View Post

Announcing the 2021 LearnGeek Hype Cycle

In Featured, General L&D by JD Dillon

How is workplace learning evolving? Which strategies and tactics are making an impact? Which proven practices should I consider introducing within my learning ecosystem? We reflect on these questions at the end of each year as we update the LearnGeek Hype Cycle. Inspired by the Garner version, this brief, common …

View Post

L&D Words

In Featured, General L&D by JD Dillon

I shared this tweet a few days ago … It started a fun online conversation … that’s still going. So I figured it would be worth expanding upon, beyond the limited context of a 135-character tweet. Words matter. Terminology is an important part of any profession. It’s a common language. …

View Post

No. 1: We never get a seat at the table.

In General L&D by JD Dillon

While every organization and industry is unique, there is a consistent set of issues that I seem to encounter over and over that fundamentally reduces the impact of L&D efforts. We need to get these issues resolved before we can focus on what really matters – delivering results for our …

View Post

No. 3: We need this done tomorrow!

In General L&D by JD Dillon

While every organization and industry is unique, there is a consistent set of issues that I seem to encounter over and over that fundamentally reduces the impact of L&D efforts. We need to get these issues resolved before we can focus on what really matters – delivering results for our …

View Post

No. 4: We don’t have time for learning.

In General L&D by JD Dillon

While every organization and industry is unique, there is a consistent set of issues that I seem to encounter over and over that fundamentally reduces the impact of L&D efforts. We need to get these issues resolved before we can focus on what really matters – delivering results for our …

View Post

Every company is bad at onboarding

In General L&D by JD Dillon

OK, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But it seems like every company is always in the process of revamping its onboarding process. Frankly, I’m not surprised. When I ask L&D pros about their onboarding practices, I get a wide range of responses. I often hear things like … …

View Post

Fostering the Habit of Everyday Learning

In General L&D by JD Dillon

What activities do you do every day? What are those tasks that, if you don’t get to them on a given day, can make you feel incomplete? For me, it’s exercise. I’ve battled weight problems my entire life. Early in my career, my jobs took care of my fitness requirements. …

View Post

4 tactics for promoting reflection at work

In General L&D by JD Dillon

“I’m back to back all day.” How often do you get this excuse from people when they are late to your meeting or haven’t replied to your email? I can’t stand this statement – mostly because it passes blame from themselves to the general workplace. Why would I expect a …

View Post

5 Must Reads for Modern Learning Pros

In General L&D by JD Dillon

Learning professionals come from any and all backgrounds. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t go to school saying “I want to be an L&D person when I grow up.” It just kinda … happened (Thanks, Disney!). This diversity in experience is particularly valuable in this profession, as we …

View Post

L&D in 2018

In General L&D by JD Dillon

It’s the end of the year. That means it’s time for “thought leaders” to grab a few clicks by predicting the future of their industries – well, at least the next 12-months worth of future. L&D is no different. For the past few weeks, I’ve been repeatedly told exactly how …

View Post

My Modern Professional Learning Toolkit

In General L&D by JD Dillon

Jane Hart – the bastion of all things modern workplace learning – recently distilled the latest results of her annual Top Tools for Learning list into a categorized framework. She has also invited other pros to write up their own toolkit lists to get the conversation going and inspire new …

View Post

Microlearning summarized

In General L&D, microlearning by JD Dillon

Last week, I delivered a session on microlearning as part of the eLearning Guild’s DevLearn Conference in Las Vegas. You can check out the full presentation at the bottom of this post. The overall thesis is that “microlearning” isn’t a real thing. Rather, L&D should always be looking for ways to better …

View Post

How to build microlearning

In General L&D, microlearning by JD Dillon

I simply define “microlearning” as learning that fits. I explored the WHYS behind microlearning in this post. Now I’d like to share my experience with the HOWs. In my session “More Than Micro – Designing Learning That Fits,” I break down the process I have been using for several years …

View Post

How to beat a multiple choice test

In General L&D by JD Dillon

Hello! This tongue-in-cheek article from 2017 suddenly became the most-read post on LearnGeek for 2020, and I think I know why. If you found this article because your school or job went digital due to the pandemic and you’re trying to deal with more online classes and training, this probably …