Silver Learning in Practice Award at CLO Symposium

Recently, Allen journeyed to sunny San Diego to be a part of the CLO Symposium in Coronado. At the awards ceremony, CLO distinguished Allen with a silver provider award for the e-learning course developed for Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. You can read about the press release from CLO or visit our website to read ours.

We met a lot of great learning leaders at the symposium and enjoyed being able to share our project and to hear about the other projects through the "Winners Circle" the next morning. In December, all of the winners will be featured in the CLO magazine.

We'd just like to take this moment to thank Toyota. Their dedication to their training is an amazing story we felt honored to share.

Allen's work for Wachovia featured in Elearning! Magazine

The October issue of Elearning! has a lengthy case study on a project we helped Wachovia with. The initiative was geared to new tellers in an effort to specifically reduce the costs associated with high turn over. But I won't spoil it for you. Read it for yourself!

Working the Web 2.0 to Learning 2.0 Angle

As anyone scanning our blog has noticed, there is a bit of a frenzy of Web 2.0 exploration going on at Allen and in the e-learning community at large. I got back last week from Gartner’s “Portals, Content & Collaboration Summit 2008” and wanted to share some first impressions that don’t really relate to the actual practical implementation question.

While some aspects of the Web 2.0 world offer paradigms around collaborative work flow, the chaotic growth of social networks may be offering a new paradigm of informal learning as we know it. Most of the Web 2.0 applications I have been able to review treat the blog, wiki or Facebook page as a familiar route for information dissemination—just one more way to communicate with the corporate work force. We apply some level of control to the information and monitor its veracity and compliance within the norms of our organization. In the social network paradigm, the regulator is the social network itself. The members of the community itself become the arbiters if what is right or wrong, what is acceptable or not. Familiar terms we’re used to such as subject matter experts (SMEs) are traded in for virtual characters with high post rates and positive reviews by fellow community members. Not only is the individual subsumed in this process but the team becomes irrelevant as the focus becomes the community and the rules and norms that evolve over time. Individual knowledge and expertise are not the criteria of worth but what one is willing to share with the social network they are part of.

When considering how to deal with this world of social networks, look for a small area in your company of like minded people that can be expected to share and support each other not based on a specific corporate goal but a common sharing of value and interests. As an example, as one of our directors and I head out to Learning 2008 next month, it is no surprise that the most active community of practice for the event at this point is the discussion on the nightspots and restaurants in the Orlando area.

Starting small around some non-business critical areas in your company will shed light on the dynamics that will evolve in your company. This will flesh out the paradigm for your organization and can become a blue print for a larger implementation.

Some of the ideas and their interpretation by yours truly came from an enlightening presentation by a Gartner analyst by the name of Anthony Bradley, and he can be googled for his comments on this and other topics tied to social networks.

Keep it Simple

I'm at the Fall CLO Symposium in Coronado today, where Allen just received a Learning in Practice Award for Excellence in E-Learning for a recent OJD initiative we helped Toyota with. Truly, it's been an honor to receive the recognition and be counted amongst the best in the business. More so, we at Allen feel honored to work with so many great clients and top notch companies, like Toyota.

Tomorrow morning, Paul Zackrison, our COO/CFO, and I will be at the symposium's "Winners Circle" to talk about the Toyota project. Truth be told, neither Paul nor I were directly involved with the project. But we've been well briefed by our CLO, Michael Noble, and the Project Manager, Anna Sargsyan. During those briefings, I particularly took note of the story where the Toyota team showed some real commitment to quality design. Of course, at Allen, that's what we've built our reputation on. We love working with clients that are just as committed, as Toyota was and is.

In that vein, I thought you all might enjoy a little clip that pokes fun of when "design" goes overboard. I think I like it because I'm on the marketing side of things, and well, when it comes down to it, this video is poking fun of me and my cohorts (hopefully, I'm not as bad!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwqPYeTSYng

Fortunately, we don't deal with this often. But maybe you do? Maybe you have all sorts of stakeholders that want to blow past the simple and obvious designs that work. If so, what do you do?

Are Cultural References Stupid?

Last week, I was teaching students about introductory paragraphs—about the hook—to get readers interested in what they have to say. These are students at DeVry—students who work full time, attend classes both on site and online, and have some resemblance of a social life. I brought in an article I had recently finished—“Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr for an example of using popular culture and making the connection between a well known movie/book/star/etc. with a point you want to make. Carr uses HAL, the supercomputer from 2001: A Space Odyssey. As I read the first two paragraphs, I realized I was glancing at a sea of blank faces. They didn’t get it.

Well, actually, they got the idea about the method Carr used, but not the actual reference. Not one student had heard of or seen the movie. I was stunned.

The next day, I receive an email with Tom Kuhlman’s latest posting from his Rapid e-Learning Blog. He titled his post “Is Google Making Our E-Learning Stupid?” and discusses Carr’s notion that we are thinking and reading differently due to the Internet and extended it to e-learning. Kuhlman states that “If these reports are correct, and we’re developing a new way of reading (or retrieving information), then this needs to be a consideration as we design our e-learning courses.” He goes on to give five ways to accomplish this, from pulling main ideas into focus to leveraging all forms of media.

It’s this last suggestion I wonder about. I agree that we should “incorporate graphics, video, audio, interactivity, and web-based technologies” into our e-learning, but it should be for a reason—to make a connection, to illustrate a difficult concept, to make a point poignant, to add relevance—not just to get learners’ attention. We need them to process. My question is that while using these technological tools, won’t we indirectly or directly make references to business culture, films, fashion, etc.?

