Monthly Archives: March 2010

Happy Belated National Grammar Day! (two weeks late)

Posted on by Judy Unrein
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I realized on March 3 that March 4 is National Grammar Day, but I was getting ready to head out of town, so I didn’t have time to post. So it’s late but here you go… my latest grammar pet peeves, for my ranting pleasure and your enjoyment… and maybe edification. :)

1) Advance/Advanced. Conference season gives me ample opportunity to cringe at this, especially since I think huge endeavors are worth the copyediting effort (cheers to Learning Solutions, jeers to TechKnowledge and ICE). Advance registration is registering in advance; maybe advanced registration involves adding pre-conference programs…?

2) Penultimate. Ultimate means last; and penultimate means next to last, not most ultimate (which doesn’t even make sense).

3) Simple/Simplistic. Sometimes simplistic is used (incorrectly) to mean very simple, but actually it’s not a compliment. Simplistic means overly simple to the point of being misleading or under-nuanced.

Until next time… :D

Is It Just Me?

Posted on by Judy Unrein
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Maybe it’s because right now I’m juggling a new role with my ASTD chapter board, the last two courses of my master’s degree, writing (this blog and an article or two), occasional voice jobs, and being pregnant, but I’m finding myself with a little spring fever at work.

And the problem with that is, it’s really hard for me to shake that spring fever in a cube farm. I’m more easily distracted by coworkers, and I can’t do my normal staying-focused behaviors because I’ll distract them back. (I hum when I’m studying or playing WoW at home.) I also can’t wear track pants… or even jeans.

Does anyone function well in this environment? Do you expect instructional designers to stay “professional” all day and still do creative work… Or is that a false dichotomy?

Got any tips for me? :D

Is Your Life Just One Big RPG?

Posted on by Judy Unrein
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My husband sent this video to me this week: a recording of Carnegie Mellon professor, author, and former Imagineer Jesse Schell talking about the future, game design, Facebook, and lots more at DICE 2010. There are several ID implications here, but one that speaks to me most initially is about motivation.

As a trainer, I often fell for the idea that if I was giving out prizes, trainees would only value them if they were “valuable”. But in fact, mere measurement does change behavior, and the oddest things can motivate us: achievements in WoW (most of which give nothing), virtual prizes (like clipart of a car that I saw one webinar presenter give out this past week), or simply seeing a full row of green checkmarks because we got 100% on a quiz.

There’s lots of stuff to discuss here. Watch. Tell me what you think.

(Alternately, view in parts on YouTube…)