Rebecca J. Hogue

Year: 2007

  • His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

    Last week, I had the opportunity (and pleasure) of attending two public talks given by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama (one talk in Ottawa and another in Toronto). I was struck by his warmheartedness and the fullness of his laugh. The following paragraphs describe my interpretation of the various messages presented by His Holiness.

    From the time we are born, the affection given to us by our mothers is critical for our development, both physical and mental. There is scientific evidence that links brain development with affection in our early years. Physical affection helps kids grow up healthy. Our bodies respond to affection with a stronger immune system.

    Providing affection towards others leads to personal happiness. A corollary to that is self-centered attitudes cause loneliness. Affection also leads to trust, and trust leads to genuine friendship. From the opposite perspective, a lack of affection leads to fear and distrust. In addition, anger, fear, and hatred weakens the immune system and shortens your life. Our physical well being is linked to our emotions.

    A healthy, happy community begins with healthy happy individuals. World peace begins with inner peace. Individual affection leads to world peace.

    In our global world, we need to realize that destruction of our neighbour is actually destruction of ourselves. The concept of war is out-dated (obsolete), since it leads to self-destruction.
    The division of we versus they (us versus them) leads to war.

    Conflicts should be solved through dialogue. We should be teaching our children how to dialogue effectively. We should send our kids to spend time living in other countries. This helps them to develop an appreciative understanding of other cultures as well as true friendships. Appreciative understanding helps dialogue and true friendships lead to peace.

    A concrete path to world peace is to start by merging the armed forces of the world. As countries sign-on to a unified world-army, there would be no one left to fight. This would lead to dis-armament. The unified world-army would be available to all member-states in the even to natural disasters.

    All religions should be respected, including the non-believers. Religions can be categorized as either theistic or causational. That is, religions either believe in a supreme being (gods) or they believe in causal relationships (karma). The best religion for a person is the one that is associated to their culture and family. This is because they are most familiar with it, and as a result they can develop a deeper understanding of it. As for the non-believers, they can choose ;).

    Cheers.

  • World Cafe on Informal Learning

    Inspired by Harold Jarche‘s unworkshop on informal learning, on September 26, as part of Learn @ Work week, I hosted a world cafe on Informal Learning for the Ottawa Chapter of the Canadian Society for Training and Development. The event was attended by 17 amazing people who work within the training industry in the Ottawa area. At the event, three questions were posed:

    • What is informal learning?
    • What would make you and your organization more receptive to informal learning?
    • How do you measure informal learning?

    Here are the notes that were taken at each of the tables during the conversations:
    During the debriefing the following themes were discovered:

    • Informal learning’s value is not always measurable in the same ways as formal learning
    • Informal learning can be connected to formal learning events
    • Informal learning is adaptable and flexible
    • A formal definition of informal learning is unnecessary
    • Informal learning represents a shift from “how I got it” to “having it”
    • “how I got it” represents degrees / certifications
    • “having it” represents demonstrated competencies
  • Informal learning is life as usual
  • No define, no design, no delivery, no assess
  • 80% of the budget goes to formal learning, which provides 20% of the actual learning
  • Formalization kills informal learning
    • Informal needs to stay informal
  • Informal learning is about the process
  • Employee engagement could be used as a means of measuring informal learning

    • One of the greatest things about the World Cafe format is the opportunity for people to meet, make connections, and have meaningful conversation. I’d like to invite anyone who attended to share their reflections of the event and possibly insights they have realized since the event, as comments to this blog.

    Cheers,
    Rebecca

  • Is it informal learning if …

    What makes informal learning “informal”?

    • Is it the lack of a certificate of completion?
    • Is it the lack of an instructor?
    • Is it the lack of learner evaluation?
    • Is it the lack of a “formal” motivator?

    I can think of examples for each of these that would qualify as “informal” learning. I can’t think of a single characteristic of learning that could not be informal for one person and formal for another.

    For example:

    • When I wanted to learn about SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model), I searched the Internet and found a web-based tutorial on SCORM. The tutorial tracked my progress and when I completed the tutorial I was presented with a certificate (on the screen) that I could print. Would this be “formal” learning because I received a certificate? I would not call it such. To me, this was also informal learning. However, if I needed a SCORM certification, then the certificate of completion could be considered formal training. This also serves as an example of learning without an instructor. The course did not even have an associated email address for learner questions. The learners were completely on their own.
    • Currently, I am auditing a couple of sociology courses at the University of Ottawa. I attend the “formal” lectures, but do not write tests or papers, and I am not graded. From my perspective, this is an informal learning opportunity for me. I am not part of any formal process, I simply attend the lectures I chose to attend and I learn (I think I learn a lot more than those who attend the course formally, since I am not concerned about how I will be graded). But for the majority of folks in the class, this is a formal learning opportunity. Their learning is measured and they received “credit” for the learning that they demonstrate. For the other students, the credit provides an external motivator. My motivation for attending is strictly personal interest.

