Technology for Teachers: Opportunities, Part 2

In my last post, I talked about technological opportunities for teaching. In particular, I talked about desktop document creation, website creation and network-enabled interpersonal communication being enhanced by existing computer and network technologies. In this post, I will discuss technologies or systems that are related to a bit more advanced teaching functions, but you do not need to fear of tech-speak. I am not a technical person (Although I am technically capable, from a user-point of view.).

I would like to assure you that I will always remember that not all teachers are technically oriented. I always remember that my aim here is to share existing technology that you can use without need of great amount of time and effort of learning.

Before I go on to the second part of the opportunities for teachers, I would like to review first, however, the audio-visual communication continuum, in particular, the media richness model. This model is better discussed in this website.

The model essentially suggests the proper selection of communication channel in an organizational setting. In training, proper selection of channel is very important as learners have to get what you intend to say. You have to make sure that a channel for feedback is available whenever possible.

The proper selection of your audio-visual communication channel will make your messages more effective and your image more sincere, consistent and audience-focused. This will make your audience more receptive and will be able to better judge your messages more efficiently. In learning, it is pretty much the same—whether it is traditional classroom learning, e-learning or blended learning.

Another idea that you have to consider is time. Due to the availability of various computer-aided communication and learning technologies, trainers use some types without proper consideration just to get into the fad. This, unfortunately, produces bad effect to the learners.

Take for example the use of websites. Lessons can be posted in websites, sure. But you have to consider the things that you will discuss. Complicated subjects that require more cues and immediate feedback (particularly questions) may not be effectively delivered through this channel. While e-learning enthusiasts will promote this due to always-available lesson, this asynchronous communication has to be properly planned and implemented.

With this, let's go to technological opportunities for teachers:

• Asynchronous Lesson Delivery - This refers to delivery of lessons at different times between the lesson initiator and the lesson receiver. This is practiced in cases of blogs, online blackboards, and online learning management systems like Moodle. This is useful for lectures that are pretty straightforward, or maybe as preparatory reading for discussion in the classsroom.
• Issues and News - Most of the lessons being discussed in the classroom are better related to current news and issues. With RSS (Rapid Site Syndication), you can include in your website the latest trends that are related to the topic you are discussing. RSS is integrated in most blogs and online journals, meaning, your audience can subscribe to the RSS without divulging personal contact information.
• Professional Relationship - Teachers and learning facilitators need to be in connection with people who are within the same discipline or specialization as they are, or maybe for related fields for teamwork or possible mentoring. Social networking websites, such as Friendster, Facebook, and Linked-In, provide such services for free. In the Philippines, Friendster seems to be more popular, but I have seen the credibility of Linked-In with my co-workers at the University.

Let's stop here for now. Next time, we shall discuss online collaboration tools available to you.

In the mean time, please accept my greetings of Merry Christmas!

Technology for Teachers: Opportunities, Part 1

Working as an information officer (an administrative support, non-IT position) at the University of the Philippines—while I myself have a background in communication, management and training—I have observed that even the premier tertiary educational institution in the country has yet to better appreciate (that is, understand, value and use) the opportunities of technology for teaching.

I am not exactly an advocate of distance learning as I appreciate that existing systems and culture cannot handle full e-learning applications or solutions. Teachers or faculty, however, are not using the full functionality of an Internet-enabled computer for more effective learning.

Situation
While I do not have statistics or formal studies to support my statement, I have the courage to say that faculty members at UP Manila do not use information technologies available to them. Take a look at the classrooms or the lesson plans (if there is one available) and you will see that IT-supported teaching functions are only on audio-visual presentation (which is limited to non-interactive presentations), basic interpersonal communication (like email and announcements through e-Groups) and basic grade recording system (the spreadsheet). Even faculty of computer science have yet to know more about the opportunities available—most of them free!

There are few who use blogs, but these are just for announcements and getting feedback.

In short, opportunities are present and numerous. We just need to learn how to use it—and even this is not that difficult.

(A lot of faculty members from UP Manila know the Internet but fail to use it for their tasks, often giving the excuse of difficulty of learning how to use it. I beg to disagree as practically all online systems available are intuitive and have available tutorials. For example, I created a basic customer contact management system for my training for call center wanna-bes even though I have no training in programming nor database management systems! I guess it is just a matter of humility to admit that there is something else you can learn, or plain laziness in pursuit of professional growth due to pursuit of personal pleasures.)

Enough with my personal opinion. Let's go to the different teaching functions (that I know from experience) and see what technology or technologies are available for you. They are usually free.

Basic Teaching Functions
This is where you would see teachers really use the information technology, but even here, there are other opportunities available.

