……fancy joining me?

I’ve been thinking about how I can maximise my use of G+ to add further value and I’ve come up with a plan.

From now on, whenever I publish a blog post that is likely to encourage some comments I’m going to suggest a Google Hangout a couple of days later to discuss it in more detail.

The Hangout will be 15 mins max and will take place over a lunchtime – sandwiches and nibbles are of course welcome!

My plan is to record the Hangout, post it to YouTube and then bring it back down to my blog to promote further discussion.

In fact, why am I waiting for my next blog post? If you’ve read my recent ‘Get your foot in the door’ series and have a comment to make, a question or perhaps want to suggest a ‘get your foot in the door’ app to others then why not log into G+ at 1230hrs on Monday 30th Jan 2012, track me down and join me whilst I ‘hang out’?

See you there?

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Essentially ‘getting your foot in the door’ with regards to the use of mobile technologies.

I’ve received a small amount of feedback from some readers, (most recently from Mark Bradshaw in relation to the shift workers app) letting me know that they have, or will shortly be recommending some of the apps to their organisation.

Hopefully many more of you will come back to this series as and when you/your organisation starts to think along these lines.

As a parting post within this series for the time being, I’d like to introduce you to this tool

www.quixey.com

which acts as a search engine, but purely for apps. You don’t even have to know the name, just type in a vague description and see what happens.

Best of luck!

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• PWC saw senior management ‘buy in’ to mobile once they had seen their own children using mobile technologies
• Designing for mobile devices, forced them to simplify their design to great effect

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Mark Berthelemy – Capita

Poor outward comms from ‘us’

Poor intrinsic motivation to listen to the poor comms (from the learner)

We put too many infrastructure blockers in place!

Possible solutions to that, may be?

• Leave blockers in place and put support in place
• use simpler systems

Push people towards intrinsic motivation

Don’t we want learners to pull content down because they want to?

We may be good at designing the intervention, but we aren’t so good at communicating around the intervention. We should take a leaf out of our Comms department book, maybe even merge the departments, after all aren’t we trying to achieve the same goal?

Management should set:

• expectations
• WIIFM
• permission

And set the vision that learners are expected to identify and source their learning opportunities

Gareth Williams Cambian Group and Information Transfer

Branded their training using the word ‘achieve‘

• Poster campaigns
• Merchandise
• Brochure for all sites
• Promos movie
• Roadshow presentations
• Article in company newsletters
• Regular board reports

Here are the results so far

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It’s much quieter in there than it is in Twitter. I’m not saying that’s a good or bad thing, it’s just quieter. I know that I can dip into G+ whenever I want and see some meaningful, useful (to me) threads of conversation without feeling like I’m going to be swept away by the Twitter Tidal Wave.

Of course, that also has its downside including the fact that the vast majority of my network aren’t using G+, so I’m not able to keep track as to what they are up to and what they are talking about – - but hang on – one of my reasons for moving away from Twitter was that I didn’t feel it was adding value! So why this feeling of abandoning my network, when what I’ve actually insinuated is that ‘they’ weren’t adding value!

But perhaps that feeling is retrospective?

I’ve noticed that since I blogged about reducing my Twitter activity a number of long-time Twitter followers have unfollowed me (I’ve never tracked this before, but thought it might be interesting to do so given this change in the way I’m using Twitter). Now this in itself I don’t find surprising, as why would they follow somebody who has said they aren’t going to use Twitter as much? But I haven’t said that I’m not going to stop blogging, or sharing resources etc, just that I’m going to concentrate on another platform for now.

A part of me assumed that those people would track me down on G+ and follow me in there, but that hasn’t happened. Which has got me wondering why?

Is it the fact that what I’ve been blogging about or the conversations I’ve been having, people have found irrelevant to them or is it the fact that they don’t want or need to be involved in another social media platform? I’d like to think it’s the latter as that excludes me from any perceived ‘fault’, but to be honest I’m suspecting that it’s the former.

Why?

Well for one very good reason really and that’s the reason I guess that I found my Twitter network as a whole to be adding little value – ‘guilt’!

