thcrawford

Government Approved!

2008-11-30T09:05:00.004-05:00

It's official! I know because the government says so. I'm no longer overweight! Who knew that the government had official standards for "normal", "overweight", and "obese"? Before I started this process, I didn't. I guess I should have assumed they paid someone to figure that out. While the numbers are somewhat arbitrary (is 154 "normal" and 155 "overweight" for me?), they are at least a good standard to work towards and now exceed, and all that with pretty much 2 months of straight travel and Thanksgiving thrown in for good measure.

While getting below this threshold was one of my goals, my actual goal is to get "solidly" below it, so that I don't have to worry about those day-to-day spikes or bad weeks of no exercise and eating out. So, there's still a few more pounds to go, but I'm almost there. I'm not sure exactly how many, but not to many more. This is my final weight-based goal. For those of you who may be wondering, I'm still running about two weeks ahead of schedule on the charts I created way back in mid-May. I'm also down to size 31 pants (from 36/37 at peak). It's hard to believe that my 32's are getting too big already. I haven't been a 31 since college. I had forgotten how hard is to find 31's. I think I'm going to have to lose enough weight to get down to a 30, just so I can find clothes! ;)

I'm now with a new trainer who is helping me switch from machines to free weights and has set new goals that switch from weight to body fat as the measure. In the end, that was my real goal anyway, but there was so much weight and it's so much easier to measure that we went with that first. So, all new equipment in an almost new gym with a new trainer and new goals. Once everything settles in the next few weeks, I'll do a new post with the new goals and maybe a new picture or two.

Before & "After"

2008-10-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

OK, I'm not done losing weight yet, but I could resist posting this pic. The pic on the left is of me January 27, 2008. The pic on the right is me this past Sunday, October 12, 2008. The composition of the two images was nearly identical so it made comparison a lot easier than other photos.

Hopefully, I can get one more on February 22 for a final comparison. (In case you're wondering about the dates, these are all from the opening receptions for our larger events. Pictures from the January event were what put me over the edge on losing weight. I wanted to look and feel better for the next 2 events).

Consistency & Predictability Important for Beginners

2008-10-16T11:32:00.002-05:00

Mark is one of the employees who works at the Powerhouse Gym in Saline where I work out. Imagine being him on the afternoon of September 30th. You leave the gym and it's packed. One of the busiest days since the gym opened about 4.5 months earlier. The next morning, you get up early, like everyday, at 4am to allow enough time to make sure you can make it back to the gym to open it at 5am. It seems like a regular morning, a little groggy, but nothing coffee can't fix. You get to the gym, unlock the doors, turn off the alarm, turn on the lights, look around and nothing's there...no equipment, no computers, no files, and even no lockers! You walk back into the parking lot, rub your eyes and wonder if you're awake or still dreaming. Upon going back in you realize that, yes, the gym is truly empty...completely.

It's an amazingly true story. On September 30th, the gym was officially sold to new owners (still Powerhouse) and the keys were turned over to the new owners. That night, unbeknownst to the new owners, the previous owners came in and cleared everything out. Everything. No notice, no indications. The keys had already been turned over. Why would anyone expect something like that to happen? Crisis is one of the best times to measure the quality of a person or business, so it has been very interesting to watch how every thing's been handled. Here's what they did:

- All customers were invited to the new owners other gym, which, while a less convenient location, was a much more extensive gym in size and equipment
- Personal trainers were allowed to work out with their customers at the other gym, even though that's apparently is not allowed
- Customers were given individual attention with individual solutions provided to meet a wide variety of issues (even including small things like free locks for the new lockers since the old ones were all digital)

The new owners have handled this the best they could. Probably the only thing they did wrong was mis-set expectations. Originally, they had promised they would be fully up in a week. Then it was two, now three (though they do have some equipment back now). Having done many, many projects and dealing with many crisis, I was willing to bet in the moment that they could have a full gym back and running in 7 days, so it wasn't a suprise. I give them an A+ for their grace under pressure, individual attention, and flexibility, but a D for overzealous expectation setting. Overall, though, they have done a great job so far.

While that was interesting though, there was also interesting dynamics going on for the members. The newer members who weren't quite into a routine yet or who had just gotten comfortable with one set of equipment, were thrown into a new environment with new equipment and new people. The Saline gym was more families, college students, and beginners. Ypsilanti had more experienced body builders, business professionals, and people with experience. There were different types of equipment, and even the same machines worked a bit differently. As I talked to the people I knew, most of the beginners said they were just going to take the time off and wait until the old gym had new equipment in place. While they had been regular in Saline, the change was too much. It stopped their progress. It could even be devistating for some who never do pick it up again. Three weeks is a long time to break a routine and then try to pick it back up again. Even for me, 5 months in, the transition was strange and difficult. Routines are very helpful for beginners.

It is an interesting implication for learning. Consistency and pedictability help beginners. Learning the basics and getting a routine are key to establishing comfort. If the environment or the routine is changed before the person is ready to take the next step, they are more likely to discontinue their efforts. After introducing a new topic, sufficient time needs to be allowed for people to absorb and integrate the new skill before adding the next one. The amount of time varies from person to person and skill to skill. I was ready to move and even appreciated getting to try some different things. I'm pretty sure 3 months ago it wouldn't have been the same.

Visualization Important to Weight Loss

2008-09-28T22:18:00.010-05:00

How the Visual Developed

When I decided to really loose weight and exercise, I decided that I also needed to document it, mostly because I knew I would forget and having a record would help me see how I was doing. So, after my first time with my trainer, I sat down with my exercise plan and my goals, and put it into Excel. My first iteration was pretty simple. I knew I wanted to lose 25 pounds by the upcoming VizThink conference in Berlin. That worked out to 1.2 pounds per week. I charted that as my goal (the red line on the graph below). Then every time I do strength training (usually 2-3x per week) and some times I do cardio training (the other 2-3x per week) I weigh myself and record the actual values (which became the green line on the graph below).

What I quickly found is that I wanted to know more and more information, so the chart began to grow and adapt. First, I wanted to know when I was going to no longer be considered obese, by the government standards. So, I divided the graph into a red section (for obese) and yellow section (for overweight). While that wasn't a major goal, the graph made it very easy to see when I passed it and it certainly was something to celebrate.

Originally, the graph ended at October 14th. So my first goal, was at the right side of the graph. Once I saw that I was making progress towards my goal and was actually sticking with the exercise and food plan (a topic for another post), I knew I needed to set the next goal. It was a hard choice, but I finally landed on a weight comfortable inside the "normal weight" category. So, a new section (shown as green on the graph) was added to show where "normal weight" began which for me is 154.5 pounds.

I still didn't expand the time range on the graph at that time. I wanted to make sure I stayed focused on the first goal before looking beyond. I still hadn't decided (and really still haven't) if my second goal of being comfortably inside the "normal weight" category is really my final goal or if I needed a third goal. So I began some research into the "ideal" weight. It turns out there's quite a few research studies that say people are the healthiest at a Body Mass Index of 22. That translates to a pretty low weight for me about 137.5 pounds. That would put me at the weight I was when I entered my undergraduate program. It's now represented by the dark green line on the graph. I still haven't decided on what to do next, but at least I can see my progress towards it.

Once I got close to the first goal, I decided to go ahead and extend the graph out through the end of the year. However, that removed my artificial representation of the right side of the graph as my goal. So, triangles were added to the timeline to represent the goals. The 2 red triangles show the first two goals and when I want to achieve them. The (currently one) green triangle makes it easier to read when I reached my first goal (a little less than three weeks ahead of goal).

The Importance of the Visual

I love numbers and have lots of spreadsheets that almost always include lots of charts. This one though became of special importance. I have become nearly obsessed with it. It's actually fun to see the progress in the chart. Sure, I can see the numbers get lower in the tables and I consciously know the amount of weight I've lost, but to see it change (almost) interactively is huge motivation especially as the lines inch ever closer to the major sections and the goals. It becomes a handy tool to forecast actual vs. plan. Adding a quick trend line makes it even easier to see.

I also want to point out that the graph also shows that it hasn't always been a straight shot. I've lost both a little and a lot of ground many times. The back stepping was often due to scheduling conflict where I wasn't able to stay on my workout or eating plan due to schedule conflicts with work, family, and friends. In fact, it usually turns out that the days I can't work out area also almost always tied to days with opportunities for over eating. Not the best combination of situations. Weight swings of 1/2 pound to a couple pounds naturally led to moments of questioning. Have I reached my limit? Am I hitting a plateau? Can I really keep this up? As time progressed though, the visual became proof of the possibilities. I had lost some ground before and been able to recover. This time would likely be the same. It became a source of comfort, in a way.

One More Important Visual

One more visual has kept me motivated. While I did decide to lose weight as a New Year's resolution, it wasn't really until after the VizThink event in San Francisco this past January, that I really got my motivation. Our conference photographer, Andrew Campbell, captured quite a few photos of me on stage and throughout the conference. The one of the top below was particularly unflattering (not due to his work) showing me flowing over my 36" khakis. His photo helped push me over the edge to finally get going for real. This past week my friend and colleague, Christine Martell, took the picture of me (shown on the bottom) doing my all day workshop for the Brandon-Hall conference in my new 32" khakis.

While I'm not where I want to be yet, the visuals tell the story better than all the words on this page. Progress is happening, and the visual is helping me get there a little each week.

The Role of the Trainer

2008-09-20T14:33:00.004-05:00

When I started working out, I just went to the gym without much of a plan, and certainly no knowledge. I knew I needed to do cardiovascular work and I was comfortable with the bicycle, so I started there. Problem was that it wasn't working. Because I wasn't seeing results, it was hard to stay motivated.

When the new gym opened up, I suplurged for 3, 1-hour sessions with a personal trainer. It was half off the regular rate, and I knew I needed help, so I figured it couldn't hurt. The first session was split between a pretty embarassing set of measurements, a tour around the gym showing the right ways to use some key equipment, and setting a baseline fitness level. All of that was fed into the computer which spit out a report showing how completely out of shape I was. I didn't really need the report to know that, but it certainly showed the opportunity for improvement.

During the second & third sessions, we focused mostly other equipment, techniques and setting up a workout routine. At the end of the 3rd sessions, I knew I would need more help and continued motivation, so I dug deep and really splurged for more 12 sessions. To help that last as long as possible, we set it up to meet every other week. We've got a little more than 2 months left to go in this round.

[Image by Nigel Holmes]

In these days with tons of information available on the Internet including some great images, videos, instructions, and materials, you might wonder why a personal trainer might even be necessary. There's even a ton of great software for the iPhone including one that shows videos of the exercises along with tracking your progress. For me, having the trainer brings a lot of benefits:

Training - Maybe this one is obvious, but she teaches me how to do the exercises correctly in order achieve the most benefit. No matter how much I read, how many pictures I see, or how many videos I watch, some of these exercises are pretty complex. Often, subtle differents in position can dramatically increase the effort required and the benefits gained. By first demonstrating the proper technique and then critiquing my performance, I'm sure that I'm getting the most benefit.
Motivation - She's great a keeping me motivated durng a workout. In fact, my workouts with her are often 20-25 minutes longer than my individual workouts. Somehow she can push me farther than I can push my self. But the motivation extends even into my personal workouts. I keep working out because I know I want to show progress when we meet. The regular meetings keep me from sloughing off.
Customization - She knows the goals I'm working towards and suggests new ideas that will help me reach my goals more quickly. If there's a particular exercise that I don't like, she's able to come up with a few alternatives that work the same muscles, but are more to my liking.
Sees the Big Picture - Getting started in the gym was pretty intimidating. There are lots of details that were just too overwhelming when getting started. My trainer knows what the end goal is and knows how to get me there. As I'm ready for more, she provides the guideance I need and keeps me going in the right diretion. While I know the end goal too, I don't have the ability to see the entire path of how to get there. There are plenty of ways to veer off the path or plateau. By using a guide, I can be sure to continue making progress without having to be an expert first.

Come to think of it, these are the same characteristics of a good teacher...

Provides just the right activities through simulation and practice
Knows how to keep the student engaged, learning, and moving forward
Customizes the learning for the student and provides it at just the right time for them
Knows the overall goal and guides the student in that direction

Even in the gym, classroom training isn't what's effective. The best learning still comes from learning-by-doing and performane support!

So What's the Next Goal?

2008-09-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

Well, losing 25 pounds was never my ultimate goal. I actually still don't know what final weight I'm shooting for because my real goal is how I look (partially related to waist size) and weight is just a proxy. However, I don't remember how much I weighed at various waist sizes so, it's somewhat a guess. I know I do want to get well-enough below the government's overweight category (get out of the yellow and into the green) which for me is right about 154 pounds. So at my current 163, I've got about 9 pounds to loose. If I'm able to keep my current rate (which is questionable due to lots of travel and the possibility of plateauing) that could be in about 6-8 weeks. However, that just get's me barely across the top end of the healthy range. So, I set the goal at 150 pounds which should be enough inside that range that daily fluctuations will keep me in the green. If I'm able to keep this pace, I should reach my next goal by the end of the year, if not a little sooner.

Beyond that I'm not sure yet. At my next goal, I'll have to re-evaluate. If my waist to weight ratio continues, at 150 pounds I should be closing in on a 31" waist which might be a good point, but it depends on how I look. That would be less than I ended undergrad with. According to the research a BMI of 22 is the healthiest to have...less cardiac, diabetic, and other weight related issues, but a 22 BMI equals about 136.5 pounds for me. That's likely a 29" waist which I haven't had since high school. We'll have to see. So, for now, the goal is to move solidly out of the overweight range. From there we'll set a new goal.

Upcoming topics: How I've Done Is So Far, What About the Personal Trainer, Enjoying Food, and may others

What I've Been Doing While I Haven't Been Blogging

2008-09-17T23:13:00.005-05:00

OK, so it's not really true. I have been blogging, just over on my work blog. It's hard to find time to do 2 blogs, but that's not really what's kept me away. For the last 4 months, I've been spending what free time I have in the gym. I can hear you now..."really? Tom going to the gym." I know. Strange, but true. It actually started back in January. I made up my mind, and yes it was a New Year's resolution, that I just had to lose weight. I was starting not to fit into my 36" pants, and I had enough. What really put me over the edge was the pictures of me on stage at our big event in San Francisco. Photos don't lie.

Supposedly a new local gym was supposed to be opening. So I had waited & waited for them to open. Finally I went to our local recreation center and just signed up there, but it wasn't really working, probably because I didn't know what I was doing and didn't have a teacher.

Finally, in late April the new Powerhouse Gym opened up. So, when I returned from Berlin, I signed up. This time though, I got a personal trainer. What a difference that made, having someone teach me the basics and then introducing new exercises as I am ready. When I started on May 12th, I topped the scales at 188.4 which lead to a BMI of 30.4 which is solidly in the obese category. So, I set my goals. I really didn't know how much weight I wanted to lose, but I knew I wanted to lose it and keep it off. Everything I read said 1-2 pounds per week was the rate at which the loss could be sustained. So, I set my first goal to lose somewhere in that range by October 12 which is our next big event in Berlin. At 1.2 pounds per week, I would have lost 25 pounds. I really didn't even know if it were possible or if I could do it. I told myself when I lost 25 pounds, I would blog about it.

Well, today, about 3 weeks ahead of schedule, I reached my first goal of losing 25 pounds! That's just shy of a healthy 1.4 pounds per week. This graph shows it wasn't all that easy. There were definitely set backs.

The red line shows my first goal of 1.2 pounds per week. The bouncy green line below it is the not-quite daily tracking of my weight. Notice that I left the obese red section and have been working my way through the yellow overweight section. My weight today is 163.2 which is a much healthier BMI of 26.3 and my all-too-new 33" jeans are starting to get too big (though the 32's are still not quite right. I've been trying to figure out when I last weighed only 163 pounds and I think it's been at least 8 years and probably more like 10. I'm not done yet. For tomorrow's post...setting new goals!

Safe Simulations?

2008-07-08T18:23:00.002-05:00

For years, I've been talking about one of the major benefits of simulations: a safe environment. Flying planes, firefighting, police work, and surgery are dangerous jobs with many dangerous tasks. One of the often stated benefits of a simulation is that they allow practice in a safe environment. If the learner makes a mistake, people (airplane passengers, victims, and patients) don't die. However, it seems we (and especially I) may have been wrong.

In a conversation today with Eric Kramer from Trimm, a Netherlands-based simulation company, he made a statement that threw that concept out the window. In a conversation on the levels of realism necessary in simulations, he said "If it's safe, it's not real." For me, it was like being hit over the head with a new revelation. Of course we don't want simulations that are so real that people die, that defeats the point of a simulation. However, it's important that the learner feel that the patient could die, that the plane could crash, or that people could die in the fire. The appropriate (a very important word) level of realism needs to include the environment, visualizations, decisions, responses, and results/impacts in order to create the impression of danger. If it feels safe, it won't have the same learning impact.

All too often in learning (whether classroom or online), designers work to take out the risk. Here are just a few of examples:

Writing multiple choice questions with an obvious correct answer (lest anyone get a less than perfect score)
Not letting a learner finish a course unless they meet a minimum score (everybody must pass after all)
Letting people move forward/graduate/get certified regardless of whether they've demonstrated mastery in the material
Make sure everybody feels comfortable and happy (lest they give the instructor a low rating)
Designing learning modules for the lowest common denominator
Designing easy simulations, games and activities that don't challenge the learner

Let's put the realism (and the danger) back into the learning modules and simulations that we create.

For more on Eric's work on simulations with their local police department, be sure to check out the upcoming Visualization in Learning report being published by VizThink in about a week. In addition, Eric will be facilitating a session on realism in simulations at our next big event which is being held in Berlin, October 12-14, 2008.

One Year Anniversary

2008-06-25T14:34:00.004-05:00

Can you believe that VizThink has been going for a year? Today is it, which also means today is my one-year anniversary with the company. We're somewhat linked that way. It's been a crazy, exciting year. We did two posts today one celebrating and one telling our story. Be sure to check them out and join in the celebration.

Heavy Baggage Fees

2008-05-04T19:37:00.003-05:00

A couple of days ago, I went to run a VizThink workshop in New York. For those who aren't familiar with VizThink, our sessions often use things like paper, index cards, post it notes, markers, colored pencils, and other art and office supplies. Normally, I do everything I can to do carry-ons regardless of where or for how long I fly. This time, though, it was necessary to check a bag. On my way to New York, it turns out the scale weighed the case at 58 pounds, 8 pounds over the free limit allowed by Northwest. As an "Elite" member, I'm pretty sure we're supposed to get an addition 20 or 25 pound allocation, which would have worked. Either way, I was prepared to pay the $25 fee (soon to be $50) for overweight items. First, the agent told me "you can't take that" and I wish I could write with as much attitude as she said that. After I insisted that I'm quite sure I can take it, she said "Well, you can take it, but you can't check it in here". When I asked why, she was less than helpful in explaining the situation. The situation went on and on for about 5 minutes including her walking away in the middle of a conversation to work a different counter. Finally, she admitted she could check the bag for a $25 fee which was promptly paid and I moved on to catch my flight.

Frankly, none of this was suprising. Sadly, I've gotten used to the less-than-helpful attitude of all-too-many of the Northwest employees, so this wasn't unusual enough to get me to write a post. What pushed me over the edge was my return trip. Other than approximately a pad of post-it notes, maybe 100 index cards, and 100 sheets of paper, I returned with what I brought to New York. The weight on the scale at LaGuardia? 54 pounds...a 4 pound difference. I wish I could loose that kind of weight that quickly. Clearly one of the scales is off, and my guess it was the one in Detroit. Now that Northwest (and the other airlines) are not allowing as many carry ons (causing more checked baggage) and charging even more for overweight bags, they stand to make a ton of money off from unregulated, inaccurate scales. If the case were only 4 pounds over, I probably could have redistributed the weight into my carry ons and saved the money. 8 pounds is a little harder to do that.

Here's the advice...if you can, weigh your bag before you leave so you know how much to push back on the airline to try another scale.

"Inexpensive" 3D

2008-05-04T18:26:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago, I ended up in Orlando somewhat by chance. Since it had been a few years since I had done it, I took the opportunity to check out a few of the newer exhibits. One that struck me in particular was Mickey's PhilharMagic (Disney, wikipedia) which is staged somewhat in the middle of the Magic Kingdom. The theater itself is somewhat designed like the ficitional theater in the 1993 John Goodman film Matinee (imdb, wikipedia). In the film, Goodman's character, Lawrence Woolsey, introduces what he calls Atomo-vision and Rumble-rama. These innovations bring more senses into the movie watching experience like touch through things like vibrating seats just at the scary moment. In the current Disney version, they use lots of gimics like spraying water, various scents, smoke, and bursts of air to enhance the experience.

One of the additional features is the use of 3D with more modern glasses that almost look like cheap sunglasses. Of course, there are all of the standard 3D gags like pies flying at your head, trombone slides popping off the screen, and gems floating in the air that appear easy to reach out and take for yourself. We've seen all of that done before. What I found interesting was the other applications of 3D like flying through the clouds with Donald Duck, swimming under the sea with the Little Mermaid, and riding the magic carpet through narrow streets and buildings with Aladdin. The 3D models of those environments in combination with the use of the 3D glasses made it feel like we were actually flying through those environments.

So here's my question, couldn't we do that same thing with computer screens with video game technology? It shouldn't be that hard for the "cameras" in video game engines to split and display the image to work with a set of inexpensive 3D glasses. Rather than spending all of the money to create heavy and expensive head gear, couldn't this be a simpler, less expensive, and faster solution? Sure, maybe the image resolution won't be as high, but it was more than enough to create the illusion. Can some of my engineer readers fill me in on this?

The Future of Video Entertainment

2008-04-13T15:23:00.003-05:00

Much ado has been made recently about the end of the format war between Blu-Ray and HD DVD. Sony finally won a format war, much to my (and many other people's) surprise. After losing Beta vs. VHS, Memory Stick vs. SD, and MiniDisc vs. who-knows-what, it's hard to fault everybody (including me) for predicting the demise of Blu-Ray.

Sadly for Sony, I'm not sure it's that much of a victory. They finally win one and it turns out the battle has changed. Given my recent track record on predictions in this battle, I'm not sure I should be making others, but here's my new prediction: neither HD DVD nor Sony Blu-Ray win the format battle. Instead, downloads direct to some (really any) media device will win. Sure TiVo/Amazon have allowed people to download movies for a while now, but they charge anywhere from $0.99 to $3.99, allowing 30-60 minutes before starting to watch is wise, and they limit viewing time to 24-hours once you start watching it.

