Podcasting and Teleconferencing
Last week I was speaking to a few people about podcasting as a form of learning intervention. My research is narrowing to look at the podcasting technology solely and this gives me the impetus to reflect on the tool in terms of learning and other aspects. I began to think about podcasting in the ways the literature I am reading suggests, as a standardized communication of a message to a massive or varied audience. In my experience, though, podcasting serves largely as a 1-way method of communication. I have something to say, I record it, I podcast it, you receive it, done. Podcasting, again in my experience, has not been a 2-way collaborative modality. The quote I delivered twice last week was “no one ever podcasts back”.
This is not entirely accurate. Podcasts often beget other podcasts, some retort from another podcaster but rarely will people interact with a podcast by sending a recorded comment directly to the producer. Instead, podcasts often serve as the front of a large collaborative community filled with blogs, wikis, and other social media. Podcasts alone are like radio stations, you may react but I won’t hear you.
On the other hand, I sit in a lot of teleconferences where I can interact with the hosts. However, I sit in a lot of teleconferences originating from the same source but with different hosts. Along with that, a slightly different message. Sometimes this is valuable and sometimes it is not valuable. Regardless of value, it is interactive and people comment or collaborate back and forth.
Do I see podcasting as an inferior technology for collaborative learning? Not really. Of course, research will bear this out quantitatively. I am truly neutral on this matter; curious really.
I don’t theorize that podcasting needs to be 1-way or non-collaborative in nature. With the advent of microphones, low/no cost recording software, built-in cameras, and the like, anyone can create a recorded comment and podcast back as it were. Podcasts are hot items these days and I wonder about the impact on learning.
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Managing Time
Friday I had occasion to sit through a FranklinCovey’s Focus Time Management Webinar. I’ve been through time management seminars and coaching before and found most of it behavioral modification in nature. In fact, I classified a previous session leader the Time Management Polizei. Her methods were bent on showing me what I did wrong, force me into duplicating my time management tasks on paper and in my computer, then policing it as if I were in desperate need of a time management parent. Behavioral modification to force someone into a system just doesn’t work with some learners. I am one of those.
This was evident to me long ago when a colleague sat me down after some obvious frustration with FranklinCovey’s rigidly enforced system rules. My friend gave me highlights of many systems and showed her method to me. It was from here that I was able to craft my own methods of managing time. Mind you, I’ve fallen away from that to the point where I needed to be refreshed. Moreover, I am looking at incorporating time management into several curricula and needed to consult the master planner, FranklinCovey.
While I resisted and was distrustful of FranklinCovey’s system thanks to a poor instructor some years ago, I do understand and embrace the theories FranklinCovey puts forth. It is the implementations, for me, that become the problem. I use technology so using a paper planner is not effective or efficient. Still, there are things I need to write down (meeting notes on particular days, out thoughts, potential appointments, new tasks, etc). I know, too, that if it doesn’t beep at me it won’t happen (thus, technology). I am an iPhone user and an Outlook user (for work). The blend of the two with FranklinCovey is not seamless. It requires some clunky additional software for both pc and iPhone that is limited to tasks alone.
I think my system will be to use the computer and iPhone for contacts, schedule, and task (for now) and use a daily wire-bound paper system for the aforementioned note taking. If the whole thing is portable and sleek I am likely to use it more often and thus keep my mind straight.
Time is what we make of it and with all there is to balance, I find that I revert to mind-wasting and time-wasting activities. That is something that needs to change.
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Transitioning to Performance
Many years ago I made a decision to go into training and development. I loved the idea of educating job performers at something and watching it come to fruition on the floor (so to speak). A nice side benefit is the feeling of glory and pride when people know you and come to you for advice, counsel, and knowledge. What I quickly realized was that training departments and trainers were just the quickest path to knowledge and not necessarily the keepers of knowledge. It is a lesson I was happy to learn.
Harold Jarche blogged about Close the Training Department. Harold talks about the use of social media, or as I often call it collaborative learning technology, as a tool that is poorly used inside the traditional training mindsets.
I think that social media can be powerful tools for collaboration, working and learning, but they are rather useless inside a training box.
