I like the recommendations in this article about creating a successful corporate Wiki.

• start threads around everyday work processes with entries related to agendas, meeting minutes, daily tasks and short term projects
• include content that will grab the attention of some technophobic senior managers with entries including things like sales progress reports, revenue updates, and other critical business metrics
• include social elements as well as work information – sports, activities, etc.
• use traditional IT tools (like email) that employees are familiar with to guide employees. You can add links in the email to the section of the wiki that has more detailed information.
• keep it open

Bryan Chapman has a recent post about the use of Wikis for the purpose of learning. He links to this article and concludes “it is the design or the creative process…not the technology that makes a learning program successful.” How true.

The article Bryan point to says…

If your corporate wiki is not as full as you would like, don’t blame the tool. Content and knowledge management have never been about tools and technology; they’re about people and processes. ..The magic [is] in the social network of individuals…

So, how do you give your wiki legs? Make it about people and processes, and make it social.

For one-time events, like the past two workshops I’ve facilitated, I’ve set up pages ahead of time for each attendee to take notes in. I put a couple of starters in there. Nearly all have used them in the workshop, in part because they start their pages out with an entry about themselves and build on it from there. I pre-populate a main page with all workshop materials, additional resources, etc. I suggest they use the wiki to work on something real – apply ideas to what they’re doing now. I have seen workshop-related links, videos, resouces, notes from others, along with information about the locale of the workshop, sports team, post-workshop activites, etc. In the past, when I’ve just made the wiki ‘available’ (and demonstrated how to use it) it hasn’t been used. Giving someone something to do ‘gives’ them the wiki.

In support of a project management class I’m taking now, the team is using a wiki for various deliverables. We had started on the school’s LMS – Blackboard – but it’s not friendly for collaborative writing. Plus, it’s super funky in Firefox actually transposing URLs when I open a new tab to browse. moc.llah-nodnarb. WTF?

Anyway, the participants of the workshops and the class had never used a wiki previously. They are now using them because they own them. And some of them are now using them at work. Cool.

Implosion is a process in which objects are destroyed by collapsing in on themselves. The opposite of explosion, implosion concentrates matter and energy. An example of implosion is a submarine being crushed from the outside by the hydrostatic pressure of the surrounding water.

Another is my self-inflicted implosion (or self-inflicted implosion syndrome…because I’m sure there is a prescription drug in the US for it) of being crushed from the outside by the pressure of a perfect storm – moving a family, working full-time, and taking two graduate classes.

Um, hello? What were you thinking? (I know, I know, it’s all fully within my control). Big crybaby. Can you imagine living with this? My husband is a saint. Or insane. One of the two.

I recall my last “professional” perfect storm back when I was working in a training department. It involved a three-phase LMS implementation. While the LMS phase went off perfectly, I simply wasn’t ready for the LCMS (the second phase). It came along too quickly. When I was being trained on how to use the LCMS I was totally saturated with the stuff you think about when implementing an LMS – I could hear nothing, see nothing, understand nothing.

I am reminded of two things – Ruth Clark’s books on e-learning and building expertise (based on her cognitive research) and Karyn Romeis’ post How Does She Do It?. I have found Ruth’s strategies for avoiding overload as applied to instructional design valuable. (I grabbed these from Wikibooks since my books are packed somewhere in a sea of boxes).

• talk less and turn key learning points into brief reference notes
• do less and make learners do more
• chunk training appropriately and dispense it over time
• design workbook pages and computer-training screens so that they aid memory during practice
• design job aids to aid memory and transfer after training
• build automaticity
• provide “training wheels” for new learners
• detect and remedy while the training process is in session

Ruth Clark has also done work in the e-learning field. This is her DVEP model (Define, Visualize, Engage, and Package):

• Define – articulate business goals and the knowledge skills needed to achieve them, choose the instructional methods needed to achieve the stated learning objectives, and select the delivery media that best delivers the instructional methods identified.
• Visualize- select and/or design the various types of visuals that will best promote learning. (i.e., designers select visuals for learning functions, and not just because they look good).
• Engage – Design frequent, meaningful learner interactions with the content with frequent, job-related interactions.
• Package – Deal with technical issues, state any course objectives and assignments, establish a social presence, design working aids for handouts. (Done during the planning phases of design and linked to content, i.e. made relevant).

I recommend her books.

