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
Do you write or review documents? Keyboard shortcuts can make your life easier, and even if you are already a fan, there may be some you have overlooked. It’s useful to review them every so often to find one or two that will save you lots of time. First, You Might Have to Move the… 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
Seriously, a whole book? But why? It turns out that traditional student reaction questionnaires, which we’ve all filled out a million times, are (mostly) not worth the paper they’re printed on (or the electrons to display them). Many of the typical questions on these questionnaires do not tell us what we might think they do.… Continue Reading
One way to avoid general confusion (not to mention social loafing), is to clarify who will do what on a project. I know, this is the most obvious possible thing, but you might be surprised how often even senior people forget to make this happen. When people are working at a distance, on national or… Continue Reading
It might sound counter-intuitive, but taking breaks helps with productivity. If we set aside some time for rest and renewal. For getting away from external demands… This is obviously good for us. It doesn’t have to take a long time, or be far away. Even part of a sunset will do. Just one way to… Continue Reading
After a few years of decline, sales of paper books are inching back up again. While people like e-books for their convenience and portability, there are a number of studies that show better comprehension and retention from paper books. We should make room for paper books? E-books are great for travelers. They don’t weigh anything… Continue Reading
When groups of people work together to complete projects, one of the dangers is a pesky phenomenon called “social loafing.” Not Quite Working Together in a Motivated Way Social Loafing. When people are working on a group project, there’s this all-too-human tendency to slack off—to invest less effort than when working alone. In studies, people… Continue Reading
