A recent “Tweet” on my Twitter account of a blog post I found generated a lot of traffic and discussion around whether or not the field of instructional design is suffering due to the popularity of rapid e-learning applications like Adobe Captivate or Articulate’s Engage and Presenter.
It’s not that rapid e-learning tools are entirely replacing trainers or instructional designers. They are, however, becoming a preferred choice of developing and delivering training in the corporate world. Their ease of use and overall cost is relatively low compared to the more traditional forms of training. Nevertheless, these software applications are merely tools and in the hands of inexperienced instructional designers or subject matter experts tapped as trainers, they are ineffective.
Instructional designers have their place in the training process as they analyze and validate training needs. With their knowledge of adult learning and how to maximize the potential of each learner, they can organize and present the content in a fashion that is easy to learn and relevant to the learner. More importantly, they can create activities and exercises that give the learner an immediate opportunity to demonstrate what they learned and get corrective feedback.
Sadly, I have to agree with the author of the blog post that inspired this particular post that some companies are trading quality for speed. While it is understandable that managers and human resource departments need people to be trained quickly and efficiently, the science behind adult learning often gets overlooked.
I feel the profession instructional design is losing some ground as being an established function within organizations. This is largely due to the economy. When cuts in a company need to be made, training is often the first to go as instructional designers are largely a support and administration function of an organization. They are not a line function, which generates revenue directly for a company. Such cuts, in my opinion, are not necessarily a wise move as I discussed in a previous post.
Rapid e-learning tools, in place of qualified instructional designers and trainers give a false impression that anybody can put together training and I hope that changes when the economy turns around. Instructional designers must do a better job demonstrating their value within their organizations. At PinPoint, we’re happy to say we use rapid e-learning tools, but we back-up everything we produce with sound instructional design.
Posted in Miscellaneous.
Tagged with adobe captivate, articulate, e-learning, instructional design, training.
By Justin Beller
– July 29, 2010
We’re not out of the woods yet. The economic outlook for the foreseeable future in our country shows businesses will continue to cut costs and make tough choices in order to survive and stay competitive. While the belt tightening continues so too will the temptation to cut training budgets or eliminate them all together.
More than a year ago, I wrote a post on how cutting training during a down economy is not a smart move. What was said then is still true today, or any time for that matter. A well-coached, well-trained employee armed with knowledge can excel for for any company when competitors or companies in related industries are dropping their programs all together.
Good training that is objective and performance-based will empower employees to perform to expectations, supporting defined business goals and objectives. When the economy is down, training is more important than ever. Layoffs and job restructuring shift new duties and tasks to those remaining in an organization’s workforce. That alone prompts evaluation of current training programs and new training needs that must be met. Times like these are an opportunity to ensure that the existing workforce still engages and continues to work toward meeting an organization’s goals.
Any redesign or reassessment of training programs should be based current business objectives. Before the urge to cut training programs take hold, think about which training programs work and are effective for your organization. Do they produce the intended results? What knowledge, skills and behaviors needed for top performance out of any employee are present in the current training programs? Find ways to evaluate the current training programs by measuring and quantifying results that tie back to the organization’s business objectives.
Despite the negative impact of economic downturns on our businesses, somewhere within the challenges we face are opportunities for creativity and new solutions to emerge. Training is one of them. There are many alternative methods in presenting training to support your business that are efficient and cost effective, such as e-learning. Many of the resources at the disposal of most companies can be leveraged to provide learning experiences that keep your workforce active and engaged in staying productive to emerge from the recession we are currently in.
Posted in Miscellaneous.
Tagged with economy, training.
By Justin Beller
– July 14, 2010
At some point in our adult lives we have all sat through boring training or felt overwhelmed by the amount of information being thrown at us. When we feel this way, is usually due to cognitive overload.
Cognitive overload occurs when our working memory has reached capacity. Being bombarded by information is the equivalent to drinking from a fire hose. It’s a futile effort. As learners, we comprehend data first through our senses (sight, smell, taste, sound, touch). It then enters our short-term memory where it is processed and later stored in long-term memory for retrieval at another time. Short-term memory can only hold so much information before it is discarded or stored by the learner for other incoming information.
It’s not the least bit surprising more and more people experience cognitive overload in their daily lives. With advancements in technology, the vast sum of the world’s information is easily accessible. Information is distributed in many forms, all competing for our attention. As much as we would like to take it all in, humans physically cannot process and comprehend all that is thrown at us. That is why we as learners must filter out what is only relevant to us and trainers must facilitate this by only presenting what is valued based on the expressed training need.
The key to reducing cognitive overload is to stay objective about your learning. Focus only on desired outcomes and the information that is relevant to the learner – the tasks or knowledge important to their role. If you apply this overall rule each time you develop training, you will create training that is engaging and effective.
If you would like to learn more about how to reduce cognitive overload and create effective training, sign up for a free 5-part e-mail course on How to Build Effective Training in Five Easy Steps at my company, PinPoint Performance Solutions.
Posted in Miscellaneous.
Tagged with cognitive overload, training.
By Justin Beller
– June 28, 2010
An intervention in an organization is an all-encompassing term. It can refer to many things such as a change, program or event to improve overall performance in people and the organization as a whole. It is important to remember that an intervention is not worth doing unless you have the evidence calling for one and a solid rationale for doing so. This is where needs assessments are a valuable tool in improving performance in the workplace.
Needs assessments identify the root cause(s) to performance problems. If a needs assessment calls for an intervention to remove the barrier(s) to performance, you must choose carefully which intervention you plan to adopt to bring about the desired change or performance you wish to see in your organization.
Keep in mind there are several kinds of interventions, and no single intervention will serve as a “magic bullet” to solve your organization’s performance problems. You may have to apply a combination of interventions or introduce them in phases to bring about the desired change.
Interventions are typically grouped into the following categories:
- Information-focused – Interventions that define, inform and document. This could be as simple as holding an informational meeting, presentation or creating channels of communication to keep people informed.
- Consequences-focused – Interventions that reward, measure and enforce. Examples include awards and recognition for model performance or scorecards to track / quantify performance.
- Design-focused – Interventions that organize, standardize, design or redesign. This type of intervention can be a reengineering of a process, adopting industry standards or merging job functions, roles or responsibilities.
- Capacity and capabilities-focused – Interventions that reframe, counsel or develop. This is usually where training is called for or when new tools and facilities are introduced to improve performance.
- Congruence-focused – Interventions that align. Demonstrated through team building or soliciting customer feedback (internally or externally).
When choosing an intervention, first make sure you have conducted a thorough needs assessment to determine the barrier(s) to performance. Once identified, you can then choose the appropriate intervention(s) to improve workplace performance.
Posted in Miscellaneous.
Tagged with interventions, needs assessment, performance improvement.
By Justin Beller
– May 28, 2010
For the foreseeable future I will be syndicating posts from my blog at PinPoint Performance Solutions. This will supplement posts I had been publishing for the WELPS certificate I was pursuing from BSU. Since I will not be taking additional courses for quite some time, I would still like to maintain this blog.
I hope you enjoy the posts that will be coming your way very soon from PinPoint Performance Solutions.
Posted in Miscellaneous.
By Justin Beller
– May 27, 2010
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