Jay Cross helps people work and live smarter. Jay is the Johnny Appleseed of informal learning. He wrote the book on it. He was the first person to use the term eLearning on the web. He has challenged conventional wisdom about how adults learn since designing the first business degree program offered by the University of Phoenix.
Julie Wedgwood has a new blog, and she’s off on the right foot. Instead of the usual “Look at me,” Julie has started with what will interest other people. Like Julie herself, the blog is helpful and upbeat.
Julie’s probably best known for her pioneering work using storyboards for learning.
For me, storyboards are an essential tool for developing learning, particularly e-learning. A storyboard can keep everyone involved in the development of the learning “on the same page” as they frame and communicate the instructional design. The magic of storyboards for me is that they allow everyone to collaborate as everyone can “see” what is being planned.
I believe there is a lot we can learn from the film industry and in particular the animation film industry. In animation they always use storyboards to develop the story they want to tell. Films have a beginning, middle and an end just like a learning session. Films have plots and sub plots just like learning has objectives and sub objectives.
Of course, sound’s important, too. Julie and I talked about unbooks last month.
Recently I’ve begun recording conversations with people in my network about topics that interests us both. They’ve been genuine conversations about learning and what is going on right now. It’s not about promoting anything specifically or making a point but they are real insights into learning and development. The idea is that often the shortest distance between two people is a story and most human conversations contain a story. Have a listen. If you feel you are eavesdropping in on a private conversation, that’s great! That’s the whole point. See if you can learn anything from them.
To start with, have a listen to Jay talking about unbooks and iPads – August 2010
Combining these two, storyboarding and unbooks, I’ll take this opportunity to announce that I’m assembling a new unbook on visual learning. I expect to twist Julie’s arm to lend a hand.
Visual Journalist Eileen Clegg and I sit down at Asilomar to talk about visual learning in this five-minute video:
It amazes me that most business people are so short-sighted about the power of visual language that they’d rather bore people with the proverbial thousand words than use a picture.
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