904 - Learning Systems: LMS, LCMS, Social and More; Hot Water and Bandwidth Costs

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - January 26, 2016.
#904 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
57,195 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning Systems: LMS, LCMS, Social & More! - Chicago in April.

1. Learning Systems: LMS, LCMS, Social & More! - Chicago in April.
2. Hot Water Free - Bandwidth Costs?

1. Learning Systems: LMS, LCMS, Social & More! - Chicago in April:  2016 is a perfect time for an industry conversation about our Learning Systems. Learning organizations are deploying, shifting, extending, refining, switching and re-thinking their Learning Management System, LCMS, and Collaborative & Social Systems - and looking ahead.  We are honored to announce a new event:

Learning Systems: LMS, LCMS, Social & More!
April 27 and 28, 2016 - Chicago, IL, USA.
Elliott Masie, Host & Curator.
http://www.masie.com/learningsystems    .
 
Here are some of the key focus points:

* Learning Systems are evolving and new capabilities are emerging from other educational sectors: Khan Academy, K-12, Higher Education, Social Networks and non-traditional providers. 
* Learning Systems are extending to the worlds of Talent, Machine Learning, Badging, Big Data, Learning Personalization and beyond. 
* Learning Systems are morphing and requiring deeper readiness for Mobile Learners, Learning Personalization and Compliance/Regulatory Requirements.
* Learning Systems: LMS, LCMS, Social & More will bring together a collaborative group of senior learning leaders, learning systems designers, learning innovators and global colleagues in Chicago on April 27 and 28.  Our Forum will take a sharp look at current and future roles for today’s and tomorrow’s Learning Systems.

Here are some of the key questions and topics that we will explore at Learning Systems: LMS, LCMS, Social & More:

- Current Deployment and Shifts in Learning Management Systems.
- Can Learning Systems Support Learning Personalization?
- The Evolving Role of “Search” & Learning Systems.
- So Many Learning Systems in One Company? Why? And the Future!
- The Role of Big Learning Data, xAPI & Learning Systems.
- Talent and Learning Systems: Acquisitions and Integrations?
- Learning Systems and User Created Content: Trackable?
- Learning Apps and Learning Systems: From Portals to My App!
- Assessment, Evaluation and Learning Systems: An Evidence Model.
- Social Side of Learning Systems: Webinars, Collaboration & More.
- 3 CLOs’ Views of Learning Systems: Embracing, Extending or Frustration.
- User Experience & Learning Systems.
- Learning Systems, Badging, Credentials & Career Focus.
- Costs, Budgeting & Futures of Learning Systems.
- Real Time Benchmarking of Learning Systems Yield & Challenges…

For details and online registration: http://www.masie.com/learningsystems   .

2. Hot Water Free - Bandwidth Costs? Many TRENDS readers book hotel space for learning meetings, classes and events.  One of the strange things (and costs) is the rising price of bandwidth for your participants.

When you book your room, costs for food, coffee, AV and other elements are predictable. But, there is a rising cost for bandwidth access for your participants. Meeting planners have to answer questions about projected bandwidth needs such as:

- How many people will be at the meeting?
- How many of them will have mobile devices? (starting to be 90% to 99%)
- How many wireless devices will each have? (could be from 1 to 4 - including laptops, tablets or phones).
- How many parts of the hotel meeting space will the participants be in that require wireless access? (from 1 to many)

Then, the hotel will have to turn to the wireless supplier and the costs start to rise.  There is a calculation of the total bandwidth that your group might use.  And, the total number of devices that will be on - requiring a large number of modem points.  And, perhaps this is replicated in multiple places at the meeting space.

It is not unusual to get a proposal for wireless costs that could be in the thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars!

It is a tough moment.  The hotels want to provide the meeting spaces and wireless capacity that is needed.  Most hotels are not “pre-wired” for high levels of access.  So, there is often the need to crank up the hardware and add additional streams of bandwidth.  Strangely, many hotels don’t make much money on it since it is handled by the wireless provider under contract. 

As a meeting producer, each year I have conversations with hotels about the strangeness of paying for wireless access for my participants.  I often say, with a smile, that I don’t have to pay extra for hot water in the bathrooms based on the number of people who are washing their hands during a break.  But, our wireless capacity is lagging behind the wireless demand for participants.  Be direct! Negotiate! And understand that we are in a bandwidth gap for the next few years.  But, don’t break the bank and keep thinking about those motels a few decades ago that had signs outside that said:  Free TV - Free Air Conditioning - Free Hot Water.

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2016
Email: emasie@masie.com
Twitter: emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
- Learning Innovations LAB - March 14 to 16 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
- Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM.
- Learning 2016 - October 23 to 26 - Orlando, Florida.

Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com

903 - eLearning Course Abandonment, Learning Innovations LAB in March

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - January 15, 2016.
#903 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
57,184 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning Innovations LAB - March in Saratoga Springs, NY.

1. Abandonment in eLearning Courses?
2. Learning Innovations LAB - New in March 2016!
3. Invite to Allegiance in NYC on Saturday, January 23rd!

1. Abandonment in eLearning Courses? We are tracking a sharp rise in the abandonment rate in eLearning courses with multiple sections. Learners take the first session but don’t return for the next section. This can be seen acutely in the MOOC category where there is often an 85% abandonment of registered learners after the first few segments.

