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.

 

 

More Online Learning Ideas

Over four years ago, I reviewed the first volume of The Online Learning Idea Book.  Then I expressed my disappointment that most of the content was biased towards academic applications of online learning.  Of course, things have moved on and the corporate market has continued to develop and some of the early experiments that originated in the education market have trickled into the corporate arena.

So I was keen to read this second volume:

The Online Learning Idea Book: v. 2: 95 Proven Ways to Enhance Technology-Based and Blended Learning

There is a better balance now between ideas that would be best suited to academic projects and those that would be meaningful to a corporate training audience.  Chapter two is probably the one that has least to offer an organisational L&D practitioner, though having just started to experiment with using Yammer to facilitate group analysis of case studies, some of the content on reviewing online project work has given me food for thought.

Back to chapter one - Ideas for the Design and Development Process.  The ideas here will apply to all types of project and concentrate on tools and techniques for defining learning objectives, delivery approaches and working with subject matter experts, amongst other design considerations.

Chapter two - Ideas for Supporting Learners and Learning - mostly contains ideas for supporting students in an academic setting as they work with asynchronous learning materials, starting with engaging the audience, through to evaluating the contributions from those taking part.  As well as the latter, another interesting idea that would work in a business setting is the idea about reading guides. The suggested templates would help employees to get more from any pre-reading that you might set as part of a blended programme.

The third chapter - Ideas for Synchronous and Social Learning - starts to increase the usefulness of this new book for the corporate world.  I loved the opening "Open House" idea for using virtual breakout rooms to cover multiple topics in one session, by rotating the audience around a number of rooms and facilitators.  There were also some great ideas for breaking up the monotony of webinar lectures in the topic on "re-energising lectures with insert-learner-activity-here strategies; and some new ideas for how to use discussion forums, which I'll definitely look to use with Yammer.  There were also some interesting ideas about how to integrate third-party polling tools in your programmes.

In chapter four, the focus changes to Ideas for Self-paced Learning.  As a user of Articulate, this also saw the first of many valuable contributions from the team at Articulate providing their own ideas, starting with a very clear overview of how to use PowerPoint to create branching scenarios within the software; though a lot of this chapter will be of greater value to Flash developers using web-development tools.  The most valuable idea in this chapter looks at how to reduce the amount of on-screen text, a problem we all face.

The final fifth chapter - Ideas for Media and Authoring - as the editor notes, is the largest in the book and this is the one that offers the most value to those designing e-learning in the corporate sector. I've often thought that the Pecha Kucha format could work well as an e-learning format - and that's covered here.  There are then some great tips for finding and then doing great things with standard clip art graphics.  The team at Articulate are on a roll in this last chapter, with ideas - some of which I've seen before on their blogs - such as creating a TV-style video player, using silhouettes to great effect and recording better audio.  I'm particularly keen to try out their ideas for integrating non-Articulate Flash files into Articulate Presenter as tabs, as well as different ways of embedding PDFs into courses.  Integrating online polls and word clouds into courses are also covered, along with a number of tips for uses of Captivate 5.

Overall, as you get further into this book, there is lots of good content for enhancing all forms of technology-based learning in the corporate L&D world.  Interestingly, this book is available in a Kindle edition too, but given the issues with rendering illustrations on Kindle pages, I'd recommend buying the softback version.

 

 

The Learning Explosion

I discovered this book - the latest addition to the growing library of books aimed at new virtual classroom facilitators - by accident.

In fact, I can't even remember how.  But "The Learning Explosion" [Kindle-only version in the UK] caught my eye as it originated from the FranklinCovey organisation and at first, knowing them as I do, I couldn't initially see where this fitted into their highly-regarded portfolio.

It's only when I saw that it was penned as a way to share the lessons they learned when migrating from a predominantly instructor-led, face-to-face approach to virtual classrooms, coupled with their unique take on the challenges faced by every training making this same transition, that I "saw the light", so to speak.

This is a very interesting book, not because it covers anything new, but because of how it covers the subject.

The authors start off by introducing two concepts, what they term "The Learning Explosion" ("The perpetual explosion of knowledge into countless learning fragments...") where "Learning Fragments" are the "scattered bits of information and knowledge...found through many different [offline and online] sources".  Together, these two notions provide the catalyst to make the move to using virtual classrooms within the training delivery mix. They also set the scene for a new learning mindset, which in turns leads the new rule set that comprises the remainder of the book.

