Content Creation, Metadata and Distribution - A Knowledge Capture Framework: Part I

In so many years of professional life, I have seen trends evolve from bandwidth constrained, IT constrained web world to a world where advances in technology, business and experience is driven primarily by creativity limits of individuals and motivated groups bringing in new paradigms of work culture in rapid waveform.

One area, that is "bottleneck" is "quality and expert advised content". This basic context for web world is still constrained across organizations. Most companies going for e-Learning enablement, start gathering content after award of project assuming content is in place. In companies where the website is revamped, the pains to get content from various business heads is untold pathos lore in any company.

Which brings the point. Shouldn't web now evolve better mechanisms to collect content and provide ease of access to content? That then takes higher forms of learning value that e-Learning practitioners can create meaningful learning units for business benefits.

The way to collect content, still is a

• high cost,
• time intensive,
• Specific and limited to company resources and
  
• manual dependent task.

While scope for automation is less, you still need a model for fast tracked, cost effective and time wrapped content creation and gathering. So what is the respite.

The only way, I can look forward is to have an understanding of the knowledge capture framework and factor in the time, resources, efforts with execution attributes.

Continued in next post...

Selling Performance Support System

Recently, we have been receiving requests of Performance Support. However, explaining it as PSS (Performance Support System), makes customers feel that it is a jargon used to sell more than address their requirements.

Hence it was imperative to give perspective of the business impact of the solution, they are expecting.

If you want a team, say to use say a CRM system or improve sales, what options do you have ?

1. Give them a full day training.
2. Give them a book with a test after 15 days.
3. Provide test machines or install CRM in all desktops, for users to learn by experimenting. Provide with computer simulated customers to practice sales.

OR PSS provides:

1. Capsules of the training for 10 minutes or less than that and allow users to practice at their pace. The training could be simulated walkthrough's, interactive practice sandboxes, case studies and peer responses, etc.

2. When users need to use it for a requirement, provide exactly what they need to know at that time, to use the system effectively.

Given the above scenarios, let me know how you would rate them on following questions.

1. Which of them is more productive, easy and meaningful ?

2. Which of the approaches, allow for longer term retention and application of concepts on job ?

3. Which of the methods is more likely to "stick" and condition the users to use the system with confidence ?

4. When do you think your users would adapt to the system faster ?

5. Which one would you choose ?

Performance Support Systems are a bundled offerring that features:

1. Coherence

• Walk throughs and Interactive models should be available
• Provide voice over support
• Include TIPs and knowledge checks to bring about a coherence in the course

2. Compactness

• Task based learning nuggets
• Allow for skip-through and printing of step instructions

3. Continuum

• Learner Management and Feedback
• Community Interactions

So when you shop around for e-Learning in future for any application rollout, new process, change in existing work style, you most likely are looking for Performance Support Systems. Consult your vendor for their solutions and their references to determing their effectiveness .

Estimation - A near correct approach

Isnt it any company dream to have a correct estimate, correct price with normal profit and earn it upon delivery ?

Well, after much experience with simulation training models, we have intrepreted our experience to address this common problem. Infact the delivery team this time felt that overruns, over time and over work is killing their creativity. Hence came up with near to accurate tracking times and days required for their work.

Having emperical data is always a master stroke. Here it is a doubly sharp as data is accurate enough to be tracked and reported immediately with as many minor tasks that can be reasonably captured. The estimation technique has been refined with various baselines across multiple projects, that now our estimation technique of any simulation exercise is
= number of clicks determined*$ value for efforts.

Number of clicks is a very obvious number to measure during proposal stage. The value size is so granular that the % of assumption error will hardly be 5-10%. While traditional estimation models with the same error margin result in 15-20% normal variances, in this case, you can cover the variances in the cost, which is fraction less than normal costing models.

Our experience which is being field tested is hoped to confirm our postive thinking of acheiving 20% lesser cost and 15% less schedule time for delivery.

You wonder about the compromises made in the solution - Very minor which has not been enabled for want of time to deliver projects and not because of any technical limitation. However as my boss said today - you better revise your ID strategy for better communicating instructions than making them look machine instructed sounds.

Thanks to timely boss reminder that we are taking course correction to the ground principles that any e-Learning is not about technology but enable better visibility to Instruction principles through proper application of technical solutions.

e-Learning Maturity in Indian Companies

My current project management is to execute e-Learning projects for couple of big Indian Automotive companies.

It amazes me to see the amount of maturity my client friends have displayed in the roll out and strategic use of e-Learning.

Consider the case:
1. The end audience is least savvy with computers.
2. Education background is mandatory but varies from school to basic degrees.
3. Their bread and butter work do not need computers nor do they require e-Learning.
4. There is no mandatory statuary provision to use the programs created in the day to day work and yet to realize the investment and time savings.

So what did we do that seems to work for my customers:
1. Passive Learning - Click on "BOLD" buttons which cant do anything else. Sit back, relax and view the animation.

2. Active Assessment - A drastically different approach for my other client requires users to spend active 10 minutes answering set of questions with increasing complexity levels. The Key: Marry the traditional study method in Indian college life of using question bank at last minute and allow to immediately take the exam.

3. No SCORM - but principles equally apply. Chunk into smaller units (maximum is 5 minutes continous running) and would be 5% of total modules developed.

4. Simplicity - Cannot stress this enough. Creating a simple solution that works is more tough that creating a solution to prove the prowess of creating a technology with snazzy front ends and best programming practice backends. No doubt they are required, but ultimately the projectStand must be reached in the time the usage would hit the peak.

In the words of one of my client's senior management executive - "Why did you take so much time to build this simple solution." I felt vindicated and never felt it as a critique.

So what did my customers do to make it work for them:
1. Motivation Models - Both my clients share a common bond in creating their own motivation models in their own true styles.

In Active learning project, the motivation is in-built in the system to score more than 90% in less than 5 minutes and to receive a soft copy certification with optional print out signed by the client company authority. A first attempt, score and certificate urges them to come back. But this time around, pleasantly the questions change making them read and score better. What a strategy to ensure dissemination of product knowledge.

In Passive learning project, having it as a tool for their IT roll out and directing queries to the e-Learning application drives users to use it more and more frequently for tasks that they need help. (Remember, 5 minute duration lessons) A strategic just in time tool appropriate for the role.

The commonality - Both my client deploy the program on their portal letting more than 1500 combined outlets access what we develop.

2. Care for the Vendors: As a vendor, there are so many times when we feel the squeeze from both sides - Control scope, efforts. Keep the "Wow" factor afloat for repeat business. The sweet hospitality whenever I visit their premises, the care of asking for features and the feasibility, the big heart of accepting an undocumented or unplanned feature or a change from original design always worked wonders in delivering a product which has our passion, commitment and best wishes for success.

3. Short Steps but Long term Work - The order value of my projects might be relatively small but the power of cumulative orders makes it a viable win-win. The projects are short and a commitment towards continuing in the direction learning along the way is a big recipe of success that can be exported from Indian shores.

It is personally satisfying to see me working for the success of India's most successful companies succeed in the new age learning medium.

My "project matters" to my clients and is now being exported which made me start work on Wednesday morning @ 11 AM and went home Thursday night 11:00PM

Would you want to share your best case e-Learning work for an Indian company ?