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The YouTube vid below provides an example as to information being provided at point of ‘assumed need’ to a specified individual. For those of you who plan to dismiss the idea off the back of it being ‘just’ a sci-fi film, remember the virtual info screen that John Anderton (Tom Cruise)operates with his hands…….?
… Microsoft Kinect anybody
And now onto the context of this blog post. Sure, for many people it is fairly obvious when a moment of need has arisen because….. well…… they are in need!
They are at Point A, needing to get to Point C and don’t have the knowledge or skill to get them there. They realise this and seek some support to assist them – simples!
But what about when you don’t realise you are at Point A, or that you need to get to Point C, or perhaps more worryingly (and dangerously) ‘think’ you have the knowledge or skills to assist you, when in actual fact the knowledge or skills are wrong or outdated…… disaster looms….
So my question is:
What ‘triggers’ (other than the individual self-detecting a ‘just in time‘ need) are there/or can we create?
Here’s an example of what I mean:
Worker X has to pass from a potentially contaminated area to a clean area.In order to do this they have to pass through a room with a monitoring device to detect any contamination.On this particular occasion Worker X receives notification that their wife has gone into labour and rushes from the potentially contaminated area straight past the monitoring machine into the clean area…..!Now imagine if there was a proximity detector in that room that detected any movement from the potentially contaminated area and immediately played a short 30 second movie on a screen above the exit door reminding Worker X (and anybody else) of the need for and process of monitoring.
Just in time performance support despite the worker forgetting/realising the need/assuming they had the skill.
Do you have any auto-triggers in your workplace to deliver performance support at the time of need?
If so, what do you use?
How do you use it?
Can you think of any auto triggers, beyond proximity detection?
Get those thinking caps on folks and let us all know via the comments box below, come on you lurkers….. you know you want to….
It’s probably worth me expanding upon the deliberately vague title of this blog post before I go any further.
By ‘this‘ I mean ‘mobile’ learning.
By ‘another‘ I mean as we did all those years ago in the early days of ‘e’ learning. (admittedly I have no personal experience of those days, only anecdotal examples)
By ‘we’ve‘ I mean us in the L&D community. Both within the vendor community and the client community.
So what do I mean by all this?
During a recent meeting with some colleagues, I reflected upon the conversations that I have had with potential clients over the past 6 months with regards to the use of mobile technologies. With a very small exception (probably 2-3 out of approx 60 conversations) those conversations have revolved around the creation of ‘mobile learning’, which actually translated as the “shrinking down of desktop content to allow it to be viewed and interacted with on a mobile device“.
Very little, if any mention, of creating performance support resources…
No consideration of using the devices native functions I.e. camera, keyboard, GPS, voice recorder, to enhance the experience….
A heavy focus on the learner ‘learning‘ something from it, as opposed to the worker ‘enhancing‘ their performance from it (Hell, who needs to learn the London Underground routes if you’ve got the app in your pocket?)
And this is where I think we have got it wrong again!
We have used the blanket phrase ‘m-learning’ to describe the use of mobile devices to facilitate learning. Now to *us*, we acknowledge (at least I hope you do) that this can include using the device to (amongst other things)
Consume traditional self paced click next eLearning (yes of course there is a place for this)Listen to podcastsTake pictures of things to help us remember something in the futureEngage in online dialogue conversations with othersRecord audioDetermine your proximityThe creation of User Generated Content for othersCall for help!
Of course, with some degree of thought and design the above functions can (and probably should) be incorporated into many (I may even dare to say ‘all’) learning programmes, but in my opinion (based as I said on my conversations with many people on this subject) this simply isn’t the case.
Why?
Well I think the fact that we have used the term ‘m-learning’ which is not a million miles away from the term ‘e-learning’ (which let’s be honest, most people see as being click-next, self-paced stuff) hasn’t helped matters, I think we’ve inadvertently given the impression that it’s traditional eLearning on a mobile device has a part to play in it.
I also think that the recent hysteria over some eLearning authoring products and their ‘mobile readiness’ (which translates as traditional eLearning but outputted to HTML5 or a native app) hasn’t helped matters either
“Ooooo look! I can recreate my traditional self-paced, click-next stuff to work on a mobile device – I must be creating m-learning”
Well technically I have to concede
“Yes. Yes, you are”
but I feel that unless we start to make more noise about the fact that m-learning is more than shrinking down content and actually the ‘learning‘ part of it could well be redundant, we will miss another opportunity to really harness these technologies just as I guess we have done in the past……
As a result of spending the last few weeks furiously catching up on James Clays ‘elearningstuff’ podcasts (I’m a late-comer to the party!) I have become aware of JISC and the RSCs around the UK.
Whilst technically being outside the criteria for formal RSC support as I work for neither a HE, FE or workbased learning provider, I do work for an organisation that delivers an INCREDIBLE amount of training.
So RSC NW have kindly agreed to provide me with some guidance and advice as to how I might approach a wider integration of learning technologies within my organisation.
I’m meeting up with them next week, so I’ll keep you updated as to how I get on…
At least it will be on Monday morning when I’m back in work, having left behind the visionaries, disruptivists, forward-thinkers and all round ‘good eggs’ that I was surrounded by at Learning Technologies (LT) 2011.
Following last years attendance at LT 2010 I went back to work envigorated, inspired and with a spring in my step, so much so in fact that my organisation created a Communications Technologist role (it’s a Learning Technologist role… don’t ask its complicated)!
