Trident eLearning Services

I hear the same thing from fellow instructional designers and eLearning developers constantly. They want to build inclusive, representative training. They go looking for avatars that reflect the real diversity of their workforce. And they come up empty. Not just with disability representation — though that gap is real and well documented. With body size. With mixed heritage that genuinely reflects both backgrounds rather than defaulting to one. The "diverse" avatar libraries still show a remarkably narrow range of body types. Plus-size representation is nearly nonexistent. Mixed heritage characters that look authentically blended — rather than ambiguously ethnic — are rarer still. Alicia is joining the Bailey's eLearning Treats catalog in the next few days. Plus-size. Mixed heritage — Japanese and African. Office professional. Multi-age set from 25 to 75. Built to show up in your modules the way your learners actually show up in the world. In the meantime, take a look at what's already in the catalog — illustrated and photo-realistic avatar sets built around real diversity and disability representation. https://lnkd.in/g4QSdT7x

Most training doesn't fail because the content is wrong. It fails because nobody asked how much the learner could actually absorb before the next topic started — and nobody grouped the material so that each concept was complete before the next one began. This week's Thursday Thoughts covers Strategy 2 of Pillar 3 — Break Down the Material into Absorbable Chunks. The video walks through both types of intentional chunking: time-based and topic-based. What the thresholds are, why they are grounded in how the brain actually processes and retains new information, and what happens to learning when you push past them without a break or a transition. It also walks through a real redesign — a three-day course with no intentional structure, no practice, and no breaks built into the design — and what it took to turn it into a learning experience the brain could actually work with. Not by cutting content. By adding it, and delivering it in a way that respected how learning actually occurs. The difference between a training that covers material and a learning experience that transfers it is not the content. It is the structure. 🎥 Watch the full video here: https://lnkd.in/gDiGDkp2 📋 Full 5 Pillars of Good Instructional Design series: https://lnkd.in/gb9xtsYG 💬 How intentional are you about chunking decisions in your designs? Share in the comments — and pass this along if it resonates with someone on your team. #InstructionalDesign #eLearning #LearningAndDevelopment #TrainingDesign #CognitiveLoad #Chunking #5PillarsID #eLearningDevelopment #InstructionalDesigner

Articulate released a Storyline 360 update today — and one of the enhancements is worth stopping to pay attention to. Localization and translation are now included with a standard Articulate 360 subscription. You can translate your lesson directly from the File dropdown, verify the translation in Review 360, and only activate a localization plan when you are ready to publish. That means you can translate your content and make adjustments before any payment is committed. The update also adds layout tracking from the Slide and Feedback Masters — right-click any layout to see exactly which slides are using it. And variable cleanup now has a one-click solution for removing all unused variables at once. Four bug fixes round out the release, including a hotspot correction for Android users and a Windows Narrator fix for bulleted and numbered lists being read twice. 🎥 Full breakdown here: https://lnkd.in/gy4ffDwt 📋 Full update series: https://lnkd.in/gzXQPPKH 💬 Which of these enhancements affects your current builds? Share in the comments — and pass this along if someone on your team needs to know. #ArticulateStoryline #Storyline360 #eLearning #InstructionalDesign #eLearningDevelopment #Localization #Articulate360 #LearningAndDevelopment

Onboarding is the first training experience a new hire gets. For most organizations it's also the first training failure. Not because the content is bad. Because onboarding rarely gets treated as a strategic investment in that employee's success. It gets treated as a checklist — something to complete so the new hire can get to work and the organization can move on. The result is predictable. A new hire who doesn't feel set up to succeed is a new hire who starts looking for the exit before they've found the breakroom. Training's job is to set people up to perform. Onboarding is where that job starts. For too many organizations it's where it also ends. 👇 How does your organization treat onboarding — as a strategic priority or an administrative formality? If this resonates, share it with your network. #WednesdayInsights #InstructionalDesign #LearningAndDevelopment #TalentDevelopment #CorporateLearning #Onboarding #EmployeeRetention

