Learning Portal

Alignment Accuracy

2008-03-25T02:01:00.000+07:00

"More is better" is a reliable rule of thumb when it comes to potato chips, but not necessarily so when it comes to training. Training is a good thing, but more training is not necessarily better, says Riaz Khadem, coauthor of "Total Alignment: Aligning Vision, Strategy, and Execution for Organizational Success." What's missing from many corporate training programs, he stresses, is alignment.

Training budgets are tight and shouldn't be wasted on training that isn't aligned with unique contribution to the bottom line, Khadem argues. Effective training begins with clarifying accountability and identifying the specific skills needed by each person, and ends with insuring high competency in those skills and correlation with results.

Here's how he says you can do it:
• Identify each person's unique accountability. Exactly what each person is accountable for should be clear. Khadem says to ask, for example, who is accountable for sales—the salesperson or the sales manager? It should be the salesperson. "The manager of sales should be accountable for such results as a percentage of salespeople over quota," he explains. "'Total Alignment' introduces a methodology for defining unique and non-overlapping accountability that is aligned with the organization’s vision and strategy."
• Identify the skills that match each person's accountability. The aligned skills for the salesperson could include prospecting, qualifying, presenting, and closing. But for the sales manager, he suggests, different skills are needed such as training, motivating, accompanying, and strategizing. "While the sales manager has interest in increasing sales," says Khadem, "his main focus is not sales, but supporting the salespeople so they sell."
• Design and deliver training to increase competency in identified skills. Once the core skills are identified, an effective process is required to increase competency. A simple evaluation tool can be used to assess competency on a scale of one to four, he says. "Once the existing level is determined, each person develops a plan for increasing competency in consultation with his or her boss," Khadem points out. "The plan could include receiving specific training available within the organization or from an external source."
• Practice of the skill should be an integral part of training. Remember the old adage: Practice makes perfect. “The practice component of the training is so important that training programs should not end without practice, reflection, and more training," he notes. "Since the skills are aligned with accountability for results, reflection should include correlating skills improvement with results, and enhancing the training program to improve results."

source: inside learning newsletter

Tempering Turnover

2008-02-06T11:20:00.000+07:00

Your company's "revolving door" may be a joke by now, with no one sure who's coming and who's going, but with unemployment rising, and concerns about a possible recession growing, it's more important than ever for employers to control costs related to employee turnover.

"In a slowing economy, it's critical employers more closely manage their expenses," says Annie Stevens, managing partner with ClearRock, a Boston-based outplacement and executive coaching firm. "
One cost they can get better control over is turnover. It costs between two and three times a worker's salary to replace a departing employee, including recruitment, training, lost productivity, and severance costs."
Stevens and Greg Gostanian, managing partner with ClearRock, offer some highlights from the firm's recent turnover research:
• The top way to reduce the turnover of front-line employees is to screen them more carefully before they are hired. "Companies need to invest more in pre-employment screening and testing, and better interviewing processes and procedures," says Gostanian.
• Better orientation for front-line workers also can help. "New employees need to know, right from the start," says Stevens, "what their roles and responsibilities are, the type of business their employers are in, who their customers are, and how each individual worker fits into the big picture."
• Don't neglect exit interviews. "Exit interviews give employers insight into potential problems with management, workplace conditions, and the competitive nature of their compensation and benefits," says Gostanian. "Exit interviews should be offered as often as possible to employees who are leaving, and their comments should be closely considered and evaluated."
• Better training of front-line workers can help slacken turnover. "Better training programs are the hands-on component of better orientation programs"” says Gostanian. "In addition to knowing why they are working there, and what their duties are, employees need to know how to do their jobs as best they can, who they can go to in case they encounter any problems, and where to find answers to their day-to-day questions."
• Giving better pay and benefits also doesn't hurt—especially when coupled with a bigger-picture approach. "Employers," says Stevens, "are using more broadly based methods that will give them longer-term results than a temporary increase in employee morale and engagement resulting from monetary incentives."

source: training magazine

three tips to avoid vendor snafus

2007-09-07T05:26:00.000+07:00

TDF e-Net recently asked Judith Hale (http://www.haleassociates.com/ or haleassoci@aol.com), the author of Performance-Consultant's Fieldbook, 2nd Ed. (Pfeiffer, 2006) and Outsourcing Training and Development: Factors for Success (Pfeiffer, 2005), among other titles, for advice on avoiding vendor snafus. Here's what she had to say:

Create operational protocols. When entering into a relationship, both clients and vendors tend to spend a lot of time and energy defining the terms of the contract and attempting to think of every possible contingency in advance, but they rarely put any thought into defining how the two parties will actually work together once a contract is in place.
How will you communicate, for example? How will you settle disputes? How will you deal with changes? And how will you handle development needs that are outside the scope of the current contract?
It's a given that almost all vendors and clients will run into these and other issues at some point during their working relationship, yet the majority of clients and vendors continue to ignore this reality -- then act surprised when problems arise. The key is to recognize upfront that change is inevitable and to stop writing contracts that are so tight, they don't allow for future adaptation and innovation. My advice? Write your contracts for intent, and acknowledge within each contract that ongoing collaboration will occur to create additional protocols as time passes. Also, be sure to write in protocols that detail how you will work together, how you will communicate and how you will handle disputes.

Decide what you want –- and be specific. As the client, you need to decide what you want from the relationship and fully define your expectations from the get-go. Do you have an expectation of independence, for example, or do you expect the vendor to grow capability within your company?
There's a big difference between the two. If all you want is to hand off the project and have someone else do all the work and send you a bill, that's one type of relationship. (If you go this route, however, you can't complain when the vendor is done with the project and you find out, three to 12 months later, that you can't maintain the program on your own.) Content is volatile. Learner profiles change. Technology gets faster and more sophisticated every day.
So, how will you upgrade, modify and maintain the program over the long term? If you will assume responsibility for doing so, you need the in-house skill sets necessary to make it happen. And if you expect the vendor to assume responsibility for transferring that knowledge and those skill sets to you, be sure to outline those expectations on the front end.

Do your part. Too many companies think that outsourcing means they are absolved of responsibility and don't need to manage the vendor relationship. They find a vendor, hire them, hand off some information, and then walk away, thinking that a miracle will somehow occur without their involvement. Not surprisingly, most clients are disappointed with the result –- and they have only themselves to blame. Why? As the client company, you sit on all of the knowledge the vendor needs to succeed.

