There are many types of corporate training.  People often ask what type of training is best. While on the surface, it may seem that there is a reasonable response, the program is more problematic.  Each type of training has inherent strengths and weaknesses.  Sometimes the question of which type of training is best is correctly answered by the identification with an assessment of the needs-based purpose for the training. With each of the following training systems, I have provided a brief explanation and a summary of the pros and cons for each. Manual (self-training): The presentation of material, hopefully organized, is generally given to a staff member to basically self train.  A summary of this training system are: Strengths: Cheap & Easy Weaknesses: Inability to measure learning. Requires self-imposed focus Little interaction On-the-Job Training (OJT): Generally used by many corporations for training.  It is a mix of manual training, combined with direct oversight by a mix of management and experienced staff.  Strengths: Cheap & Easy Direct oversight Built in mentoring Weaknesses: Not uniform training Lowers productivity of the trainer during the ramp-up cycle Subjective metrics Computer Based Training (CBT): This has been previously thought of as a ‘holy-grail’ of a system.  The preparation and presentation of material, delivered to the student/staff for presentation and preparation of material and concepts.  The student takes the delivered CD-ROM disks and can participate in the training in geographically dispersed staff. Strengths: Access to uniform training Access to world-class trainers Flexible delivery and presentation Measured delivery in easy to absorb slices of material Weaknesses: Limited learning metrics Inability to measure participation Limited interaction Quickly outdated material Expensive production Web Based Training (eLearning): This is a system of training that greatly expands the process of presentation of training.  It is delivered via a Learning Management System, that contains numerous courses.  The student is capable of interacting with the system via any web browser. Strengths: Access to uniform training Access to world class trainers Felixable delivery & presentation Measured delivery in easy to absorb material segments Measurable metrics on both pre and post delivery Instantly updated material, eliminating outdated or discarded concepts/information Ability to create certification programs which can elevate the education cycle Weaknesses: Limited interaction with staff Limited interaction among staff On-site Seminars by Consultant: This system generally is done for specialty job categories. The rapid development of this type of program insures a swift implementation of this type of training.  It is delivered by outside trainers in internal corporate facilities. Strengths: Rapid Curriculum development High interaction with students/staff Highly specialized training with specific doctrine skillfulness Non-biased delivery of material Student participation is higher and staff experiences shared Allows for face-time and un-interrupted communication amount staff Weaknesses: Cost of the Consultants Cost of Equipment Cost of traveling Difficult to coordinate staff attendance Disruption of schedules Limited metrics Day long classes, causing limited attention and absorption of material On-site Seminars by Internal Staff: This method of training has been greatly employed by companies both large and small. It is generally conducted by internal staff in a corporate facility. Strengths: Rapid Curriculum development High interaction with students/staff Highly specialized training Student participation is higher and experienced shared Allows for face-time and un-interrupted communication amount staff Student participation is higher and staff experiences shared Allows for face-time and un-interrupted communication amount staff Weaknesses: Cost of traveling Cost of equipment Difficult to coordinate staff attendance Disruption of schedules Biased delivery of curriculum Limited metrics Day long classes, causing limited attention and absorption of material Off-site Courses at Training Centers: Generally thought of as a system of training that is centrally located for all attendees.  Training Centers are correctly prepared with both equipment and trainers for most Strengths: High interaction with students/staff Highly specialized training Student participation is higher and experienced shared Allows for face-time and un-interrupted communication amount staff Allows for face-time and un-interrupted communication amount staff Weaknesses: Cost of traveling Disruption of schedules Day long classes, causing limited attention and absorption of material Webinars:  These are seminars conducted via a web browser. These courses are a combination of audio, video and other multi-media presentation. Allows for feedback and guest participation. They allow for highly targeted delivery and participation by attendees. Strengths: High interaction with students/staff Highly specialized training Student participation is higher and measurable Allows for both internal and consultant presentation Recordable and re-deliverable to extended staff Limited disruption of schedules Weaknesses: Loss of face-to-face interaction by staff Limited metrics gauging participation and knowledge of students/staff Seminars: These are high profile celebrity seminars. They are presented by professional speakers or executives.  They are primarily off-site at convention centers or large training centers. Strengths: Celebrity presenters Easy to appraise Student participation is higher and staff experiences shared Allows for out-of-the-box presentation of ideas. Weaknesses: Cost of traveling Disruption of schedules Day long classes, causing limited attention and absorption of material Un-measurable assessments of presentation While all of these educational systems have attributes that appeal to different objectives, it is my opinion that a mix of many of these systems is generally most effective. Irrespective of what a company seeks to train its staff on, the essential ability to unceasing feedback will direct which mix of programs they employ.  For me, a balanced mix of CBT and eLearning, along with webinars and class-room training, provide the highest return on staff training. Related Posts:What Determines Value in Training?6 Reasons Why Corporate Training Programs FailBuilding a Corporate University: StaffingTraining Mojo: How to Align Training Metrics with Company…Role of the Trainer: Engagement

It is with a sad note that I am the learning physician that has to declare that elearning (as it now exists) is dead.  I am positive that many of you are going to say "WHAT"?   eLearning has had a long illustrious life.  As a baby, it was nothing more than a mail-order course delivered to interested individuals.  As it grew up, the teenage years were expressed as computer-based-learning programs that were sent by disk.  This was a huge expansion to the development of elearning as a youth.  It created a distribution process that was previously unparallelled.  It was a great youth experience. As an adult, elearning showed its capabilities when it was delivered on the internet.  With its capability to be available 24/7 and global delivery, it was just about everything that one could possibly hope for. As it aged, it learned new tools to increase engagement.  It successfully changed it self from paper reading to computer screen reading to browser based reading, but it still was nothing more than reading on a different platform.  It did learn to add some fancy graphics as well as some novel java and flash tools to increase engagement, but it continued to suffer from a position of isolation.  There was not much it could do that would to engage a collective of participants. This isolation is what caused it’s unfortunate death.  It reached millions of individuals, but could not  find a way to assist them to learn as a group or community.  eLearning is is mourned by its spouse Content Creation Tools and their children MOOC, edx, Coursera and udacity.   Related Posts:Adult Education vs. Corporate eLearningeLearning: Developing Internally vs. Licensing ExternallyBenefits and Potential Drawbacks of Internal eLearningBenefits and Potential Drawbacks of External eLearningEngaging Participants 4: Virtual Engagement

In its race with Amazon, Rackspace Hosting’s struggle over the open-source cloud computing has been epic.  The two firms compete heavily with each other over the emergence of each of there computing platforms.  Rackspace has promoted its OpenStack platform to corporate clients, just as Amazon has been doing.  As tech heavyweights throw their support behind one or the other, the growth for both firms have been massive. Both firms struggle to finding enough technical workers with any experience with "cloud computing" skills.  These are the skills necessary to take the various computer languages and install them into the infrastructure of these cloud-based platforms.  Universities and colleges have limited or no programs dealing with these cutting-edge technical skills. To solve this problem, Rackspace is launching the Open Cloud Academy.  The Open Cloud Academy will offer a number of educational programs that will provide students certifications in these cloud-based technologies.  Rackspace Chairman, Graham Weston says; "The Open Cloud Academy can help turn the tide by offering highly sought after technical training to the public, bolstering the this scarce pipeline and helping fill the countless number of roles in San Antonio and beyond." What I hope is that this message is heard loud and clear by all of the firms lamenting the lack of qualified applicants.  Relying on universities and colleges to provide the necessary skills for today’s demanding business environment is not going to happen.  Companies need to create and develop their own learning academies to train specific and critical skill sets for their workers. Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:Barriers to ongoing Continuing and Professional DevelopmentMOOCs: From the Classroom to the Conference RoomMOOC: The King is Dead - Long Live the KingMOOCs in the corporate worldDisruption to the Continuing and Professional Development…

The History Channel has released a clip about the training programs employed by the Soviets in the 1960′s. What makes this interesting is a Ukrainian marine mammal program that is training dolphins to do the same thing currently.  What makes this more relevant is the three of these Ukrainian Killer Dolphins are on the loose in the Black Sea.  Here is an article from Business Insider on this story. Related Posts:The Future of Learning is a MOOC10 YouTube Videos Every Entrepreneur Should WatchDeveloping Skills through GamificationDid you know?MOOC: The King is Dead - Long Live the King

SYKESVILLE, Md., Mar 01, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) — GSE Systems, Inc. (nyse mkt:GVP) has published a new white paper titled "The Case for Simulation-Based Training in the Oil and Gas Industry, Upstream and Downstream". The document examines the need for efficient and effective workforce development in the oil and gas industry worldwide to combat the acute shortage of skilled workers both upstream and downstream. "Statistics show that U.S. universities are producing only about 20 percent of the engineering graduates they did 20 years ago," said Jim Eberle, Chief Executive Officer of GSE Systems. "Thus, the petroleum industry needs to train its recruits better and faster on systems that are more complex than ever before. They also need to make sure that they retain those recruits over the long term. New innovations in simulation-based training will allow industry trainers to accomplish these goals in less time with lower costs." The white paper examines the causes and characteristics of the skills gap in the oil and gas industry, including size and scope. It also provides an overview of the market for simulation-based training, including learning approaches, assessments of effectiveness, and operating and financial benefits to companies. Readers will learn why simulation-based training, prefaced with traditional classroom training methods on process fundamentals, is the most efficient and cost effective way to educate new employees and prepare them for their work in a refinery or on an exploration and production (E&P) platform. The white paper is free as a direct download at www.gses.com/resources/white-papers. About GSE Systems, Inc. GSE Systems, Inc. is a world leader in real-time high-fidelity simulation, providing a wide range of simulation, training and engineering solutions to the energy and process industries. Its comprehensive and modular solutions help customers achieve performance excellence in design, training and operations. GSE’s products and services are tailored to meet specific client requirements such as scope, budget and timeline. The Company has over four decades of experience, more than 1,100 installations, and hundreds of customers in over 50 countries spanning the globe. GSE Systems is headquartered in Sykesville (Baltimore), Maryland, with offices in St. Marys, Georgia; Madison, New Jersey; Cary, North Carolina; Chennai, India; Nykoping, Sweden; Stockton-on-Tees, UK; Glasgow, UK; and Beijing, China. Information about GSE Systems is available at www.gses.com. Related Posts:Gamified Applications for TrainingBenefits of Using SimulationsSimulation ComponentsBuilding a Corporate University: AssessmentUsing Simulations in Corporate Training

Related Posts:Training Dolphins to be SoldiersDid you know?Developing Skills through Gamification10 YouTube Videos Every Entrepreneur Should WatchAwareness Test

