Curated Industry Content for the Week of 02/01/16

Every Monday we curate a number of articles and blog posts that have relevance to members of the eLearning Guild Community, and to the learning and performance field as a whole. Each piece of content that we share includes a brief introduction from the member of the Guild Community sharing why they think the content is important.

Here’s the content for this week:

How To Improve Enterprise Apps With Human-Centered Design and Recombinant Innovation by Chad Udell
Mobile devices enable us to interact with the world in ways we have never been able to do before. And yet, much of the design used to create mobile device experiences is done via the same approach we have used for years. This post explores a different approach; one that keeps the user in mind. -David Kelly

15 Secretly Brilliant Reasons Stuff is Designed That Way via Cracked.com
Because learning professionals design learning experiences, we sometimes forget the full scope of what design is. This post shares a series of simple design choices that had enormous impacts. As you look at each one, consider the training that could have been created to correct the problem that the simple design choice avoided entirely. -David Kelly

Complaining About Social Media? You’re Part of the Problem. by Amber Naslund
Social media can be an almost magical tool to create and maintain relationships. It can also be a tremendous tool for professional development – if you choose and work to make it so. This post explores the power of social media, and the responsibility each of us has to realize that potential for ourselves. It’s a post that admittedly is a bit of a rant, but the underlying message and tips that are shared are well worth the read. -David Kelly

Obsessing Over AI is the Wrong Way to Think About the Future by Nant Jhingran
There’s a lot of buzz – and fear – attached to the potential uses of Artificial Intelligence. But what if the future isn’t about machines thinking for themselves, but rather machines helping humans think better? This article from WIRED Magazine explores IA (Intelligence Amplification) and how it’s already helping us today. -David Kelly

Facebook is about to roll out a massive change to its ‘Like’ button by James Walker
Designing user interfaces can be, in some ways, a thankless job. Done very well, the user doesn’t think about the interface; it just works. Done poorly, and the users complain… loudly. It’s one of the reasons it can be challenging to make a change to an interface that users are accustomed to and have grown comfortable with. This article explores an interesting case study that is emerging of just such a change – facebook’s decision to replace the ever-present LIKE button with a series of different emoticons. How users, and facebook, react to this change will be interesting to watch. -David Kelly

How to Use Free Assets in Commercial Training Courses by Tom Kuhlmann
Adding media assets to elearning is something that most of us do. It’s also something that can be very expensive. That’s why free assets are so valuable to elearning designers. While many elearning designers can likely identify sources of free assets, far fewer understand how to use them properly. This post shares some great tips to help you get started. -David Kelly

What are you reading?

If you have an article, blog post, or other resource that you think we should consider sharing in a future Curated Industry Content post, please feel free to send a link to the resource to David Kelly along with a few sentences describing why you think the resource is valuable.