    So, is “informal” just a context?

  • The ideal rapid e-learning tool

    I have been contemplating a lot lately what I think the ideal rapid e-learning tool would look like. I’ve put my current thoughts below. If you are a “text book” ADDIE fan, you will find that I am suggesting the development of some material backwards or completely contrary to good practices (specifically, the learning objectives are written after the story and not the other way around). I think this approach is more organic, and therefore, will be more likely to produce courses that have a more positive user experience. I don’t think the world needs any more bad e-learning!

    The key concept of this tool is that a story is used as the design mechanism, rather than the learning objectives. In my experience, courses written from learning objectives directly don’t flow well. They are often very chunky, moving from one topic to another. It takes a lot of work by a good instructional designer to make a learning objectives based course flow well.

    Note that the tool and associated process assumes that the designer has done research into the course topic.

    To begin, the designer hits the “Start” button. This brings up a wizard.

    Stage 1: Who’s the course for?
    The first question would be: “Who is the audience for this course?”. The tool would encourage the designer to be specific about the audience. What is their prior knowledge on the topic? What skills do they have? What background skills do they have? What personality types are they? What is their normal job role?

    Stage 2: What’s the purpose?
    The second question is “What are the course goals?”. Another way to phase this might be “what behaviour do you want to change as a result of this course?” Designers can list multiple goals, but then the tool would ask that the goals be prioritized. A single course should not have more than five goals (two or three is ideal).

    Stage 3: The story outline
    The third question is the outline of the story. The designer would be asked to write the story that is the course. This would be full sentences that flow together. It is a narrative. When the designer feels that further detail is necessary, they add a further detail icon at the end of a sentence. Each one to three sentences would form a topic.

    When the story narrative is complete, the tool would ask the designer to “tag” the sentences into different topics, and move the sentences around until the story flows well. Not all sentences require tags.

    Stage 4: Checking against the goals
    The designer would then be re-prompted with the course goals and be given an opportunity to validate that the course goals are being met. The tool would asked the designer to tag specific topics to the various course goals (based on the topic tags created in the previous step). A given topic can be in none or many of the goals. Topics that are not in any of the goals are “glue” topics, that are in the story simply to make it flow. Topics that support the goals are candidates for “learning objectives”.

    Stage 5: Writing the learning objectives.
    Now that the topics have been associated with course goals, the learning objectives need to be written. The tool gives the designer topics and the designer is prompted to write appropriate learning objectives for these goals.

    Note that it is intentional that topics that do not support the course goals do not have learning objectives. Glue topics should not be used for evaluation; therefore, they are not included in learning objectives.

    Stage 6: Developing the assessment.
    If the course requires an assessment, the test question are developed in this stage. The tools provides the designer with a learning objective. The designer can develop one or more question per learning objective. Questions are categorized as “review” or “assessment” questions.

    At this point, the tool is just a set of drop down menus and places for text to be added.

    Stage 7: Auto-generation of template
    The course takes the narrative, the topics, and the assessment questions and creates the “outline” of the course with the development framework. This is where the wizard ends.

    The development framework
    The development framework looks something like the following:

    The designer would be able to configure the layout (like any good graphics design tool). In addition, there would be a “storyboard view” that allows the designer to change the order of pages. The design will also be able to “preview” the course as the user would experience it.

    A good tool would allow the course to be “published” into multiple formats: SCORM compliant, Self-contained web-based, self-contained application-based, etc.

    So, what do you think? Would it help every aspiring course developer build better e-learning courses faster?

  • Covenanting and Online Collaboration

    On Jay Cross’ Informal Learning Blog, Jay asked for “what makes for successful online collaboration“. This was a timely question, since I am in the process of preparing a workshop on covenanting.

    Covenanting is a process that I have used both in face-to-face intentional communities and in online learning communties. It may be called different things, but the goal is the same: to set expectations (ground-rules) regarding behaviour.

    From wikipedia, a definition: “A covenant, in its most general sense, is a solemn promise to do or not do something specified.”

    Covenanting in a face-to-face environment
    In a face-to-face environment, I first learning of covenant when doing youth ministry work. I was an adult adviser working with a group of youth that use an “intentional community” model. The youth use covenant as a way to create a safe community without the need for too many “rules”. It was more effective than creating “rules”, because the youth themselves defined the covenant. As a result, they owned the expectations and agreed to abide by them.

