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

So things have been a little nutty over here lately! I was propositioned to write a book! While I understand that writing a book and getting it published can be a big undertaking, I’m taking it as a learning curve and opportunity to grow my career (and my name)! One of my clients recommended I share my wealth of knowledge, and that’s just what I intend to do. The outline has been submitted and things are moving along - hooray! I wrote a guest blog post for Articulate on ASTD (now ATD) - How crazy is that?! When the lovely folks at Articulate asked me to write a blog post for ATD, I was over the moon! I had a small geek-out, because who hasn’t heard of ATD?! My husband hadn’t, but that’s beside the point. Almost anyone working in the training and development industry is all up in ATD’s business, and I was just floored that I was even being considered as a writer. I have a little author profile over there that shows all of my blog posts (maybe there will be more - who knows?!), and that just seems so crazy to me! I took one a permanent, full-time appointment at the university. Nearly a year back (I can’t believe it’s been that long!), I started working a part-time contract position at a local university. This was great, because I’m very passionate about working in post-secondary education and broadening distance programs to increase accessibility…but even better, I have a fantastic boss who took a chance on me instead of opting to sift through many (likely highly-qualified) applicants. THANK YOU! This has been an incredible learning opportunity, and I’ve been happy to bring my experience to the table to help enhance online course offerings and grow the department. I scaled back my business. When I say ‘scaled back’, I really mean that I now work with few clients instead of many, and I’m very selective about the clients I choose to work with. Most of the contracts I’m taking on are shorter-term, but will hopefully foster long-term working relationships. Scaling back has been great for another reason: I’ve been able to share my wealth of clients with some folks looking to get their start in the freelance game! Gaining clients through referrals (and vice versa - gaining contractors through referrals) is my favourite type of hustle, and it’s nice to give back to an industry that can often times make folks feel stuck - this happens a lot in niche markets. For example, where I’m from the Instructional Designers almost exclusively work within the Defence sector, and the Higher Education sector tends to only employee very few (usually former teachers, which is an over-saturated market in this demographic). With all of that being said, I will repeat myself: I scaled back my business. I love my business and clients, and will not part with it/them too easily. I presented at the Articulate E-Learning Heroes Community Roadshow: Denver, CO. It’s no secret that I love the E-Learning Heroes Community, so when the opportunity to present AND vacation came about, I jumped! I spent two days presenting, observing, and schmoozing (with presenters and participants alike), and learned a ton! THEN, my husband and I spent four more days bumming around Denver. We ate a lot of really good food (shout out Tony P’s on 17th - the Rustica salad is THE BEST salad I have ever consumed), drank some delicious beer - although, I will say that the stout beer with lactose that seemed to be everywhere we went was odd…, and met Erin and her husband, Anthony, for an amazing hike at Mt. Galbraith. When we weren’t doing touristy things (like being amazed at the culture of football and tailgaters), we caught up on all episodes of The League (new favourite tv show), and on our flights we watched Neighbors (hilarious), This is the End (ehhh…I wanted to love this a lot more than I did), and Divergent (which Joe thought was the Hunger Games: Catching Fire…whoops!). All said, it was an amazing vacation - we needed it! Also a bonus - we were very worried dog parents, but after a week of boarding and day care, Oliver was happy to see us and did well with all of the pups - hooray! I enrolled in the Online Learning Consortium’s Teaching Certificate. This is part of my professional development at the university, and I’m excited to see how it can help me better facilitate the conversion of instructor-led courses to blended and online formats. I already know a lot about doing this, but I anticipate the certificate program will give me a bit more of a look into the faculty member’s perspective. There are three electives required, and all of the workshops look pretty exciting; I’ve already picked out the three I want to take! The one thing I’m concerned about is becoming a student again (albeit this program will be a lot easier of a transition than the alternative - a PhD program I’ve been considering); it’s been awhile, and I need to get my mind back into schoolwork mode.  

