How would you introduce yourself to someone for the first time? I try to avoid industry-specific jargon in social settings. The quick answer is something like "I manage a group of professionals who are experts at creating training programs that can change the way people work or think. I have a home office and love the work-life balance this situation offers." If someone is interested in learning more, I then get more specific about SweetRush and my recent projects, as well as my role in coaching other instructional designers on how to come up with fresh ideas and push their course designs further. Who is SweetRush and what do they offer? That is a big question. Of course we are learning and development professionals, but the roots of the SweetRush concept—and really, I think, the key to our success— is our culture, and how we treat one other and our clients. I am really proud of SweetRush and have never before worked at a company like this. I really believe everyone at SweetRush feels this way. We are definitely different, and the Marketing team has jumped on that, often promoting that we are "different, in a good way," which again comes down to our culture. We rarely have a person leave the company, and we have strong, articulated values of respect and caring, which manifests in how we work with one other as teammates, and how we work with our clients and partners. What perhaps makes this more interesting is that we are completely virtual and have been so since 2009. We have teammates all over the world, including a large team in Costa Rica. Functionally speaking, we help organizations improve the performance of their employees by imparting knowledge and skills and, ultimately, changing their behavior. I always look for IDs that have an orientation toward analysis and are skilled at getting to the heart of the business drivers and what is important to learners. From that starting point, we can design learning solutions and communications that meet our clients’ objectives. What type of qualities do you personally look for in an instructional designer? There are several fundamentals that come to mind: Solid ID chops with creative flair. I look for individuals who know the science behind instructional design and learner engagement. However, it goes beyond only the academic, and, interestingly, we rarely engage an ID with only an academic background. The ID must be comfortable working in gray areas and breaking some of the rules to truly engage the learner. Consulting skills. Sophisticated IDs today have to grapple with complex business challenges, and being able to do so increases their value. IDs cannot go into their respective man caves/woman caves and produce some fantastic solution. Projects require a lot of collaboration and consulting with clients to gather information, determine needs, etc. Clients know their content, but are often not trained in learning or instructional design. This is where we come in! The ID is the "broker," translating client ideas into concrete deliverables. Self-motivation with unwavering follow-through. IDs must "walk the talk," take tremendous personal ownership, and have the ability to work independently. They must conceptualize a solution that can then be taken to the broader project group for expansion through collaboration. What are the components of a successful, large team of instructional designers? Creating an effective team starts at the individual level. I look for individuals that exhibit the qualities listed above. To build the team, especially in a virtual environment, we offer extensive onboarding and coaching, have regular in-house continuing education webinars, and leverage Google technology, such as Google Groups, to communicate consistently. I think that each member of the team also knows that my door is always open if they need to just chat or to truly vent in complete confidence. At SweetRush, we have a cohesive team of dedicated people who work hard and are passionate about their work. However, we know also how to have fun, and strive for a healthy work-life balance. As part of the company culture, we regularly share good news, stories, and achievements, professionally and personally, through companywide e-mail blasts. They happen often, and are encouraged and celebrated. What are the key elements to the design and development of an excellent learning experience? First, you need to create an emotional connection with the learner. Be sure to address the what’ s in it for me (WIIFM) factor, which can range from external to intrinsic: job competence, workplace safety, a fun and engaging experience, company culture, healthy competition with others, awards and accolades, etc. We must realize that intrinsic motivators do help training stick while also recognizing that some learners only want to learn the basics to keep their job and get paid. This just makes the ID’s job a challenge! I would love to infuse more humor and/or campy themes into the courses, and clients are asking for this approach more and more. When it comes to the actual design, beyond using solid instructional design principles, you should know the tools in your toolbox and their limits—then push that limit! Visualize your designs in your mind’s eye and play with them. Never put too much content on a page. Also, use your words to paint pictures. For example, get away from just asking those standard multiple-choice questions. They remind me too much of those nerve-wracking tests from junior high school that required a No. 2 pencil! Write a scenario or tell a little story, and then present a series of good-better-best options with supporting feedback. These improvements and strategies elevate a course from good to engaging and memorable. SweetRush’s lead IDs and I spend time coaching IDs on a regular basis to increase the "dazzle factor" in our courses. Which are the high-end e-learning and blended solutions you offer to a prospective client? SweetRush learning solutions are typically blended, and we really excel in the intersection of business driver analysis and instructional, visual, and technical creativity, such as gamification, simulation, and mobile application. We assist with implementation, delivery, and evaluation, and establish long-term working relationships with our clients, including Bridgestone, Petco, and many others. Tell us about your new e-book. What’s the story behind its creation? Over the years, I’ve provided a lot of coaching to the internal team through continuing education webinars. I have also written articles for a few years for sweetrush.com and other websites, like eLearning Industry. After chatting with a colleague, I realized most of the content aligned into a series of major topics and had an organic sequence. It took some legwork, rewrites, and new material to pull it all together into one cohesive unit. The "Which Type of Rock Star ID Are You?" infographic is my favorite part of the book. It truly created itself! A colleague mentioned the different "archetypes" of IDs, and, in a flash, the book’s rock-star theme with four of the six types popped in my head. I wish every great idea came this easy… ha ha. Would you consider the book of greater value to an amateur or a professional designer? Whether this is your first rodeo, or you have been in the business for a while and are looking to add to your skills, I hope both junior and seasoned IDs will find a pearl or two in the book. There are tips and strategies for developing your career, from how to land gigs to keep your skills fresh. Because e-learning has become so prevalent over the last 10 years, the focus has a definite e-learning and freelancer tilt. IDs need to be chameleons and are continuously brought in to solve problems using myriad theories and practices. This is what I’ve done for many years. As such, the book reflects a lot of my experiences, and I am hopeful it will be of value to others. Is there another book in the works? Yes, there are several. After working through the entire process—from soup to nuts—I have so many new ideas. There is a certainly part two of this book in the works, where I will expand on some of the same concepts. For example, I address successful interaction between IDs and other team members, such as those in creative design and development. This really is a fascinating dynamic and one that has changed a lot recently. IDs now have to think creatively and work in