Donald Clark presents his 7 fails in e-learning. His experience ranges from programming to course development, commercial delivery and strategic management. To view the video of this presentation visit www.learningpool.com

1. 7 FAILS in e-learning
(7 solutions)
Donald Clark

2. 1) Everything that’s already in the world when
you’re born is just normal;
2) Anything that gets invented between then and before
you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and
with any luck you can make a career out of it
3) Anything invented after you’re thirty is against the
natural order of things and the beginning of the
end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around
for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be
alright really.

3. More pedagogic
change in 10 years
than last 1000 years

4. Moodle 2001
iTunes 2001
Facebook 2003
Linkedin 2003
Flickr 2004
Youtube 2005
Twitter 2006
Google docs 2007
Dropbox 2007
Evernote 2008
Google + 2011

5. FAIL 1 (BEFORE)
Blended learning actually
blended teaching

6. What is blended learning?
‘Blended learning seems to mean, some e-
learning and some classroom. It is in vogue for
a simple reason. No one wants to spend that
much on e-learning and people want to
preserve what they have, so they have made up
this nice new name for not changing much and
calling it blended learning’
ROGER SCHANK

7. Spending paradox
120
100
80
Formal
60
Informal
40
20
0
Spend Learning

8. Blended Learning beyond the course
• Blend of learning and knowledge
management
• Blend of work and learning
• Blend of formal and informal
• Learning habitats

9. FAIL 2 (BEFORE)
Too much synchronous

10. Asynchronous delivery
should be DEFAULT

11. Recording talks/lectures
5 Diploma courses
Advantages noted by students :
1. Lecture went too fast
2. Review lecture
3. Revision for exams
4. Clarified difficult handwriting
5. English was student’s second language
6. Avoid writing notes (focus on lecture)
7. See lecture after missing it through illness
Watched 13 hours a week on average
Completely revolutionising the traditional teaching & learning model
"One year of ICTP diploma courses on-line using the automated EyA recording system" -
Computers & Education 53 (2009) 183-188. http://sdu.ictp.it/eya/about.html

12. University of Eindhoven
Recording can IMPROVE a bad
talk/lecture

14. Social media & LEARNING
Find things Share resources & ideas
Search effectively with Google Share your calendar
Search the Social Web with other tools Share files
Useful sources on the Social Web Share weblinks
Share photos, videos and screencasts
Share presentations
Keep up to date Share ideas and experiences by blogging
Monitor new stuff web content Share ideas and experiences by podcasting
Read industry, analyst & practitioner blogs
Subscribe to blog/web feeds with an RSS reader
Collaborate effectively
Build a trusted network Work collaboratively on a document
Collaborate on ad hoc documents in real-time
Facebook Create a collaborative resource using a wiki
LinkedIn Set up a group space
Twitter
Yammer
Other online communities Productivity gains
Use a good web browser
Communicate effectively Use a personal online dashboard
Use other personal productivity tools
Gmail webmail Use other team productivity tools
Skype
Group chat

15. FAIL 3 (during)
Ditch ‘learning styles’

17. Learning Styles
Professor Frank Coffield
Learning Styles - LSDA research
“bedlam of contradictory claims”
“71 theories” “most dismissed outright”
“serious deficiencies”
“over-simplify, label and stereotype”
“worse than bad - downright dangerous”
Professor Greenfield (Oxford)
“no independent evidence"
"nonsense"
“waste of valuable time”

18. FAIL 4 (during)
Wrong media mix

19. Long-term memory
Semantic Episodic Procedural

20. Media rich is
not always
mind rich

21. POLIC
THEORY

22. Video can be harmful to learning!
How lightening works?
Learners who did NOT see video did 30% better
Mayer (2001)

24. Learning:
• Review last 30 secs
• X2 button – halves learning time
• Note taking (20/30% increase in
retention)
• Avoids visual distraction
• Imagination – deep processing
• Recorded lectures?
Practical:
• easy to produce
• easy to distribute
• huge storage
• cheap devices

25. Podcasts
Abdul Chohan
(Essa Academy)
37% to 99%
(5+A*-C)
3 years

26. FAIL 5 (during)
Reassess assessment

29. Adaptive formative assessment

32. FAIL 6 (after)
Evaluation: Kill Kirkpatrick

33. • Donald Kirkpatrick
1959
Behaviourist

34. Hi James!
•

35. Kirkpatrick model?
Level 1 (Reaction)
Level 2 (Learning)
Level 3 (Behaviour)
Level 4 (Results)
The evaluation paradox

36. Why Kill Kirkpatrick?
No theoretical basis – not scientific
4 linear levels too much
Narrow-minded behaviourism
Too summative
Ignores methods of delivery
Statistically stupid

37. Level 1 – Just keep them happy!
Sample bias – bored, with pens
Happy but stupid
Learning may be tough
Wastes valuable time
Inappropriate for informal
Too late - damage is done

38. Level 1 – Just keep them happy!
Sitzmann, T., Brown, K. G., Casper,
Traci Sitzmann W. J., Ely, K., & Zimmerman, R.
(2008). A review and meta-analysis
of the nomological network of
Meta-studies trainee reactions. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 93, 280-295.
68,245 trainees
Sitzmann, T., Ely, K., Brown, K. G., &
354 research reports Bauer, K. N. (in press). Self-
assessment of knowledge: An
affective or cognitive learning
measure? Academy of Management
Learning and Education.

39. Do satisfied students learn more than
dissatisfied students?
NO
Are self-assessments of knowledge accurate?
NO
39

40. Level 2 – Quick test
Pre & Post test
Tests too primitive
Tests too narrow
Short-term memory
Ignores spaced practice
Inappropriate for informal

41. We forget……………………

42. Level 3 – Just do it!
Fear
Disinterest
Difficult
Disruptive
Time consuming
Expensive
Statistics/maths

43. Level 4 - Impact
YES, YES, YES
........but how?

44. Rewards for a favourable evaluation
report greatly outweigh rewards for
producing an unfavourable report

45. Evaluation is
all about
DECISIONS

46. Should you evaluate at all?
“Kirkpatrick asks all the wrong
questions. Learning is not an
auditable commodity”
Stephen Kerr, CLO GE

47. FAIL 7 (after)
Retention: Use mobile

48. Small screens
substantially REDUCE:
• Emotional impact
• Psychological
attention
• Retention
Nass and Reeves
Stanford University
Lesson:
Be careful with
CONTENT delivery

51. Average session on mobile
= 7 seconds (falling)
Voice call down to 2 mins & falling
Txting overtaken voice

55. Set times/frequency of the spaced practice on
setup, to fit personal or organisational need:
• Exam
• Start date of job/task
• Launch of IT system
• Specific event
• Shift pattern

56. 7 FAILS in e-learning (7 solutions)
Blended LEARNING
ASYNCH as default
Media MIX
Ditch ‘learning styles’
Reassess assessment
Kill ‘Kirkpatrick’
Mobile for REINFORCEMENT

57. •

58. Email
donald.clark@hotmail.co.uk
Blog
http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/
Twitter
@donaldclark
Facebook
DonaldClark

59. 7 hidden rules of technology
1. Technology is about SCALE
2. Technology has PREVIOUS TECHNOLOGIES
3. Technology is HARDWARE+SOFTWARE
4. Technology has ALLURE
5. Technology produces NOSTALGIA
6. Technology locks in PRACTICE
7. Technology is UNPREDICTABLE