Across all disciplines, American companies are spending over $164 billion on corporate training, with sales being one of the top areas seeing budgetary growth. That’s great news, because continuing education and coaching has been cited as one of the most important factors when employees evaluate career opportunities. And yet, Imparta has curated some very sobering statistics. Up to 80% of new skills are lost within 1 week of training if not used - ASTD Up to 85% of sales training fails to deliver a positive ROI - HR Chally 87% of new skills are lost within a month of the training - Xerox So, if billions of dollars are being spent on sales training in the US alone, and it’s not working… Yikes. There’s a major disconnect, isn’t there? We’ve worked with companies at all stages of sales training development, and we’ve seen many reasons why the training wasn’t working. Here are some of those reasons. It ultimately doesn’t drive changes in behavior. That’s the real reason for training, right? To help someone do something new, different or better than before? Sometimes it’s a matter of clearly defining the training objective, but it also needs to be conducted in a way that drives and measures actual behavioral change. It’s boring. Uninteresting content produces very low retention rates. If students mentally check out because they are bored, they won’t remember a thing. It’s too long. Attention spans are getting shorter every day. Some studies suggest that learners experience a lapse in attention every few minutes. So why does training go on for hours, if not days? Considering salespeople have even more distractions than ever before, training needs to be adapted to their current environment.  It covers too much material. The human brain can only process and store so much new information in one sitting. If too much knowledge is crammed into one training session, only a small percentage of it will be retained. It’s irrelevant or outdated. If content isn’t useful, why would anyone make an effort to remember it? And yet, so much learning content is out-of-date because of the perceived cost of updating it. What’s the cost of conducting training that isn’t working? There’s no follow-up. Are trainers touching base with students periodically after training is complete? Are sales managers supporting the training effort by doing the same? Persistent follow-up helps reinforcement and compliance. There’s no interactivity or simulations to provide real-life application. Poet John Gay’s famous quote, "Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand," couldn’t be more true. Many concepts simply can’t be put into proper context in traditional, classroom-style training sessions. There’s no buy-in from leadership. A classic chicken-or-egg scenario: does leadership not support training efforts because they don’t drive measurable results? Or does training not drive measurable results because leadership doesn’t support it? It’s often a combination of both. Information isn’t needed on a daily basis. The old adage "use it or lose it" certainly applies to professional knowledge, and when an employee doesn’t quite remember something learned in the past, they will either guess or avoid the topic altogether, neither of which are what you, as a manager, want your employees to do. Why does ineffective sales training continue to exist? That’s a good question. We think a global overhaul is indeed underway, but major shifts always run into a few bumps, such as: Lack of budget approval Lack of technology adoption Lack of awareness or understanding that training isn’t working, or what to do about it Lack of buy-in from key stakeholders Every one of the issues outlined here can be solved with a creative eLearning strategy. There is no reason to continue offering sales training that doesn’t work. If you think your company could use a revamp in the training area, contact us today for a free assessment. photo credit: Unhindered by Talent

Next week I begin the OLC Teaching Certificate, and as a prerequisite I had to take a brief (1 week) workshop. There has been some discussion about the changing role of traditional face-to-face instructors when they begin teaching online, so I thought it might be relevant to provide my thoughts on these changing roles. Instructor The instructor of a class is often viewed as the Subject Matter Expert (SME), and while there are various delivery mechanisms this instructor may choose to use, instructors are often viewed as feeding students with information. Some call this a ‘banking’ model, wherein the instructor is depositing information into the bank of student minds. This is a traditional method of instruction for a reason: it’s been used for many moons, and it works. However, it’s not the only way teaching and learning can work. Facilitator Facilitators are often viewed as ‘a guide on the side’ in that they provide the subject matter/content to the students, but the students build upon the information collaboratively with one another. The facilitator facilitates discussions surrounding the content and keeps the students focused on the learning outcomes, but they operate in a more holistic approach. How does this relate to online learning? Well - in online learning, the instructor really needs to make a shift and adapt their teaching preferences according to the environment in which information is being delivered. For example, if you choose to continue with the traditional ‘banking’ style of approach in an online delivery format, your course will likely end up looking like a repository of information…which is not very engaging instructional design. In this example, you can see very clearly why the banking method doesn’t work that well for online as it does for face-to-face instruction; while, the facilitator role can work well in both contexts of delivery. With that being said, the facilitator may need to adapt their role based on the environment in that they may need to provide more examples and explanations in the online format to mitigate the lack of face-to-face engagement. Change is innately unwanted and there is always resistance to change, but in the interest of your audience, it’s a necessary evil! Still confused? Here are some resources! The Excellent Online Instructor: Strategies for Professional Development by Rena M. Palloff  Army Instructors to Army Facilitators - Practical Considerations by Anna Cianciolo and William R. Bickley Transforming Online Teaching Practice: Critical Analysis of the Literature on the Roles and Competencies of Online Teachers by E. Baran, A-P. Correia, and A. Thompson Inquiry Learning: Instructor Perspectives by S. Vajoczki, S. Watt, and M. Vine

