If a picture is worth a thousand words, it is easily worth an hour of training. As the time available for training continues to diminish, organizations need to be creative in how information is communicated to learners. An innovative solution to a challenging training project is to use visual learning, or communicating through images and video, instead of traditional training methods. While many training sessions have focused on interactivity and the benefits of sound in training, few have focused on how visualization of concepts can increase attention and transfer of knowledge. In a recent webinar I hosted with the Association for Talent Development (ATD), we started by polling our audience to learn more about their preferred learning styles. This is what we discovered: During our session, we covered a lot of information. Here are some of the highlights and some samples: Modalities Infomercial This training modality is a short animated video incorporating graphics, sound, animation and text to communicate a message. Think of this as a moving infographic. Infomercial Sample: The Planning and Scheduling Game Video Live-action video can be used to communicate a message that might normally be communicated through email or town halls. To maximize effectiveness use a green screen to combine this modality with an infomercial. Video Sample: The Craft Skills Crisis Audiocast While this modality may seem out of place, an audio cast can include imagery for the learner to view while listening to the script. This is a lower cost option to a video or infomercial. Audiocast Sample: Intro to the Refinery Quick Reference Card A quick reference card is a static job aid that uses graphics to convey information. Challenge yourself to create an image that gets your message across instead of using tables and text. Quick Reference Card Sample: Learning Modalities Map 3D Animation There are times where we want to have our learners see a piece of equipment or a scenario that is challenging in real life. 3D animation allows us to create that experience while showing the learner multiple viewpoints simultaneously. 3D Animation Sample: Forklift Module (It is chock full of 3D) Infographic When creating charts and graphics, consider a more creative approach to data by using images and colors to convey information. Infographic Sample: GP Strategies Annual Report 2013 (Page 2) Creativity Don’t forget to think creatively from both a learning standpoint AND a graphical standpoint. Here are some of the tips we discussed: Content Review your content before you begin. Try to figure out a logical flow and a theme to tell your story. If you think of your content as a story instead of facts, you will tend to drive a more creative solution. Template Templates don’t have to mean slides that all look the same. Templates speak more to thinking creatively about the colors and graphics you employ to tell your story. Interact Remember that interactions aren’t just about clicking on the screen. Interaction is about the learner interacting with the content. Interaction is all about inspiring thought and getting the learner involved in your story. Assess Assessments don’t have to be included in everything we do. Assess to protect the learner proceeding before they master prerequisite knowledge. Or assess to give the learner feedback. When needed formally assess learners to ensure comprehension and skill acquisition. Tools and Links I brought up a few tools in our discussion and the attendees kept the comments section busy with other great links. Below is a comprehensive list of the links discussed grouped by topic. Infomercial https://www.videoscribe.com https://www.moovly.com/ http://wideo.co/ http://goanimate.com/ Animation http://xtranormal.com/ http://www.powtoon.com/ http://www.animaker.com/ eLearning Tools http://lectora.com/products/snap-e-learning-tool/ https://www.articulate.com Infographic http://piktochart.com/v2/ http://www.easel.ly/ http://visual.ly/ Graphic Design https://www.canva.com/ Color Schemes http://design-seeds.com/ http://www.colourlovers.com/ http://colorschemedesigner.com http://paletton.com Graphics http://picol.org/ https://thenounproject.com/ http://www.123rf.com/ https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/ http://stokpic.com/ http://www.freefilehunt.com/ https://unsplash.com/ http://www.vecteezy.com/ http://www.morguefile.com/ It was a pleasure to virtually spend time with everyone who joined. Please keep the dialogue going in the comments section below. I hope to see you again in the webisphere soon!

