David Kelly’s Curated L&D Content for the Week of 3/11/19

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

• an updated look at the evolving learning platforms landscape, and the LXP’s role in that space
• a few great extensions to add to your Chrome browser
• a fresh look at xAPI and what role it plays in the world of instructional designers
• what designers can learn from the new Star Wars land in Disney parks
• the return of Google Glass, and what it means to AR use in training
• the importance of accountability when talking about L&D efforts with the C-Suite

Learning Experience Platform (LXP) Market Grows Up: Now Too Big To Ignore by Josh Bersin
The term Learning Experience Platform (or LXP) continues to emerge in our field. But what is a LXP and what role does it play in your organization’s learning and performance infrastructure? This post answers these questions and more; it’s a great post to help make sense of the evolving learning platforms landscape.

7 Useful Chrome extensions for designers by Renee Fleck
When it comes to web-based productivity, you just can’t beat extensions for the Chrome browser. One of the questions I always ask myself is “how can I make this new task part of the existing flow of my work?”. Extensions do just that. Many of the extensions I use today replaced an interruption of work with a simple button within my browser. This post highlights 7 such browser extensions that designers may find useful. (Personally, I find the one that identifies an on-screen font to be exceptionally helpful)

Is xAPI Ripe for Instructional Design? by Duncan Welder
The Experience API (xAPI) has been discussed in our industry for quite some time, but in recent years it has gained momentum as examples and use cases have emerged for organizations to learn from. But what does xAPI mean to today’s instructional designers? That’s what this post explores, looking at what xAPI means to design, and why now is the time for instructional designers to embrace xAPI in their work.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will be Disneyland’s most interactive experience. Let’s play by Todd Martens
A trip to Disney World in Florida is always filled with inspiration. When I visit, I often find myself looking at the design of the experiences they create, thinking about the decisions made, the decisions NOT made, and what I can learn from them. This summer Disney is launching one of its largest expansions ever with Galaxy’s Edge, a new land devoted to Star Wars. While the new land itself intrigues me, I’ve been fascinated by learning how much care was placed into making this an experience emphasizing personal decision-making, active participation and game-like scenarios. There’s a lot to learn, not only from the experience they’ve built, but from one of the defining cultural drivers that shaped its design: “play has become the defining narrative of our generation.”

Google Glass’ second-gen enterprise model leaks with updated specs and USB-C by Chaim Gartenberg
Despite rumors to the contrary, Google Glass never died. In fact, the argument could be made that the original rollout of Google Glass – glassholes and all – was a very successful tech experiment in that it showed where AR headsets do, and do not, have impact. That leads us to today, with Google and others firmly positioning their AR devices as enterprise tools for performance and learning. As the article states: “Google has settled on enterprise customers as the main focus for the current generation of augmented reality tech.”. Will your organization be ready?

Finally…A Seat at the Table…Don’t Blow It! by Gary Wise
The struggle to show the value of L&D within an organization is common enough that “earning a seat at the table” has become part of our vernacular. But that seat comes with a price: accountability. It’s a price worthy of paying, but one that gets charged in the form of a conversation. If you’re not able to engage in a discussion that articulates the value your efforts provide, getting the respect you want will be difficult. This post looks at one example of such a conversation, displaying where learning professionals often make a mistake.

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.