One of the learning writers whose ideas resonate with me is Nick Shackleton-Jones. His ideas on organisational learning are centred on what people care about ( the Affective Context to give it its posh name). I’ve also been steeped for the last year in the world of content marketing, since I joined the Content Marketing … Read more
I read the blogs of quite a few instructional design gurus. Actually I tend to binge-read them, then go off the whole idea for a while until my interest revives. But that’s another story. One of my favourites is Clark Quinn, for the sharpness of his analytic mind but openness to new ideas. I recently came … Read more
The other week I wrote about performance support and how it’s not helpful to refer to it as just-in-time learning. If people learn from it it’s a bonus but it’s not what it is designed for. It’s a tool. In The role of self-reflection in continuous performance support on Saffron Interactive’s site, James Tyas explores … Read more
At LT2016 I picked up a quote attributed to Clive Shepherd that I can’t verify the quote but I’d been thinking during the day about performance support. I see performance support as a tool, not necessarily a form of learning. You use it because you need to know, or be reminded, how to do something … Read more
If you’ve been reading this blog at all, you’ll know I like scenarios. I think they can be an engaging and, more important, an effective form of elearning. That doesn’t mean I advocate them for everything, all the time. Years ago, a Tom Kuhlmann post, lost now, stuck in my mind. It pictured a learner … Read more
I’ve written about all the steps in the Designing Predicaments job aid in detail now, with a video talk about each. I just want to remind you of how I recommend using Designing Predicaments. It works best, I think, in a small group or pair – maybe a designer and an SME – who’ve already made the … Read more
Life is hard for characters in elearning scenarios. And so it should be. Here’s why! This is part of a series expanding on the free job aid Designing Predicaments. Want to catch up on the previous steps? Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
In the spirit of Working Out Loud, here’s the story of the template for writing elearning scenarios I’m now offering on this site. I’ve worked a lot with subject experts writing scenarios over the years. In each case, it’s been in areas where I had no subject knowledge so it’s been up to the client to provide … Read more
The learning designer as order-taker is a hard place to be. Sponsors have decided they need learning to address a business problem. They may have done so for different reasons: we did this last time we have money in the training budget there’s always been a course but we need a cheaper course if they … Read more