Sonia Wadhwa & Arun PrakashInfoPro Learning, Inc.

Engaging Learners Beyond the ClassroomCollaborating to Learn : Learning to Collaborate

1 Who are Learners

Multimedia Workflow2 Why Engage

3 Engagement: Structure

4 Platforms for Engagement

5 Challenges in Engagement

Who is a Learner?

• Adult

• Literate

• Professional

• Adept at managing his / her learning and growth - ?

How do we treat the learner when we are in a “classroom” (teacher) mode?

How do we treat the learner when we are in a “classroom” (teacher) mode?

• Force them to learn

• Track the learning

• Evaluate the impact of learning

• Try to engage learners - ?

What exactly is an engaged learner?

What exactly is an engaged learner?

Interested

Involved

Contributive Active

Sharing Knowledge

Sharing Ideas

Asking Questions Participative

Connected

Collaborative

Why Engage? Why Collaborate to

Engage?

• Find information• Get answers to

questions• Seek guidance• Share ideas• Get second

opinions

Think about how often you connect with someone to:

• There is too much information for us to mange it all by ourselves

• Information from people we trust is richer

• We all need to connect and feel connected

The reality is that:

Because this is the way we have learned and worked…

The New WorkscapeNeed for engagement…

Work is increasingly collaborative• Specialization• Optimization• Just in time information

Changing nature of work•Anytime, anywhere• Faster, smarter, better

Need for streamlined information base•Collective common repository•Organic expert base

“Today more than 85% of a typical S&P’s 500 company’s market value is a result of its intangible assets. For many of these companies, a bulk of these intangible assets is its people. It is no longer what you own that counts, but what you know…”

Craig Symons (Forrestor Research)

Engagement: Does it need a structure?

Challenge is to create a structure around it

Always existed

Beyond the classroom or

workplace

Has been informal

Engagement: Why structure?

Formal Processes and

Systems

Dispersed and Virtual Teams

Diverse, Global

Workforce

Formal Hierarchies

Networked Organizations

A structure that connects formal & informal learning, without compromising on the quality of engagement…

• Does your company promote a culture of open sharing and decentralized decision making?

• Does your L&D department recommend on-the-job employee development?

• Do you have a significant number of millennials generation (and outgoing baby-boomers)?

• Does your industry demand constant innovation and experimentation?

• Most importantly – what is the senior management’s conviction?

Are you ready for a structured engagement?

• “Corporate Hierarchy” based communications to “Quality of Thought” based communication

• Extension of formal training

• Connects the knowledge from formal training with real-life situations

• Knowledge that is contextual and relevant to the organization

What can you “expect” from an Engagement / Collaborative system?

More “expectations”…U

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Creates a social structure for engagement wherein technology puts power into communities, not institutions

Applying CollaborationCreating engagement parameters

Establishing communities• Expert panel(s)• Mentors/ Thought

Leaders• Participants/ Learners• Closed user groups• Focused Communities/

Forums

Fostering communication • Posting content (text,

audio, video, weblinks, documents)

• Chats• Blogs• Screen-sharing/ Online

Meetings• Tagging• User feedback (Rate, Like,

Comment)• User recommendations• Asking Questions

Administering• Management

Recommendations• Expert answers• Content Moderation• Incentivizing Contributors

Analytics• Quality of Content (based

on Accreditations by Peers/ Mentors)

• User Participation (# of Posts, Questions and Rating)

• Thought Leadership Score• Organizational

Engagement Score• Areas of Expertise

ChallengesArghh….

But achieving this Ain’t Sounds great…..

The Brave New Connected World

What do you think are the key challenges towards implementing a collaborative system in the workplace?

Challenges

Organizational Risks

• Lack of readiness to move to a non hierarchical framework

• Transparency issues

• Lack of sponsorship-both financial and moral

• Hesitation in intra-organizational sharing

• Usage / adoption

Technical Risks

• Platform does not support internal rubrics and systems

• Security concerns

• Privacy issues• Compliance /

regulatory concerns

Economic Risks

• Lack of organizational sponsorship

• Cost of engagement

Measurability

• Lack of analytics expertise and/or resources

• Unreliable data• Inconsistent

analytical approaches

Other Risks

• Anarchic data without moderation

• Lack of visible mentors

• Perceived loss of employee productivity

The bump before the freeway…

• Do not be in a hurry…consider a phased approach

• Identify the departments or businesses that are good candidates

• Take IT into confidence • Let momentum build up naturally• While you govern subtly…

Mitigating the ChallengesMaking engagement a reality…

Creating Organizational Value with Engagement

Case Studies

Need Collaboration Method and How it

Worked

Learner Benefit Organizational Benefit

Developing Leadership Cohort learning in which a team of people came together for a sustained learning experience beyond courses and sessions

Sustained relationships with learning partners and senior leaders

Meaningful networking and long-term loyalty

Sharing among companies in a consortium

Platform for continued sharing of creative ideas beyond “brainstorming” sessions

Leveraging across geographies

“Idea” repository

Creating Organizational Value with Engagement

Case Studies

Need Engagement Method and How it Worked

Learner Benefit Organizational Benefit

New Product Launches

Used by teams to collaborate during development of new products

Critical and creative thinking

Faster and superior product ideas

Maximizing use of large talent pool

Communities of practice in which internal and external scientific brains coordinate to exchange knowledge and practices around shared interests

Access to specialized, often tacit, knowledge

Effective way of engaging special interest groups that minimizes risk and variance with diversity of talent pool. Creation of organic knowledge repositories.

• Replacement for formal / traditional learning

• Overnight culture change• Quantification similar to “formal” training

What not to “expect”

http://www.infoprolearning.com/gnosis

GNOSISTap Into Knowledge; Derive Wisdom

Enterprise 2.0The vision for future