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This week’s edition is sponsored by iSpring. Check out their free
Transitioning from Teaching to Instructional Design resource.

“Success hinges less on getting everything right than on how you handle getting things wrong.”

Michelle Russel

Happy Friday! I’m still buzzing from the energy of last week’s DevLearn. Combined with the unusually nice fall we’re still having around here, I feel like I’m floating on a cloud of happiness. I hope you’re feeling the same way. Have a great weekend!

Thanks for reading!

What I’m Listening to: This “Happy Mix” has been playing here all week. If you only listen to one track, make it “Good Day for a Good Day“. (If you’re on Spotify, you can follow me here.)

.https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1EIfFPFmLwzkaA?si=73779ce767614840

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Last week’s most clicked item:
My DevLearn Session Resources

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Modernize Your Learning Offerings Beyond Training

We all know that one-and-done training doesn’t work, right? Our brains need learning spaced over time and in the moment of need and this model invites you to shift your thinking from training to learning clusters –a group of learning assets that target on-the-job behavior change for a specific business need.

Learn more »

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What It Takes to Drive Effective Design for Complex Skills in the Workplace

Mirjam Neelen unpacks a presentation she gave recently at the Learning Technologies Autumn Forum about improving learning transfer when designing for complex skills. It is largely based on Van Merriënboer’s 4C/ID model and a 4C/ID course. Be sure not to miss Part 2 as well.

Learn more »

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The Non-linear Workdays Changing the Shape of Productivity

The pandemic has changed the traditional nine-to-five workday. Workers can now work asynchronously – keeping different hours to themselves and their colleagues. This means employees can craft their work schedules around their personal lives, rather than cramming life into fixed hours. Are you taking advantage of this new work arrangement?

Read more »

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5 Visual Treatments that Improve Accessibility

To design accessible visuals, account for color contrast, don’t rely on color alone, make interactive elements easy to identify, provide useful alternative text for images, and test your visuals with real users.

Learn more »

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How to Explain Things

Whether you’re giving a speech, leading a meeting, or teaching something new, this article lists 16 steps you can take to make your explanation clear, enjoyable, and memorable.

Read more »

 

• Why Learning Is the Engine of Employee Experience with Walmart’s Brandon Carson on the RedThread Research podcast
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• Shift Your Formal Course Design to Social Learning with Nicole Papaioannou Lugara on the Accidental Trainer podcast
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• Why Audio Content Is Underserved In L&D And How To Fix It with Richard Ward on the L&D Disrupt podcast

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• Meco is a distraction-free space for reading and discovering newsletters, separate from the inbox
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• Sejda is a free online tool that helps with your PDF tasks
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• Happy Scribe is AI transcription & subtitles all in one place
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• Montaigne turns your Apple Notes into a website. No more excuses to not have a website
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• Microsoft Reflect is a new Teams app to check-in with learners to support connection, expression, and learning

• New Zealand ATD Conference March 15-16, 2023

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Meco | Try this distraction-free space for reading and discovering newsletters, separate from the inbox. Add your newsletters in seconds and liberate your inbox.
Try Meco today!

Refind | Add a new bit of personalized knowledge to your morning routine with the best stories the web has to offer, curated by Refind. Sign up for free here.

Why We Buy | Learn about buyer psychology in 3 minutes a week…then go apply those lessons to your own work! Sign up for free here.

The Stacked Marketer | This is the free daily newsletter that gives marketers an edge on the competition in just 7 minutes a day. Subscribe here for free.

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“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.” 

Bruce Lee

Happy Friday! I’m putting the finishing touches on everything for DevLearn next week and as I sit here looking out at the dreaded wintry mix out the window I’m also looking forward to some warm sunny weather. As always, meeting new people and getting to spend time in -person is definitely the highlight for me. So you’re gonna be there, please drop me a note and let me know so we can connect in-person. Alternatively, I’d love for you to stop by one of my sessions. Here is my conference schedule.

Thanks for reading!

What I’m Listening to: Working to this personalized playlist and I’m amazed how well Spotify does with these curated playlists. This one just might be the best one ever.
(If you’re on Spotify, you can follow me here.)

