designers
To Reach “extended Enterprise” of Learners, Sumtotal Introduces New Software for Managing Talent
“We developed SumTotal 7.5 to give our clients a way to extend the management of training and talent beyond the walls of their organizations,” said Dave Crussell, chief operating officer of SumTotal. “We believe there is a significant business opportunity to help our 1,500 customers — and many new clients – extend training to a wider ecosystem of constituents.”
In 2006, the Santa Rosa, Calif.-based eLearning Guild, a worldwide association of more than 20,000 elearning professionals, surveyed its members – a mix of executives, instructional designers and course developers – about the future of elearning. The Guild found that 82 percent of respondents felt they would increase their use of elearning in the next 12 months to provide education to their customers. Seventy-five percent of respondents said they would increase the use of elearning to train channel partners.
In a December 2006 Gartner report, titled “Forecast: E-Learning Suites and Management Systems Software, Worldwide, 2005-2010,” researchers wrote that “Organizations are increasing their investments in training activities, both within and across the extended enterprise.”
With the ecommerce capabilities in SumTotal 7.5, employers can sell either a single seat for a training class or an entire learning and development program for tens of thousands of learners. SumTotal supports multiple payment methods including credit card, purchase order, check and cash. SumTotal 7.5 also gives administrators a single hub to manage training of all kinds, whether the training is for employees or paying customers.
For employers with a global audience of customers, employees and partners, SumTotal 7.5 will give training administrators a way to create one, universal training record in a single language. But, with a few keystrokes, the administrator can translate this data into virtually any language the learners prefer. For example, with SumTotal 7.5, if a training administrator is creating an online catalogue of workplace safety classes in English, then she can convert this data into German, French, Japanese or virtually any other language for learners across the globe to access.
“SumTotal 7.5 enables learners to find the training they want, in the language they prefer,” said Bill Docherty, senior director of product management. “But our software also ensures that administrators working behind the scenes can track this same data in one language and one system.”
Along with the ecommerce and multilingual features in SumTotal 7.5, the new platform offers users a way to develop a wide range of reports for analyzing learning. For example, the software includes reporting tools that can: 1) examine the features of a training facility prior to starting a class, 2) analyze answers that test-takers provide, 3) scrutinize invoices and budgets for developing programs for managing talent, and 4) pinpoint what a learner’s level of know-how is vis-à-vis his or her peers.
“We believe SumTotal 7.5 provides our clients with the infrastructure to not only develop the talent of their employees but also improve the knowledge and skills of their partners and customers,” said Don Fowler, chief executive officer of SumTotal.
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The Ten Commandments of ELearning
First off, I thought ten is too many to remember, so I cut it down to five.
1. Pedagogy First, Technology Second
Use technology, leverage it, but always remember it’s a means to an end. The desired end is learning and resultant performance and not the use of cool technology. However, knowing what technology to leverage for effective learning is essential too. Remember, technology can’t replace learning, only augment and support it.
2. Always tie to performance outcomes
A lot of eLearning is irrelevant because the designers didn’t really bother to ask what problems their learners were trying to solve or what they were trying to do. Just shoveling content at your learners in the hope that they’ll pick up what they need isn’t a worthwhile strategy. Learning content must be targeted correctly for it to work, and the only way to accomplish that is by knowing about your learners and their goals.
It’s also important to know that sometimes personal learning goals and corporate performance related learning goals are different for each individual. If you target the goal at the confluence of these streams, there is better chance that what you set out to teach is learnt, retained longer and improves performance and problem-solving.
3. Use Small and Smaller Learning Units
It’s these that allow for flexibility when creating personalized learning paths. Yes, the smaller you can make it the better. It’s the granularity that’ll let you design a custom learning experience for your learners. Think of it as learning Lego; you can use those small blocks of content to create different experiences based on learner need. The granularity also allows for just the right amount of content to be delivered, not more, not less.
4. Simplicity in Presentation and Content Structure
Simplicity is never easy, great care needs to be taken to simplify presentation and the structure of the content for learning to be effective. As Clive mentions in his commandment “Media should be chosen for their ability to aid understanding and memory, not because they impress.” It’s easy to fall into the trap of using sophisticated media without any obvious learning advantage. This sort of media bloats projects; costs more time and money, when something cheaper and simpler could have worked fine.
5. Context, Context, Context
Make sure context is maintained, in presentation, during practice and assessment. Learners taking training at work need it in a specific context, the instructional designer must maintain it by providing content that’s relevant to their workplace performance. Context can be enhanced by using scenarios, stories, demonstrations, examples, and case studies that tie in to the outcomes for that training.
Some learning outcomes, especially in the corporate world can be viewed in a singular context and don’t need much else. However, there are behavioral or ‘softer’ outcomes that can’t be viewed in a single context; in such cases using varied contexts provides much value.
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Some Tips for Teachers: Elearning Tools
Creating Connections between the Lesson and the Real Life
The thing that elearning lacks most of the time is a connection between the lesson and the personal world or experiences of the student. This is because elearning distances the teacher from the student. This is after all the teacher’s job. But this does not mean that it cannot be done in elearning. Perhaps the best way for such an element to be inserted into the electronic module is by use of vivid examples that would most likely connect with your students or trainees. If the course is about customer management for example, getting short, real testimonials from those who have had experiences with such matters will be a great addition.
Challenge the Learners
Elearning should not be spoon-feeding. Most of the time, teachers or trainers simply insert the same Powerpoint presentation slides into the elearning tools and call it a day. This is a wrong practice. Of course Powerpoint slides will always have a great application to teaching. But elearning is not about just slides. It will just be like reading without any interactive element. That is why it is also a great idea to keep things interesting by creating games and integrating these games into quizzes that will challenge the learners about the lessons they have learned. Also, only giving the learners all the facts and then testing them later on by asking what those facts were is nothing more than a memory exercise. One should not just give the learners simple boring quizzes. Make sure to engage them with thought-provoking questions that will force them to really make use of the knowledge they have learned.
Create Simulations of the Practical Application of the Lesson
It is fairly easy to do this for elearning. With enough creativity and planning, one can make an interactive and fun simulation. For example, if the lesson is about employee management, one can easily create a scenario that involves a decision making process that will take the trainee step by step through that process.
Use Images Packed with Meaning
Remember that each image one will use is a big part of the elearning process. There are many times when designers will simple place superfluous images and graphics just to make the thing more colorful or pleasing to the eye. This is not always a good idea. That will just become an ornamental display which often leads to a feeling of image saturation. It is better for the elearning tools designer to put in meaningful images that really say something or illustrate with utmost clarity the lessons being taught in the module.
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