After reading the recent post on Brandon Hall Group’s blog about the parallels between marketing and learning, I was excited to discover that others in the industry think the same way we do about the future of learning. As we expand—no pun intended— our product offerings, we’ve often looked to digital marketing and marketing automation for inspiration. The question remains... Did marketing borrow from training, or is training now borrowing from marketing? It's both. Having worked both in traditional and digital marketing, I’ve watched my profession shift to more customer-centric, personalized tactics powered by data and technology. Customers had gotten too smart, too savvy. It no longer worked to shove our messages in front of a mass audience, hoping that a percentage of them would be convinced of what we had to say. Even Don Draper couldn’t convince us of traditional advertising’s value anymore. Customers started to demand more personalized solutions. They started trying to solve their own problems and doing their own research to arrive at their own conclusions. An aggressive pitch was no longer persuasive. Educational content that consumers can find and consume on their own time to guide them to their conclusion, however, is very effective. So, you might say marketing borrowed from training when we started to use words like educate, coach and teach. Marketers went a step further to use automation technology to deliver the right content to the right person at the right time - a difficult yet important aspect of engaging today’s consumers. This is where training is starting to borrow from marketing. We’ve written on our blog about just in time learning and Learning Campaigns, and why they are better than traditional classroom training or even a one-off eLearning module. 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. Several Parallels Exist between Marketing and Training Getting and keeping the attention of your audience is harder than ever before. Audience members expect any content they consume will help solve their unique problems. Just as smart marketers are creating Buyer Personas to guide their efforts, training professionals should create Learner Personas to deeply understand their audience. Audience members want to consume that content when and how they want. This means that content needs to be easy to find, available 24/7 and optimized for multiple devices. You can’t assume your message got across after one touch. It requires repeated reinforcement. Your job as the content creator is to be helpful. In marketing, you’re providing information to help someone make a decision. In learning, you’re providing guidance to help someone complete a task or do their job better. Learning Campaigns are similar to marketing lead nurturing campaigns via marketing automation platforms; multiple touches, scheduled over a series of days or weeks, are set to deploy automatically and collect performance data of each step. Mass changes to how consumers make buying decisions and creation of powerful, data-driven technology have completely changed how marketers strategize and capture leads, and it can do the same for learning. Want to see how? Let us show you how a Learning Campaign works. photo credit: Luke Peterson Photography  

Hey folks! First off, I want to apologize for the less than exciting blogging week; things have been completely insane over here! Two projects on the go, two books being written (whaaaaat?!), webinars and meetings - oh my!, and a proposal that I’m working on. All exciting things, but how does Beyonce do it? This week I wanted to chat a bit about rubrics. The online course I’m taking is currently discussing course quality, and rubrics feature prominently in this discussion. Now, as a student, I’ve been on the annoyance side of the rubric stand-point (ugh…a table?! you want me to look at a table to figure out what I need to do?!), but I’ve also learned to appreciate the structure of a rubric and how functional it can be, especially when evaluating more subjective materials that don’t necessarily have a solid wrong or right answer - e.g. papers. So, what is a rubric? A rubric is an evaluation tool that allows individuals responsible for evaluation tasks to be able to easily and effectively do their jobs. Rubrics break down the criteria, providing a range of options for each item. Evaluators will select the range option that corresponds with the material for which they are evaluating. At the end of the evaluation, the score (based on the range options selected) will be added up, providing the student with their grade. I’m with you, Ashley - these sound annoying. Why would anyone use them? As I said before, they make it a heck of a lot easier to evaluate subjective materials They can enhance academic achievement by providing students with a clear outline of what they need to do in order to score within a particular range. They can provide students with a criteria for conducting peer evaluations, which as an instructor, ensures you don’t get an entire class  full of 5/5 peer evaluations. As an instructor, they help you back up your evaluation decisions by offering a tangible explanation for students who seek to challenge their grades. Rubric resources, please. Here you go: Understanding Rubrics by Heidi Goodrich Andrade Creating a Rubric - University of Colorado 3 Rubric Makers that will Save you Time and Stress - Edudemic

At some point, we’ve all sat through a training class. Tell me if you disagree, but they’re awfully boring, aren’t they? It’s impossible to focus for hours at a time, the temperature of the room is never comfortable, and so much information is thrown at you it starts to go in one ear and out the other. Bottom line, it’s just not effective. However, so many organizations rely on in-person, classroom training to address—and hopefully solve—all sorts of issues. Productivity is low? It’s a training issue. Operating expenses creeping a bit high? We need more training. Money is spent pulling employees out of their job to sit them in a classroom, and then it’s expected that the problem will improve. Maybe it’s not even known what to expect, but the gut tells us more training is needed. eLearning can actually achieve the desired results, and can be measured to tell whether it’s working. Take a look at this infographic to better understand why eLearning is the most effective method of training employees. And, if you want to talk further, give us a shout! Photo Credit: e-magic

This week’s term is less of a term and more of a group of tests or ‘tasks’. In any event, Piaget was always cool in my books, so I thought I’d chat a bit about some of his tasks, reversibility in particular. I was inspired by a chat I had recently with a very passionate professor - she rattled off one of the tasks she has her students do (so these are on average 18-22 year olds): First, she presents the students with two jars of jelly beans; one contains all red jelly beans and the other contains all black jelly beans. She explains that there are 250 jelly beans in each jar. Then, she shows her students a scoop, explaining that it holds exactly 15 jelly beans. She takes a scoop or red jelly beans and puts them in the black jar and then takes a scoop of now black and red jelly beans and puts them in the red jar. Finally, she asks the students how many jelly beans are in each jar. The result she gets is much the same as one a child might get. Why? The correct reason is because the students, at 18-22, still have issues with the concept of the reversibility. Another reason might be that the students became confused by the word problem…similar to any time I was presented with one of those ‘a train is traveling south west at a speed of X…’ problems - which I HATED. Anyhow…so that discussion was my inspiration for this week’s post. Alright, but what is a Piagetian task? Jean Piaget was a developmental psychologist who some may refer to as the pioneer of cognitivism. He was a pretty cool cat, and is often chatted about in close proximity to Vgotsky (another name, another theory). His theory basically stated that cognitive development occurs in stages, as we grow, age, and learn from the world around us. Throughout his research, he tested children in varying stages of development with Piagetian tasks to determine whether they understood concepts of conservation, centring, and reversibility, to name a few. Based on their responses, Piaget posited that he could determine (or approximate…in the example of the 18-22 year olds) what stage of cognitive development the child was in. How neat is that?! Another popular Piagetian task you might be more familiar with is one having to do with conservation of volume: The child is presented with two beakers; one is squat and wide, while the other is tall and slim. There is water in both beakers, and the instructor asks "which beaker contains more water?" The child typically responds that the taller one contains more water, when in actuality, both beakers contain the same amount of water. BAM! Intrigued? Here are some resources: Physical Knowledge in Infancy: Reflections on Piaget’s Theory by Elizabeth S. Spelke Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development: Background and Key Concepts on Piaget’s Theory by Kendra Cherry Piaget’s Model of Cognitive Development at thebrain.mcgill.ca Piagetian Tasks 

