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Hi there,

I am interested in the application of NLP in teaching university students -
does anyone have any experience in this area? And could you please point me in the direction of any books/etc that would be useful to help me to learn how to use NLP in teaching in adults?
I have heard of the book "NLP for Teachers" but I believe this is aimed at a younger audience - would there be a difference in targeting older students?

Also does anyone know where I could go about finding academic papers/journals that would help me to research NLP in adults/young adult education?

Thanks in advance!
Kim

Hello,

The best person that I can recommend you to contact is Trevor Day (http://www.reading-writing-results.com/index.htm) he gave a presentation at the recent NLP Research Conference. He has been involved with a fair amount of research in the area you are interested in, I am sure he will be able to point you in the right direction.

Kind regards

Tony Nutley
UK College of Personal Development

Hi Kim,

I also have a friend that has just been hired to teach nlp to university students in the UK, if you are interested in getting in touch with her please message me privately so I can connect the two of you as I don't think she is a member on here.

Best success,

Nadia.

Hi Kim,

I would recommend that you contact Kate Benson of Meta NLP - she is the lady that will have the best quality information about the application of NLP in the teaching environment.

Look her up in the Forum as 'Edukate' and she is based in Scotland UK.

META NLP Education - training techniques improving behaviour, teaching, learning

Best wishes
Nina

Kim,

I agree Kate is brilliant when it comes to NLP in Education. I have also been using it in education in both college and university students. I will be running a practitioners class at Portsmouth University in January next year for all those who are working in education in colleges and universities.

Would be happy to discuss this further with you.

Wendy

Wendy, where can we fidn publicised information with NLP applications pertaining to teaching or education?

Kim,

Wendy Jones is the one I was referring to you (wasn't sure if she was on NLP connections), as she is in the same boat so to speak in Teaching NLP at University Level.

Kate is an incredible resource for education and if I am not mistaken Wendy has done work with her in the past too.

Mark Gittos also does similar work and has additional products and resources that might be helpful too, as his focus is also on NLP in Education and he is very good at what he does.

Between the three of them I hope you find what you ar looking for.

Best Success,

Nadia.

If anyone including Kim and Sam would like course or study day information for any of the courses and study days I will be running please send your contact details to brainjuice2008@yahoo.co.uk or wendy.jones@port.ac.uk and I will send these out to you. I love education and am passionate about using NLP in education so would love to discuss this topic more with like minded people. Look forward to hearing from you with your details.

Wendy

Hi everyone, I should point out that I am a licensed trainer of NLP and I have now updated my profile to reflect this. I would love to hear from anyone who is interested in using NLP in Education. I think this is the way forward and we could really revolutionise education if we use NLP. As an added bonus everyone would have fun in the process. What more could we want.

Wendy

Hi Wendy,

I'm very interested in sharing with you. I apply NLP as the integrative basis to Practical Post-grad and Exec Learning and Training, specifically Situational Leadership, HR/Organisational Deveopment and Community Participation, for the Plymouth and Hull Universities' ExecMBA in Health Services Management. I am module designer and facilitator for these at the Greenwich School of Management for London-based Executive decision-makers.

Let's network.

David Schofield

That would be brilliant. As I am at the University of Portsmouth I am between both your places of work. I use NLP in all aspects of education but more recently in Teacher Training. I will now be suing it in a range of situations within the University. It would be good to share ideas. You work sounds fascinating.

Wendy

Mmm, I have problems with NLP in the university arena.

NLP is taught at some universities at a pretty basic level, and it gets utterly slammed by all and sundry.

The problem is, academia is just not happy with it. Firstly, you get a huge line of psychologists and scientists who want to add the pseudoscience label to it. The rest of them tend to see it as fluffy and new age. It even gets presented as an archetypical pseudoscience on those scientific skepticism courses you do at 1st year psych undergrad level.

They totally pull it apart and ridicule everything from the so called "hype" to niggly problems with the eye accessing left right brain thing. Its so anal!

Using it is one thing, but saying you use it is another. I know someone who tried it out as a framework for their course in Surrey uni and their reputation fell through the floor. Its just one of those things that eggheads don't respect.

