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'Allison recently did an interview with Chief Learning Officer ® about the future of learning technology. Please view the video of the interview below. The Future of Learning Technology from Human Capital Media on Vimeo.
'Many learning executives are concerned about visibility. They lament that they are not included early and sufficiently in the strategic work of the organization. Many seek appreciation and recognition for the learning enterprise, their learning enterprise. This long-standing concern has well-worn answers. I’ve offered some myself: align vigorously with the strategic purposes of the organization. measure the learning enterprise against the metrics that matter most to the organization and l
'Many colleagues have asked what I think will emerge in workplace learning in 2015, “What’s important for 2015, in your view?” Or they put it this way, “Have you read anything worthwhile that summarizes trends for 2015?” Or this, often this, “I should be assessing my learning organization as we move into a new year.
'I often think about the condition of higher education, but was concerned not at all when I went to see “La Boheme” in a movie theater at the mall. Opera in San Diego. Opera is very much on the minds of San Diegans. Recently and suddenly, our local opera announced it was closing. The situation here is as it is in many places: aging donors and audiences, increasing costs, decreasing revenue, and competing entertainments.
'Malinka. My first ever yoga class happened six miles from my house. I was annoyed about the distance, but because Malinka had strong recommendations, I drove across town. Malinka, not her real name, was known as a laid-back teacher, which appealed to me. The last thing I need is a yoga instructor that encourages my competitive streak. As I drove to the session, I wondered about who would be in the class and whether I would be able to keep up.
'Sue got caught texting while sitting in her car at a stoplight. She was just sitting there when law enforcement nabbed her. But that’s another matter. We are here to talk about how Sue dealt with the ticket she got. In California, those of us who get tickets may reduce the penalty via traffic school. Some turn to Clown Traffic School or my personal favorite, Shop ’til You Drop Traffic School.
'A friend took over a large, far-flung learning organization. His task was to strengthen it. Strengthen it. Two words, hundreds of possibilities. Perhaps my recommendations aren’t what you would expect: Think less about the learning organization and more about the company or agency. Get really smart about the context. What is keeping the executives up at night?
'You met Larry, my hair color consultant, in my prior post. The big day arrived. The time had come for Larry to work on my hair. It had been eight days since our brief diagnostic meeting. I was concerned that he wouldn’t remember me. But he did. Larry remembered my hair, my problem, and my goals. He urged us to review them together to make certain.
'Today I learned about consulting from a surprising source. It began at lunch yesterday, when my usually positive pal Ellie remarked that my hair wasn’t looking so great. I think the word she used was listless. The cut was fine. But she wondered about the color. What was up with the color? In order to tell this story I have to admit that I’ve been throwing color at my hair for years.
'Of course, Qualcomm is interested in mobile learning and support. The very global, San Diego-based company is the leading patent holder on 3G and 4G mobile technologies. Their self interest delivers benefits to the rest of us. As impetus for more and better mobile learning and performance support, they’ve launched WorkLearnMobile– The Mobile Learning Innovation Network.
'Mike Yonker , my guest blogger, is President of Learner Mobile for SVI Inc. Much of mobile training and development is broken. Few have the patience to go through courseware on a phone or even a tablet. Screens are small and content is long. Mobile can do so much more. Mobile was the buzz at the ASTD International Conference in Dallas in May, 2013.
'Compliance training satisfies few who experience it. Not only do we often fritter away this opportunity, I have come to believe that compliance training promotes cynicism about all of workplace learning. Complaining about compliance is not good enough. I convened a panel devoted to improving compliance training at the Corporate Learning Summit conference in Chicago.
'When you look at the numbers associated with workplace learning and development, the investment in leader performance jumps out. Bersin Associates, now affiliated with Deloitte, wrote this in 2012: U.S. companies have increased leadership development spending 14 percent over 2011 levels to an estimated $13.6 billion in 2012. The Bersin group notes that this spending is extending beyond senior leaders and to mid-level and even first-level managers.
The learning organization of the last century focused on the classroom. That was challenge enough. Today, the canvas of the learning organization expands to include the classroom and the world of work. With humility about the influence of scheduled training events, learning leaders now are asked to deliver experiences, resources and relationships on demand, where and when needed.
No, not my first MOOC, Sarah Siegel’s. Sarah is my guest blogger. I appreciate Sarah’s enthusiasm for learning, experience, community and technology. That’s why I invited her to tell us what happened when she signed up for a MOOC on the subject of E-learning and Digital Culture. This is what she had to say: My first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) experience – from late-January to early-March, 2013 – was both positive and negative.
