http://www.alexjdawson.org.uk All learning, great and small Fri, 28 May 2010 17:47:29 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Three days on the trot in the classroom is exhausting. Rewarding, but exhausting. I've been working a bit more on body position and tone variation. It's hard to gauge the impact, but it certainly helps me feel more confident. What really makes for a great classroom experience though, is great delegates, ... http://www.alexjdawson.org.uk/?p=270 This article by Russell M. Davies in Wired UK gave me the idea of writing quick weeknotes - short reflections on the week gone by and what went well, what needs more thought/action and what's coming up next. I enjoyed seeing the new Connect newsletter come out, my first as Editor. ... http://www.alexjdawson.org.uk/?p=268 I've very recently become the editor of the quarterly newsletter for the Charity Learning Consortium and for the next edition we will be focusing on social media. I'm keen to find some practical examples of where charities have used social media tools to capture and propogate learning within their organisation. ... http://www.alexjdawson.org.uk/?p=262 Warning: This post uses an extended use of sport as a metaphor for business improvement, which some readers may find tedious. Sir Alex Ferguson has been the manager of Manchester United for 23 years, an unprecedented and unmatched tenure in modern football. Great football teams do not burn brightly for too ... http://www.alexjdawson.org.uk/?p=233 The following was written for the handout which accomponied a 30 minute bite-size 'train the trainers' session: Capturing is the process by which learners, be they in a group or as individuals, use methods such as note-taking, action-plans, whiteboards, flipcharts and snow-carding to help capture thoughts, ideas, key methods and approaches. The ... http://www.alexjdawson.org.uk/?p=187 Reproduced from The 360 degree on 360 feedback blog.... This post is very much about my own experiences of using 360° feedback as a coaching tool and I don’t profess to be an expert. I would be very interested to read views on alternative approaches, so if you do read this, ... http://www.alexjdawson.org.uk/?p=183 It seems that the 'classroom learning is dead' idea is going to be part of the l&d industry's next big sell. Look out for a leap in informal learning consultants. This article makes some good points, but the 'training is dead' headline feels a little bit like unnecessary hyperbole. I added ... http://www.alexjdawson.org.uk/?p=179   I wrote the following for Londonist in 2006, just after Sol Campbell had walked out of Highbury during half-time in his club's game against West Ham. It was described as a meltdown at the time and there were all sorts of theories flying around as to Campbell's state of mind, ... http://www.alexjdawson.org.uk/?p=176 There is nothing new about learning and development professionals, be they coaches, facilitators or l&d managers, borrowing ideas and techniques from the sporting world. The most obvious example is business or workplace coaching, which has a good portion of its roots in the practice of traditional sport coaching and has ... http://www.alexjdawson.org.uk/?p=173 Having taken a look at the concept of sanctuary, it's now time to get cracking with the second of my three 'mini-projects', which was also inspired by reading 'The Mentor's Book' by Mike Pegg. I want to take a closer look at the following idea: Creating a compelling picture of perfection. This ... http://www.alexjdawson.org.uk/?p=170