So much great stuff this week, it was hard to keep this short. If 2018 continues at this pace it is going to be an amazing year. I think one of the most amazing of all things is the opportunity to meet awesome people like you in person. Fortunately, I’ll be at the ATD TechKnowledge conference the week of January 22 in San Jose. Give me a shout if you’re going to be there and would like to connect in person.
“So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.”
-Kurt Vonnegut
#SlideADay Project
Trust me on this one. Anyone who ever builds slides for any reason should definitely not miss this. Julie Terberg (@julieterberg) is doing a slide-a-day project where she is posting one presentation design concept each day. You can learn more about Julie, a Powerpoint MVP, via her website: http://terbergdesign.com/
What do you know about the concept of Working Out Loud? In a nutshell, when you Work Out Loud, you’re more effective because you have access to more people, knowledge, and opportunities that can help you. John Stepper (@johnstepper) has literally written to book on this topic. The best part is how easy and accessible it is to get started. He recently updated his free guide for leading or participating in a Work Out Loud circle which helps you build relationships related to a goal you care about in just an hour a week.
99% of WOL participants surveyed recommend the WOL Method
(and I think the other 1% might’ve been a data entry error)
9 Essential Principles for Modernizing Your Corporate Learning Ecosystem
If you keep up at all with the L&D field you’ve probably heard of JD Dillon (@JD_Dillon). It’s kinda hard to miss him — in a very good way. Take for example his recent e-book “ 9 Essential Principles for Modernizing Your Corporate Learning Ecosystem” which aims to help L&D professionals get started with applying essential modern learning principles TODAY – regardless of organization, resources or circumstances. There’s even an assessment that will help evaluate your organization’s current approach and where it falls on the spectrum between “Stuck in a timewarp” and “Seriously cutting edge”.
My friend Connie Malamed (@elearningcoach) is leading an Elearning Guild webinar on “Crash Course in Information Graphics for Learning” next week. (Wednesday, January 17, 2018 | 10:00 AM Pacific ) Her sessions always have practical, easy to apply insights and since it’s open to everyone so there’s no excuse for you to miss out on this one.
10 Questions To Ask Before Starting Instructional Design
No matter what type of learning project you’re about to embark upon, you’ll want to ask these 10 questions from Marc Rosenberg (@marcjrosenberg) BEFORE you get started. If you like these and are interested in more like them, you can also check out these “21 Questions to ask before Designing Any Training Program”
I looked for a long time and couldn’t find a good, consolidated list of Learning / L&D / Design-related Conferences so I built my own. And because all of us are smarter than any one of us, it is open so anyone can add their favorites that aren’t already included. If you speak at conferences, and you should, it also includes the speaker submission deadlines. (For all the ones I could find.)
As an aside, I’m always curious to learn what is your favorite conference and why? Please drop comment below or tweet me your answer with the hashtag #FavCon — I’m @tmiket on Twitter.
After a long quest for a site that consolidates L&D-related events in a searchable, easy-to-use place I’ve given up and decided to create one myself. There are a lot of great events in our space but to find them you’ve gotta check a zillion different places.
In addition to the events themselves, I also wanted a way to keep track of the speaker submission deadlines. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to submit to speak at a conference only to realize the deadline was yesterday.
So today I’m unveiling the beta version of the Ultimate Learning Conference Database & Calendar which currently consists of:
Welcome to the first Friday Finds of 2018. No matter where you are or what holidays you did (or didn’t) celebrate, I hope your new year is off to a fantastic start!! I also hope you’re not doing any first hand learning about what ‘bombogenesis’ is.
Want to Grow Your Network? Stay Home and Write
Andrew Chen (@andrewchen) reflects on his 10+ years of blogging and shares what the lessons he’s learned. This is something that really resonates with me and is well worth a read. You’ll get valuable insights on building your ‘personal bat signal’ and other great stuff. If you like what he has to say, you can subscribe to his newsletter.
Publishing ideas, learnings, opinions, for years & years is a great way to give. And you’ll figure out how to capture value later
Jane Hart has just released a free ebook – “Introduction to Modern Workplace Learning in 2018” This is the first in a 3 e-book series that includes some (updated) content from Jane Hart’s including her popular Top Learning Tools and Modern Workplace Learning Toolkit.
