One of my favorite movies is the first film in The Matrix trilogy, staring Keanu Reeves. I must have seen this movie at least 15 times. It was released in 1999 and has completely transformed how
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In the movie, Keanu Reeves’ character, Neo, discovers how the world as he knows it is not real but is instead a virtual reality created by a sinister computer network, called The Matrix, that is using humans as its source of power. Neo, the hero of the movie, has been chosen to free the human race from the control of The Matrix. During the movie he is often referred to as “The One.” Throughout the course of the movie Neo utilizes powerful e-Learning programs to gain knowledge of all of the skills and information he needs to become “The One” who saves the world. My favorite scene demonstrates the ultimate e-Learning program.
Scene
The camera pans the walls of the small, dark room. Neo is sitting alone on a hard steel bed. He is rubbing his head and contemplating his future and that of the entire world, which he has recently discovered is under control of the Matrix. A man enters. He is Neo’s trainer, Tank, and his job is to provide Neo with the tools and motivation Neo needs to succeed both online and in the not-so-real world of The Matrix.
Tank: I’m fairly excited to see what you’re capable of... it’s a very exciting time. We got a lot to do. Now, we’re supposed to start with these operation programs first, that’s very boring. How about we start with something a little more fun? How about combat training?
Neo: Jujitsu? I’m going to learn Jujitsu?
The screen flashes to a close-up of a very high-tech computer system that is being operated by Tank. Neo is now strapped into a pilot’s chair that has wires and pieces of small electrodes attached to it. The look on his face is one of doubt and apprehension (perhaps because he has never tried e-Learning and is not familiar with its benefits). The online combat training begins and Neo’s body tenses as his mind is inundated with images, audio, text, animations and video clips.
Tank: How about some more?
Neo: Heck yes.
The screen pans to Neo who is connected to the computer via a short cable through a hole at the base of his neck. The cable is attached directly to his brain and the electronic impulses are sent from the computer directly to the cerebral cortex. This is the ultimate e-Learning program. Meanwhile, Tank is monitoring his progress and continually checking to make sure he is meeting his combat training goals. Tank is Neo’s contact with the real world. That human contact and support will help him succeed. Toward the end of the training session, Neo’s mentor, Morpheus, enters the training room to observe his progress. Suddenly Neo looks up and his eyes flash open and he speaks in a soft whisper.
Neo: I know Kung Fu.
Morpheus: Show me.
Neo and Morpheus are now in a traditional Japanese Dojo and Neo is able to apply what he has learned in the virtual world by fighting his mentor Morpheus. An intense Hong Kong-style karate fight ensues. The scene ends with Neo feeling a great sense of satisfaction that he has met the goals of his e-Learning program. This success will help him to reach his long-term goal to become “The One” who saves the world.
Disclaimer: Do not attempt to strap your e-Learners to their chairs and attach a computer to their cerebral cortexes. This will not improve your course success rates.
Real world
Imagine a world where learning was this easy and the technology was so advanced that all we needed to do to learn anything was simply plug ourselves into a computer and download the necessary knowledge into our long term memory. Well, as you already probably know, we are not quite there yet. If only we had the 60-million-dollar budget that the Wachowski brothers (writers and directors of The Matrix) had to make the original movie. Unfortunately the reality is we don’t, but we do have some very powerful tools available to us to help our employees and students learn. Alone, however, even this technology is not enough. Once we leave the science fiction world of The Matrix, the truth is it takes a lot of self-motivation on the part of the e-Learner to actually make e-Learning work.
To truly be successful online, and to actually motivate themselves to learn, learners need to:
- Have a clear understanding of the benefits their online training program will have on their career; and,
- Follow the e-Learning study tips outlined in this article.
Realities of e-Learning
The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) and The MASIE Foundation found in their study (June 2001) that the average start rate for voluntary courses is around 32%, much lower than the average for mandatory courses which have an average start rate of 69%. These statistics have been reported before in Learning Solutions Magazine, but I think it is good to revisit them because, since that study in 2001, we have seen a lot of improvements in the technology and usability on the e-Learning sites available to us. As an industry we are slowly seeing e-Learning programs be more and more successful. However, in my experience we are still having problems getting the completion rates for our voluntary programs to a level where management is happy with the company’s return on investment.
The human factor
We have found at AIG that keeping in contact with our e-Learners has definitely improved our success rates. A similar trend in which online universities like The University of Phoenix keep their class sizes very small in order to keep the human connection between the teacher and the students very strong has also been reported in Learning Solutions Magazine. This has led to success rates similar to that of AIG at around 65%. To me, this illustrates the point that once you introduce the human factor into the e-Learning training program, some learners who normally would have dropped out of the course are encouraged to complete it. In these situations the e-Trainer can make a big difference in the e-Learner’s ability to succeed. There are many reasons why some people succeed and some don’t. In most situations, the reasons why some learners are successful have very little to do with the trainer and the bells and whistles available on the e-Learning site. The truth is success comes from within the students themselves and their desire to learn.
What can you do to help your learners succeed online?
What happens if the e-Learning site you are using has all of the necessary tools to effectively promote learning, but you lack the necessary time and human resources to adequately contact your learners to motivate and check their progress?
