Milestone

On June 13, 2006, I applied for grad school. Sometime in July, I received an acceptance letter and the semester started in August.

It's been 6 semesters, 2 years, countless hours in front of my laptop, 2 different laptops, backups of files and burned CDs with files and podcasts and websites and reflections and missed weekends and just a lot of work and support.

Friday was a major milesone in my progress as I passed my portfolio, which takes the place of a comprehensive exam. This portfolio showcases some of the skills I've learned and shows a bit of my personality.

Many of you have been incredible supporters, so I wanted to share this milestone with you.

http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~mjfinch/portfolio/index.html

eLearning Development Conference 2008

Lucky me! At sort of the last minute, I was offered a chance to attend this conference in Salt Lake City over a few days this week. I am currently sitting in a session where we're talking about "Why Wikis Wrule," which is about the widespread use of wikis, as well as some practical tips about different wiki options out there, as well as ideas on how and why to use wikis.

I wanted to share a few tips that I've picked up; partly for the sake of my own memory and partly for the good of sharing with those who are interested.

I've used PBWiki a little bit for school projects; it has worked well in several situations - writing a paper, keeping track of team assignments, and "just playing" around. Debra and Betsy in my cohort at CUDenver have both had success in their wikis, from what I can tell (I will add a link to their wikis later when I have time to look them up).

Our presenter just talked about Tiddlywiki, which looks very interesting and exciting. He uses PMWiki, but acknowledges that it takes a bit more programming knowledge if something needs to be customized.

I'll also post a link to our presenter's wiki once he makes it public - it hasn't made it public yet because he has a few sessions left to present and doesn't want it changed before he has a chance to present the things he needs to address. :-)

e-Learning pioneer

I received this email from one of my classmates, Michelle. Check out the blog entry, but more importantly, check out the presentation. Later, when you have time!

http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/5-secret-tips-from-e-learning-pioneer/

Technology is Worth It

For one of my classes, we had a group project to defend the position that it is worth it to invest in technology for training and education purposes. Our position paper is below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Technology is Worth the Investment for Training and Education Programs

Team Giada
M. Finch, C. Rodriguez, J. Tipton
Learning Processes Applied to Instructional Technology
IT 6740 – Spring 2008

Technology is Worth the Investment

Our position is that technology is worth the investment for training and educational programs, to foster learning processes. Technology motivates students to be involved in planning and constructing their own learning; accommodates diverse learning styles, and increases social interaction. Opponents to this idea believe that the cost of technology will be higher than the benefits and that learning methods, such as critical thinking, will be ignored by technology. Currently, education is in a state of technological transition where students require both old and new skills in order to compete in the 21st century economy. Students achieve stellar results when technology drives learning processes.

Student Involvement

Students are motivated to be involved in planning their own education (Knowles, 1975). Students attending the Colorado’s Youth Promote Heritage Summit in February 2008 indicated that they have a higher motivation to be involved in planning their own education using technology (Colorado’s Youth Promote Heritage, 2008). The purpose of the Youth Summit was to increase students’ exposure to and appreciation of Colorado history. The youth’s responsibility was to recommend methods for other youth to learn about history. After touring four sites, they recommended the following:

1. Webcasts of information prior to, and interactive materials while walking on the Heritage Trail and the State Historical Museum. They wanted to be actively engaged in learning.


2. Podcasts of stories from past residents of the Governor’s Mansion and of scandals on the Heritage Trail. They wanted relevant stories delivered through technology.


3. Scale models of landmarks exhibited in the State Historical Museum, followed by live tours. They sought physical models, virtual tours, and then live exploration of the landmarks (Colorado’s Youth Promote Heritage, 2008).

Without naming them, youth were asking for these learning processes:

1. Exploration and planning instruction – principles in Andragogy, Constructivist, and Experiential Learning theories.


2. Engaging interaction, a principle in Experiential Learning and Genetic Epistemology theories.


3. Multiple representations of content, a principle in Cognitive Flexibility theory.


4. Relevant experiences, a principle in Andragogy, Cognitive Flexibility, Experiential Learning, and Situated Learning theories (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Bruner, 1990; Bybee & Sund, 1982; Collins & Duguid, 1989; Knowles, 1975; Rogers 7 Freiberg, 1994; Spiro, Feltovitch & Coulson 1992).

