Students Are Smarter Than Your Old eLearning Design

Want to know what regular people think of eLearning? A simple, and regular, search of the term "eLearning" on Twitter reveals an overwhelming portion of NEGATIVE tweets about eLearning experiences.  And even worse, they expose the uselessness of the methods being used to assess the learning that is assumed to have occurred during these digital experiences.  Quite frankly, it's embarrassing.  Check out how "MintToppings" passed her "eLearning" quiz.

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We could look at this with a positive spin and applaud miss MintToppings for her higher order thinking skills and technical ability to game the system in the manner she that she did.  Or we could open our eyes to the fact that we still have a lot of work to do.  WE, as an industry, need to step up our game.

If you have a next button with slide after slide of content followed by a multiple choice quiz at the end, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!  Find out how to do it right from those who are paving the way towards the future of learning experiences.  Some of these folks are your peers, but others come from very different industries and they don't have degrees in instructional design. They come with experience in film, gaming, engineering, theater, psychology, anthropology (HT @moehlert), design, and just about every other creative industry you can think of.  The technologies of today and tomorrow, combined with their desire to teach their craft trumps your ID degree.

Anyone with a desire to learn deserves better than a next button and a multiple choice quiz.  I'm certain miss MintToppings would agree.

DevLearn 2012 Conference and Expo - ARIA Resort, Las Vegas, NV - Oct.31st-Nov.2nd

Have We Lost the S...in ISD? What Should Workforce Learning Graduates Hear from You?

Allison Rossett posted a fabulous fake commencement address 2 days ago.  I loved it.  She nails a point I'd like to emphasize here.  The work we do at one level is extremely focused on the micro solutions we call courses, but more than ever we need to be thinking about, and designing, systems.  And I'm not talking about Learning Management Systems.  Just reading her post made me realize that so much of our industry is focused on the ID, Instructional Design. And back when I first started in this business it was mostly referred to as ISD, Instructional SYSTEMS Design.

I'm not sure what happened to the focus on systems but it seems to have faded. According to Wikipedia the terms are synonymous.  From a purely academic perspective I might agree.  But from many years of observing our industry as a whole I'm not so sure. I see two very different practices emerging within our industry: 1) The Instructional Design of Courses, and 2) The Instructional Systems Design of Enterprise Solutions.

The Instructional Design of Courses
For the most part, this is the work of creating the final product. The instructional design required here helps developers work with SMEs, understand the content, create the media, and design the flow in which the content is presented, as well as creating some form of assessment.  Much of this work is seen as requiring one technology for the solution.  You might choose to design a classroom experience, or you may design a fully interactive immersive simulation.  But no matter what tool you choose, for a certain period of time your sole focus is on creating that solution and implementing it successfully. You may also need to make sure it conform with a larger system design that is part of your enterprise and that is where ISD comes in.

The Instructional Systems Design of Enterprise Solutions
Mostly defined as the strategy and management issues of training and development, there is a certain level of Instructional Design that seems to have been lost at this level.  My feeling is that those with the power and authority, and responsibility, to implement enterprise systems solutions do not take instructional systems design into consideration.  After all, "I have instructional designers that do that".  I believe it's a rare manager today that thinks about instructional systems design during the many times that decisions need to be made.  It's far easier for me to see a manager interested in buying an LMS because legal, IT, or HR asked them if training was being tracked or "managed" in some way. Legal needs the information to fend of legal action. IT needs to know because their enterprise vendor has one that could be thrown into the deal. HR needs to know because of compliance, new hire training, and employee development.

So, is there a difference between Instructional Design and Instructional Systems Design? Should they be two different roles within the training team? What does this mean in the corporate world vs. higher ed?

I don't know the answer, but I know what I see and hear from so many colleagues managing training departments, and creating eLearning course solutions.  I hear the terms of the industry being tossed around in various communities with different meanings attached.  I participate in frustrating conversations because many use the same words, but mean different things.  Maybe parsing ID and ISD will help.

I love it when the veterans of our industry talk about our field at a very high level as Allison did in her post. I wish more would do so.  Perhaps Allison's fake commencement address will kick off a trend.