There have been some people in my network that stopped adding the value that ‘I’ needed a long time ago, but I kept them in my network – why? – once again, guilt.

I felt I’d got to know those people on a personal level, either via Twitter, face to face, other channels or in a lot of cases a whole raft of ways. Even though they weren’t adding value to my reasons for using Twitter, I kept them in my network out of a feeling of guilt and awkwardness if I unfollowed them.

Is it wrong of me to think like this?

Can an online network grow into something other than what you originally engaged with it?

How do you then deal with that new ‘relationship’ once it’s non-intended use supersedes its original use?

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That’s my aim for Learning Technologies this year.

I’ve spent the last couple of years attending/speaking at the Learning Technologies conference but if I’m honest, I haven’t really taken the time to dig into the exhibition as much as I should have done.

This year is different.

This year I will actually be participating in the exhibition myself, so armed with that physical immersion and the fact that I don’t have access to the conference upstairs, I will be spending some quality time looking around the various exhibitors in the hope of spotting something ‘innovative’.

So how do I define ‘innovative’?

Well to be honest I haven’t got a definition, but I have got a gut feeling. A few weeks ago, I was engaged in an exchange of tweets within my network of tweets around what innovation was and it became quite clear that people had very or subtly different definitions – and why wouldn’t they?

The sending of automated text messaging to learners ahead of an event may in some people’s eyes seem innovative, however to others it’s ‘old school’.

Many of us may see Augmented Reality as innovative, but military aircrew, in particular pilots, will tell you that Head Up Displays (HUDs) have been augmenting their reality for many, many years.

I’m definitely more open this year to seeing something out of the ordinary and a few vendors have already made some interesting statements about what they will be unveiling; but I’ll wait until I’ve seen it for myself before giving my post-event thoughts within this blog.

What I’m pretty sure of is that another rapid authoring tool, LMS or ingeniously ‘tarted up’ next button won’t be getting a mention.

If you’re heading down to the conference, what are you looking for?

Tried and tested solutions?

A ‘safe’ proposition for your budget holder?

Tarted up ‘click next’ stuff?

Or something a little different…….

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So if your organisation is conducting such a programme (or even if it isn’t, but is keen to develop it’s leaders) then you’ve got a fantastic opportunity to get your foot in the door with the very people who are likely to have/will have a key role to play in any future decision making process around the use of mobile technologies.

Why not take a look at these apps and consider whether you might want to direct your colleagues to them?

GoodPractice Top Tips for Managers (iOS) – £1.49

Leadership Performance (Android) – £1.82

Inevitably there will be some people who do not have a mobile device and will bemoan the fact that you are offering their colleagues who do have a mobile device something that they themselves are unable to benefit from, or they will complain over the fact that the apps cost money – don’t let this put you off.

Simply tell them to carry on using whatever tool or process they have always used – simples!!!

And you know what? Even if people don’t opt for these apps, you may have just sewn the seeds for them to look for an alternative….

Good luck and let me know how you get on

The blog post that started it all

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So it’s been a whole weekend since I decided to step away from Twitter and concentrate my energies in G+.

As with most reflective exercises, the first weekend has presented me with nothing that I didn’t already know, but it has brought them to the forefront of my mind.

Firstly, I feel that I have used Twitter for 3 purposes to date:

1. The posting of links to my own online content
2. The discussion of professional areas of interest
3. Mindless, banal waffle (which rather interestingly was one of the contributing factors to me ‘going off’ Twitter – was I a part of the problem???)

Whereas in comparison G+ had only ever (with a handful of exceptions) been used as a place to tout links to my blog.

• I hadn’t really looked at other peoples content
• I hadn’t gone out of my way to seek out and follow new people
• I hadn’t engaged in any conversations.

This realisation has confirmed that my decision to engage with G+ on a deeper level has been the right one, in fact my plan (at the moment) is to completely transform my usage of the 2, so I’ll still be posting blog links etc to Twitter but expect to see less conversation and waffle (I can hear the sighs of relief from some of you now) instead if you want to engage in that, then why not head over to G+ and say Hi….

