MB28 Instructional Design for the Real World
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Friday, October 25
Jamaica AB
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.
MB29 Video: Beyond the Basics
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Friday, October 25
Barbados A
Mark Lassoff
Founder
Dollar Design School
Over two million people have learned coding and design from Mark Lassoff. Mark and his company are pioneers in new media learning, having created the first streaming media network dedicated to learning workforce and career skills. They produce broadcast-quality learning content that focuses on digital skills such as design, coding, and digital productivity. Mark is an in-demand speaker and has traveled the world to teach. He was named to the 40 under 40 in both Austin, Texas, and Hartford, CT. In 2017, Mark was awarded the prestigious Learning Guild Guild Master Award.
MB30 Evaluating Learning: How Do We Know They Have Learned?
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Friday, October 25
Montego B
Lisa Mertes Sepahi
National Training Director
CSH
Lisa Mertes Sepahi is the national director of the training center at the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), a national non-profit providing professional development and consultancy services. With over 20 years in both public and private sectors, Lisa has experience in learning design, curriculum development, and virtual learning. She loves learning tech and received a master's in instructional technology and media at Columbia University. She blends her learning design experience with her years as a social worker and human services trainer.
MB31 Using Data to Tell a Meaningful Story
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Friday, October 25
Montego A
Andrew McGuire
Learning Experience Designer
dRofus
Andrew McGuire is a learning experience designer at dRofus, where he specializes in developing engaging content and tracking learner experiences. He has been working in eLearning development for the past five years. Before joining the world of eLearning, Andrew taught English at the college level for seven years. He has an MA in English composition from Northeastern Illinois University.
MB32 Using UX Design Approaches for L&D
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Friday, October 25
Martinique A
Becca Wilson
Senior Product Manager, Training & Certification
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Becca Wilson is a New York City-based product manager, designer, and facilitator with experience creating innovative and engaging education products for companies and individuals. She has more than 10 years of experience in instructional design, training delivery, and developing blended learning strategies for Fortune 500 organizations. Becca currently works at Amazon Web Services (AWS) on initiatives designed to close the global cloud skills gap at scale. Previously, she worked at IBM where she focused on addressing the scarcity of artificial intelligence skills in the marketplace. Becca was also an education product manager and learning experience architect at General Assembly, supporting the ongoing discovery and development of scalable learning products in UX and product management.
MB33 Bringing the Conference Back to Work
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Friday, October 25
Andros B
Conference Ambassadors
Conference Ambassadors are passionate and knowledgeable community members who can answer your questions and help you get the most out of the conference experience.
MB34 Adapting Learning to the Individual
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Friday, October 25
St Croix AB
Jeff Batt
Founder
Learning Dojo
Jeff Batt has 15+ years of experience in the digital learning and media industry. Currently, Jeff Batt is a Learning Experience Designer for Amazon. He is the founder and trainer at Learning Dojo, a company dedicated to training you to become a software ninja in various eLearning, web, and mobile-related software applications. He was also the program manager of DevLearn for The Learning Guild. Jeff often speaks on developmental technologies such as xAPI, HTML5, augmented reality, mobile development, eLearning development tools, and more.
MB35 Supporting Social Learning
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Friday, October 25
Barbados B
James Tyer
Vive Engage Customer Engagement
Microsoft
James Tyer has helped organizations make the most of tools such as Microsoft Viva Engage for over 15 years.He helps people talk to and work together at scale in or between organizations. He designs the facilitation process, builds bridges between silos, and teaches/coaches new ways of working and collaborating.
MB36 Writing a Successful Conference Proposal
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Friday, October 25
Antigua B
The Program Team
The Learning Guild
The Learning Guild Program team is dedicated to creating programs that encompass everything learning professionals need. Our staff comes from diverse backgrounds in learning and development, and bring unique perspectives to the programs and content we create.
701 Using xAPI With SCORM in Instructional Design
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Jamaica AB
We want to improve our audience’s engagement and experience in the eLearning environment. They’ve expressed that they want eLearning experiences are personalized and dynamic, with content that adapts to their performance and choices. In addition to this added complexity, it’s also important that we have the ability to track and measure their completion, as well as the activity and pathways they took to get there. The solution? Leverage the benefits of traditional LMS/SCORM with the benefits of the evolving LRS/xAPI.
In this session, you’ll learn how to increase learning personalization by adding xAPI statements to the SCORM-compliant eLearning your team is already building. Doing this allows you to create content that adapts to user inputs related to their job role, their geographic location, and/or their level of knowledge. You’ll explore a case study on how results from an annual compliance training eLearning module were able to utilize both SCORM and xAPI concurrently, and why this was the right solution. You’ll then find out how a traditional eLearning module published in SCORM and hosted on an LMS can leverage the power of xAPI by sending xAPI statements to an LRS. You’ll leave this session with a practical approach that can be translated across various industries and/or applications.
In this session, you will learn:
- How xAPI can be used in Storyline
- How modules published in SCORM to an LMS can send xAPI statements to an LRS and why this is important
- How eLearning can be more adaptive to people’s input
- How mobile technology can be used to deliver and/or assess training
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed:
xAPI, LMS, LRS
Frank Pietrantoni
Director, Office of Health Professions Education
Nebraska Medicine
Frank Pietrantoni is the director of the office of health professions education at Nebraska Medicine/UNMC, and serves as an adjunct professor at Bellevue University. Frank has a BA in leadership and an MS in organizational performance. Frank has worked for Nebraska Medicine for 27 years in several managerial/leadership positions, as well as an organizational development consultant, an eLearning lead systems analyst, and a Six Sigma Black Belt. He's taught numerous professional development workshops and was a certified Achieve Global Instructor.
702 Mission Control: Launching Learning Engineering at Mars, Inc.
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Barbados A
Mounting pressure from an increasingly competitive global landscape, regulatory requirements, consumer demands, and complex work environments require effective learning solutions that meet an organization's speed and need. How might L&D integrate modern technologies, data and analytics, instructional methodologies, systems thinking, and an array of sciences to deliver quality learning solutions optimized for helping people and business results? Enter the emerging field of learning engineering.
This case study session outlines a real-world example of learning engineering put into practice at iconic candy company Mars Inc. You'll learn about the step-by-step process, tools, templates, and framework that were used to assess, analyze, and ultimately engineer a holistic learning solution used to enhance quality and food safety at the third largest food manufacturer in the world, and how you can use these approaches to introduce learning engineering into your organization, too.
In this session, you will learn:
- The mindset, skillset, and toolset required for learning engineering success
- Methods for making the business case for learning engineering
- A simple way to blend learning science, data science, design thinking, and systems thinking for maximum impact
- Three secrets for recruiting the data science resources you need
- What you need to do to get started right away
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
Data and analytics, AI, chatbot, ambient intelligence
Trish Uhl
Principal Consultant
Owl's Ledge
Trish Uhl is principal consultant at Owl's Ledge, founder of the Talent & Learning Analytics Leadership Forum, and creator of the Learning Systems Engineering Framework. Trish develops high-performing learning, talent & development teams to promote positive people impact and contribute to measurable business results by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) tools and analytical capability that optimize and capitalize on the workplace learning and performance function. She is a featured speaker at professional events; a frequent guest on podcasts and webinars; and often quoted in mainstream press.
Rachel Horwitz
Global L&D, Digital Technologies College, Mars University
Mars
Rachel Horwitz is the global learning and development director for Mars University, the L&D function of Mars Incorporated. In this role she is responsible for collaborating with global leaders to develop a strategic framework that addresses the learning and development needs of associates, utilizing best practices in learning strategy development. Rachel joined Mars in 2011 as an HR business partner in Mars Chocolate North America. In 2013, Rachel took on the role of global curriculum design director, leading instructional design within Mars University. She worked cross functionally on design and development of learning curriculum.
