The Total Learner Experience

Alternate Reality Games: Leveraging Collective Intelligence for the Enterprise

Read our new article on how to effectively use the emerging genre of alternate reality games in corporate training to increase learner collaboration and sharing. You can read the article from the eLearning Guild's newsletter, or download it.

Notes on Social Learning

I've been attending quite a few webinars and presentations on social learning and hearing a lot of different approaches, best practices, and tips about implementation -- as well as watching demos of software tools and frameworks designed to help organizations implement collaborative learning environments.

I attended a webinar hosted by HCI about "Social Software in Enterprise Learning: Getting Started" and presented by David Mallon from Bersin. Here are some notes I took:

• Mallon discussed how enterprises should encourage and enable employees to create and use "social graphs" -- networks of people based on varying "node identifiers" such as location, expertise, availability, etc. Similar to what IBM does with its Blue Pages, social graphs make it easier to locate and recruit people with the skills and/or knowledge needed for projects. Social graphs augment a person's ability to search and locate expertise. They then create pathways to connect people. Helping an employee make use of their social graph is in the best interest of the enterprise, and really is about harnessing the company's collective wisdom. 
• The discussion then moved to creating "Enterprise Learning Frameworks" (ELFs -- my acronym) -- an end-to-end map and description of a learning organization's primary components. Mallon discusssed the 70/20/10 model (70% of learning occurs informally, 20% is peer enabled, and 10% is achieved through formally curated systems). Now, with the ELF in place, the 70/20/10 model is changed to an 80/20 model where 80% of learning occurs informally through a Social Learning Environment (SLE) constructed by the organization. We all know that a company can't programmtaically meet all its learners' needs, so a SLE puts data and knowledge in the hands of the performer when they need it. The SLE helps the organization enable more self-directed, self-service, "in the moment" learning opportunities.
• Mallon discussed that there are three components of Informal learning in a SLE (I prefer to call this a "purpose-driven system that encourages informal learning"): on-demand, social, and embedded. On-demand content is made available by SMEs and/or other content-experts in a "rapid fashion" -- it could also be curated content, but the point is to make it available in a format and manner that suits the learner's situation at the time of need; the social component includes elements that help the learner expand their networks; and the embedded component include tools that are smart enough to know learner context (in a software system, on a device, etc.), and is implicit -- it helps the learner understand the success or failure of the task being performed -- potentially through a feedback mechanism.
• The ELF should also include access to tools and technologies for learners to create or modify their own content. Mallon stated that an ELF by its nature incubates a culture of learning across the organization -- a must-have before a vibrant SLE can be fostered.

Here are some best practices for beginning to implement an ELF with a SLE:

• Start simple
• Have a clear purpose
• Inventory your organization and see where collaboration and social learning already occurs
• Ask yourself "why community, why social learning"?
• Always be clear with what are you trying to accomplish
• Study your audience very well
• Architect participation: it doesn't happen on its own Your SLE will require what I call an "active agent" -- This is not a task to be performed by just anyone in the organization -- it is a next-gen skillset.
• Ensure you have a content curator
• Understand that 1% of the network contributes the most, 9% occasionally contribute, and 90% sit around and watch. Use the 1% to your advantage.
• Don't forget culture. The "learning culture" is a major element to a SLE. Help to culitvate a SLE in which sharing knowledge is welcome.
• Don't forget the 4Cs: Conversations, Content, Connections, and Collaboration: the primary elements of a SLE. 
• Don't focus on tools first, focus on the behavior needed, then find the technology to support them.

Facebook Fatigue

A quick Google search for Facebook Fatigue yields over 3,000,000 hits. Media types were already noting leveling off and dipping of Facebook use in January 2008. Of course, Luddite that I am I didn't bother joining until Brandon told me to in March 2008. Facebook was fun for a long while. I reconnected with high school friends, lived the New York club scene vicariously, and posted outrageous status updates. Now that business associates, conservative cousins, and my students' parents have friended me, I've dialed it back and present the appropriate for general consumption version of me. 

