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The State-of-the Art in Web-based Training
Factors that Drive Training Today
Using the Web's Inherent Strengths
Enabling Tools and Technologies and Virtual Learning Spaces
Content Development, Data Types
The following document is comprehensive information on the growth of WBT and an attempt to summarize the industry trends succinctly. It is a consolidation of the different presentations and panels I did in 1997. My knowledge and expertise has grown due largely to the assistance of many WBT industry leaders who are listed in my resource list and in the slide presentation.
Slides 3-6
Autodesk customers do not invest in AutoCAD or other Autodesk product "training" to train their employees to "use" the software. Instead, they invest in training to provide their employees the skills to better perform in their jobs. As Elliot Masie puts it, "It is not human resource development, it is a business process and productivity investment."
There is a shift from "use" of software to workplace competencies, (which is really what matters). An example of this shift may be demonstrated in an application-oriented course, (or learning module) such as "Reading and Redlining AutoCAD Drawings", instead of "Introduction to AutoCAD". Another example which may be more familiar to you is "Creating Year-end Reports", instead of "Introduction to Word and Excel." In both cases, the learner will come away with the skills to "use" the software, but as a by-product of learning what they really needed to know.
Many companies are either eliminating or thinning out their internal training staff. It is more fiscally responsible to spend their budget on realistic, as-you-need-it training instead of supporting a staff of trainers.
Human capital is becoming more important to the business competitive advantage. A company can spend considerable funds retraining employees because of lack of skilled employees in the marketplace.
In technology, any incremental update, introduction of new features and bug fixes require some updating of skills. It is a phenomenal challenge to keep up. This is well known as the Technology Assimilation Gap.
Companies are buying technology to gain a competitive advantage, and the ability to use the technology is business critical!
The introduction of the web in the learning and performance support arena is a promising breakthrough because it reduces capital barriers for distributing learning.
Slides 7-14
One should have to take market research data and analysis with a grain of salt. Although the accompanying slides do not specify all the details of how the research was conducted, the important thing to notice is the trend in regards to the general internet usage, web-delivered learning projections, as well as technology-mediated education in general. Here we picked strong reliable market research organizations to show what the perceived trends are from several data sources.
Most Recent Information, January 9, 1998
The art of estimating how many are online throughout the world is an inexact one at best. Surveys abound, using all sorts of measurement parameters. However, from observing many of the published surveys over the last two years, here is an 'educated guess' as to how many are online worldwide as of January 1998. And the number is 100.5 million .
World Total 100.5 million Africa 1 million Asia/Pacific 14 million Europe 19.75 million Middle East 0.525 million Canada & USA 64 million South America 1.25 million
For up-to-date information on web usage data, refer to: www.nua.ie/surveys/how_many_online/index.html
Data Points and Notes from Internet World, New York, December 1997
...and just as a "by the way", there are 800K coke vending machines in Japan. What kind of implications can you see if these machines were networked?
Although WBT is still young, an IDC report, "distance learning via the web will be the fastest growing segment of technology-based training this year," with the number of business units using internet-based training jumping from 3.2 percent in 1996 to 7 percent in 1997. At an annual compound growth rate of 147 percent, analysts predict that the market for online training will reach $1.7 billion by the year 2000."
Many companies have invested in company-wide distributed learning over their "intranets" and have reported success in regards to effective learning and overall cost reduction. Because of current bandwidth issues (discussed later), the intranet is an ideal environment for delivering innovative models using rich media. Additionally, companies are extending their reach to their partners over the "extranet", as in the case of Fujitsu PC who trains their technicians using streaming video.
Here are a few companies that have reported effective use of their intranet/extranet for learning and performance support:
- Federal Express
- J.C. Penney
- Buckman Labs
- Applied
- National Association of Security Dealers
- Hallmark
- AARP
- Qualcomm
- Lucent Technologies
- Lawrence Livermore Labs
- Sun
- Silicon Graphics
- Oracle
- PeopleSoft
- Microsoft
- Fujitsu PC
Although there are many companies cropping up that offering online learning to the general public over the "internet", it is still too early to know it's business success, or overall effectiveness.
