Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2013 - (Page 7)

AT THE EDITOR’S DESK | DR. IRENE T. BOLAND SORTING HYPE FROM FACT IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF OUR RESPONSIBILITIES TOP FIVE LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES TO WATCH Today, technology impacts so many facets of human development that we have an unparalleled opportunity and challenge in selecting the right one and making effective use of it for learning. Sorting hype from fact in learning technologies is an important part of our responsibilities as training professionals. Let’s focus on a small handful of emerging technologies that show promise as tools to accelerate human performance. AUGMENTED REALITY Augmented Reality (AR) enables us to add a layer of information to a real world visual. For example, if you are responsible to train retail employees, you could have them wear lightweight AR glasses. Through these glasses, your employees see the real merchandise with a layer of text over the top that describes ways to upsell and cross-sell it Whenever the employee is ready to increase their sales, they can review this information about the merchandise using the glasses. Later, when they are standing with a customer, they’ll be able to recall how to persuade them to purchase additional items. THE EXPERIENCE API The Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) team brought us the voluntary SCORM standard more than a decade ago enabling us to track when our training has been taken, completed and whether the learner passed an exam. The ability to track the diverse learning events of our lives will soon be possible, through the Experience API (xAPI) being developed by the ADL. Generally, the xAPI can track anything that is stated as actorverb-object. It’s in early stages of development, with prototype installations being tested. It will open the doors to tracking things like mentoring, learning from a friend, contributing to a knowledgebase, and knowledge learned on a tough project. TRANSFORMATIONAL NEUROLOGY Through the Functional MRI (fMRI), neuroscience is revealing the locations of brain activity when a person is attempting a cognitive task. It can also show physical changes in the brain when a person makes repeated efforts to learn new content. This, combined with advances in neurogenesis (that we can make new brain cells) and neuroplasticity (that our brain cells can change jobs) makes for an exciting frontier that could eventually lead us to a full understanding of how learning happens. MOOCS A challenge for many enterprise organizations is how to educate large numbers of people well. The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a way to offer a blended learning course to thousands of learners at once. Learners create posts or other kinds of artifacts as evidence of learning. Peer-grading and feedback enables assignment scores to be generated for each learner. MOOC systems currently offer these courses, many of which come from Ivy League schools, for free. Most MOOCs offer certificates of completion, and a few offer university credit. Watching how MOOCs evolve and participating in this setting puts you in a position to spot opportunities for using this technology to educate your global audiences. GESTURE-BASED INTERFACE Touchscreen devices are seen as an innovative way to deliver training due to portability and touch-based inputs. However, there are times when the way learners move their bodies is part of what has to be learned. In those cases, gesture-based input, can be used to track and provide feedback on learner movements. For example, engineers who perform critical maintenance on million-dollar equipment need to learn a new task. Often, the engineer must learn the skill when the equipment is not actually available to them, or it is too large a financial risk or physical danger to have them practice on real equipment. The horizontal, vertical and depth of the engineer’s movement can be detected and used as inputs to the training software, resulting in highly realistic training. IN SUMMARY Staying informed of emerging technologies across all industries equips us to envision the future of what’s possible in learning technology. The innovations that impact the training industry could come from anywhere. Understanding the affordances and limitations of technology will enable us to successfully select and implement systems that help our organizations grow. Dr. Irene T. Boland serves as human performance, process improvement, and change management expert to Fortune 500 and Global 2000 organizations. Email Irene. Training Industry Quarterly, Fall 2013 / A Training Industry, Inc. magazine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ 7 http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2013

From Where I Sit: The Sustainability of MOOCs
Table of Contents
Ad Index
Guest Editor: Top Five Learning Technologies to Watch
We Need to Support Learning, Not Manage It
Supercharge Your Next Leadership Initiative
Boomers & the Technology Gap
Technologies to Manage Information Overload
It's Time to Invest in the 'Performance Zone'
Inroducing Simulation into Learning Technologies: Examining the Key Considerations
The Evolution of the LMS
Bringing Your Mojo to the Virtual Classroom
Merging Social Learning and Technology to Achieve Business Outcomes
Optimizing Workforce Learning and Performance
Badges: Bridging the Higher Education and Workforce Gap
Integrating Video into Training
Tools for Supporting Sales Coaching
Tweet Suite
Company News

Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2013