Learning

Upgrading Your Customers

On May 12th, I’m doing a wee speaking engagement in Greenville, SC — Refresh Greenville.

 

 

Upgrading Your Customers

Nobody reads the directions, anymore.  A “readme.txt” file is a great place to store secrets.  And the “Help” button is something customers just ignore.  Today’s user base expects that your apps and sites will “just work” and they don’t expect to have to spend any time getting up to speed.

There are two ways to improve your apps’ customer sat numbers – rewrite the code, or teach your customers how to use them better.  Dick Carlson spent five years at Microsoft doing the latter for some of the buggiest software on the planet, and he can help you too.  You’ll leave with:

  • Models of trouble-ticket systems that help you identify issues fast and plan future upgrades
  • Ways to use social media tools to have your customers build the help system for you
  • Actual experience identifying key support information and building the architecture to implement it in a business support model

Dick Carlson is an Instructional Designer and Content Developer who can translate “techie” to “user” – making those annoying people who give you money happy and contented, so they don’t send you long emails or post one-star reviews on the web.  You can find him at www.TechHerding.com

 

Bug Tracking Tools

Java Bug-Tracking Tools

MS Watson Technologies

You Can’t Stuff A Classroom Down A CAT5 Cable

old-classroomLast week I was having a nice conversation with a new online friend about helping her move her “in-person” teaching into the land of the Interwebs.  (This is a conversation that I’ve now had 21,586 times — since I do this sort of thing for a living — so I’m getting better and better at it.)  As usual, she was bemoaning the fact that there were parts of the in-person teaching experience that you “just couldn’t translate” into the online world.

With great sensitivity and thoughtfulness, I told her that those of us with a great deal of experience in developing online learning had a technical term for that concern.  We called it “dumb”. As you might expect, a short silence followed.

(I need to interject here that my new friend understands that I’m an obnoxious, opinionated old bear and doesn’t object to that at all.  Had I been dealing with someone who was more sensitive I might have described this as a “possible disconnect in her evaluation of the potential learning modality available within the online form factor as it relates to the more traditional instructor-led design model” or something like that.)

When she asked me to give her more detail, I said that thinking of the digital world as a place to just move her in-person class model didn’t make sense, because she already had a great place to teach in person.  It was called real life. What she needed to do was learn about the wonderful things that you can do in the online world that you can’t do in person, the experiences that learners can have in the online world that can’t be replicated in the meat world, and the ways that a digital teacher can create amazing experiences that would never be possible if they were in a traditional classroom.

How About An Example, Then?

Thank you for asking. One of my favorites involves what I call the “Poindexters” that all of us have in our real-world classrooms.  They’re the ones who sit in the front, have a pocket protector and a fresh notebook, and wave their hands high in the air every time we ask a question.  They want to be called on, they crave attention, and hope that the whole class hears them answer every question. (I have a great sympathy for them, because I is one.)

In the back of the room, we have the Wallflowers.  Heads down, never engaging, terrified that you’ll call on them and make them look stupid if they answer wrong.  Many of these people have the correct answer — and often some of the most interesting ideas — but you never get to hear them.  Because over the years in education we’ve taught them that the focus is on getting the right answer at all costs. So they just won’t participate.

In the online world, I can ask every student to log in as their favorite candy bar for the day.  (This means nobody in class knows who they are.)  Then, when I ask a question, the Poindexters and the Wallflowers are on a level playing field.  You should see the sparks fly!  You should see the creativity, the passion, and the engagement!

There are many more examples.  Online offers learners more time to create their thoughts and craft them carefully.  Those learners who are glib and can speak quickly and easily (I’m also guilty of that) are no longer at an advantage.  Collaboration looks very different online.  Research looks very different online. And peer-to-peer learning works wonderfully online, meaning the poor teacher doesn’t have to be the source of every bit of information.

So Online Learning Is All You Need, Then?

Oh, Pish-Tosh!  It’s just one more tool in the bag.  Just because we got pens, we didn’t give up on pencils.  There are good parts and bad parts to any way of delivering knowledge to young skulls full of mush.  And so far, we’re only scratching the surface on how to do digital learning right.

Want to glimpse the future?  Take a look at Building Intelligent Interactive Tutors: Student-Centered Strategies For Revolutionizing e-Learning” by Beverly Park Woolf.  In a nutshell, it’s AI that watches how the student is doing and offers meaningful help just when it is needed.  (Think “Clippy” on steroids.)

We’ll always have classrooms, and I’ll always love to teach in them.

perfect-classroom450

Inbox Zero: Secrets From An Email Veteran

I often see tweets from people bemoaning the fact that they’ve got (from their point of view) a huge number of emails clogging their inbox. I used to work for a big software company herding a bunch of cats, and those cats just loved to send me email. So I had to come up with ways to manage all the mail. I’ve distilled all the classes, tips, hints and tricks right here for you at no charge. Hop on it, young Jedi Warriors.

On the first day of every month, take these five steps:

emailStep 1:  Sort Your Inbox By “From”

This allows you to quickly identify newsletters, blogs, lists and other high-volume content that you can either delete or move to an appropriate folder.  It also shows you who the biggest offenders are (Mom?  Brother Bob?  That woman in Argentina that you’ve been seeing?) and lets you think about suggesting they get a life.  You could also set up some filters to put her mail directly in the trash if you’re the bashful sort.

Step 2:  Sort Your Inbox Alphabetically

This will also reveal huge chunks that can be handled in one swell foop — all from the same sender, the same list, the same topic.  It often reveals that you get scads of email from a list you no longer read, a person you just don’t care about, or a source that is no longer relevant.  Again, you could use filters or “mail rules” here to make life better.

