Save time and money on your eLearning development by subscribing to eLearning Brothers templates!

The following are two videos that I have found particularly good in describing the model, especially to anyone who is not familiar with it.

Enjoy!

ADDIE, 70:20:10, AGILE, SAM.

A model at its core is designed to assist in understanding what a process is, or a way to explain something via an analogy (and a friendly acronym!)

I think we sometimes run the risk of allowing the models to be too prescriptive, and when someone doesn’t realise that it’s a model, or a framework, development can get bogged down considerably.

But you didn’t do enough ‘A’ in that design!

Sorry! No can do! There isn’t enough ‘20’ in that learning plan! That only equates to 18.67854. Go back and find the other 1.32146! And while you’re at it, by my calculations, you have ‘73’ in experience and ‘13’ in formal. What are we? 106% people? Didn’t you do basic math! Fix it!

Yes it’s an exaggeration, but I’m sure there was a giggle or two when you recalled stakeholders and colleagues, that spoke that way.

As designers I think it’s important that we understand the models are only a guideline or a framework, and not get bogged down in having it prescribe our actions, and (diplomatically) not allow others to bog us down as to meeting a prescriptive model.

The key questions to any learning design is:

1. What is the business problem our stakeholder is trying to solve?
2. Who are the learners?
3. What is the final goal?

That’s the model that should guide our development.  It’s still fine to refer to models to assist in meeting the three questions above. But they shouldn’t dictate what we do.

Don Clark has a great discussion around the 70 20 10 model at his site , and references Dan Pontefract’s 3-33 model (yes I know another model!) as more realistic model when it comes to developing L&D that is Experiential Vs People/Coaching/Mentoring Vs Formal.

I don’t dislike any of these models. But it’s important to remember they are suggested frameworks, not dictated rules.

No.

Throwing your existing slide decks (with minimal tweaks) up on the intranet and calling them e-learning  is guaranteed to bore your learners stupid, send them to sleep, complain bitterly about this rubbish, and have your boss calling you into his office ‘for a quiet word’ and asking you to shut the door behind you!

Lots of bullet points and text heavy slides are boring, unengaging and makes learners feel like they have fallen into a horrible time loop of ‘Click Next to continue’. You may as well have given them a book or a PDF document to read.

Some people add a 10 question multiple choice quiz to the end of such a deck and call it e-learning.

Personally, I call it ‘Hell’.

For e-learning to work, learners need to be engaged. We want them to interact with the module.  We don’t have the benefit of being in a room with 12 other people to have a discussion about the learning content. Generally it is just them and their computer. We want to avoid the repetitiveness of clicking the same button day in and out.

If PowerPoint is all you initially have access to, don’t think of creating a traditional presentation.  Delete all the placeholders and start with a blank slate. Then get a bit creative.

PowerPoint doesn’t need to look like PowerPoint!

e.g.:

One way to get them engaged is to give them a real world scenario and get them to make decisions based on information they can pull from their resources.

For example, if you are teaching an individual  a new product, create a replica of where they would be selling it via photos or drawing (context).  Have a customer enter the store and ask a question about the product (real world example), and  supply the resources via a story or a simulation of what they would actually do to help the customer e.g. ask a virtual boss, review their virtual intranet etc, and then let them choose the correct answer to supply back to the customer.

An interaction can be as simple as an example picture of people doing the wrong thing, with an explanation of why.

All of these examples are engaging because:

• Real world
• Humans love a story, it sparks our curiosity
• It’s  a safe environment for them to practice what they would do in real life
• they involve problem solving
• It’s immediately relevant

Much better then click next, click next, do a quiz!

These interactions are simple to produce using PowerPoint’s ‘Insert Action’ command.

If you aren’t confident (don’t  worry you will as you practice) there are a number of products you can invest in to assist you create engaging interactivity. (See Below)

Interactivity

(E-Learning’s Sword of Damocles – with great power comes great responsibility!)

Is there a danger of having too little interaction?  What about too much?  How do we balance the two?

Get them to do something besides click next.  Depending on how you set things up they may be able to click, hover or drag and drop.  A good rule of thumb is to get learners to do something every 3-4 slides depending on content.

However it is important not to just string multiple interactions together!  Give learners a break occasionally to prevent cognitive fatigue, and the reflect on what they are learning.

It needs to be there but don’t overdo it!

What’s the cost?

(Blood Sweat Tears.  Money and Time)

How much time (and most importantly, money) is really involved in getting quality e-learning up and running?

