The Visiting Expert Series: Vol. #1

We are going to start a new "feature" on our blog this week: "The Visiting Expert Series". In an effort to expand the reach and scope of the blog we are going to be inviting guest industry experts to contribute to our blog. Not only does this give you a well deserved BREAK from us, it will also broaden the perspectives and expertise shared. This month's guest is Dr. Allison Rossett, author of the wonderful book on PS entitled "Job Aids & Performance Support: Moving From Knowledge in the Classroom to Knowledge Everywhere". Thank you Allison for a great posting!!!

More Performance, Less Training

Allison Rossett, San Diego State University

This article and model are adapted from Allison Rossett & Lisa Schafer’s book, Job Aids and Performance Support in the Workplace: Moving from Knowledge in the Classroom to Knowledge Everywhere, San Francisco: Pfeiffer/Wiley Inc. (2007). A web site that supports the book and these ideas is at: http://www.colletandschafer.com/perfsupp/index.html

From My Classroom to Your Workplace
I think that the most significant thing going on in training and development today is that we have technology, software and hardware, that allows us to punch through the walls of the classroom to deliver expert messages and nudging closer to work. This happens in many ways, via e-coaches, knowledge bases, blogs, wikis, social nets, and performance support tools. What all have in common is that they are happening where we work and live. I’d like to focus here on just one form of on demand delivery, performance support.

Performance support is immediate, targeted and present. It earns its place by adding value as teachers, doctors, supervisors, seniors, and auditors respond to their tasks and challenges. In these brutal economic times, performance support mobilizes messages and thus boosts performance when we can’t afford to send an instructor out or bring employees in. Instructors require resources, vacation, and sleep. Performance support tools do not.

Performance Support Tools
The best way to appreciate performance support is to look at examples showing how performance support solves problems and elevates practice.

I can remember twiddling my thumbs while waiting to do laundry in my dorm at college. When I wanted to do the wash, the washers and dryers were almost always busy, causing frustration, late nights and early mornings. When I did get to it, the room, with scattered piles of laundry, wet and dry, disgusted me. This was the result of aggressive launderers who chucked wash on the table if you weren’t there to claim it. Enter e-Suds. e-Suds is civilizing the process by introducing information and technology. USA Technologies installed Internet based laundry systems on several university campuses. The system tracks the use of washers and dryers and then alerts students by email, cell or PDA to the status of their laundry and the washers and dryers in close proximity. Imagine the benefits of knowing the “wash cycle is complete” on your load, or that a washer and dryer is available in Chavez Dormitory, floor 3, north end.

In the first edition of the Handbook of Job Aids, Rossett & Gautier-Downes (1991) attempted to expand the ways that people thought about and used job aids. That 1991 enhancement was based on the nature of the content. To traditional job aids that supported information (the Yellow Pages, for example) and procedures (documentation that reminded of how to change the message on an answering machine), Rossett & Gautier-Downes added job aids that coached, advised and guided decisions. Is this the right graduate school for me? How do I work with an employee who is often tardy? Where should I invest my money, given my circumstances?

While those remain fertile distinctions, what we see today is that effective performance support often brings the three together in one computer-based program. For example, a performance support program for an individual contemplating graduate education might include a database of possible university programs and pre-requisites; procedures for applying; and self-assessment checklists to help potential applicants anticipate readiness and preference for one program or university over another.

Two dimensions are critical in performance support. The first dimension is the degree of INTEGRATION of the support into the task. Is the performance support inside or outside of the task? Is it like your ATM or is it a computer program that helps you decide how to save for retirement? ATM support is inside, integrated into the task, as you maneuver the screen. The retirement guidelines stand apart; they nudge you to think about this as you consider an investment, answer a question, reflect on a paragraph, and plan for each eventuality, given your situation.

The second dimension for performance support is how much TAILORING the support offers. Is the support standard for all or actively tailored to your situation? Does it know you and act differently as a result of that knowledge? Consider the difference between support that tells you and every other 55 year old that you should save for retirement and support that knows you have triplets about to enter college, influential factors in your saving patterns and needs. Is it a mass mailing from your city government about fire danger in California OR a notice sending you to a web site because the system recognizes that your home is on a canyon, the fire danger is EXTREME this month, and you must do special kinds of cleanup to mitigate danger?

