Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Get Your 2015 Holiday Treats!

I'm winding down for 2014. And what a great year it's been!

Here's a few holiday treats from the Kineo blog as you start winding down yourself (which I hope you're able to do)...

* I take a look back on my Top 6 Highlights from 2014. (Hint: It was a GREAT year. I published a book AND met Neil DeGrasse Tyson!)

* Steve Lowenthal, Kineo US CEO, shares his insights from the recent CLO Symposium in San Diego:  5 Things CLOS are Thinking About Now. Be interested to hear from you if these findings reflect what's going on in your own organizations.

* Check out this great Infographic: 7 Things to Improve L&D Performance in 2015 (think about what you can do to add more value in 2015!)

* And my favorite: a delightful wrap-up of all our top posts from 2014 on kineo.com. Unwrap your favorite today!

I'm looking forward to the return of longer days and am so very pleased we're over the Solstice hump already. Meanwhile, I'll be hunkering down with hot cocoa and my kids over the next few weeks, gearing up for another great year ahead. Looking forward to a fantastic 2015 and for your continued community and conversation along the way.

Best wishes to you and yours, 

Cammy

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Building a Learning and Performance Support Ecosystem (Steve Foreman) #elguild

eLearning Guild online webinar with Steve Foreman (InfoMedia Designs). These are my live blogged notes. Here's the event page describing the webinar.

What is an ecosystem and why build it?
To enhance individuals and orgs by connecting people with a broad range of techs that drive performance.

There's formal training -- and then there's all of the ways that we learn within the flow of work (performance support, collaboration, access to experts, knowledge management. ALL of these are included in an ecosystem.

Guild research: We continue to see a trend to replace more scheduled training (classroom, webinars, etc.) with more on-demand training. And we see a trend to provide more options for learning within the work environment and the workflow.

The six components?

  1. access to experts (consult)
  2. knowledge management (research)
  3. performance support (perform)
  4. talent management (advance)
  5. structured learning (train)
  6. social networking and collage (share)

Let's walk through 'em now:

Talent Management: people have competencies, they need them, jobs requirement them. Talent management options match up people with competencies, identify gaps -- allows you to improve in your current job or prepare for the next one.

Performance Support: complete processes and tasks, make decisions

  • software help (sims, walk-throughs, etc.)
  • task & process support (explanations, sample outputs, step-by-step instructions, advice links)
  • diagnostic tools -- to help you diagnose and solve complex problems (calculators, comparison tools, etc.)
Knowledge Management: look up info and access tools

A searchable knowledgebase, publishing/workflows, curated, analytics -- giving people access to the info they need when they need it.


Access to Experts: ask questions, get guidance

A directory of experts in your org (could be Sharepoint).

You're interested in getting guidance on a topic - you search your org to find who has that expertise. You can read their profile, see what they've written/published, see how others have rated them, see how to contact that person.

Social Networking & Collaboration: discuss experiences, exchange ideas
A valuable way to support people to connect and learn from each other.

Structured Learning: enhance skills, achieve certification

Formal learning for new hires, compliance, etc.

Where do you start? Where you are! You should leverage what you have and go from there....

More on these components:
Coaching is part of talent management. But you might also have a structured learning program that involves mentoring and shadowing. Cohorts may be part of structured learning, but could be part of social networking where cohorts work together to complete an assignments.

These components aren't discrete.  There's lots of overlap.

The three building blocks?

Each component requires content, process, and technologies

Content: you might have the content, or you're designing an environment where content can emerge

Process: what's needed from a business perspective? What problems are you trying to solve? You need to look at HOW the work happens. Where are the bottlenecks and inefficiencies? That will help you identify where to provide work-based solutions. Each component has its own set of processes.

When designing ecosystem solutions -- especially those built seamlessly within the workflow -- it needs to be kept alive and thriving. It's not a case of "we've delivered the course and we're done." So they require ongoing processes to maintain and keep the content relevant.

Technologies:
Lots of different techs to support an ecosystem.
Talent Management, software help, search engines, CMS, DMS, analysts, blogs, wikis, social network, authoring tools, LMS, assessments, etc.
These can be loosely joined -- with a backend that lets you pull out data.  They don't have to be tightly integrated.

