Cammy Bean's Learning Visions

ASTD TechKnowledge Wrap Up in Pictures #ASTDTK12

2012-01-30T14:29:00.001-05:00

Back home now after another exciting week in Las Vegas for ASTD’s TechKnowledge 2012 conference and expo. (I took a redeye home Friday night and then went camping with my son’s cub scout pack Saturday night. Crazy, I know.)
Held at the Rio in Las Vegas, this year’s conference featured great keynote sessions from Jane McGonigal, Stuart Crabb of Facebook, and Lisa Doyle of the VA; concurrent sessions and creation stations with Jane Bozarth, Connie Malamed, Julie Dirksen, Kevin Thorn, Aaron Silvers, Judy Unrein, Kris Rockwell, Ellen Wagner, Reuben Tozman, Cindy Huggett, and many others; TK Chats on varied topics; and endless hallway conversations. I know my brain was full but invigorated!

I live blogged most of the sessions I went to:

Here are some other highlights of the conference, in pictures:

Talking authoring tools and HTML5 at TK Chat with Dave Anderson of Articulate, Patrick Krekelberg of Allen Interactions, Thomas Toth and Judy Unrein.
This year’s TK Chat sessions ran the gamut, with particularly hot topics around Social Learning, Gamification and tools. One of my favorite conference moments was during the TK Chat on mobile when Kris Rockwell (@hybridkris) gave someone her conference AHA moment about QR codes.

Kineo was onscreen as-large-as-life every time I walked past the the Adobe Booth, where they had a Kineo Captivate project running on endless loop.
Although Kineo’s Managing Director Steve Rayson was in London at the Learning Technologies conference, there he is on the screen behind Adobe’s Allen Partridge. Kind of a fancy magic trick, eh?

This year was the second annual Monsters of Instructional Design TK Chat with esteemed ID professors: Steve Villachica (Boise State), Allison Rossett (SDSU), Karl Kapp (Bloomsburg), and Ellen Wagner (Sage Road Solutions).
We talked about the disconnect between many ID programs and the demands of the industry, and tried to resolve the big problems of the biz – like trying to hire talented professionals well-versed in the whole elearning professionals pie: the Science of Learning, the Art of Learning, the Technology of Learning, and the Business of Learning.

Thursday’s general session was keynoted by Stuart Crabb, head of learning at Facebook. With over 70% of Facebook employees born since 1979, they’ve got some different cultural challenges than a lot of orgs. Perhaps a picture of the way things will be?
I took it as an opportunity to go all meta and posted to Facebook while listening to Stu talk about Facebook.

But not all of the magic happened during the day. One night I hit the town and saw Penn & Teller. Here’s me with Judy Unrein (@jkunrein) talking to Teller (yeah, he talks). Later, Judy’s phone ended up inside a frozen fish in the back of the auidence. I got to call her phone while it was in the fish. Talk about thrilling! (Photo credit: Kevin Thorn @learnnuggets)

My role as chairperson of this year’s Planning Advisory Committee for TK12 included emceeing all the general sessions. (Photo credit: Kris Rockwell @hybridkris)
Here I am looking particularly passionate about something. Either that or I was ready to break into song – it was Vegas after all.
All in all, a great conference and I was thrilled to have been able to play the role that I got to play. Thanks to ASTD for letting me play along this year!

Lisa Doyle Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy #ASTDTK12

2012-01-27T15:32:00.001-05:00

My live notes from today’s closing session at ASTD TK12 in Las Vegas. Lisa Doyle is the Chancellor of the Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy and named Chief Learning Office of the Year by CLO Magazine for 2012.

“The more we understand our Veterans, the better we will serve them.”

VA – second largest cabinet level agency in the US. 300,000 employees. 152 medical centers and hospitals across US. Second only to the Dept of Ed in providing educational benefits. Largest cemetery system in teh US.

55% of VA workforce is eligible for retirement in the next ten years.

Opened the Acquisition Academy in 2008. Competency based programs.

Opened five schools to train. (acquisition internship school, contracting prof school, facilities management school, program management school, supply chain management school).

Critical success factors:

environment
holistic model
theory to practice
quality control (maintain and evaluate learning across the enterprise)

The Academy is a two story brick and mortal building. A learning environment and not a workplace. It’s full of color and curved surfaces. The board room has no square walls to inspire innovation and creativity and risk taking (properly managed).

16 classrooms – can train 450 people a day. With interactive whiteboards, etc.

The walls are painted with the mission: why we’re here: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.” ~A. Lincoln

The holistic model

3 year internship program—training the next generation of professionals (second careers, those out of college)

technical skills, interpersonal skills, writing, speaking, self-understanding, leadership skills (you serve as a leader at all levels – so this begins on day 1), skill building (learning laboratory). mission service.

Scenario Driven Learning Laboratory

Preparing interns to do the work when they go out on job rotation. VAAA’s IDs use VA work to create scenario driven exercises, case studies, etc to expose learners to the actual job environment

Job rotations are critical – so they can be added bench strength – in medical centers and hospitals throughout the US.

Decreased time to competency.

Education with a purpose.

Internship program for wounded warriors. Over 100 million veterans are unemployed. The rate for post 9/11 Veterans is higher than the rest of the veteran population (particularly those ages 18-29).

Veterans are ideal candidates and make excellent employees. The attributes that Vets develop during their time in service are attributes that employers look for: leadership skills, discipline, rigor, team members, they take care of each other…

It’s a little different from standard intern program:

infused education (it requires 24 hours of business credit – they’re in college 2 days a week onsite at the VA Academy – they partnered with a local college and the professors come to them)
peak performance training (managing mental emotional and physiological responses to perform at peak levels – helping wounded warriors transition back from the battlefield). Also includes study skills – many of these went from high school to the battlefield.

Wounded Warrior program helps VA with succession planning. Allows them to hire experienced employees. Creates a career path for wounded warriors where they can progress in the VA.

It’s Veterans serving Veterans.

Learner Experience Design with Julie Dirksen #ASTDTK12

2012-01-27T13:03:00.001-05:00

My live blogged notes from Julie Dirksen’s Friday session. Julie wrote the book: Design for How People Learn. www.useablelearning.com

Learner experience design: overlap between user experience design (uxd) and instructional design

User experience design – how Amazon makes sure that customers can buy a book. – as long as someone can get to the end of the process, it’s a success.

With Instructional design – we have a higher standard – it’s not just about getting to the end of the process – it’s about creating behavior change.

Making the user interface invisible to the learner. Reducing cognitive load – don’t want the learner thinking about how to get through the program, want them expending their cognitive load on the content…

Elements of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett – the layers that go into user design (http://www.jig.net/elements)

When something doesn’t work in classroom training, you know immediately. You’ve got an immediate feedback loop and you adjust it.

So how do we get that type of feedback into the process?

Question: How do you do analysis? Send out surveys, interview SMEs, job shadowing, observation…contextual inquiry.

Job shadowing/contextual inquiry: following them around. Go in for a 2-3 day engagement to kick off a project – 1st day you talk about the problem you’re trying to solve…then “can you sit me with someone who’s doing it?” (you get a ton of information and it really doesn’t take that long).

You learn things that the SME might not have told you – they print out the form to compare it, there are other reference materials he has nearby, he jots some notes down that he’ll need 3 screens later. If you watch them do it, you can find out all sorts of interesting things. If you hadn’t done this, you would have missed some big things.

We do a bad job matching up context of our learning environments to context for use.

