Learning How to Learn Online

Lo and behold, The Synchronous Trainer’s Survival Guide, by Jennifer Hofmann of InSync Training, includes a section on “Learning How to Learn Online.” The book, geared toward facilitators of “live and online” training for adults, provides an introduction to the tools and techniques used in what it refers to as “the synchronous classroom.” Hofmann uses a terrific analogy in her introduction; classroom learning is to online learning as a theater production is to a television show. She points out that early television mimicked theater until we figured out that there was more to it than that. Some are, at this stage, further ahead than others in figuring out how to use online learning in ways beyond classroom methods.

Chapter 6 takes the focus off the trainer’s perspective to look at the participant experience. Hofmann makes the point that participants need to adapt their expectations and develop new skills when preparing for online learning. Needs such as doing the prep work and creating a workable workspace can come as a surprise to the inexperienced. She recommends that facilitators start their own process of learning to teach online by becoming an online participant. Great advice, IMHO, that will provide invaluable insight. She also recommends that facilitators offer their own version of “Learn How to Learn Online” as a prerequisite for other training classes. This session should include a chance to explore the tools used (whiteboard, audio and/or chat, breakout rooms, polling, etc.); a review of the ground rules for communicating; guidelines for participants on setting up their environment; and an explanation of policies on prep work, participation, and handling interruptions.

Hofmann writes a bit in this chapter and more elsewhere in the book about communication differences between classroom and online interactions. For example, online we lose the ability to signal that we have a question by looking quizzically at the instructor. It can be frustrating to find ourselves functioning without the simple visual and verbal cues we take for granted when interacting in person. This has been something I’ve been very aware of in my first months as an online student. I hope to get a bit further into this topic in a future post.

“Are you sure you’re ready for online learning?”

This post’s title is the tagline of OASIS, “an online readiness assessment designed for students either considering an online course or currently enrolled in an online course.”

It includes two assessments, one for online learning readiness and another for learning styles with tips on how to make the most of one’s styles—active or reflexive, sensing or intuitive, visual or verbal, sequential or global—when participating in online learning.

The site boasts the participation of 75 community colleges in Illinois, access to 2156 online courses, and the participation of over 23,000 students. It does have minor indications of being outdated and the typical signs that the project never quite got competed according to plan. However, it’s a useful tool for college students new to online courses.

I was thinking my post about what’s needed to be a good online student might have been a bit over the top, but this instrument lines up with my points nicely. It emphasizes self-motivation and discipline, the need for greater time and effort than a classroom-based course, and strong reading and writing skills.

The site also includes some brief tutorials on online learning tools; no surprise that this is where the outdatedness comes in (e.g.: IE5). This is not the strongest part of the site.

What Not to Do When Developing Online Training

Having just completed some mandatory online training this week, I was inspired to take a side-step from the topic of “preparing to learn online” to cover today’s special topic, "What Not to Do When Developing Online Training."

1. Don’t waste your trainees' time.
2. Don’t waste the taxpayers' money (oops, sorry, that’s not so much a training issue, is it?).
3. Don’t mandate training for those who had it last year, and the year before, and the year before that.
4. Don’t pass laws to require training; instead, hire, train, and develop your employees well.
5. Don’t talk down to or BS your trainees.
6. Don’t make trainees change their password if they are only going to be in the system once.
7. Don’t be redundant. (Refer to #1)
8. Don’t make trainees click a link to get to a page where there is nothing to do but click a button to get to another page.
9. Do not use 4 pages of introduction, and then follow that with an introduction section of 13 pages!
10. Do not quiz your trainees on the introductory text. If it’s quiz-worthy, then it’s content, not intro. If you can’t find a better title for it than Introduction, then it’s bogus content. (Refer to #5)
11. Do not include an entire "content" section on why the training is mandatory. (If you couldn’t fit that into the 17 pages of introduction, you need to review your content…and your motives.)
12. If content is mandatory, don’t hide it under an optional-looking FAQ button.
13. Breaking confusing text up into chunks on separate pages, followed by a confusing multiple choice question, does not constitute training!
14. Do not ask trainees questions they could not possibly know the answer to!!!
15. Do not use training to "remind" people of information they already know.
    
    :-Þ Have a nice day at work!