MB01 Event Orientation
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 11
Jump-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of Learning Solutions. Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and join a casual conversation around an important topic. Share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.
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.
Tracy Parish
Education Technology Specialist
Parish Creative Solutions
Tracy Parish is an accomplished instructional designer, eLearning developer, and consultant based in the Greater Toronto area. With a unique blend of skills in computer programming, adult education, and eLearning design/development, she has built a successful career in instructional design. With over 18 years of experience in instructional design, development, LMS implementation and administration, Tracy is a respected figure in her field. She is a speaker, active Articulate Community Hero, co-host of the Toronto Storyline User Group and webcast Nerdy Shop Talk, the marketing director for the Canadian eLearning Conference, and moderator of the monthly Twitter event #lrnchat.
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.
MB02 Learning and Performance Ecosystems
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 3
Jump-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of Learning Solutions. Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and join a casual conversation around an important topic. Share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.
Marc Rosenberg
President
Marc Rosenberg and Associates
Dr. Marc Rosenberg is a global expert and speaker in training, organizational learning, eLearning, knowledge management, and performance improvement. He has written two best-selling books, E-Learning, and Beyond E-Learning. His 100 monthly columns, “Marc My Words,” appeared in The eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions magazine from 2010 through 2018 and are still available online. Marc is past president and honorary life member of the International Society for Performance Improvement, is an eLearning Guild “Guild Master,” has spoken at the White House, debated eLearning’s future at Oxford University, keynoted conferences around the world, authored over 200 columns, articles, white papers, and book chapters, and is frequently quoted in major trade publications. Learn more at www.marcrosenberg.com.
MB03 Exploring Learning Platforms
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 15
Jump-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of Learning Solutions. Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and join a casual conversation around an important topic. Share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.
Kasper Spiro
CEO
Easygenerator
Kasper Spiro is the CEO of Easygenerator. He has over 30 years of experience in the field of learning: teaching, authoring textbooks, designing and creating eLearning, and developing knowledge management systems, user performance support systems, and eLearning systems. Kasper’s experience as a manager also includes being CEO of an early internet startup in the 1990s. At Easygenerator, the goal is to facilitate non-learning professionals in sharing knowledge and creating effective eLearning through Easygenerator’s cloud- based eLearning service.
MB04 Lessons L&D Can Take from Marketing
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 5
Jump-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of Learning Solutions. Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and join a casual conversation around an important topic. Share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.
Mike Taylor
Learning Consultant
Mike Taylor
With over two decades of real-life, in-the-trenches experience designing and delivering learning experiences, Mike Taylor understands that effective learning isn't about the latest fad or trendy new tools. Known for his practical, street-savvy style, Mike is a regular and highly-rated speaker at industry events, and consults on learning design and technology at Nationwide in Columbus, Ohio. Mike holds an MBA degree from Ohio University and a master's degree in educational technology from San Diego State University.
Bianca Baumann
VP, Learning Solutions & Innovation
Ardent Learning
Bianca Baumann is VP, learning solutions & innovation at Ardent Learning. Over time, she has developed processes and methodologies to help organizations meet their growth targets with the help of innovative L&D approaches including digital transformations, onboarding, and reskilling programs. She has spearheaded multiple projects in the marketing, automotive, financial, and events industries, creating award-winning programs along the way. She shares her expertise in her blog and at global conferences. She teaches learning experience design at OISE and published the eBook, The Little Black Book of Marketing and L&D, a practical guide that helps integrate proven marketing techniques into L&D.
MB05 Got Data? How Do You Give it Meaning?
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 4
Jump-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of Learning Solutions. Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and join a casual conversation around an important topic. Share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.
Kevin Campbell
Director of Global Training Development & Delivery
The Presentation Company
Kevin Campbell is the director of global training development and delivery for The Presentation Company, a business communications firm that specializes in innovative online and onsite presentation skills training. Kevin’s career includes over 15 years’ experience in employee training and development, marketing, business communications, and management. He has held positions as a Nike Global Trainer, facilitating workshops for employees throughout North and South America. Kevin also spent 10 years in the entertainment industry, where he crafted stories as a host for networks such as National Geographic, AMC, and A&E. Kevin has also spent time behind the camera, developing pilots for Bravo and Comedy Central.
MB06 Project Management
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 9
Jump-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of Learning Solutions. Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and join a casual conversation around an important topic. Share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.
Megan Torrance
CEO
TorranceLearning
Megan Torrance is CEO and founder of TorranceLearning, which helps organizations connect learning strategy to design, development, data, and ultimately performance. She has more than 25 years of experience in learning design, deployment, and consulting . Megan and the TorranceLearning team are passionate about sharing what works in learning, so they devote considerable time to teaching and sharing about Agile project management for learning experience design and the xAPI. She is the author of Agile for Instructional Designers, The Quick Guide to LLAMA, and Making Sense of xAPI. Megan is also an eCornell Facilitator in the Women's Executive Leadership curriculum.
MB07 Visual Design: Challenges & Solutions
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 10
Jump-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of Learning Solutions. Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and join a casual conversation around an important topic. Share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.
Connie Malamed
Founder and Mentor
Mastering Instructional Design
Connie Malamed helps people learn and build instructional design skills at Mastering Instructional Design. She is a consultant, author and speaker in the fields of online learning and visual communication. Connie is the author of Visual Design Solutions and Visual Language for Designers. She also publishes The eLearning Coach website and podcast. She was honored with the Guild Master award in 2018 for contributions to the learning technologies industry.
MB08 Evaluating and Shopping for Learning Technologies
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 16
Jump-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of Learning Solutions. Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and join a casual conversation around an important topic. Share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.
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.
MB09 Simulations
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 1
Jump-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of Learning Solutions. Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and join a casual conversation around an important topic. Share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.
Eileen Smith
Program Director, Applied Research: E2i Creative Studio
University of Central Florida
Eileen Smith is a program director at the University of Central Florida. She creates learning opportunities for end users and emerging designers. Eileen leverages her background in performance theater and interpersonal communications. She has led creative teams in experience development in science centers, exploring engagement with direct interaction as a foundation for experiential learning. Her research projects at UCF have ranged from studying situational awareness in first-responder situations to understanding how to believe patients’ perceptions of pain, exploring how to improve the quality of life for TBI survivors, and understanding the tradeoffs necessary for true healthy, sustainable living.
MB10 Video: Making it Faster & More Engaging
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 13
Jump-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of Learning Solutions. Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and join a casual conversation around an important topic. Share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.
Jonathan Halls
Author, Rapid Media Development for Trainers
Jonathan Halls
Jonathan Halls, who has spent 30 years as a media trainer, started his professional life in radio hosting a daily live news talk show. Author of Rapid Media for Trainers, Rapid Video for Trainers, and Video Script Writing, he formerly headed up the BBC’s production training in Britain, and is today an adjunct professor at the George Washington University where he teaches digital media. Based in Washington, DC, he provides workshops and consulting for training organizations in how to make instructional videos and podcasts. He has trained thousands of broadcasters, journalists, and trainers in 25 countries, including people from The Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, London Times, Straits Times, Time of India, DeVolkskrant and many more.
MB11 Outsourcing vs. In-House Development
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 14
Jump-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of Learning Solutions. Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and join a casual conversation around an important topic. Share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.
Caitlin Steinbach Locke
Learning Strategist/Project Manager
AstraZeneca
Caitlin Steinbach Locke, learning strategist/project manager at AstraZeneca, is an instructional designer by trade and learning enthusiast by design. Caitlin has worked with clients in higher education, commercial real estate, and government contracting. Caitlin holds a MS Ed in adult education/human resource development with a concentration in instructional design, and is currently pursuing her CPLP designation.
GS01 KEYNOTE: Digital Storytelling Doesn’t Have to Be Boring
8:30 AM - 10:00 AM Tuesday, March 26
Executive Ballroom
There’s too much content in the world; getting people’s attention is, like life, hard. Baratunde Thurston was a political blogger for four years, ran digital strategy for The Onion for five years, authored the New York Times bestselling book How To Be Black, which continues to find life on Instagram, and lives to engage communities and tell stories in fun and empathetic ways. His energetic keynote will mix laughter with actionable insights that will transform how you see digital storytelling in your own work.
Baratunde Thurston
Futurist comedian, writer, and activist
Baratunde Thurston is a futurist comedian, cultural critic, and author of the New York Times bestseller How To Be Black. Mr. Thurston co-founded Jack & Jill Politics, a black political blog whose coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention was archived by the Library of Congress. From 2007 to 2012 he was director of digital for The Onion, and served a similar role at The Daily Show. Mr. Thurston has been honored by the ACLU, advised the White House, and serves on the national board of BUILD, an organization that uses entrepreneurship-based experiential learning to propel underserved youth through high school on to college and career success. Fast Company listed him as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business, and The Root named him to its list of 100 most influential African-Americans. He holds a degree in philosophy from Harvard University.
SDD101 Trends in Learning Today: Where Should I Focus?
10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Design & Development Stage
Technology is constantly evolving and changing. What can we learn from the buzz and new tools appearing in the consumer and corporate environments, and how can we take advantage of them to help our users succeed?
Join us for this in-depth look at what tools, design, and technologies we should focus on in learning today, and what’s just around the corner. We’ll dissect what technology we need to get excited about, and start planning how to integrate it into our solutions. This fun session will give you dozens of ideas and reboot your brain with fresh perspectives on how to enhance your learning today.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to better understand your audience and design amazing experience for your learners
- How to develop for all devices (mobile, tablet, hybrids, and computers)
- About content organization and tagging
- How personalization of content can improve learning
- When gamification is a fit
- About using open source tools and frameworks (free)
- How to move beyond a screen
- How to get started with a personal learning network
- Tools & apps to help improve brainstorming and creativity on your next project
Target audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders
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.
SMM101 Simplifying Your Workflow with Articulate 360
10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Management & Measurement Stage
Articulate knows that eLearning developers face big challenges. You’re asked to create engaging courses for any device, develop gorgeous eLearning on a budget, work with stakeholders, and continue to grow your skills. Articulate 360 was built to address all of these challenges and help you get more done. It includes everything eLearning developers need for course creation, in one simple subscription.
Articulate 360 includes award-winning authoring apps, Storyline 360 and Rise 360, that make it easy to create mobile learning with more than three million course assets, a project review app, and live online training.
In this session, you’ll discover how to use these apps and resources to speed up your workflow. We’ll show you how to create content quickly and easily with Storyline 360 and Rise 360, source assets from Content Library 360, and streamline the review process with Review 360.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to easily build eLearning with Storyline 360 and Rise 360
- How to create courses faster with an ever-growing library of templates, characters, photos, and more
- How to streamline project reviews with Review 360
Technology discussed:
Articulate 360 apps, including Storyline 360, Rise 360, Content Library 360, Review 360
Target audience:
Novice, intermediate, and advanced designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders
Trina Rimmer
Director, Community and Customer Engagement
Articulate
As the director of community and customer engagement with Articulate, Trina uses her many years of eLearning design and development expertise to guide the creation of inspiring content for our community of workplace learning professionals, E-Learning Heroes. Before joining Articulate, Trina worked as an instructional designer, eLearning developer, and writer focused on delivering creative, engaging, and effective learning solutions to various companies, from global aid organizations to Fortune 500s.
STP101 How I Achieved Exceptional User Experience with iSpring
10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Tools & Platform Stage
Content is king in corporate training, marketing, and higher ed, but creating compelling eLearning content that captivates your learners is a challenging task. We need an approach to impart new knowledge in a way that makes learning stick, while also fitting into the demands of everyday life.
By selecting the right tools and leveraging proven teaching methods, you can quickly create engaging content that is sure to help your learners achieve the results they need to succeed.
In this session you will discover how I used iSpring Suite to help me build a successful eLearning company that serves thousands of learners. With a little bit of planning and a dash of creativity, you will discover how easy it is to develop content that learners actually want to use. Finally, you will learn best practices to create professional courses that help learners achieve lasting results.
In this session, you will learn:
- Proven strategies and tactics that will surprise and delight your learners, while helping them achieve the results they desire
- How to leverage iSpring Suite to create compelling eLearning content
- How to choose an eLearning toolbox perfect for your needs
- How education entrepreneurship is creating new opportunities for instructional designers
- How to create a blueprint to build a thriving eLearning business
Technologies Used:
iSpring Suite, Wordpress, xAPI
Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, developers, and managers
Kevin Baker
Co-founder and Director of Education
Kevin R. Baker is co-founder and director of education at APEX Anesthesia Review. From certified registered nurse anesthetist to “accidental” instructional designer, Kevin has built a 7-figure e- Learning business with more than 15,000 users and partners in over 90 colleges and universities. In 2005, Kevin earned his master of science in nurse anesthesia at Virginia Commonwealth University. After 10 years of practicing anesthesia and clinical teaching, Kevin co- founded APEX Anesthesia Review with the goal of shaping the future direction of anesthesia education.
101 Engaging Employees in Targeted Discussions Using Multimedia
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 9
Corporate descriptions of integrity, ethical decision-making, and other policy objectives are often written in dry, lofty, formal language that few employees truly read. Complying with a code of conduct can become an annual checkmark and not a mode of behavior. The Canada Revenue Agency used short animated videos to relate workplace ethical dilemmas where employees could indicate their responses and engage in conversations about the right course of action. A series of videos, with one released every two weeks, supported an agency-wide awareness campaign that is still yielding high results in repeat views and is being shared with other federal departments.
In this session, you will find out a formula for how to break down and tell a compelling short story that poses questions to stimulate employee discussion. You will then learn how to take that story and use PowerPoint to create simple videos about it that evoke high user-response rates. You will also find out lessons learned from the Canada Revenue Agency’s animated video project, including how user feedback was handled and what insights the design team obtained from post-production results
In this session, you will learn:
- A formula for simple storytelling
- How to pose questions to evoke a response
- How to create PowerPoint slides to support the story and the questions
- Options for how to capture user feedback and voting patterns
- How to create an awareness campaign for any given subject, using this story technique
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed in this session:
Microsoft PowerPoint
Joan Somerville
Program Leader and Senior Advisor
Canada Revenue Agency
Joan Somerville is a program leader and senior advisor with the Canada Revenue Agency. While she started out her career in social work and then commissionable sales, she eventually moved to the world of L&D through a role in sales management and training. Joan joined the public service in mid-life and founded the Canada Revenue Agency’s first electronic performance support system, KnowHow. KnowHow has spawned three more technical performance support systems and is the largest purveyor of video in the agency.
Robert Bangs
Senior Advisor
Canada Revenue Agency
Robert Bangs is a senior designer with the Canada Revenue Agency and a man of many talents; an accomplished musician, a world traveler with Cirque du Soleil, and an innovative creator of performance support solutions. Throughout his career he has taken a very casual approach to helping people learn, endeavoring to be the “friendly voice in your head”, and his strength on any design team is thinking outside the box. He’s also very much into gamification.
102 Cohort Learning: The Power of Many
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 13
Onboarding shouldn’t be an impersonal and disconnected experience. But today’s workforce is diverse and often dispersed globally, making it difficult for new employees to feel connected. At HDR, an engineering firm, new employees felt isolated and unable to make meaningful connections during onboarding. The result was a lack of engagement and motivation to complete required training. HDR needed a way to build connectivity and accountability into learning and onboarding.
In this case study session, find out how HDR reinvigorated new-employee performance and engagement by creating a connected learning environment using a cohort training model. You’ll discover how the right mix of technology and collaborative learning led to a dynamic change in attitude and behavior, encouraged accountability and friendly competition related to course completion, and fostered enduring connections between employees and the company. In addition, you’ll learn about the technologies and tools that worked (or didn’t) when connecting cohort participants. Finally, you’ll identify the best way to design, structure, and manage an effective cohort learning program.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why cohort learning leads to better retention and OJT application
- How to design and implement an effective cohort learning program
- The best resources and technologies to support a cohort learning program
- How to effectively manage and maintain a cohort learning program
Audience:
Designers
Technology discussed in this session:
WebEx, Yammer, SharePoint, LMS, Google Docs, wikis, microblogging, surveys, polls, gaming, interactive whiteboards, instant messaging, Skype, YouTube
Rich Reitter
Manager, Instructional Design
HDR
Rich Reitter manages the instructional design team at HDR. In the past 15 years, he has developed and successfully implemented over 500 training programs in various fields, including technology, legal, engineering, transportation, and healthcare. Prior to HDR, he managed the instructional design program for eBay. Rich is a member of ATD (the Association for Talent Development) and a past member of the ATD leadership team. He received the prestigious Innovation in Learning Award in 2013 for his design of a training program for field workers who had limited access to technology and classroom resources.
103 4 Ways to Eliminate Friction in Your Learning Ecosystem
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 5
You’ve built great content, but your learners don’t seem to care. They’re not engaging with your learning. Why? Companies spend billions of dollars trying to understand consumer behavior, resulting in marketing strategies aimed at getting consumers to buy their products. In those same organizations, there are L&D groups that may not be leveraging the same insights and strategies to reach their learners. Treat your content like a product, and eliminate the friction between your solutions and your learners.
This session will examine the Fogg Behavior Model and the ideas around “frictionless commerce,” and apply them to learning organizations. If you look at your learning solutions as a product that you want your learners to consume, where are you creating friction that discourages those learning consumers? And what can you do about it? You’ll leave this session with a “friction assessment” of your learning ecosystem, along with a tool kit of strategies you can explore to eliminate that friction in your organization. Moreover, you’ll leave with a new perspective on your learners, their motivations, and how you can best reach them.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to apply the Fogg Behavior Model to identify points of friction in your learning ecosystem
- How to translate the five pain points of frictionless commerce to your learning ecosystem
- To complete a friction assessment to identify opportunities for improvement
- To identify potential solutions to the friction in your learning ecosystem
Audience:
Managers and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Jeremy Roberts
Chief Learning Officer
Infinitude Creative Group
Jeremy is a seasoned professional with 25+ years of experience in learning strategy and design, change management, and communication. While recently focusing on customized learning solutions, he began his career crafting change management and communication strategies for large projects. This foundation informs his approach to learning program development. As the founder of JRo Learning, he draws from his extensive experience as both a client and consultant. Jeremy is particularly interested in the neuroscience of learning, and how innovation outside of the world of L&D can be introduced into our learning ecosystems.
