http://ridgeviewmedia.com/blog/2011/05/live-your-dream/

A new chapter has started as DH joins me in my independent consulting work. So, my blog may have occasional posts on spouses working together. The thrills and chills. Yikes!

We had our first “team meeting” regarding a storyboard I often use for e-learning design and development. Well, ehem, I realized I needed to keep my personal feelings about my beloved storyboard on the down-low as I felt frustration grow when I talked about his improvement suggestions.

DH is right. We need to revise that good ol’ storyboard template to make it even better. But, now I’m learning to listen to my spouse in business matters, and learning to listen more objectively.

Yikes! Am I up to the challenge? LOL

I’ve loved working independently and on wonderful, virtual teams with team members all across the USA.

But, working and partnering in business with DH?

I’m going to be learning all sorts of new things this year, I imagine, especially about myself.

Freelancing? It definitely beats “the alternative” of the corporate cubicle job, and it’s going to be interesting adding DH to the mix.

Have you ever partnered in business with a spouse or significant other? Please share your thoughts in the Comments section. I’d love to learn from you.

Maybe it was the way the person worded their message, or perhaps it’s just timing, but the message caused me to pause and realize that this “little” blog of mine is read by some people, and it influences them. And, I felt a little surprised (and pleased) by that.

I admit that the inter-state move DH and I made a year ago to explore new opportunities (see: How to Live a Dream) has occupied a great deal of time in my thoughts and activities. More than I expected, and it’s been wonderful fun to spend time in the Real World, with “real people”. We’ve only just begun to explore some fascinating real estate in our local national forests, and I look forward to going camping as the weather warms up.

The latest message I received that asked for my advice caught my attention as it came from an Instructional Systems Design Master of Arts candidate at an east coast university. Very far removed from my current geographical location and my mental mindset. The message tugged at my heart. I’m going to respond privately to that person, and I’m going to return to this blog and continue to share my thoughts and ideas, because there are a few people who read it, and it makes a positive difference in their world.

I guess I was surprised by that.

I confess that I’ve also been “consumed” by Twitter. Maybe even addicted. I love the instant feedback, the instant networking that comes from 140-character tweets. I confess that most of the time I feel “Why blog when I can tweet?” Especially, because I can tweet easier on mobile devices versus writing a blog post on my MacBook Pro laptop that sits on my desk. (Find me here: @jenisecook)

That person’s e-mail message showed me that blogging still matters. There’s a place and time for Twitter, and there’s a place and time for blogging.

Note: The series on Josh Clark’s book Tapworthy will continue. I had to do my taxes (early!!) and get some other administrative work done, and those activities interrupted the series. My apologies.

Thanks for reading!

This month’s video has a duration of 1:43:47, so find a cozy seating area and your favorite beverage. Thiagi begins at 8:32 (if you want to queue it up).

Description

Learn how Thiagi and his team undertake complete instructional design projects without the use of time-consuming, low-value-added, traditional ISD models. Thiagi has created, tested and successfully applied his own model that produces rapid prototypes tomorrow. Learn how to reduce training budgets and development time, deliver quality instruction during tough economic times, and retrain instructional designers to cope with corporate realities.

http://youtu.be/CYqm8ao1i2c

If you’ve learned a new ISD “gem” from Thiagi, agree with his model, or disagree with it, please feel free to discuss the video in the Comments section below, on my Facebook Wall, or my LinkedIn page. Or, tweet your thoughts to me on Twitter.

@jenisecook

The L&D leadership has set up new processes and procedures for working on projects with their business units that seem to come out of our instructional design textbooks of our dreams. I know this may sound silly, but the L&D leadership “gets it”. They also have 100% support from the C-Level team, something I’ve rarely seen. The entire organization is moving forward in a way that, again, instructional designers only dream of when they have a moment to take time and reflect on their profession.

Our asynchronous course consists of about a dozen, very brief e-learning tutorials with acompanying PDF job aids. It’s systems training for a web-base application that fits into a very large and global learning initiative. The L&D team is going to use our design as a model going forward of “what good looks like” for future projects.

Wow. I was amazed. I didn’t think I did all that much in my design approach, except suggest an instructional design I’ve always dreamed of doing…AND…have heard other IDs wishing and sighing that they could do. When the leadership only wants a “book online” all the time, it can get frustrating for us ISDs. And, we can grow cranky over time.

For this project, the team had a very open mind. I didn’t know how they’d respond to my idea of “mini-tutorials” no longer than 10 minutes duration. They loved it; they wanted a fresh approach. I can never thank them enough for being great champions of the instructional design, and I will miss them a great deal. They truly are a team of my dreams.

This blog post for you, dear reader, is to encourage you. Make sure you take time out of your busy day to read the “best” books on instructional design. Take time to read the exceptional blogs written by your fellow ISDs and by professors in respected ISD degree programs. Learn from ASTD and The e-Learning Guild. File away your dream ideas, and don’t let your love and passion for your profession die as you publish yet another “book online” for an organization.

I use the phrase “take time” instead of “make time” because, frankly, we cannot make more time. We need to seize the days and take moments of time out of our busy schedules to focus on our professional development. Why? Because, one day you will find yourself working on that Dream Team, and they’ll be open minded and waiting to hear your suggestions for an innovative instructional design.

