Instructional Designers In Offices Drinking Coffee

The Beatles said it best. We get by with a little help from our friends. Or something like that. And it’s true. We learn more and become more productive when we’re with other people, especially our friends and trusted colleagues. However, bringing a group together for an impactful conversation with meaningful outcomes does not happen by accident. We used to solve this problem with single events. The newer, more successful approach is long term, connected groups, communicating virtually and in periodic group gatherings. It’s a cohort of professionals supporting each other in the long term process of learning, and behaviour change. While Brent is away this week, Megan Torrance is joining Chris to talk about the power of learning with your friends. You may know Megan from her years of experience running the xAPI Cohort, or her past episodes on IDIODC. In this conversation we’ll talk with Megan about how the cohort framework can be applied in so many different corporate situations as a comprehensive learning and

Alan Natachu joins us for a conversation on everyone’s favourite topic… Powerpoint! It is the most common tool used by training professionals. Everyone knows how to use powerpoint, right? Maybe not. Even if you’ve had a little design training in your career you may still be breaking some of the most basic presentation design rules. We’ve got 7 basic, and practical, design tips that anyone can use. These tips may not guarantee acceptance to present at TED, but you’ll very quickly see how much they will improve the instructional effectiveness of your training. Alan is an experienced L&D professional with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Alan is a strong information technology professional with a Bachelors of Fine Art focused on Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Alan works as Madison College's Technology Training Coordinator and a Learning Experience Designer for the last 10 years. He has also been a Freelance Video Editor for over 20 years! Alan'

Let’s admit it: most learning is a total failure! The sad reality is that most courses require learners to sit through a disappointing experience, where information is poorly organized, the content isn’t relevant, and the interactions seem contrived and without purpose. This is compounded even more when the slideshow-like presentation is interrupted with several poorly-written quiz questions and cheesy animations to make it all seem “fun.” In this IDIODC session, Brent and Chris bring on the one and only Tim Slade to talk about revamping ineffective eLearning! During this cast you will explore many of the reasons why most learning fails and the components that contribute to bad learning design. At the end of this session, you will walk away with several practical methods you can immediately apply to design learning that delivers results. Tim Slade is a Speaker, Author & Award-Winning Freelance eLearning Designer. Having spent the last decade working to help others elevate their eLearning and visual commun

Analyze need, identify objectives, curate content and then what? Design and develop the course? No! Try thinking about the design through the lens of a game designer. A gamified event or a serious game. This allows you to think about the behaviour changes that you want them (learners, employees, managers, etc) to realize by looking at: Game goal Mechanics Actions and Resources Failure and winning Whether you want to nudge behaviour changes by rewarding daily actions, encourage completion of a task, or reward for daily practice just by applying gamification elements, you can discover key components about the topic that you may have missed. Game thinking is the litmus test to whether you have fully considered and included all of the necessary content. Deborah Thomas is the President, Owner and Senior Consultant at SillyMonkey LLC. She is currently focused on games design and development in training. With over 20 year experience in the L&D field from training manager, instructional designer and game design

Did you ever design a perfect training event and have it fail miserably because none of the participants engaged the way you intended - if at all? Today’s learners are increasingly spread across the globe. Understanding how to shift your design thinking to leverage inevitable cultural differences will make your training events shine! In this cast, Brent and Chris bring on special guest Amy Shilliday! The gang will touch on some key elements to consider nowadays, share what can possibly go wrong when you don’t, and spark your creativity for designing activities for a global audience. Amy Shilliday has extensive experience in Training & Development for customer service businesses. These experience include senior trainer roles with mortgage banking and top-three global media companies. Amy has spent some serious time working on creating diverse learning delivery methods and design implementations that will successfully develop organization's service and sales teams. From adult learning theory, to training th

