Push or Pull, that is the question

Feb 28, 2018

Hi everyone,

I'm building some e-learning courses with Storyline 360 for my company and I was wondering about which approach I should use.

I know some people are saying the "Pull" approach is the best way to go, but I am on my own on this big project, and quiet afraid..

There are several points that make me think the "Push" approach might be "better" for my project :

- My company is a "Public works" company, some of my learners don't really know how to use a computer correctly. With a "Push" approach I'm stick with a "Previous" and "Next" buttons (most of the time).

- My learners are using my e-learning during their working time, so it needs to be "fast and clear informations".

- My learners are African workers, and I was discussing with some people working there and they were saying the main problem is the fact they are "lazy" about working on stuff, so if you allow them to skip things, they'll.

I was thinking about a mix between Push and Pull, where I use "Push" approach on the main content and "Pull" approach on the bonus content.

Thank you for all the help you can provide and feel free to share some courses if you have some, it'll help me a lot!

11 Replies
Cary Glenn

This is definitely a "Push" scenario. "Pull" type training is very rare. The racism about African workers is outrageous. Skipping through training is common in every company I've seen. The African immigrants I've worked with have been much more interested in training than many people. 

It is not just your company that people don't know how to use a computer. I've had to teach people how to use a mouse. You may need to have someone nearby to help with computer issues.

Focus on what they need to do. Scenario type training can be very effective in some situations. 

Jules Guillot

Hi Allison,

There are several objectives :

- One is to allow them to communicate with their superior when they are working, so it's based on helping them to tell things even bad ones but also to take care of the different rules you can find everywhere when you are working on "public works". So we sum up with "Oral Communication" and "Writing Communication".

- The other one is to help them to understand all the vocabulary around "Public Works" : vehicles, tools... 

Jules Guillot

Hi Cary,

I agree 100% with what you said about "African workers", I hate those "stereotype/racism" points of views. Everyone is different. I was able to move there for only one week just to see some learners and I can already tell they were really interested with a lot of things. Some of them were coming to meet me and ask me some stuff about MOOC and e-learning because they were interested in trying them.

To be fair I don't make any differences between my learners, I just try to build something simple and clear because I think it's the most effective way to do things with e-learning. 

That's also why I was asking my superiors if I could go back there and help them to understand how my e-learning is working, so they can use it effectively. 

Thanks for the help!

Allison LaMotte

Hi Jules,

For your first objective: Have you thought about doing something scenario-based? It seems like a great opportunity to present them with common situations and then give them the option to tell their supervisor or not, and then explain why that was/wasn't the right decision?

For the second objective: Instead of doing a full-fledged e-learning course, why not just provide them with a job aid that they can refer to as needed?

Jules Guillot

Yes, I was thinking about using a scenario-based e-learning for the first part, maybe not a full scenario-based but at least some exercices/lessons so it feels more "realistic". I want to use "Articulate" characters to help me in this task.

For the second objective, I was thinking about this, obviously I HAVE TO build an e-learning because my company is asking me to do it, but I was asking my superiors so we can build a job aid with a list of the vocabulary they need. That way they can refer to this anytime.

Jules Guillot

I've tried, but they also need the e-learning to test their students, so they can get a certificate at the end of it. It's quiet hard to build an interesting e-learning in that case, because it's just a long list of vocabulary, but I'll try to build something helpful and switch the way I present things (not just a long list of pictures and text next to it).

But at least they agreed about the job aid, so it's a step forward!

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