It’s been an incredibly long but exciting week at Training Magazine’s 2016 Conference. I’ll post some of the great information that I walked away with, but while I am recuperating I figured I’d share a funny article originally published by Allen Interactions. Enjoy! 1. Don’t bore your learners You know—in theory—that this is a good idea, but do you understand how truly important it is? Learners simply cannot learn—it’s not humanly possible—when they are bored. Compare how much time you spend with your SMEs arguing over sentence and paragraph construction versus how much time you spend discussing learner boredom. How much does your ID team worry about learner boredom? 2. Don’t overwhelm your learners If the learning strategy is to keep throwing information at learners with no opportunity to reflect, digest, practice, apply, etc., you’re not actually training anybody. You’re soothing your own conscience that "training was provided," but for the poor kitties going through your learning, it’s an overwhelming nightmare.   3. Don’t let learners get lazy Don’t coddle your learners. If your biggest involvement for learners is the occasional knowledge check question and a Click Next button, well, that’s not actual instructional design you’re practicing. See, the problem is, most people in training think that the goal of training is to… 4. Carry Learners They think the goal is to make sure they are transported across the curriculum. Big mistake. Perhaps you could say it’s a cat-astrophy. (Sorry.) Training is supposed to enable learners to cross (on their own) a performance gap. If your content is useful and necessary, they will use your content to navigate that gap. If they don’t need your content to bridge the gap, well then, that reveals how useful your content truly is. But you can’t carry learners across the gap. They have to make the journey themselves. That means including some form of instructional interactivity. Why is instructional interactivity necessary? If you want learners to perform a skill (sell more, provide better customer service, follow government guidelines) and you don’t give them the opportunity to practice, you’re setting them up to: 5. Fail But keep in mind that instructional interactivity is not… 6. Pointless busywork Sometimes when clients attempt to engage learners, they ask things like, "Can we add a drag and drop here? Can’t we make this more interesting by gamifying this?" As we might say in response to a small feline who has dug up a potted plant: "No. Bad kitty." Adding a drag/drop or gamifying something doesn’t magically increase learner engagement or retention. Smart instructional interactivity analyzes the performance learners must execute and asks, "How close can we get them to actual practice within this training environment?" A few tips on instructional interactivity: 7. Don’t humiliate learners Don’t ask them stupid questions ("Do you want to save this customer relationship?") or force them to select ridiculously obvious multiple-choice questions. Give them real problems to solve—layered with the complexity they would find in the real world. Give them challenges that will translate into job skills. 8. Don’t make learners chase the value Sometimes to "make training more interesting," folks will want to make it like Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune. Learners have to guess at/chase the value back and forth, back and forth. Don’t keep learners guessing. Make them see—up front—how THIS training solves THIS problem. Don’t force them to guess their own conclusions—present the conclusions right in your introduction, and then make the instructional interactivity reflect the problem to be solved. No guessing. No chasing the value. 9. Listen to learner input Meow! Meow! It’s true they aren’t the SMEs…they may not have the knowledge necessary to construct the entire back-end of an e-learning course. But there is value in listening to them describe struggles to perform the behavior. A few things they can answer well: Are there any real consequences to not performing this behavior? Does anybody ever get in trouble for not performing? What are the shortcuts to getting around this behavior? Where do you get stuck when performing this behavior? Does management help you (or hinder you) regarding execution of this behavior? Of course, there are many more questions to ask, but this provides a sample of the value you can get from actual users you cannot get from the most helpful SMEs. Another great reason to gather user input? 10. Learners are watching They watch the training for the organization’s true priorities. If the training focuses on compliance by a certain date with mediocre quizzing, well, that’s a pretty sure bet the training is a CYB (Cover Your Butt) measure, not anything inspired to change behavior. If the training is rolled out with a change management program and supported by management (supported by more than just a "you have to do this" speech), perhaps the training carries some weight in the organization. What do you think your last training rollout says about the value your company places on the training? The (rather traditional) relationship between training and users might be summarized as such: 11. Attack! The Training/Learning Department explodes some new training at learners, demanding their deepest attention and a passing rate of 80%, and the entire experience for them feels very much like being assaulted with yet another information bomb. Don’t get into this antagonistic relationship. The learning experience could be so much better.     You don’t want to pit your audience against learning, forcing them to fight like…well, cats and dogs.    

