The Mindtools L&D Podcast

The internet has changed a great deal in the past 10 years, but has e-learning design kept pace with the consumer market? This week on the GoodPractice Podcast, Wes Atkinson from Appitierre speaks to Ross and James from the GoodPractice team about the importance of responsive design and the future of the e-learning industry. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @JamesMcLuckie, and @WesAtkinsonUK. You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus. You can find out more about Appitierre at appitierre.com, or get in touch with Wes @WesAtkinsonUK. Wes' educational dragon game is available from the http://dragonbox.com/. James' article on the science of music is available at: https://www.unbelievable-facts.com/2015/04/facts-about-music.html. And Ross' Freakonomics podcast episode on Google searches is available at: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/big-penis-things-ask-google/.

This week on the GoodPractice Podcast: building an online learning community can be difficult. How do you encourage people to sign up? And how do you make them stay? Ross and Owen speak to Mike Collins and Ady Howes from DPG to learn about their experience with the DPG Community. Then, in part two, we take a look at Facebook's moderation guidelines to ask if there's anything to be learned for online learning communities in the workplace? If you want to share your thoughts on anything we discussed on the show, you can tweet @OwenFerguson, @RossGarnerGP, @AdyHowes or @Community_Mike. You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodPracticeAUS, or visit www.goodpractice.com. Facebook's secret rules and guidelines were covered by The Guardian at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/may/21/revealed-facebook-internal-rulebook-sex-terrorism-violence. The article Owen referenced on film ratings can be found at: https://medium.freecodecamp.com/whose-reviews-should-you-trust-imdb-rotten-tomatoes-metacritic-or-fandango-7d1010c6cf19?gi=1549fcfc768b. You can find out more about DPG, and join the Community, at dpgplc.co.uk.

New tech, new approaches, new fads: Our industry is awash with exciting developments, but do we approach them with the curiosity of a magpie or the curiosity of a scientist? On this week's GoodPractice Podcast, Ross G is joined by Owen and Giorgio to look at curiosity in Learning & Development. We discuss the importance of questions, the love of learning and the fun of failing (quickly!). If you have any thoughts on the show and fancy getting in on the discussion, you can tweet us: @OwenFerguson, @CoachGiorgio and @RossGarnerGP. You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodPracticeAus. To find out more about our upcoming events, blogs and whitepapers, and to access our back catalogue of podcasts, visit goodpractice.com. To find out more about Owen's blue crayon, see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/05/12/first-new-shade-blue-discovered-200-years-turned-crayola-crayon/ You can find out more about Giorgio's 'survivorship bias' at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-we-dont-see-juan-carlos-soto And Ross' lesson in basic spelling is available at: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/197173/why-is-it-spelled-curiosity-instead-of-curiousity If you've enjoyed the show, please remember to leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Technology advances at an exponential rate – so how on Earth do you keep up with it? What tech could you be using that you don’t know about? What should you be thinking about using next year, or in five years? What do you need to think about addressing right now? Technical Director Jonny Anderson and Early Adopter Owen Ferguson join Justin Anderson this week to discuss the dizzying world of new technology. If you have thoughts on the show and fancy getting in on the discussion, you can tweet us: @owenferguson, @biofractal and @writerjustin. You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus. To find out more about our upcoming events, blogs and whitepapers, visit goodpractice.com. The Warren Buffet article Owen mentioned is here: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/28/what-its-like-working-for-warren-buffett-its-literally-just-reading-about-12-hours-a-day.html The book Justin is reading is here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seeing-What-Others-Dont-Remarkable-ebook/dp/B01HPVHHJS And the sites the guys recommended for tech news are: https://techcrunch.com/ https://www.techmeme.com/ https://www.engadget.com

The Learning and Development profession is awash with rich terminology, much of it vague and overlapping. But is the language we use a useful shorthand, an opportunity for priming or an unnecessary distraction?   Then, we'll be previewing next week's CIPD L&D show.  If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find Owen on Twitter @owenferguson, Louise @LCampbellGP and Ross @RossGarnerGP. You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus.  If you'd like to find out more about our upcoming events, blogs and whitepapers, visit goodpractice.com. A good summary of Lera Boroditsky's research can be found at: https://www.edge.org/conversation/lera_boroditsky-how-does-our-language-shape-the-way-we-think The paper Ross mentioned, covering terminology in e-learning, is available from ScienceDirect at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1096751610000886 Cass Sunstein's article on political biases was published by The Guardian at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/27/challenge-everything-democracy-representative-government The Bret Stephens article that got NYT subscribers in a fizz is available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/opinion/climate-of-complete-certainty.html For the peculiarities of Icelandic naming conventions, see: http://wsimag.com/culture/2248-the-peculiarities-of-icelandic-naming Our top picks for the CIPD L&D show can be found at http://www.goodpractice.com/blog/items/top-picks-for-the-cipd-ld-show-2017/ and http://www.goodpractice.com/blog/items/top-picks-for-the-cipd-ld-show-2017-part-2/.  Contributors this week included: @niallgavinuk, @marielearns, @lorna_clancy86, @gemmatowersey, @paullyv71, @cccubusiness and @innerspiration_. Apologies if we didn't read out all of your names.

You’ll always find a good flaming argument on Twitter, but can it actually be used in a way that’s beneficial for work? Marketing and networking are probably obvious options, but are there better ways to make use of this massive communications medium? This week, Justin, James and Paul discuss how best to get started with Twitter, and how to personalise it so it works just for you. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can (obviously) find us all on Twitter: @WriterJustin, @JamesMcLuckie and @paullyv71. You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus. If you'd like to find out more about our upcoming events, blogs and whitepapers, visit goodpractice.com. The book Justin mentions, Utopia for Realists, is available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Utopia-Realists-How-Can-There-ebook/dp/B01MQRQG22

Is it important for Learning and Development departments to market themselves internally, or should they operate as wizards behind the curtain of learning? This week on the GoodPractice Podcast: Owen, Andrew and Ross G discuss internal marketing for L&D. What can we do to encourage adoption of our interventions? And how do we raise the profile of L&D with senior stakeholders? If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find Owen on Twitter @owenferguson, Andrew @AMcGlynGP and Ross @RossGarnerGP. You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus.  If you'd like to find out more about our upcoming events, blogs and whitepapers, visit goodpractice.com. The book Owen recommended, The Invention of Nature, is available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invention-Nature-Adventures-Alexander-Humboldt-ebook/dp/B00PW4O1SQ. The book Ross recommended, Judas: The troubling history of the renegade apostle, is available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Judas-troubling-history-renegade-apostle-ebook/dp/B00NLHJLO0.

Learning and development leaders want to improve performance, while providers are willing to take their cash. So why isn't everybody happy? On this week's GoodPractice Podcast: Owen, Gemma and Ross D discuss the latest research from Towards Maturity, showing that only 60% of L&D leaders believe that they have a grasp on the critical questions they need to ask providers. What are the knowledge gaps that need to be filled? And what responsibility do providers have to overcome this challenge? If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find Owen on Twitter @owenferguson and can leave Ross a message @ross__dickie.  You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus.  The Towards Maturity article discussed on today's show can be found at: https://towardsmaturity.org/2017/03/16/ld-leaders-failing-tap-expertise-providers/.

As technology continues to provide us with more and more ways to stay connected, the boundaries between the office and the home are becoming increasingly blurred. Where once ‘work’ and ‘life’ were regarded as competing forces that had to be held in delicate balance, the focus has now shifted towards finding ways of blending the two. This week on the podcast, Ross Dickie is joined by Owen Ferguson and Justin Anderson to consider exactly what the trend towards ‘work-life’ integration means for L&D. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @ross__dickie, @owenferguson, and @WriterJustin.  You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus. 

Nowadays, self-service is the norm when it comes to shopping for groceries, renting a movie, or even opening a new bank account. The likes of Amazon and Netflix have led us to expect that products and services should be available whenever and wherever we want. But is this trend reflected in learning and development? On this week’s episode, Ross Dickie is joined by Owen Ferguson and podcast-newcomer Ian Wheelans to answer that question. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @ross__dickie, @owenferguson, and @Ianwheelans.  You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus.  You can find an online version of the ‘Map to the Introvert’s Heart’ by Gemma Correll here.