    Here is one way to build a covenant in a face-to-face environment. This method works well in small groups (6-15 people):

    1. Ask each person to reflect upon the characteristics of particular group they participated in where they felt safe and enjoyed the experience (give them a minute or two to recall).
    2. Ask people to share the characteristics of that group (record them on flip-chart paper). For example:
      • Each person was allowed time to speak.
      • People’s ideas were respected.
      • When you didn’t understand someone, you could ask for clarification without judgment.
      • etc.
    3. Keep collecting items until no one has anything left to add. Ensure you check with each person.
    4. Ask the group if they can agree to behaviours listed. If there are any behaviours that don’t align or apply to this group, discuss them. If necessary, remove or modify them.
    5. Once all the items are agreed by the entire group, re-write the agreed list neatly, and ask each member to sign the “covenant” or “agreement”.
    6. Post the signed list somewhere visible for all group meetings.

    Covenanting in an online environment
    In an online environment, I did a covenant within the first class of my Master’s degree. The Master’s program used an online learning community as the main learning tool. It was a transformative experience. I worked with an incredibly diverse and talented group of people throughout the program and learned a lot from sharing experiences with my fellow learners.

    One of the reasons our learning community was so strong was in the beginning we had discussions about expectations and trust in the online environment. One of our activities was to post answers to the following questions within a discussion group:

    • What trust builders do you personally consider to be the most important and why?
    • What can you contribute to your virtual team?
    • What do you need to receive in return?
    • Describe your sense of the ideal virtual team?

    We were encouraged to discuss the items that each person listed and as a team propose a list that we could all agree upon.

    Covenanting and context
    Covenant items are different depending on the context of the interaction. A covenant for a group of students in a course will be different than a group of professionals working together or a church group discussing spirituality. Covenant items might include:

    • Be respectful of others.
    • Always assume good intentions.
    • Keep your commitments, don’t commit if you can’t follow through.
    • Participate (if you are going to be away, let the team know).
    • Everyone has the right to pass.
    • Step-up step-down (if you are an outgoing extrovert be mindful when you are dominating the conversation and step-down, if you are introvert or shy be mindful of when you are not participating and step-up).

    The important points about the covenanting process are:

    • The items are determined by the group (use language that the group agrees upon).
    • Each member of the group has the right to challenge items on the covenant (discuss challenged items until all can agree on the language used).
    • The complete covenant must be agree upon by everyone (you might ask each person to sign the covenant to indicate their agreement).
    • Each member is responsible for their own behaviour and upholding the agreed upon covenant.

    As I prepare my covenanting workshop, I’ll post some more articles in this area. If you have an suggestions or best practices, I’d love to hear them.

  • An ah-ha moment — Learning Theories

    I’m taking an introduction to sociology class at the moment, and in yesterday’s class I had one of those ah-ha moments. Back when I was studying learning theories (as part of the Master of Arts in Distributed Learning program) I had a hard time grasping the relationship between the different theories. I was trying to analyze learning theories as a “natural scientist” rather than a “social scientist”. With a background in computer science and physics, I suppose that isn’t too surprising … however, a paradigms shift was definitely necessary for me to grasp learning theories.

    In sociology class we are exploring the different ways in which socialists attempt to describe culture (specifically western culture). Each of the sociologists do their analysis using a different theoretical framework. It is within the confines of their frameworks that they are able to describe how people interact with the society. Reasons for a given behavior can be describe in many different ways, based upon the framework used for the description.

    This concept also applies to learning theories. For example, behaviorist learning theory is not an attempt to describe absolutely how everyone learns: rather, it is an attempt to describe how learning occurs within the constraints of the framework. In the case of behaviorist learning theory, the constraint is the stimulus-response framework. The cognitive learning theories use the framework of the brain as an empty vessel, and learning is the process of filling the vessel. The constructivist learning theories use the framework of building learning through social interactions.

    Each learning theory is an attempt to describe how learning occurs given the specific framework. Learning theories are not absolutes. As an educator, my job is to alter the frameworks as necessary to ensure that learning occurs.

  • Today, I got off my bike and said Hello

    For the last several weeks, I have been riding my bike along the Ottawa river parkway at least twice a week. Each time I come to this one section, I observe with wonder the stone sculptures. I take a brief pause and watch the artist do his work.

    Today, I choose to get off my bicycle and read the sign. The artist was standing near the sign adding some sculptures to the platform with the sign. I said "hello" and we had a delightful conversation. He has been creating these sculptures at this location for over 20 years. For the last 7 years, the National Capital Commission (NCC) has been contracting him to maintain the sculptures throughout the summer.

