the studio of
Saul Carliner
content development
for the workplace

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Resources

• On online learning
• On information design
• On business issues in workplace learning and communication
• Handbook of Performance Improvement Interventions
• Museums: A Fun Kind of Learning Experience
• Resources for Volunteer Leaders of Community Organizations

News and Information

Jump to an Item: New Seminar List Now Available | Saul Carliner Elected to CSTD Board | E-Learning Handbook Arrives on Bookshelves in Early 2008 | Encyclopedia of Interventions for Performance Improvement Now Available Online | Upcoming Public Workshops | Upcoming and Recent Presentations | Recent Books | Recent and Upcoming Publications | Recent Press Mentions | Link to slides from Training Solutions 2007

New Seminar List Now Available Saul Carliner announces a new line-up of seminars for professionals in workplace learning and performance, and technical communication. Among the seminars are new ones on designing informal learning campaigns, visual communication for non-designers, and a certificate program for technical communication managers, as well as the popular seminars Instructional Design for New Designers, the Training Manager Certificate, Strategic Planning for Training and Performance Improvement Departments, Advanced Design for Online Learning, and the Information Design Workshop. To see the current list, click here.

Saul Carliner Elected to CSTD Board At the 2007 Annual General Meeting of Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD), Saul Carliner was elected to a three-year term on the national board. The CSTD is the leading organization advocating for workplace learning and performance in Canada. He received his certification as a Training and Development Professional through this organization in 2004. For more information about CSTD, visit (opens in a new window).

E-Learning Handbook Arrives on Bookshelves in Early 2008 The e-Learning Handbook, co-edited with Patti Shank, provides a critical reflection on the current state of e-learning with contributions from the world’s foremost e-learning experts and best-selling authors from academe and industry, including Margaret Driscoll; Brent Wilson Lee Christopher; William Horton, L. Wayne Precht, Harvey Singh, Jim Everidge, and Jane Bozarth; Pat Brogan; Patrick Parrish; Marc J. Rosenberg and Steve Forman; M. David Merrill; Pat McGee; Philip C. Abrami, Gretchen Lowerison, Roger Cote, and Marie-Claude Lavoie; Thomas C. Reeves, Jan Herrington, and Ron Oliver; and Patrick Lambe. The book offers a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the technological, design, economic, evaluation, research, economic, and philosophical issues underlying e-learning. Each chapter includes a chart that summarizes the key take-away points, contains questions that are useful for guiding discussions, and offers suggestions of related links, books, papers, reports, and articles. Scheduled to be published by Pfeiffer in the first quarter of 2008.

Encyclopedia of Interventions for Performance Improvement Now Available Online: What interventions can learning specialists use other than formal learning programs like training courses and e-learning to improve performance? This online reference, produced as a class project by students in my Human Performance Technology class at Concordia University, provides a guide to several. It identifies interventions that address each of the three key drivers of performance--knowledge and skills, resources, and motivation. In addition, these interventions address performance at one or more of the three levels at which performance occurs within an organization--individual, unit (department or group), and organization-wide. Students in the class this year are preparing additional entries. To visit the Encyclopedia, click here..

Upcoming Public Workshops:

• The Information Design Workshop. Alberta chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. Calgary, AB: April 11, 2008.
• Where You've Been and Where You're Going--Evaluation for the Smaller Nonprofit. Brookline Community Foundation. Brookline, MA: March 31, 2008.
• 18 Tips for Designing E-Learning. WritersUA: WritersUA Annual Conference. Portland, OR: March 16, 2008. Click here for registration and information about the workshop and the conference.
• Senior Trainer Certificate. Nielsen Business Media: TRAINING 2008. Atlanta, GA: February 1-3, 2008. Click here for registration and information about the workshop and the conference.
• Managing the Business Side of E-Learning. Nielsen Business Media. TRAINING Solutions 2007. Salt Lake City, UT: October 13-14, 2007. Click here for registration and information about the workshop and the conference.