Integration, Tailoring and Finding Your Way
Imagine that you have an important appointment across town, at a place you have never been.
Table 1 presents alternative support systems to get you to your destination. Focus on the proximity of the support to the challenge.

Let’s look at tailoring now. Is the tool offering up a standard, consistent message or one that is customized to your situation? This is a question about the activity level of the tool. Does the tool adjust to you? Does it know you? Does it care which mutual funds you hold, how old you are, how many you must put through college, what products you sell and in which geography, or if you just by-passed the verbal suggestion to turn left at Albatross Street? Does it reach out and nudge and remind about goals? Does it provide a statement of operating procedures or model approaches to customers’ objections? The Yellow Pages and Wikipedia are standard, worthy, and passive resources. You go there to find information on Mogadishu or mockingbirds or local veterinarians that specialize in large farm animals. Those trusty resources wait and serve, but they do not customize automatically. You must know what you want and need and go for it. They succeed as support if they house valued resources that are “findable.” In our book, Job Aids and Performance Support in the Workplace: Moving from Knowledge in the Classroom to Knowledge Everywhere, a chapter is devoted to IBM’s efforts to make its many substantive resources readily available to far-flung employees.

Schwab.com and Quitnet.com are different their performance support is actively targeted to you. They know you and your goals—and your circumstances. Schwab will help you reach financial goals. Quitnet is there to help the individual who wants to stop smoking turn away from a cigarette after a long, hard day at work. Both tailor responses based on answers you provide to them and “know” you when you return to the site for advice because you are craving a cigarette or trying to decide where to invest a royalty check. The knowledge goes where the need is, when it presents itself.

Introducing Planners and Sidekicks

Performance support is an information-rich asset that a nurse, teacher, parent, mechanic, taxpayer, pilot, or auditor turns to for help in getting things done. Performance support appears in many forms, from notes on matchbook covers to well-worn documentation, to posters to ehelp.com, financial planning tools, and GPS. Because there are so many possibilities, Lisa Schafer and I, in Job Aids and Performance Support in the Workplace: Moving from Knowledge in the Classroom to Knowledge Everywhere, tamed the domain into two kinds of performance support: Planners and Sidekicks.

Planners are in our lives just before or after the challenge. They help us decide if Avian Flu or piracy at sea should alter our trip plans. I use one to help me think hard and comprehensively as I tailor a presentation for a group.

Sidekicks are at our side during the task. The quick food cook reads the job aid as she creates the new food product. The quarterback glances at his wrist in the huddle. The writer pecks away and smiled at how wikis once earned a red line under it in this sentence, but no longer does. Sidekicks vary in how close they are to the task. They might be next to the task, as is the case with the cook and quarterback, or integrated into the thick of it, as in the spelling checker.

Now let us add the question of customization. Is it guidance for everybody interested in the product or hurricanes or retirement or does it know you and your situation and tailor advice accordingly? Table 2 illustrates the model applied to sales.

Performance Matters
Planners and Sidekicks have a long history and a bright future as we lean on performance support to improve interactions, spell correctly, satisfy customers, stock the house for nutritious eating, and make smart and fair decision about whom to hire. It makes sense to move from knowledge in the classroom to knowledge everywhere, since that is where life and work happen… everywhere.

Allison Rossett is Professor Emerita of Educational Technology at San Diego State
University. Allison teaches, consults, conducts studies, and presents on topics associated with learning, performance and technology. You can reach her at arossett@mail.sdsu.edu

Resources
Jupiter Research (October 14, 2003). Jupiter Research reports that web site “personalization” does not always provide positive results. Retrieved October 17, 2005. http://www.jupitermedia.com/corporate/releases/03.10.14-newjupresearch.html

McManus, P. & Rossett, A. (February 2006). Performance support: Value delivered when and where needed. Performance Improvement.

