This month, the Learning Circuits Blog threw up another toughie. What are the trade offs between quality learning programs and rapid e-learning and how do you decide?We tossed the question to two of our colleagues. An instructional designer brings the (surprise, surprise!) learner into the picture while a business manager puts his nose to the grindstone (and the client to the forefront) as the two of them put mouse to mouse pad. Dr. Shwetaleena Bidyadhar, Senior Instructional Designer I would like to approach the ‘Big Question’ of this month from a Need Saliency perspective. Most motivation theories stress that intrinsic factors (such as job satisfaction) are higher order motivators and should be valued more than extrinsic factors (like money). Is this necessarily true? In reality, an individual’s needs may be intrinsic, extrinsic, or some combination of both. The Need Saliency Theory (Kanungo, 1982b) evolved as an alternative approach to such theories. It states that our involvement in a job depends on its potential to satisfy our salient needs. We should first identify an individual’s/group’s priorities and then look for ways to satisfy these, rather than make generalizations about what would motivate them. Is there a lesson in this for us? Should we label a design strategy as being of ‘better quality’ in isolation of learner profile and training requirements? Based on this theory, can we draw a parallel to the issue of rapid vs. quality e-learning? When designing an e-learning course, quality learning products may seem like the ideal thing to recommend. We know that this approach inevitably means more design and development time. It also leads to higher costs. Does this approach always translate into enhanced learning retention and a high return on investment? Is the degree of correlation between these variables significant?  Is something that is interesting for us to design equally interesting for a learner to go through? The underlying assumption that rapid e-learning does not lead to quality learning may be questioned. Rapid e-learning has its uses and applications. It may suit certain types of learners and situational requirements better. It also brings higher benefits to clients by reducing development costs and ‘time to learning.’ The design decision should be arrived at after a detailed analysis and evaluation of all information available. We should not approach this stage with the preconceived notion that rapid learning means ‘less learning’. Borrowing terminology from research methodology, if ‘design decision’ is an independent variable’ and ‘effective transfer of this learning’ is the dependent variable, some of the moderating variables could be: User psychographics Type of content Desired level of learning Immediacy of need for learning Delivery medium or blend suitable Budget A rule of thumb could be to use rapid e-learning where the important learning material is structured, and simple. It can be ideal for easy-to-memorize skills or for highly motivated and busy learners. Enhanced treatment including use of games, simulations, and multimedia may work best for content that requires a higher degree of cognitive processing and analytical skills. In the real world, our proposed solutions mostly use an optimum combination of both. This increases effort to some extent but may lead to better transfer of training. I would like to conclude by reiterating the importance of the first and last stages of the life cycle of most e-learning projects - taking into account the learner profile of the present project and analyzing learner feedback from similar projects. Sometimes it’s as simple as paying attention to the basics! Ajay Menon, Senior Business Manager The most critical decision in any business (e-learning or otherwise) is, "What can be compromised - Quality or Schedule?" Try as much as we may, the answer is never "either quality or schedule."  Wish it was that easy but you can never choose one over the other. But if push comes to shove my opinion is that it is always quality that gets the pride of place. Yes, there are instances where the time-to-market factor influences the client’s decision (and hence our response) but even then the focus is on delivering quality within the stipulated timelines. This could probably be achieved by involving additional resources or by working late hours. Getting back to the trade-offs between quality and rapid production - no client is ever going to be happy with a product of inferior quality even if it is delivered before or by the agreed dates. It would also help to remember that the process of production is not complete at the time of delivery. There are a lot of activities (including reviews) that the client performs before the final signoff.  This means that even if we compromise deadlines but ensure quality, the client will not have to spend additional time for reviews and corresponding rework thus not impacting the final delivery. In one of the projects we worked on (for a University in the U.S.) we had to repeatedly go back to the client with requests for extension of the deadlines for a variety of reasons (SME issues, our inability to comprehend the subject, etc.). The client obviously wasn’t too pleased but agreed to the relaxation of the deadlines provided we ensure quality. This just goes to prove that clients are always open to re-scheduling if they are informed in time and given valid reasons. It is almost impossible to find clients who will compromise quality just for the sake of ticking out a date on their calendar. If that is an established fact, then the whole debate of Quality v/s Schedule becomes irrelevant. We need to understand that quality is not just a client expectation; it is also a reflection of an organization’s delivery promise. So when we debate about a tradeoff between quality and schedule, it is not just the client reaction but also your organization’s policy that is under scrutiny.

