What happens when training is "over?" The audience walks out of the classroom or clicks out of the screen on the computer, then what? They return to their jobs and lives, and the training is quickly forgotten. The concepts presented are so frequently lost when the training course is over. So, why have any training at all?  It’s needed. Essential, even. But too often, it’s not done the right way. It should never really be "over." In other words, learning shouldn’t stop when training ends. Successful training requires follow up. It’s not a one-and-done. You have to engage your audience multiple times before the concepts can begin to stick. Rather than a single-pronged approach, three components are needed to meet objectives and actually make training work, which means it impacts the behavior of the audience members. We know the first prong is training. Everyone knows that, and we’ve spelled out many a word on this blog about how to do the training part right, i.e. what kind of content is most effective, tips for voiceovers, assessments and how to hold your audience’s attention. After training, the next step is coaching. It’s critical to revisit concepts presented in training in order to increase retention and understanding. We know people aren’t going to remember everything covered during training, especially information that’s not needed right away. Coaching is about making that information available after training in an on-the-spot, just-in-time fashion and broken into bite-sized pieces to be consumed quickly. It’s a key step in reminding knowledge, perfecting skills and reinforcing vlaues. The third prong in our robust learning model is nurturing, i.e. continuing to encourage desired behaviors and rewarding successful application. Here, we can send emails to audience members with reminders about what they need to do or complete. Ask them to check back in and report their results in a social learning setting. Reward those who show progress. Organizations that leverage this kind of learning model realize powerful results. One retail client recently reported dramatic improvement in point-of-sale behavior of their associates; they collected more customer email addresses, more satisfaction survey responses, and sold more add-on items than ever before. These desired behaviors were continually reinforced in a way the associates found engaging and even entertaining, leveraging social learning to strengthen the team environment, and everyone is proud of the program and its success. If you think your organization could benefit from this type of three-pronged learning model, schedule a time to talk to us. We can offer a deeper explanation of how the strategy is developed and recommend the best approach for your audience. photo credit: ishmael n. daro

Any small business owner (and I would hazard to say employee) wants to be efficient in what they do; dragging tasks out is no fun, and our to do lists will thank us if we take steps to improve our workflow. Here are three suggestions: 1. Streamline Some people call this using shortcuts or cutting corners, and that’s not right. Your goal is to streamline your workflow and make it more efficient. Not to cut out key steps. In any event, you can easily streamline your workflow by using to do list applications (or writing them out on paper), prioritizing these items, and focusing on the task at hand. If you work within software for much of your day, learn the shortkeys and use them whenever you’re using the product - trust me, it will save you so much time. Those seconds add up! Use a project management tool - believe me, it will save you SO MUCH administrative time (because I know I don’t like being stuck in the administrative trenches). 2. Remove Distractions This might seem obvious, but a lot of people can take a quick break that turns into a 45 minute rabbity hole into the Internet. Pause your inbox, close all irrelevant (to work) browser windows, or even turn off your wifi access! You’d be surprised how effective removing distractions can help when trying to focus and cross items off your to do list. If you have a beagle, don’t schedule important conference calls on garbage day. If you have a beagle, maybe you just need to work at a cafe. Regardless of your beagle status, you should ensure you have a dedicated and quiet workspace. 3. Create a Calm Workspace I’m guilty of not doing this 100% of the time, but I do find myself to be a lot more productive when I’m feeling relaxed. Ensure you start your day with a clean and (somewhat) organized workspace. At home, I like to brew a pot of herbal tea, use dim lighting (I have a table lamp with 40 watt bulb), and light a scented candle. I tend to vary between Mellow playlists on Songza and ambient sounds as background noise, but I do whatever I can to just zone out and feel inner calm. You already have deadlines, your workspace doesn’t need to be a stressor!

Before beginning work on a new eLearning course, there are a number of details to hash out. Who is the intended audience and at what level is their knowledge of the subject matter? What is the learning objective and definition of success? (i.e. What do we want the audience to know, do, or believe after training?) What style and tone is most appropriate for the audience to make the training interesting and engaging? It’s kind of like a trip to Chipotle - a chicken burrito with beans and onions suits some people, while others think a burrito bowl with brown rice is more palatable. Stylistic questions often include a discussion of whether or not to include narration, and if so, the best method for the content and the audience. While there are certainly right and wrong ways to add narration to an eLearning course, it can be helpful to guide the learner through the course, emphasize important points, and even provide a little comedic relief. Nicole Legault, instructional designer and author of the Flirting With eLearning blog, describes four types of eLearning narration: Elaborative, where on-screen text summarizes the audio voice over Paraphrasing, in which an audio voice-over summarizes text on the screen Verbatim, meaning the voice over narrator reads the text exactly as it appears on the screen Descriptive, where the narrator describes what is happening on the screen - an image, chart, animation, video, etc. While depending on the situation, any of these methods can work. Our instructional design team frequently uses a combination of paraphrasing and descriptive, with a voice over narrator, an on-screen secondary character (usually animated) along with some text-on-screen. It’s an effective style that engages and even entertains the learner. You can see a short sample of our approach by watching our case study videos, like this one for SDMyers, but bear in mind the tone must adapted for each unique audience. Finally, there are additional considerations that will determine the success of your eLearning narration: Tone and Style - Make sure it’s consistent throughout a module or across a series of modules. And always remember your audience. It shouldn’t feel like a narrator, per se. It should feel like part of the experience, similar to seeing someone live. Script - If you’re going to record a narrator, it makes a difference if someone on staff is familiar with the scriptwriting process. As instructional designer Connie Melamed says,  "Writing for audio is a different kind of writing." Pace - If the audience feels like they have to sit and listen to the narration before they can move on, the pace is too slow. It should be succinct. Quality - No audio is better than bad audio. Make sure your narrators have access to good recording equipment. For more insights on instructional design, be sure to subscribe to our blog by entering your email address in the box at the top of the screen. We’ll deliver the latest post right to your inbox at the frequency you choose. We’re also here to talk to you about you instructional design or eLearning content needs. Schedule a free Needs Assessment today! photo credit: Restored RCA BK-11