Note: Part 1 is FREE, Parts 2 and 3 can be purchased separately.
3 Scientific Reasons Great Design Makes People Want to Read Your Reports
Visual communication is becoming more and more ubiquitous and for good reason. You may have heard me say that everyone is a designer and this is more evidence of that. The way you design everything from emails and documents to slides and multimedia impact the ability of your audience to “synthesize information quickly and, more importantly, extract meaning and insights that influence their decision-making.” Good design helps you do that. Dive into Katy French’s (@katyifrench) post on the Column Five Media blog for the details.
How to Covert your Google Slides Presentation into an Animated GIF
This post from Amit Agarwal (@labnol) of Digital Inspiration introduces the Tall Tweets app for Google Slides, which helps you convert your presentations into high-quality animated GIFs that you can send via, embed online or share via Twitter and other social platforms.
Here’s an example from an old deck of mine that I shared on Twitter:
Example of converting your slides to an animated GIF. Great if you want an easily sharable version for trailers, social media, etc. Learn how you can make your own at https://t.co/0pSO0cstgUpic.twitter.com/ZvoGB6M6Hi
I read a lot of books and over the years everytime I’ve tried to navigate the process of borrowing digital e-books I’ve always hit hurdles like awful user interfaces, painful search options, etc. I’m hoping those are a thing of the past now that I’ve found Libby. I’m just getting started, but so far this looks like a big improvement. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for this one!
If you’re a trainer, presenter or do any type of public speaking you know there’s a lot more that goes into it than just what people see. Beyond the obvious prep work leading up to an event, there is also a fair amount of work afterward to collect feedback, distribute the supporting resources or handouts (you are creating a separate takeaway document, right?!) and sharing your contact information. Find out how Talkbook can save you time and greatly improve that process.
If you’re a trainer, presenter or do any type of public speaking you know there’s a lot more that goes into it than just what people see. Beyond the obvious prep work leading up to an event, there is also a fair amount of work afterward to collect feedback, distribute the supporting resources or handouts (you are creating a separate takeaway document, right?!) and sharing your contact information.
Fortunately, there’s a simple solution to handle those important post-event tasks with ease while saving you a lot of time in the process. Talkbook is a website that will collect ratings and feedback from your audience and also automate the distribution of any follow-up information and supporting materials you want to provide.
I’ve been using Talkbook for a while now and I’ll never do another event without it. (At least if I can help it.)
So how does it work? That’s the best part. It is quick and easy to get started.
After creating a free account, you’re ready to create your first talk page, which is basically just adding the details about your talk into the forms on the talk page which consist of things like:
Title
A unique keyword that becomes part of the URL you share with your audience
The email incentive — what you’ll be giving to your audience
Handouts: The links, documents, information etc you want to share
Beyond these basics, you can also turn on/off these advanced options :
Collect their first name. (You’ll get email addresses automatically.)
Collect a 1-10 rating.
Collect feedback. (This enables open-ended comments and questions.)
Customize the main text, which shows up in the subject line of the email your audience receives.
Customize the contact info text.
With your talk page in place, you’ll get a unique URL to share with your audience that will make all the magic happen. You can even download a PowerPoint slide to add to your presentation deck if you don’t want to create your own.
That’s it! You’re all set and all you need to do is add the instruction slide at the end of your slide deck to tell your audience what to do and why they should do it. Everything is easy to do right then and there via the mobile devices they’ve got in their pockets. I like to make my own custom slide which looks like this.
When people visit your talk page URL they’ll get a nice easy to use, mobile-friendly form like this:
Ratings & Comments
If you choose to enable it, you can collect ratings and/or comments about your session.
Delivering Handouts & Contact Information
I love the feedback but my favorite feature of Talkbook is the way it distributes all the extra information and supporting materials related to you and your talk.
Instead of collecting business cards, then spending hours entering them as contacts (If you haven’t lost them before you get home!) and manually emailing your handouts, Talkbook automates this process so you’re audience gets everything you want them to have immediately after you wrap-up.
This is what the email that people will receive looks like:
And finally you don’t want to miss this part…the dashboard gives you a nice overview of everything you’ve collected.
Nice huh? So is the information you’ll get about the people from your audience. If they’ve used the same email to get your handouts as they use for their social media accounts Talkbook will connect you to them on LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
And as if you needed any more reasons to give it a try, you can also export the emails to a .csv file or connect them directly with your MailChimp account.
