Learning Experience Leader

Nicole is an instructional designer and former college writing instructor. Currently, there are over 250,000 users taking courses that she has designed or overseen and her work has been recognized by Brandon Hall and Chief Learning Officer Magazine. Nicole has a Ph.D. in English from St. John's University and her academic research focuses on student engagement, transfer of learning, and writing across the curriculum.

Today we talk all about writing. Including:
👉 The misconception of bad writers vs good writers
👉 Learning how to read and then write different industry languages
👉 How getting feedback on your writing can help you make your writing more conversational
👉 Nicole’s process and tips for writing learning content, including video and storyboard scripting insights.

Learn more about Nicole at her website

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Given the current economic climate in which all expenditures are being carefully monitored, there is no better time to use the four levels to create, deliver, measure and validate training that has true organizational value. It is time to be strategic business partners. Failing to do so will likely lead to our replacement by YouTube, apps, and avatars. Using his 15 years of experience in the corporate world, including eight years as a training manager, Dr. Jim Kirkpatrick trains and consults for corporate, government, military, and humanitarian organizations around the world. He is passionate about assisting learning professionals in redefining themselves as strategic business partners to become a viable force in the workplace. Jim co-authored three books with his father, Don Kirkpatrick, who is credited with creating the Kirkpatrick Model. He also has written four books with Wendy Kirkpatrick, including Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Training Evaluation which we’ll discuss today.

Also in this episode:

• Needed clarifications and misapplied practices of the original Kirkpatrick evaluation model along with an overview of the new world model that builds on it
• How human nature works against our learning efforts and what to do about it
• Key steps learning professionals can take to provide evidence of the value of their work
• Common Evaluation pitfalls and how to avoid them
• Stepheen Covey’s opinion of the most important habit

Learn more about Jim and his work at the Kirkpatrick Partners Website.

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Kendra Modzelewski is an experienced change management specialist and project manager having facilitated many change journeys for internal and external stakeholders alike. Kendra currently supports major transformation efforts being undertaken by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and is also embedding this capability throughout the enterprise by leading and coaching internal teams. In this episode, we discuss the basics of what the discipline of Change Management is, a common theme that can be found in most change management models, how change management is related to its cousins training and communication, and what change management can look like in practice.

Check out these resources:

• Recommended by Kendra - Webinar from PROSCI
• Kendra's webinar (referenced in the show) - Webinar on Project Management.com
• Templates and slides for Kendra's webinar: “Supporting A Change Journey to Anywhere”

If you are curious (or want to correct me!), more details on why the US won't change to the Metric system

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What lessons for learning design and leadership are there from some of the greatest video ads on the Internet? Quite a lot actually. Creative Director James Dayton of the Harmon Brothers Ad Agency produced the wildly successful Squatty Potty, Purple, and Fiber-Fix campaigns and more. As Creative Director his credits include CubCoats, TAOS Bakes, Cuffed Up, Scooch, and BedJet. Having worked in film for over 15 years he is also a skilled Assistant Director.

James and I talk about his work as a creative director in the advertising world. We discuss:

• The 7 point video ad scripting recipe
• Killing your darlings
• Thriving under constraints
• Grabbing people with great hooks and a visual thesis

James has some great insights on the importance of setting honest expectations with your audience and the value of matrix testing and soft launching content to tweak and optimize for higher impact. Check out this youtube playlist with few of the ads mentioned in today’s episode. Learn more about the Harmon Brothers on their website.

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Megan is a passionate educator and learning designer with over 12 years of experience teaching and instructing people from 4-year-olds through 60+-year-olds, including people with disabilities. Currently, she works at the startup Practera where she oversees learning experience design projects utilizing technology, expert feedback, and experiential learning principles with the goal of providing learners awesome experiences without leaving their current system of work.

Check out the “fun fact” here

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Bastian Küntzel is co-founder and CEO of Incontro training and author of "The Learner’s Journey: Storytelling as a Design Principle to Create Powerful Learning Experiences". Bastian has been involved in the training field since 1999 and he has worked globally with clients such as the United Nations, UNESCO, Google, Ernst & Young, Hewlett Packard, IBM, and IKEA. He is also the host of a podcast by the same name as his book!

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Steve Arntz is a co-founder at a new startup called Campfire. The company is focused on helping team leaders to develop skills and culture on their team through reading. Steve has 15 years of experience building software products at companies of various sizes, the last 5 of those being at Instructure where he worked to build an employee development platform. He has spent most of his career working at the intersection of learning and connection.

Steve is passionate about building learning experiences that help people to develop in their life and in their careers. He has experience in product, marketing, sales, and strategy. Steve loves to give book recommendations and does so in this episode!

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Dr. Jason McDonald is currently an associate professor in the BYU Department of Instructional Psychology & Technology, where he teaches courses in instructional design, instructional media production, and project management. Jason has 20 years of experience producing instructional media, including instructional film. He has been the executive producer or producer of hundreds of instructional film and multimedia projects, as well as immersive simulations that incorporate film, graphics, text, and interactive elements. His work has been used to teach thousands of people in 50+ nations and languages around the world. Jason is also a curriculum developer having designed 100+ university-level courses at four different universities.

You can view the article we discuss here: The Creative Spirit of Design

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In his role as Associate Director of International Development, Sam works to develop and execute Arbinger’s global strategy, including directing Arbinger’s international partnerships. He is also active in managing product distribution worldwide and learning resources for Arbinger’s global infrastructure. His experience spans a variety of industries including, Healthcare, Energy, Telecom, and others. Sam has also worked in education in the university space. He has delivered workshops to students and faculty and proven himself an enabler of change through shifting mindsets. Support the show

Have you wondered about how to further the systemic influence of your learning experiences? Or maybe how you might better deploy empathetic strategies in your design work? Today’s guest has some excellent insight to these and other critical questions.

Dr. Jill Stefaniak is an Assistant Professor in the Learning, Design, and Technology program in the Department of Career and Information Studies at the University of Georgia, in the United States. Her research interests focus on the professional development of instructional designers and design conjecture, designer decision-making processes, and contextual factors influencing design in situated environments.

Today we are talking about her recent publication "The Utility of Design Thinking to Promote Systemic Instructional Design Practices in the Workplace" in the journal Tech Trends. This paper introduces a conceptual framework, grounded in general systems theory, that combines design thinking principles with instructional design practices to improve performance. Learn more about Dr. Stefaniak here.

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