Clips of learning (2)

Another clipping (I think it comes from CLO Magazine but I am not sure):

The future of learning will stretch beyond the walls of our own organisation into the 'extended enterprise'. We will educate our customers, our partners, our suppliers. That is not news. The graph illustrate how far we are with these 4 different kind of audiences. Far most is of course for our own employees. Then customers. Partner and supplier education are quite low.

Statistics: How long does it take to create e-learning?

I'm often asked for development ratio's and other statistics on e-learning development. A characteristics of e-learning is that is requires more time and money upfront to develop the course as compared to more traditional approaches. Some people don't realise that so it is good to set the expectations right from the beginning.
The text and table below come from a free Brandon Hall research paper 'e-learning 101' that I wrote about in a previous post. You'll find industry-average numbers that should give you a rough idea.
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How Long Does it Take to Create E-Learning?
There are no set measurements on how long it takes to create e-learning. It depends on the content, resources available, level of interactivity, and capabilities of the developer. One source says creating a one-hour e-learning course averages about 250 hours of development time.
Acceptable production times are approximately 8-12 weeks for one hour of training, 12-16 weeks for two hours of training, and 16-20 weeks for three hours of training (Codone, p.14). This is consistent with this author’s experience on an interactive course utilizing a team of people. Bryan Chapman, chief learning strategist and consultant/researcher through alliance with Brandon Hall Research, provides the following benchmarks

Ratio	Type of learning
34:1	Instructor-led training (ILT), including design, lesson plans, handouts, PowerPoint slides, etc.
33:1	PowerPoint to e-learning conversion. Not sure why it takes less time then creating ILT, but that’s what we discovered when surveying 200 companies about this practice.
220:1	Standard e-learning, which includes presentation, audio, some video, test questions,and 20 percent interactivity
345:1	Time it takes for online learning publishers to design, create, test, and package thirdparty courseware
750:1	Simulations from scratch. Creating highly interactive content.

SAP and Adobe join forces for SAP Enterprise Learning

Giants Adobe and SAP will work together on a new product called SAP Enterprise Learning. It is due in the 3th quarter. SAP will also start reselling the Adobe Connect (formerly called Breezer I believe) products. SAP already is reseller for the RWD Infopak simulation authoring tool.

With this move once again a major ERP player is positioning itself further in the enterprise learning market. It makes sense and we all knew this was coming. After all, learning is being freed from its silo and increasingly integrated into the (HR) processes of a company. So far SAP has not been very succesful in persuading organisations to move to its LMS solution because it is perceived by the market as 'not good enough yet'. That might change when SAP seeks more and more partnerships with established players in the field. After all, there are enormeous benefits in buying one big package from your ERP vendor that includes learning out of the box and is integrated with existing databases.

It is an interesting move and the future will tell if the future for learning systems will be for the big ERP players such as Oracle or SAP, or stay within the hands of established players such as Saba, SumTotal etc who themselves are moving towards the more general HR field.

What is your ideal blend?

According to statistics from ASTD instructor-led training (ILT) dropped from 80% in 1999 to about 61-68% in 2005. The use of e-learning rose from about 8% in 1999 to 28-38% in 2005. So roughly speaking the blend of ILT versus e-learning in the learning offering mix went from 80/20 to about 70/30 in five years time.

This shift will continue for some more time, but eventually stabilize. So maybe it is time to think about what would be the ideal blend for your organisation?

I know for example here at IBM we are about 50-50 and want to keep it that way. There are no plans to increase the level of e-learning delivered education because we think we are at the right mix for our company, content type, cost and audience.

Free report 'e-learning 101' by Brandon Hall

Brandon Hall research gives away this free 57 page introduction e-book to e-learning, e-learning tools and technologies. (Click on the picture to download.)

Fields such as e-learning tend to confuse people with the technical details, the for-insiders-only language and vast list of acronyms. This report will bring everyone up to a basic level of understanding and make sure everyone can talk intelligently about e-learning.

It talks about the history of the profession and technology, the/a definition of e-learning, instructional design, development roles, evaluation and authoring tools. It comes complete with illustrations, references to actual products or vendors, a much needed glossary for beginners and FAQ.

