Marcus spent six weeks building the perfect compliance training for his company’s 2,000 employees. Interactive scenarios. Animated compliance mascot. Video testimonials from leadership. Gamified quizzes with leaderboards and achievement badges. Custom dashboard with real-time progress tracking. Background music to “enhance focus.” (spoiler: that usually backfires unless it serves a clear instructional or motivational goal). CompletionContinueContinue reading “Stop Overloading Your Learners’ Brains: A Practical Guide to Minimizing Extraneous Cognitive Load”
Tag Archives: technology
Workflow Automation for Beginners (and Why L&D Pros Should Care)
If you’ve never heard of workflow automation, don’t worry—you’re not alone. The phrase sounds like corporate jargon, but at its heart, it’s simple: workflow automation means teaching your tools to do the boring, repetitive steps for you—automatically. What Is Workflow Automation? Imagine you’re making coffee. Normally, you grind beans, fill the filter, measure water, pressContinueContinue reading “Workflow Automation for Beginners (and Why L&D Pros Should Care)”
Stop Creating Content From Scratch: The L&D Strategy That Marketing Has Perfected
Your employees waste nearly 10 hours every week hunting for information they need to do their jobs. (1) That’s more than a full workday spent searching instead of performing. But here’s the counterintuitive truth: The problem isn’t too little content. It’s too much. While L&D teams scramble to create more content, smart organizations have discoveredContinueContinue reading “Stop Creating Content From Scratch: The L&D Strategy That Marketing Has Perfected”
My Top 10 Learning Tools for 2025
It’s survey time again! Jane Hart is collecting everyone’s top learning tools for her annual report. I love seeing what everyone’s using these days. Want to share yours? Head over to the Top Tools for Learning survey and submit your list. You’ve got until August 29th. Don’t wait! Here’s my lineup for 2025. No rankingsContinueContinue reading “My Top 10 Learning Tools for 2025”
Friday Finds — Emotional Design, L&D Trends, AI for Instructional Design
In this week’s newsletter, we look at the importance of emotional design in user experiences and its relevance in learning. We also highlight the dominance of AI in workplace learning, emphasizing the need for specialized AI tools in instructional design, which outperforms general AI like ChatGPT.
And don’t sleep on the podcast of the week and new tech tool recommendations.
Friday Finds — Engaging Learners, AI’s Impact on Training, & Reclaiming Your Feed
🧠 Just released: This week’s Friday Finds explores the fascinating intersection of cognitive science, AI, and digital wellbeing in learning.
3 key insights from this edition:
Your brain makes judgments in just 50ms – and 94% of these are based on design. Great training design isn’t just about aesthetics – it’s about working with our cognitive architecture.
Ben Betts highlights how ChatGPT’s Operator can now complete e-learning modules autonomously. Is this the end of “click-next” corporate training? Time to rethink how we measure real learning.
Considering a digital diet? Scott H Young shares how RSS readers might be your answer to algorithm fatigue. Sometimes older tech offers better solutions.
🎯 Plus: Helpful tools for creators – check out Cursorful for enhanced screen recordings and ImageKit for secure media hosting.
Friday Finds — 12 Prompts of Xmas, AI-Enhanced Learning, Automation Made Simple
The newsletter invites readers to subscribe for weekly updates and reflects on the past year while wishing them a smooth 2025. Featured are insights on AI integration into instructional design, improvements in learning with ChatGPT, and a tutorial on Zapier for workflow automation. There’s also mention of upcoming events and resources.
Friday Finds — Behavioral Science Books, Improving Readability, ChatGPT’s Canvas
This week we’ve got a holiday music playlist by Questlove, notable behavioral science books for 2024, and the importance of readability in workplace training. We also introduce OpenAI’s Canvas for improved collaboration using AI,and tech tools for training and onboarding.
Friday Finds — When to Use AI, AI Use Cases & Screens vs Paper Reading
This week’s Friday Finds digs into the complexities of human-AI interaction, the benefits of analog reading, and the potential of AI in instructional design.
We’ve also got fresh new tools and resources to share.
Let me know your thoughts on the format!
#FridayFinds
Friday Finds — Desirable Difficulties, Windows of Learning, Learning Cues
NEWSLETTER ALERT!
This week’s dive into the fascinating world of learning, design, and technology:
Desirable Difficulties: Discover how challenging yourself can lead to deeper understanding and long-lasting learning.
The Power of Cues: Learn how strategic cues in educational videos can enhance learning and retention.
Reopening Critical Periods: Explore the possibility of unlocking new learning abilities later in life.
And that’s not all!
We’ve also got fresh tools to supercharge your learning journey and the podcast of the week to inspire your mind.
Mike Taylor 