What does it mean to learn? Is it the reception and storage of knowledge and information, or does learning encompass more than instruction and learning often exemplified in traditional classrooms?
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Instructional design
Here's an interested video-short highlighting an MIT Media Lab project that was done in collaboration with M ss ng P eces. It highlights some innovative things individuals who work at phone manufacturing plants are doing with their own phones.
I'm at the conference center, getting organized
I'm here at the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Conference in Orlando this week. I'm looking forward to learning a lot about instructional design, learning science, and human performance improvement in healthcare – my fields of practice.
Picking out the perfect track
This international conference is huge. With more than 10,000 attendees and a conference center the size of two football fields, It's important to plan out one's experience as carefully as possible.
There's an app for that
ATD developed an app accessible on iTunes and Google play attendees can download and schedule out their conference events. It has push-notification capabilities and will help participants maximize their experience.
My individualized track
I'll be taking a blended approach to the conference. Here's my plan:
Sunday, May 17
- 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. | Design Thinking for the Instructional Designer
- 3 - 4 p.m. | A Strategy for High-Impact Corporate MOOCs
- 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. | When Instructional Design Met Performance Consulting
Monday, May 18
- 8 – 9:30 a.m. | General Session
- 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. | Tearing Down the Porch
- 11:30 – 12:30 p.m. | Developing Talent in Today's Changing Healthcare Environment
- 1 – 2:15 p.m. | Wearables: Just a Fad or the Future of Talent Development?
- 3 – 4 p.m. | 6 Psychological Tricks That Make Learning Stick
- 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. | Leadership: The Critical Factor for Creating Customer Service in Healthcare
Tuesday, May 19
- 8 – 9:30 a.m. | General Session
- 10 – 11:15 a.m. | 12 Rules of Respect: The Neuroscience of Employee Engagement
- 12 – 1 p.m. | Instant Insights
- 1 – 2 p.m. | Sink, Swim, or Set Up for Success? Preparing First-Time Leaders
- 2 – 3 p.m. | Exhibitor Experiential Sessions
- 3 – 4 p.m. | The New Social Learning
- 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. | How to Engage Every Participant Without Really Trying
- 5:30 – 7 p.m. | Student Day Career Networking Social
wednesDAY, MAY 19
- 8:15 – 9:15 a.m. | Surviving C-Suite Presentations
- 10 – 11 a.m. | Leveraging Emotional Intelligence Skills to Effectively Develop Leaders
- 1:30 – 2:45 p.m. | Visual Storytelling: Engaging Learners Using Pictures
- 3 – 4 p.m. | General Session
Follow the event using #ATD2015
There are a number of attendees who are contributing their thoughts and experiences on the conference and conference sessions using hashtag #ATD2015.
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So what is design thinking, anyway?
Design Thinking helps us go from could do to should do to will do. @LearnerAdvocate #ATD2015 #dt4id
— Richard H. Sites (@rhillsites) May 17, 2015Willemien Visser defined design thinking as "design-specific cognitive activities that designers apply during the process of designing." Angel Green with Allen Interactions presented on how this approach to design can help make our instruction more engaging, relevant, and impactful.
Instructional designers have a problem
First, we spend a lot of money on design...
North America spent $141.7 B on training in 2013. Are we being good stewards of those dollars? #DT4ID pic.twitter.com/4bnyvSnxP0
— allen interactions (@customelearning) June 26, 2014...yet we have a lot of dissatisfied learners
Green suggested that a simple twitter search on "I hate training" will highlight many of the concerns most learners have with instruction.
Learners are excited about training! How do we change this? #DT4ID pic.twitter.com/JRDTMqRGsK
— allen interactions (@customelearning) June 26, 2014How can we solve the negative sentiment problem?
We participated in a number of design thinking activities to help us as instructional designers identify ways to improve learning. Instructional Designers can:
- employ design thinking techniques to instructional design
- involve the learners in design
- continuously make improvements to design based on learner feedback
- help students better manage their time by providing them with clearly identified learning tasks
Angel suggests that prototyping can help us gain feedback and increase or creativity in our design.
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Cotton bags, sewing, and listening
Frugal and savvy homemakers during the 1940s were good at saving money and managing resources. Innovative ways to re-use and re-purpose household materials helped families make ends meet. Since the 1800s, flour and other feed was packaged in fabric sacks. The packaging for flour was delivered in soft, sturdy cotton which held up under shipping and storing conditions. Household seamstresses began re-purposing the cotton fabric flour bags into clothing for kids at some point. Wise folks in the flour industry noticed this trend and used it as a way to provide additional value to their customers. Companies provided value by printing patterns on the bags which seamstresses could then use to sew clothing. This image below shows how this activity was encouraged (photo courtesy of Vavoom Vintage.
Listening to learners
The fabric clothing trend of the '40s happened naturally. The flour companies' responses to the trend were generated as a result of someone listening and observing. Such interaction with the flour customers would have been hard to predict or produce without careful listening.
