In this podcast for Edentree, James and I discuss: why it’s important to have an expansive view of what e-learning is the process we go through at the start of each e-learning project my views on best practice e-learning development my advice on how to select both a third-party e-learning supplier and an e-learning authoring tool the place of traditional e-learning courses in today’s learning environment Designing and Developing Great eLearning Podcast Interview with James McLuckie

Last month I attended the Ufi Charitable Trust launch event where there was a lot of talk about innovative ways to use technology for teaching purposes. Interactive whiteboards were broadly lambasted as waste of resources that are underused in schools. Some even went so far as to say they were a barrier to the adoption of technology, presumably because teachers were so intimidated by using them, it put them off other technology. I don’t think there is such a thing as bad technology. Provided it functionally does what it’s supposed to, whether or not it is effective depends on how it is used and for what purpose. People who ‘hate PowerPoint’ should instead hate the people who put it to bad use in over-long, tedious presentations. The feeling was that technology had not yet transformed teaching and learning to the extent it has transformed other sectors. The issue is that, too often, old paradigms are applied thoughtlessly to new technology. This is forgivable with something that is brand-new, after all you’ve got to start somewhere to see what works. But with something like elearning that’s been around for 20 years; that fact that ‘courses’ are still the norm in the industry is just plain lazy. So what are these new paradigms? Here are my thoughts:  Learning experiences should be based around the application of learning, so activity-based, perhaps involving simulations, and opportunities for practice and feedback. It should be collaborative and peer-to-peer, not tutor-to-student top down. The tutor should be a learning guide, not a sage on the stage handing down words of (arguable) wisdom. It should be measurable. There should be a specific aim to it and a clear way to measure how close to that aim you have got. I hope that the Ufi will help to revitalise elearning as a whole and have the vision and guts to fund forward-thinking, innovative projects that truly make the most of the remarkable things we can do with technology.

I’ve been creating a lot of screencasts recently for the goal-based learning systems that we develop, so I thought I’d give you a run through of the equipment I’m using and the workflow I’ve adopted. The screencasts show users how to use the functions of the goal-based learning system. Equipment: Mac Screenflow screen capture software (see Rob Reviews for a review of it) Zoom H4N recorder used as a USB microphone Workflow I begin by identifying the system functions that I want to cover and I also include a general overview of the system. I divide up the functions so each screencast is short. I aim for less than three minutes. I rough out a script, not word-for-word, but the main things I want to mention in the order they should be introduced. Then I capture screencasts of me using the system functions and talking my way through them. I do a few takes and use the one I’m happiest with. I generally aim to get it 80% right in the initial recording. In Screenflow, I then tidy up the timing and rerecord any of narration I’m not happy with. I then publish and upload to our video hosting site. Tips for success Use a decent mic - audio quality is important and you can get an excellent USB condenser mic for £100. Record in a quiet environment - you don’t want background noise on your recording. Don’t try to make them perfect - focus on making them easy to follow and don’t worry about the odd ‘um’ or ‘ah’ in your recording.

by Tess Robinson (Director, LearningAge Solutions) So goal-based learning sounds great but what can you use it for? And how can technology augment this way of learning? 1. Performance support Learning shouldn’t stop when a learner leaves the classroom. A goal-based approach can ensure that the learning continues into the workplace, making the most of the investment that the organisation has made and ensuring that learners are fully supported in attempting to improve their performance at work. Imagine you’ve just sat through a whole day’s workshop on project management. Correct me if I’m wrong, but what usually happens is that you take the weighty folder  of documentation you’ve been given and the sheaf of notes you’ve written, you go back to your desk, shove it in a drawer and never look at it again. With a goal-based approach, following the training, you would conduct a 360 degree survey based on a number of goals relevant to the training. The results would help you to identify where your weaknesses lie and would suggest a number of specific goals that you could attempt in order to put your learning into practice and to help you to improve your performance. A second 360 survey after you have completed your goals would help you decide whether you need to do more work on them. This is true integration of learning and work, reducing the need for time away from the workplace. Learners can be fully supported through technology by a library of resources, perhaps even user-generated, for each goal and by support from peers attempting the same goals. You could even, dare I say it, forget about the initial workshop completely and go for an entirely goal-based approach, reducing the need for time away entirely. 2. Performance review Annual reviews, appraisals or whatever you like to call them usually include some sort of goal-setting and identification of area that need improving. Goal-based technology can be invaluable in making sure that the right goals are chosen to ensure performance improvement and in providing a clear route to achieving those goals. Technology can also be used to remind learners at regular intervals that these things need attention. Technology also, of course, allows the appraiser to monitor progress via reports. 3. ‘Pull’ learning Arguably the next big thing for L&D; moving away from a traditional teacher/learner ‘push’ way of learning and instead empowering and challenging learners to find and access relevant resources at the point of need. The wonderful Alan Bellinger from the LPI defines ‘pull learning ‘ as: ‘helping people to develop the capabilities to become leaders in their own context, so when they’re confronting an unexpected challenge they have the initiative and the questing disposition that will make them want to embrace that challenge and find creative ways of overcoming it and addressing it, and in the process, learning from that experience. In a pull platform, talent development emphasises on-the-job learning and informal structures rather than a formal training programme. Pull learning gives people the ability to confront challenges and draw out the resources needed to develop solutions.’ He also pointed us in the direction of a really interesting book The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion. By John Hagel and John Seely Brown. The book describes the ongoing shift in power from institutions to individuals through what the authors call "pull". They argue that this type of learning requires a serious shift in organisational thinking: "The learning is actually a by-product of facing unexpected challenges and ever-increasing performance requirements. If you really took that seriously, you would end up rethinking all aspects of the company from operations, how you design the organisation, even what kind of business strategy you would pursue, and certainly what kind of technology platforms you would use to support them in their work environments." Goal-based learning fits ‘pull’ learning style like a glove. It can and should be learner-driven. A goal-based technology platform can facilitate on-the-job learning as well as informal peer-to-peer learning through being mobile and social and allowing user-generated content in the form of rated resources. 4. Compliance training This is a biggy. Compliance training is usually a costly necessity and often a tick-box exercise. However, if compliance training is mandatory, that means, by definition, that it’s important and deserves being turned into creative learning that will stick. Goal-based learning can be used to ensure that compliance training is being translated into the workplace, as it allows learners to practice and hone behaviours in real time. Goal-based learning technology allows learners to have an electronic portfolio of evidence which shows that they have achieved required competence levels, through actually putting their knowledge about compliance into practice. This can be shown to assessors as part of an accreditation. This also, of course, relieves some of the pressure on L&D managers to reduce the cost of compliance as it transfers at least some of the learning to on-the-job. 5. Social learning Goal-based learning doesn’t have to be a lonely experience. In fact, it’s ideal for social learning and making the most of the knowledge that already exists within the organisation. Technology can assist with this in creating group and shared resources, where peers can share their experiences and knowledge and learn from each other. They can also upload documents, links, blog posts and other things that they have found useful in helping them to achieve their goals. The resources can even be user rated and reviewed, like on Amazon, to give other existing and future learners a steer on the most useful ones. 6. Refresher training A goal-based learning approach allows learners to review and identify their weaknesses and practice behaviours that will address and improve those weaknesses at any time. Used in conjunction with another method of training e.g. a face-to-face workshop or elearning courseware, it makes sure that what is learnt isn’t quickly forgotten, but instead is translated into learners working lives and practiced until perfect (or as near as dammit). Learners can go back to these goals and attempt them again at any time. Undertaking a simple 360 degree review on a regular basis is recommended so that learners can judge how much (or not) they’ve improved. Goal-based technology allows this facility to be literally in the learners’ pockets. Including a repository of useful downloadable resources within goals also means that learners can look up relevant information on the job as they need it. The technology can also include reminders for learners that it’s time to review and refresh their skills.   OK, I admit that was 6 ways to use a goal-based approach, not 5. It’s such a versatile way of learning though that I could easily have stretched this list to 10, 15 or even 20 ways that it can be used. We love that it is such an active, empowering way of learning that really puts the learner themselves at the heart of it. What do you think?

