Jane Bozarth
Director of Research, The Learning Guild
Jane Bozarth, the director of research for the Learning Guild, is a veteran classroom trainer who transitioned to eLearning in the late 1990s and has never looked back. In her previous job as leader of the State of North Carolina’s award-winning eLearning program, Jane specialized in finding low-cost ways of providing online training solutions. She is the author of several books, including eLearning Solutions on a Shoestring, Social Media for Trainers, and Show Your Work: The Payoffs and How-To’s of Working Out Loud. Jane holds a doctorate in training and development and was awarded the Guild Master Award in 2013 for her accomplishments and contributions to the eLearning community.
-
Nuts and Bolts: 2011 Resolutions
Making New Year’s Resolutions? Jane suggests ten for your consideration, from eliminating Clicky Clicky Bling Bling to dealing with clients who have made up their minds.
-
Nuts and Bolts: Useful Interactions and Meaningful Feedback
Thought and creativity can turn weak assessments and interactions into feedback that is actually useful to the learner. Here is some practical wisdom about what helps, what supports and what guides, and what supports gain – and how to avoid doing harm.
-
Nuts and Bolts: Do You See?
Simple design basics can make or break a program. Choices related to fonts, placement of content on a screen, and application of an organization’s standards like number of screens matter. Jane tackles color issues this month.
-
Nuts and Bolts: How to Evaluate e-Learning
Evaluation is something that every instructional designer talks about, but few actually do. This may be because designers only know about the Kirkpatrick “Levels.” Here are two alternatives that may be far more practical.
-
Nuts and Bolts: Too Many Tools
Cognitive overload – too much information – is one type of problem for learners. Another type of problem that designers can create for learners is too many distractions from too many tools. Here’s how to recognize the problem, and what to do about it.
-
Nuts and Bolts: Brain Bandwidth – Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design
Designers often overload learners with information, hurting learning and learner motivation, and thereby undercutting the very thing we say we want to accomplish. A designer can avoid this by understanding cognitive load theory and memory; in particular, the concepts of working memory and long term memory. Here’s some applied theory you can put to work immediately!
-
Nuts and Bolts: Getting Management Support for Training
“When developing and launching a new training initiative – traditional classroom, virtual classroom, asynchronous, or a mix – or suggesting a training solution for an individual worker or group, it’s vital to gain management commitment. As with so many issues in training and development, this is another of those “easier said than done” challenges.
-
Nuts and Bolts: Find Your 20%
Good practice in instructional design means being aware of cognitive overload and avoiding it – in other words, not giving learners more than they can handle, and certainly not more than they will use. This month, Jane gives you a strategy (and a visualization!) for dealing with the desire to include everything and the kitchen sink in your e-Learning design.
-
Book Review: The Complete Guide to Simulations & Serious Games by Clark Aldrich
“I wish that the ‘e-Learning’ business had started with this book … before online training as an industry managed to replicate the very worst elements of the traditional classroom experience. I wish this book as a starter gift: a new person starting with this would not accept flying lines of text supported by word-for-word narration as anything resembling a learning experience.”
-
Nuts and Bolts: Principles of Multimedia Learning
Some of the most frequently asked questions among instructional designers are the ones dealing with text, images, and narration and how best to use them together. There are many examples of combinations that do not work, but not so many explanations of the principles behind making the right choices. Here is a simple explanation of three of the most important principles.