tandem with visual designers when conceptualizing solutions, particularly with newer options such as gamification. Also, I am collaborating with a colleague regarding the ins and outs of creating systems training. It includes both strategic and tactical considerations. So many people (IDs and otherwise) blog and write other content they are passionate about. I totally support and encourage everyone in delivering their own unique messages to the world. Cobble together your blogs and raw content, play with them a bit, and create your own e-book. I can attest that it is satisfying to see your thoughts compiled and available for others to read and, hopefully, gain value from. Today, there is zero barriers to entry for getting your message out there. Anyone can self-publish through Amazon. Seize the opportunity! What makes How to Be a Rock Star Instructional Designer different from the others? Perhaps most important is that I am not a blogger or influencer first, but rather a hands-on instructional designer who works in the real world every day. So, my intention was to paint the picture of the everyday challenges IDs face and offer their practical solutions. I wanted to move away from theories, and provide small, practical steps on how to improve your design or freelance business. I also intentionally made the tone conversational so readers could easily resonate with its concepts. I received a fantastic compliment from a member of the SweetRush ID team who has partnered with me on several projects over the years. While reading the book, she felt like she was having one of our usual planning or brainstorming sessions where she walked away with several concrete, actionable steps. She said that she could literally hear us having a conversation. Yes! I am so happy that my thoughts, guidance, and intentions translated into its pages. What do you think is required reading for every instructional designer? Instructional designers can find inspiration everywhere. I cannot go through the day without other people’s fantastic ideas bombarding me: I like how that icon was used in that (print) article. Rather clever use of a whiteboard animation in that commercial. That stock photo really set the tone for the piece. Then again, I do have those "what were they thinking?" moments, and they are equally important. I also draw inspiration, ideas, and themes from books and movies in popular culture. Since most people in Western culture are already familiar with these stories, it’s an emotional hook that is low-hanging fruit, as addressed earlier. Being a child of the 70s, long before we could watch anything streaming on-demand, we read our favorite books from the library over and over. It was a BIG deal when we actually went to the movies, and we remembered so many details. Together with the heroes and heroines, we engaged in awesome adventures, flew over fantasy landscapes, and met bizarre creatures from a time and place very different from ours. I could clearly go on and on with my trip down memory lane. My main point is that we absorbed everything like sponges: we put ourselves into the stories and our imaginations were on fire. When coming up with a theme or concept for a course or a game, I find myself shifting through my file cabinet of themes and ideas, most of which were inspired by those I encountered when I was quite young. I think those of us who gravitated to the world of instructional design are observers by nature, so we build on this personality orientation. Where do you see the SweetRush ID team five years from now? As we’ve matured over the years, the work we’ve taken on has become more complex, and more and more our IDs need to be consultants—really able to analyze, look at root causes, and then embrace all the new tools driven by technology. I see growth continuing as we blend the instructional world with the creative and engineering worlds, and I am sure SweetRush will continue to stay on the cutting edge of technology as our IDs partner with members of our engineering and technology team. I wish could we create full-on 3D, interactive, immersive simulations on-demand, like on the Star Trek holodeck, but I think that is more than five years away! The IDs and other professionals we embrace will be active in continuing their own education—learning more about employing creative design, effectively using gaming elements in courses, leveraging social media, etc. Outside of our day-to-day work, I see further promotion of SweetRush’s Good Things Initiative. At SweetRush, we believe that the way we treat one another and our planet is a reflection of our values of caring, commitment, and fostering good things. The Good Things Initiative is an open initiative in which we find ways to practice those values, both inside and outside of SweetRush. I have several projects going where I volunteer my time to those in need here in Los Angeles as well as back in the Midwest where I was raised. Everyone I work with regularly gives back freely within their respective communities. One of my favorite projects sponsored by SweetRush was when several of our team members came together to improve a schoolyard for underprivileged children in Costa Rica. Our artists collaborated on a beautiful mural that is sure to bring joy to the kids for years to come. It was a direct, local, impactful event that everyone felt good about. In general, I am excited to see what the next five years of growth will bring, both at SweetRush and in the industry at large. Learning professionals have the tools and knowledge to affect behavior, and we have an enormous opportunity to impact business at every level, from profitability to productivity. But, we also can make a tremendous impact on society by furthering sustainability, diversity, equality, and other socially good initiatives. If we put our hearts and minds into this work, we can all make a difference. The post Interview with Catherine Davis appeared first on eLearning Interviews Magazine.

Following your 20 year experience in the field of education and development, what do you perceive as the secret element for a successful team? The most successful teams I’ve been a part of have had an open, collaborative construct, and are focused on transparency and teamwork. The other element that drives a highly productive team is smallness. Small teams with a clear focus and enough autonomy to make decisions in a timely manner are key. The secret sauce, however, is ensuring everyone has clear directives and can execute on their own as well as in concert with each other. We all need to have personal goals to attain, as well as a common understanding of the overall vision for the team. What are the responsibilities of a Learning Strategist? As you know, our industry has undergone quite a large transformation over the past few years. I’ve been fortunate to be involved in this business for quite some time, so I often take a "long view" of the learning industry. Having said that, I do see that there is more of a focus from the business to view learning as a valued partner in driving the overall strategy, and an expectation that evidence of either the success or failure of that strategy will be visible based on our ability to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of our interventions. In the past, most organizations that created a learning function were larger enterprises - usually with sales of $100 million or more, per se, but now you see companies of every size placing an increased value on learning as a separate function capable of driving awareness, customer adoption, and even marketing. In that vein, it’s critically important for a learning strategist to take both a strategic vision and a tactical focus to deliver real, measurable business value. Probably the most important function in any learning business today is the ability to gather, analyze and interpret the data available through the various channels of delivery they engage in - so much of this "deep data" available because of technologies such as Google Analytics. You’ll see much more emphasis on data analysis competencies in high-functioning learning organizations as we move forward. Could you describe your design philosophy in a few words? Simply, "innovative, yet actionable" is my basic approach to learning experience design. Engaging audiences across multiple dimensions: intellectual, emotional, psychological, and at times