I have seen companies appoint a single reviewer to work with their vendor. The vendor then builds an entire learning program based on the input of this one reviewer –- only to have the final program rejected by the client company. The problem? The reviewer didn't represent the holistic customer point of view. If you don't want this to happen to you, ensure that your vendor has access to all of the right people and all of the knowledge it needs to succeed. Make the right people available, and ensure that the people you do appoint understand what you are looking for.

The 10 Most Wanted Features in Tools to Create Online Courses

2007-08-22T08:26:00.000+07:00

In the early days of e-learning, content developers had few choices regarding the tools they could use to create courseware. Although the features found in these early programs were limited by today's standards, training content developers did the best that they could with what they had. Today, hundreds of tools are available to developers of online training content. Best of all, today's authoring tools are rich in features and easy to use.

The fact that there are so many authoring tools on the market is a clear indication that different organizations have different needs. It's also an indication that many organizations are creating different types of e-learning content.

What are the most common business and technical requirements for people selecting an authoring tool? Based on our research, the following are the top ten things people want:

Novice friendly, yet still has underlying extensibility for complex interaction types.
No plug-in required (with the exception of Flash output).
Adherence to SCORM specification and AICC standards. (The real need is full interoperability with many LMS solutions.)
Short learning curve for new content developers.
Extensive library of very interactive question types (beyond multiple choice and true/false).
Robust testing engine (with features such as randomization, drawing from a test item pool, etc.).
Rich media support.
Ability to repurpose content quickly from other sources, such as PowerPoint, Word, and specialty authoring tools (i.e., simulation tools).
Minimal time spent creating navigational control structures (i.e., navigation buttons, menus, etc.).
Low cost (for stand-alone authoring tools).

source: BrandonHall.

What your employees really care about

2006-07-27T09:00:00.000+07:00

What your employees really care about

A hefty bonus affixed to the last paycheck of the year may do wonders for employee productivity, but to really motivate your workforce, you may need to think a little harder about what your staff truly values. Doing so will help ensure that their interests are aligned with company goals, says Jay Lorsch, professor of human relations at Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Mass., and faculty chairman of the college's Executive Education Corporate Governance Series of classes (http://www.exed.hbs.edu/programs/).

"Individuals come into these jobs with certain motivational sets, and what you've really got to figure out is how to take advantage of those motivational qualities, and align [the motivations] to what you want [employees] to do for the firm," Lorsch says. To accomplish this, he says you need to start with a clear understanding of your workers. That could mean starting off with a personality assessment, but it also could simply mean having the kind of understanding that comes from regular interaction with employees.

Face time with workers can be kept casual, but it might help to keep a mental checklist of questions you'd like answered about them. "I think it's got to do with really listening to them in the broadest sense," Lorsch says. "Who are they? Why are they working there?" For example, he points out that beyond a fatter paycheck, a flexible schedule can be a motivator to a worker trying to balance home and work life. For others, the right motivation may be the opportunity to learn, he says. So, giving them assignments that keep them stimulated would be essential, and a tuition reimbursement program might even be worthwhile.

Once you know what really moves your workers to push themselves, they can more easily be motivated to meet company goals such as maintaining your corporate culture. Rewards can be established for those who exhibit the behavior, or work practices, the company has communicated as its ideal. "What people feel rewarded for will reinforce the culture," Lorsch says.

If you can't get employees to get to work on time, for example, try taking away all the reserved parking spots and make it first come, first served. Or, if being a "team player" is important to your company, make it one of the criteria formally evaluated each year in your workers' performance reviews. "If you're going to talk to people about the culture and teach the culture, you can't just talk it, you've got to live it."

Sourfce: INSIDE TRAINING – Training Magazine

The Good Part About It Being a Jungle Out There

2006-07-27T08:47:00.000+07:00

The Good Part About It Being a Jungle Out There

For all those who have likened a co-worker to a snake, or couldn't help but picture their new parent company as a swarm of rapidly descending locusts, there's some heartening news. Though your fellow employees are often guilty of acting like the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz, there is much to learn by the jungle example when it comes to workforce management. Larry Dressler, president of Boulder, Colo.-based leadership and organization development company Blue Wing Consulting (www.bluewingconsulting.com) and author of the book Consensus through Conversation: How to Achieve High-Commitment Decisions, has culled a slew of management tips from his experiences in the Amazon rainforest.

The "jungle out there" has given the real thing a bad rap, but in actuality there's also a lot of cooperation going on in the wild, says Dressler, who lived in the Amazon for a year in 1994, and goes back periodically. "In rainforests, cooperation is rewarded," he points out. "When you walk into a tropical rainforest, you don't experience it as a place where species are competing, per se. You see a system of really diverse and very interdependent players." Dressler, who also operates Batavia, N.Y.-based One World Projects, a company devoted to bringing the crafts and goods of local Amazonians to market in the United States and Europe, says symbiosis is a way of life in the jungle. For example, he says a tree may produce a kind of sap that attracts a certain kind of ant, whose presence then protects the tree's bark from fungus and other kinds of insects that would harm it.

Similarly, workers can be taught a corporate culture that emphasizes cooperation rather than competition, Dressler says. "Biologists have found nature favors cooperative traits over competitive traits," he explains, "because cooperation takes less energy, so if you think about how organizations work, how much energy gets sapped up by [being territorial], by internal competition or by withholding information and resources?" To remedy the sense that workers are pegged against each other, Dressler recommends assigning them group projects that force them to collaborate to be successful. And so much the better if the teams draw workers from other business areas. "I'm a huge advocate of cross-functional conversationsnot the usual suspects winding up in a room together to talk about new ways in which their disciplines, their resources and their goals could come together to create something entirely different than existed before when they operated independently."

Companies also can learn from the positive role played by change in the rainforest, Dressler says. "What we learn from nature is when we spend too much time in our comfort zone, we die," he says, explaining that the nearly constant environmental change of the rainforest forces species to adapt or die off. The same is true of the business worldorganizations that don't adapt to changing times will eventually lose profitability, and employees who don't acquire new skills will find themselves out of work. For this reason, he says, employees should be challenged with new assignments that encourage them to acquire new competencies. "As a trainer, the thing I have to ask myself is, 'How do I create an impetus for people to be positively disturbed?' " he says.

One course Dressler and his team teaches, "Fierce Conversations," forces workers to constructively discuss touchy subjects. Instead of "role-play," he calls this "real play" because participants are asked to bring real situations to the table, such as a worker's dissatisfaction with her boss' micromanagement, or another employee's frustration with a co-worker who keeps falling through on group projects. Or, a worker might express his feeling that the business needs to change its approach to a particular challenge.

