Do you have a few minutes for an #Intervue?

As I was trawling through my early morning tweets upon arriving at work on Tuesday morning (on my mobile phone obviously, due to the fact that I work in 1906 and Social Media is blocked on my work machine) I noticed that John Dalziel from RSC NW had tweeted this

Knowing that John always has something interesting to share I immediately clicked on the link, but realised quite quickly I needed to be on a PC. In the meantime I checked out what John had to say about this tool on his blog.

As soon as I got home (or as I call it, 2011) I clicked through on the link to discover this site.

Essentially you:

Set up a free accountType some questions that you want to ask others (you can add some additional text at this point)Email/tweet the link to the questions and then sit back….

The recipients of the link will see your question(s) and (here comes the good bit) can provide the feedback/responses via their webcam (up to a maximum of 60 secs video per response). Intervue will capture their video responses and allow you (or if you choose to share them, others) to view those responses.

Anyway, as they say “a picture paints a 1000 words” so here’s my initial intervue, and here are my responses why not give it a try yourself? The video responses themselves can be downloaded in mp4 format, so you could even edit the responses together to form a short movie.

My initial thoughts as to how this could be used are:

Preliminary interviews with prospective employees.Language training – pose a question in either the native/foreign language and then ask the respndent to respond in the opposite (or same) language.During a leadership training programme ask team members to provide evidence that their ‘leader’ is demonstrating the requisite behaviours. A damn site more accurate than asking the ‘leader’ to write their own evidence (as I have witnessed in a recent ILM programme!)Use as an assessment tool to allow learners to provide descriptive responses.

Please do take the time to respond to the intervue I have set up above, as I intend to wrap the responses up in a video which I will publish on this blog at a later date.

If you can think up any additional uses for this (and I am sure there are loooooads!) please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments box below.

View the original article here

Get your foot in the door – First Aid

I think I’m fairly safe in saying that regardless of what organisation you are in, your employees are just as much at risk of having an accident or an ailment as the next person.

So of course the ability for them to be able to respond accordingly is in everybody’s interest. I’m sure there’s some form of ‘law’ that states that employers should have suitably trained people and that’s all well and good, but how likely is it that that person will be ‘on the scene’ as it happens? When did that person last undertake that treatment for ‘real’ or under assessment?I’m certainly not saying that those roles aren’t important, but why not augment that role by providing First Aid training / performance support to ‘all’ via their mobile devices?

If your employees are as prone to slips, trip, falls, cuts, grazes, (and worse) as the rest of us mere mortals then you’ve got a wonderful opportunity to ‘get your foot in the door‘ and prove the worth of performance support via mobile devices.

Why not take a look at these apps and consider whether you might want to direct your colleagues to them?

First Aid by British Red Cross (iOS) – £FREE

First Aid by British Red Cross (Android) – £FREE

(I have actually downloaded and used this app myself, check out the app store reviews for my thoughts)

Inevitably there will be some people who do not have a mobile device and will bemoan the fact that you are offering their colleagues who do have a mobile device something that they themselves are unable to benefit from, or they will complain over the fact that the apps cost money – don’t let this put you off.

Simply tell them to carry on using whatever tool or process they have always used – simples!!!

And you know what? Even if people don’t opt for these apps, you may have just sewn the seeds for them to look for an alternative….

Good luck and let me know how you get on

The blog post that started it all

Image source

View the original article here

Is this another fine mess we’ve got ourselves into?

It’s probably worth me expanding upon the deliberately vague title of this blog post before I go any further.

By ‘this‘ I mean ‘mobile’ learning.

By ‘another‘ I mean as we did all those years ago in the early days of ‘e’ learning. (admittedly I have no personal experience of those days, only anecdotal examples)

By ‘we’ve‘ I mean us in the L&D community. Both within the vendor community and the client community.

So what do I mean by all this?

During a recent meeting with some colleagues, I reflected upon the conversations that I have had with potential clients over the past 6 months with regards to the use of mobile technologies. With a very small exception (probably 2-3 out of approx 60 conversations) those conversations have revolved around the creation of ‘mobile learning’, which actually translated as the “shrinking down of desktop content to allow it to be viewed and interacted with on a mobile device“.

Very little, if any mention, of creating performance support resources…

No consideration of using the devices native functions I.e. camera, keyboard, GPS, voice recorder, to enhance the experience….

A heavy focus on the learner ‘learning‘ something from it, as opposed to the worker ‘enhancing‘ their performance from it (Hell, who needs to learn the London Underground routes if you’ve got the app in your pocket?)

And this is where I think we have got it wrong again!

We have used the blanket phrase ‘m-learning’ to describe the use of mobile devices to facilitate learning. Now to *us*, we acknowledge (at least I hope you do) that this can include using the device to (amongst other things)

Consume traditional self paced click next eLearning (yes of course there is a place for this)Listen to podcastsTake pictures of things to help us remember something in the futureEngage in online dialogue conversations with othersRecord audioDetermine your proximityThe creation of User Generated Content for othersCall for help!

Of course, with some degree of thought and design the above functions can (and probably should) be incorporated into many (I may even dare to say ‘all’) learning programmes, but in my opinion (based as I said on my conversations with many people on this subject) this simply isn’t the case.

Why?

Well I think the fact that we have used the term ‘m-learning’ which is not a million miles away from the term ‘e-learning’ (which let’s be honest, most people see as being click-next, self-paced stuff) hasn’t helped matters, I think we’ve inadvertently given the impression that it’s traditional eLearning on a mobile device has a part to play in it.

I also think that the recent hysteria over some eLearning authoring products and their ‘mobile readiness’ (which translates as traditional eLearning but outputted to HTML5 or a native app) hasn’t helped matters either

“Ooooo look! I can recreate my traditional self-paced, click-next stuff to work on a mobile device – I must be creating m-learning”

Well technically I have to concede

“Yes. Yes, you are”

but I feel that unless we start to make more noise about the fact that m-learning is more than shrinking down content and actually the ‘learning‘ part of it could well be redundant, we will miss another opportunity to really harness these technologies just as I guess we have done in the past……

Image source

View the original article here

What Learners Want – Part 4 – The ‘momentum’

If you haven’t read this series to date, it may be worthwhile doing so in order to set some context.

Having decided upon a pre-survey marketing campaign, we accepted that despite our best efforts to promote the survey that it would inevitably be ‘lost‘, ‘missed‘ or just ‘forgotten about‘ by many people, so we needed a plan to maintain the momentum of the marketing campaign…

During our planning stages of this survey the team that worked with me on it decided that it was critical for us to communicate the results (I used the word ‘results‘ lightly as the in-depth analysis would not take place until after the survey had closed) throughout the survey as well as some immediate stats upon completion. We were also resolute that we would not gloss over any critical or developmental feedback and would ensure that it was shown within any results/stats and not ‘buried’ beneath any overtly positive feedback.

Here’s what we did:

At the end of each week, I created a simple animation. The animation ran for a calendar week on our internal TV screens and was communicated via our internal emagazine, intranet, collaborative platform groups, blogs etc as well as being played at the start of as many meetings as possible in order to stir up discussion and debate around the survey.

The purpose of the animations  was twofold:

To act as a method of being able to communicate some basic stats/comments that people had made. It was incredibly important to us that people could see that somebody was reading the survey submissions and wasn’t afraid to show comments/feedback that others may have felt were risque.To act as a reminder/prompt for those who hadn’t undertaken the survey. The last frame contains a link to the survey itself.

Week 1

Upon completion of Week 2

Upon completion of Week 3

Upon completion of Week 4

Upon completion of Week 5 (the survey closed at this point)

In my next blog post, I’ll go into the data/findings that the survey provided us and how we plan to use it.

Image source

View the original article here

Podcast #12: Attention! Attention! Attention!

Craig missed Dr Chris Atherton‘s session at LT11, however the video recording of her session has provided him with inspiration and ideas ever since. This podcast scratches the surface of Chris’ specialism and hopefully provides you ‘Dear Listener’ with a few ideas (and maybe even a challenge) ahead of your next presentation.

