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Showing stakeholders that learning designers are not just ‘order-takers’

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A recurring problem for learning experience designers (and other L+D professionals) is being treated as ‘order takers’ - people to whom stakeholders come to request - or ‘order’ - a specific solution, such as ‘we need a course on x’. We often long for stakeholders to come to us with a set of problems to be solved, and an open mind, and allow us to analyse and explore those problems before agreeing on a solution. (For example: https://academyocean.com/blog/post/charles-jennings-l-d-teams-need-to-stop-being-order-takers ) I think the ‘double diamond’ model of design thinking is a good way to communicate the fact that we need time to explore a problem properly before designing a solution. The diamond shape of both the ‘research’ and the ‘design’ stage symbolise the need for the designer to think expansively and creatively before narrowing thinking down to a conclusion both when identifying the problem, and when identifying the solution. (As the diamonds increase in width before shrinking ...
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We need to stop comparing eLearning and traditional classroom-based learning

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Often when I tell people what I do - designing eLearning experiences - the first thing they do is make a comparison:  I don’t think that learning from a computer could ever replace face-to-face education. Or occasionally there’s a comparison favouring the opposite view:  eLearning is so much more scalable / convenient / cost-effective than traditional classroom learning. And actually, I agree with both views - up to a point. Where I disagree is that we should make it a habit to be constantly comparing eLearning and traditional learning. An example I would give is e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retail. Whilst there was a time when e-commerce was expected to replace brick-and-mortar entirely, it doesn’t look likely to happen. Traditional brick-and-mortar stores are embracing online shopping, whilst e-commerce platforms like Amazon are building physical stores. It’s recognised that in a field as wide and diverse as retail, there is space for both online and in-person experiences...
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Can we design compliance training to be meaningful?

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Compliance training is a commonplace of the modern workplace. But most of us settle down once a year to do our mandatory compliance training with a heavy heart. I think LXDs (Learning Experience Designers) and other types of learning designers can make it more meaningful by following these three principles: 1. Design around behavioural outcomes. Often it seems like the design principle behind our yearly ‘Slips Trips and Falls’ training is to provide knowledge about slips, trips and falls. We have to move from knowing about… to knowing how to... If the learning was developed from behavioural outcomes like ‘Identify tripping hazards’ or ‘Remove slipping hazards,’ design would improve for a few reasons. Firstly, it would permit designers to be more ruthless about cutting away unnecessary information. Secondly, it would push designers to make lifelike scenarios for assessment, rather than abstract knowledge tests. Thirdly, the purpose of the training would be clear to learners, which would...
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Five reasons why instructional designers should harness the power of stories

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We know that our minds respond in a special way to stories - I’ve gone into more detail about exactly why in a video explaining Walter Fisher’s ‘narrative paradigm’ in an animated video I made for youtube - you can find it here . But sometimes we rule out the idea of using stories to teach adults, perhaps thinking that it is too childish, or too time-consuming to produce or consume. Read below for eight reasons instructional designers can’t afford to ignore stories any longer. 1. Stories structure information in a way our brains understand and remember So often elearning courses, or other digital courses, are structured like reference materials. But often elearning is meant to be completed from start to finish, rather than dipped into as a reference. Things that are meant to be read (or watched) from start to finish (like novels or films) generally have another layer of structure that gives our brains a line to follow. This other structure is most often a story. 2. Stories are widely u...
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Stop misusing the word ‘interaction’ in elearning development

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One issue I have with standard practice in elearning development is the use of the word ‘interaction’. You see it in all the authoring tools, and hear developers talk about ‘adding interaction’ to the learning experience, when they add ‘tabs interactions’, an ‘accordion’ or a ‘process’. Sometimes it is used to describe a meaningful learning experience, such as making the learner an active decision-maker in a scenario, to give them practice at a skill relevant to their goals. Sadly, this is the exception to the rule. More often, once the elearning designer has compiled what basically amounts to a reference document covering all the information the learner could ever possibly need on the subject being studied, they try to make it look less onerous by hiding the various paragraphs that they’ve written on different tabs or windows that the learner has to click on to reveal. What is this adding? In my experience as a learner, I have never found this anything except annoying. It is a way th...
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