It's time for another edition of the “Learning and Development Roundup”! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)
Talking about Blended Learning Learning and development expert Clive Shepherd recently provided a series of videos that give an extensive overview of blended learning. You can watch either the entire 43 minute interview or you can view it broken up into five parts: Foundations, Analyzing the situation, Selecting methods, Selecting media, and In conclusion. Along the way, he shares his perspective on a couple of dozen specific questions, such as: What's the case for blended learning? When is blended learning appropriate? How should someone set about designing a blended solution? How do you begin deciding which methods to use? Why start with methods rather than technologies for learning? What guarantee is there that you'll end up with a solution that is both effective and efficient?
The Working Smarter Glossary In the April issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine, industry expert Jay Cross's column provided an outstanding resource called the "Working Smarter Glossary." Provocative even when providing an alphabetized reference, learning professionals would be wise to consider carefully Jay's perspective.
Learning and Forgetting Curves As noted in the previous "Learning and Development Roundup," Will Thalheimer provides interesting research results in the L&D field. I noted his recent blog posting "How Much Do People Forget?," but since then he has released a very interesting video titled "Learning and Forgetting Curves -- In Depth" This is a great video for all learning professionals, from instructional designers and trainers all the way up to Chief Learning Officers.
The Latest on Mobile Learning The past year has seen increasing interest in mobile learning -- leveraging the many mobile devices in our lives for learning and development purposes. Here are some of the best writings on this subject from the past few months:
"2011: The Year of the Media Tablet as a Learning Tool" -- by Jeanne C. Meister, Evgeny Kaganer, and Rick Von Feldt, in the April issue of T+D magazine. This article provides some key industry data about the rise of the iPad and other tablet devices, and their relevance for learning and development. See the link for buying the article from ASTD, as well as this blog posting by Jeanne Meister with highlights from the article.
"The Pad and the Pod" -- a blog posting by Clark Quinn, author of the new book Designing mLearning. Here he shares some of his tentative thoughts about the differences in using a smartphone and tablet for mobile learning and support. See also his recent posting "10 Mobile Questions."
The Latest on Social Learning There continues to be a great flow of good articles, blog postings, and resources on this popular and important subject, so I will again list a few of the best from the past couple of months:
"Undeniable Connector" -- by Marcia Conner in the March 2011 issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine.
"Building a Personal Learning Network (PLN)" -- Jane Bozarth's latest "Nuts and Bolts" column at Learning Solutions Magazine gives tips on how to build your personal learning network, with special emphasis on Twitter and the benefits of the weekly #lrnchat as an example.
"Social Networks Enhance Employee Learning" -- Phaedra Brotherton's Intelligence column in the April issue of T+D magazine reports on recent survey data on the use of social media to enhance informal learning.
"Mapping Informal and Formal Learning Strategies to Real Work" -- a blog posting by Tom Gram that provides a categorization of typical job roles into routine, technician, craft, and knowledge work areas, and then considers each in terms of learning approaches (informal learning, formal learning, performance support, and more.)
"Should Employees Be Incented to Use Social Technologies?" -- a blog posting by Dan Pontefract, which gives a balanced consideration of a controversial but important question for any organization considering or already using social technologies.
Updates from Element K As usual, I'll end this roundup posting with links to the latest editions of our newsletter, which include 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: March, April, and May.
But before describing specific examples, I’ll start by noting the broad applicability of mobile learning (learning while on the move, using highly portable devices such as smartphones or tablets). To do this, I will first remind you of industry expert Conrad Gottfredson's "Five Moments of Need" for learning. I've always thought this list nicely covered just about all workplace learning needs that learning professionals encounter and support. I'll quote Gottfredson's own description of these from his recent article at Learning Solutions Magazine, "The Other Side of Learning: 'Performance is Everything'":
When people are learning how to do something for the first time (New)
When people are expanding the breadth and depth of what they have learned (More)
When they need to act upon what they have learned; which includes planning what they will do, remembering what they may have forgotten, or adapting their performance to a unique situation (Apply)
When problems arise, or things break or don’t work the way they were intended (Solve)
When people need to learn a new way of doing something; which requires them to change skills that are deeply ingrained in their performance practices (Change)
The mix of formal learning, informal learning, and performance support that are often used to support these learning moments of need generally fall into a pattern, with formal learning (training) being used more often for the first couple in the list, and informal learning and performance support approaches being more relevant for the last three (though specific circumstances and contexts can vary widely).