Craig even starts to try and determine the origin of the word ‘logo’ and then gives up to the wisdom of Wikipedia!!!

Download podcast in mp3 format: Attention! Attention! Attention!

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Shownotes

Music Source.

View the original article here

What no ‘elearning’?

This tweet from David Hopkins

‘Click next’ eLearning resources … haven’t we got beyond that yet?

— David Hopkins (@hopkinsdavid) August 7, 2013

generated some reflection in relation to my last role…

Despite me having the title of Learning Technologies Manager and the organisation generally defining ‘elearning’ as ‘click next, self-paced’ modules I was able to utilise a range of methods and media to meet needs that had  previously been meet via traditional eLearning and physical classroom activity.

In 10 months I:

Produced a handful of taking head videos and placed them on our internal collaborative platform , Jive.Produced 15-20 screencasts and placed them onto Jive.Produced a handful of audio interviews.Created a single ‘go to‘ L&D group on Jive. This served as both a space to start, encourage and participate in conversations as well as a ‘marketing’ space for our activities.Designed a game involving a range of posters each including a different QR code which would link to various multimedia assets.Hosted the multimedia elements mentioned above on a Vimeo Pro account which provided immediate access coupled with an element of security.Used SurveyMonkey to revolutionise our assessment process and move it toward the Brinkerhoff Success Case method.Used Jive to create an activity that mirrored a real life customer interaction which created strong intrinsic motivators to utilise the provided performance support tool to resolve the ‘situation’.Introduced the concept and practical application of  ’spaced repetition of learning’ using Retenda, in order to support the activity mentioned above.Used Adobe XI Pro to create a range of FAQs documents and checklists.Used tools such as Powtoon and Sparkol to create a range of animations to support various activities.Facilitated various online sessions using Adobe Connect.Used a Pro Scoop.it! account to curate content on a range of subjects.

In short, I was able to operate up to, and indeed beyond, the expectations of the role, without ever having to go near an LMS or an authoring tool.

Was it easy? – No

Did everybody ‘roll over’ without a fight? – No

Did I experience some challenges? – Yes

Did some of the activities take longer than they really needed to due to the ‘engagement’ that needed to be done? – Yes

Did I win a lot of fans along the way as a result of sitting down with them and talking through their problem, my proposal and their fears? – Yes

Would I take this approach again? – Absolutely

Regular readers will know that I’m not one of the ‘Burn the LMS/authoring tool‘ fraternity as I truly believe they do have a place, depending on what you are trying to achieve, so I wouldn’t have been averse or afraid of using them should the solution to the problem have dictated it – but here’s the interesting thing….. it never did.

Not in all the time I was there or the many pieces of work I was involved was a ‘piece of elearning in an LMS’ or an ‘exodus to the classroom‘ ever the right answer.

Makes you wonder how many times as an Industry we’ve gone down the wrong route for fear of challenging, for worry of what people will think of our ‘off the wall‘ ideas???

So over to you…

Where have you come up with an alternative to the ‘old favourites’ approach?

Were you allowed to progress it?

What was the impact on your relationship with the original requester, when (and if) you produced an alternative to their request.

View the original article here

The story of how I got to speak at #LT11UK….

….. begins in the Summer of 2010.

I was speaking on the telephone with the fantastic @juliewedgwood on the subject of my progress with using learning technologies since attending LT10, when she suggested that @DonaldHTaylor may be interested in the story as a potential session for LT11… I joked about this…. mulled it over…. dropped Don an email….

… and so it came to pass that at 1400hrs on Day 2 of Learning Technologies 2011 I found myself co-facilitating a session entitled ‘Taking the next steps‘ with @simbeckhampson

I remembered the presentations at LT10 being broadly broken down into 2 types:

The sage on the stage with a pocket full of Bullet Points.And the ‘guide by your side’ with a pocketful of interaction and activities.

It will probably come as no surprise to you to hear that the content of the latter still resonates with me today and indeed Julie Wedgwood (who has become a friend and has delivered that same session back into my organisation for me) falls into that category.

It was that same impact that I wanted to have on those delegates who were kind enough to attend my session at LT11. Here are the simple steps that I took in planning and preparing my session.

Given that my session was about my ‘journey’ over the past 12 months I thought it would fit quite nicely into a calendar format.I identified 12 tools that I had used over the preceding 12 months and slotted 1 of these into each month, which then formed the basis of a PowerPoint deck.I asked my friend Sam, to create a desktop calendar from my PPT slides and then ordered 100 of them

I added some autotweets to each of the slides order to feed the #LT11UK Twitter backchannel.Given the target audience for my session I anticipated that many of them might not have a Twitter account (not yet anyway!), so I set up a Text Wall (courtesy of @xlearn) to allow non-Tweeters to experience participating in a back-channel.I realised that as I had only 25 minutes to cover a 12 month period that I would not be able to cover each of the 12 months, so I created a slidecast using Slideshare which allowed me to cover each of the 12 months in greater detail due to the lack of time pressure. Here it is:

At that point it was time to put everything in the laps of the Gods and as Nike would say

The footage can be viewed here (please not that is appears that this site is still being edited (at least I hope it is) but you’ll get the idea)

The actual presentation went as I had anticipated, however the feedback I received be it  face-to-face, via the backchannel or peoples blogs was phenomenal and quite humbling. I had never thought for a second that such a ‘simple introduction’ to Learning Technologies would have pushed so many peoples buttons. Some people have commented upon the unusual, non-linear, delegate-driven presentation style that I used, others have mentioned how passionate I was…

… whatever the reason, the key factor for me was that people enjoyed it and gained some small measure of motivation of it. I wish you all the very best for your future implementation of Learning Technologie and if I can be of any help or assistance then please don’t hesitate to contact me.

On a final note a BIG “Thank You” to Julie Wedgwood for being the catalyst to me speaking at LT11 and to Don Taylor for taking a ‘punt’ on me.

Did you attend my session?

What (if anything) did you take away to action?

How is the action progressing?

Why not provide your responses in the comments box below?

View the original article here

Podcast #13: A bit of banter with some brand-new bloggers

Craig is joined by podcast panel regular Kate Graham along with some new voices which belong to Mandy Randall-Gavin and Niall Gavin. Today they are chatting about their recent journey into the…… “Blogosphere”!

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Shownotes

Music Source

View the original article here

eLN Showcase

Yesterday I attended the eLearning Network showcase in London.

This hadn’t been on my agenda, however earlier in the week I received an email from @barrysampson who kindly invited me to attend the showcase as a guest of Onlignment.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I found myself sitting at my local train station at 0641hrs waiting for my train (this wasn’t a problem as I my 2 year old son woke me up at 0400hrs, because he was concerned that I might miss the Choo Choo!)

My HTC Desire coupled with Google Maps saw me make the transit from Oxford Circus to the venue very quickly (it always pays to get an early seat, next to the plug sockets ideally!).

The day kicked off with a demo of the Optivote handheld voting system, followed by a demo of a Content Management System called Moose, the morning was wrapped up by an oversight of 2nd Life.

If I have to be honest all of these sessions were very dry and uninspiring. It seemed such a shame that the early spot in the morning was taken up by such uninspiring sessions.

@philipgreen, @cliveshepherd and @barrysampson then entered into a Pecha Kucha head-to-head to determine which (un)lucky soul was then entered into the eLN Pecha Kucha final later in the year.

Phil’s & Barry’s Pecha Kucha sessions can be seen below (sorry Clive I forgot that I was meant to recording!)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd7-dKqRtGM]

There was a great pre-lunch Q&A session facilitated by @robhubbard in which attendees pitched their e-learning related questions and problems via Twitter and then received advice back via Twitter. Rob ensured that there was still f2f dialogue in order to probe deeper into each issue – Good session Rob, well done.

Of particular interest in the afternoon was a session by Edvantage which centred around the ability of their CourseBuilder tool to create interactive PDFs, given that my organisations Monthly Brief is disseminated via PDF, this is something that I intend to look into upon my return to work.

