The Art of Knowledge

 

Adval Group - A Pancea or a Cultural Change


This article proved to start out strong and fade towards the end. It looks a little wonky at first first because of the big guy's picture and it's cheesy font and color scheme but it has some solid ideas. It came up with this great scheme for competencies and answers and really put everything into a much clearer light for me. I like that he doesn't mention Learning Objects at all because I can totally see where they fit into his scheme. He says something about SQL databases and dynamic content instead...ehh...anyway here are my notes.

• He starts out by attacking the rigid medium of web based flip books and CD-Roms or CBT's and their role in distributing elearning.
  note - Well duh, but it's nice to see someone finally come out and say it. He's probably saying it because his company is new and he wasn't the one in charge of educational expenses in some fortune 500 company where all these other white papers get written, and at one time said that the 2 million$ CBT program would solve all of the eduational problems within the company. He specifically says that these CBT"s lack the most in their abilities to immitate anything human or real-time. They show glowing failures in the areas of interview preperation, HR studies, Social work, or anything with more than one variable. They excel in the engineering fields and should still be considered a viable, although antiquated method for elearning within heavy load information industries where immediate practice outweighs learned consumption. They can be considered important if for no other reason than their content value.
  note - Why are we still assuming that this passive and sometimes boring medium will take us to the next level despite delivery or content. Pro's of CD-Rom auto-broadband/Pros of web-based - customizable. Inexpensive content might be able to be extracted from some of these old CBT's.
  
• Why elearning? - it supports the typical modern organization where process and products are subject to continuous change (ex?...software company). Mediums currently available for CBT's - CDROM, WBT, video, simulators, emulators.
  note - Stop getting hung up on the medium already. The medium is not the problem nor is it the solution. Retention that leads to learning evolution and permanent, stable, seeking growth is the goal - the real change. It's not the price tag or the commercial that you can envision coming from these products. We aren't going to change anything unless we address the idea of combining technology with the new information gathering patterns and then assessing how people can best mine and use.
  
• There stands to be a new incredibly close linkage between technology and HR.
  note - This brings IT back into the main fold once again. People are now starting to really realize that IT is the heartbeat of their company. But combining it even more with HR is a huge step forward. There is still a huge gap (despite what you see on TV shows like CSI) between the computer generation and the rest of the work force. Most middle management and senior executives have the technological vocabulary and usage of a five year old. IT has only been around for maybe 20/25 years and it's only been allowed in the board room over the last 3 or 4 of those years. It now has really become integrated to the rest of the company. It is only in that time that it has been given a face. IT gets closer to HR with LMS.
  
• Adopoting the Correct Philosophy -
  
  1. Univerasl Domain of Competencies - A common reference frame that comprehensively charts all the competences needed by the organization, defining and documenting the specific skills, knowledge and behaviors that every individual needs, closely following existing individual job desciprtions, core competences and succession planning. note - YES! I think every company has this in mind but now we actually don't have to turn away people that are bright and willing and eager just because they don't have 2 years experience. We assess the competencies they need and then...
     
  2. Universal Domain of Intervention - a catalogue of all the possible learning solutions in use - and the specific skills, knowledge and behaviors they can train for. note - So we say, "ok you lack this competency (check) and now we give you this intervention (check) welcome to IBM." Well not quite but it's a start and it's semi-eutopic. I know this is what some companies mean by orientation or pre-job training, but they haven't applied these to a real system yet. They haven't streamlined it in anyway.
     
  3. Personal Development Plans (PDP)- can be used to identify the existing skills, knowledge and behaviors of every individual, compare them to the required competences and then map out a PDP using interventions to fill in the holes, or prepare for promotion or job change. note - OK I know this all sounds a little too wonderful, but I think with the proper LMS and Learning Objects this is highly possible. Don't you see what this means? It means it can be applied well beyond the corporate HR system and can be moved into schools, colleges (where I think it is really needed), antiquated work force(see colleges). These three steps do it for you. They do what most people don't understand. They conquer that enigmatic vague quality that happens in job interviews or entrance exams. People can now check it off as they do it, or even better companies can recruit or promote properly by retooling their staff instead of laying them off. Holy beauty! But the key is the LMS.
     
  
  
• Elearning is only the delivery method it is not the answer note - ok he's getting symantec. But if I follow his logic, than elearning is just the content. It has nothing to do with the system. hmmm...
  
• Elearning is only the medium - not the message - and the message needs to be relevant meaningful and appropiate to the person it is aimed at. notePerson implies an organic/bioligical system (not just personalized). This with it's PDP and the reassesment is getting close - but I think it's missing something. It's missing foresight and growth with the combination of medium delivery, assesment, and retention. It just hasn't baked the whole pie yet.
  
• A culture change is also required to move from a procedural model to an object model.
  
• Selection and recruitment on the basis of personal attribute rather than skills. This is important to assure the process is selecting the "right stuff" noteKnowledge base and behaviors may vary which is what the competences and interventions are for. How do we accept the "right stuff"? Is that a way to start? Maybe we should start by saying this is the "right stuff" and retooling them to excel to that level first before we attempt to give them competences in-line with the corporation or job. That would mean I have just developed the first bi-level tier in Learning Object history. The level before the introduction. The level that starts before any tangible competency can be assessed. The core areas of behavior which include motivation, professionalism, dedication, responsibility, etc...
  note - Who should help write those proficiencies- HR, fellow employees?
  note - This would also mean corporation have to view individuals in a different way. They have to incorporate knowledge base solutions into their most basic processes and decisions. Unfortunately, corporations have few KM infrastructures and thus take the first tech-based solution available and the roll it out and watch it crash.
  note - I need to get a better feel for what PeopleSoft and SAP really are.
  note - Look into the EPSS "carry active knowledge and learning beyond training and into every facet of working life."
  note - For every competency there should be an intervention that achieves proficiency and that intervention should absolutely be based around the idea of learning objects.
  note - There is a nice energy about this paper that seems to feel right. I read the CISCO, IBM, and the ORACLE papers and they just came off like dinner with your crazy, rich, mean uncle Henry who has your inheritance but whom you hate. This paper feels like it's helping rather than selling or telling.
  

So the main thing I took from that was the PDP. I think those 3 points are going to stick with me for a while.
Link posted by JVMM : 8:27 AM