With advancements in core HR technology over the past several years, organizations are increasingly adopting and integrating robust talent management systems and product suites. Incorporating a holistic system within their talent strategy helps companies meet objectives that often include external enablement, talent development, retention, and compliance. However, despite organizational goals spanning the entire talent management spectrum, (learning continues to be the leader) and still has the strongest influence. It is the engine that drives virtually all other Human Capital Management processes. During a recent webinar, I provided easy-to-understand insights on the following best practices as they relate to learning within your talent management strategy: Determine how learning can be incorporated into all aspects of your organization’s talent management strategy. Ensure your processes are defined, aligned, and accurate before implementing, upgrading, migrating, or expanding functionality. Leverage social learning. If you missed the webinar, a recording is now available. But if you’re looking for the Reader’s Digest version, I wanted to offer a quick look at some of the key takeaways: Utilize learning to support the complete employee lifecycle. Incorporate learning into every aspect of your talent management strategy, and use it! Ensure your processes are defined, aligned, and accurate before implementing, upgrading, migrating, or expanding functionality. Leverage social learning: Provide opportunities for learners to be more engaged by driving networking and sharing opportunities. During the session, a number of questions came up, and while we were able to address most of them, we weren’t 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 via the comments section at the bottom of this page. Q: If all I have is learning but want to start expanding to other talent modules, what do you recommend or what do you feel is the best thing to implement next? A: The best fit with learning that I have seen is performance and goals. It is just so easy to align objectives and performance goals in an individual employee’s annual review cycle with the learning that will help them achieve those goals. And of course after a performance review, when the employee and their manager have identified skills gaps, it’s just as easy to determine the learning required to close those gaps. Coming in at a close second to performance and goals is succession planning.  Utilizing learning to educate and provide knowledge for potential successors is such a straightforward way to prepare them for their future role. Q: As a learning provider how do we change the paradigm of the HR community? A: It can be incredibly difficult to align HR with learning management. There is a subset of decision makers in the industry who have witnessed or been educated on how key HR processes such as performance and goals, compensation, and recruiting blend so easily with learning, but others within an organization’s HR team who haven’t been exposed to that type of talent management or organizational development strategy sometimes do not understand the overlap. If a shift is necessary to bring HR and learning closer together, do it gradually. Don’t try to overhaul the entire process at once, but try to create some type of pilot or prototype that demonstrates a single HR process aligning with learning, and carry that forward to the point where the value of associating learning and HR becomes clear, not only to the stakeholders but also the employees. Then bring another HR process into the mix, and so on. Eventually you’ll have learning integrated with HR in a way that seems like they were made for each other. Q: How do you get buy-in to purchase a Learning Management System? A: Building a business case is critical. Work with key stakeholders to determine requirements of your current learning strategy and initiatives, what your pain points are, and what isn’t working. Do an analysis of major players in the LMS market and document how they can meet the requirements and eliminate the pain points of your organization. Present your findings to leadership along with a future state analysis of how processes would increase in efficiency if there was an LMS managing the learning processes of your organization. If you can clearly demonstrate ROI and the cost savings over time, which may be quite immediate in some instances, that will also support your business case. Q: Do you have suggestions of companies/LMS vendors who offer interactive learning content? We are trying to offer ‘run of the mill’ content but I’m not having a lot of luck with identifying suppliers. There are several very good content providers to support "off the shelf" training content, such as Skillsoft, Adayana, BankersEdge, and Corpedia. Some are incredibly diverse in their array of offerings and don’t have a specific concentration, while others are industry-focused and can cater to finance, construction, technical training, and other specialty topics. If you are seeking a content vendor that can create custom content specific to your organization, you won’t get "run of the mill" content. Instead, you’ll get content that is designed from scratch with your organization in mind, and everything about that content will be catered to you and your learning content requirements. This will ensure consistent vision and delivery throughout your program. One major content development company is GP Strategies. Custom training design, development, and delivery have been the primary focus of GP Strategies for nearly 50 years. As such, our cache of best practices, proven processes, and lessons learned is unequalled, making us one of the rare experts that can deliver the strategic perspective you need to realize lasting and continuous improvements in performance.

As companies do more virtual training and less classroom training, experienced classroom facilitators will often have to switch from one environment to the other. Professional training skills will transfer, but delivering a virtual instructor-led training (VILT) course requires some additional skills. It is also common for VILT courses to be delivered by subject matter experts instead of professional facilitators. Either way, the person who will be facilitating the course will benefit from some basic training on how to keep a virtual session engaging. Here are some tips that will help new VILT facilitators prepare for success in the virtual classroom: Ask someone to be the second presenter, or "moderator," for the session. If the moderator is a subject matter expert, they can answer questions through the live chat window while you present. In addition, the moderator can: Handle technical questions one-on-one with attendees. Keep track of any questions coming in, and notify you discreetly if you should break for questions. Signal you to speed up or slow down based on attendee feedback. Provide time cues throughout the session to keep you on track. Review your slides, and be sure to read the instructor notes. Facilitator guides for VILT often contain detailed notes about how to present each slide as well as the key points to cover. Print a copy of the slides and the facilitator guide. If for any reason you lose your network connection, you’ll still have your notes and a moderator can drive the slides for you. Also, it may be easy to work off of a hard copy of the notes, and you’ll have a place to make handwritten notations that you want to include in the next delivery. Keep the visuals on the screen moving. Since learners won’t see you, their only visual connection to the course is your current slide. If nothing happens on the screen for a long time, you might lose their attention. Use lots of slides with just a little information on each. Build your bullet points. Use annotation tools like the laser pointer or checkmark to draw attention to the screen. Decide your strategy for handling questions ahead of time. Will you stop every time someone raises their hand? Will you have scheduled Q+A breaks? Will you have the moderator answer all of the questions until the end? Know what you will do and inform the attendees. Use your voice to keep the attendees’ attention on you. Use everything you’ve got: Smile. It will change the way you sound. Stand or sit up straight, and convey lots of energy. Vary your tone. Nothing will ruin your message like a monotone speaking voice. Get louder to add emphasis. Don’t ramble off topic. Treat this as a performance. Rehearse what you are going to do and say ahead of time, and stick to your teaching points. Practice, preferably with a coach who can provide helpful feedback. Experienced classroom trainers make great virtual trainers. As with any new skill, it just takes a little practice until it feels natural.