Last night, I finally got around to trying the Netflix download service. First, it's "free". Since I already have the service, I can download any one of about 8,000 movies instantly at no additional cost. While 8,000 certainly doesn't cover all movies, it's way more than are available on pay-per-view, more than are available at my local Blockbuster, and more than were available on the TiVo/Amazon partnership. Next, I was able to start watching within about 5 seconds. I'm sure it varies based on the hardware, but I tried it on a slower laptop over a wireless network and had no issues. Sure, watching video on a laptop isn't that much fun especially for a group, but all the new HD TV's have a computer input, making that connection simple. The quality was as good as any regular DVD I've rented (though not yet HD quality). When I didn't like the movie, I felt like I could stop the movie. I hadn't paid for it. I didn't have to wait another 30-60 minutes for the next download to start. I didn't have to take the DVD back to the store or even put it in the Netflix mailer. I could move on with little or no penalty. Sure other software, not the least of which is iTunes, offers some of the same capabilities, but none (that I'm aware of) offer it on a fixed price, all-you-can-eat model, and none that I've seen that allow viewing almost instantly at full quality.

Now that's the future of video entertainment!

Minority Report for Real with the Wii

2008-03-13T16:47:00.003-05:00

Much thanks to Peter Durand over at the Center for Graphic Facilitation blog for the post pointing this out. Want multitouch, but the big multi touch screens are too expensive or unavailable? How about converting your Wii into a glove sensor device with all the same functionality and more? They don't talk about it in the video, but you could go well beyond the demonstration of moving and sizing photos. Multitouch has a limitation. It's forced to be on a 2D surface (hence the "touch" part of the name). Therefore, any 3D manipulation is forced and unnatural. The gloves remove the 2D limitation and give the entire 3D space to work with (as long as you can reach it). Imagine rotating 3D objects or zooming in on them, simply by grabbing them and turning or pulling them closer. Very cool.

Very cool comic creator

2008-03-13T16:29:00.004-05:00

I know, I know, I'm so far behind in my personal blog. I've been posting over on the VizThink blog (http://www.vizthink.com/blog). How people do multiple blogs with multiples posts a day, I'll never know. Anyway, this one was good enough to break my silence with.

Check out this very cool, very easy, very powerful web-based comic creator: http://www.bitstrips.com/

It was in Beta for the ever-popular SxSW (south by southwest) conference. Be sure to try it out!

Visual Thinking & eLearning

2007-12-13T09:32:00.000-05:00

Have you wondered how Visual Thinking applies to eLearning? or What is Visual Thinking anyway? You're not alone. So, over at the VizThink community (website, wiki, blog), we've decided to do a series of podcasts and webinars covering these topics. Here are the first 3 topics:
Who is TechSmith and what do they do with Visual Thinking? (with Tony Dunckel)
What is idea mapping and how can it be used? (with Jamie Nast & Susi Watson)
How is Visual Thinking related to eLearning? (with Dave Gray & Tony Karrer)

Many more are on the schedule including sessions on graphic recording, presentations, and many others. All of the podcasts and webinars are FREE, but some require registration. Be sure to bookmark the VizThink blog or add it to your reader in order to get the latest updates.

Taking Responsibility

2007-12-07T00:08:00.000-05:00

It's interesting that I chose now to check back with the Wayback Machine which is an archive of all pages posted to the Internet, ever. It's not perfect, but every once and a while it comes in handy. I've been meaning to go out there for a while because I had some articles I wrote for my website several versions ago and in the process of switching machines, had lost the text. Turns out, they are sort of blog posts, before blogging began. There are 3 that I'll share over the coming weeks. However, given the post I just wrote on New Orleans, this one seemed particularly interesting. It was written 6 or so years ago, but seems just as relevant today. Here it is:

Personal Responsibility

I think its about time that somebody weighed in on personal responsibility. It has be come more and more common to hear from the mothers of murderers who say that is not the criminal’s fault and that the real problem lies with the society that raised the child. I use a harsh example for a problem that cuts across all races, all incomes, and all regions of this country. People on the factory floor, in the office, or on the street corner can all be heard saying “it’s not my problem, let somebody else deal with it.” When did this begin to happen? When did it become everyone else’s responsibility for an individuals actions? People need to begin taking control of their own lives. The statements of the mothers are even more disturbing when the child is underage and only 10 or 12 or 15. The child is old enough to know right from wrong and surely able to understand that actions have consequences. Where is the parent’s role in the whole matter? When did that mother get absolved from her role in rearing the child? Hillary Clinton believes that “it takes a village to raise a child.” In today’s society that may be true since it seems that many parents have removed themselves from that role.

I know people that have been dealt difficult situations in life some of their own choosing and some that were harsh realities of the game. Yet some people rise above the hand that they are dealt and don’t fold. Instead they work to survive that hand long enough to get another deal. These are people who take responsibility not only for their own actions, but for the situation they are dealt. It is a great first step to take what comes out of your own decisions and actions (or inactions). However, I believe it goes a step beyond that. Rampant throughout business and industry today in union and non-union shops, you will hear the phrase “It’s not my job” or “It’s not my fault” repeated over and over. However true that may be, if you have the solution to the problem, then you should make it your responsibility to resolve that issue. I know people who have been put in situations that could not have been predicted or avoided, yet chose to survive instead of bury their head in the sand and ignore their environment.

When the opportunities come up, if you have a way to resolve the issue or the ability to take action, just do something…anything and we will have made tremendous strides to make this a better place for each one of us. Take responsibility for your own actions. Deal with the situation you were given as if it was your responsibility. Help those around you succeed in their own struggles. Maybe just maybe, we can make this just a little bit better place to be.

Those are my thoughts. I'd love to hear yours.

Do Something, Anything

2007-12-06T23:44:00.000-05:00

This week, I had the chance to go to New Orleans for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. I don't really have a way to count, but it's probably about my 11th or 12th trip there. It's a town I know pretty well and have enjoyed many times. We toured not only the largely unaffected areas of the French Quarter, but also the devistated areas of the 9th ward. It's hard to really understand without being there in person. The devistation pictured on the news isn't really conveyed until you actually step into one of the condemend houses in the 9th Ward and see the utter devistation. Lives up-rooted. Over 1/3 of the population gone. Homes and lives destroyed.

Then you talk to the people which I had the chance to do many times over the short trip. There's an amazing sense of community...of neighbors helping neighbors...of hope. I believe that the shocking lack of outside support, which continues even now, has forced the community to work together and will create a bond that was even stronger than it was before. There are so many bad things that came out of this tragedy, but if good can rise from a tragedy, it's certainly happening in the community. I saw many of the people fighting back tears as they told their stories. What was striking was how often the tears were tears of joy in how someone generously helped them out or met an urgent need without respect for reciprocity. It was truly inspiring.

I don't know if Brad Pitt's project is good or bad. It's probably both. Should the money be spent on marketing and PR or should it be used to build more houses? Clearly much of the rest of the country has forgotten about the region, so maybe, but the need is so great, how many more houses could be built? Sure green and hurricane-ready design is essential, but shouldn't the designs also reflect and respect the local culture rather than an overly modern look. I don't know what the right answer is, and I'm not sure it matters. At least he's doing something.

Rebutting the Rebuttle

2007-12-06T23:24:00.000-05:00

So, in my Kindle...the Single Function Device post, I took Mark to task a little bit for his overly-amibitious praise of Amazon's new e-book reader. You can also find his return comments both as a comment on my post and in an additional set on his blog.

His first rebuttle is on capacity. To do that, he leverages the image of over-filled book bags breaking the back of his son on his walk to school and of other kids using roller bags to avoid the back strain. Sure, no one wants to see kids injured, but I think it's going to be a long time before we see grade school text books available on the Kindle. It wasn't designed for kids. It's not kid-proof or done with a kid sensibility. If they were going for that market, then they missed the boat even more than I thought they did.

Then he get's to form factor and says "Its not pretty. Its also first generation." First generation is no excuse for poor product design. There are plenty of great products out there they could have based it on. They learned a little from previous e-book attempts, but clearly not enough. The main navigation buttons (back and forward) are right where you place your hands causing pages to turn when you don't want them too. The shape of the device is so large, you have to place the device on your lap to type on it, yet the keys are designed for thumb typing. Sure, the iPhone wasn't perfect out of the gate either, but it was a whole lot better version 1.0 than this is. They would have been better to take the time to get the design right. It's not like anyone else was rushing to get out another failed e-book reader.

Finally for my rebutting the rebuttle, he talks about the $400 price by saying that the price of textbooks for a semester would justify the purchase. That might be true, if the books were discounted for being e-books. However, not only do you have to purchase a $400 reader, you also have to still purchase the books...at full price! That doesn't sound like a savings to me. There are two general business models here...use the Kindle as a loss leader by giving it away or heavily discounting it and make the money off the e-books...or sell the hardware and discount the books heavily. Pick one business model, not both if you want this plan to succeed.

For even more discussion and a link to a great paper on the topic, check out Mark's follow-up post.

Kindle...The Single Purpose Device

2007-12-01T15:48:00.000-05:00

In Mark's recent post on the Kindle from Amazon. Now normally, I find myself agreeing with Mark which probably scares both of us. However, this time, I don't think he could be more off base.

First, out of the many eBook attempts over the last 5 years, none of them have been even partially successful. In fact, calling them miserable failures is probably being generous. So, expecting this one to succeed is a gross over-expectation at best. Sure, it solves a few of the earlier problems...lighter, longer battery life, simpler technology. However it still misses the whole point. For it to be successful it needs to fulfill a market demand or unmet need of some sort.

Capacity: I don't need to carry 500 books with me. I've already got a stack that I can't seem to find time to get to. I don't think I'm alone here, but carrying books with me wasn't a problem that needed solving. It actually works quite fine right now.

Form Factor: Look at the thing. It's ugly. The technology _appears_ old school. (Yes, I know they're using the fancy ink/paper thing). At 10 ounces, it's still to heavy and way too little of the interface is used for the actual book. Sure, the integrated keyboard makes it so that a computer isn't required, but they could have taken a lesson from Apple here and spent a few more dollars on design. Additionally, it's not a standard size (either paper back or sheet of paper) so it won't fit securely in the regular places during transportation.

Price: $400??? Are you kidding me? Plus I still have to pay the regular $10 for the book? Maybe if they worked it like the heavily subsidized razor/blade or cellphone/subscription models it might be more attractive, but please...at $400 the switching cost is way too high. Of course, I did hear one report (on Cranky Geeks) saying that at $400 it probably was already subsidized...which makes you wonder how much it really costs.

Single Function: When was anything anymore a single function device? For $400, it should have a scanner or a printer built in. Maybe I should be able to display and edit other documents. Hey wait, that's a PDA or a laptop and I can do a lot more with those. In fact, I could even by a decent laptop for less than $200 more and it could do a lot more than read books.

Location: I often read when I'm in a spot where electronics aren't allowed (like an airplane). So, with this, I'd still need to carry print with me. Great, now I have to carry both? How does that make sense?

Mark's final point was that companies should by these for employees and put the manuals on them? Really? Mark? Come on now. First, who's writing manuals anymore? Second, shouldn't we really be talking about wikis, blogs, help systems, knowledge management, search, or any one of a dozen other approaches to organize structured and unstructured information rather than converting print manuals to an e-book form factor?

Serious Games are neither Serious nor Games, Discuss

2007-10-30T22:07:00.001-05:00

In this week's Escapist, Ben Sawyer has a great article on the 10 Myths about Serious Games. Here's the quick list:

Myth: The Game Industry Doesn't Work on Serious Games
Myth: Serious Games are for Learning and Training
Myth: Serious Games Aren't Fun
Myth: Serious Games are Always Serious
Myth: Serious Games aren't Commercially Successful
Myth: Games are Young media, so Serious Games are for Young People
Myth: There is No Proof that Games Affect Anyone
Myth: Game Developers Don't Want to Work on Serious Games; Serious Games are an Academic Pursuit
Myth: Serious Games are Games for Good
Myth: Serious Games are Dominated by the U.S. Military

Here's just a few of the great quotes from the article:

"Sure, there are times when serious games lack the joy of play that at times disproportionately drives commercial games...to think that fun is the only reason users play games isn't giving people much credit. If anything, serious games are more than fun."

"The term 'serious' isn't a grammatical modifier related to a serious game's content. What makes a game a serious game is the designers' choice to make their game more than entertaining to the player."

"Organizations...frequently say games are a great way to reach young people. It can become a mantra at times. The fact is, for all the amazing growth rate,s many young people don't play games regularly...the gaming demographic is getting older every year...to say it's a genre for children is just flat-out wrong."

"While the military is a major player in the field, it's definitely not the only big spender. In fact, in terms of revenue, health and healthcare will likely dominate the field within a few years."

Great stuff, Ben!

Virtual Worlds as Social Simulations

2007-10-28T14:00:00.000-05:00

In a recent article in the Escapist, Brian Easton discusses the use of virtual worlds like World of Warcraft (also a game) and Second Life for social experiments. He describes the impact of a "disease"outbreak called "Corrupted Blood" in World of Warcraft. The disease weakened strong characters and even killed some weaker characters. It was spread through proximity of characters with each other. What makes the simulation different from other computer simulations of disease outbreak is that the characters are all controlled by humans, which are notoriously unpredictable. By evaluating the simulation data, researchers are able to better observe how disease spreads in and out of communities. Certainly, the World of Warcraft example had it's limitations. Some people play the game individually and only come into contact with people casually and generally not socially which doesn't mimic the real world as well. However, worlds like Second Life are completely social (and in my opinion generally pointless by yourself) make a much better social simulation.

Brian says that Massively Multiplayer Online Games "are more than mere distractions. They're social simulations, miniature economies and living worlds." What if scientists tested the spread of a virus, first when people didn't know they had it and then again when they did. Comparisons could be made on how people behave, how the disease spreads, and the impact of knowledge. Brian implied that it would be okay if people knew that their character wouldn't really be harmed, but I think for it to be real, people would have to have more serious consequences (like the termination of an account) at least be implied, if not actual. Would people stop contact with others? Would they only associate with other infected people? Would they intentionally infect others? What if they were away from "home" when they found out they were infected? Would they transport home and possibly infect others along the way? What impact does severity of the disease have on behavior? How does the length of incubation (and therefore awareness) have on people's behavior?

There are so many great questions that virtual worlds could answer, and it doesn't have to just be about disease. The transfer of information, knowledge, money, or even power could be studied. As virtual worlds develop, they are clearly becoming ripe for research for the social and physical scientists. Obviously it would be impossible, dangerous, and even unethical to test many of these ideas in the real world, but understanding the behavior could save may lives in the real world. It will be very interesting to see how this develops in the virtual worlds in the coming years.

Creative Facilitation Using Photos

2007-10-01T12:23:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of sitting in on Christine Martell's engaging session at the Brandon-Hall conference last week. While I've done facilitation for years, this is one of the most unique approaches I've seen in a long time. The topics for sessions can be almost anything and for conferences, she often uses the conference theme as the topic. So for this one, the question to be addressed was "What is Innovation in Learning?", which was the theme of the conference.

The first exercise was for each individual to answer the question. They had to create their response by selecting images from a pile of specially designed stock photos in order to tell their story.

Once completing their story, they analyzed their approach and shared their stories with the other people at their table. Then, each table had to create a shared story on the same topic. The outcomes were amazingly diverse in approach and visually rich, yet the learning outcomes were incredibly consistent.

Do you have people that need to brainstorm answers to challenging problems? Do they need to get aligned on strategic initiatives? Then this is a great approach. It takes advantage of creativity and design without the hurdles that are often in place for some of the population with sketching or other creative endeavors.

Many more details are available on this session, her blog, and her company. We're also excited to have her as a member of the VizThink community and one of our facilitators at our upcoming conference in San Francisco. Register today to attend great sessions like this.

Visual DNA

2007-09-30T07:43:00.000-05:00

For many people, art seems to be a completely subjective medium. What works for some is completely strange for others. Imagini uses those preferences to compare you to others and see what that says about you. Here's the results from mine:

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

While I'm not convinced of the validity of the interpretive descriptions they do, the selection of the visuals definitely communicate a bit more about me. For more about the use of the visual arts for communication, be sure to check out VizThink and register for our upcoming conference.

Two New Required Classes

2007-09-29T19:26:00.000-05:00

One more thing that came up in one of the recent sessions I gave...we need to create two more required classes in our high schools and colleges (maybe even in our grade schools) including "How to Search" and "Critical Thinking". Frankly, given the state of our entire population, we should even be offering this at work until we've got all of the adult population through it too.

Quickly finding information is essential to success in current jobs. However, it's not just knowing where to look or how to look for the information, it's also about knowing how to evaluate the quality, validity, and bias of the content. (And, yes, all content is biased, even raw data).

People always get wrapped up in how many errors there are in Wikipedia and how the content was written with a bias. Of course there are errors and of course there's bias. Your local paper is also filled with both. So is the Wall Street Journal, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and every history book ever written. No one's perfect, so errors are bound to appear. In my career I've had dozens of different people look at various documents and errors still slip through. It's also impossible not to have bias. Everybody writes with bias. Even writers who claim they tell "both sides of the story" are likely missing a third (or even a fourth or fifth) side. So, it's less about looking for the perfect source as it is to understand the common errors and the bias with which a piece was written.

Look at the sources. Compare the opinions. Make up your own mind about the quality and validity of content...that's critical thinking. And it's critically important that we all learn to use these skills more effectively in everything we do.

The Death of the Classroom

2007-09-29T10:30:00.000-05:00

I just got done giving 3 presentations at the Brandon-Hall Conference. While each of them were different, there were a couple consistent themes. First, I said that the top two most effective (and possibly the only effective) technologies for learning were simulation and performance support. Recent capabilities finally allow us to create powerful simulations and performance support tools that eliminate the need for transfer and provide the information where, when, and how I need it. Second, I stated that as this caught on the traditional classroom should die a slow and painful death.

To me this seemed quite obvious and there seemed to be at least a few heads nodding. Turns out, this may have been one of the most controversial things I've said in a long time. I didn't realize how much personal ownership people felt in the role of the traditional classroom in learning. Certainly, it was meant to be sensational to get people thinking, but it was also intended to propose alternative approaches for learning specifically simulation and performance support.

First a few clarifications...First, when I refer to the "traditional classroom", I'm talking about stand-and-deliver lectures and presentations. These are no longer effective, and I would argue that they were never effective. Lectures are too far away from the actions and behavior we want to create to ever be effective. Lectures are so far away, we spend time talking about things like session frequency, length, and repetition all of which are approaches to reduce transfer. Simulations and Performance Support both dramatically reduce or completely eliminate the need for transfer.

Second, yes, it's true, as several astute people pointed out, simulations can be run very effectively in the classroom. So, this is not about the death of the classroom per se as it is the death of the lecture. The rooms will still be needed. The teacher is still essential. What changes is the approach from lecture to experience and the role of the teacher in helping that happen.

Third, when I refer to Performance Support, I'm talking about any on-the-job tool or person that provides knowledge, learning and development that helps the work get done. This could be a job aid, a search engine, a mentor, a coach, a good product design (read Don Norman's book), a help system, peer-to-peer, or just about anything else that helps a person do their job while they are doing their job.

Notice the consistency between simulation and performance support...the learner is actually doing something. More importantly, they are learning by doing what it is they need to do. I would (maybe just as controversially) posit that if it can't be taught through simulation or performance support, then it doesn't need to be learned. Except for academia itself, the only real need for learning is to change actions and behavior. (Note: I don't want to downplay the importance of learning for learning's sake, just that in business, our goal for learning is to help people do something and that should be our focus).

Having said all that, there's one exception, or maybe, better, one addition that I need to add to my rant. The value of getting together, face-to-face, live, in person can never be replaced. No technologies have been able to substitute for that...no chat, e-mail, podcast, blog, video conference, or other communication technology (not even the new "presence" technologies) can ever replace the value of being to face-to-face with friends, family, and colleagues. Many thanks to my friends, colleagues, and other attendees for pointing this out. May we all experience learning through great conversations!

So, maybe it's not so much about the death of the classroom itself, but the death of the lecture. The technology is finally here to make that happen. Now the question is how do we use the technology for the benefit of people.

Serious Games Presentation

2007-09-25T11:21:00.000-05:00

We're just minutes away from my presentation on Serious Games: Present and Future. The presentation has been posted as a PDF here. It's about 2 Meg even with compressed images. Thanks to all of the people who provided examples and pictures for this presentation.

Innovations Outside of Learning

2007-09-24T13:05:00.000-05:00

I'm blogging live from the Brandon-Hall's Innovations in Learning Conference in Santa Clara, CA. I was honored to give the opening address to the pre-conference for over 130 people. My topic was Innovations Outside of Learning: How External Forces Are Changing Our World. In the presentation, I covered the Top 9 non-learning innovations that were impacting learning.

You can check out a PDF of the presentation here. A video version might be available at some point. I'd love to hear your thoughts to see if you agree or what technologies you would add/remove.

Increasing the Odds

2007-09-21T21:43:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I spent most of last year in Saratoga Springs. I went back late this summer to visit a great set of friends from my time there. While the water (it is named for that after all) is what it was once known for, horse racing is one of the things it is still known for. Yes, technically you can still drink from the springs, but how anybody ever considered something that tastes that awful to be healthy, I'll never understand.

Horse racing in Saratoga is approaching 145 years old. That's a pretty long tradition, in the U.S. anyway. For those who have never been to a race, it seems pretty basic...horses run, you bet on the winner, if you guess right you win. However, when you go to figure out and place your first bet, you learn what 145 years of organic growth causes...enormous complexity and completely unique terminology. Even the most basic bets--1st, 2nd, and 3rd which are known as Win (obvious), Place, and Show--get more complicated when you layer in boxes, daily doubles, exatcas, trifectas, quinellas (huh?), pick four, and pick six, and that's only the beginning.

How do you pick the horse? How does the horse's previous performance matter? How many races have they run? What kind of track's did they run on? What were the conditions? How did they do? How fast were they? How long were the races? Is it the jockey? Is it the trainer? Is it the owner? What about the horse's lineage? How's the horse's short distance speed vs. long distance? Grass vs. dirt? When was the horse's last race? How does the horse behave in the paddock (i.e. the staging area)? Has the horse raced at this track before? To horse racing veterans, all of these factor into their bets. Their forms for each horse look something like this:

However, for newbies (like me) that amount of data is way too overwhelming. So the New York Racing Association puts together another form about 1/3 the size that probably should be called Horse Racing for Dummies (but that probably already exists). These forms make excellent use of visuals to simplify the process of selecting a horse. Pictured below, somebody selected the 7 most important categories that will determine a horse's success. Are they the most important? I don't really know. Hopefully, somebody ran a regression analysis or something to figure it out. Anyway, if the horse performed in that category, they get an icon. Of course it's still up to the bettor to determine how to weight the 7 categories, but it certainly makes the process much easier.

