I have an unpopular suggestion for rebooting the formal learning industries. Let's put a one-year ban on "inspirational stories." You know what I am talking about: these are the pithy, well rehearsed, well honed, fiction-presented-as-truth stories by "experts/gurus." In these stories, a variation of the hero's journey, an unlikely person is given a daunting task. They are first overcome by the weight of the responsibility, but then rise to the occasion, apply cleverness and fortitude, and end up with a surprising result. They are as accurate to reality as Frank Miller's Spartan story of "300."Conferences and executive programs are chock full of "inspirational stories." And don't get me wrong - I love them. They are intellectually delightful concoctions, the equivalent of a buttery croissant with fresh preserves - so unbelievably tasty going down, and yet so useless to the system craving nourishment. They make us feel good and full of hope for just long enough to fill out the speaker survey.I noted in 1999 that corporations were making e-learning content decisions based on bulk (the more courses, with a lower cost-per-course, the better). Then, in 2002, the same corporations complained that e-learning was vacuous. D'oh!Likewise, we are currently demanding, through buying their books and praising their speeches, some of the smartest people in business to constantly take real-world anecdotes, fluff them up with some best practices, toss in some faux humility, hone their structure and humor in their delivery, and create a steady stream of "inspirational stories." Then we complain when organizations, after digesting a diet of this white bread from both conferences and management training programs, don't do anything different. Double d'oh!There seems to a group of "story-fanatics" that fit mostly the same, general description.About 45 to 60Love story-telling, and may have studied it, or theater, as a major.Fascinated by the "hero-journey."Don't play computer games or engage in social networking, or have minimally so they can say they have.Adore the medium of video, the constructs of cinema, and, if pushed, will reluctantly agree to the effectiveness of a branching story type of simulation.View the story as the most effective form of learning.Have reams of studies at their fingertips to "validate" their passion.I am more excited and intrigued by the double aspect of user participation and non-linear content as the cornerstones of effective content. Perhaps the most pithy research for the first, user participation and activity, not just exposure, is cognitively necessary for learning, comes from an old study:In a famous experiment, Held and Hein (1963) exposed two kittens to nearly identical visual information. This was done by placing one of the kittens (the passive kitten) in a little gondola, and linking it up to a harness worn by the other (active) kitten so that as the active kitten moved about and explored its environment, the passive kitten was moved in exactly the same manner. The result was that only the active kitten developed normal depth perception. The passive kitten, even though its sensory input was nearly identical, did not. (http://mind.ucsd.edu/papers/pisml/pismlhtml/pisml-text.html)Stories are always a good start. They are critical for building caring. We are as genetically predispositioned to listening to good stories as seeking fire and shelter. But they are just a first, tiny step, the appetizers to real learning's main course. So, let's go a year without any inspirational stories. Let's push ourselves as the formal learning industries to give up our golden crutch. Let's carefully study the works of people like Thiagi. There are some people who just can't imagine a learning program without a steady stream of inspirational stories. To these, this very post will get their blood pumping with righteous anger. I have, in their view of the world, slapped my white glove across their face. It is these addicts that most of all need to go without, if only for 12 months.

I travel all over the world presenting research and ideas on simulations (typically to a larger group, before working more closely with a smaller group). But I am constantly stuck with the same conundrum - how do you capture the spirit of simulations while presenting material? (And just to say, I am no Thiagi. I cannot engage and delight anywhere near his level, if at all).I was at the Army War College on Friday, and tried something for the first time that was really great. I loaded up a copy of my wiki-like blog on each of the student computers. I gave them free permission to unabashedly explore the material while I was talking. I told them they could go straight to the sim Examples (everything in [brackets] took them to real, outside examples), if they wanted. Or they could explore theory and concepts. They could even drift off to tangential areas like Social Networking. When I was talking, probably a third didn't hear a word I said - they were off exploring THE SAME MATERIAL, but in a self-directed and more open-ended way. Probably a third did what I would have done - drifted back and forth. And a third actually listened to me.Clearly, this is a work in progress. But it felt like a major step, at least in my own view of what formal learning can and should be.

