May’s Big Question
Learning Circuits’ Big Question for May is “So what can, should, or will, we offer the digital generation by 2015?”
Five years is not very far into future, but in terms of technology things can change immensely in that amount of time. Just think of how learning technology has changed in the past five years. Off the top of my head here are a few things I think we will be offering in 2015.
- We are already seeing the impact of social media and informal learning, but we will see it blend immensely with both classroom and e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning will incorporate social media into courses allowing for more collaborative learning and formative evaluation by the course designer. As for the classroom, we already see a “back channel,” but it will be more prevalent and more accepted, even encouraged, by facilitators. More access and advances in smart phones, tablets and smart boards will help blend e-learning, social media and classroom training.
- The cloud has also grown, but I see in five years much more robust development tools on the cloud. There are already great cloud tools out there, but I think we will see more e-learning development tools at the level of Flash, Captivate, Articulate, OutStart Trainer, etc. on the cloud. Much of which will be courtesy of open source projects. Among the many benefits, it will increase mobility on the developer’s end. We designers/developers won’t be limited to working only on the computer in which we loaded our Flash CS10.
- Adobe Flash will be alive and well. HTML5’s full release is two years away. We probably will see it replace Flash for video/audio support, but it will fall short in its quality and level of interactivity and animation. HTML5 development tools will not provide the ease of creating rich Internet applications… at least not after only three years in. We will see Flash be the preferred medium of e-learning developers and a favored output (SWFs) of other e-learning dev tools. Upside Learning Blog has a good post on HTML5 and e-learning development that is a worthwhile read on this subject.
- We will offer even more edu-games. Again Flash will still be preferred as HTML5 just won’t be there yet.
- On the design end, the industry will focus much more on offering truly engaging, instructionally sound courses and our audience will demand it. Hopefully page turners will be extinct by 2015.
Pecha-Kucha
Perhaps I have been living under a rock, but until today I have not heard of Pecha-Kucha. I am not a big fan of PowerPoint mostly because of the abusive use of the tool itself. After all, PowerPoint does not bore people to death, presenters (or e-Learning designers) WITH PowerPoint do. Upon being introduced to the term Pecha-Kucha, I Googled it and was intrigued by the concept.
In a nutshell, it is a presentation that contains 20 images each displayed for 20 seconds (20×20). It was originally designed to reign in presenters who needed to be more concise in their presentation. Here are some examples. The first explains the concept further. You can also learn more about it at http://www.pecha-kucha.org.
Another good example of Pecha-Kucha is Failure by Bob Berkebile.
Oh, Pecha-Kucha is a Japanese term meaning chatter. It is pronounced “peh-CHAK-cha,” here is a video that helps with the pronunciation.
Using Blogs and Social Networks to Engage K-12 Learners
Here is a nice video that shows good use of blogs and social networks in K-12 education.
Ordering Training is Not Like Ordering Pizza
All too often people request training and have already determined the delivery medium they want. Their decision is usually for various reasons, such as convenience or cost, but not because it is the most effective way to teach the content.
To borrow a phrase from a former boss, ”ordering training is not like ordering pizza.” It is crucial to step back and begin with a need analysis, identifying the audience, their training need(s), the learning objectives, etc. We must also conduct a content analysis. Only then can the best medium(s) of delivery be determined with confidence. It may be e-learning, classroom training or blended learning.
In regards to using content analysis to make this determination, here is a very helpful article by Seung Youn Chyung and Armi Stephanie Treñas, published in Learning Solutions e-Magazine - Content Design for Performance-Oriented Reusable Blended Learning. You will need to log-in to access it. If you are not a member, joining as an associate member is free.
The authors provide a practical approach to analyzing instructional content with the purpose of determining the best media to deliver the content. They focus on teaching content in the cognitive domain. Here is a rule of thumb they provide that I agree with ”As a rule of thumb, it would be cost-effective to use self-paced e-Learning for delivering declarative knowledge and some of procedural knowledge that can be codified fairly easily. On the other hand, it may prove rather difficult, although not impossible, to facilitate the development of situated knowledge via e-Learning alone.”
If you want to get a better handle on determining what is best taught online, in the classroom or blended, this article is a great start. If clients are telling you the delivery medium instead of asking what the best delivery medium will be, follow the article’s advice and you will save yourself a lot of time and trouble. And don’t forget to tell them “ordering training is not like ordering pizza.”
If It Works in the Classroom…
For many of my e-learning courses I like to make the content conversational. This is especially true if it is facilitated by a character. I also like to use humor, when appropriate and with great care not to offend.
