Posted by Asma Zaineb on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 @ 06:55 AM
Take a look at the learning devices used to impart training – whether product training, process training or application training. These devices involve the learner intellectually, emotionally and physically. Each device has a unique objective.
Scenarios: A scenario situates the learner as listener or observer of an unfolding story wherein the story deals with a possible situation involving decision or action.
Role Play: This is similar to a scenario but involves the learner in actively making a set of decisions based on a situation.
Reflection: A reflection prompts the learner to think and leads him or her to self-awareness about his behavior and thought.
Practice Test: It tests a learner’s knowledge or application of it.
Reckoner: Provides an overview of key ideas, concepts, etc, in a concise way, either textually, visually or both.
Screenshots of some of our custom courses
Testimonials:Exposes the learner to the view point of a real or imaginary character.
Branching Narrative: It is similar to a scenario but involves a basic storyline that branches off into independent scenarios which might eventually be tied together as a moral.
Information: Information is presented in a direct manner.
Job Aid: It assists in on-the-job transfer of learning through a Just-Enough snapshot of key learning.
What did you think of this information? Do share your thoughts with me on the same.
Posted by Ayesha Habeeb Omer on Saturday, January 9, 2010 @ 02:08 AM
CommLab’s Introduction
Started in 2000 by RK and Ayesha
STPI Registered 100% EOU (Custom Bonded)
Vision: To help individuals and organizations learn in the most efficient and effective way by using the latest eLearning strategies and state-of-the-art Media, Internet and Information Technologies.
Posted by RK Prasad on Thursday, December 10, 2009 @ 05:22 AM
A month ago, Connie Malamed posted a discussion in LinkedIn inviting readers to donate storyboard formats to be offered as a resource to the eLearning fraternity. Many have offered the formats they were using. You can find them at the eLearning coach. I too sent a couple of them (yet to be uploaded; Connie is a terribly busy person but still finds time to maintain an extremely useful site for learning professionals like us).
That started my thinking about this fairly “low-tech” component in a high tech world of technology-based learning and corporate training. I was amazed to discover that our ubiquitous storyboard is actually an 80-year old Ancient . The humble word document that serves us in developing eLearning courseware has an interesting history. According to Wikipedia, the first storyboard was developed at the Walt Disney studio during the early 1930s for the 1933 Disney’s Three Little Pigs! I also learnt that it is used in many ways by many professions – Film, Theater, Advertising, TV, Publishing, Business, eLearning…
We at CommLab use MS Word to make our storyboards. PowerPoint is also used by some and Authoring tools by a few. But I think ‘MS Word’ is by far the most extensively used in developing online course storyboards. Connie has a very useful section, “Storyboards for eLearning” on her site for those who wish to pick up some tips.
I wonder if we can give the ol’ storyboard a ‘makeover? Can we come up with a tool that offers all the following.
Desktop Publishing software like Ventura or PageMaker to build a tailor-made formats with ease
PowerPoint to create some elementary animation
Clip Art Gallery for images / photographs
Various Assessment Components that can just be selected and populated
Audio / Video Gallery of music, standard instructions, video clips…
Dictionary and Thesaurus
Any more ideas?
Thank you for reading my blog. I look forward to your comments.
Posted by RK Prasad on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 @ 05:11 AM
This month’s Big Question in The Learning Circuits“WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT LEARNING IN 2009?”
Being a Learning and Training professional, I think it a good time to take stock about our own learning about learning. Reminds me of the adage, “Physician, heal thyself”.
It is in this year that I started to participate in various online forums and social media regularly. I also started to blog on learning and training with special emphasis on learning styles and learning tools.
Year 2009 taught me that you can learn a lot by:
Asking the right questions
Keeping your ego at subsistence levels
Realizing that there is so much to learn from others
I discovered that humility is the best friend of learning. Maybe that is why we learn the most, in the shortest possible time, enjoying every minute of it, when we were children. Children instinctively follow all the three of my discoveries constantly. On the other hand, I have also discovered that our ego is the greatest enemy of learning. Maybe that is why our real learning drops as we become more accomplished in life (in our own eyes).
