practical applications of technology for learningyet blended learning is more than just a fad....

June 26, 2006

Many e-Learning designers

have come to think of blend-

ed learning as a strategy only

for situations in which some

of the skills or the practice

require a physical classroom

or in-person facilitation. But

with the advent of computer

support for informal learning,

blending is coming to imply a

much broader range of possi-

bilities. In this week’s article,

learn how to identify and deal

with the challenges you will

face as you link formal and

informal learning.

Bridging the Formal-InformalGap: Blended Learning EvolvesBy Clive Shepherd

Blended learning is the thing — training’s big talkingpoint for the mid-noughties. Like sensitivity training,action learning, interactive video, accelerated learn-

ing, coaching and mentoring, and e-Learning before it, ithas become a bit of a bandwagon.

Yet blended learning is more than just a fad. It’s a recog-nition that other approaches to training are simply not strongenough to work for all audiences, all of the time. Some-times only a combination of learning media will do the job.

I’d like to suggest that blended learning is evolving into a new role, asour understanding of learning itself — and the applications of technology tolearning — is also evolving. For in addition to previous uses of computersfor learning, we now have informal learning. E-Learning producers (design-ers, developers, managers) may regard informal learning as a threat, butthat would be a mistake, as I hope to show. One of the keys to under-standing how informal learning changes our work is the realization thatblended learning, whatever practitioners may have thought of it in the past,is actually a bridge between formal learning and informal learning.

Bridging that gap is not easy, and requires several steps and adjust-ments. It is up to e-Learning producers to take these steps. In this article,I will give you my thoughts on four challenges that confront us, and waysto meet them:• Dealing with the various existing objections to blended learning;• Incorporating non-formal learning into blended learning, as a transitional

step;• Coming to terms with informal learning; and• Handling resistance issues.

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2LEARNING SOLUTIONS | June 26, 2006

Objections to blended learningBecause blended learning has become such a

commonly used term, some who think of them-selves as training cognoscenti regard it with scornand cynicism. They may speak of it as anotherpanacea to delude the masses, and one that isbound to fade into the background when we even-tually realize it doesn’t work. This sounds harsh,and perhaps you doubt that anyone would holdsuch an opinion. Yet, I once went to a seminarduring which the chairperson referred to blendedlearning as “the ‘B’ word,” something not to bementioned in polite company.

Since blending is a concept that can arousesuch strong passions in some of our colleagues,I’d like to take some time to consider the particu-lar objections that you may hear.

“It’s nothing new”

One of the most common objections to therazzmatazz about blended learning is that it’s noth-ing new — blending is something we have alwaysdone. There is obviously some truth in this, be-cause we can probably all think of some examplesof training interventions that have successfully com-

bined a variety of media. But to maintain that thishas been in any way the norm is clearly wide of the mark. Most learning, of course, is informal — wedon’t even know that it is happening. When it isstructured and formalized, it’s most likely to bewholly on-the-job, if not wholly in the classroom, ifnot wholly online. Blending has been (and still is)very much the exception, not the rule. That’s notsurprising because blending is a hassle — it takesmore planning and more co-ordination.

“It’s just marketing”

Cynics may also claim that blended learning isjust a rebranding exercise, carried out by e-Learningvendors who have hit upon hard times after thebursting of the dot-com bubble. Again, there issomething to say for this view. Most companiesthat claim to be in the blended learning businessused to be — you guessed it — e-Learning compa-nies, not classroom trainers. They even tried tomake the term blended learning their own, referringto it as a mix of “e-Learning and traditional meth-ods.” This definition still dominates, even though it isunhelpfully restrictive, not to say condescendingabout the so-called “traditional” methods.

The criticism of blendedlearning by informallearning enthusiastsfalls down in one otherimportant respect — itassumes that blendedlearning cannot makeuse of new, relatively in-formal, methods andmedia.

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“It keeps the classroom instructors happy”

The e-Learning community may retaliate by claim-ing that blended learning is in fact a sop to theclassroom community, allowing them a piece of theaction in a world of learning that is already domi-nated by the computer. (See Sidebar 1 at right.)This view is hard to justify. Computers are playingan increasing role in learning, but have major limita-tions as anyone can see. Even the most optimisticforecasts for e-Learning don’t see it replacing theclassroom as a mechanism for delivering formaltraining.

