Why video trumps e-learning

For every self-paced e-learning course out there in the workplace, there are at least ten consumer video tutorials online (I made that figure up - but there are clearly lots more). You hardly ever see e-learning used as a medium of choice outside work but you�re beginning to see a much greater interest in video at work. What am I saying? That video has really arrived and we should take it seriously as a self-study medium.

But I�m not completely stupid. I know that e-learning and video are very different media and, as a result, work in different circumstances. Most e-learning is aimed at imparting knowledge or, to a lesser degree, cognitive skills. On the other hand, while video can be used to put across more general principles as well as to deliver presentations, discussions and documentaries, it�s at its best when it�s showing you how to do something. And not surprisingly, that�s what most of those YouTube videos do.

Clearly a video used alone cannot check understanding and doesn't track progress, so it�s not the ideal compliance tool. But it is more engaging, more versatile and less impersonal. It can be used to trigger interaction, both individual and group - and can be blended with more reflective materials such as web articles, blogs and PDFs.

So I reckon we�ll see an even greater use of video in the workplace. Learners like it (why is not always true of e-learning) and it�s much easier to produce than it ever was (though not trivial - I�ll be returning to that soon). While there are some niches where e-learning is irreplaceable, I won�t be unhappy to see other media come alongside. After all, I started my interest in media and technology with corporate video many moons ago and so for me it�s just another turn of the circle. 

Selling your services by the hour

Now here's an idea. This site, http://www.peopleperhour.com/, allows you to offer your services to carry out particular tasks at a specified hourly rate. Alternatively, you can buy those services from others. Not surprisingly, the most popular services on offer at the moment are those that can be provided virtually, like graphic design or coding, but currently no-ones extending this to learning technologies.

So, what could you buy or sell remotely by the hour:

• analysing a performance requirement?
• proposing a blended solution?
• recommending products / vendors?
• scripting a narration?
• designing a simple scenario?
• preparing a quiz?
• post-producing a podcast or video?
• professionalising a slide show?

I'll stop there, because there's no end to this list.

This type of offering is genuinely co-operative. You have specialist help to offer. You need specialist help to get your own work done. It's what makes the world goes round.

Bundle resources and you may not need courses

More and more I am being asked by clients to help them assemble a collection of resources to support some new business initiative. Not 'courses' - although they may also provide some of these - but 'resources'. These resources are not 'pushed' at people, who have to use them whether they like it or not; they are 'pulled' as and when needed. They don't sit on an LMS, where each individual's usage is monitored, but on the intranet, where they can be freely accessed at any time and found using a search engine.

These resources can take various forms:

• Web articles, written in an engaging, journalistic manner, rather like blogs.
• More formal reference material, in HTML or PDF format.
• Decision aids, perhaps coded in Flash or JavaScript, but sometimes more simply provided as spreadsheets.
• Self-analysis questionnaires and perhaps quizzes.
• Short, simple videos and screencasts.
• Mini-scenarios that allow the user to check whether they can put what they have learned into practice.

Resources like these are so flexible, because elements can be added, removed and edited at any time, whether that's because the subject matter itself has changed or in response to user feedback. For each element you can select the best tool for development and the most flexible format for delivery. You can develop the simple ones yourself and bring in help to produce more sophisticated elements where necessary. Importantly, you can go live as soon as the first few elements are ready - there's no reason to wait until the whole collection is finished.

In many cases, users will find the resources they want using the intranet's search function, but you can help users by providing some additional form of curation. Perhaps the best way is to create gateway pages, which provide links to the most useful resources around a particular topic, in a logical sequence and with clear indications of just who is likely to benefit. In a recent project we used web articles as the gateways, each article drawing on the resources most closely related to a particular topic.

I've come to realise for myself just how useful this approach can be. I've just spent far too much money on a Canon 5D Mark III, a stills and HD video camera, with a whole load of complex accessories. It would be unforgivable not to take full advantage of the opportunities which this equipment provides, so I set about getting myself genned up. Here's what I have collected so far:

• Two iPad apps which provide video 'lessons', one for this particular model of camera and one on DSLR photography/videography in general.
• Endless YouTube videos.
• A number of popular blogs which I have now subscribed to,
• A couple of digital arts/photography magazines in the Apple Newsstand. 

Would I also take a course? Possibly yes, perhaps even a face-to-face one with real people in a real local college (although a collaborative online course would probably also work well). But I wouldn't depend on this, because no course is going to provide exactly what I want when I want it. The how-to information I can find for myself as I need it. The application of this knowledge is another matter. You need feedback on your own work and to provide feedback to others. You need to share perspectives with others in your position and draw on the wisdom of experts. Courses and resources - we need them both.

What new designers really need to know

In my post last week, I identified four elements that I felt needed to be in place if an organisation was to make a success of in-house e-learning development: tools, talent, training and, above all, time - the four Ts. I made the point that, more often than not, new designers are provided with plenty of instructional design theory, but nowhere near enough time to practise and get feedback. In fact this is the problem with nearly all corporate training - lots of abstract theory and insufficient opportunity to develop confidence and, ultimately, competence. If we teach our designers this way, it�s not surprising that they then go on to develop self-study content for their audiences which is equally unbalanced.

In my view, the best way to learn how to make stuff is to make stuff yourself and test it out on people. To accelerate the learning and minimise the damage to real learners it probably helps if this process is somewhat directed and supported. So, before getting started, it is worth making sure the new designer understands some basics:

• What e-learning content is and why anyone would want it.
• What simply produced but effective e-learning content looks like.
• How this content can be put together using the chosen authoring tool - basics only.