Let’s look at this with a curious eye. Why are learners successfully taking the first modules but not completing the entire thing?

- Interest Fulfilled! The learner “gets it” from the first module and does not really want to drill down to the finish. They are “learning skimming” the way one might with a newspaper article.
- Return If Needed! The learner feels they can always return at the moment of need later on - if they need it. The first module got them started and they can navigate back if needed.
- Forgot to Return! Our learners are busy. They want to return but things happen. And, many organizational Learning Systems don’t cutely remind the learner to return.
- Slippery Slope! Many learners want to return but will feel embarrassed to return to a scheduled session if they missed one segment. It’s a slippery slope.
- Sequence Locked! Some learners want to jump ahead to take a future segment, but the course may be locked to only allow sequential pathing.
- Non-Motivational Transition! While we initially pitched the course to the learner, many designers just assign the next segment. Keep pitching.

Learning Producers need to watch and learn from Television Producers about changing models of participation. Online video is getting shorter and we are allowing the viewers to either marathon or stretch out the viewing pattern, while still passing the needed Assessments. Learning Abandonment is a factor to include in our User Experience Design. We need to listen to the learning behaviors of our learners.

2. Learning Innovations LAB - New in March 2016! I just finished leading a powerful 2 1/2 day event in Saratoga called Learning Innovations LAB. Twenty-six learning colleagues from organizations around the world came together to experiment with and innovate possible new learning approaches in a Learn-A-Thon model. It rocked!

So, we are announcing the next session:

Learning Innovations LAB (and Learn-A-Thon).
March 14 to 16, 2016 - Saratoga Springs, NY USA.
Details and Registration: http://www.masie.com

Space is limited, so please register early.

3. An Invitation to Allegiance in New York City with MASIE Productions: We are excited to be Producers of Allegiance - an exciting, entertaining and moving musical on Broadway. We have scheduled a special gathering of our Learning friends and colleagues to join us in New York City at 2 PM on Saturday afternoon, January 23, 2016. Allegiance stars George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung. http://www.allegiancemusical.com

I have blocked a set of discounted great seats ($75) and we will watch Allegiance together. Then there will be a special “Talk Back” with our group and some of our stars. I will join the Talk-Back to both moderate and also explore the relationship between theater and learning. And, we will have some eating and exploring options afterwards. There are just a few seats left. If you would like to attend, please send a note to productions@masie.com as soon as possible. Can’t wait to see our learning colleagues at the theater next week!

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2016
Email: emasie@masie.com
Twitter: emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
- Learning Innovations LAB - March 14 to 16 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
- Gamification, Engagement & Learning - January 2016 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
- Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM.
- Learning 2016 - October 23 to 26 - Orlando, Florida.

Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com

902 - What Data Does the Learner Desire?

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - January 4, 2015.
#902 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
57,179 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning Innovations LAB - January in Saratoga Springs, NY.

1. What Data Does the Learner Desire?
2. Learning LABS in January.

1. What Data Does the Learner Desire? A few days ago, I received an email from Amazon Prime Music with Elliott Data. They sent me a fascinating snapshot of the music that I listened to from Amazon Prime over the past year - including artists, songs and albums. I was surprised by some of the data and I actually was moved to expand my music selection into several genres that were quite low on my “scorecard”. In other words, my Elliott Music Data gave me a useful feedback perspective to help Elliott shape my music selections.

So, what would a Learning Data Snapshot look like? Imagine a process that would give each learner a snapshot of the data surrounding their learning activities. Personally, I would love to see how I spent my learning time by media mix: % of learning time using video, text, structured eLearning, social collaboration, classroom, etc. I would love to see data on my patterns of completion or non-completion of learning resources. And, the list starts to grow.

In the past 2 years, we have seen the growth of Big Learning Data. I wrote a book with ATD on the topic and we have seen organizations increasingly gather Bigger Data Sets on learning. However, we have not seen the growth, yet, of Learning Snapshots that provide feedback, trending and analysis for a learner of his or her own learning approaches/behaviors - and even comparison with peers.

Big Data works best when there is a mutual sense of value. I love getting an annual summary from American Express of corporate spending, including trends, that provide feedback on expenditures.

So, what would YOUR Learning Snapshot look like? What are a few of the data sets that you would love to see on a future Learner Data Snapshot?

Could you take a minute and send me a sentence or two with your ideas to emasie@masie.com? I will be working on this topic over the next few months and will gladly share a summary of responses with the Learning TRENDS community.

2. Learning LABS in January: This month, I am honored to be hosting two highly interactive Learning LABs at The MASIE Center in Saratoga Springs.  There are just a few spaces still open in the LABs:

- Learning Innovations LAB (Including a Learn-A-Thon) - January 12 to 14.
- Gamification, Engagement & Learning LAB - January 26 to 28.

Details and registration information are available at http://www.masie.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2016
Email: emasie@masie.com
Twitter: emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
- Learning Innovations LAB - January 2016 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
- Gamification, Engagement & Learning - January 2016 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
- Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM.
- Learning 2016 - October 23 to 26 - Orlando, Florida.

Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com