Inside Learning Technology & Skills

JUNE 2013

INSIDE

LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES & SKILLS social learning and self-organised spaces: how to engage learners Steve Wheeler examines the ever-widening landscape of self-organised spaces and appreciates their value in the global learning environment

small lessons from big data 10 e-learning tips for iPads harness disruptive innovation for learning

the official magazine for

olympia 2 london 29 - 30 january 2014

ISSUE 43 JUNE 2013

29 EDITOR’S COMMENT

37

But I have heard ‘training’ increasingly used recently by L&D professionals to describe their activities, and I think it’s for two good reasons. Not only does ‘training’ actually mean something to most people, the alternative – ‘learning and development’ – still doesn’t adequately describe our work. At best it describes the results of what we do. After all, it’s other people who do the learning and developing. Sales people don’t call themselves ‘product purchasers’. Hairdressers don’t call themselves ‘nice haircut wearers’.

CONTENTS 7

Social learning and self-organised spaces: How to engage learners Steve Wheeler

15

Stay ahead of the game and avoid creative apathy Matt Brewer

19

Small lessons from Big Data

23

Tin Can in practice – Part 2 How Tin Can supports communities of learners

Nigel Paine

Paul Burns

29

Mapping the future

33

It’s time to get emotional

Peter Labrow

Toby Harris

‘Training’ is making a comeback. I don’t mean a revival.

Classroom training never went away (it accounts for 60-70% of most L&D output). I’m talking about the name we give ourselves. At some point in the mid2000s we shifted from describing what we do as ‘training’ to calling it ‘learning and development’.

‘Training’ was inadequate to describe our role, which grew to encompass the new world of learning systems, electronic learning content and more. And anyway, ‘learning and development’ sounded far cooler, than stuffy old ‘training’.

This is no semantic quibble. The lack of clarity may have generated some wider confusion. Too often we refer to ‘providing’, ‘generating’ or ‘distributing’ something called ‘learning’, when what we are really talking about is pushing around bits of ‘content’, not ‘learning’. People do the learning; it’s not a commodity or object.

So we need an easily understood term that describes what we actually do – which increasingly is about supporting performance and creating learning opportunities. It’s tempting to throw in everything we do and create a long term like the splendid ‘rindfleischetikettierungsueberwachungsaufgabenueb ertragungsgesetz’ (the ‘law delegating beef label monitoring’, which recently passed out of use in German).

Recognising this is not an option. Some L&D professionals have turned back to ‘training’. It isn’t perfect, but it does describe a lot of what we do and it is easily understood. If it brings some misconceptions, then perhaps we should deal with those directly rather than first having to describe what we mean by ‘Learning and Development’ and then uncoupling that term from its associated misconceptions.

37

Using emotions to change behaviour Julie Wedgwood

I started life as a classroom trainer, so I may be biased. What do you think? Does ‘training’ describe your profession? What short alternative would you suggest?

41

Re-wire your training strategy

Let me know at donaldt@learningtechnologies.co.uk I’ll post the best answers on the LSG website.

Keith Smith

Donald H Taylor donaldt@learningtechnologies.co.uk June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 1

CONTENTS

CONTINUED

49

45 45

Personalising learning!

Elliott Masie

49

10 e-learning tips for iPads Alan Samuel

53

Is learning getting better?

57

Harness disruptive innovation for learning

61

Vaughan Waller

Lars Hyland

61

Talk to the elephant: How to attract and maintain your learner’s attention Julie Dirksen

67

JetBlue’s learning analytics leverages big data Teri Schmidt, Shawn Overcast and John R. Mattox II

73

Is personal branding essential or excessive?

77

Comfortable migration for furniture giants

Kathy Morris

Jeremy Smith

81

Designing for conscious decisions Megan Bowe

85

The role of e-learning in compliance and risk reduction Vincent Belliveau

89

How dunnhumby’s LMS facilitates customer loyalty Rob Caul

93

Why isn’t training more like advertising?

Joe Kennard

2 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

73

97

Wheat from the chaff: The rise of the digital curator Ben Betts

101

Five red flags…warning that you’ve outgrown your learning solution Jon Drakes

105

The solution to PBL’s big problem Adriann Haney

109

Accelerate new-hire success with social on-boarding

113

Best practice for mobile devices content development

101

Robin Martin

Peter Barrett

119

A huge leap forward

123

Mobile: It’s personal – even at global scale

Gerry Quirke

Piers Lea

127

UMUC’s game-changing training in cyber security Roohi Nazki

131

105

Let’s get engaged!

Stephen Walsh

135

A partnership between L&D and marketing could be a match made in heaven Rob Clarke

139

The slope of enlightenment Mike Collins

INSIDE

LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES & SKILLS

131

Published by CloserStill L&D (Principal Media Ltd) 19 Hurst Park, Midhurst, West Sussex, GU29 0BP T 01730 817600 F 01730 817602 E info@learningtechnologies.co.uk W www.learningtechnologies.co.uk Editorial Editor, Donald H Taylor; Managing Editor, Annie Garfoot; Copy Editor, Tony Lynch Art Layout and Design, Louise Ivimy.

© CloserStill L&D. All rights reserved. Whilst every effort is made to ensure accuracy, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors, inaccuracy or for any opinions expressed by the contributors. All trademarks are acknowledged.

Inside Learning Technologies & Skills is the official publication of Learning Technologies 2014 and Learning and Skills 2014, Olympia 2 London, January 29th-30th 2014 and the Learning and Skills Group.

139 June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 3

SOCIAL LEARNING AND SELF-ORGANISED SPACES:

HOW TO ENGAGE LEARNERS Steve Wheeler examines the ever-widening landscape of self-organised spaces and appreciates their value in the global learning environment.

T

he social web is replete with selforganising spaces. Take the example of Wikipedia. It is now the largest single repository of knowledge on the planet and continues to grow with over 4.2m articles in English, and many more in other languages – a total of around 14m articles at the time of writing. Currently, 750 new pages are added each day on just about every topic known to humanity. It's the first port of call for many web users wanting to check a fact or statistic.

Who creates and maintains this huge, ever expanding repository of knowledge? We do: You and I. Us. And an army of like-minded volunteers who love learning and want to share their knowledge.

All Wikipedia has done to promote the vast ever-expanding storehouse of knowledge, is to provide the environment within which it all takes place. And that should give all of us some clues as to how to facilitate selforganising learning spaces. Self-organised learning – learners controlling their own pace and space of learning and often deciding on the content they wish to consume – is a growing force in education.

From individual employees learning informally by browsing on their smart phones, to small flipped classrooms, to vast groups of learners studying via massive online open course (MOOCs) platforms, education is becoming learner-driven.

Yet many academics and teachers struggle with the concept of self-organised learning, often because it is an alien concept. When they were in school, college or university, they were probably required to attend lectures and classroom teaching sessions.

They were expected to 'receive knowledge' then attempt to make sense of it in an essay, project or examination. Clearly, the temptation is to perpetuate this kind of didactic pedagogy approach when one is expected to teach.

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 7

SOCIAL LEARNING AND SELF-ORGANISED SPACES: HOW TO ENGAGE LEARNERS

Many however, are breaking out of this mould, and launching into new kinds of pedagogy which enable learners to take control, and where teachers are another resource to be called upon when needed.

KNOWLEDGE SHARING Wikipedia facilitates knowledge generation, sharing, remixing and repurposing because it is an open, accessible space where everyone can participate. It may be errorridden in places, but these errors are usually addressed and the content revised, deleted or extended accordingly, often within quite a short space of time. Yes, there will be disputes in self-organised learning spaces, just as there are 'edit wars' within Wikipedia, but learners will also find positive aspects. They will learn how to gain confidence in their own abilities from this kind of experience, how to defend their positions, and how to think critically. If this kind of learning occurs within a psychologically safe, blame-free environment, success can be achieved.

Self-organised learning spaces should be similarly founded on psychologically safe principles, where if errors are made, those who made them can learn and adjust as they discover the 'correct approach' or the 'right answer'. Working within self-organised communities enables a vast amount of learning to take place; it also allows for individual differences and personalities to flourish. L&D professionals who adopt the approach of facilitation must be willing to allow learners to take their own directions and discover their own levels.

Exploration, experimentation, risk-taking, error-making and asking 'what if?' questions, are all essential elements of selforganised learning. Probably the most important component is the learners’ ability to direct their own learning, and to be able to call upon the resources they need, when they need them. We can learn a lot from Wikipedia and not just from the knowledge it contains. But what about learner engagement – how can we sustain selforganised learning?

Learners on the periphery can also be an annoyance to their peers, especially where collaborative work is required. They don't appear to pull their weight. In the wider world, this is referred to as social loafing. It occurs especially where a large number of people are present and where a diffusion of responsibility is easy to accept.

SOCIAL LEARNING The challenge this presents to L&D professionals is a big one, especially where it can be less noticeable in online environments. We highlight the concerns we have about learners who don't seem to engage, and often appear to be socially loafing when other students are working hard. And yet just about everything we learn is situated within a social context. We learn during our early years by observing and mimicking others. No first language is learnt in isolation.

Much of an individual's sense of conscience, social justice and even compliance to authority are thought to derive from social modelling processes in early life (see, for example, the work of psychologist Albert Bandura). We also learn through experimentation, but even though some of this is solitary, our thinking is still shaped by previous social encounters and conversations. Much of our thinking about learning over the past few decades has been influenced significantly by the writings of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who proposed the theory of social constructivism.

In essence, Vygotsky's argument is that all humans learn within rich social and cultural situations, and that children and novices learn more when they are in the presence

of knowledgeable or more experienced people, than they do when on their own.

This is known as the zone of proximal development (ZPD). This does not preclude good learning in isolated settings, but ZPD does hold that learning is strengthened and extended through the presence of others.

If we agree that a large proportion of our learning is achieved in social contexts, surely those on the periphery must be disadvantaged?

LEGITIMATE PERIPHERAL PARTICIPATION Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger wrote in 1991 that the formation of communities of practice explains much of the informal learning that occurs in the workplace.

Development of this theory placed emphasis on the sharing of knowledge within the community of practice, enabling members to situate their learning within their community. Lave and Wenger argued that some forms of peripheral activity (on the edge of the community of practice) can actually be legitimate participation, and can lead to deeper involvement within the core membership of the community over time.

Through such legitimate peripheral participation they suggest newcomers hold station in low risk and low profile positions on the edge, while they learn about the tasks, social rules and practices of their community, and are eventually drawn into the centre as productive members. But what if that doesn't happen? What if the learners continue to lurk, fail to commit, and offer nothing of real substance, while their peers are working hard? Is this a problem? If so, how can it be resolved?

Curating

Creating, repurposing

ENGAGING LEARNERS A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post entitled 'Lurking and Loafing’ about learners who are on the periphery of learning, who often 'lurk' without appearing to participate directly or productively. If you are involved in learning and development in any way, you will know exactly what I mean. The silent one who sits in the corner, quietly observing, but not overtly involved. Ask them a question and they stare back at you blankly, shrug, or declare that they don't know. It looks as though they really don't want to be there.

Commenting, discussing

Sharing, retweeting, liking, favouriting

Watching, lurking, reading

The Engagement Pyramid (Adapted from the Altimeter Group)

8 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

SOCIAL LEARNING AND SELF-ORGANISED SPACES: HOW TO ENGAGE LEARNERS

MOTIVATION AND ENGAGEMENT We know intuitively that people learn best when they really want to. Motivation is essential for the deepest and most engaged learning. Sometimes this motivation comes from outside (extrinsic) but more often than not it is intrinsic, an internal desire to better ourselves, gain a better understanding, solve a problem, learn a new skill. The engagement of learning triangle (see diagram on page 126) has several sources and I have added my own perspective around the use of digital media.

The pinnacle of engagement is clearly the ability to generate one's own content and add value for others. It is at the apex because to be able to curate content, one must first be able to identify, evaluate and gather related content from a variety of sources and platforms. One must then be able to synthesise and organise it coherently. Finally, one must include additional value, commentary, annotations and extra links.

These learning activities can be quite complex but the social media tools are available to aid the process. Curation tools such as Scoop.it, Pearltrees and Diigo are available for free, and not too difficult to use.

"I never teach my students. I only provide them with the conditions in which they can learn" Albert Einstein

LEARNING THROUGH TEACHING Finally, teaching others cannot be underestimated as a powerful motivator for many. It is essential that those who teach are really knowledgeable, and are deeply and critically engaged with their field of expertise. The Latin phrase Docendo discimus can be translated as ‘we learn by teaching’, and if learners know they have to present to their peers and tutors, they are usually prompted to prepare well and research widely.

Encouraging learners to share their content (videos, podcasts, blogs etc.,) online for a potential global audience is a sobering but exciting challenge for them. Asking them to curate the content of others and add value to it can be even more challenging. But in doing so they will usually read more widely, and are then in a position to assimilate multiple perspectives.

and mobile technology taps into an area in which many are knowledgeable. Their familiarity with using these tools can often spur them to engage more deeply in their learning.

Many organisations are beginning to facilitate self-organised spaces for their learners, and social media is becoming a powerful tool for change. Giving learners the responsibility for their own learning and encouraging them to share their content is something I believe all organisations should seriously consider.

Steve Wheeler is Associate Professor of Learning Technologies at Plymouth University http://steve-wheeler.net/ Twitter: @timbuckteeth

Engaging students through social media

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 11

STAY AHEAD OF THE GAME AND

AVOID CREATIVE APATHY L&D practitioner Matt Brewer gives a corporate view of some of the latest learning ideas and technologies and warns against crapathy.

B

ack in November 2010 I ran a Pecha Kucha presentation (20 slides of 20 seconds each) for the eLearning Network, on ‘Creativity in e-e-learning in the corporate environment’.

I looked at what this meant to me and how it sat with the constraints imposed when resulting modules, courses and campaigns have the spotlight of reality shone on them by the powers that be e.g. compliance, counsel, professional bodies etc.

These constraints weren’t walls to bang your head against. They were hurdles to

leap. It took some thought and planning to negotiate them, but the challenge was there to overcome. I looked at how we aligned our learning to the business and to our individual learners. Also, how opportunities to say ‘Yes, but…’ to anything creative could lead to ‘crapathy’, the art of creative apathy.

At the time, the topic resonated well with other corporate L&D professionals. But does it hold true today? What has been the impact of new developments? Everyone’s perception of what constitutes ‘the past’ is

different, and two-and-a-bit years isn’t really very long (unless you’re a three-yearold). However, it is more than enough time for tools, methods and ideas to be thought up, championed, used, changed and rejected.

Let’s look at a few examples of what has changed. But first I’m dropping the ‘e’ from e-learning as I don’t think it’s important anymore. People learn in many ways. Why categorise when learners couldn’t give a stuff about it? They just want to find out what they need to know, when they need to know it.

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 15

STAY AHEAD OF THE GAME AND AVOID CREATIVE APATHY

TOOLS AND OUTPUT Back in 2010 I had Word/PowerPoint 2002, Lectora 2008 and Adobe’s eLearning Suite 1.0 for the bulk of my learning creation.

Things have changed massively since then, and I now have four new tools: Word/PowerPoint 2010, Lectora X and Adobe eLearning Suite 6.1. Did I really need to upgrade the last two? No, but I felt I should before costs rose and support disappeared. Have the wonderful new features changed what I can do for our learners? No, of course not.

As with many people in my position, I don’t ‘create’ any particular type of learning all the time. I don’t even ‘create’ learning all the time. The majority of my time is spent meeting with business and project teams, learning new and updated systems and processes, and running training – much of which is face-to-face.

The training itself has changed though.

Most of the sessions I create and run are designed to last an hour or less, irrespective of the delivery method.

This isn’t as a result of the oftenmentioned reduction in people’s attention span. It’s purely because that’s what our learners and their managers want. Why spend a day learning things that you might need at some point in the future (especially since you’ll need to remind yourself how to do it anyway) when you could spend 30-minutes learning what you actually need right now? I’d love to use all the new features of the software packages.

However, the reality is that there isn’t enough time to learn the features well enough to use them properly, while still producing what’s needed on time. The tendency to ‘stick to what you know’ is therefore very strong.

The next time I need to use the tools, the same thing is likely to happen. Does this lead to me being less creative? No. Quite the opposite actually. I will always try to do something different for every project for two reasons. Firstly, rehashing the same stuff over and over won’t get the job done properly and will lead to boredom.

Secondly, learners deserve to have their L&D colleagues pull out all the stops to give them useful, interesting, engaging and effective learning.

LEARNERS AND EVALUATION With flat or reduced budgets, aligning with the business is still a hot topic today. If we don’t do this, the perceived and actual worth of L&D as a profession will diminish.

Just as important is aligning with our learners and customers. Without this, although the business sponsors may be happy, they won’t have any comprehension of the on-the-job impact

Why spend a day learning things that you might need at some point in the future (especially since you’ll need to remind yourself how to do it anyway) when you could spend 30-minutes learning what you actually need right now?

of the training. Days, weeks or months after the learner has answered a few questions correctly, is that same learner able to recall the right information and use it to adapt their behaviour accordingly? I doubt it, and see two main reasons for this failure.

Firstly, evaluation: Yes, that old chestnut.

We don’t do enough of it, and in many cases, we don’t do it at all. In fact, not having the time to evaluate is often used as an excuse for not doing it at all. I’m as guilty of this as anyone. But think about why you don’t have time to do it. It’s quite possibly because you’re rushing to complete a new learning module using whatever methods, designs or structure you already know.

However, a few simple questions asked of your learners (and their managers) may highlight flaws in the effectiveness of what you’ve done before; flaws that you’re now in the process of recreating because you haven’t had time to evaluate their effectiveness.

Secondly, we don’t see things clearly enough from the perspective of our learners, because we don’t align with them.

Without asking questions, sitting with them, or trying out new ideas with them, how can we possibly design the best option? There will always be compromise and we have to use our experience as ‘training matter experts’ to shape things. A successful company would never sell a product without first checking whether their market wants what they’re selling.

Here are some tools that really interest me in light of these challenges.

(TOOC?) but I’m not sure it would be worthwhile.

TIN CAN I’m interested in what this could do for us, particularly in freeing-up learning from its incarceration in the depths of an LMS. Tagging all of the content you want tracked could still be a sticking point though. Whenever I think of an LMS now, my mind tends to compare it to a scene from DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon. When we first see the dragons’ mysterious home, they drop their offerings of food into the depths of a mountain to keep the massive beast happy. That’s what we do with an LMS. We keep feeding the big, scary beast with courses, many of which disappear forever. We’re completely oblivious to the fact that hardly anyone can find a way around it without a guide.

STORIES AND PRESENTATIONS Forget whizzy new tools and weird acronyms. Stories and presentations are the two areas that, if used correctly, could have the most dramatic effect on corporate learning and its subsequent effectiveness. Stories (not just scenarios) provide context and foundation to the learning. Think of all the books you’ve read.

Can you remember those that didn’t have a great story or plot? I doubt it.

MOBILE LEARNING

Using ideas from the Learning & Performance Institute’s Certified Online Learning Facilitator programme and Garr Reynolds’ ‘Presentation Zen’ (plus some creativity and common sense) we are putting together our own programme to open people’s eyes to what can be done.

They’ll just need to leave their crapathy at the door.

I’d love to make certain things available to everyone via mobile. But with different hardware, data plans, and security concerns it’s not particularly viable. Starting on a smaller scale, to a particular group of users could be a place to start though.

So, things haven’t changed greatly in the last two years. New tools, theories and ideas still appear monthly. But I feel there are clearer areas of focus which, if done well, could make a dramatic impression on the effectiveness of what we offer.

MOOCs Massive Online Open Courses are probably something for our learners to use externally, although there’s no reason we can’t help them find what they need, using sites like My Learning Worx for example.

We might be able to create a tiny MOOC

16 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

Matt Brewer is Technology Training Consultant at Chubb Insurance Company of Europe www.chubb.com/international/uk Twitter: @mattbrew @ChubbEurope

SMALL LESSONS

FROM BIG DATA With learning analytics you can build a case for return on investment that is realistic yet impressive. Nigel Paine shows you how.

S

mall lesson No.1 – learning leaders are increasingly accountable for proving that what they do adds value and impacts business performance. The simple truth is that data starts this conversation about effectiveness.

Small lesson No.2 – effective learning and development works. In Laurie Bassey & Associates annual analysis Good Company, companies with high L&D investment were shown to outperform Standard & Poor’s 500 average return by 17%. The key word is effective.

High on the wall in the main reception of the Indian IT services company InfoSys is the simple mantra: ‘In God we trust, all others must bring data’. But what is Big Data, what is learning analytics, and what have they got to do with learning effectiveness? Read on…

Collecting sales data or manufacturing metrics is relatively simple. The data pours out daily and is easily processed and analyzed. Learning data is not like that. It is hard to collect and, when you do, it is hard

to draw strategic conclusions. So learning has conveniently escaped this expedient for years. As a CLO for the BBC, my numbers were about bums on seats. It was about increasing learning, increasing the uptake of e-learning, running fuller courses and getting those all important smiley sheets. The fact that that time has been called is not something to be feared or ignored, but embraced.

DATA WEAVE Talking about impact is talking about assured budgets and a seat at, or close to, the top table. Proving effectiveness demonstrates commitment, and helps you talk to the senior executives across the organisation in a way that brandishing a pile of happy sheets never did. Why is this?

There are three key reasons: 1. With more complex software running things, more data emerges. Learning, like any other area, is able to collect better data and cheap tools make analysis viable.

2. The big management consultancies have focused for years on processes and wrung

value out of that. They can see that people metrics are poor and used poorly. Human capital is the last space that is the least measured. That is why IBM bought Connexia and Deloitte bought Bersin. These organisations hope to be able to offer new services that focus on alignment, impact and value for money.

3. Employers will turn their attention to their people and try to achieve the same efficiency gains as they did with technology and processes. Learning and development is a big part of that.

The essence of big data is not single streams of data, however exciting, but a data weave that yields insights. We can now combine data more easily than ever before, and draw our own conclusions. And thousands or indeed millions of data points yield interesting conclusions. And you do not have to collect data on everything that moves. The Bell curve is the standard response; therefore, even a 20% response rate delivers a valid conclusion.

Learning analytics is big data in the

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 19

SMALL LESSONS FROM BIG DATA

learning space. John Mattox, Director of Research at KnowledgeAdvisors, says: “Learning analytics is at the intersection of impact, operations, evaluation, testing and assessment.” Therefore it logically follows that it can help organisations understand how to deliver better training, and better develop employees and customers and eliminate ineffective investment.

The key to making progress is to establish consistent processes. There have to be standards for data collection and some kind of assurance of data integrity must exist. The technologies used require a degree of standardisation so that there is a consistent and single point of analytics with integration of any feeder data systems. Here are some key things to consider as you move forward.

1. Ask good questions of the learner. For example, instead of “Did you enjoy this course?” ask “Would you recommend it to others?”

2. Do not present spreadsheets as conclusions but as starting points. Take the data and tell its story. What does it show and how sure are you of this?

3. Great presentations are brief. State your conclusions and what you propose to do and keep the data as the back-up.

4. Do not measure everything. Pick what is most important and get good data. Keep everything else ticking over.

5. Bear in mind that in most cases ‘roughly reasonable data’ (John Mattox’s phrase) will be acceptable provided you are honest about its status. The cost of being ‘sure’ is usually unacceptable as it requires control groups and comprehensive programmes.

6. You need to sample around 1-2 months after a learning event. That will indicate changed behaviour and embedded skills.

The day after proves far less.

7. This is about using numbers to make better business decisions. Ask what decisions you need to make before you drown in statistics.

8. The person telling the story need not be the person to process the data. They just need to trust one another. The former for accurate reporting and the latter for accurate conclusions.

Can big data deliver L&D's holy grail? (see panel) Remember, some of the measurable benefits could have happened anyway, so do not grab everything. Reduce your estimate to the roughly reasonable. Who will argue if you have the data to back it up? Use quotations from participants and managers to make this process tangible.

Follow up on exceptional performers and

Can big data deliver L&D's holy grail?

Being able to demonstrate ROI/ROT (where ROT is the return on talent) is the holy grail of L&D. You can demonstrate that the outputs deliver more than the inputs by using a simple model that makes some reasonable assumptions. It is clear you need to start this process before the programme begins so you have some baseline indicators of participants' starting points.

You can only do this by asking their line managers. For example: What changes would you hope to see? What would these changes save you in time and efficiency? What would you gain from better project management? And so on. You can then roughly quantify this by asking line managers for an approximate score. For example: “If you would like your team skills mark to be 8 out of 10, how would you mark it now?”

So you can generate an average score for the cohort at the current time. Say you ask five key questions giving a maximum potential score of 50 and your cohort is currently at 30. You can even begin to ask money questions. If a particular project had finished on time what would the savings have been? Remember you are gathering ‘roughly reasonable’ data.