Does this mean that unless we can connect to our audience and know what they feel is relevant, we may lose them? I am only ten years older than my students at DeVry. But in those ten years, a reference to a supercomputer taking over was lost. It made me wonder if the courses we are building for clients also have lost references in them. Do we need to make allusions to the latest Call of Duty game or add those features in our training so learners connect?

Building courses that are more interactive and engaging is something we should strive to better. But we still have to use those forms of media we understand and are comfortable with. Ever heard an older person try to use a “hip” word? It isn’t pretty.

Maybe referencing mediums you understand when you build courses gets your point across better than something you are unfamiliar with because you explain it well enough. Don’t forget, my students understood what Carr was trying to do in his article because he did it well, and they liked it even more once they understood the reference. In fact, use it to your advantage. I did. When my students didn’t get the reference, I told them to Google it right there and then so we could all discover what they could pull up by browsing.

Can we offer a similar kind of organic environment in training?

Fixing a broken lock and the Web 2.0 dilemma?

Looking for the next wave in training “Web 2.0?”

So time has passed and the Web marches on…Before being hit by Web 3.0 just around the corner perhaps the big 2. 0 can alleviate some anxiety and possibly solve the major training challenges we all face. Will it be faster, better, cheaper and address a new generation of learners? What is the critical path training organizations need to follow to use Web 2.0 to positively impact organizational performance…and really how does a broken lock enter the equation?

Those familiar with the many attractions Utah has to offer (and yes, not just skiing) may have encountered the Shakespeare festival in Cedar City Utah, just a short 3.5 hour drive from Salt Lake it can offer a pleasant respite from the day and day out. So, between the mountains and through the arid plains one can find a town where the “Bard” can transport one through the depths of Othello’s despair and the biting tong of the Shrew in one short visit. My Web 2.0 on this trip started with a visit to Trip Advisor. After reading the reviews of others, seeing pictures and mapping out the perfect placement for the hotel we would sojourn to, I showed my age by picking up a phone and reserving a room. The main attraction for me was that the hotel has opened a short three months ago and I was looking forward to missing that hotel smell and feel that is familiar to all frequent travelers. Alas, after hours of driving and arriving at the spanking new lobby of the hotel, we met our first training challenge. Being a new hotel, the kinks still needed to be worked out and our electronic lock of the last room available in the hotel refused to cooperate. With some reprogramming by our erstwhile front desk clerk the problem was solved.

A positive attitude from all the staff we met left me impressed, yet with a nagging suspicion that many challenges still faced the staff. Not being able to resist my natural inclinations, I approached the desk clerk and asked to the training they had received as this was hotel part of a large national chain. Immediately, I was told of the E-learning curriculum offered to the staff. Joy! But with a short pause the young man made sure to update me that no one has time for e learning since I must have noticed they were short staffed and solidly booked!

Time to train and general issues with Web-based training should not be new to anyone in our field. Dare we hope that new technologies and a generation hooked on Facebook, Google, wikis and blogs will be training differently.

Okay, okay, back to Web 2.0. Have we failed our learners with Web 1.0? Is the panacea of last summer outdated? Will this be the last time that a learner has no time to learn what is offered? Would a blog, wiki or portal offer the right information at the right time for a staff that has no time to take the anytime, anywhere training offered to them?

Before we write off some tried and tested training methodology, I was determined to get some kind of conceptual handle on a term that in its moniker didn’t tell me much.

An article by the ORielly group as well as recent reports by Forrester research and others offer many categorizations, and please, if inclined, follow the links provided. Gathering our technical team and our CLO together, we asked each to take us on a visit to a website that defined for them Web 2.0. It became apparent that Web 2.0 meant different things for all of us. With some aggregation and license we defined three Web 2.0’s.

I want my own Web
Google and others have made the Web our own. At our fingertips, just a few clicks away, we create our personal portal. Our interests are nurtured by multiple feeds of information or streams. We pull in our personal e-mails, instant messages and other forms of communication, while willfully enabling others to track, and categorize our interests and future needs (yes, someone will make money off this valuable service). So, out with the old portal designed by someone else. Web 2.0 transfers control to the learner to create his personal space (we will get to MySpace later). The richness of our personal portal is free by the labor of others who will create the information and services we crave all updated rapidly so we don’t have to go searching.

Can any one help me NOW?
The 2nd manifestation of the new Web connects us to people we know and those we might want to know with a velocity only measured by the new Web 2.0 currency. How many people are tied to your Facebook or how many posts have you made to your community? Who clicks on your blog and dares to comment? We build and join communities of interest, those that share some level of mutual interest. Web 2.0 makes e-mail and IM the new snail mail. We enter worlds were our reference to reality is made up of thousands of cyber entities that as us can be our SME…as long as they have access to a keyboard on a device. “You’ve got mail” is dead. Long live the ping and ringtone. The timid among us look for the opinions of others on what we buy, were to travel to and even what hotel we will stay in.

Lets do it together
Who does not know what a wiki is? Much less cumbersome then the Britannica of old, format has fallen to form. Knowledge and expertise is diffused and reconstituted back, policed by a community that of its self interest provides all with concise up-to-date information.

