthetic and many more depending on where you learn about these different styles.
What’s important is that you understand this: not everyone learns and retains information in the same way.
On the show today we talk about these different learning styles and discuss how you, as a content maker, can think about and use different styles to reach and stick be memorable to a wider audience.
It’s a great episode for anyone out there who makes courses, books, podcasts, videos, articles and other forms of content. Enjoy!
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“Use learning styles to make your content resonate with a wider audience.”
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Show Notes
Learn how to set goals that actually stick!
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Every week we talk with entrepreneurs. We talk about what’s working and what isn’t. We talk about successes and failures. We spend time with complete newbies, seasoned veterans, and everything in between.
One topic that comes up over and over again with both groups is mistakes made in starting businesses. Newbies love to learn about mistakes so they can avoid them. Veterans love to talk about what they wish they had known when starting out.
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I tend to think of the learning dilemma in a similar way that Peter Drucker explains in “Managing Oneself”, where he explains that there are readers and listeners. In order for a listener to learn and comprehend they do better listening, while readers do much better actually reading written content. I believe it is important to hit both of these mediums.
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All the best,
Randy Parson [Health and Productivity Engineer, Big Picture Philosopher, Critical Thinker]
http://www.wellbeingme.com
what about coming up with a “video roadmap” or a set of questions to answer at end of watching a video. Could even be one generic one that just makes you think and write down certain aspects of what you learned. like a pdf that could be printed out over and over and go with the videos we watch inside fizzle.. But as we all know
“Video killed the radio star
,In my mind and in my car, we can’t rewind we’ve gone to far”
Chase, your commercial is wonderful… Such a better way to listen to an ad. Way to make it entertaining!
To Barrett’s point about people kidding themselves if they are doing something else and thinking they are getting something out of the courses, I think that perception comes down to what type of learner you are. I have a different experience. I’m one of those people that will listen while washing dishes or making dinner. I admit it doesn’t work the best for every course, say Chase’s images course or Minimalist Baker’s course on photography. So, I wouldn’t take that approach with one of those two courses. However, I just finished the email list building course. I already have a general understanding of this topic, but I gleaned a bunch of new insights from the course. It filled in many gaps in my understanding. However, I did not retain all the details. That’s okay though. I’m a big picture learner. I have a general sense of the information I need to know and apply. I can sit down and work on the tasks surrounding my list and return to the a particular section if I need a specific detail. I’ve never been a big note-taker. Maybe that’s not the “best” way to learn to someone that learns differently, but it’s a method that works for me.
Thanks Amanda for chiming in on this. I agree, learning *can* happen even if you’re doing something else. Everyone is different. I’m sure your results will vary depending on the specific course you’re taking.
Most definitely.
I suppose the ultimate test is whether I can accomplish the desired task/outcome with the method used to ingest the information. Can I get my email list set up after listening while dish washing or do I need to sit down with 100% focus and take notes? Maybe if I want to teach this or be an expert at it, taking notes would behoove me. Maybe, if the lesson is biochemistry, I should take the focus and note-taking approach.
I think the sentiment of the statement was along the lines of we are fooling ourselves if we think we are getting something out of listening while making dinner. Giving 100% attention is most definitely optimal. However, there is optimal, and there is reality.
Jadah Seller’s WDS talk really spoke to me about taking imperfect action. https://vimeo.com/102690002 it’s not my reality in this point in life to sit and study if I want to get things actually done.
I suppose his statement struck a nerve with me because I was a person that responded in the forum about consuming the lessons this way. I think, and it was a part of your discussion, that it what it comes down to is that people have learn in the way that best suits them. Ultimately, consume in the way that best helps you take action and achieve your goals.
Hey guys,
First, love that you’re talking education and learning :)
Second, learning style theories are not validated by evidence, and you can blame my own profession widespread, folkloric notions to the contrary. Teachers are some of the greatest promoters of learning style theories; I was certainly taught these theories in my undergraduate courses and expected to know them ever after. But the research just isn’t there. (Many readers right now, reading what I’m writing, may be saying, “Wait, this guy must be some conspiracy theorist whack job; he’s saying learning styles aren’t actually a thing.”)
The meta-analysis rich, scientifically-bent, go-to book on this topic (and, more importantly, the topic of how humans learn) is Make It Stick (not to be confused with the Heaths’ MADE to Stick). From the introduction of Make It Stick:
“The popular notion that you learn better when you receive instruction in a form consistent with your preferred learning style, for example as an auditory or visual learner, is not supported by the empirical research.”
The Fizzler who wrote the forum post that generated this has it right — she doesn’t *prefer* to learn through video, and that may very well be true. But the conversation in the podcast often slides between how we *prefer* to learn and how we *best* learn.
