Intellum's Testing Tool!

The most recent addition to our Rollbook LMS is a built-in, easy-to-use testing tool.  If you enjoy simple and effective quizzes or tests to go along with your training material, Rollbook now offers this ability in the course creation layout.

You will have the option of including multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions on your quiz or test.  The test creation interface is straightforward and user-friendly, so creating your test will be a simple process.

Making use of this option also allows for question-level reporting, so you can gather detailed information about your users' responses and scores on a question-by-question basis.  If you haven't already, check it out!

Is interactive multimedia courseware more effective than text based courses?

As new media continues to proliferate, a debate rages in the e-learning community as to best way to deliver course content.

Purists argue that text based learning was, is, and always will be the best way to deliver instruction. New media gurus argue that video, interactivity, and multimedia presentations offer a superior experience. Many others argue that information comprehension and retention are all dependent upon a person’s own unique learning style.

So is there truly a superior way to deliver course content?

Research shows that, in fact, multimedia based learning produces far superior course engagement and information retention that its text based counterpart.

An article entitled Benefits of Multisensory Learning published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences explains that “it is likely that the human brain has evolved to develop, learn and operate optimally in multisensory environments (i.e. interactive multimedia)… training protocols that employ unisensory stimulus (i.e. text based learning) do not engage multisensory learning mechanisms and, therefore, might not be optimal for learning.”

In plain language, we’re all born, live and learn in a world where things are happening around us all the time. Our world is dynamic and constantly moving. It would make sense that we learn best in dynamic environments.

TEXT BASED LEARNING

But what does the research say?

Many other studies support the journal’s hypothesis.

A study of student teacher education at the University of New Mexico revealed that across two experiments, students who were exposed to video and animation reported more favorable attitudes towards learning and were better able to apply the learned principles than those who were given text or classroom instruction only.

Another study published in the Medical Teacher Journal sought to “assess the association between the use of multimedia materials, such as video clips, and collaborative communication tools with learning outcomes among medical students.”

The study showed that “video-watchers were more active in [Elearning]; they loaded more pages and more actively participated in discussion forums. Video-watching was associated with a better course grade. Students who watched video clips were more active in using collaborative eLearning tools and achieved higher course grades.”

VIDEO BASED LEARNING

When multimedia learning is combined with interactive elements, the results can be even more dramatic.

An article published in the British Journal of Education Technology describes the shift in instruction methods today, “Learning paradigms today are shifting away from the assumption that knowledge should be transferred between tutor (the instructor, textbook, etc.) and the learner. Today’s learning paradigms call for what I known as an ‘immersive learning experience’ where knowledge is transferred through interaction with the learning material.”

One study cited in an essay by Dr. Steven Hick of Carleton University showed that interactivity had a strong positive effect on learning, and often allows students to learn much faster than they would otherwise be able to.

When you think about peoples preferences for entertainment, it all makes sense. Nearly 80% of American households now own video gaming equipment. Nearly everyone enjoys seeing movies. Trying to get a group of friends over for a book club… good luck.

As new media continues to proliferate, and attention spans continue to shrink, this reality becomes increasingly important for course creators.

So when you’re planning your next e-learning course, look to interactive multimedia elements to ensure maximum course effectiveness and knowledge retention.

How to Choose an LMS Vendor: Five Steps Plus One

I’ve had the extreme pleasure over the last two months to participate in several BrandonHall webinars. It’s a neat way for me to connect with companies all over the globe, and for the prospect watching on the other end, I believe the content to be very helpful in their quest to choose the correct fit for their company’s needs. The two most recent topics were: How to Choose an LMS for an SMB; and How to Replace Your Existing LMS. Although the drivers for reaching a decision are different, I don’t believe the process in getting there has to be.

BrandonHall (and other analyst firms out there) really pushes a Five-Phased approach for navigating through myriad vendors in our space, and I agree with most of their suggestions. I’ve listed the steps below and included some comments on each. I hope it helps any prospect currently experiencing the “What do I do now” effects of being tasked with choosing an LMS vendor.

