Is your virtual training accessible? Many of us, by now, have mastered the art of virtual in-person training (sometimes known as “Zoomversity.”) But now we need to consider—is our virtual training accessible? Can it be used by people who have disabilities, such as those related to vision, hearing, mobility, or cognition? I recently presented on the idea that online training needs to be accessible—whether “live” virtual in-person training or training[…]
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Online Training in the Time of COVID-19
This seems to be a boom time for elearning. With stay-at-home orders, social distancing, and the explosion of work-from-home, online training has experienced tremendous growth in popularity these last several weeks. Online training, of course, isn’t new—it’s been around for over a decade. Examples include the one-hour self-paced, self-study course and the instructor-led, video-based, take-it-on-your-own-time courses from universities, LinkedIn Learning, Skillshare, and numerous other providers. Is the sudden popularity (by[…]
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How to engage all your learners when faced with moving training online? Training Managers have a lot to do – especially as you have team members moving to working remote, that were in-office last week. How do you continue to address accessibility for your organization’s training program as you move more elements online? There are things that you’ll be able to do that are not difficult. Ensuring that designers check[…]
READ MORE about Elearning & Online Accessibility Tools for Training & HR LeadersStill Making Knowledge Accessible
2020 has already been a year of surprises. The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting us all: our employees and their families, our neighbors, our colleges and universities, business communities, public servants, and our daily way of life. As we all strive to keep our homes safe and sustain our businesses, we are deeply grateful and inspired by all the selfless individuals in the front lines to care for those who are[…]
READ MORE about Still Making Knowledge AccessibleA Look Back (and Forward) at Ed-Tech Trends in L&D
This year starts a new decade (or ends one, but let’s not restart that argument). It is a great time to look ahead and see where learning and development might take us (or where we might take learning and development). Before looking forward, looking back offers some caution. Audrey Watters has an article on the 100 Worst Ed-Tech Debacles of the Decade. It is an encompassing list. You may remember[…]
READ MORE about A Look Back (and Forward) at Ed-Tech Trends in L&DTechnology Drivers & Elearning|Takeaways from DevLearn 2019
Last month I was at DevLearn in Las Vegas. As usual for a really good conference, I left with a stretched mind and new perspectives (and, as is regrettably common in a conference, there was little about documentation, or templates, or any of the other themes that I’ve recently been discussing). One thing that caught my eye was what seemed to be a recurring theme of technological determinism. That is,[…]
READ MORE about Technology Drivers & Elearning|Takeaways from DevLearn 2019Effective Elearning and the Template Dilemma
Do you use templates when building elearning? I’m a big fan of templates (as I am of other methods of standardization). I love the idea of having a set of optimized formats for content. Plug and play, everything works with a minimum of fuss and bother. But templates can be problematic. Designers and developers want to develop new and more interesting ways to present information. They want to explore better[…]
READ MORE about Effective Elearning and the Template DilemmaShould My Training Team Use a Style Guide?
Yes. Until next time, Kevin Okay, perhaps a bit more explanation. A style guide is just one form of documentation that I talked about last month. And I’ve mentioned style guides here and there in the past. I’m a big believer in style guides. This admiration isn’t universal. Several people I’ve met think they’re too restrictive. Shouldn’t the designer have the ability to use whichever font, whichever color, whichever layout,[…]
READ MORE about Should My Training Team Use a Style Guide?This Month in Learning – Summer Edition
Every month, Microassist’s Learning Dispatch newsletter features commentary by our own Senior Learning Architect Kevin Gumienny. Each edition also features learning and development articles and blogs curated across the web. We have gathered his This Month in Learning (TMIL) June, July and August articles to add to your “must read” list. TMIL August Is it finally the time when augmented reality will enter the world of training? According to the[…]
READ MORE about This Month in Learning – Summer EditionThe Case for Documentation
Do you hate documentation? You have to create it, keep it up-to-date, use it, make sure that other people use it. And there’s always the risk that you spend more time maintaining it than you spend working on the actual project. And yet… I adore and (attempt to) follow the Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition—we’re a bit behind the times). I know it’s 1026 pages on topics like when[…]
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