Living in Learning

AUGUST 23, 2012

Dramatically increased urgency to remain competitive, regardless of business specialty, has come upon us in the form of continuous velocity – of continuous demands for flawless performance – of continuous demands for agility to adapt to an ever-changing competitive and regulatory work environment. These pressures beg the question, “Why would we not provide a learning environment that supports our workforce that is any less continuous?

Solution 203

Solution Performance Support Agile Train 203

Living in Learning

JULY 4, 2012

For that last few days I have been contributing to a thread on the eLearning Guild’s network group on LinkedIn. The topic that has been hotly debated, trashed, twisted, modified, and/or exalted is none other than ADDIE. I was okay participating in that lively dialogue until I stumbled upon another post by an ISD asking a question about a “loan processing training issue”.

Instructional Design 202

Instructional Design ADDIE eLearning Consultant Consulting 202

Living in Learning

AUGUST 27, 2012

Moments of need are either triggered by an issue or challenge where the knowledge worker is confronted with either remembering what/how to do something and then are forced to rely upon recall knowledge. Where we would like to be is giving them an efficient resource where reference knowledge is readily accessible. Given the amount of information we all have to deal with daily and the documented loss of up to 85% of knowledge gained from training within three weeks, it is no wonder mistakes happen

Portal 200

Portal Performance Support Performance Knowledge Worker 200

Living in Learning

APRIL 9, 2012

The world of academia can be a very insular place. As a result, many people who have had great success in post-graduate studies are unpleasantly surprised at how difficult the transition to corporate life can be, even after they have obtained their PhD. This is natural, as even those who work while attending some of the most demanding and best online PhD programs have not yet experienced the strictures and tedium of corporate management for 8-10 hours a day.

Culture 198

Culture Study Program Online 198

Living in Learning

AUGUST 19, 2012

Paradigm shift? Methinks this evolution is going to make more noise than a dramatic shift of thinking. My only hope is that training organizations hear the noise and embrace the implications of new skills and integration of learning @ the point of work before they hear another sound – the firing squad blasting away at their training budget.

Performance Support 186

Performance Support Support Performance Budget 186

Living in Learning

AUGUST 19, 2012

With all the recent press performance support is getting…make that positive press…I’m noticing that we could easily slip into a best practice of admiring the problem of what to do about it. To be a bit less sarcastic, I must clarify that admiration of the problem is NOT a best practice, but it often seems like we manage to do it best.

Performance Support 182

Performance Support Support Performance Press 182

Living in Learning

JULY 3, 2012

In a campaign to introduce electronic performance support system (EPSS) technology, an innovative and evolved approach to learning, chances are great that you are going to have “SELL” somebody on the idea. You might be surprised WHO will be the first to dig in their heels. Even more surprising…well maybe not…is the reason for the resistance. If you are thinking along the lines of what innovation has the potential to do to embedded training traditions and paradigms, you are on the money.

ROI 182

ROI Performance Support Sales Innovation 182

Living in Learning

NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Integrating Performance Support (PS) as part of a corporate learning strategy is one of the toughest sales we will ever have to make. The advent of Experience API [a.k.a. Tin Can], becoming a reality in early 2013, is turning the conversation from, "Do we really need to go there?" to a more urgent dialog of "Why didn't we see this coming?" More and more industry thought-leaders are seeing this integration as a strategic imperative, and the organizations who embrace the evolution will step beyond

Performance Support 180

Performance Support Support Performance Integrate 180

Living in Learning

JULY 1, 2012

It seems like we are always looking for something to improve training outcomes, a noble and well-intended search. In the many years I have been in this profession I confess to being part of that search. I must also confess to seeing shifts in tactics to e-learning and new whiz-bang technology speed the process of training – and at the same time, perpetuate the search.

Search 180

Search Knowledge Technology Train 180

Living in Learning

OCTOBER 9, 2012

When Einstein defined insanity as “Continuing to do what we’ve always done and expecting different results”, he was on the money. We continue to train with hopes that some form it…some technology enhanced venue of it…some exotic blend of it…is going to produce sustained capability that produces tangible business outcomes. Does training contribute to results?

Performance Support 179

Performance Support Support Performance Blended Learning 179

Living in Learning

OCTOBER 11, 2012

Performance Support is a lot more complex than a job aid. I would add that when properly integrated as an inclusive bridge between training and actual work performance there exists an inherent strategic value that up until recently was rarely considered. I would even go so far as positioning a Performance Support Strategy as a key driver over a Learning & Development strategy.

