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Crystal Featured: Training Business Podcast
It’s officially Fall and while the days will start to get shorter, we know that many of you are working hard on your 2022 learning strategy. As you gear up for a new year with new learning, have you asked yourself if you are focused on designing content for learning rather than designing content for learners?Earlier in the Summer I was invited on The Training Business Podcast, where I shared how the [...]
Andrew Tiffany: Modern Learning Leader of the Month
In August, we were thrilled to have Andrew Tiffany, Senior Academic Consultant at National Geographic Learning, join us for our monthly Modern Learning Dialogue to share how he uses the Learning Cluster Design model to create learner-driven experiences, even though he is not currently in a formal L&D role. Andrew spoke to our community about: How to implement learning clusters with low budget and capacity How to influence organizational leaders [...]
A Sneak Peek Inside the LCD 2-Week Practicum
Before the summer began, we celebrated our April virtual practicum graduates. These L&D professionals from all over the world started the virtual practicum with just a single topic, and in just two short weeks, walked out of the workshop with a completed learning cluster to implement back on the job! As we gear up for our October practicum, we wanted to take you behind the scenes and give you a [...]
Special Report: ATD ICE 2021 Recap and Modern Learning Takeaways
Happy September! Lisa and I are back from the Association for Talent Development International Conference and Expo, and are excited to share a recap of what it looked like to take Learning Cluster Design on the road, and in-person again. We were excited to have been given the opportunity to present in several different capacities and modalities, from a pre-conference workshop, to a TedX like talk, to education sessions, to [...]
Sept 7th Monthly Dialogue Reminder: Jeff Lowndes, L&D Leader At Snapchat
At this week's dialogue, we will have Jeff Lowndes, Learning Leader at Snapchat, share his thoughts on learning in the flow of work, gaps in the industry, and the future of learning. We've got 78 folks already interested in attending and would love to have you join as well! This is a dialogue, not a presentation - it's a more intimate, engaging hour than you might expect! Each dialogue opens with networking, followed [...]
How Can We Use the LCD Model to Design Onboarding?
Lisa and I have made it to the ATD International Conference in Salt Lake City to kick off a weekend and week of learning! We are excited for our full day workshop tomorrow, education sessions and happy hour on Sunday, and book signings and demo session on Monday. Speaking of demos, we all want to see the LCD model in action. As we head into the tail end of the year [...]
Why Is Designing for Modern Learners So Hard?
Designing for modern learners is not as straightforward as we would expect. Modern learners have broad expectations - they all want something different. Some want a class, some want something digital, and with their varied contexts, it can be challenging to design for the “modern learner.” So, how do we design with the modern learner in mind? In the video below, Learning Cluster Design model co-creator, Lisa M.D. Owens explains [...]
How to Design a Social Learning Community
In the book, Designing for Modern Learning, Lisa M.D Owens and I identify three “learning touchpoints” that outline key places, times, and ways that learning occurs. One of these touchpoints, Social Learning, looks beyond formal, planned approaches and provides learners with a level of interaction with other people. In most face-to-face learning experiences, whether we design for it or not, social learning happens inherently. Once the face-to-face experience ends, most learning [...]
August 5th Modern Learning Monthly Dialogue: Andrew Tiffany
This month we have resident of Taipei and Teacher Trainer for National Geographic Learning, Andrew Tiffany, share about the learning clusters he is creating and influencing. While he is a huge LCD model advocate, he is currently NOT in an official internal L&D role. He will walk through a recent project he did for his sales team, where they each built a "learning cluster" for their customer education plan. This [...]
ATD ICE Conference – Will You Be There?
We are so thrilled to have an in-person opportunity to connect and grow in modern learning together! Lisa and I are hosting multiple sessions and events at ATD's International Conference and Exposition in less than 5 weeks. Here's a few to-dos to make your ATD experience awesome and grow your modern learning community at the same time. 1 - Tell Us If You Will Be Joining Virtually or Live we want [...]
Social Learning Whitepaper
Providing a link here for attendees of the ATD ICE 2021 conference! LCD Group Whitepaper - Building a Social Learning Community
How to Track Non-Formal Learning
As our workforce has changed over the last decade (and especially in the last year), modern L&D professionals have begun abandoning the one-and-done training model and have instead moved on to blended learning, learning journeys, and what we call, learning clusters. Even with these new, modern approaches to learning, many L&D professionals hold on tightly to creating and developing learning assets they deem most trackable, typically formal, and shy away [...]
