Elliott Masie's Learning TRENDS

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - June 17, 2013.
#772 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
56,004 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning 2013 - Nov 3 to 6 - Orlando, Florida - www.learning2013.com

1. Martin Bean - Open University, Open MOOCs - Keynote at Learning 2013!
2. Google and Bing Impacts on Learning and Design?

1. Martin Bean - Open University, Open MOOCs - Keynote at Learning 2013!

We are honored to announce that Martin Bean, the Vice Chancellor of the Open University in the UK and a major innovator in the field of MOOCs, will be a keynoter at Learning 2013.

Martin has been a pioneer in the world of learning for decades and is only the 4th person to lead the very influential Open University in the UK. He will be honored by us at Learning 2013 (Nov 3 to 6, 2013) and I will interview him about the role of Open learning, including MOOC’s (Massive Open Online Courses). He has launched Futurelearn in the UK, to promote highly scalable MOOC’s.

In addition to Martin Bean, keynoters include Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, Actor George Takei, Journalist Jane Pauley (on Boomers) and several others.

Information on Martin Bean and early registration discounts at http://www.learning2013.com

2. Google and Bing Impacts on Learning and Design?

A major conversation has kicked up in the elementary and secondary school world about the impact that search engines like Google and Bing have on educational design and even needed competencies.

If our learners can look something up, how does that change our design model? What is the impact of search on the need or desire to memorize content? How are the skills and competencies for a role defined when key content is available via search? And, what is the impact of dynamic search on content forms like books?

I would like to ask our Learning Trends readers for thoughts about the impact of Google/Bing on the learning and design process. Send me a few thoughts to emasie@masie.com and I will post a summary in the weeks ahead.

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - June 11, 2013.
#771 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
55,994 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning 2013 - Nov 3 to 6 - Orlando, Florida - www.learning2013.com

1. Jane Pauley - “Boomers in the Workplace” - Keynoter at Learning 2013!
2. Variations on Presentations.
3. Wow! 7 TONY Awards - A Night to Remember.

1. Jane Pauley - “Boomers in the Workplace” - Keynoter at Learning 2013! We are honored to announce that Jane Pauley will be one of our Keynoters at Learning 2013 (Nov 3 to 6 - Orlando). 

Jane will be addressing the intriguing aspects of “Boomers in the Workplace”. A respected broadcast journalist for over 30 years, Jane Pauley’s career has spanned morning, primetime and daytime television making her one of the most recognizable personalities in America. Pauley’s network television career began as co-host of NBC’s Today Show, she was founding co-anchor of Dateline NBC, and host of The Jane Pauley Show. Partnering with AARP, Ms. Pauley is currently contributing to NBC’s Today Show in a series, “Your Life Calling,” which features people who have reinvented the way they work or live.

Jane Pauley joins our other keynoters including Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, Actor George Takei and others at Learning 2013. Take advantage of early registration discounts at http://www.learning2013.com

2. Variations on Presentations: From time to time, I like to detail the background of how I construct, design and deliver various presentations. Over the past week, I have had the privilege of presenting several keynotes on Learning Directions, with very different styles to very different audiences. Here is a micro view of the design models I used:

* Last Monday, I presented a 150-minute presentation (quite long) in an Atlantic City Casino Theater (very unique) to the annual UAW/General Motors Joint Learning Conference (an unusual and intriguing coalition). There were about 400 people in the theater and a traditional keynote of any length might have put them to sleep. So, I designed a model that had the attendees standing up several times, brainstorming with others in the audience on a hot topic (e.g. how to motivate a 30-year veteran to want to learn new skills). I moved away from the fancy stage several times and talked in the audience.  And, I used the lunch break in the middle of the speech to engage the audience in questions and topics for the afternoon session. 

* Last Tuesday, I facilitated a 2-hour dialogue with Learning Leaders at Farmers Insurance - done via video webinar from my hotel room in Washington, DC to their headquarters in California. The model we used was a highly interactive interview with the group posing a series of drill-down questions on key Learning Directions and Trends issues. Throughout the session, I kept presenting questions back to the group - assembled in table groups - to apply these trends to their plans for the next six years. Their leader, Ilene Haber, played a key role in providing the glue between the video Elliott and the face-to-face group.

* Last Thursday, I flew to Motorola in Chicago to present a Learning Directions keynote to dozens of their learning leaders - live in Chicago and located around the world via video. The group had done its pre-selection of key topics by voting and rank ordering the content. Then, each of its top six questions became 15-minute segments for my presentation, including 10 minutes of content from Elliott and five minutes of questions from the present and remote participants. Their desire was to make each 15-minute segment a video clip that could be circulated to a much larger group at Motorola. After the 6 segments, we took a break and then did 4 more segments on follow-up topics that arose from the dialogues in the morning.

And, in 2 hours I will be opening the Oracle Learning Consortium event live by video and later tonight flying to Intel in Portland for a blended media presentation on learning strategies and collaboration.