If you’re not sure where to begin to “take time”, I recommend beginning with these two books and then do research to find additional books to read:

• e-Learning and the Science of Instruction, by Dr. Ruth Clark.
• Michael Allen’s Guide to e-Learning (by Michael Allen, of course).

Please feel free to share your favorite books and ISD ideas in the Comments section of this blog post or on Twitter.

@jenisecook

Tapworthy by Josh Clark

Josh Clark, the author of “Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps“, and the owner of GlobalMoxie.com.

I read the Introduction and Chapter 1 this past week, and my summary statement is: Design your iPhone app for the user. Design an elegant iPhone app based on who the users is and how the user will actually use your app.

Josh is up front with the fact, as we all know, that there are a “gazillion” iPhone apps in the app store. What will make your app, and my app, stand out is an elegant, user-focused design. Now, that may sound like a given, but not all app developers create truly elegant designs. I’ve had my iPad 1 since May 2010, and I’ve downloaded and used many apps. The first week of January, I got my iPhone 4S. I believe I have some experience in recognizing really great app design.

So, as I read these two sections of his book one app kept coming up in my mind, an app that frustrates the heck out of me, but it’s an app that gets rave reviews in the App Store.

The app is “Grocery Gadget – Shopping List”. If you have this app and love it, then feel free to skip down a bit. For me, Grocery Gadget is way too complicated. I had to spend too much time learning how to use it, trying to figure it out. And, while I entered items into my grocery list, I got errors and it wasn’t easy for me to resolve those errors. I felt like Grocery Gadget was making me feel bad about myself.

The app I prefer to use is “List Pro”,  an app that (sadly) syncs to Windows devices only (at the time I write this). I enjoy this app for my grocery lists because I could jump right in and begin to use it. I didn’t spend an hour trying to figure out how to make the app work. (Note: I’m still looking for my ideal grocery list app that syncs to Apple devices, so I can send my DH shopping when I can’t go.)

And, that’s the essence of Tapworthy’s Introduction section and Chapter 1:

• There are a “gazillion” apps in the App Store
• Users download tons of apps but only use a few
• Make the design of your app a very elegant and user-focused design so that they use your app and only your app

In designing learning activities (ILT or e-learning), my heart is with the learners, first, as well as supporting the business’s goals. Tapworthy places a very strong emphasis on a “humane” UX design, and I can’t wait to dive and learn the specifics.

For mlearning, we’ll need to design in a way that our users/learners can jump into the app quickly, find what they need as quickly, and then jump out of the app and continue their work.

At The e-Learning Guild’s mLearnCon conference in June of 2010, I saw a demonstration of a tablet app for employees at a big-box gardening center. When a customer would approach the employee to ask a question about a plant, or types of soil, the employee could quickly find the answer in the app’s “dictionary”, and then also find the aisle number and a list of related items the employee could cross sell to the customer.

Our mantra for creating mlearning apps: “Jump in, find what you need, and jump out to do your job.”

And, that’s true not just for product information used by field sales associates going to a call with a prospect, or by big-box store employees. It’s also true for leadership or employee relations reference content we may have for managers in multi-story office buildings.

Here are a few quotes from Josh in the Introduction and Chapter 1 that jumped out at me:

• “Great apps seem effortless.”
• “Go figure, but people use mobile apps when they’re mobile.”
• “That means that people are manhandling your app with one paw, with just one eye on the screen, paying only partial attention to your carefully crafted interface.”
• “The best apps fold neatly into the fabric of a busy schedule.”

And, more gems. The point is that the iPhone app must be elegant, intuitive, and easy for the learner to use on the job. And, that does mean the mlearning instructional designer (me) needs to sweat every detail and work hard, many hours, to create a great mlearning experience.

Tapworthy includes stories from app designers at several large companies. And, the first story by Josh Williams of Gowalla included something simple we all can do, what I call the paper napkin design process.

Williams literally sketched out the app design in a small notebook with pages a little larger than the iPhone. And, that’s what you and I can do. Right now. Take out your iPhone and draw its outline on a piece of paper. Scan it to your computer and print out multiple copies. Forget doing this digitally as your computer’s mouse can’t replace your fingers for designing gestures.

I’m really looking forward to Chapter 2, where Josh begins to dive into the design details, and the nitty gritty. I want to be the best mlearning instructional designer I can be, and I want you to have confidence in me if you ask me to design your mlearning app.

While I do appreciate you reading my series of blog posts on Tapworthy, please think about getting Josh Clark’s book. I get nothing from him except great design advice while I read, and the Tapworthy URL does go to my Amazon affiliate site (thank you for your purchase).

I do think this is a book that you can add to your library. Add it to your Wish List and tell your friends and family to buy it for you.

What do you think? Feel free to leave a Comment below, or send me a tweet:

@jenisecook

Until I get the plugin set up:

You May Also Like:

http://ridgeviewmedia.com/blog/2012/01/tapworthy-by-josh-clark-introduction/

http://ridgeviewmedia.com/blog/2010/07/mlearncon-2010-index-blog-posts/