Do we really need to design differently for the so called "Digital Natives"?

This month, I worked with Tony Karrer to help create the ASTD Big Question (which always seems to be multiple questions under one big theme.) The main question is Learning design differences for Digital Natives?

Of course I have strong opinions on the topic due to the fact that I've written about it many times and I spend all day with digital natives at Bloomsburg University.

I'm having trouble deciding if I should rant on this topic or try to build a rational argument so I think this post will be a bit of both. Let me rant first...

Yes, yes and yes. We need to redesign training to meet the expectations of the digital natives...we need to run away from boring, page turning e-learning courses and provide Just-in-Time learning opportunities, we need to think outside the course and consider communities, learners teaching learners and we need to enable the use of gadgets for learning...do you text message anything to your learners? Stand up training isn't going away but it needs to be reconfigured...let's incorporate (when they make sense) more interactive learning experiences, more games and more technology...not for the sake of technology but for the sake of improving learning. Use technology when it improves learning and don't use it when it doesn't...

Getting back to a more scholarly approach...The sub-questions for this month's big question are:

• Do you believe that we have to design, develop and deliver instruction differently for the so-called Digital Natives?
  
• Are there differences in learning expectations and styles or can we just design good instruction and know that it meets all generational needs?
  
• If you have an audience that includes natives and immigrants, how can you effectively design instruction without breaking the bank?

First of all, some definitions are in order, Digital Native is someone who has grown up with technology. For example, someone born in 1994 was born the same year that Newsweek Magazine named the Internet "Person of the Year." This means such a person (in the US) has never known a time when the Internet was not a major contributor to culture, society and learning. This is also a group of individuals who have grown up in a culture influenced by the proliferation of video games, that is why I tend to use the term "Gamer" to describe the people who have grown up influenced by video games. Also, understand these terms are generalizations and there are exceptions on both sides of the term but the attempt is to provide a general description of what we must do as instructional designers, trainers or educators to reach these gamers.

A Digital Immigrant is someone who has had to adapt to technology along the way...didn't have computers until college or late high school.

So,Do we have to design, develop and deliver instruction differently for the Digital Natives?the answer is "Yes." This is due to expectations, capabilities and the overwhelming amount of information people are now required to know on the job.

Enter rant, As designers and people who deliver instruction we MUST reconfigure our training programs to meet the new needs of the Digital Natives. We can't lead them into a classroom and lecture to them on sales techniques after FORCING them to turn off computers, cell phones and other technologies...hey don't they use these technologies to schedule appointments, track customers and perform other job related tasks...perhaps we should incorporate those tools into the training process. Perhaps we should create training that can be leveraged by these tools. Tools that, if left behind, they stop the car and return home to get them before they continue on with the day...that is how important these tools have become. We can't ignore them when we have a training class.

The next question, Are there differences in learning expectations and styles or can we just design good instruction and know that it meets all generational needs?

There are differences is uses of technology in attention spans and in processing of information. (See Chapter One of Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning). We are naive to think that a generation who has grown up during a certain time is not influenced by the technology...they are, they are shaped by it. They are dependent on it...they learn with it. If we don't use those techniques, concepts and approaches in our training programs...we are losing huge opportunities to help them learn. Good instructional strategies are still good instructional strategies but we need to be more creative in how we deploy those strategies and leverage technologies to provide good strategies. Perhaps technologies has allowed us to now maximize learning...for example, we've always known that the sooner a learner receives feedback, the higher the retention of the learning. With educational video games, feedback can be instant as opposed to a classroom where you might not get feedback until you take a quiz on the content.

Finally, "If you have an audience that includes natives and immigrants, how can you effectively design instruction without breaking the bank?" I've written on the topic before so here are some ideas.

Acknowledge to the class that their are multiple generations within the class and that each generation may have a different preference for learning and different expectations. Often people aren't aware of what causes generational differences...they just know that the "kids have no work ethic" or that "he expects me to stop my life to work on this project." So, one of your jobs as an instructor is to let all of your learner know that there are differences and that some of them are related to the different experiences of each generation....Another technique is team up the learners based on generation. Team a Gamer/Millennial with someone from the Silent Generation or from the Boomer Generation.

Mix up your own approach. Chances are, you teach or train based on your own preferences. Get out of your comfort zone and begin to involve other techniques that appeal to different generations. Have some online assignments, group assignments, in class games and don't forget a little lecture. Also, have the learners teach each other (using guidelines you create.) Try to mix things up every 10 minutes or so.

Also, when making a point or presenting examples of concepts or ideas you are teaching, use multiple examples. Try to think of an example or metaphor that would cover several generations or pick on per generation. Have your learners develop these types of metaphors that meets their own preference. Learner creation is a power tool for retention and recall.

For the entire blog entry on the subject, see Teaching/Training Across the Generations

So yes, we must think differently about instructional design and the learning events we create because of the expectations, habits and learning styles of the digital natives (or as some people call them...digital savages.) If you are interested in learning more about the subject, you can see the web site Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning and read some whitepapers, articles, acquire a book on the topic and even see some examples of instruction designed for these digital natives.

Thanks to Tony for the question.


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Even Spies Play Video Games

One more high-stakes government agency has joined the growing ranks of organizations that are using video games to teach life and death concepts. In the Wired article U.S. Spies Use Custom Videogames to Learn How to Think the author explains how the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency has taken delivery of three PC-based games under a $2.6 million contract. The goal is to quickly train the next generation of spies to analyze and respond to real-life complex issues that face them on the job.

As the article states:

Given a choice between a droning classroom lecture or a videogame, the best method for teaching Generation Y was obvious. "It is clear that our new workforce is very comfortable with this approach," says Bruce Bennett, chief of the analysis-training branch at the DIA's Joint Military Intelligence Training Center...