In each of these formats, the design segments were quite different, aimed at maximizing the engagement of the participants and also allowing for the active re-use of the content. The days of the traditional 60-minute keynote are gone from my portfolio. Instead, conversations about presentations are as much focused on the design elements - how to leverage the right technology - and compressing or varying content length fairly dramatically. It makes the prep and delivery process more complicated but way, way, way more fun!

3. Wow! 7 TONY Awards - A Night to Remember: Sunday night was one of my most powerful and memorable experiences! We attended the TONY Awards in New York City where two of MASIE Productions musicals and plays received TONY Awards. Kinky Boots got 6 awards, including Best Musical and Cindy Lauper for the score. Cicely Tyson, the star of Trip to Bountiful, received Best Actress in a Play award at the age of 88. It was an honor to watch, root and cheer. Most impressive was the sense of community amongst the theater world as it celebrated the power of art, entertainment and message. I have been asked why I’m involved with theater, in addition to the world of learning. Both of these fields are about creating and delivering stories, content and engagement that changes behavior and achieves impact. And, both worlds have success, failure, feedback and design. If you are coming to New York, check out Kinky Boots, Trip to Bountiful and, for the next few weeks, Alan Cumming doing a 1-man version of Macbeth. http://www.masieproductions.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

TO: Learning, Training and Performance Colleagues
FROM: Elliott Masie, Host and Curator, Learning 2013

RE: George Takei to Keynote Learning 2013 on Nov. 5th

George Takei –  Social Media Wizard, Expert Storyteller and Star Trek Star – will be our featured keynote speaker at Learning 2013 on November 5th in Orlando, Florida.

Best known for playing Sulu on the original “Star Trek” TV series and six movies that followed, George Takei is unlikely social media royalty. Unofficially dubbed the King of Facebook, he counts 4 million fans in his online empire — including “Trekkies,” Howard Stern listeners, and the LGBTQ community — who devour his quirky mix of kitten jokes, “Star Trek” references, heartfelt messages, and sci-fi/fantasy memes.

His current projects include the musical “Allegiance”, drawn from his experience of growing up in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II, and the recently published “Oh Myyy! There Goes the Internet”.

George Takei will be focusing on the ways in which storytelling has evolved with the growth of Social Media. Other keynotes include The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton and the U.S. Dept. of Education’s Richard Culatta.

Complete information at http://www.learning2013.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - May 17, 2013.
#770 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
55,987 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning 2013 - Nov 3 to 6 - Orlando, Florida - www.learning2013.com

1. At ASTD Conference? Drop By For Learning Conversations!
2. Learning Themes for Learning in 2013.
3. Curiosity as Employment Criteria?

1. At ASTD Conference? Drop By For Learning Conversations!  I am heading to Dallas on Sunday to participate in ASTD’s annual ICE conference.  If any Learning TRENDS readers are planning to be there, I’d love to get together for a Learning CONVERSATION.  Drop by the MASIE Center/Learning 2013 booth #362.  I will be there all day on Monday and Tuesday.  Or, you can send me a note to emasie@masie.com

2. Learning Themes for Learning in 2013: Here are the themes that we have developed for our program and discussions:

- Learning Personalization.
- Learning Re-Branding.
- Learning Together: Social & Collaborative.
- Learning: Mobile & BYOD.
- Learning & Big Data.
- Learning Innovations & Hype.
- Learning On The Job.
- Learning Content: Smaller & Quicker.
- Learning for Leaders.
- Learning Roles, Governance & Structures.
- Learning & Connected Classrooms.
- Learning for Distributed Workers.
- Learning Designs – New Models.
- Learning Hack-A-Thon: Agile Innovation.

We are very excited about focusing on these diverse themes at Learning 2013 and in our programming.  Details at http://www.learning2013.com

3. Curiosity as Employment Criteria?  I am curious: do any of your organizations use “Curiosity” as an informal or overt criteria during employment interviewing?  Are you looking for workers who are demonstrating “Curiosity”?  And, if so, how do you describe that to your interviewers?  Send me a confidential email to emasie@masie.com and I will provide a summary in a future Learning TRENDS.

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

TO: Learning, Training and Performance Colleagues
FROM: Elliott Masie, Host and Curator, Learning 2013

RE: The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton to Keynote Learning 2013

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the keynote speaker at Elliott Masie’s Learning 2013 conference on November 4th in Orlando, Florida.

Earlier as First Lady and U.S. Senator from New York, she traveled to more than 80 countries as a champion of human rights, democracy, and opportunities for women and girls. Clinton also worked to provide health care to millions of children, create jobs and opportunity, and support first responders who risked their lives at Ground Zero. Throughout her career, she has been a strong advocate for improving access to quality, affordable education.

“Former Secretary Clinton’s keynote presentation will set the stage for rich dialogues at Learning 2013,” says Elliot Masie, Host and Chair of The Learning CONSORTIUM

Learning 2013 will be held in Orlando, Florida from November 3 to 6, 2013.