We participated in the Mumbai Marathon 2007, once again running for the cause of Learning Disability. Please click here to see some pictures from this event.

Training professionals are often called upon to stretch their skills into the broader world of performance improvement consulting. Short of a certification in performance improvement, what is a practical step to take in this direction? I propose the development of blended models that emphasizes the elements that training and non-training solutions have in common rather than what distinguishes them. My interest in a blended model was heightened by my work last year with Caterpillar University in Peoria, Illinois. In addition to instructional systems design skills, Caterpillar teaches its internal learning consultants a human performance improvement (HPI) model based on ASTD’s model. While ASTD uses an HPI model, ISPI offers a human performance technology (HPT) model. Both are designed to attack a broad range of performance problems with either training or non-training interventions, as appropriate.An actionable model is a project plan. So I wondered how to integrate ISD and HPI models into a single plan in Microsoft Project. First, I tried inserting the various phases and activities of an HPI model beneath the framework of an ISD model. This yielded a serviceable plan with all the necessary activities, but it seemed to violate the spirit of treating HPI as a superset of ISD. After all, learning solutions are only one galaxy of interventions within the universe of performance problems. But most of the solutions we develop at TATA Interactive include a learning element, so I didn’t want to entirely subordinate an ISD approach to an HPI system. I reshuffled the plan so that neither the ISD nor the HPI components were a subset of the other, but both ran in parallel, sharing the same major phases. At the point where a solution set is selected, the training solutions would follow ISD approaches and other interventions would follow their appropriate tools and disciplines. One way to use an HPI mindset in an ISD world is simply to use it to deflect requests for training when a performance problem is not amenable to a training solution. If you’ve got an employee selection problem or an incentive problem, trying to train your way out of it risks wasting resources and disappointing the sponsor. But a blended model is too valuable to restrict its use to sending clients and sponsors elsewhere when they prematurely jump to the conclusion that they need training. It can also help to integrate the design and development of various solutions so they work together rather than ignore each other. Some performance improvement solutions, such as the restructuring of incentives plans, may seem far removed from training solutions. But even if the training department doesn’t design the new incentive structure, wouldn’t it be natural to train the affected people on the new incentives and to take them into account in developing training? Other non-learning interventions integrate easily with learning. The most natural example is job aids, which are often developed by training organizations even though they would most often be classified as non-training solutions. At the high end of non-training performance solutions, TATA Interactive Systems develops sophisticated solutions in the ePSS (electronic performance support systems) space. An important integration of training with an ePSS involves determining which bits of information must be recalled frequently. If the information merits being embedded in the mind for quick recall, a training solution could be the answer, and if the information is so varied that it’s not feasible to train on every conceivable aspect, a just-in-time look-up system could work very well. A closely integrated model can keep all the toolsets handy to meet the miscellany of performance needs and can help to coordinate rather than isolate them. (John Gibbs is an instructional design consultant with TIS.)

iKnowledge Solutions (iKS) a Tata Technologies company recently launched V5 for i.get.it®, a specialized social network for the Engineering Design community. The global launch happened in presence of a large press delegation from leading media houses, at Taj Mahal Towers, Colaba, Mumbai on 25-Jan-07. This was followed by a fun filled mega launch amongst the next-generation design engineers from India, at Techfest 2007 at IIT Mumbai with approx. 35,000 attendees. The end product www.myigetit.com, is a cool place to hang out with Blogs, Forums, industry headlines, tech tips, really cool wallpapers and videos for downloading. Not to forget, courses for continued education, resource repositories and power tools. With a ‘fundoo’ graphic design and using terminology like Lady’s Room, Break Room, Nerve Center to put the message across, it was only appropriate that the launch at the IIT Techfest 2007, included a spectacular video that combined racing and i.get.it®, in an open air venue with thousands of people in one place, with a fireworks show and a rock concert atmosphere. Jointly developed by the TIS' software solutions practice & iKS, working across geographies on technologies like ASP .Net, AJAX, Java and SQL Server, the new i.get.it® leverages SaaS (Software-as-a-Service, also known as On Demand) business strategies and WEB 2.0 design patterns. With different teams working, the development process was virtually on 24x7. The new i.get.it® also includes an integrated search query powered by Google hardware and software, thereby providing the end users of the application, unlimited search capabilities. This joint development initiative provided TIS & iKS an excellent opportunity to combine their expertise and experience of developing software applications in the domain of e-learning and engineering design respectively and create a 'one stop' solution. To know the ‘faces’ behind TIS' development team from its software solutions practice and learn about their experience - click here - and visit the i.get.it friends section from the home page

