Online Training

Mistakes You May Encounter with Online Training

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The online training course is not a simple task for its creators. Having to deal with the sheer volume of work and the stressful nature of teaching, in general, can be overwhelming. Understandably some mistakes can and will happen. Although, for the most part, the mistakes will be less about what you do and more about what you did not do. The worst thing is that once they happen, they tend to go unnoticed. So here’s our list of online training mistakes to watch out for.

No pre-assessment

One of the main mistakes involved in online training is failing to pre-assess your learners. It is crucial to determine their level of knowledge in order to know where to start. If the courses are too advanced, your trainees will have a hard time keeping up. Either it will take forever for them to complete it, or even worse,  they will develop significant knowledge gaps. Besides, a disproportionately high level of difficulty can wreak havoc on your learner’s engagement. If they are expected to master something so far out of their reach, they could start doubting their own capabilities, lose all motivation, and ultimately fall into despair.

On the other hand, if the content is too easy it will cause different kinds of problems. If your learners are required to go over things they have already mastered, they would be simply wasting their time. Along the same line, if the content is too easy it will appear redundant to learners, they will not be properly engaged by it, and their motivation will again suffer for it. A simple test to determine their current skill level can take all the guesswork out of the process. And you will know exactly which content is appropriate for each learner.

Not having clear objectives

Another common mistake is failing to define clear learning goals and objectives. Before anything else, you have to determine what are the desired outcomes of your training program. What is it exactly that you are trying to achieve, which skills do you wish to develop? Do you have to be as specific as possible? Only then will you be able to choose the best materials and organize them in a logical and effective manner. Everything you decide to include has to serve a specific purpose, to work towards a specific learning goal, like pieces of a puzzle.

The goals are not all though. You know what is it you wish to teach, but how exactly are you to go about it? Not having learning objectives is like having a map with a marked final destination, but without any landmarks along the way. A training program is not just the sum of its content. Simply pilling materials on your students are not going to give you the results you seek. Defining individual objectives helps with course organization and optimization. Vague objectives will only result in disorganized and confused learners. On the other hand, strong and clear objectives will give a sense of plan and structure to the course, and it will give confidence to the learners. At the same time, it gives you something to measure their progress against, making sure they haven’t strayed from the path.

No real-world context

It is shocking how often training courses remain in the realm of theory or take only a shallow dip into realistic scenarios at best. Yet this is extremely important for your trainees. Reading, or watching a video about something is entirely different than actually doing it, e.g. watching a boxing match and fighting in the ring yourself. Your trainees do not learn simply for the sake of it, their motivations are not purely philosophical and theoretic. They are being trained for a specific purpose, to carry out a specific set of tasks. In any foreseeable event, they will have to carry these tasks out in real-life situations and deal with real people and real problems.

Preparing for realistic situations eliminates doubt and uncertainty; this gives them a sense of security and confidence which they wouldn’t acquire otherwise. Your trainees know full well that one day their training will end and that they will be expected to actually do all the things they learned about. They want to be ready and perform to the best of their ability; after all, their careers depend on it. So, give your employees what they need and develop some real-world context for your training modules.

General over personal

It is easy to look at a group of trainees as a homogenous mass, a single body to which we administer our instruction. Nothing could be further from the truth. Each learner is an individual, with their own strengths and weaknesses; with their own learning style, preferences, goals, and expectations. Generalized training programs might have been sufficient in the past, but not anymore. We do not simply talk about any kind of training, we talk about the best possible training you can provide for your employees. And the best training will be that which is tailored to their individual needs. Advanced learner analytics makes it much easier for L&D professionals to acquire the necessary information and put it to good use. With this insight, they are able to outline specific learning patterns and the activities which are proven to be most effective for each one of them.

Poor visuals

In order to improve the visual design of your online training, one doesn’t have to be a graphic designer. Although it is nice to have a beautifully designed training course, it is not exactly what this refers to. When it comes to visuals, it is more of a question of “how well it works”, rather than “how it looks”. In this case, less is more. One should be careful not to overload the learner’s senses or distract them. Let’s not forget the point, users are there to learn, they have to focus on important aspects of instruction. Of course, huge blocks of text should be avoided at all times, but we shouldn’t include visuals just for the sake of it. Visuals should be used to illustrate, explain, facilitate retention, and recall of information. Anything we decide to put in our training program has to serve a purpose. Anything which isn’t clearly related to the content should be avoided.

No testing

So you have determined your trainees’ current level and you have developed a water-tight training program for them. The difficulty is appropriate, the content is personalized and the mode of delivery is outstanding. Only one thing remains, you have to test them every now and again. Testing has numerous benefits, it helps to assess both your trainee’s achievements and the success of your teaching strategies. It shows what works, and what has to be improved upon. Additionally, it gives your trainees a sense of direction and a sense of their own performance. Not knowing whether you have actually learned anything from your training can be extremely stressful. Testing serves to reassure learners that their instruction has a tangible effect on their knowledge. Also doing well on a test imparts a great sense of achievement which further motivates the learner to give his/her best in the rest of the course.

Many of the mistakes we mentioned here may seem obvious, and they are when you read about them. But they are notoriously easy to overlook during course creation. Once you have designed a strong online training program, the only thing you need is good eLearning software to deliver it.

YouTestMe provides e-learning for companies that seek to implement or improve their online training strategies.

LMS Training

How LMS Affects Training

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How much does LMS affect training? The simple answer would be: A lot! If you are familiar with the concept of e-learning, you know that its potential benefits are numerous. The possibilities for gathering learner analytics, organizing, and standardizing content are tremendous. Furthermore, an LMS enables unprecedented opportunities in terms of scalability and cost reduction. Training efficiency, learner engagement, employee performance, and retention are all greatly improved by introducing an LMS to your training practices.