    The main sculpture (the one to the right in the photos) is the signature sculpture. The sculpture appears on the information plaque. The artist mentioned that he is drawn to recreate that sculpture every year. One year, he consciously tried to not create it, but found himself constantly drawn back to that area. The center-piece has the same concept every year, but with slight modifications each time it is re-created. It will be interesting to compare next years with this years :).

    The artist uses just stones to create the sculptures. The larger stones are balanced and "wedges" of smaller stones are used to ensure the balanced rocks stay in place. They are very easily disturbed. The artist commented that the seagulls will often knock over sculptures when they take off (landing is often down with enough elegance that the sculptures remain undisturbed, until the bird decides to depart).

    Another passer-by asked the artist about what happens to the sculptures in the winter. The artist said that he allows them to go the way of Zen … that is, back to nature, such that new creations can be built the next year.

  • Will rapid e-learning tools go the way of PowerPoint?

    When the magic rapid e-learning tool comes out, will it suffer the same negative fate at PowerPoint? That is, will the tools be misused to create bad e-learning? Of course! It will just like PowerPoint, a tool that is often mis-used and abused. Making e-learning easy makes it so that anybody can create e-learning. It doesn’t mean that anybody SHOULD make e-learning.

    How do we get people and the various industries to understand that good e-learning is not as simple as the tools used to create it. When the cost of production goes down, more of the money should be transfered to effective design.

    My view of the future is a lot more bad e-learning. I hate bad e-learning, it gives all e-learning a bad reputation. It is just like PowerPoint. Too many people create too much bad PowerPoint, such that the tool gets a bad rep. My prediction: E-learning made easy will make for more bad e-learning! How do we change the priority from rapid development, to well designed development?

    How do we change the world such that people and organizations learn to appreciate the skill involved in designing good e-learning? Or will the speed always trump quality? When creating e-learning, we should be asking ourselves, “for this presentation, what’s more important time-to-market or learning experience?”.

  • Good and bad reasons for product training

    Throughout my years as an instructional designer developing product training for software companies, I have seen both good and bad reasons for product training. It is often the case that the need for training is not clearly understood, but the desire to have something developed is. Here are my thoughts as to when you should and shouldn’t develop product training.

    Bad reason number 1: Inadequate product documentation
    When the product documentation is not adequate, often there is a higher demand from customers for product training. Customers need to be trained on how to use the product because the documentation does not tell them what they need to know when they need to know it. Creating an excellent training program will not solve your customer’s problems. A good training program will cause the lack of quality documentation to be emphasized, and will create less satisfied customers. The better solution to your program is to create better documentation. That is, documentation that meets customer requirements. Good documentation tells the customer more than how to do something, it tells the customer when and why to do it as well.

    Bad reason number 2: The product is too complicated
    If customers need training in order to understand how to use the product, you need to ask yourself if the product is too complicated. That is, is the interface not intuitive and user friendly? Again, developing training for a product that has a poor user interface is a bad investment. Your customers will be much happier if you spent the time and money on improving the interface design rather than creating fancy training packages to compensate for poor design.

    Good reason number 1: Training is money
    If your product is has an excellent user interface and good documentation, but your customer still want training (typically, they want to be shown concrete examples on to use the product and they want opportunities to play with the features in a safe environment), and they are willing to pay for the training, then this is an excellent opportunity to make some money. Profit is an excellent reason for developing product training!

    Good reason number 2: To increase sales
    Sometimes, increasing the product knowledge within your customer base increases the speed in which your product gets deployed into the field. When increased deployments equals increased sales, then providing training is a great pro-active way to speed up the process.

    Really good reason number 3: A product marketing tool
    One of the best reasons to develop a good product training program is that training is a product marketing tool. Training can help you gain product advocates at the working levels within your customer’s organization. When the workers feel they can’t do there jobs without your product, that translates into sales. So, a good training program is a good grass-roots marketing tool. That being said, a poor training program is NOT a marketing tool at all. So, you need to invest in the design and development of a good program when you are using training as a marketing tool.

  • Why do we blame the tool?

    In Brent Schlenker’s post “20 years of death by PowerPoint“, he talks about all that is wrong with PowerPoint. This has got me wondering, why do we blame the tool for its misuse? Why do we blame the big guy?

    It is partly this attitude that led me down the path of using more complicated tools to do the same job that PowerPoint itself would do. In creating training material, I used Illustrator and Frame to create most of the content. PowerPoint was only used to create the final instructor slides, as this is what PowerPoint was indended for. The problem with this solution: no one but me could maintain the content. When anyone wanted a minor change in a graphic, I had to make that change. One of the beauties of a pure PowerPoint solution was that everyone had it. Not everyone was good at using it, but everyone had it!

