Will Facebook Drive Behavior Changes

I was teaching our class on How to Use SharePoint, the other day and several people commented on the fact that they struggle with getting users to stop sending documents via email and learn how to use SharePoint.  So I thought I would do a comparison of Facebook and SharePoint. 

Here is just a quick comparison of the two.  I'd be curious if any of you have any other observations or comparisons.  I'm going to take a guess that as more FaceBook users come into the workforce, it will be more natural for employees to use SharePoint in a similar fashion. 

Facebook	SharePoint
Allows users to control who has access to information	Allows users to control who has access to information
Files can be uploaded and shared with others	Files can be uploaded and shared with others
Rate items that you like	Create Surveys for feedback
Searchable	Searchable
	Usage reports and data on which documents are used and by who
Users can post links to other sites but no way to create RSS tags for content within your page – but it acts somewhat like an RSS feed for people who are subscribed as a friend	Allows users to subscribe to pages or sites for automation of information updates
Not a lot of customization options other than the image you have for profile	Customization of pages and style built into the platform
Can send message privately or to groups	Tied directly into Outlook for sending messages or calendar posts within SharePoint and vs. versa You can also assign users and security levels to your documents, pages and sites
Can add games, surveys and other activities to share with your friends	Not sure if anyone is using it for posting games to share
Adds are placed on your page without control	No forced advertising on pages

SharePoint Features for Training

I mentioned a few weeks ago on our radio show "Training Tech Talk" that the LMS as we know if today won't be around in 5 years --- yes I said it-- and I dare you to prove me wrong.  What do I think may take its place?  I see a trend around tools like Sharepoint, Web 2.0 and Knowledge Management systems are helping organizations gaining access to content in a more efficient manner with a lot of the content being user driven.

There will be a need to have some knowledge experts or more structured knowledge transfer but a lot of what on-the-job learning comes from each other and information that is shared across the organization.  Here is a nice video lesson on how to use Sharepoint 2010 for adding video, audio, and social media features.

We are going to be offering a new class the end of this month "How to use SharePoint for Knowledge Management" so stay tuned for more on this topic.


SharePoint 2010 Top 5 Features from Michael Gannotti on Vimeo.

Celebrating Back to School

Should I feel bad that I' almost giddy about our last child going off to college?  I can't help it after raising 6 kids I deserve a break.  But as I was packing up this last child there was defenitely an interesting change in what he was packing with him.  With Mac Book in hand, and a box full of movie DVD's I was curious as to what technologies college students were using the most these days.  Besides the obvious cell phone, my older son who is a senior this year decided to buy a net-book instead of replacing his lap top which bit the dust a few months ago.  He didn't see the need for spending the extra $200 for a full laptop and with the use of Cloud computing for accessing programs and storage it made sense.  Plus the battery life is so much longer on these net-books I"m tempted to get one for myself with the communting that we do in the city it would be much easier to carry this around vs. my bigger laptop.

The other big difference I noted was that books are now finally getting into the digital game.  I always thought the college book market was way out of hand -- even though I understand there is a defenite cost to putting these wonderful resources together but the truth of the matter is digital books make more sense for college students.
Also the registration and monitoring of your student records, payments etc continues to become more accessible via digital technologies.

Now let's take it one step further and get it into the classroom or outside the classroom.  Here is a video of how Vassar College is using Tablet PC's in the field

Technology in the Field: Vassar College and Tablet PCs from Meg Stewart on Vimeo.

Here is another resource that speaks to the Digital Technology impact on Education from the Univ of IL (home of Netscape, SpyGlass and other cool ground breaking technologies)

http://www2.ed.gov/Technology/Futures/hardin.html

Training Tech Talk, Caroline Avey

We have been hosting some online radio programs "Training Tech Talk" and I thought our viewers would like to listen to this week's show.  Our guest was Carline Avey,learning strategist and director of innovative learning strategies with ACS Learning Services, a Xerox company. She has over 15 years experience in instructional strategy, design and development, working on custom and generic projects for Fortune 500 clients and public agencies. Currently, she is known for her work on developing strategies and practical applications of learning in 3D-virtual worlds , web 2.0 learning applications and mLearning. Most recently, her teams are working on Kiosk learning solutions for iPad and using mobile tagging for sharing of knowledge objects. In 2009, she won the Innovator of the year award for ACS, a Xerox company.


Click here to listen to this show.