For me, the physical networking  of these events is always a MASSIVE advantage to me as it allows me to meet those people who I have networked with throughout the year as well as making new contacts.

Aside from the people I have already mentioned I have enjoyed spending the day with:

@kategraham23

@bbetts

@juliewedgwood

As always I like to wrap my Blog up with a small action plan to help me implement any learnings back into the workplace.

Pass ATA’s contact details on to NSAN.Investigate the interactive PDFs optionArrange storyboarding session with Julie Wedgwood for e-learning authors

View the original article here

Virtual Learning Show Day 2

Don’t try and include the same number of people in an online session as you would in face to face (f2f)  session. Keep the numbers low and

Cindy swapped the layout of the session screen a few times. This was useful to see the flexibility of Adobe Connect, however it took a few moments to get used to the changing layout. I’m not saying that I would never change the layout during the session, but I would be very mindful as to the knock-on effect on the learner.

 Presented by Julie Wedgwood
12.30 – 13.30 GMT (UK time)

Julie Wedgwood has been facilitating live online sessions for many years and is a favourite webinar presenter on the LPI Webinar Programme over the years. She is also one of the most highly rated commentators and conference presenters on the subject of interactivity in sessions – both face to face and in the online environment. Her more recent session on the availability and use of digital learning tools for use in live online sessions.

Join Julie Wedgwood to explore simple yet innovative ways to enhance online session engagement and keep your delegates active.

IN this highly interactive session, explore and experiment with Julie as she shares:

 Julie’s “Tell me that’s You”  approach to delegate pollsMosher’s GridGraffiti feedbackTools to aid learner concentrationWebcam anticsAdd-ons and other freebie tools

My key content take-away

Adobe Connect provides a large (and growing) number of extensions to further enhance the ‘out of the box’ functionality.

My key facilitation take-away

Julie used her webcam throughout the session with no discernible loss of quality. In the past the webinars I’ve facilitated for various 3rd parties have all insisted that I do not use the webcam. When I’m in a position to facilitate sessions within my own Org I’ll be making sure that I maximise the webcam where it adds value.

 Presented by James McLuckie
14.00 – 15.00 GMT (UK time)

Have you ever been at work and needed immediate help with a specific task or activity? Dr Jane Bozarth (author of Social Media for Trainers) calls it the “Hey Joe!” moment. “Hey Joe, can you help me to process this order.” “Hey Joe, how do I overcome this customer’s objection?”

Chances are most of your learning needs fall into this category. So why, then, is it often so difficult to find decent support to help us with the activities that are key to us being successful in our jobs? Many organisations are still locked in a cycle of providing push-down formal learning interventions, rather than making point-of-need learning materials available to help staff at the exact moment it is called for.

As learning and development professionals, we can anticipate the needs of staff and design performance aids that give staff the support they want, when they need it. Why send someone on a two-day workshop when a helpful template, reflective questionnaire, video tutorial or short how-to guide would be far more useful and effective?

James McLuckie, Learning Engagement Manager of Eden Tree, has been creating just-in-time support resources for the past ten years. In this webinar, he discusses what to consider when putting together performance aids that really help learners get to grips with a task, or how to overcome a problem.

My key facilitation take-away

There was in parts some lengthy ‘telling‘ going on. Whilst this probably didn’t come across to the facilitator, it certainly felt it to me. I’ll be mindful of this when prepping my future sessions.

Keep any tasks /questions simple. Some of the tasks seemed quite complicated and questions quite long.

My key content take-away

The chat panel indicated that there are still people out there chomping about learning styles! Quite sad that we are participating in what many would consider a modern approach to facilitation and there are still some ‘old school’ ideas floating around.

 Presented by Roger Courville
15.30 – 16.30 GMT (UK time)

In a recent 1080 Group poll, presenters noted their top two challenges with presentations “too little time to put together presentations”, and “don’t know as much about design as I’d like”. The good news is that moving beyond “death by bullet point” doesn’t have to be hard or take over your life.

Join Roger Courville, of TheVirtualPresenter.com, for a practical 45 minutes of strategies and tips to accelerate your training presentations for better attention, cognition, and retention in your live, online training sessions.

Attend this live, interactive webinar to learn:

Evidence-based principles for designing presentations in a short-attention span cultureEssential elements of getting – and keeping – attentionHow to rapidly improve data-heavy slidesHow to turn bullet points into visuals

My key content take-away

Pick up this book 

My key facilitation take-away

Once again, as in a previous session there was a lot of ‘being talked at’. There were also a number of questions that Roger asked that seemed to exist for no other reason to show us that he knew something that we didn’t?

Perhaps I’m just a bit thick, but I have no idea what the findings were of a report that I’ve never read on a subject that I’m not familiar with.

I’ll make sure that I bear this in mind when I’m asking questions in my online sessions.

Overall experience

Today was a great experience, I acquired some info in every single session, particularly in terms of varying facilitation methods. There were a number of people who attended every session so to a degree my concern over ‘overload’ may be mute… however, I’m not sure that the audience is typical of the majority of learners – after all, it’s our field!

I’m still doubtful that a days worth of online activities could work in the ‘real world’….

What do you think?

View the original article here

Homework time… CWCCM Task 2.3

As part of the Certificate in Web Content Creation & Management (CWCCM) programme I am undertaking, I have been asked to expand upon the following in relation to the Internet or intranet website on which I am working/intend to work.

The goals for website.Describe the important characteristics of the target audience for this site.

Given that I am interested in developing both this blog and my organisations intranet pages, I have provided responses below for both areas:

My Blog

Goal

Having reviewed the stats for my Blog since I launched it in April 2010, the average views per day has been 10. It is my goal to increase that figure by 50% to an average view of 15 per day by August 2011.

Important Characteristics of Target Audience

My target audience for this Blog are Learning & Development professionals, with a slight bias towards those who are involved in using and promoting current and emerging technologies. I surmise that this group of people are looking for content which will provide them with an initial perspective on a subject or an innovative approach to undertaking an activity. I also suspect that they are looking for content that will showcase the tools that are available in an integrated manner. i.e. Twitter feeds, embedded media, tags etc

My Organisations Intranet site

Goal

The goal for this site is a little more difficult to define as I am not the ‘owner’ of the site, this is held by an individual within our overall Group. I am also unable to define simple, low-level goals such as ‘increase site/page traffic by ?% as there isn’t a hit counter/statistics functionality within the platform. Instead I have taken it upon myself to offer what advice and support I can to the intranet authors within my organisation by way of forming peer support groups, arranging formal training on the platform for new authors and creating an online library of screencast ‘how to’s‘ as a performance support tool. I am also investigating the possibility of the CWCCM programme (or similar) being delivered as a closed programme to my target audience.

Important Characteristics of Target Audience

The target audience for this intranet site are employees within my organisation who work on my geographical site. They are aged between 17 up to statutory retirement age and have varied levels of IT competency.

View the original article here

Podcast #19: From NVQ to ITQ…

Craig chats with Di Dawson on the subject of gaining formal accreditation for learning programmes and in particular the offering of ITQs for Social Media, Mobile Learning and Accessible IT.

Download podcast in mp3 format: From NVQ to ITQ

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Shownotes

Want to find out more? Contact Di at di@didawson.co.uk

Music Source.

View the original article here

Think campaign…

Regular readers will know that my previous Organisation made the transition from outsourcing it’s self-paced elearning modules to bringing them ‘in house’ almost 2 years ago.

Once we had sourced the software my Head of Department insisted that we launch the system with a fanfare etc and advertise it’s existence. Now I must admit that at this stage I was a little reluctant to follow this course of action because self-paced elearning was nothing new to my Organisation, it was just that we had decided to bring the development in-house; I even quoted the old “YouTube was never launched line“, but he was having none of it….. so it was off the the PR & Comms department (which is ironically where I ended up working) to ask for some advice.