Organizational Culture
Your culture will determine how this goes down.

  • You need management leadership and sponsorship.
  • Tech advocacy -- partnering with your IT group.
  • Content needs to managed and curated. Important to have ongoing ownership and control of your content.
  • L&D function and its perceived charter -- if you think you're about training, then you won't go far with ecosystems. If others think you're about training and courses, it'll be hard to overcome that.  You need to broaden your scope. In ecosystems you want to impact the work where and when it's happening.
  • Budget, resources and time -- this may take time.
  • Standards, governance, process.


How do the pieces fit together?


  • Portal
  • Search Engine
  • knowledge base, communities, courses
  • xAPI
  • Learning Record Store
  • Analytics/reports
  • Newsfeeds


How do we create ecosystem solutions?

Design needs to focus on strategic links.

Your business strategy drives your learning strategy which drives your ecosystem architecture.

Don't let the tech drive what you can do. First focus on what your organization is doing. Think strategically, analytically, holistically.

Think strategically. 
Find out what keeps the exec leadership team up at night. Get access to top level execs.Be sure to identify that you're solving the right problems. Ask them "What do you see as our top five business goals over the next 3-5 years, and what are the challenges? What do you see as the top human performance challenges impacting those goals?

This will build credibility, gain influence and sponsorship, and helps you focus your effort.

Think analytically.
Figure out where you should focus. Talk to middle managers. How does the work happen? What are the problems and why? How do you measure the problems? What are your business metrics?

If you can clarify task, work outputs and workflows you'll set the right context.

If you identify obstacles, bottlenecks, you'll uncover opportunities for your ecosystem.

Prioritize by frequency, complexity, and level of impact. Pick the problems that are marked HIGH for all three dimensions and focus on those ones first. Then tackle the next tier.  This will help you demonstrate impact.

Think holistically.

What kind of solution will increase productivity?

Look at the components that you have available to you -- what you have right now that you can leverage.

Establish metrics that are focused on those business metrics. This is what you want to impact.

Identify the right components and your requirements.

Start with the end in mind so you can establish your goal.

Establishing a phased goal helps you deliver value at each phase -- you get started more quickly.

Focus on productivity and not learning, then you'll be impacting business metrics -- what sponsors care about.

If you focus on environment and not just content you'll find that content emerges from the users.

Case studies
Examples may not include all six components.

Steve shares an example from a healthcare company that built off structured learning, performance support and knowledge management.

Financial services: structured learning, talent management, knowledge management, access to experts. Wanted to decrease time to access and find information -- time spent searching for info rather than working with customers estimated at $11M/year. Created some standard learning paths for new hires, development plan creation/review/tracking, knowledgeable of product and sales collateral, product expert contacts w/office hours.

Communications company: wanted to change their culture to move towards more of a solutions selling company -- where selling suites of products and solutions. So they measured revenue and the size of the sale. Their solution included knowledgebase, process based performance support, ask an expert, CoP, learning/mentoring program.

All case studies driven by business problems. Each used different components or "recipes." Measured success using business metrics.

Check out the Ecosystems: The Whitepaper from the eLearning Guild and the Ecosystems research report coming in January.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

5 great reasons to download the Kineo Insights Report today!

The latest Kineo Insights report is hot off the PDF presses! 

Think of it as an early Christmas present - a stocking filled with insightful nuggets, analysis, and trends.  Definitely worth the read over your morning cup of joe.

What is the Kineo 2014 Learning Insights Report? Insights and analysis from 35 leaders at stand out organizations all around the world who shared their views with us on what's happening in the real world.

Here's a teaser of some of my favorite quotes and tidbits from the report:

1. The role of IDs
Traditional instructional design skills are not going away but there is an increase in consulting skills required. The learning team has to consult with the business on how to improve performance because it is “no longer about the learning team delivering improvements through training”. One L&D manager argued “learning team members need to be able to talk more about ‘learning strategies’.

 2. The Learning Campaign campaign has taken off!
‘Campaigns’ has certainly entered the learning lexicon this year. A number of businesses are taking more of a campaign or change management approach. One L&D manager said it is no longer “one and done” but rather “building on key messages and taking people along through a communication strategy”.

