Pop quiz!

1. What do these people need to do?

A. Put out the fire

B. Describe the techniques used to extinguish a fire

2. What does this woman need to do to stay in business?

A. Sell flowers

B. Explain the principles of the flower-selling process

3. This young man wants you to give him money. Which objective are you more likely to fund?

A. Build a home for a displaced family in Sudan

B. Describe how to build a home for a displaced family in Sudan

Learning objectives are wimpy

A typical learning objective focuses on what each person supposedly needs to know, ignoring whether this knowledge will actually lead to useful action.

Instead, to create elearning that changes real-world behavior, we have to first identify what people need to do, and only then decide if there’s anything that they need to know.

Identify the action, then the knowledge

Many people start their design by writing learning objectives. Instead, it’s helpful to first choose a business goal for your project and then identify each “action” needed to reach that goal. (See action mapping and the Elearning Blueprint for lots more on this.)

What’s an action?

An action: (more…)

The Elearning Blueprint, an interactive job aid that helps anyone design lively elearning, is now available on a quarterly basis. Now you can access the blueprint just when you need it—you don’t have to sign up for a full year. For more information, visit the blueprint’s web site or go straight to the pricing page.

My latest project, the Elearning Blueprint, is now available and ready to help you save the world from boring elearning.

The blueprint is an interactive job aid that helps anyone design lean, lively elearning. It can be used by one person or an entire team—including subject matter experts. And because it’s based on Action Mapping, the blueprint helps you create materials that improve business performance.

With the blueprint, you can:

• Create action-packed elearning with your existing tools
• Streamline your instructional design process
• Confidently make design decisions that are supported by learning research
• Tie your elearning to business strategy—show that you’re indispensable!

Worksheets and other aids help you immediately apply what you’re learning to your current project.

Get better results from subject matter experts

Want your SMEs and designers to work together more effectively? With a team license for the blueprint, they’ll all use the same process and follow the same recommendations.

For less than the cost of sending one person to an instructional design workshop, you can improve the skills of everyone on your team. And rather than sitting in a class, they’ll learn by doing, right on the job.

Curious? Find out more and take a tour of the blueprint here.

We interrupt this blog for a commercial announcement.

Elearning Blueprints are online tools that walk you through the process of designing and writing lively elearning content. They’re my latest project, and the first blueprint goes into beta in about two weeks. So I’m looking for beta testers who are willing to trade their opinions for free access to the tool.

As a beta tester, you’ll get access to an easy-to-use web site that will help you:

• Design and write clear, engaging elearning materials on any subject
• Immediately apply the ideas to your current project
• Use research-based best practices that will make your elearning more powerful
• Find and share creative ideas
• Streamline your elearning development

(more…)