Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
Issue link: http://elmezine.epubxp.com/i/102793
TipsVirtual Learning Virtual Technology Alters the Reality of 21st-Century Corporate Learning BY ERIC VIDAL Tere's little doubt that technology has altered the reality of today's learners. All you have to do is look around you. Tis generation of learners is used to being highly stimulated by technology every waking minute of their lives. In addition to the old standbys of television and radio, they now have DVDs and streaming video, texting, video games, a host of social networking options, and everything else available on the Internet. Teir noses are constantly buried in large and small screens, ofen at the same time. To not recognize this fundamental shif in their world and take advantage of it in the corporate classroom is doing them a disservice. Fortunately, the growing trend among organizations to allow employees to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to work is ideally suited for the corporate classroom as well. It allows corporate learning programs to go beyond the "sage on the stage" approach in an efort to help 21st-century learners take in information in a manner that is more aligned with the rest of their lives. And that gives them a broader perspective on the world than what they can see within the four walls of their corporate classrooms. BEYOND DEVICES Yet if all you're doing is chang- ing the medium, i.e. replacing binders or PowerPoint presentations with laptops or tablets, you haven't really changed the game much. Because the opportunity in today's corporate classrooms isn't about devices — it's about fnding more effective ways for instructors to convey information, students to learn, and both sides to communicate. Tis is where virtual technologies, such as webcasting and virtual environments, can make a huge diference. Here's a good example: Imagine starting a class by asking three questions to test student comprehension of the previous day's lesson. But rather than standing there waiting for one of the better students to answer, and assuming everyone has the acquired the same level of understanding, you launch an electronic poll. Students anonymously click on the answers, and the results are made available almost instantly. Tat information can then guide whether it's time to move on, or whether more efort needs to be spent on a particular topic. You can do that with webcasting technology. In addition, if every student has the webcast up on his/her device, the instructor can easily share presentations, video and information from other applications or websites. No more worries about who can see the screen or whether the ancient projector will work, because it's all right there in front of them. Classes can also be recorded and made available as downloads later, helping students review the information and increase their comprehension. UTILIZING CHAT Student-to-student interaction has been shown to help increase comprehension in the classroom. Tat type of interaction is something that can be enabled (and controlled) through the chat function in either a webcast or virtual environment. Weaker students can be paired with stronger ones to help them learn the material faster and more thoroughly. It has to be monitored, of course, 44 December 2012 / January 2013 Elearning!