The most innovative creators and thinkers in L&D have one thing in common - they love to play. There is plenty of research that proves the value of play within learning, whether that be growing relationships to form stronger teams, improving performance in work, happier employees... the list goes on. But for adults, play sounds too much like the opposite of work and so it isn’t taken seriously as a valuable practice and life skill. This week Chris and Brent are talking with a few special guests to learn more about how you can improve your learning outcomes by incorporating PLAY into your programs. Join us for a special announcement as well. It’s a week long experience with experts and peers that you will not want to miss. Chatting with us this week: Karl Kapp, Kevin Thorn and Deborah Thomas. Karl is a professor at Bloomsburg University for Instructional technology and the Director of the Institute for Interactive Technologies. His goal is to help people understand the convergence of learning, technology,

It seems everyone is “going micro”, or wants to be. But you want to use microlearning in ways that will have maximum impact. So how do you assess your content to know where going micro will have the greatest value for your learners and your organization? During this episode of IDIODC, we’ll bring on special guest Carla Torgerson to discuss 6 questions you need to ask about your content to identify where using microlearning will work best. Carla Torgerson has more than 15 years of experience as an instructional designer and instructional strategist. Always interested in the latest learning trends, she has authored numerous blogs and articles on a variety of topics, including eLearning, mobile learning, and microlearning. She also developed MILE, the MIcroLEarning Design Model© and is the author of The Microlearning Guide to Microlearning. Carla has consulted with numerous Fortune 500 clients including McDonald’s, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Adobe, Express, Kellogg’s, University of Phoenix, Fidelity, Cargill, M

Discussions and understanding about inclusion and accessibility can vary by organization. These discussions should be about more than just doing the bare minimum for compliance. Instructional designers should be talking about the difference they can make by ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity to learn from what they produce. Brian will share with us the many lessons he's learned while working to create inclusive and accessible learning experiences for ALL learners. We'll talk about how to start the conversation with stakeholders, review design standards, and share resources that will help you build better eLearning. Learn more about Brian on his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briandusablon/ Become virtual friends with the IDIODC gang on twitter (and remember you can always stay in the loop with the #IDIODC hashtag): Brian: @BrianDusablon https://twitter.com/briandusablon Brent: @BSchlenker https://twitter.com/bschlenker Chris: @Chris_V_W https://twitter.com/Chris_V_W Brent Schlenker is dominKnow

Learn how and why the corporate learning organization needs to reorient itself to the digital age. The digital age has created a massive increase in the speed and complexity of business, fundamentally disrupting the workplace. As new technology is integrated, workers at all levels are needing to re-skill much faster and navigate more complex systems and processes. The corporate learning function is in a unique position to lead the transformation required in workplace learning, but first it must transform how it operates. Brandon will discuss how and why the corporate learning organization needs to reorient itself to the digital age and take a more proactive leadership role in driving the business transformation from a performance perspective. Brandon is the author of "Learning in the Age of Immediacy: 5 Factors for How We Connect, Communicate, and Get Work Done" from ATD Press. Award winning, innovative and highly focused leader with a progressive track record of learning strategy and execution. Bra

Brent and Chris host the first ever live and in-person IDIODC Meetup and Hangout at the 2019 ATD International Conference and Expo! But what are they talking about this week? This IDIODC episode is recorded at the end of the meetup. Brent and Chris go live and talk with some folks joining us who have been recognized for their help in our community: Carla Torgerson, Megan Torrance, Karl Kapp, Emily Wood, Duncan Welder and Amy Shilliday (...and the xAPI Gnome too). The gang goes over the best parts of the show so far. Become virtual friends with the IDIODC gang on twitter (and remember you can always stay in the loop with the #IDIODC hashtag): Brent: @BSchlenker https://twitter.com/bschlenker Chris: @Chris_V_W https://twitter.com/Chris_V_W Brent Schlenker is dominKnow's Community Manager. Chris Van Wingerden is dominKnow's Sr. VP Learning Solutions. Become friends with some of the guests who joined us live for this episode: Carla Torgerson: @CTorgerson https://twitter.com/ctorgerson Karl Kapp: @KKapp https://tw

