The Learning Dispatch

Online Training in the Time of COVID-19

By Kevin Gumienny | April 27, 2020 | |

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

The Training Manager’s Guide to Accessible Elearning

By Kevin Gumienny | December 6, 2018 | | 4

Inclusion and diversity are imperatives in today’s workplace. For those who create training or administer training programs, that means considering and meeting the needs of learners with disabilities. This “Training Manager’s Guide to Accessible Elearning” provides practical steps for ensuring your online training fosters a welcoming experience for all of your learners, whether they are team members, clients, or the public. A Guide for Creating and Buying Accessible Online Training

Six Questions with Clark Quinn

By Kevin Gumienny | April 29, 2020 | |

Editor’s Note – Introducing Six Questions: Earlier this year, I interviewed several leaders in the field of learning and development to get their perspectives on, among other things, what they foresaw for 2020. This was before COVID-19 fundamentally affected the way that we live our lives, including how we train and the modalities by which we learn. Still, there is a lot here that continues to be relevant, even in

Elearning & Online Accessibility Tools for Training & HR Leaders

By Dallas Richard | March 27, 2020 | | 1

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

Still Making Knowledge Accessible

By Sanjay Nasta | March 25, 2020 | | 1

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

Takeaways from the 2020 CSUN Assistive Technology Conference

By Kevin Gumienny | March 19, 2020 | |

Last week I was at the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference, presenting a workshop (with Jennifer Chadwick of SiteImprove) on accessible elearning (the resources are available on Microassist’s website.) This year’s CSUN was somewhat lightly attended, due to cautions regarding COVID-19 (and I found I needed to leave earlier than expected). Still, even with the reduced number of sessions and the lighter attendance, the dedication that people have for ensuring that all experiences

Moving Elearning Beyond Interactive to Accessible

By Kevin Gumienny | March 18, 2020 | |

I recently talked with a colleague about a recent workshop on accessible elearning that a few colleagues and I held at the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference. He said that it was rare that people think about accessibility (that is, ensuring that content is usable by those with disabilities) when creating online training. Sadly, he’s right, and that’s just wrong. Instructional designers are often focused on things other than accessibility when creating

Project Spotlight: Verbal De-escalation Training for the National Center for Campus Public Safety

By Kevin Gumienny | February 14, 2020 | | 1

The following summarizes Microassist’s work developing a Verbal De-escalation training program for the National Center for Campus Public Safety. The project was recognized with the 2019 Leaders in Learning award from the Austin Chapter of the Association of Talent Development. Issue Today’s institutions of higher education present both new and continuing demands of professionals responsible for maintaining safety and security on campuses. The National Center for Campus Public Safety’s Verbal

A Look Back (and Forward) at Ed-Tech Trends in L&D

By Kevin Gumienny | January 31, 2020 | |

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

The Year in Learning: 2019 Edition

By Kevin Gumienny | January 3, 2020 | |

“What’s past is prologue.” -William Shakespeare, The Tempest Learning and development is a constantly evolving field, and every month Microassist’s Senior Learning Architect, Kevin Gumienny, highlights a few articles that provide insight into the field. If you missed (or would like to revisit) stories from his Learning Dispatch newsletters in 2019, here’s a chance to review. The stories are grouped in several categories: Accessibility Instructional Design Learning Experience Evaluation Inspiration

Technology Drivers & Elearning|Takeaways from DevLearn 2019

By Kevin Gumienny | November 22, 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,

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