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The LDA Podcast: An Exploration of Evidence-Informed Approaches to Learning and Development

The LDA Podcast: An Exploration of Evidence-Informed Approaches to Learning and Development

By: Learning Development Accelerator Inc.
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 Originally spearheaded by noted learning scientists and consultants, Will Thalheimer and Matt Richter, and originally called Truth In Learning, the updated, upgraded, and rebooted LDA Podcast explores all aspects of the Learning and Development field- validated tools and resources for better training, debunked learning models, controversies in the industry, and so much more. Now hosted by Matt and Clark Quinn (another noted scientist and consultant, the podcast will dive deeply into what makes learning and development more effective and beneficial for its end-users, stakeholders, and practitioners. Along with our monthly and general episodes, we will also offer a monthly series on AI, hosted by AI expert, Markus Bernhardt. Over the upcoming season, The LDA Podcast will: -- Keep you current with L&D research and innovations -- Unpack complex ideas and concepts -- Sharpen your critical thinking skills -- Stimulate your L&D grey cells (although this objective may not be evidence-based) N...© 2019 Learning Development Accelerator, LLC. All rights reserved.
Episodes
  • You Oughta Know Richard Ryan- A Special Primer on SDT

    You Oughta Know Richard Ryan- A Special Primer on SDT
    Sep 7 2025

    Clark and Matt decided to share a special episode from our sister cast, YOU OUGHTA KNOW: THE MOTIVATION SERIES. In this special episode, Matt is joined by the co-developer of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), Richard M. Ryan, to talk about all things motivation. Think of it as a primer on SDT. We hit the basics…

    • What is motivation? What is SDT?‎
    • ‎What are the origins of SDT?‎
    • ‎The different types of motivation.‎
    • ‎Rewards and their impact on one’s motivation.‎
    • ‎Of course, the famous three basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness).‎
    • ‎We discuss strategies one may take to either create environments to meet others’ needs or to do it for oneself.‎
    • ‎What is well-being? How is well-being related to motivation?‎
    • ‎Is SDT universal? Is it culturally descriptive in all cases?‎
    • ‎And more!

    During our discussion on mindfulness, Rich refers to a recently published meta-analysis.

    The reference is:

    Donald, James N., Helena Nguyen, James H. Conigrave, Anya Johnson, Inmaculada Adarves-Yorno, Ryan Cheng, Anya Bedi, Kevin B. Lowe, Jessica L. Lyons, Emma K. Devine, Georg B. Tamm and Richard M. Ryan (2025). ‘ Does Leaders’ Mindfulness Benefit Followers? A Meta-analytic Review and Research Agenda.’ British Journal of Management, 11111. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.70009

    Matt refers to a 1999 meta-analysis on the impact of rewards. That reference is:

    Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627–668. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.6.627

    Three references about the cultural generalizability of SDT are:

    Chirkov, V., Ryan, R. M., Kim, Y., & Kaplan, U. (2003). Differentiating autonomy from individualism and independence: A self-determination theory perspective on internalization of cultural orientations and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(1), 97–110. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.1.97

    Chirkov, V. I. (2009). A cross-cultural analysis of autonomy in education: A self-determination theory perspective. Theory and Research in Education, 7, 253-262. https://doi.org/

    Chirkov, V. I. (2017). Culture and autonomy. The Praeger handbook of personality across cultures, 2, 91-119. https://doi.org/

    Rich is a clinical psychologist and is currently a Professorial Fellow at the Australian Catholic University’s Institute for Positive Psychology & Education in North Sydney; he’s also Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Rochester, where he helped spark one of the most enduring frameworks of human motivation in the last half-century.

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    51 mins
  • The “Leadership Development Is Dead… Long Live Leadership Development” Episode