Modern L&D Spotlight on Karen Bryan-Chambers, Senior Director, New Leaders
This month, we are excited to showcase Karen Bryan-Chambers as our Modern Learner Spotlight! Karen is the senior director of the nonprofit Leadership Academy at New Leaders. She has more than 26 years of professional experience, including 16 years as a teacher, five years as a principal, and five years in leadership development. Karen started off her modern learning journey by reading Designing for Modern Learning, and quickly enrolled in one [...]
LCD and the Neuroscience of Learning (AGES)
The future of L&D in a digital age is about unleashing human potential rather than reinforcing quality, routine work. Rather than focusing on telling L&D “what” to create for a digital age, the philosophy behind the Learning Cluster Design model focuses on building capability around the thought process - the “how” and “why” - moving L&D beyond its traditional limitations and into a position to allow modern learners to choose [...]
How Technology Helps Modern Training Professionals Deliver More Faster
Just as we were faced with a digital learning pivot in March of 2020, modern L&D professionals are starting to look at how the learning programs we created over the last 16+ months will fare as we navigate the “new normal'' of training and developing a hybrid workforce. While this looks different for each organization, and there certainly isn’t a “one size fits all” approach, through our research we have [...]
1-Year Anniversary of Designing for Modern Learning and Summer Reading List
It’s officially summer! And even though school is out, learning is always in. If you haven’t picked up a copy already, our book, Designing for Modern Learning: Beyond ADDIE and SAM is about to celebrate it’s one year publishing anniversary! A big thank you to all of our readers, we've reached thousands around the globe! We are also on our journey to 100 reviews on Amazon. If you've read the book and haven't [...]
Modern Learner Spotlight: Jess Almlie, VP of Learning Experiences, WEX Health
This month, our friends over at 360Learning interviewed this month’s Modern Learner Spotlight: Jess Almlie! Jess is a strategic L&D leader, and currently the VP of Learning Experience at WEX Health. Not only has Jess immersed herself in the LCD model by reading Designing for Modern Learning, she has been a guest speaker at our Monthly Modern Dialogue and has had her team attend our two-week public workshop. In her interview with Jonah Goldstein from 360Learning, Jess [...]
What to do with too many personas? [Learn Action Deep Dive]
One of the core principles of the OK-LCD model is to focus on learner needs. Our context as training designers and deliverers is no longer as important as the context of the learner, especially in a digital age where we have the ability to deliver learning when, where, and how the learner needs it. But how do we know what our learner needs? That is where the Learn Action of the [...]
Creating a Learning Cluster for Onboarding
With the pivot to virtual learning in 2020, and continuing with that trend in 2021, many learning professionals were faced with the challenge of converting in-person, live orientation and onboarding with a better, more modern solution. For this particular case study, an L&D leader was tasked with developing a new onboarding program. Traditionally within this organization, onboarding consisted of a week-long live class or blended learning to orient to the [...]
Beyond the First Moment of Learning Need
In traditional L&D, it’s common to see the majority of our efforts spent on times when our learners need to learn something for the first time. It could be a new technology rollout, a new process employees have to learn, or a new product line the company will be selling. We spend weeks, if not months, developing training around these changes, roll out said learning initiative and then boom, on [...]
Modern Learner Spotlight: Head of L&D at Bluescape
Welcome to a new monthly series “Modern Learner Spotlight” where we highlight a member of the learning community who has experienced success using the Learning Cluster Design model. We couldn’t think of a better person to kick this series off with than with Loc Nguyen, Director of Customer Education for Bluescape Software. Loc and his team began their LCD journey with joining the public workshop and subsequently, the applied success of their learnings was [...]
How to Develop Learning for 78 Topics in 12 Months
Because the Gorilla Glue Company was expanding rapidly, more people needed onboarding, upskilling, and leadership skills. When the Learning and Development department surveyed the leadership on what they needed, the response was typical - management, after narrowing, decided on 78 training topics and they wanted them delivered within 12 months. Traditionally, when given a laundry list of topics, L&D goes straight to their go-tos - one-and-done live training events, an eLearning [...]
Modern Take on Performance Support: It’s Just as Important!
The Learning Cluster Design model calls for a new way of thinking about L&D’s goal and role within organizations. Our third principle “Focus on Learner Needs” states that our context as training designers and deliverers is no longer as important as the context of the learner. Whereas in the past L&D had limited tools to deliver learning, today we can deliver learning when, where, and how the learner needs it. [...]
