One of the best things I ever learned in college was to cheat. In one of Lora’s classes, the professor, Dr. Strange (yes, that really is his name), told us to go explore, look at other student’s projects, open them up, look at the code and copy anything we wanted to use.
Okay, this wasn’t an e-Learning class, it was an instructor-led course, but the principle is the same. Dr. Strange viewed his classroom as a learning portal, a gateway to learning. He didn’t have all the answers, so he directed us to look elsewhere, to share ideas, to review past students’ projects. In doing so, he taught us how to find the answers ourselves and to work together to discover new possibilities.
This is what e-Learning could be — a learning portal where learners go to learn new concepts, to explore these concepts on their own, and to work collaboratively with other learners to build on this new knowledge. Sure, Dr. Strange lectured the class, but briefly. We were engaged in activities that allowed each of us to discover new ways to do things and to share our findings with the other students in the class.
We now have incredible tools to design, develop and deliver learning events. So, with all the new technologies, why are we still developing curriculum in the same manner that we’ve done for years and years? Why do we keep developing and delivering the same old thing when we have powerful tools readily available? It’s as if we continue to jump into our familiar Oldsmobile and head off to work, when Jeff Gordon has handed us the keys to his NASCAR race car. In this article, we’re going to leave the Oldsmobile behind, and see what the possibilities might look like if we grabbed Jeff’s keys.
With so many tools, where do you start? A good place to start would be with a strong understanding of your audience and a solid program design. However, in order to design an award-winning program that changes the learner’s behavior, you first need to understand the tools available to you. If you don’t know what the technology is capable of, how will you be able to build it into your curriculum plan? Once you know what the technology can do, you can identify ways to use it in your curriculum, as well as begin to push the envelope and use it in ways no one ever thought of!
Two weeks ago, as I sat in the Rapid e-Learning Tools panel presentation at The eLearning Guild’s Annual Gathering, I heard an exchange between the participants and two of the panelists. The participants asked, “What do you envision for these rapid e-Learning tools in the next five years?” Silke Fleischer (Adobe) and Gabe Anderson (Articulate) both pushed back and challenged the audience: “We want to see what you can do with the tools — be creative!” This exchange has been in my mind as I wrote this article.
Are you currently using a Rapid e-Learning Tool, such as Articulate Presenter? Have you ever thought of using it to develop m-Learning curriculum? What about your virtual learning tool, such as Live Meeting? Have you ever considered using this technology as a way to capture conversations and interviews that you could repackage in an MP3 format? How far have you pushed the animation capabilities of PowerPoint? Believe it or not, sometimes you really don’t need a Flash programmer!
For the remainder of this article, I am going to challenge you to step out of your comfortable Oldsmobile and take a ride with me in Jeff’s Number 24 car. Here are some key technologies you’re probably using to develop curriculum and some of the things you could be doing with them if you changed your perspective and got a little creative. You could:
- Use your rapid e-Learning tool to develop learning portals that will allow learners to:
- Jump out to explore information on other Web sites;
- Join an online chat session to share ideas;
- Post questions and suggestions to a forum, based on concepts introduced in e-Learning.
- Link a Study Guide to your e-Learning course to:
- Promote social interaction and networking;
- Offer activities that learners perform off-line, such as interviewing experts or management and reporting their findings via a blog, wiki, forum, or chat room.
- Provide reference materials or job aids that:
- Take advantage of Adobe Acrobat 7.0 features for multimedia;
- Provide summary content, video clips of your experts, or Captivate simulations in addition to the text summary of key concepts.
- Use your synchronous tool to capture and repackage:
- Recorded conversations with your subject matter experts to use in your e-Learning or m-Learning modules;
- Recorded interviews as Podcasts and offer them as MP3 files;
- The software simulations from your recorded session that you edit into smaller movies, add different narration or even music, and incorporate into your e-Learning modules.
Rapid e-Learning portals
It’s time to stop thinking of e-Learning as a closed “room” that the learner enters in order to explore new concepts stored inside, and then exits. Instead, think of e-Learning as a portal to learning events and opportunities. Rapid e-Learning tools are perfect for developing these learning portals. Development tools, such as Articulate Presenter, can provide the framework to pull learning content together into a cohesive e-Learning site. However, they also make it possible to convert this site into a base from which the learner can explore and find information on their own, or join other learners in an online chat room, forum, or virtual live session.
