PodCascadia: My New Job

Back in December of last year, I joined the ASTD-Cascadia Chapter as well as the ASTD National Chapter. While browsing the local chapter’s website, I came across the PodCascadia page and had the pleasure of listening to Christine Martell and Aaron Munter host their podcast show. Fortunately for me, they were looking for someone to [...]

Read Full Post »

Is Corporate America Ready for Blogs?

According to Technorati, there are over 70 million blogs on the Internet and the number is growing daily. The majority of blogs are created by people like you and me but some of them are finding their way into Corporate America. Are today’s companies prepared to manage this new collaboration tool? I don’t think so, [...]

Read Full Post »

Effective Trainers

Many years ago, I signed up for a class at a local training company (which will remain nameless) to learn more about computers and networking. The trainer walked in and proceeded to tell us about himself. He had been training for over 20 years, had worked in the networking industry as a consultant during the [...]

Read Full Post »

Instructional Design: Is Storyboarding a Bad Idea?

When I’m working in the role of a trainer, I spend a lot of time sitting on planes, eating bad airport food, and trying to avoid catching bugs spread by fellow passengers. On the flip side, I’ve also discovered it gives me a lot of time to read. On a recent trip to New York, [...]

Read Full Post »

Training: Can You Tell a Story?

Recently, I was reading an interesting post by Michelle over at The Bamboo Project Blog. The article, “Reflections on a Stalled Learning Project” summarized some of her thoughts on how a recent learning project stalled. One area she discussed, was how she was researching storytelling and how it could be used with online portfolios. Ironically, [...]

Read Full Post »

Training: Technology and Accessibility for the Visually Impaired

Technology has made incredible advances in the last ten years. With each advance, there is new hope for those with disabilities. Yet, there are still obstacles that must be overcome to assist people in living and functioning more independently. As a trainer, it’s possible to train for years and never have someone who is visually [...]

Read Full Post »

Training: Keeping Students Involved

As a trainer, I’m always looking for ways to get/keep students involved in the learning process. One technique that I’ve used, several times in the past, is called “passing the ball”. My object of choice? The nerf football.
For those of you who have not used this approach, here’s how it works:
Starting with yourself (the trainer) [...]

Read Full Post »