This is another post in the continuing series on what I believe buyers of eLearning often get wrong. As a "survivor" in the online learning industry for last 20 years, I've noticed some recurring trends and misconceptions that I would like to share some insights on, from a "vendor's" perspective.

Tip #2: "Remember the real end product"

Like other vendors, we are often sent requests for proposals (RFP) or are contacted by prospective clients who tell us they need an eLearning course. Often, they contact several vendors, giving all of us the same requirements: they need a course that's a virtual office environment, like Second Life, where learners choose avatars and explore different environments... oh yes, and the course needs to be on marketing.

Often, vendors will take this information and scramble to respond, by pitching virtual worlds of "lip synching" avatars and full fidelity simulations. Not surprisingly, when the client evaluates these proposals, they get sticker shock when they see the high price tag. As a result, the client may lose enthusiasm and put the project on indefinite hold. Or, the client may select the lowest bidder, move into production, only to discover six months and countless dollars later that they can't measure a return on the investment (ROI).

Begin with the end in mind

One of Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" states that we should "begin with the end in mind." For any type of learning design, it's critical to remember that the true "end product" is not a virtual world, talking avatars or even an eLearning course at all. It's a learner who knows or can do something they couldn't do before the experience — something that directly aligns with a business need or objective that can be measured.

In this hypothetical example, the end product should have been a successful marketing manager. The experience needed to make sure the learner understands and can follow the process of market analysis, aligning with finance and creating test market plans. All of this might be best accomplished through a simulation, but perhaps not. Without fully understanding the learning gap and the problems within the organization, a vendor might just create the virtual world the client asked for, only to miss the mark on the real end product. A lose-lose.

If clients would invite vendors in to help determine what the problem is, then propose the recommended solution, this misalignment would happen less often.

Case Study — "Do It" Learning

At Digitec, we had a client who wanted an online course to teach search engine optimization (SEO). Instead of proposing a solution, right off, we met with the client several times to find out what the true end product needed to be. The "final product" was a business owner or marketer who understood SEO and could perform web site analysis related to their industry in order to create an effective SEO Web Strategy Document.

Other factors? The budget was tight and the content was very prone to frequent change. Knowing this, our solution was to use Knowledge Direct to create a series of PowerPoint modules that served as the tutorials. These short modules included animations, audio narration and embedded videos.

Using Knowledge Direct, we developed a constructivist learning approach. We uploaded the PowerPoint .pptx files into the built-in rapid content authoring tool within Knowledge Direct. Then we used the "Do It!" doc features within Knowledge Direct to enable learners to create their own SEO Web Strategy Document while they are learning. Do It! is a cloud-based "workbook-style" document creation tool. The feature enables a Knowledge Direct administrator to create document frameworks, then choose where to insert specific prompts within a module. Learners then respond to these prompts while they take the course content, to create their own final product.

Within a module — Demystifying SEO, for example, the learner used the embedded Do It! doc to answer questions and help them formulate their strategy by creating and researching their own search terms.

Throughout the course, the responses were redisplayed, so the learner could revise and refine their approach. Ultimately, at the end of the course, learners had completed their own SEO Web Strategy Document which they could export to Word, .pdf, email or access online. For the client, the end product was an easy-to-update course which enabled them to view detailed reporting, as well as view and comment on the learner's actual web optimization strategy.

Why this worked...

In this example, the final product was not extremely flashy or expensive. The modules did not include virtual worlds, and there were no lip-synched avatars. But the project was produced well under the client's budget, is simple for the client to update in-house using PowerPoint, and enables a coach to measure the effectiveness by accessing the learner's actual Web Strategy Document — the true end product.

I'd like to hear your "finished product" story. Please comment to this post. Let me know if you like to learn more about Do It learning.

Labels: constructivism, content authoring tools, elearning, learning management system, learning theory

Labels: e-learning 2.0, elearning, elearning vendors, innovation, simulation

With tablet technologies, the App Store, Android Market and so many technologies dominating the learning discussion these days, I wanted to tell a personal story of how the low-tech Apple iPod gave me insights into what we might be overlooking in a learning strategy: simplicity.