If you had to give a commencement address to a class of graduating learning professionals, what would you say? If you post it, let me know.

UPDATE: I got a couple twitter responses to this post and I wanted to share some interesting content.  Donald Clark retweeted my post and when I checked out his stream found this gem on design models. Reuben Tozman also reached out and reminded me of his post on systems titled 7 Metaphors for Experience Design.

The Internet of Learning Things

The Internet of Things (wikipedia page) has been a concept in existence for over a decade.  You may be hearing about it for the first time here, or you recently read about it somewhere else.  And the reason why is because it's finally becoming much more real.  Many of the gadgets being created using wifi, bluetooth, and bluetooth smart, are still only being embraced by the alpha geeks, but that is about to change.

The Internet of Things is all about connectivity, mobility, and the sharing of data.  WiFi and Bluetooth technology provide the connectivity.  Many of the "things" themselves are small enough to be moved around a home, office, or business while remaining "connected".  And our mobile smart phones provide the interface by which we communicate with the things, view the data they collect, and share it with other people or professionals that can better interpret the data and make decisions.

One company that seems to be leading in the marketing of connected things is WiThings.  The company defines itself this way...

"Withings is a leading force in the personal healthcare revolution. It designs, develops, and industrializes health and wellness connected devices that help families across the world take better charge of their health...

Withings is a major player in the Internet of Things. The company’s increases the capabilities of an object by the addition of network resources that allows access to infinite calculation and storage capacities without increasing costs. The object’s interfaces are also ported to devices such as mobile phones or computers, to benefit from their resources and capabilities."

In my mind, what's not far off is The Internet of Learning Things. I would actually consider these medical devices to be Learning Things as they provide us with the data we need to learn more about ourselves.  As more and more "things" become connected we can begin to make connections between the different data points collected.  Imagine combing the data from your Wifi Body Scale, Heart Rate monitor, and Nike+ all into one app.  You can see how powerful this is going to be.  After all, your bodyweight alone is only one measurement, or data point, in the bigger picture of one's health and wellness.

So, how can the Internet of Things begin to monitor and help us manage our learning?  I have some ideas but I'd love to hear yours.   

The Changing Context of Video in eLearning

If you haven't been following my previous posts you may want to review quickly before diving into this one.  At the very least be sure to have watched the videos from the first link.

What Have We Learned About Training in Over 70 Years
Creative Training Course Titles
Good Story Telling Takes Time - So Does Good Learning

1930s Film Projector

I think it's important that we begin to discuss the bigger training questions as they relate to these 2 videos. After all, there is a CONTEXT around each that is quite unique.  And however obvious these points might be, I think it's helpful to point them out because I'm certain their on your mind and you just don't want to ask or comment.  That's cool.

1937 had black and white film on reels of "tape" and it was a physical, analog, medium.  This required a long production process, and a long complicated delivery process.  The film needed to be duplicated and transported to many different locations.  The learners needed to be gathered into a room.  The properly skilled technician needed to setup and run the projection equipment.  Duh! Right? Yea, I know.

Okay, so what does that mean from an instructional design perspective?  Obviously, there HAD to be more to the training than JUST this video.  Did they break up into teams and have a lab session with a differential sitting there in front of them? Who was the intended audience?  Was the film intended for soon to be military vehicle mechanics or was it for ALL new Chevrolet mechanics?  Perhaps it was produced by Chevy but intended to be sent to mechanical engineering schools.  We don't know.  But if you do know, I'd love to hear about it.

The changes in instructional design have changed very little over the decades, while technology has progressed significantly.  The technology restrictions of analog media have long since vanished, and yet I still see the instructional models of old being employed.

Let's just take a look at video.  70 years ago it took a massive amount of effort, by today's standards, to get that film in front of a learner.  Today, with YouTube and other video sharing platforms and the simple fact that the internet is the greatest distribution channel ever, it takes VERY little effort to accomplish the same task.  But the reality is even bigger and better than that.  Because of mobile devices anyone can watch videos where ever they are at any given time.  And the best part is that they can watch it as many times as they want.