Tonight I was sifting through the previous ELH challenges, and decided to take my artistic abilities to the next level (in my opinion), so I settled in for a doozy of a challenge! The Concept Get back to basics and create an emergency response course using pen and paper. Now, I’ll humour David here, but if I was presented with this ‘interaction’ when I was in school, I would have dropped out immediately. This task required us to take a news story or disaster event and help learners navigate the event. The Method Inspired by the giant winter storm that is making its way up the eastern seaboard this evening, I was reminded of White Juan. White Juan was a giant snowstorm that brought our city to a standstill mere months after Hurricane Juan decimated much of our coastal areas. There was so much snow that folks had to wait for their neighbours to somehow magically get out of their homes to shovel them (the other un-freed neighbours) out. I believe my folks were stuck inside for two or three days because they couldn’t open their windows/doors. Bananas, right? I grabbed my mousepad (which is also a giant post-it note/memo pad), ripped off a couple of sheets and got to work. I added a header and a prompt (which you can’t read very well in the example, but I’ll transcribe - don’t worry), drew an emergency kit (or a child’s backpack - same difference), and went to work drawing items that might be in the kit. All of the items were drawn on itty bitty post it notes, which I then affixed to the main content ‘slide’. I imagined a drag and drop interaction where users would drag the items to the emergency kit. Taking a second sheet of memo pad, I re-drew the emergency kit, added the header and prompt, did some research over at the Red Cross’ website and added the correct responses (post-it notes), and then added a little note. I then took photos, with my iPhone, of both ‘slides’. Ta-da! The Result Here is an image of the main content slide. The transcription is as follows:  Header: "SNOWSTORM 2015″ Prompt: "CHOOSE ITEMS TO FILL YOUR EMERGENCY KIT! (CHOOSE WISELY) Here is the correct feedback slide. The transcript is as follows: Header: "SNOWSTORM 2015″ Prompt: "IF YOU CHOSE THE FOLLOWING ITEMS, YOU CHOSE WISELY (ACCORDING TO THE RED CROSS)" Note: "PLEASE NOTE: WHILE THEY MAY SEEM IMPORTANT, THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE CONSIDERED NON-ESSENTIAL IN THE EVENT OF A SNOWSTORM (ACCORDING TO THE RED CROSS): CAKE, NETFLIX, ALCOHOL, BEAGLE, SNOWMEN. STAY SAFE!" Disclaimer: If we get nearly as much of a blizzard as Environment Canada is calling for, I will be sitting on my couch, with my beagle, watching Netflix (providing the power does not go out), eating cake, and drinking wine…I may have a burst of energy, and will use that to build a snowman.

From the time we’re small children, humans are captivated by stories. They fascinate, horrify, sadden, overwhelm or bring about intense happiness or excitement. They teach us things as we learn from the experience of others, fictionalized or not. Whether it’s your favorite book or movie, you probably rank it number one because of the story. Writers, filmmakers and journalists are heralded for great storytelling abilities. Storytelling has a place in eLearning, too. Think again about a book or movie you enjoyed. You remember it, right? You took something away from it. This is why storytelling is a powerful information delivery mechanism for eLearning. Stories are memorable. The Science of Stories Storytelling has been a standard method of communication for tens of thousands of years. (Buffer) Scientists have conducted hundreds of studies to figure out exactly why storytelling is so effective. They’ve found it has an interesting effect on our brains. Here are three reasons storytelling works as a communication medium: It adds relevancy. If your audience doesn’t think the topic at hand is relevant to them, they won’t make an effort to learn it. Sharing information in a story format makes it relatable and adds real-world context, convincing the audience that it is indeed relevant. (eLearningMag) Stories are easier to remember. Information delivered in a more straightforward, "bulleted list" style of delivery needs to absorbed and then translated into application. Stories stick in our brains a bit better. (eLearningMag) It activates multiple regions of the brain. What’s fascinating is storytelling activates the same parts of our brains as if we were experiencing the events ourselves. And, it activates multiple parts at once. (Buffer) Below is an excerpt from an article Rachel Gillett published in Fast Company, addressing the different ways storytelling impacts our brain: A story activates parts in the brain that allows the listener to turn the story into their own ideas and experience thanks to a process called neural coupling. Listeners will not only experience the similar brain activity to each other, but also to the speaker. The brain releases dopamine into the system when it experiences an emotionally-charged event, making it easier to remember and with greater accuracy. When processing facts, two areas of the brain are activated. A well-told story can engage many additional areas, including the motor cortex, sensory cortex and frontal cortex. Telling Stories in eLearning So, how can an instructional designer incorporate storytelling into the eLearning courses he or she is creating? Contrary to what some may think, you don’t need to have the chops of a journalist or novelist. Here are a few tips to being using stories in eLearning right away. The main character - the narrator and/or the protagonist - should be someone the audience can relate to. He or she should have a similar role, background, or whatever the situation may warrant. Create drama. The typical, basis of drama is: Introduce a flawed protagonist, get them in trouble somehow, then get them out of that trouble. Have the character learn or grow somehow as a result. Interview people in a similar group as your audience to learn, and then recount, their first-hand experiences. These could be success stories, or even stories about mistakes and how they were overcome. Don’t fall into the meandering story trap. Your story should have the standard components - a beginning, middle and end; a plot and a conclusion. Your story should have a very clear point. Make sure the story drives home and corroborates the ultimate message you’re trying to communicate to your audience. There are infinite resources on the Internet about how to tell a great story, but if you’d rather call in reinforcements, we can help you tell your story. Let’s talk! photo credit: Storytime - Summer 2010

Earlier this week, I asked David to challenge roulette me some challenges to work on next (because I need peer pressure), and he gave me some suggestions for the more popular challenges, and then some recommendations for ones that need a little bit of love. This challenge was one of the first challenges, and it needed a little love, so love I gave it. The Concept Create a flat course design template, using at least three slides, and showing how the flat design concept will move throughout the course. The slides could be static or entirely built-out interactions. The Method Initially, I was going to include a progress meter, but figured I would save that effort for the progress meter challenge….so I did. Instead, I used Tint UI  to create my palette for the sample slides, added some key elements (e.g. header, navigation buttons), and then changed up a few different screen styles. I made use of some free flat icons I acquired from somewhere on Creative Market or Smashing Magazine (I’m sorry…I can’t remember!), and then made final modifications to the player settings before publishing. The Result Click Here to see the Full Demo.  

