Learning, Content and the Law — At Learning 2007
We’re in the General Session listening to John Howley , who is a trustee at Skidmore College. It’s an interview with Elliott Masie.
- You’ll need to work with your attorney to let him know what he needs to be current on
- Judges work from precedent, and if they don’t know about it they tend to view issues very rigidly
- You have to get away from the lawyer as the “risk avoider” — nobody ever got fired for saying “no”. They should be a risk manager. Sometimes business is about taking risks.
- Schedule a “take your legal counsel to lunch day” — many have never sat down with the training department
- Don’t just talk about today’s emergency, but the next six or 12 months. They’ll love it.
Afternoon General Session at Learning 2007
Elliott Masie is talking — suggests that the dropping of community support for education is an issue that should be handled by Homeland Security.
We’re video conferenced in to the Manhattan School Of Music, and listening to a viola student. I’m not actually sure why, but the connection is great — and he claims it’s live internet. (Update: Apparently the student gets lessons via video conferencing — I came in late.)
I’m sitting at a table way, way in the back — the bad kid’s area, where several of us have our laptops open. Earlier in the day Elliott came by and told my neighbor (a technical trainer for Disney) to watch the speaker, not her ‘puter. She indicated that she was listening, but looking at her display. Sixty words a minute from a talking head is just too slow for our needs.
We’re in a room with 2100 people, and apparently the video is to demonstrate the use of high-def video. It’s very pretty, but I’m not sure what the immediate application is here for someone training at an insurance company.
Later on we’re hearing from Wayne Hodgins, Scott Martin, and the Director of Florida’s Pandemic Team. I hope there’s not a viral video going around.
Blog Yes! Session at Learning 2007 in Orlando
I’m sitting in a session with Michelle Lentz of Write Technology who is talking about how to 
start and maintain a corporate blog for marketing your training programs. She’s pretty high energy, and even though it’s a hot afternoon in this tiny room, I’m paying attention.
Key Learning: Build content first, before you “launch” your blog. Delta Airlines had employees blog for several months before announcing the existence of their blog.
Sometimes MS blogs seem to provide lots of personal information, but it adds a personality for the writer and makes you feel more connected.
- Don’t post emails
- Show your post to a friend if there are any things you think might not be appropriate
- Share out cultural and audience issues
- Know your audiences
It’s Too Hot In This Tiny Room!
Performance Support — Learning 2007
| From a presentation at Learning 2007, by Conrad Gottfredson and Bob Mosher. | ||
 |
 |
|
| b.mosher@learningguide.us | Con@gwcfreedom.org | |
What is performance support?
- It’s what happens after training
- Readily accessible knowledge
- Trainers see it as a big manual they hand out
- Task-based content, chunked to nuggets
- Right info/person/time/place./format
Are we measuring the use of the system, or the results from the system? Where are we going, and how we get there. It’s important to have the conversation to assess how well we’re doing.
Go back to what General Mills, 3M and other leaders are using, and adapt it to what your organization needs. You have a complete formal training strategy, and we need the equivalent for performance support.
Bob Mosher: “I really hate wikis. Everyone is using them, and nobody knows why. It’s an infrastructure.”
Conrad G’s Five Moments Of Learning Needs:
- When learning for the first time
- When wanting to learn more
—————————————————–
- When trying to remember/apply
- When things change
- When something goes wrong
What tools are we giving people to apply that information? Why does this generation say “I don’t get it?” over and over. Maybe that just means they don’t have the context — they don’t need it louder and slower.
If we’re going to make the promise of “lifelong learning” we need to understand the context and the need. People were not enthralled when we offered them e-learning, and we need to make sure we’re providing relevant content.
Begin With The End: Training vs Performance Support
Performance Support is not a toolset — it’s a framework. You need a framework both above and below the line. Just delivering a little job aid to learners may not be what they need. They may need more help to get to the right level of help that they need.
You may need both beginner and advanced content, as some people are thrown into responsibilities without any training as all.
If you look at Microsoft Help, you see that they want to give you everything you could possibly need. But if you need help quickly, you don’t want to know everything. Learning is not an event, it’s a process.
Question: How effective is your training? How could you improve it, so it fills all five moments of need listed above? How are you orchestrating all of your Performance Support strategy?
- Start with what you’ve got — look at 1 and 2 and see how you could rebrand or repurpose it, using a gap analysis and see what you’re missing
- Don’t let it die under it’s own complexity — “orchestrating” is the key word
- Learning Portals can become terrifying — they seem to have every single thing that we have available
- The learners don’t care if it’s “instructionally sound”
Bob: The next time you teach, don’t make a single statement. Only ask questions. It’s a stunning experience.”
