Clark Quinn

JANUARY 3, 2023

A number of people are indicating that 2022 is another year to move on from. And, of course, we do need to move on (as if there were an alternative ;). Still, 2022 was a good year for Quinnovation, and here’s hoping that continues. Here’re some random thoughts looking ahead. For one, I saw an interesting piece leveraging the financial adage (really: caution) that “past performance is not indicative of future results” That comes with various investment opportunities; jus

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Clark Quinn

NOVEMBER 15, 2022

Many moons ago, I wrote about a personal quest. Recognizing that what I was doing is making people smarter ‘in the moment’, I looked for a stretch goal. That was making people wiser over time. The question, how is that working? Have I been putting wisdom into practice? First, let me state for the record that I’m not claiming to be a wise person.

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Clark Quinn

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

I’m not alone in carrying the banner for learning science. Others are talking about evidence-based practices, making it stick, and more. This, I maintain, is a good thing. Is there too much of good thing? Is there a problem with a learning science bandwagon? First, let’s be clear. There are some initiatives that do strike me as redundant or worse.

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Cognitive Brain Learning Attention 278

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

I regularly rant about the quality of the learning designs we see. Knowledge dump and information test, I rail, is not going to lead to meaningful outcomes. Consequently, I work to promote more learning science in what we do. However, I have to acknowledge that frequently, the problem isn’t in the designer, but in the requester. Too often, there are RFPs (emblematic, they’re equivalent to the internal request for ‘a course on X’) that are asking for designers to take con

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Metrics Quiz Analysis Design 147

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

When I agreed to join as co-director of the Learning & Development Accelerator, I’d already attended their first two conferences. Those had been designed to reflect the circumstances at the time, e.g. the pandemic. In addition, there was a desire on the part of Matt Richter & Will Thalheimer (the original directors) to reflect certain values.

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Conference Design Virtual World Director 223

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 21, 2022

I’ve had the pleasure of leading the design of a number of projects that have had some impact. These include a mobile app a company could point to. Also a game that helped real kids. Even a context-sensitive performance support system that was worth a patent. Then, of course, are the projects that didn’t, for whatever reason, see the light of day.

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Project Press Performance Support Engineering 227

Clark Quinn

AUGUST 2, 2022

In our most recent LDA You Oughta Know event, our guest touched on the language we use. It struck a chord for me, thinking about how we refer to things. It led me to wonder whether, in fact, we’re hampering ourselves. So here are some thoughts around the question of whether L&D language is limiting us? So, Serena Gonsalves-Fersch heads talent for SoftwareONE, a global company.

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Case Study Sound Theory Reference 193

Clark Quinn

MAY 3, 2022

As I’ve noted before, someone on LinkedIn asked a question, and it’s prompting a reply. In this case, the question was in response to my previous post on superstitions (for new L&D practitioners). He asked “How did we even get here?” I’ve talked before about the sorry state of our industry, but haven’t really shared my thinking on why this is the case.

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Behavior Rapid eLearning Quiz Social Networks 178

Clark Quinn

MARCH 15, 2022

In a recent post , I talked about how expertise is compiled away, and the impact on designing learning and documentation. Someone, of course, asked how do you then work with SMEs to get the necessary information. Connie Malamed, one of our recognized research translators, has recently written about getting tacit knowledge, but I also want to address the more usual process.

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Clark Quinn

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

In what was my last Quinnsights column for Learning Solutions, I wrote about how the transformation wasn’t (or shouldn’t) be digital. In many ways we aren’t aligned with what’s best for our thinking. Thus, digitizing existing approaches doesn’t make sense. Instead, we should be fixing our organizational alignment first, then digitizing.

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Policies Search Digital Alternatives 266

Clark Quinn

AUGUST 10, 2021

As has become all too common, someone decided to point me to some posts for their organization. Apparently, interest was sparked by a previous post of mine where I’d complained about microlearning. While this one does a (slightly) better job talking about microlearning, it is riddled with other problems. So here’s yet another post about more marketing malarkey.

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Market Cognitive microlearning Mashups 310

Clark Quinn

JULY 13, 2021

There is a deep sense of where and how representation matters. Then there are less critical, but still important ways in which presentation counts. It includes talking about stereotypes, and calling out inappropriate labeling. Concepts matter, clarity matters, transparency matters. So here are two situations that are worth critiquing. The first one that struck me this morning was an announcement.

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Micro-Learning Reputation Research Social Networks 301

Clark Quinn

JUNE 15, 2021

Learning, I suggest, is action and reflection. (And instruction should be designed action and guided reflection.) What that action typically ends up being is some sort of exploration (aka experimentation). Thus, in my mind, exploration is a critical concept for learning. That makes it worth exploring exploration. In learning, we must experiment (e.g. act) and observe and reflect on the outcomes.