I have found KarynRomeis’ strategies for getting a lot accomplished in work and life equally valuable. (Karyn is a learning professional, wife, mother, blogger, and student). I am not nearly as together as she is but I think I’ll implement some of her strategies and a few more like hiring professional movers even though I’m only moving across town (the cartoon below reminds me of what I felt like moving my own stuff during our last move several weeks ago…).

Many of Karyn’s strategies can be applied to the workplace…I probably would’ve gotten more out of LCMS training I had delegated more, took advantage of conveniences, and taken a superficial approach to the LMS stuff that didn’t matter right then and saved it for a later time. And it would’ve been good if there had been a greater time lapse between system.

So it is possible to avoid personal and professional implosion. And, it’s possible to avoid putting your target audience in a state of information overload when designing instruction.

l

This video, produced by BrandGames, is a must view for those in corporate education. Some of the bad e-learning I have been exposed to (and early in my career created – argh!) is described in the first part of this video. The second half provides some good, common sense advice for anyone desiging and developing e-learning.

How many times have you heard (or said, or thought) that?

I’m saying it to myself right now. See, I am in the process of moving. The last time I moved was 1999. We had a 60-day lapse in between closings on our homes back then and had to go into a rental. That involves moving twice in the course of two months.

I’m doing it again. This time with a 6-week lapse. A family of five & a household with eight years worth of ‘stuff.’ I’m asking myself why.

Not WHY in the ‘Sponge-Bob Squarepants to Patrick Starfish-way (the one when their balloon bursts) but WHY in the ‘Tom Hanks-to-Wilson the Volleyball-way (when their sail breaks off their homemade lifeboat). You know, I DON’T KNOW WHY!!!

Please tell me you do that too. Exhausted, do you look at yourself in the mirror and say WHY? It’s amusing because it’s mostly done after you’ve already done whatever it is you’ve always done stupidly. “Why didn’t I just…Why do I always…WHY?

Here’s an old story I’m sure you’ve read before…(via businessballs.com)

Apparently this is based on a true incident. A quality management consultant was visiting a small and somewhat antiquated English manufacturing company, to advise on improving general operating efficiency. The advisor was reviewing a particular daily report which dealt with aspects of productivity, absentee rates, machine failure, down-time, etc. The report was completed manually onto a photocopied proforma that was several generations away from the original master-copy, so its headings and descriptions were quite difficult to understand. The photocopied forms were particularly fuzzy at the top-right corner, where a small box had a heading that was not clear at all. The advisor was interested to note that the figure ’0′ had been written in every daily report for the past year. On questioning the members of staff who completed the report, they told him that they always put a zero in that box, and when he asked them why they looked at each other blankly. “Hmmm.., I’m not sure about that,” they each said, “I guess we’ve just always done it that way.”

Intrigued, the consultant visited the archives to see if he could find a clearer form, to discover what was originally being reported and whether it actually held any significance. When he found the old reports, he saw that the zero return had continued uninterrupted for as far back as the records extended – at least the past thirty years – but none of the forms was any clearer than those presently in use. A little frustrated, he packed away the old papers and turned to leave the room, but something caught his eye. In another box he noticed a folder, promisingly titled ‘master forms’. Sure enough inside it he found the original daily report proforma master-copy, in pristine condition. In the top right corner was the mysterious box, with the heading clearly shown …… ‘Number of Air Raids Today’.

Yup. Patterns are a scary thing.

Make two columns and keep track of your patterns over the next week. Label one side ‘innovative’ and one side ‘stupid’ and see if you can break some unproductive, recurring, unoriginal habits. I’m going to give it a go.

Looking for peeps…

I’ve been contacted by someone who wants to create a “living document style guide that includes effective best practices for instructional design standards.” He wants to know what components go into a style guide. It’s his first attempt at a style guide and so far he tells me, “it’s about spelling, grammar, and minor style standards.”He wants something comprehensive but I doesn’t know for sure what that looks like. “What components go into a style guide (typically)?”

So… the problem he wants to address is to have consistentcy among the designers when creating or updating training materials/content. His group of three designs their our own in-house facilitator guides, participant guides, handouts, posters and other supplemental resources.

My problem-o? Zero bandwidth. I just can’t find the time to put something together…can you help? If you’ve got stuff on your blog, just pass along the link. I’ll pass it on.

I’ve pointed him to Cathy Moore’s blueprints as a good place to start. What else?

