Author: ddliestman

Who Cares? The Affective Domain & Training

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This post is provided by guest blogger, Daniel Liestman, graduate student University of St. Francis, MS Training and Development program

How well do new resident physicians manage their money?  Apparently, not too well.  Hence the need for training.  Learners reported positive responses to the training.  Trainers incorporated Level 2 multiple choice and open-ended questions to gauge attitudes and behaviors toward the training.  In follow up they also self-reported new behaviors in setting financial goals and other manifestations of financial planning ranging from acquiring insurance to systematic retirement planning.  They also self-reported improved habits of increased savings and long-term financial planning.  Incorporation of training is considered an operational measure of the degree to which learners respond positively within the affective domain.

This study realizes the affective domain does not stand on its own and acknowledges cognitive and behavioral factors are essential to training success.  However, the further the study moves from Level 1, the less clear the impact of affective motivation.  Moreover, the authors narrowly define affective as positive feelings in response to the training. Fear of failing financially could easily be an affective response.   This study is unique in its assessment of affective motivation.  Yet, there is much more to consider in assessing  how learners respond to training.  How do the basic emotions impact learning, retention, and behavior.

Shappell, E., Ahn, J., Park, Y. S., McKillip, R., Ernst, M., Pirotte, M., & Tekian, M.  (2021, July). Affective, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes from a resident personal finance curriculum pilot project. AEM Education and Training.  5(3), p.e10619-n/a. https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.libdb.heritage.edu/pmc/articles/PMC8246005/pdf/AET2-5-e10619.pdf.

Taming the AI Beast!

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This post is provided by your genial guest blogger, Daniel Liestman, graduate student at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, MS in Training and Development program.

Rather than fretting about AI taking your job, Boysen (2024) suggests using AI to enhance your job. AI algorithms can analyze data on colleague’s performance, preferences, and progress to generate customized content and exercises. Opportunities include personalizing learning paths.  Adaptive learning platforms dynamically adjust the content based on learner responses.   With its ability to sort through swaths of information, AI can curate content.  Wanna play a game? AI can help.  AI predictive analytics can preemptively identify skills gaps.  Chatbots provide learners with a guide on the side in their learning experience. AI also offers ongoing training rather than periodic sessions.

Boysen (2024) offers some not yet realized possibilities for T&D AI in the not-too-distant future.  Her suggestions are thusly anything but reassuring.  Each of these applications are tasks AI can do quicker and probably better than mere mortals.  Frankly, I wonder if T&D will even be needed as AI can perform duties in which we train learners. The truth tends to lie somewhere between the idea that the status quo will prevail, and the dark dystopian predictions of displaced humans rendered useless by AI.  As long as AI is subject to our direction, things should be fine…shouldn’t they?

 Boysen, S. (2024, January 5). Harnessing the power of AI in training and development. ATD. https://www.td.org/atd-blog/harnessing-the-power-of-ai-in-training-and-development

Ask not what AI is going to do to you, but what you are going to do with AI.

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This post is provided to you by genial and gracious guest blogger, Daniel Liestman, graduate student at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, MS in Training and Development program.

Before seeking to incorporate AI into training, one must first consider how to engage with AI in the design process itself.  AI can assist in conducting and assessing the learning needs analysis.   AI can create eLearning course outlines as well as build content. AI can also assist in writing introductions, crafting transitions, or crafting conclusions.  AI can also generate Level 1 and 2 activities and quizzes.  AI generated visuals can also be quite engaging!  Beyond design, AI can evaluate instructional design content.  AI to stays current with the latest trends in instructional design.

Most TD blogs on AI consider incorporating it into training. This blog realizes this is not the goal.  Numerous examples are offered which will make the most of free AI sites and tools.  This blog is iterative and provides important background information from previous entries to make for a more complete learning experience.  At the same time, none of these tools are fool proof.  Chat GPT3.5 is offered as a tool for summarizing a discussion and acknowledges some light proof-reading may be needed.  Light-proofing—HA!  Last time I tried it to summarize, I got nonsense reduced to gibberish. 

Proceed with caution.

Robertson, D. (2024). Improve your instructional design workflow with these 8 practical AI tool uses. Neovation. https://www.neovation.com/learn/87-8-practical-ai-tool-uses-for-your-instructional-design-workflow

Fe Δ  — aka The Iron Triangle

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This post is for your reading pleasure from guest blogger, Daniel Liestman a graduate student in the MS Training and Development program, University of St. Francis (Joliet, IL).

Open distance learning (ODL) universities in South Africa established clusters of facilities and activities known as study centers to improve learning.  One university considered the three variables of the Iron Triangle; access, cost, and quality in evaluating the initiative. The research focused on counting occupancy, questionnaire responses, and cost effectiveness. Students utilizing the new centers responded positively, however most students did not take advantage of the new opportunity. There was a cadre of regular users at the expense of the student body as a whole. The questionnaire queried about cleanliness and staff knowledge/ friendliness. The high occupancy demonstrated cost effectiveness.