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Over recent months I have found my Twitter stream to contain little, if anything of true value to me personally. It’s either been stuff that I ‘get‘, stuff that I’m not interested in or RTs of other peoples stuff (again, that I already ‘get’ or that I’m not interested in). I’ve also noticed that the way I have been accessing Twitter has most definetly fallen into the ‘from a mobile device’ category – even when I’m sat in front of a PC! (I guess that as I am ‘mobile’ myself a lot nowadays, this has helped to form the habit)

Given:

• the fact that I access Twitter a LOT from my mobile devices
• my perception that I haven’t been getting a lot from it recently
• that I’ve had a G+ account from Day 1, but have never really ‘dug into it’

I decided to uninstall Twitter from my mobile devices and use that same habit and time to concentrate on Google +.

Uninstalling Twitter from my mobile devices. Focusing on G+ from now on. Tatty-bye

19/01/2012 20:03 via Osfoora HDReplyRetweetFavorite

@CraigTaylor74

Craig Taylor

What I hadn’t counted on was the response from some members of my network in response to this. Some people genuinely asked “why“, others jokingly said I’d ‘be back‘, one accused me of Social Media snobbery and others sent quite ……. ‘colourful‘ DMs; which depending on what mood I’m in over the coming weeks I might just embed in a follow-up blog post….. (that’ll teach ya!)

Now it’s not that some people responded in the way they did that I am puzzled by (only last week I sent a tweet that some people considered a personal attack, so I’m not overly guarded myself as to how I use Twitter) it’s more the issue that my decision to uninstall Twitter from my mobile devices (I never said that I was stepping away from Twitter, or closing my account, just that I was uninstalling it from my mobile devices to focus on G+) should have generated such a feeling on animosity from certain tweeps.

Anyway for those of you who do feel that my decision to concentrate on G+ has in some way had a deep impact upon your lives I just want to be absolutely clear that

• I am still using Twitter but for the time being only from my PC
• I still have several auto-posts set up from various sources to Twitter
• I may well return to tweeting from my mobile devices once I have had time to concentrate on G+

but it will be a decision that I will make, in my own time and for my own reasons.

Now why not get yourself across to G+ and have a play…

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Let’s be honest, I think it’s fair to say that one of the biggest barriers to a whole sale adoption of mobile technologies is senior management. Which got me thinking about what sort of app you could recommend to them, to get your foot in their door.

And then it dawned me; one of the things that senior managers do a LOT of (whether they actually need to or not) is travel (I think it’s a kudos thing for many of them)

So I’ve taken a little wander around some of the app stores and found some travel related apps that I imagine will make their lives a lot easier when they are on their travels and of course if their lives are made easier by having a native app at their disposal, there’s a much better chance of them seeing the benefit of mobile technologies when you attempt to ‘get your foot in the door’ ……

British Airways (iOS) – £FREE

British Airways (Android) – £FREE

IOS National Rail Planner - £4.99*

Android National Rail Planner - £3.49*

AA Breakdown and Traffic (iOS) – £FREE

AA Breakdown and Traffic (Android) – £FREE

* (I have actually downloaded and used this app myself, check out the reviews for my thoughts)

Inevitably there will be some people who do not have a mobile device and will bemoan the fact that you are offering their colleagues who do have a mobile device something that they themselves are unable to benefit from, or they will complain over the fact that the apps cost money – don’t let this put you off.

Simply tell them to carry on using whatever tool or process they have always used – simples!!!

And you know what? Even if people don’t opt for these apps, you may have just sewn the seeds for them to look for an alternative….

Good luck and let me know how you get on

The blog post that started it all

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• So of course the ability for them to be able to respond accordingly is in everybody’s interest. I’m sure there’s some form of ‘law’ that states that employers should have suitably trained people and that’s all well and good, but how likely is it that that person will be ‘on the scene’ as it happens? When did that person last undertake that treatment for ‘real’ or under assessment?I’m certainly not saying that those roles aren’t important, but why not augment that role by providing First Aid training / performance support to ‘all’ via their mobile devices?