Unfortunately, what they didn’t create was any strategic support or vision to accompany that new post! In order to reduce the sense of frustration that arises from that situation, I made a deal with myself to ‘reign in’ my excitement following LT11.
That said, I still find myself ‘buzzing’ 48 hours after the conference finished so in order to make best use of that ‘buzz’ before it disappears (i.e. Monday morning) I thought I’d blog about my experiences at LT11.
As regular readers will be aware I always try to commit to a couple of action planning points from any event that I attend, in the hope that they will assist me in transferring any learning back to my workplace. I have outlined those actions in blue below.
Keynote – Roger Shank, Getting it right: how the corporate learning world must change
Never sit at the very front left of the auditorium at a future LT for 2 very good reasonsIf Roger moved more than a metre from where he was stood I couldn’t see him!The event photographer seems to take up residence in this area and his camera flash is brighter than the surface of the Sun (my retinas will bear testament to this!)
Exhibition nosey on Day 1
Recommend that my organisations project team look at the digital room booking displays that were being exhibited by Steljes, ahead of a new-purpose built learning centre being built on my site.
Prof Steve Wheeler – e-Learning 3.0 – Learning with the extended smart web
Consider how AUgmented Reality might be used as part of a new-starters induction tour. This approach (if we ever get handsets this side of Alexander Graham Bells prototype), could also be of benefit to all employees as part of their standard workphone handset package.Obtain a copy of the book Distraction by Mark Curtis.
Clark Quinn – Using games for effective learning
Serious gaming is something that has only just started to seriously register on my radar so I was extremely keen to find out a little more about it and how it could enhance what I am currently doing as well as enhance my skillset for the….. future
Unfortunately for me, I found that the session seemed to be pitched at those who already made the decision to go ahead with gaming and not those who were just entering the fray. I also thought that a great opportunity was wasted to prove the value of gaming by actually running the session as a game itself, an example of using the concept to sell the concept.
I assume (there’s the gaming naivety in me coming out) that this would have taken some time to prepare and given that Clark very kindly stepped in at the last moment to cover for another speaker, maybe this would have been his choice with more preparation time?
Exhibition nosey Day 2
Consider whether the Moodle off-shoot Totara LMS offered by Kineo may be a better option for my organisation than Moodle itself.Ascertain whether the Elluminate tool that we have just acquired a licence for is able to
James Clay & Maj Richard Gill – Mobile and Immersive learning
I have been following James Clay for some 12 months via Twitter, his blog, his podcasts and have even attended a couple of his workshops on the subject of Mobile Learning and podcasting, but I had never had the opportunity to see him speak live…. until LT11!
I gather from his blog posts, that he has never been an advocate (who is?) of bullet-point riddled slides and he certainly proved that point by providing a visually engaging presentation allowing only single, full-screen images or perhaps the odd word or two to adorn his slides as opposed to lines upon lines of text (this approach received very positive feedback via the Twitter backchannel)
Craig Taylor & Paul Simbeck-Hampson – Taking the next step
Yep, that’s right folks I was priviledged to speak at LT11, but I’ll cover my session in a future blog post. I shared my session with Paul Simbeck-Hampson who spoke about the opportunities that QR codes present. It became apparent quite quickly that for many of the audience QR codes was either completely new to them or they had only a fleeting understanding. Paul then went on to explain how QR codes were not only being used by large organisations to promote their brand but also how they were able to connect a learner from a static learning resource such as a book to a more dynamic resource such as a webpage. Whilst the video below shows how I have dabbled with QR codes in the past
I still gained an incredible amount from from Paul’s session, so what am I going to do with it?
Contact Paul and ascertain which of the many QR code producing engines is the most feature-rich.Encourage the use of QR codes on the exhibition display stands for Nuclear TV (a project I am involved in), as well as visual reference to other social media streams.Encourage the use of QR codes on the exhibition display stands for my own organisation, as well as visual reference to other social media streams.Use QR codes on my own business cards.Experiment with ‘pimping up’ my own QR codes.
There has been a great deal of discussion elsewhere on t’internet as to the disconnect between the exhibition and the conference in terms of what is being offered, what is being asked for, what is being sold and what is the ‘right’ thing to be doing. Whilst I am not in complete disagreement with this sentiment, I think it is worthwhile to add that whilst I saw plenty of examples of forward-thinking innovative practice downstairs in the exhibition, Curatr, Cofacio and Lightbox to name but a few, I also saw some old-school, discounted methods and practices being used upstairs in the conference; bullet-point riddled slides Powerpoint slides for starters!
So that is Learning Technologies over for another year, or is it just the start of lots more innovative, inspiring, challenging work for me within this……. I’ll let you know on Monday morning
I recent attended the eLearning Network event ’10 things every learning designer should know’ and whilst the event gave me a few ideas to mull over, what really had an impact on me was a chance conversation that I had during the mid-morning break, which if I’m being honest, shocked me a little and distracted me for the rest of the day.
Allow me to explain…
During the first session of the day Bryan Hopkins from UNHCR made a general reference to the fact that “people can’t possibly be learning effectively if they are tapping away on mobile devices“(paraphrased). This led to a few giggles on my table, as at that very moment I was tapping away on my iPad.
During the mid-morning break I made reference back to that incident and drew a parallel to a meeting I was in during the early Summer where everybody was taking notes, however I was the only one taking them on an iPad, whereas everybody else was taking them with pen and paper. The meeting organiser actually stopped after 10 mins and asked what I was doing; when I told (and showed) them what I was doing, they still admitted that the fact I was on a mobile device made them feel uncomfortable.