You know it’s true. Long before training professionals knew what we know today (and had cool technology to make our wildest ideas come to life) we were still producing training videos. Bad ones. And what better way to celebrate Halloween than by grabbing a handful of candy corn and watching a few awesomely bad relics from corporate trainings past. Grab a seat! Pizza Hut   Now you know why you may have received bad service in the past. Hanging up the phone and throwing pizza boxes at coworkers? Sure! It also fails to connect with the viewer in what surely was the intended way. The overacting of the cast makes it impossible to take the characters seriously. Pier 1 The narrator in this video nails everything that’s wrong with this video, so we’ll just let him do the talking. 1950s Office Safety   Like vintage advertising, we’ve got a bit of a nostalgic soft spot for this one, but it’s hysterical nonetheless. The over-the-top, unrealistic and carefully staged scenarios used to educate viewers on office safety are too good to be true. Wendy's   "Remember, we serve 100% pure ground beef!" Apparently, fast food ingredients were in question even in the 1980s. But the best stuff is around the 4-minute mark. In fact, Wendy’s might deserve an award for Best Worst Employee Training, with gems like Hot Drinks and its follow-up, Cold Drinks, clearly inspired by Michael Jackson and Paula Abdul, respectively. Points for cultural relevancy? National Association of Music Merchants   Every so often, a familiar face will appear in old employee training videos. Take this one featuring the one and only Conan O’Brien. Want to avoid inclusion on a list like this in the future? Call us. We make training videos that are just awesomely awesome. Also, have a safe and spooky Halloween, from all of us at Expand! photo credit: ElDave   

Oh boy! This week’s challenge was definitely a relatable and somewhat fun (somewhat angering) challenge. I think everyone out there, regardless of your profession, could easily come up with a slew of things they hate hearing (and maybe some responses). I actually saw a buzzfeed article today titled 26 Faces Every Single Retail Worker Will Immediately Recognize, and nodded my head at every single one of them over breakfast…and thanked all things holy that I no longer work in retail. The Concept This week, David challenged us to design an infographic, poster, or list of the 10 things Instructional Designers don’t want to hear and how we would best reply to each of these items. The latter task being the more difficult. For web designers/developers out there (and anyone else - they’re easily modifiable!), my pal Erin actually created an INVALUABLE swipe file - Designer Scripts - Email Templates for Sticky Client Situations and it’s definitely worth checking out! The Method The method for this challenge was a little muddy, I have to admit. The first task of course was to come up with a list of my top 10 things I hate hearing as an Instructional Designer; I thought this task would be a lot easier than it was, so I was certainly surprised! Once I came up with my list, I took my number 1 thing I hate to hear and turned it into a little poster. If nothing else, I hope you folks can relate to that one! The Result 10. "We don’t need a prototype." - In this situation, I would explain to the client that I understand they’re likely on a tight budget, but that a prototype will allow us to negotiate the overall design of the product, reducing time spent within the revision cycle later in the game. 9. "I trust your expertise. Just be creative." - Here, I would explain that I understand the client hired me for my expertise; however, signing of on some broad design elements will reduce revision cycles (and $$$) in the long run. My aesthetic might not be their aesthetic (or the end client’s). For example, what it a cat lover like me snuck in images of cute kitties throughout the course…but the client is a dog lover and absolutely hates the idea of a cat?! 8. "One review cycle should be sufficient." - I would refer back to our delivery schedule, and remind the client of that schedule, emphasizing that if they only want to pay for one review cycle, they will need to be meticulous and schedule-conscious during their review, because I will absolutely need the two days I requested to do my revisions, and will certainly not be doing them the day before delivery. 7. "I need this finished by the end of the week." (said as the client hands you an entire re-development of the course you created) - In this situation, I would assess the amount of revisions and explain that the timeframe requested is not a feasible amount of time for the volume of work to be done, but that you can have it completed by X date. I would also explain that this extended timeframe is due to the client wanting a complete re-do of everything developed. 6. "The Subject Matter Expert (SME) is in charge of content." - I would let the client know that this is fantastic news, but that I expect our communications to be related directly to the content and not the design. I would explain that I expect the SME to adhere, fully, to the schedule (especially their review of the content) to ensure there is no impact to the deliverables. 5. "I could have done this in PowerPoint in waaaaaay less time." - Really? Alright. Here, I would explain the the client that they specified the work be authored using X tool, and as such, I adhered to using the specified tool. I would also explain that developing some elements in PowerPoint may have been more time consuming than developing them in X tool. I would explain that I appreciate the opinion, but that there was a reason the client decided to hire me…to do the job that I did. 4. "I think maybe we should just change the colours. That’s an easy fix, right?" (said days before delivery) - In this situation, I would explain to the client that we signed off on the overall design prior to development, and that even an ‘easy’ fix such as changing the colour scheme would take a fair amount of time. I would tell them that I’d be happy to oblige, but it may impact the delivery date. 3. "Can you make it more interactive?" (said after reviewing an extremely dry and prescribed compliance course) - If there’s wiggle room for creativity, I would tell the client ‘sure!’ and explain the impact on the schedule. However, if the content needs to be displayed verbatim, I would explain that we would need to chat about our options and provide them with a few solutions, explaining that it will likely increase cost and development timeline. 2. "Can you add just one more scenario? Oh! and I forgot to give you this 30 page document - it needs to be incorporated into the course somehow." (said after the first review cycle and certainly leaning into scope creep) - Here, I would explain to the client that the project scope was created to account for 5 scenarios, not 6, and that I will most certainly include a sixth scenario for X cost. As for the second item, I would explain that prior to developing the contract, I requested all content and course documentation to adequately price out the contract, and this 30 page document was not in the original estimate, so I will incorporate it at X cost to the client. 1. "This looks great, but I just can’t ‘visualize’ the end product." (said after initial review of a text-based storyboard) - This is my most-hated sentence. I’ve heard it from clients, SMEs, programmers, media developers - UGH! This situation begs me to explain that the text-based storyboard was requested (by the client) and developed primarily as a means of reviewing the content within a certain context (of the screen and with a brief description of the supporting media elements), and that the visual elements would be available for review in the second review cycle. Similarly, during the second review cycle, I hate hearing "Can you please review the comments I made; there are a few content revisions that need to be made." (GAH! You’re now reviewing for look/feel - bugger off!)