Use it for sure, but keep it dark. I think Grinder said something really telling about his work with business consultancy. He said that its not a good idea to mention NLP at all as people just turn tail and run due to the academic accusations of pseudoscience. Keep it covert. I know some programs are running a bit of non-science research on it, but lets face it, it just gets sniggered at really.

NLP is for the real world. Academia really is a seperate thing.

Rich

Rich, I use NLP within an academic setting regularly. I teach undergraduate and post graduate medical students and as you may be aware, medicine regards itself as a 'rigorous science'. I have had no objections about my blatant and overt use of NLP within this setting.

Whilst there may still be some academics who are ignorant of what NLP is, from experience I've found that there are many people who are open to it. The last practioner course I assisted on had several GPs and psychologists on it and the feedback from them was very positive.

The training I give to junior and middle grade psychiatry trainees is generally positive and warmly recieved.

A small piece of counter evidence to show that academia need not be a separate thing.

I also use NLP within a University setting and find that many academics are keen to know more about it. I have been asked to deliver a series of workshops within the University and also run a practitioners course. I am sure there are a lot more academics with an open mind, who want to use the power of NLP, to support and enhance learning and the experience of their students, than you think.

Wendy

Rich,

I must say that my experiences are similar to Chris and Wendys. Sure there are some who will dismiss any idea that is 'new' and from my expereince of education, there are many people who like things to be the way they were 20 years ago. I know people who claim IT will not catch on and despite them teaching Business Studies for the last 30 years, they cannot send an email or browse a web page.

You wrote

and the evidence of you, Wendy, Chris and I all supporting you and NLP pretty much blows that out of the water. So, what are you dealing with, quite often the complainers complain with more passion than the openminded people, is this a case of a few louder people claiming to be the majority?

You say that Uni teaches some NLP, can you clarify, does your university teach NLP skills or teach it pupils about NLP? At Uni I remember being taught about Freud, Piaget and also non Psych elements such as Porters marketing forces etc and part of a comprehensive delivery of these ideas is identifying the limitations of the topic or models. People often have the idea that medicine fixes problems installed in them from a young age and for many peoples experiences they have no need to challenge this belief, maybe you need to give them some. Explain to them how practitioners of the medical model perspective gave a chap who felt pain in him amputated arm pain killers to stop the nonexistent limb hurting. Explain that the side effects of anti depressents often limit the persons ability to live a normal life and essentially condemns then to living in a fake world. Show then how hilarious yet tearfull the idea of getting drug addicts hooked on a less harmfull drug is seen as a solution to a problem. I think this goes back to my initial question, are you teaching NLP or are you informing people as to what NLP is?

Medicine does generally claim to sit at the top of the healing Sciences but even this topic can be made to appear farcical in the right hands. The evolution of medicine is full of so many contradictions and bad practices but ultimatly the limitiations of its model will ensure that research brings it on, this is exactly the same as the model of NLP.

As a fantastic experience for your students, how about offering a 'debate seminar' where you can get some people who believe in the medical model, some herbalists, some NLPers etc and have it all out in front of the students. Are you confident in your NLP ability to cure some phobias infront of the audience?

Keep your chin up and don't forget, it is their loss if they are closed to new ideas, keep being the person you are when you are at your strongest.

Thanks

Matt

Some people who learn about NLP from some trainers seem to get stuck in the belief that all psychologists are failures and all academics are pompous assholes. Maybe it's true, or maybe those stories were really about moving away from doing things the traditional way (you already knew) and start trying some new and different ways for a change.

I sometimes find it harder to take people seriously when they run round saying how much better NLP is than Freud's work (or "sick man fraud"'s work), but they admit they haven't read one single thing that Freud ever wrote.

