SPECIAL REPORT: LEARNING TECHNOLOGY
Learning Goes Social DEANNA HARTLEY
New technology is empowering employees more than ever to control their own learning and development.
s corporate America continues to value of social learning — the use of various social embrace social tools for learning and media and collaboration technologies to facilitate development, social learning has shed learning — to, in many cases, drive informal learning, its reputation as a transient industry though it can be used to drive formal learning as well. buzzword. The ability to collaborate, Some of the most common social networking innovateA and gain expertise in real time has never tools organizations are using for formal and infor- been easier — and vendors in the learning industry mal learning are internal blogs, LinkedIn and Face- who believe the sky’s the limit are working to ensure book, according to Chief Learning Officer magazine’s this is just the beginning of the social 2012 Learning Technology survey, conducted by the collaboration era. With a laser-like Human Capital Media Advisory Group (Figure 1). ON THE WEB focus on the end user, emerging What’s key to many organizations’ learning strat- For more on learning technologies are shifting some of the egy is to formulate the right balance between formal technology, visit power and onus from the learning and informal learning methodologies. CLOmedia.com/ function to the individual learner. Southland Industries, one of the nation’s largest articles/view/5343. “[What] people have used both mechanical contractors, uses a blend of formal and in their personal and professional informal learning. When new employees are under- lives is bleeding into a learning overtone or context going classroom training at the company’s corporate — like using discussion forums, groups or communi- facility, there are ample networking opportunities ties of interest,” said Jason Corsello, vice president of — including shared meals and team building activi- corporate development and strategy for Cornerstone ties — so informal learning can occur organically, said OnDemand, a talent management software compa- George Benoit, the company’s director of training. ny. “Many organizations see this as an opportunity to There’s still value in formal learning, and that will augment informal development. Since employees are never go away, according to Chris Lennon, director of doing it already, it makes sense to provide tools for the product management at SilkRoad, a provider of talent entire enterprise to do so.” management products. Now, instead of placing all their eggs in the formal Some of the top areas for anticipated L&D tech- learning basket — typically characterized as top-down nology spending were formal learning methodologies and corporate driven — organizations are seeing the like instructor-led learning delivery, asynchronous benefits of the employee-driven, learning-in-real-time e-learning delivery and learning management systems approach, he said. (Figure 2). Meanwhile, social learning tools and plat- These are by no means mutually exclusive worlds: forms ranked near the bottom. Formal learning is still The sweet spot appears to lie in a harmonious blend very much a part of the learning leader’s toolkit. of the two. This is especially true when it comes to compliance training — such as anti-sexual harassment training — Formal Versus Informal: Room to Coexist or to pre-empt safety and other potential risks where Organizations today are recognizing the business trial and error can be detrimental. For example, if an
“Over the last year or so, the consumerization of technology has taken a foothold in business in a way we’ve never seen before, and that’s the way people want to live. [People have] gravitated toward Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and businesses are having to adopt similar technologies just to attract their talent, maintain their talent and keep their talent satisfied in the workforce.” — Chris Lennon, director of product management, SilkRoad
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FIGURE 1 Use of Social Networking Tools employee is brought on to run a piece of equipment, What type of social networking tools does your organization use for informal or formal learning? it would be in an employer’s best interest to put in place a formal learning process to avoid liability issues. Wikis and other collaboration tools 27.4% While there’s a time and a place for formal learn- ing, Lennon said employees can’t afford to wait Secure instant message 19.7% around for a class — they need to be equipped to fi nd information in real time to perform their jobs, and Internal blogs 36.8% that’s where informal learning comes into play. Keith Meyerson, director of learning and devel- Facebook 27.8% opment for luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Group Services, views social learning as a complement to LinkedIn 33.2% his existing learning and development toolkit, not a replacement for formal learning delivery options. Twitter 21.1% He recommends e-learning for highly technical training; experiential learning for hands-on practice; External blogs 17% and eventually using leaders as teachers will be part of leadership development or management development None, we do not use social networking 28.3% at Neiman Marcus. These formal learning tools are balanced out with Other 14.8% the company’s use of social learning tools, which are leveraged to meet just-in-time learning needs. Online Source: Human Capital Media Advisory Group, 2012. n = 223 social collaboration enables Neiman Marcus’ employ- ees to fi nd what they need to get the job done imme- diately. ments associated with the video to demonstrate their “With a virtual community, I can ask a question knowledge — which in turn earns them credit in the and get an answer in almost real time rather than learning system. having to wait for an L&D department to determine “We’ve built in some ‘iframes’ into our Saba that I have a need for a class, fi nd an instructional system, our LMS, where users can easily connect in designer to meet with an SME and then to schedule to these YouTube videos as well as our Facebook and time away from my offi ce to get an answer to a ques- Twitter feeds so that it’s one-stop shopping,” he said. tion,” he said. “The iframes are essentially portals or connections to Similarly, Canada-based