Many industries have Continuing and Professional Development  or CPD requirements.  Those in finance, accounting, legal all have mandatory training requirements that demand anywhere from 20-40 hours annually to be completed.  These CPD requirements are in addition to many product or specific product programs that many firms offer. A quick Google search for ‘CPD requirements’ provides almost 7 million results.  CPD’s are serious business, yet many firms struggle with coordinating and delivering these programs to their staff.  The standard litney of reasons for why this is difficult is common to many.  Things like, Time away from the office Travel time to an event Sometimes the cost of airfare and hotel accommodations contribute to the costs Relevance of the training to the participant. To me, there is a solution out there waiting to be discovered.  Something that is easy to participate in, easy to access, manageable from a time perspective and yet fully reportable and accountable for firms, regulatory bodies and associations. Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at his LinkedIn Page: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson   Related Posts:Rackspace Solves its Recruitment ProblemsDisruption to the Continuing and Professional Development…The Death of eLearningTwo Sigma ProblemTop 5 Sales Commandments

Things are changing… faster than ever before. Markets are moving and the need for training is ever present for firms wanting to survive. The disruption that is ‘already here’ is changing everything we know and do. The question everyone has is… what are we going to do knowing that this disruption has occurred. In the past, training required that you book flights, transportation, hotels, take care of meals and entertainment… all to get people together for training.  We have for decades thought the best method for training was flying hundreds of people from all points, to a central place for training.  The costs have always been HUGE. Airfare Hotels Car/Transportation Travel Fees Accommodations Then ADDING the cost of the venue AND the training. At CapitalWave, we propose a new business model for training.  This model is based on the new learning model of a MOOC. While you don’t need to know what a mooc is, what you do need to know is that this pedagogy is: Flexible, Scalable, Distributive, Reliable and Accountable. Our delivery is a ‘virtual classroom’ … a place where participants work together on virtual teams and projects. Creating inter-active conversations. Inclusion of Simulation-based-learning. Having Just-in-time learning and Hot Topics. We are proposing a method of online training that allows for everyone, both now and for the next two years, to experience the same training program.  An Online Video Training that has a Reliable Delivery Framework with Sequenced Learning Objectives the has Engaging delivery and simulations, this is Highly visual, which Creates and in-person experience, that Rewards participation, which Eliminates the irrelevant, Creates seamless transitions. Our solution for training is to NOT abandon the ILT model, nor is it to replace it with a pasts standard-learning-model.  We are offering the best of both, an in-person experience for training that includes high quality lectures, availability of downloadable material, and the often lost value is networking … ‘virtual team building and discussions’ that engage, motivate and amplify learning opportunities. The delivery framework is a dynamic pedagogy that is ‘competency based learning’ that is available across geographic boundaries. What we are proposing is to ignite a training model that embodies ‘Training Tomorrows Workplace & Workforce’.  Take this as our announcement of an online CPD training resource for industries and company’s.  We are calling this:  CPDex. CPDex will be the online framework which will allow people to Explore, Excite and Experience this new educational environment.It is our intent to launch the CPDex on June 1st, 2013.  Come back to learn more. Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:Barriers to ongoing Continuing and Professional DevelopmentThe Death of eLearningCorporate Training Choices ExplainedTwo Sigma ProblemRackspace Solves its Recruitment Problems

From Wikipedia:  Bloom’s 2 sigma problem refers to an educational phenomenon observed by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom and initially reported in 1984 in the journal "Educational Researcher". Bloom found that the average student tutored one-to-one using mastery learning techniques performed two standard deviations better than students who learn via conventional instructional methods[1]—that is, "the average tutored student was above 98% of the students in the control class".[2] Additionally, the variation of the students’ achievement changed: "about 90% of the tutored students … attained the level of summative achievement reached by only the highest 20%" of the control class.[3] Bloom’s graduate students J. Anania and A. J. Burke conducted studies of this effect at different grade levels and in different schools, observing students with "great differences in cognitive achievement, attitudes, and academic self-concept" What makes this problem so valuable and interesting to me is that Bloom sought to find a method of learning that  elevated the learning of students equal to the one-on-one tutoring that achieves the 2 sigma performance.  Bloom correctly concluded that this method of tutoring was "too costly for most societies to bear on a large scale".  To him and his associates, Bloom believed that the solution for teh problem was not in changing the instructor, or even the course material, rather it was in the engagement of the student with the concepts in an organic manner that allowed for them to test their knowledge mastery while learning.  These conceptional engagement methods were out-side of the then (and even current) pedagogues of many learning institutions.  Rather than have the students just learn facts about their topics, Bloom recommended both Mastery Learning (testing, case-studies, and outside reading) with the elements of social engagement (forums, study-groups and simulations) to achieve this level of learning mastery. Institutions (corporate and academic) that wish to energize and amplify the learning of their staff and students should seek deliveries that weave the lectures, mastery learning concepts with the social engagement that fuels the results.  Leading to higher satisfaction of staff and students. Related Posts:Gamification in Relation to User EngagementWhat Determines Value in Training?Developing Skills through GamificationUniversity Trading Challenge December 9, 2011Developing a Structured Learning Path

How gamification has had an effect on the training industry While there are a number of skeptics out there of training through gamification and simulation; gamified simulations have become an extremely popular and very effective training medium. Some in the simulation market may take offense to a simulation mistakenly called a ‘game’. While a simulation does have game-like aspects it is purely used as a teaching method. Are they real enough? They are so real it hurts. Will one take it serious enough? This is where the term ‘serious games’ come into play. Gamified simulations are even being incorporated into traditional military training war games. By nature, we have the desire to be entertained. The experience-based learning that games provide enables the ability to change behavior by being immersed within the game design and provide a motivation for learning through such motivation. By generating a method for measurable feedback, the trainee as well as the organization benefit. Game-style engagement can bring a high level of engagement and make learning/training actually fun to do. When a simulation is based around an inspiring story it makes it satisfying to play. Gaming interfaces will continue to make inroads in both corporate and educational training fronts within the next decade. "It is in our human nature to interact and be entertained with playful applications, particularly when there are engaging design elements employed." -Gamification in 2012 Report, M2 Research It’s more than just flight simulators being used for training nowadays’, training ranges in everything from the financial industry to popular consumer applications. Perhaps one of the more famous games/simulations that most have heard of (if not played) is that of the United States military’s "America’s Army" video-game recruiting tool. America’s Army presents real-world-like challenges to the player; yet brings an element of seriousness and real-world applicability. It is a great recruitment strategy in a cost-effective format that captures its target audience and leads to more recruits signing up for duty; that may not have otherwise. According to the 2012 Pew Internet Research Report: (http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Future-of-Gamification/Overview.aspx?view=all) "While some people dismiss gamification as a fad, neuroscientists are discovering more and more about the ways in which humans react to such interactive design elements. They say such elements can cause feel-good chemical reactions, alter human responses to stimuli—increasing reaction times, for instance—and in certain situations can improve learning, participation, and motivation." Gamification, games based on scenarios and problem solving, aka "Serious games" make for a great approach to presenting training and education in any easily digestible format for the user. So many of us lead digital lives and have become accustomed to being ‘plugged-in’ all of the time whether that be by a wireless internet connection and iPad or through a Smartphone. That by playing through simulations it’s just second nature and an extremely compelling way to present material that may otherwise be bland and boring. We tend to look for instant gratification in our work; by providing user feedback (through a point system, etc.) the simulation medium provides for direct response. Gaming technologies are making training and education far more effective than traditional methods and gamification has many applications within the training arena. Let’s address those skeptics that believe games are not for learning. Said skeptics believe that no good can come from playing a game, and dismiss the technology all together. Little do they know that by using gamification and simulation approaches in the training and educational markets we are making the learning/training process more anticipated and less feared.  Gaming functionality allows for people to understand more complex topics quicker and with more nuances involved.  We are able to present problem-solving strategies and a challenge that meets the skill level of any and all players. Video from this site: http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/gamification/ Gartner, Research Vice President Brian Burke discusses the trend of gamification and how it’s being utilized in the enterprise. video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player Since the gamification industry and term launched back in 2010, many companies (over 350 to be exact) have launched major gamification based projects. Ford, eBay, NBC, and Walgreens are just a few on the list. With any new concept and technology, there are always skeptics. Those that have heard failure stories, but for the most part a failed gamification project is only a result of the program not being the right design for the company and its users. Early adopter organizations are claiming success, sighting better user engagement and higher retention of material presented; than that of traditional training methods. "For many companies, gamified training has lowered costs and raised engagement by over 50 percent." -Gigaom (http://gigaom.com/2013/01/27/beyond-the-hype-5-ways-that-big-companies-are-using-gamification/) The applications of simulation and gamification are endless. They range from military to corporate training programs, first responders and even K-12 educational programs. Although there are still challenges to be worked through, we are hearing of new gamification projects being announced daily and we will continue to see more successful applications across the enterprise, in training and beyond. Gamification and simulation are powering a revolution; one in which can transform the way we do business, and transform our everyday lives. Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:Gamification and the Hype CycleGamification in Relation to User EngagementDeveloping Skills through GamificationTraining and Education for Millennials through GamificationSimulations in Online Learning

