Do you have specific websites that you like to keep tabs on for new content? How about news sites that you read or blogs that you like to keep track of? For instance, I like to read money.cnn.com and keep up with new articles that are posted there.
Instead of visiting these sites directly everytime you want to check for new content, you can use a RSS reader to keep track of it. Yes, you will have to visit your RSS reader (just have it bookmarked) but if you integrate your regular web surfing through this it should actually make your life easier. Google Reader is one example as is Bloglines (reader.google.com and bloglines.com)
You can also enable the offline function (at least with google reader this is possible) - the RSS reader can compile the articles offline so that you can read them later even if you are not connected to the internet.
Seems like a useful tool and it is extremely easy to set up. I was planning to do a demo at our team meeting. However, since we seem to have an abundance of agenda items in the near future, I will leave you with this blog post and an encouragement to go set up your account yourself (it will really only take a couple minutes). In addition, please feel very free to stop by my desk and I'll show you how it works - won't take more than a minute or two to show you the basics (especially since I know very little about it myself...is this an example of faster, cheaper, better instructional design?)
Here's the ad for google reader:
Your inbox for the web.With Google Reader, keeping up with your favorite websites is as easy as checking your email.
Stay up to date.Google Reader constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content.Share with your friends.Use Google Reader's built-in public page to easily share interesting items with your friends and family.Use it anywhere, for free.Google Reader is totally free and works in most modern browsers, without any software to install.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Faster, Cheaper, Better: Alternative Approaches to Instructional Design
Presented by Sivasailam Thiagarajan (Thiagi Inc.)
This was a visionary approach to instructional design and very refreshing. I was thinking that it may be useful to order the mp3 audio for this session if any of you are interested in hearing more (I wouldn't mind listening again). The challenge for us here is to determine which courses are ripe for this approach - it may be difficult for our "technical" subject matter.
Why faster, better, cheaper for instructional design?
-it is closer to just-in-time when you spend less time to prepare for the course
-if you write too much stuff on slides/handouts the class has to read more too!
-you are forced to focus on critical, important, need-to-know information
-the instructor could be sucking the life out of material by dumbing it down for part of the audience
-you won't get emotionally attached to your training package if you didn't spend much time on developing the package
-if you do it fast, you push a lot of responsibility on to the learner
The instructor suggests that the best instructor for this method is someone who is NOT a subject matter expert because then you have the "curse of knowledge". The less we know, the cloer we can be to an authentic outcome. In addition, you should never create new content! Your job is to build activities around existing content. The major delusion that we suffer from is thinking that our content is the only valid one or is better than the rest. Ideally you should have the class decide which ideas are important and they can immediately use on the job.
This is a very different approach to instructional design and you could see the session attendees wondering if this guy was for real. Someone even put up their hand and asked him what he meant by all this, how could this be accomplished? So Thiagi gave an example of when he was asked to do a leadership training course at a major company. There is no need to develop new content since so much is available so he went to amazon.com and looked up "leadership development" - thousands of hits popped up. Then he and his team chose 30 books - basically choosing books by their covers: whatever looked nice and had decent reviews and ordered them. When it was time for the class, he showed up and dumped the books on the table, and asked the class to each pick a book (19 people in the class). Once they had each picked a book he asked them to go into a corner, spend 20 minutes skimming the book and highlight 6 concepts in the book that seemed to be the top concepts for leadership development. Then he put them in groups of two to discuss what they had chosen and why. Then they expanded the discussion to larger groups and finally to the entire class. In this manner, the class chose the concepts that they were interested in - and the instructor did not have to design cirriculum for the course. Of course there were many other activities that they did in this course but this illustrates the concept.
Thiagi was very entertaining and seemed a bit nuts at times but I think his approach can be valid in some cases and he is less nuts than he tries to appear. He did state that the best instructional design team has an instructional designer (one of us), a subject matter expert (possibly one of us - but preferably we don't know too much!), and a typical learner.
I thought this was a great idea for how to develop a course (because it potentially takes less time!) and I think may try to use it in Chem for Bio. It will be challenging to think about this especially for a scientific topic but at least I can try to use it for some parts of the course. I think the key is that this approach is not suitable for all subjects (although Thiagi seems to suggest that it is the answer to everything!). But it does help to get the class involved - a quote that kept popping up at the conference is that "whoever does the most talking, does the most learning".
If you would like more details on this approach, I have the handout available which gives the step-by-step approach (which almost goes against the whole concept!). More importantly it gives some expamples of activities that could be used in courses.
By the way, feel free to unsubscribe yourself from these blog updates if you aren't interested (or it is too much for you to read). No offense will be taken. In fact, I may just be happy that you are using the blog function in its intended manner!
This was a visionary approach to instructional design and very refreshing. I was thinking that it may be useful to order the mp3 audio for this session if any of you are interested in hearing more (I wouldn't mind listening again). The challenge for us here is to determine which courses are ripe for this approach - it may be difficult for our "technical" subject matter.
Why faster, better, cheaper for instructional design?
-it is closer to just-in-time when you spend less time to prepare for the course
-if you write too much stuff on slides/handouts the class has to read more too!
-you are forced to focus on critical, important, need-to-know information
-the instructor could be sucking the life out of material by dumbing it down for part of the audience
-you won't get emotionally attached to your training package if you didn't spend much time on developing the package
-if you do it fast, you push a lot of responsibility on to the learner
The instructor suggests that the best instructor for this method is someone who is NOT a subject matter expert because then you have the "curse of knowledge". The less we know, the cloer we can be to an authentic outcome. In addition, you should never create new content! Your job is to build activities around existing content. The major delusion that we suffer from is thinking that our content is the only valid one or is better than the rest. Ideally you should have the class decide which ideas are important and they can immediately use on the job.