The games themselves are actually a surprisingly clever and occasionally surreal blend of education, humor and intellectual challenge, aimed at teaching the player how to think....

The games put the player into the shoes of a young, eager but sometimes hapless DIA analyst...

Intelligence videogames are an example of the way in which the government's training methods are changing. Traditional decision-making exercises have been done through the classroom BOGSAT (Bunch of Guys Sitting Around a Table). But videogame technology offers the possibility of running long-distance exercises with human- and computer-controlled avatars.

The article also does a good job of explaining that video games are not a panacea, they have limitations like other forms of training.

...Videogames won't fix what some analyts see as systemic flaws in American intelligence, where conclusions by analysts are distorted as they work their way up the chain of command. "A lot of problems are stated as analytical when they're management problems," Rossmiller says.

And games as teaching tools are only as effective as the assumptions behind them, says John Prados, a designer of hobby war games as well as an historian who has studied U.S. intelligence. For example, prescripted events in a game will tend to reflect the biases of the game's designers as they steer the player toward certain decisions.

These are two excellent points. Video game-based training, or any training for that matter cannot overcome management issues. If an organization has management problems, training is not the answer.

Second, if a video game is not programmed carefully with the proper assumptions and parameters, it will not be as effective as you need it to be. Game design elements are critically important for any effective use of a video game as a training platform. Spend as much time and effort (if not more) on the design of the game as you do on its programming.

Finally, if you do not work for an intelligence agency, you may want to consider some commercial, off-the-shelf spy games that put you into the role of a super spy. My all time favorite is James Bond 007: Nightfire by Electronic Arts because it casts you in a first person spy mode. You are James Bond for the game. Very fun.

Thanks Jay for pointing me to this article.
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Roll Up Your Sleeves and Get to Work

Whenever I tackle a new instructional design project one of the first things I do is look through my files for old instructional design projects. Where is that audience analysis checklist I developed? In what folder is that chart I use to explain concepts to new designers? Where is my template for creating and teaching a software procedure? (actually you can find that here.)

It gets tough when I have to start from scratch. Creating a tool or instrument I haven't before is a long, careful process.

This is where I have to roll up my sleeves and get busy. I'm always thinking...Wouldn't it be great if I could look to my book shelf and find an example of needs analysis questions or e-learning storyboards? And wouldn't it be even better if I could then have an electronic version of the tool so I wouldn't have to re-type the entire thing again?

Well, my colleague and fellow writer Jane Bozarth has done just that...she has created a valuable resource containing all kinds of examples of tools used in the instructional design process. The book is titled "From Analysis to Evaluation."

Jane goes through the ADDIE model and provides practical tools and examples for every step from analysis tools to evaluation tools and everything else in between. And the templates and tools are on a CD-ROM (how quaint) that comes with the book so you can take those samples in MS Word and get to work modifying and changing them.

These are sample audience surveys, data gathering worksheets, checklists, tips on getting management buy-in, templates for conducting risk assessments and cost analysis and other really valuable materials. It is a great book of samples and examples that any designer, seasoned or wet-behind-the-ears would love to have. It is a toolbox of instructional design tools ready to open so you can begin building effective learning events. A great concept.

I contributed a few tools to the work as did many, many other people. These multiple contributions give you a wide range and perspective on the various tools. A great supplement to any ID text book.

But alas in reading the introduction to the book...one of the laments of Jane was that she didn't get many ROI tools submitted to the book, so here is a contribution which for some strange reason, I didn't send Jane this material for the current edition but will send for the next. In the meantime, you can read  How to Conduct a Performance-Based ROI.

So a great book and I suggested anyone designing instruction to pick it up. You'll find it very helpful.

As a side note, I had so much fun on my Blog Book Tour that I'm trying to talk Jane into a Blog Book tour. So if anyone is interested in joining the tour, let me know and I'll pass the word to Jane.

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NASA Jumps into the Game Development Universe

Are you trying to "sell" games internally as a valid method of teaching content. Perhaps if you mention that government agencies like NASA are investing in this methodology, you might have a better chance of making your case. Also, guide them to Games Teach Life Saving Skills: Accidently as an argument as well.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced the creation of a Massively Multi-player Online, or MMO, educational game to interested development partners.

The game is

Designed to enhance learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, the game would be designed to draw players into a synthetic environment that can serve as a powerful "hands-on" tool for teaching a range of complex subjects, officials said.

Check out the article NASA tech might be used for Web gaming
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Work at Learning, Learning at Work

Manish Mohan is helping to create a Working/Learning blog carnival. I think it was originally created by Dave at Dave's Whiteboard and then Manish agreed to host the April edition. You can read about the definition and thought behind a blog carnival at Dave's blog.

So, here are my thoughts on "Work at Learning, Learning at Work"

There is a mistake that most people make. They think learning should be easy, simple and straightforward. In my experience, it is anything but...

To truly learn something one must exert effort, work up a mental sweat and slog through information and data and try again and again until the information is learned. Think back to learning the multiplication tables or even the alphabet or a new language.

A work hard and try-try-again approach is the exact opposite of how learning is done in most corporations. Most often, the employee is sent to a one or two day session and then expected, at the end of that session, to know everything they need to know with no additional training required. Even a few weeks later if the employee has a question the boss will say "didn't you just go to training for that?" There seems to be a perception at work that learning only takes a one time exposure to the topic.

This is simply not the case. Learning is a process. Learning at work requires an effort, a mental sweat and time for reflection. Does that happen in most workplace educational events...not in my experience. Even e-learning is a one and done.