The academic world is abuzz with the newest form of learning for students - the Massive Open Online Course or MOOC. In just over 1 year, it has become such a force that it already has large groups of supporters and detractors debating on its quality and effectiveness. MOOCs aim to work on an individual’s motivation to self-study and explore topics of her choice. While tremendous number of students and universities have benefitted by MOOCs, in order to understand the possibility and extent of a MOOC’s applications to the corporate world, we must understand its fundamental principles. Let’s dissect the term for a clearer view: Massive: This form of training is meant to be received by thousands of people. Course content, cultural sensitivities, geographical deviations to a subject and infrastructure to host the MOOC have to be evaluated accordingly. Open: MOOCs were originally designed to be free for all. However, hybrid models are now appearing with economically priced paid courses. All MOOCs are open to anybody who wishes to participate in the training. Online: In order to be massive, you have to go online. MOOCs are broadcasted online so that maximum amount of people can participate and benefit from the training. Course: These are trainings given by highly qualified trainers with a learning objective for all students. Most MOOCs provide completion certificates to those who pass all tests and quizzes. MOOCs have been growing in popularity because of its affiliation with "connectivism", where thousands of students can interact with each other to share notes and thoughts. This, along with the training content, increases their knowledge base and helps them build social networks around their areas of interest. Obviously, some of the above aspects of MOOCs do not go down too well with corporates. For one, most corporates would be uncomfortable hosting open, free for all courses. Where’s the business sense in that? It is this reason that is seeing low or no acceptance yet among companies. But here’s where a few tweaks to the original MOOC can make corporate training in your organization better, cheaper and more effective than the traditional methods being used today. Tweaking the MOOC for the corporate world Every company has its own culture that decides how much it wants to share. Companies may not want to host a training that is available to a massive group on people, but instead may only want to provide training to employees or a certain section of employees based on their role. When you are a geographically diverse company, whether within the country or globally, a corporate MOOC will still give you a larger audience to cater to in a shorter time span as compared to traditional instructor led courses. So relatively, this is still a massive training in your company’s context. Companies with more willingness to share may choose to keep non-confidential trainings open to a larger community or even the public at large. This can act as a brand builder, quite similar to your company’s thought leadership material or sponsored events. Based on the topic of training, its sensitivity or confidentiality, the requirement of the training material to those outside the company and the company’s keenness or averseness to experimenting with MOOCs, companies can decide whether they want to host their training content on the internet or on their intranet.   MOOCs in academia MOOCs in closed corporates MOOCs in open corporates What are we talking about? Currently available MOOCs, mainly focusing on academic learning MOOCs with suggested tweaks for corporates who would not like to share their content outside the company MOOCs with suggested tweaks for corporates who are open to sharing training content outside the company Is it massive? Yes. Enrolled student numbers can be as high as 150,000 Depends on the size of your company. The enrollments are restricted to the number of employees you have. Yes. You could potentially host trainings online for the whole world. Is it open? Yes. Open to all and free for all. In a way. It will only be open to everyone in your company, across all geographies. Yes. Your selected courses can be viewed by anyone. However, you may be choose to charge a nominal fee for outsiders to participate in your MOOC. Is it online? Yes. It will be available online, but on the intranet, not the internet. Yes, both.   Making business sense Saving money On an average, U.S. companies spent $706 for training every employee in 2012, according to The Corporate Learning Factbook® 2013. For organizations with more mature Learning & Development (L&D) functions, this number was even higher at $867 per employee. This does not include the monetary value of time that employees have to take off from work on specific days and at specific hours for the training. For client facing employees, this means they cannot meet with their clients during the training and must run their schedule around it. A MOOC will allow employees to fit the training into their schedule rather than the other way round, maintaining business as usual. This also means that companies will be able to uniformly deliver their training content to all employees, without spending money on travel, training centers, refreshments, etc. Plus, employees can view their training content multiple times, as and when they please. Increasing motivation The biggest motivation to individuals to complete a task is when they have chosen to do the task in the first place. Companies can use MOOCs to provide various non-mandatory or soft skill trainings that users can choose to take. This freedom of choice encourages people to learn and apply their learnings in the workplace. Encouraging creativity What makes this any different from an e-learning course, you ask? Let’s take you back to the theory of "connectivism". MOOCs marry the traditional classroom to the electronic network. Even though your employees are learning on their computer, they are connected to others who are also taking the same course. This allows them to interact and so many times this is how new ideas are generated that not only help the employees, but in many cases the organization as well. Another difference is that MOOCs contain rich content such as videos, infographics, quizzes, etc. This engages employees with content structure that is very similar to what they would find online had they been researching themselves. MOOCs, therefore, give employees that comfort zone that they’re looking for in a training that allows them to enjoy and learn creatively. MOOCs are here to stay and it is up to companies to make use of the advantages of this method of training while not applying the aspects that do not make business sense. Sooner or later, MOOCs will move from the academic space to the corporate space in a big way. Will you be prepared? Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:Should you use MOOCs over other forms of corporate…MOOCs: From the Classroom to the Conference RoomBeyond Cost-Savings: Advantages of MOOCs for Corporate…Placing MOOCs in the context of your organizationWhat Type of MOOC Is Right For You?

What is education? It seems like a simple question, but over the past several months, it has become increasingly more difficult to answer. Is education the transfer of knowledge from expert to learner? Is it the development of competencies? Is it something that happens in a classroom, online, on the job, or just anywhere at all? How can we tell if education is working - do we give students a written test or a competency-based assessment, or do we have them create a digital artifact to share with others? How do we assign credit to these various activities - does credit even matter? These are just some of the questions that are being asked and their answers are challenging the traditional ways of thinking about education and learning. One of the major assumptions that has been challenged recently is the primacy of content in our educational systems. Content has traditionally been the difference between education at a community college and education at an elite university. At a community college, professors may select the textbooks, but at an elite university the professors are the ones who write the textbooks. The students at top universities get a better education because they learn directly from the people who are actively doing the research and advancing the field. The students at community colleges will always be a step behind, not least because of the time it takes to produce a textbook. In the current climate, when many fields are advancing so rapidly it’s hard to keep up, the access gap between students at elite universities and community colleges is widening. Or at least it was, until about a year ago. When massive open online courses (MOOCs) erupted onto the scene in 2012, higher education freaked out, literally. Debates erupted across the spectrum, with traditionalists in one corner, online educators in another corner; students in one corner, textbook publishers in another corner; state university systems in one corner, small liberal arts colleges in another corner; and, well, you get the idea. None of the debates have been conclusively resolved: some people are afraid of MOOCs, some see them as a panacea for higher education, and others don’t know what to think at all. Why have MOOCs caused so much fuss? MOOCs challenge one of the main tenants of education, that "content is king." When Harvard, Stanford, and MIT offer their courses online, for free, to anyone, content is overthrown. When courses are built using open educational resources (OER) rather than textbooks from major publishers, content is overthrown. Now, students at community colleges, or even just sitting in their own living rooms, have access to the same content as students at elite universities. So if content isn’t king, what is? The emerging model for education is school-as-a-service. As Jeff Jarvis writes in Business Insider, "Content is that which fills something. Service is that which accomplishes something." MOOCs and the vast availability of content are forcing educators to think about students differently - not as vessels that need to be filled, but as clients that need to reach certain outcomes. In this light, education and training are viewed not as products but as services, and MOOCs are leading the way by equalizing the content playing field. As MOOC pioneer Dave Cormier says in the video below, "A MOOC is a catalyst for knowledge." If we think about school-as-a-service, then the focus of education turns to outcomes: What exactly will students be able to do? For businesses, this question becomes "What do we need our employees to be able to do and what is the best way to train them to achieve those goals?" As Jeff Jarvis writes, "When we think of ourselves as services, then we strive not to own products but instead to add value to a process. When we provide service, we become more accountable for the outcomes our clients achieve." Like Internet-as-a-service and software-as-a-service, the school-as-a-service model is based on having a variety of options at our fingertips all of the time. In 2011 Tom Vander Ark, CEO of Open Education Solutions, envisioned school-as-a-service as an environment where you "open your browser and you have learning options, multiple providers, multiple devices, customized engaging learning anywhere anytime." Now in 2013, many of these elements are already available. MOOCs and OER provide many avenues for content, mobile learning technologies enable students to access their courses on multiple devices, adaptive learning technologies provide customized solutions for learners, and Web 2.0 and social media integration increase learners’ engagement. And of course, since the Internet is always on, this learning can take place anywhere anytime. The evolution of education from content to service is just beginning, but judging by how quickly the general educational landscape is changing, once it catches on the transformation will be fast and furious. Higher education is notorious for dragging its feet, so as with elearning and the adoption of other technology-enabled learning tools, it will be up to private organizations and corporate trainers to lead the way. Content is no longer king. The new game of thrones is being played among Outcomes, Competencies, Technology, Certification, Adaptive Learning, and likely several contenders that haven’t yet emerged. Undoubtedly, there will be countless alliances, conspiracies, and upsets, and we are all anxious to see who will get to ride the dragons. Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:MOOCs: From the Classroom to the Conference RoomBeyond Cost-Savings: Advantages of MOOCs for Corporate…Using MOOCs in Corporate Training ProgramsWhat Type of MOOC Is Right For You?Adult Education vs. Corporate eLearning

A little over a year ago, very few people had heard of massive open online courses, aka MOOCs. The strange acronym was recognized only in select higher education circles, where the courses were either regarded with trepidation ("What will this do to our schools?") or with derision ("We have nothing to fear from these second-rate imposters!"). Then over a period of about six months, everything changed. Three major companies were launched, millions of people signed up for free online courses, and the New York Times declared 2012 "the year of the MOOC." There is no longer a question of whether or not MOOCs will disrupt higher education—they already have, and they are pounding on the doors of K-12 and continuing education and corporate training as well. So, what is a MOOC? How are MOOCs affecting traditional models of education? And what does this mean for the future of corporate training? A MOOC is a "massive open online course": massive because the scale of the course is limited only by the capabilities of the learning management system; open because it is free and available for anyone to take; online because an Internet connection is all that is required to participate; and course because it delivers a specific unit of educational or training content. There are different types of MOOCs, but they all rely on a variety of online resources. Content delivery is usually through videos and other online media, while assessment is either objective (quizzes, exams) or subjective (blog posts, digital artifact creation, peer-reviewed essays). The term itself was first used by Dave Cormier to describe a course offered in 2008 by education and technology gurus George Siemens and Stephen Downes. This first MOOC attracted more than 2000 people, a number that was astounding at the time. After that, MOOCs laid low for a couple of years. There were some courses offered in an open online format, but education was too focused on the broader concept of online learning to worry about these courses, whose appeal seemed limited. Then, in the fall of 2011, Stanford professor Sebastian Thrun and Google research director Peter Norvig decided to offer their course "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence" online and for free. More than 160,000 students signed up and over 23,000 graduated. As Thrun notes, "Peter and I taught more students AI, than all AI professors in the world combined." In February 2012 Thrun left Stanford to found Udacity, a private MOOC company. Two months later saw the launch of Coursera, the brainchild of Stanford professors Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng. Today, Coursera offers hundreds of courses in several languages from more than 60 top universities around the world. The third major player is edX, a Harvard-MIT partnership that now includes 12 elite colleges and universities. While most of Udacity’s offerings are in math and computer science, Coursera and edX are experimenting with courses across the academic spectrum. As with any major innovation, both the hype and the criticism of MOOCs have been extreme. On the one hand, students are flocking to the courses and professors are lining up to teach them. A February 2013 survey, conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education, found that of 103 professors who had taught a MOOC, a full 79% believed MOOCs were worth the hype. The professors reported that teaching a MOOC both increased their own standing in their field and improved the way they taught their traditional classes. On the other hand, there are many questions still outstanding regarding the true value of MOOCs, many of which revolve around assessment and what completing a MOOC may (or may not) allow a student do to in the future. There is also the question of credit. As of now, there is no formal credit system, but in February 2013 the American Council on Education recommended five MOOCs for credit and the California State Senate is currently considering a bill that would allow students to receive credit for taking MOOCs. MOOCs are also making inroads in bridging the workforce skills gap. Aided by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, edX has partnered with two Boston-area community colleges to better prepare students for jobs in the digital, knowledge-based economy. The next big area where MOOCs are poised to take off is corporate training. As Josh Bersin wrote in a November 2012 Forbes article, "At some point the enormous investment in the education industry [and MOOCs] will bleed over into the corporate market (where there is real money to be made)." In fact, corporate training is uniquely positioned to reap the benefits of MOOCs. As Chris Farrell wrote in Bloomberg Business Week, "The timing is auspicious. For one thing, companies have embraced online learning more than colleges and universities." More than 40% of corporate training is already done online, and many of the criticisms of MOOCs are less relevant in corporate than in educational scenarios. Some organizations are already using MOOCs for their training, like Canadian communications company TELUS. In February 2011, TELUS launched a six-week training program that used videos, webcasts, and various social media platforms to reach all 40,000 of its employees. Dan Pontefract, Head of Learning and Collaboration at TELUS, said "We’re not afraid of the MOOC; we’re demonstrating it has benefit inside the corporate ranks as it does in the academic ranks through ventures like Coursera, Udacity and edX." MOOCs are coming to corporate training. They are set to disrupt the old models and the disruption will be fast and furious. As we stand on this precipice, organizations and corporate trainers have a choice: they can sit in the back row and watch the show unfold, or they can embrace the new models and actively participate in determining the future of corporate training. Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:MOOC: The King is Dead - Long Live the KingBeyond Cost-Savings: Advantages of MOOCs for Corporate…MOOCs in the corporate worldWhat Type of MOOC Is Right For You?Placing MOOCs in the context of your organization

