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2009 Time to Take a Breath
 Whew, the year is coming to an end and it's time to prepare for that Arthur C. Clark icon, 2010. Here's a quick summary of what we've been up to at Scher Progression LLC. Fran coordinated, and developed with, her subcontractor and cadre of subject matter experts a huge certification quality course called CPIM (Certification in Production and Inventory Management). This is part of a series that will continue through 2010. Also, she has been adding to our Quality-related consulting activity with FDA documenation work for a German-owned biotech company. We worked together developing a course called BIM Technology (Building Information Model), which gets into state of the art construction modeling for 3D,4D, and 5D virtual buildings. Earlier in the year, we completed several projects for this same client, including an education needs analysis survey and the presentation of an education/instructional design trends workshop, that served as a team building program in its method. I developed a course with the rather imposing title, Quality Assurance Specification Development and Validation for the Austin-based arm of a Dutch multi-national geotechnical company. We're trying to think globally and act locally. Finally, I did a brief presentation for an Adobe User Group about some of our Captivate work.  It's not been all work, though. Fran traveled for her client to Toronto, (and I just had to tag along), and we visited some of our old Canadian haunts. Obviously, there was a lot of change since we lived there in the 1980’s, but it was really cool to revisit (I even got to meet some the Maple Leaf players!). To our friends and clients (same thing, but redundancy is a wonderful thing), Fran and I wish you and your families a good end of the year and a healthy, safe, and prosperous new year.
Reflective Learning References
Just a couple of quick references behind one of the learning approaches we like to use, the concept of reflection. Hopefully, it stimulates higher level learning. We want learners to consider the content, ideas, approaches, and processes and relate it to what they already know, possibly, how they presently do things on the job. Ideally, They'll consider what they would change when they return to their offices i.e, change their behaviors. This after all is the point of teaching and training. Sometimes it's as simple as asking learners how they currently do things and then showing more efficient improvements and asking for the implications it has for their work. At the other end, we might allow time for learners to begin an action plan that might help them "hit the ground" running back on the job. So here are a few citings behind this method, before I forget: Morgan and Saxon, 1991; Van Ments, 1990 concluded that the act of reflection could develop deeper meaning from what originally seemed more superficial learning. They found that this approach requires careful questioning that stimulates learners to relate to what they already know. Mezirow, 1990 stated how important reflection is to "transformative learning." An interesting AspectIn her book, Reflection in Learning & Professional Development, Theory and Practice, Jennifer A. Moon discusses the compulsion of teachers, particularly in higher education, to supply more "packaged" material as references and resources, and even computer programs. The teachers in effect "tidy up" the learning. This can reduce reflection and negatively affect learning. The book references many studies including those above. Van Ments, M. (1989), The Effective Use of Role Play, Morgan, N and Saxon S (1991) Teaching Questioning and Learning (London: Routledge) Improving learning through reflection, Karen Hinett
What's Going On!
Here's a quick update about some of our recent activities: Fran is working hard on managing the update of five CPIM certification prep courses for APICS, the Association for Operations Management (CPIM is short for Certified in Production and Inventory Management). This is a major certification in the operations industry. She is working closely with a group of subject matter experts who are writing and reviewing the content. Fran’s role is to manage the project, coordinate the instructional design, compose graphics, and ensure product quality. Last week, she brought together, online, a number of subject matter experts from around the country to review the outline for the new Strategic Management of Resources course (the capstone course for the series). The SMEs were pleased with the concept of including more case studies and interactions she has planned. This project will run through September of this year. Currently, I am designing a quality assurance course. It appears that we may beat our completion deadline by about three months! (We'll provide a more formal project description later when we have the client's permission.) We can say that this one has seven modules that include material about a state of the art QA simulation application, a very nice real world case study that brings together all of the course content, and some great back-on-the-job implementation aids. We just heard that the FHWA (Federal Highways Administration) is planning to host a the effective communications course we adapted for online presentation. This is a nice blend of Web conference training (real-time instructor facilitated online) and Web-based training (online self-study). It's an exciting program with real-world and proven applied techniques that culminates in a fun role play with online breakout groups.