Smart Technologies, a our other sources [of] learning so people can connect collaboration product provider, employs a combi- right from our Saba environment and don’t have to nation of formal and informal learning. Face-to- go searching for our YouTube channel or other sites.” face, instructor-led training sessions, webinars and Smart Technologies’ sales and fi eld staff, who travel a YouTube series are just some of the learning tools globally and work remotely, don’t have the time to employees have at their disposal. attend classes or even sit in front of a computer for Formal or informal, it’s important that any type of self-paced e-learning. Learning materials must be learning isn’t a one-off, stand-alone experience without easily accessible. a connection to the big picture, said Wayne Williams, “They need something they can do on the go, so manager of learning systems at Smart Technologies. we’ll usually publish some sales training through our “We want it to be a steady progression so that LMS, which is more of a “vodcast,” so they can watch people know where they’re headed; they know what a video — quick, short, to the point and they can get the next steps are; they can prepare adequately and up to date on new things as they’re going to sales calls they can see the growth in their learning and the on those exact topics,” Williams said. return on investment of mostly the time that they’ve Given the fast-paced nature of learning required at put in to learn what we need them to learn,” he said. Smart, this on-demand content is often supplemented For this reason, the company has what Williams by a community of peers and subject matter experts calls a mapped out continuum for learning. For exam- — usually trainers or instructional designers — who ple, employees who leverage the YouTube series for follow discussion threads and respond to questions informal learning might be prompted to take assess- that arise to ensure a more substantive follow up.
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Social Collaboration and JIT Learning “If I want to fi nd knowledge about talent manage- Social learning technologies not only have the ment, I can do a search for talent management and potential to drive collaboration within the enter- that would render courses available, people that have prise, they enable learners to access the information specifi c knowledge around the topic, any groups they need in real time. that are available, communities of interest, discus- One of the fastest-growing trends in learning sions or Q&As around the topic — so it’s blending technology is the expertise directory, which allows the two worlds so it becomes much more employee an employee to quickly fi nd an expert and ask him driven versus corporate mandated,” he said. or her a question. The concept isn’t new. Employee Cornerstone OnDemand is redesigning its directories have been in existence for a while, but Connect product, its social collaboration tool, so Lennon said it typically involves an IT-owned tool users can search and connect with the appropriate that isn’t up to date. This can make a simple search people at the point of need. an arduous, even futile, process. Meyerson from Neiman Marcus, who uses “Having the ability to have a tool that can legiti- Connect, said there is anecdotal evidence of business mately tell you who in your organization is a very changes occurring as a result of such tools. infl uential person around a particular topic is really “People are asking questions, they’re getting starting to take off,” he said. “Because of the social immediate answers,” he said. “People are now technologies, we’re just now starting to do that — connecting and getting responses about things that we’re able to determine when [Employee A] goes normally would take 10 people to decide when they and responds to a lot of topics or authors a lot of could have a meeting and reschedule that fi ve times content around a particular area. We can glean that before they actually met — these things are happen- information in a way that we’ve not been able to do ing instantly on the tool.” [before].” That’s a win-win for Neiman Marcus — it allows Corsello, of Cornerstone OnDemand, said social subject matter experts to be found easily — and its collaboration — the ability to fi nd and connect with employees, who feel like they have a voice or a plat- experts in the organization — is a growing trend. form to share their experience and expertise, Meyer- son said. FIGURE 2 Expected 2013 L&D Technology Spending Meanwhile at Southland Industries, which uses Silkroad’s GreenLight LMS, there are plenty of just-in-time learning opportunities for employ-
140 ees. Benoit said employees with specifi c questions needn’t wait around for a class — they can go online 120 and get just-in-time training through the system. The company also has implemented a SharePoint 100 site called SI Connect, which allows employees to
80 search for and contact experts who might be able to help with specifi c projects or share lessons learned. 60 Social Learning: Top Down Versus Bottom Up 40 There are two broad categories of learning technolo- 20 gies emerging: top down and bottom up, according to John Ambrose, senior vice president of strategy, 0 corporate development and emerging business at
Other Skillsoft, an e-learning and performance support company. performance Synchronous and systems (internal only) Asynchronous
Data integration “[Top down] technologies are very broad-based systems (LCMS) info/transactions e-learning delivery e-learning delivery Analytics/workforce Analytics/workforce Business processes and typically come in through the IT organization (content development) Learning management capability development systems (LMS/L&DMS) Mobile learning delivery Authoring tools/systems
Facilities/classroom tools Facilities/classroom as a one-size-fi ts-all operation tool. There’s often Enterprise portal with L&D Application simulation tool Competency management/ no restrictions on the type of collaboration and Instructor-led learning delivery Instructor-led Social learning tools/platforms Learning content management commentary that gets in there,” he said. Examples Q 1 Top priority Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 5 n = 230 Source: Human Capital Media Advisory Group, 2012. of this type of technology include Jive and Share- Point.
