@tommcdowall.bsky.social
Helping Learning and Development professionals evolve their practice for greater impact.
We love to mock vanity metrics in L&D, but sometimes they’re the first sign something’s wrong.
The trick isn’t to ignore them, it’s to read them differently. Today’s article explores how.
🔗 bit.ly/4oEHsnU
#LND #LearningAndDevelopment #Data #PerformanceSupport
We need to talk about what happens when we start treating machines like people.
The science is early, but the warning signs are clear.
When we call AI a colleague, the humans pay the price.
Read the full piece ↓
🔗 bit.ly/4nhSPAM
#AI #LND #FutureOfWork
Are we designing for certainty, or for change?
Experiment-led design helps L&D stay flexible, useful, and relevant when frameworks can’t keep up.
Check out the full article.
🔗 bit.ly/4hjhpQm
#LND #InstructionalDesign #LearningAndDevelopment #Experimentation
The problem isn’t attention, it’s distraction.
Human attention hasn’t changed, but the world has been engineered to steal it.
Before we make training shorter, maybe ask: are we giving people a fair chance to focus?
🔗 bit.ly/3KY3jb8
#LND #InstructionalDesign #LearningAndDevelopment
New Sunday series: L&D Myth-Slaying! 🐉
This week’s dragon: the idea that people can learn while doing other things.
Spoiler: multitasking kills learning.
Each Sunday, I’ll tackle a new myth with evidence and plain English.
#LND #LearningMyths #InstructionalDesign
🔗 bit.ly/4ovK0Vi
If we want to call ourselves evidence-informed, we need to show our working.
Cite your sources. Credit the people whose research you build on.
It’s not just honesty; it’s how others keep learning, too.
🔗 bit.ly/47atByd
#LND #LearningAndDevelopment #Research
Personalisation feels like a no-brainer, right?
More tailored = better learning.
Except… the evidence doesn’t really agree.
Today’s Substack looks at when it actually helps, when it doesn’t, and why that matters.
🔗 bit.ly/4h9PEtA
#LND #InstructionalDesign #IDTInsights #EvidenceInformedPractice
How are you using desktop wallpapers at work?
Probably not at all.
But they’re free real estate for behavioural nudges.
Subtle, visual reminders can drive change without a course in sight.
Where else could you place a nudge in your workplace?
🔗 bit.ly/3J4bbqU
#LearningAndDevelopment #LND #Nudge
I've been thinking a lot about Alexander Stubb's address at the UN.
His ideas around values, interests, and power really got me thinking about how we work with and around others. This got me thinking about Julian Stodd's work on the shadows we cast.
🔗 bit.ly/4nKTOu6
#LND #HR #Leadership
Compliance training works when it’s hyper-contextual: the exact actions, decisions, and processes people face in their role, nothing else.
That’s today’s article in my week-long series.
What’s the most irrelevant detail you’ve sat through?
🔗 bit.ly/4mzQNvr
Why is compliance training, with budget and leadership backing, still the part of L&D we’re most embarrassed by?
First in a four-part series on how we can do better.
🔗 bit.ly/4nQh225
What’s the first word you’d use to describe compliance training?
What does community really mean in L&D?
How do we tell the difference between a genuine space built for members & a sales funnel with a shiny label?
Check out the full article: bit.ly/46mVPpe
#LND #Community #Networking
Not every L&D event is worth your time.
Before booking I ask:
- what type of event is it,
- whose interests come first,
- and how honest are they about it?
My latest article explores how I decide where to show up.
🔗 bit.ly/46DRf7g
#LND #CPD #Events #Conference #Exhibition
When was the last time a podcast actually changed how you worked?
In L&D, podcasts only shine when part of something bigger, campaigns, CPD, or culture change.
I’ve shared practical ways to make that happen. Link in comments.
🔗 bit.ly/4nB7wzz
#LND #InstructionalDesign #Podcasting #ELearning
🎥 Video doesn’t need to be high-budget or high-stress.
Join our free webinar on 25 Sept, 16:15 BST, to learn how to create confident, engaging learning videos without a studio setup.
🔗 bit.ly/3VjuT4C
#LND #Webinar #CPD #InstructionalDesign #ContentCreation
Just read the WCAG 3.0 draft.
No more A/AA/AAA, now Bronze–Gold.
Moving from pass/fail to a spectrum of progress
Feels like accessibility growing up, covering more needs and more tech.
Exciting step forward.
What do you think of the shift?
🔗 bit.ly/3VjuT4C
🎙️Final call! Our webinar on podcasting for workplace learning is today.
Sounds Like Learning: Creating Impactful Podcasts for the Workplace
⏰16:00 BST
We’ll cover when podcasts work in L&D, and how to create them without expensive gear.
🔗 bit.ly/45ZNRn9
#WorkplaceLearning #Podcasts #LND
Our Access All Learners webinar was a fantastic success last week, and I'm pleased to be able to share the full recording with you all today.
bit.ly/4pcT4iR
The audience questions were wonderful, and they will form the basis of an article I will share later this week.
#LND #Accessibility #A11y
You can read the full article over on Substack: bit.ly/47U8YIC
9/9
How do you handle situations where the facts and what you feel don't align?
What processes do you use to ensure that your actions are supported by those facts and are not simply an emotional reaction?
8/9
It also touches on the need to get comfortable with the fact that some things are incorrect and that being wrong about something is natural and positive, and an opportunity to learn and grow. We fail in our workplace responsibilities if we don't create that feeling around being wrong.
7/9
The article itself talks about the importance of fact and how in our own practice we are perhaps guilty of holding on to things because of how they make us feel, even when we know they are not evidence-supported.
6/9
Eventually, I did land on some ideas and managed to string today's article together. As you can imagine, it's got more than a handful of footnotes. In fact, it's got one right at the start. Something I didn't think I'd be doing again so soon, after Sunday's mammoth article.
5/9
I wrote a bunch of stuff that is not in any way L&D related and so shan't be shared here. LinkedIn's got room for a lot, but I don't think amateur fairy tales really have a spot here.
4/9
I have no particular love for Swindon, but I also don't hate it. And it is sad to see a place you've known for so many years play host to this kind of nastiness.
When in doubt, I like to write.
Now, ideally, I would have written the newsletter, but that wasn't happening, so instead...
3/9
It's a job that I quite look forward to. But this week, in all honesty, I just couldn't muster the energy for it.
Instead, I was treated to pictures of my hometown being caught up in the wave of nationalist nonsense currently sweeping the UK.
2/9
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed there was no #CPDWeekly newsletter yesterday.
I usually write the newsletter on Sunday evening, pulling together my thoughts from the previous week, content catch-ups, the editorial, and of course, all the events for the coming week.
1/9
Most orgs start AI adoption with vendors and demos.
The smart ones start with principles.
Decide what matters: transparency, oversight, integration, before tech.
That way, vendors fit you, not the other way round.
🔗 bit.ly/47NX82M
#LND #AI #DigitalLearning #EdTech
Teresa Torres’ Continuous Discovery Habits is written for product teams, but L&D has a lot to learn from it.
Stop one-off needs analyses.
Talk to people regularly.
Test assumptions.
Treat every solution as an experiment.
🔗 bit.ly/4fXwsyt
#LND #LearningAndDevelopment #ProductThinking
The debate rumbles on: should training be easy or hard?
The truth is in the messy middle.
Keep access simple, make the learning challenging. Desirable difficulty builds capability; pointless friction just wastes effort.
🔗 bit.ly/4fTW0gd
#LND #LearningScience #InstructionalDesign