    The “Leadership Development Is Dead… Long Live Leadership Development” Episode
    Aug 4 2025
    In this episode, Clark and Matt return to the topic of Leadership Development. Is traditional leadership development a worthy endeavor for most organizations? Well, the research, or lack thereof, indicates that at best, it is questionable, and at worst, it may actually undermine or act at cross purposes to what the company strives to attain. Of course, in the end, they propose what they think might work more effectively. It’s about context! Matt and Clark discuss four inherent issues with traditional leadership development, based on Matt’s booklet on the topic, available for free download here: https://members.ldaccelerator.com/c/what-is-lda-press/leadership-development-the-four-issues-that-undermine-traditional-leadership-development-programs-3f451f4a-a52a-4ebe-9561-3d4e32cc23ba The Lacerenza, et. al. meta-analysis is below in the references. Matt makes the case for a definition problem. In other words, we are rarely clear or consistent in our use of the word leadership. Because of this lack of agreement on what the term means, and more importantly, what knowledge, skills, abilities, and values embody effective leadership, it is very difficult to design effective learning. They highlight the misalignment between what gets espoused by the "experts," the stakeholders in the organization, and the learning team, with how leadership actually shows up behaviorally in practice. Also, there is a tendency for all parties to idealize the factors that make up leadership and ignore, or sweep under the rug, some of the more nefarious behaviors that support leader outcomes. Next, there is validity and reliability. When the learning team decides what to teach, is the model, the process, or the tools supported by research and experience? Do they work consistently over time? Matt uses Servant Leadership as an example. Of course, given the next problem of context, we know they are not consistent. But we make matters worse when we also use models unsupported by evidence and research… or, we use models that work once or twice in practice… but not in all circumstances. Finally, Clark and Matt explore the problem of the said context. Shifting situations, people, crises, opportunities, technology, and more make the environment in which one leads always unique and difficult to predict. What works today tends not to work tomorrow. What didn't work yesterday may work today. Matt raises the Keith Grint model of leadership based on wicked, tame, and critical problems. Throughout the discussion, they reference lots of leadership and leadership development researchers and thought leaders (references below). They mention Jeffrey Pfeffer, Barbara Kellerman, Ronald Riggio, John Kotter, Warren Bennis, Bert Nanus, and David Grad. Clark mentions the Cynefin framework by Dave Snowden as an alternative to the Grint framework. You can learn about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework At one point, Matt refers to the hypocrisy of many corporate CEOs about Black Lives Matter. A good article on this was written by the BBC way back in 2020. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200612-black-lives-matter-do-companies-really-support-the-cause Clark refers to The Gervais Principle by Venkatesh Rao when the two talk about psychopathy, or sociopathy, in leadership. Clark also calls back to a Matt favorite, Brian Klaas’ Corruptible. REFERENCES: Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership (1st ed.). New York: Harper & Row. Burns, J. M. (2003). Transforming leadership: A new pursuit of happiness. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. Grint, K. (2005). Problems, problems, problems: The social construction of ‘leadership.’ Human Relations. 58 (11), 1467-1494. Kellerman, B. (2012). The end of leadership (1st ed.). New York: Harper Business, An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers. Kellerman, B. (2015). Hard times : leadership in America. Stanford, California: Stanford Business Books, an imprint of Stanford University Press. Lacerenza, C.N., Reyes, D.L., Marlowe, S.L., and Joseph, D.L. (2017). Leadership Training Design, Delivery, and Implementation: A Meta Analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1686-1718. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-32276-001 Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership : theory and practice (Eighth Edition. ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. Pfeffer, J. (2015). Leadership BS : fixing workplaces and careers one truth at a time (First edition. ed.). New York, NY: Harper Business, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Riggio, R. E. (Ed.) (2018). What’s Wrong with Leadership? New York: Routledge. Rittel, H.W.J. and Webber, M.M.. (1973) Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning. Policy Sciences. 4, pp. 155-169. Toor, S.-u.-R. (2011). Differentiating Leadership from Management: An Empirical Investigation of Leaders and Managers. Leadership and Management in Engineering, 11(4), 310-320. doi:doi:10.1061/(ASCE)LM.1943-5630.0000138 Toor, S.U.R. & Ofori, G. (2008). Leadership versus Management: How ...
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    55 mins
  • The "My Generative" Episode

    The "My Generative" Episode
    Jul 23 2025

    Welcome back! Sorry for our long hiatus. In this episode, Clark and Matt explore GENERATIVE LEARNING.

    Early on, Clark brings up Craik and Lockhart's research about how information is processed on different levels (Craik, F. I. M., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal behavior, 11, 671-684.) The paper can be found here.

    Throughout the podcast we talk about our colleagues and friends, John Sweller and Paul Kirschner several times. Some of the references we allude to are:

    LDA Podcast. (2024, January 25). The “What the Skills” Episode. Interview with Paul Kirschner by Matthew Richter. https://ldaccelerator.com/podcast.

    Sweller, J. (2016). Cognitive Load Theory: What We Learn and How We Learn. In M. Spector, B. Lockee, & M. Childress (Eds.), Learning, design, and technology (pp. 1–28). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17727-4_50-1

    Sweller, J., van Merrienboer, J.J.G., & Paas, F. (1998). Cognitive architecture and instructional design. Educational Psychology Review, 10(3), 251–296.

    Another hero of ours is Richard Mayer. A favorite source from Rich, along with his long-time colleague and our LDA friend, Ruth Clark, is:

    Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2024). E‑Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning (5th ed.). Wiley.

    Clark relays a story of working with Kathy Fisher during his time as a graduate student, discussing her use of semantic networking with biology students to help them represent their understandings:

    Fisher, K. (1992). Semantic networking: the new kid on the block. In P. A. M. Kommers, D. H. Jonassen, & J. T. Mayes (Eds.) Mindtools: Cognitive Technologies for Modelling Knowledge. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

    At one point we discuss the human information processing loop. While Sweller (and Kirschner) are super explainers of the Loop– as John refers to it, a part of the cognitive architecture, others have come before...

    Atkinson, R.C.; Shiffrin, R.M. (1968). Human Memory: A Proposed System and its Control Processes. Psychology of Learning and Motivation. Vol. 2. pp. 89–195. doi:10.1016/S0079-7421(08)60422-3

    Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. J. (1974). Working Memory. In G. A. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 8, pp. 47-89). New York: Academic Press.

    Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63(2), 81–97. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0043158

    Sweller and Kishner soon come up again, but this time with their co-author, Richard Clark, during a heated discussion of their groundbreaking (and Matt favorite) paper about the issues with constructivist learning called “Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching” which can be found here:

    Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4102_1

    Next, we discuss how to confirm whether the learners are able to retrieve the information being conveyed to them. Clark shares the work of teacher and cognitive scientist, Pooja Aggerwal:

    Agarwal, P.K. (2019). Retrieval Practice & Bloom’s Taxonomy: Do Students Need Fact Knowledge Before Higher Order Learning? Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 111 (2), 189–209.

    We hope you enjoy!
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    55 mins
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