TEACHER, KNOW THINE AUDIENCE!
by Jack Butler

We instructional designers and tech writers are both explainers and teachers. We both hope our victims learn something from us. But how often do we pull ourselves away from our own divine creations long enough to try to learn something more about the people whose lives we claim to improve through our writing and designing? You’re thinking audience analysis and usability testing by now. Yes, these are some of the most important, interesting, and intriguing parts of our work. Why? Because we try, as do the stones of the rolling type, to give them what they need.

It’s difficult to bring people to the aha moment when they break their faces with broad smiles and say, “Now I get it.” Or maybe we can just help them to say, “Thank heavens. I don’t feel helpless anymore.” Okay, in some cases it’s a simple, “Got it.” But this is what we’re paid for. If we can’t do it, well, that leads us on to “other opportunities.” But when we do it well, we know it. And that feels good.

How does one get to know one’s audience? I heartily recommend that you learn the best practices in audience analysis and usability testing, human factors, human-centered design, and computer-human interaction. And – study the brain.

Brain research in the last twenty years has been an explosion of new knowledge and, frequently, a reversal of what we were taught in school. In fact, much of the new information about the brain is revolutionary, but not yet appreciated by many. But this work is central to what we do, so I’d like to encourage you to start learning more about it. Misunderstanding the brain and holding on to antiquated notions about the brain could have serious consequences in our field.

I am not a brain expert. It’s just that, since I’ve launched myself on this path of exploration, I’ve found that what I’m learning makes me better at what I do, and I enjoy it even more. Not only that, though. I’ve come to the realization that, whosoever professes to teach, thou shalt know thine audience and their diverse brain wiring.

What Michael Allen, the founder of Macromedia, has to say in his new Guide to e-Learning. “I think it is good to be concerned because much (probably most) e-learning is nearly worthless.” (Page 50, Michael Allen’s Guide to e-Learning, 2003, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN 0-471-20302-5)

We have all seen training that is nothing more than reading online, and we have all experienced teaching of questionable merit throughout our academic years and into our professional lives. The authors of the books I’d like to recommend to you recognize these problems and address them with answers that require some understanding of brain function. One common thread through modern brain literature is that the members of our audience are diverse in their abilities and in their learning styles, and these learning styles must be addressed.

I think that one of the toughest things to do in our profession is to work with subject matter experts who, through their own personal learning techniques and experiences, have come to know a body of knowledge so well that it seems common knowledge to them, and they do not see much value in the writer/designer. They may have also been the victims of some bad teaching, teaching that ignored their learning style in the classroom and taught them to avoid teachers and classrooms altogether. If we inform ourselves better about the brain and learning, we can better explain our value to a team, and we can better explain the basis for the decisions we make. Armed with knowledge of cognitive learning theory, we can have a positive influence on even the most challenging of projects.

I think that one of the toughest things to do in our profession is to work with subject matter experts who, through their own personal learning techniques and experiences, have come to know a body of knowledge so well that it seems common knowledge to them, and they do not see much value in the writer/designer. They may have also been the victims of some bad teaching, teaching that ignored their learning style in the classroom and taught them to avoid teachers and classrooms altogether. If we inform ourselves better about the brain and learning, we can better explain our value to a team, and we can better explain the basis for the decisions we make. Armed with knowledge of cognitive learning theory, we can have a positive influence on even the most challenging of projects.

RECOMMENDED READING

Here are a few books about the brain and learning that I think instructional designers and tech writers will enjoy. I have found them to be very rewarding, and I think that my colleagues will find great value in each. There’s nothing systematic about the list. I’m the father of two adolescent boys, and that is reflected in my reading. Most of the books were recently published and make the most of recent research.

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School
Expanded Edition. 2000, National Academy Press. ISBN 0-309-07036-8. Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning. John D. Bransford, Co-chair of the Learning Technology Center at Vanderbilt University, serves as one of the editors and one of the authors.

How People Learn brings the latest research on the brain and learning to those who hope to teach. I think that this is one of the most practical and helpful books you can read on the subject today. It is easily read and comprehended, and it addresses the very types of learning issues encountered in our work. It also has some excellent advice for schools. Look for other books by John Bransford as well.

The Secret Life of the Brain
Richard M. Restak and David Grubin Productions, Inc. A co-publication of The Dana Press and the Joseph Henry Press, 2001. Book ISBN: 0-309-07435-5

One of the most fascinating and accessible works on the brain is the 2001 PBS documentary “The Secret Life of the Brain,” available on DVD and VHS. A companion book of the same name is also available. Both formats break the material into five sections: The Baby’s Brain, The Child’s Brain, The Adolescent Brain, The Adult Brain, and The Aging Brain.

The book’s opening chapter, “How We View the Brain,” describes the technologies used for studying the great noodle. Subsequent chapters make liberal use of photos and graphics to illustrate brain functions and development as well as malfunctions and addictions. It uses the latest research to show how some long-held beliefs about language acquisition and aging, for example, are being reversed.

