Preparing for e-learning

When introducing a learning management system into an organization, you should consider that there are two main types of learning: Informal learning and formal learning.

Formal learning is learning that takes place within a teacher-student relationship, such as in a school system. It involves a curriculum and often some type of assessment, is usually undertaken in groups and is delivered at specific times.

Informal learning is learning on the job, having a conversation and gaining knowledge from experienced peers. Informal learning is learning that occurs during our day-to-day interactions with friends, family and colleagues. It has no curriculum and no assessments. It has no beginning or end but is continuous, its’ how we learn our language or customs.

An effective learning management system enables its audience to use both types of learning to ensure users have an effective learning experience.

Creating a ‘Community of Practice’ where users can use a social network to discuss issues and job related tasks as well as experience formal online training is the key to successful e-learning.

Community of Practice

An organization embarking on developing an effective learning management system community of practice will need to consider:

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Informal Learning

·         How will you encourage users to become a community of learners?

• How do you intend staff to use forums and blogs?
• How will you create this ‘Community of Practice’?
• Is there a designated community or e-learning coordinator who will drive the forum and blog content, ensuring it is relevant to each user community group?
• How would an e-learning coordinator accomplish this?
• What does the e-learning coordinator need to consider? E.g.

o        Are end users familiar with a social network?

o        Who are your e-learning target audience?

o        How will the e-learning coordinator collaborate with the end users and stakeholders to ensure the learning solution will meet with all their requirements?

o        What subject areas are of interest to your audience?

 

Formal Learning

·         Does online training require assessments, online mentoring and performance support, custom curriculum design and or a way of reporting on and tracking users?

·         Can the content of formal online training courses be interesting?

·         What are the objectives of this online course?

·         How can you measure if you achieve them?

·         Can you include graphics/ audio to engage the audience?

·         Have the users been involved in designing/ contributing to this course content?

·         Does the online training match the end users requirements and expectations?

·          Can the course be interactive? Users generally retain more information if interaction is required

·          What is the length of the course? 10-15 minutes is the optimum learning time before users become bored

 

Promoting Your Learning Resources

Once an organization has decided how it will create a ‘Community of Practice’ through a blend of informal and formal learning they will need to determine how they will prepare end users for the implementation of this new learning management solution . There is no point creating a fantastic e-learning tool with content that promotes good learning practices if the users are not aware of the tool.

Determining whether a designated change manager needs to be assigned to this task is essential and even more importantly determining how users will be engaged and notified of the new solution and what it will offer them in terms of a learning experience.

Time spent preparing end users for the new online learning solution, what it offers them and what is expected of them in terms of commitment is essential to ensure the solution is used effectively and positively.

Once the Learning Management System has been implemented it is important an organization considers whether a designated eLearning Coordinator is required. The key responsibilities of this role will be to facilitate the ongoing momentum of the new e-learning solution amongst staff, ensuring the community of learning becomes a business success.

Time given to all these considerations prior to an implementation helps to ensure the implementation of a new Learning Management Solution is a positive organizational change for all staff.

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Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Social Media Optimization (SMO)

Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Social Media Optimization (SMO) are two new phrases that popped up last year to define marketing through social media and social networking sites. There seems to be a lot of confusion about what each of them mean and what exactly they define, which is bound to happen with any new phrase.

SMM is the process of  creating and distributing of content and other messages through the social web by some form of viral marketing. This can be anything from creating compelling content that gets bookmarked and even hits digg’s homepage to spreading a viral video by putting it on YouTube and other social media websites. It’s about the things that are done off-site, for example, participating in online communities where your customers hang out would be an active role that falls under SMM.

SMO plays more towards refining a website (optimizing it) so that it’s existence and content are easily spread through social mediums and online communities by users and visitors of the website. This can include anything done “on-page” such as improving the usability and design of the website so that it becomes more compelling to users, in an effort to help them spread it through social media sites. The most common example of SMO is represented by all the “digg this” and “add to delicious” icons and links that are all over the web today.

The two remind me of the differences between pull vs. push marketing, and I have to be careful what I say here. In a way with SMM you are actually pushing your message out there, but that’s usually where the pushing stops. Once you push that message out there it should not require any more pushing. A true viral marketing campaign is so good that it spreads on it’s own and people actually want to spread it, so the push usually ends with the creation and initial “planting” of the campaign. SMO is all about pulling people in with an “optimized” site and encouraging visitors to spread your content without any effort on your part. I think the clear difference between the two is that SMO refers to on-page modifications (on your website) while SMM refers to activities that take place outside of your website (on other websites). As I see it, Social Media Optimization can be one of the ways to encourage Social Media Marketing activities by users and visitors of your website.

What other people think about these ideas about social media optimization and social media marketing and does my explanation make sense to you, or do we need to go back to the drawing board?