Today we're talking with 2-time Demofest winner Ashley Chiasson to talk about how she creates winning projects for her professional portfolio. Her last winning project won for Best Video Solution and so we'll talk a little about that as well. But if you know you need to up your game, or freshen up your portfolio, then you'll want to listen to what Ashley has to say. There is a reason why her projects WIN! And she's willing to share those secrets with us on IDIODC. Join us and start building your winning portfolio. In this session, you will learn: About the importance of an eLearning portfolio About common challenges in building an eLearning portfolio and how to overcome them Ways of building out and promoting your portfolio Ashley Chiasson is an award-winning eLearning developer with over a decade of experience as an instructional designer. eLearning developer, and consultant. She is the Senior eLearning Developer at Traliant, and holds a Masters of Education (Post-Secondary Studies) and a Bachelor of Arts

This week on IDIODC, Brent and Chris bring on Margie "The Brain Lady" Meacham! She shares brain-based learning design principles backed up by research. If you're interested in truly improving the ways you design, develop and deliver training, then you need to pay attention to newest research in neuroscience. Margie will talk with us about what works and what doesn't. We'll also talk about the myths surrounding the work we do and how current research better informs our design decisions. During this episode Margie gives away a copy of her book, Brain Matters: How to help anyone learn anything using neuroscience During this episode we will also be giving away an #IDIODC mug for the month of April! Join the IDIODC #MugShot gang! Margie Meacham, aka “The Brain Lady” is one of the foremost experts in educational neuroscience and artificial intelligence. She helps organizations filter through the noise to find to enhance learning and performance through science. Margie is available for keynotes and custom

As an Instructional Designer, you may someday become the manager of a team of IDs. Making the transition can be challenging. This week Brent and Chris talk with Lisa Goldstein to go over valuable notes of what it means to be a successful training manager on a team of IDs. And if you've been tasked with building a team of instructional designers, this conversation will help you understand what to look for in a new hire so that you get the right skillset and attitude on your team. Managing can be a difficult job, and as an instructional designer there are things you can be doing as well to help support your manager and turn your team into the high performing team you want it to be. Join us to learn more! Lisa is a multi-award winning learning technologist and innovative leader. An enthusiastic go-getter who thrives when interacting with others and passionately believes that corporate learning should meet the needs of modern learners while focusing on desired business outcomes. Brainstormer, dot connector, visio

New tech requires new thinking. Old design models rarely translate successfully into new technology solutions. Instructional designers need something other than ADDIE if they are going to effectively design from new technologies like augmented reality. This week for IDIODC, Brent and Chris bring on special guest Debbie Richards to chat all about the new design model for augmented reality solutions: ADDEDD. Analyze, Determine, Design, Experience, Develop, and Deploy. We’ll break it down for you and help you feel confident finding the resources you need to design your first AR Learning Solution. Debbie is the president of Creative Interactive Ideas. And listed on the of E-learning Movers & Shakers for 2018. Serving as a consultant to corporations and organizations and supports clients in the area of instructional technology. Debbie works with organizations to design, develop and deliver technology-based adult learning programs with measurable impact. Passionate about working with and mentoring other learnin

The training industry has a legacy of creating events that take learners out of the context of their work. Over the years new technologies have disrupted that model. We now have the tools to educate and support learners while they work. Workflow Learning is a relatively new concept but has it's roots in performance support. There is also a significant element of microlearning in the mix. All of these concepts have come together as a new comprehensive solution that improves business outcomes. And that is why businesses are asking for it. This week Brent and Chris bring back returning guest Shannon Tipton for her second appearance on the show! We'll be talking about workflow learning and how it works. She'll go over some of her tips and tricks and examples of success stories using workflow learning. Shannon Tipton is CLO of Learning Rebels, an organization focused on improving business L&D through unique blended and microlearning training designs. She also is the author of her book "Disruptive Learnin

