Learning Molecules Model
By Ulises A. Mejias and David Shoemaker
An interesting model, that attempts to rationalize the complex process of content development. It specifically deals with the SME's part and uses metaphors, taxonomies, and metrics to manage the collaborative process, define an effective online pedagogy, and ensure the success of the project as a whole.
I've read it once and need to go over it some more times till I fully understand it. Something tells me it's worth the time investment.
You judge for yourselves and share your opinions with the rest of us…
http://www.learningcircuits.org/2005/may2005/shoemaker.htm
Knowledge on the Hoof - by Ted Cocheu
I read a very interesting article in CIO Insight magazine, April 2005, titled “Hide and Seek.” It only goes to reinforce all the other information we are seeing these days about the struggle to find and leverage corporate IP. Again, “...over 80% of corporate data is ‘unstructured,’ or does not reside in an indexed, organized, or easily searchable database.”
Quoting the executive director of knowledge transfer (nice to know such a job exists!) at QCSI, a medium-sized software development company: “About 90% of the company’s information resided in the heads of about 10 percent of out workforce.” The term that comes to mind here is "Knowledge on the Hoof." Maybe the 1950's TV character Rowdy Yates is the appropriate metaphor for the learning manager of the future. The cattle are going to move wherever the grass is greener, whether you're there or not--so you might as well be there to facilitate their movement in a direction that maximizes financial gain at the end of the trail. Keep them doggies rollin', rawhide!
Estimates from companies larger than QCSI stay closer to the 80/20 rule, but the point is still well taken—organizational IP is isolated (trapped!) and can’t be readily accessed by others who need it, let alone leveraged by the enterprise for competitive advantage. This knowledge transfer director went on to describe the search solution his company developed, and proudly reported “...the search application saves each employee 20 minutes per day, which translates into roughly 150 hours of freed-up time per week, companywide. That’s big bucks.” Sounds to me like this company has its priorities straight and is making good progress--while the rest of the industry is focused on training. When QCSI goes public, I'm going to invest.
My conclusion? Either everyone is drinking the same Kool-Aid, or there is a growing consensus around two points: the most important corporate knowledge is currently inaccessible (since it's on the hoof), and people waste a heck of a lot of expensive time trying to find what they need know--and are operating at least half the time in the dark.
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At Last! Proof that Training Works
Laurie Bassi, CEO, McBassi & Company, Inc.
• People are accounted for as “costs”
• Investments in developing people are “hidden costs”
• Financial markets penalize organizations with high (and “unexplained”) costs
• Compensation packages increasingly align executives’ interests with those of financial markets
Our econometric analysis indicates that the ROI in training far exceeds the return on physical capital or R&D.
A series of portfolios of firms that made the largest per capita investments in training subsequently returned 16.3% per year, compared with 10,7% for the S&P 500 index.
Competency Based Learning Management
Stephen Dowes when referring to a Godfrey Parkin article writes: "Good article defining and then describing arguments both for and against competency based learning management (CBLM). The idea of CBLM is that a given task or occupation can be broken down to a set of constituent skills. These skills, or competencies, can form the basis of personalized training. Sounds like a good idea. Though I have concerns about employer-driven training programs. But here, I think, is the knock-down argument: "A CBLM system, in a company competing in rapidly-changing dynamic markets, has a half-life of mere months.""
Well I beg to differ simply because both of them are falling in the same trap that traditional training people have fallen for ages, meaning that of strategies of "either …or…" instead of thinking that we should have a "both" look at things. CBLM can be of great help to an organization when making some order in the quite chaotic field of training needs. Nothing like these figures to convince "C" level executives to allocate budgets. On the other hand, it'd be a fatal mistake to take these figures too seriously, exactly because they don't represent the whole picture and they change all the time.
By Godfrey Parkin, Parkin's
Lot , April 30, 2005
http://parkinslot.blogspot.com/2005/04/competency-based-learning-management.html
Universities state the trivial again...
Academic institution have a wonderful gift of conducting lenghty and costy studies on trivial issues. Even so, the following ons should get an outstanding award, specially when you take into account it was done in MIT...
The online article, "Testing, Testing,"cites an informal study conducted by a director of undergraduate writing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Les Perelman discovered, based on 50 sample essays made public by the College Board (which publishes the SAT), that there was a strong correlation between the length of the test essay and the grade it received. The longer the essay, the higher the grade. In fact, he guessed the scores of 10 out of 10 essays just by gauging their length, and without reading them
Really??? Whow ! I know this since 4th grade and have been writing lenghty tests for all my life...
Introduction to elearning - Part 1
George Siemens posted a basic introduction to elearning. Quite useful for training people doing their first seps in this field.
http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/
Duration of Classes and Courses Decreasing
This issue has always been on my mind, especially because I got my training foundations from the Army, where for many years "lengthier is better" (today things are different there also).
I've seen people starting to explore the possibilities of using eLearning to shorten the time away from work, so was happy to see the following post by Elliott Masie:
"The length of corporate classes is dropping dramatically! Over the past year, I have been conducting a survey of thousands training and learning directors attending the national conferences or user group events where I keynoted, checking on key trends:
* Five day programs are being evolved to three day programs, often with some on-line elements.
* Three day programs are being shortened to one day programs.
* One day programs are being pushed to live webclasses or 1/2 day classes.
* Reasons range from the speed of business, manager reluctance to lose employee for a long duration, employee frustration at being away from flow of work process and increased confidence in e-Learning and web seminars.
* Exceptions can be found in: Senior Executive Training, Certification Programs and Quality Courses (e.g. Lean Manufacturing or Six-Sigma), but these are also being shortened in many organizations".
Advanced training in a call center in Canada
From CSTD's conference in Fredericton, Darlene Burt and Darren McKinnon of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce did a really nice session on the development and deployment of a personalized learning system for customer center staff, New Communication and Information Technologies Emerging in the Workplace. I wasn't there, but in this time and age, with help from Stephen Downes, it's as if we attented it. TY Stephen!!
http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/website/view.cgi?dbs=Article&key=1116274760&format=full
Some rapid e-learning resources
Speed is king: Rapid creation and deployment of enterprise e-learning solutions
"Rapid development and deployment of learning solutions can translate into new opportunities and bottom-line returns. Karl Kapp, of the Institute for Interactive Technologies at Bloomsburg University, cites corporate success stories and offers key tactics for planning, developing, and deploying rapid e-learning. Use this white paper to gain insight into techniques and procedures that will help you quickly develop and deliver your enterprise-wide e-learning solutions." Macromedia, 2004
"In the current accelerated corporate environments, rapid deployment of learning and information translates into seized market opportunities and bottom-line returns. Hesitation or slow
deployment of learning leads to missed opportunities and forfeiture of market share to competitors."
Exploring the definition of rapid e-learning
"The eLearning Guild conducted a poll in February, 2005 on the topic of Rapid e-Learning, and theresults tell an interesting story. Despite the level of buzz associated with the term, the largest single response to the question, “Is your organization focused on ‘Rapid eLearning’?” was “What is Rapid eLearning?” We were curious about this result, and assumed that you would be too, so we’ve done some thinking about the state of rapid e-Learning and we’d like to share our thoughts and observations with you." A whitepaper by Bill Brandon, eLearning Guild, 2005
"Using the term “rapid e-Learning” too loosely simply adds to confusion and tends to reduce the term (and the notion of e-Learning itself) to the level of noise."
Listed on Rapid e-learning