Google+ Hangout - 3 Viewers watching
the same video

Knowing that your learners can watch your video anytime, anywhere, as often as they want is a significant change in context since 1937.  Heck, it's even a big change since 1997.  And that's just video.   What about the fact that a learner could be watching the video WITH many other learners/classmates from around the globe at the same time.  AND they all could be chatting about the video and sharing comments?  Is this not a HUGE shift in learning context?

Stop telling me that a video is not training.  A video used in today's digital context can absolutely be effective training.  Video can now be a shared, interactive, repetitive, experience at very little cost.  The idea of viewing a film/video once and then moving on to the next part of the training is old and yet we still make that part of the learning EVENT design.  Your videos can be viewed multiple times, on multiple technologies, and in a group or alone with people in dispersed locations across the globe. So, shouldn't we be thinking differently about the instructional design opportunities that video now provides for us?

While the script writing and production values play a roll, it's really the delivery mechanism that changes everything.  That 1937 video is more effective, impactful, and valuable today than it ever was in back in the 1930s simply because it can now be a shared experience between a global audience.

How has video played a part in your eLearning?  Do your learners take advantage of collaborating while watching videos together?  Do you think they'll ever watch your videos on a mobile device?

Good Storytelling Takes Time - So Does Good Learning

This week we are looking at a system known as the Differential.  In my first post I asked that you review 2 training videos.  Around the Corner was created in 1937 and How a Differential Works was created in 2011.  In my last post I looked at the importance of titles, and today I wonder about management concerns that good storytelling is too time consuming and wasting employees time.


Stories take too long!
Both training videos do a good job of explaining the facts of how a differential works.  And to be clear, while I am biased towards liking the 1937 video better, I believe both get the job done.  And that is because I also believe there is more to learning than just watching videos.  More on that in later post.

Around the Corner is 9 minutes and 31 seconds.  How a Differential Works is 4 minutes and 44 seconds. So, if they both get the job done then you might as well just stop reading my stupid blog posts and just pick the shortest good quality videos you can find.  You certainly don't want to waste your employees' time, right?


In Around the corner we don't even get narration until almost 2 MINUTES into the video. GASP!  Can you imagine wasting so much precious training time?  How dare those designers not take our time seriously!!!  The NERVE!!!

I can hear today's Sr. managers and/or project stakeholders telling the instructional designers,

  "ya know, that's nice and all but let's cut down that intro to about 30 SECONDS."  

So, in the 2011 video you get an objective statement and a high level overview of what a differential is in exactly 33 secs.

I don't think anyone will argue that it's much easier to simply state the facts about any process.  And doing so will no doubt take significantly less time than telling the story.  I also don't think anyone believes that reciting facts alone is the best method of delivering content being learned by people.  Human beings respond to their feelings and storytelling impacts feelings.

To most of us watching the 1937 video, the intro is just a bunch of motocycles doing a synchronized circus act.  But to the mostly male trainees of the time these riders were part of the pop culture.  We can simply guess that viewers were engaged and drawn into the movie because of these riders and using their skills to illustrate the basic problem being solved by differential gears.

There are many people blogging about storytelling in learning.  I have not covered it all by any means, but I did recognize the importance of storytelling after watching these videos.  Did you notice anything about storytelling when you viewed them?

Creative Training Course Titles: Around the Corner vs How a Differential Works

In my last post I asked you to review a couple training videos about the complex gearing system in cars known as the differential.

I purposely did not mention which video I viewed first.  The video that Dan Roam shared on Facebook was the video from 1937.  I'll be honest and say my reaction to the first 60secs or so was something short of "this is lame! I must have clicked the wrong link.  These are motorcycles, not cars."  But then of course the story begins to unfold and connections are made.  Nothing short of BRILLIANT!

I will spend the next few posts pondering the instructional design of each video as I see it.  You may not see it the same as me.  And so, I'm hoping you'll join me in a conversation about these 2 videos and the 70+ years of instructional design and corporate eLearning theory between them.  As a quick primer I started with the simple yet often overlooked TITLE.

