By: Jackie Zahn

Hi, I’m Jackie Zahn, a CARA instructional designer/developer and yes, a mountain climber. I wanted to share a story of how I recently helped my subject matter experts (SMEs) stay on course and I can tell you it’s been an uphill battle. There are two SMEs, one in California and one in Ohio, and here’s me, in the suburbs of Chicago.

Problem

The two SMEs hold the secret to all the content I need for this course. They work consistently over 50 hours a week, we’re in 3 different time zones and their schedules allow for only small pockets of availability at very random hours. Because of this, getting conference calls scheduled has been a nightmare. Recently our course went through a major redesign based on a soft launch and I was having difficulty getting their feedback. We were getting down to the wire and, long story short, I was at a point where I really needed them to approve how I overhauled the course. I tried scheduling conference calls and we couldn’t coordinate our schedules. Phone calls resulted in playing phone tag, and bullet-pointed emails were resulting in simple “looks good” responses.

Solution

One night I figured I needed to get creative. I put myself in their shoes – here are two guys accustomed to working a ton of hours, out in the field, responding to dozens of phone calls a day, and I was never going to get the “chunk” of time that I needed. Then I started thinking about the people who would be taking this course. I wouldn’t be asking a learner to read paragraphs of text and yet I was sending long emails to the SMEs. Our courses allow the learners to bounce around, pause, leave and come back but I was asking the SMEs to sit down and commit to a 60 minute conference call. So I needed to find a way to let them work on their own schedule, take every obstacle out of the way and I needed to engage them in an interesting, even quirky kind of way to keep their attention. Sound familiar? It’s what we do for the people taking our courses! That’s when I decided to create a YouTube video.

That night I pretended I was having an online meeting but instead of “sharing my screen” I opened up Camtasia and clicked “record screen”. I started by setting the urgency of where we were at and how we needed to get the course finished by the end of the year and the holidays are approaching (note the turkey and Santa graphics).

Then I moved on to my PowerPoint deck, in notes view, and said “there are 138 slides but I’m going to highlight just what I need from you”.

Don’t Forget the Call to Action

I ended the video with the call to action and told them what I needed them to do. They’re accustomed to seeing PowerPoint decks and Word docs and making edits. So, on the final slide, I told them where everything was located (and also in the email I sent that night) and I made sure it was on an external site since one of them had issues with the VPN from time to time.

To wrap it up, I used the Camtasia “upload to YouTube” feature, published my screen capture, set the YouTube video to “unlisted”, and sent my SMEs an email with the link.

Results

My email went out at 8:50 p.m. CST that Tuesday night. My master plan was that they’d see it first thing in the morning and review it over a cup of coffee. It worked!

The East Coast SME responded at 4:30 a.m. the next morning. The West Coast SME responded at 10:12 a.m. the next morning. I think it even helped to reinvigorate the process! Here’s the feedback I got from the West Coast SME:

Why Did it Work?

So why did it work? In my email I set the urgency that I needed something from them right away. I said “Since time is limited and coordinating schedules is difficult, I created a 12-minute video update to explain where the course is at.” In 12 minutes you can be fully caught up!

I liked YouTube because I knew it would be recognizable to them, it’s browser agnostic, and doesn’t require any special plug-ins for downloads. I set the YouTube video to “unlisted” so there would be some level of security, and showed them how the course content flowed, illustrated how much work was already done, and it even helped me later in the day to show my client boss what was going on.

It worked like a charm so I found myself making a video the very next day.

Other Uses: Clarification

This “video communication” style came in handy when we were discussing the upcoming video shoot. In an email I told them about the “Director’s Cut” style idea I had for the video shoot. I needed to be 100% certain they knew what I was talking about so I made a quick 2-minute video. It wasn’t production quality, by any means, but it got the point across – to the SMEs and the project manager. This was critical because my idea just saved us the cost of having to get a full blown camera crew with boom mics, etc. Over the phone, the Project Manager confirmed her understanding of what I was talking about, but the video helped bring clarity to the issue.

Closing Remarks

In closing, if you’re up against a deadline and not getting the cooperation you need, here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Look at things from the SMEs perspective and believe that they really want to help – they just have other things pulling at their time.
2. Try using video to put things into context, use humor if you have to, and don’t get hung up on production quality. No one is going to see it except for the SMEs and once it gets the point across, you can immediately delete it from YouTube anyway.
3. Keep the videos short and focused. Remove every barrier. Before deciding to use YouTube, I considered sending them an MP4 or windows media player file but even downloading a file was a barrier because I didn’t know if they could read those formats, downloading files takes time, and if they’re using a smart phone they might not want to bother with a file download. YouTube is free with direct streaming.
4. Tag the YouTube video as “unlisted” to maintain a level of security.

