First a little about podcasting…

A podcast is one in a series of digital media files (usually in either  audio MP3 or video M4V format) that is released periodically and made available for download by means of web syndication.

This syndication aspect of the content delivery is what differentiates podcasts from other ways of accessing files, such as simple download or streaming. Special client software applications called RSS aggregators (also known colloquially as podcatchers) such as Apple  iTunes or Nullsoft Winamp can  automatically identify and retrieve new podcast files in a given series when they are made available, by accessing a centrally-maintained ‘feed’ that lists all files currently associated with that particular series.

New files can be downloaded automatically by the podcatcher and stored locally on the user’s computer or other media device for offline use, enabling the audience to download content that is released episodically without having to manually check that new material has been made available.

According to the Horizon Report (2006) podcasting is

At the leading edge of a wave that will last for the next several years and beyond, personal broadcasting takes advantage of small, easy-to-use devices that people already carry to capture and share personal experiences, information, and events. This trend, which has roots in text-based media (personal websites and blogs), is expanding to include audio and video, as the tools for capturing and sharing those media become smaller and better. From podcasting to video blogging (vlogging), personal broadcasting is an increasingly popular trend that is impacting… audiences.

(p.11)

It’s easy to see why podcasts have value in e-learning. Will Richardson states in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms that the

underlying technology here is digital recording and the idea that it is now very easy to create and publish these recordings… As long as you have a way to make the recording, and as as long as your students have access to the Internet, you can make this work.

(p.113)

Now that I have started publishing podcasts, I’m obviously going to write a series of articles about developing and delivering content using this learning channel. What’s more, I will discuss podcast authoring using production techniques, based upon my experiences as a radio documentary maker in a ‘previous life’ – I’ll be talking about the craft of writing for audio, as well as the technical aspects of the process.

Now, [drum roll] I want to introduce you to the E-Learning Curve’s Other Podcast. This podcast service is about subjects that interest me other than e-learning. Topics I’ll be covering include aviation, history and music, among others. The first set of podcasts is called Transatlantic: the Flying Boats of Foynes:

July 2009 is the 70th anniversary of the first scheduled trans-Atlantic airplane passenger service. Told against a backdrop of the momentous events of World War Two, this eight-part podcast documentary series by Michael Hanley tells the story of a unique era in world aviation.

Airlines like Pan American Airways (PAA) and the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) with their flying boats like the Short series of planes, and the massive Boeing 314 ‘Clippers’ were welcomed to the seaport of Foynes, in the embrace of the River Shannon estuary on the Western edge of Europe. Come with me now as we fly back in time to the Golden Age of Aviation, a era of adventure, conflict – and the invention of Irish Coffee.

Parts 1 and 2 of the series are now available. You can listen and subscribe to each episode here, or you can access the podcast via iTunes. The next installment, The Glamour of Travel will be released on Tuesday July 28th, 2009.

The more observant among you will have noticed that this podcast channel is called the Other Podcast, which implies that there is a regular E-Learning Curve Podcast, discussing subjects associated with learning and development.

Yes there is. And it’s on it’s way soon. More about this closer to its launch.
___________

References:

The New Media Consortium (2006). 2006 Horizon Report. [Internet] Available from: http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2006_Horizon_Report.pdf Accessed 15 July 2009

Richardson, W. (2006) Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

–

You may recall back then I wrote:

I have been an Apple iPhone 3G owner and user since the model was released here in Ireland in mid-2008. Since I acquired the device, I’ve come to rely on it to manage my e-mail accounts, utilize my time, play music, video, take notes (text and audio), and generally be more productive. I’ve Twittered, Quittered, Facebooked, YouTubed and blogged.

Five months later, I have added e-learning course management, and even Skyping to my ever-growing range of iPhone-compatible activities. It seems I’m not alone in my view that iPhone is more than just another device.

According to Forrester analyst Ted Schadler, the iPhone

drives business culture change; it gives employees freedom to choose their own tools; and it changes the support model to self-service. But the real payoff of iPhone and similar mobile Internet devices is that it is a new platform for delivering content and collaboration applications to an increasingly mobile workforce.

