Are You Ready For The Mobile Learning Revolution?

Empower and engage your employees through mobility...
#hr #astd #shrm #hrtechchat #atd #mobilelearning

It's time to change “hands" – from the HR & Training Department and into the hands of the employee… out of the classroom and into the hands of your talent.

Ok…hold your horses...I’m not suggesting the elimination of these departments or classroom delivery.  I am suggesting our role must evolve more into true facilitators and strategist of learning and engage all stakeholders in the on going process of training and development with the use of technology. Yes, training and development is not a one time event - it is an ongoing process. This is not happening in many organizations.

And yes all stakeholders.  That means changing how managers, supervisors, team leads and dare I say the "c-suite" are engaged in the planning and process.  There needs to be a fundamental change in how they see their role in training and development and it's relationship to impacting the bottom line.

An emerging trend is showing itself to be a relevant tool to support this needed change!  Going mobile is a key solution and allows for self-directive, collaborative learning facilitated by employee training specialists. Additionally, It naturally incorporates key adult learning principles, it's easy to use and has surprisingly affordable formats.

In this current economic climate, with so much restraint on training budgets, now is the perfect time to work with alternative modes of learning and training...the irony?...the alternative may be the most effective way to get the results decision-makers want with the cost that anyone - that any company can afford!

Consider this - spend less - get higher return-on-investment! In many cases it's not what you use, but how you use!

Using A Mobile Training Solution...

Employee Training & Development - There's An APP For That

Use of an APP is one way that employees can have an engaging training & development experience. An App can house content and can be flexible for delivery and usage. 

An APP can also be used as a connection to community as a source for user generated content, sharing best practices and obtaining real-time feedback. This is 21st century learning, training, and employee development at it's best.

This tool can also help drive engagement, help develops learning rhythms that nurture measurable change/outcomes.  One key advantage to using an app, for many users you’re not asking them to create new behaviors for it's usage.  Many people are familiar with using apps and that usage is only growing.

A great example of the mobile revolution is demonstrated in this AT&T Commercial of mobile sharing for a management, best practices solution: 

Benefits Of Certain App Solutions

• Don’t need to be bogged down with an LMS (learning management system)

• Can be used in any part of the world

• Doesn't take up server / bandwidth space

• Nimble design for evolving training needs

• Simple authoring tools

• User friendly design functionality - don't have to be a techie to use or administer

• Cost effective - very affordable

• Very accessible/usable training resource

• Highest return on investment with the integrated design for crowd-sourcing best practices, "just in time" learning & application, and maximizing the use of adult learning principles.

• Does not require wireless access only, only a cell connection is necessary

• Can be a stand alone solution or can be easily incorporated with any blended learning-training strategy

• Content provided or proprietary content can be incorporated

Technical Considerations

A while back I attended a Chief Learning Officer breakfast in Atlanta. One of the questions and conclusions was how do we leverage technology to meet our pressing talent management needs? (By the way, one of my conclusions from the breakfast is -- knowledge of technology is not an option for any hr/training professional – it’s a competency!)

In the spirit of constricted training budgets, a useful question to ask is "how can I leverage free and low cost technology to get more training and development outcomes for my organization?”

Here's a list of simple Web 2.0 resources that can be used for short learning bursts or just-in-time delivery.

• …rss feeds
• …short audios
• …short videos
• …learning links
• …podcasts
• …blog platforms
• ...apps
• ...sms (texting)
• ...screen captures
• ...social sharing

The point: most of these are free or low cost easy to use authoring tools, nimble in delivery and can be used with any mobile device. 

If you want to assess how you can use some simple strategies utilizing free or low cost Web 2.0 tools, I'm happy to help. Email for a free consultation:joann@thehumanpshere.com

If you'd like additional value to training seminars you bring to your organization, you'll want to explore our Individual Employee Core Competency Training package with our integrated app.

Are You a Techno Dinosaur and Don't Even Know It?

Source credit

...stuck in a technology gap?

