Many of my friends and ex-colleagues usually dislike training. They dread entering the training room, the way they would dread entering a torture chamber. In most cases, Training is reduced to an exercise in futility and the prevailing emotion is “Let’s just get this over with!”

There are numerous reasons as to why this happens. In my previous job as an Insurance Sales trainer, I realized that one of the main reasons for people to hate training is that they think that it is simply not worth their time. Amidst today’s hectic schedules and tight deadlines, who has the time for training anyway?

Another very important reason is that most people have been through some very boring training, be it instructor-led or computer based. They have had to sit for long hours at a computer or in a training room and have been subjected to tons of information being dished out at them. No wonder they gradually start hating it.

Microlearning – Learning, not Training

I was reading a blog-post by Amit Garg on the Upside Learning blog which led me to agree that Microlearning is the future of workplace learning. This blog post was published way back in 2009, so I’ll include a quick summary.

Microlearning is best used as a part of a blended learning solution and is suitable for:

• Activating knowledge before a classroom (or virtual classroom or even and eLearning session);

• Summarizing (after one of those sessions – delivered soon after the session);

• Recall (or reactivating knowledge – probably a week or two after the session. This ensures key concepts are revisited and helps in transferring the new knowledge to long term memory – especially for learners who may not get a chance to apply new knowledge immediately after the sessions);

• Providing application opportunities (through pop quizzes or learning games on mobile);

• Just-in-time search support by letting employees search in company’s knowledge databases (wikis, blogs, forums) using their mobiles.

By creating microlearning courses compatible with mobile devices, we can bring about a paradigm shift in the way we learn at the workplace.

Afterall, learning ain’t training.

The post Microlearning – A Paradigm Shift In The Way We Learn first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Which of these technology changes will impact training the most?

I think mobile applications are the game changer for training.
Let me explain why I think that way.

Why Mobile?

We now produce more information than ever, the shelf life of knowledge and skills is reducing, and the new generation workforce thinks about information storage and access very differently – after all they have had a whole decade of interaction with web  1.0 + 2.0. With the availability of just-in-time access to information through mobile computing devices (including tablets) the notion of knowledge (sometimes a.k.a. information) and its use gets separated. For me, it shifts the focus from ‘Training’ to ‘Performance Support’.

In my interactions with various business owners & training managers I’ve found a performance support initiative gets the management nod more easily as compared to a training initiative. Evidently, the management believes the advantage of a performance support initiative is immediate, and promises better ROI. This is where a strategy that includes mobile fits in very well. It’s a fantastic always carried on the person, and is now as powerful as a PC/Mac from just a couple of years ago. It can be adapted to become your performance support agent at work.

Why Apps?

Mobile apps are big business. It’s projected that apps will become a bigger market than CDs by 2012. It is only natural for it to exert an influence on the learning & training market as well. Mashable reports that 1 in 4 adults in US now use mobile apps. Today there are hundreds of apps for education available on the Apple Appstore – here’s a big list of iPhone apps for education.

Apps are a great medium for delivering quality learning content as they:

–  Provide a smooth consistent user experience
–  Load only data as compared to a web site or web app that loads UI too
–  Can reach targeted audience in a secure manner
–  Allow creation of a dedicated channel for access and retrieval (pull) of    information/knowledge just when needed
–  Allow networking, collaboration and user generated content easier by being available at the point of creative impulse (as Tomi Ahonen puts it)
–  Can store user specific information and act as a personal learning agent (at least to some extent)

Examples of Workplace Learning (Performance Support) Apps

Apps that help the workforce perform better or safer are already out in the market. Soon we will see more custom apps hitting the Appstore/Market. These would be tailored to suit a particular audience and will have particular objectives. Here are some examples available on the Appstore:

HVAC Toolkit Ultimate – load calculation, duct sizer, etc for onsite plumbers.

Foreman’s Mate – a utility for the workers in construction industry.

Electrician’s Helper takes the hassle out of looking us electrical codes and doing complex calculations for installations.

Earlier I had written about healthcare industry being at the forefront of the mobile learning innovation and that post contains with some good examples too.

Where will Apps Fit in Training?

I think apps will eventually create a unique position in the training methods of corporates. Given the unique advantages, they may soon become trusted assistants of every employee in the workplace. They will eventually replace a lot of varied tools, manuals, charts, technical support, calculators, and the like, perhaps making the mobile computing and communication device the only tool one needs.

When you have apps to support almost everything your workforce does, you need to take a serious relook at your whole training strategy.

I see a whole new world of training coming around with mobile apps as the agents of change.

Do you agree?

The post Will Mobile Apps Change Training Forever? first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

A couple of months back I shared my thoughts on an interesting question relating to the ‘future of workplace learning’ at Learning Circuits Blog. The learning domain is undergoing change like never before; Social Media, Informal Learning, Communities, Virtual Worlds, Mobile Learning, Learning Games, Augmented Reality, and much else. Such is the force of change that the existence of the Training Department itself is under threat – at least in the ‘form’ we know of now. As Harold Jarche and Jay Cross point out in their excellent article “The future of training department”, the training personnel of the future need to reorganize and must try to achieve the following:

– Facilitating collaborative work and learning amongst workers, especially as peers.
– Sensing patterns and helping to develop emergent work and learning practices.
– Working with management to fund and develop appropriate tools and processes for workers.

I concur with what they say, just that this transition will happen quickly in some organizations but painfully and slowly in others. This is captured well in Clark Quinn’s ‘Conferencing Reflections’ where he talks about how the focus of a large number of organizations is still on doing-the-job with training and missing the point when it comes to learning, and how technology can help there.

Where does this leave the learning solutions providers?
It is inevitable that learning providers would need to change too – both in their approach and offerings. In fact the providers need to change before consumer organizations do. They need to be ready with new set of products and services (guess everything would be a ‘service’ in a few years in most cases!). For this providers need to innovate and change internally first.

Pursuing that direction, a few months back Upside Learning set up a dedicated team for ‘Innovation and New Projects – INP’ The idea is to examine the changes in workplace learning space – in learning technology; in the way we learn with new technology; and in how this will affect our market place (and in turn our products and services). We want to be at the forefront and be ready with new age products and services to help our customers. Of course the central thoughts behind this is to ensure our existing customers need not look out for a new supplier for any of the new learning technology they may require.

Why INP?
Well, I feel innovation and its benefits to customers should be linked closely. Sometimes innovation-teams may lose their connection with ground reality and innovate to produce great prototypes only to realize it’s not commercially viable or useful for customers. For this reason, we wanted our innovation team to be involved with some of our projects for customers too. They’re involved with new types or atypical projects, like the development of an iphone app based game quiz recently. We want our innovation team to be early adopters of new technology, to experience it, evaluate it for what’s it worth, and pass on the knowledge/skills learned to other members of the development team.

We hope this will stand us in good stead and help our current, prospective and future customers meet their learning needs effectively. We hope that in turn will help us build on our progress so far.

The post Innovation in eLearning | Upside Learning first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.