Training Tech Solutions Blog

Salt Lake City is nowhere near Seattle, but it’s part of what can loosely be termed the Northwest, so I figured it would be a technology forward kind of place. And it may be. But what’s not tech forward are the bins of red flags affixed to electrical poles near some intersections. This is in lieu of a crossing signal. Ongoing traffic is no worry. See, all you do is wave your little red flag and all oncoming cars and cargo-carrying trucks will be happy to stop. Other cross-walks are much more technologically sophisticated, as they are aided by chirping “birds.” Birds are fairly intelligent and forward-thinking, so when the electronic bird starts chirping, you know it’s safe to cross. What with red flags and computerized birds smart enough to save me from speeding cars, I feel pretty safe.

Not ideal, but then it’s probably a little like your training program. The red flags as a parallel to the Band-Aid fixes you turn to when the budget, means, time, or all three, aren’t available for a more technologically-savvy solution. The chirping “bird” as a parallel to the great tech ideas that seemed very cute in conception, but not so charming to the learners who had to figure out how to use them. Much like the blind man to whom a twittering electronic “bird” would mean little, your learners will most appreciate the technology that’s more user-friendly than “catchy.” I’m sure the creators of everyone’s favorite bird-brain crossing guard thought it was adorable–wonderful to avoid the noise pollution that would occur if they had instead installed a mechanical voice that said, “It is now safe to cross.” But not as cute.

When it’s impossible–for whatever reason, and there are often many–to provide your learners with the technology they deserve, what’s the solution? If your LMS doesn’t provide the kind of registration capacity or course completion tracking you’d like, what do you do? What’s your company’s version of Salt Lake City’s red crosswalk flags?

On the robo-bird front, what recent ideas you thought would make the user-interface more fun, did nothing but baffle or frustrate learners? Were those graphics you upgraded on your latest simulation so stylish they looked fit for the runway, but meaningless to the concepts you sought to teach? Flash is a common e-learning “bird.” It’s a feature trainers get convinced to use to keep their coursework “up-to-date,” but often contributes little to the learning. There are exceptions, but to be honest, you may know what I’m talking about.

As you endure the multi-hour drive or flight home this week, consider more than the annoying person snoring next to you; consider your e-learning red flags. They’re signs you either don’t have the innovation or executive support to do something better, or maybe, in some cases, the low-tech solution is the one that makes the most sense. Which is it?

Figure it out. If you don’t, your very tech-forward simulation won’t train your learners–it’ll run them over.

- Margery Weinstein

Senior Associate Editor, Training