    So that leads to the heart of the problem. It isn’t the tool that is wrong, it is the lack of appreciation for the skill in using the tool appropriately. Too many people do not recognize that developing a decent PowerPoint presentation takes more than just subject matter expert skills. Figuring out presentation flow as well as developing decent look-and-feel are skills that go under appreciated in many places.

    That being said, one of the key learnings from my last job was that often even the client (or student) does not appreciate the difference between excellent, good, and mediocre training material. If the client can’t tell the difference between mediocre and good, why waste your time and money producing something good. Just have your subject-matter-experts throw together some PowerPoint slides and run with it. That is the beauty of PowerPoint.

    One of the bigger issues with the use of PowerPoint is that corporate templates kill effective presentations. Frequently the header and footer information on corporate templates take away the emphasis on the content. (For a good tips on how to generate good presentations, see Beyond Bullet Points). Too often corporate templates are developed by people that do not understand nuances of the delivery medium. I have seen many a presentation that looks good on the developers computer, but doesn’t display well on the projected screen (I too have made that mistake). Finding the balance between branding and good presentations is a challenge.

    One other point that Brent brings up is the use of PowerPoint to generate quick and easy E-Learning. I think this CAN be done well. The issue is not the tool set, it is the people behind the tools. Too many people do not understand the complexity of creating good e-learning. That being said, you still need to ask yourself, does it need to be good? Will mediocre meet the training need? If it will, then go for it.

    Of course, when mediocre training meets the need, it leaves me without a job! It is OK to recognize in industry, that mediocre is often all that is required. And there are many people out there that can develop mediocre training and many tools out there to make it fast and easy to do. I just need to find myself the organization that actually NEEDS good, or better yet, excellent training.

    Cheers,
    Becky

  • A different perspective

    The people enter the ritual room, each with a sharp implement in their hand. They carry satchels over their shoulders that appear to contain a variety of different tools. As they enter the room, they stack their satchels around the outside edges of the room.

    The room is well-lit. It has tables setup in rows with a chair on each end. Each of the people sit within a chair. Strangely, they do not sit next to each other. Each person is far enough apart to see the other person, but not close enough to share any intimate communication.

    The authority figure (perhaps a priest or a minister) enters the room. He is older than most of the people. Most of the people are about 18-24 years old, where the priest is easily past 40, perhaps even past 50.

    The priest speaks briefly and then passes an offering out to each of the people. The people each take exactly one of the items offered and any remainders are given back to the priest. The room is silent. The priest writes a number and some letters on a large writing stone, that all the people can see. The priest speaks again briefly.

    In silence, the people use their sharp implements to make markings upon the offering. Each persons markings are unique. The people are concentrating and working very hard to get their markings just right. Some of the markings are letters and numbers, others are letters and numbers being scratched out and replaced with other markings.

    After what seems like a long time (perhaps 2 hours), some of the people start getting up. One at a time mostly, and returning the offering to the priest. The priest accepts the offering without a word or an expression. After giving their offering, the people pick up the satchels they brought in (the same satchel), and depart the ritual room.

    After three hours the priest speaks again, and the remaining people stop marking their offerings. The priest walks by each row of tables, and the remaining people give the offering back to the priest. The priest is still expressionless.

    The remaining people pick up their satchels and depart.

    This was an exercise from my sociology text book (Seeing Ourselves: Classic, Contemporary, and Cross-Cultural Readings in Sociology V. , second Canadian Edition, by John J. Macionis, NijoleBenokraitis, and Bruce Ravelli). Did you figure out what the ritual was? The goal of the exercise was to try and remove yourself from a familiar setting and view it as an observer without the pre-knowledge of the activity.

  • Sociology 100 (1101 actually)

    Since my job ended at exactly the right time, I’m taking a short sociology course this summer. I have wanted to take such a course for a while, so when I saw that the course started just after I finished work, I figured why not.

    I decided to audit the course, and I’m really glad I did. I really do not agree with tests as a means of motivation or validating knowledge. It turns out the course has a midterm worth 40% and a final worth 50%. So, I’m certain I made the correct decision.

    The first class was fascinating. The professor is very good at story telling. He described various concepts and had a story to go with each one (one might call them examples, but the way he told it, it was more like a story).

    The professor also provided students with many tips on what or how we should be “learning”. The class is a 3-hour lecture format, with a 15 minute break in the middle. During the break I heard fellow students discussing the course. Their entire discussion was about whether they were understanding what information they should be writing down and trying to interpret how to “read” the instructor from a testing perspective. I found this to be so sad. These are the students that our institutions are generating. Their entire world resolved around how they were going to prepare for the test. They did not discuss a single thing related to the actual topics presented.