What do you think? Useful? Worth trying? I’d love to hear your thoughts and how you handle gathering feedback and managing handouts for your events. Leave a comment below.
As you may already know, every Friday I post a weekly recap of the best articles, posts, and resources I find. I try to keep tabs on things related to workplace learning, technology, social tools and anything that generally helps people work smarter.
In case you missed any or could use a refresh, here are all the things I found this year related to workplace learning.
Training Tips Weekly by Chris Mattia
Whether you’re a corporate trainer or a teacher, Chris Mattia can help you make enhancements to your instructional materials, and connect with your learners in a more meaningful way. Each week, Chris offers a new and actionable tip for creating high-quality instructional materials on any budget. He discusses designing effective lessons, creating assets for those lessons, leveraging mobile devices for instructional design, tackling instructional video production, and more. Tune in every Monday for a new tip.
Be sure to check with your local library accessing Lynda.com for free!
Lifelong learning is becoming an economic imperative
This Economist article by Andrew Palmer outlines how today’s technological change demands stronger and more continuous connections between education and employment. I’d argue that this is not a new development but it is definitely accelerating. Considering the fact that we are tasked with educating our children for jobs which don’t even exist yet, how could this not be true?
Tools, Lifelong Learning, & The Mike Taylor Method of Social Media Curation
This week I had the honor of hanging out with Brent Schlenker, Cara North and the rest of the TLDC crew. I was a lot of fun and we had a great discussion on learning tools, social media, curation and more. Check out the recording for the context or jump over and check out all the great stuff we covered.
Learn why learning science works. Explore the foundational principles of cognition, memory, and intelligence. Breakthroughs coming out of university learning labs teach us how we really learn, how the mind works, and what we can do to accelerate learning.
How To Learn In 2 Days What Normally Takes 6 Months
Research has found that having clarity about your goals is essential to having the motivation to achieve those goals.(This one is another gem from the Learning Experience Friday newsletter by Anna Sabramowicz.)
Despite its mainstream popularity, the Myers-Brigg personality types are as scientific as a childish parlor game.
Why Successful People Spend 10 Hours A Week On “Compound Time”
By far, the biggest excuse I hear from L&D practitioners is “I don’t have time for that.” Instead of SPENDING our time, we should all be INVESTING out time. As this article by Michael Simmons shows, it is worthwhile to spend some time every day on things that are not on your to-do list.
Despite having way more responsibility than anyone else, top performers in the business world often find time to step away from their urgent work, slow down, and invest in activities that have a long-term payoff in greater knowledge, creativity, and energy. As a result, they may achieve less in a day at first, but drastically more over the course of their lives.
This post from Gary Wise explores the role of L&D as “key enabler” vs “owner”. One of his key takeaways is that L&D organizations taking orders for training only perpetuates the myth that training drives performance.
Consider this question – Would it be a problem if L&D never developed another course?
Have you shared your top learning tools with Jane Hart for her annual survey of the Top 100 Learning Tools? If not, you should head on over there now and contribute. She makes it super easy, so no excuses! I’ve contributed to every one of the 11 surveys so far and this year’s edition has a couple of interesting newcomers.
Learning & Development departments in corporate America face a lot of challenges. Tune into my conversation with Pete Brown as we explore how some of these challenges can be met by stealing tactics from the marketing department. I also share a few specific tools that will give your training an immediate boost in production value and visual appeal.
Why is it that some people seem to be hugely successful and do so much, while the vast majority of us struggle to tread water? The answer is complicated and likely multifaceted. One aspect is mindset—specifically, the difference between amateurs and professionals.
The Science of Storytelling: Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains
A good story can make or break a presentation, article, or conversation. But why is that? Buffer co-founder Leo Widrich shares the science of why storytelling is so uniquely powerful.
Image credit: Digital Transformation Machine by Bryan Mathers on Flickr
Digital transformation isn’t primarily about either “digital” or “transformation.” It’s about adaptation. It is not a process that will ever be complete.
