Our brain – the Illusionist and the Laws of Gestalt.

Our brain is forever engaged in the act of simplification…it’s always trying to cut a long story short – and in doing so, it creates illusions.

So, what do you see?

In this podcast, I talk about Gestalt and its five laws.

• The Law of Figure & Ground
• The Law of Proximity
• The Law of Pragnanz
• The Law of Good Continuation
• The Law of Closure

If you don’t know of Gestalt, I promise that you are in for a cognitive treat.

Check out my Gestalt Laws Podcast here.

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Finally…Twitter!

Dear Readers,

I’d like to tell you that I recently discovered my Twitter Account that I made in 2009 – and I’ve started tweeting seriously about some serious matters, such as Instructional Design, eLearning, Training, and Creativity. If these topics interest you, please follow my account here.

Tweets by shafalianand

My new love is Gestalt, and I’ll be talking about it in the next episode of the Learning Lights podcast 🙂 Don’t miss it! It’s going to be super-awesome!

 

The AFR Types or Remaining Employed in the Future.

As new technologies spawn new jobs, and new jobs demand new competencies…will you:

• thrive,
• survive, or
• strive?

In this episode of the Learning Lights Podcast, I discuss the AFR Learner Types and how self-identifying as one of the types and changing ourselves in the right direction could help us stay employable in the coming two decades.

Click the Learning Lights icon below to listen to the episode.

You can download the text of this episode as the pdf of the article, “The AFR Learner Types – Learning in this Changing Evolving World.”

In the last one year, this has been the most downloaded PDF on our site, and I believe that the reason behind it is that the pandemic has hastened the pace of the change that was anyway coming. Now, it’s so close that we can feel it, hear it, smell it!

And this is also why we now feel a greater need to be prepared.

In the episode I also refer to the article “Jobs in this Changing Evolving World” that preceded the above AFR article. It will help you contextualize the AFR learners better.

Please visit the Resources page at the Creative Agni Website at: http://creativeagni.com/downloads-pdfs-whitepapers-articles/free-resources-docs.htm.

If you have thoughts to share or questions to ask, please email me. You are also welcome to leave a voice comment at http://anchor.fm/learninglights

Thank you and have a great week ahead.

 

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year.

Wishing all my readers and listeners, a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New year!

May the new year dawn brighter and happier for all of us.

 

Best Wishes,

Shafali

 

Kolb’s Cycle – The Experiential Learning Model (ELM) – The Learning Lights Podcast

I know that you aren’t really in a mood for a learning podcast…but hey, it’s only 12 minutes long, which means that it:

• introduces and explains the 4-Stage Experiential Learning Model given by David Kolb,
• illustrates it through two examples – one historical, the other contemporary, and then
• provides tips that you can use for ensuring that you take your audience through each of the four stages…

All in 12-minutes!

So if you get a chance, do check out this episode of the Learning Lights Podcast – “The Kolb’s Cycle or The Experiential Learning Model.”

And to pique your curiosity…here’s the gentleman from the historical example 🙂

Merry Chrismas to all my readers and listeners. Thank you for being with me through these years. You have been my strength.

 

Stereotype – but do it the Right Way!

“Women just can’t drive!”
“Bosses are a P-i-A!”
“Artists are careless dressers.”
“Professors are absent-minded.”
“Women don’t code.”

All of the above statements have something in common. They are generalizations of characteristics for a particular group, and they may not apply to a small or large part of the group. When we make such generalizations, we stereotype. Unfortunately, negative stereotypes often cause pain – and yet, the human mind is programmed to generalize. In fact, generalization is an important part of the learning process.

I’ll be talking about Kolb’s Cycle in my Instructional Design Podcast Learning Lights, either tomorrow or the coming week, and the third stage in Kolb’s Cycle of Experiential Learning is “Abstract Conceptualization,” which comprises making generalizations, which are tested by the learner in the fourth stage.

That’s all for now. Don’t forget to tune into the Learning Lights podcast for tomorrow’s learning module.

