The best way to have good ideas is to have lots of ideas.
Linus Paulding
I’m in the middle of preparing for a keynote about learning technology and could really use your help? What are some of your favorite apps that you use for learning. For example, a couple of things that I’m excited about are Descript, which lets you edit audio files by editing the text in it and Sparks, which is a tool for managing learning campaigns. I’m also curious if you’ve “repurposed” other apps to make them work for your L&D work?
I’d appreciate it if you would take a few seconds and let me know here , or if you’re reading this via email just hit the reply button and let me know that way. Thanks!
Thanks for reading!
What I’m Listening to: The Howard Jones Radio playlist I shared last week is so good, I’m still listening to it.
Last week’s most clicked item:
Top Tools for Learning 2020
How to pick more beautiful colors for your data visualizations
This is an insightful article by Lisa Charlotte Rost that illustrates common color mistakes and how you can avoid them.
https://blog.datawrapper.de/beautifulcolors/
How Glide can be used as a learning tool
I’m a big fan of GlideApps. If you’re not familiar with it, GlideApps lets you create a smartphone web-app from a Google Sheet with out needing to write any code. In this episode of The Learning Pro Live, Troy Ashman talks with Cath Ellis about creating bespoke web-apps to support instructor-led training events as well as creating apps to support industry-based expo events – giving our learners a wealth of information in their pockets. Learn more about Troy’s work with GlideApps on his website.
Example apps created with GlideApps:
- Global L&D Conferences app
- Owen Holt’s Resume App
- JD Dillon’s Learn Geek App
- The Learning Conference App
https://www.cathellis.com/how-glide-can-be-used-as-a-learning-tool/
The Learning Industry is Being Disrupted
In reaction to an article about how The Event Industry is Being Confronted by its Napster Moment, Andrew Jacobs extends those ideas to how the learning industry is also facing a similar challenge.
https://lostanddesperate.com/2020/09/08/the-learning-industry-is-being-disrupted/
Can You Use Discord for Business?
Primarily known as the communication platform for gamers, developers, and streamers, Discord makes it easy to talk every day and hang out together online. Think along the lines of Slack or Microsoft Teams. It is super quick and easy to set up and has some nice features worth considering like the option for always on audio, video calls and screen sharing. There are no message threads but for small, focused groups that may or may not be an issue. If you want to kick the tires you can join me here: https://discord.gg/Drhj2aX
https://droplr.com/how-to/productivity-tools/how-to-use-discord-as-a-business-team/
Introducing the Tech Tuesday Toolbox
I find so many interesting and useful tools that I wanted a better way to capture and share more of them. Which is why I’ve started a new weekly post rounding them up into a single place – the Tech Tuesday Toolbox. When you find something good please send it along so I can include it.
https://mike-taylor.org/2020/09/08/introducing-tech-tuesday-toolbox/
A few other things just because I can.
Podcasts
Here are three podcast episodes from this week that are worth a listen:
- Leading Learning Transformation with Damien Woods on the Learning Uncut podcast.
- Data & Analytics in L&D with Trish Uhl on the The Learning & Development podcast with David James.
- Why Your Learning Communities Need to Be Safe Spaces to Fuel People’s Growth and Encourage Experimentation with Shane Coady-Barrett on the Unleashing Curiosity podcast.
Tools & Resources
If you like this section, you might also like my latest experiment – the L&D Toolbox daily newsletter.
- Pixlr | Online Photo Editor — A powerful free and premium online photo editor! Effects, filters, overlays, simple to expert tools. Open almost any image format like PSD (Photoshop), PXD, Jpeg, PNG (Transparent), webP, SVG and many more.
- Iriun — Use your phone’s camera as a wireless webcam
- Hihaho — Tool for making your YouTube, Vimeo and other videos interactive.
- Toasty.ai — Toasty is a video meeting platform that focuses on driving online collaborations in meetings and workshops. It comes with built-in activities, breakout rooms, integration with Miro and Google Doc, to empower collaborations and drive outcomes.
- Databox — Business Analytics platform built to help you understand what’s going on with your business. KPIs from cloud services, spreadsheets, database in one place.
Conferences & Learning Events
Here are a couple of helpful resources if you’re looking for a L&D-related conference or webinar.
- Learning Solutions is moving to May and reopening for speaker submissions.
- DevLearn is going digital.
- Check out the upcoming conference schedule
- L&D Webinars for this month by Limestone Learning
Where You Can Find Me
September 29 Mid-New Jersey Technology Showcase Keynote
November 20 Central Indiana ATD Virtual Learning Summit
Online master class for the VOV Network in Belgium with Bianca Baumann starting in November.
Interested in the things that didn’t make the cut here? Follow me on Twitter or connect with me on LinkedIn
I love talking about learning, design, and technology. If you’re looking for a speaker, let’s talk! Speaking and Workshop Information Sheet.
Mike Taylor 