Ideally, an opening class activity should allow class participants to get acquainted with one another and to remove pre-class distractions. It’s always challenging to design an opener that is related to the content of the class.

The “A-Z” word game is one possibility for a group activity: divide the class into groups of 3-4. Using large post-it notes on the wall, ask each group to come up with a word for each letter of alphabet that relates to the class content. Give each group 3-5 minutes and instruct them to work as fast as possible.

Can you think of words related to PubMed for each letter of the alphabet (not including PubMed, MEDLINE, or specific search terms)? “Z” can be difficult, but a recent group in one of our classes came up with an answer (see the photo).

The University of Minnesota’s Center for Teaching and Learning has created a page dedicated to using games in the classroom. Below is one example that can be used in-person or online as an ice breaker or a review.

http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/tutorials/powerpoint/games/index.html#twenty

From Connie Malamed’s Blog:

“People can typically hold around 4 or 5 pieces of information in working memory at one time. As you design interactions, limit the number of elements, instructions or moving parts that the learner will need to simultaneously keep in mind. In addition, limit the number of choices. It’s easier for people to make decisions when there are fewer choices compared to many choices.”

The University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System is trying a new approach to offering library instruction classes called FlashClass. FlashClass is based on the growing daily deal phenomenon of Groupon, Deal of the Day, CrowdSaving, Living Social, etc.

Read about it at: http://info.hsls.pitt.edu/updatereport/?p=5977

Connie Malamed, an eLearning coach, posted an article on her blog called: 20 Things to Remember about Forgetting. Follow the link: http://theelearningcoach.com/learning/science-of-forgetting/

Note items 15-19 and their implications for training.

The title of the article I’ve linked to here is 5 Great eLearning Boredom Busters, however, I think the suggestions work for in-person presentations as well. I’ve listed the 5 suggestions below. Follow the link to read more and about each item and solutions.

http://info.shiftelearning.com/blog/bid/248676/5-great-elearning-boredom-busters

Olivia Mitchell is a presentation trainer based in New Zealand who writes a blog called Speaking about Presenting [http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/].

In a post titled 4 Ways to Move People from Attention to Engagement Olivia writes that you have people’s attention to begin with; the next step is to try to engage them so that they want to hear and learn more.

Olivia says this about the difference between attention and engagement:

If your audience is attentive, you can pour information into them.
If your audience is engaged, they are sucking that information from you.

Visit this link to read the full blog post:
http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/content/attention-to-engagement/

A 2007 Stanford University study asked: “Do you learn more if you interact with a live person, or if you interact with a computer?” The conclusion was that people do better when they believe that they are interacting with a person. But what if that person is really an avatar? And what are the implications for eLearning?

Read a short discussion at Learning Solutions Magazine:
http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/1021/research-for-practitioners-social-interaction-belief-and-learning

The Stanford Study:
http://aaalab.stanford.edu/papers/cogsci07_okita_id_7451.pdf

Auditory learners, visual learners, kinesthetic learners. Now that we know, what should we do? Once we know what to do, are we achieving the right balance? Read a blog post by Karla Gutierrez of the SH!FT: Disruptive Learning blog.

I attended a $25 Bob Pike webinar recently called Games and Contests. Games are not appropriate for all classroom settings, but when they are, games can aid retention and reinforce learning by engaging the learner.

Follow this link to read an article on the subject from Educause: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3004.pdf