I have encountered on several occasions some resistance to delivering content in a conversational style and using humor. If the resistance is from a fellow trainer, my response is, “Do you speak in a conversational tone to your classroom audience and do you ever use humor in the classroom?” The answer has always been “Yes.” Then why not online. Plus, online we can proof and test the content as to assure it is still effective and professional. So, I conclude if it is done in the classroom and can be “pulled off” online, then it is perfectly acceptable.
Here are a few more things done in the classroom that should also be acceptable in online classes. They may have to be approached differently due to the medium, but can be engaging both for classroom and online audiences.
- Games and puzzles
- Role-playing (immersive learning sims)
- Coaching/immediate feedback
- Guest speakers (videos in an online, asynchronous delivery)
- Flip-charting ideas, concepts, etc.
- Group activities/”break-out” sessions
- Use of Twitter
Granted, some of these are challenging in an online environment, but not impossible. Bottom line, if it is done in the classroom and works well online go ahead and use it. What can happen? You end up with an engaged audience who know you put a lot of effort and resources into being an effective trainer.
What else transfers from the traditional classroom to an online course?
And what elements from online classes would work in a traditional classroom?
Perceived Advantages and Disadvantages
Yesterday, I presented an overview of e-learning for an audience of classroom trainers and training managers. Among the many things I covered, I included an exercise where they identified advantages and disadvantages of e-learning. I thought I would share the results. Keep in mind, these are classroom trainers that are open to e-learning and the use of technology in training, but they are not the choir. I found this exercise enlightening on how trainers outside of the online training realm perceive e-learning and where our strengths and weaknesses lay. Below are the lists just how they were recorded on the poster-boards. FYI: Some of the disadvantages or “challenges” can be minimized in e-learning and I did address this. Either way they are on the disadvantages list like it or not.
Advantages of e-Learning
- Lower costs - travel and expenses, expense of training rooms
- Environmentally friendly, green
- Fewer designers/facilitators
- Anytime/anywhere
- Can take repeatedly
- Consistent
- Reaches larger audience
- Relatively easy to update
- “Trackable”
- Can customize vendor’s online courses
- A trend with younger generation – “They like to learn that way”
- Self-paced, self directed
- “Just in Time” training
- May be an easier medium for ESL (English as a second language)
Disadvantages of e-Learning
- Not for all learners
- Not for all types of content
- Development time/cost
- Need an LMS to implement
- Out-of-date content (if not reviewed regularly)
- Not for computer illiterate
- Self-directed – not always good (e.g. skip content)
- Fraud (e.g. other people taking a test for another employee)
- Technology differences of end-users’ computers
- Not cost effective for small audiences
- Less interactive/social than classroom training
- No face-to-face social interaction
Those are the perceptions, good or bad, of e-learning in my part of the world, much of which I am in agreement. But if I was to conduct this exercise again I would title the poster boards “Advantages” and “Challenges.” Or would that reveal my bias?
Creds to the Classroom Trainers
Since the announcement of my bank’s acquisition my e-learning projects have been cancelled. So, I have returned to the classroom to teach online professional networking, which has a focus on using LinkedIn. I am not new to teaching face-to-face classes, but I have not done it on a consistent basis since 2002. Here are some of the great things about being in the classroom that either we do not have the advantage of in asynchronous e-learning or are at least a challenge for the e-learning designer.
- Meeting and knowing your audience (I mean literally meeting them).
- Measuring for prior learning and adjusting the learning on the fly.
- Joking with the participants and hearing them laugh.
- Joking with the participants and getting blank stares. Yeah that happens, at least to me.
- Providing very specific scenarios based on what’s relevant to individual participants attending the class.
- Giving immediate answers to their questions.
- Giving immediate and specific feedback based on their answers, application of skills, role-playing, etc.
- Tapping into, and sharing, the knowledge of the participants. Participants always possess valuable knowledge that can and should be shared with the class. It also promotes confidence among the participants sharing their knowledge.
- Getting immediate level 1 evaluation data. And getting anecdotal feedback.
These are some of the things that I enjoy and value about the classroom experience. And I am reminded that these are aspects of the classroom that I aspire to include in the online experience. I also am reminded how much I respect the classroom trainer. Teaching effectively and engaging the learner in a classroom setting takes a different set of skills and expertise than one must have to create e-learning. And it is more exhausting than I remember. So, “creds” go out to our classroom brethren, especially to all those wonderful classroom trainers in my own corporate university!
