An Interpretation of Training in the 21st Century

I love Harold Jarche's SlideShare here explaining many of the ideas and concepts we need to think about as we move forward in this web 2.0 world and the ways that we are going to continue to foster learning.

I find it very important, yet very difficult still to get managment to understand the greater need for collaboration regarding learning and producing, really anything. I'm fond of his slide representing Supporting Work in Complex Environments. I wonder how many of us are truly adopting this or are we still trying to pursuade our "power's that be" that we need to go this route and go now.

Training 21 C

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: complexity wirearchy)

LMS Is Not Managing Classroom Based Training

My days and nights are still consumed with the issue that our LMS does not manage classroom based courses well at all. I can not find a work around for our courses that run over many different days. The vendor gave me a solution if they are all in the same week, but that doesn't solve it.

• I tried making session 2 a whole new course and that session 1 is a prerequisite, but they can't register for number 2 until they pass number 1.
• I tried about putting all the sessions under one certificate, but they can't register for a certificate only an individual course.
• I tired making one course and just putting all the dates in the details, but that doesn't help the instructor keep track of everyone showing up for all sessions.
• I tried letting the learner registering for the first session and the instructor registering them for all the other sessions (hidden from public view). Nice idea however the instructor is never notified if a new student registers, they would have to go into the course, see who is new, go the the learner management screen add the other sessions (of which they can't see entirely because the window is too small), and then go back and look up the next new learner. Too much for an instructor that may have 6 sessions and 30 learners.

I'm at a brain freeze trying to work around this issue and about 60% of our in class teachings are like this. I'm ready to scrap the whole think and become a shepperd.

An LMS Rant to No One in Particular

I'm working on the "1 course, many classes" issue.

I've got it now that the learner registers for module 1 of 6.

If the learner clicks "my courses" they see module 1 that they registered for (there is no date of the course for them though. (It can't added to Outlook either like it should).

I've kind of got a solution to my "1 course many day" issue, but I've also got some concerns over ease and efficiency of this process. What I worked out is I "display and allow registration" of module 1 (noting to learner they will be registered for the other modules).
Module 2-6 are hidden (do not display).

As an instructor....currently I have to go into the "course manager", & "edit the session" to see if anyone has registered (there are no prompts to the instructor, no emails, this would be great every time a registrant signs up). Then I have to go into "manager learners". Then I have to export or note all the students (I wouldn't really know who is new and who isn't).

I then have to go to "learner manager", find the student, look at their courses, edit their courses, add in the other modules that they need to take.

The learner now does have the next module added to their "my courses" roster.

However they don't get any other notification that it has been added for them (and email to them would be helpful).

Oh and I guess if I wanted to add one course that has more than 1 session......I wouldn't be able to, because I can't see which session is which.

LMS what does it stand for?

This is a really quick post, but after my day yesterday struggling with my LMS, my computer that sounds as if it is taking off like a 747, and the constant screen freezes, I've come up with a new accronym for my LMS.

LMS = Losing My Sanity

When is the content enough? LMS Pilot has become too intense

I'm working on a school project where I get to use Blackboard as a teacher. I have an assignment worth 30% of my overall class mark, but the actual content of the course material I put into the system is only worth 1/3rd of the mark. I've been working at it and working at it creating this in depth learning course on using myUdutu.com to create online courses. I'm at the fifth page (.doc) of my course material and I haven't even gotten past the templates that are available to you as an author.

I'm now mulling over where do I "stop" the course so that it ends at an appropriate place (end of topic). When can I say I've done enough that's about 1/3rd's worth. I think I may be creating the supreme version of the course as opposed to the first chapter.

I've realized today that I'm doing the same thing with my LMS pilot or preparation for the pilot. I've been killing myself mentally and physically (okay only my fingers are cramping up, but it does hurt). I've been working endlessly to get all my physical course catalogue inputted into the LMS catalogue. I've been trying to create 2 elearning courses for the learners to try. I've also been trying to make sure the system works flawlessly from a student perspective, author, manager, and administrator.

A friend was kind enough to slap some reality into me today and allowed me to step back and look at it for what it is....a pilot. Not everything is going to work right away and it probably should not work perfectly. It should be expected that there will be things you'll want to tweak and fix so that it better matches your learners expectations. It doesn't need to have the entire course catalogue created. It just needs a sampling of classroom courses and online courses for them to register for and take. I have 2 SCORM courses from the Ontario Health Association that will make good test courses. One has sound and video. I would love to have one or two of our own courses in there, but it's not a necessity.

My LMS Tips for today is to take it easy on yourself, remember your pilot is only a pilot. It is simply there for you to test out the functionality of your system for you as an administrator and for your learners for ease and simplicity. Can they navigate their way around the system easily? Step back, simplify it for yourself, get the main components in that you require, it does not have to be at the 100% GO LIVE stage. Another really big big tip I got today as well is....you don't have to turn every part of the system on. Our system has the ability for the manager to approve a staff member taking a course. I've been going nuts trying to make sure this works....but why? Mangers don't do this right now in our learning environment, why do they need to do it online. Myself and my colleague aren't convinced it works the way we would want to any way. So we'll leave it be for now. Pretend it doesn't exist and deal with it later if we see it as a necessary tool.

Hope this too helps you sleep a little better my LMS friends.

eLearning Learning - Now Launched

Tony Karrer graciously asked me to participate in the launch of a new tool called eLearning Learning. I've added to my blog sidebar and you will be able to use it to see the most common terms, tools, and concepts that I blog about. Each of those links within the tool (widget) can then be break down further in to more specific content. As you follow a link you will first come to the content that was created by myself, or fed into the eLearning Learning site. As you scroll through that you will come to content created by others. If you use one of the links available to you now on the eLearning Learning site you will be able to further into the first topic link (i.e. Learning > Learning-Blogging, or Learning-Technology, etc.). The break down goes on and on.

"This is the beginning of a community portal where the community will help to collect and organize the best content from blogs and web sites. The goal is to create a place where it's relatively easy to find current content and highly relevant content surrounding eLearning." - Tony Karrer

Currently the content is mostly feed in through blogs, but will be expanded in the future.

If you want to try out the tool on some live blogs there are a few launch sites you can take a look through and play with:


Tracy Hamilton - Discovery through eLearning (mine)

Collin Kromke - Web 2.0 Work

Kevin Jones - Engaged Learning

Wendy Wickham - In The Middle of the Curve

Tony Karrer - eLearning Technology

Educational Videos Online and Other Great Stuff

I saw this linked passed through Twitter from Dennis Callahan, it's 10 Free Online Educational Video Options. The list was compiled by Ace Online Schools blog.

"Ace Online Schools is a guide to useful online resources for students and professionals. In addition to our own tips and tutorials, we recommend websites and applications that help you work and live more productively."

I was aware of the first few as they are quite mainstream but am grateful to see the remaining fantastic options. I'm not a school teacher, but there definitely appears to be some great resources here for instructors in general.

LMS Big Dreaming...Darn

I was so close to being happy....they almost had it. Update to my earlier post (moments ago). Further investigation by me is they haven't quite got it yet. They have grasped the concept that a course may take place over many days with in a week and that each day the time may be different, but what if it is over several months. Giving me the option to enter in a class that happens Monday at 2:00 and Wednesday at 3:00 doesn't quite solve my problem.

Mine is I have 1 course that runs twice a year (2 sessions). Each session has 6 modules (full days). Due to the lack of rooms available to us they are not always every other Thursday or follow any pattern for that matter. I have one schedule Feb. 12, Feb. 26, Mar. 19, Mar. 26, Apr. 9, Apr. 30 2009. Take a look at a calendar and see how scattered these are, at least they are all Thursdays. Luckily they are all in the same room, but this is a fluke.

My vendor is close to solving it, but not quite there yet. I've taken their screen shots and with some graphic editing resent back to them what I was hoping for instead. Fingers crossed I'm not dreaming to large.

Big Changes in My LMS World Today

A couple of key things have begun to happen today. One I attended a meeting with my key IT people and the HR manager. Our HR system is a little old (okay very old) and has not really been updated for the size of staff we have currently. It was a great little system 10-15 years ago, but now that we have tripled in size it doesn't really meet our needs. One of them being who reports to whom. We have been existing with who is paid by which budget line. Not great for accountability, performance support, or my LMS.

The good news today is that the HR system is now approximately 10% away from being complete to function the way we need it to for the current situation. We of course have larger, grander schemes in mind, but it will (should) suffice for now.

Secondly, I began to panic this afternoon as simple procedures within the LMS as an administrator seemed to have disappeared. So I fired off an email to the vendor, stated they must be up to something as everything was crashing on my end and I went to lunch.

To my surprise upon my return; nothing was fixed. I then decided forget it I'll work around the errors and keep doing what I'm doing. A bit more typing, a few more screens and suddenly I have new fields available to me for creating courses. My biggest excitement is they may have, just may have, found a way for me to input courses that run over multiple days. Yippee!!!!

My LMS tip for the day: create really strong communication connections with your vendor. Make sure that you each know what the other is doing, when, and for how long. We have run into several issues like this where suddenly nothing is working. We panic on our end, only to find out that they are fixing bugs that we requested be fixed. Unless you each know what the other is working on ill relationships and understanding develop very quickly.

Latest LMS Implementation Issue - External Access

So one (of the many) things to keep me awake at night right now, in regards to my LMS implementation is the whole issue around access. Currently our intranet is not accessible externally. Our LMS portal runs through our intranet.

Management and physicians have access to the network from home or external offices. The issue now is the 2600 other staff that don't. The several issues I have with this are how do we expect staff do complete mandatory education that will be provided as elearning packages if we 1) don't have enough computer stations for them to use, and 2) have limited amount of free time we can give them on the job to do the packages. The logical choice then appears to let them work on it at home through the elearning system.

Hense my dilemma.....that does not exist. Please tell me these issue begin to dwindle at some point.

Corporate Learning Trends & Innovations 2008 - Have You Signed Up

I'm working through all the incredible events that are offered through Corporate Learning Trends and Innovations 2008 site. I'm surprised there are so few members currently, considering it will run from Nov. 17th until the 21st.

"Join us to explore new developments, track emerging opportunities, network with other learning pioneers, and deal with topics you don’t find at the conferences you have to travel to. Come online the week of November 17 for a different kind of conference experience. Mark your calendar now. The event is free. Events are live and online. Hook up with fellow innovative thinkers and international visionaries to gain insight into what’s going on, swap opinions, and shape the future of learning. Share your suggestions with the organizers at learntrends.com"

Did you see that word FREE in that quote? How can you pass up joining in the discussion? Not enough for you, then how about the speakers scheduled to share on their insights....

Nov. 17
Jane Hart - 25 Free Tools Every Learning Professional Should Have in their Toolbox
Robin Good - Best Online Collaboration Tools for Learning
Learning Technology Strategy in Climates of Change (organized by George Siemens)
Q&A with David Weinberger

Nov. 18
Tools, the Discussion (organized by Tony Karrer, Robin Good, Jane Hart)
Tony Karrer - Work Literacy - Implications for Learning Professionals
Dave Pollard - Working Smarter

Nov. 19
Nancy White - Online social architectures - Networks & communities
Marcia Connor - Learning When the Money Runs Out
Jay Cross, Jane Hart, Harold Jarche, Clark Quink - Learnscape Sandbox

Nov. 20
Alvaro Fernandez - Key research behing cognitive & emotianl training

Nov. 21
Kevin Wheeler - Future of Work
Allison Anderson - Enterprise Learning
Jay Cross - What's it all about?
Dave Gray - Visual Literacy