Hi all, I’ve loved wordpress.com, but have decided to make the jump to a self-hosted wordpress.org site. I did this mostly for the plugins and increased customizability. I hope you follow me down the digital road to royanlee.com. If you are a subscriber/follower, you can re-subscribe/follow by clicking the button on my new blog as follows: SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEW BLOG! Thanks for providing me the privilege of readership. Love, Royan:) The Spicy Learning Blog is now at royanlee.com.

Hi all, I’ve loved wordpress.com, but have decided to make the jump to a self-hosted wordpress.org site. I did this mostly for the plugins and increased customizability. I hope you follow me down the digital road to royanlee.com. If you are a subscriber/follower, you can re-subscribe/follow by clicking the button on my new blog as follows: SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEW BLOG! Thanks for providing me the privilege of readership. Love, Royan:) The Spicy Learning Blog is now at royanlee.com.

If you'd rather learn by doing instead of poring over weighty textbooks, you will like what we do with SimBLs™. We take one or more learning objectives, throw real life problems at you, and ask you to apply conceptual knowledge to solve them. Feedback on your performance is immediate, and connects your actions with their consequences. Involvement and interest is enhanced through interactive treatment coupled with rich contextual content. We have developed over 120 SimBLs™ developed over the past few years on topics as diverse as Negotiations in Healthcare to Operating in the Derivatives Market, we are confident that if you have a learning need we have a simulation for it. Enough said! if you want to be sure, check out our comprehensive catalog here, or if you first want to experience the real thing, click here.

We hope to see you at Training Fall 2005 which is being held at The Long Beach Convention Center (Long Beach, CA) between Oct 17 - 19! We are having a "Product Demo" at the "Simulations and E-Games Pavilion" on Oct 17th between 2:50 PM to 3:20 PM. This is at the special Simulations Pavilion in the main EXPO hall. We have an interesting session on Oct 18, from 4 pm - 5pm titled ""Taking Stock of Decentralized Training Content, Are You Teaching The Right Stuff? ". During this session we will explore how a major US airline partnered with Tata Interactive Systems to build a methodology and database that supports decision making and helps strategize the design and development of training.

Whenever we begin designing a learning solution, we get into a detailed analysis of the content (Merrill and Component Display Theory come in handy here, among other tools), define the instructional objectives (Bloom takes care of this for the most part), decide the instructional strategy (take your pick on this - scenario-based learning, problem-based learning, story-based learning, blended learning, micro learning objects, threaded discussions, to name but a few), and get into the creation of the learning product. Not for a moment am I arguing that these steps are not necessary. But the area I reckon a little more rigor would help is that of understanding the learner. While we do get at some level of target audience definition, either the definition is a little too general and broad (spread across the world, wide disparity in age, gender balance, diverse races, comfortable with computers, ambitious...) or we end up considering holistic personality definition tools (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument, Multiple Intelligences Theory...). May be we need to hit a little closer to home as well. Can we define the learner's personality vis-a-vis the learning content? Can we attempt a learner definition vis-a-vis the learning objectives? Can we analyze the learner's motivational congruence with the program goals? Can we define the learner's raison d'etre to learn this content? Can we put all these together and define the instructional challenge for the program? And then use that as the trigger to define the instructional design of the program? As I say this, my mind goes back to the world of consumer marketing and advertising. If you were to launch a new brand of soap, you would try to understand the consumer as a holistic individual, as a consumer of soap, and as a consumer of the brand proposition you want to put forth for your offering, wouldn't you? This composite understanding is what you would use to define the product and the corresponding marketing plan, isn't it? Inasmuch as advertising aims to educate the customer (albeit in a limited self-serving sense), training will do well to advertise itself to the learner. After all, we want the learner to be a willing participant in the learning process. S/he needs to be part of the team that defines the learning. And if that happens, the training program ends up being an advertisement for itself. And nothing can better than that to promote learning effectiveness. Thoughts, comments? (Geetha Krishnan heads Instructional Design at Tata Interactive Systems)

