Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed

 

Today I thought I’d talk about badges, because everyone likes to feel like they’re achieving something and badges are a great way of doing that.

Badges

What are badges? Well. You can probably relate to the badge reference when you think about the badges you or your friends received in brownies/girl guides/cubs/boy scouts, etc. These badges were received for achieving a certain criteria with regard to a specific goal. Take for example some of the badges I’ve achieved in the Articulate Insiders community (shown in the image above) – these badges were achieved by: finishing 50 challenges, completing 10 social media challenges, and providing a survey-style opinion. Another example you might be able to relate to: the gold stars your elementary school teacher provided on your assignments/activities for a job well done.

We see badges in many domains; for example, social (e.g. brownies/cubs) and technology (e.g. video games), but how do we begin to use badging in education?

Using Badging in Education

Badges can serve to motivate students to work harder to achieve course goals; individuals innately want to succeed, so receiving an ‘award’ of sorts for completion of an activity can make a world of difference when it comes to learner motivation.

To begin employing badging in your classroom, you will want to define goals to achieve the badges. These goals should align with your course goals and learning outcomes. Once defined, create a mode for delivering the badges. For example, in a face-to-face classroom setting, you may wish to use a physical leaderboard (e.g. a table created on bristol board of each student and each goal, with physical stickers or badges affixed to the board to indicate completion/progress). In an online course, you may wish to generate electronic certificates or an electronic leaderboard (similar to the one illustrated above) that displays each learner’s badges.

Resources

• Educause Learning Initiatives: Things you should now about…Badges
• Badge Alliance – Why Badges?
• How Badges Really Work in Higher Education by David Raths

Many Instructional Designers work in distance education (even if not directly linked to an institution), and I am one of those Instructional Designers. Within my full-time role, I assist in the development of online, hybrid, and blended courses. Within my quasi-full-time role, I develop e-learning for a variety of clients.

However, the term ‘distance education’ has taken a bit of a turn when it comes to its definition, so I thought it might be handy to discuss this. This week’s post was actually prompted by the move of our department to change their name to Online Learning, instead of Distance Education.

Distance Education

Depending on which generation you’re from, distance education could have very different meanings. Some folks may associate distance education with correspondence courses (aka snail mail coursework), broadcast courses (aka televised), or online courses. All of these associations are correct, as distance education broadly includes any educational format wherein the instructor and student are separated by geographic location and/or time.

At the institution I work at, they were a regional pioneer in distance education in the televised/broadcast format. We still have the ‘on air’ light in the department hallway! However, technology has facilitated a shift in delivery mode. We now offer distance education in online and multi-access (hybrid and blended) formats in order to cater to the needs of our students. While many programs are available entirely online, we’re always working to expand our current program and course offerings in an effort to enhance accessibility to a high-quality distance education experience.

With the emergence of Learning Management Systems (LMS’), synchronous technology (e.g. Skype, Blackboard Collaborate, Adobe Connect) and video and/or e-learning authoring technology, faculty members now have many options when it comes to developing their courses.

Distance education has become very popular over the last twenty years, and it’s certainly where education is moving simply because of how it addresses issues of accessibility and convenience. My graduate degree was completed entirely online (with the exception of one project that I painstakingly snail mailed in to a prof), and the experience I had prompted me to seek employment within higher education so I could become part of the distance education movement.

Do I think distance education will overshadow traditional education? No. There’s still a very large population of individuals who want the traditional experience perhaps due to preference or learning style, but it is great to have an option to study while not being tethered to a single location.

The only real con I would associate with distance education is that learners truly need to be self-motivated. Without that motivation, there is seldom someone else to hold the learner accountable, and it can be very easy to get off track. So when people ask me about distance education, I really cater it to the demographic. For example, it might not be the best option for first year students who have no prior experience with self-paced learning or no prior exposure to a college or university setting. At least not at the very beginning. If distance education is your only option as a first year student, that’s fine. Just know that you need to be organized and focused or things we’ll snowball out of control very fast.

I was first introduced to the 70:20:10 model from a business perspective, but it’s a great model from the learning and development perspective as well!

70:20:10

Working for an organization that went through three CEOs in a matter of five years was very overwhelming. Each had their own strengths, each had their own level of support, and each had their own new-fangled ideas. One of these CEOs introduced me to the concept of 70:20:10.

From a business perspective, this meant that the organization would focus 70% of their time and effort on core business needs, 20% of their time and effort on projects related to core business needs (e.g. moving into adjacent markets), and 10% of their time and effort on projects outside of core business needs (e.g. moving into an untouched market).

For example, we were a company working on contracts primarily within the air force, so we spent 70% of our time working on projects for the air force, 20% of our time working on or attempting to work on projects in adjacent markets (e.g. naval or army training), and 10% of our time attempting to move into uncharted (for us) markets, such as commercial air training.

But…how can this model apply to learning and development?

I think you can use this model in learning and development as a means for managing your time and effort.

Perhaps you want to learn some new skills that will benefit your role. You could spend 70% of your time pursuing learning opportunities related directly to your role (e.g. if you’re an instructional designer, perhaps you want to learn how to better organize content), 20% of your time learning a somewhat new skill (e.g. perhaps you’ve created basic graphics using powerpoint and want to learn how to use photoshop), and 10% of your time learning something completely unrelated to what you do, but which could still benefit your role (e.g. learning a programming language).

Additionally, you could apply this to your workflow management. You could spend 70% of your time working away at your deliverables, 20% of your time liaising with clients, and 10% of your time seeking new projects.

However you choose to apply the 70:20:10 model, it can be used to more effectively manage your time, which is great if you’re a micro-manager and super planner like myself!

Upscaling is a hot buzzword today that is being met with mixed reviews, and I think it warrants a little bit of explanation.

