From the Coleface

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

The amount of learner time that you’ll save more than justifies paying for additional instructional design expertise if you need help to step up the quality of questioning. I trust you find these themes helpful and do contact me if you have a compliance need that could use some extra stardust. Use role filters.

Compliance Training 211

Compliance Training Compliance Policies Trust 211

From the Coleface

APRIL 19, 2013

Not that news actually appears to achieve this – when was the last time the news actually helped you make an important decision? If people start many of their conversations from a perspective of bad things that make them feel powerless, is this helpful? There is a social pressure not to be exposed as being ignorant of something.

News 124

News Information Overload Confidentiality Reputation 124

From the Coleface

OCTOBER 16, 2016

The best compliance learning helps learners learn how to do something new. I trust you find these themes helpful and do contact me if you have a compliance need that could use some extra stardust. Two of the entries made very effective use of humour. Make the test really difficult.

Compliance Training 100

Compliance Training Compliance Module Assessment 100

From the Coleface

JUNE 25, 2013

In the same way as for instructional designers, being fresh to the subject helps you address questions that typical learners would have. I find it helpful as a learner to know why I should invest my time in a resource and part of the curator’s role is to add value to the content.

Photoshop 153

Photoshop Photography Search Resources 153

From the Coleface

MAY 31, 2017

Templates to help people capture learning, set goals, distil feedback and deal with typical career challenges. If you’d like to discuss how I can help you make it happen, I’d love to hear from you. Personal Learning Record. Online development activities. Advice and practice activities for core management skills.

Management 100

Management Adoption Adopt Learning 100

From the Coleface

DECEMBER 24, 2014

At a recent Professional Services e-learning Forum, L&D teams were likened to “cobbler’s children with no shoes” This allegory describes the phenomenon where professionals are so busy with work for their clients and their teams that they neglect using their professional skills to help themselves or those closest to them.

Forum 124

Forum Poll Conference Mentoring 124

From the Coleface

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

For many years I’ve designed practical e-learning to help explain the tricky technical intricacies of CPD topics to accountants. I thought I’d flip this around to invest some time demystifying the tricky technical intricacies of e-learning for accountants.

Learning 100

Learning Design Help 100

From the Coleface

JUNE 15, 2009

MemNet is an organisation that aims to help membership organisations be more effective. The session is called “Making Your Membership Events Pay” – it’s an interactive session which will help you determine how you can improve events, which in turn will improve income and perceived benefit to your members.

Exercise 100

Exercise Conference Benefits Interactive 100

From the Coleface

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

In many organisations talent management is siloed away from L&D, but it’s usually helpful to understand more about what your colleagues in HR are doing (and how it interacts with your LMS). Last Friday I went to an excellent session of the Trainers and Developers Network led by Catherine Shepherd. What is talent management?

Management 133

Management Association LMS Association Learning Management System Journal 133

From the Coleface

JANUARY 24, 2013

Have you used to technology to help free up their attention so that they can focus on the key learning points? Take some time (ideally over a few cups of tea) to follow the processes that you’d like learners to follow and check how effortless you’ve really made them.

Calendar 113

Calendar Website Internet Attention 113

From the Coleface

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

Just a quick plug for a booklet that I think people in L&D will find helpful for educating their stakeholders about what’s realistic to expect from e-learning.

Module 100

Module Issue Learning Education 100

From the Coleface

MAY 21, 2012

Perhaps it being tested and evaluated on a control vs non-control group basis is way too much to ask…It’s this kind of evidence that helps L&D position itself as a trusted advisor rather than a meddlesome nanny. Only time (and exam results) will tell if despite the reaction, the texts genuinely improved results.

Mobile 100

Mobile Mobile Learning Trust Emergent 100

From the Coleface

APRIL 2, 2012

Although there is a time investment , it may help learners who are reluctant to participate in role plays and gives you a resource that you can re-use. For competitive participants there is the opportunity be recognised for getting the high score. Xtranormal Use this tool to create animations.