Upcoming and Recent Presentations:

• Carliner, S. (2008.) Keynote presentation. IEEE Professional Communications Society. International Professional Communications Conference. Montreal,Quebec: July 14, 2008.
• Carliner, S. (2008.) Keynote presentation: Recent research in information and document design. Red River College. Fifth Annual Technical Communication Conference. Winnipeg, Manitoba: April 14, 2008.
• Carliner, S., Driscoll, M., and others (TBA). (2008.) Town Hall Meeting: Technology and Human Resource Development. Academy of Human Resource Development Annual Research Conference. Panama City, FL: February 21, 2008.
• Carliner, S. (2008.) In defense of the lecture. Nielsen Business Media: TRAINING 2008. Atlanta, GA: February 4, 2008.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) Informal learning at the Quebec Museum of Civilization. E-Learn 2007. Association for the Advancement of Computers. Quebec City, QC. October 18, 2007.
• Aslan, O. & Carliner, S. (2007.) Design models and their implication for interface design of children’s educational software. E-Learn 2007. Association for the Advancement of Computers. Quebec City, QC. October 18, 2007.
• Carliner, S. (2007). Worst case survival plan: Exit strategies for e-learning projects. Nielsen Business Media. TRAINING Solutions 2007. Salt Lake City, UT: October 15, 2007. Click here for a copy of the handout.
• Carliner, S. (2007). How to buy electronic and classroom courses.Nielsen Business Media. TRAINING Solutions 2007. Salt Lake City, UT: October 15, 2007. Click here for a copy of the handout.
• Carliner, S. (2007). How to buy design and development services.Nielsen Business Media. TRAINING Solutions 2007. Salt Lake City, UT: October 15, 2007. Click here for a copy of the handout.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) Creative e-learning. LearnX Asia-Pacific 2007. Sydney, Australia. TRAINING/Australia Magazine. July 27, 2007.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) Featured presentation: Learning leaders: Selling your services in your organisation. LearnX Asia-Pacific 2007. Sydney, Australia. TRAINING/Australia Magazine. July 27, 2007.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) Featured presentation: Reflecting on the good, the bad and the ugly of technology. LearnX Asia-Pacific 2007. Sydney, Australia. TRAINING/Australia Magazine. July 26, 2007.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) What museums can teach trainers about informal learning: An interactive experience. 2007 American Society for Training and Development International Conference and Exposition. Atlanta, GA. June 4, 2007.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) Creative e-learning. Society for Technical Communication 54th Annual Conference. Minneapolis, MN: May 14, 2007.
• Carliner, S. and Qayyum, A. (2007.) Evaluating informal learning. 2007 Canadian Society for Training and Development Annual Symposium: Assessment, measurement and evaluation. Montreal, QC. May 4, 2007.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) ROI unpacked: Canadian ROI Network online series, level 3. Canadian Society for Training and Development. Webcast: March 14, 2007.
• Carliner, S., Ally, M., Zhao, N., and Johnston, L. (2007.) The limitations of research in performance improvement: Evidence, implications, and suggestions. Academy of Human Resource Development International Research Conference. Indianapolis, In. March 3, 2007.
• Carliner, S., Araki, M., Ibrahim, A., and Samuel-George, A. (2007.) Frequently asked questions: An in-depth, multi-modal study of online materials intended for informal learning in the workplace. Academy of Human Resource Development International Research Conference. Indianapolis, In. March 3, 2007.
• Carliner, S. Qayyum, A., Sanchez-Lozano, J.C., and Macmillan, S. (2007.) The value of training: What training managers track, what training managers report. Academy of Human Resource Development International Research Conference. Indianapolis, In. March 3, 2007.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) Lessons for the design and assessment of informal learning for the workplace from the Indiana State Museum: An experiential activity. Academy of Human Resource Development International Research Conference. Indianapolis, In. March 2, 2007.

