Use of "doctor" title

Not long ago, a TV commentator criticized the new first lady, Jill Biden, for using the title “doctor. The first lady holds a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree. The commentator opined that only a medical doctor is entitled to call herself “doctor.”

He's wrong but it's complicated. Here’s a short article on the subject: https://www.formsofaddress.info/doctorate/

As the author explains, context matters. If Jill Biden were teaching a college class in education or giving a speech on the subject, her expertise would be relevant, and it would be entirely appropriate for her and others to refer to her as Dr. Biden. In a purely social situation, not so much. In fact, it would probably be considered pompous and a bit naïve of her to use her academic title then.

The same holds true with other non-medical doctorates, such as Ph.D., D.M.A., D.B.A., D.Eng. and the like. However, those with medical degrees are treated a bit differently, at least here in the United States. In pretty much any situation, professional or social, it is appropriate to use the medical doctor’s title. In other countries, all bets are off. Local custom prevails.

Finally, the legal profession here has long considered it inappropriate for lawyers to call themselves doctors, even though they hold juris doctor (J.D.) degrees. In the old days, it was to avoid the appearance of “self-laudation,” or self-praise, and had more to do with ethics than anything else. But today it’s to avoid confusing the public, who tend, as did the TV commentator, to associate doctors with medicine.

I found what I consider to be a safe middle ground. I never refer to myself as Dr. Lamb but, since I do use my advanced training in my work, I sign professional correspondence with "Ph.D." following my name. I earned it and I'm proud of it. 'Nuff said.  

Rick Lamb, Ph.D.

Microlearning Mistakes: Three Tips for Creating a Bad Narration

Bad video narrations are easier to make than you think. Here are three tips to get you started.

• Make the script hard to read. Use a stiff, formal style, words that show off your vast vocabulary, and long sentences. Don’t bother with phonetic spellings of unusual terms or proper names. AND OF COURSE, MAKE IT ALL UPPERCASE.
• Pick an employee with a deep voice to be your narrator. Experience doesn’t matter. Jerry, the HR guy who talks like a deejay, should be fine. After all, people are always telling him he should be in radio.
• Have Jerry work the mic like a karaoke singer. The closer the better. Don’t worry about the crackling and thumping sounds. Software can fix anything.

Just remember, your goal with a bad narration is to draw attention away from the message of the video. Nail the writing, performance, and recording quality and you won’t need to brag about the money you saved. It will be obvious! 

Next time: how to absolutely destroy your video with music.

Rick Lamb is a writer, educator, and media producer who specializes in microlearning video. He makes none of these mistakes. 

Microlearning Mistakes: How to Absolutely Destroy your Video with Music

Music is far more interesting than messaging. Here’s how to make sure your music is the star of the show.

• Pick music without regard to the pacing, tone, or purpose of the spoken message.
• Avoid licensing fees. Any music you can download or rip from a CD is cool to use.
• Save money on editing. Nobody really cares if the music track sounds chopped up.
• Turn it up and leave it there. Don’t let that boring speaker hog the spotlight!

Be sure to check out my earlier article, “Three Tips for Creating a Bad Narration.” Bad narration and intrusive music go hand in hand when you’re throwing together a video on a shoestring budget to meet an unrealistic deadline.

Next time: How to Make a Training Video that Cures Insomnia

Rick Lamb is a writer, educator, and media producer who specializes in microlearning video. He makes none of these mistakes.

Microlearning Mistakes: How to Make a Training Video that Cures Insomnia

Many people have trouble sleeping. Follow these production tips and your training video can give these unfortunates the relief they seek!

• Make it long. This isn’t hard. Any training video longer than two minutes will probably do the trick.
• Use a lot of talking heads. Professorial types with bushy eyebrows that go up and down when they talk are golden.
• Include extraneous content. Make the intro long and self-serving, go off on tangents, and belabor the main points. Easy peasy.
• Avoid text. Never, ever display keywords or use concise phrases to tie ideas together or summarize takeaways.
• Chop chop … NOT. Cool it with all the editing. Real people stumbling around trying to explain something is so painful to watch that sleep will be an automatic defense mechanism.

Remember, your job is not to foster learning or deliver a message. Your job is to help these poor folks catch a few winks.  A poorly designed and produced training video is just the ticket!

Next time: How to Utterly Defile a Microlearning Video

Rick Lamb is a writer, educator, and media producer who specializes in microlearning video. He makes none of these mistakes.

