Leading Learning Podcast

As Vice President of Learning at Udemy, Shelley Osborne is a true learning leader who is passionate about building cultures of learning that enable the continuous upskilling of employees. She is also author of an upcoming book titled, The Upskilling Imperative: Five Ways to Make Learning Core to the Way We Work. And Shelley is even a Udemy instructor herself with seven courses currently available, ranging from topics such as fostering psychological safety, to best practices for working remotely. In this episode of Leading Learning, Jeff talks with Shelley about Udemy’s model as a global learning provider and why continuous upskilling is so critical to the success of individuals and organizations.  They also delve into the “five ways” outlined in her book including: developing agile learners, the important role of feedback in learning cultures, thinking like a marketer to drive learning, learning in the flow of work, and signaling the value of learning. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode249. 

Blake Boles is the founder and director of Unschool Adventures, a company that gives self-directed teens and young adults—mostly unschoolers—an opportunity to explore cities all over the world. Well-known for questioning our traditional approaches to schooling, Blake is a thought-provoking speaker, host of the Off-Trail Learning podcast, and author. His books include The Art of Self-Directed Learning, Better Than College, College Without High School, and the recently published, Why Are You Still Sending Your Kids to School?. In this episode of Leading Learning, Jeff talks with Blake about key concepts from his latest book related to alternative paths of education in K-12, a particularly relevant topic given the current disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic. They also discuss the importance of engagement, self-directed learning, and connection in young learners and how they inevitably impact adult learners. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode248. 

Micène Fontaine is the executive director at Design Arts Seminars (DAS), an accredited provider of continuing education for design professionals that aims to inspire their clients to become catalysts of change and to design a world in which all of us can thrive. With two decades of experience designing high-quality learning experiences, he is passionate about their call to action as a provider of continuing education to move beyond the transactional relationship, to a truly transformative one. In this episode, Celisa talks with Micène about what has – and hasn’t – changed in the decades he’s been at DAS, how he came to realize his interest in learning experience design (LXD), and what he sees as the major opportunities and threats for learning businesses. They also talk about the origin and purpose of DAS's Change by Design initiative, which aligns their educational offerings to match with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode247. 

Learner engagement is one of the holy grails of learning businesses—if the learner isn’t engaged, learning is unlikely to happen. So what are the necessary circumstances that need to exist in order for engagement in learning to happen? In this episode of the Leading Learning podcast, we delve into three conditions that have to be met to foster learner engagement: meaning, safety, and availability. We also discuss some examples and ideas of how you might support those conditions in the products and services you create and deliver, and why your learning business should care. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode246. 

Feverbee founder and return podcast guest, Richard Millington has spent over a decade helping hundreds of companies around the world develop successful, indispensable communities. He is also an international speaker and author of Buzzing Communities: How To Build Bigger, Better, And More Active Online Communities and The Indispensable Community: Why Some Brand Communities Thrive When Others Perish. In this episode of the Leading Learning podcast, Jeff talks with Rich about the evolution of online communities and ways the current pandemic is impacting them. They also discuss the relationship between virtual events and online community and Rich shares specific and practical tips about how to successfully launch and grow a community. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode245.   

Diane Elkins is co-founder of Artisan E-Learning, a custom e-learning development company, and E-Learning Uncovered, a company specializing in training services, books, and resources for e-learning development using the major rapid e-learning authoring tools. She frequently speaks at events (in fact she led a session at Learning • Technology • Design 2019), and she’s co-author of E-Learning Fundamentals: A Practical Guide and the E-Learning Uncovered book series. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, Celisa talks with Diane about all things e-learning including common mistakes and keys to success with e-learning design and development. They also discuss ways to foster learner motivation and engagement in the context of e-learning as well as her view on designing effective microlearning. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode244. 

The current coronavirus crisis is necessitating major changes in how many learning businesses meet existing needs. For example, a change like investing in expanding and improving your online learning portfolio as so many organizations are currently considering. But before making any major changes or investments, it’s important to first have a solid understanding of where you are as a learning business. That’s why in this episode, we are revisiting the Learning Business Maturity Model, a simple yet powerful tool we created to provide a framework for helping organizations assess the maturity of their learning and education businesses. And in case you aren’t already familiar with it, we explain what the Learning Business Maturity Model is and why we created it. We also discuss how you can get value from using it, particularly amid current circumstances surrounding COVID-19.   Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode243. 

Future-of-work strategist and return podcast guest, Heather McGowan is an in-demand, internationally known thought leader and speaker. She helps leaders prepare their people and organizations with human-centric approaches to continuously learn and adapt in order to meet the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. She is also the co-author, along with Chris Shipley, of the recently released The Adaptation Advantage: Let Go, Learn Fast, and Thrive in the Future of Work. In this episode, Jeff talks with Heather about key messages in her book related to adaptation and how it relates to learning, unlearning, and identity. They also discuss what it takes to lead in the age of adaptation, why we need to elevate the role of human over technology, and the fundamental shifts  in how we work and learn—now and in the future—due to the coronavirus pandemic. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode242. 

As president at The Thiagi Group, Matthew Richter is a recognized expert and thought leader in the areas of management, leadership, and performance technology. He wears many hats including that of speaker, facilitator, game designer, instructional designer, management consultant, and author of The Leadership Story: A New Model of Leadership. He’s also the co-host of the Truth in Learning podcast, along with previous podcast guest, Will Thalheimer. In this episode, Celisa talks with Matt about motivation and self-determination theory in the context of learning. They also talk about the elements of effective learning games, why lazy trainers are a good thing, and the importance of activities in learning and in designing faster, cheaper, better training. Lastly, they delve into the topic of leadership and Matt’s view that most leadership training is pretty worthless and what he recommends to focus on instead. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode241. 

Is e-learning effective? It’s a seemingly age-old question but a rather important one to address now when—due to COVID-19—many traditional forms of face-to-face education simply aren’t viable. And even though there’s a massive rush to move learning online, many—maybe even most—people still hold the view that e-learning is a second-rate or lesser form of learning when compared to face-to-face. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, we examine whether e-learning is in fact, an effective form of learning, particularly when compared with traditional face-to-face instruction. We address this specifically in the context of the learning business and as it relates to what we have defined as the three major goals of learning businesses: reach, revenue, and impact. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode240.