1. Common Sense Learning Principles
Lessons from Sages, our experiences and each other
By David C Forman
David C Forman is founder and president of Sage Learning Systems, a consulting
company dedicated to the effective use of technology in learning. He has also
founded e-learningjobs.com, the first Internet job board for e-learning
professionals. David has held management and executive positions in the training
industry for 25 years. He has worked with many of the country’s leading
corporations to design, develop and implement multifaceted learning systems. David
has written over 30 articles and books in the fields of training, evaluation, return on
investment (ROI), and instructional design; and has presented at major industry
conferences and seminars, both in the United States and abroad. Contact info:
dforman1@cox.net, 619 656-2920
As learning becomes increasingly central to our lives and more
complicated, a growing array of templates, methods, blends,
objects and knowledge repositories have been created to
facilitate wider distribution of information. This is both useful
and inevitable, but is it all that learning should be? This article
looks back at memorable times when learning was enjoyable,
meaningful and relevant. It looks at both formal educational
and training settings as well as at informal, real-world learning
events that can happen anywhere at anytime. Nine common
sense learning principles, often overlooked in many of today’s
programs, are presented for possible inclusion in future
programs and events.
Common Sense Learning Principles 1

2. Common Sense Learning Principles
Lessons from Sages, our experiences and each other
by David C Forman
Current training and education programs have moved away from essential,
tried and true, practical principles of learning that have endured for
centuries. These principles are derived as much from our own experiences
as children and adults as from clinical research or learning theory. They are
from memorable times when the “message took”, learning was exciting and
meaningful, and we remember elements of it to this day. These common
sense lessons become part of life’s wisdom and should not be forgotten or
lost.
Today’s education and training programs have industrialized learning. This
has been done because the emphasis is on courses and chunks of knowledge
that can be distributed through existing classroom and electronic delivery
vehicles to thousands of people. Templates, standards and content
repositories have been created so that mass dissemination is accomplished
efficiently. The result is that this type of engineered learning is often
antiseptic, almost alien, from what we do, who we are, and what we know
works.
Common sense is a powerful force. It provides a framework for “the way
things ought to be.” It is practical wisdom. In educational measurement
terms, it is face validity. Historically, Common Sense is the name attached
to Thomas Paine’s pamphlet that helped arouse America against the rule of
England. Paine believed that it was simply a matter of common sense that
an island could not rule a continent. Seems reasonable. Six months after
publication of this pamphlet, America declared her independence from the
strongest military power on earth and created a form of government that had
no historical precedence in the modern world.
It is certainly true that one person’s common sense may not be another’s.
But there is often a shared collected wisdom or common sense that most
people would recognize as being valid. This emphasis on common sense is
also not intended to detract from research and more structured forms of
inquiry. This perspective would be wrong and it would ignore the great
contributions provided by researchers, scientists and educators over the
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3. years (e.g., Clark, 2002; Clark and Mayer, 2003). But it would be equally
wrong and too easy to dismiss common sense learning principles, simply
because they are not footnoted or the subject of a formal study. There are
other ways of knowing, albeit more subjective and less scientific.
Early in my life, my mentor explained to me the three paths that lead to the
creation of knowledge: The analytical path, where philosophers reflect,
meditate, and make sense of objects and events; the empirical path, where
scientists manipulate variables and conduct controlled experiments to
validate reliable principles; and the pragmatic path where practitioners
struggle with real-world challenges and come up with strategies for
effective and efficient performance.
Sivasailam“Thiagi” Thiagarajan, 2001
If these familiar learning principles make sense, try them out, learn from the
experience and make modifications as necessary. These principles can be
kept in the forefront of what we do as mentors, learners, teachers, parents,
caregivers and neighbors in every day life as well as in educational settings.
They can be applied in formal learning contexts as well as in informal
learning events that can happen anywhere at anytime.
Tell stories
Long before schools were established, information was conveyed in
conversations around the hearth, out in the field, or in the shop. These
conversations passed along the skills, tradition and understandings needed to
be successful in the next job or challenge to be confronted. These
conversations were often in the form of stories.
Story telling is the original form of teaching. Stories can include drama,
tension, memorable characters and events within a real life or fictional
context. Stories have a beginning, middle and end; and they can bring to
life, lessons and information that would otherwise be mundane and ordinary.
We remember stories. The lessons from good stories endure.
In the classroom and with the self-paced training products of today, there
seems to be little time for stories. The emphasis is on funneling through as
much information as possible, and not making the most important elements
come to life and be remembered. It is also harder to tell stories now, since
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4. we do not practice and appreciate this skill. It is, afterall, much easier to
simply convey information.
