Article: Using E-learning to Train Youth Workers
The latest issue of the journal Afterschool Matters is available online today at http://www.niost.org/content/view/1645/297/. This issue is a special one with a focus on professional development, and Zora Jones Rizzi, Amita Desai Parikh, and I have an article in it called "Using E-learning to Train Youth Workers: The BELL Experience." Afterschool Matters is a peer-reviewed journal published by the National Institute on Out-of-School Time at the Wellsley Centers for Women, with support from the Robert Bowne Foundation.
In collaborating on the article, I was grateful to have the opportunity to talk with Managing Editor Georgia Hall, who offered insightful direction, and work with Editor Jan Gallagher, who provided skillful editing and guidance.
The article's downloadable at http://www.niost.org/pdf/afterschoolmatters/ASM_Spring2010.pdf, and here's the abstract: "BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) cut training costs by two-thirds and improved outcomes for students in its summer program by developing e-learning modules for program staff and managers." Hall's Welcome from the Editor says, "Marquart, Rizzi, and Parikh, in 'Using E-learning to Train Youth Workers,' offer an effective model for overcoming familiar challenges to staff training such as limited resources, staff turnover, and multi-site programs. BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) has successfully implemented blended online and in-person training to train its summer program staff."
Showing posts with label Zora Jones Rizzi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zora Jones Rizzi. Show all posts
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
NYNP blog post 11-6-09
The latest issue of the International Journal of Advanced Corporate Learning (iJAC) is out today at http://www.i-jac.org. Zora Jones Rizzi and I have an article in this issue, titled "Case Study of BELL E-learning: Award-Winning, Interactive E-learning on a Nonprofit Budget."
The article's downloadable at http://online-journals.org/i-jac/article/view/975, and here's the abstract: "BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) is a nonprofit organization offering academic tutoring to elementary school children from low-income, urban communities. BELL launched a blended learning training for the tutoring staff working in its summer program in 2008, and won Training Magazine’s Blended Learning and Performance Project of the Year. The e-learning from that blended learning training is discussed in this paper."
The article's downloadable at http://online-journals.org/i-jac/article/view/975, and here's the abstract: "BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) is a nonprofit organization offering academic tutoring to elementary school children from low-income, urban communities. BELL launched a blended learning training for the tutoring staff working in its summer program in 2008, and won Training Magazine’s Blended Learning and Performance Project of the Year. The e-learning from that blended learning training is discussed in this paper."
NYNP blog post 9-2-09
Notes from Day 2 of The eLearning Guild's New England Regional Instructional Design Symposium
Designing Learning for the “Moment of Need”
Bob Mosher, LearningGuide Solutions USA
Mosher talked about creating a "holistic learning ecosystem" that helps people at each moment of need for learning. He suggested that there are five such moments of need: 1) the first time we learn something, 2) when we want to learn more, 3) when we try to remember or apply learning, 4) when things change, and 5) when something goes wrong. As trainers, we need to create support for staff that's appropriate for each stage, and Mosher suggested that e-learning can be useful for the first two types of moments, whereas just-in-time performance supports are more useful for the last three.
The learning ecosystem needs to include guidance for learners on what to access and when, because Mosher noted that research shows that 80% of adults make poor choices when given choices in their learning -- we tend to choose based on what's shortest, shiniest, etc., rather than on what will actually help us perform.
E-Learning on the Cheap! Finding Resources for Free (or Virtually Free)
Steven Yacovelli, TopDog Learning Group, LLC
Yacovelli made the point that e-learning doesn't need to be expensive to be good, as long as it's designed well. As he said, "cheap does not equal low quality." Without necessarily endorsing any products, he and the group shared many free resources, including Audacity and Wavepad for creating audio recordings, Moodle and Sakai for managing e-learning content much like an LMS, Udutu for building SCORM objects online, Wink or Camstudio for doing video screen captures, Guttenberg Press for books that are out of print, Stockvault for graphics, Comicpics or Toondoo for creating comics, and Drupal or Joomla for web authoring.