I'm not sure that social networking sites within a company can work as social equalizers. People go to social networks to let their hair down, to be their non-work self. Sometimes exciting work-related ideas can be conceptualized and explored in a social site, but the few quality discussions that have been generated have gotten lost amongst the drivel. Social networks, just like any tool, need to have a focus. 

I would like to more easily target my messages for the given audience within one application. I'd like to tailor my interactions according to whether someone is a brainstorming buddy, my pop culture queen or high school sweetheart. I like being able to see what friends and colleagues are up to in the frames that I know them, but while I don't mind knowing the sleeping or exercising habits of my distant friends, it doesn't add value to my life. While Facebook has attempted to set different groups for each user with different permissions, it's pretty clunky and not that useful.

I worry that similar kinds of issues would arise in an unfocused business or education social networking site. The immediacy and casualness of Facebook is its appeal, but do we need to feel as if we are living in an awkward holiday party everytime we log on?

What is social learning anyway?

Tons of institutions want to leverage social learning for their educational purposes, but is it really appropriate? I've come to the conclusion that social learning and informal learning are two buzzwords for the similar concepts and share many of the same issues. At its root, formal learning seems to be differentiated by (hopefully) having clearly stated and measurable objectives. Despite the media in which it appears or the name it goes by, social, informal, or casual learning tend to be less objective-oriented and more difficult to measure.

I think whatever name we call it, nourishing, encouraging and providing space, virtual or IRL, for social learning is incredibly important. From my experience social learning can provide:

• Reinforcement of objectives from formal learning,
• Increased interest,
• Increased skill and knowledge of subject matter,
• Team building.

While it's important to recognize what social learning can facilitate, it's also incumbent upon us as designers and users to recognize its potential pitfalls:

• True social learning is optional, casual and non-objective-driven. If users can opt-in they can also opt-out. Therefore not all users may be participating,
• "Tangent-land"-- Because there is not one authority steering the conversation, discussions can be lead off topic into peripheral areas of interest,
• Similarly, without an authority misinformation can be spread
• Rather than reaching out into broader groups, social learning can reinforce negative group dynamics allowing insular groups to form or to be perceived. 

As designers we need to recognize what social learning can and can not do use it as one more tool as we design effective learning experiences. Include opportunities for social learning, but do not dismiss our other methods.

The Bad and the Ugly... No "Good" Here

Take a look at the following screenshot from an eLearning course. Think about what is wrong with it.

If you looked at this screen and thought:

• The main area of the stage uses really bad clip art that is not positioned well.
• The primary informational text is crammed into the lower left corner in a tiny scrolling text box.
• The Next button (the green right arrow) is located in a non-intuitive position and nestled too close to the text-box scroll bar.
• The instruction text (“Press Next to Continue”) is too large and away from the Next button, which, incidentally is not labeled “Next.”

You would have been on the mark. Extra points if you asked yourself, "where is the interaction?"

We know that instruction designed simply to transmit information is relatively ineffective. There are several fundamental reasons why users have difficulty using eLearning:

• Poor on-screen presentation of information
• Hard to use interfaces
• Too many technology barriers, i.e., computer software, high-speed internet requirements, web browser plug-ins
• Irrelevant content or content that doesn’t relate to the learner

Consider all these when designing and integrating media elements with instruction.