  If your employees are as prone to slips, trip, falls, cuts, grazes, (and worse) as the rest of us mere mortals then you’ve got a wonderful opportunity to ‘get your foot in the door‘ and prove the worth of performance support via mobile devices.

  Why not take a look at these apps and consider whether you might want to direct your colleagues to them?

  First Aid by British Red Cross (iOS) – £FREE

  First Aid by British Red Cross (Android) – £FREE

  (I have actually downloaded and used this app myself, check out the app store reviews for my thoughts)

  Inevitably there will be some people who do not have a mobile device and will bemoan the fact that you are offering their colleagues who do have a mobile device something that they themselves are unable to benefit from, or they will complain over the fact that the apps cost money – don’t let this put you off.

  Simply tell them to carry on using whatever tool or process they have always used – simples!!!

  And you know what? Even if people don’t opt for these apps, you may have just sewn the seeds for them to look for an alternative….

  Good luck and let me know how you get on

  The blog post that started it all

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The organisation in question was doing a great deal of commendable work to upskill elements of their workforce in the key skills of literacy and numeracy by offering them GCSE tuition and examination(s).

If your organisation also offers development opportunities in these key skills areas then you’ve got a wonderful opportunity to ‘get your foot in the door‘ and prove the worth of performance support via mobile devices.

Why not take a look at these apps and consider whether you might want to direct any of your learners who are undertaking any form of key skills to them.

GCSE English revision app (iOS) – £1.99p

GCSE Maths revision app (iOS) – £1.99p

GCSE English revision app (Android) – £FREE

GCSE Maths revision app (Android) – £FREE

Inevitably there will be some people who do not have a mobile device and will bemoan the fact that you are offering their colleagues who do have a mobile device something that they themselves are unable to benefit from, or they will complain over the fact that the apps cost money – don’t let this put you off.

Simply tell them to carry on using whatever tool or process they have always used – simples!!!

And you know what? Even if people don’t opt for these apps, you may have just sewn the seeds for them to look for an alternative….

Good luck and let me know how you get on

The blog post that started it all

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Having worked in a couple of organisations which operated a shift roster I know how important it is for shift workers to be able to accurately record and verify the shift pattern that they are operating on.

If this is applicable to your organisation then you’ve got a wonderful opportunity to ‘get your foot in the door‘ and prove the worth of performance support via mobile devices.

Why not take a look at these apps and consider whether you might want to direct your shift workers towards them.

iOS app (iPhone) – £1.49p

Android app – £0.64p

Inevitably there will be some people who do not have a mobile device and will bemoan the fact that you are offering their colleagues who do have a mobile device something that they themselves are unable to benefit from, or they will complain over the fact that the apps cost money – don’t let this put you off.

Simply tell them to carry on using whatever tool or process they have always used – simples!!!

And you know what? Even if people don’t opt for these apps, you may have just sewn the seeds for them to look for an alternative….

Good luck and let me know how you get on

The blog post that started it all

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I believe that this has several benefits

a ) almost zero cost to the organisation (the only cost I can see is the time to search for, identify and promote the apps to the workforce)

b) almost zero risk. The developer has taken the risk with the development of the app itself and as long as you have identified and then tested the suitability of any app, then the risks are reduced even further. The reason I said ‘almost‘ no risk, is that there is always the potential for the app to develop bugs or for the content to go out of date, which obviously has the potential to sour the experience for the learner and in turn for your plans to develop things further.

In order to help you with identifying suitable apps, I’m planning to start a ‘foot in the door’ section of this blog which will highlight some of the apps that I have identified as having the potential to add value to many workplace learner’s workflows and allow you to get your ‘foot in the door‘ with little or no risk/cost.

Some of them will be apps that my employer has produced; some will not.

Some will be free, others will have a cost attached.

Some of them I will have demonstrable experience of using personally and/or of others using, others will rest upon a gut feeling.

I will always try and add context behind my reason for choosing that app with some of them being apps that I have actually recommended to ‘real’ clients – as I’m sure you’ll appreciate I’ll be unable to reveal who the client is, but I will indicate that is was a ‘genuine’ recommendation.