Now I had expected the people I was regaling this tale to over a cuppa to be sympathetic to my situation however I was wrong!
Instead 3 of the 4 people indicated that it would also put them off and make them question whether or not I was truly paying attention during the meeting and whether I was genuinely taking notes. We threw this around for a couple of minutes with me even pulling the old “who’s to say I’m paying attention/taking genuine notes, just because I’m using a pen and paper” but even this didn’t sway them.
I quickly popped smoke and withdrew back to the safety of the main area and discussed this back at my groups table, where, you may be surprised (or maybe not) to discover that the majority of those people also expressed doubt/concern/worry/frustration etc over people using mobile devices to take notes during learning events, meetings etc.
Had I been in any other environment than the one I was in yesterday I probably wouldn’t have been overly surprised….
… But this was an eLearning Network event!!!!
Surely eLN members would ‘get’ the advantages of using technology to aid productivity even if it wasn’t in an overtly ‘learning’ context, wouldn’t they?
And that’s what led me to this particular blog title, because it appears I was wrong.
Or was I?
Is it reasonable to expect us and our learners to use technology to aid our/their productivity in areas and in situations that have traditionally used pen and paper?
Should we maintain traditional practices for meetings but attempt to push forward with new practices when the output has an overt ‘learning’ tag attached to it?
Do you use technology to aid your personal productivity or not?
Are you encouraging/discouraging of others to do so?
Oh and for those of you who are wondering exactly what I was tapping away on my iPad for, I was producing this mindmap of the days sessions, which I am now sharing with others.
For those of you I was annoying, why not share your handwritten notes with us all?
Image sources: Click one each image to be taken to the individuals Flickr profile page.
This podcast sees Craig being joined by Kate Graham, Kim George and Paul Simbeck-Hampson to (hopefully) dispell any misgivings or musunderstandings relating to QR codes, how they can be used to not only enhance learning activities but also as a marketing tool.
Download podcast in mp3 format: QR codes? Sounds like something out of a Bond Film!
Here are a few of the bits ‘n’ bobs that I created during my recent attendance at the Learning and Technologies Conference 2013. The videos are probably worth watching first as they may well add some context to the detail (or lack of) within the mindmaps.
I have made the mindmaps into ‘Wikimaps’, so please feel free to add to them for the ‘greater good’.
Day 1
Making learning a memorable experience
Mobile Performance Support
Day 2
Understanding Learning
(Whilst reviewing this mindmap, it dawned on me that it is the ‘poor relation’ of a mindmap that @britz spearheaded a few months ago which a number of us contributed to – I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a better map)
How to make games-based learning work for you
I hope you find these to be of use and hopefully you’ll be able to add to them….
I get that it enhances the learning experience by providing an environment in which to reflect…
I get that it provides others with an opportunity to learn from me, as I do on many occasions from them…
I get that it is a wonderful networking opportunity…
I get all of this and yet, despite the promises I made myself to blog on a fortnightly basis (as a minimum) I have failed to do this!
Is it down to a lack of time?
No! I spend a significant amount of time online, idly browsing my life away so I can’t use ‘lack of time’ as an excuse.
Is it down to being paranoid over my digital footprint?
No! I regularly Tweet, post vids to YouTube, send photos to Picassa & Flikr so I can’t huddle under that paranoid blanket.
Is it down to a lack of content?
Hmmm, probably not. I’m heavily involved in L&D on a daily basis, I work in a challenging environment, I’m starting to get more and more involved in Learning Technologies so I feel I’ve got a lot to Blog about (whether anybody wants to read it, is another matter!)
Is it down to a lack of personal discipline?
Probably! I just can’t get myself into a routine to push this content out. I’ve got the time, I’ve got the content, I’ve got the skillset so I’m turning to you
Dear Reader… if you are a regular blogger, how do you manage it, how do you discipline yourself to put fingers to keyboard and push your valuable content out?
Please leave any and all suggestions below and I hope you’ll shortly see an improvement in my Blogging activity.
Help please! Pls send 1 tweet with any of the many eLearning methods that immediately spring to your mind. Pls RT
22 people responded and their suggestions formed this Wordle
As expected the usual suspects were mentioned numerous times, however simulations and games based activities were only mentioned by 1 person, so I thought I would have a chat with Chris Brannigan from Thinking Worlds about the possible reasons that for many people ‘simulations’ and ‘immersive environments’ don’t figure when it comes to suggesting elearning methods and how a new FREE authoring platform may be the ‘break in’ to the simulation world that many people are looking for.
Download podcast in mp3 format: Bill Gates is calling!
Let’s be honest, Leadership programmes are a ‘must have‘ component of any successful organisation – (or so the many vendors who sell them will have you think)
So if your organisation is conducting such a programme (or even if it isn’t, but is keen to develop it’s leaders) then you’ve got a fantastic opportunity to get your foot in the door with the very people who are likely to have/will have a key role to play in any future decision making process around the use of mobile technologies.
Why not take a look at these apps and consider whether you might want to direct your colleagues to them?
GoodPractice Top Tips for Managers (iOS) – £1.49
Leadership Performance (Android) – £1.82
Inevitably there will be some people who do not have a mobile device and will bemoan the fact that you are offering their colleagues who do have a mobile device something that they themselves are unable to benefit from, or they will complain over the fact that the apps cost money – don’t let this put you off.
Simply tell them to carry on using whatever tool or process they have always used – simples!!!
