What I’ve Learned about Designing eLearning

 “An idea is a point of departure and no more.  As soon as you elaborate it, it becomes transformed by thought.”  — Pablo Picasso I recently went to the Pablo Picasso exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  The $5 I dished out on the audio tour was well spent.  I learned things about […]

On Being a Workplace Education Practitioner

“Being a workplace education practitioner often means being a person who brings educational know-how to bear on workplace issues, often issues of workplace change where people are looking together for new responses to new situations.  We operate in the overlap between education and work so that learning and work are meaningfully connected.” Tracy Defoe, Sue […]

More Than the Sum of the Parts

“We were always able to sing and blend well together; that’s our gift. But aside from that, we’re really two different guys.”           — Paul Simon I can think of many things that taste great when they’ve been in a blender.  To me, blending does not result in parts that are […]

Under Construction

“The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.”   – Charles Dickens I’m not a big fan of wearing a hard hat – it feels awkward and does not care when it wreaks […]

Connect the Dots (la la la la la)

Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.      – Francis of Assisi When my children were small, they looked forward to sharing in Pee Wee Herman’s adventures.  Despite what we now know about Paul Reubens, the many characters and their weekly fun made […]

Why Must I Insist on Making it Complicated?

“Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.”  — Paul Rand I have a crazy ritual every time we are having friends over […]

He Said, She Said

“Discontent is the first necessity of progress”  — Thomas Edison Wisconsin was the first state to enact a comprehensive collective bargaining law in 1959. It’s also the birthplace of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the national union representing all non-federal public employees, which was founded in 1936 in Madison. The ongoing […]

Why So Fast?

“In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy.”           – J. Paul Getty Picture this scenario:  You are a respected chef.  You invite 10 people over for dinner.  You ask each of them their vision for the perfect dinner.  You get 10 different answers with some similarities in […]

The Human Ostrich Syndrome

“It’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most receptive to change.”  — Charles Darwin One of my classmate’s favorite strategies in a needs assessment is to open with the question “what does success (of this project) look like to you?”  This is a tough […]

The XPert

“All of us are experts at practicing virtue at a distance.”             — Theodore Hesburgh I’ve worked with designers for years.  Architects and interior designers to be exact; designers of schools to be more specific – experts in educational facility design.  Because I do not hold a degree in architecture, […]