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I'm a geek working as a distance learning specialist for a large corporation.

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The same thing we do every day, Pinky. Try to take over the world! Yeah, okay, this blog is read by people in at least 17 different countries (though really 5What are we going to do today, Brain?

Urgent News Release - HostPC Community Support Forums See, this is how people are supposed to behave. I have a lot of respect for Joe's integrity. Joe is the owner ofHostPC supports competitor in crisis

I couldn't think of a good category here. Sue me. Do you know? Great little tidbits of thought-provoking information about the state of the world and the rate of change, set toLinkList: Generic edition

(Holy cow, was today Tuesday?! What happened to last week?) The new animated Green Lantern movie, First Flight was released last week. Here are the first four minutes of the film... MovieGreen Lantern: First Flight (and other Green Lantern news) - Tuesday TubeWatch

Am I awesome? Well that's sort of a silly question. Of course I am. I'm me, after all. But is it possible that I'm getting more awesome? I can't say for sure, butAm I getting more awesome?

[caption id="attachment_1017" align="alignright" width="466" caption="Gwen and Rhys Cooper saving children from the military"][/caption] Russell T. Davies has a knack with stories. He's very good at writing stories that - despite plotTorchwood: Children of Earth - Review

Robert Downey Jr. has been touted as the perfect choice to play Tony Stark. When I first saw the trailer I was doubtful about that choice. I always pictured StarkReview: Iron Man

SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel Tim Kring, creator and executive producer of NBC's superhero drama Heroes, told SCI FI Wire that the the seriesHeroes web comic

I don't know about the girls out there, but I know every teenage boy has wondered what it would be like to have super-powers. What would you really do with them?Review: Chronicle (2012)

How Sticky Is Membership on Facebook? Just Try Breaking Free - New York Times (You may need a free account to read that article) Okay, I'm on Facebook. I have aHow long will your face be on Facebook?

Aquaman has been the butt of jokes for as long as I can remember. He was never one of my favorite superheroes, but ever since I saw the character portrayedReview: Aquaman (Mercy Reef)

Created on Toonlet.comCartoon Caddick

Okay, yeah, the day's almost over, but you know how it is... things got away from me. The dog ate my homework. And then he did this: So there you haveBetter late than never (maybe): Tuesday TubeWatch

Could Mastering the Ego Be a Learning Executive Solution? The article covers how ego can help and hinder a business. I think that's important to actively consider. As the article states,Humility

Where do you fit? [caption id="attachment_1210" align="aligncenter" width="410" caption="Do you hit the tri-fecta?"][/caption] Come on, if you read this blog it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that you're at least a geek.Geeknerddorkdweeb

Three years of yammering on…

Three years ago today, at 11:48pm, I wrote these amazingly insightful words:

Check it out…

Friday, December 9th, 2005

Looks like I am officially blogging. I am too cool for words. (Ironic, isn’t it.)

Thusly did this, my first blogging experience, begin. Pretty sad, really, but there you have it. Now here we are, three years and over 400 posts later, and I figure it’s about time I looked back to see if I’ve ever . . . → Read More: Three years of yammering on…

Challenge students?! Are you crazy?!

There are a lot of challenges that instructional designers and trainers face in developing and delivering courses in a corporate environment. For instance, usually there is barely time to get the material together, let alone organize it well and produce well-designed practices and assessments that are both challenging and valid. Then there’s frequently the problem of having to develop for people at different comprehension levels, without losing the novices or boring the advanced students. On . . . → Read More: Challenge students?! Are you crazy?!

Tips from CommonCraft

I’m pretty impressed with the CommonCraft videos. They’ve found a way to make YouTube a marketing and profit center for themselves, and a lot of their work is in the training and marketing industries. They’ve found a nice niche for themselves.

One of their recent blog entries catalogs some lessons learned in their previous year of business. I’ve pulled a few of the tips out below that I think apply to a training department – . . . → Read More: Tips from CommonCraft

Interviewing for creativity

In the e-Learning Guild‘s discussion community, the concept of using stories for training is being covered. At one point, Christy Tucker noted that at a previous job she had worked with a person who had been a high school English teacher and was very good at creative writing. She really appreciated his skills in creating a story to engage the learner and push the concepts through. She then made the point that you didn’t have . . . → Read More: Interviewing for creativity

Defining e-Learning

In my last post, I mentioned a definition of e-Learning I wrote a few years ago. For the record, this is what I said:

How do you define e-learning? What are some examples?

My definition would be: Learning opportunities in which the learner/instructor interaction is facilitated through technology.

I would divide it into three catagories:

Self-paced Synchronous Asynchronous

Self-paced courses are probably the first ones that come to mind for most people. These could include . . . → Read More: Defining e-Learning

Collaborative Storyboarding

Why Collaborative Storyboard Technology Is Mission Critical

This is an excellent article extolling the virtues of collaboration for storyboarding your courses (and a little push for storyboarding itself). It doesn’t specifically promote a single commercial product, though it does highlight XStream Software’s tool at the end, but rather focuses on the generic benefits of collaboration in the Instructional Designer/Subject Matter Expert interaction.

I’m an easy sell for this kind of thing, but it certainly sold . . . → Read More: Collaborative Storyboarding

Instructional Designers: do you know what you think you know?

Will at Work Learning: Take the Original Learning Research Quiz

I took this quiz a couple of years ago after seeing Dr. Thalheimer at an e-Learning Guild event. I thought I was doing pretty good until I got the feedback. I just took it again. I did a little better, but not as good as I thought I would.

The good news? I’m not really an instructional designer. The bad news? I do work in . . . → Read More: Instructional Designers: do you know what you think you know?

Elliott Masie & Josh Bersin: Learning Trends

Learning 2006 – Josh Bersin & Elliott Masie Dialogue

Josh and Elliot, two “thought leaders” in the learning industry, get together and talk about the things they’re seeing in the learning industry. It’s at least partially a teaser for Josh’s presentation at Elliott’s Learning 2006 conference, but there are some good things being said.

For example, Elliott, not for the first time, makes the beginning of a case to make a job in the learning . . . → Read More: Elliott Masie & Josh Bersin: Learning Trends

Re-igniting passion

Creating Passionate Users: Re-igniting passion

We can’t expect passionate users, if we ourselves can’t hold (or rediscover) the passion we felt for the work we chose.

That is an excellent point. When the world is beating down on you with a sledgehammer, it’s easy to lose sight of the passion you had when you first began in your field. And for those responsible for providing training to others, that can really hurt effectiveness.

Passion is . . . → Read More: Re-igniting passion

Training Mistakes

Learning2005 learningwiki.com – Mistakes Elliot Masie’s Learning Wiki has a page for common mistakes trainers/instructional designers make, as reported by subscribers to his newsletter. He received over 700 responses — the wiki page is just an ‘executive summary’.

Some of the quotes, I can relate to completely. The ones that ring my gong the loudest are quoted below:

Skill Level/Needs Analysis Mistakes: – Responding to ‘crisis’ situations with quick-fix training – invariably, it doesn’t work . . . → Read More: Training Mistakes