Information is not the answer

Design experiences, not information…

Every learning leader has faced the dilemma of being asked to cram too much information into a training course because of a customer’s belief that “more information is better learning.”  You know the drill, and it usually starts something like this, “Hey Jim, thanks for designing that course for us. I was thinking, we should also add…[insert 438 data points, factoids, and might-use administrivia here] to our course.” 

It’s the data dump. The fact frenzy. The overview overkill.  It’s just difficult sometimes for folks to believe that less information could lead to more (and better) learning. 

Well, today we’re going to make the case for shifting the focus away from information altogether. Here, designing guru Cathy Moore makes a powerfully simple case for shifting from designing information to designing experiences.

Can’t access YouTube? Here’s a Flash version.

Maven, ninja, or guru. Which one are you?

Attention-grabbing Job Seekers…

You know the job market has become increasingly competitive. A standard resume or CV won’t really cut it these days. To stand out, there are ever-more random lengths people will go to in order to secure a job or even get noticed by potential employers. Take a look at some of the best job applications around.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/remarkable-hiring-stories.html

ABCs, just for me!

Here’s a triple shot of clever: not just teaching the alphabet and decorating a child’s room, but building a sense of context for how the child’s unique identity flows with the rest of the (alphabet) world. Nice, Kellie!

Kellie Van's avatar

Ok. So I know this word has been redundant in my blog but this project really is SIMPLE! Every nursery needs an ABC artwork so why not integrate your baby’s name into it and make it personalized?

It started with a black frame that I got from Ikea’s AS IS section. I had no use for it but b/c it was dirt cheap, I figured I would use it ‘someday.’ Surely enough, I did and it serves its purpose fairly well!

I had to paint the frames stark white b/c nothing in Zoey’s room is black. 

Got these white glitter (subtle) letters from Michaels. They always have 40% off coupons on their website so print them out and utilize them. 

From my scrapbook stock paper collection, I chose a pale pink as the background and a patterned blue as the letters for Zoey’s name.  

A quick glance at the…

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Freebie fun: Create word clouds with Wordle

Wordle is one of the coolest free toys I’ve seen in a while.  I’ll let author  Jonathan Feinberg‘s  description speak for itself and get out your way so you can read it then start Wordling…

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

Here’s one I made for my colleague, Susan Jacobs, as a birthday surprise for her office door:

Wordle Cloud

So, what words will you use to create your own Wordle cloud?