How LCD Model Helps Make Smart Use of Artificial Intelligence
Learning and development technology is moving at a rapid pace, especially with the pivot to virtual-based learning in 2020. Now, in 2021, for most organizations artificial intelligence accelerated from a distant dream to a more current, and needed, reality. Driven by the data source it has been programmed to store, AI gives machines the ability to recognize, respond to, and learn from inputs. Here’s why AI is important for learning: [...]
Co-Facilitation: A Modern Learning Strategy for Remote Training
Modern learning, as we share in the principles of the Learning Cluster Design model, centers on creating meaningful learning assets that surround a learner in their moment of learning need. While the model looks at what can be done to meet learners beyond one-and-done training events, live face-to-face (whether in-person or virtual), can prove to be a valuable and important asset for many people (including L&D professionals) along their learning [...]
The Intersection Between L&D & Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Efforts
Last month we introduced the intersectionality of DEI and L&D through the lens of the Learning Cluster Design model by looking at the Change Action, where we see an opportunity to create deeper, more anchoring notions when it comes to operationalizing DEI in the workplace. Moving beyond the Change Action, one of the most critical barriers to creating real change is that most efforts develop and often mandate participation in a one-size-fits-all effort when [...]
5 Reasons to Join The Learning Cluster Design Workshop
Imagine if the next time you get a training request or see a capability gap, you could surround learners with meaningful learning assets whenever, wherever they learn? What if you could do it in less time, and actually see measurable results? Learners today need to learn both in and out of the flow of work. Most organizations leave it up to the learners to navigate resources in the flow of [...]
Learning Design in COVID Times: How It’s More Than E-Learning
When you think of “converting to modern learning,” what comes to mind for you? Is it abandoning one-and-done training events for a strictly online/eLearning experience? If that was your thought, you’re not alone. Most L&D organizations, as they started facing the pandemic last year, scrambled to turn every face to face training program into an e-learning. But that isn't modern. Nor is it sufficient to make a business-impacting difference in [...]
L&D & Diversity & Inclusion Learning Efforts [Black History Month Special]
It's Black History month and we are all about intentionally educating ourselves during this time... and ongoing. Let's be real. Out of all the modern learning work we could do as L&D professionals, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) is not a one-and-done event. While Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs have been a part of many organizations for years, in the last 12 months we have seen a big shift in [...]
Building Learning Capability ft. Pat McLagan
Imagine if you could double or even triple the effectiveness of your learning programs. How could you do that? By understanding that your learners have agency and working with that agency to help grow "super learners". What if your learners proactively grew their own capability to engage with your L&D products? Pat McLagan, author of Unstoppable You: Adopt the New Learning 4.0 Mindset and Change Your Life shared her work with the [...]
Who is a Modern Learner?
When you imagine a “Modern Learner,” what comes to mind? Many people we’ve asked that question automatically imagine a millennial, or someone who is really into technology. As we move from an industrial age to a digital one, when it comes to modern learning it’s not so much about technology, rather, it’s about choices surrounding learning. At February's dialogue, we will be exploring Learn-Ability and diving into learning mindsets with [...]
New Goals for a New Year of High-Impact L&D Initiatives
It’s three weeks into the new year and I’m sure you’re already thinking ahead to the success you want in 2021. Our goals shape our solutions and results. When transitioning from creating “peanut butter,” one-size-fits all training to designing strategic learning clusters to meet learners in their moment of learning need, L&D professionals need to set new goals. So, what does this new goal look like? The new goal is [...]
2021 Goals: Moving from 70:20:10 to Learning Touchpoints
You might be familiar with the popular 70-20-10 model, which formulates that learners obtain 70 percent of their knowledge from job-related experiences, 20 percent from interactions with others, and 10 percent from formal educational events. This model has been around since the early 1980s, and is widely used amongst L&D professionals globally. The 70-20-10 model seeks to encourage L&D to consider their role outside of formal learning. However, in practice, organizations inadvertently make the following [...]
January’s Modern Learning Community Speaker: Loc Nguyen
In the video below, Loc Nguyen, Director of Customer Education at Bluescape shares the following takeaways from the Learning Cluster Design workshop: How he moved from the mindset of “just building a course” to giving his learners the freedom to learn when, where and how they want to learn The wins he and his team have experienced after attending the workshop and implementing the LCD model His advice to L&D [...]
