Tag Archives: ideas

Trainlets!

Posted on by Judy Unrein
2

because they're short

because they're short. duh.

At KC-ASTD’s tech conference last fall, I attended a session by Sue Maden and Tony Maden on elearning pieces they’ve created at Burns and McDonnell. Some were Flip videos, some were screencasts, and some were interactive. Each took around 2 minutes. The whole point was to access the information just-in-time, so they weren’t serving them through their LMS.

Sound familiar? It did to me… We started doing something similar at my company this past year. We call them “trainlets”, and I’m going to get skewered in #lrnchat for spreading new terminology in our field, but the name has caught fire at my company, unlike “CBTs”.

I didn’t invent the term, but here’s what it means to me:

  • <5 minutes
  • usually not interactive, but can be
  • probably not delivered through the LMS

Are you doing something similar? What do you call them?

Great Minds in Action

Posted on by Judy Unrein
2

Photo: brunkfordbraun via Flickr

Photo: brunkfordbraun via Flickr

Just something to share…

I’ve found that IDs love to learn; not only is it sort of part of the job description, being exposed to others’ brilliant ideas can help foster your own creativity, as well.

A few days ago, Mashable.com posted this list of the “Top 7 Places to Watch Great Minds in Action”. You’ve probably heard of TED, but I’d bet at least one of the others on the list are new; they certainly were to me.

Keep learning!

Training and Egos

Posted on by Judy Unrein
Reply

I think the ego is a white elephant in the training world. I rarely hear this discussed and I have no stats to back it up, but hear me out.

By showing up for training, we admit to the instructor that we’re not experts. Before that, we have to admit the same to our bosses –– in fact, we often have to make a case for how un-expert we are and how it’s hurting the company. And even before that, we have to admit it to ourselves.

That could be tough on the ego, and if your corporate culture is ego-driven, such admissions may be unconsciously (or actively) discouraged. And what about if you’re in a profession in which being an expert is baked into the job description?

Do you agree? And as workplace learning professionals, is this within our influence?