Should learning events be both designed and facilitated with synergy being an integral part of the experience? How can group dynamics best be leveraged to yield exponential and enduring rewards? During a recent GP Strategies’ 20-minute webinar I explored tactics, strategies, and payoffs of synergistic learning experiences from both design and delivery perspectives. More specifically I discussed: The classic definition of synergy and how you can apply it to learning experiences that you design and deliver The three Cs of a truly synergistic learning experience from both design and facilitation perspectives: Content Curation Cultivation And finally, a fourth C: Continuation and the importance of follow-through and application If you missed the webinar, a recording is now available. But if you’re looking for the Reader’s Digest version, I wanted to offer a quick look at some of the key takeaways: Collaboration is key for buy-in and continuation; a sense of ownership and belonging make and keep the experience dynamic. We can learn as much from our participants as they can learn from us. Involving participants in the design and engaging them throughout the delivery makes learning transfer more efficient and effective. For learning to be truly synergistic, it must live on beyond the static classroom event; continuation is key to leaving a ‘learning legacy". The webinar was a discussion designed to trigger an ongoing dialogue around both synergy and collaboration in turning learning "events" into continuous improvement processes. I’d like to continue the discussion here by answering some of the questions that came up during the session. I will also encourage you to give your thoughts and opinions in the comments section at the bottom of this post. Q: Are learning management systems also a good platform to host informal, as well as formal learning?­ A: Several LMS platforms now either include or integrate social media components. Leveraging social media can increase levels of engagement. There are now also "aggregator" vendors, such as degreed.com, that are emerging in the market. Q: How would you recommend I start encouraging a culture of collaboration with my teams? Right now our initiatives are fairly siloed­. A: In a Harvard Business Review article, Lynda Gratton and Tamara J. Erickson offer eight ways to build collaborative teams. Some of those include building a strong sense of community, clearly- defined roles, but granting latitude in how the task is performed, and building on "heritage relationships", where at least a few people on the team know one another. Q: You’ve shared some great tips pertaining to social and collaborative learning for blended and instructor led learning. Do you recommend any specific methods to creating synergy in web based eLearning? A: Involve participants - or those already in the role of the participants - from the outset of the design. Encourage open-ended feedback on the courses and act upon that feedback. Whenever possible, proactively follow up (especially with the first cohort of participants) with dialogue that extends beyond a simple post-course survey. Q: Seems to me that there’s always a mountain of content available to us as learning designers. What suggestions, if any, do you have for enabling our sponsors and clients to value the cultivation and curation of the content? Context, too! A: You raise a great point with this question. SharePoint lists are just one platform that allow site visitors to rank the value of a learning resource that you and your team have curated. Linking items to discussion boards where participants can add additional comments and review the resources in more detail will give sponsors insight into what the client community thinks of the resources they are being given. The rating and ranking of relevance from the community of learners will also place a ‘real-world’ perspective on the context of the artifacts being curated. Q: Can you please give the list of resources you mentioned during the session? A: I quoted from Liz Wiseman’s book, Rookie Smarts, citing that learning is more important than knowing and that learning cycles are spinning faster than ever now. We also mentioned synergy in relation to Habit 6 from Stephen Covey’s classic, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Finally, we referenced a quote attributed to management guru Ken Blanchard, who points out that "none of us is as smart as all of us". With that notion in mind, I encourage you (our most important resource in keeping this event synergistic!) to keep this discussion alive and growing by posting your thoughts and comments below, tweeting about it using the hashtag #gpwebinar and joining the discussion on the Learning Trends LinkedIn group.    

