Learning practitioners operate in a high stakes environment that requires them to rethink, retool and adjust programs and analysis to rapidly respond to changing needs.
by Mike Prokopeak
April 8, 2009
Learning practitioners today operate in a high stakes environment and face significant challenges in delivering effective learning that produces measurable results. That reality requires them to rethink, retool and adjust programs and analysis to rapidly respond to changing needs, said two learning leaders at the Spring 2009 Chief Learning Officer Symposium.
Themed “Beyond Boundaries: Learning’s Impact Across the Organization,” the spring symposium brought together more than 200 senior learning and development practitioners at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in Miami Beach, Fla., for a three-day conference.
Maj. Gen. Anthony Przybyslawski, vice commander of the Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command (AETC), opened the conference’s second day Tuesday morning by sharing challenges facing the Air Force in their mission to educate the next generation of leaders.
AETC is charged with education and training from the time a recruit enters service until he or she joins the nearly 700,000 active duty, National Guard, reserve and civilian forces. As vice commander, Przybyslawski oversees a budget of just under $8 billion annually, that is used to train more than 340,000 students per year on 13 bases with 88,000 active duty personnel, reservists, National Guard, civilians and contractors, and 1,485 aircraft.
The new world of learning and development at AETC incorporates blended learning methodologies, including customized learning, distance learning and increased use of virtual training in addition to traditional classroom training. The challenge AETC faces is how to effectively and efficiently prepare airmen to carry out their missions, while also preserving and passing on the Air Force’s culture to future leaders.
“How do we recruit, train and educate the next generation of air, space and cyberspace warriors?” Przybyslawski said. “It’s not just about the warrior ethos, as much as it is giving someone the opportunity to serve their country.”
AETC is challenged by the sheer volume of training carried out over the course of the year, as well as the high stakes involved in training airmen for situations where lives may be at stake. AETC carries out training 50 weeks a year at bases across the world and strives to create a “zero-defect” training environment.
In the afternoon, Dr. Allison Rossett, professor of educational technology at San Diego State University, identified trends affecting analysis and evaluation of learning in her keynote, titled “New Inquisitiveness for the New World of L&D.”
Those trends include continued economic upheaval, continued development of technology, the rise of evidence-based decision making and the need for workplace learning and support. Rossett said these trends require learning leaders to examine and adjust their evaluations of their learning efforts beyond traditional measures of success.
“We are really good at two kinds of measurement – how many butts are in seats and were they satisfied,” Rossett said.
The purpose of expanded evaluation and “new inquisitiveness” for learning practitioners can be driven by many purposes, Rossett said, and learning leaders should pick the purposes that matter most to their customers and clients.
“You can only judge when you and those you serve have settled on purposes,” she said.
After those purposes are established, the new world of learning and development requires learning leaders to gather more data from more sources more often. But while the data is important, it’s also critical that it be accessible and actionable.
“So much data is in gray file cabinets doing nothing for anybody,” Rossett said.
To make it more effective and actionable, learning leaders should examine their analysis and evaluation, repurpose methods, “bake in” assessment, focus on smaller, leaner bites of data, and expand metrics and measurement everywhere that learning, support and information exists in the organization.
“We must have a preference for two things – numbers and stories – and bring them into a compelling result that is actionable,” Rossett said.
The spring symposium wraps up on Wednesday with additional workshops and sessions, followed by a closing keynote from Dan Heath, author of the New York Times bestseller “Made to Stick.”