This past Sunday I had an amazing experience at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, CA.  The Museum of Tolerance (MOT) is a human rights laboratory and educational center dedicated to challenging visitors to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts and confront all forms of prejudice and discrimination in our world today. 

This museum was an Instructional Designers dream!  It was the most experiential and learner-centered museum I have ever been in!  One of my favorites exhibits was the Point Of View Diner.  A recreation of a 1950’s diner, red booths and all, that “serves” a menu of controversial topics on video jukeboxes. It uses the latest cutting edge technology to relay the overall message of personal responsibility. Following scenarios focusing on drunk driving and hate speech, this interactive exhibit allows visitors to input their opinions on what they have seen and question relevant characters. The results are then instantly tabulated. 

The MOT creates a safe environment for probing dialogue around difficult issues rarely discussed in the workplace and homes of participants. The Point of View Diner challenges participants to question their own assumptions, raise self-awareness, and present fresh perspectives to redefine personal responsibility and taking action. 

It is important for an Instructional Designer to create a safe environment for the learners.  This is so they can feel safe while sharing their views, expressing their opinions and ultimately not feel ashamed … after all this is a LEARNING environment.  I am also a big fan of self discovery which this museum, and in particular this exhibit does. 

I was SO INSPIRED by this visit that I am going to research how the ideas are generated for each of these exhibits.  I am interested to know who puts it together, what sort of piloting they do and what they do with the data they collect from each visitor.

The MOT is a MUST SEE if you are in Southern California.

To schedule a visit, call, 310-553-8403
for group tours, 310-772-7639.

All of us need a mentor.  Did you used to have one, but don’t anymore?  Who was your 1st mentor?  How did your mentor change your life?  Do you currently have a mentor?  Who is he/she?

A mentor can help assess strengths and weaknesses, as well as help you develop new skills for success and help keep your creativity loose. If you and your mentor share the same employer, your mentor can foster your sense of belonging within the organization, help you navigate the company culture and politics, as well as let you know who the organization’s key players are.  If you own your own business, do not think it is not important, an outside mentor can provide you with warm leads, ask you tough questions about your own business (prepare you for the ‘real world’) and give you confidence that you are moving your organization in the right direction.  All mentors provide a fresh perspective — a new way of looking at a problem or issue. Ideally, your mentor will motivate you to do your best work.

• What does an Instructional Design / Training & Development / Knowledge Management  mentorship look like? 
• How is one created? 
• What would both parties benefit from the relationship?

I look forward to your best practices and discussion points on this topic.

Many of you have read my call for Instructional Designers to be a part of the Social Responsibility Movement.  I am asking designers to design for a civilization that will positively impact customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders, as well as the environment.

I would like to highlight the Instructional Designer-Centric approach to offsetting carbon emissions by Will Thalheimer, PhD and President of Work-Learning Research Inc.   The Carbon Offset idea works like this. We all pollute, but when we do so we can help limit the damaging effects by either (1) offsetting our damage by doing good in other ways (for example if we have to drive a large car we can replace all our light bulbs with energy-saving flourescents), or (2) we can donate money to projects that help support renewable energy, energy efficiency, and reforestation.

What EXACTLY is a Carbon Offset idea?  Watch this 2 minute 40 second YouTube video.

Below are Will’s ideas for Training & Development departments so they can do as their part of the Social Responsibility Movement and REDUCE their Carbon Footprint:

1. Encourage the use of e-learning, which limits the carbon footprint of travel. And, make sure you build e-learning that is effective and engaging, so more folks will want to use e-learning.
2. When calculating the “cost” of training, calculate carbon footprint costs as well. See for example, The Carbon Fund’s calculators or The Clean Air Conservancy’s calculators. Make these costs evident.
3. Encourage your company to buy carbon offsets when utilizing training. It’s not just a good thing to do, but it may help your company attract business and recruit highly-educated employees.
4. In your e-learning courses, provide an option for learners to calculate how many tons of carbon dioxide they would have utilized had they had to travel from their location to headquarters.

 What are YOU doing to help the environment?