One of the most impressive features of this presentation is that all topics are introduced through the lives of real people. You’ll find yourself learning about neuronal development in the brain as you watch a baby recover from eye surgery. You’ll see how stem cells form new nerve cells, even into old age. You’ll discover the molecular makeup of neurons while learning how things go wrong in the nerves of an Alzheimer’s patient. You can learn more about the limbic system, the amygdale, and the role that emotions play in all learning while watching a patient overcome crippling depression. And these are just a few examples taken from the video presentation. The book brings additional information to the production as a whole.

PBS also hosts a very helpful Web site for the series. The site provides interesting and helpful activities and information on the brain.

Visit the Web site: at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/index.html

A Mind at a Time
Mel Levine, M.D. Simon and Schuster, New York, 2002. ISBN 0-7432-0222-8.

Dr. Mel Levine is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician. He is a Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of the Clinical Center for the Study of Development and Learning at the University of North Carolina Medical School at Chapel Hill. Yes, his work focuses on pediatrics, but don’t let that steer you away altogether. It’s my opinion that everyone who teaches should read this book. It is very instructive in helping you to know your audience – young or not so young. Teachers and professors with students of any age group can use it to improve their teaching and help students overcome learning difficulties. This book is a wonderful read, and you will most likely find yourself described in one chapter or another. Levine addresses learning difficulties in children, but the benefit to writers and designers is that he describes most all of the brain functions involved with learning. If you do have children in school, you will find this book invaluable whether or not they have learning problems.

Visit the Web site at: http://www.allkindsofminds.org

The Tangled Wing, Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit
Melvin Konner, Second Edition, Revised and Updated, 2002. Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York. ISBN 0-7167-4602-6.

Melvin Konner, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of anthropology as well as psychiatry and neurology at Emory University in Atlanta. His book, The Tangled Wing, takes recent research from many areas – including the brain – and helps the reader to put this information into perspectives helpful to us within the context of our times and our culture. Konner has studied a wide variety of world cultures and this helps to make his points of view more interesting and more convincing.

In Chapter 16, Change, Konner presents the best, most detailed description of learning I have ever read.

The Tangled Wing is an in-depth look at how we can better understand ourselves through biology. It is not a light read, but it is occasionally—between descriptions of brain function at the molecular level—hilarious. Reading it will help you to step back from your own culture and nature, change the view to one of an outside observer, and enjoy some of the most helpful and most fascinating views on human nature that you’re likely to come across.

In the Introduction, “A Prefatory Inquiry,” Konner has these comments on our current cultural propensity to manage our brains by pharmacological intervention.

“The favorable effects of prescription drugs on the brain, still somewhat controversial two decades ago, are universally accepted as fact, although ethical questions continue to trouble many. Depression, delusion, obsession, compulsion, overeating, addiction, and attention deficit are all treated with medicines. Yet one need only change this list to read sadness, imagination, conscientiousness, diligence, appetite, habit, and restlessness to realize how very close we are to managing human nature by prescription.”

Study Guide to Accompany: The Human Brain, An Introduction to Its Functional Anatomy
Fifth Edition, John Nolte, Ph.D., 2002, Mosby, Inc.

For those who want to know more – a lot more – about brain anatomy, this is a less expensive supplement to a larger work. It is a condensed version of a textbook. There are 190 illustrations as well as adequate text descriptions of all parts of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system. I found this work in a medical bookstore. It is intended for serious students of medicine. Knowledge of biology and chemistry are needed to get the most from this work. It provides thorough and detailed descriptions of the nervous system and the chemical events that take place in the neurons of the brain.

RESOURCES ON THE WEB FOR THE BRAIN

There are many excellent resources on the Web for learning more about the brain. Here are just a few.

nobelprize.org
http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/2000/index.html

Visit the site for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the year 2000 for excellent introductions to the work of three important scientists and their research. Be sure to explore the links “Education” and “Illustrated Presentation” for thorough information and even some excellent instructional design. There’s even a game you can play to help you learn more about neurotransmission.

The Brain from Top to Bottom
The Canadian Institute of Neurosciences,
Mental Health, and Addiction
http://www.thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/index_d.html

This is a very well organized and helpful site that provides a wealth of information on the brain for three different levels of viewer: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

Virtual Hospital, The Human Brain: Dissections of the Real Brain
http://www.vh.org/adult/provider/anatomy/BrainAnatomy/BrainAnatomy.html

This site displays photographs of the dissection of the brain. Accompanying illustrations help identify the parts of the brain.

Brain Facts, A Primer on the Brain and Nervous System
The Society for Neuroscience.
http://apu.sfn.org/baw/pdf/brainfacts.pdf

This is an excellent resource for beginners. It provides in-depth descriptions of brain anatomy and function. The color illustrations are very helpful.

A Science Odyssey, Probe the Brain, You Try It
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/brain/#

(Shockwave) Use your mouse and pointer as an electric probe to stimulate parts of the motor cortex to see which part of the body it controls.

Jacob L. Driesen, Ph.D.
http://www.driesen.com/brain_view_-_1.htm

This site provides excellent illustrations of brain anatomy.

CONCLUSION

I would very much enjoy hearing from others who have found good resources for reading about the brain and learning theory. I hope that we can start a discussion about the rewards for brain study among tech writers and instructional designers. Please write me with your thoughts at butlerja@bellsouth.net.