"If we don't have this constant tension moving us toward change," he says of the need for a dynamic corporate environment, "we're not growing."

Sourfce: INSIDE TRAINING – Training Magazine

working with SME

2006-07-06T13:59:00.000+07:00

SME HELP

"One of the most difficult challenges I face is working efficiently with subject-matter experts (SMEs) to create online courses," says a reader. "I'm constantly trying to identify better ways to work with new SMEs, to motivate them, and to make their task of communicating the necessary content easier." Can others offer advice, insights, and/or tips regarding how to work effectively with SMEs?

Here's your advice:

"I spend a lot of time working with SMEs," says Paul Hart (paul.hart@dynamex.com). "I usually encounter reluctance to get involved; perhaps the individuals don't want to share what they know because they feel threatened, or they are too busy and don't see the value in making the effort to help."

To combat this, Hart takes a "holistic, three-pronged approach" when soliciting help from SMEs:

1. Be firm and clear regarding the reasons for the intrusion into their work life -- that is, to capture their skills and experience to train on processes and procedures; how their job impacts other teams in the organization; and how the organization will function better if everyone understands the role of others in the "big picture."

2. Offer an avenue for improvement. There may be disconnects in their current tasks, and you can help SMEs out by bringing their suggestions for improvement to those that can affect change. Training, remember, has a unique role in the organization: It can interface with many groups and bring them together.

3. Go for their ego! Massage SMEs' self-image ("but be subtle!") by explaining that they possess valuable information that the rest of the company needs to know.

"I find myself building communication bridges among many roles within the organization. In the end, everyone has a clearer understanding of how we work together to improve."

Hart is an instructional designer at Dynamex Inc., a courier and transportation company in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

FIVE KEYS

At Greg Friese's ( gfriese@eps411.com) company, five keys for engaging health-care SMEs to develop rapid e-learning include the following:

1. A shared vision about the content format, production process, and the SME’s role.

2. Templates, which serve as a map for the SME regarding how to develop the topic.

3. An asset library, which includes clip art, images, audio and video that can be inserted into the content.

4. An assigned spot in the process for the SME, which is depicted within a clear process map for the entire project.

5. Honoring time demands by engaging SMEs at one of three spots in the process, including content review and comment; expert interview; or content development.

www.elearningguild.com
Click on the above link to view a session Friese presented recently for the eLearning Guild Rapid E-learning Online Symposium. See session 701: "Engaging Healthcare SMEs to Deploy Rapid E-learning."

Friese is president of Emergency Preparedness Systems LLC in Plover, Wisc.

Source: Online Learning - www.vnulearning.com

WIKI WIKI: THE LEARNING LAB EXPERIMENT

2006-07-06T11:07:00.000+07:00

WIKI WIKI: THE LEARNING LAB EXPERIMENT

Unable to join the Wiki clinic at Training magazine's Training Directors' Forum earlier this month in Palm Springs? No problem! You can still take part in the Wiki-Wiki Learning Lab Experiment.

In a keynote presentation at TDF, Bryan Chapman, a learning strategist at Brandon Hall Research in Sunnyvale, Calif., explained that a wiki is a group Web page were readers also become content contributors. In the onsite clinic at TDF, 20 participants built a group Wiki and added examples of training "best practices" to it -- either from their own company or from examples that were shared during conference sessions.

To view the Wiki and to add your own examples to it, visit http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Training_Best_Practices.

Chapman notes that there is a link in the introduction section where users can go to download instructions on how to edit the Wiki and add their own information. "Please note that this is work in progress," adds Chapman. "You may click on a topic, only to be taken directly into the Wiki editor. That's because the page doesn't exist yet. It's waiting for you to build out the content. The table of contents was built around the major Training Directors' Forum themes, but you can even add you own topics."

Source: Online Learning www.vnulearning.com

TRAINING ON PODS

2006-07-06T10:57:00.000+07:00

TRAINING ON PODS

A reader delivers sales training to a group of approximately 130 sales and customer-service representatives and is considering using podcasting to broadcasting product-development updates, time-sensitive information, content that is subject to change, and other items. "If successful, we might even do a monthly 'radio talk show' broadcast focusing on items that are important to the field."

"Is anyone out there doing this in a corporate setting? If so, what are they using it for? What equipment are they using? Did they purchase a high-end system, or did they use freeware and an inexpensive microphone with their existing PC? What are their lessons learned/success stories?"

www.vnulearning.com/learninggroup/search/index_taxonomy.jsp
We ran responses to this query in our last issue. Here are more:

DON'T HIGHJACK YOUR CASTS

A number of sales organizations are podcasting successfully to their reps, including EMC, Xerox and Prentice Hall, says podcasting vendor Anders Gronstedt (anders@gronstedtgroup.com).

"The reason (podcasting) hasn't grown more (in popularity) is that many training organizations hijack this medium for time-shifted lectures, which is a sure route to failure."

The most successful podcasts, he says, are carefully crafted "edutainment" shows that sound more like talk-radio programs than training sessions. "The casts can be 'theater of the mind,' complete with field reports, exotic imaginary locales, humorous 'commercials,' inspirational vignettes and subtle spoofs on the competition. Some programs we custom-develop for sales organizations feature running themes, jokes and cliffhangers that make reps look forward to the next program."

Among his other tips?

Don't take a course approach; make it a regular program.
Don't hide podcasts in your learning management system (LMS); make them available on a blog to transform them into a two-way, listener-driven medium.
Don't expect your reps to use their own players; give them each an iPod or other MP3 player.
Don't put out audio books and other generic content; custom-develop the casts for your organization. "Generic off-the-shelf programs only work for generic off-the-shelf companies."

www.gronstedtgroup.com
Gronstedt is president of The Gronstedt Group Inc. in Broomfield, Colo. Prices for the firm's custom podcasts typically range from $1,000 to $3,000 for 30-minute programs.

PODCASTS GAINING GROUND

In the two years since Duke University pioneered the use of iPod learning, the medium has caught the imagination of both the academic and business sectors, says Mark Aberdour (markab@epic.co.uk).

"It has become clear that digital music players are being used by learners to listen to much more than just music, with spoken-word content becoming firmly established on the iPod. Education and learning have become common categories on Web sites such as Podcast.net, and many major universities have signed up to Apple’s iTunes University to deliver podcasts on everything from campus life and current affairs and events to faculty lectures and books. iPod learning is now widespread."

For sales and product training, Aberdour suggests considering personal digital assistant (PDA) delivery -- "particularly for product-knowledge topics where graphics and animations may add value. (Flash on PDA is coming on in leaps and bounds.)"

