Let me ask a question. How much do you remember from that Microeconomics class you took in college? (Or Organic Chemistry, Differential Equations or Intro to Philosophy?) I’m going to assume not much, unless you’re involved with it on a regular basis for work or a hobby. There are many reasons why you don’t remember much of what you learned. Maybe it was a long time ago, or the class wasn’t taught well. Maybe the subject matter was painfully boring and you dumped it out of your head as soon as the class was over. (I’m talking to you, Professor Smith...) More likely, the subject matter isn’t something you’re immersed in regularly, so your memory of it has degraded over time. The same idea applies to material presented through any elearning initiative. If content is boring, unengaging, irrelevant and is only delivered once, you can’t really expect your audience to remember it and you certainly can’t expect it to change any behaviors. Even if the material is interesting and highly relevant, retention rates are still quite low if the eLearning content is presented in a one-and-done fashion. But why is that? Let’s take a look. An eLearning Course is Just the First Step When we talk about one-off training, we’re not only referring to in-person, classroom training, but any scenario where employees are given material to learn. This could be in a classroom, via an online self-paced module, a training video or even a written job-aid or book. The point is, these methods alone are not effective in fully training employees or altering employee behavior. Steve Jacobs, coauthor of The Behavior Breakthrough, suggests that "training alone isn’t enough because it is merely an antecedent to behavior. Research has shown that antecedents can help trigger a behavior, but that the consequences that follow from a behavior are by far most pivotal in determining whether the behavior sticks in a meaningful way." Five Reasons Why One-Offs Don’t Cut It There isn’t enough time to apply what was learned. When trainees are left to apply new information on their own, it usually doesn’t happen. And you know that phrase "practice makes perfect"? It’s true - it’s going to take several practice runs before it starts to stick. Employees are more distracted than ever. Not only does modern technology give them constant access to information, but it makes them constantly accessible to others. It can be hard to carve out adequate time for total focus and concentration. One-off training is often stuffed with too much information. When planning a learning session, the temptation looms to include as much information as possible. The problem here is that learners can only process so much new information at one time, and if there’s too much content, the important takeaways will be diluted. One-off training doesn’t allow for ongoing coaching. If you really want to change behavior, subject matter needs to be reiterated several times; people need to hear it, read it, see it, talk about it with others and then do it themselves. One-off training isn’t always accommodating of employees’ busy schedules. When people are forced to drop everything and sit in a training session, they’re probably a little grumpy. Letting employees work learning into their existing schedules improves participation as well as retention rates. Go Beyond One-Off Training with Learning Campaigns Learning campaigns are the best way to overcome the challenges presented by single, one-off training sessions and achieve your objectives. We’ve deployed learning campaign methodologies with many clients and find this approach delivers results again and again. Learning campaigns power the necessary follow-up and coaching to make information stick, with knowledge delivered in pieces and made available at the right moments, accessible 24/7 from any device or location. It allows you to reiterate critical information, hold your trainees accountable for demonstrating what they’ve learned and track long-term performance. Think a Learning Campaign might be right for your organization? We’re happy to get you on the phone with a team of our learning experts. Let's get something on the calendar! Photo Credit: Kalexanderson 

I’ve been meaning to record a bunch of  screencasts lately, and then it dawned on me that some of you might not know what a screencast is! What a perfect opportunity to let you all in on one of the most effective ways of explaining something digital to another individual. So what is a screencast? A screencast is a digital recording of what is on your computer’s monitor - a broadcast of your screen if you will. You can record these screencasts using many different tools; however, I prefer using Camtasia. There are also a few free options available that I’ve found fairly effective: Screenr.com and Screencast-o-matic.com. Screenshot…screencast - same difference, right? WRONG! Screenshots are static image captures of your screen content/the content displayed on your monitor. Screencasts are videos created of your screen content/the content being displayed on your monitor. Both are effective within the training industry, but if you’re like me, you probably appreciate screencasts more than you do screenshots. At least when you’re trying to learn something new. Screencasts are great because the user only needs to access one resource to see a process from start to finish instead of scrolling through a series of step-by-step style screenshots. In my opinion, screencasts are most effective when it comes to learning complex (or new) software as you can pause, rewind, and fast-forward depending on the specific information you’re looking for. Have any tips or tricks? My only real piece of advice when it comes to screencasting is to SCRIPT YO’ SCREENCAST! Why? Because it makes for a more professional looking video! Still confused? Here are some resources: Screencasting - Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything Screencast Wiki Mixing it Up with Articulate Replay Screencasts