3. Social tools go mainstream

In one retail business Yammer was seen as a core part of the learning platform. “Stores have really embraced it – section managers love it, people get back much more quickly, e.g. ‘Anyone got a fault with a zip on this jacket?’ ‘Yes, this is how you fix it’. People share pics of how they’ve laid out merchandise and ask for feedback, e.g. ‘I just moved this to be beside shoes’ etc. People respond much quicker on Yammer. No way you’d get that response on email.”

4. Too many channels?
Whilst technology was generally seen as positive there were concerns. One key risk identified was simply the amount of messaging people constantly get via different channels and devices. “There is a real challenge to cut through the 20,000+ messages individuals are receiving every day in and out of the workplace.”

5. Taking the assessment out of the course
One company was using post-learning assessments and reviews rather than built-in assessments to help achieve behavioural change and application in the workplace. They ask each learner “What will you commit to do differently because of the training?” They also get learners to work closely with managers to agree a plan of action and to demonstrate that they are applying training.

There's lots more to soak in and digest. Get your copy of the 2014 Learning Insights Report and: 


  • Understand how learning technologies have changed over the past year 
  • Learn about the challenges global organisations are facing, and key steps to help solve them
  • Find out the key areas of change you need to implement in your organisation in 2015



Friday, November 14, 2014

Cammy and Connie in Podcast Form!

Connie Malamed, world renowned as The eLearning Coach, and one of the better human beings in this world, interviewed me for a podcast a few weeks ago.  

I haven't listened to it (I mean, who wants to hear her own voice?), but Connie assures me that we both sound reasonably intelligent.

Head over to Connie's blog for a listen as we chat about pressing matters:


  • Who is an accidental instructional designer
  • How to work with subject matter experts (SMEs)
  • Three approaches or categories of learning design based on the course goal
  • Strategies to use for each approach: information awareness, building skills and knowledge and problem-solving
  • Using the advertising model, AIDA, for sustaining attention
  • How to avoid clicky-clicky-bling-bling
  • Tips for writing learning content
  • Future of workplace learning
Want more from Cammy? Be sure to grab your copy of The Accidental Instructional Designer: Learning Design for the Digital Age.


Thursday, October 30, 2014

10 Things eLearning Developers Can Learn from Software Developers: Jason Rimmer #devlearn

My live blogged notes from Jason Rimmer's session at DevLearn. Forgive any typos and incoherencies.

"eLearning is a Technology Solution." ~ Trina Rimmer

Tech: code, defects, platform, tools
Solutions: stakeholders, subject matter experts, schedules

Focus on what you need to do, not how you're going to get there.

Evolve your process alongside capabilities. How do we evolve the way we work to the rapidly changing tools and tech?

1. Establish project ground rules

2. Track everything

3. Flex your process

The less you have to focus on, the faster you can do it.  Flex your process to deliver your projects better. Understand WHERE your process is holding you back. Can you cut the work down into smaller chunks? You'll deliver the project more quickly. Your stakeholders will see more product more quickly.

4. Save your history -- keep versions (your customer might like the last version better than the next one..)

5. Use the right tool

6. Oops -- I missed this one :)

7. Focus on the MVP -- the minimally viable product

8. Make testing repeatable
Don't just wander around and click on things. Make a repeatable plan. Know all your possible use cases. Document that test plan and then re-run it.

9. Keep stakeholders on the team
Your stakeholders are as much a part of your team as your execution guys are. It's critical for your project being successful overall.

Let your stakeholders meet the project team. So they have confidence that things are happening. It makes them feel good. Give them visibility into what you're doing.

10. Bounding for the win

Act --> Move --> Evaluate

Always be moving. When you don't deliver, the team starts to go into a death spiral. Focus on acting, moving, evaluating. Management sees movement. You're "bounding." Smart people are always moving forward. You can't move without evaluation.  "Don't get bogged down by that, make some small progress." 

Always move forward, even if it's just a small amount.



Top Tips for Responsive eLearning Design #DevLearn

Responsive web design...what's that and what does that look like in eLearning?

Check out my slides from today's session at the eLearning Guild's DevLearn.

