25. The Famous Dr. Clark Quinn on 40 Years of Learning Science

Dr. Clark Quinn on 40 Years of Learning Science

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Clark Quinn, one of the most influential thinkers in our field. With over 40 years of experience in learning science, seven books to his name, and as the first recipient of the eLearning Guild's Guild Master Award, Clark shares his sharp insights on what's going wrong in L&D and how we can do better.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why we jump to solutions too quickly without first considering what technology can actually offer
• The danger of "chocolate covered broccoli" in learning experience design
• Why there's only a 0.09 correlation between whether people like a training and whether it actually has impact
• The persistent misconceptions that just won't die: learning styles, the attention span of a goldfish, and the myth that images are 10,000 times better than text
• Generative AI: why it creates answers that sound like good answers, but aren't necessarily
• Why you don't just need a human in the loop, but an expert in the loop

About Dr. Clark Quinn: Clark Quinn has a PhD in cognitive psychology and was a pioneer in designing educational games. He co-authored the Serious eLearning Manifesto and wrote, among others, "Millennials, Goldfish, and Other Training Misconceptions."

Mentioned in this episode:

• Millennials, Goldfish, and Other Training Misconceptions (Clark Quinn)
• Make It Meaningful (Clark Quinn)
• Learning Science for Instructional Designers (Clark Quinn)
• Think Like a Marketer, Train Like an L&D Pro (Bianca Bauman & Mike Taylor)
• The Accidental Instructional Designer (Cammy Bean)