The point here is just that "mobile learning" can be a good fit for any of these five learning moments of need. That is, mobile learning can be used for formal learning, informal learning, or performance support; or, using Gottfredson's words, when the learner is learning something new, learning more on a subject, applying what he or she learned, solving a problem that has arisen, or facing something that has changed.
In considering mobile learning content that could support those needs, there is no lack of possibilities. I like to group these into three broad areas: formal learning and training, review and retention, and performance support.
Starting first with formal learning / training, consider these mobile learning possibilities:
Courses to replace traditional ILT and e-Learning. Although not likely to be common, you could deliver training courses via smartphones or tablet devices. (See the success that early adopter Merrill Lynch had with this).
Book abstracts. Several companies, such as Element K's partner GetAbstract [LINK], have long provided the key points from great books, either as five-page PDF documents or as audio recordings. This kind of short content is ideal for consuming while on the go, in short periods of time, via a smartphone or tablet device.
Blended learning assets. Content delivered to smartphones or tablets can be part of a blended learning program, to complement training materials provided in a classroom or through traditional e-Learning. This could include content such as audio podcasts of subject matter expert interviews, or videos of impactful stories from leaders in the organization.
Full-length e-books. As the popularity of e-readers and tablets is demonstrating, learning from reading full-length e-books can provide many benefits.
Quizzes and assessments. Just as formal training content can be delivered to smartphones and tablets, so too can quizzes and assessments. Answers and overall results can be tracked and synchronized to a back-end system for reporting.
Consider now the needs of review and increasing learning retention:
Book abstracts. While a book abstract can be read or heard in place of reading the actual book, they also can be used as a great follow-up to help with retention of the key points from the book.
e-Learning abstracts. Similarly, a 10-minute video that highlights the key points from a much longer classroom or e-Learning course can also help with retention of key points. Making such content available on a smartphone or tablet allows learners to consider the highlights again a week or a month after the initial formal learning.
Follow-up quick-tips. To really help a person review and retain what they have learned, a steady stream of "quick tips" -- whether in text, audio, or video format -- can help cement the new ideas.
Test-prep flashcards. For anyone studying for a certification or other exam, being able to frequently review relevant material on the most convenient devices could make a significant difference in their preparation.
And finally, consider some of the possibilities for performance support:
Job-aids, checklists, and product information look-up. Most job roles benefit from one or more "job-aids" for performance support. These can be procedures, checklists, product data-sheets, and so on. There can be great benefit to having such aids available via the devices that are most easily accessible and that you carry with you the most often.
Motivational audio and daily quick-tips. Just as regular quick-tips can help with retention of learning, they also can help drive improved performance. For example, regular tips or even motivational clips could be useful for field salespeople to read or hear before their next big client meeting.
Mobile e-reference. While reading full-length books on a tablet is growing in popularity, being able to search a full library of e-Reference materials from one's smartphone or tablet device can also be a great performance support solution.
Access to social media (forums, micro-messaging, and more). Increasingly, people are learning informally from peers and experts in their field through social media. So providing a user-friendly access mechanism to blogs, discussion forums, wikis, social messaging, or similar platforms can increase the value obtained from these interactive tools.
As you consider the possibilities for mobile learning in your organization, which of Gottfredson's "Five Moments of Need" for learning are ones you might address with a mobile learning initiative first? Which of the many content ideas above (or others) might be of interest to you in meeting those needs.
In my previous post, I considered the question of "Who can benefit from mobile learning first?" Now I'd like to consider mobile learning from another angle: Where is mobile learning most helpful? After all, if you are sitting at your desk, using a robust laptop or desktop computer with access to all of your learning resources, then you won’t have as much need for learning on a smartphone or tablet device. It is when you are away from such environments -- when you are "mobile" but have a handheld device with you -- that you will realize the most benefits of "mobile learning."
