Marc J. Rosenberg, Ph.D., is a management consultant, writer, educator, and expert in the world of training, organizational learning, eLearning, knowledge management and performance improvement. He is the author of the best-selling books, E-Learning: Strategies for Delivering Knowledge in the Digital Age (McGraw-Hill), and Beyond E-Learning: Approaches and Technologies to Enhance Organizational Knowledge, Learning and Performance (Wiley/Pfeiffer). Marc is past president and honorary life member of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). He holds a Ph.D. in instructional design, plus degrees in communications and marketing, and the Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) designation. Dr. Rosenberg has spoken at The White House, debated eLearning at Oxford University, keynoted dozens of professional and business conferences, authored more than 50 articles and book chapters, and is a frequently quoted expert in major business and trade publications.
Articles by Marc J. Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Marc My Words: Boston, Social Media, and Lessons for Learning
(5/14/13)Social media played an incredible role in reporting the events at the 2013 Boston Marathon and assisting in its outcome. There are some lessons about the power of social media in learning we can take away from those events. What are the benefits and what are the pitfalls?
Marc My Words: Practice Makes Mastery
(4/9/13)How do people become high performers? Here are three ideas from one of the keynote speakers at last month’s eLearning Guild Learning Solutions Conference. Plant these ideas into your programs and watch your learners grow!
Marc My Words: End User- and SME-created Content—Good Strategy, but Risky
(3/12/13)Delegation is a key skill for instructional designers, especially when turning content development over to end users and subject matter experts. However, just as in any other management effort, it is vital to delegate with control. Here are some key errors you want to avoid.
Marc My Words: eLearning vs. eKnowledge
(2/12/13)Is it necessary to communicate all content in the form of courses? There are real reasons to deliver some content as well-designed information instead of instruction. Marc invites us to think critically about what fits the eLearning paradigm and what doesn’t.
Marc My Words: So You Want to Get Into the eLearning Biz?
(1/8/13)Looking for a new career? Think you have what it takes to be an eLearning specialist or manager of eLearning? Here are the nine things you need to know on your first day in your new career … or maybe the nine things it would still be good to know even if you’re already on the job.
Marc My Words: Seven Trends, Predictions, and Resolutions for the New Year
(12/11/12)If you thought 2012 was an action-packed year, get ready for 2013, because it will be more of the same. Marc looks ahead to what he sees as the key trends, offers some advice about what you can do about them, and suggests where you should remember to learn more.
Marc My Words: Testing Your eLearning Strategy
(11/13/12)Is your eLearning strategy sustainable? Here are eight points to consider as you work on making your strategy clear and set up for success.
Marc My Words: Is It eLearning or Something More?
(10/9/12)Imagine a world where the tools we use remove complexity rather than add to it, and are so intuitively easy to use that we can operate them—correctly—the first time, precisely when we need to use them, with minimal risk. The possibilities for this are here. Are you ready for them? Marc talks about performance support, training, and saving lives.
Marc My Words: If We Just Give Kids iPads, They'll Learn More, Right?
(9/11/12)Everything from class size to irrelevant curriculum, from lack of involvement to ineffective teaching, all seem to point to a US education system that at best is treading water and at worst is falling behind the rest of the world. Is technology the answer, or is it more lipstick on the same pig? Marc has some insights for all of us, and not just for American readers.
Marc My Words: The Fall and Rise of Performance Support
(8/14/12)After two decades in eclipse during the rise of eLearning, performance support is returning to become an essential part of business strategy. Marc reflects on the significance of this re-focus in the world of learning and performance.
Marc My Words: Why I Hate Instructional Objectives
(7/10/12)Ever since Bob Mager popularized instructional objectives more than 40 years ago, they have been part of the Holy Grail for instructional designers and the training industry. But are they as valuable as we think they are? Marc suggests a way to add value to the learning objective.
Marc My Words: Seven Questions eLearning Developers and Managers Should Answer … Every Time
(6/12/12)Good design depends on the right answers to important questions, and it is critical to answer those questions at the beginning of the project, not at the end. Here are seven important details you must identify correctly from the start.