I had a lot of fun being part of the Elearning Guild’s Learn from Marketing Summit this week. On Wednesday, I shared “A Few Things L&D Should Steal From the Marketing Department”. The cliff notes version is that we should emulate how marketers streamline their message and appeal to the lizard brain by tapping into emotions instead of simply repeating a stream of boring facts and figures. We also explored some easy to use marketing tools like MailChimp that are great for learning pros. I even built a free email course with all the key takeaways so you can see how it works.
Google Is Giving Away Its Best Tools for Managers Absolutely Free
Google has spent years studying the attributes of effective managers for its Project Oxygen and found that, technical expertise is less important than more mundane attributes like consistency, delegation, and basic human decency.
Fortunately, Google has applied the insights they gained to develop a collection of freely available training and support documents to help newer managers learn the tricks of the trade, elicit great feedback, mentor colleagues, and run effective one-on-ones. Among the resources you’ll find are:
Manager feedback survey [Google Forms survey]
New manager training course materials [slides, facilitator guide, and student workbook]
Jane Hart (@c4lpt) has been polling learning pros about their top learning for 11 years. This week she published this year’s edition and as always, it is definitely worth a look.
I’ve contributed to all 11 of Jane’s surveys and recently shared a few observations on my decade+ of learning tools usage.
Why Training Fails: 11 Truths That Most Good Leaders Don’t Even Know
If you’re involved with training programs, you should give this list some consideration. Thinking about these elements and how they fit together help you get the most out of your training efforts.
As you read this, consider any type of classroom training, not just college lectures. When well done, online options can offer “arguably much more interaction than you’d ever find from an ordinary in-person course.” Interactive online courses continuously force attention back to the actual material.
This is the first in The Vanishing University, a four-part series exploring the tech-driven future of higher education in America. Here is part two.
Earlier this week I had a chance to talk with Robin Petterd of Sprout Labs about some of the marketing tools and concepts and how they can be used for learning. It is a short, fun (at least for me!) and relevant chat made all the better by Robin’s Australian accent. Who can resist an Australian accent?! Be sure to check out some of the other episodes and subscribe in your favorite podcast player.
Mark your calendar for the next #LrnSciChat that is going down on Monday, 23 Oct @ 4pm (Easter time / 9pm London time). Head on over to Twitter and follow them now! Dr Yana Weinstein – @doctorwhy, Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel @pimpmymemory and the Learning Scientists account at @acethattest. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the Learning Scientist blog!
Will Design Thinking Replace Instructional Design? No. Here’s Why…
Charbel Semaan @charbeljs explores the question of whether or not design thinking will replace instructional design.
Design thinking won’t replace instructional design in the same way design thinking would never replace something like graphic design. You do graphic design within the design thinking methodology.
The empty brain: Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories.
In short: your brain is not a computer
For a long time now, people have been asserting that the human brain works like a computer. That is not true and this is a great article by Dr. Robert Epstein (@DrREpstein) that will set you on the correct path for thinking about how the brain does and doesn’t’ work.
We don’t store words or the rules that tell us how to manipulate them. We don’t create representations of visual stimuli, store them in a short-term memory buffer, and then transfer the representation into a long-term memory device. We don’t retrieve information or images or words from memory registers. Computers do all of these things, but organisms do not.
I was quite happy to stumble upon this site in my adventures this week. Whether you plug-in via email, Twitter or feed reader, this will be something you’ll always look forward to seeing the latest from Virpi Oinonen (@voinonen).
Mathias Vermeulen surfaced this article containing 59 theses for the future of work. These are propositions that will give you some thoughts as the ongoing conversation takes place on the future of work, organizations, people and their happiness.
Learning objectives are like metadata – useful but best left unseen
Viv Cole (@Viv_Cole) takes a questioning look at learning objectives by tapping into so valuable thoughts and information from Will Thalheimer’s overview of scientific research on learning objectives and Clive Sheppard’s Love-hate relationship with them. I like the general point that if you are presenting them to your audience, you should at least steal a trick from marketers and make them interesting/appealing instead of using a dry, boring bullet list.
What are your thoughts on learning objectives? How do you use them in your work?
Working Out Loud to Build Skills & Relationships
John Stepper’s (@johnstepper) Working Out Loud is a collaborative approach to building new skills and relationships through what he calls Work Out Loud Circles. This is a good conversation that explores the experience of some L&D pros (Ross Garner – @RossGarnerGP, Mike Collins – @Community_Mike, Ady Howes – @AdyHowes, Chris Coladonato – @ChrisCola, Hannah Wysome – @quinnite and Sam Burrough – @Burrough) as they made their way through a WOL Circle’s series of twelve weekly meetings and activities.
