Best Practices in the Next Generation of eLearning, Part 2

By Dean Hawkinson

This article is a continuation from the article I wrote earlier this month on a webinar led by David Mallon of Bersin and Associates. In this webinar, Mr. Mallon outlined the top 10 best practices for the next generation of eLearning. I would like to expand on three additional items from that list of practices.

What makes your organization relevant?

Before getting into the items from the top 10, Mr. Mallon challenged us to think about what makes our organizations relevant. With all of the changes in eLearing trends over the years, what is it that we are doing to keep up with these changes in our learning organizations?

Let’s take mLearning as an example. Is your organization beginning to think of development in small “nuggets” to prepare for this delivery media? What steps are you taking to move in that direction? There are obviously other ways to be relevant, but mLearning is a good example of staying relevant. Think about how you will keep up with these changing trends.

Here are three more items from the top 10 best practices.

Force Consequences – In describing this item, Mr. Mallon was referring to using activities that include scoring items or pass/fail. This is not referring to a standard quiz type of assessment, but more specifically things like games, simulations, augmented reality exercises and action learning. All of these activities provide feedback and scoring, which in turn motivates learners to do well. Including fun activities such as these to incent someone in the learning goes a long way, and it simulates environments closer to the “real world.” Think about how much more effective these activities would be in preparing someone for a job.

Use “We-Learning” – How do we create eLearning that includes social elements in the learning where interactivity is key? Historically, eLearning consisted of a course that a user would view on the computer, complete independently, and have the completion show in a company’s Learning Management System (LMS). Web 2.0 provides tools such as wikis, blogs, discussion threads, and other tools that will allow social interactivity. Why not develop the course, and include these social tools for interactivity among participants that are all completing the same course? It would add to the learning by allowing participants to share knowledge and experiences with each other and reflect on the content together, creating ways to reinforce the acquired knowledge. Some companies are using employee created videos in a YouTube style to share knowledge of processes and procedures.

Drop the Prefix – In the learning industry, we love to use terms such as mLearning, eLearning and other terms to describe types of learning. But, if we were to ask our audiences what these terms mean, chances are they would not know. So, what about dropping these terms when we communicate with our clients? It can go a long way in being relevant with our audiences, while maintaining relevancy within our industry.

What are some other suggestions you may have to keep our organizations relevant in the learning industry?