EduTrends

January 25, 2012

Instructor-Led Training vs Self-Paced Learning: Pros & Cons

Filed under: EduBrite Solution, eLearning — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — afperets @ 11:31 pm

Instructor-Led v Self-Paced Learning: Pros & Cons

One of the first decisions an organization has to make about training is the format: instructor-led, or self-paced? Obviously, cost is a major determining factor, but what else needs to be considered?

Typically, self-paced learning experiences can be rolled out quickly to large groups of people all over the world. Instructor-led training, on the other hand, is necessarily limited in both group size and roll-out speed.

An employee who is out sick the day of an instructor-led training misses the program and must be re-taught – often at great additional expense, and not without its share of logistical headaches. But self-paced learning affords employees opportunities to take the training when they can – and to go back and review parts of it as necessary.

Another disadvantage of instructor-led training: the skills taught may not be put into practice for weeks – or even months. When it comes time to actually use what they’ve learned, employees may not remember everything the instructor said. And the class may be different every time it’s presented – meaning employees may not have a consistent training experience.

A great facilitator, however, can share material in such a way that users actually go through the experience of using what they’re learning – essentially creating an experiential training that sticks with users. Follow-up with the instructor, too, can be – if not priceless, then at least extremely valuable – for employees and companies.

But of course, that great facilitator comes at a price. A top-tier instructor can command few tens of thousands of dollars for a day training, when you figure in preparation, travel, and other expenses. You can spend a lot on online course development, too – but it’s not a necessity.

An instructor-led training can be quickly and easily revised. The instructor can quickly check that everyone in the room understands what’s being taught – but you can only train the people you have in the room.

If you hire a custom course developer, changing your course may be difficult – or prohibitively expensive. But a modular solution may offer the level of customization you need at the right price point – with built-in, on-the-fly flexibility.

What’s the most effective training you’ve attended? Which solutions give your organization the most value?

Image by Sarah Stewart.

January 18, 2012

Top 10 Blogs for Corporate Trainers

Filed under: eLearning, Social Learning — Tags: , , , , — afperets @ 9:02 pm

Top 10 Blogs for Corporate Trainers

One of the easiest ways to get yourself up to speed on – well, anything, really – is to read the blogs of those who are living your field of interest and making things happen there. It can feel a little strange to break into a new space and start reading, but the best bloggers invite you to join in the conversation. And before you know it, you’re part of that group of people who are making things happen in your field of interest.

Whether you’re new to eLearning or a seasoned pro, the blogs we’ve highlighted here have something to offer. Take a look – and be sure to share any blogs you feel we’ve missed in the comments.

  1. The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) Learning Circuits blog focuses on one “big question” each month. Anyone is welcome to submit a post on that question – and the results are some of the best minds in the training world sharing thoughts and ideas. Not only will you find great questions and answers, you’ll undoubtedly discover some great new thinkers as you see what others have to say.
  2. Clark Quinn’s Learnlets features small, concentrated bursts of knowledge. Read Learning Experience Design thru the Macroscope for a taste. Also don’t miss his post on how he became a learning experience designer (a term he prefers to instructional designer).
  3. Cathy Moore’s Making Change promises “ideas for lively elearning” – and she delivers. True, she hasn’t posted much this year – but the archives. Oh, the archives. Check out Do we really need narration? from 2010 – and don’t forget to read the comments, too. Cathy’s been blogging less but tweeting more lately, so consider following her on Twitter if you like what you see.
  4. If you’re interested in the theory behind social learning, take a look at Jane’s Pick of the Day, by Jane Heart. Her monthly roundups highlight the great thinking going on in this community, and if you’re not into twitter, you’ll appreciate her new approach to blogging: summarizing her tweets for the day into one easy-to-read post. (By the way, if you are into twitter, these summary posts are a great way to help ease some of your readers into that new medium.)
  5. Tom Kuhlmann writes the Rapid E-Learning Blog. Don’t let the fact that he works for Articulate fool you – this isn’t a corporate mouthpiece blog. Tom gets into the heart of what works – and what doesn’t – in elearning. If you only have time to read one post, go for 7 Tips for Better E-Learning Scenarios.
  6. Tom Gram blogs at Performance X Design and seems to read everything that’s published in the learning and training space. Take a look at his still-relevant e-Learning: What’s Hot and What’s Not from 2009 – but don’t miss out on his more recent comment.
  7. At MinuteBio, Jeffrey Goldman discusses tools and strategies for optimizing e-learning. You’ll find some laughs (Signs of Being in e-Learning Hell), and some very thought-provoking conversations as well.
  8. Life in Perpetual Beta is the excellently-written blog of Harold Jarche. Read The Relevance of the Learning Profession, then read the followup piece. When you have time, go back and read everything else he’s written, too – but those two are the must-reads.
  9. Ready to push towards free online learning? Then head over to elearn space, written by George Siemens. His posts on open online learning keep you current with what’s happening – and his straightforward style is easy to read.
  10. The E-Learning Curve Blog by Michael Hanley is admittedly more academic than most blogs – but hey, we’re talking about learning, right? And it’s not stuffy, boring academia – it’s exciting and enriching information. If you’re just getting started in instructional design, start with Part 1 of Michael’s ongoing series.

