111 Strategies for Supporting Complex Skill Development
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, October 23
Montego A
eLearning has a satisfactory set of options if your goal is information delivery or procedural training, but what about creating meaningful eLearning for complex skill development or for the not-so-procedural kinds of problems that show up more and more in the workplace? What about creating learning for those situations where your SME can't tell you what good performance looks like except to say, "Well, you know it when you see it.”
In situations like these, frameworks from complexity science and the science of expertise development can help you diagnose complex learning problems, and they also help point to eLearning design strategies that can actually address and support complex skill development. In this session, you'll discuss how variables like frequency of use, tacitness or explicitness, and level of automaticity affect skill development. You'll find out how to use these variables and models to craft effective eLearning design and assessment strategies for complex learning.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to diagnose a complex skill problem
- How to use complexity models such as the Cynefin framework for learning
- How to use alternative assessment and feedback strategies for complex learning environments
- How to use learner self-assessment as a tool for complex learning
Audience:
Designers
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Julie Dirksen
Learning Strategist
Usable Learning
Julie Dirksen, a learning strategist with Usable Learning, is a consultant and instructional designer with more than 15 years' experience creating highly interactive eLearning experiences for clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to technology startups to grant-funded research initiatives. She's interested in using neuroscience, change management, and persuasive technology to promote sustainable long-term learning and behavior change. Her MS degree in instructional systems technology is from Indiana University, and she's been an adjunct faculty member at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She is the author of Design For How People Learn.
112 Transforming Instructional Design on a Shoestring
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, October 23
Trinidad AB
We are exposed to polished and professional content that we only wish we could recreate in a small- to medium-sized company. Hiring outside vendors to create videos, situational learning, and multimedia presentations is beyond the budget for many of us, and yet we recognize and understand the benefits of increasing employee and customer engagement through the leveraging of technology to supplement our online learning. If only we could find a way to do it ourselves…
In this session, we will explore ways of using affordable platforms and technology to create your own courses. You'll learn do-it-yourself solutions like acquiring your own video equipment, installing a platform that will let you grow and learn, justifying your training dollars with management, and building from what's already out there to make dynamic and engaging courses that your employees will be sure to remember. Plus, we'll talk about how to connect with local vendors, colleges, and schools to tap their knowledge and help support your own learning.
In this session, you will learn:
- Ways to expand your existing budget and justify new equipment/platforms
- How to overcome fear and resistance to learning new software platforms and technology
- Tips and tricks for leveraging your limited budget
- How to inexpensively leverage local resources, schools, vendors, etc.
- How a DIY approach is simultaneously affordable and wicked fun
Audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.), trainers, and educators
Technology discussed:
Trivantis software package (Lectora Inspire, Camtasia, Snagit), video equipment (camera, microphone, lighting, etc.)
Tom Cannon
Clinical Educator II
Maine Behavioral Healthcare
Tom Cannon is a licensed mental counselor-turned-educator whose passion for lifelong learning inspires his vocation. His sense of humor and engaging style make for an entertaining and informative learning experience. When he's not facilitating learning, Tom can be found trail running with his dog Bailey, building stuff in his workshop, and figuring out the next new software or gadget enhancement.
Melissa Gattine
Senior Educator
Maine Behavioral Healthcare
Melissa Gattine is a senior educator at Maine Behavioral Healthcare. She has her master's degree in counseling psychology, and 30+ years of experience working in the mental health system. She has been recognized by the State of Maine with the Dorothea Dix Award for her work in educating law enforcement and corrections officers about mental illness and how to respond to people in crisis. She is a mom, wife, dog owner, and beach comber, and a lover of all things that involve stitching.
113 Using Storytelling Strategies to Write Compelling Scenarios
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, October 23
Bermuda AB
Scenarios are wonderful tools for encouraging changes in performance. Once we see ourselves in a story and are invited to take on a challenge familiar to us, we become more open to evaluating our own behavior. But bringing a scenario to life takes more than simply describing a situation and slapping a name on the protagonist. Transforming seemingly mundane tasks into powerful stories is something with which even the most prolific and celebrated writers struggle. Writing scenarios for elearning is challenging because it requires communication and storytelling abilities that instructional design programs and certification programs do not teach. IDs are left to their own devices when creating immersive stories for learners that keep them engaged, and simultaneously addresses the performance we want to change.
This session will help you identify when scenarios are best used, and then how to write them. We'll cover getting the information you need from SMEs to write a meaningful story, using a scenario design model that will help ensure your scenarios include the appropriate components, using strategic storytelling techniques like focusing on change and encouraging empathy, and using a tool called the story spine as a way to quickly structure scenarios and find key points.
In this session, you will learn:
- The role of scenarios in creating authentic learning experiences
- Three strategic techniques of storytelling to an existing training scenario
- How common writing techniques used in scenario writing can affect the learning experience
- How to find tools to help you construct stories
Audience:
Designers
Technology discussed:
Microsoft Office Tools, online writing tools, ispring talkmaster
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Hadiya Nuriddin
CEO and Learning Strategist
Duets Learning
Hadiya Nuriddin has two decades of experience in learning strategy, instructional design, eLearning development, and facilitation. She worked in corporate learning before choosing to found her firm, Duets Learning, where she's worked with a wide array of companies on a variety of topics. She speaks at events and industry conferences and travels teaching courses for the Association for Talent Development (ATD). Hadiya holds an MEd in curriculum studies, an MA in writing, and the Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD) designation. She is the author of the book StoryTraining: Selecting and Shaping Stories That Connect, published by ATD.
210 A Crash Course on Designing for Any Virtual Classroom
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Wednesday, October 23
Jamaica AB
If they're going to work in a virtual classroom, your traditional learning methodologies need a makeover. A virtual session is more than lecture and uploaded PowerPoints. Unique techniques must be used to engage learners throughout the session. A common pitfall is to focus on the technology and forget about the design—often resulting in unengaging sessions focused on using the tools and not meeting the needs of the learners.
This session will explore the six key principles of successfully designing for any virtual classroom platform. The principles of feedback, equipment functionality, instructions, scripting, visual and verbal cues, and time management provide a blueprint for adapting traditional classroom methodologies for live, online instruction. Learn best practices gained from over 20 years' experience designing, developing, facilitating, and producing online events. Whether you want to simply improve facilitated online meetings, enhance a few classes by adding online follow-up webinars, or completely transform a full curriculum, these principles will provide the guidance you need to create successful live, online learning experiences.
