Tech4learning

Team-building's Gone Digital

I was excited to receive "50 Digital Team-building Games", as here is a book that combines some of my business-world passions - learning technologies, social media and leadership and management development.  

This is probably the first book that considers not only the application of learning technologies to a learning requirement, but considers first and foremost the aims and objectives of a targeted soft skill area.  Yes, this book is aimed at team leaders and members, but I was able to read it from the standpoint of a trainer and see how the various exercises could be dovetailed into a soft skills training programme.

I thought this would be a book I could dip in and out of (an easy-to-use table at the start helps to pinpoint which exercises will be of interest), but actually, having started to do that, I realised that I would get the most benefit from it by returning to the start and reading it cover-to-cover. I've reviewed other books before about how one might use technology to support a learning need, but this book is different.  You can't skip through it. The exercises need to be digested in detail, so that the subtleties of the learning outcomes can be realised.  As the trainer, you will also need to be fully conversant with how each exercise is run, as many of your learners may be using the relevant technology for the first time. Actually, getting people more familiar with Web 2.0 technologies is often a secondary objective for many of the exercises.

So what is covered?

After a good introduction on how to use the book and its contents, the first chapter looks at icebreakers, including using Twitter, chat windows, online whiteboards and - flavour of the month, Pinterest.

In the second chapter, the focus is on communication skills, including how to get an audience to interact with you as the facilitator.  So reference is made to techniques such as getting people to Tweet or text questions throughout a session; filming answers and posting to a site. For those using web-conferencing tools, mention was made of using raise hand tool (and chat window) and two new ones for me - online tangrams and PowerPoint karaoke.

The topic of building trust is covered in chapter three.  Ideas here including using Google Docs to create a trust grid (potentially quite a challenging exercise), a very useful link to an online version of the Johari Window and how to use webcams to practice the techniques of matching and mirroring.

Shared Google Docs and chat windows were featured too in the next chapter about improving performance.

Chapter five is all about problem solving.  Two digital exercises stood out here - an online version of "Move One Line/Add One Line" and a chat window version of the popular game "Survivor".

Creativity and innovation is the focus of chapter six.  Here mention was made of online mind mapping; using iPads to film breakout presentations with each group tasked to make a short film on certain topic; and using an app called Goose Chase for a cell-phone based scavenger hunt.

The important team-working skill of collaboration is addressed in chapter seven.  This includes how different teams can work better together. Online games such as "Office Move" and "Mergers and Reorganisation" are described here, along with a version of "Broken Squares".  You're also introduced to two useful tools Timely.is (a tool that only publishes Tweets when it believes they will have the most impact) and Coveritlive.com (a live-blogging platform).

The author's organisation runs team-building games that use GPS technology, so this forms the basis of the two exercises in the next chapter entitled "EPIC Team Building".

The final chapter looks at Closers.  Included in the different ways to end a team event are using Twitter to acknowledge team members actions and to gain a commitment to change.

The appendix to book offers instructions on how to get connected with some of the more popular technology tools referenced in the previous chapters.  

This is the first book of its kind where I actually felt that the use of technology would assist in achieving the training goals in a meaningful way.  Yes, you'll need to consider the culture (and technical expertise) of your audience in some cases, but overall, I found a lot of valuable content here.

Designing for Informal Learning

Over the last year or so, we've all been reminded about the extent to which informal learning in our organisations dwarfs our formal training activity.  And I've always been concerned that on the basis that if informal learning is so popular - and therefore largely not broken - why should we try to fix it.  That is, will we do more harm than good by trying to manage informal learning?

So I was very interested to see the latest Infoline booklet from the ASTD, Designing for Informal Learning.

One of my concerns was whether this 16-page resource would try to overly formalise the informal, especially when I saw that some of the content was based around the very formal ADDIE instructional design model.

Indeed, the authors write: Because informal learning is often implemented spontaneously or in an unstructured way, it is frequently considered disorganised or unprofessional. However, it can be designed and developed.

I think, on reflection, that it gets away with not doing this, as the treatment of ADDIE generally stays at the higher level at looking at where informal learning approaches would fit into an overall blend.

