In the TEDx video titled “The revolution of self-directed learning,” Sean Bengry talked about how learners in a corporate setting could use social media to learn and gather information to help them perform well on the job.
Does your on-the-job information-gathering experience match up with Sean Bengry’s?
Sean also points to formal training sessions and scheduled events as being an inefficient form of knowledge transfer. This is why many companies have turned to self-paced learning (often referred to as e-learning) for at least some of their training needs.
While many businesses may congratulate themselves on being “current” with industry best practices, it is important to consider the possibility that they may simply be repackaging content usually delivered in a formal training session into an online format and calling it “self-paced”.
All self-directed learning is self-paced, but not all self-paced learning is self-directed.
This is an important distinction. Much job training doesn’t give the employees any freedom to choose their path. In fact, all the steps that would be found in SDL are controlled by the employer, except for actually using the resources. The above may not describe all self-paced instruction, but it probably describes most of it.
Add to this the requirement that the employee complete the training on their own time – ie. the employee gets to do more “work” outside of work – and it becomes apparent that motivation might be a problem. This might be one of the reasons why a significant amount of corporate training is still being done in a face-to-face format.
Please tell us a bit about your training experiences accessed through your employer:
| 1. |  Loading ... |
|
| Please use the comments section to tell us a little about the ways in which it is encouraged.
|
||
| 2. | Loading ... |
|
| 3. | Loading ... |
|
| 4. | Loading ... |
|
| Please use the comments section to let us know if you feel the format of these sessions is generally appropriate, or if the content could be handled better in a different format. Feel free to elaborate on this. | ||
Our sessions are generally appropriate but I find that some of the training could also be offered in a blended or flipped learning format. That way we could limit the time away from work. Our board also offers training videos requiring a sign-off at the end as proof that the training was complete. The PD software that we have does not allow the viewer to fast forward the video however, there is no guarantee that the viewer sat and watched while the video played. Self-directed learning is just part of the everyday learning at my job but there is no formal encouragement to learn that way on the job.
Hi Brenda,
My experience with “encouragement” has been similar to yours – little to none. My employer creates the opportunities for learning by providing PD sessions on various topics, but my superiors don’t seem to have much interest in how much or how little PD I do. It is, in theory, part of our annual evaluation but seems to have minimal impact on the final “score.” So, there is very little extrinsic motivation.
This question is a tricky one for me because I work in Professional Development at a law firm. The dynamics of a law firm are pretty unique. While I believe self-paced learning (especially e-learning) is beneficial we have found our lawyers do not complete it. For us the only way to ensure they are receiving their PD is if it takes place live/in-person. What we have been trying to do – which I think is more effective for certain topics – is to create micro learning pieces like videos, modules, or infographics and pair those with shortened in-class sessions. This way in-class time is not as much of a burden and it can focus more on activities/discussion. Overall, I think every type of method has its niche. Certain topics are great in-class while others and far better suited to be in online SDL formats.
Hi Colleen,
You may be right about being in a fairly unique setting, but I don’t think your experience with PD completion is that unusual – my sister complained about similar things when she worked in a nursing home.
Self-paced learning is notorious for having low completion stats. Research done on MOOCs has shown that a very high percentage of initial registrants (I don’t have the article handy to verify the actual number) never complete their course. Motivation can be an issue for everyone, especially when you’re asked to do something that takes you away from other important things in your personal life.
I think you are right about every training method having a niche. SDL is very powerful because it is SELF-DIRECTED, but not every topic will be interesting enough to motivate an employee to learn a significant amount about it on their own. For example, information on the safe handling of “chemical XYZ” may not be terribly interesting to me because I don’t plan to use it, but my lack of knowledge of it could become a serious problem in case of an accidental spill. So, yes, SDL is probably not appropriate for every situation.
Overall the training is appropriate and for the most part I get to choose which I’m allowed to attend. However, this is not always the case for everyone at our institution. Although, the idea of self-directed learning is good, it is not always realistic to leave all PD to the choice of the individual. Currently, we are conducting training specifically on system-wide online final assessments. Anyone who is involved in creating and delivering these assessments must take the training. For everyone else, it is option, which is a form of self-directed learning if they choose to take the course. The reasons for making this training mandatory for those directly involved is to ensure that there are few technical issues during the final assessment period. We can’t rely on the faculty’s self-evaluation of their knowledge and capability of developing assessments in our learning management system when it is such a high-stakes assessment. We are offering the course as a self-paced or a blended version, so that faculty who already have previous knowledge can work quickly through the material and submit the final evaluation rather than attending another face-to-face session about information they already know.
