Let The Learner Guide The Flow

You are working with a group of people on a project. Periodically people in the group need to learn the state of another area of the work rapidly. They may have some current familiarity with the area or it may be an area that they worked on a while back and they just need a refresher. Naturally, the best way to learn is to ask questions. However, people who are questioned feel obliged to give context and more information than is requested. In some cases, the information is already known by the questioner or the questioner needs different information during the explanation to jog memory and piece things together rapidly.

LetTheLearnerGuideTheFlow.

Although it may appear rude, let the "learner" interrupt any answer that the "expert" provides with another question. The "learner" knows what she needs at each point to build an understanding of what is being explained. If the "expert" feels that the "learner" is running down a blind path, use some signal phrase like "missing it" to indicate that the expert should take the floor and give the "learner" what she needs to ask better questions.

When this works there is a flurry of questions and answers, followed by a longer explanation. The cycle repeats.

Another context in which this is important: Different people organize information differently in their minds, have different communication styles. For example, some rely on low-level details, while others first need a high-level context or goal in which to interpret those details. Whatever the case, the learner generally knows how he organizes information and what he needs to understand in order to comprehend the next bit. Now, you the teacher already understand the information, already have it organized in your mind. In order to be an effective teacher, try to fit your presentation to the style of the learner. So if you're going down a list of low-level function requirements and someone says, "Hold on. What's the user going to see?" don't just say that you're getting to it. Rather, stop and give him a precis; he's asking to understand the big picture in which to interpret these low-level details.

Exactly. In many cases, the learner will not retain very much until you give him the answer, because he has no context to attach it to.

The same principle works for learning styles. Some people learn better visually, others aurally. If someone asks if you can draw a picture to illustrate your point, do.

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