[This episode is from the Leading Learning archives. Most of it was originally published as Episode 104.] When it comes to engaging learners and designing truly effective learning experiences, it may not be as complex—or costly—as you may think.

Dr. Barbara Oakley, professor, speaker, and author of Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential and Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying has proven this in her research and the wildly popular massive open online course (MOOC) she created, Learning How to Learn. With more than 2 million participants in the Coursera course thus far (yes, 2 million!), Barb’s work proves that learners appreciate practical methods and materials grounded in research about how the brain learns.

In this encore episode of the Leading Learning podcast, Celisa talks with Barb about why helping people learn about learning is so effective, the importance of creating better online materials, and tips for organizations who provide learning to create more value by focusing on these areas.

Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode166. 

Our sponsor for this episode is Learning • Technology • Design™ (LTD), our annual virtual conference designed specifically for those who work in the business of lifelong learning, continuing education, and professional development. This will be our fourth time offering LTD, and we know from all the feedback we have received that past attendees have found it a unique and highly valuable experience. Registration is open at ltd.tagoras.com.

We are also offering the opportunity to be a Patron for the event, an option that may be of interest to companies that serve learning businesses. You can find out about that by going to ltd.tagoras.com/patron. And we would like to spotlight some of our current patrons including:

• 360factor (Oasis LMS)
• Authentic Learning Labs
• Avilar
• BenchPrep
• CommPartners
• Digitell
• EthosCE
• Event Garde
• ReviewMyLMS
• Web Courseworks

We have also highlighted these Patrons on the LTD Web site. Definitely do take the time to find out more about them because these companies have demonstrated their commitment to learning businesses by becoming Patrons, so we encourage you to support them.