E-learning: If I’d known then what I know now…
Jul 08, 2011
A blog reader is getting started in e-learning and asked a great question around common mistakes and where she should focus her learning. This was too good to answer offline so here it is
Looking back—one month, one year or ten years—what are the one or two things you’d do differently knowing what you know today?
- What would you have spent more time learning about?
- Would you have changed degrees?
- Would you have taken the same jobs or contracts?
- Would you have learned more technical skills? Design? Writing?
And finally, what are you focused on learning to help you remain competitive tomorrow?
32 Replies
Sir Bruce (aka Bytor): First things first:
On Friday night they'll be dressed to kill/
Over at Dino's Bar and Grill./
Drinks will flow and blood will spill./
And if the boys wanna fight you betta let' em.
So, Bruce, I've been working for "The Man" a year now (I must say it pays well), and a lot of the "elearning" I have created is glorified presentation, not training. I suggest someone going into elearning be ok with that, because that's what a lot of us do: make PowerPoints pretty and engaging and put them in Storyline, of course.
Most managers, in my opinion, don't have the time to figure out whether or not a "training" should be delivered. A higher-up said build X, and then Daniel builds it. Cranking Rush or Thin Lizzy all the while.
They call me the "working man"/
I guess that's what I am.
I would have become a brain surgeon instead which was my second choice for a career path.
Would that be Brain Salad Surgery?
Ah...you have gone over to the well-paying "Dark Side" !
Oh well - if it allows you to play Rush and Thin Lizzy all day long that makes it acceptable :)
I guess my point is that every presentation aims to teach people something - whether that be latest trends, profits, losses, sales and so on. Perhaps not "training", but certainly "learning" of some sort, no matter what is on the slides, no?
I suppose the only appropriate lyrics for you now are:
"Big money pull a million strings
Big money hold the prize"
I get a few "strategic communication" requests. Sometimes these become quick messages on the LMS. Sometimes something else. What we do isn't entirely different from the folks in comms and marketing departments. Helps to make good friends in those departments:)
Completely agree.
*Big Money got a mean streak/*
*Big Money got no soul!*
Hi, Bruce: Yes, in a nut shell, they stuff I've been creating is
presentation-based "learning." Don't get me wrong, information (especially
that of the emotional kind) can shape a person's behavior--e.g., there's a
pissed off rattlesnake under your bed, or your wife is sleeping with the
next-door neighbor.
Smart people look at a good presentation and know the information they need
to act on. Maybe I should start a thread on the value of making information
pretty. Or maybe I should get back to work?
Really good to hear from you, man.
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