Investing in the professional development of your employees is not a small ticket item, nor should it be. It’s too important. Spending some cash to show your employees you want to help them become better at their job is something you’ll find in profiles of companies included on "best places to work" lists. Despite its importance, trainers find it difficult to quantify the impact of a training program. Managers know they need to provide training, so they do it, but it’s often done in a way that’s not ensuring they (and their employees) are getting out of it what they’re putting into it. At Expand, we’re changing that. Big Data is changing how decisions are made in fields like marketing, so why can’t we use it to inform learning strategies? eLearning Makes Training Effectiveness Measurable Training that takes place in a classroom has some measurement challenges. It can be nearly impossible to know how many people quit paying attention and at what point during the training. Sure, you might be able to quiz the audience to assess what they absorbed, but it’s not an indicator of engagement. Some people are good test takers. Furthermore, it doesn’t take real life application into account. Did the learning drive behavioral change? How do you know? Converting classroom training to digital and mobile platforms creates myriad possibilities for measurement and reporting, empowering managers and training teams to make data-driven decisions that make learning better and produce better results. We’ve built a reporting framework for clients to measure learning performance. Here is what we monitor: Roll-up data: Aggregate and study data above the individual level, i.e. by department, retail store, division, business unit - however you group your employees. Look for commonalities and disparities between groups, then investigate why they exist. Training Completions: What percentage of your users have completed the learning? You can use this information to send reminders to those not completing learning as they should. It also sends a message about the subject matter of your training or how it’s presented. If completion rates are particularly low, it’s possible your audience isn’t seeing the value of the learning. Training Abandonment: Monitor how many of your participants are completing some, most or all of your training. If there’s a large drop-off at a certain point, there’s a problem with the content. It may be boring, too long, or, again, the audience isn’t seeing the value. Feedback on Course: Ask students if the learning was good, bad or otherwise. You can scatter these questions throughout the program or module so responses are collected as the audience is engaged, rather than after-the-fact. Behavioral Change: Survey students about your initial objective. If the initial objective was to train students on a 5-step safety inspection process, ask about their degree of familiarity with the topic. In this example, we see that before the training, 131 participants were not aware of—or fully understood—the 5-step safety inspection process. After training, however, that number decreased to just 30 participants. Ready to start collecting actionable data about your organization’s learning program? We can get you started. Let’s talk! photo credit: Jef Harris

Man oh man! Life has been busy, with lots of unexpected surprises (e.g. no internet connection for four days…IN TWENTY-FOURTEEN - COME ON!), so I’m a bit late to the TT punch. However, I’ve been reading How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why it Happens by Benedict Carey (of which I had much time to read this past weekend), and there was a concept I found incredibly interesting: Spaced (or distributed) Learning. I think what I found most interesting was the research that went into the findings related to spaced learning - it would have taken some dedication, that’s for sure! And while it certainly seems like an effective method for learning, it still baffles me and I’m not sure I could commit to such study practices on my own. What is Spaced Learning? Spaced learning is a learning method wherein an individual must learn a series of information (often quite dense in nature). In order to optimize learning and retention, spaced learning posits that one should space their study activities out, with distractions in between. For example, you have three sessions of study - one 10 minute session with a 3 hour gap in between, the next study session is 10 minutes with 1 day in between, and the final study session typically occurs in close proximity to the formal test (e.g. the night before). Spaced learning has been shown to enhance retention, allowing learners to score higher than their colleagues who are not implementing a spaced learning method for their studying. Essentially, spaced learning makes memories more memorable! Neat, eh? Resources Effects of Spaced versus Massed Training in Function Learning by M.A. McDaniel, C.L. Fadler, and H. Pashler Learning by Degrees by C. Lambert  Study Better: Space it out and Mix it up by N. Kornell Why Spaced Learning Works Better Than Cramming by M. Stenger

Ever wondered who this ragtag bunch of instructional designers, graphic designers and web developers really is? Well, wonder no more. Fresh from the cutting room floor (or our media guy's Mac) behold the lastest creation from Expand Productions. Expand Interactive : Who We Are Now that you've met our team, if you feel so moved, reach out! We'd love to meet you and chat about your eLearning needs.