Again, from Make It Stick, p. 132:
“Everyone has learning preferences, but we are not persuaded [by the evidence] that you learn better when the manner of instruction fits those preferences.”
To me, there are two important considerations:
From an immediate marketing perspective, learning preference may be very important. People may be more inclined to purchase a course that promises to teach them in their preferred learning style. For this reason, it may make sense to provide material that caters to a variety of learning preferences in any given course.
Yet from the long-term, “Let’s build a sustainable and impactful business” perspective, the science of learning is the most critical piece. If customers purchase our courses but don’t get their desired result from them… well, that’s a problem for both our financial goals and our altruistic ones.
Helpfully, Make It Stick doesn’t just poke empirical holes in learning styles; the authors share learning differences that *are* supported by science and that may change/challenge how we deliver high-quality educational content to customers.
Basically, Fizzle Jedi Masters, I think there’s a whole course here, a course that teaches Fizzlers A) the science of learning, B) how to enlist that knowledge in *their* quest to get the most that they can out of Fizzle and, more broadly, their study of online entrepreneurship, and C) how those in the Teacher archetype might leverage the science of learning in creating quality courses. You’d be teaching people how they learn AND how they can build business that help others learn — all at the same time.
How meta.
I love you guys. Thanks for reading.
Wow, loved your response, Dave. Start putting together the outline of the course!
:)
Sold! I would take that course. Now we just need to find a qualified instructor. It sounds like you might be the right person for the job Dave…
Off to check out Make It Stick now. This was a very helpful comment, thanks much.
You are going to love it, Corbett.
I found an article that covers some of the same research here: http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu/cpr/data/library/400241/resources/res011/file/What%20Works%20in%20Learning%20Study.pdf
This is a great article, Corbett. And Dave, thanks for bringing this angle into the discussion.
Very great perspective Dave. My wife has her Masters in Communications Studies and talks all the time about learning styles… this should make for an interesting discussion.
First, love that you’re talking education and learning :)
Second, learning style theories are not validated by evidence, and you can blame my own profession widespread, folkloric notions to the contrary. Teachers are some of the greatest promoters of learning style theories; I was certainly taught these theories in my undergraduate courses and expected to know them ever after. But the research just isn’t there. (Many readers right now, reading what I’m writing, may be saying, “Wait, this guy must be some conspiracy theorist whack job; he’s saying learning styles aren’t actually a thing.”)
Visit: http://www.mirbazaar.com
Such a rich discussion! I have two key thoughts:
1. The best medium is one that supports what is being taught. For example, if it is highly technical versus inspirational. Inspirational could be done via film or audio. to get to the heart and mind of the listener/watcher. Technical requires instructions of some kind. The one creating the course should consider that – how can I best get my point across? In my experience with technical subjects, like how to put together Facebook ads or the podcasting course I took, I found the videos to be okay in the beginning, as they showed me what to do at the same time as they encouraged me that I could do it. However, once I had consumed this the first time, when I wanted to go back and reference a particular thing that I couldn’t remember how to do, it was a complete pain to try and find the spot. And it took forever to listen to all that “context” again. All I wanted was some kind of cheat sheet to see exactly what I needed to learn. If I were creating a course like that, I would offer both. I think it would be a real differentiator, as hardly anyone does that.
2. As a consumer, I’m not a big fan of video. Why? Because many of them have a lot of fluff, or are basically audio files with screen shots, It takes longer to go through them, and if I want to just listen, it consumes more of my phone’s data plan. I often listen first, and go back and review with a notebook or Evernote what I really need to learn from the teaching. I’m trying to spend more time doing than learning. Thus, I often want to get right to the point and learn only what I need to take the next action.
Thanks for bringing this up. Thanks for reminding us as content creators and learners that we are responsible for our own learning. And putting it into practice. Reminder to us all: The best way to learn is to put it into practice and teach someone else.
Cool way to start my day today. So awesome I found my way here.Thanks a lot for sharing. http://hyfig.com
Wow, here I am browsing Fizzle and run across this! Just talked about this exact same thing earlier this month http://sipblack.net/2016/03/10/meaningful-marketing-strategies/
Anyway, love you guys and listen to your podcast every morning!
The good post I see it so much responsive. I also like it.
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Only halfway through, but Chase made a comment about hoping Wistia would have a way to adjust the playback rate… have you seen this?
https://github.com/excid3/wistia-player-speed
It’s not an addon library, it’s an example. Apparently playback rate adjustment is built into Wistia’s HTML5 player API. So it’d be easy to add a button to adjust the playback rate, methinks. EDIT: OK, it’s *kind of* a library, but more like a thin wrapper over the built-in playbackRate functionality.
