Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 21, 2022

I’ve had the pleasure of leading the design of a number of projects that have had some impact. These include a mobile app a company could point to. Also a game that helped real kids. Even a context-sensitive performance support system that was worth a patent. Then, of course, are the projects that didn’t, for whatever reason, see the light of day.

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Project Press Performance Support Engineering 227

Clark Quinn

AUGUST 2, 2022

In our most recent LDA You Oughta Know event, our guest touched on the language we use. It struck a chord for me, thinking about how we refer to things. It led me to wonder whether, in fact, we’re hampering ourselves. So here are some thoughts around the question of whether L&D language is limiting us? So, Serena Gonsalves-Fersch heads talent for SoftwareONE, a global company.

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Case Study Sound Theory Reference 193

Clark Quinn

MAY 3, 2022

As I’ve noted before, someone on LinkedIn asked a question, and it’s prompting a reply. In this case, the question was in response to my previous post on superstitions (for new L&D practitioners). He asked “How did we even get here?” I’ve talked before about the sorry state of our industry, but haven’t really shared my thinking on why this is the case.

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Behavior Rapid eLearning Quiz Social Networks 178

Clark Quinn

MARCH 22, 2022

For reasons that aren’t quite clear (even to me), I was thinking about where, on a continuum, do L&D elements fit? Where does performance support go? Formal learning? Informal learning? I began to think that it depends on what focus you’re thinking of. So here’re some nascent thoughts on emphasis and effort. To start with, I generally think of formal learning as the starting point.

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Performance Support Alternatives Performance Collaboration 212

Clark Quinn

MARCH 15, 2022

In a recent post , I talked about how expertise is compiled away, and the impact on designing learning and documentation. Someone, of course, asked how do you then work with SMEs to get the necessary information. Connie Malamed, one of our recognized research translators, has recently written about getting tacit knowledge, but I also want to address the more usual process.

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Behavior Articulate Slides Templates 267

Clark Quinn

DECEMBER 21, 2021

My dad used to regale me with this tale of his best friend, who told his new employer when he started: “If you see me with my feet up on my desk and it appears I’m sleeping, I’m not. I’m working. I’ll still do the work of 2 other engineers.” And he did! I love this story, because it brings out an element that we seem to be losing, the value of taking time for reflection.

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Write Blog Engineering Search Track 318

Clark Quinn

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

Already this year I’ve done, in addition to podcasts and webinars, The L&D Conference, ATD ICE, and DevLearn. What else? Coming up before the end of the year are a couple more things. So here’s “where’s Clark this time?” First up is the ATD Core 4 conference in Nashville Nov 15 & 16. There’s a real all star lineup in the concurrent sessions.

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Cognitive DevLearn Calendar Conference 36

Clark Quinn

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

In what was my last Quinnsights column for Learning Solutions, I wrote about how the transformation wasn’t (or shouldn’t) be digital. In many ways we aren’t aligned with what’s best for our thinking. Thus, digitizing existing approaches doesn’t make sense. Instead, we should be fixing our organizational alignment first, then digitizing.

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Policies Search Digital Alternatives 266

Clark Quinn

OCTOBER 28, 2021

I’m late with a post this week, owing to several factors, all relating to technology. I hadn’t quite pulled together a complete lesson, but by writing down these tech thoughts, I got there. (A further argument for the benefits of reflection.). It started with upgrading our phones. We needed to (I tend to hand mine down, but really we both needed an upgrade this time).

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Microphone Upgrade Camera Picture 249

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

I’ve addressed ethics elsewhere , but I’m looking at it a different way now. I”m thinking from the perspective of situated cognition, and recognizing that there are certain things we can do. For better or worse. Further, these choices have ramifications beyond the initial impact. I think we need to be aware of the possibilities, and then consider the meta-ethics of learning design.

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Cognitive Design Pedagogy Learning 211

Clark Quinn

AUGUST 10, 2021

As has become all too common, someone decided to point me to some posts for their organization. Apparently, interest was sparked by a previous post of mine where I’d complained about microlearning. While this one does a (slightly) better job talking about microlearning, it is riddled with other problems. So here’s yet another post about more marketing malarkey.

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Market Cognitive microlearning Mashups 310

Clark Quinn

JULY 13, 2021

There is a deep sense of where and how representation matters. Then there are less critical, but still important ways in which presentation counts. It includes talking about stereotypes, and calling out inappropriate labeling. Concepts matter, clarity matters, transparency matters. So here are two situations that are worth critiquing. The first one that struck me this morning was an announcement.

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Micro-Learning Reputation Research Social Networks 301

Clark Quinn

JUNE 15, 2021

Learning, I suggest, is action and reflection. (And instruction should be designed action and guided reflection.) What that action typically ends up being is some sort of exploration (aka experimentation). Thus, in my mind, exploration is a critical concept for learning. That makes it worth exploring exploration. In learning, we must experiment (e.g. act) and observe and reflect on the outcomes.

