The Boggs e-Learning Chronicle

A Place To Buy, Sell, Hire Bloggers, or Find Blogging Services

On the Performancing Exchange, you buy, sell, hire bloggers, and find blog services.  Its a pretty cool idea. 

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

e-Learning Program Compared to Monster Garage

In one of my news aggregators, I came across a post on e-Learning I found to be playful......The Monster Garage of e-Learning

Of course, the post was fun because it compared an e-Learning implementation to the plot of the popular Discovery Channel show, Monster Garage where they create and customize a souped up vehicle every week.

It makes some good points and analogies about the benefits of brainstorming (dreaming as they put it) and planning which correlates to those aspects of a learning management systems / e-Learning implementation.  The writer uses the word e-Learning, but you get the feeling from the post that they are more likely talking about online training  content development.

But beyond that, the metaphor kind of breaks apart because it does not address or fit with other aspects of e-Learning program implementation.  For example, one issue it does not address is the iterative organizational learning that takes place as an e-Learning program evolves.  One is not starting a whole new project every quarter, but building and refining what they have as its uses multiply and the company's needs change over time.

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

Time's 2006 Nifty Fifty.....

Here is Time's picks for this year's  50 Coolest Web Sites

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

Are Online Discussions Risky?

This is an interesting article because it ponders the potential risks associated with participation in  online discussions and how that impacts learner motivation.

Risky Discussions by JULIAN COOK & NEIL JACOBS, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

Abstract:

" This article considers a hypothetical decision by a hypothetical learner about whether or not to participate in an online ‘discussion’, viewed through the lens of risk analysis. It begins with the premise that participation online is desirable but that it involves the participant in risk, a fact that needs to be acknowledged and taken into account in the design of online learning. The article refers to previous work done on understanding online interaction through discourse analysis, which found instances of confusion about the interactive rules (or genre) that were appropriate to the online interaction. The article argues that such an uncertainty may constitute an important risk factor which may affect online participation. The element of risk is then more fully examined through a table of risk analysis; notional risk values are ascribed to a number of risk factors facing the potential online participant, calculated according to the seriousness and probability of the risk. These are weighed against likely benefits and summed to give an overall risk score. This approach is proposed as a method of integrating research findings from a range of sources, providing pointers for future research and of identifying ways to reduce the risks of online participation."

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

Top 10 Employee Comment Themes

Below is a list of the top 10 themes found in employees surveys compiled by HR Solutions, Inc. The job satisfaction study included over 2.2 million respondents with 2,100 organizations representing various industries, all surveyed during the past three years by HR Solutions, Inc. None of this is a stretch, but worth a mention.  See the link for the article below:

"1. Higher salaries – pay is the number one area in which employees seek change.
2. Internal pay equity, particularly having concerns with “pay compression” (the differential in pay between new and more tenured employees).
3. Benefits programs, particularly health/dental, retirement, and Paid Time Off/vacation days. Specifically, many employees feel that their health insurance costs too much, especially prescription drug programs.
4.“Over-management” (A common phrase seen in employee comments is “Too many chiefs, not enough Indians”).
5. Pay increase guidelines should place greater emphasis on merit.
6. The Human Resource department needs to be more responsive to their questions and/or concerns.
7. Favoritism.
8. Improved communication and availability (both from their supervisors and upper management).
9. Workloads are too heavy and/or departments are understaffed.
10. Facility cleanliness. "

Top Ten Comment Themes Found In Employee Surveys    

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

Looking at Design Naturally

Here's some food for thought in relation to e-Learning development........

