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Excellent eLearning Example

Ray Jimenez of Vignettes for Training shared in his eNewsletter this wonderful example (both in content and development) of successful eLearning using “emotionally charged events”.

Check out “Lack of Clarity” created by Eileen Delo-Martin, Portia Groff and Jeff Groff of Nexans.

Who Drives Your Training?

I have a question for those in training departments inside organizations (and those that have been there or know something about it). Who drives training? Do you sit back and wait for functional groups to come to you and say, “Hey - we need training in “X” for our folks. Can you help make that happen?” Or even, “Hey - I think we need some training, but I’m not sure in what - could you do an assessment and then build some training to address what you find?” Or do you take charge. Do you go out into the depths of your organization yourself, your mission in hand, perform an assessment and then show folks what is needed and nudge them along through the process of training development and delivery… How does it work for you?

I’m asking cause I changed supervisors and somehow the direction of the winds have shifted. We aren’t on the same page anymore. I’m not sure where we are going now or what his vision is. He is open to talking about it so I want to bring my opinions and recommendations forward. However, I’d like to know “how it’s done in the industry” too. Maybe I had it all wrong before…

Thanks in advance for any input you have!

(BTW, I’ve been doing a lot of writing off-line recently so that’s why you haven’t heard from me. It’s weird, I’m mostly writing about the issue of transparency and online identity yet somehow I’m not sharing any of it. Odd. Guess it’s too close right now. Some of the posts going around about it got me a little shook up. I’ll get there though.)

My First Real Moment of Wiki Success!

I mentioned a project team in my previous post about Mindmapping tools. Well, I set up a pretty nice pbWiki site for us to use. We are located throughout the state and will each be collecting data, sharing it, and holding discussions. Most of the folks haven’t used one before (including the Chair) so I was nervous about whether or not it would actually be used. I souped it up with tutorials, videos, and friendly tips - all borrowed from others. Plus, I got us started with several suggested pages including all of our contact info, project plan, workspaces for each location, discussion pages, Google calendar, etc.

Today the Chair called cause she had created a new page, inserted a spreadsheet and then lost it. I walked her through finding it and creating a link to it. It was one of those cool first moments when it all works and is so exciting!

I think people will actually use this thing - and for real work! I know many of you have already had this experience, but I’m having my own high right now!

SurveyMonkey Rocks!

Just closed my “collector” for the first survey I’ve delivered using SurveyMonkey. It closed with 154 responders. That’s less than I wanted, but more than I expected. And the tool was a breeze to use!

The survey was an organization-wide  Training Needs Assessment survey that I thought was pretty good (for being online and high-level). I kept it simple, yet meaningful. I asked people about their “comfort level” with various financial and business systems. Their answers could vary from “Not Comfortable” to “Very Comfortable”. Then, I listed many business policies and processes and asked them to check off which ones they would be interested in learning more about. Of course I included an open-ended question where they could add additional topics, and lastly, a comments section.

What stood out the most was that NO ONE reported any technical difficulties with the survey - truly a feat here at my organization! We have all kinds of computers, systems, and browsers (some very old). People really liked the tool and others are already asking about using it for their own needs. (That’s really my favorite part of this job!)

Now, back to the survey results… they are very telling. Turns out we need to train in… everything. OK! Good! That narrows it down. Plus, it helps me prioritize my one-person shop here. HAHA. Cheers to SurveyMonkey though!

Mind Mapping Tool Search

I am having so much fun today. (Not quite as much fun as I had building in Second Life last night, but that’s a whole other story.) I am “researching” [read: playing] with mind mapping tools to try to find one a project team could use via the web. We will be scattered throughout the state so it needs to be easy to collaborate. I have been gathering suggestions made on the blogs I read for some time now - which is helpful (especially in relation to Michele Martin’s PLE posts). Today, I found this page on Rev2.org which gave me an excellent summary of several tools. I thought I would share in case others want to play! If you try just one - try Bubbl.us.

Has this ever happened to you, twice?

I don’t know what’s going on at work these days. Everyone is so pressed and stressed. We are coming up on our fiscal year-end close. That means late nights and weekends for some and headaches for everyone. It also means deadlines. Whenever there is a new project assigned at my work it’s either due by the end of one’s performance review period, by the end of the calendar year, or by the end of the fiscal year. The problem with fiscal end projects is that everyone is already so out of their mind with financial worries that they aren’t really available to work on anything else with all their senses.

I’m juggling three big projects (and 20 other things) right now. That’s nothing new. But 2 of these have to happen right now.

These aren’t really my projects. They are supposed to be owned by someone else - a manager. There is supposed to be a clear group of SMEs dedicated to helping with the content. And I’m supposed to help develop training. But right now, I’m missing these two very important elements.

At every turn I’m being asked, when is the training going to be done? And with every email I send out and every call I make asking for content/feedback/input/responses - I get nothing. People are too busy.

