E-Learning: The Product of a Risk Is a Lesson - Page 6
Online learning for library staff is taking shape and taking off
Posted Tue, 02/15/2011 - 10:10
Printer-friendly versionPat Carterette, director of library continuing education for the Georgia Public Library Service, explained that she has also “used live webinars as a learning/discussion activity with a lot of success, inviting a small group of people to view one together, which is followed immediately by discussion.” She noted how a library director draw staff back together for an entire afternoon of follow-up practice after attending a morning WebJunction session. “Under other circumstances the people might have gotten frustrated and walked away, never to do an e-learning class again,” Carterette observed. (Ed. note: Pat Carterette died of cancer January 12.)
Within two years of joining Gwinnett County (Ga.) Public Library as training manager, Jay Turner worked with administrators and staff to increase e-learning offerings from 10% of overall staff training opportunities to approximately 75%; created original online content in addition to what was purchased; and engaged in evaluations at a level beyond others discussed here. Turner said he draws from the work of Donald Kirkpatrick and Robert Gagne “to engage all learning styles” and sometimes tests learners two weeks or a month after they have attended an e-learning session to “see if or how they are using their new skill imparted from the e-learning program. I like to wait at least two weeks before doing this level of follow-up to ensure that the halo has worn off and the learning has really taken hold.”
Turner wrote during an online chat that what guides everything he does is the recognition that “a successful e-learning program corresponds with the library’s business drivers so that it meets a real need. It’s not training just for the sake of training. A successful program provides people with knowledge, skills, or a few golden nuggets that can actually be used sooner rather than later.”
Innovation remains strong at Gwinnett, he noted: “One thing I’m working on, hopefully to be finished by this fall, is a 3-D website that serves as a hub for linking our virtual training resources together: Sharepoint, WebEx, and the LMS (learning management system). The 3-D space will include avatars, chat, and perhaps the ability to have your avatar attend a WebEx session.” Turner has also prepared and implemented an e-learning preparedness checklist that he shares with colleagues in other library systems.
PAUL SIGNORELLI is a writer, trainer, and consultant working with libraries and nonprofit organizations. He currently is working on an ALA Editions book with Lori Reed on library trainers as leaders and developing online courses for Infopeople and LE@D. He can be reached at paul[at]paulsignorelli.com.
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Comments
E-Learning: The Product of a Risk Is a Lesson
When we think about e-learning, we often mimic our overall approach to technology: We either allow it to inspire us with a sense of awe or we are overwhelmed by it. It is possible to lose sight of the fact that technology is a tool, a means to an end, and not the controlling factor that determines our goals and objectives. Workplace learning and performance need to lead to positive change that benefits organizations—libraries—and the people they serve in measurable ways.
Kuhlmann's Rapid E-Learning and the E-Learning Summit
Thanks, Dawn and Gene, for the additional first-rate resources and the kind words. I’m a big fan of Kuhlmann’s, and events like the E-Learning Summit give all of us a tremendous boost as well as much needed encouragement. The eLearning Guild’s online “Learning Solutions Magazine” is yet another fabulous free resource for anyone wanting to take a deep dive into the subject, and the latest postings include an interview with Kuhlmann (posted February 17, 2011) at http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/. Hope we keep this conversation going here in ways that benefit all of us and those we serve.
Exposure to Elearning
Great article! I completely agree that people and businesses tend to look at elearning as jsut some sort of wind up toy that you crank and put into motion and then watch it work. That is NOT the case. This article captures it, and the successful platfroms and entities that use elearning platforms have excellent follow through, dedicated instructors, and a well planned courseload (as mentioned in this article). Too many times we get caught up in watching a program or a learning platform perform, rather than get involved in the actual learning. A more hands on approach is needed. A good way to familiraize staff and insturctors with this hands on approach is exposing them to an <a href=”http://www.theelsummit.com/ereg887412.cfm?pg=agenda”>e learning</a> conference, such as the E-Learning Summit (see link for scheduled speakers) in Washington D.C. I missed the last conference (in January), but think that I will attend this particular one for the exposure to new and exciting elarning platforms.
Rapid E-Learning
Libraries need to learn to embrace more Rapid E-Learning technologies since most don’t have dedicated staff to create courses. I’ve learned more in the videos from Tom Kuhlmann and his Rapid E-Learning blog than I have from any library-related webinars or other training forums: http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/His course templates are gold and are always teaching me new ways of looking at how people learn, getting away from bullet points, looking at non-linear learning (which I think most librarians have a very hard time with). Just his manipulation of Powerpoint alone can majorly overhaul any asynchronous exchange of information, be it in an academic or public library setting.You don’t need to purchase Articulate’s suite of tools to do Rapid Elearning. His concepts are great if you’re doing screen narration using free tools like Jing or even creating audio narrated Powerpoints. Libraries could use more of these elements - short narrations or videos that explain all we have to offer and give brief tips on getting the most out of the tools we have to offer. The benefits in marketing alone using some of his concepts could really put the library in a new light for users!
OPAL
For exactly the reasons you cited in much of your post, I didn’t draw OPAL into that article. Wanted, instead, to concentrate on what seems most effective at this point, and am grateful that you added to the conversation here with the additional information. Will be equally grateful for resources anyone else cares to mention or add so we all continue learning—and helping other learners learn.
I see no mention of OPAL
I see no mention of OPAL http://www.opal-online.org an online program site for libraries. Tom Peter’s runs it and it has been around for quite a while. Sometimes the technology works, sometimes it doesn’t like this afternoon’s presentation from the Library of Congress. But it has never really taken off although the potential is there. Especially it has not taken off for library patrons. I don’t think libraries have yet figured out how to mesh in-person learning with on-line learning in a hybrid model so you are serving a local learning community with online resources. People learn together, share what they are learning, in a peer-to-peer setting, using e-learning technology as part of the mix like what is happening in the public schools. Public libraries don’t always have the right personnel and community mix to make it happen. Need vision, possibilities and leadership. But most of all you have to have a community of library users that say, “Yeah! We want that!”
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