This is a very different approach to instructional design and you could see the session attendees wondering if this guy was for real. Someone even put up their hand and asked him what he meant by all this, how could this be accomplished? So Thiagi gave an example of when he was asked to do a leadership training course at a major company. There is no need to develop new content since so much is available so he went to amazon.com and looked up "leadership development" - thousands of hits popped up. Then he and his team chose 30 books - basically choosing books by their covers: whatever looked nice and had decent reviews and ordered them. When it was time for the class, he showed up and dumped the books on the table, and asked the class to each pick a book (19 people in the class). Once they had each picked a book he asked them to go into a corner, spend 20 minutes skimming the book and highlight 6 concepts in the book that seemed to be the top concepts for leadership development. Then he put them in groups of two to discuss what they had chosen and why. Then they expanded the discussion to larger groups and finally to the entire class. In this manner, the class chose the concepts that they were interested in - and the instructor did not have to design cirriculum for the course. Of course there were many other activities that they did in this course but this illustrates the concept.
Thiagi was very entertaining and seemed a bit nuts at times but I think his approach can be valid in some cases and he is less nuts than he tries to appear. He did state that the best instructional design team has an instructional designer (one of us), a subject matter expert (possibly one of us - but preferably we don't know too much!), and a typical learner.
I thought this was a great idea for how to develop a course (because it potentially takes less time!) and I think may try to use it in Chem for Bio. It will be challenging to think about this especially for a scientific topic but at least I can try to use it for some parts of the course. I think the key is that this approach is not suitable for all subjects (although Thiagi seems to suggest that it is the answer to everything!). But it does help to get the class involved - a quote that kept popping up at the conference is that "whoever does the most talking, does the most learning".
If you would like more details on this approach, I have the handout available which gives the step-by-step approach (which almost goes against the whole concept!). More importantly it gives some expamples of activities that could be used in courses.
By the way, feel free to unsubscribe yourself from these blog updates if you aren't interested (or it is too much for you to read). No offense will be taken. In fact, I may just be happy that you are using the blog function in its intended manner!
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Team Teaching - It's More than Taking Turns
Presented by Bob Pike and Becky Plath (father, daughter team - Bob is a training "legend" and has 35 years experience; Becky has 10 years exp).
This team was good at marketing and took a few opportunities to solicit audience participation which the rewarded with a different one of their books each time - allowed them to advertise the books (they must be wealthy!). Apparently Becky just wrote here first book: "101 movie clips that teach and train". Sounds interesting - I would have taken a peek at the conference bookstore but it was sold out. The 60-sec activities books were sold out also - but I ordered one of those from amazon today since we seem to have enough interest in the EO.
The instructors started by introducing each other. This was interesting - I don't think that we are used to doing this. Typically people introduce themselves in our courses, right? Advantages:
- you can brag about each other and establish credibility - most people don't like to brag about themselves :)
-establish a team mentality and the relationship
-highlight mutual admiration for each other (I suppose you have to fake it if you don't admire your team member!)
-they made a point to share something from the person's past (establish credibility) but also share something recent (show that they are with the times)
FIVE DEADLY SINS OF TEAM TEACHING:
1. Going over time on your piece!
2. Disagreeing in public
3. Violating standards and norms. (for example, answering your cellphone in the middle of the class)
4. Failing to remember who is up front.
5. Leaving the room!
6. Cookie cutter transitions between speakers ("are there any questions?")
7.Wind out of sails (one-upping each other's stories, etc)
The best training would be with subject matter experts (SME) but we need to use the right processes to help you deliver the material. There is a continuum between facilitator and speaker - and effective trainer should be in the middle of this continuum.
What are the benefits of team teaching? (Kleem's favorite 3 in italics)
-changing face/voice
-whatever you miss they cover
-reduced stress
-learn from each other
-support each other
-better flow
-reduces burnout
-keep it fresh
-increases flexibility
-makes handling emergencies easier
-neither of us is as smart as both of us
-reduced difficult participants
-increases one-on-one time with participants
There are many roles for team teachers when they are on or off the stage: supporter, guide, observer, participant, coach, runner, AV support, preparer, scribe, encourager, instructor. Keep in mind that if you are not team teaching, you have to do all these yourself!
Top techniques for making it really work:
-Both in room.
-one in front, one on the side
-stick to agreed time limits
-demonstrate respect toward one another
-appropriately hitchhike (smooth transitions)
-guide on the side. pre-arrange a signal for entering the conversation
-proper preparation and practice prevents poor performance
-being one anothers cheerleader
-it's not you or me, it's we.
I guess it is bad to interrupt your teammate when they are up there, even if they forgot to make an important point. The better way to deal with this is for the "sidelined" teammate to give a signal to the presenter. This way the presenter can "invite" the other to enter the conversation/discussion and it will flow better and show a united front. The signal can be pre-arranged if necessary.
After this session, I reflected that the DMPK course is an ineffective team-teaching course and almost everything is wrong! Instructors don't stay through the whole course, and most sit in the back and do other work. Transitions are horrible and it is really just people taking turns talking. (However, maybe this may be expected since it is a lecture-based course and the instructors are reluctant to change since they haven't seen the power of how much better it could be with changes). TTT is more along the lines of these guidelines and has better transitions and RR is supportive during the others' presentations. But it may be too much one way with RR being the driver and it's still not truly a fully effective team (perhaps it depends on the specific instructor). I suppose every "team-taught" class could use improvement.
Hope you are getting some usefulness out of these blog posts. I think the first day was much more interesting than the rest so far.
Note that I have skipped summaries for some of the sessions and will come back and update on those ones later.