In fact e-learning is seen as task that the learner/employee should attempt to speed through as quickly as possible. I once evaluated a web-based compliance training course at a financial-related company. The reason for the evaluation was because an employee had done something wrong and caused a federal investigation into the non-compliant event. I investigated the effectiveness of the training course and found the average amount of time employees spent in the e-learning course was 12 minutes. So once a year, for 12 minutes the employees received information on what not to do and it was expected that those 12 minutes would be enough to ensure compliance. Obviously, it wasn't.

Learning at work requires work to learn. Becoming an expert or seasoned employee or even a contributing employee requires work to learn new technologies, new regulations. It requires work to learn about the application of information to new problems. It takes work to learn how to stay up on new concepts and ideas in the field. It takes work to learn to be a manager, supervisor or any other leader of people.

Employees need to work at learning and companies need to allow employees to learn at work. In the long run, it benefits everyone.
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Problem-Based Learning in 3D Environment

Today I am presenting on the topic of Designing Problem-Based Learning Environments in a 3D On Line Virtual World at the 19th International Conference on Teaching and Learning. And I am receiving an Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching,Learning and Technology (I was nominated by Bloomsburg University for the award, I am honored.)

More impotantly, here is the MSIT Second Life Wiki which ontains the paper for the conference and a ton of useful resources.

Here are some resources I mentioned concerning other Second Life presentations I've done.
Here are the slides from anASTD TechKnowledge Presentation.

Here are a couple of books used for Second Life.
Here are the links:



Other resources:

SL Portal
LSL Wiki

Here is a post to additional links:
Second Life Resourses: Supporting NCTT Opening Address
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Understanding the Generations

A while ago (I am so far behind in "posts I want to make"), Colleen asked me if I had any references or anything about the differences in generations in the workplace so I wanted to provide her with some references and then thought I would share with everyone so...here they are.

Of course the first book I would recommend is "Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning" but that really just has the first chapter concentrated on the gap between boomers and the net generation (gamers).

In terms of discussing four generations in the workplace, I have found some interesting books on the topic from a variety of disciplines and approaches.

I find this one article Mixing and Managing Four Generations of Employees in the Fairleigh Dickinson University Magazine to be a good read and a good overview of the issue.

This article Retaining the Four Generations in the Workplace which is not too deep but a nice overview, works well with the FDU article mentioned above.

Forbes Magazine has a good article titled When the Old and Young Collide at Work.

This article, Four Generations Working Together contains a broad definition of each generation by year.


In terms of books, check out:

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Great Women of Web 2.0 Talk

I really enjoyed my talk the other night with the Women of the Web 2.0. I had a great time and it is a great group of people to work with.

We discussed games and how they can be used in the classroom. And we discussed a number of great web sites from all over so here are a few of the sites we discussed.

Here are some sites where teachers can create their own online games and/or 3D environments.

• The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for those working for publicly-funded non-profit-making educational institutions, who make their pages available on the web. Other users must pay for a license. Check out the Hot Potatoes licensing terms and pricing on the
  
  
• Alice is a 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a teaching tool for introductory computing. It uses 3D graphics and a drag-and-drop interface to facilitate a more engaging, less frustrating first programming experience.
  
  
• Twilight Software Adventure Game Engine. This is for the more tech savvy teacher, The Twilight AGE game engine allows for the creation and delivery of commercial-grade first-person adventure games and other multimedia. The engine, which runs under Microsoft Windows 95, 98 and 2000, utilises Microsoft's DirectX and DirectXMedia technologies for maximum performance.
  
  
• For an interesting discussion and examples of video game design and development in the classroom, go to Clickteam. The site has TeacherTube videos and a place to download the software.
  
  
• For all kinds of links to game development sites, go to the Ambronsine web site provides all kinds of game related resources for various types of games and types of game engines.

If you know of any other great sites, please add to the comments.

And to listen to the talk, go to Women of the Web 2.0 Show # 70.

Check out the delicious links for the show.
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Joining Women of the Web 2.0 Tomorrow Night

Tomorrow night at I will be joining a group of distinguish web personalities in a live talk show called Women of Web 2.0. It will be show number 70 and we will be covering a range of topics from games for educators to the need for textbook editors to provide more engaging content to teachers.

If you would like to listen to the show live, (it's free) you can go to EdTechTalk and click on Women of Web 2.0 and hear my discussion with Cheryl, Sharon, Jennifer and Vicki (Cool Cat Teacher).

The show starts at 9:00 EST (6:00 PST) so don't miss your chance to chat live about Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning. If you miss the live version, there will be a recorded version you can check out as well. (I'll be posting a link after the show.)
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Blog Changes Happening

Over the next few days, you will see some changes to my blog...so please bare with me. And, if you have ever wanted something added to my blog, now would be the time to let me know.
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Big IBM/Second Life Announcement this Week!

Thanks to Tony O'Driscoll at Learning Matters! for pointing this out. He let everyone know on his blog posting The i-web Singularity Redux that at Virtual Worlds III this week the announcement was made that Second Life has worked out a deal with IBM to move Second Life behind the IBM corporate firewall. If this can be a standard business practice for Second Life (living behind corporate firewalls) it is a removal of a huge obstacle for entry into 3D worlds for many industries like Pharmaceutical and Financial.

Over at Virtual Worlds News blog, the posting reads:

There's always been interest in using Second Life for business. For most corporations, though, it's been too insecure, lacking the ability to hold determinedly private conversations, host the platform behind a firewall, or generally treat the world as an intranet as opposed to the Internet. IBM announced today that it was changing that. In a pilot program, IBM will host its own sections of the Second Life Grid behind a firewall, allowing the company's users to come and go between private and public spaces at will.

You can see other IBM efforts in Second Life such as the Healthcare island. Read about it in IBM Opens New 3D Virtual Healthcare Island on Second Life

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Thanks to Rupa!