“It’s about control”

Blended learning has also been harshly criticiz-ed, if not completely written off, by advocates of new, less formal approaches to learning (youknow, those that take advantage of new technolo-gies such as blogs, wikis, and Podcasts) as justanother attempt to impose highly-structured andformalized instruction on employees who wouldprefer to be in much greater control of what theylearn, and when and how. They see blended learn-ing as being yet another repackaging of the sametired old ingredients, typically classroom instructionand what used to be called CBT (computer-basedtraining, i.e. interactive, self-study lessons).

Worse than that, perhaps, is the accusationthat, where e-Learning is used in the blend, it isrestricted to covering the boring knowledge materi-al which trainers hate training and learners hatelearning. In his book Lessons in Learning, e-Learn-ing, and Training, Roger Schank laments that, “Thepart that is assigned to e-Learning is the rotelearning part — the facts followed by the answers.That stuff doesn’t stick, and for the most parttrainees hate it. When you hear the word ‘blend-ed,’ run.”

This viewpoint of blended learning, while appeal-ingly cynical and superficially fashionable, is off themark in at least two respects. First, I believe thatthere remains a place for formalized instruction —and a very valuable one at that. Structure in learn-ing is important when you don’t know what youdon’t know, nor (once you realise what you don’tknow) do you know how to go about rectifying thesituation. You are a dependent learner — depend-ent on an expert, who has done all this before, toguide you from ignorance to mastery. The moredependent you are, the more you appreciate thestructure that goes with formalized instruction,whether that’s in the classroom or online.

Structure is also helpful if you’re an employerand you need to be absolutely sure what knowl-edge and skills your employees have been ex-

Figure 1 By making use of non-formal methods and media, blended learningfills the gap between formal instruction and informal learning

Sidebar 1 E-Learning takes the lead

According to my calculations, e-Learning is now bigger than the classroom. Much bigger.Now that got your attention. Let me explain how.

The American Society for Training and Development’s State of the Industry Report 2004showed e-Learning as 29% of all formal training (up from 8% five years earlier) and the class-room at 63% (down from 80%). Then, it has long been known, and proven by a number ofmajor studies, that most of what people learn at work is not as a consequence of any formallyplanned interventions. A typi-cal estimate is just 20%. Therest occurs quite naturally aswe do our best to cope withthe demands of our jobs byhunting down information, ask-ing opinions, comparing alter-native solutions, trying thingsout, and learning from whathappens. I’m sure you’ll agreethat a fair proportion of this comes through communication with peers and with experts, bothwithin and beyond our immediate working environment.

Now, here’s where we need to make a judgement call, because I’m not aware of any up-to-date research. What proportion of this communication would you think is online, through email,instant messaging, Web conferencing, and forums; or through browsing the intranet and search-ing with Google? How much higher could this rise when blogging extends its reach into theworld of work? I’d say a conservative 30%, perhaps even 50%. The remainder is likely to be amix of face-to-face communication, print and telephone, perhaps even TV and radio. None ofthis is going to be in a classroom.

Time to total the figures: Let’s say, conservatively, that e-Learning represents 20% of all for-mal learning (or 4% of the total) and 30% of informal learning (another 24% of the total).That’s 28% overall. If classroom training is 70% of formal training (being generous), then itstotal contribution is 14%. I know it’s a long time since I passed my Math exams, but I believethe e-Learning contribution is double that of the classroom. (See Table 1, above.)

So, what does this jiggery pokery tell us? Perhaps it just confirms that there are “Lies,damned lies, and statistics.” More importantly, I believe, it emphasises the contribution that net-worked computers are making to all aspects of our lives, and that includes how we learn. Evenwithout the interventions made by trainers and e-Learning suppliers, we have become empow-ered by the phenomenal improvements that have occurred in our access to information and ex-pertise. We are becoming ever-more-independent learners, less and less reliant on the formal in-ventions of learning professionals. That’s what all good teachers and trainers have always want-ed, so I believe there’s cause for a modest celebration.

