It’s
your first day of school… all over again!
Day 9. Your office is in transition. IT is upgrading the corporate
groupware in order to keep up with the constant changes in technology
which seem to ebb and flow with the phases of the moon. Not only is
your own work piling up higher and higher, you are now forced to attend
several training sessions to familiarize yourself with the use of
the new software. In a moment of rebellion, you throw your arms in
the air, stand up on your chair, and proudly proclaim:
"O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done!!!"
You pause and look around the room. Rather than the roaring echo of
the "Dead Poets Society" soundtrack and tearful gaze of Robin Williams’s
appreciative face, you are confronted only with the silent drone of
crickets outside your window and the steady blinking or your computer
cursor.
Press
any key to continue... blink… blink… blink… blink… blink…
Good morning, class! E-Learning 101
Over the past several
years, industries around the world have been slowly warming up
to the idea of e-Learning – a virtual "classroom" where the instructor
and students may be scattered over continents. E-Learning can range
from simple online orientation sessions for new employees to full-fledged
certification programs.
Although the term "e-Learning"
can be broadly defined as the use of a network (a LAN, WAN, or the
Internet) for the delivery of training and educational material, this
delivery can occur either synchronously or asynchronously.
- Synchronous learning is done
in real time. What this means is that the interactions between
the instructor and students occur simultaneously. A student poses
a question and the instructor responds immediately. Examples of
synchronous learning tools include online chat rooms, shared whiteboards,
video and audio conferencing.
- Asynchronous learning denotes
a passage of time. This means that interaction between the
instructor and students is "delayed" over a period of time. Examples
of asynchronous learning tools are e-mail, newsgroups, or list
servers.
Some companies have adopted
hybrid e-Learning systems which combine synchronous and asynchronous
methods. Lectures and courses could be stored on large "data farms"
and burned onto CD-ROMs when needed. The e-Learner may then utilize
this CD at his or her own convenience. However, it is best not to
abandon them by the side of the road with a screeching car pulling
away. Instructors may decide to make themselves available online at
scheduled times during what can be called electronic office hours.
This burn-on-demand method is extremely useful in cases where network
bandwidth may not permit the media to be streamed to a student’s desktop
in an efficient manner.
The level of real-time
interaction is not the only factor to take into consideration. You
can also decide on how the course will be run or managed. E-Learning
courses can be purely computer-based, instructor-led,
or a combination of the two. These two methods are not
mutually exclusive and may compliment one another very well.
- Computer-Based Training (CBT).
In a CBT course, a computer takes the place of a live instructor.
The material can be delivered through the company LAN, Web, or
on a CD-ROM.
- Instructor-Led Training (ILT).
Instructor-led training could be either a traditional face-to-face
(F2F) course or delivered to the student’s computer via LAN, WAN,
or Web (synchronously or asynchronously).
The real question, though,
is how easily can your employees adapt to the idea of e-Learning?
The answer, in part, depends on how computer literate they are.
If you need to have your IT staff dressed in their black ninja outfits
(requisite attire for any true IT technician), harnessed, roped in,
and lowered from the ceiling in the dead of night in order to make
changes to your employees’ desktops for fear of office wide revolt,
then you may have a tougher time.
It may not be a bad idea
to offer a CBT course on the CBT course! This could be a short
one-hour introduction to the new e-Learning interface, allowing the
e-Learner to familiarize him- or herself on how to operate the menus
and navigate through the course material. If your staff finds it difficult
to adjust to the new technology, it would be a safer bet to ease them
into it rather than throwing them into an ice-cold pool. Separating
the material into shorter course modules, for instance, may help them
in the early stages.
E-Learning, however, is
not that wide a shift. This is not going to be another "Thrilla
in Manila" bout or the revelation of the true fifth Beetle. In the
big picture, it is no different then when the typewriter was replaced
by a word processor or the interoffice memo was replaced by e-mail.
The one glaring difference which sets e-Learning apart from these
examples, of course, is one of human interaction.
Getting
Over the Hump - Round One
Think about your daily
routine for a moment. You wake up, shower, shave, get breakfast ready,
drive the kids to school, yell at the guy in the white Camry who cuts
you off every morning as you attempt to pull out of the driveway,
and so on and so on. You do this same routine for years and all of
a sudden you are thrust into the alkali badlands of Survivor IX and
forced to share a makeshift lean-to shelter with the surly one from
"Deliverance" and the cast of the original Beverly Hillbillies.
How quickly do you think you can adjust before getting voted
off the show?
Human beings are creatures
of habit. We get familiar with certain rhythms and soon these
rhythms fossilize in our worldview. When this happens it is often
difficult to break these habits overnight. There is no behavioural
patch to help wean you away from certain habitual patterns.
We all recall going to
school; sitting in a packed classroom, the teacher giving you the
evil eye because you were talking in the middle of the lecture, and
the ritual of cramming for exams at 2:00 am in the morning. This is
what we equate to the word "learning." What if we took all that away
and sat you in front of a computer terminal which seems to be addressing
you from the ethereal world of a network? What if you try to throw
a paper airplane at your teacher only to have it bounce off the monitor
and into your cold cup of coffee?
The concept of e-Learning
has two hurdles: technology and attitude. In the past, potential
e-Learning students were doubtful as to whether bandwidth would truly
allow material to be broadcast in real-time. The images were choppy
at best and the video media looked as though the instructor was moving
in a giant jar of molasses in a drunken stupor. However, technological
issues can always be overcome in one way or another short of asking
someone to split the atom with no more than an empty beer can, a sheet
of aluminum foil, and a Swiss Army knife. With improvements in bandwidth,
data compression techniques, and caching of streaming audio/visual
media, previous bottlenecks are no longer the barrier they once
were.