This team was good at marketing and took a few opportunities to solicit audience participation which the rewarded with a different one of their books each time - allowed them to advertise the books (they must be wealthy!). Apparently Becky just wrote here first book: "101 movie clips that teach and train". Sounds interesting - I would have taken a peek at the conference bookstore but it was sold out. The 60-sec activities books were sold out also - but I ordered one of those from amazon today since we seem to have enough interest in the EO.
The instructors started by introducing each other. This was interesting - I don't think that we are used to doing this. Typically people introduce themselves in our courses, right? Advantages:
- you can brag about each other and establish credibility - most people don't like to brag about themselves :)
-establish a team mentality and the relationship
-highlight mutual admiration for each other (I suppose you have to fake it if you don't admire your team member!)
-they made a point to share something from the person's past (establish credibility) but also share something recent (show that they are with the times)
FIVE DEADLY SINS OF TEAM TEACHING:
1. Going over time on your piece!
2. Disagreeing in public
3. Violating standards and norms. (for example, answering your cellphone in the middle of the class)
4. Failing to remember who is up front.
5. Leaving the room!
6. Cookie cutter transitions between speakers ("are there any questions?")
7.Wind out of sails (one-upping each other's stories, etc)
The best training would be with subject matter experts (SME) but we need to use the right processes to help you deliver the material. There is a continuum between facilitator and speaker - and effective trainer should be in the middle of this continuum.
What are the benefits of team teaching? (Kleem's favorite 3 in italics)
-changing face/voice
-whatever you miss they cover
-reduced stress
-learn from each other
-support each other
-better flow
-reduces burnout
-keep it fresh
-increases flexibility
-makes handling emergencies easier
-neither of us is as smart as both of us
-reduced difficult participants
-increases one-on-one time with participants
There are many roles for team teachers when they are on or off the stage: supporter, guide, observer, participant, coach, runner, AV support, preparer, scribe, encourager, instructor. Keep in mind that if you are not team teaching, you have to do all these yourself!
Top techniques for making it really work:
-Both in room.
-one in front, one on the side
-stick to agreed time limits
-demonstrate respect toward one another
-appropriately hitchhike (smooth transitions)
-guide on the side. pre-arrange a signal for entering the conversation
-proper preparation and practice prevents poor performance
-being one anothers cheerleader
-it's not you or me, it's we.
I guess it is bad to interrupt your teammate when they are up there, even if they forgot to make an important point. The better way to deal with this is for the "sidelined" teammate to give a signal to the presenter. This way the presenter can "invite" the other to enter the conversation/discussion and it will flow better and show a united front. The signal can be pre-arranged if necessary.
After this session, I reflected that the DMPK course is an ineffective team-teaching course and almost everything is wrong! Instructors don't stay through the whole course, and most sit in the back and do other work. Transitions are horrible and it is really just people taking turns talking. (However, maybe this may be expected since it is a lecture-based course and the instructors are reluctant to change since they haven't seen the power of how much better it could be with changes). TTT is more along the lines of these guidelines and has better transitions and RR is supportive during the others' presentations. But it may be too much one way with RR being the driver and it's still not truly a fully effective team (perhaps it depends on the specific instructor). I suppose every "team-taught" class could use improvement.
Hope you are getting some usefulness out of these blog posts. I think the first day was much more interesting than the rest so far.
Note that I have skipped summaries for some of the sessions and will come back and update on those ones later.
The Story Theatre Method
Using Emotional Triggers to Enhance Learning - presented by Doug Stevenson
"Flip the Emotional Trigger Switch"!
This was an entertaining session which focused on telling stories within your presentations in order to give your audience an emotional connection that allows them to remember the lessons.
The method:
-the three phases of the story theatre method are choosing, crafting, and performing stories.
-Story Theatre stories are strategically designed to make a point, teach a lesson, or sell a product or service
Choosing Stories:
-use personal stories wherever possible. Some should be funny, and some dramatic and emtional.
-Emotion is the fast lane to the brain. Emotional triggers capture attention and increase retention.
-start with a point in mind. You can use literal or metaphorical stories. Use a variety of story types based on the seven types of stories (which were not discussed - I guess you need to buy his book if you want to know!)
Crafting stories: Nine Steps:
1. Set the Scene (time, place, atmosphere, conditions)
2. Introduce the characters (emotional, physical, relationship, quirk; note that introduction of the characters can occur when they enter the scene).
3. begin the journey (goal or task)
4. Encounter the Obstacle (person, thing, concept, emotion)
5. Overcome the obstacle ("how to" part of the story)
6. Resolve the story (tie up loose ends)
7. Make the point (one story, one point)
8. Ask a question (relate the story to the audience)
9. Repeat the point using same language as previously.
Performing your stories:
-show and tell, create mental images
-be an ACTOR, not a lecturer!
This session was entertaining but I am really not sure how to use this in EO courses. He did not use any slides, just talked and told stories. The audience was entertained and he had us standing up and trying out certain techniues with the peson next to us. However, I found myself wondering afterwards how many people will actually do this in their courses. Maybe I am closed-minded on this one but it seems like a niche community who will adopt this. Anyone else have thoughts? Sorry that I did not do this post in story theatre method so it was more interesting :)
"Flip the Emotional Trigger Switch"!
This was an entertaining session which focused on telling stories within your presentations in order to give your audience an emotional connection that allows them to remember the lessons.
The method:
-the three phases of the story theatre method are choosing, crafting, and performing stories.
-Story Theatre stories are strategically designed to make a point, teach a lesson, or sell a product or service
Choosing Stories:
-use personal stories wherever possible. Some should be funny, and some dramatic and emtional.
-Emotion is the fast lane to the brain. Emotional triggers capture attention and increase retention.
-start with a point in mind. You can use literal or metaphorical stories. Use a variety of story types based on the seven types of stories (which were not discussed - I guess you need to buy his book if you want to know!)