In this session, you will learn:
- The six guiding principles of virtual classroom design
- The benefits and limitations of common virtual classroom tools, including how to compare functionality, speed of set up, and ease of use.
- How technology, timing, and talent (the "three Ts") affect design outcomes
- How to design interactions for your chosen virtual classroom platform
- A strategy for implementing design and delivery best practices within your organization
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed:
Adobe Connect, WebEx Meeting and Training Center, Zoom, GoTo Meeting and Webinar, Skype for Business
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Melissa Chambers
Online Instructional Specialist
MSC Consulting
Melissa Chambers is an online instructional specialist at MSC Consulting and a contract speaker coach/host for The Learning Guild's Online Forums and Guild Academy. Melissa has over 20 years' experience in creative media production, project and change management, online instructional design, and eLearning strategy development, and has been designing, producing, and coaching for synchronous online programs since 2002. She holds a master's degree in instructional design for online learning, and has spearheaded award-winning programs in eLearning, process improvement, and strategic development. Melissa has a passion for lifelong learning, technology, cultivating creativity, and having fun while working.
211 Using Brain Science to Increase Learning Retention and ROI
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Wednesday, October 23
St Croix AB
The two goals of any training program are to teach employees new information and then to enable them to transfer their new knowledge into their workplace. But learning transfer is a complex process, and most trainers do not understand the simple steps that they can take to ensure that knowledge transfers from the computer where it is learned to the workplace where it is needed.
To improve retention and transfer, you need to systematically reinforce training. In this session, you’ll learn of four brain-based techniques that Google is using to overcome the forgetting curve and create sustainable behavior change. These techniques include booster quizzing, social elaboration, strategic coaching, and depth of processing. You’ll see how you can easily incorporate these techniques into training programs and dramatically improve learning and retention.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to deploy a systematic program after training that dramatically increases retention and transfer
- How eLearning training can be customized to increase learning transfer
- How pre-tests, such as measuring an employee’s “readiness for change,” can lead to a much higher rate of learning transfer
- About three myths that interfere with successful transfer of learning
- Strategies to encourage executive buy-in on programs that promote learning transfer
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed:
Post-training reinforcement and social media
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Art Kohn
Professor
ASPIRE Consulting Group
Dr. Art Kohn earned his PhD in cognitive science at Duke University and is a consultant with Google, helping the organization develop new programs which train more than 1.2 billion people. Dr. Kohn's professional research explores how to present information in order to maximize learning and memory. He was awarded the National Professor of the Year award from the American Psychological Association and he won a Fulbright Fellowship in cognitive psychology and a second Fulbright Fellowship in distance education. He consults with organizations around the world, helping them modernize and optimize their training programs.
212 Building a House Without a Blueprint: Why Storyboards Make a Difference
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Wednesday, October 23
Antigua A
Imagine you're about to build a house with all the bells and whistles. Now imagine building this house without a set of blueprints. Would your contractors know what to build, and where? Would the city be able to approve any additions or modifications you want to make? Like the blueprint for a house, your eLearning storyboard outlines everything about the training you're creating. This same concept applies to eLearning and training as a whole. It's important to create a storyboard that can be easily understood by everyone in the project process, so all are "in the know" on what the final product will look like.
In this session, you will discover the four basic steps of storyboard creation. This includes choosing a storyboard format, identifying storyboard components, creating a method for timing, and incorporating mock-ups and templates. You will also identify the components unique to your style of training, which can then be used to customize the storyboard you create. Last but not least, you will receive support and guidance on the storyboard you're developing throughout the session to ensure you have a solid base to work from when the session is over. This session is meant to give you the tools you need to start using the storyboard blueprint you create when the session is over.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to create a framework for your storyboard based on the elements you determined during the session
- How to develop a plan for presenting the storyboard to your team in order to implement a strategy to use the storyboard moving forward
- New ways to organize, format, and present content that can be immediately utilized in your own projects
- How to identify the specific elements needed to create your own storyboarding blueprint
Audience:
Designers, developers
Technology discussed:
Microsoft Word
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Alicia Raff
Account Manager
Reflection Software
As an account manager and instructional designer, Alicia supports the Reflection Software development team in creating engaging eLearning content. This work includes writing, proofreading, creative treatment generation, and assimilating content pieces into cohesive sections for a comprehensive training. Alicia also acts as the liaison between the Reflection Software internal development team and the client's project team. Her integration into the client's project team ensures that the vision and mission of the client are implemented in every aspect of the training.
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Liesl Christle
Senior Account Manager
Reflection Software
Liesl Christle has been supporting her clients with new learning and development initiatives for over 10 years as an account manager for Reflection Software. She works closely with each of her clients to deliver impactful training that helps drive shifts in company culture.
SELR104 Make Skill Set Development Your Priority and Adoption Will Follow
1:15 PM - 2:00 PM Wednesday, October 23
Expo Hall: eLearning Rockstars Stage
The novelty of online education has faded and thousands of weekly logins and views don’t measure up to today’s expectations. If you truly want your eLearning content to stand out, it must focus on developing the most critical skill sets of your employees and customers.
In this session, you will learn how to design your training strategy around skill set development with a focus on dynamically delivering the most necessary, just-in-time training to each individual. We will explore the benefits of pre- and post-assessments and the value of global measurement data tied directly to your employees’ skill sets and where they rank amongst their industry peers. Personalize your training program, elevate content effectiveness, and increase adoption with less effort.
In this session, you will learn:
- The importance of tday's skill set economy
- How to implement a skills-based learning program at your organization
- The value of properly constructed pre- and post-assessments
- How to make skill sets the reward the drives eLearning adoption
- How skill set development can put you on the path to eLearning AI
- About traditional assessment tools and how they apply to today's digital learning
Technologies discussed:
Survey and assessment authoring tools such as Typeform, SurveyMonkey, and Knowledge Pilot
Target audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
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Jon Tota
Rockstar Learning Evangelist
eLearning Brothers
Jon Tota began his career in financial services as a technology trainer for PaineWebber and UBS before co-founding Edulence in 2002, and creating KnowledgeLink as one of the first subscription-based online training services. Under Jon’s leadership, the team at Edulence innovated the LMS model and scaled Knowledgelink to serve several hundred thousand annual users in multiple verticals. In 2020, Edulence was acquired by eLearning Brothers and Knowledgelink has evolved into the new Rockstar Learning Platform, offering the latest innovations in learning experience. Jon now serves as the company’s rockstar learning evangelist, speaking on learning experience design topics and educating our customers on how to leverage eLearning Brothers solutions to create eLearning experiences that rock!