Writing a book is a lot of hard work and, as an author, one always wonders whether or not the book has value. Sales can tell you a little bit but not the entire story.

So I was delighted to read the wonderful review by Rupa of Writer's Gateway. Rupa is an Information Developer in SAP Labs,India and a post graduate in English Literature from Pondicherry University.

Recently, she made a posting titled Games Gadgets and Gizmos for Learning - Worth a Read

She writes

Of all the time I spent in March, reading Prof Karl Kapp‘s book called Gadgets, Games, and Gizmos for Learning has been the most delightful experience ever...This book is certainly worth a read and I strongly recommend this book for all organizations including, schools, colleges, corporate houses and training institutes and for teachers, trainers, people in leadership roles in workplaces and even parents.

So all I can say is:
1) Rupa, I hope your April is a little more exciting than your March.. :)
2) Thanks for the endorsement and for taking time to blog about the book, very much appreciated.
3) I am glad you like it and that it is making a positive impact.

Take care Rupa and thanks!

Judge for yourself. Pick up a copy of the book at the book's website: Gadges, Games and Gizmos for Learning.(or just browse about the web site, lots of good, free stuff on the site.)
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Second Life Pictures from Webinar

A few days ago, I presented a webinar titled "Second Life in Education" for NETWORKS which is is a National Science Foundation Resource Center that is focused on the advancement of semiconductor, automated manufacturing, and electronics education. NETWORKS has a Digital Repository that contains classroom ready resources that are current, relevant, and easy to implement into a curriculum.

We had a little over 30 attendees at the webinar and had a really good time checking out our island and looking at all the educational benefits of a 3D world like Second Life. You can read a little more about the tour in TechSpectives:Second Life in Education blog entry.

During the tour I "took some pictures" and so here they are.

Special thanks to Mark Viquesney for arranging the entire event.

Here is the entire group putting on our firefighter gear.


Here is the group trying their hand at building.
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Bored?-Try Dissecting a Frog

This has been around for a while but is a great example of using technology to help teach and save resources. It is a lot of fun. So, if you have a few moments, try dissecting this virtual frog. Good for science and saves frogs! Go to Virtual Frog Dissection and start cutting.
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Second Life Webinar-Today

ID Stadium which is used for in-world presentations.
Today I am presenting a webinar titled "Second Life in Education" for NETWORKS which is is a National Science Foundation Resource Center that is focused on the advancement of semiconductor, automated manufacturing, and electronics education. NETWORKS has a Digital Repository that contains classroom ready resources that are current, relevant, and easy to implement into a curriculum.

NETWORKS also provides a National Faculty Externship Program, Online Webinars, and TechSpectives Blog to keep educators up-to-date with emerging technologies and educational issues. Educators, companies, non-profits and others can join NETWORKS and help create a community of education and industry partners dedicated to the ongoing development of a highly skilled workforce.

It is a great resource, you should check it out. NETWORKS is part of MATEC which is housed at Maricopa Community College. You can also check out their blog written by Mark Viquesney called TechSpectives.

So today I am going to discuss the basics of Second Life and how it can be used in educational settings effectively. To help emphasize my point, here are some video clips and resources webinar attendees may find helpful.

Video showing the educational uses of Second Life created by students.

Interactive science lab created by a team at Ohio State through NSF funding.


To really get immersed in Second Life, attend this U2inSL Concert...not the real thing but close.

Here are some links to other information and resources:

Here is the video for the Second Life office clip.

Virtual Jeans=Real Jeans. Great story about virtual manufacturing in Second Life.

Second Life Books. Here is a list of three books that are helpful for learning about Second Life.

Second Life Resourses. Here are some additional Second Life resources and information.

Also check out the Second Life Education Wiki.

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The Iron Chef of ID

Last year (seems like a long time ago), I was named one of 2007's Most Influential Training professionals by TrainingIndustry Inc. which was nice but, in no way compares to the honor of being "named", The Iron Chef of ID by Robyn and Brandy at Dishing Design: Making Great Recipes for Learning.

The site is a cooking-oriented ID site, the focus is on design but it uses cooking related metaphors to get the point across.

Here is the instant replay of how I "captured/manipulated" the title:

Background: When Dishing Design was first created, I was listed on the blog roll as "Master Chef". So I sent a quick email and the following chain resulted. NOTE: This relates to the original Iron Chef, not the current American Iron Chef which is not the same at all!

Me: Love Dishing Design, when I have some time I will be adding some comments, but just one simple request...instead of Master Chef...is Iron Chef available?

Dishing Design: LOL – Absolutely you may be the Iron Chef of Dishing Design – does this mean some day we will have to challenge you? ;) Nice, Dr. Kapp! You can be Iron Chef...at your request!

Me: Yes, you will have to challenge me in "ID Stadium" with the secret ingredient of... "concepts"

Dishing Design: You're on! That just so happens to be my specialty dish! hahaha... Ok, I'm done now.

Me: And if the challenger wins...she will have the accolades of all the land.
Chairman Kaga may, one day, oversee the Iron Chef ID Battle in ID Stadium.

Ok, so a little diversion in the land of ID...but seriously, I urge you to hop over to Dishing Design and see what they are "cooking up." Some good things are happening in the ID Kitchen. And metaphors are good ways of teaching concepts.

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Face to Face Workshop Suggestions

From time to time, I evaluate workshops designed for faculty members to share best practices and ideas with each other. Here is a list of general recommendations I've gathered through the years. I think these recommendations can enhance any face-to-face workshop or conference.

• Provide targeted, technical presentations. There is a group of attendees who enjoy and need to know the more technical ends of a discipline or the field, appeal to them as well.
  
  
• Make hands-on sessions longer. With the technical sessions, participants would like to really get involved with the subject. An hour or even and hour and a half is not enough time, provide some half day, in-depth sessions.
  
