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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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I hope you enjoy the posts that will be coming your way very soon from PinPoint Performance Solutions.

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As for what was learned in the last class, Synchronous Learning in the Workplace… well, nothing much. If I did have to point to specific take-aways from the course, here they are:

• Synchronous learning platforms and the technologies surrounding it are not a replacement for sound instructional design. When teaching online, you still have to adhere to instructional design principles in order to deliver quality instruction.
• You must think of ways to interact with the learner, create activities to engage them and provide opportunities to apply what they are learning wherever possible in synchronous learning.
• Enable social presence wherever possible in synchronous learning sessions.

It will be a while before I return to complete the WELPS certificate as my experience during the course was different from the previous courses. With a break, I hope to recharge and re-engage as soon as possible.

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I knew this wasn’t going to be easy attempting to take a graduate level course online while balancing career and family. Over the last couple weeks, things have come to a head and I’m beginning to regret my choice of taking a course for the Spring semester.

My personal challenges this year are really not all that worthy of illustrating here in this forum.  Let’s be serious, do you really want to hear them?  Personal challenges aside, this semester’s class has a different feel to it.  Unlike the other courses I have taken in this certificate program, the pace at which the discussions have been moving has been staggering.  It’s very difficult to keep up and more often than not, it is nearly impossible to “jump in” to the discussion if you have been away from it for a couple days.

I have other work to do and other obligations to meet.  I don’t live on the class discussion forum, and yet I feel my classmates do.  Nothing against them, but what I’m observing is the biggest drawback to online education in general.  In most courses, the only way for the instructor to measure your contribution to the course is through the number of posts you make to the discussion board.  This is your attendance.  However, I think many people taking these courses mistake quantity over quality even though the instructor clearly states that they are looking for substantive discussion.

It’s too late to drop the course now and even if I did, I would feel as though I failed it.  I have to remember that done is better than perfect in this scenario.  I already have the degree and all I’m doing is working for a certificate of completion to add to it.  Nothing more.

Frustrating… to say the least.

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• Communication Modes
• Rehearsal/Response Options
• Instructor Pacing
• Social Presence

The class was split up into groups and each was assigned a feature to explore and research.  Our goal was to find what research is out there and published on these features and share our findings with the class.

I was actually pleased to be assigned to the subject of Social Presence in synchronous e-learning.  One of my goals since starting the WELPS certificate program was to find ways to bring social media into e-learning and the workplace.  Conducting some research this week led me to some recent papers on the use of social media in the classroom.  I read about three papers and a couple articles on the subject.  Out of these papers and articles, I found a few that speak well to the subject at hand.

First thing’s first: let’s define Social Presence in learning.  Out of all my research, pretty much all of them agree that Social Presence is…

Tools, systems, structure and functionality that supports social interaction between people and group members.

All of the articles I found agree too that when Social Presence is reduced, communication decreases leaving people and group members feeling disconnected.

The Papers

Enhancing Social Presence in Online Learning: Mediation Strategies Applied to Social Networking Tools

Key points:

• Using social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to create or augment social presence in e-learning places the responsibility on the students to participate and make the necessary connections with others. However, guidance by the instructor must be given to ensure that social media is being used as an educational tool and not a message board or photo sharing site.
• Since most incoming students to college courses and people in younger generations are already engaged in these spaces, instructors should make a concerted effort to engage with their students.
  Students participating in online courses often have a sense of isolation, impacting their success.  Therefore, participation in social media spaces with fellow students builds a sense of community they may not receive in the virtual classroom.

Tweeting the Night Away: Using Twitter to Enhance Social Presence

Key points:

• Although learning management systems (LMS) and virtual classrooms offer a wide variety of tools for social interaction and social presence, some lack the ability to offer just-in-time social interactions and connections.  Twitter can offer free-flowing, just-in-time interaction.
• Learning can take place outside the context of the classroom environment.  Twitter enables users to connect with their fellow students without being tied to the LMS or virtual classroom.
• The nature of Twitter enhances the student to write concisely due to character restrictions (140 characters), target specific audiences and maintains and ongoing relationship after the class complete.
• Instructors should provide clear guidelines for use to support learning and interaction with fellow students.

—–

As you can see, if the synchronous e-learning platform you use does not afford social presence, there are ways around it by utilizing third-party applications.  In order for it to be effective, some guidance should be provided for it’s usage.  However, too much guidance will stifle social presence which should develop organically among the learners.

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What does that mean?

The common myth is that something more visual, like a video, is better than text or spoken word for example.  The truth is, it is not the delivery mechanism or media that is chosen for instruction that facilitates learning, it is the components that make up the instruction that enables the learner to gain new knowledge or change their behavior (whichever the primary performance objective is).

Those “components” and their examples are:

• Communication mode – text, audio, graphics
• Instructional methods – definitions, examples, demos, practice
• Instructional architecture – receptive, directive, guided discovery, exploratory

Out of these components, I wonder how a learner’s learning style comes into play? According to the authors, the media doesn’t matter.  It’s the components employed that are important as to whether or not the learner gains new knowledge or changes their behavior.  Certainly, some media is going to work better than others at delivering a message based on learning style.

Perhaps I’m falling into the very myth I’m trying to debunk here.  One thing I didn’t notice in the text was discussion of some upfront audience analysis that should be done before pulling instructional components together to create synchronous e-learning.  It wasn’t covered in the first two chapters of the text.  Maybe it was only assumed this would be done before any instructional components were pulled together.

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Due to course scheduling, I wasn’t able to register for a course during the Fall ‘09 semester because, well… there wasn’t one scheduled that I wanted to take.  In fact, had I went with my original plan of selected courses, I wouldn’t have been able to take the courses I wanted to until the start of the upcoming Fall ‘10 semester or following Spring ‘11 semester (I think).  Either way, it would have had to sit out for quite a while in order to take the courses I wanted to and receive my certificate in a timely manner.

Unfortunately, I had to compromise somewhat.  Please don’t misconstrue me.  Every course that is part of the WELPS Certificate are worth their weight in gold.  However, I have a feeling that IPT 511 – Synchronous E-Learning in the Workplace, where GoToMeeting will be the preferred application for the course, will be a cake walk.

For the last two years in my professional career, practically all of the training I delivered was synchronous over virtual classrooms.  If the course description is correct…

Students will examine principles and techniques for developing and implementing synchronous web-based learning strategies to improve performance in the workplace.

… this is going to easy.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure I’ll learn something new. I always seem to in these courses which has made the experience thus far very worthwhile.

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