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Search Diversity Training Guidelines Guide 260

Clark Quinn

JUNE 8, 2021

Of late, I’ve been reading quite a lot, and I’m finding some very interesting books. Not all have immediate take homes, but I want to introduce a few to you with some notes. Not all will be relevant, but all are interesting and even important. I’ll also update my list of recommended readings. So here are my new recommended readings. (With Amazon Associates links: support your friendly neighborhood consultants.).

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Cognitive Statistics Social Media Predictions 210

Clark Quinn

APRIL 27, 2021

As has become a pattern, someone recently asked me how to evaluate soft skills. And without being an expert on soft skill or evaluation, I tried to answer on principle. So I thought about the types of observable data you should expect to find. And that yielded an initial answer. Then I watched an interesting video of a lecture by a scholar and consultant, and it elaborated the challenges.

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Evalution Skills Metrics Lecture 210

Clark Quinn

MARCH 30, 2021

Here’s a story about where performance support would’ve made a task much easier. And, as always, the text. The other day, I had a classic need for performance support. Of course, it didn’t exist. So here’s a cognitive story about when and where a job aid would help. Our Bosch dishwasher stopped near the beginning of the cycle, and displayed an icon of a water tap.

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Performance Support Support Performance Design 316

Clark Quinn

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Ok, I know I just talked about this, but something happened to sharpen my understanding. Recently, a colleague was advocating, for a product she’s responsible for managing, that she was aware that people were “not used to reflowable text” And, frankly, that surprised me, but also explains the problems I’ve railed about in the past. Because reflowable text thinking is a key to moving beyond hardwired formatting to separating content from description. .

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Mac Web Microsoft Library 256

Clark Quinn

JANUARY 6, 2021

Having heard it’s good for maintaining cognitive ability, I like to vary things. And, to keep doing things right, I like habits. Are these mutually exclusive? Maybe, but here’re some thoughts on habits and variety. It’s been touted that a great way to fend off the diminishment of cognitive capability is to do things differently. So, for instance, turning off the hall light before going down the hall on your way to bed.

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Cognitive Emergent Activities Problem 220

Clark Quinn

DECEMBER 1, 2020

So I saw a twitter thread pointing to an argument about how ROI is dead. And, well, that’s largely okay with me. However, the trigger for the post was from the results of Chief Learning Officer 2020 State of Learning report. And, when I saw them, I saw some problems. The question is whether we’re measuring impact, or not. I’d like to go through them and evaluate each.

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Metrics ROI ASTD Cost 260

Clark Quinn

OCTOBER 27, 2020

I’ve talked before about the power of ritual, but while powerful, it also seemed piecemeal. That is, there were lots of hints, but not a coherent theory. That has now changed. I recently found a paper by Nicholas Hobson & colleagues (Schroeder, Risen, Xylagatas, & Inzlicht; warning, PDF) titled The Psychology of Rituals that creates an integrated framework.

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Theory Communities of Practice PDF Sound 218

Clark Quinn

AUGUST 4, 2020

When you’re looking into motivation, particularly for learning, certain elements get mentioned again and again. So I’ve heard ‘relevance’, ‘ meaningfulness ‘, consequences, and more. Friston suggests that we learn to minimize surprise. One I’ve heard, and wrestled with, is curiosity. It’s certainly aligned with surprise.

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Theory Analysis Sound Gamification 213

Clark Quinn

JULY 28, 2020

If I’m going to rail against myths in learning, it makes sense to be clear about what learning design without myths looks like. Let me lay out a little of what mythless learning design is, or should be. Learning with myths manifests in many ways. Redundant development to accommodate learning styles, or generations. Shortened to be appropriate for millennials or the attention span of a goldfish.

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Design Cognitive Metrics Learning 245

Clark Quinn

JUNE 24, 2020

The other day a tweet caught my eye that used a myth to get you to click a link. Worse, clicking the link led to another myth. These are folks I think are generally good, and it seems that their actual offering made sense, but the approach does not. It’s just more marketing myths, drawing upon common misconstruals , and that’s not a good thing.

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Market Cognitive Summary Attention 208

Clark Quinn

JUNE 16, 2020

I’ve been interested in wisdom as a stretch goal. That is, if what I (and, ideally, we) do is help people become smarter, could we go further? Could we help people get wiser? Let’s be clear, I am not claiming that I am wise. Rather, thinking about what wisdom is and trying to be wise would be more accurate ;). It’s led me to look at wisdom quietly, as a background task.

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Alternatives Newsletter Strategy Culture 202

Clark Quinn

MAY 5, 2020

In a conversation the other day, I was asked about what’s needed, and what’s missing, in making the L&D revolution come to life. I’ve previously opined about the changes I think are necessary, but I realized that for folks making the change, there are hurdles. It occurred to me that there are some points of inflection that could make a difference.