Rosenberg, M. J. (March, 2003). Redefining e-learning. Performance Improvement, 42(3), 38-41.

Rossett, A. & Gautier-Downes, J. (1991). A handbook of job aids. SF: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.

Rossett, A. & Mohr, E. (February, 2004). Performance support tools: Where learning work and results converge. Training and Development, 58(2), 35-39.

Rossett, A. & Schafer, L. (2007). Job aids and performance support: moving from knowledge in the classroom to knowledge everywhere. San Francisco: Pfeiffer/Wiley. Web site and tool: http://www.colletandschafer.com/perfsupp/

Schmid, R.F., & Gerlach, V.S. (1990). Instructional design rules for algorithmic subject matter. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 3(2), 1-14.

Webinar on Designing for the Virtual Classroom

Designing PS into the Virtual Classroom:

We have received a lot of feedback lately that, due to budget constraints, many of you are beginning to use synchronous delivery tools such as Webex or Adobe Connect to host what would normally be your face to face Instructor-led classes. What’s the most effective way to design and deliver these classes WITHOUT it becoming “Death by PowerPoint”? How can PS enhance this model to potentially make the blend even BETTER than face to face? On Friday April 3rd we hosted a PS community webinar on this very topic entitled “Blending PS into SYNCHRONOUS Instruction”.

That session was recorded and can be replayed by clicking on this link:

http://trclark.na6.acrobat.com/p29524058/


Please let us know if you have any feedback or questions, AND feel free to share the recording with anyone else in your organization if it would be helpful.

Blended Learning - It's time has FINALLY arrived with PS

How PS Can "Save" Blended Learning!!

Con and I have been working this instructional approach for over 15 years now!! I remember having my first "blended learning" meeting back when I was with Element K in the early 90's. I was even on a special "taskforce" for it! :) The original premise was that since we finally had all these learning assets at our disposal, from classroom to e-learning, how could we not start blending them together into a beautifully orchestrated learning experience???

We have since talked to literally 1,000's of training colleagues regarding more failed attempts at this design model then successful. I thought I'd share a few lessons learned, as well as how PS finally tipped the scale for me!

1. Blended Learning is at its BEST when you're designing to meet all 5 moments of need - Have Conrad and I ever shared with you the 5 moments of need?? (that was a POOR attempt at humor by the way) I know we bring mention this principle in almost ALL of our postings, but it has become so fundamental to our work. If you need a refresher please click on this link to visit one of our original posts for more details.
   
   When it comes to blended learning, the 5 moments helped me understand how different learning assets work throughout the process. Many of my earlier blended efforts failed because I was only supporting the first two moments (when someone learns something for the first time, and when learning more - or better know as FORMAL instruction) and NOT supporting the last 3 (when someone is trying to remember or apply, when things change, or when thing go wrong - or better known as INFORMAL instruction). Simply swamping one formal asset for another does NOT create a total solution. Blended learning is more then simply saying, "Rather then come to class for this lesson, why don't you take it on-line?". It's also about blending the learning experience so that a learner gets the right amount and type of information at the right time throughout the learning process. Formal assets have a hard time fitting into the informal domain, and visa versa.
   
2. PS needs to become a critical part of the FORMAL learning process - This was one of the harder jumps for me in earlier efforts. When experienced Instructional Designers (IDs) run a task analysis and design for a train event, they typically include most every skill and task a learner will perform in the training outline and what becomes the learning event (be it live or on-line). How could we not? If we skip something, how would a learner ever "get it"? This also tends to make our training events WAY too long, thus hurting retention and transfer. Adding PS will shift the emphasis from just mastering information to its application. If you've designed your strategy for a total solution, you can swap out much of the content which was only seen in class to the PS framework and tools which is accessed after class. Certain critical processes, concepts, and skill still need to be taught in the formal experience, BUT way less than ever before. More of class time can now be spent learning the PS tools and building the learner's confidence in their ability to find and apply skills after training. Blending your design involves allowing learning assets to blend throughout the journey and to be experienced in multiple ways.
   
