They say two heads are better than one. In the world of training design, I’d say this is very, very true. Continue reading
eLearning Interactions: Puzzles!
Last week, we began looking at some of the limitations of eLearning interactions, and how to work within those constraints. Your comments and feedback indicated that this is a topic of interest to many of you. Over the coming weeks, we will continue to discuss effective ways to design eLearning interactions on the Thursday posts to this blog. Continue reading
A more effective role play
I was sitting with a client last week, trying to finalize a training program, and the client said: “With all of these case studies and vignettes already in here, it seems like having people do role plays would be redundant.”
I explained that while it was true that we had a lot of case studies and shorter vignettes in the curriculum as discussion tools, but adding role plays was not redundant at all. You can talk about case studies with others. You can point out how things should be. Role plays, on the other hand, challenge participants to show they know how things should be, and challenge them to actually demonstrate how things should be.
With that, the client seemed satisfied and was ready to proceed. Putting together an effective role play, however, can be complicated. I believe there are four parts to an effective role play. Continue reading
Quiz Style eLearning Interactions
eLearning instructional design has different challenges and advantages than instructor-led training. Interactions are limited to the learner interacting with keyboard and mouse functions, and you have to shift your thinking of how an interaction is executed. eLearning design can be a challenge for those of us who spend most of our time designing instructor-led training. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be covering various eLearning interactions and how to incorporate them into your eLearning courses. Continue reading
Asked to speak about a topic? You may actually be an imposter… just not for the reason(s) you think.
I’ve seen a lot written about “imposter syndrome” on LinkedIn recently. In short, imposter syndrome is when you doubt your own abilities, especially when you’re asked to publicly show them off.
My colleague, Heather, wrote about this phenomenon among L&D professionals last year in this blog post.
I’ve worked with a number of people – from early career professionals to senior staff – who express doubts about what kind of wisdom they could possibly have to offer others. It’s quite a natural sentiment.
The truth is, however, that I’ve seen more actual imposters among those who have been asked to share their expertise with an audience and who feel confident in their wisdom and their experience. I’ve seen imposters among doctors, lawyers, tech executives and learned academics (among others). They’re smart people, to be sure, but where they come across as true fakes is Continue reading
The S.T.O.R.Y. model for storytelling
Sometimes the simplest way to bring your content to life is to tell a story. Storytelling is a means of educating people that has been around for millennia.
Just because you have a story to tell, however, doesn’t mean you know how to tell a story in an engaging, effective way. The S.T.O.R.Y. model can help give structure to the way in which you plan for, and ultimately tell, your story. Continue reading
Whose Objective is it?
Objectives can be a huge obstacle for anyone putting together a training, presentation, or even a meeting. There are a lot of challenges when it comes to objective writing, but one I encounter frequently is understanding the perspective from which we are writing objectives. Let’s look at a couple of objective perspective issues I have encountered, and a rule of thumb to correct these issues. Continue reading
How an “anchor” is different from an icebreaker (and why you should be using anchors in every presentation).
“If we’re running short on time, I’ll typically cut the anchor activities and jump right into the content.”
I was leading a train the trainer workshop and some of the people who were using our curriculum were sharing tips and tricks for how to facilitate a session, especially when the curriculum was so packed and it was so easy to fall behind.
I cringed. Continue reading
When SME’s Make You Cry
Embarking on a new project is always exciting. The kickoff meeting with a new client brings a sense of new challenges and opportunities to flex creative muscles. And as such, I recently joined a kick-off meeting for a new project with a project sponsor and SME I hadn’t met prior to said kickoff. Continue reading
When a presenter tries using a pick-up line on the audience…
A friend of mine was sharing her experiences recently on a dating site. She had met an international man of mystery – Tomas – on a site. He seemed good looking enough and successful. Tomas was Portuguese and apparently made his money by doing something with gold bars and China.
And then on his most recent trip, Tomas got stuck in China and couldn’t get his gold bars out, unless… Continue reading