(2009 p.1)

This assertion is remarkably positive, doubly so considering the source of the comment: Forrester, in common with the ‘other’ major industry analyst organization Gartner, are notable for their disdain of Apple products. In December 2007, Forrester’s Benjamin Gray et al published The iPhone Is Not Meant for Enterprises, a six-page report more commonly known by its subtitle The Top 10 Reasons Why We Recommend That IT Not Support It. In this document, Gray and his team leveled a number of criticisms at the device. Among them:

1. Doesn’t natively support push business email or over-the-air calendar sync.
2. Doesn’t accommodate third-party applications, including those internally developed.
3. Doesn’t support securing data on the device through encryption.
4. Can’t be remotely locked or wiped in the event of a lost or stolen device.
5. Lacks a hard keypad that provides feedback, which isn’t ideal for rapid and accurate input.
6. Has limited service provider support and its carrier lock-in inhibits flexibility.
7. Comes with a premium price tag.
8. Is only the first generation of the device.
9. Lacks a removable battery, so when the battery dies, so does the unit.
10. Lacks case studies of firms that have deployed it enterprise-wide.

Since 2007, Apple has worked assiduously to counter most of the deficiencies of the iPhone. A number of business-focused enhancements were integrated in the release of iPhone OS 3.0 on June 17, including:

• Added on-demand to require VPN login where needed.
• ActiveSync calendar synchronization issues fixed, and added CalDAV support.
• Encrypted device configuration profiles that are prevented from being deleted.
• New policy capabilities, including disabled cameras.
• Encrypted backup to the desktop through iTunes on PCs and Macs.
• New device functionality, including cut-and-paste, device search, and click-to-call.
• A thousand new developer APIs enabling developers more ways to build custom applications.

According to Forrester:

The iPhone’s intuitive interface, superior browsing experience, and rapidly evolving developer tool kit make content-centric applications far more appealing on an iPhone than on a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile device. While BlackBerry is still the email and calendaring winner, iPhone devotees do make the shift to typing on glass.1 It’s also important that Apple isn’t linking its mobile future solely to mobile providers. The iPod Touch delivers most of what enterprises need over 802.11, lacking only GPS and 3G network access.

For enterprises, this makes an iPod Touch a viable addition to a BlackBerry or Windows Mobilecentric strategy. …Should you consider supporting iPhone? At least three companies say yes.

(2009, p.1)

In Oracle (one of the organizations Forrester spoke to) employee demand drove the company to adopt the iPhone. In Kraft Foods, the device has becomes a totem to demonstrate that their IT division is serious about supporting culture change. By January 2009, almost half of Kraft Foods’ mobile users have iPhones, with about 400 new iPhones ordered each month.

In Amylin Pharmaceuticals, the "passion" (p.3) and sponsorship of a C-level exec who has long advocated offering more user choice for mobile devices and open platforms for computing saw the iPhone as an opportunity to give employees the mobile capabilities they were asking for. The iPhone has become the company’s “enterprise netbook,” with support for the campus-wide wireless network. They have also found the iPhone “easier to support than other mobile platforms.”

Based on the evidence supplied by these an other organizations, the iPhone offers genuine workplace benefits including "self-service, empowered employees, and mobile collaboration" (p.4). Notably, employees were willing to "vote for freedom" by buying their own iPhone rather than take a company-supplied PDA. Ted Schadler states that if an iPhone makes an employee happy – and more productive, then supporting it delivers collateral benefits of a more content workforce, and a new line of communication between IT and employees. 

With the continuing growth in business- and productivity-centered iPhone apps, mobile collaboration opportunities are greater for the iPhone than for pretty much every other PDA. What begins as a better user experience is consolidated by an enhanced developer tool kit in OS 3.0 and the continuing maturation of the iPhone ecosystem.

Forrester say that anyone who has used both iPhones and BlackBerry will confirm that "the internet feels natural on an iPhone and a like chore on a BlackBerry" (p.8). Document viewing, WebEx presentations, and Internet access are better on the iPhone.

As developers build new applications for SharePoint access, data analysis, multiway conferencing, and training, the workforce can leave their laptops at work."

(p.8)

In the workplace context, communities of practice for the iPhone can lower support costs. All three firms discussed here have iPhone wikis so that employees can support each other. This "community-led support model" (p.8) may be new for many organizations, but it’s effective where the iPhone is concerned.

In Kraft Foods, their early adopters provide better support than their IT team can. As a bonus, Kraft Foods sees a growing desire for self-service that is driving a workforce culture change. It expects to see similar changes in other areas in the future. Even from a financial perspective, data plans for other mobile devices are more expensive than the consumer plans (US telecom provider) AT&T is offering for iPhones. This company was able to reset its baseline plan pricing 30% lower for all phones because it supported iPhone.

As with the emergence of non-formal and informal learning in organizations, and the growing pervasiveness of social media tools for collaboration in enterprises, it seems that the demand for, and growing acceptance of the iPhone as an enterprise-level communication, collaboration, and learning platform is due to people power. Despite the declamations and derogatory noises of industry analysts it seems that, like all politics being local, all communication is ultimately personal.