Table 1 Contribution to learning

4%

14%

2%

20%

E-Learning

Classroom

Other

Formal

24%

0%

56%

80%

Informal

28%

14%

58%

100%

Total

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posed to and what they have learned as a result.As valuable as informal learning may be (and atleast 75% of all learning is informal by all ac-counts), it doesn’t show up as a pass or fail onyour learning management system. That matterswhen you’re responsible for training pilots, ensur-ing compliance to key legislation, or a thousandother critical training challenges.

Bridging the gapThe criticism of blended learning by informal

learning enthusiasts falls down in one other impor-tant respect — it assumes that blended learningcannot make use of new, relatively informal, meth-ods and media. Now strictly speaking, no learningactivity that is set up with an explicit learning ob-jective can be accurately called “informal.” Howev-er loosely it may be structured, however discre-tionary, however unsupervised — if the learning ac-tivity is deliberately included in a program to facili-tate learning, then educators would like us to callit “non-formal.” That’s fine, this distinction can beconceded — blended learning can be as non-for-mal as you like. Here’s for non-formality!

It’s true that most blended learning is a combi-nation of formal, you might say traditional, ele-ments — a bit of classroom, a bit of CBT, perhapssome on-job instruction. But there is no reasonwhatsoever why this should always be the case.By including non-formal elements, blended learningnot only becomes more relevant, more embeddedin real-work behaviour and therefore more power-ful, it also acts as an important bridge from formalto informal learning. (See Figure 1 on page 3.) Itdemonstrates the potential for learning in everydaywork activity. It encourages independent learning.

Coming to terms with informal learningE-Learning has been consolidating — which is

what you do when you’re worn out from too muchchange and need a breather. We’ve been honingour skills, listening to feedback, refining our strate-gies and making pacts with our enemies, if youwill (a development also known as blended learn-ing). I am writing this article in the midst of theWorld Cup, so I hope you will forgive me forusing soccer as a metaphor. It seems to me thatthe e-Learning industry, used to being on the de-fensive and doubled up trying to recover its breath,has completely taken its eye off the ball; it hasfailed to anticipate an attack from an unexpecteddirection and ended up deflecting the ball off itsbackside and into the net for a spectacular owngoal.

Until recently, I was complacent in the view that

there were three primary applications for comput-ers in learning. The first, and the most dominant, isthe use of computers to deliver interactive, self-study lessons (you know, CBT in a Web browser).The second is the use of the Internet as a channelfor the delivery of longer distance learning coursesincorporating a wide range of activities, supportedby tutors and encouraging collaboration betweenlearners. And the third is the delivery of short, liveonline events using virtual classroom software.

Well, it never pays to become too smug about

�Figure 2 The fourprimary applications ofcomputers to learning

Figure 3 The key elements required for podcasting are simple.

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a model because the real world pays models norespect. My complacency was rudely interruptedby what appears already to be the most excitingnew development of them all. This fourth big ideafor e-Learning has evolved as a natural function ofimproved tools for online collaboration and the in-creasing self-confidence of Internet users. It canbe effectively summarized as Learners doing it forthemselves. (See Figure 2 on page 4.)

I say “learners,” but it’s hard to identify them assuch — they don’t wear school uniforms or sit be-hind a desk. Learners in this context are just peo-ple looking to get things done and using their ini-tiative to overcome any obstacles in the way (likebeing short of information or not knowing how togo about doing something). They can do this be-cause they are now empowered by software toolsthat are incredibly easy to use yet awe-inspiring intheir potential.

Search engines and forums

First port of call is of course Google — not anew phenomenon, but one that plays an increas-ingly important role in everyday life. If you still havemore questions than answers, then simply AskYahoo! or submit a query to one of the thousandsof forums addressing every topic imaginable. Youwill buy books, watch TV documentaries, consultwith experts, even go on training courses, but onlyif you can’t find what you need online.

Weblogs

But Google’s not enough and Yahoo! is notenough, because with Google and Yahoo! you’restill essentially a passive recipient. You are not in aposition to challenge or debate. More importantly,you don’t have the opportunity to publish your ownthoughts and opinions, to become a provider aswell as a recipient.

