Social Bookmarking and Learning Session

I am not going to ASTD TechKnowledge this year, but if you are you should go to Tony's presentation described below. I think there is real value in sharing resources around the web and bookmarking is a great way to do this. Also, I heard Tony moderate a panel at DevLearn in Fall of 2005 and he did a great job and is most likely a dynamic speaker. Tony has asked for anyone going to contact him.

Open Education

I've been listening to Stehpen Downes presentations that he posted to his web site. For the most part he is discussing how the current models of elearning don't really fit the models of things that really work well on the web. He is a huge proponent of RSS feeds. He was got me thinking about how to model the flow of education. "think of it in terms of electricity or water"... information flows more then it is objectified. Pretty interesting comments. I suggest anyone in the industry go check out his web.

ASTD Daily

Here is the ASTD daily breifings from the conference for a quick revue.

Article on Outsourcing

FYI. Article on Outsourcing.

One Perspective and a Rubber Chicken

Here is one perspective on how the conference is going. I've heard the, "not much innovation" thing, but I've also heard some pretty postive comments as well.

Strategic Outsourcing

I attend a session this morning on strategic outsourcing of customer education. It was a very interesting session. I actually gained a lot of respect for the companies represented. They really sounded authentic in trying to provide solutions that impact business results. I also related to some of their struggles and experiences.


There are still a lot of issues with customer training and its relationship/impact with/on branding, sales, and customer relations that will have interesting outcomes in the near future. I was surprised that there was no discussion about informal learning and its impact on the this market segment. But in a follow-up private discussion, it was something they recognized.

Two new terms for me... Point of Need - Can't learn everything there is to know about every product at Home Depot, just traing when you need it. and Only As Needed - which is really just the same thing (I think).

However, I didn't get a feel that the corporations outsourcing their customer training was really ready to turn the process over to the customer. It didn't go to that detail, but I got the feeling that they still wanted a formal process, which I understand. However, to stay on top of the changing market, it is difficult to go through a rigourous development cycle. (Man, I wish Blogger had Intrensic Performance Support, underlines for spell checking and the like.)


I am going to a research-based session next... It should be good.

Michael Allen

Michael is explaining that recent learners are better content providers then SMEs. Pretty good concept. They have recently had that A-Ha moment. Or say, I really didn't understand until "this" happened. Good thoughts.

The example in the session was the EAP that they have in the book. It's a really good example of their work.

Some key principles: ID should focus on the learner not the content. analysis is never finished. Tell the learner they will be evaluated in the workplace. Among others....

Elliot Masie - Exteme Learning

Elliot is taking a wonderful informal poll. Asing about our workplace, our stresses, and other things setting up our session.


Elliot is not comfortable about the phrase e-learning. Extreme learning. Things will change in 5 years... we need to get extreme. Example employee orientation needs to change. He has introduced they idea of extreme learning.

Velocity... how rapidly can we develop training, "Learning at the Speed of Business". But sometimes it can mean slow down. What is the appropriate velocity?

Intensity... he showed the PSP. He talked about putting orientation on the PSP. Online Communication. Lawyers could put there scores for compliance training up on a plasma screen in the office. Engaging competitiveness. Fail repeatedly without consequence. How do we give people the opportunity to fail competitively? Change our core metaphors.

Scalability... models. ipod. put $37 device and let each manager put a 3 minute article on there. Podcasting. Extreme wonderful content to the field.

Blogging, Syndicating Knowledge, RSS - no one at the expo. Conversation on the airplane is more valuable. Maybe they can type it but lets do it in audio.

Personalization... most people think that the learning that we deliver is not personal enough. Elliot bought $3000 of pots and pans after joining community of practice. Amazon sent a personalized email. Why can't LMS do that? LMS create useless reports. The people only want to learn the stuff that they don't know already. It has to increase dramatically.

The Age of Self-Service... self service. Flying is self service. People love this because the people can now focus on problems. What does learning look like in the age of self-service. People turn to there neighbors. By and large we are only monitoring elearning in formal processes.

Wrap-up... who are we going to wrap up what we have done and the extreme and build a model for the future. Classrooms are not interactive. New conference models. Not a lot of breakout sessions. Look at our own learning models. Authority cetnered model. elearning maps closer to how learning is really done. We need to look at gaming. Still expensive, but it is going to get easier. Simulation is powerful. Course on how to fire people. 3-day course, - should be 40 mins. the day before you do it everytime you do it. Reminders through the cell phone. Search based model... looking at google. Not graphical. Quick return. More compentency testing not less.

The session is wrapping up with a homework assignment... turn to someone and ask them a powerful question. What keeps you up at night as a learner and a trainer? Not a tremendous amount of innovation. Supplier community must provide this...