At Epic, where he works, Aberdour has seen the corporate world moving "enthusiastically" into the wider mobile learning space over the past 12 months, and the company has completed an increasing number of PDA and iPod learning projects for clients. "Some projects have been prototypes for clients evaluating new learning ideas and devices in their organizations; others are for wider rollouts where mobile devices already are well-established." Management, sales, product-knowledge and compliance content, he says, appear to lend themselves particularly well to PDA and iPod delivery.

Finally, some advice: If the reader wants podcasts to supplement his or her PC-based e-learning and instuctor-led training, a good deal of thought must go into achieving the right blend of content for each type of delivery. On the equipment side, the reader mentions wanting staff to record their own podcasts. "In my experience listening to (these) podcasts, the quality can be poor (e.g. low volume and muffled), but I will happily listen to a low-quality podcast if the content is thought-provoking and engaging." Development of some simple guidelines for staff to follow on effective audio-recording techniques, he says, should enable decent-quality podcasts with a fairly low-end kit.

Aberdour is a technical producer at Epic, a learning consulting company in Brighton, U.K.

Source: Online Learning www.vnulearning.com

Training Cuts Waste

2006-07-06T10:24:00.000+07:00

John Wieland Training Cuts Waste
Atlanta-based homebuilder John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods looked beyond its financial and accounting divisions to training when it wanted to control costs. The company began teaching financial management as part of its Signature Builder certification program. By teaching builders to avoid wasteful spending and control margins, Wieland's average margin per built home rose by 9 percent.

John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods ranks #34 in the 2006 Training Top 100, Training magazine's annual ranking of organizations that excel at training and development.

Source : INSIDE TRAINING – Training Magazine

Must-See (Training) TV

2006-07-06T10:04:00.000+07:00

Must-See (Training) TV

E-learning from home, or the office during a worker's spare time, is undoubtedly efficient, unless, of course, the employees in question lack the requisite computer skills. With the fast food/casual dining sector so heavily populated by recent immigrants, a good portion of whom are Hispanic, Minneapolis-based TV Trainer (http://tvtrainer.tv/), a company specializing in providing culturally targeted training via video and DVD, has come up with a New Hire Kit to speed up the transition to American work life.

The product, in the form of three DVDs and VHS cassettes, allows learning to occur from employees' TV sets, with no Internet connection or computer necessary. A handset with a remote control through which learners can interact with the programs is also included. Each New Hire Kit costs $399, "but we're assuming in quantity, they'll [the kits] get down to around $250 each," says Craig Evans, chief marketing officer and co-founder of TV Trainer. Besides its simplicity of use, the fact that the programs are viewed from the Latino living room may help with your company's future recruitment efforts, he explains. It is likely, Evans notes, that more than just the employee new to your payroll will be trained. Centering training in the heart of the household allows those surrounding him or her to get a positive introduction to U.S. work life. "We're not only training them. We're training their family, their relatives and neighbors who come over," Evans stresses.

There is a primer on safety and hygiene, focusing on sanitary do's and don'ts in the kitchen, for instance. "It's very important to set a precedent upfront that there's a difference between cleaning and sanitizing," Evans points out, "and what constitutes contamination, how long you should wash your hands and what you should do if you cut yourself."

Developed over the last year, the programs highlight the expectations workers will be faced with in their new job. In addition to a tutorial on work schedules and pay periods, the message is imparted that employees will be expected to keep themselves busy even after their assigned task has been completed. Workers learn it's OK to take the initiative, Evans says, and that's how they'll get ahead in their new country.

Source : INSIDE TRAINING – Training Magazine

Top Tips: How to improve training sessions using interactive technology

2006-06-21T01:24:00.000+07:00

Top Tips: How to improve training sessions using interactive technology

editor :Annie Waite

Training requirements are now more varied – for example, on-the-job or off-site training may require more flexible, interactive approaches. This five-step guide details the various training technologies available.

1. Assess the scenario
The type of session (Is it with large or small groups? What topics are to be discussed?) will affect technology choice. Consider whether group understanding needs to be assessed throughout, or if it's mainly to raise general awareness of a subject. Once the circumstances have been assessed, the most appropriate interactive solution can be identified.

2. Select the technology
Where training sessions need to be mobile, interactive pads offer a portable solution. Audience response systems are transforming training sessions. Using individual handsets, they're ideal for sessions where tests are taken or where feedback is required on training delivery. The additional benefit of these systems is that they can be used in conjunction with, or independent of, other interactive solutions.

3. Prepare materials
A blank page or a diagram prepared in an electronic flipchart is useful to illustrate a point to a group. This can be annotated over during the session, then saved and distributed later. Some audience response systems plug directly into PowerPoint rather than using interactive software. As such, existing presentations can be enhanced by introducing live Q&A sessions.

4. Practice your training delivery
Practice makes perfect. Familiarize yourself with the information before the presentation. Software provided with interactive technology is usually intuitive, and often provides electronic versions of existing presentation tools, including annotation features and hide and reveal.

5. Develop the program
If a particular element of the presentation is well received, this can be re-used or adapted for the next time. Groups can be provided with personalized notes, rather than a standard handout, so they can take away annotations from their own session. Training evaluation has also become much easier with voting systems instead of time-consuming questionnaires, as immediate feedback can be gained at the touch of a button.

Source: Steve Dracup, managing director, Promethean (AV Distribution)
source: The Source - Melcrum

ROI - Perspective of Training Manager

2006-06-21T00:44:00.000+07:00

ROI - Perspective of Training Manager

Return on Investment (ROI) is a buzzword in the corporate houses today. It is very interesting to see that small organizations tend to get more obsessed with ROI as compared to bigger business houses. This is equally applicable for training function. There are instances when the CEO asks curt and crisp question to the Training Manager "Your training plan is fine but what will be my Return on Investment". They want to see the dollars coming in out of dollars invested in the training function.

It is also a widely seen situation that, whenever an organization embarks upon austerity measures, training budget is the first casualty. This is primarily due to the ignorance of the CEO regarding the value of the training function. For a Training Manager, the goal is to bridge the skills gaps among the employees, which can be assessed through individual and team performance, before and after the training.

However, the goal of the CEO is to gain competitive advantage and/or transform the organization to ultimately increase the shareholders value. There have been instances where the organizations allocate 20% of their revenue expenditure on the training function year after year. At the same time, there are examples where the corporates spend as low as 2-3% on the training function. The budget allocation itself is an indicator of how the management thinks about Training. The question now arises as to how to measure the ROI. There could be lot many mathematical formulae to calculate ROI.