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Last week’s most clicked item:
7 Books on the Science of Learning

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Why Does a Design Look Good?

It’s easy to look at a design and notice it looks good. It’s often much harder to pinpoint why it looks good. This NN Group article analyzes three user-interface designs and discusses the visual-design principles that make them attractive.

Read article

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A Five-Minute Guide to Better Typography

This is a fantastic guide that will help you with your typographic design, which is the number one thing most “non-designers” can do to improve their visual designs in 5 minutes or less. Bookmark this one and refer to it often!

Read article

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TOP 5 TIPS TO DO CONTENT CURATION LIKE AN L&D PRO

L&D pros help organizations by attracting (and retaining) talent, helping to build the company brand, motivating and consistently engaging employees, and focusing on ways to upskill the entire staff by empowering them to own their career growth and path. All the above job roles, especially the last one, require good content curation skills. Here are 5 pro tips for L&D content curation from Filtered.

Read article

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How to use Datawrapper to make fast—and free—visualizations

Datawrapper makes it easy to create your own data visualizations. It’s free and easy to use for non-designers. If you just want to make a nice chart or map, try diving in with any data you have at hand.

Learn how to make visualizations with Datawrapper

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Build Power Apps from a drawing & Power Automate Flows using natural language

Are you following the #NoCode movement? If you’re not, you should be. This video illustrates the direction things are headed. See how you can build Power Apps from a drawing & connect it with Power Automate Flows using natural language

Watch Video

 

• The Role of Standalone L&D With Aimee Young on the Learning & Development podcast
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• Does Workflow Learning Work? with David James on the Learning Hack podcast
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• Sharpening your L&D skills with Ed McLean on the MindTools podcast
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• Talkadot collects feedback and testimonials from your speaking events
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• Air is a platform to help you manage and organize visual assets
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• Yoodli is an online speaking coach that gives you “with judgement free feedback from our AI-powered speech coach.”
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• Swapflo gives you a sustainable digital business card designed to work beautifully with Apple and Google Wallet
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• Beams is a virtual event platform with ‘one window technology’

• DevLearn – October 24-28
• Genially “Elearning in the Age of Information Overload” – October 26 11am Eastern
• New Zealand ATD Conference March 15-16, 2023

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“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.“

Alvin Toffler

Happy Friday! I’ve been thinking that I need to get back to some more “regular blog posts” and I’m not sure what topics I should try to tackle first. I could really use your help.

If I agreed to be your personal creator/coach for a month, what would you want me to help you with?

Just reply via email – I’d love to hear what you’d like help with.

Are you going to DevLearn? Drop me a note and let me know so we can connect in-person. Here is my conference schedule.

What I’m Listening to: Something about this song is so infectious. I don’t think any of the other songs on this playlist are quite as good, but Hello! this is the energy I’m feeling today.
(If you’re on Spotify, you can follow me here.)

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Last week’s most clicked item:
Create interactive videos with Hippo Video

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Eight Tasks for Your First 100 Days Learning an L&D Department

If you’re new to leading an L&D team Donald Taylor has 8 things you should do in your first 100 days including: Aim for a few actionable quick wins before launching your overall plan, Spread the word about who you are and what you are doing, and Keep up with your professional networks and carry on learning. Check the original post to peek in on the discussion around this topic.

Read more about tasks for new L&D leaders

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Three Critical Steps To Learning

Chris Do discusses the three steps you need to follow in order to maximize the gain you’re getting from learning new skills and information.

Watch video

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7 Books on the Science of Learning

How does the mind work? Why do the best writers get the most writer’s block? Is the process of evolution the key to understanding the development of thought? Here are some selections from Scott Young on these topics.

See the list of 7 books on Learning

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Build Power Apps from a drawing & Power Automate Flows using natural language

Are you following the #NoCode movement? If you’re not, you should be. This video illustrates the direction things are heading. Build low code apps and processes easily with the latest updates to Microsoft’s Power Platform. Move quickly from ideation on paper, to automatic Power App creation with AI-assisted app development through Express design. Then tie those apps to business processes using natural language to generate automated workflows in Power Automate.

