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A Model to Support Self-Directed Elearning

April 21, 2011 By

As trainers and instructional designers, many of us are becoming more and more involved with asynchronous, self-directed elearning. Some of us are designing courses ourselves for staff. Many more are directing staff to existing courses via WebJunction, or through providers like LE@D or the University of Wisconsin-Madison SLIS.

The Good and the Bad of Self-Directed Elearning

There are well-known advantages to self-directed elearning. These include:

  • reduced travel cost and time
  • can be taken most any time and any place with an Internet-connected device
  • cost effectiveness – courses are often reasonably priced relative to real-time training
  • standardization – all learners get the same information
  • learners can control their own experience, work at their own pace and repeat content as needed
  • learners have the freedom to explore and to fail without a roomful of peers and an instructor watching

These advantages are compelling and can lead organizations to blindly adopt self-directed elearning for staff development. But there are downsides for learners worth considering. The big ones include:

  • lack of motivation to complete courses or trouble managing time without start-and-end-date structure
  • learners feel isolated and miss the opportunity to share ideas, get clarification or have questions answered
  • it can be more of a challenge to transfer what’s learned to the real-world work environment

Moore’s Three Interactions

Moore's Three InteractionsWhen I think about learning and addressing disadvantages like these, I often come back to Moore’s Three Types of Interaction. Moore’s three interactions are:

  1. learner with content,
  2. learner with instructor or expert, and
  3. learner with learner.

This is a simple framework that can be applied whenever we want to maximize learning.

“Learner with content” interaction is what we typically think about when we consider education—reading a text, listening to a lecture. This is the common interaction in a self-directed elearning course.

“Learner with expert” interactions go beyond the dump of information typically associated with a lecture or the standard click-and-read elearning course. Learner-expert interactions are important for clarification of concepts and providing alternative explanations for different learners with different styles and levels of understanding. They also provide essential guidance with applying what’s learned to the real world.

“Learner with learner” interactions are important for learners to test and synthesize their ideas among peers. Learner-learner interactions are central to many learning theories and pedagogies (see social constructivism, communities of practice, problem-based learning, team-based learning and authentic learning as examples). As with learner-expert interactions, learner-learner interactions are often lacking in self-directed elearning experiences.

Finding A Way to Blend All Three

How can we help to blend in all types of interaction when we’re offering asynchronous, self-directed elearning at our libraries, and address the known disadvantages?

At the Colorado State Library, we developed a straightforward model for libraries implementing this kind of learning that blends all interactions. The model includes considerations and actions for both learners and their managers. The full model is available as a handout: Strategies for Online Learning Success.

Strategies for Online Learning Success

The model starts with questions to ask during a planning stage, where the learner and manager closely consider the needs of the organization and the learner, and look in advance at how the learning will be applied. The model goes on with suggestions for making a commitment to learning, through scheduling, clarifying expectations, and defining what success looks like.

Spending time in these early phases works to ensure the learning is relevant to the learner and to the organization, is being taken at the appropriate time, and is supported with time and scheduling. These phases begin to provide structure and support for the learner-content interaction even before the coursework begins.

The model then offers further structure to support the learner while consuming the course content. The bulk of the learner-content interaction takes place here. Learner-expert interactions also begin, with the manager mentoring on course content and assessing the learning.

Both learner-expert and learner-learner interactions are addressed in the last phases of application and sharing. Here the learner is coached in applying the material to the workplace by the manager. The learner goes on to relate with peers by sharing the course content and its application in brown bags, through tip sheets and more.

This model can be implemented or repurposed in your own environment to provide much needed structure to self-directed elearning and the necessary interactions that ensure deeper learning and successful application to the workplace.

There are certainly many other ways provide a blend of interaction to support self-directed elearning for staff. How are you supporting your staff with self-directed elearning? Are you allowing for learner-expert and learner-learner interactions? Please share your ideas, approaches, successes and failures in the comments.

