Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Old concepts new to me

Switching teams last week has left me with some extra time to read, learn, and think. I wanted to note some of the key themes that I have been thinking about. 

"New approaches to performance mean change, and preparing people for change is the business of training and its only justification." (Gilbert, T. 1982. "A Question of Performance Part II: Applying the PROBE Model." Training and Development Journal)

We commonly think about training as a solution to teach people things. Redefining training as "preparing people for change" is very compelling to me. I think that it really helps people focus on the performance impact that training has. 


"The process of design is not just for designers, but for anyone whose business it is to create or lead something... anyone whose job it is to imagine something that does not yet exist and then plot the path from imagination to existence." (Pacione, C. 2010. "Evolution of the Mind: A Case for Design Literacy." Interactions)

I love the description of what a designer does in the statement above. I don't think I had ever thought about what it really means to design something; as an instructional designer, I certainly imagine what doesn't exist and then make that solution happen.


"There are more starry-eyed engineers out there building incredibly hard-to-use things than there are competent designers trying to make things comprehensible and pleasurable for human beings." (Pacione, C. 2010. "Evolution of the Mind: A Case for Design Literacy." Interactions)

This is highly relevant to my new role of working on the engineering training team!