The telephone is still the most widely used communications tool. Alexander Graham Bell, however, had different intentions. The purpose of the telephone was to broadcast news and symphonies. It took a lot of convincing and presentation of undeniable evidence before Mr. Bell accepted that the strength of the telephone is as a communication tool.
Similarly, we need to look at the web's strengths to determine the best way to use it in a learning application. I think the most compelling, promising and important strength (in my opinion) is the ability we now have to use the web for participatory interaction. Learning is certainly a participatory activity, and the use of threaded discussion groups, chats and collaborative tools are all extremely powerful in learning environments. These kinds of applications immerse participants into the experience, causing them to remain there for long periods of time. It also compels a return because the web it becomes part of their landscape. It short, the web propagates lifelong learning.
Web-based training generally applies to any kind of instructional material delivered over a corporate intranet or the internet accessed by browser-equipped users.
Slides 17-22
Figuring out which flavor of web-based learning is more effective for a given group of users is only one of the many issues confronted by companies evaluating this method of delivery. A fast growing set of tools even makes it ever more difficult to decide. There's the cutting edge ultra-interactive model, aiming to incorporate sophisticated streaming media and desktop-video-conferencing and live web broadcasts. There are also other hybrid models helping to link static CD-ROM-based training content to dynamic web content.
There are two primary models used today: synchronous, or (instructor facilitated) and asynchronous, (self directed, self-paced). There is also "static" vs. "interactive", or "dynamic"
Interactivity is a critical design element (more on interactivity under Critical Design Elements). Still many static models exist today since simple hyperlinking (electronic page turning) is the most primary form of online delivery.
As previously mentioned, there are hybrid models. Hybrid models may use both Asynchronous and Synchronous models, or could use a combination of delivery media such as audio and video, or have hooks to a CD-ROM-based multimedia CBT.
The majority of web-based models are trying to emulate traditional training delivery paradigms like classrooms and tutorials. Learning is not only derived from a structured course or text. It can also be a result of small kernels or mini modules of information or learning content. Such is the intent of Autodesk's Tips and Tricks under Technical Assistance. It is certainly the direction being taken for the addition of content to the static Learning Assistance CD ROM which Autodesk intends to include in all products. www.autodesk.com/support/tiptrick/index.htm
www.autodesk.com/prodsol/ddraft/products/acadlt/learning/index.htm
Over the last 12 months, it has been my pleasure to meet and review a variety of products and services that employ the models discussed here. The resource list includes many more vendors and service providers than described in the slide presentations. The slides include ALL the companies that I have included at presentations or panels in 1997.
More Details on Examples Cited in the Slides:
UOL Publishing-Autodesk Virtual Campus
Microsoft Online Institute (MOLI)
Oracle Learning Architecture (OLA)
Docent Software Inc. , IBTauthor
Empower On-line Learning Infrastructure (OLI)
Slide Examples of Asynchronous Learning:
delivers training via the Web to companies and individuals. Our courses cover computer science, multimedia tools, the Internet, and other topics.UOL Publishing-Autodesk Virtual Campus
- UOL Publishing, Inc. is a leading publisher of high quality, interactive, Web-based courseware delivered through the Internet or corporate intranets to the education and training market. Working with its strategic content partners, UOL offers corporate and academic entities full-service distance learning solutions.The Autodesk Virtual Campus (AVC) uses UOL's learning infrastructure to provide courses on how to use Autodesk software products. Content providers use tools to assemble courses through the AVC. Autodesk is currently using the advanced testing features of the campus to deliver Technical Competency Exams to the reseller network, ensuring resellers have adequate product knowledge
Microsoft Online Institute (MOLI)
Microsoft Online Institute (MOLI), a Web- based training program for students who need a flexible self-paced training solution.. With this integration of Web-based training and traditional classroom instruction, Microsoft can reach a broader base of students worldwide -- students whose needs are best met with easy-to-access, flexible online courses at the desktop.
"Microsoft recognizes that the education market is moving rapidly in a new direction -- the Internet," said Marsha Kabakov, group manager, training channel strategy and development at Microsoft. "Microsoft plans to continue to invest in the online learning model by creating high-quality content and developing new technologies that enable us to deliver best-of-breed online learning solutions to students."