With the new tools, everyone’s a publisher,everyone’s a teacher. It’s midway through 2006and there are something like 30 million Weblogs(online journals, more familiarly called “blogs”), withmore than 30 thousand being discovered daily.Blogs allow people like you and me to publish ourthoughts and experiences to whoever will take no-tice. They allow us to make contact with otherswho are facing similar challenges and who may beable to help us. They provide us with the broadestpossible range of views and perspectives, often instark contrast to the “official view” or the hystericaloutpourings of the mass media.

Wikis

If you can’t find the reference information thatyou’re looking for online, why not publish yourown? “Wikis” are websites created by their ownusers, in collaboration with each other. You wantto add or edit an article, just go ahead and type itin. You want to challenge the accuracy or authen-ticity of a contribution, go right ahead and say so.

Wikis are succeeding where complex knowledgemanagement systems have failed so spectacularly.Perhaps this is because volunteers drive them;perhaps because they’re so easy to use; perhapsbecause, like so much of Internet culture, theyhave emerged as a solution that people haveworked out for themselves, rather than being im-posed on them by remote software “architects”and the experts from head office.

For the finest example of how wikis allow learn-ers to do it for themselves, visit the Wikipedia(http://www.wikipedia.org), where tens of thou-sands of “amateur” contributors are creating theirown online encyclopaedia. The English languageversion of the Wikipedia already contains morethan a million articles, with a completeness andaccuracy that matches the Encyclopaedia Britanni-ca (as evidenced by a recent study by Naturemagazine (see http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051212/full/438900a.html).

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But listening to a Pod-cast is not about hunt-ing down anything; it’swhat marketing peoplecall a “lean back” expe-rience. It’s reflective andlow-stress. It’s enjoy-able. Most of us doplenty of “leaning for-ward” in front of ourPCs during the workingday. Listening to a Pod-cast provides a welcomebreak from incessantmessaging. Who knows,we might even learnsomething.

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Podcasts

Podcasts are another interesting option. In caseyou’ve been away for rather a long time, let me ex-plain what Podcasting is. (See Figure 3 on page4.) First, you need an iPod or some other form ofMP3 player, and a computer with an Internet con-nection (actually a PC on its own is enough aslong as it will play back audio, although this isnowhere near as cool). Then you subscribe to thePodcasts that you’re interested in. These are typi-cally audio (although video Podcasting, or Vodcast-ing, is also a possibility) and composed primarilyof speech rather than music. You could listen toyour favourite radio programs as Podcasts, or thedaily ramblings of an audio blogger recorded onher laptop, or fascinating little learning nuggetsprepared by your training department.

You’ll need some special “Podcatching” soft-ware, such as Apple’s own iTunes, to regularlycheck to see if new editions of the Podcasts towhich you have subscribed are available. Down-load them to your PC and then transfer them toyour portable player and all you have to do is lis-ten, on the train, walking to work, in the gym, atyour desk, or wherever you like.

Now Podcasts have a certain glamour, but let’snot forget that they are just sound recordings.When it comes to learning, sound recordings havenever before had much of a role to play, and theyare not going to change the world this time round.There are obvious limitations, not least the factthat listening to a Podcast is a passive experience— you can’t ask it questions and it can’t ask youany either. And recorded audio is not self-paced —it goes at the speed of the speaker, which may bemuch too slow or too fast for your taste. If youwant to hunt down information, you’d be better offwith a transcript. But listening to a podcast is notabout hunting down anything; it’s what marketingpeople call a “lean back” experience. It’s reflectiveand low-stress. It’s enjoyable. Most of us do plentyof “leaning forward” in front of our PCs during theworking day. Listening to a Podcast provides awelcome break from incessant messaging. Whoknows, we might even learn something.

Learners on their own

This fourth big idea for e-Learning representsthe ultimate learner-centered approach: learnersidentify their own needs, work out how best tomeet them, implement their own training plan, andthen evaluate their own results. What they don’tdo is wait for teachers and trainers to do this forthem. This approach is not completely learner-cen-tered because teachers still play an important role

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— it’s just that those teachers are more often thannot other learners, trading their expertise foryours.

