Learning with Bricks
There was once was a man walking along the road when he saw three men laying bricks for the foundation of a new building.
He approached the first and asked, “What are you doing?” Annoyed and irritated by the interruption, the first man responded, “What the heck do you think I’m doing? I’m laying these darn bricks!”
He then walked over to the second bricklayer and asked the same question. The second man responded, “Oh, I’m making a living.”
He approached the third bricklayer with the same question, “What are you doing?”
The third looked up, smiled and said, “I’m building a cathedral.”
The question is which of these men laid the stronger foundation?
There is a point to my story (I promise!). Like the three brick layers, training and learning in any organization must have a foundation. Why are you training? What is the importance it holds in your organization?
This foundation can also be one of the hardest and most important to implement (funny isn’t it, how the hardest part is often at the start of anything new?).
Organizations are faced with a multitude of questions and needs. They want their employees to learn, and to grow. They want the training to be easy to access and manage… but how do they get there? Very often either the trainer can become so focused on each individual “brick” they lose sight of what they are building, or have grandeur big dreams to build… without laying the simple foundation brick by brick to later grow upon.
I recently read an article from Elearning! Magazine. In the article they identified some “bricks” that new users of an LMS (or users who are revisiting their training plan) can use to ensure that they both hold the correct bricks to build, as well as pointers to view the bigger picture and final project.
Create detailed requirements
What are your company needs? Look at real case studies from other organizations to determine what your potential needs. How will training be administered to employees 1 month from now, 6 months, a year? What are your organizations needs for reporting, taking tests, working with individual users?
Research
Do your research. Make sure that you understand the processes and requirements held by the LMS you are using. What can it do? What can it not do? IS the system able to support your unique requirements?
“Go slow to go fast”
One LMS executive states “take time to educate [yourself] about what an LMS is, and what it can and can’t do. Then identify and educate key stakeholder groups and solicit their input to make sure they understand the problem or problems this LMS is meant to address.”
Implementation
Form a tight team with your LMS provider. TTN prides itself on the relationships we get to have with each new client, and these relationships can lead to a firmer foundation for your organizations learning. By creating a consulting relationship with a new LMS, you can ensure your organization gets the most comprehensive perspective.
Returning to the story, the third brick layer knew how to lay a good foundation. We need to see the big picture of what we are building and let that guide our work. It’s also important to understand the pieces and parts that form the foundation and hold the big picture together.
How are you laying a strong foundation for your learning?
