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Three Reasons Why Corporate Training Departments Could Become Extinct

Three Reasons Why Corporate Training Departments Could Become Extinct

by on April 26, 2011 in budgeting, Development Tools, eLearning, Training Development, Video

For some, the idea that a major corporation could do without it’s training department is unthinkable.  But, there are clearly trends pointing to the disappearance (or at least the dramatic shrinkage), of the traditional corporate training team.

How will training be produced and delivered in the future?  Most likely by small, specialized teams focused on business results.   Teams will be project-driven, closer to the customer, and more focused on giving workers knowledge and skills while they’re working, rather than creating ways to take them out of their work to consume “training.”

I should acknowledge here that there will continue to be some corporate function responsible for performance improvement, but traditional training departments will – at minimum – continue to be downsized and further decentralized.  In fact, for many training professionals who have been downsized or re-deployed recently, this entire blog post may sound like old news.

Here are

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Do Instructional Designers in the Social Digital Age need an Engineering Background?

Do Instructional Designers in the Social Digital Age need an Engineering Background?

by on April 11, 2011 in Development Tools, eLearning, Informal Learning, Instructional Design, performance support, social learning

In his blog post, Inkling: An Ipad Interactive Text Book, Rob Strulowitz, Principal and Founder of Worldview Learning, states:

If you love technology and learning, and you don’t yet own an Apple iPad, this video may make you run to your nearest Best Buy and purchase the iPad2.

Inkling, an ePublishing start-up based in San Francisco, is about to blow your mind through its reimagination of the textbook for the Social Age.

I’ve helped design and build many electronic performance support systems (or mega-instructional job aids as expertly described by Cathy Moore), and have recently started exploring ways to incorporate social learning tools … but nothing like this.

What blows my mind when I see Inkling?
1. How critical technology is in helping us put the human at the center of the learning process. In his blog post The Death of Textbooks, the Dawn of Learning…

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Not Everyone is a Social Customer

Not Everyone is a Social Customer

by on February 11, 2011 in customer service, Development Tools, social learning

A couple weeks ago I wrote a blog about the need to train your clients on the various methods of…training.  The heart of the message was that we should challenge ourselves to open our clients’ eyes to more than what they already know and do.  Because the world of technology, and for that matter the use of technology in training, is changing so rapidly, most business managers are unaware of the promising user adoption solutions coming to the forefront.

This ever-changing technological landscape is currently held captive by social media, and for good reason.  The applications everyone from Wired to the Wall Street Journal are talking about are altering the way we interact with each other, the way we purchase goods and services, and the way we learn.  The big story last week was how Facebook and Twitter played a lead role in the Egyptian protests against Mubarak, allowing people …

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My Favorite Things: Tools and Tips to Facilitate Content Development

My Favorite Things: Tools and Tips to Facilitate Content Development

by on February 2, 2011 in Development Tools, Instructional Design, performance support, Project Management/Project Delivery, subject matter experts, Training Development

In the normal course of my work as an Instructional Designer and Project Manager, I am constantly on the look out for tools and tips to make the content development and review process less painful for everyone involved.  It is my intention to share some of my favorites with you over the coming year.

Today, let’s talk about  flow charts…or process diagrams, or decision trees, or whatever you’d like to call them.  Raise your hand if you have ever used, and have subsequently been frustrated by, Microsoft Visio.  It’s OK, I know you are out there.

It’s not that there is anything in particular wrong with Visio as a flow charting tool. It has a ton of great features. In fact, one could argue that it has too many features, making it overwhelming for new users.  But, it is not the software features that are at the core of my frustration …

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