I have also learnt what Stephen Covey enunciates – you will learn best when you learn in order to teach or teach. Not only have I learnt that I have greatly learnt by using this quality of learning, but also realized that I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the process.
The third learning I have learnt about learning is that it happens when you suspend the noise in your head. I always wondered how the great sages achieved ‘nirvana’ (enlightenment) by meditation. Not by reading or discussing, but by keeping silent in the real sense of the word – achieving tranquility outside and inside, though for a short time. I have read somewhere that the human mind contains all the wisdom of this universe and all you have to do is to connect yourself with the ‘Higher Power’ to tap into it. [I think that it is an excellent idea to include a brief period of silence and contemplation in a corporate training session ]
I would like to take this opportunity to thank and salute all my colleagues, real and virtual, in helping me discover these wonderful aspects of learning!
Posted by RK Prasad on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 @ 04:17 AM
I have been following a number of discussions on LinkedIn and other blogs in the cyber world trying to figure out what Google Wave is and how, it can be used as a learning tool. My quest was short and unfulfilling. Of course, in the bargain I came across some really good blogs and equally excellent writers.
Ben Par’s definition is succinct – “Google Wave is a real-time communication platform. It combines aspects of email, instant messaging, wikis, web chat, social networking, and project management to build one elegant, in-browser communication client. You can bring a group of friends or business partners together to discuss how your day has been or share files.”
So, what is in for us, learning, eLearning and corporate training professionals?
The only thing that strikes me as useful is that we can use it as a collaborative platform to develop content. It will be a good interface for SMEs, instructional designers, and content developers to jointly develop content. I suppose it will be quicker and cheaper. It looks like an advanced version of Google Docs, as far as I am concerned.
As far as revolutionizing online classroom instruction is concerned, I think not. At best, it will replace wikis, facilitate group work and help in publishing.
Maybe it is a case of sour grapes? I never got an invite!
Posted by RK Prasad on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 @ 04:35 AM
This month’s Big Question in The Learning Circuits“PRESENTING THE VALUE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR LEARNING” is an interesting one for us, the professionals and votaries of learning, training and change.
How do we ‘market’ the use of social media as a new tool or avatar of learning?
First, are we sold on it? Many of us have mixed experiences and opinions about using social media in an organizational setting to learn and improve workplace performance. I think I find blogging and LinkedIn more useful than Facebook or Twitter. I am sure many of you have opposing views.
Social media represents universal wisdom, present on such platforms that are moderately accessible, despite most IT departments’ reluctance to open them up for lesser mortals like us . Of course, it has its own negative features just like any other tool.
If you are convinced in principle that social media, with all its shortcomings, is still a very powerful medium that can really empower people with JIT (Just-In-Time) learning on anything under the sun, it is our responsibility to present it to our ‘customers’, so that they benefit from it and thereby benefit our organizations.
Let’s see how you can do it. Research shows that when any new innovation is presented, potential users go through five distinct stages of adoption:
Awareness
Interest
Evaluation
Trial
Adoption
It is advisable to keep in mind that educating people on new innovation takes time and effort.
We should also keep in mind that, people vary in the time to adopt new things. This process of “Diffusion of Innovation” was first popularized by Everett Rogers (1962) in his text book, Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers 1964). He defines diffusion as “the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system.”
It helps us immensely to take a quick look at adopter categorization on relative time taken.
The normal curve distribution above shows people differ greatly in their readiness to try new products or services. The graph shows that after a slow start, thanks to the innovators and the early adopters, an increasing number of people will adopt the innovation. The number reaches a peak and then drops off, as the innovators and early adopters rush off to try some new alternatives.
Research shows that:
Innovators are adventurous and take risks.
Early Adopters are guided by respect. They are opinion leaders who adopt early but carefully.
Early Majority are deliberate in their choice, though not leaders.
Late Majority are skeptical and wait till the majority have tried.