In order to thrive in today’s tough economic climate, it’s no longer enough for your people to just ‘know stuff’. Learning needs to be focussed on performance and that’s where goal-based learning comes in. Goal-based learning is an extension of Cathy Moore’s Action Mapping process, of which we’ve been firm advocates for a long time. It concentrates on developing real-world behaviours that will lead to performance improvement. Goal-based learning should not be top-down, instead it is very much focussed on empowering learners to take control of their own learning journeys, making them more able to respond to the changing requirements of their role. What organisation wouldn’t want a more agile workforce? So, what’s the process? Within a subject area, identify all the things that an expert in that subject  would do. These become the goals for that subject. Let’s take ‘communications’ as an example; goals might be: Remember peoples’ names Be a great listener Get your point across effectively It’s fine to have lots of goals within a subject so learners have plenty of choice so that the learning can be more accurately tailored to each learner’s specific needs. Within each goal, you then design practice activities where learners can have a go at doing these things. For example, an activity for the ‘Be a great listener’ goal might be an active listening exercise or an exercise in removing distractions. Quite often, these will be the same sort of activities that might be done in a face-to-face workshop. You then need to identify the knowledge that people would need to complete the practice activities and include this in the goal, you could do this as text, a video, a link to an existing piece of elearning or links to other relevant resources - but keep it short. Don’t overburden learners with un-necessary content. Sounds good so far, and a lot like Action Mapping, but here’s the twist: how do your learners know which goals to focus on? A 360-degree survey is used to measure people’s ability with regard to each of the goals within the subject. The results of this will then identify which of the goals the learner should attempt and what areas they need to work on. After working towards goals for a while, the survey should be resent and the results compared to the first survey to measure performance improvement. Goal-based learning works best when there is a mechanism to allow learners to connect socially and learn from each other. This is another difference to Action Mapping. This collaboration can be achieved using internal social networks or, if you use something like twitter, creating a #hashtag for each goal. Adopting a goal-based approach and making it social can really help to maximise the knowledge networks within your organisation.

by Tess Robinson, Director, LearningAge Solutions Being innovative doesn’t mean that you have to come up with big radical new ideas all the time. Sometimes the very best learning innovations are quite simple and subtle or are just improvements or diversions from existing ideas. Having just won an award for innovation, we’d like to share our 10 top tips for innovative thinking with you… Look beyond what is in front of you and practice seeing more than what is directly before your eyes. Think of this in terms of the young lady/old lady optical illusion - there are different ways of looking at the same thing. The way you view something at first, is not necessarily the only way of looking at it. Ask questions  - don’t be afraid not to accept the status quo. Asking questions will help your ideas to crystallise. Don’t stop at the first answer either, as above, there are many different ways to answer the same question. Think about what kind of learning you’d like to see, be it products, theories or something completely different. Where is the gap? Look at what others have produced and see how it can be improved upon. Collaborate - don’t be afraid to share ideas and get other’s opinions. Join a body such as the eLearning Network or ASTD where you can attend networking events and get yourself a mentor. Keep your eye out for emerging L&D trends that can be exploited. New trends often mean new ways of learning are needed - you can be on the forefront of that. Notice assumptions and don’t be afraid to break the rules. Just because something has been done a certain way for years, doesn’t make it the best or the right way! Change your routines - walk a different way to work, talk to a stranger, challenge yourself to do something you’ve never done before - perhaps something you’re scared of. Break out of your normal comfort zones and allow your brain to get a taste of what it feels like to do things differently - exciting isn’t it! Be prepared to have to weed through piles of rubbish to get to the good stuff. Being innovative isn’t just about having that lightbulb moment but about being committed, flexible and open. Prototype and test your ideas as early as possible (and as cheaply as possible) to discount solutions that won’t work and hone the ones that will. Finally, don’t be afraid of failure. It’s fine to get things wrong as that’s often the best and most powerful way for you to learn and be spurred on to get things right.

We were recently recognised with an award for innovation. This meant a huge amount to us as a company and to me in particular. I’m a designer. I love design in all its forms and I’m passionate about making things work better. Being recognised for something that I designed (and that utterly consumed me for about nine months) is a BIG deal to me. It got me thinking about innovation and what it takes to be innovative. Now, I’m no expert in innovation, however I do have some pretty good ideas and I know how to develop them. When you watch Dragon’s Den and see some really great innovation the temptation is to think ‘I wish I’d thought of that.’ The trouble is, the initial idea is the easy bit! Here are some of what I think are the ingredients to true innovation along with some ideas on how to achieve them. A great idea - yes, you need a great idea. It doesn’t have to be completely original - few ideas are, but it does need to achieve something quicker, better or more cheaply than what is currently available. I always have some sort of digital device on me and I note down ideas as they occur to me. Some of these I do nothing with, some I integrate into current projects or products, others hold my interest and I come back and refine them. I always keep an eye open for commercial opportunities to develop my best ideas. Sometimes a customer appears looking for just what I’ve come up with. My original idea for goalgetter dates back about eight years! Self-belief with flexibility - you need to be certain yours is a good idea and you need to be able to convince others of this easily. If few other people ‘get’ your idea, or it takes you half an hour to explain it, you probably should rethink. One way to build belief in your idea is to research the market and look at what competitors exist. I personally prefer to define my idea quite fully before looking at what else is out there. This is so that my design isn’t influenced by what already exists. Also be prepared to change your idea based on your research and input from others. Don’t continue on blindly when the evidence is against you. Be flexible and instead try to identify the aspects of your idea that you should keep and look at how else you could develop it. Tenacity - you do need to be tenacious to push on through the challenges you’ll face, and yes, there will be many. There will be times when: You’ll struggle to find the time to work on your idea You’ll lose faith in what you’re doing You’ll want to quit Another easier option becomes available to you and you have to make a choice It is tough. In times like these I return to the core spark of the idea and reaffirm what I’m doing. I also minimise risk by initially building it as cheaply as possible using the tech I have available. This might be paper and pencil, wireframes or a prototype. Minimising the risk makes you less likely to give up. Great execution - actually creating your what-ever-it-is will be an ongoing challenge taking many months and possibly years. You need all of the above to achieve this. Ideas are everywhere. You can generate a dozen in an hour. The real skill comes in sifting them, refining them, building them and testing them. Make sure you use a flexible design and development process. Prototype early and often and get lots of user feedback. Don’t be afraid to radically change your designs if you need to. Work in small batches so that if something doesn’t work you haven’t wasted a lot of resources. Build as late as you possibly can and leave plenty of budget for changes. Seek out people who will be great constructive critics of what you’re doing. Your harshest critic can give you the greatest insight - and if you can win them over to your idea, you are almost definitely onto something! Design in general, and innovation in particular, are not easy - but they are hugely rewarding. In the UK we are a nation of inventors and tinkerers. It’s one of the few things that we still lead the world in and something we can be rightly proud of. Feed your creativity and you could be the next Tim Berners-Lee.

