Technology, training, learning and development blogs

A man out standing in his field: An everyday story of blended learning and a tent

Have you every stopped to think about how you learn? It’s a subject that has fascinated me over the years. Many people I’ve asked the question of instinctively say that they learn by going on a course. If that were true, we’d fill every classroom many times over. The reality is, without realising it, we learn from multiple sources and stimuli, a sort of unconscious learning. We learn without even being aware of it – can you remember where you were when you learnt to turn on a tap or Ctrl-Alt-Del a PC. Learning without knowing or knowing without learning...?

...There are those that have studied the way we learn to distraction and PhD level, but I’d suggest that 99.9% of people don’t honestly care, they want “learning” that enables, learning that is relevant to their current abilities and learning that is “delivered” in a way appropriate to their own learning styles and time constraints. I choose to call this “Blended Learning”.  I’ve just learnt from Wikipedia that blended learning is when “an instructor combines two methods of delivery of instruction”. (Often in pseudo blended solutions that would be classroom and eLearning time). Blended learning for me is much more holistic…a camping analogy follows shortly.

A successful training programme blends learning from a number of sources into a coherent solution. You need a learning consultant and not a blended learning machine for this.

To me, one of the best (and worst things) about working in IT is that you never ever stop learning. Just when you are a master of your (new) technology domain along comes Active Directory IV and the learning curve starts all over again.  In theory our “historical” experiences and skills can be adapted and deployed with the new technology.

The reality is, anything we do in our day job is learnt behaviour, none of us are born PRINCE2 project managers or Linux administrators. Although aptitude plays a part. (I’m simply not wired up to be a developer, I’ve tried, but never get much further than “hello world”) – Actually I’ve changed my mind I do know people who were born project managers – The current Mrs D. springs to mind.

The thing is, there is no one way to learn and indeed we each have our own preferred learning styles, some research I did with 400ish folks a few years ago revealed that those who work with code are bigger fans of eLearning than those who work with infrastructure. Further analysis revealed that support staff preferred to learn by “doing” and resented the “No I said click here” approach taken by some elearning.  A solution that included workshops, drop in sessions, on-line books, classroom time and eLearning was very successful. More so than elearning or classroom time would have been alone.

Lets visit that camping analogy – A Blended Solution:

As occasional weekend campers, here at Duffield Towers we have recently invested in a “proper” replacement branded tent. It’s a mass of string, nylon, pegs and more nylon. Reasonably experienced tent erectors, we set off with our shiny new tent, two kids (one on loan) and a dog. Here starts the learning journey with the overuse of the word “modality”...

Learning Modality 1:

Reading the manual: Prior to setting off to base camp, I read and inwardly digested the fold out instructions. Armed with these and some existing experience, I was pretty confidence and started to pitch the tent.

Efficiency of Learning Modality 1:

Boy was I in a bad mood.  I like processes with a start, middle and end, stood with a mess of tent, poles and string on the ground I was set for relocating to the nearest Travel Lodge. Even with the “manual” it took us nearly 3 hours to get the thing pitched. It also didn’t look 100% like it did in the store. I’m pretty sure we got it the right way up but I suspect a gust of wind would have seen us floating across the Irish Sea. 

Learning Modality 2:

eLearning: Before the second exhibition, this time minus the dog, I completed some eLearning (formally CBT). Vango’s web site provides browser based instructions on how to pitch your tent of choice. You can even download it to view on your phone.  I sat through this a number of times and even set off for trip number two armed with a copy on my Laptop. If you feel the urge, you can see it here. It’s Quicktime not Silverlight.

Efficiency of Learning Modality 2:

This time the tent was pitched in about one and a half hours and now had the right pegs in the right holes (it comes with 4 different shapes of peg). I can report that the tent withstood the best Anglesey could throw at it. But I still wasn’t 100% happy, the inner tent was somewhat “floppy” and the porch poles seemed loose. It was pitched but wasn’t sure I followed best practise or pitched it in the most efficient manner. I gave up with the ground sheet in the porch.

Pitched in less time but still somewhat “floppy”

Learning Modality 3:

Instructor Led  Classroom Training: Or in this case, field at the side of our house training. As I’m one of the (long since) retired founders of the 24th Beech Lane Macclesfield Scout Group, we called on the help of their resident “tent expert” – A Subject Matter Expert (SME) in all that is canvas and tent coloured.  Using his skills (and the opinion of a dog walker who was strolling by) I evolved slowly from just competent to totally confident. An instructor led training session with hands-on access no less.

Efficiency of Learning Modality 3:

The next trip was just last week, again to Anglesey. (Thanks to Nikki Mears for the recommendation) – armed now with hands-on experience, a read of the manual and an Instructor Led Training (ILT) session, the tent was pitched in under the 40 minutes suggested by the manufacturer.  I was truly a man out standing in my field, but with a cosy tent to escape the rain.  

Blended Learning:

The events above are sadly completely true, It’s taken me to the end of the season to master pitching this tent. (Speaks volumes for planning training “just-In-Time”). I’ve learnt to pitch it to my requirements.  I think this is a good example of a blended learning programme. A blend of experience, self-study and classroom time got me to where I wanted to be from a tent erecting skills perspective.

How does all this relate to the classroom:

The reality is, not many people turn up on a Monday for a course completely new to a subject , unless it’s a beginners course – people have a mixture of learning experiences, reading, playing and experimenting under their belt.  In the technical arena we’ve all ran up a virtual image and tinkered with that latest version of Windows Server  or Linux, installed Vista or KDE “just to have a play”. Even those on service management or delivery courses have at the very least been a consumer of the techniques they are about to be taught. The course overview is key for one-off training courses. Read it. Do you meet the pre-requisites, are the deliverables of the courses things you do in your sleep? BUT keep in mind my tent pitching experiences, I was competent but wasn’t following best practise and being as efficient as I now am. Thanks to the SME and access to my peers (which was a chap and his dog in my case). Read around the subject, come to the classroom with questions. For technical courses, Virtual PC (now with added Service Pack 1) is free and there are time limited versions of many IT products. I have Microsoft Virtual PC images of many solutions including Suse Linux and Server 2008.

Roll on summer, I have a tent to pitch

Till next time