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Amy Hand

Enhance Your Training Brand

February 2011 - TD Magazine

How to Enhance Your Training Brand

Master the essentials of Articulate Rise with hands-on practice, expert feedback, and pro tips in this course. Start creating engaging e-learning today!

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Resilience allows for better decision making, sustained personal growth, and the ability to bounce back with fierce resolve.

The Road to Resilience: Failure, Recovery, and Recovery Again

The ATD Research team is excited to share some of the highlights from ATD and the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp)’s new work focusing on massive online open courses (MOOCs) in learning and development (L&D).MOOCs, which are collaborative online courses open to anyone wishing to participate at no cost (although a fee may be required to obtain credit), have gained popularity and recognition in higher education. Among the benefits MOOCs offer students are the ability to access materials at any time and from any location, and the opportunity to collaborate with other learners. The value of MOOCs has been a topic of debate, however, especially in light of dismal completion rates.With the amount of attention directed at MOOCs in academia, we were not surprised that many talent development professionals were seeking answers to questions:Are organizations using MOOCs in L&D and are they using them effectively?What benefits can organizations realize from using MOOCs? Do poor completion rates also plague MOOCs in L&D? To investigate these questions, ATD and i4cp surveyed 525 learning and business professionals in summer 2014. Our findings were published in our research report, MOOCs: Expanding the Scope of Organizational Learning.MOOCs aren’t widely used in learning but they hold promiseOur research discovered that MOOC use is still low in talent development, with only 22 percent of surveyed professionals reporting that their organization currently uses MOOCs in L&D. Not surprising, most MOOC activity in L&D has been recent. More than three-quarters of organizations leveraging MOOCs only started doing so in the last three years.   The ranks of organizations that are new MOOC users are also expected to grow, however. Of organizations that currently do not use MOOCs, 36 percent are planning on leveraging MOOCs in the future. But these new users may not realize all the possible advantages of MOOCs right away. Our research found that the longer MOOCs were used in L&D programs, the more likely organizations were to report that MOOCs were effective.We polled participants on what they felt were the greatest potential benefits of MOOCs, and they cited broadening the scope of learning opportunities as the single greatest advantage. Other top benefits were providing access to e-learning and expanding the leadership development curriculum. Addressing the problem of poor completion rates Although MOOCs appear very promising, our findings suggest that users of MOOCs in L&D settings, like academic MOOC participants, very frequently become disengaged and drop out. We asked survey respondents about their personal experiences with MOOCs, and it was clear that the majority of MOOC starters never finish. To keep learners engaged and effectively deliver content, Amy Rouse, a director at AT&T’s corporate university, which uses MOOCs, suggested that learning professionals should consider using MOOCs in combination with other delivery methods. “There are limits to what we can do now with technology to connect people who may not be physically located together. So we’re exploring very creative approaches to blended learning, such as how we can combine MOOC content with hands-on labs or self-paced pre-requisite content, and maybe follow up with a social learning collaborative community where employee learners can support each other when they’re back on the job. It may not be all MOOC, all web-based, or all instructor-led training. But we’re excited to see how we can combine these alternatives to create the most effective learning experiences to help employees succeed,” said Rouse. Want to learn more? I encourage everyone to join us for a free webcast hosted by ATD Research and i4cp on February 2, 2014, at noon. We will discuss the report’s findings. The full research report, MOOCs: Expanding the Scope of Organizational Learning_,_ is available for purchase online. Members have complimentary access to the whitepaper version of the report.