    I had to think back and try and remember what it was like. Was I so test focused during my undergrad years? I don’t think so, but I’m not sure. The only social science courses I took were math related philosophy courses and they were all about getting an easy credit, not about the knowledge. So, I guess I must have been in a vary similar mindset.

    I think the masters degree I did online (which involved many discussions and papers, and NO tests), has helped me figure out how I learn best. It has also showed me what education could be. Unfortunately, we do not prepare our kids for real education. We teach them to “figure out what the teacher wants” rather than doing any real creative or critical thinking on their own. (By the way, it sounded to me like the professor was looking for critical thinking, so these students may very well be in for a real surprise when they get there results back).

    Being honest though, I did find the class a struggle in some respects. I tried very hard to concentrate on listening to the professor. What I haven’t figured out yet, is how I will make the best of this opportunity. I need to teach myself how to learn again using the lecture format, rather than the online discussion format.

    I am also trying to figure out the best way to take notes in a less linear manner. I saw someone at an Informal Learning unworkshop take notes in the form of a mind map. I thought that was fascinating; however, I don’t find the traditional mind maps at all represent how I think. (I think it is related to my inability to consistently file anything!). So, at the moment my notes are a jumble of words, sometimes with arrows connecting the different ideas. I think that I mostly take notes so that I am doing something kinesthetic during the lecture. I wonder if knitting during a lecture would be frowned upon ;).

    Cheers,
    Becky

  • How not to introduce a new presentation paradigm

    Hi all,

    This is the first in my series on what I learned in my last job as training specialist at a small high-tech start-up.

    I picked up the book Beyond Bullet Points and wanted to give the new presentation paradigm a try. I was able to make some minor modifications to the corporate template to meet my needs, and I had complete control over content creation. I wasn’t giving the presentation, I was just writing it. The presentations would be presented by instructors that where knowledgeable on the topic.

    I created what I though was an amazing PowerPoint presentation, that used full sentence titles. If you looked only at the slide titles, you could follow the presentation’s “story”. The slide content itself was mostly graphical. As a general rule, the slides avoided bullet points. Some slides did have a key statement that supported or provided additional information relating to the slide title.

    So, I setup a review meeting and asked one of the instructors do to the presentation for the review. I was really excited about the new graphics and the new format. I thought that everyone would find the presentation easy to follow and would be impressed by the ease with which the instructor presented the material. Unfortunately, that is not what happened 🙁

    I did not brief the instructor, and the instructor did not really look at the slides in advance. As a result, he struggled to present the material. He would open a slide and look for the bullet points to help him figure out what to say next. Of course, there were no bullet points. Also, the new template had the unfortunate characteristic that the slide titles were faded out, so they were not obvious. The instructor struggled through the entire presentation without reading a single title! The entire presentation was build around the idea that the first thing that the instructor said was the slide title.

    So, what did I learn?

    First, when you are trying out a new template, make sure you preview/test the template on a projector (not just your screen) prior to the presentation. The titles which looked OK on my screen became washed out and almost invisible when they were projected.

    Second, when you are trying something new and having someone else doing the presentation, make sure you brief the instructor on the new paradigm. It never occurred to me that the instructor would need to be “re-trained” on how to view and present the material. All I needed to tell the instructor in advance was to be sure to read the titles. (I did this with a different presentation and different instructor and it worked brilliantly). When titles are topic based, you often don’t read them. However, with this new paradigm, the titles were a critical component of the story.

    In the end, I think the new paradigm that uses full sentence titles really does help communicate the intended message. It also helps ensure that the instructor knows what the instructional designer intended with the particular slide. However, the instructors do need to be re-trained on what to expect and how to present the material. Without bullet points, the instructors need to be more knowledgeable on the subject and more familiar with the presentation itself.

    Cheers.

  • Regular Postings – What I learned

    Hello world :).

    Now that I am soon to be unemployed (at least briefly), I hope to get back to regular blog posts. One of the first series I shall do is, what I learned during my last job. My last job, was a the “Training Specialist” for a high tech start-up. I was the only training person on staff. In addition, this was my first experience in a company with 80-110 people.

    Look for posts, soon to come, on the following topics:
    – Creating material that anyone can present.
    – Creating material that anyone can maintain.
    – Real needs versus perceived needs.
    – Sometimes “OK” is good enough.
    – Breaking the barrier between formal “training” and informal learning.

