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Clark Quinn’s Learnings about Learning

New and improved evaluation

10 April 2018 by Clark 6 Comments

A few years ago, I had a ‘debate’ with Will Thalheimer about the Kirkpatrick model (you can read it here).  In short, he didn’t like it, and I did, for different reasons.  However, the situation has changed, and it’s worth revisiting the issue of evaluation.

where kirkpatrick fitsIn the debate, I was lauding how Kirkpatrick  starts with the biz problem, and works backwards. Will attacked that the model didn’t really evaluate learning. I replied that it’s role wasn’t evaluating the effectiveness of the learning design on the learning outcome, it was assessing the impact of the learning outcome on the organizational outcome.

Fortunately, this discussion is now resolved. Will, to his credit, has released his own model (while unearthing the origins of Kirkpatrick’s work in Katzell’s).  His model is more robust, with 8 levels.  This isn’t overwhelming, as you can ignore some. Fortunately, there’re indicators as to what’s useful and what’s not!

It’s not perfect. Kirkpatrick (or Katzell? :) can relatively easily be used for other interventions (incentives, job aids, … tho’ you might not tell it from the promotional material). It’s not so obvious how to do so with his new model.  However, I reckon it’s  more robust for evaluating learning interventions. (Caveat: I may be biased, as I provided feedback.) And  should he have numbered them in reverse, which Kirkpatrick admitted might’ve been a better idea?

Evaluation is critical.  We do some, but not enough. (Smile sheets, level 1, where we ask learners what they think of the experience, has essentially zero correlation with outcomes.) We need to do a better job of evaluating our impacts (not just our efficiency). This is a more targeted model.  I draw it to your attention.

 

P&D Strategies

4 April 2018 by Clark 1 Comment

In an article, Jared Spool talks about the strategies he sees UX leaders using.  He lists 3 examples, and talks about how your strategies need to change depending on where you are in relation to the organization.  It made me think about what P&D strategies could and should be.signs

So, one of the ones he cited isn’t unique to UX, of course. That one is ‘continual mentoring’, always having someone shadowing the top person in a role. He suspects that it might slow things down a bit, but the upside is a continual up-skilling.  Back when I led a team, I had everyone have an area of responsibility, but someone backed them up.  Cynically, I called it the ‘bus’ strategy, e.g. in case someone was hit by a bus.  Of course, the real reason was to account for any variability  in the team, to create some collaborative work, to share awareness,  and to increase the team’s understanding..  This is an ‘internal’ strategy.

He cites another, about ‘socializing’ the vision.  In this one, you are collectively creating the five year vision of what learning (his was UX) looks like. The point is to get a shared buy-in to a vision, but also promotes the visibility of the group.  Here again, this is hardly unique to UX, with a small twist ;).  This is more an external strategy.  I suppose there could be two levels of ‘external’, outside P&D but inside the organization, and then an external one (e.g. with customers).

I’d add that ‘work out loud’ (aka Show Your Work) would be another internal strategy (at least to begin with).  Here, the P&D team starts working out loud, with the unit head leading the way. It both gets the P&D team experimenting with the new ways to do things, of course builds shared awareness,  and builds a base to start evangelizing  outside.

I’d love to hear the strategies you’ve used, seen used, or are contemplating, to continue and expand your ability to contribute to the organization.  What’s working?  And, for that matter, what’s not?

No all-singing all-dancing solution

3 April 2018 by Clark 1 Comment

I was pinged on LinkedIn by someone who used the entrée of hearing me speak in next week’s Learning Solutions conference to begin discussing LMS capabilities. (Hint: they provide one.)  And I thought I’d elaborate on my response, as the discussion prompted some reflections.  In short, what are the arguments for and against having a single platform to deliver an ecosystem solution?

In Revolutionize Learning & Development, I argue for a Performance & Development ccosystem. The idea is more than courses, it’s performance support, social, informal, etc. It’s about having a performer-centric support environment that has tools and information to hand to both help you perform in the moment  and develop you over time. The goal is to support working alone and together to meet both the anticipated, and unanticipated, needs of the organization.

On principle, I tend to view an ‘all singing all dancing’ solution as likely to fail on some part of that. It’s implausible that a system would have all the capabilities needed.  First, there are  many functionalities: access to formal learning, supporting access to known or found resources, sharing, collaborating, and more.  It’s unlikely that all those can be done well in one platform. Let alone, doing them in ways that matches any one organization’s ways of working.

