Scenarios are very important in human development as they are the recognizable patterns by which the brain works. This is why it makes perfect sense to make as much of learning as possible scenario-based. SBL is a new trend relying on something very old and valuable – our natural partiality to storytelling. It’s also natural to harness that appetence for educational purposes. Read on to find out more about SBL.

L&D professionals always have a complicated puzzle to solve: how to motivate employees while keeping business goals in mind, making sure that the first are content and the latter attained. Motivational psychology in the workplace is there to help, but only if it’s understood properly. So here are a few tips on how to solve the puzzle.

Trainers and instructional designers would like nothing better than to be able to accommodate everybody and deliver on all desired outcomes and as a result constantly look for ways to make that happen. Vicky Halsey is one of those who set out to search for viable models for the modern learner. Her signature tested ENGAGE model is a great starting point for any learning initiative.

Attention is a cognitive process that is closely related to another very important aspect of learning: memory. A certain learning intervention is deemed successful when the participants are able to remember and apply what was taught. For e-learning designers who face the challenge of creating quality modules that facilitate information retention and transfer it’s important to know how the brain works when it comes to attention.

Corporate learning itself is moving towards a new era. While e-learning remains the main L&D tool, xAPI comes to link this with all the other formal and informal learning instances for a better experience and more efficient planning and reporting. Tune in to find out more about the advantages that come along in an organization that includes xAPI in their training strategy.

In order to be effective, learning needs to be done with some effort. That doesn’t mean that all the gimmicks learning professionals come up with to make it easier and more fun are counterproductive. Nor does learning have to be torture. The key are those desirable difficulties that make the brain work out. There may be some discomfort but the results are worth it – just like in the case of regular gym sessions for the body.

There is a lot of academic literature on the innovation process, how it works and what techniques we can employ to get our brain to create new and different ideas. As far as the design process is concerned, Herbert Simon’s article The Sciences of the Artificial from 1969 is still very influential today. Design Thinking involves five steps: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.

There is a lot of academic literature to show that video gaming brings about improvements in a wide variety of perceptual, attentional, and cognitive abilities. The potential video games have for positive improvements of the brain ranges from teaching young children to perform complex tasks to training workplace professionals to become more efficient in their jobs.

Keeping learners engaged simply requires some fine tuning of the way the slides are visually designed. Heavy text, obsolete fading effects and cluttered information all have to go and be replaced by attention-grabbing, point-making state of the art design. All instructional designers need to do is spruce up their visual design skills and keep their audience in mind when putting together learning materials.

Creative Commons was created to help all those who create content, whether they are writers, video makers or designers, to use already existing content without having to pay for it. Everything from text to video or sound can be used while being appropriately attributed. So check out a few things all instructional designers should know about Creative Commons.