Technology has had a profound impact on learning. The most recent significant overhaul came from the advent of mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad. We’re now able to optimize learning content for engagement on these mobile devices, meaning that training is no longer anchored to the classroom or desktop. Employees are more empowered and self-sufficient than ever, armed with performance support materials and checklists to help them do their jobs better, faster and with fewer mistakes. We’re getting ready to witness another wave of advancements in technology that has the potential to change how we learn yet again. Wearable technology is on a fast-paced growth track, with several devices already commanding the market. Here are just a handful of examples: Eyeglass computers, such as Google Glass Smart watches, like the much-anticipated Apple Watch Personal activity monitors, like Fitbit and Nike Fit Band Wearable cameras, such as GoPro and Autographer As this article from Educause points out, wearable technology can run the gamut from the complex and multi-functional - like Google Glass - to the rather simple, focused device like a personal activity monitor that logs steps taken throughout the day. While some questions are being raised about privacy and security, it’s not difficult to see the tremendous potential for wearable eLearning technology. Here are a few reasons to ponder: Wearables are hands-free, and sometimes voice-activated. Current mobile performance support requires a handheld mobile device, like a smartphone or tablet. While incredibly efficient and handy - no pun intended - it does require the learner to stop what they’re doing to pick up the device and navigate to the content they need. Wearable tech has the potential to respond to a user’s environment and possibly voice-commands to call up supporting content without disrupting the task at hand. Wearables have the potential to be even more intuitive than today’s mobile devices. They have the potential to require less effort on the part of the wearer to make it work, and can recognize and respond to the surrounding environment. Content is delivered and consumed faster, easier and is embedded in real life. Learning in a classroom, storing information for later, then trying to recall it when it’s needed is proving to be a terrible way to train. Information is accessible and sharable in real time. Paired with other up-and-coming technology, like augmented reality, wearable devices such as Google Glass have the potential to create multidimensional, spatially-accurate simulations for learning and performance support. How Far Away is the Future? If the thought of this sounds a little too Inspector Gadget for you, don’t worry. You have plenty of time to get comfortable with the idea. While it seems everyone you know has a FitBit, wearable devices as a whole are a long way from mainstream adoption. There are many questions lingering and improvements to be made, such as battery life, data synchronization with other devices and systems, improved functionality, ease of use, and privacy and security concerns. Even if we’re still a few years away, it’s exciting to imagine how current mobile learning could be advanced by emerging technology. Do you think wearable devices will become mainstream in corporate eLearning? Leave a comment below. photo credit: Thomas Hawk  

This week’s challenge is a fun one! Storyline 2 offers the ability to easily create slider interactions, a feat which was previously completed by using states….and LOTS of ‘em! Think hundreds (depending on what you’re trying to accomplish). Now, you can create sliders with a few clicks of some buttons - presto, tada! I was also excited to jump on the bandwagon this week, because last week I started something and didn’t finish…and it’s always nice to sneak in right before the recap is posted - I like living on the edge! The Concept Use interactive sliders to focus on functionality and/or design. For this challenge, I chose to focus on both. I wanted to illustrate how you could use sliders to create an interactive website mockup - fun and practical (for some)! You could take my colour customization approach to another level and use states to incorporate different layout options - that would be cool! The Method I thought up how I might want to work with the sliders to make my imagined design come to life, so I first created a little mock up website layout. Then, I pulled some elements from the mock up (background colour, title text colour, and body element colours) to and made some quick colour palettes - some, when combined, are more appealing than others (…basically the default looks the best - don’t hate). Once I decided how I was going to roll this all out, I created my sliders. I created one slider for each element, created a four colour-way palette for each element, and then created four states (well - three, because one was normal) for each element, one for each colour. Then, I set the sliders to show each state when the user drags the slider to a certain point, using triggers to change the states. After it was all said and done, I added a little intro slide, customized the player, and the rest is history! The Result Click here to view the full, interactive demo! Click here to download the source file to learn how you too can create a comparable interaction!