    Another series I hope to put together will include pictures and possibly stories from my northern British Columbia vacation. I am planning a trip up to Kitimat, BC, to go fishing with my parents. This time of year (the week of summer solstice), Kitimat gets about 4-hours of darkness. The long days allow for lots of time to enjoy nature. I’m looking forward to the week of allergy free peace and quiet.

    Cheers,
    Becky

  • Full sentence slide titles makes it easier for others to use your slides

    It has been awhile since I last blogged. I’ve been reading various blogs, but haven’t felt the inspiration until today.

    I am about to embark on a new project. I want to figure out how to integrate the good parts of ISD (identifying objectives and outlining the flow before developing) with the concept of storytelling and the Beyond Bullet Points approach to writing slideware.

    My requirements are pretty standard. The products I write training for are rapidly changing (isn’t everything in high tech?). The folks teaching the training are not trainers, rather they are technical folks (programmers and troubleshooters). So, the goal is to create PPT presentations that can be presented well by anyone, and to do it in a manner that doesn’t take a tonne of time to maintain, since the products constantly change.

    I tried incorporating full sentence titles in my slides (rather than topic headings). Apparently research shows that students remember more of the presentation when this technique is used. I found a useful side effect to this approach: it makes the slides easier to present. Specifically, it makes it easier for someone who didn’t author the slides to present them. I found that the instructors knew what the intention of every slides was — because it was written in the title! I’m a convert. I will no longer use topic titles for slides …. that being said ….

    The use of full sentences doesn’t align well with a “topic” based approach to course design. The process I have been using definitely promotes the use of topic titles rather than full sentence statements. So, this is my next journey. I’m going to try and figure out a process for developing training that involves excellent PPT presentations (full sentence titles and lots of graphics), and takes into account learning objectives. I’ll share this on my blog as I discover things that work.

  • Creativity requires failure

    In order to be creative (or innovative), you must be allowed to have bad ideas.

    I recently encountered a situation where I felt that I had to be good at everything I did. When I did something different, and it didn’t work out, I was made to feel bad. In addition, that experiment was later interpreted as a lack of competence. The people doing the judging, really didn’t understand the need to fail when you are being creative.

    If you aren’t allowed to fail, then you wont risk anything. Suddenly, every idea become a “safe” idea, and you are no longer creating, you are simply doing it the way it has always been done.

    So, the next time you approach someone who appears to have a “stupid idea”, remember not to judge. A creative person needs the opportunity to do stupid things now and then in order to develop that brilliant idea.

  • Can instructional design be taught?

    Let’s start by looking at a few definitions (source wikipedia):
    Artist: Artist is a subjective term which describes a person creative in, innovative in, or adept at, their endeavors.
    Artisan: An artisan, also called a craftsman, is a skilled manual worker who uses tools and machinery in a particular craft. …

    How does this apply to instructional systems design (ISD). Again, here is an excerpt from wikipedia on Instructional Systems Design: “Instructional Design and Instructional Systems Design are scientifically derived processes which are intended to optimize learning gains in knowledge and performance from precisely engineered (and designed) instruction. “

    Instructional Systems Design provides a process that allows artisans to develop effective instructional material. However, I’d like to propose that there is actually an element of “art” necessary to develop good instructional material. In my experience, where the ISD process was strictly followed, the results were mediocre. You can do an OK job with ISD, but to do a great job, you need to deviate from the “recipe” and actually create. To do this successfully, you need some level of innate talent.

    So, a great instructional designer is actually an artist: somebody that can take the ISD “recipe” and made the necessary modifications to create training material that is not only effective, but also inspiring.

    I think that is where I’d like to be. I want to break out of the box that is ISD and create training material that inspires.

  • It’s OK to learn from books

    I have seen many recent posts about “Do-it-yourself” learning management systems, including Harold Jarche’s recent post. It is OK to learn from a book. Yes, the Internet is a great resource; however, I find that I need something to help me find direction. The Internet often provides too many choices for me. (BTW, a great book about the impact of too much choice is The Paradox of Choice by Bary Schwartz).

    As I reflect on how I learn, it is interesting that I find I often need a book to get me started. When I tackle a new software package or instructional design concept, I go searching for a book to get me going. I get the book, and crack it open. Sometimes, I will not get beyond the first chapter or two … then the learning seems to occur more by osmosis than by reading. At some point, the book gets put down (usually, less than half read). The first chapter was enough to get me started and then I am off … learning by doing.

    Maybe that is the key. The Internet often has lots of detailed information, but lacks the overview that the book gives me. Or, maybe it is just that I need the print in a space that isn’t in front of my computer (without the pressures and distractions that come with the computer).

