For the first time in history, we have four generations in the workforce. Each one is unique, with different backgrounds, goals and behaviors. At the same time, the world is becoming more interconnected, and the workforce is becoming increasingly more diverse and dispersed. According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Commerce distributed in April 2013, U.S. multinational companies (MNCs) increased worldwide employment to 34.5 million workers in 2011 with the bulk of the growth taking place abroad. Developing training programs to keep a wide variety of employees at home, let alone around the world, engaged and up-to-date can be incredibly challenging, time intensive and expensive. But it doesn’t have to be.

Don’t miss these upcoming webinars to learn how to save time, money and effort when localizing global learning programs, as well as how to use mobile in blended learning to increase engagement and retention for employees from all generations:

Deploy Global eLearning Efficiently
Wednesday June 12, 2013
10-11 a.m. PT (12-1 p.m. CT, 1-2 p.m. ET)

In this webinar you will learn:

• How to maximize engagement by culturally adapting instructional design and scripts, including regional customization
• Cost reduction strategies for localization and internationalization of course design
• Tips for facilitating collaboration, review and deployment within your target regions
• The benefits of centralized development

Register Today!

Incorporating Mobile into your Blended Learning Programs
Tuesday June 25, 2013
10-11 a.m. PT (12-1 p.m. CT, 1-2 p.m. ET)

In this webinar you will learn:

• How to use mobile trends to your advantage in your blended learning strategy
• Examples of organizations delivering mobile as part of a blended learning program
• 5 tips on design and delivery
• Best practices for using smartphone and tablet technology to improve the learner experience

Register Today!

With eLearning the number one problem that we come across is keeping end users engaged with the content. You know so the learner does something crazy and actually learns.  Seems like a simple concept, but often times the training courses that are needed the most, are the most difficult to keep users interested.

Here are the some ways to keep learners engaged:

Traditional methods include:

• Interactivities – Using interactive elements, like click to reveals, drag & drops, and stop & thinks, throughout the module always help to increase engagement, because now the user is doing something with the content and not just seeing and hearing it.

• Good Content – This seems obvious – but you would be surprised how many people just want to take boring source content and paste it up online and call it an effective eLearning course. Always be sure the content is written with the delivery and the end user in mind, this will help ensure they stay engaged.

• Telling a Story – If you have a boring content, for example sometimes compliance courses can fall into this category, you can tell a story about an employee that broke the rules to illustrate consequences and all of the content that is needed to be learned.

• Media – Changing up media throughout a course can keep a user on their toes as they proceed.  Sometimes just a simple video in the middle of text and audio can interest the learner enough to stay engaged, and it helps those with different learning styles as well.

• Knowledge Checks – A couple questions sprinkled throughout a learning module make it clear to the learner that they can’t just skim the content and they are going to be tested.

New ways to help with engagement and retention would be to include:

• Pushing the Envelope – This is really dependant on company culture, but recently I just completed a course where competition law is taught by an Elvis Impersonator.  This takes the same content people have been getting in standard forms for years and repurposes it in a new and fresh way.

• Mobile/Micro – The smaller the module size and the more accessible it is, the better chance you have of getting someone to complete it.

• Game-Based Learning – Gamify the learning – this can disguise much of the content inside a game where the learner is playing.

Overall, it is best to always think of the user when putting content online. If you keep them in mind while developing, odds are you will come up with some creative ways to use these methods or some of your own to keep users engaged and ultimately increase retention.

MobilePaks has a unique user experience challenge. The intent of MobilePaks is to provide people with an easier way to learn. When we were brainstorming this idea awhile back, we were only thinking about the business problems that we had been hearing:

• Our staff can’t access the content on a mobile device or due to some other technical hurdle
• Users think the content is boring and not engaging
• The content requires too much time and exceeds the typical attention span

So we built MobilePaks, because it eliminates these hurdles.

Recently, I came across some work done by Howard McClusky, a professor of educational psychology and adult education. He presented his Theory of Margin in 1959. The concept draws upon the relationships between load and power when adults make a decision to learn. Load factors are life tasks like family, job and financial commitments as well as goals and personal expectations.  Power factors include things like current health, money position, social network and skills.

