Doug believes that both the economic crisis and the globalization of all business have fundamentally altered how we manage training services and deliver learning content worldwide. He notes that nearly every organization outsources some aspect of their training operations and offers us a set of best practices on how to determine what should be outsourced and how to select the right partners. Doug also shares with us TrainingIndustry.com’s insight on corporate spend for learning technologies in the coming years – he sees authoring platforms and portals for the aggregation of user-generated content achieving the most growth. He also shares with us his predictions for corporate training in 2010.

According to Michael Hanley, it is unrealistic to expect that at this point innovation waves or “disruptive technologies” will interoperate with content management and delivery platforms organizations currently use. Digging into standards, Michael explains the importance of understanding the distinction between de facto and accredited standards and talks about his belief that conforming to ISO certifications reflects the professionalism of learning companies. Finally, in order to surpass the disconnect between learning professionals and vendors when it comes to learning standards requirements, Michael gives out his own set of advice on what questions purchasers need to prepare and ask to their vendors.

Ellen explains how the role of instructional designers has changed along with the change in people’s dependence on technology. The new role of instructional designers requires skills for bridging both learning and technology as well as understanding how to create engaging learning experiences. Ellen is also addressing the role of new technologies in social learning and mobile learning. She is discussing why social media are here to stay and how the infrastructure for mobile learning is more mature today so as to change how learners and corporations feel about a new emerging mobile learning world.

Also, in a bonus part, Ellen Wagner shares her best practices for designing reusable learning content.

This dream team aims high and isn’t afraid to turn conventional thinking on its head in order to help training organizations innovate. As far as the Internet Time Alliance is concerned, we are seeing the end of the training department as we knew it only a few years ago. As work becomes more complex, training is now less about developing content and more about developing networks.

The team discusses that while CLOs recognize that they have to embrace networks, informal learning, and social technologies, there are still a number of misconceptions and obstacles that prevent collaborative learning from being an organic part of the enterprise training infrastructure. Once these social initiatives are embraced however, CLOs and their training organizations are poised to have equal or even greater footing than other executives in the C-suite.

This podcast is broken up into 5 parts. Each part comprises a panel discussion around a specific topic. This post is part I. Listen to the discussion below or jump next to part II.

- Can you each tell us a little bit about the Internet Time Alliance initiative and how you manage collaboration and knowledge sharing within the group?

- From your recent survey, 3 out of 4 CLOs admitted that their people could not keep up with the needs of their business. Is it that these CLOs are incapable of coping with today’s business environment? Are we seeing the end of the training department as we know it?

- What do you think the key enablers are for collaborative learning to become truly embraced in a corporate setting as opposed to something that’s done at grassroots level?

- There is still a level of discomfort with the use of social media within corporate environments, training included. As far as CLOs are concerned, do you think that this is a mentality issue, a process issue, or a technology issue?

- Do you feel that we are on our way to integrating learning as an equal within enterprise, both at a functional & personnel level and at an enterprise application level?

Lars’ perspective is that training is focused too strongly on delivery rather than learning effectiveness. As a result, training can lack relevance to individual learners. This applies to both traditional instructor-led courses and e-learning. Lars discusses how organizations such as Sky, the leading provider of digital television services in the UK and Ireland, are leveraging learning portals to improve time to competence for new employees by closing the communication and support chasm between an employee’s recruitment and the first day in a new role. Lars also explains how learning portals and LMSs can co-exist to provide the best of both worlds – contextual interfaces and centralized reporting.

Ben argues about the importance of having an officer at the highest company level with a horizontal view across all departments to own the globalization strategy. He also introduces his program for a globally fit organization and discusses a set of best practices in order for companies to “eliminate the transfat in their diet” and develop a strategy to maintain their global brand. Also, don’t forget to listen to the first part of Ben’s podcast where he analyzes the issues organizations have to deal with when trying to localize and translate their content for a global audience.

Web conferencing has been around for close to 10 years but so far, still isn’t being used effectively for training purposes. Currently though, a number of factors – cost, time, environmental, etc. – have placed a greater emphasis on this medium. Clive touches on the trade-offs between face-to-face and online communications and also discusses why a combination of self-paced and real-time online events may be an optimal blend for learning. We also learn where we stand as an industry in our use of synchronous communications and the extra lengths organizations need to go to for ensuring a successful online event.

Ben argues that by not recognizing the value of linguistic assets and by putting no enterprise strategy in place for content globalization, organizations are limited in their ability to: conceptualize a content product for the global marketplace, internationalize that content so it can handle multiple languages and cultural conventions, and localize content for various markets, regions or localities. He also briefly discusses how a single-source initiative can help companies effectively leverage their enterprise translation efforts so as to maximize the ROI of their translation spend.

Also, please don’t forget to listen to the second part of Ben’s podcast where he explores best practices organizations should follow to effectively globalize their content.

There are a number of misconceptions around how the different generations want to learn. When it comes to designing instruction, some of the biggest mistakes that organizations make are to assume that there are Millennial learning styles, Boomer learning styles, etc. and that the use of technology for training and learning is somehow related to age. Janet talks about the ramifications of such generalizations. She also touches on the connect worker and how the network has changed the way we retrieve and interact with information and each other – and this goes across generations.

Dr. Kwinn shares with our audience how both teaching processes and technologies are adapting to meet the needs of an audience that is no longer face-to-face. She describes an optimal model of interactivity and talks about the tools available to convey non-verbal cues, encourage full audience participation and facilitate collaboration. Ann also takes the time to discuss her new book, written with Dr. Ruth Clark, The New Virtual Classroom.

As the training industry shifts from monolithic training to enabling performance, Dr. Nguyen focuses on LO’s (learning objects) and RLO’s (reusable learning objects). The former are one-time constructs used in training courses and are simply distracters when it comes to performance support. The latter are reusable pieces of content that can also be output to performance support tools such as job aids and searchable databases. Dr. Nguyen also discusses technology, process engineering and change management issues associated with implementing reusable learning objects.

Dr. Clark uses empirical evidence to discuss the impact of visuals on learning. While relevant visuals can improve learning up to 90%, ineffective visuals often serve no useful instructional purpose and can actually impair learning. Dr. Clark provides examples of how relevant visuals successfully illustrate the relationship among lesson topics and explains in what circumstances text and/or audio should be used to describe these visuals. She also takes time to discuss her new book, the third edition of Building Expertise to be published in September 2008.

1. When learning for the first time
2. When learning more
3. When remembering and/or applying what’s been learned
4. When things go wrong
5. When things change

He discusses the requirement for a multi-channel publishing platform to ensure the currency of training information and shares with the audience why he believes performance support can be a bridge to informal learning.

Elliott defines informal learning as a more accessible form of learning that is not structured by the organization, but rather originates with the learner and therefore includes less tracking and formality. Elliott shares with the listening audience some innovative projects leading companies are working on in the area of informal learning, some pitfalls companies have encountered along the way, and provides meaningful ways to measure the impact of informal learning. Finally, he gives us his personal views on what organizations can do to best support an informal learning environment.

Planners are in our lives just before or after the challenge. They help us decide if Avian Flu should alter trip plans or to reflect on how we could have improved the presentation offered at the sales meeting. Sidekicks, on the other hand, are at our side during the task. The quick food cook uses the planner as she creates the new food product. The writer pecks away and smiles at how Wikipedia sports a red line under it in this sentence. What new options does performance support open up? And why should you care?