On occasion I've taken design shortcuts that resulted in mediocre (maybe even some lousy) eLearning. There, I said it. In some more recent cases, the design shortcuts I took seemed necessary because of the timeline for the project. But as I look back on these moments now, I realize that, although I might have ended up with the same mediocre outcome, there was almost always a missed opportunity to devise a new solution, to have proposed a different approach, or to have challenged the status quo. In other words even one area of design laziness can trigger a domino effect of failure. Almost. MORE >>

It would be easy to become anti-teamwork after reading “The Rise of the New Groupthink” , a Sunday New York Times opinion piece written by Susan Cain, author of the forthcoming book , “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.” She writes a thought-provoking article that challenges the prevailing thinking about employee innovation and creativity. In effect, she makes the case for solo innovation. While I agree that organizations try to do too much in groups, I fear that an article like this might prompt managers to throw the baby out with the bath water. MORE >>

I think I’m fairly safe in saying that regardless of what organisation you are in, your employees are just as much at risk of having an accident or an ailment as the next person. So of course the ability for them to be able to respond accordingly is in everybody’s interest. I’m sure there’s some form of ‘law’ that states that employers should have suitably trained people and that’s all well and good, but how likely is it that that person will be ‘on the scene’ as it happens? First Aid by British Red Cross (iOS) – £FREE. Image source. MORE >>

Have you seen an increase in the use of social media in the workplace? recent article from Media Post’s Eric Sass states that social media use on workplace computers increased a remarkable 300% between mid-2010 and mid- 2011. The article further states that “The stats are pretty impressive. Social networking’s overall bandwidth consumption — including Facebook Apps, Social Plugins, and posting — jumped from 5% of total bandwidth in October 2010 to 25% in December 2011. Twitter alone saw at-work browsing increase 700%. In technical parlance, this is ‘a lot.’”. ’”. MORE >>

Today’s New York Times tells the story of the MBA program at Frederick Taylor University , an unaccredited business school headquartered in Moraga, California. For a mere $5,000 you can earn an MBA from the “university.” ” The school is entirely online, has no classes, and measures student performance with open-book, multiple-choice exams. The Times astutely notes that the program at Frederick Taylor is not as rigorous as those offered by its accredited peers although naive applicants don’t seem to notice. Just Jay MORE >>