Example: You have a leadership programme costing £20k for 20 participants, so the average cost is £1k per participant.

You run the programme. Thirty days later you return to the line managers and ask the same questions. The score has risen on average from, say, 30 to 40. To a limited degree you can begin to quantify this improvement in terms of performance and cash. Ask the participants what they are doing better, faster and with more confidence. If they are saving half a day a week you have a direct cash equivalent using salary costs as the guide (in this case 10%). Half a day’s saving is 10% of the working week, so you can extrapolate that this equals 10% of the annual salary, if it is sustained.

At a cost of £20k, the return to the company in this example is at least £50k (due to efficiency gains and time saved). This is based on efficiency savings of 10% of the total cohort salary. The actual amount could be as much as £100k. But be realistic and pragmatic and average the 20 participants’ contribution to £2.5k each. This figure could be said to be ‘roughly reasonable’.

You can reinforce the response from participants with the feedback from their line managers, so there is some correlation.

find out why they did so much better and adjust the programme to maximise its potential.

It is imperative to keep a sense of perspective and face facts. If the return is simply not there, then redesign or even scrap the programme. Be prepared to take tough decisions. And if this small pilot was a success you have the perfect basis for asking for more money to run a more extensive programme. You continue to collect data and measure the impact and make adjustments. And report, briefly, on progress.

This is a very simple model: INPUT -------> ACTIVITIES -------> OUTPUT but you continue into OUTCOMES -------> IMPACTS So the measurement of the programme has very little to do with how much the participants enjoyed it. Rather it focuses on what the organisation received in

20 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

return for the investment. This is simple data analysis. Pour that into other programme measures and you begin to see how you can look at the organisation’s achievements as a whole and examine the impact of the learning and development operation. Move forward in this small way and you will gradually get more data, make bigger decisions and integrate more readily with other data streams from the business.

Begin this journey as soon as you can and think impact before you think anything else.

(With thanks to John Mattox of KnowledgeAdvisors who helped clarify my thoughts and tease out some of the tangles.)

Nigel Paine is the owner of www.nigelpaine.com Twitter: @ebase

TIN CAN IN PRACTICE – PART 2

HOW TIN CAN

SUPPORTS

COMMUNITIES OF LEARNERS

Part One tackled the question of how Tin Can supports individual learners. In Part Two, Paul Burns describes how it underpins communities.

T

here are distinct advantages that the new specification for learning technology – Tin Can API – offers in comparison to SCORM, the previous standard on which much of online learning is constructed. These are well documented. As an extension of the Activity Streams specification, Tin Can is more applicable for capturing learning experiences.

We are no longer constrained by the limits of the LMS and are now able to record all manner of learning experiences to a Learning Record Store: websites visited, Twitter followers, LinkedIn connections, Salesforce activity, books or journals read, blog posted or reviewed, locations visited, and so on.

This supports what Jane Hart’s Learning in the Workplace Survey found, that selforganised and self-managed ways of learning are valued as essential. Indeed, one of the biggest challenges facing learning professionals is helping individuals and teams flexibly manage their own learning to meet performance requirements.

SHARED LANGUAGE OF LEARNING Learning technologist Steve Wheeler has pointed out: “Learning content is not as important now as knowing where (or who) to connect to, to find it”. (http://stevewheeler.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/learning -futures.html) As individuals we benefit from the fact that we can collect and record these experiences to assist us in our jobs. We can also evidence these activities, as part of our personal learning records, to current and future employers.

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 23

HOW TIN CAN SUPPORTS COMMUNITIES OF LEARNERS

Beyond the personal benefit lies the fact that our learning experiences can be shared with others. Tin Can API represents what Tim Martin of Rustici Software refers to as: “the shared language of experience, a way for systems to talk to each other about what people do”.

Sixty-three per cent of top performing learning organisations use learning communities compared to only 40% of average performers.

Sixty-three per cent of top performing learning organisations use learning communities compared to only 40% of average performers (Towards Maturity 2012). So, on top of one or more Learning Record Stores we are able to construct 'communities of interest' that can share experiences to mutual advantage.

Individuals can form part of any number of such communities and share relevant personal learning experiences – their learning activity streams – as befits the nature of each community.

expectation of repeating the positive outcome.

In the context of our workplaces we are likely to be part of several such communities. These may be long-lived, the department or company in which we work, for example. Or they might last only a few months or weeks, a project team brought together to tackle a specific task, for example. With appropriate applications we can allow parts of our learning activities to be shared to suit the context. These activities could include information such as best working practice on a specific topic, or product knowledge in the form of images or videos that we have recorded to our learning record stores.

ANALYSE THIS Once shared, our experiences add to the collective pool of knowledge available to the respective communities. Here a further layer can be applied to determine which resources are the most useful to the community. It will be possible to promote the most useful resources, from their use or popularity with members of the community. This can be done by analysing the most-used resources. Or by allowing community members to indicate their preferences through some form of 'like' expression, or a combination of both. In turn it might be that the resources identified by one community, as being of most value can be made available to other, similar communities elsewhere in the organisation.

Drawing on data outside of the immediate learning context – sales data, or other measures of performance, whether soft or hard – will allow stakeholders to assess correlation between the resources usage.

For example, it will be possible to identify the sequence and combination of resources that derive the most effective learning pathways. These might then be applied to similar groups or teams in the

Imaginative analytics are likely to prove a significant component of learning systems that are based on Tin Can API. Learning Record Stores will hold a wealth of data that can be analysed in order to interpret outcomes and to refine and improve ongoing learning experiences. Saltbox (http://www.saltbox.com), a fellow early adopter of Tin Can API, is one example of this.

Administrators and stakeholders will be able to use analytics to eliminate effort wasted on creating ineffective learning resources. This will allow them to focus attention on plugging gaps, which might be identified, or improving the effectiveness of current resources.

In this way the curation of resources is likely to have a more active role in the learning environment. Members of learning communities will themselves perform a degree of curation with their ability to record experiences through Tin Can and as a result of building applications that allow sharing across the communities.

Recommendation and collaborative filtering will also be essential functions in fostering valuable communities of interest.

DRINKING FROM A FIRE HYDRANT The value of a curator will be shown in their ability to filter and add value to the vast amount of available content. Mitchell Kapor, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier

Foundation and first chair of the Mozilla Foundation has likened getting information off the internet to “taking a drink from a fire hydrant”. When predictions are made that “content on the web will double every 72 hours” it is little wonder that the role of Content Curator is being touted as the next big social job.

New tools are allowing us to use novel ways of navigating through content.

Applications such as Zite, Flipboard and Google Currents allow us to indicate our interests and have content delivered to us in a very smart experience. Brightwave uses content search and aggregation engines to offer automated content curation for enterprise clients.

Let’s set aside one concern for the moment; that by allowing software agents to perform our own “research”, we simply promote our current outlook and miss out on the opportunity to encounter new ideas or paradigms. There seems little doubt that we will need help from somewhere in order to make sense of the amount of content that will be available to us.

Tin Can API does not present the magic bullet capable of overcoming all impediments to effective learning. What it does offer is a framework on which to construct applications and services to address many evident shortcomings in current tools and products. Such a solution allows experiences contributed by individuals to be utilised to support learner communities.

Tin Can improves management capability Managers across large organisations have a need to access the latest and most relevant materials and toolkits to do their jobs. They will also be naturally dispersed and perhaps not have daily access to communities of practice. In this scenario, managers can access a 'capability community' where they can...

• Gain access to latest toolkits and information • Pull in relevant market trends, TED talk links, relevant news materials and other online resources • Capture key models and strategies for reference and use • Share best practice with other managers Members can then collaborate in a community of practice area, using online workbooks that enable managers to practice themes and ideas 'on the job' and report back on their effectiveness to their management community.

24 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

HOW TIN CAN SUPPORTS COMMUNITIES OF LEARNERS

Tin Can increases sales capability Traditionally, sales effectiveness information gathered via learning platforms included attained scores in assessments or quizzes, the amount of time spent in online learning courses, the numbers accessing supporting materials etc. This could then be reviewed together with sales data to determine whether sales activity or effectiveness had increased.

A Tin Can-powered LMS, gives dispersed sales teams the capacity to come together, learn, compete in games with points for sharing and rating material.

Sales activity can be correlated with other experiences such as social media connections, etc.

From this data we can derive a significant understanding of what impacts improvements in sales performance. We can gain insight from the sequencing and combinations of learning experiences. Altogether it offers a deeper understanding of organisational learning and allows stakeholders to tailor learning activities to gain the best possible outcome.

Paul Burns is Head of Technology at Brightwave paul.burns@brightwave.co.uk www.brightwave.co.uk Twitter: @BrightTweet

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 27

MAPPING THE FUTURE The Learning & Performance Institute's new Capability Map has big implications for recruitment and for personal development, says Peter Labrow.

J

ust occasionally, something comes along with the potential to change everything around it. Marketers call such new ideas ‘disruptive’: they sneak in, looking initially innocuous – before they steadily undermine the previous paradigm, often in unpredictable and unexpected ways.

It’s easy to think of examples. iTunes is a good one. The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player. iTunes wasn’t the first online music store. Apple did innovate, but drove current ideas to their logical conclusion. The leap forward, in Apple’s case, was to integrate the hardware, software and buying process via a great user experience.

So perhaps it is with the Learning & Performance Institute’s Capability Map, released at the end of October 2012.

Considering that it wasn’t launched with a fanfare and hasn’t been pushed hard through marketing, interest in it has been astonishing.

But is the Capability Map a game-changing, disruptive idea? It is a new online tool for L&D professionals to self-assess their skills.

But what makes the Capability Map special isn’t so much the tool itself as the in-depth thinking behind it.

Lesley Price, membership services manager at the Learning & Performance Institute,

worked on the development of the Capability Map. She believes that it breaks new ground partly because of its simplicity and partly because it’s built using the knowledge of many specialists: “It was a core design goal that the online tool be simple to use. There are very few mandatory fields, there’s no hidden agenda – such as signing people onto mailing lists – and it uses clear, common language.”

GAME-CHANGER The Capability Map groups skills into just nine areas; with twenty-seven specific skills under those. A person can score his or her own skills fairly quickly, by giving them a

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 103

MAPPING THE FUTURE

rating of 1-4. It’s not instant, but it’s not onerous either. “We didn’t want using the tool to be a chore,” says Price, “but clearly if you put a bit more time into it, you’ll get a lot more out.”

What you ‘get out’ is a competency profile, in PDF format. And it’s here that we start to sniff something of a game-changer.

Consider the CV, or résumé. It’s been around for perhaps 500 years, yet the CV has changed little: it’s someone’s unstructured (and rather subjective) take on themselves. Just ask anyone who sifts through CVs for a living – the lack of common structure, language and reference points make it a pretty hit-and-miss tool.

The Capability Map isn’t designed as a replacement for the CV, but, if you work in L&D, it’s a pretty useful companion to it – and one that could become an essential partner.

But to cite it merely as a partner to (or replacement for) a couple of pieces of paper is really to underestimate the potential of the Capability Map, believes Nick Bate, director at specialist recruitment firm Blue Eskimo – a company focused solely on recruitment within the learning industry.

“The learning sector has been very much focused on qualifications and experience,” says Bate. “How many years you worked somewhere… which qualifications you have.

That’s only part of the picture. What the Capability Map provides is a common language and structure for both skills development and recruitment.”

Price agrees: “The Capability Map provides far greater objectivity around recruitment and around skills development and career progression.”

OBJECTIVE RE-ORIENTATION Like the résumé, the Capability Map is a form of self-assessment. So, like the CV, it can be used to provide an ‘over-optimistic’ picture of someone’s skills. “We tell people that they need to be honest with themselves when using it,” says Bate.

“Partly because any skills framework is useless if it’s based on lies, but mainly because it’s so much easier to be caught fibbing. And the whole point is to be objective about where you are, so you know where you fit in, where you want to go, what you need to learn.”

Alex Watson, senior learning and development consultant at Lloyd’s Register, concedes that self-assessment can lead people to overstate or understate their capabilities, but the Capability Map’s strengths outweigh this potential weakness.

“What’s good is that it enables you to look at your skills objectively. It orientates you;

The Capability Map is genuinely based on capability – rather than qualifications. It doesn’t prescribe that you have to be qualified in something to be capable at it. This is much more powerful. And it’s very firmly an L&D tool, not a HR add-on.

makes you think about what you are doing and how you utilise your skills.”

Lesley Price believes that most people are honest when using the Capability Map. “We’ve deduced this because we’re in a market where a higher value is placed on emerging skills – such as collaborative learning. But people have been marking themselves higher for more traditional skills and lower for emerging skills. This suggests that they’re being more objective than aspirational.”

JARGON FREE Andrew Jacobs, learning and development manager within London Borough of Lambeth Council, is enthusiastic about the Capability Map – and feels that it succeeds where other similar initiatives have failed.

“It uses plain English,” he says. “There’s no hiding behind jargon. It’s very focused on what you do, how you do it and why you do it. It’s also genuinely based on capability – rather than qualifications. It doesn’t prescribe that you have to be qualified in something to be capable at it. This is much more powerful. And it’s very firmly an L&D tool, not a HR add-on. It’s there to help you focus on the things you need to do, not record what you’ve done.”

Jacobs also believes it could play a strong role in recruitment: “You could assess someone’s abilities more easily from a Capability Map. There’s been too much of a focus on qualifications. Too much of our approach is institutionalised. Qualifications don’t count as much as ability.”

Alex Watson agrees. “You are hired for your skills, for what others don’t possess. The Capability Map is a good tool for recruiters.

Its common language can be understood by others – perhaps people who are recruiting don’t always understand L&D roles. And it’s something you can take with you as your skills develop.”

A few new facets are due to be added to the Capability Map and will strengthen its objectivity and usefulness. The first is that the skills will be mapped to job roles. “This doesn’t change the underlying skills, but it does anchor them in another common reality,” says Nick Bate.

PROFESSIONAL PORTABLE BRAND The second change is that people will be

104 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

able to add themselves to a group and use the manager of that group to validate their skills. “That really helps to ensure impartiality,” Bate believes. “But it also means that managers can see skills gaps more readily and plan training or recruitment better. It makes it easier for a company to advertise a job and easier for candidates to assess how well they could fit that job.”

The Capability Map is portable – the user will be able to transfer it when moving jobs.

“It’s as portable as a CV,” says Bate, “and really does add more substance to someone’s personal brand. Imagine: you apply for a job and you’re the only one with a Capability Map. It puts you ahead. Now, apply for a job and you’re the only one without a Capability Map. It puts you behind. Over time, this will happen.”

It’s early days, but so far the signs are good.

“We didn’t realise what an open door we were knocking on,” says Price. “We launched at the end of October and expected 500 registrations by March. In fact, we had 500 registrations by the start of November. By March we hit 1,500. What’s more encouraging is that around 65% of people have come back for more than one assessment, keeping their data live.”

Adoption has been strongest in the UK, the United States and Australia. “But we have people using it worldwide,” says Price, “including India and the Philippines.”

Bate’s confidence in the Capability Map is such that Blue Eskimo is aligning its recruitment processes to it. “There’s no tool like it,” says Bate. “The Capability Map is approachable and understandable. We’re encouraging both organisations and candidates to use it – and we’re building it into the core of how we recruit.”

As with any disruptive idea, what the Capability Map needs is mass adoption.

Andrew Jacobs summed this up perfectly: “To succeed, it must achieve critical mass, to reach a point where L&D employers expect that a Capability Map competency profile is submitted when you apply for a role.”

Peter Labrow is a commentator and writer with over 20 years’ experience in the learning industry http://www.labrow.com/blogs Twitter: @labrow

IT’S TIME TO GET

EMOTIONAL There are plenty of whizz-bang e-learning platforms flooded with features and benefits.

What we need now is plenty of emotive content, says Toby Harris.

N

egative experiences typical in e-learning mean that many outsiders or first-timers feel the term itself is ill-fated. The conventional e-learning course is Neanderthal. It has ossified; it’s a hangover from a bygone era. This is partly because typical user expectations have changed dramatically.

As Vaughan Waller reminds us in his recent article Is learning getting better?, people are now used to scrolling down pages on

the web or on phones, so why do we continue packing content into static slides?

An out-dated medium has begun to obscure the message. We won’t necessarily solve this problem with a platform. We must refocus attention away from an emphasis on feature-packed, mobileoptimised, social learning environments – and towards the creation of emotively charged learning content. We need to market e-learning as a meaningful tool for personal development in a world where

online experiences bring down dictatorships. To do this we need to probe the relationship between features, advantages and benefits; and an additional element – emotions.

A FEATURE IS NOT A WHY Imagine an empty Facebook – no friends, no comments and no memes – and you are imagining the actual appeal to the learner of that shiny platform which looked so good at the Learning Technologies show for

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 33

IT’S TIME TO GET EMOTIONAL

example. Or you are imagining the final years of Friendster, MSN Spaces or Bebo.

But the continuing assumption that platforms somehow replace the content within them is what drives vendors to invest millions in developing clever platforms (and sell them at prices which are not so clever).

All this whilst ignoring the most important aspect: the learners. They are not interested in features, but in benefits.

Dropping the learner into a platform which is fizzing away with a metro-style array of live streams, leaderboards and live commentary is all well and good. But if they don’t have a damn good reason to be there, if the experience isn’t intrinsically rewarding, it’s an emotionally dead space.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME? In We need to talk about me, Nicholas Baum explains some of the principles of ‘me-learning’. He outlined the mechanics of how an e-learning course can become a space in which learners visualise new behaviours in action: ‘Here’s where I am; here’s where I could be; this is what I need to do to get there’. Personalised input and personalised output via emotionally charged content is another way to put it.

The approach has been proven to work in courses such as the mental resilience courses developed by Transport for London, where qualitative and quantitative evaluations draw a direct line from meaningful emotional engagement to massive return on investment. So how does it work? What ‘buy-in buttons’ should learning architects and learning platform designers be pushing to engage learners?

A revolution that has been gathering pace in the field of behavioural economics is highly relevant here. It’s changing the way we are shaping the online world more generally, and e-learning needs to sit up and listen. Traditional economics has treated the human as homo economicus; ‘Sovereign in tastes, steely-eyed and pointon in perception of risk’. The problem with this model is that ‘homo economicus is a rare breed.’1 I would go further and say that the self-interested, calculating human doesn’t really exist at all.

Our brain chemistry motivates us to make decisions that aren’t necessarily rational or even self-interested. Memories are structured around emotional peaks and troughs, not averages or a steady accumulation of benefits.

The ‘endowment effect’ for example, means that we place a much higher price on a teacup that is ours, than on an identical cup that isn’t. We hold on to shares long after the point where it made sense to sell

Wikipedia shows us that the purpose of features is to facilitate the smooth delivery and collaborative production of content.

Deliver the features in the right way and in effect, they become invisible.

them. A sense of belonging is the trump card.

This complicates our thinking about features and benefits, and explains why the addictive learning environment can’t be as easily manufactured as we perhaps thought. It might make perfect sense that a learner would naturally engage with a platform and the content, because it has social and game-based characteristics. This creates a sense of reward, right? But your new platform is an impostor: it doesn’t come with the same emotional highs or the sense of belonging as the one on which it was based. It is a feature, emptied of emotional benefits.

BENEFITS ARE DERIVED FROM EXPERIENCES Wikipedia is one of the world’s most commonly used and powerful learning tools. Engagement is driven by benefits.

These are not necessarily logical, but are instead composed of feelings and experiential rewards. This e-encyclopaedia is a breathtakingly simple combination of useful learning and community collaboration. It has become an unbelievably trusted source of information given that its validation is based on collective action rather than external authority.

Wikipedia shows us that the purpose of features is to facilitate the smooth delivery and collaborative production of content.

Deliver the features in the right way and in effect, they become invisible. It is worth noting that Wikipedia uses scrolling and swiping, not page turning. Wikipedia’s contributors are not motivated by selfinterest but by a sense of belonging and common purpose.

Its users (by which I mean all of us) are motivated not only by utility, but also by the fact that we have content experiences on Wikipedia that matter. For example, discovering something about a company that allowed you to turn around a client meeting and form a new relationship.

Or having your interest piqued in Latin America resulting in a life-changing trip you took a few years later.

This emotional endowment is the reason we act very curiously indeed. We go to Wikipedia when we have no particular

34 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

‘earning outcome’ in mind at all. We seek feeling more than fact.

BEYOND LEARNING OUTCOMES This implies an uncomfortable truth which some LMS vendors don’t like to mention: fewer pennies spent wisely on an affordable open source option, does the job just as well as millions spent on a proprietary one. Spend time thinking about the kind of content experience that learners will find motivating rather than poring over pricing and feature lists.

So what does really matter to learners: features, benefits, or emotions? The answer is not any one thing in isolation, but all three together. Platforms and technologies do not define emotively valuable content experiences but they do play an indispensable role in delivering them. What mood state are you going to capture and utilise? How are you going to make your learners feel like it belongs to them?

If your e-learning is to change behaviours, you must know where your planned course or platform fits into the emotional narrative of your learners’ lives. It is time to start including emotional outcomes, as well as learning outcomes, in your project specifications.

1 http://www.economist.com/news/finance and-economics/21576645-nobel-prizewinnerargues-overhaul-theory-consumer-choice

Toby Harris is Creative Lead and LMS Product Manager at Saffron Interactive www.saffroninteractive.com Twitter: @toby_saffron

USING EMOTIONS TO

CHANGE BEHAVIOUR Since the goal of much learning is behavioural change, emotional triggers should be intrinsic to learning design. Here is Julie Wedgwood’s learning designer’s guide.

E

motions motivate people to accept change and adapt their behaviour.

Emotions contribute to intelligence and the ability to navigate through life’s choices. Emotions affect our decision making and can determine the way in which we respond to situations. They motivate us to achieve our objectives. The word emotion has been defined as; ‘A natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.’

For example, say a learner has gathered from past experience, that to be successful in his chosen job he needs to be in complete control. Then, being directed to work within a collaborative team could be very difficult. He might find it hard to share control or allow others to contribute and may try to dominate the team. While he may well have completed the ‘team working’ course, in reality his emotional reactions interfere with his ability to adopt the required change in behaviour.

In many forms of learning, the emotional state of the learner is somewhat ignored as the content to be learned is delivered factually, dealing in true or false responses.

Yet when you consider that adult learning is often concerned with behaviour change, emotions are an intrinsic part of what motivates us to accept and adopt, new ways of working and behaving. The trouble with trying to trigger an emotional reaction from a learner is that every individual has different past experiences that affect their reactions. This makes it difficult to predict the outcome of the trigger.

Reactions to a change can also be triggered by the way others have behaved towards a learner in the past. How different people handle their emotions depends on their awareness of how to interpret what they are feeling in a given situation. For example, if in your first job your superior was a bully causing you to hate his treatment of you and to fear him, you may initially judge a new superior as a bully even if the new boss treats you fairly and values your contribution. Your initial emotional reaction will have been incorrectly triggered based on this past experience.

The unpredictable nature of emotional response is why learning designers shy away from including emotional reaction in operational change management training.

EXPERIENCE TRIGGERS EMOTION Emotional reactions can be linked to a particular need. For example, the need to

have our past knowledge and successes recognised; the need to feel valued; the need to feel in control. When our needs are not met, we can be unaware that emotions are triggered that affect our decision making and behaviour, potentially causing us to take actions that we might not otherwise have chosen. It is generally accepted that emotions can affect temperament, personality, mood and motivation when linked to conscious experiences.

Emotions can be triggered very simply. For example, a single word can generate very strong reactions. Words such as ‘rape’, ‘murder’ and ‘abuse’ all activate an emotion that is augmented by the associated words or images that accompany these trigger words. Our emotional reaction is activated by our past experiences of these words in other contexts. It is our prior understanding of their meaning that triggers our emotional response.

Images also elicit strong reactions. A video of a newborn baby or a child taking its first steps will trigger stronger emotions in some than in others, usually based on personal experience with young children.

Experiencing aggressive behaviour will usually trigger a level of fear in most, and the resultant emotional reaction will often

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 37

USING EMOTIONS TO CHANGE BEHAVIOUR

be accompanied by some form of action, either fight (not necessarily physical) or flight.

Our emotions are automatic responses that happen in a split-second based on our judgement of a situation but our splitsecond judgements can be skewed by past experiences and should not be trusted. Our emotions need to be considered and compared to reasoned thought, in order to understand why we feel the way we do, and whether or not our emotional reaction is valid. It is through this review process that we can begin to change our behaviour.

This basic understanding of emotions can be helpful in determining how best to use emotion in learning.

Simply presenting a situation that triggers an emotional reaction could be an unwise and irresponsible approach. While some types of emotional reaction may be similar for many people, it is vital that the use of emotional triggers is carefully considered.