Today, every aspect of teaching and training can be addressed and improved by an LMS. In order to give a full account of how an LMS impacts training, one would have to analyze every single detail of the instruction process; so we are going to focus on the most frequent advantages.

Software Advice is a company that provides extensive research on various software applications, LMSs included. In one of their reports for 2016, they surveyed almost 200 L&D professionals about how they used their LMS and what benefits and challenges they encountered along the way. The main findings of the report were that the majority of LMS users employed a blended learning approach, i.e. combining instructor-led and self-administered courses; that cloud-based systems were slightly favored over on-premise systems; and that a PC is still the primary device of choice for accessing eLearning courses.

But the most important finding was that the staggering 96% of users said that their LMS positively impacted their training, mostly through learner analytics and content organization. And these are just the most prevalent ones; the entire report includes a long list of additional benefits and a few challenges. This article will address only the most widespread advantages, but we also suggest reading the report if you are interested in the technical details.

Adaptive learning

The ability to gather and process large amounts of data is definitely one of the biggest advantages of using an LMS. The ability to store learner responses within a course allows us to generate reports and determine one’s level of retention, i.e. how well one performed on a course. But this is nothing new, and not something exclusive to LMS. What is new is the possibility to monitor how much time learners spend on each page and activity, which external links they follow, and how many times they refer a course. This gives a more comprehensive picture of one person’s entire learning experience, not just one’s performance. L&D professionals can use this information to identify learning patterns and isolate activities that are most efficient. They can then develop learning paths that align with these patterns and steer their learners towards success. Simultaneously, they are able to identify content that is not up to par and does not have the desired effect; activities which take learners too long to complete, or sections they just skim over or skip entirely. Once it becomes clear what works, and what doesn’t, measures can be taken to rectify any existing faults in real-time, without having to wait for the formal assessment.

Organization of content

The other most cited advantage of using an LMS was the ability to keep courses and training materials organized. Every teaching course involves a large number of units and a huge amount of materials (text documents, images, videos, presentations, etc.) which should all be classified according to level, learning goal, and so on. An LMS helps keep huge amounts of content clearly structured and easy to navigate through, which would otherwise be overwhelming for any user. The added benefit is that all content can be easily updated and quickly made available.

Scalability

Second biggest advantage of using an LMS is the ability to train more people. The trouble with traditional styles of training is that an increasing number of trainees unavoidably requires an increasing number of trainers and all other materials for that matter. An LMS is a great way to circumnavigate this problem. Due to its structure and format, an LMS requires minimal resources to serve a growing audience. A training program administered through an LMS doesn’t have to be drastically changed simply because the number of trainees has changed; it can work the same, regardless of the number of users.

Consequently, this has a considerable impact on training costs. Although an LMS can be a significant investment, it can reduce training costs in the long run. Also, virtual training can be easily administered to a geographically dispersed audience. This way companies with trainees in different cities can avoid paying for trainer accommodation, training facilities, printed materials, and all host of additional expenses.

Employee performance

LMS puts the focus on the learner. It makes it easier for instructors to respond to different learning styles while making sure that everyone receives the same quality of training, and that everything adheres to company standards. It also allows employees to choose when and where they learn. Learners are more engaged and show better results when they can go through materials at their own pace, and fit training into their busy schedules. Multimedia content, options for social learning, gamification, and simulation further improve employee engagement. Finally, all learning materials are available on an LMS at any given time. This allows employees to access them when they need them, and apply the information immediately; thus performing better at their job.

In the fast-changing corporate world, one must always be a step ahead of the competition. And we believe that having a well-trained and well-informed staff is the best way to do that. Implementing and fully adopting new training software comes with some challenges, but the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. YouTestMe offers e-learning solutions for professionals who look to improve the company’s training strategies.

Taking Test Online Elearning

Using Tests to Improve Elearning

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We have been lead to believe that tests are stress-inducing torture sessions which make people lose their minds. One must admit that taking tests does not fall into one’s fondest memories, and rightfully so. However, these negative experiences and the bad reputation testing has earned are not caused by some inherent flaws; rather they are a result of ineffective and outdated teaching practice.

Testing is extremely uncomfortable, not by itself, but because of the context in which it is placed. Tests usually entail high-stakes; one’s entire academic career, employment, or promotion might depend on one’s test results. It is understandable why people are so invested in it and why simply doing well on a test becomes a goal in and of itself. The fact is that tests are still the most efficient and objective way to assess learning. Furthermore, they have been proven to be excellent teaching tools in their own right. The question is not whether we should test, but how we do it and in which context.

Testing evaluates learning

Some would suggest that assignments and observations provide more than enough information on one’s learning progress; that it is less obtrusive and less stressful for the learners. However, testing is still the most accurate way to evaluate learning. If done right, tests provide objective and quantifiable results. Tests provide the most detailed account of one’s learning progress. Tests can flush out problems and sticking points which would otherwise go unnoticed through simple observation and assignment based evaluation. Through testing, one could realize that learners have been confusing some closely related concepts or that they are unable to apply ideas and principles in new situations, outside of textbook examples. Testing allows us to see whether students have truly grasped a concept or a principle so that they can take it and use it independently outside of the classroom. Tests provide immediate feedback to both learners and instructors so that problems can be timely addressed. There is no doubt that testing allows for more effective learning, whether in a classroom or a company setting.

Testing enhances learning

Tests are best known as an assessment strategy. What is less known is that tests are also a powerful tool for enhancing cognitive function and information retrieval in students. A growing body of studies has shown that repeated testing with subsequent feedback has considerable effects on knowledge retention and recall, even more so than restudying and simulation training. This phenomenon was termed the Testing Effect and was the subject of numerous studies that deal with human cognition; they have shown that testing maximizes learning outcomes regarding both information and skill learning.

The idea was that assessment drives learning through extrinsic factors. Namely, that testing influences student learning strategies through its format. However, it has been shown that testing can have intrinsic effects on memorizing studied material. Recent studies on intrinsic effects of testing provide evidence that testing students on studied materials resulted in improved retention compared to spending the same amount of time simply restudying the material. It is interesting that students assumed that repeated studying would be more beneficial for their learning outcomes and had no fear of forgetting, while they were skeptical about repeated testing and the absence of restudying.

Studies agree on the idea that repeated testing is the key to the Testing Effect. This phenomenon proved to be persistent through a variety of test formats and knowledge levels, though more elaborative retrieval processes yielded better results. For example, recall activities are more beneficial than recognition activities for subsequent performance.

How to do it right

The best way to reap the benefits of testing is to devise an authentic assessment strategy. An authentic assessment goes beyond the one-size-fits-all approach of standardized tests and requires a hands-on approach from the instructor. Test designers must take both desired learning goals and learner needs into consideration. They should determine the degree of knowledge reproduction required to achieve each level of proficiency, compared to the attempted learning objectives. The best way to do it is to design strong questions.

Questions in tests and assessments are effective only if all learners understand them and their intended purpose. Instructions must be clear and unambiguous. A word or a punctuation mark in the wrong place could be the difference between clear and unclear instruction. Adding some background information works to further minimize the possibility of misinterpretation. Details are important, but one should avoid making questions too lengthy. Simple questions are easier to understand and to answer, as well as to score. Strong questions should provoke recall and consequently, active reproduction of acquired knowledge. The wording used should reflect the original learning objectives of the course. Difficulty should be calibrated and appropriate for the learner’s level of knowledge.

Tests have acquired a dreadful reputation and teachers are even being actively discouraged from using it in their assessment process. Numerous studies that prove that tests are hugely beneficial for knowledge retention and recall are still being ignored for some reason, regardless of the tremendous educational implications they bear. The trouble with testing is that it stopped being a matter of learning, but simply a matter of performance; cramming and memorizing copious amounts of information by heart only to display false mastery of the subject. They do well on a test and then forget it all as soon as they finish it. It can hardly be considered true learning. Sadly this is the effect that misguided instruction and evaluation produces. In order to avoid senseless regurgitation of unprocessed and unabsorbed material, we have to make learners realize that the test is not a goal in and of itself. Only that can help us numb the sting of testing and finally start to use it in the way which is most efficient – as a powerful learning tool.

YouTestMe professionals are aware of the benefits of testing. We provide teachers and trainers with eLearning solutions so that they can exploit these benefits to their full extent.

Higher Education

Elearning for Higher Education – How Good Is It?

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Young people who are entering higher education today have grown up connected to the internet. They expect to have access to mobile devices, wireless technologies, and the social web and to be able to use these tools in their learning. Information technologies such as social networking, digital resources, and mobile learning offer unprecedented possibilities for education and instructional approaches which were the stuff of fiction just a few decades ago. Universities have the opportunity to incorporate educational technologies and provide the learning experience which satisfies student needs and expectations; arguably, something they have been failing to deliver in recent years. Taking soaring tuition fees and uncertain job prospects into consideration, more and more educators are agreeing that change is needed in higher education. And new technologies are the solution.

Improving learner experience

Meeting in person for a discussion, group project or a study group can be time-consuming, tiring, and hard to fit into each person’s schedule. Here social media are a perfect way for students to connect and work together even when spatially or temporally dispersed. Using a social media application, or an LMS with some social media-like features creates the opportunity for collaborative learning. Collaborative learning methods are becoming increasingly popular because they involve all students in the process of learning. The essential premise underlying the use of any Social network application is that students enjoy the freedom to produce their own content and study pathways. Furthermore, students are so eager to interact with teachers and one another, to share resources and exchange ideas, that they will usually do so through unofficial social networks if one is not provided to them. YouTube channels, Facebook groups, and Twitter are all frequently used for this purpose. Students may need some guidance in order to make their online collaboration as efficient as possible. However, if given sufficient instruction and time, they are usually able to support one another towards achieving mutual goals. Most importantly, this method has considerable social benefits and positively impacts the overall learning experience.

Incorporating informal learning strategies such as mobile and collaborative learning into higher education is a sure way to improve the learning experience for the modern student. Making materials and lectures available online is extremely important for students who have busy schedules or are unable to attend lectures. The possibility to do some work at one’s own pace allows students to organize their time and relieves a lot of pressure. The blended learning approach creates an environment where everyone has the freedom to experiment, pursue their individual interests, and take control of their learning. With the plethora of online teaching tools (videos, podcasts, etc.), learning can take place anytime, anywhere, making it much more interesting and convenient. This type of learning is easy to pursue due to high levels of flexibility and student engagement. As written in the Educause report, “Emerging models, such as hybrid learning and competency-based education, are revealing the inefficiencies of the traditional system for nontraditional students.”

Improving career opportunities

Employment success of graduates has not been a top priority in tertiary education. There is little investment in the career success of graduates and the focus is placed on a university degree as the credential, versus specific courses and acquired skills. After graduation, students have to use their classroom knowledge to transition into a professional setting. But there is a gap between what students are learning in school, and what they need to do once they enter the workforce. Many professionals say students lack the intangible skills they need in order to build a career. Businesses are no longer willing to invest in training recent graduates and unpaid internships are replacing paid training programs.  This indicates that businesses find recent graduates unprepared for productive work.