Rather than waffle on about the advice that they provided, I thought it would be far more interesting to show you….

They advised that I should ‘brand’ the elearning. Not from a screen layout, fonts etc perspective but from a ‘logo type’ angle; this is what we came up with

It plays upon the ubiquitous ‘e’ that many people associate with online activities as well as the ‘swirls’ which were a part of that organisations branding.

We then discussed how we could use the info-screens that are situated around site to enhance our campaign and settled upon what my colleague  called a ‘sting campaign‘. If you are unsure as to what this is, then think about the run-up to Big Brother every year. Channel 4 ran a ‘sting’ campaign consisting of 1-2 second pieces of footage showing the Big Brother eye, usually with a few beats of the Big Brother music.

I decided that I also wanted to take this ‘teaser’ approach too, but more importantly wanted to get people talking about the campaign whilst still maintaining an air of mystery….. very much like the British Gas “tell Sid…..” campaign from yesteryear.

This is what we came up with, as you can see we have used the elearning logo to maintain the ‘branding’ of the campaign…

and I don’t actually mention what the hell it is that is coming. This was something of a gamble, however it really got people talking about the ads and what it was and when it was coming.

Our campaign was working.

Towards the end of the campaign we started to reveal a little more about what it was via a poster & flyer campaign.

The posters were placed in all the usual places

stairwellsnotice boardsKitchen areasBack of toilet doors…………. Above the urinals

I was shameless!

I also took a leaf out of McDonalds book and placed the posters on the trays in our on-site, self-serve restaurant to…. well… ram it down people’s throats even more (pun intended)

Once we had launched the system we then followed it up with an interview to fill in the gaps that the marketing campaign had been unable to do (this was one of our first recorded interviews and we were still learning the ropes (as you’ll be able to see), but it got the message across)

So folks, that was how we launched the in-house elearning system in my previous organisation.

Would I have chosen to do it that way?

No.

Am I glad that I did it that way?

Yes.

Why?

Because it taught me a great deal about thinking about the bigger picture around a single initiative. Although this was a piece of software and subsequently multiple self-paced elearning modules I would still choose to take this ‘campaign’ approach to the implementation of almost anything.

Granted, the effort involved may vary, but certainly from the perspective of a learning resource I’ll always try to ensure that it is only ‘part’ of a much bigger picture.

So that’s what I did, but what about you?

Have you ever mounted a campaign as part of a learning initiative?

Did it work?

What did you do?

Have you tried this but found it to be a waste of time?

Why not let us all know via the comments box below……

View the original article here

Designing #mlearning Book Review – Chapter 3

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I intend to provide a brief synopsis of each chapter of ‘Designing mlearning‘, but more importantly I intend to answer the questions that Clark poses at the end of each chapter and then pose those same questions back to you ‘Dear Reader‘

Chapter 3 – A brief history of learning and cognition

Confession time!

I’ve struggled somewhat with this chapter, having had to read it 3 or 4 times in order to be able to internally process its content for this review. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing at all, but it did feel a little awkward for me having breezed through the first 2 chapters and seeing them as confirmation of my current thinking.

In chapter 3 Clark starts off by reminding us (I’m liking the fact that he is drumming this into the reader) that mLearning is, by and large, not about learning, but about augmentation. About letting us as human beings get on with what our brains do well and providing support for what our brains struggle with (rote learning), rather than trying to ‘drill’ the information into our/others heads! Let the mobile device remember the facts and allow yourself to make decisions or detect nuances in the many variables we base our decisions every day.

In case we haven’t got the point yet, he reminds us that mLearning is not about putting courses on a phone (I’m hoping he raises this point again, as it seems to be something of a common misconception in my opinion)

Clarke then takes us on a whistle-stop tour of media psychology, that I’ve got to be honest, wasn’t any clearer on the 4th reading as it was on the 1st – perhaps I’m not of the target academic demographic for this book, perhaps I’m reading it at the wrong time of day; I don’t know.  What I’m hoping is that this lack of comprehension doesn’t impact upon my understanding of the rest of the book….. we’ll see….

We finish off the chapter with these questions being posed (along with my responses):

Are you considering more than just courses and including performance support?As a member of the vendor community, I have seen a fairly respectable number of mobile solutions being provided to clients and I have to say that the vast majority fall into the ‘course on a phone/tablet’ category. We could go into the whole “who’s to blame for this?” debate, that we’ve all no doubt contributed to in some way, shape or form in the past, but on this occasion I’m not going to, maybe you’d like to in the comments section? What I will say is that I’ve seen a few good examples of performance support apps for the NHS (detailing drug dose calculations) and for some areas of retail (providing ‘just-in-time’ support for a new season range of products), as yet I’ve still to see any solutions that make use of the phones native functionality.Is your pedagogy advanced beyond the basic “event” and content presentation learning approach?I think the answer above goes somewhere towards answering this question. Some organisations are obviously only seeing mobile as a portable desktop solution, whilst others are grasping the potential for it to ‘augment’ their people. I’d say that it’s probably (based upon a Sophisticated Wild Arsed Guess) less than 3% who have spotted this.Do you include social learning as part of your learning solution?I’ve seen a growing number of clients who are currently/planning to include social learning as part of their solution. My fear is the assumption that people will flock to it, just because organisations have built it. I also see a number of organisation building internal platforms as opposed to using existing ‘public’ platforms for these conversations to take place. I know from experience in a previous role that the ‘doomers and gloomers’ will cite commercial sensitivity or security for reasons not to engage in ‘public’ conversations and there are a growing number of collaborative platforms to circumvent this, but I can’t help but feel that this approach is only papering over the cracks of a bigger problem.So folks, why not take a look at the questions above and provide your own responses in the comments below?

View the original article here

A change is as good as a rest

For some time now, I have been reflecting upon my use of Twitter.

Over recent months I have found my Twitter stream to contain little, if anything of true value to me personally. It’s either been stuff that I ‘get‘, stuff that I’m not interested in or RTs of other peoples stuff (again, that I already ‘get’ or that I’m not interested in). I’ve also noticed that the way I have been accessing Twitter has most definetly fallen into the ‘from a mobile device’ category – even when I’m sat in front of a PC! (I guess that as I am ‘mobile’ myself a lot nowadays, this has helped to form the habit)

Given:

the fact that I access Twitter a LOT from my mobile devicesmy perception that I haven’t been getting a lot from it recentlythat I’ve had a G+ account from Day 1, but have never really ‘dug into it’

I decided to uninstall Twitter from my mobile devices and use that same habit and time to concentrate on Google +.

Uninstalling Twitter from my mobile devices. Focusing on G+ from now on. Tatty-bye

What I hadn’t counted on was the response from some members of my network in response to this. Some people genuinely asked “why“, others jokingly said I’d ‘be back‘, one accused me of Social Media snobbery and others sent quite ……. ‘colourful‘ DMs; which depending on what mood I’m in over the coming weeks I might just embed in a follow-up blog post….. (that’ll teach ya!)

Now it’s not that some people responded in the way they did that I am puzzled by (only last week I sent a tweet that some people considered a personal attack, so I’m not overly guarded myself as to how I use Twitter) it’s more the issue that my decision to uninstall Twitter from my mobile devices (I never said that I was stepping away from Twitter, or closing my account, just that I was uninstalling it from my mobile devices to focus on G+) should have generated such a feeling on animosity from certain tweeps.

Anyway for those of you who do feel that my decision to concentrate on G+ has in some way had a deep impact upon your lives I just want to be absolutely clear that

I am still using Twitter but for the time being only from my PCI still have several auto-posts set up from various sources to TwitterI may well return to tweeting from my mobile devices once I have had time to concentrate on G+

but it will be a decision that I will make, in my own time and for my own reasons.

Now why not get yourself across to G+ and have a play…

Image source.

View the original article here

Podcast #2 – A quick lunchtime post…

.. I’m currently sat in Gloucestershire College attending @jamesclay’s Podcasting Workshop.