3. The blended strategy and tools need to be supported throughout the learning ecosystem - Con and I have recently discovered the power of what we're calling the learning ecosystem. Support comes in all shapes and sizes. Our learning industry tends to emphasis the physical tools such as electronic performance support systems (EPSS), or paper based job aids because they are often seen as the most effective approaches both in time and cost. The danger of being overly focused in these areas is that we can loose sight of some of the other critical components of a learning ecosystem. For example, assets such as help desks, trainers, and line managers are often overlooked in a blended learning strategy. Because the learning group doesn't see these assets as being under their control, they are often overlooked for the vital role they play in allowing a blended approach to work. Since this new approach intentionally puts more emphasis on the informal side of learning, tools and assets such as the ones mentioned above need to understand their part in using and supporting them. Their support and understanding can not be assumed. They need to be included in the early design discussions and taught their role in the overall process and application of these tools. For instance, many help desks are not taught or incented to direct a learner to an on-line support tool first. They want to get learners off the phone and back on the job! An important, but often shortsighted, objective. The ultimate goal is to create an independent learner who doesn't call the help desk for ever task or problem. This approach will not be adopted if they, and other assets in the ecosystem, are not considered and guided.
   
4. Blended Learning is NOT exclusively about saving money - I don't know how many times I have to learn this lesson!! My experience has been that when "making training cheaper" becomes the principle driver for blending you get just that "cheap training"! Now, I'm NOT saying that I haven't saved a good deal of money with the correct blend, especially with PS in the mix, but we need to be careful in these difficult times to not loose sight of our prime directive.
   
   I have never worked with a more cost effective learning approach then PS. I have been challenged with the ROI issue for over 20 years, and it is only in the past 2 that I have made significant strides in finally proving it! BUT the danger of overly emphasizing the "spend" side of this equation can cause the overall strategy to blur and possibly hurt the end product. Many of us were burnt by taking this myopic approach back when e-Learning first hit the landscape. It was viewed first and foremost as a cost savings tool and its effectiveness and adoption has suffered since in many organizations. Let's not do the same with the powerful world of PS.

We hope these help!! Blended learning can be an incredible solution for our learners and organizations on so many levels. PS can help take your programs to a level never seen before, if not be the key to helping blended take-off!

Please let Con and I know if you have any other questions, if you would like to talk through your current efforts, or if you'd like to see some working examples...

Conducting a Sucessful Rapid Task Analysis

Rapid Task Analysis Checklist

Thirty years ago I took my first instructional design course. At some point during that class I learned about task analysis. Since then, I have grown to realize that it is a most vital skill. If you get this wrong, learning and performance support spirals out of control. It becomes unwieldy and murky. Of all the skills, in our profession that we need to get right, we certainly need to get this one. Yet, my sense is we need to do better in this area. As a start, we need to figure out how to be more consistent and efficient in our approach. The practice of performance support especially cries out for a Rapid Task Analysis process. After all, how can we ever expect to develop an effective performance support solution, if we haven’t determined what those performances are. Fundamental to any Performance Support strategy is the identification of the performance tasks the strategy needs to support. In addition, since tasks don't stand alone but actually orchestrate into higher work-flow processes, a solid strategy also requires the determination of those processes.
In an earlier blog, I provided a detailed written description of Rapid Task Analysis. Below is a job aid “Checklist” for this process. We’ve also embedded several links to video clips within the checklist to provide added elaboration on critical parts of the process.

1. Prepare for the Task Analysis

Note: For your first few task analysis sessions, you should invite someone to help you during your session. You will find it helpful to have this person help make sure you are successful in conducting your session. You may also benefit by having your helper take notes on a computer while you facilitate the discussion from the whiteboard.

- Develop and validate the preliminary Scope Objective

• Is the scope objective valid?
  View: http://trclark.acrobat.com/rta2/

- Identify primary SMEs (those who should attend the task analysis.)

