NMC 2009 – Creating Passionate Learners (Kathy Sierra)
Fleeting thoughts, reflection later.
One of the great things about the NMC Summer Conference is the variety of formats– plenary sessions and breakouts, of course, but also 5-minute talks, interactive posters, and a great system for attendees to connect with one another… but there’s nothing like a great opening keynote to set the tone. I’ve been trying to find an opportunity to see Kathy Sierra speak ever since she was forced to cancel her keynote at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference a few years ago.
Opening slide: Cognitive Seduction.
I like.
Pop Quiz Which is better: This company kicks ass? This product kicks ass?
The question is: will this go in the direction of marketing and branding or teaching and learning? Because in the first case I’d go with A, but in the second I’d go with B. Gardner was right: the answer is the secret answer: I kick ass!
Good to hear Kathy qualify her use of the word "user"– that she is using that term in the best possible way, thinking of usability and people. Silences my alarm whenever I hear things like "user generated content."
Look at Amazon reviews– the ones that matter reflect on the person writing the review.
They say "because of this book or toaster or widget, I was able to do something new, be a better person, cook perfectly browned toast for the first time." This is the essence of usability.
Q: What did (do) you want to be really, really good at? What do you want to kick ass at?
Considering our own answers: Leslie and Gardner echo my own answer: mastering a musical instrument. Think about how it would feel to be able to enable someone else to reach that level of mastery… how good that would feel. That’s at the heart of education (and, incendentally, gets back to part of my call at TTIX just last week– the mastery and satisfaction that come with mindfulness).
Hi-res experience… when a listener learns more about jazz, they hear more than other listeners. It’s a hi-res experience.
Great graph: move up the scale from the "suck threshold" to the "passion threshold." Does this have to be a function of time? How does the "first time" experience shape the resulting curve? How fast can you move "from suck to skill?"
This is sounding familiar: it’s not about the tools you build (or use). Example: Nikon brochure vs manual… the first works because it’s about the pictures people can take, not about the camera. Teach before Tech, putting learning first, insert tattoable-slogan here.
"Your brain and mind are in an epic battle." Our brains are constantly mediating our experience… "the brain’s spam filter" What the brain pays attention to: what the chemistry tells it to.
We want to spark the mind, strike the emotional flint. Engage the chemisty. Many examples of facial expressions and pictures which elicit quick, broad emotion (cute puppies, smiling people, open-mouthed babies, despairing fortune cookies).
This reminds me of Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s Flow, which would be the sustained engagement, the fire that follows the strike of the flint.
Minor changes in tone from formal to conversational have significant effects on transfer of information.
How does this carry over into the sustained educational context? So far this feels like how to engage the first taste, the first fleeting impression. Where it doesn’t recapitulate effective presentation (or Powerpoint) techniques.
"Talk to the brain, not to the mind."
"Ten Tricks"
1. Focus on what the user does, not what you do.
2. Give them superpowers quickly.
3. Make them smarter.
4. Don’t focus on X, focus on what X is a part of.
5. Shrink the 10,000 hours. Learn the patterns; shorten the duration. Using the GM memory of chess patterns example.
This example is everywhere. Learn/share heuristics. And practice, practice, practice. "Create a culture of practice."
The first couple of these tricks are essentially game mechanics, something I’ve seen Amy Jo Kim and others present persuasively on… while being largely dismissed by the educational community.
Integrated learning. Great example of a "saddle chair" Kathy built.
6. Make your product (or docs) reflect their feelings. "Letting people off the hook" – people feel guilty, they feel like idiots when driven to user manuals and FAQs. Release them.
7. Create a culture of support.
I would bring this back to the dyad of vulnerability and trust… be open to learning, which demands trust.
Community is built around questions. To create a productive community, make users comfortable asking and answering questions.
There are no dumb questions … and there are no dumb answers.
8. Do not insist on inclusivity. Passionate users talk differently.
Social software and systems provide differentiated communities without interfering boundaries. This is the foundation of Third Places (ala Oldenburg). There is a lot of room to improve
9. Make the right things easy, wrong things difficult
10. Total Immersion Jams. 16 hours over two days rather than 16 hours over two months. Interesting example: 24 hour filmmaking festival, two-day music creation. "Less *camp, more *jams"
NaNoWriMo, anyone? Or Nike… just do it? Deadlines, putting the work in front of you.
"Be brave, end mediocrity"
Introduction before the keynote: Diane Harrison, President CSU Monterey Bay… particular thanks to Arlene Krebs (NMC). Learn more and our experience becomes deeper– the evolution of experience.