Homework!

If it’s true that doctors make the worst patients, then we can take it as axiomatic that learning professionals are the most critical learners.

I’m taking an instructor-led, classroom-based course today.

On cultural awareness.

It’s a mandatory EU thing.

Apparently having a degree in Anthropology doesn’t render me immune to such requirements, so here is what I will do:

• I will keep an open mind.
• I will not analyze the instructors andragogy or methodology.
• I will take notes.
• I will contribute.
• Then I will complete a happy sheet.

I hope I know more at the end of the day than I do now.

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On a happier note, as it’s my wedding anniversary later this week, I shall be whisking Mrs E-Learning Curve off to Connemara in the west of Ireland for a wonderful four-day break in the second-most beautiful part of the country.

Of course this means, I’ve got to leave you with something to do. For your home assignment, I’d like to you to try some experiential learning.

If you’ve been following my weblog series on Podcasting for E-Learning, it’s time to put all of the knowledge to use; if you haven’t been following the articles – where have you been? Click here to begin learning about podcasting now.

And your homework:

Create a podcast.

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Learning Professionals’ Skills 2.0 – Learning Circuits Big Question July 2009

This month's Learning Circuits Blog Big Question is

In a Learning 2.0 world, where learning and performance solutions take on a wider variety of forms and where churn happens at a much more rapid pace, what new skills and knowledge are required for learning professionals?

As Harold Jarche and Jay Cross have already addressed the “learning” part of the discussion with informative and illuminating posts on the topic I’m going to talk about the business aspect of the “performance” element highlighted in The Big Question.

Now read on…

I strongly believe that to survive and maybe even prosper in these leaner economic times, those of us involved in L&D need to understand that we are also business people. As in any enterprise, we are connected to our customers and clients through a variety of sophisticated and interconnecting partnerships: with organizations, with vendors, with the board of directors, with employees, and ultimately and most importantly with learners. Our product is our special expertise in learning and development (and all that this entails), and our market is more competitive now than it has ever been.

Enterprises need e-learning. The pace of organizational change in most companies requires a constant refreshing of skills and the continual development of new competencies. In many organizations, not choosing e-learning as a method to deliver key training initiatives usually means it will not be delivered at all. To remain competitive, enterprises need to:

• Provide continual, up-to-date training and professional development
• Distributable to knowledge workers across multiple delivery channels
• Implement scalable training solutions
• Ensure plan is developed and deployed within a matter of months, rather than quarters or years
• $$$ Demonstrate economic viability $$$

Learning professionals should heed their organizations’ strategic and business imperatives, align with them, and deliver appropriate solutions to support them. To make this happen, my view is that learning professionals need to have (or should develop) the skills and expertise to perform in the following domains:

Skill	Activity
Communicator	Champions effective approaches to learning
Consultant	Oversees governance and alignment of business and learning strategy
Learning Innovator	Implements best learning solutions based upon appropriate theories, pedagogies and technologies
Learning Technologist	Collaborates with ICT on most appropriate use of technologies for learning
Human Capital Management Strategist	Supports enterprise performance enhancement
Business-savvy educator	Consults with Lines-Of-Business on learning needs
Learning & Knowledge Manager	Develops and maintains organizational knowledge base and training resources
Organizational Change Agent	Builds a learning culture in the enterprise

Sadly none of this is sexy, but it’s what I believe you need to accomplish to be successful in this domain.

In meetings in my organization I have been known say that being a learning & development professional is a bit like running a truck company. It's my job to get stuff to the people who need it, and to be honest my customers don't really care how it gets there, once it arrives on time and in good shape. To extend the analogy, I could argue that Web 1.0 e-learning was like a sports car - it looked great and made a big impact wherever it arrived, but it was quite impractical, required a lot of TLC and maintenance, and while it may be high-performing on the (one-way) racetrack of the information superhighway, try maneuvering it around the multi-storey car park of most organizations' networks.

Web 2.0 is without equal at delivering vast amounts of information. It is an accessible, multiplex environment, so data can move back, forth, left, right - wherever it needs to go. Learning 2.0 leverages this facility exceptionally well, because communication of knowledge, skills, and expertise, is at the heart of training and learning.

Learning professionals who have supplemented their educational expertise with broader business skills have positioned themselves to add value to their enterprise facilitating their organizations’ performance requirements, and their customers’ learning needs. And that is a win-win situation.

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Web 2.0 technologies and learning professionals' opportunities and challenges: LCBBQ July 2008

This month’s Learning Circuit Blog Big Question is should learning professionals be leading the charge in the use of Web 2.0 technologies. More precisely:

• Should workplace learning professionals be leading the charge around these new work literacies?
• Shouldn't they be starting with themselves and helping to develop it throughout the organizations?
• And then shouldn't the learning organization become a driver for the organization?
• And like in the world of libraries don't we need to market ourselves in this capacity?

Should workplace learning professionals be leading the charge around these new work literacies?
The short answer is "Yes, with an if...". Long answer is "No, with a but...". Yes, learning professionals should be at the forefront of orienting and guiding knowledge workers in the use of read / write Web technologies. Knowledge work is, at it's heart, about problem-solving, and knowledge workers are employed to utilize their skills to find solutions to organizational challenges. We can say that knowledge workers are performing at their optimum when they:

• use their deepest skills
• work on many projects at the same time
• know how to allocate their time
• can multiply the results of their efforts through soft factors such as emotional intelligence and trust (Francis Fukuyama, Manuel Castells).