Furthermore, if students not only plan instruction, but also develop it, they can learn more. When students create a podcast, they start with a challenge – what to create and how to create it. Their task-oriented, enterprise orientation fosters meaningful learning (Smith, 1998). Students use several learning processes to meet the challenge: First, they use problem solving and exploration to select from different recording methods. Next, they use collaboration with others, the important social aspect of learning (Smith,1998) to develop the content. Finally, they use critical thinking to edit and publish the podcast. By moving from receivers of information to creators, students use higher order processes. All these learning processes are part of Cognitive Flexibility theory (Spiro et al., 1992).

Diverse Learning Styles

People learn in different ways. There are a multitude of methods to categorize learners, such as Myers-Briggs and Learning Orientation. Each model shows preferences and the best ways to teach them. All models point to respecting diversity, a key principle of the Seven Principles of Good Teaching Practice (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1987). The most effective teaching approaches offer multiple representation of content, a key principle of learning in Cognitive Flexibility theory (Spiro, et al., 1992).

The overarching solution to diverse orientations is to offer diverse approaches. At best, the traditional class can vary approaches, but not simultaneously. Then, learners will prefer and be successful some of the time and will have to conform to a secondary method other times. In contrast, technology can provide parallel approaches to the same objectives, where learners can select the method that is most comfortable to them and offers them the greatest success.

Martinez (2002) describes how technology supports different learning orientations, including transforming, performing, conforming, and resistant learners. Technology provides opportunities for transforming learners who “place great importance on self-managed learning” (p. 107) to explore on their own and who are hampered by traditional, single direction methods. Interactive lessons and collaborative work are well-suited for performing learners, “skilled online learners who are typically self-directed in areas that they value” (p. 108). Well-structured webpages, precise instructions, and frequent feedback helps conforming learners, who need support from environment and social relationships. The fourth type, resistant learners, will gravitate to individual exploration, available through technology’s variety.

Increase Social Interaction

Student/student interaction and student/teacher interaction are key social principles for good practice (Brown et al, 1989; Chickering & Gamson,1987; Smith, 1992; Trinity College).

Technology provides a major advantage in student/student interaction. Electronic discussions, electronic document exchange, and email can help students interact with others by connecting:

1. Groups of students who are geographically close but socially distant.


2. Groups who are geographically distant.


3. Students who have difficulty attending a traditional class, such as disabled people, who can learn from a physically-supportive home office and may use software that improves communication, such as voice recognition (J. Tipton, personal communication, February 11, 2008).


4. People with conflicting time schedules. Asynchronous technology allows participation at times that accommodate each person’s schedule. Essentially, class operates 24/7.


5. Shy and aggressive people. Each must contribute equally to electronic discussions.

Technology also increases student/teacher interaction. Students get to know teachers through video portraits. Contact extends beyond traditional class time and office hours through email and electronic chats. Furthermore, the style of the interaction can improve. When technology is the source of information, the teacher's role shifts from knowledge dispenser to coach, mentor, and collaborator in the learning adventure. Teachers then contribute in the best human way to support learning (WestEd Policy Brief, 2002).

Counter-Argument: Does the Cost of Technology Equal its Benefits?

Educators agree that children should learn how to use a computer but disagree that computers are increasing higher achievement in core subjects. Lowell Monke (2004) suggests that the relationship between technology and learning is with technology, test scores are higher but the interaction between technology and the values learned in school are not addressed. If the fundamental priorities are not addressed, is technology worth its cost in the classroom?

Simulations on the computer cannot be compared to first-hand experiences of emotions and associations (Monke, 2004). Monke goes on to say, “…there is a huge qualitative difference between learning about something, […] and learning from something…” Learners need a concrete experience to draw from when they are trying to make associations with abstract information. Their participation is essential in making meaning out of their experience with objects, people, nature, and community. The learners’ intellect develops as a matter of interacting with the world around them (Ginn, 2008). If the technological classroom does not allow students to develop their intellectual creativity and personal growth, they might have a harder time competing in the global economy.

Neil Conan in an NPR interview with Todd Oppenheimer states “since 1990, the promise of better education with computers cost 70 billion dollars” (National Public Radio, 2004). Does the cost of technology equal its benefits? How are instructors prepared to use technology? The cost to stay-up-to-date with changing technology is having a major impact on schools. A 2004 case study was completed by the Consortium for School Networking for the Virginia District Public Schools to determine a cost estimate to implement technology in the district of 166,000 students. The total district cost was $233,059,569 or $3,255 per client computer. The estimates do not include costs for creating and maintaining the online campus and ongoing support, training, and technology updates (Consortium for School Networking, 2004). Instructors and vital classes such as art and music are being cut in order to make room for technology.

Technology should be viewed as a tool, not as the end to itself. Do students see technology as a form of entertainment or as a learning tool? Students should be learning critical thinking skills and how to solve problems instead of learning how to maintain a computer if they are going to be able to compete in the world.

