- “Brilliance by Design: Creating Learning Experiences That Connect, Inspire, and Engage” by Vicki Halsey is a transformative guide to designing effective learning experiences that resonate with learners.
- Explore the world of instructional design and create learning experiences that truly connect with your audience, inspire them, and engage them effectively. Discover the power of Vicki Halsey’s insights in ‘Brilliance by Design.’
Brilliance by Design (2011) is all about creating learning experiences that bring out the brilliance in every student. Targeted at coaches, teachers, mentors, and anyone who spends time in a classroom, it provides a handy and helpful model for high-impact instructional design that will inspire and motivate learners.
Table of Contents
Who is it for?
- Teachers looking to add tools to their repertoire
- Mentors having a hard time energizing their mentees
- Anyone who spends time at the front of a classroom
What’s in it for me? A handy guide to inspiring, invigorating, and empowering your learners.
In college, Vicki Halsey had her modus operandi down to a science. She sat in a quiet corner of the classroom, always did the assigned readings, and, when asked a question, regurgitated everything she thought her professors wanted to hear.
One day, in Professor Wilson’s class, Vicki stayed behind with some other students to ask about an upcoming assignment. As usual, she hung back and let her classmates do the talking while she listened. They were smarter and more capable of asking questions than she was – at least, that’s what she thought. But before she could leave, Professor Wilson suddenly called her name and asked if he could speak with her for a few minutes. Approaching panic, Vicki quickly replied, “Yes, sir.”
When the other students cleared out, the professor asked her a profound question: “How are we going to bring out the brilliance in you?”
Vicki was taken aback. She muttered a safe answer – the one she thought he wanted to hear. But he slapped the desk with his hand and said, “I’m not interested in hearing what you think I want to hear; I want to know what you think. You.”
Vicki suddenly began to choke up, and tears welled in her eyes. Professor Wilson handed her a tissue and explained his vision of her. He saw one Vicki who showed up to class – the one who hid her genius and played it safe. But he also saw a second Vicki – the one who allowed her genius to shine through in the papers she wrote. It was time for Vicki to fully unleash her brilliance.
Professor Wilson’s simple yet profound intervention helped Vicki see herself in a new light and completely shifted her attitude in his classroom. In that moment, her life changed.
Now it’s time for you to do the same – to bring out the brilliance in all of your students. In these summaries, you’ll discover how to ignite their passion and show them how smart they can be. After all, how many thousands of Vickis might be hiding in the shadows, waiting for someone to help them realize their potential?
The Brilliance Learning System
Meet the glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. He is renowned for his beautiful, bold, creative pieces. But the sculptures themselves are perhaps not his greatest innovation. Instead, it was his idea of assembling teams of skilled glassblowers to create the amazing, large-scale artworks. By capitalizing on the synergy of their collective skills, Chihuly and the other artists produce unique pieces that they would never have been able to create on their own.
When it comes to the classroom, a similar synergy is at play between teachers and learners. At the end of the day, it doesn’t result in intricate sculptures in the shapes of sea creatures or cacti. But this synergy does result in a different kind of masterpiece: the beauty of shared knowledge, empowerment, and new crystallized skills in the minds of your students.
When there is synergy in the classroom, teachers and learners work together to reach greater and greater heights. As the teacher, it’s your job to create and foster that synergy – just as Dale Chihuly does with his teams of glassblowers.
This is where Vicki’s Brilliance Learning System comes into play. It’s made up of three components, all of which we’re going to cover. The first component is people – more specifically, people who create synergistic relationships that bring out the best in both themselves and others.
How can you become such a teacher?
A great way to start is by adopting the 70/30 principle. This is the idea that you, as the teacher, should be talking only 30 percent of the time, while your learners should be talking 70 percent of the time. This will make your learners feel like they are the focus of the session. Remember this important axiom: whoever is doing the talking is doing the learning. Learners should spend 70 percent of their time practicing and building skills, and 30 percent of their time learning from you.
Put effort into getting to know your learners. What are their goals, passions, and areas of expertise? Could it be that you’re subconsciously stifling their learning through your tone, demeanor, facial expressions, or body language? Is your classroom a safe space?
Assume that every learner comes to your session wanting to learn, and that those with pessimistic attitudes may feel closed off to learning because of negative experiences from the past – not necessarily because of your class. So instead of getting annoyed, be curious about their experiences and feelings.
While your focus should be on the learners in the classroom, it’s also important that you invest in yourself. This will help you to bring out the best in others. One way to do this is by practicing self-care. Busy instructors often let self-care slip by the wayside. But if you aren’t feeling good and restored on a regular basis – if you aren’t, in other words, bringing out the brilliance in you – you’re going to have a hard time bringing out your learners’ brilliance.
