March 13 and something cool happened.
What? Michael Allen, Julie Dirksen, Clark Quinn, and Will Thalheimer launched their eLearning Manifesto, with its 22 principles for designing better elearning.
Lighting Up the eLearning World
Why? Sadly, much of today’s elearning offerings are, well, terrible.
How? They talked about it via a Google hangout, which was broadcast live on YouTube. Attendees (many, many) watched and some submitted written comments and questions.
What Now?
- If you missed it, you can still watch the video.
- As of this writing, the discussion is still going strong on Twitter, via #elearningmanifesto.
- You can become a signatory of the manifesto, if you wish.
- People can start with what they are able to do now, and they can keep working to improve for the future.
But Isn’t This Just Good Instructional Design Applied to eLearning? Our four authors readily stated that they did not invent the principles: but they carefully chose them from existing research and respected practice. This is a good thing.
What’s cool is that they are making a big splash with this expertly assembled list. They’re generating energy and excitement for improving the quality of elearning offerings everywhere.
Some folks will need time and assistance to employ these principles. That’s okay.
It’s great so many heard that there’s a better way. And yes, quite a few of the attendees were from the choir (already convinced and supportive). But many were new to some of this (and sounded like they wanted more). Today’s manifesto reading was a good step in a long-overdue, right direction.
Resources
Post | The Manifesto
Video | The Serious eLearning Manifesto (starts at 0:48 seconds)
Lend Your Name | Become a Signatory
