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Overview (Child)

Pages

Intro

Every time a new technological trend pops-up it also leads to ‘new born’ thought leaders. Professionals that go the extra mile, take a deep dive and share insights and applications. Since AI took the world by storm and is now also disrupting the world of learning, I created an overview of AI &amp; learning thought leaders that I follow.We need to be grateful for their work and generous sharing. In that sense, this episode of the learning notes is also a way for me to share my appreciation with them for the work they do. Of course, AI is much more than ChatGPT and some of the names in my lists already shared a lot of good and insightful sources and their vision pre-ChatGPT.I feel enough confident to say: if you follow the advice of the people in these lists and apply their proven ‘life hacks’, it will easily save you a few working hours a week. If so, please share your experiences on social media and mention their names to show your appreciation and forward ‘the magic’ to others.I created two lists: one international and one with ‘rockstars’ who share in Dutch (based on some special requests from my readers). Every name has a weblink which directs you to the LinkedIn profile of each person. The order of names is based on ‘ladies first’, followed by alphabetical order of their family name. It&#039;s not a ranking.I very much like the idea of all kinds of AI applications serving us as ‘co-pilots’. I hope you can find some great ‘co-pilots’ via the experts presented that make your life a bit easier. Good luck and let me know if you have figured out something cool.

International list

<ul><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerri-buttery/">Kerri Buttery</a>*</li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kambria-dumesnil/">Kambria Dumesnil</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-philippa-hardman-057851120/">Philippa Hardman</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/trishuhl/">Trish Uhl</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshcavalier/">Josh Cavalier</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/">Donald Clark</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rstevensonuk/">Ross Stevenson</a></li></ul>* Recently, I had the privilege to do a webinar with Kerri Buttery about AI for learning. Check out the <a target="_blank" href="/articles/webinar-ai-tips-for-learning-professional">write-up about the event</a>, made by my colleague <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwendoleneroberts/">Gwendolene Roberts</a>.

Dutch speaking list

<ul><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilonaboomsma/">Ilona Boomsma</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gvoost/">Geraldine Voost</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergedebeer/">Serge de Beer</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/barendlast/">Barend Last</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanluclaval/">Jean-Luc Laval</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/wrubens/">Wilfred Rubens</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathiasvermeulen/">Mathias Vermeulen</a></li></ul>

Would like a direct brain-internet connection. Loves connecting people, ideas and inspiration in the global learning community.

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Article

Since AI took the world by storm and is now also disrupting the world of learning, I created an overview of AI & learning thought leaders that I follow.

Ger’s Learning Notes #56: AI & learning rockstars

learning pioneers

Training improvement

Release

Get the lowdown on our new flagship feature: Surveys, which helps us land as your Training Improvement Engine.You’ll also notice that hand-in assignments are available to a pool of instructors for grading and find a few other cool updates. All these changes will be available from the 8th of August 2023.

The Survey feature

<h3>The Survey Feature</h3>Continuous iterative improvement in small incremental steps sounds great on paper, but when it comes to actually implementing them into a learning journey, you of course have to know what and where to improve.The challengeAs the management guru Peter Drucker famously said, “If you can&#039;t measure it, you can&#039;t manage it.” — so the first step before improving learning journeys is to find out what it lacks.Gathering feedback from learners while possible with the evaluation questions, doesn’t fill the gap since they do not place the feedback in an overview or within context to derive meaningful insights out of it.The goalWith the survey feature, you can set up well-defined surveys that can be repeated in multiple templates and learning journeys and used to gauge feedback from your learners.If you want to know how well your training is performing, or what your learners actually think of your brand and offerings, or even why you hear positive feedback about instructor A and not instructor B, you can do so and validate your assumptions.

