“Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness.”
— Leo Tolstoy
Holy cow, I can’t believe it? College visits are already happening for our oldest kiddo! It feels like just yesterday we were teaching him how to tie his shoes and ride a bike. Time really does fly!
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind swapping places with them and reliving those college days. My college experience was off-the-charts awesome and I’m crossing my fingers that his will be too!
As always, thanks for reading.
What I’m Listening To: All week, I’ve been immersing myself in the sounds of No Suits – a category-defying band that incorporates R&B, hip-hop, funk, psych rock, and electronic textures into their music. (Heads up: there may be a few ‘spicy’ lyrics.)
Last Week’s Most Clicked:
Visual design rules you can safely follow every time
📰 News & Notes
Three major things most people get wrong about the brain
A neuroscientist has come out with a list of things most people don’t understand about the brain. Turns out, our minds aren’t as simple as we thought, and the complexities of the brain have been a mystery for decades. But don’t worry! With the help of this article, you might just gain a better understanding of how your gray matter works (or doesn’t work) and impress all your friends with your newfound knowledge.
Demystifying Desirable Difficulties
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This blog post explores the idea of “Desirable Difficulties” in learning. Essentially, this means intentionally introducing a bit of challenge or difficulty into your learning process to help you better remember and apply what you’ve learned in the long term. It dives into how this approach differs from traditional methods that prioritize ease and efficiency, and provides examples of desirable difficulties like spacing, interleaving, and retrieval practice. It’s important to strike a balance between making things challenging enough to be effective, but not so difficult that they’re overwhelming.
A Conversation About AI for Content Creation with Chad Udell
Jane Bozarth, sits down with Chad Udell from Float Learning to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of AI content creation tools like Grammarly, OpenAI, and ChatGPT. Learn about these tools and the exciting possibilities they bring.
Chad even gives a sneak peek of some impressive examples in a 5 minute bonus video.
Content Curation Tools: 21 Criteria To Select And Evaluate Your Ideal One
Picking the perfect content curation tool can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. This article by Robin Good will help you sift through the options with emphasis on the importance of considering factors such as ease of use, compatibility with existing workflows, and the ability to customize and collaborate.
How to craft a harmonious life
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Tired of striving for work-life balance? Well, according to this article, you can toss that goal out the window and embrace the chaos! Instead, focus on crafting a good life that includes both work and play, because let’s face it, balance is overrated anyways. So go ahead, live a little and let the scales tip in favor of whatever brings you joy. Cheers to a life well-crafted!
Successfully migrate to a learning platform with this step by step guide
Are you building courses on slide decks or considering a learning platform switch? When it comes down to it, migration to a (new) platform can be a messy and manual process. Based on aNewSpring’s experience, this step by step approach was created to ensure a smooth transition.
Start planning your journey to a new platform now!
Get smarter in 5 minutes with Morning Brew (it’s free)
There’s a reason over 4 million people start their day with Morning Brew – the daily email that delivers the latest news from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Business news doesn’t have to be boring…make your mornings more enjoyable, for free.
Check it out!
Tech news is confusing – so we changed that.
Join over 450K people reading Tech Brew – the 3-times-a-week free newsletter covering all updates from the intersection of technology and business. We provide free tech knowledge that’ll help you make more informed decisions.
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🎧 Podcasts
Using Generative AI in Education with Dr. Philippa Hardman
Dr. Philippa Hardman, a learning science expert discusses the use of generative AI tools like ChatGPT to create more efficient and productive learning experiences while also recognizing the challenge of maintaining quality content in the face of an influx of substandard material.
Data-led Marketing Mindset for Learning at Novo Nordisk
Peter Manniche-Riber, Head of Digital Learning & Analytics at Novo Nordisk, talks about his team’s use of data to create personalized learning and marketing experiences in L&D, highlighting their unique approach to the field.
A Neuroscientist’s Take on Cohort Learning
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Dr. Grace Chang, Cognitive Neuroscientist at EY, discusses with the host the scientific effectiveness of cohort learning, emphasizing the importance of trust, mentalizing, storytelling, proper design, and the need for more research on neurodiversity.
🧰 Tech, Tools & Tips
If tools are your jam, check out my new WorkSmarter newsletter
Coco Material
An Open Source hand-drawn illustration library with over 2,500+ images.
Lose the ‘very’
Site to help you tighten up your writing by removing “very”. Instead of saying it’s very cool, I’ll say it is nifty instead.
Library Extension
Check your local library for the books, music, etc. that you find while browsing the web.
PicWish
PicWish is an AI-powered image processing tool with some time-saving, useful functions.
🧳 Where’s Mike?
- Cognota Webinar, February 28
- Micro Learning Conference, March 2
- iDTX 2023, March 8
- New Zealand ATD Conference, March 15-16
How to Conduct a Skills Gap Analysis: Guide and Template
Between 40% and 87% of employees need to reskill and upskill to fill their talent gaps. Training can help, but you first need to identify the exact gaps that exist in their skill set. The only way to do this is by conducting an in-depth analysis.
Read this article to learn how to conduct such an analysis step by step and download the skills gap template to save tons of your precious time.
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 