We’re never going to enter into an instructional design situation where everything is perfect. There are several reasons for this, but in the end, it often boils down to human foibles and communication breakdown. I’m going to start first by going into the human foibles section of the problem. Tempting as it may be, we can’t just push this off entirely on the training manager or the SME. Instructional designers can be part of the issue too. Looking at myself, I know that one of my more prominent flaws is my tendency to get preemptively (and usually very unnecessarily) defensive. Someone might make a purely casual comment and the first thing that will come to my mind is some dark implication that they’re making and ways to counter it. My defensive tendency usually goes straight towards the explanatory route, where I justify myself, oftentimes when there’s no need to do so. What’s important about having recognized this issue is that now I can work to minimize the impact it has on me, my projects, and those around me. Since I know that I tend to be defensive, I can work to lessen the impact by making sure to put extra work into researching the background of the project and clarify any areas that I might be feeling less certain about. That way, if any questions or feedback should arise, I will feel as prepared as can be, having things thoroughly researched and alternate options if necessary to reduce frustration. This method of approach is not uncommon. Winston Churchill famously prepared for his speeches with relentless research, being sure to see things from his opponent’s side so that he could be sure to address and eviscerate their arguments. (This also helped him ensure that he wouldn’t be caught off guard and helped him to deal with his severe stutter.) Looking at our own personality foibles and how they might affect our work, as well as ways to address them, is only half of the battle, however. When working with the perspectives and opinions of the potential learner, training manager or customer, particularly new ones, it’s necessary to look at things from a different viewpoint in addition to our own. It’s often the case that those requesting instructional design won’t really have an idea of what they want until they see what you’ve done and then decide it wasn’t the right direction, or that it needs a set of continual tweaks, or any of a myriad of other things. It’s much like when someone flips a coin to decide between options. Before the flip, they might have thought that they were neutral; they’d be fine with either option. But it’s not until the coin is in the air that they realize which side they hope lands face up. Often times it’s difficult to form a tangible picture of what the vision is, much less express it. As a best practice, I suggest presenting them with a few prototypes to help them narrow down what they’re aiming for. When working on learning projects, not only is it necessary to try and see things from a different perspective, but to communicate continually through the whole process and understand their vision in order to cut down on unnecessary redesign time. In working to understand these needs, and creating an open line of communication, we then begin to overcome the difficult gap that can often arise. I’m not going to go so far as to say that things are hopeless without an advanced degree in psychology and communication. Both parties, even with their mutual flaws, can sync together in order to create something that is near pedagogical perfection. By addressing the two areas where things are most likely to go wrong: human flaws (yours included) and communication (specifically the dangers of doing it wrong), you can take two wrongs and make it right.

Written by Fraser Marlow and Kristen Bakalar  Performance management is a business process that appears stuck in a bygone age. This activity remains broadly disliked, cumbersome, often demotivating, and a major waste of time. Moreover, it most often falls short on what it was designed to do, which is to manage performance. Managers, individuals, and executives alike have little faith in the process when it comes to assessing and ranking individual performance. Fraser Marlow (head of our leadership practice at BlessingWhite) and I teamed up for a webinar to share the new approach currently being implemented by pioneering firms that want to get back to the heart of performance management using a collaborative and coaching-based approach. We shared insights from BlessingWhite’s recent research report to help attendees: Learn why performance management is falling short of its primary goal of sustaining performance Find out what pioneering organizations are doing as an alternative what model might be best for you Explore six guiding principles and a four-phase plan to make the switch If you missed the webinar, a recording is now available. But if you’re looking for the Reader’s Digest version, I wanted to offer a quick look at some  key takeaways: Few organizations still have a need for a rank-and-yank approach to managing performance. Rather than focus on ‘setting the bar’ the focus should be on helping each employee tap into their full potential and set their own bar. Companies that ditch the rankings usually do themselves a great service as they are able to shift the conversation towards coaching and developing, increasing performance going forwards rather than documenting what has been. This transformation takes strong leadership at the OD level and new skills for managers and individuals. During the session, a number of questions came up, and while we were able to address some of them, we weren’t 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 via the comments section at the bottom of this page. Q: How does a manager deal with the employee who drives the conversation but has a wildly unrealistic view of their performance­? A: The same question could be asked from the perspective of an employee: "How do I handle a performance conversation when my manager has a wildly unrealistic view of my performance?"  These irreconcilable perspectives do come up from time to time.  Our general advice is as follows: Make sure that regular, candid conversations are taking place - much easier to do course corrections over short intervals than hit an impasse at the end of the year. Utilize this conversation as a coaching moment. Ask the employee about their ambitions, and how they will get there.  Inquire about what training or development they will need to achieve their lofty goals.  Ask questions to try to understand their innate drivers - is it prestige, challenge, money, etc. that makes them think they are ready for this big leap in their career.  By understanding their drivers, you may be able to redirect them into something that is more attainable, yet satisfies their needs.  In the end, it may be necessary for you to delicately tell this person that their career goals are not quite in line with their performance or ability, but I highly recommend following that up with some ways they can improve their performance, knowledge, or skill.  For example, a training course, a book to read, a mentor, coaching sessions with you, etc. Sometimes using a 360 or 180 degree process provides more perspectives. In leadership development we prefer this approach because a leader can build a more complete perspective of her or his ability to lead while listening to multiple feedback providers. If worst comes to worse, bring in an independent observer or mediator who can help broker the conversation. An effective external observer (from the HR group for instance) can sometimes help identify any subjective intra-personal issues that are having a negative impact on the manager-employee relationship. Q: I agree with the comment that employee satisfaction is not only bonuses, etc. My question is about how this fits with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs when an employee is not able to meet the basic needs with their salary. A:  As we described during the Q&A session, perspectives on salary can be quite diverse.  