2.0 trends applied to e-Learning
Now that we know what the 2.0 trends and technologies are, we need to understand how these trends and technologies are applied to e-Learning. It is important to remember that the end user is the learner; and that the supplier is the course creator, trainer, or training organization. Companies that provide LMSs, authoring tools, and simulation tools are providing the “enabling technologies” used by trainers to provide 2.0 services to end users. LMSs, authoring tools, and simulation tools are to trainers what a database is to Google: the behind-the-scenes engine to provide their service.
My mother would say that not all fashions are for everyone. The same statement works when applied to technology. Because a technology is in fashion does not mean it has to be deployed. The goal is to provide effective, accessible learning — not to show off that you can use a new technology.
Courses are the application service.
An end user takes a course over the Web. The user does not need to download any software or learn any new application. Like all effective application services, an effective course adheres to the principles and practices of good Web publishing. Pages should display quickly without the need of a plug-in, appropriate navigation should be used, and integration to other services (like an LMS) should be transparent.
E-Learning’s long tail
E-Learning’s long tail consists of all those industry or company-specific classes that are appropriate for a relatively small audience. Rapid e-Learning is the trainer’s solution for accessing long-tail users. Most training needs fall in the long tail, while most off-the-shelf courses are produced for the sizable (bell) market.
E-Learning mashups
E-Learning does mashups by taking multiple sources to provide additional services for a learning experience. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that by combining different online pages from different courses you can produce a mashup course. More likely, you will only produce a ransom-note course.
Look at the broader goal of training: e-Learning has been providing mashups for years. We call it “blended e-Learning.” A good trainer will look at the different technologies and delivery systems available and mash up a solution that is effective for their learner base. This may include text, pictures, multimedia, and quotes from different authors, hands-on training, live presentations, and self-paced delivery.
Harnessing end users (learners) to add value
Forums, blogs, wikis, etc. can all be created to surround your course with an expanded set of learner resources. You need to be very careful to be sure that you understand your learner’s culture. (Most mid-level and senior level employees are too busy to contribute to blogs and Wikis.) You will never get these expanded resources off the ground if you don’t have a culture that fosters and gives value to adding and joining Wikis, blogs, and forums. Also, don’t make the mistake of thinking that Wikis, blogs, and forums are e-Learning. They are resources. E-Learning needs structure and instructional design to be effective and provide return on investment.
Microcontent moves learners from training to learning
Required training will never go away. Microcontent is small training sessions that are taken as the need arises. For instance when an employee needs to access a corporate service, she types the name of the service into the corporate search engine. A link to the service, along with a short course on how to use the service comes up at the top of the search. The employee takes the short training, and then uses the service correctly.
Services above the PC
When you create a course, you don’t know how a learner will be accessing it. Create your courses using technologies (HTML, CSS) that are supported by all of the devices including PCs of any configuration, PDA’s, and mobile phones. Avoid authoring tools that force you to choose the size of the output screen before you produce your course, or that provide absolutely positioned pages. To be effective you need to use the Web (and specifically a browser) the way it is designed to be used.
“Intel Inside”
In the case of a course, the content is the core value. If you establish a reputation for providing good content that is easily accessible, and that does not require recurring delivery maintenance costs, you will improve your ability to brand yourself through your material. With e-Learning your courses should be more than a one-time event. Courses should be searchable and accessible on the network. Employees should be able to type in key words and have access to course pages that apply to what they are trying to do at that moment.
New technologies
Just because it is new does not mean the old is bad and the new is good. Your goal is to get the end user to learn. A new technology is only effective if it provides you with a better service. Podcasts are on everyone’s lips right now. The benefit of Podcasts is the delivery mechanism and the popularity among the consumer electronic market. It is much easier to put an audio on a Web site and let iPod users download it then it was to send people tapes and have them play the tape in their car or Walkman.
However, the new technologies have not added any value to the content. A boring speaker will be just as boring on an iPod as they were on a Walkman. They will be more boring through a recording than when they gave the live presentation.
To work well for organizations, Podcasts should be professionally produced by audio specialists, should be narrated by professional actors/narrators, and should be entertaining. That’s why the most popular Podcasts are radio shows and music.
