My guest for today is Erick Prospero, the founder and chief Ninja at Ninja Tropic, which is NOT a self defense agency specializing in hot weather combat—but rather an eLearning animation company born out of passion and practicality. In this very practical conversation Erick and I talk about: 📣 What is Ninja Tropic? The genesis of Ninja Tropic because of a need to create microlearning at scale (or high volume) for the nonprofit universe… and how Eric and his now-team got it done 📽 Why there are...
Nov 08, 2022•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast My name is Ladek and I’m your Host from Open LMS and this is episode number 102 with Dr. Pooja Agarwal. Dr. Agarwal is an assistant professor at the Berklee College of Music, an expert in cognitive science and author of the book “Powerful Teaching” and the website retrievalpractice.org. In this very practical conversation Dr. Agarwal and I talk about: 🎓 How she has created a foundation for how to think about education as a process of getting learning “out”rather than “in” - the heads of learner...
Nov 01, 2022•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hello everyone! My name is Ladek and my guest for today is Michael Phillips, Associate Professor of Digital Transformations at Monash University. In this humanitarian conversation Mike and I talk about 🎓 Monash University, part of the group of 8 research intensive universities in Australia, with the largest and most comprehensive faculty of education in Australia (and #12 in the world) 🎒 What digital transformation means for Michael, his career personally, and the future of education writ larg...
Oct 25, 2022•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hello everyone! I’m Ladek and my guest for today is LaTarshia Wooten, a learning experience designer, a 2021 30 under 30 award recipient, and someone you want to listen to about building a career in eLearning. In this ‘well designed’ conversation we talk about: 🎓 How LaTarshia discovered the path to becoming a learning experience designer after beginning as a marketer, and —hint— it wasn’t through the typical university experience ⬆ Her experience working for a small accounting firm, and how th...
Oct 18, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast My guests for today are Amy Price & Becky Keith of Intelliboard. Amy is a big data nerd who moved from a compliance role, to teaching, to her current role as a client services manager. Becky is a big instructional technology nerd, with a background in the classroom who is also the Vice President of Platforms. In this 'analytical' conversation Amy, Becky and I talk about: ⏭ Intelliboard Next, and why everyone should be excited about this next generation analytics platform that evolv...
Oct 11, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast My guest for today is German Rojas, Director of Global Consulting Services at Open LMS. In this insightful conversation German and I talk about: 😅 What exactly Open LMS professional services are about, and how our clients and other actors leverage them in the open source space. We also discuss when a common request becomes a “feature,” and when his team has says “no” to a request 🎓 The future of education, now that we’re fully in the new hybrid reality, especially focusing on lifelong learning...
Oct 04, 2022•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast My guest for today is Debshila Basu Mallick, Director of Research for OpenStax. Debshila has a background in experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience, with a PhD from Rice. She’s been with OpenStax since 2015. Fun fact: She started in OpenStax as an intern. In this ‘analytical’ conversation, Debshila and I discuss: ℹ Her research background and how that work has helped develop her current practice at OpenStax, the largest provider of open source textbooks in the world ⁉ We ponder the q...
Sep 23, 2022•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast My guest for today is Naomi Pusch, a highly experienced Senior Instructional Designer in the public sector L&D space. I invited Naomi on the show today after learning more about the types of organizations she delivers for which, unfortunately, shall remain unnamed. Suffice it to say, we’d all usually consider these organizations highly structured, traditional and anything but agile. In this forward thinking conversation, Naomi and I discuss: ⚔ When she crossed over from a trainer to a design...
Sep 08, 2022•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Amy Tessitore, Open LMS My guest for today is Amy Tessitore, Senior Manager of Education and Engagement Services at Open LMS. Amy’s work centers around the Open LMS Academy, which is focused on helping clients and the public at large learn about how to teach online and create killer learning outcomes. In this supportive conversation, Amy and I discuss: 🏞 What typical or common things that can go “wrong” on the day of a high stakes assessment in an online learning environment are ⚠️ The most imp...
Sep 01, 2022•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Fred Dixon, Blindside Networks My guest for today is Fred Dixon, CEO of BlindSide Networks and the Product Manager of the ultra famous Moodle™ plugin BigBlueButton: In this connected conversation, Fred and I discuss: 👨💻 How BigBlueButton grew exponentially during the pandemic and the fact that it’s baked into the Moodle™ core software in version 4.0 💍 What it means to focus on a single market (online learning) and the core offerings of integration, engagement and analytics for improving lear...