To help make the point, throughout the book, pull-out boxes deliver a series of short learning fragments, directing the reader to other useful sources of information or ideas to try.  Each chapter also starts off with a summary written as a Twitter posting - limited to 140 characters.  If you've read The Backchannel, then you'll recognise the usefulness of scoping out your content in terms of what you'd like the reader to tweet about your work.

So what of this new rule set.  Cleverly, the authors have pulled together the various factors, skills and knowledge required to deploy successful virtual classroom training sessions into nine intriguingly named rules.  They do an excellent job of defining each rule, but to guide you through the main content of the book, I've translated each rule into my own description, based on how you might see the material described in other books (the italicised text that follows).

1. The rule of continual change - the changing face of how we communicate and prefer to learn.
2. The rule of knowledge transfer - the key differences between design and delivery in face-to-face and virtual classrooms.
3. The rule of learning circuitry - getting the right team together to successfully deploy virtual classrooms.
4. The rule of overcoming bias - overcoming stakeholder and learner reticence.
5. The rule of virtual accountability - creating engagement and interaction in your sessions.
6. The rule of personal practice - preparing and rehearsing for your first session.
7. The rule of thumbs up - soliciting feedback after your virtual classroom sessions.
8. The rule of global positioning - delivering virtual training across borders.
9. The rule of sustained orbit - launching virtual classrooms in your organisation.

This is a quick book to read.  The content is well presented, full of practical hints and tips - based on first-hand experience - and as well as the learning fragment pull out boxes, each chapter ends with a checklist/action plan.

Of all the chapters, I just want to expand on Rule 5:  The Rule of Virtual Accountability, which looks at how to actively engage learners in your webinars.  Their Virtual Accountability Model, based on how you hold your learners "virtually accountable" during a session, looks at the three dimensions of verbal, visual and kinesthetic.  Given the direct link to learning styles, the twenty suggestions they make provide an excellent introduction to tried and tested ways to easily introduce meaningful interactions into a virtual classroom session.

If I've whetted your interest in this book, then you can read some more about it here.

Virtual Training - Getting the Basics Right!

I've added quite a few new books on virtual classrooms to my collection lately and have often commented that each has started off well, providing a good grounding in the theory and practice of facilitating a live virtual training session, but then has "gone astray" with the author's choice of virtual classroom exercises, many of which would simply not work in the British and European work cultures.

So I was really pleased to read Virtual Training Basics, part of the ASTD Training Basics Series.  It's subtitled "A Complete How-to-Guide" and the author does just that and refrains from padding out the text with a compendium of exercises.

The book opens with an explanation of virtual training, but in more useful detail than I've seen up to now and acknowledges the different variations that are possible.  Each chapter of this book concludes with a worksheet and this one not only looks at your goals for using virtual classrooms, but also your readiness for them.

Chapter two shows how there need be little difference between the face-to-face and virtual classroom and highlights the core skills required by the trainer.

Chatpers three and four pick up the technology aspects, starting with a virtual learning "geek's guide" - my term not the authors - and then highlighting the various features found in a typical virtual classroom, although the book mostly references the Adobe Connect platform.

In the fifth and sixth chapters you are shown how to prepare your virtual classroom session (with a really comprehensive checklist), before learning the importance of multi-tasking, especially useful f you will be hosting the session alone.

Chapter seven concentrates on harnessing your voice.  I've not seen this topic covered before, so this provided valuable new information, including how to use your voice and choose your words carefully.

We all want to involve our participants as much as possible in their virtual training sessions, so chapter eight focuses on engaging your participants.  The author sticks to some solid basic principles for doing this, rather than trying to suggest "dubious" exercises; and returns to how you can use some of the standard virtual classroom tools to assist in this.

Chapter nine gives lots of hints and tips regarding practicing your sessions before delivering them to a live audience, whilst the final chapter looks at some strategies to adopt when things go (invariably) wrong.

In addition to the regular worksheets, the book is also full of pull-out sections, including 15 Basic Rules and numerous "Think About This" self-reflections.

Overall this is an excellent primer for using virtual classrooms.  It's also easy and quick to read, so should be a top choice for your library.