For this bettor, in my 4 trips to the track, this form has allowed me to come out even each day after betting on 8 or so races each time. OK, so coming out even may not speak for this being the best process to win lots of money, but I think not losing lots of money is better than most of the people there. And best of all, you still have a fun afternoon with friends.

For more information on Visual Thinking approaches like this, check out VizThink.com.

New Southwest Seating Plan

2007-09-19T23:09:00.001-05:00

OK, so Southwest finally took my advice! Back in early December 2006 I blogged about Open Seating on Southwest Air Pt 1 & Pt 2. I was complaining about the cattle call set up for Southwest and how people will stand in line for hours even when there's no plane at the gate and it's been delayed for two hours just to save their place in line for open seating. I gave a bunch of ideas how to fix it, and they actually took one of my ideas!

OK, so it probably wasn't the most original idea ever, but I think it will make things better. In Pt 2, I suggested they assign numbers to people and have them line up by number. That would eliminate people standing for hours in the cattle gates waiting for the plane and that's exactly what they've done! Check out this quick performance support piece on the new way to board the plane. (Nice visuals too, with the usual Southwest sense of humor). Somebody should have told them that performance support pieces are better when available in the moment rather than hours or days before they're needed, but, hey, it's a good attempt.

I'm flying Southwest in a few weeks, so, if they've implemented it by then, I'll report back on how it went.

New opportunities, new roles, new fun

2007-08-16T10:40:00.000-05:00

As you may have noticed, my postings have recently dropped off a little bit. Looking at the other bloggers, it sounds like everyone's been pretty busy, and this is certainly no exception. I've been working on a new start up called VizThink. Our goal is to build a community of visual thinkers.

Who are visual thinkers? Visual thinkers are people who use graphic design, images, pictures, video, animations, sketches, and other forms of visual art for communications and learning. Trainers, marketers, presenters, designers, planners, strategists, and managers are just a few of the groups who use visual thinking.

Are you a visual thinker? Do you want to learn how to use visualization to improve your communications and training? Then this community is for you.

Over the next several months, we'll be rolling out a series of international events as well as community resources.

Need to find a person or company to help with brainstorming sketches?
Want to learn how to create powerful information graphics?
Want to know which vendors offer visual thinking services?
Want to learn how to give more visual presentations?
Looking for a place where you can find best practices in visualization?

...then VizThink is the place for you. You don't have to be an artist or know how to draw (though I actually think everybody has a little bit of artist in them).

Our first offering is a gathering of visual thinkers in San Francisco we're calling VizThink '08. We've got a bunch of great facilitators planned and we'll be announcing them over the next couple weeks. I hope you can make it.

Combining Video & Interactivity

2007-07-30T23:12:00.000-05:00

The designers of this site do a great job of combining video, interactivity, usability, and creativity. Notice how the video controls are obvious, provide relevant feedback and are easy to use. They even tell the participant where the moment of truth is so they can jump straight to it.

OK, so really, it's a fun set of videos with some pretty neat controls. Who knew Christmas lights would do that in the microwave?

Thanks to Mike Cohen at Creative COW Blogs for pointing it out.

Scott McCloud World Tour

2007-07-30T15:26:00.000-05:00

Over the past few months, I've had a few chances to see Scott McCloud on his U.S. tour (which you can still catch through the end of August if you live in the southwest). Scott is one of the leading authorities on comic art and graphic novels. While it may initially seem like an odd pairing, I think Scott's work is essential reading for anyone involved with visual thinking, game design, graphic design, marketing, and such. Originally referred to me by Mark Oehlert, his book Understanding Comics made my essential reading list, especially Chapter 2 which is the best description of art style I've seen.

So on his leg through Detroit, he did a relatively quick stop for a book signing at Green Brain Comics on Free Comic Book Day. Here's a brief interview with him that day:

I ended up having to go buy another copy of his book for him to sign, because my well-worn version was out on loan. Not much of a chance to talk there, but it turns out he was going to be in Portland the same week I was out there. Very cool. So the first night, we arrive about 10 mintues early to the library only to find out that the room is way over capacity and we can't get in. Through a series of lucky events, we find out about a secret side door through the children's library. However, we kind of said that out loud and a whole crowd of people followed us and sat in the floor with us in the children's library which is apparently also a fire hazzard. As soon as the staff realized what was going on, the gig was up and we were kicked out.

On my last night in town his presentation was sold out! Thankfully, someone had thought ahead and got tickets, so we finally got to see his full presentation. Here's a clip of the presentation from a different city:

Certainly the content of the clip is good, but also notice it for his use of PowerPoint...an almost exclusive use of images. I was really impressed until he sadly deviated from this style and put in a slide not just with bullets, but numbers too. Not separately. Together. It looked something like the picture to the right. Odd but true.

Not only is Scott an authority on comics and puts together a great PowerPoint, but he has something for just about everybody from storytellers to graphic designers to learning designers. If you get a chance, check out his book or check out the world tour. You'll come away inspired and full of new ideas regardless of what you're working on.

Art Immersion

2007-07-21T09:29:00.000-05:00

Each year in mid-July, Ann Arbor plays host to the country's largest art fair. Sure, lots of places say they have the largest art fair, but it's hard to beat this one with over 1,200 artists in. OK, so, technically, it's actually 4 fairs (1, 2, 3, 4) at the same time, but it's still huge, covering most of downtown. While it doesn't completely fill the space, it's about 3/4 mile wide by about 1/2 mile tall. While many of the locals take vacation this week, I actually enjoy it. The people watching is the best it could be, and where else is it possible to see that many artists in one place?

Of course, Ann Arbor's known for a lot more than just Art Fair. The Big House (so named because is the largest stadium in U.S. college football now seating over 107,500 people), seen here at about 3/4 mile away, looks small from the outside with over half of the stadium below ground.

Ann Arbor is also know, or maybe infamous, for both the annual hash bash and the naked mile which happen here in the quad:

We also have a pretty activist oriented community which have a dedicated section at the fair. Regardless of your interest or leaning, you'll find your group here.

This is one place and time where all of the different ideologies get along. Too bad it can't always be that way. We're also gaining attention for our newest resident...Google:

However, this time of year, more cultured minds prevail and art takes over the city. Actually, Ann Arbor has a great cultural scene year round with opportunities to take in a huge variety of art, music, and dance regardless of your particular interest. While this show is predominently about the physical artists such as sculpture, photography, paint, clothing, jewelry, etc, Art Fair also draws a good number of performance artists as well (most of the performance artists are not counted in the numbers above):

Of course, it's really all about the art, and with this many vendors there's sure to be something that meets your taste (and budget).

Sometimes the art is functional:

Sometimes, even the frames get into the mix:

I think all art when it works for someone is supposed to come alive, but these artists took that quite literally:

This next artist has been at the fair for as long as I can remember. It always gathers a huge crowd. Clearly, the woman in the middle is a sculpture. The guy on the left is real. The security guard...is not. I'm not sure why somebody would buy something quite so lifelike. It might scare would be robbers for a moment, but it would probably freak me out me out more often than it would the robbers.

Then like American Idol and the other talent-based reality shows, there's the bizzare moments that really attract attention. Now, I'm sure these are somebody's taste, somebody's mother loves them, that all art has a place, and I truly hope that these artists are able to make a living from their work. They're not for me, but I did have to share:

In that last one it's more about the clothes than the paintings. And yes, for those of you who are mad at me for picking on a few of the artists, I do buy art at the show. I try to buy at least one piece each year. Here a few of my favorites from the last 4-5 years. The first two are by Chip DuPont from Austin, Texas:

And this one from a different artist. Look closely, it's done on silk:

But this year's artist was Glenna Adkins from Cincinnati, Ohio:

My feet are soooo tired and my brain is overloaded, but, as always, it was a great show.

Yet Another New TiVo Feature

2007-07-10T18:00:00.000-05:00

OK, I know, enough already, I love TiVo. I've mentioned it before on the blog, and over and over, ad nauseum I'm sure, to my friends.

What's the new feature? I really nice mash up between Amazon and TiVo. Yes, they've had the Unbox going for a few months now...go to Amazon.com, "rent" a movie, and a little while later it magically appears on your TiVo box. In the last few months they've increased the available movies to over 1,500 which is no Blockbuster or NetFlix, but they're certainly making progress. However, none of that is what's cool. Instead, you can now rent from Amazon directly on TiVo. No going to a separate place to download movies. It works just like the Now Playing list (where you get the recordings you made off live TV). Simply make your choice and the download begins. Movies in the list are automatically updated from Amazon. Now that's easy. They say it takes between 1 to 5 hours to download a movie depending on available bandwidth at home. So it's not quite as fast as a drive to Blockbuster, but it's close.

Of course, with all of these upgrades and enhancements, TiVo's menu is starting to get a bit crowded (and therefore less simple). I wish they'd add a feature to let me manage my own menu items...turning some off and changing the order of others. Maybe I can't change the default screen, but can they give me the option to create my own "home page" on my TiVo box. Now that would be cool.

Another free whiteboard tool...

2007-07-05T08:04:00.000-05:00

While this one from Thinkature has some of the same features (collaborative space, free form writing, etc) as the one from GE, they've clearly focused this one on the PostIt Note set. I couldn't figure out how to add images and other icons, but apparently it can be done which also makes this a possible tool for mind mapping. I just wish there were a better selection of shapes than the default PostIt note.

Anyway, let me know what you think.

Cool, Free Collaborative Whiteboard

2007-07-03T12:27:00.000-05:00

I found this tool today while searching for Visual Thinking stuff (more on that in a few weeks). In the meantime, GE has created this cool little Flash-based, collaborative whiteboard application. No install required. It works pretty well with a couple limitations. I think it only allows 3 people in the same document and there is a limit to the amount of "ink" that can be on the page at one time. However, the page had to be almost 50% color to hit that limit, so I'm not sure it matters much. I don't understand what they get out of it...no fee, no advertising...just branding I guess.

Anyway, enjoy! Let me know what you think.

Update: I've had a few problems with it on one of my machines. I think it's actually in the Javascript on the page not in the file itself. It may not work with certain versions of Flash.

Who's Playing Games Now?

2007-06-25T19:49:00.000-05:00

For those who don't know, Thiagi (short for Sivasailam Thiagarajan) is a education and gaming guru. For those who had the opportunity, he was a speaker at this year's ASTD conference in the Legends track. He was great, as always. If you get a chance in the future, be sure to check him out. In the mean time, T&D Magazine's June 2007 issue does a quick interview with him. This needs to make it to my favorite quotes list (if I had one of those):

Q: Have you encountered any companies or cultures that do not accept game playing?

A: While there are cultural differences, here is an interesting fact: All human beings play games. There is no culture in the world that doesn't play games, other than some middle managers in Chicago who think it's beneath their dignity.

Cool Audience Response Technology

2007-06-24T13:48:00.000-05:00

I just got back from the Society for Pharma and Biotech Trainers (SPBT) annual conference in Miami. They decided to implement an audience response system (ARS) for the first time this year. For those that don't know, ARS allows the audience to vote during presentations much like the "Ask the Audience" lifeline in Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

SPBT chose Turning Technologies as the vendor for this event. While there are certainly dozens of providers out there including Quizdom which I've used quite a bit, Turning Tech has a few advantages over their competitors including the most obvious...size, or lack of size to be more precise. At about the size of a stack of 5 or 6 credit cards, their devices are the smallest on the market, as far as I know. (The USB part in the picture is the receiver. Even that's tiny). Unlike other providers, they also have the option to rent them so that a company could keep a base set for normal sized classes and the rent a few extras when the occasional bigger meeting comes along.

Over the last few years, several conferences have implemented this technology for the general sessions, but SPBT took it a step further and offered it to all of the presenters in the breakout sessions. Thanks to the small size, it's pretty easy to just keep it in the normal conference name badge. About 25% of the sessions (including Karl Kapp's), took them up on the offer. Having been involved in running several conferences, it's always risky to add new technology like this for the general sessions more or less offering it to 90 other presenters. However, with a brief bit of training from the on site support staff, presenters seemed to gravitate to it pretty easily. Interestingly, Steven Levitt (keynote and author of Freakinomics) didn't know it was available until he walked in the room about 5 minutes before his session where he added 3 polls on the fly which were incredibly helpful in getting the audience involved.

The software has advanced a lot since the last time I looked at it which was only 8 months ago or so. One of the best new features was the ability to slice and dice the information. In Karl's session, he asked a basic question near the beginning to gage the audience's opinion on a topic. The result was a pretty standard normal curve. However, he then used the software to display the same data broken down by role. The normal distribution went away and there was a clear difference between the roles. Had he not been able to dive a little deeper, the audience would have missed an important story. Another cool new feature is to compare the results from one question to the results of the next question on the same slide. One idea would be to include an opinion slide at the beginning and end of a meeting and see how perceptions change.

All in all, I'm really impressed with how far they've come and how fast they're growing. Look forward to a new feature that lets remote attendees to participate by voting over the web allowing for a mixed in person and remote user ARS. Now that's pretty cool.

Leaving Out the Good Stuff

2007-06-15T07:43:00.000-05:00

It occurred to me as I was watching the game at Tiger Stadium yesterday, that our schools may actually already have a solid metaphor in place for the use of games and simulations for learning. Our music programs and our sports teams make extensive use of a practice-based approach for learning. In fact, it's almost the only way kids learn in those classes. Out of all the sports and music I've done in my life, I don't think I've sat in one lecture or seen one PowerPoint (or whiteboard or blackboard or whatever). Sure a quick play illustration or song list might be jotted down, but not much more.

We already know that both sports and music programs are not just great ways to learn the domain areas themselves, but also develop transferable skills such as team work, collaboration, motor skills, observation skills, and even strategic decision making. (See a related post from kwhobbes). Interestingly, there's also been a lot of research done on the parallel capabilities that come with music development such as mathematics and language.

OK, so I'm not stating much new so far. What occurred to me today, though, was that while sports and music provide both tangible skills, transferable skills, and great metaphors for all learning, sadly, they're the first thing getting cut in most of our schools budget crisis. What a shame it is, if we cut some of the best learning activities and examples and replace them with more lecture. Hopefully, maybe we can take some of the learning approaches from the ball fields and music rooms and take it back into the classroom rather than what seems to be our current approach of leaving out the good stuff.

Games as a Metaphor for Learning

2007-06-14T18:46:00.000-05:00

Sure, we talk about this all the time. Games and simulations are a great way (possibly the only way) to actually learn. For this post though, I want to take a little bit different spin. Surprise, surprise, Web 2.0 (I can't stand that term) is impacting all types of industries, not just learning. [For clarification purposes, when using the term Web 2.0 in this context, I mean the ability to have user-generated content and various related social networking tools]. In fact, the impact is being felt possibly more strongly in the movie and gaming industries.

Take a listen to Raph Koster (game guru extraordinaire)'s rant for the Game Developer's Conference, a conference for those who build games (artist, programmers, sound engineers, designers, etc). His 68 minute, PG-13 call to action is quite compelling. What made it interesting to me (besides the fact that I'm a gamer and am interested in the field) is that a simple swap of the word "learning" every time he mentions the word "game" and the presentation becomes exactly what the learning industry is struggling with.

For years, we've created monumental, enterprise systems. Web 2.0 is changing all of that. How do we respond? Raph has some great insights into how to survive, adapt, and even thrive in the changing world.

Here are the links:

- Gamasutra (a leading gaming magazine) post about the talk
- Raph's post about the talk
- The audio for the talk
- The associated PowerPoint slides

As a side note, take a look at his PowerPoint. I think there are quite a few slides that turn out to be great uses of PowerPoint. Of course, to balance those, he's got several that should be reworked. On average though, he definitely uses it to illustrate or emphasize his key points.

PLEase Stop

2007-06-08T07:14:00.001-05:00

Lots has been said about the topic of Personal Learning Environments in recent weeks. Certainly, Ray Sims has been doing a lot of writing about it with thoughts added by Jay Cross and Tony Karrer, but not until Stephen Downes recent comment did the blogosphere light up. Here's a snippet from his post:

I will mention in passing that I am opposed to the trend coming from the corporate learning side of the house to treat PLEs as work tools. What is it about people in corporate learning that they feel the need to perpetuate the attitude of servitude it seems all learners must adopt.

While Stephen's twist on that (which comes out a little after the quote) is a little different than mine, in some ways, I agree. I don't really understand the need or desire by corporations to standardize or systematize this topic. Sure companies want to gain efficiencies by standardizing everything, but some things are best left messy. By searching for or creating standardized corporate systems and processes, we remove the P from the PLE.

I think PLEs are a great topic for people to discuss and understand. It's helpful for me to understand what Jay or Ray use in their own PLE. However, the discussion is not so that I can standardize it for all employees, but so that I might be exposed to something I hadn't thought of and try it in my own PLE and possibly recommend it to others to try. Certainly, corporations should make a wide array of tools available and encourage their use, but can we please stop trying to standardize something that is inherently personal?

Networking the Old-Fashioned Way

2007-06-06T15:30:00.000-05:00

I know we all work in virtual networking environments, but I don't think we can ever underestimate the power of getting together face-to-face. Sure, everybody reading this uses the phone and e-mail. A little fewer use chat/IM and web conferencing (Elluminate, WebEx, Connect, etc) from time to time. Then a yet smaller group is involved in one (or likely more) social networking tools like LinkedIn, MySpace, etc or involved in writing blogs, editing wikis, or contributing to social bookmarking (i.e. del.icio.us). My point is we've got a lot of ways to connect virtually.

Yet, with all of these tools, I enjoy the face-to-face encounters so much more and ASTD was no exception. It was great to run into all the usual faces and also to make quite a few new friends. Maybe I enjoy it more because it's a time almost exclusively focused on networking without the distractions of day-to-day work. Maybe it's because the conversations move faster or that the reactions are more immediate. Maybe it's just really cool to hang out with smart people who can challenge my thinking and collectively generate a bunch of great ideas on where we should be going both as individuals and as an industry. Maybe Innovations (September), DevLearn (November), or TechKnowledge (February) will be good times to catch up.

Thanks to everybody who contributed to all of the great conversations. I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Improv for Learning

2007-06-05T13:39:00.000-05:00

I'm a huge fan of improv comedy. I watch old episodes of Whose Line is it Anyway (wikipedia), the new (and still trying to find its way) Thank God You're Here (wikipedia), and especially support my local improv troops in Ann Arbor (Improv Inferno) and suburban Detroit (Second City). For those who don't know much about improv, the performers (usually 2-4 people at a time, though it varies a lot) take a suggestion from the audience and then play any one of a number of games to create a scene/story generally with the intent of being funny.

What's interesting to me about improv is that while "everything's made up", it actually follows a series of rules that all of the players follow. The rules act as rails that guide (yet don't restrict) the content. One of the most basic rules is called "accepting the offer". Each of the verbal and non-verbal actions of a player are "offers". So, for example, an offer might be one character standing up, stretching, and saying "Good Morning". Accepting that offer would require building on those clues to continue the story. So to accept, the second player might say "It's about time you woke up. You're going to be late for work." The yawn and the morning were accepted and work was added. So the responsibility of the original character is to then accept all of the previous offers (morning, waking late, and work) and build the next part of the scene with them. Rejecting the initial offer might have been "It's not morning, it's evening. You've missed an entire day."

This activity requires the players to provide focused listening and observation skills and take on the posture of collaborative building rather than analytical dissection and destruction. What would if everybody on the team worked to create and build towards a common goal? Interestingly, many local improv troops (probably the most famous being Second City) have picked up on this and began to offer it as an option for corporate training. However, one company here at the show, Performance of a Lifetime, is trying to take it national and work with larger companies rather than local teams. Jay just blogged about a different experience with them as well. I attended their session earlier this week where we were able to try out several of the games and begin to learn some of the basics. It developed practical skills (listening, observation, teamwork), explained more philosophical ideas (collaborative creation, interactivity), and frankly was a lot of fun. I definitely want to go back and take the classes with my local improv troop.

On a side note, a few years ago Cornell was working on a project to animate virtual characters using the rules of improv. In simulations and virtual worlds, the computer controlled characters are almost always pre-scripted. Their actions, paths, and words are predetermined by the creator and the characters can often feel stale and unrealistic. The research was trying to determine whether the rules of improv could create characters with more realistic behaviors. I haven't seen much about that recently. If anybody knows more about it, send it my way. I'd love to write a bit more about it.

In the mean time, check out your local improv troop and jump over to Performance of Lifetime. Very cool.

Ruth Clark v. Mark Oehlert

2007-06-04T13:14:00.000-05:00

So, I just got out of the repeat of Ruth Clark's presentation called Beyond Fads, Fables, & Folklore. Mark went to the session yesterday and already blogged on it. So, I thought I'd referee the debate between the two of them. Of course, right now it's not much of a debate since she hasn't had a chance to respond, but that won't stop me. So, without further ado, here's a summary of Mark's major points and my thoughts on who wins that side of the debate:

1. It's ironic that Ruth's presenting herself as unbiased when she has stuff to sell.

Truly, everybody has biases and everybody has something to sell (in one way or another). It's impossible to eliminate bias or not sell anything when presenting. By nature, every presentation has bias and every presentation is selling something. However, I think where Ruth went wrong is both implying that scientific methods make the results unbiased and by continuously pushing her books. Nearly every point either started or ended with "and this can be found in this book I wrote". I probably am going to buy one of those books of particular interest, but still...this round goes to Mark.

2. Face to Face v. E-Learning Debate is not a valid question.

It's not about one or the other. In fact, most topics shouldn't be one or the other. Between pre-work, in class work, on the job practice, mentoring, etc...good learning happens over time in a variety of ways. Why are we even talking about this? It's the wrong question. This one goes to Mark.

3. Much of this research is obvious.

Sadly, a lot of people in the room didn't know that visuals improve learning or that the selection/use of visuals matter. A lot of people didn't know that learning design matters. I hate to say it (and it makes me sad to do so), but despite the things that seem intuitive to some, people are still struggling (as evidenced by their votes on what was good during the session) with these basic concepts. People clearly still need to hear the research. These aren't the interesting questions, but clearly they still need to be answered for many. This round goes to Ruth.

So, where does that leave us? 2 for Mark, 1 for Ruth. This debate goes to Mark. I'd love to see a face-to-face rematch!

