There are so many things that are out of our control right now. inflation, war, Covid, climate change...the list goes on and seems to keep growing. Members of the Learn
Groundhog Day, Mindset Change, and the Value of Constraints
The 1993 movie Groundhog Day provides an insightful example of the value of constraints in producing positive mindset change. Trapped by his fixed mindset in the hell-scape of having to live
Use learning design to structure your whole business…and everything in it
Verbal Information. Mindset. Cognitive Strategy. Intellectual skills (How-to). Motor Skills.These are the five “Domains of Learning” discovered by educational theorist and researcher Robert M. Gagné.Any type of learning you want to create
My “Tinkerbell” moment… and yours
As creative experts and solopreneurs, facing challenges is part of what we do. If we didn't love facing challenges, and do so willingly... and if we weren't at least somewhat
Why is transformation so hard?
We all say we WANT transformation, right?Online course creators NEED to focus on the transformation they want their course to deliver, if their course is going to actually DO anything
Focusing on What Works
A lot of things are not working right now.From the health care system to supply chains to being able to reliably plan things like work, child care, travel, and school,
The most impactful thing you can do in 2022
This is an exciting time of year, filled with the energy of new beginnings.Granted, everyone on the planet has been through the wringer for the past few years. Remember the
Your Year in Pictures, 2021
I've noticed a message about the year in pictures for 2021, from various websites and publications,and the message is: "It isn't pretty. Are you SURE you want to look back?"While I
Designing your life and work for the year ahead
It's an interesting time of year as we collectively reflect on 2021 and start envisioning the lives we want to live in 2022.With so many things out of our control
The Role of Trauma in Teaching and Learning
Here in the US, we are getting ready for Thanksgiving, and for many families this may be their first time gathering together indoors in as long as two years.It feels
Create a course welcome video that’s truly welcoming
Creating the welcome video for your online course can feel like a stumbling block to many course creators.It’s the first impression you’ll make on your learners, which can feel intimidating
The MAGIC of coaching: what makes it work?
In previous blog posts, I’ve shared how I structure the coaching aspect of my business, and what happens during a coaching session. Now let’s explore the most interesting thing about
The CONTENT of coaching: what happens during a session?
How does coaching complement teaching an online course.... and how can the mix between them work for you and your clients, students, and customers?What IS "coaching"?What I mean by “coaching” is
Coaching and courses: How do they fit in YOUR business?
We hear a lot, and rightly so, about the importance of working not just IN our business, but ON our business.Does working ON your business include figuring out whether and
Streamline your course to make the learning POP!
Simplifying the navigation in an online course is one of the most important things you can do to help your course participants get the most out of it.But that's easier
Are You Ready for a “Mindset Make-Over”?
Here’s a scenario I see playing out over and over: an expert is passionate about teaching others how to do something by teaching a “how-to” skill (a type of learning
What are your goals for summer, 2021?
In a time of as much upheaval and uncertainty as we've all been going through, it can be challenging to set and achieve goals. When everything around us is in
Understanding different types of learning — and how they interact
On May 26, 2021 a Google Doodle was unveiled that is absolutely brilliant.The Doodle commemorates the historic Savoy Ballroom in New York City, and pays tribute to the Swing and
The Line of Understanding
In past blog posts, we've explored how to set up the steps of an effective and engaging lesson, using Gagné's Nine Events of Instruction. And we've looked at how to
The biggest barrier to scaling an online course, effectively
One of the amazing affordances (things you can do easily and well) of online learning, is the ability to reach an unlimited number of learners...to teach people asynchronously, at scale.The
Taking the stress out of online course design
One of my main goals in creating the Course Design Formula® has been to relieve the stress many experts and entrepreneurs feel when creating an online course.Can you relate?Why creating
Teaching changes the world. Are you ready for what that means?
This week in the Course Design Formula® Master Course, we’re focusing on learner research. We're exploring the questions we need to ask of ourselves and others, to find out: Who
Creating deeper connections with yourself and others
This week in the Course Design Formula® Master Course, we’re focusing on learner research.We're exploring the questions we need to ask of ourselves and others, to find out:Who our ideal
Online learning…and online LIVING
An important consideration in moving learning from the offline to the online space, has to do with affordances and constraints.Affordances are the things we can do WELL in a situation,
Teaching changes the world
Education removes the obstacles that prevent people from achieving their dreams.The difference between failure and success often comes down to learning... whether learning to change one's mindset from "I feel
Make 2021 YOUR year for teaching online!