Self-care might mean more sleep, more time to eat, walks in nature, mini-vacations, or quiet time with family. Whatever it is, make sure you’re staying fresh, healthy, and inspired!
Crafting Content
The first time Vicki taught a full lesson, she wanted to knock her students’ socks off. So she decided to wow them with a lesson she knew would be meaningful. And that’s what we’re going to talk about in this chapter.
First, she printed copies of the poem “On Giving” by Kahlil Gibran on parchment paper. Then, she hand-wrapped each one in a unique and beautiful package, and placed them all in a basket. When the class began, she walked through the aisles and handed each student one of the packages. Every time she extended her hand to a student, she made eye contact, smiled, and said, “I have a gift for you.”
Next, she asked the students to write about how it felt to receive her gift. Then, she put the students into groups of four or five to share their experiences of giving and receiving gifts in the past. The students opened their packages and read the poem out loud. In small groups, they discussed the ideas in the piece before all coming together to exchange their thoughts.
In this lesson, Vicki was actively involving her learners, connecting to their experiences, creating new activities, and giving them space to learn on their own. She obeyed the 70/30 principle and trusted that the learning design would allow the students to generate the important concepts in the lesson. As a result, she didn’t actually have to teach them anything directly.
Lots of care went into Vicki’s content design. Content is the key word here – it’s the second component of the Brilliance Learning System. Just as with Vicki’s lesson, your job is to create a context that will inspire your learners to discover insights for themselves. Had Vicki not made such an effort to connect with her students on a personal level or to solidify the learning through physical gifts and a variety of activities, her lesson would have fallen flat.
So, the question is, how can you apply these lessons? How can you make your own content sing? Vicki’s got a few pointers. First, make sure the content is concise, accessible, and that it addresses your learners’ needs. Next, explicitly state your desired learning outcome. Finally, design a model that gives learners plenty of time to discover the lesson’s objectives on their own terms; incorporate a range of meaningful activities that will offer your students the time and space to connect with your topic.
We’re now moving on to the third component of the Brilliance Learning System. It’s called the ENGAGE model, and each letter stands for a tool that will help you bring out the brilliance in your students. Let’s start with the first letter: E.
Energize
Picture this: You walk into your office one day and find a small chocolate bar on your desk. It’s attached to a letter from your manager. In it, she invites you to a leadership seminar in two weeks, expresses her gratitude for your work, and writes that she’s excited for you to participate in the upcoming learning session.
Two days later, you receive an email linking you to an online tutorial that introduces the topics you’ll cover in the seminar. The tutorial asks you to make a list of all the projects you think the class will benefit. You’re told to show your manager your list within two days and see what she thinks.
This is an example of an instructor making good use of pre-event engagement. (And chocolate.) She’s getting learners to think about the content and how they might eventually utilize it, all before the class has even started. In other words, she’s energizing them. Energize represents the first letter in Vicki’s ENGAGE model, and it indicates the need for the instructor to get learners excited and ensure that they’ll remain engaged during the lesson.
Personalizing the learners’ invitation to the class is just one way of creating the necessary excitement. Another way is to send participants a book, article, or study guide. By reading about the subject of your lesson beforehand, learners are reminded of what they already know about the topic. This pre-thinking helps them connect to the new content they’re going to learn and helps them get warmed up. Be careful not to send out too much material before the session: you don’t want to overwhelm your learners.
But readying the learners before they show up to class is just one piece of the puzzle. The next thing to consider is what happens when your students actually step foot in the classroom.
There are plenty of ways you can prepare the room in advance. To stimulate learners, put up some posters on the wall, play music when people start walking into the classroom, or lay out healthy snacks in colorful bowls. Greet every participant you can as they walk in, and get to know them a little bit. Even just saying “hi” and asking them to introduce themselves can go a long way toward making them feel engaged and important.
Once the session has started, get your learners talking. Most instructors tend to spend the first 10 to 15 minutes of a session lecturing or talking at their learners. But by letting the learners talk first, you activate their interest right away.
One way to do this is by kicking off with a provocative question. In a leadership course, you might ask, “Who was your best coach, boss, or leader?” This question can help learners connect with one another through shared experiences, which in turn helps them build relationships and foster a sense of community. And what’s more energizing than a vibrant, close-knit community?
