Tag Archives: subject matter experts
Strengthening Social Learning In the Workplace

Strengthening Social Learning In the Workplace

by on September 13, 2011 in social learning

The training industry has seen plenty of debate around whether or not organizations can and should take steps to strengthen social learning.  Everyone agrees that social learning is very important and that somewhere between 70% and 80% of all learning is done socially and/or informally.  Many thought leaders in the industry believe social learning is something that happens spontaneously and continuously, and that any attempt by an organization to capture, share or strengthen these critical informal learning processes instantly formalizes them.

I just don’t buy it.  Harold Jarche defines social learning as “the lubricant of networked, collaborative work.”  I love that definition!  But Harold, Peter Isackson and Jay Cross go on to argue that the fundamental key to the success of [social learning] is the notion of “self-organized groups who learn on their own.  If education is to become truly non-invasive, it must refrain from defining both the goals and …

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Serena Williams and Stepping Back from Your Training Plan

Serena Williams and Stepping Back from Your Training Plan

by on September 2, 2011 in Instructional Design, performance support, Project Management/Project Delivery, subject matter experts

I am a big tennis fan. And there is nothing more important to American tennis fans than the U.S. Open, which started this week.  There are a number of tournaments leading up to the Open.  The major international players (the healthy ones, anyway) use them as preparation.

The big news in the last couple of weeks was that Serena Williams, who had just won the Rogers Cup in Toronto, was dropping out of the next tournament, the Cincinnati Western & Southern.

Serena had come back after a year away from tennis during which she had a number of surgeries.  She had played seven matches in the previous eight days, and the big toe on her right foot bothered her during a morning workout.  “I don’t think this is a good time for me to take a big chance,” she said. “I just don’t think that would be smart.” 

There was …

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Instructional Design Lessons from the World of Theatre

Instructional Design Lessons from the World of Theatre

by on August 22, 2011 in Instructional Design, subject matter experts, Training Development

For more than a decade in the late part of the last century (I get a kick out of saying that) my life was theatre. During that period, I completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Directing for the stage. I acted in and/or directed over 75 plays, in both academic and professional theatres in the Midwest and on the west coast, won awards in both disciplines, taught classes, and was moderately successful at supporting myself in a very tough industry.

Alas, while I loved the theatre and this part of my life, a point came when I was no longer happy with the financial return on my investments of  time and creativity. The stability and salary of a “regular” job became more appealing and I quickly found myself employed by a consulting firm focused on SAP training and change management, while …

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Collaborative Learning in Spite of Organizational Walls – June #LCBQ

Collaborative Learning in Spite of Organizational Walls – June #LCBQ

by on June 8, 2011 in LCBQ

How do we break down organizational walls when it comes to learning? That’s the Learning Circuits Big Question for the month of June. I’ve thought about this question off and on for about a week now, and it is time to put pen to paper, or rather hands to keyboard.

As I considered this question, my thoughts kept returning to two of my long-term clients. One is a large international food manufacturer for whom I’ve designed and developed many SAP training programs over the past decade. The other is a national organization that promotes the safe distribution and use of a popular and versatile alternative fuel. The work for this client has involved the redesign and development of a national training program for employees of companies who sell the alternative fuel.

In the case of the first client, organizational walls abound, even within individual departments at times. But for the most part, they …

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Web-Based, Instructor-Led, EPSS? Train Your Client On Training

Web-Based, Instructor-Led, EPSS? Train Your Client On Training

by on January 31, 2011 in Instructional Design, Training Development

In the enterprise learning industry, when you sit down with a client to discuss an opportunity, oftentimes the client has a good idea what they want.  Differing notions of how training should be developed have been analyzed and batted around their office for some time, whether for a new ERP system or a change in operational procedures.  You may think a client who knows exactly what they want is a dream come true.  All you have to do is put their words to paper, design the desired instruction and begin training.

However, just as often this makes an instructional designer’s job more difficult.  Clients and subject matter experts tend to expect training similar to what they’ve seen before, and odds are, your client doesn’t have a lot of exposure to a variety of training options.

You have a choice!  You can play nice and develop whatever type of training your …

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