His premise is that if you build up a lot of power, the load factors are offset and you have some reserves, margin, to live with.  When this occurs, adults are better equipped to learn and explore.  Margin = Load/power.

MobilePaks isn’t the magical elixir, however, it does operate on a similar tenant. Reduce the barriers to learning, increase the enjoyment of learning and don’t call it learning. Barriers like inability to access content, as well as information overload from pages upon pages of 12 point text and agonizingly long sessions, represent load. Even if the content is meaningful and is advantageous to the user, these load factors will block consumption. Making content, AKA learning, engaging, interactive, interesting and accessible will reduce load and increase the power of the information to motivate consumption.

So what’s the picture have to do with it?  I snapped this on a vacation in western China, and what I thought was interesting was the contrast between the old and the new. Maybe he’s the grandson on the cell phone and he’s learning how to make traditional prayer flags. Under the right conditions, I bet the older woman has learned how to use a cell as it enables her to communicate anywhere. Technology, buttons and really small screens at one time were seen as load, but the magic of communicating anywhere had overwhelming power.

Old dogs can learn new tricks, we just need to understand the quotient for motivation.

When you need to push a training out to quickly and easily there is no better solution than MobilePaks. Sure I am biased, but have I steered you wrong yet?

MobilePaks is our anywhere, anytime training platform that allows you to create and push content out in minutes.

Don’t just take my word for it though, watch this video to see how it works:

MobilePaks lets you quickly build content, and push that content out to users that need it.  Then you can track who has taken the modules.  It is really built with simplicity in mind, for user and the manager.

Ok – I will end the shameless self-promotion now of MobilePaks, but I thought the video did a good job of telling the story of how easy implementing a learning program can be.

Cheers,

Nate

Have you heard of the 70/20/10 formula concept of how individuals learn, developed by the Center for Creative Leadership? According to this research, people learn 70% from real life and on-the-job experiences, tasks and problem solving; 20% from feedback and from observing and working with role models; and only 10% from formal training. Before you get the wrong idea and start to think that I’m suggesting you stop using formal training programs let me explain. There are actually several ways to capitalize on this informal concept within formal learning:

1. Micro learning. Considered informal learning, micro learning takes information about complex subjects and breaks it down into easy-to-digest bits or chunks that can be delivered on any device—mobile phone, tablet or computer. This supports self-directed, on-demand micro learning opportunities that may take place anywhere and anytime and be integrated into normal business routines.
2. Social learning. According to social learning theory people learn primarily by observing and imitating the actions of others, in addition to being rewarded and/or punished for these behaviors. Today this is being translated to learning via social networking and social media environments, where people can connect virtually and learn from each other. Thanks to technology to day these concepts can easily be applied within learning programs as well to make them more effective. For instance, MobilePaks allows users to rate and comment on Paks adding an interactive and social element to the learning process.
3. Game-based learning. “Gamification” is a new name for an old concept. For generations, games have been used to teach concepts, skills and knowledge. Think Yahtzee and math, Scrabble and spelling, Qwirkle and strategy, Clue and problem solving…the list goes on and on. With the ever-enhancing technology landscape, games are more immersive than ever before. Games are fun and challenging, but they also increase learning retention and engagement. 

While these “informal” learning methods can be great on their own, they are often most effective when used as part of a blended strategy. Find out more in our brief “Trends in Blended Learning.”

I think I just coined a new acronym, MADD, sure that one is already taken, and for a pretty good cause too, but can’t my version, be used too?  I’m talking about Mobile Attention Deficit Disorder, and it doesn’t exist, officially.  But it is something that people that are teaching on mobile devices have to consider.

You have to think how does this mobile learning keep someone’s attention?

Just because you have put learning content on a phone doesn’t mean that someone is more likely to be engaged with it.

But in reality, and that is a where I like to reside… most of the time, mobile learning needs to be more engaging than a traditional learning environment.  Think about what else is fighting for your attention on your phone, let alone what is happening all around you.