I prefer a learning environment that provides me opportunties to: Assimilate content at my will. Listen to an expert on the topic. Watch an expert deal with the task in question (if the learning is problem-solving/task-oriented). Interact with an expert. Listen to anecdotes, stories, real experiences, and points of view related to the topic. Practice the task in a simulated environment (if the learning is problem-solving/task oriented). Practice the task in a real environment (if the learning is problem-solving/task oriented). Interact with others interested in or pursuing similar topics. Reflect on and analyze new learning in relation to existing and evolving knowledge constructs. Articulate my own interpretation and position on the topic. Continue building on the learning, both formally (research) and informally (reading in a non-linear manner, exchanging ideas, listening to others, etc.). What do you want as a learner? (Anil Mammen is a Senior Instructional Design Consultant at Tata Interactive Systems.)

Stephen Downes on E-learning 2.0, comprehending how we are changing the way we learn and what lies ahead in the field of e-learning.What happens when online learning ceases to be like a medium, and becomes more like a platform? What happens when online learning software ceases to be a type of content-consumption tool, where learning is "delivered," and becomes more like a content-authoring tool, where learning is created? The model of e-learning as being a type of content, produced by publishers, organized and structured into courses, and consumed by students, is turned on its head. Insofar as there is content, it is used rather than read— and is, in any case, more likely to be produced by students than courseware authors. And insofar as there is structure, it is more likely to resemble a language or a conversation rather than a book or a manual. The e-learning application, therefore, begins to look very much like a blogging tool. It represents one node in a web of content, connected to other nodes and content creation services used by other students. It becomes, not an institutional or corporate application, but a personal learning center, where content is reused and remixed according to the student's own needs and interests.This approach to learning means that learning content is created and distributed in a very different manner. Rather than being composed, organized and packaged, e-learning content is syndicated, much like a blog post or podcast. It is aggregated by students, using their own personal RSS reader or some similar application. From there, it is remixed and repurposed with the student's own individual application in mind, the finished product being fed forward to become fodder for some other student's reading and use. [. . .] As this trend progresses, we find ourselves in a world characterized by the phrase "ubiquitous computing." "Where virtual reality puts people inside a computer-generated world, ubiquitous computing forces the computer to live out here in the world with people" [26]. The "Father of ubiquitous computing," Mark Weiser, compares computing of the future to writing. "Today this technology is ubiquitous in industrialized countries. Not only do books, magazines and newspapers convey written information, but so do street signs, billboards, shop signs and even graffiti" [27]. In the world of learning, what this means is having learning available no matter what you are doing. Read the complete article here.

A student like Plato presupposes the presence of a teacher like Socrates—my non-elearning friend throws this at me as an unassailable argument in favor of the traditional learning methods. Closer home, examples of the efficacy of the guru-shishya (teacher-student) tradition abound. The Upanishads (literally meaning "sitting near the guru") and the Panchatantra (a collection of fables that elucidate issues such as ethics and strategy) have carried forward great wisdom through thousands of years. The biggest challenge of e-learning to me, therefore, seems to be cloning the teacher and transporting him/her around the world, to be delivered on the remote computers of the e-learning users. There has to be a way of replicating the intense give-and-take and personal focus of one-on-one teaching to hundreds or thousands of students at a time. The education side of e-learning seems to have cracked this challenge better than the corporate side. I’ve come across several well-written articles on how facilitators/instructors for online courses can adapt themselves to synchronous/asynchronous learning. Some of the useful links are: http://www.learningcircuits.org/2003/dec2003/hofmann.htm http://itdl.org/Journal/Oct_04/article04.htm http://www.internettime.com/itimegroup/people/guide.htm The third link traces the role of an online instructor from "Driver" to "Guru"! In the corporate world, however, there doesn’t seem to be any model of using on-line facilitators effectively. I wonder whether this is because e learning in companies usually has specific, short term learning goals or is it because it is tough to find "gurus" for all subject matters? What about "learning organizations", where learning is a continuous and collective process? While on this quest, it was inevitable that I stumbled on Peter Senge and his model. You can read more about this in: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htm I guess technologies such as blogs and wiki can support a team learning model. Any thoughts? (Priya Thiagarajan is a Senior Instructional Design consultant)