    Either way you slice it, I find my best learning occurs when I have a book on the topic, even if I don’t read it!

  • Mauna Kea


    This is by far my favourite photo from our November 2006 vacation in Hawaii. The picture is taken from the top of Mauna Kea at sunset. What you are seeing is the shadow of Mauna Kea in the cloud layer which is below us.

    If you ever get a chance to visit the Big Island of Hawaii, a sunset expedition up to the summit of Mauna Kea for star gazing is a must. The moonscapes above the tree line are amazing. It feels like you are on another planet.

  • Being grateful

    In my brief moments of reflection (while soaking in the tub or sauna) I’m reading the book “The Progress Paradox” by Gregg Easterbrook. I’m finding the book a great source of reflection. As a result, I only read a small portion each night. The book makes me look at the world in a much more positive light.

    In tonight’s reading, I learned that

    “People who describe themselves as feeling grateful to others, and either to God or to creation in general, tend to have higher vitality and more optimism, suffer less stress, and experience fewer episodes of clinical depression than the population as a whole.” (page 238).

    One exercise that is recommended is to write down (daily or weekly) what you are grateful for. This practice is said to help you keep things in perspective, and in general make you feel better about yourself and your place in the world.

    So, what am I grateful for today …

    • I am grateful that work is going well.
    • I am grateful that I am almost ready for the training sessions I’m presenting next week.
    • I am grateful that my husband loves me.
    • I am grateful that I have friends.
    • I am grateful that I am part of a supportive community.
    • ….

    It’s amazing how well that works at the end of the day. It certainly put a smile on my face (specially the things I’m grateful for that I will not post for everyone on the Internet to read!).

    What are you grateful for?

  • Blogging and Karaoke

    So, how is blogging like karaoke you ask?

    Have you ever been to a karaoke party where everyone that gets up and sings is really excellent? I have, and it was a real drag. On the other hand, I’ve been to a karaoke party where a couple of really courageous people get up and belt one out — and really suck at it. That is the recipe for an awesome karaoke party. Why? Because then everyone in the room feels like they can get up and give it a try.

    Blogging is similar. If all the blogs out there were amazingly well written and contained only amazing content, then most people would be afraid to even try it. The blog community is an amazing place full of dynamic thoughts. This works because some blogs suck.

    So blogging is like karaoke because you need a few people that suck at it but are willing to give it a try with all their heart. This encourages everyone else to participate, cause well, anyone can do better than that right? And, the more you blog, the better you get at it.

  • The Internet Generation

    I’ve been wondering lately, how the Internet will affect the next generation of kids. Their entire lives are stored on the Internet. Parents start blogs with the kids names from the moment they enter the world. It’s a great way to tell family and friends what’s happening without having to make numerous phone calls. But I wonder what it will mean to the kids when they get older? Us older folks are often still hesitant to share much on the Internet, because the Internet is permanent. Today’s kids don’t get to make that choice, as they are displayed right from birth. Guess it will make it easier to find those embarrassing baby photos for their wedding! But how will it affect their search for a job? Will an Internet presence be necessary?

    The other side effect of this, is does it cause to call home less? To stay less connected. We blog, so we keep everyone up-to-date on our lives, but is that a healthy way to maintain communication with family and friends?

  • In the beginning

    I recently attended an Informal Learning Unworkshop facilitated by Harold Jarche. It has inspired me to investigate further blogging and to jump onto the blogging bandwagon.

    When blogs first came out, I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. I really didn’t see how they could be applied as a learning tool. I dismissed the idea as a passing fad that would likely die off, as many new technologies are wont to do. The Information Learning Unworkshop helped me re-examine blogging. It has come a long way in the last few years. I think the RSS services have made the technology viable. Without the RSS feeds, you’d have to keep checking websites. I’d never have the patience to keep re-looking. I need the technology to be more of a push then a pull.

    Blog + RSS is a pull-push technology. I still need to go to a website to see my feeds, but I don’t need to go to each blog, and I don’t need to remember which blogs I care about. I go to one site, my Internet based RSS reader, and all the blogs I care about are available. What’s great about that, is that I only need to remember one URL! … So, the blog is a pull and the RSS is a push (ish) … hence pull-push.

    Now, I have one more URL to remember, the URL to post to this Blog!

    The Human Internet
    Whilst skiing in the Gatineau Hills yesterday, it occurred to me that blogging makes the Internet human. Actually, it makes the websites on the Internet human. Before the blogging craze, you had static websites that people occasionally updated. They were very impersonal, and typically contained information, but didn’t contain things like, “this is what I did on my vacation”. When you read a persons blog, you see some of their personality. They are human. So blogs make the Internet human.

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