Let’s continue the discussion. Have you used a similar solution to help update your SMEs and keep them engaged? We look forward to your comments and feedback.

By Sue Deisinger

A “CARAvan” arrived at the Harley-Davidson Museum^® in Milwaukee on May 24, 2012, for the 2^nd Annual Learning and Talent Development Leaders Conference hosted by the Executive Learning Exchange, a consortium of Learning Leaders around the Midwest committed to promoting greater visibility, influence and professional opportunities among its members. This year’s theme was “Set Your Roadmap for Continuous Learning – Delivering CONSISTENT Business Results.” About 175 learning leaders participated in the day, collaborating with peers on a variety of topics on leadership and talent development, and applying the lessons learned by the respective presenters and speakers. Here are some highlights.

Morning Keynote: High Impact Continuous Learning at GE Healthcare

The morning’s keynote address was presented by Bob Cancalosi, Chief Learning Office at GE Healthcare. Bob shared his insights on his organization’s model to deliver consistent business results, called “Halt It & Unlock It”.

The “Halt-It” paradigm is about 6 ways to reduce learning “scrap.” The most critical success factors for any manager are his or her ability to set expectations up front, and then engage the employee to teach-back. Knowing what is expected and understanding that each manager is responsible to teach back what is learned reinforces success:

1. H is for Hold accountable before, during and after the teachable moment is key.
2. A is for Action learning. Link to actual business issues, and make a formal recommendation to the CEO.
3. L represents Leaders teaching leaders.
4. T means that you must Tie everything to the business financials. Every course they have includes a portion related to finance, tied to income statement, balance sheet and cash flow.
5. I is for Integrating an individual’s development plan. Prepared in advance, take strengths and make them stronger. GE does this during the first quarter with employees.
6. T is for Time to think. Take reflection time to process the expectations and steps involved.

“Unlock-It” it is a metaphor that uses 4 numbers—or a combination—to unlock the potential in individuals to become the best leaders. What is it that the best leaders naturally do to drive the greatest impact on learning? Here’s the combination: 5 – 8 – 10 – 13. Each number represents the number of letters in a key leadership trait:

• Trust – 5 letters. Trust signifies the say/do ratio in a leader. When you say you’re going to do something, do you schedule the time on your calendar to fulfill those commitments?
• Coaching – 8 letters. Coaching is critical for continuous improvement. Is your culture more ask than tell? Do you listen or talk more? To unlock the potential in your people, focus less on the coach and more on the coached.
• Innovation – 10 letters. Unlocking creativity within your people enables them to think about the big ideas that differentiate you from your competitors. It requires persistence and training.
• Collaboration – 13 letters. Collaboration may be the most significant trait. It enables the horizontal linkages within and organization – looking at the “we” of the organization; not the “me.” Metrics need to align to team based activities to foster inclusiveness, imaginative thinking and continuous improvement.

Afternoon Keynote: The Business of Learning. What It Takes to Deliver Results and How TDRp Can Help

Dave Vance, Author, Professor and former CLO at Caterpillar, delivered the afternoon’s keynote. In his address, Dave discussed the strategic challenge and four key steps to running learning like a business to ensure its greatest impact on business results.

1. Learning must be focused on the highest-priority goals of the organization.
2. Learning must be carefully planned to deliver results agreed upon in advance with the stakeholder, including the expected impact of the learning initiative on business goals. Ideally, this step includes the creation of a business plan for learning and development of a business case for the key programs.
3. Learning must be executed and reported with discipline to ensure the promised results are achieved.
4. Results must be measured and compared to expectations in order to continuously learn and improve.

Today, Talent Development Reporting Principles (TDRp) are available to make the process of running learning like a business much easier. In driving consistency in the organization, Dave explained how TDRp provides standards and guidance for the L&D profession to plan learning initiatives, reports progress using standard definitions, and demonstrates the value of learning. These are the metrics that answers the questions of what data to collect, how to define the measures, and what to do with the measures.

