AchieveGlobal's blog

DEBATE: What is the best way to engage learners and motivate them to apply new behaviors in the workplace?

by Jack McDaniel Regardless of the learning modality, the best ways to engage learners are to 1) make the content relevant to their jobs, and 2) make learning highly interactive. Simple techniques, such as a case study real to the learner instead of a generic situation or a skill practice that resonates with the learner’s real-life situation, can make a world of difference. This kind of learner engagement can be accomplished easily in either classroom, virtual classroom or self-paced elearning. But it’s in the follow-up and reinforcement where the learning modality can make a difference – and using technology is clearly superior. Just look at the effectiveness of blogs, EPSS, discussion forums and communities of practice. A comment about this question: While it's true that relevant content engages the learner, organizational commitment is even more critical. This commitment reveals itself in the importance that the organization puts on learning, the rewards that come from improved performance, and endorsements and follow-up from the executive team down to the manager. Management teams must be engaged. They must help coach and reinforce the behaviors before, during, and after the learning, regardless of the modality. If learner engagement is relevant to your business, watch this video in which Todd and I continue this debate on AchieveGlobal Island in Second Life.

DEBATE: Doesn ' t it make sense for people to learn leadership, sales, and service skills by communicating with each other, face-to-face, in a classroom environment?

by Jack McDaniel It does make sense for people to learn “human skills” by communicating with each other, but not necessarily in a face-to-face classroom environment. A 2006 IDC report indicated that 70% of learning happens informally, outside a face-to-face classroom environment. This includes looking something up on Google, asking a question over the next cubicle, having water-cooler conversations, and communicating by IM, text messages, and so on. Of the remaining 30% of learning, ASTD reports that 30% of that (one hour in every three) is involves elearning, often in a collaborative format. Josh Bersin’s data indicates that over 11% of firms already use collaboration through “communities of practice” to encourage employee learning, with interest building in on-demand approaches such as blogs, wikis, and discussion forums. So yes, we are social beings and will continue to rely on learning from each other; however, there’s a lot more than face-to-face classroom training to meet our needs. Data indicates that only 11% of people who watch this video think Todd's argument is stronger than mine. Seems to me I'm totally winning this virtual-world debate on the AchieveGlobal Island in Second Life.