Case Study — Knowledge Pills
Knowledge Pills Inc. is a Web 2.0 e-Learning company. Knowledge Pills Inc. develops short, 15-minutelong, training courses for the consumer and corporate market place. In the corporate market place, Knowledge Pills’ goal is to provide companies with employee-directed courses that can be taken just-in-time throughout the business cycle. Daniel Purlich, CEO of Knowledge Pills, sees his company as a knowledge provider. “Like most people who access an application service, visitors to our site, or clients that put our products on their intranet, do not want their end users to feel like they are accessing technology,” states Purlich.
Employees should be able to search a string of words in their corporate search engine and a Knowledge Pill containing this information should come up. Employees can take a course on whatever device they use without restrictions, or needing additional technology that will slow them down.
One of the first courses
Knowledge Pills built was “Doing Business in
Knowledge Pills intends to provide short courses on hundreds of subjects that help workers stay in tune and up to date with current issues, trends, and technologies that affect them on a daily basis. Knowledge Pills has also shaken up the traditional sales model. Purlich has been on the receiving end of course pitches for over 20 years. “I was always frustrated that the course was missing in the sales pitch,” says Purlich. “Few purchasers of training courses ever take an entire course they purchase; many times they buy courses without ever seeing them. We embrace the modern concept that information should be accessible. With Knowledge Pills, all the training courses are on the Web site. You don’t need special passwords to access the training and you can take an entire training course, not just a couple of pages that show how pretty the training looks.” Purlich also believes in enlisting the end user to add value to the training process. Wikis, newsgroups, student comments, and rankings should be part of any training course.
Knowledge Pills are
initially available in four languages: English, French, Spanish, and German. Courses will eventually be in many
more languages. Their philosophy is that learners should be able to take
courses in the language they are most comfortable learning in. Knowledge Pill
plans to have distribution in North America and
Most companies want to control their employees’ learning experience by having courses available through their intranet and by using their LMS. Knowledge Pills has a program where companies can purchase courses and receive additional services including customization of content, customization of the course look and feel, and custom Knowledge Pills.
Many of Knowledge Pills’ ideas about type, length, and accessibility of e-Learning come from founder Daniel Purlich’s experience in the training marketplace. Purlich has a traditional training and e-Learning background. In the 1990’s Daniel was the general manager of France Telecom’s training division where he was initially responsible for identifying corporate training direction, and purchasing and developing CBT training and, eventually, e-Learning courses. More recently, Purlich was director of content development at Educaterra, the training arm of Telefonica, the second largest telecommunications company. In 2004, Daniel’s organization at Educaterra provided 90,000 Telefonica employees with over a million hours of training a year.
Purlich worked closely with managers throughout the organization to understand their needs and requirements. What quickly became apparent was that there was a fundamental change in training that managers were requesting. Managers did not want to take their employees out of the workplace for training. Changes in technology and business operations were happening frequently. Managers needed to be assured that employees were up on these changes. They could not afford to have employees out of the office for days of time. What managers wanted were brief, fifteen-minute training sessions that employees could take anywhere, when the need arose, which provided the employee with the nugget of information that was needed for them to perform their job or be able to participate effectively in a meeting or conference call.
Purlich realized that for his organization to react to this change they needed to change the size and scope of course production. Courses needed to be reorganized and prioritized differently. Many cheap-toproduce, short training courses on subjects that were pertinent today but may not be pertinent in the future needed to be produced. These courses had to work on monitors of any resolution, including PDA’s and cell phones. Managers throughout the organization are happy with the direction training is heading. They realize that classroom training and traditional e-Learning will not go away. Quick, cheap, rapid e-Learning courses provide them with the necessary training infrastructure employees need to do their job now. These courses are very popular with employees. They allow them to keep up with trends and their workload.
E-Learning 2.0 courses: Conclusion
So what does a 2.0 course look like? 2.0 courses should never be a hodge-podge assembly of old methodologies delivered through new technologies. They should be a true “2.0 course,” rather than a self-propelled PowerPoint presentation or CBT training presented on a PDA. 2.0 courses provide just-in-time training. They are used as a resource — not a one-time event. A 2.0 course lasts 15 to 20 minutes, runs smoothly on any configuration of device (high resolution, portable) or PDA, and delivers smoothly on all versions of Web browsers. Finally, 2.0 courses incorporate the best-of-breed techniques from Web design and instructional design.