Initiated by Kent Barnett (CEO, Knowledge Advisors) and Tamar Elkeles (VP of Learning and Organization Development, Qualcomm) in the fall of 2010, TDRp has benefited from the guidance of industry thought leaders and leading practitioners. Key terms and measures are clearly defined, and three categories of statements and reports are recommended:

• The outcome statement collects the most important business goals and learning’s expected impact on them, clearly showing the value of learning to the organization’s success.
• The effectiveness and efficiency statements collect all the quality and cost/activity measures.
• Customized management reports pull the most important measures from the statements to use in actively managing the function to deliver the promised results.

For more information about TDRp go to www.TDRprinciples.org.

There were many more sessions with panel discussion and talks on Sales Enablement, Creating a Culture of Service, and Best Practices shared across the collaborative participants. For a comprehensive overview and abstracts of the sessions, please go to the Executive Learning Leaders Exchange at www.learningexecutive.com.

We’d love to hear insights from others who attended the conference. What got your motor running?

By Jane Ehrenstrom

Wednesday, May 16th, I had the honor of being a facilitator for the Corporate University Professional Development Network (PDN) of the Chicago Chapter of the American Society for Training & Development (CCASTD). The evening’s theme focused on the topic, Social Media, Mobile Technologies, and Social Learning: How are they being used?

Equity Residential hosted the event in their corporate offices, and Naomi Berkove, Learning and Development Manager at Cannon Design, and co-moderator of the PDN, kicked off the evening. Naomi welcomed more than 40 attendees who came to participate in the discussion. The topic was the brainchild of eLearning and On-line Education Consultant, Danny Ortegon. Danny also organized and led the event that evening.

After providing some context for the meeting, and presenting a few definitions on Social Media, Mobile Learning and Social Learning, Danny introduced Carolyn Haug, Assistant VP, Learning and Knowledge at Equity Residential. Carolyn set the tone for a lively discussion, sharing examples of the collaboration tools her organization is currently using—and piloting—to connect and interact with Equity Residential’s internal and external communities and stakeholders. Carolyn cited technologies like Yammer which her organization uses to share knowledge internally and diminish the management of increasing volumes of emails. She also noted their intranet, ERNIE, is a growing more interactive to support internal collaboration and productivity through blogging, and Google Site to help manage projects. Social Media sites she referenced included Facebook pages created for each of the property sites, LinkedIn being avidly used and YouTube channels to promote the lifestyle associated with each of the company’s managed properties. There were other applications Carolyn touched on as well, including Foursquare and even Pinterest.

We then began a rotating round-table discussion focused on the following themes:

1. Performance Improvement/Change Management
2. Social Media for Learning
3. Mobile Learning
4. Strategy/Implementation

I facilitated the table discussion on Social Media for Learning. The first group was interesting—most participants at this table did not, shall we say, embrace Social Media. There were, however, some personal experiences like downloading an application to a mobile device to learn something on PowerPoint, for example. Surprisingly, a medical doctor, there to accompany his wife, an Instructional Design student, shared how he’s using an app on his iPhone for collaboration on patient diagnosis. Suddenly the table dynamics changed and the discussion centered on the practical application of the doctor’s need, the discovery process and shared learning that took place within his medical community. Just as the discussion grew lively, the group had to switch to the next topic.

The second and third group of professionals seemed a little more experienced using Social Media and collaboration tools in the corporate world. Each shared his or her knowledge of industry gurus, links and sites with the others around the table. Several were furiously capturing the nuggets of information being referenced—some with pen and paper; others on iPads. Social learning—in practice—right before my eyes.

So, what did I learn?

• Many of us are still overwhelmed by the pervasive chatter of Social Media and struggle to determine what tools to use, why and when.
• Cool applications and tools don’t cut it—practical need is where it’s at for adoption, generally through a grassroots movement.
• Corporate organizations are beginning to consider new positions like “curator” for the content developed by the communities on collaboration sites.
• Embedding Social Media into a corporate culture requires a Sponsor and Change Management.
• Social Media is not Social Learning and vice versa.