If a student really wants to be successful they must become the best learner they can be, by becoming their own personal motivator and trainer. Don’t get me wrong — not all e-Learning programs are created equal. Some have been designed to promote learning in far superior ways to others. However, just because you build it, buy it or rent it, does not mean your employees will use it — and there is nothing that says just because they use it, that they will actually learn from it. This is most evident in voluntary e-Learning programs where there is no external pressure or motivation for the learner to succeed.
The key issue, to me, is to focus on what the learner can do to ensure his or her own success. By providing your employees and students with the tips outlined here, you will help them help themselves succeed online.
In my experience, you can maximize your learners’ ability to succeed online by 1) identifying their dominant learning styles, and by 2) providing them with eight tips from highly effective e-Learners.
Different learning styles
How many of you know what your most dominant learning style is? Good. Next question... How many of your learners do? Hmm... Just as I suspected... a lot fewer. Let’s start by looking at the three different learning styles and how you can use them as a tool to help your learners become more effective e-Learners.
Identifying your learners’ learning Styles.
If your learners don’t already know what kind of learner they are, then I recommend that they take The learning style quiz in Table 1, which has been adapted from Colin Rose’s 1987 book, Accelerated Learning.
| Instructions: Read the left column and then draw a circle in the question box that best suits you for that specific situation. When you are finished, the column with the most answers is your dominant learning style. | |||
| When | Visual | Auditory | Kinesthetic/tactile |
| Spelling a word | Do you try to visualize the word you are spelling before writing it down? | Do you try to say the word out loud, carefully saying each syllable? | Do you type or write the word first and then check to see if it is correct? |
| Conversing | Is it hard to concentrate if you listen for too long? | Do you like listening more than talking? | Do you use your hands a lot when speaking? |
| Concentrating | If your desk is messy, do you find it difficult to stay focused? | If it is noisy, do you find it difficult to stay focused? | If there is a lot of movement around your desk, do you find it difficult to stay focused? |
| Meeting someone for the second time | Are you bad at remembering the person’s name but good at remembering their faces? | Are you bad at remembering the person’s face but good at remembering their name? | Are you best at remembering what you and the other person actually did together? |
| Contacting people | Do you prefer to talk to people in person? | Do you like to have conversations on the phone? | Do you like to talk and walk or do some kind of activity while talking? |
| Reading | When you are reading, do you often pause and think about or imagine what is happening in the story? | Do you prefer audio books or listening to conversations? Do you often read out loud? | Do you prefer to sports or some other kind of activity? |
| Assembling something | Do you actually enjoy reading the directions and looking at the illustrations before assembling something? | Do you prefer to have someone read the directions to you? | Do you try to do it yourself and not look at the directions? |
| Getting help with a computer application | Do you look for pictures or diagrams in the instruction booklet or in the help section? | Do you ask for help? | Do you keep trying to get it working over and over again or try it on your coworker’s computer? |
What kind of learner are you? Circle your answer.
- Visual
- Auditory
- Kinesthetic/tactile
Maximizing your learners’ potential for success
After your learners have figured out what kind of learner they are, they should try some of the strategies listed in Table 2 to help them learn more effectively online.
| Visual learners |
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| Auditory learners |
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| Tactile/kinesthetic learners |
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Eight tips for highly effective e-Learners
In order to be come successful e-Learners, your learners can do many things to improve their chances. The eight tips outlined in this section have helped many of our employees to become much more effective online learners.
Tip 1: Set clear and attainable goals
In order to improve their ability to succeed online, your employees need to learn how to set goals that inspire them, as well as to find out what learning techniques work for them. Goals are simply tools to help us succeed. We measure our goals to help keep ourselves motivated. In the end, success is used to help us expand and grow in our personal and professional lives.
Without clear goals and objectives, your employees will lack the necessary inspiration to spend time studying, away from their families and doing things they enjoy like watching TV.
To illustrate this point I am going to tell you about one of my learners, Ryoya. Ryoya was chosen by his company to visit their head office in the USA to learn about the operations there and then come back to Japan and apply the lessons he learned to the operations here. The problem was that he lacked the English skills and confidence to do this. As a result, he set himself three very clear and attainable goals to focus on in the six months following his selection. By doing this, Ryoya motivated himself to stay on track and to continue studying online in conjunction with his classroom based training until he reached the goals. By setting clear goals and continually using these to motivate himself, Ryoya was able to achieve his objectives.
Another technique that Ryoya used to keep himself motivated was to write his three goals on a piece of paper and tape them to his desk, so he could read them every day and stay focused. These goals acted as motivation and inspiration, and that helped him to follow through on what he started.
Tip 2: Understand why the course is important to their future
If your employees do not see the positive effects their online training program will have on their future, then there is a good chance they won’t study. For me, when I took my Macromedia Dreamweaver UltraDev course training, I was able to do it because I knew that I would be able to apply that knowledge to my own projects by creating database-driven student report pages for management. I also realized that this would make me more valuable to my company. This knowledge motivated me to study rather than watching The Osbornes on MTV.