SELR105 Rockstar Microlearning: Designing an Engaging Mobile Learning Experience
2:15 PM - 3:00 PM Wednesday, October 23
Expo Hall: eLearning Rockstars Stage
It’s widely accepted that human attention spans are getting shorter. But a recent survey suggests the ability to maintain focus has actually improved over time; today’s learners are just more selective about where they devote their attention. More than ever, it’s important for eLearning designers to capture learner interest and keep them engaged.
This session will debunk a widely-held belief about the attention span of today’s learners. You will explore a blended microlearning approach modeled after the steps musicians take to learn new music, and see examples of how to meet five best practices for mobile microlearning design.
In this session, you will learn:
- What research tells us about the attention spans of today’s learners
- Five best practices for mobile microlearning design
- A novel blended microlearning model for engaging learners
Target audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders
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Chris Willis
Director, Product Content
eLearning Brothers
As a creative instructional designer and business consultant, Chris Willis boasts more than 20 years of experience working remotely, leading geographically diverse teams to solve a wide range of business challenges for large enterprise clients. Chris is currently the director of product content for eLearning Brothers, a global leader in corporate learning technology and custom training development solutions. She holds a BS in arts & media from Grand Valley State University.
309 Creating Amazing Learning Experiences: Get Inspired!
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 23
Bermuda AB
Too often our industry rushes to develop a course, or whatever the default method is within their workflow. We need to break the habit and provide the paths to create better tools and access to learning for audiences.
In this session, you will learn how to define a simple formula (no math required) to create, measure, and deliver fantastic learning experiences for your audience. We'll discuss 10 ways to create a better experience that you can apply to your next project. You'll see demos and gain several new web resources and tools.
Using Marvel App will turn you into a superhero, with easy sketching and prototyping from your phone, tablet, or desktop. Learn how Adobe XD can help you create a prototype within minutes to visualize a concept; it's a free download for Mac and Windows, with dozens of templates and screencasts. Lastly, learn how iPadOS simplifies capturing notes.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to update your development process with latest best practices to improve your results
- Four basic steps of development: Define, Prototype, Develop, and Evolve
- About free resources to inspire you and your team for months
- New tools, tips, and techniques to apply immediately
- Practical examples that you can apply to your next project
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe XD, Explain Everything, Marvel App, Paper by Dropbox, Sketchbook App from Autodesk, Lobe.Ai, Refind.com, Feedly.com, iOS 13 and iPad
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Nick Floro
Learning Architect/Imagineer
Sealworks Interactive Studios
Nick Floro, a co-founder and learning architect at Sealworks Interactive Studios, has over 25 years of experience developing learning solutions, applications, and web platforms. Nick is passionate about how design and technology can enhance learning and loves to share his knowledge and experience to teach, inspire, and motivate. As a learning architect, Nick gets to sketch, imagine, and prototype for each challenge. He has worked with start-ups to Fortune 500 companies to help them understand the technology and develop innovative solutions to support their audiences. Nick has won numerous awards from Apple and organizations for productions and services.
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Linda Daniels
Associate Director | Innovation Accelerator | Vaccines
Merck
Linda Daniels is a strategic partner with a focus on architecting universal, holistic, and accessible experiences to improve the world in which people live, work, and play. She is recognized for business and problem-solving insights with emphasis on human-centered design, Agile methodologies, and design thinking to build multidisciplinary teams that bring concepts to reality and deliver growth for worldwide brands.
311 Learning Buzzword Bingo: Making Sense of the Hype
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 23
Martinique B
Microlearning. Personalized learning. Learning styles. These are all buzzwords you've heard from vendors, at conferences, and on social media. The pace of technology development and implementation is increasing exponentially, and so is the number of buzzwords. Even if you try to keep abreast of the latest L&D trends, it's impossible to be an expert in everything. How do you know what to try right now, what to keep an eye on for the future, or what's industry hogwash?
In this session, you will learn from a panel of industry experts in the context of playing Bingo. (We are not kidding, you will actually be playing Bingo!) The game will guide a rapid-fire discussion about a wide variety of industry buzzwords with a focus on what's real, what's coming, and what's fake. Not only will you have fun and come away with a better understanding of how to make sense of the latest trends in L&D, you might win a prize!
In this session, you will learn:
- The myths that permeate our business
- Misconceptions that undermine effectiveness
- Why these problems and misconceptions are wrong, and what to do instead
- How to be a better consumer of L&D products
Audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
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Clark Quinn
Chief Learning Strategist
Upside Learning
Clark Quinn, PhD is the executive director of Quinnovation, co-director of the Learning Development Accelerator, and chief learning strategist for Upside Learning. With more than four decades of experience at the cutting edge of learning, Dr. Quinn is an internationally known speaker, consultant, and author of seven books. He combines a deep knowledge of cognitive science and broad experience with technology into strategic design solutions that achieve innovative yet practical outcomes for corporations, higher-education, not-for-profit, and government organizations.
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Chad Udell
Chief Strategy Officer
Float and SparkLearn
Chad Udell is the award-winning managing partner, strategy and new product development, at Float and SparkLearn. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies and government agencies to create experiences for 20 years. Chad is an expert in mobile design and development, and speaks at events on related topics. He is author of Learning Everywhere: How Mobile Content Strategies Are Transforming Training and co-editor/author, with Gary Woodill, of Mastering Mobile Learning: Tips and Techniques for Success and Shock of the New.
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Jennifer Solberg
CEO
Quantum Improvements Consulting
Jennifer Solberg, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Quantum Improvements Consulting (QIC), an Orlando-based firm specializing in the application of emerging technology to training for complex skills. A cognitive psychologist by trade, her work focuses on how to design, develop, implement, and evaluate training technology for the Department of Defense and other clients. At QIC, she leads a growing team of learning science professionals. In addition to her many peer-reviewed publications, her work has been featured in The New York Times, the Pentagon Channel, and Signal Magazine.
