How Are Your Reading (the room) Skills?
No, I‘m not asking about your ability to plow through a novel in one sitting (though kudos to you if you can!). I’m talking about your ability to read the room—an often-overlooked facilitation skill that separates engaging, dynamic presenters from those who lose their...
The Importance of Anticipating Questions and Being Prepared: A Tale of Two Webinars
As a participant in two recent webinars, I had a firsthand look at the difference preparation makes when it comes to anticipating questions from participants. The webinars were similar in structure—both focused on live demonstrations—but the experiences couldn’t have...
Why You Can’t Teach It All in One Course (and Why You Shouldn’t Try)
Let's talk about how to choose content for your course and know what to prune away. Consider this: When we learn to drive, we focus on operating the car and driving safely—not the history of cars or how to rebuild a carburetor. Designing a workshop or course follows...
Chunking: A Powerful Strategy for Effective Course Design
As course creators, we often grapple with a common challenge: How do we present complex information in a way that doesn't overwhelm our learners? Let's chat about a key instructional design strategy that can help your learners absorb and retain information. It's...
Effective Workshop Structure: Lessons from Personal Training
When you attend a really good workshop or course, you might leave feeling energized, brimming with new ideas, and equipped with new skills and strategies you can immediately apply. As a course creator and workshop facilitator, I've heard from participants who describe...
Once upon a question
Sheila here, writing with my partner in survey design Kim, of Leonard Research & Evaluation with a longform interview with esteemed evaluation colleagues Dylan Felt and Gregory Phillips II. At the time of this writing Dylan is a PhD student in Sociomedical Sciences—Sociology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health who studies the social conditions which produce health within transgender populations. Gregory is a tenured Associate Professor at Northwestern University who studies factors associated with health disparities among LGBTQ+ populations.
Dylan and Gregory have been amazing in their generosity and willingness to share their vast knowledge in this space. We were honored to present a session on asking survey questions about sex and gender at Evaluation 2021, the annual conference of the American Evaluation Association. We’ve been fortunate to stay in touch with them since!
Asking Survey Questions About Sex and Gender
Sheila here, writing with my partner in survey design Kim, of Leonard Research & Evaluation with a longform interview with esteemed evaluation colleagues Dylan Felt and Gregory Phillips II. At the time of this writing Dylan is a PhD student in Sociomedical Sciences—Sociology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health who studies the social conditions which produce health within transgender populations. Gregory is a tenured Associate Professor at Northwestern University who studies factors associated with health disparities among LGBTQ+ populations.
Dylan and Gregory have been amazing in their generosity and willingness to share their vast knowledge in this space. We were honored to present a session on asking survey questions about sex and gender at Evaluation 2021, the annual conference of the American Evaluation Association. We’ve been fortunate to stay in touch with them since!
Beat Boring Presentations by Creating Handouts in PowerPoint (it’s easy!)
There are many ways to create custom handouts in PowerPoint. Here are two methods with variations.
Beyond Repetition: The Power of Deliberate Practice
In pursuit of learning—achieving expertise or acquiring a new skill—we tend to rely on passive learning strategies such as rereading texts or notes or other forms of basic repetition. But what if there's a better way…to get better? Backed by plenty of good science...
Capturing authentic youth perspectives through surveys
Sheila & Kim here, writing today with Dr. Alicia Lynch on surveying youth. We recently chatted about our experiences working on surveys for youth and the special challenges and considerations of doing so. Administering surveys is a common method for measuring the...
Sheila B Robinson, Ed.D.
Inspiring talks and custom professional learning that meets your learning needs from a career educator and instructional designer.