Oracle Learning Architecture (OLA)
is an innovative on-line education solution that combines leading Oracle technology with educational content from major content providers. OLA is a service of Oracle Education that offers on-line IT training over the Internet and corporate intranets. The OLA has a single user interface for both the learner and the training administrator. Content providers concentrate on providing dynamic multimedia training content, and rely on OLA for the underlying tools and administrative functions."Slide Examples of Synchronous Learning:
is training development and delivery server software that provides a structured online environment combining live, instructor-led training with just-in-time, self-paced learning and asynchronous communication in one integrated browser-based interface. I-Net w/Audio is a powerful online learning software environment that offers a comprehensive virtual classroom. LearnLinc I-Net w/Audio is designed to deliver results-oriented training via the Internet or corporate intranets using a single phone line. LearnLinc I-Net w/Audio integrates audioconferencing, multimedia and Web-based courseware control, application sharing, and many other features for corporations and universities that need instructor-led or facilitated online learning.LearnLinc I-Net offers the time-tested benefits of true classroom interaction to the Internet or corporate intranet. LearnLinc I-Net is the first online learning software to allow and instructor or student to control multimedia courseware and Web navigation on all PCs via the Internet.
LearnLinc Pro-Net is the first distance software product to offer an instructor-led Internet learning environment with seamless control of the most popular desktop videoconferencing system. Intel's® Proshare® Video System is linked to LearnLinc's unique floor control system providing face-to-face interaction and courseware control for instructors and students.
Other Examples of WBT Delivery Solutions:
server is designed to manage the delivery and support of training and education over the Internet and corporate or campus Intranets using the World-Wide Web.In addition to providing support and collaboration tools for users such as built-in messaging and conferencing areas, TopClass also manages all students and tutors on the server as well as the course material assigned to them.
Docent Software Inc. , IBTauthor
, is an enterprise-level software solution that allows organizations to create, deliver and administer training and assessments on the Internet and/or corporate IntranetsEmpower On-line Learning Infrastructure (OLI)
is an enterprise-wide courseware design, development, and distribution infrastructure for Intranets or the Internet. Based on a multi-user client/server architecture, OLI capitalizes on industry-wide open standards such as relational databases and Java/ActiveX to provide a scalable, cross-platform solution. OLI's plug-and-play applets can be launched from standard Web browsers and are designed for use by content designers, administrators, and students.Empower Kaleidoscope, the next generation of web-based tools providing a comprehensive development system for the creation and management of interactive training titles. Developed for use withinEmpower's OLI, Kaleidoscope brings together every phase of courseware production. Designers, Authors and Administrators can work collaboratively to develop and manage a comprehensive training program.
, is a service provider specializing in web-based learning solutions using streaming media, unlike the other companies listed here who provide server education solutions. LearnCom provides the first end-to-end solution for clients wanting to improve the effectiveness of their corporate training and communications efforts by making them available on-demand over the web. LearnCom integrates the latest media streaming and web content management technologies with a comprehensive set of web media services to provide our clients with a seamless, end-to-end solution for their "on-demand" learning needs. Access to information is provided asynchronously when the learner needs the information, and at the location and pace of the learner's choice.
Technology mediated instruction must use the technology to provide instructors more teaching options in a synchronous model and to give students more options for searching instructional assistance in both synchronous or asynchronous models. The key components are:
1) Content
There should be a comprehensive collection of materials, incorporating many different file formats, electronic text, digital video and audio, simulations, animations and interactive dynamic representations. It must be easily linked together and adapt easily to a learning environment.
2) Container-Learning Space
There should be a container where this content can adapt itself and be manipulated with ease and flexibility. This is a shell, (an infrastructure) that holds the content in various data and media types.
3) Relational Database
The content must be tightly coupled with a relational database application. The objective is to enable the instructors/facilitators/moderators to closely monitor progress made by students and to provide lesson-specific advice or solutions in a synchronous model. It must be able to provide timely information so that students can exercise greater control over the pace at which they use the content to support their learning.
This is necessary to employ multiple data types to enforce learning.
In a recent Internet conference in San Francisco, Web Innovation, a panel of top technology company executives discussed the future of the Internet, I made the following observations:
- Distance is becoming less of a factor
- Companies like (Genuity/Bechtel) are building global data centers bring data closer to users.
