U-Blog 6: Self-Directed Workplace Learning

My mother, since retiring from the state, is a corporate training and development consultant. She consults with many state agencies and corporations, develops training courses, and teaches the courses. Over the past couple of months she has noticed a slight drop in business, most likely due to budget cuts stemming from the current economic conditions. Without a budget for formal training courses, many employers are moving to a more informal setup for more general training needs: self-directed workplace learning.

While there is certainly a need for formal training, I believe there is a benefit to self-directed learning… though the key for its success lies in the motivation of the employees and the support they receive from supervisors.

So what is self-directed learning? Carter McNamara of Authenticity Consulting defines self-directed learning (or self-directed training) in this article:

“Self-directed training includes the learner initiating the learning, making the decisions about what training and development experiences will occur, and how. The learner selects and carries out their own learning goals, objectives, methods and means to verifying that the goals were met.”

So what kind of skills, support, and evaluation is necessary to ensure the success of self-directed learning in the workplace? There are many different opinions on the topic, but here’s what I think:

ONE: Employees must be motivated.

• If an employee is not motivated to learn and does not possess the skill of self-reflection, they will most likely not have much to gain from self-directed learning.
• The nature of self-directed learning means that the employee has a lot of control over when and what they learn, therefore they must be able to recognize what skills or knowledge is needed.
• After the employee determines the skills/knowledge needed, they need to be able to find the path to those skills/knowledge. What activities can help them attain the skills? To build their knowledge, they must have the proper tools.

TWO: Supervisors must support self-directed learning.

• Like many other training techniques, self-directed learning is a process. The objectives and lessons learned evolve over time, and when one objective is researched, it may lead to other objectives/experiences for the learner. A supervisor must respect and support this process.
• The support of supervisors comes in many different forms, but I think the biggest way supervisors support self-directed learning is by enabling the employee to seek out knowledge in the ways that suit the employees preferred learning style. Does the employee learn best in a social setting like conferences or association meetings? Would the employee benefit more from a solitary hands-on approach such as research? The supervisors must support the employees preferred method of learning.

THREE: There must be a way of evaluating self-directed learning.

• The employee, supervisors, and employer must decide upon an acceptable mode of evaluating the skills and knowledge learned. This may seem counter-intuitive considering the learner-centric focus of self-directed learning, but I believe that evaluation is necessary.
  
• Though the supervisors/employer must be involved in the evaluation, ultimately it is the employee’s responsibility to self-evaluate to determine whether the appropriate level of knowledge/skills has been reached.

To my readers: Do you feel that self-directed learning is an acceptable training method? If you, as an employee, were expected to integrate self-directed learning into your daily routine at work, what methods would you use?

Web resource of note: While thinking of a topic for my U-blog assignment, I came across a website with a concept I found interesting: The Free Management Library. I recommend checking it out. Its purpose, from the “About Library” section:

“The Library provides easy-to-access, clutter-free, comprehensive resources regarding the leadership and management of yourself, other individuals, groups and organizations. Content is relevant to the vast majority of people, whether they are in large or small for-profit or nonprofit organizations. Over the past 10 years, the Library has grown to be one of the world's largest well-organized collections of these types of resources.”

U-Blog 5: Lowman Home Experience

We have been preparing for our training sessions at the Lowman Home since the beginning of this course, and today was my group’s day. I have to admit, I enjoyed it way more than I was expecting to! For this blog assignment, I want to reflect on our session.

First, I want to give a shout out to my group members: Chris, Obakeng, and Anthony. You guys did great today. Go team! ☺

Our session’s topic was on e-cards… something that I thought the students would really enjoy. In preparation for the class, I put together a step-by-step tutorial handout for the students to follow. It had screenshots and written directions of every step of creating an account on the hallmark website and sending an e-card. I use this format quite a bit at work to create tutorials for our employees and have gotten good response from them, so I thought something similar would benefit the Lowman Home residents. It was time consuming, but something I think was well worth the time spent as it can serve as a reference for the students to use in the future.

The session started with Chris explaining what an e-card was, and kind of veered off when they were asked if they had e-mail accounts. There was a bit of confusion in the room for a bit while everyone logged in to their e-mail or created an account. It was at that point that I realized that our lesson plans would be thrown out the window. We refocused after the e-mail check to direct the students to the hallmark website and from that point on the four of us more or less gave the students hands on help on the process. In hindsight, this approach worked better than using a more lecture-based method.