What we’re seeing here is, of course, simplyanother manifestation of informal learning, the waythat most learning has always been achieved.What’s different is the scale of the operation: thepool of over a billion potential teachers and learn-ers, the literally uncountable Web pages, blogpostings, and Podcasts. If, as professional teach-ers and trainers, we feel under threat then we aremissing the point. We cannot hope to be every-one’s teacher — there simply isn’t the time. If weembrace the fourth big idea, we take a significantstep in helping our organizations to establish atruly sustainable learning culture. And hasn’t thatalways been a strategic goal of the learning anddevelopment department?

Taking the plunge

So how can blended learning incorporatemethods and media normally associated with in-formal learning? Well, perhaps the most obviousway is the use of Weblogs by learners to main-tain an ongoing learning journal, starting beforethe course (or whatever it is you call the formalbit) and extending on well after, if not indefinitely.Blogs encourage reflection, allow learners tocommunicate their successes and their frustra-tions, and provide an opportunity for tutors andfellow learners to offer encouragement and assis-tance. They help to build communities of learnersthat persist long after a formal event is consignedto history.

Wikis provide a similar advantage. They allowlearners to work together to build a body ofknowledge from which they and all future learnerscan benefit. They remove the burden on trainersand subject experts to be the providers of alluseful content. They encourage the notion thateverybody’s a teacher as well as a learner.

So, what have Podcasts got to do with infor-mal learning? Well, not much, if they contain in-structional material created by trainers and sub-ject experts. But imagine this scenario: you setyour students off on a “Webquest” to hunt downinformation that’s relevant to the course. Theirtask is to summarise their findings by creatingtheir own Podcast, which they then share withtheir fellow students. I have been using this tech-nique for the past six months on a series of on-line courses. I anticipated all sorts of technicalsupport problems and a requirement for a greatdeal of coaxing and cajoling on my part. My mis-givings were completely misplaced, because the

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B arbara had been a keen tennis player when she was younger and wouldhave kept it up if it wasn’t for the all-consuming demands of family and ca-reer, particularly after the break-up of her marriage. With her children now in

their teens and less dependent on her, at least in terms of her time, she resolved todedicate more of her energy todoing things that gave her pleas-ure — particularly if that involvedmeeting other people and makingsome new friends, perhaps evenof the male variety.

Anyway, Barbara gathered upall her resolve, picked up thephone and arranged to join herlocal tennis club on a low-cost“try it and see” three months’membership. As it turned out, thisproved to be a rather more costlyventure than she expected, because her daughter, Penny, refused to let her go to theclub in the little white dress she last wore as a teenager, complete with frilly knickers,

wooden racquet and box of fadedgrey tennis balls.

Barbara enjoyed going to theclub although she found it harderthan she expected to recover herold form. What she really neededwas some coaching. In a breakbetween matches, she sat down inthe club house with a drink andstarted to browse through an oldcopy of Ace magazine. She turnedto the classified ads near the backand within minutes had discovered

not only how she could obtain all the coaching she could ever need, but also haveher first real holiday in years.

With Penny’s help, Barbarabooked the holiday online laterthat day. She decided to go tothe Pat Elliott Tennis Centre in theAlgarve — partly because shevaguely recalled Pat’s name asone of the few Brits to winthrough more than one round atWimbledon, and partly becausethe video on the Web site madeit clear that she’d be doing asmuch sunbathing and sipping of

Barbara’s tennis holidayA tale of blogs, wikis and Podcasts

by Clive Shepherd

Continued on page 8

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activity proved to be immensely popular, wentwithout any sort of technical hitch, and made agreat contribution to the learning of all concerned(including me).

Of course, the non-formal elements in a blendedsolution aren’t constrained to online technologieswith strange names. There’s nothing to preventyou providing opportunities for face-to-face collab-oration, teleconferencing, maybe even reading.There are no rules for blended learning, other thanthe requirement to be effective and efficient. Usingyour imagination to incorporate a wide range ofnon-formal methods and media is optional buthighly desirable.