Working with surveys

<h3>Working with Surveys</h3><a target="_blank" href="https://support.anewspring.com/en/articles/70658">Surveys</a> are one step ahead of the evaluation activity that we have within the platform. How?<ul><li>You can build a survey with the right goal in mind. A dedicated professional (apart from the training designer or instructor) with the right expertise can focus on creating a well thought-out set of questions.</li><li>The survey is not bound to a specific template or learning journey. So, gather feedback from a wider aperture and easily visualise where things are working well and where improvements can be made.</li><li>All results are collected in one overview.</li></ul>Create and manage surveysWith the Surveys feature, you can create surveys based on your role and rights and manage the content easily—create a new content library or rely on an existing one. Since surveys use the same evaluation questions and content parts from the content libraries, you can efficiently re-use your content!Additional permission for administratorsIn order to keep things clear and allow for division of labour, you’ll find two new permissions within the administrator role. The main one allows users to see results from surveys and the secondary permission lets certain users create and manage the surveys.The new survey activityWith this release, you’ll find a new survey activity type for the templates (and learning journeys). Learning designers can select the pre-defined survey (created by the survey expert) and add it to an activity at the template level.In order to keep things clear and fit the purpose of the activity type better, we’ve renamed the ‘Inquiry’ activity type to ‘Questionnaire’.Viewing the resultsOf course there’s a place where you can easily process the feedback!You’ll find one overview with all the results, per survey, featuring the multiple choice, multiple response, as well as matrix and essay questions.Templates to get you startedTrouble formulating the right questions of your survey? We got your back—you’ll find a new template with predefined questions to immediately use within a survey.

Learn all about the Survey feature in our knowledge base

Hand-in assignments

<h3>Hand-in assignments visible to all instructors</h3>When the learner hands in an assignment for assessment, usually they would have to pick an instructor of their choice.We’ve changed that around so that the hand-in and video hand-in assignments behave like all the other activities—available for all instructors to assess (the first available instructor is able to pick up the assessment for grading).

Reach the course dashboard

<h3>Reach the course dashboard from learners’ results page</h3>Ever notice that your instructors hit a dead end when they land on the learner results page and have nowhere to navigate from there? Ideally they should be led to the course dashboard from the results page and begin shadowing and offer feedback to learners&#039; questions—and now this is possible!

Small yet powerful

<h3>Small yet powerful</h3>As always, we do have a few smaller updates that pack a punch nonetheless.Toggle template notificationsIt is now easier and faster to work with notifications with the ON/OFF toggle on the notification overview page.Filter results by ‘active learners’ Wouldn’t it be very convenient to run a report on the number of learners per course and their subscription status? By focusing only on active learners for a course, it becomes very easy to visualise the ROI of your offerings. We’ve added the value ‘state of subscription’ to the reporting engine to help you get this information.Upload .SVG images in courses, activities and productsUpload your icons and logos as .SVG files for courses, products and activities; ensuring the highest resolution!No autoplay for videosIn order to ensure the best experience for learners within the aNewSpring environment, we will remove the autoplay feature in the content types like, video, hihaho, vimeo and so on.Send learners directly to the access codes pageWhile the access code page has its own link, it leads the learner to the general login page. With this update, we make it easy for you to link your learners directly to the access code page so they can start learning even faster.Maths, no problemAdd mathematical formulae in your content with the MathJax plugin in the CKEditor. You learners can also respond with mathematical equations without the need for any special coding.

Do you want to read everything we have added? Take a look at the Release Notes:<ul><li>Release Notes for <a target="_blank" href="https://portal.anewspring.com/en/support/discussions/topics/3000181630">Organisations</a></li><li>Release Notes for <a target="_blank" href="https://portal-trainer.anewspring.com/en/support/discussions/topics/3000181630">Trainers</a></li></ul>Some of these features are available for aNewSpring for Trainers and all of them for aNewSpring for Organisations.If you have any questions regarding the release, do not hesitate to contact our <a target="_blank" href="mailto:support@anewspring.com">Support Heroes</a>!

Loves learning from others and letting others learn about a wide variety of topics.

