Synapsys Blog - Innovations

Choosing the right delivery mode

IDC's Corporate Learning Buyer Survey series suggests that most corporates choose the delivery mode of training based on available content (IDC, March 2009, #217336, Vol. 1). Hardly surprising really; migrating content from one delivery mode to another is no small task. Moving the words from book to eLearning is one thing. Creating an effective learning experience in the new mode is another thing again.

In our experience, corporates are motivated to change mode because of the apparent significant savings, and the promise of 'better' results. A back-of-the-envelope calculation of the cost of flying 10 people to a workshop for two days quickly moves into the tens of thousands of dollars. Plenty there for some good eLearning content creation, surely?

The problem is that creating a new delivery mode is an upfront cost while business as usual needs to continue. Where does the 'extra' money come from? And what about the risk, maybe it won't work? And where do we get the specialist skills to develop the new mode without becoming dependent on an external provider?... Perhaps we'll just run workshops for another year....

We believe there are three critical steps to setting this process up correctly:
1. Use a sound process to choose the new mode. Base it on what will work for the learners. Audience analysis, organisational requirements, expected change, best model, and required resources.... It doesn't have to be huge, but it needs to ask the right questions.
2. Take small steps and start with the content. Don't leap in and choose an LMS, thre are plenty of cheap hosting options while you focus on creating some good content and the piloting process.
3. Take the time to do a basic Return On Investment analysis, and use it to measure the effectiveness of the pilot. It'll give you the confidence to proceed further - or not!

Growth in the recession

For Synapsys, this is going to be our year of fastest growth, at this stage it looks like it will be around 50%. We feel very fortunate to be in this position, and have been asking ourselves, "why us?".

The typical catchcry in times of recession is 'training will be cut'. What's new this time? Our view is that the analysis is a little deeper this time round. Sure, training budgets are not immune to the axe, but we're also hearing:
-We need to be ready to respond quickly when things improve
-Recession or not, the skills shortage hasn't gone away in many areas
-So we want to keep our staff, and the best way to do that is work smarter.

In the past, it was often enough to simply tick off training activity (courses attended, dollars spent). The conversation now is much more around what the benefit is:
-Are staff changing how they work?
-What difference is it making to our costs?
-Are we actually clear about the processes we want to train people in?
-How do we get people to really apply what they learn?

When companies start asking these questions, they quickly start to challenge the assumption that 'off the shelf' is best. It may be easiest, but often the actual tangible benefits are less visible.

Clients in the past who saw blended learning and customised training as 'too complicated' are now asking us to make a difference to their businesses. That's a very gratifying process, and we're hopeful that the success we're having is also reflected in the difference we can make to their operations. As we scan the wide cross section of clients we work for, they appear to be very much in rude good health. Long may it continue.

Social networking tools

Social networking tools are a rapidly growing area of technological development. This growth is due mainly, in our view, to the growing realisation within both the corporate and educational sectors that:
-Managing knowledge requires more than documenting it
-The use that knowledge can be put to depends largely on the ability of people to contextualise it within their organisation, and that requires engagement and communication.

What began as software for dating sites and the like is growing into a range of applications from event organising, to academic networks to marketing applications. One that is starting to gain traction is Sossoon. This tool is gaining traction as a forum for academics to share information and ideas globally, and is also being used to network those involved in the purchasing industry , and professes to have a wider range of commercial applications. It will be interesting to see how this new type of offering shakes down over time. Solutions which can be demonstrated to have application to a wide of range of contexts are more likely to succeed, and in that regard Sossoon may be worth keeping an eye on.

One Laptop Per Child

As citizens of wealthy Western societies we seldom stop to consider the importance of even the most rudimentary learning tools: pens, pencils and paper; but no one would argue the importance of these tools for developing minds. Over the past 20 years computers have become an increasingly common educational tool for children in first world nations, earning a place beside the pen and paper of my youth.

Computers allow easy access to a vast pool of knowledge, a means to improve literacy, and a path to an ever expanding array of career opportunities. Unfortunately, while computers are increasingly common in developed world homes, they are often well out of reach of the children of developing 'second world' nations.

For the last year one organisation has worked to rectify this situation: One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). Their goal: to produce a simple yet rugged and functional laptop for less than US$100 to be distributed throughout the second world. The OLPC is a non-profit organisation founded by Nicholas Negroponte in 2005 and funded by AMD, Google, Nortel, Red Hat, News Corporation and Brightstar. It has also received the endorsement of the UN and the World Economic Forum.

