Author Archives: theirishduck

As instructional designers we are constantly being bombarded with new technologies and new trends. It’s difficult to distinguish which are fads, and which are worthy of our investments of time and resources. The safest, and often most expedient course of action is to continue to focus on the delivery technology we know is NOT aContinue reading “Flipped Classroom Research”

I am working on revamping an old project at home in my spare time and came across some of my old learning theory text books from university the other day. One guy that stood out I remember was a guy called Robert Gagne. I still use his 9 Events of Instruction often when creating coursesContinue reading “Robert Gagne”

This is a rant about the importance of curriculum and content in eLearning, because lately a few people have been thinking that I am that I am just a techno-geek and I just play with code and gadgets all day and don’t care about the underpinning theories and frameworks etc. Sure, I use technology aContinue reading “Curriculum and Content”

I get asked all the time, can you please create me an app? Or how long will it take to make an app etc. Well, honestly the easiest option for me creating an iPhone or Android application is to build it in the browser using Web development languages like HTML5 and JavaScript. For those wantingContinue reading “Apps Apps Apps”

Recently, as a L&D consultant, I was asked what is 70:20:10? They heard of it at a conference but didn’t fully understand it. So, I described this model/framework as: 70% of Learning is Experiential Learning: people learn and develop on the job through day to day tasks, challenges and practice. Sometimes using job-aids etc. 20%Continue reading “70:20:10”

It is a known fact that scenarios have become one of the prevalent ways to bridge the gap between users and designers. They are short fictional narratives that describe a use situation and the interaction between users and proposed systems, and can be used to discuss and picture different kinds of future-use situations of technology.Continue reading “More on Scenario based learning Research”

Just recently, as usual, I was researching the latest eLearning trends as part of my continual improvement and looking into what I should start focussing my energies on this next wave and made me think just how far back does eLearning go? And who was the first person or company to provide eLearning? It turnsContinue reading “History Lesson”

Here in Australia, we recognise training at work in a thing called the VET sector. VET (Vocational Education Training) plays a major role in the provision of training to many parts of the workforce. From what I understand, VET includes the concept of education and pedagogy, which has often been interpreted as having a widerContinue reading “Training Thoughts”

Recently, I have been at a contract job with General Practioners Registrars Australia (GPRA) working on a set (3) of Apple iBooks. These iBooks were to assist General Practice registrars navigate their way through the maze of general practice training. They covered employment as a registrar, including employment terms and conditions; exam preparation, including advice on studyContinue reading “More iBooks Work”

I recently applied and got interviewed for two software engineering positions, one of which I was extremely qualified for technically, the other borderline qualified for. I will not mention names but I was quite surprised to be rejected for both positions, not because of any lack of technical merit, but apparently because I didn’t seemContinue reading “Programming Passions”