It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also volumes one, two, three, and four.)
Results from Masie's Survey on Learning Systems
As I noted in a recent posting, the MASIE Center released the summary results of a 69-question survey conducted earlier this year on Learning Management Systems. The survey participants were from the Learning CONSORTIUM and from their Learning Systems Roundtable held in mid-April. There were 199 responses received, and as Elliott notes, "The data provides interesting insight into how the world of Learning Systems is evolving."
More on Learning Evaluation and ROI
I recently recapped and commented on what I called the “Increasing Discussion for Learning Evaluation and ROI:” (see both Part 1 and Part 2.) The times we live in necessitate the continued focus on this area, and so the August issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine includes "Measure Smart: Trade ROI for IOB" by Timothy L. Hill. He reports:
"According to a recent study conducted by the ROI Institute, nearly all CLOs measure their success by how many employees are trained. Three out of four CLOs measure the efficiency of training—how well it resonates with employees in terms of timing, content, and other perceptive logistics. Half measure the reaction of the employees to the training. However, these elements are the ones that CLOs admit offer the least value in assessing the overall success of their programs. Meanwhile, only 1 out of 10 CLOs measures the impact of training on the business—the metric that the overwhelming majority of survey respondents cited as the most important measurement to determine success of employee training programs."
After giving some differences between ROI (Return on Investment) and IOB (Impact on Business), he then challenges CLOs to "shift their focus from training to performance, "and lays out four steps for implementing an IOB model.
If you are interested in more information on the ROI Institute's study that Hill referenced, then you are in luck. The August issue of T+D magazine has an article by Jack and Patti Phillips (Chairman and President/CEO of the ROI Institute, respectively) titled "Measuring What Matters: How CEOs View Learning Success." (Login required, but you can also listen to this article as a podcast.)
The Increasing Role of Virtual Learning
In these challenging economic times, many learning professionals are finding these hard times are leading them to consider carefully a move from face-to-face ILT (Instructor-Led Training) to various forms of e-Learning. In many cases, the benefits of self-paced e-Learning clearly make it the best choice. But in other cases, such as when interaction with an expert instructor is vital, another option is synchronous e-Learning or so-called "virtual classrooms." The August issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine had an excellent article by Julia Young on this growing area, titled "Collaborative Learning in the Virtual Workplace." This article provides great takeaways such as a 15-point checklist for converting from a face-to-face to a virtual learning event, and nearly a dozen examples of when virtual learning might be advantageous.
Social Media/Web 2.0 Continues to be a Hot Topic
As I wrote about recently, it seems Everyone is Talking About Social Media. In that posting, I shared several links to some of the most important recent articles and blog postings for you to be aware of in the L&D industry. See that postings for several good recent articles in this area.
Twitter, Twitter Everywhere
And speaking of social media, the darling of the industry, Twitter, continues to get significant coverage in the industry magazines as well. The latest is "Twitter 101: Are You Tweeting?" by Marcia Connor (login required). I follow Marcia on Twitter, get a lot of value from her "tweets," and so can attest to her expertise in this area. She also is a leader of the weekly "twitter chat" focused on the L&D industry, called lrnchat (pronounced "learn-chat"). See the lrnchat site for more information on this great 90-minute online event held each Thursday event.
In her article, Connor attempts to convince those who are still skeptical of Twitter's value. She notes: "Yet people across the globe—people smarter and busier than you—use Twitter and its enterprise counterparts… .They may doubt its value at first, but when they wade into the stream, they find it invaluable and a complete surprise." She then goes on to tackle nine common "doubts" people have about Twitter—all of which I have heard voiced by my own colleagues and the many others I talk with the L&D industry. I recommend reading this article if one or several of these "doubts" have kept you from taking Twiter seriously or giving it a try:
- I have too much to say.
- I don't have time.
- I have nothing to say.
- It's not designed for the training department.
- I can't participate because my company blocks its use.
- It's only for young people wasting time.
- It's overwhelming.
- I don't know anyone using it.
- I don't know how to use it.
And be sure to see my recent posting "Update on Twitter for Learning Professionals," which includes a list of L&D industry leaders and experts you can follow, to help get you started with Twitter.
What Will Learning be in 2019?
Looking beyond today's focus on social media, Elliott Masie has again kicked off an interesting discussion at the LearningTown [www.learningtown.com] L&D industry social networking site. He asked the question: Learning in 2019…What will it be? As that year is now 10 years away, he was interested in views on "the nature, structure, experience, or technology of learning in 2019." Thus far, there have been 60 responses, and both the concrete ideas and the overall optimism make for interesting reading.
Masie has also asked the same question at a page at the website for the upcoming Learning 2009 conference. So far, that page has a few dozen responses, giving more interesting perspectives on this question.
Updates from Element K
I'll again end this roundup posting with links to our newsletter service that we launched in June. Each newsletter includes several articles of relevance to the Learning and Development field, as well as updates about Element K events and our latest product releases. You can see the latest newsletters here: June, July, August, and September.
— Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com)
Comments