He also said that his company has a paper measurement that can help benchmark attitudes about e-learning before a project begins, which can be used to measure the project's success -- and they will share the measurement for free if the user agrees to share the data collected.
Blended and Interactive Design on a Nonprofit Budget
Matthea Marquart & Zora Rizzi, BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)
Day 2 of the symposium was the day when Zora and I led a session, which provided lessons learned from BELL's e-learning project. It was a delight to present our project to e-learning professionals, and it was a thrill to receive positive feedback. If you're interested in checking out some of what we shared, our handouts are available at http://www.elearningguild.com/showFile.cfm?id=3495
Closing General Session – Panel
Panelists: Lee Maxey, MINDMAX, Inc.
Bob Mosher, LearningGuide Solutions
Marc Rosenberg, Marc Rosenberg and Associates
Allison Rossett, Department of Educational Technology, San Diego State University
Will Thalheimer, Work-Learning Research
Ellen Wagner, Sage Road Solutions, LLC
Moderator: Heidi Fisk, The eLearning Guild
Here are some highlights of the panel's responses to questions from symposium participants.
In response to the question of the top three things a new e-learning manager should do, Will Thalheimer said that the new manager should prioritize evaluation, learn to be a good leader of many different types of people, and maintain a sense of humor; Lee Maxey said that the new manager should read The First 90 Days, determine success measures, and get a coach that will help the manager be accountable.
In response to the question of what organizations should consider when selecting an LMS or CMS (learning management system or content management system), Marc Rosenberg said that the LMS doesn't really matter because well designed, relevant e-learning content is the key and LMS's can become a roadblock when they control what type of e-learning is produced in order to fit the LMS's limited capabilities; Lee Maxey said that it's not important to have a perfect LMS because there are many web-enabled services you can tack on as long as you get an LMS with 80% of what you need; Will Thalheimer cautioned that having an overly fancy LMS can send the message that training is separate from work if the training becomes more about the LMS than the job.
In response to the question of what kind of interactivity multiple generations need, Allison Rossett said that everyone needs interaction, so we should assume that certain generations don't need to be engaged; Will Thalheimer noted e-learning should engage people to the point that they stop multi-tasking, because research has clearly demonstrated that multitasking doesn't work and that what happens is that people jump from one task to another without focusing on anything and therefore do everything worse.
In response to what books e-learning professionals should read, the panel recommended Ruth Clark on design and e-learning, Jackie Fenn on managing the technology hype cycle, John Kotter on leading change, and Chip & Dan Heath on making ideas stick.
Designing Learning for the “Moment of Need”
Bob Mosher, LearningGuide Solutions USA
Mosher talked about creating a "holistic learning ecosystem" that helps people at each moment of need for learning. He suggested that there are five such moments of need: 1) the first time we learn something, 2) when we want to learn more, 3) when we try to remember or apply learning, 4) when things change, and 5) when something goes wrong. As trainers, we need to create support for staff that's appropriate for each stage, and Mosher suggested that e-learning can be useful for the first two types of moments, whereas just-in-time performance supports are more useful for the last three.
The learning ecosystem needs to include guidance for learners on what to access and when, because Mosher noted that research shows that 80% of adults make poor choices when given choices in their learning -- we tend to choose based on what's shortest, shiniest, etc., rather than on what will actually help us perform.
E-Learning on the Cheap! Finding Resources for Free (or Virtually Free)
Steven Yacovelli, TopDog Learning Group, LLC
Yacovelli made the point that e-learning doesn't need to be expensive to be good, as long as it's designed well. As he said, "cheap does not equal low quality." Without necessarily endorsing any products, he and the group shared many free resources, including Audacity and Wavepad for creating audio recordings, Moodle and Sakai for managing e-learning content much like an LMS, Udutu for building SCORM objects online, Wink or Camstudio for doing video screen captures, Guttenberg Press for books that are out of print, Stockvault for graphics, Comicpics or Toondoo for creating comics, and Drupal or Joomla for web authoring.
