The other day I was in a group where someone asked this: “How do you experience and nurture empathy? What is one thing you can do today to empathize with someone you cross paths with today?” I feel your desire to play with the mouse. One thought, I said, is to imagine yourself in another’s shoes—without… Continue Reading
Buffer has released a new application that you can use on the web to add text to images in just a few minutes. They say it takes about 30 seconds. If you’re starting from scratch with your own or others’ images (with permission, of course), you may want to crop them to the size they’ll… Continue Reading
Right there on the project plan it says that a draft of your document is due on Friday. It’s going to clients and subject-matter experts for review. You may be thinking that editing for punctuation, grammar, and spelling at this point is a waste of time. After all, it’s a draft. What you want is… 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
Ever find an interesting article on a website and then look up half an hour later to find yourself at some completely different site six clicks from where you started? The Welcome Distraction of Spring Many websites have helpful (or distracting, depending) links to related or otherwise interesting articles in easy view. If you have… Continue Reading
Or, at least it’s true that your perceived support for using new skills makes a huge difference. Transfer: Not as Sure as Day Turning to Night A couple of actions on your part can make all the difference whether your employees use what they learned in training (or not). Before Training. Tell your employee that… 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
For learning to occur—and stick—one part of the equation is the contribution designers can make to encouraging mental engagement. So Many Elements to Make Engagement Happen As we put a training program together (when training is the right answer), designers can do more (than is commonly done) to promote engagement. We should remember not only… Continue Reading
Here’s wishing you a lovely day. It’s a special day when we share symbols of love. Roses, of course. Maybe chocolate. Possibly an extra smile. And what a great time to notice the best qualities of the people and things around us. Happy Valentine’s Day to you. Related Posts Post | Happy Valentine’s Day Post… Continue Reading
Just a thought as Valentine’s Day approaches (or for any time of year, really). A little encouragement. How many of us spend (just possibly) too much time bemoaning this or that aspect of our lives? I have done this many times. It’s easy to settle in to a kind of internal dialogue that’s not so… Continue Reading
