Virtual Chainsaws (When it’s not a knowledge problem)

Just wrote a piece for the Research for Practitioners series over at Learning Solutions Magazine on some really fascinating research at the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab.  It’s crazy interesting research, and it involves virtual chainsaws, behavior change and crafty research techniques. What’s not to love in that? Go check it out here: Research for … Read more

Problem Statements – The much shinier version

The last blog post I wrote was about starting design with a problem rather than a solution, and it came from a conversation with Stephen Anderson about a presentation he was putting together for the IA Summit. Here’s his presentation, and (of course) it’s great stuff:

You can’t solve problems you don’t know about

So, several conversations recently are coming together: – Judy Unrein’s post on Mike Monteiro’s How Designers Destroyed the World talk, and her discussion about how designers can’t be just be order takers (go watch the talk – it’s amazing) – A conversation with Stephen Anderson about his upcoming IA Summit talk called Stop Doing What … Read more

Narrative Strategies for Learning

Had a lovely time at the Learning Solutions Conference last week.  Did a full day pre-con on Gameful Learning Design with Rick Raymer, which was a lot of fun. I also did a session on Narrative Techniques for Learning.  When I was working on Design For How People Learn, I listened a lot to a … Read more

Extrinsic Motivation and Games

Hey folks, this is a really excellent discussion of the issues and research around using extrinsic rewards as a way to motivate behavior. Chris Hecker is looking at the question through the lens of game design, but it really, really applies to learning design as well.  There’s a write-up at the website, and a recording … Read more

Why I don’t like WIIFM

This is excerpted and expanded from a post that I wrote for the Tin Can blog  We’ve talked about WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) for years – it’s one of those things you always hear that you need to include in learning experiences to persuade your learners to pay attention. I’ve started to think … Read more