Watch video

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Automate Your Instructional Design Work Using NoCode Tools

I spent some time with Brent, Chris and all my #IDIODC friends this week talking about #NoCode. Pop on over to learn how virtually anyone in any field in any role can benefit from knowing and applying these automation and development principles.

Watch the replay

 

• Creating learning workflows with Paul Matthews on the Unleash podcast
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• Scaling Connection, Performance and Community in a Global Remote Team with Penelope Barton on the Learning Uncut podcast
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• How to start professional networking (and feel good about it) with Robbie Samuels on NPR’s Life Kit podcast

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• Gamma lets you “write like a doc and present like a deck‍” – definitely one you should check out!
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• Journey is cool way to combine videos, slides, text and embeds from your favorite tools into a single experience
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• Uppbeat is a great free collection of music and sound effects for creators
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• FollowUpThen is a simple yet slick email reminder and personal follow-up assistant
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• Loudreader is the web’s only usable ebook reader inside a browser
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• DevLearn – October 24-28
• New Zealand ATD Conference March 15-16, 2023

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Getting an ID job interview is only halfway to landing your dream role. If you want to nail your next job interview, check out this YouTube video that focuses on the 11
most common questions asked during the instructional designer job interview and how to answer them. Watch the video →

If you hit every shot you take, you’re standing tool close to the net.

Happy Friday! I’m feeling grateful today. As crazy as the world seems lately, I’m very fortunate to be surrounded with an amazing collection of friends and family. I’d like to invite you to pause for a moment to appreciate the things in your life that give you a sense of gratitude. Giving thanks is good for you!

Going to DevLearn? Hit reply and let me know so we can connect and say hi. Here is my conference schedule.

Thanks for reading. 

What I’m Listening to: Today I’m in one of those moods when I sing along with every song…at least the ones I know the words to.
(If you’re on Spotify, you can follow me here.)

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Last week’s most clicked item:
Virtual icebreakers from top facilitators

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Let Go of the Learning Baggage

Learning is necessary for our success and personal growth. But we can’t maximize the time we spend learning because our feelings about what we ‘should’ be doing get in the way.

Read about our learning baggage

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Why training is often not the right solution

Training primarily helps to build knowledge, skills and capabilities. However, to achieve genuine and sustainable behavioral change, there are three other crucial conditions: Trainees must want to change their behavior, and the new behaviors must be both socially acceptable and feasible in the given situation.

Read about the skills question

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Why Color Matters

Substantial research shows why color matters and how color plays a pivotal role in all our visual experiences. Among the research are studies that showed that color can improve readership by 40 percent, learning from 55 to 78 percent, and comprehension by 73 percent.

Learn more about the impact of color

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Creating accessible emails: A guide for marketers and journalists

If you’ve been around here long, you’ve probably heard me talk about the value of L&D pros using email marketing tools for learning. This is a nice article that talks about how to use content and visual design to create emails that work for a wide range of subscribers.

Learn more about making your emails accessible

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How async communication combats groupthink

Contrary to popular belief, research shows that real-time collaboration tends to stifle creativity and diverse perspectives. This is from a newsletter worth subscribing to while you’re there.

“If you want a yes, ask someone to respond on the spot. But if you want a deeper, more honest answer, ask asynchronously in writing.”

Learn more about async collaboration

 

• Breaking free from pointless awareness campaigns with Ruth Dale on the Behaviour Change Marketing podcast
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• How to Make Classes More Active, and Why It Matters with Cathy Davidson on the EdSurge podcast
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• Learning at speed to drive performance with Nelson Sivalingam on the MindTools L&D podcast

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• iorad lets you create stunningly efficient tutorials and share them at lightspeed
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• Capcut is a nice free all-in-one video editing solution
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• Create interactive videos with Hippo Video
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• Clippings.me is an easy way to create a great looking portfolio
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• Veed.io is a great tool for online video editing

• DevLearn – October 24-28

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“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action”

Herbert Spencer

Happy Friday! Bianca Baumann and I are putting the finishing touches on our DevLearn pre-conference workshop and I’m getting pretty excited about it. Sadly, the other workshop with Mathias Vermeulen didn’t draw enough people and has been cancelled. That is a giant bummer because I know how valuable that one if for literally everyone.