 

Sia’s Story or The Job of an Instructional Designer

Remember?

That first Instructional Design assignment…

Waiting for the ID Reviewer’s comments…

Then clicking open the document with your heart pounding against your ribs…

And then seeing… RED!

Was this what you HAD signed up for?

Or

what is it that you ARE signing up for?

Meet Siya…and Rajeev.

If you want to become an instructional designer and find yourself wondering what it would be like to work as an ID, you’ll find your answers at https://anchor.fm/learninglights/episodes/Siyas-Story-An-Instructional-Designers-Job-ens9lk

A heads-up…

This is a podcast – and so you’d need to keep the audio on.

In this episode, meet Siya, a mint-fresh instructional designer who is discovering what it means to be an instructional designer.

This episode is an introduction to what an Instructional Designer’s Job comprises, takes you through the fears and apprehensions of a new ID, and then puts them to rest through the knowledge of an experienced instructional designer.

With this episode, we are through with laying the basic groundwork. In the coming episodes, I intend to discuss a few concepts of instructional design and cognitive psychology within the context of their application in eLearning and/or training.

If you’d like to join me on this fun ride, do subscribe or follow Learning Lights on a podcasting app of your choice. It is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify too.

 

The AFR Learner Types – Learners of the Future – Thrive, Jive, Survive!

I wrote about the AFR Learner Types a few months ago and the article was received quite well within the learning community. I’m sharing it here because I believe that understand the three types and determining where our learners and we ourselves as learners fall, could be instrumental in our surviving, even jiving and thriving in the new post-pandemic world.

While you can download the Free PDF of the article “The AFR Learner Types – Learning in this Changing, Evolving World” here, here’s a quick synopsis.

My two-decades worth of experience with adult learners both in online courses and classroom programs taught me that based on their traits and corresponding learning behavior, learners can be classified into three groups.

• The Agile Learner
• The Flexible Learner
• The Rigid Learner

While most of us (almost 80%) fall into the Flexible Learner category, some of us are Agile Learners and a smaller fraction comprises Rigid learners – and as you can see in the following image, I’ve seen Flexible Learners turn agile, but the rigid learners, due to their inherent dislike for change, often stay rooted to their learning beliefs. However, through counseling they can be motivated to move left toward becoming flexible learners.

At this juncture, it’s important to review our capabilities and determine how we can evolve into the learning professional of tomorrow – and if we feel tied down by our expectations, self-image, and/or current beliefs, it’s time to take a hard look at ourselves and weed out anything that stops us from learning, changing, and growing.

If you like my articles and would like to hear my thoughts, I invite you to my Learning Lights Podcast.

 

Who should be an Instructional Designer?

Do I have the right abilities and traits for becoming an instructional designer?

This is a question asked by many accidental content professionals and all those fresh job-seekers who are exploring the field of content development and Instructional Design. They want to find out if they are temperamentally suited for a successful career in ID and content development, whether they are creative enough, and what sort of skills they must possess.

If you too are trying to ascertain whether or not you have the right temperament and skills for becoming an instructional designer, then you should listen in.

In this episode, I present to you the three most important characteristics of an Instructional Designer and attempt to dispel a debilitating myth about creativity.

After you’ve listened to this episode, please read more about this topic at: Four Key Traits of an Instructional Designer.

Also visit http://creativeagni.com to explore the world of creativity and instructional design.

Thank you 🙂

 

Learning Lights – The Instructional Design Podcast

I am glad to announce the Learning Lights Podcast, and here’s the trailer. The podcast will publish weekly on Wednesdays, and if you think that the frequency should go up, please drop me a line 🙂

What does the Learning Lights Podcast cover?

This podcast covers topics on instructional design, eLearning content development, training design and development – and talks about how to create content that binds your audience.

Who is the Learning Lights Podcast for?

This podcast is for aspiring and practicing learning professionals, including content developers, instructional designers, trainers, and teachers.

The first Episode, “Instructional Design? What’s that?!” is scheduled to publish later today.

More later,

Shafali