A phenomenon of the popular adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in society-at-large seems to be a concomitant shift in the culture. Beginning in 2008 and gathering momentum ever since, we have noted again and again that people are less willing to accept what they are told, and are making choices based upon their own experience, judgment, and from information more likely supplied by peers than from opinions delivered from “upon high.” So it has gone for traditional media channels. So will it go for enterprise communication?

You decide.

___________

References:

Gray, B., Whiteley, R., Silva, C., & Dines, R.A. (2007). The iPhone Is Not Meant For Enterprises: The Top 10 Reasons Why We Recommend That IT Not Support It. Internet: Available from http://www.forrester.com [Accessed 16 April 20 2009] Subscription or Purchase Required.

Schadler, T., Brown, M., Gray, B., & Burnes, S. (2009). Making iPhone Work In The Enterprise: Early Lessons Learned. Internet: Available from http://www.forrester.com [Accessed 16 April 20 2009] Subscription or Purchase Required.

–

In the field of education, instructional design has traditionally been applied using established models, typically using a top-down approach, that focus on explicit definitions of audience, environment, strategies, activities and outcomes. However, when different traditions of design are considered, more creative and organic elements are emphasised, which also embrace a ‘bottom-up’ strategy.

Kays, E, & Sims, R. (2006).

The growth of e-learning has motivated educators to re-examine the theory and practical application of instructional design models to the task of courseware design, development, and delivery.

As we have seen, the ICARE model takes a ‘traditional’ linear systems approach to course design, but has also been used as the basis for migrating content to an online environment. As we know, migration is a directed, systematic movement of a group of objects, organisms, or people. If we step outside the ICT world for a moment, what else can we say about migration? We know that it is time-consuming, resource-intensive, and risky, with no guarantee that the migrant will reach their destination, and if they do, that they will survive and thrive in their new environment. Returning to the world of digital technology, Gregory Muira (2007) asserts that there are a number of other disadvantages associated with migration:

• Migration addresses the possible obsolescence of the data carrier, but does not address the fact that certain technologies which run the data may be abandoned altogether, leaving migration useless.
• It’s time consuming – migration is a continual process, which must be repeated every time a media reaches obsolescence, for all data objects stored on a certain media.
• It’s costly – an organization must purchase additional data storage media at each a migration.

 Migration can be confused and messy

As a result of these disadvantages, technology professionals have begun to develop alternatives to migration, such as emulation. However, emulation per se is not an effective solution for educational technologists – we know the issues and complications inherent in attempting to replicate the classroom or instructor-led environment in an online milieu. So whither instructional design in the Digital Age?

One well-developed approach is Sims and Jones’ Three-Phase Design (3PD) Model. Three-Phase Design is

an enhancement to the traditional design process [that] focuses on the creation of functional course delivery components,with evaluation and improvement activities integrated with scaffolding (support) for the teacher and learners to provide a dynamic teaching and learning environment in which resources and strategies can be developed or modified during the actual delivery stage.

(Sims & Jones, 2002 p.8).

As illustrated in Figure 1, the process is supported by a "team" (p.8) consisting of an academic (A), a developer (D), and an educational designer (ED) who all contribute to each part of a learning program’s iterative progression through the model. The authors’ consider that the  "ultimate goal" of the model is to disintermediate the Developer and the Educational Designer, enabling the Academic to function as an independent Developer and Educational Designer over time.

 Figure 1. The 3PD model including ADDIE components (after Sims & Jones, 2002)

I would assert that in its stated goal, and to a certain extent in it’s execution, that the 3PD model is a direct-line antecedent of the Rapid E-Learning approach to courseware design, development and delivery. It’s important to point out thought that Sims and Jones themselves view online course creation

not …as a short-term development process, but rather as a long-term collaborative process which would “generate and evolve into focused communities of practice with shared understanding and a philosophy of continuous improvement” the value of 3PD would be realised through a three-step process of develop functionality, evaluate/elaborate/enhance and maintain rather than the more traditional sequence of design, develop, implement, evaluate.