In spite of gripes about relevance, congruence with new technology, and sluggishness, I remain an instructional design fan. Why? ID is not perfect, but it is what we have, and it does tame the chaos that surrounds us– to some extent. I’m one of those people who appreciates the good old days of ID. Then we were devoted to clear and articulated outcomes, matching strategies to them, and provision of worked examples with lots of practice and feedback.
I can’t get enough of performance support. That passion began early, when I encountered the limitations of my own memory. It continues to this day as I discover even more flaws in my memory. Of course, I rely heavily on technology to help me travel, pack, commune, invest, eat and maximize the software residing on my computer. That’s all good for me.
A faint pulse today. Most of what is said and written about mobile learning and support touts potential and points to the future. Current studies confirm a faint pulse for mobile in enterprise learning today. I first noticed this enthusiasm-action gap when colleague Jim Marshall and I surveyed workplace learning professionals about their learning technology practices.
That technology sinner is me. I sinned this morning. I awoke at 5:30 AM to address an elearning conference in Europe via Adobe Connect. By 5:50 AM, with colorful earrings in my ears, and virtually suitable clothing on top, I was ready for the webinar. This isn’t about technology failure. Connect worked like a charm. Or I think it did. And therein lies the problem.
John Park is my guest blogger. I invited him to write this when I recognized my lack of clarity about the options for mobile development and delivery. I think you will enjoy his tour of our choices. We want to use mobile devices, but which mobile? There is great excitement about the potential of mobile devices for learning and support. It is hard to ignore the benefits of learning and information on demand, in close proximity to work.
Jolie Kennedy is my guest blogger. I think you will enjoy her take on her learning experiences. Jolene writes: Summer 1989: Queens College, City University of New York. Madonna’s Like a Prayer blares on my headphones. It’s my first semester and I’m low man on the totem pole. I get classes no one wants… statistics and ethics. Ugh. College sucks! Stats class is a bust.
In September I attended the eLearning Guild’s new conference, Performance Support Symposium. Ontuitive’s Bob Mosher kicked it off with a mighty bang, offering the jaw-dropping suggestion that we cast off training in favor of performance support. Like Bob, I am hooked on performance support. In the 80s, I wrote a book about job aids. More recently, I wrote another, this one called Handbook for Job Aids and Performance Support.
Words without actions. Words without actions. That’s how I described the status of mobile learning in an article in eLearn magazine ten months ago. My point then was that mobile offers immense potential for learning and support but that it is not yet making much of a difference in the enterprise. When San Diego State University (SDSU) colleague Jim Marshall and I surveyed more than a thousand educators in companies, agencies and universities about their eLearning practices, they reported
Technology is not the answer. Not automatically. But many executives thought it would be so, that it was a matter of selection and investment. Now, many look back on prior enthusiasms for technology-based learning with tales to tell of dashed hopes. With hindsight, they know that nothing is automatic, not even mobile learning, and that success does not come easily.
Suzanne Aurilio is my guest blogger. She and our SDSU colleagues have enjoyed some solid successes in bringing faculty to rely on and appreciate technology. Here is her story. I’ve been working with university faculty on teaching, learning and technology for almost ten years. During much of that time, I led a well-funded program in which we incentivized faculty to experiment with technologies to improve teaching and learning.
Here is what a world without objectives might sound like– “I don’t know. What do you think? Last year we covered ice breakers. How about a session on humor this year?” “Well, I’m not entirely certain what scenario-based elearning would do for us, but I know our competitors are doing it.” “I want to build a great program for the reps, but not sure what to do.
Torrey Trust is my guest blogger. Her topic– personal learning networks, also known as PLNs. Here is a way for people to turn their interest in lifelong, independent learning AND social connections into a way of life. Here’s what Torrey has to say about PLNs: In 1968, Licklider & Taylor predicted that computers would be used as communication devices where individuals would connect and converse with others around the world to discuss a shared topic of interest.
I do love them. I love apps because of what I can do on the go. Apps on my mobile devices enable practice, a quick lesson, a conversation with a coach or team, or a reminder about how it is that I might think about something. Here is the story of how apps helped Aaron Ifland, a doctoral student, who attends two universities 118 miles apart, and teaches at a third.