I know it sounds very "brave new world", but my forays into the world of Wiki (Hawaiian for "quick") and other social software have convinced me that something very brave and new is happening out there. In this world, phrases such as "new paradigm", "the Next Big Thing", "democracy in education", and "hypertext on steroids" abound. Of all the social software available, Wiki seems to have captured the imagination of a lot of people. A quick definition: Wiki is a piece of server software a software tool that allows users to freely create and edit hyperlinked Web pages using a web browser. Wiki implementations typically use a simple syntax for users to create new pages and cross links between pages on the fly. For more information, click here . Big companies such as Motorola and SAP are using TWiki (a Wiki based tool) to design chips and develop software collaboratively by large teams spread across the globe. To read more on TWiki and its many success stories, click here . I heard somewhere that the knowledge economy has ushered in the era of synthesis (of existing knowledge) as opposed to innovation (of something new and hitherto nonexistent). I guess synthesis presupposes the breakdown of knowledge class system of the teacher and the taught/expert and the novice. Wiki seems to be just the tool that would allow virtual communities around the world to synthesize and synergise new knowledge from an existing base. There’re a lot of thoughts on the economics, culture, and behavior of Wiki communities which make fascinating reading. For more information, check out the following URLs: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_12/ciffolilli/ http://kairosnews.org/node/3794?PHPSESSID=e3a378792d4a2d300d68469877a04325 So, does Wiki have a place in e-learning as we know it? The answer, according to an article by Eva Kaplan-Leiserson in Learning Circuits, is a resounding "yes". Read this article to learn how Wiki can be used in the e-learning sphere. For a non-user, I’m very excited. How about you? (Priya Thiagarajan is a Senior Instructional Design consultant)

Allison Rossett defines Performance Consulting in her book, First Things Fast, as: "Partnering with clients and customers to help them define and acheive their goals."  She further explains that this involves obtaining several perspectives on the performance problem, determining all drivers of and barriers to effective performance, and proposing a solution system that is based on what has been learned not what has typically been done.  I had the opportunity to study with Allison while obtaining my MA in Educational Technology from San Diego State University.  Her main stance was that we were providing business solutions to our clients, and that training isn't a silver bullet.  We need to study the performance situation thoroughly and use data to drive our decisions about the need for training and it's subsequent design.  We are also expected to design a solution system "the surround" that would ensure learning transfer and improve the performance of both the individual and the organization. Most credit Thomas Gilbert as being the Father of Performance Consulting.  His book entitled, Human Competence, was originally printed in 1978.  In it he proposes several theorims and two tools: The Behavior Engineering Model (BEM) and The Performance Matrix.  Consultants worldwide reference these tools with respect even as they modify them to fit today's world.  Carl Binder, a student of Thomas', has modified the BEM into what he calls The Six Boxes(TM).  Note that each box is numbered and should be considered in sequential order: 1. Expectations and Feedback2. Tools and Resources3. Consequences and Incentives4. Skills and Knowledge5. Capacity (selection and assignment)6. AttitudeAllison calls these drivers and barriers.  The first three relate to the organization / environment and the last three relate to the individual.  Note that the only barrier that can be removed via training is number 4 - Skills and Knowledge.  All others require different types of interventions (e.g. improved access to tools, alignment of incentives to performance goals, process redesign).  Unfortunately, many smart people rush to training and neglect the non-training interventions. By doing so, they diminsh the probability that training will improve performance in the long term.  Performance consulting is key if your aim is to link training expenditures to business results.  Do you agree?  Do you have an alternate perspective you would like to share?  Can you provide an example of when training might be the only intervention required? ( Dawn Papaila is Consultant - Instructional Design, with Tata Interactive Systems )