Technology is cost-effective when it is used correctly for students to get basic skills. There is no turning back to a previous century or ignoring that technology is prevalent in other aspects of life. Teachers and trainers need education on the most efficient way of delivering lessons using technology.

Technology in Transition

"Our concept of literacy has been based on the assumption that print is the primary carrier of information in our culture and that the most important skills are those that enable students to understand and express themselves in text. The new definition of literacy is based on a different assumption: that digital technology is rapidly becoming a primary carrier of information and that the broader means of expression this technology makes possible are now critical for education. Text literacy is necessary and valuable, but no longer sufficient" (Meyer & Rose, 1998).

In the 21st century we live in a knowledge economy. Data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics in 1993 states 35% of public schools in the United States had Internet access and ten years later, that percentage increased to 99.5% (NCES, 2005). The data collected does not reflect combined elementary/secondary schools because of the small sample size, schools with missing data, and schools with free or reduced price lunch participation.

The 21st century is defined by technical change and social challenge, which makes for a confusing time for teachers and students. In the global economy students will have to combine old and new skills. Technology offers new teaching tools that are constantly changing and helps us accomplish things. Technology changes the way we do things.

Teachers will have to change how they use technology to teach, based on the understanding of how people learn.

“Research has established certain basic facts about the way our brains function that remain important no matter what is being taught or what new technologies become available to help teach it:

• Learning is a complex activity cooperatively carried out by systems in the brain that recognize patterns, that develop and exercise skills, and that motivate and organize action.


• Learning a skill requires effort and practice, and exercising a skill does not.


• Every individual learns differently from every other, bringing unique
  preferences and capabilities to the process” (Meyer & Rose, 1998).”

Because technology is causing an educational paradigm, we must adapt our teaching to the current culture while honoring time-tested learning processes. To prepare our learners to thrive in the 21st century global economy, we must help them become proficient in both old and new skills.

Conclusion

In examining the benefits of technology and the counter-arguments about technology’s cost in educational and training environments, we conclude the learning outcomes far outweigh the financial cost. In addition, we conclude technology enables learners to increase their social interaction by breaking down geographic, social, and physical boundaries; that technology allows us greater access to address diverse learning styles; and students are better able to be involved in the planning and constructing of their instruction with the use of technology. Technology is not a merely another cost, is it an essential investment in learning.

References

• Alliance for Childhood. (2000, September 12). Alliance for Childhood. Retrieved February 10, 2008, from Alliance for Childhood, What We are Doing and Who We Are: http://www.allianceforchildhood.net/projects/computers/computers_articles_call_for_action.htm


• Brown, J.S., Collins, A. & Duguid, S. (1989) Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32-42.


• Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of Meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  Bybee, R.W. & Sund, R.B. (1982). Piaget for Educators (2nd ed.). Columbus, OH: Charles Merrill.


• Chickering, A. & Gamson, Z. Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. The American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, March, 1987. Retrieved February 9, 2008 from http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/


• Colorado’s Youth Promote Heritage (2008, February). Presentation to Colorado Preservation Conference, Denver, Colorado.


• Consortium for School Networking. (2004, March). Virginia District Case Study. Retrieved February 12, 2008, from CoSN: Consortium for School Networking: http://www.classroomtco.org/2004_case_studies/virginia.pdf


• Ginn, W. Y. (2008). Jean Piaget - Intellectual Development. Retrieved February 10, 2008, from Piaget: http://www.sk.com.br/sk-piage.html


• Knowles, M. (1975). Self-Directed Learning. Chicago: Follet.


• Martinez, M.(2002). Audience Analysis and Instructional System Design for Successful Online Learning and Performance. In J.Woods & J. Cortado (Ed.), ASTD Training and Performance Yearbook (pp. 104-114). New York: McGraw-Hill.


• McCormick, P. Dealing with Learner Resistance to Technology-Delivered Training. In Journal of Interactive Instruction Development, Winter 01, 33-38.


• Meyer, A., & Rose, D. H. (1998). CAST: Chapter 5: Technology, Teaching, and Literacies Old and New. Retrieved February 15, 2008, from CAST Transforming education Through Universal Design for Learning: http://www.cast.org/publications/books/ltr/chapter5.html


• Monke, L. (2004). Forum: The Human Touch. Retrieved February 10, 2008, from Hoover Institution: http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/3259156.html


• National Public Radio. (2004, January 26). The Flickering Mind. Retrieved February 10, 2008, from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1617851


• NCES. (2005, Oct). Public Schools and instructional rooms with access to the Internet, by selected school characteristics: 1994 to 2003. Retrieved Feb 15, 2008, from Digest of Education Statistics: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_424.asp?referrer=report


• Rogers, C.R. & Freiberg, H.J. (1994). Freedom to Learn (3rd ed). Columbus, OH: Merrill/Macmillan.