Recent Books:

Carliner, S., Verkens, J. P., and de Waele, C.A.E. (2006.) Information and Document Design: Variety on the Research. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Driscoll, M. and Carliner, S. (2005.) Advanced web-based training: Adapting real world strategies in your online learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Recent and Upcoming Publications:

• Carliner, S., Ribeiro, O., & Boyd, G. Entry on Educational Technology. In Salkind, N. J. (In press for 2008 publication). Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
• Carliner, S. (In press.) An interview with an information designer: Janice Redish. Information design journal. 16(1).
• Carliner, S. (In press.) Keep your course on target: Meet learners’ expectations through a pre-class questionnaire. Intercom. 55(2).
• Carliner, S. (In press.) Ten tips for getting learners to take e-courses. Learning Circuits. 8(11).
• Carliner, S. (2007.) An interview with an information architect: Bogo Vatovec. Information design journal. 15(3). 236-241.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) How to organize educational meetings for community and professional organizations. Tieline. 20(9).
• Aslan, O. & Carliner, S. (2007.) Design models and their implication for interface design of children’s educational software. In Proceedings of E-Learn 2007. Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) Ten years after: An interview with Karen Schriver about the lasting impact of the Dynamics of Document Design. Information design journal. 15(2). 162-169.
• Carliner, S. Gordon Mackenzie-style lecture. In Shank, P. (2007.) The E-Learning Idea Book. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) An interview with an information designer: Eric Kavanagh. Information design journal. 15(1). 37-43.
• Barrington, J. & Carliner, S. (2007.) Using grounded theory in faculty development research: What we know now. In Proceedings of the 2007 AERA Annual Meeting. Washington, DC: America Educational Research Association.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) What's ahead in e-learning. Training/Australia.
• Carliner, S. (2007.) Lessons for the design and assessment of informal learning for the workplace from the Indiana State Museum: An experiential activity. In Proceeedings of the Academy of Human Resource Development International Research Conference. Academy of Human Resource Development. Bowling Green, OH. (Published on CD.)
• Driscoll, M. and Carliner, S. (2007.) Informal learning: A way to unleash new power from e-learning. In Biech, E. (ed.) 2007 Pfeiffer annual: Training. San Francisco: Pfeiffer. 197-208.
• Carliner, S., Charron, M., Fiola, M., Kavanagh, E., Mihalache, I., and Quirion, J. (2006.) La localisation, terra incognita?
• Carliner, S. (2006.) The limitations of research in performance improvement: evidence, implications, and suggestions. In Proceedings of the 2006 European HRD Conference. Tilburg, NL: Tilburg University. (Published on CD.)

Recent Press Mentions:

• Galt, V. (2007.) Every man for himself just won't make the cut.  Globe and Mail.  March 10, 2007.  Published online at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070310.RCOACH10/TPStory/?query=virginia+galt
• Armstrong, M. (2006.) Report on the inappropriate use of information technology in the workplace. Global National. Broadcast Saturday, May 27, 2006.
• (2006.) Report on the inappropriate use of information technology in the workplace. CBC Montreal. Broadcast Friday, May 26, 2006.
• Curran, P. (2006.) Veteran professors plugged in to those high-tech challenges, Montreal Gazette. April 19, 2006. 10.
• Calhoun, H. (2006.) Writing about e-learning. TRAINING. 43(4). Published online only.
• Gordon, J. (2006.) Seven revelations about e-learning. TRAINING. 43(4). http://www.trainingmag.com/msg/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002838885 [Retrieved January 3, 2007.]
• Weinstein, M. (2006.) Buyer beware. TRAINING. 43(2).

Link to slides from Training Solutions 2007:

• Worst case survival plan: Exit strategies for e-learning projects. Click here for a copy of the handout.
• How to buy electronic and classroom courses. Click here for a copy of the handout.
• How to buy design and development services. Click here for a copy of the handout.