Crafting stories: Nine Steps:
1. Set the Scene (time, place, atmosphere, conditions)
2. Introduce the characters (emotional, physical, relationship, quirk; note that introduction of the characters can occur when they enter the scene).
3. begin the journey (goal or task)
4. Encounter the Obstacle (person, thing, concept, emotion)
5. Overcome the obstacle ("how to" part of the story)
6. Resolve the story (tie up loose ends)
7. Make the point (one story, one point)
8. Ask a question (relate the story to the audience)
9. Repeat the point using same language as previously.
Performing your stories:
-show and tell, create mental images
-be an ACTOR, not a lecturer!
This session was entertaining but I am really not sure how to use this in EO courses. He did not use any slides, just talked and told stories. The audience was entertained and he had us standing up and trying out certain techniues with the peson next to us. However, I found myself wondering afterwards how many people will actually do this in their courses. Maybe I am closed-minded on this one but it seems like a niche community who will adopt this. Anyone else have thoughts? Sorry that I did not do this post in story theatre method so it was more interesting :)
Monday, June 4, 2007
Forget What You Know About Instructional Design and...
Do Something Interesting!
-presented by Michael Allen (Allen Interactions, Inc. - he was also a founder of Macromedia)
There is no such thing as boring content, just boring instruction!
Three Success Factors:
1. Enhance the learner's motivation to learn. (boring e-learning strangles motivation).
2. Focus learners on behavior-enhancing tasks. ie: don't make them suffer through 100 PP slides!
3. Create meaningful and memorable experiences.
Note: motivation is never high enough, so always be thinking about how to improve it. Use behavior enhancing experiences. For example, this speaker asked questions of the audience and when someone offered an answer he went and gave them a bag of M&Ms. Pretty soon a lot more people were offering answers (maybe the behavior was enhanced by using the bribe or maybe he had warmed up the crowd anyways!). So he was able to enhance motivation via a bribe but others ways can be just as effective.
Also, M&M is a good tool to remember "meaningful and memorable" - all our work should be M&M and we should always keep this in mind.
He showed a bunch of e-learning demos - often in pairs to show the examples of good vs bad elearning for the same content. This was pretty cool. Unfortunately he did not give links to the examples but encouraged us to visit booth #1813 to get a copy of the demo CD! I have it on my list to pick it up tomorrow. He also suggested that showing the examples of good vs bad elearning to senior people in our organizations would be useful to get buy-in on a higher elearning budget.
Other interesting points:
- don't list objectives of the course at the beginning; instead, give a pre-test and make sure the questions are hard enough so that the class fails. Then you are showing them what the learning objectives are and you are hopefully giving them motivation to take the course. If they just get the listed agenda/objectives, they may think they know it all and check out before the course even starts. (useful tip even for non-elearning)
-Instructional design is too focused on content. The focus should be on he learner (see demo CD examples)
-Use of subject matter experts is tricky. They typically don't remember not knowing the concepts. Recent learners are the real experts on instructional design.
Also note: the instructor has a book on creating successful elearning. Sounds like it may be interesting. But let's start with the demo CD and go from there.
-presented by Michael Allen (Allen Interactions, Inc. - he was also a founder of Macromedia)
There is no such thing as boring content, just boring instruction!
Three Success Factors:
1. Enhance the learner's motivation to learn. (boring e-learning strangles motivation).
2. Focus learners on behavior-enhancing tasks. ie: don't make them suffer through 100 PP slides!
3. Create meaningful and memorable experiences.
Note: motivation is never high enough, so always be thinking about how to improve it. Use behavior enhancing experiences. For example, this speaker asked questions of the audience and when someone offered an answer he went and gave them a bag of M&Ms. Pretty soon a lot more people were offering answers (maybe the behavior was enhanced by using the bribe or maybe he had warmed up the crowd anyways!). So he was able to enhance motivation via a bribe but others ways can be just as effective.
Also, M&M is a good tool to remember "meaningful and memorable" - all our work should be M&M and we should always keep this in mind.
He showed a bunch of e-learning demos - often in pairs to show the examples of good vs bad elearning for the same content. This was pretty cool. Unfortunately he did not give links to the examples but encouraged us to visit booth #1813 to get a copy of the demo CD! I have it on my list to pick it up tomorrow. He also suggested that showing the examples of good vs bad elearning to senior people in our organizations would be useful to get buy-in on a higher elearning budget.
Other interesting points:
- don't list objectives of the course at the beginning; instead, give a pre-test and make sure the questions are hard enough so that the class fails. Then you are showing them what the learning objectives are and you are hopefully giving them motivation to take the course. If they just get the listed agenda/objectives, they may think they know it all and check out before the course even starts. (useful tip even for non-elearning)
-Instructional design is too focused on content. The focus should be on he learner (see demo CD examples)
-Use of subject matter experts is tricky. They typically don't remember not knowing the concepts. Recent learners are the real experts on instructional design.
Also note: the instructor has a book on creating successful elearning. Sounds like it may be interesting. But let's start with the demo CD and go from there.
ROI on a Shoestring
Sorry to you all who requested this one - I sat down, got the handout and it looked boring. Plus the presenter made the mistake of putting a lot of information on the handout so I felt like I may be better off at another session :)
I have the handout if you are interested to learn more. I decided to go a couple of doors down and attend "Do Something Interesting" instead.
I have the handout if you are interested to learn more. I decided to go a couple of doors down and attend "Do Something Interesting" instead.
ASTD Expo - Useful Vendors
This conference is interesting in terms of marketing. I suppose they derive a good deal of income from the expo vendors - so on monday they allow over two hours where the only thing going on is the EXPO - you almost have no choice but to visit the vendors. Strange compared to chemistry conferences... however, I did get a couple of good leads (and a lot of junk collected - some will be fun for my kids).