703 Creating Driveway Moments: How to Make Compelling Interview Podcasts
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Montego B
The learning podcast boom is upon us. They've got a small learning curve, are inexpensive to produce, and are fun for people to consume. One of the most popular formats is the "interview format," in which the bulk of the podcast is comprised of back-and-forth interviews. Although this format is relatively easy to produce, it’s also easy for it to fall flat and become plagued with boring conversations. When these conversations fail to engage the listener, the learning objectives are also lost. So how do the pros do it?
In this session, you'll discover what it takes to create informative and engaging interview podcasts that help the bottom line: your learning objectives. You'll explore what makes interviews really work in podcasts like This American Life, Serial, and Start Up. You'll take a closer look at what interviewing and editing techniques podcasting icons like Ira Glass, Alex Blumberg, and Jad Abumrad use to create engaging stories. You'll also learn how to marry a successful learning event into a tool like the interview podcast.
In this session, you will learn:
- The common pitfalls that can affect interview podcasts, and how to avoid them
- What techniques pros use to conduct great podcast interviews
- Techniques on how to get the most out of your interviews
- How to form stories from your interviews
- Tips for editing your interview podcasts
- How to insert learning items into your podcasts
Audience:
Designers, developers
Technology discussed:
Podcasting, mobile devices (cellphones, tablets), recording equipment
Joe Meyer
Consultant, Digital Learning
Nationwide
Joe Meyer is currently a creative consultant in digital learning for Nationwide. For the past 15 years, he has created innovative and award-winning learning solutions and multimedia for multiple Fortune 500 companies. A frequent speaker and published author within the greater learning community, Joe favors the use of storytelling through various forms of multimedia to achieve outstanding results. He is a master’s candidate in educational technology at Louisiana State University and holds a bachelor’s degree in electronic media production from Kent State University.
704 Catch More SMEs With Honey: Sweet Ideas & Tools for Project Success
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Montego A
Anyone who manages a learning project understands how critical it is to have SMEs who are interested and involved. Unfortunately, sometimes we have the exact opposite with SMEs that are dazed, distracted, or unresponsive. This makes it difficult to get the information and feedback you need to move you projects forward.
If you’re struggling with your SME partnerships, there are strategies for how you can catch more helpful SMEs and also sweeten the deal for them with reliable project management tools, tips, and tricks. In this session, you’ll identify the qualities needed for an ideal SME so you can find great partners . Once you've caught that ideal SME you’ll look at ways to strengthen your partnership through a solid project management process; facilitating a thoughtful and impactful project kick-off meeting, using the best tools to work together, and by taking a transparent and kind approach in your work with them.
In this session, you will learn:
- What qualities to look for in your ideal SMEs
- How to set the right tone for your project by leading a thoughtful and thorough project kick-off meeting
- About tools and templates to assist with project planning, file sharing, hosting virtual meetings, and requesting and sharing feedback with SMEs
- How to use a "sweeter" approach when working with SMEs by being transparent, being thoughtful in your communication methods, and using creative ways to thank them and to give them credit for the great work they do
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, anyone working with SMEs and managing learning projects
Technology discussed:
AnyMeeting, UberConference, Adobe XD, WeTransfer, RapidShare, HighTail, FreedCamp, Trello, Smart Draw, Microsoft Office Timeline
Deanna Fischer
Director of Learning Design
Fischer MicroTech
Deanna Fischer is a facilitator, program developer, and speaker who specializes in creating custom learning resources for the classroom and online. She has built successful blended learning programs for global clients across a broad range of industries. She is an early adopter of technology, she loves sharing tools that help her colleagues work more efficiently and creatively, and she has a passion for mentoring individuals new to learning design.
705 Waterfall to Waterloo: How Failure Helped Build an Open Learning Culture
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Martinique A
How can a traditional learning audience weather a shift toward Agile? What can happen if they don't like that change? How can L&D professionals increase the chance of successful audience adoption? In 2018, the HAL L&D team set out to transition to more agile methods and encountered severe audience resistance. The pilot group didn't understand the changes, L&D didn't communicate well, and the learning cultural gap widened. Struggling with failure, the team needed an innovative approach to immediately right the ship and change the culture. They wound up increasing participation and adoption, and set the standard for their development going forward.
In this case study session, you will walk through how HAL GL&D recognized the change resistance from their traditional learning audience and redirected tactics in the face of failure. You'll explore how the team identified conceptual and cultural differences in their learning audience. Finally, you'll get some ideas on how to take principles they learned and apply them in your own setting to build a more open learning culture.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why understanding learning culture is so imperative to the success of your project
- How to go from a waterfall to a more agile approach to curriculum design
- How to apply elements of metacognition and get the audience to embrace an evolving learning culture
- Implementation techniques that will energize and empower your traditional audience to partner with you
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Michael Blaise
Global Learning & Development: Design & Delivery
Holland America Group
Michael Blaise is a learning and development professional who uses key instructional design, change management, information architecture, and organizational adoption elements to increase an organization's performance. His focus is to help an organization achieve its strategic goals, increase end-user performance, and empower their behaviors to ensure alignment. Michael also has extensive a passion for leadership development, curriculum design, gamification for engagement, and is always looking to disrupt the norm.
Jill Fitzpatrick
Lead Specialist: Design & Delivery
Holland America Group
Jill Fitzpatrick, lead specialist: design & delivery, is passionate about using user-centric development as part of business strategy. Certified in NLP, learning & development, and multiple psychometric tools, she combines these with strong business acumen to disrupt with purpose the approach of learning. Jill built the learning function for a UK Property business from the ground up, incorporating legislation and compliance, sales, interpersonal skills, and leadership training. Since joining the Holland America Group in 2017, she has focused on innovating ways to improve team efficiency using Agile design principles.
706 The Language of Business: Become a Trusted Performance Partner
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Andros B
According to LinkedIn's first annual Workplace Learning Report, only 8 percent of CEOs see ROI for learning and development, yet over 90 percent of them feel that closing the skills gap by L&D would be a game-changer for their business. What is the first step to flipping this ratio? Shouldn't 90 percent of CEOs feel like their L&D programs instill real bottom-line performance in their organizations?
In this session you’ll explore two new templated processes—the Learning Ecosystem Canvas and the Behavior Catalog—and understand how they can help you in outlining the future value your L&D department will bring to employees and business units. You’ll learn how to use these tools to reframe conversations around the prioritization effort, budgets, and learner focus. By diving into the process and using a systematic approach, you’ll become equipped to have more productive conversations with C-levels and business units, and be seen as a trusted partner.
In this session, you will learn:
- To articulate the value that you’re delivering to your employees, and how to measure it
- Which partners you need in order to deliver change and performance for the business
- What is the most critical behavior for success in this specific business outcome
- How to hire and train talent so that they’re successful in your organization
- When you should bring in outside expertise, and how your business can support success in other ways
- What really drives behavior: compensation, management, or internal motivation?
Audience:
Managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Michael Allen
Founder and CEO
Allen Interactions
Dr. Michael Allen, founder and CEO of Allen Interactions, has been a pioneer in the eLearning industry since 1975. Dr. Allen has more than 50 years of professional, academic, and corporate experience in teaching, developing, and marketing interactive learning and performance support systems. Dr. Allen has led teams of doctorate-level specialists in learning research, instructional design, computer-assisted learning, and human engineering. He defined unique principles and methods, Successive Approximation process or SAM, and the CCAF design model for designing and developing high impact interactive eLearning experiences that invoke critical cognitive activity and practice.
Christopher Allen
Chief Strategy Officer
Allen Interactions
Christopher Allen is the chief strategy officer at Allen Interactions, providing direction to feature development and design, product training, and market focus. Christopher brings more than seven years of experience in digital content creation and distribution, as well as leadership experience in publishing and sales management. He holds a master’s degree in organizational management from The George Washington University and is an active triathlete.
707 Building Point-and-Click Learning Games in Storyline
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
St Croix AB
Curious about making games a part of your solutions in a meaningful way? Why not make something unique, engaging, custom-designed, and truly game-based? Point-and-click games, in which choices, puzzles, and discovery lead to memorable learning experiences, are remarkably simple to build using eLearning authoring tools. You may not think of yourself as a game designer, but you probably already create engaging scenarios in which the objective (win-state) is for the learner (player) to come away with usable knowledge (rescue the princess). And building the additional skills you’ll need for crafting these games, such as customizing art, adding interactions, and planning a learner adventure, is not as tricky as it might seem.
