Interview with Instructional Design Pioneer, Dean Pichee

It is often a challenge to find the pioneers of instructional design for not only e-learning, but also the days of CBT (Computer-Based Training) and before that when we had LANs and WANs with text driven content that went out to the masses. Anyone who grew up during those days, remembers when office computers, and even home, had a monochrome screen. In the mid 80’s, modems showed up, with a whopping 2.2Kbs (Prodigy) and you might be lucky to have a color screen. We are talking floppy disks (5 and a quarter inch) and no hard drive.

I had one for grad school. It was the latest with dual floppy drives, a dot matrix printer, and a color screen (not what you are thinking of today – it was a CGA). Whoo-hoo. Earl Weaver baseball though was amazing. What? You thought I only used my computer for things like my thesis?

Think about how you would have to create courses for such endeavors? And that was on the PC side. Apple was a completely different monster.

I couldn’t even imagine what it had to be like. When CBT rumbled in, those 640mb CD-ROMS definitely was a game changer. Then at some point, WBT appeared (now referred to as elearning courses and content by way too many vendors – when it actually was devised as an umbrella term and spelled e-learning). The modem speeds, and yes I am saying modem, was 12.2Kbs, then it went up, and in 2000, a whopping 56.6Kbs. Speed demons!

The point of bringing all of this up, is that Dean Pichee, was at the forefront for computer learning, then CBT, and now WBT. I consider him to be one of the early pioneers who saw the possibilities and made it happen.

I’ve been fortunate to know Dean for many years, and my respect for what he provided and did for our industry is nothing short of spectacular. Today, Dean is the CEO and Founder of Biz Library, a 3rd party course and content publisher (whose content IMO is elite, with sound instructional design techniques), along with a learning system, BizLMS, plus BizSkills and BizAcademy (you can get each separate or have them all included – I recommend the total inclusion).

The focus on this interview is to learn more about what you should look for when deciding what 3rd party content/course publisher you should choose/consider, how you can go from only PowerPoint (that so many folks use) to a different method, even if you are new to course building (and yes, a lot of folks are), plus a few other items.

My questions will be italicized, bolded and green.

Q: Let’s say I am creating a course for the very first time. I do not have any knowledge around instructional design, nor how to build a good course.  What would be the important items to remember, and some best practices?

Dean: This is a great question for course developers.  We (Biz Library) believe that there are four key components for effective learning…..

• Spacing – spreading out learning over time improves learning. For example, people will learn and retain more if they study 5-10 minutes for 10 days rather than 1-2 hours all on one day. 
• Retrieval practice – learning improves when learners are asked to bring information to mind from memory by taking practice tests or quizzes.  The key is that they should bring the information to mind from memory. 
• Dual coding  – learning content is best when verbal representations of information (words) are combined with visual representations of information (videos/pictures/diagrams). When we combine these, it is easier for us to understand the information being presented. 
• Elaboration – asking “how” and “why” questions about a specific topic, and then trying to find the answers to those questions. The act of trying to describe and explain how and why things work helps learners truly understand and learn. 

Importantly, all of these instructional design components have a couple of very important things in common:

They are all difficult. Research consistently shows that this difficulty is a good thing; the strategies that feel easy are the ones that do not promote learning in the long-run.

They all promote long-term learning. This is important and is probably due to the difficulty.  Instructional design that feels easy promotes “learning” that is almost immediately forgotten (even by the next day).  That is not our objective… it long-term knowledge and behavior change.  

Q: Keeping on creating courses, many people are creating courses either with PowerPoint or all text, neither of which I see as an effective way to retain knowledge. What do you think about this?

Dean: I do not think that a single learning experience (regardless of how thorough or good) is an effective way to retain knowledge.  Micro-learning, space out over time, and reinforced with a series of opportunities to recall information and elaborate works best in my opinion.

Q: I am looking to purchase 3^rd party content from a publisher.  When deciding whom to purchase, what should I look for or focus on specifically, regardless of the topic to make an informed decision to buy content from that publisher?

Dean: Wow.  A little bit a loaded question here… I would always suggest looking for a wide selection of quality courses or lessons, the ability to customize to meet your organization’s specific needs, and for a bundling or mapping of the content to your specific needs.

Q: You have been around the industry for a long time, a pioneer in creating and launching courses when WBT (now referred to as online learning or e-learning content/courses) was introduced. What have you seen as the core differences and changes in the course development side of the house (from someone creating courses to even publishers building them and selling them)?

Dean: I’ve seen a lot of changes in our industry over the past three decades… very positive changes.  Today we see learning content that is shorter in length (5 minutes vs. 2 hours in some cases), more video-based content vs power point slide presentation refitted as stand-alone courses, and over the quality and quantity of learning content has increased substantially.  There are many options for organizations today, and that choice has made us all better.

Q: What concerns you as an expert in these three areas:

• Course authoring tools using only AI (generative AI)
• Creating content for the next generation of learners – regardless of if they are employees or customers
• Where the industry is heading

Dean:

Course Authoring tools using only AI (generative AI)

• AI is everywhere today and its helping course creation and curation in some important ways.  But generative AI alone would not be an effective learning experience today, in my opinion.  We still feel strongly that there is a need for human contributions in terms of instructional design, editing, and publishing to get the best outcomes.

Creating content for the next generation of learners – regardless of if they are employees or customers

• For the next generation of learners we are seeing a few trends that I think are important… one is micro learning is becoming more micro… we used to think of 10-15 minutes  for course length… now we’re thinking 1 minute or less in some cases.  Also we (Biz Library) see that the next generation of workers are 100% digital natives, and they are sometimes more comfortable talking with the computer rather than their manager… I’m very intrigued by AI-powered coaching as a result.  

Where the industry is heading?

• My crystal ball is a bit cloudy at the moment but I think we are headed for some very interesting and challenging times as we navigate the technological and demographic changes going forward.  My advice to newcomers is to buckle up!

To learn more about Biz Library and the content services they offer, click here. To view their content library, click here.

I’d like to thank Dean for providing insightful information with this interview. Look for future interviews, with other leading experts in the instructional design field, as we continue to navigate how it is changing and it’s impact on the current generation of learners, and those to come.

Bonus Content – Wanted Instructional Designer

How to Create an online course regardless of an authoring tool or lack thereof

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