Leaving ADDIE for SAM Field Guide: Guidelines and Templates for Developing the Best Learning Experiences Paperback – May 27, 2014

Conceptually the book is sound. The authors have given us all permission to do that which we know (or should have known) naturally is a better way to develop training. What I found both interesting and frustrating is that the reading level is so high. I am intelligent, educated and well read. By well read I mean that I read, on average three or more business/science books/people books a month. I am never without one. LSFA was a struggle at times. As if the authors are so high minded that the idea of mere mortals reading it hadn't occurred to them.For those that need ALL of the details on how to set up a training committee and get started, they are definitely in here. That said, those ideas are for companies that have the people and budget for creating committees. (As if we needed another large committee)It might have been nice if they had thought of the little guy, the Lone Ranger such as the Safety guy in a small company. I had to work it out on my own, and for those of you interested, ask me how I did it.Finally, you can actually get the core concept in the first half of the book. I couldn't force myself to read on after that. For those of you with little time and lots of common sense, skip the first chapter. It is a maddeningly slow detailed review of the history of how not to create training.Is the book vital? Essential? Well, the core concept is. The book felt like the authors either wanted to show off all of their thoughts or were struggling to fill in a book. Ironically both ideas are not great as training goes.Buy it. Read a few chapters. Put it away and start creating training.

Very good reference

I was expecting more from the field guide. The main text is good. This one was a bit of a disappointment compared to other field guides (5th Discipline, etc).

There is no way this book should be around $35.00. Don't waste your money. The content is nothing you cannot gain from Google searches or Google Scholar in about an hour.

I learned more about instructional design just sitting NEAR these people as an intern for a few weeks than I did for YEARS as an instructional designer the previous decade. Buy this book. Read it. It will change your eLearning, instructional design, project management life.