With regard to that last bullet, the definitions and references Danny shared helped to distinguish our terms:

• Social Media (SoMe) may be defined as online software tools used to post, communicate and share information, pictures, websites, text, video, for “personal purposes”. It can include Public Media sites (YouTube, Wikipedia, Slideshare, Blogs, etc.) as well as Social Networking sites (FaceBook, Twitter, and LinkedIn). In general, Public Media sites are used to create, collaborate, comment on, and share information or content, and Social Networking sites are used to build a network of connections or colleagues. — paraphrased from Jane Hart and C4LPT

http://c4lpt.co.uk/janes-articles-and-presentations/the-social-learning-revolution/

http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/762/nuts-and-bolts-social-media-for-learning#.Toq01pEgz80.twitter

• Social Learning refers to all learning that happens socially (with others) both social media powered and not socially powered (delivered). It has also been described as Communication and Collaboration to support learning and performance as the “moment of need”. It has further been described as something that people have always done either on the job, but SoMe tools and Mobile devices have served to accelerate everything. — paraphrased from Jane Hart and Jane Bozarth

http://c4lpt.co.uk/janes-articles-and-presentations/social-learning-is-not-a-new-training-trend/

http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/762/nuts-and-bolts-social-media-for-learning#.Toq01pEgz80.twitter

• Mobile Learning involves using personal devices (smart phones, mobile phones, tablets, and other devices) to design and deliver specific learning content to support learning and improve performance. Mobile content can be text, graphics, video, audio, pictures, calendars, and can be formal or informal
  — paraphrased from Clark Quinn, “Designing mLearning”, 2011

“mLearning is the use of mobile technology to aid in the learning, reference or exploration of information useful to an individual at that moment or in a specific use content.” — http://floatlearning.com/2010/04/mlearning-is-not-elearning-on-a-mobile-device/

Our industry is changing. As practitioners, we need to recognize that learning is a process, design for more collaborative learning experiences, and incorporate the available and emerging technologies—when they make sense—for performance support; not just strictly design course modules for a training event. As learning leaders, we need to enable the evolution, encourage the creativity that facilitates learning as a process and measures success in terms of performance.

Let’s continue the discussion. What are you doing with Social Media in your learning organization? Any insights on designing and developing mLearning? We look forward to your comments and feedback.

By Barry Larson

Earlier this month, the Chicago Chapter of ASTD’s (CCASTD) Corporate University Professional Development Network (PDN) hosted a discussion on the topic of Learning Management Systems (LMS). The event was held at DeVry University. CARA’s Strategic Account Executive, Sue Deisinger, moderated the discussion.

The evening took a deep dive into the history and evolution of LMSs and addressed a multitude of questions on the future of the LMS – Is the LMS a thing of the past, or are Learning Management Systems about to mutate into a whole new creature? What’s going on in our organizations today and how are these systems being used? What about Talent Management Systems? Learning Content Management Systems? What’s with the Cloud?

Two local LMS experts, Danny Ortegon and Doty Sinclair, tackled these questions and more as they shared their observations on trends emerging in the LMS field.

Addressing small, mid-range and enterprise market levels, Danny and Doty traded insights from their own experience, as well as research from recognized industry experts like Elliott Masie and Bersin and Associates.

What I learned from their exchange, and a lively discussion across the participants, included who the major players are, trends, and resources. Let’s break it down.

Key Vendors Today

Trends

Industry Consolidation
There is a lot of merging in the industry. Here is a snapshot of the progression. A proliferation of LMS’s hit the market initially, followed by several niche companies focused on specific industries. Then, smaller LMS companies were acquired by larger LMS companies. Under pressure to maximize their market share resulted in large vendors trying to offer “small company solutions” and some may pursue overseas markets to expand potential client base.

Larger, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system integrators, like SAP and Oracle, are buying companies to integrate entire suites into their offerings. They are pursuing more tightly integrated offerings into the HR solutions of Talent Management, Performance Management, etc. This may cause challenges in determining overall learning goals, ownership, configuration, technical support, etc.

There is a migration going on from separate elements of Talent Management to integrated offerings, including social media, SaaS/Cloud-based offerings and the move to .net technology which offers a cleaner, simpler user experience such as the use of hover overs vs. clicking a series of links. Workday is a new cloud-based ERP from the founder of PeopleSoft.

Clients will be affected by the ongoing changes in LMS ownership which may impact the quality of customer service, as well as requirements for future tools and features.

Mobile Learning and Social Media
Mobile Learning impacts the need for more flexible LMS features like configurability and implementation. How the LMS might integrate or collaborate with mobile is still too early to tell for a clear cut solution.

Social Media, Mobile and informal online learning is likely to affect how LMS solutions are configured, marketed, and sold. These informal solutions are likely to change the amount of learning that will be LMS based versus what will be more socially or informally driven, i.e. provided as “performance support” or a “Personal Learning Environment” in the future.

