#IDIODC Instructional Designers In Offices Drinking Coffee

By Chris Van Wingerden, Paul SchneiderBusiness Technology Education Courses Management

#IDIODC Instructional Designers In Offices Drinking Coffee episodes

September 25 Does Your AI-Generated Learning Work? Can You Prove It?
AI can generate a polished course in an afternoon. That doesn't mean anyone learned, and invisible skill gaps are expensive to discover later. Margie Meacham joins IDIODC to challenge what "done" should mean for AI-generated learning content.

She connects brain science with agentic AI to expose two costly blind spots. Content that hits every metric but builds zero capability. Workflows that compound risk by pushing unvetted content live. As L&D moves from operator to architect, the question isn't whether AI can produce it. It's whether you can prove it works and is safe to ship.
Dive deeper into the topic with Margie and Chris on the Governing AI Learning Content at Scale: A Playbook for L&D Leaders webinar: https://hubs.ly/Q04ylSGC0
___________
Margie Meacham, known as “The Brain Lady,” is a learning scientist, AI strategist, and Founder of Learningtogo. She helps organizations apply neuroscience and AI to design learning that improves performance, builds capability, and supports people in the flow of work.

Margie is the author of 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 and 𝘈𝘐 𝘪𝘯 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. She has developed AI-powered learning tools, including coaching and performance-support bots. She also teaches learning professionals how to build and govern AI-powered learning experiences that people can trust.
Brought to you by the dominKnow | ONE Platform - develop, scale, and deliver learning that maximizes employee value.
39 min
September 11 Vibe SCORMing: Govern AI Learning Before It Governs You
Software development already lived through this. Teams trusted AI-generated code until reviews caught problems that should never have shipped. L&D is heading down the same road with AI-generated training, just a few years behind.

dominKnow's Learning Systems Architect, Adam Reynolds, joins IDIODC to explain what this parallel means for governance, compliance risk, and content you can actually trust. What began as an unexpected watercooler conversation turned into something we felt our audience needed to hear before the mistakes get expensive.

The discussed State of Learning Content Management 2026 research report can be found here: https://dominknow.com/lcms-report
___________
Adam Reynolds is a Learning Systems Architect at dominKnow. He is a 20-year e-learning veteran and a software architect who designs and builds systems and AI pipelines. He joined the field because learning is a systems problem, not a content-generation problem.

Adam has been in the room since xAPI’s early days and has spent years on the unglamorous but fundamental side of learning systems: review, reuse, analytics, and what happens after the first draft. He has worked across many learning tech stacks and knows where they stress, break, and create liability.
Brought to you by the dominKnow | ONE Platform - develop, scale, and deliver learning that maximizes employee value.
40 min
August 28 Shift by Shift: Training for Frontline Performance
Frontline teams do not have spare hours for training. They have minutes between customers, tasks, and the next urgent request. Yet many training programs still ask them to step away from work to learn.

JD Dillon joins IDIODC to explore a better approach. Learn how to shift from isolated courses to a frontline enablement system that supports people in the flow of work and helps teams perform with greater clarity, confidence, and consistency.

___________
JD Dillon is an advisor, speaker, author, and technologist focused on frontline workforce enablement and performance. His career spans frontline operations, learning, product, and technology roles with Disney, AMC, Kaplan, and Axonify.
JD is the author of The Frontline Enablement Playbook and The Modern Learning Ecosystem. He helps organizations build practical systems that improve workforce readiness, manager capability, and on-the-job execution.
Brought to you by the dominKnow | ONE Platform - develop, scale, and deliver learning that maximizes employee value.
48 min
August 14 From Framework to Reality: Operationalizing AI Implementation
AI frameworks are everywhere, but few L&D teams get past the planning stage. Megan Torrance returns to IDIODC to show how her AI Implementation Canvas moves from a group activity to a working part of real projects, with outcomes leadership can actually see.

Megan is also collecting responses for new research on learning technology adoption, building on the widely cited data she published last year. We'll talk about what that research showed, why it matters, and how you can contribute.