A typical day in the field for most utility workers is probably pretty routine, performing maintenance and inspections or responding to calls of outages. However, even the routine can require complex, technical knowledge. And what happens when a more serious event takes place? Whether you work in gas, electricity or water, field workers have a lot they need to know just for everyday work. Add to that the projects that happen on a less-than-daily basis, and there are a lot of procedures to remember. More critical, yours is an industry that safety is of utmost importance, for both your team and the general public. Your team must be both competent and confident. Training Isn't a One-Time Thing Utility employees go through some kind of training when they first start working for you. There may be additional training as new technology or systems are adopted. But many organizations assume that basic initial training is sufficient. It’s expected that a worker will retain what was covered in training and be able to apply it in the field. In such a complex and technical field of work, not only is this an unrealistic expectation, but it can also bring about significant consequences. And often, especially in the utility industry, there are procedures and processes that might be done only seldom--sometimes years in between. How are employees supposed to retain their skills? Performance support tools are an extension of training that help ensure workers are able to acquire and apply knowledge not only through training, but through guided, in-field experience. The key word here, of course, is guided. Benefits of Offering Performance Support to Field Workers Adding performance support solutions to your field worker training program can have many positive implications for your team. Let’s explore a few. Remember steps to processes performed less frequently. While a worker may think he remembers what he’s supposed to do, his confidence may fade once he’s actually in front of a piece of equipment. A checklist in hand will help jog his memory. Remember the order in which steps are to be completed. Workers will never again have to wonder whether a button should be pushed before or after a setting is adjusted in Step 4. Reduce errors and guesses. When workers know what steps need to be completed and in what order, trial-and-error is reduced, along with the costs involved in fixing mistakes. Maintain reports of process completion. Completed checklists let you compile historical records of when certain processes or steps were last done, and by whom. Support new hires as they transition into the field. New hires will enter the field feeling more confident knowing that they possess tools designed to make them successful from day one. Empower employees to tackle unknown or complex tasks on their own. This brings us back to the two c-words mentioned earlier, competence and confidence. Lacking one can produce undesirable results, but performance support tools can keep both in check. Safety. Not only can errors be costly to fix, they can also be dangerous. Performance support helps increase safety. Make it Mobile for Even Greater Efficiency Offering performance support materials like checklists and job aids is a good first step, but considering printing costs and general inefficiencies of paper shuffling, putting these materials on a mobile device like an iPad make them even more useful. Imagine how sharp your team could be if they had a checklist on an iPad that collected data in real time and aggregated it into a supervisor’s summary? And if, within that checklist, there were links to how-to videos that offered more detail on how to complete a step? If it sounds infeasible, it’s not. Utility companies like yours are already using mobile performance support, and we can show you how. Let us know if you’d like to set up a free 30-minute discussion with our team! photo credit: Tau Zero  

People ALWAYS ask me about freelancing - Always! As many of you folks know, I spent several years freelancing prior to making the jump into full-time (and now part-time) independent contractor-ship. When you’re just getting started, you can be overwhelmed by the amount of work you’re doing, underwhelmed by the amount of opportunities you’re finding, and dazzled by the dollars you’re raking in. Before you get too deep in the freelance game, you really should step back and organize yourself…or at least screw your head on right. Here are some helpful pieces of advice for doing just that! 1 - Set some of your profits aside. And by this, I don’t mean in a fun-money fund for your next vacation to Fiji. I mean that taxes are impending (and may incite of feeling of dread or doom) reality, and you really don’t want to pay them out of pocket because you were so busy being pumped on the extra cash you were bringing in. If you fail to set cash aside, it actually turns out to be counter-productive and may make all of your hard work and hours spent moonlighting seem fruitless. Ain’t nobody got time for that! Here’s what I do: When I receive payment on an invoice, I take 30% of the payment and put it in a separate savings account. Next year I will be opening up a business account, but if you’re just sticking to occasional freelancing as a supplement to your income, a savings account should be sufficient. This 30% deduction can be a bitter pill to swallow, but it ensures that I won’t get strapped paying taxes out of pocket (and may even receive a refund - who knows?) come tax time! 2 - Get organized! This advice might seem like a no-brainer, but unless you’re a planner at heart, the last thing most folks do is get organized, and failing to do so can get messy realllllly fast. As a freelancer, you should have several processes in place before you get too involved, such as development processes (for whatever it is you develop), get-money processes (for invoicing/collecting payment), kick off and close out processes (for kicking off and closing out a project with a client). Having these processes in place will save you a ton of time, streamlining the projects you work on from start to finish. Here’s what I do: One of the first things I do when I start a project is open up my Project Management Software (PMS) and set up a new project. Prior to the kick off meeting, I review anything the client has sent me and compile a list of questions I have (deadlines, review cycles, etc.). During the kick off meeting, I document the conversation in a Word document, which I then save to the project in my PMS. After the kick off meeting, I itemize all of the project tasks and set deadlines in the PMS. Basically the PMS runs my life and keeps me on point. At the end of the project, I have a wrap-up meeting (or email exchange, depending on client preferences), document what was said, and upload the document to the PMS. Then, I generate an invoice…in the PMS (previously, I had a Word template for this, which I would email) and send it to the client. The moral of this story - find a PMS you love and use it! I recommend Pancake. Before I caught on to the importance of being organized in my freelance life, things were messy. PMS has changed my life, and I find it so helpful (and refreshing) when I work with clients who use them too! Another great way to stay organized (and productive) is to maintain a tidy office space and use folders for hard-copy paperwork (e.g. contracts, non-disclosure agreements, tax documentation). This will make your life a lot easier when you need to refer to a piece of paper you printed off once upon a time. 3 - Be considerate (to yourself and others). In this context, being considerate doesn’t necessarily mean being nice to yourself and to others (but, that will happen indirectly). It really means being cognizant of your abilities and not over-obligating yourself. Furthermore, being considerate to yourself should also mean: don’t apply to every single thing your see - especially if you’re freelancing through odesk, elance, freelancer, or one of the many freelancing sites. Here’s what I do: Initially I did not heed my own advice, and I paid dearly (over-committing to projects I wasn’t qualified for or which I absolutely hated). Before you start working at the freelance chain game, take some time and itemize your interests and qualifications. Then, bid or apply for projects that align with your qualifications or interests. This will ensure that you don’t get saddled bidding on ‘Spinning 100 articles for 30 dollars’ or writing some kids PhD thesis for a 250 bucks - neither of which are at the high of ethics and integrity…or profit. Be considerate and smart about what you apply for, don’t undervalue yourself, and don’t over-commit!

Finding a way to not only compete, but establish sustainable competitive advantage is one of the biggest challenges business leaders face in today’s global marketplace. It’s become harder to create a product or service that’s truly unique in the market, considering most markets are now on a worldwide scale and rapidly evolving technologies. And even with the best of products, it’s typically not long before a competitor launches something similar. You know what is really hard to duplicate, though? Culture. A strong company culture not only shines through in marketing communications (Zappos is a great example) but an employee-centric one can catapult you above and beyond your competitors. Why? People want to work for companies like that. You’ll attract and retain better talent. Today’s employees have a long list of expectations for potential employers, and support, advancement opportunities and professional development fill some of the top slots. What is a Knowledge Culture? A company culture that fosters professional development and growth in employees can also be thought of as a knowledge culture, and it’s something very few companies do especially well or invest in. Organizations with a strong knowledge culture are easy to spot. Leadership believes in ongoing coaching to help employees develop into valuable team members and future leaders. Support for continuous learning is strong, whether through internally-created training programs or external continuing education or certifications. Employees get better at their job with each passing year and are engaged in their professional development. Why is a Knowledge Culture Important for Today's Organizations? Simply put, organizations that make knowledge freely accessible to their team members simply produce more, spend less and achieve far superior results, and the reasons go beyond smarter employees. You send a message both inside and outside the organization about how employees are treated. Here are a few reasons to consider: Employees feel valued. Opportunities for growth and development are one of the things employees want most in a job today. Lower costs associated with errors and inefficient training brings increased profitability. Greater sales success and increased revenue. Decreased turnover, as your skilled employees are less likely to suspect greener pastures lie elsewhere. Use the emphasis on employee development as a recruiting tool to attract and retain better talent. Knowledgeable employees feel empowered, so they take care of things on their own while taking fewer guesses, making fewer mistakes and taking less of time. How Can You Create a Culture of Knowledge at Your Organization? To start creating an environment where knowledge is easily accessible and can be easily linked to work processes, you’ll need a few things: Abstract knowledge translated into concrete "how-to" content that is specific to individual job functions. Collaboration among peers and colleagues. An understanding that training and learning are different. Training is finite; learning is ongoing. A consistent approach to team member accountability. Most importantly - a solid commitment to make the necessary changes from those with the power to impact success. These first steps are only the beginning, and we can help you get to the next level in driving a culture of knowledge at your organization. Learn more by scheduling a quick meeting with our team today! photo credit: claymore2211  

This week’s term, microlearning, was inspired by several Twitter chats I’ve been lurking for awhile now. In times like these where information is constantly requested/searched, there’s a greater trend toward instant gratification - and the wonders of the Internet can do magic to make this happen! Microlearning Microlearning refers to learning that occurs in bite sized chunks or very short-term learning activities. For example, these Twitter chats. Each week, participants respond to questions posed and are able to read (and respond to) the responses of fellow participants. It’s really a great form of collaborative learning. Twitter chats are a great example, because responses occur within the constraint of 140 characters, and learners are encouraged to synthesize this information in bite-sized responses or presentation. But who the heck would this benefit?! Everyone involved! Well - maybe not everyone (there are always outliers), but most participants and facilitators. I’ll give you an example of how microlearning is working in an online course I worked on. The faculty member came to me wanting to redevelop her course. She wanted to swap out some readings and make it more engaging for students. Her course consists of about 3000 pages of readings over a semester (they’re all children’s books), a midterm and final exam, and some written assignments. Holy crap! What a slave driver, you might think…the reality is not really, but I could see how students might balk at the workload. In any event, she was struggling with quality forum participation because the students were exhausted by the workload and couldn’t commit to writing lengthy posts and responses. She also tried a wiki to no avail (well - it worked, but not in an optimal manner). I suggested a Twitter chat for her; like the forum posts, she could incite participation out of a course requirement and she could require the student post one original response to the question and respond to at least two of their peers, BUT the student would only be required to write a maximum of 420 characters instead of potentially a minimum of 1500 words! This approach benefits the faculty member in terms of her participation grading and it benefits the students by requiring less of their already taxing workload to obtain the elusive participation points (some students would just drop the participation grade of 5-10% as they were too swamped to participate, but 5-10% can mean a lot of the course of a course). Confused by what I’m talking about? Here are some great examples and some resources! Lrnchat EdTechChat Microlearning.org Application of Microlearning Technique and Twitter for Educational Purposes by B.H. Aitchanov, A.B. Satabaldiyev, and K.N. Latuta Mobile Learning with Micro Content: A Framework and Evaluation by Peter A. Bruck