And it's often the same when people dismiss academia too. I think there's even a snobbery now about saying we really know more than the people who think they know more than us. Yet it's all very detached from my experience of reality. The people I meet who work in universities, especially in research, are usually very keen to learn - and they're enthusiastic about whatever works. They may be a bit more "sort by sameness" than most ("oh, that's just like...") but they have good reason to be. NLP is based in large part on a lot of other people's ideas cobbled together, and most of those ideas were known about and written about long before NLP came along. The problem I think some people have with talking to academics is the same problem they have talking to anyone who doesn't immediately agree with them. If you can't be concise and you can't make your case clearly, all sorts of people will snigger at you. The problem most people have with NLP - including most academics - is simply that they don't know what it is and nobody - not even the people who created it - has come up with a decent explanation. I heard someone explaining NLP the other day and she said: "it's all about how the map is not the territory and other rules like that". And being a bit on the ball, the person she was explaining it to asked whether these rules were the same for everyone or not, which I thought was quite funny. She didn't. It was such a crap explanation though, it's no surprise she didn't convince him of anything and he was a bit snotty with her. I don't think that's about academics not living in the real world though; I think it's about people trying to sell something when they don't know what it is they're selling. When you demonstrate the benefits of NLP, people pay attention and in my experience they're always fascinated. So it all depends. Call up a business and say you want to come and tell them about NLP - they're unlikely to be interested. Why would they be? Tell them you helped another business in the same sector to triple their profits within six month and you just want twenty minutes to demonstrate how you can do the same for them too - then they'll probably listen. And then it doesn't really matter if NLP is part of your pitch or not as long as you're showing them you can do something that works rather than relying on NLP itself - or relying on someone else who uses NLP - to convince them. Because the models we describe as NLP are just ideas and potential until we use them for something, and actually I think it's NLPers who need to live more in the real world.

Hello Rich,

As a University Lecturer of 25+ years, (as well as more recently Life Coach, Counsellor and Mentor), I have had the privilege of experiencing the change of thinking my students have both welcomed and have applied practically in all aspects of University Level Teaching and into their very real professions and lives. And, through that, they have made a positive impact in the real world of measurable Outcomes. Continued feedback to me clarifies that, and highlights NLP blatantly and effectively at work.

There is nothing I can add to Chris O'Donell's, Wendy's, Matt's or Chris Morris's commentary and informed analysis, since I agree with all they say......because they are statements of the true reality.

Perhaps you'd be well served to visit or re-visit the Meta Model Violations and Responses for a clearer appreciation of how NLP can be both overtly and intrinsically at the heart of every level of educational learning and practical application. It works for me too.

David Schofield

I have used NLP to learn, research, teach, communicate (consultancy) and for collaborative work since 1980.

My specialist subject is art and over the years I have not particularly mentioned that I use NLP as there is so much other information that is being exchanged. The way I work is perceived as being very 'different' and challenging and I have been involved in making historic changes to my discipline. The results are respected and now I am asked more about my way of working which gives me an opportunity to talk about NLP. After training in 2007 I am more conscious of how I have been working, how others are teaching and the effect it has on their students and I have been enjoying employing my updated knowledge and new skills.

If you want to ask me more specific questions please do.

Sure, but the problem is, there is no evidence to support your statements, and the evidence in general is to the contrary.

Academics always look for such backup and if it doesn't exist, and even worse, if controled studies show that NLP has failed to show efficacy (which is the fact in this case), then things get really troublesome.

I don't doubt you have helped people using NLP at university, and I know for sure there are people who teach NLP openly. But there are so many who just treat it like a new scientology. NLP tends to be taught on the same level as the enneagram and other such fluff.

Its just one of those things. I just would prefer to use NLP in more accepting situations.

Rich

Interesting, specifically where is this information? It would be nice to read this contrary information. Also to find out if this evidence was peer reviewed.

I am by no means an academic, nor am I particularly biased in my views.

Chris, IMO if you are going to make statements that presuppose NLP has failed and that the academics ALWAYS looks for such backup. I am not too sure what such backup is it might be helpful to be clear about what you are talking about and to back up your views with proof. It makes it easier for us non academics to understand the meaning of your communication.

Chris, this is only my opinion and based on your posts that i have recently read, hence my feedback is intended to help you. I can see the ideals behind some of your posts, and perhaps you have a level of understanding I am yet to reach, though I do find your logic and proofs hard to follow and your presentation of the material somewhat emotive and perhaps biased. Regardless of what your intention is, that is how it reads from where I am sitting, it could be that you are very passionante though it does not come across as that.

As you mentioned in a recent post to Eric, the meaning of your communication is the response it gets. If the message you are trying to get across is important to you then perhaps you too should consider the responses you are getting.

Hopefully this will in some way be helpfull to you in achieving your desired outcome, if it has not already done so.

Be well and have a great day.

Frederic