At some point, almost everyone can benefit from adding value to others by curating a set of helpful resources. This week I shared a few of the things that make ZEEF my favorite tool for this.
Are you using anything different for this task? How does it compare?
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.
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.
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.
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
What’s the organizing principle of today’s digital workplace?
Community expert Rachel Happe (@RachelHappe)shared this article by Dion Hinchcliffe (@dhinchcliffe) which is a nice way of thinking about how to organize the digital workplace and manage digital transformation.
Motion pictures, radio, television, computers and more. Over the years, many technologies have promised to revolutionize education, but so far none of them have been able to do it. This video by Derek Muller (@veritasium) is a brief exploration into what could revolutionize education?
When it comes to learning, it’s not the technology but how you use it that matters most.
Learning Technologies: What Managers Really Think
The third in a series by Good Practice, this report aims to answer key questions about managers perceptions of learning technologies. Check it out to gain some insights into what managers think of mobile learning, their openness to various mediums and more. For an even deeper dive, join the conversation via the #gpwrmt hashtag.
Coming in at over 100 pages, this one is definitely one for a lazy weekend or some other bigger window when you’ve got some time to take it in. The essence of what appeals to me in this piece edited by Esko Kilpi ( @EskoKilpi ) is captured in by this line:
Smarter and smarter tools surround us, but if we don’t want to learn the new practices and take up the new roles that the new technologies make possible, they might as well not be there.
Laptops Are Great. But Not During a Lecture or a Meeting.
This NY Times article by Susan Dynarski ( @dynarski ) takes a look at the growing body of evidence showing that overall, students learn less when they use computers or tablets during lectures.
The Science of Learning 101: When to Build Performance Support
Which is better? Training or performance support. Patti Shank (@pattishank)shares what the research says about the factors to consider when making your decision. Jump over to her post on the new ATD website and join the discussion of when and why performance support is needed and how performance support and training target different aspects of performance. And this is just part 1 – there’s more great stuff from Patti on the horizon! (as always)
How Lifelong Learning and a Growth Mindset Can Propel Your Career
Since you’re here reading this, you probably aren’t someone who believes that your learning days ended when you got your degree or even if you’re already in your dream job. Especially these days as technologies and business models are changing so fast.
“The pace of change is accelerating, and to succeed in any industry, and to be ready to participate in the next evolution of it, professionals must adopt habits and practices that empower lifelong learning.”
This article by Chris Messina (@chrismessina) looks at how the conventional seams between disciplines are fraying, and the set of skills necessary to succeed are broader and more nebulous than ever before. He makes the point that to stand out you’ve got to be a “real polymath” or what he calls a full-stack employee.
Jane Hart has chosen her favorite 30 posts and articles that have been featured in the MWL Newsletter this year. Subscribe to Jane’s Modern Workplace Learning newsletter to stay up-to-date all year long.
Thomas Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model on the Learning Innovations Podcast
If you are in a role even remotely related to training and you should know about Thomas Gilbert’s Behavioral Engineering Model. In the latest episode of the Learning Innovations podcast. Doug Bushée (@Doug_Bushee) and Mike Lenz (@MLenzVoice ) talk about Gilbert’s model from his book “Human Competence”
Thomas Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model is one that everyone who works in learning and development should know and apply to their work. If that’s not immediately ringing a bell for you, stop what you’re doing and go check it out. Gilbert’s model is a foundational principle for this talk “Getting BETTER Results by Doing LESS Training” that I originally did with Patti Shank ( @pattishank ) at the Elearning Guild’s Learning Solutions Conference.
Even with some time out for riding the Hogwarts Express this week, I’ve managed to conjure up some great stuff from the learning, technology, and social media world. No matter where you are or what you’re celebrating, I hope you get some time to enjoy the things most important to you.