When I received my first iPod, my first chore was figuring out what to do with it. Tell me that some of you didn't (or don't) have a iPod somewhere at home gathering dust - especially now that our mobile devices store all our music, which will soon move to the cloud.

The paradigm shift for me came with the discovery of podcasts. What could be more low-tech? Audio recordings are downloaded to your iPod on a scheduled basis. Subscribers automatically get the latest downloads to listen to, when they want.

One of my goals has always been to learn Spanish, but I found it difficult to find classes that fit my schedule. I turned to Rosetta Stone, and while it was effective, I found that being "chained" to my computer was difficult to accommodate in my schedule, as well.

One thing, of course, I could always schedule was my Saturday morning 15 mile bike treks. So I started getting into the habit of strapping on my iPod when I strapped on my bike helmet. Finally, my iPod had a purpose! I'd synch my iPod to download the 80 or so Coffee Break Spanish lessons, then make my way through each one, episode by episode. I started with Lesson 1, three years ago, listening, unabashedly repeating the phrases to the wind, behind my dark sunglasses, babbling away on solitary bike trails in complete anonymity. If something didn't make sense, I'd simply reach across to my arm-tethered iPod, pause, replay, continue.

How simple and effective can you get? I suppose I must be an aural learner, because after numerous episode replays, I found myself memorizing Mark and Cara's dialog, verbatim. I was learning.

Why was the iPod so effective? I found out one Saturday morning, when my iPod was dead. So, instead, I brought along my iPhone. Same thing, right? Wrong. Now, when the podcast rattled away beyond my comprehension, I needed to unlock my phone, navigate to iTunes, pause the playback, then touch and drag on the timeline to try and replay what I'd missed. If you've ever tried this, you'll see that not only is it awkward, on bike at 15 MPH, it's dangerous.

Shortly after this experience, I worked with my developers to ensure that our eLearning platform automatically created podcast versions of our modules. It captures the audio from PowerPoint recordings and creates a combined audio podcast. Very simple. Very effective, especially for all of us aural learners.

Just recently, after three years, I've completed the Coffee Break Spanish series and am on to another series called Showtime Spanish. I've augmented my learning with continual evening classes in intensive Spanish and continue to work away at the higher levels on Rosetta Stone.

This post is merely to suggest that sometimes the most effective learning can come from the simplest sources.

This is also my "shout out" to Coffee Break Spanish. The series is free and incredibly well designed and presented.

Labels: Android, e-learning 2.0, elearning, iPod, mobile apps, mobile learning, podcasts, spanish language

In past, I've discussed how many organizations are struggling to see where Mobile Learning or "mLearning" fits into an overall learning strategy. The answer from industry seems to be rolling out utilities that "convert" eLearning into mLearning. So now, modules published for an eLearning course are also ported out to the iPhone, iPad, Droid and other devices. Problem solved? No. Simply converting eLearning content to a mobile platform is not the solution. eLearning and mLearning take place in two drastically different contexts, which are often not compatible, regardless of what the file formats say. What is needed is an integrated approach between the two, where each delivers the right kind of content, based on its learning context and the learner expectation.

A Tale of Two Courses

The trend in "converting" eLearning into mLearning reminds me of the early days of web-based training. Back in the mid-90s, authoring tools like Macromedia Director and Authorware, which were great tools for producing CD-ROM-based courses, began offering "conversion utilities" to create web-based training. I still recall my first web-based training course, created in Authorware. It was horrible. The original course was great, obviously. Lots of multimedia, interactivity, a very engaging storyline. But it had no business being on the web.

At the time, most of us were accessing the web over very slow dial-up connections. Remember 14.4 KBps modems? So within this context, while the course did convert, it required a huge Authorware player download and suffered from numerous browser compatibility issues during playback. The results were not pretty, because the course was not designed to its context.

Yet, during this time, I did produce some successful web-based training courses. These were HTML-based, primarily simply text and graphics with some animation and lots of hypertexting. The course included less media, but downloaded very quickly, and supported the way people used the internet -- fast access to scannable, hyper-linked content.

The key difference between these courses was that the more effective one was designed in context - not converted out of context.