So keep your eyes peeled for the first

“foot in the door”

blog post.

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“Yes” in so far as it is about introducing the concept of mobility into your L&D approach…

…. and “No” in so far as it’s not about a lengthy, decision riddled, strategic approach, it’s about simple, pragmatic approaches that you can adopt (and indeed may already be doing) that can help you get your foot in the door, prior to moving onto other things.

Most of the slides used in the screencast below were inspired by the JISC Mobile infokit by Doug Belshaw – so thanks to Doug and JISC for providing the inspiration for this.

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My unfortunate answer was “no” as I have admittedly been shortsighted in my use of them in the past and had never anticipated needing to ‘capture’ the session itself as a resource in its own right. (of course I captured sessions using the Blackboard Collaborate tool that I had access to whilst working at URENCO, but I no longer have access to those). Not wanting to let Di down, I did a bit of thinking and thought about how I could kill 2 birds with one stone.

How could I help Di out and also do something that I often get asked about, which is how do I go about recording my podcast audio.

So I came up with the idea of producing a screencast outlining the tools and process that I use to record my podcast audio and then actually call Di up ‘live’ within the screencast and show the recording in progress.

Here’s what we came up with….

If you want a word of advice, I’d only watch the first 5 mins 15 secs of this screencast and the last 90 seconds. They are the parts of the screencast that are visual, the rest of it is purely audio and it’s quite a long time to just stare at a boring Skype screen just to hear the conversation between myself and Di, but don’t fret, my next podcast will be that very conversation.

Relevant links:

Scribie/CallGraph

Skype

DawsonLoane website

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Listening time: 31 mins

Subscribe to the podcast in mp3 format: I’ve no idea where this podcast is heading…

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Shownotes

• Zak’s Blog
• Weelearning
• Horizon report
• Epic NHS Mobile Learning report
• JISC Digital media

Music Source.

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This is something that I contributed to for the first time last year and it was interesting to see where my preferred tools came in the ‘Top 100′ ranking structure that Jane works out from all of our submissions, it is also a great place to catch wind of any new tools that are out there.

I am once again contributing to this years list, however I have decided to take a different tack. Whereas my list last year probably (I say probably because I can’t specifically remember) contained things like:

• Twitter
• YouTube
• Google Reader
• Slideshare
• etc

I have decided to approach things from a different angle this year and have decided not to concentrate on the actual platform, but to think more carefully about how I get access to that platform. After all, it’s no good being a member of some of these wonderful online platforms if you can’t get to them. There are also a few in there just to remind us all that sometimes the answer doesn’t need to be a ‘click‘ away at all! I think it’s also worth mentioning that I have only very recently started working in a new organisation, Epic. What better time to consider what tools have been effective for my personal learning, within a real-time learning moment.

So here’s my Top 10 list of learning tools, in no particular order.

1. My phone (this allows me to phone people up and ask them a question, at which point I find Tool No 6 to be particularly useful)

2. My iPad (this allows me to review online information and communications in order to bring me up to speed on a given subject, of course without Tool No 4 I am somewhat limited in what I can do)

3. My laptop (not only can I do everything on this that I can do on Tool No 2, but I can also far more easily create content, which of course allows me to reflect upon what I am creating thus adding to my own personal learning experience)

4. Internet signal – WiFi/3G/4G/Ethernet (come on admit it, how many of you who submitted an entry into Janes Top 100 tools, overlooked the fact that *most* if not all of the tools you suggested rely upon being able to gain and maintain access to the t’internet?)

5. Falling over – not literally of course, I mean making mistakes. What more powerful tool can there be for learning than those amazing synapses in our brains firing adrenaline, emotions such as guilt, worry, embarrassment, shock etc after we have realised we have made a mistake. Sometimes bruised egos, flushed cheeks and yes – scraped knees serve us very well indeed.

6. My ears – let’s be honest, they’re in ‘receive mode’ far more than our Internet signal. Next time you’re amongst your team colleagues just allow yourself to listen to what’s being said….

