Do you know how long it takes and how much it costs to create content in different learning formats (ILT, simple e-learning, simulation-based learning, etc.)? Would you like to know?
If you search this question today in Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc., you will see that the answer is in this blog and comes up # 1 in the search window (Click here to see the blog article); however, the information is a bit dated and everyone has been telling me that it is time to update the research. So, here we go. We need your help!
Please click the following link and complete the 2010 Learning Development survey:
What’s in it for you? Everyone who participates will receive a full summary of the information for your own benchmarking purposes. We will not collect the information from you and then charge you to see your own results. You share…we share! Also, this information will be freely distributed under “Creative Commons” meaning that you are welcome to share the results in presentations, white papers, with your co-workers…anywhere, as long as you remember to credit the source. How cool is that?
We feel that this information is very important to the learning industry. I’ll warn you that it is a challenging survey, not for the timid, but the results will help everyone tremendously.
If you have any questions about the survey, feel free to ask.
What do you say to people when they ask you what you do? I think learning professionals have the hardest time of most careers explaining exactly what we do? If I do a tally of my closest neighbors, the list goes fairly quickly:
Accountant
Dentist
College Professor
Building Contractor
Another Accountant
Owner of a Landscaping Business
So, who’s the guy at the end of the street who calls himself a “Chief Learning Strategist?” What the heck is that? Would it help if I stuck with a more common job from our industry: Chief Learning Officer, Instructional Designer (I have a degree in Instructional Design), e-Learning Specialist, etc. In short, we have many jobs in our space that just don’t translate well to most people’s common understanding of the world. Especially difficult is the task of trying to explain to your children what you do. True story: The mother of my son’s friend (age 10) asked “Do you know what Bryan Chapman does?” His reply, “Yeah. He sits at the computer and talks on the phone all day.” That about sums it up! I’ve been trying to work up a shorter way to describe what I do…an elevator pitch of sorts for the purpose of explaining what I do in the simplest form. I’m trying to keep this to two sentences or less (if possible). Here’s what I have to date.
“I help companies teach very large numbers of employees, using the computer and other technologies. For example, I work with the Red Cross and they literally trains millions of people online in areas such as CPR, First Aid, and Disaster Management.”
I find that the story helps them grasp the concept and its something they can relate too. It’s not perfect, but it has been much simpler than explaining the whole concept of e-learning, adult learning theory, LMS, and instructional design.
Here’s my challenge to you. Please use the comment field below and write a two sentence description that describes what you do (less than 50 words). Also include your actual title. I know we all have different roles in the learning space, but I would love to learn from your example and pick up a few pointers along the way and how to best answer the question – “what do you do?”
I love working in the learning industry! You meet so many people who are on the cutting edge of creativity and innovation.
People involved in learning are also so great about sharing what they know and helping others. That’s why I’m so excited about a new gig I will be starting next week. I’ve been asked to host a year-long series entitled “Always Learning.” Instead of just being your regular, 1-hour-long, lecture based webinar; I will have the chance to interview learning leaders in a quick, 30-minute session (short enough to accommodate the schedule of even the busiest learning professional). All of these interviews will be live and unscripted. The focus of the series is to discuss the convergence of formal, social and mobile learning. Each month we’ll dive into very specific topics.
First up in the series will be a high level discussion about how to find the right mix between different modalities of learning including structured e-learning courses, virtual classrooms, podcasts, wikis, etc.
Our guests for the first episode are Steven RathMorgan from Xerox and Pete Beck with Verizon Wireless. The session will take place on Tuesday, March 16th at 1:30 p.m. Eastern (12:30 p.m. Central, 11:30 a.m. Mountain, and 10:30 a.m. Pacific).
I just wanted to let you all know a little bit about the online workshop I’m teaching on March 11th and issue a special invitation to my blog readers.
The session is called “Optimizing Rapid Learning Development” and the cost of attendance is $195. The workshop is part of a series of online workshop offered by [...]
One of biggest excuses I hear from learning content developers is “well, this type of media just isn’t interactive.” That’s a poor excuse. For years, people have been saying that PowerPoint isn’t interactive; yet developers like Tom Kuhlman from Articulate proved that you can make PowerPoint interactive. If you don’t believe me check out [...]
Are you having the same trouble that I am? Is you social network a mish-mash of professional contacts, friends, family members, acquaintances, friends-of-friends, celebrity links, and a bunch of other people that you either don’t know or can’t classify?
Several years ago (a lifetime in technology), when I started down the social networking path, I [...]
Most of us know celebrity Ice-T as a rapper and as Detective Fin Tutuola on NBC’s Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (my wife’s favorite show).
Few of us would think of him as an expert on social networking using Twitter. But after watching his appearance on the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien the other [...]
One of my favorite past events was the Online Learning Conference that sort of disappeared a few years back. Actually, it didn’t disappear completely. It just went through a series of iterations and name changes.
I’m so happy that it is back and that they asked me to be the host for this year’s conference [...]
When a learner goes to a company’s central learning site, what should they see? Here are two basic models:
1. A very structured site with an individual learning plan, with step-by-step instructions for learning one’s job (analogous to a degree program at a university)
…or
2. A site full of learning opportunities with articles, reference books, [...]
When I was 14 years old, I learned a simple song to remember ALL of the names of the separate books in the Bible. Here we are 30+ years later (I won’t elaborate too much on how much +) and I can still name all the books in order. I realize that this feat [...]
Chief Learning Strategist
Providing research-based consulting services in the area of corporate learning strategy development and learning technology selection. Founder of the Chapman Alliance, a Brandon Hall Research Associate
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