Welcome to ASTD

2007-06-04T12:56:00.001-05:00

Greetings from ASTD in Atlanta. This is the first year in the many that I've come where I've been able to attend several of the sessions. It's interesting compared to other conferences in that about half of the content is really basic or are sessions that have been done every year forever, it seems. Of course, with over half of the participants new to the industry (less than 1 year), it's probably useful to many. However, I've been lucky to find a few good sessions so far.

Yesterday, I sat in on Doug Stevensen's session on the use of drama and story in learning. He's the owner and founder of an organization called Story Theater. They blend the world of theater with the world of training. I've been aware of them, but haven't really had the chance to look at them closely. Originally, I thought it was more of what John Cleese does in his awesome training videos, but instead what they do is help teachers and speakers do better presentations by integrating storytelling and drama techniques. There were a few major take aways for me. First, good stories have a structure:

1. Set the scene
2. Introduce the characters
3. Begin the journey
4. Encounter the obstacle
5. Overcome the obstacle
6. Resolve the story
And for learning, add the following steps:
7. Make the point
8. Ask the questions (application questions)
9. Re-state the point

What was really interesting to me (my own realization) is that not only should the stories inside a course (online or offline, doesn't matter) have a flow, but the whole course should follow a story arc. If people evaluated their courses to see if these 9 steps were followed (both in the small stories and the overall story), I think we'd end up with a lot better courses.

A couple other key insights included:

Replace narration of a story with acting/drama at the key moments to pull people into the story
All stories contain one potentially powerful moment. Know where it is and hold the moment. Don't rush out of it.

Off to more sessions and the expo floor. More insights as I go...

PowerPoint - What is Appropriate, When and Why?

2007-05-30T12:07:00.000-05:00

This month's Learning Circuits Blog Big Question is actually a series of questions related to the use of PowerPoint. It's really easy to jump to the conclusion that PowerPoint is evil because people use it to create bad presentations and learning. However, that is the equivalent of saying that typewriters (or word processors) are bad because people use them to create bad novels. Certainly, the typewriter made it easier for more people to call themselves writers than the days when everything had to be typeset by hand, but that doesn't mean there were more good writers. To butcher a common quote, PowerPoint doesn't bore people, people bore people.

There are at least 3 completely different skill sets needed to create and deliver a great presentation:

Using the tool
Speaking/presenting
Visual/information design

Unfortunately, most of the training in corporations stops at the tool, rarely gets to presentation skills, and never gets to visual design skills. However, when done well, a good PowerPoint has many benefits:

Emphasizing or Illustrating a Point

Arch Lustberg, an extraordinary coach and teacher for presentation skills, has argued that a good presenter doesn't need technology. That's true to some extent. Some of the best presenters I've ever seen only had themselves and a microphone. Yet, Arch still occasionally uses a marker and flip chart to emphasize or illustrate a point. In that case, the flip chart fills the same role as a good use of technology...emphasizing or illustrating a point. This isn't the random insertion of clip art. This is the use of text and visualization to clarify the information being discussed.

Organizing Thoughts

One of the least talked about benefits for PowerPoint (and one of my favorites) is using PowerPoint as a way to organize thoughts and eventually presentations. It's a great way to organize random thoughts into a coherent flow. Ideas can be brainstormed onto different slides, flushed out with more detail, and then Slides resorted into a coherent flow. I might never use PowerPoint in the actual presentation, but at least I've got my content organized and my flow down. When I'm done, I also use this for checking my presentation flow. I do a walkthrough (in my head) of what I'm going to say and where I want to go. If I naturally go to the content on the next slide before I click to go there, I know the flow is good. If I go in a different direction, something needs to be fixed.

Determining Timing and Emphasis

It's also a great way to determine the length of a presentation and whether the amount of time being spent on a topic is appropriate. When I sit down in a 60 minute presentation and I see 120 slides and the last one says "Q&A", I can pretty much say without a doubt there will be no time for questions. The rule of thumb I use is about 2 minutes per slide on average, which works well for my presentation style. That formula helps me predict the amount of content I have and which points should be emphasized or eliminated based on the time available.

Other Benefits

I haven't really focused on the traditional uses of the tool, many other posts have done a great job of that. Regardless, PowerPoint is a tool. Put in the hands of a skilled professional it can be a huge asset. It can even help more people become skilled presenters. Of course, it can also help people create and deliver bad presentations much more quickly. As with most things, being a good presenter requires skill and experience. Corporations should not only develop skills in using the tool, but also in delivery and design of presentations.

Designing "the dip" Out of Learning

2007-05-29T10:32:00.000-05:00

Marketing guru Seth Godin's new book the dip is a quick, 80-page read. Thanks to Brian Tolle for getting me a free copy of the book. Here's a short description from the cover:

Every new project...starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point: really hard, and not much fun at all. And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you're in a Dip--a temporary setback that you will overcome if you keep pushing. But maybe it's really a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try...Winners quit fast, quit often...until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons...Losers, on the other hand...fail to stick out the Dip--they get to the moment of truth and then give up--or they never even find the right Dip to conquer.

There are some easy pluses and minuses to this book, but I'll leave those thoughts to the book critics. What I found interesting is that he's really talking about learning. The curve he describes is a learning curve. Rather than embracing the dip and helping learners through it, learning designers often design out the dip. Certainly, the goal--making sure everybody gets it--is well intentioned. However, this requires designing to the lowest common denominator. It also means that most of the results are missed.

However, we don't have to use the lowest common denominator as our metric and most of our learners can make it back up the curve to get the best results. Simulations and games are a great way to help people through the dip. In fact, well-designed simulations take advantage of the dip and make it a key part of the design. About 5 months ago, I covered this topic in more detail in a post called Adaptive Simulations. (Note: In my graphic, the dips are actually the peaks, so the chart would need to be flipped upside down to compare them). The idea is that the simulation takes the learner through a series of progressively more difficult dips, rather than one big dip, which in the end has taken them through the larger dip and on to success.

If we design "the dip" out of learning, we also design out the opportunity for learning. Without the struggle, without the opportunity for (and frequent occurrence of) failure, no real, lasting learning can be achieved.

Note: Check out Karl Kapp's recent post for more thoughts on learning through failure.

Mentors, Guides, and Wizards

2007-05-28T22:22:00.000-05:00

On the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars, I thought it might be appropriate to do at least one post on a key theme from the Star Wars Universe. I debated the often talked about Hero's Journey in general, but lots have been written and filmed about that, and it felt like it might get a bit like a sermon. Instead, the History channel has a great piece on right now called Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed and quite a few books have been written about the hero's journey as well including the core text by Joseph Campbell called The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

However, rather than generalize about the story, I thought I'd focus in on one key aspect of the journey...the role of the mentor or coach. In a couple recent posts (Get a Life, not a Coach, and eCoach), Don Clark seems to go back and forth a bit on whether coaches are good or not. Certainly, he doesn't seem to be a fan of life coaches. I, on the other hand, am a big fan of coaches and mentors. Here are some of the key facets of a mentor from the hero's journey as depicted in Star Wars:

Mentors come in all shapes and sizes and often from unusual places
Mentors provide the information as you need it and are ready to have it, not before
Mentors reflect their experience rather than their opinion
Mentors are available at key moments, but the learner must take actions and steps on their own
Mentors provide a special gift or tool that will be useful on the journey
Mentors are not around forever, and in fact there need to be different mentors throughout different parts of the journey
No matter what part of the journey the hero is on, they still need a mentor
Not all mentors guide in a good direction, deciding to take or ignore the advice takes discernment

Often, the role of the mentor is about helping the hero overcome their fear, self-doubt, or confusion and move the story forward. I believe that each of us are the heroes in our own story, but we can't make it alone. The sound council of those who have experienced life before us is essential to our success. That reminds me, I need to give a few of my mentors a call this week.

Six Months of Learning and Growing

2007-05-25T07:35:00.000-05:00

Amazingly (to me anyway), today is my 6-month anniversary of blogging. Over 90 posts and 2,800 views later and I'm still going. A lot has been made in dozens of posts about the reasons for blogging including the now classic Top Ten Reasons to Blog and Top Ten Not to Blog. Probably the most often cited benefit is for personal learning. While that has been huge, I don't think that's the biggest benefit of blogging for me.

For me, the biggest benefit of blogging is the friendships I've made or grown through the process. Many thanks to Mark for pushing me down this path. Without him, I would have never started. Thanks to Tony, Tony, Brent, Brian, and Jay for all of the words of encouragement along the way. All of these guys are great writers who challenge my ideas and give me something to think about. Thanks you, thank you, thank you!

I'm especially thankful to those who read this blog. I don't know who many of you are or have a clue about why you find my writing interesting, but I hope it helps you at least a fraction of the amount that it helps me. I would love to connect you and hear about what you like and dislike about this blog or more importantly your thoughts on the issues in our industry. I'll be at both the ASTD and SPBT conferences coming up. Send me an e-mail and we'll figure something out or just come find me.

Thanks again to everybody for coming along with me on this journey. Without each of you, I would never have learned so much.

Creating Community: At the Library

2007-05-15T14:59:00.000-05:00

As a follow-up to my post a couple of months ago which was a response to Don Clark's post , I've now been to libraries in 4 states (Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee) ranging from urban to suburban to rural, and I have to say the story is consistent. The libraries I've been to are a hub of community and activity. Sure there are a lot more things to do at today's library then there were 20 years ago, but there have been lines of people checking out books at every single one of them, and they all were well staffed for their various sizes. In fact, there's more activity going on in libraries now than I ever remember in the past.

Right now, I'm sitting at the Southfield Public Library. It's a library in a relatively diverse (at least ethnically and economically) part of suburban Detroit. From the time I pulled into the parking lot, I knew this wasn't the library of my childhood. From the outside, it looks more like a modern art museum or maybe a brand new science center. The inside is an awesome combination of form and function. Here are just a few of the features:

Dozens of cozy sitting areas with seating for small or large groups
Free wireless throughout, with wired and power connections run to each of the clusters of chairs and tables
Free conference rooms of all sizes from 1-2 people to over 150, with lots of A/V options
Balconies, patios, and gardens again all with appropriate seating and access
A cafe for food, snacks, and coffee
Plenty of open access terminals for those without their own computer
Multiple 3D-themed story areas for the kids
Oh yeah, tons of books, multimedia, and resources

What they've really done is create a community where people can gather around resources and information in a comfortable environment. Students are doing homework together. Business people are having meetings. Communities are forming and dissolving right while I watch. What's also interesting is the library's location. It's right in the center of other city offerings such as the golf course, tennis courts, volleyball courts, swimming pool, ice hockey arena, auditorium, recreation center, senior center, and on and on and on.

While certainly this library is exceptional, it's not the only one I've seen moving in this direction. Even one of the "smaller" Ann Arbor branch libraries has incorporated many of these same features and even serves as a teaching location for new concepts in "green" building design with features such as a turf roof, heating and cooling with natural convection, and landscaping that helps minimize the impact of rain runoff from the parking lots.

Kudos to all that's going on for civic development. Maybe these aren't the same as the old downtown areas that used to exist, but they certainly are designing great spaces for community.

Owning Your Development Plan

2007-05-14T12:37:00.000-05:00

It seems to me that we spend an inordinate amount of time on the administrative functions in our business such as registration, tracking, and grading. We go out and find big technical solutions to problems that actually have little, if any, impact on our actual goal...developing people (knowledge, skills, and capabilities). Sometimes, the simple is the better more elegant solution.

About 5 weeks ago, I interviewed, Maggie Bayless and Stas Kasmierski, the founders of ZingTrain, about their business as well as how their parent company, Zingermans, does training. In the first post, Fun as a Corporate Competency, I described how they strive to create work and learning environments that didn't just incorporate fun things, but actually were fun at their core. Though it's been a few weeks, this is my follow-up post I promised on their simple and elegant approach to employee development and tracking.

From the very first day, they put the employee's development plan in the hands of the employee by giving them their "Training Passport". Like it's metaphorical parent, the passport is a historical snapshot of where each person has been, but unlike it's parent it also serves as a sort of travel guide on the path for their position. Every position in the company has a Training Passport. Often positions have multiple levels of passports for employees new to the position and as they progress to higher positions or responsibilities. The passport (pictured below) contains:

The skill or objective to achieve
The methodology for gaining that skill (classroom, on the job, handouts, meetings, etc)
How the skill or objective will be measured (test, observation, manager signature, etc)
Date and manager's signature confirming successful completion

Employees are self-motivated to complete their passports which represents the opportunity for benefits (for new employees), raises, and promotion opportunities. New employees have 60 days to complete their orientation passport which includes arranging each of the learning opportunities. If, for example, they are getting close to the end of their orientation and the cheese section of the deli hasn't broken down a wheel of cheese recently (which is a hands on learning experience measured by observation for deli employees), it is their responsibility to work the manager to arrange the experience.

The expectations are clear, ordered, measurable, directly related to success in the job, and the employee and manager always knows how they are progressing. For more details and some employee quotes on the effectiveness of the project, check out this article from Gourmet Retailer Magazine.

Just think how much money Zingermans could have spent on implementing an LMS or LCMS, instead they found a simple, elegant solution that puts learning, motivation, and responsibility into the hands of the person it's supposed to impact the most...the learner.

Next up (hopefully in less than 5 weeks this time)...who does all of this training?

Know Your User

2007-05-09T08:55:00.000-05:00

As we try to describe what's happening in learning and technology, it's essential to understand our audience. All too often, we break them down into the overly simplistic categories like early adopters, Luddites, and everybody else. But the categories don't always work. I was talking to a colleague of mine last week who would typically be referred to as an early adopter due to the use of technology (for work, she's a C programmer). However, when you look at other parts of her life, she almost avoids technology. So how do you reach a person that isn't afraid of technology at all, knows how to use it effectively, but uses it in a limited fashion? Would we describe them as an early adopter? Luddite? General public? Frankly, it's probably a little of each of them. If we want to really understand and reach our audience, we need to have a better way of describing them.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has just released a study that, I think, does a much better job of describing people's level of affinity towards technology. Here's how they break it down:

These categories seem much more useful. The friend I mentioned earlier would be much better described as a "Lackluster Veteran". In fact, I know quite a few people who would fit in that category. I'm clearly an Omnivore. However, what's important is what the information implies? How would we implement technology (and learning using technology) differently for Connectors vs. Mobile Centrics vs. Inexperienced Experimenters vs. Lackluster Veterans? I probably wouldn't use mobile technology for a Lackluster Veteran since that's not their preference for receiving information, but I wouldn't put out content formatted for the web for the Mobile Centrics.

I also need to put more thought into it, but I'm also really interested to see how this cross-references with Tony Karrer's recurring series on the 1% rule.

Here are a few other quick results from the U.S.-based study:

Only 20% have a portable MP3 player of any sort
Only 11% own a handheld computer like a Blackberry or Palm
Only 7% have ever listened to a podcast
27% don't have a cellphone
45% don't have a digital camera
19% have shared something online that they created themselves (art, photo, story, video)
18% have posted a comment on a blog or newsgroup
28% have played a video game (3 times a month or more)
82% believe the technology they do more than they are using it for

The full report is available online and contains a bunch of other fascinating data such as age, gender, broadband access, and number of devices per category. In fact, there's so much information it's nearly impossible to do it justice here. What does this mean as we decide which technologies to implement? How does this impact the design of learning, especially blended? Are our designers building for their own preference or for that of their audience? Lots of questions to talk about...be sure to let me know what you think.

Interviewing by Doing

2007-05-07T09:15:00.000-05:00

Most people in the industry have come to the conclusion that "learning by doing" is not only the best approach, but possibly the only approach for deep, sustained learning. Now the question is what other things are best done by doing.

One of the other largely broken processes is interviewing external candidates. Here's the basic process as it often exists:

Company posts a job on their website, job board, and various newspapers.
A potential candidate finds the job, and sends in a resume.
The company scans the resumes using either an automated key word or manually reading often hundreds of resumes.
Phone interviews are conducted by an HR person.
In person interviews with the hiring manager, higher ups, and occasionally peers and subordinates.
An offer is made and accepted.
The new hire shows up for work.

This process is filled with difficulties and limitations. The job description is often inaccurate or unclear to external participants containing lots of internal jargon. The candidates resume is rarely a good representation of their capabilities. Interview are filled with self-reported capabilities and results. And, most importantly, to the candidates capabilities aren't truly evaluated until they are on the job and sometimes it takes several weeks before it becomes evident.

Certainly a lot of companies are innovating in this space and trying to improve the process both for the company and the candidate. Mirroring "testing out" in learning, some companies have implemented various testing (skill and fit) at the beginning of the process to help determine capabilities early on with varying degrees of success. Often those evaluations fall down in the same place that the pre-testing in learning do, they request self-reported evaluations of knowledge and have no focus on capabilities and few ties to actual performance. Many of the consulting companies use, at least to some extent, case-based interviewing which usually starts with a story or situation and then asks "What would you do?" That approach certainly gives some insight into a person's thought process and problem solving, but it often leads to text book answers which reveals little about participants actual capabilities.

What if we took the entire interview process and turned it nearly upside down? Well, one local Ann Arbor company, Menlo Innovations, has taken their well-integrated philosophy of learning by doing and translated it into the interview process. I've already written about them a couple times (Double Your Costs to Save Money and Be Your Own SME). They clearly take their core philosophies and run them through out the business. Here's the alternative approach that they use for interviewing:

Candidates learn about the company (and the company learns about the candidates) through a variety of meet-and-greets, receptions, and free classes for the community resulting in a large pool of potential candidates.
Selected candidates from the pool are invited to attend an evening Q&A session where the senior executives talk about the company, demonstrate their approach, and, obviously, answer any questions candidates might have.
The candidates are then brought in for a 3-hour "interview" where they are paired with other candidates in their job category in series of 3 rounds. Each round is observed by a different employee. During the round, the candidates are given a real-world task to achieve. Programmers are asked to estimate a task. Project Managers are asked to schedule or adjust a project. Interestingly, the objective of the teams of two are not to look good individually, but to make their partner look good regardless of their partners capabilities. Given the structure of the organization (wholly focused on agile programming), this round is designed to determine an individual's capacity for teamwork.
Those that have made it past earlier rounds are brought back for the next round, which is the candidate's first day on the job. The interview? Do the work. The candidate is put on a real project for a real client with real team members. It's so real, that the State of Michigan requires that the candidates are paid for the time worked.
The final round is a 3-week trial, again the work and the pay are real.

Notice that nowhere in the process were typical interview questions asked. No self-reporting. In fact, the only Q&A is from the candidates, not the company. The evaluation process is observation.

The process certainly has limitations, as they all do. Not all candidates can wait for an opportunity through the pool process, and even fewer can do a 3-week trial. Also, likely a higher-than-normal set candidates self-select out early in the process after the Q&A. However, given it's limitations it still has a lot of great things going for it.

It strikes me how close this is to the philosophy of learning by doing. It makes me wonder where else we could be applying these concepts.

Chocolate Tasting

2007-05-06T18:55:00.000-05:00

Recently, I had the opportunity to go to a chocolate tasting at Zingermans. I've posted about them before and have a more detailed post on their approach to training in a couple days so I cover them more later. The chocolate of choice was from Scharffen Berger (SB), based in Berkley, California. They are one of only 12 chocolate makers in the U.S., which means (not so obviously it turns out) that they make their own chocolate. Most U.S. chocolate companies only re-melt and re-form existing chocolate. SB sources and roasts the cacao beans, and then makes the chocolate. Some of their bars are made from beans from only one farm and others are blends from 2 or 3 farms across Central and South America.

We were able to taste 8 different bars including their 41% milk, 62% semisweet, 70% bittersweet, 82% extra dark, 62% with mocha, 75% Cuyagua special series, 72% Las Islas special series, and 62% with nibs. Nibs are the raw chocolate straight from the seed. We crushed the seeds in our hand, removed the shell, and then we nibbled. (sorry). I think they might be an acquired taste on their own, but when blended with the 62% chocolate, it was a thousand times better than a Crunch bar. I have to say my favorites were the 41% milk and the 70% bittersweet. The milk chocolate was creamy and somehow had a solid taste of caramel though it was solid chocolate. The 70% bittersweet had nice, but not overpowering overtones of citrus. What's interesting is that they only use 3 ingredients...cacao, cane sugar, and vanilla in all of their bars. Other manufacturers add milk powder, corn syrup, and other not-so-easy-to-spell ingredients to their chocolate. It's amazing how much variation can be found in regions, climate, and growing techniques. Some had more earthy flavors, while others had slight overtones of berries.

The interesting part was how close this was to a wine tasting or a beer tasting. Most of the 18 or so people in attendance really took their chocolate seriously. The group ranged from a mom and her son, to a women's night out, to a couple college guys who looked like they should have been at a keg party. With the help of the facilitator, we all were learning to think critically (not negatively, but critically) about chocolate...and, for me, all food in general. The first lesson was to use all five senses. How does it look? smell? sound (when broken)? taste? feel? Much like creative writing, what words could be used to describe each of those sensations?

All too often, with our food and our learning, we rush through it, gulp it down, and then wonder why we're unsatisfied in just a few minutes. Learning about food, or any topic, takes time and uses all of the senses to begin the critical thinking necessary to retain the information. Good chocolate, like good learning has a lingering taste that can be enjoyed long after the last bite is gone.

The really good news? There are two more tastings in the next two weeks, each with different chocolate! Talk about a motivated learner. Mmmm...

More games for training...

2007-05-03T07:49:00.000-05:00

A couple days ago I posted about an NPR/ESPN piece that I heard on my roadtrip where COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf games) were used for training. In a follow-up post, Tony Karrer adds his own personal experience with his son. His post was then followed by a nice post by Karl Kapp. Karl lists a bunch of games and some of their potential and actual applications for learning. Certainly their are plenty of great games being developed for learning in the serious games space, but it's good to see people finding reuse for existing games. My own series of posts (1, 2, 3) on The Movies: The Game venture into that same space.

I feel a bit like Don Clark here (and will actually quote him in a minute) , but one word of caution on a statistic that Karl uses in his post. He quotes a study that says:

Surgeons who play video games three hours a week decrease mistakes by 37 percent in laparoscopic surgery and perform the task 27 percent faster than their counterparts who do not play video games...so, you want your surgeons to play games.