I break it down, look at some examples of responsive websites, and then share a whole bunch of examples of responsive eLearning, built with the open source Adapt Framework.




Meme-ing the future of eLearning #DevLearn

Fun time with memes at the eLearning Guild's DevLearn 2014.

  • Five presenters (Cammy Bean, Jane Bozarth, Jeannette Campos, Chad Udell, David Kelly
  • 20 slides.
  • 15 seconds a slide.
  • One topic: The Future of e-Learning in Memes.
  • LOTS of laughter.

These are my slides. You'll have to fill in the blanks :)


Wednesday, October 29, 2014

#DevLearn Keynote with Neil deGrasse Tyson @neiltyson

These are my live blogged notes from the opening keynote at DevLearn 14, happening this week in Las Vegas.  Forgive any incoherencies or typos.

Neil deGrasse Tyson @neiltyson -- Science Literacy and the Future of Work

Children are born scientists. We beat it out of them.

Running around your house and breaking stuff – that’s scientific inquiry at work.

A toddler spilling her milk and watching it run down the floor – an experiment in fluid dynamics.

Don't deny the child the experiment just because you want to avoid a big mess (“no jumping in puddles!”)

A kid grabbing an egg off the counter and seeing how it breaks – an experiment in material science, embryotic biology

Kids already are scientifically literate.

Sacrifice the cleanliness of your home and let stuff break.

And adult scientist is a kid who never grew up.

“Neil should cultivate a more serious attitude in his schoolwork.” We have a system of education that asserts that the best students are the best behaved ones.









In 1969:
 
This is why our country is so messed up. These are the people who are now governing our country. These were the options we had? Women could be mothers and school teachers.  Notice, the men were not given the choice to be fathers.

With the women’s movement, education expanded – more options for women. More talented people moving into the workforce. This corresponds with a downturn in American Education.

1960’s Civil Rights, 1970’s Women’s Lib, 1980s Gay Rights – this is why we see a black president before a female president.

“Did your college major teach you what to know or how to think?”

What’s more valuable in the workplace? Knowing stuff or knowing how to think about stuff?  At the end of the day, you want to know: Who are the problem solvers?

We need to learn HOW to think so we can solve problems we’ve never seen before.

When you learn Trig Calc, your brain is going through a new wiring process. You’re learning HOW to solve problems. It’s the act of having to slog through math problem sets. It leaves your brain differently wired.

“Job Description” Workers = I don’t do it if it’s not in my job description. They only apply a body of knowledge to their job.

A “Problem Solving” Worker has a completely different attitude.

How do YOU react to a task never handed to you before? Problem solvers embrace them. That’s who you want in the workplace.

How would you promote someone who only ever just works completely in their job description?

"We've come to presume that the answer matters instead of the brain wiring that leads to the answers."

“Multiple Choice” Workers = Q: “Where do you want to go to lunch?” A: “What are my choices?” This is a world where the answers are pre-sorted for us. The brain doesn’t have to do any work. Work would mean coming up with answer out of the blue.

The Straight A Student: If you got straight A's, then the teacher was pretty much irrelevant. Don't show me your great teachers if you got straight A's. Show me your teachers if you got a B and your teacher helped you move to A. Those are the educators that really matter. The ones who made a difference.

Don't define what you know by the grade that others give you. 


My grades are not the measure of what I know -- not the measure of myself - it's my commitment. Don't use your grade as the measure. At your second job does anyone ask what your GPA was? Your A's don't matter to anyone but yourself (or maybe the teacher who held you up as an exemplar student).

Let's look at the top ten college dropouts: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Michael Dell, Mark Zuckerberg, James Cameron, Frank Lloyd Wright, Lady Gaga, Tiger Woods

These are no slouches here.

We have to get out of the mindset that everything that is not the right answer is equally wrong. Is K-A-T more wrong that Q-W-R to spell cat?

Creativity is what you do when you step into a new place where no one has been before. Seeing what everyone else sees, but thinking what no one else has thought.

At MIT, you take over 80% of you classes in math, science, engineering.

At Harvard, he majored in physics. Half of his classes were in non-science/math subjects. 

To win the Nobel Prize, you need to think like no one else has thought. You need angles and ways in that are new.  (Havard has about 60 Nobel Prize winners; MIT has about 29). 