• Smith, Frank (1998). The Book of Learning and Forgetting. New York: Teachers College Press.


• Spiro, R. J., Feltovich, P. J., Jacobson, M. J., & Coulson, R. L. (1992). Cognitive flexibility, constructivism, and hypertext: Random access instruction for advanced knowledge acquisition in ill-structured domains. In T. M. Duffy & D. H. Jonassen (Eds.), Constructivism and the technology of instruction: A conversation (pp. 57-76). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.


• Trinity College, Why Use Instructional Technology? Retrieved February 7, 2008 from http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/cc/documentation/fachbk/primer/2primer.html


• WestEd Policy Brief. (2002, August). Retrieved February 9, 2008, from http://www.wested.org/online_pubs/po-02-01.pdf

eLearning guru follow-up

"Hi, I'm Lisa with Allen Interactions," she says, offering her hand.

"Margi," I say, returning the shake. "Nice to meet you."

"Do you have a blog?"

I'm not prepared for this question. "Why do you ask?"

Lisa then tells me she received an email while she was traveling to Denver. It notified her of my previous blog detailing my excitement about meeting Michael Allen. I'm embarrassed, and vow to be sure to read through my blog and delete anything that's overly frivolous. *ahem*

I'm floored, really, that my little blog caught the attention of folks at Allen Interactions and of Dr. Allen himself. Apparently, they have something that searches for keywords, like Allen Interactions and Michael Allen. I wonder how their search is doing now that those keywords appear multiple times in this posting? :-)

It's now time to get started and we begin by going around the room briefly introducing ourselves. I am again inspired and humbled by the company I keep. My colleagues at Schwab are a pretty impressive group of people. I'm trying to decide what to say when it's my turn.

"My name is Margi and my introduction to eLearning began with your book," as I angle myself to look at Dr. Allen in the back of the room. He smiles. Several people smile and nod. "I have been in training for about 10 years; most of that as a facilitator. I came to Schwab as an instructional designer about a year ago."

Whew! Other people introduce themselves and I hear years of experience in the field in the 8-20 year range. I realize again how new I am to this field and how much more I have to learn. Dr. Allen introduces himself and says something about the late 60s being his entry into the field. Wow. Again, I'm humbled and impressed.

Our next item on the agenda was to review the very cool piece of eLearning Allen Interactions partnered with Schwab to create. To oversimplify, it is a tool that allows learners to practice a phone call with a client. However, it's cooler than just that. In a classroom setting, an instructor can mimic a client as much as possible, but both the instructor and learner know that it's not really a client they're talking to. This tool is totally online; learners have headsets and microphones. When they click a button, they answer the phone as they realistically would on the job. The client then responds. And so the conversation goes.

What's also nice about this tool is that the clients aren't always necessarily nice. In a classroom setting, an instructor isn't likely to be "too hard" on a learner. We don't want to make people feel badly or embarrassed. Each client in this tool, however, gets frustrated, annoyed, irritated. I'm pretty impressed with it.

Next, the moment most of us have been waiting for - our director introduces Dr. Allen. It's a very gracious and complimentary introduction, to which Dr. Allen replies "Oh, that's great. I can't wait to hear what I have to say!"

Note: I took notes throughout the session, and I think I captured most of it. However, if you were there and catch an inaccuracy in my account, please let me know so I can correct it. Or, if you have further information to clarify some things, like Dr. Allen's background, etc ... I'd appreciate those comments as well.

Dr. Allen strikes me as a genuine person. I generally think of experts as “stuffy” or above the rest of us. But Dr. Allen strikes me as affable, soft spoken, and confident (not to mention a positive presence in the room). He says he's thrilled to be here, and I wonder if he says that all the time. My guess is if he didn't mean it, he just wouldn't say anything at all about it.

He says he has always had a passion for creating great learning experiences. This isn't about creating training with all the latest tools. Sure, the latest tools are certainly helpful in this goal, but the real message behind everything is about creating a great learning experience.

Dr. Allen points to the plethora of terrible eLearning that's out there. He says it's almost a little embarrassing to admit he's in the field of eLearning simply because of the terrible things people are putting out there and calling eLearning. Similarly, I have had to explain, and almost justify, my interest in this area for the past year. There are far too many examples of someone plopping a boring text-only (or worse, over-animated) PowerPoint presentation on the Web and calling it eLearning. Ew.