The best place to study for a test is not a coffee shop, but in a windowless classroom with noisy HVAC system – study in the environment where you’ll be taking the test. Context matters. By having more context in our learning environments, we help with retention. (this is very well researched – if you study with a vanilla candle, you’ll do better on the test if you’re burning a vanilla candle…)

Creating a trigger response (if you hear an angry customer, what triggers for you that you need to use your angry customer training…? If you see this, do this..if you see that, do that…)

high context vs. low context training

metaphors that are cute waste the opportunity (e.g. a course on lean manufacturing that uses a world soccer cup metaphor is a bit of a waste – we want to trigger lean process when they’re on the job and not watching soccer on the weekend).

User Personas

In User Experience Design, you use PERSONAS to do your audience analysis.

“This is Alice, age, job function, description – She’s been with the company for 3 years and started as a tester…she uses this at home, she says this type of thing…” – it’s much more of a fleshed out story of the person.

Typically have 3-4 user personas.

It’s not fiction writing.

Takes a bit of time – typically do it on bigger projects.

Prototyping

Really important when you’re creating more interactive learning…(not as critical if just doing page turners)

(Trying to prevent the problem of building something and THEN having people say “oh, that’s not going to work…”)

Create a wireframe prototype in PowerPoint – can take an hour…Get feedback on what the interaction is going to be (roughly).

Keep it quick and dirty – if people get hung up on “it’s the wrong font” then you’re having the wrong conversation.

The act of prototyping helps you uncover design issues…

Usability Testing

Test your designs.

Steve Krug’s books on usability testing: Don’t Make Me Think; Rocket Surgery Made Easy

What it isn’t: not user acceptance testing, focus groups, demos, sending out for feedback.

It IS watching someone using your application. You sit next to them or you do it on a WebEx.

Create a test plan (there’s a sample on Julie’s resource page I’ll list below).
Recruit users 5-6 users; 1-1.5 hours each. By the 3rd user you’ll start finding the big issues. You could do 3 users and then make some changes.
Write a script. Let them know why you’re there; I’m here to test the interface and not you; don’t help them as they go through it (don’t say “oh, you just click on that..”; Have them talk aloud as they go through it.
Then document your results.

Julie’s resource page: http://bit.ly/tk12_LXD

Moving to the Virtual Classroom: A Trainer’s Roadmap to Success with Cindy Huggett #ASTDTK12

2012-01-26T20:54:00.001-05:00

My live notes from Cindy Huggett’s @cindyhugg session at ASTD TK12. She’s been doing virtual classroom since 2001.

She wrote the book: Virtual Training Basics

Two types of virtual training: webinar vs. classroom

One def of virtual training: “an online synchronous instructor led class with participants in dispersed locations, that uses a virtual classroom software program” vILT (virtual instructor led)

Step #1: Clarify definitions and expectations.

Ask what do you mean by virtual training? what are your goals?

Tells the story of an org that was having issues – she had told them one person, one computer, one phoneline, but they were all in the same room.

Construction site – might not be the best use of virtual.

Step #2: Remember that virtual training is still training.

Apply what you already know – learning outcomes – to change behavior, learn skills (although may just be knowledge acquisition).

Lots of people forget what they know to do in the classroom -- when they get to virtual and instead they do death by powerpoint.

How many people do you typically have in a face to face class? Mostly in the 15-25 range for f2f classes. How many people do you put in a virtual class? Is it the same number? Just because you can cram in lots of people, doesn’t mean you should. The # you have in the virtual class is the same you should have in f2f. (If 100 people showed up to your class that you designed for 20 people, it probably wouldn’t work).

You can design classes for larger classes.

Skills trainers need: facilitate discussion, engage participants, present content, use technology, give instructions, observe particpants, keep track of time…

Three main differences for a facilitator going from f2f to online:

technology is the delivery mechanism
different type of multi-tasking for the facilitator
engage participants in new ways (because you can’t see them)

Step #3: Learn your virtual classroom software.

Learn what it looks like for you and your participants. Learn every button in that tool. Know what it can do.

(What’s the difference with the tools? Like cars, every tool has unique features. They all do similar things, but they have different layouts, etc.)

[Cool: Cindy’s using Poll Everywhere right now – 35% of participants using WebEx].

And always ask – what version of the virtual classroom software will be used? (e.g., Citrix goto meeting, goto training, goto webinar – they do different things!)

So how do you learn? All the vendors have classes, etc. – then use it – then practice.

Step #4: Set up for success.

Have a consistent setup for every class you deliver. (what does your desk look like when you facilitate online?”

Cindy shows us a picture of her desk when she gives a webinar:

Two computers – one logged in as presenter and one as the student. AND she has an extra backup computer. (some platforms let you see what the student sees)
Water (with a lid!)
Print out of her presentation in case something goes wrong
Sticky notes with reminders (do you speak too fast, too slowly? etc.)
Headset for phone (use the phone that you’ve got a clear, solid connection on – could be VOIP, landline, cell phone – but have backup)
Thumbdrive with materials
Backup Internet connection (she has a USB wifi…) in case power outage, etc…
Clock in the background

Get into your space an hour before the session starts – not when it starts!

Step #5: Be prepared. Be extra prepared.

Prep your notes, practice, have tech backups for internet, do you have a copy of your link if you lose connection?, have options for exercises if they don’t work…

www.atrainserlife.com – download her “checklist for virtual delivery” – to help you think through your back up plan.

Step #6: Get good at multi-tasking.

It’s about preparation and speed. Making quick corrections and adjustments (it’s like driving – you need to be able to monitor many things at once but keep moving forward).

Tips for multitasking:

be prepared – know your content really well
know your software – make sure you know where the button is to find the poll question!
have a co-pilot – a producer or a co-facilitator – when you have shared responsibility, it makes it easier.
be a proficient typist
practice!
resist temptation to do too much
know what’s ok to let slide (you don’t have to comment on every single chat that comes in through the chat window)

[it can be more expensive to do virtual – I need a co-facilitator, another computer, headsets…you have different expenses than you might in f2f]

Step #7: Harness your voice.

Pay attention to your volume, rate, tone and overall sound. (Record a virtual class so you can hear your own voice – then listen for 10 minutes!)

Modulate your voice.

Get used to your microphone (it can change the sound of your voice).

Step #8: Engage participants.

Plan for interaction at least every 3-5 minutes.
“Teaching online is like teaching after lunch.” ~ Jennifer Hoffman
Open poll, use breakouts, app share, use chat, annotate, handouts, notes, etc. – use the tools
“let’s do a pair chat – joe, sally – find each other in private chat and have a deeper conversation”
Use handouts in your session – not your slides – but something that goes along with it (might email, they download, ship them a box with a popcorn bag, bag of tea and the handouts…”come join us at 1:00 on Friday”)
Use the whiteboard – even in large classes, you can say “if you’re wearing blue today, let’s answer this question” on the whiteboard.
Remember, not a passive webcast – but an active virtual training experience.
Start before you start…as soon as the learner logs in start engaging them –
Set ground rules upfront and let them know it’s going to be an interactive session.
Set the calendar invite for the meeting start to 5 minutes early (so people aren’t logging in at one minute after the start).
Don’t spend 20 mins introducing the program – get them in right from the start.
In small classes, keep people OFF mute (encourage them to go to a quiet conference room if they need to so they can have a better learning experience).

Step #9: Practice, practice, practice.

vILT can cost more so you can take the time to learn the software, to practice, etc. – make the commitment and the investment.