SELR106 How to Apply Trends in Courseware Design to Your Projects
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 23
Expo Hall: eLearning Rockstars Stage
There are a number of trends in eLearning courseware design. Learn the pros and cons of each trend and how to apply the trends to your courses to take advantage of the pros and minimize the cons.
In this session, we will explore six trends in courseware design: micro-learning, mobile learning, on-the-job training, gamification, video, and editable courseware. Each trend has advantages and disadvantages that we will discuss. If you choose to apply the trend, we will discuss how to apply the trend to maximize the pros and minimize the cons.
In this session, you will learn:
- The pros and cons of microlearning and how to apply it to your next eLearning project
- The pros and cons of mobile learning and how to apply it to your next eLearning project
- The pros and cons of on-the-job development and how to apply it to your next eLearning project
- The pros and cons of gamification and how to apply it to your next eLearning project
- The pros and cons of video and how to apply it to your next eLearning project
- The pros and cons of editable courseware and how to apply ite to your next eLearning project
Target audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
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Richard Vass
VP Customer Success
eLearning Brothers
Richard Vass is a dynamic, experienced consultant and professional facilitator with over 25 years in the field of human performance and development. As co-founder and director of customer experience at eLearning Brothers Custom, Richard has forged a number of deep relationships with leaders in the field of professional learning services and has provided significant contributions to an impressive list of clients. Prior to eLearning Brothers, Richard co-founded impact Solutions, a professional learning services company service focusing on comprehensive learning solutions for domestic and international clients with a focus on the MENA region. Â
SELT106 Creating an Interactive Software Skills Assessment with Adobe Captivate
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 23
Expo Hall: eLearning Tools Stage
Testing learner proficiency is a must, but traditional multiple choice/true false assessments can't really test whether a learner can complete a workflow within a software program. Instead of demonstrating competency, the learner skirts around the objective by demonstrating conceptual retention. A good test taker can often pass a traditional assessment without learning to complete the task in real life.
In this session you will learn how to create an interactive software simulation assessment in Adobe Captivate that truly tests whether a learner can perform a workflow. Discover how templates enable you to create multiple, consistent assessments rapidly. Incorporate advanced Captivate tricks that give your learners not just an overall score, but a breakdown of their performance in each section of the assessment. This session assumes basic familiarity with Adobe Captivate.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why and when to use a Captivate assessment
- Strategies for writing the assessment
- How to create a template and the final project in Captivate
- How to set up advanced actions to show your learners a breakdown of their score in each section
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed:
Adobe Captivate
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Sandy Brink
E-Learning Instructional Designer
Epic
Sandy Brink, an eLearning instructional designer at Epic, specializes in teaching instructional designers how to make engaging eLearning and in helping others become smarter users of software. Her experiences over the past 13 years include instructor-led training, eLearning instructional design, curriculum development, webcasting, and creating templates and processes to help others develop new learning materials. She holds a BS degree in education from the University of Wisconsin—Madison.
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Emily Minerath
Instructional Designer
Epic
Emily Minerath, an eLearning instructional designer at Epic, specializes in developing engaging, interactive online courses for medical professionals and IT analysts. Experience over her six years at Epic includes conducting instructor-led training on effective eLearning creation and engaging virtual training, managing high-visibility training projects, and developing and streamlining processes to help others develop curricula. She holds a BA in chemistry from Oberlin College and an MA in library and information studies from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
SELR201 eLearning Accessibility Tips, Gotchas, and Standards
10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Thursday, October 24
Expo Hall: eLearning Rockstars Stage
You've just learned that due to new laws or your organization's desire to be inclusive, all your training content needs to be Section 508 or WCAG compliant—in other words, accessible to all. Your first idea, providing a PDF of the course, was shot down. Separate but unequal won't cut it. Later you were reminded that "adding narration" to the course doesn’t make it accessible; it just adds unnecessary work and may conflict with screen readers. Hiring an accessibility expert just isn’t in the budget, so what is an instructional designer to do?
Accessibility is no longer reserved for government entities. Creation of content that is supportive and inclusive of all people—no matter the method they use to interact with content—requires a new perspective and skillset. Fortunately, technology has improved significantly and can provide a big assist. This session will provide participants with a working knowledge of what exactly is accessible content, factors that need to be taken into consideration when developing content, how to test content, and ultimately how to successfully launch programs using an inclusive approach and design.
In this session you will learn:
- What the various accessibility standards are, and their differences
- How accessibility plays a role in different organizations
- What it’s like to experience accessible content
- What it means to have an accessibility strategy
- How to go about designing and developing accessible content
- How to test accessible content
- Problems to avoid when making your content accessible
- What you should consider adding to your accessibility development checklist
Target audience:
Designers, developers, managers
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Paul Schneider
SVP Business Development
dominKnow
Paul Schneider, the senior vice president of business development for dominKnow, has worked in distance communication technologies in academia and corporate for over 18 years, primarily focusing on distance learning. Paul has provided services in most areas of learning, including instructional design, distance education, mobile training, and performance support. He currently oversees operations and business development at dominKnow Learning Systems and has presented at many professional conferences over the past 25+ years. Paul holds a PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
SELT201 The Missing Link to Online Learning Engagement and Skill Development
10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Thursday, October 24
Expo Hall: eLearning Tools Stage
You’ve invested lots of resources into creating a beautiful online course. You’ve made custom videos, got buy-in from all of your key stakeholders, and even told your friends about it. But as soon as it launches your engagement is low and your learners are dropping like flies. What are you missing? The answer is engaging and effective facilitation.
High quality facilitation has traditionally been reserved for in-person training. But as more and more training is being provided online, being able to implement high leverage facilitation actions will be the difference between a course that your learners “have” to take to an experience they “want” to be a part of.
Incorporating engaging and effective facilitation is crucial to create online training programs that result in meaningful participant learning and behavior change. With the limited time and resources most organizations have, it is essential to understand the facilitation activities that will provide the highest ROI.