Innovation, Creativity, & Problem Solving by Clark Quinn on his Learnlets blog

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

Comments on Learning Circuit's 2006 Survey of Learning Management Systems Survey

Here are a few highlights from the Learning Circuits  2006 Survey of Learning Management Systems that outline changes from 2005 to 2006:

1. "A larger number of respondents are opting to host their LMS rather than buy or build, increasing from 11.9 percent of respondents in 2005 to 17.1 percent in 2006."
2. "How organizations are configuring their LMSs saw only incremental change, with the largest portion of respondents opting for andLMS only rather than an learning content management system (LCMS) or LMS/LCMS combo."
3. "In 2006, reporting once again ranked Number 1 as the most valuable feature of an LMS, followed closely by assessment and testing. This was a significant change over 2005 results in which compliance tracking ranked Number 2, decreasing some 5 percent in 2006. Also moving lower in the ranks was the importance of standards, dropping from 18.1 percent to 12 percent. The only substantial increase among valuable features is content management capabilities, which stepped up from 29.9 percent to 36.1 percent."
4. "Although the majority of respondents (67.7 percent) still state that centralized management of training is their main reason for implementing an LMS, this number decreased considerably from 2005 when the number was 78.6 percent. Other reasons for implementing an LMS, such as measuring training usage or tracking regulatory compliance, continue to lag behind."
5. "In 2006, respondents claim that executing customization requirements was the biggest challenge to implementing an LMS (42 percent), followed closely by system administration (38 percent). This is a shift from 2005, when content integration was the top challenge. Notably, vendor management and vendor selection saw significant increases in 2006."
6. "Most notable, purchasers who were very satisfied with their LMS dropped considerably in 2006, decreasing from 20.3 percent o 14.6 percent. Likewise, purchasers who were very unsatisfied more than doubled from 3.1 percent in 2005 to 7.9 in 2006."
7. In the next 12 months....."one-fifth of the respondents state that their organizations intend to purchase a new system."

My comments in regards to the findings above are as follows:

1)  This is probably the result of a number of factors such as organizational bandwidth, costs, and many other reasons why companies outsource various parts of their business.  [Think -- Delta's recent move to outsource its computer mainframe needs to IBM], etc. 

Its like most people when they learn how to ski or snowboard, they go to the mountain, and rent the equipment they need, take a lesson or two to see if they might like it.  And even if they might like it and go quite a bit during the winter months or even go on ski vacations all over the world, they may never buy out right ski or snow board  equipment because its not worth spending the money when renting the latest and greatest equipment works out better for them in the long run.

In addition, e-Learning and the LMS industry is maturing and so is the experience set of training managers, human resource managers, CEO's, CFO's, etc in regards to the various business exigencies associated with learning management systems, but more on this later.

2) There is also a variety of reasons for this, such as many LMSs  have evolved to incorpate a host of LCMS features that give the company the functionality it needs.   From a business perspective, LCMSs and the need for them can mean a pretty large business structure that has to be incorporated around it.   Which means big $$$$$, big maintenance and support costs, etc.  And of course, companies do not really want to make that investment if they do not have to.

Also, its one thing to track and manage learners to derive an ROI on training.  Most companies want to do that and see a need for it.  But, how do you monetize the value of learning content in a corporate training context and then relate it back to  training ROI--sure, it can be done, but this is way over the heads of most folks. 

Will companies see value in managing learning content with an LCMS, sure, some do, that is why there is an LCMS market, but most companies are just trying get their heads around tracking and managing learners.  As stated earlier, e-Learning is maturing.  More medium and small sized companies are purchasing lms's so these companies just are not at that point in their organizational learning curve around e-Learning.

3) No surprise there because of what I just mentioned in the previous paragraph.

4) The whole question as to whether to centralize or not is more about corporate or organizational drivers/philosophy, which changes as a result of many factors such as company leadership, resources, geography, etc. 

I think the e-Learning pundits and analysts make more out of this than necessary.  I can tell you that we have some clients that use our LMS and have other areas of their corporation or partners that use a different LMS.  And it works fine for them and they do not care to change it and want it that way for some good business reasons.  And I would bet that some of my brethren in the industry have experienced the same types of thing with their customers as well.

And sure, we customize so the two LMS's can interchange data, but sticking with the point, we have some corporations that use our LMS exclusively to centralize all of their training, again it just depends.

6 & 7) Back in my response to point (1) I stated that the experience set of training managers, human resource managers, CEO's, CFO's is developing and changing.  This comes out of a natural progression that I have talked about frequently here on the Boggs e-Learning Chronicle in terms of the organizational learning and use of e-Learning.  As a company's e-Learning or training program evolves, it has different needs and objectives than it did when it first got started.