Step #10: Know what to do when everything goes wrong.

Expect challenges and prepare for them!

What can go wrong? (audio – there’s an echo, it goes out; technology snafus – the link changes, etc.)

If you’re running a virtual classroom, set your email response to “I’m in a virtual class right now. And if you’re a participant, here’s the link…”

Prepare participants (send the link in advance so they can test, work with IT so people’s systems are set up)
Prepare yourself
Prepare your backup plans

Tips for the in the moment (when it all goes wrong):

Expect tech challenges
Stay calm and take a deep breath (don’t get flustered….)
Let the producer handle it.
Spend moment or two troubleshooting.
Use your backup plans.

Stuart Crabb of Facebook #ASTDTK12

2012-01-26T12:13:00.001-05:00

My live notes from the general session at ASTD TK12 on Thursday.

Humans have been collaborating since the dawn of time. Facebook didn’t invent that, just created a great tool.

What does it mean to be social? It’s not new. (Cave drawings from 32,000 BC – telling a story, sharing with those around them). We’ve been doing social networking for millions of years.

(He’s using Facebook timeline to tell the story).

Middle ages the Guttenberg Press – huge advance in mass communication. Mass distribution of thoughts and ideas.

1970 Marshall McLuhan ‘the medium is the message’

1995 The Internet

2004 Facebook and the social graph – the social layer of the internet which allows people to connect and share. People want the opportunity to share and connect – this is why it’s taken off, not because Facebook created this amazing product…

Newsfeed – sharing the story of what your friends are doing.

YOU are the censor of your own social graph. You are at the heart, the center of your social graph.

Who is Facebook?

Huge potential to push out content at scale within organizations.

Five Values:

focus on impact
move fast
be bold
be open (everyone needs to be able to challenge things throughout the company)
build trust (need the trust of our users)

How do you motivate the Facebook generation?

www.trendera.com – research on generations. Danger in talking about stereotypes and in assuming these are absolutes.

Characteristics

Boomers: strong work ethic, respectful, loyalty, hours equals output

Xers (1964-78): independent, skeptical, job change drives worth, work/life balance

Ys: values driven, need to know why (offspring of helicopter mom’s), many career changes, very peer oriented (more concerned with what peers say than managers.

Motivation:

Boomers: moving up ladder

xers: flex, control of work/life

Y: need & expect praise (feedback systems in orgs need to change), flexibility in life, co-worker recognition matters

Y generation is more connected to technology and the social platform than any before them.

Need to challenge assumptions about our performance culture.

Five insights gained at Facebook – found through trial and error – to create a performance culture that speaks to this generation:

Not “I can learn most from those with more experience than me” – but “I want to learn from those around me”.

Not “Excellence is defined by what I know and what I do well” – instead “Excellence is defined by my strengths and what I ship” (so no more competency framework – instead a strengths based partnership)
Not “Progression in my career is vertical & logical” – instead “career development is like a jungle gym” (propogate the notion of people moving all over the jungle gym – to give opp to do something cool that plays to strenghts)
Not “effective learning is in the class and rooted in books” – but “small bites of real-time learning on the job are the most powerful.” (FB subscribes to the 70, 20, 10 model – 10 % formal learning, 70% on the job, 20% coaching/mentoring)
Not “The performance review helps me stay on track and grow” – let’s take performance reviews out to the back shed and shoot it -- "instead “constant real-time feedback helps me get better everyday and know what’s next” – this allows people to course correct very quickly. (FB has an internal platform to record feedback and share it –it’s social – anyone can give feedback to anyone else).

Traversing the jungle gym is not about title, hierarchy, level or compensation (roles) but strengths, learning, self-improvement (experiences) – there are amazing opps in front of you but you have to earn that.

70% of Facebook were born after 1979.

Extrinsic things, to create alignment:

No office or cubes
fighting to keep a small culture as they grow
one job title “engineer” (common job roles)
Food is free at facebook, take care of dry cleaning, fitness center (want to create an environment where it’s easy to come to work and there’s no great friction getting there – they can focus on task at hand)
Reward for impact and execution – all reward decisions are based on peer calibration

Intrinsic factors:

everyone is an owner – we tell people when they come in the door “don’t be a douchebag” –
We sprint and pause – you have to own that
we give thanks – built a tool to give people recognition and thanks. give a clear signal that you did something right.
We are hackers

In a survey, 83% said they value feedback from their peers.

It’s not about the hours, it’s about output

He shows a four minute video of interviews with new employees:

“move fast and break stuff”
“it’s about making mistakes and learning from them”
“be super ambitious the moment you walk in the door”
“I’m amazed at how many lives it touches every day”
“everyone believes we are changing the world”

Join the conversation.Don’t block it!

Use the FB platform to build apps…

Learning needs to be a social experience. Communities of practice – built on authenticity, social by design.

It’s a jungle gym out there. Opportunity based career experiences – shift conversation from structure to opportunity.

Set your organization free from traditional career development!

Be an architect of change.

How to Combat Cognitive Overload with Connie Malamed #ASTDTK12

2012-01-25T21:26:00.001-05:00

My live notes from session at ASTDTK12 with @elearningcoach.

Long term memory is like a server farm.

We can hold 4-5 bits of info in working memory (this is based on newer researcher – the old info was 7 +/- 2 bits…)

Rather than concentrate on pushing facts on our learners, we should concentrate on what they have to DO. Give them small bits of info.

Long term memory – as far as we know, it’s infinite. It stores info in schemas.

Often we can’t remember something is because we don’t have the right retrieval cue --

SCHEMAS

collection of generic properties about a concept or category – it’s how we organize info.

Write down three notions when you think of comic books: stories, cartoons, superheroes (those are mine)

In some cases, your audience is going to have the same schemas as you – in some cases, not.

We form schemas in working memory. We then bring them into long-term memory.

But to understand something, we have to bring it back from long-term memory to working memory.

Working memory is very vulnerable to overload.= high cognitive load (which leads to poor comprehension and obstructs learning)

Cognitive load affected by # of interacting elements.

This is a framework – haven’t discovered an anatomical structure in the brain…

Source of load matters:

germane CL (devoted to processing information, construction and automating schemas)

intrinsic cl (not much we can do about it)

extraneous cl (imposed by the manner in which information is presented to learners – this is what I call “clicky-clicky bling-bling” –this is what we can control!)

If you present info with big words that people have to interpret, you’re imposing high cognitive load.

If we can eliminate the extrinsic load, we help the learner.

Our jobs:

help learners construct schemas to free working memory capacity – give them a clean network.
automate schemas to free w.m. capacity (most adults don’t have to think about how to read while a kindergartener has to work hard; procedural memory gets automated)

Remember the difference between novice (clumsy, error-prone, slow, difficult) and expert (skilled and fluid, they have lots of schemas, it’s smooth and effortless). Help people construct schemas so it can become effortless.

The Five Moments of Need (Google it…) – bring this list to your SME meetings – when will the learner NEED this information?

(More than half of the audience works in small teams of 3-4 to build elearning. Today we do more with less).