physical is necessary to craft an authentic learning opportunity that’s meaningful and, hopefully, will lead to increased retention and improved performance. I also think it’s important to keep a razor-sharp focus on simplicity. The biggest challenge you have as a designer is to achieve credibility. Learners in this age have high expectations when entering a content experience - they expect it to be intuitive, bend to their needs, be individualized and provide a quickly discernible "return on their time investment". I would say right now, being an effective instructional designer is not an easy job! What would you advise an 18-year-old who is now entering the market and want to deal professionally with eLearning? I think it’s important to learn the fundamentals: focus on the psychology of how people learn, get a deep understanding of what motivates people to acquire knowledge, and, naturally, become fluent in the behaviors people exhibit when learning something new. Added to that is learning technology. It’s almost impossible to enter our field without becoming knowledgeable about how learning is delivered, and more and more it’s delivered with technology. A healthy understanding of present-day tech as well as keeping constant awareness of emerging tech is key. Identifying trends and being able to sniff out the ones that will stick from the ones that will quickly fade is important as well. At the end of the day, you want to stay focused on how to deliver the most value for the business you support, so being flexible and nimble is important, because technology is moving at a very fast pace. Just ask the folks who spent a lot of time and energy on Second Life and Virtual Reality. How can eLearning drive the sales of a company on the rise? Learning is a critical element across several dimensions, but two key ones are product knowledge and customer service. Having employees that are both knowledgeable about what your business does combined with the ability to provide top customer service is a must. Today, customers are savvier and smarter in a lot of ways. Many conduct a lot of research before deciding to engage with your company. And of course, we all know the power of social media in researching a company and responding to how you were treated by the company. A high-functioning company must have a well-trained staff. Without it, you’re doomed. A good case in point is a software provider I worked with a few years ago - they combined their sales, marketing and learning functions to provide a comprehensive customer experience from awareness to adoption to integration of the service. Although it was a very small company (less than 60 employees) with only 300-400 customers, they were early adopters in understanding that learning plays just as important a role in customer satisfaction and sales as any other function. What is the competency level of the participants you train? Does it rise up over the years? This varies. Typically a learning function has to "deal" with what the business brings them in regards to capability. I’ve advocated for years that learning functions should be more aligned with talent acquisition and talent management. It’s really critical on the acquisition front, though. If your focus is employee training, you need to be able to allocate resources, budget and strategy toward ensuring the business has the talent to appropriately execute on the strategy. You see this alignment more and more in European companies. American companies have been slow to foster a deeper collaboration between talent acquisition and learning, but it’s critical not only with "knowledge workers" but also with other types of workers. In many cases the only human interaction a customer has with a company is via hourly workers who are more and more part-time, lower-wage folks. Gaining a deep understanding of what motivates workers across all levels is fundamental to ensuring a good outcome for the business. You also specialize in game based learning. How important are games in the learning procedure? Early in my career, I met up and began working with Thiagi. He showed me the power of game mechanics and the value of fostering a more fun learning environment. He was a pioneer in the construction of more empathic, hyper-individualized learning. It has taken years for the business to see the value in integrating game mechanics into not only learning, but also the way we work in general. My basic philosophy revolves around ensuring the learning environment is conducive for integrating games; a cultural "fit" for games; and that there’s the potential for a measurable return on value. As we move to less formal learning interventions and more informal ones, I rely on game mechanics to help engage and motivate learners to participate. The reality is designing a learning game that will result in "real impact" is not easy. There’s a delicate balance between "too much game" or "too much learning", so you have to be very careful. I would argue that it’s impossible to design a good learning game if you’re not a gamer yourself. You have to understand the basic components of play and what mechanics will result in engagement and measurable outcomes. And if anyone tells you they’re "cheaper to create" than other types of learning, I would say turn and run fast. With anything, the more "cinematic" your design becomes, the more expensive it is to create. Period. How has the social media changed the way we deal with eLearning? In some ways the advent of social media has democratized learning and created a multi-channel dialogue between learners, designers, and others that want to be engaged in helping each other. The tools that have come about since the rise of the Internet have completely revolutionized how interact with each other. However, I’m a bit more skeptical with the idea of the "wisdom of the crowd". I firmly believe there are levels of expertise and there are, indeed, best practices for many things that are best modeled from expert to novice and all levels in between. I’ve studied Alex Rodriguez’s hitting form for years, and view him as an "expert" with a "best practice" in baseball. He’s a natural - but novice’s can learn from how he does what he does. In learning, there is still nothing better than receiving coaching from an expert. So, I think the "crowd" brings imminent value to the discussion, but expertise still matters much more. And social media has been an integral utility in exposing more expertise to those of us that crave it. What are the principals of an effective collaborative learning environment in terms of design? In my opinion, there are four behaviors you want to strive for when crafting a collaborative learning environment: attention, motivation, participation, and retention. You’ll do this by creating a learning ecosystem built on mutual trust and engagement, understanding and flexibility, and through the encouragement of shared experiences. What does it take for a company to implement and integrate emerging technologies? A lot of it determines on a company’s size and its overall goals. I think every learning function needs a healthy "R&D" department, but it’s also important to deliver a consistent learning experience. Anyone in our field today should be focused on a "mobile first, cloud first" strategy as our workforces become untethered. If you’re not already thinking this way, you’re behind. Even if you’re not delivering mobile, you need to be thinking about it, because in the next 5 years more people will be typing on glass than keyboards. Do you think eLearning will gradually replace the traditional method of teaching? Well, it’s called the "Socratic Method" for a reason, right? J. I’m a technologist that firmly believes in integrating appropriate technology at the appropriate time, but for humans, there’s nothing better than learning from other humans face to face. That will never change. I’m not a big advocate for the idea of the "flipped classroom", but I think it’s incumbent upon us to try new ways to engage with each other in learning. Learning is the most basic human trait, and we will always be looking for ways to more deeply connect with each other in how we learn. How do you imagine yourself in 20 years from now? Retired! And living in Key West, reclining on the beach reading the New York Times! The post Interview with Brandon Carson appeared first on eLearning Interviews Magazine.

