Breakthrough Briefing interviews Karin Albert, Senior Course Developer and Learner Coach of "Maximizing the Value of Your eLearning: Creating a Solid Management and Evaluation Plan" to get a glimpse of what goes on in her course and why people enjoy it so much.

 

 

Karin:  The course title does a very good job of summarizing what we cover and why.  The “what” is creating the management and evaluation plan. We’ve all heard that old saying, “failing to plan is planning to fail,” and eLearning is no exception. In this course, students will have the opportunity to develop or test their business case for an eLearning program against the needs of the business, align their eLearning with the goals and culture of the organization, and develop a solid management and evaluation plan. In the other two courses, the focus is on the eLearning itself – the technical options and the instructional design and facilitation. This course looks at the project management side of eLearning: gaining commitment from the relevant stakeholders, working with vendors, preparing a schedule and a budget, identifying appropriate metrics and calculating the ROI.
    Why do we do all these things? As the course title implies, we all want to maximize the value of our eLearning. We can create the most wonderful, state-of-the-art eLearning program ever, but if it does not add value to the organizations we serve, it was a waste of money. So we start by identifying those pain points in the organization—those places where an eLearning intervention can make a positive difference in the bottom line.

BB:   How do you keep your learners engaged during the course?

Karin:  I’m smiling because I don’t believe that engagement or motivation comes from me; it comes from my learners. All I can do is create a context that gives them a reason to want to be engaged. 
    Part of that context is making the course content intrinsically motivating. I encourage learners to bring their real work projects and challenges to class. For instance, one of the assignments is preparing an RFP (request for proposal) as part of the vendor selection process. When the draft RFP that gets submitted as an assignment is one that also goes out to real vendors, students are naturally engaged. The course is helping them do what they get paid to do, and helping them to be more effective at doing it.
    The biggest challenge we face in eLearning is the social nature of learning. Because learning is a social phenomenon, we do everything we can to encourage interactions among the learners. That’s why eLearn Campus uses a “cohort model”—a group of students moving through the same content at the same pace, so they can discuss and share and learn from each other as well as from their course facilitators.
    I spend a lot of time online interacting with my learners, checking in daily to see what’s been posted in the discussion boards, what questions people are asking, what assignments have been submitted. I enjoy the challenge of creating as much interaction as possible within the limits of the online environment, so we have live chat sessions, a lot of emails fly back and forth, and I’ve even spent time on the phone with students.
 
BB:   Who would you recommend your course to?

Karin:  In general, I would recommend this course to anyone wanting to move from a training and/or instructional design role to a training management role—to anyone wanting to add project management skills to his or her resume.
    Specifically, if you are facing certain kinds of challenges, then the material in this course can equip you with new ways to respond to those challenges. Are you having trouble building a business case for your eLearning? We talk about making the connection between the goals, objectives, and needs of the organization and your eLearning project. Are you having trouble justifying the cost of an eLearning program? We talk about the ways to calculate the return on your organization’s investment in eLearning. Do you need to work with vendors? Do you need to prepare budgets and project schedules in order to get your project approved and funded? Is there resistance to eLearning, either in management or among your potential learners?
    There is so much more to the business of eLearning than just developing and deploying courses. There are people who just want to create courses and not be bothered with things like budgets and schedules. This course is not for them. But if you want to design courses that are funded, readily adopted, and add value to the bottom line, this course is most definitely for you.

BB:  Do you enjoy teaching this course?  Why?

Karin:  I really do enjoy teaching this course for two reasons. First, and foremost, because I get the opportunity to meet and interact with some of the most amazing people on the planet. I think my students are just incredible. I have an enormous respect for the commitment to learning and personal and professional development that this course requires, and it is a privilege to work with the kind of people who are willing to make that commitment. 
    And the second reason is that over the years I’ve learned a thing or two worth sharing, and I am always gratified when I can make a contribution that makes someone else’s life a little easier. So my course is full of very practical tips, templates, worksheets, and other tools to help my learners work more efficiently and effectively.