  
• Have different “tracks” through the conference/workshop. Maybe an LMS Administrator Track, an online learning track and a stand up teaching track. Also consider an “Advanced Track” and a “Fundamentals Track.”
  
  
• Have a group session at the end for evaluation. In this session, conduct a focus group. You can also oversee the completion of evaluation forms on a computer perhaps right there before they leave. Have computers available at the end of each day for attendees to complete evaluation forms.(yes do the evaluations online)
  
  
• Consider creating a session that helps identify and bring different parties together for possible collaborative partnerships. See if two or more organizations can discuss issues and then team up to collaborate as a result of the discussions. Maybe have certain topics available around which schools can collaborate.
  
  
• Encourage the sharing of content among instructors. Perhaps have them each bring their best lesson or something to post.
  
  
• Create, before the conference, a way of knowing who was attending in order to form special interest groups and arrange meetings during the conference and afterward with social networking software.

What ideas do you have for making face-to-face workshops or conferences better for the attendees? Please let me know.

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Article: Online Communities Go Corporate

A few weeks ago, I was interviewed along with a number of other folks for an online article about the corporate implications of virtual worlds.

The resulting article is titled Online Communities Go Corporate:What Can Virtual Worlds Do For Your SME?

The article, appearing in the online publication Processor, describes how different organizations are replicating, "with some accuracy, the experience of working physically alongside others, including working with and sharing digital 3D models of physical or theoretical objects."

The article also references an article by Susan Kish titled Virtual Worlds:Second Life and the Enterprise where she defines some terms and provides a great graphic showing the inter-relationships between MMORPGs, Metaverses and MMOLEs. (Yeah! to Susan for using the term MMOLE!)
Susan Kish's diagram showing the intersection of various online worlds.

Take a few moments to check out both articles.

For even more information, here is an article I wrote for ASTD Learning Circuits titled Defining and Understanding Virtual Worlds.

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More Help Desk Fun

Tony Karrer at eLearning Technology posted a very funny video about a "helpdesk before computers" in his post Technology Adoption Issues. You should check it out.

So, after I finished watching the video posted by Tony, I viewed a couple of the recommended videos by YouTube and came across this Star Wars Help Desk video. Great accidental learning (if that is what you call it). So, I had to share this video. And thanks again to Tony Karrer for the great link. I plan to use this video in a few upcoming presentations I am giving about technology.



If you haven't browsed the YouTube library for helpful videos, you need to do so. The amount of good information on that site is amazing (of course so is the amount of garbage.)
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Changing Attitudes about Manufacturing Jobs

The problem:
Many middle school students in the United States decide, during middle school, that they don't want a career in manufacturing. Yes, they decide that early (as many studies show.) Then, years later companies who manufacture products in the US (yes, there are many) have trouble finding qualified college graduates because career choices made in middle school impact a student for the rest of his or her life. (This phenomenon is greatly impacting the fields of science, engineering and technology as well.)

Getting back to manufacturing, as I say in Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning:

Many manufacturing companies have eliminated their apprenticeship programs. Trade and vocation schools are mistakenly viewed as places to send troubled students. There have been well publicized layoffs and plant closures. The signals all are leading members of the gamer/net generation to fear that manufacturing jobs are dead ends. The manufacturing industry will not be able to transfer knowledge to new employees if new employees don’t enter into the field. In fact, many “old economy” jobs are not seen as desirable by the younger generation and the recruitment of these folks is going to be a hot issue in those fields.

This is a problem for an entire industry

One Answer:
To help address this problem, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers-Education Foundation has created a web site geared specifically toward middle school students to teach them about careers in manufacturing as they related the engineering with examples from Nike, Caterpillar and many others. The site is designed to change the image of manufacturing in the minds of the middle school sudents from an "old economy" career choice to something that is cool (which it is).
Manufacturing is Cool web site.
Thus the name "Manufacturing is cool." The site has some great interactivity and ideas that you might consider incorporating into any training you are creating to change attitudes toward safety or compliance issues or toward a new program or any training where attitude change is a goal.

Think About:
Is any of your training geared toward changing attitudes? What are you doing specifically to recruit young people into your organization? Are you thinking about your industry and whether or not it is attractive to middle school students? Can some of the same ideas in this web site be used in your development of online learning events?

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Wii to the Rescue...Wii Causes Injury...Infinite Loop

Yet, another great use for video games. This time the Wii console is used for helping to re-hab from injury...so much more fun than swimming lap after lap in a pool.

Check out the article Break a leg? Try ‘Wiihabilitation’

As the article states:

[Use of the Wii] is fast becoming a craze in rehab therapy for patients recovering from strokes, broken bones, surgery and even combat injuries...Using the game console's unique, motion-sensitive controller, Wii games require body movements similar to traditional therapy exercises. ...patients become so engrossed mentally they're almost oblivious to the rigor.

How does this use track with the story below from from the parody site Wii have a problemAs the story states:

"I've had my Wii for 3 weeks now. I've been playing just long enough to discover that you can do some cool moves in Wii sports, tennis. High underhand balls, smashes and screw-balls. I was practicing the screw-balls with great empathy and excitement. Suddenly I bang the Wiimote up in my ceiling lamp which is made of glass, and cut my index finger all the way to the bone." -David from Denmark

Do those individuals being injured by the Wii use the Wii for rehab? is that some kind of infinite loop? You tell me?
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Don't Educate, Automate

It doesn’t always make sense to teach people. Sometimes it is better to automate the process and eliminate the need for training. Training is time consuming, expensive and not always effective. In fact, many software training programs, classes and manuals are necessary because the designers of the software did not take the time to think through how those using the software would be interfacing with it.