Imagine you’ve just started a new job. You have solid work experience, but there are things you need to learn about your new company and its products or services before you can excel in your new position. Fortunately, you’re not expected to just pick things up as you go along. Your employer has invested in a training program to onboard new employees and position them for success. You’ve probably been in this boat before, so I’m going to give you two scenarios to consider. Scenario 1: New employee training is standardized and touches on each department. It’s held at the company headquarters every month, and new employees spend a week sitting in training classes with an instructor and other new employees, most of whom don’t perform the same job you’ve been hired to do. You return home exhausted and on information overload. Scenario 2: New employee training is self-paced and conducted electronically. You can use whatever device you want to access it, and it’s available 24/7. Some of the learning modules are standardized, but there is also a lot of content tailored specifically to your role. Some modules have due dates for completion, but others can be done at whatever pace works best for you. You occasionally get email reminders about available courses and readily-available reference material, just in case you forget or need to review something. Which scenario sounds better to you as a new employee? How about as someone overseeing a corporate training budget - which scenario sounds like a better investment? If you’ve been following our blog lately, you know that one-off training doesn’t cut it anymore. Retention rates for training that’s only delivered once is incredibly low, in the 10-30% range. It takes more in order to make training stick, and frankly, employees have come to expect it. Here at Expand, we have a strong belief in the power of Learning Campaigns. What is a Learning Campaign, you ask? Let me explain. If you’ve worked in marketing or sales, you know it can take anywhere from seven to 13 touches (a touch being an email, phone call, etc.) to get into a prospect’s conscious mind and trigger a response. Hence the creation of marketing campaigns designed to build awareness, interest and credibility with audiences over a series of interactions. There is a parallel between marketing campaigns and what we’ve come to call Learning Campaigns. The fundamental idea is the same - information doesn’t stick until it’s been presented a number of times, and often in a variety of ways. Just like a marketing campaign, a Learning Campaign requires careful planning and each component needs to be well thought-out. What’s our goal? Who are we trying to reach? What do we want them to learn, and then do? How hard are they to reach? How can we tell that the learning is actually working? To answer these questions, here are five key elements of a successful Learning Campaign: An Objective. What is it you want your learners to do? What behavioral change do you want to see? It’s vital to have a clearly-defined goal for your training. Otherwise, how will you know it’s working? A segmented and well-understood audience. You have to know who you’re talking to, and tailor your entire learning campaign - from content to device availability to script and tone - based on audience profiles. Content. The learning content within your campaign should come in a variety of formats, both short-form and long-form. Perhaps your campaign kicks off with an interactive self-paced module, but is followed up with short reminders via email that link to performance support materials like job aids, videos and checklists. Knowledge sharing platform. Just like your company website is your hub for marketing activities, a knowledge sharing platform is your hub for training. Here, you can store all of your elearning content, assign it to individuals or groups for completion, send updates and messages via email or text message, as well as track student participation and progress. Tracking and Feedback. Abandonment data, comprehension tests or quizzes and—equally important—student feedback will provide a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of your training program so that you can make swift and impactful adjustments. If you want to learn more about Learning Campaigns and whether it’s the right approach for your organization, schedule a free assessment with us today! Photo Credit: Leo Reynolds

It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to participate in the weekly challenges, so I thought today would be a good day to get back into the swing of things! Now, I’m not a graphic designer and my artistic ability is limited, but I was happy to see how easy it was to create certain elements - this knowledge might come in handy in the future. The Concept This week’s challenge was to design a flat office space based on your own workspace, and to include an photo of your own desktop. The Method Well - First, I opened up Storyline 2…because it was released today! Then I sought about designing the elements found in my workspace - white desk, books that I use as a mousepad, mouse, lamp, cork boards and accompanying photos, laptop, and second monitor. I will say that I sanitized my designed workspace for reduced clutter, but it still ended up looking pretty cluttered…what can I say? I’m a pretty chaotic being and my workspace indicates that - however the work gets done, eh? I also ended up brutalizing my lamp, which is more of an hourglass/teardrop shape. I also veered from the 100% flat aspect of the challenge by incorporating my desktop background and photos posted on my cork boards. When I re-flatify these aspects, I’ll let you know! The Result For the full interaction, please CLICK HERE. And here is the real deal…for comparison sake - again, I realize it’s a bit chaotic. I won’t apologize for it.