A more difficult boundary
to overcome is how to change someone’s mindset regarding e-Learning?
The problem we have is more of social engineering. What if they are
unwilling or unable to adapt to the concept of talking into a microphone
sitting next to their computer screen? How do you get buy-in from
those who still print and file their vast stores of e-mail messages
in faded manila folders?
The appeal of e-Learning
over traditional classrooms stem from the fact that courses can be
flexible enough so the student can study at their own pace and
according to their own schedule. Some students may find it more
productive to absorb the whole course in one sitting. Others may prefer
to study at a slower pace and complete one module at a time. This
is advantageous in the elimination of the "Zone Out Factor" where
a student may lose focus or concentration after several hours of a
lengthy course.
In the past, students
had to accommodate their schedules around a particular course.
This is no longer a viable solution given our increasingly wired world.
With the speed and growth of technology, we are more accessible than
ever. We cannot turn our backs without an e-mail, fax, pager, or cell
phone going off. The course must now accommodate the students’
schedules.
Is it for you? Well, some
companies are turning towards e-Learning because it is more cost-effective
in the long run and more suitable to their employees’ hectic schedules.
Others, however, are doing it out of necessity rather than
by choice. A geographically dispersed work force makes it difficult
to train employees on what they really need to know to get their job
done. There are also added expenses of sending employees to traditional
training centres which may be located outside of the company’s home
city.
Pros
and Cons - Round Two
|
Pros of e-Learning
|
Cons of e-Learning
|
|
Self-paced. The student
will be able to do as much or as little as they like. Some
students prefer to sit through several hours of instruction.
Others may prefer to absorb smaller modules.
|
Dry material.
Some students find the lack of interaction makes "recorded"
content rather dull. It would be similar to watching a course
on TV.
|
|
Scheduling. The student
may take this course whenever they wish. They can fit the
course around their schedule rather than have to alter their
schedule to fit a course.
|
The student may be forced to
take this course on their own time (i.e., after hours,
weekends, holidays).
|
|
Dispersed audience. The
course can be given to students all over the word.
|
Training might be extra-difficult
for those who are not very computer literate. They
will have two hurdles to clear: a) learning the course material
and b) getting used to the online medium.
|
|
Long-term cost saving. Once
the infrastructure is there, it will be less costly to upgrade
course content.
|
Initial costs
of transferring existing course material to an online medium
may be expensive.
|
|
No traveling expenses. Student
will not have to worry about the added expense of traveling
to courses that are not in their home city.
|
In a traditional F2F course,
students are away from distractions such as telephone
calls, bosses, coworkers, and e-mail.
|
|
No time is spent commuting
to a training facility.
|
Instructors and students will
have to adapt to a new online medium.
|
|
Just-In-Time (JIT) training. Employees can take the
course they need when they need it rather than learning something
which may not be used for months.
|
Equipment limitations.
Not every student will meet the necessary equipment or hardware/software
requirements.
|
|
The course is always consistent
and easily updateable.
|
Lack of social or "face-to-face"
aspects of a traditional
classroom.
|
An interesting survey
was conducted by the MASIE Centre, polling some 2,474 learning and
training professionals during the week of May 15, 2000.
How
do we measure effectiveness? – Round Three
Will e-Learning really
work? How do we measure its effectiveness? We may ask the same
question of a traditional F2F course. The evaluation of learning
is not confined to the electronic medium. Simply because a student
attends a course does not necessarily mean they will turn the teaching
into knowledge.
One way to try classifying
the areas of evaluation is by applying what is known as the Kirkpatrick
Model developed by Donald Kirkpatrick in 1959. His four-level
model is briefly described in the following table:
|
Level 1
|
Reaction
– a measure of satisfaction ("Did I like the course?")
|
|
Level 2
|
Learning
– a measure of learning ("Did I pass the test?")
|
|
Level 3
|
Behaviour
– a measure of behaviour change ("Am I using what I learned?")
|
|
Level 4
|
Results
– a measure of results ("How will this knowledge affect
my organization?")
|
Although in-depth descriptions
of each of Kirkpatrick’s four levels go beyond the scope of this article,
you can read more about it at the following Web sites:
This article has only
scratched the surface on the topic of e-Learning. There is still the
issue of whether to build your e-Learning solution on top of your
existing intranet infrastructure or hiring someone to build it and
house the material externally. Unfortunately, despite the fact that
the notion of electronic learning has been around for a while, it
is in its infancy. There is still no clear leader or dominant company
in this arena, although there are companies that have chosen
to adopt these titles by self-proclamation rather than consensus.
Whatever you do decide,
there is no one perfect solution. In the end, I believe that
the most successful e-Learning model may be one that combines the
interactivity of a synchronous, instructor-led program and an asynchronous,
computer-based program.
Now, a final thought for
amusement. I once attended a course where a fellow student told an
interesting story about the president of an unnamed company who showed
up early on the Monday morning of a week-long course. He had with
him several suitcases and a cheque in is hand. He placed the course
fee on the instructor’s desk and simply walked out stating that he
was going on vacation. Apparently, his schedule was so hectic and
his time was in such demand that the only way he was able to get some
time away from work was to sign up for a course and then disappear
off into the sunset. Please, do not try this at home…
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