by Tess Robinson, Director, LearningAge Solutions We’ve put our heads together and come up with our favourite (mostly free) tools for aiding rapid elearning development. As our team are located all over the world, we particularly love cloud-based tools that allow for collaboration: MockFlow Wireframe Editor Screenshot  MockFlow - Cloud-based collaborative design tool. We use Mockflow for  wire framing and specifying functionality. Google Drive - easy-to-use document sharing for storyboarding, QA, script writing and media lists. Allows for collaborative working and comments. Survey Monkey - free online questionnaires and surveys. Survey Monkey has been around for a while but still a great tool for gathering user feedback and can also be used to pre-assess knowledge gaps. GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) - fantastically named piece of freeware that works on most operating systems for photo retouching, image composition and authoring. Dropbox - collaborative document storage and working. An alternative to Google Drive. Storyline - elearning tool that can develop for Flash and html 5 Screenflow - our favourite screencasting tool for the Mac. Easy and quick to use, beautiful quality, smooth movement and glitch-free. Makes high resolution video look fantastic. Mindmeister - online mind mapping software that allows you to create, share and collaboratively work on mind maps. Includes apps for iPhone, iPad and Android so you can see your maps anywhere. iMovie - For people starting out in video editing, iMovie is simply the best video editor. It is not as fully featured as other editors, but the most advanced functionality is either not necessary for basic web video, or you can find work-arounds. Only available for Apple devices. SmartBuilder -  a great and underrated elearning author tool specifically designed for building branching scenarios. It’s got a decent scripting language too. Thanks to Rob Hubbard, Louise Cox and Ed Hickman for their input into this article.

As well as our free online Rapid eLearning Development (ReD) course we also deliver a one-day workshop covering some of the same material. In fact it was from this workshop that ReD grew. Quite regularly people ask us which elearning author tool they should buy, the assumption being, you must have an elearning author tool in order to create elearning. This simply isn’t the case. With the rise of mobile devices and tablet computers, people increasingly want access to their learning on the move and from whichever device they have on them. The trouble with many author tools is that their main publishing format is Flash, which as you know, Apple don’t support on their mobile devices. Author tool vendors are increasingly embracing HTML5 publishing, however, typically this will only support a sub-set of their functionality and you will be limited by users needing the very latest browsers to run the content. The self-paced elearning course has been a staple of the industry for many years and yes, they have their place. However, more useful for the mobile user are smaller chunks of material that they can easily access. This is a case where the parts are more useful and flexible than the sum of them! The really great news is that these ‘learning assets’ are quicker and cheaper to produce than courses and can often be created using tools you already have, or ones that are free or cheap. These resources truly can be Rapid eLearning and this is what people learn on our ReD course. Here are some ideas for the sorts of resources you can develop cheaply and quickly: Screencasts - short videos that capture what you are doing onscreen along with your voice. These can be captured using free or cheap systems such as screenr, Jing and Screenflow. Quizzes and assessments - quizzes can be used to reinforce learning as well as test knowledge retention. There are many free and low-cost quiz building systems available. We have used ProProfs, Classmarker and Google Forms for building quizzes. Animated videos - you could use these to get across key points of a topic, give an overview of a subject or explain a diagram or process. You can animate text and images using Microsoft PowerPoint and then publish it out as a video. Powtoon is pretty cool too. Web pages - simple web pages can be used as job-aids or implementation aids, helping people to put their learning into practice or to remind them of key points. If you know HTML you can create web pages using any text editor. If you need a little more help use something like Google Sites. Wikis and collaborative docs - letting people collaboratively work on a document allows them to share ideas, see other people’s contributions and build on them. We’ve used both Wikispaces and Google Drive to do this. Hopefully this article has helped you see just how much you can do with low-cost tools and that much of it can also be mobile-accessible. Now go forth and have a play!

After a 20-year break I’m getting back into skiing. I’ve just returned from a four-day ski trip to the French Alps. It was awesome. Returning to a soggy grey UK, I’ve been thinking a lot about the trip and reflecting on my learning process. I went with three goals in mind: Learn to parallel turn (turn with my feet parallel) Start to carve (turn using the edges of the skis) Do one red (advanced) run In order to achieve these goals I built up to them; I had an instructor show me how to parallel turn, I then practiced these on green (easy) runs and blue (intermediate) runs. Once I had these nailed, I tried carving on some slower sections of piste. By the fourth day I could ski the blues fairly comfortably so I felt ready to try a red. I knew this would be a stretch, so I’d asked other, more experienced skiers which red they would recommend for a first attempt. I warmed up on a few blues then tried it just before lunch. I had a fall, got up and tried again, making it successfully down the most advanced slope I’d ever skied. After lunch I did it again to prove to myself it wasn’t a fluke. This time I went faster and didn’t fall once. These were fairly ambitious goals for someone who last skied when they were 17 and who had never skied on real snow, however, I achieved them all by: Having clear goals Seeking support from experts and peers Practicing and learning from my mistakes This, of course, is a recipe for learning any new skill. Unfortunately it is an approach missing from many learning interventions both online and in the classroom. In your next learning design ensure you include all three of these elements, for example: Goals - don’t sheep-dip your learners, let them choose what they should learn based upon their skills gaps. Support  - include some expert tuition or coaching for novices, allow people to connect and share with their peers Practice - design activities where people can practice the new skills they are trying to develop, ideally with increasing levels of difficulty

This is another skiing themed post - I think I’m becoming obsessed. I recently returned from a short ski break. I’ve been thinking about what I enjoyed most about the trip - and it’s got to be skiing off-piste. If you don’t ski; pistes are the marked routes on the mountain. Outside of these routes is known as off-piste and here there is much adventure to be had. Now off-piste can involve having a helicopter drop you on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. But it can also mean heading just slightly off the beaten track, between the pistes. I’m just getting back into skiing and found the latter was great fun. Reflecting on it I realised that I’ve spent much of my life slightly off-piste, doing things a little differently and sometimes better. So why go off-piste? You can find better, quicker routes Others can benefit from your explorations It’s more creative and you learn more On the flip side: It’s more risky You could become isolated It might be harder to justify to others why you don’t just follow the herd I would argue that off-piste learning design is where true innovation lies. Yes it can be risky but you stand the chance of opening up new more effective routes that others might benefit from. It’s more challenging, more fun and more rewarding as a designer. In reality you wouldn’t constantly design off-piste but rather allow your explorations to inform your more on-piste projects. One of the ways that I find helps to design off-piste is not to initially research what the common approach is. Instead follow a creative but rigorous design process and see where you end up. Then look around at the approaches that others have taken and see what you can learn from them. Incorporate elements of these into your design where appropriate. If you have few opportunities for off-piste design as part of your commercial work, why not develop some ideas for a project of your own. You could learn some things to feed in to your commercial projects. At the very least it’s a good design exercise and damn good fun too!

By Tess Robinson, Director, LearningAge Solutions It is incredibly disheartening to put all of your creative efforts into a piece of learning design for it to be largely ignored by your target audience. You’ve identified the organisational need, followed a robust design process and come up with a killer approach - so why won’t people engage with it? The answer is often that internal marketing and communication about the project has been ineffectual, or even non-existent. Here are our top tips to stop this happening to you… People won’t use something that they don’t even know is there. Find out where your target audience hang out and focus your communications there. For example, this could be posters near the coffee machine or using particular online social networks. Help your learners to understand what’s in it for them. Depending on your subject matter and audience, introducing a fun or a competitive element can be very effective for raising awareness and encouraging your learning to go ‘viral’ within the organisation. Align your elearning to a wider organisational initiative or strategic objective. Any training that is being undertaken should be in line with company strategy anyway, but it can help raise awareness and encourage participation by piggy-backing onto something that is already high-profile within the organisation. Find yourself some advocates. Imagine what a difference it will make to take-up if you have someone who is visible, influential and popular within the organisation telling everyone else how great your learning intervention is. The flip side is to find ways of communicating with your detractors. For example, if you know one of your stakeholders has issues with your approach, don’t just ignore them and hope they’ll go away. Take time to listen to them and work through their objections. If you do it right, they could become an advocate too! Run a pilot. Although end-users will have been involved in your design process, this will give you the chance to gain more feedback from the users themselves and to create a bit of excitement around your elearning. Their feedback will help you to hone your offering before rolling it out and your trailblazers can then also be used as champions to help spread the word. Don’t just communicate about the project when it is launched but share progress throughout the build. Be open about the challenges you have faced in creating the learning intervention and celebrate any successes with the wider organisational community. The aim is to have your audience feel like they have taken a journey with you, that they are active participants and that everyone can share in the glory when it all goes right.

Whenever I speak at a conference I take the same approach - I look for ways to get people talking to one-another and contributing to the session. I figure; we’ve got a room full of smart, highly experienced people - talking at them for an hour would be a huge waste of time. Better to make use of their knowledge and experience - their ‘collective intelligence’ - for the good of everyone. We try to take the same approach with digital learning. Given how easy it is to connect to other people, wherever they are in the world, it seems like such a waste when online learning is a solitary experience. Allowing people to connect to one another and share knowledge makes the learning richer for all. Every organisation has a huge amount of collective intelligence in it’s people, so how can you make use of it in your digital learning initiatives? Here are a few ideas: Set short assignments and have learners comment upon and critique each others work. Not only will this provide useful feedback but it also prompts a valuable reflection process in the reviewer. Allow learners to upload or add links to useful resources, web sites and videos. Include a like / unlike function so that the more useful resources can be identified and those less so, weeded out. Identify organisational challenges for people to generate ideas around. These can be used to encourage innovation within an organisation and tackle real business problems. If you use a Twitter-like service internally (Yammer for example) host regular chats that focus on different questions or issues. These could run over a lunchtime and be held once a week or a fortnight. You will probably find that you already have IT systems in place that can do many, if not all of these things. Increasingly organisations are looking for ways for their workforce to collaborate more and they should be doing this in their learning too.      

by Tess Robinson, Director, LearningAge Solutions We’re so used to self-directed learning these days that we forget we’re even doing it. I’m a trainee silversmith in my spare time. If I want to know the best way to solder a joint or set a stone, I’ll Google it, find a video on YouTube or ask my social network of fellow jewellers. I don’t need to wait for my class day to have a tutor instruct me in the technique, although undeniably it’s useful to have an expert on hand to help if I get stuck. We have come to expect this kind of on-demand learner-led learning in our everyday lives, why should learning in the workplace be any different? Learning at work should not just be about someone telling you a bunch of facts and then expecting you to go away and remember it all. Learning should also be continuous, self-directed and personalised - ‘pull’ rather than ‘push’. Not convinced? Here are five compelling benefits of a pull learning approach: Giving people power over their own learning allows them to personalise their learning journey and focus on improving their own specific weaknesses. This makes learning more efficient and effective and prevents organisational resources being spent on teaching people things they already know. Adopting a pull learning strategy shows that the organisation has trust in their people. This inspires confidence in learners and is very motivating; not only in terms of their learning itself but also in terms of how positively they view the organisation and their place in it as a whole. Learners can access information and resources at the point of need, increasing business agility and giving people the ability to confront challenges and draw out the resources needed to find solutions. The ubiquity of smart phones and other small internet-enabled devices make this ever more possible, even in environments where learners don’t traditionally have access to a PC during the course of their working day. Information can be easily updated. Learners don’t have to wait until the next training course to find out new things that can help them with their job role or personal development. Resources can be updated as they change, increasing accuracy and again improving the ability of the business to respond to challenges as they arise. User-generated content, moderated by the learners themselves can be a very effective way of keeping information current. A pull learning approach focuses much more on ‘performance’ than ‘training’. Charles Jennings of the Internet Time Alliance suggested that developing a ‘performance mind-set’ requires the acceptance of multi-channel formal and informal learning, based on limited push and maximum pull. Performance improvement is the Holy Grail. Why else would you invest in training your people if it wasn’t to improve their performance? Does this approach work for everything? Well as a stand-alone strategy, the short answer is no.  There will be times when a formal training course makes sense; for introducing complete newbies to a subject for instance. Where this approach can really add value, however, is in providing additional support and resources to ensure that training is actually implemented and understood in the workplace itself. It’s simply a question of getting the balance right and not being afraid to rescind a little control.    