• However much you want to invest. You don’t need to spend an arm and a leg to get started.  Most people have access to Microsoft PowerPoint.  Start with it, and if desired, add a product like Raptivity or Articulate Engage.  Once you have developed with those tools, then expand your toolbox with other tools, or programs, as you experiment and evolve as an E-learning developer. Some great dedicated authoring tools include Articulate’s E-learning Studio ’13 or Storyline (my personal favourites) or even the Adobe range of products like Captivate or Muse
• Most importantly, be prepared to invest the time to learn about, and keep abreast of the latest developments in the e-learning industry.

Sources of Inspiration

Cathy Moore http://blog.cathy-moore.com/

Julie Dirksen http://usablelearning.com/

Tom Kuhlmann  http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/

Ryan Tracey http://ryan2point0.wordpress.com/

Originally posted on http://blog.raptivity.com/2013/09/transforming-your-content-into-an-experience/

You can view a recording of the webinar at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/389856448

• Self-paced modules?
• Virtual Classrooms/Webinars? or
• Online facilitation via a Learning Content Management System?

Don’t try and roll out all of them together choose one and then start with a little bit at a time. Let people get use to a little bit at a time as opposed to overwhelming them with all sorts of possibilities. That’s also a huge advantage for you, otherwise you may find yourself overwhelmed with trying to keep up and develop consistent, engaging and beneficial e-learning.

Advisable to start with one of your second tier products or service, not your main one. By choosing a 2nd tier product/service, you are still getting to play in the e-learning space, and you aren’t jeopardising your 1st tier products of services until you have effectively ‘practiced’.  When the time comes to look at your top tier products/services you will know what works and what doesn’t.

Whatever you decide, get a small group of your top performing people leaders. Get them involved in evaluating the delivery you choose. This will assist in getting their buy in.  Once you have converted them, they will become the advocates for you and promote the delivery method.

Is e-learning the answer to life the universe and everything?

(I thought the answer was 42…)

The answer is…

NO! (sorry that was a little loud)

Sometimes face to face delivery is the better option.  In my experience, most e-learning is better as part of a blended delivery. The delivery is broken into some e-learning components and some instructor led face to face sessions.

It depends on:

• The learner
• The content
• The outcome (where do you want to be at the other end?)

So how do we decide what should remain face to face, and what should be converted?

Learning & Development activity can be generally broken down into giving participants Knowledge and Skills about something.

As a general rule of thumb the knowledge component is ideal for e-learning (background information, theories, legislation etc).  The skills component, may be better suited to face to face and/or performance support e.g. coaching. The application of the knowledge on the job)

For example a blended delivery surrounding a counseling course:

The theories, history and models of counseling, the knowledge components, are delivered via a self-guided e-learning module. The participants then meet in a face to face session and apply the various models etc via role plays or coaching.

OK.  You’ve worked out your strategy.  You’ve selected your product or service you would like to develop your e-learning around.  You’ve got a heap of PowerPoint decks from your existing face to face modules. So do we just throw them up on the intranet and tell people to help themselves?

Not quite. There are a few more things that need to be considered before you open for business.

Check out my next blog post on ‘Transforming your content into an experience’ soon.

Originally posted on http://blog.raptivity.com/2013/09/how-do-you-get-started-with-e-learning/

You can view a recording of the webinar at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/389856448

Congratulations on wanting to make the move! E-learning can be exciting, rewarding and beneficial .  It is another great tool that you can add to your learning toolbox.

In the early days however the possibilities can be quite ‘Ooo shiny!’ and you will find yourself spending hours browsing the web looking at the latest information about e-learning interactivity, development, gamification, mobile learning and a whole slew of other clever ways technology is supporting learning. Beware or you may look at the clock and wonder where the hours have gone 

Pros and Cons:

There are a number of pros and cons to be aware of when you start to get into e-learning.  They are:

Pros

• You can service a wider demographic at the comfort of their own desk
• Financially cheaper to update and redeploy as business needs change
• People expect a measure of technology in the workplace today.  Whether it is a virtual classroom capability or a company intranet.  We tend to me more browsers friendly.

Cons

• Initial development will tend to be more expensive in both time and money than traditional face to face workshops due to the following:
  • Ensuring your organization has the infrastructure to access the e-learning (can the end users equipment play media?)
  • Your choice of development.  Are you going to be purchasing off the shelf e-learning or are you planning to develop it all in house? If in house are you going to have a ‘jack of all trades’ E-learning specialist, or separate Instructional and Visual designers plus a programmer?

All right! You’ve made the decision to do it. Time for the next question. How do you get started with e-learning?