(2003, p. 18)

Three-Phase Design also integrates the three "essential competency sets for unit or course development" (Sims, in press)  – design, subject matter exposition, and production, in a cohesive rather than disparate fashion. Here, development is not driven by a an overarching and inflexible process, but rather it is the context of the learning materials  which determines the development in a targeted and effective manner. The approach is based upon the assumption that learning takes place in an online an collaborative environment. Sims and Jones state that 3PD "proposes four critical factors:" 

1. Instructional design must align with institutional expectation, contemporary pedagogies, and available resources and skills
2. Skills building is facilitated through the scaffolding process to enable those less proficient in design and development to develop the appropriate competencies.
3. A team-based approach is used to develop communication and collaboration among group members. Sims and Jones (2002) point out that the growth in social media reinforces the importance of this factor.
4. Scaffolded support is incorporated into content design-time to enable instructors and staff to confront new and learning paradigms.

Next time: A closer look at 3PD’s phases

___________

References:

Kays, E, & Sims, R. (2006). Reinventing and reinvigorating instructional design:A theory for emergent learning. Proceedings of the 23rd annual ascilite conference: Who’s learning? Whose technology? Internet: Available from: http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/sydney06/proceeding/pdf_papers/p197.pdf Accessed 3 June 2009

Muira, G. (2007). Pushing the Boundaries of Traditional Heritage Policy: maintaining long-term access to multimedia content. IFLA Journal 33: 323-326.

Sims, R. (2006). Beyond instructional design: Making learning design a reality.Journal of Learning Design, 1(2), 1-7. Internet: Available from: http://www.jld.qut.edu.au/ Accessed 3 June 2009.

Sims, R., & Jones, D. (2002). Continuous Improvement Through Shared Understanding: Reconceptualising Instructional Design for Online Learning. Proceedings of the 2002 ascilite conference: winds of change in the sea of learning: charting the course of digital education. Internet: Available from: http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/auckland02/proceedings/papers/162.pdf Accessed 3 June 2009

Sims, R., & Jones, D. (2003). Where practice informs theory: Reshaping instructional design for academic communities of practice in online teaching and learning. Information Technology, Education and Society, 4(1), 3-20.

Sims, R. (in press). From three-phase to proactive learning design: Creating effective online teaching and learning environments, in J. Willis (Ed), Constructivist Instructional Design (C-ID): Foundations, Models, and Practical Examples.

Sims, R. Analysis of Three Instructional Design Models. Internet: Available from: http://www.de-research.com/PhDFinalPapers/CT_3IDModels.pdf Accessed 1 June 2009

–

…an emerging profession, (2) focused on establishing and maintaining efficient and effective human performance, (3) guided by a model of human performance, (4) carried out systematically, (5) based on open systems theory, and (6) oriented to finding and applying the most cost-effective solutions to human performance problems and discovering
quantum leaps in productivity improvement through human ingenuity.

(Smith & Tillman, 2004 p.1)

More prosaically Gustafson & Branch  consider instructional design (ID) as

a system of procedures for developing education and training programs in a consistent and reliable fashion. Instructional design is a complex process that is creative, active, and iterative.

(What is Instructional Design? 2002, p. 17)

The latter assert that instructional design is a complex systematic process with the following characteristics;

• interdependent – no elements can be separated from the system
• synergistic – all the elements can achieve more than the individual elements alone
• dynamic – systems can adjust to changing conditions in environments
• cybernetic – elements communicate among them efficiently

According to Gustafson and Branch, adhering to a instructional systems design process and can make instruction more effective and relevant to learners.

With these parameters in place, let’s take a look at the ICARE approach to designing instruction. Based on the venerable Dick and Carey Model and pioneered by San Diego State University in 1997, the model has found a place in the higher education sector. According to Vincent Salyers (2006) ICARE has potential "as one possible means for structuring and organizing course content." As we’ll see in my next blog post, the Centre for Learning Development at Middlesex University have adapted the ICARE framework, designed templates with built-in guidelines for use by academics with little experience in instructional design, and extended the model as the basic pedagogy  for their ‘Global Campus’ instructional framework for distance education (Mojab & Huyck, 2001).

According to the ICARE Model’s main proponents Hoffman and Ritchie (1998), the model is distilled from basic instructional design practice (see Table 1), and adapting various systems to what seemed to be particularly useful components for e-learning course design and development.

Table 1. The ICARE Model

In this context for example, when refactoring course content into online modules (what the authors term "distance learning units") a conventional 20-credit module is deconstructed into twenty units worth nine hours of study each. The model has the following five distinctive but interrelated components that are applied to individual lesson/lecture ‘unit.’

More…

___________

References:

Gustafson, K. L., & Branch, R. M. (2002). What is instructional design? In: R.A. Reiser & J. A. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (pp. 16-25). Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice-Hall.