She’s the first to admit this, but my 60-something year old mother is demonstrably not tech savvy. You can imagine how difficult the world is becoming for her. TVs used to have a simple on/off button and maybe a clicker to change the channels, but now we have DVRs, blu ray players, streaming devices like Roku and ChromeCast, and televisions that will practically have dinner ready when you get home.  Mom relies on her children to help whenever a new piece of technology enters the house, and the first thing she does is grab a pen and notepad. "I have to make my cheat sheet," she says. We then start at the beginning, from what remote to use through everything she needs to do to accomplish her desired outcome. She writes slowly and deliberately, making sure her cheat sheet is legible for the next time she needs to use it. Her little Post-Its are stashed throughout the house so she can find them whenever she needs one. You may be chuckling at one woman’s struggle to watch her Gilmore Girls DVDs, but for her, household technology is a challenge. In our jobs, we all have that equivalent. There are things we need to know how to do that, for whatever reason, our memories need some help. Many of us are also responsible for projects that are complicated or highly technical. The most in-depth training usually doesn’t stick when it’s done in a one-off fashion as part of a two-day conference. Despite our best intentions, we walk out of there and promptly forget the finer details we really need to know. Performance support checklists, like my mom’s cable box cheat sheet, are the best solution. They produce markedly improved results with a comparatively minimal investment in time and resources to create. The beauty is in its simplicity but, like anything else, it has to be done well to get the best results. What Makes a Good Checklist? It has a clear objective. Before you even assemble your checklist, you should know what employees have completed at the end of it. Does the checklist support a process for a mechanical inspection? Perhaps a part installation? Maybe it’s less technical and is meant to help a salesperson update a prospect record in the CRM. Regardless, know what your audience should have successfully done by the end of the checklist. It’s not too long. Avoid overwhelming employees by breaking a process into multiple checklists, rather than one that has too many steps. It doesn’t skip steps or combine several steps into one item. Keep each item on the checklist separate from others and avoid temptation to combine them. Doing so will avoid misunderstandings. While some employees may only need to reference the checklist a handful of times, others might rely heavily on it, so it’s best to avoid assumptions. It links to knowledge for additional support. A checklist is designed to help an employee remember what steps need to be completed and in what order. Sometimes, though, it’s helpful to also have a refresher on how to complete a step. Here, you can provide a link to additional training materials, like charts, diagrams, photos, infographics and videos that help jog an employee’s memory or confirm they are performing the step correctly. It’s completed electronically on a computer or mobile device. Not only does this save paper and printing costs, electronic checklists are easier to update with new processes, and easier to complete and submit. It sends data to an internal system to collect and summarize for management. In addition to the benefits mentioned above, electronic checklists make data collection and reporting a breeze. Supervisors can view at-a-glance reports reflecting the aggregate performance of their team in near-real time. Come to think of it, I may need to look into electronic checklists for my mom. But, I’d probably have to help her make a cheat sheet of how to find them on her iPad. We can help make the checklist creation and implementation process a breeze for you and your employees. Give us a ring; we’d be happy to chat. photo credit: Choconancy1  

Yesterday, Jonathan from the Articulate E-Learning Heroes Community tweeted at me asking how I go about publishing my Articulate Storyline outputs to Dropbox, so I made a screencast! It took a couple of takes due to sneezing fits and barking beagles, but I think it does a good job at explaining how easy it is to upload your Storyline outputs to both Dropbox.com and Google Drive. Below, I’ll outline the steps and then I’ll include the screencast so you can see how I published my Storyline output to both technologies. Publishing to Dropbox Download and install the Dropbox app. Drag your output folder to your dropbox. Open dropbox and drag the output folder to the Public folder. Open the uploaded folder, within the Public folder, and right-click the story.html file. Select Copy Public Link. Open a new browser tab and paste the copied link. Publishing to Google Drive Download and install the Google Drive app. Drag your output folder to your Google Drive. Open the uploaded folder, and rename ‘story.html’ to ‘index.html’ Return to the your main page of Google Drive and right-click the uploaded folder. Select Google Drive > View on the web. Google Drive will open; Select Open in Drive (in the upper right-hand corner). Click My Drive, and then select the check mark beside the uploaded folder. Select the Share icon (icon of a person with a + symbol) and click Advanced. Select Change next to ‘who has access’ and change the permissions to Public on the web. Click Save. Enter the uploaded folder, and in the browser address bar, copy the identifier, which includes all letters and numbers appearing after "0#folders/". Open a new browser tab and in the address bar type "http://googledrive.com/host/" after ‘/host/’, paste the identifier copied in the previous step. As you can see, there are a few more steps when publishing to Google Drive versus doing so with Dropbox, so for ease, I recommend Dropbox; however, both are good options. My preferences is to publish to my website’s server, and if that option isn’t available, publishing to Articulate Tempshare. Video Demonstration - Publishing Articulate Storyline Output to Dropbox and Google Drive Sharing Storyline Dropbox GoogleDrive from Ashley Chiasson on Vimeo.