Release 101: Get the lowdown on Surveys within aNewSpring

release notes

Introduction

When it comes to training, AI can help significantly in many ways. The most popular and easiest to ace is content authoring and curation.However, there’s also the question of data security and quality. At aNewSpring, we always pride ourselves on addressing new trends from a point of view; with our customers and audience specifically in mind.

No stranger to AI technology

<h3>No stranger to AI technology</h3>aNewSpring has long been a frontrunner in using AI technology to create better training. With better training, you can focus on your learners.<ul><li>Adaptivity, enabled by our platform, tracks the ‘digital footprint’ of each learner enabling the system to adapt and create a specific learning route, with specific learning content for each individual learner.</li><li>Every single learner is unique — they all learn at their own pace and therefore differ in their need for repeating concepts to store in their long-term memory. The MemoTrainer™ coaches learners by automatically focusing on the areas of knowledge that they absorb more slowly.</li><li>Through an integration with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.synthesia.io/">Synthesia.io</a>, you can already convert text into real-to-life talking avatars. It’s an easy way to replace text with more engaging and visual content.</li></ul>

A peek inside our innovation lab

<h3>A peek inside our innovation lab</h3>Our engineers have been busy with coding experiments and brainstorming sessions (both internally and at conferences), about the benefits and risks of integrating AI and LLMs within our learning platform.Our developer Michel is working on an AI prototype that can generate questions based on text and thus help authoring teams in training organisations such as yours.Based on these experiments and brainstorms we have some preliminary insights that we are building our AI approach on.AI is just a tool; and a fool with a tool is still a foolUse AI to facilitate and enhance your job to be done, not replace it. So, creating good learning journeys and assessing the work of your learners requires human oversight until proven otherwise(?). AI should help our users and learners, that’s what AI in aNewSpring will always be about.Safety and clarity is importantPeople we spoke with see risks in safety of their data and intellectual property. “Will the AI share my ideas and data with other aNS users or even the rest of the world?”. We think it’s therefore important for us to explain how things work and make sure the way we do things is going to continue to be secure and safe. (Just like we now handle other data and content our customers share with us).

Check out the top AI tools for learning professionals

Clear focus on user goals

<h3>Clear focus on user goals</h3>The aNewSpring platform helps different types of users. When we determine what to build, we should be focussing on the job and goal the user has. When looking at AI this is no different—the tools we build or implement should add value toward these goals:<ul><li>Help learners learn</li><li>Help designers and authors create</li><li>Help instructors assess and help</li><li>Help admins administrate</li></ul>

Share your ideas with us!

What are your thoughts when it comes to relying on AI for training and L&amp;D? Which use cases do you think would be the best fit?Open a discussion with us on: <a href="mailto:marketing@anewspring.com">marketing@anewspring.com</a>

Author

Explorer of details. Lifelong chai connoisseur. Apocalypse prepper.

The aNewSpring approach to AI

Artificial Intelligence

On 19 July, 2023, aNewSpring hosted the “Empowering and improving learning in the age of AI” webinar for learning professionals. During the hour-long session, participants were first introduced to navigating the AI space and the risks and opportunities therein by Learning Innovation Leader, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerdriesen/">Ger Driesen</a>. The discussion then turned to a breakdown of some of the Top AI tools recommended by guest panellist and CEO of Digital Learning Licence, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerri-buttery/">Kerri Buttery</a>.

Watch the webinar recording here

<h2>Before you dive in</h2>Before you dive into AI head first, it&#039;s important to outline your goals, recognise the depth, or breadth of your knowledge and most importantly, ensure that your use of AI does not go against any of your organisation&#039;s mandates, constraints or policies.

<h2>You already use AI</h2>First, Ger shared a bit of good news. You&#039;ve already been using AI for a long time. Search engines, streaming sites, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.anewspring.com/">aNewSpring</a>, all have AI-backed performance capabilities. Of course, some tools may be entirely new to you; others more familiar, but dealt with in new and more productive ways.