As we take our blogs, wikis and portals, we begin to treat information and the knowledge it can impart to us differently. Yet, Web 2.0 also defines some of the products we are using today. Software is created by communities that themselves become the applications driving our online community. We look to others to help us create applications and products that themselves are given back to the community free and clear. Open source software communities flourish under a new business model yet to unfold.

So how does this apply to training? For many learners training has nothing do with it. Web 2.0 is a new reference point in their personal lives and a conduit of information and opinions that the employer has no control over.

Whenever in doubt about any new training technology, I fall back on my own criteria for training effectiveness

Is the content directly relevant to the ability of the learner to perform?
Is the content easily accessible in consideration of the actual work environment?
Have we dealt with any motivational aspects that can impact acceptance and transfer of the content?

Going back to my choice of hotel on this trip, I was amazed by the contribution of strangers who had posted reviews of the hotel we picked. While I do participate on discussion groups around my own hobbies, for sites such as this I am what is called a lurker—one that reads and enjoys, but does not contribute.

The first point on our critical path to Web 2.0 adoption must be an understanding of the efforts it will take to keep the content fresh and relevant on our blog, wiki or community page. Relevance and freshness of content is king in our Web 2.0 scenario. We often know nothing of the person posting on the site. The date and relevancy of the content to our needs takes precedence of the veracity of the poster.

Accessibility both in ease and in navigation seems to be a Web 2.0 strength. We can clip, link and comment on most anything. The 2nd point in our critical path must be a decision on how or if we must police any of the content or use of such content across our organization. Anonymity is a powerful force for contributors in a Web 2.0 community. We adopt “user names” that free us from the mundane and give us license to express our selves freely.

The last critical point (and I am sure I have missed many in-between at this juncture) is the powerful motivational forces that can be unleashed with a Web 2.0 scenario. The explosive growth of communities of practice on this, that or anything is amazing. Knowledge, expertise and best practice is the innate asset of any organization. Can we unleash the acumen of our organization without designating and paying someone to be our subject matter expert? Can we motivate people to contribute when the motivation will rest on a feeling that they are “giving to get” and that the more you post or the more your post is valued by your co workers you are recognized and rewarded by your peers?

The motivational tools we can harness with Web 2.0 are exciting. I am off soon to the Gartner summit on Portals, Content and Collaboration and can’t wait to see what is out there for our company and our clients

A couple of links you may find valuable:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Hinchcliffe/?p=70

http://www.jivesoftware.com/resources/pdf/McKinsey-Web-20.pdf

Veteran or Pretender?

Bear with me as I illustrate something that is fairly self-evident: Hard-earned experience is extremely valuable. For us as a company, 27 years of experience helping our clients develop successful corporate training initiatives has allowed us to not simply become experts, but has shown us what works—for us as a company, and for our clients. A quarter-century of being tried and tested has allowed us to develop and prove processes and best practices that give our clients an unparalleled level of service. Obviously, that’s valuable to our clients—and it’s why the vast majority of them stay with us year after year.

Pretty simple. Experience = Value. Problem is, because it’s so obvious, every vendor is going to try to make it look like they have experience. Granted, there are a number of our competitors who have almost as many years in the business as we do. Interestingly, they tend to be solid companies—like us, there’s a reason they’ve stayed in business for so long. And, to be fair, an additional number of our competitors are strong, viable businesses, even with less than ten years under their belts.

Yet, it’s plain to see, scores and scores of training companies, e-learning vendors and custom content developers with very little experience exist in the industry. So called “mom and pop shops” litter the landscape. That’s fine—after all, every vendor has to start out small. The difficulty for training decision makers, though, is sifting through them all to discover the legitimate businesses, then sift further to find the vendors they can trust to make them successful.

Certainly no one is going to lie about the number of years they’ve existed as a business. But when it comes to how some vendors present themselves, I can tell you there is definitely “fudging” going on out there. How do I know? Because of what our website traffic data tells us. Now, I hesitate to share some of this, but I think it helps to illustrate my point, and to serve as a warning.

As you probably know, we offer a Knowledge Base with case studies and white papers on training, as well as several other items, via this website. We offer the information freely, without any obligations other than to register with a username and valid e-mail address. Interestingly, a mind-numbing number of small, mom and pop shops, Indian vendors, consultants, and even larger competitors register for the site. No problem, we’re happy to offer the info to anyone in the industry who wants to learn. Besides, some of these competitor-visitors may be simply gathering competitive intelligence, which I won’t begrudge.

Thing is, though, we’re able to identify which items they download, and it most often tends to be our white papers, where they can educational information relating to the industry as a whole. Expectations would be that a competitor would download case studies to get an idea of who we’re working with and what sort of projects. Yet, most competitors don’t download even one of these documents. Instead, they seem to be looking to be educated.

Further, doing some reciprocal intelligence gathering, it’s been very surprising to me the number of these competitors who have taken content and concepts from these white papers and other sections of our website, tweaked them, and called them their own. Keep an eye out for those touting “rapid needs assessments” that tend to sound a lot like our ANSWER Analysis. There’s probably a reason why.

Perhaps the worst offender was an Indian vendor (to remain nameless) that spent a lot of time on our site. Then, two months later, the vendor relaunched their site, which, lo and behold, looked like our site, was architected like our site, said almost exactly word-for-word what our site says, even included a Flash piece that launches their “portfolio” that looked and functioned like ours. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I’m here to tell you, we are very, very flattered.