Ever watch Mythbusters? The popular television show follows a team tasked with putting commonly held beliefs to the test, to determine whether there is truth behind the myth. Through our work, we’ve done a little mythbusting of our own and found that many commonly held beliefs about knowledge and learning are indeed myths. There are a few stage four clingers that, no matter what research and practical application has done to debunk them, refuse to completely go away. We’re going to attempt to—once and for all—dispel some of the most common myths of organizational knowledge so that we, as an industry, can collectively move past them. Lingering Myths of Organizational Learning KNOWLEDGE MYTH 1: Learning stops when training ends. Thank goodness this is completely false. Can you imagine what our professional—or even personal—lives would be like if learning was restricted to just every-so-often one-off sessions? And you had to rely solely on those to succeed at your job and, well, life? Technology doesn’t even allow that anymore. If you use Google, you learn. If you are active in social media, you learn. Learning is all around us, and organizations should play a role in that process. But many training departments stop with the initial training. Why? There’s so much more you can do. KNOWLEDGE MYTH 2: Mind reading is a reliable way of transferring the knowledge that makes your company run. We all chuckle when any reference is made to mind reading, because we know it’s not possible. However, when you look at how many organizations approach learning, it’s as if leadership wholeheartedly believes it’s not only possible, but expected. Nothing deflates an employee’s confidence faster than expecting him or her to be a mind reader, then expressing disappointment that they don’t possess critical knowledge. But lots of institutions make assumptions that employees will learn on the job. Through osmosis. Or something. KNOWLEDGE MYTH 3: The oral tradition is a dependable way of communicating important information. You know that phrase "in one ear and out the other?" You can’t rely on verbal communication alone. It’s improbable for the the average human brain to process and retain it all. Furthermore, only 30% of us are auditory learners. These folks learn best by hearing something rather than seeing or experiencing it, and they are in the minority. Sixty percent of your audience needs to receive information by another means, and it’s crucial to account for all learning types. The problem is the "telephone game" effect. One where the story changes from telling to telling and becomes distorted. If you want the story to remain the same (ie standardized training) then think about ways to facilitate and participate in the knowledge transfer process. KNOWLEDGE MYTH 4: Smart people should be able to figure it out. This assumption puts undue pressure on employees to take total responsibility for their own professional development and sets them up for failure. Even self-starters need some direction on what needs to be learned and where to find the best information. Some tasks are too complicated—or even unsafe—for employees to just "figure it out." KNOWLEDGE MYTH 5: Knowledge is innate—you either have it or you don’t. It’s common practice in lots of organizations to expect employees to "just know" what to do. But how can they? Knowledge is unique to every organization. Nearly all employees have the ability to learn, but every learner is different, and knowledge that is specific to your organization absolutely must be taught. Knowledge, skills and beliefs can ALL be taught. And it’s important to create a culture of knowledge in your organization. KNOWLEDGE MYTH 6: Detailed processes eliminate the need for thinking. You’ve got a checklist, what more could you need? A lot more when you think about how much knowledge each step in the process requires. An employee might know that step B follows step A, but what if they aren’t sure what step B entails? Some on-the-spot knowledge support can improve confidence and reduce errors. The process is NOT the content, but you can link the two by creating process tools and guides with the knowledge "built-in". If your organization is still clinging to some of these training myths, let us know. We can help you kick them to the curb once and for all. Get in touch! photo credit: marksmotos  

Let’s paint a mental picture. Imagine you work in a technical role. Your typical day involves working with high-powered and complex machinery. It doesn’t matter whether you’re picturing a job in automotive manufacturing or at a nuclear substation. You don’t sit at a desk all day. You’re up, out and about, working with your hands and possibly even outdoors, rain or shine. The work you do is important. Mistakes are costly—they either hold up the following steps in a process, cost time and money to repair or, in some cases, are dangerous. Not just dangerous for you, but for others: your coworkers or even the public at large. Technical Jobs Require Ongoing Learning Your job involves a certain amount of routine tasks: tasks you perform on a regular basis. You can practically complete these in your sleep, you’ve done them so many times. But, that wasn’t the case when you first started this job. You had to learn what to do and why, how to quickly assess and correct mistakes, and practice each step repeatedly until it became habit. On the other hand, your job also involves tasks that aren’t performed regularly. Perhaps certain types of maintenance are only performed sporadically. You also need to know how to handle malfunctioning equipment, to either repair it or shut it down to ward off additional problems with potentially severe consequences. How do you learn these processes? What do you do when you need to complete a task and you don't remember all