 

Getting to Grips with Social Media

Let's think....passing fads that became persisting features:  e-learning, blended learning, virtual worlds for learning (oh wait...rewind....actually, the jury is still very much out on this one - don't get me started!) and mobile learning (nudging towards a tipping point).  So what about social media?

Tweeting, blogging, Facebooking (is that a verb?) and wikis may still cause blank and puzzled looks when mentioned at gatherings of training professionals, but maybe with some good education, more of us may start to "get it".

A new book, "Social Media for Trainers" may well just do that.  This is another Kindle book I bought. Now when you look at the paperback version, with nearly 200 pages - and corresponding price tag - you may be dissuaded from adding this to your library.  Even on a Kindle with its percentage progress bar, it's not easy to tell how weighty this book may be.  But when you get going, it's an easy and fast read and I was left pleasantly surprised by how much it covered and, unlike other books on the same subject, how practically focused this book was.  If you don't think you understand social media - and are fearful these are technologies you won't be able to master - then this book should give you a confidence boost.

The first chapter introduces the basics (and history) of social media and outlines some reasons why you would want to use them in training.  The graphics highlighting how social media can support informal learning and create much more "natural" and effective training solutions were particuarly useful. The author promotes social media as ways to facilitate learning, extend the training experience, provide practice opportunities and support learners.

The following chapters each cover the main social media channels in a similar format.  For each of Twitter, blogs, Facebook and wikis, you get:

• an "in a nutshell" overview
• a more detailed explanation
• a suggested trainer viewpoint
• a discussion of the advantages and disadvantage of each in training
• a statement of why you should use each instead of and in addition to something else
• some getting started steps
• lots of practical - and realistic - suggestions for using each within learning and development programmes

I have to say that the chapter on Twitter is one of the best pieces of writing I've seen on this particular tool and the copious number of examples of use for training prove how underrated this media could be if ignored.

The sixth chapter skims through some of the other more popular social media tools such as Google Docs, YouTube, social bookmarking, Skype and free virtual classrooms.

The final chapter looks at the bigger picture in terms of how social learning is regarded at the organisational level and what it looks like in practice.  On my Kindle, I highlighted an excellent paragraph introducing the concept of your "personal learning network" (PLN) - a great concept for that group of people you turn to when you need an answer or help solving a problem.  Social media is directly having an impact on the nature of our PLNs.

There is also a discussion of communities of practice and "268 words about knowledge management".

I also liked the distinction between formal and informal learning in terms of "how to do things" versus "how to get things done" - a subtle, but excellent distinction.

The book finishes with a useful checklist for getting started with social learning and advice for selling the change, by being part of that change.

I would recommend this book to all trainers to read, whatever your current plans may be in this area.

 

Getting the Edge on Mobile Learning

This is a first for me....a review based on a version of a new book that I bought for my Kindle.  And appropriately for an e-book reader, it's a book about mobile learning.

The Mobile Learning Edge is probably the first book to specifically target the corporate learning and development space, rather than the use of mobile devices with the education sector.

The introductory chapter provides a brief history of mobile technologies and defines mobile learning and the business drivers and models for its use.  It finishes with some of the typical benefits for this method of learning and challenges some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding its use.

The second chapter tackles a number of topics under the banner of a mobile learning ecostyem, including:  devices, content, infrastructure, tools and concepts. This is book's mobile learning technoloy primer, though it finishes with hints of what's to come later in the book in terms of the different used for mobile learning, namely:  information retrieval; information gathering and analysis; communication interacting and networking; and the management of learning, knowledge and performance.

If technology talk is not for you and you're more interested in the human factors that will underpin your mobile learning strategy, then the third chapter will be of interest.  This introduces seven principles for employee training via mobile devices, including how employees learn from solving problems that matter to them and learn best in concrete situations where the context matters to them. Each is examined in turn with an emphasis on how each principle should be applied to mobile learning.

If you're looking for numerous examples of what mobile learning could look like in your organisation, then the next four chapters provide lots of examples in the categories mentioned earlier.  If you needed any reminding that the use of mobile devices is already a form of (informal) learning, then many of the examples will prove this point.

Chapter eight gets down to discussing how you should develop your mobile learning strategy, including how to future-proof it, given the constant progress in this technology area.  Chapter nine looks at the mobile learning design process, including not only analysing the business needs, but also the characteristics of the learners and the devices they use.