In the end, all the students were able to send a card – some of them even sent cards to their classmates - and it was really cute to see how excited they were when they received them.

The thing that made this project so rewarding was seeing how eager the senior citizens in the class were to learn about technology. They really are interested, and they yearn to learn about these things… they just need someone to be patient enough to show them. They just need someone to take a moment to break it down for them. It’s hard to describe the feeling I got being there today, but it really was amazing being around these seniors. They were so thankful that we were willing to help them… but to tell the truth, I’m not sure who got more out of the session – me, or them! It showed me a subset of an older generation that refuses to stop learning. I saw a group of people who don’t use age as an excuse for trying new things. I may have helped teach them a new skill, but I feel like the real lesson here was what they taught me. They really are a special group of people - I only wish I had more time with them!

U-Blog 4: The Student, The Tourist, and The Prisoner

The Student, The Tourist, and The Prisoner. This sounds like the start to a bad joke, but these three categories are actually the groups that Jeff Davis describes in an article he wrote for the Tech Republic website, titled “Recognizing the Three Types of Technical Learners”.

I came across the article this week while researching something for work, and since it is something that can be applied to our own technical training project for this class, I bookmarked it. The article is from 2002, but I think it contains valuable information regardless of its age.

The article is written as a reference for help desk analysts, who are taking a more active role in technical training as companies tighten spending. Jeff compares training a group of end users in a classroom setting to supporting users by telephone; with an emphasis on the different approach a trainer must take with a large group versus one-on-one support. He says, “On the phone, you're working in a one-on-one situation, and you must tailor your explanations and instructions to fit the personality of the person on the other end of the line. In the classroom, you must adapt to a dozen or more personalities at once.” If the analyst can understand how to deal with the personalities as a group, they will have a more successful training session.

So what are the three major trainee personality types according to Jeff Davis? They are the student, the tourist, and the prisoner. Here’s a breakdown of what he has to say about each:

The Student:
The student is the trainee who wants to learn. They are the type that show up early for the session, sits in the front row, and eagerly completes assigned work. According to Jeff, “If all the people in the class were like The Student, technical training would be easy”.

The Tourist:
Like the student, the tourist wants to learn. However, they are not nearly as motivated. They come in on time and tend to spend time getting coffee and refreshments while chatting with other students before the session. They sit in the back of the classroom, and may or may not complete assigned work. Jeff notes that the tourist often views training as an “opportunity to enjoy a break from the normal office routine”. The good news is that a good instructor can often turn a “tourist” into a “student.”

The Prisoner:
The prisoner is the type that is there just to occupy space. They usually don’t want to be in training, and sometimes may make it clear that they don’t want to be there. Jeff says that oftentimes they will be counting the seconds until you say “Class dismissed.” His biggest tip for dealing with the prisoner is to try and convert them into a “student,” but don’t spend so much time on this task that you ignore the other two groups.

There you have it: The Student, The Tourist, and the Prisoner walk into a training session… who learns the most? Well, that all depends on how well you recognize the three groups, and how you tailor your delivery to the different types.

To those who may be reading this, what type of technical learner would you be?

U-Blog 3

Last weekend I did my training observation at the Create IT Computer Camp, and really enjoyed it. The training session consisted of Dr. Norris giving a lecture on emerging technologies and the future of technology.

The session was very informative, and it was interesting to evaluate the lecture from a training standpoint. As a student, I am used to focusing on gaining knowledge from lectures, so at first it was hard to focus on the training aspects. As the session went on, it became easier to separate the two.

I began to focus on the tools Dr. Norris was using to convey his points. By far, the most useful tool in the lecture was his use of video to back up his lecture topic. Not only were the videos informative, many of them were also very thought provoking. I think that the use of multimedia was a good choice for his intended audience – the 20 high school age kids in attendance. I think that generation would gain more from a training session involving more digital or technological methods, and the interest level of the audience that I observed backs that up.

Here are some of the videos he used during the session:

Intel's Vision of the Future:


Photosynth:


Car tech = way cool. Here's a piece CNET did on the VW Gypsy Interface:


Google Latitude: Good for friends, bad for stalking...