In the long run, though, it’s a larger problem for you, the leader of training initiatives. You shouldn’t have to be forced to sift through so many imitators. So, continue to do your due-diligence and weed out the pretenders early on. If you’re looking at a “smaller” or “newer” vendor, ask them early on about their experience, where and how they’ve developed their processes and practices. Legitimate ones won’t couch their inexperience, pretenders will exaggerate. Legitimate vendors, whether start up or long-standing, will be able to smartly and succinctly speak to your issues and challenges as experts—something that’s tough to fake. They’ll point to projects they’ve worked on similar to yours, and they’ll show you how that experience will help them help you.

Go with anyone else, and well, you’re gambling. Which is as obvious as the original point: Hard-earned experience is extremely valuable.

Do Industry Awards Really Matter?

Psst! I’ve got a secret to share. Okay, well, maybe it’s not so much a secret, since you probably already know it. So, maybe it’s more of one-of-those-things-we-just-don’t-mention. Like the Emperor’s new clothes. Either way, here it goes…

Industry awards aren't proof that a vendor is right for you.

Whew! There, I said it. Man, that feels good, doesn’t it? To just get it out in the open like that. I mean, we all know that looking at a long list of awards a vendor has won only tells us that at some point the vendor created something of note. But it certainly doesn’t foretell how well the vendor will take care of you, the client.

"But, Brent," you’re saying, "Allen has a long list of awards won right there on your site. If awards don’t matter, why mention them?"

Good question. And the answer is: I didn’t say awards don’t matter, just that a list of awards won isn’t indicative of whether a vendor can help you be successful in the future. Rather, here’s what awards are good for:

1. Credibility
Awards signal that impartial third parties recognize a vendor as credible. It’s rare that a “fly by night” organization is going to be winning awards. So, vendors who win awards are credible. But establishing credibility is very much just a first step towards ensuring a successful partnership.

2. Kudos
This is the best thing an award can do – give a pat on the back to the winner. But does that recognition, however well deserved, do anything for you as a client? Probably not.

3. Benchmarking
Wondering which vendors out there are strong in a particular are, like design or results? Check out the appropriate awards. Remember, though, even a vendor that’s rated high for, say, ISD may not have the acumen to translate those strengths in a way that successfully meets your learning and business objectives.

4. Pissing Contest
Forgive me if that’s a bit crass. But I can’t think of a better way to describe this marketing effort. Let’s face it: Vendors haul out the logos of awards won, and mention them every chance they can in sales collateral and advertisements in some attempt to prove to their prospects and competitors that they’re top dog. Huzzah for the triumph of vendors over the competition. But what does all that get for you, the client?

That said, if it sounds like I’m down on awards, I’m not. I think awards are very telling. But they don’t tell everything. They’re a piece in the puzzle that you have to put together about a vendor. And, of course, this is nothing new to you. Or to any vendor out there, no matter how much we don’t want to admit it. Sometimes though, you just have to stand up and point at the “Emperor” and state the obvious: “You’re naked.”

Awards are great—and we’re proud of ours, especially the six we won this year. For you, they help you begin the process of vetting potential partners. For us, they help us benchmark our performance and strengths; they recognize our teams for their hard work, smarts and creativity. Heck, they even look pretty on a shelf. But the fact is, awards are only one piece of the puzzle you have to put together to find the right learning partner.

Masie Learning 2007 Review, Part 1

I’m not the best person to write up my reactions to a conference—any conference—if only because I don’t like big groups of people. Of course, conferences are all about big groups of people with name tags and tote bags, scurrying about as though it were the start of a new semester at Learning U.

Conferences, however, can often feel more like Bizarro U. They exist within a work context and most people are there for a variety of work-related reasons. Few are there for avocational or higher purposes, and that’s the twisted part. The (evil?) genius behind conferences is that they create the powerful illusion that they offer more than work; they offer purpose and meaning.

Masie’s Learning 2007 did this exceptionally well, so well, in fact, that it could soften the heart of even the most dedicated cynic. This year’s Masie conference was largely about making a difference—why training and learning matter in the world.

One of my favorite speakers was an expert on the avian flu pandemic. It was a great case study of how learning can create change. The theme of “Learning Changes” was everywhere. In the hall, a non-profit group recruited volunteers for eLearning for Kids, a group that aims to teach basic reading and math to elementary age children. There was also a big push for Malaria No More, promoted by no less than an American Idol. These may have been the most obvious appeals to meaning and purpose, but nearly every session and keynote invited attendees to reflect on their work and to infuse that work with greater significance.

I spoke with one of our clients in the hall between sessions. She told me she preferred the Masie conference, because she learned more here than at ASTD or ISPI. She views this conference as “forward looking.” I kept reflecting on this because I didn’t learn anything new about technologies or their applications to training. The same topics on 3-D virtual environments, Webcasting, and gaming appear at other conferences. What’s different about Masie is the feeling of purpose and community--and that’s vital.

One of the technology demos featured HD video delivered over the web. The application? Well, it was to expand the reach of the Manhattan School of Music so that their teachers can work with kids all over the world. We watched in awe as a talented, young violinist from Spain worked his magic: all of the finger work rendered beautifully via HD video. For that moment, we weren’t corporate training drones. No, we were teachers spreading opportunity and wisdom, bringing beauty to the world, enlisted in a movement larger than ourselves to revolutionize how people learn.