I think we can all agree that technology is a fast moving target. Just when you think you know a lot, you find out how little you know.  At least that's how I've felt over the past couple of years.

I've always considered myself a pretty techno-savvy professional (actually a "non-tech" geek and proud of it!)  And it wasn't until I attempted to develop my own app (The 1% Edge Portable Coach) and promote mobile and social learning that I began to learn how little about technology I really knew; like, for example, there are lots of different Android platforms. It's not just Google vs. Apple.

The effort to create learning resources for clients in the employee learning and development space helped me realize that I was plopped squarely in my own technology gap.  This was frightening to me as I am a firm believer that functional knowledge of technology is a general professional competency, let alone a competency for L&D professionals. 

Not only is it a competency, but an imperative for personal/life success. Consider the description and commentary by Tim Mazur of Santa Clara University regarding information and the technology gap between rich and poor.

"Information access requires four conditions:

> knowing that the information or information service is available,

> owning or having access to the equipment necessary to connect to the information source (e.g., computer, television, telephone, software, modem),

> gaining access to the information service (e.g., afford cable or online charges), and

> knowing how to operate the necessary hardware and software (e.g., be "computer literate").

A deficiency in any one of these areas inhibits access. In other words, someone who cannot afford the right television or who never learned how to operate a computer may want, or need, information but cannot gain access to it. Persons without access represent one end of a social imbalance that increasingly is aggravated by technology: the gap between the information poor and the information rich. The growing size of this gap provokes the question: As information technologies become the primary, sometimes exclusive, means of communication in our society, what moral rights must be considered regarding access?"

[ I encourage you to read the complete article http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v6n1/homepage.html ]

We can conclude that now and moving into the future, information is king and the ability to access, manage and leverage it is essential to the results companies seek and for individual professional success. 

The specific purpose of this post is to address the need for competency in working with information and technology among all education professionals, whether in a traditional school setting or corporation. In fact, any of us who lead professionally should assess our technological skill set, e.i. how we use information and technology. These skills can impact time management, coaching, employee engagement and more.

So, I went on a journey to power up my knowledge. One of the key insights I gained is that many have learned just enough technology for what was needed at the time. For example, when I teach managing emails, many who use Outlook are not familiar with it's full capabilities. Another example is something as simple as using web browsers (something we all use) -- many don't know browsers have apps and extensions which makes them a sophisticated information management tool in and of themselves, well beyond search and bookmarking. 

As I continued my learning and research, I became starkly aware of the growing gap in the integration of technology into everyday life between young (digital natives) and old. This is particularly disturbing if learning professionals are included in this gap.

(This visual was captured and created with Jing)

If this is new information to you, please don't feel embarrassed, I was really feeling "techno-dynasourish" myself when I learned that YouTube is one of the largest search engines on the web and is one big "how-to" video encyclopedia.

While on this journey, I had the great opportunity last July to share a lot of my new found knowledge with IALL - Iowa Association of Lifelong Learning. The material presented created a spark of interest in gaining knowledge and capability in how to use technology in the teaching and learning space. That interest has resulted in the creation of an online lunch & learn series entitled Virtual & Social Classroom - Web 2.0 with quite a breath of information that will be presented in a way for real-time experience and practice. The great news is it's open to those outside of IAll.  

So to all my colleagues, I invite you to assess your technology knowledge against the list of classes in the series and join us over the course of the next month and a half. Please note this is designed to feel like a Level 1 experience. I want people to feel that learning technology is approachable, so don't worry about feeling embarrassed or not knowing even the simplest thing. We're all in this together!

Here is a link to a general overview of information  | Here is the link to the website for registration -- see you online!

If you have any questions - don't hesitate to contact me: joann@thehumansphere.com  | If you need help with registration contact Eric Neitzke - NeitzEri@niacc.edu

One final note, you'll notice going forward I'll be integrating many of the items we'll be working with in my posts and other social media activities - keep an eye out!

Want to learn more about the technology gap between kids (digital natives) and adults? Check out this link!   | Also another great article on generation gap in technology with 2 wonderful cartoons