Ways to combat cognitive overload:

Make the learning meaningful – so they can understand it, make it relevant to what you’re doing in the workplace, connected to the network of schemas)
Help create schemas – refer to previous knowledge because it’s like giving them free schemas – so they can build on something they already know – always remind learners of what they already know. This increases working memory capacity. And if they can connect it existing schemas, it will help them retrieve it later more easily. Use analogies: “a database is like a file drawer system…”

The expertise reversal effect: (avoid redundancy for experts) – if you treat an expert like a novice, it taxes their working memory. They’re getting drawn down to the novice level guidance. They have their own rich schemas and you’re just messing with it. So remove redundant info, guidance and prompts for experts. Provide resources for informal learning.
Add meaningful learning to the training – solve real-world problems, case studies and worked examples.
Chunk and organize information
Give learners an overview – a mindmap for a visual audience – that’s where learning objectives came from – an advanced organizer (but now everyone just skips the objectives screens!)
Streamline your multimedia – keep attention focused (avoid split attention: learners watch a video and then have to read separate text bullets…instead present words as narration rather than onscreen text! if not using audio, integrate text with animation or video)…you can’t have two different things going on the screen!
Use simple graphics – you can replace text with graphics. people learn better from simple line drawings than complex photos….

I couldn’t stay for the entire session…apologies for abbreviated session notes, but hope this is helpful!

Jane McGonigal: Getting Serious about Games #ASTDTK12

2012-01-25T12:47:00.001-05:00

Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Happy and How they Can Changer the World opening keynote at ASTD TK12. These are my live blogged notes.

1 billion gamers right now (‘gamer’ = plays more than 1 hour a day)

Shared some mind blowing stats about how much people play games (hard core Call of Duty players play one month of full time work a year – 170 hours!)

Angry Birds – we want to solve problems, we want to be engaged.

‘the opposite of play isn’t work – it’s depression’

Playing games gives us optimism and energy.

10 positive emotions that gamers get: joy, relief (from stress/anger), love, surprise, pride, curiosity, excitement, awe & wonder, contentment, creativity. (#10 is joy, #1 is creativity)

Creativity – we get to see our impact on the world around us.

And then we just played a massively multiplayer thumb playing game! (thumb playing at an epic scale)—we just got an oxtytocin lift from holding hands with each other for more than 6 seconds (love) – this will last for the next hour!

71% of US works are actively disengaged (*Gallup 2011) – they aren’t growing and learning, no creative agency in their work. This costs $300 billion a year!

Fix this lack of workplace engagement to the kind of stress we feel when we play a good game. (we play games to be challenged) At work, we feel negative stress.

We want more positive stress – same physiological symptoms – increased breathing, etc. – but because we feel in control, this feels like excitement and enthusiasm. The only thing that’s changed: ‘am i in control? did i choose this challenge?” Eustress

Relishing the challenge. A blissed out sense of being in flow.

Gamers spend 80% of their time failing (not completing the level, etc.) – but then you keep playing the game! In the real world, we walk away.

Four learning superpowers: blissful productivity, social fabric (we understand the motivations of the people around us – when you play games with other people you learn their skills so you can partner more effectively) , urgent optimism, epic meaning (connect to a purpose)

(The symptoms of ADHD disappear when kids are playing games – they can stay focused and follow through)

In the US 99% of boys under 18 play games; 94% of girls play – less of a dividing line between genders.

92% of two year olds laying games (on phones and ipads).

By the age of 21, you’ll have spent 10,000 hours playing games (virtuoso skill!)

EVOKE – learning environment created for world bank institute to teach social innovation. (jane mcgonigal created this game) - “now the network needs a new hero, you” A game that will teach you to solve the world’s problems. Teaching collaboration, entrepreneurship, sustainability, creativity, local resources, etc.

A crash-course in changing the world. “If you have a problem, and you can’t solve it alone, evoke it.”

YOU can play this game! www.urgentevoke.com

An online platform. Created a video trailer. Textbook is set 10 years in the future.

You create your origin story. 10 questions you answer, 1 per week (like spiderman’s origin story)…at the end of 10 weeks, they had an interactive calling card to get funders and collaborators.

People used social media tools to document their projects. Someone started a farm.

In 10 weeks, enrolled 20,000 students. lots of people played the games to learn to start their own businesses. The World Bank ended up selected over 50 new companies.

If you completed all 10 missions, you had created a business plan. They funded over 50 enterprises.

World without Oil

(another game example)

Created a six week simulation/social media game. 1,700 full time players.

Teaching a skill – future forecasting – but learning from our players.

The opportunity for learning at workplaces is not just about conferring content – but we can create new collective intelligence so that companies can learn from the employees.

If you’d like a copy of her slides: email slides@avantgame.com

Tony Bingham Opening Session #ASTDTK12

2012-01-25T12:01:00.001-05:00

These are my live blogged notes from the opening session at ASTD’s TK12 in Las Vegas.

2012 is the year of collaboration. Why now?

Opening video produced by video – Search on in 2011 – the year in review. “2011 was the year of…” – go Google it and watch it.

Q4 2010 smart phones outsold computers.

Sharing lots of stats…800,000,000 on Facebook, iphone sales, tablet sales, etc. This is not a flash in the pan.

The New Social Learning by Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner - “how can we help people bring this social media tools into their learning environment?”

Seth Godin “if you wait until there is another case study in your industry, you’re too late.” – we need to di it now.

Telus (Canadian telecom company) – they equip workers with flip cams while they’re on a post high up in the air and they’re sharing those with each other. Dan Pontefract at Telus – creating a culture of collaboration. We’re all responsible for sharing our knowledge with each other.

NetApp – advanced app where you can learn, onboard, ask questions.

Mayo Clinic – creating a culture of collaborative caring. They set up a twitter account to share with the public, prospective patients, med/research communities. A woman with wrist pain started following @mayoclinic. She learned about a doctor…she got the correct diagnosis and got surgery she needed.

CIA – we need to share. Created the CIA WIRe (World Intelligence review). Share info too broadly, people can die; share too closely, people can die.

Hilton – using mobile to support formal efforts, etc. making it more personal and accessible. lpads for senior leadership.

Getting started:

think mobile (design for the device)
realize small successes – don’t expect overnight transformation
find an executive sponsor
partner with IT and others
use low cost software tools available today (yammer, etc.)
Drive IMPACT vs. ROI
Govern lightly

ASTD TechKnowledge 2012 #ASTDTK12

2012-01-23T11:47:00.001-05:00

I’m gearing up for an early morning flight tomorrow to Las Vegas, baby.
Looking forward to a week of learning about learning with 1,200 of my peers at ASTD’s TechKnowledge 2012.
As this year’s Planning Committee Chairperson, it’s been a real honor to help Linda David and the rest of the ASTD TK team plan the education format for this year’s conference. Working closely with the fabulous TK12 Committee members (Aaron Silvers, Cindy Huggett, Judy Unrein, Kris Rockwell, Darlene Christopher, Steve Villachica and Terence Wing), ASTD has put together a program that includes practical sessions to help learning professionals do what they need to do today (and do it better!) as well as forward thinking sessions to prepare them for what’s to come.
I’m looking foward to partaking of as much learnin’ as my little brain will permit.
I’ll be catching as many sessions as I can and posting my blogged notes here, so be prepared for a deluge of long posts with poor grammar and spelling mistakes…
When not flitting around like a bee, I’ve got a few tasks I’m responsible for – so fee free to hunt me down and say hi:
Wednesday:

7:15 Hosting the conference orientation session.
8:30 Leading off the general session (as the TK12 Committee Chair, I’ve been asked to emcee the event. I’m trying to channel Billy Crystal.)
1:30 Assisting the fabulous Ellen Wagner with a session on talking to Senior Leaders (“Batter Up! – what’s your pitch?”).
4:30 Leading a TK Chat on Instructional Design with Ellen Wagner, Allison Rossett, Karl Kapp, and Steve Villachica.

