BOUNCE MEDIA

WHY IS IMPORTANT TO THINK OUTSIDE BOX

 We’ve all heard the saying: ‘think outside the box’. But who really stops to consider what it means, why it’s something to aim for and how it can be achieved in the world of online learning?

Us, that’s who!

What do we mean by ‘thinking outside the box’?

Sometimes, we can get pretty stuck in our ways. We just go through the motions, doing what we need to but no more. We’re scared to deviate from the set route and make our own paths.
A lot of the time we’re not even really present in what we’re doing – we’re on auto-pilot. That’s not just a metaphor either; researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development discovered that the anatomical structure of the brain has a built-in auto-pilot setting, something they like to call the ‘default mode network’.
This means that that neuronal activity naturally switches to this resting state whenever there are no external influences on the brain. In this way, the brain is a very efficient piece of kit, but it’s all too easy to drift into this safe-and-steady mode a little too often, and that’s not always a good thing. Ever arrived home from work and not been able to remember the drive?
This also applies to learning in the workplace. If we come across a really tricky problem, like a technical issue at work or a theory in our e Learning unit that we just can’t get our heads around, being stuck in this mindset can really set us back. We end up banging our heads against a brick wall hoping to find a way through – but that just leaves us with a headache.
On the other hand, if we think outside the box and come at the problem from a different angle, we can more often than not find a solution.

Why should we think outside the box?

As we said, thinking outside the box – thinking laterally ­– means we can approach difficulties in different ways. Say you’re trying to bake bread and you’re following a recipe, but for some reason it’s just not going right. You’ve followed the recipe to the letter and it worked in the past, but not today.
You’re getting frustrated, wondering what’s wrong with the recipe, or with your skills, or maybe you’re blaming the nearest person!
When you think outside the box, you’re more able to discover the real cause of the failure: “If it’s not me, not the ingredients and not the recipe, what could be the matter…?” you ask yourself.
“Ah! Of course. When I made the bread before, it was summer. Now it is winter and my house is a lot colder. No wonder the dough isn’t rising as quickly as it should!”
It’s simple, really. And now you know that instead of getting mad and punching the dough just a little bit harder than you really need to, you just have to give it a wee bit longer to rise.

How can you start to think outside the box?

In online learning terms, thinking outside the box means that if you’re having difficulties engaging learners, you need to approach it in a different way. Everyone learns differently – some people are active learners, some learn by watching, listening or reading.
What works for some might not work for others, so don’t just assume that an e Learning unit will give every learner everything they need – there is always more for them to learn once you let them open their minds and set their thinking free.