I do love them. I love apps because of what I can do on the go. Apps on my mobile devices enable practice, a quick lesson, a conversation with a coach or team, or a reminder about how it is that I might think about something. Here is the story of how apps helped Aaron Ifland, a doctoral student, who attends two universities 118 miles apart, and teaches at a third.
Torrey Trust is my guest blogger. Her topic– personal learning networks, also known as PLNs. Here is a way for people to turn their interest in lifelong, independent learning AND social connections into a way of life. Here’s what Torrey has to say about PLNs: In 1968, Licklider & Taylor predicted that computers would be used as communication devices where individuals would connect and converse with others around the world to discuss a shared topic of interest.
Here is what a world without objectives might sound like– “I don’t know. What do you think? Last year we covered ice breakers. How about a session on humor this year?” “Well, I’m not entirely certain what scenario-based elearning would do for us, but I know they are going to like it.” “We got a really good speaker.
Suzanne Aurilio is my guest blogger. She and our SDSU colleagues have enjoyed some solid successes in bringing faculty to rely on and appreciate technology. Here is her story. I’ve been working with university faculty on teaching, learning and technology for almost ten years. During much of that time, I led a well-funded program in which we incentivized faculty to experiment with technologies to improve teaching and learning.
Guest blogger, Dave Basarab , introduces learning bursts. What is a learning burst? How do they work? Dave explains below. Suzanne Murphy, the head of leadership development programs for emerging leaders at IBM was at a crossroads. In the next few years, approximately 4,000 emerging leaders were going to begin their development track to place them into business management positions.
From my sunny office in San Diego, I checked into the happenings at CLO’s spring conference in Miami. I did this by tracking the twitter stream, #closym. One tweet grabbed my attention. A researcher reported that the keyword, webinar, was searched more often than the keyword, elearning. Think about that. People are seeking information about webinars more often than they are drawn to elearning.
A few years ago, Jim Marshall and I surveyed workplace learning professionals about elearning. Although we set out to learn about the contours of the elearning terrain, our project revealed much about instructional design practice today. We pursued this question: when doing elearning, what are you doing? Were learning professionals relying on webinars, on podcasts, on mobile learning?
When I heard that Deloitte had purchased more than one hundred acres to construct a leader development facility in Dallas, I was stunned. What were they thinking? Then I heard that, in the midst of the great recession, they intended to spend as much as three hundred million dollars in constructing their center. What were they thinking? I harkened back to stays at other facilities devoted to the development of leaders.
Meet Jeff Loube. My guest blogger is Jeff Loube. Jeff describes himself as a practitioner who has completed analysis and design projects such as basic, multi-engine and rotary wing pilot training, maintenance training systems, and maintenance training simulator design, prototyping and development. Jeff is managing editor of MS&T (Military Simulation and Training) magazine, [link].
I admit it. I love when people seek my opinion. That happened a lot in Denver, at ASTD 2012. I am entering the field. What do I do to make a success of it? Let’s pretend that somebody asked me to deliver a commencement speech in response to that question, preferably on a lush, ivy covered campus, near amiable watering holes. Thank you for inviting me to share this wonderful occasion with the workforce learning graduates of 2012… Let me begin by congratulating you on your career choice.
Welcome two guest bloggers, Ken and Darby Hubbell, father and daughter. . First, from Ken– It is my humble opinion (and rather biased, I will admit) that my 8th grade daughter, Darby, is a prime example of what it means to be a 21st Century student. She is well on her way to a lifetime journey of learning, limited only by having enough time to obtain all the information and skills she desires.
I’d like to introduce you to a friend, Rob Foshay. Rob is my guest blogger and a pal for decades. Here is what Rob has to say: So, you know what the gaps are between your company’s average performers, and their expert performers. And, you’ve done your analysis of the job skills involved. And you’ve done your gap analysis to figure out what the highest priorities are for training.
When I was a young professor of instructional design and technology at San Diego State University , students often sought advice on how to make decisions about outcomes and strategies. At that time, back in the late 70s, mostly they were concerned about instructional design for face-to-face classes. Even when working on classroom programs, they were flummoxed by the scores of decisions they had to make.
Technology is not the answer. Not automatically. But many executives thought it would be so, that it was a matter of selection and investment. Now, many look back on prior enthusiasms for technology-based learning with tales to tell of dashed hopes. With hindsight, they know that nothing is automatic, not even mobile learning, and that success does not come easily.
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