LEARNING TECHNOLOGY

Context-basedlearningEnabling staff to get the information they need to solve problemsas they arise is the key to sustaining learning, says Donald Doak

Imagine you are travelling somewhereunfamiliar. You attended a lecture aboutthe area a year ago that gave you somehelpful information and you read a bookabout it. Would you rely on that alone to

guide you during your trip? Probably not. Whenyou attended the lecture, you were not goingto travel for a year and more immediate issueswere probably on your mind. Now that you areplanning the travel, there is a lot of informationthat could be helpful and when you are there,having maps and guidebooks available wouldallow you to make the most of your trip.

Now imagine that, instead of a trip, theinformation you seek wiU help give you the skillsto improve or increase your knowledge of certainaspects of your job and career. The training classesyou take and the books you read will be beneficial,but will you be able to recall that informationwhen you need it most - when you are faced wdtha challenge or problem?

In today's on-demand learning environment,professionals are faced with the challengeof sustaining learning concepts. Companiesare faced with the challenge of keeping theiremployees current with the necessary LôcD, whueaccommodating the varied learning needs ofindividuals who range greatly in experience.

More formal learning environments, such asinstructor-led training classes, provide in-depthinformation, but most people forget 60 per centof it in the 24-48 hours after tbe class. But if aperson goes into the class with a specific problemin mind and can relate the information to it,the retention rate improves dramatically. This isbecause problem-based learning is how peoplelearn best.

So how do we sustain and extend learningbeyond the classroom and strengthen concepts

The ^ivho^in learningis no longer just aninstruetor and astudent^ but extendsto the organisationalcommunity

taught in formal training? And how do we createan environment that allows learning to be themost effective?

Companies are instituting informal ways oflearning in which content with best practices andbenchmarks for employees are available whenand where the opportunity to use it arises. This isknown as context-based learning.

Technology has made it possible to put a largeamount of content in a place where employees canget easy access to it and to present it in a way thatmakes it part of their everyday workflow, wherethe problems occur.

This provides high-interest content that is easilydigestible where they need it, when they need it,how they need it.

An online portal can be created providingpre-populated, highly relevant content from theindustry's most respected thought leaders. It canbe customised and integrated into an existingportal, LMS, SharePoint (departmental intranets),mobile devices and more. This creates the abilityto provide multiple entry points into learningcontent in addition to the LMS and bringslearning into the workflow, providing context-based learning opportunities.

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LEARNING TECHNOLOGY

For instance, an employee looking at a record fora client that he will be engaging with sees a notethat the client can be difficult. If the companyhas integrated competencies and best practice andbenchmark content from thought leaders on howto handle difficult customers, he can directly enterinto a learning opportunity. The content wouldopen him up to a robust collection of journal andmagazine articles, books, videos, e-books andbusiness book summaries with information onthe topic.

One of the advantages of having such a resourcerather than relying on a general web search is thatthe employee can be confident that the system isaccessing the most updated and valuable contentfrom leading resources instead of a search thatmay produce less reliable and less authoritativeinformation. There is a risk and cost factorinvolved with team members aimlessly searchingthe web for ideas on 'how to handle a difficultcustomer' for the content they may find may notbe reliable best practice.

The inclusion of top business sources is only onecomponent that determines the success this typeof resource can have in an organisational learningenvironment. The tool must include rich metadataacross all the included resources so that the mostrelevant information is presented if the teammember takes a self-directed learning approach tofinding content. This allows him to find the mostrelevant information quickly. The metadata alsohelps keeps users in context if they explore withinthe collection for subjects, authors or publications.

Companies can amplify learning, especiallyfor high potentials and self-directed learners,by linking the latest business thinking toorganisational competencies, allowing employeesto browse by the subjects that are most applicableto that industry. This was an important partof what Tessa Bedoya wanted to accomplish

This customisabilityallows trainingprofessionals to presentthe most relevantinformation in a waythat works best fortheir company

when she started at Rheem Manufacturing'swater heating division. As the human resourcedevelopment specialist, she wanted to be able tooffer managers the most up-to-date resources fortheir development and that of their employees."My goal when I came in was to partner withthe management team to improve organisationaleffectiveness," she said.

One issue that Bedoya recognised as needing tobe addressed was the risk of employees continuingto do their jobs in the same way they had alwaysdone because of the company's low employeeturnover rate. "One of the biggest benefits ofhaving these resources at our fingertips is thatour employees learn what is happening outside ofRheem - where industries are going, what othercompanies are doing, what leadership gurus aresaying about leadership in 2013 versus what theywere saying in 1979," she said. "It shows new waysto do things, new ways to make profit, new waysto innovate, new ways to create, new ways to do allthe things that we've been doing the same way formany years."

Bedoya helped to create a custom portal thatcould be accessed through the corporate intranetsite, which offers targeted, recommended learningcontent that is prominently displayed for intuitiveand easy access. The content aligns with theorganisation's 13 performance competencies,including adaptability, leadership, productivity,teamwork, communications, initiative and self-evaluation. Resources are mapped to job function,such as human resources, procurement, sales andmarketing, and users can click on any one of thecompetency or function areas to findrelated content.

Similar resources also let managers expandlearning opportunities and teamwork with a portalthat supports social collaboration, group learningand sharing relevant books, abstracts and articlesto colleagues. With pre- and post-reading materialthat presents key concepts and relevant businessthoughts, executives can customise companyinitiatives to augment leadership developmentcurricula, to support learning activities, coachingand individual development planning to yieldhigh-potential development.

