Not long after publishing my previous post Three ‘Use’ words for L&D, it occurred to me that while these words relate to the learning solutions itself, there’s a fourth ‘use’ word that I neglected to include. User. It’s by understanding the context of the user that we can create something useful. Something that has a purpose and solves a problem for them. It’s by testing with users that we can determine the usability (and make changes from feedback). We can discover if it can be located when needed and if it’s uncomplicated to use. It’s by collecting and analysing data...
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I’m currently completing an online course on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) via the Interaction Design Foundation. In one lesson, Prof Alan Dix talks about three ‘use’ words within the design side of HCI. It got me thinking that these three words could also apply to learning and development. If we are to make a difference in our organisations, we need to design and create solutions that are: Useful It helps people do something they need to do, when they need to do it. It’s functional and serves a purpose. It produces results for the user and ultimately the organisation. Ask yourself:...
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Recently, I’ve noticed a shift happening within the learning field. The role of Instructional Designer (ID) is evolving into a Learning Experience Designer (LXD). So, what’s the difference? Ceren Korkmaz1 offers a distinction between the two terms that resonates with me: “instructional design emphasizes the source of knowledge – in other words the planning of the teaching activities. However, learning experience design concentrates more on the destination of knowledge, or the learner.” Having worked as an ID in the eLearning space for several years, much of the focus of my work has been on the design of content – the...
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In learning and development, we’re eager to tell others what it is we do, the services we provide, how we’re unique and who we serve. We do a good job of describing and counting our activities and the number of people who use them. We speak in terms of outputs. Outputs are what we produce. But our organisations are less interested in these things. What’s more valuable to them is the impact of our activities. They want outcomes. Outcomes are the differences we make. How can we measure the outcomes of our activities? How do we know we’ve made a...
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I’ve said before that the role of learning and development is to support the people in our organisations who do the actual work. This isn’t to dismiss our work as unimportant but: We’re not on the phones speaking to clients. We’re not working outside in all weather conditions. We’re not growing the number of new customers to our business. We’re not on the production line in a factory. However, we’re attempting to create learning experiences and support tools for them. Our goal is to improve their performance, but we often don’t understand what their job is like because we work...
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