Hoffman, B., & Ritchie, D.C (1998). (2005). Teaching and learning online: Tools, templates, and training. In: J. Willis, D. Willis, & J. Price (Eds.), Technology and teacher education annual – 1998. Charlottesville, VA: Association for Advancement of Computing in Education.

Mojab, D. & Huyck, C. (2001). The Global Campus at Middlesex University: A Model for E-Learning. [Internet] Available from: http://www.cwa.mdx.ac.uk/chris/draft6.doc Retrieved 3 June 2009

Salyers, V. (2006, July). Using the ICARE Format for Structuring Online Courses. Impact 2006, WebCT, 8th Annual Users Conference; San Antonio, TX.

Smith, P.L., & Tillman, J.R. (2004) Instructional Design (3rd Ed). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Books.

–

1. Analysis
2. Development
3. Implementation
4. Improvement

A Systems Approach to Instruction
According to Paul Saettler (1990), the systems approach to instruction emerged in the later 1950s and in the 1960. It grew from the then-current focus on integrating contemporary technology into learning environments including language laboratories, (the quaintly-named) teaching machines, programmed instruction, and Computer-Assisted Instruction. Most systems approaches are similar to computer process flow diagrams (see Figure 1). The instructional designer steps through the process during the development of the four stages. With its foundations in the military and business worlds, the systems approach involved setting goals and objectives, analyzing resources, devising a plan of action, and continuous evaluation/ and modification of the program during implementation.

Figure 1. A Systems View of Instructional Systems Design

ANALYSIS

Several types of analysis are undertaken when using the Instructional Systems Design (ISD) strategy to learning program development.

Training Needs Analysis (TNA)
This focuses on:

• the business goal related to the training need (e.g. more sales, higher productivity, employee retention, product knowledge, customer satisfaction, reduced costs, employee satisfaction). 
• the improved or new performance needed to realize the business goals

Performance Analysis
This process:

• reveals the differences between what people are actually doing and what they should be doing 
• identifies those differences that can be eliminated by instruction.

Note: Not all performance-related issues can be enhanced by training.

Task Analysis
The outcome of a task analysis is a step-by-step description of what a skilled person does when performing a task, whether the task is cognitive or psychomotor in nature. 

The purpose of a task analysis is to develop an understanding of what competent people actually do (or should do) when performing a task. From this understanding, we can deduce what others have to be taught to enable them acquire the skills to perform the task competently.

The instructional designer often undertakes a task analysis with the assistance of a subject matter expert (SME), who identifies and illustrates key elements and tasks related to the skill or activity. Here are some useful approaches to elicit an effective analysis of a task under investigation:

Work Behaviors
The SME demonstrates the steps or aspects of the process required to complete work-driven tasks. These can be organized in many ways (for example, chronologically, by level of complexity, frequency etc). The instructional designer records what each step or process is called, and its place in the overall structure of the activity. The instructional designer documents:

• how often the task is done
• what percentage of users will need the task
• how critical the task is
• task complexity

Expert Behaviors
Here the SME demonstrates tacit tips and tricks that are not usually documented in source materials. Expert behaviors typically have lower frequency and higher complexity ratings.

Analytical Behaviors
The instructional designer asks the SME to describe decision-making processes that are performed during the task. As useful inquiry strategy to follow is the 4WH1 approach ("How?, Why?, Who?, Where?, and When?").

More…

________________

References:

Saettler, P. (1990). The evolution of American educational technology . Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.

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Here’s what they say about Educate:

Featuring inbuilt lesson planning, student tracking, teaching strategies and eLearning tools, Educate provides teachers with a holistic approach to engaging students in 21st century learning environments. 

While the iApp is not yet available via the iTunes Store, you can check out their website for more information about Educate in action. 

According to their website, Educate’s key features include:

	Lesson planning	Educate’s inbuilt weekly planner keeps all your planning in one place. Personalize your weekly timetable and plan for individual lessons all from a single interface
	Effective teaching strategy implementation	Access easy to follow strategies for engaging students in your lessons. Choose from a variety of individual or collaborative activities directly aimed at improving learning outcomes.
	Student attendance and progress monitoring	Quickly and easily track student attendance or performance in all your classes via ready made scales. Update records as you teach and export to your PC, Mac or Learning Management System
	Collaboration with other Educate users	Use your Facebook account to connect with other Educate users to discuss pedagogical practice, suggest application features and seek support
	Engage with eLearning	Post content to your Moodle learning space, anytime, anywhere. Also, access critical tools such as a voice recorder for anecdotal notes, a camera that allows you to tag images and a stopwatch for time-critical tasks

This short video outlines the product’s features.