In discussing this question, I always like to split it into two main categories. The first is what I and others have referred to as making better use of "stolen moments of time." These are most often moments when you are waiting somewhere, for something to happen next -- the time is "stolen" from you unless you make productive use of it. If you have your smartphone with you, perhaps you'll make a few calls from your to-do list or check and process some email. For some, keeping up with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or their other social media presences might be another good use of their smartphones during such stolen moments of time. And then, of course, there are entertainment diversions, such as playing a game or watching a fun video. But the question for learning professionals is this: Can you provide people in your organization with another productive use of their smartphone during such stolen moments -- a way to learn or improve their performance in some way?
Through my research and conversations with our customers, the following are some typical stolen moments of time that can be considered as opportunities for mobile learning:
Waiting at the airport: This is perhaps the classic example -- how much more productive and enjoyable would that wait be if you could watch an instructional video, learn a new skill, or even take the compliance course assigned to you?
On the plane, train, or subway: If the mobile learning solution you have available allows you to download learning content ahead of time so that a live connection is not required for streaming, then being able to review key information before the meeting you are travelling to, or being able to take a course module as part of your development plan can be a great way to pass the time in transit.
In the car: If you are driving -- commuting to work, or anywhere really -- then audio-only mobile learning can be a good option. Alternately, if you carpool, as a passenger you could make productive use of that time by utilizing downloaded mobile learning content.
Waiting in a line: I've often seen people checking email or doing other productive tasks while waiting in long lines at the post office, or while waiting at their doctor's office, hair salon, or in other similar contexts. If you have time to process email, you also have time to watch a five-minute video on a subject you need to brush up on.
While exercising: Not all types of exercise lend themselves to simultaneous mobile learning, and some would prefer music while building up a sweat. But for those who want to learn something while they jog, stair-climb, or lift weights, many types of mobile learning content, such as audio-only content, could be a perfect fit.
All of the above are cases where, in many instances, people become bored and don't make the best use of their time. Another example of where mobile learning could be helpful is quite different from boredom; it is in urgent situations when immediate performance support is required. Here are some examples of typical job roles where providing performance support via a handheld device could be particularly valuable:
Sales executives: The ability either to better prepare for a key customer meeting or to quickly look up product or pricing information on the most convenient device at that moment could be a big plus. Even short, motivational audio clips could put a sales executive in a better frame of mind going into a crucial conversation.
Field engineers or repair technicians: I often see such field employees using laptop computers when they need to look up product information on the job. That is fine, but increasingly the more convenient devices will win out, as long as they can reliably provide the performance support content that is needed.
Retail employees: Where a laptop is not practical, a smartphone certainly could be. Could retail employees better serve customers by using apps to quickly look-up additional product information from the sales floor?
As a learning professional, ask yourself if your consideration of mobile learning is more targeted on making better use of stolen moments of time, or providing performance support. Dealing with boredom and urgency are both valid uses of mobile learning. Which approach makes the most sense for your first mobile learning projects?
For the purposes of this blog post, I'll take "mobile learning" to mean learning that occurs via a handheld, highly portable device (like a smartphone or a tablet) and while the individual is away from a typical office environment where they would have access to a more robust personal computer. As organizations look to mobile learning to extend their learning and development initiatives and provide solutions to business performance challenges, a natural question arises. Who is likely to benefit from mobile learning first? That is, who has learning and development needs that aren't being met ideally through traditional approaches? Who are you helping by providing a mobile learning solution?
The following is a list of some typical characteristics of individuals who I think can benefit most from mobile learning today:
Mobile job environment: These are people who, as part of their job role, travel or otherwise work "on the move," spending significant amounts of time away from their desk or other locations where they could use a laptop or desktop computer.
Very busy work schedules: People who have busy schedules struggle to find time for traditional learning approaches (instructor-led training, whether in a classroom or virtual, or even lengthy e-Learning modules).
Learn when convenient: Some people want to make better use of short periods of otherwise wasted time in their day, when they have their handheld device ready at hand.
Want shorter learning content: Some people prefer learning content to be available in shorter chunks, and this is ideally suited for delivery to mobile devices.
Seek just-in-time learning or require performance support on the job: Virtually everyone can benefit from some measure of performance support tools or content, but some job roles can benefit from this more than others.
Comfort with technology: Many are already familiar with smartphones or tablets, so there won't be a significant learning curve or resistance to the hardware when getting started.
Have a range of devices: Increasingly, many people have multiple devices, and would appreciate being able to access learning or support content on both their smartphone and their tablet, depending on the context.
