At The Training Doctor, we often get great training design ideas by focusing on the kid in all of us. Whether you are designing for classroom-based classes or online, you can get some great ideas from this website designed to help kids think more creatively: www.inventivekids.com.

It even has a link for Adults! For instance, we watched a speech about Divergent Thinking and Education by Sir Ken Robinson. He says that the current (K-12) education system was designed for a different age.

Education is organized like an industrialized organization – for instance we send kids through school according to their ‘date of manufacture,’ (birthdate).  Schools are organized by bells, separated by function (subject), and put through education in ‘batches.’ Within schools, working with your peers to find an answer is called cheating – outside schools it’s called collaboration.

One of his interesting points is that ADHD is not really the ‘epidemic’ it is purported to be. He postulates it might be due to: Our children are living in the most intensely stimulating period in the history of the earth – they are being besieged with information everywhere they turn – from TV to computers to phones – and then we label them as deficient in some way when they get distracted.

Distracted from what, he asks?  From the boring stuff delivered in the ‘standard educational system.’  He includes a map that shows that ADHD diagnoses increase as you travel East across the US. Interestingly, he also states that the increase in ADHD diagnoses correlates with the increase in standardized testing.

In addition to the interesting facts that he shares through his speech, you will be AMAZED at the e-learning / illustration / animation that accompanies the speech. It TRULY is a work of art. Check it out:  http://tinyurl.com/7rupsn2