Step 3:  Sort Your Inbox by “Attachments”

This will reveal any messages that were sent to you with documents, spreadsheets, photos or other important stuff that you might want to make sure you keep.  It will also show you all those spam messages you don’t ever want to click on, so be careful.

Step 4: Search The Inbox Folder

Search this folder now, for key words that matter — like the name of current clients, current projects, your hired assassin’s code name or the password for your Swiss bank account.  It’s worth it to make sure you’re not missing anything really important.

Step 5: Make A New Folder

Create a new folder.  Give it the name of the previous month.  Move everything that’s left into that folder.

========================================

Viola.  Inbox empty.

viola

I Measure Results Because I Suck

This morning I noticed a tweet from @JaneBozarth, the Doctor O’ Learning who writes books and is the Worlds Worst Bureaucrat in Raleigh, NC. She was pimping an article she’d written for Learning Solutions Magazine on measuring the results of your e-learning, entitled “Nuts And Bolts: How To Evaluate e-Learning“.

Always the snarky guy, I tweeted the link out to all my little followers, but then sent a comment direct to Jane:

dick_tweet

I spend a lot of time promoting the idea of assessment in learning — and rarely, if ever, get much interest from clients in including that part of the project.  Because it’s expensive, difficult, time-consuming and often embarrassing.

She responded quickly:

jane_tweet1

And that’s the sad truth.  Lots of people don’t really want to know if their learning, “e” or otherwise is working.  Because it’s hard to measure, it takes time and dedication, and (ultimately) you might just embarrass yourself.

So Why Bother To Measure At All?

Because I don’t create amazing training the first time I try. My first version is usually somewhere between “good” and “sucks”.  I don’t spend a lot of time on it, it isn’t real glossy and pretty, and sometimes there are even some big empty gaps.  But I quickly evaluate how well it worked — using the actual learning goals and the assessments we all agreed on at the beginning — and then go right back to designing.

By version #2, I’m usually at about “great”.  But I don’t stop there. Now, I’m able to really start making things happen.  I can add teaching suggestions, more interactions, alternate models, and lots of nice media and facilitation. Then I head back to designing.

By version #3, we’re up to “amazing”.  Most people would hang it up. Not me.  I’m drilling down on the 20% of the assessment questions that people are still missing.  I’m asking the students what isn’t engaging them, the instructor what still feels stiff, and the client what they might have forgotten to include.

At version #4, we’ve reached “in-freakin-credible”.  Go ahead and measure me. Bring it on! Want to talk about R.O. I.?  I’ve got your ROI right here, sucka!  Want to compare me to your PPT lectures?  Go for it!  Want to put your next training project out to the lowest bidder?  Listen to me chuckle my evil chuckle!

So the next time somebody asks you whether you include assessment, just smile and say “of course — that’s where we start!”

A Tall, Blue-Haired Woman And Me — Wearing Pants

Yesterday morning, I got in Abe Lincoln (my 1994 Lincoln Town Car) and headed 100 miles north to Greenville to attend “Social Story Greenville — billed as an event to “help you find and social_story1communicate your unique story in a way that will connect to your customers like never before.” (Full Disclosure:  I was the guest of Phil Yanov, aka @ThinkHammer and a man who often buys me beer at TechAfter5.)

To attend an event in G-ville means I have to:

  1. Wear pants.
  2. Get up at 6AM.
  3. Act like an adult.

miss_dSo whatever it is, it’s got to sound pretty interesting.  Lots of the time, I pass because it just doesn’t seem worth it. But since Phil was going to be the Ringmaster at this Circus, and I had a chance to get my picture taken with MissDestructo, I decided to take the risk.

Good investment.  I spent the day listening to a wide variety of folks talking about the value of stories — your stories — and how you could use them in connecting to customers in Social Media situations.

Speakers included:

• Rick Murray, President of Edelman, Chicago

• Sean Buvala, @storyteller, author, and entrepreneur

• Trey Pennington, story prospector

• Tim March, aka TimTV, storyteller and performing artist

• Olivier Blanchard, @thebrandbuilder, entrepreneur

• Amber Osborne, @MissDestructo

There was also lots of nice time to talk with people who were attending, a nice box lunch, and an after-party that I had to miss so I could scoot home early for another engagement.

As a “professional learning dude”, I was a bit disappointed that it was mostly done in a model of one smart guy on a stage talking to all of us sitting on the bleachers.  It really would have been great to have used some of the SM tools that we have, and maybe created some other models for engaging before and after the event.  So here are three ideas for future events (that are planned for other cities, I hear).

  • Engage with us before the show Let’s have some short webinars or teaching sessions online before the actual show, for the participants who’d like to join in.  Or a phone call.  Or some e-learning.  Or a TweetChat.  Not everyone will attend, of course, but it would help beginners get up to speed and let the presenters better understand the needs of the audience.
  • Don’t just lecture to us I’m an experienced presenter, and I realize that there’s nothing more entrancing than the sound of your own voice!  But ask us questions, have us do things, play videos, use clickers for feedback, project a Twitter feed in response to your topic, engage, engage, engage! Kudos to Sean Bulvala for engaging with his audience!  (And NEVER present sitting down.  Never, never, never! That’s why people fall asleep listening to Charlie Rose.)
  • Give us some “next steps”  Set up a little community we can discuss our stories in, or a place we can share what we’re working on, or somewhere we can learn more.  You’ve gotten us all excited about this topic — don’t let the momentum die!  No matter what you’re trying to teach, people have to practice it to make sure it sticks — so help us out.

If you couldn’t make it to the show, you can watch the video online and get your stories out to the world right away courtesy of Brian Kelly Multimedia, or read the wthashtag transcript for all of the tweets sent.

Oh — as you can see — I didn’t have to act grown up the whole time!

social_story_photo_booth

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →