Leading Learning Podcast

Social learning is natural and highly effective. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged many traditional approaches, so now more than ever people are craving the return of social learning. And that represents a huge opportunity for learning businesses. In this seventh episode in our tool talk series, we dive deeper into the topic of social learning: why it’s important for learning businesses, four dimensions that define it, and how to design it strategically using the Social Learning Mixer. Full show notes and a transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode329.

Pamela Slim is a writer, a speaker, and a business coach who works with small business owners ready to scale their businesses and intellectual property. She’s the author of Escape from Cubicle Nation, Body of Work, and, most recently, The Widest Net. Pam and her husband Darryl co-founded the Main Street Learning Lab in Mesa, Arizona. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-host Celisa Steele talks with Pam about the need for businesses to adopt an ecosystem point of view; how to find your ideal clients and customers; and the importance of using problems, challenges, or aspirations to identify ideal customers. They also discuss four categories of obstacles that typically prevent customers from solving their own problems; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and more. Full show notes and a transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode328.

Dr. Bucky Dodd is passionate about helping people learn and designing world-class learning experiences. He’s assistant vice president for education, strategy, and innovation with LX Studio at the University of Central Oklahoma, and he created Learning Environment Modeling®, a visual collaboration system for the design and evaluation of learning experiences. He’s also published a playbook called “Supercharge Your Webinar Strategy,” which explores five specific strategies for better Webinars. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-host Jeff Cobb talks to return guest Bucky about learning environments, learning experience design, learning campaigns, and a strategic approach to creating better Webinar experiences. Full show notes and a transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode327.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Learning is process, not an event. Learning experiences are embedded in culture and are part of a broader ecosystem. And, as leaders in the business of lifelong learning, it’s critical that we embrace this and the related impact we can have. In this sixth episode in our informal series on tools for learning businesses, we explore the concepts of learning culture and learning ecosystem: what they are, why you should focus on them, and how to foster them. Full show notes and a transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode326.

Tiffany Crosby serves as the chief learning officer at the Ohio Society of CPAs (OSCPA), which serves the finance and accounting professions through a portfolio of learning options, advocacy, pipeline development, and more. She also serves as the society’s DEI officer, nurturing diversity, equity, and inclusion both internally and in the accounting profession. A self-described learning enthusiast, Tiffany is an avid reader currently pursuing a PhD in organizational leadership. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-host Celisa Steele and Tiffany talk about competency-based learning, blended and cohort-based learning, the impact of the pandemic on learning portfolios, using data to make decisions, coaching to support learning, trends she has her eye on (including blockchain and microcredentials), content curation, and DEI. Full show notes and a transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode325.

Connie Malamed, AKA the eLearning Coach, is a learning experience design expert who helps people learn, build, and grow instructional design skills. She’s also an author, blogger, and podcast host, and she leads a membership community that offers both live and self-paced courses. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-host Jeff Cobb talks with return guest Connie about hybrid and blended learning, including the ambiguity of those terms. They also discuss the pandemic’s impact on learning designers, forgetting and retention, visual design, using community to support learning, personal networks as knowledge, and the importance of the learner’s journey. Full show notes and a transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode324.

Learner engagement leads to improved, more meaningful experiences for learners, and it leads to improved outcomes for learning businesses. But effective learner engagement requires both an understanding of the necessary conditions to foster it and an understanding of how to support it before, during, and after a learning experience. In this fifth episode in our informal series on tools for learning businesses, we dive into learner engagement: why learning businesses should focus on it, a definition of what it is, and how our free Learner Engagement Loop can help you plan for it throughout an entire cycle of learning. Full show notes and a transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode323.

Dr. Ginger Malin is an award-winning professor and technology entrepreneur with almost 25 years of experience in the learning and development space. Ginger is founder and CEO of BadgeCert, which provides an enterprise-class platform for creating, issuing, storing, and sharing digital badges that verify earners’ skills, credentials, and continuing education experiences. In this episode, Leading Learning podcast co-host Celisa Steele and Ginger dive into digital badges, including how they benefit employers, earners, and issuing organizations alike. They also discuss microcredentials, stacking, and blockchain, and Ginger shares expert tips on what it takes to build or grow a successful digital badge offering. Full show notes and a transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode322.

Julian Stodd is a writer, illustrator, researcher, and explorer of the Social Age movement. He’s also founder and captain of Sea Salt Learning, where he helps organizations get fit for the social age. As the author of fifteen books and thousands of articles and blog posts, Julian is a true thought leader in the areas of social leadership, organizational change, learning design, social collaborative technology, and more. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-host Jeff Cobb and Julian talk about what the social age is and what living in the social age means for learning and leadership. They also discuss social collaborative learning, the concept of expertise, storytelling, failure, the curse of busyness, and the related opportunities in all of this for learning businesses. Full show notes and a transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode321.

Too often learning businesses think too much about the end product without considering all the phases in the learning product lifecycle. By focusing too much on the end result, there’s a missed opportunity in producing the best product possible. In this fourth episode in our informal series on tools for learning businesses, we highlight the MIDDLE ME learning product lifecycle. We break down the four components of MIDDLE ME—market interface (MI), design and development (DD), learning experience (LE), and measurement and evaluation (ME)—and explain how and why to use it to help you grow your learning business. Full show notes and a transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode320.