In this interactive session course designers, developers, instructors, and facilitators of all experience levels will learn data-backed best practices they need to effectively facilitate online courses. You will get to see real examples of high impact facilitation actions that have led to increased engagement and completion in online training. During this session you will also explore different facilitator personas and learn which is best for your individual use cases.
Come ready to engage with other participants to brainstorm the facilitation gaps in your current and future learning content. You’ll leave the session with a set of high leverage facilitation actions you can implement immediately to increase your learners’ engagement and have them complete your learning experiences asking “what’s next?!”
In this session, you will learn:
- What online facilitation is and isn’t
- The benefits of using facilitation to increase course completion rates and learner engagement in online courses
- Different facilitator personas you can use in your online courses, and the pros and cons of each
- How to utilize key facilitation activities to increase learner engagement in fully-digital and blended programs
Target audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
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Brittany Tawes
Learning Experience Designer
NovoEd
Brittany Tawes is a learning experience designer at NovoEd. Previously, she worked at Iowa State University teaching biology and redesigning course curriculums to make them more engaging. She is obsessed with using her research skills to design data-driven and innovative learning experiences. She helps clients design, build, facilitate, and analyze their online courses. She has helped corporate, non-profits, and training firms—including National Geographic, CEMEX, Nestle, and Fidelity—engage their learners and create lasting behavior change in their organizations.
410 How Design Thinking Elevates Adult Learning
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 24
Bermuda AB
If you were tasked with finding solutions to a curriculum problem, what might you do? Microlearning? Mobile learning? Gamification? Virtual reality/augmented reality? More instructor-led training? We're often tempted to turn to new technology or trends, thinking one of these must be what our approach is missing. Certainly these modes are useful, but how do we know if they're the right solutions until we know what the problems are? In this session you will learn to face the problems as our learners would, using empathy, and build the Design Thinking process from there. Only then can you create meaningful solutions that use the right mix of tools and technology to elevate your training.
In this session, you will learn what Design Thinking is, why it's important to L&D, and how it affects root cause analysis and resulting solutions. You'll meet Matt, a call center new hire, who is eager to learn but faces obstacles to learning. You will learn about empathy and how to understand learners such as Matt through journey maps, learner personas, and empathy maps. You will then proceed through the remaining Design Thinking steps: ideate, iterate, prototype, and test. Finally, you'll also see how Design Thinking was put to work in case studies for a large financial company that wanted to replace its one-week instructor-led training with eLearning, as well as a nonprofit that trains sexual assault response teams across the nation.
In this session, you will learn:
- What Design Thinking is and why is it important
- About the Design Thinking steps: empathy, ideate, iterate, prototype, and test
- How to gain empathy for your learners by using the tools of Design Thinking: learner personas, empathy maps, journey maps
- What gets in the way of Design Thinking, and how to address those challenges
- How Design Thinking helps you with root cause analysis before you come up with your solutions
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
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Jolene Rowan
Chief Learning Officer & EVP of Client Solutions
Dashe & Thomson
With over 25 years of experience in adult learning, Jolene Rowan is a data-driven thinker who generates and executes ideas at strategic and tactical levels. A creative visionary with a passion for learning, she is an instinctive collaborator who values working partnerships with client teams. As chief learning officer, Jolene is responsible for the overall solution design and development on learning initiatives. Jolene designs solutions to deliver both functional and organizational- level objectives: how training is impacting revenue, customer satisfaction, employee experience, and overall productivity. Jolene is a thought leader of new technologies and methodologies, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence.
411 Getting Leaders to Own Their Role in Employee Training
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 24
Jamaica AB
One of the top challenges for learning professionals is getting managers to support learning. Effective talent development can positively impact employee engagement, innovation, and long-term growth. How can we make leaders own their role in employee learning? How are managers motivated to invest their time in developing their people, which often doesn't bring a return in the short run?
This session will help learning professionals show managers how to easily and naturally support learning. You'll discover 75 activities that managers can use to support employee learning, and you'll devise an action sheet to create a customized selection of these 75 activities. You will be able to inspire managers in your organization with practical tips to facilitate employees learning.
In this session, you will learn:
- What roles leaders and managers should take in regard to employee learning
- The three stages of learning where the support of leaders and managers are crucial
- To make a customized action sheet for a learning activity of your choice, so leaders will own their role in learning
- To motivate managers in your organization to own their role in employee learning
Audience:
Designers, managers
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Laura van den Ouden
Owner
Expert Trainers
Laura van den Ouden is owner and trainer for Expert Trainers, a training company. With over 20 years’ experience, Laura designs and implements extensive eLearning programs for corporate universities and international organizations. She blogs frequently about talent development and transfer of learning and speaks at conferences on the subject. She has written three books:Successful Communication as a Trainer, Influencing Positively, and 100 Teaching Methods for Developers. Laura was named the Netherlands Trainer of the Year for 2019/2020.
412 Make Virtual Learning Relevant: Using Scenarios in the Virtual Classroom
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 24
Trinidad AB
Adult learning principles state that adults learn best when content is relevant. So why do most virtual classroom lessons rely on lectures and slides? One of the most effective ways to ensure learning sticks is by getting learners involved, and scenario-based learning design does just that. We only have so much time to dedicate to formal learning, every moment needs to be impactful and relevant. Unfortunately, virtual classroom sessions tend to focus on getting as much content out there as possible, and leaving it up to the learners to figure out how to make it all work.
In this session we will explore how to design three types of scenario-based activities in the virtual classroom: problem-based learning, predictive learning, and play-based learning. Leave with detailed examples of each, and a template to walk you through seven steps for constructing scenarios in your virtual classroom design.
In this session, you will learn:
- The role of scenario-based learning in modern workplace learning
- How scenario-based learning supports adult learning theory
- Techniques for implementing three types of scenario-based learning in the virtual classroom
- 7 steps for constructing scenarios
Audience:
Designers, developers, virtual classroom facilitators
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Jennifer Hofmann Dye
Founder and President
InSync Training
Jennifer Hofmann Dye is founder and president of InSync Training. She specializes in the design and delivery of engaging, innovative, and effective modern blended learning. Jennifer has written and contributed to a number of well-received and highly-regarded books including The Synchronous Trainer's Survival Guide: Facilitating Successful Live Online Courses, Meetings, and Events and Live and Online!: Tips, Techniques, and Ready to Use Activities for the Virtual Classroom. Her latest book, Blended Learning (ATD, 2018), introduces a new instructional design model that addresses the needs of the modern workplace and modern learners.