104 Maximizing Your Social Learning Community with an SME Contribution Platform
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 15
Today’s L&D teams are democratizing learning through social learning platforms: the “un-LMSs.” Yet, you still need to drive formal learning agendas for the organization. The paradox becomes how to both push and pull learning. Capital One’s Tech College team set a goal to drive an organizational learning agenda by tapping into the “maker” energy of Tech College learners. To achieve this, they implemented a social learning platform that gave any learner the ability to contribute content. While they saw learners endorse and create content, the system didn’t offer a way to align creators with Tech College’s learning agenda. To remedy this, the team built an app to connect experts to Tech College content creation, teaching, mentoring, and speaking opportunities.
In this case study session, find out how Capital One’s Tech College team tapped into the social learning community to design, deliver, and scale learning experiences aligned with their strategic goals by building an SME contribution platform. You’ll gain insights on the value of moving from a social learning culture to a social contributor network that helps further organizational learning goals. You’ll explore how an SME contribution platform can help you take advantage of the expertise and energy in your social learning communities through the power of the “ask,” and how it can be a nice complement to the main social learning platform.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the benefits of a social SME contributor network
- Which core platform features you need to enable a social SME contributor network
- About limitations that might exist in social learning platforms to connect SMEs to contribution opportunities
- What synergies and friction can exist between integrating a social learning and SME contribution platform
Audience:
Managers and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed in this session:
Social learning platforms and a custom-built SME contribution platform
Kimberley Parsons
Senior Learning Manager
Capital One
Kimberley Parsons is a lead learning strategist at Capital One with a passion for helping leaders and teams unleash their greatness through learning, coaching, and facilitating. In over 10 years as an IT professional (doing everything from delivering code to leading people) and eight years of coaching and training, she has sharpened her talents in leadership and team development, change leadership, strategy execution, learning and development, and coaching. Kimberley obtained her leadership coach certification from Georgetown University. She holds an MS in information systems from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BBA in computer information systems from Georgia Southern University.
105 Getting Radically Better Data from Your Learners
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 3
Bad data creates faulty decision-making. To improve your learning designs, you need good data. Unfortunately, many learning-evaluation methods are seriously flawed.
In this session, you’ll learn how to use a radical new research-inspired approach to getting feedback from your learners, whether in eLearning or in the classroom. This performance-focused approach will be introduced by its inventor, who will share the lessons he’s learned in implementing it at global corporations and not-for-profits. You’ll also examine a new model of learning evaluation, the Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model, which is designed to help your organization build a more effective learning-evaluation strategy.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the research that shows why you should stop using traditional evaluation methods
- Why Likert-like scales and numeric scales are harmful
- About the importance of measurement that reveals information about learning effectiveness
- About the Performance-Focused Smile Sheet methodology
- How to translate the new method for eLearning
- How to use the Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model to develop an effective evaluation strategy
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Will Thalheimer
Founder
Work-Learning Research
Will Thalheimer, PhD, MBA, is a world-renowned speaker, writer, researcher, and consultant focused on research-based best practices for learning design, learning evaluation, and presentation design. Will wrote the award-winning book Performance-Focused Learner Surveys (second edition); created LTEM, the Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model, the Presentation Science Workshop, and co-created the eLearning Manifesto. Will has the honor of being a Learning Guild Master.
106 Designing for Knowledge: The Cake Box Method
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 4
You may have heard it from your high school math teacher: You can't use a calculator on the test. You think you'll have a calculator in your pocket at your job? If only my cell phone could fly back in time and have a chat about that!
There's so much staff needs to know but as technology has advanced, we're more able to ask, "Do they need to know that information, or do they need to know where to find it and how to use it?” We're often asked to ensure that our learners "know" something, but what we usually mean is "they need to know X so that they can do Y." How do we design for each the right way?
In this interactive session, you'll shift the way you think about training by adopting a knowledge versus skill framework. You'll practice teasing apart the know from the do. Together we'll explore the undercover performance support that has been provided for the knows in your everyday life (like the instructions on the back of the cake box), and ways you can adapt this method of design to reduce the cognitive load demands of your learners. You'll use a template to create a strategy for moving information to the right place for your teams, without violating any of the five information mismanagement no-nos. You'll leave empowered to design for improved learner experiences AND reduced workplace errors.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to analyze an objective for its location on a Gery's familiarization and Bloom's sophistication level graph
- Ways to sort objectives based on these levels, assess them for their appropriate Kirkpatrick level, and build the right assessments for your business objectives
- Strategies for comparing information-heavy designs from the workplace against real-life counterparts, and redesigning them to reduce cognitive load and reduce workplace errors
- What the five information mismanagement no-nos are, as well as their repercussions
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Marci Morford
Learning Strategist
MarSea Consulting
Marci Morford is a learning strategist and leads MarSea Consulting, which builds custom training for companies that have outgrown their startup phase and are ready for streamlined, scalable, efficient training. She develops programs based on business goals, with laser focus on the ROI that growing companies require. Marci is also the director of programs of ATD Puget Sound, where she is currently overhauling traditional monthly lectures into a series of learning games, workshops, and parties. Marci writes for TD Magazine and won DemoFest at DevLearn 2017 (Best of Show - Non-Vendor) with the immersive, blended-learning onboarding game she developed for a global health non-profit.
107 The Latest and Greatest Captivate Tips and Tricks on the Planet
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 18
Adobe Captivate is a commonly used tool, but a surprising number of its features are just a bit hidden and not well known. The layers of sophistication these features add can enable you to save a lot of time, deliver more engaging and personalized learning, and tap into resources more easily. It’s just a matter of knowing where these features are and how to use them effectively.
In this session, you’ll uncover many of the lesser-known Captivate features you need to make the most of this powerful tool. Many of these features are known only to experts, allowing them to do more in less time, but you’ll also explore aspects of Captivate that even experts don’t always know about. The tips you’ll explore are divided into two basic camps: power and time-savers. You’ll also look at tips that bridge the two camps, giving you more power in Captivate and saving you time, too! Come to this session to join the ranks of those in the know about some of the most hidden, yet most helpful, features of Captivate.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to maintain your lessons now and in the future without a lot of extra work
- How to extend Captivate’s capabilities beyond the commonly used feature set
- Tips for taking advantage of little-known features to work faster and with fewer errors
- How to dive deeper into the capabilities of Captivate
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers and developers.
Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Captivate.
Joe Ganci
President
eLearning Joe
Joe Ganci is the owner and president of eLearning Joe, a custom learning company. Since 1983, he has been involved in every aspect of multimedia and learning development. Joe holds a computer science degree, writes books and articles about eLearning, and is widely considered an eLearning development guru. He consults worldwide and also teaches at conferences and client sites. Joe writes tool reviews and has received several awards for his work in eLearning, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 and an eLearning Guild Master Award in 2013. His mission is to improve the quality of eLearning with practical approaches that work.
108 Seeing into the Unseen: Using Interactive 360 Video to Explore a Data Center
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 1
In many companies, all the most important data and technologies sit inside high-security locations that most employees can’t ever access. But the data and equipment represent a direct link to the customer experience, and it’s important for employees to understand what is inside these centers and what it means for their services. How can you give employees a realistic and immersive view inside what is typically unseen?
In this session, you will find out how one team took a standard request—“We want to convert this Flash course to Articulate Storyline”—and started the conversation of the “art of what’s possible” with an immersive 360 and panoramic experience, in which learners can feel like they are actually in the data center and explore key components and equipment. You will see how the team both solved a learning dilemma (old learning technologies) and an access dilemma (employees can’t go inside) in one solution.
In this session, you will learn:
- How the team designed and developed an immersive 360-degree video experience for a large telecommunications data center
- How they decided what hardware and software to invest in based on the client’s needs
- How they storyboarded the experience, planned the shoot, and filmed the footage
- How they developed the end solution by stitching together panoramic stills, creating 360 hotspots, and creating actual 360 video footage in one seamless experience
- How they deployed the solution within employee training programs that met all the needs of the learners, including those who wanted more (or less) immersive experiences
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed in this session:
Insta360 VR camera, camera gimbal mount, BorisFX Mocha VR, and Kolor Panotour Pro (as well as other off-the-shelf tools and why they were not chosen)
Tom Pizer
Director, Learning Technologies
GP Strategies
Tom Pizer is a director of learning technologies for GP’s Learning Solutions Group and has over 20 years of experience in the technical digital-media field. He leads an exceptional team of developers who create unique learning solutions in response to atypical client challenges. During his career, Tom has created, specified, directed, and/or managed hundreds of hours of educational, instructional, and entertainment-based media for a variety of clients in both the public and private sectors. A key aspect of Tom’s responsibilities is staying abreast of emerging technologies and in tune with the latest development methodologies, standards, and practices.
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.
109 Chatbots: The Ideal Channel for On-Demand Performance Support
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 14
In telecommunications, the term “last mile” is used to describe the challenge of connecting the final leg in a communications network, typically describing the distance between the last hub and a consumer’s home. The “last mile,” although the shortest leg, is often the hardest to put together. In the world of performance support, the “last meter,” the distance between a learner’s eyes and their computer, is an appropriate comparison. In theory, creating a great resource library should be the bulk of the work, but too often, overcoming the “last meter” ends up being the ultimate nemesis. The challenges are to get the learner to recognize the need for support resources, remember where to access them, and utilize them as necessary.
In this session, learn how chatbots can be an effective solution in connecting learners with the job aids they need, when they need them. In the world of performance support, getting an employee’s attention ends up being the ultimate challenge. You will explore how chatbots engage with learners via a conversational user interface and why this approach turns out to be significantly more frictionless than traditional software. You will examine the instructional design best practices in designing a chatbot to be smart about performance support resources, as well as the various mobile and desktop destinations where you can make your chatbot available.
In this session, you will learn:
- How a chatbot can link to existing performance support resources
- Why learners engage with chatbots more willingly than with software
- Instructional best practices on how to design and deploy a chatbot
- How a chatbot can collect data to help you understand which performance support resources are most popular
- About the practical limits of artificial intelligence embedded in a chatbot
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed in this session:
Chatbot authoring platforms, mobile devices, browser widget-based chatbots, and messaging apps like Messenger and Telegram
Vince Han
CEO
Mobile Coach
Vince Han is the founder and CEO of Mobile Coach and a frequent speaker at conferences such as Training Conference, DevLearn, Learning Solutions, the Learning Conference, ATD ICE, ATD Techknowledge and others. He holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Vince is an industry thought- leader for learning and learning technology with an emphasis on artificial intelligence and chatbot technology. Vince has founded several successful technology companies and resides in Utah.
110 Reinvent Staff Onboarding to a Transformational Experience
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 16
While onboarding involves different activities and programs depending on your organization, some aspects are universal. Typically it involves a limited period during which new hires are expected to read company policies and procedures, get settled into their work spaces, and learn about do's, don'ts, and how-to's. If your onboarding isn’t working, you might struggle with retaining employees, accelerating learning, improving performance and team engagement, and making your staff happy and proud to join in. We must turn staff onboarding into a transformational experience.
From digital technologies to the evolution of workplace culture and the rise of startup companies, there is a host of reasons to reinvent how to integrate new talent into your organization. During this session, you’ll learn how to design an integration experience that ensures new hires feel welcome and prepared to join your organization. This exploration will include practical examples of proven practices from other firms, including Disney. Through these case studies, you’ll get strategies for how to win over new hires through branding and a unique employer value proposition, as well as how to craft a strategy around the main pillars of an effective integration cycle.
In this session, you will learn:
- What an employer value proposition is, and why it is important
- How to create an effective onboarding experience for new hires
- How technology, including VR, can enhance the onboarding expereince
- How organizations, including Disney, approach onboarding
- Why onboarding plays such a key role to attracting and retaining talent
- How to create your own strategy for effective onboarding
Audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Mark Griffiths
Client Partner
Newleaf Training & Development
Mark Griffiths is a client partner at Newleaf Training & Development and heads up the East Coast office in Orlando, Florida. Mark has a degree in IT and a postgraduate degree in education, and he has personally gained over 15 years’ experience in the training, eLearning, and talent development arena—working with nonprofit, educational, and privately held organizations such as Randstad, Boston Scientific, and Citrix to create and deliver high-impact blended learning solutions using a wide range of eLearning authoring tools.
Wendy Richard
Resort Operations Manager
Walt Disney World
Wendy Richard is a resort operations manager at Walt Disney World. A media-trained, multilingual strategic thinker, he has accumulated experience in a variety of areas across the Walt Disney World Resort over the past 15 years, including learning and development, diversity, recruitment, and theme parks as well as resort operations. He earned his doctorate in organizational leadership with a specialization in organizational development. Wendy’s primary research focus involves social media and workplace learning. He currently serves as VP of engagement at the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Central Florida Chapter.
111 Playing the Game: Getting Leaders and Learners to Go for Gamification
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 17
You know that making your online training more interactive could produce tremendous results. But maybe your company is very conservative, maybe a previous gamified training went horribly wrong, or maybe you’re just not sure how to make existing material more engaging. How can you get the leaders and learners at your organization to trust you to turn training content into meaningful game-like experiences?
This session will equip you with resources you can implement immediately to bring effective gamified training to your audience. You will get inside the mind of your audience by considering how unstated goals and assumptions might be blocking their ability to accept gamification strategies. You’ll discover how to grab your stakeholders’ attention by linking gamified training methods involving feedback, challenges, and interactivity to business improvement. This approach guides expectations toward learning outcomes and results, opening the door to 10 creative learning opportunities that promote engagement, motivation, learning, and problem-solving. Regardless of your authoring tools, you can design countless variations of these methods to customize effective game-based instruction.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to recognize and address your audience’s current expectations about gamification
- What game-like concepts most impact business results
- About 10 computer-based techniques to improve learners’ satisfaction: chat, choices, contests, evaluation, graphic text, interviews, simulations, stories, videos, and writing
- How to achieve real-world learning by applying game thinking to your design process
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
Jabber and other chat apps; Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, and other eLearning tools; Adobe PowerPoint and Illustrator; GoAnimate and VideoScribe; LMSs
Michelle Monroe
Training Developer
Baker Donelson
Michelle Monroe, a training developer at Baker Donelson, is an advocate for experiential learning with an MEd and more than 15 years of experience. As a trainer and designer, she has worked with subject matter experts from sole proprietors to Fortune 100 companies, distilling valuable information into meaningful classroom and online solutions. She uses every project to combine an artist’s creativity with pedagogical methods, making subjects engaging and interactive. Her goal is to inspire every potential student to love learning.
112 Lessons Learned in Implementing an LMS
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 10
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. From there you’ll discover what happens next during the implementation process: What stakeholders or departments need to be involved? What does the process look like? Where are the common pitfalls, and how can you avoid them?
In this session, you will learn:
- Questions to ask your potential LMS provider
- About common features to look for in your potential LMS provider
- About the implementation process, including other stakeholder involvement and timeline
- About common implementation issues and how to avoid them
Audience:
Managers and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed in this session:
Off-the-shelf 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.
113 BYOD: Once Upon a Time: Engaging Learners Through Storytelling
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 7
“Jenny felt an intense pang of despair, and her muscles involuntarily tensed to run for the door. She had just logged in to her online course, only to discover that her professor had uploaded another hour-long lecture full of dense slides in bullet-point format. She fought her growing sense of dread and got up to pour herself a cup of coffee. It was going to be a long night.” Does this scenario seem familiar? Presenting information as a stream of facts and figures can quickly become dull and overwhelming. It can soon lead to cognitive overload and disengagement.
Research shows that providing information in the form of a story results in higher student engagement and better information retention. Creating an interactive story that allows students to make choices and see the effects of those choices can be even more compelling. This may sound intimidating, but you do not need to have a background in creative writing, or expensive or complicated tools, to create a great interactive story. In this session you’ll get hands-on experience with examples of storyboards and interactive stories, and you’ll have an opportunity to create your own powerful story for learning.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the benefits of presenting information in the form of a story
- To identify the elements a story should contain to activate deep learning
- How to create an interactive story for online delivery using a free tool called Twine
- How Twine can help you storyboard more complicated media projects
Audience:
Designers and developers
Technology discussed in this session:
Twine, Muzzy Lane, and Articulate Storyline
Technology required:
Attendees can download Twine if they would like to, but they can access and use it from any browser without creating an account.
Julie Allen
Senior Instructional Designer
Arizona State University
Julie Allen is a senior instructional designer at Arizona State University. She began her career as a journalist before transitioning to a role as a senior editor with an instructional design department at a large online university. She quickly fell in love with the world of instructional design and hasn’t looked back since. She is passionate about building relationships with faculty and helping them design courses that are rigorous, engaging, and meaningful to students.
Mary Chaaban Arcuria
Senior Instructional Designer
Arizona State University
Mary Chaaban Arcuria is a senior instructional designer at Arizona State University with more than seven years’ experience. She loves collaborating with faculty who are passionate about their disciplines and helping them to design and develop engaging online courses. She finds that her insatiable thirst for knowledge is satisfied by her work. She has taught online and on-site classes at the collegiate level for more than 10 years. A proud Jayhawk, Mary holds a bachelor of arts and master of arts in French from the University of Kansas.
114 BYOD: Interact and Engage: Activities for Spectacular Live Online Events
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 2
Whether it’s an online meeting, a presentation via webinar, or live online training, engagement is the main question on everyone’s mind: Will it be worth my time to attend, or will it be an opportunity to check email instead? Online meeting technology is powerful and has made it easy to connect with people from anywhere in the world at any time, yet L&D professionals often still struggle with getting everyone to interact. Interaction is the answer to successful engagement, and using the features of the platform is the answer to interaction. However, the features alone do not engage the participants. It is what you choose to do with those features that will make the difference in your next virtual training, webinar, or meeting.
During this session, you will learn what you can do to be successful in the virtual environment and avoid having everyone ask for a recording or a copy of the slides five minutes into your next virtual event. You’ll analyze the activities demonstrated and brainstorm where the techniques could be applied to your virtual training programs. You’ll explore the specific challenges of managing the technology, and brainstorm solutions to the engagement problems you are likely to experience with your live online attendees when technical problems arise. Activities are the key to your success. Through them you’ll learn to manage the technology, get attendees to actively engage, and help presenters have a great time too!
