Martha Lanaghen

Next Step to Teach at the Next Level

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No matter what your current role you have the opportunity to teach other people.  Whether through small one-on-one moments, or in large-group settings where you are officially a “teacher.”

The challenge in these situations is that so often we assume the lesson is learned by just telling the information — and that is rarely the case.

Dr. Eric Mazur, recently spoke at the Turning Technologies Users Conference in San Diego.  His program reiterated the importance of peer-to-peer teaching.  Even something as simple as asking someone to paraphrase information back to you, can have a profound impact on what they learn, and how long they remember it.

The challenge to each of us — how do we incorporate the next level of learning into every one of our teaching engagements — even the quick, one-on-one moments?  How can we encourage our audience to teach each other, (and us!), the core concepts?  How can they make those concepts personal and relevant to them?

Don’t be shy about asking exactly that — here are some great questions to ask…

  • Write down three ways this information is relevant to you in your life today (now, tell someone else in the room what you came up with).
  • Is this information relevant to you? Yes or no?  Explain why.  Now, find someone that answered the question the opposite way from you, convince them to change their answer.

Then write to me and tell me what you observe!  [email protected]