http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog Providing the building blocks for Technical Trainers. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:24:40 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I wrote, with my co-author Anita Torres, a course on Learning Design. I called it Learning Design to distinguish it from Instructional Design, Instructional Systems Design, or ISD, because those models tend to be formal. Learning Design, as I have designated it, is the core skills needed for ISD. Without ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/24 Well, expect to see more postings from me. I just got back from vacation in Nova Scotia. As the quarter ended, my postings went down. Now, with my vacation over, I expect to get back at it. I've got a line-up of good topics coming. Stay tuned. http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/23 Free is good. Free is especially good when the people giving away the thing for free have a vested interest in giving away the best thing possible. Why? Because ultimately they hope that giving away something of value will be returned in great measure. Now, they could be looking for ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/22 First, I want to teach you some critically important considerations in evaluating software. FREE IS GOOD! - Not great, not spectacular, but overall it is good. Some of the best software out there is free. Heck, you are reading this blog on a website. Both, Apache (which serves up the website) ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/21 Whatever profession you are in. Whatever industry you work in. No matter what preposition your sentence ends in. ***chuckle*** You need to stay abreast of what is happening in the world that is your career. In essence, you are either in the profession and/or industry you want to be in, ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/20 There are many voices on the web, most like mine ... not very loud or influential. But, there are some voices you should be hearing. Here are my selections for the important voices on the web. Tom Peters - WOW Bill! You went out on a limb here! Why don't you ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/19 I read a tremendous amount everyday. I have numerous RSS feeds (You can get my RSS Feed OPML file here.) You can also see my Trainer's Essential Library (at this link). Finally, I read a ton for both work and school (see my About page). What I don't do is ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/18 Tony Karrer posted, Fight in the Blogosphere - Finally. Since Tony's post, it has gotten me to thinking. Not that Tony would post about an intellectual dispute, but that he was somehow worried about it. Tony said, "On the other hand, I'm somewhat worried that the tone may put off ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/16 Gustave Flaubert is credited with the expression, "Perfection is the enemy of the good." I'm convinced that at his heart, Gustave must have been a frustrated instructional designer. ASTD has been on a steady push to increase the recognition of the Workplace Learning and Performance profession. One of their efforts is ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/15 I read a number of different blogs, most on a daily basis. You can see a partial list on my website. One of the blogs I read was Beyond Bullet Points. I started reading it, because I really liked his book (of the same name). Now, Cliff Atkinson has decided ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/14 I'm sorry, but I am sick and tired of hearing that phrase, "I'm sorry." Most of the time I hear it, I want to scream. In large part because it has become meaningless. The person at the fast-food drive-up window is not sorry for leaving my food out of the ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/13 I like open-source software. I like social networking. I like posting to various sites. So, silly me, I assumed that when I created my playground here on TechnicalTrainer.org that I could just open the site, and all would be well. WELL! As I noted in a previous posting, the web ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/12 I just finished Josh Waitzkin's book, The Art of Learning. I'd probably write him an email if I thought he'd actually see it. But, given his fame, I doubt he'd see it. So, I'll post my thoughts here in the hopes that someone might get some use out of it. First, ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/11 Learning is a strange thing. It can come in ways you expect, but probably comes more often in unexpected ways. So, this concept started me thinking about some of the strange things I have learned along the way with this Blog. So, here goes. It is easy to get started blogging. ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/10 I have specifically stayed away from "publishing" BLOG entries that simply list things I've found on the web. Why? In large part because I read so much, especially via RSS feeds, that are simply republications of the original story. It gets old fast. But, I have found a web resource ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/9 All, Storytelling is the oldest form of leader-lead training. It works. And yet, for all those things, we infrequently (i.e., almost never) use it in workplace learning and performance. Why? Probably because we aren't good at it. Want to get better? Here are some excellent sources. Source 1: Ira Glass, from This American ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/7 On February 8th, I was one of the workshop speakers at the 2nd Annual Learning is Leading Conference for the ASTD chapters in the state of Florida. I believe that WLP (Workplace Learning and Performance) professionals need to improve their grasp of technology, and how it can aid their profession. To ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/6 All, I'm going to define "Association" broadly to included any organization that represents the Workplace Learning and Performance (WLP) profession, or provides a common meeting ground (usually online) for WLP professionals. This can broadly include classic associations, but also include common portal websites, bulletin board, online groups, and governmental websites that ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/5 First off, what exactly do we call ourselves? Instructors? Trainers? Facilitators? Who knows. I'll just use the longer, Workplace Learning and Performance professionals. WHEEW! Whatever the name, many of you are not specialists in computers, software, and the Internet. Well, those are areas where I have a bit of knowledge, and I ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/3 While that greeting probably means little to any of you, or if it does you are probably thinking about the Soviet Union (and you'd be wrong), those simple words struck both fear and excitement into the hearts of those who sat in class with me, and heard that famous greeting ... http://www.technicaltrainer.org/Blog/archives/1