• Audio-Visual Presentations - Most teachers use information technology for audio-visual presentations, like presenting their reports, lectures, and important points. Audio-visual presentations, however, should be used as support and should not replace the experience of the lecturer or speaker. Interactive presentations, however, have to be improved. For example, Microsoft Powerpoint has options for using links which can be compounded to be used for games.
• Records management - When I first became a trainer for ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps), I immediately saw the need to automatically calculate the grades of cadets. There is also a need to create a profile of the student population. A spreadsheet software will help here. There are, however, other functions that can be added, besides managing records of students. We'll look into this in the section for learning management system.
• Interpersonal and Group Communication -Email, instant messaging (chat) and electronic groups are useful here. However, these are not used effectively as they can be compounded with online presentations and storage of files. You can also use social networking sites, blogs and other Web 2.0 technologies.
  

I will stop here. Watch out for my next post which should discuss the following:

A Bit Advanced Functions
Blogging and RSS
Social Networking
Website Publishing

Advanced Functions but Still Easy-to-Learn Systems
Online Document Creation and Collaboration
Online Brainstorming
Learning Management System (LMS)
Niche Social Networking
Project management
Research
Collaboration
Web Conferences
Web Meetings
Webcasts and Online Stored Presentations
Sharing Information and Wikis
Simulations
Others!

If you have more ideas, please do not hesitate to add your comment or email me at info.casupm@gmail.com. You can also view my mindmap for this article here.

Linking Business Objectives to Learning Outcomes

While the topic may seem not useful or too hard to some, I can assure you that this requires topic requires thought if you want your training to be of any use to your learners and your organization. Any training initiative would be useless and a waste of valuable resources if not properly considered in relation to business or organizational goals.

(To put it in an exaggerated sense, "What is the use of teaching a person how to use a stove if the company is selling laptops!?")

Why the Link?
Training is a process that facilitates learning. People want to learn for some particular reason. Organizations, too, want its people to learn for a reason--particularly, to enable the workers to do the tasks expected of them (and they are paid for). If an organization trains its people in skills that they will not use or make them work more efficiently, then the organization is wasting its training resources. As you know, training eats resources. If this function does not help the organization's bottom-line, then it should be scrapped.

But for the training function, how do we link our training objectives to business or organizational objectives?

This is where a learning needs assessment (or more popularly known as Training Needs Assessment, or TNA) comes in. A learning needs assessment identifies the current level of skill and the desired or needed level of skill or set of skills. This identifies also the gap of the two.

TNA, however, should not be conducted within the training context only. Training--as mentioned before--exists for a certain organizational interest. We do not train just so that we could train.

Learning needs assessment focuses on the needs of the learner to accomplish the tasks given by the organization, which is dictated by the organization's mission, values and goals. As I mentioned in my previous post, the design of the training program must be in light of the organization's reason of being. Otherwise, other business processes (or departments) would question why the training department exists when it does not allow the workers to work effectively.

Linking Business Objectives to Learning Outcomes: How
Now we go to the process.

Unfortunately, linking the business objectives to learning outcomes is not exactly a process that we can do one part and then just go on to the next part without regard to the outcome of the initial step. This process is very dynamic. That is not to say, however, that the trainer has to be very old in the training function to be able to do it. What I will discuss will be the basic concept of this process so as to allow you to identify your own style and technique in implementing this.

1. Identify your business or organizational objectives. This will help you identify what knowledge or attitudes you need to train your learner on. At th end, you also need to articulate or explicitly state the knowledge and attitudes the organization expects of its members.
2. You can do this before the following steps or after, but don't forget to identify current existing learning initiatives or training courses. Besides saving time and effort, you can also learn from the effect of previous learning initiatives which ones were effective and which ones were not, and why or how.
   
3. Identify your desired performance outputs (for that particular learner, of course). This will be the end result/s of whatever you want your learner-worker will do. This also means identifying criteria for evaluation--how will you or anyone be able to know that what the worker did was passing or failing based on this standard. Put this in a list as "performance outputs expected" or "performance criteria."
4. Identify at least one reason why that output is required in the course.
   
5. Based on the desired outputs, identify specific skills required to perform and accomplish the task. The previous step focuses on the output. This step focuses on the process or steps required to produce the output. Same as the second step, identify the criteria for evaluation so that the learner can easily identify with your or your organization's standard. Put this in a list as "expected task skills expected" or "task performance criteria."
6. Identify at least one reason why that skill is required in the course or for work.
   
7. State your objectives, performance outputs and specific skills in the language of your learner. Of course, language here means the level of technical complexity he or she can handle.
8. Communicate these things at the onset of your training delivery or during your training proposal so that people who would decide on the value of your training would know how related or valuable it is to them.

You would notice that I "inserted" the whys of identifying outputs and required skills. This is to help you explain to your learner the importance of being able to accomplish that task better. In this light, the reason should always be related to the overall picture of your organization's work. For example, if you tell someone that he needs to learn how to type 80 words per minute, and that person asks why, you can say that, besides efficiency, that is the expected speed so that that learner's output can come in time for other people whose job depends on his ability to perform it competently.

I hope this short post gives you an idea how to link business objectives to training initiatives. I look forward to getting your comments.

P.S. My next posts would be dealing with technology for teaching or training, particularly, opportunities that teachers still do not exploit. I hope this would help trainers and learners learn better!

