The discussion of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is certainly a hot topic today, but even with the trending conversation, I still get asked, "What is a MOOC, anyway?" Channeling my inner Dr. Seuss, I’ll do my best to answer this and outline questions and concerns I also hear. Of course, there is much more to MOOCs than what is in the poem, but you’ll have to read all of the way through to see what it is! In a Massive Open Online Course, Folks join in, Some with remorse. Others might say wow, wow, wow! MOOCs are here, MOOCs are now! Stanford, Harvard, and Yahoo, too. They have MOOCs, but should you? Some MOOCs are free, But others cost. Help me please, I am so lost! Are MOOCs big or are they small? Do I show up, Or do I call? MOOCs are new and MOOCs are fun, But many enroll and then run, run, run! If workers have a learning gap, Should MOOCs be on your training map? Are MOOCs taught by a doc? If they’re "open," do MOOCs lock? If I learn via peer, Are they far or are they near? When the learning’s said and done Have we all taught or only one? All should learn Both young and old. MOOCs are popular But are you sold? When class is done and the budget’s spent, MOOCs might be a supplement. How do you get the folks to stay? Play a game, or test all day? Participants learn, but can teach, too, What comes from them, Might help you, too. To muse on MOOCs and find out more Join us on July twenty-four! Not by train and not by car But a 20-minute webinar. Now that you’ve read this blog today, About MOOCs what do you have to say? Send your thoughts, do not delay. Like, LinkedIn, or send a Tweet, Share the wealth and on MOOCs we’ll meet! Click Here to register for my upcoming webinar: Musing on MOOCs