Baking Bread? Designing for Slackers
Welcome to an episode of ISD-Guy. When we last caught up with our intrepid designer he was trekking through the Mudumalai forest. Luckily, he stopped by our office, so we didn't have to renew our passport.ISD-Guy, a learned colleague writes: My Learning 2.0-type class isn't getting the results needed. I read the traffic logs and see that only a few in our class visit the linked resources, no one offers any blog postings, let alone responses, during our synchronous sessions, the same people participate in the chat pods, and collaborative projects are done by the usual gunghoers while the rest of the team members merrily collect their continuing education credit. I've tried discussing the issues, talking to their bosses, as well as other teaching-tactics to no avail. Help!!! Lost in Virtual Space  *** Dear LVS, You've got a case of the social loafers, and I'm not talking about bread makers. You are now finding out that if you build it, they won't necessarily come. Another way to put it is "you can't lead a horse to water." Set up your Way Back machine and visit the good ol' Journal of Personality and Psychology in 1979, look for a great research paper called Many Hands Make Light the Work: The Causes and Consequences of Social Loafing by Bibb Latenae, Kipling Williams, and Stephen Harkins. LVS, basically, this means that if you have a group, some of the people will slack off. There are design variables you can tinker with to decrease loafing. The amount of structure in a social learning context is under debate, but it's always a good idea to pay attention to human behavior and look for tendencies. It's good practice to focus on the fruits of performance (products) on the job, but when it comes to learning put a magnifying glass on individual performance--design it in! For that matter, isn't it good management to do this on the job, too? Design the group project with defined roles and responsibilities (the group's required project output is usually not as defined; the group decides on the specifics). Click here for the reference and detail. We'll try and discuss this in more detail and provide a wiki link when it's up.
 Recently, our client posed an interesting puzzle to us. Could SP provide a program that presented the most current education trends, and could we also provide a team building opportunity? Both ideas are good for full length workshops, but the client had a need to complete the program in a morning. We wanted to avoid the usual boring program format of participants sitting through a long lecture of statistical trends and training minutiae.  Keeping with our mantra about presenting interactive programs, we added a twist; let the participants do the trending, and then compare their results with our findings. The result was an enjoyable, involving, and interactive experience. the most important factor for the success of the mix was a fun group of participants who really put themselves into the role plays.    On a side note: We also played with an estimating icebreaker. The groups estimated the number jelly beans in a giant container. The winning group took home the beans, after generously sharing them with the other groups. Proving the statisticians right, we found that putting every one's guesses together resulted in an answer that was only 70 beans away from the exact number. A nice illustration for team work. You might ask how we knew the exact number...other than saying it involved an ISD process, it's a trade secret. 
 This is a call to everyone that has ever designed, taught, or participated in a training course. I would like your advice on a design problem I ran into as an instructional designer. ScenarioYou have a full day workshop and a half day workshop. They both have the same content and use discussion and questioning learning approaches. There is one difference between them; the longer course has small group and individual activities that help the group apply the content to the real world. The shorter class still has interaction between the instructor and group, and between participants, just no application activities. The $64k Question Since all the content and course goals are the same, is it correct for both workshops to have the same learning objectives? I can really use your feedback!
You Will Remember, You Will Remember...
I recently guest blogged (glogged) for a friend of mine from the world of hypnosis, Ellie Blunt. I don't have any plans to become a hypnotist, but I am impressed with the communication and learning applications of their approaches. I met Ellie through another hypnotist, my sister, L.S. King. No trance formations required, but maybe one of these days I can get one of them over here for another cross-field type of conversation. Tom, don't worry, I'll give equal time to the theorists, too. I can guarantee this will not be a lecture that will put you to sleep!
We're in the Book!
 We are now a published author (kinda). I was very excited to see that our short (but valuable) contribution to the eLearning Guild's new book on Flash techniques is now available. We suggested the simple technique of using Flash components for eLearning to control screen space when there is a lot of reference content to include. For example, if you are using PowerPoint as your platform and want to include a lot of information on a slide, but do not want to open another window or link-away from the slide, a scrollpane is a perfect solution. I've found that this is a great solution for classroom trainers that want to point out some content that is a long piece in participant workbooks, so eveyrone can see exactly what you are referencing. eLearning guild says that "...these tips will be useful to any designer or developer looking for best practices to incorporate into their own production process." The book can be downloaded from the Guild.
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It's not been all work, though. Fran traveled for her client to Toronto, (and I just had to tag along), and we visited some of our old Canadian haunts. Obviously, there was a lot of change since we lived there in the 1980’s, but it was really cool to revisit (I even got to meet some the Maple Leaf players!). 