Yes, a “creative instructional designer can use PowerPoint coupled with a rapid elearning tool to build very effective elearning courses” says Tom Kuhlmann in his post What Everybody Ought To Know About Using PowerPoint for E-learning on Articulate’s Rapid eLearning Blog. Yes, I know, the post is from a company that sells a rapid elarning tool…and I’m not endorsing it – I just think the post is worth a read. And yes, Tom’s post mentions our conference (he attended) which is how I picked up his post in the first place..geesh enough transparency already, huh?

Like most training folks I know, I’m an absolute freebie junkie. Free lunch? I’m there! Free t-shirt? What do I have to do to get one? It’s quite sad, isn’t it?

So, when Problogger announced a 24-hour blog giveaway just for writing blogging tips…well, what can I say – I’m in. So run like hell if you can’t stand bloggers blogging about blogging. Geesh.

If you’re reading this you might be a fellow blogger. If that’s the case, forward these tips to colleague who is not a blogger. If you’re not yet an edublogger, here you go…

Ten ways…

1. Select a blogging platform like WordPress and read this as a starting point. Sign up for your free blog and plan on spending about 30 minutes or so getting it up and running.
2. Start slow with the technology. The beauty of simple blogging platforms is that you can change them often. I started off as a bit of a spaz going all widget crazy. It’s fun and easy to change the look and feel but don’t get caught up in the bells and whistles.
3. A lot of people aren’t sure about what to write about. That’s OK. Just write from the heart. What are you thinking about at work? What are you struggling with? What are you knowledgeable about that you can share with others?
4. Read Educational Blogging and How To Be Heard by Stephen Downes {second one been added after original post – thanks Stephen!}
5. Read other blogs. You can start by selecting blogs from my blogroll which is located on the right hand side of this page. Then, create your own blogroll on your blog. This is a great way to connect with the edublogger community. They’re all nice, generous folks who at one time were first-time bloggers and won’t get bored of your talk of LMSs and SCORM and such like your spouse/kids/cat/houseplants do.
6. Set up an RSS feed so you can subscribe to blogs an. RSS is like your own newspaper where you read what YOU want to read everyday without searching for updates on your favorite websites. Updated content comes to you. Here’s a great little video called RSS in Plain English by Common Craft you should watch.
7. I feel that you can only turn your learners onto blogging by blogging yourself. Like a doctor you should WATCH one, DO one, and TEACH one. Reading other blogs is the watch. Setting up your own is the do. Getting workers blogging is where you TEACH. Notice there is no telling.
8. Imagine. Yes, imagine. After about 30 days of blogging about your own world – the world of education – imagine how blogging could work at your organization. I guarantee you that after 30 or so postings, you’ll understand how great blogging can be for learning – whether you train nurses, programmers, whatever.
9. Set up an account with a service like Feedburner so you can keep track of your blog stats.
10. Send me a note when you’re up and running so I can say hi! to you and you’re cool new bloggy self.

Darren, where’s my prize? : )

I’ve written about Internet friendships before after I joined Facebook back in June. I ran across a post on Smart Mobs yesterday that featured highlights of a current ongoing research study by Dr. Will Reader of Sheffield Hallam University about how blogs and texts could affect relationships. The study is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The SmartMobs post references a summary by Reuters of Dr. Reader’s talk yesterday at a meeting sponsored by the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Not so surprising tidbits from Dr. Reader, an evolutionary psychologist….

• More online friends does not mean more ‘close’ friends. The key (to close friendship), Dr. Reader said, is face-to-face interaction where “people can interpret social clues such as laughs and smiles that help determine if others are friends to be counted on.” (‘counted on’  probably means they show up at your house to help load the truck on moving day.)
• Nearly all ‘close’ friends require f2f (face-to-face) contact.
• Making friends is costly (time, energy) so…one of the possibilities is that changing the nature of networks can decrease the cost of maintaining friendships.

The BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) also summarized some of Dr. Reader’s research…

While online social networks are very unlikely to ever replace real-life social networks, it is possible that their ability to aid communication may bring about a change in the size and structure of real-life social networks in the future.

I would say that, with Facebook anyway, the size and structure of my RL social network is growing. The ability to connect with people I haven’t seen in awhile, people in my community with similar interests, etc. grows my RL network. The RL connections/reconnections would not have happened without the online social network (at least for me).