• Is the technology adequately represented?
• Is there sufficient representation of customer and business knowledge?
  View: http://trclark.acrobat.com/rta1/

- Identify backup and secondary SMEs
This can be helpful in case the response is less than 100% with your primary SMEs.

- Schedule date and place for task analysis.
When you reserve the meeting room:

• Make sure it has at least one large whiteboard.
• Include at least 30 minutes before and after your task analysis session for setup and cleanup time.
• Make sure an easel and easel paper (flip chart paper) will be available for the date and time of the session
• If you are using the voice conferencing, try to choose a room with extra microphones so that people on the phone can hear all the people in the room more clearly.
• Be sure to send “Meeting Details” email to your coach and other writers who will be observing or helping with your task analysis.
  
  Note: You might find it helpful to create posters of your agenda and scope, and the definitions of a task, step, process, and concept to post on the walls of the meeting room for participants to reference during the task analysis session.

- Invite SMEs

• Has a sufficient representation of SMEs confirmed they will attend?
• Send “Meeting Invitation” email to SMEs: Include the general purpose of your task analysis session and what is expected of them.
• Send “Meeting Details” email to SMEs: Include meeting date, time, location, and web meeting information (if necessary). Also include the scope and agenda for the task analysis session.

- Review Existing Performance Support Content

• Review any existing performance support tools relating to your task analysis scope objective. Notice the length of the section or chapter. Were the tasks based on the user’s job performance?
• Try to create your own list of concepts and tasks for this topic to help guide you through your task analysis session.
• Generate an outline of tasks and related concepts if possible.
• Create a handout containing this list. Use this list during your task analysis session to prompt SMEs about tasks they might be forgetting.
• Email handout(s) to remote participants.
• Photocopy handout(s) for participants attending the meeting in person.
  
• View: http://trclark.acrobat.com/rta7/

2. Conduct the Task Analysis

The following are things you should consider bringing to the task analysis session.
(Note: All bullets might not apply to your particular task analysis session depending on whether you have participants that are all remote, all attending in person, or a mixture of both.)

• Easel, Easel pad, Office supplies (scissors, tape, several colors of dry erase pens, ballpoint pens, pad of
  paper), Posters (Scope, Agenda, Definitions of Terms), Your meeting notes and reference material, Copies of appropriate existing TOCs, Handouts (if applicable), Conferencing dial-in and ID numbers,
  List of participants, Web Meeting instructions (if applicable), Snacks for meeting participants, Computer w/mouse, mouse pad, power cord, and Ethernet cable or appropriate wireless equipment), Recording equipment (optional)
• The following are set-up requirements for the session:
  - Set up computer
  - Tape posters (agenda, definitions of task, concept, etc.)to wall
  - Set up easel & easel pad
  - Rearrange furniture
  - Set up NetMeeting (if applicable)
  - Call into audio conferencing center (if applicable)

- Make introductions and review the agenda

• Introduce all participants. Thank them for coming.
• Review the agenda for the meeting (posted for easy viewing during the session).
• Make sure that remote participants have joined the session and that they can view the whiteboard.

- Introduce and refine, if necessary, the scope objective.

• Is there consensus?
• Is the scope objective posted for participants to view at any time?
• Ask if there are any questions about why you are conducting the task analysis or the goals of the session (both presented by email prior to the meeting).

- Identify Tasks

• Do SMEs understand what a task is?
• Do SMEs understand the difference between steps, processes, and tasks?
  View: http://trclark.acrobat.com/rta3/
  View: http://trclark.acrobat.com/rta3a/
  

Do SMEs understand what concepts are and that concepts will be identified later?

