Many subject matter experts are just that, subject matter experts--not experts in the art of teaching, facilitating, or designing. Thousands of authors, trainers, and speakers have great content, but they lack the skills required to convey their content in a way that inspires learners to unleash their brilliance and move the learning to practice.. They often spend 70% of their time on WHAT they are going to teach, and 30% of their time on HOW, when they should be spending 30% on WHAT, and 70% on HOW. Their instructional techniques often are at odds with their message of inclusivity, eagerness for people to learn, and hopes that their content will change lives and organizations.
“Brilliance by Design” outlines how to design learning interactions (such as meetings and workshops) that enable people to do their best thinking. Using the tested, signature ENGAGE model, it helps anyone who brings people together for the purpose of learning, problem-solving, or innovating to develop a clear, high-impact training design that unleashes brilliance. It presents a model that enables teachers to analyze learner and teacher needs, create objectives that meet those needs, and incorporate interactive tools that “fire ‘em up,” ensuring all key outcomes are met.
To help readers unleash the brilliance in others, this book provides the structure, tools, language, and models needed to create optimal learning experiences from their ideas, practices, models and books. In learning these techniques, readers will achieve powerful outcomes, building communities of learners who share best practices and communicate at a deep and profound level while doing real work.
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Shows how to dramatically improve learning by making learners, not teachers, the focus of instructional design and delivery
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Offers a model that can be adapted to any setting
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Filled with tips, practices and tools -- including a free online assessment of personal learning style
"Learning," Vicki Halsey writes, "is the gateway to optimal life experiences. Learning transforms people's lives and teaching, in any form, is the art and science of bringing out the brilliance that drives those transformations."
Or it should be. But what often happens is that people who teach -- in classrooms, meetings, workshops, coaching sessions, any setting where learning happens -- don't know how to transfer their great content to others effectively. They spend 70% of their time on what they are teaching and only 30% on how, when it should be the other way around.
Halsey is here to reverse that equation, laying out a comprehensive instructional design model that deeply engages and energizes learners because it keeps them front and center every step of the way. She offers a bevy of tips and techniques for developing a learner-centered mindset -- focusing not on how smart learners are, but how they are smart. Building on this foundation she shows how to create content that is clear, relevant, easily absorbed, and readily retained because it is tailored to each audience's specific needs, abilities, and inclinations.
But content, however expertly designed, doesn't teach itself. Halsey's six-step ENGAGE model makes the old "sit and git" learning model obsolete and radically democratizes the teaching process. She presents hundreds of proven ideas, strategies, and practices that will enable you to Energize learners at the beginning of any learning session; help them Navigate the new content and Generate personal meaning and relevance from it; Apply their learning to the real world; Gauge and celebrate their progress; and Extend their learning to action. Brilliance by Design offers a systematic way to reach joyfully into the soul of learners and facilitate their brilliance so they can make their contributions and realize their potential.
Many subject matter experts are just that, subject matter experts--not experts in the art of teaching, facilitating, or designing. Thousands of authors, trainers, and speakers have great content, but they lack the skills required to convey their content in a way that inspires learners to unleash their brilliance and move the learning to practice.. They often spend 70% of their time on WHAT they are going to teach, and 30% of their time on HOW, when they should be spending 30% on WHAT, and 70% on HOW. Their instructional techniques often are at odds with their message of inclusivity, eagerness for people to learn, and hopes that their content will change lives and organizations.
“Brilliance by Design” outlines how to design learning interactions (such as meetings and workshops) that enable people to do their best thinking. Using the tested, signature ENGAGE model, it helps anyone who brings people together for the purpose of learning, problem-solving, or innovating to develop a clear, high-impact training design that unleashes brilliance. It presents a model that enables teachers to analyze learner and teacher needs, create objectives that meet those needs, and incorporate interactive tools that “fire ‘em up,” ensuring all key outcomes are met.
To help readers unleash the brilliance in others, this book provides the structure, tools, language, and models needed to create optimal learning experiences from their ideas, practices, models and books. In learning these techniques, readers will achieve powerful outcomes, building communities of learners who share best practices and communicate at a deep and profound level while doing real work.
-
Shows how to dramatically improve learning by making learners, not teachers, the focus of instructional design and delivery
-
Offers a model that can be adapted to any setting
-
Filled with tips, practices and tools -- including a free online assessment of personal learning style
"Learning," Vicki Halsey writes, "is the gateway to optimal life experiences. Learning transforms people's lives and teaching, in any form, is the art and science of bringing out the brilliance that drives those transformations."