Performance Support 176

Performance Support Support Performance Strategy 176

Living in Learning

AUGUST 10, 2012

Plucking is good. It’s happening at an ever-increasing pace. A technology savvy user population is asking for it by their actions. Isn’t that reason enough to shift our content design, development, and delivery models to match the need for the population that pays the rent on our training cost center? Methinks it is, and our [Training’s] paradigm is way over due for an evolutionary step toward the new ground zero for learning @ the point of work.

Train 176

Train Training Cost Technology 176

Living in Learning

APRIL 6, 2012

Upon engagement to my wife, she gave me a gift of a beautiful gold bracelet. Jewelry had never really been important to me, though that bracelet quickly became a favorite. Shortly after we were married, I remember making a comment about not owning any other jewelry beyond my wedding band, and a signet ring on my right hand. For Christmas that year I received the most precious gift of my life.

Social Networks 173

Social Networks LinkedIn Learning 173

Living in Learning

AUGUST 21, 2012

Two-thirds of all new job in the U.S. require post-high school education. With the rise in high school and college drop outs, the United States is scrambling to keep the attention of its students and develop a positive way to keep them involved. Experts agree that technology can save education if it is used by prepared teachers who can provide guidance to their students.

Education 172

Education Internet Attention Innovation 172

Living in Learning

MAY 3, 2012

The discovery of fire sparked [.sorry] the first social learning moment and the true application of learning. Two knuckleheads, Igg Nyte and Puut Emowt, made the discovery on a Thursday many years ago. Back in those days there was not a lot of dialog exchanged, and as such, there were not a lot of labels to confuse or skew what something might be. What mattered about learning was reduced to its simplest form - what could you DO with whatever you learned.

Social Learning 170

Social Learning Social Sound Search 170

Living in Learning

JULY 12, 2012

A few years ago, I am quite certain, I would have been fighting this “cloud” concept tooth and nail. There was something about having my own staff running my own servers behind my own firewall that provided a sense of security and control. To an extent it did, and the IT staff would be the first to man the ramparts to fight off having anything living outside the firewall – much less allowing anyone outside to get into our systems.

Firewalls 165

Firewalls LMS Server Security 165

Living in Learning

MARCH 23, 2012

Okay…so my trigger got tripped this morning on a white paper put out by HR.Com…which, by the way, was very well done. What tripped my trigger was not what was included in the article, “An Overview of HCM Technology Deployment and Factors Influencing the Strategy, but what was left out. For me, it was a gaping hole that I had fallen into earlier in my corporate training life – reaching deployment [GoLive] – is not the end of the effort; instead, it marks the beginning of implementation.

Strategy 165

Strategy Technology Performance Support Training 165

Living in Learning

JUNE 28, 2012

I fear the L&D function.or Training.if you choose by another name, are locked into a paralysis of tradition. Tradition yields comfort and familiarity. Comfort and familiarity yield resistance to change…and in some cases even recognition that there could actually be a “change” that offers a viable alternative. There is no denying that some form of knowledge transfer is a requirement.no doubt about it, but the question I am so vocal about follows…and is outside of that field of vision, "Transf

Effectiveness 164

Effectiveness Alternatives Training Train 164

Living in Learning

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

This is an interview by Bloomfire I participated in almost two years ago that just resurfaced on their blog. I think the relevance is timely and worth sharing again for those who missed it. The basis for this dialog centers around how the T&D role is being stressed to meet the new learning demands of business and some thoughts on what to do about it.

Roles 162

Roles Performance Support Performance Blogging 162

Living in Learning

MARCH 4, 2012

Take heart. Our LMSs are doing exactly what they are supposed to do. Our training programs are as effective as training can be. We are as good on platform delivering training as the best trainers can be. Our Flash programming sizzles with the best, and our Level 1s and 2s speak an undeniable truth and that truth we can defend to the death…or to the moment of an unanticipated down-sizing…whichever comes first.

Flash 159

Flash Program Platform Training 159

Living in Learning

JULY 9, 2012

We [Training] have been hugely successful selling the idea that improvements in performance can be driven by training. I know there are colleagues who bristle when I discount training’s impact, but my point of emphasis lays well beyond the scope of even the most excellent training product we might deliver. My rant is not aimed at deficient training; rather, it is in the misdirected application of learning.

