Effective learning of any kind—whether at school or the corporate level—requires an individual’s passion and zeal to learn. It is imperative to understand the importance of learning. Most of the time, people learn the things in life after finishing school or college, or what we call professional education.

Today, most learning is by personal experiences rather than the bookish knowledge we gain. It’s important to understand that what we learn today may not hold value 10 years down the line. Experiential learning is what holds the maximum importance these days. Learning at the corporate level has multiple reasons and chief among them are:

• One may learn or upgrade his or her skills for increasing his or her competence at the workplace.
• Increase in career prospects.
• An employee can undergo training to feel at par with colleagues in terms of education and experience.
• Learning may happen to due to lack of job satisfaction.
• Learning can also help the individual in discovering new areas of expertise.

There are many more reasons why an individual wants to learn something new. Notwithstanding, there are barriers to the learning process. Some of these key barriers to effective learning are:

• Many consider learning as just another task and not as an experience to know more and be knowledgeable.
• Many times, individuals miss the opportunity to learn more without realizing it.
• Not recognizing the importance of learning and not knowing how to use the knowledge gained is in itself a barrier to learning.

Starting from the junior most employee of an organization to the top most manager or CEO, each person needs to be responsible about his or her learning which would eventually lead to the growth of the Company. Every individual must identify learning opportunities made available to him or her and utilize them effectively to move ahead in life.

No matter which industry vertical one is in, effective learning is extremely important in every Company. To ensure that your Company’s employees are continuously developing and in the process of constant training, effective learning techniques must be incorporated.

Do share your thoughts on the same.

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.

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.
• Values:

CommLab’s Products

• Markets: US, Canada, UK, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, KSA, UAE
• Unique Selling Proposition:
  • Strong pedigree in teaching and corporate training
  • Top notch quality through exacting processes and systems
  • Price and Time advantage by operating solely from India

Employees Retention

• Salary’s on 1^st Since Inception
• Increments twice a year uninterrupted
• Free high quality lunch
• Open Leave Policy
• Weekly Celebrations
• Extensive Technical and Soft Skill Training
• Flat Organization
• High Retention

Customers Delight

USA (16), Canada (1), Australia (3), UK (2), Switzerland (2), Sweden (1), Dubai (2), France (1), Germany (1) and Italy (1)

• Customer Focus: On time and Quality Product
• Building Relationship on Trust
• Effective Processes:
  • Sound Instructional Design
  • Production process
  • Quality Process
  • Client Interactions
  • Sound Technology Backing

Customer Mix

Our Present Customers – 30 Worldwide

Technology Growth

Marketing Focus: Our Prospects

New Age Marketing: Building Relationship

Financial Success: Profit Margins

IT and Asset Security

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.

RK Prasad

CEO

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!

RK Prasad

CEO