Chatbots

<h2>Popular and upcoming chatbots</h2>If you’re looking to assess the various options that exist, a visit to this chatbot <a href="https://huggingface.co/spaces/lmsys/chatbot-arena-leaderboard">leaderboard</a> can show you how well various tools are performing based on upvotes by actual users. If you’re a relatively new adopter, this is also a great place to start. As of yesterday, these language models were top contenders. (this is an active board, so periodic check-ins are recommended)<ul><li><a href="https://www.anthropic.com/index/introducing-claude">Claude</a></li><li><a href="https://huggingface.co/lmsys/vicuna-33b-v1.3">Vicuna</a></li><li><a href="https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai/docs/generative-ai/learn/models#foundation_models">PaLM</a></li><li><a href="https://huggingface.co/databricks/dolly-v2-12b">Dolly</a></li><li><a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.13971">LLaMA</a></li></ul>As for how to get the best value out of these tools? The devil is in the details. Unlike Google where the algorithm focuses on answering questions, as Ger put it, &quot;prompting is instructing not asking.&quot; It&#039;s a way to kickstart something new, or refine a general idea. If you don’t have a good basis for your inputs, well “it’s garbage in, garbage out” per Kerri.

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AI tools for learning

<h2>AI tools for learning</h2>For more refined prompting, there are interesting possibilities with the following AI tools, all of which offer free and paid plans.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.forefront.ai/">Forefront.ai</a>This AI assistant allows you to use personas to reduce potential bias in your materials and to compare outputs across other AI tools. You can also upload files, access the internet, transcribe audio and generate basic images.<a target="_blank" href="https://you.com/">You.com</a>Here&#039;s a chatbot that can search the web or be used as a Chrome plugin. It supports you with social searching while eliminating the need for platforms. <a target="_blank" href="https://teachermatic.com/">Teachermatic</a>Try this tool on for size if you&#039;re interested in course planning or activity generation. It&#039;s a comprehensive platform where you can directly upload source documents to help you build out your programmes.<a target="_blank" href="https://gamma.app/">Gamma</a>This tool is noteworthy for its exportable slide decks, webpages, ability tot set up a theme and content &amp; layout generation. It can also be embedded on various LMS.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.teachology.ai/dashboard">Teachology</a>Test out its lesson planning capacity or build outcomes based assessments on this tool. It can also help you generate feedback for your students.

<h2>So how to overcome your hesitation and master the new tools?</h2>A good place to start is acknowledging your own background, biases and limitations. Use this to inform how you then assume a persona (the point of view you’re going for).But be careful. Who you choose also impacts the level or lack of bias in the output. Kerri likes to see what Yoda thinks and Ger sometimes checks in with those who have crossed over; <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/9th-habit-ger-driesen/">Stephen Covey</a>, for example.

Prompting tips

<h2>Mastering context based prompting</h2>Context based prompting can also help you gain real value from AI tools. The key is to develop an organised prompt rhythm. The hallmarks of a good prompt (for a learning professional in this case) includes:<ul><li>context (online, offline, blended)</li><li>keywords &amp; adjectives (describe language, tone of voice)</li><li>target audience (adults, volunteers, executives, children)</li><li>constraints (length, items, how many pages, sections)</li><li>output format (bullet points, essay)</li></ul>Still uncertain of your footing? During the webinar, Kerri shared her <a target="_blank" href="https://5343064.hs-sites.com/en-au/prompt-template?__hstc=85244870.d2a758d897d5994ea548e83dc4d00765.1680777073950.1689770846220.1689927424401.158&amp;__hssc=85244870.6.1689927424401&amp;__hsfp=199166326">current prompt generation template</a>. You can use this until you get into the swing of things, then adapt for your specific needs.

Download Kerri Buttery's prompt generation template

<h2>As the crow flies</h2>Now, if there’s a tool you prefer, it’s also important to learn the shortcuts; how it works most optimally.Examples could include using hashtags, checking if it maintains memory of your tasks for a specified number of searches, and more. Some example shortcuts and ways to help your tool refine its output are:<ul><li>TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) so it tightens up its offering</li><li>#image - followed by a description to generate a picture</li><li>#transcribe - if you want the text of a recording</li></ul>Understanding this, and implementing their use systematically, will undoubtedly improve your command of your AI tool of choice.