Why was Solomom recognized as the wisest man in the world? Because he
knew more stories (proverbs) than anyone else. Scratch the surface in a
typical boardroom and we are all just cave men with briefcases, hungry for
a wise person to tell us stories.
Alan Kay
Tip: The use of stories to foster discussion and interaction is especially
productive early in a class when it is important to establish common ground.
Higher participation rates generally lead to greater commitment and less of a
sense of isolation, which, in turn, increases retention (Neal, 2002)
Play games
School and learning have become synonymous with hard, tough, serious,
and relentless work. Many believe that if it’s not hard and demanding, it’s
not worthwhile, and that school and learning should reflect life’s tough
lessons. While this thinking has predominated the education and training
professions, it doesn’t coincide with common sense. It doesn’t account for
many wonderful, fun and effective learning moments we all have
experienced.
There is no reason why games should not be an integral part of schooling
and training. They involve the learner, foster higher-level thinking, boost
interest, involve many senses, reinforce the value of goals and rules, and
show outcomes. Games, like stories, have a meaningful context and
wholeness to them. They can become ideal teaching vehicles as people
reflect on what they did in the game and why.
Anyone who makes a distinction between games and education clearly does
not know the first thing about either one.
Marshall McLuhan
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5. Current research in the areas of stress, anxiety, creativity, self-efficacy and
neuroscience shows that more play will improve our learning and
performance. While “more work and less play” has been touted for a long
time as the way to improve human performance, there is much evidence that
such thinking is wrong.
Marc Prensky, 2001
Tip: It is not easy to create engaging and meaningful games, either in the
classroom or in standalone training products. There are, however, excellent
resources that contain pre-existing games and teaching resources. Leading
authorities in the field of game-based learning are Marc Prensky, Thiagi, and
Roger Schank. While these experts and available resources are valuable, it
is still important to develop or customize games to your own audience needs
and learning requirements.
Explore and experiment
Do you remember times when you were exploring something new? It could
have been hiking over new ground, trying to fix an engine problem in your
new used car, baking bread for the first time or working on your initial
chemistry lab. It was exhilarating, exhausting, challenging, frustrating, and
maybe even scary. It was, in fact, a very real and impactful learning
experience. It defined what you needed to know so you could do it better
next time.
The prevailing way we learn today is through instructional models that
present the content you need to know before actually doing something. It is
the structure of content and the instructional design process used to create it
that frequently defines what we learn. Sometimes this approach is necessary
and appropriate (it is best not to explore brain surgery), but often its not.
Furthermore, this content centered approach leads to the popular perceptions
that training is little more than “chalk and talk,” “hose and doze,” or “spray
and pray” presentations.
Flip the traditional approach around and begin to learn with a problem, issue
or experiment. By immediately engaging learners, they become interested,
motivated and discover what they need to know more about. This “problem-
centered” as opposed to “content-centered” approach can be initiated by
games, activities or even simple questions. As with other common sense
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6. learning principles, “explore and experiment” has been described and
recommended for decades, but its actual application and use remain limited.
From the very beginning of his education, the child should experience the
joy of discovery
Alfred North Whitehead
The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery
Mark Van Doren, Poet
You can talk and talk and talk, and the kids don’t learn. It’s that wow
experience when you go out and do.
Fraser Randolph Model Teacher
USA Today Oct 17, 2002
Tip: The problem-centered approach is particularly useful in building
interactivity, motivation, and interest; all very important and often missing
elements in current training and education programs. But because it is a less
directive teaching technique it can take more time than conventional
practices and require different types of feedback and guidance. Allow
enough time so that the exploration and subsequent debriefing are not
rushed. The problems that are presented should be challenging and a
“stretch,” but not too sophisticated or difficult so that learners become lost
and confused.
Use pictures
A picture is worth 1,000 words and probably a lot more. But all too often
pictures, graphics, and visuals are an after-thought in the text-heavy learning
materials of today. Because these materials are mainly derived from books
or lectures, text is used to convey the core message. Visuals are usually just
an adornment. It is easy to forget that centuries ago pictures and visuals
were the primary means for conveying information.
We know that learning is enhanced if the message is presented through both
words and visuals with each channel reinforcing the other. We know that
there are visual learners who prefer to have information conveyed
graphically. We know that the visual elements of children’s books and
Sesame Street are vital parts of the message and essential in sustaining the
child’s attention. Common sense tells us that visuals can add meaning, spice,
Common Sense Learning Principles 6

7. a framework, and relevance to material. But we also know that this rarely
happens.
