I am taking this opportunity to stand right up here in front of everyone and announce that as far as I am concerned..."It is OK!"

- It is OK to create learning and training that is fun.

- It is OK to create ways for learners to collaborate in new ways.

- It is OK to create new ways to demonstrate that learning has taken place!

Yes, it is Ok.

As I expand my work with educators and business leaders around the world, someone told me the other day that I needed to make sure that "my message" was clear. So, not only was I to have "my message", but that message had to be short...and clear. And, "my message" should somehow be unique and should be something so attractive that it will convince all who hear it to come running.

So, here is my message: "It is ok."

And I will tell you, when I finally actually believed that "It is ok", that belief changed most everything I thought and did about learning, training and business. Up to that point I had believed what others were telling me...that it was NOT ok.

I had been told:

- Learning does not need to be fun, or entertaining, but learners should just "knuckle-down" and do the work!

- Collaboration should happen when the leader determines it should happen, and under the rules that the leader establishes.

- You should not be trying new things until all of the research is in, and we have solid and true evidence that the actions bring the solid, research-driven results.

In that old "Not ok" world I used to accept, I was criticized by colleagues for being soft on learners and trainees and for trading "teaching" for "entertaining". When I mentioned using simulations, I received looks of disdain, as if I was letting down the team by cheapening the value of the classroom.

And let's not talk about what happened when I mentioned the word "game" or "Second Life".

In that old world I listened to gripe after gripe about how I had to crack down on learners who were using cell phones, email and the Internet to "cheat". I was put on committees to come up with methods to block signals, to ban hardware, to "catch the cheaters".

In that old world I was always reminded that learning happened when we could document that learning had happened, in ways we had always documented that learning had happened.

In that old world, I didn't have much fun. My learners and trainees didn't either.

Well, again, I am now happy to announce that "It is Ok!"

- Instead of weakening learning, when we create activities that are fun or entertaining we are actually increasing retention, increasing time-on-task, increasing overall motivation...all of which I belief are "OK".

- Instead of creating opportunities for cheating, when we create learning/training activities that spark our participants to create new ways to engage with others to solve problems and find answers, we have taught them a skill that will carry them to new heights of success.

- Instead of somehow ignoring solid research and assessment methods, when we create new and more authentic ways for learners to demonstrate their learning, we are providing them with more meaningful feedback that will help them understand their gaps in skill and knowledge, and enable them to take some true responsibility for their ongoing learning.

I did a brief presentation a few weeks ago to a group of educators and trainers, and was asked to talk about the work I am doing using Second Life to TranceForm Learning. At the end of my presentation, the very well-known host of the session commented that at one point I had mentioned research I had done on Neurolinguistic Programming, and how we were researching how some elements of that theory were proving to be of value to learning. His response was that since NLP was highly unscientific and unproven by enough solid, traditional research, my approach to learning would have to be considered as less than solid. In other words, it was not "ok".

I thought about that for a while, and then began thinking about the hundreds of people who have gone through our programs and told us of the impact of those experiences. I thought about the businesses that have used our TranceFormational Learning model to create training and learning activities that have had tremendous impact on performance and satisfaction.

With all respect to the great guy who hosted the session, I no longer buy the message of: "It's not ok."

So while I continue to be a research-based PhD, I will once more say right out-loud...."It is Ok!" Go ahead...experiment a bit...try ways to make learning fun...let participants create new ways to hook-up and find solutions together...create ways for learners to clearly demonstrate what they do and do not yet know.

It is ok. Now go create something cool that will help people learn!