Free the Learners -- Free the LMS

Jay Cross in Free the learners talks about his afternoon omelette and anarchy and then goes on:

People ask how to track informal learning in their LMS; my response is don’t. But how will we know if they are learning? I reply that it’s the same way we always do: check afterward to see if they’re performing up to expectation.

So my question is about LMSs. I'm wondering if people actually use all that data that does get tracked now for formal learning. I'm mean -- do they really use all that data? What if we got really crazy and didn't track much of formal learning either?

In What to track? Dan observes,

From this they are able to get stats on time spent elearning, who has completed
what and a whole host of stats that, at the end of it tell them nothing at all
about how the behaviour of the learner has changed as a result of the training.

I've always been on the vendor end of things in this equation. We build it because they ask for it. We make our courses comply with their so-called needs. Who can tell me what is actually used of all these piles and piles of data captured by all the piles and piles of LMSs out there? If you use it, what does it really tell you about your employees?

Open Simulations vs. Page Turners?

Thanks to Donald Clark for his post on Open Simulations vs. page-turners? :

"Open structures lead to better long term retention."

"...e-learning environments with high navigational freedom have better long-term retention."

So all of my clients who require that lockstep navigation be in place -- who want to force the user to go through the content in a linear fashion in order to ensure that the user has processed the information (but not necessarily learned it) -- all these folks have it wrong? Phew!

On the implementation level, this gets tricky if the clients wants to track page hits to ensure completion. And what about Compliance courses? Tracking has gotta all come down to the assessment.

I've got to take a stand and start educating our clients as to the better approach.

Games for the Brain

These brain games are from Phillip Lenssen, via Dean at my company who was thinking about how we could use brain teasers or games to get a learner prepped to learn. The warm up before the real e-Learning begins.

My favorite game is Counterfeit. Get me started and I can't stop.

What if you did something like this, but tried to connect it with the content? Use your brain game as a pre-question to focus the learner on the program's learning objectives. Use a game like this instead of a pre-test. I've posted on pre-testing before, in response to some questions raised by Clark Quinn at Learning Circuits.

Anyone have any experience doing something like that?

Super-Close Google Map Zooms

How low can you go?

I stumbled across this blog entry today from Phillip Lennsen, Google Blogoscoped. That's pretty crazy. I like the folks playing ping pong in the pool.

His blog is pretty much all google all the time.

Rock On with e-Learning from ZVEX

...Simple video (one shot, no edits)
+ Super high-quality audio (which you'd expect from this source)
+ Nice voice
+ Humor
+ Good hand gestures

= Really Cool Product Training

I'm no guitar player, but I thoroughly enjoyed these little demo videos of "handmade stompboxes" (pedals used to create crazy effects with electric guitars.)

Check it out. Click on one of the pedals (they're all hand painted, wow!) and then click demo video at the top.

Informal/DIY Learning: Montessori School for Adults?

We've been exploring the notion of sending our son to a local Montessori school come this fall. He'll be 4. So last week, we had the chance to take a tour of the school, peek in on some classrooms, and ask a lot of questions.

My first response was, "I want to go to Montessori School." It looks awesome.

Now, I don't know all the theory and I've only read a bit about Maria Montessori (the founder of this approach) and the Montessori Method. But there seem to be some similarities between that and informal learning/DIY learning -- all this adult stuff we've been talking about lately.

A brief description of the Montessori Method from the Montessori.edu website:

It is a revolutionary method of observing and supporting the natural development
of children. Montessori educational practice helps children develop creativity,
problem solving, social, and time-management skills, to contribute to society
and the environment, and to become fulfilled persons in their particular time
and place on Earth. The basis of Montessori practice in the classroom is
respected individual choice of research and work, and uninterrupted
concentration rather than group lessons led by an adult.

Here's what I see:

Kids get to choose what they want to do for their "work" each day. If your kid just wants to polish brass for three hours, so be it. That's where he needs to be . And he's learning some great skills. Self-directed.

Kids go at their own pace. Polish brass for 10 minutes. Pick up a puzzle. Eat a snack when you feel like it. (How revolutionary! The snack table is ALWAYS set up. I like that.) No forced transitions. No "Now is the time we color. Now is the time we sit on carpets and listen."

Kids define their workspace. Role out a mat on the floor and voila! -- you've got your boundaries and your workspace -- your "office" all set up.

Learn from your peers -- water cooler style. Classrooms are made up of mixed ages. Big kids model new activities for the little ones. Little ones learn by observing big ones and asking questions. Mentoring occurs at the peer level.

Teacher is often in observe mode. When the teacher sees that the child is ready for the next challenge, he or she may step in and do some one-on-one instruction. I guess this is the "formal" part. The seminar or workshop. But again, it's customized for the child. "I see you've mastered the sandpaper letters....let's see what you can do with the block letters." It's the manager seeing what questions need to be asked next and stepping in.

This informal style is the rule, even at the middle school level. Classrooms have tables in circles. And couches. Kids work on their geometry homework together or alone. Whatever works best. The conversation seems fluid and open. And learning is going on all around.

So, the question is, can we make the Montessori Method a part of the coporate learning environment? Is that what all this informal/DIY/learning 2.0 stuff is all about?

This job ain't dead yet....

It's ok Dan. We're not dead yet.

What strikes me about this whole DIY/informal learning/death of ISD conversation is that what we're really talking about are those so-called motivated knowledge workers. These are the folks in the corporate world. These are guys who will take informal learning by the horns and run with it. And they do. They get raises and promotions for being smart.

Not the maintenance guys working on the line in manufacturing (and for whom I've been creating a lot of e-learning these days). These folks are described to us by their managers as wanting to do their jobs and then go home and crack a few beers. (Although that describes most of us, right?) They're certainly not going to take the initiative to take e-learning courses on their own time. At least, this is what I'm told.

I cringe a bit seeing what I've wrote here -- it sounds sort of elitist, which is not my intent.

In Brent Schenkler's response to Dan, he says

There are many people still willing to be led blindly by others and doing as they're told...do this, do that, go get training, etc. And as long as companies still pay for it we are all sittin' pretty making some coin crankin' out the Captivate movies sippin' a cold pint.

Yes...many many good years of living ahead...if you call this living.