Phase 1: Create a Short List of Vendors

I totally agree with this first step. There are over 130 LMS providers currently in the elearning industry, and clearly, there is no way a prospect can review each option in detail. Instead, I suggest using a tool, like BrandonHall’s LMS KnowledgeBase, to distill down a short list (maybe 10 initial providers). KB is basically a form you complete with check boxes and drop-down options, and after filling out the fields, their software will generate a list of vendors who meet your criteria. I’m not sure of the costs for using the portal, but I can tell you it is probably worth every penny. To make an analogy, think of buying a car. There are thousands of options out there, and you wouldn’t judge their ability to meet your criteria by going to the Ford or Toyota websites. All you will find there is marketing gibberish. No, you would go to Consumer Reports or Kelly Blue Book, and what you would read there is analysis done by researchers whose job is to write reviews on the exact car you are looking to purchase. Take the same approach with your LMS decision.

Phase 2: Develop a Set of Use Cases

Oh how I love thee! I cannot tell you how many times we have gotten calls from prospects that don’t even know why they are talking with us. Literally, we had a young lady call the other day wanting to learn about our Rollbook LMS application. When we asked why she needed an LMS, she had absolutely no idea. I know that may sound crazy, but we get these calls every week. If you don’t know why you need it, how in the world can you justify spending the money! So, create a list of use cases, involve as many departments in the company as possible, and use the list as your roadmap for driving the decision.

Phase 3: Set Up Scripted Demos

Another awesome idea! Folks call and talk to our sales staff for five minutes to prequalify Intellum as an option (BrandonHall’s KB would have been a better bet, right!). Boom, the next step is to set up a demonstration, except that this demonstration has no value at all unless the prospect knows what they want the LMS to do. If you come into the demo with a list of features you’d like to see in action and know why you need these features, the demonstration will go much smoother, both for the prospect and the vendor. Further, outlining the scripted demos beforehand will allow you to hold each vendor accountable for how many steps it takes to accomplish the need. In a crowded LMS industry, almost every LMS accomplishes similar goals. The difference in vendors is HOW they accomplish it. I promise if you follow this phase the difference in vendors will highlight itself within the first five minutes of seeing the LMS in action.

Phase 4: Write an RFP

Okay, this is where it gets less awesome for me ☺ I understand the need to have a baseline of knowledge about each vendor you are reviewing, and I also realize the prospect is trying to get an apples-apples comparison of each. However, does an RFP really accomplish that goal? Not really in my opinion, and I’ve been doing this for over a decade. No, the RFP is the vendor’s chance to wow you with fancy marketing jargon, slick graphics, and kill three million trees while printing out seven copies of the 96 page RFP. If you feel the need to issue an RFP, my suggestion is to create your own RFP. Don’t go to an elearning consultant’s site and download a pre-made one. Their version will contain many things you don’t need and leave out aspects important to your decision. Understand, the person who created that RFP is trying to sell you their services. The document isn’t for you…it’s for them! Instead, write a simple document outlining your needs, requesting information on the vendor’s history, their technology, e.g. are they hosted or installed options, their pricing structure, and three references. Might take you a morning to write but it will be exactly what is needed.

Intellum’s Phase 4: Test.It.Out

If you really want to understand what a company offers in the way of technology, try it out. This is the most important aspect of your entire decision-making process. Don’t believe what you saw in the scripted demonstration, and definitely do not believe much of what you read in the RFP. Go take that sucker for a test drive, and make sure you can accomplish all of the scenarios yourself immediately after the vendor demonstration. Require that they provide a login to a sandbox account that is full-featured and has unlimited access. I have a client who just moved from another LMS application. They are a hospital, and the reason they moved…reports took 24 hours to generate. Tell that to the Joint Commission when they are standing at your doorway asking for a report on all nursing quarterly training done in 2010. Hospitals literally get shut down if they cannot generate this information on the spot. The other LMS's sales person conveniently forgot to mention this when “winning” their business. Do not take my or their word for it…find out for yourself, and if they can’t or won’t give you a sandbox account, off they go from the short-list.


