Examples, Templates, Prompts, and Exercises

One of the simplest ways to learn about something is to sit down with another person and ask them questions. There is a reason that radio, television, magazines, podcasts, and newspapers rely on interviews. They work. There is something about humans in dialog with each other that captures our attention.

It seems like we should be able to take advantage of such a useful technique. Here are a few ways that you can use interviews in your Learning Journey.

If you are interested in finding out aboutfinding about a particular career, business, organization, or field, do a little research, find a person that seems interesting, and reach out and requestan request an informational interview. It might sound strange but an informational interview is actually a thing. It is understood to be an informal request for a short conversation to learn more about a company, organization, or career field.

Most people don’t like reaching out to someone they don’t know. It is referred to as a “cold call” and many people dread them. Don’t be embarrassed if this gives you a bit of unease. Here are a few strategies to make it slightly easier:

Start with someone you might have a connection with. Someone your family knows. Someone who goes to your church or lives in your neighborhood.

Give them an out. It is sometimes easier to get to a “yes” when you give them an easy way out. Say something like, “Iif you are not available, can youyour suggest someone else that I could speak with.” Even if they say no, they might connect you with someone else.

Start with an email and follow up with a phone call. If you start with an email you can introduce the idea of an informational interview and then later follow up with a phone call and reference your email. “I am following up on an email I sent last week about setting up an informational interview.”

Let them know that you aren’t looking for a job, selling anything or asking for a favor, you just want to learn more about their business or industry or field. Also make sure they understand that you are a student.

Ask for 15 or 20 minutes. Most people will find it easier to fit in a 20 minute time slot rather than an hour.

An informational interview is usually designed to allow you to learn some of the ins and outs of a career or job. It is assumed that you will come with some questions in mind but also be prepared to allow it to go in directions that the other person takes it.

Before you start, do some research about the person you are interviewing. If possible find out a little bit about their background and use that in your questioning. Don’t be afraid to tell them a little bit about yourself and what you are interested in learning about. Remember, people like helping out younger people. Don’t be surprised if they have advice, recommendations, and warnings for you.

Another type of interview you can implement in your Learning Journey is seeking help with research questions. In this type of interview you are reaching out to an expert and asking for their help in understanding a topic. This could be a professional, an academic, or even a hobbyist.

While the informational interview was about a career or industry, the research interview is about a content topic. Perhaps you are writing a paper, creating a podcast, giving a presentation, or just learning about a topic. One of the sources you can use is an expert in the field.

Like the informational interview, it can be intimidating to reach out to an expert to ask some questions. Don’t be surprised if they are more than happy to answer your questions. Especially if you have interesting questions to ask.

A few chapters ago we talked about Evidence of Learning. If you remember, Evidence of Learning is what is left over at the end of a Learning Opportunity. It might be an activity log, an essay, a video, a reflection, or any of a number of other tangible, sharable items that can be used to represent your learning. Ideally this Evidence of Learning is more than just proof of what you did, it should also contribute to making the Learning Opportunity deeper and more meaningful.

One way of capturing Evidence of Learning for a Learning Opportunity is to arrange a Peer Interview. While you might be able to Google “Informational Interview” and find lots of examples and advice, the Peer Interview is kind of our own concept. Googling it might not help.

A Peer Interview is when you find a partner who is willing to ask you some questions about your Learning Opportunity. The Peer can be a friend, a classmate, a family member, a teacher, or anyone willing to help you out by playing the role of “the interviewer” to your role as “the expert”.

Let’s imagine a Peer Interview about a book you just finished reading. Remember reading a book is a good example of a Learning Opportunity that doesn’t naturally leave behind any Evidence of Learning. Your partner, the interviewer, in the Peer Interview is going to ask you, the expert, about your book.

Interviewer: I understand that you just completed a book. Can you tell me a little bit about it?

You: Yes, that’s true. I’ve been reading it for a couple of weeks and I just finished this week. It is a book about a woman who studies Mountain Gorillas in Africa and details the dangers and difficulties they face.

Interviewer: That sounds interesting. What made you want to read this book in the first place?

You: Well, I’ve always been interested in apes ever since I went to the zoo when I was little and I saw a chimpanzee exhibit. It’s been a topic that I dive into now and again. When I saw this book, I thought it might be pretty interesting.

Interviewer: And was it?

You: Totally. I mean I think I am even more interested today than even when I was a kid. I mean she studies them in the wild and spends hours and days at a timeat time with them. You really get a sense of how they live. But it also goes into the politics and economics of the region and how that impacts their survival. It'sIts something I never would have thought about looking at them at the zoo.

The Peer Interview is a conversation between peers. It isn’t a test or an essay. It isn’t meant to demonstrate your expertise as much as it is meant to allow you to have a meaningful conversation about what you just learned. It should flow kind of naturally. Hopefully your partner takes an interest in what you are saying and asks questions out of curiosity and interest rather than obligation.

The Peer Interview can be used for a wide variety of Learning Opportunities whether they naturally produce Evidence of Learning or not. It is an easy and effective way of capturing your thoughts. The interview can be recorded as audio, video, or transcribed to text.

The Peer Interview can be applied to capturing Reflections as well. A Reflection Interview takes the same approach to Reflecting but instead of writing down your thoughts, it is captured in a conversation with a peer. Just like in the Peer Interview, the interviewer can be a friend, classmate, family member, or anyone else who is willing to play the role of interviewer.

While the Peer Interview might be more focused on capturing the content of your Learning Opportunity, the Reflection Interview is focused on capturing your thoughts about the experience of the Learning Opportunity. Why you chose it, what worked, what challenges you faced, what you plan on pursuing next.

Of course, nothing is stopping you from combining the Peer Interview and Reflection Interview into a single Evidence of Learning.

If you are having trouble finding a partner to do a Peer or Reflection Interview, you can always interview yourself. This might sound silly on the surface but there is actually a tradition of the self-interview. Literary and artistics luminaries such as Vladimir Nabokov, Oscar Wilde, Truman Capote, Glenn Gould, and Philip Roth were known to conduct self-interviews.

In the Self Interview you will be playing the role of the interviewer and the subject. That gives you great latitude in ensuring that you ask the right questions. But it doesn’t mean you have to go easy on yourself. Feel free to play the role of interviewer as antagonistically as you like.

It is easy to conduct a self interview using text but you could also get creative and interview yourself over audio or video.