Data Gathering Completed for Ethics Survey

I would like to thank everyone who participated in the survey. I have just closed the online survey. I will publish part of the survey here.

Right now, besides writing the study itself, I am part of a committee which is looking at knowledge management as a strategy for institutional development. Although I am no longer into training, I still continue to write about it and I know that knowledge management is a field in which training has a key responsibility.

I will write about it soon. But first, my previous promise... Developing your training program. Next post.

Survey on Employee Appreciation on Ethics

I would like to briefly stop from publishing articles about learning and training, and do a study on ethics. I am currently studying work ethics for my master of management program and I would like to invite you to answer this survey.

As a member of management, a trainer or learning facilitator has the responsibility of encouraging ethical behavior in the learners. The question on whether ethical behavior can be trained or learned in an organizational setup, however, is not yet answered. With this, and other organizational factors included, I hope to identify these factors that may encourage ethical behavior.

The study is based on the recent (2007) study of Ethics Research Center, the National Business Ethics Survey. The study is available on their website, www.ethics.org.

For more information on the survey, please go to this site:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pi1q6-nO14fn4r9OWYsZsXQ&hl=en

Thank you for your participation!

Training Design: Considerations

You're a new trainer, and you just got assigned to design a training program for a topic that you know fairly well. Or you're a supervisor who's been asked to give coaching to some of your direct reports. Or you're a manager who is considering of upgrading the skills of your team. In any case, you have to come up with a course that would address the need for learning.

You will be designing a training course. Do you know what to do? What are the things that you should consider? Let this post be a guide to the most critical factors and additional considerations (if you have the resources).

You could categorize considerations for training design into three groups: Business Concerns, Training Functions, and Support.

Business Concerns

These are the considerations of the organization as a whole and the specific business unit that the learner is a member of (e.g., Accounting Department, Operations Division, etc.). This is the most critical in terms of achieving training that is aligned with business objectives and consistent with organizational values.

• Organizational Goals, Strategy and Culture - Though not exactly directly affecting training methodology, it would affect training design in the values and attitudes that you would like the learners to get. Work is not just a set of tasks and skills, but also making decisions that must be aligned with business goals, strategy and culture.
• Skills and Tasks Required - This should include not just What and How things should be done but also the level of performance (e.g., how much time to perform) and the conditions required to perform the tasks.
• Current Level and Quality of Performance - Level refers to productivity or quantity, while quality refers to closeness of the end product of performance to the standard. Knowing this prevents planning sessions that would just lecture the learner on what they have already learned on the job which might not have been documented with previous training programs.

Training Function

This function refers to the factors that are intrinsic to the training function--existing programs, training styles, prior learning, among others.

• Existing Programs - Before starting and spending on designing a new training program, it makes sense to research what already exist. Besides saving money, it allows you to get ideas what needs not to be restated or what previous learning programs may have been implemented but did not achieve the desired objectives. Lastly, it would allow you to know more about other training programs' techniques and approaches.
• Prior Learning - Besides existing programs, your learners may have learned from other sources. It makes sense that you use less time for topics that your learners already know well and focus on those which they do not know yet. You can also use this to share experience between learners.
• Learning Styles - An often neglected aspect of the learning process is the receiver of the learning itself, which results in poor reception. In a nut shell, familiarity with and acknowledgment of the different dominant learning style of each trainee will allow us to deliver more effectively our training courses. By effective, it means at the end of the training and when the learners get back to work to apply what they have learned, they can apply them and they will apply them.
• Assessment Methodology - Part of the learning process should continuing assessment--Do the learners get the skills and knowledge they need to get? Can they demonstrate it? How? The assessment methodology should be aligned of course with the business objectives and target skills. It should demonstrate ability and willingness to apply the new knowledge they have acquired.
• Trainers - Of course, consider who among the training team (or the company) may best deliver the course, or if you might need a consultant. Remember cost and benefits here.

Support

This refers to the administrative and logistical support for training. Training cannot be successful without support of various functions. Consider the following and coordinate with the responsible departments:

• Budget - If you are designing a new course, you have to consider the budget right from the beginning. You can have the best ideas only to be frustrated by the lack of budget. If you are working on re-designing an existing course, the same consideration exists. Budget would also allow you to consider getting external or internal (line managers or subject-matter experts not from the training team that may have capability to share their expertise) consultants in the training design. Budget will dictate availability of whatever you want to do.
• Human Resources and Operations - The learners are also workers. Time they spend on training is the time they are not working, not earning the company revenue. The available time they can learn should also be considered in working out the length of your course, or maybe even delivery (like using online resources which the learner can access at his or her own free time). Consider also the time of your training sessions if you are in a geographically dispersed company. Lastly, consider the possible support that they can give to the training function, such as coaching and counselling. Training may not be the best solution.
• Information Technology - This includes both audio-visual equipment as well as online resources and learning management systems (LMS). Learners generally can grasp the lessons if they have multiple types of input and experience close to first-hand. If available and appropriate, use them.

This short article should give you significant guide on designing your training course. Next Post: Linking Business Objectives to Learning Outcomes.