185 - Three e-Learning Positioning Mistakes; A Virtual Day at a Trade Show; e-Learning and e-Collaboration in Olympics

1. Three e-Learning Positioning Mistakes: There are several key mistakes
that organizations are making in "positioning" or articulating their
e-Learning activities:

* Disconnection from Current Training Activities: Way too many e-Learning
plans seem to ignore the great work that trainers and training organizations
have done in the last several. To listen to some of the e-Learning
statements, our organizations have never really done a great job of building
worker skills and have ignored the bulk of the workforce. Do not step on
the accomplishments of current training activities.... position e-Learning
as a major new initiative that EXTENDS the impact of learning and training
activities.

* Over promising: e-Learning expectations need to be calibrated. Do not
over promise. Don't predict that 1/2 of all training will be done at the
desktop in 2 years.. you will probably never get there. Instead, shape
expectations so that you can exceed and impress.

* Cheaper: While there will be some changes in the cost structure for
e-Learning, so not start with a promise of a major reduction in training
expenditures. There are significant ramp up costs and you may want to shift
expenses...from travel to development.

2. A Virtual Day at a Trade Show: Today, as I write this edition of TRENDS,
I am experimenting with a new activity: working a Trade Show Booth by Video.
For the entire day, I will be in the MASIE Center booth at the Lakewood OLLO
event in Denver. My staff are on-site but I am in my office, connected by
video-conference to do "booth duty". Folks that I know from the industry
are stopping by, asking questions and I am in the office, relaxing and
sleeping in my own bed tonight. Cool!

3. e-Learning and e-Collaboration in Olympics: We have received five press
releases from companies that are using e-Learning activities in conjunction
with their work at the current Olympics. Employee training is being
conducted for groups like Carlson Marketing, via e-Learning formats.
One area that has really sprung into digital life this Olympics is the use
of the Digital Collaboration tools. The Olympic Village has several
Internet Cafes where the athletes can build their own web pages, conduct
internet video calls and keep in touch with family and friends form afar. A
colleague at the State Department reported that the Cuban Delegation has
been one of the most active users of the Net facilities, exploring a world
that has not been open to them in their home countries.

4. Allison Rossett Featured at TechLearn 2000: We are proud to announce an
addition to our TechLearn 2000 faculty. Allison Rossett, one of the leading
thinkers on learning and instructional design will be at TechLearn (Nov 12
to 15, 2000 in Orlando, Florida) representing ISPI (one of our co-hosts) and
presenting a "mega-session" described below:

An Irreverent Tour of Web Training Wonders and Worries by Allison Rossett.

There are many promises associated with new media and learning. Works
better. Costs less. Pleases more. Teaches more. Assures consistency. And no
travel costs to boot. What training professional wouldn't be intrigued? What
executive wouldn't be ecstatic? While there are some very good reasons to be
joyful about web training and information support, there are also occasions
to pause and ponder. In this session we'll make a case in both directions,
examining examples that illustrate both the wonders and worries associated
with web learning and performance support. The point is to temper enthusiasm
with reason in order to establish programs that boost the hope and not the
hype associated with web learning.

To register for TechLearn 2000, go to http://www.techlearn.com

e-Learning Strategy Plans? Take Our 3 Minute Survey!

Please take 3 minutes to complete our latest TechLearn Trends Survey:

e-Learning Strategy Plans?

Are organizations developing comprehensive e-Learning Strategies? Are these
enterprise wide? Do they include the role of classroom training in the e-Learning era?

This survey addresses how organizations are planning for the future of e-Learning!

Just go to http://www.masie.com/survey/ and fill out our 3 minute survey.

Executive summary of results will be posted in TechLearn TRENDS in a few weeks.

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie

184 - Synchronous - Asynchronous Lessons from Olympics Viewing; Customer Learning Blends with Employee Learning; Congressional Hearings on Web Based Learning Completed

1. Synchronous - Asynchronous Lessons from Olympics Viewing: Watching the
Olympics the other night caused a conversation in the living room about the
"feel" of asynchronous viewing experiences. NBC is carrying the entire
Olympics on a time delay, in order to allow sane viewing hours and a larger
audience. Makes sense. Yet, as we watched a few events, we noticed a
difference in the "voice" of several events. The announcer covering one of
the events was narrating after the fact and knew what was going to happen.
As a result, it felt more like we were watching a synopsis of the race, even
though he didn't tell the result. Yet, his tone and knowledge made longer
duration viewing seem less interesting (even though they showed 15 minutes
of the race). However, while watching one of the gymnastic meets, the
emotion of the narrator, who was narrating as the event was happening, gave
a strong sense of suspense and engagement, even though we had already seen
the results while on the web.