Mimeo.com was the major sponsor of the conference. It is a printing solution where they will print and bind course materials and can send them via overnight anywhere in the world. They are mainly out of the US at the moment but will have a european printing operation soon as well (germany?). Apparently the prices could be good. One sales rep told me that Pfizer has started using them for training materials and the cost through mimeo is better than their internal facilities. He couldn't quote me a price yet - apparently they do individual company quotes and it seems to depend on how much business they are expecting from you. I think he mentioned that the first time they just want to get you started so it is cheap or free (hard to believe free - must be just one copy). Perhaps we should give them a try considering the ridiculous prices we have been paying for printing color books. I don't think they are too big of a company yet but this was quite a marketing blitz here so they must be expecting to increase business through these marketing activities.
Qwizdom alternatives abound... I don't know what was available when you bought qwizdom but seems like there may be better choices now. Maybe we should think about buying a different one next time. I particularly liked the one by Turning Point. The remotes are relatively SMALL and the receiver is just a USB stick size. The whole package is compact and is easily carried around (unlike qwizdom!) total size of 40 remotes plus receiver is like the size of a larger camcorder bag and. It is completely powerpoint embedded (like actionpoint) but the real bonus is that IT WORKS WITH PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF POWERPOINT! This would be a big advantage for us since we could use it off any of our computers. The software is on the usb receiver stick but can also be installed on as many computers as you like - no extra licence required. The initial cost is $695 for the receiver, etc plus $89 per controller. Sounds similar to qwizdom. I would worry about two competing technologies within our group but if this is better (and it does seem to have big advantages), it may be better than continuing with qwizdom. We could arrange a web demo if before deciding to buy more qwizdom units. There were other options as well but didn't look as appealing or of good quality.
Another interesting vendor was Atlantic Link. They have a great looking LMS system that includes tools similar to Captivate. It is all-encompassing. The real value seems to be that it can automatically format your PP or other content to a flash version that can be rolled out to mobile devices. This seems like the future of mobile learning. The sessions can contain questions as well and all the images are retained. The beauty is that you can make changes in the original document or elearning module and it is automatically updated in all versions (even the flash mobile version) without extra effort or additional techincal inputs. Seems great but how much? Best I could get is that it sounds like >30K. Seems pretty visionary though - I requested the documentation be sent so we can look it over. Expensive, yes but maybe innovative and forward-thinking.
Most of the rest of the EXPO was stuff that I didn't see immediate value in but some marginally interesting ones will be sending more info (propaganda) via mail.
Mimeo.com was the major sponsor of the conference. It is a printing solution where they will print and bind course materials and can send them via overnight anywhere in the world. They are mainly out of the US at the moment but will have a european printing operation soon as well (germany?). Apparently the prices could be good. One sales rep told me that Pfizer has started using them for training materials and the cost through mimeo is better than their internal facilities. He couldn't quote me a price yet - apparently they do individual company quotes and it seems to depend on how much business they are expecting from you. I think he mentioned that the first time they just want to get you started so it is cheap or free (hard to believe free - must be just one copy). Perhaps we should give them a try considering the ridiculous prices we have been paying for printing color books. I don't think they are too big of a company yet but this was quite a marketing blitz here so they must be expecting to increase business through these marketing activities.
Qwizdom alternatives abound... I don't know what was available when you bought qwizdom but seems like there may be better choices now. Maybe we should think about buying a different one next time. I particularly liked the one by Turning Point. The remotes are relatively SMALL and the receiver is just a USB stick size. The whole package is compact and is easily carried around (unlike qwizdom!) total size of 40 remotes plus receiver is like the size of a larger camcorder bag and. It is completely powerpoint embedded (like actionpoint) but the real bonus is that IT WORKS WITH PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF POWERPOINT! This would be a big advantage for us since we could use it off any of our computers. The software is on the usb receiver stick but can also be installed on as many computers as you like - no extra licence required. The initial cost is $695 for the receiver, etc plus $89 per controller. Sounds similar to qwizdom. I would worry about two competing technologies within our group but if this is better (and it does seem to have big advantages), it may be better than continuing with qwizdom. We could arrange a web demo if before deciding to buy more qwizdom units. There were other options as well but didn't look as appealing or of good quality.
Another interesting vendor was Atlantic Link. They have a great looking LMS system that includes tools similar to Captivate. It is all-encompassing. The real value seems to be that it can automatically format your PP or other content to a flash version that can be rolled out to mobile devices. This seems like the future of mobile learning. The sessions can contain questions as well and all the images are retained. The beauty is that you can make changes in the original document or elearning module and it is automatically updated in all versions (even the flash mobile version) without extra effort or additional techincal inputs. Seems great but how much? Best I could get is that it sounds like >30K. Seems pretty visionary though - I requested the documentation be sent so we can look it over. Expensive, yes but maybe innovative and forward-thinking.
Most of the rest of the EXPO was stuff that I didn't see immediate value in but some marginally interesting ones will be sending more info (propaganda) via mail.
Training Impact Evaluation (ROI)
This session was presented by Robert Brinkerhoff (professor emeritus at W. Michigan). Author of "Telling Training's Story". The main thrust is describing the "Success Case Method" (SCM) for ROI - a methodology based on the simplistic concept: how you would prove that one person has learned something of value from your course.
What criteria matter in learning evaluation? Surey says: credibility, validity, simplicity, getting results that are actionable (ie: what is the ROI of ROI? What are you going to do with the results besides giving yourself a pat on the back).
Training gets predictable results:
15% do not use any of the learning at all in their jobs afterward
70% try to use it, then for various reasons will go back to old ways
15% will use it and achieve concrete results
15% doesn't sound too bad but just think about the unrealized value.