As you reflect on the past year, with its unprecedented challenges, and think ahead to 2021, it can be helpful to adopt a practice created many years ago by Chris Brogan,
Gratitude, Fulfillment, and Ease
As you reflect on the past year, with its unprecedented challenges, and think ahead to 2021, it can be helpful to adopt a practice created many years ago by Chris Brogan,
Color Your Gratitude for the New Year
Looking back at the past year with its world-changing events, what stands out the most is the power of community.Having the opportunity to get to know the amazing members of
Your own “Year in Pictures”
Many publications are coming out with their “Year in Pictures” for 2020.As I scrolled through the New York Times’ version, I was overwhelmed by the enormity, the intensity, the global impact
Reduce cognitive load to make your course more scalable
As our forced global experiment in online learning is showing, it’s more challenging to create online learning, and more challenging to learn from it, than is the case with classroom-based
Reduce overwhelm through chunking
The limits of working memory dictate that we can only focus on five to seven separate pieces of information at one time. Beyond that, it all starts turning into a
Thankfulness through the lens of learning
Learning means adapting our behavior in ways that promote survival.This past year has been a massive, forced, global learning experience of the most profound, and often heart-wrenching kind.Our literal survival
Asking the Right Question
A funny thing happened on my way to the Learn and Get Smarter Community meeting last Saturday: the electricity in my neighborhood went out. Suddenly, instead of logging into the
Bridging the Digital Divide
A funny thing happened on my way to the Learn and Get Smarter Community meeting last Saturday: the electricity in my neighborhood went out.Suddenly, instead of logging into the Zoom
Online Learning and Enlightened Leadership
I’m writing this blog post on the eve of one of the most significant days in American history.Whatever their political beliefs, Americans feel that the future of our country depends
Step into your power as a teacher
The pandemic has thrown the importance of learning, and especially online learning, into high relief.Going to school is a privilege that, we are now seeing, we can’t take for granted.
Use the Course Design Formula® to customize learning
I developed the Course Design Formula® to help you optimize the way you teach online, in the courses you create. Learners can also use the formula to enhance the way
Optimizing the Systems that Support Your Business
We’ve been talking a lot about systems in the Learn and Get Smarter community over the past several months…and at the community meeting this past Saturday we focused in on
Getting the Support You Need
Looking at your life as a whole, as an educator and entrepreneur…. Where is your zone of genius? What, on the other hand, needs strengthening? What areas of life feel
Turning Points
For the past six months, almost since the pandemic began, a dedicated group of Learn and Get Smarter community members have met every Saturday for two hours or more, to
Technology and People
When you teach in a physical classroom, workshop, or lecture space, you are a person interacting directly with other people, in real time.When you teach in an online format, you
Overcoming barriers to online learning
The delightful bus stop cartoon that is this week's featured image, is the original creation of community member Matt Champlin.Matt is an engineer and cartoonist, and led us in a fascinating
Finding Our Purpose
Teaching, at its highest and best, is a soul-focused activity.To teach effectively is to use your mind to help someone else move their mind from a less conscious point to
Innovation vs. Stagnation
How can you ensure learner success in your online course? Just as in a physical classroom, there is no 100% guaranteed way to be SURE that EVERYONE who signs up
Dealing with resistance
In last week's blog post, I wrote about the point that occurs about module 3 and 4 of many online courses, where the learner needs to start to actually apply
Ensuring Learner Success
How can you ensure learner success in your online course? Just as in a physical classroom, there is no 100% guaranteed way to be SURE that EVERYONE who signs up
Teaching in Alignment
Whether or not you are able to attend the weekly Learn and Get Smarter community meetings in person, I invite you to follow along with our ongoing group process of
Your audience and what they need to learn from you
The internet has made it possible for anyone to become a producer or publisher..without any gatekeepers. Instead of having to please a gatekeeper, now we have to speak directly to
Your central purpose for teaching online
Whether or not you are able to attend the weekly Learn and Get Smarter community meetings in person, I invite you to follow along with our ongoing group process of
Discovering the engine of success
Whether or not you are able to attend the weekly Learn and Get Smarter community meetings in person, I invite you to follow along with our ongoing group process of
Systems to help you thrive
In response to the pandemic, we started having weekly meetings for the Learn and Get Smarter community, to brainstorm and support each other in helping our businesses -- and especially
Applying systems thinking to your course and business
At the Learn and Get Smarter community meeting on Saturday, July 4th, 2020 we learned from community member Rob Ruder about information systems as they relate to systems thinking in
How does your course help others?
As educators, we are here to help people learn and grow. As entrepreneurs, we are here to provide products and services that solve problems and meet needs.In a recent blog
Who are you here to serve?