When I was asked to go onsite to Iowa City for three months, I was a little hesitant. It was more than just Mumbai to Iowa City - I’m sure you’ll agree that a change of temperature from an average of 30C to one of -20C is not particularly pleasant. However, I agreed. And here I am. The flight was fairly uneventful, but I did have an interesting conversation at the immigration counter in Chicago (my port of entry). Sam (the immigration guy with a friendly smile): So this isn’t your first time visit to the U.S.?Me: No, I’ve been here before.Sam: Where are you headed?Me: Iowa City.Sam: And where did you go the last time?Me: (suspicious tone) San Francisco.Sam (grimacing): Yikes! You’re gonna hate it in Iowa City then. It’s in the middle of nowhere. And compared to San Francisco it’s, well, BORING! Alright here you go…go through Gate 7… As I waited for my connecting flight in O’Hare, I mulled over what Sam said. "Flee" was the first thought that came to my mind, but it was too late; my flight was announced and I needed to rush. A blast of cold air literally paralyzed me when I stepped out of the airport at Cedar Rapids, IA. I rushed into the first taxi I found and headed to the apartment I was to be sharing with a colleague.It’s been three weeks now and I’ve settled into a comfortable routine. Work 9—5, go home, stare at the walls for bit, cook, chat online and with my roommate, sleep. And yes, Sam was right: I quite hated it here because there’s really not much one can do in the biting cold outside. Until yesterday, the most exciting thing I had done was go to the Barnes & Noble store at the mall and visit the Public Library (which, by the way, is an absolute treasure). Then, yesterday, one of our client contacts here caught us just as we were leaving the office and handed over some tickets to a university-level basketball game. It was the University of Iowa "Hawkeyes" versus the Northwestern University "Wildcats." Now, I’m not much of a basketball fan (my knowledge of the game begins and ends with Michael Jordan), but that didn’t stop me—here was an opportunity to got out and still not freeze, and I wasn’t about to let go of that. So, we rushed home from work and went straight to the Carver Hawkeye Arena, where the game was to be held. The place was teeming with people of all ages, dressed in black and yellow—the Hawkeye colors. We took our seats and I quietly absorbed the electric atmosphere. People around me were passionately discussing who would win or rushing to get some food. I didn’t budge from my seat because I didn’t want to miss ANYTHING! When the home team came on court, the band launched into the "Iowa Hawkeye’s Fight Song" and the crowd went wild. Everyone sang along as the lyrics flashed on the "HawkVision" screen:        Hawkeyes Fight Song "The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,Let every loyal Iowan sing;The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,"Until the walls and rafters ring (Go Hawks!)Come on and cheer, cheer, cheer, for IOWACome on and cheer until you hear the final gun.The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,"Until the game is won." It wasn’t very difficult to get swayed by the passion of the song and the crowd; soon I found myself cheering every field goal the home team scored and booing every time the opposition scored. The timeouts during the game were also fun. The cheerleaders would come on to the court and perform gravity-defying moves. Herky the Hawk egged the crowd on to make more noise and to keep cheering. During half time, the Step Dance team from the University of Iowa put up a great performance too. And through the game, lots of freebies like t-shirts and mini basketballs were continuously thrown into the crowd. The two kids sitting next to me tried hard but couldn’t get their hands on anything. As the game continued, I learned more about the game and its associated "lingo." I now know what terms like three-point line, jump ball, and air ball mean. And when the Iowa Hawkeyes won, everyone went completely wild, including me. It’s great to be in Iowa City! (Rohini Gupta is a lead content developer with Tata Interactive Systems)

We are delighted that Brain Teasers will go on sale from 27-Feb-07 in Landmark, a leading national bookstore chain in India. Brain Teasers is a book we created to meet the special educational needs of children with learning disabilities. The book has been developed in association with the LTMG Hospital in Sion, Mumbai and is published by Tata McGraw Hill. This is a proud moment for all those involved in the creation of this valuable book. Brain Teasers provides practice in reading, writing and mathematics, and is intended to help children with learning disabilities rediscover the joy of learning. It also helps parents understand learning disabilities and find ways to address them. If you are interested in getting a copy of the book, visit any Landmark bookstore in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bangalore, or Chennai. If you live elsewhere, please do write in to us, and we’ll try and figure out a way to get it across to you.

