Make learning fun and effective! OK, but why would anybody use it?

 

 

Learning happens anytime, anywhere.

We are not aware of how much information we process, analyse, and structure within a minute. Some say that our senses gather some 11 million bits per second from the environment! This is the deep rooted and ancient program; the ultimate way of recording, processing, structuring, and learning. But most of this process runs unconsciously, which is why we are not aware of it, and as we stare at this endless and amazingly broad info-stream just a few fish will catch our attention. Some information seems to be more important than others. Why? Social media companies spend millions of USD researching the question: How can something catch our attention? And as you might experience, they certainly know the answer.

We would like to do something similar and even more extensive, as we would like to build entertaining educational services, blended learning solutions, competitive online learning platforms, and e-learning solutions. But how can we compete with all the media solutions that are already out there? How can we make learning fun and effective the same time? It seems to be a real challenge. Why?

How can we make learning fun and effective the same time?

The challenge

One challenge is the imprinting process. What we consider ‘learning’ is strongly connected to our experiences within the school system. If we want to talk about fun and effective learning processes, we have to change the concept of learning in our participant’s head. Not only do we have to change the concept, but we also have to help people experience new ways of learning. New experiences will help structure that new concept of learning, and not just the participant’s head. The teachers, trainers, lecturers, professors, and leaders all have to learn and experience learning from scratch.

If we want to talk about fun and effective learning processes, we have to change the concept of learning in our participant’s head…

The other part of the challenge is making sure that participants can easily reach any of your information online at any time on their devices. Why would they need your solutions? What can you offer, if people can reach out easily and find any information they need on other sites?

…and we have to make it available anytime, anywhere.

Puzzle pieces of the solution

We can offer many important advantages if we are well prepared.

Honestly, reaching out for any kind of information at any time on the internet is an amazing opportunity. But, there are some limitations:

Most of the sites are built to keep you there – meaning, they try to distract you with advertisements, so you stay longer and consume more from that specific site. This leads to worse time management and less effective learning processes on your side. In the end, you lose time with unnecessary searching and surfing.

What if you could have all the information in one place without all of the distractions?

Recently, we read many articles on fake news. The same applies to any kind of information. It’s stunning how many fake or wrongly cited quotes are shared daily, how many fake or made up “facts” are available on the internet. A new study has found that lies and fake news spread faster and penetrate deeper than the truth on social media. Researchers suggested that finding true, factual stories took six times as long as to reach. What if you would find the carefully picked, well-structured information all in one place?

While searching the internet you might read, watch, and learn many interesting things, but it’s hard to know whether or not you found the best solution for your question. What if you had the opportunity to get easy-to-follow feedback on your development processes? What if you could get a GPS that guides your learning, allowing you to see how far you’ve traveled, and help you prepare for the next step, all while taking the shortest and most efficient route possible?

What if you could get a GPS that guides your learning

Finally, when reaching out to find information on the internet, we are usually alone. Rarely do we contact people to help us find the answer to a certain question. What if you could get a community of people who share your learning goal? Where you can complete that goal together, all while learning from each other, understanding and sharing the difficulties you face, and celebrating the solutions you find?

Based on these and other advantages, we strongly believe that there is an opportunity to create inspiring and effective learning programs for your participants, a well-structured and gamified infogroup of “fish” that catch participants’ attention in the constant infostream. While your participants have fun and quickly make their journey, you can grow new fish in your think-tank for them, and your participants will be eager to start a new program with you soon.

 

This post originally appeared as Viktor Lenartson’s LinkedIn article.