4 minute read
DIRTYWORD ISSUE 8
Welcome to another bumper issue of the world’s greatest e-learning magazine! This time around we have more excellent contributors than ever, so thank you to everybody who has helped make this, in my eyes, our best edition yet - I hope you agree!
As you’ll have seen from our cover, Whisper has gone all punk in honour of Lewis smashing his laptop against the wall and telling us to never mind the bollocks, we should all adopt a more “F@ck You” attitude to learning.
Our resident raven-haired mascot also tangles with The Scope Creep in this issue’s Client’Ell comic - a terrible creature that blights the lives of every developer at some point in their career (most months for me).
And on the subject of monsters, Dr. Ace Hulus unleashes some awesome Jaws metaphors as she talks about tackling gender bias in EdTech.
Bongo Learn’s Jennifer Bailey warns about the dangers of focusing on the wrong metrics for learning success in Sanity Not Vanity, while SonicWall’s Spencer Starkey looks at the increasing threat of malware in education.
Totara’s Matt Linaker questions which skills should we keep hold of and which are better off in the hands of our AI overlords.
Meanwhile, Michael Wright, of BuildEmpire, walks the tightrope between forcing people to undertake training and convincing them they actually want to.
Joseph Thibault returns and likens looking after an LMS to tending a walled vegetable garden, while Sam Harold theorises that if we want to become better learners, we need to apply a gaming mentality and learn to lose.
Talking of gaming, we caught up with Joanna Gibbs of SENsational Tutors, to discuss how gaming is revolutionising SEN education.
Natalie Birrell of Empica PR guides us through the marketing process for launching an online course and we’re joined by Lee Turner from Skillpod for her take on the L&D landscape.
And finally, I reminisce about my early career writing horoscopes and predict the future of critical thinking.
Cheers!Mark
Issue 8 Contents
Client ‘ell Whisper combines some choice ingredients to create a classic monster.
What’s going on in edtech? We reveal what’s happening in the world of e-learning to save you from trawling the web.
Never mind the bollocks Lewis Carr rips up the rule book and rocks the punk approach to learning.
Dr. Carl’s e-learning surgery Got an e-learning problem? You’ve come to the right place.
We’re gonna need a bigger boat Dr Ace Hulus introduces the JAWS protocol to combat edtech gender bias.
Horror Scope Mark Gash predicts the terrors of an AI world without critical thinking.
Clone Wars Lewis journeys to the dark side of AI.
Sanity not vanity Jennifer Bailey highlights the importance of tying learning to business outcomes.
Cyber threats in the classroom Spencer Starkey on why education needs enhanced cybersecurity.
The skills-based organisation and the luddite in me Matt Linaker asks “As AI rewrites the rules which skills are still worth the ink?”
Shooting the breeze We review the Insta360 X4 camera.
Microlearning vs. Manipulation Michael Wright talks building better behaviour change training.
Caught in the crosshairs Mark trades in H5P for 3DVista as his go-to VR authoring tool.
In and out of the walled garden Joseph Thibault tends his e-learning crop like a well maintained veggie patch.
S.E.N. superhero We chat with SENsational Tutors’ Joanna Gibbs about educational gaming.
Lost in the woods Natalie Birrell spells out the PR and marketing lifecycle of an online course.
Live. Die. Learn. Sam Harold reckons we need to play to lose to become better learners.
The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad L&D landscape Lee Turner balances values against impact in learning.
We’re always on the lookout for guest writers and contributors who want to see their name in a future issue of Dirtyword. It’s all for the kudos and the community spirit - we’re looking for non-commercial editorial, tutorials and life wisdom; no sneaky advertorials pushing your wares (we can sell you some ad space for that).
For all enquiries, both editorial and advertising, get in touch at info@dirtywordmag.com
