Diagnosis: instructional controliosis
Patient: It seemed perfectly normal at first. HR wrote a new policy about computer use, and we could have just sent everyone an email about it. But…but…
Doctor: Yes?
Patient: But then I thought, what if people don’t read the email? Or maybe they won’t understand it! So I decided to do a course. Just a little one.
Doctor: Go on.
Patient: So I put together all the screens and set up a menu. And then I thought…what if they skip a screen? So I took away the menu and just gave them a Next button. And then I thought…
Doctor: Yes?
Patient: What if they don’t read every word? So I added narration and didn’t let them click the Next button until the narrator had read everything on the screen.
Doctor: And how did that make you feel?
Patient: I knew you’d ask that, and I’m concerned that you might not fully understand my answer in such an informal delivery mode. So I’ve put together a course that will guide you through my thought processes and assess your understanding. Don’t worry, there are only 137 screens.
What’s the treatment?
This patient needs a long stay at the Web 2.0 Extreme Retreat, where her only contact with the world will be through wikis, blogs, online forums, Google, Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace. We’ll tell her to teach herself some valuable skill using only the internet, some skill like…playing the banjo!
To give you a taste of what she could experience, I’ve recorded a short presentation (linear and controlled, of course). It shows how web 2.0 technologies have changed how people learn to play the 5-string banjo. Really. It’s also a test run of Jing, a free screencast service for Macs and PCs. My verdict so far: not the greatest sound quality but easy to use.
What are some other, more practical ways we could help this patient?
on December 5th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Great little banjo show, Cathy. I was just hoping to see YOU pickin’…
on December 5th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
How about have the patient take their own medicine. Give them a Rx of reviewing some number of elearning courses (there are many) that do exactly what they created and then have them call the doctor to see how they feel the next morning after sitting through several of those painful training pieces. Then, provide them with some lovely alternative medicine…such as your examples of GOOD approaches to take….
on December 6th, 2007 at 1:43 am
One time a banjo camp . . .
on December 6th, 2007 at 2:10 am
I think controliosis hits everyone at some point. When it hits me it’s because I’ve assumed that I know better than the learners or I’m afraid that they’ll miss something important–basically, I don’t trust the learners enough. And I think that lack of trust is a relic from our days in school, where the teacher knew everything and we supposedly knew nothing.
I think one solution is to make sure we provide highly useful, relevant information that learners *want* to use. That’s one reason why places like the Banjo Hangout flourish–there are very highly motivated people there asking questions, and equally motivated people providing answers.
The patient could have sent out a simple email that immediately made clear *why* the new computer policy was important, maybe with a subject line like “How one visit to the wrong website could get you fired” (well, something like that).
Banjo fans, feel free to check out http://www.banjomeetsworld.com, where you too can learn Macedonian tunes on your 5-string banjo in gross violation of tradition and probably some international treaties as well.
on December 6th, 2007 at 5:17 am
I’ll bet there is a long waiting list for that clinic, which is a pity, because I know a LOT of people who could do with a stay there. Do you know where I could download a linear course that explains to them how to check in?
on December 6th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Apologies to banjo fans who tried to see the video and couldn’t. I quickly used up my Jing bandwidth. The video is working again, but here’s a lesson for potential Jing users:
It’s extremely easy to “share” a video. The default action is to post it at Screencast.com, where you can set up a free account. That account, however, has limited bandwidth–very limited when you consider how many banjo fans live in Australia. So then, of course, you have to pay.
The alternative, saving to a local disk and hosting the video yourself, requires some puzzling and poking around, especially if you’ve already posted the video on Screencast.com. I can understand the financial reason behind making it harder for users to save things locally, but it costs the brand some goodwill. Jing comes from TechSmith, the same company that makes SnagIt, which I love, so I’m not bailing out completely, but I’m slightly disgruntled.
Jing users, there’s an explanation and discussion here: http://blog.jingproject.com/2007/11/file.html
on December 6th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
I couldn”t see the banjo demo.
I agree that experimenting and trust are good in e-learning but what if you know you CAN’T trust your users to read what they need to?
Experience (logs) has shown that they have opened the e-learning site and then closed it, rang up for their password and then said “what I have to read all of it?”.
on December 6th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Michelle,
Thanks for your comment. If your logs show that learners aren’t reading everything, it’s likely that they don’t see how the information will be useful to them. Assuming that the course itself is tightly focused on highly relevant information, the solution to learner apathy could be more marketing of the course within the organization as well as more motivation throughout the materials. Motivation could come, for example, from activities that help the learner apply the information to realistic job situations so they see how they will benefit.
Another approach, of course, is to require them to pass a test. That makes sure that they know what they need to know, whether they read everything or not. If you’re feeling brave, you could let learners skip ahead to the test, and when they answer incorrectly, send them to the appropriate sections of the course. That way they read only what they need to read, and it’s clear to them that they need it, since they couldn’t answer a question about it.
I’m sorry you couldn’t see the banjo video. I’ve been unable to duplicate any trouble–it’s working on both my Mac and my PC. If you try the video again and still have trouble, please let me know.
on December 7th, 2007 at 4:48 am
Hi thanks for your comments, it is an uinduction course and they have to know all this stuff before they can get access to the network. There is a test they have to do, perhaps I should alter it so they have to get 100% before they can have the password.
Thanks
Michelle
on December 13th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
[...] Diagnosis: instructional controliosis [...]
on December 14th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
There is an elearning course at my company that ends with a test that must be passed at 100% before passwords are given out. Unfortunately, the course is a yawner with 100% text and audio narration and far too much technical info the learner will never need or use in their work. Also, you cannot speed through the course in any way. Total instructional controliosis. Furthermore, the test questions are like this:
What is the email address you must send email to if you encounter a problem with the system?
Answer: inform732140joe@systems23411notthecompanyurl.com
Could you remember this email addy after 30-40 minutes of a yawner elearning experience? Well, if you do NOT remember it, you fail and must repeat and pass the course before the IT person who created the course will approve a password for you. Needless to write, a cheatsheet floats freely throughout the office and no one seems to ever fail the course.
on December 17th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Gwen, thanks for your comment. That course sounds like a classic. It can be a real challenge to persuade SMEs that we really need to keep very little info in our brains–what we really need is to know what information we need and where to find it.
on January 22nd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Cathy–
I couldn’t view the banjo video. Do you know if it’s working? When I press the big white Play arrow, the black video screen disappears and nothing happens.
Thanks for checking.
on January 23rd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Gene, thanks for the alert about the banjo video. I’ve moved it to my own server, and it’s working now.
on January 23rd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I need to amend my previous comment. The banjo video works if you give it about 20 seconds to load. Otherwise, it looks like a blank screen. Jing must have a nice loading doohickey on its servers that didn’t transfer to my server.
on May 28th, 2008 at 11:46 am
This is pretty crazy. I’m pretty active on the Banjo Hangout and I love this blog (I’m an eLearning Developer who would like to make a career shift into doing both developing and Instructional Design.) I had no idea that the Cathy Moore who does instructional design and the Cathy Moore who plays european songs on clawhammer banjo is one and the same.
on May 28th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Just when you think you’re safe from banjo players…
…you find out that one writes a blog you read. Hi, Ryan!