Who in organizations today most often have some or all of these characteristics? Through both research and conversations with many of our customers, here are some of the most common job roles:
Leadership: The highest levels of leadership in most organizations are extremely busy, travel often, prefer concise communications, have long been comfortable with smartphones, and often were the very first in an organization to get an iPad or other tablet device.
Sales executives: People in field sales organizations are very busy, travel frequently, often require information quickly in response to customer queries, can benefit from easy access to product information, and were often among the first in their organizations to adopt smartphones and tablets.
Field engineers and repair technicians: Like sales personnel, such "in the field" employees are inherently mobile and can use performance support content provided on the most convenient devices possible. In some cases, using a smartphone or tablet could be easier than a more robust laptop computer.
Retail employees: In this case, mobile learning can help overcome a couple challenges presented by traditional approaches to training -- either the lack of a convenient personal computer for e-Learning delivery, or the desire to not "take the individual off the floor" for classroom-based learning activities. Providing targeted training modules or performance support content on a smartphone or tablet device could be an ideal solution to either of these business problems.
That list is far from complete as of course many others can benefit from mobile learning -- today and in the future. It depends on context, and the business needs of each organization. For each job role in an organization, ask yourself: what benefits would providing learning and development opportunities via a smartphone or tablet device provide those individuals? Or better yet… ask them!
It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)
Training Top 125 We'd like to congratulate all of the organizations in the latest class of "Training Top 125," as recently announced by Training magazine. An interesting article in the January/February issue provided "Training Visions" from the leadership at these best-in-class organizations, giving readers a glimpse of their key learning and development initiatives, agendas, and trends. The responses were varied, but of those that mentioned modalities, technologies, and focus areas for their L&D efforts in the coming year, the following were some of the recurring items:
Social/informal learning
Measurement, with a focus on connecting with real business value
Leadership development/the war for talent
"Learner at the center"/personalization/individual development plans
Mobile learning
Quick and relevant video clips
Shorter content
Blended learning
Performance support
Trainers and the L&D group more broadly becoming "facilitators" and "enablers"
Horizon Report 2011 The New Media Consortium and EDUCAUSE have recently published their annual Horizon Report 2011 (PDF). This volume "examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative inquiry. It is the eighth in the annual series of reports focused on emerging technology in the higher education environment." For those in academia, this is must-reading. But even for those in L&D roles in corporate or government contexts, the Horizon Report is a great read, as a glimpse into the future of learning technologies for people who will soon be joining the workforce. For 2011, the report indicates two technologies in each mainstream time adoption period:
Time to adoption of one year or less: Electronic Books and Mobiles
Time to adoption of two to three years: Augmented Reality and Games-Based Learning
Time to adoption of four to five years: Gesture-Based Computing and Learning Analytics
March's Big Question: Assessing Learning Initiatives The ASTD Learning Circuit's "Big Question" for March is "How do you assess whether your informal learning, social learning, continuous learning, and performance support initiatives have the desired impact or achieve the desired results?" See the initial responses from such industry thought leaders as Jay Cross, Clark Quinn, Tom Gram, and others.
Research on Forgetting Will Thalheimer provides interesting research results in the L&D field, and a posting from December was on a topic important to anyone in the field: "How Much Do People Forget." That is, how much do learners forget from training/learning programs, and specifically, what are the factors involved and to what degree do they vary? This blog post provides some key summary points, and a link to the longer report.
The Latest on Mobile Learning The past year has seen increasing interest in mobile learning -- leveraging the many mobile devices in our lives for learning and development purposes. Here are some of the best writings on this subject from the past few months:
The Latest on Social Learning There continues to be a great flow of good articles, blog postings, and resources on this popular and important subject, so I will again list a few of the best from the past couple of months here:
Updates from Element K As usual, I'll end this roundup posting with links to our newsletter service that we launched last year. 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: January, February, and March.
It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)
Plenty of Industry Data Around this time of year, several updated industry reports typically surface to give learning professionals a fresh high-level look at the Learning and Development industry.
Training magazine released its 29th annual “Training Industry Report,” and a summary was published in the November/December issue.