- Development of more intelligent routing (protocols like ATM)
- Building more network access points
- Use of smarter content, push technology, low-bit streaming video, unicasting (single stream), applets, etc
- Surplus CPU power with new LCD technology (colosteric technology)
- Low earth orbiting satellites (Telegesic-Macau/Bill Gates)
Additionally, a recent newspaper article in Europe stated that 800 kilometers from Northern Spain they are laying an underwater armor protected cable called Gemini. At its core are four fiber optic strands, each thinner than human hair, which will be capable of carrying almost 1.5 million simultaneous telephone conversations. This is the first submarine Internet cable and when it is put to service in August of next year, the congestion that plagues Internet connections will be a thing of the past.
Enabling Technologies, Virtual Learning Spaces and Delivery Models
Besides the infrastructure itself, there are many enabling technologies, tools, environments and services available today as you have already gotten a glimpse of from the examples previously shown.
No doubt the technology is there to deliver sound instructional design over the web. At Autodesk, we are conducting several pilots to determine which model and instructional design model is most appropriate for our diverse content and audience.
Slides 25-26
Developing an online course can require the assembly of many types of data forms: text, graphics, animations, video, applets, etc. It also requires an environment or architecture in which it will reside in. Finally, it requires the glue or properties that will facilitate assembling these together.
Learning Architecture, Learning Objects (LALO): Learning API Task Force
The vision of the LALO task force is to enable new and existing learning content to be created as independent Learning Objects. These can be assembled in any combination to meet an individual's learning needs, resulting in increased personal productivity. (Simply put, a learning object is a chunk of learning that can be in multiple data formats with properties to facilitate grouping them together making a lesson, or course, etc. Learning objects can be thought as content that can be as granular as a "text tip" or as involved as an "interactive multimedia java applet" lesson.
The goals and objectives of this task force include:
- Facilitate development of industry standards for learning objects.
- Identify key components required for learning architectures and environments.
- Identify and involve other constituencies for inclusion, review, extensions and adoption.
- Standards adopted/adapted to become de facto and passed on to appropriate entities.
For more details on LALO, visit www.cedma.org (under "About CEdMA", accomplishments and initiatives)
Depending on your audience and the learning objectives, a choice must be made regarding interactivity. Interactivity is a critical design element because it further engages the learner. Interactivity can be as simple as interacting with the information such as entering data to a database to cause some dynamic reaction to a live instructor-facilitated synchronous instruction. This emulates a classroom environment in which an instructor has control of multiple students. An instructor can evaluate through a histogram how effective he/she is being with the audience. Symposium, an education server developed by Centra is by far (in my opinion) the most effective in achieving this.
To achieve interactivity without an instructor on the other end, the use of technology could be very effective. Tools like Shockwave and Java Applets allow you to interact with objects on the screen. Streaming video allows you to listen and watch an instructor, live or pre-recorded and interact with a verbal quiz or online examination.
Our global challenge is to know how to determine what instructional design model(s) are most appropriate for specific applications. At Autodesk, we have numerous audiences and various purposes we need to address in order to provide online learning. For example we provide technical training on the use and application of complex software for our customers and partners. In addition, sales and marketing training which is technical in nature is important to Autodesk for internal as well as partner use, we also provide internal soft skills for employees and technical skills for engineers.
The following information created and compiled by Margaret Driscoll has been very helpful in figuring out which flavor of web-based learning is more effective for a given group of users or subject matter. Ms. Driscoll is an Instructional Designer at Central Software, developers of the web-based server software product, Symposium. Symposium is one of the best know models for Synchronous learning. The following is an excerpt from Defining Internet and Web-Based Training. Performance and Instruction Journal, Vol. 36, no. 4, pp5-9
When vendors and service providers talk about delivering training on the Internet, it is not clear exactly what they mean. Such training can be as simple as delivering print-based lessons using e-mail or as complex as conducting a live Internet videoconference. This article provides guidelines to help managers sorting out Internet-based and Web-based training options.
Internet-based training is defined as any skill or knowledge transfer that takes place using the World Wide Web as the distribution channel. There are two categories of Internet-based training: text-only and multimedia (see Table 1).