Dr. Allen's schooling began designing control systems. He's always been interested in fun gadgets with buttons and things that make life - and learning - interesting. He went on to study philosophy and psychology. I'm impressed, but I'm sure he'd shrug it off if I said that directly to him. He doesn't strike me as the kind of person to think his degrees are impressive.

He talks about computers and computers used for learning: they can be used for both good and bad things. But really, they're about "amplifying our humanity." In a classroom, a facilitator teaches, delivers, facilitates. It can go well or not. At the end of the day, it simply went. Yes, you can learn and improve next time, but that class you just delivered is over.

With eLearning, it's an iterative process. We create eLearning. The first time out, maybe it's terrible. Hopefully, that's our testing phase. As we continue to improve that piece of eLearning, it gets better and better. So by the time it's all said and done, it's fantastic! Well, at least that's the goal most of the time.

We talk a bit about Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and Instructional Designers (IDs) and what "sets them apart." When creating training, SMEs are most focused on the content. IDs are most focused on the experience. Or at least, that's how it should be for IDs.

Dr. Allen says he doesn't believe Instructional Design for eLearning is hard. Unless you have training in classical instructional design, or if you have experience as a student in training/education designed with classical ID processes. By the way, I'm pretty sure that's just about everyone.

He suggested instructional designers should ask themselves "How would I like to learn?" and stop focusing on "models" we think we're supposed to follow. "How would I become confident with this material; how would I become engaged with this material?" These questions should be an ID's guide when creating new material.

Dr. Allen then opens the session up to questions and someone asks what's next in the field of eLearning.

His answer is pretty much the rest of our session and I take lots of scribbled notes. He says the next thing in training/education is change management. It's a focus on performance. He points out that companies and employers don't really care what their people know. Employers care what their employees do. When employee performance increases, so does a company's bottom line. Duh :-) Those of us who have been in training and have ever had to justify our presence to management know this fact.

As professionals in the training field, it is our job to help people realize their potential faster than they would have without our help. This reminds me of my days teaching software programs. I often told my students that the program we were covering that day wasn't necessarily hard to learn or use, and that I certainly wasn't any smarter than they were. My job as an instructor in that situation was to show them things about the program that they're smart enough to figure out on their own, but didn't have time to mess with. It's simply faster for an instructor to at least introduce some basic concepts about a program to give learners a more solid foundation so they can start teaching themselves the rest of what they need to know.

Dr. Allen shows us a pretty cool graphic, and if I can get a copy of it, I will post it here.

Classic instructional design says that learners go through some sort of instructional module(s) and as a result, their behavior and performance is expected to change. Sounds easy enough, right?

The real world says there are a million factors that come into play. Someone coming into a training program has prior successes and failures. Maybe not with this material, but in some training capacity. They have their own thoughts and ideas and attitudes that shape how they even "show up" for training.

During training itself, people have all kinds of things on their minds. Personal or professional, it doesn't matter. The fact is, people have other things going on in their lives in addition to any training they attend. Training success is increased by a learner simply stating - intending - what they will learn. So the next time you are in a training class and the instructor asks why you signed up for the class, give it some real thought!

One statistic Dr. Allen quoted is that informal learning events account for 80% of business learning. At first that surprised me, but then it made a lot of sense.

For those of us who have been in corporate training (I'm pulling from pre-Schwab experiences for examples here), there seems to almost always be some sort of disconnect between management and training. For some reason, there is animosity between those groups. When a new hire comes out of training s/he is immediately given a list of "oh, we don't do it that way." Worse, the comments turn into things like, "oh, the trainer's never DONE the job. Don't listen to him/her. Let me tell you how it is."

Then there are well-intentioned coworkers. "Oh, here's a shortcut I learned." And it's wrong, and either no one knows, or notices or they don't care. And then the managers continue to say training doesn't work because this new hire is continually doing X task incorrectly. (I can almost hear colleagues groaning and see heads nodding in agreement. We've all been there.)

After the instructional event, there are performance expectations, which come from supervisors and coworkers. There are rewards (or not), there are job aids (or not). This is a lot to process; no wonder new hires are always nervous taking that first call, or performing that task the first time on their own.

Dr. Allen cites the work of James Prochaska in discussing how people change behaviors. And isn't that what training is really about? Changing behaviors, learning new ones, etc. People don't change until they go through a process. And the first step in the process is articulate the change they want to make. At this point, Dr. Allen has ceased using the word 'training.' He's talking about performance and training is simply performance maximization.

I have a few more scribbled notes from our session, but I can't read them. I hope I'm not missing something really important!!