For experienced learning professionals this guide will bring few or no new information, but it is nice to have it all available in one easy guide. For newcomers to the field this guide will quickly get you up to speed.

One short paragraph I like very much is the one on pro/cons of e-learning. It summarizes it nicely.

There are advantages and disadvantages associated with e-learning. Advantages include cost, geographical reach, use of multimedia, availability, portability, consistency, learner control, up-to-date content, no duplication, and shorter learning time. Disadvantages include a lower level of interactivity, initial development time and cost, technological limitations (bandwidth, access), developer limitations, learner motivation, learning styles, and preferences.

More e-learning in big companies, less in SME

A NIDAP study in the Netherlands reveals that in 2006 total training spendings increased, as predicted. E-learning grew in large companies, but actually reduced in smaller companies.
That's also the feeling I have. SME rely more on informal or classroom training. If they use e-learning it tends to be provided to them for free or at low cost by government bodies that try to stimulate the economy.

Toolbox of 20 instructional models

There is a free download from Blinc productions entitled 'Instructional Models in eLearning and Blended Learning' available from this link.

The report builds on the 'Goettinger Katalog Didaktischer Modelle', that goes back to the mid-seventies. It lists 20 instructional models with definition, didactic principles, reference to eLearning and a template for designing them.

The 20 models are:
- activity method, assignment method
- disputation
- exploration, excursion
- case method
- apprenticeship, assistance
- distance study, correspondance instruction
- classroom teaching, expository teaching
- programmed instruction, personalised instruction
- individualised learning center, laboratory plan
- micro-study circle, small group discussion
- educational/learning exhibition
- educational dialog
- clarifying educational environment, interactive man-environment learning system approach
- educational conference, symposium
- educational network
- learning project
- simulation
- peer tutoring
- lecture method
- educational workshop

Outsource the learning function

More and more companies are considering outsourcing (part of) the learning function. So maybe it is not a question of 'if' but 'when'... In any case you should always keep the learning strategy in your own hands and that of your Chief Learning Officer, who's job it is to assure alignment of the learning function with the business.

On the website trainingoutsourcing.com there are many links and articles on the topic. For example the Training Process Framework. It lists processes that are typically found in the learning function in 3 categories: administration, content and delivery.

LMS getting cheaper

In a recent Brandon Hall newsflash, Richard Nantel compares prices of LMS systems over time. He concludes prices have dropped since 2005 for small, medium and enterprise wide installations, and equally for installed or hosted systems. (hosted solutions are more expensive than internally installed systems)

Survey: more e-learning

Novation Group did a survey among +2000 HR professionals. They report that they are under pressure to reduce the time-away of the employee and increase the bottom line accountability of learning. No surprises there, these are trends we see for some time now.

Here are some trends on the rise:

• More online/e-learning: 57 percent
• Greater effort to quantify results of training/development: 42 percent
• Increased on-the-job training: 41 percent
• Personal coaching: 35 percent
• Fewer classroom hours/more condensed classroom time: 30 percent
• Outsourcing of trainers/facilitation resources: 25 percent
• More podcasting: 10 percent

I note that blending education with forms of e-learning is rising (as predicted), the ROI focus is getting stronger (as predicted), and learning is more embedded on the job rather than an island on its own (as predicted). I'm surprised at the strong trend for outsourcing (25%). But it is on a lot of agenda's so I guess we'll see a lot of that happening in the years to come.

But stay real people, because classroom training isn't going anywhere. It still holds a strong unquestionable first position.

• Classroom training (instructor-led): 87 percent
• On-the-job (OTJ) training: 79 percent
• Seminars/webinars: 78 percent
• Coaching/mentoring: 66 percent
• e-learning/self-paced study: 64 percent
• University programs: 33 percent
• Simulations: 22 percent

Clips of learning (3) - ISO reference process

The last clipping I find worth sharing is one on the ISO reference process for the development of a new e-learning program.

Clips of learning (1)

I often copy some pages from magazines or other sources of information to read later. After some time when the pile on my desk becomes too high, I start going through them. The samples below come from some of the clippings I find interesting. However, I have forgotten where I got them from, so please forgive me if I cannot recall the source.