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Learning doesn’t stop when training ends. One-and-done training isn’t effective. Learning needs to be continuous in order to successfully impart knowledge on an audience and achieve desired behavioral change. And, if that wasn’t enough, there additional benefits to an ongoing eLearning program. It fosters the kind of environment that employees want to work in. Motivation: If employees feel supported, if there are opportunities for them to get better at their job, they’ll want to work for the organization. It’s reciprocal. Just like anything, you get out of it what you put into it. Self-Sufficiency: Ongoing learning and performance support helps employees complete their jobs with a sense of independence and satisfaction. No longer will there be hesitation or concern about asking questions. Errors and missed steps will happen less frequently as there are resources to help guide them to success. Let’s talk about ways you can keep learning going after the initial training is complete. Post-training check-ins - Don’t assume that your audience got everything they needed from one course, whether it’s delivered online or in a face-to-face classroom setting. Check in with them via email or even SMS messaging to conduct additional assessment or deliver supporting content. With the right kind of knowledge sharing platform, this can be set up for automated delivery. Leverage social learning - Encourage your audience to collaborate with each other via a social learning platform. They should be able to ask and answer each other’s questions, sharing knowledge and ideas and strengthening the sense of team. Make it a game - A little competition never hurt anyone, and whether they’re competing against each other or just themselves, a gaming element not only keeps learners interested, it helps make the subject matter memorable. Leaderboards - On a similar note, a little competitions among colleagues can stimulate excitement and motivation around what’s historically been a dreaded aspect of the job...training. Have your audience log scores and successful step completions by posting to a centralized leaderboard. Offer rewards - Whether a simple certificate, a badge, something they can put in their email signature or even something of monetary value, incentives keep people engaged. Performance Support checklists, videos and job aids - Information doesn’t stick after only being delivered once, so offer your learners refresher material and a checklist to help them remember what they need to do. If how to complete a step is forgotten, no worries. They’ve got a short video or job aid at their fingertips. Rather than sending your employees through a plodding, ineffective training program, why not instead offer them a set of learning tools that go beyond initial training and are engaging, convenient, useful and effective? Get in touch to learn more about this approach! photo credit: Apple iPad Air 2

This week’s term isn’t really specifically related to Instructional Design; it’s a little more broad, and can be applied to any profession. It was inspired by a recent conversation in the E-Learning Heroes Community, and is a term I always find myself using when talking to aspiring freelancers. Hustle  In my opinion, the hustle is anything you do to generate new leads for business. In the freelance (or independent or contracting…whatever you prefer) world, you really can’t afford to turn your inner salesperson off. Eventually, you might be able to reduce the amount of hustling you do, but that’s a luxury a lot of folks just can’t afford. Hustling can take many forms. For example, cold-calling/emailing, promoting your portfolio, creating social media profiles, participating actively in community and social media discussions, or applying directly to job prospects. The phrase "Everyday I’m hustling'" is an accurate one! Resources I really don’t have resources for this week’s term; however, feel free to inquire with me in the comments, and I’ll offer my best stab at advice. Don’t let the idea of hustling stand in the way of your dream. Create your own freedom!

Today I’m inspired by things that make life easier: templates! Templates?! Templates are magical! They can save you so much time, allowing you to streamline your development and make your process a lot more efficient. Templates will contain design elements, often times with placeholders for content and/or multimedia. These templates can be used as is, or they can be customized based on your particular needs, using the template elements as a baseline, reducing your time spent in customization. When I first began my development journey, I would manually develop templates and design elements, paying no mind to any resources available to me. However, when I began customizing existing templates, I realized how much time I was saving, and now as a small business owner, I can appreciate the importance of any and every resource saving I can get my grubby little hands on! You should make it a point to realize the importance of these time/cost savings too. Examples of Templates Articulate has a fantastic library of templates, some developed by Articulate and some developed by members of the E-learning Heroes Community. I’ve also developed several free templates for various E-Learning Heroes Challenges. You can download those templates here. Microsoft has an enormous wealth of templates for all of their Office products. Even blogging platforms such as WordPress have libraries of available themes.

In order to help employees perform job functions correctly, it’s common to establish processes that outline workflows - a guide to who should be touching what part of the project and when - and procedural guides that detail what steps are required and in what order they should happen. These are great resources. Employees benefit from reduced ambiguity in their jobs, and feel more comfortable and confident. Employers benefit from increased productivity and efficiency. But by stopping there, you’re selling your organization and your employees short. Don’t Mistake Process for Knowledge There’s an important distinction to be made between process and knowledge. Process covers the "what," while  knowledge is the "how," and just as we don’t expect process to reside solely inside the brains of our employees, the same applies to knowledge. Instead of sharing knowledge, some organizations spend countless hours and resources dictating it through workflows and procedures. The theory is by breaking down complex procedures into a series of small steps, you reduce the errors that result from human errors and memory lapses. No matter how good the process, how precise every individual step is, it can only do so much. It can’t account for gaps in knowledge, a mistaken or misplaced sense of knowledge, or evolving best practices that might require a steady stream of new knowledge. Detailed Processes Can Stifle Creative Thinking and Problem-Solving An employee can glean from a process checklist that step B follows step A, but what if they aren’t sure how to perform Step B? Some on-the-spot knowledge support can improve confidence and reduce errors while guiding employees toward the right solution. Combining knowledge sharing with processes can also encourage critical thinking. Receiving instruction on how to perform a task leads to a deeper level of understanding, which can lend itself to finding even better ways to do things. Employees shouldn’t be robots. They should feel confident to perform tasks at the expected level, but also supported in free thinking to keep the company moving forward. Integrating "To Do" With "How To" Process and knowledge should work in concert with one another. Imagine an environment where knowledge is easily accessible and can be easily linked to work processes: an unfamiliar step in a process made simple by a quick download of a job aid or a short video. To get started, you’ll need to: Provide a means to collect your knowledge into an easy-to-use, team-sourced knowledge base. The knowledge base function needs to encourage team sharing: a social, collaborative network. Support a wide variety of media. This can’t just be about flash-based learning modules or PowerPoint presentations. Knowledge can be stored and processed in a variety of forms. Support them. Allow for the digital creation of checklists, job aids and other performance support materials—ideally supporting mobile devices as well as computer apps. Provide for the interactive linking of the process checklists or job aids with the knowledge base so that the process is instantly supported by the knowledge. When paired correctly, knowledge and process is a winning combination that not only increases efficiency, but instills a feeling of empowerment in employees to continuously improve. If you’d like to learn more about knowledge sharing and performance support and how it can make a difference in your organization, schedule a time to chat with a member of our team. photo credit: D.A.R.E. To Change, Process Flows, Office of the Cook County Medical Examiner