Microlearning Mistakes: How to Utterly Defile a Microlearning Video

Microlearning video is the most effective way to present content to modern audiences. It’s a bit tricky to undermine the power of this format, but you can do it! Here’s how.  

• Dive in without learning objectives or a script.
• Cover more than one topic.
• Include artsy asides that show off your creativity.
• Make text and graphics difficult to read on a mobile device.
• Be unclear about what is important to remember.

It’s especially important to ignore the science of multimedia learning and the decade-plus research supporting it.  Learning about learning … how silly is that?

Rick Lamb is a writer, educator, and media producer who specializes in microlearning video. He makes none of these mistakes.

Five Tips for Better Microlearning Narration

You can give your microlearning video a bit more pizazz with these simple suggestions:

1. Style. Refer to the viewer as “you.” Use everyday words and short sentences. Read the script out loud. If it feels awkward, change it!
2. Emphasis. If a word is new or extra important, italicize it in the script.
3. Pronunciation. Include phonetic spellings for unfamiliar words. Capitalize the syllable to be emphasized and spell the rest as they sound (e.g., CAP ih tull eyes).
4. Font and case. Use a common font such as Times New Roman 12 point and the normal mix of upper and lower case. NEVER USE ALL CAPS!
5. Performance. Go for a friendly, upbeat performance. Smiling while speaking helps.

If these suggestions sound like common sense, good! Remember, microlearning video is most effective when the learning is easy and natural. A good narration can make all the difference.

Rick Lamb has produced 270 microlearning videos. His experience with narration come from 31 years operating Lambchops Studios in Phoenix. Contact him at ricklambphd@gmail.com.

Thorndike and Skinner

Edward L. Thorndike
1874-1949

Burrhus F. Skinner 
(1904-1990)

Two of the giants in the behaviorist tradition of learning theory were Edward Thorndike and B.F. Skinner. Skinner took Thorndike's work on behavior shaping to another level of complexity. But with greater complexity comes greater potential for being misunderstood, and that's exactly what happened. 

Thorndike observed a century ago that when a behavior is followed by a pleasant effect, the behavior is likely to be repeated in the same situation. Behavior followed by an unpleasant effect is unlikely to be repeated. Thorndike's Law of Effect is easy to understand, due partly to the language he used in describing it. There is no ambiguity in what he meant by pleasant, unpleasant, or effect.

The same cannot be said for B.F. Skinner. He called these same two ways of shaping behavior using pleasant and unpleasant consequences positive reinforcement and positive punishment. Positive didn't mean that they were good or kind or effective, as you might expect; positive simply meant that the effect was added in response to the behavior. Skinner proposed that reinforcement and punishment could also be done by subtracting an effect that was already at work when the behavior was exhibited. He called this negative reinforcement and negative punishment, respectively. Skinner's four ways of shaping behavior are known as the four quadrants of Operant Conditioning. Unfortunately, three of the four are routinely misunderstood.

Positive punishment seems like an oxymoron and negative punishment seems redundant because of Skinner's naming scheme. Those terms are seldom used outside of academic circles. In contrast, positive reinforcement has slipped into common language as a synonym for reward. No harm there. That's exactly what it is. 

But negative reinforcement is problematic. Too often this term is used casually as a synonym for punishment. It's easy to understand why. Negative has many meanings in the English language but the most common connotes undesirability and unpleasantness. Skinner used negative in a mathematical sense. Negative reinforcement is a way of rewarding behavior by taking away an aversive stimulus already acting on the subject. In horse training, for example, you may exert pressure on a horse to get him to move in a certain way, then instantly remove the pressure when he gives an acceptable try. The removal of an aversive is a reward, a pleasant effect. If you have trouble wrapping your mind around this, don't feel bad.

Not only is negative reinforcement incorrectly associated with punishment, it suffers from the association. Many people find punishing their children or animals distasteful and turn to other options. Clicker Training for dogs and horses, for example, uses a clicking sound and food treats to reward correct behavior. Incorrect behavior is ignored, or a different cue is given in hopes of getting a response that can be rewarded. Punishment is reserved for dealing with extremes of undesirable or dangerous behavior.

Learning theory is one of my favorite topics so I have studied Skinner's work many times. I'm always saddened just a bit by the language he chose because I know how often it is misunderstood. By the same token, I love the elegant simplicity of Thorndike's description of his Law of Effect. In the end, words do matter.