Overcoming the Challenges of Working with Subject Matter Experts
Subject matter experts (SMEs) drive the content for the courses your organization needs. Since their job requirements usually don’t include teaching others, how can you encourage them to commit to your projects so everyone can be successful? SMEs are busy people. They may be heads of engineering, technology, sales, marketing, finance, accounting, human resources, operations, […]
The Importance of Testing in Instructional Design
While many people truly enjoy learning something new, most people dread having to take a test that measures how much they just learned. So why do we keep forcing people to take exams? This blog has covered testing in the past. The testing industry abounds, from state-mandated aptitude exams, to the college-entrance SAT and ACT, to […]
What Pokémon GO Can Teach Learning and Development Professionals
You certainly wouldn’t want employees spending time during the work day trying to find Pikachu in the break room, but the game’s popularity can provide insights into the future of workplace learning and development. Last week, comScore, a research firm that measures Internet usage and statistics, released some interesting though not surprising findings: smartphone and […]
How Long Does It Take Instructional Designers to Create One Hour of Learning?
In an age of YouTube, where 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute, course creation shouldn’t be too difficult or time-consuming, right? Instructional Designers and development teams always identify the single biggest resource constraint for creating learning: time. Much has been written about how to estimate the hours needed to create quality courses. Several factors include: […]
Instructional Design for Non-Instructional Designers
According to Deloitte, less than 6 percent of L&D leaders believe that their teams have the necessary capabilities to provide adequate learning. More encouragingly — though still surprisingly low — 38 percent of L&D professionals think that their organizations are ready for the learners of the future, according to ATD Research. It stands to reason […]
Are You Using the Right KPIs for Your Learning Initiatives?
The success of learning initiatives needs to be measured and communicated via key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs allow you to measure the success of not only the efforts of the L&D department, but also your programs across the entire organization. This is the hard part. ‘Universal’ or traditional KPIs might be the following: Sales Money […]
The UX of Learning
User experience (UX) isn’t just the responsibility of the marketing department. Apply UX principles to your learning modules, and your learners — who are your internal customers — will take notice and be much more engaged. Heck, they might even be impressed. Half the challenge facing L&D leaders nowadays is figuring out what training employees […]
Crushing the ‘Forgetting Curve’
Learner retention is perhaps the most important metric to measure the success of L&D initiatives. However, as we’ve covered in this blog before, the vast majority — often as high as 90 percent — of new skills are lost within a year if not reinforced by practical follow-ups or assessments. A recent article in Chief Learning […]
A Magazine Evolves as a Profession Evolves
The Association for Talent Development (ATD)’s publication, TD magazine, recently celebrated its 70th birthday. But who knew that the publication had 6 previous names? Industrial Training News The Journal of Industrial Training Journal of the American Society of Training Directors Training Directors Journal Training and Development Journal T+D (Training and Development) TD (Talent Development) A […]
Can You Teach Employees to Think Critically?
In an ever-changing, ever more complex workplace, people need to be dynamic — adjusting procedures, chasing new opportunities, or finding solutions — often on a daily basis. As such, one of the most important skillsets employees need on the job today is the ability to see a problem before it’s even on the horizon, and to […]