Aug 25, 2022•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. John Medina, University of Washington School of Medicine My guest for today is Dr. John Medina, Affiliate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and the author of Brain Rules, a best-selling book spawning a franchise covering Work, Babies, Aging and more. In this massively stimulating conversation, John and I discuss: 🛠 How the brain is actually focused solely on surviving, and learns only as long as it sustains its prime goal; and why the learning e...
Aug 17, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Julie Dirksen, Usable Learning Julie Dirksen is an instructional designer who has been an expert in the field for many years. She's probably best known for her groundbreaking 2011 book titled, "Design for How People Learn," which still holds up as one of those first books you should read if you're getting started in instructional design. The second edition was published in 2015. She is also the founder and curator of UsableLearning.com. In this super practical and sometimes c...
Aug 11, 2022•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Laura Warnier, GoStudent My guest for today is Laura Warnier, the Chief Growth Officer for the online tutoring platform GoStudent, which is (as of this recording) the only EdTech unicorn in Europe. She oversees partnerships, marketing, international expansion and breaking down silos while boosting collaboration for the company. In this fast-paced conversation, Laura and I discuss: 👨👩👧 How, just over 3 years ago, she became the second fulltime employee of a company that is currently valued a...
Aug 04, 2022•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rick Lozano, ricklozano.com My guest for today is Rick Lozano, a leadership consultant, keynote speaker and author of the book, “Acoustic Leadership: Develop A Leadership Culture That Resonates.” Rick uses music as his primary mode of communicating and helping others to grow. In this musical conversation, Rick and I discuss: 👑 Why leadership in the L&D space matters. Whether you have “leader” in your title or not, your learners will still see you in a leadership role. 👔 Why leadership does...
Jul 28, 2022•54 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast David Kelly, The Learning Guild My guest for today is David Kelly, the CEO of The Learning Guild, one of the largest communities of professionals who support the design, development, strategy, and management of organizational learning. They publish numerous titles you’re probably already aware of and they are also the conveners of DevLearn, one of the most popular learning conferences out there. In this forward looking conversation, David and I discuss: 🗂 What it’s like to organize and guide a ...
Jul 21, 2022•50 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast Valarie Oleinik, ValaryWithAWhy.com My guest for today is Valary Oleinik, who can be found at ValaryWithaWhy.com She self describes herself as the “Chief Disruptor” wherever she goes to work on gamification, creative problem solving and helping people re-think their learning design challenges. In this snappy conversation, Valary and I discuss: When gamification became a “thing” for her in days past when she was working in corporate learning, and when she proposed a research project about gamific...
Jul 07, 2022•49 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Elizabeth Dalton, IntelliBoard My guest for today is Elizabeth Dalton, Learning & Development Analyst at Intelliboard. She’s kind of a legend in the eLearning universe around data and analytics, formerly working on predictive analytics with Moodle™. Before that she worked as an Instructional Designer at Granite State College in New Hampshire, Sun Microsystems and, let’s just say, she’s definitely someone you want to be listening to. In this detailed conversation, Elizabeth and I discuss: How...
Jun 30, 2022•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Connie Malamed, theelearningcoach.com My guest for today is Connie Malamed, curator of theelearningcoach.com, which she founded way back in 2009. She has been in the visual, instructional and learning design field for more than 20 years and has, literally, seen it all. In this insightful conversation, Connie and I discuss: Why visual design is so important in learning today, given the fact that so much data is transmitted visually in online learning Why the two most important things to consider ...
Jun 16, 2022•35 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast № 86 Kenneth Chapman, D2L My guest for today is Kenneth Chapman, who runs the customer advisory program for D2L. As he likes to put it, he was "raised by wolves" in the EdTech business - having done it all over the past 20 year. Today, his work focuses on listening to clients, partners and competitors and reflecting what he learns back to D2L to improve their products. In this insightful conversation, Ken and I discuss: How the pandemic has given D2L confidence and hope for the future ...
Jun 09, 2022•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast SEASON 2 № 2 Jess Corinne, Learnfully My guest for today is Jess Corinne who is Head of Educational Services at Learnfully. Her passion is making sure that instructors have the tools they need to effectively serve learners with special needs. In this wide ranging conversation Jess and I discuss: What it means to be Head of educational services for Learnfully and how her work impacts and oversees all of the organization’s delivery for families and learners. What exactly executive functioning is a...
