Category Archives: Context

How to design great e-Learning: ask the right questions

Posted on May 13, 2013 by

It has to be said that i’m a rather amateur gardener, much preferring the ‘BBQ on a summer evening‘ end of the event to the ‘months of digging holes and spreading manure‘ part of the process. On those occasions when … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Context, Demonstration, Design, E-Learning, Effectiveness, Engagement, Footsteps, Instructional Design, Learning, Learning Design, Learning Methodology, Learning Styles, Meaning, Narrative, Social Learning, Stories, Storytelling | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Playing with learning: a very sociable model

Posted on April 4, 2013 by

A conversation on Twitter this morning has made me think about play. Playing is all about learning: it can be a solitary activity or done with friends, it can be done in dedicated ‘formally‘ defined play spaces, or it can … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Collaboration, Community, Context, Curiosity, Demonstration, Discovery, Education, Effectiveness, Everyday Reality, Experience, Exploration, Footsteps, Formal Spaces, Graffiti, Informal Spaces, Knowledge, Learning, Learning Design, Learning Journey, Learning Methodology, Mistakes, Play, Reflection, Social Capital, Social Learning | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Social Learning: from theory to practice

Posted on March 18, 2013 by

Formal learning is abstract, defined by time and place, divorced from our everyday reality. It can be academically interesting, it can be fulfilling and all consuming, it can be delivered badly or delivered well, but unless it’s social, it’s incomplete. … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Authority, Blended Learning, Choreography, Community, Context, Demonstration, Footsteps, Formal Spaces, Informal Spaces, Instructional Design, Knowledge, Learning, Learning Culture, Learning Design, Learning Technology, Legacy, Meaning, Narrative, Reflection, Scaffolding, Social Capital, Social Learning, Theory | Tagged , , , , , | 17 Comments

Do your stories face inwards or out? Thinking about our messages in learning design

Posted on March 5, 2013 by

There’s a problem with organisational learning: sometimes it faces inwards when it should face out. ‘Facing in‘ is when we tell stories that have meaning just to us. ‘Facing out‘ is when we tell stories that have meaning to others. … Continue reading →

Posted in Accessibility, Barriers to Learning, Clarity, Communication, Context, Effectiveness, Engagement, Everyday Reality, Learning, Learning Design, Meaning, Stories, Storytelling, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Creating effective blended learning solutions: a methodology

Posted on December 20, 2012 by

At the heart of great learning is a coherent narrative: a story that runs through all the different media, all the different experiences, all of the learning environments. The narrative is everything. We have many ways to deliver learning today: … Continue reading →

Posted in Blended Learning, Choreography, Context, Demonstration, Design, Effectiveness, Engagement, Feedback, Footsteps, Learning, Learning Design, Learning Journey, Learning Methodology, Learning Styles, Narrative, Stories, Theory | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Early to bed, early to rise… understanding everyday reality in learning design

Posted on October 18, 2012 by

In an effort to counter the effects of jet lag when i fly to the conference next week, i’ve been getting up ever earlier in the morning. Singapore is nine hours ahead of me here in England, a painful transition … Continue reading →

Posted in Barriers to Learning, Coffee, Community, Context, Effectiveness, Empathy, Engagement, Everyday Reality, Learning, Learning Design | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A week of writing: Day 2 – Skills for life and skills from life

Posted on June 26, 2012 by

The rain helped, offering me fewer distractions. The writing went well: i completed my first five thousand words. Interestingly, they came in three bursts. The first in the morning, over coffee, the second early afternoon and the final one later … Continue reading →

Posted in Achievement, Adventure, Bike, Context, Cycle, Exploration, Walking, Writing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“I hate learning”. Lessons on change and taxi driving.

Posted on April 16, 2012 by

The system for allocating a taxi to respond to a call relies on a seven second window. When the job comes in, the person in the office who takes the call types it into the system and hits ‘go’. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, Context, Driving, Learning, Learning Methodology | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The coherence of the narrative: internal and external integrity.

Posted on December 7, 2011 by

I’ve been working with people over the last few weeks around an organisational change programme. A lot of the conversation has been around the coherence of the narrative. Well, to be fair, i’ve had this on my mind for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Context, External Coherence, Internal Coherence, Learning, Narrative | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Why what i think you want is not what you really want. Defying the transactional view of learning.

Posted on December 6, 2011 by

I’ve often tried to anticipate what kind of response i’ll get from a particular article or Tweet. I like to feel that i can guess what sort of reaction a piece of learning will have when it hits the end … Continue reading →

Posted in Context, Design, Learning, Relationship, Transactional | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment