Elearning! - December 2007/January 2008 - (Page 25)

ple, a European employee would likely have a European mentor. This would be fine if IBM were a regional company, but, in fact, it is global, so an employee in South America might be a better match for the younger European employee. ENTER TECHNOLOGY CAL’ s experimentation helped determine that using virtual worlds might help develop these international mentoring relationships. When CAL evaluates a technology, it looks at all products. During the evaluation, CAL identifies and follows a set of standards to which the technology must adhere: scalability, avatar capacity, features BY TOM FLOYD and functions, and ease of integration. Based on these evaluations, IBM decided to use Second Life for virtual world purposes, but the company does use other virtual worlds as well. Both Hamilton and Tony O’ Driscoll confirmed one virtual world trend: in the near future, hundreds of virtual world platforms will become available. IBM mentoring now takes place in Second Life, resulting in more international mentoring. Employees (as their avatars) meet in Second Life, where they are mentored by senior employees who may be continents — and even cultures — apart. Hamilton notes that the impact of removing cultural barriers by using virtual worlds cannot be underestimated. In the hypothetical example of the South American employee mentoring a European employee, these cultural barriers would be insurmountable using the previous synchronous technology. Yet these barriers have been overcome using avatars in virtual worlds. A second positive impact of virtual worlds on the IBM global mentoring system involves decreasing the amount of time required to meet. For example, using a virtual world, an employee could e-mail or chat with his or her mentor, asking to meet in Second Life in 10 minutes, and then that’s it for organizing the meeting. Previously, a number of desktop applications were involved to set up and hold the meeting, resulting in additional barriers, fewer connections and less personal interaction. A third positive impact of virtual worlds is that the creativity behind avatars often communicates an employee’ s entire personality in more breadth without any words. Before virtual worlds, the extent of expressing creativity existed, perhaps, in a person’ s choice of a colorful tie. Now, it is perfectly acceptable — and even encouraged — for employees to spend time creating their avatars by injecting their own personalities. For example, Hamilton plays in a Celtic band in his non-work life; therefore, his avatar wears a kilt. This feature volunteers a trait about himself well before any business talk begins. CAUTIONARY POINTS Because it is difficult to measure the success of a virtual mentoring program, much of the success is determined through perception. It is difficult to confirm how many mentoring relationships are maintained in the virtual world. Plus, the program is still at the pilot stage; data will be gathered as the program continues. In the near future, hundreds of virtual world platforms will become available. Despite the difficulty judging the success of the program, the reaction of participants has been overwhelmingly positive, and a high number of employees have chosen to try the program. In a virtual world orientation program focused on India and China, thousands of avatars participate and learn together. Barriers to participating in the virtual mentoring program also exist. The primary technology barrier is that the interface is new, and learners take time to learn how to operate in this environment. Bandwidth challenges also present a potential barrier. Secondary barriers include accepting “gaming” as a part of work and fearing resistance from superiors if they see a gaming environment on the screen. Resistance from superiors appears legitimate; however, in the innovative culture of IBM, this barrier is only perceived — or simply remains a barrier for a brief time until the boss learns to appreciate that both play and serious games are a valid part of the IBM workplace. The preceding information is taken from a new Brandon Hall Research report titled “Virtual Worlds for Learning: How Four Leading Organizations are Using Immersive Environments for Training.” For more information on Brandon Hall Research, visit the Website www.brandon-hall.com. Elearning! December 2007 / January 2008 25 http://www.brandon-hall.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Elearning! - December 2007/January 2008

Elearning! - December 2007/January 2008 Contents Editor’s Note News Google Tops List Learning Hours Increase Web 2.0 Whitepaper Available Listing World-Class Learners Kick Your Career in High Gear Trendline Best of Elearning! Awards Happy Birthday to Us Virtual Worlds for Learning Learning Leaders: Innovation, Excellence Learning Leaders Case Studies The Business Case of E-learning The Business Case for E-learning Case Study: Adecco Case Study: GlaxoSmithKline Case Study: Williams Scotsman New Products Collaboration Tools Content Pop Quiz Last Word

Elearning! - December 2007/January 2008

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