Handling resistance Unfortunately, integrating non-formal learning ele-

ments into your blended solutions is not going tobe as easy as turning on a tap. First of all, this isnot going to be what learners are expecting, andthey may need more than a little encouragementto believe that what they are being asked to do isnot just formal learning in disguise, perhaps atrendy new training game — or worse still, a newform of assessment. Secondly, there may well bea misalignment between the learner’s goals forcompleting the program and your own aspirations.

There are probably three main reasons why alearner is taking part in a training event: (1) it iscompulsory, such as most compliance training, (2)it leads to a valued qualification that will positivelyenhance their career prospects, and (3) they havechosen to do it because they see it as an oppor-tunity to develop their knowledge and skills. Let’stake these in turn and see how they may impacton your chances of making a success of non-for-mal learning.

With a compulsory program, you may experi-ence some resistance from participants to sharingtheir experiences and participating fully in collabo-rative activities. This may be because there issome resentment to having to do the training (per-haps they feel they don’t really need it). It may bebecause they fail to see what’s in it for them; itmay also be that the experience is not of sufficientduration for participants to feel that the investmentin establishing relationships with other learners isreally worthwhile.

You have a number of choices if you want topersist with your strategy and make a success ofthe non-formal elements: you could make the activ-ities themselves compulsory, which would ensureparticipation but may cause further resentment; al-ternatively, you could attempt to overcome thehandicap that the training is compulsory by engag-

Barbara’s tennis holidayContinued from page 7

cocktails as she would servingand sweating. Penny was alsokeen — she’d spotted that thisparticular tennis camp was upwith technology and providedaudio and video materials foruse before and after the course.She was not slow to spot anopportunity.

A few weeks later, Barbarawas unwrapping her new videoiPod, with Penny looking on ea-gerly. Penny knew that, when her mother was not using it for her tennis stuff, whichwas most of the time, she could borrow it. Barbara also knew this, but felt guiltyabout going on holiday on her own, and regarded the iPod as a form of compen-

sation for Penny.An hour or so later and Bar-

bara had downloaded her firstpodcast, an audio introductionto the course by Pat Elliott him-self. Barbara listened intently.She already felt she had got toknow Pat personally and wasreally looking forward to thecourse.

She was not disappointed.The course was very hard work,

including four or five hours on-court every day, but that still left plenty of time forsocializing and relaxing. One of Pat’s innovations was that each person on thecourse had to maintain a journal both during the course and for three months after.This journal took the form of a Web log, or “blog,” which was completed by fillingin a simple template on the tennis centre’s Web site.

Each bedroom had its own computer, so Barbara would complete her journalbefore going down to dinner or at the end of the evening. She was surprised howuseful this processwas. The blog gaveher a chance to re-flect on the dayand appreciatehow much she hadlearned. It also pro-vided the opportu-nity for her to ventany frustrations shewas having withskills that wouldn’tquite come. Bar-bara got as much

Continued on page 9

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ing learners fully. Do this by building on their pastexperiences, ensuring the content is relevant totheir priorities and problems, and providing themwith greater control over the learning process — inother words, treat them as adults.

You may experience a different kind of resist-ance to non-formal methods if you are responsiblefor a certificated course that leads to a valuedqualification. Entry to the course may be voluntary,but more cynical (some may say pragmatic) partici-pants may well have the goal to get into the pro-gram, get the qualification, and get out as soon aspossible. They are not interested in the learningcontent, just the piece of paper. Even if the partici-pants on this course are young, technology-literate,and, outside work, engage in online communitiessuch as MySpace, they may be still be reluctant togo the extra mile and build collaborative relation-ships with their fellow students, particularly in adistance learning context.

Clearly, a great deal depends on the quality ofthe facilitation you provide. Again, you could makesome participation mandatory, knowing that learnerswill be forced to comply if the qualification dependson it; but this compliance could be minimal and cur-sory, merely “going through the motions,” when whatyou are trying to establish is a genuine sense ofcommunity. As before, your best chance is to en-gage your learners with the subject so completelythat they will really want to take advantage of all op-portunities to develop their interests further.

The third category is much less of a problem.Here learners are participating in the course be-cause they want to — they are genuinely interestedin the subject and will take advantage of any op-portunities that you are able to provide for learningfrom each other. In this situation, the non-formallearning elements mirror the informal most com-pletely — there is a clear and relevant need for in-formation and the learner is fully motivated to ex-ploit all avenues to pursue it.

What happens after we cross thebridge?

If blended learning is a bridge, then we shoulddevote some attention to what lies on the otherside and whether the crossing is going to be ben-eficial, both for the learning and development com-munity, and for those they seek to serve, the learn-ers and the organizations for which they work.Well, in my opinion, the crossing is indeed worth-while for all parties. Across the bridge lies a landwhere learning is truly informal and completely nat-ural; what Jay Cross likes to call a learnscape


out of reading the jour-nals of her colleagueson the course. Itseemed everybody hadtheir fair share of suc-cesses and disappoint-ments. Now and thenshe would add littlecomments to their post-ings, perhaps a word ofencouragement or aplaying tip.

The coach, who was-n’t actually Pat, butmuch better looking bygeneral consensus ofthe females on the course, read all the blog postings before the course reconvenedeach morning. He added his own comments and provided links to a special sectionof the tennis centre’s website that he called the “wiki.” This turned out to be a mineof useful tennis information and materials, provided not only by the staff but by peo-

ple who had attended the camps.Barbara particularly liked the slow-mo

video demonstrations of all the strokes.She figured out how to download these toher iPod, which she brought along withher (much to Penny’s annoyance), and toplay these back at courtside.

Barbara got on well with everyone onthe course, but especially Trevor. Theyplayed together regularly in mixed doubles and consoled each other on their de-feats through the comments they left on each others’ blogs. They had the occa-sional drink together but nothing more came of it and so, when the week came toan end, they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Back home, Barbara maintained her journal at least once a week, usually after asession at the club. Her son Brett asked her what on earth she was doing. “Just

Continued on page 10

Design Strategies


(See Natural Learning by Jay Cross at http://meta-time.blogspot.com/2005/10/natural-learning.html):

“Putting natural learning to work is more likelandscape design and gardening than traditionalinstructional system design. All of life is intercon-nected. Organisms cannot live independent oftheir ecosystems. Self-service learners are con-nected to one another, to ongoing flows of infor-mation and work, to their teams and organiza-tions, to their customers and markets, not tomention their families, friends, and friendshipgroups. We can improve their connections andnurture their growth but we cannot control themor force them to live.”In a learnscape, perhaps the one word that

would be used rather rarely is learning. The processof learning — so integrated in day-to-day work that itwould be almost indistinguishable from other activi-ties — would be completely taken for granted.

In this environment, all available communicationmedia, including face-to-face interaction, print, thetelephone, and text messaging, will facilitate learn-ing. However, the primary catalyst for communica-tion and collaboration will be online media, usingthe Internet and organizations’ own intranets. Theonline media that are most commonly employed inorganizations now — email, instant messaging, andsimple, one-way Web publishing — will continue tomake an important contribution, but the key rolewill be played by social networking tools not unlikethose found in sites such as MySpace.

These tools will replace the unwieldy and un-workable knowledge management systems thathave failed so spectacularly to bring about theeasy knowledge capture and exchange for whichthey have been expensively designed; they willalso marginalize those learning management sys-tems which have been designed only to plan, or-ganize, and control the process of formal learning.

So what will these tools look like? Well, userswill need to spend some time introducing them-selves and explaining what they can contribute (interms of their experience and expertise) and whatthey are seeking (in terms of their current and fu-ture work and career priorities). These user profileswill be vital because they will allow users to con-nect with others with similar interests and to formcommunities to serve their joint interests. We willnot need to establish these communities from thetop down; they will form naturally and sponta-neously because members feel they will be valu-able. They will close just as easily when their pur-pose has been served.

There will be some familiar mechanisms withinthese tools. Users will be able to upload and


posting to my blog,” said Barbara. Brett was amazed: “You’re what? Let me have alook. You know I’ve had a blog for over a year now, although you’re definitely notlooking at that.” “I already have,” said his mother. “I found it using Google. You’veno idea how much I know about you.”

The blogging kept the coursealive for Barbara months aftershe had returned. She lovedreading about the experiences ofher colleagues on the courseand not just about their tennis.Several people shared photosthey had taken at the camp.Trevor went one further on hisblog by incorporating a videoshowing off his new service ac-tion. Barbara wasn’t that interest-ed in Trevor’s new serve, butfound herself replaying the videoover and over.