Tip 3: Tell other people about their online study goals
By doing this, your learners will be more successful because they will work hard to succeed in front of their peers and they will continually receive encouragement from them. If they don’t do this, then their chances of success are lower because they are not receiving the external motivation that they may need to succeed. Whenever I take an online course I always tell my manager about it. That way I become responsible to her for completing the course.
Tip 4: Understand and prepare themselves for the difficulties of studying online
It is important to note that there will be times when your employees want to give up and quit. There are times when their job and family commitments will make them feel like they don’t have time to study. My student Taro felt the same way many times but he was able to overcome the desire to quit by talking to his manager about it and thinking about what would happen in six months if he didn’t improve his skills. That’s what your learners have to do. They need to understand that it is going to be difficult sometimes but that they can rely on their friends, co-workers and boss to help motivate them to succeed.
Tip 5: Use the e-Learning tools available to them
By spending time before starting their online course and learning how to use all of the tools that their course has to offer, your learners will maximize the benefits they receive from the learning experience. One of my learners said to me, “I think e-Learning is good but I can’t improve my speaking skills.” He is studying business English through GlobalEnglish.com. I said, “Have you tried ‘Talk with the Teacher’?” “Talk with the Teacher” is a tool on GlobalEnglish where learners can have a conversation with a live teacher any time. His response was, “What’s that?” He had been using the site for eight months and still didn’t know about the site’s most powerful tool. If he had taken the time to learn how to use the site’s tools before starting the program, he would have had a much more enriched learning experience.
Tip 6: Create a study schedule
By doing this your learners will make studying on the Internet a regular part of their daily schedule and make it a habit. If your learners do something every day for three weeks, then there is a good chance that it will become a habit. e-Learners need to form good habits. An example of a good habit is studying on the Internet for 90 minutes three days a week from 7:00 to 8:30 AM, instead of watching TV. Many of my most successful learners study at the same time and on the same days, every week. One of them even wakes up at 4:30 AM three days a week to study online. He said that it was hard in the beginning, but now it has become a part of his regular schedule and he is used to it.
Tip 7: Treat online study sessions as a part of regular job
Online study sessions should not be put off, pushed back or canceled. Remember, learning is no longer a hobby. It is key to your learners’ success in business and extremely important to their futures. If your learners do not view their learning as a priority, then it will be easy to put off their studies because they are not viewed as important as their regular job.
My student Ryoya says, “My advice to anyone who is trying to learn online is that you need to view studying as a vital part of your job. I strongly believe that we have to plan our study goals, make a study schedule and make sure we follow our plan. This is how we succeed in our job; we set goals and make long and short-term plans to realize those goals. This is the key to success in business and learning online.”
Tip 8: Learn from others by participating in the online communities
By participating in the online communities offered by their e-Learning vendor, your learners will be able to learn from other students and online tutors. For example, Element K offers a number of message boards for learners to use to post questions and talk about problems they are having. This is a great way to interact with others who may have the answers your learners are looking for. I use this message board to ask questions about design issues. It is truly a very powerful learning tool. Some of the most useful information I learned regarding VBScript and Flash came from such online forums.
Conclusion
The most successful learners have motivation and a commitment to succeed that is fueled by having goals that have purpose and that inspire them to continue self-development. Those who lack these goals tend to fail not only at e-Learning but at other forms of learning as well. In addition to having motivation to succeed, many of my most successful learners have followed the tips outlined in this article to learn online. They must understand that e-Learning is a very powerful tool, but the technology is not enough on its own. It takes a lot of self-motivation on the part of your learners to actually make e-Learning work. To truly be successful online, learners need to 1) have a clear understanding of the benefits their online training program will have on their career and 2) they need to follow the e-Learning study tips outlined in this article.
To help you help your learners become more successful online, I have included an online course learner success form in the Sidebar, for you to give your learners before taking their next online program. I hope you find it as useful as we have!
Name:________________________________________________________ Date:_________________
Online Course Name:________________________________________
Course Starting Date:____________________ Course Completion Date:_______________
What are your dominant learning styles? 1)_______________________________ 2)________________________________
What strategies are you going to use to help improve your learning for your personal learning style?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What do you think you can learn from taking this course?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What are your goals for this online training course?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What benefits will this course have on your job efficiency, career and/or financial situation?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Who are you going to tell about your course and why you are taking it?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What days are you going to study? What time are you going to study each day? Please fill in the calendar below:
|
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Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
Sunday |
| Week 1 | |||||||
| Week 2 | |||||||
| Week 3 | |||||||
| Week 4 |
Where are you planning to study? Choose the most comfortable place for you with the least distractions.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What special tools does your e-Learning site have?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Do you know how to the use the Internet? Circle: Yes/No
If not, where and when are you going to learn about it?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Who is paying for your online course? Circle: You/Company
Are you planning on participating in the online forums provided on your e-Learning site? Circle: Yes/No
I promise myself that I will treat my online study sessions as a regular part of my job and not cancel them. This training program is important to my career and personal growth.
Signature: __________________________________________________________
References
Rose, Colin Penfield. Accelerated Learning.1987, Dell.
