Monday, October 24, 2011

What Were You Doing in Training/Learning 20, 10, and 5 years ago?

As we all know, "Twenty years ago today - Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play"!  But what were YOU teaching/developing 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago?  Did you even know what Instructional Design was?  Was it part of your plans to become an instructional designer/developer?

I recently asked my personal network the following question(s):
What were you doing 20, 10, and 5 years ago?

And so now, I'm extending this question to YOU.  If you don't want to share in the comments you can send me a tweet (@bschlenker) if you follow me and I will send you an email address to respond too.

I'm looking for significant milestones in your journey into and within your learning career.  

18 comments:

Unknown said...

20: I teached
10: I teached
05: I gave up on the digital naives and idiot savants:
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority;  they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. 
Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers." Socrates

bschlenker said...

I'm assuming Socrates never had any children? :)

Donald Clark said...

20 years ago: Instructional Designer for the U. S. Army's Heavy Equipment course (we also trained the Air Force and Marines). Milestones - helped design and implement a revamped course that raised the performance level of the learners without increasing the training time.

10 years ago: Inventory Control Lead for Starbuck's Roasting Plant. I was also involved in training, such as forklifts, diversity, and our legacy database. Milestone - everyone who attend my forklift course passed AND never had a serious safety incident.

5 years ago: Same, but left a couple years later to work for myself (Instructional Design, Training, consulting, etc.) Milestone - managed to stay off the unemployment roles, keep my house, and make a living (might not seem like a big milestone but the economy started to fall apart shortly after I left).

Jeff Tyson said...

20 years ago: Created video-based training using expensive equipment and distributed on VHS

10 years ago: Didn't use video because learning had moved online and video was too bandwidth-intensive and costly

5 years ago: Youtube, cheap tools, and pervasive broadband make video a viable training tool again

bschlenker said...

Thanks Ole, Donald, and Jeff!

Donald, what types of delivery methods were you using at those points in your career?

Jeff, that's a great summary. I was on a similar path and remember it well...especially how we couldn't put video online for a very long time. That was frustrating.

Guy W. Wallace said...

20 years ago: I was conducting my 40th performance-based Curriculum Architecture Design (CAD) efforts for clients to design T&D Paths for critical performers in critical processes. I was also pilot-testing my group process for Instructional Design of T&D Events - of various blends including ILT, CBT, Video, Structured OJT, etc.

10 years ago: I was pilot-testing my extension of Instructional Analysis - via a group process - to cover all of the human and non-human (environmental) variables of process performance for 7 Verizon Call Center Managers to create a model of ideal performance and a gap analysis for both instructional and non-instructional improvement efforts.

5 years ago: I was taking a one-year sabbatical and writing quarterly columns for BPTrends on a Process-orientation to improvement and instruction, and a book on "Management Areas of Performance" as a starting point for analysis and adaption for a performance-orientation for Management & Leadership Development.

SR said...

20 years ago: I was in High School.
10 years ago: I was just leaving undergrad, student teaching (which, I might add, I was revolutionizing through my use of Hyperstudio and Powerpoint!)
5 years ago: I was deeply entrenched in the struggle of including CBT in our standard ILT offerings for Electronic Health Record (EHR) education. Little did I know that such a concept, which seemed so logical to me, would come off as so new, dynamic, and apparently evil. Through much struggle, it was accepted, and Adobe Captivate and I were becoming the best of friends.
Today: The battle's been won, and we train more than 13,000 end users on an array of topics on any given day. The pace is fast, the work rewarding, and I love every minute of it (especially with our newfound foray into grant-funded Clinical Computer Based Training).

bschlenker said...

Thanks Shawn and Guy! GREAT summaries. Thanks so much for sharing.

Trey Smith Blog said...

Trey Smith Blog

Hi Brent,execellent post you shared!Thanks.

Trey Smith Blog said...

Trey Smith Blog

Hi Brent,execellent post you shared!Thanks.

Mindy said...

20 years ago I was using a touch-screen display technology from IBM with a terrific multimedia learning program called PALS (Principles of Adult Literacy). The computer lab for teens and adults was stocked with Apple IIe computers and seriously fun learning.

10 years ago I was piloting an immersive learning program that included computer-based job simulations, team-based projects, and personal planning tools in a 3-week intensive and blended training experience. It really worked well too.

Today, I design many types of elearning experiences. But, I often wonder when will the future catch up to the past.

Still, we've made some progress. I hear they're making an electric DeLorean. Back to the future!

Donald Clark said...

Hi Brent,
20 years ago it was classroom training and CBT (the antique 12" laser discs) for the introductions, safety, etc. These were kept as short as possible so the learners could spend the majority of time in the field practicing.

10 years ago it was mainly classrooms, however the forklift training was moved from classrooms to elearning for the introductions and safety, and of course of lot of practice on the forklifts and then certifications to ensure they could operate. Parts of the database training were also transformed to elearning. Also we used a unique informal type learning where the learners had to decide upon a project to use their nearly acquired SQL skills (they had to do three of them). Their projects were reviewed and finalized by the trainers. If they failed to do so in a timely manner their database privileges were revoked by IT.

Now it’s mainly designing elearning and classroom training and also delivering training.

Sean Bengry said...

20 Years ago:
I was being taught and trained

10 Years ago:
I was teaching and training

5 Years ago:
I was teaching the teacher, and training the trainer

bschlenker said...

Very interesting how some things change, some things stay the same, and some things even go backwards... right, Mindy? ;-)

I see so many similarities in these responses, and yet at the same time some of our eLearning colleagues were really ahead of their time.

I find this info fascinating. I hope others continue to add their 20,10,5 to the conversation.

Sterling Ledet said...

20 years ago - 1991 - Was training in QuarkXPress, Illustrator, PageMaker and similar prepress and desktop publishing apps for a color trade shop.
10 years ago - 2001 - Had 2 training centers - 1 in Atlanta, 1 in Chicago. Web was doing well at the beginning of this year but we also did a lot in video and print still. Course toward the end of this year is when the web 1.0 crash hit. A big disaster for us that year was a pretty massive investment in becoming authorized trainers for Broadvision. Remember them?
5 years ago - 2006 - We had expanded our training centers to DC and San Diego by then. Adobe Aquired Macromedia at the end of 2005 so a lot of things changed in our industry. It wasn't too difficult for us as we were already firmly entrenched as both Adobe and Macromedia authorized training centers. It was an interesting year though.

bschlenker said...

Thanks Sterling! That's a fabulous recap. A LOT has changed for sure. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.

Nnetta said...

I never taught, but I'm starting to experience the learning part from a different angle (to the contrary of just being unaware student/learner). It's so interesting to discover how our brain works and how ID's work is developed in order to teach people as effectively as possible.

http://blog.redtray.co.uk/

Laura Payette (@ljwp) said...

20 years ago: I was in high school with no clue of what I wanted to be when I grew up.

10 years ago: I was at the beginning of my first career, in advertising and marketing.

5 years ago: I still hadn't discovered my current career, but I knew I needed to find something that fulfilled me. Marketing and advertising wasn't it.

Today: I've completed my M.Ed. and finally found my calling. I develop training courses and am actively trying to steer my company into social learning. What an amazing field!