An Argument for Memory Aids: An Interactive Post

This weekend my four-year-old daughter and I were learning about the solar system and she wanted to learn all the names of the planets in order from closest to farthest from the sun. Sometimes, there is information that just needs to be memorized.

When we develop training, we often neglect to think of easy ways to help people memorize. Usually, we try to incorporate any information that needs to be remembered into a job aid or other resource. But we can also create easy ways to help our learners learn.

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How I Hire an Instructional Designer

I had just asked the young man sitting opposite me in the interview to tell me about his approach to e-learning. He looked wide-eyed and suggested: “E-learning. That’s something you do with templates isn’t it?” This turned out to be one of the shortest interviews I had ever conducted. After suggesting some resources to help him in his development, I politely terminated the conversation.

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Translating Your SME's Tech-Speak

A while ago, I was working on an incredibly complex training project. It involved training on processes and requirements used for contract setup and delivery. The audience consisted of hundreds of employees in a Fortune 500 company.

What made the project so complex was the sheer number of subject matter experts involved. Whereas I was used to working with maybe four or five at the most, this project required the input and approval of no fewer than 13 SMEs. There was no overlap – each was responsible for a distinct business unit, and brought unique content to the table. And some were C-level, meaning their time was at a premium.

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I Love Compliance Training!

The message to the client from the government audit was clear: Train your employees in your discrimination complaint handling procedures.

The message from the client to our training department was equally clear: Post an overview of the procedure on the LMS for our employees to read, nothing fancy. Then we can document we’ve met the government requirements.

So what did our “training” solution look like?

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