There's an ugly trend on Australian television that's been going on for quite a while. I hoped it would fade away but it only seems to be getting worse. I'm referring to the ever-increasing number of commercials that depict males as incompetent fools who are put straight by their female companions. Maybe it's been happening…
Five years ago today, I wrote How not to do social media to express my disappointment at the Football Federation of Australia's mismanagement of its social business strategy. As you can tell from the latest graph of Facebook likes, the pride of the nation is still getting licked by the ice-cream cowboy.
Over the course of my career, I've witnessed a slow but steady shift away from formal learning to informal learning. Of course, remnants of the "formal first" philosophy still exist, whereby every conceivable problem is attempted to be fixed by a training solution, typically in the form of a course. Over time, the traditional classroom-based…
I had so much fun creating Australia's Nobel Laureates, I decided to create another simple interactive learning object. This one's called On the Money and it pays homage to the great people who feature on Australia's currency: On the Money Launch the learning object Download the files This time I used Adobe Captivate 5.5. I'm…
Wow, my previous blog post elicited some rich comments from my peers in the L&D profession. Reframing the capability framework was my first foray into publishing my thoughts on the subject, in which I argued in favour of using the oft-ignored resource as a tool to be proactive and add value to the business. To everyone…
From $7 billion to nearly $14 billion. That's how much the spend on leadership training by American corporations grew over the preceding 15 years, according to Kaiser and Curphy in their 2013 paper Leadership development: The failure of an industry and the opportunity for consulting psychologists. Over that same period we witnessed the bursting of…
As my home state emerges from lockdown, I reflect over the many months of confusion during the pandemic. My fellow citizens were confounded by brain benders such as whether to wear a mask inside a ride-share vehicle; what qualifies as an "essential" item; and when one may travel beyond 5km from home. No confusion over…
Something struck me during this year's Virtual Reality Working Out Loud Week. Billed as an event for "anyone who is working with or experimenting with virtual reality, whether that be at home, at school or at work", this was the second time I had run it. Again I was keen for our peers in L&D…
All models are wrong, but some are useful. - George E. P. Box Background image courtesy of Wallpoper via Wikimedia Commons.
Is it just me or is every year a "big year"...? Well 2018 marked a decade of blogging by yours truly, and that alone is something that I'm proud of. Throughout the highs and lows that life gifted me this year, I was able to share another 8 thought bubbles in addition to my annual…
Well that's my excuse, anyway. 2019 has been a tumultuous year for me, so I haven't been able to write as much as I have in previous years. Nonetheless, I hope the few articles I was able to publish proved useful and worthwhile. Here they are again in case you missed them or fancy a…
I find it strange when a blogger doesn't approve my comment. I consider comments the life blood of my own blog, and whether they be positive or negative, classy or rude, they all add to the diversity of the conversation. If your fragile ego can't handle that, don't blog. I recently submitted a constructive comment…
There was an aspect I omitted from my previous post, Space invaders, in which I covered the spacing effect as a means of maximising long-term retention. Zsolt Olah picked it: interleaving and – ironically! – I judged it a bridge too far to include in the same post and so decided to split it out…
Sydney is evidently the place to be for e-learning pro's who are keen to develop their knowledge and skills this year. Even EduTECH, the darling of Brisbane's educational technology scene, is travelling south for the winter. Having said that, there are opportunities elsewhere, and more will emerge as time marches on. The following list of…
The iconic "2020" has dawned. What does it mean for digital learning? Let's find out... EDIT: The COVID-19 pandemic may affect these events. Please refer to the event's website for more information. International Conference on E-Learning and Distance Learning Sydney, 30-31 January 2020 International Conference on Virtual and AR Simulations Sydney, 14-16 February 2020 Blended…
I'm both a science nerd and a history buff, so naturally I'm fascinated by the history of science. When I visited Bern several years ago, the Museum für Kommunikation was at the top of my "to do" list. This captivating institution is dedicated to the history of technology-mediated communication, from the cuneiform tablets of the…
I can honestly say I've never suffered from imposter syndrome. I've always been the type of person who likes to work out how to do something hands-on, so I can talk about it with confidence. I suppose I've been lucky in the sense that, throughout my career, I've been able to align my curiosity and…
The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new normal for L&D professionals as millions of people were sent home to work remotely. While many of us had been offering online courses and other alternatives to in-person training for years, suddenly nothing could be run in a traditional classroom setting; and so as a collective we've been…
The 2019 instalment of Virtual Reality Working Out Loud Week kicks off next month. For a couple of previous VR WOL Weeks I've collated lists of the examples that the participants unearthed – see 20 real-world examples of Virtual Reality and 25 more real-world examples of Virtual Reality. This time however I've decided to do…
In a previous role I had cause to draw up an employee lifecycle. Despite my years in HR up until that point, it wasn't something that had ever occurred to me to do. The driving force was an idea to support managers through the various people-related matters to which they needed to attend. The employee…
