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!

Fire to Inspire

I have just been reading an email newsletter from a site I subscribe to: The Science of Getting Rich NETwork. As I write that down (like a coming OUT story) I imagine that I invite ridicule or dismissive comments from anyone who is reading this. I have exposed my under-belly (and believe me, there is more of that than I'm proud of).

The Science of Getting Rich website, however, fits my experience of how our destinies are controlled by the words our minds (the inner voices) speak to us and especially the words we speak out loud. Note how the inner voice spoke to me when I began writing that first paragraph. It told me that anyone who read those first words would dismiss or ridicule what I said. That's one of the reasons I'm not Bill Gates or Robert Kiyosaki, I'm constantly vetting what I say and do and write. I don't want people to think I'm a crank or silly or gullible.

So how does that relate to training?

Well, in this week's Science of Getting Rich newsletter, Rebecca Fine quotes American author and humorist Mark Twain who said, "I can show anyone how to get what they want. The only trouble is I can't find anyone who can tell me what they want." And then Rebecca goes on to say: "If you don't know -- can't articulate clearly and specifically what it is you really want to be, do, and have; what lights your fire; what it is you'd love to spend your time doing if you could be doing absolutely ANYTHING -- then it's because you don't really know ... who you are."

If at my age I find myself facing those moments of self-doubt and lack of focus, how come I expect younger people to risk focusing on 'what lights (their) fire'? How many young people fall into a career because they trip over it, rather than focusing on what lights their fire? How can they, with little life experience, know what might light their fire?

When young trainees come into a course, often they come because Mum or Dad says it would be a good career to get into. Or they might be on it in order to get a training allowance - the Government says it would be good for them to do. And we expect them to be fully engaged in the course!

Wallace Wattles, who inspired the website The Science of Getting Rich through his book of the same name, said that it doesn't take a lot of energy or will power to keep your mind fixed on something that really grabs you, but that it's VERY difficult to stay focused positively on what you DON'T really want. A career that you fall into is rarely one that fires your soul.

Wouldn't it be great to have a pre-enrollment course called: Seize the Day Your Way, or: Map Your Life in Joy, or: Light Your Mind's Fire? Unfortunately most training establishments rely on student numbers and/or government subsidies. I think they'd have a problem convincing the funders or their accountants that a course supporting young people to find their inner fire would pay its way.

Courses that focus on 'marketable' skills, that in turn slot the participants/trainees into a job, do enhance the bank balance, but the benefit of happy people in careers that inspire them is immeasurable. Imagine if trainers were faced with a group of participants who were already fired up about their new careers? Imagine the dialogues and monumental leaps that would happen in such a group? Can you see how they'd virtually teach themselves as they interacted with the trainer, the new knowledge and their search for answers to questions? It gives me goose-bumps to think about it.

Trainers try to enthuse trainees but are, in turn, chipped away by trainee reluctance and lack of enthusiasm. Hearing constant negativity fuels the negative inner voice. Part of trainee/student negativity stems from their life-stage where training for a skill or career is sensed as the establishment inevitably forcing them to conform. Another critical part is their total lack of knowing themselves as distinct from the group, of knowing who THEY are and what lights their fire.

It's a daunting task - being a trainer. You have to KNOW in your very soul that this is where your fire burns. Otherwise you're just going to be extinguished.

What is experiential learning? Part 1

Experiential learning can best be described as 'learning by doing' in a safe environment where failure is okay and leads to new learning.

Experiential learning exercises parallel real life roles and result in learning that can be applied to real life work situations.

The exercises are designed with specific goals to be achieved, but few ‘rules’ so that the teams participating can tackle the exercises in any way that achieves the goals. Well-designed tasks set the bar high but are known to be achievable, although ‘second-goes’ are common and allowed.

Experiential learning is more to do with:

• A process of thinking
• Team work and good communication
• Role recognition
• Time and project management
• Managing conflict
• Group decision-making

The actual outcome/task achievement is a secondary consideration and is used more as a tool to change behaviour.

Experiential learning for the trainer is often fraught with tension because you have to stand back and let things happen, even bad things like communication breakdown, arguments and defections. On the plus side you will watch as participants have ‘Eureka’ moments. Above all, participants should learn that they already have answers, or at least one part of an answer; their task is to uncover the answers and contribute them to the improvement of the group.

The intensity of the learning rests on how well you handle the wash-up session; discussing the ‘what went wrongs’; analyzing what could have been done differently; touching on the emotions of team dynamics. The latter area of learning will succeed best if you, the trainer, are comfortable with talking about such issues, and depends on how entrenched the ‘anti-soft’ site culture is. For this reason experiential learning works best with a group that has worked together for a while and built up some trust between members.

Bring in the Clowns

How do you handle the scoffers ... the cynics who are on your course but don’t really believe they’ll learn anything new?

I’d really like to know, because I find I use a lot of energy devising ways of avoiding coming up against them.

I was co-presenting with an industry tutor who was learning new methods of presenting material. He'd been doing well until he tossed a whiteboard marker to a participant (the course clown and vocal critic) and asked him to come up to the front to record the group discussion points.

This role had been shared around among a number of participants as a way of grooming them to be more confident as presenters themselves. The clown participant point-blank refused and threw the marker back. An embarrassed silence followed until another trainee stood up and grabbed a marker pen.

From that point on the clown lost his standing in the group. He had gone too far and the mood of the group changed. While the other trainees had been prepared to laugh at his loud asides early in the course, they now shifted their allegiances toward the presenters. It was subtle, but a relief.

I had earlier tried the: “Yes X. That’s a good point and we’ll have to address that later” tactic. After the session I went and discussed his objection and asked him to help redress it by sending in something in writing so we could include it in the next course. He did too!

Some people just need lots of attention, and they resent the focus being on the trainer. What tactics have other trainers found to work well?

Is it worth training reluctant learners?

I don’t think there is a hard rule about that … it really depends on what causes the learner’s reluctance.

If they're reluctant because they’re afraid that they won’t cope with the course, then some confidence building with pre-course material and tutor-to-trainee work can certainly engage them in further studies.

If they just can’t be bothered, but they have to do it for money, because the boss says so, or it keeps them in a job, then it may not be worth the energy you’ll need to spend to keep them focused. You would be better advised to concentrate on the ‘reluctant-because-they’re-afraid’ learners.

Having said all that, sometimes you just can’t tell ahead of the course. One course we trialled included some beginner trainees. When they arrived, they barely said anything; they pulled down their beanies and avoided eye contact at all costs.

The course was full of experiential activities as well as the tutor-directed learning that had to be done for them to learn enough to achieve the performance criteria. The young men played the games, they were forced to join groups and discuss topics, they were forced to lead groups and report back findings. At the end of the course (3 blocks of 2 days) they stood up at the front and delivered a report using presentation aids on a production issue they had researched. It was a major triumph.

One of the tutors knew their manager well and asked how they’d gone since they'd returned to the worksite. The ‘boss’ was delighted to report how much they engaged in work meetings. They asked questions and wanted to know “why?” This manager was not at all fazed by their new-found confidence. He saw it as a plus for the organization because these young men are likely to continue to think laterally and their asking ‘why?” will lead to improvements on site.

So perhaps the answer to the question: “Is it worth training reluctant learners?” is: “It depends on the course and the potential of the trainees.” And that potential you don’t get to see until they’re being forced to move out of their comfort-zone.

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