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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Marc My Words: Learning Technology in Our Schools – How We Can Help
One of the most important things we in e-Learning today can do for the generations to come is to support effective use of technology in primary and secondary education. For the past several months, Anne Derryberry has written about her experiences as a volunteer in her local high school. Now Marc shows you eight more ways you can make a difference in your local schools.
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Ode to Mobile Performance Support
While mobile learning gets the lion’s share of attention, mobile performance support also received much session time at The eLearning Guild’s recent mLearnCon 2010. The two ideas, learning and performance support, are different but related ways to improve results produced by human beings. This week’s feature explains the differences and also the ways in which the two work together.
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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!
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Dispatch from the Digital Frontier: Can Games Save Journalism?
Journalism and education have much in common, besides the fact that both are in dire straits. Journalism intends to inform us about the world, and education aims to help us succeed in that same world. Could games be the nexus between these two pursuits that are so vital to democracy?
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The Human Factor: Creating Opportunities to Participate in Social Learning
If you’ve ever tried to move the social learning dynamic to a computer-mediated discussion, you’ve probably noticed that giving learners a forum where discussion can take place is not enough to create a social learning environment. Here’s how to give learners a sense of presence that motivates them to participate in the discussion.
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Using the iPad in Sales Training: Case Study
While many e-Learning producers are struggling to understand how the iPad may be useful in online instruction, one sales training team has already been successful in using Apple’s new device in blended instruction in the classroom. Here’s their story.
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Marc My Words: What Can We Learn from Bartender School?
High-level simulations, an interactive student guide, student-created job aids, simple memory aids, substantial realistic practice, and a competency-based assessment. Where are you… in a military training center? Medical school? Nope. It’s Bartending 101. Pull up a stool.
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Animated Characters in e-Learning: The Benefits and Social Roles
Learner expectations for production values in e-Learning, together with improvements in e-Learning development technology, have made e-Learning mediated by animated characters easier to implement. Before you integrate animated characters into your e-Learning productions, review the evidence pointing to the benefits of animated characters in e-Learning.
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Check It Once … Check It Twice: Your Guide to Choosing the Right LMS
If you are creating online learning, sooner or later you are going to face the Learning Management System (LMS) selection challenge. There is a plethora of LMSs, and it can be hard to determine the right one for your situation. Here are some important questions to ask before you start shopping!
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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.