Dan Roam's Napkinacademy

That does look interesting. Thanks for sharing, Steve.

Good stuff in there. I was looking at that a while back. The price is a great for what you get. There's a lot of similarity between his books and what we do with elearning.

I've been going through the curriculum and am enjoying it so far. It's almost all presentation and little directed activity beyond "draw along with me" -- but I think that works pretty well in this context. The other things I like about the way they've set this one up are:

• The a-la-carte sequence. I can see how each lesson and sequence builds on the others but I have the freedom to pick anywhere on the map.
• Each element is short. Really short. The longest video I've seen is around 8 minutes. This is perfect for quick brain rests.

I feel strongly that this type of co-creation and visualization is superior in almost every way to the standard "show a stock picture, list some bullets" presentation style in almost any context. There's something strongly human about unpolished drawing and the representations of models, relationships and metaphors that this style can carry. It takes practice to carry it off well. But in the long run, it presents a much better experience for most participants. I'm digging this visual thinking stuff.

Just like Tom indicates in this post (plucked from Tom's twitter stream) 

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the excellent comments -- I am so glad you're enjoying (and finding useful!) the Napkin Academy.

In particular, I'm glad to hear that you find the a-la-carte menu model and short clips effective. I really wanted to create the simplest and most appealing approach possible, and this seemed the right way to go.

Thanks again, and please let me know if you have any thoughts for how to improve www.napkinacademy.com.

Thanks again,

Dan