If you were to classify the industry you are currently a part of, what would you identify this industry as? I see this industry as one that has an increasing and critical role to play in improving performance across local, national and international workforces. Its focus is not on learning but on performance. Its increasingly critical role is due to the fact that the intangible value of organizations is almost universally increasing, and most of that intangible value is constituted by the capability of workforces. In 1975 more than 80% of the value of the S&P 500 was tangible. By 2009 that had flipped - more than 80% was intangible. The role of our industry is to support this important element of our organizations perform to their highest ability. In your 70:20:10 model, you suggest that, in real life, 70% of what people learn comes from experience & practice, another 20% comes through other people and conversations and only a 10% of learning occurs formally. Which do you consider the most "trustworthy" or "valid" kind of learning - experiential, social or workplace learning? Research suggests that learning which occurs closer to the point of use has greater impact. A study from the Corporate Executive Board into the value of on-the-job learning found that workplace learning led to a 300% increase in employee performance over formal training only, and that employees who engaged in ‘high exposure’ to on-the-job learning (11 or more on-the-job learning activities during the past month) were 262% more engaged with their work and workplace. Despite this, it’s important to understand that all three types of learning and development have their place. It’s all about the right type of development for any specific context. An associated point here - it’s important to understand that the ‘numbers’ in the 70:20:10 model are not set in stone. They will vary with the type of working environment - in highly regulated environments more time and effort is spent on the ‘10’. In highly innovative working environments more time and effort is likely to be spent on the ‘20’ and ‘70’. What made you overcome the conventional and also traditional wisdom which implies that formal education (such as schools, universities etc) is one of the most significant factors in someone’ s job competency? Looking at it from a personal point-of-view, like the majority of people when I reflected on the most impactful learning experiences I’d had in my life I concluded that the vast majority occurred while I was attempting to complete a task rather than when I was sitting in a classroom or working through an eLearning module. Of course one or two inspiring teachers and professors have left their mark, but most of what I’ve learned - and I’m sure I’m not unique in this - has been through rich and challenging experiences, taking the opportunity to practice, building and using personal networks, and through personal reflection. Many people find it difficult to uncouple ‘learning’ from ‘schooling’. Learning is a continuous process. Schooling helps, of course, but the top brain surgeon or scientist or athlete didn’t rely on the formal instruction they received in school to reach the top. School may have given them a good start, but only a start. Formal training is often good to help people reach basic competency, but we should be looking beyond that. According to the analogy of 70:20:10, only the 10% of someone’ s learning skills can be actually measured, that of the formal education, due to an existing standard grading system. Don’t you believe that the experiential and social learning should also be evaluated in some way? I would challenge the idea that what we’re often doing in measuring formal education is actually measuring ‘learning’ at all! Most evaluation and measurement techniques approach the challenge from the ‘wrong end’. We generally assess knowledge acquisition and the ability to follow process. Is this ‘learning’? It isn’t unless you can determine whether the new knowledge leads to behavior change. Effective learning measurement needs to be focused on outputs. After all, ‘learning’ can only be measured in terms of a demonstration of behavior change. If behavior has changed and performance has improved then we can assume that learning has occurred.  The often used pre-test/post-test assessment is not measuring learning at all. It’s measuring short-term memory recall. On top of this I don’t subscribe to the belief that measuring social learning or experiential learning is any different to the effective measurement of formal education. If we’re measuring outputs, the methodology used to effect the behavior change is irrelevant from the measurement point-of-view. Could you give us a practical example of a learning strategy based on the 70:20:10 model? Many organizations around the world are using 70:20:10 as a reference model (not a rule) as a guide for transforming the way they build and execute their learning strategy. Implementation varies from one organization to another, but there are some basic principles that apply across the board. a) A 70:20:10 strategy will encompass ways of supporting learning and development as it’s happening in the daily workflow as well as providing away-from-work development opportunities. This may be through managers focusing on providing challenging jobs or tasks for their reports, supporting them to succeed in completing the jobs/tasks, and creating time for reflective practice to ensure that learning has occurred and that similar jobs/tasks will be done better next time. b) A 70:20:10 strategy will ensure it supports the ‘20’ (learning with and through others) by building peer and manager coaching cultures, improving open feedback on performance and personality strengths (the latter has been shown to have a more positive impact on performance), and providing opportunities for mentoring. It will provide encouragement to build strong and robust networks, and encouragement to use those networks to help get work done to a higher standard and more effectively (‘working smarter’). A practical example I can provide is a global company that has adopted a credo of ‘one learning a day’ underpinned by a 70:20!0 strategy. Led by the CEO, the company encourages every employee to spend a couple of minutes reflecting on the successes and challenges of each day’s work - and to capture what’s been learned. Employees are then encouraged to share their learning with their teams and others using social media tools and in other ways. This is a simple thing to do, and other organizations have adopted similar approaches - Qualcomm’s 52-weeks storytelling initiative is an example. When it’s embedded in a wider 70:20:10 strategy of creating a culture of continuous development it’s more likely to be sustainable. Does somebody ever become willing to manage his own learning? Many people are delighted to take control of their own learning so long as they have the support of their manager and organization to do so. There is an argument that the only manager of learning is the person in whose head the learning is occurring. Marc Rosenberg has made the point that Learning Management Systems are misnamed. At worst they are course vending machines. One of the challenges Learning Professionals have to face is that their traditional role of ‘deliverers’ of learning is, in the main, no longer a role that is needed. The 2014 ‘Learning in the Workplace’ survey by my colleague Jane Hart found that only 16% of respondents described company training or eLearning as essential, while 80% rated Google as very important/essential for learning. So people are already taking responsibility for managing their own learning. In your blog, you quote George Bernard Shaw, according to whom, "Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything". In what way do you believe people should change their minds in order to be trained to learn more effectively? Changing minds, or mindsets, is a critical part of developing a culture of continuous learning. The 70:20:10 approach is built on extending learning and improving performance, so it requires what Prof. Carol Dweck calls a growth mindset and I call a development mindset in order to succeed. Mindset change is required for improved learning. Of course, we all have multiple mindsets, but Dweck’s research has shown that people with growth mindsets believe that intelligence can be developed and that success comes through effort and practice. Growth mindset people also capitalize on mistakes and confront deficiencies. Those with fixed mindsets believe talent is ‘fixed’ and tend to have static capabilities.  