Bringing eLearning into your training

Cost has been a prohibiting factor when businesses consider the possibility of adding or shifting training into the realm of eLearning. Creating the content, images, written maaterial, videos, audios - it just seems all too much. Then, of course there is adding the cost of the Learning Management System (LMS) to record the student/learner results and the horrendous cost of the software to bring it all together.

However, the news is not all bad. There are many tools today that have been designed to be low cost, or existing tools that have been adapted by clever people to create eLearning design opportunities. Besides, the users and creators of eLearning have realised that the delivery has to change to meet the emerging needs of the new learner. No longer are learners happy with information delivered to them as if they were empty vessels ready to be filled with all they need to know. It doesn't matter how whizz-bang the delivery, they want the chance to contribute/participate in the learning. In other words they want to feed back information.

It's all this social media they've been involved with since teenage years!

That new socialisation is forcing some changes in the way eLearning is created. First: it needs to include some measure of social media (wikis, facebook pages for comments, forums or chatrooms) where the learning is critiqued; second: it needs to be cheap and adaptable for the changes that will inevitably happen in such a dynamic environment.

In the past the reaction has been for software to integrate refinements into a larger and larger and more expensive package. And many of the refinements were not required by most of the users. So it was refreshing when I uncovered the following blog site:

More Information


It's full of ideas and options for creating cost-effective eLearning and learning games - the software, how to adapt existing commonly-used software, where to get royalty-free images, how to create storyboards and access templates. As you are already reading a blog, you probably understand the power of social media, so your next step is to start thinking outside the box and making a plan to integrate it into your training.

I will certainly be sharing the Free-eLearning link above with the course creators on our community of eLearning site eBrainz.net.

A couple of interesting books I have been reading that might give you counter-arguments for detractors from online learning are:
1. Social Media for Trainers by Jane Bozarth - Techniques for Enhancing and Extending Learning. Jane focusses on training for soft-skills and business skills, but mentions many that could be transferred to more practical learning.
2. The New Social Learning by Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner - A Guide to Transforming Organisations Through Social Media. This book includes actual answers for the objections that might be raised to reject eLearning and including social media in online courses.

So now you have all the tools to make a change in your delivery of learning. I'd love to hear how you succeed!

The NZ Job Summit

The weekend’s Jobs Summit has come up with a number of proposals that will be considered by the Government prior to the Budget.

One of the most talked about was a proposal for a 9-day working fortnight. Stuff reports that: “The Government seems set to give the green light to a call for a nine-day fortnight which employers and union leaders believe could save 20,000 jobs, at a cost of $60 million. Workers would lose a day of work a fortnight, and receive training or education.”

Sensible move, because the businesses that move out of the recession most quickly are those whose employees understand the reality of good business practice. They’ll be the organisations whose employees are constantly looking for process improvement and product or service opportunities. They’ll be the firms who see that an investment in innovation, against the trend in tough times, is the way forward the minute the market moves into positive territory.

The trick for the country is to sell the concept to employees as more than a sacrifice to save the jobs of their "mates". Solidarity is great, but a long term commitment to improving New Zealand’s competitiveness is even more important if we’re to come out of the recession without major social disaster.

Traditional worker/employer culture has always pitted one against the other, and evidence suggests that the "culture" was born of reality. Incomes on both sides of the divide reflected the relative values given to the people who created the products or services that gave value to the business and the people who took the risk. If that culture continues, training for employees will always be seen as skills training. But there is a huge advantage if you train employees in the so-called 'soft' skills of business.

The knowledge of why things are done a certain way, and the understanding of Return on Investment, helps employees see their role as part of the whole process of business. Instead of looking at the potential one day off a fortnight as a skills training opportunity, employers would be better to ask themselves: "If I wanted someone to step into my shoes, what would I want them to know?"

Raise the bar, avoid the assumptions and the bright sparks of your organisation will help you out of the recession.
- Heather Sylvawood