Mary Beth Faccioli

Mary Beth Faccioli, MLIS is the Instructional Design and Technology Senior Consultant at the Colorado State Library.

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Video Tutorials for Downloading eBooks From OverDrive

February 24, 2011 By

Digital books are here and patrons are clamoring for them. If your library offers content from OverDrive the big question at the information desk is, “How do I download to my device?”

The King County Library System has created a video tutorial to walk users through the process of downloading Adobe Digital Editions and transferring a title to their device. This is useful for staff to familiarize themselves with the process and patrons who can watch the video repeatedly until they successfully download a book on their machine.

Patrons can also watch video tutorials on downloading to Apple and Android portable devices or using NetLibrary. These can be found on the KCLS YouTube channel playlist Using the Library.

You can embed the video to your own site by using this code:

<object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RqeL27llxpA&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RqeL27llxpA&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object>

Staff and patrons have reported that the video tutorials have helped them understand the process and be successful OverDrive users.

Angela Nolet

Angela Nolet received her master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington’s iSchool in 2002. She has worked in libraries since 1996 and has been doing video editing since 2008. As a 2011 Library Journal Mover & Shaker she was recognized as a marketer for her work online.

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Community Driven Professional Development

November 8, 2010 By

Participating in this month’s theme, I’ve spent a little while reflecting on professional development at my place of work. The more time I spent thinking about it, the more I realized it’s nearly entirely community driven.

It’s an official role in the library. We have an entire committee focused on staff development. I’ve served on it almost all of my seven years here, and have chaired it twice. The membership tends to rotate and the committee will survey the staff every other year or so to find out what people are interested in, schedule the sessions and arrange speakers, and publicize upcoming events. About once every two years this committee organizes a field trip to another local library to find out what they’re doing, see other facilities, and share what we’re doing.

More recently, the librarians at my library have transitioned to faculty status. With this change came more structure and we formed a mentoring committee. This committee pairs up individuals for mentors, but also plans panels around issues people are interested in. Last year several folks were interested in writing. This year people wanted to know more about how to get on professional committees. The mentoring committee creates a panel from folks on staff (we’re a staff of 52, so there’s a good pool to choose from), and the panel talks about their experience and fields questions.

There are also a lot of smaller initiatives that sometimes become part of one of these official groups. For example, a few years ago several people on staff were interested in creating a structure to encourage reading literature in the field. They formed a journal reading group which has successful grown into a regular program scheduled and marketed by the staff development committee. Each month a participant volunteers to pick next month’s article, and it is pushed out to the entire staff in case new people want to attend the next session.

My Teaching Teaching program grew out of this as well. People were interested in learning more about how to teach, and as the Instructional Design Librarian I designed two semester long programs to meet that need.

Similarly, our Emerging Technology Talks series arose in a similar way. Some staff members said they didn’t have time to keep up with everything, so we started holding monthly sessions discussing the things that those of us who did keep up with everything had come across. This, again, became popular enough to become part of the official list of sessions through the staff development committee.

Finally, there are a lot of one-off sessions created by staff members and shared to the entire library. If someone is giving a conference presentation and wants to do a run-through, that often becomes an internal session. If someone finds a webinar (for example, from Blended Librarian) that looks useful and interesting, we’ll book a room to show it so that more people can attend. In fact, if anyone finds anything that might be useful to share, they’re welcome to put it on through the staff development committee.

The exciting thing about this is that people really do have a choice about coming and are really invested and interested if they’re in the room since they made the choice. People know if there’s something they want to learn, they can request it. People know if they have something interesting to share, they can share it. All of this creates a culture in which people are invested and interested and has created a strong professional development program. In fact, the most frequent complaint I hear about our professional development culture is that people don’t have time to attend everything they’d like to attend. And that… it’s an entire post unto itself.

How do you do professional development at your library?

Image Credits:

Krug and Pullman by Robert Scales

Lauren Pressley is the Instructional Design Librarian at Wake Forest University. She also blogs at Lauren’s Library Blog and spends a fair amount of time on Twitter, too.