Could it be the immersion in the liberal arts that opens up the mind to ideas you've never had before?




Where is science going on in the world?

A map based on scientific activity. Look at Japan? (Japan won three Nobel Prizes this year).



But where is the trend going? Look at research trends. The US is shrinking...


Innovation in STEM fields is the driver in economies. 


But there's hope -- interest in science is on the rise. Tyson has 4 million twitter followers. There are LOTS of shows with science as a theme (Big Bang Theory, CSI, Cosmos, etc.) When you connect STEM to pop culture it flies.

"Neil deGrasse Tyson is about to crack a knowledge egg on your ass."

Q&A:

What's the role of games in education? 
He talks about his son, who plays a lot of games. There's a lot going on in the mind of a gamer -- spatial play. Engagement. The gamification of everything.

How do we change the trend with US falling behind?
One idea -- In the US, kids don't respect their elders so much. We don't see this in other countries, esp in the far east. What does it take to think like no one has thought before? It requires irreverence for authority. Disrespect for someone saying how someone should think. Maybe this irreverence keeps us on the edge and keeps us from being drowned. We would be FARTHER behind if it weren't for this.

Keep thinking about the future. What's the role of science fiction in stimulating innovation. It gets us to think about the possibilities.

How do we serve the greater good for society?




Monday, October 27, 2014

This Week at #DevLearn

I'm polishing my presentations and packing my bags -- heading off bright and early Tuesday morning for a few great days of learning at DevLearn 2014 -- this year in Vegas.

I'll be making the usual rounds, with special highlights as follows:

Ignite! Meme-ing the Future of Learning Wednesday 4:15
Join me and five smarty-pants for what is sure to be a split your sides kind of a session.

Bridging the Gender Gap: A Panel Discussion Wednesday 11:00
Should be a lively discussion on women in tech. With Moderator: JD Dillon; Panelists: Cammy Bean, Julie Dirksen, Jennifer Hofmann, and Mark Lassoff.

Top Tips for Responsive eLearning Instructional Design Thursday 1:15
What is responsive design and can we apply it to eLearning? Heck, yeah. I'll be sharing top tips generated from a couple of years of Kineo innovation and exploration, with a focus on examples created in Adapt, the open source responsive e-learning framework.

Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, September 03, 2014

The Accidental Instructional Designer: More positive reviews!

I continue to be blown away by the great reviews of my book, The Accidental Instructional Designer: Learning Design for the Digital Age. Five stars for five Amazon reviews!

Thanks to everyone who have bought a copy and who continue to spread the word. The book has definitely struck a chord in the e-Learning ID community.

Today, Jon Aleckson of WebCourseworks described me as a "frenemy" but then went on to share that he bought five copies of the book for his ID team! Read Jon's full review of the book on his blog.

Have you read the book yet? Why not?! :)

Thursday, August 28, 2014

eLearning Guild Best of DevLearn Webinar: Recording Now Available

Last week I presented an encore performance for the eLearning Guild as part of their Best of DevLearn series: Design Models and Patterns for Creating Better eLearning.
Ali called it "FABULOUS". 
Jennifer Valley and Chett Bradley both used the word "awesome". 
Judy Albers said she could listen to me "digress all day". 
Missed the webinar and want to see what the fuss was all about?

The eLearning Guild Recording is now up and running from start to finish! Check it out: Design Models and Patterns for Creating Better eLearning.

(I think you need to be a member to view the recording. And if you're not one, why not? Get on it!)


Want more on Design Patterns?

Read the Kineo Guide - Learning Models: Blueprints for Designers.

Want more eLearning tips in general?

Get the book: The Accidental Instructional Designer: Learning Design for the Digital Age and read all the Kineo Top Tips.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

eLearning Guild Best of DevLearn Webinar This Wednesday!

Just a reminder to join me for a Best of DevLearn webinar with the eLearning Guild on Wednesday, August 20th, 1:00 eastern/10:00 pacific: Design Models and Patterns for Creating Better eLearning.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Designing for Multi-Devices -- Poll Results

Check out the results of this poll on I ran on my blog a few months ago, asking people for what devices they're currently creating content.
What do you think? Does this reflect your organization's reality? How do you think this will change -- if at all -- in the next six months, one year, five years?

