While the mercury in the thermometers around here is heading south, that won’t stop us from warming up with the best things of the week for trainers, instructional designers, presenters, and lots of other digital workers.
A Modern Professional Learner’s Toolkit for 2018
Personally, I believe that learning is one of the most important skills for anyone in any profession. If you expect to be treated as a professional you’ve got to continuously keep pace with important developments in your field. To help you with that, Jane Hart (@C4LPT) has assembled a Modern Professional Learners Toolkit based on results from here Top 100 Learning Tools survey.
http://modernworkplacelearning.com/magazine/modern-professional-learners-toolkit-for-2018/
The Best Browsers, Compared with Data: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, Safari, and Vivaldi
These days most of us spend a lot of time working in our web browsers. When you’re spending that much time in your browser, it is obviously a good idea to find the fastest, most capable option that suits your needs. Process Street has done the heavy lifting for you so you can find the best browser option for you. If you’re looking for something new and like to customize things, you might like to check out Vivaldi.
https://www.process.st/best-browser/
Calling Bullshit.
It is no surprise to anyone to hear that the world is awash in bullshit. From “alternative fact” politicians to any of the man other bullshit-rich modern environments we have to navigate, this University of Washington course aims to help you identify bullshit, see through it, and combat it with effective analysis and argument. All 10 lectures are available on YouTube via the UW iSchool channel.
L&D Twitter Chat Guide
Most people I talk with are surprised to find out that Twitter is a great way to network and learn with others in your field. Did you know that Twitter was the #1 learning tool in Jane Hart’s Top 100 Learning Tools survey for a number of years and still sits in the top 5? If you’ve never participated in a Twitter chat, you are really missing out on a valuable opportunity. Fortunately, Sam Rogers (@snapsynapse) has a nice guide to get you started.
http://snapsynapse.com/ultimate-ld-twitter-chat-guide/
21 questions to ask before designing any training program
Stakeholders often come to us asking for courses, but the courses are either overkill or aren’t what is needed. And sometimes they do need “courses,” but only to check off a box. In either case, developing courses ties up resources (including learners’ time) that we could use for better purposes. When we are asked to build courses, we have a responsibility to challenge and validate that creating a course is the most effective and efficient approach. These are 21 questions, originally created by Nannette Minor (aka The Training Doctor), that will help you determine whether or not training
https://mike-taylor.org/2011/06/10/21-questions-to-ask-before-designing-any-training-program/
If you’re interested in digging in a little deeper on this topic, you can check out the slides and resources related to “Getting BETTER Results by Doing LESS Training”
Mike Taylor 
Hi Mike! Thanks again for the great assembly of resources!
I did try Zeef at your recommendation. I love it, but it has been under review for publication for 2 weeks, not 2 days! Do you know if their editors are still actively looking at new pages?
Best wishes!
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Oh no, that is a bummer. 8-( Maybe they’ve gotten more popular and now have more pages to look at. They do have an email address and other contact information that are probably worth trying to see what the scoop is on your page. https://zeef.com/about/contact
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I’ll give that a try! I’m hopeful that the lack of response is because they’ve gotten more popular, not that they’ve stopped reviewing them. It’s such a great resource.
It is worth noting that even if the page isn’t officially published, you can use a private link to share it.
Thanks!
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