Suitable opportunity for the learner to reflect on their reaction should be provided to allow rational thinking to be applied to increase self-awareness of any past experiences that might be skewing the learner’s automated response. Otherwise the emotional trigger is there for effect only and serves no learning purpose other than a twisted form of entertainment – like a horror movie.

EMOTION TRIGGERS EXPRESSION Good examples can be found in experiential learning where learners are presented with a task that they feel unable to complete. For example, traversing a gorge on a trip wire, climbing a cliff or parachuting. The purpose of many of these

Next time you find yourself creating – or indeed being subjected to – some form of compliance training, observe anything in the learning experience that causes you to have an emotional reaction. physical experiential tasks is to contest the emotional reaction to the challenge and provide new experiences to alter future emotional reactions and raise selfawareness. In these extreme examples, experts are usually on hand to help the learner to rationally consider their emotional reactions and give the learner a safe place in which to adjust their current and future emotionally-based behaviour.

recognising and exploring the impact of a situation that can make the difference and help to change behaviour positively. As part of the learning design, it is worth considering the advice of a psychologist to ensure that the opportunities to use emotion are appropriately applied. Suitable support and feedback must be available to the learners to ensure a positive learning experience.

In less extreme experiential learning such as role play and simulations, the opportunity to explore emotional reactions to a work situation – either through live delivery or e-learning – is available, but is often ignored. The output is more usually focussed on how the learner performed, disregarding the impact of the learner’s own emotional reaction to the circumstances. Helping learners to explore their emotional reactions works best when reflection-in-action is used, as this helps them to consider their reaction immediately and discuss the possible cause.

They can explore whether or not their reaction is skewed, with someone who has the skills to provide appropriate guidance, either based on their own experiences or professional judgement.

Next time you find yourself creating – or indeed being subjected to – some form of compliance training, observe any additions to the learning experience that cause you to have an emotional reaction. If so, what was your reaction? Can you reflect on it and determine if it was valid? Was it influenced by a past experience? Did in include a trigger to focus on the key behaviour change that will cause you to comply? Will the training influence your future behaviour or just deliver a corporate tick in the box?

Careful guided reflection will help improve the learner’s self-awareness and consider how they might respond in similar situations in future. It is this active support in

38 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

Maybe these questions will cause you to think differently about how you present compliance training, for example. Real behaviour change requires knowledge, reason and an emotional response.

Julie Wedgwood is Director at Juliewedgwood.com Twitter: @juliewedgwood

We are on the cusp of a new era of corporate learning.

Can you keep up? Keith Smith scours the landscape.

W

ith tighter budgets and increased global competition, organisations have been forced to take a cold hard look at the effectiveness of corporate learning. Gone are the days of putting staff through hours of ‘just in case’ formal, generic courses. Employees are now expected to fulfil more specialised responsibilities than ever before, thus requiring more targeted training.

According to a recent report by Bersin1, top sought-after positions require extensive preparation and education to achieve company goals, reflecting the tremendous need for skills. Many highvalue jobs in IT, manufacturing, sales,

marketing and finance, require deeper levels of skills. More than 60% of US business value now comes from ‘intangible assets’ – intellectual value. In effect, corporate training must be accessible, relevant and meet the specific learning demands of individuals within an organisation.

learning’ spending by 39% in the past year, demonstrating a steady shift toward social learning tools, knowledge sharing, expert directories and other forms of information sharing. Learning in Europe has also taken an upward trend as organisations try to do more with fewer resources. This has had a major impact on the way organisations approach corporate learning.

BEHAVIOURAL SHIFT

People are increasingly talking about social and informal media, smartphone apps, tablets, video conferencing and gaming in the learning environment. Although it all sounds exciting, we still need to consider technological barriers that may prevent new learning strategies from blossoming.

Organisations need to take into account

New technologies have revolutionised the way we access information and learn – creating a fundamental shift from formal, instructor-led training programmes to more flexible, informal strategies. Recent figures released by Bersin reveal in the US alone, companies grew their ‘informal

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 41

RE-WIRE YOUR TRAINING STRATEGY

ways of achieving consistent delivery, maintaining costs and adapting e-learning content to both desktop and mobile devices.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD One of today’s biggest challenges is the fact that information is easily obtainable and there is just too much of it. In fact, 68% of knowledge workers now feel that their biggest learning problem is an ‘overwhelming volume of information2.’

This information exists in many formats, sometimes out-of-date, and many individuals are not even sure how to find what they need. This means that in order for learners to access the right content, understand it and put it into a meaningful context, learning professionals must not just devise a learning programme, but a complete ‘learning environment’ encompassing both formal and informal learning.

RELEVANT, TARGETED AND ADAPTABLE When assessing gaps in learning, L&D departments need to consider three key issues: what kind of organisation they are... what they want to achieve... and what is their desired outcome? How can training be effectively provided to suit every individual? A generic, e-learning portal where information is placed, with the hope that staff will go there to find it, is not enough. On the other hand, a programme that draws upon a blend of face-to-face, e-learning and mobile learning tools and is relevant to the practical context of an individual’s working life will result in a dramatic increase in usage.

It is essential to ensure blended learning is designed to suit all multiple devices in use; desktops and laptops, smartphones and tablets, all come with various capacities, screen sizes and user expectations. Blended learning is about adapting the right content for the relevant device. For example, shorter, sharper interactions are more accessible on smartphones, while longer more high-capacity webcasts are better via a tablet.

SCRIMP TO SUCCESS Advances in bandwidth, mobile, and social technologies make it possible to create a more budget-friendly, blended ecosystem than can meet the specific learning needs of just about every type of learner. This relationship-centred approach is about finding innovative and creative ways to use social media more effectively; to engage in existing networks and allow individuals to interact with each other to obtain and enhance the knowledge required to do their job. Brandon Hall Group’s latest

Advances in bandwidth, mobile, and social technologies make it possible to create a more budget-friendly, blended ecosystem than can meet the specific learning needs of just about every type of learner.

research, Relationship-Centered Learning: An Adaptive Learning Model 3 surveyed over 600 US organisations and found that more than 70% have already taken steps in this direction and have reported revenue increases and positive movements in all key performance indicators.

Once upon a time everything used to be hosted behind a firewall, now everyone is looking at SaaS cloud-based solutions.

There are great debates around e-learning standards, such as the SCORM versus Tin Can API, which allows the user to record the entire e-learning experience. Added to this are heated discussions around content delivery – Flash versus HTML5.

The power of simulation ensures that gamification will have an increasing impact on the learning landscape, but only when put in the right context. Games are not about putting an Xbox in the corner of the office; they are serious business programmes, such as simulations about customer, call centre or sales interactions.

Organisations wishing to implement gamification as part of a blended learning strategy must weigh-up whether or not it is ‘gimmicky’ or will achieve real, practical outcomes.

JOURNEY AND DESTINATION Ultimately, it is a question of looking at how technology trends will impact the future learning environment and the changes in user expectations. It is imperative for organisations to decipher which technologies truly enhance training delivery and outcome and which represent ‘change for the sake of change.’

E-learning is not a panacea. It is not the ‘magic wand’ that will transform the average into the supremely talented.

However, a seamless blended programme that delivers authentic learning experiences will ensure everyone reaches their full potential. E-learning must take people on a journey that encompasses a range of engaging interactive learning tools that are relevant to the individual’s practical learning needs. This way, everyone understands the importance of the training and the expected benefits and outcomes.

Ultimately, the right blend ensures learners want to do the training – because they enjoy it.

42 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

Re-wire your training strategy 1. A complete user experience: Learning environments should encompass both formal and informal learning tools, enabling learners to access the right content and to put it into practical context.

2. Skill-specific and relevant: Training tailored to suit specific skill sets of every individual. An effective learning strategy starts with assessing the current level of knowledge and devising a costeffective way to fill gaps with the appropriate blend of learning tools.

A generic, e-learning portal or information repository is not enough.

3. Flexible and adaptable: Desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets, all come with various capacities, screen sizes and user expectations. Blended learning matches the content to the most relevant device.

4. Economical and evolving: Encourage individuals to use social media platforms and engage in existing networks. Allow learners to interact to obtain the knowledge required to do their jobs.

Adapt to change: Cloud-based solutions, new e-learning standards, gamification and mobile devices are having an increasing impact on the learning landscape. Organisations must assess the impact and adapt to the changes.

1 http://www.bersin.com/blog/post.aspx?id=2d 0d5d19-3f34-4b13-a035-0b753760b966 2 http://www.bersin.com/blog/post/ModernizeCorporate-Training--The-Enterprise-LearningFramework.aspx 3 http://www.trainingmag.com/content/relatio

nships-and-evolution-corporate-learning

Keith Smith is the Learning Operations expert at CrossKnowledge www.crossknowledge.com Twitter: @CrossKnowledgEN

PERSONALISING LEARNING! Learning professionals must prepare for learners, managers and behavioural shifts to move us toward increased personalisation of our learning, training and performance resources, says Elliott Masie.

G

o to a restaurant and observe how people at your table order a meal. Most will take a menu option and change it. “I’d like the salad, but can you delete this, add this and change the sauce?” The restaurant owner has to accept that the menu is just a starting point for how patrons will select, visualise and alter their dishes. Restaurant eating has become more personalised.

When I grew up, our family would gather around the TV on Sunday night and watch a popular show. All my friends’ families did the same and on Monday morning we talked about the comedy and music we had all watched – at the same time – even repeating a great joke or two. Now, we

watch television in a much more personal fashion: on demand, streamed, in smaller segments and often while aggressively fast forwarding to get to the just right moment.

Television watching has become more personalised.

A few times per week, Amazon sends me an e-mail. It is specifically aimed at me.

Based on what I have ordered in the past, looked at in recent days and other aspects of my buying behaviours, Amazon’s ad makers send me a heads-up that a few items, often on sale, would be perfect for me. They know how to reach me and I don’t resent it at all. In fact, I validate it with frequent “clicks” and orders. eCommerce has become more personalised.

THE RIGHT LEARNING CONTENT, AT THE RIGHT MOMENT And, the world of learning is growing ever more personal. I frequently ask people how they would ideally want to learn something new. Rarely do they say “Send me to a five-day learning class” or even hope for “an excellent three-module eLearning course”. They talk about wanting to learn in their own style, focusing on content that is just right for them at certain moments in their lives or careers.

Yes, learning has and will become more personalised.

The personalisation process will also be applied to organisational leadership

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 45

PERSONALISING LEARNING!

development and training! Some organisations will embark on design pathways that embrace more personal selections. Whether organisations do or don’t adopt personalisation corporately, our learners and participants will make leadership development more personalised (overtly or covertly). The best example of this is a leadership development webinar: • An organisation provides a 60-minute webinar led by a senior corporate strategist to address the changing model for alignment • Participants sign-up to virtually attend this 60-minute talk (with just a few questions from the audience) • Only about 65% of the registered participants will actually attend, unless there are consequences for nonparticipation. The others make either planned or just-in-time decisions to do more important work instead and listen to the webinar later. (And, if the webinar is available online, many will opt for that – with vigorous use of the fast-forward button) • Of the people who attend, most will do a few other things while listening to the webinar. Checking e-mail, reading material, having a short phone conversation or pondering a key topic are likely activities to co-exist in the moments of this webinar • Many will leave after about 13 minutes, either due to lack of top-level interest or because they got ‘enough’ of the topic for that day • Is this webinar a success or failure for the organisation? Hmm!!!

Add to this the rise of short duration video a la YouTube segments and we see a shift in the way learners are opting for content.

Even more profound in the leadership development space is the rise of TED videos: 18-minute segments, provided free of charge, that are being used by learners as personalised blasts of content and inspiration.

A colleague of mine even wants TED to allow people to use a ‘time code’ to send someone a 2-3 minute selection of a key video that is their own personalised edit or chop of the content.

Learners are bringing their personal preferences to the learning table and are more curious than ever. They have access to a vast amount of content and perspectives; they want to be the ‘designers’ of the last mile of content.

The learner, in most corporate settings, is asking for his or her own personalised package of content, experience, collaboration and even certification.

Learners are bringing their personal preferences to the learning table and are more curious than ever. They have access to a vast amount of content and perspectives; they want to be the ‘designers’ of the last mile of content.

Learners want a version of this personal selection: • Content that is critical for me to have • Content that I do not know already • Content that I am likely to need in the near future • Content that I can just ‘look up’ when I need it • Content referenced around my work, my background and even my language • Content delivered in a medium or mode of my preference: face-to-face, online, through video, reading or a cup of coffee with an expert • Content of a duration that is appropriate to my needs and availability • Content available at a time that is optimal • On-the-job performance support materials to serve as reminders while extending the learning • The ability to safely ‘fail’ as I attempt to master new content: failing my way forward • Access to multiple and even opposing points of view In other words, we want our learning personalised!

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR LEARNING AND TRAINING PROFESSIONALS?

Increasingly, learners will add their own content, either from personal experience or from real-time access to internal or external web-based items. Curated content will be shared with other learners in a collaborative space • Sequence Shifts: Learners want different sequences. Some want to start with theory. Others want to begin with handson experimentation • Collaboration Shifts: During one of my recent keynotes, some participants were tweeting questions to the outside world in real time. One got an answer from an unknown colleague 4,000 miles away • Marketing shifts: Imagine touching every learner with personalised e-mails based on his/her needs, interests and even corporate calendar (e.g. “Here’s a four minute video on a topic of interest to you. Watch it when you get a chance”) Finally, learning personalisation will be enhanced as we add more ‘big’ learning data. The mix of data from a learner’s activities during a ‘course’ and other factors like customer satisfaction will drive real-time adjustments to our designs.

Learning personalisation will require experimentation, failures, new blood in the design field and a desire to create resources for learners that will optimise those precious moments when curiosity meets knowledge. Let’s get personal!

We need to shift and adjust our instructional design models and tools.

Historically, design involved selecting the best scope or inclusion of content mapped to the desired outcomes. Then, we selected the ideal activities to assist learners in achieving mastery. Finally, we created the sequence and timing of the activities.

In the age of personalisation, we will continue many of these design actions, but we will need to adapt with these shifts: • Scope Shifts: Learners will increasingly extend or reduce the scope of content based on existing knowledge, the focus of their learning needs or the nature of their jobs • Curation Shifts: Learners shift from being part of an audience to being co-curators.

46 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

Elliott Masie is Chair of The Learning CONSORTIUM and CEO of The MASIE Centre. He is the author of 12 books and the host of Learning 2013 and Telework 2013. www.masie.com

10 E-LEARNING TIPS FOR iPADS Whether you’re developing new content for iPads or m-enabling your existing e-learning, Alan Samuel shares some practical advice.

F

rom ‘the Tablet is coming’ to ‘it’s already here’, iPads and other tablets have made a grand entry in both the corporate and education sectors.

With the enterprise tablet adoption to grow by almost 50% per year (Source: Digital Ad Agency Vertic), for most organizations, adopting mobile learning will soon become a question of when, rather than if. This will mean a whole new way of designing, developing and delivering materials, information and learning on iPads and other tablets.

While designing e-learning for iPads (tablets) may appear relatively straightforward, given somewhat similar display areas to laptops and PCs, the context in which the iPad is used, its ever increasing

usage on the move and changing user preferences, makes designing for iPads different and challenging.

Further, adopting e-learning on iPads raises the BIG question of ‘What do we do with our existing content?’ probably developed in Flash, which doesn’t run on the iPad? And for those who are looking at creating new content for tablets, it is a process of getting through the fuss around HTML 5, getting acquainted with the plethora of rapid authoring tools, evaluating the need to have an app, among other things.

Whatever the question or the concern may be, the following 10 tips will help you set out on your journey to ‘m-enable’ your existing e-learning for iPads – and when developing new content too!

1 BUILD A CONVINCING CASE Establish the real benefit you will achieve by delivering e-learning on iPads or other tablets. It could be as simple as solving a problem of access, extending availability – ‘anytime, anywhere’ or a more specific benefit targeted at a mobile workforce. If you get this right, the rest will fall into place more easily.

2 THINK BEYOND IPADS The iPad created and ruled the tablet market and continues to do so. But with a projected decline in its sales, will it remain the dominant device? This is a question that needs to be answered before you start designing e-learning for iPads only.

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 49

10 E-LEARNING TIPS FOR IPADS

Consider other tablets from strong global players, like Microsoft, Samsung, Asus and a host of other well-known manufacturers. All have competitive and economically priced tablets running Android and Windows OSS, which are more open and flexible than Apple’s iOS. An attractive alternative and one that can get you up and running extremely quickly with BYOD, as this allows you to focus on content and leaves the choice of device to your users.

3 THINK ‘TABLET’ INSTEAD OF MOBILE PHONE Learning on tablets is fundamentally not the same as m-learning on mobile phones or even e-learning on PCs and laptops. iPads or tablets are like ‘mobile computers’ – they combine the best features of mobile phones and computers, providing an opportunity to deliver a unique learning experience. Considering e-learning and tablet learning as separate entities will help identify the difference in purpose and benefits that each device offers.

search and consume, and critically and contextually relevant.

Touch-friendly: Exploit the tactile nature of tablet interactivity and make your navigation controls, links, buttons et al, clear, distinct wisely spaced and large enough for the user to tap, swipe and manhandle with the least possibility of error.

7 YOU DON’T ALWAYS NEED AN APP Native apps are expensive! Why? Because you need one for (almost) every kind of OS and device out there! So unless you have a very good reason – like a processing intensive task, a need to use a specific capability like the camera, or if you want to store data locally for offline accessibility – it’s advisable to invest in a web-based approach. Not only is it economical, it works across a wide range of devices and

The euphoria of m-enabling everything in sight might do more harm than good. It’s important to evaluate which of your legacy courseware needs to be converted.

4 START WITH M-ENABLEMENT Walk don’t run. Adapting your e-learning for a tablet could be your first step towards going ‘mobile’ with learning. Converting legacy content to a tablet-compatible format is a quick and cost effective way to m-enable your learning content. The tablets screen size and display area of 7-10 inches, compares favourably with that of PCs and laptops, and therefore content repurposing is quite straightforward and often minimal.

Though this might not be construed as true m-learning, this exercise prepares the ground for getting started with the wider adoption and use of this new breed of mobile devices.

5 EVALUATE WHICH E-LEARNING NEEDS TO BE M-ENABLED Walk don’t run Part 2 (all good campaigns have sequels!). While m-enabling your existing e-learning content is a great first step, the euphoria of m-enabling everything in sight might do more damage than good.

It’s important to evaluate and choose which of your legacy courseware needs to be converted; one that meets the user need, business context and delivers a valuable learning experience.

6 FOCUS ON THE USER AND THE USAGE User-friendly: Think of situations where users will rely on the tablet and its contents to prepare themselves for a task, perform an activity or simply grab some key information. Needless to say, your learning content should be concise, easy to

platforms. While apps deliver great user experience, the increasing use and capability of HTML5 will deliver a similar experience and will even better it in the near future.

8 CHOOSE RESPONSIVE DESIGN RESPONSIBLY In our multi device world, where users often access at least three types of devices in a day, responsive design seems like a ‘no-brainer’ for delivering e-learning across platforms. But while responsive design provides device/display specific structuring of the content, enabling the content layout to change to the device, size and viewing mode (landscape or portrait) you have to ensure the relevance, type and context of the content, and more importantly the ‘point of use’ and access. Also consider if some of your learners would want to access the desktop version on their tablets because they find the design and structure easier to navigate.

9 SHARE, COLLABORATE AND COMPARE Research suggests that 79% of tablet usage (in the US) occurs at home as a second screen and mostly for entertainment and browsing. As these devices are increasingly used for email, web browsing, social networking, surfing and watching video, they offer us a unique opportunity to design programmes that use tablet applications and functionality to enable and encourage learners to collaborate and

50 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

learn from each other. Build opportunities for sharing, comparison and collaboration into your e-learning to encourage and leverage the best practices and capture knowledge.

10 HALT! SECURITY ISSUES AHEAD The security of your organisation’s propriety and confidential content is paramount and one of the key aspects to consider when adopting mobile learning.

Devising and communicating a clearly outlined mobile security policy for your staff goes a long way in defining the boundaries of good mobile practice and usage.

Login protected web-based access to materials are a well established security protocol and are not a great concern, but apps that allow the download of material onto the learners’ devices can be. So look for additional measures like screen locks, auto-timeouts, password-protected access to the content inside the apps, data encryption, and solutions such as Mobile Device Management and Mobile Application Management.

Alan Samuel is Director Client Solutions at Upside Learning. www.upsidelearning.com alan.samuel@upsidelearning.com Twitter: @alan2907

IS LEARNING

GETTING BETTER? Technology provides the means to convince management that learning produces change for the better. In Part Two of his series, Vaughan Waller provides the proof.

T

he opening part of this two-part article ended with the declaration that a management team within an organisation needs to be persuaded that learning can produce real change for the better and is therefore worthy of serious investment. You might think this assertion is old hat; we’ve all been there, done that, and got the t-shirt, and little has changed.

You may also be thinking that with the advent of Tin Can we can now produce analytics showing how learners’ behaviours have changed as a consequence of our learning programmes. So will this change hearts and minds? Maybe, but it always seems to be us learning professionals who

have to do the changing – when, instead, it is management attitudes towards learning that need to change, accepting it as an exceptionally valuable business tool.

When it comes to actually doing business, whatever that may be, new processes and procedures as a means of improving efficiency only go so far. Business practices now change dynamically over ever shorter timescales, leaving traditional training structures behind. In some organisations people are still asked what training they need or what they would like, before the end of the performance year. For far too long, the basic currency of learning has been the course, be it instructor-led or e-learning.

INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATION The response to some new scalable efficiency initiative or compliance requirement is invariably a course or courses, and the usual wheels start turning.

This is what Donald Clark refers to as the ‘tyranny of the course’. This thinking, so beloved of management, is now well past its sell-by date and needs consigning to the scrapheap. We could kick-start this change by saying that we no longer offer courses in response to everything. Convince management that in order to find the necessary performance improvements, it is necessary to look elsewhere.

If the course is the old currency then what

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 53

IS LEARNING GETTING BETTER?

we face now is a process which comes under the general title of ‘institutional innovation’. In this, there is no command and control, no hierarchical management structures and no reactive training programmes to address skills and knowledge requirements in the workforce.

These structures are being replaced by a far more flexible approach to the rapid changes and uncertainties we now meet every day.

Along with L&D departments, the IT function will also need to re-invent itself to take into account the consumerisation of IT and the requirements of working and learning on the move. So, learning is now changing from “You need to go on a course” to the capability to find what you need to know while on the train heading for a client meeting.

The number of digital tools now freely available to individuals is growing apace.

Users may choose to use these alongside or even instead of any IT provision from the company. Tools for communication (Lync), knowledge searches (Google et al), social networks, online marketplaces (eBay and Amazon), recruitment aids such as LinkedIn and Glassdoor, online payment systems, plus a wide choice of analytics and cloud systems make a centralised IT function increasingly anachronistic.

INVENTIVE INCENTIVE With the wide availability of these tools the business value of knowledge has fallen dramatically. Therefore, management should be persuaded to forget courses, their putative value of expenditure and all that; and instead understand that the value of the organisation as a whole is based entirely on the ability of its workforce to adapt daily to the needs of the business.

This may all sound rather amorphous; so how would it work in reality?

Nowadays, innovation in organisations is accepted as the way forward. But it can also be divisive, building silos and barriers.

Entreaties to staff to think up new ways of working with the apparent incentive of a chance to win a shopping voucher are just not going to cut the mustard. Even if staff do have innovative ideas many will ignore these ‘competitions’ because they cannot

It always seems to be us, the learning professionals, who have to do the changing – when, instead, it is management attitudes towards learning that need to change.

see the benefit to themselves or the company in donating their intellectual property.

Similarly, if innovative ideas are not forthcoming from inside a company then it is obvious that you have to change the way that these are found. One option is to go outside the company to suppliers and customers, forming pools of creative thinking that will benefit all parties. But this could well be seen by management as an innovation too far. No doubt about it; it will take a lot of management courage to think like this.

Harvesting the potential of social networks within an organisation as a medium for real collaborative working is not going to succeed overnight either, for a number of reasons. Many organisations are wary of even letting their staff disclose the name of the company they work for on social media, for reasons of risk management. This leaves staff hesitant to work collaboratively inside or outside the organisation. Internal networks such as Yammer can suffer from low take-up; hence whatever innovation may be happening fails to reach the eyes of those who need to see it most. So many of the available tools have rules and processes applied to them by organisations which somewhat strangles the innovation of this mode of learning at its birth.