What the heck is ‘upskilling’?

I know. Upskilling hasn’t quite made it to the realm of common terminology…as proven by my computer’s insistent autocorrect to ‘upscaling’, but it’s something that’s happening a lot more lately.

Upskilling is essentially a professional development opportunity for employees within an organization to enhance their current skill set by learning new skills. Opportunities for upskilling can enhance an employee’s opportunity for promotion, may enhance their competitiveness within the industry, and will help keep employees current with changes to a given industry.

However, employees and organizations alike have met the concept of upskilling with mixed reviews. Why? Well. From the employee perspective, some people don’t have a desire to learn new skills, and others may view upskilling as a means for their employer to provide professional development and employ these new skills without having to appropriately compensate employees for changes in their roles. From an organizational perspective, some organizations aren’t ready for lateral movement and tend to operate in a more linear environment.

From a prospective employee standpoint, upskilling may be viewed as taking away opportunities; by upskilling internally, these prospective employees may need to start at the bottom and work their way up instead of moving directly into the role for which they’re qualified.

Whichever camp you’re a part of (for or against upskilling), upskilling is a necessary evil in today’s economy for several reasons:

1. There is increasingly more competition for the jobs that are out there, and to have the potential to be successful candidate for a position, employers may want to see that you’re comfortable with continual learning;
2. Baby boomers are retiring, and there is a huge influx of jobs for which individuals aren’t formally qualified for – this is a great example of where upskilling could benefit employers: less time spent searching for a qualified candidate, and being able to refocus those HR hours on training internally;
3. It’s a lot cheaper to train someone internally than hire someone new; and
4. Technology means that we are in a constant state of change – if it isn’t one thing, it’s another.

Resources:

• Some tips on upskilling by clearviewcoaching
• Is “Upskilling” Just a State of the Union Pipedream? by Julian L. Alssid
• Upskilling through foundation skills: A literature review by Alison Gray
• The Deskilling and Upskilling Debate by Ulrich Heisig

I’ve talked about Jean Piaget before, and likely will talk about him again, but this week I wanted to talk a bit about the concept of transference and how you can apply transference (indirectly of course) through your e-learning design.

What is transference?

Transference applies to the concept of schemas; schemas are generated when we explore our environment and they help shape what we think about components of our world. Transference involves the redirection of feelings (or associations) from one object or person to another.

For example, puppies may learn to submit to another dog higher in the pack order by showing their stomachs. These puppies may also expose their stomachs when interacting with a dog of a larger size than themselves once they become adult dogs…they have transferred their knowledge, from puppyhood, of pack order behaviour and have applied it to their new situation (e.g. when I was a little dog, I submitted to the bigger dog. That dog over there is bigger than me, so I’ll submit to them).

Wow. That was a long-winded example. I’m sorry. I probably confused all yawl more.

Examples in E-Learning

Folks talk about personalization in e-learning all the time, but they rarely relate it to the idea of transference, but this is exactly what’s happening! When we have users select an avatar to represent them throughout their learning journey, we are indirectly having them apply their feelings to this avatar. This avatar IS the learner!

Video games do a good job with this. While almost all video games can fall in this category of transference, I am particularly reminded of The Sims. So many people model their sim family after how they want to see themselves. They want to live vicariously through their characters. Therefore, a lot of gamification approaches are related to transference.Very interesting, yeah? Food for thought.

I sat in on some training yesterday, and the trainer was discussing task analysis…I have a love/hate relationship with task analysis, because within the military, these are often very tedious to develop. However, they are important. I understand that.

Task Analysis

A task analysis involves breaking down a task into each step and sub-step required to complete the task. It seems simple enough, right? Task analysis are important when it comes to breaking down the components of a task to ensure effective training. Often times we take for granted things we already know how to do, but when we’re trying to teach someone else how to do a certain task, the learner needs to know each of the elements required to effectively complete the task.

For example, the task “Make a latte” involves more than just a cup, espresso, and milk. It may require:

– Selecting the appropriate sized cup

– Selecting a steaming pitcher

– Remove milk from fridge

– Pour milk into steaming pitcher

– Steam milk

– Brew espresso into cup

– Remove cup once espresso has finished brewing

– Pour steamed milk on top of espresso

Now, these are just some of the steps, but within these steps, there are sub-steps. For example:

– Steam milk

– Place steaming wand in milk

– Place thermometer in pitcher of milk

– Activate/turn on steaming wand

– Begin aerating milk

– Steam to a temperature of X

– Remove pitcher of milk

– Wipe steaming wand down

– Turn on steaming wand to clear milk residue

– Turn off steaming wand

And within these sub-steps, there may be even more sub-steps. When conducting a task analysis, you really want to break down the original task into the most painful of details (and sub-tasks).

Within the military, this often involved extremely lengthy Job Task Analysis spreadsheets, that would further break down whether each task and sub-task was considered a knowledge, skill, or attitude. These further breakdowns will allow you to better refine the way in which you train the user how to do the task/sub-task.

Ensure you’re concise with your task analysis and that you’re only including one task or sub-task per item. Nothing should piggyback on top of one another…that’s just lazy and will become ineffective when you move on to develop training.

Task analysis are also useful when working with other developers (e.g. programmers or media developers). You can use a task analysis to describe the breakdown of media or programmatic (or both) elements, and then you have a detailed account of what should happen and when so that these developers have a greater understanding of how to develop the content they’re developing.

Stay tuned for a time-lapse demo and freebie of a task analysis template!

Resources

Task Analysis in Instructional Design by Donald Clark

How to Do a Task Analysis Like a Pro by Articulate

Task Analysis: An Individual and Population Approach, 3rd Edition by S. Wilson and G. Landry