Charles Fadel, founder and chairman of The Center for Curriculum Redesign, and chair of the Education Committee of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee said the goal of education should be to teach students how to navigate the professional world. “In an age of search, fact-based knowledge is still important but not as important as the competencies we need to understand and use that knowledge like critical thinking and meta-learning (learning how to learn), as well as behave and engage in the world.” New technology available to higher education is capable of creating a workforce that is “updated”. Traditionally, internships and practical training served this purpose. Conventional training solutions as one-off opportunities do not fulfill the needs of the new generation. Today, they are present in digital form. Job-readiness is creating new and significant technological needs for a unique learning experience. A Learning Management System can facilitate successful cooperation between businesses and higher education institutions. With corporate insight, education can be adapted to what is a necessity in the workplace.

Decreasing tuition fees

The cost of a college education has increased over three times, adjusted for inflation, over the last four decades. However, we have not seen a comparable improvement in value. There is no hard evidence that education is better or more marketable. We’re now at the point where many parents between median income and the top 10%, cannot afford to provide a quality college education similar education for their children, similar to that they experienced themselves. The change is made possible by the advent of educational technologies, but it will be driven by economic conditions. Universities with high fees and will face declining enrollment as parents find new ways to provide education and professional success to their children.

Online education works, and one can see many opportunities to dramatically change the landscape of higher education in ways that will enable greater career success and dramatically lower costs. Digital resources, LMSs, and the like cost significantly less than traditional instructor-led classrooms. Much more important than saving on printed course books, an eLearning approach would allow students to cut costs on a residential, facilities-based approach that drives high fees and requires them to travel and reside away from home. Furthermore, it helps to make higher education more accessible to those who are unable to attend on-site courses. At the same time, it helps these schools and universities reach a larger audience and provide education to many more students than could ever fit into a lecture hall, or even on campus.

While no one can predict exactly to what extent technology will change higher education in the years to come, the past years have already witnessed an increasing interest in eLearning solutions. Most likely online education and distance learning will only become more popular, accessible, and affordable in the future. Technology will not render universities obsolete, but universities will have to adopt new technologies or risk being surpassed by those who have. Students today have great expectations, combined with soaring tuition fees and uncertain job prospects, more and more educators agree that change is needed in higher education; and eLearning is the key. It is up to the institution to ensure that new ways of using technology are implemented and that student needs are met. YouTestMe is a great place to start if you are interested in eLearning and how it can improve your teaching.

Source: LinkedIn

Structured Data

Structured Data in Elearning Solutions

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With the evolution of Web 2.0, the user is no longer treated like a simple consumer, but also a producer of web content. This shift has put the user at the center of the data collecting process. Consequently, an enormous volume of data is produced every second and from various sources (social networks, search engines, various services, videos, images, text). Big Data refers to the analysis and exploitation of this vast amount of information. However, These data do not exist in a perfectly ordered form and are not susceptible to traditional analytical operations. They no longer fall within the structures which are easy to use and go through, rather they are semi-structured or unstructured. Also, in the educational context, the social tools of web 2.0 allow us to create and publish any type of educational content such as lectures, exercises, assignments or tests, and resources for informal and collaborative learning. However, collected data cannot always be efficiently analyzed and used in order to meet learner needs and expectations. This poses a question of how to deal with and process these unstructured data to make them consumable by human users and applications?

Big Data

According to the International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, currently, 2.5 terabytes of data are produced every day in the world. By the year 2020, it is estimated that this number will be multiplied by 50. Google receives 40,000 requests for information every second, 72 movies are set to YouTube every minute, and 217 new Smartphone users are counted every minute. Today the information is coming from all sides: geolocation sensors, data from smartphones (connection logs, appeals, etc.), data posted on social networks, video and satellite images, transactions, sensor forms of movement or connected objects, etc.

In the area of data management for purposes of e-learning platforms; the rapid increase in the number of types of information makes it extremely difficult to deal with it through traditional data management tools. Indeed, for educational purposes and especially in distance learning, the user is left with course materials in all kinds of formats (text, video, image), quizzes, and other types of heterogeneous data. This requires a specialized system that can manage a wide variety of data and provide flexibility and consistency so that the user can have the best learning experience.

Structured Data vs Unstructured Data

For the most part, structured data refers to identifiable and highly organized information that is smoothly integrated into relational databases and is easy to navigate through with simple search engine algorithms. The original underlying benefit of structured data focused on the separation of content and format. The separation enables content to be created independent of the delivery platform or rendering device. The evolution of structured data has led to more benefits beyond the original separation of content from format concept. These include improved metadata, linking, configuration, content management, and data exchange. On the other hand, unstructured data is the exact opposite. The lack of structure makes the compilation an inefficient and laborious process.

Structured data makes it much easier to deal with information by using computers. However, users usually don’t interact with information in database format, and unstructured data presents information in forms that are more agreeable with humans. This blog is an example of unstructured data. While articles might be arranged by date and time, if it were truly structured, they would also be arranged by exact subject and content, with no deviation or spread. This would be impractical for writers and readers both; because even in highly focused articles, people tend to touch on different subjects and make various references.

The problem with unstructured data is that of volume. It requires a huge investment of resources to sift through and extract the necessary elements, as in a web-based search engine. Current data management techniques often miss a considerable amount of information. As a result, the potentially game-changing data is wasted because of inefficient analysis.

Benefits for Elearning

According to I/ITSEC, two out of three changes to curricula in the U.S. Navy are driven by equipment changes. They suggest that the percentage is similar in the other services, although specific analyses are unknown. The single largest cost for training content and technical manuals is lifecycle maintenance. It follows that structured data reduces ownership costs through the ability to maintain the training content simultaneously rather than subsequently to system updates.