For complete details, themes and online registration go to http://www.learning2013.com

Yours in learning,
Elliott Masie

TO: Learning, Training and Performance Colleagues
FROM: Elliott Masie, Host and Curator, Learning 2013

RE: Your Predictions on Our Keynoters for Learning 2013?

I would like to engage our Learning TRENDS colleagues in a quick guessing contest.

We have selected and confirmed 3 major keynoters for our annual Learning 2013 conference (Nov 3 to 6, Orlando, FL)!

Normally, I would just announce them.

But, in the age of social and interactive reach-outs, we’d like to ask you to predict the names of our 3 keynoters.

In previous years, I have had the honor of hosting General Colin Powell, Chef Bobby Flay, President Bill Clinton, Author Susan Cain, Athlete Apolo Ohno, Coach Marshall Goldsmith and Captain Sully Sullenberger.

So, who do you think we have confirmed and will announce in the next week?

Take a minute and fill out our survey at http://www.learning2013.com

Your responses must be in by Monday, May 13th (also Elliott’s birthday). Special surprises for those that guess any of the keynoters that will light up your Learning 2013.

Once again, go to http://www.learning2013.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - May 2, 2013.
#769 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
55,959 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning Leadership Academy - May in Saratoga Springs, NY.

1. Help! Defend Learning Field from Patent Suit!
2. Google Glass and Learning LAB Experiments.
3. Wow - 17 Tony Nominations on Broadway.

1. Help! Defend Learning Field from Patent Suit! The learning “patent trolls” are at it again. There is a company called IPLearn that has unfortunately successfully sued over a dozen learning management systems, claiming they have invented many of the core elements of technology delivered learning. Sure, they wrote several clever patents that claim to have created much of the field and, with an understaffed patent office it was approve although there were many prior learning and technology implementations. And, their strategy, which has worked, is to sue a company, get the discovery and legal costs up and up, and finally settle for a fee and stock shares: all without having invented, produced or created anything other than a few patent apps.

I have worked, without fee, against their efforts several times and now they are at it again. They have brought suits against several major LMS companies and I am asking Learning TRENDS readers to help gather any manuals, documents or other experiences you have had with these earlier corporate learning systems:

- Registrar,” by Silton-Bookman Systems.
- Learning Organization Information System (LOIS),” by KnowledgeSoft, Inc.
- Etude,” by Gerald Hollingsworth and GPU, Inc.
- Continuous Learning System (CLS),” by AT&T Global Information Solutions International, Inc.

The lawyers defending against the IPLearn suit would love to see any samples of anything that describes the operation or public availability of these systems. For example: user manuals, help files, demonstration videos, brochures, press releases, and actual program disks/CDs. 

If you can help, would you send a note to my office at emasie@masie.com and we will contact you back.  Many thanks!

2. Google Glass and Learning LAB Experiments: We are starting to organize a Learning LAB at The MASIE Center that will look at how the upcoming Google Glass http://www.google.com/glass/ might have affordances for Workplace Learning. What if a learner wearing Google Glass had visual and eye movement controls over content and assistance? Hmmm! If you or your organization is interested in exploring Google Glass “Learning Apps”, please send a note to bob@masie.com We will contact you about some of the options for early experiments and collaboration on this project.
 
3. Wow - 17 Tony Nominations on Broadway! It was a great day for MASIE Productions on Monday. The nominations for the upcoming TONY Awards were announced and two of the plays that we are investors/producers in were nominated:

* 13 Awards for Kinky Boots!
* 4 Awards for Trip to Bountiful!

And, though it was not nominated, one of the best plays on Broadway is our Macbeth, a one-man show starring Alan Cumming.

We are celebrating! Details at http://www.masieproductions.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Learning Leadership Academy - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

TO: Learning, Training and Performance Colleagues
FROM: Elliott Masie, The MASIE Center

RE: TeleWork in 2013? Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategic Choices

Is TeleWork Good, Bad, Growing, Challenging or Strategic to Your Workplace?

You and your colleagues are invited to participate in our new National Forum on Telework:

TeleWork 2013!
Hosted by Elliott Masie & Hunter Arnold.
June 23 to 25, 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
Info: http://www.telework2013.com

We have invited 12 major keynoters to lead an interactive forum on TeleWork in the Workplace. They include: Susan Cain (Author of “Quiet” on TeleWork & Work Styles), Betsy Myers (CEOs & TeleWork Strategies), Hunter Arnold (Talent, Retention & HR), Chuck Wilsker (TeleWork Tech & Security), Todd Shimkus (Chamber of Commerce on Community and TeleWork), Debra Dinnonceo (Managing TeleWorkers), Jason Morwick (Workshift: Future-Proofing Your Organization), Nicole Benson Goluboff (The Law and TeleWork), Elliott Masie (Learning & Collaborating with Distributed Teams) and over 20 Case Studies on TeleWork in Action (or Distress) in 2013.

