Creating Passionate Learners 2005 = same in 2011

For those of you that were not into the blogosphere WAY back in...oh... say... 2005 or 2006, the name Kathy Sierra is probably new to you.  It's about time we ALL start learning how to "Create Passionate Users", or in our case Create Passionate Learners...and I'd argue they're the same thing, but I digress.  Let me start with why I am blogging on this topic.

@moehlert tweeted a reminder of an IT Conversations recording of her keynote from the Tools of Change conference (2/16/2011). So, I took 25mins and listened to her story.  I already knew most of the story but its always fun to get a refresher from thought leaders who bring a unique perspective to our industry.  And yes, she IS a learning person...turned blogger...turned top-selling, uber-tech author at O'Reilly.

If you are new to Kathy Sierra, after listening to the recording above, you should read the archives of her blog at headrush.typepad.com.  That will give you a pretty good idea of where she stands on turning users/learners into PASSIONATE learners/users.

My favorite moment in blogging...

I started blogging in August 2005 and I did not have anyone "following" me at the time.  So you can imagine how psyched I was when, after 4 months blogging, Kathy posted a comment on my post 2005 Review of eLearning.

Kathy Sierra said...

The chart that Kathy references
in her comment

What a great post Brent! You've given me about 15 different things to think about here... and I could not agree more. What I didn't mention in my "is it interesting" post (and thanks very much for the nice comments) -- but that you must have picked up on -- is that the ones who were approving my checklist were the ISD'ers and the heads of the LMS team at Sun. They basically said, "If it isn't supported technically by the LMS, it *must not be relevant.* Talk about tail wagging the dog... ; )

I'm especially interested in that diagram of courses vs. collaboration, too.

Thanks for this great blog, Brent. I'm so glad I found it.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2005 

As I was writing this post, and reviewing old posts, so many things struck me:

1. How amazingly powerful blogging and social media was and is,
2. how easy it is to forget about our learners in the process of ISD,
3. how much I miss Kathy's blog posts,
4. how much I wish she'd agree to speak at DevLearn 2012,
5. and how strange it is that my review of 2005 could easily be my review of 2011.

That last one, number 5, really has me thinking and pondering this question, "If I just changed a few dated words, and re-posted that post with a new 2011 title, would anyone know the difference?"
Because, ya know, it is that time of year where everyone reviews the past year and pontificates about the year to come.

But more importantly, are things STILL so much the same?  I've done a lot since 2005 and I'm sure all of you have too, and yet I wonder why so much of our industry still feels the same.  We've seen new iPhones, iPads, and iOS, Android, tablets, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, HTML5, apps, apps, and more apps, and on and on and on.  So why are still talking about building courses? Why do job reqs still read the same?

My guess is that if we started thinking like Kathy and focused on what can we do to help our users kick ass in THEIR job that we would be looking at eLearning A LOT differently.

So, lets make 2012 the year eLearning actually becames about the learner!

P.S.
Here are some other posts where I reference Kathy Sierra.

@KathySierra Learns Spanish via Twitter
Should We Twitter Face-to-Face?
Cubicles Cause Brain Damage

Templates: Love 'em or Hate 'em?

Do you use templates?  Are you a purist and despise templates?  Personally, I don't like to take a hard line on this topic.

I like to think of all templates as time-savers and as such they become productivity tools.  They don't impact my instructional design.  Unless a certain template is requested or mandated, finding a template also serves as inspiration.  And quite frankly every custom project you do should also be considered a template for any other similar project that appears in the future.  It has nothing to do with being lazy, but has everything to do with being productive and getting better at what you do.

Consider all of the things you were NOT able to do with the first project.  When a similar project starts you now have much of the work completed and you can use your development time to add, or improve the parts of the "template" that you now have time for.

Also consider a customer asking you to do work within an unreasonably short timeframe.  Instead of not being able to do the job, you could inquire if a pre-designed template solution would be okay.  I think its always worth asking.

Baked Goods Gift Tags

The internet provides an endless supply of templates for SO many different projects.  I'll share this one I just discovered from LOVE vs DESIGN.  Baked Goods Gift Tags.