The relationship between governance, acquisition, design, development, and lifecycle management of learning content used in a VLE must include a coherent and consistent approach to handling data on a system-wide level. Efficient content management and development in a learning environment must be based on a quantitative set of expectations and requirements. The use of structured content based on technical data specifications is fundamental to facilitate content management in learning. This approach enables the mapping of metadata between acquisition, development, and lifecycle management that results in learning content being ensured, traceable, and aligned to the systems and to the learners.

YouTestMe eLearning solutions have been designed with all the benefits of structured data in mind. The system infrastructure enables the hierarchical organization of learner groups and their respective courses. For example structuring a college department with all its courses, lessons, materials, exams, marking criteria, results, statistics, and classes in a neatly organized hierarchy. And all of these categories can be further organized into sub-levels. Each category, each learner, each item has a specific place in the structure. It allows for efficient navigation and a high degree of user-friendliness. Everything can be located easily and nothing ever gets lost.

Source article: LinkedIn

Artificial Intelligence in Elearning

Artificial Intelligence in Elearning

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been the subject of science fiction for a long time. Sci-fi authors envisioned wondrous and usually catastrophic scenarios for the age of widespread AI. No doubt, we are a long way from creating sentient, self-aware robots, but many things we take for granted nowadays would have been considered sci-fi only a few decades ago. We live in a world which is changing fast due to the exponentially accelerating evolution of science and technology. We must admit that AI is still in its infancy, but even so it already managed to creep into our everyday lives (parking software, smart sensors in cameras, personal assistants in smartphones etc.). The technology improves so fast that we can expect to see some incredible changes during our lifetimes, and AI is certainly going to be one of them. AI is going to change the landscape of many industries, and education will surely be one of them.

Automation

When you think about AI in education, first thing that comes to mind is probably a fully autonomous robotic teacher; it might come to that one day, but for now AI is most likely to take over more mundane tasks such as grading and content classification. As every teacher knows, grading is one of the most tedious tasks there is. Furthermore, teachers are expected to do it on their own time, and the same goes for lesson planning and content creation. These tasks are simply not included as man-hours; nevertheless they take up a considerable amount of time. It can take up to several days to mark all tests even for a lower grade class, simply because teachers have so many responsibilities; not to mention grading tests for a full college course. Even if you mark according to a key and have more than a couple of TA’s who would share the workload, it usually takes days to grade all the tests. With AI, this could be done almost instantly, and students could get a timely feedback instead of having to wait in suspense for days on end. An intelligent software can grade a test faster, more accurately and more objectively than any teacher could, almost completely removing the human error factor. AI grading might never be able to fully replace human assessment, but teachers would be able to fully automate grading of all multiple choice and fill-in-the-gap questions. Essay grading is still in the earliest steps of developments, but it will surely improve with time, and maybe someday even be able to simulate human grading.

Classification is another tedious and strenuous process. There is a considerable amount of content a teacher must go through in the process of lesson planning and material selection/creation. It is an enormous amount of information and it takes many a lot of time and subject knowledge to be able to do it effectively. An AI could do it more quickly and efficiently, and at a greater scale than any human ever could. Furthermore, it could find overlapping concepts and related fields in various subjects which would allow it to repurpose existing content or even create new materials. Going through all the materials in each subject to find related concepts would take a tremendous effort for a human teacher. An AI would be able to sift through it more accurately and at a fraction of the time it would normally take. This would greatly reduce the resources needed for content development and potentially improve instruction.

These functions would greatly reduce the workload of teachers and free up time for them to focus on aspects of their job which are uniquely human. Such as creative lesson planning, developing classroom activities and interacting and co-constructing knowledge with their students.

Adaptive Learning

The current studies on educational techniques indicate that one-on-one instruction from a human tutor leads to better understanding than classroom or online lessons. Why is that? As a tutor, one is capable of committing to the student; one is in a position to analyze the student and devise a learning path with his/hers particular needs, expectations and learning style in mind. In other words individualized learning gives best results. Unfortunately it is simply impossible to provide every student with a mentor who would be completely devoted to his/hers learning goals. Luckily, adaptive learning is the next best thing.

Adaptive learning programs are data-driven; they rely on big data analysis to track learning patterns and outcomes in order to develop better learning strategies and predict their results. Relevant data is extracted by models which are constructed by data scientists. However, the amount of data available today far exceeds the human capability to analyze it efficiently. According to a Harvard Business Review article, artificial intelligence can create thousands of models a week, as opposed to a couple of models produced by data scientists. With that in mind, it is essential to gather and analyze data about students’ learning styles, goals and behavior patterns in order to create an effective personalized learning experience. These systems respond to students’ needs, putting greater emphasis on topics they haven’t mastered. This kind of custom made education could allow students of different levels to build the same conceptual foundation and work together in the same classroom, and eventually bring those who are lagging up to speed. So there is no doubt that adaptive learning can be greatly improved by utilizing AI.

AI Tutoring

There will always be a role for teachers in education, but what that role is and what it entails may change due to new technology in the form of intelligent computing systems. As was already mentioned, AI can take over tasks like grading, content creation, but AI could even be adapted to many more aspects of teaching as well. AI systems could be programmed to provide answers to students’ questions or could even teach the most basic course materials. As a matter of fact, there was an AI posing as a teaching assistant at the Georgia Tech’s online masters of science in computer science program. “She” was named Jill and her role was mostly to answer student questions and provide information about the course. Some students suspected that there might be an AI around, but none of them were able to identify it. Nevertheless, there will never be a true replacement for a human teacher in education, but it is most likely that the role of the teacher will change. As a result of incorporating AI and elearning in general, the role of the teacher will shift from that of a lecturer to that of a facilitator. Teachers will provide their expertise and hands-on experience in order to guide students through the content and down their learning paths.