I did an analysis of the Bailey's avatar catalog recently. The honest result: glaring holes. Limited senior representation. Thin business professional options. Expressions and emotions that felt incomplete. And an ethnicity gap that had no business being there. Gwen is part of the answer. She's a Southeast Asian female executive in a charcoal pantsuit, accompanied by Baxter — her black Labrador Retriever service dog. 378 photo-realistic images across 6 age ranges, 7 poses, and 9 expressions. Senior representation. Executive presence. A service dog that isn't a prop — he's part of who she is. And she's Southeast Asian. Because that gap in the catalog was inexcusable and it's now closed. The eLearning community keeps saying the same thing — finding authentic representation without it feeling like tokenism is hard. Age. Ethnicity. Disability. All of it. Gwen isn't a checkbox. She's a fully realized professional at every stage of her career, from 25 to 75, with Baxter at her side the whole way. She comes as a .png with a fully transparent background — ready to drop into your ILT presentation, your eLearning course, or composite directly onto a corporate stock photo background. 👉 https://lnkd.in/gUhvBCEX #eLearning #InstructionalDesign #Articulate360 #Storyline #DEI #InclusiveDesign #AvatarSet #SoutheastAsian #ServiceDog #SeniorRepresentation #BaileyseLearningTreats

This week's Thursday Thoughts dives into the first foundational strategy of Pillar 3 — Structure and Cognitive Flow: Intentionally Sequence the Information. Imagine dropping a 19-year-old sailor — running on three hours of sleep, assigned to the mess decks — into training on a nuclear reactor and steam plant. Two of the most complex systems on the boat. No context. No foundation. Just content. How that training is sequenced determines whether they walk out with understanding or walk out more confused than when they sat down. The same is true for every training you design. Intentional sequencing is not about the order that is convenient for the subject matter expert. It is about the order that gives the learner the best chance of actually understanding the material — context before detail, foundation before complexity. Watch this week's video: https://lnkd.in/g6s3FsNb Watch the full series: https://lnkd.in/gb9xtsYG #InstructionalDesign #LearningAndDevelopment #5Pillars #TrainingDesign #TridentELearning #ThursdayThoughts

The training your employees take was built by someone. That someone has a gender, an age, a race, a sexual identity, and a lifetime of experiences shaped by all of those things. Those inherent characteristics don't disappear when they open their authoring tool. They show up — in who gets represented, whose experiences are treated as the default, and whose perspectives get centered or overlooked. This isn't about intent. It's about awareness. Knowing who is building your training is the first step toward asking whether it actually reflects the people taking it. 👇 What does your L&D staff look like — and does it reflect the workforce they're designing for? If this resonates, share it with your network. #WednesdayInsights #InstructionalDesign #LearningAndDevelopment #TalentDevelopment #CorporateLearning #DEI #WorkforceDiversity

Developers keep asking the same question: where do I find avatars that show disability without feeling like tokenism? It's a fair question. And it's one the eLearning industry hasn't answered well. Emilio is part of that answer. He's a hearing impaired Hispanic male wearing a cochlear implant — business casual, general purpose, and built for the real world. 294 illustrated images across 6 age ranges, 7 poses, and 7 expressions, designed to match Articulate Storyline's Modern Avatar style. His cochlear implant isn't a prop. It isn't a checkbox. It's just part of who he is — visible, consistent, and naturally integrated across every single image in the set. That's what authentic representation looks like. 👉 https://lnkd.in/g2QbEND2 #eLearning #InstructionalDesign #Articulate360 #Storyline #DEI #InclusiveDesign #AvatarSet #HearingImpaired #CochlearImplant #Accessibility #BaileyseLearningTreats

ALC 2026 is here. Last night's networking event was a great way to kick things off — thank you to the Planning Committee for putting it together. There's something about reconnecting with people you've met over the years, whether in person or online, that reminds you why this community matters. Driving into LA yesterday I noticed the marine layer hanging over the city. I knew May Grey from my time stationed in San Diego — didn't realize the term traveled up the coast too. A couple of folks from the ATD Los Angeles chapter confirmed it. Apparently Los Angeles has its own version. It's a busy day ahead. Catching a Lyft to the convention center shortly and looking forward to sessions on attracting and retaining members and using AI and technology to support chapter management. More updates throughout the day. #ATD #ALC2026 #ChapterLeadership #LearningAndDevelopment #LDProfessionals #ATDGreaterLasVegas #ATDICE2026 #ATD2026

Friday morning. Bags half packed. Three pugs — Dixie, Everclear, and Fireball — about to be dropped off at the boarder before I point the car toward Los Angeles. ALC 2026 starts this weekend and I cannot wait. There's something about being in a room full of people who do what you do, care about what you care about, and understand why chapter leadership matters that just resets everything. My tribe. And after a long year, I'm ready to find them again. Valerie Quezada, M.S. and I are presenting Saturday — Room 507, 1:20pm. No Borders, No Budget, No Problem: How 5 Chapters Along the Colorado River Built a Shared Learning Network. Come find us. But first — dog tax. #ATD #ALC2026 #ChapterLeadership #LearningAndDevelopment #LDProfessionals #ATDGreaterLasVegas #PugLife