I'll try to reflect more on this later....

Final Session on Monday

The final session today was by Ken Blanchard and Bob Pike. Great session.

Tom Cavanaugh

Instead of pasting my notes, I will try to summarize Tom's talk. He was discussing performance technology. Focusing on the areas of technology helping us with using technology. Examples included Word Help, Airline Kiosks, and pay-at-the pump fueling. This idea is that the training of the employee is removed while the training of the customer becomes embedded in the new technology. I think this is a critical peice to performance improvement in the future.

Tom should consider presenting at ISPI. I think this community could embrace these concepts. I talked to Tom after the presentation and we discussed how this might be applied to the Instructional Design process. I realize, no one wants to automatize training development, but a really smart support system could really help!

Expo Impressions

My impressions of the expo were about where I expected them to be. Not too large and not a lot of different things. I didn’t get chance to see any demos so I might go back and get some details. Things are scaled back from the late 90s. I spent about 15 minutes listening to Ken Blanchard and the approach to individual or self leadership. I think this is a great concept. Basically, you have to be a leader for yourself or by yourself before you can lead someone else. This is so true. The next step is 1 to 1 leadership then team leadership.

The expo seem to be a good mix of training organizations, DDI, Ken Blanchard, publishers, Wiley, and technology vendors, Netg, Skillsoft.

The Mayor

I donÂ’t have her name but the ASTD chair is discussing our current needs in the industry. She is describing how we make the world a better place to live and to help the bottom line. We are the link between learning people and performers. We need to ask ourselves what we bring to the organization. This is good. It is important to have a passion for what you do. She is asking us to commit to one thing when we go back.

ASTD is a community of practice that is trying to bring professionalism to the training industry. I think this is good, in that it starts to bring a framework for the field. The issue is that there is still so much various in approach, application, and evaluation of training.

I wonder what would be involved in getting involved?

They just showed the excellence in practice awards. Lockeed Martin, Cisco, HSBC, and Verizon.

Rudy is on the stage. Principles of Leadership. Business and personal. Started before Sept. 11. Picked it back up after the attacks. 6 principles of leadership. If you have to face a crisis in your personal life. Life is kind of a series of challenges. Business,

1. You have to know what you believe. Philosophy, goals, know what you are about. Where are you going to take yourself or organization. If not you become a follower. Know what you believe, why you believe it, and Â…. Theiultimatete beliefs get them through. Leaders understand that. President Ronald Reagan is where he got is information. He had strong beliefs. At anytime he could tell you where he was going. Communism was evil. Government was so large it kept people in poverty. Study, thinking. More change since Roosevelt. Many times he could change those ideas. Leaders need a philosophy and belief. Religious leaders need that. Dr. King had the idea that he could use non-violence as a mirror to America. Study, seminary school, old and new testament, Ghandi, and he stuck with it even when it wasnÂ’t populaDoesnesnÂ’t mean being stubborn. Means analyzing.
2. You have to be an optimist. People follow hopes, dreams, fulfillment of dreams. If you are offering solutions, then people are drawn to it. Must be combined with ethics and morals. Reagan and King were both optimists. Reagan was accused of seeing things with rose colored glasses. Leadership is about offering solutions. Report was asking Coach Lombardi what was it like to lose a game? He said I never lost a game. What? I didnÂ’t lose the game I just run out of time. He always envisioned success. DoesnÂ’t mean it will always have success. In the visualization of the success you can see how to get it there. In business visualize the success and see what you need to do to get there. How you get to the result? How do we win?
3. Having Courage? Many people think courage is a lack of fair. Many think it is extraordinary. Well, the fact is that they are afraid. The difference is that he doesnÂ’t let the fear stop him. Courage is the management of fair and overcoming fear. The regular circumstances of life, taking a new job. When he was mayor he would bring people to city hall (brave people) They would have a hard time explaining what he had done. Afraid of press questions. That man didnÂ’t take an oath to answer press questions. They use fear to prepare better. To reduce the risk to something they can manage. Training, studying, better equipment, all being done to reduce the risk. Should we be afraid of another terrorist attack? Yes. Of course. But having said that, it should motivate us to prepare. Better intelligence, better emergence plans,Â… Some people are scared to find out.
4. Relentless Preparation. You have to be prepared for the worst. You have to anticipate everything in court. Fours of preparation for every one hour in court. This was a great lesson. Prepare it, go over it, think about everything about it. But then the judge would say, there will always be something that you didnÂ’t think about is you follow the 4 to 1 rule. On 9/11 those words came back to me. Each moment said that I got worst. Police said keep looking up for debris. He saw a man jump from the 101 floor. He stopped. He said we donÂ’t have a plan, we are going to have to make it up. They had 20-30 plans. But we had no plan that said airplane used as missiles. As making the decision he thought about judges words, everything was a variation of one of the other plans. Relentless preparation. Figure out what is going to happen. Prepare. And everything will be a variation of that.
5. Teamwork. This is the core of peopleÂ’s success. If you donÂ’t understand you will get yourself isolated. The idea of divine selection can happen to anyone. Leaders canÂ’t show weakness. If you are in charge of anything or put in charge. Question: What are my weaknesses? Let me figure out someone that can balance my weaknesses with their strengths. Replicate yourself, then the organization is not better then you are. You have got to start with you. Begin by balancing your strengths and weaknesses with other people. In NY 2 big problems. Crime and economy. He knew how to reduce crime. DidnÂ’t know about economy. I am going to have to allow them to decide about the economy. Making decision quickly. Sometime you should take more time. Teams with the best balance win. Same thing is true in gov and war.
6. Communication. To be a leader you have to communicate and have a way to evaluate that. It is both practical and Â… A football coach is based entirely based upon other people. Teaching and motivating. Therefore communication is critical. Do the other things and this will be much easier. Spend your life figuring out where you are going. Nothing makes you a better communicator then relentless communication. YouÂ’ve got something to give, something to value. Relentless prepare. YouÂ’ll know it. No matter how terrific you are, you will have weakness. Understanding how accountability works. We figured out how to measure it. How much, where, all decisions on actual numbers. System of accountability. Crime statistics every single day. To see if they were doing a good job. YouÂ’ve got to understand accountability and communication. You have to figure out metrics or statistics. Reduction in crime. Case of welfare. Sign- IÂ’m responsible. Resources, training, people they need to get job done.