The "Great Expectations"

Designing in context has been the key in traditional publishing, as well. Back in the 19th Century, the Romantics were writing novels to appeal to the tastes of their consumers, so 500 pages of highly descriptive passages were all the rage. Authors like Dicken, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Jane Austin, adapted their writing to these generational tastes. Today, while these novels have been converted to eReaders, the most popular cultural trends are coming from Flash fiction, short films, YouTube videos -- all designed in context to high-bandwidth internet connections and a media-driven audience.

These shifts have also come to learning strategy. Anyone involved in training recognizes the generational shift in today's learner. While a passive "teacher-centric" model may have worked well in the past, today's learner wants interactive, "learner-centric" delivery. And these expectations are even greater for mLearning.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Context

e-Learning often occurs at the desktop or laptop, usually within a learner's workspace. In most cases, this context lends itself to focused engagement and learner reflection. There is a greater willingness to invest longer periods of time, as long as there is incremental and meaningful interactivity to keep the learner engaged.

Now look at a highly successful mobile app like "Angry Birds." It's completely interactive, player focused and continually engaging.

So what happens when you "convert" a good eLearning course for mobile delivery? The user who recently finished a game of Angry Birds is curious about your new mLearning app, so they open it and find content that has been converted from an eLearning course. Obviously, most learners aren't expecting "Angry Birds - the eLearning edition," but there are different expectations. And those same instructional design features that resulted in learner reflection and engagement just don't "play" on a mobile device. The context brings expectations, and these will not be met by most converted eLearning courses.

In the next few posts, I'll offer some design suggestions and case studies to continue exploring how to create effective mLearning in the context of this new world.

What have been your most successful "conversions?" Drop me a comment.

Mobile Learning Apps: Statistics and Trends

With the explosive growth in mobile devices, including smart phones and tablets, mobile learning, or "mLearning" is a natural application for this new technology. With the portability that these devices now give us, we can access the right information, right when and where we need it. How many times have you turned to your cell phone, when you needed directions or wanted to find out how to fix a leaky sink? It's the perfect "learning" tool. Yet, many in the training and development industry are holding back on a mobile learning strategy, and I think that's a huge mistake.

Making the case for Mobile Learning

It's simple to make the business case for mLearning. Just look at the numbers. The growth is occurring so fast, that it's no longer feasible to expect our learners NOT to be mobile. How fast is it growing? Here are some statistics from "Mobile by the Numbers" posted by Mashable's Sarah Kessler:

* Of the 4 billion mobile phones globally, 1.08 billion are smart phones
* By 2014, access to the internet through mobile devices will overtake access from the desktop
* 50% of all searches are performed on mobile devices
* Americans spend an average 2.7 hours a day socializing on their mobile devices, which includes 1/3 of all Facebook posts and 50% of all tweets

What does this mean for learning? It's already happening out there, so don't expect your employees to go back to the desktop when it's "time to learn."

Where does mLearning fit?

Whether you offer mobile learning options through your corporate portal or not, your learners are already "mLearning". It's just that the process comes so naturally, we don't think to call it learning.

According to a 2008 eLearning Guild 360 degree Report on mLearning, here are the numbers on how it's being used today, according to a survey of eLearning Guild members:

1. On-demand access to information (64.1%)
2. Job aids and/or checklists (55.9%)
3. Procedures (51.4%)

While "training" did make this list as well, it was farther down, as it should be. Mobile devices and the explosion of wireless access everywhere opens up incredible possibilities for learning. Just because it doesn't reside on a corporate intranet or has been assigned to someone's learning plan, doesn't mean it isn't valid. As educators, shouldn't this be our goal? Continual learning?

I've heard from quite a few training and HR executives on mLearning. Many are saying something like: "We're not looking at mobile learning, right now. That's further downstream for us." My only response is to look out. The water is rising... and fast. You might not be ready, but believe me, your learners are.

Labels: elearning, mLearning, mobile learning

Based on the results from the eLearning Guild’s recent survey “Getting Started with e-Learning 2.0,” it’s clear that the learning environment is changing. Organizations are struggling to redefine their learning strategies to accommodate more collaborative, user-focused approaches. What is “e-Learning 2.0,” and how can you reflect these tenets in your instructional design?