LearnUpon, the world’s fastest growing learning management system, today announced a new integration with Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AD). LearnUpon customers can now use Microsoft Azure AD to manage user access and enable single sign-on. The integration will make it even easier for learners to access and use their LMS securely. Admins can enjoy a simple step-by-step user interface to configure the integration with Azure AD.   Azure AD supports rich enterprise-class single sign-on with LearnUpon out of the box. The tool provides an easy deployment experience for synchronization with identity systems like Windows Server Active Directory to enable sign-in to multiple applications. LearnUpon customers can integrate with Microsoft AD to provide users with a single common identity that will allow them to access the LMS and other Microsoft applications like Office 365. Users simply login to LearnUpon using their organizational accounts hosted in Microsoft Azure AD.   Single sign-on (SSO) allows learners to move directly from an intranet or corporate network to a personal learning portal without needing to login again. LearnUpon’s SSO functionality enables organizations to deliver a streamlined user experience across platforms.   Commenting on the announcement LearnUpon’s CTO, Des Anderson, said: We are delighted to announce the release of our integration with Microsoft Azure AD. While we continue to broaden our ability to seamlessly integrate with any application of choice, we have seen a significant uptake in Azure AD requirements of late. Its simplicity, security and ease of setup, are an ideal choice for anyone seeking an automatic login across their platforms and applications. Indeed our other SSO/API facilities can provide this functionality but it’s really nice to be able to offer an out-of-box solution for our users!   Read more about LearnUpon in the Azure Active Directory.   Try LearnUpon free for 30 days .learnupon.com Agree to Terms of Service Start my free trial The post LearnUpon announces Microsoft Azure AD integration appeared first on LearnUpon.

[Post by Karla Willems, Account Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] The Brandon Hall Group is focused on helping organizations make the best use of technology to meet their learning and business goals. The analysts at Brandon Hall invite you to participate in its Workforce Management Technology Survey. The first 100 respondents will be eligible for a drawing for a Bose SoundLink® around-ear wireless headphones. To take the survey visit: Workforce Management Technology Survey

As part of a series of moves on the Falmouth Campus Educational Technology have relocated to Tannachie. If you fancy a popping in to say hi, we’d warmly welcome you over for a cup of tea and a catch up.

In this series of articles, the Educational Technology team will be providing an insight into existing practice using technology for learning and teaching at Falmouth University and various projects being undertaken within the sector.Designing a course or module that encompasses and considers activities and aspects beyond your subject is a task that is required of academics. Bringing in elements of digital interactions with your students is expected: students are arriving at University with wide ranging digital practices. The Institution requires that part of your course is delivered in a blended or online fashion.According to the King’s College London/QAA Student Expectations and Perceptions of Higher Education report (Kandiko & Mawer, 2013) students prefer adequate face to face time, and institutions are urged to be cautious in their implementation of technology as a tool to replace face to face interactions. The report also says that "no students mentioned pedagogical uses of digital technologies" and that students perception of technology in their academic lives is simply a means to access information. This is rather a contradiction to what perceptions we have of students when they arrive at University, and to what some researchers of effective pedagogies have said (check out Re-thinking pedagogy for the digital age, Beetham & Sharpe, 2013)When you really think about it though, if technology is used well then it is not viewed as a separate element of the students’ learning journey. If it is used as part of that journey (an embedded, invisible practice) - instead of something that sits alongside or even outside of the delivery of learning - then technology can be a tool to enhance what students are achieving, rather than as an annoyance that limits their attention on subject and forces focus to remain on the process of using it.By following a course design process that facilitates:innovative practice, both digitally and physicallyflexible, seamless transition between the physical and digital spacerecording the learning journey to allow for informed reflectionconstructive alignment of materials, outcomes and assessmentand both physical and digital interactions that transcend their platformit will enhance your practice and your students’ learning.Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/epublicist/8718123610/Course design processes exist in many HEIs (e.g. Oxford Brookes, Northampton, Ulster, Leicester) and are successfully participated in to create some great programmes of study. Most are based around a team based approach that enables the teaching team to work with facilitators, support staff, and students to build a course/module that includes all the elements mentioned above. The great thing about them is that because the processes are not subject specific, a consistent experience can be created. The processes are pure design - it is down to the subject specialists to decide what direction they take. Constructive alignment, interactions (both online and face to face) and assessment can be scaffolded using planning and storyboarding techniques. Materials and delivery are designed alongside librarians, technologists, students and technicians.It’s no secret that the EdTech team have experience in pedagogic design and its integration of technology. We can facilitate the course design processes and are happy to help with the design of your module. Get in touch to learn more.