I’ll blog about the workshop in greater detail shortly, however James has set us a task over lunch of creating a podcast, so without further ado….

View the original article here

I’m guilty, but I am trying….

… to vanquish the ‘old-school’ information dumps and click-next type of elearning that are the bain of many of our lives.

I must admit that this critical insight into best practice Instructional Design has only come about since we moved to a self-authoring tool, meaning that some of my previous attempts have ‘ahem‘ been very….. traditional

I was still quite proud of my previous attempts as it was the first time that I had ever created such a piece of content, however the screencast below shows my very first piece of elearning concerning the use of Display Screen Equipment and highlights some of the retrospective ‘niggles’ that have grated on me since I started looking into ID in greater detail.

Having now researched ID in greater detail, I followed up the above module with Version 2 which can be seen in the screencast below. In the screencast I outline some of the changes that I have made since my original attempt.

The inspiration for this approach was provided my @tomkuhlmann and @catmoore. Tom for the idea of creating the ‘look and feel’ of the module in PowerPoint before importing it into our rapid elearning tool and Cathy for her ideas on ‘dumping the drone’ and her Action Mapping process.

View the original article here

Book Review: The Checklist Manifesto

A few weeks ago I was reading this excellent post from Clark Quinn, when I noticed that he referenced the book ‘The Checklist Manifesto’ by Atul Gawande.

This was a book that I purchased (in paper format) and read 2-3 years ago, but must admit to it being ‘ahead of my time’ at the time in my career I read it. I did a bit of digging around to try and find it again, but was unable to do so, so repurchased it as a Kindle version.

What was immediately of interest to me was just how differently the book resonated with me in comparison with the first time I read it (I think the lesson here is to go back and revisit ‘things’, even ‘things’ that didn’t make sense/seem relevant/etc at the time). Concepts and examples that were lost on me a couple of years ago, all of a sudden started to make sense, to take shape, to add value! The book hadn’t changed – I had!

I could offer a lengthy review of the book, however that would seem like a waste of the functionality that the Kindle platform provides, so instead, here are my Kindle Highlights from the book, along with some additional notes that mirrored my thinking at the time of reading. (it appears that Amazon won’t allow you to see ‘just’ the notes for a specific book, so here’s a screenshot showing you where to click to see ‘some’ of  my notes (not sure why you can’t see them all?))

What I will say is that of you’re in an L&D role, this is a book that you need to read.

Maybe you’re new to the world of Performance support?

Perhaps you’re familiar with, maybe even practicing the concept?

It could be that you know it’s what you should be doing, but you need something to back that up, perhaps some evidence to convince others?

Whatever you’re doing, at whatever level – this book will have something in there for you.

So stop reading this and order this

Or if like like many, cash is tight at the moment, why not try tracking it down via your local library.

If you’d like to hear from Atul Gawande himself, with particular reference to ‘checklists’, then check this video out

He’s also published some fine examples of  checklists on this site.

Image source

View the original article here

Going Mobile in the Public & Private sector – Live Blog from #LT12UK

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

It started with a Tweet…

… never thought it would come to this (if you’re not a Hot Chocolate fan then this blog title is wasted on you!)

That’s how the structure came about for my recent session at the Learning and Skills Group 2011 conference.

Having seen how Stephanie Dedhar used Twitter and Wordle to crowdsource and then visualise feedback, I decided to use Twitter to put out the following request

Having received a significant number of responses I then inputted them into Wordle and produced the following Wordle.

Do you agree with the general responses?

Do you disagree?

What 3 words would you use to respond to my tweet above?

Why not let me know via the comments box below…

View the original article here

Language tandem

    Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

A new magnet for the LHC mock-up

  This year, the safety training centre on the Prévessin site acquired a mock-up of the LHC, which simulates the work and safety conditions in the tunnel.

Photo: Christoph Balle.

A new dummy quadrupole has just been added to the magnet chain, making the mock-up even more realistic. The new facility, which was a joint endeavour by the TE, GS, BE and EN Departments, will significantly improve the quality of the various training courses held at the centre, particularly the course on the use of self-rescue masks.

To consult the safety training catalogue and/or sign up for radiation protection training, please go to: https://cta.cern.ch.

For further information, please contact the Safety Training and Awareness service by telephone on 73811 or 79935 or by e-mail to safety-training@cern.ch.

by HSE Unit

 

View the original article here

New Session of introductory “E-Groups Training”

  The session provides a short introduction of E-Groups and how to use it to efficiently manage mailing lists at CERN. Alongside a general overview of the E-Groups application, E-Groups specific terminology, the management of dynamic and static groups and the specific settings for mails and archives are discussed in detail.

The course is intended to give newcomers a clear idea of what E-Groups are and how they can be used at CERN. It should enable users to be more efficient when being confronted in particular with:

the creation of dynamic and static E-groups and the decision whether the one or the other type is more appropriate,the management of E-group memberships,and the setting of mailing/archiving related properties.

The session will also focus on some best practices and give general advice on how to use E-Groups.

This introductory training session is given jointly by members of the IT-OIS and GS-AIS groups and is intended for any member at CERN potentially being confronted with the need to use or manage mailing list groups and being a beginner to E-Groups.

The next session date is Monday 27 January 2014 at 14:00 (session will be in English with the possibility to ask questions in French).

 

View the original article here

Are you a Project Leader, PSO, GLIMOS?! Are you in line to be one?

  You can count on a Safety training course to assist you in:

respecting CERN Safety rules and agreements with the Host States;
ensuring that applicable Safety rules/practices are respected or that acceptable Safety measures are known and implemented in your project/experiment;
creating Safety files/folders for your project/experiment;
obtaining HSE Safety Clearance.

Sign in to CTA here.

by HSE Unit

 

View the original article here

Safety Training: places available in January 2014

  There are places available in the forthcoming Safety courses. For updates and registrations, please refer to the Safety Training Catalogue (see here).

January 2014
(alphabetical order)

Confined space
28-JAN-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French

Ergonomics – Office
30-JAN-14, 9.00 – 12.00, in French

Fire Extinguisher
08-JAN-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
24-JAN-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in English
31-JAN-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French

First Aider - Level 1 – Initial
16-JAN-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in French
30-JAN-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in French

First Aider – Refresher
09-JAN-14, 8.30 – 12.30, in French
09-JAN-14, 13.30 – 17.30, in French

Habilitation électrique - Electrician Low Voltage - Initial
22-JAN-14 au 24-JAN-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in English

Habilitation électrique - Electrician Low and High Voltage - Initial
28-JAN-14 au 31-JAN-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French

Habilitation électrique - Non-Electrician – Initial
20-JAN-14 au 21-JAN-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in English (1,5 jour)

Habilitation électrique - Non-Electrician – Refresher
27-JAN-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in English

Magnetic Fields
21-JAN-14, 9.30 – 12.00, in English

Mobile Elevated Working Platform - Driving – Initial
29-JAN-14 au 30-JAN-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in French (supports de cours en anglais pour les non-francophones)

Mobile Elevated Working Platform - Driving – Refresher
31-JAN-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in French (supports de cours en anglais pour les non-francophones)

Overhead Crane - Operator and Slinger – Initial
21-JAN-14 au 22-JAN-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in French (supports de cours en anglais pour les non-francophones)

Radiation Protection - Controlled Area - CERN Employees and Associates
16-JAN-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in English
22-JAN-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in English
27-JAN-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in French
30-JAN-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in English

Self-Rescue Mask – Initial
13-JAN-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
13-JAN-14, 14.00 – 15.30, in English
20-JAN-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
20-JAN-14, 14.00 – 15.30, in English
27-JAN-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
27-JAN-14, 14.00 – 15.30, in English

Self-Rescue Mask – Refresher
07-JAN-14, 10-30 – 12.00, in English
09-JAN-14, 10-30 – 12.00, in English
14-JAN-14, 10-30 – 12.00, in French
16-JAN-14, 10-30 – 12.00, in English
21-JAN-14, 10-30 – 12.00, in French
23-JAN-14, 10-30 – 12.00, in English
28-JAN-14, 10-30 – 12.00, in French
30-JAN-14, 10-30 – 12.00, in English

Working at Heights - Using a harness
10-JAN-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French
16-JAN-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French

by Safety Training Team, HSE Unit

 

View the original article here

Lync: click to call and collaborate with others

  A new session (in French) will be held Monday 25 November at 11 a.m. in the Technical Training Centre.

