Latest posts
Learning & development people unite!
We, the downtrodden and ignored learning and development professionals of the world, hereby shake off the shackles of convention and obedience and proclaim the arrival of a new order! Read more.
Example of a realistic activity: Set up the laptop
I preach a lot about making activities realistic and showing the results of the learner’s choice. Here’s an activity that shows how you could apply those principles. Read more.
Can we use training to motivate?
Is low motivation a problem on its own, or is it caused by something else? Can training help, or is it a waste of time? Here are some ideas to consider, along with an update to the flowchart from the previous post. Read more.
Is training really the answer? Ask the flowchart.
Is training really the best solution to a problem? Often, no. Here’s a flowchart that will help you identify what will really work, whether it’s a job aid, a workflow improvement, training, or something else. Read more.
Instructional design
Be an elearning action hero!
This quick, visual approach to instructional design helps you change what people do, not just what they know. It keeps your team members focused on a measurable business goal, and it can keep stakeholders from adding extraneous information. Read more
The big mistake in elearning
Why is so much elearning so boring? Because we’re obsessed with designing information when instead we should be designing experiences. We need to focus on what people need to do, not what they need to know. Read more
The anti-course: An instructional job aid
Here’s a short video that shows how we can break our addiction to the course and move training closer to the job. It shows how we can use an instructional reference to help people learn by doing at work. Read more
Scenario design
Elearning example: Branching scenario
You’re a US Army sergeant in Afghanistan. Can you help a young lieutenant make a good impression on a Pashtun leader? That’s the challenge behind “Connect with Haji Kamal,” a thought-provoking branching scenario. Try the activity and learn how it was designed. Read more
Sample branching scenario + cool tool
Branching scenarios can be a pain to design. Happily, you can use a simple tool called Twine to easily draft the scenario and produce it. In this post we’ll look at a scenario that I wrote to demonstrate Twine’s basic features and to make a point about teaching through stories. Read more
Why you want to use scenarios in your elearning
Imagine that you’re in a competition to overhaul an information-heavy course so it creates a real change in the world. What changes would you make? Check out this story-based presentation to see what one fictional company did. Read more