ROAD TO DAMASCUS At the heart of all this (dare I say) is the misunderstanding by management of what learning really is all about. In short, they just don’t get it. At one level learning appears to be perceived as merely the byproduct of training when the really important issue is whether it will change behaviours when it has been applied in the workplace. At other levels it is understood to be something that should be shared by the learner who learnt it with others to the benefit of all. But it is too early to expect

54 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

people to have a damascene moment and share what they have learnt.

Many will simply want to keep their newfound knowledge to themselves and wait for others to do it first. But this may not always be the case. As learning technologists it is not our mission in life to force technology into everything we do and sometimes we are understandably eager to see new ways of learning implemented overnight. When we identify a better way of learning we instinctively want to tear up the old ways and bring in the new. But we are now entering a time where technology will really become what it has always been, the enabler and not the driver of learning.

But patience and circumspection will be required.

As the number of tools increase and the limitations and restrictions of departmentdriven IT fall away, attitudes throughout organisations will inevitably change. The need for ideas, innovation and sharing the knowledge in other peoples’ heads inside and outside of the organisation will one day become the only currency in successful businesses. Then we really will see a change in management thinking. By working together we will all learn faster and learning will get better.

Will this enable us to persuade management to change their minds about learning? That learning produces change for the better and more than returns the initial investment? Don’t ask me when it will happen but I am willing to wager that in the end it will.

Vaughan Waller is a Learning Consultant specialising in Enterprise Performance Management vaughan@tfbal.co.uk

HARNESS DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION

FOR LEARNING

Does your organisation have the courage to disrupt the status quo? Lars Hyland says it’s time to put technology at the heart of your learning strategy.

I

t’s been over two decades since I built my first interactive learning solution. It was designed to provide musicians with the knowledge and skills to create new compositions using the vast sonic palette offered by computer-based synthesis and digital sampling. Nearly everything you listen to today, no matter what your musical preferences, is made using these techniques. They have fundamentally transformed an industry. What was once esoteric and specialist has become commonplace. It is part of the basic skill set required to participate in the process of music making.

In fact, the march of technology has gone even further to democratise access to creative music making through free and low-cost apps that you can download to an average smartphone. More importantly, we now have musical styles and forms of multimedia performance that are just not possible without this technology – it lies at

the heart of the creative process and embraces both the producer (the musician) and the consumer (the listener). Technology is also a key factor and driver in how we find, access and use music in our lives. Not only that, all our media consumption – TV, films, books – has followed a similar trajectory that has led to new and novel genres.

Now other sectors are getting involved in information technology and it is profoundly changing the way they operate. Healthcare is making huge strides through the mastery of genetic manipulation. In manufacturing, the adoption of 3D printing technology is set to reduce the need for physical transportation and the accompanying logistics infrastructure. The customer just buys, downloads and prints their product – a remarkably similar process to the way we now consume music and other digital media.

RADICAL AND ROBUST So it’s confusing that our own learning profession – both in workplace and education – is taking so long to truly embrace the transformational nature of the technology around us. This is not to say that technology is absent in what we do – clearly it is present and continues to grow.

But to date it has most often been on the periphery, without really changing the fundamental processes at the heart of effective learning. As a result, most people’s experience of e-learning is an e-enabled variation of what has gone before. Prime examples include PowerPoint presentations, video lectures, digitised workbooks, simple quizzes and assessments. These all have the benefit of easier, more flexible access, but in isolation they don’t necessarily attempt to improve the learning process.

In the education sector, universities across the world are confronted with a need for a

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 57

HARNESS DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION FOR LEARNING

radical adaptation of their proposition in the face of online learning services such as MOOC providers edX, Coursera and Udacity. At present, these services are not in themselves very sophisticated in their learning models.

With technology at the heart of their proposition, these and countless other edtech startups will be able to innovate at a rapid pace and collectively yield genuinely robust improvements to the online learning

and ubiquity of technology. This makes it possible to deconstruct and rebuild the learning experience around a more personalised and adaptive model of how we learn and acquire new skills and behaviours.

REFRESH YOUR LEARNING STRATEGY FOCUS ON EFFECTIVENESS As learning professionals, we would probably all agree that these elements should be present in an effective learning experience:

ENGAGEMENT

This means attracting and holding attention through clear, persuasive reasons for undertaking and committing to this learning. Why do I have to do this? What are the benefits to me?

CONTEXT

Context is ensuring the content and activities use recognisable scenarios and situations that the learner can immediately relate to.

FEEDBACK

The learning experience adapts to the personalised needs of the learner, providing additional support where required; or recognising evidence of early comprehension and allowing accelerated progress.

DELIBERATE PRACTICE

Repeated opportunities allow learners to practice new knowledge and skills in ways that closely simulate real world situations.

REINFORCEMENT

Effective learning recognises that without ongoing support learners quickly forget and revert to existing behaviours rather than truly habitualising new ones.

process. This is just another instance of what Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen calls Disruptive Innovation, which arose from his observations of competition within the automotive and IT sectors in the 1990s.

This time the target is education and training. We are finally at a critical tipping point between the economic conditions

Unfortunately many of these components do not feature strongly enough (if at all) in the offered learning experience because they are perceived as either too timeconsuming, expensive or administratively difficult to implement. The added pressure to deliver rapid ‘solutions’ in a decreasing window of time only exacerbates further the tendency to measure course

ENGAGEMENT

How closely integrated are your communications and learning activities? Can you bring these together to offer a more sophisticated design that balances attention (campaign) and instructional pedagogy (course)?

CONTEXT

How much of your training portfolio is designed for your specific organisational needs? What can be supplemented with contextual activities to aid learning transfer?

FEEDBACK

DELIBERATE PRACTICE REINFORCEMENT

completion rather than actual competency and performance. It is now imperative that we put effectiveness ahead of efficiency of delivery.

Have you engaged your management community to provide coaching support for the staff so that new behaviours are given the opportunity to take hold? Are you tracking and capturing the right data to help learners improve their performance?

Do your learning designs include opportunities to practice safely and repeatedly?

What mechanisms do you have in place to reach staff and prompt recall of what they have learned and to take action when required?

58 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

In order to harness these opportunities, now is a good time to review your learning and development strategy. This will ensure you have the right resources, tools, structures and work practices in place to put effectiveness first and leverage technology at a more fundamental level. A good place to start is to clarify how each of the elements mentioned above can be built-in as standard to every learning opportunity you offer.

What is likely to emerge from this process?

A list of fresh requirements that may need changes to existing technology infrastructure; your learning management system, your readiness to support mobile devices (take a look at the eLearning Guild’s April 2013 mobile learning report for some excellent case studies), and your ability to enable a tighter integration of learning and performance support with your business-critical systems.

Your internal teams will need to acquire new skills. Firstly, in designing learning that blends offline and online activities in more sophisticated ways. Secondly, in learning to use interactive authoring tools that deliver richer interactions and simulations that are contextual and offer meaningful practice.

This will require significant organisational change which means careful stakeholder management, especially where existing structures may need closer links in order to deliver a more unified and integrated service.

Sticking with a traditional strategy that does not put effectiveness first will very quickly lead to competitive disadvantage.

So while this may seem a significant undertaking, many organisations are already embarking on this journey, taking advantage of available expertise to accelerate the review process, build a robust and evidenced business case and then collaboratively support its execution.

It will take courage to disrupt your own organisation’s current status quo in order to prepare it for the major disruption in learning that lies ahead.

Are you ready to take on the challenge?

Lars Hyland is Head of Consulting Services at Epic epiclearninggroup.com Twitter: @larshyland @EpicTalk

We can’t expect learners to pay attention if we’re relying on their willpower alone.

Here are nine attentiongrabbing techniques from Julie Dirksen.

TALK TO THE ELEPHANT: HOW TO ATTRACT AND MAINTAIN YOUR LEARNER’S ATTENTION

H

ave you ever heard that the ‘average adult attention span is no more than ten-minutes’. Maybe you’ve heard it is 15 minutes, or 45? If you think about it, this is just silly. If it were true, nobody would have sat through the Lord of the Rings movies.

What is much more limited than attention span, is the length of time someone can force themselves to pay attention. If your audience is happily romping with the Hobbits, attentiveness is easy. If you’re asking your users to pay attention to the procedures for their health savings account, then the clock is probably ticking. You might be lucky to get ten minutes. So, if you want attention, you need to talk to the elephant.

Jonathan Haidt, in his book The Happiness Hypothesis, talks about the brain being like a rider and an elephant: ‘the rider is conscious, controlled thought. The elephant, in contrast, is everything else. The elephant includes gut feelings, visceral reactions, emotions and intuitions that comprise much of the automatic system.’

The rider part of your brain is the rational, Mr. Spock, control-your-impulses, plan-forthe-future brain. Your rider tells you all sorts of useful things that you know will provide long-term benefit: “If I exercise now, I’ll have more energy later”.

The elephant, on the other hand, is your attracted-to-shiny-objects brain. It is your

what-the-hell, go-with-what-feels-right part of the brain. It’s drawn to things that are novel, pleasurable, comfortable or familiar: I’m just going to lie down on the couch for one minute’. The elephant WANTS, but the rider restrains that wanting.

Part of the problem, though, is we have a tendency to overestimate the rider’s control.

The rider is our conscious verbal thinking and because it talks to us, we tend to think it’s in control. But the elephant is bigger and stronger than the rider.

DRAGGING THE ELEPHANT The rider can force the elephant to pay attention. We do it all the time. But there’s a

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 61

TALK TO THE ELEPHANT: HOW TO ATTRACT AND MAINTAIN YOUR LEARNER’S ATTENTION

Elephant: The automatic, emotional, visceral brain

Rider: The conscious, verbal, thinking brain

avoid lip balm’, ‘the surprising truth about minivans’. The AOL evil geniuses incite my curiosity. It’s a shallow curiosity, but it still gets me to click on their link.

George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology, describes curiosity as: “Arising when attention becomes focused on a gap in one’s knowledge. The curious individual is motivated to obtain the missing information to reduce or eliminate the feeling of deprivation.” If you want to make the elephant curious, ask yourself ‘what information can I leave out?’

7. Create dissonance

cost to this. In a study by Professors Baba Shiv and Alexander Fedorikhin, participants were asked to remember either a two-digit or a seven-digit number. They were subsequently offered a snack choice of either fruit salad or a piece of cake.

antagonist who is preventing the protagonist from accomplishing that goal.

Have obstacles along the way that the protagonist must overcome. Have an inciting incident that sets up the drama of the story.

Approximately twice as many people chose cake in the seven-digit group as in the twodigit group. This, and several similar studies, suggests that the cognitive resources of memory, focus and control are finite. You can control the elephant, but not for very long. We can’t expect our audience to pay attention throughout if we are relying on their willpower alone. We need to attract the elephant. Here are nine ways to attract and maintain attention...

4. Create interesting dilemmas

1. Use urgency The elephant is a creature of immediacy. It’s pretty content to let the rider worry about the future. Things that are going to happen in the future, regardless of how dire they are, are less compelling to the elephant than things that are happening RIGHT NOW. If you are talking to teens about smoking, the immediate social consequences are far more compelling than the hypothetical health issues that could occur years down the line.

2. Show, don’t tell The elephant is pretty smart. It’s just not going to just believe that something is important. It wants to SEE and FEEL the importance. This is one of the golden rules of fiction writing and movie making – avoid heavy-handed exposition, and use visuals, action and dialogue instead. You can tell the rider that ‘this is really important’ but the elephant wants to see proof – it’s not going to take your word for it.

3. Tell a compelling story Use classic storytelling elements to create a compelling scenario. Have a protagonist who is trying to accomplish a goal. Have an

Give your audience interesting choices to make. Dilemmas will capture interest if they are done well. Instead of telling people all the things they can do to conserve electricity, give them five options and have them figure which three will give them the most energy savings – let them debate the benefit of energy-saving light bulbs versus insulating the water heater.

5. Surprise it When researchers test people using expected and unexpected rewards, there is greater activation of anticipation and rewards structures in the brain when the reward is unexpected. Compare the feeling you get on receiving the birthday card that comes with five dollars from Grandmother every year, to the feeling of finding five dollars lying on the ground, with no obvious owner in sight. It’s a case of ‘that’s nice’ versus ‘woo hoo’! It’s the same amount of money, but the reaction is very different, due to the surprise. If something is unexpectedly good, we want to remember it because we want MORE. If something is BAD, we want to remember that too, so we can avoid it in the future. But if something is exactly the way we thought it would be, there’s really no reason to allocate mental resources to reinforcing it.

6. Leave information out My mother still uses AOL mail, and the AOL home page has a devious way of leaving out just enough information to get me to follow article links, for things that I don’t care about at all. Links such as: ‘which 80s child star now has three wives?’, ‘eight reasons to

62 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

Another form of surprise happens when we bump into something that doesn’t resonate with our view of the world. Let’s say, you are walking down the street and you see a purple dog. You probably have a pretty detailed mental model for dogs, but unless you have a traumatic dog-painting incident in your childhood, you probably don’t have ‘purple’ as part of your model. Now you have two opposing ideas in your head: ‘that’s a purple dog’ and ‘dogs are not purple.’

The term for this is cognitive dissonance. It is stuff that just doesn’t add up based on what you know about the world. You need to reconcile those two opposing viewpoints but how do you go about this? Explanations could include: Somebody spray-painted that poor dog, I’m seeing things, and maybe purple dogs do exist. In the last example, you are considering whether to reconcile and expand your mental model to include dogs that are purple. When you create these moments of cognitive dissonance, you can really attract the elephant.

8. Make it visceral We live in a world full of abstractions – credit cards stand in for actual money, virtual selves stand in for our actual selves, statistics stand in for actual people. This is necessary for our modern society to operate efficiently, but abstractions speak to the rider, not the elephant. One way to engage the elephant is to make the experience visceral and real using emotional context or physical interaction with real tangible objects and people. In the fruit salad versus cake experiment, people were more likely to take the cake if they could see it, rather than being presented with an abstract choice.

9. Tell it that all the other elephants are doing it We all have tremendous demands on our attention, and one of the shortcuts we use to determine how to allocate that attention is to see what other people are doing. From

Resources

Hey, what are those elephants doing over there?

Something good??

• Cialdini, Robert. 2005. What’s the best secret device for engaging student interest?

The answer is in the title. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 24 (1): 22–29.

• Gailliot, M.T., R.F. Baumeister, C.N. DeWall, J.K. Maner, E.A. Plant, D.M. Tice, L.E. Brewer, and B.J. Schmeichel. 2007. Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source: Willpower is more than a metaphor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92: 325–336.

process? Can you make sure that people’s success stories are visible and accessible?

Amazon reviews to street crowds to topics on Twitter, we are more willing to investigate if other people (particularly other people we know or respect) are already engaged. If you are trying to engage the elephant, think about how to make other people’s interests or experiences visible to the elephant. Can they see other people using a new product, or trying a new

To win and maintain your audience’s attention, you need to talk to the emotional, visceral brain, as well as the conscious verbal brain. If you can succeed in doing so, your audience will find that paying attention will feel relatively effortless. If you don’t succeed, then you probably will want to keep your communication under that ‘ten-minute attention span’ mark.

Extract from an article published at www.peachpit.com

• Haidt, Jonathan Haidt. 2006. The Happiness Hypothesis. New York: Basic Books • Shiv, Baba, Fedorikhin, Alexander. Heart and Mind in Conflict: The Interplay of Affect and Cognition in Consumer Decision Making. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 26, No. 3 (December 1999), pp. 278-292

Julie Dirksen is an independent learning consultant Twitter: @usablelearning Blog: http://usablelearning.com/blog

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 65

JETBLUE’s LEARNING ANALYTICS

LEVERAGES BIG DATA In this case study Teri Schmidt, Shawn Overcast and John R. Mattox II assess the impact of strong data measurement principles at a leading airline.

B

ig data and analytics dominate the news in technology and business magazines. Harvard Business Review even dedicated a recent issue to the topics. The influence on business is not limited to IT department or operations. Big data and analytics have substantial relevance for human resources, especially in large organisations where talent drives business performance. The proliferation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, talent management, and learning management systems has created a massive amount of employee data, and the

need for analytical tools and teams to make sense of the data is greater than ever.

For example, Phillips & Phillips (2010) demonstrated that information provided to CEOs is seldom aligned to their needs.

CEOs were asked what information they receive about the effectiveness of their learning investments. As expected, most of the information related to learner satisfaction. The information CEOs truly want relates to the impact of training on performance and ROI. According to the study, 96% want performance information

but only 8% actually receive it. Likewise, 74% want ROI information but only 4% receive it. Figure 1 (page 126) shows the informational needs of leaders.

There is a vast disconnect between desired data and available data. Additionally, new research by learning analytics company KnowledgeAdvisors, shows that demand for data among HR leaders is increasing. Fiftytwo percent are currently asking for human capital metrics and another 29% are soon expected to ask for metrics. This is a substantial increase from 2009 when only

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 67

JETBLUE’s LEARNING ANALYTICS LEVERAGES BIG DATA

21% of leaders were asking for quantitative measures and 41% were expected to ask soon.

Figure 2 shows the shift among HR leaders – more leaders are asking for metrics.

Figure 1: The Executive View of Metrics

SUPPORTING ANALYTICS Organisations supplying meaningful data to leaders typically provide it through an in-house analytics team or by outsourcing the analysis to a consultancy, or a combination of both. External consultancies are often employed because organisations do not have the internal demand for analytics, or do not have the personnel with requisite skills to meet the business needs. In their Harvard Business Review article, Davenport and Patil (2012) mention that a data scientist, a person who can manage and analyse big data sets, will be the sexiest role of the next decade.

This leaves organisations with the task of hiring specialised resources or developing those skills among current employees.

The airline JetBlue Airways has a history of doing both. Soon after the inception of the company, an assessment, measurement, and evaluation group (AME) was founded to serve the needs of the learning and development department. The group grew to four fulltime employees with deep measurement and assessment skills. More importantly, they began to think beyond the L&D group and realised the measurement principles they applied to learning could help other parts of the organisation (Overcast, Schmidt, Lei, Rodgers, & Chung, 2009).

As a result, the group developed a certification programme that is now accredited by the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). The ongoing goal is to share analytics tools and techniques and evaluation principles that will help analysts, whether in L&D or other parts of the business, think critically about their data and share valuable information with stakeholders to support decision making. When developing measurement talent internally, it is essential to have a framework that outlines knowledge, skills and abilities that make employees successful. Several articles outline critical skills necessary for measurement specialists (Dewey, et al, 2008; Russ-Eft, et al., 2008; Stevahn et al., 2005).

Source: Phillips & Phillips (December 2010) CLO Magazine

Figure 2: Increased demand for metrics 100%

HR leaders are currently asking for metrics

90%

I expect HR leaders to ask for metrics 80% 70% 60% 52%

50% 41% 40%

29%

30% 21% 20% 10% 0%

2012

2009

Figure 3: Evaluator Capability Model Client facing

Interpersonal competence Business focused

KnowledgeAdvisors synthesised the 68 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

Business and technical competency

Evaluation planning

Evaluation Implementation

Project facing

Evaluation focused

JETBLUE’s LEARNING ANALYTICS LEVERAGES BIG DATA

content of these articles and created an Evaluator Competency Model shown in Figure 3 (previous page). The framework consists of four quadrants of competencies: Interpersonal Competence, Evaluation Planning, Evaluation Implementation, and Business & Technical Competency. Their positioning in the model is meaningful because the top hemisphere addresses client-facing issues, while the bottom hemisphere addresses project-facing issues.

The left hemisphere focuses on the business needs; the right on evaluation processes.

The JetBlue AME team engaged KnowledgeAdvisors in an effort to use the model as a supplement to the current certification process. To do so, the research firm shared a link to an Evaluator Capability Assessment, a 37-question online survey that allows respondents to answer questions about their capabilities associated with the model. For the AME group, the intent was to use the assessment in a variety of ways. First, to assess the competencies of future learners before they attend the programme. The information can be used with the individual learner to create awareness of strengths and areas of opportunity.

Second, the results when aggregated, also serve as a needs assessment, allowing the instructors to customise the certification programme to spend more time on topics where learners have gaps.

Third, the assessment can be deployed after training to assess whether learners have increased their knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as to focus their action plan for continued development and growth.

JetBlue administered the assessment six months after the certification programme to 12 learners and their managers. The purpose of the post-certification

What started as a certification programme aimed at building the analytical capability of L&D professionals has gained visibility and credibility across all functions of the business. It has extended beyond learning to workforce and operations analytics, and customer feedback. assessment was to evaluate the success of the programme and guide future development of both the programme and learners. Manager involvement ensured that opportunities could be prioritised and addressed.

Interestingly, the AME team provided feed-back about the assessment process.

Non-L&D professionals were not as familiar with many of the technical terms in the assessment, especially the term ‘evaluator’.

This feedback created an opportunity to revise the assessment to clarify it for a broader audience, beyond L&D. Likewise, the team is currently revising the certification programme to continue to broaden its applicability. Although the programme has already made a positive impact, the team is eager to spread the critical thinking skills necessary to make effective evidence-based decisions throughout all of JetBlue Airways.

MASTERFUL METRICS What started as a certification programme aimed at building the analytical capability of L&D professionals has gained visibility and credibility across all functions of the business. It has extended beyond learning to workforce and operations analytics, and customer feedback. The processes, tools, templates, and competencies initially designed for learning have proven relevant, at least at a fundamental level, to all business analysts.

JetBlue’s challenge now is to find relevant examples and to expand its toolkit to encompass tools and templates currently being leveraged, successfully, in other parts of the business. The certification programme has been instrumental in initiating conversations about analytics and how they are used and valued within the firm, and has resulted in cross-functional analysis teams being staffed to very strategic, organisational initiatives.

In a big data world, the organisation that masters the science and art of metrics will build competitive advantage. Technology tools are helpful, and in fact they show a substantial return on investment. For example, a Nucleus Media study indicates that implementing analytics technology has a $10.66 ROI (Netke, 2012). However, employees that have deep analytic and reporting skills, like the AME group at JetBlue, are essential to serving the needs of the business. Competency models and associated assessment tools like the Evaluator Capability Assessment can also supplement development programmes to ensure internal measurement groups know their strengths and can identify their areas for development.

References Davenport, T. H., & Patil, D. J., (2012, October).

Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century. Harvard Business Review. http://hbr.org/2012/10/data-scientist-thesexiest-job-of-the-21st-century/ KnowledgeAdvisors (2013). Human Capital Executive Reporting – State of the Industry 2013. Whitepaper.

Overcast, S., Schmidt, T., Lei, K., Rodgers, C., Chung, N. (2009). A case example of assessment and evaluation: Building capability in a corporate university. Performance Improvement, 48, (6), 515. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pfi.20 082/abstract

Teri Schmidt is Assessment, Measurement, & Evaluation Manager at JetBlue Airways John R. Mattox II is Director of Research and Shawn Overcast is Strategic Measurement Consultant, at KnowledgeAdvisors knowledgeadvisors.com Twitter: @KnowledgeAdv June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 71

Kathy Morris outlines the importance of a unique, identifiable, successful and brand-licious you!

IS PERSONAL BRANDING

ESSENTIAL OR EXCESSIVE?

R

ecently, I went shopping for a carpet. In the past, I had used a nationwide carpet supplier, albeit not a top end supplier but one from which I had previously received excellent service in another town. Based on this, I visited the local shop. Within minutes I had walked out again. Had I thought better of it? No. I drove to the next nearest branch. An hour

later I had placed my order, paid and left.

My decision to buy or not to buy was totally based on the look of the previous salesperson – the personal brand of that individual. Superficial? Possibly, but it is also factual. Everything about the person shrieked that I would not have a good buying experience. So what of personal brand? If you want ‘Five quick steps on how to create a personal brand’, stop reading.

There is a plethora of articles on the web and many great books that talk about how to develop one, what to do with it etc. But how important is it – REALLY? Does it make a difference if we are working in an organisation or running our own business?

What are the Things To Think About (TTTA) that the books don’t always tell us? The harsh reality is this: A ‘job for life’ no longer exists. We have to move around to

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 73

IS PERSONAL BRANDING ESSENTIAL OR EXCESSIVE?

Companies do not just grow through profit, they also grow through cuts – job cuts – maybe yours. You need to prove your worth to show you are an asset to the business and not just a commodity.

progress our careers, and often not through choice.

ExecuNet's Annual Executive Job Market Intelligence Report 2012 report showed that corporate leaders are changing jobs every 3.3 years. Thinking about the next stage in your career is no longer something you do when you are ready to move, it relies on a constant process of keeping in touch and being ‘sticky’ in people’s minds so they remember you when opportunities arise. Equally, progressing within the organisation is no longer a fait accompli or ‘right place at the right time’ It needs to be strategically planned and ensure that your skill, aspiration and reputation is visible to a wide set of stakeholders – cultivating the network before you need it.

