DevLearn is an event put on each year by The eLearning Guild. Like last year, this year’s event was held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand. Not too shabby! We like to think of DevLearn as the “Woodstock” of the eLearning community. Some of the best and brightest from the learning community come together to learn from one another, share best practices, and explore what the future of eLearning design and development may hold. This year, the millennials of GAAP Dynamics took to the strip for 3 days of inspiration and collaboration. And, just like last year, we were not disappointed. This post will share some of our favorite highlights from the 3-day conference.

Get the creative juices flowing

The theme of this year’s conference was all about sparking creativity, which, as a former art student, is a theme I hold dear! It may at first seem counterintuitive to see this theme at a conference for mostly Learning & Development professionals, but it really goes hand in hand with learning. Thinking about things creatively leads to innovation and change. And, ultimately, don’t all L&D professionals want to inspire knowledge gain and action changes in those they’re designing learning programs for?

One of the other reasons I love the theme of creativity is that it discourages complacency. It doesn’t matter how you’ve taught a topic for the past decade. Just because you’ve done it that way before, doesn’t make it the best way to do it. Don’t believe me? Just look at the evolution of learning. Before, the only way to learn was in a classroom setting, sitting through a lecture. Learners had little control over what topics were presented and when. Now, learners can drive the process and learn what they want to learn, when they want to learn it (YouTube, anyone?) in the method that best suits them. Not to mention, a visually appealing project, especially in the eLearning world, is much more fun to sit through than a bland one. For example, look how much fun it is to learn about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in this eLearning of ours.

Smaller is better

As someone who stands 5’1”, this is music to my ears! But I’m actually talking about the newest trend in the learning community - microlearning. Microlearning, and specifically the use of video learning, is the next big thing in the L&D community. But it’s not new. Video and the use of small, bite-sized lessons has been around for years. For example, anyone with children who have ever watched Sesame Street knows exactly what I’m talking about. Sesame Street perfected the formula for both microlearning and video learning years ago! So, why all the focus and hubbub now?

Well, for starters, technology has been changing rapidly and has made it easy for anyone to pick up their smart phone and shoot a video. And the internet has increased everyone’s access and appetite for information. People don’t want to wait for a formal training next summer to get the answers to their questions. They want to be able to immediately search for their question and find the answer. They need the information when they’re out in the field, doing their job, not when they’re sitting in a week-long training program.

Additionally, microlearning, whether it be video, voice-over PowerPoint, eLearning, explainer videos, job aids, etc., help fight against the dreaded “forgetting curve.” Most of what people learn at these formal training programs is forgotten if it is not immediately applied. Therefore, even if you’ve taught your people the information they need at training, they still may not remember it when they need it. Not to mention, the advent of the iPhone and social media has reduced everyone’s attention spans drastically over the years! Microlearning makes this information available to them in their moment of need. For example, check out this quick GAAP Chat video of ours, explaining Step 5 of the new Revenue Recognition guidance.

We are all storytellers (and liars!)

This theme stuck out to me last year, and I saw it again on display in this year’s conference. We are all humans, and as humans, we seek an emotional connection with others. There are a few tools available to help us make those connections. One is face-to-face interactions with those around us. A student in a classroom is more likely to pay attention to the instructor because they can see and hear and interact with that instructor. The learner gets to know some level of personal information about the instructor, even if it’s just the color of their eyes.

This face-to-face interaction and personal relationship is missing in the virtual environment. So how do we make that connection in eLearning? We tell a story. The story makes the content more relatable, more realistic, and more interesting to the learner than simply reading some mundane accounting literature. And part of storytelling is building that story.

Penn Jillette was the keynote speaker on the first day of the conference and he believes that we are all storytellers, and that part of telling that story is lying to the audience. In pulling the pieces together that we think will have the most interest to the learner, we knowingly omit other facts that we don’t feel add to the interest. Therefore, in crafting our story, we lie. But at least we have good intentions! It was an interested premise, but in the end, he’s probably right. We craft the story that we think will resonate most with the learner to make our content as engaging, interactive, and memorable as possible.

Communication is the name of the game

We also noted that a lot of the sessions we went to were about tips, tricks, and ideas for improving processes, designs, programming, you name it. And we love that almost all of these sessions talked about the importance of communication. It is SO very crucial to have great internal communication with your team members and external communication with your clients.

Proper internal communication is extremely important to ensuring efficiency and knowledge sharing. Learn a cool new trick in Storyline or PowerPoint (or any program you may be using)? Don’t just assume that everyone else knows it. Share it. Find a way to cut down the time it takes to perform a task? Share it. Want to reshape the direction your career is heading? Share it.

And when you’re working with a client, communication is just as, if not more, important. But, communication is a two-way street. Make sure you are asking questions and listening more than you are talking. Make sure you are clear on the goals, objectives, and the deliverable before you start on a big project. One of our favorite tid-bits of advice was the phrase “Yes, and…” We are in the business of client service. Sometimes our clients may come to us with requests that are out of scope or may take more time that we originally intended. Instead of saying “no” or failing to meet expectations, reply with “Yes, we can make that change, and I’ll get back to you tomorrow with when I’ll be able to do it and the impact to the timeline or budget.” It just sets a much more positive tone, but also gives you the flexibility you need to be able to assess the impact the change may have on your deliverable or bottom line.

Final thoughts

Does all of this feel familiar to you? Well, maybe you happened to read last year’s post! In looking back at our post after last year’s DevLearn, you’ll note some striking similarities, despite the fact that we attended new sessions, had a new theme, and the two events were separated by a year. Coincidence? We think not. Whether you’re in eLearning, learning and development, accounting, or something in between, creativity, innovation, engagement, and effective communication are certainly themes that never go out of style. At least, we hope not!

Want to learn more from DevLearn? Check out the backchannel where you can find curated content from the event. And, if you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out the post on the session we presented, The Power of Sound: Simple Tips for Audio Editing.