It’s a powerful message and one that perpetuates itself. If we agree that people learn best when they are motivated and that meaning and purpose are good motivators, then one of the most effective ways to teach people at a conference is through that same channel. Of course, I also returned with my shortlist of ideas to improve things here at home, but that list is puny and probably not worthy of the real challenge put forward by Elliott Masie.

Audio Strategies for e-Learning

often hear voices in my head. They are not always welcome. Sometimes, the voices compete with my own internal voice as I’m trying to read. I’ve never been a good multitasker, and, for me, reading and listening are two different tasks. So when I’m faced with an audio track in an e-learning course, I’ll either block out the one or the other. I don’t doubt that there are some geniuses out there that can do both, but I also know that there are a lot of learners just like me (and researchers have confirmed it in the lab). Of course, there are ways to include both text and audio effectively, and, if you’re going to use audio in an e-learning program, you need to leverage audio media in a way that benefits learners.

What is the ideal strategy? Well, that depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. For example, if you’re trying to deliver mandatory compliance training, you might omit audio entirely or use it only to enliven some scenarios or case studies that bring the content to life. If you’re trying to motivate or coach, you might employ a more audio-dependent strategy, where text is not presented on screen or is only presented as brief key points that correspond with the narration.

For an audio-dependent course, we’ll often include features like transcripts or captioning so that learners have options for taking the course as they would like. For courses where the audio merely provides enhancement to the text, such features may not make sense from a cost standpoint and the best option may be one that allows learners to simply turn the audio off.

When we’re working with a client, we will usually start talking about audio early on in the process because it can significantly impact the cost of design and development. Think of the difference between a course with no audio and the same course with an audio-dependent strategy supported by summary points. Basically, you’ll have more to script, more messaging to balance, more to review and get approved, etc. If you then add other considerations such as the cost of amateur or professional voice talent, the cost of a recording studio, sound engineer, etc., you’ll start to see why this is an aspect of design worth giving a second thought.

Once Upon a Time, There was Interactivity

As can be expected, I can spend much of my time reviewing the many courses Allen creates for its clients. Over the past four years we have won 12 awards for courses on Sales and Marketing, Pharmacovigilance, Compliance and a variety of other topics. Most of these awards have been for superior use of media in an instructional manner and therefore can be defined as highly interactive courses. As we have pondered our award submissions for the upcoming year, it is interesting to note that while the number of courses we produced over the past 12 months is higher then ever, the level of interactivity seems to have changed.

Who of us has not become enamored with the buzz words like “rapid e-learning,” PowerPoint on steroids, content management systems, and rigid reusable templates? These tools are prevalent in some way or form in most large training rollouts. Yet at the same time we find our clients more than ever demanding virtual environments, highly interactive synthetic settings to connect with the Playstation generation.

It should not be a surprise that we are currently living in dissonance. While we demand new heights of interactivity, we are utilizing tools and methodologies to flatten and simplify the way we communicate with our trainees. Should such a trend concern a company like Allen? Our view has always been that interactivity is but one more tool in the arsenal of a good instructional designer.

How does one handle the issue of interactivity in a world gone passive. I am first and foremost a believer that complex solutions have simple problems, or at the very least that a simple solution can resolve most of the complex problems (the old 20/80 rule).

If we are to accept that most of the content we teach does not have the excitement level of the latest installment of Harry Potter, we must never downplay the importance of well-designed interactivity. Whether in the classroom or online, our training must be engaging and have some level of entertainment. A well written PDF (and I stress the value of good writing more than ever) can replace many of our page turning, uninspiring, self-running PowerPoints. Since it is the bane of our existence that we do not control learner motivation, the drive of managers to follow through with our training or the changing winds of corporate whims, we must compensate in some way. Well-designed interactivity will impact the learner. It will highlight areas that are important for the successful transfer of the training material or behavior. Does the term interactive equal engaging? In our world, I believe it does.

So next time you are creating your instructor and student guide or souping-up your PowerPoints with some pyrotechnics, ask yourself, “How have I engaged the learner in the content I have created?”

The Gaming Advantage

Whenever I fix a friend’s or family member’s computer, I always get asked the same question: How did you get so good at computers?

The answer is simple: We get good at what we enjoy. Think about your favorite hobby. How much time have you put into it? We spend a lot of time doing what we love and are inspired to learn more about it. We don’t waste our time and energy doing something we hate. Not without proper motivation, anyway.

Sure, we can cram information into our heads the night before a test, or read and re-read a manual or proposal, but that’s doing things the hard way. There are much better ways to learn, namely, by making the material you need to learn fun. One great way to do that is to take the information to learn and incorporate it into a game.

To demonstrate this point, let me ask you a question: Which way would you rather learn…

Listening to this guy?

Or playing this?

Now, I admit you won't get much training value from World of Warcraft, unless you run a dragon removal service, or perhaps teach Jr. High. But the point here is that a great deal of learning takes place in games, due to the high level of attention and mental energy the player gives to it. Many studies show that retention is vastly increased when material is presented in a gaming format instead of being presented directly.

Which leads us to:

Gaming Advantage #1 – Information is presented through a variety of channels: sound, graphics, and interaction.

Adding sounds, graphics and interaction to otherwise bland material can make the information more interesting. Human beings, like most animals, are drawn to things that move or otherwise change. There’s a reason children prefer watching Spongebob Squarepants to reading text books.

When we factor in interaction, we have a good explanation for why movies and television are losing ground to video games in both dollars and time spent on each.

Take a look at these two pictures.

Computer-based games have come a long way over the last 20 years.