In honor of Father's Day, which just passed, I'd like to send a note of appreciation to all members of the Learn and Get Smarter community who are Dads.Fathers are
Make this summer count
In this new reality we're living, with the Covid19 pandemic still very much present, more and more aspects of our lives are taking place online. This is especially true of
Online education as an antidote to racism
How does the mission of your business address racism? What can each of us do as online educators, to address this systemic problem? At the Learn and Get Smarter
Learning how to cope with challenging times
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary learning and extraordinary thought. We are all on an accelerated learning curve just trying to cope with what's going on around us every day.At the
Lean Forward
How do you deal with an unprecedented situation for which you have no pre-existing mental frameworks... no appropriate prior knowledge?That's the challenge our entire planet has been facing for the
The Perspectives of 2020
If you think back to New Year's Eve, 2020 (that sweet and innocent time Before the Dawn of Covid), you may remember that the general mood was one of happy
It’s Complicated
Most of us, I think, would agree that the current situation can best be defined as a "hot mess".But what KIND of a hot mess? Are we living in complete
Exploring Solutions and Finding Synergy
At our Learn and Get Smarter community meeting on Saturday, May 2nd, we started filling in the content for the course we're creating about how to survive and thrive under
Novel Solutions to a Novel Crisis
What do you do in a totally unprecedented situation, when there are no answers?One thing you can do when you don't yet have answers is focus on asking more effective
Developing a cognitive strategies course
At last Saturday's community meeting, we discussed the questions can we ask ourselves, that will help us survive and thrive under all conditions, and especially, the conditions we are all
Developing strategies to learn how to survive and thrive
At our community meeting last week, we used the structure of a "how to" course to think about how to survive and thrive under conditions of extreme uncertainty, specifically, the
Designing the different levels of a course
We've talked about the five domains of learning defined by educational researcher and theorist Robert M. Gagné.Gagné divided learning up into the following major types:Verbal information (declarative knowledge)Attitudes (mindset)Cognitive strategies
The current pandemic and learning
At the most fundamental, biological, level, learning is the process of adapting to one's environment in ways that promote survival. Which means that all of humanity is currently facing a
Engaging the senses in online learning
As the world goes through a sudden, enforced global experiment in living online, we've all come face to face with what the online interface can, and can't do well.The online
Creating Community Online
How are you feeling right now?What changes have you had to make to adapt to the coronavirus threat?Do you find yourself suddenly needing to take programs, meetings, clases, processes that
Three steps to take WHILE presenting instruction
You've warmed up your audience. You've gotten their attention. You've told them what they're about to learn, and you've reminded them of their prior related knowledge. It's time to start
Tiny House, Huge Impact
In my book, Course Design Formula®: How to Teach Anything to Anyone Online, I use the process of building a house as a metaphor for the process of building a
Three things to do BEFORE you present instruction
Educational theorist and researcher Robert M. Gagné observed skilled teachers in action, and noticed that they followed nine specific steps in order to create effective learning. He codified these steps
Love and Learning
Love is the greatest motivator for learning, that there is. We're biologically hard-wired to make it so. When we are newborn and helpless, our parents...the people who (hopefully!) love us
How to make anything easier to learn
As a student, or just a regular person going about your daily life, have you ever tried to learn how to do something, that was presented as being easy... and
What the Tech???
Technology. Can't live without it, can't hurl it out the window. Amiright?If your life has been anything like mine recently, the window hurling option may be starting to seem attractive.
What are your three words for 2020?
Master business storyteller Chris Brogan has come up with a fascinating and creative way to set himself and his business up for success for a new year. He calls his
The 9 Events of Instruction
What has to happen in order to actually teach someone something?If simply exposing people to information is not the same as actually teaching them, how DO we actually teach, especially
Teaching vs. exposing people to information
We’ve talked about the difference between being exposed to information (especially online), and actually learning it. But what about teaching? What’s the difference between simply presenting information online, and actually
What does it really take to learn something?
The internet makes it easy for anyone to share information with a global audience. That’s (generally) fantastic!But…that can also be problematic when it comes to online courses, because being exposed
Teaching online as a path of service: The time is NOW
Groundhog Day, Mindset Change, and the Value of Constraints
The 1993 movie Groundhog Day provides an insightful example of the value of
Use learning design to structure your whole business…and everything in it
Verbal Information. Mindset. Cognitive Strategy. Intellectual skills (How-to). Motor Skills.These are the five “Domains
My “Tinkerbell” moment… and yours
As creative experts and solopreneurs, facing challenges is part of what we
Why is transformation so hard?
We all say we WANT transformation, right?Online course creators NEED to focus
Focusing on What Works
A lot of things are not working right now.From the health care
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