And you know what? Even if people don’t opt for these apps, you may have just sewn the seeds for them to look for an alternative….
… never thought it would come to this (if you’re not a Hot Chocolate fan then this blog title is wasted on you!)
That’s how the structure came about for my recent session at the Learning and Skills Group 2011 conference.
Having seen how Stephanie Dedhar used Twitter and Wordle to crowdsource and then visualise feedback, I decided to use Twitter to put out the following request
Having received a significant number of responses I then inputted them into Wordle and produced the following Wordle.
Do you agree with the general responses?
Do you disagree?
What 3 words would you use to respond to my tweet above?
If you’ve not already read my previous blog posts ‘Getting Beyond Bullet Points (visuals only)’ and ‘Getting Beyond Bullet Points (with audio) then I’d strongly suggest having a read of them before you read any more of this post.
Why?
Well for 2 reasons really:
1. The earlier posts will provide you with the context behind this post.
2. The purpose of this specific post is to expand upon the subject of the backchannel that is only briefly mentioned in the earlier posts.
The reason that it is only briefly mentioned is due to the fact that I used Prezi to facilitate that particular element of my session. I guess I could have used PowerPoint just as effectively, but I wanted to demonstrate an alternative to traditional slide-ware software.
So grab your sickbags…. here’s the Prezi…….
Don’t forget, this is Part 3 in a series of posts surrounding my LSG11UK session.
Part 1 – Getting Beyond Bullet Points with visuals only
Part 2 – Getting Beyond Bullet Points with visual and audio.
Part 3 – Bringing in the backchannel
Part 4 – The Learners Voice
Part 5 – Getting Beyond Bullet Points live recorded podcast
Part 6 – Tools and resources
——————————————————————————————-
Here’s Dan Roddy’s thoughtful blog post on the use of Twitter as a backchannel tool.
Did you get anything from this Prezi?
Do you promote/participate in backchannel debate or do you think it dilutes the experience for you?
Yet again Twitter has provided me with a CPD opportunity. The other day I spotted a re-tweet by Steve Wheeler (@timbuckteeth) relating to an Open Course on Personal Learning Environments, Networks and Knowledge.
Now I believe that I have been operating within a PLE/N for approx 8 months now (since my attendance at the Learning Technologies Conference in Jan 2010), I had just never labelled it as such or realised what I was involved in. Steve Wheelers tweets during his ‘European Tour 2010'! brought my attention to the subject.
Subsequent research has revealed the subject to be a little ‘academic’ for my poor brain, so I have decided to enrol on the open course to discover a little more about the subject.
As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I intend to provide a brief synopsis of each chapter of ‘Designing mlearning‘, but more importantly I intend to answer the questions that Clark poses at the end of each chapter and then pose those same questions back to you ‘Dear Reader‘
Chapter 2 – The Details
In this chapter Clark shares a small exercise he undertakes when speaking on the subject of mobile devices, in which he allows people to acknowledge that cell phones, PDAs, iPods are ‘mobile learning devices’. I have to say that I’m surprised that there is anybody left on the surface of the planet that wouldn’t recognise those devices as mobile learning devices and wonder whether that is an exercise that may have lost its impact since the publishing of the book?
Some blisteringly high figures are shown as to how many hours a day the average American spend accessing the mobile web (and let’s not forget that these figures are 2-3 years old!!)
Next we take a look at, and dispel, some popular misconceptions around mlearning including (amongst others) such classics as
“we can’t provide mobile devices”
“courses on phones doesn’t seem like a good idea” (the response to which is thankfully used to introduce performance support)
“mlearning is limited to smartphones”
We then take a look at the business case for mobile learning and Clark explains that he believes that it should be the role of the learning function to take on the role of designing mobile performance – a point which I disagree on.
I believe that it should be the function with the clearest understanding of mobile learning and greatest passion to succeed that should take it on. In my previous organisation I spent the last 12 months as a member of the Comms team driving forward the organisations understanding of what mlearning was, wasn’t and how it could add value. I even pitched to the L&D team themselves and was met by some of the misconceptions that are included in this chapter. So I’m far from convinced that L&D should be the only potential champion of this.
We finish off the chapter with these questions being posed (along with my responses):
How many mobile employees are you supporting?This question raises an interesting point in my mind which is “what is a mobile employee”? Surely, unless you eat, sleep and live in your work environment then you are ‘mobile’? Admittedly there are some roles (such as mine) that have a very overt mobile nature to their role and as such attract the term ‘mobile employee’, but surely we should start to consider the effectiveness and value that all employees can add if they can maximise their mobility? Anyway, to answer the question we deploy 43 smartphones throughout the organisation.How widely distributed are mobile devices across your employee population?43 of ‘em, making about 30% distribution.What are the opportunities for improvement in mobile worker performance?Being able to complete web forms for various parts of our processes from mobile devices as opposed to Office docs from lap/desktops. Accessing client data immediately prior to a meeting. Accessing of network based data via VPN What are the benefits of mobile access to content for the employee population at large?Flexibility of working arrangements. Maximising ‘desk time’ by better utilising ‘dead time’ i.e. travelling, waiting for meetings to start etcPotential for less stress as they can call up info ‘as and when needed’ as opposed to waiting for ‘desk time’ So folks, why not take a look at the questions above provide your own responses in the comments below?
I’ve always said to myself that I would never write a book review, until the day that I had pored in the (no doubt) significant effort that it would take write a book myself. A sort of ‘who am I to criticise‘ perspective.
