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Newsletter...
***Training Doctor News January 2012***
a service of The Training Doctor, LLC
In this issue:
1 Learning Interrupted
2 Learning and Technology
3 News and Views – Collected from Here and There
4 Is There Always A Right Answer?
5 Speaking Schedule
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1 LEARNING INTERRUPTED
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We were recently introduced to a study written and conducted by 3 professors from the University of CA at Irvine. The study, published in 2005, discusses the amount of interruptions a ‘knowledge worker’ experiences in a
typical day.
The study determined that there are two types of interruptions:
External interruptions are those that stem from events in the environment, such as a phone ringing, a colleague entering one’s cubicle, or an email signal. Internal interruptions are those in which one stops a task of their
own volition.
The study goes on to analyze and discuss how long it takes one to return to the task they were completing before the interruption (typically there are 2 intervening tasks before resumption) and how the interrupted tasks start to “nest” and pile upon one another.
While all this is fascinating and disturbing, what struck us was this idea: Is it important for us, as trainers, to teach people how to do their job while interrupted? The study focuses particularly on information or knowledge workers – in other words, people who have to think. If we teach our participants to do something in a particular way, in a supported environment and a predictable order, are we really helping them to learn to perform the same task on the job?
We’re just askin’
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2 LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
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Interestingly, in just the past month we came upon these two recent “quotes” regarding learning and the use of technology:
The integration of learning and technology is not new.
Historically, learning professionals have effectively utilized new technology in learning. Here are some examples:
* 1900s – photographs used as instructional media
* 1920s – introduction of training films
* 1920s – learning broadcast over television
* 1930s – learning broadcast over radio
* 1940s – audiovisual used in learning
* 1960s – learning deployed on computers
From http://www.trainingindustry.com/ezine.aspx
Human beings have been leveraging technology since the dawn of time.
* fire to keep us warm.
* plant and animal domestication to assuage our hunger
* icons and alphabets to communicate
* locomotive, automobiles and airplanes to travel greater distances and build a global economy
* and Web technologies to connect, consume, contribute and collaborate on an unprecedented scale.
Tony O’Driscoll in Training Magazine November/December 2011
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3 NEWS AND VIEWS - COLLECTED FROM HERE AND THERE
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= Total 2011 U.S. training expenditures—including payroll and spending on external products and services—jumped 13 percent to $59.7 billion, according to Trainingmagazine’s 2011 Training Industry Report.
= Harvard physics professor Eric Mazur says that listening to someone talk is not an effective way to learn any subject. "Students have to be active in developing their knowledge," he says. "They can't passively assimilate
it." Rather than lecturing, he makes his students do most of the talking. By using small group discussions they found that the learning gains at the end of the semester nearly tripled. (DOH! We could have been a Harvard Professor!)
= For the first time in two years, training salaries grew, increasing nearly $800 to an average of $84,142 in 2010-2011, according to Training magazine’s Annual Salary Survey of 952 readers. The average increase in salary in the last 12 months (not including a promotion or change of employer) rose slightly to 2.57 percent in 2010-2011.
You can view all the salary info gathered, and compare yourself to what others earn who are similar in age, gender or geography, by following this link,
http://tinyurl.com/7lpwqr6, then scrolling to the bottom and downloading the full salary survey PDF.
= We’re always on the lookout for stimulating ways to deliver learning. Check out this website: www.khanacadem.com.
From their intro page:
With a library of over 2,700 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 276 practice exercises, we're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace.
The genius behind this site, Salman Khan, simply started by posting YouTube videos to assist his niece in learning algebra. Soon, (and with a Gates Grant) it mushroomed into a phenomenal resource for fr~ee educational lessons. Check out a few videos and see if you aren’t inspired to design your next lesson a little differently. Here is a short (2:23) video from a CNN feature on Khan Academy as well: p://tinyurl.com/7m7vwan
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4 IS THERE ALWAYS A “RIGHT” ANSWER?
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Is there always a “right” answer when testing our employees after training? With the proliferation of learning management systems, many organizations are now creating tests and quizzes to be administered post-training. Those types of quizzes often DO have one right answer, but our economy has moved away from task oriented training and more toward a knowledge based economy, and that type of work performance may not have a ‘right answer.’ When you are determining if someone is thinking or reasoning appropriately, it’s impossible to give a paper and pencil test.
Here is an example: the duties of a customer service representative of a logistics company are to:
- Answer calls from field service representatives
- Find the part they need from a variety of warehouses dotted across North America
- Get the replacement part to the field service rep as quickly as possible (next day)
If we were to watch them perform their job – they answer the phone and operate the computer correctly – we would say they do their job “right.” BUT, the performance of that job
actually involves a number of business decisions which are dependent on one another: where is the nearest part located? Is it faster to drive it via courier or ship it via plane cargo? If it is in Canada, is it worth the extra
expense for taxes and levies? If it’s faster to fly the part to the representative, can a courier make it to the airport in time? Does the representative need more than one part? Can all the parts be sourced from the same warehouse?
These and about a dozen other questions are resolved in the blink of an eye by an experienced representative; watching the customer service representative press a few buttons to order up a part and send it on its way in NO WAY lets us know if they are doing their job properly.
So what are we left to do? Do we follow people around and ask them to explain what they are doing? Do we look at the end result and assume the steps that got them there were correct?
How do we assess problem solving, reasoning and decision making?
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5 SPEAKING SCHEDULE – COME SEE US and GET A GIFT
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If you will be at either ASTD’s Tech Knowledge conference (January 25 – 27) in Vegas or Training 2012 in Atlanta, please stop by and see us!
Tech Knowledge:
- 24th Instructional Design for the Synchronous Environment workshop; 8:30 – noon
- 25th How to ACE your Synchronous Training Design; 11:00-12:30
Training 2012
- 13th ISD for the Synchronous Environment; 12:45- 1:45p
- 15th Adult Learning Theory in 60 Minutes or Less; 8:00 – 9:00a
- 15th The Art and Science of Test Creation ; 11:00 – 12:00p
We’ve ordered some fun luggage tags for give-aways at each event – make sure you come say Hi!
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