Highlights of this guide include some of the pull-out information panels:

• Six risks of not addressing informal learning
• Options for making learning available on demand
• Generational issues: research and case study

and some of the reproducible tools:

• Moving from formal to informal learning: a step-by-step transition
• 10 questions to uncover content areas and tools for informal learning
• Selecting mode of informal learning

I believe this Infoline booklet contributes to the debate on where informal learning fits into our programmes by:

• Breaking down the characteristics of informal learning that make it a successful method
• Acknowledging that informal learning is a force on which to build
• Recognising where an informal learning element provides a better option than something formalised in the classroom or similar
• Encouraging learning professionals to not so much to manage it, but to ensure that the relevant informal learning sources are easy to access, well researched, accurate and supported

There is also good coverage on how to embed informal learning into the organisational culture and how to evaluate its effectiveness, along with a useful pull-out on recognising coaching opportunities to support the business in its informal learning activities. The use of Web 2.0 technology is also addressed.

Mobile First - Time to Rethink Learning Design?

One of the most thought-provoking events I've had over the last 12 months occurred when I was first piloting mobile learning.  Taking on board prototype feedback, I shaved one third off the length of the exemplar module.  Quite a challenge, but the end result proved that by stripping out superfluous elements and identifying and concentrating on the absolute core concepts, you could deliver a piece of learning that was both effective and efficient.  

My latest - and surprisingly successful - project of delivering short burst of learning to mobile devices in PDF format has again made me question whether we need to rethink everything we've done over the last decade or so.  With today's fast-paced business environment and the major change in how we consume information and knowledge today, outside of the workplace, I'm starting to think that short, sharp and to the point will the mantra for future development.  Maybe controversially, I wonder whether our future learners will have the time and appetite to always learn through traditional instructional design approaches.  Is it time to through away all those e-learning design books I've got?  In our attempts to replicate the best of the classroom in our on-line learning, are we now out of step with the modern learning scene?

So, when I spotted Mobile First, I was interested to see what its author had to say, given his view that web developers should now start with the mobile version of their site, before building its bigger brother.  His views seem to reflect mine.  Start with the mobile version, cut out all that extra "stuff" that sometimes gets in the way and really hone in on what the customer needs.

This is an easy-to-read book, packed full of colour examples that illustrate the points being made.  Although part of a series aimed at web developers, it's not a technical book. Aside from one or two references to specific coding, for which the author apologises, this is a great book for the lay person (me included) to really get to grips with the key issues that matter when designing a mobile website.  [It's important to stress that this book is not about mobile app development.]

Mobile First explores the many constraints that developing for mobiles impose, such as the screen size, overall performance and the influences of time and place on the user experience.  It then goes onto look at the sometimes unique capabilities that mobiles offer developers such as rotating browser views, location services and touch screens.

The chapter on Organisation explores the important requirement to re-think what a mobile website is all about and has only served to provoke me into examining the whole business of e-learning design.  I think the breakdown of interaction types into Lookup/Find, Explore/Play, Check In/Status and Edit/Create offers a great model for mobile learning. And this gives a powerful example of how easy it is to forget the "consumer" of our information.  This chapter also covers navigation and keeping the focus clear.

The next chapter looks at how the user interacts with the site in terms of user controls, by touch screen and via other means, with the following section exploring how to make entering information into the website (i.e. inputs) as straightforward as possible.  

The final chapter concentrates on the subject of layout and how some now-standard coding can help to create the best user experience on all manner of device types.

I mentioned that this book is easy to read.  But if you want more detail, then there are 67 shortened URLs (later stated in full in an appendix) that will take you to more detailed research into - or examples of - each point being made.  Very valuable.

If you're involved with mobile learning, I'd recommend this book.  Although that wasn't its intention, it's helped me to refine my thinking as to the shape of learning to come.

*** PLEASE NOTE *** The edition of this book on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com is the French language version.  It would appear you can only order the English version direct from the publisher, but delivery from the US was relatively inexpensive and very quick.