Learning Ecosystems

From DSC:
Many K-12 schools as well as colleges and universities have been implementing more collaborative learning spaces. Amongst other things, such spaces encourage communication and collaboration — which involve listening. So here are some resources re: listening — a skill that’s not only underrated, but one that we don’t often try to consciously develop and think about in school. Perhaps in our quest for designing more meta-cognitive approaches to learning, we should consider how each of us and our students are actually listening…or not.

Mackay: The power of listening — from startribune.com by Harvey Mackay

Excerpts:

We are born with two ears, but only one mouth. Some people say that’s because we should spend twice as much time listening. Others claim it’s because listening is twice as difficult as talking.

Whatever the reason, developing good listening skills is critical to success. There is a difference between hearing and listening.
…
These statistics, gathered from sources including the International Listening Association* website, really drive the point home. They also demonstrate how difficult listening can be:

• 85 percent of our learning is derived from listening.
• Listeners are distracted, forgetful and preoccupied 75 percent of the time.
• Most listeners recall only 50 percent of what they have heard immediately after hearing someone say it.
• People spend 45 percent of their waking time ­listening.
• Most people remember only about 20 percent of what they hear over time.
• People listen up to 450 words per minute, but think at about 1,000 to 3,000 words per minute.
• There have been at least 35 business studies indicating listening as a top skill needed for success.

From the International Listening Association*
LISTENING AND EDUCATION

• Even though most of us spend the majority of our day listening, it is the communication activity that receives the least instruction in school (Coakley & Wolvin, 1997). Listening training is not required at most universities (Wacker & Hawkins, 1995). Students who are required to take a basic communication course spend less than 7% of class and text time on listening (Janusik, 2002; Janusik & Wolvin, 2002). If students aren’t trained in listening, how do we expect them to improve their listening?
• Listening is critical to academic success. An entire freshman class of over 400 students was given a listening test at the beginning of their first semester. After their first year of studies, 49% of students scoring low on the listening test were on academic probation, while only 4.42% of those scoring high on the listening test were on academic probation. Conversely, 68.5% of those scoring high on the listening test were considered Honors Students after the first year, while only 4.17% of those scoring low attained the same success (Conaway, 1982).
• Students do not have a clear concept of listening as an active process that they can control. Students find it easier to criticize the speaker as opposed to the speaker’s message (Imhof, 1998).
• Effective listening is associated with school success, but not with any major personality dimensions (Bommelje, Houston, & Smither, 2003).
• Students report greater listening comprehension when they use the metacognitive strategies of asking pre-questions, interest management, and elaboration strategies (Imhof, 2001).
• Students self-report less listening competencies after listening training than before. This could be because students realize how much more there is to listening after training (Ford, Wolvin, & Chung, 2000).
• Listening and nonverbal communication training significantly influences multicultural sensitivity (Timm & Schroeder, 2000).

* The International Listening Association promotes the study, development,
and teaching of listening and the practice of effective listening skills  and
techniques. ILA promotes effective listening by establishing a network of
professionals exchanging information including teaching methods, training
experiences and materials, and pursuing research as listening affects
humanity in business, education, and intercultural/international relations.

10 important skills for active listening — from educatorstechnology.com

Excerpt:

Effective Listening — with Tatiana Kolovou and Brenda Bailey-Hughes — from lynda.com

Course description:
Listening is a critical competency, whether you are interviewing for your first job or leading a Fortune 500 company. Surprisingly, relatively few of us have ever had any formal training in how to listen effectively. In this course, communications experts Tatiana Kolovou and Brenda Bailey-Hughes show how to assess your current listening skills, understand the challenges to effective listening (such as distractions!), and develop behaviors that will allow you to become a better listener—and a better colleague, mentor, and friend.

Topics include:

• Recalling details
• Empathizing
• Avoiding distractions and the feeling of being overwhelmed
• Clarifying your role
• Using attentive nonverbal cues
• Paraphrasing what was said
• Matching emotions and mirroring

How to stop talking and start listening to your employees — from inc.com by Will Yakowicz
As a leader, you’re bound to be talking a lot, but you can’t forget to give others a chance to speak their mind.

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Addendum on 2/13/15:

• Wake-up call: How to really listen — from irishtimes.com by Sarah Green
  Insights from the Harvard Business Review into the world of work
  Excerpt:

  “It can be stated, with practically no qualification,” Ralph Nichols and Leonard Stevens wrote in a 1957 article in Harvard Business Review, “that people in general do not know how to listen. They have ears that hear very well, but seldom have they acquired the necessary aural skills which would allow those ears to be used effectively for what is called listening. ”

  In a study of thousands of students and hundreds of business people, they found that most retained only half of what they heard – and this immediately after they had heard it. Six months later, most people only retained 25 per cent.
  …

  It all starts with actually caring what other people have to say, argues Christine Riordan, provost and professor of management at the University of Kentucky.

  Listening with empathy consists of three specific sets of behaviours.