Delivering the right content to your audience exactly when they need it can be challenging for many reasons. The mobile workforce is always on the go, always pushed for time and always online. Rapid change makes it difficult to offer content while it’s still fresh. Formal training and internal communications compete with information that reaches your workforce through social media, blogs, radio and TV. How do you get the right information to the right people at the right time? Tjeerd Veninga, Program Manager for Microsoft and Kim Hansen, Project Manager for GP Strategies recently hosted a webinar with the Brandon Hall group discussing how our organizations partnered together to create the "Always On" program. This program is focused on bite-sized training that has been successful by offering information that is "just in time," "just for you" and "just enough" for Microsoft’s worldwide workforce. The session raised several great questions around Just-in-Time training, and while the presenters didn’t get to answer all of the questions live during the session, they were able to address them and add their thoughts below: Q: Is the "Always On" program internal only? A: Yes, our goal is to inform our people of the latest product updates so that they can represent the products to customers and stakeholders. The information focuses on "what’s new?" and often we focus on how to demo or sell the product. Q: Can you please elaborate more on the hosting platform? Is it through a video site, LMS or something else? A: It is built on a Microsoft internal solution, which we call "Academy." This is an internal web site that runs on Microsoft SharePoint and it serves (live) streaming video. The video is searchable and it is possible to build channels where content that focuses on a particular product is gathered (i.e., the Windows channel, the Office channel, etc.). Q: What video equipment do you use for production, and what software do you use for editing? A: We employ a few media specialists, and we have our own studio and equipment. This team produces video for various groups within Microsoft; we are just one on their customers. They work on a cost-recovery basis. We have invested in modern high-definition cameras and professional video editing equipment. Q: How many working hours go into a 5-minute video, and how many people are involved? A: We spend most of our time preparing for the recording, i.e., determining the topic/identifying and briefing a presenter and writing an outline for the demo. Recording a 5-minute demo typically takes up to 90 minutes. It then takes another hour or two in editing. We can upload the video in 5 minutes; we typically spend another hour or two driving internal marketing. Our core team consists of one FTE (Tjeerd Veninga) and two vendors (Kim Hansen and Kim Ritchie at GP Strategies). We enjoy a lot of support from subject matter experts on our readiness team as well as at the various product teams. Q: You mentioned to "Lead with the product." But I’ve been taught to "Think about the learner task." What are your thoughts on focusing on task vs. product? A: Good question! I would say we are both right. Leading with the product is a great way of telling the story quickly. But we don’t create "feature shows." We know we don’t sell products, but we sell what our products can do. I basically meant to say, "Don’t start the video by introducing the product, don’t lose the audience by going through strategy or marketing slides, etc." Dive right in, show the product and show what it can do and which customer needs it. Q: How do you handle translations and localization issues? A: The mandatory course is localized into Chinese and Japanese. That course also offers transcripts and captions so people can read along, which often helps. Given the need for agility, we often do not localize the "Always On" content. Q: Apart from reach, what other metrics of success do you monitor? How do you track completions of the videos? A: Great question! We can see how long people watch videos; we can also see how often they watch a video. If we see that people discontinue quite early into the video, we know there is an issue with that video or the way we set expectations for that video. I’m not sure what to make of people watching a video three or four times; it could be that they are studying the video or it could be that video is hard to understand. We use Yammer, which enables people to chat about the videos they are watching. We would like to run some focus groups to find out more. So far we have relied on consumption metrics and (admittedly) anecdotal feedback. Q: What has your business impact been since launching "Always On"? A: There are a few different ways to evaluate business impact. First of all, I think we benefit most from the great agility this program offers. It used to take us a minimum of 6 weeks to design, script, produce and distribute content. Today we can do that within 12 hours. Having a complete story out that quickly, a story that details the positioning as well as compete aspects, is super valuable to us. In the past, the media would sometimes beat us to the punch and—after products were just announced—our colleagues would go to blogs, TV and YouTube to find out more. That is breakable; they would not find complete messaging there. The messaging might even be incorrect or confusing. That is now a thing of the past. Another way of looking at it is to see what our stakeholders (our internal customers) are saying. We have supported the internal product launches for Windows, Windows Phone, Surface, OneDrive for Business and Office for iPad primarily through this channel. Our internal customers love the breadth of the reach we generate and the "just in time" and "just enough" aspects that help land the key messaging across the company. Finally, I compared notes with our internal communications team; they attend conferences where they meet peers from other companies, and they determined that reaching more than 10% of the internal audience is considered a huge success. After 3 years, we reach more than that 10%. While we feel really good about the program’s impact, I cannot yet answer the most important part of your question: How much more did we sell thanks to this program? I only know that "the pain" we used to experience from not having this level of agility is now a thing of the past. Q: With the frequencies of short videos you produce, is it harder to engage learners eight times vs. one time for example? A: I think it is easier for the audience and harder (more work) for ourselves. The audience loves the fact that they can pick and choose the "readiness snacks" they need, whenever they need them. Driving this program has certainly added more to our workload and our workload also has more "spikes." There are quite a few moments in the year where we are fighting deadlines and working late. From the learners’ point of view, readiness is offered at 8:00 AM on the day the product launches, and they can lean back and learn what they need to in just 5 minutes. It’s a light time allocation and they can usually fit that into their day quite easily. The traditional course would require them to find 30 minutes of uninterrupted time, often a much tougher task. Q: How much of your video content is actually learning content vs. news or updates? A: In terms of "consumed volume," demos drive the bulk of our viewership. People are effectively learning some of the new features in updated or new products. We give them the highlights, the "hero features" that we feel everybody should know and ideally also should be able to demo. Of course we cannot demo the full product, and we point people to additional resources so they can learn more. The news videos are also popular, but these have a very short lifespan. We create them so that we can share the full and official story; we realize these videos compete with internal email/briefings/information from colleagues and the media. Demos tend to have a lifespan that runs up to a full year; news is "old news" within a few days. It’s quite telling that our "top 25" videos are all demos. And one of them was an April Fools’ joke featuring products that do not exist. Miss the session? Click here to watch a recording of the webinar: Redefining Just-in-Time Training: A Look at How Microsoft and GP Strategies Developed Training That Is Always On.

Mary Ann Masarech, lead consultant of the employee engagement practice of BlessingWhite, a division of GP Strategies discusses how it is every employee’s responsibility in the work force to play a role in employee engagement. It is important for individuals, managers and executives to be committed to the success of engagement.   Individuals in an organization must A.C.T. on their engagement. "A" - Assess what is important to them as individuals. "C" - Communicate their interest and goals/inspirations. "T" - Take action. Managers have an important role, they must C.A.R.E about engagement. "C" - Coaching employees to higher levels of engagement. "A" - Align team to make sure interests are the same. "R" - Recognize the effort of the team. "E" - Engage in regular conversation and engage themselves. Senior leaders must set the tone for the work environment, and build a C.A.S.E. for engagement. "C" - Community, a sense of belonging people can connect with emotionally. "A" - Authentic, help people learn who you are behind the title. "S" - Significance, people want to do meaningful work and see how they fit into the big picture. "E" - Excitement, senior leaders must inspire and set high standards for performance. When it is all pulled together, we’re looking at individuals who A.C.T. on their engagement, managers that C.A.R.E. about engagement and executives who build a C.A.S.E. for engagement - not just once a year, but every single day in order for it to be successful.