Or it should be. But what often happens is that people who teach -- in classrooms, meetings, workshops, coaching sessions, any setting where learning happens -- don't know how to transfer their great content to others effectively. They spend 70% of their time on what they are teaching and only 30% on how, when it should be the other way around.
Halsey is here to reverse that equation, laying out a comprehensive instructional design model that deeply engages and energizes learners because it keeps them front and center every step of the way. She offers a bevy of tips and techniques for developing a learner-centered mindset -- focusing not on how smart learners are, but how they are smart. Building on this foundation she shows how to create content that is clear, relevant, easily absorbed, and readily retained because it is tailored to each audience's specific needs, abilities, and inclinations.
But content, however expertly designed, doesn't teach itself. Halsey's six-step ENGAGE model makes the old "sit and git" learning model obsolete and radically democratizes the teaching process. She presents hundreds of proven ideas, strategies, and practices that will enable you to Energize learners at the beginning of any learning session; help them Navigate the new content and Generate personal meaning and relevance from it; Apply their learning to the real world; Gauge and celebrate their progress; and Extend their learning to action. Brilliance by Design offers a systematic way to reach joyfully into the soul of learners and facilitate their brilliance so they can make their contributions and realize their potential.
The Time for Brilliance Has Come
Stand and Deliver is the story of Jaime Escalante, a mathematics teacher in an East Los Angeles high school who challenged his students to achieve greatness. He dared to teach with the intention of ensuring that not only would all his students graduate from high school, but also any who aspired to go to college could go. He dedicated himself to teaching his pupils how to strive and inspiring them to learn in order to reach their fullest potential.
Escalante employed innovative teaching methods that attracted the students' attention, sparked their intelligence, and, most importantly, transformed their lives by changing their beliefs about their own talents and capabilities. Despite a wall of disapproval and disbelief, Escalante worked tirelessly to create a safe, respectful environment that constantly challenged the students to work harder, dig deeper, and reach higher plateaus of learning. Ultimately, they proved their worth to themselves and to others by passing their Advanced Placement Calculus exams in record numbers, which helped them break through the ceiling of limitations in their lives. How did Escalante do it? How did one teacher defy all odds, facilitate learning potential, and help his students transform their lives?
Be a Vision of Hope
Escalante created a mindset and a vision of hope that clearly valued learning in his classroom by consciously structuring his lessons and believing in the brilliance of his students. His deliberate learning design and genuine belief in their capabilities reframed their thinking, ignited their self-esteem, connected them to meaningful learning, and engaged them in rigorous practice to make newly acquired knowledge their own. Escalante envisioned them as hardworking students, aspiring learners, and high achievers. Then he held up the mirror so his students could see in themselves what he saw in them.
Brilliance Is a Relationship
As I read about Jaime Escalante's students claiming their brilliance and the rewards of their hard-earned success, I felt a welling of emotions—triumph, pride, inspiration, and renewed hope—that came from a core conviction we all know: Brilliance happens when someone—a teacher, mentor, speaker, leader, coach, colleague, manager, or teammate—facilitates the talents and capabilities inside us that are waiting to emerge, helps us rise to seemingly impossible heights, and challenges us at a deep level so that we, as Learners (with a capital L), demonstrate that we can reach the summit, conquer all barriers, and unleash our brilliance over and over again. Escalante was that teacher, that leader, for his students and his community.
Who was yours? Who was your Jaime Escalante, your teacher or inspiration—the person whose influence awakened you to reframe your thinking about yourself and your life, to see yourself and to reimagine your future with new eyes?
For me, it was David Wilson, American Studies professor at the University of California-Davis. Despite my well-practiced modus operandi—doing assigned readings, discerning what the professor wanted me to learn and regurgitating it, hanging in the background and not standing out in any way, and giving most learning endeavors only a fraction of my energy—David Wilson got to me. One day, I stayed after class with a few other students to ask about an upcoming project. True to form, I let the others take charge and do the talking while I hid behind them, assuming they were smarter and more capable of speaking up and taking the lead. Truth be told, I barely listened, knowing that one of my friends would fill me in. As we were leaving, suddenly, I heard my name. “Vicki, I'd like to talk with you for a few minutes if you have time.” Red-faced and feeling the uncomfortable instantaneous presence of a cold sweat, I realized that I was no longer under the radar. Wishing I could shrink like Alice in Wonderland and slip through a rabbit hole, I mustered courage and said, “Yes, sir.”
