E-Learning: The Product of a Risk Is a Lesson - Page 3

Considering the least challenging of these formats—one-hour webcasts and webinars—yields immediate lessons. A combination of dynamic PowerPoint slides that combine text with images and are integrated into the overall presentation rather than simply read verbatim, live interactivity using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP, two-way voice communication), and live (typed) chat creates an immediacy that in some ways exceeds the experience of a live classroom, where the instructor is often the focal point. Seeing the names of other participants on the chat list is an essential part of the process; those rare webinars that do not show the names of other e-students leave participants feeling isolated and wondering whether they are the only ones attending the session.

Moving into more formal multisession workshops such as those produced by Infopeople and LE@D can be extremely engaging and productive for motivated learners. Reading brief, well-written lessons from the instructor, then immediately moving into a series of exercises designed to reinforce the initial lessons, helps participants master the material. Even better are asynchronous courses that include a synchronous session between the instructor and as many learners as are available for that live session. Viewing an archive of those live sessions is also engaging, but the immediacy of interacting with the instructor and other classmates better creates the sense—and the reality—of being part of a community of learners.

Not surprisingly, most engaging are well-run semester-long sessions such as those offered by many universities and colleges. There are several keys to success here: Students must be able to easily locate the various course elements. These include lists of weekly assignments; a calendar providing due dates; access to required readings; clear and concise notations to the readings rather than cryptic codes decipherable only by the instructors and those who have been in the course for several weeks; discussion groups/bulletin boards providing enough guidance to encourage interaction among students and enough flexibility to allow for explorations that add to rather than restrict learning opportunities.

It is as easy to destroy a student’s interest as it is to cultivate it: If instructors create an overwhelming number of inconsistent and overlapping links, students soon throw their hands up in frustration and either lose interest in the course or revert to doing the minimum required to pass it—hardly a recipe for effective long-term learning. If an instructor defaults to posting long lectures (two or three hours of material per week) taped from a live classroom setting and expects students to view them along with endless bullet-point lists with clip-art graphics, there is little to stimulate learning and plenty to put the learner to sleep.

Faced with all these challenges, libraries in general still have much to do to catch up with organizations that are effectively producing and using e-learning programs. At the same time, libraries have strong models they can emulate. Since e-learning benefits tremendously from communities of learners and strong collaborative efforts, libraries that are moving toward e-learning and anticipating growth in m-learning will benefit from shared resources as well as from content provided by those already familiar with and well versed in e-learning practices. Acknowledging, establishing, and contributing to an evolving set of best practices in e-learning as a component of workplace learning and performance should help libraries remain partners in the onsite-online environment their staff and users inhabit.

What e-learning producers can teach us

Conversations earlier this year with colleagues working with libraries and other organizations throughout the United States revealed a great deal of passion, some fairly strong opinions about what is and is not effective, and innovations including the proposed use of virtual worlds in library staff training programs. Those contacts also provided examples of the varying approaches people within and outside of libraries are taking toward e-learning, and highlighted sometimes-unexpected results.

More than half of the group responding to an open-ended question about “the most important elements of a successful e-learning program for libraries” cited the importance of buy-in from library directors and other key members of management teams.

Pat Wagner, a consultant and trainer working with libraries throughout the country as well as with the LE@D project at the University of North Texas, believes e-learning programs will not reach their full potential without library directors’ support. “If I could do one thing, I would get directors to take learning side-by side (with staff),” Wagner said. “When I used to do staff days for ALA in Chicago, the director would sit in the front row of every class and participate.” E-learning, she noted, allows supervisors, managers, and employees to all take the same class together even if they are not in the same physical location.

“Management support at all levels is key,” agrees Lori Reed, employee learning and development coordinator for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, as well as managing editor of ALA Learning. “You need support from administration to even move towards that direction. You need support from IT to implement the tools or even allow access to e-learning programs. You need branch and frontline managers to be supportive because staff will need time away from the branch to attend training.”