The pace at which these options are growing provides a challenge for efficient configuration options and ongoing implementation.

Education Market Influence
Some top flight universities (Stanford, MIT, and Yale) are pushing curricula and content delivery services online. This raises overall awareness of online learning and impacts organizational leaders’ expectations that online learning solutions need to be easier to use.

Some startups are providing unique services such as an “App Store” for customers to upload, browse, buy and sell their e-learning content. Examples include Open Sesame, iTunes University, or the recent iBooks textbook authoring. While this provides additional paths for clients to acquire content online, it can also provide more challenges in evaluating the success of learning using new technologies.

With the quality of these predictions, we didn’t really need a crystal ball or fortune teller. However, a good list of resources is provided below for any future reference.

Resources

We’re always interested in other opinions and perceptions. Are there any trends we missed? We welcome your comments and questions.

By Sue Deisinger

On January 19^th, a “CARAvan” descended upon the first 2012 dinner meeting hosted by the Chicago Chapter of ASTD (CCASTD).  My colleagues—Susan Beyers, Barbara Coughlin, Tina Jandris—and I were curious to hear CCASTD President, Sue Weller, address how learning professionals can better prepare for 2012 and beyond.  Sue spoke on the topic, “State of the Industry…State of YOU!”

Sue’s sources for her address included the ASTD State of the Industry Report, reports from Bersin Associates and Training Magazine.

The good news?  Employers are spending more on learning programs, and the top 3 content areas appear to focus on more advanced, strategic competencies:

1. Management and Supervisory Skills
2. Professional or Industry-specific Learning
3. Mandatory Process or Compliance-related Expertise

These skill-sets are driven by the business need to invest in employee performance.

Sue’s presentation style engaged the audience. She held our interest as she summarized five trends in learning for 2012 and beyond.

1. Increase in the use of social learning and the emergence of the “Social Cyborg” and the implications of talent management.  These are the people who have integrated social networks and information technology into their lives, (think constant Facebook posts) and how they think, learn and solve problems.
2. Increase in mobile engagement; a broader adoption than just mobile learning.  Smartphone applications are creating a more robust environment to access information in general.
3. Increased “gamification.”  Ideas include reward tools to engage the learner like giving out points or virtual badges of completion.  Completion status, or progress, is compared to others, and rewarded. For example, if you complete a certain activity—contribute to a knowledge exchange—you receive a badge, or lead a discussion and receive a more impressive badge.
4. Stronger consideration of change management within learning. Learning leads to understanding, and understanding leads to a commitment to change. Leaders are recognizing that in order to transform an organization they need to consistently communicate their vision and enable the behavior change to occur.
5. Rise in virtual training.  With the economy slow to recover, there is a need to continue to save costs and improve learning effectiveness.  Virtual training is an economic method to bring together people in geographically dispersed.

There is a movement toward individualization, where the learner takes more responsibility on what she/he needs to learn and when vs. participating in an event-based structured program designed for a much broader audience.

What does this all mean to Learning Professionals?  The days of being a purist are gone. We need to be even more multi-disciplinary, beyond solid instructional design skills.  We may also need to develop change management and talent management expertise, for example.

Sue suggests a three-point action plan to brush up on your personal skills and remain competitive for the future:

1. Don’t underestimate the challenges in achieving a goal.  Instead of just stating the goal, be sure to anticipate the challenges in achieving the goal.  Mentally prepare and plan to overcome obstacles to success.
2. Don’t overestimate the rewards. Recognize upfront that your progress maybe incremental, and while meeting your goal may be slower than you hope, the important thing is that you don’t give up.  Keep trying and celebrate the milestones along the way.
3. Don’t try to do it alone. Join your colleagues at future CCASTD dinners where you’ll continue to develop your skills and knowledge. Maybe you can find a colleague to help hold you personally accountable to achieve your goal.

The evening was a practical investment in my own professional development, learning more about emerging Industry trends and enjoying the venue with a supportive group of learning professionals.

We’d like to know what you seeing emerging in your workforce environment.  Please feel free to comment on this article and share your own insights.