Around the Corner
What is in a name? What I completely missed in the 1937 video, the first viewing, is the catchy little title to the story...oh wait... excuse me... training.  They titled it Around the Corner.  What?  Why around the corner?  AH, NOW I GET IT!  Holy moly, they actually incorporated the problem being solved into the title...nice!  And besides, simply being curious about WHY the "course" is titled in such a way engages the learner.  I would think that even on a subconscious level creating interest in the first 5 secs with a mysterious title would be a good thing.  Even if the learners simply asked themselves why a training video would begin with such a title.

How a Differential Works
The title of the 2011 video is predictably How a Differential Works.  I'd swear the first spoken words are straight out of the designers handbook on how to write an appropriate objective,

 "We're going to explore what a differential is...".  

I wonder how many instructional design reviews it took for the Ph.D. to finally land on the word "explore" as apposed to learn, or discover, or look into.  I'll bet some of you reading this were critiquing every word.  Go ahead, it's okay to admit it.  You've been "trained" well, and you paid a lot for that masters degree, so you have every right to question each and every word your peer has chosen.  While I'm at it I'd like to point my finger at those of you dying to tell me that these are "information" and  <eyes rolling>  not REALLY training. </eyes rolling>
"For cryin' out loud, man!  Where's the practice and feedback?" 
Yea, I get it.  Now get over it.
But I digress...

I love these videos for so many reasons.  Discussing the titles is only the beginning.  The next time you begin the design process you might want to ask yourself how you might incorporate a creative title into your design.  Your stakeholders may not approve, but if they ask you "Why did you title it this way?"... well... then you've done your job well.

What Have We Learned about Training in over 70 years? [VIDEO]

My favorite design thinker Dan Roam posted a YouTube video on how a Differential System works on cars. I was blown away by the quality of the video and how confident I felt in understanding the complex system of a differential. After watching the video I noticed other videos in that right hand column of YouTube and so I watched another training video.

The videos I watched are in this post. Do me a favor. Watch them both and tell me your immediate gut reaction. Also, tell me if you had prior knowledge of the topic before viewing these videos.

What do they have in common?  Can you see, or simply sense, a particular learning model?  Or template?  Or format?  What about the development technology?  Did it one work better than the other? What about the scripting?  Put yourself in the shoes of the instructional designers.  What methods does it look like they used to design and develop this training?  Better yet, is this even training at all?
Ready? Go!
 

2012 - The Year of the LMS

I guess I never thought I'd hear myself say that.  But something strange is afoot in the Learning Management Software market.  With the shift of the internet from 1.0 to 2.0, and beyond, it was easy to envision a world no longer needing the LMS of old.  So the question remains.  What does the new incarnation of the LMS look like?  Or does it just go away?

I'll admit that I've often ignored the LMS market. I've always been very interested in LEARNING, and management systems just never really had much to do with learning.  The early systems had everything to do with tracking, recording, reporting, and monitoring.  These are all business functions that need to occur  at some level and so these systems do serve a purpose.  I will readily admit that.  But rarely does an LMS have anything to do with instructional design.  But maybe that's about to change.

I don't have any links to stories that back me up on this, but I get a strange feeling that 2012 is the year we begin to see major changes in the LMS market.  And I'm not talking about the continuing mergers, and acquisitions in this space.  I'm thinking about a new breed of Learning Management Systems/Software. Perhaps someone figures out how to convert social engagement into tangible learning points, or other type of corporate currency that proves, or identifies, competency.  But, honestly, I'm just not sure what that means, or what it might look like.  I know some of you do.  Because I know you're out there working on it.

Maybe the LMS finally gets completely sucked into Talent Management software and course completions simply become part of your HR file...as many do already.  And maybe the big story will be that there IS no story: Every possible LMS either dies or gets acquired into HR or other management software.  And maybe what that means is that instructional designers need to start seeing the bigger picture.  If the enterprise is pulling together all these, once separate, software systems into something called Talent Management, then maybe there needs to be a hybrid study of Talent Systems Design.

What do you think?

And Happy Holidays!!!