During this episode of IDIODC, Brent and Chris bring back on Bianca Baumann to chat about learner-centric styles of training. Similar to the first discussion with Bianca on staying relevant in today's age of technology (you can catch the recording of that conversation here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/Engage-the-Modern-Learner-With-Bianca_Baumann), the gang discusses the core of what's important in our eLearning - ways to stay engaging and relevant. L&D professionals think they know what’s best for their learners, but do they? When was the last time we asked? When developing new training strategies, L&D professionals often assume what learners want and need. It could be based on a current performance issue, or because a new product or service is introduced. Whereas training might be the solution, maybe a short email would do. And even if training is needed, what should it look like? In her new eBook The Little Black Book of Marketing, Bianca describes ways of re-envisioning training strategies through

For this session of IDIODC, Brent and Chris bring back special guest John Kissinger, voice over master who knows what he's talking about, pun intended. John is back for his second IDIODC session to share more tips and tricks from a voice over professional’s perspective. - But don’t let the term professional scare you, we’ll be talking about the easy ways instructional designers and eLearning developers can improve their own voice recording. We don’t all have a budget for a professional, so we need to do it ourselves. It can be frustrating to hear our own voices and be dissatisfied with the quality. You may be surprised that there are a few very simple things you can do to take your recordings to the next level. Join us and level up your skillset in audio recording. John is an accomplished trainer and voice actor, John has worked with clients from Facebook to Ford! With over 20 years experience entertaining and educating learners, John is a certified Master Trainer through the Association for Talent Developmen

This week, Brent Schlenker and Chris Van Wingerden bring on special guest, master of xAPI from RISC, Duncan Welder to chat xAPI applications. - xAPI is a step in the right direction for learning technologies. But many struggle with identifying a good use case within their business to justify the upgrade in their systems. On this episode we talk with Duncan Welder live about how xAPI can support and track spaced repetition. And if you're new to the idea of spaced repetition, we'll get you up to speed on that as well. Since spaced repetition is most effective with short bursts of content, we're certain we'll be making the connection to the latest trend in micro-learning as well. It's going to be an eye-opening episode with real world application for you and your eLearning team. Join us, live from Learning Solutions! Duncan Welder is a director of client services for RISC. He is an educational technology geek, having spent over 20 years implementing learning management systems, domestically and abroad, to manage

Review cycles can make or break your project. In today's IDIODC our special guest Jacqueline Hutchinson will be talking with us about Review Cycles: What are they? Why are they important? And how to include them successfully into your project planning. Mastering your review cycles will lead to greater success during development but also after your course is launched. This can be especially important in compliance training and making sure courses and content do not become outdated and useless. You may still have some old Flash content sitting in your LMS. A proper review cycle can help you clean that up, and so much more. Jacqueline is the CEO of e-Learning Pros Instructional Design Inc., a Caledon, Ontario based instructional design and development firm offering outsourced eLearning instructional design, development and LMS administration. e-Learning Pros Instructional Design Inc.'s focus is instructional design and program development with the goals to solve your business problems and encourage behaviour cha

This week on IDIODC, Brent and Chris bring back on another special returning guest from a past episode. We wanted to revisit the great conversation from last episode on instructional comics, so we decided to bring back the awesome Kevin Thorn! Kevin thorn is joining us again to discuss the power of instructional comics. In this appearance we'll focus on cultural differences and how presenting instruction through visual comic storytelling has a unique challenge when presented in a global environment. This conversation will also reinforce the necessity of truly understanding your audience and how focusing on culture can increases your chances of delivering a successful learning experience. Fun Fact about dominKnow: We love comics too! With comics samples and comic eLearning templates, we encourage users to get creative and use engaging forms of learning for better learner retention. https://www.dominknow.com/elearning-examples Kevin is an award-winning eLearning designer & developer, consultant, and owner o