Lauren Pressley

Lauren Pressley is the Instructional Design Librarian at Wake Forest University. In this role she works with librarians and faculty to improve the design of their teaching and to share information about integrating appropriate educational technology. She also works with emerging technologies. Lauren’s passion is helping people learn about the changing information landscape and think about what that means for them as consumers and producers of information. Recently Lauren published So You Want To Be a Librarian and Wikis for Libraries. She was an ALA Emerging Leader in 2008 and was a recognized as a Library Journal Mover & Shaker in 2009. She frequently writes and presents on education, instruction, technology, and the future of libraries. Lauren also blogs at ALA Learning, tweets as @laurenpressley, and can be reached at lauren@laurenpressley.com.

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Filed Under: The Training Life Tagged With: , , , , ,

New Features of ALA Learning

November 1, 2010 By

Beginning this month you’ll notice some small changes to the ALA Learning Blog and other communication tools. To engage our members in more conversations we are introducing monthly themes. You will see posts on the blog, content on the wiki, emails on the discussion forum, posts in ALA Connect, Facebook, Twitter, etc. that all relate to one theme.

November’s theme is how is training/staff development done at your library. You’ll hear about how training happens at libraries across the country from our contributing authors and you’ll be prompted to contribute your own stories and ideas.

Additionally, if you are a member of the LearnRT email discussion list, you will begin receiving ALA Learning blog posts via email though the email list.

We hope that this new format provides ways for us to share more material and have more conversations among our membership. Feel free to send your comments or thoughts to me at webmaster@alalearning.org.

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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The Tension between “Learn It Fast” and “Learn It Well”

August 4, 2010 By

As trainers, of either our customers or other staff, we often deal with dueling priorities.  Twice in the last month I’ve been confronted, as a trainer, with the tension between “Learn It Fast” and “Learn It Well.”  It’s a very stressful tension, and one that is not easily resolved by those of us who train, those who manage staff, and those who coordinate staff development and learning.

The “Learn It Fast” faction wants staff training and learning to not take very much time away from duties that they deem to be more important.  This faction wants learning to be instantaneous, efficient, and speedy.  They want learners to spend as little time as possible on staff training, period.  This faction tends to prefer webinars, online learning, and self-paced learning…which in and of itself is not a problem.  But when it’s the only learning that’s allowed, no matter what the topic, then we have a problem.  This faction tells instructors to cut a two hour class to 20 minutes, content be damned.  This faction tells training agencies that their staff can only spend 1 hour per week on a self-paced 4-week online learning class…and they still want to get the continuing education credits for it so they can tell their Commission or Board that they’re contributing to staff development.

The “Learn It Well” faction values the stick-to-it-ivness of training above all else.  They want learning to count, to stick.  This group allows for diverse training methods and media, as well as diverse training approaches.  They want to ensure that if they’re going to give staff time to go to training, that the time actually means something.  I’ve heard folks on this side of the line say “I’d rather give my staff 5 hours to go to a class and know that they’ll remember the content, than have them attend a 1/2 hour webinar that they can put on their performance review but which won’t help them in their jobs.”  This faction tends to like training evaluations, assessments before and after training series–all to make sure that the training is worthwhile and has the highest impact potential.  Those continuing education credits are like gold trophies to this group. Occasionally, this group values training almost too much, so much so that they over-complicate the process of training and creating training materials…thereby setting the barrier to entry so high that sometimes no training happens at all as a result.  Perhaps only face-to-face training is allowed, or online learning doesn’t “count” toward an employee’s development requirements.  Making things too long, too hard, can be problematic too.

There is a happy middle road–a common sense approach to training, the flexible “just get it done” approach.  Make what is useful to you, share it with others in a variety of ways depending on topic, don’t waste the learner’s time, and make sure you are always following best practices for learning and training.  That’s it.