Prometeus - The Media Revolution:


And, the closing video of the presentation. Here is... The Future:

U-Blog 2

The topic for the past week's module was "The Adult Learner." I found the topic very interesting, and really gained some useful knowledge from the article titled "Quick Tips for a Senior Friendly Computer Classroom."

The article consisted of 5 steps to help older adults learn. The steps were:

Step 1: Create an Environment for Learning

• Put Students at Ease
• Tell Students What to Expect
• Make It Easy to Ask for Help

Step 2: Present Information Clearly

• Make Sure You Are Understood
• Encourage Questions

Step 3: Help Students Stay Focused

• Keep Focused on the Goals
• Stay on Task
• Keep Discussions on Track
• Minimize Distractions

Step 4: Help Students Retain Information

• Repeat and Reinforce
• Use Written and Visual Information
• Provide Hands-on Practice
• Schedule Classes Close Together

Step 5: Accommodate Physical Changes

• Vision
• Hearing
• Motor Skills
• Other

The article goes into a little more detail on each step, citing specific examples of what to do, which is what makes it so valuable. The information and tips it gives are very applicable to our upcoming project. The examples of strategies to take are things that could actually help in a live training session. This is what makes the article stand out. Too many articles on the topic are written just on the science of training, and while interesting, are not helpful in the real world. I will definitely be referencing this article as we get closer to the training session dates.

U-Blog 1

Last weeks assignments included a section about Corporate Universities, more specifically, how Jet Blue has incorporated their own corporate university, JetBlue U, into their organization. I found this section interesting, and was really impressed with JetBlue U's role in training the employees.

In reading other students reactions to the topic, I was suprised by how many of the class felt that their program was mostly hype, and felt like their use of buzzwords was an insult. I feel like the "hype" and buzzwords is part of what makes the program so successful. When you create a training "culture" like they have by using the lingo, it seems to get people excited and promote more of a team atmosphere. Just think of all the slang terms that people use. Why do they use them? Because it makes them part of the "club".

This was one of my responses in the discussion board, to Christopher Lamberts original post:

I agree with what you said about getting attention from the employees by calling the department a “corporate university.” People may feel like this whole “smoke and mirrors” aspect of it is an insult to their intelligence. But really, when a company creates a training culture like JetBlue U has, it makes it easier for their employees to get excited about training.

It’s similar to product packaging… take two of the same product, put one in a flashy package, and one in a cardboard box. I guarantee that the flashy package will be the first off the shelf!

I really do feel that the whole package of JetBlue U is part of it's reason for success. While I will stress that there has to be substance to back it up, the excitement comes from the way the training is presented.

S-Blog 1 – Workplace Learning

The topic this week was workplace learning, trends in learning, and the importance of training to retain a competitive edge.

In my research on trends, it was not surprising to see that many of the trends involved e-learning. What was surprising to me was the method of delivery for the content. Many of the trends emphasized content presented through web 2.0 outlets such as social networking sites, interactive media, and even gaming/simulation environments. As someone who embraces technology and finds it’s use as a training tool exciting, I think this is a great trend. However, I do wonder how it affects the way knowledge is passed on from the older, retiring generations. Part of my job involves training users on our system, and while I can see how e-learning could benefit some employees, I think it would hinder the passage of invaluable knowledge from older employees that are more resistant to technology.

Another interesting trend I came across was the use of personal learning environments (PLEs). Michele Martin, who writes a training and development blog called “The Bamboo Project,” wrote an informative series on PLEs. In summary, her description of a PLE is that:

• They are personal - what is learned is dependent on the interests of that person. How it is learned is dependent on the tools that the person prefers.
• They are about Self-Directed learning – The person uses their own research and information processing skills in the PLE.
• They are dependent on a supportive environment – The organization implementing a PLE must provide a supportive and nurturing environment… a “culture of learning.”

The concept of a PLE is similar to what we are doing in this course. Though we as distance learners create our own learning environment, the tools used are similar. Some examples of PLE tools Michele gives are blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, books, magazines, engaging in activities, and writing in journals (blogs).

While looking at websites on the topic of workplace learning, there was a lot of focus on the need to train America’s workforce in order to remain competitive. It seems that the sources I found agreed that knowledge is a major component in retaining a competitive advantage, and is something that needs to take the front seat in US organizations.