Lessons in Learning, e-Learning, and Training: Perspectives and Guidance for the Enlightened Trainer

Introduction.

1. I Told You Not to Tell Me That.
The case for not “telling” in training—and some guidelines for doing it if you must.

2. I Wanted to Learn But There Was No Money in It.
Thoughts on the relationship between learning goals and rewards—and how to design training that helps learners stay motivated.

3. Teaching What Can’t Be Taught.
The value of knowing what you cannot fix—and understanding how people really change and what the culture has to do with it.

4. Knowing Isn’t Doing.
The reasons most e-learning is so bad (and other training, for that matter)—and five questions to ask to begin to make it better.

5. Enron Fixes Their Communication Problems.
Thoughts on when to just say no—like when your company asks for a training course.

6. Sex and Chicken.
The role of nonconscious learning—and how to help adults do it.

7. I Can’t Remember Whether I Ate the Whole Thing.
On the difference between event memory and procedural memory—and how practice has to figure in.

8. Sir, Step Away from the Fig Newton.
How what happens in real life undoes training—and what to do about it.

9. Billy’s Home Run.
Storytelling insights—and how hearing, telling, and living stories makes for good training.

10. What’s Doing?
The excuses for not doing doing-based training—and how to avoid them.

11. Pardon Me, I Must Have Misplaced My Stereotype.
The pros and cons of stereotyping—and how to teach people to do it well.

12. Every Curriculum Tells a Story (Don’t It?).
The problems with most curricula today—and how they inspire a different way to define the training designer’s job.

13. And We’ll Have Fun, Fun, Fun ‘til Our Company Takes the e-Learning Away.
Why most e-learning is boring, not fun—and real-world tips for making it more engaging.

14. I Disagree with the Question.
The importance of getting the questions right—so the rest of your job is easy.

15. Corporate Dragons.
Why most e-learning you are likely to encounter isn’t very good—and how to recognize it.

16. Time for AI.
How AI might help when you have a problem that you need a smart computer to do—like building story-based training systems.

About the Author.

Index.

Pfeiffer Publications Guide.