On the way to work, Barbara would play back the regular Podcasts supplied bythe tennis centre. She was amazed at how these were downloaded automaticallyby her iTunes software and copied to her iPod without her having to do anything.The Podcasts refreshed many of the skills and tactics that she had learned on thecourse, and encouraged her to keep trying to put them into action. They workedbecause Barbara was making good progress with her tennis. She had entered aclub tournament (although embarrassed to find that she was now considered to bein the veteran category) and had won through to the final, against the reigningchampion. In preparation, Barbara was making extensive use of the tennis centre’s

Continued on page 11

Design Strategies


share documents and other files that are of com-mon interest. They will maintain blogs in order toshare their experiences and their opinions. Theywill use wikis as a way of capturing knowledge,which the community as a whole can utilize for ref-erence into the future. They will often extend to in-clude project management facilities such as tasklists and schedules, so they become, in effect,shared workspaces. An interesting example of thissort of tool is Elgg (http://elgg.org), described onits Web site as a “learning landscape,” althoughthere are probably others which will do the jobwell, many of which are likely to be open source.

Many, mainly younger, users will find it com-pletely natural to use these tools because they soclosely resemble the Web tools they use socially.They will take easily to knowledge sharing, be-cause they have already learned that this is invari-ably of benefit to all parties. But older learners willdiscover the benefits as well. I’ve included a shortstory with this article (“Barbara’s Tennis Holiday”)to illustrate how this might happen in a place notso far from you, at a time not so far in the future.

Those without these insights may continue tohold to the old dictum of knowledge equals pow-er; unless they have, of course, crossed the bridge,and learned how to learn through the non-formalcollaborative activities they have experienced byparticipating in innovative blended learning solu-tions.

ReferencesLessons in Learning, e-Learning and Training.

Roger Schank, published by Pfeiffer Wiley (2005).

Author ContactClive Shepherd is a consultantspecializing in e-Learning, blendedlearning, and business communi-cations. He established his inter-est in interactive media while Di-rector, Training and Creative Ser-

vices for American Express in EMEA (Europe —Middle East — Africa). Clive went on to co-foundEpic Group plc, the UK’s major producer of be-spoke e-Learning, where he won many industryawards for design. He is widely acknowledged asone of the UK’s foremost experts in e-Learning, withmore than one hundred published articles and fourbooks and e-books to his name.

You can contact Clive by email to [email protected].

Additional information on the topics covered inthis article is also listed in the Guild ResourceDirectory.


wiki, finding out how other playerscoped with the pressures of com-petition, sought out and exploitedtheir opponents’ weaknesses, andapplied their own strengths toachieve greater success.

Before the final, Barbara sat atthe side of the court with heriPod, listening to a special audioprogram prepared by Pat Elliott tohelp players relax and focus. Bar-bara was so focused she was completely unaware of anything except the court

and her opponent. The matchseemed to whiz by, but that was asmuch as anything to do with thescore — she was beaten 6-2, 6-2.Barbara didn’t mind; she had triedher best and lost to a better player.Getting to the final was an achieve-ment in itself.

Barbara didn’t have to maintainher brave face for too long, becausewho should tap her on the shoulderto say hello but Trevor? He’d read

about the final in Barbara’s blog, travelled over to watch the match, and hadrecorded it all on his camcorder. He expressed his commiserations with a kiss anda long hug and suddenly tennis didn’t seem so important anymore.

Barbara completed her lastposting to her blog with a briefaccount of the final and a snap-shot of her and Trevor embrac-ing, taken by the club’s photogra-pher. With Trevor’s help, she cre-ated a more permanent record ofher experiences by writing an ar-ticle for the tennis centre’s wiki.She used Trevor’s video todemonstrate all the new skillsand tactics she had been able toapply in the final and to showwhere she went wrong. It madegreat reading and earned her a£250 prize from the tennis cen-tre for the best contribution by aplayer since the wiki had beenset up. As Penny hadn’t seen theiPod for the past few weeks,Barbara knew where the moneyshould be spent.

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