(Alternatively the video is available on YouTube here)

I think that this app has a lot of potential for educators, and I’ll be following its progress with interest. I’ll certainly review it when it becomes available.

More on instructional design tomorrow.
–

We now live in a multiplex world of many voices and ideas, mediated by the internet. At the forefront in using digital technology is the e-learning industry.

I’d forgotten about that.

That is to say, I’d forgotten that I had written those sentences until my quarterly copy of T&D Magazine came through the mail the other day. Included in the magazine was a short article  I’d contributed to the publication on workplace training, e-learning, and one of the challenges organizations are about to encounter.

Recession notwithstanding, the PlayStation Generation (Digital Natives, Millennials, Generation Z: pay your money and take your choice) is beginning to enter the workforce, and the trickle of people will grow to a flood over the next decade. These workers will test the skills and expertise of training professionals in ways never encountered in the past, and quite unlike the demands the current economic unpleasantness is making on L&D people. 

Like other generations, the PlayStation Generation is "shaped by the events …and trends of its time" (McCrindle, M., 2008). In particular, the  emergence of internet-based technologies and synchronous communication systems including e-mail, txtng, and IM, as well as new media used through websites like YouTube, and the (ever-growing) range of social networking sites and influence of the Read/Write Web seem to be a characteristic of this generation’s reputation for intense peer orientation and their desire for instant gratification.

In their 2008 text, Connecting to the Net.Generation: What Higher Education Professionals Need to Know About Today’s Students, Reynol Junco and Jeanna Mastrodicasa found that in a survey of 7,705 college students in the US:

• 97% own a computer
• 97% have downloaded music and other media using peer-to-peer file sharing
• 94% own a cell phone
• 76% use instant messaging and social networking sites
• 75% of college students have a Facebook account[18]
• 60% own some type of portable music and/or video device such as an iPod
• 49% regularly download music and other media using peer-to-peer file sharing
• 34% use websites as their primary source of news
• 28% author a blog and 44% read blogs
• 15% of IM users are logged on 24 hours a day/7 days a week

(I think it’s time to use the quote from my article – don’t you?)

It’s clear that we now live in a multiplex world of many voices and ideas, mediated by the internet. At the forefront in using these digital technology is the e-learning industry.

To meet the challenge of workplace generational diversity, L&D professionals must embrace the knowledge that change is coming, look to the training tools and technologies that already exist, and be prepared to embrace innovation in organizational learning. Understanding the demographics of the 21st Century workforce should influence future training techniques; if you’re smart, you’ll be developing training strategies and approaches already. 

Some approaches to consider:

• Understand the importance of the peer group
• Incorporate viral marketing or word-of mouth/ referral strategies into learning.
• Use an anecdotal style / storytelling to engage learners
• Use scenarios, risks, and consequences to develop skills build cognitive awareness, and likely outcomes to events. Dealing in theory, raw data, or pure statistics will not motivate this group of workers to learn.  

As the 2008 US presidential election demonstrated, everyone from GenX onwards is technologically savvy (if not quite literate) and think nothing of accessing trends and movements online. They are not inclined to hang around for traditional, authoritarian leaders (or trainers) and the government (or company) to tell them what to do; they have decided to "get on with it."

I predict that one of the consequences of the current economic crisis is that many older employees will choose to leave or be forced out of the workforce. Here in Ireland we’ve already seen unskilled and semi-skilled people losing their jobs by the tens of thousands, as both they and the firms they work for have problems adapting to the new economic reality.

This story is unfolding all around the Western Hemisphere.

The chances are that the industries that supported these people will go to low cost base economies and will never return. The older, Baby Boomer generation-aged manpower than supplied these businesses will be hard-pressed to find full-time work in the same economic sector again.

If, as an L&D professional, you fail to adapt your training strategies to the needs of the new, diverse workforce, start planning a career change, because you might find your skills as relevant as those of other obsolete professions, such as chimney sweeps, match girls, gurl hurriers, and stagecoach tilters: the workplace of the future won’t hang around for if you can’t adapt to its requirements.
________

References:

McCrindle, M. (2008) The ABC of XYZ: Generational Diversity at Work. McCrindle Research. [Internet] Available from: http://www.quayappointments.com.au/email/040213/images/generational_diversity_at_work.pdf  Accessed 10 May 2009.

Junco, R., & Mastrodicasa, J. (2007) Connecting to the Net.Generation: What Higher Education Professionals Need to Know About Today’s Students. NASPA.