To me, libraries (and anyone, really) should never, ever sacrifice quality and impact for ridiculous expediency.  Likewise, libraries shouldn’t over-complicate training to the point of never allowing the quick-and-dirty learning too.  As trainers, our primary duty is to our learners.  Just remember that, stick up for good training practices to those in charge, and you’ll at least know you’ve done your job.  And if you find yourself in the center of a battlefield of the “Learn It Fast” and “learn It Well” armies, hold up your white flag and scream for compromise.

Sarah Houghton-Jan

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Learning Round Table Programs, Events, Battledecks at ALA Annual

June 9, 2010 By

The Learning Round Table has something for everyone at the ALA Annual Conference this year. The following is a list of programs, meetings, and events.

Also note the icons next to each event. These icons have links that will download the program as an appointment to your calendar. If the icon does not work, try right clicking and saving the .ics file before opening it. We also have a flyer that you can print and bring with you (click the image below to download).

Friday, June 25

Beyond Face to Face: New Methods for Staff Training
8:30am-12pm
Renaissance Hotel Congressional Hall C

Limited time and busted budgets make it increasingly difficult for library staff to leave their buildings to attend training events. Maverick library trainer Jay Turner along with T is for Training host Maurice Coleman and instructional designer Mary Beth Faccioli will demonstrate how to engage learners with effective and innovative uses of e-learning. Walk away from this pre-conference knowing how to: Identify free and cost-effective resources for presenting e-learning; Apply best practices in instructional design to e-learning; Recognize technical constraints in publishing e-content. Tickets Onsite: $150. Event Code: LEA1.

Saturday, June 26

Open Board Meeting I
8am-12pm
WCC-159 A/B

Our Board meetings are open to anyone interested in the activities, mission and work of the Learning Round Table. We discuss both old and new business, review goals, strategize and plan for the future, plot out committee work and have fun, too. Join us for all or part of our two meetings. We’d love to meet you!

Building with Competencies
1:30-3:30pm
Grand Hyatt Constitution A

Once you’ve determined the competencies needed by your staff, what next? Competencies are building blocks—there are a variety of constructions to be built with them for guiding staff training, recruitment, and other personnel strategies. Join us as we explore strategies and case studies of competency based staff development efforts. Presented by Betha Gutsche and Sandra Smith.

Sunday, June 27

Library Trainers as Leaders
10:30 am-12pm
WCC-201

Library staff development programs are in a state of flux. It is no longer enough for administrators to tell staff what training to offer. Workplace learning and performance professionals need to be part of the strategic planning of the organization. This interactive session will include audience participation and sharing of best practices as to how library trainers can step up their leadership skills and get a place at the library strategic planning table. Facilitated by Paul Signorelli with panelists Maurice Coleman, Sandra Smith and Louise Whitaker.

Training Showcase: Best Practices in Training, Staff Development & Library Continuing Education
1:30-3:30pm
WCC-Ballroom

The training showcase is a poster session type of program celebrating innovative continuing education, staff development, and training initiatives in all types of libraries and library organizations. Participants present best practices from their organization or institution.

Membership Pavilion Learning Round Table Lightning Talk
3:30-3:45pm
Exhibit Hall

Monday, June 28

Open Board Meeting II
10:30 am-12pm
WCC-156

Our Board meetings are open to anyone interested in the activities, mission and work of the Learning Round Table. We discuss both old and new business, review goals, strategize and plan for the future, plot out committee work and have fun, too. Join us for all or part of our two meetings. We’d love to meet you!

Staff Development Discussion
1:30-3:30pm
WCC-143A

This discussion is a great energizer for those new to staff development as well as for those who’ve been doing it for years. Come early and stay for the raffle at the end of the program.

Battledecks: The ALA Rumble Royale
5:30-7pm
WCC-103A

Battledecks represent the ultimate challenge for public speakers as they are challenged to give a coherent presentation based on hand-selected, seemingly unrelated slides that they see for the very first time live on stage. This competition, often referred to as “PowerPoint Karaoke,” will see our brave and willing participants compete for the glory of being crowned ALA’s reigning Battledecks champion. The participants will face judgment from a panel of four judges, with the winner to be determined based on a variety of criteria and general overall awesomeness. Hilarity, along with some learning, is guaranteed for all!