We live in a world that is constantly changing, and changing fast. AI has become a part of our everyday lives, and we didn’t even notice; probably because the AI systems that affect our world on a daily basis do not fit our concept of AI. Believe it or not, AI is already here. Google adapts results to users based on location, Amazon makes recommendations based on similar purchases, Siri and Cortana adapt to user’s needs and commands, and all web ads are geared toward each individual’s  interests and shopping preferences. These kinds of intelligent systems play a big role in how we navigate our virtual environments and live our lives online. They changed how we interact with information in our personal and professional lives, and are about to change how we find and use information for education. With newer, more integrated technologies, future generations will have an entirely different experience of doing research and looking up facts than the students of today. And AI will essentially enable them to learn at the speed of search.

 

Sources:

https://www.news.gatech.edu/2016/05/09/artificial-intelligence-course-creates-ai-teaching-assistant

https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/10-roles-for-artificial-intelligence-in-education/

https://cs.adelaide.edu.au/~qsheng/papers/IM-2014.pdf

https://www.wired.com/2016/02/ai-is-changing-the-technology-behind-google-searches/

https://www.elearninglearning.com/?query=artificial%20intelligence&open-article-id=5872492&article-title=artificial-intelligence–transforming-the-l-d-industry&blog-domain=contentraven.com&blog-title=content-raven

Modern Classroom

Great Ways to Improve your Classroom

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Blackboards and chalk, teachers giving lectures, talking in monotonous tones. Students dozing off or doodling in their notebooks, instead of taking notes. This kind of scenario is what most people experienced in their average classroom. It is far from an optimal learning environment. Most types of learners do not benefit from the standard chalk and talk lessons, certainly not as much as they should. Certain types of learners, especially kinesthetic learners, are being terribly neglected in this approach. So what can we do to create a more engaging and effective learning environment, one which would cater to the needs of all learning styles? The content should be presented in various formats and lessons should include activities which require that students apply themselves. A sure way to achieve this is to introduce educational technology (edtech) to the classroom.

Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants

The current generation of students is the first generation of true digital natives; a generation which was born after the onset of the information age and grew up immersed in the internet and social media. They are well versed in using various digital devices which allow them to navigate the web and be connected. Furthermore, once they finish their education and enter the workforce, they will once again be expected to use them in their professional lives. Using technology to study, work on assignments and educate themselves further on the use of new technologies can greatly improve their educational and career opportunities. They already use these devices in all aspects of their daily lives, except in education. Teachers have been somewhat slow to welcome digital devices into their classrooms, and sometimes even openly oppose it. But the tide is turning, and a growing number of education professionals have started to recognize the benefits of edtech.

A lot of research has been done on the subject of pen and paper vs. digital devices. Unfortunately, the findings differ greatly, and both approaches show varying degrees of academic performance improvement; thus studies are inconclusive and we are left without a clear answer. On the other hand, the results varied depending on whether the students had any previous experience with using technology for educational purposes. Those who didn’t, had more difficulty handling it, and the extra cognitive load had a detrimental effect on their ability to use them optimally. So tools are not the issue, rather the habits with which the students were brought up. It follows that allowing digital devices from an early stage would circumvent this problem, and additionally train them in their proper use.

What are the advantages of using classroom technology? Edtech enables teachers to create unique and personalized learning experiences for their students. They increase student engagement, and add an element of creativity to the learning experience. Textbooks are best suited for linguistically dominant learners, while digital tools cater to more learning styles. According to one survey of pre K-12 teachers, technology enables them to reinforce and expand on content (74%), to motivate students to learn (74%), and to respond to a variety of learning styles (73%). Seven in 10 teachers (69%) surveyed said educational technology allows them to “do much more than ever before” for their students.

BYOD

Introducing technology into classrooms on a larger scale is definitely the direction in which we are heading, and it undeniably leads to improved teaching efficacy and student engagement. But how would one go about it? Most educational institutions have only the basic equipment, whiteboards, CD players, some computers, a few projectors, maybe a smart board or two. A skilled teacher can do wonders with only that, or none of it for that matter, but it is far from optimal. So what is the solution? It’s the Bring Your Own Device policy (BYOD). This approach would allow and encourage students to bring their own mobile and computing devices (laptops, tablets, smartphones etc.) and use them to their full potential in lessons. Truth be told, it would be hard to find a student who doesn’t already own one. The number of young children who own at least a smartphone is quite surprising, as well as their level of proficiency in their use.

BYOD has many benefits (and some drawbacks, but we will get to that). First of all, there would be no need for any formal training, since the students are already familiar with their device of choice. Second, teachers who implemented BYOD into their lessons report increased student participation, communication and collaboration, among other things. Students like using their personal devices, they become more motivated and interested in whatever it is that they’re using them for. In other words they become more engaged. Learning becomes more student-driven as they are no longer dependent solely on the teacher to provide them with information. By being able to access additional resources and do their own research, students achieve a higher level of learning autonomy. Finally, lessons become more interactive when personal devices are involved. BYOD provides students with far greater opportunities to interact virtually with teachers and work with other students on assignments, projects and content creation.