Here is something from Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning that helps explain the point:

In high school, I literally had a lesson on how to fold a map. The lesson was part of a six week class on how to read and use maps. I vividly remember the lesson because it confounded me how re-folding a simple piece of paper could be so darn frustrating. I always had the last flap inside out. Instead of the nice map cover, I had an obscure piece of Pennsylvania highway on the front. I did not do well folding a map and only a little better reading it.

When I got older, I always seemed to have jobs that required me to travel (someone has a warped sense of humor). Therefore, I always had various types of maps in various stages of being folded shoved into the glove compartment of my car—just enough so it would close. The maps had highlighter all over them from my efforts to determine the quickest route to my destination. Then one day, after being forced to take my car because hers was in the shop, my wife bought me an atlas. It had all the maps in a nice neat book I could keep on the front seat. It was a great improvement for the aesthetics of my car.

Then, a few years ago, I started to use automated directions from the internet. It was fantastic; all I needed to do was type in my home address and the destination address. My printer would instantly provide turn-by-turn directions and even small pictures of the route highlighted in purple. I received a printed set of instructions guiding me to my final destination. I could throw away my atlas.

Whenever I traveled, the electronic directions provided pinpoint accuracy for about 99% of the trip. For some reason, they seemed to break down all time during the last mile. The last 5280 feet were always wrong. Leading me to believe that gas stations created the web based directions so you would stop in and ask for directions. It was also a little scary from time-to-time trying to read the directions at 60 miles an hour to determine whether or not I should get off at the upcoming exit which was three lanes over.

Another unfortunate side effect, was that my car now had dozens of sheets of paper scattered about. Every trip required one set of directions for my destination and one set for the return trip. If I wanted to take a side trip, I needed to print directions for that little jaunt as well. These directions were a definite improvement over maps, no folding, but my car was back to being a mess.

Enter Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. I now have a small device that looks like a tiny television monitor stuck on the inside of my windshield and plugged into the outlet of my car. It is a GPS receiver. This receiver, no bigger than six inches, displays a map showing the route I need to follow and providing a visual image of my car on the highway. It also gives me verbal turn-by-turn directions from a female voice named “Jill.” It has eliminated both my need to print directions from the internet and the danger of trying to read instructions at 60 miles an hour. Technology has replaced the need to teach people how to read (and fold) maps and it made my car neater.

Can you think of any areas in your company that would benefit, not from training but from automation? Can performance be improved through automating simple processes or even complex ones?
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Nadira Hira Talks about Generation Y

A few days ago at the Kaplan-EduNeering Life Sciences Knowledge Exchange that well known advocate of Generation Y, Nadira Hira gave an awesome presentation highlighting what organizations need to consider when recruiting, retaining and assimilating Generation Y folks into their organization.

Nadira making a point about Generation Y.

For anyone who may not know, Nadira Hira is a writer for Fortune who has really made a name for herself documenting Generation Y from an insider's perspective. She has a bog called The Gig. She has written extensively on the topic of Generation Y. One such article is called Attacting the twentysomething worker. She has also written The making of a UPS driver which described how UPS dealt with training Generation Y. If you'd like to know more, check out, her own fan site.

Nadira explains the parents of Generation Y and how they have raised this group to ask a lot of questions of...everything.

At the small venue conference, Nadira spoke about a number of interesting characteristics and expectations of Generation Y.

• They are connected to every friend they've ever made through social networking sites like facebook and MySpace.
  
  
• When recruiting, company's must sell themselves to Generation Y employees because the company is not only competing against its direct competitors but against the peace core, public service jobs and the option of returning home to mom and dad's house and hanging out for a while.
  
  
• Generation Y employees want to know the real vision and mission of your company and want a clear description of how they fit into your organization. They don't want the buzz word filled "mission statement" they want the truth. They are looking to be part of something bigger.
  
  
• To get the best from Generation Y, you need to give them clear guidance and assistance to get started and then they will go like crazy but they need clear initial guidelines and parameters.
  
  
• Don't measure face time with Generation Y, measure outcomes. They don't want to follow procedures just because they are procedures, they need to know why the procedures need to be followed...if there isn't a good reason why they have to give a lot of face time, then they don't want to do it. They ask, "Why do you need to see me if I can do my job at home?"
  
  
• If you are a boomer or Generation X manager...think of managing a Generation Y employee like this...how did you raise your own kids? Did you raise them to "speak up" to challenge things that don't make sense, to question unreasonable requests, that they can "have it all?" The traits that we instilled into our children are not entering into the workforce (this was a great insight to me.)
  
  
• The bottom line, as Nadira stated, is that careful consideration of the needs of Generation Y (flexible work hours, meaningful work, wanting to make a different) makes sense for every generation...its just that Generation Y seems to be very vocal about it and wants these things now...not in 20 years.

Nadira and I pose for the camera.

If you want to read what others thought of Nadira's presentation, read Mike Gaal's blog entry Learning, Games, Training and Generation Y.
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Yes, Ok, I Admit, I've Stayed at the Mayflower Hotel, but...

No, I am not "Client Number 10" from the infamous Eliot Spitzer scandal.

My stay was perfectly above board. Last year I was a speaker at the Kaplan-EduNeering Knowledge Summit. I spoke on the topic of Games and the Gamer Generation to over 100 people and had a chance to do a book signing.

During the presentation, I brought a Nintendo Wii and asked an audience member to come up on stage and do some "virtual surgery." Unfortunately, she lost the patient.
Performing virtual surgery with the Wii.

We discussed how games are converging with haptic devices and how that is creating highly realistic scenarios for learning. We also dicussed the future of learning and how it will change based on a heavy influence from gaming technologies.

Here I am signing Gadgets, Games and Gizmos.

I also discussed how the upcoming generations' views of video games and the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies. As well as thier high comfort level with technology.