Mary Ann Masarech, Lead Consultant of Employee Engagement for BlessingWhite, a Division of GP Strategies, discusses the significance of how "Great Days at Work" leads to long term, positive results. How are you going to consistently get the discretionary effort of your best people, of the folks you’re investing in? In the video below, Mary Ann Masarech describes how "Great Days at Work" increases employee engagement and positive results by focusing on the actual work. The program begins by asking employees to think about a great day at work, specifically revolving around: Where were you? What were you doing? Who were you with? Who benefited from your work? What challenges did you face? "Great days at Work" then asks employees to tell their experience, using five descriptors; either phrases or words to explain their day. Leaders are often surprised about the results. Stories are usually focused around people utilizing their talents and what they do best every day, challenges they overcame - often as part of a larger team, happy customers, recognition and achievements. All of these factors add up to not only being great days but also great results.

A great deal of information is being written on the topic of leadership and leadership development. In this issue, we’ve compiled some ideas on leading and provide suggestions on how to help you improve your leadership skills. As an individual, you can apply the action points to strengthen your ability to engage at work, driving better performance and making you even more valuable to your organization. Where to begin? Get a few tips for getting started here. Click here to read the full issue of Performance Matters.

Rapid development of training collateral always has its challenges including the fast pace and compressed timelines; however, developing training in a fluid environment, one subject to constant change, poses unique and sometimes frustrating challenges for instructional designers. Software systems, while under development, are constantly in flux, much like the ocean tides; there seem to be no distinct beginnings and endings, with revisions scattered like seashells, washed away by the whims of the tide. Software developers are intrinsically okay with this and have a level of comfort with imperfection and incompleteness. They put together a basic package; throw it out there, and then revise the heck out of it as needed, throwing in patches and updates. For instructional designers trying to keep up with these fluid changes and take training development to completion, the following offers some insights to provide a better understanding of the process and of the challenges encountered and strategies to overcome them. Communication on a large scale is often difficult and sometimes takes longer than usual to filter down to the designer level. This means as designers, we have to sift through large volumes of emails to scan for nuggets of information and have to keep our ears open for conversations that may have an impact on the work. Constant version changes also pose a challenge to the design process. Screens change color, buttons move, menu paths change, and system refreshes make data disappear. To cope with this situation, we must be flexible and willing to accept that each new version of the software may have small or significant changes included and plan to deal with them as they come. Milestones that are moving targets increase the challenge factor as well. For instructional designers to succeed in this environment, we need to stay aware and in front of any impacts and then quickly decide which may require revisions, reviewing and reassessing planned activities frequently. The fluid environment is fraught with challenges for designers, but it is also an opportunity to grow and change with the rapid pace of development to become more flexible and responsive instructional designers.

