Continued from February 2008 Newsletter

FEATURE ARTICLE :

Serendipitous Learning
By Roger Mundell - CEO, Udutu Learning Systems Inc.

In any large organization the amount of learning that occurs from organized formal training, such as online courses, face to face training and workshops, printed materials etc., is relatively small when compared to the “informal” or “serendipitous” learning that occurs every day.

I am talking for example, about the learning that happens when a coworker is asked “how do I…. “ or “what is the policy on….”, or the learning that happens when people observe others in certain practices, or when a comment over lunch leads to an “aha” moment. It also applies to the time that workers take to show something to a colleague outside of the structure of a formal training plan.

Many organizations have tried to develop systems that encourage informal learning and even try to capture it. A large aerospace company in British Columbia established a “learning currency” where employees could both earn and spend learning units by providing their expertise to others or by enrolling in courses that interested them. The program expanded to cover topics that were of personal interest as well as those that offered strategic value to the company.

One way to capture some of this “informal” learning and expertise might be to provide software and a publishing platform to every employee so that on a voluntary basis they could make themselves teachers or learners in response to various internal incentives. You might use this to capture a range of expertise on everything from flash development to online Guitar lessons. Certainly if it were practical, then this would help to build the “learning organization” that makes your organization a good place to work and raises the overall levels of morale and training. It might also help to identify “high potential” employees who have the initiative to voluntarily take or create online courses, or who want to be noticed.

Of course the drawback with desktop software would be the cost and the hassle of installing and supporting yet another application, as well as publishing and distribution etc. It would be out of the question to license a thousand employees on the off chance that twenty five of them might use the software productively. What about the cost to IT to install and support the software?

The good news is it doesn't have to be an expensive option on your "wish list". Here is a low-cost and effective alternative for you to consider - your own internal myUdutu server. myUdutu is a web application with no limit on the number of users who can create and publish courses, no “per head” licensing charges, and only one piece of software in one location to update whenever new features are introduced.

An internal myUdutu server can help to capture that “informal” learning, identify the learning needs of the workforce, produce engaging rich media “formal” courses, and bring non-technical subject matter experts closer to the training process. It can work in sync with your portal, intranet, LMS or social networking software, and the application works in any browser and on any platform without need for additional software to optimize images, or convert video, or create animations.

A myUdutu server of your own costs much less than you might think. Certainly less than the cost of a few copies of a comparable desktop solution. Want to know more? Ask us about it.