They also hide their mistakes. Since 70:20:10 model is based on observations that high performing individuals and organizations build most of their capability by learning within the workflow, how would your rank the importance of eLearning today? eLearning has evolved as a relatively new channel for ‘delivering’ formal learning. Of course it provides greater reach and, in many cases, is much more efficient at disseminating information and building knowledge than face-to-face teaching (although the latter is a better vehicle for supporting culture change and helping to embed common values). When used well, eLearning can provide fast and effective means to help develop skills. However, it needs to be linked to experiential learning to have impact. A very good example of the effective use of eLearning in a 70:20:10 context is in Coca-Cola Enterprises in Germany. Coca-Cola Enterprises wanted to develop their sales force beyond a ‘handy delivery service’ and get them to take on a more consultative role with customers. They initially migrated their sales training from classroom to eLearning. They then took the ‘inventive step’ by repurposing the eLearning programs into small modules that could be used in group-based learning sessions facilitated by line leaders/managers. So their eLearning is used as trigger material to support group discussion and collaborative learning. You have been the "Chief Learning Officer at Reuters and Thomson Reuters with responsibility for the learning strategy for 55,000 employees across the globe". How do you manage to monitor so many individualized expectations and needs? Is there a "secret" in the success of a learning strategy? I think that the key is for L&D leaders to provide a robust framework that focusses both top-down and bottom-up. It’s impossible for them to meet all needs.  In fact it’s stupid to try. Most of the learning and development occurs as part of the workflow, so the ‘top-down’ element is enrolling and enabling managers and team leaders to best support the development needs of the people reporting to them. The most important part of a people manager’s job is the development of their people.  It’s been shown time and time again that those managers who are focused on, and effective in, the development of their reports have people and teams that out-perform others by a significant margin (one study showed a 25% raised performance and 39% increase in engagement in people reporting to managers who effectively supported their development). The ‘bottom-up’ support often requires technology - to extend the provision of learning opportunities - but also often needs a culture change to one where individuals take responsibility for their own development. Of course the CLO and others responsible for supporting workforce development need to do their jobs, but when it comes down to it, it’s a joint effort - individual desire to develop, active manager support for development, and organizational infrastructure and tools that make development both easier and more enjoyable. How much has your own, formal education contributed to being a successful professional? My formal education laid the ground for my professional career, as it does for most people. A high-performing airline pilot or lawyer needs the grounding of formal education, but you wouldn’t to be their first passenger or client! I’m an example of the usefulness of formal meta-learning rather than detailed knowledge acquisition. My three formal university degrees are in very diverse subjects - natural sciences, chemical engineering, and adult education. The undergraduate and post-graduate sciences degrees taught me something about logical analysis and research methodologies. My post-graduate studies and research in adult education allowed me to dive deeper into the how and when learning occurs. Formal education serves as a ‘passage of rights’ more than any other purpose. The best learning opportunities I have ever had have occurred as part of my professional work. How much more about learning strategies in general remains to be discovered? I think we have a long way to go in terms of evolving learning strategies that are fit-for-purpose in the rapidly-changing world in which we live. The rise and rise of the Internet and, particularly, social media, have put a whole new complexion on the way we work and the way we interact with others - whether they are our colleagues or customers/clients. In turn, there are opportunities opening up for new approaches to individual, team and organizational development. There are many changes that we all know about - the shortening cycles and increases in pressure to innovate, the increasing speed of carrying out business, the need to shorten time to competence/capability and others. As time passes there is no doubt that we will need to continually adjust and refine our learn strategies to meet evolving situations. What are you currently working on? Currently I’m helping a number of organizations evolve and embed their 70:20:10 strategies and ‘bring them to life’ in a practical way.  I’ve also just finished writing a book - a large one - titled "70:20:10 and Beyond" together with two Dutch colleagues. We expect the English version to be published later this year. I also spend quite a lot of time with speaking engagements around the world. What do your current interests include? My prime professional interest is being part of the significant change that is occurring in the way L&D professionals help their people to learn and develop. There are huge opportunities for improvement by embracing new technologies, new approaches, and looking at new areas where development opportunities exist beyond the classroom and structured learning event. There is no doubt that the general view of HR and L&D has changed over the past two decades. I recall a conversation when launching the world’s first pure online MBA in 1994 (I was a business school professor at the time). A senior HR professional told me at the time that this was ‘just a passing phase’ and the use of technology would never replace traditional face-to-face MBA programs. In retrospect, I believe that HR professional was wrong. The post Interview with Charles Jennings appeared first on eLearning Interviews Magazine.

In one of the latest articles on your blog, you refer to eLearning through game-based learning. In your perception, what are the benefits of this method? I’m an advocate of game-based learning because I think it has much to offer workplace L&D in terms of motivation and engagement - especially when motivation and engagement are lacking. But games are more than "fun". They can be authentic representations of real life, so that the learner can develop their capabilities in a safe environment. Alternatively, while the game itself may be arbitrary, the experience of playing it is real; and that can surface themes such as leadership and collaboration. What is the most effective game in terms of being able to bring the best educational outcome? If the game is intended to mimic real life, then dispense with anything inauthentic. The most obvious examples of this are points and badges - if the learner won’t achieve these on the job, then I question whether they should be a part of the game. One of my favourite examples of a well-designed game is Lifesaver by the Resuscitation Council in the UK. This game has a believable story, it’s engaging, and it actually feels real. There are no points or badges; rather, the learner’s decisions drive the outcomes. Importantly, Lifesaver taps into the learner’s intrinsic motivation. Before I played this game, I intuitively understood the benefits of first aid. Having played the game, however, my appreciation skyrocketed and it motivated me to brush up my DR ABC. I can see how a well-designed game such as this one could be used to improve compliance training. Everyone knows that we should maintain a safe working environment, protect our customers’ privacy etc… but a well-designed game that immerses the learner in the situation might just be the approach we need to transform boring and onerous "must do" training into engaging "want to do" learning that has impact. Which