When training does not work, what is the reason? It is seldom because the training or trainer has a problem (only 20% of the time). The reasons for failure are
1. preparation and readiness (40%): lack of senior management alignment, lack of preparation and focus, management alignment and commitment, etc.
2. application environment (40%): didn't get manager support, had no opportunity to try it out, lack of peer support, no incentive to use it, lack of feedback and coaching.
THEREFORE: we do not need to evaluate the training itself but how well is the organization using the training to get results!
Fundamental problem is that we spend good money to teach people skills then their managers don't let them use it. Performance management is really management development. Most managers think of supporting training as allowing their people to attend it. There is no serious thought that the person will come back and be expected to use it. What we really need is to get all managers in a course on how to get value from skills and knowledge. The major content of the course would be the statistics showing the value that can be attained from their employees if courses are successful (apparently people have done this in many companies: amex, pitneybowes, etc and acheived success).
How does SCM work for ROI? Essentially, you look for evidence that someone has used learning for the company's success and meeting goals. Steps:
1. identify the most and least successful trainees (via survey - I suppose surveymonkey would work for this).
2. follow-up in person! In-depth interviews with selected examples. How was training used. Why did it work? Why did it NOT work? Document what they used, what value they got. When it doesn't work, what value was lost to the organization. Understand what factors lead to people using or not using the skills from courses - then we will know how to change these factors!
3. Now we have credible and documented "stories" of sucess - hopefully! ("that could stand up in court") as well as knowledge of factors that drive impact. These stories can be related to senior management and finance people to show the value of the courses. More importantly, it shows the lost value to the organization - case for change in managers' attitudes (as well as possibly more funding for education).
Benefits of the SCM:
-"prove" that training really works (although remember that training alone does not do it)
- market training to additional audiences
- make a business case for performance management system
- educate managers about their role and impact
- improve learning application process
- build success stories into content
We need to build accountability into the process of education to make it effective. There is a cycle: effective manager support -> training that works -> concrete results that add value -> back to the manager support. At the center of it all is evaluation and measurement.
The cycle can work well or negatively because of lack of manager support. An impact booster session for managers is the key to changing and positively impacting the cycle.
My thoughts? Interesting concept. I can definitely see within GDC how managers may not have the right attitude. I think the chemistry culture is that a manager thinks they are supportive if they allow their people to just go to the course or conference but don't really care if they bring something back. There is probably also an ego factor if the trainee comes back and tries to change the way the research group thinks about problems. I like the SCM because I don't think any of us would really believe ROI numbers (eg: 200% ROI) even if we collected them. We should probably also collect real numbers but the SCM seems more credible and real than a bunch of numbers and perhaps we should consider following up and reading his book for more info.
What criteria matter in learning evaluation? Surey says: credibility, validity, simplicity, getting results that are actionable (ie: what is the ROI of ROI? What are you going to do with the results besides giving yourself a pat on the back).
Training gets predictable results:
15% do not use any of the learning at all in their jobs afterward
70% try to use it, then for various reasons will go back to old ways
15% will use it and achieve concrete results
15% doesn't sound too bad but just think about the unrealized value.
When training does not work, what is the reason? It is seldom because the training or trainer has a problem (only 20% of the time). The reasons for failure are
1. preparation and readiness (40%): lack of senior management alignment, lack of preparation and focus, management alignment and commitment, etc.
2. application environment (40%): didn't get manager support, had no opportunity to try it out, lack of peer support, no incentive to use it, lack of feedback and coaching.
THEREFORE: we do not need to evaluate the training itself but how well is the organization using the training to get results!
Fundamental problem is that we spend good money to teach people skills then their managers don't let them use it. Performance management is really management development. Most managers think of supporting training as allowing their people to attend it. There is no serious thought that the person will come back and be expected to use it. What we really need is to get all managers in a course on how to get value from skills and knowledge. The major content of the course would be the statistics showing the value that can be attained from their employees if courses are successful (apparently people have done this in many companies: amex, pitneybowes, etc and acheived success).
How does SCM work for ROI? Essentially, you look for evidence that someone has used learning for the company's success and meeting goals. Steps:
1. identify the most and least successful trainees (via survey - I suppose surveymonkey would work for this).
2. follow-up in person! In-depth interviews with selected examples. How was training used. Why did it work? Why did it NOT work? Document what they used, what value they got. When it doesn't work, what value was lost to the organization. Understand what factors lead to people using or not using the skills from courses - then we will know how to change these factors!
3. Now we have credible and documented "stories" of sucess - hopefully! ("that could stand up in court") as well as knowledge of factors that drive impact. These stories can be related to senior management and finance people to show the value of the courses. More importantly, it shows the lost value to the organization - case for change in managers' attitudes (as well as possibly more funding for education).
Benefits of the SCM:
-"prove" that training really works (although remember that training alone does not do it)
- market training to additional audiences
- make a business case for performance management system
- educate managers about their role and impact
- improve learning application process
- build success stories into content
We need to build accountability into the process of education to make it effective. There is a cycle: effective manager support -> training that works -> concrete results that add value -> back to the manager support. At the center of it all is evaluation and measurement.
The cycle can work well or negatively because of lack of manager support. An impact booster session for managers is the key to changing and positively impacting the cycle.
