Teaching Leadership with Cognitive Load in Mind

Sat through a workshop today taught by Dr. Ruth Clark, an expert on learning and cognitive load (One's ability to attend to, load, encode for further use, and then retrieve knowledge. It was a great review of some research with some very good principles to remember.

• "Novice" learners need smaller chunks of knowledge delivered to them, whereas "Expert" learners often seen larger chunks or patterns of chunks useful.
  
• "Novice" learners learn faster when they are given an example, asked to practice, given another example, then asked to practice again.. and so on.
• "Expert" learner learn faster when they are given an example.. then give lots of practice exercises.
• While we claim that we can multi task.. research finds that if we perform dual tasks our performance diminishes if the tasks are:
• both auditor in nature
• or both visual in nature

Of all the content covered in this workshop, the most interesting was that we tend to over load the learner when we use text, voice and visuals.. the research indicates, that e-learning works best when voice and visuals are use.. but text tends to distract the learner.. scare when you consider all the extra stuff people are putting on web pages.

Regardless.. it was very interesting and created quite a bit of discussion at our table. While we all agreed that contextual concerns play a role, we also agreed that their is some truth to this research and simple is really better.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Interview with Dr. Viktor Frankl part I

"Despair = Suffering without Meaning" - Victor Frankl

Colin Powell's 13 Rules of Leadership

Nice video that captures Colin Powell's leadership lessons.. could use some sound thought.. play the radio while you watch it. :)

On the 1st Memorial day

“If silence is ever golden, it must be beside the graves of fifteen-thousand men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem the music of which can never be sung.”

-James A. Garfield, General, Congressman and eventually President

What a Wonderful World by Nikolas Owen (Age 9)

In a step away from leadership.. I was touched this month by my 9 year-old's first public singing performance.. Nikolas is adopted from the country of Lebanon.. my grand parents birth country and well.. I whipped together this quick clip as a tribute to Nik and his birth country.. May we all live in Peace!

Thanks for indulging me this once as I wear the hat of Dad rather than OD Leader....

President Ronald Reagans Speech at Point-du-Hoc, Normandy

One of the greatest speeches on the sacrifice of war! A fitting post for this weekend as we in America reflect on memorial day and on the courage of our men and women who have died in wars. For more videos, go directly to the blog and look for the videos down the right side of the blog.

Leadership Speaker Series: Geoffrey Canada

Geoffrey Canada talks about social change and how he has lead efforts to revitalize communities: Simple concept = Start from birth, Focus on parenting and building leadership among the community. Fix things one block at a time (do everything for that one block) then move on to the next!

Commencement Continuted

2008 Commencement Address by Barbara Kingsolver

The following quote comes from Barbara Kingsolver's speech, titled "How to be Hopeful," given at Duke's 2008 commencement ceremony May 11 at Wallace Wade Stadium. Barbara Kingsolver is a novelist, essayist, non-fiction and short-story writer. An audio version of her speech is available on iTunes.

"The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. The most you can do is live inside that hope, running down its hallways, touching the walls on both sides. "

Tom Kelley - Ideo

Excellent Talk about Customer-based Collaborative Innovation

Graduation Speeches

This time of year, all the great leaders get asked to impart on young graduates their wisdom. Here are just a few lessons from two of this year's speakers:

Erskine Bowles, UNC University System President and Former Chief of Staff for President Clinton, shared five principles for success to the graduates of North Carolina State University:

1. Don't promise more than you can deliver.
2. Do quality work in everything you approach (i.e. if it is worth doing, do it right).
3. Don't be afraid of change (i.e. change happens so figure out how to make it work for you).
4. Do your part to add to the "community woodpile" (i.e. have a sense of civic responsibility).
5. Take time for your family.
   
   

Phillip Balley of Earth, Wind, and Fire to the Berkley College of Music:

1. Never lose your creativity.
   
2. Never lose your excitement.
   
3. Never lose your pure love for music.
   

More to come later... Send me good ones you hear as well!