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 Figure 1 A Snapshot Of Enterprise Mobility Today (after Forrester Inc., 2008)

The ubiquity of mobile devices ensures that there is a ready market for m-learning content. I would assert that learning designers should take advantage of information workers’ experiences as consumers of content in other domains to successfully implement e-learning on mobile devices.

Now read on…

Forrester’s BlackBerry: An Emerging Platform For Mobile Collaboration study states that two-thirds of companies have fully deployed wireless e-mail, calendars, and contacts. Another 16% of firms are in the process of implementing wireless e-mail. That means over four-fifths of enterprises are using mobile messaging applications. This near-ubiquity of support for converged media devices (CMDs) puts a potentially very powerful learning channel literally in the hands of hundreds or thousands of employees today.

We can say that mobile phones and wireless e-mail are central to the activities of organizations. With the right mobile content and collaboration applications, most information workers could be both productive and in an always-on learning environment – imagine people learning while walking down the hall to a meeting, cramming in a little work before bedtime, or waiting for the train. CMDs are more valuable to information workers if they support:

Access to file systems, team workspaces, or intranet portals. It’s frustrating for organizations to invest heavily in content management systems and workspaces, only to find that the information is locked away, available only to desktop workers in an office environment. On-the-go information workers would save time if they could find and view information on their CMDs. The importance and effectiveness of mobile access to content is easily demonstrated: we live in a world where the President of the United States has firmly asserted the he is

…still clinging to my BlackBerry. They’re going to pry it out of my hands.

New York Times

A mobile browser that brings the Internet into learners’ hands. Devices like the iPhone, with its touchscreen, gesture-based interaction model, and Safari browser make the mobile Internet almost as functional as the Web on a desktop. Having access to on-demand information and learning on a device is a powerful plus for all information workers.

Instant messaging and ‘presence’. Virtual and ad hoc teams need to quickly connect, engage, and move on. Subject matter experts need to be available when needed. Presence means that a person’s availability is always known.

Training sessions that can be done while waiting for the bus, train, or in an airport boarding lounge. If learning content is packaged appropriately, hosted on a mobile learning management system, and delivered to a CMD, information workers can learn in their downtime.

M-Learning on the iPhone

As we chart the rise of non-formal, informal, and social learning, my view is that media, information, and communications applications will emerge that make learning fun. RSS feeds, updates, video, games, and social networks are just some of the engaging and effective ways that information workers (in their other life as consumers) already get their information.

With the lines between work and personal time disappearing, learning applications should have the friendly face of regular consumer applications. According to Drego et al (2009) of North American CMD owners with a job, 60% use their devices to access the Internet, 43% to read the news, 33% to check RSS-delivered information, and 28% to download or stream music and podcasts. This is a huge ready-made market for m-learning content.

M-learning’s strongest capability is its timeliness. The relative effectiveness of mobile data channels is device- and software-dependent, but the ability to make contact any time, any where is a universal strength. Although the iPhone and other  devices won’t replace those with a larger form factor any time soon, these devices benefit from the advantages of portability and ubiquity. 

iPhone websites excel at providing information in multichannel contexts. Although the iPhone can access almost any Web site, many organizations choose to tailor sites for the iPhone’s small screen and strip them of Java- and Flash-based content. The best mobile sites support targeted, mobile-specific browsing behaviors such as search and content delivery. For example, YouTube enables viewers to search for content, read user ratings and reviews, and of course easily stream content.

More…

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References:

Drego, V. L., Rogowski, R., & Zinser, R. (2009) Match iPhone Capabilities To Customer Goals [Internet] Available from: http://www.forrester.com Accessed 17 February 2009

Schadler, T. (2008) BlackBerry: An Emerging Platform For Mobile Collaboration. [Internet] Available from: http://www.forrester.com Accessed 17 February 2009

Zeleny, J. (2009) ‘Obama Digs In for His BlackBerry’ In: The New York Times [Internet] Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/politics/08berry.html?_r=1&em Accessed 20 February 2009

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin. And Remember…

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the most successful book every written. A handy electronic reference book, its chief selling points are the words ‘Don’t Panic’ written in large friendly letters on the cover, and that it’s cheaper than its closest competitor, the Encyclopedia Galactica. The Guide’s reporters travel the length and breadth of the Milky Way, drinking heavily, going to lots of parties and generally having a great time. Their experiences, which include everything from how to mix the greatest cocktail in the galaxy to life on Earth (“mostly harmless”) is then passed on via the SubEtha net to every copy of the Guide, giving people the opportunity to misinterpret the inaccurate copy. Much of the guide’s content is plagiarized from the back of cereal packets, and some of it is just made up. Its most useful advice concerns towels.

