MOOCS@Work Working Group Session 2

Learning Cafe Call

MOOCs in

Corporate

Training

23 July 2013

MOOCs (Massively Open

Online Courses) can be a

mainstream employee

learning option. It offers cost

effective learning with the

benefits far outweighing the

challenges. L&D/HR need to

be proactive in exploring and

including MOOCs in learning

strategies.

1

Agenda

• Update and sharing MOOCs learner experiences. – 10 mins

• Discussion - Futures Scenarios for MOOCs for Workplace Learning John Forrest - 15 mins

• Discussion - Business Case for MOOCs at Workplace Sian Hartnett - 15 mins

• Discussion - Impact on current state Learning Processes/ Framework Jeevan Joshi - 15 min

• Call to Action – 5 mins

2

3

Lee Kirby

Working Group Advisory Group

MOOCs for Employees Update

• MOOCs Update • MOOCs visibility is growing

• Media

• Learner/ consumer -

• Either you know about

MOOCs or your don’t.

Academic world knows

• Course are generally Uni

based MOOCs or short paid

courses on Technology/Start

Ups

• Other topics and models are

emerging

4

Web site – moocsatwork.com

@moocsatwork

LinkedIn Open Group

Moocs for Workplace

Learning

Emerging Model

5

MOOCs at Work Framework

Proof of Concept

Agree on approach across the

participating

organisations

Get a small group(2-3) of employees to

undertake MOOCs for

personal development

Consolidate learner and

organisational experience

Develop a framework for

using MOOCs for employee training

7

FUTURE SCENARIOS

John Forrest

John.forrest@allestis.com

Environmental Scan

• Business Case Focus &

Assumptions?

– Experimentation

– Tactical project within an existing L&D

Program / Strategy

– Strategic as part of a L&D

Transformation

MOOCs Future

Workplace L&D

Future

?

Learners

L&D Professionals

Managers

Businesses

+ Political, Economic,

Social, Technological,

Environmental, Legislative

Considerations

MOOC Specific Focus

• Assuming Massive, Open, Online Courses are, by definition, ‘en mass’ – beyond the company context

• What are the key disruptive differences of MOOCs • Inexpensive (economies of scale change L&D business models)

• Wide variety of content (growing ever wider)

• More immediate availability (towards on demand)

• Difficult to assure quality (is it easy now?)

• Learning goals and evidence not subject to business scrutiny or alignment (are they now?)

• No (business) control over audience make-up

• Interaction with broader audience, work shared openly

• …

• Is it about control?

• Is this a threat to current bespoke, custom, closed approaches which have struggled to deliver measurable results?

• How do these disruptive differences influence the environment and how are they influenced by the environment?

A Future Influenced By the Past?

• Historical Content Examples?

• Software

• Music

• Books, articles and papers

• Movies

• …

• Historical Service Examples?

• Recruitment

• Product Sourcing

• Travel Agents

• …

Inevitable trends:

• Lower distribution costs

• Global accessibility

• More productive development

• Global sourcing

• Economies of scale for development

and maintenance

• Specialisation & intermediary costs

are more visible, require clearer ROI

to justify

Scenario Drivers

• Key decisions

• In general, what are the costs and benefits of

MOOCs over existing alternatives (if there

are any)?

• Are MOOCs available for your workplace

learning requirements?

• If so, how will they be made available and

managed in the workplace?

• What will be the roles of the intermediaries

between the MOOCs and Learners and the

business?

• Who will play these roles?

Five Scenarios

13

#1 MOOCs Not

Ready

#2 Raise the Draw

Bridge

#3 Learners Not

Ready

#4 MOOCs Take

Over

#5 Adopt, Adapt and

Evolve

Scenario #1 – MOOCs Not Ready

• MOOCs do not now (and are not likely in the next 3

years to) offer a viable alternative to existing course

solutions

• Over-hyped, unrealistic, can’t deliver

• MOOCs go for lowest common denominator mass

markets – most workplaces have narrower, higher

quality, professional level requirements

• Continue to evolve in-house L&D maturity, use

technology, outsource some content delivery and

development but keep business control

1

Scenario #2 – Raise the Draw Bridge

• MOOCs are viable

• The L&D practice community feels threatened by the

consumerisation of learning

• L&D professionals try to apply existing training course

management / development mind-set to MOOCs

• L&D professionals are dis-intermediated as business

managers & HR allow Learners to go direct to MOOC

providers

• L&D budgets are redirected to business managers

and HR for discretionary spend

• With lower budgets, L&D function struggles to

demonstrate any measurable outcomes

2

Scenario #3 – Learners Not Ready (L-

Plates) • MOOCs are viable

• Learners do not have discipline, skills and motivation

to self-drive

• As a result, L&D professionals are still heavily

involved as intermediaries between MOOCs and

Learners

• L&D professionals spend more time managing MOOC

sources than they would managing own content

creation

• Management overheads offset low cost of MOOCs

3

Scenario #4 – MOOCs Take Over

Guild Halls • MOOCs are viable

• Rise of an alternate intermediary, displacing business

L&D

• Professional associations drive standardisation and

endorse MOOC catalogues

• Workplace management relies upon professional

development bodies to be responsible for L&D

• HR provides incentives / requirements for Learners to

be accredited by external bodies

• Learners receive most structured training through

professional association, union etc..

