Over the last 6 weeks I have been posting about the ideas that I have gotten from this class, and how they might be applied to the problem of rolling out a new software product for our company. For this last entry, we are to provide specifics of what we might to to begin translating these ideas into actions. In my case there might be some delay, as we are still finalizing the selection of the software product that we will buy, so until that decision is made it will be hard to design the training program.
However for next steps I think the key will be to share my ideas with others who are involved with the project. I have created a Wiki that collects these ideas and asks for more ideas and feedback from others on the team. (softwaretraining.pbworks.com) This site will serve as the brainstorming playground for many people. My plan is to share this site each time someone joins the project. The new person and contribute their ideas, and comment or build on the ideas of others. I will have this site in place by the end of November, so that we can start collecting ideas in December. The actual rollout of the software will begin in January, so training will probably happen in the second half of 2012. This will be a very exciting project, and I am looking forward to applying these ideas in the real world.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
CEdO 535 - Week 5: Other apps
This class has come at exactly the right time for me. As I have referenced several time before, our company is embarking on a change to our most critical piece of software, and the ramifications from this will touch everyone in the company. It will create a great need to manage the organizational change, and will require a training program that can address the many different jobs and levels of experience in the company.
One of the biggest challenges that we have been able to identify is the different groups that our training will need to address. We have many young workers who are familiar with technology and who will have no problem picking up the software, but we also have many people who have been working at the company for 20 or more years, and have been using the old software system for that entire time. These people will have a harder time adjusting to the change, and providing them with training and support will be critical to the success of the project. I was thinking of this issue when I read a statistic from Chapter 9 of the book. The fastest growing segment of Facebook users are people over 55. Chances are a good percentage of our older workers are already familiar with Facebook and Social Networking. If we can just find a way to provide them with a similar resource within our company, then that could be the basis for an organizational change and training program. Security rules mean that we will probably not be able to use Facebook itself, but we might be able to leverage an internal social networking site.
The social networking site would also serve as a portal to many of the other training materials, including blogs, video blogs, screen casts that demonstrate common business functions of the software, and a host of other possibilities. We could also use it as a way to link to the more formal training materials, including PowerPoint presentations, video recording of training sessions, and other documentation.
The biggest takeaway I have from this week is the wide variety of Web 2.0 applications that are out there. As part of our assignments we had to discover and evaluate another Web 2.0 app. I chose WeToKu, which is an online video broadcasting app. It also allows interviews, where two users are sharing a face to face conversation (via webcam) and broadcasting the result to a wide audience. This looks like a useful tool, but the bigger lesson is that there are many tools available. As the web grows and changes, some companies will come and go, and a tool that you might have used will no longer be available. We have already seen that in this program, as some of the websites we used a year ago are no longer around. However there will usually be new and better services available, and teachers will need to be prepared to look for the other possibilities.
One of the biggest challenges that we have been able to identify is the different groups that our training will need to address. We have many young workers who are familiar with technology and who will have no problem picking up the software, but we also have many people who have been working at the company for 20 or more years, and have been using the old software system for that entire time. These people will have a harder time adjusting to the change, and providing them with training and support will be critical to the success of the project. I was thinking of this issue when I read a statistic from Chapter 9 of the book. The fastest growing segment of Facebook users are people over 55. Chances are a good percentage of our older workers are already familiar with Facebook and Social Networking. If we can just find a way to provide them with a similar resource within our company, then that could be the basis for an organizational change and training program. Security rules mean that we will probably not be able to use Facebook itself, but we might be able to leverage an internal social networking site.
The social networking site would also serve as a portal to many of the other training materials, including blogs, video blogs, screen casts that demonstrate common business functions of the software, and a host of other possibilities. We could also use it as a way to link to the more formal training materials, including PowerPoint presentations, video recording of training sessions, and other documentation.
The biggest takeaway I have from this week is the wide variety of Web 2.0 applications that are out there. As part of our assignments we had to discover and evaluate another Web 2.0 app. I chose WeToKu, which is an online video broadcasting app. It also allows interviews, where two users are sharing a face to face conversation (via webcam) and broadcasting the result to a wide audience. This looks like a useful tool, but the bigger lesson is that there are many tools available. As the web grows and changes, some companies will come and go, and a tool that you might have used will no longer be available. We have already seen that in this program, as some of the websites we used a year ago are no longer around. However there will usually be new and better services available, and teachers will need to be prepared to look for the other possibilities.
CEdO 535 - Week 5: Other apps
This class has come at exactly the right time for me. As I have referenced several time before, our company is embarking on a change to our most critical piece of software, and the ramifications from this will touch everyone in the company. It will create a great need to manage the organizational change, and will require a training program that can address the many different jobs and levels of experience in the company.
One of the biggest challenges that we have been able to identify is the different groups that our training will need to address. We have many young workers who are familiar with technology and who will have no problem picking up the software, but we also have many people who have been working at the company for 20 or more years, and have been using the old software system for that entire time. These people will have a harder time adjusting to the change, and providing them with training and support will be critical to the success of the project. I was thinking of this issue when I read a statistic from Chapter 9 of the book. The fastest growing segment of Facebook users are people over 55. Chances are a good percentage of our older workers are already familiar with Facebook and Social Networking. If we can just find a way to provide them with a similar resource within our company, then that could be the basis for an organizational change and training program. Security rules mean that we will probably not be able to use Facebook itself, but we might be able to leverage an internal social networking site.
The social networking site would also serve as a portal to many of the other training materials, including blogs, video blogs, screen casts that demonstrate common business functions of the software, and a host of other possibilities. We could also use it as a way to link to the more formal training materials, including PowerPoint presentations, video recording of training sessions, and other documentation.