Phase 5: Evaluate Proposals

This step is obvious, but I really do believe it should also be the most enjoyable. One step before finalizing the choice I would suggest though…make sure you contact their references. Another hole in the RFP strategy is that it is impossible to convey how we treat our clients. Were there any ‘gotchas’ during contract negotiations, any hidden fees that had not been discussed, does their support stink, did they meet stated implementation timelines….these are all virtually impossible to determine without speaking with references. As I wrote before, get three, and I like to set the prospect up with a client in their industry, a client with similar headcount, and a client that is local (so they can grab lunch to talk through in more detail). If you have followed the previous four phases, your choice of the best fit should be very clear. You know what you want, why you need it, how it works (first-hand), and how much it will cost. You are ready to drive off that lot with a shiny new car!

Lean Startups and Sproutcore

I'm in the process of reading Running Lean by Ash Maurya. It's an excellent book that I would recommend to any entrepreneur, whether they are working on the web or not.

In a society where 9 out of 10 startups fail, some thinkers such as Steve Blank, Eric Ries, and Ash Maurya have been advocating a new approach to starting companies, based on the scientific method. They've named it Lean Startups.

Most entrepreneurs build startups assuming that their initial plan is flawless. They come up with an idea, develop it in their heads, then get a team together to execute on it. Often, when their product is ready to hit the market, that's when they realize that they've built something that no one wants or needs.

The problem is that an entrepreneur's initial vision is based largely on faith and untested hypotheses. That's why most Plan As do not work.

In his book, Maurya makes the case that "what separates successful startups is not necessarily starting with a better initial plan (Plan A), but finding a plan that works before running out of resources." He lays out a systematic process for building startups that involves iterating from that flawed plan A to a plan that works, by making and testing hypotheses along the way.

He advocates first creating a plan A. No need for a lengthy business plan here. A single page document describing that plan A is enough at this stage. This document lists things such as the customer segments targeted, the top 3 problems the company will be solving, the solution they've imagined, etc... He came up with a format for this document which he calls a Lean Canvas.

With the plan A in hand, the next step is to verify that the problem the company is set to solve is indeed a problem that the customers targeted have experienced. To figure that out, an entrepreneur should conduct interviews with people that belong to his target customer segments until he understands the problem.

Once he understands the problem the next step is to build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which solves the problem. This is not a final product, but just a demo that the entrepreneur will use in the subsequent round of interviews. Maurya says: "The main objective is using the demo to illustrate how you intend to solve the problem, convey your unique value proposition, and test pricing." Therefore, the demo needs to be realize-able, needs to look real, needs to allow you to iterate quickly, and needs to minimize waste.

Maurya says that he himself uses Ruby on Rails to build these demos: "For those familiar with the Model-View-Controller pattern, I build my demos by going in the complete reverse order. I’ll first setup some controllers, then sketch the views on paper which I’ll then translate to HTML/CSS. The model is something I tackle only after I’ve qualitatively tested a screen and got a strong signal to implement it."

At Intellum, we've invested time into learning the Sproutcore framework in the last year. We've developed pretty good expertise in building applications quickly using this framework. As I was reading Maurya's requirement for a mockup and the way he uses Ruby on Rails to create his demos, it occurred to me that Sproutcore is a perfect tool for a Lean Startup. Let me explain.

The way we develop Sproutcore applications at Intellum is to start by laying out the User Interface (UI) the way we envision it. We can build a complete UI very quickly without the need for a backend by using data from client-side fixtures. The result is a fully functional application that we can serve from a web-server and have customers test-drive.

This approach meets the four criterias for a good demo listed by Maurya:

Realize-able

What we show a customer during these interviews is exactly what they will see when we are done with the product. There are no un-met expectations, because we are building the demo with the same tool with which we will build the final application.