The Themes for TeleWork 2013 are:

- TeleWork Trends, Strategy & Conflicts.
- TeleWork Talent, HR and Retention Issues.
- The Question: Engagement or Location?
- TeleWork Collaboration & Learning.
- TeleWorkers: Extroverts & Introverts.
- Managing Distributed Employees.
- TeleWork Technology & Security.
- CEO’s Views: Yahoo! Perspectives.
- TeleWork Continuum: Mixes & Choices.
- Leveraging Video for Presence.
- Planning LAB: Create a TeleWork Strategy!

We look forward to learning and working with you at TeleWork 2013 in Saratoga Springs in June.

Use an early registration discount to save on registration for TeleWork 2013. Go to http://www.telework2013.com for details and registration.

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - April 18, 2013.
#768 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
55,949 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: TeleWork 2013 - A National Forum - www.telework2013.com

1. MOOC’s & Corporate Learning?
2. Quincy Jones and Online Piano Lessons!
3. Learning Leadership Academy Seats Available.
4. Alan Cumming Does Macbeth - Elliott as Producer :)

1. MOOC’s & Corporate Learning? There is a great media interest in MOOC’s - the innovations for Massive Open Online Courses - where one instructor runs a course for thousands or tens of thousands of learners.  I have been a student in three MOOC’s and a teacher/facilitator in three.  Now, we are hearing from many learning colleagues about the applicability of the MOOC to workplace learning.

I would urge TRENDS readers to approach MOOC’s as important beta/lab experiments where important and cool innovations are emerging in the construction, delivery and economics of educational “packages”.  My experience as a MOOC learner has been exciting and mixed.  While there were over 70,000 learners in one program, very few made it to the end of the program and fewer were fully successful from a competency point of view.  It was exciting to see how learners could be co-designers of the program and many resources were developed and disseminated from the learners.  Finally, there were mixed models of how well the social/collaborative side of the MOOC’s worked.

As a teacher, I struggled with the format shifts reflected by MOOC’s. Were the assignments suggestions or could I predict a level of engagement of the learners?  Was the content that was posted by learners legal? Some added video that wasn’t within their IP ownership.  And, the issue of fees was also interesting. A free MOOC will get high starts but perhaps high drop offs.  When fees were added, did that take away the “open” label?  It is also interesting to see colleges and universities that have never made a profit on classroom offerings think they will generate good margins by adding MOOC’s to their offerings.

It is early and really too early to predict how MOOC’s might evolve within the corporate world.  I have been advocating that we take each of the letters as a distinct area for innovation:

- M: Massive dissemination of content.
- O: Open content and content reuse along with curation by learners.
- O: Online resources added to both 1 mode and mixed/blended mode delivery.
- C: Course? Perhaps the MOOC might become a MOOP (Program) or MOOA (Assets).

And, is there a competency check assumed in a MOOC, as well as certification or even college credit?

MOOC’s are important innovations.  Now, we need to label them as lab or beta tests and gather evidence as we experiment with the use of all or some MOOC elements in corporate settings.  We will be experimenting with the MOOC as a corporate model in an upcoming Learning LAB of our Learning CONSORTIUM.  I’m interested in hearing from TRENDS readers exploring MOOC’s in our world.  Write to emasie@masie.com

2. Quincy Jones and Online Piano Lessons!  Talking about innovations and massive models, look at the work that Quincy Jones has co-created for Playground Sessions, which offers online piano lessons with feedback and coaching.  It was detailed in today’s USA Today and if you are interested in checking out the offering, visit http://www.playgroundsessions.com  

3. Learning Leadership Academy Seats Available: Nigel Paine, one of our MASIE Learning Fellows and the former head of learning at the BBC, will be leading our annual retreat for current and future learning leaders.  The Learning Leadership Academy takes place in Saratoga Springs, NY from May 14 to 16. For three intense days, all aspects of the art and science of leading learning efforts in an organization are explored in this very interactive and deep dive academy.  And, I have the honor of leading several sessions and hosting the group for a reception in Saratoga Springs.  There are a few seats available.  Info and registration at http://www.masie.com

4. Alan Cumming Does Macbeth - Elliott as Producer :) I have the honor of being a producer of a new show that is about to open on Broadway on Sunday.  Alan Cumming, who also stars on TV in The Good Wife, is presenting a one-man, one-act Macbeth on Broadway. It is a powerful and dramatic presentation, all done without any microphones or audio enhancement.  Alan plays all the parts in Macbeth as a new patient in a mental ward.  Info on this show at: http://www.macbethonbroadway.com  Watch the reviews on Monday.  And, I am thrilled to have my bio in my first Playbill.

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Washington and Minneapolis
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Learning Leadership Academy - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - April 10, 2013.
#767 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
55,947 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.