Anyone who has attempted some form of learning design project will know that the goalposts have an annoying habit of moving. The objective that you set out initially to meet might evolve or even change completely. This means that traditional approaches to learning design and development can struggle to adapt the design and keep pace with continually evolving requirements. They are simply not agile enough. Instead quicker, more iterative approaches to design are needed which enable the designer to change and test the design very swiftly. Design tools need to be collaborative so that designers and customers can work at the same time. Designers need to be able to think on their feet, generate, mock-ups and test workable solutions quicker than ever. So, how do you go about doing this? Firstly, in the design phase of your project - anything goes. Any idea, no matter how outlandish or left-field is given consideration. An idea that at first might seem too ‘out there’, can trigger another thought process that leads to some truly transformative functionality being designed into the product. Secondly, use collaborative tools like Google Drive, Basecamp and Mockflow to document, manage and design the product. At the start of the project get your customer on board with your design process and their vital part in it. Encourage collaborative, iterative working. Thirdly, don’t get disheartened if your design or prototype gets some harsh feedback from users. Firstly investigate the comments more fully and get to the heart of the issue. Then thank your lucky stars that you identified this issue so early in the project - you’ve just saved a load of budget and time - hooray! Taking an agile approach to design does require more time with your customer and end users. Fortunately, most will understand that for you to design something that closely meets their needs, they need to provide a lot of input. If they can’t or won’t do this, then you’re playing darts in the dark, with little or no chance of hitting the bull’s eye.  

by Tess Robinson, Director, LearningAge Solutions For me it conjures up images of acrobats and contortionists. Although this is a little strange, it’s probably not too far from the truth because business agility is indeed all about being flexible and adaptable; being able to adjust to changes in the business environment without wobbling or losing your balance. Advances in technology, the increasing complexity of the global economy and escalating customer (and staff) expectations mean that agility is no longer a choice but a necessity. Organisations need to be able to predict, adapt and respond to whatever challenges are presented to them and this needs to be done at lightening speed. Failure to do this will result in being left in the competition’s dust and in this delicate economic environment that is definitely not a good place to be. So what’s the role of learning technologies in all of this? As IBM succinctly put it ‘to act with agility, organisations have to increase communication and collaboration, and improve decision-making processes’. The traditional elearning course is just not enough to address these issues, although it may provide part of the answer. There is now such a wealth of technologies that enable L&D to create really exciting solutions that allow for collaboration, user-generated content, sharing and communities of practice. This is a really pivotal time for learning. The coalescence of the current business climate and the wealth of technology available give us a real opportunity to break out of the cycle of dull and predictable online learning and to really embrace new ways of thinking and working. Towards Maturity have consistently demonstrated the value of introducing a variety of technologies, interaction, depth, opportunities for collaboration and engagement into the learning mix by showing the positive impact that embracing these can have on organisational performance. So why isn’t everyone doing it? Probably the biggest barrier to this brave new world is trust. Rescinding control to learners is really hard and often takes an entire cultural shift. The variety of technology available can also make for an overwhelming choice. So where do you start? Think of yourself on a tightrope, like my acrobats. Begin by taking small steps, tiny risks and once you can see that you’re not going to fall off, hopefully that will encourage you to try standing on one foot and eventually maybe even to do a back flip.  

By Tess Robinson, Director, LearningAge Solutions Technology now affords so many more options to learn new skills without being physically present, but how can we ensure that participants are kept engaged and motivated when they’re not sat in front of us? It’s a constant challenge and one that we haven’t yet completely cracked but we’d like to share some things here that have worked for us… Validation If the learning is taking place within an organisation, get yourself a champion at senior level. Choose someone who is respected and liked and who has influence. If learners can see that the learning is valued by the organisation, they will be more inclined to commit to it themselves. If you are a company providing distance learning to a wide and varied audience, be aware that your reputation impacts heavily on the perception of the distance learning you have produced. For example; if you are an award-winning company, if people have been involved in the design who are well-known and well-respected in the sector you are likely to be perceived far more positively than a company who does not have this track record or involvement. Consider accreditation. The fact that an external body has validated the learning can be very reassuring. Also consider whether the learning could lead to a qualification or provide credits - people do still love to collect ‘official’ things for their CVs. 2.  Introduction Make sure that learners understand what is expected of them. They will need to know what the learning outcomes are and what the purpose of each element of the distance learning is, before they start to use it. For example; this could be in the form of a course guide that is emailed out in advance. It’s also important that learners are aware of the technical spec that they will need to run the learning and that they have the opportunity to install any relevant programmes, apps or upgrades before the learning starts in earnest. 3.  Motivation Whatever DL intervention you offer, it should always aim to be rewarding, involving, engaging and enjoyable. Participants also need a very clear idea of what is in it for them. The learning outcomes and their benefits need to be stated at the outset. 4.  Design Even if you get all the emotional motivators right, a badly designed intervention will soon put learners off and their motivation will take a rapid nosedive. Consider how learners will access the learning; one or two clicks is far better than wading through pages and pages to get to what you want. The choice of technology should be appropriate, relevant and aligned to the characteristics of the audience. If you have a few different elements, the purpose of each should be made clear at the outset. Make sure your content is concise and to the point - think ‘more quality and less quantity’. Make it interesting, engaging and memorable. Use humour or try something a bit different, such as setting it in a fictional world or using story-telling to make your points. Anyone who has ever undertaken distance learning knows that it can be lonely. Designing in elements of collaboration, peer review and tutor interaction, assignments and deadlines can help draw learners in and keep the pace of the course going. A ‘live’ element such as a webinar or ‘live chat’ can also help with engagement and to maintain interest. 5.  Goal setting At the outset, encourage learners to think about their goals in relation to the learning and beyond.  On a simple level this can be achieved through reflection or, if you want to make it a more substantive part of the learning, through integrating goal setting technology into the course. These goals can be linked to performance review if necessary or can be stand-alone goals for the individual. They can also be tied to workplace transfer to ensure that what is learnt is put into practice. 6.  Reflection Learning by experience is not a new concept. Reflection can be a powerful way to improve motivation, skills and confidence by allowing the learner to take a step back to consider and understand their experiences. It gives them space to think about what they might do differently next time, to challenge assumptions and to consider the positive as well as the negative. This can be done through a learning blog or wiki, or even privately off-grid. If you have a collaborative element to your learning, it can be very useful for learners to be able to see and comment on each other’s reflections. The success of this does, however, depend on your audience and the culture in which they are embedded. 7.  Tutor skill A skilful tutor can make all the difference to the success of distance learning. It is the tutor’s job to set the ball rolling, set the tone for the course and to maintain momentum, for example; through setting assignments. The tutor can also facilitate collaboration by asking questions and encouraging others to ask questions of him/her and each other. The tutor is most effective when they maintain a presence. This might mean regularly clocking-in to the course, providing surgery times and responding to queries in good time. 8.  Peer support Giving a human face to participants encourages interaction. At the beginning of the course, learners can be asked to upload photos of themselves, to introduce themselves and share their goals for the course and beyond. Peer review is an interesting and potentially very valuable tool. As long as participants can use it honestly and constructively, it encourages knowledge-sharing and provides a network of support alongside the tutor. This is particularly good for distance learning where the audience is spread globally, as learners can get feedback or ask for advice and get a reply from someone, be it peer or tutor, at any time of day. 9.  International awareness If you have a global audience, be aware of cultural differences, language barriers and time zone differences all of which can have a significant impact on participation. Review where your learners are coming from and schedule ‘live’ elements at times when most people can make it. Vary the times if necessary and always record it so that those who cannot attend can watch later. 10.  Feedback/ problem reporting There is nothing that makes you want to switch off more than if something isn’t working or you don’t understand what is being asked of you and you have no mechanism for feedback. Clearly, in most cases, the tutor cannot be available 24:7. It may be that peers can provide the answer but, if not, make sure that learners have access to a log, messaging facility, email address and/or phone number. Clear instructions on how to use these should be given at the outset along with expected response times.

