During our recent webinar, “Reaching New Audiences through Online Training,” one attendee asked, “Do people retain training better, same or not as much with video versus reading?” I wanted to poke around in the research before answering. It turns out that the research doesn’t offer a very clear answer. As can be the case, different studies show different things (ever wonder if butter is good or bad for you?). Individual studies[…]
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ELS2015: Training is Not the Answer (Presentation by Pelè Ugboajah, PhD)
by Jenn Brown “Training is not the answer” is a bold challenge to the learning experts and advocates at the 2015 E-Learning Symposium. Dr. Pelè Ugboajah’s approach is certainly bold. Early into the hour-long session, Ugboajah strapped on an acoustic guitar and led the crowd into singing a version of “My Girl,” replacing “My Girl” with “training.” Later on, he promised, a different version would be sung. Dr. Ugboajah is the[…]
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This year’s Pi Day was a special event, as you may have heard. If you write dates as “3.14.15,” you have the first five digits of pi. You can go even further, and have a pi second: 3.14.15 at 9:26:53 (a.m. or p.m.) gives you the first ten digits of pi. I’ve never thought much about memorizing pi. 3.14 was generally enough for my needs, and for anything more complicated,[…]
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It’s always interesting to look at conference themes to get a sense of the trends and important topics. Agility was an undercurrent that caught my attention at the ASTD International Conference & Expo (ICE). Once John Seely Brown addressed the topic in his keynote presentation, I noticed the concept in many places. Dr. Brown spoke of entrepreneurial learners who embody the agility to learn in any situation or environment. Estimated[…]
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Recently, my wife and I rented a minivan for a family trip to Taos, NM. The dashboard computer for the vehicle supplied a mind-boggling number of metrics, including arrival time at destination, trip mileage, miles to empty, average miles per gallon, instantaneous miles per gallon, etc. On the ten-hour drive through the monotonous scenery of West Texas, I got a bit bored and started trying to optimize some of the[…]
READ MORE about Training Metrics that Matter: Thoughts from a West Texas Road TripAre Learning Differences between Generations A Myth?
Compared to differences between generations there are probably few questions in learning and development where people have expressed so many different opinions. Where does that leave learning and development professionals when it comes to figuring out what matters in designing workplace training? Estimated reading time: 7 minutes Generations in the Workforce Talking about generational differences is difficult because while there is vague agreement on dates and labels, there is also[…]
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Next Generation Learning Challenges is a collaborative, multi-year initiative created to address barriers to educational innovation and the potential of technology to dramatically improve college readiness and completion in the United States. The organization, in partnership with EDUCAUSE and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, provides investment capital to expand the use of proven and emerging learning technologies. The aim is[…]
READ MORE about Falling Through the Cracks – America’s Achievement GapThe Note-Taking Myth
While preparing a training session on conducting effective webinars, I read The New Virtual Classroom by Ruth Colvin Clark and Ann Kwinn. When I give presentations, I always have handouts for note-taking ― in part, because I always take notes when I’m in a learning environment. I was really surprised by what the authors had to say about note-taking in webinars and other learning events. Estimated reading time: 3 minutes[…]
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Non-Verbal Communication: 7%-38%-55% Rule
Albert Mehrabian, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, UCLA, is best known for his publications on the importance of verbal and nonverbal messages. In his studies Mehrabian comes to the conclusion that there are three elements to face-to-face communication: Words (7%) Tone of Voice (38%) Body Language (55%) The relative importance of verbal and nonverbal messages were derived from experiments dealing with communications of feelings and attiudes. How does this effect E-learning? […]
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