If you are going to DevLearn this year, please hit reply and let me know. I’d love to chat with you in person. Here is my conference schedule.

Thanks for reading. 

What I’m Listening to: Last week’s playlist has put me on the path of LoFi Beats all week. Just enough chill with just enough of a beat.
(If you’re on Spotify, you can follow me here.)

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Last week’s most clicked item:
beautiful.ai add-in for PowerPoint

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Can Canva Compete With Microsoft Office?

Canva just announced a suite of new products to challenge Microsoft Office + every other productivity tool. I agree with Turner Novak that this might be one of the most significant product announcements ever. In addition to graphic design, Canva is getting pretty good at presentations and video editing and now they’ve launched whiteboards, websites, and docs. I never thought anyone could replace Office, but now I’m starting to rethink that.

Learn more about Canva’s Worksuite

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Virtual Icebreakers: 42 Fresh Activities From Top Facilitators

Tired of cringe-inducing icebreakers? The folks at Butter asked professional facilitators to share the virtual icebreakers they actually use to kick off their remote workshops. Here are the 42 activities they came up with. Bet you’ll find some you like. 

Explore these virtual icebreakers

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Realistic Reasons to be Bullish on Nudging

Nudging’s value stems from its success in solving two hard problems. Changing people’s behavior, in a sustainable way & getting stuff done in large organizations, 

Read more about nudging

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Bite Your LMS With Arist

In this Learning Tech Talks, Christopher Lind visits with Michael Ioffe from Arist to talk about the emerging trends coming out of forward-thinking LMS platforms that embrace tech that resonates differently with a new generation of learners and how organizations are finding success in ways previously unthinkable.

Watch this Learning Tech Talk 

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How to send newsletters in Gmail with customized layouts and multi-send mode

Gmail now offers built-in email newsletter templates and the ability to send emails to multiple individual recipients without a BCC. Works great for newsletters and campaigns.

Learn more about sending newsletters from Gmail

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• How to make classes more active and why it matters with Cathy Davidson on the EdSurge podcast
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• A learner’s journey with Connie Malamed on the Leading Learning podcast
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• How can we learn at speed to drive performance with Nelson Sivalingam on the Mind Tools L&D podcast

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• Simplified uses AI to help you write good copy faster
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• Bridge.audio is a site to organize and share your audio files in a beautiful way
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• Twemex is a browser extension for surfacing more insights from Twitter
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• Tiled is a great option for creating interactive content online
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• Blaze is a time-saving text replacement add-in for Chrome

• DevLearn – October 24-28

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Wynter is looking for L&D pros
Here is a different, but interesting opportunity for L&D professionals: Wynter is looking for L&Ders that want to participate in a research study and get paid for their effort. Check the link here and join the research!

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“Success is just a byproduct of learning, and learning is a byproduct of curiosity. Ultimately, if you are curious about something, you will be successful at it, and the more curious you are about it, the more successful you will be at it.”

Naval Ravikant

Happy Friday! It is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL fall day here today. My favorite time of year when you can throw on a sweatshirt, watch the leaves start to change colors and enjoy everything that comes with fall here in the northern hemisphere. (Although I’m totally missing the real Belgian waffle I had everyday in Ghent last week.) I hope you have a great weekend enjoying some of your favorite things too.

Thanks for reading. 

What I’m Listening to: This morning I’m really enjoying my recent discovery of Ph-wert which is a nice mellow playlist that is great to work along to. Funny name-great music!
(If you’re on Spotify, you can follow me here.)

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Last week’s most clicked item:
What to do when cognitive overload threatens your productivity

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Prospective Memory: What It Is, Why Teachers Should Notice

Prospective memory allows us to remember the future (yay). And, it creates working memory load (boo). We can reduce that load by a) recognizing the problem, b) developing classroom routines, and c) creating reminders — written or technological — to offload those prospective memory burdens. Simply put: offload prospective memory burdens onto paper — or some other technology reminder.