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Search Diversity Training Guidelines Guide 260

Clark Quinn

JUNE 8, 2021

Of late, I’ve been reading quite a lot, and I’m finding some very interesting books. Not all have immediate take homes, but I want to introduce a few to you with some notes. Not all will be relevant, but all are interesting and even important. I’ll also update my list of recommended readings. So here are my new recommended readings. (With Amazon Associates links: support your friendly neighborhood consultants.).

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Cognitive Statistics Social Media Predictions 210

Clark Quinn

APRIL 27, 2021

As has become a pattern, someone recently asked me how to evaluate soft skills. And without being an expert on soft skill or evaluation, I tried to answer on principle. So I thought about the types of observable data you should expect to find. And that yielded an initial answer. Then I watched an interesting video of a lecture by a scholar and consultant, and it elaborated the challenges.

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Evalution Skills Metrics Lecture 210

Clark Quinn

MARCH 30, 2021

Here’s a story about where performance support would’ve made a task much easier. And, as always, the text. The other day, I had a classic need for performance support. Of course, it didn’t exist. So here’s a cognitive story about when and where a job aid would help. Our Bosch dishwasher stopped near the beginning of the cycle, and displayed an icon of a water tap.

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Performance Support Support Performance Design 316

Clark Quinn

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Ok, I know I just talked about this, but something happened to sharpen my understanding. Recently, a colleague was advocating, for a product she’s responsible for managing, that she was aware that people were “not used to reflowable text” And, frankly, that surprised me, but also explains the problems I’ve railed about in the past. Because reflowable text thinking is a key to moving beyond hardwired formatting to separating content from description. .

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Clark Quinn

JANUARY 6, 2021

Having heard it’s good for maintaining cognitive ability, I like to vary things. And, to keep doing things right, I like habits. Are these mutually exclusive? Maybe, but here’re some thoughts on habits and variety. It’s been touted that a great way to fend off the diminishment of cognitive capability is to do things differently. So, for instance, turning off the hall light before going down the hall on your way to bed.

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Clark Quinn

DECEMBER 1, 2020

So I saw a twitter thread pointing to an argument about how ROI is dead. And, well, that’s largely okay with me. However, the trigger for the post was from the results of Chief Learning Officer 2020 State of Learning report. And, when I saw them, I saw some problems. The question is whether we’re measuring impact, or not. I’d like to go through them and evaluate each.

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Metrics ROI ASTD Cost 260

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

I’ve been pondering more about curiosity and ‘making it meaningful’ and how we might work on motivation to make learning truly meaningful. I’v come up with a rough cut. So, here’s a proposal for a heuristic approach to motivation. As I mentioned, the desired true intrinsic motivation may be a goal too far. When possible, perhaps in a deeply specialized field, I’d go for it.

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Compliance Training Compliance Classes Track 211

Clark Quinn

AUGUST 4, 2020

When you’re looking into motivation, particularly for learning, certain elements get mentioned again and again. So I’ve heard ‘relevance’, ‘ meaningfulness ‘, consequences, and more. Friston suggests that we learn to minimize surprise. One I’ve heard, and wrestled with, is curiosity. It’s certainly aligned with surprise.

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Theory Analysis Sound Gamification 213

Clark Quinn

JULY 28, 2020

If I’m going to rail against myths in learning, it makes sense to be clear about what learning design without myths looks like. Let me lay out a little of what mythless learning design is, or should be. Learning with myths manifests in many ways. Redundant development to accommodate learning styles, or generations. Shortened to be appropriate for millennials or the attention span of a goldfish.

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Design Cognitive Metrics Learning 245

Clark Quinn

JUNE 16, 2020

I’ve been interested in wisdom as a stretch goal. That is, if what I (and, ideally, we) do is help people become smarter, could we go further? Could we help people get wiser? Let’s be clear, I am not claiming that I am wise. Rather, thinking about what wisdom is and trying to be wise would be more accurate ;). It’s led me to look at wisdom quietly, as a background task.

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Alternatives Newsletter Strategy Culture 202

Clark Quinn

MAY 5, 2020

In a conversation the other day, I was asked about what’s needed, and what’s missing, in making the L&D revolution come to life. I’ve previously opined about the changes I think are necessary, but I realized that for folks making the change, there are hurdles. It occurred to me that there are some points of inflection that could make a difference.

