Tuesday, July 10, 2007

e-Learning Guild Synchronous Learning Systems

e-Learning Guild presentation on Synchronous Learning Systems hosted by Steve Wexler, Karen Hyder, and Karl Kapp.

  • Steve Wexler waxed poetic about his job and the opp to work with such great people at the e-Learning Guild.
  • Karen Hyder: works for the e-Learning Guild -- wrote survey questions among other things.
  • Karl Kapp: Assisted with survey questions...wrote an essay on 3D tools (with Tony O'Driscoll).

Surveys -- Steve had four different survey questions to kick things off in an interactive way:

  • What will you be doing during this webinar? 53% of particpants said they will be multi-tasking while watching this presentation. This is true of all synchronous learning -- presenters have to keep people focused.
  • Which Guild Research Surveys have you taken?
  • Have you used the Direct Access Portfolios (live, interactive research)? 81% said no! Steve reminded us all that this is available to all Guild members (paying Guild members, right?)
  • What do you want to explore today? 61% wanted a side by side comparison of tools.

Survey Results (as of July 9):
  • 4,126 members told which surveys they used
  • 1,717 rated their systems
  • 882 members completed this survey
  • 27% use more than one SLS (Synchronous Learning System)
Four Things You Need to Know:

  • Synchronous learning is pervasive and growing -- 65% of Guild members use these tools
  • These tools are NOT commodities -- people use the tools differently
  • Quality of synchronous learning can be great or horrible (what are the habits of highly effective synchronous learning implementers? Read the report, view the data, buy their report!)
  • It's going to change drastically -- integration with virtual social worlds
Karl:
  • Interesting to note the # (27%) of organizations that are using more than one tool.
  • 50% of respondents indicated that they thought they could use their tools to greater potential. Means there's a lot of way to better leverage these tools.
Steve:
  • People who deliver synch learning through LMS consistently report better ROI and satisfaction than those who don't
What approaches to training are people using right now within their organizations? (Survey from the Training Modalities Report)
  • Classroom instruction used 89% of time
  • Synchronous learning is used about 60% of time
  • Guild tool lets you break this down by specific industry (e.g., Insurance Industry or Healthcare).
[Insert lots of plugs for the Guild Research tool and explanation of how to use it....Note to Steve: this is when participants start multi-tasking....;) ]

Showed some trends in the Financial industry showing how use of synchronous learning has grown over the past 6 months.

Karl: "The two of the most used items for synchronous learning are lectures via PowerPoint and software training (app sharing)."

$199 for a printed copy of the full report...$995 for full access to the Data and the report (if you're a member). At these prices, not something I'll be buying anytime soon.

Which tools do you primarily use? (cross all industries)
  • WebEx 19%
  • Adobe Acrobat Connect (Pro/Breeze) 10.5%
  • Elluminate 4.2%
  • GoTo Meeting 2.8%

Length of sessions:
  • 30-60 minutes (almost 50%)
  • 1-2 hours (37.3%)
Other little points of interest:
  • Synch Learning is mostly used for internal purposes.
  • 65% used the Synch System used across the entire enterprise....
  • People who have third party hosting (vs. hosting in-house) report a better ROI.
  • Different results for different company sizes....
  • Mostly used for small training sessions 6-15 attendees.

Biggest topic areas for Synch Learning:
  • Desktop/Web Application training
  • Product Knowledge
Feature use frequency by product:
  • Breakout rooms: Elluminate Live had the most use of breakout rooms, followed by Saba Centra Live
  • Chat: Elluminate , followed by Connect and GoToMeeting
  • Editing of recorded sessions for later playback: Adobe Connect, Elluminate Live
  • (When looking at Guild Research, always see how many people answered the questions...)
(A participant noted that Pharma doesn't use Chat because "it is unfiltered."

Cost Per Learner:
  • Saba Centra Live was the highest followed by Adobe Acrobat Connect
  • GoToMeeting comes in at the low end
Do you believe you got a good ROI?
  • GoTo Meeting had the highest score, but only 12 responses
  • WebEx had a lot of responses and pretty good ROI
Synchronous Learning in a 3D Environment -- apparently you just have to read the essay written by Karl Kapp and Tony O'Driscoll. (Someone asked if this was available for purchase separately from the full 360 Report; sadly it's not).
3D tools are starting to be used around the fringes of organizations: simulating job shadowing, training first responders, teaching language, technical simulations.

3D is just starting to gel (like the early days of e-Learning). It will take some time....