There are many interpretations of what “e-Learning 2.0” even means. If we broadly categorize it based on its “Web 2.0” predecessor, eLearning 2.0 means increasing social interaction, on-demand learning, and user-contributed content. So what are some practical ideas to reflect these?

As an adjunct college professor, I have been teaching online for the last six years. Since then, my “classroom” has been a laboratory where I’ve experimented with various e-learning 2.0 approaches. In addition, as Creative Director at Digitec, I’ve been able to implement e-Learning 2.0 techniques for corporate and association clients. In this first installment on a series, I want to discuss some simple, low costs ways to engage your learners and implement some of the most effective Web 2.0 features into your learning strategies.

Discussion forums. Low cost, low tech and simple to implement, the return on investment from discussions puts it top on my list. Learning is social, and often, we feel that in implementing eLearning, we lose interaction; however, a well constructed discussion forum can add and create real-time context and encourage connection and peer-learning. When you use the forum to elicit feedback from your learner, they can reflect on the learning experience, contribute content and connect to their peers.

Ideas: If you’re responsible for sales training, post the forum as a question to your learners to share their most successful “solution sales” technique or story. Often, these learners will be happy to brag and contribute their stories. This allows those learners to apply the learning objective in a contextual “reflexive” way, personally connecting with the content. This contribution also allows students to learn from one another, connecting with their peers and the content. You can also add forums to enable students to post their questions on the topic. Hopefully, common questions can be answered by your staff, once rather than numerous calls or confusion. A very practical technique to share with your learners is that a learner can often post a question and subscribe to that forum, so that they will be automatically notified when their question is answered.

Tips: Make sure that someone monitors the discussions to assure that learners aren’t communicating incorrect answers or deviating from the accepted policies. Also, to encourage use, it’s important that someone responds to posted questions. It’s a good idea to subscribe to the forum yourself, to ensure that questions don’t go unanswered.

Next post, I’ll be discussing how to use video in your eLearning 2.0 designs.
Want to share your eLearning 2.0 ideas? Post a comment.

The eLearning Guild recently released their “Getting Started with e-Learning 2.0” survey report, and the results serve as further evidence that the learning landscape is changing… and needs to.

The survey, based on the responses from 876 professionals from the eLearning Guild, asked about the use of Web 2.0 type applications in their learning programs. The survey also asked members how likely they are to begin incorporating these technologies in the future.

What is e-Learning 2.0?

The term “e-Learning 2.0” directly relates to “Web 2.0,” or the use of web-based collaborative tools or applications, such as wikis, blogs, YouTube or social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. The results, at a glance:

70% of respondents said e-Learning 2.0 initiatives are somewhat or very worthwhile
50% reported needing to embrace these technologies to stay competitive
Larger organizations are making limited use of these resources, while smaller organization will be making significant use

How e-Learning 2.0 Will Transform How we Learn

Typically, educators have followed the expert-based model. Formal learning is typically designed and selectively organized by a teacher or instructional designer. The “course” is then presented outside the work environment, where learners passively consume this knowledge and demonstrate mastery by answering multiple-choice questions, a measurement rarely suitable for measuring competency.

The key feature of e-Learning 2.0 is that it encourages two-way communication; whereas, formal learning has been more one-way. So why is this significant?

You might be familiar with the Princeton University 70/20/10 learning model. This model states that 70% of learning and development happens on the job; 20% of learning occurs during feedback and observation of others; and only 10% of learning and development comes from formal learning. Simply stated, e-Learning 2.0 features better align with the 70/20/10 model by:

- Providing more two-way communication, while on-the-job
- Encouraging feedback from experts and others
- Allowing learners to observe others doing the job, through YouTube videos for example.

So, based on this 70/20/10 learning model, it makes sense that social media is well-suited for education. And with the continued growth of mobile devices and the speed of change, learners will expect learning resources that provide solutions to their problems, whenever and wherever they are. So how do we adapt learning to meet these expectations?

Be sure to read my next post, where I’ll feature some specific ways that you can implement the most popular e-Learning 2.0 features into your learning strategy.

Are you providing any e-Learning 2.0 features in your organization? How successful do you think they are? Leave a comment and share your advice.

Labels: e-learning 2.0, social learning, social media, web 2.0, web 2.0 elearning