Social Learning Systems

Focus on Observed Errors to Make Training Efficient | trainingmag.com

I took tennis lessons for years when I was a kid, and they were boring and mostly ineffectual, as evidenced by my weak tennis game. So when I signed up for my first lesson in 25 years while on vacation in Mexico, it was due more to boredom than to any thought that it would seriously improve my skills. I told my instructor, Rick, a crusty former touring professional from South Africa with a right forearm like Popeye and a complexion like tanned wildebeest hide, that based on past experience I didn’t expect a lot either from him or from myself. Rick asked me what my previous lessons were like, and I told him they had involved lots of verbal instruction and artificial drills. He laughed and said, “Don’t worry, doc, I don’t think you’ll have that problem today.”

Read the entire article here.

via trainingmag.com

Marc My Words: Back to Basics – When Training Is Not the Answer by Marc J. Rosenberg : Learning Solutions Magazine

 Fourteen reasons why people don’t perform, and what you might be able to do about it.

Read the entire article here.

via www.learningsolutionsmag.com

Marc My Words: Back to Basics – When Training Is the Answer by Marc J. Rosenberg : Learning Solutions Magazine

To be sure, learning is more complex than I can discuss here. But, assuming we’ve done our due-diligence to confirm that a learning strategy is appropriate, and assuring that the training will work whether we are developing a classroom course (including virtual classrooms) or an online (eLearning) program requires, at a minimum, that we make sure it reflects eight fundamental characteristics:

1. The right content — Of course, this is a primary concern. But the right content for the instructor or the training department may not be the right content for the learner or the sponsoring organization. Content should be more than just accurate; learners should see it as relevant and authentic as well. Take the time to find out exactly what you need to teach; no more and no less. Learners usually perceive courses that get the content wrong to be a waste of time.
   
   Read the full article here.

via www.learningsolutionsmag.com

The eLearning Guild : Rapid eLearning Authoring: Top Tools Report

In this report, author Joseph Ganci discusses which rapid eLearning authoring tools are the most popular and why. Using Guild Research survey data, Joseph also examines how powerful people find these tools, perceived ease of use, how many different tools people use, and trends in tool usage. Joseph also compares features and functions across tools, and closes with a detailed discussion of the top seven tools revealed in the survey.

-- A good look at Captivate, Articulate, Camtasia, etc. --

via www.elearningguild.com

Do You Need An Instructional Design Degree? » The Rapid eLearning Blog

 
If you do want to forego a formal education, here are a few tips to help you get started:

• Read books and apply what you learn to your projects. If you can’t apply them to real projects, create little mini modules where you practice different techniques.  Add them to your portfolio with an explanation of what you did and why.
• Connect with others so you’re always exposed to new ideas and challenged in your thinking.  One of the great things about social media is the access you have to all sorts of expertise.  Be prepared to connect in a genuine way.  People will tune you out if all you do is take.
• Develop a portfolio that demonstrates your understanding of instructional design.  I also recommend combining your portfolio with a blog.  The portfolio could be the formal environment to display your work.  Whereas the blog is like the sandbox where you can flesh out ideas.

You DO Need an Instructional Design Degree

The reality is that many employers require an advance instructional design degree.  If all things are equal, the person with the degree will probably always be considered first.

Whether you like it or not, you’re competing in the marketplace with other qualified instructional designers.  So you want to make sure that your skills and qualifications are equitable.  That means if you don’t have a degree you might never be considered for different jobs. 

via www.articulate.com

Read the entire article here.

The Differentiator

 
A great tool -

Pick the Thinking Skill.

Pick a way to Differentiate Content.

Pick a Resource.

Pick a Product for Students to Create.

Pick a Group Size for Student Group Work. 

Fabulous!

Here is a direct link to the tool.

 

via www.byrdseed.com

How Long Does it Take to Create Learning? (2010 Research)

by Bryan C on September 14, 2010

Research Participants: 249 companies organizations, representing 3,947 learning development professionals, who have created content consumed by 19,875,946 learners.

All results are shown as ratios, showing number of hours of development to create 1 finished hour of learning (output)

 

We just completed a large-scale study and encourage you to use the results to benchmark and help improve your own internal development practices (see below):

How Long Does it Take to Create Learning?

via brandon-hall.com

Direct link

Make sure to check out the newest info on course development ratios. Extremely useful for anyone managing the development of traditional classroom and/or web-based training materials.

eLearn Magazine - A great resource - On Designing, Launching, and Teaching an e-Course

eLearn Magazine is a terrific resource for our industry.

Teaching an e-Course The recent July 1 interview with Linda Formichelli talks about teaching an e-Course. "The benefits are that you get to work one-on-one with students and feel inspired as you watch them learn and succeed. And of course, I can't forget to mention that e-courses do bring in income! "

Tips for Writing Instructional Objectives - Bloom's Taxonomy Job Aids

I am so delighted to see this post that includes Bloom's Taxonomy Wheels by ZaidLearn. I always find that it's far easier to design materials using these wheels than it is to see the verbs/products in lists.  Many instructional designers can benefit from these job aids when trying to find the right action verbs for their objectives. Here are some wheels for the cognitive domain.

Source: http://www.cobbk12.org/sites/alt/training/Blooms/circle.GIF

Source: http://www.alline.org/euro/images/bloomwheel.png

Source: http://teaching.uncc.edu/files/image/resources/pedagogy/diagramforwriting.gif

Bloom’s digital taxonomy. Developed by Andrew Churches of Kristin School in Albany Auckland, New Zealand. Click image for source.

Have fun, designers!

How To Convert PowerPoint To SCORM Compliant Course

Convert PowerPoint to SCORM compliant Flash course for Learning Management system.

read more | digg story