A Year in E-Learning: One Blog’s Progress

Welcome to my blog, The E-Learning Curve.

So began my first post to the E-Learning Curve Blog on this day in 2007. Upon reflection, I don’t think that I really had any idea about what I was letting myself in for, in terms of the discipline and commitment, not to mention the sheer effort required to create and maintain a high-quality blog about Electronic Learning & Development.

I don’t think that I had any real knowledge about how the blog would unfold either; I guess that for me, that was part of what attracted me to the idea of keeping a blog in the first place: I wanted to see what would emerge over time.

In that sense I was lucky: in it’s first year the E-Learning Curve Blog transitioned from a world with a stable economic climate, to the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis, through the tipping point of the Credit Crunch, and now, the Great DepRecession* of Aught Eight.

This has given me the opportunity to discuss e-learning in society-at-large, and in the workplace in particular. What better opportunity is there for learning professionals to introduce the benefits of education than now? From my own experience over the last year, I have seen attitudes to e-learning change - for the better – as individuals and organizations I have worked with have finally begun to let go of the idea that e-learning today is not about “Webified” instructor-led courseware, or worse, dull and boring Authorware-style page-turners, but is an effective means to deliver knowledge and information across many channels, and takes a range of technologies under its aegis.

The emergence of the Read / Write Web into the broader consciousness has demonstrated that learning online can be as immersive an experience as a face-to-face training experience.

What better time, then, for individuals and organizations to look at educational strategy and learning technologies than in a period of profound change – these are the times that test the mettle of ideas and concepts and where they prove their value; if the reality lives up to the perception, if the potential can be realized.

What have I learned?

In a response to a recent Learning Circuits Blog Big Question, I once described myself as a 'learnivore' - a bit of a naff term, but accurate. Writing and maintaining a blog is one of the best motivators I know to continue developing my professional knowledge - to discuss the kind of topics I like to cover requires a comprehensive and in-depth knowledge of the subject of e-learning and all that understanding e-learning entails.

As a constructivist, I would assert that the practise of blogging is a excellent example of Bruner's Learning Spiral: the act of writing a blog post transforms information and enables the construction of knowledge, based upon my extant cognitive structures or mental models. These cognitive structures - what Roger Schank calls “scripts” in his Dynamic Memory Model (1982) - provide meaning and organisation to experiences and allow the individual to go “beyond the information given” (Bruner, 1974).

My view is that the e-learning blogosphere is inhabited by a population of knowledgeable, dedicated, and critical (in the positive sense) contributors, and if you want to be in that company, you have to know your stuff; of the blogs I read - see the nav panel to the right - the bar is set pretty high.

Top Ten

On a more practical note, here’s a list of the top ten topics according to the readers of The E-learning Curve Blog, courtesy of the fantastic blog analysis tools available on Statcounter – not just cool because they’re Irish.

1. Definition of E-learning
2. Economic downturn and the challenge to e-learning
3. The principles of constructivism
4. Non-formal learning in the workplace
5. Evaluating Non-formal Learning
6. Open Source E-Learning
7. E-learning & Knowledge Management
8. Using Kirkpatrick's Four-level model
9. Applying the e-learning curve in the corporate environment
10. E-Learning and the Economic Downturn: A Salutary Lesson

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* DepRecession: A portmanteau word to describe the current Recession and / or Depression. Also has the benefit of being an homonym for “Deep Recession”

FOGRA: Googling “elearning blog” about a week ago, this happened:

Certainly an unexpected (but rewarding) first anniversary present!

Thanks to all who’ve read, contributed to, and debated the topics covered over the last twelve months, and I hope you'll continue to engage with me in the times to come.

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References:

Bruner, J. S. (1974) Going Beyond the Information Given. New York: Norton.

Schank, R. (1982) Dynamic Memory: A Theory of Reminding and Learning in Computers and People. Cambridge University Press.

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E-Learning Adoption in Organizations 7: Characteristics of Adopters concluded

Previously, I looked at rates of adoption for

• Innovators
• Early Adopters
• The Early Majority

In this last post in this series, I will describe the final categories of adopters of diffused ideas.

The Majority

As a group, the Majority can be characterized as having less education and are older than the Early Majority. While they participate less in formal and non-formal groups with their peers, they probably form the largest cohort of the membership of such groups. They belong to fewer organizations than the early adopters. They access fewer blog, wikis, and other means of discovering information about new ideas and technologies. They do not participate in as many activities outside the organization than people who adopt earlier.

Nonadopters

The final category include the nonadopters. This group has the least education and is the oldest. They participate the least in formal groups and other initiatives.

Conclusion

In my view, one of the phenomena that emerged form researching this topic was the power of informational social influence, or social proof:

[It] is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior. Making the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation, they will deem the behavior of others as appropriate or better informed.

(Wikipedia)

We can say, based upon the evidence of Bohlen’s and Beal’s research, that people often do and believe things because many other people do and believe the same things.