He also said that his company has a paper measurement that can help benchmark attitudes about e-learning before a project begins, which can be used to measure the project's success -- and they will share the measurement for free if the user agrees to share the data collected.
Blended and Interactive Design on a Nonprofit Budget
Matthea Marquart & Zora Rizzi, BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)
Day 2 of the symposium was the day when Zora and I led a session, which provided lessons learned from BELL's e-learning project. It was a delight to present our project to e-learning professionals, and it was a thrill to receive positive feedback. If you're interested in checking out some of what we shared, our handouts are available at http://www.elearningguild.com/showFile.cfm?id=3495
Closing General Session – Panel
Panelists: Lee Maxey, MINDMAX, Inc.
Bob Mosher, LearningGuide Solutions
Marc Rosenberg, Marc Rosenberg and Associates
Allison Rossett, Department of Educational Technology, San Diego State University
Will Thalheimer, Work-Learning Research
Ellen Wagner, Sage Road Solutions, LLC
Moderator: Heidi Fisk, The eLearning Guild
Here are some highlights of the panel's responses to questions from symposium participants.
In response to the question of the top three things a new e-learning manager should do, Will Thalheimer said that the new manager should prioritize evaluation, learn to be a good leader of many different types of people, and maintain a sense of humor; Lee Maxey said that the new manager should read The First 90 Days, determine success measures, and get a coach that will help the manager be accountable.
In response to the question of what organizations should consider when selecting an LMS or CMS (learning management system or content management system), Marc Rosenberg said that the LMS doesn't really matter because well designed, relevant e-learning content is the key and LMS's can become a roadblock when they control what type of e-learning is produced in order to fit the LMS's limited capabilities; Lee Maxey said that it's not important to have a perfect LMS because there are many web-enabled services you can tack on as long as you get an LMS with 80% of what you need; Will Thalheimer cautioned that having an overly fancy LMS can send the message that training is separate from work if the training becomes more about the LMS than the job.
In response to the question of what kind of interactivity multiple generations need, Allison Rossett said that everyone needs interaction, so we should assume that certain generations don't need to be engaged; Will Thalheimer noted e-learning should engage people to the point that they stop multi-tasking, because research has clearly demonstrated that multitasking doesn't work and that what happens is that people jump from one task to another without focusing on anything and therefore do everything worse.
In response to what books e-learning professionals should read, the panel recommended Ruth Clark on design and e-learning, Jackie Fenn on managing the technology hype cycle, John Kotter on leading change, and Chip & Dan Heath on making ideas stick.
NYNP blog post 7-29-09
Free webinar with a case study of a Moodle-based e-learning
Tomorrow, Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 1:00pm EST, my colleague Zora Rizzi and I will be co-facilitating a free webinar for InSync Training (for information about the company, please see my prior post "Free resource for learning how to conduct training online").
The webinar is called "Turning Classroom Training into Interactive, Cost-Effective, Asynchronous E-learning on a Moodle Platform," and here is the session description from the website:
Are you wondering how other organizations are designing cost-effective, interactive e-learning on Moodle? Do you need to cut training costs by converting classroom training into e-learning? Would you like to see some examples that spark your own ideas? BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) launched a new self-paced, asynchronous e-learning program in 2008 that cut our classroom training in half by replacing much of it with prerequisite e-learning modules. BELL’s e-learning sits on a Moodle platform, and much of the e-learning creation is done in-house. Zora Jones Rizzi and Matthea Marquart of BELL’s Training team will share the project’s challenges, solutions, results, and lessons learned. Many of the challenges that BELL faced in designing and launching our e-learning are universal, and learning about them may help you with your own work.
Registration is free if you'd like to attend, and a free recording will also be available afterwards. Here's the website to register:
https://insync.webex.com/tc0500l/trainingcenter/register/registerSession.do
or http://tinyurl.com/nboeev
Tomorrow, Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 1:00pm EST, my colleague Zora Rizzi and I will be co-facilitating a free webinar for InSync Training (for information about the company, please see my prior post "Free resource for learning how to conduct training online").