Our workforce today is friendly to new technologies and new innovations. Gone are the days when introducing a new technology was always attempted to be shot down by employees, resulting in companies incurring high costs of change management. Younger employees today are excited to try something new and older ones have gotten used to the fast pace of change in technology in today’s times. Almost everybody uses the internet, social media and instant messaging. Connecting, sharing and collaborating have become the norm. MOOCs fit in perfectly in this environment, making it an extension of people’s natural method of researching and learning. MOOCs allow companies to provide uniform delivery of content to all its employees at distributed locations. This allows standardization of processes and competencies across all locations using fewer resources. Employees can learn at their own pace as long as they stick to course deadlines and pass course tests. Sharing your training content allows other professionals to learn from your subject matter experts and create a better talent pool for you to choose your next employee from. Using highly trained and experienced trainers and developing rich multimedia content for a MOOC not only engages your trainees, but becomes your intellectual property (IP) that lends to your brand strongly. How do you decide if a MOOC is the right method for you to conduct your training? There are a few considerations that you must evaluate in order to know if you will truly benefit by the advantages that MOOCs promise. Cutting across geographies Are you a company with hundreds or thousands of employees across the country or the world? How do you provide them training today? Is your training calendar chock-a-block with instructors flying across cities in order to train the same topic to multiple offices? When you have a large employee base, a MOOC allows you to impart training across all locations in a much shorter period of time. Strong training content Your course content has to be top-notch, taking into account geographical differences, various ethnic groups, legal and regulatory differences and market conditions. The instructor also has to be interesting to the trainee as, unlike a regular classroom, the trainee can easily get distracted while attending a MOOC. Additionally, you have to invest in developing videos and other interactive content for your audience. If you do not wish to generate all this content yourself, you could use content made available by other MOOCs for your employees. When MOOCs start gaining ground in the corporate sphere with a lot of content being generated, this could be a cost effective option for your company. Tighter training budget Because MOOCs are to be provided on the online platform, you do not spend the same kind of time or money in travel, training space, meals and refreshments, stationery and other sundry expenses. If you plan to host your own MOOCs, you’ll need to invest initially in the infrastructure and regularly on the training content. If not, you may use MOOCs created by another peer company or training organization. Whenever, wherever Your employees can attend a MOOC at their own time, without affecting their daily schedules or routine. This is especially useful for client-facing professionals who must adhere to their clients’ schedules for meetings and deliverables. Employees can even revisit a training if they wish to go through some concepts again for the sake of clarity. Continuing and Professional Development (CPD) Accounting, legal, insurance, medical, finance and other professionals require ongoing and continual attendance to relevant industry programs. Instead of organizations independently spending so many dollars on programs with similar content, a MOOC will allow several companies to leverage on training content developed by either an L&D organization or a consortium of companies. Standardization A MOOC is a wonderful way to bring in standardized processes across your company. Employees can not only learn one way of doing things, but offices with weaker process adherence can also learn from offices with stronger process adherence. Connectivism allows MOOCs to bring people together in a discussion that creates a sense of collaboration and healthy competition. Instructor-led trainings cannot create this atmosphere due to each location conducting its own separate trainings, as one large classroom training is not logistically viable for all your employees. E-learning courses, while imparting standardized trainings, do not allow any interaction between trainees at all and thus reduce the effectiveness that we see in MOOCs. Creativity Because of the collaboration and competition with such a ‘massive’ group of people, MOOCs allow people to bring up situations and challenges from their different workplaces. Together, training attendees attempt to develop creative solutions to issues, with a huge positive impact on employee morale and company efficiency. With instructor-led trainings and e-learning, such interactions are impossible and hardly ever do we see a training being a reason for creativity highs within the organization. User experience MOOCs with well thought of and well executed content pull the trainees’ attention into the subject matter, allowing for an enjoyable learning experience. This makes concepts clearer and drives the trainee to perform additional research and self-study on the subject. Traditional methods of corporate training are known to be drab and do not motivate many employees to study outside the classroom or the course material. Peer network A MOOC brings together the online classroom as a network of professionals with a common objective or interest. This not only initiates discussions that lead to creative problem solving, but also creates a peer network that continue to discuss and debate on related topics even after the training is over. Imagine a group of, say, Certified Public Accountants or Environmental Lawyers, who connect regularly to update themselves on real applications and real challenges of their industry, and together come up with out-of-the-box solutions that help them and, in the process, their companies. Brand and Intellectual Property (IP) A MOOC is nothing but an event that brings together people who have a common learning objective to acquire or improve certain skillsets. Like any other event, a MOOC is a brilliant platform to showcase your brand. A MOOC developed using your subject matter experts, containing examples of your company or simple promoted by your organization will give you visibility. You can even create an amazing library of training content that will add to your IP with far more value than traditional instructor-driven or even e-learning courses. Companies at both ends at the spectrum - those that create content as well as those that use others’ content - will benefit from MOOCs. Compared to other forms of corporate trainings, a MOOC is a revolutionary concept that will change the way we provide and receive training. In keeping with the times, MOOCs will especially appeal to the younger workforces who like to have control over their schedules and study patterns. Google’s Course Builder will push more and more institutes, and soon corporates, into the fray. Over a period of time, we may even see hybrid models of MOOCs and traditional training methods as this new concept reaches its plateau of productivity in the hype cycle. Start building your L&D strategy today! Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:MOOCs in the corporate worldMOOCs - Helping organizations learnShould your corporate training strategy move to the MOOC?Placing MOOCs in the context of your organizationBeyond Cost-Savings: Advantages of MOOCs for Corporate…

The extremely fast paced growth of Massive Online Open Courses, or MOOCs , means that many companies are now evaluating how they can benefit from this training methodology. In order to perform this evaluation correctly, one key question must be asked - do you view a MOOC as a product or a service? MOOC - product or service? Before digging deeper into this question, it is important to understand the difference between a product and a service. By standard definitions, a product is a tangible object manufactured, developed or assembled, while a service is an intangible benefit or value addition. However, in the world of MOOCs, this line is very blurred.  Do MOOCs provide content that is developed for the consumers, thus making it a product? Or does it provide a platform for content, thus making it a service? Both. MOOCs can be sliced into two distinct segments. The first segment comprises of: -          Creating course syllabus and structure; -          Developing content by using information collated from various sources such as books, the internet, professors and professionals; -          Transforming collated content into lectures as well as rich textual, audio and visual aids by a team of designers, videographers, editors, trainers and subject matter experts (SMEs). The output of this segment is the course material for the MOOC. This is nothing but a product that has now been created for consumption. The second segment comprises of: -          Creating a dynamic delivery platform to host the MOOCs for participants to join; -          Developing online forums on the delivery platform to enable "connectivism"; -          Creating non-synchronous access to course content, assessments and online forums; -          Providing trainer and administrative support during the ongoing MOOC period; -          Enabling deadline-based access to participants to complete courses within a time frame; -          Allowing social interactions to continue even after the MOOC delivery and assessments are complete. The output of this segment is a measured success of participants in terms of higher knowledge, increased skillsets, better process adherence or whatever outcome the MOOC had set out to achieve. Because this segment creates value for an organization and its employees, this is the service element of the MOOC. In the simplest terms, the MOOC’s two segments are creating content (the product) and enabling delivery (the service). Extracting maximum value from MOOCs Involvement Knowing now about the two segments of a MOOC, your organization must decide on what its core competencies are and the level of involvement it plans to have. Basically, you can decide if you want to outsource one or both segments - the content and the delivery - to an external agency. Unless you have a large IT infrastructure setup, it always makes sense to outsource most of the delivery segment of the MOOC to an external agency. At the most, you would want to maintain your trainer support in-house so that your trainer is available for participants to answer their questions during the course period. Outsourcing both segments is useful for Continuing and Professional Development (CPD) trainings that are relevant to whole industries and can thus be completely taken care of by a training partner. For company-specific or complex trainings, you may wish to choose various levels of involvement in both segments. Here are a few illustrations: -          For an information security training for your organization, you may partner with an external corporate training agency who creates the full content based on their material, but takes inputs from your Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and L&D team. The same agency, or another, may host the MOOC for your employees across the globe. -          For a training on how to use your organization’s ERP system across all roles of employees who have access, your SMEs and the L&D function can together create the entire syllabus and structure along with much of the material for the course. This can then be taken to an external agency that can create videos and infographics to enrich the content further. Once the content is created, you may host your MOOC with the help of a delivery partner. There are so many combinations possible in each step within each segment of a MOOC. You must decide the level of involvement that is right for your company. Content You cannot treat a MOOC like any other training product that simply throws information at participants. The medium has changed from the training room to the computer network and so the form of the content has to change too. When the internet was new, newspapers jumping on the online bandwagon just copy-pasted their content that was used in print on to the webpage. It was an utter disaster. The product given to internet consumers was not as per their needs, not something they were looking for. Online consumers wanted shorter articles, something with a quick read, something the copy-pasted articles failed to do. Similarly, because your content will not be provided to your employees in a classroom setting, the content has to be rich and enticing. Something that will keep the employee hooked on to his computer without getting distracted. The key is to try and train the employees in a way that is similar to how they would have studied or researched the subject themselves. To extract maximum value from your content, identify your strengths in the subject. Are you a market leader in the topic you want to train your employees in? If yes, you should be developing this content yourself. If not, leave this job to the experts. E.g. MOOCs for soft skills are best created by companies for whom teaching soft skills is their bread and butter. However, if a subject like SOx readiness is your forte, pump in as many resources as you can in developing this content yourself. While you may still need assistance from external agencies for enriching the content, ensure that your SMEs are involved in the lectures, videos, written material and preparation of assessments. Evaluate if you can open the MOOC to the public at large. Use the MOOC as a platform to showcase your brand. Think of TED videos. Today, they have become a great way to build brand recognition by imparting knowledge and creating awareness. MOOCs can be used in a similar fashion to create brand awareness by larger, more detailed training programs. Repetition Every year, a company will have freshers or new recruits join them and every year, training sessions will have to be hosted. Freshers don’t have enough experience to function at their highest productivity potential. Often, on-site training is required, which has to be repeated every year. While this is just one example, there are several courses that companies undertake periodically. The frequency of these courses could range from annual to being run several times a year. Each time, your internal trainer must be made available or an instructor must be hired, a venue and a training room has to be organized, employees must take time out from their schedule, travel and hotel arrangements have to be made, refreshments have to be served, stationery and miscellaneous items have to be bought and so many more sundry costs have to be taken into account. By using the MOOC methodology for repeatable programs, you can lower the total cost of running the program across multiple years by 50-60%. This is because, not only do you enjoy savings during the first MOOC event due to reduction in overall costs, but every time you repeat the MOOC, the additional cost of running it is close to ZERO! Since your content and delivery systems are already in place, the only costs you bear every time you repeat are those related to program management and facilitatory engagement which sum up to almost nothing compared to what the traditional method would have cost you. Making money from MOOCs The hottest topic in the corporate world surrounding MOOCs is how to put a sustainable business model around it. Most popular startups around MOOCs today are funded by universities or venture capitalists and are still trying to figure the best way to rake in the moolah. E.g. Coursera now offers some courses that are free to participate in, but you need to pay if you want a certificate of completion of the course. You can’t make serious money out of MOOCs…yet. But it still makes sense to go ahead and incorporate MOOCs in your training methodology and here’s why - when the MOOC market matures, acceptable business models will emerge that will allow you to earn revenues from MOOCs. When that happens, you will only be able to leverage from it if you have been playing the game for a while. The consumer will spend dollars for your product and/ or service (depending on which segment you focused your involvement in) only if you show the experience and expertise. And this experience building has to start TODAY. Here are a few revenue models that could emerge in the coming years: Certificate courses Since this has already begun, this could continue to be one of the ways to generate revenues from course participants. In this method, the participant pays to receive a certificate of completion of the course. Current statistics show that only around 10% of all participants complete a MOOC, which means that if you are offering a MOOC to the public at large, your potential revenue generation consumers will be a subset of this 10% pool. CPD credits Many professionals require earning Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits every year to maintain their certifications and professional memberships to reputed institutions. Paid courses could be offered in order to earn CPD credits for such professionals. Advanced paid courses In this model, your organization could host basic as well as advanced levels of a certain subject. While the basic course can be free to all, anyone who wants to go more in detail into the subject would have to pay a course fee. Hybrid training models A hybrid training model involves a MOOC combined with classroom training and additional material such as course books, worksheets and offline assessments. A revenue model that could emerge may allow you to charge for the classroom sessions while keeping the MOOC free for all. Related Posts:MOOCs in the corporate worldShould you use MOOCs over other forms of corporate…MOOCs - Helping organizations learnShould your corporate training strategy move to the MOOC?What Type of MOOC Is Right For You?