Thomas Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model on the Learning Innovations Podcast
If you are in a role even remotely related to training and you should know about Thomas Gilbert’s Behavioral Engineering Model. In the latest episode of the Learning Innovations podcast. Doug Bushée (@Doug_Bushee) and Mike Lenz (@MLenzVoice ) talk about Gilbert’s model from his book “Human Competence”
Thomas Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model is one that everyone who works in learning and development should know and apply to their work. If that’s not immediately ringing a bell for you, stop what you’re doing and go check it out. Gilbert’s model is a foundational principle for this talk “Getting BETTER Results by Doing LESS Training” that I originally did with Patti Shank ( @pattishank ) at the Elearning Guild’s Learning Solutions Conference.
This article by Chris Messina (@chrismessina) looks at how the conventional seams between disciplines are fraying, and the set of skills necessary to succeed are broader and more nebulous than ever before. He makes the point that to stand out you’ve got to be a “real polymath” or what he calls a full-stack employee.
If you ever need to do any design on your own and aren’t a Photoshop pro, you should know about Easil. (If you know Canva you’ll find it very similar) Donna Moritz (@sociallysorted) has got all the scoop on how you can design like a pro using Easil.
It’s been quite cold around here lately, which is a great reason for me to sneak away next week to a warmer climate and enjoy a butter beer or two. 8-) If you’re anywhere on the chilly side of the thermometer I hope you’re nestled in a nice warm place as you read this week’s findings. Cheers!
“I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde
How long does it take to create one hour of training?
If you’ve been involved with creating training for any length of time at all, you’ve probably seen some numbers around how long it takes to build an hour worth of training. The numbers from the Chapman Alliance I’m familiar with are starting to get a bit dated so it is nice to have some newer numbers to consider. Fellow Columbus learning pro, Sandra Colley in partnership with the Society of Insurance Trainers & Educators (SITE) has published a new version that even includes a comparison to the older numbers.
LinkedIn has just released their annual Top Voices lists. These are people who’ve shared the most engaging things (at least as measured by LinkedIn) curating things to help you stay ahead of the crowd. You can check out the overall list or drill down into any of several different categories including Education, Management & Workplace, Marketing & Social Media, and more.
Be sure to peek in on Karl Kapp (@kkapp). I think you’ll find him and his articles worth following.
Typography That Works: Classic Fonts That Will Never Let You Down
This post by Grace Fusell (@gfussellstudio) on the Shutterstock blog suggests ten top fonts that will look great in any design along with some helpful tips for using them.
Filling Your Design Toolkit: Premium Assets on a Shoestring Budget
I’ve collected my favorite sources for finding the best photos, fonts, icons, vector graphics and more into a free ebook. Grab a free copy and start tapping into great, free design assets your next project.
ATD held an event in Belgium this week to explore important trends in the talent development field and new learning technology. Peek in on what Shannon Tipton (@stipton), Ger Driesen (@gerdriesen) and were talking about there.
During a recent trail run, it dawned on me that this weekly roundup could be even better if the people reading it could contribute. So if you uncover something you think is worth sharing, send it my way. I’ve added a submission form at the bottom of this post.
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Science of Learning 101: When to Build Performance Support
Which is better? Training or performance support. Patti Shank (@pattishank)shares what the research says about the factors to consider when making your decision. Jump over to her post on the new ATD website and join the discussion of when and why performance support is needed and how performance support and training target different aspects of performance. And this is just part 1 – there’s more great stuff from Patti on the horizon! (as always)
How Lifelong Learning and a Growth Mindset Can Propel Your Career
Since you’re here reading this, you probably aren’t someone who believes that your learning days ended when you got your degree or even if you’re already in your dream job. Especially these days as technologies and business models are changing so fast.
“The pace of change is accelerating, and to succeed in any industry, and to be ready to participate in the next evolution of it, professionals must adopt habits and practices that empower lifelong learning.”
How to not suck at design, a 5-minute guide for the non-designer.
In this post, Mark Hemeon (@hemeon) shares some key design principles that anyone can learn and apply to their work. (Everyone is a designer. Most people just don’t realize it.) Definitely worth a few minutes for a basic knowledge of practical design tips you can start using today (and impress your design friends).
If those 5 minutes of design tips above left you wanting more, dive into these typography tips from Nick Babich (@101babich ) over on the Marvel App blog. If you write emails, you are designing with text and these tips can help you.
Properly using white space between paragraphs has been proven to increase comprehension up to 20%
Whenever I speak or facilitate workshops, etc I’m a big proponent of involving the audience as much as possible. Currently, I’m using a combination of PollEverywhere for audience interaction and TalkBook for delivering handouts, contact information and other relevant information. But I’m always on the lookout for new ways of doing that and I recently discovered Hypersay, a new option that takes an interesting approach.