The latest IDC survey of Chief Learning Officer magazine's Business Intelligence Board (BIB) focused on where companies are investing their training dollars in learning technology and learning services areas and whether spending on training will increase or decrease from 2010 to 2011. Cushing Anderson reported on the results in "Where CLOs Are Spending" in the magazine’s November issue.
Training's Top 125 Announced Similarly, another Learning and Development annual tradition is Training magazine's announcement of the “Training Top 125 winners." Now in its 11th year, at this time they have announced only the 125 finalists, as the actual rankings will be revealed at the Training 2011 Conference & Expo, February 7-9 in San Diego, California.
Questions No Longer Being Asked The November ASTD Learning Circuits "Big Question" was "What questions are you no longer asking? What are your new questions?" This inherently provocative subject was actually triggered by an earlier posting by George Siemens at his blog, elearnspace, where he provided six questions in the realm of learning and development that no longer interest him. The post by Siemens generated many comments, and the similar Big Question posted at Learning Circuits produced blog responses from a half-dozen industry bloggers. Clive Shepherd in particular provided an interesting take, noting both questions he is no longer asking and related questions that he is still asking.
The Latest on Mobile Learning This year has seen increasing interest in mobile learning -- leveraging the many mobile devices in our lives for learning and development purposes. Here are some of the best writings on this subject from recent weeks.
Designing mLearning -- A new website to accompany Clark Quinn's forthcoming book of the same name. See also this recent blog post from Quinn, an extended abstract of a talk on mobile learning he delivered at the ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN conference.
The ADL Mobile Learning newsletter -- Do you keep up with this weekly collection of resource links? The newsletter describes itself as: "Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) weekly report on news and findings of interest related to mobile learning in the military."
"Are Apps the Future of e-Learning?" -- A blog post from Clive Shepherd, where he considers mobile apps for learning and development from several perspectives: viewing content, creating content, collaborating with peers, collaborating live, and performance support.
The Latest on Social Learning There continues to be a great flow of good articles, blog postings, and resources on this popular and important subject, so I will again list a few of the best from recent weeks here.
"Where Social Learning Thrives" -- A blog posting from Marcia Conner, where she describes the kind of culture needed in an organization before social learning will truly flourish.
"Get Serious About Social Learning by Focusing on What Matters" -- An article by Eric Davidove at Learning Solutions Magazine, where he stresses the importance of looking beyond the technologies involved in social learning, and emphasizes the critical importance of solid "strategy formulation, community design, rewards and incentives, content quality, and benefits tracking."
"What Constitutes a Social Learning Culture?" -- A blog post by Sumeet Moghe, where he considers why social learning generally works so well at his company (ThoughtWorks). He even abstracts from these insights specific questions for you to ponder when considering your own organization's culture.
"Twas the Night Before Social Media" -- Given the holiday season, it seems appropriate to end this Roundup with David Kelly's insightful, humorous, and all-around brilliant twist on a classic.
Updates from Element K As usual, I'll end this roundup posting with links to our newsletter service that we launched last year. 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: September, October, November, and December.
It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)
Jane Hart's Top Tools for Learning for 2010 Jane Hart's annual list, "Top 100 Tools for Learning," is now complete, and she has posted this year’s results online. As she has done in previous years, she has provided the complete list of results and also created a SlideShare presentation. This year she had more contributions than ever -- a total of 545 from learning professionals worldwide. Interestingly, the top tool from 2009 retained its crown: Twitter. Seven of the top ten from 2009 remained in the top ten for 2010, though rankings shifted up or down for each. Newcomers to the top ten this year are Skype at 6th place, Facebook at 9th, and Moodle at 10th. Hart has analyzed the results further by providing the following three resource pages:
Elliott Masie Launches a New E-Book Elliott Masie and The MASIE Center have published a free, Open Source book for and by learning professionals titled "Learning Perspectives: 2010." The book includes contributions by 40 global learning leaders, and its articles cover a wide range of viewpoints and perspectives on the changing nature of learning. It includes articles from both Learning and Development veterans such as Allison Anderson, Larry Israelite, and Nigel Paine, as well as new voices coming from their "30 Under 30 Learning Leaders." Contributors come from organizations such as Google, Intel, Lockheed Martin, Accenture, Alliance Pipeline, Farmers Insurance, Veterans Administration, Cleveland Clinic, CNN, Liberty Mutual, CIA, and Luxottica.