Laggards are traditionally the last set of people to adopt change.
How do we use this knowledge in popularizing Social Media as an innovation in learning methodologies especially in Corporate Training?
My suggestions are:
First target the Innovators and the Early Adopters through free workshops and contests. They are risk takers and get attracted by anything new.
Present success stories and case studies collected from the Innovators and the Early Adopters to the Early Majority.
Once these groups are behind you, the others (Later Majority and Laggards) will automatically follow.
I think we should give adequate time to see results.
Posted by RK Prasad on Monday, October 26, 2009 @ 07:55 AM
As President Obama declares H1N1 a National Emergency, we felt that there is a tremendous need to understand the H1N1 virus – precautions, symptoms and cure. Awareness will help us reduce panic and eradicate swine flu soon.
Here are some useful information on precautions, symptoms and useful online resources to keep you aware about the flu on a regular basis.
Precautions
Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently.
Keep your throat clean by gargling twice a day with warm salt water or Listerine. Clean your nose frequently.
Build your immune system by eating vitamin C rich food and Vitamin C supplements.
Technology based training methods can play a major role in minimizing the training time and quickly spreading the information across to all.
As a part of their social responsibility, corporate groups should come forward and support government efforts to help get control over the deadly disease.
Posted by Abdul Razzaque Hussain on Thursday, October 22, 2009 @ 07:17 AM
Research in current learning theory highlights the importance of using the learning process to determine the architecture of courses – rather than the structure of the content driving the architecture. It also demonstrates that there are four main phases in the learning cycle.
The four main phases of the learning cycle are:
1. Review: Sets the context and helps the learner bridge prior knowledge through an understanding of a broader context for new knowledge. Krathwohl’s Affective Domain Taxonomy can be taken as the benchmark model.
The role of phase 1 in the learning process is to influence the attitudes, values and beliefs of the learner to create “anticipatory set” for learning key concepts and principles in phase 2. Phase 1 may include a pre-test of prior knowledge and also may include activities. This phase may be called: Background, Introduction, Context, Reflection or another named deemed appropriate to the course goals. This phase answers the question “Why?”
2. Learning: The second phase is the Information Transfer or Knowledge Acquisition phase. Blooms Cognitive Domain Taxonomy can be taken as the benchmark model.
Phase 2 provides core content of the course. Core content may be procedural/process based, or concept/principle based. Phase 2 will be the largest section of “tutorial” or information transfer based courses. It may contain activities, exercises and tests. This phase answers the questions “What?”
3. Application: The phase 3 will consist of case studies or best practices or applied exercises. During this phase, learners develop an understanding of how to apply the new knowledge and skills in a generalized way and may be given an opportunity to practice skills. Problem-solving and decision-tree learning are appropriate learning models for Application
Phase 3 provides demonstrations of the application of the knowledge. This may include best practices, scenario/case study presentations or activities and/or case study exercises. Phase 3 may be called Cases, Case Studies, Scenarios, Activities, Application or another name deemed appropriate for the course goals. It answers the question “How?”
4. Adaptation: The last and the most important phase for performance improvement, which completes the learning cycle. The Accommodation Process is critical to improve performance because it is during this phase that the learner develops an understanding of how to apply the new knowledge and skills to the actual work context of the learner and is provided with the means to support transfer.
Phase 4 provides direction and support to help the learner transfer the new knowledge to his or her own performance context needs. It may include Job Aids, Guides and Guidelines, Checklists, Criteria lists, team or follow-up activities or Toolkits that include templates or forms. This phase may be called Adaptation, Getting There, Toolkit, Job Aids, Tools, Extension or another name deemed appropriate for the course goals. It answers the question “Now what?”
Posted by RK Prasad on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 @ 04:54 AM
Usually, training needs are identified during an annual performance appraisal done by HRD. These needs are handed over to corporate training to initiate involvement to address them. The needs are classified and collated; training calendars drawn; training budgets projected and so on.