That was until this weekend; allow me to explain.
I have been looking for a non-fiction, work-related book to read for some time, to break up the months of fiction reading I have been doing. I started to gravitate towards ‘Designing mlearning‘ by Clark Quinn, however I was out off by one of the 1-star rating comments that had been made. (I tweeted about this experience and since then the book has received 2 x positive reviews). Given that the book was quite expensive for a self-purchase (even on Kindle), I decided to look for something else….
Fortunately for me I popped into work the next day (it was a weekend) and lo-and-behold, it was sitting on our library bookshelf – Result!!
I’ve only got 2-3 chapters into the book, however I have decided to stop reading and start again.
Why?
Well because Clark has very cleverly asked a small number of questions at the end of each chapter, which I think is a great way of providing a period of self-reflection and ‘action planning’ for the reader. So great an idea in fact, that my plan is to write a blog post after each chapter in which I will briefly explain what the chapter covered, but more importantly I’ll answer the very questions (where possible) that Clark asks and will then turn the tables on you ‘Dear Reader’ and ask them of you..
Craig is joined by Lilian Soon for a chat about how we can better utilise than often overlooked tool of text messaging in order to enhance and enrich our learning programmes - and maybe even help our administrators out?
Listening time: 26 mins
Subscribe to the podcast in mp3 format: Back to basics
If you haven’t read this series to date it may be worthwhile doing so in order to set the context for this post…
At the end of my last post, I said the following
Keep on reading this series of posts to discover what happened after we’d received the proposals and what I’m calling the ‘end of the beginning‘
What I didn’t realise at the time was that my employment would end with that organisation prior to the project completion. To that end I’ll be unable to continue blogging about the status of the campaign, however what I am able to do is provide you with a glimpse into the ‘proof of concept’ that I delivered to internal stakeholders. I’m hopeful that even without seeing the final campaign, there will be something in the movie below that will inspire you towards making a change in the way that you design and deliver your compliance training. (you only need to watch between 43:43 and 54:28 to get a grasp of the campaign element)
If you’d like me to speak at your next event or discuss how I may be able to work together to bring about a fundamental change in the way your organisation delivers its mandatory training, then please get in touch.
Had a little thought whilst driving home tonight..
Part of my role involves facilitating the Continuing Professional Development of a number of internal Learning Facilitators. I normally do this by facilitating some lunchtime-learning sessions, which to be quite honest receive a very poor response in relation to the number of facilitators we have on-site (part of this is due to operating a shift-pattern).
I’ve attended quite a few conferences and workshops this year and have gained a great deal from them, so I have hatched a cunning plan…
Book an offsite facility for a day with Wi-Fi access.Invite all Learning Facilitators to attend.Set up a Google Moderator series to allow attendees to choose some of the content for themselves.Invite all delegates to facilitate their own sessions (depending on the number of submissions these could be voted upon)Offer up a Flip Ultra camera (or something similar) in a prize draw to all attendees.Encourage delegates to set up a Twitter account prior to the un-conference and provide the support for them in doing this.Utilise Twitter and other Web 2.0 tools during the un-conference.
I’ve been aware of QR codes for some time now after reading one of many blog posts on the subject from @jamesclay, but I had never really seen the benefits to them for learners in my organisation (or maybe that should read that I had never applied myself to researching the benefits!)
Blog posts from @jamesclay and @hopkinsdavid have provided me with some great ideas as to how QR codes could benefit learners. Admittedly I may be held back a little due to certain restrictions on the use/carriage of mobile phones on my site, with the primary phone being a very attractive brick
However, for those people who do own Smart phones we have started to use QR codes in our Learning Centre and here is a short video to prove it…
Are you already using them, if so let me know how?
If you are planning to, then why not share your ideas with us all?
Craig chats with Lisa Johnson on the subject of her teams’ recent *award winning* work with the use of internal wikis and ‘just-in-time’ performance support videos.
Listening time: 25mins
Subscribe to the podcast in mp3 format: Lisa’s back!!!
I am typing this Blog from a hotel room in London where I am staying during my attendance at the Learning Technologies conference 2011; I tell you this because it is entirely relative to my Twitter history…..
I had heard of Twitter prior to attending LT10 but admit to having dismissed it as a celebrity ‘fad’, LT10 was the catalyst that I needed to pop my Twitter cherry!
So here I am 12 months later with over 2600 tweets under my belt, over 200 followers and following over 1oo other people. Everyone one of these people is in some way shape or form involved in L&D, Learning Technologies, Social Media or more usually all 3!
Twitter has enabled me to attend Jane Harts Masterclass on Using Social Media for Learning, James Clays Mobile Learning Boot Camp, the eLearning Network 2010 showcase (which subsequently led me to joining the eLN) It has provided me with some excellent contacts and some fantastic learning opportunities.
So if you haven’t yet set up a Twitter account then please don’t let this fantastic opportunity pass you by. If you don’t know how or where to start, then you could do a lot worse than checking out these resources which will help you on your way…
If you haven’t seen this article by Float Learning, then I’d advise you taking a look, particularly if you are / have plans to maximise the growing mobile device phenomena (if you aren’t, prepared to be overtaken by your your employees AND your competitors).
One of the interesting aspects of this article was Chad Udell’s desire to see a mobile authoring platform that utilised a devices native functionality.
I’ve seen 3 mobile authoring platforms so far in the UK
GoMo by Epic Linestream by Line K Tango by Certpoint
none of which allow the devices native functionality to be tapped into. Furthermore, having spoken to each of these organisations it appears that none of them have any plans to incorporate the functionality into their platform anytime in the near future.