In this session you'll learn more about how educational point-and-click games can play a part in your work, and how to develop your own in Articulate Storyline. You’ll find out how to leverage the nuts and bolts needed to build the experience: layers, states, variables, triggers, and hotspots. You’ll explore fundamental game mechanics, like choice-branching, quick-time events, and simple puzzles, and how to plan these intermittently throughout the adventure. And finally, you'll look at the five steps you can use to make planning the underlying narrative of your game easier and more efficient.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why point-and-click games can be effective, customizable, and memorable eLearning experiences
- How to develop a point-and-click learning game using Articulate Storyline
- How to plan the story, scenes, and various interactions of your game to best suit the learning content (and common pitfalls to avoid)
- How leveraging game mechanics and game psychology builds engagement, and what that means for constructing gamified learning
- How to find, customize, and insert open-source art, music, sound effects, and other elements to dramatically elevate your game
Audience:
Designers, developers, game enthusiasts
Technology discussed:
Articulate Storyline, Adobe Photoshop, ThingLink
Daniel Powers
Senior Instructional Designer
Oregon State University
Daniel Powers is a senior instructional designer with Oregon State University's division of outreach and engagement, where he lovingly designs eLearning experiences on topics as varied as blueberry cultivation and drone pilot FAA compliance. He has taught online courses for OSU and the University of California - Irvine. Daniel is also an independent instructional design consultant for private firms and non-profits, and is currently working on "Effective Communication During the Zombie Apocalypse," an eLearning soft-skill adventure game.
708 Developing Marv: Our Journey Towards a Conversational Chatbot
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Barbados B
People are becoming used to increasing levels of digital sophistication in concierge chatbots like Alexa or Google Assistant. As a result, they’ve truly started to embrace the concept of chatting or talking with these intelligent systems. Our audiences are incredibly busy, can quickly get frustrated when using an LMS, and don't often know answers to common questions such as what courses they should take (or which they started and forgot about), or where to locate content. Concierge chatbots could easily provide these answers through a single, familiar interface, while also increasing engagement and digital respect for L&D.
In this session you'll learn about why and how we developed a chatbot in our digital learning innovation lab, including challenges we faced and how we overcame them. We'll walk through a demonstration of the bot, as well as highlight how to plan for how bots will connect to and leverage data sources such as your LMS or HR systems. You'll also discuss vendor selection criteria, the choice to make vs. buy, and how the space is evolving. You’ll leave the session knowing our journey and having a blueprint for how you can create or acquire your own concierge chatbot for your organization.
In this session, you will learn:
- About conversational chat interfaces
- What is required to implement true AI in a chatbot
- How to decide to build or buy a chatbot
- Pitfalls and solutions when developing a chatbot
- How Agile can be applied to chatbot experimentation and development
- Use-cases for conversational chat in L&D
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, technologists and innovators
Technology discussed:
Rasa Core, Rasa NLP, virtual assistants, conversational chatbots, machine learning
Duncan Larkin
Digital Learning Innovation Manager
McKinsey & Company
Duncan Larkin is the head of the digital learning innovation team at McKinsey & Company. He is a passionate advocate for simple, elegant, and transformative solutions that push the boundaries of innovation and put the learner first. Duncan is a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point and the author of two books.
Nicholas Pappas
Digital Learning Innovation R&D Lead
McKinsey and Company
Nicholas Pappas is the digital learning innovation R&D lead for McKinsey and Company. He is responsible for running the research and experimentation of digital learning technology to surface and develop relevant use-cases that significantly enhance the learning experience. Prior to joining McKinsey, he served as the director of technology for SpotMe, a mobile event app startup.
709 The Potential of Artificial Intelligence for L&D
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Antigua B
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a popular topic as of late, but what does it really mean for L&D? Understanding the potential use cases of AI for learning and development is critical to being a savvy consumer. It's not about the technology itself, but the potential it has for solving difficult organizational challenges.
In this session you’ll learn more about what AI can help you accomplish, and also explore a closely-related technology; machine learning. You’ll better understand this technology by discussing what AI is and isn't. You’ll then explore the potential for this technology in our field through numerous examples and case studies of how AI is enabling L&D to be more personalized and efficient. You will leave with practical ideas for how to get started with AI in your organization.
In this session, you will learn:
- The definitions of artificial intelligence and machine learning
- How companies are leveraging AI for L&D today
- Potential and emerging uses of AI for learning
- How to get started with using AI in your L&D practices
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
AI, machine learning, predictive analytics
Koreen Pagano
Founder & CEO
Isanno, Inc.
Koreen Pagano, founder and CEO of Isanno, Inc., is a globally recognized product leader with deep expertise in learning technologies, skills strategy, AI, analytics, and immersive technologies. Koreen has held product leadership roles building go-to-market strategies and technology and content products for learning, skills, and talent markets at Lynda.com, LinkedIn, D2L, Degreed, and Wiley. Koreen previously founded Tandem Learning in 2008, where she pioneered immersive learning through virtual worlds, games, and simulations. She has taught graduate courses at Harrisburg University and provided advisory and consulting services to emerging tech companies in the VR and education markets. Koreen is a seasoned international speaker and author of the book Immersive Learning.
710 Master the Technical Production & Engage Your vILT Participants
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Martinique B
Do you really need a virtual classroom producer? Maybe you don't. But what you absolutely need is the skill set. Whether you assign them to a dedicated producer or do them yourself, commanding the technical aspects of your virtual classroom delivery is the key to online learner engagement. Still not sure? Recall the last webinar you attended, the one that started late due to audio problems? Remember the recent breakout activity you tried to complete, but everyone was too technically confused to get to the assignment? Or how about that time everything was cancelled because the slides wouldn't load, and no one could figure out what to do? Virtual classroom production is an art. It requires a unique skill set that balances deep platform knowledge with multitasking agility, while at the same time calming everyone down before the panicked screams can be heard through the mute.
In this session you'll explore the reasons why virtual training is so challenging, and how virtual classroom production skills can help you mitigate and even prevent many common technical issues. You’ll break down the logistical and technical considerations that go into the planning and delivery of a successful live online event to understand the part production skills play in making them run smoothly for speakers and attendees. You’ll identify the tasks, outline the responsibilities, and create an action plan for how to manage the production side of virtual training. This approach will allow your content experts to focus on being effective, connecting with the participants, and stop allowing the technology to get in the way of success.
In this session, you will learn:
- Strategies for virtual event production and the role of the producer in online learning
- The distinct benefits a producer skill set brings to the virtual classroom experience
- How to integrate three key producer tasks into the delivery of your virtual classroom, even if you don't have a producer
- How to implement a virtual classroom platform disaster recovery strategy
Audience:
Designers, managers
Technology discussed:
Zoom, all the WebEx Centers, Adobe Connect, GoTo Training/Webinar/Meeting
Kassy LaBorie
Founder & Principal Consultant
Kassy LaBorie Consulting
Kassy LaBorie is the founder and principal consultant at Kassy LaBorie Consulting. She is a professional speaker, author, facilitator, and instructional designer who specializes in virtual engagement for learning and development professionals and business owners who get to use web conferencing technology to connect with people around the globe. In her previous role at Dale Carnegie & Associates, she was the director of virtual training services, a corporate consultancy that partnered with organizations to help them develop, design, and develop successful online training strategies. Kassy is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. She's known for believing that "being online is certainly equal to, and in some cases, better than, being in-person!"
711 What's Your Problem? Using Design Thinking to Frame Performance Issues
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Trinidad AB
Everyone has had a manager come to them with a request that just treats a symptom of the real performance issue instead of the actual cause. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to convince managers and stakeholders to spend time and energy analyzing the problem that they're trying to address. When time is limited (and whose time isn't limited?) you need to maximize your conversations and get the whole story. You also need to update your root cause analysis toolkit with new frameworks to help you better identify and solve problems. And the answer for both is design thinking.