Jun 02, 2022•50 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast SEASON 2 PREMIERE № 1 Al Kingsley, NetSupport My guest for today is Al Kingsley who is an EdTech thought leader and disruptor, author, and CEO of the company NetSupport, which has been providing technology solutions for education for more than 30 years. In this wide ranging conversation Al and I discuss: What priorities schools should continue to look at as we come out of the pandemic and enter a new normal, including social and mental health issues, implementing what we know works in EdTech, an...
May 26, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast № 83 Ben Lowell, Class My guest for today is Ben Lowell who works on Strategy for Class - a new learning management system or platform from the founder of Blackboard that works on top of Zoom and is built using the Zoom SDK (software development kit). In this energizing conversation Ben and I talk about: The virtues, benefits and pitfalls of both online learning and in person learning, and when it is a good idea to use them (or not) - hint: there is no one right answer and Ben walks us through a...
May 10, 2022•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast № 82 Josh Cavalier, American Tire Distributors My guest for today is Josh Cavalier, a super experienced Learning Architect whose work has spanned almost 30 years and includes an incredible amount of accolades. Josh has always been at the forefront of educational video and his current mission is to “to teach everyone the secrets of creating enduring instructional videos.” In this very exciting conversation we talk about: 📼 Why video may not be here to stay, at least in the sense we have of it to...
Apr 08, 2022•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast LMSPulse Media https://linktr.ee/lmspulse Subscribe for the latest news, practice and thought leadership at eLearnMagazine.com
Apr 06, 2022•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast № 81 Mike Taylor My guest for today is Mike Taylor, a learning consultant “on a mission to rid the world of ineffectual training.” Over the decades, Mike has had basically every possible job there is in Learning & Development and he regularly shares his expertise with a very large online following. In this episode, Mike and I discuss a particular passion of his: The “No-Code” movement. A way for everyone, including non-tech-savvy educators, to leverage the power of modern technologies to inc...
Mar 24, 2022•33 min•Ep 81•Transcript available on Metacast № 80 Mark Lassoff, Framework Tech Media My guest for today is Mark Lassoff, founder of Framework Tech Media. After achieving tremendous success on platforms like Udemy with his quality video content, Mark shares with us his wisdom and expertise on his “video experience” learning platform, as well as in communities and the world’s most popular EdTech conferences. In this visually focused conversation we talk about: 📷 Mark’s experiences with creating compelling video. Newsflash: It’s not about eq...
Mar 18, 2022•41 min•Ep 80•Transcript available on Metacast № 079 Estefania Fernandez, e-bloom My guest for today is Estefania Fernandez, a serial educational entrepreneur, youth leader and polyglot originally from Spain. After relocating to Berlin, Estefania created her “Business Model Republic” Meetup group to connect with others. This group exploded to more than 6 thousand members, and became an obvious launching point for her latest venture: e-bloom. E-bloom is an international community where young business graduates gain skills by participating in ...
Mar 10, 2022•44 min•Ep 79•Transcript available on Metacast № 78 Ray Blakney, Live Lingua My guest for today is Ray Blakney, an edu-preneur and founder of Live Lingua, a one-on-one online language learning service. In 2015, Live Lingua was named among the Best 360 Entrepreneurial Companies in America by Entrepreneur Magazine. In this very robust conversation Ray and I talk about: ☎ Languages! Why they’re so important for all kinds of reasons including economic, cognitive and cultural; why they’re so hard to learn, but also the many ways technology has ch...
Mar 03, 2022•42 min•Ep 78•Transcript available on Metacast № 77 Jodi McPherson & Leah Jewell, UPSKLS My guests for today are Leah Jewell and Jodi McPherson, the duo behind upskls.com —that’s U-P-S-K-L-S dot com —, a service slash consultancy slash coaching service that aims to fill a very clear gap in the intersection between young students needing experience to join the job market, and employers articulating the skills they actually need, by connecting one another through projects. In this very “ upscale” conversation we talk about: 🤔 Needs assess...
Feb 24, 2022•50 min•Ep 77•Transcript available on Metacast № 76 Courtney Staff, Author, The Online Teaching Handbook My guest for today is Courtney Ostaff, a bona fide “classical” teacher who realized that, after seeing so many of her colleagues struggling with teaching online, she had to help bring some clear signals into the noise. The result is her book titled “ The Online Teaching Handbook ,” a refreshing, no-nonsense guide written by a proven and experienced educator. If you’ve never quite gotten comfortable with the new normal, Courtney has your b...
Feb 16, 2022•35 min•Ep 76•Transcript available on Metacast 
