Thursday, September 14, 2006

Rapid eLearning: ISD's last ditch effort to stay in control

Tony Karrer sums up his thoughts on Rapid eLearning  - More Definition.   He points to Kineo's Rapid e-Learning Briefing.

Both post have the following list of seven key elements to rapid e-learning...
  • Can be developed in 21 days or less
  • Doesn't require specialist knowledge and skills or 3rd party support
  • Can use SMEs to author directly
  • Requires a low level of investment to create it
  • May have only a short shelf-life
  • May involve an element of virtual classroom delivery or be completely standalone
  • Will be short
Here's my similar list of the coming Learning2.0 reality...
  • Can be developed in 21 MINUTES (dare I say seconds?) or less
  • Tools are transparent and part of the workspace
  • Everyone's a SME:  no special person identified, everyone's an expert
  • NO learning org investment:  the IT department has already implemented the tools
  • The virtual classroom replaced by quick, as needed, human connections and conversations
  • Will range in length from blink to how ever long it takes to get the job done.
Rapid e-Learning is a comfortable evolutionary step towards the inevitable demise of specialized learning content creation tools.  The vendors MUST come up with something to sell you, right?  Users armed with mobile media creation devices will begin to create their own content.  Why?  Because their experiences are worth sharing, and are more important and valuable than the limited experience of ONE identified SME. 

Apple didn't set out to create a Learning device...but that's what your iPod is.  Palm did not set out to create a Learning device...but that's exactly what your Treo is.  I don't think it was a learning vendor that created YouTube, wikis, or blogs either.

How we RIP, MIX, and FEED the chaotic overwhelming amounts of content is what interests me.  And it's not solved with more tools from the vendors.  I know the answer lies somewhere in XML, RSS, OPML, and TAGGING, but I just haven't quite nailed it down just yet.  I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Special Note:  I will purchase and use rapid e-learning tools because the end result is what the customers want at this point.  And I will continue too until the customers start to ask, "why do I need you, Brent, when my people are creating, organizing, and publishing some cool stuff that's working just fine?"  Ooops!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The future looks bright for workflow learning and instructional design.

Hopefully, people in the ID field will be comfortable moving into new roles such as being advocates and mentors in their workplace for Learning 2.0.

It sounds like social learning will give instructional designers more time to look at more interesting paradigms such as games, simulations, and case study decision games.

A speaker at ASTD Dallas, Bjorn Billhardt, made a compelling case for the use of simulations for business learning. Patrick Lambe at Straits Knowledge is also doing some cool stuff with games and KM.

www.enspire.com/simulations
http://www.straitsknowledge.com/research/km_implementation_challenges/

The great thing about instructional design is that it allows us to keep moving into new areas.

- Larry Gourley

bschlenker said...

Hi Larry,
I agree and hope that what REALLY happens with Informal Learning is that it gives the ID community the time to focus on more important, complex, learning issues with improved solutions such as games, simulations, etc, as you mention. We can always dream.
Cheers!

bschlenker said...

Hi Jesse,
The handheld hardware space is definitely fragmented at this time. Its interesting that you listen to podcasts on your Treo instead of with an iPod. The iPod experience isn't about just the ipod device but the entire solution. That's what I want for our learning solutions in this space. More on that later.
Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Great post Brent. and totally relevant as we are dealing with this very issue (what tools do we recommend to our clients) within our corporate university right now.

Much of this issue is also wrapped up with how technology 'savvy' SMEs are. We are finding that the level of web literacy is a real challenge with many people, especially folks who have not grown up around the web. Simply being able to see potential applications beyond traditional means is a boundary that we are pushing regularly.

Keep up the good work!

Greg Maxwell
Manager, MascoUniversity
Masco Corporation

bschlenker said...

Hi Greg,
Thanks for the kind words. Its VERY nice to hear that we are not the only ones struggleing with these issues. The "savvyness" and web iteracy issue is quite significant in the short term until the office flooded with next-genners. Shifting traditional "industrialized" corporations, to flexible, nimble, learning organizations is no small task. But I think that's really what we are talking about here.
I look forward to talking with you more. Thanks again! Cheers!