If you’ve worked for a manufacturing company, you’re quite familiar with JIT (Just In Time) inventory systems. Initially adopted by Toyota in the 1950s, JIT was used to eliminate waste and significantly increase productivity. The idea is to deliver resources where they are needed at the exact time they are needed, or just in time. This philosophy has since been introduced in many other industries and disciplines outside of manufacturing, including learning.  In fact, you probably participate in some kind of JIT learning everyday, just by typing a phrase into Google to get information you need. Stephanie Reyes of TribeHR explains that JIT learning "allows employees to access the information they need as they need it, exercise ownership over the learning process and immediately tie learning to practical application." If you’re thinking this sounds like a very different approach to training, you’re right. Traditional training methods usually involve a set schedule and a set location, offering students little flexibility and forcing subject matter that isn’t needed yet, but is meant to be mentally stored away for future use. Bruce Tulgan, Management Consultant and Founder of Rainmaker Thinking, said "people learn well and fast when they need to learn—when they encounter specific skill or knowledge gaps that prevent them from completing a task or achieving a desired tangible result. If a training tool anticipates the learner’s real-world skill and knowledge gaps and makes the right information easily available to fill those gaps as needed, it’s just in time." In the training world, we can think of JIT learning as Performance Support. What are some examples of learning content that can be delivered just in time for performance support? Job Aids Short instructional videos or animations Brief interactive modules or simulations Interactive checklists Photos, diagrams or infographics This content can be housed in a cloud-based knowledge sharing portal for easy accessibility from any device - desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile phone. JIT Learning Has a Number of Advantages Over Traditional Methods Cost-saving - Training can be expensive, especially when travel costs to add up. Making content available electronically from any device cuts down on travel, production and printing costs. Increased Individual Productivity - Imagine an employee going about their day, when suddenly he realizes he’s completely forgotten how to complete the task at hand. With JIT performance support, a quick refresher is at his fingertips, allowing him to solve the issue at hand and go about his day with minimal interruption. Improved Team Efficiency - Now, multiply that productivity across an entire team. How much more efficient is your sales, customer service or operations team going to run as a whole if every employee has resources at hand to guide them through their job on an as-needed basis? Easily Updated - Rapidly evolving technology and shifting demographics mean that information becomes obsolete quickly. Having a JIT learning framework allows you to make updates to your content on the fly and push it out to the audience right away, ensuring that your training is never outdated for long. Reduced Errors - "I remember they covered this in that class six months ago, but I can’t remember what they said. I think it was...let me see...oops." Eliminate the guessing game and tasks will be done right the first time. Support employees with easy-to-access and quick-to-consume refresher content. Improved Safety - This doesn’t necessarily apply to every industry but for some, like utilities, safety is a huge concern, not only for your team but for the public at large. Mistakes can be too costly. Avoid them and make the workplace safer. If your organization utilizes JIT learning, how has it transformed your training? Leave a comment below and let us know. If JIT learning sounds like something your team could benefit from, talk to us. We can help you put together a plan. Photo Credit: hisham_hm

Speaking of catching up on e-learning challenges, here’s another one! This time you get to see my lovely face getting caffeinated all up in yo’ business! For this challenge, I was inspired by YouTube sensation Hannah Hart’s My Drunk Kitchen series (click to watch her episode with Mary Lousie Parker - holla)! In my homage to MDK, I came up with My Caffeinated Office (or MCO for short), where instead of getting drunk…because we’re all professional here, right?!…I pound back two coffees before 10am and take you on a quick tour of some portfolio pieces. The Concept This e-learning challenge involved using your webcam to introduce yourself, show a little something something (in this case some of my portfolio pieces), and bid adieu to your viewers. All in all, it was a fun one even with the distractions I experienced. The Method First, I decided on doing an homage to MDK. Initially I was going to get drunk, but based on how rambly I got with just coffee, it probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. Then, I opened up a bunch of tabs with portfolio pieces and set Camtasia up to first record just my webcam. I did my introduction and then switched to record webcam, audio, and my screen. I explained several of my portfolio pieces in detail, and then in the post-production, cut about 50% of what I showed because…ya’ll don’t wanna watch me ramble for 25 minutes, let’s be real. Next, I recorded my farewell, forgetting to switch back to just webcam (whoops!), and said goodbye - a bit more awake than I was when I started. Finally, I added a little powerpoint slide at the beginning to introduce the video (before me and my webcam introduced myself). The Result Below you will be able to watch me make a fool of myself, drivelling on and on about all of the little details of my samples, and what you don’t see is my trip back to work after pausing the video to retrieve my husband’s laptop from home or the headache I received after downing all of that coffee in rapid succession - there probably won’t be another MCO in the near future, sorry folks. On with the show: My Caffeinated Office from Ashley Chiasson on Vimeo.

