“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
READ MORE about The Year in Learning: 2019 EditionThe Learning Dispatch
Technology 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 2019The Positives of a ‘Foolish Consistency’
“A foolish consistency,” Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” I have, it seems, a very little mind. I adore consistency. And documentation, especially documentation surrounding expectations, enables a consistent approach, not only in training design, but also in working with training teams. If team members know the expectations, they also know what they need to achieve. We use
READ MORE about The Positives of a ‘Foolish Consistency’Effective 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
READ MORE about The Case for DocumentationBe Alert for Unexpected Risk Points on the Training Development Journey
What are the unexpected points of risk in the training development process? When you’re managing a training team, it seems that any point in a process can present a risk. But the risks involved in these three areas are often under-appreciated. Transition Points Our instructional designers work with subject matter experts to develop storyboards; those storyboards are then handed off to course developers, who program the courses. We find that
READ MORE about Be Alert for Unexpected Risk Points on the Training Development JourneyThe 5 W’s of Training Rollouts
Launch a Series of Trainings to Better Equip Your Team. Here’s How to Get Started. Organizing a training rollout is a complex task, but a valuable one. A training rollout is a series of trainings offered to a targeted group with the expectation of changing behavior. The topics, audience, and delivery will vary, but the intention is to provide information that will alter a person’s actions. There are several items
READ MORE about The 5 W’s of Training RolloutsAccessibility Lessons from CSUN
Three Key Accessibility Lessons This was my third year at CSUN, the premier conference on assistive technology. If you’re interested in accessibility, it’s the place to be. I presented (or was part of presenting) three sessions. (You can see more at my conference resource page.) This year there wasn’t a single big theme that I took away (like I did when I was thinking about making elearning accessible in 2017 and using pattern libraries
READ MORE about Accessibility Lessons from CSUN