While the quote is accurate, it's missing some important details. First, which game they played mattered. Specifically, the game that worked best was Super Monkey Ball. The object of the game is to get the ball through a maze of holes and ramps to the goal. However, the player doesn't move the ball, they move the platform. It was based on an older game called Marble Madness, which itself was based on a similar physical game from 20 years ago with a wooden box and a steel marble, but I digress. The other games they tested did not get the same results. Second, the study only tested with laproscopic surgeons, not other types of surgeons. Third, the study was a bit limited in scope and has been questioned pretty heavily for it's methods. Thankfully, the studies author, Dr. James Rosser, is doing much more research, but until then we really can't generalize outside the study's results which said playing Super Monkey Ball makes laproscopic surgeons better, and even that needs to be taken cautiously.

On a related note (health and learning), Don Clark just posted on the use of games like Dance Dance Revolution, Wii Sports, and Guitar hero for health and fitness. In the last 2 generations of consoles, games have definitely become less and less sedintary. One of my favorites, Yourself!Fitness, doesn't get mentioned often enough is a great example of coaching, learning, and exercise using a game. Designed for the Xbox, Maya (the virtual coach) takes the participant through a daily exercise routine. The virtual coach customizes the routine with hundreds of possible exercises to the person's fitness level and even attitude that day. Results are tracked in the system and progress can be viewed over time.

The Rules of the Game

2007-05-01T08:10:00.000-05:00

As reported on NPR (newscast) and in ESPN Magazine (when I started blogging, I certainly never thought I'd say that), Houston chose Amobi Okoye (you may need a subscription to view this link) as a first round draft pick. From Nigeria, he played as a lineman for the University of Louisville graduating at age 19 with a degree in Psychology. In sports news, there's a bunch of obvious stories to follow here...for example, 19 year old graduate makes first round draft pick. However, what caught my attention when I was listening was how he was trained. When Amobi came to school in the U.S. he had apparently never heard of (or at least certainly never played) American football when an assistant coach encouraged him to try out. While he had the physical abilities, he didn't understand the rules of the game. So what did the coach do? Gave him Madden Football (a very popular video game series from Electronic Arts) and told him to go play. It makes me wonder what commercial-off-the-shelf games we could be using to help our employees understand the rules of the game.

Too odd not to be true

2007-04-30T22:37:00.000-05:00

OK, so those of you that know me, know I love gadgets and technology toys, but sometimes designers go too far. I saw this post on one of the blogs I read (Creative Cow) and thought for sure that it was a hoax. One of George Foreman's latest grills has an integrated MP3 connection with an amplifier and speakers. I verified the product on George's site and the Salton store which, I think, actually makes the products as well as hosting the online store.

I'm all for product integration and ubiquitous computing where it makes sense, but do we really need a grill with an MP3 hookup? Doesn't that defeat the "tailgate" part of tailgating?

Who are these people anyway?

2007-04-30T15:16:00.000-05:00

In the last two posts, I've been talking a bit about immersion and ways to represent it. As industries grow and mature, they borrow language and frameworks from other related and not-so-related industries. Sometimes borrowing helps expand the thinking more quickly, and sometimes it limits it to an old ways of doing things. In this case, we're talking about perspective in narrative. Let me just head off the debate here, is there such a thing as a game with a story, or a story that is truly interactive? Lots of really smart people like Jim Gee and Chris Crawford (no relation) have weighed in the topic. I don't know that we really know the answer yet, at least not with our current way of thinking. Either way, narrative perspective is at least a helpful framework from which to think about getting the participant involved (immersed?) in the simulation. So, that being said, back to our early literature classes:

1st Person
The narrator is a character in the story. Pronouns like "I" and "we" are prominent. Since the narrator is a character in the story, they often don't know all of the facts because they only know what they have experienced so far. Sometimes, authors use flashbacks, time shifting, or other devices to allow people to know more than they would normally know in this perspective. In video games and some simulations, this perspective also takes on a visual representation. Since the character is the player, the player often only sees their hands or what's in their hands such as a tool or a weapon. The only way to see themselves is to look in a mirror or other reflection. This format is most often seen in First Person Shooters (FPS) which despite the unfortunate name, don't necessarily have to involve shooting.

2nd Person
2nd Person is a much less common format. The narrator is not a character in the story. Pronouns such as "you" are prominent since the narrator is describing the participant's actions. Since the narrator is outside the story, they can provide facts from the perspective of a sage or a guide.

3rd Person
The narrator is not a character in the story, but sees the story through a character (often the protagonist). Pronouns such as "she" or "he" often get interchanged with ones like "I" or "we" due to the close relationship between the participant, narrator, and character. This view can be thought of as an "over the shoulder" look at the story. In fact, this is exactly the view that video games use to represent this perspective. The character is usually seen from behind and slightly above. This perspective allows more knowledge about the surroundings than is possible in a 1st person perspective. The difference is particular stark when comparing 1st & 3rd person perspectives from the same racing game (Project Gotham Racing 3 for Xbox 360). Notice how much more information the player gets in 3rd person, yet how much less personal it feels.

Why should learning care about narrative perspective?
Many games in the last several years have allowed the player to switch between 1st and 3rd person perspectives since 1st person allows a much more personal view with significantly higher ownership. It increases the feeling that the player is actually there taking the actions (i.e. it increases immersion). However, sometimes the ability to step above the fray is necessary (almost like an out of body experience) in order to take in the entire scene or set up the best strategy.

Given that we're trying to create ownership (read my post on the Levels of Interactivity) over new knowledge, skills, and capabilities in our learners, the use of 1st person perspective can be a valuable tool in learning by doing. Certainly the other perspectives can also be used to great dramatic effect and have an impact on learning. However, learning designers should be making conscious choices about wording ("I" vs. "s/he" vs. "you") and about visualization, just to name two things. At least now we know who these people are and how we can put them to use.

How Real Is 'Real Enough'?

2007-04-29T17:31:00.000-05:00

Don Clark, in a recent post on his blog takes on the topic of fidelity in simulations. In posts several months ago I said I was going to come back to this topics. It took a while, and a bit of prompting by Don's post, so here it is. Here's a quote:

‘Physical’ and ‘psychological’ fidelity
An underlying problem in military training is the failure to recognise the fundamental difference between ‘physical’ and ‘psychological’ fidelity. So, how real should simulations be? It’s a mistake to think that physical fidelity is an absolute virtue in simulations. A stripped down version of reality will often suffice, and in fact can often provide greater focus for the learner. The important consideration in making such decisions is to be selective in a way that focuses on the psychologically significant aspects of the situation in a way that highlights the learning objectives.

While I bet after a discussion we might totally agree, his words here only seem half accurate. I agree that, especially in today's gaming environment, we have focused too much on visual fidelity at the expense of game play, story, and, as Don terms it, "psychological fidelity". Take a look at the success of the Nintendo Wii. They went the opposite direction. The graphics are frankly weak. Instead they focused on the game play and moving it closer to reality. Think about tennis or bowling not by button mashing like most games do, but by actually moving your arm and your hand. Talk about fidelity. (On an awesome side note, retirement centers all across the country are buying Wii's so that seniors who couldn't think about lifting a bowling ball again can get back out on the lanes. How cool is that?) Alternatively, I don't want to say how many times I've crashed my car in Project Gotham Racing 3 (PGR3) for the Microsoft's Xbox 360 because I was staring at the incredibly realistic scenery with shadows, reflections, tire marks, and dents from previous impacts. (Note the picture at the right. The top image is Tokyo, and the bottom is Tokyo in PGR3. Truly amazing visual fidelity.) However, did those incredible graphics impact game play? Actually, at least in my case, they hindered game play. Impressive, yes...necessary to achieve the learning objective, no.

Where Don and I start to deviate is in his last sentence where he says we should focus "on the psychologically significant aspects of the situation in a way that highlights the learning objectives." In my recent American Idol post, I talk about the importance of good decisions and good feedback in simulations which are a certainly part of the "psychologically significant aspects". So while I agree, it's only half right. Physical fidelity should be considered when physical fidelity matters to the business objectives. For example, in the a simulation of a conversation, does physical fidelity matter? Well, it depends. If the goal is to teach the participant the right words to say, then no. However, if the goal is to diffuse a tense situation such as an angry customer, body language and facial features matter. Sure, sometimes exaggerated, cartoon-like features can suffice, but it's the business objectives that determine the level of physical fidelity as well. As another example, take a flight simulator. If a pilot is being trained, I want the virtual cockpit to be identical to the real one not only in visual fidelity, but also in haptic and tactile feedback so they know what it feels like too. Does the fidelity of the landscape matter to the learning? Only if the skill flying over/through the landscape is part of the business objectives.

So while, I agree that psychological fidelity is important, when designing simulations we also need to determine the level of visual, physical, haptic, and tactile fidelity based on the business objectives for the session.

What is Immersion?

2007-04-27T19:18:00.000-05:00

First a few quick definitions from the ever popular and sometimes maligned Wikipedia on a over-used, possibly misunderstood buzzword, immersion.

Immersion is the state where you cease to be aware of your physical self. It is often accompanied by intense focus, distorted sense of time, and effortless action.

It strikes me as I read that it also sounds amazingly similar to what people refer to as "being in the zone", but more on that shortly. It's also important to note that immersion doesn't require realism or a 3D environment. For example, consider reading, a good novel can have characteristics of immersion too. So, sure it's nice to know about immersion, but why do we even care?

Immersion is one of the key parts to true interactivity. In an one of my first posts, I described Chris Crawford's (no relation) model of interactivity being a six-part (listen-think-speak-listen-think-speak) process. To make that happen, the participant must take on the role of one of the "listen-think-speak" pairs. In other words, they must be immersed. On the levels of interactivity, while immersion can be involved at the first level of observation, it becomes more and more essential through the higher levels such as action, agency, and ownership. So, if designers want to create a truly interactive exercise or module, they must think about immersion as one component of that.

We also know that "learning by doing" may actually be the only way to achieve real learning. So if, interactivity is learning by doing and immersion is key to interactivity, we must understand more about immersion.

Thankfully, recent research in the gaming community at the University of Helsinki's Nokia Research Center by J. Takatalo and J. Hakkinen gives us some insight into the key factors necessary to create immersion. These factors then point a way for us to deepen the levels of immersion throughout all of our learning. Here are the 8 factors indicated by their research with their definitions:

Role Engagement - Captivated and enclosed into the role provided by the storyline and narrative
Attention - Time distortion, focus on the game world instead of the real world
Interest - Interesting, exciting as well as lively
Importance - Meaning, relevant as well as close, personal and sensitive
Co-Presence - Feeling of sharing a place with others, being active in there
Interaction - Speed, range, mapping, exploration, predictability of own actions
Arousal - Active/stimulated vs. passive/unaroused
Physical Presence - Feeling of being transported into a real, live and vivid place;

So what can we do with this information? Well, in whatever learning we're designing (online or offline, synchronous or asynchronous), we can look at each of these factors and see if there are ways to increase immersion. Here are several ideas:

Drive importance by making the "What's In It For Me" apparent to the participant
Drive importance by creating and communicating the burning platform (BTW, if there isn't a burning platform, why is the learning being done anyway?)
Drive co-presence through small group discovery, activity, and discussion
Drive interaction and arousal by having the participant apply the content rather than listen to it

Please, please comment on this post or send me an e-mail. Do you agree with the 8 factors? How would you describe/define them? In what ways can we improve immersion in learning? Is this discussion even relevant?

Lessons from American Idol

2007-04-24T10:36:00.000-05:00

OK, so I'm a closet Idol watcher. To redeem myself a bit, I've never voted and if I miss an episode, I don't feel lost. In many cases, thanks to Tivo, I'll even scan through the songs/performers I don't like and just catch the key moments. As I was reflecting on the show recently, I realized there were a few lessons from American Idol that could be useful to those of us in the learning space:

1. The decisions the contestants make matter

Making the right song choice each week is key. Does the range of the song match their voice? Does it show off their voice? Can they identify with (or, better, "own") the message/story? Do they listen to the advice of their vocal coach and guest coach? Did they learn and grow from the previous weeks?

In simulation design, it's easy to focus on the right choices and build them first. Then, all too often, little time is left or spent on designing the "distractor" options. When, in fact, the distractors can be the most important part of the design. Good decision points have a few characteristics: realistic options, all options are available that a participant might want at that moment, and no throw away options. The decisions should be hard and should have consequences (some known and some unknown--or at least non-obvious). For the particularly hard decisions (as determined by the participant not the designer), a coach should be available to help guide the decisions. The coach doesn't always have or provide the right answer, but can provide guiding thoughts about how to think about the problem. In the end, the decision should still be up to the participant.

However, the learning doesn't really occur in the decisions...

2. For learning, the feedback matters almost as much as, and maybe more than, the decisions

The best part of Idol is the judges. Randy generally does "keep it real", Paula almost never gives useful feedback, and Simon is almost always dead on (in my opinion). Even when Paula's comments are coherent, they rarely provide substantive feedback. It seems that while Simon's comments are harshly accurate, Randy looks for a way to soften what Simon says, but then provides the substance that Paula lacks.

All too often in simulations, feedback is either too soft or too hard. Writing good feedback is difficult. I've often heard quoted that learning comes through failure, but that statement is only half right. Learning comes through internalizing the quality feedback that comes out of failure. Failing isn't enough. If the player fails at a task in a well-designed video game, the game provides feedback on how to succeed. The feedback in the middle of the game is often, but not always, tacit with the direct feedback held until the end. The same is true with Idol. The reaction of the judges and the audience during the song can allow for minor adjustments while the direct feedback at the end can be used to help with the next decision. The key is making both forms of feedback useful to the decisions and not about how nice the participant looks.

3. "Know who you are" and "Make it your own"

All three judges have said this so many times, they must be tired of it by now. I know I am, but it's still true. A classical musician singing country probably won't sound genuine. An opera star singing heavy metal comes off like a Saturday Night Live skit with Will Farrell. While extreme examples, it's true for most musicians. Knowing who they are and what styles are available to them is essential to success. Lots of things can guide a musician's choices such as vocal range, vocal tone, technical capabilities, personal style, and even personal preference among many others.

Over the past few months, I've been talking to a lot of the suppliers in the learning industry. LMS companies thinking about getting into custom content. Custom content companies thinking about getting into the LMS business. Web conferencing companies thinking about virtual worlds. Content developers thinking about becoming tool developers. It's interesting for me to watch. Certainly everybody's looking at ways to grow sales, and that's important. However, what I think they're missing is who they are as a company. Each company has a DNA that's made up of corporate culture, people, and even organizational structure. These things are hard, if not impossible, to overcome.

For example, LMS companies aren't suited to custom content. Their business is set up to sell big price tag software with an annual maintenance agreement. That's a very different business from flat-fee, 2-3 month development cycle, ever-changing content topics. If an organization is currently successful, it's likely because their DNA is supporting that success. Yet it requires different DNA to do custom content. So, the same DNA that is making them successful now as an LMS company is preventing them from being successful in a new venture. A custom content company requires characteristics such as innovation, creativity, broad content knowledge, solutions selling, and very strong project management skills. Where as a tools company requires product sales, broad platform support, strong technical support, and semi frequent update/release cycles. Sure every company requires these skills to some extent, but the emphasis for each is different and that's where the DNA will either support or limit the success. Trying to be something that they are not comes off as disingenuous and will limit their success in the new market and even to some extent in their core market.

Virtual Worlds from Other Perspectives

2007-04-22T23:12:00.000-05:00

About 7 days ago, I wrote a post about ProtonMedia's Protosphere. It generated a lot of interest and, I'm humbled to say, even got picked up by gaming guru Raph Koster.

One of the more interesting outcomes was a tie to the universe outside learning. Sven (csven) Johnson added an interesting point to the virtual world discussion. To be really effective for business uses (just as much for fun), virtual worlds must have some sort of content creation or content import tool. Why do none of the virtual worlds allow the import of the various standard 3D formats? Why do none of the typical 3D design tools allow the creation of objects for the virtual worlds?

Take a look at our brief discussion on his blog. While you're there take a look at the rest of his blog too. It's a nice parallel to a lot of the discussions we're having in learning from the perspective of a professional in the 3D space.

Powerful Research Tool

2007-04-17T18:06:00.000-05:00

For those in the learning space, there tends to be a lack of quality research on the current shape of the industry and trends. Well, the e-Learning Guild has stepped in to fill that gap with their Research offering which is managed by Steve Wexler. He demo'd the latest version at the meeting in Boston last week.

Probably the single most unique thing about the research is that members are doing their own live searches. No more out-of-date reports, biased interpretations (except for your own bias of course), or irrelevant data. Live queries into the research implies lots of great things for learning practitioners such as:

Access the most current data at that moment in time
Watch the trends (such as product market share or satisfaction) change over time
Apply filters to slice the data any way you like (the new version remembers the filters and applies the to all of the reports automatically...apparently this is Steve's favorite new feature...he mentioned it a lot)

They have lots of great reports available such as Salaries, Methodologies, Market Share, Product Satisfaction, and many others. Higher levels of membership get more reports and more functionality in the research. If you're not accessing this data as part of your decision making process, you probably should be.

A Virtual Surprise

2007-04-16T09:35:00.000-05:00

Frankly, I've been getting a little worn on the hype over virtual worlds, especially for learning. So, when I had the opportunity to take a much deeper look at ProtonMedia at the e-Learning Guild conference in Boston, I was pessimistic, at best. Here are some of the things I found surprising, and interesting:

Virtual World as Web Conferencing & Collaboration Tool - They've integrated their own audio, whiteboard, chat, application sharing, and other web conferencing features.
Con: Most companies already have a web conferencing tool that don't require as much overhead
Pro: Great for collaboration on the design of 3D objects, intuitive break out rooms (just walk to a different room), can replace the proprietary web conferencing with whatever tool a company is already using

Virtual World as Social Networking Space - They've built their own profile management and search to help people find each other.
Con: Many companies are implementing other social networking systems that don't require as much overhead
Pro: Integration with 3D objects, web conferencing, self-publishing and learning design makes this something that can't be found elsewhere, can replace the proprietary social networking with whatever tool a company is already using

Virtual World as Simulation Space - Integrated branching simulation capabilities
Con: Only simple scenarios can be created
Pro: Inclusion of computer-controlled characters, more intuitive way to interact with characters (walk to their office)

Virtual World as Learning Space - Integrated course launching and tracking capabilities
Con: Almost all companies already have more extensive LMS capabilities
Pro: Integration with web conferencing, social networking, and self-publishing allows for one location for learning related needs

Virtual World as Publishing Space - Integration of blogs and wikis
Con: Many companies are implementing other self-publishing systems that don't require as much overhead
Pro: Integration with web conferencing and learning design makes this something that can't be found elsewhere, can replace the proprietary blog and wiki with whatever tool a company is already using

Overall, there are a few things that I think make this solution stand out. First, it works in a corporate environment. Most of the other virtual world solutions either won't run inside a firewall or force a port to be opened to access the world outside the firewall. Neither of which are possible for most organizations. Second, the overhead that it takes is lower than other virtual worlds. Maybe most importantly, it's easier to use than Second Life or many of the others. Given the skills of the broader corporate audience, this is a very important thing. On their own, there are more powerful solutions in each of the categories such as web conferencing and social networking. However, none of them are integrated. Plus, a company who likes a different tool can still use it in this environment.

While ProtonMedia still has some areas to grow such as the ability for user (or even expert) content creation, and extended capabilities for scenario development, they have created an integrated platform that extends the common tools with the use of 3D visualization. For groups such as designers, manufacturers, claims adjusters, and others that need 3D, this is the easy choice.

For a look at a number of other virtual worlds, check out Raph Koster's article on Alternatives to Second Life, and the original source article from Onder Skall.

Learning = Fun

2007-04-15T21:29:00.000-05:00

I'm just getting settled back in from my trip to Boston last week for the e-Learning Guild Meeting. While I've been a member for 6 or 7 years, this is the first time I went to the annual conference. Conferences and conference sessions can often feel redundant for those who travel the conference circuit as a vendor, speaker, or attendee. At this conference, though, there were far fewer misses than there were hits like ProtonMedia's solutions, some great thoughts on immersion, and the Guild's new research tool. I'll try to write about them over the coming days.

However, last year I began to understand that the conferences are not about the sessions at all. The real work and, yes, the real learning almost always happens outside the sessions...in the hall, eating lunch, over dinner, and most certainly solving the industry problems over a few drinks. I'm honored and humbled to be able to hang around the brightest and best in the industry. Many thanks to Tony, Tony, Judy, Mark, Brent, Lance, Jay, Gabe, Linda, Adam, Ron, and all the rest for challenging my thinking and providing new insights to our little corner of the world. I learned a lot and that certainly equated to a lot of fun. I can't wait to do it again.

Special thanks goes out to ProtonMedia, Learn.com, and an extra special thanks to NexLearn. Without them, the trip and all that went with it wouldn't have been possible.

Really Old School Learning

2007-04-11T08:01:00.000-05:00

I don't subscribe to many e-mail lists. My inbox gets full enough as it is. (Thankfully feeds have helped with that even more). However, there is one I still get...A Word A Day. Yes, it's old school and has been in the classroom much longer than the tear off calendars have been on desktops. I love getting the new word and trying to find a way to fit it into a conversation that day. (It's one of the only ways I'll actually remember).

Even more old school is the etymology of the various words and what other words those sources spawned. For example, did you know that bowyer is "a person who makes, sells, or uses bows? Even more interesting is that the root word, boga which came from bheug (meaning "to bend"), is also the root source of the words bagel, buxom, and bog. I find it extremely helpful when I travel since I can often deduce the gist of written words from what little I know about their origins. It's not perfect, but when it's all you've got it can sometimes help.

In some ways, etymology is like the genetics of language. It's fascinating to watch how words have merged and evolved over the centuries. As our understanding of genetics grows, hopefully we'll be able to examine the same development.

A.Word.A.Day with ads is free. The ads are minimal and text only, but they also have an ad free version for $25/year. Sign up today to go a bit old school.

Learning Circuits Big Question April 2007

2007-04-10T07:44:00.000-05:00

Here's a quick summary of the question: With demands increasing for shorter, lower cost, high quality content delivered whenever and wherever I want, what should people who create classroom and/or off-the-shelf content do?

I have lots of reactions to this, so here's a couple quick thoughts:

Off-the-shelf doesn't have to mean poor quality. We've just sadly made it that way because that's what people designed and put out on the market. It's the same in the manufacturing world. Quality doesn't have to be related to custom made products or assembly line products. The more assembly-line focused Toyota and Honda do similar quality work to the more hand-built Lamborghini. However, the reputation is that custom equals quality. We all know that that's completely not the case, yet we still perpetuate it. It's completely possible for someone to create a high-quality, low-cost, mass-produced course. We're just waiting for somebody to do it.
Often, it's not the learner wanting shorter courses, per se. They just want to get through the boring content, stuff that's not relevant, or mandatory content as quickly as possible so they can get to content that is relevant to helping them do their jobs. In talking to several suppliers over the last couple weeks, they are getting requests to actually make the content longer and include even more depth. Why? Because it's perceived as valuable by the learners. They come back wanting more.

