David Kelly’s Curated L&D Content for the Week of 10/22/18

This week’s curated content includes links exploring the following:

• Are RFPs still needed?
• A tool to help you gauge what you need to know about data and analytics
• Research that explores the interest in using AR for learning
• Tips on how to persuade people to act via your content
• How to have a successful elearning launch
• Why you should allow content and context to drive your elearning format

Why Are RFPs Still a Thing? by Brian Wallace
RFPs are a very common tool used in business. Senior learning leaders use them often when looking to acquire new products and services. But is the RFP still relevant in 2018? Is there a better way? These questions and more are explored in this post and infographic.

Which Data Skills Do You Actually Need? This 2×2 Matrix Will Tell You. by Chris Littlewood
Data and analytics is a topic of growing importance in learning and development. It can also be a topic that can seem overwhelming to someone new to the space. This post explores a simple grid that can help you make sense of where to spend your time exploring data and analytics. In truth, the grid here can really be applied to how you explore any emerging topic, which is one of the reasons I like it. In addition, the grid takes into account something we too often overlook: context. How important an emerging topic may be is heavily weighted by the environment in which it may be applied.

Data Point of the Week: Travel and Learning Win Consumer AR Interest by Mike Boland
As the consumer market for augmented reality starts to take shape, one of the key questions AR providers are exploring is what areas have the greatest potential for AR use cases. As the survey in this post discovers, learning applications are near the top of the list. 

Want to Persuade Your Audience to Take Action? First, Look for Clarity by Sonia Simone
Copywriting is what drives a reader of marketing content towards action. This post explores the purpose of copywriting and how it differs from creating the content itself. There are a number of great parallels in this post that can be applied to training and development initiatives as well.

Tips for a Successful eLearning Course Launch via Designing Digitally
Building a quality elearning course that engages people is only one challenging part of our jobs. In some ways the bigger challenge is in getting people engaged in the idea of taking your course in the first place. This post explores a few tips that you can use to better understand and engage with those you support so you have more successful project launches.

Let Content, Not “Learning Styles,” Determine eLearning Format by Pam Hogle
What types of content should you use to reach your learners? Too often people answer that question by suggesting a modality that matches someone’s preferred style of learning, but there’s no evidence that leads to improved learning outcomes. What does improve learning, and this post explores, is matching the content and context determine what format should be used.

Follow the DevLearn Conference Backchannel

This week The DevLearn Conference and Expo takes place in Las Vegas. Devlearn is a week full of amazing learning opportunities, and we hope to see you there. If you can’t make it to Las Vegas, make sure you tune into the conference backchannel to find valuable resources and information being shared at DevLearn 2018. Follow @DevLearn on Twitter or join the conversation using the hashtag #DevLearn.

I curate the various resources that collect and expand upon the learning that is shared via the backchannel, You can find that post here. Be sure to bookmark the site as I will continuously update the post with new resources before, during, and after DevLearn. It’s a great resource to revisit the content that was shared at the event.