In order to change the excessive reliance on words and text in today’s
education and training materials, we need to think differently. Flip the
traditional instructional model around and start with the visual, not the text.
Try to represent each major concept or objective with a key visual, and then
develop the surrounding text. Show a visual outcome first, and then teach
backwards. Lead with strength.
People remember 10% of what they read, 30% of what they see, and 50% of
what they hear and see.
Nick Van Dam, 2001
Tip: An important step in enhancing visual treatment is to recognize the
various types of visuals that can improve a presentation. Among the key
types of visuals are: fact, concept, process, procedure, relationship, visual
outcome, topic organizer and thematic. A visual must have meaning and
purpose. As bad as a visual-less, straight text presentation can be, learning
can be equally impeded by too many irrelevant or competing visuals.
Learners can become easily confused unless the visuals have a role, work
together, and add value. For an excellent review of research findings related
to the instructional role of graphics, see Clark and Mayer (2003)
Have a coach
I have learned a number of practical lessons over the years, and few of them
occurred in formal educational settings. Among these lessons: looking for
unique value propositions in products and companies, trying to distill a
presentation into 3 to 5 salient points that I can remember, beginning a
course development project by developing a job aid first, putting a splash of
water in as I make my two egg omelets, and always catching a ball with two
hands. Why?
I was taught these lessons by coaches and mentors, found them to be
valuable, and have never forgotten them. These lessons weren’t learned in a
class or a course; they were passed along by people with experience,
wisdom, and dedication to their craft. These lessons were made personal,
relevant and part of an ongoing dialog related to personal development and
apprenticeship in professional tasks.
Common Sense Learning Principles 7

8. Current training systems seem to have forgotten the long-standing almost
revered role that mentors have had in learning. We don’t seek out mentors
or try to make these connections; and are therefore missing tremendous
learning opportunities. Interestingly, one of the fastest growing areas in
leadership and executive development is the rise of the executive coach.
There is a return, in some disciplines and companies, to the practical
common sense understanding that mentors matter, are enriching, and add
value.
We do what our mentors teach us to do
M.F.K. Fisher
Tip: It is important for learners to recognize the value that coachs provide
through different stages, projects, and occupations. We can design systems
and courses that include provisions for personal dialog and discussions with
experts and mentors over a continuing time period. Technology can even be
used to foster mentoring. Seek out coaches and be one yourself; learning is
incomplete without them.
Learn with others
We learn more from each other than we do from formal teachings. An EDC
study reported in Training Magazine (2000) stated that 70% of what people
know about their jobs they learn informally from each other. What does this
say about how we approach education and training?
It says that learning is a social activity. It says that learning devoid of the
human touch and personal contact is limiting. It says that self-paced training
can breed a lonely long distance learner unless these systems put people
back in the equation. It says that learners learn most from each other.
The EDC findings are not as humbling as they first seem. No one is
suggesting that formal training courses should be drastically reduced
because they can impact only 30% of job performance. What it does suggest
is the importance of the informal, human context around formal training as a
rich learning experience. This interaction among peers is where ideas get
discussed, reality checked, applied, and adapted.
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9. I think peer interaction is where you learn. Having students work in groups
is essential. The course is not just the material that we present to them.
Don Norman, 2002
None of us is as smart as all of us
Satchel Paige
Tip: The classroom and campus are well suited to human interaction and
informal learning opportunities. This is a primary reason for their enduring
success over the years. But effective and creative uses of technology can
also bring a spirit of community to distance learners. David Grebow (2002)
provides the following advice:
“We need to use technology to facilitate the informal as well formal transfer
of knowledge by including expert locators, e-mail connections with
instructors, real-time Internet meeting places, virtual learning support
groups, instant messaging, expert networks, personal e-learning portals,
moderated chats, and more. We need to create the 100 percent learning
solution, in which the proscribed formal learning events and the
serendipitous learning moments are given equal value.”
Focus on the important
Most training courses today opt for complete coverage as opposed to making
the tough decisions on “what is really important to know.” It is easy to
develop programs that try to teach everything. It is hard to make choices
and prioritize to only focus on the important, relevant and meaningful.
Courses, therefore, are often an inch deep and a mile long; and present more
information than could ever be comprehended.
Our short-term memory is much like RAM in a computer: it can process
only so much information at any one time. In general, short-term memory
can process 7 ideas (plus or minus 1) effectively. More information leads to
overload and confusion. This personal bandwidth limitation is why it is so
necessary to not try to teach everything. Select a limited number of the most
important ideas or concepts, and then teach these in depth and effectively.
Common Sense Learning Principles 9

10. Put first things first
Steven Covey
At harvest time, separate the wheat from the chaff.