So, I’d like to repeat Chad’s plea
Chad continues his long-running hope that a mobile learning development tool will be released that takes advantage of the affordances of mobile devices, whether it be through sensors, multitouch/gestural input, and so on. Many eLearning tool vendors say they support mobile learning output, but honestly, they mostly just mean they come with a channel to get the output onto a mobile device via HTML or maybe a set of mobile-optimized templates. Someone in 2013 will change that
If you are aware of any platforms that allow a ‘Joe Average’ end user to create mobile resources that tap into the devices native functionality then please let me know or of you already own such a platform – please get in touch as I’d love to take a closer look, possible even Beta test???
As part of the Certificate in Web Content Creation & Management (CWCCM) programme I am undertaking, I have been asked to expand upon the following in relation to the Internet or intranet website on which I am working/intend to work.
The goals for website.Describe the important characteristics of the target audience for this site.
Given that I am interested in developing both this blog and my organisations intranet pages, I have provided responses below for both areas:
My Blog
Goal
Having reviewed the stats for my Blog since I launched it in April 2010, the average views per day has been 10. It is my goal to increase that figure by 50% to an average view of 15 per day by August 2011.
Important Characteristics of Target Audience
My target audience for this Blog are Learning & Development professionals, with a slight bias towards those who are involved in using and promoting current and emerging technologies. I surmise that this group of people are looking for content which will provide them with an initial perspective on a subject or an innovative approach to undertaking an activity. I also suspect that they are looking for content that will showcase the tools that are available in an integrated manner. i.e. Twitter feeds, embedded media, tags etc
My Organisations Intranet site
Goal
The goal for this site is a little more difficult to define as I am not the ‘owner’ of the site, this is held by an individual within our overall Group. I am also unable to define simple, low-level goals such as ‘increase site/page traffic by ?% as there isn’t a hit counter/statistics functionality within the platform. Instead I have taken it upon myself to offer what advice and support I can to the intranet authors within my organisation by way of forming peer support groups, arranging formal training on the platform for new authors and creating an online library of screencast ‘how to’s‘ as a performance support tool. I am also investigating the possibility of the CWCCM programme (or similar) being delivered as a closed programme to my target audience.
Important Characteristics of Target Audience
The target audience for this intranet site are employees within my organisation who work on my geographical site. They are aged between 17 up to statutory retirement age and have varied levels of IT competency.
Waaaaay back in the mists of time that was Learning Technologies 2010, I attended a workshop on the subject of storyboarding facilitated by @juliewedgwood.
This session came a little late in my ID career as I had spent the previous 6 months putting together rapid elearning module with NO storyboard process – oh well, better late than never!
I recently asked Julie to facilitate that session again with a number of my colleagues which culminated in them producing a podcast to reflect upon the session’s content and what they were going to do with it. Apologies for the sound quality in parts of this podcast, I was using a portable Zoom recorder for the very first time and should have practiced with it beforehand (as you’ll hear)
… as to what media you use if you are ever asked to produce a festive tip for the eLearning networks 24 tips advent calendar
Why a warning?
Well, because you might just be asked to facilitate a session on it at a future eLN event!!
Joking aside, I was privileged to be asked by Rob Hubbbard to co-facilitate the recent eLN event How to produce rich media learning materials. This was something of a departure for an eLN event as it was planned to be very ‘hands on’, so it was great to be asked to be a part of it.
Each of the speakers had been asked to promote their individual topic areas for 20 minutes. Not to delve into the technicalities and intricacies of each method, but to prick the interest of the attendees so that would be sufficiently enthused prior to the practical session in the afternoon. (that was the plan!)
Here’s what the guys had to offer…
Exploring the elements of online communication – Clive Shepherd
Clive got us off to a great start by asking each table of delegates to consider a different media element; text, images, audio, animation, video and to suggest the pro’s and con’s of each. This was a fairly simple exercise, however he then asked us to consider which of the ‘other’ types of media would/wouldn’t work it and why. This stimulated a great deal of debate around the ‘mixing’ of media types.
Why not give this simple exercise a go yourself?
Writing for audio – so that it works – Tony Frascina
Tony conducted a great interactive exercise which involved each us all reviewing a small number of simple slides containing text and an image. As each of these slides were playing there was an accompanying audio track. The content within that audio track varied slightly for each slide ranging from being very similar to incredibly in-depth.
Tony then asked us all to answer some paper based questions relating to the content that we had seen/read. I would like to say that I had taken a keener interest in this exercise as it would have been interesting to focus 100% on it, however as I was due to speak next I’m afraid that I was a little ‘distracted’!
UPDATE – Fortunately Stephanie Dedhar has done a great job of reviewing this session.
If a picture paints a 1000 words, how many does a moving, talking picture paint? – Craig Taylor
I was quite pleased that I was asked to speak on this subject as the very nature of screencasting meant that I could use screencasts themselves to deliver the content.
Simples!
I chose to use Prezi as the vehicle to deliver the material. I had used Prezi in the (distant) past and hadn’t been too enthralled by its functionality, but I was pleased to discover that they appear to have made several welcome updates to the service. I’m still hoping that they will figure out a way to have accompanying audio, in the same ilk of PowerPoint and Slideshare and that they can come up with a way to use a remote presenter, so that I am not tied to my laptop whilst presenting. It is that lack of audio track which persuaded me to record my session and release it in a future blog post podcast.