On my phone, I have: facebook, twitter, the internet, phone calls, text messages a plethora of games, a camera, music, videos, and while I am doing any one thing it keeps throwing more notifications and updates at me.  

This makes it very hard to stay focused on any one thing.

As mobile learning content developers, we need to concentrate on creating engaging content.

There is a tendency in the touchscreen world to keep people tapping no matter what. The early digital magazines did this ad nauseam. They made you feel as if you needed to attend the page rather than read it.

-Steve Smith: Tap Spam: Am I ‘Engaged’ Yet?

We also don’t want content that feels engaging just for the sake of it, your learners will become distracted by the bells and whistles and not the content.  Remember, with mobile learning we want the content to be easy to read and understand on a mobile device, and you don’t have to make them rub their thumb all over the screen because you figured out how to make that work to reveal a neat picture.

If you do that, your learners will thank you, and won’t be madd at you.  There is enough noise as it is on a mobile device, just be clear and concise and you won’t have to worry about mobile attention deficit disorder.

Cheers,

Nate

A colleague shared this article from Channel Marketer Report about Partner Enablement with me the other day and it got me thinking. If you’re like most of our clients you’ve already got a lot of great information and resources about your products available for your channel. But the question is, are your partners using this information to its fullest, or are they even accessing it at all.

The truth is they are busy and often too overwhelmed in the minutia of day-to-day business to research all the tools you’ve created for them. So, what can you do to enable your channel to sell your product? Make your information mobile. When done right, giving your partners access to product information and training anywhere and anytime will save them time, as well as boost performance and increase productivity. Then once they see how easy and rewarding it is, it becomes a natural part of their day to check in for updates or share information – like the Facebook mobile products which people now use obsessively.

That said, just making information available on a mobile device doesn’t make it accessible and in fact may make it worse – imagine trying to search for a document in SharePoint on your phone. It needs to be easy to search, easy to find and easy to read, watch or listen to. If there are glitches, your channel will get frustrated, give up and go back to doing things the way they were before. Without your information. On the other hand, by providing access to relevant information on-demand, you enable your sales partners to get the knowledge they need when they need it. This will empower them in the field or on sales calls.

Want to know more? Check out our latest brief “Going Mobile to Boost Sales Performance”.

How to maximize your mLearning.

With the NCAA tournament in full swing and our office buzzing with the pools, the games and the madness that happens in March.  It got me to thinking about the other madness that can ensue when you try and implement a solution without a proper use case.  Especially something like mLearning.

The main mistake people make when taking on mLearning is, doing it for the sake of doing it.  You don’t have to have your learning course work on a tablet because Bob, the VP of Marketing, mentioned to you how cool it would be if it worked on an iPad, because he got a tablet for his birthday.

You want your mLearning to have a purpose.

It is much more effective to have mLearning work for you, rather than have to work for the mLearning.  I am likely one of the greatest advocates out there for mLearning, and I will tell you that mLearning isn’t always necessary. Sometimes you just need a course that will work on a desktop or a laptop.  An important thing to remember is that often times if you limit the working platforms on your course you can really focus on the features that make that platform great and make a better course.  The more platforms your course needs to support, the more watered down the features are going to be because cross-platform support can be difficult and troublesome.

mLearning is at its most effective when it is designed to augment knowledge that already exists and learners go use the mobile or micro modules to enhance or remind existing knowledge at key points in time.

A great example of this would be a salesman going through the sales playbook’s key points in his car right before a big client meeting.  In this case a full course isn’t conducive to his location or time available. You also wouldn’t expect a salesman to be going into a big meeting cold on the sales playbook fundamentals, but it’s expected that there may be a few things they want to catch up on right before a meeting.  Just like how you would often see students cramming right before a big test.

Remember this so your learning project doesn’t end up busted, just like my bracket does right now.  When implementing mLearning, have a good reason, and then focus on the best solution for the learners.

-Nate

Many folks are still arguing about the best strategy to get content to users and influence retention. I see daily articles on push vs. pull, knowledge platforms, Intranets and ubiquitous social engagement big data algorithms. It seems like software makers and technology clairvoyants are missing the point. Our user behavior has evolved and these technologies provide features but not necessarily a solution to my problem.

