A New Model For Professional Development?
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THIS...
Dear Friend,
We have received a lot of feedback about our
bi-monthly webinars on various eLearning topics. Although most find
something of immediate value in these sessions, many tell us that
the limited 45-minute format does not leave a lot of time for deep
exploration of the topics covered, or much opportunity for
meaningful interaction.
eLearn Campus is exploring the idea of organizing intensive
in-person workshops about eLearning. The model we are interested in
pursuing, however, is the very opposite of what passes for
conferences about eLearning these days.
Typical eLearning
Conference:
- Attended by hundreds
- Lost in the crowd
- Agenda determined by “experts” (and
vendors)
- Passive learning experience…sit on your
butkis and watch a litany of PowerPoint presentations over the
course of two or three days
- Presentations by vendors which are really
disguised sales pitches
- Good ideas get lost in the commotion and
are forgotten by the time you get home
Our Vision of an eLearning Workshop:
- Attended by dozens
- Meet, interact with, and establish a
network with a small group of people with the same interests
- Agenda determined by you
- Active learning experience…roll up your
sleeves and participate in workshop sessions focused on real
eLearning challenges (e.g. design, development, implementation,
management and evaluation)
- Experience directly what other real folks
in the field have been doing in eLearning and learn from their
successes and failures (directly from them)
- Key workshop findings are cogently
summarized and made available to you immediately following the
event (including those for sessions you did not attend), and you
can stay in touch with your network of contacts
online
We Need Your Input!
We want to know if you are interested in such a new approach.
Please let us know your views by completing this
brief survey.
By taking this survey you will be
entered into a
draw of to win for a complimentary registration into our
Making
the Right Choices for Your eLearning online course, or a
complimentary hour of consultation. We'll be collecting data
from our readers from now to the end of 2006. We will only
pursue this if there is interest.
Thanks for all your help!
Working with SMEs on eLearning projects can be
challenging. Firstly, helping you with your eLearning project is
usually just one of many things on their to-do list (and usually far
down that list). Secondly, they are experts in their particular
subject area, and usually know little about how people actually
learn. These factors - limited time, and limited knowledge of
learning processes - often means that you may not get what you need,
when you need it, to keep your eLearning development project on
track. My discussions with other eLearning developers bear this out;
SMEs are quite often the biggest bottlenecks in holding up
projects.
What's to be done to avoid the SME
bottleneck?
1. Be Proactive in Getting What You
Need
Don't wait for an SME to send you his or her
"stuff." You may be waiting a long time. Set up appointments to
interview the SME or SMEs (if more than one). Write up your notes,
send back to the SME(s), get their reaction, and set up new
appointments for refinements. The key is not asking them to be
writers (most find this terrifying and will put it off for as long
as possible). You want them to be resource people and reviewers in
order to make the best use of their time and your time.
2. Use Templates to Focus the SME's
Attention
Don't give the SME a blank slate or you don't
know what you are going to get. I often use templates (e.g. script
outlines, story-boards, outline documents, etc.) that clearly lay
out a plan of instruction and learner engagement for an eLearning
intervention. There are clearly labeled spots in the template that
require SME input. By focusing their attention on exactly what you
need, you are more likely to get it (on the first try, as opposed to
the fourth).
3. Focus on Context, Not Just
Content
SMEs love their area of expertise (that's why
they are SMEs!). Unfortunately, this often leads to an obsession
with content and an inability to tease out what is truly important
(e.g. what the learner "must be able to do," vs. what is
"nice-to-know"). So it is your job as an eLearning developer to get
them to focus on the application of knowledge, as opposed to a
recitation of knowledge. Ask them for stories, cases, anecdotes,
etc., that speak to the "doing," not just the "knowing." This will
bring your eLearning to life. Don't worry, SMEs usually have lots of
stories to tell from their experience, which you can draw upon
(changing the names, of course).
Following these tips will:
- Make the SME's job, and your job,
easier
- Help you keep to your eLearning project
development schedule
- Lead to a better quality final
product
These are some of the themes we will be covering in our
November 30th webinar titled
Using
Subject Matter Experts Wisely. It will be our usual 12 noon
Eastern / 9:00 a.m. Pacific starting time. Watch our website for
details, to be posted soon.
Rick
Nigol is Co-Founder and Director
of Education for eLearn Campus.
One of the great things about
working in the eLearning field is the variety it affords. In the
last year, for example, I have developed eLearning courses or online
job aids that teach people how to: use software; manage greenhouses;
work safely with hazardous materials; provide support for
individuals with special needs; design landscapes; run a small
business; produce food safely; and communicate effectively. I am not
a subject matter expert (SME) in any of these areas, but I worked
with people who are. My job is to "harvest" the SME's brain in their
area of expertise and to translate this into an effective eLearning
experience for a targeted group of learners.