The webinar is called "Turning Classroom Training into Interactive, Cost-Effective, Asynchronous E-learning on a Moodle Platform," and here is the session description from the website:
Are you wondering how other organizations are designing cost-effective, interactive e-learning on Moodle? Do you need to cut training costs by converting classroom training into e-learning? Would you like to see some examples that spark your own ideas? BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) launched a new self-paced, asynchronous e-learning program in 2008 that cut our classroom training in half by replacing much of it with prerequisite e-learning modules. BELL’s e-learning sits on a Moodle platform, and much of the e-learning creation is done in-house. Zora Jones Rizzi and Matthea Marquart of BELL’s Training team will share the project’s challenges, solutions, results, and lessons learned. Many of the challenges that BELL faced in designing and launching our e-learning are universal, and learning about them may help you with your own work.
Registration is free if you'd like to attend, and a free recording will also be available afterwards. Here's the website to register:
https://insync.webex.com/tc0500l/trainingcenter/register/registerSession.do
or http://tinyurl.com/nboeev
To view the archive:
1. Navigate to https://insync.webex.com
2. Click on "Recorded sessions”
3. Locate “Turning Classroom Training into Interactive, Cost-Effective, Asynchronous E-learning on a Moodle Platform-July 30th ”
4. There is no password required
5. Click the Playback button to the right of the title
1. Navigate to https://insync.webex.com
2. Click on "Recorded sessions”
3. Locate “Turning Classroom Training into Interactive, Cost-Effective, Asynchronous E-learning on a Moodle Platform-July 30th ”
4. There is no password required
5. Click the Playback button to the right of the title
NYNP blog post 6-11-09
Notes from Day 2 of the International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace
For those who couldn't make it to the conference, I thought you'd be interested in notes on my three favorite sessions of the day.
Using technology to transform teaching vs. to extend teaching
Anders I. Morch of the University of Oslo, Norway presented "Teacher Perspectives on Learning with Mobile Technologies," which compared the results of introducing PDAs for students into classrooms in two different schools. At one school, the teachers used the PDAs for traditional activities such as having students type lists of vocabulary words. This was an example of extending traditional teaching practices onto new technology. At the other school, the teachers transformed their teaching by using the PDAs to have students create concept maps, animations, and visualizations of learning. Morch suggested that e-learning practitioners consider whether we are using technology to transform the way we train, or just extending old methods onto new technology without considering the possibilities.
Video-based role-plays
Patrick Blum of inside Business Group, Germany presented "Interactive, Dynamic Video-Based Training in Corporate Learning," in which he demonstrated video-based branching scenarios, or conversation trees, that offered realistic skills practice. The video-based e-learning simulated a conversation between a customer and the learner, with video of a customer talking and reacting to decisions made by the learner. It was used to replace live role-plays during classroom training, and offers a solution to organizations that would like to give staff the opportunity to practice live conversations, with standardized step-by-step feedback, without deploying a legion of classroom trainers.
Turning factual knowledge into practical, applicable training that prepares students for the real world
Tucker Harding of Columbia University's Center for New Media Teaching and Learning presented "Intelligent Simulation Technology for Training Humanitarian Practitioners," in which he demonstrated a case study/simulation hybrid in which learners make political decisions about a theoretical Country X. The demonstration was created to help students apply classroom learning to realistic situations, and he noted that the Center's website at http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu offers access to their project portfolio, where you can see how they've used technology in purposeful ways on 200 projects in order to improve education.
Today was also the day that Zora and I did our presentation, which was a lot of fun. We were excited to show BELL's e-learning to experts in the field, and it was interesting to hear the questions and feedback from the e-learning community.
For those who couldn't make it to the conference, I thought you'd be interested in notes on my three favorite sessions of the day.
Using technology to transform teaching vs. to extend teaching
Anders I. Morch of the University of Oslo, Norway presented "Teacher Perspectives on Learning with Mobile Technologies," which compared the results of introducing PDAs for students into classrooms in two different schools. At one school, the teachers used the PDAs for traditional activities such as having students type lists of vocabulary words. This was an example of extending traditional teaching practices onto new technology. At the other school, the teachers transformed their teaching by using the PDAs to have students create concept maps, animations, and visualizations of learning. Morch suggested that e-learning practitioners consider whether we are using technology to transform the way we train, or just extending old methods onto new technology without considering the possibilities.
