My Personal Learning Environment

For my own PLE I can divide the content into the four areas listed below as I use a variety of tools to do different things.

Gathering Information

In my line of work, I am constantly searching for information. At times I need to know about tools, interactions, or trends or something to do with instructional design. For this I use the Learning Guild and Canadian Society of Trainers and Developers. Both sites are for learning specialists so allow me to do focused searches. I also use Linked In as a means of determining what others are doing in the industry. With  Feedraider, I monitor courseware development-focused blogs for hints, tips, and tricks. I also use  Feedraider to keep on top of online versions of print materials and  online journals for items that interest me.

When I have a specific learning objective in mind, then I use things like Google or Wikipedia to conduct specific searches. Or I will submit a post on Linked In and ask a specific question. This broadens my response field as Linked In allows you to post to areas of interest that goes to all who subscribe to that area instead of just the people in your personal network.

I am also an avid reader and have a Kindle so I purchase a fair number of online books in my area of interest. A lot of these purchases are for personal enjoyment but I am partial to self help and do it yourself books so that is why I have added Amazon to my PLE.

Sharing Ideas

I am a firm believer that knowledge is meant to be shared.  So when I learn something I like to tell people about it. I share my thoughts on my blog. I share any tips, tricks, or shortcuts there too. I’ve also learned a lot by reading other people’s blogs. I’ve learned a lot that I didn’t want to know either on blogs, so you have learn really fast how to filter information.

 

I work for a global company with offices all over the world. Even though we are global we are still a small company with a limited training budget so it is extremely important that we learn from each other. We host a virtual brown bag lunch session every second Friday on GOTO. The presenter has to share a problem or issue that he/she encountered and explain how they overcome the problem. It’s a great way to learn from someone else’s experiences. We also create short videos and presentations that we use to train staff and post them on Slideshare and YouTube. For brainstorming or sharing ideas we use MindManager; it is what I used to create my PLE concept map.

Communicating

They say you can learn a lot by talking to people; you can learn even more by listening.  Reaching out to discuss a problem or asking someone how to do something is a great way to learn. I use skype to reach out to coworkers or people I know to ask for help when I am trying to learn something.  Also a lot of software companies are now providing a skype number so you can call them directly when you need help with something. And then there is email. You can send someone a question and receive a written response.

I have also added the telephone and people to my PLE under communication.  Just like you can reach someone on skype or via a live chat or through email you can also learn from someone by calling them and asking them something.  That is also why I added people, although I know they are not a tool, but they are sill means of obtaining knowledge through communicating.

 

Acquiring Learning

At the end of the day I have to do something with all of this knowledge I have gained. As Herbert Spencer once said, “The great aim of education is not knowledge but action “ and this section of my PLE is about taking action to formalize some of the knowledge I have gained. At my company, we have a Learning Management System (LMS), ENet, that provides us with the means to take courses and to track our progress and results. We also have on Sharepoint a wiki site and a site called PulseKnowledge to store and share any knowledge we have gained. Our PulseKnowledge site is where we store our lessons learned on all projects so it is a fount of valuable information. And I have the Angel network from the university for my formal studies.

Blogs and lurking

I actually had to set up a blog for another course I took. We had to answer questions each week on the blog similiar to how we answere
 questiosn here in our weekly discussion folders for this course. It was a good experience becasue we were able to have
discussions with other students – I enjoyed seeing their comments on my submissions and making comments on thiers. It was on that blog
 that I first heard of my all time favorite tool Mind Manager- a truly fantastic tool for developing proceses, etc.

My favorite blog is the one for Articualte software- it is so full of tips and tricks and free stuff for developing courses- and you can get answeres to questions so qucily.

 ttuly love it.

I’m not much of a lurker as I prefer to only go on blogs as a means of finding something by askign someone a question . That is
unless you count reading hte comments submitted about news stories. I love reading online newspapers
and while i don’t comment on them- or have not to date- I enjoy the comment section as much as the actual news.

Budgets and Logistics

This week we were asked to  comment on online learning as a delivery format from the perspective of logistics and budget and to refer to the seven factors for choosing delivery formats listed on page 291 of Cafarella.  My thoughts on each factor and its logistical or budgetary concerns are listed below.