SELR202 Use Reality TV Strategies to Maximize the Value of Your eLearning
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 24
Expo Hall: eLearning Rockstars Stage
Today’s eLearning producers must compete against all forms of online entertainment and social media distractions. Learn how to implement reality programming strategies and real-world rewards into your training content to increase user engagement.
In this session, we will explore the history of other mediums and how they have integrated reality programming and audience participation to drive user engagement. I will share specific examples of corporate educators integrating these methods into their training content to increase adoption. You will leave with best practices that can be used immediately to enhance any eLearning program.
In this session, you will learn:
- How reality programming strategies have been used successfully before
- The benefits of integrating real-world benefits into your virtual training
- Best practices for engaging users and driving adoption through reality tactics
- How to evolve your eLearning to engage on all senses
Target audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
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Jon Tota
Rockstar Learning Evangelist
eLearning Brothers
Jon Tota began his career in financial services as a technology trainer for PaineWebber and UBS before co-founding Edulence in 2002, and creating KnowledgeLink as one of the first subscription-based online training services. Under Jon’s leadership, the team at Edulence innovated the LMS model and scaled Knowledgelink to serve several hundred thousand annual users in multiple verticals. In 2020, Edulence was acquired by eLearning Brothers and Knowledgelink has evolved into the new Rockstar Learning Platform, offering the latest innovations in learning experience. Jon now serves as the company’s rockstar learning evangelist, speaking on learning experience design topics and educating our customers on how to leverage eLearning Brothers solutions to create eLearning experiences that rock!
SELT202 The Essential Ingredients to Delivering Engaging Training Sessions
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 24
Expo Hall: eLearning Tools Stage
Soft skill development is vital to the success of your organization and its employees. Executives consistently rank soft skills as the top most important capabilities to cultivate in their employee populations.
Successfully cultivating those skills, however, is another story. These programs are among the most expensive to run and the results difficult to prove. Technology is often sidelined in these development efforts in favor of mentoring programs and small invitation-only groups tracked over time. This makes it even more difficult to scale the benefits of these programs to a broad employee population.
In this session, you’ll learn how even soft skill development programs focused on leadership, communication, and creative problem solving can be improved through the thoughtful integration of technology. We will share ideas from the field while connecting these examples to the broader principle that authentic learning requires authentic engagement. Finally, you as a participant will be invited to share your own experiences and learnings with colleagues.
The focus will be on the instructor-led-training, but ideas will extend beyond that form of delivery. Leadership, communication, and creative problem solving will be vital to the success of your organization. Technology will be vital to your team’s success in developing those skills.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to create engaging and inspiring soft skill programs that scale
- How to personalize your sessions to have an impact beyond your session
- How to increase participation and honest feedback to improve your next training session
Target audience:
Managers, curriculum designers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
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Sam Cauthen
Chief Operating Officer
Poll Everywhere
Sam Test Cauthen, chief operating officer of Poll Everywhere, leads people engagement and development at the company, whose core mission is engaging participants in live trainings, meetings, and events. Previously, Sam was a consultant with McKinsey & Company where she served clients across diverse industries in strategy, operational excellence, and organizational design while investing in internal knowledge and learning initiatives.
507 Ukulele Learning: Exploring the Relationships Between Music and Learning
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Thursday, October 24
Martinique A
There’s been a large amount of research in recent years exploring the value music has on the brain and learning. We’ve all experienced it in some way in our lives; from listening to music while learning or studying, learning something from a catchy song, or by learning to play an instrument. In this session you will explore the many relationships between music and learning. You will examine and discuss how people learn to play an instrument—there will even be ukuleles available for some to participate hands-on—and what this might mean to learning in general. Using the introductory ukulele lesson as a framework, this fun session will help you explore the many ways that music impacts and enhances learning. (Ukuleles made available during this session will be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Nevada UMC after the conference.)
In this session, you will learn:
- How music enhances learning
- How people learn to play an instrument, and what that means to learning
- How music might enhance your practices
- How to play a ukulele!
Audience:
Designers, developers, project managers, managers
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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.
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Shawn Rosler
Senior Instructional Designer
Office Practicum
Shawn Rosler has been an instructional designer, project manager, and developer of dynamic, interactive, and highly efficient eLearning and other instruction for over 20 years. He's a frequent contributor to industry-based publications, and he has presented to academic, medical, and corporate audiences on an expansive array of topics. From the basics of adult learning theory to the real-world application of converting instructor-led training to a computer or web base, he is an evangelist for trimming down processes while keeping them effective.
510 Content Was Never King: Designing eLearning Solutions for Results
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Thursday, October 24
St Croix AB
Have you ever been handed a PowerPoint deck and told to go off and build a course? Many organizations tend to begin an eLearning design project leading with their content needs; desired outcomes are merely an afterthought, if they're a thought at all. Unfortunately, whether or not a solution is successful is often left to chance. With so much on the line, who wants to take that gamble? So how can you approach the design process with a more results-focused point of view?
In this session, you'll explore a design approach that we like to think of as "measure twice, cut once"—where you wait to define the learning approach and strategy until after you've spent time identifying the organizational and business results. Once you're clear on the target, you can then undertake a thoughtful content and technology design process to ensure the solution will achieve the behavioral and business goals your organization is after. You’ll discover strategies to help you navigate this results-driven approach. This session is about more than just a five-step process to design (hint: it ain't your grandmother's ADDIE!) You'll also take a close look at tools you can use in your process, including how to articulate the specific business outcomes you want to measure against, define user personas, and use situation mapping to not just get clear on the learning outcomes, but help generate realistic scenarios you can use to create authenticity in your training.
