Just last week, after three months of work, I completed my very first knitting project: a frayed baby blanket that was a journey involving many stops and starts, a few more balls of yarn than anticipated, and a great reflection upon how I learn. As a beginning knitting student, learning to hold the needles was laborious and I was convinced there was something wrong with my dexterity, particularly since others encouraged me with "It will get easier!" I often found myself making comments to the knitting experts such as “You’re so fast!” and “How long did it take to do that?”—the very comments posed to me while teaching technology-based workshops. Although my "knitting as learning" metaphor may seem a bit clichéd, my experience as a vulnerable learner was profound and instilled in me a renewed sense of patience and inspiration. In fact, my overall experience in learning to knit—which ultimately did improve, albeit at a tortoise-like pace—exposed me to some key lessons applicable to any adult learning experience.

Lesson 1: Teach skills as they are needed.
Right now, I only know how to execute two knitting stitches and how to cast on in order to begin a project, but I’m okay with the skills I have acquired. I currently have no desire to learn the butterfly stitch, do a heel turn, or make a luxurious après-ski sweater for my cousin. I’m really happy when I’m simply knitting and watching Mad Men on television. I’m content learning a few skills, practicing them, and then moving on to the next skill when I’m good and ready. This leads me to question why, in our technology workshops, we often succumb to the temptation to include every doodad, gadget, and feature available. I think that, as instructional technologists, we know the material so well that it is sometimes hard to put ourselves in the position of the intended audience. We may be guilty of having an underlying impatience to hurry through material so we can get on to what we believe is more interesting and captivating. It’s so much more exciting to go over the glossy multimedia features of a tool rather than focus on the basics, but it is important to teach skills as they are needed.

Lesson 2: Informal learning is critical.
I have joined three different knitting groups and found that meeting like-minded people who are motivated by a common purpose makes the learning experience more exciting. One group was online, and although I was an infrequent guest to the community, it gave me an opportunity to see concepts come together as I built my skill base. Part of the excitement of learning something new is the thrill of making connections between what I already know and what I’m learning. Meeting other people who are going through the same experience helps make these linkages, whether the meeting occurs online or in person. I like the social learning or "guided study group" model of learning new skills and find that informal support systems mixed with formal ways of learning, such as workshops, are effective in learning environments.

Lesson 3: Accept the flaws.
One reason it took me three months to finish my first knitting project was that I had trouble accepting how flawed my knitting was. As I was knitting, I envisioned perfect rows of beautiful stitches; instead, I got loose, big stitches that were uneven, gaping, and frayed. How could I give this blanket to my niece? After a while, I got over this expectation of perfection and embraced my blanket and all of its weird stitches. Likewise, in educational technology, it’s often easy to get wrapped up in perfection and visions of perfectly crafted Edward Tufte-approved PowerPoint presentations. Rather than hide our mistakes, we should embrace them and share more of them. Wouldn’t it be a great learning opportunity to dissect teaching mistakes each quarter so that we might learn from them?

Lesson 4: Don’t be tempted to oblige when someone says, "Please fix this!"
The best part about participating in a knitting group was that, when I dropped four stitches, there was always someone there who could fix it for me. However, when I got home, I had absolutely no clue about how to pick up dropped stitches myself. Some of the mistakes I made drove me to seek out remedies in books and on YouTube. Some mistakes actually never got fixed. Yet a fundamental component of learning is knowing how to fix mistakes. I realize that this process is quite similar in academia. Faculty members want help and, as instructional technologists, we are naturally suited to assist them. However, we aren’t doing them a service by simply fixing things for them. It is actually selfish and might be easier for us because it takes less time than showing them how to do it themselves. Faculty members will appreciate the hands-on experience as well.

Lesson 5: Choices matter.
One of the best aspects of learning to knit is that, even as a beginner, I got to make so many choices based on my level of expertise, such as the types of yarn available to me, the patterns I could select on Ravelry, and the sequence of learning. As my skill level progressed, I was able to choose which stitches I wanted to learn next. Having several options is empowering and makes the learning process much more fun. Too frequently in technology training, faculty members have very few choices. They don’t get to decide what they’ll learn next or the pace at which they learn it. It would be empowering to offer them more selections, thereby providing more individualized training sessions and workshops.

My journey of learning to knit has highlighted various elements essential for an effective adult learning experience. We should provide adult learners with multiple opportunities to explore and try new things, including opportunities to fail and have fun. At DePaul, we’ll have plenty of these chances with our Desire2Learn transition. It will be fine if your course looks like my baby blanket. I just hope it won’t take you three months to complete!

Cross-posted on the CET blog