Week 1 Reflection

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I find this book a practical guide to those ideas and concepts which are already utilized in my design practice. I think the book idealizes some of these principles and rightly so, as they are quite good. However, not every teaching experience is designed to be conducted in a traditional classroom. Thus, I have to examine the practices that are recommended in the textbook versus the practical needs of my organization.

I do think that learning tends to be a linear process. Learn one thing, then learn another. While I can multitask various activities, learning is a focused application of my mental power to "burn-in" knowledge in such a way that I will not forget it. This can be a challenge int he workplace, as there are always distractors that will take the attention of the learner. When you compound that with the new push to utilize e-learning in work environments, this becomes much more difficult to manage and you find yourself losing the valuable focus of your students/learners because other elements of their work life and demanding their time. 

I am currently managing a project and I have noticed that this takes place in all stages. We are merely at the writing stage, but I can see where my team is being distracted by the daily grind of their jobs and the demands expected by their management to be fulfilled. This has meant that my employees are less focuses and a bit more scatter-brained, which leads to less efficient content development. This is a situation that must constantly be monitored and I must strive to help then stay engaged - per Brain Rule #6, We don't pay attention to boring things.