Are You Bringing Out Brilliance?
Professor Wilson asked me a question I'll never forget—a question that changed my world and helped me to see myself through his eyes: “How are we going to bring out the brilliance in you?” I was stumped. Brilliant? Me? But there he was, looking at me as if I were brilliant and expecting an answer. I tried what always had worked for me in the past—staying safe and muttering what I figured he wanted me to say. Suddenly, he slammed his hand on his desk and said, “I'm not interested in hearing what you think I want to hear; I want to know what you think. You.” Long, strained moments passed while he sat there staring at me, waiting for a reply. It was painful. I started to cry, knowing he had touched something inside me that I had suppressed for a long time. He gave me a tissue and really looked at me, still waiting, still expecting an answer. Finally, this wise, masterful teacher shared his vision of two different Vickis: one in class who withheld genius, and one outside of class who revealed her genius through the powerful insights she wrote in her papers. It was time, he said—time to bring out my brilliance.
And now it's time for you to bring out the brilliance in the thousands of others who are hiding, hoping to stay under the radar, not realizing how much they have been limiting their potential by diffusing their vision. Ask yourself: What percentage of people's brilliance am I unleashing in meetings, seminars, workshops, and keynotes? Think about it. What percentage of their full capability are people generating in your learning experiences? Are people sitting up, speaking out, asking great questions, and applying their learning as fast as they can? Or are they lying low, physically present and seemingly alert but content to listen as you do all the hard work?
Ask yourself: What percentage of people's brilliance am I unleashing in meetings, seminars, workshops, and keynotes?
Exercise: Inspiring Brilliance
It's time to pick up your pen and unleash inspiration. Let's get started right now.
Writing is a great way to get your energy flowing, to explore, and to see things in a new way. Take notes right in this book or in a separate notebook. Scribble away! Feel free to use your computer and let your fingers fly as you ponder and respond to the following revealing questions. Jot down some notes for each one, or read them a few times and write a short personal story. The writing doesn't have to be perfect; just meaningful for you. If writing feels like a barrier, talk out loud. Record your ideas with any recording device. What's important is that you do the hard work of being totally present with your thoughts and emotions by recording or writing them down. This is the first step in connecting the intellectual rigor with the emotional engagement that unlocks brilliance in yourself and others.
REFLECTION: Exercise
INSPIRING BRILLIANCE
Who has seen the brilliant you? Who helped you see yourself in a different light?
Who gave you the opening you needed to become who you are?
Who lives in your mind as a great teacher?
What did this person do to inspire you?
What did this person do to help you see yourself in a new way, accept a challenge, and be all you could be?
What stand out in your mind as key strategies that triggered your drive?
How has this influence or learning shown up and endured in your life?
Why is this important to you today—right now?
Awaken the Purpose
Professor Wilson's poignant question woke me up. I was going through the motions, disconnected from myself and what was important to me. He was the spark that fired me up to do the focused work of figuring out who I am, what matters to me, and how I wanted those things to show up in my life. The resulting self-awareness connected me to my passion for learning and teaching. Without him, I might have spent my whole life playing it safe.
Each individual is a unique combination of talents and life experiences. It's easy for gifts or talents to become temporarily or even permanently lost in the litany of perceived expectations and obligations on any given day. David Wilson forced me to connect more authentically to myself; every day since, I've realized a little more of my talent and skill in teaching and that designing high-impact learning initiatives is my passion. We all thrive on watching others come alive through learning and moving their learning into action. The skill of teaching is not innate in everyone, but bringing out the best in others can be learned. As teachers, our core purpose is to unleash brilliance—to facilitate greatness in others directly in every learning situation we lead and indirectly by training others in the art and science of teaching.
Together we can help people claim their greatness, and we can create stimulating, safe environments that facilitate the gifts of a multitude of learners so that each of them can discover and feel what it is like to make a unique contribution while moving through his or her daily life.
Help people claim their greatness.
