“You cannot do a kindness too soon because
you never know how soon it will be too late.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
| Happy Friday! I often wonder if anyone reads the stuff I write in this opening blurb. What do you think? Do you read it? Should I just skip it altogether and get on with the newsletter? Or is there some better way I could be using this space? Maybe a good place for Dad jokes? I’d love it if you hit reply and let me know. Thanks for reading. |
What I’m Listening To: If you’re on Spotify you probably know that they send you year-end recap of what you’ve been listening to. Here is my Spotify Wrapped for 2022 with the songs & artists I listened to the most. (You can follow me on Spotify)
Last Week’s Most Clicked:
Articulate Rise Interaction Character Limits
📰 News & Notes
The Promise of Habit-Based Learning
Subconscious, habitual learning is far more common, complex, and important than we’d realized. This type of learning has been making a comeback everywhere except where it’s needed most—education. Students need both fast and slow systems to learn well. Yet over the past fifty years, education has dismissed the importance of fast automaticity in learning. In this article, Barbara Oakley & Terrence Sejnowski look at the Neuroscience of Fast and Slow Learning.
Content Maintenance: Knowing What to Update & When to Kill It
You should have a content maintenance plan so that your content stays fresh and up-to-date. You’ll also want to know when it’s time to say goodbye to any items that are no longer relevant. Learn more about creating a maintenance schedule for your content.
Don Norman on Why People-Centered Design Matters
Design is a way of thinking, understanding people real, fundamental needs, and designing systems that fulfill those needs in an understandable, enjoyable manner. It starts with observation, then progresses to deep analysis of the underlying issues, to rapid prototypes, testing, and continual iteration.
Improving Multiple Choice Questioning
In this article, Blake Harvard describes a method to more efficiently and effectively use multiple choice questioning as a tool for self-assessment and as an assessment of learning technique. It is incredibly simple and easy to implement with students in class and is also quite useful for students to utilize in their own, individual studies.
Using the Think Aloud Protocol to Test Usability of Learning Designs
Usability testing is often missing from the traditional instructional design process. We need to make sure that eLearning courses and other digital products aren’t obstacles to learning. The think aloud method is perhaps the best way to discover problems with the user interface, navigation, layout, and instructions.
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🎧 Podcasts
Understanding design, content and bias
David Dylan Thomas talks to Kristina about design, content and bias. With a focus on patterns, assumptions and the need to have meaningful conversations.
Why No Two Brains
Are Alike
There’s no such thing as a “normal” brain. And according to Dr. Chantel Prat, a neuroscientist at the University of Washington, that’s a very good thing indeed. In this podcast, she explains how to get the most out of the brain you’ve got.
Great Minds on Learning with John Helmer
John Helmer talks with David James about a host of things including that Learning and Development professionals don’t know or aren’t aware of as much of learning theory and science as perhaps you’d expect.
🧰 Tech, Tools & Tips
Futurepedia
Updated & curated catalog of AI tools with verified quality
Base Row
Open source no-code database and Airtable alternative
1Tools
Big collection of 100% free online tools for everyday needs.
Glasp
AI-powered summary based on your highlights & notes.
🧳 Where’s Mike?
- New Zealand ATD Conference March 15-16, 2023
Sponsored
Expert webinar: 7 steps to building a successful freelance eLearning business
Most instructional designers know how to create amazing courses. But when it comes to the business side of things, they often get lost. Yet, everyone wants to have flexibility, lots of happy clients, and generate passive income. This webinar will look at seven steps to build a successful freelance eLearning business.
Friday Finds is an independent publication that I produce in my free-time. You can support my work by sharing it with the world, booking an advertising spot, or by buying me a coffee.
Mike Taylor 