Or worse. I get a lot of new information. Or different information. Or conflicting information. I get one manager telling me he/she is in charge and another showing up in my cube to tell me what to do. In one case we are creating training before the policy has even been completed! Hmm.. This might be a little cart-before-the-horse-ish.

This is sounding like a rant, I know. It is. In reality, I’m just rolling with it. When asked about the timing, I am clear what obstacles are lying in my way. I am clear that I am ready when they are ready. If it was a project I could just take the lead on, I would. Unfortunately in both these cases I cannot. So, I’m just breathing deeply.

I breathe especially deep through the two-hour meetings where we are supposed to be reviewing training whose content I took directly from published material and the group spends most of the meeting arguing about whether or not the statements are true.

Everything is just backwards. We are all so pressed. They are so desperate to get that training out there, that we can’t take the time we need to get clear on our vision, our training objectives, our facts, our plan. All that is just out the window.

I will, of course, do my best possible work under these conditions so that when the training is finally completed I will still be happy (hopefully) to have my name associated with it.

Thanks for listening.

Web 2.0 at camp!

Well, I’m off to camp for a week. Yay! I will be completely cut off from the Internet and probably my cell…

However, I will still manage to lead an introductory workshop on Web 2.0 tools and facilitate a discussion about keeping teens safer on the Internet. We will only have handouts, but I think I put something together that’s visual enough to get us started anyway.

Hopefully people will show up. I’m competing against workshops on arts & crafts and  parental discussions… so we will see.

I will report back when I return. Cheers!

Did You Know 2.0

Somehow I missed this incredible video. In case anyone else did, check it out:

“8 Random Facts About Me” Meme

Michele Martin of The Bamboo Project has tagged me to join in the 8 Random Facts About Me meme. At first I was worried about coming up with 8 things to say, but it looks like I didn’t have any trouble at all! *grin*

First, the Rules:

1) Post these rules before you give your facts

2) List 8 random facts about yourself

3) At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them

4) Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged

Now, the facts:

1. My partner and I live in the Bay Area with our fabulous daughter who is almost three, and our two kittens. We are hoping to have a second child and this time we are trying for me to carry the baby! (My partner carried the first.) So right now I’m trying to stop drinking caffeine, which is not easy.
2. Photography is my passion. I love traditional black-n-white film photography, but since having a kid, color digital is the way to go for me. The ease of discovery with a digital camera has brought me to focus on new subject matter which I’m very excited about. Check out some of my work here.
3. I graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz with a degree in Art, emphasis in photography. Somehow that has led me to a job training on financial policy. Hmm.
4. After college I set out across the country in my pick-up with a very small grant, a laptop, a tape recorder, and my (film) camera. For a year I traveled from state to state searching for women who had put creativity at the center of their lives. I was looking for women who felt they were living with authenticity and realizing their true selves. I focused on women who identified as lesbian. I interviewed and photographed them in order to share their stories with others. I wanted to increase lesbian visibility and hoped to inspire others to follow in their own passions and dreams. On of my dreams has always been to publish a book of these stories and photos. I would include my personal journal which describes my own journey throughout the project. A few sample stories can be found here.
5. Ten years ago I presented to over 600 people at the National Women’s Studies Association Conference in Missouri on women’s creativity. It was one of the most exciting experiences I have ever had. (My old name was Angela Dawn.)
6. I have attempted many of my own home repair or improvement projects. I’m not saying all are complete or perfect, but I have at least attempted to learn and try. I have rewired part of the kitchen, tiled the counters, replaced the toilet parts, painted, built shelves, and installed a garbage disposal (by far the hardest one).
7. I was a major tomboy as a kid. As the other girls were going to the pool to “lay out” (whatever that means) I was in the creek, in the mud, catching crawdads and frogs. My mom and dad let me keep “Angela’s Zoo” in my garage. I had snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, mice, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, fish, and bugs. I even had a Ranger Rick magazine library where the neighborhood kids could check them out. And I charged $.05 per hold or pet of any of the animals.
8. A characteristic that I’m known for is being excited about life. (Big shocker for anyone who reads my blog.) I get what I call a “ball of joy” in my chest over interactions with people I admire, learning new things, seeing a new point of view about something, taking pictures, hearing an inspiring story, and playing with my child. Feeling so much joy can also mean BIG disappointment for me. So, I cry a lot. I cry when I’m sad and I cry when I’m happy. Or when I’m just laughing too hard.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far! Here are the 8 people I’m tagging:

Tracy Hamilton of Discovery through elearning

Tony Karrer of eLearning Technology

Wendy Wickham of In the Middle of the Curve

Janet of A Home in Mound

Isobel White of Isobelog

Whitney of Rookie Moms

Jim Bumgardner of KrazyDad

Henry Jenkins of Confessions of an Aca/Fan