Free 100

Free Technology Tools Quiz 100

From the Coleface

OCTOBER 10, 2007

Will it actually help identify teachers who are undperforming, or more positively give credit to teachers who are under-recognised? Given the effect of the microscope of press/ blogging community on the performance of England football managers, I doubt this level of scrutiny is actually long term helpful to the people being managed.

Press 100

Press Community Web Website 100

From the Coleface

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

I’m often asked the question does Linkedin really help or is it a waste of time? Like most social media it allows us to do things that we do in real life faster, more cheaply, with more reach and more publicly (or with less privacy, if you prefer). The answer I usually give involves a game I used to play as a student.

Social Networks 150

Social Networks LinkedIn Photo Privacy 150

From the Coleface

DECEMBER 24, 2013

Targets and ambitions are important – they generally help us get things done. However, it’s all too easy to let things get in the way of feeling happy on the way to target or once we’ve hit target. For me 2013 has been a very good year - lots of things have gone well.

Conference 100

Conference Sales Performance Training 100

From the Coleface

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

So I wrote this to help you if you get into the same debate. Much of the literature about learning objectives talks about Bloom’s taxonomy. I’ll sidestep talking about its pros and cons in corporate learning, but the cognitive domain level 2 talks about comprehension/understanding.

Learning Objects 0

Learning Objects Learning Objectives Cognitive Asynchronous 0

From the Coleface

JANUARY 29, 2012

For months I’ve been immersed in the zone where marketing and learning overlap – helping marketers become as confident and astute with digital media as they are with traditional media.

Market 124

Market Instructional Design ADDIE News 124

From the Coleface

NOVEMBER 26, 2007

Support: who’s responsible for helping users get the best from using the software? My intention in highlighting these barriers is not to deter people from using free e-learning tools but to help people overcome these barriers. As shown in Jane’s survey there’s lots of tools that early adopters are finding useful.

Adoption 100

Adoption Adopt Free Freeware 100

From the Coleface

APRIL 28, 2008

Oh, and don’t forget (as Nintendo did n’t) a hefty marketing budget often helps… Are there any improvements that you can design into the content and the process surrounding it?

Compliance Training 100

Compliance Training Compliance Exercise Budget 100

From the Coleface

JANUARY 15, 2009

Hence it will take me a while to regain my formerly positive regard for the ICAEW… but them sending me a few tea vouchers might go some way to help… What gets me is that the only fun reason (access to a nice lounge and a free cuppa when visiting the City) has been culled.

Hosting 100

Hosting Services Free Project 100

From the Coleface

MARCH 13, 2012

I have deliberately chosen ‘community’ rather than ‘organisation’ as I think it’s helpful to be able to think more broadly, though I know that most of the time people will be thinking in terms of organisations. I understand social learning as “making use of social media to enhance learning within a community”.

Social Learning 100

Social Learning Social Social Media Yammer 100

From the Coleface

OCTOBER 24, 2008

Here I reflect on the changes that I’ve helped make to the design of e-Learning Network conferences in the form of tips that you could use to freshen up events that you design, or perhaps even demand from conferences that you attend in future.

Conference 100

Conference Design Lecture PENS 100

From the Coleface

JUNE 24, 2008

As learners will also be the same people who are publishing expertise back to the web, an understanding of how to help others learn is important – “good citizenship” in a learning community. The prevailing culture of web 2.0 is to share knowledge and remove hierarchy.

Web 100

Web Community Expertise Culture 100

From the Coleface

NOVEMBER 23, 2007

Here’s an easy to print out list of phrases to help you play buzzword bingo: Elephant in the room. A fabulous article in today’s Independent which collects many of the most irritating office buzz words into one place. Now that these horrors have been safely corralled, will conference calls ever be the same again? Push the needle.

