Mens sana in corpore sano

The philosophy and aims of an educational institution are concerned with the education of the whole man — mind, body, soul and emotion — and with the realization that knowledge is unimportant without the ability to communicate and exchange it. The Harvard Report on “General Education in a Free Society” placed first in its list of objectives “training in the ability to communicate orally and writing the results of thought.”

Ideally the purpose of an educational institution is to prepare a student to educate herself. An institution attempts to do this in three ways:

A. It exposes the student to philosophies, ideas and personalities (knowledge).
B. It teaches the skills the student needs to master in order to use his education and to continue his growth.
C. It provides opportunities for the student to begin producing creative or contributory products of her own stage of education.

Too often, colleges and universities graduate sterile scholars. These “mechanical minds” that matriculate from our educational institutions each June may be storehouses of facts and ideas — but they are, for the most part, without any system of values — unless they encounter those values outside, perhaps in an extracurricular activity.

The so-called extracurricular activity makes its greatest contribution to the students’ value system and it is for this reason an interesting and most desirable corollary to the academic classroom.

Training, however, is a different horse. Its aim is to improve the skills necessary for better life and job performance. And, rightfully, the emphasis today for both education and training has shifted from the provider to the receiver — allowing us to now focus our attention on learning and the learner.

Since training is almost exclusively centered on skills acquisition, we can assume that the adult employees we encounter in our businesses and other organizations have already formed their value systems. But, they are highly motivated to acquire the skills necessary for better job performance and the resultant monetary rewards. Most of them have failed to learn in a traditional classroom lecture/reading regimen and, along with their employers, are looking for a more effective way to learn.

It is here we find the promise and future of learning through multi-sensory media — learning that is both engaging and effective. Learning that is individualized and lengthens retention. Learning that can translate into promotions and “better lives.” Learning that actually works for both the organization and for the employee.

That’s the major difference today! Multi-sensory learning can deliver substantially better results in skills acquisition than any lecture/reading course ever did!