Clark Quinn

JANUARY 3, 2023

A number of people are indicating that 2022 is another year to move on from. And, of course, we do need to move on (as if there were an alternative ;). Still, 2022 was a good year for Quinnovation, and here’s hoping that continues. Here’re some random thoughts looking ahead. For one, I saw an interesting piece leveraging the financial adage (really: caution) that “past performance is not indicative of future results” That comes with various investment opportunities; jus

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Alternatives Attention Trends Course 226

Clark Quinn

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

I’m not alone in carrying the banner for learning science. Others are talking about evidence-based practices, making it stick, and more. This, I maintain, is a good thing. Is there too much of good thing? Is there a problem with a learning science bandwagon? First, let’s be clear. There are some initiatives that do strike me as redundant or worse.

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Cognitive Brain Learning Attention 278

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

I regularly rant about the quality of the learning designs we see. Knowledge dump and information test, I rail, is not going to lead to meaningful outcomes. Consequently, I work to promote more learning science in what we do. However, I have to acknowledge that frequently, the problem isn’t in the designer, but in the requester. Too often, there are RFPs (emblematic, they’re equivalent to the internal request for ‘a course on X’) that are asking for designers to take con

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Metrics Quiz Analysis Design 147

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

When I agreed to join as co-director of the Learning & Development Accelerator, I’d already attended their first two conferences. Those had been designed to reflect the circumstances at the time, e.g. the pandemic. In addition, there was a desire on the part of Matt Richter & Will Thalheimer (the original directors) to reflect certain values.

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Conference Design Virtual World Director 223

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 9, 2022

I continue to be a fan of Jane Hart ‘s work, and her annual survey of Top 10 Learning Tools is only one of the reasons (another being her co-conspirator, along with Harold Jarche & Charles Jennings in the Internet Time Alliance ). As a consequence, it’s time for my annual list, this time the Top 10 Learning Tools for 2022. To be fair, my list could be reproduced from last year’s.

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Tools Google Docs Doc Write Blog 251

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

JUNE 21, 2022

Of late, there seem to be a rising number of claims: for X or Y, or against Z. This, by the way, happens outside L&D as well, so feel free to extrapolate. Here, however, I want to talk about the necessity of, and some practices for, reality checks. The problem is that people have vested interests in particular views. Many of the claims that are pushed generate revenue for them, directly or indirectly.

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Cognitive Expertise Trust Issue 43

Clark Quinn

MAY 17, 2022

When ATD asked me to write the learning science book , I’d already had the intention of writing a Learning Experience Design (LXD) book. I’d even begun, and the first section on learning was underway, so essentially I was partly done! I’d also realized that it was going to be monumental undertaking. This is because LXD, to me, encompasses three things, all based on cognitive science.

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Cognitive Brain Exercise Association 289

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 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

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

Of late, I’m working in a couple of engagements where the issue of learning and performance strategy have come up. It has prompted some thoughts both on my part and the part of my clients. I think it’s worth laying out some of the issues and thinking, and of course I welcome your thoughts. So here are some reflections on whether to use learning or performance strategy as an organizing concept.

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Performance Support Performance Strategy Association LMS 272

Clark Quinn

DECEMBER 14, 2021

In reviewing my forthcoming book on Make It Meaningful, I’m poring over my Education -Engagment Alignment (EEA). I’m rewriting part to revisit it. Which I’ve done, but in doing so I had a revelation. I’ve maintained that they’re independent elements. However, I now see Relevant and Anchored as complementary components. ‘Anchored’, in my terminology, is ensuring the learning outcome meets a real need.

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Learning Objects Learning Objectives Consulting Performance 246

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

SEPTEMBER 21, 2021

I recently mentioned that one of the problems with research is that things are more interconnected than we think. This is particularly true with cognitive research. While we can make distinctions that simplify things in useful ways (e.g. the human information processing system model*), the underlying picture is of a more interactive system. Which underpins why it makes sense to talk about Learning Experience Design (LXD) and not just instructional design.