"It’s easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out of date."~ Roger von Oech Mr. von Oech, founder of Creative Think and researcher on creativity, couldn’t be more right. It’s hard to accept that something that worked well in the past just doesn’t anymore, whether it’s a pair of jeans that used to fit great (and, now, not-so-much) or a system or process at work that was so carefully implemented. What changed? In the case of learning, technology has changed, audience expectations have changed, needs have changed, the competitive landscape has changed...it could be any number of things. If you’re nodding your head, thinking knowledge needs to be delivered at your organization in a whole new way, read on. Before you dive in, it’s important to lay out a plan, and we’re here with a list of steps to guide you. Here are 8 steps to creating a winning learning strategy: Have a clearly established set of objectives. Learning objectives are like guideposts that keep an eLearning course on track throughout the creation process, providing criteria to determine what’s really important in the content and when it needs to be broken into additional courses. Ideally, an eLearning course has no more than five objectives. Any more, and the project starts to lose focus. Prepare a script centered on the objectives defined in Step 1. If content doesn’t point to an objective, it should be removed, keeping your program succinct. Determine objectives-based visual elements to drive engagement. The visual elements make the piece interesting and cater to different learning methods. Add interactivity. Include survey or quiz questions, simple games or exercises to reiterate key points and test comprehension. Track, Report, Analyze. In order to accurately determine effectiveness, it’s necessary to track more than just course completions: Abandonment - Is there a point in the course where a lot of people leave the program? Is it a dry section? Can it be improved?  Behavioral Change - Ask a question at the beginning and end of course based on objectives to see if the course is making a difference.  Feedback - Do people like the course? Do they feel it’s worth their time or that it’s actually useful? Summarize data based on entities, not just users. Evaluate a department, an office, a business unit, a district or even a country. Everyone in the organization, from the CEO down, can see how training is impacting his or her team. Measure and Improve. Just like a classroom teacher improves curriculum based on feedback, organizational learning needs to be organic. Prepare a strategy that allows for content adjustments to be made based on the feedback and the analytics we are getting on the module. Make learning a campaign, not just a module. Establish a plan to reiterate key learning points in a structured, scheduled rollout of information including myriad learning modes, such as videos, animations or infographics, and continue to measure effectiveness beyond just the initial course. If you’d like help creating a learning strategy that’s unique to your organization, let us know. We’d be happy to talk further about your needs. photo credit: Checkers

This week I’m observing a training program with a goal of collecting information for an e-learning conversion project, so I figured it might be useful to share some tips for collecting data if ever you’re in a similar situation. You may have a secondary goal of building relationships; even if this is not overtly stated by your company and/or client, ensure you are polite and not disruptive. Be considerate. 1. Identify High-Level Goals I’ve been on data collection trips that have had defined goals, ranging from high-level to module-specific training objectives. However, I’ve also attended data collection trips, like this one, where one of the goals is to identify learning objectives. Before data collection, you should outline the goals for your data collection trip. For example: Identify Learning Objectives and Program Requirements Define Learning Paths Identify Media Requirements Determine Assessment Type Having this list will help guide you in your collection. 2. Absorb Everything On most data collection trips, your primary responsibility will be to act as a sponge and absorb any and every bit of information you can. If you’re sitting in on Instructor-Led Training, you will be presented with a wealth of information, but the facilitator will likely have their own anecdotes based on personal experiences; likewise, other attendees may have anecdotes based on their personal experiences. ABSORB EVERYTHING! This comes in handy, particularly if you need to develop scenario-based training, these anecdotes will come in handy! 3. Be Prepared! Mentally prepare yourself to be a keen observer. Bring your laptop or a pad of paper, and before you leave, prepare and print off a checklist. This is a particularly important point if you are collecting specific information or media. With media, you should prepare a shot list. If you’re doing 3D development, you will need multiple views of each object; account for this, and when you obtain the shot, check it off the list. Keep a running list of questions or concerns, and during breaks or at the end of the day, ensure you ask all questions. When you return to your room at the end of each day, review all documentation collected and make a list of any questions or concerns you may have. Ensure you ask for clarification prior to the end of the trip and/or through communication after the fact.