Now I’m not going to labor the point about blogging (without the wild parties, sad to say), Wikipedia, and the SubEtha / world wide web “net” but here’s a description of the Guide itself:

…A device that looked rather like a largish electronic calculator. This had… a screen about four inches square on which any one  of a million “pages” could be summoned at a moment’s notice. It looked insanely complicated, and this was one of the reasons why the snug plastic cover it fitted into had the words DON’T PANIC printed on it in large friendly letters. …The reason why it was published in the form of a micro sub meson electronic component is that if it were printed in normal book form, an interstellar hitchhiker would require several inconveniently large buildings to carry it around in.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (pp.26-27)

Sound familiar? Of course it does.

Man seeks Nokia charger for his retro cell phone 

That was 30 years ago. Back in the future, we can say that the we live at a time where the socio-cultural, economic and technical foundations exist to change the way that we acquire learning and knowledge in as profound a way as the introduction of printing in Western Europe in the 15th Century. We can now potentially carry our knowledge with us without “several inconveniently large buildings” to carry it around in. The current generation of portable digital devices (including smart phones, PDAs, and media players) is that they can support a digitally-mediated, connected learning environment, providing a convenience of instant access to a range of people and resources, as well as the ability to process data in a way that wasn’t possible even five years ago.

Next time: The altogether more prosaic task of describing the characteristics of E-Learning as I understand them, and a context for M-Learning.

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References:

Adams, D. (1979) The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (pp.26-27) London: Pan Paperbacks

“Don’t Panic” image Courtesy British Broadcasting Corporation

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Social networking guru Clay Shirky describes the phenomenon of group dynamics mediated through Web 2.0 technologies as a “Run-time effect:”

You cannot specify in advance what the group will do, and so you can’t substantiate in software everything you expect to have happen… [but social patterns emerge] that …are core to any software that supports larger, long-lived groups.

…there’s this very complicated moment of a group coming together, where enough individuals, for whatever reason, sort of agree that something worthwhile is happening, and the decision they make at that moment is: This is good and must be protected. And at that moment, even if it’s subconscious, you start getting group effects. And the effects that we’ve seen come up over and over and over again in online communities.

I would assert that this is the group run-time effect that was leveraged by the US Democratic Party, and that ultimately galvanized such a substantial number of voters to become involved in the democratic process. Shirky describes a number of ways in which these social patterns manifest themselves including:

Table 1 Run-time effects of groups

These group patterns emerge on the Internet, not because of the software, but because it’s being used by people.

An Idea whose Time has Come

I would suggest that one of the primary reasons that social networking software played such a significant role in the 2008 US Presidential Election was precisely because of the nebulousness and loose structure of the read / write Web. But before we can look at this, it’s worthwhile to understand the role of traditional media in distributing information. As I’m not a broadcast media expert, I will investigate this through the filter of Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s Propaganda Model.*

First presented in their 1988 book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, the “Propaganda model” views the private media as businesses selling a non-media product — readers and demographic groups — to other businesses (advertisers). The theory postulates five general classes of “filters” that determine the type of news that is presented in news media. These five filters are:

1. Ownership of the medium
2. Medium’s funding sources
3. Sourcing
4. Flak
5. Anti-communist ideology

I would strongly argue for the position espoused by Herman & Chomsky in Manufacturing Consent that as mass media news outlets are run by large corporations, they are under the same competitive pressures as other businesses. According to the authors, the pressure to create a stable, profitable business invariably distorts the kinds of news items reported, as well as the manner and emphasis in which they are reported. This does not occur as a consequence of market selection: those businesses who happen to favor profits over news quality tend to survive, while those that present a more accurate picture of the world tend to become marginalized. In a nutshell, the Republicans had the politically conservative Fox News to deliver their campaign messages (reflecting the vested interests of powerful lobby groups, trans-national corporations, and the military-industrial complex in maintaining the status quo).

However, ranged against this (probably for the first time in history) was the availability of an alternative set of media channels to disseminate information combined with a new generation of voters familiar and comfortable with the media supported by the Internet.

And that’s what I’ll look at next time.

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References:

Herman, E.S., Chomsky, N (2002). Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. Pantheon Books.

Shirky, C. (2003). A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy. A speech at ETech, April, 2003. [Internet]. Available from: http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html Retrieved 14 October 2008.

Surowiecki J. (2004). The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations. Doubleday.

* …and yes, I’m aware of, and entitled to my own biases – IMFB

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