Learner preferences and trends are often non-intuitive and challenging to predict. It's important to take advantage of opportunities to gather feedback on learner preferences. By gathering and considering feedback, instructional designers can improve instruction and foster relationships of trust with learners.
Why learning objectives?
Learning objectives are an important part of planning instruction. They help the instructional designer break down the learning goal into manageable chunks and helps her or him identify the purpose of instruction. Learning objectives help answer the "why" to instruction.
Three elements of effective learning objectives
Training and performance improvement researcher Robert F. Mager emphasized the identification and use of learning objectives in planning instruction. Mager's book, Preparing Instructional Objectives: A Critical Tool in the Development of Effective Instruction, highlights the following three parts of effective learning objectives:
#1 - Conditions
Conditions describe the tools and resources a learner will need to complete the objective.
For example:
"Using Google Chrome, a learner will be able to locate and save the website YouTube.com as a bookmark titling it 'YouTube.' The learner will correctly spell "YouTube" as the bookmark's name."
In this example, "Using Google Chrome" is the condition under which the learner must perform.
#2 - Behavior
The learning objective should include actions, concepts, and content a student must display. These behaviors should be observable.
For example:
"Using Google Chrome, a learner will be able to locate and save the website YouTube.com as a bookmark titling it 'YouTube.' The learner will correctly spell "YouTube" as the bookmark's name."
In this example, "locate and save the website YouTube.com as a bookmark titling it 'YouTube.'" is the behavior required to complete the learning objective.
#3 - Criteria
Criteria included in a learning objective describes what acceptable performance of a skill looks like. It is explicit and outlines parameters for performance.
For example:
"Using Google Chrome, a learner will be able to locate and save the website YouTube.com as a bookmark titling it 'YouTube.' The learner will correctly spell 'YouTube' as the bookmark's name."
In this example, "The learner will correctly spell 'YouTube' as the bookmark's name," is the criterion required to complete the learning objective.
Mager's elements of learning objectives add clarity
When the presence of conditions, behavior, and criteria are all packaged together in a learning objective, it becomes very clear whether or not a learner as achieved the learning objective. This clarity helps remove potential ambiguity from the instructors responsibility to evaluate performance; conditions, behaviors, and criteria also help a student to know when she or he has performed the objective at an adequate level of proficiency.
It's more important than ever before to design content that is mobile-friendly instruction. The number of adult learners who have access to mobile devices grows daily. Although there is certainly still a digital divide between those who have a mobile device and those who don't, the mobile-device gap between the two camps appears to be shrinking.
Going mobile stats
The Association for Talent Development (ATD) recently shared this relevant infographic full of stats that emphasize the importance of understanding the changing environment in which learners interact with instruction.
You Suck at PowerPoint!
Jesse Desjardins shared this excellent presentation, embedded below, on SlideShare in 2008. Since it was released, it's seen more than 1.8 million views and is full of keen advice on communicating. A few points that stood out to me include:
- Avoid sharing too much info at once
- Only share information that is needed, that is relevant
- Keep a consistent look and feel in materials
- Implement a color scheme that is used consistently. I discovered ColourLovers.com from his presentation.
Top 10 e-Learning statistics for 2015
After browsing around the internet for interesting infographics on online learning, I ran into this outstanding website that has mounds of relevant infographics designed on the subject of eLearning. I have included one of my favorite which highlights 10 facts around eLearning in 2015.
Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics
So you want an instructional design job?
Professionals in the instructional technology and instructional design space need to be skilled in a number of areas to be eligible for current job openings. I have recently become curious on what current tools and skills recruiters are frequently listing in job postings for this field. To be marketable and eligible for a job as an instructional designer, it would make sense for one to be aware of this skill and tool-set, increase one's proficiency in areas she or he feels s/he is lacking, and monitor changes in the field to stay relevant.
Popular skills: tools and technology
Job listings list requirements for basic competency in standard office equipment including computers, photocopiers, scanners, etc. As you can image, proficiency in a number of software applications is essential to most instructional design jobs. Some of the most common software tools I've seen listed include:
- Adobe Captivate
- Adobe FrameMaker
- Adobe Dreamweaver
- Blackboard Learn
- Microsoft Publisher
- Performance Technology Associates DocuTools
- Trivantis CourseMill
- Worldwide Instructional Design System
- Adobe Flash (I believe flash is being rapidly phased out and replaced with tablet-compatible technologies)
- Adobe Creative Cloud design tools – Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign
- Adobe Creative Cloud video editing tools – Premier, Audition, etc.
- Snagit
- Camtasia
Popular skills: interpersonal workplace attributes
A number of interpersonal skills consistently show up in job postings. These include:
- Reading comprehension
- Instructing
- Learning strategies
- Writing
- Critical thinking
- Active listening
- Judgement and decision making
- Monitoring
- Speaking
- Active learning
But wait, there's more
I found a cool list of instructional designers' tasks, tools, technology, knowledge, skills, abilities, work activities, educational requirements, and other data that commonly shows up in job postings on www.ONetOnline.org. Here's more information for those interested.
