The digital classroom

Earlier this year, I was very impressed by how one of my client’s classrooms was equipped with some of the latest gadgetry.

I’m still getting to grips with what are generic terms for commodities, and what are brand names – in the world of new technology, the two are often confused, such as when people say “google” instead of “search”, or when we talk of PowerPoint as though it was the only presentational software available.

But the piece of kit that particularly impressed me was the Smartboard. Electronic whiteboards have been around for years, and I frequently used one in the company I was with in the early ‘90s. But this is a step beyond. The Smartboard combines a screen for displaying presentations, or digital video clips, or documents the tutor wants to share with the group (Word docs, spreadsheets, etc), with a “whiteboard” using special pens and yielding content that can then be saved or printed as needed. And it’s touch-sensitive.

When you combine this with a network of terminals in the classroom, you have all the digital technology you need to lift even the dullest subject to a new level, to make the classroom experience exhilarating – even for digital natives.

And no, the guys at Smartboard (insert TM or C symbol or whatever) aren’t paying me to say this!

http://smartboard.co.uk/sbsoftware/index.asp

Training digital natives

My granddaughter, at three years old, was more accomplished in her use of a mouse than several older family members – “click and drag, Granny”, she’d instruct her more technologically-challenged forebear. And not long ago, I was introduced to a group of nursery children, who were working on a project where they were in email correspondence with members of the Scottish Government. Many of us have similar stories – the fact is, if you have been brought up surrounded by digital technology, there’s nothing ‘new’ about it. And the use of it is as intuitive as, say, the telephone for us auld yins.

New entrants to the workplace today use digital technology in all aspects of their lives – for personal development, for communicating with friends and acquaintances, for games and leisure pursuits. They have been using computers since they were tots, they have sophisticated mobile phones with all sorts of add-on features, they participate in online communities, and they have their own Web space. They expect computers to support their work activities, and they have similar expectations about vocational learning.

When we design learning interventions, we need to take account of these people. They are not a minority who can be ignored: increasingly, they represent the norm in many organisations, and will be even more so in the future. It is not enough to offer traditional training events – we need to offer more.

Does this contradict my last post? No, the mix I’ll be implementing with that client will be mainly off-the-job, classroom-based, to accompany planned and recorded on-the-job training, with a ‘bridge’ comprising complementary learning resources made available online. This won’t be enough to satisfy the digital natives, but it’s a start.

(I assume the term ‘digital natives’ is now common currency, meaning those who have always inhabited a land of digital technology, as opposed to we ‘digital immigrants’ who have found our way to this land – there’s an interesting link here: http://www.digitalnative.org/Main_Page)

When e-learning is not appropriate

I firmly believe that e-learning can offer something to suit every learning style preference – the notion that it is only useful for factual, information-based learning is based on a limited understanding of the scope of e-learning (see my previous posts on different e-learning models). However, there’s no denying that passionate advocates of a new approach – in any field – can get a bit carried away. When dealing with specific situations, there are bound to be many where e-learning is not the best option.

A work-based approach is often best. And classroom-based learning, face-to-face, may not be very fashionable, but it can still be one of the most powerful approaches to learning. For example, when you need to get people out of the workplace, away from the day-to-day pressures, but also need to get them involved in a collective discussion.

I’ve recently been working with a client where learning has taken place predominantly on-the-job, and they are anxious to develop a culture of off-the-job training. E-learning should have its place in the mix, but the imperative is to have some highly-visible training activity, and that means classroom-based. Am I missing an opportunity to by-pass the traditional approach and advocate going straight to online? I don’t think so. Advocates of e-learning from ten years ago would have been keen to replace the classroom with the digital alternative, but I think most of us now see the benefits of deploying a range of approaches, including the tatty old classroom.

In the situation I’m handling, the client expects to have lots of face-to-face training. Why divert them from that, when the company will glean enormous cultural benefits? E-learning can wait until the time is right.

Self-managed learning

The debate about different models of e-learning continues. I have often heard it argued that print-based self-study materials don’t translate well to an online format because statements of aims and objectives don’t work. I am sympathetic to this view – it’s not that you don’t need to be clear about aims and objectives, but constantly re-stating them, as open learning workbooks often do, tends to come across as repetitive and too didactic in an online medium.

I spoke to an experienced training manager last week who said “we need to treat learners like adults”. Without referencing any typology of models, he was arguing in favour of what I call the third model (see my blog post of Monday 30 July), in which learning resources are offered to be used as the learner sees fit, for self-managed learning. There seems to be increasing support for this model, and I can see further useful applications of it for CPD and for performance support, neither of which are loose or informal learning approaches.

I recently discovered Wikiversity for the first time. See http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Main_Page. This is a third model project, which describes how members of its community originally intended to develop e-learning courses, but were re-directed by their trustees to take a different approach. The learning cycle diagram, above, comes from Wikiversity. This is an exciting development, with implications for everyone involved in e-learning.

I’d be interested to hear of other ‘third model’ applications.

Back from holiday

One of the things that often happens when you go abroad on holiday is that you miss the home news. Someone noteworthy dies and you don't hear about it until these things are rounded up at the end of the year. I suppose the digital age has mitigated that, because I did hear about the death of Anita Roddick, one of the first "ethical entrepreneurs".

I quoted a great saying of hers in my 2001 book on management development. She said "training is something they do to dogs". I much prefer "learning and development".

Anyway, I'm back from holiday, and looking forward to taking on a new assignment setting up a training academy for a well-known Scottish engineering company. I hope this won't lead to a reduction in posts to this blog, but it should mean I broaden my scope from my recent focus on e-learning. Time will tell.

Holiday time

Sunset on the Cote d'Azur, a.k.a. the French Riviera. For the next two weeks I shall be mainly learning about Provencal cuisine and wine. I won't be viewing or updating this blog, but I'll be back on 17th September, perhaps with reflections that will live with me forever. Enough tenuous links! I'm off on holiday. Back soon.

e-learning design

I get fed up looking at e-learning courses that are little more than e-reading.

Some people seem to have the mindset that e-learning is about loading content into a system and presenting it to the learners, so that the content can be spoon-fed to them. This sort of linear, didactic method was laughed out of the classroom decades ago, so why should be have to put up with it on the Web?

We need to shift the focus from providing learning content to creating a learning experience, and one good way to start is in the design of e-learning courses.

I advocate the ‘route-map’ method, in which learners are invited to go on a journey. The main road should have signposts, showing the route for learners to take; sometimes there will be more than one way of getting there, but the destination will always be clear. In this method, the main screens learners look at consist of headings, aims, instructions, key points, and illustrations of these. But nothing more.


Off the main road, clearly signed, learners will find some interesting and useful branches. These will include readings (attachments like PDFs, links to existing Websites and offline reading lists), activities (quizzes, games, simulations, etc), assessments and other resources (perhaps video or audio clips, animations, and so forth). Learners will choose what they fancy, with guidance as to what is mandatory and what is supplementary. But always, the main trunk road will be there, pointing them towards the end of the journey, course completion.