A similar issue faces us with the blending of asynchronous and synchronous
events in e-Learning. How do we make it easy for someone to feel as though
they are involved and engaged while viewing an event on the web, for
instance a streamed version of a meeting or seminar? An advantage of
e-Learning is that they can cut to the meat and click to the end result.
Yet, part of the experience of a meeting is that it is a shared experience
between members of the working group. We need to develop some models for
creating the right "voice" for non-live events, which yield high results and
engagement. I would love to hear some thoughts on this topic and will
summarize in a future TRENDS...just send to emasie@masie.com

2. Fast Company Features e-Learning: TechLearn Presenters Spotlighted: This
month's Fast Company put the spotlight on several of our TechLearn speakers.
The business magazine did a feature on 16 influencers in the world of
Learning and included myself, Marc Rosenberg and Allison Rossett. My quote
about higher ed brought quite a few emails:

"Higher education is the only business that has a ceremony for firing its
customers." -- Elliot Masie, The Masie Center

You can read the story at http://www.fastcompany.com/fast.take/online/39/one.html

In addition, Tom Kelly, VP of CISCO was featured in a major article on how
they are approaching e-Learning. It is a great read! That story is online
at: http://www.fastcompany.com/online/39/quickstudy.html
Allison, Marc and Tom are all presenting major sessions at TechLearn 2000
(http://www.techlearn.com)

3. Customer Learning Blends with Employee Learning: Over the past few
months, we have seen more and more companies adding customer education to
their e-Learning strategy. While employee training and development is a
natural subject for the growth of e-Learning, there is often a LARGER
opportunity and need in the education and learning requirements of
customers. This includes pre-sale and post-sale support and knowledge
transfer. A number of our contacts in large organizations have reported
that they are now being given the added responsibility of developing an
e-Learning strategy for customer education. They are investigating several
options for blending customer and employee training efforts:

* Leveraging learning development and delivery systems to include customer
education. This would stretch the normal use of a learning management
system to now possibly including customers or even prospects.

* Leveraging content to be reusable for diverse audiences. The same content
can often be used for product education, with different formats or
intensity, for both employee and customer education.

* The development of an e-Learning Strategy that includes customer education.

* The stretching of the traditional training structure to include or partner with customer
education.

Watch for an incredible rate of growth in this area!

4. Congressional Hearings on Web Based Learning Completed: On Friday, I had
the honor of testifying before Web Based Education Commission of the U.S.
Congress. The Commission was established by Congress to develop specific
policy recommendations geared toward maximizing the educational promise of
the Internet for pre-K, elementary, middle, secondary, and postsecondary
education learners. The Chair of the Commission is Sen. Bob Kerrey of
Nebraska. The Vice Chair is Rep. Johnny Isakson of Georgia. Quite a wide
variety of witnesses presented testimony before the Commission, talking
about both education at the K-12 and Higher Education space as well as
corporate training opportunities. It was fascinating to hear the intensity
of the dialogue about the role of e-Learning in the school systems and to
compare and contrast with the efforts being made at the corporate level.
They have a comprehensive website at http://www.webcommission.org

5. Case Studies on Learning Implementations: Here are just a few of the
over 60 case studies that will be presented by Training Directors and
Managers at TechLearn 2000, to be held on November 12 to 15, 2000 in
Orlando. On-line registration and information is available at
http://www.techlearn.com

Training in a Highly Regulated Environment
Patty McKay, Guidant Corporation

Guidant Corporation provides innovative products and services for the
treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Like all medical device manufacturers,
government institutions regulate Guidant's training content and
administration. Non-compliance is not an option. Over the past few years,
Guidant has focused on combining technology and training to increase
organizational effectiveness. Learn more about the on-line programs, the
Learning Management System and the Performance Management System that
Guidant uses to track all its training activities.

