I would like to thank the training staff at the North Carolina State Employees Credit Union for all their hard work on the 20th and 21st as we completed their first two days of the Results-Based Instructional Systems Design Series. I’ll look forward to seeing you again in November when we meet to complete the series.

I spend a lot of time talking to learning professionals around the country and I’m used to getting push-back on my ideas. One of the things on which I get the most push-back is reframing training requests. What I usually hear is, "They just don’t want to hear my ideas and I don’t feel like it’s my place to tell them what to do." Let me set the record straight. It is our job as learning professionals to make sure we are doing what our clients need, and not just responding to what they want or think they need. We’re also never going to win a lot of friends by just telling our clients what we think they should do. We may have a different idea of the best learning solution for a given situation, but often times we are just "solution jumping" ourselves. The answer, of course, is to slow down enough to conduct some analysis, but that’s easier said than done. It is just not human nature to listen to others for input when we think we have the answer to a problem. That’s why trying to "sell" your idea to someone else rarely works. What does work is to ask questions in such a way that we and our clients get a better understanding of the true problem, the true goal or need, and some possible analysis techniques that will lead us to the best solution. This process as taught to me by Jim and Dana Robinson is called "reframing" and I learned whatever I know about it from the Robinsons. I was able to convince myself that it works by putting the process to work with my clients. The only way you can actually learn this skill is by doing it. Getting started on your reframing skills is easy. It’s the practice that takes a bit of work. Click on the Resources tab and use the handout from my half day workshop with the same title as this blog. The handout is free. If you are interested in the workshop, contact Sara Miller at sara.miller@handshaw.com. 1 of 4 in series

Chris Adams, Product Manager for Handshaw, Inc., will be a lead facilitator in the panel discussion at ISPI Charlotte’s December program entitled "Instructional & Performance Support Development Tools, Tricks & Tips."  The chapter meeting will be held on Thursday, December 9th from 4:30 to 8:00 pm.  Chris will join panel members Jane Bozarth, Ph.D. and Josh Cavalier in a discussion about learning technology that includes their real-world experiences.  Participants will leave with tools, tricks & tips to improve their skills as learning professionals.  Chris has been with Handshaw, Inc. for 15 years and co-invented Handshaw’s content creation and learning management platform, Lumenix.   As Product Manager, he helps clients implement software to improve human performance. For more details or to register for this event visit www.ispicharlotte.org.

As I said in my last blog, my job provides me with the opportunity to travel around and listen to trainers in the real world.  When I do, I hear about what they do and don’t use from Instructional Design methodology. I recently asked a group of about 35 people how many of them conduct a reasonably thorough task analysis at the beginning of a development project. Two hands went up. I’ll be the first to recognize that not every project requires a rigorous approach regarding instructional design methodology. Sometimes you don’t have enough time, enough money, or sometimes it’s just something you could design in your sleep. But there are times when the project and the risk are too big and you just don’t know where to begin. I think many of us can agree on one thing. Identifying project scope and agreeing on the content and best practices for any job task are some of our biggest challenges at the start of a project. Beginning with a content outline is one way to gain some consensus regarding content. But what about actual performance behaviors, how do you quantify those? If the job function already exists, you can observe your best performers at work and ask them what makes them so successful. By doing this you can document the process as accurately as possible with the least amount of work and time.  This documentation, along with approval from experts and project sponsors, can save you many hours of rework near the end of the project when you can least afford it. If you would like to see our process for performing task analysis, click on the Resources tab, and select Task Analysis Procedures. This is one of the handouts from my half-day workshop of the same title. It takes a while to learn to do a really good task analysis.  The only way to really master the process is to do it. Feel free to email me if you need help. One last thing I’d like to offer is an article by one of my colleagues, Beth Hughes. She wrote an excellent article comparing a topic-based approach to a task-based approach. Click on the link below to see her article. Selecting a Task-Based Instructional Model 2 of 4 in series

Next week I’ll be in Orlando, FL for three days for I/ITSEC 2010, the World’s largest modeling, simulation and training conference.  The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) promotes cooperation among the Armed Services, Industry, Academia and various Government agencies in pursuit of improved training and education programs, identification of common training issues and development of multiservice programs. While I’m there I’ll have the opportunity to demo a prototype we have developed with our newest partner Vector CSP and our longest term partner Standpoint Technologies. We have been anxious to get some experience with mobile applications and Lumenix for some time. This project is developed for the Coast Guard.  We are making 500 maintenance procedures available to the personnel of the Coast Guard’s 87 foot cutter on three different mobile devices. The unique opportunity in this prototype is the capability to sync the mobile device with the content data base anytime to assure all data on procedures is up to date. This is something that has been a problem on board a ship using a stack of paper based Maintenance Procedure Cards in the past. I’m looking forward to sharing our prototype and learning more about the practical use of mobile applications and virtual simulations.