How many of you knew Lucinda Roy? (I didn’t). How many of you know her now? Probably a lot more. Our educational institutions were already in a deep crisis and didn’t need a mass killing to help sort things out. But in the midst of a senseless, heart-breaking and deeply troubling tragedy, Lucinda Roy, black, British and a successful writer is the "professor" who out of concern volunteered to handle Cho Seung-Hui face to face in an attempt to penetrate his shell. Her heroism, which unfortunately took her only as far as the system would allow (raising major questions and boding ill for the future) is matched by her wisdom concerning the use of technology. I refer all of you to this delightful interview about technology in education: Here are just a few of the key points: One thing I've learned from this online interaction is that the ways in which we speak to each other [online] are very different from the way we would speak if we were face to face. Students working online are often much more informal early in the semester. Most teachers who love tutorials really love online interaction if it's designed well. You can have the kinds of dialogue you would not normally have in a public space. We can all draw our own conclusions (and probably already have) about the value of informality! You cannot learn to write unless you write. When the only channel of communication you have is the online channel, it is amazing how much people will write. Expression and output are the principal means of learning, not listening and taking notes. If you have a class of 300 to 400, you cannot teach well using all this interactive technology unless you are also going to build in some personal support behind it. You cannot imagine that you can answer all those queries well and improve the quality of education if you're the only person doing it. It's very frustrating. We do need to think about how anyone experimenting with this new environment has the kind of personnel support that they need. I don't think we do very well at it. It’s all about organization and responsibility in encouraging and orientating dialogue. I throw in the next point because I thought it culturally significant and worth reflecting on. Why doesn’t education help us to see what we ingest? One of the things I see is people selecting from this menu in the cafeteria and making a plate that's so ugly, you really wouldn't want to eat it. The last one I think no one has any trouble recognizing. It's confusing also because there are a lot of people suddenly involved in the education process who have their own agendas. Some are from the corporate world and really want to push a particular kind of software as the answer to everything. Read the interview. And be like me: try to find out more about this amazing woman!P.S. The interview dates from 1998. She was a pioneer.

How often have you been in a situation where the training was absolutely wrong for the participant? I don't mean wrong as in, person will never use these skills, or wrong as in, person should be out selling instead of being in a formal learning program, or wrong as in, this is a very basic program for a very senior person, but wrong as in if a person applies the skills, they will do much worse at their job?This might be because the program was not fully tested, or the wrong skills for the person. If the answer is no, that training has never been harmful, then is the corollary true: that training can't do much good? Is training just warm tea and tic tacs to make participants a little better?I look for evidence that training is getting stronger. Paradoxically, the thing that will be most convincing is a story of a training program actually being disasterously harmful.

I've been having some connection challenges the past few days, so I'm almost belated with this post but not quite - I've still got an hour until midnight here on the US Pacific Coast.Five years ago, today - April 29, 2002, Jay Cross made the first official post to Learning Circuits Blog. Welcome to the Learning Circuits Blog! A blog (short for web-log) lets you post a few sentences -- you don't have to puff up an observation into an article to post it. Blogs are spontaneous and informal. Also, there's no delay between writing an item and posting it on the web. A group of us are experimenting here, dropping thought-fragments and opinions into our group blog. If we're successful, you'll begin coming to the Learning Circuits Blog for late-breaking news. For more about blogs, here's the article about learning blogs that appeared in Learning Circuits last week.I'll ask our initial bloggers to begin by telling us who they are, what interests them, and their URLs. The list of Jay's friends who joined him on his experiment with a new technology included Clark Aldrich, Peter Isackson, Tom Barron, Kevin Wheeler, Ellen Wagner, Clark Quinn, and Margaret Driscoll.  Both Clarks, Peter and Jay are still consistent contributors to Learning Circuits Blog five years later.  LCB was an outgrowth of Jay's person website and blog efforts.  He linked up with ASTD's Learning Circuits Magazine to experiment with a new technology.  LCB's affiliation with Learning Circuits continues to this day.  It's been a unique relationship as we draw upon each other's connections and knowledge but ASTD has allowed LCB 100% freedom in editorial direction - allowing it to truly be a blog.LCB has seen some lean times and some great successes.  Sam Adkins' We Are the Problem:  We're Selling Snake Oil post on November 17, 2003 rocked the elearning world.  It drew 60 comments when LCB had been averaging just over 2 per post at that point.   In January of 2005, it was my great fortune to have Jay ask me to take over the reins of  Learning Circuits Blog.  It's been great experience thus far and only promises to be just as stimulating and exciting as we move forward.We will begin our 6th year of publishing thought provoking content on the internet by trying to expand on the success of the feature Tony Karrer guided into existence last October - The Big Question.  With The Big Question, we found a way to involve more of our community and make LCB a dynamic hub of networked activity.  It's been exciting to see over 60 learning professionals step forward and publish posts as part of The Big Question in our first 7 months of the feature.  The conversations have been stimulating and authentic.You'll read in the next few days how we're planning to change LCB and how you can help.  By 2012 and our tenth anniversary, LCB will be radically different than it is today, just as those first few posts seem archaic in light of today's blogosphere.But then it wouldn't be true to the experimental nature of LCB's birth if we didn't pursue change, now would it?Thank you to everyone who's been a part of the first five years of Learning Circuits Blog!Dave, your humble blogmeisterTags: learning-circuits-blog, thebigquestion, lcbPowered by Qumana