In this session, you will learn:
- The five steps to help you define a more results-driven learning solution
- The three parts to a well-stated business outcome that will help you turn business goals into measurable learning outcomes
- Ways to create and use user personas to better understand the needs of your target learners
- How to identify and apply the three steps of situation mapping, a modified approach to Cathy Moore's Action Mapping
- About the six steps of a learning journey and how to use them in designing your overall solution
Audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
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Cammy Bean
Senior Solutions Consultant
Kineo
Cammy Bean started in the industry as a junior instructional designer in 1996 and has since collaborated with hundreds of organizations to design and deliver training programs. She’s worked at small startups, mid-sized training companies, boutique eLearning shops, and as a freelance instructional designer. An English and German studies major in college, Cammy found an affinity for writing and making complex ideas and concepts clear to an audience. In 2009, she helped start up US operations for Kineo, a global provider of learning solutions. Originally Kineo’s VP of learning design, Cammy is currently a senior solutions consultant. In this role she leads the North American sales team, supports clients through the initial discovery process, and manages Kineo’s portfolio of custom client accounts to help organizations meet their strategic business objectives through better learning solutions. She is the author of The Accidental Instructional Designer: Learning Design for the Digital Age – second edition (ATD Press, 2023).
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Ashley Reardon
Director of Learning Design
Kineo
Ashley Reardon is Kineo's director of learning design. Working in collaboration with clients, she takes their vision, objectives, and content and leads a team of learning designers and writers to bring it all to life in an engaging and effective learning solution. Ashley began her career in learning design almost 20 years ago. Ashley has a BS in cognitive science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MA in learning sciences from Northwestern University.
511 L&D Mystery Series: The Case of the Disengaged Learner
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Thursday, October 24
Jamaica AB
Maybe it's the eyerolls. Maybe it is the rapid clicks of the "next" button. Regardless of what the action is, we know the look and feeling of learner disengagement. If we know that we don't want our end users to feel this way, then why is it a common occurrence in so many organizations? Instead of only focusing on research and high-level theories, this session will explore solutions to this common problem in a unique way—an interactive mystery!
In this session you’ll join Detective Knowles, a character who needs your help to solve his first L&D mystery—why someone is enjoying a pleasant slumber in front of a training module. This session doesn't only tell you about the research and tools but applies them during this interactive learning experience. Along your journey, you’ll explore three constructs of learner engagement and be challenged to apply them to your current setting using a scale of engagement for each. Additionally, you’ll be introduced to SCORE, a rating system to evaluate learning experiences, and use it help you solve the case. You’ll walk away with from this session not just having solved the mystery, but also with practical resources and tips to focus on learner engagement in face-to-face, blended, and virtual settings. Detective Knowles is counting on you, gumshoe.
In this session, you will learn:
- How learner engagement is operationalized in practice and academic literature
- Three learner engagement constructs (behavioral, cognitive, and emotional) and how to apply them in your setting
- How to apply SCORE (success, curiosity, originality, and relationships) to analyze your learning content and environments
- How to use technology to enhance learner engagement for your learning environment
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
Poll Everywhere, Umu, Google live captioning, Google slides, Google docs
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Cara North
Learning & Development Leader, Speaker, & Author
Medical Mutual
Cara North is an award-winning learning leader who has worked in both corporate and higher education settings, as well as an independent consultant. Cara currently manages the learning and performance function at Medical Mutual. She is the author of Learning Experience Design Essentials and serves as a lecturer at Boise State University in their Organizational Performance Workplace Learning (OPWL) masters and certificate program.
512 Comics for Learning: Use Case in Cultural Awareness
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Thursday, October 24
Antigua B
Knowing your audience is a fundamental step in the analysis of designing training. When that audience is international, this is even more critical for understanding cultural differences in both language and visuals. Then add in the additional factor of using the comic medium as a vehicle to tell a story through instruction. This combination is what was faced when designing an instructional comic for labor and delivery nursing students in northern India. This project needed to not just deliver content, but also do it in a way that reflected this audience’s lived experience and also leveraged the unique strengths of the comic medium.
In this case study session, you’ll explore the learning problems that were faced and find out why the comic medium was chosen as a solution to achieve the goals to increase awareness, increase retention, and change behaviors. You’ll learn about the steps that were taken to design characters for this comic that reflected the audience, from skin tone to their clothing and shoes. You’ll see how we addressed cultural understanding and how careful the script writing process needed to be to avoid inappropriate words and phrases. Finally, you’ll take a closer look at the results of this project and the impact this instructional comic made in reducing infant mortality rates.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why the comic medium was chosen as a solution for this learning problem
- The challenges that we faced when writing the instruction for a specific international audience
- How to write personality into characters that relate to the target audience
- The process through character modeling and the importance of attention to detail
- How to cast the right voice actors to play the role of the characters
- The results and impact this instructional comic made in reducing infant mortality rates
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
Articulate Storyline 360, Adobe Illustrator
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Kevin Thorn
Director of Development
Artisan E-Learning
Kevin Thorn holds an EdD in instructional design and technologies and is an award-winning eLearning designer and developer. He is the director of development for Artisan E-Learning, and principal owner of NuggetHead Studioz, LLC., a boutique studio specializing in consulting and developing custom learning experiences. Kevin combines his skills in technology, instructional design, eLearning development, illustration, graphic design, animation, video, and educational comics to develop innovative learning solutions. He is a well- known industry speaker and trainer in visual communication, eLearning development, and design workflows and is a certified facilitator in LEGO® Serious Play® methodologies. ?
609 I Find Your Lack of Retention Disturbing: Boost Retention with Pop Culture
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Thursday, October 24
Montego A
A struggle many of us face in our work is a lack of retention of concepts and content. Studies show learning experiences that aren’t entertaining, current, or relatable to the audience can have less success with short-term and long-term learning retention and comprehension. The solution: transforming your pedagogy to include pop culture references. This approach gives people a personal relationship with the material being taught, which can lead to increased comprehension and retention.
In this session, you’ll learn why using familiar imagery and references creates a personal relationship between people and your material, and why this relationship increases short- and long-term comprehension. You’ll explore methods of creating that personal relationship by incorporating meaningful pop culture scenarios, references, and Easter eggs. You’ll discover how these methods create a more memorable and relatable experience for your audience, which can lead to higher retention. We don't always use pop culture references in training, but when we do, we'll use eLearning examples in this session. Stay educated, my friends.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why using relatable references leads to higher learner retention
- How to thoughtfully use pop culture references to reinforce learning objectives
- How Easter eggs can be used as learning opportunities
- Strategies for how to use appropriate pop culture references
Audience:
Designers, developers
Technology discussed:
Articulate Storyline, PowerPoint
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Chris Perez
Senior eLearning Developer
Hitachi Vantara
Chris Perez, senior eLearning developer, got involved in education/training development with Hitachi Vantara in 2002. Chris focuses on web-based training development, video production, graphic design, HTML development, and learning technology consultation.
