by Jacqui Nelson
My daughter arrived in the kitchen last night with a pamphlet in hand and proceeded to read me the entire instructions for Bazooka cream (probably too much sharing for a corporate blog, but stick with it!).
“That’s why it’s not working Mummy. You never do steps 2 and 3 do you? Are you sure you have read these instructions?”
Now, I’m sure I did read the instructions but it was probably some time ago and I probably thought I knew enough now, just to wing it, but I guess this isn’t always sensible. This got me thinking. How much instruction is the right amount?
Unlike the vast and detailed pamphlet on how to apply Bazooka cream, in general there is a trend to reducing the amount of instruction you get when you buy something new. The trend seems to be to get people to just have a go, and learn by trial and error. This really supports our philosophy, at Nelson Croom, which is about letting learners get on with it, choosing their own path depending on what they want and how.
This is a big shift which was bought home to me recently when I was helping my mother-in-law set up her new cordless phone. The instructions were just not detailed enough to enable her to do what she wanted to do and she doesn’t use the internet so couldn’t find any help that way. So she turned to me. I could help because I have experience of similar types of gadget and was willing to give it a go.
I had a similar problem myself when my husband and I got iphones. We spent an age trying to work out how to insert the Sim card. In the end we asked a friend who we knew had an iphone too. He explained the procedure to us but admitted that he’d had the same problem and had nearly sent his back because he thought it was faulty.
It’s just a demonstration of how the way people find out how to do things has changed. We no longer expect to be told in great detail what to do. Instead:
• We start with a small amount of information and we give it a go.
• If we need more to look to other sources of information for help – probably the internet
• And we turn to others and share experiences
At Nelson Croom, these concepts are built into all our courses, but in so many learning experiences they are not. Educators, online and off, need to embrace the idea the days telling people what to do and calling it learning, are over. Today’s generation demands an altogether more rounded learning experience.
Unless of course you are applying Bazooka cream to your daughters’ foot, when you cannot have too much instruction!
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