The biggest takeaway I have from this week is the wide variety of Web 2.0 applications that are out there. As part of our assignments we had to discover and evaluate another Web 2.0 app. I chose WeToKu, which is an online video broadcasting app. It also allows interviews, where two users are sharing a face to face conversation (via webcam) and broadcasting the result to a wide audience. This looks like a useful tool, but the bigger lesson is that there are many tools available. As the web grows and changes, some companies will come and go, and a tool that you might have used will no longer be available. We have already seen that in this program, as some of the websites we used a year ago are no longer around. However there will usually be new and better services available, and teachers will need to be prepared to look for the other possibilities.
One of the biggest challenges that we have been able to identify is the different groups that our training will need to address. We have many young workers who are familiar with technology and who will have no problem picking up the software, but we also have many people who have been working at the company for 20 or more years, and have been using the old software system for that entire time. These people will have a harder time adjusting to the change, and providing them with training and support will be critical to the success of the project. I was thinking of this issue when I read a statistic from Chapter 9 of the book. The fastest growing segment of Facebook users are people over 55. Chances are a good percentage of our older workers are already familiar with Facebook and Social Networking. If we can just find a way to provide them with a similar resource within our company, then that could be the basis for an organizational change and training program. Security rules mean that we will probably not be able to use Facebook itself, but we might be able to leverage an internal social networking site.
The social networking site would also serve as a portal to many of the other training materials, including blogs, video blogs, screen casts that demonstrate common business functions of the software, and a host of other possibilities. We could also use it as a way to link to the more formal training materials, including PowerPoint presentations, video recording of training sessions, and other documentation.
The biggest takeaway I have from this week is the wide variety of Web 2.0 applications that are out there. As part of our assignments we had to discover and evaluate another Web 2.0 app. I chose WeToKu, which is an online video broadcasting app. It also allows interviews, where two users are sharing a face to face conversation (via webcam) and broadcasting the result to a wide audience. This looks like a useful tool, but the bigger lesson is that there are many tools available. As the web grows and changes, some companies will come and go, and a tool that you might have used will no longer be available. We have already seen that in this program, as some of the websites we used a year ago are no longer around. However there will usually be new and better services available, and teachers will need to be prepared to look for the other possibilities.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
CEdO535 Week 4 - Podcasting, Screencasting, and Social Learning
This class has certainly given me many ideas that I can apply to my current job. As I have mentioned several times before, we are looking at a major overhaul of our corporate software. All of the technologies that we have talked about in this class could be directly applied to the training program that this software will require. What I like best is that it will allows us to capture the knowledge of the individuals themselves as they are using the software.
For example, this week I especially like the idea of screencasting. As we install the new software we will have several early adopters. These will be people who work with the software who are experts in their particular area of the business. Rather than creating a long, pre-packaged training presentation for everyone, we can have these early adopters create a screen cast that shows how they perform individual functions of the software. These will be especially powerful if they can be tied to common tasks or procedures that the users will be performing. The early adopters will then publish their screen cast in a blog or Wiki, and will make it available to the rest of the company. Other users can search for the particular procedure or task that the screen cast illustrates. They will receive their training in short video segments, instead of one long class.
I also like the idea of using blogs to record the thoughts of the early adopters as they learn about the software. This can help smooth the transition as others begin to use it.
For example, this week I especially like the idea of screencasting. As we install the new software we will have several early adopters. These will be people who work with the software who are experts in their particular area of the business. Rather than creating a long, pre-packaged training presentation for everyone, we can have these early adopters create a screen cast that shows how they perform individual functions of the software. These will be especially powerful if they can be tied to common tasks or procedures that the users will be performing. The early adopters will then publish their screen cast in a blog or Wiki, and will make it available to the rest of the company. Other users can search for the particular procedure or task that the screen cast illustrates. They will receive their training in short video segments, instead of one long class.
I also like the idea of using blogs to record the thoughts of the early adopters as they learn about the software. This can help smooth the transition as others begin to use it.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
CEdO535 Week 3 - RSS and Photo Sharing
We covered two main tools this week - RSS feeds and photo sharing.
I definitely can see uses for RSS feeds in my current job. They will be most useful as a way to keep up with current trends in education and training. As my company begins to roll out a new software package, we will have to retrain everyone in the company. Some of these people have never used any other software package. I will use the RSS feeds to keep up on the latest training techniques to help with this. I will also investigate creating our own RSS feed within the company, so as developments occur people in the company will be notified automatically. We could post training update about the new software and they would receive the information automatically.
This use of RSS feeds would also support social media as a training platform. As students begin to get familiar with the software they could record video blogs talking about their experience. We could then post these stories to a central site, which would in turn update an RSS feed that others could subscribe to.
As for photo sharing, I can not think of as many uses for this at my job. It might be possible to use it as a further training tool, by allowing people to upload screenshots of the work they are doing on the new software. I did create a Flickr account however, and the photos I uploaded can be seen below:
I definitely can see uses for RSS feeds in my current job. They will be most useful as a way to keep up with current trends in education and training. As my company begins to roll out a new software package, we will have to retrain everyone in the company. Some of these people have never used any other software package. I will use the RSS feeds to keep up on the latest training techniques to help with this. I will also investigate creating our own RSS feed within the company, so as developments occur people in the company will be notified automatically. We could post training update about the new software and they would receive the information automatically.
This use of RSS feeds would also support social media as a training platform. As students begin to get familiar with the software they could record video blogs talking about their experience. We could then post these stories to a central site, which would in turn update an RSS feed that others could subscribe to.
As for photo sharing, I can not think of as many uses for this at my job. It might be possible to use it as a further training tool, by allowing people to upload screenshots of the work they are doing on the new software. I did create a Flickr account however, and the photos I uploaded can be seen below:
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