Category: Technology

Learning 2.0 = ROI?

It seems the discussion that has been going on (cf. Gina, among others), on where Learning 2.0 is (and I recently posted about this with some very inciteful comments). Her last post, and my response to Jim Groom on his reaction to my thoughts has me going in a new direction.

With talk about Web 2.0 and Learning 2.0 and Academic vs (&?) Corporate use of individual and engaging learning applications, I am now thinking about the cost issues and ROI.

Now, take a deep breadth — I am not a proponent of measuring ROI, especially with applications that are difficult to even explain to the uninitiated newbies. But, if I wanted to (read between the lines — perhaps my organization won’t do anything without an ROI study), what could I do? It is already enough of a challenge to demonstrate how any expenditure can provide an ROI, especially after Corporate America (to limit my sweeping statement a bit) lost its shirt in the rush to embrace all things eLearning a few years back. With those calculations out the window as really involved and interactive elearning takes much longer to develop (and thus determine its ROI), as per Bryan Chapman whose blog post lists these amounts (which I am reproducing from his ASTD 2008 presentation handout, which he claimed during his session was a bit outdated):

34:1 Instructor-Led Training (ILT), including design, lesson plans, handouts, PowerPoint slides, etc.

33:1 PowerPoint to E-Learning Conversion. Not sure why it takes less time then creating ILT, but that’s what we discovered when surveying 200 companies about this practice

220:1 Standard e-learning which includes presentation, audio, some video, test questions, and 20% interactivity

345:1 Time it takes for online learning publishers to design, create, test and package 3rd party courseware

750:1 Simulations from scratch. Creating highly interactive content

then what do we do?

If we have enough trouble determining pure ROI (meaning a financial return, not the unmeasurable peace of mind knowing the new orientees get the approved HIPAA training and nothing else), then how on earth can we measure successful implementation of Learning 2.0?

Now, off to go and Tweet about this now.

ASTD 2009 Call for Proposals

ASTDIt has only been a week since I returned from ASTD 2008, and already the Call for Proposals for ASTD 2009 is available and online. Hurry, though–the submissions have to be done by July 15!

I really enjoyed this year’s convention where I presented a poster session. Wonder if I should submit another proposal for next year; if so, on what topic? I have enough interests, so will have to consider this one (but quickly!).

Where Is Learning 2.0?

There are some interesting discussions that are occurring around the edublogosphere right now about corporate learning vs. edupunk. I just commented on items that Gina and Tony discussed, with their thoughts partly in response to Jim’s and recent thinking about edupunk ideology. As an aside, all three of their blogs are well worth reading for different perspectives on Learning 2.0 (and if I may, Jane is also doing some interesting work in this area).

In a nutshell, they are all discussing corporate and academic learning using Web 2.0, which is (oversimplified, I know) fundamentally what Learning 2.0 is all about. While we can debate the hows and whys of this, I am more immediately interested in the wheres right now. Where is all this happening? I struggle to get my graduate and undergraduate students to use Twitter, a wiki, del.icio.us, and a host of other technologies, and while some do adopt them, most are not interested in anything other than what they are already using (which, once again in a Nutshell, means YouTube, and to a lesser extent, Facebook). In my corporate work, the issue is similar–many people struggle even using internal podcasts, much less blogs or anything Ajax-based. It would seem short-sited to only use what students already use (somewhat like teaching them only what they are already comfortable doing, which would even more limit education, but I digress).

Where are these teaming populations busting at the seems to use corporate and educational Web 2.0 elements in learning? I live and work and consult primarily in Manhattan, and this is where most of my learners are as well.

I am wondering if the questions we are considering are perhaps too limited. Perhaps we should be asking “where?” these learners are, as I am wondering if these social and networking and learning and sharing technologies out there are not more proliferate in less demographically busy areas, such as New York? Can it be that Web 2.0 is more popular where people are not so concentrated, due to necessity? Thinking pragmatically, why should I take an eLearning class when we have enough people and expertise for face to face instruction? Why should I post to a discussion board when we can discuss it face to face in class (which is how most NYC academic institutions seem to prefer to operate)? Do I really need to post my pictures when I see all of you and can send you a link? Doesn’t RSS work better when I don’t readily have access to what I need?

Thinking about this in another way, how many people do I follow and speak with on Twitter who live near Manhattan? How about the bloggers I follow (as I heavily use RSS to process the information overload I face), are they also here? With exceptions to be counted on less than one hand, the answer is no.

Yes, I am intentionally taking a contrarian position here, and those who know and work with me know I have a passion for integrating technology so thoroughly into learning that they are no longer seen as parts of a whole, but just “learning.” Instead, I am hoping to move this discussion forward by considering another element I think we need to more actively consider.

SnagIt 9: A Must for Designers and Instructors

I just installed the new version of SnagIt, the ubiquitous screen-capture utility, and am really impressed with the new featuresof this must-have for my instructional design and teaching work. I have used SnagIt for years and years for everything from creating step-by-step instructions to editing images for my class PowerPoint slides, and with each new release the folks at TechSmith seem to get it better. I really like the ability to now be able to combine elements from various screen captures, search more easily, and even share to Flickr and WordPress.

SnagIt 9

I presented a poster session at ASTD last week, and showed people some of the nifty things that can be done with the previous version. Having now played a bit with the new version, I am hooked. If you have not used this software in some time or from an older version, you will be amazed at what can now be done. One thing is for sure–this is not just a simple screen capture or <Print Scrn> program. 

One of the things I like best about all the TechSmith products is that full versions can be downloaded, installed, and tried for free for a month.  Check out Betsy’s blog post where she goes into more detail of the new features. Leave her a comment there as well and say hello to her for me.