It is a trend to take social media devices and drop them into a training portal as if it were some oracle for people looking for learning services. I just completed a survey that showed a majority of people felt blogs, wikis, collaborative discussion forums, and the like were undesireable in a training portal (SharePoint in this case). However, the same respondent group felt that something being pushed to them would be more helpful. This went to another point Harold made:
Talk to the people at the coal face and find out what they really need. Few will say training. The days of developing & delivering are almost over. Connecting & Communicating should be the focus of learning and performance professionals in a networked environment.
I did and training was part of what they wanted but they wanted it delivered to directly to floor of the operation and not to some classroom. This leads me to believe that training is not a real need but a perceived need. People are smart, they need to know how to find knowledge quickly so it can be used effectively. So Harold’s point is well taken: connect people to knowledge and communicate it effectively for that group of people.
My realization of training as the quickest path to knowledge early on in my career enabled me to hone in my performance and deliver services that are needed. It is a paradigm shift for many training departments but as social media captures the interest of many in the training world, real learning and performance professionals are taking the reigns. We are trying to figure out if the tools impact learning, how the tools are used best, and what is needed by the performers of the job. Most importantly the transition needs to continue so that training departments become performance boosters.
The research I am doing helps address some of the popularity of social media devices with quantitative understanding of impact on learning. This can be expanded by looking at the real impact of using the tools in various ways.
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Rigor
Rigor is one of those things that gets brought up a lot when talking about doctoral level programs and classes. I hear and read about the academic or scholarly rigor of a program as the mark of quality. As you can imagine there are many shots taken at University of Phoenix’s online doctoral programs as not as rigorous due to the eLearning element of the program.
By and large, I find the program as rigorous or more so than other terminal degree programs. The very fact that the programs and schools need to pass the muster of accreditation means that the program is as rigorous as others under the same standards. It is more rigorous in that I work full time, have a full time home life, and attend school full time. It is possible and I do need to dedicate all my attention to all things. There is no loss or glossing over of any one things when my attention is needed in 3 areas.
That said, I am seeing some changes in the curriculum structure that are not so appealing to my need for a rigorous program. The last class, one on assessment in education, used some alternative assignments to achieve the class goals. I am all for alternative assessment devices and felt these missed the mark. Frankly, interviews with learning leaders, position papers, and lists of assessment questions don’t meet my demand for rigor. These assignments felt a little elementary and as such I couldn’t get motivated to participate in the course completely.
Again, by and large, I find the program rigrous and worthy of my time and attention. These last few classes and particularly this latest one just didn’t make the grade for me. What does this mean for the student experience? In my case, it diminishes my interest in the class, the conversations, the assignments, the experience. So I find my attention spent in areas that are more demanding and worthy of my concerted effort and focus. Sure it seems counterproductive but it is the reality of the situation. There are some that will say, “Easy A”. No. Easy A is not in my vocabulary. I want to earn it and I want the course demand I earn it.
My next course is one with my mentor. I fully expect it to meet my demands for rigor. I’ve got a lot of work to do on my proposal and I will need to focus completely on the demands of the curriculum and my mentor. I’m looking to it.
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Bob Brown
I went to Toastmasters last night for the first time in months. I’ve been traveling, working late nights, and just suffering from crisis overload. Not to mention just having a lack of desire to come back to the club and meetings. Last year my friend Bob Brown passed away. Bob had been up and down health-wise for a long while but his death was still a shock to me. He’d always rebounded in a few days or weeks. Bob was an integral reason I came to Toastmasters, got involved, and improved myself. Losing him made the meetings and my experience feel incomplete.
This morning I read an article from Gitomer about who impacted my life and who imparted wisdom. The article was about Jeffrey’s long time mentor, Earl Pertnoy. It was a touching tribute from Jeffrey. As I read through the experiences shared in the article, I found my mind wandering back to Bob and Toastmasters. It is something that has been on my mind a lot lately.
Gitomer wrote about one exchange that touched my heart:
When he noticed me and smiled, I felt compelled to talk. “Thank you. I love you.” I spoke softly, and cried
I never got the chance to see Bob in his final hours. I never got to tell Bob thank you or that I loved him in those final moments. I’d always told Bob how much he meant to me, how much I valued his guidance, humor, and genuine caring he showed me. He often joked that I was his son and in many ways I became Bob’s Toastmaster son. If it takes a village to raise a person, Bob was in my village. He extended his care and love to my family. It meant so much to see his caring for the people in my life. He taught me that loving a person means that you love the people they love.