Despite the low cost of the $100 laptop, it will be a fully functional tool and offer a new world of opportunities for children and young people in developing states. Each ruggedly-built 500MHz laptop will run on the open-source Linux operating system and include a high resolution colour display, 1GB of flash memory and integrated wireless broadband. This wireless broadband will allow the laptops within a community to act as a 'daisy-chain' peer-to-peer social network, connecting computers to one another and to the Internet. The laptops will be powered by integrated mechanical 'wind-up' generators, eliminating the need for a reliable electricity infrastructure.

These laptops will be sold not to individuals but to governments, many of which understand the educational, financial and social benefits of such a programme. Parties that have expressed a desire to participate in the project include the governments of China, Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria, Egypt and Thailand.

Synapsys concerns itself with the business of education and knowledge management, often with the aid of computer technology, making this project particularly close to our hearts. To learn more about the OLPC project, visit their website at www.laptop.org. Images of functioning laptop prototypes manufactured by Quanta, the world's largest manufacturer of laptop computers, unveiled on May 27 2006 can also be found at this site.

What are wikis good for?

Along with Blogs, wikis are starting to gain traction as a technology tool that has application to learning. Essentially online documents that can be edited by multiple users, wikis are in a relatively early stage of development, but starting to gain currency with educational institutions. This artilce: http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/augar.html provides useful background on wikis as a tool, and outlines the use of a wiki at Deakin University as an icebreaker activity for online learning.

Using FHM Magazines to get out of doing blog entries.

When you are asked to do a job by your boss, and you don’t produce, you need a good fall back plan.

In this technology driven paperless office world we live in, the old “my dog ate it” excuse just won’t cut it no more (unless your boss knows you have a *** big Rottweiler with a savage disposition).

Enter what I like to call “The Bootie Plan”, yes, there’s nothing like the female form reclining herself all over the glossy pages of a magazine to help your boss forget to kick your arse down to the unemployment office.

Now, I find the famous FHM magazine ( http://www.fhm.com.au/ ) to be quite the ticket for such a delicate operation as this. Their articles are good, and it has good weight and feel so as not to give an impression of a lame attempt at damage control. Word has it there is no equivalent for the fairer sex, try chocolates.

eLearning in the UK

Via Learning Circuits, a recent online poll conducted by CIPD highlights the state of eLearning in the UK.

"It can be seen that CD-ROMs remain the most popular form of e-learning. The other methods seem to have supplemented rather than replaced the stand-alone CD-ROM. For some time we have recognised that e-learning can take two forms: content centered-activity (modules made available to the user at his or her PC) and collaborative learning activities (discussion sites and Webinars, which are Web-based seminars led by subject matter experts). The former predominates but, within this category, there is a marked shift to customised modules specifically created for the organization’s needs."

eLearning Trends for 2004

Learning Circuits has put together a list of eLearning Trends for 2004, based on a survey of 122 organisations with eLearning initiatives underway. The survey met with some seemingly unexpected results; but upon closer examination they simply reflect greater differentiation in the applications of eLearning technologies:

"This data seems to contradict information from other industry surveys and analyst reports that say e-learning initiatives are gaining momentum. To garner insight, Learning Circuits reviewed and compared verbatim answers with those from previous surveys. The result: Workplace learning professionals seem to be more clearly defining e-learning in relation to an actual learning experience. They’re using such terms as Web conferencing, virtual classrooms, simulations, m-learning, and so on--rather than infrastructure and authoring systems, such as LMSs and LMCSs, which were mentioned in previous years."

More here...

Learning Objects: A Practical Definition

Learning objects is a term that people often use, but for which there are many different definitions. Rory McGreal now provides a useful definition that incorporates the many different facets:

"Learning objects (LOs) enable and facilitate the use of educational content online. Internationally accepted specifications and standards make them interoperable and reusable by different applications and in diverse learning environments. The metadata that describes them facilitates searching and renders them accessible".

More here...

Research on Current Practice

In May 2001 Synapsys participated in a survey on online learning practices. The results of that survey are now available at http://www.publicationshare.com/docs/corp_survey.pdf

Respondents were from the corporate sector, spanning all sizes and industries, the largest respondents being education, I.T., Finance and Industrial. The results provide an interesting snapshot of how things were at that time, and canvas a range of issues including:

-barriers to learning
-organisational structure and training methods
-development methods and pedagogical approaches
-communities and resources
-methods for engaging learners
-Return on investment (ROI) measurement, or lack of it
-emerging technologies

Bear in mind the snapshot is of two years ago, but it still makes for interesting reading. There are 15 broad recommendations covering areas such as:

-learning objects
-online learning policies and procedures
-tool development
-freelance instructors/designers
-information portlas and communities

Our Partner, Hand Multimedia, Makes News!

This article about Hand Multimedia discusses their novel approaches to Macromedia Authorware development that really simplify the way projects are put together.

http://www.canterburysoftware.org.nz/current.htm#feature1