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Newsletter...
***Training Doctor News August 2010***
In this issue:
1 Social Networking Has Evolved
2 We Could Train the World!
3 News and Views – Collected from Here and There
4 Learner Savings Accounts
5 What is a Performance Gap?
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1 SOCIAL NETWORKING HAS EVOLVED
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We must admit, what seemed like a fad at first has
really evolved and the potential for training is pretty
incredible. Social media and social networking - used
within the context of training - is an unbelievably
effective delivery method.
Social media encompasses all sorts of online mediums –
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, 2nd Life, and many others.
Essentially it is online material, produced by the
“public” – in our case, the public would be our
participants. We can also manage their online experience
by providing content and experiences in the social
media environment.
The Training Doctor’s friend, Jane Bozarth, has a
new book coming out next month (published by Pfeiffer)
entitled Social Media for Trainers: Techniques for
Enhancing and Extending Learning. In the Afterword
of the book she talks about the potential for managing
knowledge, preserving institutional memory, creating
transparency, and enhancing communication within an
organization. Bozarth’s book is #29 on Amazon’s list
of training-related titles – and it doesn’t even come
out for three more weeks!
In addition to Bozarth’s book, ASTD Press released
three books dealing with social media or social
networking at work, just this summer! It’s an
unbelievably hot topic.
One social media environment in which The Training
Doctor has been heavily involved for the past year,
is that of virtual worlds. In a virtual world, our
participants become computerized entities known as
avatars. In this form they are able to move about in
a “third world” to meet with others, form small groups,
work with information we have pre-loaded for them and
even work through a simulation or project as if they
were together in person. One of our clients is a
global organization that wants to expand its best
practices across the world. Instead of having pockets
of great ideas across the organization, everyone has
an identity and “portfolio” in the virtual world.
In this way, if I’m on a team in the US that is trying
to fix a problem, or price a solution, and we don’t
have anyone on our team with appropriate experience–
we can search the social network portfolio to find
someone who does have the skills or knowledge we need.
We can then ask them to meet us in a virtual meeting
room, load up slides or documents to present them our
current situation, and ask for their guidance.
For this client, the intention of the virtual world is
to network their entire organization; for our purposes
in the training department, the use of the virtual
environment is part of their new-hire orientation.
Our belief is that if we get them used to the virtual
world while they are being introduced to the company
in general, they will be more inclined to use it in
their day-to-day activities. So, to achieve our end,
we have designed a case study which we house in private
meeting rooms that only certain teams can access. Their
mission is to retrieve and review the case study –
gather assistance from experts across the world that
they find via the network of portfolios, and then come
to a conclusion and make a recommendation based on the
information they have gathered from their experts.
They can store, retrieve, and share information in the
virtual world. They can meet privately or in a public
forum/space with their expert. They can see one another
and hear one another (via the avatars) and work as an
ad hoc team. It is truly an amazing, broadening experience.
The virtual world that we use is a commercially available
product, but the defense contractor, Lockheed, created
their own social networking environment called Unity.
Lockheed employs 140,000 people worldwide and uses its
social environment to “foster collaboration across the
enterprise to get information sharing not only between
business areas, but across them” according to Tom Vitale,
Unity’s program manager.
Unity seeks to address two issues that are common in
organizations today: knowledge-sharing to anticipate
baby boomers’ shifting retirement plans (60% of their
workforce identifies itself as a baby boomer), and attitudes
about communication tools among Millennials, the youngest
generation in the workforce.
If you haven’t ventured much in to the world of social
media – especially in regards to its potential in the field
of training – we challenge you to spend this month
investigating it. The potential is truly mind boggling.
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2 WE COULD TRAIN THE WORLD!
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According to a Manpower Inc. survey of 2,000 US employers,
the most in-demand jobs in 2010 in the United States are:
1. Skilled trades
2. Sales representatives
3. Nurses
4. Technicians
5. Drivers
6. Restaurant and hotel staff
7. Management/executives
8. Engineers
9. Doctors and other non-nursing professionals
10. Customer service representatives and customer
support staff
Less than half the jobs listed above require a college
education; which means that for most US jobs – it is
the training department’s responsibility to skill the
workforce. If we partner with trade schools or local
community college’s workforce departments – we can
further our reach and satisfy our employer’s needs.
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3 NEWS AND VIEWS - COLLECTED FROM HERE AND THERE
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= According to a survey by PDI 9th House - 64%
of global leaders plan to implement high-potential
talent management programs in 2010. More on leadership development
trends in next month's newsletter.
= There has been a consolidation in the synchronous
platform world: Blackboard is buying Elluminate
(one of our favorites) and Wimba. The new, consolidated
platform will be called Blackboard Collaborate.
= You may have been aware that back in February,
Training Magazine went under. Well, it has been
purchased by its former owner Lakewood Media, and
is back in business. The Training Doctor will be
speaking at their conference in February 2011 in
San Diego. Check out the resurrected Training Magazine
at www.trainingmagnetwork.com
= On Sept 15 The Training Doctor will be presenting
a webinar on successful blended training design for
the Metro DC chapter of ASTD. If you would like to
attend, there is a nominal $25 charge for non-members.
You can find complete description and registration
info here: http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Invitation.aspx?e=e2ce5271-8273-4b76-a2af-b1926cdfa1fb
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4 LEARNER SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
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You’ve heard of Health Savings Accounts no doubt;
well, now, Congressman John Larson of CT is promoting
a bill before congress for Learner Savings Accounts.
These accounts, as presently envisioned:
Would be available for any employee age 18 – 70
One could deposit up to $2500 per year and get a tax
credit of up to $750 per year
Employers get tax credits for making matching
contributions
Would be portable – so would move with the employee
from job to job
Says Larson: "Now more than ever, continuing training
and education are invaluable for workers to remain
competitive in the job market. This bill will provide
a significant tool to make it easier for millions of
Americans to continue their education."
Hear hear!
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5 WHAT IS A PERFORMANCE GAP?
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James Moseley and Claudia Van Drak recently wrote an
article for Performance Improvement (July 2010) about
an assignment they did with their Wayne State University
students. The students were enrolled in a course on
HPT (Human Performance Technology) and their assignment
was to explain the field of HPT in terms that someone
else could understand – using that person’s professional
industry as reference. They were assigned fields such
as airline attendant, physical therapist, magazine
editor, and urban planner to name a few.
Our favorite was explaining the field to Charles Schultz,
creator of the Peanuts comic strip. It provides this
explanation of HPT being used to close a performance gap:
“For Charlie Brown, the ultimate performance is kicking
the football, and the actual performance is that he
always misses it. Poor Charlie Brown has a
performance gap.” It goes on to discuss the possible
causes of the gap (Lucy, lack of kicking skill, an
unyielding “process” and more).
Not only was this an engaging article, but it’s a
great idea for a teaching approach as well. Rather
than US explaining how something works – we can ask
our students to explain it in the context of a metaphor
or analogy. It really engages those higher-order
thinking skills! (And you know, the ultimate “test”
of whether someone has learned something or not –
is whether they can teach it to someone else – so
this is a great learning activity and assessment
activity at the same time). Bravo Moseley and Von Drak!
COPYRIGHT - (c) 2010 The Training Doctor, LLC.
http://www.trainingdr.com
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