If you haven't already, take the poll!



Thursday, August 07, 2014

Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Careers in eLearning: Moving from Accident to Intention #CETS14

I had the honor today to keynote the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase here in Naperville, IL.

Of course, these slides don't capture all of the great questions and interaction with the crowd. Sometimes you really do just have to be there...




Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Best of DevLearn: Design Models for Better eLearning Aug 20th

It's the summer of special events!

Join me and the eLearning Guild for an encore performance of Design Models and Patterns for Creating Better eLearning on August 20th as part of the their "Best of DevLearn" series. 

Apparently, my session at DevLearn 2013 was one of the best-rated, most popular sessions! How cool is that?




Friday, July 18, 2014

The Accidental ID: Join me for a Q&A Webinar Session on July 31st!

Join me on July 31 (two times available to create a truly global thing of it!) for a loose and wild webinar, where we explore your burning questions about instructional design and eLearning. 
"What will I be when I grow up?" Most of us never imagined the answer to that question would be an Instructional Designer. Like Cammy, many of us fell into the role by chance. We learned along the way, experienced a few face plants and witnessed some major technological shifts. All of which we keep in our handy dandy back pocket of "experience."
Others are just beginning their journey. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, these ID's are ready to take on the L&D industry. They've got the knowledge, sure. But even with that knowledge, they're secretly wondering,what did I get myself into?
Instructional Design requires a special type of person. A person that can wear multiple hats and learn quickly. It's certainly not a role for the faint of heart. So how do you prepare for a career in ID and thrive - whether it's planned or accidental?
Join us for our global 1-hour Q&A session with Cammy Bean, Kineo US VP of Learning Design and author of the newly released book, The Accidental Instructional Designer: Learning Design for the Digital Age.

Check out our video recap of #mlearncon!

Already a fading memory, but #mlearncon was loads of fun this year.

Want to see what you missed? Want to see if we captured you on video? Want to see if Marty Rosenheck prefers a tablet or a book? Burning questions like these are answered here...



Enjoy!


Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Join me for the Accidental ID Webinar Thursday July 17 with Training Mag Network!

Are you an accidental ID?

Looking to build more intention into your practice?

Join me this Thursday, July 17 @ 1:00 eastern for free webinar with Training Magazine Network.

I'll share my story, some tips, ideas and--hopefully--some inspiration!

Register here and hope to see you online!


Monday, July 14, 2014

Share Your Accidental ID Story & Win a Copy of My Book!

Bryan Jones over at eLearning Art has posted an interview with me...AND he is giving away ten copies of my book to a few lucky winners who share their own Accidental ID story.

So many of us landed in this field completely by accident? What's your story? Head over to Bryan's blog and share your story there for a chance to win!

Friday, June 27, 2014

The Accidental (Mobile) Instructional Designer #mlearncon

This week, it's been mLearnCon in sunny San Diego! A really great conference with an engaged community of practitioners actively solving problems and seeking out ideas and insights.

I led a session on Thursday, riffing a bit off my new book. So many of us working in this field found ourselves here seemingly by accident. So we've been designing and developing eLearning all these years, and now a new twist has been added to our plates--making it mobile.

Apologies that my slide deck doesn't capture all of the great insights and sharing that the group contributed, but this should give you an idea of how the conversation went:



Thursday, June 12, 2014

E-Enabled Performance Support with Ruth Haddon #ICELW Concurrent Session Notes

These are my live blogged notes from the International Conference on eLearning in the Workplace (ICELW), happing this week in NYC.  Forgive any typos or incoherencies.

Ruth Haddon, COO Epic US @epictalkUSA @rahaddon

People use technology interchangeably -- we want to be able to access our information on any device.

We learn by doing. We don't need a formal learning course. We learn by trying and failing. We need to put what we learn in the classroom into practice in our daily lives.

We love to talk. Earliest forms of performance support = ask the guy sitting next to you.

If he doesn't know, where do you go?

It's how we learn, we're social beings.

We also like to search. 6 billion google searches done every day. We google it.