I had a high school teacher who observed that the male students seemed to spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to be male students, and the female students seemed to spend a lot of time trying figure out how to get male students.As I work with companies implementing both social networking and simulation technology, I have observed a new hierarchy of needs. 1. Learning to BePeople strive to know who they are. What do they like to do, and what do they hate to do? With whom are they most comfortable, or motivated, or depressed? Who are their role models? How can they get satisfaction and sustainability out of life? What are their priorities? What is a good day and what is a bad day? Where do they fall on the issues of the day? Is it better to be directive or participative?As people figure this out, they want to test this new personality out on the world. They make comments online, and post pictures. They speak up at meetings. They give suggestions and then orders of their co-workers, friends, and subordinates. They strive understanding and validation.To a large degree, this has been the drive of much of social networking and web 2.0, as well as pop culture, and "Cosmo" and Match.com self-tests. People today strive for self definition increasingly globally, not just defining themselves by where they live, where they work, or as a friend or enemy of the next door neighbor.2. Learning to DoPeople then want to have a impact on the flow of their world - to change the course of activity in a positive way because of what they do.This is where the big skills, such as leadership, stewardship, project management, and innovation come in. This is where people put forth some blood, sweat, and tears, and experience ownershipThis is where simulations play a critical role. Immersive learning simulations, especially practiceware, have the ability to give people ten years of distilled experience in 15 hours. Sims develop an awareness of the all-critical "active knoweldge" trinity of: actions; results; and the hidden system that too often counter-intuitively connect the two.3. Learning to KnowAt this point comes the learning to know. This might be cultural literacy/history, or organizational history, or trivia. This is where we try to make sense of the world we inherited - to piece together the giant puzzle. This is where books and the History Channel become so interesting. It is around this third category that academics has built both their curricula and their research process, one of the reasons I have so little hope for the role of Ph.d dominated Foundations to add significantly to the first two.I say again that what we teach is limited by what we can teach. The exciting thing about this new media order is that we have more power at our fingertips for development than ever before.