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A lot of the communication that happens FIGURE 3 Top Factors in Choosing L&D Technology Vendor on such platforms tends to be of a non-business nature, such as interactions among affi nity groups or dialogue about social activities. On the other hand, bottom-up technologies 180 enable social collaboration to happen from a grass- 160 roots level about the content itself, Ambrose said. 140 This type of technology can drive more meaningful 120 dialogue and discussion about content, making it stickier and more business relevant for employees. 100 Skillsoft went this route with its inGenius social 80 product. “[It] enables users at the time they’re 60 touching learning assets — whether it’s a book, a video, a white paper, a simulation, a course, etc. 40 — to provide commentary in the form of insights, 20 pose questions, link to comments and share them 0 with others in the organization,” Ambrose said. Other Amidst the sea of L&D technology vendors, Pricing Cultural fit back office Ease of use how do organizations determine which fi t is right Data security Vendor stability Vendor Vendor support Vendor Understand our Licensing terms Product features Product for them? Figure 3 shows the top fi ve considerations business/industry that respondents of the 2012 Learning Technology and Multilingual front Ease of integration with Architecture (multi-tenant) Architecture survey used when selecting their vendors. Pricing (single-tenant) Architecture Vendor knowledge/expertise Vendor Ease of integration with talent management suite of products topped the list, followed by product features and exisitng ERP/in-house software ease of use. Q 1 Top priority Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 5 n = 223 Given the variety of learning technologies out Source: Human Capital Media Advisory Group, 2012. there, enterprises that choose to bury their heads in the sand during this era of rapid change may fi nd themselves at a competitive disadvantage. “The options and the availability for develop- “Organizations out there have come to the ment resources are exponentially expanded instead realization that much of what they’ve built their of being limited to what you solely have in your learning programs on over the past decade or so LMS catalog; and because it’s specifi c to the user, the won’t take them where they need to be in the next user can then populate that development plan with decade,” he said. things that are of interest to them,” Meyerson said. According to Ambrose, the traditional LMS This enables employees to take a proactive stance wasn’t built from a user perspective and therefore about their own learning and development, instead isn’t user-centric. Future versions will break down of sitting on the sidelines as spectators. CLO barriers to learning content. “Users are not checking their consumer tenden- THE NEXT-GENERATION LMS cies at the door. They want a rich learning experi- ence that’s centered on them, that adapts to them, Bobby Yazdani, founder and CEO of Saba, outlined the that enables them to search effectively across all core elements of the future LMS: learning content that the organization has, enables UÊ-i>ÀV ° them to pinpoint learning at the most granular level, UÊ,iVi`>ÌÊi}ið enables them to [access] learning from their mobile UÊ6`iÉ } `iwÊÌÊÛ`i° device, laptop or desktop whether they’re in the UÊ-ÌÀi>}Ê>`ÊÃV>ÊiÌÜÀ}° offi ce or outside the offi ce,” he said. UÊ LiÊV«ÕÌ}° But the true power of social learning, according UÊ Õ`ÊV«ÕÌ}° to Meyerson, is when it’s part of a comprehensive UÊÊVL>ÌÊvÊvÀ>Ê>`ÊvÀ>Êi>À}° talent management system. When building a devel- For more on the evolution of the LMS and how it needs opment plan, employees with skills gaps don’t just to adapt to the changing business environment, have the LMS for instructor-led training or e-learn- read Yazdani’s insights at CLOmedia.com/articles/ ing — they also have the opportunity to tap into view/5331. social collaboration sites.
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