In this session, you will learn:
- How engaging live online meetings, webinars, and training events build virtual team engagement
- How to determine the appropriate level of interaction to create effective live online events
- About specific engagement techniques to apply to your own activity design
- How to use a checklist of platform features to optimize the investment in your virtual meeting technology
Audience:
Designers, managers, trainers, and presenters
Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Connect, WebEx, Zoom, GoToTraining, and other platforms
Technology required:
Attendees must be able to join an Adobe Connect session. They can test that in advance here: https://helpx.adobe.com/adobe-connect/using/connection-test-connect-meeting.html
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!"
F01 Panel: Where is Instructional Design Heading?
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 11
Instructional design is a core component of L&D, but it’s not a topic that should be seen as stable and unchanging. Instructional design needs to evolve as new technologies and approaches emerge, organizations’ goals for success shift, and views on what role L&D should have in supporting learning and performance support fluctuate.
In this session our panel will share their thoughts on where they foresee instructional design heading in the future. They’ll explore short-term factors that impact this world, as well as longer-term ones that may not show their full impact for years to come. They’ll also discuss what skills people need to develop now to be ready for how instructional design will transform over time.
In this session, you will learn:
- What technologies are likely to change our approaches to instructional design
- How shifts in the world outside L&D may affect our work, as well
- What new or evolved roles instructional design may play a part in at organizations
- What can best help you prepare for where instructional design may be heading
Audience:
Designers, Developers, Managers
Technology discussed in this session:
None
Megan Torrance
CEO
TorranceLearning
Megan Torrance is CEO and founder of TorranceLearning, which helps organizations connect learning strategy to design, development, data, and ultimately performance. She has more than 25 years of experience in learning design, deployment, and consulting . Megan and the TorranceLearning team are passionate about sharing what works in learning, so they devote considerable time to teaching and sharing about Agile project management for learning experience design and the xAPI. She is the author of Agile for Instructional Designers, The Quick Guide to LLAMA, and Making Sense of xAPI. Megan is also an eCornell Facilitator in the Women's Executive Leadership curriculum.
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.
Sarah Mercier
CEO & Strategic Consultant
Build Capable
Sarah Mercier, CEO and strategic consultant at Build Capable, specializes in instructional strategy and learning technology. Sarah is known for translating highly technical concepts and research to real-world practice. She is an international facilitator for the Association for Talent Development and Greater Atlanta ATD Past President. Her innovative learning solutions have been recognized by winning industry awards, such as Best of Show at FocusOn Learning DemoFest for xAPI for Interactive eBooks, and Best Performance Support Solution at DevLearn DemoFest for Critical Success Factors training and assessment tool. Sarah is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and business events on topics such as instructional design and development, accessibility, data strategy, and learning ecosystems. Her work has been published in ATD’s 2020 Trends in Learning Technology, The Book of Road-Tested Activities, TD Magazine, Learning Solutions Magazine, CLO Magazine, and a variety of other training and workforce publications.
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.
Christy Tucker
Learning Experience Design Consultant
Syniad Learning
Christy Tucker is a learning experience design consultant with over 20 years of experience helping people learn. She specializes in using scenario-based learning to engage audiences and promote skill transfer to real-world environments. She has created training for a wide range of clients, including Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit associations, state and local government agencies, universities, and more. Christy has been blogging about instructional design and eLearning for over 15 years and is a regular speaker at industry conferences and events.
SDD102 SMEs Are from Mars, Instructional Designers Are from Venus
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Design & Development Stage
Course design is a partnership between subject matter experts (SMEs) and instructional designers (ISDs). The process has a technical side and a “people” side. Although the technical component can be rigorous, the people issues require SMEs and instructional designers to work together and produce a result. SMEs know their area of expertise, but they are not always familiar with the learning process. Likewise, instructional designers are well versed in the science of learning but often unfamiliar with the subject matter for which they are designing a course. Creating a common language between SMEs and instructional designers is possible if you have the right techniques to combat issues that arise.
This session will explore techniques to facilitate a productive SME/ISD relationship, including how to apply a partnership agreement, and you’ll learn about a four-step design process that increases accountability. The session will begin with an activity to connect to your experience and build a learning community. You’ll learn about motivators for SMEs to participate in course development and a partnership agreement, which you will complete. The session will continue with a virtual role-play as you observe a dialogue between an SME and instructional designer characters. Next, you’ll examine the four-step design process to increase SME/designer accountability. The session will conclude with a key learning review and action planning exercise to help you create a true partnership and productive relationship with SMEs.
In this session, you will learn:
- Techniques to facilitate a productive SME/ISD relationship
- How to apply a partnership agreement to an SME/ISD relationship
- A four-step design process that increases accountability
- How to apply four principles of learning to the SME/ISD relationship
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and subject matter experts
Technology discussed in this session:
Video, virtual meeting tools, and document collaboration sites
Tara Holwegner
Learning and Performance SME
Life Cycle Engineering
Tara Holwegner is a learning and performance SME for the Life Cycle Institute. She specializes in building programs that meet business objectives and ensure behavior change. Tara has achieved the designations of certified professional in learning and performance (CPLP), project management professional (PMP), and certified maintenance and reliability professional (CMRP). Her articles have been published in industry publications, anthologies, and learning apps, and she is a sought-after speaker for industry conferences.
SMM102 Developing a Microlearning Strategy to Drive Big Company Impact
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Management & Measurement Stage
Learning practitioners struggle to quickly identify learning opportunities and build impactful programs that connect to business objectives and drive employee engagement. Instead of insisting on getting to root causes of organizational challenges, you may be living in a reactive training mode—prescribing blanket learning solutions when you should be targeting critical skill sets and mindsets that employees need to be successful.
In this session, you will make the connection between changing workplace dynamics and the need for a microlearning strategy to target critical employee skill sets. You’ll identify ways in which your company might implement a microlearning strategy, and you’ll take a deep dive into several examples of how to demonstrate learning impact applied to organizational goals.
In this session, you will learn:
- How a microlearning strategy is purpose-built for driving connection between learning initiatives and business priorities
- About the three-step process of a microlearning strategy
- How to shift from reactive to proactive and strategic learning mode
- About seven areas of learning impact tied to organizational goals
Audience:
Managers and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Summer Salomonsen
Head of Cornerstone Studios
Cornerstone
As head of Cornerstone Studios, Summer Salomonsen is leading Cornerstone's transition into original content creation, overseeing the design and development of Cornerstone's learning content brands. Previously, as chief learning officer of Grovo, she architected the company's content strategy, leading her team to build the world’s only adaptive, responsive, and continuously growing microlearning library. While a principal consultant at Intrepid Learning, Summer won Gold in Brandon Hall’s 2017 Emerging Star Award category for her work crafting dozens of high-impact learning experiences for leading global brands. Summer holds an EdD in organizational change and leadership from USC and is based in Colorado.
STP102 Increasing Completions: Leveraging Marketing Tools for Learning Aims
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Tools & Platform Stage
People may start a course or curriculum but never return. The impact of the learning is lost if they don’t complete the program. But what if there were a way to target individuals outside of the LMS to encourage them to return and complete courses or register for new ones? What if you could automate ads, based on previous activity, on the company intranet and other locations?
In this session, you’ll learn how you can use “remarketing” and “retargeting” to reconnect with website visitors after they leave. Find out how to use this tool to re-engage learners like marketers re-engage shoppers who have abandoned eCommerce shopping carts. You’ll explore how to create remarketing ads in Google AdWords and how to structure a remarketing campaign. You’ll look at some other solution providers and complimentary tools. You’ll leave this session with a new way of proactively encouraging learners to engage in your content and gain higher visibility within your organization.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why remarketing is a proven way to influence behavior
- About free and advanced tools to implement remarketing
- How to create a remarketing campaign in Google AdWords
- When and where to include remarketing codes
Audience:
Designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed in this session:
Google AdWords, SteelHouse, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more
Lynne McNamee
President
Lone Armadillo Learning
Lynne McNamee is the president of Lone Armadillo Learning. She has managed marketing campaigns for companies such as Avis, HP, and Bank of America, and recently was the marketing director for Bluewater, consultants for learning, talent, and human capital management. Lone Armadillo Marketing Agency, which Lynne founded in 2008, specializes in strategy, plans, processes, and tactical execution of multi- and omni- channel marketing programs for B2B entrepreneurial companies. She has been a HubSpot partner since 2011. She was cited by The New York Times for innovations in marketing.
SDD103 Roadmap to L&D Success: Look to the Constellations
12:00 PM - 12:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Design & Development Stage
Throughout time, explorers have looked to the constellations to chart a safe, successful journey. A critical first step of all journeys is knowing your precise starting point. In this session, we will employ a innovative app to help you identify your strategic needs amidst the pressing daily demand to produce great learning experiences. You will be invited to chart your L&D constellation and receive a personalized success roadmap.
We all have a goal and our own sphere that we operate in. The question is: Where am I? What are the boundaries? What are the opportunities to be a game changer changemaker? We believe that creative, constructive, and collaborative conversations set the stage for doing awesome things. We will invert the norm by framing non-judgmental, challenge questions with the audience; exploring how the constellation app allows individual strengths to emerge, and suggests new, skill-enhancing changemaker quests. Industry luminaries will share their constellations to catalyze the conversation as waypoints for navigation.
In this session, you will learn:
- The areas of your L&D strategy that are on solid ground
- The areas of your L&D strategy that require shoring up
- The resources available to help you shore up gaps in your L&D strategy
- The questions to ask yourself to begin seeing the larger L&D strategic horizon
- How to leverage the right tools to solve the right problems faster and more accurately than you might think today
Technology discussed:
An integral part of the session will be a new, web-based application called Your L&D Constellation. The app will ask L&D professionals insightful questions from the spectrum of learning needs in a fast, fun, and engaging manner. Your L&D Constellation was designed to elicit honest responses to generate a customized roadmap of resources written by L&D leaders, with tangible next steps you can consider deploying the second day back to the office.
Target audience:
Novice, intermediate, and advanced managers and 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.
Michael Hruska
President/CEO
Problem Solutions
Michael Hruska is a technologist and design thinking (DT) practitioner with experiences spanning across standards, emerging technologies, learning, and science. As a former researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Hruska provides technology, business model, and innovation solutions to Fortune 500, government, and startup companies. Hruska speaks at industry events, conferences, and webinars on topics spanning the continuum between advanced research on adaptive learning ecosystems and emerging technology solution/product design in a variety of industries. Hruska is an advisor/mentor to Ed Tech startups for GSV Capital, along with mentoring local and regional entrepreneurs. He is on the advisory board of a number of companies that support entrepreneurship and early- stage companies, as well as being recognized at industry events internationally.
Richard Lowenthal
Managing Partner
The Game Agency
Richard Lowenthal, a managing partner at The Game Agency, heads-up business services. Richard has more than 25 years of game development, publishing, and training experience. He has worked on training games with such companies as Intel, Microsoft, Colgate, Merck, and Pfizer, and educational games with AARP, National Geographic, Sesame Workshop, Disney, and The Learning Company. He’s also negotiated licensing deals for world-class brands including Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Monopoly, Scrabble, Bicycle Cards, Sesame Street, Crayola, and National Geographic. Richard holds a BS degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
SMM103 Create Oscar Worthy Training Videos for International Audiences
12:00 PM - 12:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Management & Measurement Stage
What can Hollywood teach you about training international end-users? In this session, you will learn how to leverage video and app content to address non-English speaking audiences. Video localization techniques from film and entertainment will help you achieve maximum engagement and information retention—efficiently and cost-effectively. Come see how addressing multi-cultural and multi-language constituencies need not involve the complete recreation of existing video assets and programs.
An in-depth case study will illustrate the intricacies and pitfalls of video localization for corporate content and show you how to seamlessly embed video localization into your production workflows. Servicing multi-language audiences creates many challenges. Multiple factors impact the cognitive load and ultimate effectiveness of the final product, including accurate translation, cultural adaptation, display of subtitles, audio interpretation, and recording quality, among others.
In this session, you will learn key conceptual aspects of video localization for different types of content. Specific examples will demonstrate the comparative effectiveness of subtitling, lip-synced dubbing, and in-video graphic localization. Although techniques will be reviewed, this will not be a ‘how-to” workshop. We will discuss a typical workflow for simultaneous multi-language localization, and how it can embed with existing production cycles to significantly reduce turnaround times. Specific real-life examples will be presented for a lively illustration of how to create effective, alternate language versions for existing original content.
Translation providers usually outsource video projects, resulting in long lead times, overstretched decision loops, compromised quality, and inefficient cost allocation—often leading to abandonment of video localization altogether. We will dispel the complexity of taking your content global, and discuss all aspects of video localization with no technology-specific focus.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to assess the true cost and benefits of creating global-ready content
- How to tell if you have quality video localization
- When to use captioning, voice-over, dubbing, and subtitling
- Best practices for making all your video content localization ready
- Costly mistakes and how to avoid them in adapting video and apps for multi-lingual audiences
- The cognitive science behind localization
- What to ask when selecting a video localization partner/vendor
Technologies addressed:
This session will discuss all aspects of video localization, with no technology-specific focus.
Target audience:
Novice, intermediate, and advanced managers and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Haitham Wahab
CEO
CMI Media Management
With international roots and a strong background in finance and media, CMI Media Management CEO and co-owner Haitham Wahab oversees strategic direction. He is passionate about linguistics and is fluent in Arabic, English, French, German, and Spanish. Starting with his arrival at the company in 2008 as CFO and head of business development, Haitham has leveraged his background in business and finance, his passion for language, and his focus on excellence to drive CMI’s growth. Previously, he was a founding partner at the investment bank, Daroth Capital in New York. He earned a bachelor of science from the London School of Economics.
STP103 Using Video in Training: What to Look For and Why
12:00 PM - 12:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Tools & Platform Stage
Video is a unique beast. It's more engaging than a training manual, but sharing it on your LMS (or worse, on YouTube) can create problems. It helps you scale your training worldwide, but every new recording is a pain to produce. And it would be ideal for just-in-time learning, if only it could be effectively searched.
Dave Dumler, head of Panopto evangelism, will demonstrate how using video for training can be remarkably easy and straightforward. He'll discuss the essential items you should expect from a video platform, including inside video search and live casting. He’ll also demonstrate how Panopto's video learning platform dramatically simplifies video management; showing how easy it can be to create, edit, and share a training video.
In this session, you will learn:
- How search inside video drives training material discovery
- How to create and edit training videos
- How quizzing can easily be added to any video
- Why video analytics is a key capability that can make your training decisions more data-driven
- About modern video platforms; what to expect and why
- How video platforms can be integrated into a variety of enterprise solutions, including LMS
- Results other organizations have achieved by using video in their training programs
Target audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders, or anyone wishing to better understand how to demonstrate a higher ROI and business impact
Technologies that will be discussed:
Video analytics, video quizzing, video search, video recording & streaming
Dave Dumler
Head of Product Evangelism
Panopto
Dave Dumler heads product evangelism at Panopto. His mission is to help learning professionals understand how video can be used to improve employee training, retention, communication, ROI, and organizational productivity. Prior to Panopto, Dave held a variety of technical and sales roles at a variety of companies, including a key stakeholder position at Microsoft.
201 Get Graphic: eLearning Tips from Comic Book Theory
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 5
You have a slew of tools to choose from to author eLearning, but regardless of the tools, creating a unique user experience that engages learners is important and often relies on your skills as a storyteller. One way to improve your eLearning storytelling skills is through comic book theory. Using special tricks and tips from comic books and graphic novels, you can create a unique user experience—no matter which authoring tool or platform you use.
In this session, you’ll gain insight on how to improve creative storytelling skills and how to use comic book theory to develop engaging, learner-centric content. You’ll also learn the “language” of comics, graphic novels, and sequential art and how they effectively communicate within the visual milieu. Finally, you’ll explore real-world examples of how to implement these newfound storytelling skills in eLearning.
In this session, you will learn:
- About comic book theory
- How to improve your storytelling skills
- How effectively comics communicate
- About the “infinite canvas”
- Tips and tricks to use in your eLearning
Audience:
Designers and developers
Technology discussed in this session:
HTML5, mobile devices (tablets), touch/gesture controls, and basic concepts of animation
Michael Sheyahshe
Founder and Technologist
aNm
Michael Sheyahshe, a founder and technologist at aNm, has a vast breadth of experience in information technology, eLearning, and innovation spanning two decades and several industries. His extensive career encompasses design and development of various eLearning and training content, specializing in animation, simulations, and interactive content. Michael is an expert in numerous 3-D software tools, game engines, programming languages, mobile devices, platforms, and coding frameworks. He holds two bachelor of arts degrees from the University of Oklahoma in film and Native American studies, and a master of fine arts degree in 3-D modeling from the Academy of Art University.
202 Headache-Saving Process Shortcuts and Tools for Project Management
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 3
It’s not uncommon for many projects to be organized through chains of email after email. But it’s hard to keep track of all the answers to questions, reviewers’ comments, and version control of the documents you need for managing a project. Is there a way to streamline your project management processes to make them easier to manage and follow?
This session will look at tools that can assist with streamlining the back end of project management. You’ll look at Teamwork Projects, a collaboration and project management tool; Slack, a communication tool; and two reviewing tools—Review My eLearning and Articulate Review—that assist with organizing comments and better facilitate the review process. The session will also take time to crowdsource the tools participants use to simplify their process.
In this session, you will learn:
- How collaboration tools aggregate information and simplify versioning
- How Slack organizes communication, allows for quick answers, and eliminates email clutter
- How eLearning reviewing tools organize SME feedback
- How Teamwork Projects creates links to organize an entire project
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
Teamwork Projects, Slack, Review My eLearning, and Articulate Review
Jean Marrapodi
VP/Senior Instructional Designer
UMB Bank
Jean Marrapodi, Ph.D., CPTD, has designed and developed eLearning for over 20 years in various industries and higher education. Named a Guild Master in 2016 by the eLearning Guild, she is considered an industry thought leader. Over the last 10 years, Marrapodi has presented more than 75 workshops and webinars for industry organizations and has taught over 40 graduate and undergraduate courses at New England College of Business, where she served as director of eLearning. Her expertise lies in her ability to make the complex simple, and pinpoint client needs to drive to business outcomes. She is a soup-to-nuts eLearning designer, able to single-handedly build a project from idea to rollout and work in a specific role on a project team. She is the chief learning architect at Applestar Productions, providing targeted eLearning and custom workshops for her clients.