Its only logical that companies would be dissatisfied with their LMS's and then be looking for a new one because their needs have changed.  As well, most of the growth in the learning management systems industry has come from small and medium sized companies in the last few years who are not like the Fortune 500 companies of this world that have alot of organizational experience with e-Learning. 

Small and medium sized companies are more  fresh in the battle of balancing company objectives with learners needs.  But when I say learner needs here -- I mean the learner being certified on the competencies needed to perform the job -- not personal learning needs.

I do not want to get into some e-Learning 2.o discussion in regards to learner satisfaction.  In a corporate training context, what employee is EVER going to be absolutely thrilled and delighted with having to maintain a certification on a specific skill set which requires them to put more time in, or being tracked and monitored, tested, assessed, -- none that I can think of-- work is work, plain and simple.   

Should the system be user friendly, sure, but  it only matters to a point, because at the end of the day, no matter how nice you make it or how supposedly easy it is to do it - or how many other personal learning needs an organization may attempt to meet-- the  matter being learned is related to their job performance,  so its still work.

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

e-Learning Guidebook

If you have a few days  or a week to burn, here is a PDF on e-Learning  I found during my travels on the internet.

e-Learning: A Guidebook of Principles, Procedures and Practices
by Som Naidu, PhD Melbourne, Australia (April, 2006)

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

Teaching Practices With Students From Diverse Cultures Online

CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT TEACHING PRACTICE AND EDUCATING STUDENTS FROM DIVERSE CULTURES IN AN ONLINE INDUCTION PROGRAM

By Lawrence Raymond Bice

MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY
Bozeman, Montana
August 2005

Abstract:

"Beginning teachers in both urban areas and geographically isolated rural areas often do not have access to a mentor teacher of the same content area or grade level in their school or district. This project is a study of learning in the online e-Mentoring for Student Success (eMSS) program, which provides induction for science and mathematics teachers in Montana and California. The study centered on a particular segment of eMSS called the Diversity Module.

Two examinations were conducted: 1) Analysis of discourse by all participants in the Diversity Module, and 2) case study of five beginning teachers with diverse student populations. Analysis of learning by cases was conducted by examining discourse in the Diversity Module, private online discussions with their assigned mentors during a two-year period, and pre and post Diversity Module interviews and interviews of their mentors. Three frameworks were developed to aid understanding of findings: 1) discourse analysis, 2) competencies of multicultural teachers, and, 3) competencies of pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge.

Cases developed their knowledge of teaching along a continuum of needs over two years of participation in the eMSS program. Initial needs expressed by mentees were in areas such as classroom management and general methods of instruction. Cases increased their knowledge in virtually all aspects of pedagogical knowledge, changing their expressed needs to pedagogical content knowledge concerns such as adapting and differentiating instruction for particular content and individual students, and building their repertoire of instructional representations.

Through online discussion, teachers developed or advanced awareness of student culture and learning characteristics, and adapted their practice to foster a climate of student respect. Findings provided little evidence of adapting instruction for diverse student learning. Teachers who had a strong awareness of their own and their students’ cultures advanced their understanding of multicultural teaching competencies further than those who did not.

Interview results indicated that learning sometimes takes place in a non-visible manner. Growth in multicultural teaching knowledge, as well as several aspects of pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge, was clearly evident for participants who posted few messages, but read and actively reflected on thoughts of others."

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

New Book On e-Learning Standarization

Handbook on Quality and Standardisation in E-Learning
by Ulf-Daniel Ehlers (Editor), Jan Martin Pawlowski (Editor)

Book Description:

"Quality and standardisation in e-learning have become crucial success factors for organisations in learning, education and training: E-Learning has changed from an ‘early adopter’ stage to an integrated part of learning scenarios leading to major changes in educational organisations towards quality orientation. For building a knowledge society, it is critically important to thoroughly understand quality and standards in e-learning. The handbook provides a cross-national perspective on these issues and draws a clear picture of the situation in quality development and standardisation. It covers topics of a rather foundational nature in quality and standardisation research as well as descriptions of quality approaches, instruments, standards, experiences and best practices. The Handbook is directed to learners, professionals, researchers and policy makers – people creating the next generation of learning."

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks