Business Matchmaking: Chicago

I am very fortunate to be able to make a trip out to Chicago for the Mid Western regional SBA Business Matchmaking event. This is an amazing opportunity for buyers and sellers to interact on a one on one basis and I would HIGHLY recommend it to small business people. I went to an event in Ft. Lauderdale last year and we got a very nice contract out of it with the NFPA, as well as some great leads for future projects.

The format of the event is speed dating for business. The nice thing is that you are matched with buyers based on your product descriptions and their buying needs. I will let you know whether this event turns out to be as successful as the previous one.

No Big Question

For those of you who are wondering, there is no Big Question for August. I have been a little lax posting entries, but this is more a result of being busy rather than losing interest. Typically this time of the year is a little slower and then it really picks up again later in the year. Fortunately this is not the case this year, so I am a happy camper. We are also looking to branch out and develop some of our own products so this will be an exciting adventure that will seriously deplete my already scarce free time. As they say 'no rest for the wicked..'

Anyone have any interesting topics related to eLearning/distance learning? I am always open to new ideas. Have a great weekend and stay safe.

Interactive learning

Too often the term interactive learning is used in an abstract manner where its actual application or power is lost. Interactive learning is simple and you can contribute in an active way. Actually I want to thank all the contributors over the last couple of weeks. We all heard that Web 2.0 is different and powerful and that it will exponentially increase learning. Well in the case of blogging it has definitely done so for me. Blogging is powerful because not only is it easy for you to share your thoughts or nuggets of wisdom, but it is also easy for the reader to respond directly to you, sharing their thoughts are challenging your ideas.

Yes Web 2.0 has made publishing easy, but it is not a one way interaction it is truly interactive. Sadly many of you read the blog via a reader and as such you may miss out on the comments. This is very sad, because the true learning takes place at the level of interaction i.e the point where my rambling gets challenged by readers' comments.

Let's take one great example. Tim responded to my post on July's Big Question regarding Tool selection with the following comment: "Could you frame some of this rhetoric about e-learning 2.0 in the context of e-learning for large corporations like banks where there is no internet access (no access to blogs as a learning tool), the requirement for mandatory training for compliance purposes, and where standards (restrictions?) like AICC or SCORM are in place?".

Wow, this blew my socks off. What an excellent question. Initially I was a little stunned by the word rhetoric, but after some reflection I realized that to someone who is actually trying to implement eLearning 2.0 in a corporate setting, much of the discussion must appear to be at the level of rhetoric. The fact is that the corporate context does limit the implementation and therefore the implications of eLearning 2.0. Tim's response really got my brain thinking about eLearning 2.0 from a different perspective. My response to Tim then got another comment from an Organizational and Development student (Mary deVore) who thanked us for discussing this interesting topic.

My point is that blogging is a great interactive learning tool. The ease and level of interaction is fascinating and it really makes my juices flow. I would like to recommend that you comment on your favorite blogs and that you read other people's comments. This is really a great interactive learning tool. Please keep up the good work!

eLearing tool selection: Learning Circuits Big Question

I have thought about the Massive question of the month (July) and I think as with anything, moderation is key. I agree with Andrew's comment that it is important for us as professional's to keep up with the most important development tools. I personally think that there will be a natural 'shake out' of tools and that a few (maybe 10-20) will predominate over time. It is not realistic or feasible for developers to be familiar with a large number of tools as most of the 'major' tools can be used to replicate the functionality of smaller tools. This is pretty major generalization, I know. Please give me some examples of where this doesn't hold true.

Let's look at the points to consider:
How does the eLearning design process need to change to accommodate such a wide variety of tools?
I don't subscribe to an 'eLearning design process'. We have a specific design process that is a modification of the most predominant approaches to eLearning development. Our approach is based on modular rapid prototyping. This approach is larger than the set of tools that are used. In a sense the process is independent of the tools.

How does the tool selection process need to change?
I think vendors will naturally gravitate to what works for them. Having said that, tool selection may be influenced by the customer's experience with tools that they have either used internally or that they have heard other people use either successfully or unsuccessfully. Customers are more informed about tools and this is a major change from 10 years ago.

What should learning professionals do to stay up-to-speed?
Read, research and ideally develop materials using different tools.

Do they need to learn new tools constantly?
Again, I think vendors will for the most part stay with what works for them, BUT and this is a big but they will be pushed by vendors to adapt internal tools or tools that are widely used within the organization. There is a cost associated with adopting new tools so most vendors will not change unless there is a long term benefit.

Can they stick with a few tools?
See all the thoughts above.

Will this trend continue? If so, then what does that imply for us?
It seems like we are at a watershed with what many experts refer to as Web 2.0 or eLearning 2.0. Will this trend continue? I think that if these tools are able to influence and change the way that work is done, then yes the trend will continue. If blogging continues to be as big as it is at the moment then people will continue to use it as a resource. I'm sure I will regret making this prediction, but I see the hype around blogging decreasing over the next 5 years. What about the other web 2.0 tools?

Let me grab my crystal ball real quick, hang on........

The big question is massive

WOW!

This month's BIG question is more like a massive question. In fact it is sooooo big that I am merely posting it for now as I think through my responses. I would love to hear from you regarding these questions, especially if you are customer of eLearning services. Unfortunately much of the discussion around these topics involves the eLearning development community rather than the consumers of our products. It would be great to have the the consumers weigh in on their experiences, expectations, successes and failures. How important is tool selection to the customer? Do they care about the actual tool that will be used for delivery or do they just want it to be effective? I know, I'm adding more questions to an already loaded question. See details below....

Background
As compared to ten years ago when there were roughly four major authoring tools, today there are a large number of different tools and different approaches to creating content. You can use standard authoring tools, rapid development tools, LCMS, simulation development tools, HTML editors, Wikis, and many others including a vast array of media creation solutions. And to make matters more difficult seems to be a constant flood of new tools. We literally have 100s of choices.
So, this month, The Big Question is...

Choosing Tools?

Points to Consider:

• How does the eLearning design process need to change to accommodate such a wide variety of tools?
• How does the tool selection process need to change?
• What should learning professionals do to stay up-to-speed?
• Do they need to learn new tools constantly?
• Can they stick with a few tools?
• Will this trend continue? If so, then what does that imply for us?