With over 10,000 attendees and hundreds of presenters and vendors, nobody sees everything at ATD. Here are a random collection of ideas and tools that caught my attention.
Evaluating learning impact
From Tony Bingham’s conference welcome, IBM has sidelined big data analytics for measuring learning impact and gone to asking managers what they think the impact of interventions has been on their staff…. In essence, why spend lots of time and effort generating data only to be told by managers that they already know the outcomes?
Elliot Masie echoed similar thoughts. He’s more interested in learning impact than ROI; let’s focus on observable changed behaviour. That’s really gratifying for Synapsys as it’s very much the approach we took with Z Energy and our presentation on Measuring learning impact without breaking the budget was similarly well received.
Technology tools (or toys, depending on whether you deliver value with them….)
Piktochart Infographics Cloud based infographic maker. Good support and intuitive interface with a free version makes it worth a look. Pay versions add templates, images and output options. If you’re wanting something simpler than Indesign, have a look, but don’t expect the same level of control.
Wanting to DIY interactive video experiences as part of your microlearning or 70/20/10 strategy? Have a look at:
HiHaHo We have tried it and like the simple intuitive interface to build interactive experiences and get them out there, with a reasonable analytics back end, and it’s cheap and easy to get started.
TouchCast If higher end video production is important, have a look at touchcast. It’s got more studio-level control of the video than some other products that simply let you chop up video and overlay interactivity. It also connects to a ‘webinar’ style delivery platform that enables team engagement.
RAPT Media Also offers interactive video creation, delivery and analytics. Less intuitive build interface but worth looking at.
Bubl Cam 360 degree camera with options for viewing via website, apps etc. If you can think of a really useful application for 360s, let me know. I find lots if people having fun with them, but practical examples of powerful learning experiences are hard to turn up.
Pre-packaged microlearning
Offerings that comprise pre-built microlearning content available on subscription in various ways. A rapidly growing area, the challenge is still the same – how transferable is generic content to your organisation? With that caveat, some of the solutions getting some profile are:
Jhana focus on leadership
Linked In Learning having acquired Lynda.com, learning will be a significant strategic push for LinkedIn. Worth watching out for.
Phil Garing, Synapsys Director