The ability to both process and present complicated information has increased. We can also both better measure the learner’s improvement as well as present instruction with fancier graphics and sounds. The result is a much more responsive, immersive experience.

Let’s say you’re trying to correct your golf swing.

One option is to record your golf swing and then watch yourself. This takes time, and doesn’t really help you to nail down the problem unless you know what you’re looking for.

A better option is to hire a golf instructor and have him watch your swing. The golf instructor may also use golf-swing analysis software to help him train you.

But now that technology has improved, we can take golf instruction one step further by using a golf simulator.

You swing a club over a machine, which analyzes the angle, speed, and other parts of your swing, and simulates where the golf ball would have gone. Nintendo’s new console, the Wii, features a simplistic golf game, but it really isn’t so different from what more expensive simulators, such as the one above, have been doing for years.

Now you can see the results of your swing and get feedback on your swing at the same time. It’s faster than going to the driving range. Plus it shows you exactly what you did wrong and offers immediate, constructive feedback.

Which brings us to:

Gaming Advantage #2 – Immediate feedback, both as a reward and assessment of what you have and have not learned.

In gaming, knowledge is reinforced while it’s still fresh in your mind. You are given the opportunity to correct, and recheck your behavior instantaneously. It’s the same promise of immediate reward that makes gambling so addictive for many people.

Let’s look at one form of interaction: The multiple choice question:

This screenshot is an example of something we use frequently at Allen to reinforce basic knowledge. A multiple choice question assessment can be interactive, and it provides immediate feedback—remember the first two principles—so multiple choice questions are better than just reading. But multiple choice questions are not inherently fun or engaging. Therefore, we don’t have a game just yet—you need more than just interaction. You need more than just immediate feedback. You need a sense of purpose. That means creating incentives and rewards to keep the learner interacting, otherwise the material you want to teach ends up being an electronic page turner. That’s why examples like the one above are typically combined, or blended, with other learning activities and motivations to give a sense of purpose, which results in a game.

Take one of the more successful learning games: “Where in the World Is Carmen San Diego?“

It’s a great example of a game that manages to use interaction in a meaningful way. In it, you play the role of a detective charged with tracking down the infamous master thief, Carmen San Diego, as she and her henchmen steal famous artifacts from around the world. You’re always one step behind, visiting cities only after the criminal has already left, gathering clues that reveal where you should travel next.

What makes it such a great game is that it uses plot, funny graphics and animations to maintain the learner’s interest. Instead of throwing pages of text at the learner, the game rewrites the information into a “clues” or “interview format.” For example, you visit a bank where you ask about the criminal you are tracking, and the teller responds by providing you clues like, “He was exchanging his money into Yen,” or, “He said something about going spelunking.” Not only do you learn that the currency of Japan is Yen, but you expand your vocabulary by learning what spelunking is.

When it comes time to test this knowledge, you are presented with a question of where to go next: Tokyo, Moscow or New York, for example. It’s still a multiple choice question, but it’s cleverly disguised, and made interesting. The feedback is also more subtle. There is no “good job” or “incorrect.” If you make the wrong choice, you find yourself wasting time on travel (giving the crook more time to get away) and when you interview the locals they say they’ve never seen the person you’re asking about. Motivation becomes crucial as you try to achieve your purpose.

Further keeping you involved is that to find the answers to your questions, you’re forced to take an active role by looking them up using a almanac provided with the game—the answers aren’t provided within the game itself.

Gaming Advantage #3 – The ability to test behaviors without suffering permanent consequences.

The military uses games and simulations to train pilots and soldiers. Why? It’s a lot better to crash or get shot in a simulation than it is in real life.

Further, I’d want my resident surgeon to practice an operation a few times with a simulator before cutting into me, wouldn’t you?

If you don’t have to suffer consequences for your actions, you’re free to vary your responses, and ultimately perfect your behavior by seeing how each change in your behavior affects the results. You can explore the full range of permutations and possibilities. In fact, failing within the confines of a simulation can actually be more helpful than harmful: Not only do you learn what not to do and why, but you can experiment with how to respond to and minimize the consequences of any failure. Just how low can you fly close to the ground in your single engine plane? How do you respond to a stall? What should you do if you smack into a bird? Simulations prepare you for the bad as well as the good.

Of course, even with the best of simulations, at some point a person has to actually step into the field and do the real thing. Getting your feet wet is unavoidable. Good training, though, can minimize the shock of this experience, through what is known as “accommodation.”

This here is Jean Piaget, a Swiss developmental psychologist who is famous for his constructivist theory of learning.

One of his most famous concepts was that of “accommodation.” Accommodation is the theory that whenever we learn something new, what we’re really doing is fitting that new information into a previously learned concept or way of thinking. When you learn to ride a motorcycle, you may learn it through the lens of riding a bike, or thinking about how it compares to a car.

Here’s another way to think about it: A coworker of mine told me a story about the first time his daughter saw a squirrel. She looked at it and pointed and said, “funny kitty.” She knew it wasn’t a cat, but she was aided in her understanding that the squirrel was an animal, by referencing a similar experience—a furry, four legged cat.

What this means is that if the real cockpit is very similar to the simulated cockpit, the transition from the simulation, which you are already familiar with, to the real thing, will be easier.

So, to sum up, gaming has three main advantages:

#1 Gaming increases retention by presenting information in multiple channels: audio, visual, and interactive. In gaming, learners are rewarded for different strategies and different ways of learning. But remember: Simply adding flashing lights and sounds to something does not make it into a game.