You can’t really train anyone on anything. I’m quite serious. Learning requires the willingness and response of the audience—the trainees. Without them, no learning takes place, regardless of how good the so-called training is. It is essentially up to the learner. In fact, at a basic level, training is really just a way of creating an environment for learning to occur. We who are involved in education would do well to remember this fact. We are but facilitators, making sure the trough is available from which the proverbial horse may drink. Or not, if they are cranky. So how do you create this willingness to learn? How do you get an audience to respond? The best way is by meeting their needs. And to do that, you need to understand what their needs really are. You need to get inside their heads. Here’s my framework for understanding the Trainee Hierarchy of Needs. Due respect to Maslow and his work on the subject of human needs, as well as the many authors who inspired some of the work on NLP. The Great Pyramid of Learning Levels Let’s start with the base level: Environment. In traditional training, this applies to things like the lighting and room temperature, and where the bathrooms are.These things still apply, of course, but you have little control over them. eLearning is viewed on a computer or mobile device, so it would seem that this level is automatically handled. Not so! If you think about it, eLearning uses all of the technological disciplines available on modern devices. It is both user interface and content combined. It’s a challenge. And problems are not well tolerated by today’s learning audience. A single glitch in the technology, a missing link, poor sound—just one broken piece and you lose them. Especially with millennials and younger—these users have no patience for poor execution at the environmental level. And trust me, they will know what the limitations of their devices are and expect you to know them too. The best way to assure a good environment is test, test test. Test under lots of different conditions. The next level is Behavior. We need to meet their behavioral needs. This is classic user interface stuff, and it’s even more important to prevent problems here. Your audience might forgive you if the program fails entirely because of a missing link. But If you can’t match how your audience interfaces with your training; if you can’t create an intuitive experience, then they think you are just plain incompetent. Not a good meme for a training experience. To assure a good UI experience, use a focus group. See how a typical trainee interfaces with it. And watch their reactions. You might be surprised. Next, we need to match the learners’ Capabilities. In other words, we can can’t talk over or under them. The training needs to be targeted at the right level. This is Training 101 stuff, but it’s often neglected. This is especially true for on-demand learning experiences which are often guilty of targeting the lowest common denominator. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard: "This needs to be at a third grade reading level." Yikes. There are some ways around this problem. One, create a logical flow for your trainees and give them different experiences based on who they are. Target your training messages. Another key to good capability management is making sure you allow users who already know part of your training to be able to skip those. Provide a "test out" or pre-certification if necessary. This lets users know that you value their time and intelligence. Finally, the highest level is in the realm of Values and Beliefs. Here’s where the real training takes place.Transferring knowledge is easy, Wikipedia can do that. What eLearning is often really trying to do (and often failing) is create an environment for a change in values and beliefs. Think about employee training. Maybe you are trying to teach new employees about the culture of your company. There’s lots of knowledge on the topic: the mission statement, the letter from the CEO and so forth. But much more important is convincing the trainees that this stuff is important, valuable, necessary. These are beliefs. Beliefs are transmitted from person to person, usually through passionate and heartfelt communication. See your Sunday