Whether you're new to design thinking or have led design sprints, this session will give you a chance to practice applying design thinking techniques to classic instructional design problems. You’ll learn how to guide your stakeholders to the root cause using design thinking tools. You’ll review the basics of design thinking and then dig into the second step, defining the problem. In groups, you’ll practice using design thinking techniques to align diverse teams. This hands-on experience will prepare you to facilitate your own exercises, build consensus, and frame performance problems to solve the root issue.
In this session, you will learn:
- How problem framing improves performance outcomes
- Frameworks that align thinking and build consensus
- When to supplement your current methods with design thinking
- Tips on how to facilitate problem definition exercises with a diverse group
Audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
MURAL
Kristen Hayden Safdie
Learning Consultant
Capital One
Kristen Hayden Safdie, learning consultant at Capital One, has designed learning experiences from the ground-up. Her past projects include developing and managing 10-week online courses, creating hours of instructional video with subject matter experts, and creating a tabletop card game to teach kids emergency skills. She is also experienced with the technical side of learning. She has implemented and administered learning management systems and developed complex eLearning interactions using Storyline, Evolve, Adapt, Captivate, H5P, and more.
712 What Fortnite Can Teach Us About Memory, Motivation & Learning
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Antigua A
Is the success of popular and engaging games like Fortnite an accident? Not at all. These game developers have figured out strategies for how they can effectively capture someone’s attention and retain it over time. Imagine what you could accomplish if you knew some of the secret methods Fortnite uses and could apply them in your own work?
Well, the secret is out! In this session you’ll take a deep dive into 10 proven methods that Fortnite uses in their video game to be the best in what they do. You’ll explore the science behind how the brain reacts to in-game components (like micro interactions), the careful design that comes with everything you do in the game, and—the best part—how you can apply these techniques in your own learning initiatives to make them more engaging and motivating.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the Skinner Box, and what a huge role it plays in gaming and in learning
- How methods like loss aversion can be leveraged in learning
- About Sunk Cost, and whether it is a fallacy
- About the Zeigarnik Effect and Ovsiankina Effect
- How Fortnite uses these simple but effective methods to keep players entertained
- How we can take those methods and apply them in our everyday work
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Jeremy Medrano
Chief Creative Officer
Infinitude Creative Group
Jeremy Medrano, a creative director at Infinitude Creative Group, found his passion for visual design and storytelling early on. After graduating with a degree in digital filmmaking from the Art Institute of Dallas, Jeremy began his career as a video editor, motion graphic artist, and graphic designer. Due to his dedication and drive for innovative results, he quickly moved into a management role, then into creative direction. At Infinitude, he oversees the artistic development of all work; supervises the team of designers, editors, and production artists; and is always pushing the envelope to produce better work and expand the organization's capabilities.
713 Using Adapt to Create Engaging Learning Apps
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Andros A
When you're not a developer, installing frameworks using node, git, grunt and terminal can seem totally overwhelming. Type what? Where? Do what? How do I launch it? Oh, I give up! Then when you’ve finally bribed a developer to help you and you've got the framework working, what happens when it needs updating, or worse, stops working? The Adapt framework and builder have been somewhat confusing for many, and that's not to mention the lack of customization in the builder. What if there was an option out there that offered the Adapt Builder hosted in the cloud? Well there is, and it's fantastic.
In this session, you'll get a crash course in designing engaging learning apps using the Adapt Builder. You'll discover what the difference is between the Open Source Adapt Framework, Open Source Adapt Builder, and Learning Pool's Adapt Builder. You'll learn about the basics with an overview of articles, blocks, and components. Next, you’ll find out how customizing the menu and theme can bring your content in Adapt to life. You'll have the opportunity to see how the presentation and question components work, and how adding custom extensions adds more functionality. Finally, you'll find out more about publishing modules with Google Analytics, SCORM, and xAPI.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why you would want to use Adapt
- The benefits of using Adapt
- How to chunk content down into Adapt
- How to customize Adapt
- How to test/review/deploy Adapt
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed:
Learning Pool's Adapt Builder
Cath Ellis
Learning Experience Designer
Cath Ellis Learning Design
Cath Ellis is a freelance learning experience designer at Cath Ellis Learning Design, a boutique eLearning company in Victoria, Australia. She has more than two decades of experience creating award-winning learning experiences for clients across the globe. She has a bachelor of adult learning and development and a master of digital technology in education from the University of Melbourne.
714 DemoFest Showcase
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Montego DE
DemoFest is a huge science fair-like event; a collective showcase of eLearning examples from conference participants. As you move from table to table, exploring a wide range of learning solutions, you can discuss the tools, tech, and processes with those who built them. Although it’s an exciting evening of discovery, diving deep into each of the projects can be challenging.
Join us the day after to get an exclusive, in-depth look at some of the most popular solutions, voted on by your peers and shared at DemoFest. Over this full hour, select demonstrators will go back under the hood of their solutions and allow you to dig into the how and why of their projects.
In this session, you will learn:
- Cutting-edge examples of innovative learning solutions
- Why a design decision was made, and its impact
- About the various technologies used, and why they were chosen
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Mark Britz
Director of Event Programming
Learning Guild
Mark Britz is the director of event programming at The Learning Guild. Previously he worked for more than 15 years designing and managing learning solutions with organizations such as Smartforce, Pearson Digital Learning, the SUNY Research Foundation, Aspen Dental Management, and Systems Made Simple. Mark is also an organizational social designer, helping businesses achieve the benefits of becoming more connected and collaborative to improve learning and engagement. Mark is the author of Social By Design: How to create and scale a collaborative company, and regularly presents and writes about the use of social media for learning, collaborative networks, and organizational design.
715 BYOD: Create Interactive VR Experiences with Captivate and Photoshop
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
St Thomas AB
Currently, VR is the biggest area of growth and potential in eLearning. For an affordable first step into this world, many leverage 360 cameras to capture the content they need. Cameras that can take full 360 images are coming down in price but they may capture flaws you’ll want to correct before you use the footage in your final project. For instance, what happens when there are subjects that you don't want in the picture, including the person who shot the images?
This hands-on session will show you the work flow of taking a 360 picture, editing it to correct flaws, and then stitching it together to be used in an Adobe Captivate VR project. You’ll learn tips and techniques for how to use Adobe Photoshop to remove unwanted items and insert additional assets to enhance the VR world. This round-trip session will take you from shooting the 360 degree image, enhancing it in Photoshop, stitching it in Action Director, and finally creating an interactive VR project.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to import VR images into Photoshop
- Techniques for editing VR material to remove flaws from images
- Ways to insert additional content into a VR image
- How to stitch together VR images
- Steps for importing VR images into a VR project
- How to incorporate interaction within a VR project
Audience:
Designers, developers, media specialists
Technology discussed:
Adobe Photoshop, Samsung Gear 360, Action Director, Adobe Captivate
Participant technology requirements:
A PC or Mac with the following software: Photoshop CC 2018, Action Director (or equivalent image stitching software), and Adobe Captivate 2019. Trial versions of this software will work for this session.
Phil Cowcill
Senior eLearning Specialist
PJ Rules
Phil Cowcill is senior eLearning specialist at PJ Rules. He started his career in 1983 when he was hired as a technologist at a local college. In 1985 he joined a team to develop Canada's first Interactive Videodisc. He started teaching part-time in 1989, moving to full-time in 1995. He led his class to build one of the first news websites that streamed video in 1996. In 2011 he launched the very first dedicated mobile application development program. Phil retired from full-time teaching in 2015 and moved to working as a contractor with the Department of National Defence as a senior eLearning specialist.
716 BYOD: Use Power BI to Track, Analyze, and Visualize Training Data for Free
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Montego C
L&D teams are eager to collect and use training analytics data, but effective dashboards are missing from many learning platforms. That's because training analytics dashboards are challenging to implement, and every end-user wants something just a bit different. Some analytics tools require a graduate-level understanding of statistics to learn and use, but not Power BI. This free tool from Microsoft makes it easy for you to rapidly create a custom suite of dashboards, and craft reports and data visualizations that can demonstrate the impact of training to managers or convince executives that eLearning correlates to improvements in KPIs.