In this context, innovators – pioneers - are initially ignored by the majority during their initial evangelizing of a new idea or technology, almost as if their preference for such an idea is idiosyncratic because of an innovator’s role. only after early adopters (who are perceived by the community-at-large to be the “smart money”) take on a new idea, will true diffusion begin to take place. This is case of “the pioneers get the arrows, the settlers get the land.”

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References:

Bohlen, J. M., Beal, G. M. (1957) The Diffusion Process, Special Report No. 18 (Agriculture Extension Service, Iowa State College) 1: 56-77. [Internet] Available from: http://www.soc.iastate.edu/extension/presentations/publications/comm/Diffusion%20Process.pdf [Accessed 3rd November 2008]

Wikipedia contributors, "Social Proof," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia [Internet] Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_proof (accessed November 10, 2008).

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E-Learning Adoption in Organizations 6: More Characteristics of Adopters

In this, the penultimate post in this series, I will describe some more categories of early adopters, before concluding the series tomorrow.

As discussed in yesterday’s post, there are there are five categories of adopters of diffused ideas:

1. Innovators
2. Early Adopters
3. Early Majority
4. Majority
5. Nonadopters

I covered the first category, Innovators previously.

Early Adopters

The second category of adopters are Early Adopters. Typically, they are younger than the majority of adopters (but are not necessarily younger than Innovators). They are also better-educated that people or organizations that adopt at a slower rate, or do not adopt at all. They tend to participate more in the community of users through organizations like the ASTD and the E-Learning Guild, as well as using blogs, wikis and forums.

According to Bohlen and Beal (1957)

there is considerable evidence that this group furnishes a disproportionate amount of the formal leadership in organizations.

(p.5)

Early Majority

The third category of adopters is called the Early Majority. Table 1 (below)demonstrates that the rate of diffusion increases rapidly after this group begins to adopt.

Table 1 Rate of diffusion

[Click on image to enlarge]

The early majority are slightly above average in age, education and professional experience. They tend to participate in the community of users through organizations like the ASTD and the E-Learning Guild, as well as by reading blogs, wikis and forums occasionally. They have medium-high social and economic status. While less active in peer-related activities than early adopters, they participate more than the majority of adopters.

In many cases, they are not formal leaders in organizations, but they are active in and influencing formal leaders to promote new ideas and technologies in organizations. It can be said then, that the early majority are likely to be informal leaders – in a sense they are a “weather vane” that indicates to the majority “which way the wind is blowing.”

People in this category are typically more conservative than Innovators or Early Adopters: “they must be sure an idea will work before they adopt it” (p.6). Because this category of people have fewer resources than the previous two, they “cannot afford to make poor decisions.” The people tend to associate with their own group within organizations. They value highly the opinions of their peers, as this is the primary source of their status and prestige.

More…

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References:

Bohlen, J. M., Beal, G. M. (1957) The Diffusion Process, Special Report No. 18 (Agriculture Extension Service, Iowa State College) 1: 56-77. [Internet] Available from: http://www.soc.iastate.edu/extension/presentations/publications/comm/Diffusion%20Process.pdf [Accessed 3rd November 2008]

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E-Learning Adoption in Organizations 5: Rates of Adoption

People (and organizations) do not adopt new ideas at the same time. Some adopt ideas when they are first introduced; others wait for varying periods of time; some never adopt an idea. In The Diffusion Process, Bohlen and Beal maintain that "...the time span over which people adopt ideas will vary from practice to practice" (p.4).

The diffusion curve (see Table 1) illustrates the typical slow initial rate of adoption, the a substantial acceleration of update, followed by leveling off of the adoption rate. Bohlen and Beal's research shows "significant differences" (p.4) in the individual and social characteristics of people in alignment with the time they adopt an innovation.

Table 1 Rate of Adoption over Time (after Bohlen and Beal, 1957)

[Click on the image to enlarge]

As we can see form the table, there are five categories:

1. Innovators
2. Early Adopters
3. Early Majority
4. Majority
5. Nonadopters

Innovators

The very first to adopt a new idea are innovators. Innovators probably have a high net worth and a large amount of risk capital. "They can afford to take some risks" (Bohlen and Beal, p.5). Innovators have prestige and respect within their society or culture (and at the macro level, within their organization). Their sphere of influence often goes beyond social or organizational boundaries.

Innovators typically belong to formal organizations such as user groups and professional associations (such as the ASTD and the E-learning Guild) - such informal and formal associations provides them with access to more potential sources of information. Innovators also get their information from higher level research; they go directly to subject matter experts and researchers. Innovators also tend to subscribe to and regularly read specialized blogs, forums and wikis about current and potential future innovations.

Interestingly, Bohlen and Beal discovered that while their peers may watch the innovators and know what they are doing, they are not often named as colleagues or influencers that they (the peers) rely on for information.

More...

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References:

Bohlen, J. M., Beal, G. M. (1957) The Diffusion Process, Special Report No. 18 (Agriculture Extension Service, Iowa State College) 1: 56-77. [Internet] Available from: http://www.soc.iastate.edu/extension/presentations/publications/comm/Diffusion%20Process.pdf [Accessed 3rd November 2008]

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