The Impact of the Client Experience

Transforming Classroom training Into eLearning

As more and more companies migrate towards online learning, there is a temptation to simply digitize the training materials and put them into an elearning module. In classroom settings there are usually Power Point presentations and hard copy training manuals. Although they may work well in the traditional classroom, they won’t translate well into an elearning module unless you “transform” the content, rather than just “transfer” the content.

For example, when a facilitator is running an in-class session, they will most likely have a Power Point slideshow. They can stop and discuss each slide more deeply, and answer questions as well as encourage discussion within the class. In the elearning environment, these slides become a boring slideshow that learners will simply click through as quickly as possible.

A qualified Instructional Designer will be able to “transform” the content to make it interactive and engaging in an elearning environment. The content should be organized specifically for elearning purposes and broken into sections that will make sense to the flow of the module. eLearning works very well when broken into small chunks so keep this in mind when converting your content as well.

Another key aspect is to design some new activities that will keep the learner engaged, and think more than just, multiple choice questions. Rather than just quizzing learners at the end of the course, incorporate activities throughout the module so they can really explore the content. You should keep in mind that some people work well in a self-paced environment and take that into account when designing the content as well.

Keeping Learners Engaged

One of the key factors to the success in your elearning is keeping your learners engaged. Making sure you have high quality, meaningful content is one of the easiest ways to keep learners fully engaged and motivated to learn. The idea is to stray away from offering general “nice-to-know” information that doesn’t bring any added value to the course. Stick to “need-to-know” information that will help learners improve a skill-set and overall knowledge. If you’re not sure what this key information is, figure out a way to find out what content your learner will find valuable and develop your learning strategy around that. If your learner feels like the information they are getting will directly help them in their role, you will find a higher level of engagement and commitment.

Economics: Cheaper always has a price

I was driving through our neighborhood recently  with my son on the way back from soccer practice.  It was one of the first really warm days of Spring, so many of the local shopkeepers were busy outside their stores cleaning windows, sweeping sidewalks and putting out colourful chalkboard signs that promised great deals and upcoming sales.  It was one of these signs that caught my son’s eye, outside the local Pet store.  The sign’s proclamation was simple, if not devastating.  Printed in a bold black font,

“Going out of Business Sale”

Reading the sign took only a second, but I knew the impact would last far longer.  Ask most parents in our neighbourhood (any neighbourhood I suppose) and they will say the same thing. The local pet store is more than just a place to buy food for their cherished family member…. it’s a mini zoo, where they can spend an hour on a Sunday afternoon… a place that in their children’s eyes, is filled with wondrous creatures great and small.

As a proud Canadian business owner myself, I am always saddened to see a local business fail, but this particular closing was especially troubling.

My son knows all too well, the sacrifices a family endures when they own their own business…. the weekends spent working…. the late nights… the endless “give me second” references, signalling that he should come back to talk to me later.  These are all too familiar, but made worthwhile when we succeed, which thankfully my company has been able to do.  But I do not think until that very moment, he had realized that sometimes a business can fail, even one as wonderful and joyous as our local pet store.

Naturally he asked ‘why’?

“Could be any number of reasons,” I said. “But, most likely, it’s because they couldn’t compete with the bigger pet stores”.

“What do you mean, they couldn’t compete; because they are small?” “Does that mean your company will go out of business too?”

“No, we’re just fine. What I mean by ‘compete’, is that some companies (large companies) can buy the things they sell to customers much cheaper than smaller stores can, because they paid less to get them. So their customers are happy, because they save money when they shop there.”

“Yes,” he said jumping in… “but the people working in the small companies aren’t happy, because now they don’t have a job.”

“Yah,” I sighed. “That’s economics; cheaper, always has a price.”

Naturally this conversation, got me thinking about my business. Pathways is a learning technology company. We are by all accounts successful. Growing, employing Canadians. But we don’t sell widgets. We sell services that become products. eLearning, gaming, animations, simulations etc. Our cheaper options would come in the form of people. We could outsource. Many in our industry do. It’s easy. In most cases, no one has to be the any the wiser. We could pass the savings on to our customers. Then everybody wins, right?

I know that ‘cheaper always has a price’. I know that local talent must be fostered and supported for our customers to really enjoy what we’re selling. I also know that you can outsource yourself right out of a job. It all comes around eventually.

Before writing this entry, I asked one of my colleagues what he believed our competitive advantage was. He paused for a moment and said, “We care. All of us. We all care. We may not always be perfect, but we care about what we do – because we see the direct impact of our work on our clients. If you don’t know your customers, how can you care about them?