Audience tips

<h2>Tips from the audience</h2>The highly engaged audience was also not to be outdone. Keen to share their knowledge on the matter, amongst their recommendations were <a href="https://meesterplan.eu/">meesterplan.eu</a> which offers trainers and teachers an AI experience in Dutch, and <a target="_blank" href="https://elicit.org/">elicit.org</a> which combs through scientific articles and synthesises the information; which can then be customised by you, the user.Now isn&#039;t this an excellent moment to kick off - or revisit, your use of AI to empower and improve your work? But remember, keep an eye on your organisation&#039;s policies, stay curious and keep learning as you go, because:&quot;Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.&quot; ~Yoda~

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Webinar recording

Believes the most impactful learning happens in the smallest of moments.

Don't hesitate to hit up Ger with an email! He's not just an expert, but also great fun to talk to!

Ready to explore how AI can enhance your training?

Watch: Top AI tools and prompt tips for learning professionals

Podcast

In Learning Notes #53, I shared four of my favourite learning podcasts. A tricky thing to do, because there are so many good ones. What I hoped for, happened: I got a few comments about my choices and some suggestions on how I could have improved the quality. Thanks for that. It challenged me to do a second episode on learning podcasts.For all suggestions of good podcasts in Dutch (or other non-English languages): I know there are a lot of excellent podcasts out there but, since I serve an international audience, I will stick to English language podcasts. And I’m sure many great podcasts aren’t mentioned in my overview (although they deserve it) but I will cap it at two episodes. I want to move forward with other topics because there is just so much going on in the learniverse.I’ll share this episode like always via LinkedIn and Twitter and, again, invite you to add your favourite podcast in the comments. Let’s keep sharing to serve our community of like-minded learning pioneers!

Woman Talking About Learning

What’s it about?The Women Talking About Learning Podcast is, well… women talking about learning and development. Underrepresented in senior roles in the learning function, this podcast amplifies women’s voices talking about all things learning and development related.Why listen to it?<ul><li>Women may not be underrepresented in the learning community overall, but they are in senior roles. It’s important to have this specific platform.</li><li>Get access to more than 50 episodes on different topics with more than 100 guests sharing their perspectives.</li><li>The topics are suggested by the audience and guests invited to join, so there’s something for everyone.</li></ul>Where to find it?<a target="_blank" href="https://womentalkingaboutlearning.com/podcasts/">https://womentalkingaboutlearning.com/podcasts/</a>

Scott Young Podcast

What’s it about?This is the podcast by the author of the fascinating book ‘UltraLearning’ - he is an ‘ultra-learner’ himself.Why listen to it?<ul><li>Almost 250 (!) episodes of well-researched topics related to learning in one podcast.</li><li>Scott H. Young has a natural talent for explaining things in an easy manner, making his podcasts easy to digest.</li><li>All his work is backed-up with the latest insights of scientific research, so you know you’re doing the right things.</li></ul>Where to find it?<a target="_blank" href="https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/podcast/">https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/podcast/</a>

eLearning Coach Podcast

What’s it about?Connie Malamed is well known as the e-Learning Coach and that is what she is. Find different topics here to help you with your e-learning design.Why listen to it?<ul><li>Connie’s work is always high quality and appreciated by many, many learning professionals.</li><li>Because she is such a knowledgeable person, the conversations in her podcasts have a more than average depth.</li><li>With almost 80 episodes, this is not the winner podcast in terms of quantity. However, looking at the selection of guests, it’s the winner based on quality.</li></ul>Where to find it?<a target="_blank" href="https://theelearningcoach.com/category/podcasts/">https://theelearningcoach.com/category/podcasts/</a>