The presentation will cover the main features of Lync, including: the use of its softphone with CERN phone number; how to instant message; how to stay connected as if you are in your office; creating and participating in online meetings; how to share presentations/desktops with other people; how to use a voice mailbox on Exchange; integrating with Outlook, CERN phone book, CERN phone system, etc.

General information about Lync can be found on http://cern.ch/lync.

Please register through our Training catatalogue.

Lync service & Technical Training

 

View the original article here

Learning Locker: it’s your data

Guest blogger: Dave Tosh

A new product that we are currently working on here at HT2, Learning Locker, has several important aspects at its core, one of which is data ownership.

In a nutshell, Learning Locker provides a destination where users can create a personal locker housing their learning data that they can then put to work for them. The data comes from a variety of sources including the web and any learning platform that exports Tin Can statements.

From the official Tin Can site:

“The Tin Can API (sometimes known as the Experience API) is a brand new specification for learning technology that makes it possible to collect data about the wide range of experiences a person has (online and offline).”

How does it work?
The initial prototype is fairly basic. Users create an account and add any email addresses which they wish to be associated with their learning locker account, similar to a Gravatar account. You might have a personal email address, a work email address and an email address you were given for night classes at a local college. Adding these addresses ensures that any TinCan statement sent containing one of your email addresses will end up in your personal locker.

One statement might relate to something read and shared from Gigom on a personal level:

"actor": {
"name": "Dave Tosh",
"mbox": "mailto:myemail@gmail.com",
"objectType": "Agent"
}
"verb": {
"id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/shared",
"display": {
"en-US": "shared",
"en-GB": "shared"
}
},
"object": {
"objectType": "Activity",
"id": "http://gigaom.com/2013/04/30/coursera-makes-first-foray-into-k-12-education-with-online-courses-for-teachers/",
"definition": {
"name": {
"en-US": "Coursera makes first foray into K-12 education with online courses for teachers",
"en-GB": "Coursera makes first foray into K-12 education with online courses for teachers"
}
},
...

Another statement could come from work training:

"actor": {
"name": "David Tosh",
"mbox": "mailto:dave.tosh@ht2.co.uk",
"objectType": "Agent"
}
"verb": {
"id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/experienced",
"display": {
"en-US": "experienced",
"en-GB": "experienced"
}
},
"object": {
"objectType": "Activity",
"id": "http://curatr3.com/museum/view/demo/0#!object/57",
"definition": {
"name": {
"en-US": "The Tyranny of the Next Button",
"en-GB": "The Tyranny of the Next Button"
},
"description": {
"en-GB": "Perhaps we don't need to go through the course development process in the same way. Even exceptional instructional designers struggle under the weight of information that we are often asked to convey in a normal piece of Courseware.",
"en-GB": "Perhaps we don't need to go through the course development process in the same way. Even exceptional instructional designers struggle under the weight of information that we are often asked to convey in a normal piece of Courseware."
},
"extensions": {
"http://curatr3.com/define/extension/bookmarkType": {
"bt_id": "1",
"bt_text": "Added to my knowledge"
}
}
}
},
...

How do I get my data into my personal locker?
There are a few ways to import and save your data.The first is via our bookmarklet, this makes it easy to capture experiences that occur while you are accessing resources on the web. We are also working on a ‘Learn this’ button which will work in a similar fashion to the Facebook ‘Like’ button but with extra metadata built in such as ‘This challenged my thinking’, ‘This helped me understand X’ and so on (you can see an example above under the object extension). The final method is via learning platforms you use in school, at college, at work or online. If they support Tin Can, then, you should be able to get your learning statements out and into your locker. To help support this we are working on plugins for some of the major players such as Moodle.

Export
As you would expect, with a Learning Locker account, all your data is yours and can be exported at any time. Further to this, we are developing an open source version that individuals can host if they prefer.

Approach
While a Tin Can statement appears basic at first glance, they can become complex quickly. To handle this, we are using a combination of tech. For our initial service, we parse incoming statements and abstract a couple of key components; actor, verb, object, and where available, context. This high level data allows us to offer the first phase of the learning locker, which is the storage and filtering of learning statements based on the action, source, time and reason.
To provide deeper analysis we store the full JSON object in a NoSQL database, so, over time, we can drill into the data exposing insights that we hope will lead to useful services for learners; helping predict learning paths, highlight areas of strength, topics needing addressed and so on.

What’s next?
We are currently testing an early prototype and will shortly solicit volunteers interested in providing feedback on the service. Stay tuned.

Dave Tosh is passionate about technology, in particular the web, and its potential for creating new learning opportunities for us all. Dave is a pioneer in the social learning space, co-founding Elgg. He is now working with HT2 as the product lead on a new learning service, Learning Locker and continues to experiment on a new goals based learning platform. Follow him on Twitter @davetosh.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 23rd, 2013 and is filed under eLearning. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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The Realities of MOOCs

This blog first appeared on the ASTD’s Learning Technologies blog, March 2013.

Two weeks ago we launched a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in association with the University of San Diego (USD). Based on “Sustainability in the Supply Chain,” the six-week course is aimed at managers working in supply chain positions around the world. For those unfamiliar with the MOOC terminology, this sort of course operates at scale and is open to anyone who wishes to join.

Two Types of MOOCs

Broadly speaking there are two types of MOOCs: cMOOCs and xMOOCs. cMOOCs follow a “connectivism” approach, which is based on the work of George Siemens, Stephen Downes, and others working at the forefront of online learning theory. (Siemens and Downes host http://mooc.ca as a place to host MOOC news and information.)

cMOOCs are something of an experiment in chaos; their mantra is to gather a wide range of people together to discuss and discover a subject that interests them and enables them learn in anyway they see fit. This style of course is open—not because of cost (or lack thereof), but because of the manner in which participants learn.

cMOOCs encourage the use of any platform, any content, and any connection a learner wishes to make. Also, the fact that cMOOCs are massive is important because it creates opportunities for learners to make connections with a diverse range of people. Exactly how massive a course has to be to be considered “massive” is something of a contentious point, but Downes suggests Dunbar’s number of 150 as the cut-off point.

However, cMOOCs are generally not the ones being written about in the New York Times. Instead, folks seem more interested in the MOOCs with hundreds of thousands of participants; those are the xMOOCs.

xMOOCs are those most commonly found on platforms like Coursera, Udacity, and EdX. You know instantly there is a difference because the xMOOC has a platform—the cMOOC methodology tells you to go make your own platform. xMOOCs stick closer to well-known methods of online learning, such as video tutorials and quizzes. There is variation in the form of peer marking and social discussion opportunity, but these aren’t required features.

A Closer Look at Our MOOC

Our MOOC is—in the strictest sense—an xMOOC. We have curated the content, put it into a course framework, and set our students free to roam through it. However, elements of a cMOOC are creeping in. We give a wide range of autonomy to students to browse what they want, and students can add learning content back to the platform right alongside our original learning materials. We encourage participation constantly and use peer review. Organized chaos, if you will.

The biggest job that companies like Coursera perform for those delivering MOOCs is marketing. Getting 100,000 students to sign up for a course outside of these marketplaces is tough. That is why we were delighted when more than 650 students signed up for our MOOC—a testament to social media and good old fashioned marketing organized by the Supply Chain Management Institute at USD.

In the interest of science, we decided to run a few experiments to check out the effect of class sizes and previous exposure to higher education. First off, we wanted to know if engagement varied with class size. So we broke our students into three key groups; one of 300, one of 150, and one of 50. Everything you’ve ever read about education tells you that big class sizes are bad, personalized learning experiences are good. MOOCs claim to run counter to that—by exposing learners to more people, they get to choose those people that they wish to participate alongside.