Fact, however, remains that return on training is intangible, to begin with. Being the training functionary myself, I can say with confidence that the ratio R/I can be more than 1 also, depending on the efficiency of training function. Following indicators can be used to appreciate the effectiveness of training:

1. Inspired performance by the employees
2. Availability of leaders at all levels in the hierarchy of an organization.
3. Lesser conflicts between the management and employees.
4. Lesser conflicts within the employees group and management group.
5. High incidence of useful suggestion coming from employees towards organizations improvement/ development.
6. Smooth career plan and succession plan
7. Healthy counseling and feedback system.

It is now left for the organizations as to how they measure these parameters and calculate ROI. To summarise, I find it adequate to say that higher productivity is the best indicator of training function. Let training give us the ROI rather than our getting fixed with ROI and working overboard to clip the training function. Drawing inspiration from a famous quote of Shakespeare, let me say -- - For measuring ROI , let the economists contest !! Whatever is administered best , is the best !!

About the Author - She can be reached at lucydoss@yahoo.com.sg

Out to Sea with the Human Resources Forum

2006-06-08T15:26:00.000+07:00

Out to Sea with the Human Resources Forum

The ninth annual Human Resources Forum, recently held for three days on board the Norwegian Dawn cruise liner off the coast of Atlantic City, N.J., provided insights to best practices in human resources and training. Keynoter Alex Gibney, writer/director/producer of the documentary Enron:
The Smartest Guys in the Room, talked more about what not to do than what to do when it comes to business practices. Incorporating clips of his film, which also was broadcast continually into attendees’ cabins during the conference, Gibney highlighted the culture of abuse that made Enron infamous, and ultimately, criminal.

Gibney spoke of, for instance, how Enron practiced a corrupt form of forced ranking in which workers battled against each other only to find their ranking often had as much to do with who they knew on the evaluating committee. The Machiavellian culture had exactly the effect Enron execs were hoping for, Gibney explained. It allowed Skilling and chairman (and later CEO) Kenneth Lay to efficiently cover up the company’s abuses and its declining financial performance. “If you’re battling with co-workers, you’re not going to share information,” he noted.

Gibney said workers and associates may have felt as if it were OK to be unethical because authority figures, namely Skilling and Lay, were giving them permission. Gibney said the effect Enron management had on its employees and business partners was similar to that exhibited in the famed “Obedience to Authority” experiment conducted by social psychologist Stanley Milgram.

Subjects were encouraged to continue administering electrical shocks to what they thought was a person actually suffering the effects (they were in fact actors). Despite the screaming they heard, they kept pressing the levers to electrocute because those were the orders they had been given. Similarly, Gibney posited, Enron employees and cohorts continued doing what they may have suspected or even known was unethical because they were “following orders.” As everyone knows now, it wasn’t until whistleblower Sharon Watkins spoke up that the company’s wrongdoings came to light. “The truly powerful message that comes out of Enron,” Gibney said, “is to treasure the people who ask ‘why?’”

Dell HR Makes Waves

Steven Helmholz, outgoing director, executive talent acquisition, global human resources for Round Rock, Texas-based computer manufacturer Dell, shared the secrets behind Dell’s talent procurement and corporate culture.Like all efforts at the company, talent acquisition reinforces the ethic espoused by founder Michael Dell that “we can always do better.” Even when the company made the cover of Fortune, for instance, there was no celebration, Helmholz said, “because it wasn’t part of our culture.”

Human resources, he explained, is no exception to the mantra of constant improvement. There have been some cultural shifts, though, as Helmholz pointed out. Until recently, applicants have had the responsibility to court Dell as a prospective employer. “There was a mentality that they were privileged to be here in this room,” he noted. “Not a good idea.” The tide is changing in Dell’s approach to talent recruitment, Helmholz said. “We’re now trying to sell [to] a candidate, not just put an offer out there,” he pointed out.

It was this shift in approach that gave rise to the global talent management department Helmholz headed, and coupled with an emphasis on talent retention, is indicative of Dell’s “organic growth” strategy. The company now has a 1:1 ratio in how often it fills slots from within vs. finding new talent from outside. The attrition rate at the non-executive level is at 20 percent, and at 9 percent among executives. Look for more information on this year’s HR Forum in the June issue of Training.

Initial Sales Training Preps TAP Reps

2006-06-08T15:23:00.000+07:00

Initial Sales Training Preps TAP Reps

Sales reps at TAP Pharmaceuticals, a Lake Forest, Ill.-based pharmaceutical company, head to work armed with an abundance of practice. Reps are required to complete a five-week initial sales training requiring them to pass two exams as well as 25 role-play exercises. These introductory lessons are followed up with additional three-day training programs at six and 12 months after their hire.

TAP ranks #33 in the 2006 Training Top 100, Training magazine's annual ranking of organizations that excel at training and development.

THE COST OF E-LEARNING INTERACTIVITY

2006-06-08T11:56:00.000+07:00

A reader asks: Does anyone have information about how to break down the cost of e-learning by level of interaction? In addition, "Is there any evidence that higher-interactivity-level courses are worth the cost?" www.vnulearning.com

We ran responses to this query in previous issues (April 20 and May 18, 2006). Here's one more:"I was intrigued by this comment in the April 20th edition of TDF e-Net," says Henry Stewart (henry@happy.co.uk): A Level I course, for example, might be classified as one that contains an interactive object (e.g., video, animation, or a quiz). "I'd say some folks have different definitions of 'interactive,'" says Stewart.

"Interactive surely means where the learner is actively engaged in interacting with the e-learning, not just pressing a button to make something happen. A quiz creates that sort of interaction. Video, however, is just about the least interactive media around. You press 'Play' and sit and watch -- similarly with animation." "Many people seem to define 'interaction' as 'something different and interesting that happens on screen.' Nope, I don't think so." "Comments are welcome. Are we unusual in relating interactivity to the active involvement of the learner?" Stewart is chief executive of Happy Computers, an IT training company in London, England, U.K.

Source: learning Inside - VNU

MORE BULLET POINTS BALLYHOO

2006-06-08T11:52:00.000+07:00

In response to “Beyond Bullet Points,” a Q&A with author Cliff Atkinson that ran in this newsletter on March 9, 2006 (visit www.vnulearning.com to view the archived issue), reader Dale Werth (dawerth@earthlink.net) says, “There are some very real myths, oversights, and gross distractions still perpetuated in most training circles regarding this tool. These have to do not just with ‘bullet points,’ but with PowerPoint in general.”

