Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed

There’s really no rhyme or reason for my term selection this week; Gamification is just a term being kicked around within the e-learning community, and if you were ever wondering what it meant, look no further! I will say that I feel the term has been used a bit less in recent years, but maybe that’s just within the circles I follow.

Gamification? What the heck is that?!

Gamification is a process in which you turn your course into an interactive learning experience for your users…creating a game of sorts. Often times, Gamification is intended to appeal to the competitive nature of humans by offering a fun experience in exchange for rewards, badges, level ups, or the like. Just think about Candy Crush – How awesome did you feel once you finally beat level 125? While you certainly didn’t learn much, it definitely felt like an accomplishment.

A great (and simple-ish) example of Gamification is Lumosity; here is a series of games, based on neuroscience, that leverages rewards (based on your intellectual improvements) to improve your memory, speed, attention, and problem solving abilities. You’re motivated to continue visiting the site and playing the games under the rouse that you will increase your overall performance index.

But why is Gamification good for learning?

As I said before on this page, and I’ll say it again, Gamification appeals to the competitive nature of humans. Even if you’re not innately competitive, you may find yourself motivated to compete with yourself. In a society where younger students have come from a generation of video gaming, Gamification also has the ability to make learning ‘cool’ and relatable. I once worked with an organization that developed a gesture-based learning experience to teach pilots aircraft marshalling signals – it utilized Xbox Kinect technology, and almost everyone who ‘played the game’ found themselves impressed, and because they were completing the signals in a practical simulation, they retained what was being taught in a meaningful way.

Another positive to Gamification is that it offers variety. Instead of having to endure traditional chalk-and-talk style face-to-face lectures, students can glean the information in a more engaging format, and teachers can focus their efforts on squeezing more into their curriculums (as politics often dictate) or finding meaningful ways of supporting the information learned within the games to support information retention.

This week I thought I would chat a bit about podcasts, because 1 – the weekly e-learning challenge (you can read about it in my previous post – scroll down) inspired me, 2 – I looooove listening to podcasts, and 3 – they’re commonly used within distance higher education courses (albeit, they’re rapidly being replaced for video).

What is a podcast and why are they popular?

Podcasts can be considered anything requiring a subscription to a digital media download; however, within recent years the subscription part of things is becoming less and less of a necessity. I’ve been seeing more and more folks use podcasts for their opt-in email lists as a way of giving subscribers something extra (and building their lists), but typically, the subscription part is optional nowadays.

Podcasting seems to have come into its own within our new information society and with the emergence of smartphones and other portable devices (e.g. iPods) – people want information and they want it now! Or, they want to numb the commute to work with a little bit of education or entertainment.

Podcasting in Education

One of my contracts is with a local university who was quite the pioneer (at least provincially) with their broadcast distance courses. I remember watching channel 33 when nothing else was on and ‘sitting through’ Psychology lectures as a 10 year old. With the evolution of technology, costly television broadcasts have been replaced by a number of solutions; however, many faculty members I’ve encountered seem to lean in to podcasting as a means for disseminating their lectures; primarily those who were used to the former television broadcast format.

Now, there’s good things and bad things about podcasting in education (in my honest opinion). Some good things are being able to reach audiences and simulate a traditional lecture style. Some bad things are that folks often replace their 1 hour video-based lecture with a 1 hour podcast based lecture, and that can be BAD NEWS…especially for individuals who aren’t audio learners. Personally, I have a hard time learning from audio, so I appreciate visuals with complementary audio. Podcasts for education really aren’t my thing…but, I have seen them done well, and those are usually podcasts that are broken down into palatable chunks of information which support the weekly readings in a meaningful way.

You seem to support the idea of podcasts, yet you don’t enjoy educational podcasts? What podcasts do you enjoy?

I tend to save my learning for more practical and/or visual approaches (supported by audio – sure, but not predominantly audio), but I do really enjoy listening to podcasts. I find myself favouring those podcasts that are interview-based and with hosts who can captivate my attention and make my laugh. Therefore, I listen to a lot of comedian-based podcasts. Some of my favourites include:

Totally Laime, Totally Married, and Totally Mommy – Elizabeth Laime and her husband, Dr. Rosen Rosen (er Andy) really take my week to the next level; I find myself listening to all three of their podcasts each week (Monday/Wednesday/Friday) while I muddle through my work. They make me laugh, dish out tons of unqualified advice, and allow me to effectively multi-task.

Alison Rosen is Your New Best Friend – I enjoy listening to Alison and her gang; they have two streams per week and the interview style is engaging and relatable. I especially appreciate the tangents she tends to go on and her segment Just Me or Everyone.

This Feels Terrible – I don’t tune in on a regular basis, but when I do, I find myself in a McGathy marathon, listening to everything I missed since the last time I tuned in. Erin interviews folks about their experiences with love and relationships, and the stories are often relatable and hilarious (and sometimes sad).

So while not quite educational, these podcasts provide a great background noise solution to my work week and seem to amp up (or at least support) my productivity!

 

This week I’m talking about Needs Assessments. Why? 1 – They are critical (and I’ll tell you why) and 2 – I received a call yesterday from a developer at another university; they were inquiring about the cost of developing 1 hour of training – when  I asked them a few probing questions, they were clearly in the infancy stage of their process and had not considered many of the variables they should have been considering. This happens often.

So, you’ve got my attention, but what IS a needs assessment?

A needs assessment typically occurs within the Analysis phase of development and involves a collection and synthesis of information to appropriately determine training needs or if training is even necessary. A needs assessment will identify whether there are any training gaps that need to be closed, and if so, which training needs exist.

Not all problems are training problems (although many are).

But why is a needs assessment so important?

As I mentioned to the developer yesterday, it is essential to assess your client’s (or potential client’s) needs and have all of that information documented so they can sign off on (or agree to) what they want developed. Your needs assessment may identify what type of training may be deemed most effective in addressing the training need, and this information is important for clients.

A needs assessment will help you write a detailed Statement of Work (more on that in a coming week), and will provide your clients with greater clarity with regard to their training needs. For example, a 1 hour computer-based training session may be more effective (and efficient) than a half day seminar. Or perhaps the issue is one necessitating practical training, in which case on-the-job training may be needed.

Alright, Alright

Basically a needs assessment can save your tail (and time) and keep your clients happy. You want to be revered as one who develops necessary training and as someone who solves problems, not someone who wastes the time and resources of their clients and/or their client’s employees.

That’s really a high-level overview of needs assessments, so if you’re looking for more information, here are several resources:

Learning and Training Needs Assessment, as explained by Don Clark

Methods for Conducting an Educational Needs Assessment – Paul F. McCawley

Learning Needs Assessment: Assessing the Need – Janet Grant 

Needs Assessment Idea (Free Download) – Craig Von Korlaar