Firstly I should clarify what I mean by a ‘distance learning course’. A distance learning course is something that: Is undertaken remotely Typically takes a number of weeks, months or years to complete Includes self-study and assignments I’m not talking about elearning tutorials or online webinars, though these may form a part of a distance learning course. With the prevalence of freely available learning material there has never been a better time to create a distance learning course. With some careful searching and curation you can assemble a course using pre-existing resources. Don’t just make it all about knowledge though, remember that participants want to learn new skills too. Cathy Moore’s Action Mapping process can also be applied to the design of distance learning courses. Identify the skills that you are trying to teach to students Design assignments where students can practice these skills Seek and curate some core learning materials that will support the assignments, and encourage students to do the same Design in ways for students to collaborate on assignments and add to the body of knowledge Consider whether you will accredit or grade students and what form this will take Without the motivation of a tutor and fellow students physically being present, ‘completion’ rates can be low. In our free Rapid eLearning Development (ReD) course we see the following approximate ratio: 100 people - enrol and are sent joining instructions 60 people - log in to the social network where the course is hosted 25 people - make a start and tackle some of the assignments 12 people - form a core group and complete more-or-less everything Essentially about 10% ‘complete’ the course. This rings true with massive open online courses (MOOCs) whose completion rates are typically around 7%*. Do I mind? No. Just because people haven’t completed everything it doesn’t mean they haven’t got value from the experience. We explain that people can pick and choose what they undertake - not everyone needs to learn everything. What I get great satisfaction from is watching that core of 12 or so work together and collaborate. They are often from different sides of the globe and from different cultures, yet they are able work effectively together.   * This figure of 7% comes from a study by PhD student Katy Jordan conducted of 29 free MOOCs over 2012 and 2013.

We were thrilled this month to win Silver at the 2013 eLearning Awards in the ‘Best eLearning Project (Private Sector) for a project that we did with bookseller, Waterstones. It was the toughest category with over 30 submissions. This project was a lot of fun to do, as Waterstones embraced an innovative and creative approach with commitment and enthusiasm. They were brave enough to do something a bit different and it has reaped rewards. Here’s their story… Waterstones is one of the leading booksellers on the high street and online. They first opened in London, in 1982 and currently trade from nearly 300 shops in the UK and Europe. Waterstones’ reputation is built upon the knowledge and enthusiasm of their 4,500 booksellers, who are able to offer passionate and informed recommendations and advice to customers. With the introduction of the Kindle as a product range, there was a need to train booksellers on how to operate and sell these new devices, so that they could offer the best possible service to customers. Although Kindle training was the starting point for this project, Waterstones’ vision extended beyond that and they wanted the Kindle training to sit within a bespoke system/website which could be built upon to include induction, career progression, ongoing training, a Certificate in Bookselling Qualification, task management and a simple performance review process. The Challenge Waterstones needed to introduce their booksellers to their new Kindle product range, however, the booksellers had a range of technical abilities. Despite this, they all needed to be able to confidently and competently talk about, demonstrate and sell the full range of Kindle devices as quickly as possible. With Christmas, traditionally the busiest time of year for Waterstones, on the way in just a few short months, the timescales for building a solution and training all their Booksellers were extremely short. Another challenge was the availability of technology in-store. Booksellers are not desk-based, whatever solution we came up with had to fit into their working patterns and be accessible, not just on the in-store computer, but also on Kindle devices themselves. In terms of the system itself, Waterstones wanted the site to behave differently for different people or people at different stages of their career - so varying subjects and functionality would be made available to individuals, depending on their position or area of work. They wanted to be able to set timescales for completing goals and to have a facility for learners to allow their line managers to review what they had done. The goals needed to include text, images, videos, podcasts, quizzes and assignments and have a star rating system. The final challenges were that Waterstones wanted to be able to create and edit the content themselves. The site needed to work cross-platform (so on computers and the Kindle devices themselves) and also the design needed to have the Wow factor. The Solution Waterstones knew of our work with University of Cambridge and had already seen our goal-based systems. They immediately saw the potential in the approach to solve their business issue of how best to train all their Booksellers on selling the Kindle range. The solution that we came up with was a goal-based learning system with a number of ‘shields’ (subjects) that Booksellers and other Waterstones employees could attempt. They would work towards attaining a shield by choosing goals to achieve and then completing a range of real-world activities, to be done within their work environment. We also included embedded quizzes and surveys using a third party tool, to reinforce their learning. Many retailers wanting to provide product training would opt for face-to-face training, or elearning courseware plus an LMS. Waterstones went further and embraced a performance-focused goal-based learning approach: Instead of going through courses, users work towards goals that will improve their performance. They undertake real-world activities that build skills and rate how they are doing. They access knowledge-based materials in support of the activities. They reflect upon their learning and gather evidence of it. Waterstones added in the ability for Shop Managers to conduct informal scheduled reviews with the booksellers. This, combined with the goal-based learning, is a truly innovative approach to people development. They now use Waterstones Academy to deliver a nine-month bookseller qualification and have more plans for further development too. Success Factors If we had to say what the key factors were in making this project a success they would be these: Openness to new ideas Aligning the project with organisation strategy Engagement with key stakeholders from the start, including Booksellers, who were the target audience Marketing and communications that kept staff informed and involved in the project from the outset Support - providing great front-line support to users and managers Evaluation - including sales statistics, completion rates, user and manager comments which allowed us to demonstrate that the learning was meeting organisational objectives. So what did they think? ‘The Waterstones Academy site has provided us with a fantastic new tool to develop and train our bookshop teams.  We wanted something both simple and sophisticated in both functionality and look and feel and LearningAge really grasped this.  We are so pleased with the site and have received glowing positive feedback from the users, and seen a great take up from booksellers signing up and completing content.  We are keen to continuously improve and evolve the site and every time we approach LearningAge with suggestions, however seemingly impossible, they give us practical, non-techy advice and make it happen within equally impossibly tight timescales. ‘ Emma Brown, Head of Learning and Development      