A company’s training strategy usually comprises of four aspects: Identifying measurable outcomes Evaluating costs against the value addition due to the outcomes Developing a training plan based on the above two Monitoring the effectiveness of the training plan. The first aspect above is agnostic to which training methodology you use. It is purely based on your business goals and comprises of targets such as increased productivity, reduced attrition, improved customer service, etc. However, all other aspects in your training strategy are closely linked with the Learning and Development (L&D) methodology that you will use to execute your strategy. It is advisable to monitor every aspect of your methodology so that when the time comes, the evaluation of whether to go the MOOC way or not will become simple for you. Costs and budgets The average organization in the U.S. spends approximately $800 per employee annually, but this varies based on the maturity of the organization’s L&D function. This number not only includes training, but also other talent initiatives such as maintaining the knowledge management systems and creating personal development plans. As an organization, you must clearly identify your budget for L&D. The money that you are expending on training within your organization has to be justified by the outcomes that you have identified. You must ask yourself if you are spending more money than the value you will be getting in return. Consistently monitoring your budgets versus actuals for your L&D function will help you evaluate the cost benefit that you get if you transition from your traditional training strategy to a MOOC based or hybrid one. Companies can expect to reduce their training costs by 25% when they move to a MOOC based training strategy. This is due to the usage of technology enabled learning that a MOOC delivers by being geographically independent, providing uniform lecture delivery, incorporating verifiable participation and enabling online assessment validation. A MOOC-style delivery also causes the elimination of other costs such as travel, accommodations and loss of client sales times. Training plan Transitioning from a traditional training program to a MOOC based approach causes a huge shift in how you plan and execute your trainings. For one, your training calendar is simplified because instead of securing specific dates and venues for trainings, you simply create deadlines for your MOOCs. This means that employees have to complete each course by a certain date, irrespective of where they are located. You also do not need to be bogged down by your trainers’ availability to travel as they are only needed while creating the training content, if at all. You also save yourself the hassle of spending time and money on travel for your trainers or even trainees, in some cases. This not only significantly reduces your costs, but also allows your corporate Travel Desk to devote more time in booking work related trips that will enable revenue growth. Similarly, Finance and Administration functions spend lesser time in managing training related activities which leads to an increased productivity in your organization’s support functions. Transitioning to the MOOC greatly reduces your organization’s learning footprint. A learning footprint can be defined as the ratio of your training staff to your learning employees. A higher learning footprint means higher costs and lack of uniformity in training delivery. The Corporate Learning Factbook® 2013 states that in 2007, just 11 percent of U.S. companies were using communities of practice in a training context. Today, the figure is nearly three times higher. Similarly, spending on social learning has grown substantially over the past few years. In 2012, U.S. companies spent $13,675, on average, on social learning tools and services, a 39% jump over 2011 levels. This means that companies are trying to combine traditional learning methods with social interactions in order to gain more benefits. However, this is coming at an additional cost to organizations. A MOOC allows organizations to enjoy the benefits of peer networking and social interactions with a far more cost effective execution. Monitoring effectiveness The outcomes identified at the beginning of the training year have to be achieved in order to have a successful training strategy. Apart from your pre-set goals, monitoring tangible and intangible value additions to your organization due to training will allow you to evaluate where your training plan needs improvement. Tangible value additions could include: -          Increased knowledge and skillsets: How many employees actually gained more information/ skillsets than they already had in the first place? -          Lowered attrition: Are lesser employees leaving due to better managers? -          Better customer service: Are your customers more satisfied? What types of complaints are reducing most? Which training could be responsible for that? -          Better adherence to processes: Is there better adherence and standardization of processes across offices? -          Higher productivity: Are your employees delivering more in lesser time? -          Team work: Are employees getting better 360 degree feedback from their seniors, peers and juniors?   Traditional monitoring methods only have one-direction employee assessments, which means that assessment of an employee’s performance after a training is performed by the trainer or a central assessor. However, MOOCs allow peer reviews by multiple participants of the MOOC who can also judge an individual’s contribution to the social interactions, which can be factored in the assessment. This is important because it fosters and encourages an environment of teamwork within the individual and the organization. Intangible value additions could include: -          Brand recognition: Are you leveraging your training content to give you more brand recognition? -          Alignment with the company’s vision: Are your employees able to connect with the company’s values? For the next few years to come, MOOCs will bring the "wow" factor to companies that start using this new methodology to train their employees. Employees today love to work for organizations that are innovative and this increases their motivation levels to be creative and productive. It also allows them to feel more united with their company’s values. Using your subject matter experts in MOOCs is also a good way to increase brand recognition. These benefits cannot always be achieved with traditional training mechanisms. Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:What Type of MOOC Is Right For You?Beyond Cost-Savings: Advantages of MOOCs for Corporate…Top 10 Training MetricsTop 10 Coaching CommandmentsMOOCs - Helping organizations learn

So, your company has decided to "go MOOC." What now? There are many options to consider when implementing a MOOC into a training program. The first, and most important, decision is what type of MOOC to use. Although the MOOC model popularized by Coursera is considered the standard format (mainly because Coursera is so big), it is not the only option, and it may not be the best option for your organization. MOOCs differ greatly in delivery format, the active engagement of learners, and the types of outcomes they can produce. Which style of MOOC is most effective depends on the training goals of the organization and the learning outcomes the employees are expected to achieve. UK elearning entrepreneur Donald Clark has categorized MOOCs into eight different types based on their pedagogical approach and the needs of learners. This taxonomy is useful in determining the right type of MOOC for different training needs. Transfer MOOCs Transfer MOOCs lie at the "most traditional" end of the MOOC spectrum. These are courses designed for classroom delivery that have been put onto a MOOC platform. Most of Coursera’s offerings are transfer MOOCs. These courses deliver content primarily through "talking heads" videos and assigned readings and they assess learning outcomes using online quizzes and tests. This type of MOOC would work best for training for which the main goal is knowledge transfer, such as employee orientation and business etiquette training. Made MOOCs Clark identifies "made MOOCs" as courses (like those offered through Udacity) that were originally designed as MOOCs, rather than for classroom delivery. Their videos often feature whiteboard problem-solving sequences rather than talking heads. These courses have an interactive approach that goes beyond just knowledge transfer: students interact with the software by solving problems and receiving instant feedback. Time management, project management, financial training, and courses involving individual training simulations lend themselves well to the made MOOC format. Synchronous MOOCs and Asynchronous MOOCs MOOCs can be delivered in a synchronous or an asynchronous format. In synchronous MOOCs, everyone follows the same class schedule and may even be required to log in at the same time, for example, to attend a webinar or a Q&A session with a keynote speaker. Asynchronous MOOCs are entirely self-paced. This format is ideal for people who are very busy and in cases where synchronous participation is difficult, such as for employees in different time zones. Although corporate training has traditionally been done in a synchronous fashion, this trend is changing. Between 2006 and 2007, self-paced study jumped from 15% to 20% of all training hours and that number is continuing to grow. Adaptive MOOCs Adaptive MOOCs are newest players on the field. They use algorithms and assessments to personalize the learning experience based on the needs of the learner. The jury is still out on the effectiveness of the algorithms, which are largely still in development, but this type of MOOC has huge potential for corporate training. For example, training simulations incorporated into adaptive MOOCs could be used to scaffold employees on an individual basis to reach the desired learning outcomes or level of mastery. Group MOOCs Group MOOCs are the response to the need in certain classes for peer interaction and subjective, personalized feedback. These MOOCs cater to subjects and courses whose goal is synthesis and creation, rather than just knowledge transfer. Learners complete projects in small groups and also assess the work of other groups. Stanford`s NovoEd (formerly Venture Lab) runs several business and entrepreneurship courses as group MOOCs, and Instructure`s Canvas Network offers MOOCs that combine the transfer and group MOOC models. The applicability of group MOOCs to corporate training is nearly endless. Both soft and hard skills can be taught through group work, including human resources, leadership, presentation skills, technical skills, and any training involving role-playing or group simulations. Connectivist MOOCs Although connectivist MOOCs are often considered the "least traditional" of the group, the very first MOOCs were actually built using a connectivist framework. According to connectivist theory, the knowledge network created by engaging with the content and with one’s peers is more important than the knowledge itself. A connectivist MOOC is less a course than an opportunity to build a personal learning network by gathering and creating online resources and collaborating with others. This model works best for a group of learners who each bring their own skills and expertise to the table, for example, training programs aimed at networking or projects requiring the cooperation of interdepartmental teams. Mini-MOOCs Currently, most MOOCs are created to last a certain number of weeks, rather like academic courses. Mini-MOOCs are short courses aimed at teaching individual skills or tasks with only one or two clearly defined learning objectives. Think of a mini-MOOC as just a single learning unit. This format can be used effectively for rapid learning and on-demand training, particularly for technical skills. There are many MOOC options to choose from, and the right choice for your organization will depend on several factors, including the type of training, the desired training outcomes, the resources dedicated to the training, and the knowledge of the training staff. These models are continuing to evolve and in the next few months and years, we will undoubtedly see many more course formats that fall under the "MOOC" umbrella. Although the landscape is changing rapidly, organizations cannot afford to be left behind. As Brian D. Voss, VP and CIO at the University of Maryland, has urged educators, it is time for corporate trainers to "get in the game." Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:Beyond Cost-Savings: Advantages of MOOCs for Corporate…Rapid Elearning and MOOCs: Keeping Up with ChangeShould your corporate training strategy move to the MOOC?Using MOOCs in Corporate Training ProgramsHow to MOOC: Technology-Enabled Learning Tools, Part 1