Jason Kramer
Senior eLearning Designer
Illumina Interactive
Jason Kramer is a senior eLearning designer with Illumina Interactive. He gained critical experience in the corporate training world as a senior instructional designer with Citizens Bank, and was part of the award-winning instructional design team at NECB led by Jean Marrapodi. Jason executed the online build-out of the undergraduate philosophy curriculum at the University of Memphis, where he also served as an adjunct faculty member. Jason holds an MA in philosophy.
203 Using Design Thinking to Take Control of Your Project
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 9
We’ve all been there: the dreaded project meeting where stakeholders tell you exactly what to create and how long it should be. You work very hard over several weeks crafting the product they expect. The result is a training solution that is late, bloated, over budget, and failing to change employee behaviors. With scenarios like this one, it’s no wonder that, according to Harvard Business School, only 10 percent of corporate training is effective. This problem led one team to hunt for a solution that would revolutionize the process of designing learning experiences.
In this session, you will learn how a team at Holiday Inn Club Vacations successfully reimagined the way they engaged stakeholders using a proven methodology: design thinking. You will explore how this model empowers learning designers to take control of the design meeting and create solutions that are compelling and meaningful, and that yield positive business results. You will learn how it all begins by tapping into the stakeholder’s emotions using empathy, which will build mutual trust and understanding. Then you will explore how to clearly define a single performance objective, and the employee behaviors that must change to achieve that goal. Finally, you will practice the art of ideating solutions, crafting rapid prototypes, and testing for desired results.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why design thinking is an effective method for crafting learning experiences that will change behaviors and move the performance needle
- How connecting to your stakeholders’ emotional needs will lead to stronger relationships and collaboration throughout the project life cycle
- How defining a strong performance objective keeps the project on track and your stakeholders focused on the same goal
- How to crowdsource a pool of ideas and turn them into working prototypes that match the performance objective
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and other organizational development professionals
Marco Madrazo
Head of Learning Experience Design
Holiday Inn Club Vacations
Marco Madrazo is the head of learning experience design at Holiday Inn Club Vacations. In this role, he has been a key partner in the creation of innovative talent development initiatives, including the newly formed EXPANSIONS Leadership Development Series. Prior to joining HCV, Marco was the program manager for US retail training at Microsoft. In this role, he supported the launch of flagship products such as Office 365 and Xbox One. Throughout his 16-year career in learning and development, Marco has crafted numerous award-winning programs that have increased competence, confidence, and advocacy.
204 Cultivating a Self-Directed Learning Culture
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 16
Conventional wisdom says that people can self-provision their learning and professional development through internet-enabled access to resources and social networks. But studies indicate that employees are not necessarily skilled at managing their own professional development and leveraging digital tools for learning. With an abundance of resources available, people may become paralyzed by too much information and too many choices. And they may not have the time or savvy to find what they need and use it to develop their knowledge bases and skill sets. Nonetheless, you don’t want to resort to structured training programs as the only path for learning.
Drawing on theory and research related to learner motivation and self-directed learning, this interactive session will provide actionable advice on how to foster a learning culture in the digital age. You will explore the pillars of self-directed learning that influence people’s ability to manage their own development. You’ll take away a framework to quickly assess people’s readiness to learn, as well as specific strategies to improve learning agility. You’ll discover new roles for managers and learning leaders that will enable you to foster a learning culture in your organization.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the pillars of self-directed learning
- Specific strategies for strengthening those pillars
- About management’s role in building a learning culture
- About L&D’s role in supporting a learning culture
Audience:
Designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Catherine Lombardozzi
Learning Strategy Consultant/Founder
Learning 4 Learning Professionals
Catherine Lombardozzi is a lifelong learning and development practitioner and founder of Learning 4 Learning Professionals. Her work advances the development of people who work in L&D roles. Catherine is an unabashed L&D geek who currently aspires to a writer-beach-walker hyphenate. She holds a doctoral degree in human and organizational learning from George Washington University and is author of Learning Environment by Design. www.L4LP.com
205 Bust Out of Operational Debt with the 7P Framework!
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 14
As teams compete for scarce resources, investing your current resources in activities that have a high rate of return is critical to not only surviving but using learning to solve your business’s biggest, baddest problems.
In this session you will learn how to get out of operational debt using the 7P Framework to improve your team’s impact with the same or fewer resources. Position your learning organization to thrive; taking a lead seat at the table with your stakeholders in moving the business forward.
In this session, you will learn:
- The 7Ps of the 7P Framework
- The benefits to your learning organization and business of getting or staying out of operational debt
- How to use the 7P Framework to drive operational efficiencies so that you can reinvest your people resources to improve your learning organization’s impact to the business
- How to apply the 7P Framework to improving the operational efficiencies of your learning organization through an interactive activity
Target audience:
Project managers, managers, senior leaders, directors, VP, CLO, executives
Natalie Thibault
Learning Manager
Multinational Corporation
Natalie is a leader and speaker with international experience. She has mastered the craft of aligning learning strategy to business strategy by combining her degree in finance, her experience in operations management, and her passion for learning and development. She provides customers with innovative solutions to their most pressing needs, and builds strong teams that support these customers. She has a track record of success using her 7P Framework, which she has refined over 10 years to drive breakthrough results for her customers in fast-paced, high-growth environments. Using her 7P Framework, she simultaneously catapults the teams and individuals who serve these customers to top performance levels using a data-driven and a collaborative process with stakeholders. She has effectively applied her 7P Framework to newly established departments and teams, those sustaining growth, and in turnaround settings.
206 Data Before Design: The Inspiration Behind Performance-based Leader Learning
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 15
It's not every day L&D professionals get to spend time in the trenches conducting a true needs analysis, learning firsthand about the needs of leaders and the barriers that impact their performance. We did and survived to share what we learned, translating this analysis into customized yet scalable performance-based solutions. The strength of leadership at the mid-level is critical to employee engagement and organizational success.
At Trinity Health approximately 7,000 middle managers support the majority of colleagues, address complex healthcare challenges, execute strategy, and navigate transformational change. Before our design team could hope to successfully meet their development needs, we needed to really learn about our target audience. This session will explore how we collected voice-of-the-customer data and analyzed key research on leadership development and high-performing learning organizations.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to conduct an in-depth needs analysis and determine what type of needs analysis makes sense for your organization
- Tips for generating ideas on how to use primary and secondary research to create performance-based leadership development
- Strategies for scaling and customizing learning to fit the needs of today’s leaders
Audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Shannon Young
Senior Design Consultant and Learning Strategist
Trinity Health
Shannon Young is a senior design consultant and learning strategist at Trinity Health. She has over 25 years of experience in consulting, instructional design, education research and analysis, curriculum and program development, program management, process improvement, and distance education. Shannon has created custom learning solutions and performance support materials for corporate, nonprofit, and academic clients. She holds a BA in English and an MA in literacy, language, and learning from the University of Michigan. At Trinity Health, Shannon is the learning strategist and architect for the mid-level leader development program. She is responsible for needs analysis design, data collection, analysis, and reporting.
Shelby Dria
Manager, Instructional Design
Trinity Health
Shelby Dria is a manager of instructional design at Trinity Health. A CPLP, Shelby is dedicated to continually uncovering better ways of creating, delivering, and measuring relevant learning and development experiences. With 20 years of combined expertise in team leadership and internal consulting, she has worked for various for-profit and nonprofit companies including Trinity Health, Columbia Sportswear, The Great Indoors, and Target. Shelby has spent much of her career developing expertise in leadership development, training and performance analysis, and virtual training and management. Her career highlights include designing local and global leadership development programs for new leaders, mid-level leaders, and high potentials.
207 10 Principles for Building a More Social Organization
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 18
A recent survey by Donald H. Taylor, chairman of the Learning and Performance Institute, revealed that L&D is falling out of love with enterprise collaboration and Forrester Research has shown that roughly 80 percent of enterprise social platform implementations fail. In recent years, social technology has fractured into social intranets, enterprise social networks, and chat platforms. What are we to make of this? Has social lost its way? Have expectations been over-inflated? Should L&D let go … or do more?
In this session, you’ll examine the real value that social technology can bring to an organization through the examination of 10 principles of social design that you can use to shape your strategy or gauge your progress. You will learn to set the stage for success and find the right data to show incremental workforce transformation. Finally, you’ll learn how to form greater partnerships with employees, management, and executives to grow work networks and increase the engagement, innovation, and agility your organization demands.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to cut through the bells and whistles and get back to the foundation of social
- How to use your L&D skills to support workflow learning
- Examples of approaches used to move individuals and groups forward
- Tips on how to identify, capture, and promote the right data to drive decisions
- Why ROI and ROE have no value and are merely vanity metrics
Audience:
Managers, directors, and senior leaders.
Technology discussed in this session:
Enterprise social technology including, but not limited to, Yammer, Jive, WorkPlace, and Slack.
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.
208 Demystifying AI in L&D
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 10
Artificial intelligence technologies are transforming homes and workplaces. The World Economic Forum has started to talk about what is happening as the fourth industrial revolution. When you start to think about AI and L&D, it raises many questions: What do AI technologies mean for L&D? What is the impact on the capabilities that organizations need to be developing in people now and into the near future? How can you use AI technologies to enhance and automate L&D work? What is the reality of what you can do now? What is really happening with AI in workplaces now? AI can be a confusing area with jargon like decision trees, k-clusters, and regressions. Even most technically focused L&D people are not math and data experts.
In this session, you’ll learn about AI technologies in L&D. The session will explore two themes: How is AI changing the capabilities you need to focus on in L&D, and how is AI transforming L&D work at the moment? The session is based on findings from a series of interviews with leading pioneers in AI and L&D. Through their insights, you’ll explore how people are using AI to build personalized learning experiences, create systems to predict the right people to hire, pioneer the use of chatbots in L&D, and figure out the sentiment of employees from comments on social networks.
In this session, you will learn:
- What the effects of AI could be on L&D, and why AI is important
- About the link between AI and big data
- Key AI terminology
- How AI is being used in cutting-edge L&D platforms now
- About key technologies and platforms for working with AI and machine learning
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
The new chatbot from Lever—Transfer of Learning; Yield, an xAPI-based recommendations engine and predication system; and HT2 Labs xAPI sentiment analysis platform
Robin Petterd
Founder
Sprout Labs
Robin Petterd is the founder of Sprout Labs, where he works with organizations to transform how they learn. He has a PhD in interactive creative media. Sprout Labs is working on a new AI-based learning analytics platform. Robin is the host of the Learning While Working podcast and virtual conference, and he regularly runs webinars and other events.
209 Building a Habit of Daily Learning
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 1
The majority of what people learn comes from practical experience on the job. However, they don’t learn everything they need just by doing their jobs. You have to be ready for exceptions when they arise. Learners need reinforcement of important topics to help avoid bad habits. They look for opportunities to expand their knowledge and skills beyond their current roles to further their careers. Unfortunately, with limited time and competing priorities, employees often are unable to make continuous, targeted learning part of their work.
In this session, you’ll look in-depth at how to embed targeted learning activities into the daily workplace experience. You’ll learn tactics for applying common learning science techniques, including interval reinforcement and retrieval practice, to drive long-term knowledge retention. You’ll see how you can use familiar tools to promote the habit of daily learning. You’ll hear stories from organizations that are realizing measurable business results by helping their employees dedicate just five minutes per day to their professional development.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to identify brief moments for daily learning in the average employee’s day
- How to apply learning science techniques to promote knowledge retention
- How to enable managers to support daily learning activities
- How to motivate and enable employees to build their daily learning habits
Audience:
Designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
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.
210 The Neuroscience of Designing Memorable Content
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 11
People are constantly bombarded with requests for their attention, many of which unfortunately go ignored. It’s frustrating to consider that when you share educational content, most people will forget 90 percent of it after just two days. Why go through all the trouble of painstakingly developing content, if most of it won’t be retained for the long term? With the brain more likely to forget something than remember it, it’s critical to understand how the brain processes information and tends to remember it, and then to apply that knowledge when designing instructional content.
When you are creating eLearning content, you are in full control of what people are seeing on their path to memory. In this session, you will learn how to think about your content in terms of three elements: attention, memory, and decision. Drawing on insights from neuroscience, you’ll understand how audiences pay attention, remember content, and ultimately act on it. You’ll discover strategies for transforming the content you share into something worth noticing and remembering. You’ll address how memory is, among other things, a problem of discrimination, and outline strategies for drawing attention to the most important aspects of your content. You’ll also learn why employing repetition is often overlooked in eLearning, and how it’s essential for embedding memories.
In this session, you will learn:
- Which variables are completely in your control when you want to influence someone’s memory
- How you can insert stimuli into your content to attract and sustain audience attention
- About the visual elements that make content more memorable
- The difference between two types of memory—verbatim and gist
- Why your persuasive power is a function of what people remember, not what they forget
Audience:
Designers and managers
Carmen Simon
Cognitive Neuroscientist & Chief Science Officer
Corporate Visions
Dr. Carmen Simon is a cognitive neuroscientist and Chief Science officer at Corporate Visions. She is also the founder of Enhancive, an agency that helps organizations use neuroscience to create content that impacts customers’ memory and decisions. Her most popular books on customers’ attention and memory are called Impossible to Ignore and Made You Look.
211 Recovering from Virtual Classroom Disasters
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 13
Disasters happen when teaching in a virtual classroom: connections fail, audio echoes, and files crash. In order to get the problem(s) solved and get the session back on time and on track, you’ll need more than a good idea. You’ll need a plan.
In this session, you’ll find out about the lessons learned from 20+ years of experience preparing, supporting, crashing, and recovering from thousands of hours in virtual classrooms. You’ll learn the ins, the outs, and the agonies of running online events. You’ll walk away with strategies for how to fix virtual classroom disasters as they happen, as well as techniques that can help prevent them from happening in the first place.
In this session, you will learn:
- About what happened in real-life VC disasters (the names have been changed to protect the innocent)
- How we solved these disasters in the moment
- How the plan for future sessions got updated as a result
- What you can do develop a deep, appropriately-placed paranoia that will help guide your planning decisions
Audience:
Designers, managers, online event producers, facilitators
Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual classroom technologies
Karen Hyder
Online Event Producer and Speaker Coach
Kaleidoscope Training and Consulting
Karen Hyder, online event producer and speaker coach at Kaleidoscope Training and Consulting, has been teaching about technology since 1991, when she delivered instructor-led software courses for Logical Operations. She was promoted to director of trainer development, helping trainers improve skills and earn certifications. In 1999 she created a course for trainers using virtual classrooms, and helped launch The eLearning Guild Online Forums in 2004. She continues to host The Guild’s Best of DemoFest, and was honored with the Guild’s Guild Master Award. Currently, Karen provides coaching and production support for a series of online courses at Hearing First, a not-for-profit that serves audiology professionals earning CEUs.
212 Create Compelling Infographics in PowerPoint
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 4
Infographics are great tools to convey complex information in an elegant way. They can be the basis of engaging classroom training, interactive eLearning, or intuitive resources. And you can repurpose them for sales, marketing, HR, and conferences. But, creating a good infographic can be hard. You don't want it to just be nicely designed bullet points. To be effective, it must tell a story.
This session looks at the techniques involved in drafting infographics with visual hierarchies to convey meaning, followed by ways that you can quickly and easily construct your proposal graphics using nothing but PowerPoint. You'll examine the different uses for infographics and how they can be used to support a variety of training tools, or be standalone for quick microlearning or reference guides. There will be plenty of examples, from the immediately practical to the more long-term inspirational, so that you can get going now and improve over time. You'll find tips on design, layout, and visualization approaches, as well as some nifty productivity tips that will turn you into a PowerPoint legend.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to elegantly convey complex concepts in an infographic to tell your story
- Ways to structure your story into key components so that the graphic leads the audience through your story
- Techniques for using PowerPoint to create your infographic quickly and easily
- How to export your infographic as a small file to send, high res for print, or HTML5 for interactive web use
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed in this session:
PowerPoint, iSpring Converter Pro
Richard Goring
Director
BrightCarbon
Richard Goring is a director at BrightCarbon, a presentation and eLearning agency. He enjoys helping people create engaging content and communicate effectively using visuals, diagrams, and animated sequences that explain and reinforce the key points.
213 Aligning Learning Personalization to Business Drivers
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 17
Though there’s been great interest in learning personalization in recent years, the truth is that we have been trying to use systems to adapt teaching to individual learners for decades. The key to successful implementation of learning personalization is not through the use of the best learning management system or latest technological trend.
In this session we will explore different types of learning personalization, and how to measure the impact of your efforts. You will discover why the most impactful learning personalization efforts are through the intentional alignment of your learning organization’s mission, how to identify current business drivers in the broader organization, and how to select the type of learning personalization that will address these needs.
In this session you will learn how to:
- Identify business drivers that could be addressed through learning personalization
- Describe different types of learning personalization, including low-tech and high-tech options
- Select the most appropriate learning personalization for your business driver
- Measure the impact of learning personalized based on your business driver
Audience (Identify all that apply):
Intermediate & Advanced, Designers, Managers, Directors
Frank Nguyen
Executive Director
Genentech
Dr. Frank Nguyen is a learning executive who specializes in transforming learning organizations through strategy and technology. He has led enterprise learning for Fortune companies including AIG, Amazon, American Express, Intel, MicroAge, and Sears. Frank has published extensively on the intersection of eLearning, instructional design, and performance support. He is a recipient of the Learning Guild Master and the ISPI Distinguished Dissertation awards. His work on compliance training, learning strategy, business transformation, and technology has been recognized by Brandon Hall and Chief Learning Officer. Frank has served on a variety of learning industry committees for Adobe, ATD, BJET, Brandon Hall, eLearning Guild, and ISPI.
214 BYOD: Adobe Illustrator Basics for eLearning and Slides
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 7
It’s quite common for instructional designers and developers to use graphics from stock photo sites in their courses, and often these graphics are vector illustrations published in EPS, SVG, or AI formats. These vector graphics are stylish and scalable, meaning they can be used at any size. Yet many L&D professionals don’t know how to work with vector graphics and adjust them for their needs, because the tools to do so can feel difficult to learn.
In this session, you will learn the foundations of using Adobe Illustrator to create and modify vector graphics. The focus will be on basic tasks common to L&D situations that will help you produce aesthetically pleasing, professional graphics to use in learning materials. This will set the stage for you to be better able to use and edit vector graphics in your own work, and to continue learning and practicing with Illustrator on your own.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the advantages of vector versus raster graphics
- To feel comfortable and familiar with the Illustrator user interface
- How to modify stock vector graphics
- How to work with vector-based text
Audience:
Designers and developers
Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Illustrator
Technology required:
To participate in the exercises, attendees should have Adobe Illustrator on their laptop. Attendees can also watch the demonstrations.