If Web 2.0 technologies enable knowledge workers to undertake these tasks, I believe that it is in the remit of the learning and development arm of knowledge organizations to support this.
However, given that any such learning interventions are undertaken within organizations, there is a corporate responsibility to ensure that any learning initiatives to support learning about Web 2.0 technologies be endorsed by board-level approval of the program with all that entails, which should include

1. recognition for the initiative
2. acknowledgement that it may be difficult to capture metrics on knowledge worker performance enhancement attained through these technologies by more traditional assessment techniques
3. that the learning programs themselves will probably be non- or informal in character, as these Web 2.0 technologies are by their very nature, non- and informal
4. implementing Web 2.0 technologies will probably require substantial investments of time, expertise and capital.

Finding solutions to these challenges is difficult, and many organizations may not understand that this domain is too new to be properly understood at this time.

Shouldn't they be starting with themselves and helping to develop it throughout the organizations?
In my experience, the "throw it over the wall and see where it lands" approach is a non-starter. While learning professionals are typically highly-motivated individuals who expend personal time and effort staying "ahead of the curve" in terms of their own skills and competencies, a "viral approach" to learning in this domain can only have success if the learning professional in question is highly influential within an organization (and probably a C-level executive).

For a "footsoldier" to attempt to modify work practices within a large organization would meet high levels of resistance, particularly from managers who have no desire to change production processes that probably work very well, given the potential disruptions entailed in transitioning to a more collaborative environment.

Shouldn't the learning organization become a driver for the organization?
Most learning professionals would say "Yes", most execs would (probably) say "No."

In my view, organizations function best when the organization's business goals are aligned with their learning goals; ideally the two should support and drive each other. If learning professionals can persuade the executive team that a Learning organization is an Earning organization, then they will usually receive the support to operationalize innovative learning initiatives.

Like in the world of libraries don't we need to market ourselves in this capacity?
Yes, yes, and yes again.

If you are familiar with the 1989 motion picture Field of Dreams, you'll know the mantra of one of the lead characters is "if you build it, they will come."

Yes, if you build it (the learning initiative) they will come.

...But only if they know it's there.

I believe that it is the responsibility of learning professionals both in an individual as well as in a departmental capacity to broadcast what they do and they services they offer at every opportunity. Without resorting to spin, lies, and weasel words, the only way your voice will be heard in the bustle of the marketplace (whether internally within an organization or externally facing) is to "say it loud, and say it proud" about your learning and development offerings and services.

Use what ever resources are at your disposal to do so, and don't forget that as a trainer, you're probably in a position to influence a wider range of individuals in your workplace than those in any other department, except perhaps for Human Resources and ICT.

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Come along down to Learning Town

One of the early evangelists of E-Learning, Eliott Masie, has launched a Ning-based e-learning social network called Learning Town - A Village for Learning Professionals. It's free and vendor-neutral, so nobody is trying to push their products or services on you (too much: there's always the odd chancer).

At the time of posting, nearly 3000 people in the learning industry have signed up for the network - in 8 days. I think I'm justified in describing this as an internet phenomenon. We'll see in time whether it maintains this initial momentum or whether it will develop a classic "long tail" but if you're in the habit of contributing to the blogoshere or social networking sites, it is in my view a nicely centralised location to interact with you peers.

The site has a broad range of features including:

• Personal Page
• Blog Hosting
• Forums
• Discussions
• Digital Media Content Hosting
• Audio Player
  
  

[my profile page on Learning Town]

For me, one of the most stimulating areas of the site is the innocuously named "Groups" section. Groups provides members with a platform to share, debate, argue, and discuss a range of learning-related topics. I've detailed a list of the most active groups below - as you can see, it's a quite comprehensive range of the types of topics learning professionals encounter while carrying out their work.

Groups

• Instructional Design: For learning professionals that want to discuss Instructional Design strategies and perhaps how to take a new approach in this area.
• e-Learning Dialogues: For learning professionals that want to discuss e-Learning strategies, tips, and tools and perhaps how to take a new approach in this area.
• Podcasting for Learning
• Rapid Learning Design: A forum for learning professionals on creating learning content quickly and effectively.
• Women and Learning: A forum for women learning professionals.
• Mobile Learning Group: For members using/curious about using mobile devices for learning.
• Neuroscience & Leadership: For members curious about neuroscience and it’s connection to learning and leadership.
• Boomer Learning
• 3D Virtual Worlds: This group focuses on learning in a virtual environment.
• Performance Support Group Description: A forum for discussing strategies, tips, and tools that support "learning at the moment of need".
• Learning Leaders: CLO, VP for Learning, Learning Managers Network Here
• Evaluation and Metrics
• Computer & IT Training
• Learning Systems '08: A private GROUP for participants in Learning Systems '08.
• Selling Learning: This is for professionals who are selling or marking learning products or services
• Learning and Careers
• What's it Cost?: This group is geared towards people interested in Intellectual Property and Training. Feel free to discuss!
• Healthcare and Learning
• Higher Ed & Learning: This is a group designed for colleagues in the Higher Education field to collaborate on learning at the Higher Education level.
• Learning Standards: This group is designed for Learning Colleagues interested in learning and discussing more about AICC & SCORM

Come on down to Learning Town - you'll be glad you dropped by!

FOGRA: If there's any Irish Learning professionals out there that is interested in setting up a group on this site, or setting up a similar ideas exchange on a similar platform, let me know - I'm up for it.

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Learning Circuits Blog Big Question for April: Do Better

This month's Learning Circuits Blog Big Question is:

"What would you like to do better as a Learning Professional?"

I would like to do two things:

1. Really improve my "elevator pitch" to really convince sceptical behind-the-curve C-level executives that learning and development initiatives are actually going to grow their business, not send it into a Hindenburg-like crash and burn.
   
2. Bridge the gap between digital immigrants and digital natives

...we might all do better if we dared classify ourselves as developing.

(Seymour Papert, 1992)

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