This post was inspired by a recent discussion on the E-Learning Heroes Community and an article I read over at Freelancer Union. In the community, David asked whether individuals preferred being called freelancers or consultants. Most folks seemed to preferred being called consultants, and to be honest - so do I. While I don’t typically have a preference one way or the other, I think that consultant sounds a bit more professional and is full of fewer negative connotations (aka stereotypes) associated with the term ‘freelancer’. However, I do find that I am more often referred to as a Contractor…so I’m going to start my own home renovation business…I KID! It would be a very terrible business avenue for me to pursue; I’m not super handy. While I prefer being called a consultant or independent instructional designer, you can call me pretty much anything if you want to pay the price! I tend to associate my time as a ‘freelancer’ with grabbing anything and everything I could to make a bit of extra cash - some of these tasks were certainly not my finest moments, and some of them paid quite well. Whereas I associate my time as a ‘consultant’ as a more profitable and purposeful endeavour. What do you prefer to be called? Riding on the shirttails of that discussion, I happened upon the Freelancer Union article that discussed five common stereotypes about freelancers: Freelancers live a life of non-office-regulated luxury Freelancers live a life of grasping poverty, constantly anxious about their next job. Freelancers are flaky. ‘Freelancer’ is just a fancy word for ‘unemployed’. Full-time freelancers become weird loners. I’ve heard all of these stereotypes in my experience freelancing and ‘consulting’ (my grown up name for freelancing), and here are my responses to each: Sure. I get to wear whatever I want to work (when I’m not at my onsite gig), but I still have to motivate myself to do my work, and do all of the other things (e.g. bookkeeping) that would have been done by someone else if I worked in a traditional office. I’m split on this. I thought that when I quit my full-time job to consult full-time that I would struggle to pay my mortgage and put food in the mouths of my husband and pets; this did not happen. In fact, I did better, financially, in the first three months of working for myself than I ever would have staying where I was. Now I’m in a position where I can settle on 1-2 contracts at a time and be incredibly busy. The cash doesn’t flow regularly (I’m being paid this month for work I completed in July), but I saved a buffer and have never been late on a bill payment - take that, stereotype! You know…I’m kind of a flaky person in general. I’d like to think I’m a pretty intelligent and self-motivated person, but you know what? Sometimes I’m tired. Sometimes I get sick. Sometimes I mistakingly write down the wrong date/time for a meeting. But I assure you that in the end, the work gets done, and clients are generally pretty happy. Not to make excuses, but I am on an anti-anxiety medication that makes my memory a bit shoddy (but, it helps me not panic when work is slower - see #2). UNTRUE. Many of my best ‘freelance’ friends are busier and more successful than some of my 9-5 friends. So to #4, I say SHUT YO MOUTH! I’ve always kind of been a weird loner (or floater at best). In junior high I was voted weirdest…which I choose to accept as a term of endearment. I have a lot of friends and associates, but I’ve always preferred time to myself. That being said, I do think it’s important to extend yourself (socially) when you work predominantly from the confines of your home office. Why? Well - conversations with your cats, dogs, or walls can get very one-sided, and we always need a reality check. Luckily, there are tons of communities out there for people just like you, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding someone to connect with! What do you think about these stereotypes? Are some of them accurate?

First off, I know I’m a day late, but you know what - it was a holiday and I think that warrants taking a day for myself. Let’s be honest, I did a lot more sleeping than I typically do, and it was GLORIOUS! Secondly, I’ve been plugging the heck out of How we Learn by Benedict Carey, and no I haven’t finished it (because I was distracted with ploughing through Amy Poehler’s Yes Please - which was amazing - go purchase/read now!), and this week’s TT post is going to discuss some concepts he talks about in his book: Incubation and Percolation. Part of what I love about this book is how relatable it is, and I’ve been that person at the poker game lately who relays study tips to friends who are finding themselves in the ‘mature student’ role. I love learning, what can I say?! Incubation The concept of incubation is one which emphasizes the importance of distraction in learning - which is great to hear, because I distinctly remember marathoning Criminal Minds episodes during much of my graduate degree. Good to know I wasn’t wasting my potential! Incubation should be used when we encounter a problem that we simply cannot figure out; we should step away from the problem, and come back at a later time - refreshed and renewed. From an Instructional Design context, I do this before reviewing products for delivery. You’ve spent so much time with a product, that you need that time away in order to provide a solid review and pick up any little errors you may have made. For me, most of my good (and functional ideas) come to me as dreams - having trouble getting some Storyline triggers to behave properly? Nap on it, and surely some idea may come to you! Having an enrolment crisis in a post-secondary university? Hit the sheets, and maybe you’ll come up with an idea for a new certificate program. Maybe my books will write themselves this way….no? Carey (2014) explains that incubation is "subconscious. We’re not aware it’s happening." - This explains why my dreamt up ideas make so much more sense! Basically we should just be napping all the time - I kid. But really. We should. J/K. An important step with incubation is verification, for obvious reasons. For example, one of the ideas that came to me to resolve a trigger issue didn’t work. BUT, it helped me think a little different about how to approach the issue, and I was able to resolve the problem in less time after incubation than before. Percolation Percolation is the idea that you let the mind linger on a problem, in order to provide a more well-rounded response. For example, when it comes to paper writing, term papers (based on all of the readings throughout the term) are often more well-rounded than say 6 papers throughout the term on 6 different topics. This is because the individual has time to percolate on one subject, without distracting the mind with different concepts or topics. Each reading and assignment throughout the term is provided on the same topic, in different contexts, with different goals, and they contribute to the greater whole of the end-of-term paper. Within the percolation chapter, an interesting study was discussed which suggested that unfinished tasks linger in our memory longer than those that are finished. In considering the term paper example, this makes a lot of sense. Students likely perform better, churning out a well-rounded term paper, when they are able to percolate on the subject matter, in different contexts, throughout the course of the term versus changing topics each week. By changing topics, the student finishes each assignment, and may not carry forward the context of which that assignment was attempting to illustrate (e.g. the importance of an outline, or historical overview, literature reviews, formulation of own opinions, etc.). Very interesting, no? Resources How we Learn: The Surprising Truth about When, Where and Why it Happens - Benedict Carey

This week’s challenge was a fun one - there were so many great submissions, and tons of inspiration! The Concept This week, we were tasked with creating digital magazine samples built using Articulate products. We were provided with examples of several popular digital magazines, and asked to make a few considerations. The Method Originally, I was going to develop a cat magazine, and create some actual content…because I consider myself somewhat of a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in that field. However, time got the best of me, and I became inspired by some images I found on Unsplash, so I took a more nature-y approach. I even added some very therapeutic sounds on the cover page. I sourced several images I wanted to use, added them (with varying levels of transparency) across four pages (including the main page). Grouped three sets of objects and added some triggers on the main page, along with a titleset that recurs (in style) on each page. I tried to take a different approach to layout for each page, and made use of some motion path interactivity on the second page - how fun! The Result Overall, I was very happy with the result, and I think it can be a useable template for various situations; specifically if you’re creating some sort of outdoorsy magazine, which is why I’m going to share the source files with you! Click here to view the live demo. Click here to download the FREE Storyline 2 template.