PERSONAL MARKETING In the current climate, companies do not just grow through profit, they also grow through cuts – job cuts – maybe yours. You need to prove your worth to show you are an asset to the business not just a commodity. If you are running your own business it is even more obvious. Think of your favourite suppliers. What makes them so? They may not be the biggest or the best in the public eye but your response will surely reflect quality, appeal, service, reliability etc – all triggered by assumptions formed through your own experience.

So, whether you are a professional or consultant, the question is – what do people experience when they meet you?

Think about it, people are constantly making instant decisions on whether they ‘buy in’ to your brand or not, just as I did in the carpet store. It is your personal calling card. So why would you establish a brand?

Well why wouldn’t you? We are typically not great at blowing our own trumpets – we need to get better. The benefits far outweigh the modesty. What is the point if you are so busy being diffident, your colleagues and competitors are promoted or win the business, instead of you?

It comes down to one thing – success.

Success comes from marketing, and personal branding is just that – the way in which you market yourself to others. It

should already be obvious, as in any marketing activity, what the brand payback will be. Corporate branding has been around for ages. By branding ourselves, we too can have ‘brand equity’ whereby consumers believe that a well known product is better than a less well known one. So the answer is simple, if you are known as a quality product (person) it can only enhance your career or business. This is an absolute truism in this digital world.

The first thing people will do is Google you, whether you are going for an interview or introducing your business. So their impression had better be good.

However you start, there are some critical aspects to ponder, without which the whole exercise could fail. These Things To Think About may seem obvious but considered thought is a good investment.

TTTA #1 DISCOVER your brand before you develop it This so often gets left out. Remember it is all about YOU. If you are going to present yourself at your best, it needs to come from you and deserves thought. Really. If you just set off gung ho and ‘create’ a brand, it simply won’t ring true. It is pointless handing over someone else’s calling card – see what I mean?

So invest the time to really understand you – your values, motivators, how others would describe you, your core skills and the image that you want to project. This is the heart of your brand. Author and personal branding expert Dan Schawbel* recommends using this equation: Your self-impression = how people perceive you. When this is true, you are ready to move on.

TTTA #2 Be CONSISTENT Think about every time people will come in contact with you. This is a no-brainer but is often not thought through thoroughly. If your brand is about people’s perception, what clues do you want to give them to inform that? Look at the application of that brand across every touch point. What do you want people to know, and not just the words? It is a language that ‘speaks’ in your choice of

74 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

clothes, your logo, and words in a CV or bio. Even down to your email address – Teddybear24@ ... really? I don’t think so!

Then there is the digital world, what an opportunity for marketing. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter all there for the taking.

But these tools only work if the language is consistent with all the other touch points. Holiday snaps and cocktail nights don’t do you any favours. Create separate professional Facebook pages and Twitter accounts from personal ones, and only communicate about your field to ensure your brand stays true.

TTTA#3 Be AUTHENTIC This seems obvious but only last month I heard a brand specialist on the radio talk about a female celebrity, one that definitely has a brand. The specialist went on to say that while this lady’s brand is beautifully defined there is deliberately a clear distinction between X the person and X the brand. We could debate this, but to my view if you get TTTA#1 you will see the flaw. Your brand has to be YOU. Keep it real, honest, genuine and true.

Authentic brands are faithful to something other than just profits. These brands have a higher purpose and don’t compromise their core values. Practice what you preach and be totally clear about who you are and what you do best.

Just as ‘nothing sells brand like people’, if there is a hint of ‘fake’ about you, you can be sure someone will tell all their 6,578 followers. Think about that.

You probably have a brand of sorts already – people know your name and what you do for a living – rather flimsy as brands go.

Is it really worth the time, energy and trouble to take this to the next level? Just think about the carpet salesman. You better believe it’s worth it. *Schawbel, Dan (2009). Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success.

Kaplan Trade.

Kathy Morris, Director, Impactissima kathy@impactissima.com Twitter: @impactissima

COMFORTABLE MIGRATION FOR FURNITURE GIANTS Jenna Smith explains how Herman Miller reduced training hours and cuts costs with performance support.

E

xpectation ran high when innovative furniture company Herman Miller decided to migrate from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Outlook. The challenge included the migration to Outlook desktop of 3,500 employees located in more than 100 countries worldwide – and 2,600 factory workers to the Outlook Webmail.

The pressure was ramped even higher as this was to be the template for subsequent migrations.

THE CHALLENGE Prior to the migration, the management expressed concerns to the Learning & Development and IT teams that it could create a costly disruption for end-users reliant on e-mail and calendars. In addition, because of concerns about costs and lost productivity, management expressed the

need to minimize time spent away from work to do the training.

A second challenge lay within the IT department itself. This group wanted to plan and implement the migration in a way that would minimize the impact on the helpdesk.

The IT team wanted to avoid the increased costs of hiring additional people or paying overtime – which could add tens of thousands of dollars in unplanned costs. The team also wanted to ensure that call-wait times and call durations did not spike – as this would result in frustrated users, lost time and productivity and, again, increased costs to the helpdesk.

Finally, this was one of the first technology changes in a long line of upcoming implementations slated for Herman Miller over the next 12-18 months. The pressure

for this migration to be planned and executed successfully was high. It was to be used as a model for the migrations to follow.

THE SOLUTION Driven by the need to increase productivity and job satisfaction, and reduce helpdesk costs and time away from the workflow, the Herman Miller team created a menu of training and support options enabling users to choose their own learning path. This decision was powered by the need to move away from the company’s historical ‘scrap learning’ that spent resources and developed and delivered training that ultimately resulted in no measurable performance gains. It was time for the organisation to add performance support to its migration efforts.

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 77

COMFORTABLE MIGRATION FOR FURNITURE GIANTS

The menu of training and support options presented to the end-user included three options. First: Web-based training (WBT).

Second: Instructor-led training (ILT) including full day training (off-site with training provider), and two-hour ILT sessions on-site. The third option was self-service (SS) study only.

Since previous software migrations had demonstrated success with the introduction of self-service, it was decided that SS would be the focus of this migration. With that, the WBT and ILT options emphasised and directed users to the SS menu. This taught users how and where to access SS – this being their primary on-the-job support system (see panel).

The strategic deployment of the three menu options was carried out in phases, with ongoing tweaks and improvements and was fully encompassed by a solid, comprehensive communications plan. The communication sent to end-users was concise and tailored to the employee concerning the status of the Outlook migration, their action items, and pre- and post-training support options. Every piece of communication sent emphasised selfservice, with the overall communications theme emphasising and reiterating: “What’s in it for me?” This allowed users to fully understand the personal and professional benefits of the migration.

THE RESULTS Compared to previous migrations at Herman Miller, this initiative was a huge success. Allison Benczkowski, IT Marketing & Communications Manager, said: “The learning plan allowed for each user to participate in the format that worked best for them – both for their schedule and learning preference. This plan was such a success with our Outlook roll-out that we have continued to offer it for other technology deployments as well. Our business partners now have a learning and communication process that is both predictable and consistent around IT Learning.”

This accomplishment can be attributed both to the careful planning and execution of the project and to the decision to focus on SS options. “People are now more willing to self-serve,” said Jeff Lambert, Herman Miller’s Support Centre Manager.

Encouraging users to serve themselves not only reduces helpdesk costs, and time spent away from work for training, it also increases productivity. With Ontuitive’s SS performance support solution, users are given on-demand assistance.

Therefore, users are taught where to find the answers. They are not wasting time searching for solutions, interrupting a colleague, or exiting the workflow to ‘Google’ it – all of which only increases the employee’s chances of becoming distracted from the task-at-hand. The SS option has seen 2,380 unique visitors since its roll-out, with 56% of users returning more than once (compared to the 30 participants for the full-day ILT course, 1,070 attending the two-hour ILT session, and the 95 who accessed the WBT). A quarter of all SS visits located their answer within ten seconds or less, and exited the system returning to their task-at-hand.

The helpdesk is perhaps where the success of Herman Miller’s self-service oriented approach shines brightest. “The number and length of calls to the helpdesk through this migration were much lower than with past migrations,” noted Lambert. “In the past, the call queues were busy for weeks on end.

This time we only saw a spike a few hours in length. With self-service we also noticed a drop in call length which frees my team to address more complex IT issues.”

Jeremy Smith, Senior Learning Solutions Manager, said: “Introducing performance support as the foundation for our Outlook migration saved the corporation more than 39% over a traditional classroom-based

“Performance support...saved the corporation more than 39% over a traditional classroom-based approach in hard training costs, and up to 4,800 hours of lost work time. With results like these, it will undoubtedly be an integral part of all future technology migrations.”

Jeremy Smith, Senior Learning Solutions Manager 78 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

approach in hard training costs. Having 69% of employees not in the classroom saved our business up to 4,800 hours of lost work time. With results like these, performance support will undoubtedly be an integral part of all future technology migrations at Herman Miller.”

Self-service study Herman Miller’s self-service study was powered by Ontuitive for Microsoft Office. This included pre-built performance support content embedded within the Outlook interface. This was available on-demand to employees.

This support satisfied the challenges of: • Time away from work for training (it was available at the user’s desk, on-the-job) • Lost productivity (little productivity was lost as it was embedded in the user’s workflow) • Reduced helpdesk costs (encouraging and enabling selfservice leads to less support calls) Whether used to recall tasks taught during, training or to guide a first-time user of Outlook, the great thing about performance support is that it offers ‘just enough’ information at ‘just the right time’.

Jenna Smith is Marketing & Communications Manager at Ontuitive www.ontuitive.com J.smith@ontuitive.com Twitter: @Ontuitive

After looking at the reality of a Tin Can API world, Megan Bowe urges L&D to challenge the status quo by giving learners ownership and control of their personal data.

DESIGNING FOR

CONSCIOUS DECISIONS

W

hat drives most of us into the learning profession is a desire to help people to learn, to get better and to grow. In light of the possibilities that Tin Can Application Programming Interface (API) now opens up, we need to reframe how we might approach designing interactions; why and how we encourage people to be conscious about making decisions regarding personal information.

None of us want to bore learners with irrelevant courses, or offer information repeatedly on tasks they already know (looking at you, Clippy). Personalising learning, matching it to a person’s skills and needs, and driving the search for information are the areas we want to get into. While Tin Can API (a.k.a. Experience

API) is a new specification, the technology inside is not, as it is already in use in many of the applications, systems and social tools we use every day.

PARALLEL PRACTICES How consciously do you consider what’s happening when you authorise services like Mint.com or social networks like Twitter to access your data? For example, a news site asking permission to access your Facebook account before you start reading. Does it explain why it needs this access? Does it say what data will be harvested or how it will be used? Does it allow you to collect the data about your interaction, other than posting back to Facebook?

Good interaction designers have the skills

to make fairly complex technology accessible to the less technically savvy.

However, the more complex the connections between tools, the more we need to take responsibility for ourselves in this web.

Many people authorise access, and good interaction design keeps them from having to think too hard about it. Often the objective is to make a profit – we get personalised ads in return for sharing our personal data. The simplicity of the interaction doesn’t challenge a person to consider what they’re consenting to, or how the technology works. This discourages people from making conscious decisions about their privacy. In fact, they are hardly aware they’re making decisions at all.

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 81

DESIGNING FOR CONSCIOUS DECISIONS

PARALLEL EVENTS The TimeHop application reminds you of events that occurred exactly a year ago – happenings on other social networks.

TimeHop uses Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, and Flickr’s APIs to search for day-by-day reminders. The same networks then allow re-sharing, with new comments.

As a learning professional, I would love to see this on the cognitive front, to remind people of an accomplishment and ask what they still recall a year later.

Think about how much brands would pay to see changes in product opinion over a year-long period, but with the added value of reflective comments from consumers.

Present Shock author Douglas Rushkoff writes: “If you’re not the customer, you’re the product.” If you benefit from a free service, it’s worth considering what you are giving up, to create profits for others.

Since social networks, and retail, advertising and marketing industries are less than altruistic in their use of this technology, we in L&D must choose the higher road.

Personalised advertising mines data in social networks and is no longer dependent on what‘s submitted to a search engine.

Taking our cue from this, we must add conscious decision-making. We must nudge awareness about how shared data will be used; and encourage people to decide if that’s what they want.

TAKE THE HIGH ROAD Learning and performance information is extremely high-stakes data. Learners need obvious ways to escape filter bubbles and turn off the personalisation – and we need to lead the charge. We must give our work more grounding than any other industry by weaving conscious decisions into each interaction we design. Two things need to be apparent when someone is asked to make a decision about their personal information; when, for example, signing up to something new or connecting applications to existing accounts. They are: 1. What data will this service collect? Will it end up with the initial company only or with a third party? If the service shuts down, what happens to the data?

2. Can you own the data created through your interactions with the service? ...and how?

People are not yet asking these questions because they don’t realise they should.

They’re not considering the reality of authorisation because it’s so well obscured.

Amazingly simple interactions for complex processes have led to unconscious decisionmaking. A designer’s job is to help people to recognise this knowledge gap, to ask

questions or hunt for information. We need to surface this gap.

Consider how Evgeny Morozov describes the contrast between how humans approach technology and how scientists must approach experiments: “Science [of course] does have a moral code, which would be apparent to anyone who’s ever tried to conduct experiments involving humans. Many such experiments would need to be approved by various human subject panels and institutional research boards. Scientists don’t just spontaneously try things; they are forced to think through social and political consequences of their work, often well before entering the lab.”

This concept holds true when using Tin Can API – everyone needs to consider the impact of a plan before jumping into it.

SECURE AND CONSISTENT All applications and services have some sort of data storage model. Many use similar protocols (REST) and formats (JSON) for their APIs, they move data from one place to another). An API is invisible on the surface. If you could see the API working and had to manage it directly, as the user, the interaction would be complex and time consuming. The Tin Can API has a few moving parts, most notably: • Statements record data about any activity a person or group has done in a standard way • Learning Record Stores (LRSs) collect statements and share them with other systems: an LMS could have an LRS, Yammer could have an LRS, SharePoint could have an LRS. Also, one LRS can be fed statements by the LMS, Yammer, and SharePoint Tin Can defines specific ways in which statements represent data and how an LRS should send and receive data securely. This creates consistently formatted data capable of moving between systems. The specification doesn’t discuss sense-making (reporting), and nor should it. A technology specification isn’t responsible for defining a quality metric or measurement; that’s the designer’s responsibility. The Tin Can API’s purpose is to provide a means to combine data from many tools to measure, find patterns and evaluate feedback loops.

THE BATTLE FOR OWNERSHIP Statements are fed to LRSs that can share them with other LRSs. Imagine if you could take your learning history from one employer to the next! Well, now you can.

But this might lead to privacy concerns, and for good reason. Can you think of anything scarier than your data being

82 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

moved around easily? One answer is to blindly volunteer large amounts of your personal data for someone else to own.

Your data moved where you can’t see it or make use of it. With a standard for how data can be securely moved, why shouldn’t you own and control your own data?

We’ve become accustomed to others owning our data. We lack proof of our experience with systems, of educational institutions we’ve attended, and of knowledge we’ve gained outside the traditional channels. We’re still listing our accomplishments in CVs or digital résumés like LinkedIn. We must start routinely asking for what is ours. We can’t wait for companies to volunteer our data – there’s no value in that for them.

Before consenting to a new service ask: how your data will be used? What you can own? And how you can do that? We can then look at ourselves analytically and review our performance against our goals.

Often referred to as a Personal Data Locker, this concept allows us to choose what to share with organisations and others. In a Tin Can world, a personal data locker could take the form of learning record store owned by an individual.

The technology is already here. It is up to us learning professionals to rise to the challenge.

Control your own history Why shouldn’t you be the one to control your own information, rather than every company or app you authorise to access your data? The technology is already here.

• ‘Watershed’ uses an emerging experience language called the Tin Can API and is a prototype • You can collect learning experiences and accomplishments from inside or outside the workplace, and store them in a single space • The data belongs to you. You can see what you've done across many systems and decide how it should be used. You can share it with colleagues, employers and schools – or not.

Create a beta profile here: http://watershed.ws

Megan Bowe is a Tin Can API strategist at Rustici Software http://scorm.com/ Twitter: @meganbowe @projecttincan

Come a

nd see us at Learnin g Technol ogies 2014

Vincent Belliveau explains why e-learning is a natural fit for regulatory compliance training.

THE ROLE OF E-LEARNING IN COMPLIANCE AND RISK REDUCTION

R

egardless of size, location or culture every organisation needs to ensure that all its employees are educated on the laws, regulations and policies applicable to their day-to-day roles. Organisations aim to accomplish a number of goals when carrying out compliance training – primarily to avoid and detect violations that could result in legal actions or fines, and to create a consistent approach to specific tasks. How do organisations achieve commitment from their employees when it comes to compliance?

We all know that compliance training is compulsory. But with workforces becoming even more dispersed across multiple

countries and offices, delivering it consistently and compellingly is increasingly difficult. Savvy companies are turning to e-learning to help meet this challenge, to increase completion rates and to minimise their exposure to risk. It provides a single, approved source of information for employees on specific topics, as well as a way to monitor and report on the people who have received the required training.

THE COMPLIANCE CHALLENGE The biggest challenge is the fact that completing the training doesn’t necessarily equate to buy-in. Organisation can often prove which learning an employee has

conducted through documentation, but this can’t gauge their commitment or understanding. Despite its vital importance, employees never fully complete much of compliance training. An outsider might expect a 100% completion rate for critical content but this is far from the truth. E-learning can fill this serious gap. Way back in the 1960s, University of Illinois students became the first e-learners when accessing course information via computer. But only in recent years have businesses started to embrace it and realise the benefits it offers for compliance training.

E-learning has a number of aspects which make it a natural fit to compliance courses.

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 85

THE ROLE OF E-LEARNING IN COMPLIANCE AND RISK REDUCTION

But prior to any course roll-out, physical or electronic, employees need to understand the underlying objectives and how they link to their roles and the success of the wider organisation.

Compliance governs how an organisation runs, from legal requirements to personnel matters. Without it, organisations are at risk of violating laws and regulations which could impact its business and workforce job security. Therefore, employees need to understand the wider implication if HR teams are to even begin to ensure commitment.

A big challenge is that it can be hard to persuade a senior manager to make the necessary investment in e-learning to support compliance. While they understand the benefits it offers in term of eliminating travel and other associated costs with traditional classroom learning, they can question the initial investment. A knee-jerk reaction of many organisations and employees when faced with e-learning for the first time, could be “this is not for us”, preferring other more familiar learning techniques.

Therefore, it’s important that senior management is engaged and committed from the start, so that the benefits can be communicated down through the ranks.

E-LEARNING BENEFITS FOR COMPLIANCE E-learning has a natural fit with compliance training because of the flexibility and the consistency it offers.

Employees can progress through the training at their own pace and at a time convenient to them. For example, if there is a requirement for new starters to undergo compliance training regarding records management or health and safety,

E-learning has a natural fit with compliance training because of the flexibility and the consistency it offers. Employees can progress through the training at their own pace and at a time convenient to them.

the HR team can roll-out the training immediately with greater flexibility regarding timing. This means that employees become profitable more quickly.

Implementing e-learning for compliance

Similarly, compliance learning can be delivered over tablet or smartphone devices to fit in with employee schedules.

Organisations can wave goodbye to compulsory all-day classroom courses and instead deliver in bite-sized sessions. Of course, there are occasions when classroom learning is the most effective form of training delivery. E-learning is not a panacea for all ills.

1. Gauge interest and understanding: Speak with employees regarding their thoughts on the organisation’s current compliance training. Find out how they think it could be more engaging and what role e-learning could play.

COMPLIANCE TOOLKIT As organisations continue to grow and enter new markets, compliance becomes increasingly necessary and complex. In addition, sensitive content needs communicating in a sensitive format. It will be impossible for organisations to negotiate this legal and regulatory minefield without employee buy-in.

With active engagement, employees will begin to understand and respect the wider regulatory environment in which they and their organisations operate. They will appreciate the criticality of compliance and the need to minimise the risks.

Technology, and in particular e-learning, is proving to be a great tool in meeting this challenge.

Four practical tips for employee engagement and commitment…

2. Understand your culture: By understanding what motivates employees – reading, seeing or doing, you’ll be able to design the e-learning to make it as compelling as possible.

This will engage your employees and ensure they complete the training and buy-in to what they learn.

3. First, experiment with small pilot groups: Teaching e-learning compliance training is no different than any other training roll-out. It needs testing and evaluation before being rolling-out to the wider workforce.

4. Be smart about where compliance training will be useful: Some subjects have a natural fit with e-learning.

E-mail policy is one – using e-learning to clearly communicate what is acceptable will help prevent time wasting, protect the security of the organisation’s systems and data, and minimise risk of legal problems. It will also offer the flexibility in terms of the speed at which the learning can be delivered.

Vincent Belliveau is Senior Vice President and General Manager EMEA at Cornerstone OnDemand. www.cornerstoneondemand.co.uk Twitter: @CSOD_UK @BelliveauV 86 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

88 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

HOW DUNNHUMBY’s LMS FACILITATES

CUSTOMER LOYALTY In this case study, Rob Caul reports on the benefits of dunnhumby’s global customer education programme.

R

etail media group dunnhumby, is a leader in personalising our experience of global brands and retailers. Its customers include Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Shell, Tesco and Coca-Cola. Analysing data from over 400 million people in 26 countries, dunnhumby’s software systems provide the insight to earn customers’ lifetime loyalty.

A core part of the Group’s expertise is educating its clients to get the best from technology and understand more about the habits and preferences of shoppers. The objective is to maximise the business value of the information being collected. With the global growth of the business came a clear challenge. It was no longer sustainable to provide education programmes for clients through face-to-face meetings and via a basic learning management platform.

David Dixon, Global Customer Education Solutions Manager, dunnhumby, explains that it’s not just about providing customers with the software and letting them get on with it: “It’s about educating our customers about their customers, and helping them to apply our services and solutions. Most importantly, it’s about addressing how they can apply new customer insight to improve business performance.”

The requirement was for an easy to use, scalable, modular learning management system, capable of delivering a blend of formats including e-learning, workshops, formal classrooms and document resources.

So dunnhumby turned to learning and talent solutions provider Kallidus. The solution enables the firm’s employees to focus on the highest value activities in customer meetings.

“We needed a learning platform that could manage, deliver and analyse all learning opportunities through any medium and in any language,” says Dixon. “We also needed a system that could expand and evolve in line with dunnhumby’s global footprint. It

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 89

HOW DUNNHUMBY’s LMS FACILITATES CUSTOMER LOYALTY

was clear to us that Kallidus LMS fitted the bill.

“The firm places customer support at the heart of its offering. To this day, I can pick up the phone and speak to someone at the company who I have met and who knows me and the business challenges I’m facing.

This was incredibly important.”

The success of an initial pilot meant that the initiative was soon launched to 10,000 learners in eight languages. Today, there are 30,000 learners spread across 4 continents, 14 countries and 10 languages, and the system has been used over 110,000 times.

This initiative has delivered a number of significant benefits to dunnhumby’s business.

1 More effective and higher value customer training Training has been streamlined for activities such as implementing dunnhumby software and basic data analysis. It now takes place via e-learning and among larger workgroups.

This has freed up time for the firm’s consultants to focus on higher-value activities in face-to-face meetings. In addition to e-learning modules, the system facilitates the administration of classroom training and WebEx online meetings.

“Kallidus has really simplified our customer training, extrapolating maximum value from our data and putting money in the tills,” adds Dixon.

2 Improved flexibility The flexibility of the solution has also been a key benefit to dunnhumby, particularly the ease with which the LMS and the different learning modules can be costeffectively customised and branded for different markets and languages. For example, Norwegian, Russian and Korean work packs have been turned around in very tight timeframes and at minimal extra cost.

The flexible, modular structure of the LMS enables different countries to customise the learning, putting a lot of control in the hands of different local markets. The system also allows for different combinations of user groups to suit organisation and structure. It facilitates the creation of course structures using any number of reusable learning objects, whether classroom based, online or resource materials. Examples include: • The US team has captured web delivered presentations as reusable learning assets in their classroom presentations • The UK team had added new features to reporting and e-workshop administration

“Kallidus LMS offers us an additional route to market. It enables smaller companies to access and fully utilise an LMS system that they would never have considered previously. All they need is a login code to enjoy all its benefits without the accompanying costs.”

David Dixon, Global Customer Education Solutions Manager, dunnhumby

• The French team has taken a new approach to reference and library content on their learning platform; and the Tesco International team driving localisation efforts Another result of the system’s flexibility is the licensing structure with a number of split licenses between internal, permanent users and variable licenses for external users. “We didn’t know how many customers would use the system so Kallidus’ flexibility and pay per usage business model was very useful,” says Dixon.

workshops, and formal classroom and document resources.

