The Legacy of Learning Technologies

Wow!  What a semester!  I went from traveling all the time as a trainer at my company, so still traveling all the time as a trainer but also working as an instructional designer, wearing two hats so to speak.  This class couldn't have come at a better time for me in my professional life as it has introduced me to many of the things I will need to be successful in my new career path.  Some of the things that I will take with me from this class:

1. Focus on the learners.  This seems fairly self explanatory but it seems to get lost in the thoughts of many Instructional Designers.  No matter what the topic, we need to ensure that we, as Ids are setting the learner up for success after the training is over.

2. Technology is amazing!  There are so many things available to the student to make the learning experience more robust.  It is very easy to use technology to help all types of learners succeed.  An ID can hit most of the multiple intelligences employing technology in training sessions. 

3. Think outside of the box.  Some of the things we did in class this semester weren't what I would consider "typical" training tools.  Take this blog as an example.  Before this semester, I thought blogs were for food porn or movie reviews, not a learning tool.  Reading about how Google employs technology was inspiring and I will be looking to get more ideas from that outstanding organization in the future.

This has been an amazing experience working with all of you and I hope to take more exciting courses like this in the future!

The Webquest... A quest to learn.

Last week we were given the task of completing a "Webquest" in class.  This was an interesting exercise attempting to combine learning in class with a possible real world scenario.  Rather than just reading information and regurgitating that information in a paper, the webquest allows the learner to gain information, and then synthesize what using a real world scenario to solve a problem learned.  

Having the information given to the student is also helpful.  By providing a list of sources this also narrows what the student should be discovering as well as making the assignment time s bit shorter by not having the students spend too much time finding sources.  Using the web is also a benefit for the students.  Not only does it take less time finding sources, but also for those who may not be accustomed to using the web for research this is a great way to introduce the web as a source.  While this my not be the case for many users, there are some who are still learning to utilize the Internet to its fullest potential.

This week we are given the task of creating a webquest assignment.  This is an exciting opportunity for us to learn to design a new way to train students.  

Enter the Blogosphere

Blogs are such a great tool for getting information out to the masses.  I have always thought of this as more of a way for me to gather information for myself on individual topics, not as an interactive learning tool.  As I thought of ways that blogging could be useful in a training development program, I could only think of ways that I, as the instructor, could put information out for the learner to read and respond to. 

Then the "Eureka!" moment came, and not a moment too soon!

I started thinking about how having a place where trainers, students, and outside sources could read and share information on specific ideas would be a great way to help develop students.  Then I started thinking of my job as a training facilitator, and how as a new facilitator I often was concerned that I wasn't training well or handling specific situations well in the class room.  I would have loved a place to post this information and get feedback from my peers, supervisors, senior trainers and even others outside of the training group to help me become a better trainer.  Since I travel extensively for my job and often travel alone, this would have helped me to feel more connected to those back in the office or perhaps other trainers having the same issues as I was having.  A training blog would have been a wonderful asset to have on the road.  For new hires, I would love to initiate a training blog and share it though out the company.  Making it an objective for new trainers to post at least once a week with questions, success stories or struggles could provide the feedback needed to help develop a great training team.  While I don't know how to set up an email address that would automatically post a new blog entry, I am going to look into this for new hires going forward. 

Reflective Blog #1

There are so many things I hope to learn this semester weather through the class proper or through the expertise of my Professor and or classmates.  So far in this semester, I have been given resources to learn Adobe Captivate even though we aren't specifically learning that software in the class.  In my current role I am strictly training delivery.  I don't have much experience in the training development portion so I am excited to learn as much as possible when it comes to developing e-learning modules, software, and LMS products to help me to advance in my career.  Because I feel that e-learning is a growing area for most businesses interested in training their employees, I am ready to explore the different options available.  One of my biggest frustration with my current job is that I am not empowered to create anything other than customer specific training agendas.  Because customer work flow is important in how a training is delivered, as well as meeting the customer's expectations, I can add or remove specific training points.  I am happy to be able to do this , but I would love to be able to create training modules to leave with customers so that they can revisit what they learned in the training. 

As I am a novice, what software do those of you with experience find to be the most useful in creating e-learning modules?  What should I learn to help make myself more marketable in my career?