How Uncovering Learner Personas Actually Reduce Design Time
Wouldn’t you love to learn more about your learners and make an even bigger impact with your learning initiatives? In an ever-changing, fast-paced world, L&D professionals are often asked to do a lot, with very little time. For many learning and development models to actually transform on-the-job behavior, they require deep analysis, expert-level design and thoroughly planned implementation. While most L&D professionals would love to run through all of these [...]
Assessing This Year’s Remote Learning Strategy
As we approach Thanksgiving here in the US and the end of the year in general, I find myself reflecting on the year. This year brought along with it many workplace shifts and challenges. For L&D, the biggest shift we faced was reimagining workplace learning without live, in person training classes. Many L&D professionals were quick to convert all of their instructor-led live training into eLearning courses and curriculums, spending [...]
L&D Shifting Responsibility for the Workplace, Not Just the Classroom
For as long as organizational learning has been around, so has the concept of our role being the owners and deliverers of content. Our sole purpose has been to “create training,” and with that came the need to exist as subject matter experts in the content being delivered. Rather than being strategic learning partners, the L&D field fell into a pattern of order taking, and with information changing as rapidly [...]
How to Use, Not Lose, Your L&D Expertise When Modernizing
One of the biggest barriers to change and transformation when it comes to designing modern learning is the idea of having to “unlearn” all of the tools and models that got us where we are today. Many L&D professionals are either hesitant to apply a new model for fear of having to start from scratch, while others are over-eager to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” and recreate every [...]
Move Beyond Measuring Training Participation
When we look at how L&D professionals report learning “success,” it’s typically defined by learner usage and participation. But is there a direct connection between participation in a learning asset and learning success? Can we assume that by showing up, learning has happened and will be applied in the moments where it counts? We often judge success as having high completion rates, increased attendance and a substantial number of classroom [...]
Making Strategic Choices When Designing Learning
When implementing any model, old or new, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the idea of having to follow every step in the process to a T. The best models work with your ability to navigate your situation, needs, and context. We are often asked if each action of the OK-LCD model needs adoption in order to create a modern learning experience. Watch below as co-creator of the LCD Model, Lisa M.D. Owens [...]
How can we NOT start from scratch and modernize training we already have?
Would you agree that the most common approach to modernizing L&D is to throw out what you have and start from scratch? This is one of the most common problems we share in our book. Each time a new model, theory or approach comes out, we in L&D often immediately write off our old programs as outdated and send them packing to the vault. Even worse, many of those old programs are kept [...]
Are You Surrounding Learners with Meaningful Assets?
For decades, the L&D industry has operated under the same guiding principle – when you have the learner’s attention, give them all the training content you can because you never know when you’ll see them next. It could be one, two, three months or even a year until we get 8 hours of their “undivided” attention again, so we lay all of our content cards on the table, yet feel [...]
Action of the Week: Change On-the-Job Behavior
In an ever-changing world that gives us information at our fingertips and with anything more than a two-day delivery window seeming like a lifetime, the “need it yesterday” mentality is not slowing down. As L&D professionals, we face this every day from stakeholders and senior leaders who, rather than seeking out their internal training departments with a problem, come to the table with their own idea of a training strategy [...]
Compliance LCD Case Study
Here’s a REAL EXAMPLE of a Learning Cluster and L&D professional developed in our workshop. ASK: The business asked the LCD workshop participant to develop and update their annual harassment training to remain compliant with standard HR & Legal Policies. TRADITIONAL SOLUTIONS: e-Learning module, videos with knowledge check, or live-class. LCD APPROACH: The workshop participant had a huge aha moment by refocusing the Goal on Performance and Strategic Impact - It’s not [...]
Onboarding LCD Case Study
Here's a REAL EXAMPLE of a Learning Cluster and L&D professional developed in our workshop. ASK: We need new hire onboarding. TRADITIONAL APPROACH: 1 week long live class or blended learning to orient to company, orient to people, orient to technical skills, etc. LCD APPROACH: First, we get clear on the most critical differences we want to see on the job from the employee, with clear ROI for the business. The [...]
ATD Article: Still Just Designing Training? Start Designing Learning Clusters
We all do it. We cram as much content into a training course as we can. Why? Because once we get an employee’s attention, we have to take advantage of that time; otherwise, we may not see these learners again for some time to come. But what if we could do it differently? What if, instead of providing learning assets that employees use only once every few months (see How the [...]