By Lisa Vitale

On October 13^th, my colleague, Tim Devine and I, joined our President, Dan King, representing CARA at an impressive fall event hosted by the Southeast Wisconsin’s chapter of ASTD (SEWI-ASTD).  The event was a workshop facilitated by William Horton, Author of E-Learning by Design. To say that this event was well-attended would be an understatement – there was absolutely NO attrition—none!  We  were honored to sponsor this successful workshop and it’s a good thing Tim packed enough clear plastic CARA water tumblers.  All 150 participants enthusiastically received a little take away from CARA. 

And speaking of take aways, each participant had various reasons for attending.  Some were focused on bringing creative eLearning ideas back to their workplace.  Others were interested in how to motivate their organizations to use eLearning when it’s the right solution.  Some were there because they felt it was integral to become familiar with the various eLearning techniques that could be applied, and others wanted to learn how to make their own eLearning more engaging.  And, there were others without any eLearning experience with a strong desire to be “in-the-know”.  What was evident to me was that each individual respected Mr. Horton’s expertise in this field as they appeared to hang onto every word he uttered.

William Horton states that successful eLearning requires more than showering learners in information and force-marching them through tedious activities. He artfully explains that Designers must motivate learners to engage with the content and process of eLearning. The Designer needs to connect to the learner’s goals and past knowledge; and try to apply the learning experience to their work or life skills.

His objectives were clear:

• Motivate learners to want to learn the content.
• Engage learners in challenging activities that result in deeper comprehension.
• Connect chunks of learning to prior learning experiences and to learners’ personal goals.
• Ensure that learning gets applied in work assignments, and reinforced in future learning and throughout life.

Horton showcased a variety of effective eLearning activities which would help the learner Absorb, Do, and Connect.

Absorb:   Activities that involve reading, listening and watching.  Incorporate:

• Online libraries
• Online museums
• Slide Shows
• Information Films
• Field trips using guided tours and travel  journals
• Discussion Presentations
• Dramas using tools such as Podcasts and Videocasts

Do:  Practicing and Discovering.  Integrate:

• Drill and practice activities
• Hands-on activities
• Guided analysis
• Teamwork activities
• Immersive role playing
• Games
• Software simulations
• Interactive case studies using virtual libraries, case studies, and role playing scenarios

Connect:  Link learning to life, work and past knowledge.  Include:

• Rhetorical questions
• Mediations
• Cite-example activities
• Evaluation activities
• Summary activities
• Brainstorming activities
• Scavenger hunts
• Work document activities
• Decision activities

William Horton extracted principles that apply throughout many areas of study.  He shared his techniques for designing effective learning activities that can be implemented on various budgets by using tools that are already in use by organizations.

Considered by another industry guru, Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick, as the #1 authority on eLearning, William Horton demonstrated how he earned this tribute and graciously conveyed his perspective on an eager group of participants.

By the way, CARA came away with a genuine respect for the many talented Designers in Southeastern Wisconsin and a commitment to partner with the representative companies as they expand their eLearning capacity and require additional resources to meet future deadlines.

By Sue Deisinger

I attended the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase last week at the Union League Club. The Showcase is an exploration of new media and interactive eLearning tools. As the Platinum Sponsor for the event, CARA had a significant presence, among more than 300 learning professionals. But the real Rock Stars were the talented practitioners who presented creative, common sense and technological feats of genius during their presentations.

The opening keynote session, Defusing Landmines in eLearning Projects, provided practical tips on how to anticipate and neutralize eLearning project issues before they arise. The speaker, Jennifer DeVries, shared her own lessons learned from an established career as a professional eLearning Consultant.

I really value tips like anticipating some potential root causes of scope creep and her brutal advice to never trust someone who tells you not to worry about the budget. This is great advice to share with our team and our clients.

Another session I attended, The Devil Is in the Details: Technical Considerations for eLearning, presenter Marge Feely, shared lessons learned about designing around the client’s technological capabilities to avoid end-user inaccessibility. Another practical set of guidelines to consider were given along with suggested workarounds for successful eLearning implementation.

CARA’s own Senior Instructional Design Consultant/Rock Star, Traci Weiss, led a standing room only session, Creating Scenario-Based Learning Using Rapid eLearning Tools. Traci shared her experience with various client eLearning platforms like Adobe Presenter (using Captivate), Articulate, and Lectora – tools not typically “scenario-friendly,” and provided examples of how simulations may be difficult to measure learning transfer; they are a great for learning from your mistakes. Traci’s presentation will soon be available on CARA’s website.

