Last night we Netflix’d a PBS documentary on Benjamin Franklin.

I’ve actually seen this documentary before, but this time something stood out: Benjamin Franklin learned to swim by reading a book.

He didn’t learn with a swimming coach, or from ILT or WBT classes, but with a book containing simple illustrations.

The book is called The Art of Swimming and was published in 1696.

The book’s illustrations aren’t the detailed, technical illustrations created by Boeing engineers. Rather, they are simple drawings depicting a series of swimming moves. Benjamin Franklin’s intellectual curiosity also led him to add a few moves of his own to the book. Talk about learning transfer:-)

As we interact with our customers, business units and other trainers to debate which types of content are best delivered in ILT or WBT, blended and so on, it might be helpful to remember that a truly motivated learner will learn from any modality.