According to many articles, papers, websites and vendors, we are living in a world of blended learning. This world incorporates good old-fashioned, instructor-led training, (ILT), e-learning and just-in-time assistance (a/k/a the learning moment). Online firm universities abound with snappy learning management system (LMS) programs.
The Real World
The reality is that resources at most firms are not sufficient to truly launch e-learning. Instructor-led training remains the norm, and many trainers are hard-pressed to support the new-user training demands on their time, let alone offer a wide range of additional courses for existing users. While an intriguing notion, blended learning is definitely not the norm. The online firm university may have been launched but it is still more often a library of traditional training materials (i.e., Word documents) than a rich multi-media playground.
A primary challenge to initiating e-learning programs is identifying the costs of each training approach. This is necessary to successfully articulate costs to management and to conduct ROI analysis. In a paper titled "Cost Comparison: Instructor-Led vs. eLearning," Paul Walliker, of Caterpillar University, provides a formula that may assist you in these efforts. In short, while development time and costs are much steeper on the front-end of e-learning, those hours can be justified fairly quickly with savings on ILT hours.
If You Build It, Will They Really Come?
Elliott Masie, a leader in the e-learning field, posed this question in a study a few years ago. The study looked at 30 online courses at 16 companies involving more than 700 learners. The results were eye-opening. He noted that e-learning course completion rates were notoriously low; therefore, the study measured only start rates. A discouraging 69 percent start rate was recorded for mandatory courses. Voluntary courses came in far lower at a 32 percent start rate. While I have experienced better rates (both start and completion) with mandatory courses in our LMS, it is sobering to consider how much farther we have to go in engaging people in non-ILT learning opportunities.
The drivers that will help us raise that rate are marketing, support from management (e.g., communicating the importance of e-learning, and providing locations and the time for training during work hours) and incentives. Solid communications about the benefits of this work to one's career path and salary/review process are the incentives people seek.
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
The volume and pace of changing technology makes ongoing learning a must. The majority of workers easily utilize five to 10 different applications on a daily basis. And new versions of those applications come out at least every couple of years.
This volume of change makes investing in employee retention critical to efficient workflow and good client service. Every new employee represents a much steeper orientation and training hill than ever before.
Tight resources (time and dollars), user and management commitment to lifelong learning and the challenging pace of technology change conspire to make building a first-rate, diverse training program a tough slog for most of us, if not a seemingly impossible dream.
The Trouble with (Traditional) Training
Bigger Rollouts, Less Classroom Time (a/k/a An Attorney Has to Bill). Even as rollouts become more frequent and often larger in scope, it is unrealistic to expect an attorney's undivided attention for a full day, let alone the week you had years ago when you did your WordPerfect-to-Word transition.
Distractibility - Can It Be Leveraged? Training expert Karl Kapp says "Diversity in the work place should extend to learning styles and methods. Learners are constantly juggling multiple windows, cell phones, iPods and other things that we older workers call "distractions." Instead of fighting it, we need to find ways of delivering learning via these gadgets, games and gizmos.
It's an intriguing thought. We've seen increasing discussions of the different generations of learners (e.g., boomers, GenX, millenniums). A little "Googling" on topics such a wikis, blogs and podcasts will broaden your perspective on what is learning versus what is goofing off. Move outside of your comfort zone and try some of these approaches. Even if you can't create learning with these methods now, you will better understand the rhythms of learners of other generations.
Are the Old Rules Simply Pedantic? Is it possible that the tried-and-true rule - tell them what you're going to tell them; then tell them; then tell them what you told them - is simply tired? Kapp proposes that instead of starting your e-learning modules with clear objectives, inject a little mystery into the equation. Give learners a plot, and let them discover the solution (e.g., "Jim has to get this document e-filed, but it has to be a PDF file. What can he do?"). Otherwise, you risk boring people by Frame 1.
Simple Things to Maximize Resources
Leverage the knowledge of other people at your firm. Spread the teaching opportunities beyond the training department to the subject matter experts (SME) and assist them in being effective teachers of their knowledge areas. This can be done in less traditional ways to great effect. At Perkins, our librarians have developed a great series of brief (15-minute) sessions they offer on topics such as "15 Environmental Websites in 15 Minutes" or "How To Use Corporate Affiliations." These are incorporated into the standard LMS-offered weekly courses and presented in the library (i.e., taking training out of the training room). Your litigation support group could be another resource.
By keeping sessions brief and task-focused, you can help SMEs be successful presenters. You can also meet the fast-paced needs of billers who find a one-hour class burdensome to the extreme. You'll also find that users can absorb and retain the content of a brief class much more easily and are more likely to translate that content into action back at their desks.
The same is true with in-house CLE programs. If your state allows them (not all do), this represents another area in which your firm can broaden educational offerings beyond the training department. In the case of CLEs, it often would not be appropriate for trainers to attempt such subject matter.
Take Advantage of Live Meetings and WebExes. You don't have to invest in software and development time for full-bore e-learning to begin leveraging the Web in your firm university. Record CLE programs when appropriate, and post them on the firm's intranet. This way a billing partner need only present the session once.
Be brief and focused. Take ILT classes that traditionally use an hour of learner and trainer time, and break them into 10-minute sessions. Record yourself doing those presentations, and make those available on your firm university. A one-person training department can use this technology to multiply trainer hours available per week. Think of it as "training cloning."
Slow and Steady Wins the Race. Rome wasn't built in a day; neither are training offerings. And Rome would have taken a lot longer if its builders had to stop, tear down and rebuild every 10 months because the building materials were "upgraded" and half of what they had built was suddenly obsolete. The challenges in building a firm university are immense.
Continue to identify new strategies, and methodically put them into place one at a time. As you begin a new approach, concentrate on creating a repeatable process, and hone it until you can pump out new materials quickly and efficiently. Then, with a new approach solidly in place, you can add the next level to your training offerings.
The more you can broaden your training offerings and leverage the knowledge that exists within the firm, the more you can vest your attorneys and employees in the overall concept of continued learning and motivate them by meeting the wide range of their needs. This foundation of solid training strategies and staff support will better enable you to grow the firm's university and help ensure that as you build it, they will come.
Sources Cited
"Cost Comparison: Instructor-Led vs. eLearning" Paul Walliker
www.learningcircuits.org/2005/jun2005/walliker.htm
"Create a Mystery" Karl Kapp
vnutravel.typepad.com/trainingday/2007/04/create_a_myster.html
E-Learning: "If We Build It, Will They Come?" Elliott Masie
www.masieweb.com/external/learning-technology-acceptance-study.html
"Today's Toys, Tomorrow's Tools" Karl Kapp
vnutravel.typepad.com/trainingday/2007/03/index.html
About our author
Honora Wade, is the DMS Application Liaison for Perkins Coie LLP, having served previously as Technical Training Manager and Service Desk Manager. She has spoken frequently throughout the U.S. on technology training, e-learning and excellence in user support, including ILTA webinars and annual conferences, and ALA Region 5 and Region 3 conferences. She is the Vice President of ILTA's User Support Peer Group, and she serves as member emeritus of the Steering Committee of Seattle DigitalEve, an organization focused on enhancing women's opportunities in technology-related fields. She can be reached at Hwade@perkinscoie.com.