Once upon a midnight dreary, Ross G pondered, weak and weary Whether Ross D might consider him a dry and awful bore—

If he proposed some gentle chatting, sprinkled with some caveating,

A pod with almost no formatting, on an essay he’d adored.

“’Tis about unity of effect in learning design,” he muttered, “by Edgar Allan Poe—

Only this and nothing more.”

We discuss:

• why we are dedicating our Halloween Special to the application of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Philosophy of Composition’ to modern-day learning design
• the impact of ‘unity of effect’ on design decisions
• how to create an emotional response in learning experiences.

To read Poe’s essay, see: poetryfoundation.org/articles/69390/the-philosophy-of-composition

To read the full text of ‘The Raven’, see: poetryfoundation.org/poems/48860/the-raven

For The Simpsons version of this tale, see: youtube.com/watch?v=bLiXjaPqSyY

In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross D shared his insights from his recent marathon. Ross G discussed Paul Fairie’s (@Paulisci) Twitter thread on the many issues caused by bicycles: twitter.com/paulisci/status/1561848479470694403

If you’re interested in the poem that Ross G’s wife wrote, Edgar Allan Poem, see: instagram.com/p/Chwy4eLLecV/ (It inspired this episode!)

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtoolsbusiness.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   

Connect with our speakers   

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: 

• Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT
• Ross Dickie - @RossDickieMT
• Edgar Allan Poe - @Poe_Quotes_Bot