Narrowing the Distance

Google’s Chrome web store has been open for a couple days now and there are already hundreds of web apps available.  One such app called sliderocket may be a solution several of you have been looking for to create online training and presentations.

What is it? According to the site, SlideRocket is a revolutionary new approach to presentations. It’s the only presentation software that allows you to create stunning presentations, manage them intelligently, share them securely and then measure the results.

What does this mean in English?  SlideRocket allows you to create awesome presentations that are interactive.  What’s more, it comes with built in analytics so that you can track who’s viewing your presentations, how often, etc…  Another HUGE bonus is that it’s all done in HTML5, so it is viewable on iPads and iPhones unlike flash based presentations.

In the demo I watched, I was able to add interactions, audio, video, images, text, twitter feeds and much more.  The collaboration features are excellent as well.  And the cost… there’s a free lite version, then the full version is $24/month or $240/year.  This may sound expensive but I use rapid eLearning tools like Articulate currently.  The price for the studio version is around $1400 (58 months worth of sliderocket), and this doesn’t include any collaboration or tracking capabilities.   I’m not saying that sliderocket has all of the capabilities of some of the rapid eLearning tools however, so it’s probably not the best comparison.  I am saying you should give it a try though!  See the video below for more information:

The information from this post has been updated.  See http://brandon-hall.com/bryanchapman/?p=231 for more information.

A long time…

I am currently working on a short presentation for a staff meeting at an education cooperative I work with.  After scouring through the web for relevant information, the blog from Bryan Chapman at Brandon Hall Research looks to be the most accurate.  I encourage everyone to check it out now because he is in the process of updating the information this month and your input is needed!

In general, here’s the information he posted:

Ratio for each Type of learning

34:1 Instructor-Led Training (ILT), including design, lesson plans, handouts, PowerPoint slides, etc.

33:1 PowerPoint to E-Learning Conversion. Not sure why it takes less time then creating ILT, but that’s what we discovered when surveying 200 companies about this practice

220:1 Standard e-learning which includes presentation, audio, some video, test questions, and 20% interactivity

345:1 Time it takes for online learning publishers to design, create, test and package 3rd party courseware

750:1 Simulations from scratch. Creating highly interactive content

Check the post out for yourself here.  Don’t forget to participate in the survey while you are there.

I’ve been seeing quite a bit of posts come through on udutu (pronounced you do to… clever, huh?).  udutu is somewhat unique in what it does.  First, it is a type of rapid eLearning software.  One key aspect is that it’s web based, which is nice because it allows for anyone to collaborate on the development of a web based training.  I’ve always found it difficult to get together with the subject matter experts, instructional design folks, graphics people, etc… so this allows everyone to work together a little more seamlessly.  I realize there are other similar web based software apps out there (Shift, etc…), but this is where the next unique factor comes in.

udutu is free.  Or so their website says.  From what I can tell, it’s free to create your own trainings, zip them up and unpack/host them in your own LMS.  They even offer a moodle module to make the process easier if you are using moodle, which we do.  You can host the training on their system, but there is a watermark.  If you pay, you can have the watermark removed.

So far, udutu looks to have a lot of potential.  If there are any experienced users out there I would love to hear your likes and dislikes

We frequently hear designers claim to use research-based design principles when developing staff trainings (e-learning or face-to-face).   Without getting into the argument about what qualifies as research-based and what does not (we can save that for a later post), I recommend asking your potential designer to talk you through the research that is applicable to your particular project.  If that person knows it well enough to have a common sense conversation, then they should have a strong enough command to use it.  Unfortunately, “research-based design: has become a tagline from someone’s marketing department rather than the modus operandi of the training design team.  Over the next few months, we will share some of these practices supported by research that are not commonly understood in training design that we have utilized with our clients. Hopefully, you are using them already and just did not know the “name” of the particular strategy or design element.

In a recent online software training package we developed, the modules were created using the principle of errorless learning.  Errorless learning is one example of a design procedure that has been validated by a large volume of quantitative research across diverse populations (you mean we should consider people with disabilities when designing a training??? — YES!).  We were approached to developed a series of training to teach users how to use a software application.  To do this, we incorporated guided practice for the features throughout each module.  Using errorless learning meant that the user could only provide the correct responses during this time.    Here is how the guided practice was structured:  (a) the user was asked to complete a task using the software; (b) only the correct responses were allowed; and (c) if the user did not respond correctly within 4 seconds a visual prompt was provided that cued the user to engage in the correct response.