Author Q&A: Designing for Modern Learning
The following is a Q&A with Crystal Kadakia and Lisa M.D. Owens, the authors of Designing for Modern Learning: Beyond ADDIE and SAM, the latest book from ATD Press about how L&D professionals can better design for the modern learner. 1. What does “Designing for Modern Learning” mean? Is there a definition for modern learning or for the modern learner? Crystal:When people hear the term modern learner, almost everyone thinks or describes [...]
New Model Helps L&D Professionals Meet the Needs of Modern Learners
In Designing for Modern Learning: Beyond ADDIE and SAM (ATD Press, June 2020), L&D experts Crystal Kadakia and Lisa M.D. Owens introduce the Owens-Kadakia Learning Cluster Design (OK-LCD) model to address the question of how L&D professionals can better design for modern learning. In a world where learning is needed every day, the role of L&D is more important than ever, but the toolkit used by L&D professionals is outdated [...]
Why Learning is So Important to Gen Z
What do you do when you’re faced with the unknown? The unknown used to be combatted by asking the experts with years of experience, passing on stories, and, frankly, sheer faith. You learned to transform the unknown into the known by doing — and doing took time. In that time, nothing much changed about what you were learning. It certainly didn’t change to the extent that your knowledge would be [...]
“You Might Also Like” How AI Gets Employees Hooked on Learning
There are two reasons why people learn: 1) because they are told to and 2) because they choose to. Historically, learning and development teams have been focused on delivering the former. The highest priorities tend to be those that mitigate the biggest business risks: compliance, performance, leadership, management, and general onboarding. It’s all about telling people what they need to know to be most successful in their jobs and when [...]
Putting Learner Personas to Work: A Case Study
In our previous post, we explored the idea of using learner personas. L&D practitioners need to learn how to identify key subgroups within the larger target audience then collect or create the right array of learning assets to meet the learning needs. What’s more, they must go beyond segmenting learner groups by the traditional criteria of age, experience, education, language, job role, and so forth. Here’s a sample description of three [...]
It’s Not Just One Target Audience
“Who are we designing for?” That’s traditionally one of the first questions asked by L&D when starting a training project. Typically, there’s just one answer, and it sounds something like this: all managers, or IT employees using the XYZ program, or customer-facing employees. In other words, it’s a description of the one target audience. Once we have that single target learner group definition, we design one training solution to cover the needs of this [...]
A New World of Learning Clusters for L&D
Has L&D already given up on having a presence in informal learning? Are we going to remain stuck in our world of classes and courses, the world of counting seats filled and clicks on e-learning? We’re seeing some L&D professionals willing to embrace new possibilities, but most are struggling to find a way forward. That’s no surprise; our industry is facing a staggering increase in complexity as well as organizational [...]
What Clues Do Millennials Hold for Modern Learning and Development?
Millennials: the word we are – dare I say it – sick of. Yet we still don’t understand how to deal with the changes that became urgent when this generation joined the workplace. I began speaking on this topic over five years ago when I saw HR leaders repeating generational stereotypes. In my work, I have given over 100 talks that have left attendees saying, “I will never use the [...]
When Learning Gets Modernized – What Does the Research Say Will Happen?
Today’s busy employees desire quick, convenient access to information so they can react immediately to constant change in the business world as well work on upskilling themselves when it fits into their schedule. Crystal Kadakia and Lisa M.D. Owens describe the modern learner as: “Someone who is in an environment where content changes fast and learning needs change even faster. Modern learners want answers right away and rely on a [...]
Are You Part of a Modern L&D Organization?
Being part of a modern learning and development (L&D) organization can be easier than you think. It does not mean you have to buy and learn to use all the latest high-tech apps, software, and e-whatever. Instead, it means looking at the role of L&D through a different lens. Most L&D organizations are caught up in the rat race of trying to deliver more and more training to help employees [...]
Are You A Modern Learner?
We design learning for an increasingly diverse environment, spanning regions, ages, generations, functions, and roles. But are you a modern learner? What does it mean to be a modern learner? Picture the last time you needed new information or to learn a new skill, personally or professionally. How did you discover the answer? Chances are, you used a search engine, read articles, or watched videos until you closed your knowledge [...]
Is Reading a Book a Modern Learning Method?
Should we discard all learning methods of the past to meet the demands of modern learning opportunities? Probably not. We certainly need to modernize learning to keep up with how, when, and where learners need it. However, although it may come as a surprise, digital and flashy isn’t what makes learning modern. But it’s best to trend toward the modern side of learning to keep today’s learners engaged. We often [...]
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