So what are classroom and off-the-shelf content creators to do? Create better content that has actual value to the learners.

New Favorite Toy...Ooops, I Mean Tool

2007-04-09T19:09:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to replace my MP3 player for at least 9 months now. My old 256 meg player was limited in space, functionality, and was a bit bulky. While buying an MP3 player usually wouldn't warrant a post, the Zen VPlus from Creative Labs has already become more than just a player. On the market for about 8 months now, it does all of the things an MP3 player should, but it's the "extras" where I think it really shines. My favorite feature is it's recording capabilities. I've already used it to help remember a few brainstorms while I was out, but I was most impressed with it during my interview with the founders of ZingTrain. The cafe was active and noisy, but the recording using the built in microphone still picked up the 3 of us clearly, and for an hour and 10 minutes the file only took up 15 meg of the 4 gig drive. With a regular size headphone jack, I was able to plug it into the auxiliary port on my car stereo and checkout the highlights.

At only 1.5 ounces and 2.6"H x 1.7"W x 0.6"D, it's easily transportable, but not quite as forgettable as the iPod Shuffle which is about an inch shorter. What's more amazing though is that with the small size, it still has a full screen including video playback (and the Shuffle is missing a screen completely). While I probably wouldn't want to watch a major movie with it, for basic news or talking heads, it's more than capable, and actually quite easy to use. My only real complaint is that the software doesn't share the devices usability. Clearly they had different design teams on the related products. With a relatively similar size, 4x the capacity, less Digital Rights Management restrictions, and a slew more features like recording, FM radio, and recording, I'm not sure why anyone would every buy the iPod Shuffle or even the iPod Nano.

Whichever toy...um, I mean tool...you buy, the features have become quite amazing. There are a number applications for learning, communications, and performance support. Considering things like the weekly message from the CEO, daily quick tips, portable storage for files, books on tape, and performance support, inexpensive tools like this could easily be deployed through a sales team or even a broader organization.

Fun as a Corporate Competency

2007-04-03T10:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to sit down with Maggie Bayless and Stas Kasmierski, partners with the corporate training arm of Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For those who don't know, Zingerman's is a 25-year-old specialty foods retailer with both global reach and global recognition. Check out my recent post on their anniversary celebration for more details on the company itself. My next few posts will cover just some of ZingTrain's unique approach.

When was the last time you thought learning was fun? When was the last time you thought work was actually fun? Rarely is the word fun used in conjunction with the words work or learning. In fact, if they are it's often with the inclusion of (often unrelated) joke at the beginning of a lecture or a lame activity thrown in to break up the monotony. I'm not talking about inserted fun, but work and/or learning that are fun themselves. The act of working or the act of learning that itself is fun.

According to Maggie, Zingerman's has made it a corporate goal to increase fun by 30% in the next several years. They've even made it part of their long term vision. Notice the number, 30%. That implies that fun is measurable. While the details are still being worked out, they are considering a variety of metrics such as self-reporting, 360's, and customer feedback to help determine the impact of their efforts.

Many organizations work to make a fun environment including picnics, potlucks, and celebrations. Valassis, a former employer, would throw crazy parties for hitting particular stock price levels. Root Learning, another former employer has, among other regular events, the Rooties (employee-voted awards show which is often a cross between a comedy and talent show). Yet as they know, it's not just about doing fun things, it's about making work and learning themselves fun which is no small feat even for companies like Zingerman's.

Really though, can work and learning actually be fun? In game-design-guru Raph Koster's (blog, wikipedia) Theory of Fun he says:

Fun is all about our brains feeling good--the release of endorphins into our system...Science has shown that the pleasurable chills that we get down the spine after exceptionally powerful music or a really great book are caused by the sames sorts of chemicals we get when we have cocaine, an orgasm, or chocolate. Basically, our brains are on drugs pretty much all of the time. One of the subtlest releases of chemicals is at the moment of triumph when we learn something or master a task. This almost always causes us to break out into a smile. After all, it is important to the survival of the species that we learn--therefore our bodies reward us for it with moments of pleasure. There are many ways we find fun in games...but this is the most important. Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun. In other words, with games, learning is the drug.

So, the question is not can learning be fun. In fact, by it's nature, real learning is fun, despite the fact that many classrooms have done all they can to remove fun from learning. ZingTrain has not only resisted that trend, but tried to reverse it. Not only have they put the fun back into learning (both internally and externally), they're goal is to make it even more fun.

Next up, their approach to objectives and competencies...

What Would Happen If Corporate Learning Ceased to Exist?

2007-03-28T21:06:00.000-05:00

In Brian Tolle's most recent post on organizational culture in his blog Corporate X-Ray, he talks about the creation of sustainable organizational cultures, cultures that are built to last. One of the qualities he lists for creating a sustainable culture is one that is not afraid of organizational death. He goes on to say:

A culture that is not afraid of organizational death regularly asks the question “if we were to disappear today, who would care and why?” It makes no assumptions that the organization deserves perpetuity. It accepts the responsibility of justifying its continued existence by making itself relevant to others. And it does this because it knows or suspects that allowing a false self-perception to die opens the organization to a new degree of freedom of thought, perspective, and ideas. It places its trust in this freedom to spark some sort of re-birth within the organization.

If we asked the people in our companies "If our learning department were shut down today, who would care and why?", what do you think the answer would be? Sadly, in my experience, I don't the learners would notice. Most executives would be happy to get their budgets back, and all-too-often, I'm not even sure the learning department itself would care (at least it doesn't act that way). With the growth of very capable, full-service, HR outsourcing firms, it's quite possible that learning departments might go away, at least as they have existed until now.

According to Brian, one of the best ways to create a sustainable organization is to be relevant to others...in our case, to the executives and the learners. What does this mean? Here are a few points that I think have an impact on relevancy:

The learning department must understand the language, the strategy, and the operations of the business (maybe better than the business itself).
The learning must be focused on helping the business leaders and learners reach and exceed their business objectives, not learning or knowledge objectives.
The learning must be focused on what people need to do, not what they need to know.

If these things happen, learning won't need to go out of it's way to go out of the way to do Level 4 measurement. It will be obvious in the business results which helps the sustainability of the entire business.

The Curse of the Yellow Hammer: Learning Edition

2007-03-27T20:47:00.000-05:00

A couple of days ago Christian Glawe from Creative Cow Blog wrote a great post on The Curse of the Yellow Hammer. (If you're not reading Creative Cow, and you're at all interested in the graphic and visual design side of our business, it's a great resource). In the post, he says:

We all know how techno-centric our industry is. And how quickly that technology changes. Simply keeping up with all the new capabilities, gear, workflows, software, platforms, etc. can be a full-time job...Some of my colleagues know this as my "Yellow Hammer" theorum. Often, we become wrapped up in discussing whether we use a Yellow Hammer, or a Blue Hammer, or a Green Hammer. What I'm interested in finding out is the best way to nail two pieces of wood together to make an angle that works well within the design concept of the house.

While he goes on to describe how this relates to art, he could have just as easily been describing the learning community, especially those of us bloggers. We spend a lot of time talking about whether this wiki is better than that wiki, or this LMS is better than LMS, or this development tool better than that one. We even debate whether blogs are better than wikis. Games, simulations, widgets, wikis, blogs, and on and on and on all are a lot of fun to talk about, but don't get us any closer to our goal.

I think we should spend more time thinking and talking about how people actually learn to do the things they need to do and the best way to help them with that. Eventually, we'll get to the tools, but I think we keep skipping a step and forget that in the end what matters is that people know how to do what they need to do better than they did before. Hopefully, that's something we can do something about.

The Power of Debate

2007-03-26T22:21:00.000-05:00

Debate may be one of the most powerful learning tools out there. To be able to win a debate, or even compete to any extent, both sides need to understand their opponent's argument. In fact, I believe one of the best ways to win a debate is to first argue (and win) from the opponent's point of view. Winning the opposing argument requires going beyond simple knowledge of the opposing view point into deep understanding and even appreciation. When many people debate, they often don't even understand their own argument well enough to know why they believe it. I should be clear that, in my usage, debates do not imply anger or personal attacks, but rather passionate, civil discussions on important issues.

Over the last 6 days, Ann Arbor has been home to the 45th Annual Film Festival, the oldest of it's kind in North America. Screenings are held for about 100 films (of over 2,000 submitted for consideration) in classic movie palace splendor including the classic organ prelude. I had the opportunity to screen 25 of them ranging in length from 2 to 30 minutes each (obviously more were towards the shorter end). Each of them presented various points of view including some that were aligned with my own, some were quite enlightening, and a couple were even disturbing.

Some of my favorites included Mischa Livingstone's A Little Fright Night, Benny Zenga's Ski Boys, Eric Flagg's Gimme Green, and Carlos Marulanda's Breathing Chamber. Two movies deserve some special attention. First, Stranger Comes to Town by Jacqueline Goss uses the game World of Warcraft to create machinima describing the U.S. Visit program run by Homeland Security from the point of view of various real life people (represented by avatars) who have attempted to enter the U.S. legally. For more information on machinima, see my earlier posts (Machinima: Using Virtual Actors for Learning and Entertainment, The Movies: The Game, Invasive Species in Second Life, or listen to my presentation on the topic).

The second movie, 731: Two Versions of Hell by James Hong, not only exposed me to a story I never had heard, but it also debated both sides of the story completely. The first half presents the story, impact, and remains of a Japanese biochemical warfare facility during World War II from China's point of view. The second half plays the exact same footage backwards while presenting Japan's point of view. I'm not sure which side is more true, or if, as with most debates, they both might be true.

What I like about this event is it's ability to quickly expose my thought process to ideas that I normally don't get a chance to hear, understand, or appreciate yet I know they exist. Events like this provide platforms for artists to express their points of view and start open and honest debate on important topics.

Support the arts. They provide a valuable service by helping us all be learners.

Gaming gets learning, but...

2007-03-22T19:10:00.000-05:00

does learning get gaming? I was really disappointed I didn't get to go to the Game Developers Conference a few weeks ago. I was really looking forward to it, but, in life, there are trade offs...at least until today. The conference has posted audio from all of the sessions online as MP3s for a charge of $7.95 each. I could listen to half of them for less than the conference fee would have cost! Why haven't any of our learning conferences done something like this? Even conferences you might expect haven't done it.

That's a great idea in itself, since learning designers who probably wouldn't attend this conference may find some of the sessions pretty useful. It turns out there's a lot of shared issues between game developers and learning designers. Here are a few of the overlapping topics:

There were plenty also on overlapping topics like sound design, complex project management, and using Microsoft Project, but even that's not the important thing. What is important? Game developers get learning, even more, it seems, than learning designers get gaming. Look at these topics:

Notice anything interesting? There talking about using games for learning...over and over and over. Look at even our most progressive conferences. Name one that had more than 2 or 3 sessions on gaming. I don't even remember a session on the "One Laptop per Child" initiative or topics as advanced as behavioral theory or scaffolding. Why is the game development community is more advanced than the learning community?

Watch out...the gamers are coming!

Eliminating the Microwave

2007-03-21T08:20:00.000-05:00

I remember when my dad brought our first microwave home...a Kenmore or an Amana, best I recall. With the required stand (because it wouldn't fit on the counter), it was only slightly smaller than the actual oven. (The picture is not ours, but I think it's the right model with the analog nobs and timer). In the beginning, we cooked everything in it. Quickly, we learned that it wasn't quite right for meat, yet we still used it for potatoes and other things. Even though they came out chewy instead of fluffy, the time savings, we felt, justified the reduction in quality.

When I started cooking for myself, I figured out that the loss of quality for baked potatoes wasn't worth the time savings. If I was in a hurry, I wouldn't have the potato or I choose one of a multitude of faster cooking methods like boiling, mashing, broiling, or braising. Over time, I've stopped putting more and more things in the microwave. Finally, this morning, which is ironically close to the 40th anniversary of the first consumer microwave from Amana, I've decided to eliminate the (much smaller) microwave from my kitchen. I'll melt the chocolate in a double boiler, and go back to a tea kettle for hot tea or cereal. The few other things can also be done in more traditional ways. Sure, it will be a bit slower, but the quality, flavor, and texture go up dramatically.

As I was thinking about it, it paralleled a lot of what is going on in the learning space. We've found lots of "microwaves" for learning. Real learning, deep learning, takes time and experience. The process can't be circumvented. Think about games...good games...good learning games. For cooking, Emeril calls it a "food of love thing". Maybe we need the same things in our processes by allowing the time for development of quality simulations rather than the quicker-but-less-effective-barely-interactive e-Learning that are all too often created. Simulations take time to use as well. Watch the kids. Learning in games doesn't happen instantly. It takes hours and hours of progressive failures and successes to create real competence, but when it happens the learning is deep, satisfying, and, dare I say it, even fun.

I, for one, am going to take the time to cook just a little more slowly, and savor the results a little bit more.

Invasive Species in Second Life

2007-03-20T20:31:00.000-05:00

Meijer, a regional 1-stop shopping center, and the Nature Conservancy have joined forces to educate and help reduce the impact of invasive plant species on the Michigan environment. Non-native, invasive plants have begun dominating the local environment due to well meaning home gardeners. To help combat the problem this spring, labels have been added to plants sold by Meijer indicating which plants are "Recommended Non-invasive". In conjunction, they decided that a coordinated video campaign both in-store and on the web would be the best way to educate the public. Unfortunately, they decided on this approach in November...in Michigan. Not many plants available for video shoots in Michigan in November, and going to a more temperate fall location would defeat the purpose of showing Michigan plants overwhelmed by invasive species. Waiting until spring to shoot the video would be to late to run the promotion. So, video production experts, Silver and Goldie Goodman, suggested a novel solution...use Second Life to make a machinima video (high, medium, Google). Even more impressive, it was created at a fraction of the price of live or traditional animated video.

Actually, Silver and Goldie Goodman are the Second Life names for Dave & Bev Lang who run LTS Productions, a video production studio just outside of East Lansing, Michigan. They have arguably become the most famous video production group in Second Life with their own island set, props, actors, and studio. They are responsible for other famous videos like Stephen Colbert's Dream for Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report and for their video, Second Life: Get One, created for Second Life's machinima challenge for which they won best-of-show. Interestingly, with the recent decline of the auto industry and the related decline in state and local government budgets, traditional local video work was beginning to slow down for them. Second Life and machinima has allowed them to expand their reach globally without expensive travel or location shoots since the "filming" can be done on their island in Second Life. They estimated 60-70% of their video business has shifted to machinima!

For more information on machinima, see my earlier posts (Machinima: Using Virtual Actors for Learning and Entertainment, The Movies: The Game, or listen to my presentation on the topic).

Why Video Games are Good for Your Soul

2007-03-19T11:57:00.000-05:00

OK, I admit it, I'm way behind on my list of books. Jim Gee's Why Video Games are Good for Your Soul has been on my reading list since it came out just short of 2 years ago now. Jim was just appointed to an endowed chair in the College of Education at Arizona State University, leaving the University of Wisconsin. This "new" book is infinitely more readable than his first book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. It was a great book that helped form a lot of my thoughts on simulation and game design, but having to translate "semiotic domains" and other related academic phrases made for slower reading.

This book, however, is very readable and just as inspiring. Jim covers the various types of pleasure that are provided by video games, and goes further to describe how pleasure and learning are inseparable. Here are a few great quotes culled from the pages of the book:

"If people are to nurture their souls, they need to feel a sense of control, meaningfulness, even expertise in the face of risk and complexity. They want and need to feel like heroes in their own life stories and to feel that their stories make sense. They need to feel that they matter and that they have mattered in other people's stories. If the body feeds on food, the soul feeds on agency and meaningfulness...This book is primarily about the pleasures--the charge--that good video games can give people. These pleasures are connected to control, agency, and meaningfulness."
"Pleasure is the basis of learning for humans and learning is, like sex and eating, deeply pleasurable for human beings. Learning is a basic drive for humans. School has taught people to fear and avoid learning as anorexics fear and avoid food, it has turned some people into mental anorexics. "
"The real paradox is not that learning and pleasure go together, but, rather, how and why school manages to separate them."
"Feeling and emotion are not peripheral to thinking and learning, but central to them (Damasio 1995, 2003). If humans add affect (feeling and emotion--in a sense, caring) to information as they process it, they store this information in their minds/brains far more deeply and connect it far more integrally to their other knowledge than if they process it without any such affectual colorings."
In today's quickly changing workplace, "People must be prepared to rearrange their skills, experiences, and achievements--to describe themselves in new ways, not in terms of one fixed role or identity--to display themselves as fit and ready for new jobs, identities, and roles as these emerge in their futures."
"The real power of role-playing games is in the ways in which they can allow people to reflect on their own identities, fantasies, and hopes in the world. Such reflection is absolutely crucial in a world where identity work and identity transformation is crucial for success, even for survival."

If you're like me and a bit behind on your reading, bump this one to the top of the list. It's well worth the time. So, excuse me for a bit, I'm going to go play a game.

Get Out of the Classroom and Learn: Travel and Learning

2007-03-15T09:15:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite times growing up was our annual summer vacation. Every year we'd take 1 or 2 weeks and travel the country. At times it was a bit like the Griswold's ("Big Ben, Parliament...Big Ben, Parliament"), but at others it was some of the best experiences. Over the years, we covered all of the states bordering and east of the Mississippi River.

There's some perspective that presence brings. I did pretty well in school, and I attribute a lot of that to our travels. While I still don't understand why knowing about the detailed troop movements in the various U.S. Civil War battles is important, I can certainly say that standing in the middle of a battle field gives much better perspective for why troops moved the way they did...certainly more than red and blue arrows on a map ever could, which I believe helped dramatically when it came to test time. The same is true for the grassy knoll and the Texas Book Depository. Sure, I've watched the videos, heard the descriptions, and read about the analysis, but there's nothing like being there to truly understand the location and the events. When combined with other learning, the various locations almost have an eerie presence of the events that unfolded there.

Certainly, virtual worlds have something to offer by providing some of the same perspectives especially in places that no longer exist or are difficult to get to. Check out sites like 3D Ancient Wonders, Institute for the Visualization of History, and Free 3D Acropolis. I'm sure there's even some work in Second Life. It could be even more enhanced by quality virtual reality. However, there's still nothing like the perspective gained by being there in person whenever possible. So, get out of the office or classroom, and learn.

Machinima: Redux

2007-03-14T08:32:00.000-05:00

For those who missed my Machinima presentation on Friday, February 16, 2007, Adobe has been kind enough to post it for all to review. This recording contains all of the video, images, audio, and chat from the original presentation. Like the original attendees, you will need to register to view the session. However, once you do, it will immediately begin playing and it can be watched repeatedly, if you want. The recording is almost like being there live, except that to participate in the conversation, we'll have to chat here on the blog. Please leave any comments by using the link below. I'd love to hear your thoughts or ideas.

For additional documentation check out these posts:
Machinima: Using Virtual Actors for Learning and Entertainment
The Movies: The Game

I Love TiVo - More New Features

2007-03-13T10:20:00.000-05:00

Have I said that before? Well, I don't think on the blog yet, but those who've known me in the last several years know it's true. Actually, I love all technology. If I could I would buy it all and try it out. I wonder if CNET needs somebody? Some stuff (like GPS) is fun, but I could live without it pretty easily. However, there are a few pieces of consumer electronics that I would truly keep because they have improved the way I live and work. Certainly, not all technology can say that. TiVo is first on the list to keep.

TiVo's changed my viewing habits completely. First, it saves me time...hour shows take 35-40 minutes to watch, 30 minute shows are 15-20 minutes. That's a huge savings. It still amazes me how little content a show actually has. It's not just the commercials which are about 1/3 of the length of the original program. Chop out the "here's what's coming in a couple segments", "here's what we just showed you", and the lead ins and lead outs from commercials, and I can save another 5-10% of the time. Plus, I don't have to worry about when the show airs or if the time changes. It's always recorded. No complex recording schemes like the old VCRs. I watch it when I want, and I know it will be there.

Certainly, there are competitors including most of the cable companies. I've tried many of them and they just don't compare. Frankly, TiVo's ease-of-use beats most interfaces of any sort, hands down. Where TiVo really shines is it's ongoing new features. First, it was home networking features like watching a video anywhere in the house, listening to music from my PC on my home stereo, and viewing pictures from the PC on the TV in a different part of the house. That was cool, and it didn't require any additional technology. Since then, they've added lots of features like casual games, listening to podcasts, buying movie tickets, and getting weather and traffic information. They even added subscription services for short 1-15 minute downloads on topics of interest. All cool stuff, but not game changing until yesterday.

TiVo announced a partnership with Amazon's Unbox to deliver movies to the home. Imagine going to Amazon, selecting a movie to rent or buy, one-click download, and in a short time the movie is there to watch. Well, it's available now. They gave TiVo people $15 in downloads to try out. The movie selection is a bit thin (about 500 right now), but the service is easy and part of Amazon which, of course, is a regular destination for me. Sure there are other download services, but they deliver to my PC or to my portable device...neither of which are great places for watching a movie. Finally, someone has got it so that the movie gets to my TV without a special box (assuming, of course, that I already own TiVo). The video quality was great. Better than broadcast TV frankly. The download process was a bit finicky. Don't touch the box while it's downloading. It seems to restart the download. I do wish they had figured out a way to capitalize on a partnership with NetFlix (given their huge selection of movies), but I'm glad someone has finally moved towards a download service that doesn't require me to sit at my desk or squint at a tiny screen.

Think Global, Act Local...

2007-03-12T14:29:00.000-05:00

...one of my big philosophies actually, and while normally applied to charities and other non-profits, it certainly applies to food as well. There is nothing better than eating food that was taken from the farm that day. Certainly, it's hard to get some foods fresh in some regions, but when I certainly take advantage of it whenever I can. Thankfully, in recent years the growth of farm markets and local specialty food shops has helped supply us with tons of great, fresh options.

One of those for me is Zingerman's Deli. Wednesday is their 25th anniversary. For those who don't know, Zingerman's is one of the top rated delis and mail order specialty food stores in the world. Through reports from organizations such as Fast Company, NPR's Splendid Table, and an awesome article in Inc Magazine, they've become famous for high quality food and over the top customer service. They've even started to take their philosophies out to other businesses through ZingTrain, one of their communities of businesses.