With more than 30 speakers, 24 breakout sessions and 6 different tracks, there was something for everyone involved in the design, development and delivery of technology-based learning. Great themes were showcased, from engaging learners, mitigating technical issues, designing creatively—on a budget, and measuring results. I am continually impressed with the depth of thought leadership and the community of talented professionals we’ve cultivated here in Chicago. It was a fabulous day of total immersion and excellent networking.

To learn more, email me and we can set up a networking meeting to go out for pizza—Chicago style.

By Susan Beyers

As someone with a decades-long career in learning, I am a very big fan of “Ah-ha” moments. This March, I attended a seminar on informal learning with learning expert Bob Mosher, formerly the Director of Learning and Learning Evangelist at Microsoft, and the “Ah-ha” moments came fast and frequently.

Hosted by Chicagoland Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development (CCASTD), “Informal Learning, Are we missing a HUGE opportunity?” was a seminar of great interest to CARA. CARA just published a  report on the topic, and CARA SVP, Jane Ehrenstrom, will host an April webinar for TechServe Alliance on the subject.

The discussion on “Performer Support at the Moment of Need” was an enlightening topic, and here I will share my impressions of three powerful nuggets of information Bob Mosher imparted during the presentation.

Lesson #1: Businesses Are Over-Teaching & Overwhelming in the Classroom
Today’s learners are over taught in the classroom and overwhelmed with information. According to the Research Institute of America, people retain only 33% of classroom training after 48 hours of training and only 20% three weeks after training. Long story short: somewhere between 70% and 80% of classroom time can potentially be a lost investment of time and money.

Lesson #2: Don’t Train for Everything, Train for the Moment of Need
Teaching learners to access the right tools in their “moment of need” should be a critical objective of classroom learning. Most new trainees on the job turn to a colleague at the next desk over in their moment of need instead of turning to their performer support aids. The result is productivity lost for two staff members and the possibility that short cuts and poor techniques are passed along.

Mosher gave the example of C.B. “Sully” Sullenberger who successfully landed a commercial airliner on the Hudson River. In his moment of need before landing that plane, he accessed one tool—the emergency water-landing checklist under his seat. That is what he was trained to use and that is exactly what he turned to in a powerful moment of need.

If businesses can train their employees to access their core learning aid in their moment of need, they are fostering essential informal learning—the kind that happens on the job and in those important moments of need “when they are trying to remember or apply information, when things change, or when something goes wrong.”  This is where knowledge accessed becomes knowledge gained.

Lesson #3: Focus Classrooms on Applying Knowledge vs. Gaining Knowledge
Formal classroom learning will have greater impact when refocused on knowledge application. If the classroom is the place learners become experts in accessing their “performer support” tools the workplace will become the place where the right knowledge is applied at the right time. This is what transfer of learning into the workflow is all about.

The entire seminar was an important reminder that we can make the leap from knowledge to competency with the appropriate learning experience and the right tools in hand.

We are in. CARA has been on Facebook now for several weeks and most of our team members have the icon in our signature blocks. This blog you are reading just launched, and we’ve created a closed group on LinkedIn where our consultants can go to dialogue with peers. My point in reviewing this checklist with you is that CARA is “all in” when it comes to social media tools and interaction. We see an opportunity to interact creatively with clients and consultants, share ideas and grow our network, and we are gathering the Web site stats to prove it.

As I write that with confidence, I also have some of the words I read in a recent social media white paper ringing in my ears. The paper explained that most people are still reluctant to engage when it comes to social media—they are lurkers who surf and read content but do not engage. Why are people holding back? Why will the vast majority of readers of this blog entry have a strong opinion on its message but choose not to leave a comment? Are we Twittered out and fed up with Facebook, LinkedIn and all the tools that constantly ask us to step up and engage? In my thinking, a lot of the low engagement and growing disengagement rates for social media tools are a result of three factors: fatigue, distraction and dislike.

Flat-out Fatigued
Fatigue definitely plays a role in whether people are engaging via Web 2.0 tools or any other social media promoter. Many people are just plain tired with the constant (and often prosaic) updates that come with tools like Facebook pages. In a Wall Street Journal column on Facebook, writer Elizabeth Bernstein details her own personal “Facebook Fatigue” and frustration with the deluge of friendship SPAM—quizzes, forwards, random updates on mundane tasks—that pour onto her computer: “Amidst all this heightened chatter, we’re not saying much that’s interesting, folks. Rather, we’re breaking a cardinal rule of companionship: Thou Shalt Not Bore Thy Friends,” writes Bernstein.