Pastor or other selected spiritual leader for more details. But of course the transmission of values and beliefs can be done through media as well—and thus we have great works of fiction, movies, paintings, etc. To tap into that kind of power, you have to activate your creative and tap in to your trainees’ belief system. You need to know what they believe now, and what might trigger them to believe something different. How do you do it? It’s an art. Start by thinking very carefully about who you are talking to, and then make sure you are engaging the very best of your talents in writing and media to get your point across—not the learning objective, but the value/belief objective. If you can overcome that hurdle, and convince your learners that the topic is important, then all you will need to do is get out of the way. They will learn it on their own. photo credit: Scott Beale

A couple of weeks ago I participated in the E-Learning Heroes Community Roadshow: Denver, and got to play around with Articulate Storyline 2 for a bit before it went live last week. It is now one of my favourite things! Now some folks are giving the product flack because they believed some of the enhanced features or feature add ons should have been included as a free path for Storyline 1…but hey! GET OVER IT! Storyline 2 is well worth the price, and for all it contains (in relation to course building), it’s truly a steal. Ya’ll stayed tuned for some video tutorials, but here are some of my favourite things so far: Auto-Recovery - Now, some of the naysayers were balking a bit at this ‘new feature’, believing that in 2014 all programs should contain auto-recovery, but they don’t. And assuming your work will be auto-recovered just makes an ass out of both you and me. Last spring I was devastated when I lost a weeks worth of work, but I persevered and replicated my efforts in 8 hours (and it was all the better for the revisit I think). There’s nothing worse than a hard drive failure, a power surge, or the blue screen of death when you’re a week (or more) into your work efforts and realize in a moment of devastation that you have not saved for the last 6 hours. Storyline 2 saves the day with its new auto-recovery feature, and you will no longer have to worry about losing your work or finding work-arounds to avoid losing your work. With that being said, you should also use some common sense and back up your work frequently (as Taco in The League would say - "To the cloud!"). Dockable Panels - I cannot tell you just how excited I was to see dockable panels in this version - SO EXCITED! Now I can move all of my panels to one monitor while I maximize my other monitor (or two) for development. AMAZING! Love love love this feature! My productivity will soar! Slider Interactions - OH MY HEAVENS!  Life has just gotten a lot easier for everyone wanting to use a slider-style interaction. I remember watching a colleague (shout out Michael Hinze!) demonstrate how he built a slider interaction. There were many, many, many states involved (think 100 or so). Now we can all create similar interactions with WAY LESS effort. It’s party time! Motion Paths - Similarly, I watched Chris Perez create some amazing custom characters and accompanying animations at the Denver roadshow. Now that motion path animations are a thing, making some these animations will be so much easier! I think back to the specific example of the bowling ball moving down the alley which Chris had provided - motion paths will make this easy peasy! Animation Painter - This is going to save SO MUCH TIME. Seriously. Now you won’t have to painstakingly re-program each and every animation. If that’s not a sell for your organization to upgrade…I don’t know what is (how about the previously mentioned feature favourites?)! Now you’re probably thinking that the folks at Articulate paid me to say these nice things…NOPE! They didn’t! They just produce products that I genuinely love and use on a daily basis. With new product releases, there are always things that people will moan and groan about, but honestly - for the capabilities and cost, this product is one of the best in the e-learning industry. After using many other authoring tools in the past, I don’t see myself straying from Storyline for many moons.