The Promise of MOOCs: Key Findings from New ATD Research

Think about your favorite band or artist. They find their rhythm with each other by ensuring they are “N*SYNC” with one another both musically and socially. Employees are the same way.Creating a culture of continuous learning and collaboration is essential for any organization, but it’s not always easy for teams to make the time or prioritize these skills. One innovative way to engage your team and drive discussions around key organizational topics is through book clubs. While book clubs are often associated with personal reading, they can be a powerful tool in a workplace setting, encouraging team members to develop skills and understand topics aligned with your organization’s goals.Promoting Continuous Learning and Professional DevelopmentA book club can serve as an engaging ongoing professional development opportunity. By selecting books that align with your organization’s objectives, your team stays informed about the latest developments in your field but also furthers a collective culture of lifelong learning.The most important part of any book club is the analysis and discussion that happens once the book is read. Through group discussions, team members can apply what they’ve learned to real-world situations, enhancing their ability to contribute to the organization's success. Now you’ve got an excited and engaged workforce that has a collective vocabulary and set of short-hand phrases to convey complex ideas! Here are a few examples of professional development titles offered on Libby.Encouraging Open Dialogue and Diverse PerspectivesBook clubs create a welcoming space where employees can freely share their thoughts and engage in deep conversations on complex topics. Whether exploring themes like diversity and inclusion, change management, or innovation, these discussions promote cross-departmental communication and help break down organizational silos. In an informal setting, book clubs allow employees to connect on a personal level, strengthening relationships and creating a more cohesive workplace. Leveraging existing employee resource groups (ERGs) is an excellent way to launch a book club, seamlessly integrating it into your organization’s culture.Here are a few examples of titles centered around diversity and inclusion in Libby.Aligning Team Efforts With Organizational GoalsBook clubs can be strategically used to align your team’s efforts with the broader goals of your organization. By carefully selecting books that reflect the company's mission, vision, and values, you can reinforce key messages and inspire employees to think critically about how they contribute to the organization's success.For example, if your organization is undergoing a digital workflow transformation, reading and discussing books on technology trends like artificial intelligence can help your team understand the challenges and opportunities ahead.Driving engagement with learning and development isn’t always the easiest sell for an organization, but a book club can help activate employees more, engender passionate advocates for the process, and even develop champions for learning. To learn more about book clubs and how they work at OverDrive, visit our website to inspire your organization’s next book club.

Learning and Reading Are Better With Colleagues

Game On! Action-Based Training Designs for Better Learning Passive learning just doesn’t cut it in today’s evolving, competitive workplace. Research demonstrates that action-first learning works because it engages the mind immediately and makes sure that knowledge and skills will stick. With a more diverse array of action-based training designs, organizations can motivate learners, provide hands-on, collaborative practice, and drive behavioral change. In Action-First Learning, educator and tech expert Karl M. Kapp covers nine distinct types of learning experiences in one volume—from card and board games, escape rooms, and branching scenarios to augmented reality and AI-powered coaching. He explains why each design works and how to choose, plan, and execute the right kind of project for your goals. Each chapter includes a detailed case study, a design checklist, and tips on how to leverage AI in the creation of action-first learning.The book includes a chapter by instructional designer Amy Pape about how to improve action-first learning through accessibility and another by L&D expert Kevin Thorn on the use of comics in action-first learning.Are you using this book to teach? Please download the instructor’s guide for reflection questions, discussion guides, quizzes, and more.

Have some action-first learning fun by coloring your favorite illustrations from the book! Download the Action-First Learning coloring book!

Action-First Learning

In addition to research reports, whitepapers, infographics, and other materials, ATD’s research also is presented in webcasts and during in-person presentations at conferences and events. This blog post provides some highlights from an Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) and ATD Research report on MOOCs, and the associated presentation at the ATD TechKnowledge 2015 conference and research webcast.ATD/i4cp’s Research on MOOCsMOOCs are massive, online, open courses. They are typically free (although sometimes learners must pay to earn credit), and rely on a collaborative approach.  MOOCs got their start in academia, and millions have participated in academic MOOCs, many of which are offered by leading universities. However, critics are fast to point out that most MOOC enrollees never finish.Realizing the promise MOOCs hold for organizations and their workforces, ATD Research and i4cp surveyed 525 learning and business professionals, and published the findings in December 2014 in the report, MOOCs: Expanding the Scope of Organizational Learning. The study found that less than a quarter of organizations currently use MOOCs in learning. These MOOC users overwhelmingly felt that they broadened the scope of learning opportunities, although the research did find that users of MOOCs in organizations, like academic MOOC users, frequently dropped out.MOOCs Research at TechKnowledge 2015In January, Kevin Oakes, CEO of i4cp, presented on MOOCs at ATD’s TechKnowledge Conference in Las Vegas, which provided attendees with information on the latest learning technologies and how to leverage them. During that session, the audience of learning professionals was asked whether their organizations used MOOCs in learning.No attendees raised their hands, though, confirming the low usage of MOOCs. However, the session participants were enthusiastic about possibly incorporating MOOCs into their organizations’ learning offerings in the future. A few attendees had personally taken MOOCs in their own time, on varied topics.Highlights from the Research WebcastOn February 2,2015, ATD Research hosted a free webcast on the MOOCs research, featuring Kevin Oakes and Amy Rouse, director of operations training at AT&T, which leverages MOOCs in its training. The webcast attracted more than 500 registrants, and the recording is available here.That webcast not only provided an overview of the research findings, but also featured Rouse’s experiences with MOOCs at AT&T. For example, AT&T developed its own well-received internal MOOC that adapted an existing instructor-led class in business writing for MOOC delivery.The presenters also fielded questions from webcast attendees. One participant asked about the differences between MOOCs and e-learning, and Rouse responded that e-learning typically is more “canned” and occurs at the learner’s own pace, while participants in MOOCs are more engaged with a cohort of other learners and an instructor over several weeks.Get the Full Report and MoreThe full report, MOOCs: Expanding the Scope of Organizational Learning is available online. Members have complimentary access to a whitepaper version of the report.