In our personal lives, if we don't know something, we look it up. Expectation is that it'll be at our fingertips. Problem is we don't do that in the L&D world.  

Where do we learn? 70% learn on the job; 20% learn through coaching; 10% formal classroom.

But L&D professionals focus on that 10%. Instead we should focus on performance support to push it out onto the job.

Gloria Geary on electronic performance support: 

  • Integrate (we need it to be there at our time of need - use the tech to embed it and it's there), 
  • Filter (not too much; don't overwhelm with too much support - need specific answers to specific problems), 
  • Represent (needs to be explicit, and people need to be able to understand it. I don't need to know the history of knitting to figure out how to pick up a lost stitch.)

Bob Mosher and Conrad Gottfredson -- 5 Moments of Learning Need:

  1. learning for the first time
  2. learning more
  3. remembering and applying
  4. learning when things change
  5. learning when things go wrong

Sometimes all you need is performance support (particularly on moments 3-5).

BJ Fogg on how we change behavior:

  1. Ability (classroom, e-learning)
  2. Motivation (persuasive/social technologies)
  3. Triggers (how do I know I need to do this new behavior? job aids, embedded support, etc.)

So how can we foster performance support?

  • create resources and videos to help people
  • integrate tools right into the software
  • portals and integrated software systems to provide searchable information
  • make sure these resources are available on mobile, tablets -- the places where we need them

Examples:

1. Short resources:

  • More and more clients looking for short, pithy resources to get messages across in a short way (and not asking for courses) -- shifting away from there's a training need to performance support and shorter resources -- e.g. short videos, q&a with experts, animations -- less than 2 minutes pieces that get across a specific short answer to a specific short question. This is what makes it so powerful.
  • Quick reference, diagnostic tools, how to guides, job aids. (And these are available across your devices). Glossaries people can access on their mobile phones. Diagnostic tools to help you throughout your day.
  • How-to Videos -- short videos on how to use the system.
  • FAQs with experts -- taking the conversations you want to have with an expert, to scale it so everyone can get that info.
  • Media types: podcasts, videos, infographics, whiteboard animations, screen captures, etc.
2. Embed performance support in the software you're using.
  • Integrating information into SharePoint to help people see what's needed at each step of the way.
3. Helping people find resources with support portals and structures.
  • Always think about how easy you can make it for people to find it. Can they find it in three clicks?
  • Helping people learn and manage large projects. Created a portal that guides people through each stage of the process with example documents and guidance at each stage.  Small training nuggets on each step. Guides them through the journey.
  • Providing performance support to help people do their jobs. In a flow chart of your team's process, embed the documents and templates people need to be using.
  • Think about gathering existing materials and giving it structure. Put a surface layer on top of all that material. You can drill down by clicking on steps in a process OR search by keywords.
4. Make it mobile
  • Design apps that give people the materials they need and when they need them.
  • So people can refresh on those questions/info when they need it -- and when they might not be at their desk. 
  • Apps help people take things out into the workplace.
  • Diagnostic tools that used to be in big paper manuals can go into a mobile app. 
  • The tools are out there to make it easy to provide short nuggets of info for multiple devices.
It's all about transferring training to the workplace.  

Performance support helps us prop up the forgetting curve.

Really it's about coming up with an integrated strategy. To use formal training along with performance support. It's not an either/or -- they need to be integrated.

Coming down the pike - the future?
  • Contextual performance support -- your phone knows where you are and what your next appointment is and can push info to you that you need -- before you even know you need it.
  • Tin Can xAPI -- to gather data and share -- you took this training course, someone else who took that course found this info useful. Making training and info more personal and useful.
  • Google Glass -- it knows where you are, it knows what time it is...what about first responders who will have access to an expert right in your helmet.  As a diagnostic tool, could be really powerful. A hands free way of getting information. It's early days but some strong potential to provide performance support in an instantaneous way.
  • Smart Watches -- technology that you'll have with you all the time.  

In summary, mobile support is good for:
  • Good for: ensuring transfer of training into workplace and supporting new learning on the job.
  • Support it with: flexible resources, portals, integration with existing software.
  • Consider: Timing, connectivity, tracking (or not), phone features (what can you use that will add value?).