Devry University is one of our key clients and we did a Math Mastery System for them. The project went of really well, and we had a satisfied client on our hands. Then this plaque landed, making us realize that we did not just have a satisfied client; we had a delighted client. Congratulations to the team for making this possible. Thanks, Devry, for the appreciation! It makes us strive even better.

Like all corporate citizens caught up in the daily rush to create and deliver great products and services, TIS-ites are also prone to some amount of social guilt. The ‘I wish I could do something for my country, city, neighbourhood’ thought is something most of us have toyed with. The Kolkata Marathon, held on 25th February, 2007, which invited people to run for their city, provided the opportunity to convert those thoughts into actions. Even then, the process did not begin smoothly, and the reason was this. "6.30 am on a Sunday morning?? You must be kidding!""The last time I ran, there was a mad dog behind me""I can run 10-hour programs but running 4.2 kms…no way!" Amidst all this, somebody said the magic words "Don’t be boring" and that did it. Because ‘boring’ is one of those unforgivable states of being as far as TIS is concerned and one by one the employees rose to the occasion, like crusaders on the march to spread the religion of the interesting. We decided to take this opportunity to increase awareness about Learning Disability in India, LD being a key community that TIS supports. The slogan for the banner read ‘Use Your Feet to Lend a Hand’ and our T-shirts sported the Learning Disability logo. If, at this stage, anyone was still wondering why they had registered, they had their reason and a good one too.The TIS group, which was over 40 people strong, arrived at the venue around 6.30 - there were people who apparently woke up at the ungodly hour of 3.30 am to be there at 5 am and then there were those who battled minor mishaps (like failing to hear the alarm) to be there by 6.45. The area where we assembled near Fort William is one of the prettiest parts of Kolkata, with an abundance of green and long stretches of good quality roads. Seeing thousands of people gathered there to take part in the marathon lifted our spirits immediately. Chaos and confusion, the usual side effects of mass participation, greeted us; but soon people managed to find their groups and were waiting eagerly for the race to start. The wait proved a tad long, since we were participating in the Fun Run, which got underway after the main races - the general marathon and the women’s marathon. Some of those gathered for the Fun Run were so eager to get going that they actually started running with the marathoners! Announcements followed and those who thought they had actually missed the beginning of the Fun Run, were reassured that the ‘fun’ had not begun! Amidst speculation about what happened to those who took off with the marathoners on the 42 km route, we took our positions. There was fair amount of interest in the Learning Disability banner and the general boisterous nature of the TIS group got them a fair share of newsbytes. And then, it began. Most of us had laid our cards openly before the start - we cannot run and will only walk. But in the excitement of the moment, we found ourselves running and it felt just great! True, we slowed down to a brisk walk after some time, but the adrenalin rush was worth missing the precious hours of sleep on a Sunday morning. The prankster in the Kolkatan soon surfaced, and people started taking short cuts, tempting others with offers of a sumptuous breakfast at K C Das, which was on the way. But we resisted and marched forward, and surprisingly, the older members of TIS (above 30 years, that is) proved more energetic than the younger ones! The youngsters decided they had to make an impression too, and in a great burst of energy, they started sprinting with the LD banner, almost knocking off a fellow runner’s cap when they swept the banner over his head! Towards the end of our route, the women marathoners passed us - we were mortified, as much by the sight of their rippling muscles and steady breathing as by the thought that they had already run 12 kms while we were still to finish 4.2!! Maybe it was this or our talent for showmanship that showed its influence as we were nearing the end - we decided that we must run to the finish. So we ran the last half km and as we approached the finishing line, we found people actually cheering us on!!  As we rested, all energy spent, the rumblings in our stomach reminded us that we had missed breakfast. Being in the vicinity of Flury’s, the most favoured breakfast destination of Kolkata, the idea struck instantaneously. With renewed energy, we descended on Park Street and found, to our chagrin, that all the other marathoners had the same idea. Flury’s was packed. Not prone to give up easily, especially where good food is concerned, we landed up at T3 (short for The Tea Table), the old Flury’s shop. Then followed a great exercise in self-gratification and sinful self-indulgence peppered by liberal doses of laughter, leg pulling and wisecracks. After satiating ourselves with some great food washed down with Darjeeling tea we returned home, happy in the knowledge that we did our own bit, however small, for the city and for the cause of Learning Disability awareness. I’m sure all of us are now agreed on one point - there is no better way to spend a Sunday morning! (Poushali Chatterjee is Senior Specialist - Instructional Design with TIS)

