English poet John Donne famously wrote that “no man is an island.” He was expressing how human beings do poorly in isolation—and that can especially apply to our careers. If we want to create the best training solutions then we need to connect with—and learn from—each other.
At Bottom-Line Performance, we’re always reading the latest L&D research and ideas, and we keep that funnel full by following a long list of experts in the field. Here are eight of our favorite workplace learning bloggers and why you should start following them today:
1. Will Thalheimer, PhD
Do you want the facts about learning and development? Then Will is your guy. He is a true workplace learning expert, with his credentials earning him the top spot on our list. Will has been in the L&D field for over 30 years. He specializes in taking complicated research and putting it into layman’s terms. He makes it practical, usable, and relevant for different companies and audiences all over the world. Will is a learning consultant, learning researcher, learning benchmarker, program evaluator, speaker, workshop provider, simulation architect and instructional designer. You can bookmark “Will’s Blog” and follow him on social media.
Twitter: @WillWorkLearn
LinkedIn: Will Thalheimer
2. Patti Shank
Patti Shank is quite the writer… and quite the expert on eLearning and instructional design, too. She has written numerous books and articles that you can find all over the web. Patti is skilled at identifying problems, or pain points, and coming up with research-backed solutions. She believes that by reducing this pain, people can have a lot more fun in the workplace and find true meaning in what they do.
Patti has made the Top 100 eLearning Movers And Shakers List for the past five years and speaks regularly at conferences around the U.S. Get inspired by following her blog or her feed on elearningindustry.com.
Twitter: @pattishank
LinkedIn: Patti Shank
3. Karl Kapp
Karl Kapp is a professor of instructional technology at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, PA and is the author of the widely popular “Kapp Notes” blog. He is your go-to guy for all things games and gamification.
Karl has authored and co-authored several books including one with BLP President, Sharon Boller, called “Play to Learn: Everything You Need to Know About Designing Effective Learning Games.” Karl and Sharon have partnered several times to deliver their popular “Play to Learn” game design workshop to sold out groups around the US. The workshop has been available to attendees at conferences such as ATD International, DevLearn, Learning Solutions, Online Learning, and others. The hundreds of people that have been through these workshops come away with the knowledge and skills needed to get started in game design.
Twitter: @kkapp
LinkedIn: Karl Kapp
4. Connie Malamed
Connie’s Twitter handle is “elearningcoach” for a reason. With degrees in both instructional design and art education, her exceptional blogging earns her a spot on our must-follow list. Her online space is touted as “a one-stop-shop for content about e-learning design—including audience, instructional design, learning objectives, storyboarding, tests, and user interface—as well as e-learning 2.0, mobile learning, cognition, and business” (td magazine).
So stay up to date with Connie by subscribing to her email newsletter, listening to her podcasts, bookmarking her website, or following her on social media.
Twitter: @elearningcoach
LinkedIn: Connie Malamed
5. Jane Hart
Jane is another top thought leader in workplace learning. She is the founder of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4LPT), one of the world’s leading websites on learning trends, technologies, and tools. Jane often conducts surveys including the annual Top 100 Tools for Learning list from the votes of learning professionals worldwide (now in its 11th year). Her primary focus is a modern approach workplace learning. So it makes sense that her blog is titled “Learning in the Modern Workplace.” She’s also a master curator of L&D articles as you’ll notice on both her Twitter and LinkedIn feeds.
Twitter: @C4LPT
LinkedIn: Jane Hart
6. Harold Jarche
In a word, Harold Jarche is an influencer. He provides “actionable insights for workplace learning” to his 58k+ followers on Twitter and the thousands of others who follow his blog or listen to his podcasts. Harold has a unique background in that he graduated from the Royal Military College and served over 20 years with the Canadian Armed Forces in various leadership and training roles. Today, he is an active international keynote speaker and conducts several online workshops for both individuals and organizations throughout the year.
Twitter: @hjarche
LinkedIn: Harold Jarche
7. Cathy Moore
If you’ve ever visited Cathy’s website, you may have noticed her tagline at the top: “Let’s save the world from boring training!” Isn’t that what we’re all striving for? She is on a mission to help others design and develop better eLearning. So listen up instructional designers, because Cathy Moore is now your go-to girl. Instead of using endless amounts of text, she explains tools and processes she has used in her own work with engaging videos, images, or diagrams.
Join her 11,000+ followers and subscribe to her blog here.
Twitter: @CatMoore
LinkedIn: Cathy Moore
8. David Kelly
David has contributed to the L&D industry for over 15 years. He is the Senior VP and Executive Director for The eLearning Guild’s events and conferences. David is widely known for his curation efforts, especially related to conferences and events for L&D professionals. He regularly contributes to The eLearning Guild blog, TWIST, and writes for his own blog as well.
Twitter: @LnDDave
LinkedIn: David Kelly
Bonus
Here are a few other inspirational people we don’t want you to miss:
- David Mullich (game designer, instructor)
- Ian Bogost (game designer)
- Arun Pradhan (L&D practitioner who uses design thinking a lot)
- Amy Webb (futurist)
- Annie Murphy Paul (NYT contributor who focuses on education topics)
- Leonard Souza (mobile, web apps, software, UX stuff)
Who do you follow for training inspiration?