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!

Portable learning content

In my previous post I was deliberating about content overload. Here is another side of the argument about content. Actually it is more of a side view as it relates more to the presentation of content, rather than the amount. I think portable content is great and this is indeed one of the main ideas behind the SCORM standard. Portable is great, but is learning content a case of if you build it in many formats they will come? Does your average corporate worker have the time and inclination to search for content? The main idea behind a LMS is to store content centrally, so how does this relate to multiple formats? Besides, many LMS'es still struggle with video content, but this is a side issue.

What are your thoughts on content formats and dealing with the large amount of content out there?