Happy Computers' Underlying Beliefs
The most fundamental belief of Happy Computers is that all people (with no exceptions) are born with enormous intelligence and tremendous eagerness to learn.
Babies learn exceptionally well and receive excellent support in their learning as they start to walk and talk. They are rarely scolded for getting it wrong or told that they should be doing it 'this way'. Very few fail to learn these key, and difficult, skills of mobility and language.
Later on the learning process becomes blocked as children are told off and even punished for making mistakes. Our key task is to help our students to overcome those blockages (or, best of all, to get rid of them) to enable their natural learning abilities and delight in new possibilities to come to the fore.
The Importance of Involvement
Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.
People learn best by doing it for themselves. Although explanation is sometimes necessary it should be kept to a minimum. Rote instructions should be avoided. Instead think up all ways possible to keep students' minds active to maximise their involvement.
Remember Lao Tzu: 'With a good teacher, the students think they did it themselves.'
Nobody is Deliberately Stupid!
People always do the very best they can, given their experience and ability. They do not deliberately fail to learn and there is no point in criticising or getting annoyed with them when they hit blocks.
It is always preferable to treat such blocks lightly, to take delight in finding out what is getting in the way and relaxedly helping them through it.
When we get annoyed with people for being 'stupid' or 'slow' we are in fact getting annoyed with our own inability to easily pass on information. We must find our own ways to deal with, and overcome, such personal frustrations but we must not impose them on our students.
A Journey of Discovery
As trainers our job is to help empower people to make greater use of these resources. We have only started to discover the most effective ways to realise people's potential. However well our clients feel we are doing, we should never be complacent. We should always try out new possibilities and seek to further enable people to learn.
