New Job!

I'm very excited about my new role and, after more than 2 decades in government, am looking forward to exploring the mythical private sector. Watch for monthly research reports and more starting in early 2018. 

eLearning on a Shoestring

This month's Learning Solutions column revisits a favorite topic of mine: Working with very little budget.
For years, it seems that everyone in our field has been looking for ways to produce eLearning on a shoestring. In fact, my debut as a voice in the L&D industry came with publication of my first book, eLearning Solutions on a Shoestring, back in 2005. (Note: DO NOT buy a copy! It’s still available here and there and is woefully out of date. Feel free to buy any of my other books, though…) While so many great new inexpensive tools, open-source resources, creative design techniques, and friendlier pricing models have emerged, a few things seem to remain constant.

• Not understanding the reality of development
• Not knowing what you already have
• The tech that will "change training forever!"
• Cart before the horse 

For more, see the rest of the column at https://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/2513/nuts-and-bolts-elearning-on-a-shoestring. 

"20 Questions to Ask Before

By request:

Here's the "20 Questions You Should Always Ask Before Starting Any Training Program" one-sheet. Created by Nanette Miner (aka "The Training Doctor") and shared in my book From Analysis to Evaluation . 

"Social Technologies in Business"

Know what happens when a bunch of your friends get together and assemble the best compilation ever of thinking in the social-social media-collaborative learning-knowledge management-narrating work realms? This book.

My interest in social learning and working out loud grew from my own wonderful experience as a participant in a vibrant community of practice. We mentored one another, shared what we learned, and even took turns demonstrating new ideas and skills in order to get feedback about how to make them better. We found ways of circumventing silos and transferring tacit knowledge, problems our employing organizations had struggled with for years. The burning question remains: How do we help all workers, and their organizations, reap the benefits of such sharing and support?

De Clercq and her team come at this with multiple perspectives and real-world experience. Those needing an introduction or a good amalgamation will find it here, in clear, concise writing organized in easily-digestible bits. Social Technologies in Business offers something for everyone: answers to objections, ideas for getting started, a review of tools, methods for implementation, case studies with “stealable” concepts.  I especially appreciate the realistic view: there’s honest discussion about barriers and failure factors, warnings about things not to do, and the reality of endeavoring to engage in enterprise-wide anything. This is an excellent resource for those hoping to influence and maybe even help transform their organizations. And the host of contributing voices, including Simon Terry,  Paul Miller, and Mathias Vermeulen, is credible.  De Clercq holds a special place in my heart for sharing my own opposition to Digital Detox. (Well, that, and the fact that she has publicly referred to me as “the Pippi Longstocking of L&D”, as there is no greater compliment.)

Some key takeaways?

-Don’t blame technology
-Have a strategy
-Being social is a mindset, not a tool
-Don’t start by fighting
-Less is more: As Charles Jennings has noted, the point is to extract learning from work, not impose more work

Beautifully designed and eminently readable, Social Technologies in Business is a winner for those seeking to understand and implement use of social tools and approaches in their practice and their workplaces. 

Designing for Learner Success: First, Do No Harm

eLearning designers and developers spend a lot of time on assessments, particularly things like quizzes and knowledge checks and tests. It’s easy to fall into blame-the-learner mode when they don’t do well: I often hear everything from “they aren’t paying attention” and “they allow distractions like email and phones” to “no one reads anything.” But sometimes, easily fixed design issues are the culprits. Some things to look at are overload and extraneous information, the dreaded "wall of words", wrong information (yes, really), and the one-size-fits-all approach. See this month's Learning Solutions column for details. 

Maker Party! Show Your Work

…so this happened the night of March 4. We were looking for a way to bring our more interesting friends together so hit on this:   

                   
                Kent & Kelly: Birthday Twins!

A party with a twist: Makers only! We’re inviting friends who create: tie-dyers, artists, writers, musicians, welders, woodworkers, those who have started businesses. People with a passion or interest they have put into practice. 

             PLEASE bring something for show and tell (and to sell, if you like). Just bring some samples of your work, or something to perform, and tell us something about it: why it's a passion, how you do it, what you wish others knew about it, how you learned it, whatever. Nothing formal. 

       Speaking of Making: This will be a GRILLED CHEESE EXTRAVAGANZA with a make-your-own bar to exceed your wildest dreams. Come hungry! 

I've done a lot with ideas around working out loud over the years and if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that people love to talk about their work. Not their jobs, necessarily, but their work. But “What do you do?” is not a good question. Better? “Tell us about something you love about your work, or a hobby to which you’ve devoted a lot of time and energy:  How do you do what you do? How did you learn to do it? What was the biggest obstacle?” 