ATD Podcast

What’s it about?The largest association for learning professionals has a rich podcast. In fact, three podcasts with a focus on different topics.Why listen to it?<ul><li>Listen to ‘The Accidental Trainer podcast’ if you want to grow in your L&amp;D career.</li><li>Listen to ‘The DE&amp;I podcast’ if you want to learn best practices related to diversity, equity and inclusion.</li><li>Listen to “The Talent Development Leader podcast’ if you are a learning leader or want to understand what’s high on the agenda of learning leaders. As a service provider, you need this!</li></ul> Where to find it?<a target="_blank" href="https://www.td.org/atd-podcasts">https://www.td.org/atd-podcasts</a>

Ger's Learning Notes

In Learning Notes #53, I shared four of my favourite learning podcasts. A tricky thing to do, because there are so many good ones. What I hoped for, happened: I got a few comments about my choices.

Ger's Learning Notes #55: Learning podcasts (part 2)

gers learning notes

One hundred. A milestone. One that we are very proud of at aNewSpring.You’ll notice in this release that the devil is in the details — the finishing touch to bundles, collapse blocks for large designs and additional accessibility in line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) lay the foundations for big projects we intend to tackle next year. Let’s dive in.All of these changes took effect on 23 May 2023.

<h3>A fitting finish for bundles</h3>With this update, you can choose to send learners a notification when courses are added to a bundle.Since the email indicates that they will be subscribed to a course inside a bundle, you can set up the email to make it clear where the learner can find their new course.

Collapse blocks

Designing for experience

When editing a template, it is natural for users to create several blocks and activities with their course content.The problem begins when the learning journey becomes quite large, taking you quite a few scrolls to reach the end. Now, with expand or collapse blocks, the hierarchy between blocks and activities is clear, making it easier to manage the content of the learning journey.As a cool addition, we also made it possible to hide the index in an activity. It typically shows the content within the activity with the question or content part name. However, we noticed that it sometimes contains sensitive information that isn’t necessary for learners. Now, by having the option to hide it, you control the narrative!

Bringing structure to content libraries

We’ve made it possible to search and filter for content that you are looking for through tagging within the content library.

Moderation

<h3>Moderation from a learner standpoint</h3>A few releases back, we introduced the moderation capability allowing you to have a ‘moderator’ following course progress and reviewing assessments performed by your instructors.We’ve added a ‘learner-centred’ flow allowing moderators to focus on the assessments per learner.

Keyboard operability

<h3>Leave your mouse behind!</h3>Accessibility has been an important theme as far as updates to our platform have been concerned. In order to comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 guidelines, we focused on keyboard operability, specifically for the learner interface.It is possible for learners to control content parts, answer some of the questions (fill-in-the-blanks and matching questions), join discussions and view results with just a keyboard.

Do you want to read everything we have added? Take a look at the Release Notes:<ul><li>Release Notes for <a target="_blank" href="https://portal.anewspring.com/en/support/discussions/topics/3000181492">Organisations</a></li><li>Release Notes for <a target="_blank" href="https://portal-trainer.anewspring.com/en/support/discussions/topics/3000181491">Trainers</a></li></ul>Some of these features are available for aNewSpring for Trainers and all of them for aNewSpring for Organisations.If you have any questions regarding the release, do not hesitate to contact our <a target="_blank" href="mailto:support@anewspring.com">Support Heroes</a>!

You’ll notice in this release that the devil is in the details — the finishing touch to bundles, collapse blocks for large designs and additional accessibility in line with WCAG lay the foundations.

Release 100: We couldn’t have timed it better!

JTBD

About JTBD

We’ve shared several articles on Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) over the past few years. But here’s a quick refresher along with links to where you can find them should the need arise.The ‘Jobs-to-be-Done’ approach is a framework that has its origins in marketing and innovation. Business professor Theodore Levitt set the scene really well with his well-known quote: “People don’t want a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole.” It’s essentially about finding out what people really need for them to achieve things that matter in their lives: the jobs that they want to get done. For learning designers these ‘people’ are the learners that they design for.The whyToday though, we’ll be addressing one topic concerning JTBD: Why is Jobs-to-be-Done a good framework to improve your learning design? There are three good reasons for that. Let’s explore each of them in detail.