I’m not saying the LMS is a bad tool for what it does. (Note: I am not in the LMS benchmark business; there are other people that do that and it’s a full time job.) However, can an LMS be a full solution? Even if there is some capability in all the areas, what’s the likelihood that it’s best-of-breed in all? Ok, in some small orgs where you can’t have an IT group capable of integrating the necessary tools, you might settle for working around the limitations. That’s understandable. But it’s different than choosing to trust one system. It’s just having the people act as the glue instead of the system.

It’s always about tradeoffs, and so integrating best-of-breed capabilities around what’s already in place would make more sense to me.  For instance, how *could* one system integrate enterprise-wide federated search as a stand-alone platform? It’s about integrating a suite of capabilities to create a performer-centric environment. That’s pretty much beyond a solo platform, intrinsically. Am I missing something?

Nancy Giordano #LSCon Keynote Mindmap

29 March 2018 by Clark Leave a Comment

Nancy Giordano was the closing keynote for the Guild’s always excellent Learning Solutions conference. In a rapid (!) talk, she gave a different cut through the changes we are facing and strategies for coping. Thought-provoking!

Platon #LSCon Keynote Mindmap

28 March 2018 by Clark Leave a Comment

Platon, a portrait photographer extraordinaire, gave a poignant presentation about leadership. Starting with some presidential anecdotes, he weaved in celebrities on the way to world leaders. He ended with a powerful message about doing right and wrong and how leaders can tap into empathy to do the best for the people they represent.

Kai Kight #LSCon Keynote Mindmap

27 March 2018 by Clark Leave a Comment

Kai told stories about his experiences in music and used them to draw lessons for us. He inspired us to connect to our purpose and experiment, and demonstrated what he meant through playing.

Diagramming Microlearning

21 March 2018 by Clark 5 Comments

I’ll be giving an upcoming webinar where I make my case for defining microlearning.  And, as part of my usual wrestling with clarity, I created a diagram. I thought I’d share it with you.

Microlearning

What, you want me to walk you through it? :)

Microlearning is a portmanteau (technical term:  mashup) of micro and learning. Thus, it implies small bits of learning.  Here I’m mapping it out in several ways.  I’ve previously argued that there are three main ways, but let’s map the first two out. It’s either

  • a series of objects contributing to a learning experience
  • a one-off object that creates learning

And there are problems with both. Too often, folks talk about breaking an existing course down into small chunks, and I suggest that won’t work without some significant (!) effort.  Just breaking it up means something seen earlier can be forgotten, so you need to worry about knowledge atrophy and plan reactivation. And that’s just spaced learning!

And I think it’s unlikely that you can have a single object lead to any meaningful learning. However, such an object  can serve as support to succeed in the moment.  How-to videos, job aids, and the like all can be used to achieve an outcome.  And that’s just performance support!

What I think is the real untapped opportunity that could (and I say should) capture the moniker would be contextualized learning. Layering on a bit of learning  because of when and where you are that develops you over time. It’s combining the two, potentially, so you help someone in the moment but add in the bit that also makes it a learning experience.  There’s much more to this, but that’s the core idea.

My main issue here is that people are fast and loose with the term microlearning, and I’d like to make sure people are  either talking about spaced learning  or performance support (both good). And not talking about just breaking up a course into chunks that are nice to consume but not engineered to lead to retention and transfer (not so good).  Of course, better yet if we converge on contextualized learning!

Return on Wisdom

20 March 2018 by Clark Leave a Comment

In the early days of the internet, I had a chance to read one of the early translations of  The Japan That Can Say No.  The point I took away was the critique of short-term decision making driven by the need for shareholder returns.  I was pondering this the other day, as I wondered how organizations can look to make longer-term investments. And it led me to ponder the question of what the return is on wisdom.

So, the book was a sensation. At the time, the rumor was that it was written by two top Japanese. It wasn’t released in English, but instead was illicitly translated because of the scandalous claims.    Still, I thought the assessment of the problems with derivative financing and efficiency approaches were apt.  Are these approaches wise?

I use the term wisdom because I think we can, and need to, go beyond ‘smart’.  I was pursuing my own quest to transcend what I do, and came upon a nice view of wisdom from Sternberg. This one argues that we should make decisions with both short-  and long-term views, for not just us and ours, but for all people, with an explicit consideration of the value that we are following. Ok, so I’m a native Californian, but I don’t see a problem with this view. Smart is ‘in the moment’, wise is looking at the bigger picture.

I ponder this in the context of organizations continually looking to reduce costs through expediency. As an alternative, they could be looking at longer term approaches that help them get their workforce more intrinsically engaged.  Does outsourcing and layoffs end up being more costly than investing in better leadership and culture?