Video editing - James Stoneley and Solomon Rogers
James and Solomon rounded the morning off with an overview of recording video and editing. The feeling from some people on my table and via the backchannel was that it would have been preferable to show examples of how video could be used for learning purposes with ‘lower end’ equipment i.e. Flip cameras/smartphones etc. From a personal perspective I was happy with what was delivered BUT I do have an understanding as to how video can be used in a learning context.
After lunch was the point at which the eLN entered new ground by providing an afternoon of experiential learning by allowing attendees to practice making screencasts and recording/editing videos. From the 2 groups that I worked with this ‘hands on’ approach was warmly received and provided a fantastic opportunity to apply the theory in the real world (isn’t this what we keep saying our learners should be doing?)
Bearing in mind that they only had 30 minutes to discuss the subject, download software, create the media, edit, publish and that the purpose wasn’t to create a ‘real-time’ screencast, here is a sample of what they produced:
All in all, a really useful event, the format of which I hope the eLN repeats in the future.
A big Thank You to Mark Jones for coming up with concept of this event and for facilitating the entire day.
Since I started in my new role as a Learning Technologies Manager for Bupa International I’ve facilitated a number of ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions for my colleagues within the HR team around a number of learning technology related subjects.
To date these have been:
‘elearning….. discuss’ – a 2 hour sessions which helped people to see ‘e’learning as being more than just traditional, ‘click next’ SCORM objects‘Getting Started with Mobile Learning’ – a 2 hour session which was essentially a dry run of my DevLearn 12 session‘Welcome Aboard’ – a 2 hour session centering around the use of technology within the onboarding / induction process
The latest ‘Welcome Aboard’ session was facilitated as an Alternate Reality Game. In order to add the context in which the game was being unknowingly played I referred to some research that I heard about at DevLearn.
Only problem is that there was no such research at DevLearn – it was lie, a misdirection, a bluff, an economical use of the truth….
To help me with this bluff I created the animation below using Powtoon which I played during the early stages of the session/game after I had prattled on about the DevLearn research ‘discovery’
It’s a cracking piece of software; cheap, intuitive, a great trial period.
Why not give it a whirl and let us all know how you get on?
It’s that time of the year again folks when Jane Hart is reminding us all to submit our ‘Top 10 Learning Tools 2011/of the year’.
This is something that I contributed to for the first time last year and it was interesting to see where my preferred tools came in the ‘Top 100' ranking structure that Jane works out from all of our submissions, it is also a great place to catch wind of any new tools that are out there.
I am once again contributing to this years list, however I have decided to take a different tack. Whereas my list last year probably (I say probably because I can’t specifically remember) contained things like:
TwitterYouTubeGoogle ReaderSlideshareetc
I have decided to approach things from a different angle this year and have decided not to concentrate on the actual platform, but to think more carefully about how I get access to that platform. After all, it’s no good being a member of some of these wonderful online platforms if you can’t get to them. There are also a few in there just to remind us all that sometimes the answer doesn’t need to be a ‘click‘ away at all! I think it’s also worth mentioning that I have only very recently started working in a new organisation, Epic. What better time to consider what tools have been effective for my personal learning, within a real-time learning moment.
So here’s my Top 10 list of learning tools, in no particular order.
1. My phone (this allows me to phone people up and ask them a question, at which point I find Tool No 6 to be particularly useful)
2. My iPad (this allows me to review online information and communications in order to bring me up to speed on a given subject, of course without Tool No 4 I am somewhat limited in what I can do)
3. My laptop (not only can I do everything on this that I can do on Tool No 2, but I can also far more easily create content, which of course allows me to reflect upon what I am creating thus adding to my own personal learning experience)
4. Internet signal – WiFi/3G/4G/Ethernet (come on admit it, how many of you who submitted an entry into Janes Top 100 tools, overlooked the fact that *most* if not all of the tools you suggested rely upon being able to gain and maintain access to the t’internet?)
5. Falling over – not literally of course, I mean making mistakes. What more powerful tool can there be for learning than those amazing synapses in our brains firing adrenaline, emotions such as guilt, worry, embarrassment, shock etc after we have realised we have made a mistake. Sometimes bruised egos, flushed cheeks and yes – scraped knees serve us very well indeed.
6. My ears – let’s be honest, they’re in ‘receive mode’ far more than our Internet signal. Next time you’re amongst your team colleagues just allow yourself to listen to what’s being said….
7. The Epic intranet – a purpose-built repository of the specific ‘must/should/and could knows’ of my organisation. This has been of immense use to me over the last couple of weeks and no doubt will continue to be so in the future.
8. The guy who sits opposite me – His name is Andy Costello and he has been a godsend to me during my first few weeks working at Epic. Not only providing support when I have asked for it, but also providing it when he anticipates I am approaching a ‘just in time’ moment. Truly contextualised, semantic performance support.
9. Books/magazine etc (not fussy about the format)
10. My Son and Daughter – watching them grow up, evolve, learn, make mistakes etc provides me with some wonderful ‘lightbulb’ moments. Seeing how they navigate the challenges and problems that you and I take for granted, like carrying a plate without spilling its contents reminds me that all the learning challenges that you and I face are surmountable, I mean look at everything else that we have achieved in our lives!
Let’s be honest, I think it’s fair to say that one of the biggest barriers to a whole sale adoption of mobile technologies is senior management. Which got me thinking about what sort of app you could recommend to them, to get your foot in their door.