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Cognitive Instructional Design Design ADDIE 325

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 LinkedIn 301

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 Theory 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

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 20, 2020

I was having a conversation with a colleague, sparked by dropping enrollments in unis. Not surprisingly, we ended up talking about flaws in higher education. He suggested that they don’t get it, and I agreed. He was thinking that they get the tech, but not the learning. I think it’s more complex. There are those that get some parts of the learning right.

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Education Pedagogy Attitudes Predictions 208

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

I’ve been pondering more about curiosity and ‘making it meaningful’ and how we might work on motivation to make learning truly meaningful. I’v come up with a rough cut. So, here’s a proposal for a heuristic approach to motivation. As I mentioned, the desired true intrinsic motivation may be a goal too far. When possible, perhaps in a deeply specialized field, I’d go for it.

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Compliance Training Compliance Classes Track 211

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

MARCH 31, 2020

I wrote about how I was frustrated with the lack of any decent learning expertise in too many vendors. And, lately I’ve been seeing more orgs making learning claims. Unrelated, of course, because it’s too soon. Still, are things improving? My experience suggests that it’s not yet quite the case. The problem is whether their learning expertise is shallow or deep.

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Cognitive Bloom Taxonomy Brain 205

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 LinkedIn Social Networks 248

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 12, 2019

How do I drive myself? I was asked that in a coaching session. The question is asking how I keep learning. There are multiple answers, which I’ve probably talked about before, but I’ll reflect here. I think it’s important to regularly ask: “how do you drive yourself?” As it’s the end of the year, my conversant was looking at professional development.

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Cognitive Conversation Coaching Lesson 164

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

OCTOBER 23, 2019

Talithia Williams presented the afternoon keynote on the opening day of DevLearn. She gave an overview of the possibilities of data, and the basics of data science. She then made some inferences to learning. The post Talithia Williams #DevLearn Keynote Mindmap appeared first on Learnlets.

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DevLearn Open Learning Strategy 111

Clark Quinn

OCTOBER 23, 2019

DevLearn opened with a keynote from Sophia the Robot. With an initially scripted presentation, and some scripted questions from host David Kelly, Sophia addresses the differences between AI and robots, with a bit of wit. The tech used to make the illusion was explored, but the technology was put to the test with some unscripted questions, and the responses were pretty good.

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DevLearn Hosting Open Technology 100

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

JUNE 26, 2019

Graham Roberts kicked off the 2nd day of the Realities 360 conference talking about the Future of Immersive Storytelling. He told about their experiences and lessons building an ongoing suite of experiences. From the first efforts through to the most recent it was insightful. The examples were vibrant inspirations. The post Graham Roberts #Realities360 Keynote Mindmap appeared first on Learnlets.

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Suite Conference Lesson Examples 172

Clark Quinn

JUNE 25, 2019

Stephanie Llamas kicked off the Realities 360 conference by providing an overview of VR & AR industry. As a market researcher, she made the case for both VR and AR/MR. With trend data and analysis she made a case for growth and real uses. She also suggested that you need to use it correctly. (Hence my talk later this day.). The post Stephanie Llamas #Realities360 Keynote Mindmap appeared first on Learnlets.

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Analysis Conference Trends Research 190

Clark Quinn

MAY 22, 2019

I’ve been looking into ‘realities’ (AR/VR/MR) for the upcoming Realities 360 conference (yes, I’ll be speaking). And I found an interesting model that’s new to me, and of course prompts some thoughts. For one, there’s a new reality that I hadn’t heard of! So, of course, I thought I’d share. The issue is how do AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) relate, and what is MR (mixed reality).

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Augmented Reality Virtual World Simulations Performance Support 151

Clark Quinn

MAY 21, 2019

I’ve been looking at a couple of things, with a goal is to look for the sweet spot at the intersection. I’m looking at my missions, interests, and what’s resonating. And, I find, that they’re converging into a few things. Which I thought I’d make concrete, because I really want to see if these are things that are tangible and valuable.

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Change eLearning Guild DevLearn Coaching 158