Moving to the Online University Experience: Part One- Variables and Prestige

A friend and colleague approached me because my alma mater is interested in pushing into the world of online courses. I began thinking about what I think is critical about the university and college experience. Reflecting on all the numerous reasons why people go to college, I developed this list:

• It's what's done
• to make more more money
• to avoid adulthood, or the real world, or whatever you want to call that delaying tactic
• to pursue their interests
• to network
• to be qualified for the position they desire
• to remain competitive
• for the prestige and social status
• to learn
• personal satisfaction

I think that these reasons can also be applied to graduate degrees as well. Of course all these factors and more influence which institution a student might choose as well. These variables include:

• Location
• Price
• Flexibility of courses
• Relative academic rigorousness, relative emphasis on socializing, demographics of student body-- including race, age, social status, economic status
• Trajectory of graduates

I think where you go to school matters, but not necessarily for the reasons people always give. More than anything the college becomes a kind of identifier of the sort of person they might be, just like another accessory. Regionally, I know what a choice to attend a particular college or campus might say. Nationally, we may tend to share those judgments. Reflect on what you might think about a individual you meet who graduated from Berkley or MIT or West Point. Even without knowing anything further about the individual you might make assumptions about their politics, interests, "style", or major.

 For all their supposed rigor, The US News and World Report and other magazines' annual college rankings feel fairly subjective and ultimately ring a bit false. I'm not super excited to have a veterinarian who claims to have matriculated at Yale perform surgery on my pup. Ultimately, I don't really care what college a person has gone to as long as they perform their role well.

Others may not share that view. Online colleges need to stake out their expertise and proclaim what their requirements for enrollment are. I'm not impressed by online colleges advertising on every random social networking. Online colleges need to identify not only how they serve their audience, but how their audience, their graduates, serve us. 

Next: What's valuable about the college experience... How do we replicate it and improve it online...

Some people don't have computers

I am convinced that technology knowledge and fluency is integral to having the fullest range of options in the 21st century. I mean, who's not.

My concern is how to facilitate the access that all of us techies take for granted. I don't have any answers, but I do have plenty of questions:

• Do I design instruction and programs so that my students express themselves and have fun and buy-in to this tech world? or
• Do I design so that they can get entry level jobs as receptionists and admins?
• Do I try to sell some Puritan work ethic model (high school, college, 40+ hours a week) that I really don't believe in, to some people who aren't likely to buy it?
• What are the upper middle class kids who do have access to computers since birth doing with them? How will they leverage their innate computer fluency as they grow into adulthood and jobs? How do I facilitate my kids having those casual, but oh so very important, experiences?
• How can I sell my path to impressionable youth as one to emulate when I owe more money in student loans than I make in a year, drive a used car and work ridiculously long hours?

Suggestions?

Corporate Training: The 5 Mistakes

As business inevitably marches toward more sophisticated workplaces requiring more knowledgeable workers, I constantly see and/or hear about what I refer to as the "5 Mistakes" being repeated over and over in corporate learning organizations. In the new world of connected workers, corporate learning organizations should fear not addressing these issues:

1. Clinging to out-dated learning delivery models. I believe that some of the most effective learning experiences do occur in a classroom. The combination of an expert facilitator and peers who have differing levels of skills and knowledge are at times unbeatable in helping participants learn. However, classroom training is not always an option (especially in today's times of economic stress). Organizations need to be able to offer more on-demand, customized learning experiences for all their audiences by offering facilitated classroom learning, online synchronous events, mobile-optimized performance support, and self-paced eLearning courses and/or combinations of all of these. You need to understand how to anticipate the market for these modalities, and design for them, and learn how to sell them. Offering bundles of options that bring relevant contextual learning opportunities to your audiences regardless of their location will be key, especially to next-gen learners who feel very comfortable with technology.
2. Non-Existing Evaluation Programs. I know, this topic is not fun, and the word alone usually evokes "we don't have the budget for that." But in all honesty, you probably need to do more of less training. American corporations spend several billion dollars a year on formal training design. I'm assuming much less is spent in evaluating their effectiveness. You don't need to spend a lot of time and money on evaluation, but you need, at some point, to figure out if your training is working.
3. Relying on One-Way Information Streams. To build a more empowered workforce, you need to ensure workers have the skills and knowledge necessary to drive your business forward in this knowledge age. You need to provide platforms for collaboration, so that workers can become co-creators in the design and creation of learning. Learners want to be more involved in their acquisition of knowledge. Continuing to create passive learning experiences where there is no opportunity for dialogue and sharing signals your organization does not value the voice of those that fuel your success. Most people view learning as a social experience to begin with. Virtual learning should be infused with social elements such as social networking, e-mail, instant messaging, blogging, wikis, and other technologies that connect learners to each other.
4. Realizing Technology's Role in the Workplace. Employers should understand that technology literacy is a must-have for the future knowledge worker, but just as important is communication and leadership skills, and the ability to think creatively. As systems in the workplace become more complex, workers need to be able to take command of them and maneuver successfully within them. What is your organization doing today to help knowledge workers understand the complex systems driving your business?
5. Thinking You Can Control the Dissemination of Learning. In the connected world, learning opportunities abound in various areas and formats. Most workers learn how to do their jobs without formal training, so realize that the network effect and the spread of social networking provides many more de-centralized options for the motivated learner. Communities of practice can more easily harness the collective intelligence of its participants to solve problems, and remain more relevant to learner's needs than a formal training program that may take months to design and develop. Iterative design, realizing each learner is a powerful node of knowledge, and embracing the fact that you can facilitate learning, but can no longer control it is your new normal.

Failure is Morally Right

I watched a video from the 2009 TED conference recently about practical wisdom and it struck me as relevant to a lot of what I do when I design learning programs for adults.

It seems like U.S. society as of late has emphasized a growing anti-intellectualism among the populace. I would argue that the anti-intellectual movement was a primary reason for the ascendancy of George W. Bush. There is a thirst in the country for a lurch away from the "educated elite" and their supposed progressive policies and thinking. This, combined with the high cost of education, may be a key component in the dismal numbers of higher-educated Americans: only 36% of adults in this country possess a college degree.

Barry Schwartz in his TED presentation discussed how society needs to place more emphasis on practical wisdom and empathy to help regain common sense and moral virtue. He used examples of rigid interpretation of the rule of law such as removing a child from his family because the father accidentally gave him alcohol in a lemonade drink, as a glaring case of society's inability to "improvise" outside of didactic rules to apply common sense. Our abdication of "improvising" to find solutions for day to day situations is forcing us to become morally bankrupt, and is fostering an inability to make decisions that serve all parties in their best interest.

Morally wise people know when and how to improvise, when to make exception to the rule, and use moral skills to serve other people. Schwartz stated in his talk that "wise people are made, not born." "Moral wisdom," he goes on to say, "requires experience. Wise people fail and learn from failure."

I agree, and would go even further to state that people learn best when failing. Failure is good, because it requires a person to try and understand how their performance was irregular, wrong, or inefficient enough to result in said failure. Through that deduction, people learn... you've heard the saying many times, probably from your own mother, "If you fail, then try try again."

An over reliance on rules denies us the ability to learn from failure, to do the right thing, and to be empathic to others. By divorcing ourselves of having to make a decision, we instead rely on over-restrictive guidelines, such as the one mentioned above, and become unwilling to take any situation in its conditional context and apply a common sense solution. Instead, we let the state interfere, and apply its own process to the matter, often resulting in over-regulation, under-regulation, or nonsensical solutions.

It is incumbent upon those of us who design curricula to establish relevant "failure zones" in the interactions, and to foster moral wisdom through those interactions. How do we foster moral wisdom? Schwartz stated that "Any work you do that involves interaction with others is moral work." By placing an emphasis on collaborative learning, designers can encourage connections between participants, and help transfer the singularity of individual accomplishment to the crowd. By leveraging the "wisdom of the crowds" the designer is doing their part in appealing to virtue. Through this new-found collaborative learning effort, and the feeling that it's OK to fail, learners will feel more confident in sharing and encouraging others: two key components of empathy.

