Howie Pearson’s Post

As an Instructional Designer, I've always been advocate of Cathy Moore's Action Mapping. I love that it focuses on real performance goals and cuts through the fluff of traditional training design. But what I most enjoy is that initial workshop when I'm introducing Action Mapping to new clients. The first 10-20 minutes are always the same: tolerance at best, sometimes confusion, even a few grumbles of "why not just do it the way we always have?" But then, it happens... The Penny Drops! 💡 You can almost see a wave of energy wash over the group as they work out what on earth I'm up to. By the end of the workshop, we have total buy-in and a palpable sense of excitement that they're finally going to fix this problem the right way. Do any other action mappers recognise this experience? Have you felt that rush of energy when your clients get that "Aha!" moment? #ActionMapping #InstructionalDesign #LNA #LearningNeedsAnalysis #CathyMoore

Are you Teacher Tired? I started this a few months back. I looked into several options, while many were great, AIDA has been hands down the best decision I have made! I didn't even know what an Instructional Designer really was. I am so glad I clicked on someone else's recommendation link! My motto for breaking out of stagnancy... Power comes from knowledge, success comes from action. https://lnkd.in/ekxfpwcs

Growing up as an instructional designer, I started off every project discovery meeting by firing a host of questions. What? Who? When? Why? Why Not? Every time, I managed to drive (read: scare) the client / stakeholder away. And every time, I told myself that the client wasn't ready or willing to be challenged, or some other excuse. I repeated this until one day, I realized that I could be the culprit. True discovery means a partnering approach, and not an interrogatory one, with the client or stakeholder. And by letting them do most of the talking, and gently guiding the conversation, we can get the answers we’re looking for. And these days, I start with one simple question. “What does success look like for this project?” How about you? What do you do get your clients / stakeholders to open up and get talking? #InstructionalDesign #NeedsAnalysis #PerformanceConsulting

Some of my best work was through procrastination. As an instructional designer and developer, I’m supposed to be all about innovative and creative solutions, no pressure or anything. It gets overwhelming sometimes. So I've embraced my quirky method of thinking and designing, which often involves a good deal of procrastination. I procrastinate, sorry not sorry! But here’s the twist: research says I don’t need to feel guilty. A study from *Psychological Science* found that moderate procrastination can actually fuel creativity, helping people think in more divergent, unexpected ways (Shin & Grant, 2016). So, maybe delaying but delivering on time isn’t a bad habit, but a way to let ideas simmer and grow. In my experience, that’s when some of my best work happens. Thoughts?

Instructional design is a discipline that people often discover and pursue as a second career. In this episode, Chris Gamrat and Megan Kohler are the editors of The Multi-Disciplinary Instructional Designer: Integrating Specialized Skills into Design Toolkits, which discusses how prior backgrounds and careers can contribute to the process of course design. A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Revising effectively is not a one-size-fits-all process—what works for one person might not work for another. Trying different revision methods can help you discover techniques that best suit your learning style, whether it’s through active recall, visual aids, or teaching others. Download our free resource which gives step by step guidance on mind-mapping. https://lnkd.in/extRuNvb

During our closing celebration today, Leslie R. Scarpace, M.S.Ed., CPTD, IADP and Bobbie Guerra shared some great insights about their experience with The Instructional #Story Design Experience, the 6-week cohort that is equipping instructional designers with #storytelling and #training chops! 💡 "I was surprised how powerful simple story production could be." Yes, I love to produce video #stories, but there are many very simple ways to produce a story for training. Bobbie created GIFs with Vyond. Leslie made a comic-style story with characters and speech bubbles. Stories can be produced even more simply, with text and an image. 💡 "Stopping the story at the conflict was difficult. I kept telling myself, 'Desire for resolution!'" A common tendency is to want to bring resolution to the story, but a story for training needs to end at the height of the conflict. Bobbie and Leslie demonstrated a mastery of this, despite their inner urge to end with "happily ever after"! 💡 We also discussed the efficiency of stories to bring otherwise isolated actions into the concrete, real world where things don't always unfold ideally. Workplace behaviors are not always cut and dry. Stories are a great way to introduce ambiguity and external pressures areas into the mix in a natural way. Stories are also efficient tools for training. They open up activities that would be difficult to even imagine without them. I'm so proud of both of you for all of your hard work during the cohort and can't wait to see you in Phase 2 of certification!

🚀 "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." - Steve Jobs Absolutely resonating with this sentiment by Steve Jobs, and it reminds me of Cathy Moore's powerful words on instructional design. She wisely said, "Our job is not to design a learning solution. It’s to design a solution to a problem. Sometimes the solution is an info dump. Most of the time, it’s not. #InstructionalDesign #EducationPhilosophy #ImpactfulLearning

Unlocking the potential of instructional design means transforming challenges into opportunities for innovation and success. Dive into our latest insights on how to navigate the complexities of program development and turn obstacles into stepping stones. 🌟 https://lnkd.in/gQAycNCU

If you’re new to the instructional design world, my new blog post is for you! It’s less than 5 minutes of reading!