Jane Bozarth on Accessibility and Evaluating E-Learning Jane Bozarth's two most recent “Nuts and Bolts” columns at Learning Solutions Magazine are again excellent reads. In "How to Evaluate e-Learning," Bozarth provides and summarizes the approaches of Kirkpatrick, Brinkerhoff, and Stufflebeam, and urges instructional designers and training practitioners to stop treating evaluation as an afterthought and choose the approach that is most relevant to your specific needs. In "Do You See?" Bozarth then tackles another common subject in e-Learning design and development: the issue of designing content that is accessible to all. She focuses on the issue of the use of color in e-Learning content, and gives instructive examples that demonstrate best practices designers should be following.
More on the Great LMS Debate Back in June of this year, I wrote a posting titled "The Great LMS Debate," which noted a growing debate in the Learning and Development industry about the future of Learning Management Systems (LMS). I linked to several prominent thought leaders who had shared their perspectives on this timely subject from a variety of viewpoints. One thing is certain: the debate is far from dead, as noted by the October issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine, which included the article "Is the LMS Dead?" by Ed Cohen.
The Need for a Core Set of Flexible Skills Charles Jennings makes a persuasive case that we need to help workers develop a core set of flexible skills in his article "Key Skills for High Performance" in the Fall issue of Training Industry Quarterly. The skills he focuses on include search and "find" skills, critical thinking skills, creative thinking skills, analytical skills, networking and people skills, and logic skills. I've been arguing for much the same thing to anyone who will listen for a long time, and not just noting this need for corporate learning, but arguing that much of these same skills need to be focused on in the K-12 education system as well. This has long been true, and Jennings is correct to note that these needs are becoming ever more intense because of the Internet and the ubiquity of content and information.
The Latest on Mobile Learning This year has seen increasing interest in mobile learning -- leveraging the many mobile devices in our lives for Learning and Development purposes. Here are some of the best writings on this subject from recent weeks.
The Latest on Social Learning There continues to be a great flow of good articles, blog postings, and resources on this popular and important subject, so I will again list a few of the best from recent weeks here.
"E-learning Goes Social" -- by Anne Pauker Kreitzberg and Charles B. Kreitzberg, in the Sept/Oct. issue of Elearning! Magazine. Points out several common areas of resistance to social learning, and gives ten tips to getting started.
Updates from Element K As usual, I'll end this roundup posting with links to our newsletter service that we launched last year. 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: August, September, October, and November.
It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)
Measuring the Impact of Learning and Development Two recent items of note on the always challenging issue of measuring the impact of training, or learning and development activities more broadly. First, Josh Bersin's August column in the August issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine, "A Memorandum on Metrics," describes three trends found through his firm's ongoing research on training measurement. These describe the continuing challenge that good measurement continues to pose for most organizations, the fact that the tools available continue to change (forcing organizations to adopt a variety in an attempt to obtain a complete picture), and lastly, the need to expand measurement initiatives to include informal learning.
The second recent article is "ROE's Rising Star: Why Return on Expectations is Getting So Much Attention," by James D. Kirkpatrick and Wendy Kirkpatrick, in the August issue of T+D magazine. This is a deeper dive on the subject, walking through what ROE is and how it contrasts with the more traditional ROI. The authors detail several key principles, including why:
The end is the beginning.
ROE is the ultimate indicator of value.
Business partnership is necessary to bring about positive ROE.
Value must be created before it can be demonstrated.
A compelling chain of evidence demonstrates your bottom line value.
How Long Does it Take to Create Learning? As noted in my previous roundup, Bryan Chapman recently performed a survey of the Learning and Development industry, asking how long it takes to develop various kinds of learning content. This was an update to his earlier survey results from several years ago. The results are now in, and he has provided them in a presentation hosted at SlideShare. Included are separate results for the creation of content for ILT, three levels of e-Learning development, and blended learning. These are very interesting survey results, and very valuable information for all in the L&D field.