the steps? It's a lot to remember and frankly, it's unrealistic to expect people working in a technical role to commit to memory every step of every process. Thankfully, there are better solutions. Our Day-to-Day is Always Evolving As technology advances, equipment may be replaced or processes updated and streamlined. Any of those situations can impact how an employee goes about his day-to-day. There is always something new to learn. That said, what’s the best way to train existing employees on new equipment or processes? train new employees entering the field? help employees complete tasks or processes that are beyond day-to-day work? We’ve written recently about checklists, and what a powerful tool they can be to help guide employees through a complex process. When the brain needs a boost, the checklist is there to jog the memory. Moving up a notch, we can make checklists available electronically on a computer or mobile device. Not only are they easier to fill out, submit, record and report, they are portable. It’s an effective way to help employees tackle new, difficult or infrequently performed tasks. Why are checklists with learning attached a powerful combination? We can still do one better. Let’s make the checklist electronic AND have it link directly to additional information that supports each step. It puts everything an employee needs to complete any task at his fingertips. So, if Step 3 involves adjusting a setting, but the worker isn’t sure exactly how to do that, not only can he refer to the checklist to remember when to adjust the setting, but he can watch a quick video or review a short job aid that walks him through how to adjust the setting. When employees have access to performance support tools, they feel more empowered, are more self-sufficient and make fewer mistakes. Companies therefore improve overall quality, save money and realize lower employee turnover. We’ve helped other organizations implement checklists with learning attached, and we can help you too. Schedule a free assessment with our team to learn more. photo credit: ★keaggy.com  

Lately I’ve been busying myself with an online learning opportunity, among other things (you know…things that pay the bills and put kibble in the dog’s bowl), and the concept of learning communities cropped up (more on that later) and subsequently the Community of Inquiry (COI) Model. When I first came to work in Higher Education, I was reminded of the COI model when reviewing my first course - of which there was very little student engagement and participation. The faculty member was new to developing courses for online delivery, and their course reflected that; it looked like a straight ‘chalk-and-talk’ style conversion. In my review, I encouraged the faculty member to create a Community of Inquiry with their students and explained what I meant by that. Because I was providing my review in an academic manner, drawing on well-respected and understood concepts within the academic community, the faculty member was incredibly receptive to my revision suggestions, and I’m sure their students appreciated it! Maybe if I would have known of the COI Model when I was managing a Starbucks during my undergrad…maybe then my 16-22 year old staff members would have appreciated my criticism more…naaaah. So, what is this Community of Inquiry Model you speak of? The Community of Inquiry Model is a concept that takes two awesome things: scientific inquiry and the construction of knowledge and mashes them into one amazing conceptualization! In the context of education, COI is most often observed when an instructor facilitates topical discussions, allowing students to ask questions and engage with one another and bounce understanding of the topic off one another. The facilitator is important here, as they are responsible for guiding their students and keeping them on track with regard to the topic (e.g. ensuring students don’t generate incorrect information as being ‘true’ with relation to the topic). What are some good ways of fostering COI in online learning? Discussion forums - As an online student, I always loved the discussion forums! The instructor would prompt students to respond to a question (or several) in at least 500 words, and then respond to at least 2 other participants in at least 500 words. This method did just what it intended to do, generated discussion! And for me, it was a great approach to collaborative learning. If the instructor was unable to explain a concept in terms I could understand, another participant could often produce a tangible explanation for me. Twitter chats - I talked about these last week (and I think the week before), but they’re really a great way of creating COI, because they allow users to participate in a palatable manner - especially if time is a concern. Synchronous elements - Working at an institution that was really a pioneer in the broadcast television manner of providing distance learning opportunities, I always encourage my faculty members to include some synchronous element in their courses, and to make at least one session an attendance requirement. These are great! They allow participants to communicate with the instructor and ask questions. Some students can be hesitant to participate, so these sessions can be helpful as many students often have the same course-related questions or concerns. But Ashley…where are my resources?! The Community of Inquiry  CIDER: The Community of Inquiry Webinars The Community of Inquiry Model Framework Ten Years Later: An Introduction to the Special Issue by Karen Swan and Phil Ice Utilizing Technology to Develop a Community of Inquiry by Nathan Hall and Michael Burri Strategies for Creating a Community of Inquiry Through Online Asynchronous Discussions by Aimee deNoyelles, Janet Mannheimer Zydney, and Baiyun Chen