The L&D tips of 'L&D Leader' Joitske Hulsebosch

Here you can read the entire interview with Joitkse Hulsebosch, who inspires and emphasizes blended and social learning in a long interview. 

The career tip for L&D practitioners

'Invest in blended learning - make sure you don't miss the boat!'

What is media or website you recommend?'

'I follow about a hundred blogs myself, I use the app Feedly for that, which reads conveniently. I really like Wilfred Rubens' blog. I also follow Mirjam Neelen and Paul A. Kirschner intensively. They write about research in a fine way. Also interesting is Free Technology for Teachers. Richard Byrne, a trainer, writes there about new tools. It is nicely American and also written for education, but you come across all kinds of tools like Plickers or Flipgrid. Also inspiring is Matthias Vermeulen. I subscribe to his newsletter, #MagicMondays which is sent out every Monday. There's always cool stuff in there.' Don't forget to click on the surprise item!'

Most Inspiring L&D Professional

'Oy that one is tricky. I follow so many people. I've long been a fan of Jane Hart, who makes the top 100 tools every year because of her focus on social learning. I would also say Connie Malamed. I took a workshop with her once on Design Thinking. What I like is that she has vision but also writes about a lot of practical things that are very interesting to follow.'

Best L&D book?

'Every month I read one book. Right now I'm reading Design for everyday things by Don Norman. That explains that it is never up to the user if they do something "wrong. It's the designer's fault. It's the same with learning. If a participant does not understand, it is more likely to be the trainer's fault than the learner's. I do recommend this book. Another good book is ‘Making Numbers Count’ by Chip Heath. About how to communicate with numbers.'

Best blended learning design?

'Best design I find hard to choose. It depends very much on the context, there is no blueprint. It also very much depends on the client and the question, But I do want to mention what I find very inspiring and that is what the  Guest House in Spaarne does with a platform for informal learning. They have deployed it in such a way that everyone who works with it can create something themselves. That totally fits into my vision of blended learning of "Everybody's a creator.

Does training ever go wrong?

'I wouldn't call it really wrong. For example, I see everyone growing in our learning. But we continue to develop every day. We do believe with blended learning that we can just throw people in the deep end. That people get out there on their own and start creating things. Usually people love that. But sometimes participants want more tools. You try to find a balance in that. I wouldn't call that a mistake but a continuous dilemma.'