The Iron Triangle is not necessarily an equilateral triangle. Circumstances may dictate extending one side at the expense of another. In this study, cost effectiveness was the short side of an Isosceles by being less rigorous and relying so heavily on the occupancy side. This study is less a triangle and more like parallel lines.  A more rigorous cost-effectiveness approach is needed. Perhaps comparing the center’s funding fee with the overall number of students utilizing the new service. Also, the only constituency considered were students. Staff, faculty, IT, business office, campus administrators’ input should also be included and considered. 

Nsamba, A., Bopaper, A., Bongi., L., & Lekay, L. (2021). Student support service excellence evaluation: Balancing the iron triangle of accessibility, cost-effectiveness and quality? Open Praxis, 13(1), 37–52. https://doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.13.1.1168

One, Two, Three, Where’s the Four?

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This post is brought to you by your padawan blogger, Daniel Liestman, a graduate student in the University of St. Francis’ (Joliet, IL) MS in Training and Development program.

Assessing the training of health care professionals to become proficient with TEDEI (Training in Early Detection for Early Intervention), a screening instrument for cerebral palsy in infants, involved the first three Kirkpatrick levels. Participants in the video-based e-learning course reacted to a 6 question Likert scale and free text responses. Most responses were at the highest level of satisfaction. However, questions about improved personal knowledge and anticipated improved clinical practice only scored at the second highest level of satisfaction. A pre- and post-test of learning showed an improvement of 23.1%. Twenty-three interviewees reported improvement in their behavior in working with parents, improvement in confidence, and success with other telehealth assessments. 

Understandably, Officer, et. al.  (2023) did not attempt a Level 4 assessment.  Kirkpatrick’s model comes from an era of internal in-house training where organizational impact was considered the capstone to a logical progression. In an era of distributed, asynchronous training where not all members of an organization participate assessing Level 4 is challenging. This then begs the question why would an organization support one person taking an online course? The assumption is that the learner will pass the information along to colleagues.  The idea that if you want to master a topic; teach it applies. If the online learners passed along their newfound knowledge, the measures of the 3 Levels could become their Level 4 assessment.

Officer, Johnson, M., Blickwedel, J., Reynolds, A., Pearse, R., Pearse, J., & Basu, A. P. (2023). Evaluation of the Training in Early Detection for Early Intervention (TEDEI) e-learning course using Kirkpatrick’s method. BMC Medical Education, 23(1), 129–129. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04113-7

Where’s the Tech in Informal Learning?

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This post comes to you courtesy of your convivial and continually-learning guest blogger, Daniel Liestman a master’s degree student in the Training and Development program at the University of St. Francis (Joliet, IL). 

Moore & Klein (2020) accept that most learning in the workplace is informal, but realize the bulk of resources are provided for formal training.  In a survey (N=385) and subsequent interviews (n=20) of trainers they found T&D professionals engage in informal learning to foster informal learning by passing along articles or link to targeted individuals.  Trainers also supply just-in-time job aids and tools.  In addition, they create and curate learning objects and related materials for just-in-case situations.  Alternatives not explored might include brown bag sessions or walking about and engaging with staff.  Fostering informal leaning is a resource-efficient approach to counter budget and staffing shortfalls while improving organizational performance.

IMHO (in my humble opinion), Moore & Klein (2020) address an intriguing topic.  The rub is that the suggestions in the survey and those offered in the interviews are pedestrian (email, help sheets, filing away digital objects, etc.)   How might technology be better deployed?  How might online organizations foster those watercooler moments?  Could corporate maker-spaces foster creativity and discovery to grow the bottom line?  How can informal learning be tracked and evaluated?  The profession seems to have a wing-and-a-prayer approach to informal learning.  The research would have been more satisfying had the authors dug more.  I do hope this is not as deep as they could go, and this is all that they can offer.  Perhaps these topics can be pursued in subsequent research?

Moore, A. L., & Klein, J. D. (2020). Facilitating informal learning at work. TechTrends, 64(2), 219-228. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-019-00458-3

ChatGPT: What’s it doing for/to me?

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This post is brought to you by your genial novice blogger, Daniel Liestman, a graduate student in the University of St. Francis’ (Joliet, IL) MS in Training and Development program.

Last November, Open AI released an advanced chatbot like no other.  ChatGPT (generative pre-trained transformer) draws on Internet information.  It’s RLHF, or Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback component, however, provides the human-like quality.  While ChatGPT may stir anxiety in some, it can be used as an effective learning tool.  For example, how might learners construct an AI generated argument and then analyze and critique it?  Further, how might learners hone their own questioning skills to spark discovery? Such AI can also foster individualized learning as well as doing administrative work for instructors while also doing instructional planning.

Stephens, an educational consultant with degrees from Harvard and Stanford, has no idea what ChatGPT bodes. But neither do we.  AI, for her, has a place in learning, but also in reducing instructors’ grunt work. I recall the story of a professor who audio taped a lecture for a day he was out.  While the reel-to-reel played atop the lectern, a cassette recorder on each student’s desk taped the lecture. While the technology has changed,  AI may well imitate this cautionary tale at the moment expense of learning.

Stephens, D. (2023, May 16). ChatGPT examples to use artificial intelligence in education. Nearpod Blog.  https://nearpod.com/blog/chatgpt-ai-artificial-intelligence/