Everyone had a different approach to what they wanted to share.

Process: “It puts me in a flow state.” We had a wonderful opening 10-minute-ish presentation from a friend whose tie dye hobby has turned into a cottage business. Supplementing her talk with samples, she gave us a fascinating look at her process, from creating new designs to blending colors to a new interest in the ice dying technique that produces gorgeous watercolor-esque effects. https://www.facebook.com/FlowExperienceTieDyes/   

Interest: It’s a response to an industry problem. Wendy Gates Corbett talked more about her impetus and outcomes.  In response to so much bad PowerPoint in our business (L&D) she started Refresher Training LLC. Wendy takes slide decks and other training resources and reworks them into more engaging, effective materials. Check her site for great before-and-after examples. 

Go where the questions are; be open to showing the work people want to see: My Gang of Ukes bandmate Mitchell kindly came to sing with me but had a couple other things to offer. After years of working for other people he quit his job last week and on Saturday opened Performance Print Services, a digital printing company here in Durham NC. It was fun to hear about someone launching a lifelong dream, but the group kept getting sidetracked with questions about a gift Mitchell brought: A dozen beautiful eggs from his girlfriend’s brood of chickens. People had lots of questions for him. My 2 takeaways: Chickens that lay colored eggs lay the same color all their lives. And newly laid, unwashed eggs are coated with “bloom” that keeps them fresh without refrigeration.

Life Shift Drives Work. Sterling Fulton talked about the career path that led her to write her values-based life planning guide; she’s also behind the new site and events for Love in Action, designed to help overcome "isms". Her partner Dana Wallace Gower is also an author specializing in a faith-based view of career management. 

Lifelong Learning Path. Artist Michael Snipes (right) shared his learning path, including bartering work product for painting lessons, while Cipher Art’s Kelly Johnston talked more about process and how she works with collages to build a narrative. One thing she had to work through: a confidence problem fed by her lack of formal training.  


Her samples (below) included some work with her artistic collaborator, graphic artist Sarah Beard.  

Sarah works full-time as a packaging designer but in her spare time does a bit of other work as Cornbread Creative – lately a t-shirt-a-day project, with proceeds going to different causes -- as well as some work with Kelly.  We also heard from a friend who does gorgeous woodworking, another who discussed her interest in modern culture and political activism, and another who manages a local brewpub.   

Among the takeaways here: the local community college has resources available to artists and hobbyists, including wood lathes and glass blowing and pottery kilns.

Another takeaway: Of the people who offer online resources and samples, there was far more use of Facebook and Instagram than traditional websites.

Bunny Ears.  The evening closed with a friend’s child, Grace (age "five and two-thirds"),  who “plans on building a home for homeless people and needs to learn how to get money to help people.” She asked if she might share something with the group and showed us what she learned that day: How to tie her shoes. (Photo below by Sarah Beard.)  Then everyone had birthday cake and ice cream while Mitchell and I played “I Wanna Be Sedated” and “The Time Warp” on our ukuleles. 

The Makers party went even better than I’d hoped.  Talk was lively and happy; those who brought items for sale ended up as often as not bartering for an item with someone else. Many people found additional areas for connection or people with similar values or political interests. It turned out Kristi’s political activism dovetailed with things Sterling is working on. Sarah’s mom once raised the same kind of chickens as Mitchell’s girlfriend. Wendy and Sterling already knew each other, which I didn’t know. Sarah and Kelly had once met Linda and Heath, and their dog Dottie, at the pub Ari runs. 

I’d organized the party as a Facebook Event, which provides a separate Facebook page with space for guests to post and comment, and people are still talking about the party and to each other today. I didn’t really do a formal presentation about my work but reiterated what I said above: People love to talk about their work, and being enthusiastic and excited to show it off is interesting to others, too. Give people time and space for it, let them choose aspects they want to discuss, and ask questions besides, “So where do you work?”

We had a great night and if the idea appeals to you I’d say go for it. Some advice? 

• Party-wise this was excellent. People were at ease, there was a lot of non-awkward non-forced conversation, and some did a bit of business or made good connections. Many found other shared areas of interest or other links.
• It wasn’t really planned this way but 10 short (5 to 10 minute) presentations, with a dinner break, was just about enough, and took us from 6 pm to 11ish.   So I'd say don't go bigger than 10 couples. 
• Mix it up! Don't just choose people from your own line of work. Bringing in people with eclectic interests helps everyone expand their surface area. 
•  Everything is better with grilled cheese.  And a corgi.

Grace & Mitchell: 

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