What are some strategies you have used when developing assessments and evaluations for the visually impaired? Share some of your stories.

The technology such as Centra, Elluminate and Web Ex have become more advanced and allows for a variety of different engaging and interactive options. There are several types of sessions that can be designed to meet your instructional goals. The software features can be used differently in each session which allows you to keep being creative and unique. For example, in one session you may use the polling feature to check the learner’s knowledge but in a different session, you use the polling feature to provide statistics or facts. I encourage you to read our white paper on how to customize your VILT training!

What are some examples of how you are incorporating innovative design into your VILT sessions?

Those are, of course, two different questions. As to the first question, the obvious answer is that well-designed and delivered training is effective in any medium, while poorly designed and delivered training is not. If your “training” consists of a disengaged lecturer reading his or her PowerPoint slides verbatim, it will be equally bad in both the real and the virtual classroom. The only advantage to the virtual version is that the students won’t need to conceal their boredom from the instructor.

If you require more documented proof of VILT’s effectiveness, numerous studies have been conducted and reported by some of the best-respected authorities in the field. In particular, Dr. Ruth Clark has written on this subject a number of times, and the weight of her evidence is impressive.

As to the second question, the answer is an equally emphatic “yes” — VILT is definitely worth it because it has proven itself as a highly cost-effective approach to training. Again, multiple studies provide solid evidence that this is true. And as we all know, in this recessionary and post-recessionary period of shrinking budgets and waning enthusiasm for business-related travel, nothing draws more enthusiasm from management than a better bottom line.

What are your experiences with VILT? Has it already proven its worth to you or are you still on the fence? If you’re uncertain (or are dealing with skeptical management), take a look at some of the studies and see how convincing they are.

To ensure you choose the best e-learning method for your situation, first classify your training goals and objectives. Then, determine which e-learning methods best support the learning types involved. Let’s focus on some e-learning solutions that could be used for my daughter to acquire the knowledge needed to drive. What is the best way to teach the various traffic rules and signs? Some options may include visual presentation, Web-based training or multimedia interactions. Do you have other suggestions?

What are different e-learning solutions that you are using to acquire knowledge? How are you choosing your e-learning methods

In today’s competitive and reduced workplace, performance coaching and mentoring is critical. Time is a precious commodity and staffing models are smaller, which means that everyone has more responsibilities. Performance coaching and mentoring provides the opportunity to get feedback and gain insights from your experiences which, in turn, improves overall performance and gets desired results quickly.

How have you coached and mentored your employees to achieve performance goals? What are some of your experiences as a coach or mentor?

Companies make sizeable investments in their software systems but often wait until too late in the project to begin thinking about training and documentation. When they finally decide to tackle the technical documentation, time and resources become the priorities and design becomes secondary. Often, the solution is lengthy manuals and multiple classes giving their employees “everything they ever wanted to know” about the system. Unfortunately, these types of solutions also include things people don’t want to know and, more importantly, don’t need to know.

This approach to training is sometimes called the “fire hose” technique, because it is like drinking from a fire hose—filling up people too fast with too much information. The information provided is often very valuable but is usually too much, too fast and results in overload.

One way to avoid the fire hose is to develop effective technical documentation  that can provide a steady flow of information on an as-needed basis.

What about you? Have you experienced overload? What techniques have you used to implement effective technical documentation and avoid overload?

This is equally true in the realm of education and instruction. All training and development professionals have been faced, at one time or another, with the challenge of developing instruction for multiple audiences, using the same content but with a different “slant” for each group. This has never been truer than it is today, with the current economic crunch pushing most training end-users to require the maximum possible return on their training investment—a “more bang for the buck” attitude that leads to demands for the reusability or repurposing of training materials for as many potential audiences as possible.

This can be a real dilemma for training professionals, because we all know that the audience matters! We wouldn’t teach spreadsheet software to a truck driver who wants to balance his checkbook the same way we would teach it to an accountant, even though both might have a need. So when we’re asked to develop training for several different types of learners—with a wide range of interests and needs—(and maybe even for customers!) we know that we have our work cut out for us.

Fortunately, experienced training developers have wrestled with this issue long enough to come up with solutions…and even a process for effectively tailoring content for multiple audiences. Challenges remain, of course, but the process has proven itself repeatedly—multiple audiences can be taught effectively, with no compromises to the integrity of the material or the instruction, all within budgets that clients can live with.

What experiences have you had with developing for multiple audiences? How did you meet the challenges? Are you happy with your solutions? Let us know how your process compares to ours.

Recently I was working with a Fortune 500 company who wanted to keep their leadership engaged after their bi-yearly leadership town halls. The company found that during the town hall all levels of leadership were engaged and collaborating with each other and the leaders naturally formed small learning communities where peer learning occurred. But when the town halls ended, the leaders went back to their normal routines and the learning communities were no longer active until the next bi-yearly town hall. Has something like this happened in your organization?

To address this issue, the company incorporated monthly “Coaching Cafés” where small groups of leaders met to discuss, collaborate and share ideas. Meeting regular in small learning communities resulted in continuous learning for the leaders and improved overall team performance.

Some examples of how learning communities can be incorporated into learning are:

• Face-to-face where students can interact—in real time—to discuss a topic, as happened in my example
• Virtual where students can interact synchronously or asynchronously using live chat rooms, Wikis, blogs and virtual meeting rooms such as WebEx
• Blended where learning communities receive “the best of both worlds.” Students can use face-to-face discussions as well as continue sharing information and learning from each other using technology such as Wikis and blogs.

Learning communities can be incorporated into a variety of learning formats. We have only shared a few. How have you been using learning communities in your training? What are some examples of learning communities that you would like to share?