Views From the Gulch

I confess.

I’m an e-learning technology convert.  I now see so many possibilities for e-learning and it’s associated technologies in my practice as an adult educator.  Mind you, my conversion isn’t complete - I still see a definite need for f2f interaction and I don’t believe that an e-learning “course” is the panacea for all training woes.

What I do see are the possibilities that e-learning technology provides - to go beyond the bounds of traditional classroom training;  to move towards communities of learning for organisations; to increase dialogue and interaction between staff and to capture the “explicit knowledge” in the organisation - all enhancing learning for both individuals and organisations.

I’m now promoting my ideas and learnings to others and trying to encourage a similar acceptance in my colleagues by demonstrating how we can use the technology.

At a recent conference on emergency management training I attended a stream on e-learning.  Good I thought, more ideas and ways to apply them to what we do.  So, off I went and encouraged some colleagues to do the same.

What a disappointment - while the presenter knew her stuff it was pretty much a “show and tell” session - using PowerPoint!  We had the opportunity to look at some of the technologies such as blogs, wikis and Skype - but only at their websites - there was no attempt to contextualise the information and give participants ideas on how the technology could by used in emergency management training.

An article I read recently stated “… technology implementation in a positive learning experience can be one of the strongest influencing factors in their subsequent uptake” (Weller, Pegler & Mason, 2005).  This conference was an situation where the exposure to e-learning tools and technology was not positive - in fact it had the opposite effect on my colleagues - they left the session as soon as possible, uninspired.

If only this session had used some of the technologies to present the message, or had been contextualised to show how the tools could be used in developing and presenting training materials for emergency management agencies I could have had a cohort of supporters.  This observation was supported by my colleagues’ responses to another session which did exactly this - they came to me saying “we’ve got to get this really great program - we’ve seen how we can use it to make our training better”.

This is another salient lesson for me as I endeavour to covert others in my organisation and win support for the introduction of new technologies and approaches in the learning arena. 

Where to start with so many options available to me is the next question - I need to reign in my enthusiasm, give it some direction and remember how to eat an elephant - mouthful by mouthful.

Reference

Weller, M., Pegler, C. & Mason, R. 2005, Use of innovative technologies in an e-learning course.  Internet and Higher Education, 8(1), 61-71.

While e-learning and online learning communities have made opportunities for learning more accessible and convenient there are a number of potential problems that have become evident with this approach.  One of the biggest ones, based on my personal experiences, is that of distractions in the workplace.   Workers are now faced with multi-tasking not only in their job, but also learning and work.  E-learning is yet another task to be juggled into the person’s already busy schedule. 

Terri Thompson (2004), in a paper presented at the World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Health Care & Higher Education, outlined some of the challenges of undertaking e-learning in the workplace. These all revolve around the need for support from the organisation and include:

• Developing skills in collaborating online
• Developing competency with the learning technology utilised
• Ensuring an environment conducive to learning, free of distractions (phone calls, emails, people dropping by the workstation)
• Recognition that the practise of belonging to a community improves e-learning events and outcomes, via dialogue and shared construction of meaning
• Organisations legitimising engaging in online learning activities, including participating in communities of practice, during the workday

In developing an e-learning strategy it is important that these issues are addressed.  While some can be addressed by training and mentoring, others will require the commitment of management to providing appropriate environments (or sanctioning work practices that minimise disruptions).  Finally, learning and development practitioners will need to negotiate with management at all levels to ensure that staff are supported in their online learning endeavours and given the time and recognition for this.  Another change management task to be included in the design of e-learning activities.

References 

Thompson, T. (2004), The Virtual Classroom at Work: How Teaching Shapes Workplace Learning.  In G. Richards (Ed.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare & Higher Education (ELEARN) 2004, AACE, Chesapeake, UA, pp 2166-2171.

Yesterday I was approached by a peer from another organisation about his plans for establishing a network of trainers/assessors using social networking software.  The request was made because of my current studies and some discussions we had had on this topic.  My peer had suggested the idea to his colleagues but been soundly dismissed.  This surprised me as I know the group and had thought they were quite innovative in their operations.

