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Jonathon Levy is co-founder of LeveragePoint Innovations. He has advised corporations, governments, and universities throughout the world, is the author of numerous papers and articles, and has delivered keynote addresses at many international conferences. He maintains a website at www.JonathonLevy.com.

Jonathon Levy

August 2014 - TD Magazine

A 21st century version of on-the-job training leverages technology to train employees and track best practices.

Smart Tools, Smart Jobs

This image appeared in the May 2003 issue of T+D, under the headline "The Next China Revolution." According to the article written by Jonathon Levy, the development of online learning in China may have far greater importance and urgency than in the West. This article examined the belief that "given its size, need, technological capacity, and track record of success with improbable scenarios, China could become the global e-learning giant."How has e-learning changed since 2003? What role has social media tools played in that transformation?For more information about T+D, visit www.astd.org/td.

ASTD Archive Image of the Day: China's Learning Revolution, Circa 2003

The article discusses the transition from a brain force economy to a economy that gives more leverage to both the knowledge worker and the enterprise. A reliance on brain force is obvious in the increased dependence on knowledge workers for competitive advantage. The amount of information knowledge workers must deal with grows daily and is beyond anyone's ability to sort and parse usefully. That situation sets the stage for an even more powerful event -- a fourth wave or revolution that creates increased leverage for both the knowledge worker and the enterprise, extending the evolutionary thrust of doing less but accomplishing more. This Fourth Revolution is about developing the full potential of knowledge workers, about identifying and linking knowledge resources within an enterprise and, therefore, gaining maximum return from human capital. Until now, corporate spending for increased human capital productivity focused mainly on more content and more technologies for training and learning. But recently, a number of company leaders began to realize that they were addressing only half of the equation: content and dissemination.

The Fourth Revolution

Busy professionals known as "knowledge warriors" have no time for courses, no need for grades. They learn in new ways, through new technologies. In 2001, Harvard Business School and Stanford University created a working model of a futuristic advanced learning system that enabled them to research the desirability of several visionary concepts with chief learning officers and top HR executives. The model helped everyone to start from an identical vision and underlying assumptions, and to provide meaningful feedback about the future of corporate and professional learning. At the core of the new performance support system is a taxonomy or competency map that organizes changing job requirements and small chunks of content.

The Knowledge Warriors

According to the author, given its size, need, technological capacity, and track record of success with improbable scenarios, China could become the global electronic learning center. In China, the development of online learning may have far greater importance and urgency than in the West, and the collaboration of technologies enabling online performance support may be an important accelerator for China's overall economic development. Also, government policy encourages the development of online learning solutions for China's millions of industrial enterprises, opening the door to the West for both content and good ideas.

The Next China Revolution

The article presents executive summaries of articles published in May 2003 edition of the journal 'T+D.' The article 'The Next China Revolution' by Jonathan Levy explores the vast scope of electronic learning (e-learning) in China. According to Levy, China is the perfect target for investment in an e-learning solution for its transition to a labor-based economy. There are several steps that employee trainers can take to make a transition to performance consultant. The first step is to partner with internal clients by conducting an initial meeting. During this meeting, trainers should discuss the problem and identify any gaps in performance. The first step towards implementation of e-learning in U.S. Internal Revenue Service involved convincing its 12 separate business departments to promote the switch from predominantly classroom-based training to online learning.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES May 2003

In the March issue of T+D magazine, I argued that learning professionals will increasingly need to add the skill of media production to their professional toolkit in the coming years. Training executives won’t seek only staff with superb classroom or virtual classroom facilitation skills, they’ll search for professionals who can quickly create engaging media to make learning available anytime, anywhere, and for anyone.While the “train-the-trainer” classes 20 years ago taught people how to write on flipcharts with the right colored pens, tomorrow’s learning professionals need to learn how to create engaging video, audio, and screen content in a way that truly aids learning.As internal and external clients look for more flexible ways to deliver learning to their workforces, they will turn to our profession to create media content that any learner can consume anytime, anywhere and on their own terms.Tech makes this future possibleThe good news is that anyone can build his own online video channel or create her own radio station. Indeed, equipment is cheap—and it’s much easier to use.In this new bright-eyed media world, it won’t be enough just to create media content. Content will have to be good. It can’t be boring; it will need to be engaging. More important, it will need to use editorial and production techniques that support learning—just as training programs need to be well-planned and professionally delivered.On top of this, media content will need to be produced fast and efficiently. And you can bet that it will likely need to be produced on a low budget.Yes, there will be a role for content with high production values. But the six-branch credit union in Ohio or small retail chain in Nevada will not have this luxury. Nor will many divisions in Fortune 500 companies that are seeing their budgets slashed.Enter the audio optionI have found that when I talk about “media skills” some people automatically assume I’m talking about video. To be sure, learning professionals need to be able to make engaging video fast and affordably. But audio is an equally powerful sensory method for learning.Audio is the sole sensory tool for podcasts. It is also a secondary sensory message in videos, screencast videos such as those captured in Camtasia and other e-learning content.So, as much as we need to understand video and how to create videos that are engaging, we also need to understand how to create crisp, clear audio that will help our clients as we deliver learning.Making audio that’s worth hearingA lot of practitioners are already creating audio. But it’s not always that good. Voices are muffled, the air conditioner is loud in the background and when music is thoughtfully included, it overwhelms the spoken word. Worse still, some audio is just plain boring.Audio in learning media needs to be polished and engaging. Just as learning professionals pride themselves in their presentation, facilitation, instructional design and evaluation skills, we need to pride ourselves in our media skills and develop them just as we develop ourselves in other competencies of our profession.I’m part of the ASTD Master Trainer faculty that facilitates its popular Master Trainer Certificate designation. A good part of the program involves discussing and practicing the techniques we use as facilitators. These techniques are highly developed in our profession, and when used well, they come across seamlessly as we strive to create supportive learning environments.I’ve noticed a lot of participants on the Master Trainer program both here in the United States and internationally focus carefully on things like body language as they present, words they choose when they construct questions, and how all these things work together to create supportive learning environments. This is good after all it’s what our profession is all about.Good facilitation does not happen by accident—and neither does effective learning media. The same level of expertise and effort required for facilitating good learning situation is required for making media. Every nuance in your production from where you place the microphone to the intonation of someone’s voice can be used powerfully to achieve specific learning objectives. In video, it’s the same principle only these skills extend to things like shot sizes, camera angles, and camera position.As a profession, we are leaving out what I call the “Gee wiz look what I can do” phase in media production, in which the goal is more about simply being able to record content. You remember how that started, right? Colleagues were merely impressed that you could hold a camera and put something together. Or you could put together a podcast that was playable on someone’s computer.A new era for audioWe’re now entering an era where being able to create something will not be good enough. Just being able to record will not work – you will need good microphone technique and understand how to use EQ and compressors to give the voice more punch. You’ll need to use music in a way that it supports rather than over-shadows your spoken word content.Being able to create something that is well produced, performed professionally, well programmed, and appropriate for the platform is where our profession needs to be.The transition to making media for professionals is not difficult. Nor is it easy, but it takes focus—and it’s worth doing. Fortunately, we can learn a lot of these skills from professional media production.So, what makes good audio? My next blog, will discuss the four Ps of quality audio.

Consider Audio for Learning

ATD's Rapid Video Development for Learning Certificate video from Jonathan Halls.

Rapid Video Development for Learning Certificate: Jonathan Halls

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Leveling the Levels," by Alison Rossett in the February 2007 issue.

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