What We Are Learning About MOOC Learners

We’re only two weeks in, but we’ve got a fair amount of data already. The first thing we noticed is the dropout rate; only 50% to 55% of students registered for the MOOC signed in to the course. This data corresponds with what others have reported elsewhere, so it isn’t surprising. With no skin in the game, many don’t start the course.

From our large group (300 enrolled) 60 learners made it to level three of the module, which is about the halfway mark. In the next group (150 enrolled), 28 made it to the same point. And in our small group (50 enrolled) just 4 made it to halfway.

If we remove those who never logged on in the first place, around 40% made it to halfway in the big group, 39% in the medium group, and 13% in the smaller group. If engagement is any measure to go by, then small class sizes don’t make for a great experience in the world of MOOCs.

Those of you keeping tally will notice that I’ve missed 150 people out of this assessment. This is a deliberate mistake!

We saved another piece of research for three final groups of about 50, whom we sorted based on the amount of higher education they had previously completed. The first group had Master’s-level qualifications or higher, the second group had Bachelor’s degrees, and the third group had high school or Associate’s degrees.

Again those actually logging on was in the 50% region. In the Master’s group, 16 reached the halfway point or beyond; the Bachelor’s group had 9 reach halfway, and in the high school group only 4 made it halfway through the course. Those numbers equate to 60 percent, 33 percent and 17 percent, respectively (of those who logged on at all). When compared with the random selection of 50 students, the Master’s students showed themselves to be much more readily engaged by the learning process—four times more so.

On the face of it, it would seem that those who have already been exposed to an advanced education learn best with MOOCs. The course itself is accredited at the Master’s level, but I don’t suppose this is particularly unusual for a MOOC—as they tend to be aimed at niche areas in advanced subjects, given by the likes of MIT, Stanford, and so forth.

Does this mean MOOCs can’t be used for a wider section of the population? Absolutely not; after all, people still complete the course regardless of their background. But it seems to come most easily to those who have explored learning at its highest and potentially most self-directed level.

Looking Ahead

It’s been said before, but the biggest challenge ahead for the MOOC Revolution is perhaps to be had in learning how to learn. Maybe then the field will open up to cMOOCs taking center stage in the future of online learning.

And we are still in the early days for our research of our MOOC, so I won’t jump to conclusions—just yet. More important, I’ll have more data when I present the final output at the ASTD conference in Dallas, so please do come by my session on Wednesday morning to find out more and continue the debate.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 9th, 2013 and is filed under eLearning. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Safety Training: places available in April 2014

  There are places available in the forthcoming Safety courses. For updates and registrations, please refer to the Safety Training Catalogue (see here).

April 2014
(alphabetical order)

ATEX Habilitation - Level 2
03-APR-14 to 04-APR-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French

Cryogenic Safety - Level 1
10-APR-14, 10.00 – 12.00, in English

Electrical Palett Truck – Driving
15-APR-14, 8.30 – 12.30, in French (hand-outs in English for non-French-speaking participants)

Fire Extinguisher
09-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
16-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in English
23-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in English

First Aider - Level 1 – Initial
03-APR-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in French
10-APR-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in English
16-APR-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in English
24-APR-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in English

First Aider - Level 1 – Refresher
17-APR-14, 8.30 – 12.30, in English
17-APR-14, 13.30 – 17.30, in English

Habilitation électrique - Electrician Low Voltage – Initial
09-APR-14 to 11-APR-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French

Habilitation électrique - Electrician Low Voltage – Refresher
03-APR-14 to 04-APR-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French (1,5 day)

Habilitation électrique - Electrician Low and High Voltage – Refresher
15-APR-14 to 16-APR-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French

Habilitation électrique - Non electrician – Refresher
02-APR-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French

Magnetic Fields
14-APR-14, 9.30 – 12.00, in French

Mobile Elevated Working Platform - Driving - Initial
24-APR-14 to 25-APR-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in French (hand-outs in English for non-French-speaking participants)

Mobile Elevated Working Platform - Driving - Refresher
16-APR-14, in French (hand-outs in English for non-French-speaking participants)

Noise – Risks
24-APR-14, 10.00 – 12.30, in English

Overhead Crane - Operator and Slinger – Initial
03-APR-14 to 04-APR-14, in French (hand-outs in English for non-French-speaking participants)

Overhead Crane - Operator and Slinger – Refresher
02-APR-14, in French (hand-outs in English for non-French-speaking participants)

Radiation Protection - Controlled Area - CERN Employees and Associates
09-APR-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in English
10-APR-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in French
17-APR-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in English
23-APR-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in English
24-APR-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in French

Self-Rescue Mask - Initial
07-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
07-APR-14, 14.00 – 15.30, in English
14-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
14-APR-14, 14.00 – 15.30, in English
22-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
28-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
28-APR-14, 14.00 – 15.30, in English

Self-Rescue Mask - Refresher
01-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
03-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in English
08-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
10-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in English
15-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
17-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in English
24-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in English
29-APR-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French

Territorial Safety Officer (TSO) – Initial
01-APR-14 to 03-APR-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in English

Working at Heights - Using a harness
15-APR-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French
23-APR-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in English

by Safety Training team, HSE Unit

 

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Safety Training: places available in February 2014

  There are places available in the forthcoming Safety courses. For updates and registrations, please refer to the Safety Training Catalogue (see here).

February 2014
(alphabetical order)

ATEX Habilitation - Level 1
04-FEB-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French

Electrical Work - Lock-out
05-FEB-14, 13.30 – 17.30, in French

Ergonomics – Office
06-FEB-14, 9.00 – 12.00, in English

Fire Extinguisher
26-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
05-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in English

First Aider - Level 1 – Initial
20-FEB-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in French

First Aider - Refresher
06-FEB-14, 8.30 – 12.30, in French
06-FEB-14, 13.30 – 17.30, in French
13-FEB-14, 8.30 – 12.30, in English
13-FEB-14, 13.30 – 17.30, in English

Habilitation électrique - Electrician Low Voltage – Initial
10-FEB-14 to 12-FEB-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French

Habilitation électrique - Electrician Low Voltage – Refresher
10-FEB-14 to 11-FEB-14, 9.00 – 17.30 and 9.00 – 12.30, in English (1.5 day)

Habilitation électrique - Electrician Low Voltage – Refresher
27-FEB-14 to 28-FEB-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French (1.5 day)

Habilitation électrique - Electrician Low and High Voltage – Refresher
13-FEB-14 to 14-FEB-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in English

Habilitation électrique – Non-electrician – Initial
13-FEB-14 to 14-FEB-14, 9.00 – 17.30 and 9.00 – 12.30, in French (1.5 day)

Habilitation électrique – Non-electrician – Refresher
11-FEB-14 au 12-FEB-14, 13.30 – 17.30 and 9.00 – 12.30, in English (1 day)

Habilitation électrique – Non-electrician – Refresher
26-FEB-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in French

Mobile Elevated Working Platform - Driving – Initial
24-FEB-14 au 25-FEB-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in French (supports de cours en anglais pour les non-francophones)

Mobile Elevated Working Platform - Driving – Refresher
26-FEB-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in French (supports de cours en anglais pour les non-francophones)

Noise – Risks
13-FEB-14, 10.00 – 12.30, in French

Overhead Crane - Operator and Slinger – Initial
03-FEB-14 au 04-FEB-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in French (supports de cours en anglais pour les non-francophones)

Overhead Crane - Operator and Slinger – Refresher
05-FEB-14, 8.30 – 17.30, in French (supports de cours en anglais pour les non-francophones)

Radiation Protection - Controlled Area - CERN Employees and Associates
11-FEB-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in English
19-FEB-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in English
24-FEB-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in French
27-FEB-14, 9.00 – 17.00, in English

Self-Rescue Mask – Initial
03-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.30, in French
03-FEB-14, 14.00 – 15.30, in English
10-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.30, in French
10-FEB-14, 14.00 – 15.30, in English
17-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.30, in French
17-FEB-14, 14.00 – 15.30, in English
24-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.30, in French
24-FEB-14, 14.00 – 15.30, in English

Self-Rescue Mask – Refresher
04-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
06-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in English
11-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
13-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in English
18-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
20-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in English
25-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in French
27-FEB-14, 10.30 – 12.00, in English

Working at Heights - Using a harness
25-FEB-14, 9.00 – 17.30, in English

by The Safety Training Team, HSE Unit

 

View the original article here

English and French courses

  If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to learn a language, there is no excuse anymore!