Anon
Tip: The 80/20 rule is worth remembering. It states, for example, that 80%
of what you do in a software application is accomplished with only 20% of
its features. The essence of the 80/20 rule is that “you can do a lot with a
little.” Performance is largely determined by a relatively few activities,
lessons, or skills. The art of the 80/20 rule is determining what the core
20% is that drives the 80%. How do we separate the consequential few from
the inconsequential many?
Take recess
Learning takes time. The movement from data to information to knowledge
to wisdom (Davis, 1995) requires time to think, question, percolate, apply
and test. The ability to really understand something in depth is not a quick
fix. It takes time. Common sense tells us that this is true.
Because education and training today have largely focused on fact
acquisition, there is an emphasis on faster delivery of more and more facts.
Consequently, a relentless barrage of facts and figures is conveyed in our
courses, with very little assimilation or retention. What really sticks? What
is retained from this flood of information?
The irony is that when we are not spending time in formal classes we are
probably learning the most. It is this time “not on task” when knowledge
settles and understanding starts to emerge. Using other parts of our mind
and body, as we do in recess, often unlocks the brain to welcome learning.
How many times have insights come while taking a run, walking on the
treadmill or playing a set of tennis?
Understanding cannot be rushed, crammed, delivered immediately, or
accessed by a clicker. “Aha” moments are not manufactured or created on
demand. They evolve and emerge as information, ideas, time and the
situation interact.
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11. With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown
Chinese proverb
Real learning is the state of being able to adopt and adapt what you know
and can do under a varying set of informal circumstances.
David Grebow. 2002
Tip: Structure key learning activities and exercises over a period of time.
Allow learners to have days or weeks to adopt and adapt what they have
learned. Let them test it against different contexts, people, and events.
Enable them to refine and shape their ideas over time and with more
experience.
Have lunch
Recess is good, lunch is better. Lunch can involve all the senses, be a time
when friends get together and share conversation and laughter. It is a time to
nourish the body, refresh the mind, connect with others and learn. Meals
and the discussions that surround them can provide the fuel for both the
mind and the body.
In the Forman home of working adults and children in school and activities,
meals—in this case dinner, not lunch—were the touchstone. We all came
together to sit, eat, and converse. Rarely was anyone excused or absent,
because this informal tradition became so important. The candles,
tablecloth, folded napkins all signaled a time for discussion, news, casual
conversation and probably not much else. But maybe a lot more than we
recognized at the time.
For eighteenth and nineteenth century farming families the core meal was, in
fact, lunch, although it was called dinner. It signaled a break from the fields
and provided an opportunity to refuel for the afternoon’s work. These
gatherings provided more than just nourishment. They helped to convey
information, expectations, traditions, and values, not always smoothly or
easily; but the forum existed and was used for these purposes.
Learning thrives when nurtured, nourished and encouraged. It can whither
without the attention, sustenance and support it deserves. It does not occur
in a vacuum or in an antiseptic, controlled environment. It occurs outside
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12. the classroom in real life settings with an ever-changing mixture of people,
ideas, debate, challenges, senses, and support. It is just like having a good
meal with friends and family.
Dining is and always was a great artistic opportunity
Frank Lloyd Wright
I never try to teach my students anything. I only try to create an
environment in which they can learn.
Albert Einstein
Tip: Be interested in fostering learning in casual and informal settings. This
doesn’t mean that dinner or social conversations become monopolized with
homework reports. In fact, it is best to talk about ideas and questions and
not school schedules or training activities. Good questions are often more
valuable than good answers in these types of conversations.
Become passionate
Do you remember listening to someone who became so involved and
invested in delivering a message that she became animated, her voice rose,
her intense vision permeated the room, and she was visibly exhausted when
finished? Politicians and actors do this for a living; but it is rare to see such
passion in learning and education. When it happens, it can be magical.
Learning is heightened and invigorated by the senses and emotions. While
most current training programs try to isolate knowledge and discard
affective and psychomotor factors, we know that life does not work that
way. All of these domains work together. The higher the emotional
component and passion, the greater the retention of knowledge and skills.
Perhaps a key reason why current retention rates in training programs are so
low is that knowledge becomes isolated from affective and psychomotor
elements, devoid of context, and adrift; and therefore difficult to remember.
It is certainly true that all learning cannot be wildly exciting. It is hard to be
passionate about foundations of knowledge such as sentence construction,
geometric principles, historical timelines, vocabulary words or learning to
use a software application. But passion can be directed at why these
foundations are important to know, and how they can be used to solve
Common Sense Learning Principles 12

13. problems or improve performance. This passion can have a direct bearing
on the learner’s motivation to learn. If learners are motivated to learn, they
will not only learn the material but retain it longer.
