Learning portals for on-demand learning

It is very important for individuals to have efficient timely access to learning content when and in the amount they desire.

Efficient access can be provided via profile driven learning portals. Based on a provided and learner customizable profile, the portal can insure that the learner is exposed to learning that others in the field, or with similar profiles, have consider highly relevant. By appropriate pooling of content the portal can serve the targeted needs of the learner while also increase efficiency and learner satisfaction. At the same time, the portal can provide strong search capabilities of internal and external content that the learner can access if the provided links in the custom portal do not meet the learners needs.

Additional efficiency can be accomplished by providing links to the learning portal from an number of enterprise applications. That way, the learner is reminded of the availability of these resources and efficiently linked to them right from the application where the need was made apparent to the learner. The referring application can also be provided to the personalized portal so that options can be provided that will fit the context of a learner's job, for example.

While the portal should make pull content easily accessible, the portal should also provide access to push content. Based on the needs of the organization this push content should be presented to the learner in order to meet goals such as compliance and other such top-down issues.

One useful item to be considered by the portal's learner profile should be the nature of the work. This can then affect the amount to push vs. pull content presented by the portal. Learners from knowledge intensive jobs can be presented with more flexibility while individuals from labor intensive jobs can be presented with more directive learning. Or as is the case in the medical portal I worked in recently, the portal made a distinction between practicing doctors and residents.

The goal should be to simplify access to learning in order to gained efficiency. The challenge to most is how to build these portals. Vendors are still struggling to cope with the higher degree of sophistication of these learning engines.

E-Learning, Web 2.0, and on-demend learning.

Web 2.0 is here and e-learning is having to change accordingly. Many wonder about how these changes affect the pushed learning approaches.

Pushed learning worked as follows: the institution decided on what a learning needed to access, went to the LMS, found the specific course, and took the course. In contrast, in the world of Web 2.0/web services, the learner seeks what he needs, when he needs it.

There are two areas of change taking place. First, is how the portals that lead to e-learning are having to change. For example, the old face of the LMS is having to accommodate on-demand learning. Second, is how e-learning itself is changing to accommodate Web 2.0 technologies to make e-learning a dynamic, living, competitive tool.

Let's start by saying that the fact that you will incorporate Web 2.0 approaches does not mean you need to totally do away with the push e-learning. Whether by demand of HR is a corporate setting or the administration in an educational setting, you will have to preserve push learning. The good news is that you can do that while moving to Web 2.0 and on-demand learning.

This discussion will be undertaken in the following weeks and months in this blog, however, here are some of the big strokes to follow as you move from the old to embrace the new.

1.Take advantage of the push content you already have. If its was build in Learning Objects you have a good start as you can make each LO searchable though appropriate meta tagging.

2.Develop a plan to meta tag your content and incorporate a robust search so the user can find and access those LOs and other content easily.

3.Make it possible for the user to either take the original push LO sequence or create a learning plan of their own by selecting his/her own content from the searches mentioned above

4.Add Web 2.0 tehnology like blogs, wikis, and messaging to your system, even associate some with your LOs or allow the users to do so.

5.Don't expect all this will happen overnight this is an evolutionary and revolutionary process.

More to come on this blog.
Contributors welcome!