Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.
Albert Einstein
I’ve recently been reminded of the importance of feedback. In normal times, I weigh myself at the gym once a week and since I haven’t been to the gym nor on a scale in nearly a year I’ve been without that bit of feedback. So when my wife bought a scale for us here at home, I was rather unpleasantly surprised with the feedback it gave me. Time to start working on those ‘pandemic pounds’.
Speaking of feedback, the Learning Guild has a short survey about your use of learning technologies. As part of the Guild for Good program, a donation will be made to the Ronald McDonald House Charities for each survey response collected. The survey is here: http://survey.alchemer.com/…/Technologies-for-Learning…
Thanks for reading!
What I’m Listening to: It seems like a great day for a little throwback action, so here is the Throwback Party playlist I’ve got going today.
Last week’s most clicked item:
Principles for Remote Instruction
Right People, Wrong Skills? Leverage Marketing Techniques For Reskilling Purposes
Bianca Baumann shares some of the marketing techniques that L&D can use, especially when it comes to re- and upskilling. Learn how marketing does things like tapping into emotions, getting high levels of engagement and more.
THE BIG L&D RESET – A CALL TO ARMS FROM THE FUTURE
Ashley Sinclair explores how she thinks L&D is broken and we do need to fix it. She also calls on an all-star cast of L&D pros for their thoughts on how we might go about it.
https://www.maas-marketing.co.uk/blog/marketing-for-learning/restarting-ld-embracing-the-change/
Behavior change: What’s the brain got to do with it?
https://medium.com/in-rare-form/behavior-change-whats-the-brain-got-to-do-with-it-ab7c40798785
Learning Technology Trends
If you’re like most people who work with technology, you appreciate having an understanding of what trends are bubbling up to the top so you can stay ahead of the game and make informed decisions. You’ll also value having an efficient way to keep up with the scores of new tools that are emerging every day and learning how you can start putting them to use to benefit your work right away. In short, many L&D technologies are becoming more specialized and connected with the potential for doing some amazing things yourself without the need of a programmer is very exciting.
https://www.slideshare.net/tmiket/learning-technology-trends-and-how-to-start-using-them-today
Rockstar Resources for PowerPoint
The way most people use PowerPoint is broken. Unfortunately, the PowerPoint interface guides people towards creating slides that contradict current research in cognitive science. To be effective communicators and teachers, we must change our slide design approach to align with proven principles that are compatible with how people learn. This is a collection of my favorite resources to help you do that and be a “PowerPoint Rockstar”
https://mike-taylor.org/2021/01/26/rockstar-resources-for-powerpoint/
A few other things just because I can.
Podcasts
Here are three podcast episodes from this week that are worth a listen:
- The Learner Experience and Building Community with John Hinchcliffe on the L&D Lounge Podcast
- Michelle Parry-Slater shares insights from her new book The Learning and Development on the Good Practice (EmeraldWorks) Podcast
- The Lifelong Learning One with Sharon Green and Mirjam Neelen on the Women Talking About Learning podcast.
Tools, Tips & Resources
I recently passed 100 issues of my daily L&D Tech Toolbox newsletter. You can find those and subscribe here.
- Sendicate: Simply send beautiful emails to people who matter.
- Slides Toolbox – Google Workspace Marketplace Lets you to cut the clicks on repeated tasks and brings features for organizing and unifying data in Google Slides.
- Uppbeat > Free Music For Creators – No copyright issues
- Mailbrew – Your personal email digest – Your favorite feeds, writers, and newsletters in a single email digest, and a beautiful web app.
- Mazwai – hand-picked stock video footage; simple licensing with no signup required.
Where You Can Find Me
- Learning Technologies Digital Experience 2021 – February 22
- Nashville ATD – Using Technology for Training – September 16
Interested in the things that didn’t make the cut here? Follow me on Twitter or connect with me on LinkedIn
If you’re looking for a helping hand or someone to speak at your event, let’s talk!
Speaking and Workshop Information Sheet.
Mike Taylor 