Beyond Competence: It's the Journey to Mastery That Counts
(5/21/12)We have tended to think of competence as a fixed point: either you are competent or you are not. If that’s the whole story, Albert Einstein was just a competent physicist, Florence Nightingale was a competent nurse, and the Beatles were only a competent band. There has to be more, beyond mere competence. There’s a continuum of performance from novice to master. Learn about it here!
Marc My Words: The End of Books
(5/8/12)As we find new and better ways to create, store, manage, and, especially, share knowledge, what else changes? Perhaps it is that our key role moves from production to decision-making and advice on content and learning quality. Marc reflects on keeping our eyes on what really matters.
Marc My Words: A Salute to ISPI on Its 50th Anniversary
(4/10/12)The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) has been a pace-setting, research-based professional organization that has influenced so many aspects of what we do in our work that it is difficult to list them all. Here is a salute to this organization!
Marc My Words: Qualifying eLearning Vendors
(3/13/12)No matter how good you are at building eLearning, sooner or later you will likely have to rely on an outside provider. But how do you separate the good vendors from the bad? Here are seven vendor qualities you should look for.
Marc My Words: eLearning Boot Camp
(2/7/12)Traditional roles in training and education are in transition, and perhaps fading away. Specializations in eLearning are merging and morphing. What was current last year is now passé, and what was a blip on the horizon is now mainstream. In a time of constant change in our professions, where do you focus your attention? The answer is continuous professional development, and here’s how.
Marc My Words: Ten Common Mistakes in Building an eLearning Strategy
(1/10/12)Having a strategy is important, and it needs to be a solid strategy if it is to be the basis for a successful and sustainable eLearning effort. Here are ten of the mistakes that people most often make when setting their strategy, and each mistake will weaken the strategy.
All I Want for Christmas Are Some Great Teachers
(12/13/11)Great teachers are still necessary. But there are some characteristics, beyond being impressive lecturers, which make teachers great. Why do great teachers matter in eLearning? It is because great teachers also make great eLearning developers.
Marc My Words: eLearning Myths, Part 2
(11/8/11)More eLearning myths, folklore, and legends busted this month! Has Marc left out any of your favorites?
Marc My Words: eLearning Myths, Part 1
(10/11/11)There are so many myths about eLearning that it is hard to know where to begin. But here are five myths about eLearning design, and the truth to counter each one of them.
Marc My Words: Back to School – Tablets in the Classroom
(9/13/11)As students return to school, many of them (and their teachers) are seeing tablet computers in the classroom, a trend that will only grow. Marc looks at what tablets bring to K-12 education, the concerns that they raise, and what we can do to ensure the success of this technology in the classroom.
Marc My Words: Back to Basics – When Training Is the Answer
(8/9/11)After you have analyzed a performance problem and determined the non-instructional components of the solution, it’s time to begin working on the parts that have to be taught. Here are eight fundamental points of instructional design and delivery that you must incorporate into eLearning in order to get the results you intend.
Marc My Words: Back to Basics – When Training Is Not the Answer
(7/12/11)We know that training is only one solution to performance problems, and that there are several others. So why always fall back on “build a course to fix it” as the default solution? Here’s an aid to help with that particular performance problem, and there’s no course required.
Marc My Words: Vendors Are People Too
(6/14/11)Business ethics apply to customers as well as to vendors. Here’s a look on the other side of the fence.
Marc My Words: The Best eLearning Demo I Have Ever Seen
(5/10/11)Early adopters of eLearning more than 15 years ago – before the mass adoption of the Internet and the Web – were already producing innovative programs that can still serve as models for us today. Great design and production values went a long way to overcome the primitive technology. Marc reviews the most successful example, and what it takes to be that effective.
Marc My Words: Is This Recession Good for eLearning?
(4/12/11)You’ve probably heard that every cloud has its silver lining, although it may have been hard to find any silver at all in the current recession. Marc suggests that this set of tough times may actually have been better for eLearning than might at first appear. But don’t wait too long to act on the opportunity.
