e Learning

Brian Sutton

Chief Educator, QA

An exploration of Myth and Reality

Agenda for our discussion

Where are we now Why the rush towards e-Learning? What is our current experience? The corporate legacy

Why invest in Learning? - how does it happen? Some ideas, concepts and facts about learning Where we learn – vs - where we put our money Future directions for learning

What is Blended learning First steps A glimpse of the possible

Summary

What do we mean by e?

What do we mean by Learning?

“The principles, practice and profession of teaching”

Implied Benefits of e-Learning

Travel Travel SavingsSavings

Time Time SavingsSavings

Improved Access Improved Access to Contentto Content

Ability to Report Ability to Report and Measure and Measure EffectivenessEffectiveness

Cost Cost SavingsSavings

The Worldwide Expansion of E-Learning!

• Circuit City – is training 50,000 employees from 600 stores using customized

courses that are “short, fun, flexible, interactive and instantly applicable on the job.”

• The US Army’s virtual university – offered online college courses to more than 12,000 students located

anywhere in the world – Estimated to be a $42 million e-learning program.

• Dow Chemical– needed to train 40,000 employees across 70 countries on workplace

respect and responsibility, using 6 hours of e-learning– Result: All 40,000 passed– Savings: $2.7 million

US Energy Company

• Problem– IT technical training for employees

• Solution– Async, Web-based, self-paced learning– Some employees discussed learning in virtual classroom

• Result– In 12 month span, 3,000 courses completed and another 7,000

partially completed• Benefit

– Payback period of 3-4 months– Faster time to competency– Reduced re-work– Higher employee retention– Higher quality of service– Reduced help desk call volume and costs– Less system downtime

(CLO, March 2003)

British Telecom & sales training

• Problem– Train 17,000 sales professionals to sell Internet services

• Solution– Internet simulation

• Result– Customer service rep training reduced from 15 days to 1 day

– Sales training reduced from 40 days to 9 days

• Benefit– Millions of dollars saved

– sales conversion went up 102 percent

– customer satisfaction up 16 points

(CLO, March 2003)

E-learning – promise fulfilled, paradise gained

The last 15 years have seen great advances in technology and multi-media design. Courseware is now; Very interactive, includes sound, video, links to job aids and other

documents, message boards, live mentors (24x7) Virtual classroom technology allows live instructors to lead world-wide

sessions Advantages of current courseware:

Can be used anytime, anywhere. Take breaks at any time and return to exactly the same place.

Learning is reinforced through constant testing, performance is tracked. Patterns of learning are different, sessions shorter, easier to fit with job

requirements. We no longer loose days away from the workplace. Material stimulates multiple senses, therefore more memorable. Faster time to competence. Can be expensive to create but then cost per delivery rapidly becomes

marginal

E-learning – promise unfulfilled, paradise lost

We took the pedagogy of the classroom and applied it unchanged to a new delivery mechanism.

The last 15 years have seen great advances in multi-media design whilst learning design has been largely ignored - result Very pretty courseware that provides little stimulus to learn

Criticisms of current courseware: Learning that is not Authentic, little connection to real world. Learning not reinforced, no mentoring or post course support. Useless after first use, no indexing to aid finding things later. Does not support information discovery, experimentation and

what if type exploration Not linked to enduring corporate repositories of knowledge Expensive to create, even more expensive to maintain

The Corporate Legacy

Large installed base of generic e-learning materials from a range of providers. Mostly following a pedagogy of tell and test.

E-learning modules not linked to personal development objectives and rarely integrated with the rest of the learning portfolio, especially not linked with ILT provision.

Poor take up rates of e-learning and poor completion rates.

Workers find all sorts of excuses for not doing the e-learning, a current favourite is “I couldn’t get access to the net when I had the time to study”. (Don’t spend time and money trying to fix this, it is a symptom not the problem)

ROI based on avoided cost by not doing training some other way, rather than effectiveness of change in Knowledge, attitude, skills or habits and subsequent linkage to operational effectiveness.

Building Performance

( K + S ) x A

=

Improved Personal and Organisational Performance

1. Knowledge2. Skills4. Attitude

Individuals Acquire & Share Knowledge Through:

• Discovery

• Play

• Story Telling

• Collaboration with their peers

Individual WorldView

Per

sona

l R

efle

ctio

n

How People Engage with Learning Experiences

Access real systems / toolsBuild in Context Stimulate Multiple Senses

Individuals Acquire & Perfect Skills Through:

• Observation

• Trial & Error

• Guided Practice

• Application

• Experimentation

Individual Worldof Performance

Pra

ctic

e

Individuals develop Attitudes based on:

• Peer behaviour

• Environment / culture

• Past experience

• Need for well being

IndividualSet of beliefs

Ada

pt /

Ado

pt

Individual Support Environments

+ ) x(

Informal Learning Represents 70% of Learning that Occurs in the Workplace

* Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Informal Learning “the improvised, unplanned instructional efforts that are part of the everyday fabric of business operations.”*

FormalFormal

InformalInformal

5% I Know

20% I Can Do

75%

I Adopt and Adapt

Informal Learning

Building Performance Over Time

Study by Sally Anne Moore, Digital Equipment Corporation ‘Time to Performance’‘At the Water Cooler of Learning’ by David Grebow

Formal Learning

Performance

Important Learning Links

General & Academic Need Specific & Practical Need

Longer Term & Full-time Shorter Term & Part-time

Standardised content Individualised content

Requires pre-requisites Requires purpose

Isolated from work Associated with work

Assessment-based Results-based

Teacher-centered Learner-centered

Measured & Scheduled Unmeasured & As Needed

Control Empowerment

Formal – In the Classroom Informal – At the Water cooler

Adapted from ‘At the Water Cooler of Learning’ by David Grebow

When is Retention the Highest?