  They say in order to get where you want to go, you have to know where you’ve been. That may be true. But before you can even take your first step, you have to actually know where it is you want to go. If you don’t know what conclusion you want at the end of a journey, how do you know whether the journey was a success? This has been a challenge the training industry is still trying to overcome. What’s the goal? What are the objectives of the training. And even more important, how do you measure them? It’s been hard to measure training effectiveness, which means that measuring against learning objectives tends to fall somewhat by the wayside. But if you do that, you’re just  doing training for the sake of training—because it’s "something we’re supposed to do." More Training is often the mantra when it’s not clear how to solve a problem, or when other known solutions seem too challenging or expensive. But it’s like throwing money at a problem:  it doesn’t always fix it. This Is Why eLearning Objectives Are So Important The good news is that eLearning’s very nature allows us to measure our efforts. Good measurement gives us the information we need to determine whether a training project is successful or not. But you have to know what’s important to measure. A strong and clear learning objective not only tells you whether training efforts were successful, it also guides the instructional designer and the learner, not only for this course, but for future learning efforts. It creates the feedback loop that allows training to improve over time. We emphatically recommend that clients have a very clear objective for every training project, and if it’s unclear, we’ll help sort it out. It’s absolutely essential for everyone to know and understand the objective and definition of success from the beginning of a training initiative. We can’t claim success - for us or our client - if we don’t know what is supposed to happen after completion. Now, not all definitions of a successful training are learning objectives.  Sometimes maybe you’re trying to impress  your boss, leave a legacy, make a splash. Whatever. But most training programs do have learning objectives. So let’s look at how to make them. Creating a Good Learning Objective Remember that objectives and goals are not the same thing, even though the words are often used interchangeably. Goals are broader in scope, while objectives are more specific, and often relate to a broader goal. Let's take a look at some simple examples of learning objectives."Upon completion of this training, you will be able to... ...add new sales prospects to the CRM." ...complete the steps of quarterly substation maintenance." ...operate the retail check-out system." ...create detailed reports using the data analysis tool." There are several you should note about these examples: Each objective starts with a verb, because we’re looking to change behavior. We want our learners to be able to do something overt after training is complete. Avoid objectives that focus on more obscure achievements like "better understand." Each objective refers to what the learners will do, not what the trainer or instructional designer will do. Each objective is clear, realistic and doable. Each objective is targeted toward the audience the training is targeting, so that they will feel it’s important information and worthy of their time. Organizational knowledge is simply too important and use too many resources to skip goals, objectives and measurement. Make the most of your investment and show your employees you value their efforts and want to help them become better at their jobs. Not sure where to start? Give us a call, we’re happy to help. photo credit: Andrew_D_Hurley  

As some of you may know, my husband and I have a beagle/german shepherd. He’s a rescue dog that we acquired from the city pound nearly two years ago, and as with many rescue dogs, he comes with a slew of isms. This is Oliver:   He is 41lbs of pure energy and excitement; there are very few moments when he is ‘powered down’, and he’s taught me quite a few things in my short while of being a consultant and entrepreneur. 1. Do NOT Schedule Client Calls for Wednesdays. This one was a no brainer; in our neighbourhood, the waste removal services come around each Wednesday. They alternate between garbage/recyclables and recyclables/compost every other week…and in the summer (just for fun), they do all forms of collection each and every week. This means that the enemy (garbage truck) goes up one side of our street, then down the other collecting garbage, then does the same for recyclables and compostables. Oliver absolutely hates the garbage truck and will valiantly protect his homestead by scaring them off with incessant barking. This does not bode well for client calls. 2. Apologize in Advance. Whenever I do begin a conference call, I begin by apologizing in advance. We’ve worked very hard to get Oliver’s barking down to a minimum and it’s an effort made in vain. He’s a beagle. He barks. So typically, I will let my client know that I have a dog, and apologize in advance in the event that his barking occurs. Initially I thought this would be an annoyance, but most of my clients have been understanding and even empathetic (most seem to have their own barkers). 3. Schedule yourself Accordingly I’ve been over-extended, and it can suck. Even if I’m passionate about the projects I’m working on, there’s only one of me, and I still have other household responsibilities. Come 4pm, I will be reminded (not so gently) that someone needs feeding and to play fetch or go for a walk. This can seem like a cumbersome task if I’ve over-extended my self. Basically, you don’t need a beagle to tell you this, you  just need a reality check and for someone (me - right here) to let you know that you have a lot of other things going on (that’s life), and even if those 5 projects all sound amazing, you’re not superhuman and something’s gotta give! 4. Know your Job and Keep your Eyes on the Prize. For Oliver, this is fetch. He knows as soon as we near the field behind our house, that I will unclip his leash and he will enter work mode, fetching the ball as many times as I’m willing to throw it. Sometimes his focus and determination can be a short-coming (he had a toe amputated this past year in a frisbee-related incident), but generally, he loves his job. For me, this is my business and clients; when it’s time, I always settle in and focus on the work to be done. Like Oliver, sometimes this can be a short-coming…see #3 - say for example, when I over-extend myself. But generally, I love my job. 5. Don’t be a Jerk. When Oliver is focused on his job, of fetching, his focus and determination and passion lead him to be a bit of a jerk. He doesn’t like sharing (his ball), and will quickly snap at someone who tries to take it. This has taught me (in addition to #3) that when feeling over-extended, share the wealth. Recommend other individuals with similar skill sets who may be available to take on new work and deliver a comparable product. Don’t snap at anyone who tries to eek in on your workload…most times it’s with the intention of helping.

It's not what you say, it's how you say it...so goes the adage. This is especially true when you’re surveying or quizzing learners to determine how much they’ve learned about the topic covered during training. Asking the right way is very important. We’ve all taken quizzes in which the questions pretty much answered themselves. You end up with the feeling that the information you just learned isn’t really all that important, it’s just some required bit of whatnot to make a training seem credible--- kind of like the garnish on your plate; it has no dietary value or flavor, it’s just there to make your plate look fancy. Asking a question the right way can force a learner to think about what they just saw. For instance, after watching a required eLearning video on how a manager should deal with sexual harassment issues between employees, a manager may learn that he or she must report all harassment complaints to the corporate office, by law. The quiz question on that topic can be asked two ways: "Are you required by federal law to report every incident of sexual harassment that is reported to you?" The answer is obvious. You don’t even need to see the training to know the answer to that one. Be more creative in the phrasing of the question: "As a manager, you want to be sensitive to the associates that report to you. Can you address a sexual harassment complaint on your own, to spare an associate from possible embarrassment?" The answer isn’t so obvious here, is it? In fact, you almost want to say "Sure you can. After all, you don’t want to embarrass anyone." But, if you paid attention and understood the training, you know you can’t. Quizzing Your Learners Is Important Because… It allows you to evaluate training retention. Were participants paying attention, or were they secretly on their phone and just clicking the "next" button? You can glean the effectiveness of the course based on how participants’ respond to the questions. If a significant percentage miss the same question, there’s an issue either with the question itself or part of the training content. It gives you some perspective of the individual learner, as well as entire groups, so you can look for trends in the rate of success or failure. It allows you another chance to reinforce the content and provide feedback. Quizzes are a learning mode. Here are some other things to think about when writing assessment questions:  Be sure it makes sense and is directly tied to the learning objectives. Have someone proofread for typos, incorrect grammar and other concerns. If the question is complicated, offer an example to add context. Quizzing is for evaluating how much a learner retained from training, as well as the effectiveness of the instructional design. If the questions lead to the answers, or aren’t making the learner think, they aren’t giving you a very accurate picture of success. Our training modules include quiz questions throughout the duration, in order to monitor engagement and retention as learners complete the training. Check out one of our work samples to see our approach, and if you have questions, give us a shout! photo credit: albertogp123

This past week, in the OLC Teaching Certificate program, I stumbled upon an individual who was using something called Actively Learn within the course they were developing. I’m always keen to check out new technologies, and I wasn’t let down by this one! Actively Learn allows you to create deeper engagement and instructor presence in an asynchronous environment by allowing you to provide markup within your readings and incorporate interactive quizzing. Once I watched the demo for this application, I knew I had to make a push to my faculty members to begin using it within their online courses. So far, I’ve demoed it to 2 people and recommended it to 3 people currently developing courses…and it’s only been three days! I see it being useful for courses that require a good amount of synthesis, as it can allow students to form more well-rounded understanding of the readings instead of just passively engaging with the materials. I also think that by combining questions (which the students must answer before moving on) allows the students to have a greater understanding of the materials as a whole, which may in turn lead to greater academic achievement. I recorded a quick demo (below), and it’s obvious that I’m still new to the technology myself, but I wanted to show both the teacher and student perspective. Check it out and see how you can make Actively Learn work for you!

So often, training is the fall guy when things aren’t going well. "Our training is insufficient." "Our employees just haven’t been trained well enough." "We need more training!" All of these may be true, but what often happens is oodles of resources are spent on new training or making existing training better, and when it’s all said and done it’s still not clear whether the training had much of an impact. Even if it did drive some improvement in the immediate aftermath, how do you know the improvements are for the long haul? And how do you know you can fully attribute them to the training? When everything is subjective and qualitative, you can’t. You need to approach training the same way you approach any other business activity. It needs to demonstrably move the numbers. If you’re responsible for educating groups of people, it’s to your advantage to report up the ladder precisely how training has made a positive impact, and numbers are the universal language of the C-suite. While each organization has success metrics unique to their industry and operations, many are universally useful: % new business over a period of time % retained business over a period of time cost of sales equipment downtime repair costs Of course, there are many more. If we can connect the dots between training efforts and KPIs (key performance indicators) we can prove training adds value and has a direct impact on organizational success. So how do we do that? Have a clear objective. We recently discussed the importance of learning objectives and how to create good ones. In order to determine whether training is successful, we have to know what the audience should be able to do after completing it. Tie that objective to a KPI. If your audience begins doing what they were trained to do, in the way they were trained to do it, what impact would that have? Would repair and warranty costs decrease? Would the percentage of retained customers increase? Make sure you have a direct, trackable link. The training department won’t always have access to the KPIs their work impacts. Work with a departmental manager who can help you track the numbers to identify success. Don’t have too many variables.This might not always be within the control of the training team, but the fewer variables during your measurement period, the better. You want to be sure that training is making an impact on KPIs and not another internal initiative. Training doesn’t have to be like blindly shooting fish in a barrel. It used to be harder to measure, but today’s technology makes it much simpler. It’s a matter of adequate planning from the beginning, and drawing a line from training to the critical KPIs of the organization not only informs the training team of what works, but catches the eye of upper-management and helps secure funding for future projects.  If you’re not sure where to start, get in touch. We can help you establish a clear learning objective and connect it to the relevant KPIs. photo credit: J. McPherskesen