1. Off to London Today!
2. eBook to “L”-Book Lab.
3. TeleWork 2013 Registration Open

1. Off to London Today! I am writing this in the Virgin America clubhouse at Newark Airport, getting ready to fly to London for a week of work, colleagues and some theater. In addition, we will be convening a Big Learning Data workshop in London on Monday, hosted by GSK, looking at how learning may be impacted by Big Learning Data.

There are still a few seats in the Learning Directions seminar that I will be leading in London next Tuesday. We are focusing on key issues such as Personalizing Learning, BYOD Learning (Beyond Mobile Learning) and many other topics about what is up and what is reducing in the world of learning.  Information and last minute registration at http://www.masie.com   

Also, would love to chat or meet up with our colleagues and readers in London. Send a note to me at emasie@masie.com

2. eBook to “L”-Book Lab: Just had a very exciting meeting at Bloomberg in New York City with 50 members of our Learning CONSORTIUM, focusing on improving the functionality of an eBook and how to turn it into a more learning centered “L-Book”.  Senior executives from Adobe and Wiley, as well as leaders from IEEE, joined us in a deep dive into the future of eBooks. We will be working on this issue in the coming months and will place all of our work and findings in the public domain.

The thrust of our conversations was to see the eBook of the future as a dynamic container that would include text, graphics, eLearning, assessment, personalization, access to social interactions, richer media like video and the ability for learners to construct their own performance support pages in the process.  If you are working on eBooks in your organization, I would love to hear from you. Just write to emasie@masie.com

3. TeleWork 2013 Registration Open: We are very excited about the opening of the TeleWork 2013 registration process. From June 22 to 25 in Saratoga Springs, we will hold a highly interactive forum to assist organizations in developing and evolving their TeleWork strategies. Following on Yahoo’s policy announcement, there has been a rich conversation about the best approaches to develop engagement strategies for employees who are working from the field or their homes. Our keynoters will include:

- Elliott Masie on TeleWork Trends and Distributed Learning/Collaboration.
- Hunter Arnold on HR and Talent Issues with TeleWork.
- Susan Cain, author of “Quiet”, on Introverts and Extroverts as TeleWorkers.
- Todd Shimkus - Chamber of Commerce - Communities and TeleWorkers.
- Betsy Myers - TeleWork and Life Balance - A Perspective on Yahoo Policy.
- Chuck Wilsker - The Future and Technology of TeleWork.
- Debra Dinnocenzo - Managing TeleWorkers and Distributed Teams.
- Plus - Legal Issues of TeleWork!
- Plus - Learning and Collaboration From Afar!
- Plus - TeleWork Tech Lab!

Complete information on this new and very interactive “TED” like event that we are launching in Saratoga Springs is now open at http://www.telework2013.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Blended and in 6 Cities Globally.
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Performance Support Seminar - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning Leadership Academy - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - April 4, 2013.
#766 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
55,944 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.

1. “Fancy Hands” Human Based App for Support and Assistance.
2. Kinky Boots Opens Tonight: Reviews 6 Hours Later!
3. Learning Leadership Academy and Performance Support Lab.

1. “Fancy Hands” Human Based App for Support and Assistance: Imagine having an app on your smartphone that would give you instant human based personal assistance - 24 by 7. I have been experimenting with a new app and service called “Fancy Hands”. For approximately $1 a day, I can send a request for research, scheduling or personal assistance. Here are a few examples:

* Find me a restaurant on Easter Sunday morning that has New York style bagels for sale, on the West Side of Manhattan, that is open now at 8 am.  In less than 30 minutes, an assistant investigated, called and located my answer.
* Schedule a good time for a conference call with these 3 people at work. The assistant emailed, called and then added the meeting to my schedule.
* Please proofread this article and send me any edits. Back the article came in about an hour.
* Can you change the mailing addresses for these 6 magazine subscriptions? Done!

The service combines a “crowd-sourced” set of workers, armed with internet search capabilities and the ability to telephone key contacts. It provides me with an additional level of personal assistance and also a performance support model. We may see several of these mobile based personal assistance services pop up - including a fully in-house version for a corporation’s workforce. Check it out at http://www.fancyhands.com

2. Kinky Boots Opens Tonight: Reviews 6 Hours Later! Imagine if you led a leadership program on Thursday afternoon and the nation’s newspapers had critical reviews of it 6 hours later? Well, that will happen to us tonight. MASIE Productions is one of the investors/producers for a new Broadway show that will open tonight: Kinky Boots. The music is written by Cyndi Lauper and, from several weeks of preview performances, we are very excited and optimistic that the reviewers from New York newspapers and magazines will give it a great review. But, we don’t know. So, starting at 5 pm with a Producers party, followed by the Opening Performance and then the Opening Party afterwards, one unknown will be “what will the reviews say”?

