Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - (Page 56)

While organizations may like the concept of blended learning, it is constrained by the available modality. FIGURE 5: DELIVERY PREFERENCES BY CONTENT DOMAIN Classroom-based ILT Asynchronous e-learning On-the-job training 9.1% 27.5% 5.6% 5.8% 0.4% 64.0% 36.0% Text-based training 0.9% Student-prescribed 0.9% blended 2.2% Business skills IT skills mode for business skills training. Current instructional practices for IT skills tend to emphasize independent study and practice over shared learning and group work. As collaborative technologies grow in online instructional modalities, we likely will observe increased value and use of collaborative e-learning experiences when teaching IT skills, reﬂecting the trend in IT work itself. Modality and Skill Level In every organization, the training team must account for a mix of skill levels among its workers. Similar to responses from 2007, modalities are seen as equally valuable when training those who are highly and those who are minimally skilled. The exception is asynchronous e-learning, which is seen as more effective when training an audience of mixed abilities. Because asynchronous e-learning is administered at the student’s pace and not in a group setting where differing skills levels may retard progress, this ﬁnding continues to reﬂect learning executives’ awareness that their audiences, content and environments are important determinants of the appropriate delivery selection. Taking Small Steps Corporate learning programs don’t make major changes quickly, and the best-laid intentions are not always borne out in reality. While the delivery mix hasn’t changed much in a year, the reasons for choosing modalities appear to have shifted. Cost savings historically have been a key driver of e-learning usage. This research indicates CLOs are increasingly working to match the medium to the message and to match that delivery modality to an audience of mixed ability. To achieve high impact, learning executives must continue to match the delivery to the content and their students’ needs. CLO Cushing Anderson is program director of learning services at IDC. He can be reached at editor@clomedia.com. is because it’s appropriate; in other cases it is because that is the modality available. Clearly, CLOs now are more inclined to let the message drive the medium. Delivery for Speciﬁc Domains Little has changed since 2007 regarding preferences for delivery by content domain. A greater majority of the BIB uses classroom-based ILT for business skills training than for IT skills training (Figure 5). Sixty-four percent of the BIB selected classroom ILT (C-ILT) as the primary delivery method for business content, compared to only 36 percent who select CILT as primary for IT content. Business skills courses largely focused on soft skills lend themselves to face-to-face experiences with instructors and peers. However, because of the wide range of business skills courses — from interpersonal to highly technical — more detailed investigation of these trends is needed. It is clear that CLOs see the value of classroom instruction when it is an appropriate method for the content to be conveyed. E-learning, however, is consistently seen as a more appropriate method for delivering IT skills content. About a third of the BIB selected at least one form of e-learning as the primary delivery method for IT skills training, compared to only 9 percent who selected it as their primary 56 Chief Learning Ofﬁcer • July 2008 • www.clomedia.com http://www.clomedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - July 2008

Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 Contents Imperatives Selling Up, Selling Down Strategies Take Five A Customer-Driven Approach to Molding Tomorrow’s Leaders The Home Depot: Accelerated Leadership CLO Profile Birth of a Salesman: Selling Learning to Solve Business Issues Selling Learning’s Potential at Siemens Transform Corporate Learning With a User Network Wiki Training Increases Productivity for RMC Vanguard Mortgage Lessons From the Feds: Mapping Learning to Strategic Initiatives Department of Labor Centralizes Content Synchronous and Asynchronous: What’s in a Name? Coping With Cultural Barriers to E-Learning The Manager’s Responsibility for Employee Learning Case Study Business Intelligence In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - July 2008

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