Learning Design Secrets

Ok, yes, that title was supposed to be clickbait too... But clickbait uses the principle of the unexpected and the unexpected grabs attention. In a lesson that can be exactly what you need to impact a learner. Today I talk about how to make learning a little more unexpected.

It doesn't matter how great the instruction is if the learner doesn't feel safe and connected to what they are being taught. In today's podcast I talk about the important skill of building a learning culture.

It's that time of year, the time to evaluate the direction of our careers. Today I talk about what we, as learning designers, are doing that is not working and then letting that go. Continuing to do what is working and finding what we are not doing yet that we need to start doing.

I get asked what I do all the time, and until recently I would just give my job title. The problem with just giving the job title is that it doesn't explain anything, and people end up more confused. Today I talk about how I tell people what I do in a much better way and how it has re-invigorated my career.

In today's podcast, I take a step into the brain science of why it's important to engage our students in more than just the curriculum. People are complex creatures, and the brain requires stimulation in complex ways. If we just focus on delivering the basic information we are missing out on big opportunities to create lasting impact through engaging the brain's rewards systems.

In today's podcast I talk about teaching the learner who doesn't want to learn: teaching the unteachable. Sometimes students are forced to be in class, or they need to learn something they just don't want to learn. How do we as learning designers get past the learner's lack of desire or their contempt for the curriculum and still make an impact in their lives?

While a lot of aspect of quarantine was NOT fun I feel like it did help online learning take a couple of leaps forward. In today's podcast, I talk about what I learned with doing a blended classroom and what we can continue to do to help our students learn most effectively.

Sometimes in our efforts to be amazing Learning Designers we take on too much and overwhelm our capacity to the point that we are no longer effective. In today's podcast, I talk about how to help you as a designer not get too overwhelmed so that you can use your full cognitive capacity for the learner!

My Learning and Development department was in a bad place for a little while because none of our clients wanted to work with us. This was due to a lack of trust and a prevailing smug attitude. When we decided to find a better workflow that would align with our clients everything changed for us.

Too often we are asked to make a solution to a problem that has not been fully assessed. This leads to abandoned projects, low morale, and underserved learners. Today I talk about avoiding this with the steps of a proper needs assessment.

I don't think bragging has ever gone well for me. So I shouldn't be surprised that when I bragged about how many books I had read, I received some humbling but beneficial advice.

I know tragedy is a constant in this world, but knowing that doesn't make it easier. What can make it a little easier is employing emotional intelligence for yourself and others around you. In today's podcast, I talk about how I observed my wife helping her mother through a family tragedy by subconsciously employing emotional intelligence strategies.

I recently ran into a bit of a training block with my curriculum, but some advice from a good book helped me through it. Today I talk about a great way to help you mix up your training to get out of, the all to common, instructional rut!

I love the Holidays! And this year we had to get creative and hold our holiday parties online. In this week's podcast, I talk about 2 online parties that really stood out and how I am going to adopt what I loved from those parties into my learning design!

I may be wrong but I think the days of coming into a job with specific software knowledge are numbered... It's not about knowing a specific software, it's about knowing how to learn new software fast and well. Because even the software we do know how to use can change overnight. In this podcast, I give 7 strategies on how to be good at learning new software.

It is difficult to connect to online learners BUT it is not impossible. In today's podcast I talk about how to find out more than just the demographics of your online learners so that you can connect to your learners to help them feel like the learning is for them!

Habit making and breaking is a big part of learning design. Today I talk about what I have done to break bad habits and build good ones, and how these strategies can be used in learning design.

My boss asked: "what have you done wrong when doing a virtual training?" I wish I could say nothing... Heck, I wish I could say it was only a few things! In today's podcast I talk about the list me and my friend at work came up with of things we have done wrong in virtual trainings.

Recently I was helping my daughter learn to ride a Ripstik, however our practice sessions were interrupted and I had to leave. When I came back she had learned how to ride it on her own! Today I talk about what we can do to help our learns thrive on their own with well designed deliberate practice!

I recently read how corporations in the US spend hundreds of billions of dollars on training every year but also how a small percentage of the learners who go through training are actually changing because of what they learned. So are we wasting BILLIONS every year?? And what can we do about it?