You can follow along online and in the newspapers as the cast, crew and producers all keep fingers crossed and await the reviews. On some levels, the reviews can be a make or break moment for a Broadway show (though Wicked did not get great reviews and is the highest grossing show 10 years later!). You can even follow the real time reviews, published on a website “Did He Like It?” managed by my friend and co-producer Ken Davenport: http://www.didhelikeit.com

What if your learning and training programs were this publicly reviewed? It would be stressful and maybe not so helpful, but wow! Some have asked why I have become a producer of Broadway shows. The answer is that the core of Kinky Boots is a powerful story about acceptance, with music and a script that uses storytelling to make key points and perhaps influence attitudes. Kinky Boots gets audiences thinking and dancing in their seats. Learning production does much the same. Both theater and learning are dedicated to storytelling, engagement and involvement. And, I love the immediate and measurable feedback from participants.

So, wish us luck on tonight’s Kinky Boots reviews and come see it when you come to New York next time (or on the National Tour that we hope to mount in the coming years)!

3. Learning Leadership Academy and Performance Support Lab: We are proud to announce 2 highly engaging learning programs at The MASIE Center Lab in Saratoga Springs in May 2013:

- Learning Leadership Academy - Led by Nigel Paine (May 14-16) - focused on the skills and approaches of leading learning in an organization.
- Performance Support LAB & Seminar - Led by Conrad Gottfredson and Bob Mosher (May 8 to 10) - focused on learning at the moment of need.

Complete details and online registration at http://www.masie.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Blended and in 6 Cities Globally.
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Performance Support Seminar - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning Leadership Academy - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - April 1, 2013.
#765 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
55,939 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.

1. Bring Your Parents to Work Day!
2. Big Data Expands: Maps of What Learners Aren’t Doing.
3. Right Handed Designer Bias in Usability.
4. Mobile Apps Monitor and Feedback on Word Usage.

1. Bring Your Parents to Work Day! After the success of “Bring Your Daughters to Work Day”, there is now a growing interest in “Bring Your Parents to Work Day”, pushed by both helicopter style parents and underutilized retired parents of workers.

“Bring Your Parents to Work Day” would allow highly involved and concerned parents to meet the colleagues and bosses of their kids.  Just as they did in K to 12 school settings, parents are often able to advocate for higher performance ratings once they meet their children’s evaluators.  Some parents might even help their children redecorate their work spaces or cubicles.

It will also be valuable for the older retired parents of some employees.  These parents can come in and be deployed as meaningful one-day assistants, leveraging their skills and experiences of decades of work.  In some instances, the retired parents can even be deployed while their children are on vacation, filling in for them on key assignments and committees.

Clearly, many organizations will find the “Bring Your Parents to Work Day” program challenging!  But, in an attempt to bridge generational differences and reach for new levels of Work/Life balance, it is being embraced by some companies with a passion.  Several underfunded Venture Startups have gone so far as experimenting with “Bring Your Parents to Work Week or Work Month”, in order to save compensation levels.  While State Labor Departments are concerned about the legality of these practices, few want to take on the ire of the newly engaged parents on this issue.

2. Big Data Expands: Maps of What Learners Aren’t Doing: Increased interest in “Big Data” has pushed several LMS companies to expand reporting capabilities to display patterns of Learner Non-Activity.  While traditional reports indicate which learners have met competency levels or participated in certain learning programs, the LMS was never pointed at massive and complex patterns of non-participation.  Now, managers can see 3D displays indicating:

* What Books or Articles Are Not Read by Workers?
* For Each Learner, What Activities Do They Never Do?
* Which Video Titles Draw the Fewest Workers?
* Which Presenter Send the Most Webinar Participants to Early Departure?
* Whose Emails Are Most Often Not Read?

Many learning analysts believe that tracking what learners Don’t Do is even more important than tracking their active participation.  One LMS company is experimenting with a gamification offering that would provide “points” to learners who most effectively skip the most content, while still meeting legal certification. These points can be traded in for a vacation day or lunchroom vouchers. Big Data can focus on what learners aren’t doing as great predictors of workforce participation patterns.  We might even issue a “Didn’t Do Transcript” for each learner in the future.

3. Right Handed Designer Bias in Usability: University of Brazio recently published a study focusing on the difference in eLearning designs created by left vs. right handed designers.  It seems that visual placement of content and buttons shifts dramatically based on the hand bias of the designer.  They looked at “directionality distinctions” in screen design and the impact on learning effectiveness.  Not surprisingly, they found that eLearning modules developed by left handed designers worked best with left handed learners.  Eye movement, mouse movement and logical flow of content was optimized better for left handed learners when design was done by designers of the same hand dominance. But, the least effective designs for both left and right handed learners resulted in design teams that had 1 left handed and 1 right handed designer.  “Collaboration in design often results in a mushy and fuzzy approach that underwhelms both types of users.” said Dr. Framer, head of their Hand Design Bias Lab.  The next study will look at allowing the learner to indicate their left or right hand preference - yielding a distinctly different design.  Even Google is considering moving their ads to the left side for users that more often place their mouse nearer to the Q, A or Z keys on their keyboards.