For the first clip, the source is luckily still included. It is a categorisation of 4 quality preference profiles: individualist, result-oriented, pragmatic and avant-gardist. Not everyone finds every aspect of the learning activities spectrum as appealing. (click on the picture to enlarge)















The second clipping comes from a survey amongst learning professionals and lists the learning roles most in demand. Instructors and instructional designers are on the top of the list. Our industry is expecting a revival because of the war on talent that is emerging (and in some sectors it is already war time). But so far the learning industry doesn't expect this war of talent to affect herself... I think we might also see a fight over scare learning profiles in the years to come.

Learning Dashboards

Companies want to be able to manage the learning function just as any other function or business. Therefore, CLOs need relevant data to base their decisions on. One way is to construct a learning dashboard.
According to Jeffrey Berk in a recent article (Designing and Delivering Learning Analytics Dashboards), there should be 4 categories of data available in such a dashboard: operational, financial, performance, cultural.

• Operational
• Number of students trained / training hours performed
• Usage rates of instructors, e-learning
• Average class size
• Completion and cancellation rates
  
• Financial
• Cost per student day
• Learning as a percentage of payroll
• Development budget
• Productivity and ROI
  
• Performance
• Satisfaction (level 1)
• Test scores
• Time-to-competence
  
• Cultural
• Average hours per employee
• Management support

Elliott Masie on changes in LMS systems

Elliott Masie will be hosting another LMS conference in April, and as a warmer up to that you can listen for free to a 20-something minute flash audio presentation on what he sees as changes in LMS systems. I found this once again a very insightful talk. Basically he sees changes in LMS systems technology, content models, new learners, processes, Services & IT and a changing marketplace.
So, how does your current LMS cope with all these? Because the bar for LMS systems is raising...

http://www.lms2007.com/changes

LMS Selection and Implementation webcast replay

There is a free webcast replay available on the Brandon Hall site on LMS Selection and Implemantion. Three panel speakers go over selection, implementation, governance, completion and other topics of their LMS projects.

It is also a nice example of an Adobe Breeze live meeting if you never been in one. Breeze is a popular web meeting/training tool. I also enjoyed the format of the webcast: a well moderated panel discussion where key topics were written down on the slide templates by the moderators.

http://www.brandon-hall.com/webinars/6mar07.shtml

Best in learning content sample

The Brandon-Hall awards are like the Oscars for e-learning. You can now find a link to a flash movie on one of the winners of last year: the course 'Sustainability: Step by Natural Step'. The course pleased the judges because of the many case study examples, high level of interactivity, effective presentation, simple but engaging, ...

http://www.brandonhallawards.com/free/163-CC-TM/TNS-BrandonHall.html

Another example is the course 'Launching your business'. The link to a flash example is on

http://www.brandonhallawards.com/free/CCFC-Allen176/

Cisco acquires WebEx

In a move I didn't see coming, Cisco will acquire the WebEx web conferencing services for $2.9 billion. We all know the education and collaboration software market is in consolidation, but I never would have thought Cisco entering it. In a way, Cisco also touches the learning market now because WebEx is a very popular tool for web conferences. And web conferences and virtual classes are very closely linked. It also puts them right in the face of vendors like Saba (Centra), Microsoft (Office Live Virtual Meeting) and IBM (Quickr, Sametime).

WebQuests

A new kind of learning activity is the web quest. It can be seen as an educational 'treasure hunt'. There is a clear task and goal and all activities are done via the web. It's an example of learning by doing.
There are some places where you can find ready-made web quests, such as DiscoverySchool.com or webquest.sdsu.edu/matrix.html. A problem with web quests is 'link rot', you need to constantly check if all links are still valid.

E-portfolio's: what should be in it?

Components of e-portfolio's might vary, but this is a list made by George Siemens (2004)

- Personal information
- Education history
- Recognition such as awards and certificates
- Reflective comments
- Coursework such as assignments and projects
- Instructor comments
- Previous employer comments
- Goals, plans
- Personal values and interests
- Presentations, papers
- Personal activities such as voluteer work, professional development

Avatars in e-learning

Codebaby.com is another example of a company that provides avatars/agents for e-learning.
This is a link to a course sample on 'tires'.

http://www3.codebaby.com/demo/fountaintire/