Having worked within the defence sector for many years, I became accustomed to (and sometimes exhausted by) taking a competency-based approach to learning. Life was spent swimming in Job Task Analysis (JTA) spreadsheets and ticking off boxes for various types of knowledge/skills/attitudes. Spreadsheets never made me want to cry more. However, these spreadsheets helped me ensure I was accommodating the learning of some very concrete and practical (mostly) tasks. Competency-Based Learning Competency-based learning involves breaking down learning into each individual task until that task is mastered. For example, screwing in a bolt requires many competencies, such as: Identify the appropriate screwdriver, insert the screwdriver into the bolt, turn the screwdriver in a clock-wise motion to tighten the bolt - etcetera. You might not think of each individual task because doing so would make your day a lot longer and exhausting, but each small task is part of a greater whole, and it’s essential to know how to perform each task before you can achieve the greater whole. The military uses this type of learning because everything is very structured and each task helps the individual achieve a greater goal - AND, when it comes to complex procedural tasks like installing a main gearbox, I’d like to think that the technician has mastered each task involved as this will enhance my overall safety as an individual who frequently flies on aircraft. From my experience, competency-based learning often users a tell, show, do model. First, the instructor will explain the task to be completed and how to achieve the end goal. Then, the instructor will demonstrate what they have explained, showing the students exactly what they need to do. Finally, the instructor will allow students to complete the task on their own, providing feedback throughout. Similar to my experience with military training, Starbucks training (unless it’s changed since I was a manger) is also competency-based. We would use the tell, show, do model and it was incredibly effective to break sach task into a sub-task. For example, when new beverage items were launched, this process worked very well at ensuring consistency among beverages made by employees. Why? Because competency-based learning is extremely measurable! This is why it’s often used for teaching concrete vs. abstract concepts/tasks. Still Confused? Here are Some Resources: Competency-Based or Personalized Learning Using a Competency-Based Approach: Linking Core Competencies to your Business Strategy by ThinkWise Competency-Based Approach From Job-Based to Competency-Based Organizations by Edward E. Lawler III Competency-Based Learning Models: A Necessary Future by Richard A. Voorhees

During my first week at Expand, I was shown a very large binder that came from one of our clients. It was a mammoth book of job aids, forms and checklists. I’m not even sure it would fit inside of any normal-sized storage spaces. I had to chuckle when I was told what the binder contained. Over the course of my career, I’d put together similar binders for myself and others; a quick-reference book to keep on hand. While I had the greatest intentions, people never ended up using these binders as much as I thought they would. They fell out of date quickly. They would fall into disarray when I was feeling short on time, because items wouldn’t be put back where they belonged. They were heavy and awkward to carry around, so if I was working remotely or in another location, it would be left behind, collecting dust and serving no purpose. Like many companies (albeit, on a much grander scale) I’ve personally made a shift toward a more paperless existence, both at work and at home. Many people have come to find out that stacks of paper are more of a hindrance than a help. They’re cumbersome to carry around and store. Paper increases the margin for human error, bad handwriting and sloppy record-keeping. Paper is really good at disappearing, and dogs seem to like it. Processes are bogged down when paperwork needs to be dealt with, like waiting for signatures and rekeying data into a system. Processes change, leaving you with heaps of outdated paperwork and/or the cost of printing and distributing new documents. You can’t easily report or summarize data that’s recorded on paper. While most of us can agree paperwork is a source of dread and frustration, some of the most important pieces of information are still disseminated via the printed page. This was the case with our client mentioned above, until they hired us to help them break the habit. Their field associates were relying on paper forms and checklists to a) complete specific tasks on the job and b) report back to superiors that these tasks were completed. Converting these forms and checklists to a format that could be completed on a mobile device and submitted electronically produced markedly improved results. Below are 11 reasons to dump your paper forms and checklists into the nearest recycling bin, and make the switch to electronic, mobile support systems: 1. Save a few (hundred) trees. The ecological impact is huge. 2. Get organized. No more accumulating stacks of paper to ignore. 3. Reduce human errors, including misreads, mis-entries, and misplaced or destroyed documents. 4. Increase process compliance and consistency. Ensure everyone has up-to-date forms and performance support materials at their fingertips, and aren’t relying on outdated ones. 5. Improve timely reporting by capturing and analyzing data in real time, as soon as the "submit" button is clicked. 6. Historical data will be adequately archived in electronic files. 7. Reduce printing costs. 8. Reduce storage space needed. An iPad takes up much less space than reams of paper. 9. Improved security. Process documents, forms and checklists are only available to those with company login credentials. You don’t often see an iPad blowing down the street or tossed in a coffee shop trash can. 10. Reduce waste. 11. Data collected in electronic forms or checklists can be integrated with other internal systems, increasing productivity, reporting accuracy and speed. Has your team implemented mobile forms and checklists? Tell us below how it’s working for you! photo credit: Mufidah Kassalias