In my way to connect different disciplines, I have recently readen the expression “Educating the Market”. Eureka! This is a new application of learning.

Customers are most saturated of receiving a lot of  ads. They would like to receive useful information, not only product promotion. Isn’t it education? Should we rethink communication as education? Does education have method to create “brand education” programs? Is measuring in education developed assess messages effectiveness?

assessment · e-learning · e-marketing · learning · measurement

Recently, I read this sentence (supposed from Winston Churchill) in a book: “Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught”. I like it very much, because it points to one simple truth: you can only learn if you want.

And if you can. But, do we know how to learn? Do we know the techniques to be a good learner?

I rescue a very good book that I read some years ago (good texts don’t get obsolete easily). It shows a method on how to be a good learner. The steps are six.

First of all, Motivation. The state of mind is key for learning success. You should be relaxed, confident and motivated.

Second, Acquire the facts. What is the core idea?

Third, Search out the meaning. Maybe the critical step. Connecting new ideas with previous ones is key in learning. “Put it in your map”. Sharing ideas and collaborate is best way to understand.

Fourth, Trigger the memory. Obviously there can be no learning without memory. In this point, e-learning can provide a powerful tool to review and remind content in a continous cycle.

Fifth, Exhibit what you know. Maybe the best to learn: teaching. When you teach something you are ensuring that you have fully understood the subject.

Sixth, Reflect on what you learnt. The learning process must be improved every time you run it. Analyse your learning way and try to get new skills on learning. This is metalearning.

Good learners are made, not born. Do we have the appropriate tools to learn better? Are the schools educating our children on how to learn? Are the companies creating good learners? Are our teaching programs approches in this way?

learning · metalearning · motivation · student

I don’t remember exactly the author, but the most important in any business is being capable to measure results. Technology provides the tools to measure many variables in an automatic way, so large amounts of data can be gathered about online environment.

We are going to have a look to some interesting variables in e-learning. In this case, an e-learning course with integrated assessment by test questions.

First of all, accesses are measured. This indicator is telling us if students are reaching our platform. Is our communication plan working effectively? Are we communicating in the right time?

In this example we can see very clearly that our launching communication actions have been effective, although is losing momentum. Another important conclusion: in Christmas, students are on holidays.

Second, attempts:

In this example, we can see an important fail pecentage, about 20%. Is our training too difficult? Is assessment not appropriate? Are there some technical problems (not finished)?

And finally, passed:

We can see that most of the students have successfully finished. This is our main objective, but, are there many attritions? Why have these students not finish?

This is a short introduction to e-learning analysis. In next post we will go deep in other measurements and conclusions.

assessment · e-learning · learning · measurement · student · technology

The British Council in Spain has published a report about its “Bilingual School in Action” program, that aims to develop a Spanish-English integrated curriculum. This program has been working since 1996 and now includes more than 200.000 students.

A new assessment has been performed this year. One of the most important conclusions of it is that bilingual students are getting better qualifications in its own language than monolingual students. So this time taken from teaching in Spanish is recovered with a better language learning ability of bilingual students. It is an example of  ”synergie” in learning.

e-learning · language · learning · school

This post is not very related with e-learning… or maybe it is, because it is about meanings. Recently I rediscovered this tool, called Wordle. With this tool you can create beautiful word clouds. In other “words” you can check if your blog is talking about you want to write. I test this one, and I found that maybe I should make some adjustments.

2.0 · e-learning · knowledge management · measurement

Recently I found a very interesting video about e-learning project management. It shows in 7 minutes, how to develop an e-learning course, following a structured methodology, to get the project objectives in time and cost.

I would have some comments on methodology itself, because nowadays the author tools allow fast and low-cost changes in the courses. But I think it is a great example of a learning “pill”. It is concrete, fast, engaging. You can answer that this an ad more than an education piece. I would tell you: “yes, but what is the difference between teaching and selling?”.

authorware · e-learning · instructional design · project management

Following with “adaptative” concept, I found an interesting video about adaptative learning. How much can we personalize e-learning programs? Is it feasible?

adaptative · e-learning · LMS · student · university

A few days ago I had the opportunity to test a different English test (if you’ll forgive the repetition). It is called adaptative english test and has been developed by ADIC, a joint venture of IBM, Santander, Iberdrola and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.

The novelty in that is adaptation. In its design focus was focused in speed, so trying to avoid unuseful questions. The concept is quite simple: adapting questions to student level. Not so easy to implement: depending on your previous anwers, the system shows the student different questions to go refining the result. For example, if in the first question you have failed a “50 level”, the system will present you a lower level question.

I found it a really interesting for companies and recruiters, which can perform a fast test with an accurated result. And, if you think about it, really difficult for copying.

assessment · e-learning · language · measurement · technology · university

Another good question to answer to the customers: what platform should I buy or rent? Do you know what are you going to do?

If the answer is “no”, please start by the beginning. First choose your goals, define your strategy and then, not before, try to find the resources to implement your strategy. Resources should be adapted to strategy, not contrary. This is a rule of thumb for business management (or common sense). In some organizations the IT department has run to buy a powerful LMS before having an e-learning plan. Result: a powerful, plenty of features and probably quite expensive unused platform.

Don’t be afraid to imagine new learning solutions based on technology. In 2010, probably you will be able to find the proper technical resources and the right technical team at an affordable price to turn them into reality.

e-learning · LMS · technology

In my quite long experience, when I have offered my course design expertise to my customers, one of the most repeated questions from them has been: do you have a subject matter expert? My following question is: do you really need it?

In the first stage of course design, you have to be focused in student needs. When you have the learning path, you can decide if you need a SME to “fill in the gaps”. Many people would say: you can not teach what you don’t know. Obviously you can not teach anything with no idea. But, for example: are you able to create a short basic course on how to use a computer? Do you need an expert to show your child how to use the TV remote?

In the other way, my question is: is the best expert the best teacher?

e-learning · expert · SME