Let Learners Sleep on It

Article Title: Let Learners Sleep on It

Publication: Integrated Learnings: eLearning

Summary: As kids, many of us resisted bedtime. As adults, many of us wish we could get more sleep. For those in the midst of learning something new, a good night’s sleep can be especially beneficial. This article describes the neuroscience of how sleep helps learners form new memories and applies its implications to eLearning.

If learners must complete an eight-hour training session, consider spreading the training out over two days (maybe more) rather than making a full day of it. This can benefit attention spans, too. If all or part of the training is eLearning, you may have the ability to accomplish this more flexibly.

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Give Tests a Test Run

Article Title: Give Tests a Test Run

Publication: Integrated Learnings: eLearning

Summary: When a training initiative includes an assessment to evaluate learners’ knowledge or skill, it makes sense to ensure that the assessment is accurate and reliable prior to using it for training. While some may view this as a cumbersome step, this article suggests simple ways to test an assessment.

After putting the knowledge assessment through your review process, consider administering it to a group of subject matter experts to see how they do. This might help reveal any shortcomings prior to using the assessment with actual learners. Watch for items with low success rates and any distracters that were frequently selected.

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Morocco’s Mountain Ranges: An Overview

Article Title: Morocco’s Mountain Ranges: An Overview

Publication: Journey Beyond Travel: Morocco Travel Guide

Summary: Morocco’s mountain ranges offer scenic adventures for serious trekkers as well as the casual hiker seeking a few hours of fresh air. This article describes the major mountain ranges to help almost any type of traveler choose an outdoor destination.

Ifrane National Park is another popular destination within the Middle Atlas Mountains. Here, you can catch your lunch by fishing for trout or pike in the park’s rivers and lakes. If you prefer to simply take in the sights, a day of hiking should take you to volcanic plateaus, green pastures and cedar forests.

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Souss-Massa National Park

Article Title: Souss-Massa National Park

Publication: Journey Beyond Travel: Morocco Travel Guide

Summary: Morocco offers visitors much more than imperial cities, intricately decorated mosques, and iconic desert scenes. An easy day trip from Agadir, the Souss-Massa National Park provides travelers a serene escape that brims with wildlife, flora and fauna, and irresistible panoramas. This article describes the park and its inhabitants.

The park’s diverse mix of dense forests and wetlands, sandy beaches, dramatic cliffs and enormous sand dunes provides habitats for more than 100 species of birds, making this area Morocco’s premier bird watching site. Gulls and warblers make up a large proportion of the area’s feathered residents, and observers are most likely to spot Audouin’s gulls, Sardinian warblers and Tristram’s warblers. Other commonly sighted birds include spoonbills, thick-billed larks, red-necked nightjars, Barbary partridges and spotless starlings.

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Writing Distracters for Multiple Choice Questions

Article Title: Writing Distracters for Multiple Choice Questions

Publication: Integrated Learnings: eLearning

Summary: Training frequently includes knowledge assessments with multiple choice questions to evaluate learners’ potential performance. Although multiple choice questions are not ideal for testing every performance objective, well-written questions can offer a more robust assessment than many may realize. This article describes some best practices for writing high-quality multiple choice questions.

Another common offense is offering distracters that are obviouslyflawed. A good option surrounded by three really bad ones is often easily recognized, even by someone who may not understand why the correct answer is the best option. Simply writing “bad” statements as distracters misses an opportunity to show learners valid examples and non-examples of applying a skill.

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Traveling in Morocco’s Deep South

Article Title: Traveling in Morocco’s Deep South

Publication: Journey Beyond Travel: Morocco Travel Guide

Summary: Although Morocco’s visitors tend to flock to the imperial cities of Fes and Marrakech, the southern part of the country offers several lesser known gems that are worth a look. This article lists some of southern Morocco’s destinations and attractions.

Just below the dotted line is the coastal city of Laayoune. Though relatively small compared to metropolises like Marrakech and Fes, Laayoune is the economic hub of the Western Sahara and offers plenty of shopping, restaurants and cafes, especially in Suuq Djemal. Those interested in visiting the beach can venture a few miles south of town by bus or taxi to Foum el Oued, popular for surfing and oceanside relaxation.

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Gaming with the Nine Events of eLearning

Article Title: Gaming with the Nine Events of eLearning

Publication: Integrated Learnings: eLearning

Summary: Incorporating games into training, as a way to help learners learn though doing, is a growing trend. This article explores this from an instructional design perspective by describing how immersive learning games naturally align with Gagne’s nine events of instruction.

This could occur by providing learners with a way to obtain hints throughout the game. If they need to reference job aids on the job, prompt them to reference those same job aids to succeed in the game. Or, you could create individual challenges within the game that illustrate examples and non-examples of a skill or concept they must learn.

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