“Dialogue is the most powerful learning technology on earth.” -Jay Cross
Happy Friday! It has been a beautiful and busy week around here. I’m getting super excited hang out with Mathia Vermuelen and everyone at LearningTechDay in Belgium (June 17-18). I hope you’ve got something to look forward to and be excited about too. Here are a few exciting things from the learning, design and technology world this week. Cheers!
Thanks for reading! If you find anything good, forward it to a friend or spread the word with a tweet.
Surprises and Organizations
Because I like you so much, this is a two-part bonus item! In his post, Mark Britz (@britz) talks about how organizations can put themselves in a position to have few surprised by being “highly connected and frictionless in its knowledge sharing…are rewards them for it”.
Dennis Pearce (@dennis_pearce) followed up on Mark’s post by adding a little nuance by separating individual vs organization surprises and asking the question “How do we design our organizations to filter out the bad surprises and multiply the good ones?
- The Unsurprisable Organization Mark Britz
- Regulating Surprises by Dennis Pearce
Build Communities—Invite Those on the Edges
In Jane Bozarth’s (@JaneBozarth) latest Nuts & Bolts article on Communities of Practice, she talks about trajectories and the life of groups including some good points on why most struggle to survive beyond the initial launch and tips for making them better.
https://learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/nuts-and-bolts-build-communities-invite-those-on-the-edges
WHY DO “LEARNING STYLES” THEORIES PERSIST?
Andew Watson (@andrewwatsonttb) highlights that one possible reason for the persistence of the debunked idea of learning styles is still around is possibly because professional schools teach it. (Or, fail to root it out.)
The 7 Illusions of Knowing
Amy Brann (@Amy_Brann) asks “Are you being tricked by your brain into thinking that you know something well when actually you don’t?” and reminds us that “..you can only really learn effectively if you have a good awareness of what you do, and what you don’t, already know.”
http://www.synapticpotential.com/thinking/the-7-illusions-of-knowing/
We Need to Let People Study Later in Life
While this is focused on British education, the ideas apply everywhere in business and beyond. Lots of resonating points in here about lifelong learning for me including:
“Education doesn’t just change individuals’ lives, but the society around them.”
“… without lifelong learning, what you end up with is a stagnating society where all but the wealthiest are frozen at the point where they left school; a world where mistakes can’t be erased, minds can’t be changed, and one shot is all you get.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/01/people-study-later-life-dad-further-education
Learning, Design & Technology Miscellany
A few other things just because I can.
Design Resources
- 17 eBook Templates and Design Tips from Venngage (@Venngage)
- Get Apple’s new typeface, New York for free here
- Background Burner is a free online tool for removing backgrounds from images
Apps & Tools
- Scorminator – Make virtually any file SCORM compliant to work with your LMS. Create a free account and upload your files to begin.
- 5 Free Image And Photo Editing Tools For Non-Designers
- OpenShot is an open source video editor
Books, Podcasts, Courses:
- The Neuroscience of Storytelling on the Chief Content Officer podcast
- How To Develop Your Creativity on the Elearning Coach podcast
What I’m listening to:
- Since Spotify is blocked in the office I’m working in now, I’ve had to explore Amazon Music and discovered this nice Chill Electronic playlist to work along to this week.
Conference Roundup
IAs I mentioned, ’m getting super excited to be in Belgium soon for the LearningTechDay conference hosted by Mathias Vermeulen June 17-18.
- Peek in on what our Australian friends have been up to at #AWLC2019
- You can browse slides, handouts and other resources from ATD ICE 2019 here.
Check out the conference action about to happen and please let me know if you see one I missed or have a new one to add.
You can find me at these UPCOMING EVENTS:
- June 13 (June 12th in US) : New Zealand Auckland Branch ATD Webinar
- June 17-18: Learning Tech Day, Gent, Belgium
- July 12: State of Ohio Training Association Annual Event Keynote, Columbus, OH
- October 22-25: DevLearn Pre-Conference Workshop & Conucrrent Session
Interested in the things that didn’t make the cut here? Follow me on Twitter or even better, subscribe to my newsletter.
I’m always looking for great people and organizations who want to help people learn and work better. If you’re one of them, let’s talk! Speaking and Workshop Information Sheet.
Mike Taylor 
Thanks for the weekly updates Mike. The 7 illusions of knowing made me think of the Hidden Brain episode, “Close Enough: The Lure of Living Through Others” where they discuss the research article “Easier Seen Than Done: Merely Watching Others Perform Can Foster an Illusion of Skill Acquisition”. It’d be a recommended read or listen for anyone working in learning and development I’d say.
Cheers,
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