Thursday:

11:00 Running a concurrent session on learning design “Yawn-Proofing Your E-Learning”.

Friday:

10:15 Leading a TK Chat on Mobile Learning with Chad Udell and Kris Rockwell.
11:30 Channeling Billy Crystal again as the emcee of the final closing session.

Hope to see you there!

The Accidental Instructional Designer

2012-01-10T09:45:00.001-05:00

I’m extremely honored to be the featured article in this week’s Learning Solutions Magazine: The Accidental Instructional Designer. I’m enjoying the comments on the article as well – would love to hear your story, too.

Kineo Webinar: What Color is Your Parachute Case Study Jan 13

2012-01-09T15:13:00.001-05:00

If you’re still wondering what the buzz is about open-source learning management systems and their place in the corporate world, come check out this free Kineo Webinar, this Friday January 13, 2012 10-11:00 AM Central time. We’ll be showcasing what you can do with Totara LMS – a corporate distribution of Moodle.

When Capella University partnered with career guru and author, Dick Bolles, to create an online complement to Mr. Bolles’ seminal work, What Color is Your Parachute, they turned to Kineo and Totara LMS to create a truly interactive portal. Capella and Bolles were looking for a solution that added “online oomph”. Their goal was to take advantage of today’s best online features and tools to help people discover their passions and turbo-charge their job hunt.

The solution is an online course which employs a number of best practices to leverage technology to bridge the content / action gap. Features include: an online version of the renowned flower exercise, the e-Parachute community, video elements and more.

Photo credit: Parachute by oObsessed.http://www.flickr.com/photos/impuls-f/3671497559/

Instructional Designers: To Degree or Not Degree?

2012-01-05T10:30:00.002-05:00

I've been running a survey on my blog for a number of years now, asking practicing Instructional Designers if they have an advanced degree in the field. It's been awhile since I've shared updated survey results, so here's a quick rundown:

About 63% of practicing IDs do NOT have an advanced degree.
16% of those without degrees say they have been declined work because of that.
58% of respondents work in the corporate sector.

Here are the latest survey results if you want to see more details.

If you're thinking about going down the advanced ID degree path, be sure to check out the eLearning Guild Research report by Patti Shank: eLearningDegrees and Credentials: Needs of the eLearning Professional.

Ruth Clark: eLearning and the Science of Instruction: A 10 Year Retrospection

2011-12-13T14:34:00.001-05:00

These are my live blogged notes from December 13, 2011: eLearning Guild Thought Leaders Webinar

Ruth Clark and Richard Mayer’s book e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning – now in its 3rd edition.

An expert in evidence-based elearning – author of seven books!

Ruth@clarktraining.com

Let’s reflect back on the three editions of the book – what’s stayed the same and what’s changed?

Technology has changed! Smart phone…search functions…facebook/web 2.0…gaming…the cloud.

And what’s happened in your own life – new job? new family? losses? gains?

Some surprises:

Virtual classroom – SLOW adoption
Online collaborative learning? We’ve seen the tech expand; what about the research?
Multimedia principles – basically the same
Growth in scenario based

In 2001 = about 11% of delivery media was elearning; in 2009 to 36% – gradual decrease in instructor led.

Goal of books – help practitioners apply evidence based elearning guidelines to design, dev, eval of multimedia learning ---> to help us move toward professionalization!

So are we an emerging profession? Are we still order takers? Or are we growing to become business partners? (64% of audience said – we’ve become more professional in the last 20 years as a profession, but not much…)

First half of book based on Mayer’s multimedia research…

Section 3 (of book):

Summary of Mayer’s research (use of graphics and words) – multimedia, contiguity, modality, redundancy, coherence, personalization, segmentation pretraining.

Working memory – we can hold five chunks (used to say seven, plus or minus 2). The cognitive model of working memory hasn’t changed that much.

But now we’re talking more about cognitive load. (didn’t talk about that at all in the first edition.) Credit to Sweller.

3 Forms of Cognitive Load:

intrinsic (the complexity of your content) – listen to the audio, translate it, construct a response and pronounce it quickly – the number of cognitive activities you have to perform. When you have greater intrinsic load, you have to attend more to cognitive load.
extrinsic – extraneous load put onto learner by poor design.
germane load – the good stuff. When people are learning we want people to be engaged with their working memory.

Your job – to manage intrinsic load (esp when high), keep extraneous load low, and to maximize germane load…(you’ll see more about this in the 3rd edition of the book).

Eye Tracking Research

Meta-Analysis

Right now just have a few experiments in this area…

Section 3 (of book): Use of Key Methods

Evidence around practice, collaboration and learner control in learner.

Research on examples and worked examples -- where was learning better? (A) example, practice, example, practice…OR B) example, practice, practice, practice) – does more practice lead to better learning? –> worked examples/A) was less training time and better outcomes/fewer mistakes on the test. Combining worked examples with practice gives you better and faster learning).

Better learning transfer when you distribute practice.

Worked examples lead to better learning outcomes for novices…having worked examples for the expert actually depressed their learning outcomes (the expertise reversal effect). Some instructional methods for beginning learners may degrade learning for experts. (it might disrupt the experts own working models). So as we worked with experts, we should FADE back worked examples…

Some problems with worked examples: learners can gloss over them. Need to make worked examples more engaging. Add a self-explanation question. Add a question that forces the learner to process and think deeply. (e.g., – in a scenario program now ask “why is it important to verbally recap the doctor’s questions about contra indicators?”…)

Tests can be work-related projects that demonstrate quality.

The research on online collaboration

Evidence mostly around collaboration IN THE CLASSROOM vs. in an elearning setting. Need more research in this area.

Kirchner (2011 study) – collaboration in problem solving – notes that collaboration takes cognitive resources. Do you benefit enough? If the problems are relatively easy, then learning better in a solo setting. If problems more complex, then collab will lead to better learning.

Architectures

Three approaches to design.

Receptive – little overt engagement (as in this webinar) – documentaries, college lectures, books – these are mostly briefings.
Directive – traditionally used for procedures – have to do each step exactly in order. Used for software training. Instruct, Demo, Practice, Feedback.
Guided discovery – emerging in last five years – some people call this immersive learning.

Poll question – which architecture is predominant in your org’s elearning? (directive = Captivate; low percentage of guided discovery…) 42 % receptive, 45% directive, 4% guided, 8% we use all three equally.

A Look at Guided Discovery

(She’s showing a demo of guided discovery of a car repair – virtual shop that you have to go into and diagnose).

Good for critical thinking and problem solving.

“Experience packaged in a box.” – simulations.

Does it work? Research on part-task (more traditional directive learning) vs. whole task training (guided discovery) – better transfer with the whole task test….(e.g., how to use Excel to create a budget – to determine how well they could apply what they’ve learned in a different setting.)

Discovery vs. guided discovery: Mayer said “discovery learning does not work” – meta-analysis of discovery approach – much better learning from direct instruction or guided discovery. Pure discovery = let them explore and go here and there. It doesn’t work as well – learner’s need guidance.

Scaffolding – this means we need to do better scaffolding. We need to provide guidance and structure.

Start with simple cases and move to more demanding ones.

Case 1: demo; Case 2: let the learner complete part; Case 3: have learner do more; Case 4 – have learner do them all.