In this chapter we’re going to look at a time when Vicki was faced with a steep learning curve in her career. She was teaching a life-skills program at a middle school, and the kids in her class were particularly challenging. The only way she could get them to focus on the “important” part of the lesson was by promising them a Jeopardy-style quiz during the second half of class. In the game, she asked questions about a variety of topics; she offered all the students an opportunity to show off their particular area of expertise – be it geography, chemistry, or engineering.
One of the kids – who we’ll call Randy – was skinny, wore glasses, and spoke with a lot of foul language. He was often picked on by other kids and sometimes didn’t pay attention in class. But during one of the quiz games, Vicki asked, “What’s the common name for aspirin?” Randy immediately smacked the buzzer and responded with the correct answer: “Acetylsalicylic acid.” Later in the same quiz, Vicki asked, “What does DNA stand for?” Once again, Randy slammed the buzzer and answered correctly: “Deoxyribonucleic acid.” A long pause stretched across the room. Then, his team began to cheer and clap, and give him big slaps on the back. From then on, the other kids stopped making fun of him and embraced him as their friend. For Randy, this was his opportunity to be brilliant – to be a hero. (And to pronounce really big words!)
What was Vicki’s role in Randy’s transformation? It was as simple as facilitating a quiz game – an active learning exercise – and asking questions about a variety of topics so that everyone had the chance to be smart. Because of that, Randy had the opportunity to show off his own unique brilliance.
Vicki designed her content for exactly that purpose. In doing so, she was navigating content – the letter N in our ENGAGE model. Navigating content means presenting it in varied, interactive ways so that learners can understand concepts, as well as practice and assess their learning.
You can put your own personal spin on navigating content. But it’s helpful to follow a few key rules. The first is to focus your learners on the target. If you say, for instance, “I’m going to teach you three keys to leadership,” you’re creating a kind of challenge that learners’ brains will work to complete.
After you’ve created that framework in their minds, you should find a way to help learners experience the content directly or connect it to an experience they’ve already had. Say you’re teaching customer service. You might walk learners through a negative and a positive customer service experience, or ask them about their own experiences with customer service.
Next, you want to follow up with an activity in which learners practice or teach key concepts to one another. If participants have read an article, done an assessment, or answered study guide questions, this is a good opportunity to have them quiz each other. Or try organizing a jigsaw activity. This is when learners are each assigned an individual topic to read about – say, one part of an article or story. Then, they come together in groups of three to share and teach the information they’ve learned – their part of the puzzle.
After you’ve explained your topic or model and had learners interact with it, take some time to share the research, statistics, or other concrete information that backs up what you’ve been teaching. This will help the more analytical learners – who typically comprise 50 percent of a class – feel more confident in the models you’ve provided. To spice up your lecture, use handouts, clear descriptions, stories, visuals, or videos.
The next part of teaching your new content will help learners check and deepen their understanding. It should demonstrate that someone “gets” the information. During this part, participants should be teaching their new knowledge to their fellow learners in a way that feels natural to them. Someone might like to demonstrate her learning by sketching them out on a flip chart, while another person might like to find information in a text, answer questions about it, and discuss the answers.
Ultimately, your goal is to make your learners feel brilliant. Why? Because brilliant people do everything in their power to obtain the information you want to give them. They sit on the edge of their seat, waiting to give answers; they ask insightful questions; and they tell you when they don’t understand something. You want to, and you can, bring out that brilliance in every learner.
Generate and Apply
How many times have you learned something in a course or class, been excited about the material at first, and then totally failed to apply it to your real life? If this has happened to you, you’re far from alone. There’s a strong neuroscientific basis behind the phrase “Old habits die hard.” The human brain is an expert at sticking to familiar routines and patterns, and it takes a strong, concerted effort to commit to new ones.
That’s why, as an instructor, part of your job is to help learners generate meaning – the G in the ENGAGE model. This step helps learners understand and confirm the relevance of the information they’ve received so they’re motivated to apply it to their real lives. se to act on their learning and transform it into long-term behavioral change. You want them to drill down on the question, “What is the meaning of this learning in my life?”
So, how do you facilitate learners generating meaning for themselves? It’s simple: take them back to the objectives that drove them to start the course in the first place. Ask questions like, “What was the most important concept you wanted to learn in this session? Why did you want to learn it? Why was it important to you?” You could also have learners engage in discussions in small groups, with everyone going around the table and expressing the most important lesson they learned from the session. Exercises like these will prompt learners to consider the content in the context of their lives, which will increase their likelihood of then applying it.
Applying knowledge to the real world just so happens to be the next letter in the ENGAGE model – the A. This is a step many teachers skimp on because they expect students to do it themselves after the lesson or course has already been taught. In truth, you should be helping your learners understand how to apply their knowledge while you’re still in the classroom together.