And then it dawned me; one of the things that senior managers do a LOT of (whether they actually need to or not) is travel (I think it’s a kudos thing for many of them)
So I’ve taken a little wander around some of the app stores and found some travel related apps that I imagine will make their lives a lot easier when they are on their travels and of course if their lives are made easier by having a native app at their disposal, there’s a much better chance of them seeing the benefit of mobile technologies when you attempt to ‘get your foot in the door’ ……
British Airways (iOS) – £FREE
British Airways (Android) – £FREE
IOS National Rail Planner - £4.99*
Android National Rail Planner - £3.49*
AA Breakdown and Traffic (iOS) – £FREE
AA Breakdown and Traffic (Android) – £FREE
* (I have actually downloaded and used this app myself, check out the reviews for my thoughts)
Inevitably there will be some people who do not have a mobile device and will bemoan the fact that you are offering their colleagues who do have a mobile device something that they themselves are unable to benefit from, or they will complain over the fact that the apps cost money – don’t let this put you off.
Simply tell them to carry on using whatever tool or process they have always used – simples!!!
And you know what? Even if people don’t opt for these apps, you may have just sewn the seeds for them to look for an alternative….
If you haven’t read this series to date, it may be worthwhile doing so in order to set some context.
Having decided upon a pre-survey marketing campaign, we accepted that despite our best efforts to promote the survey that it would inevitably be ‘lost‘, ‘missed‘ or just ‘forgotten about‘ by many people, so we needed a plan to maintain the momentum of the marketing campaign…
During our planning stages of this survey the team that worked with me on it decided that it was critical for us to communicate the results (I used the word ‘results‘ lightly as the in-depth analysis would not take place until after the survey had closed) throughout the survey as well as some immediate stats upon completion. We were also resolute that we would not gloss over any critical or developmental feedback and would ensure that it was shown within any results/stats and not ‘buried’ beneath any overtly positive feedback.
Here’s what we did:
At the end of each week, I created a simple animation. The animation ran for a calendar week on our internal TV screens and was communicated via our internal emagazine, intranet, collaborative platform groups, blogs etc as well as being played at the start of as many meetings as possible in order to stir up discussion and debate around the survey.
The purpose of the animations was twofold:
To act as a method of being able to communicate some basic stats/comments that people had made. It was incredibly important to us that people could see that somebody was reading the survey submissions and wasn’t afraid to show comments/feedback that others may have felt were risque.To act as a reminder/prompt for those who hadn’t undertaken the survey. The last frame contains a link to the survey itself.
Week 1
Upon completion of Week 2
Upon completion of Week 3
Upon completion of Week 4
Upon completion of Week 5 (the survey closed at this point)
In my next blog post, I’ll go into the data/findings that the survey provided us and how we plan to use it.
I must applaud the Learning and Performance Institute and in particular those involved in planning this years Learning Live. For the first time that I have personally seen in the UK, an L&D conference (outside of the academic world) has asked people to submit proposal for available speaking slots, I believe this is a fantastic way of surfacing those ‘hidden’ stories and allowing ‘new’ people to gain exposure, let’s hope that other conferences follow suit in the future.
I submitted a number of proposal and have been fortunate in gaining a speaking slot, here’s the official blurb
Session: ‘Compliance Training – From Course to Campaign!’
Compliance training is often seen by many L&D practitioners as a ‘thorn in their side’; a necessary evil that despite their best efforts, remains low-down on most learners list of things to concern themselves about. If this applies to you and/or your organisation and you’d like to ?nd out how to take a signi?cant step change in the delivery of your compliance training, then this session is for you! Craig Taylor will guide you through his journey in turning compliance training from a selection of stand-alone courses to a series of ongoing campaigns. He’ll share his background thinking, hints and tips to obtain that critical ‘buy in’ from stakeholders and the research to back up his campaign approach along with those all important ‘lessons learnt’; AKA the bits that Craig got wrong!
Session Objective 1: Why the move from course to campaign? Session Objective 2: How to obtain that all important ‘buy in’ from stakeholders Session Objective 3: How to ask for what you want from external agencies. Session Objective 4: Why you might consider a campaign for a campaign. Session Objective 5: Share Craig’s lessons learnt
The LPI have also been asking speakers to promote/give an insight/’flip’ their session by using Social Media, multimedia etc in advance of the event. I think this is, in principle, a fantastic idea, but one that is not without it’s problems, which I have blogged about previously.
I’ve used a few approaches to promote / prepare people for my session.
I used Vine for the first time, to ask some ‘leading’ questions to hopefully encourage people to attend my session (I can definitely see Vine vids being a part of a wider campaign)
I used Powtoon to create an animation, again offering a WIIFM for anybody still undecided as to which session to attend.
I also experimented with SMS text messaging ahead of the session, why not get involved with my experiment? (details in tweet below)
I’ve been tinkering with text messaging as part of my pre #LearningLive campaign. Wanna take a look? Text learninglive to 07462251335
— Craig Taylor (@CraigTaylor74) August 23, 2013
I’m not planning on creating any ‘new’ marketing material, but there’s still the best part of 3 weeks to the event…. so who knows?
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Let’s be honest, Leadership programmes are a ‘must have‘ component of any successful organisation – (or so the many vendors who sell them will have you think)
As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I intend to provide a brief synopsis of each chapter of ‘Designing mlearning‘, but more importantly I intend to answer the questions that Clark poses at the end of each chapter and then pose those same questions back to you ‘Dear Reader‘
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