7. The Epic intranet – a purpose-built repository of the specific ‘must/should/and could knows’ of my organisation. This has been of immense use to me over the last couple of weeks and no doubt will continue to be so in the future.

8. The guy who sits opposite me – His name is Andy Costello and he has been a godsend to me during my first few weeks working at Epic. Not only providing support when I have asked for it, but also providing it when he anticipates I am approaching a ‘just in time’ moment. Truly contextualised, semantic performance support.

9. Books/magazine etc (not fussy about the format)

10. My Son and Daughter – watching them grow up, evolve, learn, make mistakes etc provides me with some wonderful ‘lightbulb’ moments. Seeing how they navigate the challenges and problems that you and I take for granted, like carrying a plate without spilling its contents reminds me that all the learning challenges that you and I face are surmountable, I mean look at everything else that we have achieved in our lives!

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Listening time: 25mins

Subscribe to the podcast in mp3 format: Lisa’s back!!!

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Shownotes

• Podcast #15: Get your sleeves rolled up and get stuck in
• Training Press release on Barnardos recent win
• The BT Dare 2 Share initiative
• Google Analytics
• Salesforce Chatter

Music Source.

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Once we had sourced the software my Head of Department insisted that we launch the system with a fanfare etc and advertise it’s existence. Now I must admit that at this stage I was a little reluctant to follow this course of action because self-paced elearning was nothing new to my Organisation, it was just that we had decided to bring the development in-house; I even quoted the old “YouTube was never launched line“, but he was having none of it….. so it was off the the PR & Comms department (which is ironically where I ended up working) to ask for some advice.

Rather than waffle on about the advice that they provided, I thought it would be far more interesting to show you….

They advised that I should ‘brand’ the elearning. Not from a screen layout, fonts etc perspective but from a ‘logo type’ angle; this is what we came up with

It plays upon the ubiquitous ‘e’ that many people associate with online activities as well as the ‘swirls’ which were a part of that organisations branding.

We then discussed how we could use the info-screens that are situated around site to enhance our campaign and settled upon what my colleague  called a ‘sting campaign‘. If you are unsure as to what this is, then think about the run-up to Big Brother every year. Channel 4 ran a ‘sting’ campaign consisting of 1-2 second pieces of footage showing the Big Brother eye, usually with a few beats of the Big Brother music.

I decided that I also wanted to take this ‘teaser’ approach too, but more importantly wanted to get people talking about the campaign whilst still maintaining an air of mystery….. very much like the British Gas “tell Sid…..” campaign from yesteryear.

This is what we came up with, as you can see we have used the elearning logo to maintain the ‘branding’ of the campaign…

and I don’t actually mention what the hell it is that is coming. This was something of a gamble, however it really got people talking about the ads and what it was and when it was coming.

Our campaign was working.

Towards the end of the campaign we started to reveal a little more about what it was via a poster & flyer campaign.

The posters were placed in all the usual places

• stairwells
• notice boards
• Kitchen areas
• Back of toilet doors
• …………. Above the urinals

I was shameless!

I also took a leaf out of McDonalds book and placed the posters on the trays in our on-site, self-serve restaurant to…. well… ram it down people’s throats even more (pun intended)

Once we had launched the system we then followed it up with an interview to fill in the gaps that the marketing campaign had been unable to do (this was one of our first recorded interviews and we were still learning the ropes (as you’ll be able to see), but it got the message across)

So folks, that was how we launched the in-house elearning system in my previous organisation.

Would I have chosen to do it that way?

No.

Am I glad that I did it that way?

Yes.

Why?

Because it taught me a great deal about thinking about the bigger picture around a single initiative. Although this was a piece of software and subsequently multiple self-paced elearning modules I would still choose to take this ‘campaign’ approach to the implementation of almost anything.

Granted, the effort involved may vary, but certainly from the perspective of a learning resource I’ll always try to ensure that it is only ‘part’ of a much bigger picture.

So that’s what I did, but what about you?

Have you ever mounted a campaign as part of a learning initiative?

Did it work?

What did you do?

Have you tried this but found it to be a waste of time?

Why not let us all know via the comments box below……

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