Pick up your PDA: you can use technologies that aren't typical learning technologies to enhance learning . That's what the digital beat is all about

T+D, Feb, 2004 by Darin E. Hartley

I received an email last month from Haidee Allerton, the editor of T D, asking if I'd write a new monthly column called Digital Beat (formerly known as The Web). It took me only 27 nanoseconds to reply with an affirmative. I'm thrilled to be writing about things I'm extremely passionate about: the Internet, mobile technologies, instant messaging, wireless networks, and any other type of technology that is creating a digital beat in our world.

Daily, there are breakthroughs with technology that have direct--and indirect--implications for how we live, learn, and work. And each column will have a Ten Tips Checklist you can use as a practical take-away.

In my 15 years in the learning business, I have met brilliant and innovative professionals who are shaping learning into its diverse forms. I've met some of them through my work as director of solutions development for Lguide in Seattle, Washington, where I have been providing learning consulting services to a variety of clients since 2003. Others I met during my time at ASTD, Dell Computer Corporation, Lockheed Martin, EG&G, General Physics, and the U.S. Navy. I have an undergraduate degree in corporate training and a graduate degree in training management. My work inside those organizations--with diverse and talented people--has catalyzed my love of learning technology and has fueled the ideas in my three books on learning: Job Analysis at the Speed of Reality, On-Demand Learning, and Selling E-Learning.

Anyone who knows me for more than five minutes can tell you that I am a rabid Miami Dolphins fan--which, depending on the year, can be tenuous. And, yes, last year was one of those years. But, as I always say, "There's always next year." OK, this is the last time I'll give that kind of detail about me.

The focus for this month's column is on e-learning and some related technologies. As training and learning professionals for organizations, whether they are big or small, or as independent consultants, you often have to hunker down in response to meeting a client's needs so that it's difficult to get outside of your office (literally) and see what's happening in the world around you. That can be detrimental to the quality of the solution you're trying to create for your client base.

Not your usual learning device

New technologies are being created outside the realm of learning that can have great impact as the basis for learning solutions. For example, when PDAs, personal digital assistants, were created, their primary function was to help people keep track of their contacts, tasks, calendars, and email electronically. Synching one's PDA to a computer was completed primarily to ensure that the personal digital data was the same on the handheld device and on the computer on the user's desk. Synchronization of the devices was done using a cable. The earliest versions of PDAs didn't use infrared ports for synchronization or to share information.

Fast forward. Now, personal data is only one element of the information that gets synchronized. Software applications are downloaded, as are databases, e-books, articles, and Webpages or Web clippings--in real time. Some PDAs now do double duty as phones or GPSs, global positioning systems. Educational software applets are available en masse at sites such as Handango.com, Palmgear.com, and palmone.com.

So, why is that relevant to you? If you see that more and more people are using PDAs and a large number of people in your organization are using them, it might mean that you would be able to provide value to your internal clients by offering them some learning and or other performance solutions using this technology, which generally isn't considered to be a typical learning device.

* "Performance Support Tools," page 35.

The beat goes on

The digital beat is about listening for the rhythms of technology developments and trying to create parallel solutions for your end users, your learners, your clients.

Another interesting trend is the increased need for greater localization of the learning solution. Because of the state of the economy, which is still dealing with large unemployment, organizations have fewer people doing more work. That means that most organizations will have lots of "horizontal loading" occurring. Horizontal loading happens when employees are given more responsibility and work while staying at the same pay level. Raise your hand if you're experiencing horizontal loading. If you're not, get ready to raise your hand.

That is an important factor to consider because it means that in most organizations, there will be even fewer opportunities for employees to "go to" training. The key phrase here is "go to." I didn't say that people weren't going to be allowed to take training; I mean that people are going to have to get more training locally--at their desktop, at their workstation, on the manufacturing floor, on an airplane, in the car that gets them to and from the workplace.

Technology, the great enabler

There are a variety of ways that technology can enable increased localization of learning. One is by offering business simulations directly to the desktop. The idea is that business, and sometimes other types of, simulations can be reviewed by the end user right at the desktop. Simulearn is a company with some examples of types of interactions you might experience in the workplace that are replicated (at some level) with computer-animated characters and programmed business heuristics. Let's face it: It's easier to make a mistake in a business simulation, on your desktop, than in front of your peers or supervisors. In addition, most of these types of simulations allow learners to practice with failure in a safe environment.