#2 Gaming provides immediate feedback and reinforcement. You know what you’re doing right, and what you’re doing wrong, immediately. Every time you succeed, your brain’s pleasure center is rewarded. Learning with gaming is kind of like being a dolphin who gets a tasty fish every time he does a somersault. But remember: Simply slapping a reward structure—like points—onto boring information doesn’t reinforce as well as contextual feedback.

#3 Gaming allows the learner to test different behaviors or decisions without suffering permanent negative consequences, like wasting valuable assets on an untried strategy. You can save money and time, and take risks you could otherwise not afford to take.

If you have any thoughts or comments about gaming in learning, drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you.

Everything I really need to know about designing effective e-learning, I learned in Comp 101

I spent much of last week attending sessions at eLearning DevCon 2007. As with all e-learning conventions/conferences, the schedule was full of interesting sessions, many of which dealt with new technologies, media, and strategies for providing e-learning to learners.

There were several sessions on gaming simulations, one of the up-and-coming approaches to designing interactive courseware; sessions on using iPods to deliver courseware; sessions on Wikis and blogs and tagging and a number of other new web-based approaches to making e-learning more engaging, interactive, and communal. And many of these sessions had a lot of interesting new information for me.

As I listened to all of these sessions (and more), the overwhelming feeling I had was that I had heard the really important parts before, many times before, a long, long time ago in my Composition 101 course. Running as a common thread through all of the sessions that I attended, as well as the sessions I presented, was a core principle that drives effective e-learning, regardless of technology, media, or strategy. And that core principle is exactly what writing instructors teach in their writing classes.

In a nutshell: Understand your learner (I’ve substituted “learner” for “reader” or “audience,” the terms used by my Comp 101 teacher, but I think it still works).

1. What does your learner already know? Wikis and blogs and tagging are good
   examples of forward-looking approaches to e-learning that are really
   focused on what readers already know and what they need to know.
2. What does your learner need to know? Establishing learning objectives
   is the only way to determine whether what you’ve provided the learner,
   regardless of media, technology, or strategy, has been effective. And
   once you’ve figured out what your learner already knows and what they
   need to know, you can make decisions about all of the rest of the issues
   involved in developing effective e-learning.
3. What’s the best way to get my message to my learner? What is it that
   makes the iPod an interesting technology for conveying e-learning? It is a
   tool that many of our learners already have in their hands, that they
   are familiar with, and that can provide content in ways that make
   sense to them in the contexts in which they actually use the content. The
   iPod is, itself, a fascinating piece of technology, but that alone doesn’t
   qualify it as an effective e-learning technology. The iPod (or CBT, or CD,
   or paper, or any number of other technologies) may or may not be the
   best tool to reach a particular learner at a particular time. But that’s exactly
   what the designer needs to assess.
4. Keep your learner engaged. Once a learner tunes out, nothing else will
   matter. This is what drives much of the layout design, interactivity, gaming
   simulations and similar presentations at conferences. Designers have to
   find ways to keep learners involved in the learning, to keep them moving
   through content, to keep their brains focused on getting from what they
   already know to what they need to know.

I could keep going with examples of how this core principle showed up in all of the sessions that I attended, but I don’t want to beat that horse too long. For me, the most important point is that regardless of everything that’s new in e-learning, the path to effective courseware is paved with very old stone.

iPhone and Mobile Learning

I succumbed to the iPhone hype. I wasn’t going to, but my brother got one, showed it to me, and I was in. Funny thing is, every time I show it to someone, they ask, “Are you happy with it?” Being a first generation product, I know what they’re getting at. They’re saying, “Hey, guinea pig, give me some guidance on whether or not I really want one of those.” Fair enough.

I won’t go into all the details of the ups and downs of the device (including some bugs that my particular device seems to be encountering), but I have been thinking specifically about the iPhone and how it will impact mobile learning.

First off is the obvious – podcasting. When it comes to the iPhone’s delivery of this medium, I think it’s in the bag. After all, the iPod side of the iPhone functions like any other iPod (though the interface is quite a bit sleeker). If you’re thinking of delivering training via podcasting, the iPhone will not disappoint.

Beyond podcasting, though, mobile learning is going to run into some obstacles with the iPhone, many of which happen to be the same obstacles that any mobile device presents.

Following are some of my observations regarding challenges to think about when planning for mobile learning via the iPhone:

Video
While video (like vodcasts, etc.) can be a viable method for the iPhone, delivering video files has some hang ups. First, if delivered as a vodcast, the media must first be delivered to the learner’s iTunes application, where it then is loaded (or “synched”) to the iPhone. As it now stands, this is a cumbersome reality of the iPhone for all multimedia files. I project this will change sometime in the future with the release of a native iTunes application for the iPhone. For now, though, it’s a functionality issue to be aware of, as the process for delivering video media certainly isn’t “on demand” and may involve too many steps for learners to adopt.

Additionally, delivering video via the web to be viewed on iPhone’s Safari web browser is not ideal. First, as I’ll talk about a little further down, iPhone’s version of Safari does not currently support Flash. As a result, Flash delivered video, as found on sites like YouTube, will not work on your iPhone web browser. What’s more, the iPhone does not allow users to save files to a directory on the phone’s drive, meaning a learner can’t download and save a video from the web to their device (or other file of any sort for that matter, as I’ll discuss further).