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Wearable technology released at CES
Last week, I mentioned that I would write about any wearable technology that got released at CES this week. I'm going to bump that post back a week to next week because of some big news that was recently released by U.S. News and World Report.
USU #13 in nation for online programs
U.S. News and World Report released its annual online college rankings. USU's online bachelor and graduate programs were ranked #13 in the nation. Although I am a residential student – not an online student – the program I study in has trained a lot of the faculty and professors who participate in online courses. This makes me proud. Utah State University's position in Utah is that of a land grant institution. It's charged with educating students throughout the state including those who live in remote, rural locations. This land-grant charge has driven USU to innovate and experiment in the distance education space for decades. It was among the first universities in the nation to offer free online courses along with MIT, UC Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon.
Congrats, USU; I'm a proud alumnus and student.
Photo credit: "USU Old Main" by Cami Gee is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
LinkedIn™ Udemy Course
I'm currently knee deep in the process of developing my online Udemy course that will be teaching students how to effectively update, optimize, and polish their LinkedIn profiles. Course development for this project has been fascinating in its own right. Udemy has done an outstanding job providing detailed instruction that sets instructors up for success. Many instructional design principles are built in to how Udemy instructs instructors on how to set up a course (I know – it's a mouthful). Udemy has what appears to be a highly rigorous model of helping instructors build and revise their courses.
The ADDIE Model
Developed by researchers at Florida State University, the ADDIE Model helps guide instructional designers in the process of design. Curriculum development is broken down into a series of phases that are part of the process of building instruction. These phases are:
- Analysis
- Design
- Development
- Implementation
- Evaluation
Mine and Udemy's Use of the ADDIE Model
Between each phase, developers are encouraged to revise areas with apparent issues to improve the course. I have completed much of the analysis associated with my course. Through that process, I identified several areas where I needed to revise goals and more clearly outline objectives.
Udemy has provided a lot of tools that help in designing and developing the course. Since this online classroom marketplace is a well-thought-out platform, a lot of the design of course tools and layout has been addressed by Udemy. As I complete the development and implementation of my of my course, the guiding principles of the ADDIE Model will become increasingly important. This model places emphasis on the evaluation phase of a course. An instructor needs to observe what areas of the course students seem to be benefiting from and which areas need improvement. I plan to interject a few quizzes and open discussion threads throughout the course where I ask students what they are enjoying and what I can do to improve the course. I'll also look for areas where students are repeatedly asking questions; multiple related questions are a good sign that clarification on material would improve the course experience for students.
As an instructor in an online setting where students can publicly rate your performance, where a portion of students' "tuition" goes toward compensating instructors, taking full advantage of feedback provided to the instructor from students is a crucial. Guiding principles from the evaluation phase of the ADDIE Model will be of high focus for me following the launch of my course.
Photo credit: "LinkedIn Chocolates" by nan palmero is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Instructional design in healthcare
Ryan Brierley is a digital media specialist with more than a decade of experience in instructional design. He currently works for Intermountain Healthcare, the largest healthcare provider in the Intermountain West. I sat down with Ryan to ask him about what it means to be an instructional designer in the healthcare industry. Enjoy.
Photo credit: "bridging knowledge to health" by Paul Bica is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
What to do about boring content you need to share
What do you do if you have to teach boring content? What if your audience likely understands your message, at least partially, but you are still required to deliver a refresher? Many instructional designers might approach this unfortunate but common request by covering the necessary points to get the job done with the understanding that most people will likely ignore the familiar message.
Airlines face this problem with the required safety instruction airline passengers must receive before each flight. Designers have addressed the need to deliver instructional videos, initially, with content that was informative, albeit boring.
Delta's instructional designers changed this pattern through videos that were just as informative but that included humor. This approach, if done right, seems to catch the attention of many more passengers than the plain vanilla approach of the past. Each time I find myself on a Delta flight, I hear passengers chuckle at the flight safety video and notice plenty of passengers paying attention to the video. Additionally, Delta releases new versions of their safety videos frequently, so passengers know that they may likely see a new version when they're on a Delta flight. The combination of funny and updated content seems to be working for Delta. It is important to note that humor is very, very challenging to produce in such a way that it will appeal to a wide audience. If it doesn't come off as funny, chances are your viewers think it's cheesy.
Funny in-flight safety videos
Here's the most recent version Delta has produced:
This flight safety video by Air New Zealand was released less than a week ago and is coming close to seeing 10 million views!
So, what are the take-aways?
If you have boring content that you are required to deliver:
- Make it funny
- Keep it current
Photo credit: Bentley Smith, Creative Commons Non-Commercial
What does it mean to learn? Is it the reception and storage of knowledge and information, or does learning encompass more than instruction and learning often exemplified in traditional classrooms?