Marc My Words: Beyond SCORM – A Welcome New Direction
(3/8/11)While the LMS and SCORM may not be dead, they do not address the complexities of new learning design strategies and their transcendence of technical standards. Marc reflects on the history of standards and comments on the new ADL Future Learning Experience Project.
Marc My Words: Want a Free iPad? Get an Equus
(2/8/11)Mobile devices as performance support platforms is a pretty cool idea these days – but only if the designer thinks through the whole problem, from the customer’s point of view. Marc has some words for Hyundai about this.
Marc My Words: Handy Tips for Expo Shopping
(1/11/11)Shopping an expo at a conference can be daunting. So, based on more than 100 expo visits over 30 years, here are Marc’s 14 tips for making your expo time a success.
Marc My Words: E-Dreaming
(12/14/10)Marc’s wish list for the New Year. How many of these are on all our lists?
Marc My Words: The Greatest Mobile Learning App Ever (until the next one comes along)
(11/9/10)Two-dimensional barcodes, also called 2D tags, provide a new dimension for mobile learning, performance support, and printed content. Learn how (and why) to use 2D tags in this informative column.
The Special Sauce of Social Learning
(10/18/10)Social media and social learning are attracting a lot of attention, but don’t overlook the fact that it’s not the technology that makes them effective. Here are the eight ingredients you need to make social learning successful.
Marc My Words: Will Social Media Rot Our Brains?
(10/12/10)Love it or hate it, social media and its compression of expression is here to stay. Marc presents the pros and the cons, and asks the critical question: What are we going to do about it?
Marc My Words: OMG, I'm Tweeting!
(9/14/10)What's the real value of Twitter and other social media? Marc discovers that it's not about the tweets, it's about the context. Whether you're a social media maven, or a total skeptic, this column is for you.
Marc My Words: Learning Technology in Our Schools – How We Can Help
(8/10/10)One of the most important things we in e-Learning today can do for the generations to come is to support effective use of technology in primary and secondary education. For the past several months, Anne Derryberry has written about her experiences as a volunteer in her local high school. Now Marc shows you eight more ways you can make a difference in your local schools.
Marc My Words: What Can We Learn from Bartender School?
(7/13/10)High-level simulations, an interactive student guide, student-created job aids, simple memory aids, substantial realistic practice, and a competency-based assessment. Where are you… in a military training center? Medical school? Nope. It’s Bartending 101. Pull up a stool.
Marc My Words: Thinking About Mobile Learning in the Age of iPad
(6/15/10)As mLearnCon 2010 begins today in San Diego, Marc reflects on the nature of mobile learning and the devices that might support it, and he proposes a new definition of mLearning.
Marc My Words: iPad Envy
(5/11/10)The iPad has done an admirable job of capturing the imaginations of many of us (not to mention the cash of a million buyers – so far). But is it a game changer for learning?
Marc My Words: Farewell, Training Magazine
(4/20/10)Training Magazine made important contributions to our field. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, editors Jack Gordon, Chris Lee, and others, and contributors like Ron Zemke, were unafraid to tackle the tough issues as well as some of the silliness of the training and e-Learning field, and to accept articles that made you think. There is no question that the field has lost one of its most strident voices.
Locked Out: Bridging the Divide Between Training and Information Technology
(1/7/10)Customers demand more flexibility, less disruption in how training is delivered, and faster, better access. Business demands more frequent updates to training content. Both Training and IT have a vested interest in meeting these demands. Despite their differences, the two groups ultimately have the best interests of the organization in mind and can only succeed when bridges are built between them.
Is Instructional System Design Dead? Why there are better questions to ask
(5/10/04)Is instructional systems design (ISD) dead? The arguments against ISD usually center on its perceived inflexibility and the excessive time it takes to go through the process. The arguments for ISD cite its systematic approach and evidence that, if followed, you’re likely to produce more effective training. Maybe there are better questions to ask. Here are four such questions.
Tools
