The E-learning Curve at Edublogs

Bersin & Associates Principal Analyst Chris Howard has just sent me their recent report Integrating Learning into the Enterprise.

The document covers the following topics:

• Planning & Strategy
• Content Development
• Learning Programs
• Learning Technology
• Analytics & Measurement
• Talent Management
• Leadership Development

Mr Howard would assert, and I would agree, that a transformation is taking place in organizations, and we are witnessing the emergence of Learning and Development as a distinct domain from Training. I would suggest that in time the L&D domain will supersede the latter discipline, particularly in knowledge-based sectors of the economy, as organizations begin to address the challenges of the New Economy.

Now read on…

In the first five years or so of this century, organizations began to develop and implement training content on the Internet, leading to a proliferation of e-learning courseware. By 2007, more than 30 percent of corporate training hours were delivered via the web (O’Leonard, 2007).

With a degree of experience of in delivering e-learning, organizations that have been delivering online training for many years are beginning to understand that online “page-turner”courseware has limitations, specifically:

1. ‘Traditional’ page-oriented courseware is often not powerful enough to develop deep levels of skills and competencies
2. Courses that take hours to complete can become tedious and hard to finish
3. Online training lacks the instructor- and learner social, interactivity, and community dynamic experienced in the classroom

According to the Bersin & Associates report:

However, a new solution is emerging. The widespread availability of search engines, blogs, podcasts2, Web 2.03 applications and mobile devices4 has turned the web into an interactive, user-led experience.

Why take a one-hour course when you only need a five-minute module to answer a question?

Employees now expect online learning to be as interactive, easy to find and media-rich as the rest of the Internet. We call this new approach, “learning on-demand.”

(2008. p.2)

So, what is learning on-demand?

Learning on-demand also called “just enough” or “just-in-time” (JIT) learning (be it actionable knowledge, informational assets, web-based learning objects, or performance support tools) provided to an knowledge worker while work-based tasks are being undertaken - for example, if using an electronic performance support system (EPSS), this occurs within the context of the workflow. In a learning on-demand environment, courseware, references, help files, documents, Webcasts, audio, video, books, and presentations are all made available when and how a worker needs them.

In addition, learning on-demand can be complemented by more formal training methods made available in an integrated environment that features blended learning. The employee (or his / her manager) decides which training methods and / or tools to use – enabling “self-directed learning.”

(2008, p.6)

The concept of just-in-time learning has been around for over a decade - indeed, in the 1990s companies like Prometheus Software (the first COTS e-learning vendor I had to pleasure to work for) had the marketing tagline ‘Turnkey Training Solutions’ to support their learning on-demand solutions.

The facilitator for the current implementation Learning on Demand is the general availability of Read / Write Web technologies, such as blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts and advanced search capabilities.

As companies build a wealth of learning assets, they want to enable their employees to “Google” the learning they need.

(2008, p7)

We can say that organizations often have hundreds to thousands of courses, webinars, reference sources, FAQ databases, videos, podcasts, mobile content and other knowledge assets available in digital form. The challenge is how to make this information available for employees, up-to-date, easy to find, as well as aligning with the the day-to-day job requirements for workers.

According to the report,

a new element has been added to this mix – collaboration. Web 2.0 technologies have made the web a world of self-published information and provide direct access to people. Peers and subject matter experts (SMEs) can work directly with each other to exchange knowledge – bypassing more formal approaches that are provided by the training organization. In many cases, the best source of learning is not an instructor but, rather, an expert in the field.

Learning on-demand then can be described as a knowledge-centric solution to help people identify, locate and access specific knowledge and domain experts to enable workers solve task-based problems.

More…

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References:

Howard, C. (2008) Integrating Learning into the Enterprise: A Look at the IBM Enterprise Learning Portal. Bersin & Associates. [Internet] Available from: http://www.bersin.com/Lib/Rs/Details.aspx?
docid=10336676&id=demand Accessed 8th July 2008

O’Leonard, K. (2006) New Technologies for Corporate Learning: Part 1 – Podcasts, Blogs, and Wikis. Bersin & Associates. [Internet] Available from:

http://www.bersin.com/Lib/Rs/Details.aspx?
docid=10335168&id= Accessed 8th July 2008

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