Lately, I’ve noticed that genuinely happy people seem to do less, not more. They’re not optimizing every minute—they’re protecting their peace. Maybe that’s the real productivity hack: fewer checkboxes, more clarity. A good reminder that in learning (and life), less busy often means more impact.
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Format experiment alert: I’ve trimmed things down a bit. Love it? Hate it? Want the longer reads back? Hit reply and let me know.
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Most L&D teams build like artists when they should think like marketers.
Marketers rarely start from scratch — they remix, reuse, and reframe what already works. A single idea becomes a dozen assets: a video, a quote post, a thread, a slide. Yet in learning, we rebuild the whole house every time someone asks for a new course.
This post is a sharp reminder that repurposing isn’t lazy — it’s strategic. If you’ve got a deck, recording, or playbook sitting idle, you’ve got raw material for new learning moments. The trick is shifting from “What can I make?” to “What can I reuse?”
ARCHED: Keeping Humans in the Loop with AI for Learning Design
Most AI design tools promise “instant courses,” but that shortcut often cuts humans out. The ARCHED framework flips that script — putting educators back in charge. Developed by researchers from Florida, Johns Hopkins, and Northeastern, ARCHED builds transparency and collaboration into every step of AI-assisted instructional design.
Instead of spitting out full lessons, ARCHED breaks design into stages: set objectives, refine with AI feedback, and align with Bloom’s taxonomy. The human stays the director; AI plays supporting roles — generating ideas, checking alignment, and surfacing gaps.
Early results show AI can match expert-level quality when guided well, but the real win is accountability: every AI suggestion ties back to sound pedagogy.
You’ve probably felt that moment when your learners’ eyes glaze over, not because the topic is dull, but because their working memory is bursting at the seams. This post examines how we often burden learners with extraneous cognitive load—the mental clutter that doesn’t help learning—when what we need are clearer paths for genuine thinking.
Instead of piling on visuals, sidebars, next-step pop-ups, and chunked-out micro-modules just because we can, this piece walks through practical design moves: reduce distractions, unify layout, and guide attention deliberately. The goal? Free up mental bandwidth so learners can focus on what matters.
Too much on-screen noise drains attention fast—learn how to cut clutter, guide focus, and design learning that the brain can actually handle.
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This is the conversation that caught my ear this week. Check out previous episodes in the Friday Finds podcast playlist.
Beyond the Algorithm: Why the Future of Learning Is Still Human
Ross Stevenson explores how AI is reshaping L&D, sharing lessons from his journey as a practitioner turned consultant. He offers practical advice on experimenting with AI, adapting to change, and keeping curiosity and creativity at the heart of learning.
This book is for everyone tired of watching marketers effortlessly grab attention while we're over here begging people to care about compliance training.
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