You can attend one of our English or French courses and you can practise the language with a tandem partner!

General and Professional French Courses
The next session will take place from 27 January to 4 April 2014.
These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses.

Oral Expression
This course is aimed at students with a good knowledge of French who want to enhance their speaking skills.
Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc.
The next session will take place from 27 January to 4 April 2014.

Writing professional documents in French
These courses are designed for non-French speakers with a very good standard of spoken French.
The next session will take place from 27 January to 4 April 2014.

Cours d’anglais général et professionnel
La prochaine session se déroulera du 3 mars au 27 juin 2014.
Ces cours s’adressent à toute personne travaillant au CERN ainsi qu’à leur conjoint.
Pour vous inscrire et voir tout le détail des cours proposés, consultez nos pages web : http://cern.ch/Training.

Oral Expression
The next session will take place from 3 March to 27 June 2014.
This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to enhance their speaking skills. There will be an average of 8 participants in a class.
Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students.

Writing Professional Documents in English – Administrative
Writing Professional Documents in English – Technical
The next session will take place from 3 March to 27 June 2014.
These courses are designed for people with a good level of spoken English who wish to improve their writing skills. There will be an average of 8 participants in a class.

For registration and further information on the courses or the language tandem programme, please consult our web pages: http://hr-training.web.cern.ch/hr-training/ or contact Kerstin Fuhrmeister (70896 - language.training@cern.ch).

 

View the original article here

Uncover the recruiter in you!

  2013 saw the launch of the one-day training course "Selecting the best person for CERN". So far, 10 courses have taken place and over 100 participants have taken part in this interactive, hands on experience.

The course has been met with much enthusiasm and positive feedback, with participants not only feeling better prepared and organised for the recruitment boards, but also equipped with concrete tools on how to prepare and conduct an effective selection interview.

Following on from this success, further sessions are planned in 2014: we look forward to welcoming recruiting supervisors and board members who are likely to take part in a recruitment process, whether for LD or LD2IC, and who are interested in finding out more about how to get the most out of this important process!

To enrol to this course, please follow this link: "Selecting the best person for CERN".

 

View the original article here

New session of “CERN Document Server (CDS), Inspire and Library Services”

  The training course is given by members of CERN’s CDS Team (IT-CIS group) and the Library Services (GIS SIS group) and is intended for all CERN members of personnel.

This course will present CDS, inspirehep.net, and the content, scope and scientific information available in or with CDS, as well as the classification and organisation of the documents.

It is intended to give you the training to use CDS efficiently and, in particular, covers:?

the main characteristics and advanced features for the search of documents (scientific, multimedia, etc)?,the collaborative tools: baskets, alerts, comments, evaluation, etc.?the submission of documents in CDS and examples of workflows.

An important part of the training will be the various exercises, designed to give participants the ability to work with CDS in real life cases, including with the most advanced features.

Don’t wait! Sign up for the training course directly through the CERN Training Catalogue by clicking on the following link:? Course code: 126CDS01 - CERN Document Server (CDS), Inspire and Library Services?.

Next session date is 10 December 2013, in English?.

For more information, contact the CDS Team directly by sending an e-mail to cds.support@cern.ch.

by Technical Training

 

View the original article here

Learning from social learning

View the original article here

4 Ways to use Curation in Learning

View the original article here

Personal development and communication courses – Places available

  There are places available in some personal development and communication courses taking place between February and June 2014.

For more information on the course, click on the course title to access the training catalogue. You can then sign-up online.

For advice, you can contact:
Erwin Mosselmans, tel. 74125, erwin.mosselmans@cern.ch
Nathalie Dumeaux, tel. 78144, nathalie.dumeaux@cern.ch
Kerstin Fuhrmeister, tel.70896, Kerstin.fuhrmeister@cern.ch

 

View the original article here

Learning Locker: The Open Source Learning Record Store

Today we announce the new version of Learning Locker. If you’ve looked at Learning Locker before you will notice that we’ve changed. We haven’t lost sight of our original ideas, we’ve just changed our approach. Learning Locker will become the first enterprise-ready Learning Record Store to be available completely open source. Here’s what we’re thinking…

Turns out, owning your learning data is dull

We’re passionate about promoting individual ownership of learning data. This is the beta product we originally built, a way to capture and present your learning data using xAPI. The idea was, and remains, a cool one. The problem comes in the capture of this data. If you look at really successful personal data solutions, like Nike+, you see how much work they put in to making data capture seamless. Hence the Fuelband. This is a smart solution – slap it on your wrist and all the stats is done for you.

With our original Learning Locker we couldn’t ever quite crack this problem. It was fundamentally too much work to manually capture your data, or to try and re-direct an xAPI endpoint to your own learning locker. Most products aren’t yet built in a way that is compatible with this approach. The payoffs of owning your learning data are long term, so putting in a lot of short term work just wasn’t compelling as an experience. It was a bit dull.

Enter the Learning Record Store

Previously, whilst we adopted the xAPI, we weren’t conforming to the standard for a Learning Record Store. To be honest we didn’t need to do it because we were a consumer facing product that was designed to be a step removed from an LRS. But in our reflection on the personal data problem we came to the conclusion that the most obvious way to automate the process was to also tackle the ownership problem at the organisation level. If we could build a platform that was good for companies to manage their learning data, it would be a lot easier to configure individual user services off the back of that. If a company was doing the leg-work in collecting the data, all the individual would need is a pass-through on the feed. Kinda how you might connect Twitter and WordPress together.

This would mean a turnaround in our strategy; no organisation would adopt an xAPI solution that wasn’t 100% compliant with the standard. We would have to become an LRS. This wasn’t a trivial decision. Writing a fully conformant LRS is a big undertaking.  At this time I only know of two other commercially available LRS platforms; Watershed and Wax. But after a lot of thought, Dave and I decided it was the best way forward.

Learning Locker – for real this time

Which brings us to today. Dave has been plowing through the xAPI specification for the last two months, refactoring our code to bring it up to scratch. We’ve faced a lot of tough decisions along the way. One of those was about focus. We couldn’t bring both the organisation and the individual parts to market at the same time. We chose to concentrate on the organisational elements first, figuring that if we could get data collection going here first, we will have a nice base of statements to push out to individuals when the time is right.

Of course, we had previously committed to open sourcing our work. This is an approach we wanted to keep. As such I’m delighted to announce that Learning Locker will be the first open source (GPL 3.0), enterprise ready Learning Record Store to make it to the marketplace. In fact we’re already in place with 4 pilot organisations.

Now the really hard work starts. Open source isn’t just about giving away code. It’s about fostering a community that can build on our base and support growth. That’s why we’ve set out the building blocks of a governance plan and been around the world recruiting the best and the brightest to come help us out. We’re delighted to have people like Megan Bowe and Aaron Silvers on board to help shape our community approach. And we’ve got great support from the UK in the form of Jason McGonigle and Bryan Mathers. We’ll be adding to our board in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out.

We are completely committed to making learning data work for individuals. This means ownership as well as services. It might take us a little longer to get there but now I’m completely confident we’ll arrive at our destination. In anticipation of us launching Learning Locker please sign up to our mailing list. We’ll use this not only to announce the launch but to keep people up to date with the project on a monthly basis. Check out our first meetup times and if you are in the area please do come and join us.

This is going to be fun.

View the original article here