A company’s Learning and Development (L&D) function is only as good as the outcomes that it consistently delivers. Are your employees working to their potential? Are there skill gaps that have not been addressed? Is L&D listening to what employees think they need more of? All these questions, and more, need to be answered to help an organization learn and grow. The success of any company depends on the success of its employees. In order to be motivated and productive, employees must feel that they have achieved professional growth as individuals within the organization. A training strategy involving MOOCs creates an environment that allows people and organizations to learn and grow, not only as individual entities, but also within the sphere of the industry that they belong to. Process standardization When you host MOOCs across your organization, you ensure that everybody is trained to perform role-based activities in a similar fashion. MOOCs enable a uniform content delivery platform, thus standardizing processes across geographies, to the extent possible. In case of process deviations in certain locations, participants from other offices can choose to learn about the reasons for these deviations and increase their awareness of the company’s operations. This environment of "one way" of doing things allows a company to measure and monitor its offices’ performances more accurately. Best practices MOOCs can either contain (1) proprietary content that is developed solely by your company or (2) content that is created by a consortium of companies or an external L&D partner. The former allows you to showcase and discuss the best practices within your own organization across various processes. The latter allows you to develop content that teaches best practices based on industry standards or practical usage. This could not only mean teaching better ways of doing things at work (such as managing your clients), but also better ways of imparting the same knowledge (such as simple examples on information security incidents to explain various types of breaches). Employee collaboration Social interactions within a MOOC enable participants to discuss various topics under the subject being taught. This could mean that people from an office with better process adherence can describe how they maintain process discipline, thus encouraging other offices. This could also mean that participants can discuss issues and challenges that they face, in the context of the subject at hand, and together come up with out-of-the-box solutions. MOOCs engage participants by a method of "connectivism", which cultivates and promotes a sense of collaborative problem solving. This emotion is carried forward by employees outside the MOOC and into their workplaces, building an environment of teamwork and cooperation. Social interactions built within the MOOCs can also continue outside, with several participants keeping in touch via a peer network built by themselves. This enables continuous collaboration throughout the employees’ life within the company, benefitting both the individual as well as the organization. Filling skillset gaps Because a MOOC is repeatable as many times as you want, employees can revisit topics that they need more clarity on. They can also initiate discussions with other participants on queries or clarifications that they might have, apart from asking the course trainer. Employee collaboration helps employees with stronger skillsets in a particular subject help those who need assistance with the same. One major advantage of social interactions is that one can identify the stars in the participant group. Employees who contribute to problem solving challenges and who show a creative thinking streak can be identified by the L&D function. Monitoring the discussion groups for specific skillsets can also help fill in human resource gaps in other locations within the organization. E.g. an office may have multiple people with strong Basel III knowledge and these employees may be evaluated for filling vacancies in other offices. Continuing and Professional Development (CPD) Industries such as Finance, Accounting, Legal, Medical, Insurance and Real Estate need to keep their professionals constantly updated, whether in terms of the latest regulations, newest processes or updating their certifications. This Continuing and Professional Development of an individual, or CPD, is industry specific and applies to all companies within that industry. MOOCs that are created by industry training experts provide high quality training to employees without the need for individual companies to expend time, effort and money in developing the training content. MOOCs can therefore easily be used to cater to employees’ personal development plans and result in motivation within the workforce. Developing better content Because MOOCs are build on the principle of "connectivism", it also encourages newer, better and more creative ways of doing things. This means that the power of participants’ ideas can be used to update and redesign training content to create more effective learning tools. Feedback on the trainer, videos, infographics and other content within the MOOC, along with participant interactions between various offices and geographies, allow the content creators to identify what changes to the MOOC content is needed to create a better learning experience. This is possible because feedback is all assimilated in one place for easier study and inference for the content creators. MOOCs allow for better osmosis of thoughts and ideas within an organization’s employees, no matter how close or far they are from each other. This osmosis allows the company to constantly learn and update its processes and knowledge management to enable higher productivity and better quality. Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:Should you use MOOCs over other forms of corporate…Should your corporate training strategy move to the MOOC?MOOCs in the corporate worldWhat Type of MOOC Is Right For You?Placing MOOCs in the context of your organization

Gamification and massive open online courses (MOOCs) are two of the biggest trends in education. The power of these tools in creating accessible, engaging educational programs is already being realized in many educational and training sectors. For corporate trainers, the need to motivate employees to enhance their knowledge and skills can hardly be understated. According to Badgeville, a gamification platform, the dropout rate for organizational L&D programs can reach as high as 75 percent - that’s three-quarters of employees not completing their learning courses. Clearly, this trend needs to be reversed. Gamified corporate training programs can increase user engagement by more than 50 percent, and MOOCs have incredible potential to reduce the costs and increase the benefits associated with training. It is time for these two mammoth forces to come together. So, what is the best way to go about gamifying a MOOC? Well, the answer is that there is no single answer to this question. Gamification involves using game elements and game design techniques in non-game situations, but there are many different ways to do this. Gamification is merely an additional, albeit very powerful, tool organizations can use to increase motivation and engagement in their training programs. The specific game elements and design techniques that are most effective will depend on the organization’s training goals and resources. Here we will review how some basic game elements can be applied in a MOOC context. Basic Gamification - The Progress Bar Have you noticed that almost every website you interact with has some sort of progress bar, or completeness meter? Believe it or not, the lowly progress bar is a very potent game element (just ask LinkedIn). Nearly 30 years ago, Brad Myers at the University of Toronto showed that in human-computer interactions, people want progress bars and that progress bars enhance both the attractiveness and the effectiveness of computer interfaces. Adding a progress bar to your MOOC interface is a simple way to increase your employees’ engagement within the training program. Intermediate Gamification - PBLs Points, badges, and leaderboards (PBLs in gamification lingo) are the most commonly used game elements. Points are used to keep score, determine levels, unlock rewards, and determine who wins. In a MOOC, points can be accumulated for visiting the site, watching videos, completing activities, participating in simulations, asking and answering questions in the discussion forum, and pretty much any other activity imaginable. Points are like a universal currency - they can represent virtually anything depending upon the training goals. Badges represent larger achievements. They are highly flexible and serve as publicly visible status symbols. In a MOOC, badges can be issued for specific achievements such as completing a module, finishing a series of related activities, or acquiring a new skill, or for more abstract achievements like teamwork and leadership. Badges are excellent motivators and give users something to display in recognition of their achievements. There are several options for designing and awarding badges. For example, the Mozilla Open Badge project allows instructors to create badges specific to what they teach and students to collect and display the badges they earn across the web. Leaderboards show player rankings, which are often determined by the number of points earned. Leaderboards give participants feedback on where they stand in relation to everyone else. In a MOOC, leaderboards can be used to compare the progress of individuals within a department or departments within a company. *A word of warning: Gamification is an amazing tool for enhancing motivation and training effectiveness, but gamified training programs must be well designed based on the needs of the organization and its employees. Just slapping PBLs onto a MOOC is not good gamification, and in some situations these game elements can actually be de-motivating. For example, points and badges need to be attainable - some should be easier and some should be more challenging, but they must be achievable within the context of the training program. Similarly, leaderboards can be highly motivating for people at the top of the list, but highly de-motivating for people at the bottom. Experience has shown that leaderboards work best on a small-scale, such as in a single department, where people can see their scores relative to their friends and neighbors, rather than on a large scale, such as across a whole company. Advanced Gamification - Filling Up the Toolbox There are many other game elements and design techniques that can be incorporated into a MOOC. Avatars - Employees can create their own digital learning personas. Bonuses - Special rewards can be available for employees who achieve certain milestones. Competitions - MOOCs offer a range of possibilities for competitions. For example, departments can compete to have everyone complete each learning module or teams can compete in problem-solving and idea-generating activities. Content unlocking - Employees who achieve a certain number of points/badges can unlock advanced course modules. Levels - "Leveling up" is one of the highest motivators for gamers. Reaching a higher level is usually associated with higher-value rewards. Rewards - Rewards can take many forms. Points and leveling up are rewards earned within the game. Rewards can also be external, for example, accumulated points can be redeemed for real goods (e.g., a company-sponsored lunch) or virtual goods (e.g., new avatar options). These are just a few of the many game elements and mechanics that can be incorporated into a training MOOC. In a well-designed gamified training program, these tools can greatly enhance employee commitment, performance, and success. On top of that, games are fun. As Kevin Werbach, author of For the Win and the professor behind Coursera’s Gamification course says: "Go forth and gamify." Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:The Gamification Design Process- How not to fail and what…Gamification and the Hype CycleThe History and Direction of GamificationGamification Techniques Transferring Over into Real Life-…Gamification in Relation to User Engagement

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are currently disrupting higher education and the stage is set for them to be a major force in corporate training as well. Although the mere idea of using MOOCs requires a shift in how organizations think about their training programs, much of the infrastructure already exists: more than 70% of companies have a learning management system (LMS) in place, and as of 2011 77% of corporations were already using online learning in their training programs. Compared to higher education, where debates about online versus face-to-face content delivery are still quite heated, corporations have been early and fast adopters of elearning and technology-enabled learning tools. The gamble on elearning has largely paid off: studies have shown that elearning takes less time, costs less, and increases retention compared to instructor-led training (ILT). Elearning also has other less measurable benefits; for example, in the 2011 Towards Maturity Benchmark survey, 72% of companies reported that elearning and mobile learning helped them adapt more quickly to change. But when it comes to MOOCs, corporate training is inexplicably lagging behind. Whereas education systems at all levels are quickly realizing the potential of MOOCs to enhance learning, corporate trainers have not yet embraced the new technology. However, MOOCs have many benefits for companies, and even some of their disadvantages in the education market are less relevant in the corporate sector. According to Global Industry Analysts, by 2015 more than half of all training dollars will be spent on elearning. Here are several reasons some of this money should be spent on MOOCs. Access and Scalability MOOCs offer unprecedented access to training. Employees spread throughout an office building, a region, or even around the world can access training content whenever and wherever, via their computers or mobile devices. Instructors can curate, organize, and revise the material at any time, and trainees and instructors do not need to be in the same room, or even logged in at the same time. MOOCs are also infinitely scalable. Organizations can provide training to any number of employees, with the only limitation being the capacity of the LMS. Customization and Adaptive Learning MOOCs are easily customized. Many MOOCs are built using open educational resources (OER) or a combination of OER and proprietary content. Instructors can remix, revise, reuse, and redistribute the content based on the organization’s changing needs. New research and information can be introduced into a training program and reach all learners in real-time, making the training more relevant and responsive to real-world problems and scenarios. One major criticism of MOOCs has been that they are a one-size-fits-all solution to a many-sized problem, but this is no longer true. New technologies are available that allow MOOCs to adapt to the needs of the user. Adaptive learning technologies are currently being piloted in a Spanish language MOOC (Instreamia) and a molecular science MOOC (University of Massachusetts Boston). Companies can leverage adaptive learning in their training programs to bring all employees to the same level without some becoming completely frustrated and others totally bored. Learning Analytics Online learning is revolutionary in that it allows instructors to collect data about how their students learn, how long they spend on task, what areas of content are the most engaging, the most challenging, and so on. In the same vein, companies can easily collect data about their training programs and employees. The advantage of MOOCs is that they can provide massive amounts of data, which can help organizations understand how their employees learn and interact with the content so the businesses can improve their training programs. For example, the Learning Analytics Group at Stanford recently analyzed data from three computer science MOOCs and found a relationship between participation in the discussion forums and course completion. This finding suggests that MOOC designers should emphasize social interaction as a way of increasing student engagement. Learning analytics can also help companies predict employee performance and identify potential problems. Visibility One of the big reasons professors want to teach MOOCs is to increase their visibility. According to a survey conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education, 39% of professors said they taught a MOOC to increase their visibility within their discipline and 34% to increase their visibility with the media and general public. As noted by Robert Sedgewick, a Princeton professor who teaches an algorithms MOOC, "Every single faculty member has the opportunity to extend their reach by one or two or three orders of magnitude." Companies can take a lesson from academia and use training MOOCs to increase their own visibility, both within their industry and more generally. Of course, there are also some disadvantages to MOOCs, but these may be less relevant in corporate training than they are in education. The two most notable disadvantages of MOOCs in higher education (and the ones that get the most press) are the high drop-out rate and the difficulty of assessing learning outcomes. For corporate training, these two issues virtually disappear. First, completing the training, whether ILT, traditional elearning, or a MOOC, is part of the job - not completing a MOOC would be equivalent to not showing up for work. Second, in corporate training, learners are not assessed by their ability to take a multiple-choice quiz or write an essay. Standard training metrics, such as increased retention, increased sales, increased efficiency, and improved customer service, are independent of the training platform. In some sense, MOOCs have all of the advantages for corporate training that they do for education, without the disadvantages. The format provides an effective, cost-efficient, highly flexible, and engaging way for organizations to provide training. The major risk is being beaten to the punch. Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:What Type of MOOC Is Right For You?MOOCs: From the Classroom to the Conference RoomMOOC: The King is Dead - Long Live the KingRapid Elearning and MOOCs: Keeping Up with ChangeShould your corporate training strategy move to the MOOC?

When MOOC-mania hit first exploded, a general panic arose in higher education: Would MOOCs make colleges and universities obsolete? As the dust has started to settle and stakeholders have been able to assess the new technology, the general consensus (at least for now) is "No." MOOCs will not kill higher education, but they will greatly impact how it is delivered. The same can be said for corporate training. According to Brian D. Voss, VP and CIO at the University of Maryland, the MOOC revolution is not just technological, but also pedagogical. Instructors across the board are being forced to rethink the best ways to deliver content and assess learning. In a previous article, we saw that the acronym MOOC is used to describe many types of courses, some of which very closely resemble traditional courses and others that are horses of a completely different color. Companies also have several options for how to integrate MOOCs into their training programs. For example, will the entire training be delivered via a MOOC, or will the MOOC be used alongside instructor-led training (ILT) as part of a blended learning environment? For training that will be delivered entirely via a MOOC, one option is to use MOOCs that are already available. Many organizations offer prepackaged MOOCs, and this is a very good option for workplace skills, professional development, and other parts of a training program that don’t require company-specific content. The Saylor Foundation offers a Workplace Skills Program that includes courses in computer literacy, professional writing, and time and stress management. They are also developing several technical courses as part of a Career Development Program, and in summer 2013 they expect to launch "Microsoft Excel for Beginners," "Management and Information Processing," and "Relational Database Applications." ALISON is a MOOC provider that specializes in workplace skills and professional development, offering courses in business and enterprise skills, financial and economic literacy, digital literacy and IT, and even personal development and soft skills. To use these courses as part of a training program, simply have your employees take the courses online and then print out the certificates as proof of their completion - no additional training required. Another option is to build a MOOC from scratch. This is a good option for content areas where much of the material is already delivered through elearning or where generic courses have not been developed or are not sufficient, for example, sales training. Although nearly three-quarters of organizations already have a learning management system (LMS) in place, many of these LMSs are not equipped to handle the volume of a MOOC. Fortunately, there are several platforms available that make it easy to make your own MOOC. Instructure’s Canvas Network is an open-source LMS used by many schools and institutions. It is easy to use for both administrators and students, there are many options for communication, and it is available on mobile devices. Here are some other build-your-own-MOOC platforms to consider: Desire2Learn, ProProfs Training Maker, P2PU,  and Google Course Builder (still in beta testing). You can also bypass the LMS altogether and set up the course as a wiki. For content areas that require more interaction and collaboration, organizations may choose to integrate MOOCs and ILT into a blended learning environment. This is the direction that several community colleges and other educational institutions are using to get the best of both worlds. Whereas replacing ILT with a MOOC certainly takes advantage of the technological innovations, the real benefits of MOOCs are pedagogical. Even institutions that are wary of MOOCs are still embracing their main pedagogical innovation: the flipped classroom. In the flipped classroom model, students watch video lectures at home and then use their classroom time to discuss the material and work on projects. Instead of just a space for knowledge transfer, the classroom becomes a collaborative environment for students and instructors to share ideas and collectively solve problems. The students are not only more actively engaged, their performance improves: studies in higher education have shown that students in flipped classrooms do better and have lower stress levels compared with those same students in traditional classrooms. This model can be equally applied to corporate and workplace skills training: employees could watch video lectures on their own and then use on-the-job training time to role-play, engage in hands-on training, practice their problem-solving skills, and participate in simulations. Another MOOC element that can be easily incorporated into a training program is working on collaborative documents to build an employee knowledge base. Many MOOCs have wikis that students can edit freely, which encourages them to share and collaborate. A wiki allows users to contribute their own knowledge and benefit from the knowledge of others, and the changes are instantaneous so there is no waiting for the system administrator to update the content. MOOCs are continuing to evolve, almost on a daily basis, as more instructors experiment with this new form of content delivery. As the technology improves, the tools will expand and the pedagogical benefits will become even greater and more salient. By investigating and incorporating the different MOOC options now, you can ensure that your organization is well positioned to adopt new technologies and pedagogies in the future. Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:What Type of MOOC Is Right For You?MOOCs: From the Classroom to the Conference RoomMOOCs in the corporate worldRapid Elearning and MOOCs: Keeping Up with ChangeHow to MOOC: Technology-Enabled Learning Tools, Part 1

Just in case you’ve been under a rock lately, here is a news update: the nature of training is changing, and fast! The recent explosion of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in higher education has brought with it a whole new set of technology-enabled learning tools. Education and training are no longer delivered exclusively in closed classrooms by experts, and learning is no longer something people do in isolation surrounded by textbooks. Today, through computers and mobile devices, education can happen anywhere and at any time, and learning involves students not only actively engaging with the content, but also using various tools and platforms to interact with instructors and fellow learners. In the education sector, this is known as Learning 2.0, and the corporate sector needs to be prepared: Training 2.0 is coming. What exactly does this mean? There continues to be plenty of controversy surrounding MOOCs, but one thing we can all agree on is they are changing the way we think about education. The main drivers and implications of this change are huge improvements and innovations in learning technologies. Technology-enabled learning tools are not a panacea, but they can go a long way toward solving many of the challenges facing training departments today, including high costs, a lack of qualified employees, the rapidly changing business and technology landscapes, and long training development times coupled with the need to educate employees quickly. Over the course of two articles, we will examine the main "MOOC tools" - online technologies that have made it possible to deliver highly engaging training programs to any number of employees, anywhere, at any time. Learning Management Systems The basic frameworks that support MOOCs are learning management systems (LMSs), which are essentially systems for organizing and delivering content, administering assessments, and tracking learner progress. LMSs are not new. In fact, they have been in development for nearly 100 years (check out this excellent Mindflash infographic on the history of the LMS), but MOOCs, social media, and the demands of educating hundreds of thousands of people all at once have moved LMSs from mere online content delivery portals to fully interactive learning tools. Even though MOOCs utilize many different learning tools and social media platforms, most are delivered within the context of a learning management system, and most LMSs today can support all types of multimedia, interactive media, and social media. There are many LMSs available and many different considerations when conducting an LMS vendor search, but this is arguably the most important tool in the MOOC toolbox. Whether you choose to deliver content via text or video, host webinars or Google+ Hangouts, or use discussion forums or Twitter feeds, the LMS must be user-friendly, intuitive, and easy to navigate for both the instructors and the learners. Content Delivery Traditional training and education are based on the model of "talking heads," presenters who stand in front of a class or a video camera and talk…and talk…and talk.  But plenty of research shows that people don’t learn from listening to someone talk. In fact, studies suggest that learners can initially pay attention to a lecture for about 10 to 15 minutes, but then they need something else to do. And that is just at the beginning - as the lesson goes on, the amount of time people can pay attention shrinks to the point where at the end of an hour, they can effectively absorb only a few minutes of information at a time. Clearly, content delivery needs a boost. MOOCs incorporate several different tools for content delivery and these tools are becoming increasingly interactive. Videos. Videos are the mainstay of most MOOCs, but even within this category the options are diverse. MOOC giant Coursera builds its modules around short talking head video lectures (usually less than 15 minutes), often with comprehension questions and other activities distributed throughout the lectures. Udacity’s courses are presented using pencasts - the students watch videos not of the instructor, but of the notes the instructor writes on a whiteboard. Using this technology, instructors can even write questions on the board for students to answer interactively. Screencasts are digital recordings of computer screen output. These videos are excellent for technology training, such as software tutorials - using a split screen, learners can simultaneously watch the tutorial and work interactively with the software. Training videos do not need to be pre-recorded. Learners can also participate in live webinars and speaker sessions. YouTube and other services allow live video conferencing where presenters can moderate and respond in real time to questions and comments posted via instant messenging. The sessions can be archived for both current and future course participants. Other video tools include films, whiteboard animations, voiceover PowerPoint presentations, and Prezi presentations - you name it, your MOOC can handle it. Text. Even standard text is becoming much more interesting through MOOCs. Although text-based course content can be presented as Word docs and pdfs, most text is organized into hyperlinked web pages for learners to navigate. This not only allows learners to control the pace and sequence of their learning, but also provides a level of interactivity missing from traditional text-based materials. Text content can also be delivered in interactive slideshows using PowerPoint and other presentation software. The best part about all of these video and text resources is that they, along with audio and other multimedia files, can be accessed directly through the LMS or they can be downloaded as podcasts for learners to access on their phones or other mobile devices. Games and simulations. Corporate training is increasingly becoming gamified, and both serious games and simulations are being used to train employees in areas ranging from first responders to financial services. Using gamified applications in the context of a MOOC brings these two powerful ideas together into a highly engaging training program, providing maximum opportunities for learners to interact with the content, with instructors, and with each other. Incorporating games and simulations into an LMS-based MOOC also provides companies with essential data about how well their training programs are working as learner progress and achievements can be systematically tracked and assessed, and modifications and adjustments to the program can be made quickly in response to learners’ needs. This article has briefly reviewed the main content delivery tools used in MOOCs. In Part 2, we will turn to the real meat of Training 2.0 and the MOOC revolution: social media. Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:What Type of MOOC Is Right For You?Beyond Cost-Savings: Advantages of MOOCs for Corporate…How to MOOC: Technology-Enabled Learning Tools, Part 2Rapid Elearning and MOOCs: Keeping Up with ChangeUsing MOOCs in Corporate Training Programs

Web 2.0 and the rapid rise of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other communications platforms have made one thing abundantly clear: Everything is social. And researchers, educators, and trainers have begun to realize that learning is no exception. As the workforce grows to include more Millennials - digital natives who spend nearly four hours per day on social networking sites - the social impact on training cannot be overstated. According to a 2011 ASTD report, social media enables learning by providing platforms for people to exchange information, facilitating communication, personalizing the learning experience, and supporting informal learning. Social media integration is one of the main advantages of MOOCs over traditional e-learning models, and MOOCs offer many ways to incorporate social media into training programs: Discussion boards. Course discussion forums are the most basic type of social platform used in MOOCs, but they are powerful tools and almost all MOOCs have them. Discussion boards provide spaces for learners to ask and answer questions and hold conversations about the course content. Participation in discussions is often one of the requirements for course completion. These forums have an advantage over in-class discussions as participants have more time to reflect on course materials and formulate their ideas and contributions. Discussion forums are most effective as learning tools when they are actively monitored and directed by instructors. Most learning management systems (LMSs) have discussion board modules. Blogs and microblogs. Blogging is increasingly used as an educational tool, in both classroom and online settings. Blogs provide opportunities for people to express their own ideas and comment on the ideas of others. Learner blogs can be hosted on an LMS within an intranet or displayed on a public blogging site such as Blogger or WordPress. Microblogging sites, like Twitter, let users communicate in both spontaneous and scheduled discussions. The extent to which your organization chooses to embrace the "open" aspect of MOOCs depends on the nature of the content, but employee blogs and Tweets can serve as powerful marketing tools in addition to learning tools. Course wikis. A wiki is a website that users can easily add to and modify. Wikis are used often in MOOCs as places for the members of the community to share what they are learning in the course and independently. These online spaces can be created publicly or on a private intranet. Collaborating via wikis both helps learners develop personal learning networks and documents the collective knowledge in the organization. Wikis are easily updated to reflect the most current knowledge and they can help instructors identify strengths and weaknesses in the training program. Collaborative documents and shared workspaces. Collaborative documents allow teams to share ideas and work together on projects either synchronously or asynchronously. Google Docs, TitanPad, and other collaborative document programs track each user’s contributions in real time. Shared workspaces take the idea of collaborative documentation one step further, offering personal and group workspaces, as well as task tracking and notifications. Real-time collaborative tools are excellent for group problem-solving and brainstorming. For example, Mindmeister is an online collaborative tool for concept mapping. Virtual meetings. While most MOOCs are designed for asynchronous learning, virtual meetings allow for synchronous collaboration. For example, employees can asynchronously review new product information or company policies and then hold virtual meetings on Skype or Google+ Hangouts to discuss the material. Content sharing. Content sharing is a way for learners to curate and share content, including text files, videos, audio files, and other multimedia. Content can be shared via YouTube (video), Flickr (images), Slideshare (PowerPoint presentations), and many other services. Content sharing encourages active learning, as curating and creating their own content helps students engage meaningfully with the material. Social bookmarking. Social bookmarking, through programs like Delicious, is a way for users to tag, save, and share web pages and other information. In a presentation available on Slideshare, Tiffany Winman of IBM identifies several advantages of social bookmarking for organizations, including sharing insights with your community, increasing your visibility, and spotting new trends. In corporate training programs, social bookmarking is a way for employees to organize, manage, and share knowledge, which helps them build personal knowledge archives and expand their personal learning networks. Social bookmarks can be shared publicly or they can be limited to a specific set of users. Technology-enabled learning tools, and in particular social media tools, have long-term positive benefits for companies not only for their training programs, but for the organizations in general. Millennials are not accustomed to sitting passively and listening to lectures or clicking through slides in isolated e-learning sessions. They want to actively engage with content, with their instructors, and with each other. Using these tools in a MOOC format offers unprecedented opportunities for employees to learn, communicate, and network within a stimulating social environment. Together, these tools can elevate corporate training and continuing professional development from something employees have to do to something they want to do, and organizations will undoubtedly benefit from employees collaborating, sharing ideas, and actively contributing to their own learning processes and the collective learning of the organization as a whole. Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson   Related Posts:MOOCs: Building Personal Learning NetworksHow to MOOC: Technology-Enabled Learning Tools, Part 1Using MOOCs in Corporate Training ProgramsWhich Social Media Website Do Digitals Prefer Most and Why?Rapid Elearning and MOOCs: Keeping Up with Change

What parts of your training program are the most effective? The least effective? When are your employees really engaged and when are they daydreaming? What training units / simulations / assessments / employee actions are most associated with learning? How does training influence the success of your employees and your organization? Would you like to be able to answer these questions? According to the ASTD 2012 State of the Industry Report, in 2011 U.S. organizations spent more than $156 billion on training, averaging just under $1200 per employee. For that kind of dough, companies want to see some results. MOOCs (massive open online courses) are currently redesigning the educational and training landscape. In January 2013, the Harvard Business Review blog called "the advent of massively open online classes…the single most important technological development of the millennium so far." Did you get that? The single most important technological development of the millennium so far. Why are MOOCs making such a huge impact? The reasons are many and growing. Not only do MOOCs offer unprecedented scalability and access and challenge the long-held notion that content is king, but they can provide large amounts of user data. We’re not talking just how long people engage in a particular task or who got what question right; we’re talking the ability to track and analyze every aspect of the learner experience. The current model in training analytics is "small data" - data based on reports, assessments, and so on from small numbers of learners. But MOOCs can provide data from millions of people and the data are collected at many different levels: the keystroke level, the question level, the learner level, the instructor level, the program level, and even the organizational level. This "big data" can be used to model learner and organizational characteristics and outcomes and, most importantly, to predict future trends and patterns. It can help organizations identify which programs are working and which are not, where additional training is required, and the best way to deliver that training. In a 2012 report on educational data mining and learning analytics, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology identified several questions that big data can help educators answer. Here are a few of them: What sequence of topics is most effective for a specific learner? When are learners ready to move to the next topic? What learner actions are associated with more learning? What actions indicate satisfaction, engagement, learning progress, etc.? What features of an online learning environment lead to better learning? What will predict learner success? When is intervention required? When the entire learning process takes place online, as in a MOOC, the entire learning process can be tracked and analyzed, and the data generated goes far beyond what is available in a classroom. Students in MOOCs don’t just watch videos and answer questions - they interact with each other and with the instructor through discussion forums, social networks, blogs, and many other streams, leaving long and rich trails of digital data. These data can reveal trends and patterns that can’t be detected in traditional formats, and they allow us to move beyond what people are learning to how they are learning. As Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller said: "The availability of these really large amounts of data provides us with insights into how people learn, what they understand, what they don’t understand, what are the factors that cause some students to get it and others not that is unprecedented, I think, in the realm of education." This knowledge can be used to improve both instructor-led training (ILT) and online learning. Here are a few major areas where big data from MOOCs can inform training practice: Improving results. This is the obvious one. Of course the goal of all training is to increase employees’ skills and effectiveness. MOOC data can be analyzed on both micro and macro levels to improve individual and organizational results. Clustering and relationship mining. These two concepts have to do with discovering relationships between variables. The data can be used in many ways, such as for organizing employees with complementary skills into teams and work groups. Customizing programs on a large scale. MOOCs started out as a one-size-fits-all solution, but they are rapidly evolving into adaptive learning environments tailored to individual learners. In the near future, the learning experience will be optimized individually and in real time. Predicting future trends. What will the return on investment (ROI) be for your training program? Big data will help organizations predict the impact of training programs on individual, business-unit, and organizational success. Businesses already use big data to make decisions about sales, financial services, advertising, risk management, pricing, supply chain management - you name it. But until MOOCs came on the scene, most organizations could not amass enough data to inform decisions about their training programs. Now data is being collected from millions of learners in virtual educational and corporate classrooms all over the Internet. The field is very new and educators are just starting to realize the power of having this data available. In a first attempt to quantify the MOOC experience, Duke recently released a report on its first MOOC. The results provide insights not only into student achievements, but into their activities and outcomes, motivations and attitudes, and the factors that both promote and provide obstacles to learning. As more organizations collect, analyze, and (in true MOOC spirit) share their data, we will begin to develop new models to increase instructional efficiency and effectiveness. Smart companies will use that data to make sure they are getting the best possible return on investment in their training programs so they will have something to show for that $156 billion. So, now you are convinced that a MOOC is the way to go and that big data will transform your approach to training, but you don’t know where to start with the implementation? No worries - there’s a MOOC for that! Copyright 2013 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved. Bryant Nielson - Managing Director of CapitalWave Inc.- offers 25+ years of training and talent management for executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a entrepreneur, trainer, and strategic training adviser for many organizations. Bryant’s business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering the individual. Learn more about Bryant at LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bryantnielson     Related Posts:Beyond Cost-Savings: Advantages of MOOCs for Corporate…MOOCs: Personal Initiative and Professional DevelopmentMOOC: The King is Dead - Long Live the KingWhat Type of MOOC Is Right For You?How to MOOC: Technology-Enabled Learning Tools, Part 1(Visited 24 times, 1 visits today)