Due to some new research, the appropriate use of PowerPoint is again a topic of discussion. I went back to look at different opinions expressed in the past, and I'm not sure that there's much consensus on whether we should use PowerPoint, how to use it appropriately, when it makes sense or when it doesn't and why.So, this month, The Big Question is...PowerPoint - What is Appropriate, When and Why?Please answer this question by posting to your own blog or commenting on this post.(For further help in how to participate via blog posts, see the side bar.)Points to Consider: As you write your answer, please consider some of the following aspects:How should you use PowerPoint differently for different kinds of presentations? Are there times when PowerPoint (or slides in general) are just wrong to use? Conversely, are there times when it's wrong not to use slides?Are reinforcing bullet points (in text) good in some context? What governs their use?Is there research that supports any of these opinions or is it based on our beliefs having sat through good and bad presentations?If you find good resources on this topic, please tag them in del.icio.us with lcbPowerPoint. You can find tagged pages at: http://del.icio.us/tag/lcbpowerpointExamples of bad slides and improved versions for particular kinds of presentations would be fantastic to see?Claudia Escribano LifeLongLearningLab A Big Question on PowerPoint 30-May-2007 20:58:36Tom Crawford thcrawford PowerPoint - What is Appropriate, When and Why? 30-May-2007 07:52:35Wendy in-the-middle-of-the-curve More Thoughts on PowerPoint 16-May-2007 15:44:51Dave Lee eelearning there they go with the powerpoint thing, again! 16-May-2007 00:00:00LCB Learning Circuits Blog Big Question - PowerPoint 14-May-2007 09:44:15Jim MacLennan cazh1: on Business, Information, and Technology Five Under-Emphasized PowerPoint Best Practices 13-May-2007 12:38:56Keith Peter bodmas.org PowerPoint Big Question 12-May-2007 02:59:43Jacob McNulty Revolutions What’s the Point of Power Point? Or…what’s the Power? 15-May-2007 14:30:15Shilpa Patwardhan Closed World Presentation Tool? Yes. Teaching Tool? No. 11-May-2007 06:46:18Geetha Krishnan Simply Speaking Making Presentations 11-May-2007 06:25:10Dave F. Dave's Whiteboard The power's in the point 10-May-2007 20:48:29Tony Karrer eLearning Technology PowerPoint - A Question 10-May-2007 15:05:59Gary Hegenbart eLearning Development News The Value of PowerPoint 10-May-2007 12:51:52Giulia Calfapietro La Community di LTEver P.P.: What is Appropriate? 10-May-2007 12:17:55Giulia Calfapietro La Community di LTEver Power Point: What is appropriate? 10-May-2007 12:12:28Giulia Calfapietro La Community di LTEver Power Point: What is Appropriate, when and why? 10-May-2007 12:10:35Lanny Arvan Lanny on Learning Technology PowerPoint - Again 10-May-2007 11:45:11Gabe Anderson Articulate - Word of Mouth Blog 7 Quick Tips for Spicing up Your PowerPoint Design 11-May-2007 09:27:38Dennis McDonald All Kind Food PowerPoint: The Tool People Love to Hate 11-May-2007 03:31:14Clive Shepherd Clive on Learning The Big Question: PowerPoint 11-May-2007 01:49:31TATA INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS TIS Corporate Blog Evil Tools or Evil Uses? 10-May-2007 06:29:07Karl Kapp Kapp Notes Avoiding Death by PowerPoint 09-May-2007 19:53:55Wendy in-the-middle-of-the-curve PowerPoint - My Thoughts 09-May-2007 13:40:43Clark Quinn Learnlets PowerPoint, evil or just a tool? 08-May-2007 09:18:16Owen Ferguson Learning and Development PowerPoint - What is Appropriate, When and Why? 09-May-2007 08:25:26Tony Karrer eLearning Technology PowerPoint - Seth's Booklet 08-May-2007 17:05:11Dennis McDonald All Kind Food Using a Blog for a "Web 2.0" Presentation instead of PowerPoint 08-May-2007 10:45:19Guy W Wallace The Pursuing Performance Blog The Big Question is... 08-May-2007 07:38:52Tony Karrer eLearning Technology PowerPoint Preparation is Good 08-May-2007 07:17:18Jay Cross Internet Time Blog The Big PowerPoint Question 07-May-2007 21:21:14Mitch Owen Lead2020 Powerpoint: Should you use it? 07-May-2007 19:24:27Karyn Romeis Karyn's blog This month's big question: PowerPoint 08-May-2007 03:57:23Mark Frank Learning in Context PowerPoint 09-May-2007 04:40:08Dennis Coxe Sailing by the Sound Cognitive Load and PowerPoint 08-May-2007 11:57:36Tony Karrer eLearning Technology Background Reading - Use of PowerPoint 07-May-2007 08:39:55

Dear Hollywood,I bring you tidings from the Corporate training world. I hope you are doing well, and am looking forward to your summer fare.I just have two pieces of bad news for you, and as a friend, I thought I would break it to you directly. Here is the first: your movies are just too long. Here are just a few examples:Hot Fuzz: 2 hr. 1 min. Spiderman 3: 2 hr. 20 minPirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest: 2 hr. 20 minPlus, when you add driving, parking, and previews, we are talking about a 3 to 4 hour commitment or longer. Who are you trying to kid? WAKE UP!I can tell as a fact that no one has 3 hours anymore. No one. It is IMPOSSIBLE to find 3 hours in people's schedules. People are just too busy.Learn from me. If I propose any program, I make sure it takes less than 30 minutes, and maybe even less than 15 minutes of a person's time. My motto is deliver a bit of information exactly when they need it and move on. My ultimate goal is to be a faint, useful smell wafting through the corridors. That is, after all, the easiest conversation to have with my business colleagues. Now granted, that means I can't actually develop any new capabilities. But I can, using this "wafting" strategy, get enough funds to scrape together program pilots, as long as I only put one group through it of less than twenty people. I know, I know, you are producing blockbusters, and I am facing another budget cut. But that's just because your audiences don't get the new realities, and mine do. I just thought of another great example. YouTube is doing so well because it provides short movies. My IT people tell me that employees entertain themselves for hours at work watching these clips and.. (oh, wait. Never mind. Bad example.)The second piece of bad news is actually worse. Your movies take too long to produce. Two years? You have got to be kidding me. Ask any "expert" from the training world (and we have a lot of them). THERE IS NO WAY OF PREDICTING THINGS that far in advance. We have to react constantly. Wait... hold on.... THERE! Everything changed. Did you feel it? Entire social orders were up ended. Old models fell apart. Things change every second. The fact that you actually think you can know what people will like and need two years from now if frankly, a little embarrassing. (And the best part is, "embracing" constant change really means that you always have an excuse for not doing anything very well. Why research anything when you can "gut check?" Why design a program when you can just use Google? Why take responsibility or ownership at all?)So, I thought I would give you the two pieces of bad news, and please accept my deep, deep condolences. And, of yeah, my resume.Sincerely,The Training Community