4. Mobile Apps Monitor and Provide Feedback on Word Usage: “How do I stop saying the word NO in my responses to employee questions?” or “I must remember to say ‘Service Contract’ to customers during sales conversations in the store!” These requests are not easy to implement as they both require a worker to alter their daily conversational habits.  But, now there is an App that links voice recognition with Performance Support to provide immediate feedback when you utter something on your NO or YES list.  For example, the App can monitor your use of the words: “NO”, “NO WAY” and “Never Happens” and provide you with a gentle buzz on your smartphone each time they are spoken.  If the frequency rises above a certain level, the buzz can be longer and you can even set it up to send you or your coach a direct reminder.  Or, it can be upgraded to provide a quiet whisper in the earpiece of an employee, via Bluetooth connection, when they forget to offer the highly profitable service agreement.

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Each year on April 1st in the United States, we celebrate April Fool’s Day with several TRENDS that may not be totally real, yet!  Hope you enjoyed and have a great April 1st. Feel free to send me a note to emasie@masie.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Blended and in 6 Cities Globally.
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Performance Support Seminar - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning Leadership Academy - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - March 14, 2013.
#764 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
55,935 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: TeleWork 2013 - June 23-24 - www.telework2013.com

1. Curation Learning Experiment - Sample It!
2. Learning Directions - London, Seattle and Cities Beyond.
3. Learning Marketplace Outreach Wanted!

1. Curation Learning Experiment - Sample It! The MASIE Center Learning LAB has been experimenting with “Curation” - using colleagues to locate, sort and collect emerging digital content. We have asked 8 members of our Learning CONSORTIUM, including learning leaders from Intel, Fidelity, White Lodging, Pioneer Natural Resources, Philips, Oracle, Allstate and Ken Blanchard Company, to act as “curators” of daily new learning content from popular and unknown digital sources. Each day, four of our “curators” will select and prioritize learning-focused articles, research papers, blogs and content. Anyone can access their curation (free of charge) at the Learning CONSORTIUM Content Curation Site:
http://curate.masie.com

We invite you to participate in this experiment as we explore ways in which learning designs can leverage open or structured curation of content. Send comments and thoughts to our CLO Bob Baker at bob@masie.com

2. Learning Directions - London, Seattle, Minneapolis, Washington and Chicago!  We have just completed our first city on the Learning Directions event tour and I am excited to be heading to London, Seattle and several other cities in the weeks ahead. During our first Learning Directions event, the conversations drilled deeply down into Learning Personalization, BYOD Learning - Beyond Mobile Learning Buzz, Social and Collaborative Design, Leadership Development and more. If you have any colleagues interested in attending, please send them to http://www.masie.com. We are honored to be presenting the London Learning Directions event on April 16th, in partnership with the Learning and Performance Institute.

3. Learning Marketplace Outreach Wanted!: As you may know, I have never been a big fan of “traditional” trade shows for the learning or training space. We are excited about building a set of very different models for Learning 2013 that will involve a Virtual Learning Marketplace, Colleague Hubs, Digital Learning News Releases and other activities. We are looking for a colleague with experience in the learning marketplace or sales area, who is interesting in a part time contract position, working with us on the Learning 2013 event. Please send a note with your background to emasie@masie.com. This role can be done remotely by a colleague with a sense of the world of change in the learning marketplace. It will be exciting to help create the future of our learning market.

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, TeleWork 2013 and Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Blended and in 6 Cities Globally.
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Performance Support Seminar - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning Leadership Academy - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - February 27, 2013.
#763 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
55,904 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: TeleWork 2013 - June 23-24 - www.telework2013.com

Special Note: “Not Yahoo! about Yahoo’s Telework Policy”

Response to Yahoo’s No Teleworking Decision: Most of our readers have heard reports about Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer decision to have teleworking colleagues shift to working at the office.  The comments from HR director Jackie Reses included the statement “speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home”.  I have been contacted by many learning colleagues and members of the media for a reaction to Yahoo’s decision and what it said about the future of Teleworking.  Here is summary of our thoughts:

“Not Yahoo! About Yahoo’s Telework Policy”
By Elliott Masie, Chair, The Learning CONSORTIUM and Host of TeleWork 2013

Teleworking got a major news infusion when an employee leaked a policy shift from Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer to eliminate teleworking or working from home options. 

I am not thrilled or yelling at Yahoo! about the news stories — but not because it might be a threat to teleworking; rather, it is not fully clear how Yahoo’s decision maps back to changes that CEO Mayer wants to make in the culture of her organization.

Teleworking is an evolving process.  Many organizations now have 17% to 60% of white collar employees working from home.  Many organizations have shifted customer service, sales and other jobs to a 100% teleworking level.  And, we are tracking a 3% annual growth in teleworking.

So, what is the impact of teleworking on culture and employee performance? That is a complex question and is based primarily on the skills of the organization, the teleworkers themselves and managers/leaders in the organization. If handled well, teleworking can be a major plus for both employees and organizations. It can expand the pool of talent that can be hired, lower the transportation or office costs and in some instances provide a more lifestyle and workstyle positive environment for workers. But, if handled poorly, teleworkers can be and feel isolated, left out of key conversations and less bonded to the organization. Telework, like other organizational configurations, needs to be DESIGNED well and have evidence-based measures of impact.