Measuring the Value of Learning

We are getting ready to present our class "Frome ADDIE to IMPROV" at the Chicago eLearning Showcase on Wed. Auguest 11th.  Even though this will be an abreaviated version of what is normally a 1.5 to 2 hour workshop, one element of this workshop we hope people walk away with is a new perspective on how to measure the results of training on the organization. 

Many senior training professionals are asked to measure ROI of training.  This form of measurement ususally calculates the direct costs with delivery of the training vs. the impact that it has on the business.  I think one of the reasons for this is that the impact measurement may take more time or the training executives feel that this is out of their control.  I say Baloney!

In the ADDIE to IMPROV workshop (the I stands for Impact) Instructional Designers and training executives needs to think about how will their training impact the business and then work backwards from there.  I'd like to say I can take credit for this approach but I won't.  This approach has been supported by other highly recognized professionals such as Jack Phillips and Patti Phillips.  They have done significant research using this form of measurement.  They are both founders of the ROI Institute

To demonstrate how this works, think about a time when an organization is making some major change or installing new software applications.  There is an obvious need to create training around this initiative but rather than looking at only the skills need to learn this new procedure, do it in a way that let's you embrace how this new process or application needs to work in order to be measured successfully impacting the business.

Ask these questions
1- Why is this change or software being implemented
2- What is going on in the business to require this change
3- What tangible value will the organization receive as a results of a successful implementation -- i.e. reduce errors, faster delivery times, decrease waste--- put real $'s to this
4- What tangible cost will be incurred if not successful -- lost customers, increase waste- overtime etc.
5- Then start to develop the training to meet these goals

Many times we as designers get caught up in the skills and application side which can derail what the real intent of the training should be. Here is a statement I found as part of a series of interviews from CorpU


"We need to make our evaluation work a critical element of the “front-end” work, never as an afterthought"

So the next training program you become involved with think about the metrics for how this will have tangible measurable impact to the business vs. strictly level one or two evaluations.

Is Training a Commodity?

I was listening to the book "All Marketers are Liars" by Seth Godin and he made a comment about products and services.  He stated that a commodity is something you need not want.  It's like when I'm shopping with my husband who can't turn a bargain down, I say to him "Do we need this or want this" which usually helps him walk away from most impulse purchases.

But it struck me as a new way to try to assess learning and the value that organizations place on training and ongoing access to information.

When does someone go from taking training because they have to (commodity) vs. they want to? This author also pointed out that the non-commodity products were purchased because of the value they provided or the additional perceived benefits the buyer would receive as a result of placing a higher value on this non-commodity service. So what types of training programs do we offer today that are value based vs. a commodity.   So I made a quick list of the more common ones:

Commodity                                      Non-Commodity

Compliance                                        Communication Skills

Product Info                                       Leadership Skill

Policies                                              Business Process

Critical Equipment Instructions           Trouble-shooting of technology platforms

So as I make this list, I can see that there is value in the non-commodity skills that is harder to equate to an ROI and therefor where I think the training community struggles with how to get funding for these higher valued initiatives vs. the commodity initiatives.  To help you communicate the true value of these programs, try to find how the company will be impacted in a tangible way if the higher valued programs are not provided.

For example, a hospital wanted to add a coaching program to their leadership curriculum.  When I asked shat is the goal for this program the answer was "to help them communicate better to their staff."  My response was how do you know that they will actually be coaching at the level that they need to in order to measure the impact of this program --- Blank Stares--- .

Ok so here is what you do.  Ask them " What will have a measurable impact in the business if managers are not coaching staff correctly?  Is there something going on that is new that is causing an increase in the need for coaching?  They said yes, we have a new quality improvement program in place and there seems to be some resistance --- ah ha!  Ok so what happens to the business if the new quality improvement program is not done correctly?  "Well, we wil continue to make errors or slow down our cycle of patient care".

Now we're getting somewhere.   Take this specific business outcome, and tie the coaching program directly to this business situation.  The client could see immediately the difference in the approach to the program and felt more confident that they would receive funding for a more targeted approach to this skill.

If any of you have other examples to share we would love to hear them.

New and Improved Surveys

Is this the face you make when someone sends you a survey or asks you to complete an online feedback form?  We think it's time for a change so we used our creative brains again to use our PhonePodding tool to create a more engaging way of extracting feedback from people.  Due to the fact that almost everyone carries a phone with them at all times, why not use this to collect feedback from training, events, products etc.  You can sample this yourself by clicking on this link--- entering your phone number and then experience a sample of a training survey that will take you by surprise!  This sample has worked so well it's gone VIRAL so check it out for yourself.