- Chunk and Label Tasks

• Do SMEs understand the principle of chunking and the benefits of applying this principle?
• Have participants received a listing of any tasks identified during the activity, Has each participant had an opportunity to add, modify, or delete tasks from the list?
• Have the tasks been adequately grouped?
• Have each of the groupings (chunks) been labeled?
• Is there consensus regarding the labels for the tasks and the processes (chunks or groupings)?
• Task groups ideally have 7 (plus or minus 2) tasks.
• Each group of tasks is a business process (similar in scope to a chapter).
• Keep business and “real world” situations in mind. Help attendees distinguish between describing the product/technology and providing information required to achieve a business goal.
• The label needs to provide enough detail to convey the relationship used to establish the grouping.
  View: http://trclark.acrobat.com/rta4b/
  View: http://trclark.acrobat.com/rta4/
  View: http://trclark.acrobat.com/rta5b/

- Establish Ordered Relationships

• Is there consensus regarding the order for the processes (chunksor groupings)?
• Is there consensus regarding the order for the tasks within the processes (chunks or groupings)?
• Have the unique order requirements for all audiences been addressed?
• Usually the initial tasks have a typical order in which the customer performs them.
• The order of some tasks may not matter, but assign them an order anyway.
• You may have only one group if there are 10 or fewer tasks.
  View: http://trclark.acrobat.com/rta5a/

- Identify Concepts

• Are the concepts labeled with nonperformance labels?
• Are the concepts chunked appropriately and assigned to a specific task group?
  View: http://trclark.acrobat.com/rta6/
  

3. Follow-up on the Task Analysis Results
- Review results of the Task Analysis and discuss “next steps.”

• Are participants leaving with positive feelings about their contribution to the results of the task analysis?
• Do participants know when to expect a written summary of the results of the task analysis?
• Do participants understand the amount of time they have to provide their feedback regarding the task analysis results?
• Tell participants when to expect to receive a written outline of the results of your task analysis session.
• Explain that you will be contacting them to help you identify the steps in each task and the purpose of that step. You will also be asking for comments about each step.

Encourage participants to send you their feedback on what went well and what they feel could be improved during your task analysis session, and any suggestions on how to make future task analysis sessions more useful.

Note: Consider the following tips while you are conducting your task analysis session:
- You may want to consider having another person take the notes for your first RTA, since you will be writing on the whiteboard for “in person” attendees to view.
- Monitor the TOC of the related documentation, if any existed, during your task analysis session. If the group gets stuck, use the TOC to prompt SMEs about tasks. You can also check to be sure SMEs cover all the tasks already documented. Be careful about leading the
SMEs to duplicate the existing TOC.
- If you get through your entire agenda of identifying, grouping, and labeling tasks and identifying concepts, you can use any time remaining to start filling in the actual steps of each task.

- Summarize the results and distribute to primary and secondary level SMEs for review and feedback.
The following is a list of what you should do as soon as possible after your task analysis session:

• Write your outline of the process(es), tasks, and concepts that the participants identified.
• Distribute the outline to primary and secondary level SMEs for review.

- Integrate feedback from the SMEs and distribute for buyoff.
Once you have obtained buyoff, you are ready to begin documenting the processes as well as producing your performance support solutions. You may find that as you continue this process that your listing of tasks and their groupings will continue to evolve as you uncover additional concepts and tasks. If you have done a thorough task analysis, however, these changes should be few unless there are implementation or business changes (which there likely will be.)

Has Single-Source Publishing FINALLY Come of Age?

I remember attending my first session on “Reusable Learning Objects” back in the early 1990’s. A dear colleague and friend of mine Wayne Hodgins, the individual whom many credit with starting the learning object movement, was attempting to help us grasp the concept. To oversimplify, we were talking about a world where an Instructional Designer authored a single chunk of content, for example a set of steps to complete a task, and then reused that object, or a version of it, in multiple outputs or learning solutions. The idea was stunning, but came with many complex issues at the time. Strange terms and acronyms began to immerge such as SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model), XML (Extensible Markup Language), and Schemas. Standards boards and industry groups such as CEDMA (Computer Education Managers Association) and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) did their best to begin wrestling with the management of this emerging world and help us integrate the potential into our daily work. For some it was the beginning of an incredible journey, for others it was the beginning of years of frustration and failed projects. I don’t blame the premise or the pioneers. The complexity of the tools, design methodologies, and even the concept was what often got in the way. In the real world the skill set, resources, and bandwidth needed to be successful just wasn’t there.