The final chapter looks at implementing and managing an enterprise mobile learning offering, before the book concludes with a very useful appendix listing a wealth of further resources and information.

This was also the first e-book where I used the Kindle's highlighting feature.  My first clipping:

[We] become anxious if our batteries run out of power, or if we can't locate our mobile phone - a condition referred to as "nomophobia".  Classic!

Putting the Wow into Webinars

I've just finished another book aimed at supporting the new virtual classroom trainer.

Webinars with Wow Factor is really two books in one. 

In the first part, you are given a snappy introduction to the various critical success factors for running a successful webinar.

In the first chapter, you're reminded of the ADDIE instructional design model, but offered an alternative - and quicker - 4Ps approach if time is short (Plan, Prepare, Practice and Perform).  This chapter also introduces the different webinar team roles and looks at the importance of building in interactivity and active learning from the outset.  It also introduces the role of webinar champions in your organisation to help to embed this way of learning.

The second chapter introduces the author's "deadly sins of webinars", divided into those committed by:

• Facilitators, including not starting or ending on time and not having enough interaction
• Producers, including not really knowing the platform and not responding to chat questions
• Managers, including interrupting learners; and
• Learners, including arriving late and becoming distracted.

Chapter three looks at the effective use of slides, polling and handouts, whilst chapter four examines the many different tools found in the typical webinar system.  Chapter five, which closes the first part of the book, introduces five different types of interaction and how to use them (CLOSER:  closers, learning activities, openers, soft openers, energisers and revisiters).

This first part of the book is well written and is short and punchy, so it's easy for a new webinar facilitator to get to grips with the key messages.

The second part of the book presents nearly 50 different interactive exercises, each of which covers material that reflects one or more of the five types described in the first part.  Personally, I only found a handful of these exercises of possible interest.  That's in part due to the type of audience I work with, who prefer much more direct and succinct approaches; and culturally, many of the exercises would fit more comfortably with a North American audience.

The book concludes with a series of appendices, including more detail of the ADDIE model, checklists and suggested evaluation questions.

If you're a European webinar facilitator with a more mature audience, then read this book for the excellent Part One, which will give you a good grounding in online training techniques.  If you are based in North America, then you'll also find a good number of interactive exercises that will support your training aims.

 

Virtual Presentations That Work

Years ago, the trend was for publishers to leap on the e-learning bandwagon with a race to release book after book on e-learning.  That flood has now turned into a trickle it has to be said.

I'd always wondered when webinars would become flavour of the month and it seems this time has come.

The first new book on the scene (I'll cover the others at another time) is Virtual Presentations That Work.

Now I'll say at the outset that the title does give the game away - and in their defence, the cover "blurb" doesn't lead you to think this will help with delivering training webinars - but this book delivers the goods if you're particularly looking to exploit web-conferencing for communication and/or sales and marketing approaches.

This is definitely a book for the absolute beginner.  As a more experienced webinar producer, although there was the odd "light bulb" moment, much of the content served as a reminder of things I was already doing.  That said, if you are a beginner, then the author most certainly shares all the key lessons fledgling webinar organisers learn the hard way.

The book begins with some introductory content explaining the nature of virtual presentations and how they differ from live events; and how businesses are using them today.  The author covers when you should consider a virtual presentation and when one may not be the best option.

He then goes on to cover the challenges of delivering a webinar and how to overcome these.  In fact, throughout the remainder of the book he regularly returns to these themes.

The book covers a lot of ground regarding preparing for your virtual presentation, starting one month out and counting down week-by-week.

There are then chapters on gaining attention and establishing relevance, intruding yourself and others, presenting information, conducting demonstrations, taking questions, managing discussions and promoting interaction.  There are also chapters aimed at really creating the maximum impact from your session.

A set of useful appendices - in the form of checklists and suggestions for scripts and other interactions - concludes the book.

Once you take on board the emphasis of this book on delivering a presentation (rather than an interactive learning session) and its target audience, there is a lot of useful information here.  For me though, I believe the author was limited in the range of techniques he could espouse by the decision to keep to the same recurring case study throughout.  This concerned presenting a new product to a worldwide audience.  Had he changed the case study to suit the chapter contents, he could have described even more ways to engage the audience and leverage more of the features of your typical web-conferencing platform.

But for anyone just starting out with webinars - for whatever purpose - this book should have a place in your library.