Formal vs. Informal, or a New Taxonomy for Learning? Rob Pannoni and Grant Ricketts in the August issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine wrote an interesting article titled "A New Taxonomy for Learning." I can agree with the authors that terms like formal and informal learning are used inconsistently at times in the Learning and Development industry. But with my background in philosophy, I am a stickler for clearly defining my concepts, and so I don't personally struggle with the formal vs. informal distinction and the line between them. That said, I think Rob and Grant have done us a service by clearly laying out a "new taxonomy for learning," that maps both learning modalities and organizational needs onto a two-by-two grid created by crossing organization-driven vs. learner-driven with developed resources vs. ad hoc resources. This mapping and terminology is easy to understand and I think should be helpful for many L&D professionals.
Tips for Effective Online Conferences The amazingly prolific Tony Karrer recently provided two blog posts to help you create better online conferences and learning webinars. The first was "19 Tips for Effective Online Conferences" and the other is a list of links to other resources, "Effective Web Conferences - 41 resources." If you have had inconsistent results with synchronous or so-called "virtual classroom" e-Learning, then these two resources should be very helpful!
The Pros and Cons of Podcasting Have you been considering the use of podcasts for learning and development? I recently described some of the many podcasts available for learning professionals, but if you are considering the use of podcasts for your own organization's L&D needs, you might find value in Mike Petersell's recent blog post "The Pros and Cons of Podcasting." Not all of his listed pros and cons will be relevant for your organization, but he provides good lists to get you started.
Rossett's Ode to Mobile Performance Support The eLearning Guild's Learning Solutions Magazine recently included Allison Rossett's article "Ode to Mobile Performance Support." In this excellent article, Rossett describes the important differences between mobile learning and mobile performance support. It is a must-read for anyone pursuing the use of mobile devices for learning and development purposes in their organization.
The Latest on Social Learning There continues to be a great flow of good articles, blog postings, and resources on this important subject, so I will again list a few from recent weeks here.
TheNewSocialLearning.com - The website for the new book of the same name, written by ASTD President Tony Bingham and consultant and social media expert Marcia Conner.
Enterprise Microlearning - Marcia Conner on the enterprise use of both Twitter and similar internal microsharing platforms.
The Evolving Social Organization - Harold Jarche gives an interesting history of enterprise evolution, describes the importance of social learning for modern organizations, and gives several examples of success stories.
Social Networking: A Platform for Training New Managers Online? - Bill Brandon considers first some history of informal learning groups from several centuries ago, and then provides insights on what makes such groups successful -- including those that are further enabled today by social media technologies.
Updates from Element K As usual, I'll end this roundup posting with links to our newsletter service that we launched last year. 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.
I'm writing this blog posting while sitting at a New York City airport, on my way back home from giving a presentation on the use of Web 2.0 technologies for social learning in enterprises. As I mentioned in a posting last year (The When and What of M-Learning), one of the things I do a lot of when I travel is listen to educational content. This can be audio versions of magazine articles, but it also includes several podcasts from the Learning and Development industry.
A podcast is essentially audio content that is updated regularly, that you subscribe to via a "feed" for the podcast, using iTunes or a similar application. Video versions of a podcast go by several names -- vodcast, v-cast, vidcast -- but are essentially the same idea, just with video in addition to audio content. In either case, once subscribed, you will receive the new content in the podcast sent to you automatically, and you can listen to the content either on your computer, or perhaps more commonly, on your iPod, smartphone, or other mobile device. Podcasts are a great way to keep up with particular topics, subject matter experts, your favorite news sources, and so on.
Over the years, the L&D industry has been blessed with several good podcasts to choose from. Some of these have come and gone (their archives of past content are often still available). However, there are several podcasts that are still going strong, including but not limited to:
ASTD T+D -- Selected articles from ASTD's T+D magazine are available as audio recordings, and you can subscribe to these as a podcast.
ASTD LX Briefing -- A podcast of the feature items from LX Briefing, an ASTD newsletter for senior learning executives.
ASTD Chapter podcasts - Over the years, some of the local ASTD chapters have done podcasts. Here are two that I'm aware of that are current:
Xyleme Voices -- LCMS vendor Xyleme has long had an outstanding podcast in which they interview industry experts.
The Rapid E-Learning Blog podcasts -- Using the Hear a Blog service, Tom Kuhlmann provides audio versions of his popular Rapid E-Learning Blog, which "shares practical tips and tricks to help you become a rapid elearning pro."
There also appears to be many podcasts about e-Learning and other learning and development topics provided by the academic sector -- whether from academic consortia or other groups, or from individual colleges and universities. Do a search on "e-learning" or similar keywords in iTunes and see what you find!
