You only have three minutes

I’ve been thinking about the Freakonomics blog post where people gave their ideas about why they do and don’t comment on blogs. In my initial post I just mentioned a few of the main reasons that I found interesting, but I hadn’t had time to really think about the implications of these reasons, not only for blogs but also for learning in general.

Having had a few weeks to think about two things really jump out at me, specifically related to how these reasons for not commenting impact the effectiveness of any training. I would argue that looking at why people do or don’t engage in a blog, may give us a fair indication of what people are or aren’t looking for in online training. Many eLearning applications are developed to engage the users so what lessons can we learn from people looking at blogs. Granted the two are fairly different in that reading a blog is part of informal learning, whereas some eLearning courses are required learning. Be that as it may we can still gleam something about what intrigues the cyber junkie and what rouses their interest or squashes their interactive juices.

The first is the fairly obvious and consistent reason for not commenting which is a lack of time. This is a VERY important factor to consider when developing online courses. DON’T try to develop these monstrous courses/modules that take hours to complete, people will become bored and they WILL move on!

How this for a great comment on the fixed cost of time:
“First is the fixed cost.. it just took me 3 minutes to register with Wordpress and that’s a long time for the internet age.” Matt W.

3 minutes! You better have something that is captivating to keep this guys attention!

The second aspect of commenting/not commenting that stood out for me was tone and expertise of the blog author. Check out these comments:

“It is not that I never have the desire, I just usually find myself far less articulate than the author of the blog that I am reading. For that reason I figure that there is no need for me to take away from what they have written with a seemingly un-intelligible response. I feel that there are far too many of these types of responses in blogs and I usually do not wish to be part of it.” Takshaka

“I choose weblogs authored by people much more knowledgeable than myself, written on topics I’d like to understand better. To think I would have something of substance to contribute, leaving a comment through this one-to-many broadcasting technology environment, would be hubris.” Dixie

I concede that people inclination to respond in written format on a blog authored by a blog may be different to engaging in online course, but there is certainly something to be gleaned from this comment. Tone is an essential part of a training course and bloggers comments on the experts should be taken into consideration. Not only have studies shown that simple language is easier to digest, but striking a tone of equality may get people to engage and absorb more of the information… By now my 3 minutes are up and you have probably moved on by now. If not, stay tuned.

Visualization methods: Periodic table

I came across this great resource via Kevin's blog. It's a periodic table of visualizations. Move your cursor over each one and an example pops up.

Let me know if you've found other resources like this.

Have a great Easter!

PowerPoint vs. Interactive learning

PowerPoint is a pervasive application used in many, if not most training settings. Sadly many of these PowerPoint presentations can be described only as ‘death by PowerPoint’ rather than being a good learning experience. The fact that PowerPoint is so pervasive generally means that it is used as a starting point for many of my discussions with customer related to developing customized and interactive eLearning materials. Some customers are happy with using PowerPoint presentations for eLearning and their interest in merely in outsourcing the production of these materials to an eLearning vendor. In this case it takes me some time to persuade the customer that there are more effective and engaging methods to teach people using an electronic method such as eLearning. The frustration from a vendor perspective for this example is that the customer doesn’t necessarily understand the complexity of developing a customized eLearning program and they may become frustrated by the amount of effort and time required to build a program. For this type of situation education of the customer is as important as the end user. On the other side of the perspective there is the customer who has tried using a PowerPoint training course deployed via the web which a lot of negative feedback from the user population. Sadly, many of these courses are not redeveloped due to budgetary or time constraints (something that I’ve heard numerous times). Although this customer understands that PowerPoint is not the answer, they also need to be educated on how eLearning programs are developed and how much time and effort is involved to develop a truly engaging and interactive program.

Having said all of this, I agree with Clive Shepherd that PowerPoint is not to blame per se. I think the main culprit is the business community, which has used PowerPoint in a lazy fashion. We are all used to the slides with terrible animation and thousands of bullet points and sadly this has become the accepted norm. Although I haven’t seen too many good examples of an interactive PowerPoint eLearning course I am sure there are examples out there. Although PowerPoint is not a great platform for developing eLearning materials it could very easily be used by a skilled developer to meet specific needs.

My point is that the technology is not that important, what really counts is how the training is developed. Understanding the objectives, content, audience, deployment method etc. is essential to developing a good training program. Blaming PowerPoint for not delivering is similar to blaming eLearning for not meeting its full potential. Ultimately, we should look at who creates the content, rather than what was used to develop the program.

What are your thoughts? What has your experience been with PowerPoint or PowerPoint-like training programs?

BTW, this discussion was stimulated by recent customer discussions, Clive Sheppard's blog post Don't blame PowerPoint as well as April's Learning Circuits' big question: ILT and Off-the-Shelf Vendors – What Should They Do? which addresses time-to-market and costs associated with developing custom content. Obviously cost is always a factor, especially when dealing with the customer that is satisfied or ok with the Powerpoint-type courses for eLearning.

Please also check out Learning Cicuits' big question in January which discusses quality vs. speed when it comes to eLearning development.

Blogging: No comment

Found a great post and discussion thread on the Freakonomics blog about why people do and don’t comment on blogs. It is enlightening to see the gamut of reasons that people cite for not posting comments on a blog. Many of the reasons also beg the question of what role blogs will play in the future and whether one on one interaction is really plausible for blogs.

Here are a few of the reasons listed for not commenting:

• No linear connection between comments and the original post
• Intimidated by the excellent writing style of the blogger
• Takes time to post a coherent comment
• Need to read through other comments to avoid duplication
• Don’t feel you have anything useful to add
• Too many passionate views so no one will listen to your comment
• Blogger is a SME and I couldn’t add anything
• Read blog using a reader rather than going to the actual blog
• Fear ridicule from other bloggers

And the # 1 reason is that many blogs require registration and login, which is time consuming and it requires you to remember your username and password.

Any comments? :-)

BTW, if you haven't read Freakonomics make sure you check it out. Even my wife enjoyed it and she wouldn't claim to know anything about economics.

Mind mapping

I came across a great post on mind mapping for all you visual thinkers out there. If like me, you like to create visual references while you learn, you will find this post very useful. Several references and links to useful mind mapping tools. Make sure to check out the comments section as this has lots of good stuff too.

Have fun mind mapping!