Blending e-Learning with Classroom training
Jackie Dorman, American Century

American Century Investments was presented with the challenge of training
1,500 people on a new operating platform in 4 months. Based on workflow, it
was impossible to train 1,500 people in a classroom environment in a 4-month
time period. Another key factor in the decision to train in a different
manner was that American Century is the 40th best company in the US to work
for, according to Fortune magazine. One key factor in earning this
recognition was our focus on training. Therefore, we realized that we needed
to really shift the way we train in order to keep this elite position. In
this case study you will learn about the alternatives that American Century
developed, what they did in the implementation process and the results they
achieved.

Simulations in Training
Paula Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers

This session showcases the award winning In$ider program that was created by
PricewaterhouseCoopers to train 40,000 people in 180 countries on
derivatives. The powerful games-based approach made the difficult, dry and
demanding subject area more fun for the learner and pulled them into the
learning experience. In this session you will hear the reasons
PricewaterhouseCoopers used this simulations approach to training and the
challenged they faced in the process.

Building an e-Learning Infrastructure
Lori Bober, Experian

Experian has implemented an internal infrastructure to deploy e-Learning
opportunities to all North American employees. They have gained valuable
knowledge during this process that they would like to share with other
organizations attempting a similar project. In this session, you will be
able to learn from their experiences and discuss the importance of:

Accurately estimating the amount of work that is involved;
Establish collaborative relationships with both internal and external resources;
Conduct pilot deployments;
Marketing the launch of the e-Learning opportunities

Strategy into Action: From Workshops to Technology Infused Learning Processes
Ron Edwards, Unilever

In this session you will learn how Unilever took an important five day
customized workshop and converted it to a two day workshop by shifting much
of the lecture to technology. Techniques used to ensure learners utilized
the prerequisite self directed technology components and how action learning
was integrated into the process to ensure skills and knowledge are applied
to produce significant results will be discuses. This initial effort led to
identifying $20 million in additional sales and was used as a building block
to more relevant and applicable learning to more people in less time with
greater results.

Are Virtual Learning Conferences a Reality?
Steve Morgan, Xerox Corporation

A case study that describes how Xerox conducted a virtual learning
conference for nearly 2000 Xerox sales reps using a combination of web-based
tools, e.g. online registration, conferencing, chat, discussion boards,
testing, evaluation, and tracking. The conference included 430 sessions and
provided about 30,000 learner contact hours over a period of nearly three
weeks. It was hailed as a success by the participants, as well as, the
presenters and sponsors. All of this was accomplished without the costs
associated with travel. Moreover, the sales reps remained in the field and
could schedule conference participation around important customer meetings.

Make Training Efficient and Motivating by Presenting the Task before the Lesson
William Heinz, Kelly Services
Dr. Linda Johnson, Western Kentucky University

Kelly Services tests and trains thousands of temporary employees each year.
Our CBT optimizes training efficiency and enjoyment by presenting the task
before giving the lesson. Putting the task first sets context and motivation
which increases attention. If the student knows how to do the task the
lesson can be skipped. Experience and data from Kelly Services and Western
Kentucky University support this innovative approach which mimics informal learning.

Learning Communities
Karen Cowan, Daimler Chrysler

Daimler Chrysler has been using Learning Communities in 35 zone offices
throughout the US and Canada. Essentially, all of the zones have the same
job functions and duties, so communication among zones is important. In the
past "official" communication among people was done through pact semi-annual
or annual meetings. Over the last year virtual communities were created to
allow people to communicate with each other using monthly online meetings, a
Q&A database, and a virtual chatroom. In this session, learn what it took to
change the corporate culture to make this happen.

Implementing a Virtual University
Rebecca Hacker, Pershing

This presentation will discuss various decision points and phases Pershing
went through as they launched a successful implementation of a virtual
corporate university. You will learn how Pershing addresses issues like: The
Corporation's Education Vision; When, how, and what to consider about the
technology infrastructure; Portals can they expand your capabilities or
limit you? Courseware Decisions - Intranet, Internet, CD-ROM, Blended? Are
we making a difference? Are you ready for an internal Distributed Learning
Management System?