I recently hosted a 20-minute webinar highlighting some of the most current thinking around Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), a topic receiving much attention in both the academic and corporate worlds. In the short time we were able to cover: Different varieties of MOOCs Pros and cons of the various flavors of MOOCs Ways MOOCs can be leveraged in a corporate environment Lessons to be taken from MOOCs as you grow and adapt your learning arsenal During the session a number of questions came up, and while we were able to address several of them, we were not able to get to all of them due to time. Below are those questions, and my best answers. This is an ongoing conversation, and I encourage you to keep the questions coming in the comments section below, and mark your calendars for September 17th at 2 p.m. ET to join me for a live Tweet Chat!   Q: Please remind me; what does MOOC stands for? A: MOOC stands for "Massive Open Online Course," although each of those terms is subject to interpretation, and there are several different varieties or subsets of MOOCs, too. Wikipedia offers a good starting point on MOOCs, and typing the term into your search engine will return a large number of hits also. A key point to remember when developing a learning plan is that a "traditional" MOOC may or may not be appropriate for your goals, but certain components such as collaborative platforms and curation of "micro-chunks" of learning artifacts might be incorporated into your overall L&D strategy. Q: I don’t really understand the difference between a corporate MOOC and just running webinars over WebEx at our company. Can you explain more? A: Some the differentiating factors between MOOCs and webinars include curation; an ongoing multi-session experience; and, depending on the type of MOOC you choose to adopt (or adapt, as the case might be), collaboration and peer contribution. Q: How do you compare this to online or webinar training? A: Webinars are typically considered to be unidirectional in communication—perhaps a very basic xMOOC ("expert" MOOC) of sorts, while online training is typically asynchronous and participants often complete their coursework independently and "solo, in silos." MOOCs weave in a social component, offering the opportunity for collaborative curation and community cohesion. Depending upon the type of MOOC or MOOC components deployed, the learning experience can also have both synchronous and asynchronous components. Q: Are MOOCs 508 compliant? A: The short answer is that well-designed MOOCs will take accessibility issues into account. But because MOOCs are still maturing, and the definition of what constitutes or can be labeled as a MOOC is open to debate, you should scrutinize any MOOC you choose to adopt or enroll your employees in. If you decide to go the self-development route, then of course incorporate accessibility into your development and deployment plans. (For more on the Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, go to http://www.section508.gov ) Q: If our company is interested in specific MOOCs for HR development, is there a place where all MOOCs that fit in that category are aggregated? A: I want to answer this as best as I can so I’m still doing some research to get you more input, but in the meantime if anyone else reading this blog has insights, I encourage you to add your thoughts to this question in the comments section below. Q: Who manages content of course selection at companies like Coursera? Do courses get removed? A: Similar situation as above, while I research my answer, if you have thoughts to add, please leave your reply below. Q: Can you give me an example of an ambisynchronous MOOC? A: An "ambisynchronous" MOOC would be a learning experience that has both synchronous and asynchronous components. For example, certain assignments (or possibly "optional" activities) might call for all participants to convene via teleconference or an online chatroom at a certain time, while other portions of the course may only involve contributions to an asynchronous discussion board. As for examples, I’ll turn this back to our readers: Have any of you been involved in or heard of a MOOC that meets the above criteria? Q: Have you seen examples of MOOC education replacing educational assistance programs in big companies for greater effectiveness? A: I am not personally aware of any company replacing their educational assistance programs with MOOCs, although many are now experimenting with MOOCs to supplement their professional development initiatives. Fraser Marlow, with GP Strategies’ BlessingWhite division, cautions that "clients might consider how employees will perceive their efforts if they just tell people, here is your annual development: go join this free online MOOC!" Q: What do you mean by cohort structure? A: The term "cohort structure" refers to the roles the participants play not only in driving the direction and discussion topics of the class, but also potentially "grading" one another via peer assessments. Q: Can you describe different elements used to engage students in the corporate setting? A: Badging, the issuing of digital badges for successfully completing certain elements of the course, along with the use of leaderboards can channel a friendly competitive atmosphere. Peer-to-peer learning can also help drive accountability and engagement. Q: What are some practices to manage massive amounts of content so that employees do not have to spend time searching? A: Some practices that can help cut down on search times include tagging content with multiple keywords, storing search results to provide "others who searched for this term also searched for" feedback, and indexing content components with item or module numbers to allow quick retrieval when a specific item is recommended by a coworker or curriculum, allowing the learner to search by number as well as topic. Miss the session? Click here to watch a recording of the webinar: Musing on MOOCs

Are you ready to go mobile? I blame Steve Jobs. The creation of the slick, fun mobile phones and tablets sent ripples through the learning community like eLearning did 10 years ago. As a multiple iDevice user, I am a case study in this affliction. Looking back, there is no other piece of technology that employees will purchase themselves and want to use for every interaction. Quickly other companies pushed the market with newer, faster, thinner, bigger, and smaller devices. What’s the result? We live in an always connected world full of demands and expectations. How do companies meet this demand? At first glance, it is an incredible opportunity to deliver training to a hungry audience. There is also the perceived bonus of training being 10 times cooler just by being mobile. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as your IT department deciding to go with a different brand of computer. At least then compatible browsers and constraints are in place for consistency. With mobile, there is an entirely new lexicon. HTML5? App? Native? No Flash? No problem. Right? Wrong. As much as your learners will be clamoring to access the LMS from their phone and take that latest course from their iPad, are you ready? I live in the world of content development. It used to be quite simple. I could be content to enjoy the world of design and engagement with my greatest worry being SCORM or AICC compliance. As I start to ask the important questions, I realize there is only one critical question to ask: Do you have a mobile learning strategy? Do you have a mobile learning strategy? A mobile learning strategy is the single most important part of mobile deployment. Without a strategy, get ready for content challenges, missed deadlines, help desk calls, disappointment, and the financial impacts that will follow. It doesn’t need to be complicated. We have a simple five-step action plan to help you REACH your learners. Research Your first step is to research the different ways to develop mobile content. Your research should be more than just the software specs on the company’s website. Get acquainted with the new terminology. Learn what software requires an app. Remember that every app is like having a new piece of software on your computer. Having a few key pieces of software on a computer leads to a productive individual. Too many apps, like too many pieces of software, can lead to "app confusion," which is the moment where you blankly stare at your device not knowing which of the bright shiny icons will get you what you need. Talk to people (real people) and get their impressions. And, hey, give me a call. I’m always happy to share my opinions. Evaluate Once you’ve found a few programs that might do the trick, put them to the test. Do they work on your LMS (or for that matter, does your LMS work on mobile devices)? Do they work on a desktop computer? How easy is it to create and edit content? What is the user experience like? As much as users are hungry for learning, they do want it to be GOOD, too. No pressure. Adopt If you haven’t called the super tech savvy people in your organization, call them now. Talk to them about what you’ve learned and the direction you want to go, but leave the conversation open to discussion. These individuals need to have buy-in to what you are doing or they will go rogue, and all of the sudden, you will have a slew of apps within your organization (more app confusion) and most likely lack of direction or focus. If you get their buy-in and they feel like a part of the solution, they can help you with the next two phases (and you will need them). Communicate So you’ve made a decision. GREAT! You’re 15 percent there. Now you need to communicate across your organization how mobile learning is done. This is where your friends from the Adopt phase can help get your message out. Hold lunch and learns, send out communication pieces, tweet your message across the enterprise, and remember that choosing phone or face-to-face is still an option. Help The most critical phase is to support the organization as it begins to deploy mobile content. You and the early adopters can guide, coach, and support as your organization embarks on this exciting adventure. If you find yourself in need of extra help, give us a call at GP Strategies. That’s what we’re here for! Want to hear more from Sheri Weppel, Director of the Professional and Technical Services Group for GP Strategies? Join her as she discusses tools and techniques to leverage the capabilities of SMEs and maximize their engagement during a 20 Minute Webinar - Training Takes Time: The SME Commitment in Outsourced Training.

Transforming from a traditional pharmaceutical giant to a next-generation BioPharma company driven by innovation and customer service is a strategic and ambitious journey. Fortunately, GP Strategies™ was there to help. Watch the full impact story.   Organization and Leadership Development solutions: Leadership Development Employee Engagement Coaching Mentoring Talent Management and Development Organizational Change and Transition Team Building Read more information about how GP Strategies’ creates an impact on companies and the world around us:  http://www.gpstrategies.com/impact/default.aspx

Virtual instructor-led training (VILT) has evolved into a mainstream option for delivering training to learners who are spread out across multiple locations. Companies see it as an inexpensive alternative to flying employees to a central training location. VILT can be an effective solution to many training problems, but it does differ from instructor-led training (ILT) in a number of important ways. This blog will focus on the issues that are unique to VILT, including the pros and cons of VILT, some methods for creating an interactive environment, and the importance of up-skilling facilitators for the virtual classroom. I hope that others will jump in with their discoveries and questions. This first post will answer the question, "To VILT or Not to VILT?" Why VILT? VILT provides some of the same benefits as ILT, but it removes the need for employees (either instructors or students) to travel, allowing classes to span multiple locations. Virtual meetings can also accommodate far more people than a typical training room can hold. Most software will allow you to record VILT sessions, which creates an additional opportunity to get more out of the instructor’s time. While the travel and the opportunity to network that is associated with ILT may still be preferred by employees, VILT has become a familiar option. Some companies are interested in converting their existing classroom training to the virtual classroom, which may make sense, but they may not realize that converting ILT to VILT requires new course development even if the content will remain the same. Classroom activities will probably have to be modified, and the facilitator guide will have to be rewritten to provide instructions for the virtual environment. To keep learners engaged with the facilitator, the VILT format requires frequent and small interactivities. Also, a VILT course is typically much shorter than an ILT, meaning that long courses will probably have to be broken into multiple modules that are delivered with breaks in between. Despite the additional development required to convert a course to VILT, in many instances, it will still be worthwhile due to the ability to leverage a single instructor to reach a wide audience without travel expenses or time away from the job for learners. Why Not VILT? Some features of ILT translate easily, but others don’t. If you have an opportunity to choose between ILT and VILT, take a critical look at the learning objectives. If there are objectives that would be best taught by having a facilitator directly observe the learners’ performance and provide feedback, VILT might not be an option. Similarly, there may be some objectives that you’d like to cover with a role play or small group practice, such as a difficult customer conversation. While it is possible with some meeting software to use breakout rooms, it can be complicated and time consuming for the facilitator to set up and explain, and it doesn’t allow the same level of feedback that a roaming facilitator in the classroom can provide. That’s not to say that you can’t make it work, but if role play practice is the central activity in the course, it would probably be more effective live. Whenever objectives call for high touch and direct feedback, VILT may not be the best choice. Another option to consider is a blended solution in which part of the training is offered by VILT, while some of the objectives are covered on the job or in a live coaching session.