Hi Sarah, thanks for sharing. Quick question – for those required to take the training I’m assuming that the cost is covered by the employer. For the optional attendees do they have to pay to take the course?
Hi Brenda, just saw this question as I was reviewing everything for the final assignment. 🙁
For the most part all training is paid for by the university when developed in-house or arranged by the professional development team. There are some courses that faculty do attend outside the university. Each situation is evaluated and some of them are paid for, especially if it is required training directly related to their teacher.
Most often we do in-house PD around issues were working on or seem to be lacking. Because we’re small (less than 15), one person in the office leads the PD around a topic and presents, then we follow up with break out sessions. For us, we spend a lot of time on assessment design, rubrics and government policy. It’s generally expected that if you have a technical problem, you research and figure out a solution by looking for websites or youtube videos. Other PD outside of the office is encouraged but not funded, so people generally will take the odd additional qualification course or other things.
Hi Bryan, thanks for your input. The self-directed learning you describe is the same at my place of work and we have approx. 10,000 employees. I think self-directed learning is out there but it’s not really formalized training. It’s just generally expected, like you said, to use websites or youtube videos to help get over the technical problem at hand.
My work is a small company that doesn’t have any formal training, not even for someone new. However, as what we do is constantly evolving, and we are expected to learn to keep up, our boss has a premium account with Lynda.com that everyone has access to and can use as they need or when they have free time to boast their existing skillset. It’s worked quite effectively in my company.
We just had a two-day in house PD conference. However, I found much of the information did not apply to my specific situation or could have been learned independently. Some departments in my school do encourage self-directed learning where teachers can choose a topic or area they are interested in, learn about it independently, then meet with their colleagues to discuss.
As a high school teacher, SDL is not just encouraged, it is necessary. If I am going to become effective and knowledgable about the content I am teaching I need to learn about it on my own time.
I have so rarely been to an effective Professional Development (PD) session in my years as a teacher it has almost become a joke. This is frustrating because I want to have a good PD session. The reality, as I see it, is that our administrators are so overworked that they simply have no time to put together a quality PD session. It is something that needs addressing in my school district.
Japan does not seem to be big on SDL. If something needs to be done, it gets scheduled and everyone does it. I think that might be part of the culture of collectivism in Japan. I am not sure if that is the same in other Asian countries.
I know that workplace culture is very different between the East and the West. There is a much lower rate of individualism here in Japan, and this probably limits SDL to a large extent. The other consideration is that people here tend to work 10-12 hour days. Salaried people work from 8 to 5, but have “extra” duties that they are expected to perform “off the clock” until later. Very few people regularly go home when their shift ends. This means that there is a serious lack of free time after work. Many jobs also require work on most Saturdays. I am sure this must have an effect on the practice of SDL.
Most of the SDL learning that occurs in my workplace (I teach at a college) revolves around equity and safety. All of our training sessions are online, and are required to be completed within a certain time frame. Once we complete the modules we then have to e-mail confirmation of our completion to the appropriate departments.
I think that online modules work well for the intended purposes. I don’t think in person sessions would be as effective as there are many part time employees who do not get paid for hours not listed on their contracts. Travel time to and from specific locations would cost a large amount, and attempting to organize a time where all employees are available would not work. Having deadlines and guidelines in place should ensure that the learning occurs and that learning goals are met.
Sadly, many of the teachers at my school have resorted to constant self-directed learning during Professional Development and Curriculum Implementation time, including myself. I appreciate the pull to self-directed as it is what the teacher WANTS to learn and feels is important to their individual context; however, it can be socially isolating especially in a teaching setting where it is just you and the students for the majority of the time. It is critical to be pushed outside your comfort zone through conversations with colleagues and professional development opportunities. Attending a session every now and then (either in person or through a webinar) allows other employees to share their interest areas with staff and may allow others to become involved with an area they were unfamiliar with previously. Self-directed has worth, especially when a teacher has an ongoing project, experiment, course development/design, etc., but ideally, professional development involves both!
Most of the training provided at my workplace is through online webinars as the company is international, and the employees are located in different countries. Our sessions are generally appropriate with a lot of hands-on activities either during the session or after it. I would say it is a mixture of in-class training (online) and “self-paced” learning after the session. Usually the proof of completing the activities is required, and often feedback is provided.
My company encourages self-directed learning by having sessions when we share what we have learned ourselves with the rest of the team, what works for us, how to improve things or streamline the processes.