Here are 2 practical reasons for you to consider this design tip:

1.  The user does not constantly practice incorrect responses. What we know is that if we are allowed to do the incorrect thing repeatedly, we learn that incorrect response pretty well.
2.  Users remain engaged.  Repeated incorrect responses tend to reduce the likelihood that a user will continue on with training.  This is especially important to consider for the trainings that are not required, but are important for staff development.

This concept worked great for this project because the client wanted their participants to be able to USE the software rather than being able to just ANSWER questions about it.  So when working with your designer or developing your next training, consider errorless learning.

A contract is defined simply as an agreement between two parties to do something.  It can be used on anything from an agreement to buy or sell an item to an employment contract.  One thing many do not consider using contracts for however is with learning.

I just finished up doing a year long educational cadre on the use of Universal Design for Learning strategies in a classroom.  Part of the deal was that in return for strategies and software or devices to use in the classroom, participants would meet with me in person at least 3-4 times a year in addition to doing some web based stuff.  Sounds simple enough, but I’ve been in the game long enough to know things don’t always work out as planned.  The last thing I wanted was a project that started with 30 people and ended with five.  This can happen for a variety of reasons, so to help prevent it from happening this time around I created a contract that not only the participants had to sign, but they’re administrators (and sometimes their administrator’s administrator) had to sign.  No one could register before signing and returning this contract to me.  On the contract I included what the expectations of the participants were and what they would receive in return.  If someone did not show up, they would not receive the support and devices that everyone else received.  Also, if for some reason they were told they could not attend a training, I simply pulled out the contract for the administrator so they would realize this had been agreed upon some time ago.  Overall it was a huge success.

The purpose of this post is to get you to think out of the box and take this a step further.  It’s easy to use contracts if you are meeting face to face with people over a the course of several months, but what about using this in your online courses or trainings as well (even if it’s only a one time thing).  A contract immediately provides clear expectations of what is expected of the learner.  They know how much time it requires and have the opportunity to say no (or choose a different time to take the course/training) up front.  This will also help the learner understand what they will be gaining in return for taking the course (a certificate, mandatory training satisfied, a gift card, etc…)

I recommend giving a contract a try during your next training.  If nothing else, the simple act of signing an agreement is likely to increase the completion rate of any of your courses.

One of the most used technologies to increase my effiency is desktop sharing.  In case you are not familiar with the term, desktop sharing simply allows you to share your desktop with one or more people.  I use it often for training people far away or in different locations, collaborating with colleagues or to troubleshoot technology problems.

If you are interested in giving desktop sharing a try, there are no shortage of available applications.  Among them include:

• GoToMeeting
• Windows Live Meeting
• Vyew
• ShowMYPC
• WebEx
• TeamViewer

There are plenty more options out there, but this is a start.  A few things to note:

• Not all options are free.  GoToMeeting, Windows Live Meeting, and WebEX may offer free trials, but do cost money to keep.  Others, like TeamViewer may offer a free version for non-commercial use.
• Know what you are looking for.  Some options only allow one user to view your computer.  That may work for simple collaboration or technical support, but will hardly work for trainings.

What do I recommend?  Although free is great, I like GoToMeeting.  The cost is low enough and it offers several features that are great for training small groups.  If you need to train a larger group, you can upgrade or purchase GoToWebinar, which allows you to have hundreds of participants and provides advanced features like polling, access levels and more.

I’ve tried many of the other options out there, and while they usually work fine, I find most slow to load and react.  This may work for collaborating with a colleague, but if you are working with a client I recommend spending the $400 or $500 extra a year and use GoToMeeting.  Their newest version has integrated voice capabilities, which is a huge advantage over using a land or mobile line to call a long distance number to communicate (I always just used skype).  Finally, GoToMeeting does allow those you are connecting with to show their screen.  You can take control of their mouse and keyboard or vice versa as well.  Others may offer this same feature, but it’s worth mentioning either way.

