Recently, we worked on a project creating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) training for youth. We were creating a flipped classroom curriculum consisting of three parts: 1) eLearning modules for youth, 2) eLearning modules for adult mentor facilitators, and 3) in-person workshop curriculum. The following is a brief case study of one way that we created a meaningful reflection opportunity within one of the eLearning modules.
Continue readingUsing xAPI to Collect Data on Learning Programs
Have you ever wished you could get more data from your elearning than just who logged in, who completed a course and whether someone passed or failed?
Using xAPI with any digital learning program – whether an elearning module, a video, a digital form or checklist – can help you capture all sorts of data about your learning program and about your learners. What are people typing into an open text field? Are people using the “help” or “need a hint” feature?
Earlier this month, I had a chance to talk with Megan Torrance and Matt Kliewer from Torrance Learning and who specialize on building learning programs with xAPI. As part of this conversation, I also wanted to speak with someone who uses xAPI with their learners. Wendy Morgan, Senior Learning Strategist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill has engaged Torrance Learning in building out learning programs equipped with xAPI. In today’s podcast, Wendy shares her experiences – from a user perspective – of why she wanted to integrate xAPI into her programs and the value it brings to her, her organizations and her learners.
Give the podcast a listen to hear more about xAPI from both a developer and an end-user perspective. Stay for a crazy competitive game of Kahoot to close out the conversation!
Continue readingUsing Elearning To Help Learners Experience An Unfamiliar Environment
What was the challenge?
Like in so many elearning projects, we had a client who shared a PowerPoint deck with us and asked us to develop an elearning course from the materials. Specifically for this project, we had to figure out how to help learners who had never been in an underground mine before. The goal was for them to experience and feel what it might be like not only to be in a new, unfamiliar and dangerous environment, but also to get a feel for just what hazards may be present for machines and equipment operating in this type of environment.
Continue readingTraining and Professional Development is a Social Mission
I’ve worked in the nonprofit space for much of my career. Years ago when I wanted to make a transition into the world of corporate training for a big company, the interviewer looked at my resume and asked: Would you even be comfortable working here? You seem to have a job history of working for more… well… “do-good” types of organizations. Be honest, how would you feel about working for an organization whose focus, at the end of the day, is making money for shareholders?
In my interview prep, I had been so focused on making sure I could talk about my L&D prowess that I hadn’t thought much about how to answer this kind of question. And I think it’s a fair question to ask, because a hiring manager doesn’t want to bring someone on board who might struggle to give 100% since the mission of the organization isn’t to save the world in some way, shape or form.
In today’s podcast, I talk about how this interview question made me re-think what exactly we do in learning and development roles.
Continue readingSolving Training Challenges: Rise Character Counts
If you are an instructional designer who writes for Articulate Rise 360, chances are that you have scripted an interaction, only to find that your planned interaction exceeds the character counts allotted. It’s an upsetting feeling when you discover that you need to make a choice between your ideal interaction, and using the necessary words!
Keep reading for a helpful design resource on character count and interaction restrictions in Rise 360.
Continue readingUpdating Training Materials That Seem Good Enough
Recently, a client asked me to review an existing training program and see what we might be able to do to improve it.
When I had an opportunity to attend the program and participate as if I were a participant, my initial impression was: Hmmmmm, I’m not sure they need us to do anything. The participants seemed engaged. The facilitator was captivating. At the end of the program, I got a perfect score on my post-test, and this training was on material I was completely unfamiliar with at the start of the first day of the program!
As I reflected more on this training program, I realized there were some fundamental areas we might want to turn our attention to. In this week’s podcast, I share more about what I did (and what you might find transferable) when you’re asked to revise a popular, existing training program that, at first glance, seems good enough.
Continue readingHow Job Aids Can Save Lives
On-demand training and just-in-time resources have been something we have been talking about in the podcast recently, and in today’s post, I’m going to move this conversation from theoretical to practical.
Continue readingMatching Training Media and Delivery Format to Organizational Need
Last week I talked a bit about the importance of determining the intent of your learning needs (ie: do you just need to make people aware of something, do you need to help build skills, do you just need to remind people of something).
Today, I offer some specific ideas for how to match those learning needs with some different types of ways to deliver the learning. Not everything needs to be a course… although sometimes it really should be a course.
Continue readingStoryline Blocks to the Rescue!
Making Rise Modules More Interactive Through Storyline Blocks
Articulate Rise 360 is a fantastic authoring tool for creating eLearning quickly. It’s cloud based, easy to collaborate within, and it has many templated options that make creating eLearning a breeze. But anyone who has created eLearning, especially within a more robust tool like Storyline360, knows that Rise has some limitations when it comes to flexibility, creativity, and customization.
Thankfully, using Storyline blocks within Rise allows for more interactivity, additional creative options, and solves some of the common Rise challenges that eLearning developers face. Here are some examples of ways that using Storyline blocks in Rise have saved the day here at Endurance Learning.
Continue readingSetting Bloom’s Taxonomy Aside
For decades, Bloom’s Taxonomy has been a go-to framework that has helped educators and training professionals think through goals and objectives for their programs. A lot of time and effort and even consternation has been spent over what verb is the right verb for the right level of this framework when creating learning objectives.
In today’s podcast, I offer some thoughts on a more important question to ask: What is the purpose of your training program in the first place? Is it to help people grow awareness of something? Is it to build advanced-level skills?
In next week’s podcast I’ll return and talk about a variety of ways you might accomplish what it is that you’ve set out to accomplish.
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