They kicked off the celebration yesterday with a party for all of their customers by bringing in their top suppliers who were serving tons of free samples. Hundreds and hundreds of people wound their way through dozens of tables each featuring a new delight for tasting. Probably my favorites were the Flavor 70 real Cocoa Nibs from Sweet Riot and the most amazing bacon I've ever had in Niman Ranch's Applewood Smoked Bacon. I could actually taste the layers of amazing flavor. I wish I could eat it every day, but alas it is still bacon.

Even though there were probably too many people for the space and waits (especially for the awesome sandwiches) could be as long as 35 minutes, the attitudes of both the customers and the employees were great. The picture to the right is a very typical lunch time scene, but the picture above may provide a better feel for the space.

I'm a huge proponent of practice as the only means for learning and this occasion was a great example. What better way to learn about cheddar cheese than to try 5 different variations from Grafton Cheese in Vermont, or the 4 goat cheeses made fresh at Zingerman's. Most of the cow milk comes from Calder, a great local organic dairy. Compare, contrast, experience, and understand...I learn more at those events then I ever could out of a book. The best part is that I can revisit the learning anytime I want by tasting more of the great products.

In a few weeks, I'm going to do an in depth report on Zingerman's approach to training with Maggie Bayless and Stas Kazmierski, founders and partners in ZingTrain. In the mean time, try some fresh food and support your local restaurants, food suppliers, and businesses.

Re: Libraries in Terminal Decline

2007-03-11T14:15:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks back, Don Clark posted a topic called Libraries in Terminal Decline. I'm not sure I agree. I know he has numbers to support them for the U.K., so I wondered if the numbers hold true in the U.S. or other parts of the globe. To find out, I went an checked out my local library's stats (actually 5 branches with 1 more being built). It seems that the budget is substantially flat over the last 4-5 years, but in the last couple years visitors are up about 10%, program attendance is up about 15%, computer use up about 30%, website traffic (including offsite self-service) up about 50%, and circulation up about 50% at well over 3,000,000 items.

Over the past couple of months, I've gotten to know the various local libraries quite well, and my anecdotal evidence also says that the libraries are bustling hives of activity. Certainly the computers are always packed, but I've also seen many people taking advantage of the free wireless access, story time for kids, reading periodicals, borrowing videos, and frankly browsing and checking out lots of books. I haven't been to the library since I was in high school, but I don't remember it ever being this busy. The role of the library has changed a bit on the surface, but it still seems to be about free (or seemingly free) access to information.

At first I thought it was just my community. Ann Arbor tends to land strongly on the open-source-free-love-legalized-drugs-save-the-world side of the debates, so I would expect library use to be high. However, recently I was in Troy, part of Oakland County, one of the wealthiest regions in the state and the same things could be observed. In fact, I'm writing this post from Fenton which is a semi-rural part of Michigan hit hard by GM plant closings. This library, while small, is equally as busy.

A few years ago, I would have supported the library to some extent, but after my recent experiences I'm a huge fan. What a great place for all people (regardless of background, demographic, or even home town) to take advantage of the resources once only available to a few. The libraries are even holding frequent, free classes on how to use the Internet (search, e-mail, e-commerce, etc). I know we've got a long way to go, but with so many free services online and free access to the technology, we may be able to begin to close the digital divide in the U.S.

I don't know if Don's right or wrong in the rest of the U.S. I certainly hope he's wrong, and at least the local evidence says we might have some hope.

Theory or Practice, which comes first?

2007-03-07T13:52:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking a lot recently about theory vs. practice. In both corporate and academic education, courses almost always start with the theory, then if there's time left at the end practical applications are squeezed in and rarely is time left for practice. Forget about the likelihood that people will apply what they just heard to their job or to their life, people forget what they've heard before they walk out the door. Why is that? Well, I'm sure there's a lot of great theories on that.

Everyday, I'm becoming more and more of the opinion that for most needs, practice (trying practical examples in a safe, but realistic environment) is the only way to learn any content. Theory is easy to forget because there is no reference, nothing to hook that information on to. By starting with practice and, if appropriate, gradually generalizing, learners can reach greater levels of understanding including exception handling and alternative approaches by having existing experiences through which they can understand the theory.

In some ways, this is the same problem programmers often run into. They start by programming for the exceptions, occasional uses, or power users. In fact, the power users (in learning often called SMEs) are often the wrong audience. They handle exceptions and special cases more frequently than others which makes those activities seem more prominent than they really are. In programming, coding for the exception leads to interfaces like Word or Excel that are far too complex for the average user. As users progress, they may certainly need some of those functions, but by then they will have a framework and experience with which to hang the more complex theories and approaches.

This week I've been back diving deep into Excel. It's an awesome program. Every time I have a problem to solve, there's a new feature to be discovered that can solve it. This week it was the Address() and Indirect() functions saving me tons of time. I knew they existed. I even knew somewhat what they did. They could have saved me tons of time in the past, but I wasn't ready for them yet. I've taken (and frankly taught) my fair share of Advanced Excel classes. Frankly, I had to smash my old Lotus 1-2-3 framework to truly understand these functions. If these had come up in class, I would have promptly forgot them. I wouldn't have understood how they truly worked and, worse, I wouldn't have had a need for them anyway...a prime case for forgetting. Now, however, I was ready and had a need...no worries about forgetting them now.

Excel is a powerful tool, but it may not be the best place to start for many learners. Certainly, I wouldn't start with the theory behind the Address() and Indirect() functions, even though I now know how often they could be used. Frankly, in Excel classes that I teach, I don't like starting with how to use Excel. I prefer to teach the class starting with a goal in mind. What is it the learner wants to do? Which parts of Excel can help them do that in the simplest way possible. Later, we can build on that when the next need arises.

Yes, I've used Excel as the example here, but I think this applies equally as well to any other topic. In calculus, I still don't understand the theories behind derivatives or integrals largely because we started with them and I had nothing to connect it to. If we had started with dozens of practical applications (not math problems, applications) and then abstracted, I might remember (and use) something. The same was true in statistics. I wish we would have started with statistics as an approach for analysis and determining how confidently that analysis can be used. Then all of those P-tests, T-tests, and Chi-squared tests might have some chance of getting used (correctly, at that).

The problem doesn't just rest with traditional courses (math, programming, etc). It's just as true for Customer Service training (dealing with difficult customers, running the cash register, up-selling, etc). Don't start with the theory, give me the basics...the one or two things that I'm going to do most often, and let me practice it right away. Give me coaching. Give me feedback. Let me try, fail, and grow. Then build on that knowledge...one step at a time.

So here are my take aways:

The current practice of theory then (maybe) practice is backwards. Practice then theory seems to be a better approach.
Start with what I need to actually DO. I'll learn what I need to KNOW from there.
Only when I've had some practice and experience am I ready to bash my old frameworks as I build new ones.

Welcome to Brian Tolle

2007-03-06T18:52:00.000-05:00

Everybody, welcome Brian to the blogosphere. He brings an organizational development and culture perspective to the discussions. His plan is to post a couple times a week. In his first post, he lays out an introduction for the power of culture:

Often these rules of conduct, perception, or thinking go unspoken, unrecognized, or unchallenged. It’s as if there is some mysterious, hidden mechanism that is operating just behind the public face or below the personal experience of an organization that is calling the shots much more so than the executive suite. All this becomes even more intriguing to me when these unspoken values differ from the organization’s publicly stated corporate values.

In every organization I've worked for, culture has played a huge role in the results of the business. In all of them, the culture clearly trickled down from the top, whether knowingly or not. One nearly perfect case study went from a CEO with a relationship sales approach to a CEO with an accounting approach. The success or lack of success in a culture easily shows up in metrics of all sorts including employee turnover, sales, profit, and even stock price. In some cases, the culture is so strong that it begins to act without the CEO in ways never intended. Creating a culture, isn't only the CEO's domain. While there are limits, every leader can influence the culture for their team. What behaviors are you demonstrating that are impacting your business? Is the culture you're setting allowing your strategy to succeed or preventing that success?

So, welcome Brian. I look forward to your upcoming posts!

(Less Search) More Find

2007-03-04T17:12:00.000-05:00

I'm a huge Google fan. They've done some amazing things with search, more or less all of the other products. I use Google search easily dozens and dozens of times a day. However, it has a bit of a downfall. Searchers need to know a pretty decent amount about there subject to get the best results. For example, Google can't answer the name of that girl I went to high school with. Once I have her name and maybe some recent location or company information, there's almost always a ton of stuff that can be found out about people (scary, but true).

Finally, a piece of software comes along that solves a similar problem that has plagued humanity (probably) since the beginning of time...what is the name of that song that keeps endlessly looping in my head? Who sang it? Well, now there's a search engine that lets me do just that. Grab the computer microphone, sing a tune (even humming it works just as well), and it will come up a list of matching songs, who sang it, and the opportunity (of course) to buy the song. Check it out at Midomi!

It doesn't matter how good the searcher sings or even hums. Even some of the words can be off a bit. If it doesn't find the song, the recording can be used to teach Midomi which results it should have found. Pretty cool. I would love to know about how they do it.

If only there were a way to find all of the other random things floating around in my head...

Synthetic Happiness?

2007-03-02T13:54:00.000-05:00

In reading the references from Tony O'Driscoll and Tony Karrer about Dan Gilbert's book and presentation on Happiness (real and synthetic), I knew I wanted to comment, but couldn't quite put the words to it. Thankfully, Janel had some thoughts on it. I've been trying to encourage her to start blogging on her own (maybe I should have sent her the 10 Reasons to Blog threads). In the mean time, here's her thoughts in response to my question "What do you think of the video?". I wish I had been able to say them as well.

Hmmm. Not sure what I think about it. Probably somewhat true and somewhat not true. I don't like the term "synthesized happiness." Makes it sound somewhat less real. Just because you become happy out of a bad situation doesn't mean it's somehow artificial, but using the word "synthesized" makes it sound that way.

The examples he gives are fairly compelling. And I can appreciate the experience of too many choices leading to dissatisfaction rather than happiness. Clearly, that's easy for me to identify with.

I do think the brain and the soul can adjust to less than perfect situations and still find happiness. But there's also the danger of such thinking leading to a person's accepting situations or circumstances in life as "the best there is" when maybe there is much more to be striven for. One of the more dangerous examples would be a domestic violence situation. Maybe someone can actually find a form of happiness in that kind of a situation - does that mean she should remain there and accept that skewed form of contentment? Of course not. Where's the line to be drawn between being content with your situation and being in a growth-prohibiting rut?
So where do I come down on it? I don't know. But maybe it depends on your definition of happiness. I would say that if you can come to a place of inner peace, then you're good. Not so sure that equates with happiness.

Maybe, but maybe not. And I always think there's something more to be striven for.....so settling for my lot in life would probably not personally bring me happiness, but maybe someone else. I'm not sure.

So no real answers from me. But it did make me think. And true, he is a good speaker.

Janel Esker
Registrar, Aquinas Institute
St. Louis, Missouri

Virtual Worlds, Gaming, and Learning

2007-03-01T12:32:00.000-05:00

Today is a welcome to Tony O'Driscoll to the blogging world. He's certainly no stranger to the learning world and has been a thought leader and frequent speaker at a variety of conferences. I've been lucky to have known him and have him challenge my thinking for over 5 years now. In one of his most recent posts, he lays out a framework for thinking about virtual/synthetic worlds. In it he compares Virtual Social Worlds (VSW, most often represented by Second Life) and Massively-Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs of which World of Warcraft is a popular example).

As I looked at his initial chart, dividing the 3D virtual world into those two categories, it occurred to me that something was missing...not all uses of 3D worlds (for learning or gaming) are massively-multiplayer. In fact, in volumes of people using 3D worlds, a majority are using them as individuals without interaction with other live characters. Normally, I don't think it would matter much, but I think in this case the addition actually helps clarify the possible uses of 3D Synthetic Worlds. So, I took the liberty of enhancing Tony's original graphics. Here's my revised (and combined) illustration:

As an explanation, the middle column shares characteristics from both the left and the right columns. However, the left and right columns only share characteristics from the center column and not their opposites. This enhancement required a few of the terms to shift around a bit as well. This layout still has some weaknesses including the fact that RPGs are not the only games in 3D virtual worlds...games such as Shooters (first and third person), Strategy, Simulations, and others could all make effective use of 3D as well. For simplicity, I choose to leave them out of the graphic, but mention that they could be placed in the middle and right columns.

I think one of the things that this illustration implies is that Virtual Social Worlds are more aligned with self-directed learning where as MMORPGs and RPGs are progressively more guided. That has a huge impact on learning design when choosing the best platform for a learning opportunity. Certainly, characteristics from VSWs can be added to RPGs or the other way around, but then we're just taking a VSW and making it into an RPG.

I do want to re-emphasize though that while virtual worlds have a huge coolness factor, they can be overkill (both in cost to create and overhead to operate) than may be justified in many cases. In an earlier post, I argue that virtual worlds are best used for providing things that need a 3D environment (building/designing/reviewing a building) especially where the real world environment is too expensive or dangerous to experience physically.

In any case, welcome Tony! We're glad you're here. I'd love to hear what you all think about the model and see your next iteration.

Password Pains

2007-02-28T12:01:00.000-05:00

How many times have I gone to a website and forgot my username or password? Actually, I didn't forget the password, I forgot which ones I used. Was it one of the ones with less than 6 characters, 8 characters, or more? Did it include numbers? What about case-sensitivity (mixed upper and lower case)? I use many passwords for each category, but which category is it? Each web site follows it's own rules for password strength.

The stronger the password, the less likely a stranger (or hacker) could guess or discover the password. That's why using birthdays, anniversaries, children's names, and other basic information is highly discouraged. Of course, strong passwords are also much harder to remember. In fact the strongest passwords disappear after use and are created new the next time, but that's a different blog entry.

What makes for a strong password anyway?

Longer is better - the longer it is the harder it is to guess or break
Use non-sensical letters or words - "treeball" or "xiqjlkr" are much better than "Jane"
Mix letters (uppercase and lowercase), numbers, and symbols, if at all possible
Don't use information about you that is discoverable such as names, places, or dates
Don't use sequences such as 12345, abcde, 5555, or qwerty
Don't reuse it - each site or system gets it's own password
Don't write it down...anywhere - as soon as it's written it's available for anyone

Want to test your password strength? Try this site.

In any case, what prompted me to write this entry is the pain of passwords. Every site and system has different rules such as 6 alphabetical characters at most, 4 numbers only, and no more than 8 characters that must include at least 1 number not at the beginning or end. They are more than happy to remind me during registration of their unique rules and not let me move forward until I follow them. However, when it comes time to recall the password the rules are far from sight. If the webmasters are going to require strong passwords (which is good), then at least tell me at the login screen what the rules were. Does it require a number or a length? Tell me that. It will reduce my frustration and has no impact on security.

While I'm on this rant, let me say that any internal corporate system should use any one of a number of Single Sign-on approaches. For example, requiring users to log in to Windows, then into the intranet, then into the LMS, and then into the course almost guarantees that learners are going to drop out before they start the course. The systems should already know who I am from the first time I was authenticated. From there, I should be able to click one link/item/button and be directly into the part of the course that I need right now.

There are plenty of other security approaches that avoid passwords all together, but for now passwords are still the most common security approach. So, as long as we're still doing security this way, can the programmers and system designers at least help the users keep the system secure by not having to write down all of the passwords? Providing the required format on the screen where the passwords are requested is one step in the right direction.

The Dangers of Clamshell Packaging

2007-02-25T18:33:00.000-05:00

Clamshell packages are a relatively new invention that caught on almost instantly it seems, and now they are everywhere. Almost all small electronics, many small toys, and a whole variety of other products are packaged and hung on the racks at our local retailers using clamshells.

Yes, they make the product easier to see than boxes and I'm sure it costs a lot less than the old packaging using boxes or blister packs. They are apparently even designed to deter theft which they do so well that the items are nearly impossible to remove even once I get them home. The plastic is too hard for all but industrial strength scissors. I actually broke a pair of scissors on one particularly nasty package. I've even had to break out my box cutter on occasion to get into a few of these. Even more dangerous than trying to open these things are the amazingly sharp edges of the plastic once they've been cut. Yesterday, I was trying to open one and nearly sliced my finger open. I'm surprised there hasn't been a lawsuit on this yet.

A few months ago I was opening one and was struggling even more than usual. I made it through the thick outer edge, but couldn't make any more progress. As with most of these packages, sandwiched between the exterior layers of plastic were two layers of thin, glossy cardboard sheets containing basic branding on the front and product details on the back. I couldn't see why I couldn't cut through these. Turns out, they placed a CD containing instructions and other related materials between the layers of cardboard. Nowhere on the packaging did it mention a CD or software, and it couldn't be seen through the packaging. I had cut so hard, I actually took a chunk out of the edge of the CD. No wonder I couldn't cut through it. Thankfully, the CD still worked.

I don't have any numbers, but I would suspect that injuries and environmental impact are both up. I do know that my own frustration level is certainly up. I doubt it's a good to have the customer frustrated as the first impression of the product they just bought.

Volunteers as New Recruits

2007-02-22T17:35:00.000-05:00

Over my career, I've been fortunate to work for 3 companies that were all at the time (and some still) ranked as the best companies to work for in the U.S. For anybody that's been involved in the rankings, the award is a great honor and, as like all rankings, has a few problems but that's not the point of this blog entry. In any case, it can be said that the companies on the list are doing a lot of things right and can serve as great examples for a variety of ideas that other companies can implement. Many criteria are used to determine these rankings such as company culture, employee benefits, training hours, community involvement, and even hiring processes.

I know I've written about them a couple times now (Double Your Costs to Save Money, Be Your Own SME) , but if Menlo (a custom programming shop here in Ann Arbor, Michigan) were just a little bit larger, they should most definitely apply. I'm quite sure they'd win if not for all of the other things they do well most certainly for what turns out to be a combination of recruiting, marketing, and community service programs. Much like all of the great companies to work for, Menlo has people knocking down the doors to work there, far more than they could ever employ. So many so, that people began asking to work there for free! Imagine that. People love the company so much that they'd be willing to show up for free. Of course, Michigan employment law won't allow that, so Menlo came up with a neat solution. The volunteer corp works up to 3 mornings a week (according to their own schedules) on pro bono projects for non-profits. There are tons of benefits to the program:

Non-profits

Software that they need, but yet could never afford

Menlo

Giving back to the community while focusing their paid resources on revenue generating projects
Quick and easy access to a potential pool of employees who are pre-trained, know the company processes, and who's skills are known completely before hiring
Spreading the word that software development doesn't have to be bad
Those that don't become employees likely still become evangelists and even possible customers

Volunteers

Free on-the-job training (no prerequisite knowledge or experience is required)
Work experience, resume enhancements, and recommendations (as appropriate)
Free access to all Menlo classes (often over $600 each)
Giving back to the community

The cost to Menlo are the resources (computers, desks, etc) and the training on their processes. All volunteers are expected to use and follow the quite unique Menlo processes and represent themselves professionally in front of the non-Profits as liaisons for the company.

What's fun is that people are practicing real work in a safe environment. In some ways, this is one of the best simulations ever.

Restaurant Lines and Community

2007-02-20T13:24:00.000-05:00

Recently I went to a restaurant for brunch on a Saturday morning, and as usual for this place during brunch, there was a line out the door. It's quite a feat since they have a huge waiting area with benches and all. I hadn't been there in a long time, but my friend new the place well. Turns out they have several "community" tables where we could be seated immediately. At this restaurant, they had 3 tables that sat 8 people each. Certainly, if a group of 8 came along they would be seated there when one cleared. However, rather than making us wait the 45-60 minutes that it was supposed to be for a separate table, they were seating various groups of strangers at those tables. So, we had brunch with 6 other people we had never met. The conversation was vibrant, interesting, and I think we all walked away knowing a little bit more than when we sat down. Plus, we didn't have to wait in line and saved a bunch of time. What an efficient use of resources on the restaurant's part!

Wouldn't it be interesting if more restaurants had the same feature? Think of all of the great conversations and interesting people that could be met. Yes, it's true that a bar at a restaurant offers some of the same things, but at most there are only 2 people (one on the left and one on the right) that can easily participate in a conversation. A round or rectangular table is much better suited to conversation. It's also true that some restaurants offer game nights, trivia nights, and other such events, but even those encourage friends to come rather than conversations with strangers.

What if we expanded this concept for corporate cafeterias? Rather than sitting with the same lunch crew every day, one day a week (or maybe some tables everyday) would display a sign with their own topic. Here are a few table ideas:

Work-life balance
The new company strategy
Raising kids
Using Word
Handling difficult customers
Learning Ciruit's monthly Big Question
Yesterday's episode of Lost (or 24 or Heroes or whatever)

Yes, there are some approaches for this already including brown bag lunches and the ever famous watercooler, but these tend to bring people together who already hang out together or know each other. What if we were able to get more people in the organization to talk to each other? Even if the discussion is not related to their job at that moment, people have just made a relationship, expanded their network, and may know just the person to ask when a job related need does come up.

A little over 5 years ago, I was in a room with the top 120 executives at a Fortune 500 company. Most of the executives fit the standard profile including having worked at the company for 25-35 years. When they walked into the room, a good portion of them were introducing themselves to each other! None of them lived or worked more than 250 miles from headquarters and had been leaders at the company for decades in some cases. If these leaders had sat down for conversations over lunch with a few strangers earlier in their career, just think how many walls would have been broken down and how much more potential could have been gained.

I for one can't wait to go back to the restaurant again to see who I meet this time.

User Documentation as a Bug

2007-02-18T21:06:00.000-05:00

In a recent e-mail, a colleague noted that "we should view user documentation as a bug." From an interface design standpoint he's completely right. If it needs documentation, it probably wasn’t designed right. In the past, this documentation often was often printed out (or handed out at training) and quickly put on the shelf where it was never referenced again. More modern tools have moved that to online help and performance support. Now, I'm a big believer in performance support as a big part of learning. So, I'm by no means saying we shouldn't have it. System designers often rely on the documentation and support tools to cover for bad design...just follow the 10 easy steps in the manual. If the steps were that easy the manual wouldn't be needed in the first place.