Creating Passionate Learners 2005 = same in 2011

For those of you that were not into the blogosphere WAY back in...oh... say... 2005 or 2006, the name Kathy Sierra is probably new to you.  It's about time we ALL start learning how to "Create Passionate Users", or in our case Create Passionate Learners...and I'd argue they're the same thing, but I digress.  Let me start with why I am blogging on this topic.

@moehlert tweeted a reminder of an IT Conversations recording of her keynote from the Tools of Change conference (2/16/2011). So, I took 25mins and listened to her story.  I already knew most of the story but its always fun to get a refresher from thought leaders who bring a unique perspective to our industry.  And yes, she IS a learning person...turned blogger...turned top-selling, uber-tech author at O'Reilly.

If you are new to Kathy Sierra, after listening to the recording above, you should read the archives of her blog at headrush.typepad.com.  That will give you a pretty good idea of where she stands on turning users/learners into PASSIONATE learners/users.

My favorite moment in blogging...

I started blogging in August 2005 and I did not have anyone "following" me at the time.  So you can imagine how psyched I was when, after 4 months blogging, Kathy posted a comment on my post 2005 Review of eLearning.

Kathy Sierra said...

The chart that Kathy references
in her comment

What a great post Brent! You've given me about 15 different things to think about here... and I could not agree more. What I didn't mention in my "is it interesting" post (and thanks very much for the nice comments) -- but that you must have picked up on -- is that the ones who were approving my checklist were the ISD'ers and the heads of the LMS team at Sun. They basically said, "If it isn't supported technically by the LMS, it *must not be relevant.* Talk about tail wagging the dog... ; )

I'm especially interested in that diagram of courses vs. collaboration, too.

Thanks for this great blog, Brent. I'm so glad I found it.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2005 

As I was writing this post, and reviewing old posts, so many things struck me:

1. How amazingly powerful blogging and social media was and is,
2. how easy it is to forget about our learners in the process of ISD,
3. how much I miss Kathy's blog posts,
4. how much I wish she'd agree to speak at DevLearn 2012,
5. and how strange it is that my review of 2005 could easily be my review of 2011.

That last one, number 5, really has me thinking and pondering this question, "If I just changed a few dated words, and re-posted that post with a new 2011 title, would anyone know the difference?"
Because, ya know, it is that time of year where everyone reviews the past year and pontificates about the year to come.

But more importantly, are things STILL so much the same?  I've done a lot since 2005 and I'm sure all of you have too, and yet I wonder why so much of our industry still feels the same.  We've seen new iPhones, iPads, and iOS, Android, tablets, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, HTML5, apps, apps, and more apps, and on and on and on.  So why are still talking about building courses? Why do job reqs still read the same?

My guess is that if we started thinking like Kathy and focused on what can we do to help our users kick ass in THEIR job that we would be looking at eLearning A LOT differently.

So, lets make 2012 the year eLearning actually becames about the learner!

P.S.
Here are some other posts where I reference Kathy Sierra.

@KathySierra Learns Spanish via Twitter
Should We Twitter Face-to-Face?
Cubicles Cause Brain Damage

Templates: Love 'em or Hate 'em?

Do you use templates?  Are you a purist and despise templates?  Personally, I don't like to take a hard line on this topic.

I like to think of all templates as time-savers and as such they become productivity tools.  They don't impact my instructional design.  Unless a certain template is requested or mandated, finding a template also serves as inspiration.  And quite frankly every custom project you do should also be considered a template for any other similar project that appears in the future.  It has nothing to do with being lazy, but has everything to do with being productive and getting better at what you do.

Consider all of the things you were NOT able to do with the first project.  When a similar project starts you now have much of the work completed and you can use your development time to add, or improve the parts of the "template" that you now have time for.

Also consider a customer asking you to do work within an unreasonably short timeframe.  Instead of not being able to do the job, you could inquire if a pre-designed template solution would be okay.  I think its always worth asking.

Baked Goods Gift Tags

The internet provides an endless supply of templates for SO many different projects.  I'll share this one I just discovered from LOVE vs DESIGN.  Baked Goods Gift Tags.

