Communicating a message of change


After watching The Power of Words I do feel that our problem in today's world is not the lack of information; with technology most of our society has practically every fact known to man in history at their fingertips. What they need is help with understanding how to interpret facts, knowing how the facts affect them, and which facts should be important to them.To reach them, the communicator needs to use the right words to convey their message. Watching this and the video by the Behavioral Science Guys really influenced  how I approached making my "Call to Action" video.  What my audience needs isn't more information about technology in education, but insight into how it can improve our teaching and learning experiences, and how we can incorporate that into our educational practice. I was really struck by what they said about not making speeches at but asking questions:

David:
When you are trying to influence people who need motivation and not information, don’t offer more information.
Joseph:
Your only hope is to avoid provoking what psychologists call reactance. The best way to do that is not with speeches, but with… questions? Give them a safe environment to explore motivations they already have.
David:
Exactly.
Joseph:
So, I have to reintroduce them. to values they already believe in

I started off my video with “influential questions” as they suggested and kept the information and lecturing to a minimum. Who doesn’t want students to be more engaged, go home excited about what they did in school and have skills that they can take to their future college and careers? I think that after this “hook” the audience will be more receptive to thinking about change and more accepting of innovation. Hearts AND minds have to be to captured before people are willing to change. For example, there are innumerable resources that give us information and how-tos  on quitting smoking, eating a good diet, and exercising in order to be healthy. However people tend to only makes these types of changes for them selves for emotional reasons as opposed to more rational ones. The “hook” will get the hearts of the audience, and I will reach the minds of the audience with good examples of what works and a well defined-plan of action.
References

Andrea Gardner (2010, February 23). The Power of Words. Youtube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Hzgzim5m7oU

VitalSmarts Video (2015, January 5). How to change people who don't want to change: The behavioral science guys . Youtube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/9ACi-D5DI6A

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