Category: Delivering Training
How My New Coffee Maker Came with a Moment of Need Learning Approach
I recently purchased a new coffee maker. I’d be embarrassed to describe my old one, so I'll not go there. The new one isn’t high-end, but it does have a lot of features that work well for my husband’s and my varied preferences: it brews different strength coffees and various size cups and pots, and [...]Adopting Improv to Ace Instructional Design
Last month, Sheree Galpert, an Applied Improv practitioner and trainer, shared fundamentals of improvisation in EnVision’s blog. Sheree introduced three principles of improvisation: Be in the moment Use “Yes, and” Make your partner look good Sheree illustrated how instructional designers can leverage these techniques to be more effective in their work. After reading Sheree’s post, [...]“Begin with the end in mind”?
By Sheree Galpert, guest blogger “Begin with the end in mind.” That’s one of the key habits laid out by Stephen R. Covey in his best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. For instructional designers and trainers, that’s kind of a no-brainer: You have to know what you want your learners to get [...]Fun Times: Engagement in the Virtual Classroom
Ginny Maglio and I just completed our third round of EnVisioning Virtually: Creating Engaging Courses in the Virtual Environment this month. During the five-session Zoom series we share tons of tips, guide the participants during demo activities as they try out new approaches, and get to try out some different techniques ourselves. This past year, [...]Making the Move to a Virtual Classroom
Perhaps our current distancing restrictions are just the gentle nudge—or powerful push—we needed to leap daringly into a virtual world that many have been part of for a long while. Collectively, we are learning how to make the most of our virtual tools, and I believe that in doing so we are positioning ourselves to [...]A Bird’s Eye View from the Belfry
We recently took an amazing vacation, which included a couple of days in Bruges. Bruges is a UNESCO world heritage site because of its original medieval architecture throughout the city. During our first day in the center of Bruges, we were a bit overwhelmed. There was so much activity — horses with their carriages and [...]Growing Your Knowledge Garden
Back in the spring, you buried your seeds in the soil. With the spring rain falling and the sunshine warming the earth, small seedlings began to poke their heads out of the ground. You intend to care for these small plants so they will flourish. But what would happen if you planted the seeds and [...]The Manager’s Role in the Training Story
Imagine that you work as a manager, heading up a department of six people, and tomorrow Alex, one of your reports, plans to attend training all day. He let you know that he’d be attending this class on project management, and that he needs someone to cover for him while he’s away. Knee-deep in work [...]Warming Up with an Icebreaker
Would an experienced runner set off from a marathon starting line without warming up? No! A world class athlete takes time to prepare for a race, and often goes through the paces of a regime created by her running coach. She may run a short distance, then hold 30-second stretches. Her coach knows these energizing [...]Drink Up the Learning, Bar by Bar
Looking for a fun night out? You could head off to your favorite neighborhood dive – or, er, brew pub – and grab a burger and a couple of beers. You’d see the same regulars and the familiar, weathered interior of the pub. And you’d enjoy the comforting routine...though in the back of your mind, [...]The Blue Lagoon: Using Multiple Senses to Improve Learning
In our last blog post we saw how immersive, sensory events can help us remember experiences, using the example of my trip to the Blue Lagoon spa. We don’t need to visit a spa to help learners remember, though...we can create immersive experiences to enhance our instructional design. Here are two examples of physically immersive [...]Soaking in an Icelandic Spa: How Senses and Memory Intersect
This summer, my husband and I traveled to Iceland. Among other wonders of nature, we visited the Blue Lagoon, a spa formed 40 years ago during the creation of a geothermal power plant. Today, people come from all over to bathe in the warm, soothing water. There are a surprising number of things to do [...]Performing a Symphony — of Learning & Development
I happen to be a big music lover, and enjoy both listening and performing as a flutist in the Sharon Concert Band. At last week’s band rehearsal our conductor, Steve, was doing his usual great job of keeping us on tempo, signaling when each section needs to come in, and gesturing to show we should [...]Heating Things Up: Pilots Provide Useful Feedback
Practicing a classroom course polishes and improves it. Typically, practice comes with a pilot, during which instructional designers and trainers iron out classroom kinks. Two pilots (an abbreviated pre-pilot and a full pilot) were employed in a class entitled Operationalizing Emergency Plans: Incident Command in Action, on which EnVision consulted for a public agency. The [...]Short Can be More Than Just Sweet!
What do stained glass windows, intricate marble carvings, and richly symbolic murals have in common? Give up? They are all easily seen from just one spot in the Library of Congress. Why do I mention this? I recently visited Washington, DC and toured the Library of Congress. If you haven’t been to the Library, I [...]The Pick of the Crop
Have you ever gone berry picking? Usually, you fill a container and pay by its size. Those juicy berries look so appealing you want to fit as many as possible into the container, right? Would you squish them in to get more? Or would you select the ripest berries to ensure excellent quality and highest [...]The Course Pilot and a Wedding? More Alike than You Think.
The bridesmaids donned light green dresses with intricate lace overlays. Before the ceremony, the ketubah (marriage contract) was signed by the groom. The groomsmen and bridal party enjoyed sushi and potato pancakes with smoked salmon in separate rooms before the wedding. At the appointed time, both groups entered the ballroom, awaiting the arrival of the […]
When Learning Becomes Too Much: Seven Ways to Reduce Cognitive Overload
Have you ever been in a class where everyone’s eyes are glazed over? By the end of the first half-day, participants stop, well, participating? Perhaps the course just isn’t engaging them. Or, perhaps (cue music: dut, dut, dut) they are experiencing cognitive overload. So, what is cognitive overload? Cognitive overload is an inundation of short-term […]
Blended Learning: Look Before You Leap
Blended learning tools provide an instructional designer with many options, but more choices can also be confusing. How do you determine if the blended solution meets your learning objectives? How do you know which modalities to pick? And finally, how do you know that your mix will work within the culture of your organization? To […]
Can the Myers-Briggs Help You Achieve a Happy Medium?
Colleen and Stella both work at a medical device company and develop a catalog to market the products. Though they often complement each other well, recently they have reached a stalemate on this year’s catalog drop. Colleen, a product manager, wants to make sure the catalog hits the printer well in advance of her conservative […]