This week I’ve been thinking a lot about my participation in social learning activities - which is minimal at best. I want to participate more, but have yet to find the time! In any event, social learning is happening all the time, and it can be an easy way to learn from your peers. What is social learning? Traditionally, social learning emphasizes the fact that learning can be social, occurring through observation of behaviours. When I think about social learning, I think more about mobile or micro learning - why? Because social media has created a new venue for social learning. Just think of all of the Twitter chats that are occurring all over the place, or Reddit! Drawing on the traditional definition, the modern definition might be defined as learning through social interactions where individuals can learn through their interactions in a collaborative and social environment. As in the traditional sense, individuals can learn desirable vs. undesirable behaviours based on reactions, and there is constant reciprocation. Benefits and implications of social learning To me, the benefits are obvious - we develop a means of engaging with individuals, socially, and through our interactions determine the ways in which we should (or should not) be engaging with individuals. However, social learning can be a double-edged sword. Just think of critical periods of development - teenagers make a great case study. In situations where individuals want to ‘fit in’ or feel popular, they may assume undesirable behaviours, mimicked after other individuals who are performing these behaviours (within the shared social sphere). Another example is the bystander effect - individuals don’t stop to help someone who appears to be in need of help, because they see others continually passing by, and assume that someone else will come to help. So, social learning can certainly be a good thing, especially where micro learning is concerned, but it can also be a bad thing - as most things are capable of. Resources Instructionaldesign.org’s explanation of Social Learning Theory Sense of Acceptance: Key Factor of Social Learning by H. Kawamichi, K. Yoshihara, R. Kitada, M. Matsunaga, A. Sasaki, Y. Yoshida, H. Takahashi, and N. Sadato Social Learning in a Human Society: An Experimental Study by M. Hamdi, G. Solman, A. Kingsotone, and V. Krishnamurthy The Role of Social Learning in Understanding Deviance by T. Rajasakran, S. Sinnappan, and S. S. Raja

"How much material can be covered in an eLearning module?" We’re asked this question a lot. Many clients come to us with existing live training they’re considering converting to eLearning and need to understand how that would work. Folks are often amazed at the time savings you get from doing a training in an on-demand format. It’s a fraction of the time it takes to do a live training, but the question is, what is that number? We’ve found a simple formula you can use to estimate live-training-to-eLearning conversions. Here it is: ½ day of live training = 20 minutes of eLearning Wondering how that’s possible? Here’s how are we able to compress four hours down to twenty minutes: Eliminate distractions, allowing learners to view training where and when they are ready. They aren’t forced into it when they’d rather be doing something else. Eliminate the added commentary, tangents and questions that always come with a live, classroom-style session. Delivery becomes more concise and concepts can be explained more succinctly. The pace is faster because learners can singly focus on what’s in front of them. Repetition is built in because you have multiple learning modes at once and users can repeat sections as they wish. No coffee breaks or bathroom breaks! These can take a lot time and it’s tough to get everyone reassembled and focused. Something that would take employees out of their jobs for a week could essentially be taught in half a day, and they would have the option of viewing everything at once or breaking it up over the period of time that works best for them. Which is a better use of their time and your organization’s resources? But Is It Effective? Without a doubt. Not only is there a sizable cost savings over time—which we can help you calculate—but the flexibility and concise delivery leads to better retention. In fact, we’ve spilled a lot of words on this blog explaining why eLearning is the best choice for training and knowledge sharing, so we don’t want to rehash too much. Instead, take a gander at a recently published infographic with compelling statistics favoring eLearning over other types of training delivery methods. A Word of Caution - Condensed Content Has to Be Good Not only is eLearning more efficient and cost-effective, employees appreciate the added flexibility and time saving, however, it’s unwise to assume that condensed training alone will improve buy-in and participation. Even a twenty minute training piece must be engaging and interactive. Audiences can be lost in five minutes without expert instructional design and high quality production effects. Check out one of our work samples to see how we not only condensed material into an easily-consumable piece, but made it interactive and engaging. photo credit: nan palmero

In light of recent events, I figured it might be appropriate to discuss some terminology I was introduced to during my graduate program - critical consciousness. Critical Consciousness Paulo Freire was heavily involved in discussions and research related to social relations, and indicated that dominant social relations or statuses were more often than not directly correlated with a culture of silence, wherein individuals at a lower social relation or status feel oppressed by the the inability to speak up or be heard. This realization is classified as "critical consciousness" - the individual realizes that the dominant social relations are creating this culture of silence. Now, I don’t necessarily think this is true in today’s society - folks seem to be a lot more outspoken than they once were, but there is still oppression occurring everywhere. Most of us likely encounter at least one small inkling of it every single day. Critical consciousness is an educational concept that involves having a critical understanding of the world around us, including the social justices and injustices (or the contradictions therein), and being able to take action based on your understanding to construct or move toward positive social change and reducing oppression. Resources I encourage you to research more about critical consciousness; it’s certainly a higher-level of thinking than we do most days, and I implore you to become empowered to do something within your community to move toward positive social change. Critical Pedagogy and the Knowledge Wars of the Twenty-First Century by J. L. Kincheloe Centering Love, Hope, and Trust in the Community: Transformative Urban Leadership Informed by Paulo Freire by P. M. Miller, T. Brown, and R. Hopson Humanism and Multiculturalism: An Evolutionary Alliance by L. Comas-Diaz Towards a Framework of Critical Citizenship Education by L. Johnson and P. Morris

The Expand team is grateful for pumpkin pie, strong coffee and our blog readers! (That's you!) Enjoy this funny clip from Joey "How You Doin'" Tribbiani.   photo credit: Sugar Daze

This week’s challenge was an easy one, which is probably why Im able to participate - hooray! Thank you, David! The Concept This week, the challenge was to design a poster, infographic, or list to share top tips with e-learning freelancers. As an e-learning freelancer, this challenge seemed right up my alley. The Method Well. First, I got a little ahead of myself and mistook it for Instructional Design tips and created a poster related to one of my very favourite quotes from a less than favourite military reviewer (and I say that jokingly…kind of) - "Bullets are too verbose."; the take away from that comment was to be more concise…which is tricky when you need to include sections of military publications verbatim into your courseware. GAH. That being said, I like to pride myself in being fairly concise within my e-learning projects. Once I admired my handy work, I realized my mistake and began racking my brain for freelance tips. I thought this would be a lot easier than it was because 1) I’ve been an e-learning freelancer for several years now, 2) I’ve learned a lot about small business in this past year, and 3) I’m writing a book that’s almost related directly to just that. However, my brain was apparently converted into mashed potatoes last night and it took me several hours to come up with something worth recommending to other e-learning freelancers. The Result First, I’ll share my Instructional Design tip: Next up, my top tip for e-learning freelancers: Scope creep is a very real thing, so you should definitely heed my advice. I would also recommend having an air-tight contract. It’s always nice to go above and beyond for your clients, but you don’t want to give away the farm!