Writing for medical professionals - particularly physicians and nurses - is difficult. No matter the number of degrees you have or your experience in the clinical field, as an e-learning provider, nine times out of ten you are not "one of them." And 99 times out of 100, your client/subject matter experts (SMEs, to those of us in the trade) will not see you as "one of them." Here are three tips for folks in e-learning - particularly the writers - for upping your medical training cred, delivering smart work, and pleasing your client: Start at the Source. Read and assess the material provided by the client. Does it jibe with what you already know? Does it make sense? Are there gaps in explanations? Can you say with confidence that it’s accurate? You can’t teach it if you don’t know it. Consult Electronic Expertise. Physicians may hate when patients come in armed with Internet printouts, especially those confirming self-diagnoses. In your case, do the research! Dr. Google is a terrific resource. There’s lots of snake oil out there, so look to names you trust - NIH, NCBI, etc. A good keyword search can often take you right where you need to go for answers to your questions. Talk the Talk, and Talk Efficiently. All that reading and research you did? You now know [some/more/a lot] of this stuff. Depend on your SMEs along the way. But keep in mind, they may have patients to round on, ORs to scrub into, etc. The task of SME’ing is likely a task plunked on their shoulders in addition to their normal workload. Don’t waste their time (or yours). Come to your meetings with targeted and informed questions, phrased in accurate medical language. Afraid of blowing pronunciation on a key call? Try howjsay.com! The post Improve your Medical Training Cred appeared first on Enspire.

We humans behave for emotional reasons first, then for rational reasons. It is a fact. Psychology professor, Daniel Kahneman, was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize for Economics after his studies proved this.With common phrases like "check your emotions at the door", it is no surprise that people stray away from talking about them.The thing is - people crave sharing their emotions - establishing that deep connection. After over a decade of doing this work, Fierce has been opening the dialogue and including emotions with all different people - engineers, retailers, male, female, executives, front line.So how can you incorporate emotions in your workplace? You must ask. When someone brings you an issue, you must ask about their emotions. In our coaching model we understand the critical role emotions play in building relationships and changing behavior. In our 7-step mineral rights model, we pose the question in multiple steps, "What do you feel?" as the coachee identifies what is at stake for him or her if nothing changes. And again, ask when they are picturing themselves on the other side of the issue. Getting to the person’s emotion provides impetus for action. You miss that, you’ve wasted a key part of the process.Stop the conversation from only happening in our heads. Engage the head AND heart.What keeps you from asking about emotions? Where can you start? The post Head & Heart: Emotions Belong in the Workplace appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Profiles International and explores the impact emotional intelligence can have in the workplace.When people think about organizational culture they are typically referring to the group’s shared norms and values that drive everyday behavior. But that’s only half the story. An organization also thrives on a team’s emotional health. If left unchecked, it is only a matter of time before stress levels hit a critical mass. For today’s leaders, it’s incredible important to not only be aware of, but also manage an individual’s and team’s emotions.Where does your organization measure on the EQ scale?Source: Profiles InternationalThe post Fierce Resource: The Benefits of Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

Today is President’s Day in the United States, which is fitting as we have the political primaries in full swing. In the six years I have worked for Fierce, I have never felt a stronger need for Fierce Conversations to happen on our congressional floor, between our representatives, with our presidential candidates, AND with ourselves. The leaders in our country need to step up. And we do too. My expectation for our country’s leaders is for them to be fierce. This means they must gain the capacity to connect with people - of all different, sometimes competing, viewpoints - on a DEEP level. They must build relationships instead of destroy them. They must bring people together, instead of pushing them apart. They must raise the best solution without making others wrong. And we must expect this of them.This week’s fierce tip is to think for yourself for our country’s sake. Now is the time to reflect on the past and present leaders in your life that you respect and follow. What expectations do you have for our future President?When I write down my short list, it includes:Connect at a deep level and build relationships.Have a vision (and I am not talking about a tagline).Bring more people together than you tear apart.Be open and curious.Do what you say you will.Tell the truth - with heart and skill. It may be painful at first, but it heals.  So: What is your list? What would you add or subtract from mine?The post Fierce Tip of the Week: Think for Yourself, for our Country’s Sake appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

If you watched the Grammy’s on Monday night, you probably heard Taylor Swift’s speech where she said: "I want to say to all the young women out there: There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. But if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going you’ll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there."While the Kanye controversy makes that quote extra juicy, there is truth to what she is sharing for leaders. Your job as a leader is to build people up. To give others credit and not worry about the people who are wishing you ill.If you want to grow, here are three things to stay away from.Don’t take credit. This is absolutely critical. If you take credit, people will not want to go above and beyond for you. There is nothing worse than putting your all into a project, and then the leader taking the accolades. Be a leader who highlights the accomplishments of others and openly shares how their wins impact the larger picture.Don’t make it about you. Leadership is about caring for others. If you want to glorify yourself, consider taking on more individual contributor responsibilities. Be a leader who thinks about others more than yourself. Is there an opportunity that you can loop someone into? Where can youDon’t be all talk. People will pay attention to what you do, even more than what you say at times. So do what you say you will do. Follow through on your commitments. If you are not good at doing this, you need to make an action plan. Who can be your accountability partner? Who can help you get better? This is not something to brush under the rug.We learn just as much by remembering what "not to do" as well as what "to do". The post 3 Don’ts for Leaders Who Want to Grow appeared first on Fierce, Inc..