That’s fine but when the demand arise from the line managers for training other than those that fall in the above category, how do we react? Do we go by the book and start from the beginning? Sounds logical, especially knowing the fact that a majority of performance gaps do not fall under the purview of training.
Most line managers want the training to be delivered yesterday! There is always a dearth of time, resources and money, which makes us think twice before we jump into a full-fledged analysis.
So, the question is when can we skip and when can we not?
We tend to skip a formal analysis process when we use rapid prototyping where Instructional Designers (IDs) and Subject matter Experts (SMEs) work in a continual loop to produce a prototype. The prototype becomes the first step in the cycle and front-end analysis gets integrated into an ongoing, iterative process between subject matter, objectives and courseware.
According to Mager & Pipe, we should explore fast fixes before spending time and resources on further analysis. All that is required is a quick-and-easy remedy such as:
Uncovering invisible expectations
Providing proper resources
Supplying feedback
They suggest we look for obvious impediments before jumping into full-blown analysis and indicate we can find them by asking simple questions.
On the other hand, when fast fixes do not apply, analysis should be conducted. Although there are times when clients are resistant to analysis for:
Leaders prefer a quick fix
Analysis is less interesting to leaders than training is
Little history in organization of analysis that’s made noticeable dents on what matters
Customers think they know what they need
People don’t know what analysis is
Analysis isn’t easy to do
Analysis takes time and time is in short supply
To combat scant resources and lack of organizational support, experts like Allison Rossett advise us to conduct performance analysis but to do it well and do it fast!
Thank you for reading my blog and look forward to your comments and opinions.
Posted by RK Prasad on Tuesday, September 1, 2009 @ 04:07 AM
In today’s technology and availability of multiple delivery media days, we are tempted to use a blended approach (more than one medium of delivery) to deliver training. In corporate training, many a times, singular delivery method is enough to do the job.
Before we zero down on the criteria for selecting a delivery environment, let us know more about the typical singular and blended learning environments. Some examples of instruction delivery environments are:
Examples of Singular Delivery Environment
Face-to-Face (FTF) classroom (with or without audiovisual media)
Distance Learning
Action Learning
Independent self study
Examples of Blended (Hybrid) Environment
FTF classroom with web-based team projects, or game simulations
Satellite video conferences followed by small group discussions at remote sites
The main criteria for deciding between a singular and a blended approach are:
Complexity of the task at hand
Desired Learning outcomes
If the task is fairly simple and the desired outcome is to know or understand (cognitive), a singular learning environment is enough. For example a Logistics Officer in the Armed Forces needs to understand logistics processes probably for that classroom training would suffice.
On the other hand, if the task to be accomplished is complicated and involves multiple domains, a blended approach is recommended. For example, continuing with the Armed Forces setting, let’s take combat capability such as using heavy artillery. I suppose it would start with classroom instruction, move on to game simulations, field operations and back to classroom for some kind of debriefing.
If there is a need to analyze, synthesize and evaluate (Bloom’s Taxonomy), a heavy artillery soldier in a life threatening situation must be able to apply his knowledge to operate the tank, must be able to analyze conditions to determine what action(s) to take, must be able to synthesize operational information with environmental conditions, must be able to evaluate overall situation given full scenario that includes receiving instructions from higher commands, working jointly with other soldiers in immediate environment, working with soldiers in other heavy artillery of same and different make-up i.e. ground (tank) versus air, and/or light artillery, evaluate threat levels, make decisions of when to fire etc (critical incident). And if he is a good leader (affective), he must have higher level knowledge skills (cognitive) and must be able to engage in physical combat (psychomotor), and then I think a blended approach is warranted and justified.
The example may look a little extreme for a corporate training challenge but certainly not incomparable to certain higher level organizational responsibilities.
Thank you for reading my blog. I welcome your comments and opinions.
The CommLab India eLearning Blog is all about the latest, most useful and most talked about topics under Corporate Training, Performance and Learning Technology.
. The humble word document that serves us in developing eLearning courseware has an interesting history. According to 
This month’s Big Question in 