Video-based role-plays
Patrick Blum of inside Business Group, Germany presented "Interactive, Dynamic Video-Based Training in Corporate Learning," in which he demonstrated video-based branching scenarios, or conversation trees, that offered realistic skills practice. The video-based e-learning simulated a conversation between a customer and the learner, with video of a customer talking and reacting to decisions made by the learner. It was used to replace live role-plays during classroom training, and offers a solution to organizations that would like to give staff the opportunity to practice live conversations, with standardized step-by-step feedback, without deploying a legion of classroom trainers.
Turning factual knowledge into practical, applicable training that prepares students for the real world
Tucker Harding of Columbia University's Center for New Media Teaching and Learning presented "Intelligent Simulation Technology for Training Humanitarian Practitioners," in which he demonstrated a case study/simulation hybrid in which learners make political decisions about a theoretical Country X. The demonstration was created to help students apply classroom learning to realistic situations, and he noted that the Center's website at http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu offers access to their project portfolio, where you can see how they've used technology in purposeful ways on 200 projects in order to improve education.
Today was also the day that Zora and I did our presentation, which was a lot of fun. We were excited to show BELL's e-learning to experts in the field, and it was interesting to hear the questions and feedback from the e-learning community.
NYNP blog post 6-3-09
Demonstration of a nonprofit's e-learning (online training)
ICELW workshop demonstrating BELL's e-learning
Next Thursday, June 11, I'll be co-presenting the workshop "Demonstrating the E-learning Component of Training Magazine’s Blended Learning & Performance Project of the Year" at the International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace, with Zora Jones Rizzi, BELL's National E-learning Specialist. Our workshop will be from 5:00-6:00 p.m, and I'll also be chairing session 6D on Friday from 2:00-4:30 p.m.
The conference will be held at Teacher's College, Columbia University, and will feature speakers from 27 countries, including both researchers who focus on online learning and practitioners who implement e-learning at their organizations. One of the key goals mentioned on the conference website - www.icelw.org - is "to improve online learning so that it makes a measurable difference in workplace performance and morale."
There's still time to register, and if you're planning on being there, I hope you'll say hi!
ICELW workshop demonstrating BELL's e-learning
Next Thursday, June 11, I'll be co-presenting the workshop "Demonstrating the E-learning Component of Training Magazine’s Blended Learning & Performance Project of the Year" at the International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace, with Zora Jones Rizzi, BELL's National E-learning Specialist. Our workshop will be from 5:00-6:00 p.m, and I'll also be chairing session 6D on Friday from 2:00-4:30 p.m.
The conference will be held at Teacher's College, Columbia University, and will feature speakers from 27 countries, including both researchers who focus on online learning and practitioners who implement e-learning at their organizations. One of the key goals mentioned on the conference website - www.icelw.org - is "to improve online learning so that it makes a measurable difference in workplace performance and morale."
There's still time to register, and if you're planning on being there, I hope you'll say hi!
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Best Practices in e-Learning Instructional Design and Management
For folks interested in learning more about e-learning, The eLearning Guild is presenting an online forum next Thursday and Friday focused on design and management. Zora Rizzi and I will be presenting one of the sessions, on Friday, September 11 from 1:15pm to 2:30pm; our session is called "Blended & Interactive Design on a Limited Budget."
Here's some info about the forum from The eLearning Guild website:
"This Online Forum focuses on best practices and strategies for e-Learning instructional design, and the management of your ID teams and processes. We have asked the top ranked speakers who presented sessions at our two recent Regional Instructional Design Symposiums to present their sessions again for this Online Forum. To facilitate your planning, we have organized the sessions into two “tracks,” one focused on strategies for managing teams and processes, and the other on practical and proven ID approaches."
Forum info is available at http://bit.ly/mEnNV