After our session, Lisa tells me she'd like to introduce me to Dr. Allen and walks me over. He's read the blog "teaser post." I feel like a teenaged groupie. :-) I'm excited and honored and Dr. Allen gives me his card "because I don't really have a souvenir to give you except this." It's all I can do not to giggle.

And now, it's time to ask someone to read this post before it goes live. Dr. Allen will probably read this, after all!

eLearning guru

I've been fortunate to attend a webinar by Bill Horton, an expert in the field of eLearning. I even got to interview him for an assignment in class. Pretty exciting stuff.

And this week, another exciting event. I'll get to meet Michael Allen! No, it's not a one-on-one meeting or anything like that. His company, Allen Interactions, has partnered with my company, Charles Schwab, to create a very exciting piece of eLearning. The project kicks off this week and to mark the occasion, Michael Allen will be at Schwab's office on Wednesday. I'm so excited. I'll post about it.

Part II - Illinois School Looks to Tech Tools to Teach

This relates to my previous blog about online courses, which you can read here.

I read Part II of this report this morning and here are some thoughts I have about it ...

Fear of Technology
It still sort of surprises me that educators are afraid of technology. However, in this article, they talked about using pbwiki or wikispaces.org as back-ups in case the school's site goes down. I can see that. It's nice to see that some folks realize there are other options. The whole point - to me - of online education is the flexibility. Students can learn whenever and wherever they can and want to.

Online Effectiveness
This got my attention a little bit too. Yes, the next generation of students is 24/7. And it's not just the M generation or the Y generation or any other generational label people want to attach to it. It's also for people who cannot - for whatever reason - physically get to class. Maybe the class they want to take is offered at a school across the country, or across the world. Or maybe someone is physically challenged to the point that transportation is difficult, or nearly impossible. Or maybe someone just prefers to be in the quiet of a space they choose to be in. There's something to be said for being evaluated based on ideas and merit in this online environment versus physical appearance and presence.

I look forward to your thoughts.

eLearning by Design, day 2

Here is my summary of day 2 of the eLearning webinar I’m attending with Horton Consulting.

We began by recapping the ideas of story telling from the first session. Here are some of the questions and answers for that section:

• Does a story need to be in video?
• No, it doesn’t have to be, but it generally doesn’t hurt to have a video
• Is voice necessary or can a written story be as effective?
• Generally speaking, a voice is what makes a story work well. Bill said “we have stories learners can read. They’re called novels.”
• How long is an effective story?
• This boiled down to a process rather than a finite number of minutes kind of answer. Bill’s suggestion is to think about how long it takes to tell the story in a f2f class and cut it in half. If you’re having someone else tell the story, have your storyteller tell the story and record them. Then tell them you didn’t have the record button on or that the audio is fuzzy and ask them to tell it again. The story will get shorter. Do it one more time. By the third time, all the extra “fluff” of the story is gone, and your storyteller might even be a little flustered, so the story will have more emotion by this point anyway.
• What about having a transcript of the story available for learners?
• Yes. Have a transcript available. This helps folks who have a low bandwidth connection, folks who have English as a second language, and just folks who want/need to read something over and over again.
• Do we need to hire professional voice talent?
• For stories, generally no. It’s usually better to have the person who experienced the story and who has a connection to it tell it. For long voiceover narrations for an entire course, it might be better to hire professional talent.
• What are other characteristics of a good story?
• It needs to be relatively short. People will listen to books on CD in their cars, but podcasts need to be much shorter. Your narrator needs to have an animated voice – that is, a monotonous tone will bore learners to the point where they’ll leave the story before it’s finished. The story needs to have a moral, and the storyteller needs to say it to spell it out to the learner. Some people will draw the connection lines themselves; some won’t.
• Technical considerations when using audio
• When recording, be in the quietest environment possible. Irrelevant background noise is distracting.
• Also, consider using your audio recording program lower the speaker’s voice half an octave or so, especially if the storyteller needs to convey authority and a serious message.

From here, we discussed more absorb activities. One thing we forget is that readings are activities. Have your learners read something. But consider putting it online in PDF so the learner can change the zoom on the document or print it and read it away from the computer.

In fact, consider creating an online library, especially for readings that are used in multiple lessons or for multiple reasons. This way, your lesson can simply link to the appropriate document instead of having to embed it every time.

Also consider creating a listen-and-print version of the material. Be aware of any copyright issues if you’re using external documents for this. But some programs have a built in reader – that is a computer voice will actually read the document aloud to the learner. This is handy for folks with visual difficulty.

