E-learning and the way humans learn

Tuesday 6th June 2006
Novotel, Hammersmith, London
Room: St Julien, 2nd Floor Meeting Rooms

They say that we learn something every day and even though we may not always know that we do few, people would deny it. A few of us have to make arrangements so that people learn something for their well being, for their work, to abide by a legal requirement or some other necessity. What we seldom take into account is the psychology that is behind this apparently commonplace activity called learning. We may think that we have no need to know about subjects such as cognitive psychology but if this could help us help others to learn then we would grab it with both hands.

This one day seminar workshop will provide you with an insight into this fascinating subject and enable you to understand the learning process that humans go through every day of their lives. There will be ample opportunity for questions, discussion and networking.

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• 09.15 - 09:45 Registration and Coffee
• 10.00 - 10:05 Introduction to the Day's Programm, Vaugn Waller.
• 09.55 - 10:25 Beyond blended learning - how we really learn - Donald Clark
  
  75% of everything we learn in the workplace is through informal learning. This used to be called learning from Nelly, where we simply learn from someone sitting beside us. This informal learning is unstructured, undocumented, uncontrolled, sporadic and preferred by almost everyone to the formal variety. But how do we encourage it, facilitate it without making it formal learning like all the rest?
• 10.25 - 11:05 Dr Clare Howard, e-coaches
  
  Making e-learning appeal to different personality types.
  We know that people are motivated to learn for different reasons and those reasons are linked to personality. How do we tap into that knowledge to market our e-learning so that it has greater appeal across all personality types? We know what makes people tick. How do we use that knowledge in a structured way? How do we deliver messages that appeal to learners' preferences and make them want to sign up for learning?
• 11.05 - 11:25 Coffee break
• 11.55 Patrick Dunn - LINE Communications
  
  Between a rock and a soft place
  E-learning producers are often sandwiched between the "hard", real-world needs of sponsors, clients and learners, and the "soft", unclear world of learning theory. While effective e-learning needs to be based on an understanding of how adults learn, many of the key theories of adult learning are hotly debated and difficult to apply. This session will suggest ways of bridging the divide between real-world needs and theoretical solutions.
• 12.05 - 12:45 Mark Harrison, Kineo
  
  Learning styles is a term which has been bandied around for years since Honey and Mumford published their paper on the subject. In this we are told that there are four main learning styles and that most of us learn more effectively when the material is presented to us in our own learning style. But how practical is this? How can you design e-learning to take learning styles into account?
• 12.45 - 12:50 Concluding discussion on the morning session.
• 12.50 - 13:50 Lunch
• 13.50 Cognitive psychology - Dr Itiel Dror, Department of Psychology, University of Southampton
  
  This fascinating workshop will delve into how the human brain processes information and assimilates learning. The knowledge that you gain from this workshop will enable you to understand the learning process more and therefore be able to design learning programmes that are more effective at getting the learning messages to stick.
• 15.00 - 15:10 Working tea / coffee break
• 15.10 - 16:20 Workshop continued
• 16.20 - 16:30 Concluding comments and discussion
• 16.30 Close