A Conversation with Reuben Tozman about Learning on Demand: Part One

I seem to be hanging out with a lot of writers these days. I recently had a chance to catch up with Reuben Tozman and ask him a few questions about his new book published through ASTD. This is part one of the interview, I’ll post part two tomorrow. It was a great discussion and you don’t want to miss any of it.

Reuben Tozman is the President and founder of the learning services company, edCetra Training. edCetra Training is focused on the design and development of customized e-learning programs, and specializes in single sourcing of content. Reuben received his Masters degree in Educational Technology from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, and has worked as an instructional designer, a project manager, consultant, and product manager within a variety of organizations. He began his own company within the learning services industry that quickly gained recognition for its ability to implement true single-sourcing strategies. He has recent authored a book published by ASTD called Learning On Demand

Karl Kapp (KK):1)What is your new book “Learning on Demand” all about?

Reuben Tozman (RT):his book is an exploration of web technology, and what I refer to as the ‘will’ of the web. As designers, one of the factors (there are many) that we consider when crafting an instructional intervention is the medium for delivery. It is our job to ensure that our designs match the capabilities and intrinsic benefits of the medium which we are using to deliver our message. To date, instructional designers have been keen to use technology, but what we’ve managed to do is bend technology to service archaic models of education. In exploring the web’s will, that which has pushed the web’s evolution, and is continuing to support its future, I hope to draw out key characteristics of web technology that can be leveraged by instructional designers.

This book showcases examples of ‘solutions’ that are consistent with the web’s will and how they not only provide value to the global user base, but contribute back to the web’s evolution. What comes out of this exploration is a very clear path towards designing ‘information’ so that it can be used within a technology framework that is integrated into our daily lives and has in fact become part of our own human evolution.

When information is integrated into the technology in ways that are consistent with how the technology is servicing humanity, a powerful ‘learning on demand model’ emerges. This book discusses new skills designers will need and how to prepare for this new world.

KK:2) Also, you write that the accessibility of information on demand overshadows ‘interactive design’ for creating effective web-based instruction, as someone very interested in interactive design, I am curious as what you mean by that statement. And do you think there is any room for interactive design within the field?

RT: I am a big believer in experience design and creating, augmenting and supporting experiences. ‘Interactivity’ will never be lost and those like yourself who research it and push that agenda forward will be as necessary as ever.

However, the accumulation of ‘digital waste’ (think oxygen bottles left on Mount Everest as climbers descend the mountain. Useful for a short time) is growing exponentially and in many cases access to the right content at the right time is impeded by an ‘interactive design’ that traps content into a product that forces ‘interaction’ when someone may just need the one image, video or block of text to help them over a hump. One of the areas for research for folks like you, will be allowing the content and parameters within an ‘interactive’ design to be dynamic and plugged into the central neuro-system of the organization.

Books like Dave Grey’s The Connected Company
all point to very dynamic and adaptable organization. That means the information that people feed on to do their jobs, the applications that they use will also need to be ‘designed’ in a way that allows for adaptability. Traditional ‘interactive designs’ are essentially ‘trapped’ experiences disconnected from the day to day evolution of a business.

At the end of the day the issue I see with capturing any information into a product that becomes separated from the changes and evolution of an organization is that it quickly becomes outdated. Learning on Demand doesn’t preclude interactive design. It encourages interactive design to use technology in a way that draws on the right content at the right time for the right people. It places the onus of doing this as top priority.

KK: 3) Your new book discusses methods of measuring the effectiveness of web-enabled instructional solutions based on the success of business intelligence and web analytic technologies, what are some of those methods?

RT:What is interesting about web analytics and business intelligence (BI) analytics is that what they try to measure is ‘value’. The web has created a much different ‘economy’ than what we are used to. Where ‘scarcity’ was a key factor in driving value, scarcity on the web is death. The web has created an economy where number of views, how many times has something been shared, what networks has something penetrated all contribute to something’s value, regardless of ‘revenue’. ICQ sold for 407 million dollars without ever having earned a penny.

Maria Aragon, a little girl from Winnipeg became an instant star and sensation when her YouTube video went viral. So what web analytics and BI have done, is created methods for trying to determine the ‘value’ of content. Doesn’t that seem like something we ought o be looking at as learning professionals. Were our interventions valuable? Not did they create the right test scores, but were they valuable? How do we measure ‘value’ on the web? Turn to web analytics and BI to find out.

Project TinCan otherwise known as the ADL ‘Experience API’ is the first standard that allows for this. Sure you can measure ‘outcomes’ through it, but it allows us to query inside the experience, get real time data so that we can determine the value of things in conjunction with their end result.

Here is the link to part two of the interview.