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Aly Gillen
eLearning Developer, Instructional Designer
Hitachi Vantara
Aly Gillen began her career at Hitachi Vantara as a technical writer. This unrooted a deep interest in making training exciting and engaging and led to her growth as an education developer. She holds a BA in English and has written over half a dozen novels.
610 Vanquish Copyright Fears: Creative Commons & Shareable Media
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Thursday, October 24
Barbados AB
Copyright law can be intimidating, even though its intent is to encourage creativity. The cost of copyright confusion can affect every stage of the development and delivery process, as well. But thankfully it can be easier to understand how to respect copyright and find free online media you can legally use than it might seem at the surface.
In this session, you'll learn about copyright essentials through an entertaining and easy-to-understand snapshot of the law. You'll discover how to find and use free media properly, how to protect your own work, and how to apply best practices in fair use. You'll also learn more about where to find free multimedia you can safely use. By the end of this session you’ll be able to break down the walls that prevent you or your organization from using fabulous free resources because you aren't sure whether your use will infringe someone else's rights. You’ll make fair use your friend and also discover how to access thousands of free photos, videos, music, and motion graphics.
In this session, you will learn:
- About copyright law and fair-use basics
- How to find and use free online media
- Why use Creative Commons licenses and which are most accommodating
- How to protect your work and avoid being sued
- About privacy and media
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.), educators
Technology discussed:
API for Creative Commons licenses and plugins for proper attribution of work
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Barbara Waxer
Copyright & Media Educator
Seattle Film Institute
Barbara Waxer is a copyright and media educator, author, and trainer who teaches at the Seattle Film Institute and Santa Fe Community College. She has authored over two dozen textbooks and online products on copyright, finding and using media, writing for the web, and Adobe and Microsoft software. Her book, Internet Surf and Turf Revealed: The Essential Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, and Finding Media, won the TEXTY Textbook Excellence Award and the New England Book Show Award. Barbara thrives when developing best practices for users and creators of digital content.
611 When Learning Engineering Meets Instructional Design
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Thursday, October 24
Jamaica AB
As technology has continued to advance, engineering methods are increasingly needed for learning and development initiatives that depend upon data science, computer science, and learning science to structure solutions and to measure outcomes and results. Learning engineering represents a new amalgamated discipline that applies engineering methodologies to develop learning technologies and infrastructures to better support learners and learning. The need for learning engineering is becoming more apparent, and the powerful combination of this field with the work of instructional design has the potential to significantly advance learning and its impact on organizations. For this partnership to work well, we need to understand what competencies instructional designers need to have in this new world, as well as the competencies that learning engineers bring to the table .
In this session you’ll explore the ways in which instructional designers of the future can better prepare to collaborate with learning engineers assigned to enterprise learning initiatives. You’ll start by investigating frameworks that show the taxonomies of skills expected of instructional designers working in a variety of industries. These expectations will come from a review of professional research literature, professional practice literature, professional association documentation, and job descriptions. You’ll then dive deeper into the different subgroups of skills associated with learning design and how they can be leveraged in instructional design and learning engineering. You’ll discover how expectations for learning designers and learning engineers differ across market sectors and get guidance for anticipating how to prepare for future professional development.
In this session, you will learn:
- That ID is evolving and how the ID research community is responding to new demands on the field
- The impact that learning engineering is likely to have on instructional designers in the future
- That learning engineering and learning design, working together, offers a powerful combination of future skills
- That ID professionals need to be aware of scientific developments in ed tech
- The combination of scientific methods and creative problem-solving will leverage the art and science of human learning and performance improvement.
Audience:
Designers, developers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed in this session:
Data analytics, X realities, machine learning, deep learning, AI
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Ellen Wagner
Managing Partner
North Coast EduVisors
Ellen Wagner is an accomplished learning technology professional with career experiences in academic, commercial, and non-profit organizations. She has worked as a tenured professor and university administrator, was a founding ed tech entrepreneur, a senior executive of publicly traded software companies, a journal editor, and a board member of a number of start-up ed tech companies. Her areas of expertise include ed tech, emerging tech, change management, instructional systems design and learning engineering, and digital learning (online and eLearning).
612 Shorten Your Design Cycle with Effective Co-creation Sessions
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Thursday, October 24
Trinidad AB
The traditional approach for designing a learning experience and then gathering content can sometimes also inadvertently include frustrating roadblocks—things like SME wrangling, latecomer reviewers who disrupt design and delivery timelines, and new content that hits the stage at the eleventh hour. With more learning for us to create and quicker turnarounds expected, anything that can help us speed up our design cycles and reduce these kinds of disruptions can be a real win.
Find out how co-creation design sessions can help shorten your design cycle and avoid common delays. In this session you’ll look at methods, approaches, tools, and templates for successful program and content co-creation that result in high-impact, actionable, bought-in designs to accelerate your design and development process. You’ll discuss how to plan and facilitate design sessions that jump start your development process. Then you’ll explore a simple process to engage the right people in a valuable co-creation session that maximizes coordination and minimizes SME level of effort throughout the development process. Finally, you’ll examine how to apply tools and templates to a project you're working on that would benefit from a co-creation design session.
In this session, you will learn:
- Identify projects that would benefit from a design session approach
- Apply key strategies for planning a design session that will have a positive impact on your upcoming project
- Modify provided tools and templates to lead a design session in your organization
- Package the outputs from design sessions into assets that become the foundation of your project
Audience:
Designers, managers
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Britney Cole
VP, Innovation
Blanchard
As vice president of innovation and the head of the Blanchard Innovation Lab and Experience Center, Britney Cole is a visionary leader who positively impacts lives through cutting-edge solutions that drive personal, professional, and organizational growth. With nearly 20 years of experience in corporate training and leadership development, Britney is a highly sought-after consultant, speaker, and thought leader. Her mission is to help employees learn new skills, enable managers to lead their teams effectively, and assist executives in running their businesses.
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
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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
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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
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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.
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
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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.
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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.