Reason #1

It ties the person to the job they want to accomplish

Create the connection

Applying JTBD starts with finding the functional job that a person wants to accomplish. In their journey to create progress in their lives, people have all kinds of jobs they need to get done. A part of them can be work related jobs. While doing so, they try to maximise the gains and minimise the pains related to it. When it comes to workplace learning, (learning) designers create solutions to get the functional job done with the maximum gains and the minimal pains.What defines a target group in learning design is the common challenge around the functional job to be done, not the general characteristics that we often see occur when using personas. The focus on the connection between people and the jobs they want to get done will make the design relevant, compact and useful. To define it, you use the following format: verb + object of the verb (noun) + contextual clarifier. For example: ‘Checking a patient’s vital signs in an ambulance,’ or ‘responding to messages while on the go.’

Reason #2

It highlights relevant social and emotional aspects

Enhance the solution

Work and learning aren’t purely rational phenomena. After defining the functional jobs to be done, we can now explore related emotional and social ones. These are connected to the functional job to be done.The emotional job to be done is how somebody feels while doing or just after completing the functional job. Think of feeling insecure, like a beginner, anxious, ashamed. Or more positive, secure, confident, a pro, proud, in control.The social jobs to be done is about how others perceive the job executor; it’s about status and reputation. Do they come off as an amateur or pro, as secure or insecure as bold or anxious, self-confident or unsure, caring or rude?Being aware of these aspects can help the designer to enhance the solution beyond the more obvious rational aspects. Taking emotional and social aspects into consideration when designing a learning solution will likely support transfer: applying new behaviour on the job.

Reason #3

It brings the context into the design process

Make or break the usefulness

You might have heard the statement that when it comes to workplace learning, ‘context is king’ instead of ‘content is king’. Designers need to be aware of the specific context in which end users will use their solution. Learning designers should do that as well. If you use the basic format for the functional job ‘verb + object of the verb (noun) + contextual clarifier’, it will give you a ’nudge’ to describe the context. Like in the example ‘checking a patient’s vital signs in an ambulance’, the ‘in an ambulance’ part might make a significant difference compared to ‘in the hospital’.Contexts of the work environment can be very different and of big importance to make or break the usefulness of the solutions. I worked for a Japanese company where I learned ‘go to Gemba’, which means going to the place where the work is done (and talking to the people who do the work). Designing a solution to be used at an ER or in a clean room must be adjusted to the context.

Other resources

<h3>Ask or read away</h3>Other frameworks might also help to create focus on these three important elements but I don’t know any other that combines these three. If you do, please let me know! If the JTBD approach is useful for you or if you’ve given it a try but got stuck, please let me know as well.Check out these useful articles on JTBD:Read how you can apply the framework as a trainer – ‘<a target="_blank" href="/articles/professionals-want-training-result-jtbd">Professionals don’t want training, they want the result’</a>Making a learning impact with the JTBD method – ‘<a target="_blank" href="/articles/jobs-to-be-done-learning-design">Jobs-to-be-Done for learning design: A fresh outlook with Mariël Rondeel</a>’

We’ve shared several articles on Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) over the past few years. Here’s a quick refresher along with some links throughout the article to where you can find them should the need arise.

Articles

Read, watch and learn

Ger’s Learning Notes #56: AI & learning rockstars

Release 101: Get the lowdown on Surveys within aNewSpring

The aNewSpring approach to AI

Watch: Top AI tools and prompt tips for learning professionals

Ger's Learning Notes #55: Learning podcasts (part 2)

Release 100: We couldn’t have timed it better!

Improve learning design with Jobs-to-be-Done

Ger’s Learning Notes #54: Content curation

Ger's Learning Notes #53: Learning podcasts

Introducing World Learning Content Clean-up Day

What we learnt from (p)reflecting on 2022 and 2023

Create an online soft skill training: The essentials

Release 99: You’ve got 99 problems, but this release ain’t one!

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