_______________
Megan Torrance is the CEO and founder of TorranceLearning. For over two decades, she has helped organizations connect learning strategy to design, data, and real business performance . She created LLAMA, an Agile approach built for instructional design work. She also founded the xAPI Learning Cohort, which has drawn over 850 learners worldwide. Her books include Agile for Instructional Designers, Data & Analytics for Instructional Designers, and Making Sense of xAPI.

Her latest book, The AI Implementation Guide for L&D, launched in June 2026. It introduces the AI Implementation Canvas, a practical tool for planning AI projects with clarity and confidence . Megan is also a Facilitator with eCornell's Women's Executive Leadership program.
Brought to you by the dominKnow | ONE Platform - develop, scale, and deliver learning that maximizes employee value.
39 min
July 31 Turning Facilitator Strengths Into a Repeatable Asset
What actually separates a forgettable training session from one people remember? Moe Poirier joins IDIODC to talk about his new book, The Five Personas of Facilitation, and why facilitation is less about scripts and more about identity and adaptability.

Drawing on data from over 950 facilitators, Moe breaks down five archetypes shaping how trainers connect with a room. This episode digs into presence, human or emotional connection, and practical ways facilitators and L&D leaders can expand their range starting immediately.

_______
Moe Poirier is a facilitation expert, coach, and founder of Shift Facilitation, based in Toronto. For over 25 years, he has helped leaders, trainers, and teams show up with more presence and purpose in the room. His path started in electrical engineering, but his curiosity about how people learn and work together pulled him into facilitation instead.

Moe is also the author of The Five Personas of Facilitation, published by ATD Press. The book introduces a framework for how great facilitators adapt to a room through five distinct styles: the Sensei, Drill Sergeant, Superhero, Confidant, and Jester. Moe believes facilitation is more than a set of techniques. It's a craft built on presence, and sometimes, a kind of love story.
Brought to you by the dominKnow | ONE Platform - develop, scale, and deliver learning that maximizes employee value.
41 min
July 17 Learning Engineering: Data-Driven Mastery in Practice
Most training ends the moment a learner clicks submit. Jim Goodell joins IDIODC to make the case for something better: continuous mastery practice backed by real performance data. It's a shift from one-time compliance checks to lasting skill building.

Jim has spent years applying learning science and data to real-world design problems. He brings a data-driven lens to L&D, showing how xAPI and predictive feedback can be plugged into content for ongoing performance improvement. This one is about connecting learning directly to measurable outcomes.

Jim dives deeper into these topics in the upcoming webinar: https://learn.dominknow.com/make-lnd-a-driver-of-performance-not-just-compliance

___________
Jim Goodell is the founder of INFERable, using AI to bring mastery-based practice to learning platforms everywhere. He also edits the Learning Engineering Toolkit and chairs the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee, shaping the data standards behind modern edtech.

For over two decades, Jim has asked one core question: how do we know learning actually works? He blends learning science with real performance data to answer it, pushing L&D beyond checkboxes and toward measurable workforce impact.
Brought to you by the dominKnow | ONE Platform - develop, scale, and deliver learning that maximizes employee value.
39 min
June 19 L&D Roles That Don't Exist Yet (But Absolutely Should)
Content creation has been L&D's comfort zone for years. But the role is shifting fast. Lavinia Mehedintu joins IDIODC to share what Offbeat's research reveals about where L&D professionals go from here.
From learning product management to experience design to systems thinking, she breaks down the moves that turn L&D teams into genuine strategic partners. Real scenarios, real skills, and a few things worth doing less of.

________
Lavinia Mehedintu is Co-Founder and Learning Architect at Offbeat. Over the past nine years, she has designed learning experiences and career development programs across corporate and higher education settings. She is known for her work on behavior change, social learning, and helping L&D teams shift from content creation to strategic impact.
At Offbeat, she researches and writes about the future of the L&D profession, AI-native teams, and what it takes for learning professionals to stay relevant. She speaks at major industry events, including Learning Technologies, and has built one of the most active communities for L&D practitioners worldwide.
Brought to you by the dominKnow | ONE Platform - develop, scale, and deliver learning that maximizes employee value.
42 min
June 05 Short Sims: The Easiest Path to Experiential Learning
Most eLearning tells learners things. Short Sims make them do things. Clark Aldrich joins IDIODC to unpack why this distinction is costing L&D teams credibility — and budget. Clark invented Short Sims: compact, decision-driven simulations that build both competence and conviction in under 12 minutes.

We dig into how Short Sims are built, how AI is now accelerating their production, and why they're one of the few formats that can prove measurable performance impact. If your content library is full of passive courses, this one's a wake-up call.

___________
Clark Aldrich has spent 30 years at the forefront of experiential learning. He founded Gartner's e-learning research practice in the late 1990s, designed over 100 educational simulations and serious games, and holds a U.S. patent for leadership simulation design. He has guest lectured at Harvard, the Army War College, and the FBI Academy at Quantico.

He is the author of six books, including 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘴: 𝘈 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳, a method for building decision-based "learning to do" simulations in under 12 minutes. Short Sims clients include the United Nations, the U.S. Department of State, KPMG, and the Center for Army Leadership. His newest work, Socratic Cards, builds on that foundation to develop leadership and heroic cultures inside organizations.
Brought to you by the dominKnow | ONE Platform - develop, scale, and deliver learning that maximizes employee value.
44 min
May 08 AI, Pressure, and Purpose: The Real State of L&D
What happens to L&D when the training models we relied on for decades start falling apart? Donald H Taylor joins IDIODC to share what 3,797 practitioners from 105 countries told him in the 2026 Global Sentiment Survey. The answers are more honest, more urgent, and more revealing than any single year before.

We'll dig into what the data reveals about where the profession is heading. What are practitioners actually doing differently? Where is AI adding value, and where is it creating noise? And what does the path forward look like when there is no map?

__________
Donald H Taylor has worked in learning and technology since the mid-1980s, from training delivery to board chair. He has chaired the Learning Technologies Conference in London since 2000, now Europe's largest event of its kind. His annual L&D Global Sentiment Survey draws thousands of responses from practitioners across 100+ countries.

He is the author of Learning Technologies in the Workplace and chairs the Workforce Development board at Emerge Education. A graduate of Oxford University, he received an honorary doctorate from Middlesex University in 2016. He has spoken in over 30 countries worldwide.
Brought to you by the dominKnow | ONE Platform - develop, scale, and deliver learning that maximizes employee value.
48 min
April 24 Freelance Instructional Design: Turning Talent into Business Impact
Understanding the freelance instructional design market is crucial for both independent professionals and the enterprises that hire them. In this episode, Parker Grant and Andrea Dottling of IDLance pull back the curtain on the freelance L&D industry. They explore the daily challenges, unique opportunities, and business mechanics of working as an independent eLearning designer.

For L&D leaders, they provide practical advice on integrating freelance talent into corporate workflows. The conversation highlights how large organizations can build better vendor relationships, streamline project management, and achieve strong business outcomes when working with external instructional designers.

__________
Parker Grant spent over 21 years at a Fortune 50 company as an engineer, trainer, and training manager before going freelance. He holds a Ph.D. in Adult Learning from the University of Connecticut and co-founded IDLance with Andrea in 2020. He is also an eLearning developer, cartoonist, and someone who has genuinely thought through the business side of L&D freelancing.

Andrea Dottling holds a Master's in Education and has designed learning across corporate, higher ed, K-12, and non-profit settings. She co-founded IDLance in 2020 and helped grow its freelancer community to over 1,700 members worldwide. In 2025, she keynoted the Alabama Instructional Design Network's UnConference.
Brought to you by the dominKnow | ONE Platform - develop, scale, and deliver learning that maximizes employee value.
48 min