I was at a conference put on by the Bob Pike Group not long ago and sat through an interesting session on evaluating your trainings.  They came up with four components you need to measure for effective professional development.  They were:

1. Like It
2. Learn It
3. Use It
4. Make a Difference

Although they didn’t offer many suggestions on how to actually do this, I liked their easy to understand components and data they had showing what organizations typically do.  Turns out that over 80% check to see if participants liked the training, less than 25% check to see if the content was learned, less than 10% check to see if you use it and get this… Less than 3% of organizations surveyed check to see if the training made a difference!

How can we apply this within eLearning?  It’s quite simple really, take a look at the following examples.  Feel free to add to them in the comments section if you would like:

Like It – Did your participants like the training?

• Imbed a survey at the end of your eLearning course.
• Use an external survey application, such as SurveyMonkey, to survey how your participants felt about the training
• Send an email to all participants asking for feedback. If you are tracking who is taking your course, you should already have their email. If not, simply ask for feedback. Sure not all participants will do so, but some will.

Learn It – Did your participants learn anything?

• I usually do this two ways. First, I imbed quizzes or “knowledge checks” throughout my learning environments.
• I also follow up a few weeks later, usually with the exact same questions to make sure knowledge was retained. I typically find that asynchronous online learning results are just as good, if not better, than face to face results.

Use It – Did your participants use it?

• Once again, use an application such as survey monkey or a simple email to ask participants if they are using what they learned
• For clients who need to ensure training goals are being implemented I go a step further. I typically send a web cam to the participant and have them use it in conjunction with Skype, a free instant message and voice of IP application. Once set up, I simply observe the participant in a setting and collect data on their use of the content covered in the training. This is a bit more work than simply sending an email, but much simpler and quicker than driving or flying to observe someone face to face. I can usually collect all the data I need in under 30 minutes instead of taking days to find common dates, travel arrangement, etc…

Make a Difference – Did the training make a difference?

• The answer to this can mostly be found in another post I did a few months ago on Deciding Which Trainings to Move Online. Trainings should be designed with the end in mind. If the goal is to increase sales, I should be able to see if it in fact increased sales as much as I had hoped. No secrets or technology tips here, but yet we still find that only 3% of organizations in the survey check this part out. I suppose they are just creating trainings just to be creating them?

Hope this helps some of you when you are looking at evaluating your training programs. The idea is to find ways to take advantage of available technology for your online or face-to-face trainings and imbed this into your training. Otherwise how will you ever know if your training did what it was designed to do?

In case you didn’t know, I’m a big fan of eLearning. I think it offers many advantages over traditional face-to-face learning environments. However, this doesn’t mean that every training you offer, or want to offer, needs to be given an online presence.

For example, I was working through the process of deciding what trainings would be best to move to an online setting for a small company. This didn’t mean that the traditional face-to-face sessions would stop, just that there would be another option that would allow the organization to reach more people. When I first arrived, the general consensus was that online training was a great way to provide many of the trainings they have been wanting to offer to their audience, but haven’t had time to work on. See my post on Quality eLearning Takes Time to understand why this may not have been the best approach.

So instead, we started talking about all of the things the organization does related to training. They were able to name off the trainings they provided most and commented on how it was eating up all of their time. Now we were getting somewhere… By investing time in creating an online version of a training that is delivered often, you are able to reach an even larger audience while freeing up some valuable time for you and your staff – once the training is created that is.

Unfortunately, after you have a couple of trainings in mind that you would like to take online you are still not out of the woods. There are a few things you need to map out ahead of time to ensure this training is the right training to make the transition. These things include:

1. What is the purpose of this training? In other words, what will the participants get out of it?
2. How will you know the training is successful? Use concrete numbers here. Not “X amount of people will have taken the training“, but instead something like “participants taking the training will increase sales by 30%” or “errors will be reduced by 25%“. See the difference? Knowing how many people participated in your training only tells you how much time was wasted unless you can show results. Tom Kuhlmann gives really good examples of what I’m talking about here in his Rapid eLearning Blog and eBook.
3. How will you measure the results. This is another key point. Many organizations define results without knowing how they are going to measure them. Measuring with a figure you aren’t going to receive for a year from now is a bad idea. Think of something relevant and readily available that you can use.

After working through these key steps you should know if this is really a training you should spend time taking online or not. If so, once finished, you should try the training with a small group of participants and follow up by measuring the results you decided upon in step two. If the results look good, offer to a larger group and repeat. If not, revise and experiment with another small group.

