Bill Brandon
Editor, Learning Solutions, The Learning Guild
Bill Brandon is the editor of Learning Solutions. He has designed, managed, and delivered instruction since 1968, and has been an e-Learning practitioner since 1984. Before becoming the editor in 2002, Bill held instructor and management positions in the United States Navy, Texas Utilities, Atmos Energy, TGI Friday’s, and The Sales Consultancy. The co-author of eight books and the author of dozens of articles on technical topics, he has also developed programs for major conferences and owned a consulting business. He is a past president of the Texas Chapter (now the Dallas Chapter) of ISPI, and for 10 years led the Learning Technology SIG of the Dallas Chapter of ASTD. Bill is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and now lives near Dallas, Texas.
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The Impact and Role of Performance Support: Conrad Gottfredson
Organizations need to know that when employees finish the eLearning or training that we provide, those employees can perform. That’s what performance support does: it looks beyond learning to on-the-job performance.
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“Bring Your Own Device”: Are You Ready?
Mobile device adoption, especially for smartphones and tablets, is moving quickly from early adopters to the early majority. This is leading to a “BYOD” (bring your own device) mindset among workers and employers alike. BYOD is only a good thing for organizations that have a strategy in place. Here are the strategy elements you need to support mobile learning.
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Just One Question for Jeff Tillett: The Key to Good mLearning Design
Mobile devices offer unique opportunities for supporting learning and performance. We asked Jeff Tillett for his thoughts on designing instruction for mobile delivery.
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Just One Question for Karen Soskin: Six Sigma and eLearning Development
Enterprises today are increasingly “projectized” – life in many enterprises is a “hairball,” according to Karen Soskin, and project management is the tool that tames that hairball. It is important that those who manage and participate in eLearning development be able to integrate into this methodology. Soskin explains the rationale in this video interview.
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Book Review: Managing Projects, by Lou Russell
Project management is a critical competency for anyone in charge of the creation of eLearning, but it is difficult to find good advice tailored for this world. Lou Russell has written a definitive, practical guide to applying project management principles to the challenges of learning design and development.
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Just One Question: Jeff Berk on Justifying Expensive Learning Initiatives
Some learning initiatives, whether eLearning, classroom, or blended, raise huge red flags for decision-makers because of expense, visibility, or strategic nature. Examples include programs dealing with leadership, onboarding or new hire, and sales, among others. In this video interview, Jeff Berk outlines best practices that apply in these cases.
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Just One Question: Brenda Enders on Gamification
“Gamification” is a relatively new buzzword in application design, including eLearning. Many designers and developers aren’t quite sure what it means, or how to apply the concept in their work. Brenda Enders gives you great insights in this interview.
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Book Review: The Mobile Academy, by Clark N. Quinn
In his second book this year on mobile learning, Clark Quinn has produced a concise and very practical guide to its strategy and implementation for administrators, instructional support staff, and faculty in higher education. It will also be useful as a quick overview for executives in other kinds of organizations as well.
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Book Review: E-Learning by Design, 2nd Edition, by William Horton
E-Learning by Design, published in October of this year, is an update to William Horton’s 2006 book. Horton has reorganized the content, and added excellent sections on games, social networking, and mobile technology. This is a book that belongs in your library.
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Book Review: 100 Things Every Online Student Ought to Know
Older students in online education may not be as conversant with Web technology for learning, and younger students may not have the necessary study skills. Here is a review of a small book that tries to provide support for both groups. If you are an online educator, this resource may be worth considering as part of your orientation efforts.