The scalability of the system offers the flexibility for customisation and localisation, and supports the firms continued growth.

“We are only just beginning to enjoy the full benefits,” says Dixon. “As our client base grows and as we offer ever more innovative services to our customers, it is clear that our LMS will continue to play a crucial role”.

Free whitepaper: “How to chose and deploy your next learning and talent management” available from www.kallidus.com

3 An easy to use customer interface The LMS comes with an easy to navigate customer interface. This includes web gadgets that enable familiar and fully customised learner interfaces to be created, from where learners can also interface with Web 2.0 and social media sites. This ease of use has led to a reduced reliance on internal IT and training resource.

4 Improved reporting and Insight The built-in reporting capabilities, enables dunnhumby to access business critical data, reporting and analysis about their customer education programmes. The system provides accurate usage and cost information for managers to assess the return on investment of training activities.

The reporting data generated has been invaluable says Dixon: “It has enabled us to measure the success of our education programmes – which ones are most popular and which ones have to be revisited most often, perhaps indicating that some redesign might be required.”

5 Improved communication with clients Finally, the LMS has enabled the organisation to use the platform as a means of enhancing communications with clients, adding value to their activities, and enabling them to sell in additional products. During the past four years, the partnership between client and supplier has gone from strength to strength. The LMS supports dunnhumby’s customer education programmes across a varied mix of cultures and countries and learning formats including e-learning,

90 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

Rob Caul is CEO of Kallidus Ltd. www.kallidus.com Twitter: @KallidusLimited

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 91

92 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

We should think of learning journeys as campaigns rather than sessions or interventions, says Joe Kennard.

“I

‘ve got this amazing new product to tell you about – you’re going to love it!” says the facilitator. Not a bad start, you think, and begin to lean forward with interest. Then they outline the agenda.

“To start with, I’d like to talk you through the technical specifications: there’s a short 67-slide presentation that picks up on the key points and you’ll learn all about how the product was made, the development process and how we solved a number of key challenges during its design. Our

product manager is particularly proud of that bit! Then we’ll look at 34 typical user-scenarios and trouble-shooting exercises.

“After this we’ll explore the key customer types – I know the marketing team have put a lot of effort into that – followed by our core sales messages and finally, if there’s time at the end, you might get to have a play with the product. And don’t worry if you’ve not got the time to go through everything face-to-face, we’ve

developed an e-learning programme with just 93 slides of text and clip-art graphics.”

Sound familiar?

The training brief probably started out with clear learning objectives and the best of intentions to control the length of the session and its content. However, once a project is underway a misunderstanding often takes hold in your client’s mind that the value and effectiveness of a piece of training is directly related to the amount of information it contains. In other words,

WHY ISN’T TRAINING

MORE LIKE

ADVERTISING?

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 93

WHY ISN’T TRAINING MORE LIKE ADVERTISING?

the more the better. And of course every stakeholder or subject matter expert believes their specialist information and perspective to be essential knowledge for everyone.

There’s a law of diminishing returns. We can only handle so much new information at a time. One key message delivered in a short, creative way is much easier to grasp and retain, than a long, complex, content-rich session.”

JUST DO IT The result? A huge unfocused agenda complete with accompanying 93-slide e-learning package. So, you’ve returned to the training room, emerged from the session and you’re back on the phones.

Then the call comes through from a customer: “Can you tell me about that new product of yours I saw advertised?” You have sat through a four-hour presentation.

They have watched a 20 second advert.

Turns out they know more about it than you do.

Maybe this is a slight exaggeration, but it is often not so far from the truth. There’s a law of diminishing returns. We can only handle so much new information at a time.

One key message delivered in a short, creative way is much easier to grasp and retain, than a long, complex, content-rich session. This is particularly true if the message is emotionally engaging, using humour, storytelling and character, and repeatedly viewed. We know this because advertising is a stunningly effective way of communicating messages.

Without meaning to, you’ll have learned to complete the phrase ‘A Mars a day…’ and almost certainly have a working knowledge of most of the key features available on an iPhone – even if you’ve never owned one.

So why don’t we take more lessons from the advertising world? After all, the secrets of great advertising are all easily transferrable to the production of training material: • Deliver short bursts of information.

practically (with competitions, interactions etc).

Perhaps it’s because these two forms of communication seem so very different.

Even the most understanding and wellmanaged stakeholders will want more information communicated to learners than can possibly be delivered in a short advertising-type burst, no matter how creative it is. And there’s perhaps a perception that advertising is a shallow format without the ability to communicate complex information. Yet advertising is the major way in which brands ‘educate’ their current and prospective customers. Why not use the best elements of the discipline to educate your internal audiences and enhance their learning experience?

For example, the main objective of an advert is to grab the viewer’s attention, generate interest and enthusiasm for the featured product, and nurture a receptiveness to receive further information. Why not use something similar in the build-up to the launch of an e-learning course or facilitated session?

Most ad campaigns, particularly those spread over an extended time, consist of a range of linked messages that – once the individual is engaged – build up to form a wider body of knowledge. We might start off with car insurance, but then get introduced to home insurance too.

• Use creativity to make the message stand out and make it memorable.

So, we too can use this technique to repeat and reinforce a selection of key messages.

• Repeat the message – both in terms of the frequency of delivery, but also the range of media used. Multiple ‘contact points’ mean maximum re-enforcement.

THEY’RE GRRRREAT!

• Involve your audience – whether emotionally (perhaps with humour) or

Then there’s the range of supporting media: a TV ad will often link to a poster campaign, a website, and urge engagement through social media. In the same way, a

training campaign may feature a range of different interventions, from e-learning courseware to printed collateral and faceto-face facilitation. Everything in the mix helps to build up the body of knowledge relevant to your target audience. The key is the delivery of short, relevant, engaging bursts of information, plus repetition of delivery to enforce key messages.

There’s something else too. The purpose of an advert is often not to communicate product information at all. It’s often about generating interest and curiosity. Used effectively, ads can inspire individuals to engage with other resources and educate themselves. Think about the last time you made a major purchase. You were probably influenced in the first instance by advertising that created the initial desire and interest. However, you probably then did a bit of research, perhaps visiting the company’s website, and looking at reviews and competitor sites.

Perhaps you also bought a magazine relevant to the product. Maybe you asked friends and family, or used social media to gather opinions from the wider world. By the time you went to make the purchase you’d probably become a minor expert in the field. Well, what if training could work in the same way? What if it generated interest and engagement with the creative delivery of key messages in short bursts?

What if it was backed up with resources allowing learners to manage their own learning by selecting the content most relevant?

This is certainly one way of challenging and accommodating ‘mission creep’ when it comes to training briefs. It is time to think of learning journeys as campaigns rather than sessions or interventions.

Joe Kennard is a Director of PurpleMedia Ltd www.purplemedia.co.uk Twitter: @JoeKennardUK @Purple_learn 94 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 95

96 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF:

THE RISE OF THE DIGITAL CURATOR Curation is no longer the preserve of a privileged few. The magnitude of digital content has made it essential to organisational learning, says Ben Betts.

T

here is more content in the world than we can possibly imagine. In 2006, we were supplying 1,000 minutes of content to the home for every minute of the day.According to Google, this amount of data increased 15fold from 2006 to 2009. And to top it off, HP’s CEO suggested that we would create more data between 2009 and 2013 than had previously existed in the history of the planet. Now that’s what I call growth.

With this proliferation of digital content, it should come as no surprise that we are in increasing need of systems to sort, maintain and re-purpose digital content in

a systematic manner. For a while now we’ve been making do with search as a primary means of sifting through the pile.

But, as master curator Robin Good puts it, Google is only really good for fast-food information; getting you the answers quick and dirty, without much thought for context or quality. If you want quality information, then you need to go via a digital curator.

The role of the curator has been valued for centuries, but it has been somewhat reserved for a chosen few professionals who practice their dark art in the confines of the world’s museums and galleries. To

suggest that digital curators all bring the same depth and breadth of knowledge as a professional curator might be somewhat missing the point.

Curation, when it comes down to it, is all about creating value from collection building. Curators know that the sum of an experience can be greater than the parts alone. And you don’t always have to be an expert to tell a decent story.

STORING, TRANSFORMING AND SHARING Curators perform three basic actions; they

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 97

WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF: THE RISE OF THE DIGITAL CURATOR

store, they transform and they share. The first part of a curator’s job is to work out what is worth keeping and what can be discarded. Often this needn’t be a comment on the quality of the information or data that comes across their desk; a digital curator will have a particular, personal lens with which they seek and store information. It is in this context that digital curators start to add value, they approach objects with an agenda; does this connect with my field of interest? How information is stored is a matter of personal preference. Some curators, like Inside Learning Technologies managing editor Annie Garfoot, like to have information delivered direct to their inbox.

Annie does this with Google Alerts: “The alerts arrive in my inbox and are usually a few hours ahead of other resources. Google searches are more time consuming and less targeted.”

With information gathered, the digital curator sets about transforming the parts into an experience that is more useful as a whole. Web applications like Scoop.it and Paper.li look to perform this job automatically; the latter automatically creating a newspaper out of all your social networking activities. For me, this automation takes away some of the intent that separates curating from Retweeting.

Curators add value, they don’t just pass things on. Adding value comes in many forms, but it usually manifests in collection-building or remixing content.

Remixing or transforming someone else’s work into something new is an established pedagogical practice in its own right.

Seymour Papert and his theory of Constructionism – the act of constructing and re-constructing as a process of learning – would suggest that getting your learners to do the curating is a sound method of furthering understanding.

The final role of the digital curator is sharing. Having stored a range of content and added value through transformation, it is up to the curator to spread the message through social media. Following a prolific curator can be all that is needed to keep you personally abreast of what’s going on in your industry. The likes of Chris Brogan and Darren Rowse have made highly profitable careers out of curating content on a daily basis. Websites like Pinterest have shown the popularity of curated content sharing; it was the fastest social media website yet to reach 10m users.

Sharing brings with it some risks; content that is curated without attribute treads a thin-line between sharing and stealing, especially when you stand to make money out of it. Good content curators know how and when to attribute properly.

As a tool of organisational learning, curation is on the rise.

Knowledge management specialists have fallen foul of trends in recent years, but the need to bring order and context to organisational knowledge is increasing exponentially.

CURATION IN L&D When it comes to L&D, digital curation has three main uses; as a personal learning tool; as a tool of organisational learning; and as a tool of teaching.

As a tool of personal learning, the art of curation helps individuals to capture information that is important to them and to wrap it in a context that gives more meaning than the message alone would impart. It represents a learning locker that allows for reflection as well as collectionbuilding. Increasingly it seems likely that knowledge workers will be expected to bring their curated insights with them to their next job role.

As a tool of organisational learning, curation is on the rise. Knowledge management and knowledge transfer specialists have fallen somewhat foul of trends in recent years, but the need to bring order and context to organisational knowledge is increasing exponentially. The Internet has a hoarding problem.

Information is piling up everywhere – MySpace and Bebo represent a decades worth of old newspapers that, really, you shouldn’t be saving anymore. Increasingly there is a need within our organisations to perform the same spring clean. Just as important as knowing what to store, is knowing what to discard.

And as more organisations seek to embrace informal modes of learning and development, it is to resources, not courses that employees are turning. For organisations, the role of the digital curator is that of a guardian of resources; someone who stores, transforms and shares within the context of the strategic needs of the company. There exists a world of rich content out on the Internet, which is just begging to be curated by organisations for learning purposes. It is no longer necessary to create new learning content each time a demand passes down the line. Blending resources from the outside world with a selection of resources from within the firewall can increase your speed to delivery and cut costs dramatically for the L&D department.

Finally, as a tool of teaching, curation has two key roles to play. Firstly, it can be used as a pedagogical method; students articulating their grasp of a subject area by

98 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

storing, transforming and sharing their understanding. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, curation can be seen as a key digital literacy that will be required for future knowledge workers. As we become ever more reliant on Google’s fast-food information diet, it becomes increasingly important that we know how to spot the quality content from the bad. Curation as an art form casts a critical eye on content and opinion. It is from this standpoint that learners will increasingly need to turn as they rely on the Internet for their information. All facts should be guilty, until proven innocent.

To see a curated list of the tools of digital curation, check out Robin Good’s mindmap: http://www.mindomo.com/mindmap/con tent-curation-for-education-andlearning-robin-good-emerge201298ccaad217074a07b9bff8b76effab8e

50 free sources of learning content for your curation: It’s a travesty that we spend as much time and resouces as we do trying to make the perfect piece of learning content, again and again.

• We should spend more time tapping into content that is freely available and putting this to use within our organisations. With this in mind I have curated some sources of information for you to tap.

• The following sites are useful to trigger learning experiences in the business world. http://www.ht2.co.uk/ben/?p=452 Our time, money and effort should be spent elsewhere – on the experiences and implementations that allow learners to put ideas in to practice.

Ben Betts is Managing Director of HT2 Ltdwww.ht2.co.uk www.curatr.co.uk Twitter: @bbetts

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 99

100 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

FIVE RED FLAGS… WARNING THAT YOU’VE OUTGROWN YOUR LEARNING SOLUTION Your learning solution of the past may not be what your organisation requires today or in the future. It’s time to re-evaluate, says flag-waver Jon Drakes.

T

raining is no longer a back office function, it’s now at the frontline of addressing strategic business challenges when trying to outsmart and outperform your competition.

According to the Bersin by Deloitte report “The market has recently changed from one of growth, expansion and evolution to one of fragmentation, specialisation and globalisation. Over the past decade, the LMS market has continued to evolve with solution providers adding new features and functionality for collaboration, continuous learning and knowledge sharing. Some systems are now becoming platforms for

supporting mobile learning across contexts.” (see panel overleaf).

integrations that we need or are we still working in silos?

When re-evaluating your needs, it’s important to ask yourself the following questions: Are we delivering training to all the audiences we need, internally and externally? Have our users become more sophisticated than the learning system they are using? Are we being hindered by a static and out-of-date learning application?

Does our learning solution offer sufficient support to our end users? Has our learning programme grown and adapted along with the needs of our people and our organisation? Do we have the HR

Honest answers to any of these questions might indicate that your organisation has outgrown its learning application and needs to look into the advantages provided by integrated Software as a Service (SaaS) learning solutions.

FLAG No.1: Your learning solution can’t reach a diverse audience The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) Learning Circuits Annual e-Learning Trends Survey reveals that

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 101

FIVE RED FLAGS…WARNING THAT YOU’VE OUTGROWN YOUR LEARNING SOLUTION

42% of training is delivered to audiences outside the organisation; are you able to reach out to your external audiences? If your learning application is only supporting internal delivery of traditional online and instructor-led training content, you may be getting left behind in your market space.

Delivering training to customers, channel partners and audiences other than your own employees can open up a new world of opportunities in the form of brand awareness and loyalty, product adoption and new revenue streams. Imagine the possibilities of delivering learning that is integrated with your own and your partner’s CRM solution. How might this impact your sales?

FLAG No.2: Your learning solution is static and out-ofdate When your solution is outdated, your learning audience suffers by not having access to the latest and greatest learning technologies. This can lead to frustration when users are utilising better technology in their personal lives than they experience at work. Are you able to utilise new functionalities like virtual instructor-led training (VILT), social learning and delivering learning via mobile devices? When your learning solution isn’t flexible enough to allow you to showcase the most up-to date corporate messaging, it can negatively affect your speed to efficiency and leave you a step behind the competition. Are you able to change the look and feel of your learning solution to appeal to multiple audiences? Using a SaaS learning solution levels the playing field, as small and emerging organisations can benefit from the same system enhancements that large and even global organisations enjoy.

FLAG No.3: Your learning solution has limited scalability Scalability of your system is important. As your audience’s needs and requirements change, so should your learning solution. Have you been relegated to an unsupported platform? Does your system have the flexibility to deploy courses from multiple online providers? Did you purchase a ‘lite’ version of a product that now lags behind your corporate growth instead of leading it? When competing in a global market, you need to have a simple way for all your users to access the same system. A true SaaS learning application only requires users to have access to the Internet and it can grow with you as your needs evolve and change.

FLAG No.4: Your learning solution isn’t keeping up with corporate requirements As your users, administrators and

executives become more sophisticated; your learning solution must have the robust functionalities needed to keep up.

Can your learning application incorporate talent, workforce, analytics, social learning, mobility and more? Does it provide the services you need to understand and utilise those functionalities? Has your executive team become more demanding and do you need to create and share reports with multiple stakeholders while having the functionality to report and share that key data across your entire HR solution?

TAKE A SECOND LOOK

Creating a report or changing the layout of your learning solution shouldn’t require an internal staff person to write code.

Implementing a SaaS learning platform with best-of-breed talent and workforce management integrations allows you the flexibility to add additional robust functionality when your organisation requires it. How might this impact your sales?

Having a feature rich, best-in-class solution allows small-to-medium businesses to get the same functionality enhancements as larger organisations with the services and support to back it up. This is an exciting time for learning and development. Critical workforce needs, and advances in technology, mean that learning professionals are at the forefront of the most important talent challenges. With the right technology, you can be certain that you are up to the task and ready to deliver.

FLAG No.5: Your learning solution has insufficient enduser support Are your end users beginning to need more support than you can handle internally?

Does your learning solution provider offer adequate hours for administrative and end-user support? Does your learning solution require a specific Java load for some courses and, inevitably, you end up spending most of your internal staff time supporting learners that don’t even know what Java is? Proper end-user support for your learning solution should be available to your end-users in multiple languages…

24/7/365.

102 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

If your learning solution isn’t providing you with the integrations, functionality and support you need to grow into the future, it’s time to re-evaluate your solution.

Delivering content via a SaaS platform is easy and flexible. SaaS systems are continually being perfected and are never out-of-date. According to Bersin we are seeing “more ‘lightweight’ systems designed for small and mid-size businesses that are easy to set up and which require little or no integration with talent management processes.”

Enterprise customers are also demanding functionality to support social learning and collaboration, integrated performance management, employee development and succession planning, and business process integration. The maturity and depth of these features varies widely from provider to provider.

Jon Drakes is Solutions Architect Director, EMEA at SumTotal Systems www.sumtotalsystems.com Twitter: @SumTotalSystems

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 103

104 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

THE SOLUTION TO

PBL’s BIG PROBLEM Delivering Problem-Based Learning is no longer the problem, says Adriann Haney

P

roblems are tricky. Solving them presents a challenge. And meeting that challenge usually demands initiative, good judgment, creativity and expertise.

We celebrate heroes who are bold enough to face a challenge and applaud the insight that steers their course. Problems, or rather problems overcome, are at the heart of all good storytelling, and good stories are memorable and immersive. This is why L&D experts love Problem-Based-Learning (PBL) scenarios. In business, no one appreciates the power of good storytelling better than the training manager.

Devising the complex scenarios required for PBL presents course designers and L&D professionals with a meaty challenge that’s always difficult to resist. But the immersive experiences that PBL produces aren’t necessarily suited to every training

requirement. Truth is: some training just isn’t that big a problem. Not sure if a PBL strategy is the right approach for the training challenge you’re facing right now?

Here are four questions you should ask before committing the time and resources that PBL requires.

1. Do you need troubleshooters?

PBL is fantastic at developing problemsolving abilities but troubleshooting isn’t right for every training requirement in every business. Think about the skill you’re trying to develop. Is it essentially drill and practice, or is it a skill that really depends on an ability to make good judgment calls?

The clue here is in the name. Problems are exceptions in business; not the norm. So it follows that problem-based teaching is best suited to helping workers overcome the difficult scenarios that hinder operational

progress, rather than the routine scenarios that keep operations ticking smoothly.

2. Are the learners new to the job or do they have some experience?

Training medical staff how to use a new piece of apparatus is not the same as training them how to act in an emergency or how to deal with difficult patients.

Equipping a mechanic with the essential knowledge to service a vehicle is a routine training task. Training the same mechanic to diagnose engine failure is an exceptional scenario that requires experience and analytical skills. If your skills or knowledge requirements are not complex then you don’t require PBL. 3. Do you have subject matter experts to help you devise the right scenarios?

You’re trying to convert workers who understand process into workers

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 105

THE SOLUTION TO PBL’s BIG PROBLEM

experienced enough to address problems whenever process fails. But problems are unpredictable; they occur without warning.

Building scenarios for these ‘unpredictable’ situations isn’t as difficult as it seems. Any HR professional with knowledge of critical incident technique knows that L&D experts can anticipate the future by studying the past.

When scoping out scenarios for your PBL courses, talk to the best experts your business has to offer. Get your specialists to describe the challenging situations they’ve faced, along with the decisionmaking response that got them through.

Study their descriptions in detail and you’ll start to identify the common behaviour that gets your experienced workers out of most situations.

4. Do you have the time and resources required to create, develop and test PBL? It is important to remember that solving a specific problem is not the only end goal in PBL. Ideally, you should really inspire a behavioural change that equips workers with the expertise they need to overcome any problem. To do this you need to build realistic and specific scenarios that your students can believe in. You also need to support their learning with a diverse array of options and materials. As in the real word, PBL must offer a variety of routes towards an acceptable solution.

PBL means developing truly inspiring scenarios. It means creating high-definition storylines that learners believe in, and it means anticipating the diverse journeys of discovery that will ultimately prompt

behavioural change. These are the bold challenges that the most ambitious designers in the learning industry want to meet today.

Latest advances in leading authoring software packages are now helping designers meet these bold challenges headon. One authoring tool in particular that’s worth exploring is Articulate Storyline. It allows course creators to quickly pick up the principles of Storyline's layers, triggers, states and variables, and leverage them to deliver powerful interactions. There are three key practical- and PBL-facilitating features for developers.

BRANCHING Powerful branching is critical to any PBL approach. Unlike classic slide creation tools that usually offer just one limited big picture overview, Storyline lets developers drill down and refine any particular branched scenario they're working on within a course.

Story View gives a big-picture view of all the content in a course. Developers can toggle from one branch to another and use Story View to see how particular plot strands are developing alongside alternatives.

The ability to see how subplots can influence the big picture in Storyline means course creators are able to review the branches they are working on in context, and manage them effectively. They may even see scenarios they'd otherwise have missed because crossover opportunities between one scenario and another are much easier to spot.

VARIABLES Storyline lets developers configure variables so that data entered by the learner is stored and used to boost relevance later in the course. At its simplest, this may be something like the learner's name or the company they work for, but the same technique is easily extended in Storyline to present learners with a much more personal experience. Variables keep track of everything learners do, and determine how they navigate through the content.

The ability to create interactions that remember what learners select opens up a whole new platform for creative interactions. A learner could, for instance, identify him or herself as a manager for the Asia Pacific region early on in a course.

Later they could be presented with geographically relevant scenarios; or see local product imagery or pricing details throughout the course.

Crucially, the way a learner chooses to address a problem early in a course can present different consequences later – just like real life.

CUSTOM TRIGGERS The concept of triggers is simple. They are instructions to perform an action. It is the managing of triggers that usually causes difficulty. One trigger can be dependent of another or may need to deliver personal outcomes as learners approach the trigger via different branches. Previously, creating custom triggers and variables probably meant reverting back to hard-coding for most course developers; but not anymore.

Storyline's interface means even complex triggers and variables can be created and managed within the platform. All triggers are listed in sequence and easy to edit in Storyline's trigger panel. Course creators can use a single trigger to jump to the next slide, or deploy series of triggers and variables together, to create highly immersive interactions.

In the past, the big problem with Problem Based-Learning was that it was more difficult for course creators to deliver than it was for learners to do. Latest advances in leading software packages like Storyline now effectively address this imbalance.

Adriann Haney is VP of US Operations at Omniplex Ltd www.omniplex.co.uk Twitter: @OmniplexeLearn www.linkedin.com/pub/adriann-lanehaney/b/505/550/ 106 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 107

108 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

ACCELERATE NEW-HIRE SUCCESS WITH

SOCIAL ON-BOARDING

Good on-boarding is a lot less expensive than high staff turnover, explains Robin Martin.

S

tatistics show that 46% of new hires don’t last 18 months and 39% didn’t complete their first milestone on time. The cost of a new employee who doesn’t make it can be as much as three times their annual salary.

In reality, ‘good on-boarding’ is so much more than making sure the new hire forms are filled out correctly. On-boarding is your chance to make a first and lasting impression on your new employees, making them feel part of your company, and ensuring they know where they can find the information and experts they need to be successful.

Successful on-boarding is critical, because at some point soon after starting, your new employee may feel lost and potentially reconsider their decision to join your firm. If

they’ve been properly on-boarded, they’ll know where they can get help. If not, they may start looking for their next job. For many companies the real purpose of newhire induction is the distribution and collection of paperwork for benefits, payroll, facilities, and to get to know the organisation structure. There is no doubt paperwork is necessary – of course people need to be paid, choose an appropriate medical plan, have a computer set up, and so on – but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

step to developing an engaged workforce, and there’s no better time to do this than when they are together for the first time.

