About Guild Articles
Find practical, solution-oriented information—on design, development, management, technology, and executive matters—that you can use to make well-informed business decisions to ensure your organization’s success with learning.
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Adobe After Effects: Not as Scary as You Think
The first time they open Adobe After Effects, some people become so frightened that they close it and never come back. If you are one of those people, take heart! Here is a tutorial that will get you started on the road to mastering some of the most powerful video software out there. It can make a huge difference in the quality of video in your eLearning productions!
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Brain Science: Writing So the Brain Understands
Much of what we communicate in eLearning and other kinds of teaching relies on the written word. Many instructional designers worry that learners may be poor readers and so try to “write down to their level.” Is this the right approach? Is reading ability even a problem? Or is the problem our approach to writing? Here are some guidelines that may surprise you.
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Voice Lessons for the Instructional Designer
Learners prefer facilitated training—the personal touch. Adopting a persona when writing content can help an instructional designer make self-directed eLearning more personable. Create a persona whose voice your learners will respond to, whether as colleague or as guide!
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eLearning Guild Research: Basic Skills Gaps and Our Role
The eLearning Guild’s newest research report says training ROI studies are flawed because they do not measure results. Executives told us one question interested them more than ROI: Do employees have the skills needed to do their jobs? A study on that issue by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has huge implications for education and training. Read about it here.
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Designing Words That Work in eLearning
Words are a pillar of good design, and like any other part of the designer’s job, it takes work to make them effective. But the work need not be drudgery. You have an excellent laborsaving tool at your command, and in this article you will find great suggestions for using it!
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Marc My Words: Selling Performance Support
Selling performance support comes with unique challenges. Whether you are just getting started or have some performance-support experience under your belt, here are ten approaches to employ when planning to sell a performance-support project.
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Challenging the Infinite Monkey Theorem: Mobile Performance Support
We’ve been facing a problem with mobile. We’ve been concentrating on delivery of training rather than support of performance. Here’s a suggestion to stop this cycle by introducing strategies that focus on using performance tools with mobile devices rather than delivering training through mobile devices.
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Book Review: Leaving ADDIE for SAM Field Guide, by Richard Sites and Angel Green
Written as a follow-up to Michael Allen’s 2012 bestseller Leaving ADDIE for SAM, the recently released Leaving ADDIE for SAM Field Guide, by Richard Sites and Angel Green, is chock-full of checklists, worksheets, templates, and tools. The Field Guide is sure to become a go-to reference as you make the most of the Successive Approximation Model (SAM) in your organization.
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Nuts and Bolts: Reflective Practice
Professional development—our own, personal, professional development—is one of the most important things we can invest in. This isn’t a matter of paying money, necessarily, but of paying time and attention on a regular, even daily, basis to consciously becoming better at what you do. How? Reflective practice. Reading this column could be the best thing you do for yourself today.
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Best Practices: Get Learners and Stakeholders to Adopt New eLearning Technology
New eLearning implementations and their supporting technologies, from learning management systems and learning record stores to mobile devices, social media, and performance support, introduce change in organizational life. End user and stakeholder resistance to change can defeat even the “perfect” system. Here are five key practices to gain the support needed for success.