He was right.

Small business owners know how much each and every client matters. They have to, because their livelihoods depend upon each and every one of them. People often talk about small business being the life-blood of our economy, but the real measure of those words comes when we make choices to buy our pet food somewhere cheaper.

Gamification & Engagement

Recently much has been written about the integration of gamification in instructional design including posts I have done myself, but today I wanted to discuss in more detail why this has become so important.

Gamification is defined as the “application of common elements of game playing as a means to encourage engagement with a product or service” and as I have written in the past, the element of game playing has mass appeal, but why is engagement so important?

Consider the following…millennials (persons born between 1982 – 2004) are now the largest generation in the workforce.  Think about that for a moment.  Tens of Millions of employees who have grown up empowered by technology and pushing the demand of instant gratification.  This group is connected, they operate in the “now” and want to feel valued by those they work for…. they want to be engaged.

There have been countless studies on the significant increase in employee retention when employees feel engaged but I will leave that discussion for another day.  The point is this… employees want to be engaged, engagement is a good thing and one way to get an employee engaged is to use gamification.

In the upcoming weeks I will continue the discussion on gamification and discuss in more detail how instructional designers and programmers are partnering to create eLearning modules that are using gamification in many creative and exciting ways.

To learn more about gamification and other eLearning training solutions offered by Pathways please visit our website at http://www.Pathwaysinc.ca

Gamification Introduction

Several recent surveys conducted this past year estimate there are 1.2 billion people worldwide playing video games, spending up to 3 billion hours a week.  Of that number, the Sony Network boasts 110 million users for their PlayStation console while Microsoft numbers are at 50 million for their Xbox 360 and One platforms.  That leaves over a billion people playing video games on” non-console” formats, such as their personal computer or laptop, phone or other handheld devices.  Understanding that, is it any wonder that more and more instructional designers are using gamification” as part of their projects?

Gamification is defined as the “application of common elements of game playing as a means to encourage engagement with a product or service” *.  For example, awarding points, playing against or being in competition with other users, having a set rules of play to follow, etc.  So basically, using the elements over a billion people have become familiar with to help them learn.

In the upcoming weeks I am going to delve deeper into the phenomena that is gamification and discuss in more detail how instructional designers and programmers are partnering to create eLearning modules that are using gamification in many creative and exciting ways.

To learn more about gamification and other eLearning training solutions offered by Pathways please visit our website at http://www.Pathwaysinc.ca

3 Tips for Creating Effective eLearning

eLearning can be a very successful training medium if executed well. The rollout of eLearning programs can save organizations on training costs, with the added benefit of faster delivery and the reach of a wider scope of employees.  Creating eLearning that is both effective and engaging however, can sometimes be challenging.

Here are three tips that are useful when working on eLearning projects.

 Learning Objectives

Having a clear idea of what your learning objectives are helps to shape the content of your course.  When writing objectives, be specific and focus on connecting these goals with what you want learners to take away at the end of the learning. By making objectives clear and concise, I find that I am better able to focus in on creating targeted evaluation pieces.

 The importance of great images

Images can truly help bring life to learning. That being said, not all images are created equal. When selecting images, try to include those which help to connect content to the real world. Learners tend to grasp information more easily when presented with a quality visual.

Also be mindful of including the right image size and provide the correct placement to match the content being presented.  Choosing images that really connect to the subject matter can help make concepts more relatable to learners.

 Create engaging learning

Because eLearning cannot necessarily cater to learners in the same manner as classroom training would, it is important to incorporate activities that are engaging and can keep learners interested in the subject matter. Since adults learn by doing and are most engaged when all senses are utilized, creating activities that appeal to multiple senses can be highly effective.

An example that uses a learner’s visual, auditory and kinaesthetic senses for instance can be a game. If done well, games can serve to positively affect the learner’s ability to understand and retain complex material. The advantage of activities such as these is that the content can seem less daunting and more fun, as learners are rewarded for their participation.

 

This list is not everything that is needed but provides a few key guidelines to consider when conceptualizing and designing eLearning. To learn more about the work that we do at Pathways please visit our website athttp://www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.ca/.

eLearning Trends 2016 – Cloud-Based eLearning Solutions

There are quite a few concerns about surrounding cloud-based elearning solutions such as a lack of IT support resources, data security or unreliable access. While these are all valid, great strides have been made to resolve those issues and provide a solution that has a great many benefits.

