Dianne Miller

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Learning 2.0 has officially arrived. However, there's debate over whether it's a legitimate evolution of existing e-learning paradigms, a convenient way to group learning-enabling technologies together under one umbrella, or a cynical attempt to distance ourselves from what we view as the failures of "learning 1.0." In talking with corporat...

Why Aren't More Companies Rushing to Learning 2.0?

October is one of my favorite months at ASTD. If you’ve had the opportunity to flip through this month’s T+D BEST issue, you got an up-close look at training as a true strategic partner in achieving critical business results—the kind of partner each BEST organization exemplifies. Congratulations to all 28 of this year’s winners, and it was an honor to meet many of them at this year’s Learn From the BEST conference.This month, I’d also like to focus on how to take a classroom activity beyond simply fun, to strategic and smart. Here are few top stories for October, plus some classic posts\* from the blog, on activities, games, and other facilitator techniques:Five Considerations for Selecting SMEs by Chuck HodellRadically Improved Action Planning by Will ThalheimerIt’s Delightful, It’s Delicious, It’s De-Lovely! by Bruno NealWhy Games Don't Teach by Ruth Clark\*The Long View: David Rock in T+D MagazineAre You Using Games to Engage? by Barbara Greenstein\*Boring to Brilliant: 5 Tips to Convert Your E-Learning to a Story-based Approach by Diane Senffner\* Where to Find Stories for Your Presentations and Programs by David Lee\*Five Tips for Success When Using Games in Training by Rachel Miller\*Last month, I mentioned that I would have an update on a new app for classroom facilitators. Those of you attending the ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference will get a first look at the Trainer’s Toolkit App, edited by Elaine Biech. This app contains 20 original classroom and online facilitation activities for engaging and energizing your classroom. (with more than 30 additional modules forthcoming)The really unique thing about this app is that it helps facilitators utilize activities as the valuable, strategic means to an end that they are. Those trainers who frequently use games or create their own classroom activities know that energizers, for example, are great for fighting off post-lunch malaise. But they can also stimulate short-term memory and help create a gentle transition between break time and active learning. By next month’s newsletter, I will be able to share the official website and more details.I also promised an update on the Leaving ADDIE for SAM Field Guide (coming in early 2014), and readers and SAM fans can look forward to over 20 templates and worksheets, plus dozens of brand new diagrams and charts with useful how-tos. We are getting closer and closer! Stay tuned to the newsletter for publication date and online availability.See you next month!JuanaCheck out the entire newsletter.

October Newsletter—Getting Strategic With Classroom Activities

When consulting, I try to explain that simply exporting a PowerPoint presentation and calling it “e-learning” doesn't necessarily qualify it as e-learning. It’s not instructionally sound; it’s simply words, some large, some small, and often irrelevant photos or bad clip art, all minus the context. Without an instructor to flesh out the material or to add their own teachable stories to the content, learners may find nothing relevant, so they largely tune it out. Education presented in this manner produces little to no ROI.But there is a better way. Storytelling has been powerfully educating humans for millennia. Stories give adult learners that crucial window into how the content is relevant to them, making them invested in the material. Here are five tips for turning that boring PowerPoint into a brilliant e-learning module through storytelling.1. Wrap the Content in a Story: Using a typical example of how the learning plays out in the workplace, wrap a story around the content. Make sure you have a setting, characters, an event (a problem), development (actions and consequences), and a climax (lesson learned). Make sure the story is one that most employees can relate to and ensure your character reaches the desired state at the end. Learners will be able to relate to the situation, root for the character to succeed, and see that they may be able to reach the desired state as well.2. Use Conversational Dialogue: I’m not sure anyone actually uses “business-speak.” If and when they do, it sounds trite, pretentious and confusing. Why is it so hard to write e-learning how we speak? Using a conversational tone in narration can ensure comprehension and it feels more real—like a story. Moreover, in a study discussed in eLearning and the Science of Instruction (Ruth Colvin Clark, Richard E. Mayer) conversational narration produced 20% to 46% more correct answers than formal narration.3. Use a Conversational Narrator: All the great, conversationally written dialogue in the world won’t overcome a monotonous or robotic-sounding narrator. If you are using audio (and it should be used whenever possible) use a professional narrator, not just the guy in the office with the nice voice, or worse yet, a screen reader. Many, many narrators work at home for very reasonable prices today: Try the Voice Realm. Anyone who has listened to an audio book knows the value of the right narrator to tell the story.4. Create Story-Based Scenarios: Once you’ve rolled out your characters and the story, what better way to assess the learning than by creating authentic scenarios that force the learner to think critically about what they’ve learned? Immersing them into a new story or a continuation of the story in a real-life setting and giving them a way to make mistakes and correct them is almost more powerful than a role play in a classroom scenario.5. Integrate Relevant Multi-Media: Today more than ever, it’s easy to create your own photographs, video and other multimedia to insert into an e-learning module. The world according to photo stock sites is a bit skewed (we don’t all look like models, wear black suits and sit perched on modular white office furniture in front of a view from the 67th floor of a high rise), and clip art, frankly, should never be used again. Get creative!These few tips will have you well on your way to telling a story that will make a difference … and get results.Note: Diane Senffner will present session W100, “Telling Stories, Getting Results: The Power of Storytelling in E-Learning,” at the ASTD 2013 International Conference & Exposition in Dallas, Texas.

Dianne Miller

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