I immediately thought of multi-tasking situations. Like most people I know, I often have three or four things going on at the same time, so if someone can read me a document while I do some physical, mindless task (like laundry or the dishes), it helps me make the most of my time.

The class went on to discuss using standard references, built in web searches, and “exploitable” examples. Remember that there is a lot of information on the web and if you don’t have to recreate content, that’s very helpful. Especially when dealing with information that is very dynamic, such as regulations, laws, etc …

Bill mentioned some sources of online information:

• Gutenberg.org
• print.google.com
• scholar.google.com
• books24x7.com
• wikipedia.org
• earth.google.com

We then went on to talk about field trips, travel journals, and virtual museums. I immediately thought of Erin, who has worked in museum education for years. I thought she might find the idea of an online museum handy. Before I had a chance to post my summary, I saw she’d already posted a blog about this very idea.

Bill also said that eLearning courses should not consist of more than 50% absorb activities, and a percentage closer to 10-15 is more ideal.

Every piece of eLearning I’ve seen at work is at least 70% absorb. I need to find a way to incorporate more DO activities, which was the next topic for our class.

First, consider this question. Why does Bill suggest that courses include more DO activities?

• To build confidence. Users get more confident with a process the more they’re able to do it. This reminds me of our new hire training at work. Many times, people say they are terrified to actually answer the phone because they simply don’t know who will be on the other end. Our company got together with another company and created practice conversations. Learners click on a button to “answer the phone” and hear an audio file play over their headphones. On their screen, they also see a text representation of what the client is saying. The learner then clicks on a button to “begin speaking” and they actually speak into a microphone. The system records this file for use later. The conversation continues to move along and at the end, the learner is able to play the entire conversation from start to finish, and re-record sections, or the whole thing, to make the call go better. Having a real conversation with a “real” person helps improve their confidence in their ability to do their job. Another advantage to this is that the role play activities we do in our f2f class are often “too nice.” These recordings are upset clients. They are short in tone and are annoyed about something that happened. Instead of being able to smile at their fellow learner to get them to “be nicer,” this audio file just plays and they have to deal with it just like they will a real client.
• To make things more interesting. We cannot say enough about making a course more interesting and engaging than just reading text on a screen.

Bill also reminded us that DO activities aren’t necessarily purely physical. Having learners sit back and actively think of examples that fit into a particular scenario is also a DO activity.

Types of DO activities:

• practice tasks
• guided analysis
• compare and contrast
• teamwork activities
• recreate a famous work (for example, rearrange the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to reassemble the Mona Lisa for art and museum students.)

We moved on to specific examples of discovery activities, such as virtual laboratories, case studies, and role playing scenarios. We talked about games, such as quiz show, word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, adventure games, and software, device, mathematical, and environmental simulations.

The bottom line, really, is that eLearning doesn’t have to be – and shouldn’t be – boring and just forcing learners to read a computer screen. I think I want to take some of the courses Horton Consulting has designed because they look like so much fun! There are examples on their webpage at http://www.horton.com/html/portfolio.aspx. I’m impressed!

I’m interested to hear your thoughts. In the meantime, back to work!

eLearning by Design, day 1

I enrolled myself in a webinar titled eLearning by Design. It's a certificate course that will take up 4 hours of my day, 3 days a week, for the next two weeks. My first session was yesterday and here is what I learned.

Definitions
One of the biggest challenges we face in eLearning is defining it. Those outside the industry need to know what it is so those of us who are in the industry can talk about it. And those of us in the industry need to come up with some simplified definition so we can talk about it - both in our own circles and with those outside of our profession.

Case in point - I started grad school a year ago, pursuing a degree in Information and Learning Technology, with an emphasis on eLearning. A year later, my husband can almost explain to his family what I'm going to school for. :-) Mostly, he just says "training stuff."

I've also learned when I try to tell people what I do for a living, "I'm an instructional designer." I often find if I leave it at that, I'm greeted by that polite-deer-in-the-headlights-whatever-THAT-means look. And so, I tell people I'm in training. The follow up is usually, "Oh really? What do you train on?" or something less enthusiastic, "Oh, I had to go to this useless class for work last week. I hope you're not stuck doing boring stuff."

And so, we see a need to define what we do. What's interesting to me is that the day I started the webinar was also the day our first group assignment for class was due. Guess what the first part of the assignment was? You guessed it! "Define eLearning." Here's what my group came up with:

E-learning is the final outcome of knowledge integration by a student when
education has been delivered via computer or other technologies.

This is similar to William Horton's definition, which we quoted at the beginning of our report:

E-learning is the use of information and computer technologies to create
learning experiences.