As a user I have a busy calendar, I’m getting lots of communications sometimes every minute from customers, suppliers, colleagues, partners, boss, friends and even HR. I get phone calls on my desk phone and cell phone. Text messages, notifications and tweets. Some of these inbounds require response, others are FYI and yet others are simply noise, but noise that in another state of consciousness could be useful. It doesn’t matter if it was pushed to me and it doesn’t matter if I’ve been instructed about a place on the Intranet that nuggets of knowledge exist, at this particular moment it is simply “duly noted.”

My problem is Findability. Saying it’s on the Intranet is like saying our strife with North Korea can be resolved by having Dennis Rodman, President Obama and Kim Jong Un sit courtside at a March Madness game. If I need to learn something general I’ll go to Google. If I need to learn how to position our products new features, or how to position our partners new features I go to…. The Intranet? My inbox? My partners Intranet? How about Bob who told me he did something similar last week. It takes a lot of cognitive load to find stuff. As David Byrne Said “In the future there will be so much going on that no one will be able to keep track of it.”

I’m pragmatic and realize there will likely never be a single ubiquitous solution for me to find stuff. But with the tsunami-sized adoption rates of smart phones and tablets I also have a different perspective on my perspective. I just need an App to do [INSERT ACTIVITY]. If I need to learn about my products or my partners new products I want to:

1. Tap the desktop icon for {partners new product features};
2. Be told about updates;
3. Search for other related things.

Push and Pull does not overcome the reality of work environment. Making things easy, obvious, memorable and findable does.

Image courtesy of The 2011 IDC Digital Universe Study Infograph sponsored by EMC

It’s a new era, isn’t it?  At some point when I have a moment, or make time for a moment, to complete my assigned task, or I need to figure out how to sell that feature or I simply want to learn a little more, I’m going to do it when and where I want to. I don’t know when or where that moment will occur, maybe on my iPhone, my tablet or my laptop or at home on the couch in between commercials, on my new Smart TV.

I’m not influenced by push or pull, I’m influenced by easy. The new era for software and content is not bigger but smaller. The Internet is already big enough and Moores law for learning is in full effect. EMC suggests the rate of information expansion on the Internet doubles every two years. If that’s the case, the new era for the software maker is to make it easy ─ easy to find, consume and remember.

By the year 2020, it is predicted that there will be five generations of employees working together ─ from Traditionalists to Gen 2020. This rich mix of generations in the workforce can be attributed primarily to labor shortages experienced in many industries, the rising average age of retirement and the influx of younger generations into the marketplace. To take advantage of this rich pool of talent, employers need to ensure learning and development strategies appeal to the different priorities, attitudes and work styles of each generation.

Often in today’s multigenerational workforce, a blended approach involving repurposing content for different delivery methods (i.e., using the same concepts in mobile format, eLearning format, gaming format and written format, etc.) is the most effective. Blended learning is not new. It has been around for decades albeit with not as many delivery options. Today, it is used in reference to a more mature, innovative practice for learning in the workplace. A clear advantage of blended learning is the ability to differentiate instruction based on learner need – including learning styles, multi-generational factors, interests and abilities.

Many companies such as HP, Nike and Intel are implementing blended programs to increase learner engagement with two or more formats including classroom, virtual instruction, mobile sessions, game-based learning and social learning. For example, VIA supported HP Financial Services in development of a blended program that included virtual instruction, game-based learning reinforcement and mobile assessment.

Whether a course should be proposed as a face-to-face interaction, web-based virtual session or comprised of a blend of methods depends on the program goals, learner personas, objectives and resources available, as well as the nature and location of the audience. For example, Millennials tend to see more value in social learning tools such as shared workspaces and wikis, but Baby Boomers and Gen X seem to find some value in podcasts that Millennials do not.

The benefit of a blended learning approach is that it can be strategically designed to support a variety of learning methods to help overcome the challenges of these learning preferences and parameters.