Build to survive first, then back up and supplement as needed.
Learn to learn: Ramp UP/ Ramp DOWN. Avoid building a dangerous structure that keeps you in the cycle. Ramp OUT so learners are ready to do it themselves, or they’ll get angry with you. Fill in methods that they can use to support themselves.
- Peers are a great place to start
- Look for effective coaches
- Provide support materials
- Be ready to “step out of the cockpit” after they’re ready to solo
- You don’t have to take everyone to the end of the learning journey — it changes what a trainer is doing in the classrooms, as you’re training to independence
- If you feel there’s “not enough room” in your training day for this, you need to get some of that “stuff” out of yor day — it changes how you architect your content
- You don’t want to be “all they’ve got” when you train — build a rich performance support system to give them what they need
Conrad: Sometimes performance support isn’t during performance, but preparing to perform.
Good reference is Allison Rosset’s Job Aids and Performance Support
The Office Of The Future — Learning 2007
I’m sitting in a session at Learning 2007, listening to a discussion of how suppliers and 
vendors can enliven and improve what they offer to customers. Elliot Masie just said that he takes a group of CLOs through ASTD each year, and they are amazed at how there is a lack of “future” thinking and most of the offerings are same-old same-old.
He said that one company he knew had instituted an Office Of The Future that looks several years ahead and tries to integrate them into their learning plans. How are you looking at the future? With fear and loathing, or with excitement and involvement?
Why is that? What motivates you, either way?
Are You Listening To Our Learners?
Here’s a great video from (believe it or not) Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions. (Once again, talking a great game.) I wonder if you can see yourself in this. Are you really listening to your learners? Or do you bull ahead with what you think you know about them?
Bad PowerPoint! Bad! Bad!
Sometimes you see an image that is desperately crying out for an intervention. I wonder if later on, the other slides surprised this one and took it off to rehab.
Manage Your Content Like Radiohead
The recording industry is in upheaval. File-sharing, downloads, copying, live unauthorized recordings — their model of pay-for-play is vanishing faster than a $99 airfare. Many companies and groups are clinging to the past, via lawsuits and threats. Others are looking for new models and doing some interesting experiments.
Like the rock group Radiohead. They’ve left their label, and are releasing their newest album for free, on the net. All they ask is that you pay whatever you’d like. No ads on MTV, no distribution costs, no glossy CD covers, and no money for their traditional recording label. What would it look like if your Learning Department tried out this sort of a model?
==========================
1. Dramatically Lower Costs No more binders, colorful covers, smiling trainers, posters, nametags or coffee urns.
2. Dramatically Faster Availability Finish your content, put a PDF up on the web. Done.
3. Dramatically Easier Demonstration of Value You could show your executives that some content was valued highly, and that some was not. Then either eliminate the junk nobody valued, or find someone who wanted to sponsor it.
4. Dramatically Happier Learners Nobody will have an issue with something they pay for only if they like it.
5. Dramatically Different You In this new world, you’ll get immediate feedback on what you’re providing, and have immediate demonstration of the value (or lack thereof) that you add. If that scares you, it probably should.
================================
So — does that rock your world?
My Office Has Coffee — Lots And Lots Of Coffee
After really enjoying the calm warm cocoon of my home office for months now, I’m sitting in a coffee shop working on the laptop for the second time this week. (It’s a Tulley’s — not really because I don’t prefer Starbuck’s, but Tulley’s gives me free wireless.)
It’s chaotic, lots of noise, people going in and out. I’m perched on a high table, my wireless mouse is hard to use, and this tiny keyboard is really hard to type on. Yet I’m really enjoying it, and when my battery runs out (my self-imposed limit) I’m not looking forward to heading home to keep working. I do miss the pugs, and my loud music, but the interaction and noise is kind of soothing.
What does your office look like? For years, we told learners that they needed a study area that was neat and tidy. Sharpened pencils (#2, of course) and lots of erasers. Good lighting. The proper height desk. No distractions.
What happened? Why is it now much more common to work in noisy cubes, with people dropping in (I just can’t call them “drive-bys”) at any moment, noise in the air, and a huge mess around us. I’ve always got 10 windows open, paper spread around, a couple of abandoned drinks and lots of toys from shows I attend. My favorite, lately, is a squeeze-ball model of the human brain.
Are you comfortable with chaos in learning? Is it ok with you when people go from back to front, or from the middle out? Can your learners make their own choices without feeling like they’re breaking the rules?
Don’t worry about me. I’ll finish my cookie and head home to peace and quiet. And probably not produce anything else all day.
Why Aren’t We Co-Working?