Last May, we published a blog post of 8 Questions to Ask About Your Current eLearning. This year, we’re back to peel away a layer or two of the learning onion, and suggest some additional questions that, frankly, are going to be hard to answer. The fact they’re hard to answer makes them all the more important. How many people have completed your course? If you know 100 people are supposed to take the course and only 80 have, what’s going on with the other 20? Can they not access it? Do they not need the course or feel it’s necessary? Are they starting it, but abandoning it at some point during the course and, if so, at what point? Is there a trend in abandonment that suggests edits need to be made to the content? This is all information you need to know. How many people have been assessed, and how did they do? If you’re not using assessments, you should, and they should be scattered throughout the course. These small measures indicate the message is clear and understood by the audience. They provide a quick way to get feedback on each part of the course. Certifications can be awarded to those that demonstrate an understanding of the full course, and is also a way to motivate learners to stay focused. Most importantly - how do you know? For all the questions listed in the first two bullets - how do you know? What measures are in place? Do you receive a report of completions and certifications? If not, consider researching learning platforms that provide this information. Did the audience like the course? Did they feel it met the objectives? Did they complete a questionnaire asking for feedback? The best time to ask for feedback is immediately following - or even during - a course. Once a course is completed - whether live or eLearning - the audience is ready to move on and may give hasty responses without much thought. Remember, though, qualitiative feedback like this only goes so far, and may in fact promote entertainment over effectiveness in your eLearning. Is the audience comprehending the information presented? In a previous post, we shared ways to phrase assessment questions in a way that tests comprehension without being too easy. Merely asking an assessment question isn’t enough, it should also make the audience member think about the subject they are learning. Are they retaining it and applying it in the real world? How many training courses or seminars have you taken, then walked out at the end and promptly left all that new knowledge behind? It happens every day. Training is pointless if there’s no follow up to make sure it’s being applied correctly and helping attain business goals. Is the training program at least paying for itself? Are you calculating the ROI of the program in terms of resource savings and improved productivity? Finally, and again - HOW DO YOU KNOW? You can’t accurately answer any of these questions without tracking and measurement, which can only be provided by a robust eLearning platform. At Expand, we create custom versions of our knowledge sharing platform, ExpandShare, that enables clients to build and review custom reports that measures all of the points mentioned above. Don’t just guess your learning program works. Prove it. Get in touch today for a quick demonstration of ExpandShare’s reporting capabilities. photo credit: Eights Skip

This week’s edition of Terminology Tuesday was inspired by a term I hadn’t heard of much in recent months (or maybe I was selectively reading…who knows). I figured I’d dive back into the world of MOOCs and get to the terminal bottom of them just for you! Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) MOOCs are just what their un-acronymed name indicate: Massive Open Online Courses - course materials for some of the world’s leading post-secondary institution are available online, for free! Bananas! These courses provide individuals all over the world (well…online, that’s the hitch) with access to course materials (e.g. lectures, readings, assignments, forums), emphasizing open access of content and encouraging the lifelong learning movement. I remember being so excited when MIT Open CourseWare came out; the idea of learning information that I would only otherwise have been privy to as an MIT student was mind-boggling. Then came the onslaught of other open course content, such as edX, Coursera, and Udacity. As MOOCs evolved, the free stays free, but the rich can still get rich…I say that jokingly; I don’t know if anyone is getting rich off MOOCs…someone likely is, but I’ll never know. Many MOOCs still offer their courses for free in the open access world, but some also offer upgraded certifications for a fee. The fees typically aren’t that crazy, so it really is a great opportunity to take if it’s presented to you. For the self-motivated learner, MOOCs can be wonderful, but for the over-zealous learner, MOOCs can be particularly time-consuming and overwhelming on your inbox if you haven’t prepared yourself adequately for the number of courses you’ve eagerly enrolled in - be cautious, my friend!

When I was in high school, my European Literature teacher would often play CDs of Chopin piano concertos during exams. He believed music stimulated our brains, helped us focus and even helped combat test anxiety. Most of us had no clue who Chopin was, having grown up during the 90s grunge era, but there were zero complaints, even from the orneriest of students. While we found it odd initially (even though this particular teacher was known for his sometimes-unconventional methods and was often spotted practicing Tai Chi in the choir room) I think we all were pleasantly surprised with the results. While most teachers didn’t allow music in the classroom, he was onto something. It’s Scientifically Proven. Music Enhances Learning Music and learning is hardly a new concept. In fact, researcher and educator Chris Brewer has published eight books on the topic and continues to study the effects of music on learning, medical treatment and more. Her research has found or reinforced the idea that music in a learning environment can set and maintain a positive mood. elevate energy levels. reduce stress and frustration. support concentration. motivate and inspire. establish an emotional connection to aid retention. Furthermore, she points out "music helps us learn because it will establish a positive learning state. create a desired atmosphere. build a sense of anticipation. energize learning activities. change brain wave states. focus concentration. increase attention. improve memory. facilitate a multi-sensory learning experience. release tension. enhance imagination. align groups. develop rapport. provide inspiration and motivation. add an element of fun. accentuate theme-oriented units." ( Johns Hopkins School of Education) This seems like a lot of benefits, doesn’t it? Almost too good to be true? It’s not. Think about it - we all listen to music, whether to go for a run, fall asleep, soothe a fussy child (or pet!) or tune out office noise when you have a long to-do list. Imagine how you might be able to bring those same benefits to a training atmosphere. Adding Music to eLearning Courses Increases Effectiveness It’s suggested you do a bit of reading in order to fully understand the science behind music’s application in learning, i.e. what genre works best in different scenarios, how different types of music can impact different personality types and learning styles, and more. But to get you started, here are a few ways to incorporate music in an eLearning course: Set the Tone - Your learners could be coming into your course from any activity. You don’t want them to start their training session distracted. Kick off your eLearning course with mood-setting music to help them settle in and prepare to start. Enforce Important Points - Remember Schoolhouse Rock? Children of the 70s remember grammar rules to this day because of this TV show’s catchy jingles. Enhance What’s Happening on the Screen - Every episode of the reality TV show, The Osbournes, added quirky, bumbling music to accompany Ozzy’s equally quirky, bumbling behavior. It made the viewing experience that much more entertaining. Improve Concentration - As complementary music shifts throughout the course, it will help hold the viewer’s attention and improve concentration during assessments. If you want to learn more about how to enhance eLearning with music, schedule an assessment to talk to one of our instructional designers. photo credit: Chopin - Artur Rubinstein Vol.1