Before this step, learners will probably have already done some out-of-context practice. They may have read a case study about effective negotiation, for instance. But they may not have thought about how they might actually apply their knowledge in their next sales meeting.
To get learners in that frame of mind, try facilitating learning labs. These are structured activities that ask learners to jot down some thoughts about how they want to apply their new knowledge. Then, they sketch out a clear, step-by-step plan for how exactly to do that. You should give them very clear worksheet templates to make this part easy. Once the learners have created their plans, they should discuss them with partners. Finally, after they’ve actually done the real-world practice, there should be a follow-up session in which they debrief their partners about what worked within their plan and what didn’t.
Whatever activity or method you choose, ensure that learners realize the value of the knowledge they’ve gained and see how it can benefit them in their real life. Your goal is to cement their commitment and help them transform their learning from theory to practice.
Gauge
Vicki is a big fan of using songs as mnemonic devices. When she taught science at a high school, she put her students into groups and assigned each of them a family of the periodic table of elements. Then, they were asked to come up with a song to remember that family. Many years later, Vicki was at the mall with her sons when she ran into three of her former students. They huddled together and began singing the song they’d created back in high school – the tune to Katy Perry’s song “California Gurls” – but with lyrics about alkaline metals.
In this chapter we’re looking at how music is a powerful tool for learning – and how it can help you assess how well your learning model is working. This is the second G in the ENGAGE model – gauging how much your students have learned through some form of assessment. If you can see heads bopping during an exam, for instance, it’s a safe bet that students are using your songs to remember the answers to the questions.
Don’t let that word “assessment” throw you into a panic! This doesn’t have to be a scary test that makes your learners break out in a cold sweat. It’s merely another opportunity for them to feel confident in what they’ve learned.
To that end, your exam should include a wide variety of questions that challenge your learners and give them the opportunity to reflect on their learning. Some questions should be at the easy level and test learners’ knowledge of facts, information, or data. Other questions should be harder and test application – learners’ ability to concretely demonstrate knowledge of their skills. And even harder questions should test synthesis – students’ ability to create or envision new possibilities using their knowledge.
The questions don’t necessarily need to appear in the form of a traditional test. For example, to assess students’ application abilities, you could have them role-play their new skills or use their knowledge to solve a real-world situation. To test their synthesis skills, you could have them write their own case study that illustrates the concepts they’ve learned. And, of course, you can have the students create a song using their new knowledge.
As a way to cap off your lesson, you can go around the room and ask your learners to share one key learning from the session. This is a way for them to review important concepts, transfer them into their long-term memory, and help them realize how much they’ve learned. When learners leave your classroom, they’ll be feeling brilliant and thinking, “Wow, I didn’t know this even an hour ago!”
Extend
We’ve now covered almost all of the ENGAGE model. Take a moment to appreciate the work you’ve put into understanding this learning model and how it will positively impact your learners. You’re going to give them the tools they need to learn and succeed with the information you give them. That’s cause for celebration!
Now it’s time for the final E in the ENGAGE model: extending learning to action so that learners get the results they want after walking out the classroom door. You’ve armed them with knowledge, but they still need tools to convert their intentions into actions.
Fortunately, there are some simple but effective strategies you can use to help learners do just that. One is to set up a buddy system. First, ask your learners to stop and think of a clear goal. Then, assign everyone in the class a buddy or have them choose their own buddy. Have them exchange contact information and choose a date when they’ll call each other for a check-in. They should write down questions they’ll ask during the check-in, such as “What was your goal? How have you been doing on that goal? When do you want to have it accomplished? What’s getting in your way of achieving it?” They should make a commitment to schedule regular follow-ups.
Timing is a critical factor when it comes to retention. You want learners to be using and thinking about their learning within 24 to 48 hours of the end of the class. Send learners an email within a day asking how they’re doing and if they’ve been acting on their intentions. Attach a one-page worksheet for them to fill in and send back to you. If a learner has a success story to share, you can include that story in your next follow-up email to create an incentive and capitalize on the power of community. Or you can take it even further and send a $5 gift card or other small gift to learners who successfully enacted a behavioral change. (Remember how well that chocolate bar worked earlier . . .)
Good teachers can truly change the lives of their learners. Who knows whose life you’ll change for the better by imparting your knowledge in a way that sticks, triggers an epiphany, and unlocks learners’ brilliance?