I suppose we could have just used Horton's definition, but then again, the assignment was to come up with something on our own.

More than "just" a PowerPoint presentation
Back to the webinar, after defining eLearning, we went on to list forms of eLearning. We came up with a list of over a dozen things that qualify as eLearning, and interestingly enough, none of the forms we came up with was "PowerPoint presentations." I find that interesting.

I've sat through dry lectures accompanied by just-as-dry PowerPoint presentations. I've also been victim to those presentations where it's obvious the creator just took some sort of PowerPoint class and their presentation serves mostly to show what bells and whistles they learned about.

However, I've also been fortunate enough to attend meetings, seminars, classes, lectures, etc ... where PowerPoint was used very effectively. I'm curious to learn more about using PowerPoint effectively. I have the technology background; I know how PowerPoint works. But I don't have the design background, so I don't know how to implement design tips so my presentations don't scream "look what I just learned in my class!!"

Design
From here, we talked about what eLearning design is. eLearning design is the intersection - or sometimes, the collision and conflict - of 4 pieces: instructional design, software engineering, media design, and economics.

Isn't our focus as eLearning developers to create instructional materials that engage our learners? And isn't our focus usually on finding multimedia ways to engage our learners? We do live in an "infotainment" age (a classmate of mine, Sheila, used this term once, though I don't know if it's hers or if she got in from somewhere else) where people are more likely to be interested in information that is also entertaining. Well, duh. That's always been the case, but it seems to be even more important now.

Today's young adults and teenagers spend hours on sites like YouTube, watching videos from other people on a variety of topics. I keep hearing about Photoshop TV and feel like maybe I need to check this out so I'm not missing out!

Why eLearning?
It is interesting to see how many people are interested in eLearning and why, yet the predominant focus for education is still the traditional model of a teacher or instructor lecturing at the front of a room full of 15-30 people furiously scribbling or typing notes.

People are interested in eLearning for a variety of reasons and here are some that we came up with during class:

• It's available 24 x 7. Participants can go through the material at a time that works for them and their schedule.
• It's self-paced. This means that those who are most successful with eLearning are those who are pretty driven and self-motivated.
• It's reviewable. The material is available to review and reread and review until the learner feels satisfied with the content. Often times, taking notes is a hinderance to the class. No one ever gets everything the presenter says, so tape recording lectures became popular years ago. People played the recordings over and over again until things made sense - or until their notes were complete.
• It's easy to link to outside sources. Rather than dealing with a binder full of printed handouts that inevitably get lost or crumpled or left on the bus, the material is all online and external sources are linked. We can click on a link and it will take us to another source for similar information. This can both save and cost time for the learner.
• There is no travel required. An interesting point brought up by our presenter in class was that this has changed from years ago. People used to jump at the chance to travel for training, but people are more interested now in spending time with their families at home. I propose that one of the reasons people are less interested in traveling for work now than they used to be is that travel for personal reasons is more accessible. People travel more often for their vacations than they used to, so travel for work is less appealing that it used to be. There is no looking forward to having the company foot the bill on airfare somewhere if I can find a cheap flight on a travel website to a hot destination for a weekend getaway, especially considering that traveling for work doesn't usually leave much time for play.

I find it interesting to learn about eLearning in an eLearning environment. I'm using the thing that I'm learning about to learn about the thing. I think it's a great opportunity to learn firsthand what works and what doesn't, as long as we keep in mind that different people still learn and synthesize informaiton in different ways.

Learning Activities
Next, the first session of our webinar discussed different kinds of learning activities. I'm sure many people have experienced that training activity that seemed like it was only in the class to have an activity. Those kinds of activities are worse than none at all.

The three types of learning activities we talked about were:

• Absorb activities. These ask the learner to watch, read, and listen. It's just observation.
• Do activities. This is where the learner actually explores, practices, or discovers something.
• Connect activities. This is where the learner is able to synthesize the information to come up with their own "original experience" with the material. This is where parallels are drawn between past and present experiences and knowledge.

What's even more interesting to me is that these types of activities weren't presented in a "good, better, best" way. Each type of activity has its place in learning.

Technology
Finally, we inadvertantly learned the value of having a backup plan for technology. Our webinar was being hosted on a server and site that went down about halfway through our session. Tech support said that those participants who could still see the screen needed to just stay where they were. Because once someone got bumped, there would be no getting back in, at least not that day.

Our next session is Wednesday, but I'll have to attend it via a recording due to a schedule conflict. I'm looking forward to it, though I'll miss the live interaction and ability to contribute to the overall class. I'll attend live again on Friday.