Ruth Clark new book – the essentials of scenario based elearning – she’s finishing it up now – will include scaffolding in Scenario Based eLearning (SBEL) – coming out next year.

Kineo eLearning Design Webinar December 8

2011-12-05T09:05:00.001-05:00

The most impressive learning designs draw from best principles of adult learning theory, take a card from marketing and advertising, and ultimately result in effective programs that inform, instruct, and perhaps even change behaviours.

But how do you get there?…

Come join our webinar this Thursday, December 8 at 11:00 eastern and download the free Learning Models guide.

Design for How People Learn by Julie Dirksen @usablelearning

2011-11-30T11:02:00.001-05:00

If it’s possible to be in love with a book, then I am in love with this one.

Julie Dirksen has written a most excellent book for the beginning practitioner as well as the seasoned veteran of instructional design: Design for How People Learn.
She explains theory in easy-to-understand terms, provides lots of examples and real world situations to help you see how you can apply the principles she's talking about to your elearning programs.
I'm buying this for my design team and will recommend this to clients as an essential book for their learning design libraries.
Best part is she writes in a real, human voice – very accessible. Like you’re sitting down with her having coffee and talking about her passion. And you actually understand what she’s talking about.
(On a side note and what really blows my mind: I hung out with Julie a bit at a conference in May in Orlando and she was talking about this book she was about to start writing…Clearly, Julie wrote her heart out this summer. I’m sure there was great effort involved, but it does seem as if this knowledge just flowed from her brain right into a published book.)

Thanks!

2011-11-23T17:16:00.001-05:00

Another good year and many thing to be thankful for on a personal and professional level:

I'm incredibly thankful to be a part of the Kineo team and to have the opportunity to work with some truly fabulous people. I'm proud of the work we do and happy that we all push each other to do better work every day. Thanks!

I'm thankful for my creative and excellent clients, without you there'd be no point. Thanks!

I'm thankful for my fantastic PLN: passionate and committed learning professionals on Twitter and Facebook who teach me something every day and make me laugh even more. Thanks!

I'm thankful for all the industry smarty pants who write books and articles and blog posts that expand my thinking and move me in new directions. Thanks!

I'm thankful for the opportunities I've had to speak and write this year with organizations like the Elearning Guild, ASTD, HR.com, PMI and Elearn Magazine. You all make me better Thanks!

I'm thankful for cool technology that lets me write a blog post while standing next to the stove while I prepare to bake the annual pecan encrusted sweet potato pie! I'm thankful for my blog and I'm thankful for those of you who actually read it and comment here and inspire me. Thanks!

I'm thankful for my kids who host things like drawing club on weekday nights so I can scribble around and draw hand turkeys. You help me tap my creativity and push my patience and fill me with love. Thanks!

And now to that pie baking...

Mirror, Mirror: elearning that shines from the inside….

2011-11-22T15:00:00.001-05:00

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is learning here at all?”

We’ve all seen a lot of elearning fall flat for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that it’s often simply used as a vehicle in which to dump impersonal information. Are you in the e-learning at all? To paraphrase Lionel Ritchie (something you should do very carefully): Hello – is it you you’re looking for?

Read more of the latest Kineo top tip: Tip 61: Making it Shine from the Inside - Reflection Counts

Veterans Affairs Learning University at Corporate University Week

2011-11-16T13:54:00.001-05:00

My live blogged notes from Corporate University Week.
Alice Muellerweiss, Dean at Veterans Affairs Learning University
Trained 200,000 in the first 9 months of the learning organization. Veterans Affairs Learning University (VALU) started in 2008ish…
Support over 20,000 Veterans
Strengthen the way we serve veterans by employing more veterans – Recruit, Retain, Reintegrate our Veterans
VA for Vets program: goal is 40% Veterans working within VA
Diverse mission (still serving two family members from the Civil War!)
Mission to transform the VA to a 21st Century Org. We had antiquated systems and processes. Had a staff of 16 – had to hire in a leadership team…
16 initiatives from healthcare to backlog to human capital.
People will make the mission. Taking care of people is about developing them.
Had three stovepipes: Health, Benefits and Memorial Affairs
Created competencies, measurement, lots and lots of activities…
Don’t have a brick and mortar…people go to training on their site (more convenient for student).
When do bring in sr. execs use other people’s infrastructure (hotels) – to save money, to stay agile
10% training is f2f; 90% is online.
MyCareer at VA – just rolled out this portal. employees can see and chart their path for development. Tools to determine if they’re fit for a particular job.
In the military, you have a path…from private to general.
People leave their organizations for two reasons: their supervisor, lack of career development.
Reginald Vance, was IT initiative lead – became Director of Learning Infrastructure at VA
Human Capital Investment Plan (HCIP) – 4-5 projects identified (these pulled out to 22 projects that needed to be managed)
VA LMS was one of the first and last projects on that list.
Wanted it to be as easy as buying books online.
MyCareer at VA: Prepare, Explore, Plan, Develop – employees go into system and assess themselves to see where they are, start looking at jobs at the next level. This system just launched.
To be competent in your job to better serve our Veterans.
Providing competency model for employees, giving a career mapping tool – from an LMS to a full Talent Management System – no one else was doing this in Federal govt.
The old LMS – no one liked. Hard to log in, hard to pull records.
Went out and asked stakeholders what they needed, what they liked/didn’t like about system. We scrubbed everything and went back to the drawing board.
Use Plateau SaaS model as the TMS.
Serve 350,000 VA employees. Serve additional contractors.
Have since delivered millions of training instances…

Simplified reg/login process
When first login in – you see a To Do list
Some courses are self-assigned
Using video vignettes 3 or 7 or 15 minute-ish videos for just-in-time…
Tool helps supervisors walk through conversations with employees
www.mycareeratva.com (go check it out and use some of the tools – this stuff is public and anyone can use it).
Shows you where the jobs are located –
Shows what the future of specific jobs is (e.g., in one year it’s not going to be needed), so it’s got some forecasting capabilities
Outward facing and inward facing elements of the system.

ROI
At the VA, we have to defend every penny. VA got a ton of money for people development. Working hard to measure the impact.
In two years of investment seeing a pos return of 17% (learner gain on pre and post testing) – but some things have just launched so haven’t started measuring yet.
Seeing a difference in the field in the care our Veterans are getting, customer service…
The Secret Sauce
Having the champion – the senior most champion you can have (Veterans Affairs Secretary Shinseki)
The autonomy for vision (they were given an initiative and then had the autonomy to deliver on that)
Hiring terrific leaders – and empower them to get the job done. Hold them accountable.
The funding
Accountability (Dean Muellerweiss reports weekly and monthly on numbers)
Now have 60+ people on her team – growing to 73; a number of vendor partners; lots of learning leaders across VA (they don’t report to Dean – they help get training to the field);
Initially had to outsource a lot of their training function now looking to bring some of this back in.
Secret sauce:
where strategy fails: when the strategy is developed by one person and handed off. Have to develop it together.
For the VA – it’s been time critical to launch the portal – if it’s not integrated into the fabric of the VA it could go away with the next political appointment.
Note: later in the afternoon, the VA team won the award at CU Week for best new corporate university.

Developing and Marketing your Learning and Organizational Development Brand at Corporate University Week

2011-11-16T11:13:00.001-05:00

My live blogged notes from Corporate University Week.

Developing and Marketing your Learning and Organizational Development Brand

Judy Whitcomb SPHR
Chief Learning Officer, Vice President, Human Resources and Learning and Organizational Development
Vi (formerly Classic Residence by Hyatt)

She started off sharing stories about their organization.