Connie Malamed
Founder and Mentor
Mastering Instructional Design
Connie Malamed helps people learn and build instructional design skills at Mastering Instructional Design. She is a consultant, author and speaker in the fields of online learning and visual communication. Connie is the author of Visual Design Solutions and Visual Language for Designers. She also publishes The eLearning Coach website and podcast. She was honored with the Guild Master award in 2018 for contributions to the learning technologies industry.
215 BYOD: Adobe Captivate: Moving Beyond the Basics
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 2
It can be relatively easy to explore the entry-level features of Adobe Captivate. However, understanding the more advanced functions can help you avoid mundane, linear courses that are predictable and cookie-cutter in design. These features of Captivate may initially feel confusing and difficult to master; however, the potential of this authoring tool is huge—as long as users are confident and competent using the more advanced features. These additional features not only bring this authoring tool to life, but also enable developers to create highly engaging and highly personalized learning experiences.
This session will explore some of the features of Adobe Captivate that many wish to use—but few really understand. Using a sample project, you’ll learn what advanced actions and variables are and look at approaches for why and how to use them effectively. You’ll also look at how to use advanced actions and variables together to create engaging eLearning experiences.
In this session, you will learn:
- What advanced actions are
- Why to use advanced actions
- When to use advanced actions
- What variables are
- Why to use variables
- When to use variables
Audience:
Designers and developers
Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Captivate
Technology required:
Laptop running Adobe Captivate (trial version is fine)
Mark Griffiths
Client Partner
Newleaf Training & Development
Mark Griffiths is a client partner at Newleaf Training & Development and heads up the East Coast office in Orlando, Florida. Mark has a degree in IT and a postgraduate degree in education, and he has personally gained over 15 years’ experience in the training, eLearning, and talent development arena—working with nonprofit, educational, and privately held organizations such as Randstad, Boston Scientific, and Citrix to create and deliver high-impact blended learning solutions using a wide range of eLearning authoring tools.
SDD104 Winning the Hearts and Minds of Reluctant Learners
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Design & Development Stage
What went wrong? The decision to roll out the new company policy by using eLearning instead of traditional training sessions should have been a success. Instead, the completion rate was far less than expected and management couldn’t understand why. Most people have probably experienced one too many mandatory “Information Security Policy” eLearning courses. It lands on them when they least expect it and when they have more important things to do, like work. Someone telling them to learn does not necessarily motivate them. How do you, as a learning provider, make sure people are engaged and actually learning something? What do you need to move from just-in-case training to just-in-time learning that fits into the busy schedules of today’s workforce?
In this session, you will learn how to overcome motivation barriers among reluctant learners. You’ll find out how using an indirect approach—for example, identifying early adopters and using them as ambassadors—can give you new and better ways to reach your learners, and you’ll learn how to get a better understanding of your audience and how to decrease their resistance. You will also explore motivational design and how using checklists based on John Keller’s four components of motivation described in the ARCS model (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction) can help you to achieve engaged learners. You will leave this session with a toolbox for motivation, better prepared to meet your stakeholders’ expectations and ready to increase your learners’ satisfaction.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to use an indirect approach to increase motivation
- How to work with motivational design
- How to use the four components of motivation
- How checklists based on the ARCS model can help you increase motivation
Audience:
Designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Göran Bolinder
Senior Information & Management Consultant
informiQ
Göran Bolinder is a senior information and management consultant at informiQ. He has been working with most aspects of learning, from classroom teaching to instructional design and knowledge-sharing strategies, for more than three decades. Being an active Army Reserve officer and a former teacher at four different universities, Göran has met and motivated a wide array of different learners. As a consultant, Göran focuses on helping global corporations with learning strategies and instructional design. He has been working with several of Sweden’s largest companies in different areas like telecommunications, home furniture, and packaging industries.
SMM104 CANCELLED - Building the xAPI Ecosystem of Your Dreams
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Management & Measurement Stage
You’re excited about the promise of an xAPI-enabled world, but you’ve got a learning management system, a catalog full of SCORM-based courses that you need, and a handful of learning tool vendors that don’t use xAPI. What if you could get the most out of an LMS and an LRS at the same time as you move to your next-generation learning and performance infrastructure?
This session will start with the learner-facing tools that will capture your xAPI data: eLearning, mobile tools, performance support, social and informal activities, and data sources from the business. You’ll review your options when it comes to learning record stores and how they work (or don’t work) with your LMS. Will you work with a stand-alone LRS? A front-end xAPI solution with a built-in LRS? Or an LRS that is aligned with your LMS and your current learning infrastructure? You’ll hear real-world stories of three different xAPI implementations to help you plot your organization’s course toward your next-generation learning ecosystem.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to synthesize activities from a variety of front-end learning tools into a coherent picture of learning and performance
- How to discover possibilities for your next-generation learning and performance infrastructure
- How to identify key partners in your business to engage all along the way as you migrate from SCORM to xAPI
- How other organizations have implemented xAPI, and lessons from their experience
Audience:
Developers and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
xAPI, learning management systems, and learning record stores
Rob Houck
Head of Technology Innovation
UL Compliance to Performance
Rob Houck is the head of technology innovation at UL Compliance to Performance. He has provided strategic direction for learning and talent management software, managed software development and support of technology products and services, and overseen software implementations for more than 3.2 million users in 73 organizations. Rob has worked in technology for more than 25 years and has consulting experience ranging from small business to Fortune 100 clients.
STP104 Overcoming the Challenge of Introducing an LMS to a Resistant Audience
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Tools & Platform Stage
Introducing a technology system like an LMS to internal or external audiences is always challenging. You will deal with resistance around the time commitment, reluctance to learn a new system, or just plain aversion to change. Perhaps most significantly, you may also need to influence the learning culture at an organization or among an external audience group. You can hit roadblocks at every turn: from communicating about the new system to designing new best practices and standards; from creating new processes and accountability systems to getting buy-in and building champions. How can you keep yourself on track to a successful LMS implementation and adoption?
This session will take you through all parts of an LMS implementation: vendor research and choice, design and build of the system, and rollout and adoption of the system. It will illuminate the variety of roadblocks that can arise. You will then review the tools and approaches available to LMS owners and administrators to overcome these roadblocks. You will have a chance to share your unique context and challenges, and work together to create solutions and approaches. You will learn how to focus on defining the learning culture at an organization or with an external audience group, and how to influence and shift that culture to guide success with your LMS.
In this session, you will learn:
- About roadblocks to anticipate when implementing your LMS
- How to address audience roadblocks to LMS implementation
- How to define a learning culture at an organization or external audience
- How to influence an organization’s or external audience’s learning culture
- How to market your new LMS to your audience
Audience:
Managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.), and LMS admins and owners
Technology discussed in this session:
Learning management systems, internal wikis, and Google Suite tools
Emily Hicks-Rotella
Director, Learning Systems
New Leaders
Emily Hicks-Rotella is a director of learning systems at New Leaders, where she manages the technologies that facilitate professional development provided by her organization. She previously worked for five years at Teach For America and another five at Random House. Emily also runs her own consulting business helping nonprofit organizations learn and use technology.
SDD105 How to Create Great Digital Learning That Works
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Design & Development Stage
Successful learning and development is not about dumping a lot of information on people and then testing them to prove they can recall it. We need to shake things up, do things differently, and focus on creating memorable, meaningful experiences that really work.
In this session, we’ll explore how to create great digital learning by diving into some of the latest trends and proven tactics being used in the industry right now.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to give people the power to define their own learning journey
- How to connect learners with each other in order to share insights and expertise
- How to reduce learning time and improve outcomes
- How to realize value by captivating and challenging learners
Andrew Joly
Director of Strategic Design
LEO
Andrew Joly is a director of strategic design at LEO Learning. He started out in TV production, where he learned about narrative, pacing, engagement, and deeply understanding one’s audience. As a commissioning editor at the BBC, Andrew worked in entertainment, interactive media, and game design, where the focus was on pushing and using technology in new ways. He later spent nearly 14 years as director of design at LINE Communications. At LEO, Andrew focuses on his passion: how innovative learning architectures and approaches can genuinely transform learning and performance in business and make a real difference.
Rose Benedicks
CEO
Dashe & Thomson
Rose Benedicks is a renowned learning design expert and CEO of Dashe & Thomson. She has won awards for her learning experiences and is recognized for her approach to workplace challenges. She excels in aligning learning with business needs and proving the ROI of well-designed learning experiences. She holds a masters in instructional systems technology from Indiana University, is a leading presenter in the industry, and teaches instructional technology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
SMM105 Is a Learning Content Management System (LCMS) Right For You?
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Management & Measurement Stage
Modern learning & development (L&D) organizations make it a priority to improve employees’ skills and enhance knowledge—not yearly or monthly, but continuously. These successful organizations have moved away from disconnected, rigid courses and instead enabled flexible, multi-purpose, agile learning content. By ensuring that their learning content is rich, dynamic, and personalized, they provide their teams with the tools to drive their own learning. As a result, the value of every content asset is maximized and production is streamlined. But many organizations struggle to find a way to enable this dynamic learning. Oftentimes learning content is stored in silos, making it difficult to find and reuse. Reviewing and updating courses is time-consuming, creating derivative courses is problematic, and version control is a nightmare. Distributing learning content in multiple formats (SCORM, PDF, ePub, HTML, XML, etc.) requires painstaking rework. Sound familiar?
Adopting a Learning Content Management System (LCMS) can help resolve these challenges by removing content silos; enriching your content assets to make them more discoverable and reusable; streamlining the course development, editing, and review processes; ensuring courses meet quality standards; and enabling team members to easily publish learning content across multiple channels.
Join us to learn how the right Learning Content Management System can benefit your organization and your employees.
In this session, you will learn:
- What a Learning Content Management System (LCMS) is
- The difference between an LMS and an LCMS
- How an LCMS can help you to better store, enrich, discover, assemble, reuse, analyze, and disseminate your learning content
- What an LCMS does and how it works
- If an LCMS is right for your organization
Technologies addressed:
Ixxus Learning Content Management System (LCMS)
Target audience:
Novice, intermediate, and advanced designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders
Stephen Casbeer
Principal Consultant
Ixxus
Stephen Casbeer, a principal consultant at Ixxus, is a senior technology and business transformation specialist who has extensive experience with content operations, content management and delivery systems, and a wide range of editorial and production technologies. He has led global organizations and advised executives on adapting to and benefiting from rapid change in the information industry, encompassing issues of business and technology strategy, process re-engineering, and organizational design.
Robert Gaggin
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Information & Content Solutions
Ixxus
Robert Gaggin is a senior product marketing manager at Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). He is responsible for go-to-market strategy and execution, and marketing programs in support of the information & content services business unit. He contributes to the development, management, and marketing of CCC’s licensing and content management services for the learning market, including higher education, K-12, and corporate learning and development. Robert previously held marketing and editorial positions at Pearson, Cengage, and CISION.
STP105 Learning Efficiency For All: Rethinking the Learning Experience
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Tools & Platforms Stage
Learning teams are faced with a constant conundrum: employees say they want more development opportunities, but also say they have little or no time for development. The solution feels overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, you and your learners have something in common: both of you are striving for efficiency. In this session, we prove to you that you can meet that common goal.
In this session, you will learn how to use your current learning experience as a foundation for the efficient learning experience you desire. You will explore creation and delivery tools that will support video, social, and collaborative learning delivered to places inside and out of your LMS. You will learn how to help employees find exactly what they need when they need it most. Finally, you will see the value of using subject matter experts to support you in your efforts to develop and build skills throughout your organization.
In this session you will learn:
- How to capture knowledge and experiences through beautiful eLearning designed by the people who know the topic best, on a platform that’s flexible and familiar to learners, with the structure and security organizations require.
- How to help learners search, discover, and connect with content where they are, and by the experts who created it through efficient and elegant content delivery.
- How to create and analyze purposeful reports that let you identify gaps, find unexpected relationships, and measure learning impact.
- That achieving a better relationship with your learners is possible.
Target audience:
Novice, intermediate, and advanced designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders
Mike Alcock
Global Sales Director
Instilled
Michael Alcock, global sales director for Instilled and Gomo, is responsible for the company's strategy for UK and worldwide sales, product development, and global marketing. Prior to Gomo, Mike founded Atlantic Link Limited, where he invented the world's first cloud-based authoring tool.
Jeff Fissel
VP of Solutions
Instilled
Jeff Fissel has spent his career in the video learning space. With roots in using video for eLearning as an entrepreneurial college student, he led the integration of what was KZO Innovations' video technology into what is now the Instilled by PeopleFluent LXP. Jeff has served as an adviser on video to some of the world's top companies and often shares his thought leadership at conferences, web events, and publications with the industry's top outlets.
301 The 3 Cs of SME Management
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 14
Working with different subject matter experts (SMEs)—each with their own working style, personality, and expertise—can be a challenge. And that challenge can be amplified further when you need to work with multiple SMEs at the same time. How do you, as an instructional designer, know how to get the content you need from your SMEs to create effective and engaging learning experiences?
In this session, you’ll uncover approaches that can make working with SMEs go smoothly, and you’ll learn the three Cs of SME management: Communicate, collaborate, and create. You’ll discuss strategies for how to find the best ways to communicate with your SMEs, facilitate collaboration to make sure every SME’s voice is heard, and involve your SMEs in creating learning experiences that achieve their objectives.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to establish clear communication pathways for SMEs to share their expertise
- How to encourage collaborative environments for SMEs to exchange knowledge
- How to involve SMEs in the creative process throughout the development of learning experiences
- How to develop and maintain strong working relationships with and among SMEs
Audience:
Designers and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
Skype, Doodle, and Google Drive
Hiba Ismeail
Instructional Systems Designer, Integrated Learning Solutions
RTI International
Hiba Ismeail is a learning professional passionate about creating engaging learning experiences who has over 10 years of professional experience. She specializes in instructional design, eLearning, curriculum development, microlearning, and social media for learning. Hiba currently serves as an instructional systems designer on the Integrated Learning Solutions Team within the International Development Group at RTI International. She has previously worked at large consulting/services organizations supporting federal, defense, corporate, and nonprofit learning environments. Hiba holds a MEd in curriculum and instruction, with a concentration in instructional design and technology, and eLearning graduate certificate from George Mason University.
Kat Negrón
Owner
Black Kat Creative
Kat Negrón is the owner of Black Kat Creative, an instructional design and eLearning development company. After earning an MEd and eLearning graduate certificate from George Mason University with a concentration in instruction design and technology, Kat worked at nonprofit organizations and consulting groups to deliver online training to federal, state, and local entities in the United States. She develops and delivers online and blended trainings for clients around the world looking to create engaging learning experiences.
302 xAPI: An Introduction for Instructional Designers
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 1
As adoption of xAPI begins to take hold, it allows for more robust and interesting tracking of the learning process. As actual performance and results data are integrated with learning metrics, L&D professionals will have the data they need to tailor the learning process to individual needs at the same time that they can draw more useful conclusions about the learning as a whole across a wider population.
After a brief introduction to xAPI and what’s new about it from the instructional design side, this session will explore three key areas that impact instructional design. You’ll examine learning data needs, data sources, and meaningful visualizations that answer organizational and L&D questions. You’ll then look at making choices about infrastructure: how and when to work with your LMS, your LRS, or both. Finally, you’ll examine models for taking advantage of xAPI across a variety of learning vectors: formal and informal, social and private, formative and summative, predictable and variable.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to describe the impact that xAPI can have on your organization’s learning and performance strategies
- How to identify data needs and likely sources within the organization
- How to identify new challenges in your work as an instructional designer
- How to choose one or more first projects that leverage xAPI’s capabilities beyond what’s available in SCORM today
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
xAPI
Megan Torrance
CEO
TorranceLearning
Megan Torrance is CEO and founder of TorranceLearning, which helps organizations connect learning strategy to design, development, data, and ultimately performance. She has more than 25 years of experience in learning design, deployment, and consulting . Megan and the TorranceLearning team are passionate about sharing what works in learning, so they devote considerable time to teaching and sharing about Agile project management for learning experience design and the xAPI. She is the author of Agile for Instructional Designers, The Quick Guide to LLAMA, and Making Sense of xAPI. Megan is also an eCornell Facilitator in the Women's Executive Leadership curriculum.
303 A Non-Project Manager’s Guide to eLearning Project Management and Intake
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 10
The eLearning development requests keep rolling in, and everyone wants their projects completed as of yesterday. Working on a busy team can get tough when you’re managing various SMEs, reviewers, demos, feedback, and LMS configurations. This is especially true when you have multiple projects and you play many roles—or every role—on each of them. How do you keep your creative flame burning from project to project without being bogged down by all the project management work that goes along with each one?
In this session, you will explore how to streamline the project intake and management part of your job using some easy-to-develop tools and resources. If you have little to no formal project management training, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out how borrowing a few simple project management strategies can help add structure to your development process by taming your projects, but not your creativity!
In this session, you will learn:
- How to track and monitor the progress of your current and upcoming projects in an easy-to-use Excel project roster
- How the use of project request forms (created as Word or PDF files) can help you do a high-level scan of a new request in comparison to other priorities in your development queue
- About the importance of creating an internal web presence to promote your services, detail your processes, and provide resources to help SMEs plan and draft their baseline content
- How using a project agreement document can help you properly kick off a project, establish role clarity for yourself and SMEs, and agree upon project milestones
- How to incorporate tools such as a simple project activity list (PAL) to help keep your SMEs, your reviewers, and their feedback on track after change requests and review meetings
- Where to find free online templates and resources so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; PDFs; Articulate Review
Pavandeep Dhillon
Senior Consultant, Learning & Organizational Development
Mackenzie Health Hospital
Pavandeep Dhillon is a senior consultant, L&OD at Mackenzie Health. She has over 10 years of experience in the education technology field across the corporate, higher education, and healthcare sectors. In addition to eLearning development, she has expertise in the implementation and optimization of learning management systems and virtual conferencing tools. She has successfully implemented Absorb LMS, DualCode Moodle LMS, Desire2Learn LMS, and Saba Centra. Pav has presented at various conferences such as Learning Solutions, eACH, and the Canadian eLearning Conference. She has also authored publications for The Learning Guild and Adobe on the topic of learning management systems.
