I wrapped up a crazy June on Friday with a presentation at the ASTD Houston Technology Conference. I enjoyed having a discussion about usability and accessibility with about 30 training folks, centered around my Remember The User presentation:
While it was rewarding to learn I opened some eyes to simple things like user testing and color blindness, it was a fair — and sad — representation of the state of the learning field that no one in the room was doing any true user testing or knew much about their audience(s). We’re a rapid-course-building industry, unfortunately, but I’m continuing to raise awareness, and there’s hope.
I spoke with a few folks after the session that seemed genuinely interested in their learners’ experiences. I hope to continue those discussions, and I encourage others to get in touch with me to discuss what they’re doing and how they’re doing it, and what successes or failures they’ve encountered.
I was also encouraged by a presentation on social learning that, admittedly, I had very low expectations for. But it was not a sales pitch, nor was it just about jumping on the social bandwagon. This presentation was more about how humans learn socially, and how we can and should not only encourage, but leverage that inside organizations. Kudos to Chip Wilson for a dynamic after-lunch presentation.
I’m looking forward to a relatively quiet rest of the summer, as far as travel and conferences go. I’m ready to start building and improving things. I’m also looking forward to writing and publishing more.