If you are like me and run out of time to read everything you'd like to, but have some time (commuting, travelling, waiting in lines at the post office, etc.) to listen to professionally relevant content, then give some of the above podcasts a try! I've still got an hour wait for my flight…which of the above will I listen to next?
It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)
Top Tools for Learning 2010 I'll start by again noting that Jane Hart's annual "Top Tools for Learning" survey is well underway. For this survey, Hart asks industry experts and practitioners to list their top 10 tools for learning (broadly defined). Back in December, I wrote about her final survey results for 2009. I've participated in this survey since 2007, and have already updated my personal list in her index for this year. Read her recent blog entry on the subject and then join in the survey yourself!
On Cognitive Overload and Finding Your 20% Jane Bozarth's latest column at Learning Solutions Magazine is titled "Find Your 20%" and it hits on a critical subject for any instructional designer or learning professional: cognitive overload and the need to, as Bozarth puts it, "cull the must-know from the nice-to-know." After noting all of the common stakeholders and people who typically have input on a learning program, she advises "Before you begin designing, identify the two or three points most critical to successful performance on the job. What must the learner know? I call this 'finding your 20%'… Design starts here. Rather than take everything there is to know and try to capture it all in the course, start in the center – with the critical content – and work your way out. Once you have found the critical content, add on only what truly supports understanding of it." Read the rest of the column for Bozarth's specific pieces of advice on how to tackle this common challenge.
How Many Ways Can You Effectively Use Tables in E-Learning Courses? Tom Kuhlmann of the Rapid E-Learning blog wrote another wonderful, examples-filled blog posting, this time providing "10 tips on using tables in your e-learning courses." Any of us could think of several approaches to the use of tables, but 10? Given the amount of e-Learning that Element K has produced over the years -- both as catalog courses and as custom development -- I suspect our army of instructional designers and media developers have collectively used all 10 of Kuhlmann's techniques (and then some!) But I've never seen someone describe so many techniques in one place before, and do so as well as Kuhlmann has here. A great read!
When Mobile Learning is the Entire Show Determining when we'll see an inflection point in the uptick of mobile learning solutions by L&D departments continues to be hard to predict: where are we on the industry-wide adoption curve exactly? That said, there continues to be significant -- and clearly increasing -- interest in the possibilities for mobile learning. The eLearning Guild recognized this and so decided to hold a conference dedicated solely to mobile learning: mLearnCon, held June 15-17 in San Diego. If you missed the event, and didn't follow tweets that emerged from it either, you can still get a sense for the goings-on by reading the following excellent blog postings from the industry leaders who were heavily involved:
More on Mobile Learning The eLearning Guild didn't only hold a conference dedicated to mobile learning, their online Learning Solutions Magazine also ran a series of excellent articles on mobile learning as well. These have included:
Mobile Learning: Obstacles and Solutions - by Joe Ganci, wherein he asks three questions of seven experts, including Judy Brown, David Metcalf, Clark Quinn, and others.
The Latest Social Learning There continues to be a great flow of good articles, blog postings, and resources on this important subject, so I will again list a few from recent weeks here. The first two are from Talent Management magazine's June issue:
Just Read the Wiki - by Elaine Lees and Elissa Gavette. Includes two sidebars on the use of Web 2.0 tools at Swiss Re and Intel.
Taking Talent Inventory - by Grant Ricketts and Rob Pannoni. Considers both the benefits and range of use of social media tools in an organization, and also the role that metadata -- through social networking analytics -- can play in talent management.
Transforming the Learning Organization (PDF) - in the June issue of ASTD's LX Briefing newsletter, there is an interview with ASTD President Tony Bingham and social media expert Marcia Conner, specifically in regard to their upcoming book The New Social Learning: A Guide to Transforming Organizations Through Social Media.
Try Yammer, Maybe You'll Learn Something - Mike Petersell briefly explains how Pitney Bowes uses the micro-blogging/micro-messaging tool Yammer for learning purposes.
Michael Hanley on Evaluating Non-Formal Learning - a series of blog postings on this timely topic:
Updates from Element K As usual, I'll end this roundup posting with links to our newsletter service that we launched last year. 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: April, May, June, and July.