I know - this isn’t really an Instructional Design term, but it’s a term that likely affects many folks between the months of October - April…at least if you’re lucky enough to live on the east coast of North America. In these parts, we were lucky to see a flake of snow between October and December. However, once mid-January hit, we were saddled with an onslaught of snow and ice and cold. And sunshine is a very rare sighting…almost like a unicorn sighting. What is Seasonal Affective Disorder? Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, is a seasonal mood pattern that occurs most often in individuals with major depressive disorder. However, it also occurs in a variety of other individuals. For example, I suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and I am affected by SAD, so if SAD impacts you, it doesn’t necessarily mean you suffer from depression. SAD often illicit feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, pessimism, and sluggishness. You may find that all you want to do is lay in bed and sleep until July. You may find that you prefer to binge eat all of the carbs. You may find that you retreat to all of your introverted tendencies…even if you’re traditionally an extrovert. However SAD affects you, it’s important to realize that it is a disorder and it is brought on by certain times of the year, and once you recognize that it’s not ‘just you’, you can take steps to create a more positive life environment. This is extremely important if you live on the east coast and frequently throw your Christmas tree to the curb in December only to find it still on your lawn when the snow melts in April. The winter months can be desperate times, but there are some measures you can take to reduce the impact of SAD on you and your loved ones. Suggestions for combatting SAD Light therapy. There are SAD lamps, and I’ve heard very good things about them! Alternatively, you can get some fake sun in a tanning bed…which I know is not the best recommendation from a health perspective, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Vitamin D supplements - When sunshine is an infrequent visitor, we all start becoming deficient in vitamin D. My general practitioner has even suggested taking vitamin D supplements year round, because in our climate, we don’t receive nearly enough of it. Exercise! As hard as it is to motivate yourself to do anything when SAD is weighing you down, you need to just get off your butt and exercise! You’ll get your endorphins flowing, and eventually you’ll begin to feel more energized and less sluggish.

If you’re a professional services consultant, you’ve probably wished many times you could be in more than once place at the same time. You dream about human cloning, thinking if you just had more of yourself, you could take on that many more clients!  (Preferably while you are comfortably resting on a beach in the Caribbean.) The extra work is not necessarily a bad problem to have. If your consulting business has grown to a point that you have to turn away clients because it's simply not possible for you to fit them into your schedule, you’re doing something right. Why limit the growth potential of your business if it’s in high demand? Utilizing some of today’s learning technology can help you be more places at once without actually going anywhere. You can start to scale your business. Scalable Consulting With eLearning Transitioning from an in-person training model to an eLearning one, or even using a blended approach, takes your consulting business to the next level, and then some. But before we talk about how that works and why it’s so effective, let’s make one thing clear. When we talk about eLearning, we don’t mean you record yourself giving a presentation, then put the video online and ask people to pay to watch it. Face-to-face vs. a mobile device or computer are very different delivery methods. When you’re face-to-face, you can improvise to hold your audience’s attention. You can gauge response and make adjustments on the fly. When information is delivered via eLearning, it has to be presented in a different way with different techniques to maintain the audience’s attention. You can’t improvise a recording. If someone gets bored (and you’re competing with even more distractions than you would in a live setting) your message won’t stick. However, the benefit of eLearning is your clients can create their own learning plan. They can access training when, where and from what device works best for them. And, it’s scalable. eLearning can help you grow your business, provided the information is presented in a way that’s interactive and engaging. So, we need to take your expertise and training content, and repackage it for the wider, web-based audience. Depending on clients’ unique needs (and your schedule) it’s a win for both sides. Track Success Metrics and Measure Training Effectiveness Imagine you’ve just completed a one-day seminar for a corporate sales team. It seemed to go well. The audience participated in group activities, laughed at your jokes (which means they were paying attention, right?) and gave pretty positive reviews on the survey you passed out at the end. But how do you know it worked? One month later, how can you be sure that sales team successfully implemented all of your best practices, and how can you know it’s impacting your client’s business? Using live training alone, you don’t, and that’s a problem. How do you convince new clients your program drives real behavioral change? eLearning technology lets you actually report on results, giving you data that supports the effectiveness of your program. You can quantify the impact of your work by aggregating data from course completions and abandonment, assessments, feedback questionnaires and behavioral change measures. eLearning platforms (like our product, ExpandShare) enable you to maintain an open line of communication with clients after initial training. Know what content is working and what isn’t, make quick edits and provide ongoing coaching to make sure important points aren’t forgotten over time. Stop revisiting clients and delivering the same message over and over because the client fails to implement your solutions. Our team helps consultants build an eLearning program that’s both scalable and measurable, allowing them to service more clients than ever before. If you’d like to learn more about our approach, or how eLearning can help you win more clients, set up a time to talk today! photo credit: Day 254

Parks and Recreation is one of my favourite shows, and in honour of the series finale this past week, I thought I would relay some of the things Leslie Knope has taught me in her seven season run on Parks and Recreation. 1. Never take "No." for an answer. 2. Meeting your heroes can be overwhelming.3. When you work in small business, sometimes you need a little extra help!4. Breakfast foods are the best.5. No one needs a child-sized soda. Ever.

If your organization provides products or services (which most do) you’re probably familiar with RFPs, or Requests for Proposal. Depending on your role, you may love them or they may be the bane of your existence. I’m kidding…mostly. RFPs certainly have benefits. If you’re in need of a commodity product, it’s wise to collect completed RFPs from a number of potential suppliers to compare not only price, but reliability of the company. It’s a bit different for creative services (like eLearning development) where solutions are tailored to unique needs. While it may be convenient to blanket the market with RFPs and see what comes back to you, there are a few reasons it’s unwise to do so. The questions don’t apply. Is each RFP written specifically for the product/service needed, or is there one standard RFP form used regardless of circumstance? It’s unnecessary to ask a creative firm to attempt to answer questions that apply to a widget manufacturer. eLearning is unique to each company. Its fully customized creation doesn’t lend itself to a standard RFP. There needs to be a real dialogue, not just filling out fields on a form. It sends the wrong message to potential partners. Not only does it suggest you’re not a serious buyer, it suggests you’re not interested in/available for real conversations at this point, which means you may not receive well thought out responses in return. Partners may be hesitant to follow up with additional questions because you’ve essentially said "talk to the hand." With limited information, the vendor can’t possibly assemble the best possible package for your unique organization, and that makes comparing vendors difficult. There’s a good chance you won’t find your true ideal partner. Business Leaders discourage vendors from responding to RFPs. Why? Because they are often used just to cost-justify a current partner or vendor business. As more product/service providers adopt this thinking, you’ll receive fewer responses from the best providers you really should be engaging. They don’t capture what you really need to know. As smartly stated on the Versa Studio blog, RFPs don’t capture "capabilities, interest level or suitability." You’ll save time for all involved by having an open dialogue rather than ask a vendor to complete a standard form, and you’re much more likely to find an ideal partner. If you must require an RFP, FCB Global CMO, Chris Shumaker, has some good advice here. While he is speaking of advertising agencies, the thought process applies to any creative services firm, including eLearning developers. Ditch the RFP. Have a real conversation instead. At Expand, we prefer to talk with potential clients and follow up with a  needs assessment. In order for us to recommend the best solution, we need to have a solid understanding of your organization, your needs, your training audience, your historical approach to training and how its worked, your timeframe, and many other pieces of information. Following that conversation, we are able to deliver a tailored, fully-custom solution containing our recommendations of the best approach for your individual needs, which are going to be completely different from the next potential client we talk to. Plus, don’t you want to spend an hour talking to these fine folks? Try our eLearning needs assessment this week. I promise you’ll come away with far more actionable information than you’d get from a standard RFP. photo credit: Definition of the RFP - 2011-11-06

This week’s challenge was an easy one for me. Mostly because it didn’t require any of my currently exhausted development brains - thanks, David! The Concept Create a small collection of e-learning images to share with your fellow e-learning developers and course designers. The Method For this challenge, I sifted through the photos on my iPhone (that were incidentally taken with my iPhone), and uploaded any I thought might be particularly beneficial to e-learning developers to Google Drive. I then renamed all of the files appropriately, and shared the link. The Result I ended up with a pretty cute, and small gallery of images that may or may not be usable in e-learning courses - there’s nothing really compliance-y in there, but I’m sure you can find a nice nature landscape. Shockingly, there are no cats or dogs in this album. Please feel free to download images and use them at your leisure. I would love you to leave a comment and let me know if you ended up using any of the images (and if so, what did you use them for), but it’s not a requirement. Have at ‘er! Click here to access and/or download all images from this gallery.

Inspections are a critical part of any business that maintains complex equipment or deals with mission critical processes. Accreditations, certifications and licenses that are necessary to remain operational can be lost if inspections are failed. Managers in charge of a team of field technicians or equipment operators are directly responsible for passing inspections, and that territory comes with a number of potential challenges: Old equipment requires legacy knowledge that might not be shared throughout the organization and is gradually lost as veteran team members leave the company. Procedures are followed inconsistently, which means they are either misunderstood or not taken seriously. Processes are bogged down with paperwork and antiquated processes. There are many paper job aids and checklists that quickly fall out of date. Completed paperwork is lost or stuck in a pile waiting to be entered into a system. Manual processes and data entry create significant lags in reporting and a large margin for human error. The low-tech nature of these procedures creates an inability to monitor employees as closely as desired to avoid issues. Technical jobs have relatively frequent turnover, creating gaps in knowledge between new and experienced team members. The current system likely doesn’t provide adequate information to diagnose issues, make timely decisions and swiftly make adjustments. It’s difficult to know where the bottlenecks are and how to fix them. While you may have never considered (or heard of!) a work process or knowledge sharing platform, it is your best operations management tool. Specialized technology can help overcome all of the challenges outlined above by closing knowledge gaps and tracking individual employee activity and performance. Here is how it works: A platform is custom-built for each organization and accessible anywhere there is an internet connection, from any device. Step-by-step how-to checklists are housed here rather than distributed via paper. Employees access it at their workstation or in the field on a mobile device. The checklist is completed electronically as the employee completes the procedure. The checklist guides  the user through a process while at the same time verfying and tracking completion of the steps. Supplemental content, like job aids, photos and videos, are accessible from within the checklist if an employee needs additional support. Old equipment, infrequently used procedures and new employees no longer pose the problem they once did. Users submit completed checklists electronically, which are then immediately added to a data mine for reporting. Managers use the platform to view custom reports to monitor individual users, teams or entire business units for safety, efficiency, team activity and performance. Checklists help prevent costly errors and reports help managers uncover where problems lie, so they can be resolved in a timely manner. Reports can be compiled in near-real time because there is no manual rekeying of data from a paper checklist. This also reduces the risk of human error. Users can be assigned different levels of access to the platform to view only content relevant to their role, whether checklists or reports. Naturally, not all work process and knowledge sharing platforms are created equal, so be sure to carefully review features and ask questions of each potential vendor. If you’d like to learn more about Expand’s platform, ExpandShare, and how we’ve worked with utilities and manufacturers to improve operational efficiency, schedule a time to chat. photo credit: Four Corners Power Plant

This week’s term is brought to you in the form of a rant, and maybe I’m ill-informed. Maybe I’ll spark a heated debate. Who knows? I was having a conversation this week that reminded me of something increasingly prevalent in the education system today: helicoptering. What’s helicoptering? I’m not referring to someone flying a helicopter; I’m referring to the fact that parents are becoming increasingly involved in their children’s education…but negatively. Instead of simply being a supportive presence, available to answer homework queries and/or help with assignments, parents are injecting themselves into the school system and pointing out the flaws that are affecting their children. Not all parents do this, but a lot of them do. When I was in grade school, my parents were very hands-on with my education outside of school (and so they should have been). However, in school, it was my responsibility to navigate the complexities of receiving an education…on my own. Sure, my parents and other parents would intervene if they saw that I was struggling with something, perhaps inquiring about what methods were in place for extra help, etc. However, what I see happening in our grade school system now (and maybe it’s just a regional thing), is that parents are becoming obstructions to their children’s education…unintentionally I’m sure, but becoming over-protective and hyper vigilant. Now. As I said before, there’s a certain level of vigilance that is expected from parents. We all want our children to be treated fairly and to be provided with the appropriate resources needed to succeed. It’s when this vigilance oversteps normal that things become problematic. How so? Here’s one example I can think of. A former co-worker of mine was a teacher at an elementary school, and the school had recently implemented a no homework policy - I’m not entirely sure of the reasoning behind this; although, it was probably rooted some helicopter parenting traits (e.g. not wanting to negatively affect a child’s self-esteem, etc.). Anyhow, my friend had sent her class home with a task of noting three historical events. It could have been something as simple as "I had toast for breakfast this morning.", and she was reprimanded later that week because a parent had complained that their child had been sent home with ‘homework’. Another example: Within the last few years, our schoolboard has changed assignment requirements so that all graded work can be handed in on the last day of the semester. This is unrealistic. In the real world, there are real deadlines. You can’t just take 3-4 months to finish working on something. Additionally, it creates more of a burden on the teachers, who are already working overcapacity. THIS is when helicoptering gets out of hand. If we’re not teaching our children that there are rules and assignments and deadlines, etc., then how are we bettering our children for the role they’ll inevitably encounter when entering university, college, or the workforce? The places our children will go in the future tend to all be governed by rules, regulations, impending deadlines, or at least timeliness. What may have originally been parents wanting the best for their children will end up backfiring years down the road.