Shift the bulk of paperwork to the onboarding resources pages of your intranet, complete with videos on filling it out correctly. New hires can ask questions in the public forum and experts from benefits, payroll, HR, facilities, etc., can answer them.

The advantage of a public forum is that questions are asked once, answered once, and seen by everyone.

If you attend the induction session run at most companies, you might confuse it with a college exam, except people are typically a little older and fill out forms with pens and not HB pencils.

COMMUNITIES FOR SUCCESS

Connecting employees is the critical first

Most college students meet their roommate weeks before they arrive at college. Schools are getting them connected over Facebook.

Not only does this help with practical matters, such as avoiding duplicate coffee

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 109

ACCELERATE NEW-HIRE SUCCESS WITH SOCIAL ON-BOARDING

makers, but also makes those first few days at school more fun and productive. Leadingedge companies are creating new-hire communities so these employees can connect and learn from each other. Through online interactions, the new hires can find people with similar responsibilities and interests, developing their personal network starting on Day One. The online social community of many companies spread over multiple locations, countries or continents lets remote employee learn and discuss company news.

It makes sense to induct new employees into communities of practice or interests that relate to their job-specific responsibilities. This way they can find information and connect with experts. This will help them hit their milestones in a timely fashion. These communities are a great place to share the latest innovations, crowd-source problems, evolve best practices, and help each other keep up to date in an informal learning environment.

Depending on the levels of integration between your social network, employee profile, and Learning Management System, it may also be possible to create personalised learning plans. Once the new hire has self-assessed their skills and competencies against a job role or set of objectives, you can create a learning plan readying them to meet the challenges of their new position.

The plan can be automated, depending on the degree of integration between learning system, course catalogue, and profile data.

Normally there is a strong degree of customisation by the employee and their manager, choosing and prioritising development activities based on the immediate and individual challenges.

NEW HIRES TO OUTSTANDING EMPLOYEES As new employees start to perform in their role with respect to their goals and learning plans, they will probably outgrow the onboarding community. However, in the communities of practice, they will transition from ‘rookies’ who predominately consume information to experienced employees who hopefully become key contributors by the sharing of their new experiences to bring benefit to others in the community. At this point, connecting the new employee with a mentor or two can be very helpful in maximising their growth rate and speeding up their contribution to the company.

Many companies are moving away from traditional mentoring programmes as they place a large burden on leaders who just don’t have the time. Replacing these programmes are social mentoring programmes, which comprised micro communities or mentoring circles with two or three employees for each mentor. In the online group, the mentor can share ideas and plans and answer questions at a fraction of the time taken by traditional mentoring.

The mentoring circles are often private, allowing for the groups to work through formal and informal issues. The new employees benefit from a direct connection to a leader in the organisation.

Having all these interactions online offers one more significant benefit: the ability to monitor progress and intervene if an employee is showing a lack of engagement.

Clearly the goals and learning plans will track milestones. When these are missed, a manager can (and should) reach out to the employee to find out why.

However, long before there is a miss which maybe too late, the manager can gauge the employee’s engagement through participation and contributions in the social communities. The social network can track which items have been viewed and also track their contributions.

ACCLIMATION AND CONTRIBUTION In fact, the contributions – links, documents, videos, ideas – can be rated by other users.

Some networks can also score the contribution, taking into account the ratings, and how often the contribution is viewed and then recommended to others.

The point here is that the social network can easily track an employee’s engagement and if it is below a certain threshold, the manager can intervene and address any issues long before they impact performance.

This article has covered several areas where social technologies, particularly social communities, can play a substantial role in helping new hires accelerate not only their acclimation to their new company and new role, but also their contributions. Please note: while a comprehensive social onboarding programme pays the largest dividends, each of the above topics can be implemented on its own. An incremental approach prioritised to your business needs is entirely possible.

Of course, some of the concepts discussed, such as the communities of practice and the mentoring circles, apply to your entire company, not just the newest employees.

The main point is to get started with social technologies to help ensure your new hires and more seasoned employees are more successful. This will help them meet their commitments and help your company retain them.

Robin Martin is Regional Vice President Sales, Northern Europe at Saba www.saba.com Twitter: @SabaSoftware 110 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 111

BEST PRACTICE FOR MOBILE DEVICES

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT BYOD, social applications and mobile devices are gaining ground. Peter Barrett outlines the best approach to creating a learning and performance content strategy.

A

s more employees use Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) smartphones and tablets to work, companies are creating standards for mobile devices. The smartphone market, dominated

by Apple and Samsung (Android), had total worldwide shipments of 712.6 million units in 2012, according to market researcher IDC 1. Tablets also saw tremendous growth with worldwide shipments reaching 122.3 million last year.

Tablets continue to captivate consumers. As the market shifts towards more providers with lower prices and more screen size

variety, IDC estimates worldwide shipments of 282.7 million units by 2016 2. The market will continue growing at a fast pace with tablet sales outpacing sales of PCs. Much of this is driven by social applications, gaming and streaming video along with other consumer applications.

What does this mean for L&D? Well, many learning and talent management groups are given direction to develop learning solutions for these devices. Unfortunately, there is often the concept among many mid and senior level managers that all devices are basically the same; and that extending a

conventional e-learning course to any mobile device should be as easy as playing a video game (and with the same performance results on all devices).

TAILORED? OR OFF-THE-SHELF? Jumping into m-learning without investigating and understanding all the nuances of the many devices and the challenges they bring will have a profound impact on the success of a project. As usage becomes pervasive, putting these lowercost, on-demand devices to work is becoming a reality and a strategic pursuit.

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 113

BEST PRACTICE FOR MOBILE DEVICES CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

However, sharing company data and information on BYODs presents a technical and security challenge. Therefore, some companies prefer to invest in company standard devices.

For example, rather than investing in noncustomer facing computers, increased bandwidth and network infrastructure, some retailers find it more practical and economical to distribute low cost tablets to retail locations and push learning and performance materials to tablets that can work offline. These merely pass usage data synchronously over company networks, thus saving thousands of dollars.

Other companies, however, are looking for ways to harness already existing BYOD devices. This presents a technical challenge to deliver content and information accommodating multiple device footprints, operating systems, browsers, and screen resolutions. Additionally, company-sensitive data needs protecting with varying levels of security requirement.

STANDARDS Software vendors producing e-learning content authoring systems are releasing new tools to deliver content to smart devices. However, there are challenges.

Apple devices don’t run Flash applications, the pre-eminent standard for the last five years for developing e-learning courses.

HTML 5 is seen by most as the best common platform answer to this problem.

However, several desktop browsers do not support HTML 5 and some that do still have performance and reliability issues.

about effective use of mobile tools and devices for learning and performance content…

TABLETS OR SMARTPHONES? The style and complexity of content often determines whether a small screen will be an effective delivery tool. For example, imagine a drag-and-drop exercise that requires moving content around a screen while simultaneously needing to read associated text. This may not be an acceptable experience for the smartphone user. Generally, tablets with screen sizes of 7” or more can be suitable replacements for desktop devices. It is best to perform a thorough requirements analysis of the content and application before determining distribution method. It is generally not possible to make one decision for all content and every application. Each may require a separate approach and a targeted set of delivery devices.

LACK OF STANDARDS Those who have built m-learning applications have quickly learned just how many operating systems and browsers exist on the myriad of smart devices. Start with iOS, Android and Blackberry and expand exponentially from there. What runs on an

For a programming language, while quickly evolving, it is still somewhat limited in functionality compared to latest versions of Flash. Does this mean that a designer must publish multiple times for desktops, Apple, and Android devices? And what about the different screen resolutions and sizes?

On the platform side, can delivery of SCORM compliant, trackable content be passed to a smart device and be tracked by the enterprise LMS? Can the LMS and smart device identify compatible content based on the characteristics of the device? The answers to these are all too often, a resounding “no”. Many LMS platforms have legacy code that was designed long before mobile devices; and retrofitting is difficult.

Others have chosen to offer dedicated mobile content servers. This interim solution may not be able to pass relevant learner data back to the LMS. Further complicating the landscape, many businesses operate to desktop browser standards imaged to an older browser. This even makes the latest technical solutions incompatible. Here are some observations 114 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills

June 2013

iPhone 4 does not necessarily perform similarly on an iPhone 3S. An Android phone with a 2.x version of the operating system may also come with a slightly tweaked and proprietary version of a browser depending on manufacturer.

Exercises or videos within these different environments can be surprisingly nonuniform. Then there is the constant churning and upgrading of devices every six-to-twelve months. The challenge is to maintain the course shelf life for any period of time. It is important, therefore, to set thresholds for target devices or to balance the openness of BYODs with tested functionality across all devices. This brings with it a level of testing and quality assurance that can ultimately add to project cost.

AUTHORING There are a great many new tools by established vendors each with their own strengths and weaknesses. When reviewing an authoring tool for mobile delivery consider the following: • SCORM compliance: Does the tool publish to SCORM standards?

• HTML 5: This evolving mark-up language is quickly developing ‘Flash-like’ functionality,

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 115

116 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

BEST PRACTICE FOR MOBILE DEVICES CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

but is not at the same stage of maturity.

HTML 5 still does not play well with certain versions of browsers; this can lead to frustrated learners. If a tool only publishes to HTML 5, make sure it will satisfy all your devices, including desktops.

• Responsive design: When content is published and viewed does the software automatically detect and account for the specification of the playback device? In other words, does it account for small screen size or know whether or not the device can play Flash, for example? Without this capability, designers have to know target devices in advance and whether separate versions of content are required. This can become incredibly complex in BYOD environments.

• Cross platform delivery: Can the content play across desktops, iOS, and Android devices with equal results? If so, how is this achieved? One-time authoring and single folder and file structure or multiple versions of the same content published multiple times?

OFFLINE CAPABILITY Many smart devices rely heavily on WiFi for passing data since many are not equipped with cell capability and those that do have costly data plans. While WiFi connections

are increasing rapidly, internet connectivity is still not accessible everywhere and won’t be for the foreseeable future. The ability to download content to a device (generally a tablet) for offline playback is important for many remote or travelling workers. It is vital for a business to keep track of what’s downloaded, how it’s used and who accesses it. Types of media and content that can be downloaded and tracked are also important. Courseware, performance tools, talent management information etc., may all require different capabilities.

INTERCONNECTIVITY Since not all mobile authoring tools provide SCORM compatibility and not all LMS platforms have the ability to work with smart devices, it is critical to understand the nature of your content needs and what your LMS vendor can provide. Often, a mobile authoring environment may provide its own server for launching and tracking information. It may or may not be capable of passing this data, except through simple export tools, back to the LMS. SECURITY An inherent danger of smart devices (especially BYODs), is what happens to

corporate data, especially if the material is downloaded? Who sees it, and what can be done with it once it has been accessed by a device? The ability to encrypt user data, as well as content might be an important consideration for many applications.

ORGANISATIONAL ENVIRONMENT The most critical aspects of selecting tools and designs for mobile delivery of content is an organisation’s technical restrictions, architecture and infrastructure. This can sometimes be overlooked in the zeal to provide a mobile solution for a pressing business problem. Bandwidth, LMS capability, locked-down desktop images, locked-down smart devices, security and accountability etc., must all be considered before selecting the tools, the vendor and the application design.

1 http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerI d=prUS23916413 2 http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerI d=prUS23833612

Peter Barrett is President, Americas at NetDimensions www.NetDimensions.com Twitter: @NetDimensions @peterbarrett71

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 117

118 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

A HUGE

LEAP FORWARD In this case study Gerry Quirke explains how Reed Learning leapt at the challenge to aid a major transformation among Hertfordshire County Council leaders.

W

ith a continuing backdrop of financial, political and strategic pressures on the public sector, Hertfordshire County Council was facing increasingly challenging times. Specifically, they had to reduce the organisation’s budget by an estimated £150m over three years. Clearly, radical changes were needed.

Easier said than done of course – human beings tend to be change resistant and quickly establish a set of processes, practices and behaviours. We establish a comfort zone.

So how do you support an organisation of 10,000 employees through a period of transformation? The council embarked on a major organisational programme – Council For The Future. The aim was to reduce costs, but crucially it wasn’t to be a case of ‘more of the same’ with less money and fewer resources. Instead it was about changing the culture and working practices to be more effective and efficient.

The key to this was strengthening the organisation’s leadership and this was where Reed Learning came in. Working in partnership with the council, Reed Learning

set out to devise a leadership development programme that would help these local government leaders to successfully transform the council. The council wanted them not only to lead their team and the organisation, but to lead Hertfordshire and its local community.

THE SOLUTION From the very beginning, it was clear that something pretty special was required. A ‘same old, same old’ standardised programme wouldn’t do. The team needed to create something innovative and

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 119

A HUGE LEAP FORWARD

bespoke. Something that would challenge, stretch and inspire both leaders and potential leaders to take that big leap forwards.

Managers needed to complete the leadership development programme being able to: • Develop their leadership knowledge, behaviour and skills and their ability to impact, influence and achieve • Form relationships and networks that foster cooperation, mutual support and joined-up working across Hertfordshire and with partner organisations • Challenge business processes and systems, and promote and implement continuous quality improvement and a high readiness for change • Demonstrate innovation, creative thinking and problem solving skills The team devised a ten-month blended learning programme – LEAP. This fastmoving, interactive learning experience aimed to give managers the skills, understanding and tools to take responsibility for changing the shape of the council.

LEAP would be offered to all high performing managers at foundation and middle management levels. This included those identified in the Talent Pool, with the potential to develop their leadership skills.

The programme would complement Council For The Future, and the Reed Learning specialists made sure they really took the time to understand Hertfordshire County Council’s values, behaviours and specific leadership characteristics.

Existing management and leadership frameworks were taken into account as were National Occupational Standards and current CIPD research. All managers and leaders needed to:

improve? Why did they relate to some people better than others? LEAP would offer pre-programme analysis in the form of 360 reviews, and MBTI questionnaires to answer these burning questions and help delegates create positive, constructive plans to enhance all their relationships.

For a learning experience to be effective it has to be rooted in reality. Leaders of the council simply had too many real issues to deal with to waste time trying to solve imaginary problems! LEAP looked directly to Council For The Future for complex organisational problems which the delegates would then analyse before identifying financial and efficiency savings and then presenting a solution to the senior management team.

MAKING THE LEAP Pre-course work would get delegates busy and engaged well before they set foot in a classroom. This would be the first of the self-managed learning tasks that would be so integral to the success of LEAP (with personal development programmes continuing throughout the ten-month programme).

It would demand that all important selfmotivation which not only determines an individual’s success on the programme, but has a direct correlation with qualities needed by successful leaders.

Then there would be the four workshops themselves. They would be one-day interactive forums tackling key issues relating to both foundation and middle managers. Topics include ‘Leadership v Management’, ‘Strategic Leadership’, ‘Employee Engagement’ and ‘Leading Change’.

• Make every penny count

The learning wouldn’t stop there.

Embedding it would be crucial.

Post-programme support in the form of one-to-one coaching sessions and a second 360 review (ten months after the programme) would continue to monitor progression levels.

• Have integrity

THE RESULTS

• Get it right

So far, LEAP has been highly successful.

Early business objectives have been met and the programme continues to flourish.

• Be citizen focused

• Be innovative The programme had to teach beyond the classroom, and so face-to-face training was combined with self-directed and online learning, reflection and coaching.

Another key facet of LEAP was enabling leaders to really understand their own particular leadership styles and preferences in order to get the very best out of each individual. What were their strengths?

What were the things they needed to

The results have been impressive: • 100% of LEAP graduates believe they now have greater insight into the strategic challenges that face Hertfordshire County Council and how they will impact on service delivery • 100% have seen improved productivity in the way they work with partners and across teams

120 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

• 100% are more confident to initiate, influence, lead and deliver change • 100% have taken the opportunity to employ new skills and knowledge in the workplace The comments of these LEAP graduates are typical: “Being on the LEAP programme has helped me take a more strategic approach to my work. I've become more organised and I'm more confident about leading others. I have learnt so much in a short space of time on the LEAP programme and feel excited about what the future may hold for me” – Kristy Thakur “I applied for, and was successful in securing, a new, and more senior job. I could not have done this, or been successful in my new role, without the learning I gained through LEAP” – Fiona Day, Head of Partnership and Quality What about the bigger picture? For this programme to be deemed successful, it needed to create organisational as well as individual impact. It needed to deliver change. And it seems that LEAP certainly has that box ticked: “LEAP has made a significant contribution to developing managers and leaders of the future. It’s changed the way they think, helping them behave more strategically, understanding the wider context of public sector challenges and applying new ways of working” – Sian Hughes, Learning and Organisational Development Manager, Hertfordshire County Council “I am pleased to state that I was nominated Team Leader of the Year in Hertfordshire and have been short-listed at national level. I believe that LEAP has contributed to my success, the team’s and ultimately that of the organisation at large” – Pretty Nkiwane, Safeguarding Practice Manager Following on from the success of the LEAP foundation and middle programmes, Hertfordshire County Council, in partnership with Reed Learning, took the initiative in February 2013, to launch LEAP Strategic (a third tier aimed at senior managers).

That comfort zone is getting smaller and smaller!

Gerry Quirke is Programme Director at Reed Learning. www.reedlearning.com Twitter: @reedlearning

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 121

122 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

Mobile is personalised, just-for-me learning translating knowledge into action. All this and global too, explains Piers Lea.

MOBILE:

IT’S PERSONAL –

EVEN AT GLOBAL SCALE

A

ccording to analysts 1 the smartphone has seen the fastest adoption rate in tech history, outpacing that of PCs in the 80s, the internet boom in the 90s, and even the rise of social networking in recent years.

Those of us who have worked to further technology-enabled learning for the last two decades might look enviously at such a rapid rate of acceptance.

Here at last is the final brick in the wall – the killer app – that will cement technology into the fabric of learning in the 21st century. Learning is, after all, a very personal thing – and no piece of technology that we use (aside perhaps from a pacemaker or a hearing aid) is more personal to us than a mobile communication device.

However, the dizzying speed with which smartphones and other mobile devices have become vital to our ability to function as human beings ought to be a source of considerable rejoicing for all learning professionals.

THE IMPERSONAL PC We've heard a lot about barriers to using technology for learning over the years – IT infrastructure, cost, lack of top team buy-in, etc. But perhaps the biggest barrier of all was right under our noses all the time and

we just didn't realise it – the desktop PC. In the office or in the home, a PC is always on a desk; part of the furniture. And because it is so much part of the furniture of work, we can’t help but associate it with work, and the rhythms of work.

Now that mobile is increasingly being rolled-out at scale as a means of learning delivery – and showing engagement rates five times that experienced with PCs in some cases – it suddenly seems obvious.

People have a completely different relationship with their mobile devices; one that is far more personal, and one that moves easily across the boundary between working and personal life in a way PCs

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 123

MOBILE: IT’S PERSONAL – EVEN AT GLOBAL SCALE

never could. Arguably, this makes it uniquely suited for learning.

Neither are we constrained any more by a stark contrast between the desktop PC, with its large screen and greater computing power, and mobile phones of old with their cramped displays and teeth-grinding latency issues. A huge variety of mobile devices is now available, covering a spectrum of different form factors and view-port sizes, and with computing power that would once have filled an entire room at IBM. Our smart devices now seem almost as smart as we are; smart enough, in fact, to learn from.

It is widely accepted now that not all the learning we do involves deep, individual immersion with knowledge and concepts. At least twice as much comes through interacting with other people; with peers or with mentors – and an even larger proportion, perhaps 70%, is about taking new knowledge into the working situation and applying it, interpreting it through action.

LEARNING TO THE RHYTHM OF LIFE Mobile technologies move with us as we make that transition from the immersive phase of learning to its social and active dimensions, helping to complete the learning continuum. In this way, the addition of mobile to our learning and communications armoury is allowing us finally to deliver on the full promise of e-learning; highly personalised, just-for-me learning experiences that translate knowledge into action and business results.

At the same time, mobile technologies are making a change to the rhythm of learning that can bring it into closer sync with the changed rhythms of work and life. We use our time differently when we have access to always-on devices that can be pulled out in an instant, wherever we happen to be. The way we learn should reflect this change.

There is a lot of downtime in many working occupations; time spent travelling, for instance, or waiting for someone to turn up for a meeting. This is the type of time that we have become increasingly used to filling with our mobile devices, and it can provide great opportunities to catch up on learning. Using small blocks, as little as 15 minutes here and there, you can quickly amass quite a lot of learning.

LEARNING APPS Mobile also brings learning directly into the context of work, collapsing the traditional time lag between acquiring knowledge and applying it. Learn about a new car you are wishing to buy (or sell) in the car showroom, rather than boning up on it

beforehand. Learn more about technical equipment you are maintaining and repairing while, as a technician, you are actually in the field repairing it. As a border guard, check on border control legislation while you are actually at the border, rather than relying on memory.

Learn about procedures and processes while you are actually undergoing those processes. Taking this a step further we are now creating ‘learning’ apps to deliver business tools and live data relating to the subject. This means it becomes an app to help you do your job better that contains learning – and vice-versa. This is where we can all start getting creative. Let’s be realistic, this is learning that is often far more likely to happen – when we can access knowledge at precisely the moment when the need for more knowledge is experienced.

And while we move, in our personal learning journeys, from an introspective, reflective mode to a more externallyfocused, active and social mode, at the same time a contradictory movement takes place. The knowledge and skills that we sought to acquire – which seemed like things external to us – move inside and become part of us; part of ‘muscle memory’. We can act on them without thinking any more about underlying principles. Our learning has become internalised; something personal to us.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE As learning professionals, a vision of more personal learning experiences should be at the heart of what we do. Learning and communications, if they are to be really effective, have to be felt as highly personal to the individual. You cannot engage people in learning or communications that do not make some kind of appeal to the deep values and emotions that motivate them as individuals. It has to be personal. And when you use technology to help in this endeavour, it helps to use highly personal technology; technology that people feel comfortable with and which functions almost as an extension of their own limbs, senses and intellect.

Mobile technology increasingly plays this type of role in our lives. However, if mobile brings greater intimacy to learning experiences than desktop, it is no less able when it comes to realising the number one benefit sought from technology-enabled learning, that of scale. Making it personal at global scale is the great challenge that many organisations are looking to technology to address – and one aspect of that challenge in particular is emerging as critical.

124 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

GLOBAL VERSUS LOCAL Corporates with geographically dispersed workforces face well-documented problems in ensuring the consistency of training across all territories. However, just as keenly felt is the importance of catering for local variations in practice and differing needs on the ground. Often this leads to perceived conflict between what is mandated from the centre and what is needed at the periphery. A ‘not invented here’ attitude can prejudice uptake and engagement.

Technology platforms often fail to take account of the need for local variation in design and content. As mobile learning and communication solutions begin rolling-out at scale, there is danger that this vital dynamic gets overlooked.

It is important to get this right, which is why a mobile authoring and publishing solution, such as LINEstream from LINE Communications, has an architecture that can cater for these differences, allowing the addition of locally relevant content alongside what is created by the centre.

GUIDE TO GETTING RESULTS In a nutshell, the vision of future learning and communications that I am outlining here is increasingly personal learning experiences at enterprise scale. Adding mobile to our armoury brings this vision one step closer to reality. Already we are seeing these sorts of business results with the use of mobile technologies: • 17% increase in pass rates, year on year • Training time increased by four hours a month • Many weeks saved in time to competency • Potential savings of £Ms from a suite of small JIT apps • Development time down to weeks from months In focusing on the lustre of the prize, however, we shouldn’t underestimate the scale of the challenge. The reality on the ground is that the practicalities of fulfilling this vision within organisations is not widely appreciated or understood.

1 http://blog.flurry.com/bid/88867/iOSand-Android-Adoption-ExplodesInternationally

Piers Lea is CEO at LINE Communications www.LINE.co.uk Twitter: @LINEComms

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 125

126 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

UMUC’S GAME-CHANGING TRAINING IN

CYBER SECURITY Roohi Nazki examines the background to a new online degree from University of Maryland University College to help combat cyber crime.

A

ccording to the 2012 Cost of Cyber Crime study by the Ponemon Institute, cyber attacks cost UK organisations between £400k and £7.7m, depending on the size of the organisation targeted and the effectiveness of it's security. Some firms suffered as many as 40 successful attacks a week. In its National Security Strategy, cyber threats are recognised by the Government as one of four 'Tier One' risks to the UK's security.

It is reported that attacks by malicious insiders, ‘denial of service’ attacks and malicious code, are the most costly cyber crimes in the UK. Research shows that nearly half of employers worldwide rely on trusting employees not to access confidential data. However, the problems are often down to careless errors due to a lack of awareness. Over half of reported breaches are caused by unintentional mistakes made by employees.