Here’s how it works:
Upload your slides to your free Hypersay account.
Add interactive elements (they call them ‘atoms’) to any or all of your slides.
Quizzes
Questions
Text (supports links and markdown)
YouTube or Vimeo Video
Connect your audience via a link or access code.
During your session, participants can ask questions and take private notes.
When you’re done participants get a feedback form and you’ll get a session report that includes things like the number of participants and the number of interactions with answers submitted, etc.
Check it out at http://hypersay.com and if you try it, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Presentation & E-learning Starter Kit
As I recently told someone, I may not know much, but I know enough to borrow from the best. That’s exactly what I did to assemble this Starter Kit. If you do any speaking, presenting or slide-based course building these resources will go a long way towards helping you create a killer project.
This starter kit is a collection of my favorite tools and resouces that help with audience analysis, organizing your message, finding the right visual voice and the design assets you need for building it.
Peek in on the happenings of Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) which is an annual program dedicated to inspiring K-12 students to take interest in computer science. Even the Google Doodle can teach us how to code.
If you’re a believer of John Stepper (@johnstepper) and the concept of Working Out Loud, you might like tuning in to the back channel from this week’s #WOLCON
Our march towards the holiday season has begun. Leading the way is a gift that keeps on giving — smart insights from smart people. Intentionally building your own personal network will net you a lifetime of amazing gifts, like the ones I’ve rounded up for you here.
““If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” ― J.K. Rowling
Perspectives on new work
Coming in at over 100 pages, this one is definitely one for a lazy weekend or some other bigger window when you’ve got some time to take it in. The essence of what appeals to me in this piece edited by Esko Kilpi ( @EskoKilpi ) is captured in by this line:
Smarter and smarter tools surround us, but if we don’t want to learn the new practices and take up the new roles that the new technologies make possible, they might as well not be there.
This course from HT2Labs ( @HT2Labs ) focuses on the technical side of xAPI: getting up-and-running with a Learning Record Store. You won’t need to be a programmer to take part, but you will need some experience of implementing servers, software and systems administration in general.
You’ll also need access to a server (either on cloud, like AWS, or on your own devices) and administration rights to install new software. (For the server bit, you can use Google Cloud Platform)
Laptops Are Great. But Not During a Lecture or a Meeting.
This NY Times article by Susan Dynarski ( @dynarski ) takes a look at the growing body of evidence showing that overall, students learn less when they use computers or tablets during lectures.
Whether you’re learning a new software application at work or getting up to speed with the latest technology at home, odds are that Lynda.com has something for you. The secret to getting free access is your local library.
Lea Pica (@LeaPica) is on a mission to help “present information in a way that gets remembered and inspires action.” You should pop over to Lea’s blog and subscribe. Her recent podcast with Dustin Mathews ( @dustinmathews ), is just one of many reasons. Among the gems I took away from this episode are:
Why assigning an advocate to introduce you as presenter is mission critical
How to elicit engagement from your audience without putting them on the spot
Supercritical steps to take to maximize the effectiveness of product webinars
Neat tricks to stand out to your stakeholders such as video presentation teasers
Whether you’re learning a new software application at work or getting up to speed with the latest technology at home, odds are that Lynda.com has something for you.
If you’re not familiar with Lynda (aka LinkedIn Learning), they have an extensive collection of courses taught by industry experts. These courses are all organized into short segments with full text transcripts which make finding that exact snippet of learning quick and easy. Many of the software courses even come with practice files so you can work along with the instructor.
Here are a few examples of the industry experts worth checking out on Lynda:
Interested? Maybe it is worth the $20 for a monthly subscription? Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could access all of these and more for free? Here is how you might be able to do that — check with your library. You do have a library card, don’t you? If not, this is just one of the many reasons to get down there and sign up for one.
Check With Your Library for Free Access
I don’t know of any way to search Lynda to see if you’re library is participating so a Google search might be the best place to start. Of course, you can always go to your library and ask them in person too.
Notice how the access link appends the library URL. If you can’t find it via search you might be able to guess the link by adding your library’s web address at the end like I did for the Columbus library here:
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