This got me to thinking about the group I’ve been observing as part of my studies.  There is a paucity of postings to this community and I had been thinking about what motivates people to contribute and what doesn’t.  Research has shown that it is only 1% of participants in a community who make regular contributions and 90% are lurkers (Nielsen, 2006).  This is similar to some of the change management statistics I’ve seen - 20% early radaptors; 60% move slowly & 20% won’t move.

So - how do we motivate some of the 60% to at least lurk and maybe post?  This is where the social constructivists come in - learning by observing, interacting, creating knowledge.  A community needs to provide appropriate models; build on the participant’s existing level of knowledge; get other “thought leaders” to contribute; have a variety of presentation media; make it interesting; provide rules of conduct/netiquette; have strong facilitation/moderation.  The list goes on. 

But what happens when this occurs and there’s still no response, as in the community I have observed?  What else do we need to do to motivate people to contribute?  While at some point we need to recognise that at some time the lifespan of the community needs to be recognised and the community ended, how do we keep the lifeforce going for sufficient time to allow members to benefit from participation?

I think one possibility is incorporating a change management strategy into the community design - as well as the educational design features.  This will involve overt support all levels of management of an organisation, managers modelling behaviours by contributing to the community and an ongoing promotional campaign for the community.

The Australian Flexible Learning Framework has develeloped a business planning framework to assist people implementing e-learning.  The tool provides a strategic approach and structured guide to the development of flexible learning options.  

One of the tools included is a tutorial on, and template for an  Business case e-learning resource .  The tutorial is clear and concise, covering each part of the busines case and providing some useful tips for its completion.   It is a great tool for people who are new to developing business cases, and as a refresher if you haven’t written one for a while.

There are also a number of useful links from the website to other resources for implementing e-learning. 

Well worth a look and tagging for future reference.

 In my recent meanderings through the wealth of information on e-learning I came across Marc Rosenberg’s “E-Learning Readiness Survey“.According to Rosenberg the questions in the survey “represent some of the most important strategic issues organisations face when transitioning to e-learning.”  While a few years old now, the survey is a useful tool to help people focus their thoughts on implementing e-learning in their organisations and to identify areas of strength and potential weakness in the process.

 The University of Houston Department of Health and Human Performance recently released a report that supported the effectiveness of blended learning.  Hybrid classes which combine instructional technology and in-class lectures were found to result in greater student involvement and academic performance than traditional classes.

This report supports my own feelings on e-learning - that to be most effective there needs to be a mixture of electronic content and interaction with other students and the presenter/facilitator.

The report also offers support for the proposal I am developing for additional online courses in my workplace - there will be an online theory component followed by a face to face session that involves practice and reinforcement of the knowledge/skills acquired and an assessment to ensure that the learning outcomes and required level of competence have been achieved.  The topics I am exploring for this approach include water, soil and pesticide sampling.  Participants will all be environmental scientists who are developing specialised skills in these areas for environmental protection purposes.

With the increasing demand on resources in the organisation I work for there is an growing interest in e-learning amongst staff - both those who as subject matter experts are presenting training in addition to their daily duties, and staff who are keen to access courses more regularly than our face:2:face training calendar currently allows. 

My increasing comfort with e-learning is spurring me  on to follow this through.

We currently have two online courses available - both have taken 18 months to get off the ground,  due  to a variety of constraints within the organisation.  The increasing demand for online courses means that this timeframe has to change dramatically.

So, my next challenge is three-fold:

- encourage senior management to support online courses

- attempt to resolve some of the policy and procedural issues that slow down the process

- negotiate the release of the subject matter experts to work with our provider to modify the face:2:face courses into an engaging online format

There are so many other organisations that seem to have embraced online learning.   I’m wondering what some of the strategies for achieving this have been and how I can modify these to help me in this aspect of my journey?