We see many cases where several employees on a team make approximately the same salary, yet compensation is only an issue for some of them.  In the end, individuals have varying thresholds when it comes to their basic needs, and in this case, their salaries. Ultimately, if the company is paying below market rates and employees are dissatisfied with this, the best the manager can do is acknowledge that compensation is an issue, and look for factors that are within his or her control, that together, the manager and employee can work on. Q: Can you please share tips on HOW TO shift manager and employee beliefs from ‘management’ to participative and employee driven?  I’m concerned that our culture is so embedded in fear of stepping out that we need to make this change safe and forward focused. A: As discussed during the session, changing the culture is a significant undertaking.  If the managers in your organization are heavily attached to their role as ‘boss’, have little intention of sticking their head out or trying something new, then moving towards a culture of ‘manager as coach’ will take a lot of effort. In the employee-manager dyad, it may benefit both parties to help the manager see the benefits of a more participative employee (innovation, ownership, accountability, productivity, willingness to take on more work, etc.), so he/she may be more willing to ask questions that ordinarily wouldn’t be asked.  For example, asking the employee what he/she wants from his/her career.  Sounds like in your organization, this question would not typically be asked.  It may feel like a risk, but taking a small step like this may open the door to more free flowing conversations. In the broader sense, I would suggest you start by discussing the impacts of this culture with your senior team. Whatwould the benefits be of gradually shifting towards a more collaborative and team-focused approach? If you do have the support for undertaking this journey together, consider the trust/skill continuum as discussed on the call, and think about how you might start to empower individuals and managers to begin driving their own conversations.  Which parts of the process could you start to take away without causing the managers to feel widely exposed? Share the idea with people in the company, but communicate that this is not an overnight change.  You will be gradually liberating people from the forced conversations that an old-school performance approach might drive, and providing them with gradually more freedom to decide how best to spend that time and what topics to explore.  The commitment from senior leaders in this regard is paramount. Q: How does this process look in financial services industries? Aren’t there different key drivers? A: In theory, every organization would incorporate their key drivers into their performance management systems and/or their coaching relationships.  If you are moving from ‘traditional’ performance management to more of a coaching relationship between managers and employees, the key drivers still play into the approach; but in the latter case, the manager is coaching towards key drivers, as opposed to measuring people on key drivers. In industries with quotas, sales goals, or other quantifiable measurements, there is inherently a rating given.  But these numbers aren’t in a review format, where you are rating the employee’s performance, as much as it is an agreed-upon goal that has either been achieved or not achieved.  When it comes to managing performance, however, we’d still recommend the manager coach the employee towards those goals (forward looking), and help them succeed along the way, rather than waiting until the end of the year/quarter/month and looking backwards at performance.  By then it’s too late. We would also like to highlight our ‘hot off the presses’ research report The Challenges of Leading in a Regulatory Environment which articulates many of the dynamics of leadership currently at play in financial services and banking in particular.  You can download a copy of the report here. Q: How can I connect compensation to performance without rankings? This is a common question: organizations do not want to do away with pay-for-performance nor do they want decisions around merit increases to seem arbitrary. The general philosophy here is that performance conversations should focus on performance.  Weaving in the immediacy of compensation (or promotion) into a performance conversation distracts from the core focus.  If the employee knows that at the end of the conversation, they will be told if they get a 5% increase or no increase at all, they are much less likely to be candid, explore areas of improvement or discuss areas where they need support.  The conversation becomes a ‘salary increase justification’ discussion with both manager and direct report caught in a negotiation of why that final decision was reached. What pioneering firms have done is give managers more discretion around the allocation of a pool of money to their teams, but organizations have also  made their managers more accountable for making sure merit increases are justified.  For example, without ratings, compensation decisions are no longer simply based on a one-to-one matching.  Managers across a department may come together to discuss and agree on where differential salary increases should be applied. But at the end of the day, what our research indicates is that regular feedback and ongoing performance conversations throughout the year are the best antidote to any nasty surprises when it comes to salary adjustments. Q: Where on the website can I find the conversation guidelines that Fraser mentioned?­ The following past editions of BlessingWhite’s eNews will provide details on these.  If you want to explore these more in-depth I would recommend BlessingWhite’s book The Engagement Equation. 3 Conversations You Need to Have With Your Team written by Mary Ann Masarech. Stop the Insanity: Conversations to Help Performance SOAR written by Leah Clark. Create a Coaching Culture in 10 Minutes written by Kristen Bakalar. Q: How do you feel technology affects managing performance?­ A:  Many companies have rolled out new technology to simplify the old-school performance management process.  This may remove some of the pain of formal ranking and documentation.  More interesting approaches are those that take a social approach to reviews, or allow a two-way dialogue around what ‘good performance’ looks like. At the end of the day, you need to evaluate the system and the conversations that it will drive and ask ‘does this fit with the type of culture we are trying to build?’  If the answer is "no" something needs to be tweaked.  Most companies that are leading the way have changed the core of the program, which is the conversation between the manager and the employee; the forms, technology, system, etc. are secondary. Q: What about the legal perspective - doesn’t the legal team require documentation? A: Most legal representatives that we have talked to welcome moving away from the formal documentation approach.  If an employee’s performance slips to the point that the legal team needs to be involved, too often they are faced with a documented history that indicates that the employee has been ‘satisfactory’ or even ‘exceeds expectations’.  This makes the company’s case for dismissal that much harder.  In addition, what we are recommending does not alleviate the need for performance improvement plans or other legal-related documents.  Those are extreme cases.  What we’re proposing is for the masses, not the exceptions.

