Technology: Friend or Foe

In my disucssions with other eLearning developers, it's becoming apparent that Technology decision makers have all the tools we need to deploy engaging content, but they put so many roadblocks in the way.

So, what's this telling us?

Technology is putting the servers and other hardware in our hands to host powerful media driven content.
Technology is putting powerful applications on our desktops to create powerful media driven content.
Technology has so many controls and standards in the name of "security" that we can't deploy our new content.

So what's the deal? Why is it so difficult to persuade Technology to loosen the stranglehold on their precious servers and networks to allow us to be the Extreme corporation we can be?

• Is it really the potential for hackers and client information? If so, why not have a separate redundant server for training?
• Is it really the expectation of bandwidth demand? Will we truly be experiencing 5000 unique users all logging in at the same time? What if it's only 500?
• Is it an incompatibility of training content with the current server and network configurations that would require "millions" of dollars to adjust? (and what's with servers going down for maintenance in the middle of the work day? Sorry, that's a separate topic)

Or is it really the fact that the Technology decision makers just aren't up-to-date on the latest applications and plug-ins. Is it that they are afraid to say, "We don't know"??

Big T, if you're out there listening, please join us in our journey to deliver the most engaging content we can. The real winners here are the learners and the corporatation AND the clients!

Thanks for listening!
~peace!

Podcasting and Collaboration

I came back from NY with a lot's of ideas. Podcasting was one at the top of my list.

I did a brief test and launched it out to our LMS to see if it would fly.
The decision makers like the fact that we could put out an audio file quickly and affordably with high quality, but they were confused by the intent of the content and had a hard time grasping it as training.

They did like the fact that what audio I did record with my iPod saved us over $1000 on the first try.

My next test is to publish the podcast as an audio book or reference manual that is still launched via the LMS and would track the downloads to the learner.

The other test we are doing is using the iPod as a collaboration tool. I bring my iPod to SME meetings and record the discussions and post the mp3 to a shared database. They are quite apprehensive of Wiki's or Blogs but they're ok with databases. I have shared with my SMEs that our database is just a local Wiki as it is. But we're tied to land lines. We should go web based so we could access it in multiple ways. More to come on this.

On a lighter note: I have a new nickname, my co-workers and business parnters have dubbed me as "Elliott's Mini-Me" I'll take that as a compliment!

Peace!