We’re 23 days away from Christmas, folks. Now, wait, before you start groaning and throwing tomatoes at me, I’m here to help! If you’re in the thick of holiday shopping and have some gifts left to pick up—or maybe want to pass along some ideas for yourself!—allow me to offer some suggestions! A quick poll of the Expand gang produced the following collection of gift ideas for that techy special someone in your life. Take a gander! For the Early Adopter Amazon Echo After first watching Amazon’s promotional video for the Echo, I was immediately reminded of Vicki from Small Wonder. This is essentially like having a robot in your house, minus the walking around and startling the neighbors. Echo recognizes voice and speech so it can answer questions, make lists, play music and more. Where to Get It: It’s available on Amazon’s website. There is a waiting list and special pricing for Amazon Prime members. $199 regular price, $99 Prime for a limited time. For the DIYer With an Affinity for Clever Design USB Outlet One of those great ideas you see on Pinterest, you can upgrade the outlets in your house to include a USB port for charging mobile devices. They sure can take up a lot of outlets! Where to Get It: This item should be available at most hardware/home improvement stores; we found it at Home Depot for $27.99 each. For Kids of All Ages Hubsan X4 Quadcopter With HD 2MP Camera This remote control helicopter (or, for the less informed like myself, quadcopter, meaning there are four propellers) has two settings so it adapts to both amateur and advanced remote pilots. Famous for its precise control and attached HD camera, this is sure to be a hit for all the toy lovers in your life. Just don’t be a creeper and spy on your neighbors. Where to Get It: Available on Amazon for 65% below retail at time of writing. $64.99  For the Music Lover Wireless Headphones The days of spotting music lovers by their white Apple earbuds are numbered, as new, fancier options have flooded the market with great sound quality. Check out some of the wireless options, which you can get either in bud- or on-ear- format. Our Project Manager, Jess, has her eyes on a pair of Beats by Dre! Where to Get It: Anywhere audio electronics are sold. These Powerbeats2 by Beats by Dre are $199.  For the Runner Wireless Sports Headphones: Athletes and gym rats have special needs when it comes to listening to their jams during a workout. Headphones need to be durable and sweatproof, as well as weather-resistant, comfortable and secure. Where to Get It: Your best bet is to look wherever athletic equipment is sold. We found these Yurbuds Liberty Wireless Earbuds on REI.com for $99. For the Kids Anki Drive  Part video game, part remote control car, the Anki Drive Starter Kit gives you a racing track and 2 cars to get started. Download the corresponding app to a compatible device, like an iPhone, and that device becomes a remote control for the cars. Where to Get It: The Starter Kit can be ordered right from the Anki Drive website for $149.99. For Grown Ups iPad Air 2 Apple’s latest iPad model is, of course, thinner, lighter and faster, making it even more convenient and eBook-friendly. It also boasts the best screen resolution, processor and battery than any model before it. Where to Get It: If you buy it from the Apple store, you can have it engraved on the back for free. Nice to include an email address or phone number in case its ever misplaced and an honest person finds it. Models start at $499.  For the TV and Film Lover Google Chromecast The Chromecast looks like a USB storage device, only it connects to the HDMI port on your TV and allows you to send any media from your laptop, tablet or smartphone to your TV screen. Chromecast apps include NetFlix, YouTube, Pandora, HBO Go and more. Where to Get It: Anywhere small electronics are sold. $35 does not include subscriptions.  For the Biker/Adventurer Garmin Edge Bike Computer Much more than a GPS, the Garmin Edge tracks and analyzes data from your rides. It also lets you connect and share with friends, is weather-resistant and has a handy touch screen. Where to Get It: Anywhere sporting equipment or small electronics are sold, or you can order online from Garmin.com. $599.99  What's on your list this year? Leave us a comment below, and happy shopping! photo credit: alli ♥

This week I’m going to talk about a term that a lot of folks find useful. I don’t really classify myself in that category of folk, but occasionally I can see the use in a mind map. I think this is because I often work alone and end up brainstorming with myself, so there’s really not a lot of point for me to visualize that for myself. What is a mind map? A mind map is essential a brainstorming session. Mind maps allow you to visually organize your ideas and are typically centred around one theme or concept. Remember when you used to brain storm in grade school? You would write down one central concept in the middle of your page and then draw lines coming from that central concept with related terms or concepts? It’s kind of like a visual word association. To illustrate the concept of a mind map, I drafted one for you: Here, I have the central concept of cats (because 1 - I’m a crazy cat lady, and 2 - as I type this, I am being sandwiched between two) and from there I have sub-categories such as: sounds, physical attributes, hobbies, likes, and dislikes. From each of these sub-categories, I have listed related items that come to mind when I think of cats in relation to that category. You can probably see how a mind map could be helpful, especially if you’re attempting to come up with a coherent e-learning module; in one of the workshops I participated in over the past year, we did a mind map to come up with some elements for a course. This type of mind map included a central topic, and from there we identified colour schemes, fonts, sounds, feelings the course might evoke, etc. Outside of e-learning, mind maps can be useful for any project, especially if you’re working in a group. They allow for collaboration and can be effective when it comes to decision making and identifying what does and does not work with the central concept. Intrigued? Here are some resources: ExamTime - Create your own mind maps! Top 5 Ways to Use Mind Maps For E-Learning by Andrea Leyden Designing with Mind Maps by Connie Malamed Case Study: Transition to the Next Generation of E-Learning: Using Mind Mapping and Accessible Web Pages as Part of a University’s Academic Staff Training by Anne Dickinson