In this session, you’ll learn the skills you’ll need to start using PowerBI to create the dashboards and reports you need. You’ll use a sample LMS export file in this tool and find out what steps to take to turn your data into beautiful dashboards and reports. Power BI offers dozens of data visualization formats, so you’ll take a closer look at how to use it to visualize your training data, link data tables, add or change variables, and use natural language queries to explore your data more deeply. You’ll also discover how to create a dashboard that provides one-glance access to the latest data, and create custom views that limit or extend access to other teams and individuals in your organization.
In this session, you will learn:
- The capabilities of the free Power BI platform
- How to download and use Power BI
- To import training data and configure visual widgets
- To design custom reports and data visualizations
- How to use filtering to adjust which data is graphed
- To perform AI-enabled natural language queries
- How to create and share custom dashboards and reports
- How to schedule daily data refreshes
Audience:
Developers, managers
Technology discussed:
Microsoft Power BI
Participant technology requirements:
A Windows laptop. Windows 7 is the minimum required to run Microsoft PowerBI, but Windows 10 is recommended.
Dan Belhassen
President/Founder
Neovation Learning Solutions
Dan Belhassen is the president and founder of Neovation Learning Solutions. A 20+ year tech entrepreneur, Dan Belhassen is passionate about how integrating relevant technology improves KPIs and drives opportunities, with a laser-focus on how best to measure the impact of online training to close skill and knowledge gaps. His speaking style is best described as "demystifying all things internet, making technology understandable/adoptable even by the least tech-savvy person in the audience” while engaging and even challenging the technical professionals in the room.
801 Principles of Experiment Design: Getting the Most Value from Rapid Prototyping
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Montego B
Team mantras these days seem to be all about acceleration: Get stuff done. Fail fast. Learn fast. Move fast and break things. Even our methods emphasize the need for speed: Agile. Sprint. Rapid prototyping. And while there's no doubt that traditional design approaches are slow, it seems we're still wasting money on tech that doesn't meet our needs, building stuff we can't scale, disappointing stakeholders, and frustrating users.
In our rush to ditch waterfall approaches and heavy project plans for lightweight pilots and proofs-of-concept, we've missed a fundamental lesson: Prototypes require thoughtful experiment design to generate meaningful outcomes. In this session, apply the principles of rapid prototyping to prioritize what you should prototype and who you should test it with. Learn to test, evaluate, and ask the right questions to ensure you're investing your limited time, money, and resources on the right things. Walk away with the ability to design experiments that help you prioritize risk and learn the most in the cheapest, fastest way possible.
In this session, you will learn:
- The principles of experiment design and rapid prototyping
- How to prioritize your initiatives
- How to quickly generate valuable feedback about a prototype
- How to leverage customer insight and data to make rapid decisions
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed:
usertesting.com, Google slides, Pop App
Becca Wilson
Senior Product Manager, Training & Certification
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Becca Wilson is a New York City-based product manager, designer, and facilitator with experience creating innovative and engaging education products for companies and individuals. She has more than 10 years of experience in instructional design, training delivery, and developing blended learning strategies for Fortune 500 organizations. Becca currently works at Amazon Web Services (AWS) on initiatives designed to close the global cloud skills gap at scale. Previously, she worked at IBM where she focused on addressing the scarcity of artificial intelligence skills in the marketplace. Becca was also an education product manager and learning experience architect at General Assembly, supporting the ongoing discovery and development of scalable learning products in UX and product management.
802 Measure the Impact of Social Learning
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Andros B
What if there was a way to get more accurate data on what, how, and when people needed to learn? Standard L&D analytics generally measure content: Who took what course or module? Where did they take it? When? And, did they like it? We assess with ADDIE models, trying to ensure we hit the right pain points for learners. We use surveys and guesswork. Yet we ignore social learning, the very best source of learning data in an organization.
This session will teach you how to measure the impact social learning has on organizational performance, drill down into what data matters, and uncover how you can measure it. If you measure social learning, you can improve not just people's work experiences, but also your formal learning content. It's not about content views. It's not about social media metrics. It's about interaction. (We generally call this social network analytics.) This session will get you started with measuring social learning and give you strategies for how to respond to the results. You’ll discover what data you should look for, how to find it, what other data you can add to produce a more rounded picture, and how you should communicate with executives and other stakeholders about the findings.
In this session, you will learn:
- Social network analysis basics
- Basic social learning measurement
- How to leverage the interplay with other organizational data sources
- Techniques for measuring ESN/chat data
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
ESNs/chat tools, social media tools, SWOOP analytics
James Tyer
Vive Engage Customer Engagement
Microsoft
James Tyer has helped organizations make the most of tools such as Microsoft Viva Engage for over 15 years.He helps people talk to and work together at scale in or between organizations. He designs the facilitation process, builds bridges between silos, and teaches/coaches new ways of working and collaborating.
803 Better Audio and Video on a Budget
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Antigua A
We have all suffered through online learning content that featured poor audio and/or video. We suffered through it because the material was valuable. But have you ever stopped and asked yourself why anyone would sit through this? Why would anyone come back for more? And why don't I do something to improve the quality of my audio and video content for my learners?
In this session you’ll learn how to improve your audio and video quality by optimizing your recording workflow and making smart equipment purchases that won't break your budget. See exactly which pieces of equipment are critical for professional quality audio. Learn which software will give you the best results, and how to fine tune it to ensure you are getting the best audio and video captures. Because quality begins at the source, find out how to turn your office or a spare room into a recording booth that will dramatically improve your audio quality. Then turn attention to better quality video with a variety of techniques that will make your videos stand out. Discover how to use existing lighting to your advantage, and how to supplement it with additional lighting. Dig into your camera settings to dial in better color. Step away from that noticeable green screen and into better backdrops. Take back control of your learning content and create amazing audio and video, even if you are on a budget.
In this session, you will learn:
- What equipment you need to record great audio and video
- How to configure your camera and microphone for quality
- Ways to improve your videos with lighting
- How to improve sound quality with simple adjustments to your recording space
- Techniques for achieving better green screen results
- Which export settings you should be using for the best results
Audience:
Designers
Technology discussed:
Video cameras, mobile phones, preamps, microphones, audio interfaces, lighting, Adobe Premiere, TechSmith Camtasia, Audacity
William Everhart
Lead Developer
Artisan E-Learning
William Everhart is a lead developer at Artisan E-Learning, helping clients fulfill their learning needs. His favorite thing in life is witnessing "aha!" moments in his students’ faces—that moment when they finally grasp a concept or technique that has eluded them for so long. As an Adobe Certified Instructor, William has taught thousands and continues to do so as a contributing author at LinkedIn Learning and Pluralsight. Through classroom training, one-on-one coaching, and online programs, he helps people learn to create amazing learning content.
804 Lessons Learned from Implementing an LMS
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Trinidad AB
Choosing your organization's first learning management system is a daunting task. What features should you be looking for? What questions should you be asking? How much is too much to spend? And what happens after you make the decision? In many ways, implementing the LMS you've chosen can be even more daunting than making the initial selection.
This interactive session will explore some of the questions you should be asking and the features you should be looking for in an off-the-shelf LMS solution. Participants and facilitators alike will discuss some of the lessons learned in the selection process. Then, discover what happens during the implementation process. What stakeholders or departments need to be involved? What does the process look like? What are the common pitfalls, and how can you avoid them?
In this session, you will learn:
- Questions to ask your potential LMS provider
- Features to look for in an LMS
- About the implementation process, including stakeholder involvement and timeline
- What the most common implementation issues are, and how to avoid them
Audience:
Developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
LMS solutions
Vicky Hale
Chief Learning Officer
GAAP Dynamics
Vicky Hale is a director of eLearning at GAAP Dynamics. With a degree in accounting (and a minor in visual arts) from the University of Richmond, her path to the learning community has been nontraditional. Vicky began her career as an auditor at PwC and still holds an active CPA license. A desire for teaching and the need for a more creative outlet led her to GAAP Dynamics, where she spearheaded the company's eLearning initiative. She is passionate about instructing, accounting, eLearning, and marketing, and looking for ways to combine them all!