Finally, even viewing heavy multimedia files like video can be a bit problematic on the iPhone. If a user can access a broadband wi-fi connection, then loading speeds can be acceptable. But when using AT&T’s 2.5G EDGE network (the only option for all iPhone users at this point), they are connecting to the Internet via a (relatively) slow connection, resulting in prohibitively long download times for large files like video.

Downloading Files
Discussing the inability to save video files is directly connected to the next aspect: Delivering documents via iPhone. At this point, it’s possible, given some major caveats. First, file size must be taken into account. As stated above, when relying on AT&T’s EDGE network, download times can be slow. Large files will take a long time to load.

Second, and perhaps most important, files themselves cannot be saved to the device. Yes, you can download and view a PDF in the Safari web browser, but once you close the browser window, if you want to view the PDF again, you must return to the URL and load it again. While not a huge issue at first glance, it is certainly a web usability issue as it goes completely against what users of the web are accustomed to. Plus, it’s simply inconvenient.

Keep this in mind if you’re developing training materials, handouts or other documents for mobile delivery to the iPhone.

Web
As is the case with all web delivery, you have to keep the specs in mind when developing. While web technology continues to become more and more standardized via the major browsers and factors like CSS and AJAX, a wide array of variables still exist. Typically, in e-learning, these factors are mitigated by “controlling” the web delivery, i.e. limiting delivery to a defined resolution on a single version of a single web browser on a uniform platform. This is a time-proven method; but when it comes to the iPhone (and mobile delivery in general), the method must be thrown out the door. While resolution issues are actually handled extremely well by iPhone’s “pinch” touch screen technology, the fact is, you’re dealing with a different browser, Safari, and a different platform, Mac OS X, and chances are, you’ve never dealt with it before in your e-learning endeavors.

I don’t want to be overly dramatic, because Safari is a fine browser, even the iPhone version. And OS X stands on its own for usability, if not for adoption. But the fact is, all web browsers render data slightly differently. Therefore, as you develop e-learning courses that include mobile delivery, you have to face the reality of developing for several browser and platform environments.

For example, non-mobile learners may be limited to IE 6.X, while some mobile learners will be limited to other versions of IE depending on the device they use, and iPhone learners will be limited to Safari. You can develop one solution that works for all three environments, or you can develop three separate solutions. Both options can be done, but both methods involve more programming time and QA, resulting in a greater expense than developing for a single browser on a single platform.

Flash
This is perhaps the biggest obstacle to delivering e-learning via the iPhone. As it now stands, iPhone does not support Flash. Zip. Zilch. No dice. The most widely accepted and implemented technology for e-learning simply does not work on the iPhone. To be honest, I was blown away when I discovered this. While most of my gripes with the iPhone are minor issues that I believe can be as easily overlooked as they can be tweaked, this is one area that has left me scratching my head. I imagine this issue will not be long lasting, but for now, it’s a reality to keep in mind when considering delivering learning via the iPhone.

Conclusion
Now, keep in mind, I do not intend to bag on the iPhone. So far, barring a couple of expected bugs, I’m loving the device. And my belief is that many of the above challenges will be resolved with software upgrades over the coming months and year. But when it comes to delivering mobile learning, the iPhone is just like all mobile devices – challenges exist and must be planned for and addressed.

For a further discussion on the iPhone and learning, you may want to check out Elliott Masie’s initial reaction and thoughts. In the meantime, if you have any thoughts or questions, drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you.

Pointers for Pre-Training

Over the past few months, we’ve been brainstorming with several of our clients on those parts of the training experience that prepare learners, build enthusiasm, and “sell” forthcoming or existing training solutions. We sometimes refer to such pre-training efforts as “internal marketing,” making sure that your audience is not only aware of the available training but that they are also willing to invest their time and effort. Truth be told, this is actually the fun part of instructional design. We’ve been talking with AVON about the possibility of introducing a viral-style video to show how not to sell their products. If we can make it relevant and funny, the representatives will distribute the video clip peer-to-peer—simultaneously distributing our message that if you take the training, you can avoid similar disasters yourself. So-called “non-examples” are often the most obvious choice for this type of pre-training because they can use extreme cases and humor to emphasize the importance of doing something the right way.

There are often some very practical reasons for pre-training. One of our clients is developing a series of courses where the content is not readily available and where the review process necessitates time-consuming legal reviews. To ensure that learners feel more immediate support and the assurance that training is on its way, we developed brief web-based previews to highlight the types of topics and courses that are being developed. These previews take less than five minutes each and help learners “gear up” for the forthcoming training. These previews have helped shape attitudes and perceptions—learners see that the company is eager to meet their needs. It helps to create productive anticipation rather than negative grumblings.

If your training initiative is concurrent with a significant change in workflow or tools, it is important to align your pre-training with a more comprehensive plan for change management. Another of our clients is working on a global rollout of a system to track healthcare data. The new system is changing the daily work of existing team members, and it will be important to help learners overcome their resistance not just to the training itself but to the change in their roles and responsibilities. This one is still in its infancy. We’ve just completed our needs assessment and we’re in the process of coming up with our design ideas right now. So far, we’ve come up with ideas such as sharing endorsements from early adopters or executives, creating 5-minute tours of the new system environment, depicting a day in the life of a new user, creating a news-style update to dispel rumors, and sharing stories to highlight the potential benefits to patients. If you have any ideas, let us know. We’d love to hear them, and we’ll post the best here on this blog.