Last night’s meeting felt empty to me, like others since Bob’s passing. I wasn’t vested in being there and not seeing Bob made it worse for me. It was among the first steps of my return to Toastmasters and the journey to my goals there. I know Bob wants me to stay in Toastmasters. He loved it so much and loved to see his friends and share the learning and growth possible when people care and support one another. He brought a sense of community and continuance to my experience and that guides me as I re-enter the Toastmasters scene.
Gitomer closed his note about/to Earl with this line:
I will do my best to honor your friendship, your mentorship, and pass it on to those that I love. Safe journey.
Thank you Bob Brown. I will do my best to honor your friendship, your mentorship, and pass it on to those that I love. Safe journey. You mean a lot to me.
Image: Bob Brown congratulating me at a speech contest in May 2004.
Podcast Training
As I narrow the scope of my dissertation and think about my fun podcast idea, I learned that I need to know more about the mechanics and concepts around podcasting. I had the Doc Blog Podcast and it was okay. It lacked a certain flair and most likely disobeyed a lot of podcast suggestions and rules for good production. As you know, I discontinued the podcast until I could reinvent it in a way that was meaningful and fulfilling for me. I’ve not found that yet. I digress.
As such I went on an unannounced search for podcast training (even guides) and found some interesting tips and tricks. It would seem there is no consistent school of thought on this subject with ideas ranging from pirate radio to broadcast standards. Ugh! I thought podcasting was different. The search had been frustrating with trying to piece together ideas about what was needed, suggestions for use, etc. That was until Foley sent over a link that brought a lot of ideas together in one place.
Free Podcast Course is as the name implies a free resource. Yes, yes, you often times get what you pay for in this world but this resource is pretty comprehensive in terms of topic and content. It is text based, which is ironic for a podcast resource but still useful. I’ve not delved into every topic listed there and glanced over a few. It seems worth my while to read further. If you’ve been thinking about podcasting, I suggest taking a look there too.
If you have other resources, feel free to post a comment to this entry and let me know. Who knows, you might get cited in some research down the road.
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Different vs. Better
I was having a conversation last weekened with my Dad, a consumate scientist, and we discussed the switch to Podcast-only for my dissertation again. During the course of the conversation I fell into the trap that often befalls people looking at science. I stated that using only one variable will help me determine if the podcast technology in corporate learning was better than not.
This is experimenter bias. Plainly explained to me, science merely determines if the variable makes a difference or not. Interpretation is not for the experimenter but the public. What difference will podcasting in corporate training make?
I am thinking though, that people are looking to see if it is better, worse, or the same. Perhaps there is a book in there somewhere.
On a tangent of this conversation, I am thinking of beginning a podcast unrelated to my dissertation and this blog. It would be something fun and superficial, I feel like I am neglecting that side of my life.
Image source: Balakov
Just Podcasts
My dissertation has taken a back seat to many more urgent matters in my life as of late but that does not mean that I have not been thinking about it. Truth be told, I’ve had a lot of time to think about what to do, how to do it, and why to do it over the course of the last few months. My intent was to study the impact of using blogs, wikis, and podcasting in corporate training on learning retention. The goal was to intervene in classroom or other training using these Web 2.o tools and study the response using a pre/post test Kirkpatrick model to study the learning retention.
Conversations that have taken place recently have given me a new direction. First is the nature of good science. Using 3 variables in the intervention only shows the imapct of using all 3 tools. This creates ‘noise’ in the stats and I would be unable to isolate which tool works best or at all. Second, that I do not need to change the world just move knowledge a little bit. Third, was the continuance of my work beyond the dissertation.
Last week I was privy to conversations about podcasting and the possibilities that exist of using audio and video podcasts in training or classroom settings. This got me thinking about limiting my dissertation to simply podcasts and leaving the others for future research.
This would shorten my timeline a bit and allow me to focus more scientifically on one variable introduced into the setting of training. What do you think? Is limiting my research to one thing, podcasting, a good idea?