I met some really great people at the conference and had some great conversations.

What reminded me of this incident (the presentation)? Currently, I am in San Franciso at the Kaplan-EduNeering Life Sciences Knowledge Exchange talking about Trends in Learning Managment and having a great time with EduNeering clients and learning how they are deploying Compliance Wire and other tools to improve thier operations and, again...signing books:)

Here I am in San Fran signing books for a great audience.

So, yes I was at the Mayflower but for a much different reason than the former-Governor.
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Who's Responsible for This?

ASTD's Big Question this month (March) is actually two questions and since I helped Tony Karrer tweak the question a bit, I feel I must offer some type of answer (plus I aways enjoy the discussion around the Big Question.)

So, here is the big question for this month:

• Do educational institutions and corporate learning & development departments have responsibility for supporting Long Tail Learning? Do they have responsibility for learning beyond what can be delivered through instruction? If so, what is their responsibility? Where is the edge of responsibility?
  
  
• Similarly, does the instructor have a responsibility to help students make sense of or deal with content he or she did not teach the students? In other words, if a student finds information on the Internet or some other place, how much time and attention should the instructor allow for the discussion of such content? Should it be discussed at all if it is non-conventional or generally thought of as not credible or contradicts the instructor? Who determines credible research? Is all non-referred research questionable?

I think corporate learning departments need to go through the same evolutionary process that the quality control departments of manufacturing companies have gone through over the past 50 years.

Prior to the 1980s, most manufacturing organizations "inspected in" quality. In other words, there jobs were like policemen, they randomly stopped and inspected products to find defects. If a defect was found the entire box or lot or whatever measure was used was scrapped and the production workers simply re-did that production run with, hopefully, better results.

Then in the 1980s with the advent of all types of quality movements, philosophies and ideas, the quality department changed from inspecting in quality to helping create processes and procedures that helped to ensure quality was part of the standard operating procedure. They didn't inspect a part after it was manufactured, instead they showed the operator how to determine if a machine was running in tolerance or trending toward non-tolerance. They didn't hold a product up to the light to see if it had defects, they looked to see if the SOP was followed and whether or not the process was accurately performed time and time again. People at first thought that quality would be prohibitively expensive but found that quality actually reduced costs, less mistakes, less recalls, less rework. The quality department became experts in the quality process and taught others how to create quality products through quality processes. They weren't the police any more, they were the architects.

Training and development departments need to become the architects of learning within an organization but not the sole builders. It is the responsibility of the learning organizations to create the standards, best practices and suggested SOPs for creating content and then let the learners within the organization create the content under those guidelines. Trying to hoard the creation and dissemination of knowledge in one area is non-sense but so is expecting a line manager to know how to create good instruction. However, if the line manager follows guidelines created by learning and development professionals (who have a degree) then he or she can create something that meets the needs and is acceptable at a basic level.

This is a model that can work with large organizations where every person may need to create some type of instructional piece for someone. Organizations need to have training SOPs that can be followed by others to create instruction in a wiki, blog or PowerPoint when needed. Learning and development professionals must stop trying to create all the needed instruction (loosing battle) and start creating templates, guides and performance support systems that can be used by others to create instruction on an ad hoc basis.

Turning to academia, I think the instructor has an obligation to the learners to allow all types of content into class (as long as it is related) so an open debate can be had about its appropriateness. No one person can know everything and every field as a story of a rogue researcher that is ridiculed and then, much later, the field finds out the researcher was, all along, correct and the entire field was under a terrible mis-conception. On the other hand, there is a lot of quack research in all types of fields. In a classroom, in academia, I think one must discuss the fundamentals and basics to give the students a solid academic leg to stand on. Then, other contrarian views can be discussed, weighed and considered. It is a bad practice to dismiss an idea out-of-hand. Academia, of all places, should allow a healthy debate and discussion of many views and ideas and allow the learner to ultimately decide what is correct based on an understanding of the facts.

We in academia must teach our learners how to examine research for flaws and how to interpret studies. Careful consideration of many view points is valid but we must also teach our learners how to tell the "snake oil" salesperson from someone with a legitimate alternative point of view....much easier said than done...I admit.

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Presentation Tips

Recently a few people have asked me about the best way to create a presentation. It seems that they are stuck or have colleagues stuck in the "dump as much as you can on the slide" development technique.

I even received an email the other day from someone who had read Edward Tufte's PowerPoint Essay and who wanted to know if ANYTHING good could come from PowerPoint....

The answer is yes.

But you need to be careful. So first I offer my version of Avoiding Death by PowerPoint which provides some techniques for taking boring bullets and adding a little excitement.

Next here are some tips from the "Presentation" portion of my book Winning E-Learning Proposals.

• Be careful with your background and text. Too many times the creator of the slides develops a multicolored background with multicolored words and expects the viewer in the back of the room to read the dark text on the dark background. It doesn't work.
  
  
• Use 24-point font or larger. Remember that when you are creating the presentation, you are right there and can see it up close. In a conference room or other presentation area the viewers are further away from the screen and they don't all have 20/20 vision (especially if they are over 40 like me.) The guideline of 24-Point font usually accommodates most people and most rooms.
  
  
• Follow the 6x6 rule. This means a slide should have no more than 6 lines of text and no more than 6 words per line. The slide should NOT be your notes. It should contain key words that prompt you to recall the information you are presenting and leave the audience wondering what you are going to say about bullet three.
  
  
• The graphic images you put on your slides should have a direct link to the information on the slide. "I put this picture here because I like it" is not a good reason to add a visual. Visuals need to add meaning.
  
  Don't talk directly to the slides...turn around and face the audience.

Here is another link to the topic of Avoiding Death by PowerPoint from ZD Net.