Distracted and Less Productive
Another problem with social media can be unregulated enthusiasm. People who dive in wholeheartedly to social media sites and tools can quickly find themselves overwhelmed. Consider this recent study by Stanford University researchers, which showed that people who do lots of online multitasking are not good at core multitasking skills, such as memory, ability to switch from one task to another and being able to focus on a task. The results seem to argue that the more we engage online and the more tools we use, the less effectively we are at engaging online. Give the psychologists just a little more time, and we’ll all be calling it EADD (electronic attention deficit disorder) soon enough.

Downright Dislike
Finally, it seems there is still a significant portion of people who remain less than enchanted with social media. For example, this USA Today article profiled people they deemed “Twitter Haters.” These haters—who really seem to be average professionals of all ages and from many regions—are frustrated with the fact that social media tools like Twitter are replacing in-person interaction—and that much of the content is well, poppycock. On Twitter, I have to agree. I personally feel that Twitter Tweets are more often drivel, and this opinion is supported by a recent survey by Pear Analytics, a research company that found 40% of tweets to be “pointless babble.”

So you take fatigue, add in the distraction and top it off with dislike, and there are plenty of reasons why many people are lurking rather than interacting on social media sites. And despite all those arguments for stepping down social media efforts, CARA is stepping them up. Why? Because we believe we can deliver tangible value to our clients and consultants via social media networks. As a training and performance improvement consultancy, we know social media offers unique opportunities for interacting and informal learning. And finally, we believe that after proving ourselves able to consistently deliver valuable content and messages through these resources, more and more people will gradually engage with CARA. Let’s look at our social media offering today:

• LinkedIn Groups – This is a LinkedIn-based forum CARA built for our network of training professionals that is relatively new but gaining traction. The intention of the forum is for our geographically dispersed consultants to update peers on technologies, trends and issues that can help them with daily assignments. It’s a virtual gathering place that offers speed and convenience in reaching this targeted community of professionals. Participation continues to grow as we work to widen its reach and encourage greater dialogue.
• Facebook Page – As a training and performance organization, CARA hosts several events (association meetings, seminars, continuing education opportunities) and publishes plenty of industry-focused content and thought leadership. Facebook offers us an excellent tool for sharing event information, industry news and research with our network of clients, partners and consultants.
• LinkedIn Networking – CARA leverages social media sites like LinkedIn to recruit and build relationships with training experts nationwide. These efforts have broadened and diversified our talent pool while helping us more quickly reach out to and connect with highly qualified passive and active training professionals and performance consultants.
• This Blog—The CARA Chronicles – Last, but not least, we have this company blog, which members from our team and I will use to share industry and training insights. We see it as another vehicle to communicate and dialogue with you-the clients and consultants who keep our business strong and growing.

As a public forum for discussing the issues that impact business performance and operations, this blog is also a place where we can all stop lurking and engage. Please, challenge my ideas here, or CARA’s determination to make social media work for our business, our clients and our consultants. So, what’s your stance on social media—professional, informal learning, social, or something different?

Reality television is unreal. Team members are carefully chosen for maximum drama and then thrown into frenzied competition purely for entertainment. Thank goodness the business world does not take its team-building cues from Hollywood. Teamwork in the global marketplace is challenging enough without staged arguments and camera crews. The reality for a successful business team today is that to stay competitive it must operate with improved insight, tools and techniques.

In most businesses, teams are distributed in one way or another. They might be distributed across geographies and bring several languages and diverse cultures together. Some teams are distributed across industries with a variety of specialists brought together to solve problems or create new products and services. Team members may even extend beyond traditional company boundaries to include vendor, partner and even customer representatives. And in many cases, team members come from various levels across the business hierarchy, from seasoned executives to new staff and interns.

Technology of course, has had a huge impact in recent decades in changing how these diverse and dispersed groups of people work together. Physical barriers have collapsed with the rise of global networks and immediate, on-demand connectivity. Companies can bring together the best minds, no matter where they are in the world. Technology’s rapid advance has helped businesses learn the value of collaboration. Through the collaboration of many talents, backgrounds and experiences, companies today are progressing and tapping into innovation at remarkable speed. Consider technologies like the iPhone™ that bridges an amazing variety of interests and capabilities—music, video, podcasting, communication, time management, etc. Building such innovations requires technicians, designers, and thinkers from a wide range of backgrounds and expertise.

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