All learning has an emotional base Plato
Education is not the filling of the pail, but the lighting of a fire
William Butler Yeats
Tip: There is a simple abbreviation that is always good to remember:
WIIFM-or what’s in it for me. All too often, training and educational
programs are created with little understanding of how it can benefit the
learner. At the very least, the benefits to the learner are not well
communicated. It is hard to be passionate about something that does not
seem to be connected to what you do, who you are or what you want to
become. If WIIFM is clear—and conveyed with passion and meaning—it
becomes much easier to devote mind and body to learning.
Keep learning
It is ironic that this is the most important lesson of all. It is true that learning
is not being accomplished with the joy and passion that it deserves, but it is
also true that learning today is more important than ever. Knowledge is both
being created and obsoleted faster than ever before. There is a great deal to
learn and unlearn to keep abreast of changes and stay informed.
Continuing to learn is both a state of mind and a skill. It is fueled by a belief
that there is more to know and more to life than already exists. It is fanned
by a passion for ideas, improvement, growth, personal and professional
development. It is enjoyable to be with people who question, seek, read,
want to know more, and set a standard for continuous learning and
development.
The ability to keep learning is valuable for both personal and professional
reasons. In business today, a key metric is time to competency. Given the
compressed half-life of products, markets and knowledge, the ability to
become knowledgeable and skilled quickly in changing conditions is a major
competitive advantage. The quicker an individual can learn about a new
product, procedure, process, or initiative, the more valuable he or she is to
Common Sense Learning Principles 13

14. the enterprise. Learning how to learn and learning quickly are core
competencies for being successful in today’s world.
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who
keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind
young.
Henry Ford
In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The
learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer
exists
Eric Hoffer
It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts
John Wooden
Tip: One skill necessary for continuous learning is the ability to digest and
synthesize large amounts of information into meaningful lessons. Without
this skill, we are overcome and paralyzed by the flood of information and
choices, both now and in the future. The Web is the perfect example of both
the power and fizzle of so much information. Activities and exercises can
be designed to expose learners to the vast resources of the Web, but should
also guide them to analyze, synthesize and make choices from this rich
repository. This is a life skill that fosters continuous learning for both
personal and professional improvement.
Remembering common sense
These common sense learning principles are not new or breakthrough ideas.
They are all in our conscientiousness. They have played an important role in
our lives for many years, and we know that they work. But these familiar
principles are often absent from contemporary education and training
programs where the emphasis is on expediency, delivery platforms, granular
learning objects, engineered learning, and formal programs.
It is easy to overlook familiar and common sense learning principles,
especially if they don’t neatly fit the present learning mold. The result is a
set of formal educational offerings that can be efficiently presented but lack
soul and connection. This does not have to be the case. It is possible to
Common Sense Learning Principles 14

15. develop more enjoyable and challenging learning solutions that: involve
each other, include mentors, incorporate the best ideas tested over time, use
our full mental, physical and emotional resources, recognize the value of
informal as well as formal learning, and can lead to our own continuous
learning.
These common sense learning principles cannot be present every time, all
the time. But they are too important to be discarded or forgotten. They
should be considered to be part of future learning systems or simply part of
our daily lives as learners, mentors, teachers, parents, caregivers, and
neighbors. If they can help instill the passion and desire for learning, and
keep the fires burning, then the old lessons are well worth remembering.
References
Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R. E. (2003). E-learning and the science of instruction. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Clark, R.E. (2002). Turning research into results. PerformanceXpress. October, 2002.
Davis, S. & Botkin, J. (1995). The monster under the bed. New York: Touchstone
Books.
Grebow, D. (2002). At the water cooler of learning. The Batten Institute at the Darden
School, University of Virginia.
Neal, L. (2002). Storytelling at a distance. ELearn Magazine. August, 2002
Norman, D. (2002). Q&A with Don Norman. Elearn magazine. August, 2002
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital game-based learning. New York: McGraw-Hill
Thiagarajan, S. (2001). Foreward. In: Prensky, M. (2001) Digital game-based
learning. New York: McGraw Hill.
Training Magazine (2000). Cites an edc study. January, 2000.
Van Dam, N. (2001). Training and Development, May, 2001.
Common Sense Learning Principles 15

16. Quotations not otherwise in the reference section are taken from the following sources:
www.entplaza.com
www.nwlink.com
www.quoteland.com
www.storyland.iwarp.com
www.conversant.net
Quotations in Prensky, M. (2001) Digital game-based learning. New York: McGraw-
Hill
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