Using Technology to Build Learning Communities at Boeing
David Noll, The Boeing Company

How do you merge "soft" people development skills with "hard" technology to
create learning communities? The change in emphasis from functional
organizations to product-aligned teams has created the need to develop
cultural and technical environments where employees stay connected to and
learn from one another. We will look at how we used technology and
organization development principles to create a successful learning
community at The Boeing Company. The case study will focus on the growth
and development of Boeing's Knowledge Management Community with examples of
what we did and learned on our journey. We will end with practical advice
from our experiences and look at how we are using what we learned to develop
additional learning communities.

Go to http://www.techlearn.com for information and on-line registration.
Over 1,700 of your colleagues already registered!

183 - Special Report from Prague, Czech Republic

1. Five Learner Comments on e-Learning: Here are five comments that I often
hear from LEARNERS who are approaching the new world of e-Learning. These
are not complaints and have come from folks that are actually using
e-Learning on a regular basis:

* If I Need it Bad, It Can Be Just OK: "If the learning content is
critical, don't worry about making it perfect or entertaining. When my need
for the content is high, I will learn, no matter what the format. As my
needs are less critical, you better do more to capture and hold my
attention."

* Let Me Leave and Call it a Success: "Often, I am "done" after a few
modules. I have gotten the knowledge and depart with a smile on my face.
However, many e-Learning programs will send me reminders and notes to come
back and finish. A good e-Learning program is like a good reference book on
the shelf. Don't define my departure after just a little while as a
failure....that is really one of the high values of e-Learning!"

* Don't Over-Test Me: "While I can understand the need for testing in
general, don't make e-Learning a programmed learning experience for every
topic. I get really bored with the READ, TEST, READ, TEST cycle of some
learning designs. Can't we just learn and apply without all that
reinforcement along the way."

* Mix Concepts and Procedures: "Sometimes, I need to learn
conceptually...other times, JUST GIVE ME THE FACTS! Label both types of
learning content and let the learner choose. In some situations, I need to
understand the concept before I see an example. In other situations, it is
exactly the opposite. And, in some settings, I just want to know how to do
something! Not interesting in Learning to Fish!"

* When Will Video Arrive: "I know that it will be very expensive and
require great bandwidth, but I can't wait until we can do e-Learning with a
load of video. I am not keen on always reading for learning... my ears and
eyes are yearning for more e-Learning content that moves and speaks. Not
complaining..just awaiting the future!"

2. Associations and e-Learning Focus at TechLearn 2000: We are pleased to
announce that Associations and e-Learning will be the focus of a panel
discussion at the upcoming TechLearn 2000 + The World e-Learning CONGRESS.
Susan Sarfati, Director of The Greater Washington Society of Association
Executives will lead a panel looking at the critical roles that associations
will play in learning in the Digital Age. TechLearn information and
registration is available at http://www.techlearn.com There are almost
1,700 colleagues registered for this annual event.

3. IP Voice Gaining Use for Mobile Workers: There is a growing usage of the
internet for telephony applications in the corporate sector. In fact, while
in Prague, I am a perfect example. Rather than make hundreds of dollars of
overseas calls, I am using the IP Voice function that is included with
Microsoft Messenger. I just connect to a local ISP in Prague and the
telephone calls are free, using the internet connection and my laptop. I
have made 150 minutes of calls so far, and while there is the occasional
lag, the quality is great! We are seeing more and more mobile users take
advantage of IP Voice, to allow themselves to be hooked up to the net for
data access and also conduct real time voice communications. Watch for the
rise of IP Voice over the next 24 months.

4. MASIE Center Announces 2001 Events: We are proud to announce the dates
of several of The MASIE Center 2001 events and seminars:

- e-Learning Europe 2001: July 9-10, Dublin, Ireland
- The Business of e-Learning: February 27-28, Las Vegas, Nevada
- e-Learning Briefing: January 22 and 23, Seattle, Washington
- TechLearn 2001: October 28 to 31, Orlando, Florida
- Digital Collaboration: SPRING 2001
- e-Learning Pacific Rim: SPRING 2001

Details of these events will be posted in the weeks ahead. Additional
e-Learning Briefings will be scheduled around the world in 2001.