According to Jay Cross in his latest book, Informal Learning, 80% of learning occurs on the job, outside of formal learning events. (See Figure 1.) What are you doing to address informal learning in your curriculum?
Figure 1
Develop portals to support
informal learning.
(Figure, quote, and book
cover Copyright 2006,
Internet Time Group LLC,
Berkeley, California)
If you begin to view your e-Learning curriculum in this new light, you’ll design opportunities into your courses for learners to find the answers themselves. In the future, they will know where to look. You’ll design events that promote building social networks for sharing information, so individual relationships are built and connections made for learning to occur beyond your individual e-Learning course. Many of these new technologies are “different” and even a bit “techie” so how do you use them to deliver training? It is all about “the blend” and understanding the strength each of these new technologies offers to both formal and informal learning. Once you change your perspective and view your e-Learning course as a “portal” that promotes learning, you’ll be better able to evaluate the value of adding an online chat or forum to your course.
Study guides can support networking
One way to bridge the gap between formal and informal learning is by adding something as simple as a study guide — remember those? Tying a study guide to your curriculum will provide a way to incorporate social interactions and networking opportunities into the e-Learning course. For example, within the e-Learning module, ask the learners to pause and complete a specific activity in their study guide. To further reinforce concepts and engage the learner, you may ask them to explore other Web sites to find key information or to discover the answers to questions they raise during their activities. Within the e-Learning, you can refer specifically to a page or section of the study guide. You can also provide hyperlinks directly on the screen so the learners can quickly and easily explore those other Web sites. Use online chats, forums, blogs, or virtual synchronous sessions to allow learners to come together to share ideas and the results of their explorations.
What
about a wiki? Is this concept just too far out for most of us in corporate
You should also consider what your learners want to walk away with from your e-Learning Portal. I mean, really take with them, in their hands. Once they’re back on the job, what key information could be useful to refer to, or hear again for reinforcement?
Let’s take another little spin with Jeff around the track and see a side of Adobe Acrobat that you probably never knew existed.
This isn’t your father’s PDF!
The study guide already provides a great quick reference resource, but what about a summary document that can be downloaded as an Adobe PDF file?
Adobe’s PDF format is widely accepted as a method for securely distributing documents. However, did you know that Adobe Acrobat version 7.0 offers a multimedia functionality that allows you to play Quick-Time, Windows Media Player or Flash movies? Consider the design opportunities this opens up when it comes to providing learners with reference materials and job aids! Using a tool you may already have, you can build course summary documents that capture key elements from your e-Learning.
For example, to add value and additional reinforcement of concepts, add the Flash movie of the subject matter expert reviewing sales positioning, or clips of the Captivate simulations demonstrating key features and functionality. Now you’ve provided your learner not only with a quick review in text format that they can print, but an additional resource they can have on their desktop that holds key pieces directly from your e-Learning portal. By offering this learning take-away, the learner does not have to log back onto your learning management system, locate the course, launch it and navigate to the specific section they’re looking for. Instead, the learner has this information at their fingertips right within the PDF document.
Another thing to consider is the page orientation of this document. Why portrait? Why not use the landscape orientation so that it resembles the look and layout of your e-Learning? Another benefit to landscape is the learner doesn’t have to scroll down. Everything appears on the screen, or they click to go to the next page.
OK, we’ve gotten a few new perspectives on this ride with Jeff. I hope you’ve put the For Sale sign on that Oldsmobile. If not, let’s continue the ride and take a look at the endless possibilities your synchronous tool offers — well beyond what it was designed for!
Push your synchronous tool to the limit!
There is a multitude of books on the market that tell how to use and facilitate synchronous learning events. However, here are a few creative uses for your synchronous tool that you may never have considered.
Tools, such as Microsoft Live Meeting, can be a wonderful means to capture conversations with your subject matter expert (SME) when you’re developing your content. Using the online tool, you can finally get your SME to provide those details that were missing in the notes section of PowerPoint! By recording the synchronous event, you have both the audio and the visual elements to use in your course materials. Many developers, especially those that are a “one-personshop,” simply package this recording and label it as e-Learning. Either way you look at it, rich information was captured directly from the “expert.” Usually, these conversations are packed with stories and examples to make the concepts introduced more relevant. So, why not find another way to “repackage” this content?
Here are a few ideas.