304 Independent Contractors: Tips for Finding a Great Fit for Your Organization
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 17
Do you ever worry about hiring independent contractors to support your learning projects? Are you realizing that the typical interview process needs to change a bit to ensure you make great selections quickly? Are you considering how you can market yourself as an independent contractor and increase your chances of being hired? Learn some insider tips on how to identify great learning support contractors or become one yourself.
In this session, you will gain insight into how to evaluate an independent contractor (e.g., graphic designer, instructional designer, technical writer, voice talent, third-party content creator) to support learning projects of varying sizes and complexity. You’ll get in-depth information on exploring five key areas that will help you hire with confidence: classification, competence, capacity, communication, and collaboration.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to be sure your independent contractor can’t be classified as an employee
- How to use guided questions, portfolio materials, and simple tests of skill to ensure technical competence
- How to ensure that your contractors will be available when and where you need them
- How to use the interview process to explore communication skills
- How to determine if a potential contractor’s collaboration skills will meet your needs
Audience:
Designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Katherine Robeson
CEO
Elearning Experts
Katherine Robeson is the CEO of Elearning Experts. Kathie’s experience in eLearning stretches back to the mid-1990s, when she was among the first to explore and use learning management systems in higher education. Her experience with Moodle dates to 2003, and she is among the most experienced users of this open-source LMS. Kathie has served eLearning companies as a C-suite executive for over 10 years. She has been a LearningElite judge annually since 2015. She holds advanced degrees in business, psychology, nursing, and education with a focus on instructional design for online learning. She’s also a nurse practitioner.
305 Demonstrating the Value of Training to Your Organization
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 16
Demonstrating the value of training and eLearning is a common challenge for instructional designers and eLearning developers. ROIs and cost-benefit analyses are almost never done, and KPIs often aren’t used to measure performance changes. However, using data to understand the results of your projects and approaches and then share them with others can do a lot to help others see what benefits come from your team’s work.
This session will dig into simple techniques you can follow to prove the value of training—from completing an initial training needs analysis, to calculating the cost-benefit of training, to evaluating success using key performance indicators (KPIs). You’ll also learn how to identify when training isn’t the solution to the business problem, and what to do instead.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to identify KPIs
- How to do a cost-benefit analysis
- How to do a training needs analysis
- How to measure performance
- How to propose non-training solutions
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Nicole Legault
Community Manager
Articulate
Nicole Legault is a community manager at the software company Articulate. Nicole has a varied skill set that includes expertise in instructional design, eLearning development, and more. She has written hundreds of articles on the topic of eLearning and instructional design. She is a skilled public speaker and has delivered many hours of training and presentations on a variety of topics related to training. Nicole strives to create engaging sessions based on practical skills that can be used immediately on the job.
306 Creating Inspiring UI and UX Interactions with Storyline
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 18
Every day you interact with various websites and mobile apps. Each is designed to deliver a certain experience, set the stage for what’s to come, engage you as a user, and keep you returning. They’re also created to surprise you with their flashy colors, interaction, and ease of use. If you want to go beyond simple next/back buttons in your course designs, finding inspiration within these cleverly created user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) interactions is a great place to start.
This session will explore ideas for how outside inspiration can help you create innovative UI and UX in your eLearning projects. You’ll discover where to find award-winning UI and UX designs and then look further into how they are created. Then, using some simple and creative techniques that go beyond typical interaction design, you’ll examine how many of these interactions you can create using Articulate Storyline 360. With a little creative thinking and some ingenuity, you can mimic and adapt these same interactions into various components of the learning experiences you are creating for your clients.
In this session, you will learn:
- Where to find award-winning UI and UX designs
- How to break down the elements within UI/UX
- How to identify elements you can create in Storyline
- Tips and techniques for creating and mimicking UI/UX interactive elements within Storyline
Audience:
Designers and developers
Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate Storyline 360/3
Tracy Parish
Education Technology Specialist
Parish Creative Solutions
Tracy Parish is an accomplished instructional designer, eLearning developer, and consultant based in the Greater Toronto area. With a unique blend of skills in computer programming, adult education, and eLearning design/development, she has built a successful career in instructional design. With over 18 years of experience in instructional design, development, LMS implementation and administration, Tracy is a respected figure in her field. She is a speaker, active Articulate Community Hero, co-host of the Toronto Storyline User Group and webcast Nerdy Shop Talk, the marketing director for the Canadian eLearning Conference, and moderator of the monthly Twitter event #lrnchat.
307 Fuzzy 508: Clarifying Compliancy Requirements for eLearning Projects
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 13
There is a lot of subjectivity when it comes to interpreting 508 compliance for eLearning. Although the law, originally amended to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, was enacted in 1998, the interpretation and implementation varies widely across organizations. This can cause much confusion and distress among developers and project managers as they zigzag across what can be an accessibility landmine hoping to come out whole on the other side.
Many eLearning professionals take for granted that their version of 508 compliancy is universal. However, it is not. The applicable provisions and how they are implemented in your training may be up for interpretation, resulting in a need to retrofit aspects of your training and have your budget bursting at the seams.
In this session you will explore how you can mitigate possible project disaster by asking the right questions, identifying key stakeholders, and ensuring your team is educated before disaster strikes. We will identify proven, real-world strategies to keep your eLearning project compliant and on track.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to identify key questions that will align you and your clients’ interpretations of compliancy to avoid confusion
- How to address 508 compliancy issues that may conflict with instructional standards or technical limitations
- How to explore compliancy considerations for different types of training mediums, such as traditional eLearning outputs, video, podcasts, and mobile apps.
Target audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Michelle Echevarria
Director of Learning and Development
JBS International
Michelle Echevarria leads an award-winning team of talented learning professionals, has over two decades in the multimedia field, and has spent over half of that creating eLearning for the public sector. She presented at the 2019 Learning Solutions Conference & Expo and was a featured presenter for the eLearning Brothers webinar. Her expertise is in designing and developing innovative online training for government and private- sector agencies using leading multimedia tools, and comprehensive instructional design techniques to enhance the user experience for eLearning courses.
Debbie Rhodes
Sr. Instructional Designer/Accessibility Expert
JBS International
Debbie Rhodes is a senior instructional designer and Section 508 compliance/accessibility expert at JBS International. She has extensive experience collaborating with subject matter experts to apply instructional technology and adult learning theory to web-based curricula. Debbie spearheads 508 compliance awareness and best practice use for JBS projects. She executes 508 test cases, conducts 508 testing using automated and manual methods (including assistive technology such as JAWS and NVDA), provides Section 508 remediation solutions, and advises on technical and performance criteria changes under the WCAG 2.0 508 Refresh.
308 Enabling 70:20:10 by Designing for The 5 Moments of Need
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 9
The conversation around 70:20:10 has been growing in popularity in recent years—with good reason. People are learning and getting support in a host of different ways, and 70:20:10 helps us see our work through a lens much broader than just traditional training methods. But in order to really be impactful, 70:20:10 needs to be more than just an idea. How do organizations put the concept of 70:20:10 into action?
In this session you will discover how designing for the 5 Moments of Need can harness to potential of 70:20:10 in your organization. You will learn what 70:20:10 and the 5 Moments of Need are, and how they are connected. You will discuss where that connects to our work (and where it may not). You will examine how we can build solutions for each part of the 70:20:10 framework. You will leave this session with the tools needed to design for the 5 Moments of Need so you can unlock the potential of 70:20:10 in your organization.
What are 70:20:10 and the 5 Moments of Need?
- Why do we do what we do?
- What is the scope of our work?
- How do we enable learning in the 70?
- How do we optimize the 10?
- How do we get there?
In this session you will learn:
- What 70:20:10 and the 5 Moments of Need are
- How to enable learning within the 70%
- How to optimize formal learning opportunities
- How to support your organization on its 70:20:10 journey
Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers, managers, directors
Conrad Gottfredson
Chief Learning Strategist
APPLY Synergies
Conrad Gottfredson, the chief learning strategist at APPLY Synergies, has deep experience in organizational learning, collaborative development, knowledge management, online learning, performance support, and instructional design and development. Conrad is the original developer of the Learning at the Five Moments of Need framework now in use around the world. He has worked with many of the world's largest organizations, helping them attain higher levels of learning agility. Conrad's experience includes the design and deployment of large-scale knowledge management and performance support systems within multinational corporations. In 2014 Conrad was awarded the Guild Master Award for his accomplishments and contributions to the eLearning community. He holds a PhD in instructional psychology and technology.
Bob Mosher
CEO/founder/Chief Learning Evangelist
APPLY Synergies, a 5 Moments of Need Company
Bob Mosher, the chief learning evangelist at APPLY Synergies, has been an active and influential leader in the learning and training industry for over 30 years, and is renowned worldwide for his pioneering role in eLearning and new approaches to learning. Before co-founding APPLY Synergies consultancy with Conrad Gottfredson, Bob served as the chief learning evangelist for Ontuitive, director of learning strategy and evangelism for Microsoft, and executive director of education for Element K. He is an influential voice in the IT training industry, speaking at conferences and participating in industry associations. Bob was awarded the Guild Master Award in 2014 for his accomplishments and contributions to the eLearning community.
309 Managing Impostor Syndrome and Positioning Yourself as a Business Advisor
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 5
Do you experience skepticism from stakeholders about the validity of the L&D function? Do you miss out on opportunities to demonstrate your value as a business advisor because you’re left out of the conversation from the start? And does this cynicism in the field lead to self-doubt and impact your career mobility? Many people can relate to this uphill climb and even experience impostor syndrome: the self-belief that you are not as skilled as people think you are and that you’ll be called out as a fraud. Because L&D is so often ill-defined and misunderstood, it provides fertile ground for impostor syndrome. So how does an L&D professional demonstrate value despite constant roadblocks or when impostor syndrome hits?
In this session, you will discover how the undervaluing of L&D has led to a crisis in confidence. You will learn strategies for combating the skepticism around the validity of the work L&D does at your organization. You will learn about the link between this devaluation and the prevalence of impostor syndrome within L&D, and you’ll discover how self-doubt may be impacting your ability to earn a seat at the table. Whether you are experienced or new to L&D, you will benefit from this session providing science-backed evidence and techniques that will enable you to address skepticism, manage self-doubt, and become a stronger business advisor.
In this session, you will learn:
- How the undervaluing of L&D has led to a crisis in confidence
- How impostor syndrome may be impacting your ability to earn a seat at the table
- Science-backed techniques to manage impostor syndrome
- Ways to leverage skepticism to become a sound business advisor
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
Social media, mobile, Microsoft Office, and video
Dawn Reynolds
Senior Instructional Designer
Management Concepts
Dawn Reynolds, a senior instructional designer at Management Concepts, has over 15 years of experience as a researcher and instructional designer developing face-to-face, online, and blended training. She also has over a decade of experience teaching diverse learners, from first-generation college students to adults learning English in an adult education program. Dawn places an emphasis on compassionate instructional design, learner-centered virtual training, and mentoring new instructional designers.
310 Make Virtual Learning Relevant: Using Scenarios in the Virtual Classroom
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 3
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. Join this session to discover ideas for producing appropriate scenarios that resonate with your learners in the virtual classroom.
You 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. This session will explore how to design three types of scenario-based activities in the virtual classroom: problem-based learning, predictive learning, and play-based learning. You’ll 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:
- About 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
- Seven steps for constructing scenarios
Audience:
Designers
Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual classrooms
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.
311 Best Practices for Implementing Gamification in Learning Programs
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 4
Gamification is an important and powerful strategy for influencing and motivating people. Unfortunately, many people think that gamification means just adding a game to their learning program or making a computer or video game. Because of this confusion, combined with a lack of real-life case studies of gamification successfully applied to learning programs, most L&D professionals do not understand how to deconstruct games to effectively drive the learning and behavior they want or need.
Using case studies from real-life programs for organizations such as Brown University, Amazon, Wyndham Properties, and ATB Financial, you’ll learn how and why gamification works, in what context it is most effective, and what the limits are to this approach of employee engagement in corporate learning and talent development. Through hands-on application combined with anecdotal and empirical data, you will experience the good, the bad, and the ugly of gamification strategy design.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to create a fun, collaborative gamification experience to achieve business objectives
- How gamification tackles challenging problems and captures measurement, behavior analysis, and engagement in ways that can provide a real-time understanding of performance
- How to use gamification mechanics and motivators to generate needed change and enable your organization to meet your business or learning objectives
- How to map a practical method for approaching gamification in your organization
Audience:
Designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed in this session:
Simulations, immersive games, and gamification
Monica Cornetti
President
Sententia
Unlike other gamification practitioners, speakers, and consultants, Monica Cornetti has focused intensively on the latest immersive engagement techniques and the latest research in the adult education, corporate training, and talent development fields. A gamification speaker and designer, Monica was recognized as #1 in the Most Influential Women in Gamification who have created a legitimate impact in the gamification industry. At the intersection of learning and play, she is leading a team of trusted, cutting-edge curriculum designers and developers to improve the performance of individuals and organizations across the globe.
312 The Quest for a New LMS
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 15
A company’s learning management system contract was coming to an end. After thoroughly reviewing its effectiveness, the L&D organization concluded it was no longer meeting their needs and decided to replace it in order to improve the end-user and administrative experiences, offer better mobile capabilities, enhance reporting and data visualization, and better integrate with internal systems. Ultimately, they also wanted to accomplish this without increasing spending.
In this session, you will explore their LMS journey, uncover the pain points that indicate it may be time to replace your LMS, and discover strategies for creating a business case to solicit buy-in and support from key stakeholders. You will learn best practices to uncover a system that will best fit your company and explore the process of narrowing down the selection of platforms by not only creating a list of requirements, but also identifying use cases for each requirement, and ultimately making a final selection.
In this session, you will learn:
- The signs that can tell you it may be time to switch LMSs
- How to build a business case to get buy-in
- Best practices when shopping for an LMS
- How to narrow down your selection and choose a platform that fits your company’s needs
- About technologies available in different platforms
- About integration possibilities
Audience:
Designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed in this session:
Absorb LMS, Adobe Captivate Prime, Docebo, Totara, Saba, Open Sesame, Lynda, and Harvard Manage Mentor
Margharita Nehme
Learning Experience Specialist
Evident Learning
Margharita Nehme is a Certified Professional in Talent and Development (CPTD) and an accomplished learning design and technology specialist. She holds a Master's of Educational Technology and has over 15 years of experience in providing results-driven and impactful learning programs. Her expertise includes the creation, execution, and evaluation of training programs, message design, and 2D animation, as well as the evaluation, selection, and implementation of enterprise learning ecosystems.
313 How Do We Really Learn? Applying the Science of Learning to Design
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 11
The most expensive instruction is that which doesn’t work. This discussion will look at the actions and behaviors that have been scientifically proven to affect learning. You will explore the ways in which instructional design requires more than content delivery and common sense. You will look at robust, evidence-based principles of learning to discover new ways to build the kind of training that is genuinely effective at creating performance change and helping organizations achieve their objectives.
In this session, you will learn what every good instructional designer should know from the best books for learning techniques, the principles of learning, and the actions that define learning in learners. You’ll build new ways to look at instructional design, as well as resources to use after the conference to help strengthen your skills as a designer. You will also explore the scientific research on eLearning and talk about how the findings apply to learning as it has been shaped thus far, as well as how they can shape learning in the future.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the science of successful learning
- Evidence-based principles of learning
- About the applications of practice for learners
- About reference resources to improve your instruction design
- How to avoid creating wasteful instruction
Audience:
Designers, managers, and 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.
314 BYOD: Building an Alexa Skill for Learning
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 2
Alexa is one of the most widely used smart devices in the US today. It’s a disruptive gamechanger in the learning and development space, but its integration into the learning ecosystem is drastically low. The number-one barrier today for learning professionals in using Alexa for learning and performance support is fear of the technology. The second barrier, and the one that’s easier to solve, is understanding how to even start developing learning content in this new platform. You cannot leverage what you do not understand, but it may be easier than you assume to learn to create experiences for Alexa.
In this session, you will hack your way through developing an Alexa skill with no coding skills required. You will discover the core concepts of voice user interface (VUI) development, learn basic VUI terminology, and brainstorm learning experiences you can create using Alexa. You’ll then get hands-on and develop your own Alexa skill prototype, so you will have a custom Alexa experience you can take back to your workplace to demonstrate and expand on.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to write a simple script for an Alexa skill
- How to build a working prototype
- How to test your skill
- About best practices
- How to identify potential use cases
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
Amazon Alexa
Technology required:
Amazon Blueprint, Get Storyline, and Sayspring
Myra Roldan
Program Manager, Technical Curriculum
Amazon Web Services
Myra is an L&D thought leader who brings a unique mix of technical, business, and adult education expertise to the game. She is a TEDx speaker, author, and technical designer who has won awards for her learning designs. Her superpower is her natural ability to make complex technical subjects easy to understand by breaking them down in a way that makes it easy to consume and move forward with action. She strives to evoke transformation by doing her part to decolonize technology. Myra works at Amazon and she has earned a Bachelor of Computer Science, MSEd, and an MBA.
315 BYOD: Adobe Captivate: Stories, Variables, and Advanced Actions
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 7
Quarter after quarter, year after year, designers and developers are challenged with creating new and exciting courses. Too often, though, courses are outsourced or made into dull, linear experiences where content is clicked through and glossed over. Imagine creating a memorable course that submerges your learners into a personalized, engaging experience—but how?
In this session, you’ll learn how stories, variables, and advanced actions can help you create engaging content with Adobe Captivate. You’ll write a story with an enticing introduction and learning challenge. You’ll learn how to use the challenge to effectively guide your learner through the content. Using variables and advanced actions, you’ll provide learners with opportunities to make decisions throughout the course. You’ll leave this session as a master of Captivate!
In this session, you will learn:
- Why a story is more impactful and relatable than run-of-the-mill objective slides
- What makes a good story and character (someone the learners can relate to)
- How to create a manageable branch path
- How to use variables and advanced actions to create a personalized course in Adobe Captivate
- How to use standard and conditional actions
- How to create states and multi-state objects
Audience:
Designers and developers
Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Captivate and Adobe Creative Suite
Technology required:
Laptop running Adobe Captivate
SDD106 Using UX Design to Reduce Cognitive Load in Learning Experiences
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Design & Development Stage
As an eLearning professional, it’s easy to become so focused on developing that perfect course that you forget to consider the systems you use to deliver your content. Whether this takes the form of a commercial learning management system or a custom application, designers often don’t take the time to consider how their courses fit into these systems and how their designs can play a large role in how effectively students can learn. While proper instructional development is important, good UX design is just as important. Both disciplines seek to minimize the cognitive load on extraneous factors so that the curriculum itself can take center stage. This is why considering user experience (UX) design during the instructional design process is important.