Now it’s your turn. Wheat blogs fill your RSS reader? Where are you commenting these days? Let us know!

Image by Sam Churchill.

January 10, 2012

How to Assess Your Current Workforce?

Filed under: Assessment, EduBrite Solution — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — afperets @ 3:46 pm

How to Assess Your Current Workforce

When you work in HR or lead a department, you’re tasked with ensuring that your entire organization or department runs smoothly and efficiently. That’s a huge goal, and it’s clear that you need to break it down into more manageable pieces if you’re going to be effective. Assessing your current workforce is critical – how do you know what needs to be changed if you don’t know what you have and how it’s working?

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that you can’t observe or measure anything without affecting or changing the thing your observing or measuring. So if you sit yourself in the corner of someone’s office to watch them work, you’re obviously going to get some skewed results. But there are ways to assess your current workforce and get a fairly accurate picture of what’s really going on – if you’re careful.

An all-too-typical scenario, unfortunately, is a top-down directive to eliminate waste. The mandate goes out – each department is required to cut a certain amount, whether by slashing expenses or eliminating employees – or something else entirely. Decisions are made based on columns in an Excel spreadsheet or a manager’s preferences – not necessarily on what’s best for the organization.

A better approach? Get out and talk to your people – all your people. Ask the guys on the factory floor if they have ideas about how to improve efficiency. Gather the low level managers and ask them what they need training on. Talk to the guys in suits and suites, too, but don’t only talk to them. Your front desk receptionist knows a lot about who takes long lunches and leaves early. The janitor knows who stays late – and what they’re working on.

You can create online assessments that prompt your people to share the areas they see that are ripe for improvement – and you’ll get answers to the questions the suits would never think to ask.

What are your tips for getting the information you need to make the right decisions for your organization?

Photo by  timlewisnm.

January 5, 2012

The Future of Corporate Training

Filed under: eLearning, Social Learning — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — afperets @ 8:24 pm

The Future of Corporate Training

The easy way to write this post would be to give you a list of some cool new technologies that are going to define the eLearning space in the near future – say, the next 6 – 12 months.

That’s not what we’re going to do here.

Instead, let’s talk about what’s actually happening in corporate training departments all over the world. We have several different forces at work here, including the employees who ask for specific training in a given area; the training and compliance group, who want a cost-effective training that works; and the external development companies who want to justify their price tags.

Over at the Internet Time Blog, Jay Cross says flat out:

Poorly implemented eLearning is a more expensive alternative to doing nothing at all, and often the results would be the same.

Yikes. But when you think about it, it makes sense. We’ve all seen examples of poorly implemented elearning – the kind that make you want to scream, “Clicking NEXT is not interacting!” Or, perhaps worse, courses that integrate flashy interactions that look cool and high tech – and serve no real learning purpose.

If employees don’t have the information they need when they need it, then your course is ineffective. Worse, you’ve wasted organizational time and money – and perhaps across vast numbers.

The future of corporate training needs to be better. It needs to be less focused on pushing content out to users and instead geared towards convincing uses to pull the content they need in real time.

At the Rapid E-Learning Blog, Tom Kuhlmann gives a great overview of push versus pull learning. The nutshell is that with push learning

you’re not focusing on designing the content as much as you are creating reasons to use the content.

That’s what the future of corporate training must be: a return to the fundamental principles of instructional design. A focus on delivering content that users can find when they need it so that they access it, learn it, and use it.

Photo by Bora OZUTURK

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