 

• Background of adult learners:  I don’t see any logistics or budgetary concerns that can be associated with the background of adult learners.
• Ability and expertise of staff:  For online learning you need to ensure that the students can view the material so one logistic issue would be to ensure you capture the technical requirements properly and test them to ensure the course will run properly. From a budgetary perspective you need to consider the cost of getting a very knowledgeable subject matter expert.
• Cost: there may be some costs associated with Learning Management Systems( LMS) hosting if the results of the online learning assessment or the successful completion of the course are to be tracked, you need to factor in the cost of someone building the course, a subject matter expert to ensure the technical accuracy, and any travel associated with developing the content.
• Location and equipment available:  If this was a course that a student would be required to take for work, the employer would need to ensure that the students have the computers with the correct technical specifications for viewing the course.
• Program content: While there would not be any logistical concerns from a budgetary perspective the content may require high-end interactions, such as simulations, animations, or graphics to be built, to effectively ensure the transfer of learning. You need to consider the cost of developing these.
• Program outcomes:  I don’t see any logistics or budgetary concerns
• Program context: don’t see any logistics or budgetary concerns

Marketing and Program Planning

The best marketing I have come across is from Articulate. They give you free templates, icons, fonts, games, and ideas and show you how easy they are to create in your own courseware.  They not only make it look easy to creae but once you try it it is easy to create. Love it!

The role of objectives in program planning

Objectives are to the program planning process what a blueprint is to someone building a house. The blueprint tells you what to build and an objective tells you what you need to teach. Each of the steps in the planning process can be thought of as components to build your house (the training). During the needs assessment process you need to define what you need to teach – you derive your program goal from that- there is your first building block. The specific learning objectives are derived from the program goal as you can break the goal down into what you need to teach- next building block. Your evaluation is derived from the learning objectives as it defines what you need to measure- next building block. Objectives are also closely tied to marketing as they help to describe what the student will learn so you can use them to sell the course – another building block. Put them all together and you have the frame for your house. The content, visuals, and interactions will all become the rooms.

Power in Program Planning

 

In our course this week our readings were all about power. While the thought of program planners having power is nice, the reality is that the mighty dollar always rule in my world. We create regulation and compliance training and when and how training is to be delivered is always based on money. For example, we are sometimes forced to try to make what should be taught face-to-face work in an online environment because our end clients don’t want to pay for an instructor to deliver the training or for students to attend the training. They figure build it once deliver it many times is a more cost efficient model. It doesn’t seem to matter to them that the training will not be effective – as long as they can show that x amount of people have received the training – that is all they need. To me it should be about how many people that can effectively do the job because they have been trained. I think that’s sad as in the end the students are not the only ones that suffer- the client does too but they just don’t realize it.

Reflections on Programming Planning Lesson 1

Well here is my first assignment for my program planning course.

Question 1: Explain the difference between formal and informal adult learning,

Last year I attended a webinar on how to introduce informal learning into the classroom. It truly wasn’t the best webinar I ever attended and I didn’t walk away with a whole lot more information then what I had when I entered the webinar. But the one thing that stuck with me was the great example the presenter used when asked about the difference between formal and informal learning. He said that formal learning is like riding a bus. The driver decides the best route to get you where you need to go. Informal learning is like riding a bicycle. You choose the route and can stop along the way whenever you please. To me this example drove home the fact that the biggest difference between formal and informal adult learning is that formal learning is structured and intentional with clear objectives and goals, while informal learning is unstructured, can be intentional or unintentional, and may or may not have a clear objective or goal. You can be having a casual conversation with a coworker or reading a book and learn something unintentionally. Or you may need some information and look online for the answer and intentionally learn something. The main point is you don’t always have to be in a classroom to learn something.

Question 2: Describe the role of program planners

The program planner’s role is key to any project as they are the driving force behind ensuring the training happens. They provide the necessary bridge between the executive saying “Our people need to be trained on creating widgets” to the actual training taking place. While some may feel their role is one of coordination, I tend to think that they are truly training managers as they take the training from conception to completion, although they don’t actually deliver the training they ensure that it does get delivered.

Question 3: List some of the key elements (activities or stages) of the program planning process.
• Identify who needs to sign off on the training or the content
• Identify who will develop the training
• Determine what budget will be needed
• Market the training
• Determine the logistics of the training
• Collect the feedback from the training sessions

Question 4: List some common goals of adult education programs,

• Personal growth and development or personal interest
• Career related growth and development
• Social transformation

New to blogging

This is my first blog. I intend to use this blog as a type of learning journal to track my progress in my Program Planning course. Today I did my assigned readings and reflections for the class.

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