Just over a month ago I was given the opportunity to present a session on 'Learning and Design Thinking' at the Australian Institute of Training and Development's 2012 conference in Sydney, Australia. I structured the session by following my own introduction to Design Thinking over the last 5 or so years, whilst at the same time providing attendees with a background to Design Thinking ideas and methods that can support innovative Learning Design. In the session I covered broad ground however the content was specifically designed for the audience and the occasion - the real aim being to encourage innovative thinking in learning design.
The image above is part of a small animation that played as people entered the room, as it ran I explained that many L&D live in a world of formal training and workshops and that this session was about encouraging us all to look up out of the formal box to consider alternative learning design tools and approaches. The words streaming up the page were small 'tasters' representing some of the ideas and influences that would be covered in the session. These ideas floating past also encourage us to look up from how we do things today and be more open to the different ideas and approaches that are all around us. In this month's 'Training and Development' magazine you can find a brief article that touches on some of the ideas from my presentation. I will post the full conference Prezi presentation on this blog next week along with accompanying notes.
So, what's next on the Learning and Design Thinking agenda? For me Design Thinking is an ever evolving interest. I have already integrated many design tools into my own learning design methods and expect that over the next 12 months I will further refine this. As I discover new ideas and approaches I will continue to post articles that highlight these and outline their benefits to the learning design process.