Cultivating Learning Culture
Think of one teacher who would scare you and whose classes you wanted to avoid like the plague.
Think of one teacher who made you fall in love with a subject that you didn’t like before.
Learning culture is omnipresent.
It's there even when you don't see it.
A healthy learning cultures can draw you to learn something you don't like. At the same time, an unhealthy learning culture can make you dislike something you liked.
But how do you cultivate a healthy learning culture? Here are 3 principles to keep in mind:
1/ First Who, then What
People are central to a learning experience. Whether it is between the facilitator and the learner or in between peers - establishing a healthy connection with people you’re learning with/ from is key.
Start with the who instead of the what.
Example:
When Harsh Doshi & I started the LxD Lab. We spend the first few weeks just to enable the group of 20 learning experience designers to get to know each other better.
We enabled them to learn more about each other through a mini quiz and Notion Profiles for each member. We also encouraged them to speak to at least 3 other people in the community before we met next. The result?
Here is a quick visualisation of the different 1:1 conversations the group has had among each other!
2/ Cohesion between Words & Action
Culture is not what you write on the wall, it’s what you do and how your learners feel. A healthy learning culture is where there is cohesion between words & action (Source)
Example:
Learning by doing is a philosophy for us at NextLeap. It’s more than just a few words on our website, here is how:
All our online sessions are designed to get learners to ‘do’ things. This could be in the form of discussions in breakout rooms or building a mindmap - anything that requires to get their hands dirty instead of just passively listening
All our courses are project & problem based. That also means we measure engagement through learners submitting these artefacts
Here is an example of a in-session workbook for our Product Design Fellowship -
3/ Well started is Half Done
When it comes to culture, beginnings are the key to success! If you don’t establish cultural norms upfront, it’s extremely hard to inculcate them later.
Example:
I recently finished a course called Nervous System Mastery by Jonny Miller. All their sessions were structured in the same way:
Breathing exercise
Breakout room activity
Debrief
Theory
Breakout rooms
Debrief
Checklist for the week
From Day 1, I knew what to expect from the live sessions. It also allowed me to prioritise it in my day :)
To paraphrase (& modify) a famous quote by Peter Drucker -
“Learning Culture eats Learning strategy for breakfast”
So the next time you’re designing learning experiences, don’t forget to cultivate culture!