LaTarshia Wooten
Learning Experience Designer
LaTarshia Wooten is a learning experience designer with a background in communication and education media. She is passionate about helping others learn and understands the importance of reaching them on different platforms. She believes that learning should be fun, interactive, and provides value to the learner.
805 Getting Started with Adaptive Learning
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Jamaica AB
Personalization is no longer a differentiator in consumer experiences. It has quickly become an expectation. Meanwhile, organizations are lagging behind when it comes to the workplace experience, and employees are starting to notice. As organizations rapidly improve their technology and data infrastructures via artificial intelligence and machine learning, L&D professionals must take proactive steps to re-imagine their tactics and set the foundation for personalized and adaptive learning.
This session will help you break down key considerations for introducing personalization within a modern learning ecosystem. You’ll use real-world examples to demonstrate how you can find and collect the data needed to adapt learning and support experiences. You’ll then work through a results-first content design methodology that can activate your data strategy and explore the technology requirements for implementing adaptive learning. Finally, you’ll look at how to reinforce the most important part of the personalized learning puzzle—the human element—including re-imagined roles for the employee and manager, as well as L&D.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to leverage personalized learning to add value for employees and improve workplace performance
- Strategies for finding and collecting the data needed to drive adaptive learning experiences
- Techniques for designing content to fit an adaptive learning model
- How to select technology that can enable adaptive learning experiences
Audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
Adaptive learning platforms, machine learning technology, learning experience platforms, microlearning platforms
JD Dillon
Chief Learning Architect
Axonify
JD Dillon became a learning and enablement expert over two decades working in operations and talent development with dynamic organizations including Disney, Kaplan, and AMC. A respected author and speaker in the workplace learning community, JD continues to apply his passion for helping people around the world do their best work every day in his role as Axonify's chief learning architect. JD is also the founder of LearnGeek, a workplace learning insights and advisory group.
806 Putting 702010 to Work
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Martinique B
We learn most as we do, when we apply new knowledge and ideas and we can expand this understanding when we interact with others. The 702010 principle re-awakened this understanding over 30 years ago and has reached the mainstream conversation but has also been met with misunderstanding and resistance about who and how to make it actionable.
In this session, you’ll learn to approach 702010 as a principle to guide how you support learning in your organization. We’ll discuss the interplay of informal, social and formal learning and how they actually support each other. You’ll learn of a strategy and various tactics used to empower and encourage social and informal learning and how it can be used to improve formal learning as well as create a culture of openness and sharing.
In this session, you will learn:
- The importance of viewing 702010 as a principle over a model or approach
- Who, how and where to start building a 702010 Framework
- The importance of starting with Social
- Approaches to measuring the impact of 702010
Audience:
Managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
Enterprise Social Technology
Mark Britz
Director of Event Programming
Learning Guild
Mark Britz is the director of event programming at The Learning Guild. Previously he worked for more than 15 years designing and managing learning solutions with organizations such as Smartforce, Pearson Digital Learning, the SUNY Research Foundation, Aspen Dental Management, and Systems Made Simple. Mark is also an organizational social designer, helping businesses achieve the benefits of becoming more connected and collaborative to improve learning and engagement. Mark is the author of Social By Design: How to create and scale a collaborative company, and regularly presents and writes about the use of social media for learning, collaborative networks, and organizational design.
807 Optimizing Teams to Build Immersive Learning Games
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Barbados A
Learning games are a fun and interactive way to help enhance knowledge and skills. When learners are immersed in a learning game, there’s a higher likelihood they’ll take away key concepts. However, creating immersive learning games can be time consuming. At DISH we wanted to use games, but there were too many concurrent initiatives that forced our learning professionals to be spread too thin to cover a lot of ground. To focus on building more immersive learning games, the organization needed to adjust its development strategy to leverage their workforce in a smarter and more efficient manner.
In this case study session, you’ll learn how DISH overcame their resource challenges and efficiently built DemoFest's 2018 Best of Show Hopper Escape Room. You’ll get insight into the development strategy DISH's learning team used to go from inception to implementation in less than six months. You’ll also learn best practices you can apply to make your development workflow more efficient and effective. So, whether you’re a one-person shop, small learning team, or large organization, you’ll walk away with tactics you can implement to create the best possible version of your learning game with the resources you have.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to take your learning game design strategy to the next level
- Which tactics can improve efficiency in learning game design
- How to get leadership buy-in and trust so you can dedicate resources to creating your learning games
- What resources you’ll need to create a successful learning game
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed:
Articulate Storyline, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere
Armando Mancera
Senior Manager, Learning Experience Design
DISH
Armando Mancera is a 16-year veteran in training and development. He has held positions in instructional design, learning content management, facilitation, and leadership. He completed his graduate studies at Arizona State University, earning a master’s of education degree with an emphasis in educational technology. His passion for working in education revolves around using technology to enhance learning strategies, and helping others gain skills and knowledge to achieve their goals. At DISH, Armando leads the teams responsible for designing training to support all of the company's customer acquisition and retention efforts.
Pace Myrick
Learning Experience Design Manager II
DISH
Pace Myrick is an accomplished learning leader in the learning and development field for seven years. He has led instructional designers and trainers to build and deliver award-winning content, as recognized by Training Magazine, Brandon Hall Group, and more. With a bachelor's degree in human resource development and extensive experience in leading people, Pace has held fundamental roles in changing the training landscape at DISH.
808 The Facilitator's Role in VR, AR & MR: Skills Needed for Success
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Martinique A
There's an explosion of virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality applications in corporate training, and some of these training programs need facilitator support. What's the facilitator role in VR, AR, & MR training? And what skills do facilitators need in order to be effective in the VR/MR/AR classroom? Whether it's a facilitator guiding participants through a fully-immersive simulation, using mixed-reality applications in a learning event, or simply guiding people through a blended learning program with VR components, we have to address the new and updated skills needed for effective facilitation in these environments. Facilitators need to figure out which traditional classroom facilitation skills apply, and which ones don't.
In this session, you’ll learn how to adapt facilitator skills to these new environments. You’ll investigate which types of VR, AR, and MR learning programs require facilitator support, and then compare the similarities and differences of the traditional classroom trainer role to the new learning experience facilitator role. You'll explore five facilitation skills needed to be successful in these new environments: mastering the technology, supporting participant learning by creating comfortable learning environments, engaging a virtual/remote/distributed audience using available platform tools, enhancing your voice and virtual presence, and debriefing online simulations for learning transfer. You’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of facilitator support needed to make VR, AR, and MR learning programs a success, and also be able to determine how and when these skills could be used.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to identify the types of VR, AR, and MR learning programs that benefit from facilitator support
- The differences between traditional classroom facilitation and learning experience facilitation
- What skills are needed to be an effective facilitator in an immersive VR environment
- When to use MR/AR tools available in traditional virtual classroom platforms
- The five skills you’ll need to build to be an effective learning experience facilitator
Audience:
Designers, managers, virtual classroom facilitators
Technology discussed:
VR/MR/AR technologies
Cindy Huggett
Principal Consultant
Cindy Huggett Consulting
As a leading industry expert and 20+ year pioneer of virtual training, Cindy Huggett, CPTD, has vast experience delivering engaging learning solutions via the virtual and hybrid classroom. She's the author of six acclaimed books on the subject, including The Facilitator's Guide to Immersive, Blended and Hybrid Learning. She is a past member of the ATD global board of directors and was one of the first to earn the Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP now CPTD) credential. She holds a master's degree from the University of Pittsburgh and was a Triangle Business Journal 30- Under-30 Award Winner.
809 Embracing Automation in Modern L&D
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Barbados B
Automation is no longer a word that you can ignore. While it may seem reserved for manual labor and robotics, it's actually impacting every industry and market. L&D is not immune. With the constant push to do things faster, better, and cheaper, it can be felt in delivering the products and services that L&D provides. Because of that, leveraging process and task automation may become an important way to help your team remain relevant. L&D automation can take many forms, but how do you start? Since automation for the sake of automation can be destructive and cause additional friction, how do you make strategic choices about which situations it’s best suited for?