Start with an analysis of how the learning brand is being perceived within your organization. Then figure out where you want to go and what you want to do? Identify 5-6 key words that you want to use to identify your brand within the org.

They started off with the perception that the learning org was a bit difficult…

Learning materials and LMS strongly aligned with their visual brand…

Keys to a successful marketing plan:

recognize that emotions are powerful communication tools
engage senior leaders in telling the story
involve cross-functional leaders to be advocates
repetition, repetition, repetition
leverage your business policies
Recognize how learning will support practices, etc.

Tent cards, emails – what’s new

Ongoing webinars to train and promote features and benefits (don’t turn on allt he features of your LMS right away – let people get used to it

Recognize results

Target learning strategy with specific needs that employees have (“how do I write a better marketing plan?”)

Company newsletters

Linking Succession Planning with Current and Future Biz Needs: Jill Zimmerman at Corporate U Week

2011-11-16T09:44:00.001-05:00

My live blogged notes from morning session at Corporate University week.

Linking Succession Planning with Current and Future Business Needs – Talent Review Process Excellence

Jill Zimmerman
Vice President of Talent Acquisition and Development, Human Resources
Discover Financial Services

About Discover

Discover = started in 1986; leading credit card issuer, over 50 million card members; also in personal lending and direct banking.
Vision: “To the be the most rewarding relationship consumers and business have with a financial services company.”
Mission: to help people achieve better financial future

Succession Planning

Process
Tools
Key success factors

Key success factor #1: always start with a bus strategy. Proactively build a robust talent pipeline to meet future bus and succession needs.

Key success factor #2: keep both the job and the people in mind. Do we have the right jobs to meet the needs? Do we have the right people?

Key success factor #3: use a common set of metrics. At Discover, set of leadership behaviors that apply to everyone at the company.

9 box…

Have a job scorecard – what skills are required for a job? what leadership skills are required for that job? do you have a successor for that job? is there backfill for that successor? (if there’s not a deep bench, you may have to go outside the company).

Have a people scorecard (focus on the people) – create an accurate depiction of the people. What business skills? What leaderhip skills? What do we need to do with this person? identify individual gaps.

Key success factor #4: development must be on-going.

70/20/10 model:

70% experiential – things people can practice and do on the job
20% learn from others – mentors, coaches, managers, role models
10% learn on own – classes, articles, books

People usually identify that 10% – but we need to get better at identifying the 70%

Key success #5: CEO/COO must be active owners

Ongoing mindset; dedicated time; trusting and transparent discussion; accountability

Create a Candidate Slate

How will you know if you’re successful?

Retention
Engagement
Internal Mobility

When people feel there’s opportunity, movement and growth – they’re more engaged. (They do anonymous surveys that is tied back to other data so they can see who’s staying, who’s transferred and who’s more engaged).

Retain and engage your most critical resources.

What are people good at? What are they interested in? What business needs can they meet?

Have done exit surveys – 3 years ago #1 reason people were leaving was internal mobility. Today’s it’s other reasons like relocation…

Leveraging Technology to Drive Business Value (University of Farmers) at Corporate University Week

2011-11-15T17:38:00.001-05:00

My live blogged notes from today’s closing session at Corporate University Week.

Leveraging Technology to Drive Business Value

Art Dobrucki, CPCU
Director of Learning Strategy & Performance
University of Farmers- Farmers Insurance Group of Companies

Start with the end result in mind. What model do you use in your org? At its heart does it have business value?

Create a technology roadmap for learning: What technology solutions will help people do their jobs better? lay that over the technology solutions you have. Figure out where you want to go.

Some things they’re doing at U of Farmers…

Making use of video – they now have a video studio – think breaking news stories with experts to keep employees informed about a current crisis (Farmers = insurance company). Then repurposing these videos in the LMS, for mobile, etc.

Audience Response systems

Using iPads with video to record roleplays and then review them with instructors.

Have two brick and mortar university facilities. (19 classrooms, offices, webinar rooms, assessment center, media studios, learning labs – cars to get under and look at damage, houses to explore)

Seven years ago he had a department of seven. Had a huge issue with retention –alarm bells were going off. Needed to develop and retain talent. Demonstrated that learning was able to drive results that the company was looking for with agents. Built on that success. Start demonstrating business value to get the investment…

A learning portal

Reskinned their learning portfolio – there are pathways to go depending on whether you’re new employee, on a leadership path, etc. RSS feeds.

Mapped competencies to make it easier for people to find resources. (14 leadership competencies that applied to everyone; 28 additional core competencies).

So click on “Coaching” or “Negotiating” – go to a page with definitions, self-assessments (what’s my level of competency), then direct people to resources: books, courses, recommended experiential activities (what conversations should I be having? what should I be doing?)

Are your portals just a gateway to your LMS or have you mapped your content and resources to help employees find what they need to master particular competencies?

Engaging learners in the moment of need

Think about the trends in the marketplace

Think performance support!

Capability Readiness for a Changing Workforce

Mobile and tablet devices.

Don’t put courses on them – but information you need to know at the point in time (e.g., about to go make a sales call at a dry cleaners – top five questions to ask)

As new devices come out – buy one or two for your department and bring them in house so people on your design team can start playing with them.

At Farmers, starting doing podcasts when iphones started coming out – found out not a lot of demand for that – so now using those skills in video…keep experimenting and see what works for your organization’s needs.

$100K per year on training binders – instead put those guides onto iPads that they use for the training week. Can take notes and annotate the guides and then send them to yourself at the end of the week. Training dept refreshes the ipad at the end of the week.

Using videos to assess sales skills – video gets uploaded to a server and the certified teachers evaluate the skills.

Remember that you can’t always hit home runs. If you say everything’s a home run, you’re going to start losing credibility. (Start measuring!)

Allison Anderson Learning Together at Intel at Corporate U Week

2011-11-15T16:30:00.001-05:00

My live blogged notes from CU Week. @allisonanderson

Learning Together: How Intel’s Learning Community of Practice Role Models “New” Learning with Allison Anderson

50+learning orgs at Intel – well over 650 people taking care of learning…Most people don’t have learning or training in their titles…hard to say exactly how many.

Highly diverse population – lots of people with lots of different needs.

No CLO – completely decentralized. We like having learning orgs distributed close to the business. (do have senior managers in learning positions)

And very global.

With such a decentralized model, the rely heavily on Communities of Practice (a comm of people who are working on something similiar, similar work tasks…)

Why a COP? “overcome the inherent problems of a slow-moving traditional hierarchy in a fast-moving virtual economy.”

LCOP (Learning Community of Practice) is their COP of learning people from around the org. In 1999 there were three people…today over 400 people involved.

Keys to success (what has helped this community thrive?)

Purpose & Identity having a very specific purpose will help you.

Today’s Learning Community at Intel – to increase our own performance to have a greater impact on employees at Intel.
Have a clear mission and goals and review it regularly.
Articulate Business Value
“my metric is people are engaged and participate” – do I track this back to a metric? Nope…not to say that you can’t find relevant metrics.
Content & Engagement
LCOP meets once a month – do peer presentations. Hear what happens in other learning groups across Intel. These are virtual/online. Maybe 35 people for these meetings – people can decide what topics appeal to them?
Internal conferences. Usually F2F but sometimes virtual.
Like to bring in external speakers – internal people don’t get to get out too much – they enjoy hearing from outside colleagues.
Do lots of synch and asych dialog.
The use a social computing tool – called planet blue
People are more than robots who go to work every day – we’re people – it’s ok to have fun, too!
What does engagement look like? (She shows a screenshot of a whiteboard from a webinar session) – 35 people online at the same time typing on the screen at once. It even engages the introverts—you get a lot more dialog going.
Leadership & Support Needs a good community leader – someone who’s dedicated and passionate. You need to have a thoughtful guide, beacon, evangelist—this helps to build and maintain a successful online presence.