Well, those days are gone! Single-Source (SS) publishing, as we call it today, has finally come of age. The new tools available today, combined with the design models and standards which have emerged, has made the dream of “authoring once, publishing too many” a reality for any learning professional. And it couldn’t have come at a better time. With the economic challenges we face today there’s never been a stronger business case for reusing the limited resources we have, in the most efficient way possible, while delivering learning in as many formats as needed. If you’ve been hesitant to migrate to this type of approach and tool, there are three fairly compelling benefits which may help to convince you otherwise:

• If you can author in Microsoft Word™ you can author in XML: This was always one of the most mystifying part of this discipline for me. Frankly, I struggled with the early XML editors and related tools. Classifying, tagging, reusing, and relating one object to another was just too complicated. The recent SS authoring tools have incorporated editing environments which require little more than a word processing background. They also take advantage of many of the standard features used across today’s desktop applications such as embedding a graphic, applying a style sheet, and hyper linking to a website or related resource. Toolbars, wizards, and common content manipulation procedures such as “drag and drop” are now incorporated to make creating and reusing learning objects easy and efficient. All this is accomplished while the XML coding and tagging goes on in the background. The designer RARELY has to deal with this layer of complexity. The systems manage all that for them.
• Your existing content created in other authoring tools can still be incorporated: The last thing some learning organizations need is another tool. Although SS authoring tools will let you author content from scratch, they also allow you to incorporate existing content types into your new learning publications. The following are just a sample of some of the formats which can now either be hosted by or linked to an object: AVI, WMV, SWF, PDF, HTML, Microsoft Office documents, and even lessons or topics within an e-Learning library. SS authoring should not be seen as yet another tool to be added to an already overloaded and complex set of tools, but rather it can be used to actually decrease the tools needed. This also solves the problem of giving the learner access to the right learning asset at the right time. Even though we have been publishing to the formats listed above, many of our users simply can’t find them or utilize them at the right moment of need. With SS authoring you can output one publication which can host all objects in an instructionally sound and consistent way.
• TRUE blended learning is finally a reality! In my travels, two of my favorite questions to ask learning professionals are:
  
  1. How many of you have attempted to create a blended learning offering?
  2. How many of those have been successful?
  
  Typically I get a resounding yes to the first question and an equally resounding no to the second. The difficulty in effectively creating a blended learning solution has typically been a combination of the design and the learning assets available. Until SS came along most learning solutions created to be stand alone learning assets built in disparate tools (Captivate, Lectora, PowerPoint, MS Word, Flash, Toolbook…). The developers may have created one outline for one type of content and a different one for the next. Sometimes we purchased learning assets which wouldn’t have considered our outlines in the first place. SS authoring tools allows you reuse your learning objects across multiple outlines and outputs. This lets you tailor and format the object for the appropriate output while still maintaining a high degree of consistency across that content. It allows you to decide how much content appears in which output. This way you can create a classroom manual, a desktop electronic performance support platform, and a mobile learning tool all from the same content while only using the elements which best fit that environment. This allows you to guide a learner through a consistent blended experience based on the moment of need, not on the sometime disconnected tools which are available.

Single-source publishing has always held enormous promise, not only for performance support, but across the learning journey. But until recently, it was an option which was only available to a select few. Today that is no longer the case and it is clearly something we all need to consider as we attempt to offer cost effective, efficient, and highly impactful learning solutions for the organizations and learners we serve.

M-Learning vs. M-Support

Mobile “Support”: Is it the next generation of M-Learning?

Con and I have been watching the buzz around what our industry is calling “Mobile Learning”, or M-Learning, for quite some time with some very interesting trends emerging! I thought I’d share a few in this week’s Blog entry. Any and ALL comments are welcome!!