CNBC has started a new 5-part series on Innovation called, "The Business of Innovation". The first episode ("Innovators and Iconoclasts") has already aired, but is available online here.  It's really quite good, with interviews with many well respected figures from the business and innovation arena.  Well worth the time to watch the 4 segments... So what does this have to do with learning? Although the series is hosted by Maria Bartiromo, she is assisted by Roger Schank, well-known educational provoker and Artifical Intelligence/Cognitive Science expert.  From my perspective, he steals the show (full disclosure: I studied under Schank at Northwestern's Institute for the Learning Sciences). Consider these snippets from the episode's opening: Innovators don't really fit in very well (with others) Nearly everyone starts out as an Iconoclast (a rule breaker) - little kids don't know the rules; they do what they want to do. Failure is KEY!  You have to be failing and failing again. Big companies are always trying to hire people who were in the top 10% at Harvard, under the assumption that they are good.  What Harvard graduates are good at is... Harvard. You want someone original from Harvard?  Try the BOTTOM 10%.  Those kids are smart enough to get it, then decided they weren't playin' the game. BINGO! The connection here (among others) is that we need to be willing to experiment and fail in order to break the mold of "what everyone else is doing" or "how it's always been done".  If we aren't willing to reach out beyond what's known and assured, then we'll just get more of what we've got. Failure has such an unfairly bad rep - companies (generally) hate it, employees (mostly) avoid it, recruiters rarely ask about it.  Yet it's the home zip code of where learning occurs.  If you do something and succeed, all that tells you is that what you already know works - it provides confirmation, but no growth/learning.  The primary time real learning occurs is when we do X, expecting Y, and Z occurs instead.  BOOM!  Discomfort and surprise result!  Motivation to find out what the hell happened arises!  A new case for your storehouse of experiences is added to your wetware!  And a few new synapses are connected! - Learning has occurred! It's exactly this kind of semi-contrarian stance that has made Roger who he is.  Love him or hate him, it's tough to ignore him and the points he makes. Do yourself a favor and do a quick Google on "Roger Schank" and read what he's written/said, as well as the responses he's generated (pro AND con).  I guarantee you will find yourself shifting in your seat and thinking more deeply about some "common/accepted knowledge" than you probably have recently. Here are a few to get you started: His blog on District Administrator, an online magazine for K-12 Education Leaders His (occasional) Educational Outrage column His Student Bill of Rights His Maxims for Learning (Jon Revelos is Director - Story Based Learning at TATA Interactive Systems)

This month’s Big Question at The Learning Circuits Blog is "What Would You Do to Support New Managers?" I ask: What is it that you would like from your new managers? Are there some improvements you would like to see in the way things are managed in your company? What management skills are critical for your organization’s success? These and perhaps other related questions must be asked before a strategy is worked out to fulfill a new manager’s coaching needs. And this brings me to my point that coaching - more than the medium or the narrow view of ‘training’ - is an indispensable instrument in preparing your new managers to respond to the big challenges you’ve set up for them. You’ve probably realized that the one-time individual "doer" has now transitioned to the role of an "influencer", who will shape the productivity and success of large teams. Are there good examples and best practices that your new managers can follow to start delivering the goods from Day One? Here’s a list of what I’ve found useful: Institute a ‘Buddy’ system: At the point of transitioning into managerial roles, can you get respected senior managers to buddy your new managers to educate and develop them? Make use of the mentors’ experience to create a culture of success, and personalized ‘care’. Get them to flock together: Often new managers feel like they’re operating in isolation. Helping new managers to learn from each other and developing an environment of peer support goes a long way in addressing concerns that would otherwise have to wait for formal training to come by. Encourage inter-departmental flocking: Getting to know how other departments in the organization function, what they do, their staff, etc. helps build a shared vision and the much-touted big picture. Promote experiential learning: Get your managers to feedback to the system of the outcomes of experiential learning, e.g. key learning points from a major screw up, a client save, a major deal. What did the team do or not do to become successful? These need to become inspirational corporate stories that people - new managers or not - would like to know or read about. This is just a start. With strategic objectives clearly in focus, and the tools to deliver coaching in the classroom, on the Web, or face-to-face, you will only increase the likelihood of success with a team of high-performing managers. (Rohan Kohli is Senior Consultant, Instructional Design)