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Performance Support 2.0
I’ve been reading Harold Jarche‘s posts on change in the L&D industry, the future of training and development, and proficiency-based training. Harold is right on target with his predictions and sensitivity to the industry as it is happening now. I have no doubts Harold has been saying this for years and people looked at him like he had a third eye. I’m right there with him and have been saying the same things for some time.
By and large, learning and development professionals fail to understand performance and so they spend time teaching things without linking them to job or company performance. Thus, as Harold wrote,
Training is seen by this group of CEO’s (and I would wager many others) as superfluous to the company’s bottom line.
Harold’s simple advice is to be relevant to the business. Linking training and development to individual, departmental, and/or organizational performance is key to keeping the department relevant. Harold wrote,
I have met too few L&D professionals who can actually analyze work performance and come up with something other than training as the solution. Well, it seems that the days of the one trick pony are over.
Training is only one arrow in a quiver of available solutions for companies. Using it as a silver bullet (or one trick pony) will only lead you to buying a lot of silver bullets and not really looking at the problems and solutions.
Harold pointed me to another blog, Gram Consulting’s Performance by Design blog, and it too has had me reading and thinking. Tom Gram discussed what learning and development departments can do to stave off cuts during hard times. Tom gives five points to help grow training and development into a real learning and performance organization:Go and read the post for the full details, it is intriguing and valuable.
- Expand your solutions: Break out of the training box
- Improve your business processes
- Consolidate your programs
- Introduce (or improve) performance consulting
- Develop a technology plan
Go and read the full post. It is intriguing and valuable but lengthy to copy directly into the Doc Blog.
Between Harold and Tom I found myself amongst kindred spirits of learning and performance. So much so that I took a hit list of posts and forwarded them to some folks I work with to get them thinking about what is possible. One person shouting for change is a lunatic on the corner, more people shouting for change is a movement to watch.
One post from Tom really got my juices flowing. I am working on developing a new model of learning and performance for an internal group that I serve. The group is unserved or underserved with regard to training and development but unlike a lot of companies, mine is investing. I was scooped up to lead the charge on this and thrilled for the chance. Still, this is an audience that is used to being in a classroom or flying for a seminar and cannot see how tools they use everyday for information can be altered to serve a real learning and performance need.
Tom’s post on Digital Performance Support: an alternative to e-learning captured just what I was thinking. The idea is that learning and performance professionals can be deploying digital tools that serve learning and job performance needs as they occur vs. scheduling a class or putting them through eLearning courses to no end. Tom’s point is simply that if we serve people with tools to help they will approach them at their own pace and eventually call on them less and less as they learn. Brillant! Give smart people smart information and they get smarter.
Part of my learning and performance model is just the thing Tom was writing about. If we create training and don’t support it or link it to performance we failed. As my fellow bloggers and industry colleagues have written, learning is changing and so should the services we offer.
As I continue to look into the impact of blogs, wikis, and podcasts on learning performance I am keeping an eye on how training is changing. Research will bear out some of the thinking here and hopefully move the industry into understanding what to adopt and how to use it more effectively.
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Sorry About That…
What a crazy time its been. I’ve had so little time between taking a new job and wrestling with negative issue after negative issue in other aspects of my life. I’m not one to rant on my blog, so here is a bullet list of things people should know.
- When you tell someone the furnace is fine and it is not fine, you cost them money.
- Don’t flush non-flushables down a toilet at a house that is not your own.
- Driving for 13 hours (round trip) for a 20 hour stay and little interaction with the family is a waste of time
- Don’t force people to adjust to your schedule when you have other options available
- Let people know when your kid is sick and don’t invite them over knowing they’re contagious
- Throwing the contents of your basement out is a sad time, especially when it came as a result of someone else’s actions
- Kids fall out of cribs
- Last minute bills at Christmas time suck
It has been a harrowing six weeks or so and I am glad things seem to be turning the corner. Quite frankly, if things got much worse we were going to suspend Christmas so we could enjoy it. With things coming back to normal, I am trying to get my blogging, reading, writing, and other activities back online. My wife says I feel better when I do them and I believe her.