His thoughts?
PowerPoint is always a tool, not an end to itself. "This should be the true mantra of every ISD proponent and instructional designer alive. The more obsessed you are with color schemes, fonts, customized templates, bullet lists, dancing pigs, and audios of yourself looking cute in conjunction with the matter being discussed, the less likely will be your practical use of PowerPoint or any other electronic visual learning tool as a means to an ends -- but rather the other way round. Taking your eye off the learner in this way is, in my mind, unforgivable. E-tools have their place, but when they become the altar to which we sacrifice all time, budget and creativity, we are all in serious trouble."

Bullet points, schmullet points. "They, like anything else in PowerPoint, are only overdone when you ignore rule no. 1. Bullet points, like many other aspects of PowerPoint, are not in themselves evil, but become so when presenters or trainers become so dependent/obsessed/addicted to them that they start finding themselves 'bullet-pointing' their personal letters, their family e-mails, and so forth. Indeed, I knew an instructor who pled guilty to this very professional liability. (I offered to take her to PowerPoints Anonymous -- but, well, I digress ... .) Truth is, I spend much of my time teaching/mentoring novice trainers in getting used to (gasp!) turning PowerPoint off during key parts of their presentations so that their audience can actually have a chance to think out loud and share in and actually shape the discourse. Show me a trainer who knows how to do this, and you will not have the feared 'bullet-point coma' syndrome to which Atkinson referred."

More bullet points ballyhoo. "I am a great proponent of fewer lists and more open-ended core learning item sheets (sometimes referred to as golden-nugget pages) that invite the audience to truly fill in new, unanticipated or previously unknown items -- and therefore truly engage learners and expect them to actively seek new knowledge and professional discourse, as well as incorporate their real-world knowledge with what has been pre-assumed to be reality. Using only pre-fabricated lists (i.e., 'Here is the gospel according to ME.') is a sure way to make your audience feel/ act like helpless zombies -- even when they really aren’t."

The real kicker. "I once had a well-intentioned, but obviously misguided, young designer who sought to introduce three minutes of audio/visual film into a PowerPoint for a customized training presentation. She eagerly showed me this part of the presentation, and all the while I sat there in confused incredulity. At the end of her demonstration of this creative insert, I asked her, 'And do you really think your professional audience wants to sit for these three minutes of your feature film when they could have gotten the same point in less than five seconds with a quick side graphic, after which you would have moved on to the next meaty slide?' She looked at me as if I had pricked a bubble from her PowerPoint bubble pipe. (Oh, what a villain I can be!) What’s my point here? Because PowerPoint allows you to do entertaining things, that doesn’t mean you actually should."

"Truth be told, my audience experiences over the years have taught me that all audiences will truly learn when they are realistically and practically engaged at all levels -- not just during the first or the last five minutes of a learning experience, but during the entire session. Whether we’re using PowerPoint, e-learning or any other electronic tools at our disposal, the fact is that we are all overusing them. Active learning, coupled with actual practice and engagement, equals a better chance for true learner ownership and, ultimately, opportunity to practice/ perform/realize outcomes. Once a learner owns the content and fully grasps the positive behavior outcomes that such learning attempts to engender, the world becomes a much better place for us all."
"One of the best PowerPoint commandments I have heard over the years, and which I have seen in print in this newsletter and others regarding such electronic tools, goes something like this: 'Function first. Aesthetics second. Entertainment third.' Clearly and simply communicate your message –- and, I might humbly add, equally make it a true dialogue of learning. Then, make it functionally clean, attractive, and ultimately audience-interactive within the timeframe available. Only then (if at all), consider adding touches of cleverness and entertainment. Edutainment is definitely neither. Go Hollywood at your own risk -- and definitely to your learners’ disadvantage." Werth is a senior consultant with "20 years of experience in training and development, organization building and redefinition, and advanced project/program management." He is based in Springfield, Va.

Source: learning Inside - VNU

Training Helps Close the Deal at Reynolds and Reynolds

2006-06-08T11:49:00.000+07:00

There's a correlation between sales success and training at Milwaukee-based consulting firm Reynolds and Reynolds Co. Reps who received the company's redesigned sales training closed 85 percent of all deals in the three months following the program. During that same time period, reps who hadn't received the training only closed 55 percent of deals. Reynolds and Reynolds ranks #24 in the 2006 Training Top 100, Training magazine's annual ranking of organizations that excel at training and development.

Trust Busting in the Office

2006-06-08T11:39:00.000+07:00

Trust Busting in the Office

Gossiping employees, workers who don't feel like their manager is always acting in their interest, and those of your workforce who sense they can't take co-workers at their word, are all issues that can mean a big headache for human resources. More than that, though, they all stem from a lack of trust, says Dr. Michelle Reina, who co-founded The Reina Trust Building Institute in Stowe, Vt., with her husband, Dr. Dennis Reina.

The institute conducts research on the underlying causes of broken trust in organizations and also specializes in developing tactics for repairing it. "Business, regardless of size, shape, form or industry, is conducted through relationships, and trust is a critical foundation to the effectiveness of relationships," Michelle Reina says. While the importance of trust is widely recognized these days, with many organizations incorporating it as part of their mission statement or even adopting it as a core competency, there are still plenty of problems for companies in this area, she notes.

Step one is making workers aware of how trust is built, violated and, whenever necessary, repaired, Michelle Reina says. Training programs that define trust for employees and provide them with instruction for preserving and fixing it should be given on an ongoing basis, but primers may be necessary at certain critical junctions in a company's life such as during mergers and acquisitions. "When an organization is going through change and transition, people become unclear of what is expected of them and of their roles and responsibilities," she stresses. "When they're not clear of their expectations, they're also not aware of what agreements they are being expected to honor."

Training that emphasizes the importance of communicating fears and concerns directly with managers and co-workers, rather than relying on the old gossip mill, therefore, is essential. "Our research over the last 10 years has found that gossip and backbiting is the number one breach of communication trust," Michelle Reina points out. "Nine out of 10 employees experience it." In addition to unclear (or unused) channels of communication, workers may feel their manager doesn't trust them if they end up doing work that doesn't take advantage of the skills they were hired for, Michelle Reina says. "When people have skills, abilities or insights they are not able to offer, they often feel as though they are not being trusted by their leaders. They feel as though they are not being perceived as trustworthy, and not feeling trusted, they are not trusting in return."

Trainers and HR execs who are able to effectively match employees' skill sets to their work may see an organization that's not only more efficient, but one that suffers a lot less from interpersonal problems. If you're communicating directly with workers who are well suited to the tasks they've been given, another tip to keep in mind is leaving off the blinders. You need to trust your managers and employees, but not with tunnel vision, Michelle Reina explains.

