The Mindtools L&D Podcast

As a concept, spaced repetition has been around for decades. Yet in many organisations, learning is seen in terms of one-off interventions, delivered through a classroom or an LMS. In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Gemma are joined by Sarah Mercier, CEO of Learning Ninjas, to discuss: what spaced learning is, and how to design for it what good spaced practice looks like the technological boundaries to implementing spaced learning Show notes When speaking about her project with the US military, Sarah mentioned xAPI. If you're interested in learning more about xAPI, we covered it in episodes 102 and 113. If you're attending DevLearn and thinking of attending Sarah's session, you can find the full details here: https://devlearn.com/session/spaced-learning-a-design-and-technology-primer/ To learn more about Learning Ninjas, head to https://learningninjas.com/ In WILTW, Ross provided a rundown of the five most populous cities in the world, based on figures from https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Ross Dickie - @RossDickieMT Gemma Towersey - @gemmatowersey Sarah Mercier - @sarahmerci

New business models, an increasingly hybrid workforce and the need for constant adaptability are changing what it means to be a learning professional. In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G meets the eLearning Network's Joan Keevil and Dr Hannah Gore to explore their research into the skills we need to professionalise. We discuss: how the world of work is changing personal and professional impact evidence-based practice. Show notes To find out more about the research Joan and Hannah conducted, in collaboration with Peoplestar's Jane Daly, visit: elearningnetwork.org/the-supercharged-learning-professional-turning-disruption-into-advantage-2/ For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. To find out more about the eLearning Network, visit: elearningnetwork.org/ Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Ross Garner @RossGarnerMT Dr Hannah Gore @HRGore Joan Keevil @Designs_JoanK

Why are boundaries important? How do you set them? And what impact does hybird working have on how we interact with one another? This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G meets Executive Coach Emma Langton to discuss: what 'boundaries' are how to set boundaries at work why the pandemic has made boundaries more important than ever. Show notes Ross referenced Erving Goffman's theory of the performed self. There's an excellent animated introduction to this concept, narrated by Stephen Fry, at: open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/culture/philosophy/concepts/erving-goffman-and-the-performed-self In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross recommended a Twitter thread on life as a lorry driver, from @TheLorryist: twitter.com/thelorryist/status/1439361631872602112?s=21 For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. For more from Emma, visit emmalangton.com Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Ross Garner @RossGarnerMT Emma Langton @EmmaLangtonCoach

This week on the podcast, Ross D, Owen and Ross G are taking another rummage through their L&D book bag. They discuss: Nudge by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan Think Again by Adam Grant The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins 13 Minutes to the Moon, a podcast presented by Kevin Fong How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy These books are available from all good booksellers, and 13 Minutes to the Moon can be found wherever you get your podcasts. Show notes Ross G mentioned FiveThirtyEight's p-hacking project, which you can find out more about at: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/p-hacking/ In What I Learned This Week, Ross G also discussed what would happen if someone died on Mars: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-happens-if-someone-dies-on-mars For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Ross Dickie - @RossDickieMT Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT

Published in 2003, Michael Lewis' Moneyball charts efforts by the Oakland Athletics baseball team to use analytics and statistical methods to assemble a competitive team on a comparatively small budget. This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G, Owen, Ross D and Nahdia share their thoughts on the book and it's relevance to L&D and HR professionals. We discuss: how General Manager Billy Beane transformed his team's approach to scouting talent the impact of statistics and subjective judgement on decision making the challenges inherent with implementing a statistical approach to L&D. Show notes Moneyball, by Michael Lewis, is available from all good booksellers. Some of the criticism directed at Moneyball is covered in The Atlantic: theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/09/the-many-problems-with-moneyball/245769/ For details of Mind Tools' 77-page workbook, 'Becoming a Positive Leader' - free to new members - visit MindTools.com. In 'What I Learned This Week', Owen discussed potential UI improvements to the Tesco loan calculator: chrisannetts.com/blog/tesco-loan-calculator Nahdia discussed the colour of Sesame Street's Big Bird across different cultures: buzzfeed.com/natashajokic1/big-bird-international-colors And Ross G revealed that he'd had a most epic morning listening to Hidden Citizens: hiddencitizens.com/ For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Ross Dickie - @RossDickieEW Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT (new handle!) Nahdia Khan - @_nahdia_khan

Creativity in online learning, agile learning frameworks, the role of HR, and business ethics are just some of the topics we tackle on this week's show as we answer questions from the audience. Mark Baker asked: Do you think as face-to-face trainers move into more virtual learning, is there a risk that they lose creativity in their learning experiences? Shilpa Nimbalkar asked: How can L&D experts build an Agile Learning framework that supports business requirements (at scale and speed) and ensures learner experience? Carl Akintola-Davies asked: Is there any value in workplace learning that isn't tied to strict behavioural outcomes? Sean Brown asked: When push comes to shove, is HR there for the people or the business? Sharon Green asked: What role does or could L&D and or HR play in business ethics? Show notes Owen referenced the '5Di Learning Design Process', which you can find online at: aconventional.com/2015/04/the-5di-learning-design-process.html And he discussed the 'Concern Task Resource Model': aconventional.com/2015/03/concern-task-resource-model.html In What I Learned This Week, Owen discussed the ultra clickbaitly titled academic paper: 'Large Scale Analysis of Multitasking Behavior During Remote Meetings', online at: hci.stanford.edu/publications/2021/cao_remote/CHI2021-RemoteMeetingMultitask.pdf (Yes, we're going with 'clickbaitly'!) Gemma discussed Prisoners of Geography, by Tim Marshall: amazon.co.uk/Prisoners-Geography-Everything-Global-Politics/dp/1783962437 Nahdia discussed the death of actor Michael K Williams: theguardian.com/film/gallery/2021/sep/07/michael-k-williams-a-life-in-pictures And Ross shared the podcast 'The Rest is History', hosted by historians Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland. Their recent two-part episode on the history of Silicon Valley features Netscape co-founder Marc Andreeseen as their guest: play.acast.com/s/the-rest-is-history-podcast/93.siliconvalleypart1 Fans of the game Risk may also enjoy Polytopia, available from the App Store: polytopia.io/ For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Ross Garner @RossGarnerEW Gemma Towersey @GemmaTowersey Owen Ferguson @OwenFerguson Nahdia Khan @NahdiaKhan

Creating videos for training purposes is easy; launch a smartphone camera app and hit record. Creating effective pieces of drama that allow viewers to make their own meaning through compelling storylines and characters is not so easy. However, it is a skill that learning designers can study and put into practice. This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma T and Ross G are joined by Tom Hickmore, to discuss: why drama is an effective learning delivery mechanism when to use drama scripting techniques. Show notes Ross' freaky Friday 13th frequency fact came from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th#Occurrence Gemma found out about the history of Paralympic games in this National Geographic article: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-the-paralympic-movement-evolved-into-major-sporting-event Tom's book "Watch & learn" can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Watch-Learn-Designing-commissioning-producing-ebook/dp/B09FB4M471 To watch the "What can TV teach L&D" video series that Tom has made, follow these links: Series 1: https://www.nicemedia.co.uk/season-1-what-can-tv-teach-ld/ Series 2: https://www.nicemedia.co.uk/season-2-what-can-tv-teach-ld/ For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Tom Hickmore @nicemediauk Ross Dickie @RossDickieEW Gemma Towersey @gemmatowersey

The pandemic has been both a trigger and an opportunity for reflection and ultimately, change. We've had to forget, or "unlearn" our old ways. This week on the The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma T and Ross D are joined by Mark Gilroy to discuss: what 'unlearning' is the link between unlearning and curiosity how we can help each other to "unlearn" effectively. Show notes Mark recommended the following resources: "How organisations Learn and Unlearn (Hedberg, 1981)" http://johnljerz.com/superduper/tlxdownloadsiteWEBSITEII/id167.html The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr. Available at all good bookstores. The B=MAT model: https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/bj-foggs-behavior-model/ Mark made a surprising claim about rainfall during "What I learned this week". Here's his data source: https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-precipitation-Rainfall,London,United-Kingdom Ross talked about Iceland's four-day week, which you can read more about here: https://autonomy.work/portfolio/icelandsww/ Ross and Gemma referred to Adam Grant's book, Think again: https://www.adamgrant.net/book/think-again/ For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Mark Gilroy @thatmarkgilroy Ross Dickie @RossDickieEW Gemma Towersey @gemmatowersey You can also find out more about Mark's organisation, TMSDI.

What is organisational learning? Is it the same thing as people in organisations learning? And how does it overlap with learning culture? This week on the The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Nahdia are joined by Nigel Paine to discuss: what 'organisational learning' actually means the difference between organisations that learn and individuals that learn the role L&D can play in supporting organisational learning the distinction between 'learning cultures' and 'cultures of learning'. Show notes To find out more about Nigel's work, check out his website: https://www.nigelpaine.com/ For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Ross Dickie @RossDickieEW Nahdia Khan @_nahdia_khan Nigel Paine @ebase

'What did you think of the trainer' and 'How was the lunch?' These are two questions we won't be asking today, as we get stuck into effective learner surveys. Ross G and Owen are joined by Gent Ahmetaj, Head of Research at Mind Tools for Business, to discuss: the problem with traditional learner surveys the features of an academically robust survey issues with this approach and how to resolve them. Show notes For more details on our Insights team, and a delightful photo of Gent, see: https://emeraldworks.com/solutions/mindtoolsinsight In 'What I Learned This Week', Owen discussed The Oatmeal's 'Why the mantis shrimp is my new favorite animal' and 'Why it breaks your brain to take a compliment'. Gent discussed Veritasium's YouTube video on the '3x + 1' problem: youtube.com/watch?v=094y1Z2wpJg And Ross discussed the time that the Australian army went to war with the emus, and lost: blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/the-great-emu-war-in-which-some-large-flightless-birds-unwittingly-foiled-the-australian-army/ For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Ross Garner - @RossGarnerEW Owen Ferugson - @OwenFerguson Gent Ahmetaj - @GentAhmetaj