There are lots of misconceptions
about Training & Development in general. But we shall concentrate on
eLearning, since developing new or converting traditional training materials
for an online use requires a wide range of skill set. Though these skills can
be learned and experience can be acquired, but it takes time.
Here I will outline my personal
experience and mistakes meeting with well-meaning enthusiastic folk who can be
very experienced in their own domain but somehow wandered into eLearning field
with a anyone-can-do-it attitude - I would classify them as "uninitiated".
Uninitiated are well meaning folk - HR managers, L&D Managers, Trainers,
etc. - who add as many eLearning skills on LinkedIn as possible simply because
they have seen/tried/heard something about something somewhere.
Unfortunately, many
"uninitiated" are in charge of making decisions whilst making certain
assumptions such as “we don't need eLearning specialists/consultant - Jonny is
a whiz with computers, Jane owns latest video camera and Peter downloaded
Captivate 6 trial last week - we will manage.”
So here is my top fail list that
covers Planning, Design, Development, and Delivery aspects of eLearning
programs:
- We
can do it ourselves and put it on YouTube!
Fail: give the Sales/HR/IT people
Camtasia/Articulate/Captivate/Lectora and let them make their own eLearning or
just video tape Johnny/CEO/Trainer talking and upload it to YouTube.
Assumptions: anyone can produce eLearning;
any recorded material accessed over the internet is eLearning; everyone learns
by watching.
Result: disparity between
content creators or lack of a style guide, creating an;
inconsistent/static/boring experience for the learner, badly designed
eLearning; unprofessional appearance (shaky camera work, bad sound, lighting);
Video editing and production skills may be needed; video can ultimately be too
large for upload or to stream, clogging the network.
- We have heaps of training documents on the network
already!
Fail: convert/upload
old PowerPoint training presentations, PDF's or Word documents.
Assumption: Any electronic document accessed online is eLearning or
that people learn by reading text.
Result: learners will be confused or disappointed with learning
online experience such as opening a 30 slide PP or a 50 page PDF. Next time
someone asks them "What do you think about online training - is it any
good?" - you know the answer already.
- Lots of money can buy you high quality eLearning!
Fail:
going on a shopping spree
to purchase templates, ready-made courses,
over-invest in LMS and various eLearning authoring tools.
Assumption:
software, technology or templates will
solve all training or learning development and delivery needs; everything can
be customise and changed later.
Result: over-investment in content, tools and technology without
the right skill-set and know-how of managing, customising, implementing these
resources and technologies achieves zero results.
- Ok,
let's get someone to do it!
Fail: instead or
after the shopping spree let's go on hiring spree! Let's write a 4 page PD with
all eLearning skills and experience imaginable and employ Senior Instructional-Designer
with Flash-skills, who knows Moodle and PHP-SCORM Captivate and Video editing extraordinaire
paying 15 per hour! Oh, and having project management skills and German
language is an advantage; hiring first then making plans; over-estimating or
underestimating time and resources.
Assumption:
consultants, contractors or new employees
will solve all L&D issues; hiring or contracting has nothing
to do with L&D internal strategies, responsibilities, existing technical
and skill capabilities and future goals.
Result: without involvement of upper management or companywide
strategy and goals, lack of change can lead to blame, disappointment and
disillusion, and total waste of acquired talent.
- Pursuit of
perfection
Fail: never-ending revisions and delays to project
schedule; involving too many stakeholders and too many "interested
parties" to give opinions, write content or make changes; plus loss of
momentum and excitement.
Assumption: only when upper management approves and everyone agrees
on everything is when eLearning development can start or progress to the next
stage; everyone companywide must have their say and responsible for successful eLearning
outcome.
Result: by the time everyone agreed on everything, eLearning content may become
obsolete, learners may lose interest, and you may end up with developers and
designers sitting round and waiting for something to happen.
- It's
on! Sorry, it's not working… It's on! It's off…
Fail: let's
develop eLearning using the "latest and greatest" and let the techies
figure out how to implement it later.
Assumption:
eLearning delivery has nothing to do
with existing CLMS/IT/HR/OS systems; there's no need to test it and consult all
stakeholders. eLearning content can be easily adjusted/re-built and re-skinned
to suit any system and various requirements later.
Result: without consultation, planning, pilot testing and QA
(Quality Assurance) rigid processes, you may run into furious IT support, and
apologetic emails and disappointed learners. Once eLearning development has
begun, it will be almost impossible to change it unless you are willing to
start from scratch.
- Now,
we've done it! But where are the learners?
Fail: build it and they will come; no learning promotion
strategy; online training is difficult to access.
Assumption:
learners will know how, when and why
they have to access your new eLearning program
Result: no one is using the system, non-existent ROI, no way to
advance and move forward.
- We've
done well! How do you know?
Fail: online training developed and delivered without
assessments, review exercises, feedback, rating system or post-training review
sessions.
Assumption:
there's no
need to measure and assess learners; learners hate exams or to be tested; there's
no need to change content or structure
once it is up and running.
Result: it is very difficult to know and prove how successful
your learning has been - both for the learner and people who created eLearning.
Even if the training is delivered via LMS with good reporting tools it is very
important to get and keep getting all learners feedback.
You may ask; what is the best remedy for all of these? Just being
aware of this and spending more time on doing research, TNA and planning can
save you time and money. Read, and ask your future learners - they are the most
important!
Sarunas Vaitkus is a qualified trainer and eLearning technologist
with a 12 year experience providing consulting, analysis, design and delivery
of ICT Learning & Development solutions as well as offering training
workshops for businesses helping to establishing eLearning 101 framework from
design, development right to delivery and support. Here's my personal LinkedIn profile here and bit more about elcentra services here.