My thoughts? Interesting concept. I can definitely see within GDC how managers may not have the right attitude. I think the chemistry culture is that a manager thinks they are supportive if they allow their people to just go to the course or conference but don't really care if they bring something back. There is probably also an ego factor if the trainee comes back and tries to change the way the research group thinks about problems. I like the SCM because I don't think any of us would really believe ROI numbers (eg: 200% ROI) even if we collected them. We should probably also collect real numbers but the SCM seems more credible and real than a bunch of numbers and perhaps we should consider following up and reading his book for more info.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
elearning 2.0
This session was by Tony Karrer (CEO, TechEmpower, Inc.; Ph.D. computer science)
elearning 1.0 - courseware, authoring tools (types of stuff we are already doing or planning on doing in the EO)
elearning 1.3 - rapid 1.0 activities, ie: learning as above but in 15 minute bites; more informative than interactive
elearning 2.0 - the future. We have only a glimpse into its power at the moment. Includes use of wikis, social networking/blogs, social bookmarking, etc. Bottom-up learning, can take as little as a minute for the learner.
This session inspired me to begin this blog to share my notes with you. The blog may be useful because you all can respond and post comments as well. This is an experiment to see if we like this tool. Sure, it may take me a bit of time to enter in these summaries but hopefully it is more useful than if I provided a 15 minute summary at our group meeting on everything at once. And maybe the real value is to me in taking the time to collect what I have learned and write it down. Also, with a blog you can take as much or little time as necessary to process and respond. It also gives an easy way to share links etc (although social bookmarking is better, see below).
Amara's law: we tend to overestimate the effect of technology in the short term and underestimate the effect in the long term.
We have yet to see the power of all these modes in action.
Wikis were discussed. Freely available wiki at PBWiki.com can be password protected against editing. Perhaps we can use this for something EO related to get a sense of the specific value. I think we know they are useful but we should start using them to really know. He suggested (and I think I agree) that we need to test these technologies out with small groups in order to see the value. Very useful for group projects so that all can particpate very easily and also see the ongoing results.
Social Bookmarking - I had not heard of this really before. http://del.icio.us is the major player in this area, as is http://myweb.yahoo.com although yahoo recently bought delicious so any differences will likely be eliminated soon. You can save bookmarks here and also see how many others on the service are also bookmarking the same things. The real value that I saw is that you can tag you bookmarks. eg: we could tag things as NVS EO. Then any of us could monitor for that tag (automated service) and keep track of each others suggested links easier. I thought of how we email each other links to elearning that we have found on the web or other interesting things. If we used social bookmarking, it would allow for easier communication of links but probably more importantly for us it would keep all the links saved for us. (alternativley we could use a wiki for this I suppose).
He demostrated delicious at the class - seemed extremely simple to use.
There is also a personal value here - share bookmarks with family members etc. Probably would have been useful to have this when I was looking for houses.
One take home message was: email is a not an effective way to share information among workgroups. If we started using these other tools it would help us more.
The presenter really encouraged the use of blogs. Reading stuff is one things but composing those thoughts back down again is very valuable for personal learning as well ("why do you think your teachers in grade school made you write so much!") The second value is that in general it will be the people who are interested in the topics in your blog that engage you further, it is a useful social tool in this manner as well and helps bring minds together. His blog on elearning is at http://eLearningTech.blogspot.com
He also discussed RSS (really simple syndication) reader. See http://bloglines.com or ask me for more info. Basically a way to keep track of when webpages are updated. Useful Tool.
Action: get familiarity with these tools in the EO by using them for ourselves. We already have a sense they are valuable since we have been discussing them in our meetings but using them will really show us how they are useful. Then start with targeted intervention for small groups (perhaps for a course), then we may see value in a larger roll-out effort. "You will not see the power and value in these technologies until you use them".
elearning 1.0 - courseware, authoring tools (types of stuff we are already doing or planning on doing in the EO)
elearning 1.3 - rapid 1.0 activities, ie: learning as above but in 15 minute bites; more informative than interactive
elearning 2.0 - the future. We have only a glimpse into its power at the moment. Includes use of wikis, social networking/blogs, social bookmarking, etc. Bottom-up learning, can take as little as a minute for the learner.
This session inspired me to begin this blog to share my notes with you. The blog may be useful because you all can respond and post comments as well. This is an experiment to see if we like this tool. Sure, it may take me a bit of time to enter in these summaries but hopefully it is more useful than if I provided a 15 minute summary at our group meeting on everything at once. And maybe the real value is to me in taking the time to collect what I have learned and write it down. Also, with a blog you can take as much or little time as necessary to process and respond. It also gives an easy way to share links etc (although social bookmarking is better, see below).
Amara's law: we tend to overestimate the effect of technology in the short term and underestimate the effect in the long term.
We have yet to see the power of all these modes in action.
Wikis were discussed. Freely available wiki at PBWiki.com can be password protected against editing. Perhaps we can use this for something EO related to get a sense of the specific value. I think we know they are useful but we should start using them to really know. He suggested (and I think I agree) that we need to test these technologies out with small groups in order to see the value. Very useful for group projects so that all can particpate very easily and also see the ongoing results.
Social Bookmarking - I had not heard of this really before. http://del.icio.us is the major player in this area, as is http://myweb.yahoo.com although yahoo recently bought delicious so any differences will likely be eliminated soon. You can save bookmarks here and also see how many others on the service are also bookmarking the same things. The real value that I saw is that you can tag you bookmarks. eg: we could tag things as NVS EO. Then any of us could monitor for that tag (automated service) and keep track of each others suggested links easier. I thought of how we email each other links to elearning that we have found on the web or other interesting things. If we used social bookmarking, it would allow for easier communication of links but probably more importantly for us it would keep all the links saved for us. (alternativley we could use a wiki for this I suppose).
He demostrated delicious at the class - seemed extremely simple to use.
There is also a personal value here - share bookmarks with family members etc. Probably would have been useful to have this when I was looking for houses.
One take home message was: email is a not an effective way to share information among workgroups. If we started using these other tools it would help us more.
