Coming to Devlearn 2015?

Coming to DevLearn 2015? I'll be there with 2 new sessions and a refreshed visit to a fun one from last year.  Some prep has involved extensive new research. Some has involved rethinking something I may have changed my mind about. The best thing? Prepping for these sessions gives me a chance to collaborate with some of my best friends in this business, bright people who bring energy and passion and fun to creating something together.

1. First, with the ever-glamorous and wicked smaht Jeannette Campos, is "Designing for Performance: Nine Critical Elements" (Session 114, Wednesday Sept 30, 10:45 am). This one starts with the story of my husband's brain tumor -- my most-read written piece ever-- and our ensuing experience with the healthcare system. From there we'll look at critical learning elements, from the importance of a system view to the criticality of identifying the correct problem, and how we as learning practitioners can support the performer as an actor in a system, not just as a "learner" who takes a course or two.

2. Next, Shawn Rosler and Ellen Wagner join me for "Ukulele Learning: Exploring the Relationships Between Music and Learning" (Session 304, Wednesday, Sept 30, 3 pm; repeated on Thursday: Session 518, 1:15 pm).  Paralleling current trends, L&D has a lot of folks who've taken up the uke, and lots of them will be at DevLearn. Join us for an overview of how music can support learning, a discussion of ways to apply that to improve the experiences we design, and a short ukulele lesson that will have you playing a couple of songs in no time. There is rumor of an impromptu ukulele band jam after the Wednesday session so new players and singers will be welcome for that, too.

Kudos to the eLearning Guild for providing the ukuleles for this experience. After the conference they'll be donated to the Children's Hospital of Nevada UMC.

3. On Thursday, October 1 at 3 pm I'll be joining up with Cammy Bean, Jeannette Campos, and David Kelly for "Reignited: Meme-ing the Innovative World of Learning". Last year's experience with this was a riotous, provocative hour of poking at sacred cows and affirming a shared vision of what our field could be.

4. Even if you're not attending DevLearn, don't miss "#lrnchat LIVE!", which we do every year from the Demofest floor. (Thursday October 1, 8:30 pm ET, 5:30 pm PT.) #lrnchat is now in its seventh year. More than the average Twitter chat, #lrnchat's fun and spirit of community span time and space.

And don't miss other DevLearn highlights, with great keynotes from people like Mythbusters' Adam Savage, the Demofest experience, and a panel on gamification with Julie Dirksen, Koreen Pagano, Bianca Woods, and Sharon Boller. (Extra credit to the Guild for supporting women in games!)

Finally: I love that the eLearning Guild wants presenters to try new topics and new strategies. As a presenter at many of their events I love the conversations about how to put a new twist on a popular theme like social learning. I do hope "Ukulele Learning" grabs hold of a few new players for us to join up with at future Guild events. The eLearning Guild Futureama Uke Band has a nice ring, don't you think?

See you soon!