The design phase in designing instruction is easy if you have done the right amount of analysis.  However, it can be difficult or just not the right strategy at all if you haven’t.  I know it’s not difficult to come up with an instructional strategy relying on your intuition or what you did last time, but anyone can do that.  In order to come up with the best instructional strategy, one that is based on needed results, you must be able to link your strategy to outcomes. In order to truly understand this, you must first understand the links among the task analysis, performance objectives and measurement strategy. Yes, if you complete your measurement strategy before your instructional strategy, it is not only easier, but your instructional strategy is much more likely to get predictable results, or what statisticians would call predictive validity. In the previous blog in this series, we talked about analysis. The outcome from the task analysis is main tasks and sub tasks required in order to achieve the instructional goal and a performance objective is key to understanding how to measure the task.  The performance objective should describe each main task in terms of not only what the learner will be required to do, but also how that task must be completed.  If the performance objective is written properly, it is not only obvious what kind of testing instrument should be used, but how it should be constructed. In most cases, this will drive you away from measurement of only knowledge toward measurement of knowledge and performance. In any event, your tests will be tied to needed results and will have greater predictive validity. The interesting thing about figuring out the best way for someone to learn something is that knowing how you plan on measuring them first makes determining a successful instructional strategy easier and almost guaranteed to be tied to results. The process doesn’t require a lot of time, which makes it practical for all of us with tight deadlines to ensure that our learning gets results on the first try, not on the second or third major revision. For an example of the critical link among task analysis, performance objectives, measurement strategy and instructional strategy, click on the Resources tab and select Learning Design Example. 3 of 4 in series

I’m presenting a series of half-day workshops at Interact Studio in Charlotte, NC over the next several months.  The series is entitled "The Results-Based Learning Series" and the next workshop will be held January 14, 2011.  Learn more below, register, and come join me! To register visit: http://dickhandshawworkshop.eventbrite.com Learning Analysis?  You Can’t Afford Not To "Analysis? We don’t have time for that. It’s too expensive. Truth is, I’m not really sure how to do it." Sound familiar? Sure it does. In this session, Dick Handshaw will show participants how analysis has saved him more money and earned him more clients than anything else he has done in the past twenty-five years in his business. Completing a task analysis may be tedious, but it is neither difficult nor expensive. Participants will complete a task analysis during the session and will learn how analysis benefits them in course design and development. Participants will also learn what to do with an audience analysis and a learning culture analysis. Performance Objectives:  Determine what type of analysis is needed given the situation, risk and the business case. Conduct a task analysis that is useful in course design and doesn’t take too long or cost too much. Conduct an appropriate audience and learning culture analysis that serves a useful purpose in learning design and development. To register visit: http://dickhandshawworkshop.eventbrite.com

Richard Pearlstein was kind enough to speak to our Charlotte ISPI chapter about measurement in October and he did a great job. Something he said still bothers me. I’m paraphrasing, Richard, so forgive me if I don’t get it exactly right. He said, "People don’t measure because they don’t want to know the real results." I’m not disagreeing with Richard, but I just don’t get it. I know I’ve been an outside provider of learning solutions for almost 30 years and an inside provider for just five, so my perspective may be skewed. I know the pressure to go on to the next project is great and there is little time to spend on the project you just finished. But, let’s take a minute to examine how much there is to be learned. I have always told people that the learning moment in e-learning comes when a learner makes a mistake and receives feedback. It’s no different when it comes to learning how to design better learning solutions. If you don’t take the time to find out how well your learning solutions met their business goals, you are passing up your greatest opportunity for learning and growing in your profession. And I don’t mean just asking people how they liked their learning solution. Research shows there is no correlation between actual results and how well people liked a particular instructor or e-learning program. You must find a way to measure results, not just activities or opinions Now, let me address that fear thing. What if I find out some things I don’t want my boss or client to know about? I never said you had to share everything you find out. In fact, you will find your best lessons for your personal growth in examining the things that didn’t work, rather than being acknowledged for the things that did work. So, go out there and measure real results, I dare you. I would like to read some feedback from some of the internal practitioners who might be following this blog. Tell me what you learn from measuring, or tell me why you don’t measure. Either way, I would like to know. 4 of 4 in series

I will have the pleasure of speaking to the members of the Middle Tennessee chapter of ASTD for their evening program on February 17th, 2011. I’ll be doing a fairly new program called, "Instructional Design: Selling the Real Value." This will be the same presentation that I’m doing for Training 2011 in San Diego, and I’ll have a little more time, so I will be able to tell a few more war stories and have more audience participation. Just to let you know, despite the title, the program isn’t really about selling anything. The program focuses on three proven strategies that leverage Instructional Design to create real value in the first place. The selling strategies really consist of making sure you have made a good example out of how you used Instructional Design, so you can continue to position yourself for more efficiency and better results in the future. So, to the folks in Nashville, thanks for inviting me.  I look forward to meeting you.

It is great to be back at a Training conference. They have always been favorites of mine. Even though this one got a late start in being organized, you could never tell that by being here. Everything is beautifully organized, with lots of new activities and some old favorites, like Bryan Chapman’s Shootouts. The day one keynote actually had three presenters moderated by North Carolina’s own, Tony O’Driscoll. Audience response devices are in many sessions, including this one. The first presenter, Daniel Simons, used science and actual research to prove that multitasking is not only impossible while driving a car, but destroys our ability to really learn in a learning event. We can switch tasks, but we really can’t do more than one thing at a time. Our brains don’t work that way. I really never thought they did anyway. Another presenter, Robert Epstein, talked about the value of creativity.  He talked about how we can successfully increase creativity in employees by simply creating a culture where it is encouraged and valued. It seems people can be far more creative than we give them credit for, simply by encouraging them. Charles Leadbeater talked about how dramatically we can change the way we educate people by leveraging the sharing power of the web. Schools have really not changed much for hundreds of years, but the web has the power to make them change dramatically. We just have to make up our minds to change.