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Scanning Picture Brain Innovation 219

Clark Quinn

APRIL 7, 2020

So, I’ve written before about ‘learning engineering’ And, separately, it’s become an issue just what the term means. It appears there are two ‘learning engineerings’, and the issue is how to resolve them. So, let’s look at the contenders. First, there’s the notion of engineering as applied science. We refer to chemical engineering as applied chemistry, electrical engineering as applied physics, etc.

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Engineering Blended Learning Instructional Design Learning 218

Clark Quinn

MARCH 3, 2020

I was asked to comment on intrinsic motivation, and was pointed to an article claiming that it’s a myth(!). Given that I’m a staunch advocate of intrinsic motivation, I felt this was something that I should comprehend. Is intrinsic motivation a myth? My inclination is ‘no’, but let’s explore. As background, there’s usually a distinction made between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

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Engineering Picture Behavior Project 215

Clark Quinn

FEBRUARY 4, 2020

Last week, I ranted about a myth that seems inextinguishable. And I ran across another one in a place I shouldn’t have. And I keep seeing others, spotting them roaming around loose. Like zombies, they seem to rise from the dead. We need death to zombies. Particularly learning myth zombies! There are several that seem overly prolific. I’ve already ranted about learning styles , but it’s pernicious.

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eLearning Guild Brain Social Networks LinkedIn 248

Clark Quinn

JANUARY 14, 2020

I have a persistent interest in the potential for myth and ritual for learning. In the past I sought a synthesis of what’s known as good practice (as always ;) in an area I don’t have good resources in. When I looked over 10 years ago, there wasn’t much. That’s no longer the case. There is now quite a bit available about signifying change with ritual.

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Change Behavior Performance Support Culture 134

Clark Quinn

JANUARY 7, 2020

I’ve been on a ‘ transformation ‘ kick. And it occurs to me to think that it may be more marketing than meaning. One aspect is that we need to be making transformation manifest to our learners. The transformation I’m talking about is our learning experiences. That is, while we need to transform our practices and ourselves, here I’m talking about the outcomes of our design.

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Market Community Learner Change 131

Clark Quinn

DECEMBER 17, 2019

In a conversation last week (ok, an engagement), the topic of content systems came up. Now this is something I’ve argued for before , in several ways. For one, separate content from how it’s delivered. And, pull content together by rules, not hardwired. And it’s also about the right level of granularity. It’s time to revisit the message, because I thought it was too early, but I think the time is fast coming when we can look at this.

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Content System Cognitive Engineering 132

Clark Quinn

NOVEMBER 19, 2019

I’ve been blogging now for over a decade, and one thing has changed. The phenomena is that we’re seeing a cultural comment shift; comments are now coming from shared platforms, not directly on the site. And while I try not to care, I’m finding it interesting to reflect on the implications of that, in a small way. When I started, people would comment right on the blog.

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Culture Social Networks LinkedIn Facebook 134

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

I’ve been thinking on LXD for a while now, not least because I’ve an upcoming workshop at DevLearn in Lost Wages in October. And one of the things I’ve been thinking about are the tools we use for LXD. I’ve created diagrams (such as the Education Engagement Alignment ), and quips , but here I’m thinking something else. We know that job aids are helpful; things like checklists, and decision trees, and lookup tables.

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Cognitive Tools Storyboard DevLearn 148

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

I went to hear a talk the other day. It was about competency-based education (CBE) for organizations. Ostensibly. And, while I’m now affiliated with IBSTPI , it’s not like I’m a competency expert. And maybe I expect too much, but I really hope for people to be clear about the concept. Alas, that’s not what I found. So, it started out reasonably well, talking about how competencies are valuable.

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Mash-up Mashups Cognitive Learning Styles 100

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

In my thinking about LXD strategy , I also was thinking about what roles are necessary. While you can do handoffs, what are the core skills you need to make this happen? And it’s not that you need all these people, but you need these roles. Someone may be a polymath (though I’m somewhat resistant that one person can do them all sufficiently well), but it’s really not fair to expect someone to be a one-person shop.

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Roles Microphone Project Images 146

Clark Quinn

JULY 3, 2019

In my past two posts, I first looked at cognitions (situated, distributed, social) by contexts (think, work, and learn), and then the reverse. And, having filled out the matrixes anew, they weren’t quite the same. And that, I think, is the benefit of the exercise, a chance to think anew. So what emerged? Here’s the result of reconciling cognitions and contexts.

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Cognitive Performance Support Blended Learning Search 140

Clark Quinn

JULY 2, 2019

So, in my last post , I talked about exploring the links between cognitions on the one hand (situated, distributed, social), and contexts (aligning with how we think, work, & learn). I did it one way, but then I thought to do it another, to instead consider Contexts by Cognitions, to see if I came to the same elements. And they weren’t quite identical!

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Cognitive Statistics Performance Support Emergent 161