This year, I had the great privilege, in my position as Chair of the eLN, to have edited and co-authored the eLN’s first ever book, The Really Useful eLearning Instruction Manual, published by Wiley. The book features contributions from world leading experts in all aspects of elearning and was a fantastic excuse to work with people whom I respect enormously. We wanted the book to be practical, useful and to contribute to the advancement of our industry through best practice. The book covers the basics of ‘what is elearning’ and selling it to your organisation through to more advanced topics such as game-based learning (from the newly anointed Dr Ben Betts - congratulations on your PhD Ben!) and social learning. Here’s what the publisher says about it:  "Technology has revolutionised every aspect of our lives and how we learn is no exception. The trouble is, the range of elearning technologies and the options available can seem bewildering. Even those who are highly experienced in one aspect of elearning will lack knowledge in some other areas. Wouldn’t it be great if you could access the hard-won knowledge, practical guidance and helpful tips of world-leading experts in these fields? Edited by Rob Hubbard and featuring chapters written by global elearning experts: Clive Shepherd, Laura Overton, Jane Bozarth, Lars Hyland, Rob Hubbard, Julie Wedgwood, Jane Hart, Colin Steed, Clark Quinn, Ben Betts and Charles Jennings - this book is a practical guide to all the key topics in elearning, including: getting the business on board, building it yourself, learning management, blended, social, informal, mobile and game-based learning, facilitating online learning, making the most of memory and more." And here’s a summary of the chapters: So What is eLearning? - Clive Shepherd Getting the Business on Board - Laura Overton Build In-House, Buy Off -the-Shelf or Outsource? - Jane Bozarth Production Processes - Making it Happen! - Lars Hyland Making the Most of Memory - Rob Hubbard Blended Learning - Julie Wedgwood Informal and Social Learning - Jane Hart Facilitating Live Online Learning - Colin Steed Mobile Learning - Clark Quinn Game-Based Learning - Ben Betts Learning Management - Charles Jennings A substantial amount of the profits will go to the eLN for the benefit of the whole elearning community. You can buy yours direct from Wiley and get a 15% discount with the code VBF11. It’s also available from Amazon in hard copy and as a Kindle version (of course!).

I have now officially stepped down as the Chair of the eLearning Network. My four years on the Board are up and I will be handing on the mantle to another dedicated soul. It has been a privilege and pleasure to have worked with so many lovely, talented and committed people over my term. I can’t deny that it’s been a lot of work, but when I look back on what the Board has achieved I feel very proud. I was there for our 25th anniversary celebrations and the setting-up of our mentoring scheme, which is unique within the industry and which has helped many, be they seasoned professionals or newbies, negotiate their way in the wonderful world of elearnng. We’ve published the first ever eLN book, with contributions from the most fabulous world-renowned authors, such as Clive Shepherd, Jane Hart and Charles Jennings, revamped our online presence, run a successful guerrilla marketing campaign and seen the popularity of the eLN increase. I am genuinely sad to go, but I know that the enthusiasm and dedication of Board members will continue and that the eLN will go from strength to strength. It’s been a blast!

by Tess Robinson, Director, LearningAge Solutions ‘I absolutely loath elearning with all of my being. I just spent 1hr 40 answering stupid F-ing multiple choice questions in the attempt to gain a poxy bit of paper for work and the blinking site crashed. I get nul points; no poxy bit of paper; no recognition for the time lost, opportunity cost and not even a chance to go back in and waste another couple of hours of my life because of error x2032 - as if I’m supposed to know what to do with that bit of information f%$H, f%!£, f!£$!!! Workers of the world unite - it must be time for another Luddite revolution!’ This was one of my friends, a nurse, on Facebook last week, venting her anger against learning technologies. This is still such a common perception of elearning; dull, mandatory training, done on your own, using technology that doesn’t quite work properly. Such a shame, when there is such a wonderful, eclectic, creative and interesting wealth of approaches and technologies out there. Certainly what my friend regards as ‘elearning’ is not necessarily the same as what I mean when I use the term (although I’m clearly enormously biased in favour of elearning).  So what exactly is eLearning? Let’s go back to basics… What is eLearning? Clive Shepherd in ‘The Really Useful eLearning Instruction Manual’ describes elearning as ‘when we use computers and the networks to which these are linked, to in some way support the learning process’. He has kept his definition deliberately broad to take in everything from self-study lessons on a PC to social learning on mobile devices, use of video and virtual classrooms which deliver live group workshops. Clive argues that there are five basic forms of eLearning: 1. Self-study lessons (sometimes still known as CBT). This is ‘traditional elearning’ and the form that often elicits the most swearing. It does, however, have some important advantages in that it can deliver learning at the learners own pace and allows them to learn on-demand in small chunks. As far as the employer is concerned, it can be a very cost-effective and fast way to train large number of people. As Clive points out, we’re still in the ‘one size fits all’ stage but there is vast potential for personalising the learning experience and improving this form of elearning. In the same way that large companies, such as Amazon, personalise your buying experience based on your previous buying behaviour, there is no reason why self-study lessons couldn’t, in future, be more tailored to fit. 2. Simulations and virtual worlds. Simulations allow learners to rehearse skills in a realistic environment without risk before doing it for real. This can be as simple as some online step-through branching scenarios or as complex as a multi-player virtual world. It’s true that gaming-type technologies are still rarely used in learning, but perhaps it’s only a matter of time before this is commonplace. No one could deny it would be a lot more fun and arguably more memorable than working through a bunch of Powerpoint slides. 3. Virtual classrooms Live, real-time learning where participants all make themselves available at the same time. This might take the form of a web conference or webinar. It allows people from all corners of the globe to come together with no traveling and allows the sharing of ideas in real-time. It also enables a facilitator, trainer or expert to be present. Experts are more likely to give an hour of their time to run a webinar than traveling and taking a whole day out to attend an hour’s meeting. This type of synchronous learning also allows the session to be tailored to the audience as their reactions to the material can be gauged within the session. Clive predicts that virtual classrooms will become more and more widely used as a response to budgetary, environmental and time pressures. 4. Online resources Whereas we already know how vital interactivity is in learning, passive learning resources definitely have their place. When I want to know something, the first places I’ll look are Google, Wikipedia and YouTube. Learning resources can include things like web articles. Videos, podcasts, PDFs, screencasts etc..  They can be crowd-sourced, written by experts or enthusiastic amateurs. We’ve become accustomed to accessing information on demand in our everyday lives, why not in corporate or educational learning too? 5. Online collaboration Our online experience has changed massively over the past few years - we are now interacting with each other online as well as passively consuming. The massive popularity of social networking and sharing sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Yammer, Pintrest, Flickr… the list goes on and on, is testament to the fact that we humans love to use the web to interact with other people. As Clive points out, this could turn out to be the most significant form of learning for the future if organisations can overcome their fears that allowing access to social learning on-demand will distract from the business at hand. In summary elearning is a ‘particularly versatile medium, capable of delivering a high quality and highly-adaptive multimedia experience on a wide range of devices and with unprecedented scaleability’*, so perhaps it’s time it lost its dull, boring and frustrating image?   *Clive Shepherd p16 The Really Useful eLearning Instruction Manual 2013    