So, a good user interface (whether it be a computer system, learning management system, or an online course of any sort) must meet 3 requirements:

Discoverability (i.e. How do I know that the function exists?) A key part of interface design is making sure people can find the various functions that they need. Often, these features are segmented by frequency of use and volume of users. A function that is frequently used by a majority of the people should be much more prominent than one that is used by an expert or administrative user. This means making these functions the most simple and most automated rather than programming for the exceptions which is often the case. By making frequently used functions easy-to-find, documentation becomes unnecessary.
Functionality (i.e. How do I know how it works?) It's not enough to be able to find the function in the interface. It must also be intuitive to know how to use it. Take adding a picture or a table to a Word document. Why can't I just grab the picture, resize it, and drag it to the exact position I want it in. In stead I have to go through a dozen clicks to get the picture looking the way I want. More importantly, the reason I know it is because I've had to do it a lot. Try training somebody on page layout in Word..."Well, to get it where you want it, you really should use a table that's invisible. Then you adjust the rows and columns so that the picture goes where you want it to go." That's intuitive.
Outcomes (i.e. How do I know what it's going to do?) Finally, one I know where to find it and how it works, the outcomes have to be predictable. Ever insert text into Word and all of a sudden the font is different than all of the surrounding text? At least in the old WordPerfect, reveal codes could help figure out what was going on. The outcome of typing text, the most basic function in Word, should be completely predictable. The same is true of any other software we design.

If the design is done well, each of these should be obvious. That doesn't mean that there shouldn't be documentation of a sort. In these cases, I still don't believe in a paper manual (or even an online manual). Instead, a well designed performance support system is what is needed especially for the less frequently used functions or the new learners. The performance support system should be optimized to deliver quick answers. In additions it should include functions for "show me how" and "let me practice".

While we should do performance support systems, if we've done our design right, hopefully no one will ever use it.

LINGOs and Giving Back

2007-02-16T09:06:00.000-05:00

I think it's really important to give back whatever I can. Given the number of charities, nonprofits, and not-for-profits, it's often hard for me to tell who the good ones are. How much of the money goes to the operations and mission versus administration? How much of an impact does the mission have (or can it have with the right resources)? I try to support local organizations more than global ones in the belief that if everybody worked to make their own communities better, the world as a whole would be a much more peaceful place. Working locally creates a sense of ownership and pride in the community that helps create a sustainable future for all involved.

However, every once and a while a global organization comes along that merits some attention due to their mission, operations, and overall impact. The American Diabetes Association and Salvation Army have long been part of that group for me for mostly personal and family reasons. Over the past couple years though another one has grown up with an interesting mission. In general, waste drives me crazy, especially wasted time (and time is, of course, money). I'm all about efficiency especially when it has no impact or even increases effectiveness.

The mission of Learning for International Non-Governmental Organizations (LINGOs for short)is exactly that...efficiency and effectiveness. Every aid organization out there has to do training whether it's for new employees or new projects. Training includes things like language skills, local cultures, building, farming, medical, food preparation, finance, and sustainability among many, many others. Not even 10 years ago organizations like Save the Children and Habitat for Humanity each used parts of their budgets to create training to meet these needs. Given their limited budgets not all training needs were met and the ones that were didn't have access to the best content at least initially limiting their capabilities in the field. Worse, each of the organizations were reinventing the wheel each time they needed training. For example, with the tsunami, many organizations were present to help with the relief and recovery. In the past, each organization would have to train people to get them into the field, so there might have been dozens of redundant courses created on language skills, local culture, and water purification. Today, LINGOs makes it possible for these organizations to pool portions of their training resources and share the content. One course can be create on the local language, one on culture, and one on water purification that can be shared by all of the agencies. This helps my donations to any one of the more than a dozen member organizations go that much farther to help their mission have real impact on people's lives.

What's best is that LINGOs doesn't want money. Not that they don't have use for it or don't need donations. As with all organizations, they certainly have costs to cover. However, the biggest benefit for LINGOs has been the donation of time, knowledge, and products. Many in the vendor community have donated older versions of their software. One company had a pile of language training courses that had been outdated since the release of their new version. Since the language hasn't changed that much, the old courses worked just fine. The company got a write off, cleared some space, and helped in a not so small way. Many individuals devote their time as trainers teaching a variety of classes. Other people consult with the organizations (individually or as a group) on their various needs such as competency design or e-learning strategy. It's been a real benefit to me too. By sharing what I know, it helps me learn even more deeply especially when fielding their questions.

The needs are many. It's likely that they could use your skill set. It could be as little as an hour or two a month. Whether it's LINGOs or some other deserving group, I challenge each of you (especially my fellow bloggers) to jump out there and give back even a little bit.

Still Time to Register

2007-02-15T09:22:00.000-05:00

You still have time to register for my Adobe - eLearning Luminaries session on Friday and join over 220 of your colleagues in an interesting session on video games, movies, and simulations. We're going to cover lots of ground on machinima and one of the tools to create it (The Movies). Best of all? It's free! Here's the information:

Title: Machinima: When Video isn't Video
Date/Time: Friday, February 16, 2007 at 1:00pm US/Eastern Time
Registration Info: Click here
Cost: Free!!

Description: Machinima is a technique that co-opts video games or other sources to produce animated videos for entertainment. Join me as I explain and demonstrate this technique. Learn how clever instructional designers and developers are using engines from resource allocation/simulation and other video games to create instructional videos and animations. Learn how you can leverages off-the-shelf software to make quick, easy, effective training animations and video vignettes for a fraction of the cost of traditional corporate video production.

Are Sims Better?

2007-02-14T17:00:00.000-05:00

In Mark's recent blog, he mentions Clark Aldrich's blog entry on whether it's possible to talk about Simulations in general and compare them as a group to traditional learning. Just like any level of abstraction, generalizations can be made. However, at each level of higher altitude less and less can be said. The lower the level of discussion, the fewer comparisons can be made.

However, I think the whole question misses the point by making a couple incorrect assumptions. First, it assumes that all simulations are online and therefore can be compared or contrasted with the classroom. In my view (post 1, post 2), role plays are a form of simulation that almost always happen in the classroom. Second, companies like Breakaway and Enspire are continuously creating online simulations that are designed to run in the classroom.

The better question (liberally leveraging from Clark's book) is "Can real learning be accomplished without doing?" Alternately, "Will a standard lecture (regardless of online or classroom delivery method) ever be as effective as a hands-on or simulation experience (again regardless of online or offline)?"

Those are just my thoughts.

3D Visualization

2007-02-14T15:21:00.000-05:00

On the biggest snow day of the year here in southern Michigan, it helps sometimes to think of summer while I'm warming up by the fireplace with a nice warm drink after shoveling lots of snow. One summertime tradition for those in this part of the country is a theme park called Cedar Point. Set on a peninsula jutting out into Lake Erie about 45 miles from both Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio. It's an easy day or weekend trip from most of the Great Lakes and Midatlantic. Growing up in southeast Michigan it was at least an annual trip during summer vacation. Every kids group imaginable had a trip to the park, so there was no lack of opportunity. Some Physics classes would even take the students there for a field trip as a "learning" experience. OK, so they did have measurements and calculations to do, but certainly fun was part of the focus too. Who says they have to be separate? One year when I was still small I had to be pulled back into the car by my cousin while on one of the oldest coasters in the park, the Blue Streak (pictured above) . It only had lap belts at the time. Things certainly have changed, but they're still fun. I've been at least once a year since I was in a stroller with the exception of the last two years, and I can't wait to go again this year.

Cedar Point is not an average theme park. It's been named the best theme park in the world for the last 9 years running by the readers of Amusement Today. At a little over a mile long, the park contains the most roller coasters (17) of any park in the world. Of those, here are some of the records it currently holds in just the steel roller coast category:

Top Thrill Dragster (#2 largest drop at 400 feet, #2 fastest at 120 mph, and #4 angle of descent at 90 degrees)
Millennium Force (#4 largest drop at 300 feet, #5 longest at 6,595 feet, and #5 fastest at 95 mph)
Maverick (#3 angle of descent at 95 degrees!)

The Gemini (a twin roller coaster) and Magnum XL200 both were record holders in their day too. On top of that, there are another 17 thrill rides for adults, 11 family friendly rides, a bunch of kids rides, plus a large array of stage shows, and even a water park.

As one of the only successful (i.e. profitable) theme park companies in the world, they work hard at innovation. Each year that means something new, often a new record-setting ride...and this year is no exception. The newest roller coaster is Maverick. While growing up, the most insight available into the new rides was through word-of-mouth and unsubstantiated rumors. With the advent of the web, things got a little better with accessible press releases. Then came sketches, renderings, in process photos and even web cams. All of them required some amount of imagination to understand the twists and turns. This year though, no imagination is required.

With the advent of 3D technology, web visitors can experience the ride from 3 different angles including aerial, action, and of course point-of-view. Notice the subtitles explaining the turns too. The point-of-view movie is so well done, I know at least one person who will probably get sick just from watching it. I know it's nothing fancy from a technology perspective anymore, but it certainly got me hyped on summer time. It's nice to see companies using the technologies to give a first hand view of a new product to the consumers.

I can't wait for the park to open...in the meantime, I better get back to shoveling snow.

Individual Tools vs. Integration

2007-02-13T15:17:00.000-05:00

I just got back from Microsoft's "Ready for a New Day" launch of Vista, Office '07, and Exchange '07. It struck me as I was sitting there, the shear volume of integration of the various software and systems. It's certainly easy to slam on Microsoft for their slow development cycles, less-than-fault-tolerant operating systems, and heavy-handed near-monopoly. Yet, one of the things a monopolist can (and should) do better than anybody else is integration.

As much as I work with and try all sorts of "Web 2.0" or "e-Learning 2.0" software, none if it is able to accomplish the same things yet and that may be inherent with the process. Given it's intimate knowledge of the entire platform, Microsoft should able to make all of the pieces and parts play together nicely. I remember back in 1987 (my first year as an official IT person), Microsoft released Windows 2.0 and Dynamic Data Exchange (which evolved into OLE, COM, and ActiveX) which became the basis for the now standard functions of drag-and-drop and cut-and-paste between applications. Before that time, Word and Excel wouldn't talk to each other at all. Today, not only do Word and Excel talk to each other, but they talk to every other program including e-mail, blogs, wikis, web services, and on and on and on.

There's a lot of work going on in both open source and competitors to Microsoft, and frankly, they are some of the most innovative work...often much more innovative than Microsoft. Yet, in the business environment, we need to balance both innovation and integration. The more our systems talk seamlessly to each other, the lower our costs and the faster we can move. In a corporation, we don't need someone to design yet another wiki or blog. What we need is someone to make the wikis or blogs we've got play well with everything else. (Enter Microsoft's new version of SharePoint).

So far, the "smaller" players have yet to work together to create integrated solutions. Certainly Google has developed a lot of very cool tools that I use on a daily basis (this blog included). Yet, their blog, calendar, search, word processor, and spreadsheet don't talk to each other...at least not that much, and Google is the biggest in this space right now. Imagine how difficult it is for the smaller developers.

Yes, moving to web services is a step in this direction and Microsoft has a lot to do to move even further this way. However, web services, Web 2.0, XML, and all the rest don't do any good if everything is built as a stand alone application. I don't need another portal page with 1,000 different unrelated objects on it. I need a page that is integrated. Tell me how the weather is going to impact my sales forecast. Tell me how the stock price or news announcements of my competitors correlates with my business results. I hate to say it, but maybe standards are the answer. Standards can help disparate developers create things that work well together without having to know anything about each other. On the other hand, most standards that I've observed take a long time to reach consensus and in some ways serve to stifle innovation since the truly innovative project often won't comply with the standard.

Anyway, whether we want it to or not, Microsoft is going to continue to have a major impact on Information Technology and Learning for the foreseeable future. It's probably best that we all get to know it as well as we can in order to leverage what it can do for our organizations. If you want to sign up for one of these sessions, there are still a couple dozen sessions left around the country before the end of the year. The Detroit one sold out. I don't know the status of the others. The big draw is a free copy of Office 2007 Professional (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, and Publisher) and a free T-Shirt. Whether a Microsoft or open source fan, it's likely that the Office suite will still be the dominant tool set for quite a while, especially in corporations. So, why not pick up a free copy? For those open source fans, think of it this way, at least Microsoft won't get an extra US$499 retail (or US$329 upgrade).

Getting Started with Competencies

2007-02-12T17:56:00.000-05:00

Why Manage Competencies?

In the learning industry, we’ve said for years that one-size-fits-all learning is at best a waste of resources for some and at worst it doesn’t work for anyone. On any given competency, experts, practitioners, and novices require different resources and tools for their development. In general, we don’t know who falls into which category, so we just supply the same training to everyone creating a Goldilocks paradox where the training is too hot or too cold for everyone, and this is only on one dimension (experience). What if we were to consider relevance (need to know a lot vs. need to know a little), timing (need to know it now vs. need to it occasionally), or a number of other dimensions?

Managing competencies allow us to determine who has which gaps, how big each gap is, and then get the training just right. This is the customization and individualization we’ve been talking about. Help the learners determine what they know (and don’t know) and then help them find a way to get the right content, the right way, at the right time. When we achieve this, our training will be both efficient and effective. Competency-driven learning is the right thing to do.

The Challenges of Competency Management

However, it’s a lot easier said than done. Defining competencies is a lot of work. What is a competency any way? How many should there be? Are they high level (Trust, Sales) or low level (Typing, Mopping)? Do the competencies have skills associated with them? Does each skill have tasks? Do all roles have the same competencies? If not, then competencies need to be tied to roles. How many roles does the organization have? Which competencies are in each role? Is the remediation different for each role for each competency? How is competency going to be measured?

This all takes a lot of time, effort, and money to create. Ongoing maintenance of a complex system like this is an even larger (and often hidden) cost. If an organization is doing a full-blown competency management process, the time, effort, and money allocated can be overwhelming and often leads to failure. Does the organization really get the benefits that justify the cost?

5 Quick Tips to Designing and Implementing the First Competency Model and Process

So, it’s challenging but important, so we want to do everything we can to ensure it's success. How do we go about doing this? Here are 5 quick tips to giving competencies the best possible chance:

1. Start with the strategy
All competency development, in fact, everything an organization does should be tied to the strategy. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that any activity an organization does that does not drive the strategy is a waste of time and money. If the business strategy is to grow long-term sales, the organization probably needs a relationship/solution-selling competency rather than a widget-selling competency. If the business is focusing on consulting services, manufacturing efficiency may not be a competency worth the focus. Selecting competencies that are tied directly to the strategy helps to ensure that the efforts will have a positive impact to the organization.

2. Start small
Pick 2 or 3 competencies that, if executed well, will best help execute the strategy. Resist the temptation to pick a lot of them. Selecting the level of competencies is important as well. Also, resist the temptation to make them high-level to incorporate everything because only a few get chosen. If they are too high-level (Teamwork), they may be difficult to measure. If they are too low-level (Pencil Use), they will create a documentation and maintenance nightmare. So there is an art and a science to selecting competencies. Competency needs in an organization will change over time, sometimes very quickly. Be sure to design a system and a process that can grow and change quickly and easily as the needs of the organization change.

Once you’ve selected the right level of competencies, pick the key roles in the organization, maybe 3 to 5, which actively need the competency in order to execute the strategy. Much like the competencies themselves, resist the temptation to do lots of roles. Managing scope will give you the ability to learn and adapt much more quickly. Depending on your objectives, this may not just be the pilot project; it may be the only project. Remember, if it drives the strategy, then it has achieved the goal.

3. Get the measurement right
Next, work on the measurement systems and processes. Get that right first. It’s essential. To determine gaps, they have to be measured. Select competencies that can be measured. Be sure the competencies are things are objective not subjective. Since the competencies to be measured are tied directly to the strategy and have real impact, the metrics should be widely available. In the sales example above, using an individual salesperson’s repeat customer metrics such as length of time a customer’s been active, dollar growth by customer, and unit growth by customer, the impact of competency management can be directly measured at Kirkpatrick Level 4 (or whatever scale the organization uses). The side benefit may be that once the measurement is set up, it’s easier to measure all interventions regardless of whether or not they are related to competencies. In fact, if done well, this process can become part of or even take over the performance management process at an organization since one intent of performance management is to align performance with strategy, and competencies can do that quite well.

4. Link gaps with interventions
Once the competencies have been identified and the size of the gap has been measured, take special care to link the appropriate interventions to the gaps. This is where the years of experience in learning come into play. Rarely are one-time interventions the best answer. Be sure to integrate coaching, performance support, classroom, and online learning as appropriate for this need. Not every competency, role, or gap needs all forms of intervention. Find ways to reduce the amount of transfer required. (For more details on eliminating transfer, see my related post).

5. Review, evaluate and adjust
As always be sure to evaluate and review the entire program. Is the strategy being executed well? Are the business metrics being achieved? Are the roles having a greater impact on the metrics than they did before? Did people who participated in the interventions have a higher impact on the metrics than those who did not? Notice that these evaluations are all based on the business-related measurements, not internal training metrics.

Once successes have been achieved and the processes have been fine-tuned, consider expansion, repeating the process from the beginning.

What’s Next in Competencies?

Some organizations are already well along the path of competencies. For them, they’ve already begun working on the next steps. Here are a couple of things that are being explored:

1. Integration
For competencies to be truly effective, they need be ingrained in the entire life cycle of an organization’s people including Hiring, New Employee Orientation, Performance Management, Succession Planning, and Knowledge Management What if during orientation, each employee received only the content they needed? What if, based on the continuous Performance Management process, a company knew how to find the best knowledgeable, skilled resource to fill a position when someone was ill, quitting, or retiring? A well-managed competency process can assist with the answers to these questions.

2. Inform the strategy
One novel use of competencies is in addition to having the strategy drive the competencies, use the competencies to inform the strategy. Companies are more likely to execute their strategy well if it leverages their strengths. This is similar to the debate between emphasizing your strengths and downplay your weaknesses versus improve your weaknesses to combine them with your strengths. As in most cases, the solution is probably not either; it’s both depending on the circumstances.

HDDVD vs. BluRay: The Format Wars that Never Were

2007-02-10T10:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, I may be rushing the verdict a little bit, but this isn't turning out to be much of war. Pundits were predicting a replay of the Beta/VHS wars, but in reality I think the war (if it can be called that at all) has been misnamed. It's not about HDDVD vs. BluRay. If it were, BluRay would probably lose since it seems to be the (marginally) better technology (that's what happened to Beta after all). This war would be more aptly named HiDef Disc vs. HiDef Download. That's the battle that's actually raging. In the HDDVD vs. BluRay "war", most content providers aren't taking sides and are delivering for both platforms. Some are even creating only one disc that will play in either player. On the other end of the equation, one company (LG) is already creating a player that will use either format. Samsung is considering one as well. Not much of a war there.

Now take a look at what's going on in the download space. Sure, movie downloads have been going on since Napster and Kazaa, but they've moved from illicit trading into the mainstream. Certainly movies can be downloaded to iPods and other media devices, but I don't think that counts. Until they get to the TV (or what functions as the TV) at at least standard TV resolution, it's not the same. (For all of my mobile friends, I 'm not downplaying it's use there. I love being able to get that content while on the move.) There are plenty of services that allow the downloading of video content, but getting it to the TV is the trick. Certainly Windows Media Center PCs cover some of that ground, but it's not that efficient yet. Apple TV promises to do it, but not for HiDef yet. TiVo is testing the waters with TiVoCasting by sending small snippets of video 1-15 minutes directly to the networked TiVo box. Still there's a bit of distance to go, especially for delivering downloaded HD content to the TV.

I think I'm going to hold off on that HiDef Disc Player purchase and see how this all turns out. The war's definitely not over yet. In fact, it's just beginning. The press is just talking about the wrong one.

Animatics - Storyboard v2.0

2007-02-09T18:15:00.000-05:00

Much like a system design document is for programmers, the storyboard guides the development process for asynchronous e-learning (CBT, WBT, etc). In fact, they share a lot of the same characteristics. The storyboard lays out all of the screen elements including text (often with the full script), images (usually in sketch form), interactivity, and any other functionality. Often created in Word, the storyboard often starts with an outline or general flow and develops into a detailed specifications for the artists, programmers, reviewers, and sponsors. However, full-blown storyboards take a lot of time to create and have lots of limitations. Reviewers and sponsors find them hard to follow. Even when the module is designed exactly to the storyboard specifications, they will often say "that's not what I thought that meant". Storyboards suffer from an innate problem. They are one media (print) being used to describe another media (online), yet print doesn't have any of the features of the online environment to help with the description.

Enter the animatic. While animatics have been around since the early days of movies in one form or another, the first person really credited with putting into action is George Lucas. There was a great documentary on A&E called Empire of Dreams. They re-run it occasionally and I expect they will again this May for the 30th anniversary of the original movie. In it, there's a segment about 50 seconds long that does a great job of telling about his conversion from storyboard to animatic. I would post a copy, but I'd probably get in a lot of trouble. Apparently it can be found on one of the DVD sets as well. Anyway, the artists and programmers weren't getting what George wanted after multiple attempts using the storyboards as guides. So, George went out and took bunches of clips from old movies and storyboards and pieced them together to create the animatic. What he gained was a sense of scope, timing, speed, and emotion that the storyboards could never depict. One story about the animatic from Star Wars Episode I from Lucas Film can be found on the Star Wars website. A ton of additional animatic examples can be found on YouTube including this one from Raiders of the Lost Ark. The first picture is the scene from the final movie. Imagine the script..."fire shoots out of him". Where did the fire come from? Out of him from where? In what directions? For how long? What happens next? The animatic (one cell pictured) helps illuminate some of those questions.

While originally designed for movies, animatics bring a lot of power to the e-Learning development cycle. While it still maybe easier to create a basic outline and some of the initial script in Word, moving quickly to an animatic can bring significant cost reductions to the process. Here are just a few:

Easier reviews - From the beginning sponsors, subject matter experts, and quality assurance are all reviewing the module in it's final format. Spacing, timing, look & feel, and other elements are all present from the beginning. This benefit is somewhat related to the concepts of extreme programming where the module is in working order and available for review at anytime during the development process.
One master document - In the storyboard process, what happens if content changes during the middle of programming or design? Does the storyboard and the module get updated? Which one is the definitive version? By having only one document (the animatic that is evolved into the final module), there's only one document to update and it's the real module. This also reduces the version control issues too some extent since there is only one document to ensure is the most current.
Interactivity and motion - Frankly, no storyboard can do this. There's just no way on paper to effectively demonstrate interactivity, motion, or animation especially if timing of any sort is involved.
Fewer iterations - Iterations take lots of time in money. In fact, iterations are some of the largest costs in projects. Changes to features, functionality, and even the interface can cause significant overruns if not caught early. Using an animatic gets the sponsor, reviewer, and subject matter expert closer to what the module will do more quickly, hopefully exposing those issues at the early stages rather than later.

I'm not suggesting that animatics completely replace storyboards. Often the storyboard can be a great step in between the outline and the animatic. However, when designing the next e-Learning course, think about the use of animatics as a way to better communicate the module's timing, flow, and spacing than could ever be possible on paper.