Download Template here

But if you're looking for eLearning Templates a Google search will turn up many, but I'd recommend starting with the eLearning Brothers at elearningtemplates.com

4 Great Resources to Help eLearning Presenters Prepare for DevLearn

With DevLearn 2011 only a few weeks away there are over 100 speakers preparing to tell their stories to their eLearning colleagues. While many of the presenters are seasoned professionals, some are not. I think that's a good thing. I believe everyone has something to say. Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has an eLearning tip to share that someone will benefit from hearing. And DevLearn is the best place for those opportunities to come alive.

UPDATE: Buy Enchanted and get PresentationZen for FREE Click Here...
Beginner and experienced speakers alike can benefit from these 4 great resources.
Guy Kawasaki - Guy is a fabulous presenter. He doesn't always talk about being a great presenter...in fact he does very little. But I REALLY like his 10/20/30 Rule. And while he created it for entrepreneurs presenting to venture capitalists, I truly believe the lessons apply.
Presentation Zen - Garr Reynold's has mastered the art of the slide. His philosophical approach to design is beautiful and I'm always inspired by his simplistic, elegant, slides that make very strong points.
http://www.duarte.com/ - I can't say enough nice things about Nancy Duarte. She presented at Learning Solutions 2011 and she wow'd the audience. Slide:ology and Resonate are both on my desk and available for instant refreshers when I need to get into the presentation mood. After seeing her presentation and understanding the pattern of a good speech, its fun to practice and work at getting better.
Communication nation - Dave Gray is a design thinker. He has a great post on how to present like Steve Jobs. The link will take you there. Your presentation should be like a work of art. It should be designed, not tossed together with the default template in PowerPoint. Improving your design thinking will help you in many ways.
Enjoy these links! And enjoy preparing your next presentation master piece! It should be a labor of love.

Web2.0 explained - images and music only - BEAUTIFUL

elearnspace points to this wonderful video. 5 mins that will, once and for all, help you understand what's going on with the web.

If you are into this stuff new web stuff already, then watch this video for the amazing storytelling quality sans voiceover. That's right an amazingly complete overview of a very complex technical topic all done without narration.

You can read O'reilly's Take on Web2.0 or you can be mesmerized by this video.

Is there anything in our ISD books about how to do this? Or that we even should? THIS is new media, and WE (ISDers) don't do it well. Others do...we don't! Have ya seen the tutorials on instructables lately? Not an ISDer in the bunch but THEY are creating tutorials...damn good ones...and people are learning! (Great tutorials using ComicLife here, here, here)

How many of you could walk into your boss/client/manager and say, "I'd to teach a basic overview of web technologies just using video and music...no talking...just camera shots of me writing, and video of my computer screen...I think its going to be really neato". Creativity is not a team sport. The reason why Web2.0 is working is because nobody needs to explain their new ideas. They simply create it and put it out there, and see if it sticks. If it sticks...Yahoo buys you for 10 million.
This is also how creative innovation works. You simply do it and then show people. One guy/gal does it alone...or at best a small group of dedicated friends just get together and say, "wouldn't it be cool if...".

Truly innovative ideas normally are very difficult to "sell"...many times even describe, adequately, with words. Explaining how you will improve something slightly is easy. Explaining why that something should be destroyed and something completely new and different created in its place is very difficult. Or try explaining something that isn't even a category yet, and it doesn't fit ANY norm...how do you do that? Walt Disney did it...but few others have.

Top 5 Photoshop tutorials

I've often said that most elearning professionals have an extreme creative streak. And I reach this conclusion because the photoshop sessions at many learning conferences tend to be filled, while the ISD sessions remain empty...okay maybe not empty, just less filled.

So, for all of you digital photographers in the learning world, or wannabe photographers, here is a Top 5 Photoshop Tutorials list from the TechEblog.

BBC2.0 Project - 15 Web Principles

Or better yet...15 Learning2.0 Principles. Okay, stop rolling your eyes. I like the term and therefore I will continue to use it.
I am pointed to the BBC2.0 project from elearningpost. I love the list.
There are many like this, but much of what the BBC does is educational and therefore IMHO it applies to what we do. At the very least we should all look at these lists and begin to understand that times are changing and how we deliver learning and in what size and format is different...at the very least.

UPDATE: Fixed link