Design a Structure That Supports Optimal Learning
Now is the time to leverage optimal learning practices. People who have a hint of curiosity await the opportunity to challenge themselves to greater meaning in their lives through new learning. Tired of sitting mindlessly in virtual or physical classrooms, meetings, or trainings, many learners are rebelling. They are finding their own ways to stimulate their brains through multitasking or going on vacations of the mind; in other words, they are showing up physically but checking out mentally. Successful people in all aspects of life and in all levels of organizations seek new learning to be current and competitive and to thrive as high performers.
A 2006 article in Training Journal reported results from a study in the United Kingdom that showed 80 percent of workers “believe training is the key to developing their careers despite many being unhappy with the quality of sessions provided.” The same study of 500 businesses and 1,300 staff also found “more than three-quarters of workers see training as a key benefit when looking for a job.” This research, which was part of a broader study in Europe of more than 1,000 businesses and 4,000 workers from Britain, France, and Germany, found similar results in all three countries.1
Your challenge: Capture the attention of these learners. Make a sacred pact. Teach and help them learn new content in a way that fully engages them and makes it possible for them to use this knowledge, do their best work, and build lasting results. At the same time, you will be creating empowered communities and organizations of strong individuals armed with new, life-changing knowledge. Like Jaime Escalante, are you determined and ready to seize the moment, to rebalance the learning equation in order to unlock brilliance in your learners and teach them so that they learn at a higher level? Your learners are. They are waiting for you.
Brilliance Learning System: How It Works
The Brilliance Learning System, represented in Figure I.1, is an educational system that will help you structure your teaching so that you maximize every learning opportunity for yourself and your learners. The system is based on three essential components that work together:
The WHO: People (Learners and Teachers)
The WHAT: Content (Ideas and Information)
The HOW: ENGAGE Learning Design Model (Strategies and Tools)
Each of these components is distinct and important. However, their true strength and effectiveness are in their relationship with each other. As learners and teachers, we can do a lot to be our best and bring out the best in others. We can prepare our content so that it is accessible, interesting, and meaningful. And we can ENGAGE learners and immerse them in the content by means of a learning design that includes strategies and tools that support their absorption of knowledge and extend to successful application.
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Figure I.1 The Brilliance Learning System
Energy Drives Learning
Let's look at Figure I.1 again. Notice the words in the intersecting triangles that form where the circles overlap: Connect, Inspire, and Engage. These core elements emerge with the intersection of the WHO, the WHAT, and the HOW. They set in motion and sustain the all-important flow of energy that produces vital relationships, fires up the brilliance zone in learners, and results in optimal learning experiences. You and your learners connect with each other and the content in many ways and on many levels. You continuously inspire and then engage your learners. This cycle is an unending process throughout the ENGAGE Model, and it is vital to the Brilliance Learning System.
Just as our blood circulates through our bodies in an intentional, continuous flow that sustains our life, the Brilliance Learning System sets in motion a learning energy that cycles in a constant stream and builds enthusiasm, openness, active involvement, meaning, and knowledge. It maximizes our openness to learning. This openness and engagement moves us to greater depths of understanding so that ultimately learners embody the knowledge and make it their own. The powerful language and practice will free innate knowledge to connect to the new learning and release more clarity about how to move forward with this new understanding.
The ENGAGE Model
At the heart of the effectiveness of the Brilliance Learning System is the ENGAGE Model, the Learning Design component. The most salient principle of the model is what I think of as a radical shift or revolution in how we think of most classroom models: Whoever is teaching is doing the learning. Therefore, the ENGAGE Model is rich with abundant opportunities for learners to practice through teaching, actively building their own knowledge. Your role is to facilitate learning. You start as the “master teacher,” but your main role is to give enough information to enable the learner to work with and practice the new content. As you take a step back into the role of coach or guide, the learners themselves begin to teach the new content, garnering a deeper understanding, building confidence, releasing their brilliance, and making the new knowledge their own. Through this highly interactive process, you catalyze your learners to master the content you present so they can take their newly attained knowledge out into the world, generate enthusiasm for it, apply it, practice it, and avidly teach and share it—thereby maximizing your content and extending your reach.
Whoever is teaching is doing the learning.
Learning Fuels Life
Learning is a constant in our lives—a continuous journey. It requires self-discipline, dedication, hard work, and practice. Be forewarned. As with any evolution that involves change, this endeavor will not be easy. It is hard work. Like Jaime Escalante, it will require you to be relentless and mindful, positive and joyful. People will come to you eager and impatient for more—because once they experience being their best and bringing out brilliance in others, they will not settle for less.