If a manager complains repeatedly about an underling, for example, it does more harm than good to fall back on the age-old wisdom to simply "trust your manager." A protocol should be in place for grievances so the gossip and backbiting mill isn't fed, and the charged employee is given a fair hearing. "When we follow an age-old wisdom like, 'You always trust your manager,' that is an idealization that comes under the category of what is most desired," she notes.

"It is most desirable to always trust our managers and team, however, when we exercise blind trust, we open ourselves up to being vulnerable to missing the fact that there is always the human element at play."

A manager who cries to her boss repeatedly that she isn't being treated right by a subordinate and simply doesn't want to work with him anymore should be pressed for specific examples of wrong-doing that can be discussed openly with the supposedly errant employee. "It is the responsibility of a leader to be aware there will be some people who at some point in time may become vulnerable and lose their sense of themselves, and may behave in a way that is untrustworthy," she says.

"We are human beings, and even those of us who are highly trustworthy do trip up. We do lose our way. We do mistakes. We do lie, and we do violate trust." For more information on building trust in the workplace, including a Web-based assessment to gauge the level of trust in your organization, visit http://www.elabs2.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=cc4,lzz,21,id9e,ap5c,bv7k,fy01.

Source: Inside Training - VNU

WORKING WITH SMES

2006-06-08T10:52:00.000+07:00

WORKING WITH SMES

"One of the most difficult challenges I face is working efficiently with subject-matter experts (SMEs) to create online courses," says a reader. "I'm constantly trying to identify better ways to work with new SMEs, to motivate them, and to make their task of communicating the necessary content easier." Can others offer advice, insights, and/or tips regarding how to work effectively with SMEs?

www.vnulearning.com
We ran responses to this query in previous issues (April 25 and May 9, 2006). Here's one more:

Lyn Maize (lyn.maize@ey.com) offers these tips, which are excerpted from her company's self-published white paper entitled "Working With SMEs."

When it comes to communication, the white paper says, the Intellinex team utilizes four interventions with SMEs to make the most of SME's available time and to achieve optimal learning results. These interventions include the following:
• Design Sessions: "We have found that intensive time spent with SMEs in a formal design session early in a project's life during the design phase pays significant dividends in the efficient and successful completion of the learning development initiative and accelerating the overall development process. A design session typically takes one to three days and requires some prior preparation time on the part of both the [learning] project team and all SMEs supporting the project. During the design session, the [learning project] team drives and facilitates the creative exchange of ideas between customer SMEs and instructional designers and documents the outcome of the exchange. The participating SMEs are pushed hard to provide a comprehensive view of the content in order to arrive at a content design that is appropriate for the learning audience, yet creative enough to accommodate their unique learning styles. The result of this interactive session is that the entire team leaves with content consensus, saving an enormous amount of time in what might otherwise be numerous iterations and review cycles. Also, the entire project team typically participates together -- customer SMEs and the [learning] project team -- building a solid collaborative foundation for the remaining work."
• Deliverable Reviews: "During each learning development initiative, a number of deliverables such as roadmaps, graphics, and draft online or classroom course materials are prepared, each of which requires careful SME review. The ... project team may send these materials to SMEs via e-mail, or they may be made available for SME access via a shared server. For each review, SMEs are provided checklists and forms to use to document their review comments and critique. These materials are returned to the [project] team to take any corrective action and continue progress toward project completion."
• Project Status Review/Milestones: "The [project] team conducts periodic project status reviews with customer SMEs. The frequency of these regularly scheduled sessions is determined by the amount of interaction the SME prefers in the creation of the deliverables. The [project] team primarily interacts with the customer project manager and/or sponsor, and the SME may choose to leave the status review at that level."
• Online Community: "All project materials are collected and stored in a Web-based online resource accessible to the entire project community -- the [learning] project team as well as customer stakeholders and SMEs. This easy-to-use resource is continuously available throughout each project as a ready reference. It promotes document version control and includes online facilities for discussion and exchange among the project team. Any SME may go online to do reviews and check project status at any time at his or her convenience."
Maize is director of market research and analysis at Intellinex LLC, a spin-off of Ernst & Young LLP in Irving, Texas. Intellinex recently announced that Affiliated Computer Services Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire the company.

Source: learning - VNU

HOW'S MY E-LEARNING?

2006-06-08T10:45:00.000+07:00

HOW'S MY E-LEARNING?

A reader's organization currently offers synchronous and asynchronous e-learning. His questions? "What sort of formal processes/steps should my department follow/take to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of its e-learning offerings?

Do others who have gone through the same process have advice to share as to how to go about doing something like this?" Here are responses:

Linda Fitzgerald's (linda.fitzgerald@cheetahlearning.com) company recently underwent a review by the American Council on Education (ACE) in Washington, D.C. "The ACE review is a way a company can have the effectiveness of its courses evaluated by an outside authority," she says. "It was a time-consuming process (the whole process took months), but at the end of the day, our e-learning and classroom courses all were sanctioned by ACE for college credit.

The four-person ACE committee that audited each and every course had a few minor recommendations to further increase the value of our courses, but overall, they gave the seal of approval." For more information about ACE, visit www.acenet.edu. Fitzgerald is president of Cheetah Exam Prep in Hartford, Conn. DON'T WAIT!Don't wait until instructional materials are complete to analyze quality, says Patti Shank (patti@learningpeaks.com).

"Rather, develop a checklist/rubric to be used during design and development to ensure that quality is built into design and development."

Good Web sites where one can find examples of quality indicators and metrics to potentially adopt include the following:
ASTD E-learning Certification Standards
Quality On the Line
The Institute of IT Training's Standards
Principles of Good Practice for Electronically Offered Degree and Certificate Programs
Open eQuality Learning Standards
Guidelines for the Design of Educational Software

Shank's two cents?
Don't ignore higher-education metrics, where one can find "lots of good ideas for making online training more effective." Shank also recommends that the reader's team work together to "jointly build a checklist and determine how to use it during and after the design and development process." The reader "may also want to add project-management metrics.

Effectiveness metrics should center on whether learners met the learning objectives (learning assessments) and whether learning transferred to where it gets used (performance metrics)." Shank is with Learning Peaks LLC, an instructional design and instructional technology consultancy in Denver, Colo.