• L&D professionals migrate away from the business

and into professional development organisations

4

Scenario #5 – Adopt, Adapt and Evolve

• MOOCs are viable

• L&D professionals identify a value adding facilitation

and curation roles

• Provide governance and quality assurance over

portfolios of largely Learner self-service MOOC

offerings

• Business L&D focuses on the high value, low volume

opportunities for specialist intervention

• Business view MOOCs as one of the outsourced

products/services enabled and managed by the

business L&D function

5

Impact Challenges

• Short-form scenario challenges to Learning Café members around these themes

• Encourage scenario based decision making and consideration of enablers and constraints on possible future directions

• Open for group to share perspectives

• For example: • You learn from a contact in HR that a business unit manager has

funded MOOC enrolments for their staff out of the unit’s operating budget and allowed a few hours of week study time.

• The same unit manager recently refused to contribute a share of their budget to an integrated corporate training program.

• What do you do?

• Are there policies which determine whether this initiative is within business guidelines?

BUILDING THE MOOC

BUSINESS CASE

Some considerations for L&D Professionals...

Sian Hartnett

Yes?

Do you really need one?

Can you adopt without

a business case?

If a business case is required...

Organisational Context

• Business environment?

• Current & emerging opportunities?

• Rate of change in customer needs?

• Competition?

• Watch out for hidden costs for adoption e.g. flipping!

Organisational Priorities

• Is the organisation focused on learning as a priority?

• Product leadership?

• Operational excellence?

• Customer intimacy?

• Do they view bridging capability gaps as a current business priority?

Organisational “Culture”

• Valued learning events: “internal” or “external”?

• Willingness to allocate resources e.g. SMEs, time, etc.?

• Approach to risk (in learning provision)?

• Employee engagement to learning?

Some key questions to ask

Structure

• Current / upcoming organisational focus

• Do employees have the capabilities to turn MOOC learning into value for the organisation?

• Do employees have the time, space, tools, etc. to engage with the MOOC “way of learning”?

• Infrastructure and access to required technology?

Process

• Does the organisation have defined job roles?

• Do employees acknowledge impact of “external forces” on the organisation that might require a focus on learning / skill development?

• What processes (and the related costs!) will be required to integrate MOOCs into the existing training offered?

• Who “owns” the training function – do you have the power to change the current approach?

• How will MOOCs be integrated into existing processes e.g. performance reviews, KPIs?

Culture

• Do the business “stakeholders” have the authority to request the integration of MOOCs?

• How will MOOCs be integrated into existing processes e.g. performance reviews, KPIs?

• Possible barriers e.g. political?

• Are employees / leaders encouraged to leave their “comfort zones”?

• Who “enjoys promotions”?

Possible business case “buckets”

Creating a continuous learning

culture

Creating a new direction / facet for

performance management

Improving options for talent

management for individuals / teams

Improving bench strength

Developing a wider global mindset

Driving talent mobility

Increasing offering within a recruitment

model – “unique people strategies”

Providing wider options for employee

engagement

...

IMPACT ON LEARNING

John Forrest

John.forrest@allestis.com

MOOCs at Work Framework

MOOCs for employee learning

Impact – Where & How

27

Employee

Capability

Gaps

Organisational

Gaps

Individual

Gaps

Gaps

Plugged

Custom

Training

workshops

Online

Learning

Coaching

L&D Organised

Internal

Knowledge

Bases

Performance

Support

Not

L&D Organised

Internal Driven Learning External

Generic

vendor

courses

Further formal

education e.g.

degrees

MOOCs

Formal

Less

Structured

Informal

MOOCs to Learner Approaches

28

DIY Facilitated Organised Laissez

faire

Learners

search for

MOOCs on

internet

Complete

Reporting in LMS

Learners go

to a portal set

up by L&D

Complete

Learners go to a

portal or

recommendations

pushed by LMS

Share with

internal

community

Complete

Share with

internal

community

Learners gets

personalised

recommendation

& supported by

L&D

Self Report Self Report Self Report L&D Report

Learning Process Impact

29

Requirements

Gathering

(LNA, TNA etc)

Learning

Design &

Development

Learning

Implementation

Evaluation

Call to Action

30

Follow MOOCs at work

• LinkedIn Groups

• Follow on Twitter - @moocsatwork

• Sign up at

Identify your area of interest

Cost

Usually free – Certificate - $70

Commercial MOOCS - $60

Levels of Engagement with MOOCs

31

Learning Modes Impact

32

Face to Face

Online & Blended Informal

Unstruct

ured

LMS Mobile Social Know Mgt

Business Drivers & View

33

Learning Strategy & Governance

Learning Planning and Budgeting

Business

Capabilities and Skills

34

Capability & Skills

Learning

Professional

Questions to Discuss

• One of the challenges the working group has raised is what part

does L&D get to play in MOOCs for Learning. The answer may turn

out to be very different to what we do now.

• Currently MOOCs are predominantly available for certain topics ie

IT, Management, Science which only meet part of organisational

needs.