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In this Newsletter
A Message from the Project Manager
Our last newsletter topic introduced readers to the e-Learning strategy. This month’s topic will explore stakeholder buy in.
It probably goes without saying that without support from top management, an e-learning program will probably not survive.
E-learning programs require significant resources for development and support as well as the cooperation of several departments within the organization. If the support from top management isn’t there, it needs to be developed. Aligning your e-Learning strategy with business goals can be an important first step.
Do your homework to ensure that the development of the e-learning program isn’t sabotaged. Prepare a project plan that includes a budget and a schedule, as well as any unusual resource needs and the assumptions that were used to develop the plan.
Another critical aspect of stakeholder buy in is how engaged people are, and how they play a role as strategy builders and as recipients of strategy success. People are the driving force behind every part of the e-Learning strategy. As learning and performance professionals, we state that the development of programs, courses and lessons is for the use of an individual who has a need to learn, re-learn or teach while engaged in a performance-measured task or function. When faced with building an e-Learning strategy, selection of key people from across the organization will be the most important decision to ensure success.
Why involve people from across the organization? They are the people who will bring focused attention and a level of importance to the rest of the organization. This is an organization-wide strategy and, as such, needs to have key people across the organization and within the executive level involved. Executive level sponsorship, ownership, and understanding are the single greatest assets for successful development and implementation of an eLearning Strategy.
For example, the most important internal relationship is between the training and IT departments. This collaboration will most likely be new to both departments, hence the need for establishing standards for working together. The standards should be established jointly, with both departments agreeing to expectations and roles. Many organizations already have well-staffed IT departments and help-desks to provide technical support for computers and software. However, these groups are not generally organized, staffed or trained to address the complex issues of e-Learning systems. The help desk should be equipped and trained to address issues that involve a wide array of hardware, internet, and web delivery technologies. The end result for users will be increased system reliability, more course completions, and effective knowledge management.
Once you have gained executive buy in, created close partnerships with key internal partners and have a governing process in place, you are poised to start looking at e-Learning as a strategic initiative. Traditionally, this has meant assessing your organization’s appetite for e-Learning and then looking at the content selection process which will enable selection of appropriate content to put into an e-Learning format that meets organizational objectives – the topic of our next newsletter.
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ELMS Training Bite
The ELMS Training Bite is designed to provide you with a summary of key functions of the LMS. This month’s topic – integration of Web 2.0 technologies
As social networking technologies become standard ways in how people communicate (MySpace.com, Facebook.com, Linkedin.com, Twitter.com, Wikipedia.com to name a few), companies that specialize in learning management systems are integrating these “Web. 2.0” (social learning) technologies into its products. Specifically, collaboration spaces, blogs and peer-to-peer reviews are becoming standard functions designed to enhance the traditional model of instructor-led learning.
The December 2007 edition of What’s Happening introduced you to some of the Web 2.0 functions. In this edition, we look at those functions in more detail.
Blogs: A blog (short for weblog) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary about an important subject. Regular users (subscribers) can participate in the Blog discussion. The LMS provides this functionality as a stand-alone option or built within a collaboration space (see below). For example: a user who is a subject matter expert in Project Management may create/subscribe to a Project Management Blog in the LMS – having the ability to quickly communicate with other project managers across state government.
Collaboration Space: Replicating an on-line community, this function integrates Blogs and content sharing capabilities for its members. It allows members to collaborate on topics important to them – course related or not. For example: if a course instructor wants his/her attendees to collaborate and/or review course materials as pre-work, a course collaboration space can be enabled where attendees collaborate on-line prior to attending class. Or, as in the case above, project management subject matter experts can have an ongoing collaboration using a Blog as well as share best practices on project management templates, not associated with a particular course.
For more information about Social Learning and Web 2.0 technologies, please visit BlogCascadia @ http://www.astdcascadia.org/BlogCascadia/?s=Social+Learning.
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What's New
Introducing iLearnOregon – state governments learning community!
Thanks to suggestions from our Advisory Council and others across the state, iLearnOregon will be the name of our system. We believe this name portrays a personal commitment to learning and aligns with other statewide workforce development initiatives withOregon in the name. Thank you to all of you who participated in this decision.
The Enterprise Project Team is gearing up to begin pilots for the following agencies later this year:
- Parks
- Revenue
- Forestry
- OHCS
- PERS
- Employment
- OLCC
- Fire Marshal
- DAS Divisions
To see a complete list of agencies planning to launch in 2008/09, check out our web page at http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/HR/e-lms.shtml and click timeline.
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Project Status
The ELMS project is moving ahead. For a complete update on the ELMS project including current status reports, “What’s Happening” archives, and our newly added ELMS Fact Sheet, check out our web-page at: http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/HR/e-lms.shtml.
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Questions and Answers
The Enterprise Project Team would like to invite you to ask any questions you may have on the ELMS initiative through the ELMS e-list. Just send your questions to elms@listsmart.osl.state.or.us. All questions will be responded to by one of the Enterprise Project Team members. All questions and answers will eventually become a Frequently Asked questions section of the ELMS web site.
Contact Information:
Theme Grenz
ELMS Project Manager
DAS/HRSD - Training and Development Services
155 Cottage St NE, U-30
Salem, OR 97301
E-mail: Theme.Grenz@state.or.us
Phone: (503) 378 6213
Brandy Meng
Workforce Development Consultant
DAS/HRSD - Training and Development Services
E-mail: Brandy.L.Meng@state.or.us
Phone: (503) 378 4843
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