The presenter really encouraged the use of blogs. Reading stuff is one things but composing those thoughts back down again is very valuable for personal learning as well ("why do you think your teachers in grade school made you write so much!") The second value is that in general it will be the people who are interested in the topics in your blog that engage you further, it is a useful social tool in this manner as well and helps bring minds together. His blog on elearning is at http://eLearningTech.blogspot.com
He also discussed RSS (really simple syndication) reader. See http://bloglines.com or ask me for more info. Basically a way to keep track of when webpages are updated. Useful Tool.
Action: get familiarity with these tools in the EO by using them for ourselves. We already have a sense they are valuable since we have been discussing them in our meetings but using them will really show us how they are useful. Then start with targeted intervention for small groups (perhaps for a course), then we may see value in a larger roll-out effort. "You will not see the power and value in these technologies until you use them".
Introduction to ATSD
I lied in the last post. I actually attended a session before 60-sec activities. It was the orientation to ASTD 2007. I forgot because it was actually a big waste of time. You could have learned most of this stuff by reading the conference guide they provided upon check-in (too bad they don't send it in advance) and by wandering around to orient yourself on the layout of the convention center. In the future, I recommend that anyone who goes to ASTD meetings should skip this session and sleep in instead :)
Got A Minute? 60-second activities that increase retention
The first session I attended at ASTD 2007 was on 60-second activities (Presented by Sharon Bowman). This was a crazy session that mostly involved audience participation. My inital thoughts: this is going to be a wacky conference that annoys me because it is too cheesy. However, it ended up being very interesting and useful. She believes that handouts should not be given for the class to look at during the sessions since they will then not be engaged - good point but I think our people would revolt because they are so used to having the PP slides in front of them.
The real take home message: TV has conditioned the American people (I wonder how our European counterparts fare) to take information in 10 minute intervals. ie: the average television show consists of an 8-12 minute segment followed by a 3 minute commercial break. So whether we like it or not, our audiences are conditioned for this. So we need to keep this timing in mind when we create our courses (roughly - 15, 20 minutes is ok also but don't stretch it to 30 or more without some bridge of a 60-sec activity). I immediately thought about our use of Qwizdom in DMPK and Bjorn's experimental design course. I think this use of Qwizdom every 15-20 minutes during DMPK acheives this to a small extent but other tools rather than qwizdom would make it more interesting. Qwizdom hopefully increases retention but may become a predictable activity and start losing its value I suppose.
The presenter insisted that you should not start your class with a title slide - instead place opening instructions on your slide that will begin to engage the audience before the class even starts. This was called a "Quick Start" activity. It uses non-training time, connects learners to each other, and begins to create a "learning community" in the classroom. Caveat: make sure these activities are content related. ie: in this course the slide said: think about 60-sec activities you have seen done in a course and discuss with the person next to you.
Other activities were discussed such as "shout-out" (ask them to shout out answers to a question), "standing survey" (ask them to survey other classmates about a topic), "think and write" (write 3 answers to a question then share with another classmate), as well as others: connections, pair-shares, markups, doodles, micro-macro stretches, action plans, reading aloud, pop-ups, signals, celebrations (ask me if you want more info - I have notes on a few of these, not all were discussed fully). Doodles can be used - have the class draw concepts, etc. A picture is worth a thousand words... she mentioned using the Cornell Notes system to help create handouts (google "cornell notes" - I haven't looked yet). The important thing is to make the activity relevant to the content and make it short: just 60 seconds should be plenty. I buy this concept: I started to notice during the subsequent sessions when presenters did not do this and I could sense myself starting to get bored occasionally - but when they used a 60-sec activity it was interesting. It also definitely created the "learning community" since often the activity involved discussion with the person next to you.
Sharon Bowman's webpage: http://bowperson.com for more resources and references to her books, etc.
The real take home message: TV has conditioned the American people (I wonder how our European counterparts fare) to take information in 10 minute intervals. ie: the average television show consists of an 8-12 minute segment followed by a 3 minute commercial break. So whether we like it or not, our audiences are conditioned for this. So we need to keep this timing in mind when we create our courses (roughly - 15, 20 minutes is ok also but don't stretch it to 30 or more without some bridge of a 60-sec activity). I immediately thought about our use of Qwizdom in DMPK and Bjorn's experimental design course. I think this use of Qwizdom every 15-20 minutes during DMPK acheives this to a small extent but other tools rather than qwizdom would make it more interesting. Qwizdom hopefully increases retention but may become a predictable activity and start losing its value I suppose.
The presenter insisted that you should not start your class with a title slide - instead place opening instructions on your slide that will begin to engage the audience before the class even starts. This was called a "Quick Start" activity. It uses non-training time, connects learners to each other, and begins to create a "learning community" in the classroom. Caveat: make sure these activities are content related. ie: in this course the slide said: think about 60-sec activities you have seen done in a course and discuss with the person next to you.
Other activities were discussed such as "shout-out" (ask them to shout out answers to a question), "standing survey" (ask them to survey other classmates about a topic), "think and write" (write 3 answers to a question then share with another classmate), as well as others: connections, pair-shares, markups, doodles, micro-macro stretches, action plans, reading aloud, pop-ups, signals, celebrations (ask me if you want more info - I have notes on a few of these, not all were discussed fully). Doodles can be used - have the class draw concepts, etc. A picture is worth a thousand words... she mentioned using the Cornell Notes system to help create handouts (google "cornell notes" - I haven't looked yet). The important thing is to make the activity relevant to the content and make it short: just 60 seconds should be plenty. I buy this concept: I started to notice during the subsequent sessions when presenters did not do this and I could sense myself starting to get bored occasionally - but when they used a 60-sec activity it was interesting. It also definitely created the "learning community" since often the activity involved discussion with the person next to you.
Sharon Bowman's webpage: http://bowperson.com for more resources and references to her books, etc.
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