There are some answers.  Laurie Bassie’s research found that there was a correlation between high scores on handling people and business results.  Similarly, Towards Maturity finds that companies with good L&D practices are more likely to be successful.  It’s not surprising. When you provide meaningful work with enablement to succeed, you’re aligning the elements to succeed. It’s a path to a coherent organization. And, like with light, it’s more powerful.

There are arguments to move in wise directions. It may be hard if you’re driven by the need to produce short-term returns. Still, it’s the wise thing to do.

It’s ALIVE!

14 March 2018 by Clark 1 Comment

Ok, so this may be small news, but it’s still news (and I, at least, am excited!).  I’ve previously mentioned my forthcoming book:  Millennials, Goldfish, and other Training Misconceptions: Debunking Learning Myths and Superstitions.  It’s not out yet, though you can preorder.  What I’m excited about is that I’ve now put up the site for the book.

OK, whoop de doo. I get it, yet another site. Still, it’s exciting for me for several reasons:

  • a taster of the book is available for download (including Will Thalheimer’s intriguing Foreword)
  • it’s illustrated with some images from the comics (one for every entry)
  • you can download a list of the myths citations (at least the ones that actually debunk)
  • you can download the list of the recommended readings
  • there are links to all the mythbusters mentioned at the end
  • of course there are links to where you can preorder

And, I kind of like the URL I was able to grab: debunkinglearningmyths.com.

So, I don’t expect  you to get as excited as me, but I did feel I should at least let you know.

Myths book cover

 

 

Warning: Snake Oil

13 March 2018 by Clark 1 Comment

So this just appeared in my email this morning.  Can you tell what’s wrong?

“The next generation of L&D is here. Millennials are quickly becoming the majority of the world’s workforce. They will need training to become successful leaders. But, because they’ve grown up with mobile devices and digital technologies, they learn differently than previous generations. A solid understanding of millennial learning styles will help you create effective training programs.”

Dr Shmoos snake oil

Yep, snake oil. We’ve hit the myth jackpot!  How many can you spot?  This is the type of stuff marketers come up with that you can’t fight if you don’t know our brains (and more).  So let’s take it apart, shall we?  (This is  so  much fun!)

First, ‘next gen of L&D‘.  Um, maybe.  I don’t see things being done all that differently. It’s more evolution than revolution (despite my exhortations to the latter ;).  Still, no real myth yet.

Next, ‘millennials‘. And, yes, we have a winner!  The evidence says that there’re no meaningful differences between generations.  And if you think about it, it’s much more a continuum than discrete separations. It may be convenient, but it undermines people’s individuality. It’s really a mild form of age discrimination, dealing with people by the year they’re born instead of their unique circumstances. So, we’ve got our first myth. How much would you pay for this?  But wait, there’s more!

Need ‘leadership training’?  Er, yeah, so does pretty much everyone. Some folks may get there naturally, but that’s not the way to bet.  Moving on…

‘Learn differently’ because of growing up digital. This is the ‘digital natives’ story and the ‘digital learning’ story. And both have been debunked.  Turns out that folks who’ve grown up with digital technology aren’t necessarily any better at it. They don’t do better searches, for instance.  They  may be more comfortable, but that’s not what the claim is.  Again, this is sort of discrimination, categorizing people by their environment rather than their individual capability.

And, there’s the story that we’re now learning in fundamentally new ways.  Er, not. Our brains haven’t evolved that fast. We still need sustained and varied retrieval practice and feedback. No ‘knowledge downloads’ yet.  So here we have two, two, two myths in one! (Throwback: who recognizes  the reference?)  Keeping count? We’re up to three.  Now how much would you pay?  But wait, there’s still  more!

‘Learning styles’.  Ow!  The zombie that won’t die; kill it, kill it!  Back to the evidence: there’s no meaningful and reliable instrument to measure styles, so you couldn’t identify them.  And there’s no evidence that adapting to them helps either (which is implicit).  So really, this is  two more myths!  Wow, 5 myths in one paragraph. You’d be hard pressed to do better on purpose!

Manifesto badgeI worry who might fall prey to this marketing campaign.  I hate to tell you this, but there’s no there there.  You’d be far better off putting your effort in improving your learning design than buying into this misguided and misleading effort. If you want help with that, let me know (that’s what I do!), and there are plenty of resources (c.f. the Serious eLearning Manifesto).

Folks, my book on myths is coming out at the end of April. You can be prepared to defend yourself for the cost of just a few coffees. And, you can pre-order it now.  Our industry needs to get onto a proper basis. This is one small step, but one that needs to be taken.

Myths book cover

 

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