Online workshop on Transforming the Tedious: Smarter Design for Compliance & Technical Training Learn More Here

Nerdy Shop Talk Videocast

So it’s been pretty quiet here on the blog, but that’s because we have been hard at work on several different things. One of them is HAPPENING this Thursday March 14th at 2PM ET/11AM PT Tracy Parish and I are starting a new videocast series in conjunction with the Elearning Guild, called Nerdy Shop Talk. Like … Read more

Brainzzzzzzz

So I’m putting together some slides for a meme-ignite-style session at DevLearn, and was reminded of some great resources on why we should view learning that “brain-based” or based on “neuroscience” with a healthy skepticism. First is Will Thalheimer’s well-researched post on this very topic: And the second is Danial Willingham’s excellent video on this … Read more

Participatory Learning

So, I was reminded of Nina Simon, and her book — The Participatory Museum — this morning. She’s gone on to deal with bigger issues of community inclusion and relevance, but her first book is about how do you make museums less of a viewing experience and more of a participatory experience. This may sound … Read more

Complex Skill Development

Hey folks, I’ve long thought that the instructional design toolbox is more focused on knowledge and procedural learning, and has less specifics to offer for complex skill development. I’m working on parsing some guidelines based on types of skills and problem context. This is a talk that I’ve done at a few of the elearning … Read more

Upcoming Events

Hey folks, So it’s a little dusty around here, but I do actually have some plans for doing a little blogging in future. In the mean time, feel free to join the conversation in the Design for How People Learn Facebook group.  Loads of smart people talking about interesting things there: https://www.facebook.com/groups/designforhowpeoplelearn Also thought I … Read more

Brain as Prediction Machine

So I’m really interested right now in how the brain operates as a prediction machine. Basically, one of our core brain functions seems to be guessing what is going to happen next. I think this has some really fascinating implications for behavior change.  Humans are (in many ways) bad at risk prediction.  More people seem … Read more