If teachers would be allowed to introduce empathy into their lesson plans, we might also be able to address the growing anti-intellectual movement. For society to move away from this troubling trend, we must begin to teach children the value of virtue, and respect, and not be disinclined to look beyond the rigidity of rules to find solutions for specific situations.

By appealing to the "wisdom of the crowds" and involving others in the fostering of collective wisdom, we may just be able to bring back the belief that it's OK to apply common sense to problems we face, and to incubate practical wisdom in our students.

How to Design Instruction for the Read/Write Web Platform

Learning is about relationships. In the classroom environment, the learner has the opportunity to construct various types of relationships: with the instructor, with fellow learners, with the content, and even with the environment in which the learning is occurring. In the self-paced eLearning model, the relationship becomes more intimate – usually between learner and content only.

The read/write web platform presents several challenges to this relationship model. It enables the integration of the two models, and allows for even more dynamic forms of relationships to be constructed. For example, actions of the group can alter not only the course content, but potentially change the dynamics of the entire course flow. From the instructional designer's perspective, the challenge is to design meaningful and relevant information that is flexible, adaptable, and still meets the learning objectives.

Instead of relying on the ADDIE model for development where your intervention has a beginning and an end with measurable outcomes, you may want to move to an agile design (smaller deliverables in shorter times... I'll expand on this in another post), and build in a looping mechanism that enables user-generated touchpoints, groupthink, and two-way communication between your learners.

The biggest challenge is less about the knowledge or skills of the individual instructional designer, and more about the organizational transformation required to facilitate user-generated content to reside alongside more "formal" content. Adoption of the read/write web platform requires the ability for the instructional designer to perform what I call Stitch Design. Stitch Design involves weaving learning connections and social opportunities across the online community.

Key components of Stitch Design include:

• An understanding of the learner's motivation to metastream. You are no longer the sole architect of the whole experience. The learner is more than a partner in the experience – they are an active agent, and key to the outcome. People will easily become distracted if the content is not relevant, credible, and authentic. They will “metastream” the experience before committing to engagement. Metastreaming is the act of performing a quick scan of the learning ecosystem which is performed during the first few seconds of learner involvement. In just those few seconds, the learner will determine whether or not to commit their precious time to your design. You must release yourself of the notion that you alone determine the learner experience.
• Realization that dropping pre-determined solutions to the audience is ineffective. Your design should guide your audience toward the realization that they need to apply “design thinking” to improve their performance. Social networking enables you to make smaller, more intimate connections – which can create more engagement. The spontaneous output of collaboration will change the group's learning dynamic. 
• Becoming technology agnostic. Technology does not matter when it comes to forming relationships (pivotal to successful learning engagement). Technology is merely the enabler. People will find ways to communicate, share, and build relationships regardless of the available technology. You should leverage the available technology, but only to build community. And never let the technology dictate the design... always design for maximum usability.
• Seeking high resolution in visual imagery. Increase the persuasive effect of the design through high-resolution imagery. Images tend to hypnotize (consider the effect of propaganda). The use of higher quality imagery builds an expectation of authority. Considerable effort is put into improving the imagery in video games. Visual fidelity implies authority, whereas simplistic or unrefined graphics are often an indication of lower quality -- consider low-resolution or "poorly designed" product packaging -- it does not attract the consumer. Nor will low-resolution imagery engage the learner.
• The realization that innovation is irrelevant to the learner. Your learner does not care how “innovative” your design is – they just want to be happy and satisfied. Good design will lead to happy learners – not an over-reliance on technological innovation. Focus only on their problems. The reason for the learning intervention should be fed only by the passion to solve that problem. Don't distract the learner with too much innovation.

With these ideas in mind, the read/write platform provides a forum for successful problem-based learning. It enables the learner to:

• Think critically and solve complex, real-world problems
• Find, evaluate, and use appropriate learning resources
• Work cooperatively in teams and small groups
• Demonstrate effective communication skills