Also check out Think OutSide the Slide. Contains good example in the opening page of transforming slides into meaningful visuals.

Also check out this book (not directly related to PowerPoint but good stuff...Say It with Charts by Gene Zelazny.)

Finally, if you really want to know about creating effective presentations in general and great presentations with good PowerPoint...go to Presentation Zen. This is Garr Reynold's excellent blog about all-things-presentation and should be a must read for anyone creating a presentation.
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Apple iPhone Opens Up...

Apple has just released its developer kit...cool stuff. Check out this video of Jobs talking about what you can do in terms of software creation for the iPhone..at the Apple March 6th event.

So this weekend, get a hold of an iPhone and start developing some neat software. I think this has the potential to push mlearning over the tipping point and really accelerate its adoption.
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Virtual Jeans=Real Jeans

In the future this...


May morph into this...

Here is a piece from a software review I did for the March/April issue of APICS Magazine...

There is a Second Life factory called the Double Happiness Jeans factory. The factory specializes in customized jeans. The production process at the manufacturing plant enables a customer to customize an order to their exact specifications. The company offers several stylish cuts to fulfill different fashion needs – flare, skinny leg, boot cut and relaxed. Customized details include a choice of rinse, pocket style, rivet design, hemline and fly.

While the Double Happiness Jeans factory is similar in many ways to typical textile factory, it is anything but typical. The Double Happiness Jeans factory isn’t a physical factory at all. In fact, the entire plant exists only in Second Life and has no physical assets or inventory. The only place the factory exists is in a virtual, three-dimensional world known as Second Life.

The virtual factory creates real-world products using Second Life to design and customize the jeans.

When a customer orders Happiness Jeans, they are “manufactured” virtually. The jeans travel through ten or so work stations until they meet the customer’s design request. At the end of the 20 minute production process, the jeans enter the real world through a printing process. The data gathered in the Second Life software production process is printed onto a large-format printer loaded with a canvas material that breathes and stretches when it is worn (similar to denim.). The customer picks up the “print out” of the jeans, cuts out the four separate parts and stitches them together. He or she can then wear them around town.

In the Double Happiness application, the data collected in Second Life at each work station is fed into to a computer running the graphics application, Adobe Photoshop, via an Application Program Interface (API) developed specifically for this application. The data is then sent to a printer for the creation of the final product. While the data could be entered directly into PhotoShop, Jeff Crouse, one of the co-founders of Double Happiness Jeans, stated that “this project is about a performance of a manufacturing process, and allowing people to see labor that goes into the goods that they consume - even if it is not real labor.”

To Learn More:

Check out the Double Happiness Manufacturing web site.

Or this article about it in the New York Times.

Also, here is a great blog posting from the Business Communicators of Second Life Blog: Virtual/RealWorld Custom Manufacturing Project: Double Happiness Jeans

Is your organization considering production in a 3D World...why not?
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Have you ever had the URGE to play a video game while driving?

This is an older story but I still find it interesting.

Nissan North America Inc.(NNA) and Microsoft Corp. have merged automobile design and gaming technology to create the first-ever fully integrated gaming system within a vehicle. Conceived by Nissan Design America Inc. (NDA) and equipped with the Xbox 360™ next-generation video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the Nissan URGE concept car allows drivers (while parked) to play “Project Gotham Racing® 3” using the car’s own steering wheel, gas pedal and brake pedal while viewing the game on a flip-down seven-inch LCD screen. “PGR® 3” is developed exclusively for Xbox 360 by Bizarre Creations Ltd. for Microsoft Game Studios.

--Credits to MaxConsole for the reminder.

Here is what I say about it in Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning

Nissan, the large automobile manufacturer, has teamed with Microsoft to create an automobile design that has the first-ever fully integrated gaming system within a vehicle. The concept car, named the URGE, has a built-in Xbox that allows the driver, when the car is in park, to play a racing game [16]. While playing the game, you press the car’s gas pedal to go faster, tap the brake to slow down, and turn the steering wheel to maneuver around virtual cars. In essence, the car becomes one giant game platform. Think driver’s ed.

An even more critical application for a virtual driving simulation is in the area of truck driving. A simulator, built into a truck or bus could help to prepare and test individuals for a commercial driver’s license. Providing a safe learning environment for people preparing for their commercial driver’s licenses is important.

The need for drivers is acute. The national newspaper, USA Today reported that consulting firm Global Insight estimated that in 2005 the trucking industry was short 20,000 drivers and is forecasting a gap that could reach 111,000 in 2014 based on demographics and demand for transporting goods.

What other video games could be merged with our modern conveniences...a cooking game and the stove? Weight loss game and the fridge?
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Eclectic Happenings

This post is a collection of a number of interesting things happening in the blogosphere which don't all fit under one nice, neat category.

First, I have added my comments to the discussion about needing a degree to be an instructional designer. It has been a great discussion, check out the comments in my post We Need a Degree in Instructional Design.

Second, Catherine Lombardozzi over at Learning Journal has posted some work she has done on a model called Learning Environment Design . A very interesting model and worth checking out and considering. It could change the way you design instruction.

Third, a couple of former students of mine have created an entertaining and informative blog titled Dishing Design. It is a fun and clever way of investigating issues involved in instructional design from a couple of consultants in the field.

Fourth, I recently answered a few questions in a webcast format concerning the creation of effective questions for compliance training for Kaplan-EduNeering. Check out February 2008Webcast: Proficiency, Testing and Best Practices

Fifth, a number of Bloomsburg University Instructional Design alumni have sent me their blog address for inclusion on this blog. That's great...but a number haven't (not great)...if you are an alumni and haven't already done so, please send me your blog information for inclusion on this blog...or you'll have to take RFP all over again.:>{
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