Bernice McCarthy

After extensive teaching experience in all grade levels, including special education, and her doctoral studies at Northwestern University, Dr. Bernice McCarthy developed an instructional model to connect all types of learners. She was convinced that the diversity of learners called for an all encompassing learning cycle. Bernice McCarthy drew on the research of Jung, Paiget, Vygotsky, Dewey, Lewin and Kolb to create an instructional system that would progress through the complete learning cycle using strategies that would appeal to all learners. This innovative approach, the 4MAT System, was the basis for the founding of her company, About Learning, Inc. in 1979.

The 4MAT System began in education and quickly spread into corporate and government as the value of this model became more widely recognized. It applies to two levels within these organizations, teaching and training and administration and leadership.

Bernice McCarthy encourages organizations to use multiple methods of problem solving and communication to help tap into the full potential of an individual. Instructional design, team processing, leadership skills, communication, conflict resolution, decision making, problem solving, and creativity are all encompassed in the 4MAT Model.

Bernice McCarthy is a prolific author and presenter and has conducted workshops and keynote sessions on effective learning at organizations worldwide including school districts across the U.S. and Canada as well as in higher education and government.

Dr. Bernice McCarthy conducts online training courses in partnership with About Learning's Corporate Division, most recently for the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Bernice McCarthy is a nationally known author on instructional design. She has written seven books including:

• The 4MAT System (1987)
• About Learning (1996)
• 4MAT in Action (2000)
• About Teaching (2000)
• The About Teaching Companion (2003)
• Hold on You Lost Me: Using Learning cycles to Create Training that Sticks (2007).