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Clark Quinn

MARCH 3, 2020

I was asked to comment on intrinsic motivation, and was pointed to an article claiming that it’s a myth(!). Given that I’m a staunch advocate of intrinsic motivation, I felt this was something that I should comprehend. Is intrinsic motivation a myth? My inclination is ‘no’, but let’s explore. As background, there’s usually a distinction made between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

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Clark Quinn

FEBRUARY 4, 2020

Last week, I ranted about a myth that seems inextinguishable. And I ran across another one in a place I shouldn’t have. And I keep seeing others, spotting them roaming around loose. Like zombies, they seem to rise from the dead. We need death to zombies. Particularly learning myth zombies! There are several that seem overly prolific. I’ve already ranted about learning styles , but it’s pernicious.

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eLearning Guild Brain Social Networks LinkedIn 248

Clark Quinn

JANUARY 14, 2020

I have a persistent interest in the potential for myth and ritual for learning. In the past I sought a synthesis of what’s known as good practice (as always ;) in an area I don’t have good resources in. When I looked over 10 years ago, there wasn’t much. That’s no longer the case. There is now quite a bit available about signifying change with ritual.

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Clark Quinn

JANUARY 7, 2020

I’ve been on a ‘ transformation ‘ kick. And it occurs to me to think that it may be more marketing than meaning. One aspect is that we need to be making transformation manifest to our learners. The transformation I’m talking about is our learning experiences. That is, while we need to transform our practices and ourselves, here I’m talking about the outcomes of our design.

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Market Community Learner Change 131

Clark Quinn

NOVEMBER 19, 2019

I’ve been blogging now for over a decade, and one thing has changed. The phenomena is that we’re seeing a cultural comment shift; comments are now coming from shared platforms, not directly on the site. And while I try not to care, I’m finding it interesting to reflect on the implications of that, in a small way. When I started, people would comment right on the blog.

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Clark Quinn

OCTOBER 29, 2019

In terms of the various ways in which we can support the gaps in our cognition, one of the terms is ‘templates’ And it’s worth discussing what a template is, and considering them at a variety of levels. I want to suggest we should have templates for good. What is a template? Merriam-Webster defines it as “a gauge, pattern, or mold used as a guide to the form of a piece being made” In terms of software and business, templates are forms with some of the elements alrea

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Templates Cognitive Pattern Quiz 115

Clark Quinn

OCTOBER 24, 2019

Helen Papagiannis kicked off the second day of the DevLearn conference. She explored the possibilities of AR with exceptional examples. She went through a variety of concepts, helping us comprehend new opportunities. Exposing the invisible and annotating the world were familiar, but collaborative editing of spatial representations resurrected one of the most interesting (and untapped) potentials of virtual worlds.

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DevLearn Virtual World Conference Collaboration 125

Clark Quinn

OCTOBER 23, 2019

Talithia Williams presented the afternoon keynote on the opening day of DevLearn. She gave an overview of the possibilities of data, and the basics of data science. She then made some inferences to learning. The post Talithia Williams #DevLearn Keynote Mindmap appeared first on Learnlets.

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Clark Quinn

OCTOBER 23, 2019

DevLearn opened with a keynote from Sophia the Robot. With an initially scripted presentation, and some scripted questions from host David Kelly, Sophia addresses the differences between AI and robots, with a bit of wit. The tech used to make the illusion was explored, but the technology was put to the test with some unscripted questions, and the responses were pretty good.

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DevLearn Hosting Open Technology 100

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

I went to hear a talk the other day. It was about competency-based education (CBE) for organizations. Ostensibly. And, while I’m now affiliated with IBSTPI , it’s not like I’m a competency expert. And maybe I expect too much, but I really hope for people to be clear about the concept. Alas, that’s not what I found. So, it started out reasonably well, talking about how competencies are valuable.

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Mash-up Mashups Cognitive Learning Styles 100

Clark Quinn

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

In my thinking about LXD strategy , I also was thinking about what roles are necessary. While you can do handoffs, what are the core skills you need to make this happen? And it’s not that you need all these people, but you need these roles. Someone may be a polymath (though I’m somewhat resistant that one person can do them all sufficiently well), but it’s really not fair to expect someone to be a one-person shop.

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Clark Quinn

JULY 3, 2019

In my past two posts, I first looked at cognitions (situated, distributed, social) by contexts (think, work, and learn), and then the reverse. And, having filled out the matrixes anew, they weren’t quite the same. And that, I think, is the benefit of the exercise, a chance to think anew. So what emerged? Here’s the result of reconciling cognitions and contexts.

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Cognitive Performance Support Blended Learning Search 140

Clark Quinn

JUNE 26, 2019

Graham Roberts kicked off the 2nd day of the Realities 360 conference talking about the Future of Immersive Storytelling. He told about their experiences and lessons building an ongoing suite of experiences. From the first efforts through to the most recent it was insightful. The examples were vibrant inspirations. The post Graham Roberts #Realities360 Keynote Mindmap appeared first on Learnlets.

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