Incorporating student-owned digital devices into the curriculum transforms direct instruction lessons into project-and inquiry-based learning. This pedagogical approach helps students learn by doing and lets them assume more responsibility for their own learning. Additionally, institutions can save a substantial amount of money on technology related costs simply by allowing students to use their own

Problems with BYOD

Now that we went over the benefits, there are also some concerns about implementing BYOD in the classroom. However, former students will have to deal with technology in every aspect of their professional life, once they have finished their education and enter the workforce. So why shouldn’t schools keep up with the rest of the world, and include more technology in student instruction, especially when they can bring their own? Two biggest concerns when it comes to BYOD are student distraction and data security.

Distraction

Personal devices can be used for a lot of things. Students can play games, watch unrelated or inappropriate content, spend time on social media etc. But classroom management of devices may not be as challenging as it seems, especially for teachers who have already established project-based learning in their instruction. In 2012, Forsyth County Schools (FCS), Georgia, serving about 39,000 students in grades Pre-K through 12, gave BYOD a chance. They found that the use of personal devices in the classroom wasn’t a distraction for their students. On the contrary, they often became more engaged, motivated, and self-directed learners. Contrary to expectations, FCS has actually noticed that disciplinary issues regarding technology have gone down since the implementation of BYOD.

Security

If students bring their own devices to class, institutions would have to find a way to deal with data security, malware, and safe browsing. Nevertheless, there are various ways to deal with most, if not all security concerns, and make BYOD as safe as possible. A strong BYOD policy can cover all security issues. The first step is to ensure a strong and protected internet connection. Safe browsing can be ensured by blocking all websites containing inappropriate content and filters can be created to continuously discover and add such websites to the blacklist. Also, all devices must be scanned for malware prior to them accessing the school network for the first time. Advantages can be further improved upon, and risks can be mitigated by introducing an LMS. With an LMS, students would be able to access the courses, learning materials, and educational apps both inside and outside the classroom. Nowadays, many LMSs have strong security features and protocols, which would all but negate the security risks.

 

There is no doubt that using technology in the classroom has a tremendous impact on the quality of instruction. It improves student engagement and collaboration, thus making for a vastly improved learning experience. YouTestMe offers a variety of elearning solutions to those who wish to reap the full benefits of classroom technology. Opposing edtech is an uphill battle, and we expect to see more and more educational institutions opening their doors to it.

 

Sources:

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=46&utm_campaign=elearningindustry.com&utm_source=%2F4-edtech-tools-introduce-technology-classroom-learning&utm_medium=link

https://www.pbs.org/about/blogs/news/pbs-survey-finds-teachers-are-embracing-digital-resources-to-propel-student-learning/

https://www.k12blueprint.com/sites/default/files/BYOD-Case-Study-FCS.pdf?utm_campaign=elearningindustry.com&utm_source=%2Ftop-3-myths-about-byod-classroom&utm_medium=link

https://elearningindustry.com/top-3-myths-about-byod-classroom

https://elearningindustry.com/6-benefits-byod-classroom

Employee Performance

How to improve employee performance with e learning?

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General situation

Every serious company tends to stay tuned and not to worsen its way of doing things throughout years. And employees play a significant part in that process due to the fact that how a certain job Is done depends on them. What seems to be the problem is the fact that all the employees take the job they are doing for granted. They start doing things not to be qualitative but just to be done and this makes the company worsen within years. They are getting old doing the same kind of thing every day and they do not have the same enthusiasm like at the beginning of their career. Today, even young people who have just started working, lack the enthusiasm for doing things. As if they take the given chance for granted. What companies should do is to improve employee performance with help of elearning software.

All of these facts do not sound right. And something has to be done it is sure. The good news is that the technology gives us the opportunity to change things in a different but better and even much easier way. You must have heard of e learning. So, that is what we are talking about now. Giving people the new perspective of doing things can make the situation different.

Using software for better employee performance

Computer Software

If you did hear about elearning, then you certainly know about elearning software and how it can help in a different kind of ways and that elearning software has much more pros than cons to offer. To improve the situation in the company and make employees bring the results as they used to do earlier, software can be also used. Two big things to be mentioned are knowledge evaluation and analysis.

Knowledge evaluation can help to get a real picture of the employees in general but also of everyone separately. If someone lacks the knowledge that you thought he had, this is the best way for it to be revealed and for the things to be improved for the sake of the company itself. The other thing is those employees who seem to be lacking enthusiasm lately. If they pass through this program made by software, he will be eager to remember what he is actually able to do. With that done, the enthusiasm needed will be back, for he needs to prove to himself and then to his employer. The final result is – better productivity of a whole company. Why is that so? First, with help of elearning software, you are able to create interactive courses and tests.

Find out what are new trends in employee certification and 11 Ways to Measure Employee Productivity.

Analysis is another thing to be done for the results to be improved. To do this, different interviews have to be done, questionnaires to be fulfilled and different fields of jobs to be done in order to get a realistic situation of the company and solve problems.

Once done, HR trainers will have insights into the employee performance and they will be able to determine what kind of tests they need to create for different employees. This is where testing software comes in hand.

The benefits

Other than all this previously mentioned, many other benefits can be listed for using software. Firstly, it is easily achievable and low cost. Time you will save at the end will be enormous in comparison to the old one methods. And mostly important, employee performance will significantly increase.

With help of knowledge testing software, results of each employees test performance will help HR trainers to plan future tests that will even more improve the knowledge and performance of employees. This can also be helpful when company needs employees on higher positions.

Why? Because it is always more cost effective for company to promote its employees to higher job positions since they are already trained and know all processes in company. On the other hand, by hiring new employees to a higher job positions, company has to spend a lot of money on training of that employee. Also, new employee will be needing a certain time to get to know with all of the processes of company. That way said, it is not so hard to conclude how profitable it can be for company to implement knowledge testing software.

YouTestMe employee training and certification software improves the employee training and certification by significantly reducing costs and time that companies spend on traditional employee training.

Automated Software Testing

Automated Software Testing

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Automated software testing is becoming more and more important for many software projects in order to automatically verify key functionality, test for regressions and help teams run a large number of tests in a short period of time. There are various tools that help software teams build and execute automated tests. Many teams are actively using unit tests as part of their development efforts to verify critical parts of their projects such as libraries, models and methods. Automatically testing your web application is a good way to ensure that new versions of your application don’t introduce bugs and regressions. Automation of your web application testing also allows your development team to make changes and refactor code with more confident, as they can quickly verify the functionality of the application after every change.

Features helping teachers and students – actually, whatever you need in a classroom can be found here. It is good for both students and teachers, at the first place because a lot more time is saved for the class itself when finishing the administrational part that fast. A lot of turnkey data conversion and setup process, comprehensive training, and live Customer Support.  Some of these offer also continuing education, dance and gymnastics studios, arts organizations, non profits, business and religious associations, afterschool programs, camps, training facilities, lifelong learning, community health organizations, certification and non credit education providers. Where on the place can you find things like this?

Examples of automated tools

Test generator – think of the time you have spend on making a proper test for your students. Guess what? This tool does it for and that within minutes. Everything is there, both questions and answers.

Scheduling tools – this option allows teachers schedule their lessons in advance. Think of that! How much time does it take you to do this? There is a lot of time saved, don’t you think?

Class summary – it is not such a big deal to plan a lesson and for it to be good. But think of summing it all up at the end. This is a tool that does this time of job for you, also within minutes.

Many pros are here to be found. First of all, it is extremely time saving, and then, pretty much efficient due to the fact that, when you have saved this much time, you will be rested and more eager for your students and their questions at the end of the class.  All this should be tried at some school to be seen how it will be manifested on both students and teachers.

One of the tools that offer these three and other useful features is YouTestMe Classroom 2020. Organize courses and tests in no time and easily track all of the important statistics of your students.

Learning Management System

Learning with a Learning Management System

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A Learning Management System is often abbreviated to LMS, and it incorporates usage of different elements such as e-learning software in order to pass the necessary knowledge and skills to the interested parties. This type of educational software usually incorporates its own online examination system, which is in many ways the most important part of the entire process. After all, this is the only way to ensure the students have learned what they were supposed to. If it can be easily tricked, then its reliability would be a serious drawback.

The History of E-Learning

The history about computers and learning goes back a long way, but in the beginning, the learning was mostly centered around computers rather than using them as tools for mastering other areas. Basically, it wasn’t until the ’70s that they started using computers as learning aids. By the late ’90s there were already online courses on all sorts of things and even some universities offered a possibility to attend classes online and receive certificates to brag about. Still, back then the whole Learning Management System thing as well as its recognition were nowhere near what they are now, let alone what they will become in the future.

How Complex is a Learning Management System (LMS)?

Learning Management System Word Cloud

What makes Learning Management System so special is its systemic nature, as it seeks to control and manage every single aspect pertaining to the learning process whereas most other alternatives settle for classes and exams only. There is the entire framework at play where every bit of content, every learning goal and every step in achieving said goals are known and planned in advance. Since nothing is left to chance, this thorough approach is far more efficient that one might think at first.

Apart from the content they offer, most Learning Management Systems differ in terms of the course management and administration, the way users and their activities are organized, how application and registration are handled, the way the progress is being tracked and evaluated… These are all elements that deserve special attention when selecting the right LMS. Recently, however, there have been some serious improvements to the concept, including the possibility to create one’s own educational content, or only use certain features.

How effective Is an LMS?

There are tons of studies and infographics on Learning Management Systems that showcase its effectiveness, especially pertaining to some of the features. For instance, a recent study on the effectiveness of an LMS pertaining to a programming course that is usually delivered face-to-face, (link to the case study). The results have shown that, while not fully capable of replacing face-to-face learning, LMS is more than capable of complementing the results and improving them. And besides, last year alone, any investments in e-learning programs have effectively yielded the return that is twice as high. Current estimates are that roughly 79% of companies in the world employ at least some kind of e-learning or LMS.

Who is the LMS for?

In case you haven’t notices, LMS is the thing of the future. Current projections state that by 2019, roughly half of college students in the U.S. will be enrolled in some kind of LMS program. This added popularity will surely bring down the overall costs making this method of learning more accessible and affordable than ever before! The reason why we mentioned students first is because they were the intended recipients originally, but the idea has since far surpassed regular Universities, schools and other similar institutions.

Nowadays, any kind of business or even regular people can take full advantage of all the benefits that LMS has to offer. If you own a computer and you need to learn something, chances are this is what you really need. All is not perfect, however. Thanks to more and more people recognizing the potential of this learning aid, there has been an entire market centered around this niche. While this has certainly done some good, in standardizing the offers and lowering the costs, it should be noted that not all the commercial vendors for this kind of applications is legitimate.

Still, most vendors tend to specialize in companies of certain sizes and even the certain kind of content that is to be made available to their clients. Their methods of evaluation also vary, so picking the right offer is more important than ever – the future of your company may depend on it! On one hand, it is in their interest to get as many people to pass since their success rate is at stake. But then again, if they do not maintain a certain knowledge or proficiency threshold, their whole purpose will be negated, so only a handful of vendors have actually managed to solve this conundrum.

YouTestMe Classroom 2020 is software with elements of an LMS, but also containing a powerful test generator for a fast and simple evaluation process. As an added benefit its deployment can be limited to a local network, for the biggest possible security. Check out all of its features at the Classroom 2020 product page.