At PwC we've embraced automation in all its forms to help in our transition to a new level of digital L&D. In this session, you'll learn not only how automation can help your current organization, but also how to identify opportunities that are ripe for it. Automation is a mindset and a skill. Using real-life examples from PwC, we will discuss tools, technologies, and share how we've upskilled our workforce to not only prepare for automation, but recognize and execute on existing opportunities.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to recognize L&D automation opportunities
- How to operate simple automation tools/technologies
- How to automate simple L&D processes
- How to identify disruptive automation
Audience:
Developers, managers
Technology discussed:
Tableau, UI Path, Alteryx, Power BI, Google Suite
Sean Bengry
Director, Digital Learning Studio
PwC
Sean Bengry is a director in PwC’s Digital Learning Studio. He keeps apprised of L&D trends and focuses PwC on its role in the ever-shifting state of learning culture and the intersection of technology. Sean is passionate about leveraging technology to help people find the right information they need to do their job successfully. As an active speaker and leader, his work has taken him all over the world as he continues to assist others in developing corporate learning strategy, but more importantly, changing the overall culture of learning within companies.
810 Case Study: Using Branching Scenarios to Address Specific Needs
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Montego DE
In their training, people at an oil and gas company could perfectly define and identify first aid key concepts and successfully complete knowledge checks, such as deciding which technique would prove more useful in certain situations. However, when an accident took place in the real world, they didn't know what to do, how to act, or how to put into practice the theory they’d learned. The company needed a solution that would help their employees deal with these daily situations and teach them how to make life-and-death decisions, while still providing them with a safe place to hone their skills. The solution? Using branching scenarios to create risk-free environments for people to practice what they’d learned and see the consequences of their actions.
In this case study session, you’ll explore how this challenge was overcome by using a branching scenario where people had to decide what to do at each step of the story. Should they call the ambulance right away or should they administer first aid? Should they move the injured person or just leave them where they were? Based around the most common accidents and injuries in the workplace, the scenario had suspense and drama without being contrived or unbelievable, and included practical feedback to highlight the consequences of people’s choices. You’ll also dive deep into the difference between the "telling feedback" and the "showing feedback," and how the latter is more useful for branching scenarios. By the end of this session you’ll know how to craft scenarios that prompt self-reflection and show people how to act in difficult situations.
In this session, you will learn:
- How scenarios enable the audience to apply the learning in context rather than simply recalling facts
- Why enabling learners to apply concepts in real-life situations promotes deep learning and the appreciation of differing perspectives
- How to use scenarios increase the empathy and provide greater insights into challenges faced by others
- Approaches for allowing people’s choices to control the story so they can see and feel the impact of their decisions
Audience:
Designers, managers
Technology discussed:
Storyline, Chroma, video production
Magali Verrengia
Instructional Design Manager
Third Term Learning
Magali Verrengia is a certified translator with five years of experience in instructional design and global solutions. As an instructional design manager and global solutions consultant, she provides project leadership and client management for the design and development of learning offerings; serves as the liaison and collaborates with stakeholders to plan and scope projects, communicates and negotiates timelines to ensure expectations and commitments are met, monitors project performance, and reports progress and outcomes. Magali also helps her clients to see value in new approaches and research, and implement new and emerging technologies/methodologies.
Franco Pomidoro
R&D Department Manager and Senior Project Manager
Third Term Learning
Franco Pomidoro is research & development department manager and senior project manager at Third Term Learning. As research & development department manager, he researches new eLearning technologies and coordinates and supervises a team of developers and front-end designers on the installation, configuration, and integration of Moodle with external HR systems. As senior project manager, he conducts needs analysis and content development, coordinates with subject matter experts to identify target audience training needs, and is the client point of contact throughout a project’s lifespan; maintaining project documentation and ensuring quality control of all deliverables.
811 Designing eLearning with Mobile in Mind
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Antigua B
eLearning is typically built with a computer-first approach in mind. Designers imagine their learners to be sitting at a PC or laptop, and leave it to the responsive design functions of rapid content authoring tools to do the hard work of making the learning mobile ready. The downside of this approach means this eLearning isn’t optimized fully for mobile usability, which is a challenge because usability and accessibility for eLearning goes beyond adjusting to a smaller screen. Designers need to know how to build with mobile-first in mind to ensure the experiences they create can be used effectively and efficiently, and to avoid frustrating mobile learners.
In this session you’ll learn how to design your eLearning to be mobile ready and easy to use every time. You’ll explore simple usability assessment techniques to design for optimal mobile learning, as well as techniques to evaluate your current eLearning and optimize it for a mobile environment. This session will explore mobile heuristics, identifying key aspects of your design that improve user experience in a mobile learning environment. You’ll also take a closer look at some of the pitfalls of multimedia, interactions, and navigation in mobile learning, and how to avoid them.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to use mobile heuristics to improve usability
- Strategies to help avoid common pitfalls when designing from a PC/laptop-first perspective
- Techniques for designing multimedia, interactions, and navigation for mobile
- Fundamental tips for mobile accessibility
- How to evaluate and adapt PC/laptop-based eLearning to a mobile environment
Audience:
Designers, developers
Technology discussed:
Smartphones, Storyline, Captivate
Lisa Mertes Sepahi
National Training Director
CSH
Lisa Mertes Sepahi is the national director of the training center at the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), a national non-profit providing professional development and consultancy services. With over 20 years in both public and private sectors, Lisa has experience in learning design, curriculum development, and virtual learning. She loves learning tech and received a master's in instructional technology and media at Columbia University. She blends her learning design experience with her years as a social worker and human services trainer.
812 Working Toward Minimum Viable Product in LXD: What, When, and How
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Andros A
You've received a request for training support on a new initiative. It's high-profile, mission-critical, and must be launched on time. But the tool/process won't be ready until the same day your training needs to go live. There's no option for pushing back the launch. What do you do? Well, you can panic, get angry, or get to work. Enter the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)—normally used for software development and other Agile development processes—but an approach that can also be useful for learning.
In this session, you’ll discover how to use an MVP approach with your learning experience design. You’ll look into what a learning MVP is, and what it isn't. You’ll investigate when it makes sense to use this approach, how to build buy-in from stakeholders, and what strategies can help you implement it. You’ll also walk through a case-study where this approach was used to roll out a new software tool, and discover practical tips for how to apply insights from that project to your own.
In this session, you will learn:
- What a training MVP is, and what it isn't
- How to identify when an MVP is best suited for a problem
- Ways to iterate for the MVP launch and beyond, all the way to final product
- How to develop contingency plans for when things go wrong
- Tips for setting expectations with stakeholders, sponsors, and learners
- How to build relationships and gain fans through the MVP process
- How the MVP can fit into your larger learning experience design strategy
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed:
Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets, Articulate Storyline, Slack, knowledge management platforms
Michael Jones
Learning Experience Designer
Lyft
Mike Jones, a learning experience designer (LXD) at Lyft, has over a decade of experience advocating for learners; helping people learn and grow in whatever they do. He is an eLearning development guru, instructional design nerd, and a professional lifelong learner. Mike works extensively with the Articulate 360 suite and has created award- winning eLearning and instructor-led training in various settings. Some of his most notable work includes solutions that have reached audiences of over 99,000 learners.
813 30 Things You (Probably) Don't Know PowerPoint Can Do
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
St Croix AB
Creating the look and feel of a course, document, or animation can be complex and require a plethora of different tools, right? Wrong! You already own one tool that can get you started on every one of these items and more—PowerPoint. With a creative approach to this common tool, you can actually edit photos, design icons, create videos, emulate software, edit audio, and lots more.
In this session you’ll explore the wide range of unexpected tasks PowerPoint can help you accomplish. You’ll take a closer look at 30 practical PowerPoint tips and tricks that beginners and experts alike can use to create professional-looking presentations, wireframes, photos, icons, vector illustrations, animations, and more. You already own PowerPoint; why not learn what it can really do?