Then the practice can begin, starting with really short and simple assignments, i.e. work that completed in less than an hour using material that is readily available online. I usually get people to work on these assignments in pairs, to reduce the pressure and get them used to the idea that design is, more often than not, collaborative.

As the assignments get more sophisticated and closer to the sort of work they will be doing for real, more information can be provided, either as feedback or  more formally:

• Why, before you undertake any real-world assignment you need answers to some pretty important questions, in particular related to the performance goal, the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are needed if this goal is to be achieved, the characteristics of the audience and the practical constraints - learning, learners and logistics.
• When self-study digital learning content is useful and when it is not. How it can fit into a blend.
• Why many people find it useful to write specific learning objectives. I wouldn�t overdo this - see my love-hate relationship with learning objectives.
• When to simply present information, when to use an instructional approach, when guided discovery works better, when to create a resource.
• Why it important to engage your learner right up-front and how to achieve this.
• Some of the basics of what we now know about how the brain processes sensory stimuli, the important role played by working memory (and how easily this is overloaded) and the way in which longer-term memories are formed and retrieved.
• What helps to make material memorable.
• About the various media elements - text, speech, still images, animation and video - and how they work together.
• Elementary graphic design and usability principles - not theory but practical tips.
• How to write for the screen and for voiceover.
• How to write valid / reliable assessments.
• About working with stakeholders, particularly subject experts and learners.

Each of these topics has immediate practical application for every designer, which is why I would avoid most of the heavy traditional instructional design theory. Some designers will be interested in this stuff and can follow it up. Others will do brilliant work without it. In this respect, I see e-learning design being more like a craft skill than an intellectual pursuit. More Beatles than Beethoven.

Tools, talent, training and, above all, time

More and more organisations are deciding to make self-study e-learning a key part of their l&d strategy, yet budgets are still severely constrained. As a result, many organisations are hoping they can have it both ways by simply adding e-learning development to the responsibilities of their remaining internal l&d staff. More often than not, this is failing to work as well as expected. So what�s needed if an organisation is going to make a success of in-house development? The answer is the four Ts (I�ve ignored any factors that don�t begin with a �T�, because that�s what teachers do):

Tools

This is the easy part, because there are excellent e-learning authoring tools available, which provide the functionality you are likely to need as an enthusiastic amateur (because, in the end, that�s what most part-time, in-house developers are) without a steep learning curve. All the major tools - Adobe Captivate and Presenter, Lectora, Articulate Studio and its new sibling, Storyline - have had, or are in the process of receiving, major upgrades to make sure they are capable of tackling all the most essential e-learning tasks and can satisfy the need for delivery on mobile devices. While these tools aren't exactly cheap, they do represent good value in terms of what they can achieve. My experience is that it does not take too long to learn the basics of these tools, and the more advanced features can be explored in good time. What�s needed is lots of practice - more of that in a minute.

Talent

I�m afraid the whole talent management thing does leave me a bit cold, because it rather implies that talent is scarce. I don�t believe it is. With enough application, most people can do most things. Having said that, some people are better suited to some tasks than others, and e-learning development is no different. You have to enjoy making stuff. You have to feel some sort of affinity with technology. You have to be well organised and have an attention to detail. It also helps if you have a design sensibility and can write reasonably well. Not everyone fits this profile, just as it isn�t everyone who makes a great coach, instructor or facilitator.

Training

I�ve already mentioned that developers will need some training in the tools that you�ve chosen to use. Often this is as far as it goes, but learning the tools is only the start. Design skills take much longer. Career e-learning professionals will spend years honing their skills and, while this is unrealistic for in-house part-timers, one or two days is not enough. The main requirement is not for instructional design theory, although some of this can prove handy; the real need is for lots of practice under the watchful eye of an experienced coach. This may prove time-consuming or costly, but it definitely makes all the difference. Design skills are learnable, but the process can�t be rushed. Think of it as an apprenticeship.

Time

And now we get to the nub of the problem. E-learning development requires concentration, ideally over prolonged periods. It does not sit well with a job that has constant interruptions and frequent shifts in priority. You wouldn�t write a book in 15-minute bursts, and you wouldn�t design learning content that way either. A failure to block book serious amounts of time to development has been the downfall of many attempts to establish an in-house capability. There�s no point whatsoever in investing in tools and training, and then expecting great work to appear from odd moments spent here and there. Getting this right may well require a change to the way things are done, but without this change the results will be disappointing and inconsistent.

Why I'm reading more mags than ever

Another quiet revolution has occurred in the way I consume media. It started with the new iPad which, with its hi-res retina screen, is capable of resolving detail almost as capably as print. Couple that with Apple�s Newsstand app, which makes it easy to find and subscribe to publications, and you�ve got a powerful argument for accessing magazines digitally rather than in print.

In fact, in many ways the iPad experience is preferable to print:

• You don�t have to make a physical purchase.
• You save on the trees.
• You can carry around all the current month�s magazines with you wherever you go, plus (depending on how much memory you have) quite a collection of back copies.
• In the case of my Sound-on-Sound magazine, you can listen to mixing and mastering samples.
• And in the case of Practical Photoshop (I know, I�m sounding very geeky), you can see screencasts providing how-to demos.

Having said that, there are still some capabilities that I really miss:

• Because I�m on an iPad and not my Mac, I can�t immediately put into action everything I read. There is no Newsstand app for Mac/PC and there should be.
• I can�t copy useful material into Evernote where I can tag and store it. This is a major snag, because it means I�ve no easy way of finding stuff again other than hunting from cover to cover through back issues.
• I can�t link to an item in an issue as I can do on the web.

So, we�re still some way from having an ideal solution. On the other hand, we�re got far enough for me to consider cancelling all my other print subscriptions. Who�d have thought it?