Firstly, cloud solutions are easy to use and support. You don’t need to install software on each computer and you don’t need specialized IT staff to maintain the system; this is all done by your solution provider. Another benefit is probably the most important to most organizations – cost. You can customize your solution so that you don’t have to pay for features that you don’t need. Another advantage is the cloud can be accessed anywhere by different devices so geography doesn’t play in as a factor.

Lastly, for those who are losing sleep over data security, there are a variety of safety measures that can be used such as data encryption and SSL. You can also password protect your platform to allow certain individuals access to certain areas of the training.

Contact me at matttklinger@pathwaysinc.ca to learn more about how we can help you with your elearning needs.

2016 eLearning Trend to Watch – Big Data

You don’t need to be an IT expert to have heard the expression “big data”. This refers to large quantities of data that are gathered and analyzed to expose different patterns, tendencies, and associations. This can be a very useful tool when considering your elearning objectives and how big data stats can help fine tune your training based on concrete stats. Most elearning solutions require a custom approach so why not take advantage of big data analytics to help custom tailor your learning activities?

Making sure that your learning solutions have effective reporting tools and user feedback will only help as you move forward with whatever training projects you have. Let the big data you have access to help you focus on key areas of your elearning course design and research!

Why (and how) you should incorporate badging into your eLearning strategy

Remember the participation badge you got for showing up to your grade 9 track and field competition? This isn’t that.

I’m talking about acknowledging the mastery of knowledge and skill sets to encourage iterative and deep learning. Done properly, badging can recognize the internally motivated among us.

But I don’t want to dismiss my (and your potential) initial resistance to badging because I believe it helps us better focus on the success criteria for valuable badges. Badging meets resistance because those of us who got participation badges considered them utterly worthless and we did so precisely because they were issued to anyone who managed to just show up for the race. To participants who trained for the day and genuinely competed, the badge was insulting and demotivating. Done hastily or half-heartedly, badges can discourage learning. To be effective, badges must:

• Be issued selectively, probably on the basis of some pre-established criteria,
• Be issued by a credible person or institution and
• Be publishable (or displayable) in a place that is meaningful to the recipient.

Effective badging requires planning and preparation in both the design and build (development) phases of your eLearning project.

Designing badges

As any member of the scouting movement will tell you, participants are required to complete a tasks and then present evidence before being they are awarded merit badges. Badges in eLearning should mirror this structure. If you have established performance outcomes and rubrics (your learner success criteria), you’re on the road to badging.

However, if you only have a fuzzy idea of what the performance outcomes should be, then you need to invest more time in the planning and design phases of your project to establish these criteria before you are ready to leap into the world of badges. An eLearning vendor can help you identify performance outcomes and map them to a learning strategy so that your badges are relevant. Already have those success criteria defined? Beware of badging overkill. Don’t apply badging for mandatory content as it defeats the motivational purpose of badging and rapidly diminishes their stock.

For badges to be valuable to learners, they must have a compounding effect. A single badge tells something of a learner’s interests and skills, but an amalgam of badges tells a fuller, interwoven and altogether more interesting story about their interests and abilities. Its this prospect of telling the fuller story that motivates learners to seek out, accumulate and display badges for professional development. (More on displaying badges in the section below.) Done properly, badging should be integrated into your eLearning strategy.

Building badges

At their heart, badges are images with metadata; metadata are what distinguish a meaningless participation badge from a sought-after badge for professional development. Badge metadata contains information on the evidence of a learner’s concept mastery, the validity of the issuer, the duration of the badge’s validity and any other vital information the issuer wishes to communicate.

On the subject of the duration of a badge’s validity, setting time limits (or expiry dates) on badges makes perfect sense as most knowledge and skill sets require maintenance to remain current. Once expired, badges shouldn’t disappear. After all, the currency your skill and knowledge set is not the same as not having that skill or knowledge set. Your badge’s metadata will determine its credibility, so consider this issue with care.

Because badges need to be published in a place that is valuable to the learner, they must be platform agnostic. In other words, just as learners have the freedom to accumulate (or to elect to not accumulate) whatever badges they want in whichever order they choose, so too should they have the freedom to decide where and when to make those badges visible. If you’re delivering your learning via LMS, find out if your LMS supports badges and if they can be exported from your LMS to be published on other platforms such as LinkedIn.

Getting started

Properly planned for, designed and delivered, badging can support learning in the modern world by providing relevant, flexible, interesting and valuable methods of credentialing. So how do you get started? I firmly believe that experience is the key to relevant instructional design and development. You can’t design and build badges without first experimenting with them as a learner. Go out and earn some badges!