Management 100

Management Mentoring Conference Authoring 100

From the Coleface

MARCH 19, 2010

Have a Plan B – have activities that the rest of the group can engage in if you need to take time out to help one participant. Remove technology barriers – consider running a pre-session where you can ensure that everyone has the plug-ins that they need and can get familiar with the user interface.

Tips 100

Tips Director Voice Audio 100

From the Coleface

DECEMBER 18, 2009

So if in L&D our aim is to enable knowledge workers to become great knowledge workers, we should be looking for ways that we can help achieve great productivity gains. And, are there advisors out there who are so startingly better than their peers that they can command this much of a premium.

Knowledge Worker 100

Knowledge Worker Knowledge Metrics Ratio 100

From the Coleface

JANUARY 22, 2014

Writing with keywords in mind: titles and descriptions of everything produced by L&D should include the search terms that you think target audience are likely to use; there are countless articles and resources on SEO copywriting that can help. Analytics: analyse the data for the search terms that people are using on your intranet.

Search 140

Search Enterprise Problem Portal 140

From the Coleface

SEPTEMBER 20, 2007

Remembering back to being a spotty teenager and the people who played Dungeons & Dragons, I can’t help but be sceptical. Does the opportunity to be free of the normal bounds of their own personalities allow new opportunities for learning and personal growth in corporate environments?

Second Life 100

Second Life Virtual Classroom WebEx Analysis 100

From the Coleface

JULY 16, 2009

It’s next easiest if the on-line community integrates into another business process: e.g. use an on-line community as part of the pre-work for a course to help establish what participants would like from it. A lot depends on the subject: is it something that people are likely to spontaneously contribute about?

Community 100

Community Specialist ROI Learning 100

From the Coleface

OCTOBER 13, 2008

The blindingly obvious conclusion is that organisations would get a better return from their investment in learning if they put more effort into helping people practice (and the old chesnut: show up at the course prepared). Despite many L&D professionals buying into the vision of learning organisations over the last 15 years e.g.

Budget 100

Budget Plateau Ratio Pattern 100

From the Coleface

SEPTEMBER 26, 2007

” I hope one day this will be seen as the naughty little brother of the Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing model; no science, but possibly a useful metaphor to help understand the dynamics. This experience has led to my new contribution to social science: “The committee member life cycle.” There are 4 stages: 1.

Theory 100

Theory Association Cost Change 100

From the Coleface

DECEMBER 20, 2007

Provided these sub-groups can continue to work in a co-ordinated way, this seems to be a very sensible structure to help the firm make a difference in diversity. This gives the opportunity for each working party to gain an in-depth understanding of the issues and how to address them.

Diversity Training 100

Diversity Training Problem Culture Quality 100

From the Coleface

DECEMBER 4, 2007

Whilst our scripts may be helpful in many situations, recognising our own scripts and how to flex them is essential. Meanwhile a dominant “please people” script might manifest itself as someone volunteering to do an unrealistically large amount of work in an unrealistically short timescale.

Analysis 100

Analysis Management Work Styles Network 100

From the Coleface

MARCH 19, 2019

Businesses don’t have that amount of time – how can L&D help people perform at an expert level more rapidly? In the meantime, I trust these hacks help you develop new verticals to your Ts even faster. The conventional wisdom (Gladwell et al.) is that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something.

Player 20

Player Games Study Expert 20

From the Coleface

OCTOBER 18, 2007

” and hence what L&D is doing to help managers achieve this. Rather than looking at the raw retention data, it is worth asking the more sophisticated question of: “Is the firm retaining the right people?” Another case for that golden question: “Ok, so what would success look like?”

News 100

News Survey Performance Services 100

From the Coleface

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

The business drivers within a professional services firm make it challenging for line managers (partners & middle management) to spend time engaging with L&D and the increased focus on chargeable hours during the recession can’t be helping. Here’s my take on a well worn theme.

Management 100

Management ROI Policies Problem 100