Download Template here

But if you're looking for eLearning Templates a Google search will turn up many, but I'd recommend starting with the eLearning Brothers at elearningtemplates.com

Building the Instructional Designer's Relevance in 2012 - Aaron Silvers

@aaronesilvers

Aaron Silvers gave a fascinating presentation for the recent eLearning Guild's online forum entitled Building the Instructional Designer's Relevance in 2012.  You can find the recording here.  If you are not a paid member of the Guild you won't be able to view it, but presentations like this are exactly what makes the Guild archives well worth every penny you invest in a membership.  And yes, it IS an investment...in YOU!  Nobody can make you better at your craft.  You MUST own it and make time to improve yourself and your skills.

Is Image Memorability Important to eLearning?

I discovered this interesting research report from a tweet that pointed to an article in Scientific mind titled Haunting Scenes.  Read at the end why I found more info at MIT News.

Brent Schlenker
Program Director for DevLearn

I wonder how a silly pic like this, on the right, would rank in a memorability algorithm?

Exciting Research

The interesting news is that the research found "the most memorable photos are those that contain people, followed by static indoor scenes and human-scale objects."  Landscapes seemed to be forgettable.  According to previous research humans can remember thousands of images, but understanding what makes certain images more memorable than others was not known.  This study focused on memorability of an image as a measurable trait.  And they were successful enough to create an algorithm that can predict memorability.  Cool!

Disappointing Ideas Regarding Application of Results
The most frustrating part about the article?

"Such an algorithm could be useful to graphic designers, photo editors, or anyone trying to decide which of their vacation photos to post on Facebook" - Aude Oliva, associate professor of cognitive science and a senior author of the paper.

Seriously, MIT?  That's the best you can come up with?  <insert face in hands>
I understand that Facebook is hot and you need to encourage interest in your research in order to get grants and bla, bla, bla, but I was hoping to hear you say something about LEARNING.  I'm thinking that memory is tied to learning some how, right?

Applying These Results to Learning Design
My apologies to the researchers and to MIT for my pedestrian response to academic research.  But I see your research as being important to learning, education, and training more than Facebook and vacation photos.  Shouldn't we be more excited about the possibility of selecting better images that help learners retain more important information in long term memory? Memory does have a little to do with learning.

My favorite quote from the lead researcher, Phillip Isola:

"Pleasantness and memorability are not the same"

I know, in my experience designing eLearning courses, that making graphics simply looked nice, and pleasant, to the corporate stakeholders was the goal if not a battle you had to fight.  Corporate training developers are often asked to PROVE why they chose the graphic design elements they did.  And many times the selection of images to use are decisions based on the whims of clients, and Sr. Management.  Research like this is extremely helpful to our community in making the case for the design decisions we make.

But more importantly it helps us do our jobs better.  Creating media for eLearning courses is part of the job.  Understanding what makes an image memorable is a BIG DEAL!  

And yes, there is a lot more to the design of instruction than the memorability of the images used in that instruction.  But it seems to me like there is a useful connection here.  That's all I'm really saying.  Perhaps I'm wrong, and I completely missed the point on this one.  Oh well, wouldn't be the first time.

Read the research report yourself and let me know what you think.

---------------------------------

COMMENT:  I don't pay to read Scientific American and so I only had access to 5 paragraphs of the article.  So, did those 5 paragraphs entice me to PAY because I became interested?  No.  A quick google search of the researcher from MIT revealed his findings in other more user-friendly online magazines and the actual complete research paper.  Sorry, Scientific American. I liked the article in MIT NEWS.

Creativity Takes Daily Practice - Start Today

I believe as learning professionals many of us do not do enough of the A&E. No. I'm not referring to the Analysis and Evaluation bookends of the famous instructional design process, ADDIE.

I'm talking about ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT!

To put it more clearly, it's the amazing power of the creative process that is missing from most learning solutions. And sure we can blame our clients or our corporate superiors for "not letting" us be more creative, but I have a hunch many just don't want to invest the time required of the creative process. WE just want to let the rapid development tools do all the heavy lifting. Being creative and finishing a creative project is hard work. It takes discipline, consistency and lots of practice.
Check out this great video for inspiration on supporting your creative journey.
[special thanks to @douglaswelch for sharing]

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.