  Do you find yourself thinking "If only I had reliable performance data, I could better manage my team," or "I like our LMS, but it would be even better if it could do this or that..." We built ExpandShare just for you. Watch the video below to learn how our knowledge sharing platform is like an LMS, but better.  ExpandShare Let's talk about how ExpandShare could be customized for your organization.    

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since I threw myself overboard from the corporate ship, and I thought it might be fun to share some things that I’ve learned in my first full year of self-employment. Now. Don’t get it twisted. I do still have a full-time gig, but it’s in an industry I love, so while I’ve reduced the amount of work I do with my business, I’m still very active in the small business world. 1. Invest in things that will make your work-life easier. There are still investments I will make in my little business, but I cannot emphasize this point enough. You have a career that you are passionate about, so invest in the things you need to do that job well! For example, I’m an Instructional Designer who develops e-learning products. Things that make my life easier that I’ve invested in over the past year include: a computer that can handle the type of work that I’m doing, a nice desk, an all-in-one printer, some external hard drives, dropbox business accounts, software licenses, and a billing software (which admittedly I don’t leverage to its full potential, but it keeps my finances organized), professionals who know how to do things better than I do instead of trying to do X myself (e.g. my portfolio plugin and an accountant for tax time). 2. Keep organized records. Administrative blah blah is still the bane of my existence, but being somewhat organized makes my life a whole lot easier when it comes time to do say…taxes. Or locate an invoice. Or locate a software product key. I’m in the middle of preparing to file my taxes, and let me tell you…it is OVERWHELMING. However, keeping organized records is making this task a litttttttle easier for me. 3. BACK UP YOUR WORK…ALL THE TIME. This might seem self-explanatory, but I know I’m guilty of not backing things up everyday. However, after several lessons learned that I paid dearly for in headaches and extra labour, I back my work up REGULARLY. This comes especially in handy if you’re guilty of over-trusting your technology. Yesterday my Macbook decided it wanted to get lame. To the point of having to reinstall the operating system. It sucked and cost me the better part of a day to resolve, but in the end, I had all of my stuff backed up, and it was business as usual once the reinstall was up and running. 4. Reward yourself with professional development opportunities. Professional development is always important. It allows you to network with fellow industry professionals and learn new things. In this new fangled information society, it’s important to always keep learning. In 2014 I participated in two speaking engagements (Articulate E-Learning Heroes Community Roadshows: Toronto and Denver), and I learned so much! It was also a learning experience for me to get up and speak about something I know in front of people interested to listen. I also began my Online Learning Consortium Teaching Certificate under the recommendation of the Director of my department at the University. I’m almost finished now, and it’s been a fantastic learning experience. This year, I’ll be speaking at Learning Solutions Conference 2015 (later this month) and I’m hoping to speak or attend Dev Learn in the fall. I’ll also try to hit up at least one more Articulate E-Learning Heroes Roadshow. 5. Take opportunities when they’re presented to you. I understand that you might not be able to take all of the opportunities presented to you, but you can weigh the cost-benefit and determine which ones you can engage in. For me, this was authoring two books for Packt Publishing, Articulate Storyline Essentials (released in a week or so - EEEE!) and Mastering Articulate Storyline (released later this year) - the former will hold your hand and get you up and running with Articulate Storyline, while the latter will have activities and will teach you how to push Articulate Storyline to the limits. I had never before considered writing a book, because who am I to be an authority on ANYTHING?! But, when in Rome. YOLO! 6. You are your best sales person. You know what you’re capable of doing and you know (or have a rough idea) of who you want to do work for, so get out there and SELL YOURSELF! I’m not saying you’ll making half a million dollars in your first year of business, because that’s just nutty. What I’m saying is that there will always be some modicum of hustling that you have to do, and sometimes you’ll need to hustle more than other times, but eventually you’ll get to a point where you’re comfortable with the level of hustling you do. 7. Come correct! Piggybacking on #6, in order to be an effective sales person, you need to come correct. What I mean by this is: overhaul your resume, get a proper email address (e.g. not xohotgirl81), update your linkedin profile, update your portfolio, and BE PROFESSIONAL! When applying for new opportunities, you want to put your best foot forward. 8. Network like you mean it. Find out where your clients or peers are hanging out, and go hang out with them! For me, this started with the Articulate E-Learning Heroes Community. I found so many great clients through the forums, gained a lot of insight, grew myself as a professional, and made a TON of friends. I slowly began incorporating social media, so now I engage with my new friends on Twitter and Linkedin. 9. Don’t be selfish. Once you find your clients (and potential clients) or peers, don’t just engage with them on social media for your own benefit, promote them! Whenever one of my pals tweets about a new blog post or promotes an interesting article or something they’ve developed, I try to share these items as much as I can. This will help your pals out when they’re looking for opportunities, or it might help a client find the perfect person for the job. 10. Treat Yo’ Self! You might not need  fine leather goods or velvet slippies like Tom Haverford and Donna Meagle, but you do need to take time and enjoy life. Many of us are guilty of being workaholics, but there’s this thing called burn out, and if you’re not careful, you will find out exactly what it is. Going on vacations, find a hobby, get out of your chair and go outside!