Portals can be set up to feature particulararticles, books, summaries or videos of interestchosen by the training professional, and supplythem via email alerts or RSS. They can, andshould, also include support for social mediawithin the learning environment to providepeer-level contextual insights on specific assetsemployees have found helpful. The 'who' inlearning is no longer just an instructor and a

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student, but extends to theorganisational community.

Consider an employee who has been giventhe task of giving an important presentation,and wants to brush up on his presentationskills. Ifthe company has integrated a learningresource, learning competencies can be mappedto information, directing him to best practicesand information on communicating effectively ina presentation. Post-presentation, he can furtherthe discussion by adding comments to particularcontent items to make the learning experience amore collaborative one. By accessing the learningcontent when he needs it, where he needsit, and how he needs it, the learnerwill improve his on-the-jobperformance and retention islikely to be increased.

This customisabüity allowstraining professionals to presentthe most relevant informationin a way that works best fortheir company. Companiescan then integrate thecontent into an LMS as acourse providing multipleentry points into this type oflearning content

Besides the improvementin applying what hasbeen learned, there are anumber of other benefitsto using this approach.Unlike classroom learning,which may be limitedbecause of size or fundingconstraints, there are nolimits to how many peoplecan use the system fortraining purposes. In a worldof distributed workforces,the information can be madeavailable to everyone in thecompany in a cost-effective way.

Context-based learning does not seek to replaceformal learning efforts; instead, it complementsformal learning by providing a way to sustain itthroughout the year.

Dan Pontefract, senior director and head oflearning and collaboration at TELUS, a leadingCanadian telecommunications company, andauthor of Flat Army: Creating a Connected andEngaged Organization, instituted a context-basedlearning resource to augment the company'sorganisational model of interconnectivity andunity. "Learning is not just an event in a H

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LEARNING TECHNOLOGY

Context-based learningcompléments formallearning by providinga way to sustain itthroughout the year

classroom," he said. "Learning is part formal, partinformal and part social."

TELUS has incorporated the learningresource into its corporate internet site. Thereis a customised search box on the home pageand users can enter keywords that sift throughcontent specifically selected as relevant to TELUS'learning needs. Content is also mapped accordingto TELUS job families so an executive assistantcan click the 'administrative' link to peruse relevantarticles on topics such as time management.

Additionally, employees can select any one of 11"values attributes" or defined leadership behaviourssuch as collaborating, communicating andinitiating. For example, a manager who wants tolearn about coaching and mentoring his employeescan click the value attribute "developing teammembers" for applicable articles.

This more informal approach must also beaccessible via mobile devices allowing instantaccess to information wherever an employeemay be. This becomes more important whena company has a distributed workforce. Take,for instance, the oil and gas industry: providingworkers on off-shore rigs with formal learningopportunities would be difficult and cost-prohibitive, but a tool for context-based learningwould give them access to the same information asthose working in the company's head office.

People who travel a lot also need to have areliable information resource. Bedoya recountedthe experience of an executive who frequentlytravels: "When I told him he could downloadarticles onto his mobile device, he got reallyexcited. Now he emails me about what HarvardBusiness Review article he read on the plane thisweek. He just really loves it."

The convenience of content resources isbeneficial even for those who may be based at acompany's headquarters. "People like the fact thatthey can read the article online or on their mobiledevices. They can print it out and take it home, orplug their phone into their car and just listen toit," says Bedoya.

DonaldDoakis senior vicepresidentat EBSCOInformationServices.He can becontacted atddoak@ebsco.com

In addition to providing the content where anemployee is working and how he wants to accessit, this solution also gives options for what type ofcontent the person wants to view. The content caninclude book summaries, journal and magazinearticles, e-books, videos and comprehension textsso learning professionals and end users can choosewhat works best for their particular learning stylewhether they prefer to delve into articles about thesubject, watch a video or glean the key messages ofa top business book by reading a summary.

At TELUS, the implementation of the learningportal has been a success. "Our resource helpsus extend our informal learning options to our40,000+ team members by providing pertinentarticles, periodicals, journals and the like indigital formats that are accessible at work, athome or on the go," said Pontefract. "It's awonderful extension to our world-class line-up oflearning options."

All of this integration into workflow andcustomisation can be done using a simpleapplication programming interface so there islittle engagement needed by a company's ITdepartment. Instead, learning professionals canwork with stakeholders to figure out exactly whatwill work best for their employees, given theirdepartmental and company goals, and how best tointegrate it into their system.

This context-based learning approach is notnew in some professions. It is already in wideuse in the medical field. A doctor or nurse whohas a challenging case could certainly go to amedical library and delve into the thousands ofstudies on a given subject to learn what the latestones have shown but technology has integratedthe information into electronic medical recordssystems. Since an electronic medical record is akey element of a health provider's workflow, toolsthat allow doctors and nurses to search within thatsystem, and receive alerts when there are potentialpractice-changing studies available for a diagnosis,promote better outcomes for patients.

This approach is accepted by the medicalprofessional associations such as the RoyalCollege of General Practitioners, the AmericanMedical Association, the American Academyof Family Physicians and the American NursesCredentialing Center as well as trainingorganisations such as the International Associationfor Continuing Education and Training as well asothers for credentialing.

As the need for on-demand learning increasesin a world that requires on-demand access toinformation, imagine what this resource could dofor your company. TJ

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