blogs within your field of interest do you distinguish and choose for your information about new developments? Wow, there are so many. If you look at my blogroll, you’ll see well over 100 names there - and they’re just the ones I try to read regularly. I tend to favour bloggers who work out loud. Concepts and ideas are important, but I also want to find out what people have done - and how it went. I’m always appreciative of those generous bloggers who are brave enough to share their outcomes with us, even went it didn’t go so well. I also think it’s important to source a cross-section of bloggers across industries and locations. For example, I make a point of learning from other eLearning professionals in the Asia-Pacific region, because I see this part of the world as the next big stage for growth and innovation. What is the current situation of eLearning in Australia in terms of popularity and implementation? We have the full spectrum here, from head-in-the-sand ostriches who wish it would all go away, to sophisticated professionals doing cutting-edge work with emerging technologies. Of course, most of us are somewhere in between. In very general terms, most of the big organisations here have Learning Management Systems that host eLearning content. Some sectors such as financial services are heavily regulated, so these systems are very popular for distributing and tracking compliance training. However I’m also seeing a shift away from formal eLearning to more self-directed eLearning, in particular by making better use of the corporate intranet and by experimenting with social learning. I say "experimenting" because while the will is there in our profession to encourage peer-to-peer learning, many of us are struggling to make it work on a sustainable basis. I would also put mobile into this category; the will is there, but we’re still finding our way with it. Why is eLearning so prevalent in Australia? eLearning has a rich history in this young country. For example, back in 1951, the School of the Air was launched to teach children in remote communities across the outback over two-way radio. For a long time, the vast distances and our isolation have been important drivers in our use of technology. Besides our geography, however, Australians are an innovative bunch. If we’re not inventing it, we’re early adopters. Almost everyone owns a smartphone, the majority of us are on social media, and it’s no surprise to us that we’re the world-leading downloaders of pirated Game of Thrones episodes! The Australian psyche is to "give it a go", so it’s only natural for us to embrace eLearning. What are the top eLearning conferences in Australia? We host quite a range of eLearning conferences here, or broader education conferences with an eLearning twist. EduTECH is the largest education conference in the southern hemisphere, held every year in Brisbane. CeBIT hosts its Asia-Pacific event in Sydney, and the recently launched Learning@Work conference is popular. I also like the Learning Assembly because it’s case-study driven. Then of course we have the national conference of the Australian Institute of Training and Development (AITD), which I’m pleased to see is covering more eLearning topics year on year. How has the huge growth of the Internet and the simultaneous burgeoning of social media, changed the map of the eLearning? When I first stumbled into the education sector, the extent of our use of technology was sticking a CD-ROM in the back of a textbook. The growth of the Internet changed all that by suddenly giving us access to the whole world; and conversely it gave the whole world access to our content. Suddenly we were building websites and quizzes and plugins for Virtual Learning Environments. The nature of education changed. Then somehow our profession fell into the trap of online courses. The term "eLearning" became synonymous with the LMS. But the burgeoning of social media moved the goal posts again. Not only has it given learners a means of connecting to others and learning from them, but also they have the means of publishing their own thoughts and insights and contributing to the conversation. So the Internet and social media have empowered learners like never before. Now that the world is at their fingertips, the self-driven individual is no longer beholden to a single source of authority. The map of eLearning is becoming increasingly informal and social. And when we lay mobile technology over that, we also see it becoming increasingly contextualized. What advice would you give someone who wanted to become an eLearning professional? Assuming a grounding in learning theory and instructional design (which I think are vital), my Number 1 piece of advice is to try new things. Implement new ideas, play with new tools, blend the media. If it doesn’t work, change it or abandon it; but if it does work, scale it up. And keep trying new things! I also advise learning from others. Not only by reading their blogs (which is important), but also by attending conferences, going to local meetups, and participating in virtual communities such as #lrnchat on Twitter. Of course, this means giving something back too. Whether you write a blog or run a YouTube channel or whatever, share something useful with your peers. This will raise your profile, reinforce your identity as an eLearning specialist, and you’ll learn so much more from your peers’ feedback. In your blog you mention that "I’m looking forward to 2015 as a time for exploring, building, experimenting, discovering, and learning". What kind of steps are you planing on making in order to achieve these goals? I’m a qualified scientist, and so I’ve decided to treat eLearning like a science. Scientists don’t categorize empirical evidence as a success or failure. They don’t view the outcome of an experiment as good or bad, right or wrong. It just is. By exploring, building, experimenting, discovering, and learning through this scientific lens, I’ll reduce my fear of failure. I also want to work out loud more. The way I see it, if my peers don’t know what I’m doing or what I’m trying to do, they won’t know how to help. How do you see the future of eLearning in the next decade? I see eLearning becoming more informal, social and mobile. I see technology not only as a means of education, but also of performance support; meaning it will become much more of an on-the-job and just-in-time proposition. I see the role of eLearning becoming more about helping people do what they need to do, when they need to do it, rather than sheep-dipping them just in case. I also see emerging technologies finally breaking into mainstream use. For example, augmented reality is becoming easier for us to use via apps like Aurasma, while virtual reality is becoming a tantalizing prospect through wearables such as HoloLens and Oculus Rift.  However, if these new techs don’t pass what I call the Average Joe imperative, whereby regular folk like you and me can use them for both consumption and production of eLearning, then we’ll be having this same conversation in 10 years’ time. In a future world, do you believe that traditional learning will be totally replaced by eLearning? Absolutely not. I’m quite different from other eLearning specialists in that I love face-to-face training. I believe it offers advantages that just can’t be replicated by technology, no matter how hard we try. So I think that "traditional learning" will remain. Having said that, I think that its proportion of the total L&D portfolio will inevitably decline. As eLearning obviates the need for rooms and trainers and travel and time out of the business, traditional classroom-based training will eventually be replaced with alternatives. This isn’t just a financial decision; often it makes sense pedagogically too. It’s also important to recognise that eLearning is changing the nature of traditional learning. These days, training is supported by technology around the program to provide a more comprehensive learning experience; while in-class too, technology is being used to improve engagement and (dare I suggest) effectiveness. How do you imagine Ryan Tracey in 20 years from now? Ha ha! I seriously have no idea. I love what I do, and I’m concentrating on that for now. In the future, I hope I’m still doing something that helps people. The post Interview with Ryan Tracey appeared first on eLearning Interviews Magazine.

What are the secrets of your successful eLearning Coach site? It depends what you mean by success. If you consider success as the ability to connect with people and provide value to their work lives, then the secret is love. Loving the readers, loving our field, and loving the learners who benefit when we are successful. I’ve written over 250 articles on the theelearningcoach.com since 2009. How has Online Learning evolved over the last decade? I think online learning is slowly becoming more aligned with what learners need and how people really learn. For example, over the past decade it has become well accepted that people learn informally, socially and from repeated interventions, practice and opportunities. Our field has evolved due to improvements in research and technology. Learning solutions like performance support, microlearning, blended learning, content portals and social media for learning are a result of these newer realizations. What facts do you consider as "revolutionary" in this field now? In addition to what I mentioned in the previous answer, I think it’s revolutionary to look at problems and solutions with a wide lens. To understand that training is not necessarily the solution to every problem. That’s why I believe it’s important for people in our industry to understand related fields, such as user experience, interactive design, visual design and user interface design. We might find revolutionary answers in those domains. Do you commonly use social media in your personal learning process? Yes, I have a robust personal learning environment based on social media, using Twitter (@elearningcoach), Facebook, LinkedIn, GooglePlus, RSS blog feeds, and the like. Most people in our field clearly love learning and I’m no different. So I use my social network to discover the most interesting articles, conversations and tools related to our own and other industries. I really can’t imagine life without it. It makes you feel connected to humanity and up-to-date. You probably deal with numerous eLearning professionals in your work. What are the most common mistakes you observe? First of all, I think eLearning professionals are getting more effective all the time. There are some very positive signs out there when you listen to the buzz. But of course, as an industry, we have knowledge gaps that need closing. We could become more informed about design thinking and about how to get learners involved in the design process. We could also go deeper into instructional science and cognitive psychology so that our decisions and choices are always based on how people learn. I also think there’s a knowledge gap when it comes to understanding visual design and how to create aesthetically appealing materials. I wrote Visual Design Solutions to help close that gap. What are the most important 4-5 tips someone needs to know in order to achieve a better educational outcome? That’s a tough question, but I’ll take a stab at it. Here’s my list of how to achieve better educational outcomes. Think of yourself as a problem solver in addition to a learning experience designer. Think broadly and consider solutions that don’t involve courses. When designing formal learning, spend time with the audience to understand what they need and align it with what the organization needs. Make it super relevant. During design, keep in mind that people can only process 3-4 bits of information at one time. Avoid overwhelming people with a firehouse of information. Less is more. You mention your goal is to "fill the world with well-organized and comprehensible products that connect with the audience." Which would you define as the most important product element in order to achieve a successful so-called "connection"? If you look at our deliverables as products, I’d say one of the most important elements is visual design and the resulting aesthetic. This can have a significant impact on learner motivation, how well the content is understood and how much information is retained. With my art education background, I’m biased in that direction so I see things through that lens. You have published a mobile reference app for Instructional Designers. What does this learning tool include and how does it work? You’re talking about my Instructional Design Guru app. It’s a resource for instructional design students and practitioners. The app defines many of the specialized terms and concepts one comes across in the industry. I imagined a potential user sitting at a meeting or hearing a lecture or reading an article and quickly being able to look up the meaning of a term or concept. I wished I had a reference app, so I created one. Could you share with us some facts about your book «Visual Lanquage for Designers»? Which has been the strongest motivation for its creation? Visual Language for Designers presents visual design strategies that are based on cognitive psychology to help people create graphics that can be understood. The motivation to write it was to spread the word that design should be based on cognitive science to be most effective. Although I wrote this book for a wide audience, I was thinking about instructional designers much of the time. Is there another book in the works? Yes, I recently published Visual Design Solutions: Principles and Creative Inspiration for Learning Professionals. I wrote this book specifically for people who work in the field of learning. It teaches visual design skills in the context of designing eLearning and slides and presents new ideas for fresh designs. What exactly is Visual Design Solutions and what should a professional expect to find in it? Visual Design Solutions is my new book that teaches learning professionals how to create visually effective and aesthetically pleasing instructional materials. Many designers and developers feel challenged when it comes to visual design. The goal of the book is to present easy ways for practitioners to improve their skills. An equally important goals is to offer creative inspiration. The book covers the foundation principles of visual design as well as ways to add visual excitement to eLearning and training slides. I’ve included lots of graphic examples too. Some of the topics I cover are how to: select and enhance images, lay out a slide, choose a palette, select and mix fonts, direct the learner’s eyes, transform bullet points to images, make numbers interesting, tell a visual story, and a lot more.  What need of yours triggered the creation of the book? You don’t need to draw well to be able to design well, but most people don’t realize this. Design and art are two different crafts. Anyone can learn and apply the foundation principles of visual design to make their work more effective and appealing. I wanted to share this knowledge with practitioners in our industry. Also, I have degrees in Art Education and Instructional Design and Technology. So I enjoy combining my knowledge of both fields. I find there is a strong synergy there. What kind of innovation does your book bring to the field of Learning Design? Research of the past few decades has shown that aesthetics, or the appreciation of beauty, affects how people respond emotionally to a product. We choose a mobile phone or a favorite website partly based on the beauty of its design. But people in our industry don’t realize that this same response to design also affects the motivation and interest of learners. It impacts the effectiveness of learning too. My book presents principles and techniques for making instructional materials aesthetically pleasing and engaging. This is an innovative way to think about learning experience design. How has the specific area of Visual Design changed over the past decade? Visual design trends are always evolving, even if they harken back to previous times. But in the past few decades, visual design has been influenced by the requirements of technological innovation. For example, the flat design and minimalist design trends meet the needs of lower bandwidth mobile users. The interesting thing, however, is that many underlying principles of design, such as the use of white space, establishing a visual hierarchy and creating a unified design, are consistently applicable to all types of design. That’s because those principles meet the requirements of the human brain. What sort of everyday life experiences give you inspiration to write? When I teach visual design workshops and when I see examples of online learning, it often seems that people are designing randomly or in a haphazard way, rather than intentionally. These types of experiences motivated me to write Visual Design Solutions. I’m also fascinated with the intersection of cognitive science and visual design, so doing research in this area is very intellectually satisfying. Writing is another way to think.  What is the most enjoyable part of writing a book? As every author will say, writing a book is very hard. If you have full-time work, you have to get up very early or stay up very late and put in the hours of organizing, researching, writing and editing. In this case, I had to create and select around 140 example images too. On the other hand, it is also very fulfilling to know that what I write might contribute to making the lives of learning designers and developers easier and that their instructional materials will be more effective. Everyone benefits—both designers and  learners. Who did you choose to read it first, and why? How encouraging was the first informal feedback? Prior to publishing, the first people I got informal feedback from were people from the intended audience, practitioners in our industry. These were the beta readers. The beta readers did a great job of giving me helpful feedback and I feel indebted to them. I had my publisher send them a book when it was published, as my way of saying thank you. The post Interview with Connie Malamed appeared first on eLearning Interviews Magazine.

What do folks in education mean when they refer to ‘accessibility’? Well, in the online learning context, it really means allowing all learners, across all browsers and devices, access to all course content in an equitable manner. Learning should not be impeded by inaccessible course content.  In this context, accessibility does not necessarily mean increasing access to course content for individuals with disabilities. Of course, this is always a concern, but the perspective should change to just ensure course content is inclusive of all learners, not just those individuals with self-reported disabilities. Sure, you should be conscious of ADA/508 compliance issues and include transcripts to all video or audio elements, use ALT tags for your imagery, and ensure your course materials are formatted in a way that can easily be processed by assistive technologies, but you should also look at accessibility from the broader lens of usability. Is your course functional? Is it mobile responsive? Are all applications used within your course accessible to all learners? A lot of course content developers or Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) simply don’t think of these elements when developing the content, but it’s important, prior to launch, to review your course as a whole from an accessibility and usability perspective. Content should be chunked into smaller portions to avoid cognitive overload, it should be presented in a logical format, it should be presented using various formats (e.g. text/audio/video) alongside relevant transcripts, the course navigation should be straight forward and/or explained at the beginning of the course, formatting should be consistent, and your assessment strategies should be varied. Resources: Web Accessibility for Online Learning by CANnect Improve Accessibility in Tomorrow’s Online Courses by Leveraging Yesterday’s Techniques by Emily A. Moore

CSU LPS Faculty PanelThursday, December 10th, 20153pm PT/ 6pm ETRegister here (it's free).Panelists:Carolyn Gibbs (CSU Sacramento)Jackson Wilson (CSU San Francisco)Paul Boyd-Batstone (CSU Long Beach)Jaime Hannans (CSU Channel Islands)Ben Seipel (CSU Chico)This Thursday, December 10th, 2015 at 3pm PT/ 6pm ET, I will be moderating a 90-minute online panel that will include five faculty representing five of the 23 California State University (CSU) campuses. The panel is one link in a rich, semester-long series of events, blog posts, and sharing of resources organized by the CSU Learning Platforms and Services (LPS) Taskforce (click here to view all of these goodies, included archives of past live events).The diverse CSU system has a system-wide contract with Blackboard, which has provided CSU campuses the option to adopt Blackboard via a more seamless process and at a lower cost. This contract is coming to an end and, as a result, the LPS Taskforce is organizing opportunities to review the state of LMSs inside and outside the CSU (click here to view the complete purpose of the LPS Taskforce). This review process is the precursor to a statewide RFP for a CSU LMS contract, in which campuses will, again, have the option to participate or adopt a different LMS (or suite of tools) that fits their unique needs.  Currently, 11 CSU campuses have a campus-wide license for Blackboard, 20 use Moodle, and the others use Canvas or D2L/BrightSpace (of course, this does not account for the pockets of faculty who use a different LMS or suite of tools than the majority of their campus peers). Click here to see a complete breakdown of LMS use across the CSU.When I was invited to moderate an "LMS" panel for CSU faculty, I took time to think through my own experiences teaching with LMSs; which led to reflections about using web-based tools to cultivate visual, active-learning spaces; as well as my recent experiences providing professional development and support for online and blended faculty. These reflections helped me to realize how important it was going to be to design the panel as a conversation about teaching and learning with technology, as opposed to a conversation about using an LMS. The LMS as "walled garden."As we know, the "state of the LMS" in higher education has changed dramatically in the past several years. Edtech discourse around the LMS has recently included more conversations questioning the value of having students learn inside a "walled garden," when they are expected to thrive personally and professional in the open web. This trend is also influenced by the increase of easy-to-use, free to low-cost technologies in recent years. This gradual shift from the LMS as "the" place for organizing content, communicating with students, and facilitating learning (particularly for blended and online classes) to the LMS as one of many important nodes in a "learning ecosystem" of educational technologies used by faculty to design learning environments brings opportunities and challenges for higher education organizations. The tools in this ecosystem is referred to in the CSU as Learning Platforms and Services (LPS) (Click here for more discussion about LMS and LPS.)The LMS as part of a learning ecosystem.As more faculty have begun experimenting with and adopting additional tools to supplement (or replace) their use of the LMS, the traditional institutional goal of identifying a single, enterprise-wide technology solution for an entire campus is being rethought in some contexts. As such, institutions need new, sustainable strategies for supporting a technology ecosystem and preparing a mostly part-time higher education faculty to effectively navigate this landscape and design meaningful, accessible learning experiences.  These are some of the themes that have been conveyed through the experts (and follow-up conversations within the webinars) who have presented in the LPS series (Phil Hill and Michael Feldstein, Chris Vento, Sasha Thackaberry, Patrick Masson, and CSU students). I hope you'll join us for the panel on Thursday! I'm hoping to generate rich, thick data through open-ended questions that do not fixate on the LMS, but instead probe for themes in the experiences of faculty. We'll be using the webinar version of ZOOM for the panel.  Please register in advance and bring your own questions for the participants. Register here (it's free).LMS graphics by Mindwires, CC-BY.

Keeping learners motivated throughout an eLearning course is a challenge for even the most seasoned designers. Not only is it difficult to hook and keep learners engaged offline, but asynchronous training invites an even larger set of challenges. There is no way to read visual cues if students are bored or for an instructor to redirect training if there are questions. Online courses also provide an anonymity that prevents some learners from even participating at all.

How versatile can a training management system really be? This 10 part series looks at the varied ways a course management system can be utilised. The third in the series, this blog focuses on how Citizens Advice used training management software to run their Annual General Meeting.  

Tata Interactive Systems and Zurich Insurance have won the coveted Brandon Hall Group Silver Award for excellence in the Best Advance in Technology for their corporate social game app - Zurich QuizWiz. This solution also won the Silver at E-Learning Awards 2015. "We are delighted to receive this for our cloud-based Social Gamification Solution, says Rati Menon, Managing Director, Tata Interactive Systems, AG. We have been well recognized for our excellence in creating Game-based learning, so our goal was to create a tool that allows our customers to easily get started with social gaming. QuizWiz is a complete social gamification platform that allows any organization to set up a social game for its users through an app available for both the Android and iOS platforms. Zurich Insurance wanted to increase awareness and knowledge about important topics among its international workforce. Based on user feedback, the company wanted to implement an informal training strategy that reflected the current learning values of employees in the organization - learning needed to be bite-sized with a fun & engaging element and also leverage the BYOD policies in the organization. In line with this need, TIS used their QuizBiz App framework to develop the Zurich QuizWiz app that leverages existing trends like playing social games, mobile and analytics to deliver informal learning in an innovative, fun manner.    "We are very grateful to Zurich for having the faith in our solution and partnering with us. Their business perspectives and the learnings from the implementation helped us tailor the solution and make it an even better fit for any corporate environment," cites Rati.  Innovative use of the peer-to-peer challenges and leaderboards keeps people engaged whereas the performance metrics gathered allow insights into the knowledge gaps that exist among the target audience. "This way of learning is very suitable for companies targeting product training, implementing change processes, launching a corporate initiative, raising awareness, increasing knowledge and creating excitement," adds Rati.