Corporate University Week: Leveraging Learning to Engage Employees and Foster Culture at BMO

2011-11-15T09:43:00.001-05:00

Second presentation as part of the Corporate University Week opening session. These are my live blogged notes.

Barbara Dirks
Chief Learning Officer Institute for Learning
BMO Financial Group (1600+ branches in North America) Bank of Montreal…

Vision: To be the bank that defines great customer experience.

Starbucks, Disney, – they have a unifying vision.

L&D function is now more strategic part of the organization.

World class corporate university in Toronto. Also a CU in Milwaukee area. Plus satellite locations. “The Institute for Learning” – established in 1994. Originally a more supply-based organization. Over the past three years become far more connected to the business.

Employee Engagement

Employees spend about 6.2 days a year on learning.

What is employee engagement and why does it matter?

Say….Stay…Strive

speaking positively about the org…intense desire to be a member of that org…to contribute to the business

How do we design/dev learner that drives engagement?

Four key focus areas:

Orientation and new hires – to cement relationships with new ees. Inspire engagement and make people feel welcome. How do you fit into the big picture. Research shows that those orgs that spend the most on orientation have highest levels of engagement.

Shows elearning menu which is a blueprint of the organization. Different “rooms” in the building – can’t move from room to room until you’ve viewed all of the videos, etc. in each room. CEO’s vision, etc. Launched through the LMS so they can track that people have done it.

In addition to general orientation, provide role orientation (e.g., branch manager curriculum) – takes 7 months to be role ready to be a branch manager…
Leadership Development

Starts with orientation. Very deliberate in development of program – senior leaders. Mandatory thing – 1.5 day senior leadership orientation.

Need strong leaders to drive engagement of employees.

3 phase leadership curriculum: first time managers, for managers of managers, for executives.

3 days in a classroom setting followed by the on the job practicum…over 6-18 months.

Won an ASTD BEST Award for this program.
Customer-Focused

It’s important that employees should care that a company/customer is doing well financially. Bring the voice of the customer into the classroom – big impact. Through videos, audio…Developing a course now on understanding our customers – to make a better connection for those in the back office – their role in the ecosystem of the customer experience.
Blended Learning

Supplements to in-class learning – videocasts, podcasts, webinars, social learning – want to be able to deliver learning anytime, anywhere.

***

Annual employee surveys show positive trends.

Collaboration is also a key theme. How people work together for the vision to succeed. That collab starts at the top.

What does leadership mean? It means being with people. It’s reinforcing the vision. It’s dialog. It starts at the top – the CEO role models this.

Also do a number of internal conferences for the 5000 managers of people.

Merged three organizations and had to merge cultures.

They do a lot of work with Root Learning to create “learning maps”.

Discussion about how to measure the success of learning – she says so much of it is intangible (in discussing their orientation program on vision/culture)…

Corporate University Week Opening Keynote: Verizon Wireless & Bellevue U Collaboration

2011-11-15T09:02:00.001-05:00

I’m at IQPC’s Corporate University Week in Orlando, Florida. Unlike the typical elearning conferences I go to where we’re talking a lot about practice, this one is focused at a more strategic level. Leadership is the word.

It’s small and cozy – about 16 vendors (of which we’re one) – and about 150 attendees. I’m looking forward to some really substantive conversations!

These are my live blogged notes from the opening session.

Michael E. Echols, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives and the Human Capital Lab
Bellevue University (www.humancapitallab.org)

General theme of the conference: linking learning outcomes to business objectives.

In the past, we’ve looked backward and heavily valued ROI…ROI looks backwards at a financial parameter – but there’s a lot more involved in business outcomes.

If you look at biz objectives – mobility, recruiting, retention are also factors.

The ROI conversation is dead. It’s backward looking and exclusive to financial.

Think about business outcomes in a broader perspective.

Risk management is a big priority in today’s economy. What does risk mean in learning community? Classic HR parameter of retention is a risk parameter. If you want to talk about your impact—growth and risk – you have a direct impact on risk in your org. The risk is that you invest in your people (your human capital) and they leave. Retention and turnover is a risk parameter.

Good ideas – that’s what’s in short supply (not cash). In the US economy, cash is not the scarce resource. Your companies need to have good ideas – and you need to help connect those good ideas to business outcomes.

Bellevue University and Verizon Wireless Collaborative Effort – Case Study – “How to Leverage University Partnerships Within Your Organization” Dorothy Martin with Verizon Wireless

Three years ago the concept: a collaboration between a university and a corporation.

linking tuition assistance to talent management

Professional 12 course program over two years that leads to a bachelor’s degree – focus on retail. It’s funded through Verizon’s LearningLINK program. Professional Retail Sales & Management program (PRSM)

Goals: pos impact on biz outcomes, reduce turnover, increase mobility, connect retail employees across US…

Three key elements: co-designed curriculum, co-branded communication (a concerted internal marketing effort), measurement

Where is it today? Business results and lessons learned

1. Curriculum Dev

Curric dev took one year for the 12 courses. It focuses on retail industry from universal and contextualized (verizon specific) perspectives – learn general and how it’s applied at verizon.

Ended up with 45 Verizon Wireless SMEs. (retail store managers, district managers, vps, etc.)

2. Co-branded Comms

Brochures/ecards went out to 2,400 retail stores. Management and employee webinars. Created a co-branded web portal to get more details and how to enroll.

Lots of participation from sales/marketing (86%)

1,147 participants to date. 60% retention rate. Graduated over 200 participants so far. 97% of grads have STAYED in the business.

3. Measure

Study on the PRSM program and the business impact. (multi-variant comparative study – sample size over 150 with a comparison group).

23% higher performing rating (than those who didn’t go through PRSM)
50% higher Leading rating
more likely to have received a promotion
significant increase in sales revenues for those who went through program
They sold more goods!

Verizon is now working with Bellevue on a second program direction at Call Center Operations & Management.

Now doing a new study – looking at the value of hiring someone with a degree vs. someone who was hired without a degree and given the opportunity to get a degree.

Looking at taking this beyond the Wireless division to other areas across the enterprise.

Senior Mngt continues to invest.

20% of employees are using LearningLINK (their tuition assistance program) – compared to the national average of 5%. Sr. Mngt really understands the value of this and supports promoting these programs.

“Context accelerates learning”

The PRSM program is a dialog, collaborative cohort model. 100% online.

Avoiding the Trap of Clicky-Clicky Bling-Bling #devlearn

2011-11-06T14:23:00.001-05:00

OK – so I can’t live blog my own session, but I can share my slides: presented Thursday, Nov 3 2011 at DevLearn in Las Vegas.

It was a great session – lots of conversation with the group which you won’t see on the slides, a few side bars and tangents, and some free t-shirts at the end! Thanks to everyone who joined in.

And for the record -- I designed my slides to match the t-shirt I was wearing ;)

Avoiding the Trap of Clicky-Clicky Bling-Bling

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