Learn more about prospective memory

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Informal learning’s role in learning transfer

Learning is a side effect of life.  It is virtually impossible for us to imagine a world without informal learning. Key quote: “It seems to me that we need a halfway house where we can ‘manage’ informal learning, but with a light touch that does not destroy it.” 

Read more about informal learning transfer

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Press Books Directory

Pressbook Directory open sources over 4,000 books, many of them on (adult) education, continuous learning, curriculum planning, and development + much more!!

Browse the Pressbooks directory

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How to Write a Powerful Conference Speaker Bio

See what Jennifer van Alstyne has to say about writing a better speaker bio. She shares some simple and useful tips that can help you upgrade your bio. She also offers a free course to help with your online presence.

Watch Video

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The New Canva

Along with a lot of others, I’m a big fan of Canva and use it all the time. Their latest updates let you make a website, brainstorm on a digital whiteboard, or collaborate on documents. Jeremy Caplan has a summary of the most useful new features and some limitations in his latest Wonder Tools newsletter. 

Learn about the latest Canva updates

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• Why Technology Matters with Workflow Learning with Conrad Gottfredson on the 5 Moments of Need podcast
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• The Importance of Embracing Technologies and Practices in Instructional Design with Terry Godfrey on the iDeas podcast
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• Executive Function’s Critical Role in Adult Learning with LaDonna Pavetti on the Global Learning Partners podcast

• The Beautiful.ai PowerPoint Add-In helps you create beautiful slides 10x faster in PowerPoint
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• Bunny.net is a new inexpensive option for content hosting worth checking out
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• Upscale Media lets you upscale & enhance your images with AI
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• Sharelo is an interesting app that lets you combine multiple types of content for easy viewing via a single link
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• Excel Formula Bot turns your text instructions into Excel formulas
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• DevLearn – October 24-28

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Wynter is looking for L&D pros
Here is a different, but interesting opportunity for L&D professionals: Wynter is looking for L&Ders that want to participate in a research study and get paid for their effort. Check the link here and join the research!

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“The present is the past rolled up for action, and the past is the present unrolled for understanding.”

Will Durant

Happy Friday! After yesterday’s awesome VOV Lerend Netwerk’s event in Antwerp, I’m out with Mathias Vermeulen today in the Ardennes checking out as many Battle of the Bulge sites near Bastogne as we can fit into one day before I head back home tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. 

What I’m Listening to: I recently heard my daughter listening to a song from my college years by The Fray and it has sent me down memory lane this morning. Ah, those were the days!
(If you’re on Spotify, you can follow me here.)

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Last week’s most clicked item:
Top 10 Tactics for Improving Multiple-Choice Questions

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Cameras On or Off? It Depends!

Like it or not, video conferencing platforms have become an integral tool for synchronous online teaching and learning. However, when the use of these tools increased due to emergency remote teaching. This article gives you some research-based insights that can help inform your camera policy and course design decisions.

Read about which is better – cameras on or off

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What to do when cognitive overload threatens your productivity

Cognitive overload occurs when too much information overwhelms our cognitive resources, making it difficult to learn and commit knowledge to long-term memory. This article from Atlassian offers some productivity tips to combat cognitive overload.

Learn about productivity tips to combat cognitive overload

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From bookmarks to brainstorming, Bublup your Digital Life

I’ve been a big fan of Bublup for a long time now. (It has been in my Top 10 Learning Tools list.) Watch this TLDC Elearning Tools Summit session with Leigh Ann Morgan as she walks through some of the useful features and how you might use it for your L&D work (and more!)

Watch video about using Bublup

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Spacing Retrieval is More Important than Extra Retrieval

Researchers have once again shown the benefits of spaced retrieval practice, but this set up was a little different. What you are about to see is that it isn’t about how much you study, but about how you study. Quality wins over quantity and we all get to save a little bit of time… making this great news for busy learners everywhere!

https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2022/9/7-1

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Which Fonts Are Best For Charts & Tables?