If you completed the survey, you can get the summary of the report for free. Everything else is available for a fee from the e-Learning Guild.

Mostly it was a great commercial for Guild Research!

11 comments:

Karl Kapp said...

Cammy,

Great summary of the presentation! You are a fast typer. You can look to a wiki I have developed about Second Life and ProtoSphere to learn a little about how to use 3D synchronous tools. The wiki is open and free (thus the ads on the side).

Karl Kapp said...

oops here is wiki
http://msitsecondlife.wikispaces.com/

Cammy Bean said...

Ooh! Thanks for sharing this great resource. I've been enjoying your posts about your 3D class and envious that I can't participate....

Anonymous said...

Cammy,

This is Austin from Yugma (www.yugma.com). That was a great round-up of usage stats on the market leaders. I'd just like to invite you and your readers to also check out Yugma, our web conferencing and collaboration application. Our comprehensive set of features comes at a price that compares very favorably to others. We are completely focused on being extremely easy, inexpensive, and cross-platform compatible. In addition to having excellent service for Windows users, we’ve been getting great reviews for our ease of use and support for Mac users. We also recently launched support for Linux (8 versions supported). CNet recognized Yugma this year by selecting us as a finalist in its 2007 Webware 100 Awards.

Feature highlights:
- Real-time desktop sharing
- Free teleconferencing
- Invite up to 10 people for free
- Built-in file and application sharing
- Session recording and playback
- Real-time group chat and private chat
- Annotating and highlighting tools
- You can embed Yugma in your site or application
- Remote PC access
- Secure and reliable
- No Spyware, Adware or Malware

I encourage you to try our service out. As you can see, the features and price are hard to beat! I hope you like what we’ve put together. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, we’d love to hear from you. Just email us at info@yugma.com. Thanks!

Best regards,
Austin
———
Yugma Marketing Team
www.yugma.com

Anonymous said...

Cammy,

You wrote:

"Have you used the Direct Access Portfolios (live, interactive research)? 81% said no! Steve reminded us all that this is available to all Guild members (paying Guild members, right?)"

Many of the Direct Data Access Portfolios are available to ALL members, not just paying members. And indeed, this is why I was trying to stress that people should use it. There's a lot of very good things that ARE FREE.

Please see http://www.elearningguild.com/pbuild/linkbuilder.cfm?selection=fol.28 and scroll down to the bottom of the page to see what non-paying members can get for free.

Steve

bschlenker said...

OUTSTANDING post, my young padawan learner!
Tell me what you wanted to hear but didn't? Ya know, the ol', "dang, I wish someone could tell me ________".

Ya know we're deep into the mLearning report your feedback would be greatly appreciated for the webinar we do for that one.

Isn't this stuff just a hoot! ;-)

bschlenker said...

Hey Austin! Don't forget to add your synchronous tool at The eLearning Guild's web site. We leave that up to you. So if you want to be included in the data just add yourself as a vendor. You'll be amazed at the data...really.
Cheers!
Brent

Cammy Bean said...

@ Steve -- thanks for clarifying the pricing -- and I have taken advantage of some of the free reports (particularly the salary info -- very helpful!)

I think it might be helpful to include a slide upfront in your presentation clearly outlining all of the pricing options and what's available. I know this is all on the website :) -- but I admit to getting a bit lost when you were talking about all of the options so I multi-tasked and went directly to the site.

@ Brent -- OK Obi-Won!

Anonymous said...

Cammy,

A fine idea to have a simple slide clarifying the pricing options. We'll do this in the next webinar.

Speaking of which, a recording of yesterday's webinar can be found here:

http://www.elearningguild.com/pbuild/linkbuilder.cfm?selection=doc.1455

I'll also be conducting a webinar with Kevin Brown the VP of Tableau, on July 24. The first have will be on how to use (and get the most from) Guild Research. The second half will be on how you can use Tableau to analyze your own data (it's a sensational product and deserves attention. And I have nothing to gain by saying that. Really.).

Folks that want to sign up for the webinar may do so here:

http://www.elearningguild.com/surveys/?sid=92

Steve Wexler
The eLearning Guild

Cammy Bean said...

Sounds great, Steve. And I should say something about your enthusiasm for the Tableau tool and research data that you have gathered. You clearly love it and share the wonder with your audience!

Happy said...

Great presentation ..out of the tools you listed below..I am particularly impressed with Yugma which just requires you to register with no configuration work on your part. Currently I am using it in collaboration with www.rhubcom.com turbomeeting for quiet some time now.