Source: learning VNU

On-Site Training Saves KLA-Tencor Customer and Company Dollars

2006-06-08T10:39:00.000+07:00

On-Site Training Saves KLA-Tencor Customer and Company Dollars

KLA-Tencor Corp., a semiconductor company based in San Jose, Calif., did its customers—and itself—a favor when it decided to offer on-site training. Using local field engineers who have been certified, instead of sending trainers from headquarters, has reduced training costs for customers by 40 percent, and saved the company almost $2 million dollars. KLA-Tencor Corp. ranks #9 in the 2006 Training Top 100, Training magazine's annual ranking of organizations that excel at training and development.

When Leaders Get It Wrong

2006-06-08T10:32:00.000+07:00

When Leaders Get It Wrong

Nobody—least of all those in positions of power—like to admit they’ve goofed. So, you may be surprised to learn that more than 1,400 leaders, managers and executives opened up on the subject to Escondido, Calif.-based training and development consultancy The Ken Blanchard Companies (www.kenblanchard.com). The findings of the study, released last month, reveal these leaders’ views on their most-needed skills and biggest mistakes.

An ability to crunch the numbers and meet the bottom line may have played a huge role in securing them that coveted corner office, but survey participants have a strong appreciation for the more subtle art of interpersonal relations—an area that also causes them some trouble. Forty-three percent, for instance, identified communications skills as the most critical skill set to possess, while 41 percent said that inappropriate use of communication or listening is the number one mistake leaders make.

Many agreed that a much too heavy-handed approach was sometimes used. Twenty-seven percent cited under- or over-supervising, giving directions or delegating as a problem when working with others. Fifteen percent said that empathy and emotional intelligence are critical to leadership success.

Interestingly, when asked to identify the five things that leaders most often fail to do when working with others, high percentages of respondents targeted the same handful of issues. Eighty-two percent, for example, cited failing to provide appropriate feedback, praise or redirection as a personal shortcoming; 81 percent weren’t satisfied with their ability to listen or involve others; 76 percent said they fail to use a leadership style that is appropriate to the person, task and situation, which then leads to over- or under-supervision; 76 percent cited failure to set clear goals and objectives as a problem; and 59 percent said people in their position too often fail to train and develop their people.

source: training magazine

WANT BETTER TRAINING? SPROUT A SUIT-HEAD

2006-05-22T10:45:00.000+07:00

WANT BETTER TRAINING? SPROUT A SUIT-HEAD

-By Patti Shank

When we were in our 20s, my friends and I vowed to never become suits. Too conventional! And dull! So I have been known to flinch when someone accuses me of crossing over to the dark side when I ask about things like cost and impact on problems. Cost? Impact? Problems? When I talk like this, I can see by the look on others’ faces that they're concerned because I have sprouted a business head where my instructional designer's head should be.

But we need to sprout suit-heads because what we do as instructional designers has to make sense business-wise. It has to solve real problems and generate real results. Otherwise, we lose credibility, influence, and the right to have much of a say in anything -- and these outcomes are far too common in our profession.

When is a suit-head needed? Let me explain through some examples.

Someone shows me an online course his group is building. It’s really attractive and has a highly complex Flash interface. It's clear (because of the content) that the course will regularly need updating. I ask him what provisions were made so that the client can easily keep it updated. "They'll need to pay us big bucks to keep it updated for years to come," he explains, while laughing. I scoff because (with my suit-head on) I know that no one has unlimited resources.

Someone else shows me an online course for an audience that typically doesn't have access to the Internet during the work day. I ask when learners will be able to use it and she explains that that isn't her problem. She was asked to put it online and that's what she did. My suit-head thinks it would be better AND cheaper to make the course print-based so that learners can tap into it when they have breaks on the job.

Potential clients even fall into this trap. The operations director from a software company inquired about putting training for his company’s complex software application online. He explained that new users had to wait too long to get into classroom-based training. While they waited, they used the system and regularly screwed up the data because they didn't understand how the system worked. So, training them quickly was a major need, he said.

With my suit-head on, I asked him to explain how people came to screw up the data. He logged in and showed me how easy it was to create double or triple entries for each person in the system. After watching him use the system and asking additional questions, I agreed that online training for new users would likely be beneficial, but it likely wouldn’t solve the screwed-up data problem. That seemed to be caused by a usability flaw. I asked if I could watch real users use the system to gather more data and he was visibly annoyed with me. Someone else got the work (and the solution didn't solve the data problem). I felt sad because this problem needed to be solved and the solution wasn't difficult.

What do all these examples have in common? The solutions were wasteful, didn't solve the problem, or both. My suit-head is heavy and often uncomfortable (How do suits stand wearing ties?), but when I use it, it helps me provide better results.

Understanding the real business need isn't a nice-to-do but a need-to-do. This means knowing how the business works and what it needs to be successful, asking respectful questions, analyzing data, watching people work, and not building “solutions” until the problem is clear and what's needed to solve it is apparent. Training may not be the right solution or may be only part of the solution. And often, there are cheaper and more effective solutions than what folks originally have in mind.

In the end, being a problem-solver trumps being a training builder every time. And while I might sprout a suit-head as needed, I'm far from conventional. I wear a tie-dye shirt underneath!

Shank is an instructional technology and instructional design consultant, trainer, writer, and co-author of Making Sense of Online Learning (Wiley, 2004). She can be reached through her website: www.learningpeaks.com.

source: vnu learning

THE COST OF E-LEARNING INTERACTIVITY

2006-05-22T10:43:00.000+07:00

THE COST OF E-LEARNING INTERACTIVITY

A reader asks: Does anyone have information about how to break down the cost of e-learning by level of interaction? In addition, "Is there any evidence that higher-interactivity-level courses are worth the cost?"

www.vnulearning.com
We ran responses to this query in a previous issue (April 20, 2006). Here are more:

Higher intaractivity levels do not imply more or better learning, says Sanjaykumar Jain (sanjay_jain@sify.com). But "yes, higher interactivity-level-learning does cost more to produce." Keep in mind that some subjects require less interactivity, Jain notes, and introduction of interactivity can cause student distraction in these courses.

His advice? "Examine the need for interativity -- some of it may never (or rarely) be used by students." Jain is a program coordinator at YCM Open Umiversity in Nashik, Maharashtra, India.

MORE INTERACTIVITY = BETTER KNOWLEDGE? The more interactivity, the higher the transfer of knowledge, says Paula Sauvé (paula@xstreamsoftware.com). In the end, however, "only the learner can decide whether the resulting knowledge transfer suits his/her requirement. Furthermore, what one learner may find effective is not necessarily effective to another learner.

Therefore, designing/conducting formative evaluations is essential in order to measure your success." Sauvé is manager of training and instructional design at XStream Software Inc. in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.