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The Curse of Knowledge
Experts sometimes do not have good insights into what support is required by beginners. It’s natural when you think about it. Experts are experts because they’ve been working in a particular space for a long time. Think of something you can do extremely well. Can you remember what it was really like when you knew…
Unlocking Strategic Potential: From Self-Management Strategies to Cultural Transformation
This article https://hbr.org/2018/06/if-strategy-is-so-important-why-dont-we-make-time-for-it notes that many leaders struggle to prioritise time for strategic thinking, and proposes a series of self-management strategies to ‘make the time’. When we think about learning programmes we’ve developed that are truly strategic in their focus, we think it’s dubious that the main driver has been the personal management strategies…
Using Animation in E-Learning Design: Engage, Delight, and Educate Your Learners
At Synapsys, our Design Phase helps us to look at what formats will help your learners to succeed, based on the goals of your learning intervention and how you want your learners to feel about what you have to share with them. Bringing together the audience analysis with the options for interactions means the resulting…
Constraints, used properly, are the true drivers of innovation.
Constraints, used properly, are the true drivers of innovation. We always take the time early in the design process to establish a project’s real constraints and goals. Goals are great; they help us get clear on what we’re doing – they feel good. Constraints can be frustrating. They limit our thinking and sometimes mean exciting…
The Importance of User Testing
Have you ever thought how user testing can help learning designers improve their skills? We recently had an excellent experience that not only reinforced the importance of user testing, but also helped us understand learners’ needs better. Trust in the process enhances outcomes We were working on materials with Silver Fern Farms who have a…
5 tips to kick off a foolproof learning project
Great ideas need excellent execution. We asked our project managers for their recipe for starting a successful learning project. 1. Identify your subject matter experts (SMEs) early to ensure they have time available for the project. 2. Get SMEs involved early so they understand the planning process and can come on the…
Unlearning – where does it start?
A huge proportion of our learning experiences start with unlearning. Debunking myths, learning new tools, new processes… Pretty much any big systems implementation will require unlearning. It’s great when your learners are already open to new ideas and have a growth-oriented mindset. But how do we help them get there? We recently came across this…