A Change of Focus for the iPhone and Training
Sep 21, 2009 Uncategorized
In an afterthought, at the end of this post, Jason Kottke brings to light something we seriously need to think about. Although it is obvious, it has snuck up on us. All of us have actually had the thought, but how many of us have pointed it out?
“You’ve got to wonder when Apple is going to change the name of the iPhone. The phone part of the device increasingly seems like an afterthought, not the main attraction”
Then I thought about training. Training is becoming more and more a subset. No longer can anyone look at it as the only main activity. (It never was, but that is another post.) There are so many things that surround training and learning that we need to decide when ‘training’ becomes part of something bigger and start to realize that it is, and always has been (or should have been) a feature of a larger whole.
True, training has a definate purpose with its very useful models and theories. I can’t knock the value of it. But it is not longer “it.”
It is time to redefine what “it” is.
Training vs. Learning – What’s the Diff?
Jun 5, 2009 Social Learning SIG
There are A LOT of thoughts floating around about the difference between training & learning. Here is my take:
Learning in Relation to Business Goals
As I see it, eLearning is a subset of Training is a subset of Learning is a subset of Performance Improvement is a means to the end: Accomplishing goals – in this case business goals, but more often personal goals.
There are many ways to learn. Training is one way. Whether that be eLearning or ILT (instructor led training). Other ways? Social learning (of course), job aids, experential discovery, mentoring and a thousand other subtle ways.
Tags: elearning, learning, social learning, training
Live Blogging the Learning Technologies Conference
Oct 23, 2008 Social Learning SIG
The Learning Technologies Conference in Portland, Oregon is happening as I type. Christine Martell, Michele Martin, Dave Richards and I are hosting. There are a few things I wanted to point out as we are going through this:
- Learning and working are not exclusive. They can happen at the same time. We have such a tendency to separate them.
- Social Learning IS NOT training. Unlike #1, we absolutely must separate these two. Until we do we cannot grasp the advantages of using Web 2.0 tools for learning. They fit very nicely together, but are not synonyms.
- Training = Delivery. Social Learning = Creating the learning with others. Training = 1:many. Social Learning = many:many or many:1 where the one is you. Creating an Articulate module or using Captivate is not Social Learning. Ask: This piece of learning I am thinking of – will I create it with others or deliver it? We must be clear what it is and what it isn’t.
- Many people worry about using Web 2.0 tools. Many of them are false concerns – worries that are not even real worries. Sometimes we work ourselves up against unseen and unrealistic monsters (and we lose every time).
- Content does not need to be perfect. Look at Youtube. The videos are horrible, but how many people watched and loved the fire eating rabbit? Not that we want content to be trashy, but it doesn’t need to be perfect.
- Social Learning is not THE solution – it won’t solve all your problems. There must be a balance with other tools and methodologies.
- You are accountable for your learning. Not the training department, not your teacher, not your mother – YOU. Flip that, and you are not accountable for another’s learning. They are. Let’s not try to take that upon ourselves.
Tags: articulate, captivate, christine martell, learning technology conference, michele martin, social learning, training, Web 2.0
Objection #3: Control of Information
Jun 4, 2008 Implementation, Learning 2.0
Objection #3 is one that I don’t hear very often directly. It is usually indirectly, because no one wants to admit it. But they do say it through the questions they ask. “If we let everyone learn from each other, we give up control of that information.”
Answer: Yea & Nay. Let’s start with the Nay.
NAY: There are many ways to keep control of the information. You can watch it via RSS or email alerts. All the information is open to you and isn’t hidden. So if anything goes WAY out of line (which RARELY happens) you now see it and can correct it.
Plus there are almost always additional security measures. For example, in our area for HR information, only the HR director can post wikis or change them. There is another area where we let the employees post their HR information (for example a health and wellness and financial information) which is open. But if we opened up the official employee handbook (and yes, the official document is a wiki and not a MS Word Doc or PDF), any one could add vacation days (not that that would be all bad 
).
You can usually set up a moderating function on forums, wikis, comments, etc.
But the security measures must be use judiciously (see ‘The Fence’ below).
YEA: That is right. For the most part, anyone can post anything. Be it right or wrong (which is tomorrow’s objection/post). And, as counterintuitive as this may seem at first, it is not all bad.
Number one, the training department didn’t need to ‘write’ it. Instead the employees taught each other. How great is that? Ya, it is not as pretty as a powerpoint presentation you may have given, nor quite as polished, but it was good information everyone needs to know and now anyone can find it!
Giving up control in this respect is a good thing. It is what you want to do. Feel the release. Breathe in – Breathe out…
The Fence: By implementing a social learning solution you sit on the control fence. Control to much and it won’t be used. But not controlling it at all is unwise. There needs to be a balance – enough structure and processes to give guidance yet enough freedom to allow the users to do what they want.
What do you think?
Tags: control, social learning, training
Objection #2: What Does This Have To Do With Training?
Jun 3, 2008 Social Learning SIG
Objection #2 comes from many in the training field. In fact I have heard this MANY times. “This doesn’t have anything to do with training.”
Answer: For the most part, you are right – it doesn’t have anything to do with training on the outset. But it does have to do with learning. Training is only a subset of learning and there are many ways to help others learn.
Too often we, in the training field, get stuck on how to ‘train’ rather than on how to help our ‘customers’ learn which in turn drives results, which is the real goal. Our focus should be on LEARNING, not training.
Why? Training can only do so much.
You may have seen the long tail before. It was first used in 2004 to describe the business strategy of Amazon and Netflix. Basically, their model allowed them to not only hold the most asked for items (which in a regular distribution model would be the only items economically feasible) but it also allowed them to hold (much) less asked for items. In fact, those seldom requested items held a large portion of their sales and of the demand from customers.
The same is with social learning. (You will have to forgive my color blindness…) The left most color (yellow-ish?) and the middle color (orange-ish?) are what formal training can deliver. It concentrates on only those things that are economically feasible given the limited resources (sexual harassment, company products, communication skills, etc.). A lot of people need more information / knowledge / skills (Y axis) to do their jobs, and yet training cannot touch a large part of the knowledge that is needed by only some of the employees (how to fill out the exception report, where to find information on little known refunds, how to deal with random situations). Social learning (green) does not replace training. It may overlap a little (orange-ish, again) and compliment a lot, but it takes care of the knowledge that training will never get to.
So, in the end, social learning compliments training and covers knowledge formal training was never able to reach. It is in addition to, without having huge amounts of formal resources needed to deliver.
And, again, our goal in the end is learning.
How would you answer this objection?
Tags: long tail, objection, social learning, training