• M-Learning vs. M-Support: There appears to be two disciplines emerging within this space – M-Learning, which is analogous to e-Learning on a mobile device, and M-Support which is more in line with PS. This is an important distinction to make because it has implications in both design and outcome. It also parallels many of our discussions around the 5 moments of need.M-learning is designed to meet the first two moments of need; when someone is learning for the first time or attempting to learn more. When it comes to handheld devices (more on this later) the jury is still out as to how much content a learner will tolerate on a 2.5 inch screen, BUT the early returns are promising. Many are fairly tolerant and even excited that learning can be distributed in this way. What’s yet be determined is whether or not their tolerance level will decrease once the novelty wears off. Some things to watch on the learning side are:
  


• How many of our e-Learning design principles can and should transfer to the handheld environment?


• How will the smaller footprint of a 2.5 inch screen impact the type and level of content we put on these devices?


• How will compatibility issues in both software and mobile platform play out?
  
  M-Support seems best suited for the last three moments of need; when one is trying to remember or apply something, when things change, and when something goes wrong. The itch being scratched here is not one of learning new information, but rather a situation where having ACCESS to the most immediate, helpful, and current information is paramount. This is a perfect application of a mobile device. Often the learner is physically immersed in the problem they are trying to solve or about to enter into. This would be especially helpful for those in sales, field level support, or technicians where the immediate access to information is critical. The “mobile workforce” also seems predisposed to looking to these devices for this type of information, so the adoption and learning curve is reduced. For example, most of these individuals use their Blackberry to read email, to look up a contact, to check their appointments, or to surf the web for information. Extending that experience to include performance support is a natural next step. We have already had some experience in creating content around sales, tech support, and even disaster assistance and the early returns are very powerful. For many of you, this could be the entre into performance support you’ve been looking for!

• Mobile ain’t just for phones anymore!!: Many of the early efforts around M-Learning/support have been limited to devices such as phones and mp3 players, but with the recent advances in wireless technology and broadband, laptops have become a key player in this discipline as well. We have recently seen solutions where organizations are delivering immediate web-based PS to their technicians and sales team via this level of connectivity. For many, gone are the days of needing to wait until they were back in your hotel room or near a “hot spot” to be on-line. I’m actually posting this week’s blog using my laptop while on the road and browsing via my Verizon broadband account. I know that the laptop has been touted as a mobile computing platform since its inception, BUT never has it had more potential as a performance support device then today. We now have as much access to dynamic and streaming content as we do on our phones, but with MORE screen real estate and processing power! Don’t limit your thinking to a 2.5” screen and multi-platform incompatible devices. The laptop is entering an entirely new era of connectivity and PS functionality.
  
  


• We still need to consider the entire learning eco-system: Con and I have been throwing around a new term – the Learning ecosystem. It implies that learning is a dynamic, interdependent, living thing, and it is! You have heard us talk many times about the fact that our industry needs to see learning from every angle and as an ongoing process. The 5 moments of need reinforces this approach. The danger we see in M-Learning/support is a potential return to a myopic view of the ways in which we support our learners. It’s seen as a “vertical” or just another “add-on” to an already crowded bag of tricks. For mobile to work it needs to be seen as an integral part of the entire learning journey, or ecosystem. If it’s not brought back into the classroom, supported by the helpdesk, reinforced by line managers, and maintained to some degree by the learners themselves, its chances of reaching its full potential are in jeopardy. When considering introducing a mobile strategy (NOT just a device) please take into consideration some of the following issues:

• How can adding M-Learning/support complement and enhance your existing learning approaches and assets?


• Is there a single-source strategy or tool you can adopt which will make the reusability and consistency across your learning assets, from classroom to mobile, more of a reality?


• Are you teaching the most effective use of mobile learning in the context of your other offerings?


• How does the learner see this new learning option? Do they see it as an “add-on” or as part of a larger learning ecosystem supported and complimented by other assets?


• What DOESN’T mobile learning provide? Are you overlooking other options, or some of the shortcomings of this modality?


• Have you involved other stakeholders in the ecosystem in your strategy such as trainers, content developers, helpdesk professionals, and even the line managers of the learners themselves? These individuals play a critical role in the successful adoption and sustained use of these tools.

Mobile learning/Support is becoming a powerful new learning asset, but it will only reach its full potential if we each, as the learning professionals within our organizations, carefully embrace all the areas it can impact.