Final thought. If you run a human organization, you have to step back and remind yourself of that. Human beings have to be dealt with in an emotional way. Weddings discretionary, Funerals necessary. It is more important to go to a funeral then a wedding, because people need you more. A leader is needed when things are going wrong. Business and personal life. A leader is there to help them and support them. The way you get through things is by having people help you if you

The Rest of Sunday

I ended up not having a wireless connection the rest of the day and spent the evening with my family, so this is the first chance that I have had to update the blog. The day was pretty long. I enjoyed the sessions that I attended but they were not very in-depth. The first session discussed the differences between the training department and the executive management team in an organization. I understand how important it is to make this link, but the session didn’t really get into specific strategies. They used a device to pool the audience called Quizdom. After a few rocky attempts it worked well. I would have been interested to see them use it throughout the period to gather feedback from the entire audience.

I really enjoyed the general session after all the announcements and awards were done. I realize that stuff is important and people need to be recognized, but I still don’t want to sit through it. The main speaker was a gentleman who had a great story to tell. Robert Knowling just seemed genuine about everything he worked on. He shared his approach to transformational change. 1. Wake the group up. Create a case for change.2. Create motivating vision. Effect the unit that matters. The managers. 3. Create a distraction where you reweave the social fabric of the organization.

Leader
1. lead change process
2. be the best cheerleader in the world
3. give credit, take blame.

In the afternoon I attended the building business simulations that drive business results session. The present was knowledgeable, but it was a bit more for trainers developing classroom-based simulations and it focused on the “how-to” and not so much the approach itself. The final session of the day was on storytelling. I only stayed for about 30 minutes. It just wasn’t for me and I want to supper with my family.

First day at ASTD

I made it into ASTD without many problems. On the walk to registration I meet Jonathan, who actually works with ASTD. I am currently working offline because the Internet access is $25 a day. I can probably get through today without it, being Sunday. I rarely if every get on the net on Sunday at home. I will just post these at the end of the day. It is about 7:37 so the Orientation session is starting a bit late. As I type the music starts…. By the way, no coffee? I thought I paid for this conference?


Orientation by Ed Cohen

This session is being kicked off by a slide show of pictures from all over the world. I recognized a few. 61st global assembly of ASTD. Ed Cohen is CLO for Booz Allen Hamilton. He met his wife at ASTD. This session is to help. Vicky is going to speak.

Blogging From ASTD 2005

I haven't been able to post to the blog as I had planned. The Internet access is about out of my price range (at least what I feel should be paid) for the whole week, so I will be posting as I can. Today, I will be listening to Rudy Giuliani, Tom Cavanaugh, and Ken Blanchard. It should be interesting.


I did introduce myself to Elliot Masie yesterday who was very gracious. I told him my wife measures all conference bags by TechLearn standards and ASTD falls short.

ASTD 2005

I am going to ASTD 2005 next month. This will be my first ASTD conference and I am very excited to have the opportunity to engage in the community. I am hoping that there will be a lot of great sessions and interesting people. I'll try to post as much information to the blog as possible.