 

BB:  In your opinion what are some of the benefits of learning about eLearning by doing eLearning?

 

Karin:  I’m not sure how to answer that question, because I’m absolutely tripping over the word “about.” (Have I mentioned that I’m a closet linguist?) Here’s an analogy that helps explain why I’m stuck on that one particular word: Thanks to all the commentators and articles on the recent Winter Olympics, I learned a lot about sports like skiing, figure skating and curling—the objectives of the events, how points are won or lost, who the medal winners were and what countries they were from. But I still can’t do skiing, figure skating or curling. No matter how much I learn about those sports, I will probably never be able to do them.
    The eLearn Campus approach works precisely because we don’t “learn about” eLearning, we do eLearning. And in the process of doing, and reflecting on what we did and what we experienced, we learn eLearning in a way that is far more powerful than just learning about eLearning. Our learners know what works because they’ve experienced it. They can empathize with their learners because they’ve been there. By the time they have finished the certificate program, they don’t just know about eLearning, they know eLearning. They can do eLearning and they know why what they do is effective.

BB:  What feedback have you received so far about your course?

Karin:  That I make people work too hard. :)  Seriously, one student did say the amount of work and the pace of the course “paralleled the real experience of managing an eLearning project from beginning to completion.” He did add that he thought it was, “a great way to structure any learning.” 
    Many commented on the real world applicability of the content and its immediate relevance to their jobs. And several said they appreciated my facilitation, particularly the comments, feedback and practical examples I shared in response to their postings.
 
BB:  What are the top 3 reasons why someone should take your course?

 

Karin:  Because I have a visceral aversion to anything that even hints at “one size fits all,” the top three reasons would vary depending on who that “someone” is, but I’m sure they would include some of the following:

To find out more about "Maximizing the Value of Your eLearning" course or the Certificate in eLearning Management, contact us, or call us at (877) 238-3297.

By Rick Nigol

 

Because we all received our education via courses, this is naturally what we tend to think about when training challenges arise in the workplace. Even in the eLearning field, our first instinct is to create a course. This is a tidy and convenient way to give structure to a training intervention.

 

However, a course, or even a series of courses, may not always be the appropriate response. There are other ways to provide training support without the boundaries and restrictions created by a formal course structure. Two alternatives to the course are electronic performance support systems (EPSS) and learning communities.

 

 

These are training aids that can be made easily accessible to your employees during the course of their normal work day via a few mouse clicks. For example, we are helping an organization with a roll-out of a new customized financial records system. Five hundred individuals across the organization who need to use this software will have handy “how to” modules available for any major tasks they need to complete on the system. They can experience a particular learning module, and then try the task themselves using the software.

 

This approach has two major advantages.

 

1. You train employees at their point of need (i.e. when they have to actually complete a particular task). This is when they are the most motivated to learn. Also, they will apply their learning immediately, meaning that they are more likely to retain this knew knowledge.

 

2. Employees only access that training that is relevant to them and their particular needs. This is a very efficient training methodology. People are not wasting time learning things that are not relevent to their immediate needs.

 

 

Many times, learning can be facilitated by merely providing a means for those with similar roles, functions, or interests, across the organization to communicate with each other. A rich array of ideas, perspectives and experiences can be shared and documented, making the group, in total, smarter than any individual member. As an example, we set up threaded discussion groups for an association to work through a strategic planning process. No course on strategic planning was necessary….just the ability for intelligent people to have facilitated and spirited discussions leading to a final product (in this case a decision on their future directions).

 

So next time you have a training challenge, think outside the course box. There are many ways to get to the same outcome, and a course may not be the most efficient or effective route.

 

Rick is teaching "Making the Right Choices for Your eLearning: Setting the Vision" this April 3rd.  You can register online, or contact us or call (877) 238-3297 if you have any questions.