Some personal virtual/real friendship experiences…

• I was introduced to Joan Vinall-Cox by her blog. I then had the pleasure of meeting her while I was in Toronto. She blogged about it here. I felt (as Joan characterized) a richer presence after meeting f2f. I think much of that richness came from the opportunity to talk about the stuff we blog about – the kind of stuff others may not have much interest in talking about. But that richer presence, that closeness, came from our online relationship prior to meeting f2f. If I had just met Joan at a workshop in Toronto, we would not have had that connection. (digression alert…I bored my family to death when explaining online social networks [they ASKED first]…not only did they see me as a cyclops, they wouldn’t/couldn’t make the leap. One of my sisters said the Internet was a fad. I know, right?? New name: Dino-sister.) Anyway…
• I was an online learner at Capella Univeristy. I never met my classmates f2f but knew a lot about them based on our online conversations and felt sad when our classes ended. I think meeting f2f would have made the relationships richer.
• I am a f2f learner at Syracuse University. I haven’t met everyone in my class yet. It takes 3-4 meetings to actually meet everyone f2f during our 10 minute breaks. I have a greater connection with the two classmates that I met on Facebook before I started class. (We joined in the break out group in class last night because we kind of ‘knew each other’ already via Facebook).
• New Hire Orientation at a company I worked for was f2f. When learners who met as new hires later attended live online learning classes together, they interacted more with each other than people who had never met f2f. Richer, closer.

I mostly agree with the research (not sure about the cost factor) and it supports research around the effectiveness of blended learning experiences (at least by the most common definition of blended – f2f + e-learning). Online learning (even just introductions) should precede (and follow) f2f learning to develop richer, closer relationships and richer learning experiences. I’m not sure any of my online friends will show up at my house though when it comes time to move. That’s a job for dino-sister.

There are many similarities between working at home and ‘e-learning’ at the office. Nudity is a myth for both situations although several people who know that I work at home have suggested otherwise…so do you work in pajamas they ask? Have you ever worked naked? Wink. Wink. Nudge. Nudge. I told them I would (to the latter) but the FedEx guy just doesn’t seem that into me. Wink. Wink. Nudge. Nudge.

What are the similarities between an at-home Web worker and e-learning at the office?

1) It’s not real ‘work.’ Neighbors have been known to call me and ask me to keep an eye on their kids while they step out for ‘a little while.’ There’s nothing I like more than watching 8-10 kids while I’m working. Many people  assume since I am home I’m not really ‘working.’ They wouldn’t think of dropping the kids off at my office workplace. At the office, well intentioned cube mates can also feel they can just stop by and ask if you can answer their phone while they ‘step out.’ Heck, you’re only attending a live online learning event why not answer 8-10 phones?

Solution: Say ‘no.’ (this may be viewed as being ‘too blunt’ when you’re performance evaluation comes around or when you’re neighbors host a block party and you’re not invited). Make up your own warm and fuzzy version of ‘no’ if you’re not the blunt-type.

2) People don’t undertand Internet work. I hate it when people look over my shoulder when I’m on the Internet working. “What are you doing?” they’ll ask. As if -  because I’m working on the Internet – I’m buying crap on eBay, playing Solitaire, viewing porn, or creating stupid emails with music and fancy backgrounds to forward to 10 people I know (and those are all OK if that is your intent but that sort of activity might be viewed as abusive while working). Many people just don’t understand Internet work. In the office, many people don’t understand learning on the Internet either. They look over your cube wall and ask “What are you doing?”

Solution: You could be sarcastic at a time like this and tell the person that you’re buying crap on eBay. However, it would be better to  use this  interruption to educate them on   your Internet use and and let them know that you’re taking a class, course, attending an event, doing research, etc. Let them know what you can really do on the Internet. Next time they might stick their big, fat head over the cube wall and say “What are you doing, taking a course?”

3) The phone problem. I’ve got three kids. That’s all I have to say about my home office situation. You’ve got co-workers and outside contacts that don’t know you’re e-learning while at your desk. It’s up to you to not answer the phone. (Note: If anyone has figured out how the mute button works on their kids, let me know. I’d love it if they could hear me but I couldn’t hear them.).

Solution: In the home office when you’ve got to make/take calls, banish the kids and close the door (because we all know that banishing doesn’t always work). In the office-office, don’t answer the phone. Simple, no?

4) The IM & email problem. Who has not checked email or IM’d during a Web conference? Who has turned email & IMs off during a Web conference? Big, big difference. If you have found and taken the time to participate in online learning (especially live), you owe it to yourself to actively engage in it. If it’s boring, best you just “X” out of it and get on with some “real work.” Otherwise, you’re just reinforcing the view that you’re screwing around on the Internet.

Solution: Turn off email & IM. You may even want to send an email to your co-workers that you are unavailable during the time of the event and why. “I will be attending an online training event on <this date, this time>. I will be unavailable during that time. Feel free to send me an email or leave me a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can after the event.”

5) Isolation. There has been quite a bit of information written about the isolation factor of working at home. Advice on avoiding isolation (assuming you don’t want it) is to work elsewhere on some days (I’m working at Panera Bread today, for example),  attend outside events, stay in touch with friends, etc. However, both in the home office and the office-office, isolation can be a good thing. It’s easier to concentrate when you purposely isolate yourself from distractions and interruptions.

Solution: See if there is a location available where you can isolate yourself from distractions while participating in planned learning situations. Many offices have training labs, empty offices, or other locations that you can ask to use. In the home office, a ‘space’ for work that is separate from the home is a good idea. Also for home workers, stay in touch with real people and real events to avoid the type of isolation you don’t want.

6) Planning. Working at home often means you work more hours than you would in an office. You can’t just leave the office and go home. You’re always home and at the office. Office workers are increasingly working more hours too – both at the office and at home. Being constantly connected has it’s pros and cons. A plan for when you work  and where you work (including when you  participate in online learning) is necessary if you want to avoid burn out.

Solution: Plan for e-learning. Set time aside. Schedule it just as you would ILT. For all Web Workers, there are some great organizational tips at Web Worker Daily. This is good information for anyone who works on the Web.

7) Support. E-learners need technical support in the form of computer usage (training), IT systems support, and organizational support.  Those that work at home also need technical support and organizational support. If self-employed, they also need  the support of  others- family, friends, and even clients.

Solution: Make e-learning support the job of all stakeholders- the training department, the IT department, and the organization’s managers and supervisors. Working at home doesn’t mean you have to become your own training or IT department. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice. There are numerous online forums geared for at-home workers.

© Photographer: Tadija Savic | Agency: Dreamstime.com

The United States is one of the most litigious nations in the world. There is something like 3-4 lawyers for every 1000 people. You can’t turn on daytime television without getting slammed with lawyer ads. I’m not badmouthing lawyers. I do have some very good friends that are very good lawyers (and thank goodness for that!).

In my experience, lawyers got involved in e-learning primarily to approve contracts for outsourced products and services. That changed when I was handed a subpoena to provide details on training practices and the training of a particular employee. The employee’s handling of a particular business transaction was being questioned and in turn, the lawyers wanted to know if the person was (properly) trained. They wanted the training history for the employee and all the training content. This was several years ago – pre-LMS.

Sometimes, requests for copious amounts of information – business processes, technical manuals, and even training materials is enough to force a settlement but still, packing up the old training binders was crucial, legally enforceable, and driven by a tight timeline. So since that first time several years ago, I “dropped everything” and packed up boxes of tutorials, manuals, and books for several such lawsuits. Thankfully, the issue of proper training was never an issue. It never came down to that.

E-learning created a particular challenge because the subpoena demanded content for the time period before the alleged error that was the subject of the lawsuit. It was hard enough finding the right edition dates for print materials but how did I know there had been no changes to the e-learning? Could I say, under oath, that there were no changes? Could you?

I think we talk a lot about how easy it is to update e-learning content and how we can reuse content but I’m not sure we talk about preservation as much as we should. Many organizations have digital document control procedures that include e-learning content. If you don’t here are some suggestions:

• Include e-learning preservation in your learning governance
• Research legal compliance for your jurisdiction(s), i.e., how long should you keep materials and in what form?
• Determine what capabilities your learning technology infrastructure has for tracking changes in content
• Develop a process for handling content changes and determine accountability at each step in the process
• Address security – who can make changes, who has access, etc.
• Include custom e-learning content whether internally or externally produced and third-party off-the-shelf content
• Address standards and specifications – this includes version handling and review and updates of metadata

I would love to start a conversation with organizations who have effective e-learning perservation processes in place. I suspect heavily regulated industries and the government have had such procedures in place for some time. We haven’t yet tackled what training materials include….how does one handle social networks, blogs, wikis, etc.? Yikes, I think I need some legal advice.

Photographer: Mikael Damkier