The good thing about creating trainings for an online environment is that they are easy to go back and edit at any time. If one particular part is shown not to work, you can quickly edit and republish. I will provide a concrete example of how I set up a training using this same process in a soon to come post.

I spend most of my time contracting out with various organizations who all have different needs. A common thread among them is their interest in moving a piece of what they do from a traditional to an online format. This may be as simple as posting some information on a website, or as complex as setting up their own learning management system (LMS). No matter what they are looking for however, one thing almost all of these organizations assume is that making the transition is less time consuming than what it actually is. Let me use a concrete example to show you what I mean.

I provide trainings on all sorts of instructional technology. One particular training that always has more of a demand than I can handle takes me anywhere from 2 to 6 hours to provide face to face. Although not always true, online trainings typically do not take as long for participants to sit through as their face-to-face counterparts . However, this doesn’t mean that I am saving as much time as it may appear. Let me explain…

For a simple overview of this software, it would probably take two hours to cover. This of course doesn’t count my travel time, setup, etc… To create a similar online training, I spent close to 50 hours laying it out, adding real life scenarios of how the software could be used, including interactive video tutorials and more.  When finished, I honestly wondered if this training was going to take much less time than the face to face training. Then I rolled it out to a select group of people to collect data (more on this in an upcoming post) and couldn’t believe my eyes when they finished in an average of 20 minutes! It took them 20 minutes to complete something I spent over 50 hours creating.

This goes back to some information I picked up in one of William Horton’s books that states the following:

For a moderately complex project done by a moderately experienced team, figures of 200 person-hours per instruction hour are common, though estimates often run from 100 to 600 hours. [Horton, Designing Web-Based Training, p. 45].

Just in case you need that restated, you could be looking at up to 600 hours of work to create 1 hour of online training! Now of course that is on the complex side of things, but an average of 200 hours is quite normal and even less than what I was heading towards for the training above. Also keep in mind that this is just for creating the training. Many assume that the most time consuming part is gathering the content, but content for me was not the issue as I am one of the most knowledgeable people you can find on this particular piece of software. It actually took me that long just to lay out and create the online training.

This post isn’t meant to scare anyone away from eLearning. In fact, you should embrace it. Not only has research shown that eLearning provides just as much, if not more, learning outcomes for participants, but it also has several additional benefits face-to-face training does not. For example, with online training you can:

• Extend your trainings to a larger audience
• Make them available 24/7 so that participants can take and re-take as much as they want.
  
• No travel (for you or your participants)
• Less time with similar results

If anything, I hope this post will help you have these conversations with your employer or client before they get in over their head or fund a low quality training, both of which are bad for everyone.

Through working with groups and agencies who are solely supported by grant funds to create e-learning solutions, we have discovered the existence of a graveyard full of incredible processes, products, and tools that are wasting away in boxes and on bookshelves. As e -learning tools have become more effective and cost efficient, there are significant benefits for your grant funded work.

1. “Fundability” is essential when applying for a highly competitive grant, because you can not accomplish your next great adventure without financial support. One attractive feature to set your project apart from the rest is to incorporate e-learning solutions. It is no longer cost prohibitive to develop and disseminate your findings and products on the web. The ability to do this well allows funding sources to see that your project has the potential to impact a large geographic area long after the funding is complete.

2. “Accessibility” to the benefits from the grant outcomes have typically been limited by how close you were to where the work was done or your connection with the people who did it. With e-learning solutions, people all across the globe can benefit from the efforts of your organization at anytime and at anyplace.

3. “Timelessness” is essential because once the funding is spent, projects are typically over and never seen again. However with e-learning solutions, the work accomplished through your project can be made available through web-based tools even after the funding is over. Extend the life of your project by finding a partner up front that will commit to hosting your work for you once the project is complete. Consider approaching colleges, universities, businesses, and other non-profit agencies as potential partners. The cost of hosting is relatively insignificant and the benefits for everyone are endless. If you are having trouble finding those partners, there are many no-cost solutions on the web that can accomplish this. Take time to dig through our blog to investigate a few that we have highlighted.

The possibilities are endless with the tools available to all of us. If you have a success story incorporating e-learning solutions in your grant funded work, take a minute to comment on this post.