Since the advent of mobile computing, learners are able to access training and performance support materials virtually anywhere at any time. However, it typically remains the responsibility of learners to proactively search for learning and determine when they need it. Now, imagine a slightly different scenario where learning and performance support materials present themselves to the learner based upon the learner’s physical location. In that scenario, a learner might be about to use a piece of equipment and be reminded of annual safety training requirements, or a new employee might be in a building lobby, reporting for his or her first day at work and be given onboarding support materials. These types of mobile learning may already be available to your learners today, but the ability to notify them is typically limited to passive methods such as email. iBeacon technology represents an opportunity to alert your learners to available learning and reach them at the point of need. During a recent webinar I explained this new technology and discussed why it represents an exciting new dimension in the learning spectrum. More specifically I provided easy-to-understand insights on: iBeacon technology and how it works How iBeacons are currently being used How iBeacons might fit into learning and why they may be important If you missed the webinar, a recording is now available. But if you’re looking for the Reader’s Digest version, I wanted to offer a quick look at some of the key takeaways we offered: Beacons represent a new dynamic in the mobile learning landscape and present us with unique opportunities to reach learners at the moment of performance need. As with any technology on the learning landscape, they should be considered one aspect, or delivery modality, in a larger training program or strategic roadmap. Also, because beacon development is fundamentally custom mobile app development, consideration needs to be given to the full mobile development lifecycle. This includes the same considerations for program integration, data integration, usability, and security that would be made for any mobile app development project. During the session, a number of questions came up, and while we were able to address most of them, we weren’t 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 via the comments section at the bottom of this page. Q: You were mentioning providing media-rich information through iBeacons. What are your thoughts on using iBeacons in collusion with augmented reality?­ A: This is an exciting angle to beacon development and since our session together I’ve already seen an example of how beacons might figure into Augmented Reality (AR). If you get a chance, have a look at a new product called Pixie which is a proprietary, beacon-like product that uses the same communication protocol (Bluetooth Low Energy - BLE) and AR to show you where your lost objects are located. This example can be further extrapolated to the onboarding example that I discussed where your mobile device could be used to help visually guide you to the known location of a beacon, then AR keys could be used to offer context for sensitive data. Q: What is the range of a beacon signal?­ A: Ranges are going to depend on environmental conditions (objects in the way, walls, etc) but the advertised limits range from 50 meters to 300 meters. The beacon ranging registers on a mobile device as being within one of three thresholds: Immediate - Within centimeters Near - Within a few meters Far - Greater than 10 meters Q: ­I’ve been following this topic for some time, however it appears that truly useful apps are lacking, especially for easy to set-up and use learning tools such as the museum and scavenger hunt examples.­ A: It is true that there are relatively few examples in the wild, and even fewer examples related to learning. We see beacons as a promising new technology, but like many new technologies, commercial applications are driving a lot of the innovation and investment. Read our white paper on the topic for some examples that we’ve identified. Q: I’ve heard that my smartphone can be used as a beacon, is that true?­ A: It is true that your BLE-capable smartphone using iOS 7+ or Android 4.3+ can be set up as a beacon. Q: Do iBeacons have any limitation on the number of devices to which it can interact with at the same time? A: Beacons broadcast their signal continuously so they don’t have a limitation on the number of local devices that can detect them. You are only theoretically limited by the number of people and devices that can fit in a physical location. Q: Do you have any examples of how iBeacons can be used in the manufacturing industry? A: Unfortunately we don’t. At this point our investigations have been limited to pilot programs. However, one of the examples that we hypothesized during our discussion was the idea of using a beacon on an industrial device to provide real-time training and support. This seems like a very viable application. Q: Are iBeacons expensive to implement? A: The beacons themselves are relatively inexpensive. However, a couple of things to consider are: Cost to develop the mobile app Cost to maintain the beacons after deployment (they typically have a shelf life)

For many years now, eLearning has been a tool in the training toolbox; however, some organizations still struggle to determine the best uses of eLearning. Unfortunately, it seems to be a great solution to resolve challenges such as the need to reduce travel and expenses, combat large class sizes, and reduce the "seat time" for onboarding training. However, we often forget that in many cases we have simply changed where we are spending money or where the employee’s "seat time" is spent without actually impacting the training solution. During the recent webinar To Use eLearning or Not to Use eLearning, I gave insights and best use cases for eLearning. If you missed the webinar, a recording is available, but in this post I will offer more information on the practical application of eLearning. When considering eLearning, it is important to keep the content and mission in mind. Take a close look at the knowledge that you need to transfer to the learner. What is the end result you are looking to achieve with the training intervention? If the answer to this question leads you to eLearning, then that is the right reason to move to that modality. Let’s look at a few scenarios in which we could consider eLearning as a potential solution: Process Change If you have an existing process in your organization where a small component is changing, you have a few options: Pull everyone together to communicate the change and distribute documentation to support implementation. Create a short burst of learning communicating the change and send via email to desktop and mobile computers. Both methods are effective, but eLearning will communicate your change quicker and more efficiently while giving you tools that can be reused for remediation. Procedures If you have a procedure that is lengthy or confusing, you have a few options: Create a large diagram that includes the process flow that individuals can follow in conjunction with the document. Create an interactive PDF that allows the learner to click through the process flow to drive to the details of the procedure. Again, both methods will achieve your goal, but the interactive PDF option will drive learners to a solution faster and more efficiently. Didactic Content If you have a large amount of content that you currently deliver in textbook format with diagrams and illustrations and that can often use additional explanations: Deliver the training instructor led or virtually to explain difficult concepts using animated diagrams in a series of PowerPoint slides. Create an eLearning module that uses animation and interactivity to explain difficult concepts. This module can include knowledge checks to ensure learners master one concept before building upon it. Using eLearning gives you the ability to bring complex diagrams to life while ensuring the learners are tracking through the content that you are unable to convey easily with a textbook format.  The next time you are looking to train your teams, keep in mind the content that you are looking to communicate and the outcomes that you need. A great solution to your next training need may be eLearning. During the webinar, several questions came up and I’d like to continue the discussion here by providing my answers. I will also encourage you to give your thoughts and opinions in the comments section at the bottom of this post. Q: Can you recommend some free tools for 3D creation? A: http://xtranormal.com/     http://www.powtoon.com/     http://www.animaker.com/ Q: Are there any times when eLearning isn’t a good solution? A: When you are looking to build a community or having one-on-one interactions with people, you need to think carefully about using eLearning. While it is possible, with leveraging social collaboration and virtual tools, sometimes in person is best. The same applies to hands-on instruction in a technical environment. While you can introduce technical concepts, nothing will really replace the hands-on experience through structured on-the-job training. Q: Can you recommend a software simulation tool for creating Try Me? A: Articulate has incorporated a really great screen-capturing tool into their software. It is really intuitive and gives you a lot of options for publishing. For more information, click here. Q: Is there such a thing as too much eLearning? A: There absolutely is. One of the biggest challenges with eLearning is that often we go a bit too far, converting our entire instructor-led training into eLearning content. A blend of different modalities is best; keep in mind how your delivery method reaches your desired outcome while presenting the content clearly. Q: What do you do for offline audiences? A: For offline audiences (unless your LMS supports offline viewing), the best options are printable courses. Be sure to include the narration and all the subscreens when creating your printable course. Often the final storyboard can easily solve this challenge. Q: Can you explain more options for a blended learning approach? A: For more information on blended learning approaches, take a peek at my webinar from November 2014. It includes a rapid analysis approach to create a truly blended curriculum. You can view that webinar by clicking here. Check out this quiz from ATD to help you decide if eLearning is a good fit for what you are trying to accomplish.

Nobody grows up intending to be an instructional designer—a teacher, a professor, maybe, but not an instructional designer. Most people haven’t even heard the term until they decide to go to grad school or have worked in business for a couple years. Across (and even within) organizations, staff in this role often are alternately referred to as IDs (instructional designers) or ISDs (instructional systems designers). And to further confuse things, there’s a plethora of alternate titles for instructional designers: training specialist, learning architect, educational technologist, training and development consultant, learning experience designer, and course developer to name a few. So Just What Is an Instructional Designer? Instructional designers design instruction. They don’t just write instruction; they design it. They design instruction, be it an instructor-led course, eLearning, a job aid, video, or interactive simulation, based on principles of how people learn and use a systematic process. They design training from a learner-centric perspective, not teacher-centric, and focus on what the target audience needs to know and do in order to improve their performance and achieve goals. Of course, a subject matter expert (SME) can design, develop, and even deliver instruction. But IDs add value beyond SMEs on projects because they help make training more efficient, focused, and impactful. IDs help SMEs to think about new and better ways to present content and give learners practice. They also typically know more than SMEs about new technologies and how to apply them effectively in learning contexts. Then What Is a Content Developer? ContentDeveloper.com defines a content developer (CD) as "a member of the creative class involved in the creation, aggregation, or distribution of intellectual property designed to inspire, educate, persuade, entertain, or inform the user." As content has moved more from print to digital, there’s been an explosion of content available to us and in the number of people calling themselves content developers. Within the training industry, a content developer is the person who makes sure all the words are right (from both communications and technical perspectives) in whatever type of learning solution is being developed. Content developers work as partners with IDs to ensure good-quality writing, adherence to client style guidelines, and efficient management of content changes. They apply information design on top of the IDs’ instructional design. Sometimes a CD might do most of the content writing for a course; other times, the ID. In either situation, these two roles serve as cross-checks and sounding boards for each other to make sure that what is being developed communicates well to the target audience. Can’t Both Roles Be One Person? Certainly there are lots of "one-stop shop" IDs or CDs out there in the world. And, many do good work. They are individuals who do it all from start to finish—analyze needs, interview SMEs, outline courses, draft content, create eLearning, build PowerPoint decks, edit and test their deliverables—and voilà it’s training. But when people are a Jack/Jill of all trades, they’re often a master of none. It Takes a Village… Ideally, when developing learning solutions, a collaborative team is formed. The ID is the master of applying learning principles to solve job performance problems, and the CD is the master of using words to communicate clearly and appropriately to the target audience. In addition, there’s typically a media developer who’s the master of visual or multimedia design and development, and a project manager who’s the master of team coordination, timelines, and risk management. Overlap in any or all of these roles can occur. What’s key is that each role has a primary area of focus and expertise. When these roles work together in collaborative teams, the synergies between them create a better, more effective product. Together the team applies design thinking, a way of approaching problems and ideating solutions, to determine appropriate training. And, of course, teams must work in partnership with their clients as they design and develop training. That insight from and validation of client SMEs and stakeholders are critical to ensure that good instructional design, writing, media development, and active learning strategies have positive business impact. Through rapid, interactive collaboration and user testing, teams help create learning solutions that move from good to great. It’s the combination of roles and perspectives, rather than one role alone, that results in solutions that better meet learner and business needs.

Leigh MortimerProduct ManagerCarer’s Allowance The public beta of the Carer’s Allowance service went live this week. The service helps people claim money for giving care to those who need it most. It’s been quite a journey, but I’m very proud of the service - and the team - who have put it together over the last 18 months. About the Carer’s Allowance Unit The Department for Work and Pensions’ Carer’s Allowance Unit is based in Preston, Lancashire. From there, around 600 people make sure that new claims for Carer’s Allowance are dealt with quickly, and the needs of existing claimants are handled with skill and compassion. They’re great people. The old online claim service When we started working with DWP to identify exemplar projects, Carer’s Allowance came top of the list. The existing service was built seven years ago, and had been left pretty much untouched since. It received around 30% of new claims and just under 1% of reports of change of circumstances came in that way. It was not so great, but it was the ideal candidate for an exemplar, and we made a start on initial discovery workshops last September. Building the new service One of the first hurdles we had to clear was proving that agile could work. DWP had had experiences with some projects described as ‘agile’, but which weren’t. They were, understandably, a little wary. We proved our worth with an alpha, which took a specific user journey through from start to finish. It could be used by a small group, and provided insight into the entire claim from start to finish. GDS collaborated with DWP digital services folk and the Carer’s Allowance operational staff, iterating every week. Inside seven weeks we had a properly coded prototype. Alpha to Beta The prototype served as a powerful catalyst. We secured funding for the beta in May, thanks to the help of Kathryn Baxendale - the Carer’s Allowance Unit’s ‘go to’ person - who has been a major contributor to the achievements to date. In fact, full time commitment from a group of Carer’s Allowance operational staff has been critical - and they’ve been brilliant. Many of the folks who took part in early workshops continue to work with the core delivery team every day. Stakeholder involvement was considerable too. Manchester Carers’ Forum in particular have provided test space and a broad range of users every week. Dave Williams, who runs the organisation, has been a star. Seeing groups like them play a part of the development and see the effect of their feedback has made them great advocates for the service, and we’re hoping to continue that as we explore assisted digital support. Taking it live It took nine weeks to build the beta. We worked in 2 week sprints, testing with users every week and feeding back into the development. It was, and continues to be, truly Agile. The old service will be switched off as soon as the new one goes live. Over the past 18 months the DWP staff who’ve come on board have been amazing, support from GDS has been brilliant, the technology partner - Valtech - has nailed it and the new service really is world class. The Carer’s Allowance digital service has shown that Agile delivers; and delivers good.