COMMENTS
You are right. We have so much information thrown at us in today's world. Something more to 'read' or 'watch' just adds to the information overload and no real change in behavior takes place. Learning that leads to behavior change requires focus (with no distractions) and practice. You can get that with "faster and cheaper."
Correction: You CAN'T get that with 'faster and cheaper.'
Good point, Helena. More information just goes onto the mental pile with everything else. Something that they actually DO has a chance to sink in!
I love the idea of making our training more interactive to keep employees awake! But what if we don't have the budget to pay for all the avatars and immersive learning. I would think that is much more expensive than power point and webinars.
Your concerns are nearly universal, Cathleen. However, as the saying goes, "tellin' ain't trainin'!" It may well be that the money you're spending now is simply going down the drain, with no real learning gain or behavior change. Are you able to test your results? If you could spend more, and get a serious return on your investment, then you make more money by spending more. That's better than a loss in anyone's accounting.
It's also proven that "learning by doing" increases ROI. Mainly because the sales force are highly engaged in the product or service being sold. This in turn creates loyality among your sales force with transfers to loyality among your prospects.
Good points, Kathleen. Anecdotally I know this is true...you wouldn't have a study you could point to, would you?
Learning at your own pace, exploring new concepts, experimentation, practicing new skills in a safe, simulated environment, receiving feedback and recommendations for review--all of these are the hallmarks of good e-learning. (I would also add the ability to go back and review content whenever necessary.) But all of this doesn't come "fast and cheap." Creativity takes time. So does the type of programming required for a complex simulation. Linear page-turners can be put together quickly but, as Jack points out, not as much learning is likely to take place.
I think a lot of the "e-reading" and "e-listening" programs out there may not even be suitable for e-learning. Not every topic is. But that's a whole other conversation...
To me it sounds like a matter of keeping up to date with learning. There was a time when Powerpoint was an amazing new way to learn, after awhile it was realized that powerpoint is just a digital book, we are still just reading. Technology is always changing, page turning courses are not new technology, it is always nice to keep up, instead of being left behind, and learning nothing new.
There has to be some kind of motivation for the learner to engage into the whole learning activity. How do you think is that motivation achieved through e-learning?
Motivation can be a broad and multifaceted topic to address. Hopefully, with professionalism and experience, we bring internal motivation.
Thinking of external motivation, many times our clients mix promotions, and rewards, or just simple communications, to increase participation in learning.
HOWEVER, if you're talking about how to motivate learners once they are in a course, that, I think, is where it gets really interesting.
The first thing I would say is that getting away from a page-by-page format and letting learners choose their own path and pace through a course is motivating.
Secondly, patterning e-learning after the way we most naturally learn is motivating. That's partly done by letting learners explore content, as I mentioned above. It's also providing them a chance to learn by doing, using simulations.
Simulations need to be designed so that there is a chance to fail. Creating a safe environment where experimenting, sometimes failing, and always getting the right feedback is very effective, and very motivating for learners.
Our learners always tell us that they have no time to learn, yet our
learner surveys prove that, when there is good learning in simulations, learners will voluntarily spend extra time. Now that's how you define engagement.
And a fourth thing that I will bring into the discussion of engagement and motivation is the use of
avatars. We are such social creatures that interacting with an avatar, rather than just reading or listening to content is more than natural...it's central to simulations.