Granted, it’s not built in to the player skin — that’s apparently still in beta: https://wistia.com/community/posts/dunh/feature-request-playback-speed-button
OK, back to the show. :-)
AAAAAHHHHHHH my name was in the Fizzle Show! :-D
(Only slightly exaggerating my fan-boy reaction. I really am tickled!)
Nice, Luke! We’ve fiddled with cooking something up on our own but it got put on the back burner. This looks fairly straight forward (and looks like there’s a new video player from Wistia launching soon). Cheers, man!
I really enjoyed this discussion! Learning styles (preferences) are something that I’ve thought a lot about, and debated (ad nauseum) with my wife. lol Thanks to Dave’s comment, I think we might just have another lively discussion about it.
Great topic, great insight.
However, I had a bit of a problem with something Barrett said. It was right after the ad. He said (essentially) “if you’re doing anything else while you’re learning, you’re not engaging with what you’re learning.” The presumption that is made with these statements is that nobody is capable of doing something else while consuming a lesson– it’s like the dogma that every teacher (coming from a former Sunday School teacher) wants to push: “Learning is the most important thing and there can be no divided attention whatsoever if you are going to learn.”
I run two businesses at the moment. One of them moderately successful, the other is growing at leaps and bounds. I also maintain a personal blog (which has been one of the biggest driving factors for each company’s growth). On top of this, I have two boys and a pregnant, stay-at-home wife. Some days, I really only have a handful of minutes to watch/listen/consume something. Thankfully, all my life I’ve had a good capacity to soak in information, whether it be auditory, visual, kinesthetic or what have you. I was lazy in school and didn’t want to do homework or study, so I adapted to be able to soak in as much as possible during class so that I didn’t have to study.
So most days, my greatest learning window is after the workday has ended, after dinner when I’m washing the dishes for my wife. Many times I’ll pop a video up on my iPhone and place it directly in front of me and listen/watch as I wash the dishes (which is my least favorite thing to do in the world).
And when I’m finished, I’ve likely had a few revelations or “ah-hah” moments and I’ll go write them down (Evernote) or add a task to two to my ToDo List (Swipes).
So, for me, for someone to say I’m making excuses or “not engaging” in learning if I’m washing the dishes is not only slightly offensive, but inaccurate.
Should we ideally give 100% of our attention to what we’re learning? Absolutely. I’m all about focus– the pomodoro/GTD technique is my primary modus operandi. But remember who your audience is: bootstrapped business owners, trying to carve out a living doing something they love, in most cases while having other priorities such as jobs and families.
Wow, well said, Dustin. Great perspective to add to this.
Thanks Chase.
I hear you on this, Dustin. I’m extremely sensitive to the fact that our customers have families, day jobs, side projects, aging parents, and more. I know that is true. I think about it everyday in the way we’re delivering on our product and our promise to customers.
My point is backed up by quite a bit of research like this: http://time.com/money/3892931/stop-multitasking-and-start-singletasking/. So whether it’s doable or not, or whether it reflects a sense of “reality,” is one thing, but the fact of what multi-tasking does to our brain doesn’t change based on our schedule. It still affects us negatively.
So, yes, I would support anyone who decides to do what they can, when they can, with what they have to learn along the way. If that’s what fits in with your schedule and the alternative is nothing, then of course I would recommend taking the approach you’re currently taking. I respect that that is a reality for many people.
I personally listen to podcasts and audiobooks, etc while I’m biking, cleaning dishes, cooking dinner, and more. It’s the time during the day when I’m able, so that’s when I do it. I also know that if I were trying to take action based on what I learn, I would have to give those things more attention without multi-tasking.
I also make a distinction between entertainment/inspiration/joy and action-based learning. When the goal is to take action / apply learning immediately, then the learning is the work. I approach it as part of my daily workflow because it is on the critical path.
If there is no learning you *need* to do to take a specific action in your business, then it’s not something to worry about.
Learning styles and preferences differ from each other. By understanding you make the most of your learning potential.
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So I meant to comment on this 2 weeks ago but forgot until right now, as I turned on a Coursera video course. I am not a fan of video learning. It’s not a lazy thing or a block or or an excuse or I suck at learning (I’ve got an M.S. in a “hard science!”), I just don’t process things well with video. I often need to go back and reread something or find new information to make something sink in.
Also, I don’t even watch YouTube/other videos for fun. Friends will share videos with me all the time, even 30-second videos, and I just won’t watch. It feels intrusive to me in a way that reading or even podcasting doesn’t.
#TeamBarrett
What a great discussion! Like Dave, I am thrilled to see conversation about the science of learning :)
“Make It Stick” is a great resource, and for those who “prefer” videos :) you might want to check out “The Neuroscience of Learning” by Dr. Britt Andreatta on lynda.com.
Coleen
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