Advice for Learning and Technology Professionals September 23, 2008
Posted by B.J. Schone in eLearning.Tags: BlendedLearning, Conferences, Design, Development, DevLearn, DevLearn2008, eLearning, eLearningGuild, InstructionalDesign, Learning, LMS, ProfessionalDevelopment, technology, Tools, Training
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I will be facilitating one of the Breakfast Byte sessions at the upcoming DevLearn 2008 conference. The session will be called, "I’m new to eLearning and I have no idea where to start!"
This will be an open session for people who are new to the learning and technology (eLearning) field. I will provide resources, tips, tricks, suggestions, etc. I’ll do my best to help people get on the right track. I figured I would break my information into these groups:
- Learning Management Systems / AICC / SCORM
- Tools and technologies
- Useful blogs, eBooks, and books
- (e)Learning 2.0
I believe I only have an hour, so I will be covering these from a very high-level; however, I will be available each day at the conference, and I’ll be happy to chat if anybody wants more info.
So, what advice would you give to people starting out in the field of learning and technology?
I’ll start out with these…
- Never trust a vendor that says they are 100% SCORM compliant. Always test courses thoroughly in your LMS before agreeing to any type of purchase.
- Exciting and flashy interactions do not always equal effective learning.
- Don’t create boring eLearning; people will fall asleep if they aren’t engaged. Use techniques like storytelling to get (and keep) your learners’ attention.
- Always read eLearning Weekly. 🙂
Please chime in if you have any other advice and I’ll be sure to pass it along. Thanks!
B.J. Schone
Eric Matas
kevinthorn
eLearning Weekly 
I’m really bummed I’m going to miss this session, well, the entire conference really.
My advice is to not build courses. Build learning. Most people are too busy to sit through courses, they just want the information presented as clearly and concisely as possible. Short snippets or tutorials help learners become performers faster than courses. There are always exceptions, but for task based training, like software training, just show them how to do the tasks without forcing them to sit through screen after screen after screen of courseware.