By Harold D. Stolovitch & Erica J. Keeps, with contributions from Marc J. Rosenberg Want to help someone learn? A most engaging and excellent way to find out how is to read this book. If you are new to instructional design, teaching, or training, this is a great book. If you’ve been in the field… Continue Reading
If you are creating a number of examples, practice items, or test questions where it’s useful to personalize them with first names, it’s helpful to have a ready source of names that help you to make good choices. Here are some choices to avoid: Quirky names (distracting) Unique names of people in the news (distracting)… Continue Reading
Let’s say you have a 16-week (or 16-hour) course to plan, and it has a lot of moving pieces: topics, objectives, resources, readings, activities, quizzes, individual and group assignments, etc. And let’s say that you want a flexible way to map it all out as you are figuring out what to do and when. About… Continue Reading
It’s the first class meeting. Most people don’t know each other. Many will work together over the next few days, weeks, or months. Getting to know each other will help. Plus, people often feel uncomfortable without introductions. They want to know at least a little about who else is there. Starting a New Class Sometimes… Continue Reading
Let’s say that you (or someone you know or heard about) implemented a new program in an organization and it worked well. Or you found a helpful-sounding idea in a research article. So now you are considering trying that new idea in your current situation. With the drought, who needs library doors? Would this work… Continue Reading
Adults especially, (but kids also) want a reason why they should attend to learning something new. The reason we’re learning this is over this way. We use a short rationale at the beginning of a course, a module, a lesson, a key activity, as needed, to help spark motivation for learning. Without motivation, our learners… Continue Reading
Segways are not just for cool tours of the River Walk in San Antonio (say). Segues (obviously of a different kind) are also great for presentations, facilitating a class, or even for moving from one topic to another in print or online. Years ago I was facilitating a “friendly alpha” version of a course. My colleagues,… Continue Reading
A rose is not about reviewing one petal at a time. A few principles to follow… Do not go over the features of the software one at a time. Feature 1, Feature 2, etc. Eyes glaze over. Nobody remembers much after this. Do not organize software training based on the menus. See #1. If the users… Continue Reading
So, if it’s up to the learner, the manager, and the designer, what’s left for the instructor in making sure that learning happens? Instruction by Essential Ingredients Here are some areas where instructors can make a huge difference: Motivation. Why are we learning this and why should we care? Instructors can make the rationale for… Continue Reading
Using video to deliver (all or part of) instruction can be a) great, b) practical, c) expensive, d) time-consuming, or e) deadly. Here are some thoughts about when to use it (or not). Photo © Andreas Praefcke When does it make sense to provide instructional videos? Here are some reasons to provide instructional videos. They range from… Continue Reading