Source: Self-explanations: How to study and use examples in problem solving Cognitive Science, 1989

Reading 10%

20%Seeing

Hearing 30%

Seeing & Hearing 50%

Collaborating 70%

Practice 80%

Teaching 90%

To teach is to learn twice.Joseph Joubert

Work-related learning preferences of work-based learners

48

3224

2016

1212

6868

7690

0 20 40 60 80 100

Formal f2f

Manuals

Story telling

Self-study materials

Internet networks

Self-help groups

Web materials

Group problem-solving

Work experience

Work mentor / supervisor

Hands on, doing

Source: ICLML, Middlesex University

Learner managed process

InstructorControlledProcess

Open ended,

strategic learner directed

Instructor Specified

tasks

NW NE

SW SE

Online Pedagogy Grid

Presents traditional training and teaching by innovative means

Giveslearners control overstyle, location, pace,duration, sequence

but not task

Process is predetermined- learners explore

content and direction.

System liberates andsupports learners to

decide and control own direction

and process

Coomey,M Stephenson,J 2001, It’s all about Dialogue, Involvement, Support and Control, in Teaching and Learning Online, Stephenson, J, Kogan Page London

Learner managed process

InstructorControlledProcess

Open ended,

strategic learner directed

Instructor Specified

tasks

NW NE

SW SE

Online Pedagogy Grid

Coomey,M Stephenson,J 2001, It’s all about Dialogue, Involvement, Support and Control, in Teaching and Learning Online, Stephenson, J, Kogan Page London

•Learner managed virtuallearning environment;

•Customised intuitive tools;•dis-aggregated

company-specific and commercial materials tagged

for personal relevance;•open to outside sources;

•online mentoring.

Learner managed process

InstructorControlledProcess

Open ended,

strategic learner directed

Instructor Specified

tasks

NW NE

SW SE

Online Pedagogy Grid

Coomey,M Stephenson,J 2001, It’s all about Dialogue, Involvement, Support and Control, in Teaching and Learning Online, Stephenson, J, Kogan Page London

Vast majority of cases in research literature were in NW, some in NE and SW, few in SE

The SE quadrant is where e-learning in

the work-place can be most effective

Defining Blended Learning

1. Applying different forms of instructional methods (Classroom, e-Learning, collaboration, simulations, etc.)

2. Combining delivery technology (Internet, CD-ROM, etc.)

3. Mixing teaching approaches (behavioral, cognitive and constructive)

4. Integrating formal learning activities with actual job activities.

Adapted ‘Blended Learning: Let's Get Beyond the Hype’ By Dr. Margaret Driscoll

Blended Learning has been defined as a combination or mixing of at least four different methodologies:

Infusing E-Learning

(Elliott Masie, March 2002, e-learning Magazine)

• Problem– A manufacturing company needed to transform a week-long

safety program:

• Solution - a three-part blended offering– Phase 1 - One day in classroom– Phase 2 - Multiple online simulations and lessons.– Phase 3 - One final day of discussions and exams.

• Note: must accomplish online work before phase 3

• Result– raised success rate– Improved transfer of skills– lowered hours away from the job

Ratheon, Build Own LMS

(John Hartnett, Online Learning, Summer 2002)

• Problem SAP Training and LMS

– Choices• Vendor ($390,000) • Build Internally ($136,000)• Cost of Instructor-led Training ($388,000

• Solution– Five Training Components in 18 Weeks :

• Role-based simulations• Audio walk-throughs• Online quick reference system• Live training support (special learning labs)

• Online enrollment and tracking • Result

– saved $252,000

– within 6 weeks, 4,000 courses taken by 1,400 students

Putting the “e” back into Learning

The promise of new blended learning programmes lies in their ability to empower the learner. To transform the quality of the learning experience rather than their ability to dumb down or remove cost.

Summary

• E-learning in its present form has been an expensive experiment and has (by and large) failed to live up to its promise.

• The solution to our corporate education problems lies in the fundamentals of how people learn. We need to consider both the formal and informal dimensions.

• Putting the needs of the learner foremost helps us to build learning programmes that support the ways that people learn.

• e-learning is getting better only because it is beginning to support; discovery, story telling, trial and error, application, experimentation and collaboration.

• E-Learning is not the solution – it is part of a solution.

• We should perhaps look towards the e- enablement of informal learning networks