The Ding-O-Meter

Callum Goodwilliam is a learning consultant who has held senior learning roles in businesses including Shopify and General Assembly . Phil and I wanted to ask Callum how he found himself in the position of being a learning leader. In this episode, Callum talks about the importance of leadership as ‘action’, the value of maintaining a beginner’s mind, and the skills that have enabled him to navigat...

Freelancing is increasingly a career option for young professionals. This is partly as a result of the gig economy, but also because it is a natural fit for particular professional disciplines.   In this episode, our guest is Matt Dowling, founder of Freelancer Club. We'll be exploring what skills a freelancer needs, and how we might design learning experiences that prepare students to become conf...

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty our ability to read and spell. If you don’t have dyslexia, it can be difficult to imagine what it’s like. Our guest in this episode is Rob Roach, an author, researcher and educator who has dyslexia. Rob recently wrote a book to help people experience the effects of dyslexia on reading and comprehension. In this episode, Rob provides valuable insights to help learn...

Getting your first job has never been trickier. Businesses are increasingly concerned they don't understand Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and school leavers are increasingly mistrustful of the traditional value propositions that businesses offer Fortunately, people like Derek Plewes from Youthfully are on hand to help. In this episode, Derek explains how he has designed the Youthfully coaching experien...

Duration plays a key role in learning design. If a learning experience is too long, learners will get bored. But if it’s too short, it can produce anxiety and strategic learning. In this episode, Phil and I examine how designing short, purposeful learning ‘sprints’ can help learners overcome procrastination by making something quickly. We'll also discuss the Kick About, a fortnightly sprint-ba...

January is the season for trends. In this episode Phil and Tony confront the issue of trends head on and question the extent to which learning design should be influenced by trends. We’ll be looking at how the trend of personalised learning paths might actually be working against the need to professionalise learners. We’ll also be talking about microlearning, slow learning, and the value of detoxi...

In corporate training, a learning experience is much more likely to work if it aligns with the existing culture of the business. But how do you do this? Marisa Knowles from the People Untapped agency has done this a lot, and in this episode she shares her top tips and advice for designing into a company's culture and values.

We're proud to introduce our new Thinking Tools series - a collection of bite-sized deep dives into learning theories. In this episode, we're looking at Cognitive Load Theory and why it's such a useful tool for learning designers.

The strategic value of learning design is not yet widely recognised. In this episode, data specialist Penelope Bellegarde explains how learning design can help businesses make better use of their data. We examine what good looks like in terms of data-driven learning, and what kind of training programmes can help businesses use their data more effectively to learn and adapt.

It's easy to overlook what happens before learners embark on a learning experience. But failing to 'onboard' learners effectively can have a significant impact on their success. In this episode, Ellie Soccorsy explains how she onboards new hires into the company culture at Edyn, a hotel and hospitality business, and discusses the implications of onboarding for learning design.

Amy Whitehead is the Director of Red Stag Recruitment, and a learning design recruitment specialist. Amy helps businesses businesses of all sizes find quality learning designers, from startups to edtech giants, and has a wealth of experience at placing candidates in learning-related roles. In this episode, Amy explains what hiring managers want from learning designers, the differences between univ...

Heather Maclean is an Education and Recognition advisor at Queen Mary university, London, and is a Specialist in Inclusive learning strategies. Heather has extensive experience in working with both tutors and students to identify and remove barriers to learning. In this episode, Heather shares a wealth of practical tips and advice for designing more inclusive learning experiences.

In this episode, we talk with Rob Hamblen, founder of the LEAP design agency where he helps companies build better digital products and experiences. Rob provides an insight into the relationship between UX design and learning design, and explains how design sprints can guide the learning design process. He also shares his views about the value of learning designers working alongside other design d...

Geraldine Murphy was a learning designer before learning design was invented. She's worked with universities, startups and large organisations to design and deliver engaging learning experiences. In this episode, Geraldine explains how using principles of andragogy can help learning designers harness intrinsic motivation in learners, and shares her views on how learning designers can work alongsid...

In this episode, our guest is Agnese Spona, Founder of Women in Customer Experience and Managing Director of Made For Customer Experience. Agnese works at the intersection of Service, User and Customer Experience design to help businesses design and deliver market-leading experiences. During the podcast, Agnese helps us examine the intersection of UX, CX, service and learning design to consider ho...

Alice Brazil-Burns is an award-winning producer, human-centred storyteller and researcher in User Experience design. In this episode, Alice explains how listening to stories from across an organisation is integral to designing effective learning experiences and systems. Alice has a background in theatre, and she uses the knowledge and skills from her theatrical training to help learning designers...

The world needs more translators and fewer innovators, says Tomer Garzberg. Tomer is the founder and CEO of GRONADE, an enterprise optimisation and blockchain growth-hacking company in Sydney. He's an IBM Global Entrepreneur, TED speaker and innovation advisor, and he believes we should be thinking differently about education if we're going to prepare graduates for the real future of work. Listen...

What metaphors might best describe some of the side-effects of the pandemic on universities, their staff and their teaching?  How can educators and their learners keep up with the increasing rapidity of new knowledge, and what do we mean when we say, ‘beware the creepy treehouse?’ In this episode, our guest is Jeremy Hunsinger , Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Wilfrid Laurier...

What has the pandemic taught us about the diverse needs of learners? How should we be designing learning in response to a digital-first higher education environment? In this episode, our guest is Dr. Adity Saxena, an associate professor of Media Education based in New Delhi, India. Adity is a creative educator who has done lots of work in the area of intercultural communication, and in this episod...

To what extent are we mindful of how we communicate? How could we communicate better? And what about when we're communicating online? Our guests in this episode are Zanne Gaynor and Kathryn Alevizos from Acrobat Global, who are experts in helping people communicate more effectively. Zanne and Kathryn are language specialists and authors who provide practical advice and guidance to overcome the cha...

Tom Whitford is Head of Learning Design at Curio, a global learning consultancy, and he has a research background in designing social online learning experiences and communities. He also has a lot of experience of working with clients to solve problems arising from poor learning design. In this episode, Tom shares his advice and tips for ensuring that online learning design is not only student-cen...

For nearly 20 years, Professor Constance Steinkuehler has undertaken research into video and online games. She's worked as a policy advisor to the Obama presidency, and she's a leading light in the quest for greater diversity and inclusion in the world of e-sports. In this episode, Professor Steinkuehler shares some key insights into the transformative potential of online gaming, and shows how lea...

Paul Hoskins is Principal at Curio, a global higher education consultancy. Paul has been at the forefront of digital transformation in Higher Education for over 30 years, during which he grew Precedent, his digital agency, into a global education consulting business. The reason were so chuffed to plug Paul into the Ding-O-Meter is that, as Principal of Curio, he has a privileged insight into the c...

Jo Nolan is the managing director of cultural development agency Screen South, who connect artists, film-makers and digital creatives with funding opportunities to bring awesome projects and ideas to life. Jo brings people together from across the arts, heritage, leisure, tourism and education to form partnerships that create opportunities for the next generation of digital creatives. In this epis...

Jordan Buckner is a film-maker, artist and lecturer in animation. In response to lockdown, he moved his teaching into online spaces that his students were already using - particularly Twitch and Discord. The result was not only minimal disruption to students' learning experience, but also the opportunity to give them a window into Jordan's professional life as a creative professional. In this epis...