Defenders of a title:
Michael Porter(Battledecks champion from Internet Librarian 2009)
Andromeda Yelton (Battledecks co-champion from ALA MW 2010)
JP Procaro (Battledecks Champ from Pres4Lib)
Bobbi Newman (Battledecks co-champion from ALA MW 2010)

Contenders for the title:
Jason Griffey
Buffy Hamilton
Lisa Carlucci Thomas
John Chrastka
George Needham

Judges:
Peter Bromberg
Julie Strange
Maurice Coleman
David Lee King
Jenny Levine

Emcee: Janie Hermann
Timekeeper/Vanna White: Patrick Sweeney
Slidemakers: Alice Yucht, Patrick Sweeney, Janie Hermann, Jaime Corris Hammond, Andy Woodworth and anyone else who volunteers.

Event and Prizes sponsored by American Libraries and The Learning Round Table.

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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Call for Participants, Donors, Sponsors for the 7th Annual Training Showcase

April 21, 2010 By

The Learning Round Table is accepting applications from now through May 15th for the Training Showcase which will take place on Sunday, June 27, 2010 from 1:30-3:30 pm at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

The Training Showcase planning committee is on the lookout for libraries, library organizations, presenters, speakers and vendors to participate – anyone who has a great training or staff development program they’d like to share. The Learning Round Table is all about sharing ideas (and stealing/borrowing ideas) and the Training Showcase is the perfect venue. The Showcase normally attracts between 200-300 attendees – all of whom are interested in training and staff development. The number of participants (presenters) varies from 20-30. It’s a fast-paced, fun event with refreshments and door prizes. Each participant has a 6′ draped table on which to put a portable table-top display unit, handouts or other related materials.

The training showcase is a poster-type session giving participants, exhibitors and sponsors a chance to showcase best practices in library training, learning, and continuing education. Participating affords you the opportunity to share information about your program as well as learn about the best practices of other libraries and organizations.

For more information visit the Training Showcase page on ALA Learning: http://alalearning.org/about/conferences/ala-annual/training-showcase/

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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ALA Annual Staff Development Discussion

April 3, 2010 By

Staff Development Discussion
ALA LEARNRT
This discussion is a great energizer for those new to staff development as well as for those who’ve been doing it for years. Come early and stay for the raffle
at the end of the program.

Monday, June 28, 2010 1:30-3:30pm

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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ALA Annual: Training Showcase Best Practices in Training, Staff Development and Library Continuing Education

April 3, 2010 By

Training Showcase: Best Practices in Training, Staff Development and Library Continuing Education
ALA LEARNRT

The training showcase is a poster session type of program celebrating innovative continuing education, staff development, and training initiatives in all types of libraries and library organizations. Invited participants present “best practices” from their organization or institution.

Sunday, June 27, 2010 1:30-3:30pm

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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ALA Annual Preconference on E-Learning

April 2, 2010 By

BEYOND F2F: NEW METHODS FOR STAFF TRAINING – PRECONFERENCE
Friday, June 25, 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Limited time and busted budgets makes it increasingly difficult for library staff to leave their buildings to attend training events. In Beyond Face-to-Face, maverick library trainers Jay Turner and Lori Reed demonstrate how to engage learners with effective and innovative uses of e-learning. Walk away from this session knowing how to: identify free and cost-effective resources for presenting e-learning, apply instructional design best practices to e-learning, and recognize technical constraints in publishing e-content.

Speakers:

Jay Turner, Training Manager, Gwinnett County Public Library, Lawrenceville, GA
Lori Reed, Learning & Development Coordinator, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, Charlotte, NC

Tickets:

ALA Member $130
Division Member $130
Round Table (LEARNRT) Member $110
Retired Member $110
Student Member $75
Non-Member $150
Onsite: $150

Event Code: LEA1

Register: Online

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Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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