In this session, you will learn:
- How to use photo editing functionality within PowerPoint
- Simple approaches for creating and editing vector graphics in this tool
- Ways to create animations and work with 3D images
- Techniques for recording and editing audio in your presentation file
- How to resize PowerPoint screens for print or mobile design, giving you more flexibly with how your final design can be used
- Tips for how to create more exciting presentations
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed:
PowerPoint 360
Randy Meredith
Learning Technology Developer Sr
Huntington Bank
Randy Meredith is a senior learning technology developer for the performance development department of Huntington Bank. In this position, he has created more than 100 interactive courses and educational videos from inception though publication. Prior to working at Huntington Bank, Randy served as creative director for Brighter Minds Media, where he designed children’s educational software for such well-known brands as Marvel Comics, PBS, Dreamworks Animation, and more.
814 Tools, Apps, and Online Resources: Community Favorites
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Montego A
With the wide range of tools, apps, and online resources being launched all the time, it’s not always easy to stay on top of what might help you out in your day-to-day work. It’s also easy with this stream of new options to miss out on great new updates or techniques that can allow you to use old favorites in new ways.
Through a series of three-minute, mini presentations, you’ll hear from a wide range of speakers about the tools, apps, and online resources they find make a noticeable difference in the work they do in L&D. You’ll discover new resources and software and new ways to use them that can assist you with designing and developing learning experiences—from tools that will help you create content to others that can help your productivity. These speakers won’t just share what these tools are, they’ll also share how they can be used specifically in our industry, and how they’ve personally leveraged them in their own work. You’ll leave this session with a list of practical new ideas for tools and resources to check out when you get back to work.
In this session, you will learn:
- What new tools and apps can help you create engaging learning experiences
- About existing tools and apps you may be able to use in new ways
- Which online resources can help you do your work more efficiently, creatively, and/or inexpensively
- Real-world use cases for how these tools, apps, and online resources can be used in L&D
Audience:
Designers, developers.
Technology discussed:
A wide range of technology related to creating learning experiences and managing work in L&D will be shared. Technology categories may include eLearning development, design, multimedia/video, productivity/project management, collaboration, and more.
Mini Presentation topics and speakers
- Airtable: Natasha Gunn
- Timeular: Kim Bettendorf
- Metaverse: Tracey Stokely
- H5P Interactive Video: Amos Glenn
- Vyond: Laurelle Bednar
- Twine: Tessa Kowaliw
- Asana: Julia Shawver
- Zoom: Nancy Terry
- Flipgrid: Colette Boynton
- Trello: Jill Hutchinson
- Twisted Wave: Maria Pendolino
Bianca Woods
Customer Advocacy Manager
Articulate
Bianca Woods is a customer advocacy manager at Articulate. Her past experience includes working on the community and event programming for the Learning Guild, learning and communications roles at BMO Financial Group, and teaching art. Bianca is passionate about how visual design and multimedia can help people learn, loves test-driving new technology, and collects photos of bizarre warning signs.
815 BYOD: Improve Learner Experience with Six Simple Graphic Design Principles
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
St Thomas AB
A common challenge many instructional designers face is the need to be both instructionally design-minded and also graphically adept. And even if you have good instincts on what looks good, you may not always know why certain graphic design decisions support learning and others don't. Being able to quickly review and update visual content is key, but you also want to make sure the design decisions you're making have the greatest impact on improving the learner's experience. Not only that, but the number of design and development tools available to you can also be overwhelming, and even simple tools now include more graphic design features. Does this now mean you need a graphic design background to use visual design approaches and tools effectively? The good news is not necessarily.
In this session you’ll learn simple design tips and tricks that can help anyone improve their visuals. Simple tools such as PowerPoint are becoming more robust with graphic design features, so you don't need an expensive suite of high-end programs—just the right design principles to apply. In this hand-on session, you’ll learn about six graphic design principles—contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity, similarity, and symmetry—and how to apply them. You’ll find out how to create visuals that don't just look good but also effectively communicate content and facilitate learning. Then apply what you’ve learned about how to quickly evaluate and critique a visual design by editing a slide that needs some design love and attention.
In this session, you will learn:
- The six core graphic design principles
- How those principles can support learning
- Where to find some key graphic design features of PowerPoint and Storyline
- How to quickly evaluate and critique a visual design
Audience:
Designers
Technology discussed:
PowerPoint, Storyline
Participant technology requirements:
PowerPoint or Storyline
Meg Fairchild
Instructional Designer
TorranceLearning
Meg Fairchild has been a learning experience creator for more than 10 years. What really gets her excited is thinking about the effect that better data can have on both how we teach and how we learn. As part of the team at TorranceLearning, she led and contributed to several projects that won awards through Brandon Hall, xAPI HyperDrive, and DemoFest. In her former career as an environmental educator, she taught rock climbing and high ropes classes to kids.
816 CANCELLED - BYOD: Accessibility! Designing WCAG & 508-Compliant Courses in Storyline 360
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Montego C
As learning organizations are focusing more on accessibility, they’re tasked with including section 508 and WCAG requirements in their eLearning content. This leaves many designers and design teams asking the same questions: How do I take a set of bullet points from a government website and put them into practice? What is tab order? What does good alt text look like and when should I be using it? Do I need both captions and a transcript to be compliant? Inquiring minds want to know!
In this hands-on BYOD session, we’ll answer these types of questions and more as we retrofit a Storyline 360 course to help it meet WCAG 2.0 level AA guidelines. With easy-to-implement tips on topics like tab order, alt text, and captioning, you’ll learn how to take a set of design standards used primarily by web designers and incorporate them into a compliant standard for instructional designers and internal learning content.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why customizing the tab order of slides is important and how to do it
- The difference between captions and transcripts, and what each is solving for
- How to add good alternate and directional text to your courses
- About accessibility best practices in Storyline 360, and how to stick to them
- Accessibility tips, tricks, and what to avoid
Audience:
Designers, developers
Technology discussed:
Storyline 360, Job Access with Speech (JAWS) screen reader
Participant technology requirements:
Participants should bring their laptop with a working version of Storyline 360 installed (this can be a trial version). A working internet browser is also needed to access an open source website for testing color contrast.
Jaclyn Waskewicz
Sr. Training Manager
Charles Schwab
Jaclyn Waskewicz is a senior training manager at Charles Schwab & Co. with over 15 years of experience in the training and eLearning industry. She is well-versed in accessibility (Section 508 and WCAG), developing learning design, and functional testing standards for the learning organization. She designs and develops both instructor-led and web-based training programs and materials, and podcast and vodcast (video) learning elements.
GS04 KEYNOTE: Tech Humanism: Shaping the Future of Meaningful Human Experiences
11:15 AM - 12:30 PM Friday, October 25
Grand Ballroom
With so much emphasis in business on artificial intelligence, automation of various kinds, and digital transformation, the future of human work—and even humanity itself—can feel uncertain. And while we often talk about user experience, customer experience, patient experience, and so on, we rarely consider what a truly integrated human experience might look and feel like.
“Tech Humanist” Kate O’Neill presents the case for why the future of humanity is in creating more meaningful, dimensional, and integrated experiences, and how emerging technologies like chatbots, wearables, IoT devices, and more can be included in this kind of human-centric design. While weaving in examples from a range of industries, applications, and even pop culture, Kate offers an inspiring and useful framework for designers, strategists, or anyone creating experiences for humans.
Kate O'Neill
Author
The Tech Humanist
Kate O’Neill, aka “the Tech Humanist,” is helping humanity prepare for an increasingly tech-driven future by teaching business how to make technology that’s better for humans. Kate has led innovations across technology, marketing, and operations for more than 20 years at a wide variety of companies, including Netflix, Toshiba America, and Magazines.com. Her primary focus as a writer and speaker is on the future of meaningful human experiences. Her latest book, Tech Humanist: How You Can Make Technology Better for Business and Better for Humans, launched in late 2018.