Summary
Teaching is all about transforming people’s lives through learning – unlocking the inner brilliance that lies within everyone. Through the Brilliance Learning System, you create synergy between yourself – the teacher – and your learners using the content you create. That content should follow the principles of the ENGAGE model, with which you can immerse learners actively in the information you’re teaching and unleash their brilliance over time.
And here’s some actionable advice: Take care of learners in the virtual classroom.
All the principles of the Brilliance Learning System and the ENGAGE model apply equally as well to the virtual classroom as they do to physical classrooms. But, of course, there are some special considerations you should take into account when teaching online. For one, it’s more difficult to engage learners online than in a physical classroom. Excite them by mailing them a learning packet ahead of time, a workbook, and a little rubber ball that learners can fiddle with during class. Use the chat function to ask interesting and provocative questions for your learners to discuss, and have one-on-one conversations as they filter into the room to get to know them. Oh, and sending them a chocolate bar wouldn’t hurt either!
Vicki Halsey is an instructional designer, speaker, and author with experience as a teacher, counselor, and school administrator. Currently, she serves as the Vice President of Applied Learning for the Ken Blanchard Companies, which specialize in workplace learning, productivity, and leadership training. She is the coauthor of Leading at a Higher Level, The Hamster Revolution, and The Hamster Revolution for Meetings.
Genres
Reference, Writing, Research, Publishing Guides, Business, Learning
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction: The Time for Brilliance Has Come
Chapter One: Fire Up the Synergy between Learners and Teachers
Chapter Two: Craft Content That Sings
Chapter Three: The ENGAGE Model: An Overview
Chapter Four: Energize Learners
Chapter Five: Navigate Content
Chapter Six: Generate Meaning
Chapter Seven: Apply to Real Work
Chapter Eight: Gauge and Celebrate
Chapter Nine: Extend Learning to Action
Chapter Ten: Bringing Out Brilliance in the Virtual Classroom
Conclusion: A Legacy of Learning
Resources:
A: Free Assessment–The Building Excellence Survey
B: Getting Started Creating Brilliance by Design
Running a Meeting
Designing a Workshop
C: Do-It-Yourself Templates
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author
Review
“Brilliance by Design: Creating Learning Experiences That Connect, Inspire, and Engage” by Vicki Halsey is a comprehensive guide that explores the art and science of designing effective learning experiences. In this book, Halsey provides valuable insights and practical strategies for creating training and development programs that truly resonate with learners and drive meaningful results.
Vicki Halsey’s “Brilliance by Design” is a well-crafted exploration of instructional design, blending theory with real-world applications. The book is divided into three parts: “Connect,” “Inspire,” and “Engage,” each of which focuses on a different aspect of creating impactful learning experiences.
In the “Connect” section, Halsey emphasizes the importance of understanding your learners and creating content that resonates with their needs and expectations. She delves into the psychology of adult learning, offering insights into how to establish a strong connection between the learners and the material.
The “Inspire” section discusses the role of motivation in the learning process. Halsey highlights the significance of inspiring learners, keeping them engaged, and ensuring that they remain committed to their learning journey. She provides practical tips on incorporating elements like storytelling, relevance, and emotional engagement to create an inspiring learning experience.
The final section, “Engage,” focuses on the design of interactive and engaging learning activities. Halsey offers a wide range of techniques and tools to foster active participation, feedback, and collaboration among learners. She discusses the use of technology, gamification, and simulations to create dynamic learning environments.
Halsey’s book is not just a theoretical guide; it’s a hands-on resource filled with practical advice, case studies, and examples that illustrate how to implement the concepts discussed. The author’s writing style is accessible, making the book suitable for both novice and experienced instructional designers and educators.
“Brilliance by Design” is a must-read for anyone involved in instructional design, teaching, or training. Vicki Halsey’s approach to creating learning experiences is both insightful and actionable, making this book an invaluable resource. Her emphasis on connecting with learners, inspiring them, and engaging them effectively is essential for modern education and training.
Halsey’s ability to blend theory and practice sets this book apart. It’s not just about understanding the concepts; it’s about applying them in the real world. The book is organized logically, with a clear progression from understanding your audience to creating inspiring content and, finally, facilitating engaging activities.
The practical examples and case studies throughout the book provide a solid foundation for implementing Halsey’s principles. Whether you’re designing corporate training programs, classroom lessons, or online courses, you’ll find actionable advice and techniques to enhance your teaching and learning materials.
In summary, “Brilliance by Design” is a comprehensive and practical guide for creating learning experiences that truly connect, inspire, and engage learners. Vicki Halsey’s expertise shines through in her well-researched and approachable writing. If you’re looking to take your instructional design to the next level, this book is an essential addition to your library.