I feel as though I've always known that a story should have a beginning, a middle and an end. Now I learn, from the Harvard Business Review , that this is an Aristotelian model. shouldn't be surprised, as I'm familiar with the Aristotelian model for drama, and I guess there are a set of related concepts. It reminds me of the qualms I felt when I was forced to agree with Donald Clark that my classical education wasn't that useful after all, and most painfully, that my extensive study of Latin was probably less useful than my minimal study of Greek. But I digress.) MORE >>

PowerPoint is hot. This makes sense because it’s the most popular elearning tool out there. It’s easy to learn. And once you understand how to use it to build rapid elearning courses , the sky’s the limit. In an earlier post I listed all of the ones that dealt with PowerPoint. It’s a good one to bookmark. Because it was so popular I decided to make another post that highlights all the ones that include free PowerPoint templates or other free assets. Be sure to take advantage of the free templates & assets in the elearning community , too. As always, you can use these templates as you wish. MORE >>

Management Challenge Program Designer Kate McLagan is penning our latest blog series “Top 5 Mistakes Managers Make” Over the next five weeks, Kate will explore these critical mistakes that managers make in their relationships with their direct reports. Read on for Part 3: Communicating Poorly. Manager Mistake #3: Failing to Make Time For a Team. Most of us grew up with the paradigm that being a manager is about operations, programs and productivity. As a result, most managers underinvest in one-on-one time or coaching with employees. Where’s the majority of your time spent? MORE >>

Rod and I had the chance to go to Las Vegas last week for DevLearn 12.  Here are some of my top takeaways. Tin Can API. Tin Can API (now called Experience API) is being called the next generation of SCORM. And we learned at the conference that it may become the next generation of AICC as well.)   I t’s a new way to track learning experiences that extend beyond completing courses. Using a subject/verb/object model, Tin Can can track learning experiences such as   “ I read a book “  or   “ I taught a course. Mobile: From Talking to Doing. What was the tipping point? MORE >>

Having just reached a major milestone birthday (I'll leave you to figure out whether that's 30 or 40), I feel justified in reflecting on the role that blogging is likely to play in the years to come. I've just made major investments in three new all-consuming hobbies - photography, video and piano playing - and I need time to make sure I get a good return on all three. At the same time, there's plenty of demand for my services as a learning technologist (which is what I've recently decided to call myself) so surely something has to give. Well, for now at least, it will not be blogging. MORE >>