Learning While Working Podcast

The first interview in the design thinking and learning podcast series is with Arun Pradhan, on why design thinking is important to L&D at the moment. Arun is leading a new way of working in L&D. A key topic we discuss is that understanding the context of work through design thinking can lead you to design learning within the flow of work. In later parts of the interview we talk about L&D people becoming performance detectives, and how design thinking gives us some of the tools to do this. We also touch on core tools and approaches in design thinking, such as journey mapping and co-design with end users. To go along with the podcast we have released an eBook with all transcripts of the interviews. The introduction to the eBook gives an overview of design thinking and demystifies some of the terms used in the podcast, like ‘ideation’. Download the eBook Useful links Discover the mobile app Learn2Learn designed by Arun. Read Arun’s blog Design 4 Performance. Learn more about Arun. Watch a video of Arun talking about Learning Innovation – Design thinking for Learning and Performance.

In this episode you will learn from Paul Kearney about the importance of employability skills and how to develop them in your people. Paul has a deep, rich understanding of how people learn, and has been exploring how to develop these types of skills for close to 30 years. The term 'employability skills' is often seen as a bit of jargon. Paul has a great description: higher order skills. The skills he refers to are problem solving, taking initiative, planning and organising work and cooperating. Paul's background is in education and pre-employment training, but what he is talking about can be applied to help your people become self directed, continuous learners who are prepared for the future of work. During the podcast Paul talks about his framework for developing these higher order skills. Broadly, the framework is about: Increasing learner responsibility Increasing experience and practice for learners increasing reflective thinking in learners Increasing collaboration between learners This can be applied to leadership development, onboarding and trainees. He also introduces a nice model of learning: 'Caught, taught, and bought'. One of the other key takeaways from this conversation is that practice need to be diverse.

In the podcast you will hear about how GamEffective has linked workplace performance with learning, using microlearning and gamification. Roni Floman talks about how GamEffective started as a gamification of performance platform, then developed ways to help people improve performance with segments of microlearning. Gamification is typically about scores, levels and leaderboards. Roni talks about employees being able to ‘bet on themselves’ to set personal goals around metrics. Adaptive and personalised learning is often only based on employee performance in a learning scenario. The approach Roni discusses is centred on on-the-job performance first. One of the highlights of this interview is where Roni refers to ‘engagement automation’. Marketing automation is fed by triggers. For example, visiting a certain page on a website triggers a series of follow-up messages. When applied to learning, the messages will be tailored and triggered by performance. If an employee’s performance drops in an area, they will be sent (via email or mobile notifications) a series of microlearning messages that are tailored for them. Near the end of the podcast, Roni provides some worthwhile advice for getting started with these approaches: split your learning content into smaller chunks and map these workplace behaviours. That way, if someone needs to improve in an area, you will have the right learning experience ready for them.

In this interview Robin talks with JD Dillon about continuous learning and how it links with personalised learning.

Patti Shank is a leader in evidence-based learning. We're excited about the release of her book Practice and feedback for deeper learning, and Patti is our guest on this episode of the Learning While Working podcast where she and Robin discuss the need for more research in L&D.

Learning transfer professional Emma Weber is our guest on this episode of the Learning While Working podcast. Emma talks about the need to focus on the whole of the 70:20:10 model, and why the '10' is too often overlooked.

This episode is for learning professionals who are ready to dive deeper into their learning data. Robin speaks with Stewart Rogers from Lambda Solutions about framing your learning analytics with visual dashboards.

As learners, do we have our own digital body language, and can this be tracked and measured? Learning strategist Lori Niles-Hofmann talks on the podcast in a discussion about her approach to data driven learning design, which begins with some very simple steps.

In this episode, Sprout Labs digital producer and former journalist Tracey Grady grabs the mic and joins Robin in a discussion about audiences, journalism in the digital age, and content that is 'learner-worthy'—did Robin just coin a new phrase?

We continue our focus on content curation, this time with Jeevan Joshi from LearnD. An avid curator of podcast content, Jeevan takes us through his pro tips for content curation and explains how well-curated content can help with retention of learning.