MOOCs Research Well-Received at ATD TechKnowledge 2015

It can be hard to interact and meaningfully connect with someone who is different from us. The more we differ, the further apart we are, the harder it is to build a bridge. Why? Because most of our relationship skills are grounded in finding commonalities. When those commonalities are subtle or scarce, we struggle to connect.However, commonalities are not the linchpin of high-performing teams. Amy Edmonson and a legion of other scholars have convincingly shown that the key ingredient for a team coming together well is psychological safety—not liking each other, not socializing, not commonality (although all those factors can help).As Dr. Edmonson defines it, psychological safety is “the belief that work environment is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.” It is “the experience of being able to speak up with relative ideas, questions, or concerns. It is present when colleagues trust and respect each other and feel able—even obligated—to be candid.”One of the interesting characteristics of psychological safety is that it is inherently a team dynamic. It doesn’t exist in any meaningful way at the individual or organizational level. It lives and breathes (and dies) at the team level.So, if you want your team to work together well and you accept that psychological safety is the key, how do you build it? Here are three things to do to get started.Measure When interviewing Dr. Don Berwick, former CMS Administrator and CEO of IHI, he taught me that “a measure is the shadow of your heart.” If we sincerely care about something and want to change it, we will measure it. So, start by assessing where your team is in terms of their level of psychological safety and then decide on what would be a reasonable level of improvement. Continue to measure through regular pulse surveys. This is not a one-and-done. You need to evaluate whether what you are doing is increasing psychological safety (in which case, keep doing it!) or not (in which case, you need to try something else).Choose a Generous ViewAt the very heart of psychological safety is the belief that I won’t be judged negatively for being me. Unsurprisingly, it is the negative judgments we make about one another that, more than almost anything else, destroy psychological safety.To create psychological safety, we need to consciously and consistently choose a more generous view of others. I am not advising that we simply pretend that everyone and everything is great. Rather, I am suggesting that if we can suspend judgment and replace it with curiosity, we will be better able to hold space for the universal contradiction that good people do bad (or even just annoying) things.Insights from the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) help people choose to see one another more generously. The SDI provides a framework to help team members look beyond people’s behavior and see how three primary motives (performance, people, and process) are driving that behavior. When we see in this way, it’s easier to choose a generous view because people often have a rational motive even if their behavior is frustrating for us.Maintain Good IntentIn Crucial Conversations, we make this audacious claim: people never become defensive about what you are saying; they become defensive because of why they think you are saying it.Said another way, psychological safety is entirely dependent upon the perception of intent in the conversation. If you want to create safety in a conversation, a relationship, or a team, start by cultivating good intent and then sharing it. Sharing lets them know what your motives and intentions are. It also helps you stay accountable to and connected with that good intent, even when issues pop up that might otherwise irritate or frustrate you.Your team may never become “besties.” But that shouldn’t be your goal. Solid friendships don’t always equal high performance; people may love being on a low-performing team with high comradery. Building a high-performing team that learns together, achieves results, and respects one another is a much more worthy goal and one that is within reach of all teams.

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