Originally posted on http://blog.raptivity.com/2013/08/so-you-want-to-get-into-e-learning/

You can view a recording of the webinar at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/389856448

Dear Diary…

Yes! The boss had approved my e-learning proposal! Alright! Just what I wanted! Now it’s time to get into it. I am so excited my brain is exploding with opportunities! Now where to get started?

Audio, video, asynchronous, synchronous, flash, web, wikis, blogs, forums, email, instant messaging, screencasting, online, offline, blended, virtual classrooms, LMS, LCMS, intranet, internet, something called ‘moodle’, (don’t know what that is but is sounds like a kind of puppy dog!) apps, m-learning, tablets, rapid development, interactions, dragging, dropping, clicking, hovering, gamification, simulation, badges, scenarios, images, media, social, informal, formal…

Hmmm. There’s a lot to think about here.

It’s ok! I’ll get back to that!

Right you instructor led workshops! Time to go! Out the door! Go on, get outta here! Don’t you know that e-learning is going to fix everything! That’s right no more pencils, no more books! No more teacher’s dirty looks! We’re gonna flip that classroom! Out with the old, in with the new baby! Everything’s gone! E-learning is the new king in tooooooown!

Hmm. Hang on a second. I don’t know whether that counselling course we deliver will work online. Virtual avatars being counselled? Oh, there’s also my cabinet making course. Do I get people out of the workshop and build virtual wooden cabinets? Would that even work?

It’s ok it doesn’t matter! E-learning will fix it! I’ll work that out later!

Powerpoint! I’ll need powerpoint! I need to get all my face to face session powerpoints online straight away! That’ll show the boss I’m serious, and getting things done! People will love clicking through my slide decks at their own pace, and I can add all those funky animations and sound effects I’ve been dying to tryout. I can hear the clicking of NEXT buttons now! I can finish up with a 10 question multiple choice quiz to test their knowledge about the slides! It’ll be awesome!

Interactivity? The boss wants interactivity… No problems! I’ll do a search online and download some interactions. Hey, I know! I can create my first interactive course by stringing a heap of interactions together! Yes! Every single slide will be interactive! Ha! Ha! The end user will never get bored! They’ll be clicking and swiping and dragging and dropping and hovering and just having an awesome time! I’ll throw in some pictures of animals being cute and they’ll love it!

I need to find out what the next big online tech thing is. Maybe I can include Facebook, or that thing called ‘Twitter’, and integrate that as soon as possible!

Oh cool, there are some companies that sell some software that makes the interaction for you! Awesome! let me start racking up purchases on the boss’s corporate credit card!

That looks great! Buy!

That looks awesome too! Buy!

Oooo shiny! Gotta get me some of that! Buy!

*ka-ching ka-ching ka-ching*

This is going to be easy, and the answer to all our Learning & Development requirements.

I can’t wait to get started!

February 12th 2013.

Dear Diary…

Wow.

I was certainly enthusiastic back then

I still am, but I was way off in some areas.

Here’s what I’ve learnt…

To know, attend this informative webinar. Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/389856448

(Originally posted on http://blog.raptivity.com/2013/08/elearning-and-the-multiple-opportunities-it-brings-along/)

The 5 phases of GTD workflow mastery, informally restated by David Allen.

Collect
Crap self-generates but doesn’t self-destruct.

Process
If you don’t know what you’re doing, everything is a pain in the ass.

Organize
If you know what you’re doing, efficiency is your only improvement opportunity.

Review
Integrate and consider, or inconsiderately disintegrate. 

Do
Perfection only comes to those who don’t wait.

GTD in layman’s terms

In it Gary says

Check your LMS stats just for grins, and start plotting how many “In Progress” courses you have, and keep on tracking it. I wager that you will see that number steadily increase. That is not a negative as much as it is evidence that there is a greater need for smaller, targeted, role-centric, learning objects that are task-specific. It is important to note that when and where those objects are needed is not during training, but in the downstream, post-training work context. Workers are @ the point of work.

I had to smile ironically, because I have encountered this problem recently with a number of modules that my organisation has developed.  The users have spent a lot of time flicking through the content pages without a second thought and focussing on the activity pages for the majority of their time in the course.

I am currently developing a Work Health and Safety module which carries a number of interactive activities (designed in Articulate Storyline – Yeah baby!) surrounded by the content.

After reading through Gary’s comments, not only will I sit the full course on our LMS, but I am aiming to have all of the activities available as standalone interactions (sans surrounding content pages) for staff to refer to as ‘on demand’ components.  I will then track across both iterations to see how the completions stack up.

Should be an interesting experiment.

Have you ever sourced hard evidence to support Gary’s article? How do your ‘in progresses’ size up to your ‘completions’?