Help Stop SOPA and PIPA!

We're going to take a break today from our normal subject and talk about something really important- stopping internet censorship.  You may have noticed something a little different at some of your favorite websites (check out Google, Wikipedia, Reddit, this website!).


Today we're protesting two bills: SOPA (US House of Representatives) and PIPA (US Senate). To learn more about these bills, check out Wikipedia. The site is blacked out, but they have a link to learn more that directs you their article on the subject.

 If you have a blog or website, here's a link to JavaScript code that allows you to blackout with the rest of us:

sopablackout.org


Anything you can do helps- tweet, facebook, email and call your Senators and Congress People.  Notify your friends and family. Stand up and fight!

Engaging and Entertaining your Learners

Our company recently reorganized. My department went from supporting one specific group of users, to a much broader group. One of the new groups I work with are the agents at our call centers. As anyone who as ever worked in a call center knows, this is a tough job. Generally speaking, customers don’t call a company (or a help desk) when things are going well. So you spend your work week fielding concerns, issues, instruct opportunities and the occasional venting via scream. I can tell you right now, I’m not sure I’d last a week. But the people in our call center? They’re wonderful- Funny and nice and excited and generally interested in the company, the product and the tools available to them.

Engagement for the call agents is really important. Sometimes it can feel a little bit like high school- bulletin boards, themed days, contests, baked goodies, giveaways.  Yeah, a little like high school, but worth it.  It's all to promote our strategy and reinforce the metrics they’re held to. We also hold very popular “Blitz” weeks. These are run similarly to a career fair. Experts on the particular topic are on hand to answer the agents’ questions, provide information and give insight into new products and initiatives.

This week marks the first blitz of the year, the “Ready…Set…GO!!” Blitz. This blitz introduces the agent to the metrics the call center is held to for the year and the tools we’re providing to help them reach these metrics. This slightly dry topic has been spruced up with a race theme. Each group of agents must complete the race track- stopping at each of the 6 pit stops. Each pit stop is manned by the subject matter expert for that topic. This puts a face to the metric, process or system, something the agents really like. Each SME has 5 minutes to get the important information to the agent. Kitchen timers sound after the time has run out forcing the SMEs to be succinct, clear and quick. Each pit stop has some sort of takeaway- generally a 1 page handout with the most important information and some sort of fun (we had race cars, Hershey kisses, our videos playing on an iPad and one of our team playing the Paparazzi).

At the end, the agent is directed to our LMS to complete a short, 6 question knowledge check based on what they just learned. Anyone who scores 100% is entered in a drawing to win one of our most popular products. I love this model. It’s fun, entertaining, informative and doesn’t waste anyone’s time. I really like that it pulls together many forms of training (instructor led, online, traditional handouts) and blends them together in a way that feels natural and easy, not forced.  I really enjoyed meeting my coworkers and sharing our department with them.

It’s difficult shifting my attitude from remote, online only training to this entertaining, engaging blended approach. The demographic of this group of learners is much different than the demographic of the focused, specific group we supported before. I think everyone we train can benefit from some version of this sort of training. Every employee, remote or onsite, wants to know that they’re worth the time and that they’re success is vital to the company.

What do you do to bring some entertainment and engagement into your training?

Where are You Going in 2012?

Happy New Year and welcome to Learntastic! If you’d like to know about the author, click the Megtastic tab at the top of the screen. A few things you should know before you get started, sometimes we make up our own words, concepts or sayings here at Learntastic. If we ever make you go “What?” click the Wordtastic tab at the top of the screen for a definition. We’ll try to link you there when necessary. Alright, let’s get started! 

My first post of the year (and ever here on Learntastic!!) was going to be a review of the trends in e-learning for 2012. I just wasn’t happy with what I found. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with many things I read (Cloud development, social learning is necessary, mobile learning!), but I just didn’t have anything to contribute to the articles I found. That, and most of the articles I found were thinly veiled ads for different companies, which really annoys me.

 I thought I’d talk about where I was going in 2012 instead. My department develops all training for our Service function (warranties, call centers, repairs, parts and accessory replacement, etc), but my little group focuses specifically on the media needs for this training. We produce videos, animations, sound clips, interactive courses, quizzes, graphics, photos and manage the delivery of this content through our learning management system.

2012 is our year of change, simplification and fine-tuning. Last year we focused on developing and implementing a flexible learning management system that can meet the needs of our various learners. This year we need to focus on providing accessible materials that can be accessed on demand and training that can be grouped into curriculum and courses that help guide our learners through their careers.

 So where do I see my department ending up by this time next year? Here are my Dreamspace statements:

“Our department will have a regular video production schedule set up so that we can improve our production time and our creation process. This will enable us to provide better support to our clients (colleagues and learners) by giving them a clear idea of when their project can be started and completed.”

“Social learning will be alive and well in our business collaboration space. Users will create their own spaces and blogs, and share materials, photos and videos. Learners will collaborate across departments, functions and levels generating innovative ideas.”

“Our LMS (including the social and mobile platforms) will be integrated seamlessly into the Learner’s experience. They won’t know when they leave the portal and when they enter the LMS. Log in will be seamless and content will be simple to find with intuitive searches.”

“We will provide monthly, targeted remote training to our Learners. This will be delivered in simple, yet effective methods that fit both the Learner’s needs and our available technology. We will not force one to fit the other.”

Where are you going in 2012?