Problem 154

Problem Performance Support Performance Ideas 154

Living in Learning

JUNE 20, 2012

So.you just bought a new LMS. The sales dude/dudette left days ago with promises still echoing in your head. Your Help Desk phone rings alomost immediately after GoLive, and some knucklehead wants a report that does not come standard on the LMS. Imagine that. Part of me wants to go.BWAH-HA-HA-HA.but another part of me was the owner of several LMSs at different companies.and the same knucklehead worked at each one.

Taxonomy 154

Taxonomy Report LMS Sales 154

Living in Learning

MAY 29, 2012

The point of work is a different, evolving venue for the consumption of learning assets, especially when we could consider mentor/mentee or apprentice/master craftsman relationships as “learning assets”. These different venues can be as “social” as they are downloadable asset-equipped. This evolution is a full 1,600-meter race, and the evolving venue has a ton of implications on the design, development, delivery, and/or accessibility of these assets.

Knowledge 145

Knowledge Instructional Design ADDIE Skills 145

Living in Learning

FEBRUARY 13, 2012

A question many of us have sought to answer…or maybe “predict”…came up in one of my networking groups this morning. “When you do you know that the Learning & Development function in your organization is fully developed?” The answer to this may be as impossible to define as it is to nail Jell-O to the wall. Methinks being fully developed, means being in a constant state of "evolution" with a minimum of resistance to change.

Predictions 145

Predictions Network Change Organization 145

Living in Learning

MAY 24, 2012

There is no hiding that online education is growing, and isn’t going to stop. The best thing administrators can do for their online programs is to hold on tight and watch their rate of growth. If schools promptly handle and address problems as they come up, with a proactive attitude, scaling issues can be overcome, leading to widespread acceptance of the quality and capabilities offered to educators by online learning.

Online 140

Online Attitudes Education Quality 140

Living in Learning

MARCH 30, 2012

I wish I had a nickel for every time I read a post on one of my networking groups where someone asks what features they should be sure to get on their LMS. Having been down that path multiple times, I can say the chances of finding one with the “best features” are really good, because most LMSs I’ve seen have all of them. My point being this – the LMS is the commodity – the world does not rotate around the LMS – the application in which the LMS is going to be implemented is where the variability

Taxonomy 140

Taxonomy LMS Network Standards 140

Living in Learning

DECEMBER 13, 2012

You really should crank this up on your computer. It may start rather slowly, but the pace picks up. Plan on bobbing our head about half-way through. Should you find your head not bobbing.check your pulse.

Social Networks 124

Social Networks LinkedIn Learning 124

Living in Learning

AUGUST 6, 2012

Alexa Thompson is a writer for an online psychology resource and has written about how to approach earning a psychology degree, something that is increasingly useful in the modern corporate world. In today’s post, Alexa discusses the history behind positive psychology and the returns on investment that companies can gain by taking an active interest in their employees physical, emotional and mental well-being.

Discussion 124

Discussion Activities Resources Benefits 124

Living in Learning

JUNE 11, 2012

One never knows when validation to an idea might show up, or for that matter, show up in such an unrelated way. Then again, maybe what first appeared unrelated was meant to shine the light on something that truly is relevant, though subtle in its presentation. So what did all that philosophy mean? I am forced to blame this observation on my cat, Gracie, more specifically; her umpteenth unsuccessful attempt to catch a bird.

Ideas 124

Ideas Learning Performance Train 124

Living in Learning

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

Those are words a parent never wants to hear. After enduring sixteen hours of labor, my wife delivered our son, and due to general anesthesia from an emergency C-section, I was the first of us to see him. I can only imagine what the doctor and nurses must have thought, because he was one ugly baby. But this book is not about babies. It is about training.

Emergent 124

Emergent Reference Roles Course 124

Living in Learning

JANUARY 31, 2012

A recent post “Evolving Training Into the Perfect Hole” brought a comment to me that I could really identify with as being a key challenge – justification for seriously considering learning @ the point of work. I find it stunning that the concept of learning @ the point of work is such a hard sell, especially when you consider that opportunities to learn and moments of potential failure happen at the same time…and very often in the same place - @ the point of work.

Learning 113

Learning Train Training LinkedIn 113

Living in Learning

MARCH 19, 2012

How many times have we bad-mouthed a copying machine for taking an entire 30-seconds for burning a copy [and stapled I might add.] of a100-page document? I mean c'mon, that's less time than it takes for me to crank a single sheet of paper into a typewriter.uhh.yeah.typewriter.yes, my mistake.that would have been a bulky piece of technology that required human fingers to punch a button for each.never mind.

Technology 150

Technology LinkedIn Social Networks Learning 150