In this session, you’ll learn how you can bridge the gap between instructional design and user experience design. You’ll explore the relationship between instructional design, UX design, and their impact on cognitive load. You’ll learn about the importance of these fields and the roles they play in developing an environment of effective learning. You’ll also learn about the most common ways you can implement changes to your design to help build a more holistic learning experience. You’ll see examples of good and bad UX/UI design and be able to share your own experiences, whether with your own design or other designs you’ve seen.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the importance of considering both instructional design and user experience design when developing your curriculum
- What cognitive load theory is, and what its impact is on a learner
- How to recognize common design elements that impact cognitive load, and suggestions on how you can minimize them
- How to differentiate from good and bad user experience design
- How to make design decisions on bridging the gap between instructional design and user experience design
Audience:
Designers and developers
Sing Wong
Learning Solutions Manager
Penn State University
Sing Wong is manager of learning design and communications at the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness. He manages a team of learning designers, production specialists, and developers to produce researched-based educational solutions to help improve the lives of United States military members and their families. His areas of expertise include instructional design, educational technology, faculty development, adult learning, student engagement, active learning, MOOCs, and the development of STEM-related courses. Sing has presented at various education conferences, including the OLC Accelerate, Learning Solutions, and Penn State's Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium.
Matt McGee
Learning Designer
Penn State University
Matt McGee is a learning designer/developer for Penn State, where he creates learning solutions for training problems. Using design thinking models and rapid development tools like Articulate Storyline, he focuses on creating simulations and trainings that allow learners to practice real-life skills in a virtual setting. His work primarily consists of the creation of 508-compliant, high-fidelity, high-interactivity online learning environments for use in professional development by the United States Department of Defense and partners. His portfolio includes virtual, as well as face-to-face, trainings and knowledge-as-you-need reference tools.
SMM106 Wired, Not Tired: Is Curation the Cure for What Ails L&D?
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Management & Measurement Stage
Content curation is rapidly becoming an essential skill for learning professionals, but many have yet to put it into practice. This session will arm you with an understanding of how curation helps both you and your organization, along with the tools and techniques you’ll need to craft your own personalized curation system. It’s time to make curation a central part of your digital toolkit.
In this session, you will learn how using curation helps you move beyond the traditional packaging and delivery of content to provide better, more effective, more efficient solutions for your learners and stakeholders. You’ll find out how to create a solid content curation strategy, and you’ll discover tools and techniques you can use to build a powerful, efficient curation workflow customized to your needs and preferences.
In this session, you will learn:
- How and where to discover the most valuable content efficiently
- How to craft a content strategy plan to guide your curation efforts
- About tools and techniques for building your own personalized content curation system
- Strategies for becoming a trusted guide in your organization and beyond
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed in this session:
Content curation tools (Degreed, Feedly, Buffer, Pocket, Diigo, Zeef, etc.)
Mike Taylor
Learning Consultant
Mike Taylor
With over two decades of real-life, in-the-trenches experience designing and delivering learning experiences, Mike Taylor understands that effective learning isn't about the latest fad or trendy new tools. Known for his practical, street-savvy style, Mike is a regular and highly-rated speaker at industry events, and consults on learning design and technology at Nationwide in Columbus, Ohio. Mike holds an MBA degree from Ohio University and a master's degree in educational technology from San Diego State University.
Bianca Baumann
VP, Learning Solutions & Innovation
Ardent Learning
Bianca Baumann is VP, learning solutions & innovation at Ardent Learning. Over time, she has developed processes and methodologies to help organizations meet their growth targets with the help of innovative L&D approaches including digital transformations, onboarding, and reskilling programs. She has spearheaded multiple projects in the marketing, automotive, financial, and events industries, creating award-winning programs along the way. She shares her expertise in her blog and at global conferences. She teaches learning experience design at OISE and published the eBook, The Little Black Book of Marketing and L&D, a practical guide that helps integrate proven marketing techniques into L&D.
STP106 Organizing and Streamlining Your Storyline Course
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Tools & Platform Stage
Uh-oh. That course you built in Storyline two years ago is due for a major revision. What happens when you open the original source file? Or what happens if someone else has to revise it and opens up your source file for the first time? Did you just cringe a tiny bit thinking about the lack of cleanup you did, or the completely disorganized state of the project? What if you had some concrete methods to ensure organization, efficiency, and economy in your source files to avoid “old course dread”?
In this session, you’ll learn tips and tricks on general course maintenance, like cleaning up unused objects, organizing your slide timeline, and moving ancillary information off the main slides in order to focus on your content. You’ll also learn ways to minimize files and reuse course assets. Finally, you’ll explore how to use spreadsheets to track progress and style sheets to document design choices. You’ll leave this session with methods to organize and structure your courses in a way that reduces the pain of the revision process for you and your organization.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why it’s a good practice to have an organized, well-structured course
- How to clean up your course to make it easier for later revisions
- How to organize course assets for efficiency and reusability
- How to use spreadsheets and style sheets to manage the development process
Audience:
Designers and developers
Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate Storyline
David Lindenberg
Technical Learning and Development Specialist
SAS
David Lindenberg is a technical learning and development specialist on the education team at SAS Institute. In his role at SAS, he designs and develops digital learning assets to help customers learn how to use SAS software. David has over 10 years of experience as an instructional designer and eLearning developer. Previously, he worked as an independent consultant, and as an instructional designer and multimedia developer for a large hospital system. David earned his MS in instructional design and technology from the University of Memphis.
401 How We Read: Digital Text and Its Implications for eLearning
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 3
How often do you read text on an electronic device? (You’re doing it right now!) Research shows that people read digital text differently than printed text. But does your eLearning strategy consider these differences?
Understanding the way people see, process, and recall digital text can help you develop better multimedia learning resources. Drawing on reading research and user experience best practices, this session explains how things like text positioning, size, color, and typeface can impact reader focus, comprehension, and retention. You’ll learn how to apply these principles of digital reading to design effective webpages, documents, and other text-based resources.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why you should think of text as a visual element, just like images and videos
- What the research says about how people read digital text, including eye movement, speed, accuracy, typeface attributes, comprehension, and retention
- Why color, typeface, and size of text matter, and how best to use them in documents
- How readers build a “mental map” of written text, and how to design digital documents accordingly
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Jennifer Mandula
Instructional Designer
National Defense University’s College of Information and Cyberspace
Jennifer Mandula is an instructional designer at National Defense University’s College of Information and Cyberspace (CIC). Jennifer works with faculty to integrate new topics and teaching methods into CIC courses. She has a background in education research, consulting, and practice. Her research interests include digital literacy, electronic text, education technology and related policy, and visual semiotics. Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Davidson College and a master’s in education, learning and technology, from the University of Oxford.
402 Are They Learning? Using xAPI to Correlate Training Performance
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 15
Good courseware engages the user with multiple elements. From video to audio to the venerable drag-and-drop, you need to make sure your content is doing the job. But is your audience actually learning anything? More importantly, are they learning the lessons you need them to? And if they are, do you have the tools to prove that to your leadership?
This session will look at how you can use Experience API (xAPI) to capture data from the various elements of your content into a single, uniform format in the learning record store (LRS). Then, by looking at real-world example pages, you’ll learn how you can start analyzing results to see which activities contribute most to learner success in the course. You’ll also look at how you can compare key performance indicators (KPIs) to course engagement and success to show your leadership that your content is helping to improve performance, satisfaction, or whatever your goals may be. With this data in hand, you can craft your courses to ensure that they accomplish their goals and make the bosses happy!
In this session, you will learn:
- What xAPI is and how you can use it in your courses
- How to collect data on student interactions with your content
- How to report on the data you’ve collected
- How to use xAPI to compare content consumption to performance
- How to combine data to ensure that your activities are meeting their goals
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
HTML5, JavaScript, xAPI, and LRSs
Anthony Altieri
IDIoT in Chief/xAPI Evangelist
Omnes Solutions
Anthony Altieri is the IDIoT in Chief (instructional developer for the Internet of Things) and founder of Omnes Solutions, as well as an xAPI evangelist, authoring a course on xAPI Foundations for LinkedIn Learning. Anthony has worked on multiple projects implementing global LMS systems. He is a maker, focusing on user analytics and bringing the virtual learning world and the real world together through the use of Bluetooth beacons and other IoT devices using xAPI. Anthony has lectured to audiences on topics ranging from the spread of HIV to network security, content development, why it’s important to learn to code, and, of course, xAPI.
403 The Science of Attention and Engagement
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 11
A number of myths persist about people’s allegedly ever-shortening attention spans—but what does the science say? Neuroscience, behavioral economics, and consumer psychology all offer insights into how we manage and allocate attention. Additionally, our ability to manage attention and focus seems to be related to our abilities to allocate willpower and influence how we make decisions.
In this session, you will learn what the current science says about how attention, willpower, and decision-making interact and how that influences the design of eLearning environments. Having a deeper understanding of this topic will help you create more effective and engaging learning solutions.
In this session, you will learn:
- How cognitive load memory functions influence attention
- How we allocate and manage attention
- How to engage learners’ attention and manage distraction
- How to use the principles of willpower, attention, and decision-making to create better eLearning
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers.
Technology discussed in this session:
None.
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.
404 Learning Ecosystem Success: 5 Plain and Simple Hacks
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 1
Learning is an intrinsically human activity that happens in many places and in many ways. It doesn’t matter how great or feature-rich any one learning system is; learning will never happen in just one place. The modern learning ecosystem not only recognizes this reality but also embraces it to support learners wherever and however they learn best.
Getting started on the journey to a learning ecosystem can seem daunting. So technical, so expensive, so involved and exhausting! But it doesn’t have to be. In this session, you’ll discover five smart hacks for making your journey toward a more mature learning ecosystem easier. These are simple, doable hacks. You’ll start with a definition of a learning ecosystem—both for beginners and advanced audiences—and then get into real, tactical, simple activities you can consider now.
In this session, you will learn:
- What a learning ecosystem is, and why companies are implementing them
- How to choose interoperable tools to begin with
- Techniques for setting up a learning record store (LRS)
- Ways to make measurement part of your world
- How to have single sign-on (SSO) in place, which gives your learners a seamless experience and standardizes reporting
- Strategies for a “launch-support-improve” campaign for your learning ecosystem to set people up for continuous improvement
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Rose Benedicks
CEO
Dashe & Thomson
Rose Benedicks is a renowned learning design expert and CEO of Dashe & Thomson. She has won awards for her learning experiences and is recognized for her approach to workplace challenges. She excels in aligning learning with business needs and proving the ROI of well-designed learning experiences. She holds a masters in instructional systems technology from Indiana University, is a leading presenter in the industry, and teaches instructional technology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
405 Mobile Learning Design in Practice: Deconstructing a Financial Literacy App
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 13
Developing great mobile content from an existing course is a lot more than shrinking font sizes and stacking everything into a portrait layout. Unlike traditional learning platforms, effective mobile content provides bite-sized, relevant information at the right time. So, how do you design customized mobile content that makes your users actually want to learn? What skills do you need to develop mobile content? How should the design workflow differ from traditional eLearning? What do mobile learning design documents actually look like, and how do you use them in development?
This session will discuss design strategies for transforming traditional, long-form content into a mobile-friendly format. Take the opportunity to deconstruct a real-world, large-scale mobile learning project—building a financial literacy mobile application. You will explore each step of the process and tools used, from front-end analysis to deploying effective and accessible mobile content. Take an inside look at the lessons learned, from mobile learning design tips to recommendations for working on mobile learning project teams. If you want the good, bad, and ugly of mobile learning, this is the session for you!
In this session, you will learn:
- A simple approach to help you determine when to choose mobile learning as a solution
- Which skills and roles are needed to pull off a successful mobile learning project
- How to make the shift from traditional eLearning design to a mobile-first design approach
- Steps to designing for mobile: creating a course identity; moving from storyboards to node maps, mockups, wireframes, and prototypes; and how to successfully execute rounds of reviews and testing
- How each step is applied, exploring real project examples of each design deliverable
- Lessons from a deconstructed case example: building a financial literacy mobile app for the Department of Defense
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
Adapt, Microsoft PowerPoint, Assembla, Slack, iOS, Android, and xAPI
Sarah Mercier
CEO & Strategic Consultant
Build Capable
Sarah Mercier, CEO and strategic consultant at Build Capable, specializes in instructional strategy and learning technology. Sarah is known for translating highly technical concepts and research to real-world practice. She is an international facilitator for the Association for Talent Development and Greater Atlanta ATD Past President. Her innovative learning solutions have been recognized by winning industry awards, such as Best of Show at FocusOn Learning DemoFest for xAPI for Interactive eBooks, and Best Performance Support Solution at DevLearn DemoFest for Critical Success Factors training and assessment tool. Sarah is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and business events on topics such as instructional design and development, accessibility, data strategy, and learning ecosystems. Her work has been published in ATD’s 2020 Trends in Learning Technology, The Book of Road-Tested Activities, TD Magazine, Learning Solutions Magazine, CLO Magazine, and a variety of other training and workforce publications.
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.
406 The Power of Sound: Simple Tips for Audio Editing
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 18
Audio can be one of the most powerful tools in your toolbox when it comes to creating effective and impactful eLearning. Bad audio, however, can be one of the most destructive tools, distracting the learner and making your course feel unprofessional or unfinished. Don't let your courses fall prey to bad audio. There are easy steps you can take to create high-quality audio without big-budget voice talent.
This session will explore some easy ways to create high-quality and professional-sounding audio files for your eLearning modules. You will go through the entire audio-recording journey, starting with some tips and best practices for choosing your microphone, setting up your "sound studio," and recording your own audio. Next, you'll learn about different software (free and paid) to help you edit that awesome audio you just recorded, and finally, you'll bring it home by learning some quick, easy, and highly effective audio editing techniques to clean up that audio and make it shine.
In this session, you will learn:
- Which type of microphone is best suited for your recording needs
- Tips and tricks for recording your own audio, including how to set up your own basic studio
- About different audio editing software available to developers
- How to quickly and effectively edit your audio files
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Audition, Audacity (and other free audio editing software), studio microphones and accessories
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.
407 The 7 Deadly Sins of Video Production
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 14
Many learning professionals are approaching video without formal training. While creating video has gotten simpler, it’s easy to make a bad video. This session will look at 7 “gotchas” video creators should know about.
To make a good instructional video, you need to know more than just how your equipment works. You'll also want to uncover the problems and issues that commonly arise in video production, and what to do about them. In this session, you'll explore seven deadly sins of video creation. While they won't kill you, they can make your production more frustrating and your final video less effective. You'll take a closer look at these common video creation mistakes, and learn what you can do to avoid or overcome them.
In this session, you will learn:
- The dangers of failing to know what your equipment can do
- Why you want to avoid thinking you'll fix a problem in post production
- How to succeed at framing your video
- How to ensure proper lighting
- Why you can't ignore your audio
- Tips for keeping your video moving
- How to edit with the end destination in mind
Audience:
Designers, developers
Technology discussed in this session:
This session will talk about video in general, and is tool-agnostic
Matthew Pierce
Learning & Video Ambassador
TechSmith
Matthew Pierce, learning & video ambassador from TechSmith, has created videos for learning and marketing for over a decade. He is the lead behind TechSmith Academy, a free platform teaching video and image creation for business, which has been used by tens of thousands of users. He is host of The Visual Lounge Podcast from TechSmith, which streams live on Youtube and LinkedIn weekly. Matthew is a regular speaker at multiple learning and development-focused conferences and is a regular contributor to various training publications.
408 From Tourist to Participant: Creating True Immersive VR
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 16
“Immersion” is a buzzword associated with virtual reality. But simply donning VR glasses and engaging the visual and auditory senses does not automatically result in deep mental or emotional involvement—the true meaning of immersion. Often, instead of being an active participant, the user is merely a spectator or tourist in a virtual world, observing it but never connecting. So, when does an experience become immersive? When you can create circumstances that elicit true emotional responses; when experiences become real to users in a way they hadn’t anticipated; when they feel surprise, fear, and excitement as a result of the content they’re engaging with. This was achieved in Walking in Mandela’s Footsteps, a VR experience for the Oculus Go.
This case study session will show you how to design a VR experience that engages with users on a mental and emotional level. You’ll find out how Walking in Mandela’s Footsteps not only created a linear journey experience but also managed to evoke very powerful emotions in the last two parts of the journey. On a more practical level, you’ll also unpack each of the processes involved in creating the journey: theme creation, journey outline, linear experience design, and identification and implementation of intangible, emotive aspects.
In this session, you will learn:
- Strategies to create VR journeys that will not merely engage users’ senses, but emotionally involve them
- Techniques to enhance user interactivity, both mentally and emotionally
- How to evoke emotion in VR
- How to create a journey
Audience:
Designers and developers
Technology discussed in this session:
Oculus Go
409 Leveraging Simulations in Blended Leadership Programs
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 17
Experiential learning provides rising leaders in your organization the critical practice in real world environments they need to be successful. As organizations shift to a blended approach to learning, simulations can bridge the gap between virtual and classroom experiences. It is crucial that the integration of simulation-based learning takes into account the objections of the program and leverages the unique environment that this kind of practice provides.
This session will provide a toolkit to integrate simulations into an existing program, or start from scratch designing a program around a simulation offering. The next generation of leaders do not respond to lectures and lessons delivered via slides. Your organization must adapt to meet learners in an environment that prepares them for the challenges they will face. During this session we will dive into the way simulations can provide those critical lessons across the following disciplines: financial acumen, management effectiveness, cross-function collaboration, and executive presence.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to integrate simulations into leadership programs to serve as the kickoff or capstone experience for new managers and rising leaders in your organization
- What three Fortune 500 companies did to augment the experiential learning component to ensure retention of the key components of their learner objectives
- How peer-based-learning provides participants with the framework to learn from colleagues, but also grow their internal networks as they rise in the organization
- Why a competitive element is a key component of a simulation-based approach that succeeds in the physical and virtual classroom
Audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed in this session:
Immersive + team-based + competitive leadership simulations, delivered in the classroom and virtually, via Zoom Videoconference.
Matt Confer
VP Strategy
Abilitie
Matt Confer is the VP of Strategy at Abilitie, a leadership development company based in Austin, Texas that provides immersive business simulations to a global client base that includes over 40 members of the Fortune 500. Abilitie’s leadership programs have been delivered to over 20,000 corporate professionals in the past three years, in more than 30 countries and across 20 industries. Matt has facilitated leadership programs around the world for clients including Marriott Hotels, Coca-Cola, and Nokia. He began his career at Deloitte Consulting and holds an MBA from Boston University.
410 Increasing Engagement and Reducing Procrastination in Compliance Training
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 9
Most organizations have required training that becomes a chore for individuals to complete. Many learning and development functions are ultimately defined by these required trainings. In addition, managers and leaders must resort to fear or discipline to get individuals to complete the requirements on time. This session will provide a unique approach to “flip the script” and actually motivate individuals to complete their requirements while reducing the time spent. This allows learning departments to focus on more elective programs, and reduces the negative impression associated with training.
Many compliance programs are designed to hit the masses. In this session you will learn how to reorganize the programs to reward knowledge, rather than continue to push the same information. You will also explore how to redesign content to reduce time spent, while still meeting organizational and industry regulations. Most importantly, this session will discuss how to gain buy-in from leadership on the shift in approach to compliance or required training.
In this session, you will learn:
- Strategies for shifting your annual compliance training to a recertification program
- How to communicate and market your program to gain buy-in from employees and leadership
- Approaches for identifying key stakeholders to ensure organizational and industry regulations are met
- Techniques for redesigning courses to support a recertification program
- How to structure your program to avoid loopholes or gaps
Audience:
Designers and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate Storyline
Most organizations have required training that becomes a chore for individuals to complete. Many learning and development functions are ultimately defined by these required trainings. In addition, managers and leaders must resort to fear or discipline to get individuals to complete the requirements on time. This session will provide a unique approach to “flip the script” and actually motivate individuals to complete their requirements while reducing the time spent. This allows learning departments to focus on more elective programs, and reduces the negative impression associated with training.
Many compliance programs are designed to hit the masses. In this session you will learn how to reorganize the programs to reward knowledge, rather than continue to push the same information. You will also explore how to redesign content to reduce time spent, while still meeting organizational and industry regulations. Most importantly, this session will discuss how to gain buy-in from leadership on the shift in approach to compliance or required training.
In this session, you will learn:
· Strategies for shifting your annual compliance training to a recertification program
· How to communicate and market your program to gain buy-in from employees and leadership
· Approaches for identifying key stakeholders to ensure organizational and industry regulations are met
· Techniques for redesigning courses to support a recertification program
· How to structure your program to avoid loopholes or gaps
Michael Sinno
VP, Training
National Insurance Crime Bureau
Michael Sinno is a vice president of training with the National Insurance Crime Bureau. He has a bachelor of science degree in electronics management and a master of science in education, in instructional design with a specialization in human performance technology. Mike brings with him over a decade of experience in training management, organizational development, and performance consulting. He has led learning functions supporting large and decentralized populations in highly regulated industries including finance, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare.
411 Rapid In-House Video Content Development Using Camtasia
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 4
Don’t be daunted by the white screen when you’re getting started making your own video content. While it can be hard knowing how to get started, creating video content quickly is easier than it might seem.
In this session, you’ll take a look at how easy it is to quickly produce engaging video content in TechSmith Camtasia. You’ll look at techniques and approaches to help you start using this tool to polish your graphics and raw video recordings. You’ll also explore rapid content development best practices and look at creative ways you can incorporate and deploy your video content in the work you do.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to organize your video project
- How to use the tools in Camtasia to quickly polish your graphics and raw video recordings
- How to take advantage of the Camtasia library to get started and embellish your video
- Creative ways to use video
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
TechSmith Camtasia
Renée Durrance
Director of Marketing & Learning
Alpha II
Renée Durrance is a director of marketing and learning at Alpha II. She has over 15 years of experience implementing LMSs and developing eLearning and marketing content. Renée leads a high-performing team of designers responsible for delivering content to internal staff, customers, and prospects through a multitude of formats and platforms.
412 Evidence of Impact: How Metrics Drive a Learning and Performance Ecosystem
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 5
Do the executives who fund learning and development care how many courses you have? Or how many students? Or the number of class hours you’ve delivered? Actually, they may react negatively to those numbers. Most of the time, when people are in training their productivity is zero. The key question is how to get to Level 4 and measure actual impact.
Learning and performance ecosystem solutions tend to be more direct, effective, and instantly available, especially when they include components built into the workflow. These solutions are capable of generating a good deal of data. The trick is to identify what data is most useful in building a chain of evidence that explains the solution’s impact on business productivity. This session will introduce a framework for identifying the right business metrics and targets, deciding what learning and performance solution data to track, and developing evidence of the solution’s impact.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to describe a learning and performance ecosystem
- How to work with a customer or sponsor to articulate a human performance problem
- How to discover the business metrics negatively impacted by the problem
- How to identify solution data that could provide evidence of positive impact
- How to use analytics to monitor the solution’s impact over time
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Learning management, talent management, performance support, knowledge management, expertise location and management, social networking and collaboration.
Steve Foreman
President
InfoMedia Designs
Steve Foreman is the author of The LMS Guidebook and president of InfoMedia Designs, a provider of eLearning infrastructure consulting services and technology solutions to large companies, academic institutions, professional associations, government, and military. Steve works with forward-looking organizations to find new and effective ways to apply computer technology to support human performance. His work includes enterprise learning strategy, learning and performance ecosystem solutions, LMS selection and implementation, learning-technology architecture and integration, expert-knowledge harvesting, knowledge management, and innovative performance-centered solutions that blend working and learning.
413 BYOD: Business Leaders’ Bottom Line: Gaining Internal Buy-In for Learning
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 2
Leadership approval and support are central for any training program’s success. If you expect to incorporate any learning or eLearning, gaining internal support from various levels of business leaders and a variety of stakeholders is key. This session will help you identify primary stakeholders and address their expectations of your learning efforts. You’ll explore both learning’s qualitative benefits and, more relevant, the highly misunderstood financial impact. You will gain insights to help you convince leaders and stakeholders to support your learning initiatives, balancing the essential qualitative factors with learning’s, especially eLearning’s, financial investment requirements.
In this session, you’ll discover the actual decision-making process leaders apply to major internal investment to resolve business requirements and how to model your own approach after it to gain support. You’ll explore the term “investment” and what it means to decision-makers, not just L&D. You’ll then develop a competency that differentiates the learning expense and the technology investment. This will allow business leaders to make informed budget decisions and help you prove that your eLearning will contribute to the organization’s viability.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to internally communicate your learning efforts
- How to describe learning “investment” in business terms
- How to evaluate the business ROI for a learning initiative
- How to leverage leading qualitative performance indicators
Audience:
Managers, project managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed in this session:
Microsoft Excel
Technology required:
Device with Excel and/or calculators; sample spreadsheets will be provided for calculations
Ajay Pangarkar
Performance Strategist, Author, Managing Partner
CentralKnowledge
Ajay Pangarkar is a Certified Professional Accountant and Certified Training and Development Professional. He's a published author. His third book is titled The Trainers Balanced Scorecard: A Complete Resource for Linking Learning and Growth to Organizational Strategy. Other books include The Trainers Portable Mentor and Building Business Acumen for Trainers. CentralKnowledge was recognized by TrainingMag in 2008 as Project of the Year for their work with Apple. He's also an award-winning writer winning the 2014 and 2015 prestigious TrainingIndustry.com Readership and Editors' Award. Ajay was recently awarded Elearning Magazine's 2016 Learning Champion. Ajay is a regular on the #1 Montreal Talk Radio morning show.
414 BYOD: Getting Started with Augmented Reality
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 7
Augmented reality (AR) is a widely used technology in games, marketing, and everyday apps, but what about learning and development? Where do you get started? Where do you use it? How should you use it? Finding answers to these questions can cause developers to overlook the potential this technology holds and just how easy, effective, and affordable it can be to get started. This session will answer these questions and more through discussion, development, and demonstration.
This session will demonstrate how easy it is to get started using AR in development. You will discover free and low-cost tools and resources that will make developing an AR project simple, effective, and engaging. During this session, you’ll get hands-on to create an AR experience and have the opportunity to live test some existing AR projects. You will learn where AR fits in a design workflow and how it can enhance different types of learning scenarios. You will leave this session with practical knowledge of how to plan, build, and share an AR project with the world.
In this session, you will learn:
- About low- to no-cost software and resources for creating AR experiences
- Where using AR makes sense in your projects and workflow
- What elements make a successful AR project
- How to build an interactive AR project from start to finish
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers
Technology discussed in this session:
Zappar and Zappar Studio
Technology required:
Laptop and mobile device (phone or tablet)
Destery Hildenbrand
XR Solution Architect
Intellezy
Destery Hildenbrand is an XR solution architect with Intellezy. Destery has over 17 years of experience in training and development and seven years focusing on immersive technologies. Destery has spent time in corporate environments and higher education. Destery's primary focus is helping organizations plan, design, and develop engaging learning experiences through Immersive technology.
F02 Panel: The Future of Work Is…
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Salon 10
As L&D gazes into the crystal ball it becomes clear that new technology and new ways of working will drastically change the world of work and force our industry to adjust our practices, adopt new understandings, and develop new skills.
In this session we will look at three distinct forces that will impact how L&D will support the future of work; human, collaboration, and automation. Each will be viewed through a lens of what is, and what can be. We will highlight the impact these forces will have, and explore what L&D needs to consider to embrace this not-so-far-off future.
In this session, you will learn:
- What it means to make our work more human-centered
- How social technology will continue to alter the organizational learning paradigm
- How AI will shape the future of work, learning, and life
- What L&D can do to support even greater connectivity
Audience:
Designers, Developers, Managers, Senior Leaders
Technology discussed in this session:
None
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.
David Kelly
Chairman
The Learning Guild
David Kelly is the Chairman of the Learning Guild. David has been a learning and performance consultant and training director for over 20 years. He is a leading voice exploring how technology can be used to enhance training, education, learning, and organizational performance. David is an active member of the learning community, and can frequently be found speaking at industry events. He has previously contributed to organizations including ATD, eLearn Magazine, LINGOs, and more.
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.
SDD107 Designing Engaging Learner/Mentor Modules for Effective Knowledge Transfer
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Design & Development Stage
Training that increased confidence in job and product knowledge, and that improved productivity and application time of learning by both new and current employees, was paramount. The past training had proved ineffective—it consisted of manuals of overwhelming information, along with inconsistent knowledge delivery by assigned mentors. The learners were not engaged, which inhibited learning satisfaction and retention, and their ability to apply knowledge productively on the job was a serious management concern. The business partner, in preparation for a new wave of learners, needed an effective solution to make sure the job and product knowledge was easily accessible, retained, and applied correctly just in time. Learning needed to occur independently of any classroom environment and at the learner’s own pace—within designated time allocations.
This session will discuss and explore the reasons for this particular knowledge-transfer design, and you will see how the entire learning package—using eight uniquely designed components of just-in-time information—engaged the learner, set the foundation for a strong and long-term learner/mentor partnership, and provided a consistent transfer and retention of knowledge regardless of an assigned mentor. Feedback from learners and the mentor assessments supported the resulting increase in the comfort level of learner knowledge, which in turn increased the learners’ confidence when they applied the knowledge as needed.
In this session, you will learn:
- How you can implement a knowledge-transfer design regardless of industry or eLearning software
- How to design multiple learning components that you can combine into one effective learning package
- How to strengthen a learning event with consistent transfers of knowledge by randomly assigned mentors without overwhelming the mentors and learners with information
- How to give learners the ability to absorb and retain information without needing to memorize it
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and learning consultants
Technology discussed in this session:
Learning-package components and engaging video design
Oleh Boraczok
Talent Development Instructional Designer
American Family Insurance
Oleh Boraczok is a talent development instructional designer at American Family Insurance. He holds a doctorate (EdD) in business education with a minor in management and organizational communication. Oleh has been a part-time adjunct professor for more than 18 years at various colleges and universities, teaching organizational training and development, human resources, and management information systems. He has been with American Family Insurance for about 20 years in the education/talent development division as a manager and instructional designer and in training delivery.
Colleen Ramirez
Talent Development Consultant
American Family Insurance
Colleen Ramirez is a talent development consultant at American Family Insurance. She holds a bachelor of science in marketing from Upper Iowa University, a change management certification from Prosci, and a master’s certificate in project management from the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Business. Colleen also has experience as a change strategy lead. Her insurance designations are: Fellow, Life Management Institute (FLMI); Associate, Customer Service (ACS); Associate, Insurance Agency Administration (AIAA); Associate, Insurance Regulatory Compliance (AIRC); Certificate in General Insurance (INS); and Associate in Personal Insurance (API).
SMM107 Struggling with Productivity? Up Your Game with Employee-Generated Learning
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Management & Measurement Stage
Technical teams often work with a mix of novice and expert professionals with varying skills and knowledge. The experts work on challenging projects and become incredible sources of practical knowledge. However, this knowledge is trapped in their minds and creates knowledge silos, since the novices who are still struggling do not have easy access to that knowledge. How often can novices bother experts to share or coach them on some of the challenging aspects of the work? How often can experts do justice to knowledge-sharing when they are time-constrained with other priorities? How can L&D bring all of them onto the same page of productivity and performance without tedious courses or training programs?
This session explores an employee-generated learning (EGL) model and discusses how L&D can collaborate with subject matter experts (SMEs) to create and maintain a knowledge pool of everyday working practices or repetitive behaviors. This approach is quicker than the conventional training methods and will allow them to self-serve their performance needs faster, supporting their productivity seamlessly.
In this session, you will learn:
- About research findings (interviews and surveys) that indicate why employees share, and should share, knowledge
- Dos and don’ts of employee-generated learning
- How Nielsen, Unilever, and Electrolux have implemented the EGL model
- How L&D managers can change the mindset of key stakeholders, drive adoption, and improve employee engagement
Audience:
Managers and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Kasper Spiro
CEO
Easygenerator
Kasper Spiro is the CEO of Easygenerator. He has over 30 years of experience in the field of learning: teaching, authoring textbooks, designing and creating eLearning, and developing knowledge management systems, user performance support systems, and eLearning systems. Kasper’s experience as a manager also includes being CEO of an early internet startup in the 1990s. At Easygenerator, the goal is to facilitate non-learning professionals in sharing knowledge and creating effective eLearning through Easygenerator’s cloud- based eLearning service.
STP107 Creating 360 Interactive VR Training in Minutes
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Tools & Platform Stage
Virtual reality training has held an allure for eLearning developers for many years, but creating custom interactive VR content has traditionally been too expensive and too time-consuming for most applications. Has it reached an inflection point? Is it time to re-evaluate the advantages and costs of producing 360-degree VR training? This session will explore the potential of 360 VR, look at the landscape of available technology solutions, and learn how to create interactive 360 VR solutions in record time.
In this session, you will learn about VR and the various applications for training and learning. You will explore various options for creating and consuming VR content. Discover how the democratization of media as a historic phenomenon has predicted the rise of VR as the cost of production reaches levels that make the technology far more accessible to a broad range of content creators. Learn what kinds of projects align well with immersive VR training solutions. Discover how to recognize potential projects and activities that are well suited for the technology, based on the learning objectives that you have developed for your projects.
In this session, you will learn:
- What kind of learning objectives indicate solid alignment with VR
- How to know when it’s the right time to consider using VR for your training
- About the technologies available for creating VR content
- Whether VR projects are any more effective than other training
- Whether creating a VR project takes longer
Audience:
Designers and developers
Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Captivate, Sansar, Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard (or similar), and 360 cameras
Allen Partridge
Head, Digital Learning Evangelism
Adobe Systems
Dr. Allen Partridge is a learning addict with a rebellious spirit and a passion for evidence-based reasoning. Allen served on the doctoral faculties of The University of Georgia and Indiana University of Pennsylvania before joining Adobe in 2007. As Adobe's Head of Evangelism, Digital Learning Solutions, he provides guidance by relating customer experiences and challenges to the product and engineering teams that create Captivate, Presenter Video Express (PVX), and Adobe's extraordinary new learning management system, Adobe Captivate Prime. Allen is well recognized for his videos and presentations to audiences around the world. He has published a host of articles and a handful of books on topics ranging from critical thinking for business training to 3D online game development.
SDD108 Virtual Reality Technologies & Tools For You!
5:15 PM - 6:00 PM Tuesday, March 26
Expo Hall: Design & Development Stage
Virtual reality technologies offer innovative ways to enhance our ability to perceive the world that surrounds us. With the focus being on the learner experience, VR offers new opportunities to organizations that implement this learning approach into their training toolkits. This session explains how to create an effective VR learning game, from a corporation that has built from them from the ground up.
Learn what it takes to make an effective VR learning game or simulation, from start to finish. This will describe the processes taken by Designing Digitally and their clients, through the use of the HTC VIVE and the Oculus Rift. We will share the effort it took to develop out a project from beginning to end, and review multiple case studies and virtual learning experiences. This will also discuss the current understanding of VR, and how long until it is fully adopted by L&D professionals.
In this session, you will learn:
- The difference between spatial 3-D VR and 360 video VR
- What it takes to implement VR in your organization
- How to produce a VR project
- What it costs to do VR
- What it takes to create a VR project
- What tools to use for VR
- Why VR is going to continue to dominate the industry
- When not to use VR for training
Technologies discussed:
Oculus Rift & Go, HTC VIVE, VR games, VR simulations, case studies of VR learning games
Target audience:
Novice designers, developers, managers, senior leaders
Andrew Hughes
President
Designing Digitally, Inc.
Andrew Hughes is the president of Designing Digitally, Inc. and has over a decade in the strategical planning and development of enterprise custom gamified learning solutions for government and Fortune 500 clients. Andrew is also a professor at the University of Cincinnati and prior to this was a contractor for the US Department of Education, Ohio Board of Regents, and General Electric. Andrew oversees a team of 30 employees and is focused on ensuring the clients’ challenges are met with engaging, educational, and entertaining learning experiences.