"I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." - Mark Twain The same is true of design, and for the purposes of this article I’m going to focus on the design of learning experiences, websites and apps. The secret to great design is simplicity. The challenge is that designing a simple solution to a complex problem is usually a long journey. It is far easier to design something complicated with every bell, whistle, doodah and whatnot, than to focus in on the minimum critical functionality and doing that really well. So firstly, why is there a tendency to over complicate designs? The customer wants it - if a customer has a decent budget and you have a reasonable timescale, almost anything is possible. It becomes tempting to include ‘cool’ functionality just because you’re able to. This is rather like, in course development, adding far too much content - the user can’t see what is important. Unrealistic expectations of users - when you are totally submerged in a project it’s easy to forget that what might seem ‘intuitive’ to you may not be for your users. Getting their heads around your workshop, course, app or system is something they will expect to be easy. They will have high expectations of usability from the apps they use in their personal lives. If your design falls short of this, they will quickly switch off. Not allowing time to think it through - boiling something down and making it really simple to use takes time, thought and effort. It is far easier to design more than less. In the pressure of a project it is tempting to rush the design phase so that you can get going on the build. The trouble is that this will lead to a sub-standard, over-complicated product.  So what can you do to address these three situations? The customer wants it - the constraints of time and budget are your allies here and even if a budget is generous, it won’t be bottomless. This helps you to focus in on the key functionality that the app / system / course / whatever must have. I often ask customers to prioritise functionality as this gives a really good steer on what it vital and what is secondary. Also focus on the behaviours, skills or outcomes that you want users to achieve. Wireframes, mockups and prototypes are great ways to help customers appreciate the level of complexity of something without having to build it. Unrealistic expectations of users - what you need here is empathy. Empathy is the single most important ability for any designer to have. How can you develop empathy? Get to know your users. Spend time with them, talk to them, observe them, run focus groups and studies and use them as sounding boards. User testing early and often will help uncover if something is confusing or over-complicated. Not allowing time to think it through - we typically separate out the design from the build phase of a project. The design phase is done for a small fixed cost, the output of which is the design, specification, costs and timescales for building the solution. Even before we begin the design phase, from discussions with the customer we are able to give an indication of the build cost (usually a range) which the design phase then specifies precisely. This approach mitigates the risk of the project for both parties. I like to work on a design over a period of weeks whilst working on other stuff too. If there is a particularly knotty design problem I don’t throw my self at it. I do a little work, leave it for a few days, then do a little more. I let my mind rest against the problem and wait for a solution to appear. It always does.   I challenge you to look at whatever you are designing right now - it might be a document, a presentation, a workshop, course, system or app - and ask yourself "is it simple?" If the answer is no, invest the time to make it so.

by Tess Robinson, Director, LearningAge Solutions I have to admit that if you say ‘gaming’ to me, it still immediately brings up images of spotty youths barricaded in their bedrooms, slowly developing RSI in their thumbs from their controllers. Increasingly, however, gamification is creeping into the mainstream and particularly into learning. If you look at the basic principles, it isn’t really anything particularly new. Gamification is essentially about: Setting goals and breaking those goals down into simple objectives and steps Setting rules within which those goals can be achieved. Giving feedback - giving learners a sense of progression and achievement and, of course, the opportunity to learn from failure. Probably not so different to what you are already doing. However, an IBM survey for the Metro found that 71% of people use game-like processes and approaches in their everyday lives but only 23% had experienced gamification at work - why is that? Is it simply that it is so embedded that they don’t recognise they are doing it? Or is it that many organisations shy away from what they see as a frivolous way of learning, deeming it not serious enough for the weighty learning tasks in hand? Gamifying a subject does not necessarily make it light-hearted or fun in a ‘ha-ha’ sense. It is more about playing on intrinsic human motivations such as competition, achievement, challenge and even cooperation, in that learners may be rated in group output or on their ability to inspire others. Adding an element of play to that, may make learners more willing to try out new behaviours in a ‘safe’ environment Ben Betts in the Really Useful eLearning Instruction Manual identifies 5 types of games for learning: Drill and Practice These are usually fairly limited and more an ‘interaction’ than a game. Players/learners perform a basic task with repetitions with the aim of reaching rote retention. A bit like learning spellings at school. This type of game is often found as an app with a single mechanic (the actions players take in order to progress in the game) and a basic storyline. Serious Games These games are played for a specific, real-world purpose. They embody multiple mechanics, a well-defined virtual environment (space) and a compelling story. Commercial Off-the-Shelf Games Off-the-shelf commercial games may well contain valuable lessons for the workplace, particularly those that involve strategy and decision-making. You don’t need to have a massive budget then to use the kind of game quality that learners are used to outside work. Alternate Reality Games These are based on transmedia principles. Usually rooted in the internet they create a fictional narrative that players can interact with. Often in the form of a kind-of treasure hunt with a set of clues to be followed. Simulations Perhaps the most useful type of learning game. Simulations reproduce real-world situations, particularly in terms of rules and conditions and increasingly in terms of look-and-feel as well. Simulations allow learners to practice new behaviours and skills in a safe environment before trying them out for real. Simulations are particularly useful where the new behaviour involves a level of risk or where the repercussions of getting something wrong could be disastrous.   It is helpful to set out these five types of games in terms of clarifying the landscape, but gamification doesn’t have to be a big budget, epic virtual world or even a specific type of ‘game’ in order to be effective. The simplest gamification might include things like scaffolded learning with increasing challenges, levels to be achieved, badges, progress bars, virtual currency or points - things that you can build in to all kinds of digital learning.