David Kelly’s Curated L&D Content for the Week of 1/14/19

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

• A great resource for free stock imagery
• Why machine learning matters for designers
• How the right environment can substantially improve learning outcomes
• Research exploring how the brain makes decisions
• Tips on how to build content that gets a reader’s attention
• A look at the important questions we need to answer as automation affects future jobs

The Getty Digital Archive Expands to 135,000 Free Images: Download High Resolution Scans of Paintings, Sculptures, Photographs & Much Much More< by Josh Jones
Images are an important part of elearning. Paying for image licenses can also be something that drives up the costs of elearning projects. That’s what makes images with no or low-cost for use so valuable. This post highlights a valuable archive of free imagery from the Getty Digital Archives. It’s great to book mark as a resource. The majority of content here is free to use under a creative commons license, but as always, verify the usage rights before you use an image.

Applications Of Machine Learning For Designers by Lassi A Liikkanen
Machine learning is a growing field, and its usage in learning and development conversations is quickly emerging. But what does machine learning mean to designers? That question is explored very well in this article, first painting the picture of what machine learning is and how t will impact our lives, and then going into specific applications of machine learning that designers will support.

Ultralearning Environments: Why Where You Learn Determines How Much You Learn via Scott Young
Most of the effort L&D professionals make focuses on two areas: Content and how people are engaging in that content. An often overlooked part of the second area is the environment in which the engagement is taking place. The environment has a strong influence on learning outcomes. This post explores some of the factors in an environment that can have a strong positive impact on learning.

How the Brain Makes Choices by Fanny Cazettes
The decisions we make, and how we make them, is a great source of learning. This post explores research on understanding the brain’s role in and how it influences our decision-making. It has a great simple analogy on how complex decision-making is, and then uses that example to explain what’s happening in our brains when we are making choices.

5 Timeless Ways to Earn Your Audience’s Time and Attention by Sonia Simone
When the learning programs we need to create are based on dry or unexciting content, it can be challenging to make it feel engaging. Often we try to build the engagement around the interactions, but it’s important to find ways to make the content itself more interesting to the people consuming it. This post focuses on how to write in a way that better grasps a reader’s attention, but the tips shared can easily be transferred to building content for learning programs.

5 Questions We Should Be Asking About Automation and Jobs by Jed Kolko
The rise of artificial intelligence has accelerated the pace of automation in our society. As more day-to-day activity is being automated by technology, many people are concerned about the impact this may have on human jobs. This post doesn’t pretend to have the answers, which is a primary reason I share it. Too many of the articles exploring this topic are extreme to one side or the other, and the truth is we don’t really know what’s going to happen yet. This post takes a different approach; it simply explores the questions that need to be answered, rather than focusing on the answers themselves.

NEW EVENT – Explore Learning in the Workflow

Workflow learning. Microlearning. Performance support. If you were to draw a Venn diagram of these three ideas, the circles would largely overlap. The reason for the increased interest in these areas isn’t because they are radically new ideas; it’s because we’ve reached the moment in which technology has caught up to the promise of supporting learning and performance within the context of work itself.

The new Workflow Learning Summit, co-located with the Learning Solutions Conference and Expo in March, explores the enormous potential in workflow learning and why it is the most exciting opportunity learning and development has had in decades. You will hear from industry leaders who are paving the way and practitioners who have already transformed their work by inserting learning and support into the workflow.