Looks Real

The demo will not only look real, but the customer will be able to 'drive it' by clicking around and seeing what exactly is happening.  Not only will the UI behave as a customer would expect, but this UI will actually be backed by a data model (Javascript objects) just like the real product will eventually be built.

Quick Iterations

Sproutcore views are very quick to build, and since we do not connect these client applications with the backend (we use client-side fixtures), it's really easy to iterate quickly and change things around in the mockup. Furthermore, we build applications that are backed by statecharts. This approach tends to make it really easy to quickly refactor the code and change things around. If you've never developped an application backed by an in-memory statechart, you should give it a try. It's a really nice and agile way to build applications.

Sproutcore also ships with a good set of UI widgets that we can use to create these demo applications. This means we spend less time designing. We do not need to involve a designer early in the process because these widgets are good enough for a demo.

Minimize Waste

There is literally no waste with this approach. All the code we wrote for the demo will be used for the final product. When we've found a demo that solves the problem at hand, we can quickly go from that demo to the final product. All that's needed is to create a backend for the application, modify the client-side code to use that backend instead of fixtures, and make other appropriate changes.

To make the process of demo to real-app even faster, we've been experimenting with using and syncing changesets between the client-side application and the server. This approach is very portable from application to application as a lot of the code can be reused.

As a matter of fact, whether you are using a lean startup approach or not, this is the best process we've identified to build Sproutcore applications so we do not have to take any detours in building our application. With Sproutcore, the development process closely matches the Lean Startup approach to building startups.

5 Things I've Learned About Implementing a New LMS

For about six months now, I've been helping to train our clients for the smoothest possible Learning Management System implementation process.  While the training process always differs depending upon the various types of training for which a company may be using Rollbook, there are some things that I've noticed always help the implementation experience to be much more enjoyable and valuable, for both the new administrators of the LMS and myself.  Here are some of those tips:

• Assemble a small team of LMS administrators and divide responsibilities.  If you are a smaller company, this team may be comprised of just a couple of administrators; for larger companies, you may want to consider a more extensive team.  There are many new things to learn and become familiar with when you purchase a new LMS.  Even if you are switching from one LMS to another, the ways in which they operate are going to differ greatly.  Divvying up the responsibilities of getting your LMS set up can be extremely helpful.  For example, you could have one administrator in charge of entering your users and their information, while another administrator can be responsible for setting up and/or importing your courses.

• Appoint 1 or 2 people who will be the main point(s) of contact between your company and the LMS provider.  This just makes everyone's life easier.  Communication can become very confusing throughout the implementation process if there are multiple people (on one or both ends) attempting to organize a successful LMS set-up.  Having one or two people in charge of relaying information to the LMS provider really helps to streamline the process (and vice versa, your LMS provider should provide 1 or 2 consistent points of contact to keep things simple and organized).

• For larger implementations, it may be helpful to have an IT connoisseur available to help with the more technical processes.  While this would be helpful for the entire process of implementing a new LMS, having an IT specialist is particularly useful for bulk importing training records, courses, and large amounts of users.

• Take baby steps.  Familiarize yourself with the new LMS slowly.  Trying to understand every feature and bit of functionality all at once will most likely confuse you and leave important questions unanswered.  It may help to create a timeline/schedule that outlines a plan for thoroughly understanding each feature.

• Understand the lingo.  If you've previously purchased or operated an LMS, you may already know that the technical terms and lingo can seem like a foreign language at first.  Making an effort to understand the general e-learning terms (SCORM, AICC, course authoring tool, custom courseware) can help out a lot.  Also, depending upon the LMS, the lingo will differ.  Tackling the  feat of understanding the terms will prevent confusion down the road, when the implementation process becomes more advanced.

These are just some helpful hints that I've noticed while becoming accustomed to the implementation training process, not requirements by any means.  Hope they provide some guidance in your LMS implementation experience!