Employees represent the key to reducing the human error factor and improving security.

This is leading to a growing consensus – in the public and private sectors – that more training and education is needed to develop responsible behaviour. Cutting edge cyber security training, especially simulations and games, is expected to play an effective role in combating corporate cyber crime and minimising its costs to businesses.

Visionary companies are moving from a reactive, defensive mode to a more proactive approach, putting in place mechanisms for linking information security back to business strategy. There is an increased awareness about the depth of knowledge needed by companies in order to secure their data. This has led to a high demand from ambitious ‘techies’ who want to retrain and gain high-level skills in the domain.

MSc IN CYBER SECURITY Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) was approached by the University of Maryland June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 127

UMUC’S GAME-CHANGING TRAINING IN CYBER SECURITY

University College (UMUC) to create a strategically important off-campus programme, an MSc in Cyber Security. This award-winning distance learning solution features e-learning elements created by TIS. Founded in 1947, UMUC is one of 11 accredited, degree-granting institutions in the University System of Maryland. Offering a broad range of cutting-edge classes, the college has earned a global reputation for excellence. It is a comprehensive virtual university known for its focus on the educational and professional development of adult students.

TRAINING SOLUTION The groundwork conducted with UMUC led to the belief that in order to be effective, a comprehensive cyber security-training programme needed to be multi-tiered and nuanced. The different types of users, their skill levels, work profiles and roles all needed to be accommodated in the learning, along with the security and IT infrastructure of the company. The resulting solution includes cyber security training needs consulting, training curriculum and training measurement.

TRAINING CURRICULUM

TRAINING NEED UMUC offers Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in cyber security, through a course that is completely online. It was felt that while the standard web-based training approach was of merit, learners also needed to relate their cyber security learning to the real world.

With this in mind, UMUC desired a simulation-based approach that learners could play towards the end of the course.

Day in the Life is a dynamic cyber security simulation module developed by TIS as part of a larger training programme.

LEARNING GAPS AND PROBLEMS To identify any shortcomings and gaps in learning, the TIS team engaged in a discussion with the stakeholders at UMUC to identify learning gaps of students. There were three main issues. Firstly, an inability to map cyber security issues learnt online to actual issues in the real-life job. Secondly, managing people successfully is part of good cyber security, and handling them correctly is difficult to learn from webbased training alone. Lastly, there was a lack of a ‘fun’ aspect to the learning and learners needed a break from the rigorous online course schedule.

DESIGN THINKING These findings were used to drive the design strategy. The solution also needed to address the following objectives: 1. Ground the students in the day-to-day responsibilities of a cyber security professional.

2. Test their ability to make decisions related to cyber security.

3. Engage them in the solution by introducing elements of prioritisation and time pressure, and immediate real-life feedback through e-mails, phone calls, and face-to-face conversations.

4. Apprise them of the consequences of botched decisions through the use of appropriately delivered feedback.

Traditional training has its limitations. When it comes to cyber security these limitations become more pronounced. The challenge included the varied user base, the different user motivation levels and, above all, the dynamic and rapidly changing nature of the threats themselves. The innovative approach met the challenge at UMUC, counterbalancing the dryness of the subject matter.

The experience of TIS in working with leading organisations to develop cyber security training curricula has resulted in a move away from the punitive ‘check the box’ mentality that unfortunately seems to inform most cyber security training initiatives. The cyber-security training matrix, for example, leverages games and simulations, gamification, virtual labs and apps to improve the cyber security profile of a business.

SERIOUS GAMES AND SIMULATIONS Games are powerful tools of fun and learning.

Cyber security training lends itself to this concept due to the nature of the subject matter. The average person will ignore or forget security warnings delivered via e-mail or company lectures when the time comes to actually apply their knowledge.

Learner motivation – and therefore the effectiveness of any training programme – soars if learners become immersed in a game in which they play a critical role. For this reason, games are also effective in delivering awareness, compliance, policy and other specialised training.

Simulations are uniquely effective in cyber security training because they challenge learners at just the right level and then push them towards the expertise they need to attain.

questions and having an open dialogue; and secondly, that users increase their knowledge of how to protect online identities and other corporate information.

Micro-games are an effective way to demystify cyber security when designed around key security threats like social engineering, password protection, phishing and malware etc. The technique ensures improved responses thereby reducing an organisations susceptibility to attack.

VIRTUAL LABS The application of virtualisation technologies to the study of computer security has had the most significant impact through the development of specialised laboratories utilising workstation or serverbased virtualisation. Virtual labs support cyber security research and education, training, and awareness, and are characterised by innovation and variety.

APPS Applications are addictive and ubiquitous.

Almost every smartphone owner uses apps in their day-to-day life. They ensure appealing interactivity, and heightened usability and engagement. In the field of education and training too, apps are making a significant impact. Apps are an important part of an innovative cyber security curriculum, providing performance support and ongoing refresher learning.

Off-campus programme in cyber security “We engaged TIS to assist us with the development of media and learning objects in support of a very large and strategically important online programme in cyber security. We have been very pleased with the work on this project. The synergies between their team and our faculty and staff have been excellent. Their technical expertise and ability to scale are impressive. They have delivered high-end course development of which we are very proud and they have accomplished this on time and within budget” Greg von Lehmen PhD, Provost UMUC. Download 2012 Cost of Cyber Crime Study: http://www.ponemon.org/library/2012cost-of-cyber-crime-study

GAMIFICATION Gamification is an excellent tool for gaining cyber security awareness. Creating engaging training in this topic must be created in a non-threatening and non-challenging environment. This ensures two outcomes: Firstly, end-users feel comfortable asking

128 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

Roohi Nazki is a Senior Consultant in Instructional Design at Tata Interactive Systems. www.tatainteractive.com Twitter: @TataInteractive

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 129

130 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

LET’S GET

ENGAGED!

Are you in learning? You’d better be in marketing too, or your content might fly under the radar, says Stephen Walsh.

L

ook out people. There’s some bad E going around. I don’t mean the E in E-learning. I mean the other ‘E word’: Engaging. Are you really engaging people? Are you starting in the right place?

People in the learning technologies world talk a lot about making the learning experience engaging. Usually what that means is that there’s good content, presented in an interesting way, usually with some nod to interactivity, inside the modules or elements of the blended programme. And it might well be engaging – but that’s subjective. A screen of text might be engaging, if I’m engaged in the subject; and what about so-called engaging interactions? They probably distract and irritate as often as they engage. Keep them simple and real-world, or maybe just don’t go to the trouble.

I’ve no problem with making things engaging. I do have a problem with where and when it gets done. If your engagement effort is spent in full inside the learning

programme, then it’s in the wrong place.

It’s a billboard in the forest – highly informative, if I happen to chance upon it.

But most people are never going to see it.

So when we talk about engagement, we have to take a step back. We’d like to believe that great learning interventions will get attention by virtue of their innate greatness. But the volume (quantity and noise) of competing information coming at the modern knowledge worker will almost guarantee that won’t happen, unless someone forces me to do it (which isn’t a strong long term motivator), or it’s absolutely vital to my achieving a goal I care about (and even then, you have to tell me it exists and how it will help). Or maybe, just maybe, someone does an amazing job of raising my awareness and making it a compelling way to spend my time – because it’s their job to do that.

HI, MARKETING? L&D HERE! LET’S TALK Who engages people for a living? Who spends their waking hours trying to

provoke, stimulate, shock and humour people into changing behaviour?: Marketing professionals. They’re in the persuasion business. If you involve them (as we do) in ‘learning projects’, they are refreshingly disinterested in the efficacy of the design model or the details under the bonnet of your approach. They talk about how you’re going to stimulate demand.

Who are you trying to reach… and with what message? Where do those people hang out now? How do we use those channels? How are we going to get action?

What is the campaign theme? How will we know if it’s working?

These and a hundred other questions are their stock in trade. These are the right conversations to have (and, please, not in the final two weeks of the project). I’ll declare a dual interest. Yes, I’m in marketing. I’m responsible for helping people engage with Kineo. So I care a lot about all of those questions from a brand and business perspective. But I’ve also been in learning for 17 years, designing solutions

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 131

LET’S GET ENGAGED!

for clients. And when I look at the two domains, there’s more than a sliver of a Venn diagram to connect them.

CONTENT, MARKETING… PERHAPS, MY FRIEND, WE ARE NOT SO DIFFERENT? By ‘marketing’ we’re not just talking about creating flyers and banners, or competitions to win an iPad for being the 999th person to complete the painful compliance module, and the like. That can help (depending on your audience) but that’s more at the tactical, collateral end.

Savvy marketing people are already switched on to the latest trend in marketing: content marketing.

Yes, that’s a thing now. It’s defined by the Content Marketing Institute (of course there’s one) as: a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action. It really means that the marketing world is recognising that high quality, original content – not advertorials or slick, surface level media – is what will really win the war for attention.

This is where our worlds collide. Great content marketing needs compelling, high quality, authentic and original content – not sales puff. Great learning experiences needs the same. Great content marketing is sustained, multi-channel and relentless in its aim to communicate the message and win over the target audience.

Great content marketing needs compelling, high quality, authentic and original content – not sales puff. Great learning experiences needs the same.

BP’s blended programme A rich campaign with a high profile stakeholder, this was an example of ‘finding Elvis’ – the voice that will carry weight and get a strong idea embedded in an organisation. It included a multichannel campaign with editorial articles promoting value, getting testimonials from colleagues, creating a whole community around operations essentials, and having a sustained regular newsletter to update on new developments and successes.

Warner Bros’ engagement Hollywood style

carefully designed and executed as the learning implementation.

And let’s not force a distinction where there isn’t one. There’s great learning content in the ‘marketing’ elements of these examples. The learning isn’t the payoff at the end of the content marketing campaign. It IS the campaign.

So, next time you are asking yourself the engagement question, take a step back.

Engagement can’t just be within the walled garden of your learning programme.

You’re in the content marketing and persuasion game. There are no walls.

Three short humorous movies carrying vital messages about information security.

Reinforced through a sustained campaign with faux movie posters, flash mobs, golf carts, branded sweets, superhero drop-ins (well, when in Hollywood!)

The Co-operative Group’s emagazine Heralding the arrival of the Leadership Development Zone, this campaign included content marketing in an e-magazine carrying insightful content and invitations to take part in a new learning experience.

Marketing professionals know a thing or two about honing a message, getting it across, and measuring impact. Their elevator pitch isn’t that different from L&D. Except L&D teams are not typically natural promoters of what they do – which is a shame, as a lot of great work in learning just flies under the radar. But marketing people? Not a shy bunch by nature.

Increasingly, our work is as much about marketing and communications as it is about learning. Personally, I’ve spent seven years doing things just like this article – developing content to communicate an idea about learning or technology. Is it marketing? Sure, guilty as charged. But – hopefully – it is more than a brochure or sales spiel. It’s an attempt to communicate an idea that I think often gets left behind in the scope slashing phase of any learning project – or worse, never gets mentioned at all.

Who’s doing this right? We’ve worked with many clients who get this, and put effort into the content marketing element of their campaign. Here are three examples:

These weren’t all high-spend. And they weren’t all about pumping ‘do the learning’ messages through every available social media channel. The point is that the engagement and content marketing was as

132 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

Stephen Walsh is a director at Kineo www.kineo.com Twitter: @Kineo

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 133

134 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN L&D AND MARKETING COULD BE A

MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN

What would it be like to work on the other side of the fence? Learning departments and marketing teams can learn a lot from one another. Rob Clarke explains.

M

ost of us tend to work in silos; cloistered in our own professional expertise and personal experience. This is how the world goes around – often, the more we specialise, the more valuable we are within our chosen career. Yet there is much that one person can learn from another. As someone who’s worked within the learning industry for almost an entire career but for more than half of it in a marketing role, I’m especially fascinated by what marketing departments and learning departments could teach each other.

While these two departments may not seem natural bedfellows, there are many similarities in the way they work. Both are professional communicators (although they have different aims: simplistically speaking, one informs, the other sells). Creativity is vital to both. There are also substantial differences. Marketers tend to be focused on delivering a small number of points in the most impactful way. Notoriously, they may well...erm...exaggerate while doing so.

Often, they sell aspirations, using humour, status, looks and sex appeal to get the job done.

Educators have to convey far more information within a tighter structure, perhaps one that’s predetermined by the client (who perhaps has insisted on a specific type of learning). Many of their clients associate ‘value’ with ‘volume’.

Educators seldom use (or perhaps are allowed to use) humour with the same verve as marketers. Well, they deal in facts, not aspirations.

MORE SIMILARITIES THAN DIFFERENCES Yet both disciplines are converging – as

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 135

A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN L&D AND MARKETING COULD BE A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN

both marketing and learning become more social. Such changes make it opportune for marketing and learning teams to exploit each other’s expertise, says Peter Labrow, a marketer who has worked with many training companies both as an employee and as an outside supplier. “There are more similarities than differences between the two departments,” he says, “yet they respond to briefs in very different ways. I don’t think they should work in the same way, but they could learn an awful lot from each other.

“Consider the final output from each department,” invites Labrow. “Marketers are focused on the advertisement – or leaflet, or whatever – being its own reward. It’s not uncommon for consumers to enjoy watching an advertisement for its own sake; they talk about it; watch it again on YouTube – for no other reason than it’s entertaining. To make something that’s just 30 seconds long be both memorable and entertaining is tough.

To reach that point, marketers probably spent as much time – and money – as a company might throw at an hour or more of e-learning.

Marketers whittle down the key messages to fewer than a handful – then whack you between the eyes with them. You remember the idea because you enjoy the way it was delivered. And, if the idea’s great, you pass it on via social networks. Marketers are encouraged to revel in their creativity. They are passionate about brevity. In an advert, every word has to sell every next word, every sentence has to be more compelling than the last.”

Peter Clements, owner of niche training company CRM Knowledge, has spent over 20 years in the training business. He agrees that the two departments have similarities, but thinks that learning departments are constrained by a tighter framework – one that can impede them in getting the message across. “A lot of the fun and humour you find on a training course comes from the trainer, on the day. Big impact concepts such as humour are seldom built into learning materials. Is this the ‘fault’ of the educationalist? Perhaps, but it’s partly that there’s an ingrained expectation that to be credible, learning has to have gravitas; that’s hard to break with clients. Plus, marketing campaigns mix media more freely, while clients often direct learning companies down to a specific delivery medium, perhaps classroom or e-learning from the outset.”

OVER SIMPLIFICATION Vs FACT FATIGUE Similarities and differences aren’t just down to creativity. The way in which projects are goaled and measured is different. “Marketers have pretty tight goals,” says Clements.

“These are often tied directly to the business.

They are tightly measured, especially with

A lot of the fun and humour you find on a training course comes from the trainer, on the day. Big-impact concepts such as humour are seldom built into learning materials.

online advertising, where analytics can be very sophisticated. They’re perhaps further down that journey than learning professionals. Things like the Kirkpatrick Method do have value, but a marketer wouldn’t get away with anything as broad.”

If each department better understood the other, it would not only improve their output but also lessen their excesses.

“Marketing’s creativity can be its own undoing,” says Labrow. “If an idea is too out-there, it can backfire or annoy. Yet more of that kind of imagination within an e-learning course could make it highly memorable – too many facts can fatigue an audience. There’s also a need to entertain.”

While marketers are tasked with radically simplifying a message, educators are expected to convey too much. “Sometimes we provide excessive detail, because we, or the client, mistake that for value,” says Clements. “We take the basics for granted and move onto advanced concepts and sometimes miss the point. I was involved in a project for a large bank; after the training was rolled-out, we found that people weren’t using the system in the way we expected.

After shadowing some users, it was discovered that we’d skipped over some basic stuff and concentrated on what we thought added value. For most people, the basics are the key thing: they want to get the job done, not be experts. So, we improved things by getting back to basics and simplifying. Educators couldn’t make something as brutally sharp as an advert, but we could tighten things up a lot.”

Labrow agrees: “Ask any copywriter: revision is more than half of writing. Most of revision is cutting – the cuts can be brutal. But the end result is something with far more pace and clarity. Now ask any instructional designer to cull between 20% and 40% from the course they’ve created and listen to the ensuing wailing.”

MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL PARTNERSHIP Miles Corbett, partner at e-learning specialist Transition, believes that the constraints of learning delivery conspire against the creative process. “Educators can get into ruts of communication,” says Corbett. “This happens for understandable reasons. For example, with compliance training, lawyers may have more control than a subject matter expert normally would. The lawyer, trying to reduce risk, effectively kills the

136 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

creative scope of the project. Perhaps educators stick with what they know, rather than take risks. Or, where you have a course that’s geared towards a quiz or examination, you can end up drilling people with endless facts so they can pass the examination – rather than enabling them to genuinely learn the topic. We over-teach them because the goal is wrong. New thinking is more implicit in the marketing mindset.”

Another reason for differences in approach is that marketing almost always has board-level representation within a business, while often learning doesn’t. “A board member has the clout to keep creative ideas pure,” says Corbett.

“A board member knows directly what the underlying business drivers are and is personally invested in success. Learning is more often driven from a lower level, with more stakeholders. It can quickly get compromised.

It’s harder to do something radical.”

The commercial pressures also seem to be different. “Budget forces decisions which aren’t always the right ones,” says Labrow.

“It’s common to hear learning companies talking about ‘repurposing content’. That gets the job done but it’s often only a tick in the box. Marketing companies would squirm at the notion – and kick back hard. When the medium changes, you can’t just deliver the same stuff in a different way. The content has to change too.”

But Labrow also believes that the time is ripe for both communities to learn from each other. “Both marketing and learning are becoming more informal; more social. There’s a demand for both to be more engaging. In some ways we’re already seeing aspects of learning and marketing being merged: what is an infographic if not one of the sharpest, purest marriages of learning and marketing?

Marketers are trying to build followings for their clients by using how-to videos; what are these if not a form of learning? Just think how less trite marketing could be if it conveyed information more honestly.

Consider how exciting learning could be if it had the pace of an advertisement.

Parachuting marketers and educators into each others’ teams could have a massive impact on both.”

Rob Clarke is a founder of Training Press Releases www.trainingpressreleases.com Twitter: @TrainingPress

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 137

138 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

THE SLOPE OF

ENLIGHTENMENT From early beginnings lurking on the Learning & Skills Group, Mike Collins developed a number of online communities with varying degrees of success. Here he shares some of the lessons he’s learned.

I

entered the wonderful world of online communities purely by chance. The starting point was Learning Technologies 2008. I’d just started a new job as a learning designer and was eager to see how technology could support my role. I happened to watch a session on ‘the networked organisation’ and it made perfect sense, something clicked, why would anyone want to work any other way?

I went home that night and set up an online network and the rest is history, although it certainly wasn’t an overnight thing. Seven years on, the work I do is still very much work-in-progress and I’m learning every day. I’ve created and developed a number of online communities with varying degrees of

success. But I still remember joining my first online community like it was yesterday: The Learning & Skills Group.

While I lurked I was learning lots of things and I started to see the potential value for collaboration and learning in my own organisation.

L&D TEAM SPACE Simultaneously, I was developing my first community. This private network was my first taste of community creation. I didn’t know I was developing a community at the time. My aim was to connect my thenL&D team together by creating a social team space for us to share useful resources and keep in touch across 15+ sites. My inspiration had come from watching how others were communicating in this new

and open way. I simply replicated what I saw in the hope that the same would work here.

To a degree it did, I set up the network and created a discussion and blog area, added some groups and a photo area. When ready, I invited my closest colleagues and it spread like wildfire with over 100 team members signing-up within two weeks.

Then it happened: Nothing!

Nothing happened. There were very few meaningful contributions and while people had joined there was no real activity to speak of. I had unknowingly just left the peak of inflated expectations and entered the trough of disillusionment. There were lots of factors contributing to the lack of activity which I only really started to

June 2013 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills 139

THE SLOPE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

to see how learning can be approached in any other way, shape or form. This is our challenge, to move beyond the term and buzz of ‘social learning’ to just the way we work and learn.

Gartner Hype Cycle Peak of inflated expectations

THE JOURNEY AHEAD Plateau of productivity

Slope of enlightenment

Trough of disillusionment

Technology trigger

understand much later. Huge expectation and hope gave way to disappointment in a matter of weeks. The Gartner Hype Cycle helps to understand why this happened.

While it primarily describes the path of emerging technologies it can also be used to understand the path of emerging behaviours and new approaches to working and learning.

In this case let’s look at social technologies as the trigger, as the social phenomenon shows no signs of slowing down. You’ll have been living under a rock not to have heard about ‘social learning’, the latest buzzword to infiltrate L&D lines. I’m a big believer in using technology to support learning, to connect people together and as an online community manager it is essential to what I do. Technology, however, should never be the focus.

FIRST EFFORT My first effort at developing a community saw me guilty of suffering from shiny-newtoy syndrome. I focused on the new social network technology. I didn’t focus on the most important element, the people who would be using it. I’d observed an established community in action and thought by recreating the same infrastructure and features, success was all but guaranteed. If only it was that easy.

Technology is just the enabler, the vehicle to get you from one place to another – but without a map, compass and supplies, you’re going nowhere fast.

Over the last few years I’ve had a number of debates on how to shift the focus from technology to people. I love looking at the law of diffusion of innovation in a learning context with L&D being early adopters leading the way. Using social technologies to transform the way we work and learn, I

It’s a hard journey and we need to ask how can we get inside learners’ heads when the expectations around working and learning are still deep rooted in the ‘old’ way? There has been a huge amount of technological change or ‘triggers’ in the last ten years.

But have our behaviours, attitudes and organisational cultures changed in that time to truly use technology to its full potential? To apply it in ways that add more value to all that we do? No. Not yet.

And the journey has only just started in the way we look to build the workplaces of

2.5%

13.5%

34%

34%

16%

Innovators

Early adopters

Early majority

Late majority

Laggards

believe L&D has a big part to play by leading the way as a workplace connector, role modelling how information should be shared and collaborating in new exciting ways.

As early adopters in our respective organisations our goal is to reach the early majority and to ultimately reach the tipping point. People need to observe the behaviour themselves to learn from it and to some extent copy it.

the 21st century. For those like me who are trying to create and build communities and encourage a different way of working, the trough of disillusionment will be all too familiar as our hopes and expectations give way to reality. People don’t like change!

I knew the potential for an online community as I had seen it. I had observed people openly sharing knowledge, resources and experiences. I had seen how the tools could be used and how they could create value when used in the right way. The ability to apply this back in our own workplaces is essential – and why we need to role model and get to the early majority.

Using the hype cycle as technology in learning and the diffusion of innovation to represent changing behaviours, we can see where our energy needs to focus. It’s not easy trying to change how we’ve been brought up and how we have been expected to act and behave in the workplace. At the same point, there are billions of people using social tools to share their lives and knowledge with others, so it’s not like it’s a fundamental shift in human behaviour. We are inherently social animals. It just takes time for this to spread its wings, fly in new directions and work in different settings.

The late majority and laggards are those who still think being trained is the primary way to learn. Without a trip to the training room they don’t consider themselves to be learning. Then there are those so scarred by our education system or the cultures they have worked in, they lack the vision

Our efforts to educate, raise awareness and develop skills to move people from being early adopters, to ‘the way it’s just done round here’ are explicitly linked to the slope of enlightenment. Everything you are doing or not doing to support this shift and change will determine how long or

140 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

THE SLOPE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

steep the slope is, until it is just the way you do things.

question and if this is answered quickly the slope of enlightenment will be a short and steep one.

The red area (see Slope of Enlightenment graphic) is where we need to win hearts and minds, where we need to develop skills in others to become better learners. Where we can increase the understanding of how technology can be applied and add value to support work and learning. In the pink box you will find the answer to the WIIFM

There’s still a huge amount of people and organisations out there that see social technologies as foreign, strange and even dangerous.

There are many out there yet to experience the ‘we’re going to change the world’ moment and with it the trough of

The Slope of Enlightenment We’re going to change the world – YAY!

s The

lope

Just the way it is done

o

ligh f en

tenm

ent

Hearts and minds Skills development Application and value creation

This is NOT going to be easy

142 Inside Learning Technologies & Skills June 2013

Change and behaviours

disillusionment – let alone set foot on and start to climb the slope of enlightenment.

The red area needs should be our focus and continue so as we nurture and encourage change and shift our approaches to workplace learning and ultimately how we work.

For those who wish to challenge and change – prepare to approach the slope.

It’s a challenging journey but pull your hiking boots on as it’s a hill worth climbing. Just imagine the view when you reach the top.

The DPG Community supports continuous professional development. It focuses on HR, L&D and leadership. www.community.dpgplc.co.uk

Mike Collins is Head of Customer Experience at DPG plc www.dpgplc.co.uk www.community.dpgplc.co.uk Twitter: @MikeCollins007