I wish that Yahoo’s statement was not just a loud boom about the end of teleworking but rather laid out a continuum of when and how office-based, telework-based or blended location made sense. I wish that the conversation was really about culture and collaboration - not about location or commuting.  And, I wish that it was not leaked from an employee, but rather posed as a collaborative process to maximize Yahoo and the employees.

Why are we shifting to teleworking? The reasons range from a desire to hire the best employees (regardless of location) to a desire to reduce office and commuting expenses to lifestyle benefits for employees who can work effectively from a private space at home and still have “presence” for an older parent who is living with them. Many of our Learning CONSORTIUM members have made teleworking the default - hiring people who will work either from their home or from a remote satellite office.  And, the technology of collaboration - from easy access to video conferencing to digital collaboration - can bring together a dispersed team if done well.

Teleworking also comes in many sizes and flavors. For example:

- Organization Continuity Telework: The U.S. Federal Government has asked agencies to prepare most employees to be able to telework with remote and secure computer access in case of a storm or other emergency. In other words, if the organization has to shut down the office, work can continue.
- Personal Contingency Telework: An employee is not feeling well or for some reason can’t come to work on Tuesday. Telework options allow the organization to have them continue to work from home without contaminating their fellow team members or missing a key meeting.
- Blended Telework: Many workers are blending time in the office with time at home for work. They may select those times that team face-to-face meetings are scheduled or shift to a less distracting home-based setting for writing or quieter work tasks.
- Distributed/Remote Telework: Hire the best employee for a job, regardless of their location. Shift the hiring conversation from “when can we relocate you” to “how can we set you up for successful telework and schedule occasional time at the office.”
- Telework Choice: Some organizations have given employees the choice of telework, blended or office-based location and many workers in every generation are choosing telework, assuming they can hit performance goals and be an active part of the team culture.
- Telework Mandated: Many organizations have shifted entire functions (e.g. field sales, customer support, development roles) to a 100% telework basis.

The reality is that organizations and employees will make choices amongst these options and will increasingly learn how to shift, adjust and develop new competencies or leverage new technologies to support all types of telework.

I am not “Yahoo!” about Yahoo’s teleworking decision because it overly simplifies the issue of how we work in a distributed, connected and agile world with a changing labor market and work/life balances. I respect Yahoo’s CEO Mayer for her leadership of the company and would hope that she shifts the conversation to the CULTURE rather than a locational issue. And, there are clearly times when telework will not work for a team, employee or total organization. But, I doubt that Yahoo will ban teleworkers in the long term.

I am both a teleworker and the CEO of a company that employs teleworkers. 

It is critical for me to blend my own and other team members’ presences. I have a 72 inch screen in my office to Skype with team members in Virginia, Shanghai and India. And, there are certain key roles that would not be optimized as telework based at The MASIE Center. However, we could not operate a global company with a slim staff and over 230 Learning CONSORTIUM members if we did not leverage teleworking, video conferencing, digital collaboration and ongoing adjustment of our culture to make it work.

Recently, a seven year employee gave birth to her first child. As we were negotiating her maternity leave benefits - and more importantly the culture adjustments for her as she left and will return to the office - we both saw telework as a key mutual benefit. We will provide an opportunity for her to spend more time at home but start to engage at the level that works for her via a flexible telework culture.

Telework is going to be a major component of our work lives going forward, whether or not we or our CEO’s like it. The issue is not “To Telework or Not to Telework”; rather it is “How do we create the best culture for all employees, regardless of location and teleworking options?  We will use data to watch how we succeed or fail in our hiring, our retention, our customer satisfaction, our agility and our work/life culture.”

I invite organizations to leverage Yahoo’s discussion to have a serious conversation about the options, skills, competencies and culture shifts we want in our organizations that are leveraging telework. Let’s have the audacity to experiment, evaluate and even openly talk about failures as we continue the evolution of our workplaces and work lives.

I’d love to hear from you on this topic. Send me a note to emasie@masie.com

Yours in learning (and telework),

Elliott Masie
Host, TeleWork 2013 and Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Blended and in 6 Cities Globally.
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

TO: Learning, Training & Performance Colleagues
FROM: Elliott Masie, The Learning CONSORTIUM

RE: 7 Minute Survey on Learning Directions & Shifts!

Can you please take 7 minutes to respond to our 2013 Learning Directions “Pulse” Survey, gathering global data on how organizations are shifting (or not shifting) their Learning Directions or approaches?  Are we doing more/less/same levels of classroom, eLearning, mobile, social learning and even supporting learning for teleworkers?

Go to: http://www.masie.com/pulse2013

We will publish these results shortly at this site - hosted by our Learning CONSORTIUM.

Thanks for your participation!

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
http://www.masie.com