When in doubt, set your text in a font that’s easy to read. Easy to read is everything that readers are used to. On the web, that means sans-serif, neither overly narrow nor wide, regular (instead of bold or thin) text set in sentence case, in a size that’s big enough to read, and in black or almost black.

Learn more about the best fonts for charts and tables

 

• Why regrets are good for you with Dan Pink on the Nudge podcast
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• Embedding a growth mindset in organizations as a key foundation for learning with Katrina Moss from Shopify on the Learning Uncut podcast
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• The fastest way to find a new l&D role on the Overnight Trainer podcast

• Morgen is a time management hub for your work, life and hustle
• HyreSnap uses AI to help you make a better resume
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• Verbally helps make your Google & Zoom meeting better
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• Describe a background image you want and Photoroom generates it. (Not perfect but helpful in some cases)
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• Sparktoro checks the influence and health of any Twitter account
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• DevLearn – October 24-28

 

Wynter is looking for L&D pros
Here is a different, but interesting opportunity for L&D professionals: Wynter is looking for L&Ders that want to participate in a research study and get paid for their effort. Check the link here and join the research!

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Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.

Tecumseh

Happy Friday! I’m super excited to be heading to Belgium next week for the VOV Pitstop at the Port House in Antwerp where we’ll spend an entire day focused on L&D tools and technologies. If you or anyone you know are in the area, please hit reply and let me know. I’d love to connect and say hello in-person.

Thanks for reading. 

What I’m Listening to: This SINY Radio playlist is a nice chilled out background for cranking out some work this morning. (If you’re on Spotify, you can follow me here.)

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Last week’s most clicked item:
Jane Hart’s Top 100 Tools for Learning

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Content Curation and Knowledge Management: Why They Matter and How They Connect

This post from Anders Pink takes a look at knowledge management, why it matters, and how it connects to curation. Which is more relevant than ever as more people and critical organizational knowledge are leaving in the context of ‘the great resignation’.

https://blog.anderspink.com/2022/09/content-curation-and-knowledge-management-why-they-matter-and-how-they-connect/

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Top 10 Tactics for Improving Multiple Choice Questions

Patti Shank shares 10 tactics that are the most important for writing well-written and
relevant multiple-choice questions. These are a must for anyone who ever creates assessment questions.

(If you like this, be sure to check out the Mindtools podcast that explores key takeaways fro Patti’s book “Write better multiple-choice questions to assess learning“)

View Document

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The Beginner’s Guide To Community Management

Richard Millington of FeverBee has put together a resource that helps newcomers in the community management realm quickly get up to speed on the basics. with plenty of resources, frameworks, and examples to help with the journey.

https://www.feverbee.com/guides/the-beginners-guide-to-community-management/

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Learn Airtable in 60 Minutes

Airtable is a fantastic tool that should be in your toolkit. In this video, Aron Korenblit will get you up to speed in just one hour. This is an hour well spent!

https://www.aatt.io/video/learn-airtable-in-60-minutes-with-aron-korenblit

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Elearning Storyboards

Bryan Jones of eLearning Art has created an “Ultimate Guide to Elearning Development” with lots of great stuff including a section on storyboards to get you started in the right direction for producing a storyboard that helps you build your next elearning or instructional design project quickly and efficiently. If you’re already a pro, you might want to jump directly to the big collection of 111 storyboard templates, using this link.

https://elearningart.com/development/storyboard/

 

• Standing on the Shoulders of L&D’s Giants With Mirjam Neelen on the Learning & Development podcast
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• Evidence-based L&D – Learning off the Job with Carole Bower on the CIPD podcast
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• What’s the evidence for effective questions on the MindTools L&D podcast
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• DropDeck lets you create beautiful slides — as fast as you can type out an email
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• Gamma.App lets you “write like a doc and present like a deck”
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• Vidyard is a free screen recording tool built for sales people but great for everyone
  .
• LetterInbox lets you read newsletters without cluttering your inbox
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• TinySnap is helps you make production-ready screenshots quickly & easily
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• VOV Pitstop Antwerp – September 15
• DevLearn – October 24-28