Phd: I heard you think you have a great program.Me: I do. I have this great program to develop people.PhD: Why is it so good?Me: Because it makes people more productive in the workplace.PhD: So it's vocational? That's not really my thing.Me: No, it's around leadership.PhD.: If it is about doing anything work-related, it is by definition vocational. Me: Well, you could use it to lead in a non-profit organization. Or a lab. Or run a university.PhD: Well, I guess THAT wouldn't be vocational. What theories of leadership and education are you using?Me: I can dig some up, but more importantly, I have stacks of results.PhD: I like theories a lot more. Besides, why should I trust your results? You are a vendor.Me: Because all of the research was done by third parties.PhD: Sure, but the research was done by someone.Me: Ah, yes. PhD: And that person was no doubt proud of their results.Me: I guess.PhD: Well, those people were all bias towards success. Research invalid. QED.Me: Ah, okay.PhD: You are thinking about this all wrong. What you need is a firm foundation of theory. Either use an existing theory, or pose a question, and then find the evidence to support it or refute it.Me: Why?PhD: That will increase your chances of success.Me: But I already have success!PhD: But not repeatable success. Your type of success requires people who care about the results. Your programs require ownership. Me: I guess...Phd: But if you build an academic case, then the results just happen, even if no one cares. It's like physcis.Me: Do your projects work?PhD: Hardly ever. But that's the best part. First, it's not my fault, it's the theories'. Second, obviously, we feedback that knowledge of failure into the process, and refine our knowledge base. We end up with better theories, not just one off successes.Me: Hmmm.PhD: You just don't get it, do you? Where's another PhD? They get it.

One of the things that has always been somewhat surprising to me is that there seem to be relatively few examples of different kinds of eLearning available out there. So, this month I wanted to ask a slightly different kind of question that hopefully can produce something of value.The Big Question is...Where are the Examples of eLearning?Please answer this question by posting to your own blog or commenting on this post.(For further help in how to participate via blog posts, see the side bar.)Points to Consider:Please point us to all sorts of examples.Good examples, bad examples are welcome.Please give us a few thoughts of why you think this is an example that we should give some attention.Val Evans Social Software Research Knowledge Sharing Case Studies 16-Jul-2007 13:25:50Val Evans Social Software Research Teaching and Learning Case Studies 16-Jul-2007 13:20:36e-Learning Tyro e-Learning Tyro e-Learning Demos 28-Jun-2007 23:29:45Claudia Escribano LifeLongLearningLab Examples of E-Learning 27-Jun-2007 19:17:02Gabe Anderson Articulate - Word of Mouth Blog Where are Examples of eLearning? Lots Right Here! 26-Jun-2007 11:30:51Dave Lee eelearning exemplary elearning solutions 14-Jun-2007 13:43:59Dave Lee eelearning what is a "good example"? 13-Jun-2007 00:00:00Adele Lim learning & development LCB Big Q for June: Eg of e-Learning 11-Jun-2007 03:17:57Tony Whittingham Fantastic Resources for Students The Power of Three 11-Jun-2007 02:37:24Quintus Joubert eLearning Blog Where are the Examples of eLearning? 11-Jun-2007 12:50:52Peter Isackson Learning Circuits Blog Example of eLearning 09-Jun-2007 10:33:33Kevin Vaughan Flexible Learning Network Designing e-learning 09-Jun-2007 08:34:26Karl M. Kapp Kapp Notes Show Me the Examples! ASTD Big Question for June 07-Jun-2007 14:41:56Mark Frank Learning in Context Two examples of elearning 07-Jun-2007 02:26:24Tony Karrer eLearning Technology Creating a Blog in Blogger 07-Jun-2007 07:04:40Piotr elearning-20 Best Examples of eLearning 05-Jun-2007 11:06:22Clark Aldrich Clark Aldrich's Blog: The Elements of Interactivity [Examples] of simulations: a dynamic list of entries with playable examples 05-Jun-2007 08:33:21