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Agile is the new magic word in e-learning. It stands for fast and agile e-learning. First and foremost, agile is about fast and nimble development. Being able to solve a shortage of knowledge or skills in a short time. On the other hand, agile is about learning something at the moment you need it. And learning only what you need, preferably on a phone or tablet.
Agile working comes - unsurprisingly - from IT, from software development to be exact. Agile was a countermovement of some developers who found the prevailing way of software development bureaucratic, slow and narrow-minded. They felt their creativity and effectiveness were inhibited. The agile method they advocated consisted basically of four principles: execute a project in a short period of time (iteration), direct, personal communication between project members (communication), continuous learning of the product and process (progress) and a working product at the end of the project (working software).
Agile therefore means being able to develop quickly. So in e-learning, this means being able to turn an idea into a digital learning tool in a few weeks that employees can use in their daily work. Something that will make them do their work better. After all, that is the goal.
So if you're thinking about doing "something" with e-learning, and you want to do it agile, how do you approach it?
In e-learning, agile can work well if you always cover a clearly defined learning objective for each project. It's not too big and students can go through it in, say, five or ten minutes. You can create very short pieces with text, images, videos, questions and animations. Short, flexible mini trainings that you can experiment with to disseminate important chunks of knowledge and skills within your organization. Moreover, a defined learning objective forces you to look at what people need to learn on a time-by-time basis and what is the best way to shape that. Is text the best solution? Do you need video or an animation to make a concept clear? Delineated learning objectives help you make sharp choices.
Iterations
Short, manageable periods within which a small project is carried out. Within this "timebox," all project tasks are performed: planning, analyzing, designing, testing and documenting.
CommunicationsDirect communication and personal contact during the project are important. All people work together on a site as much as possible without a hierarchy. Everyone contributes and works to complete the project.
ProgressLearning from both the product and the development process. Learning and improving, that's what it's all about. And then being able to apply that immediately or during the next iteration.
Working softwareAt the end of each "iteration," a working product must be delivered.
Fortunately, there are more and more methods to get started yourself. Most cell phones allow you to record good video and there are also all kinds of software programs (including freeware) that allow you to edit videos and also add questions. Technically, rapid e-learning development is perfectly feasible.
The question remains whether you should embrace this fast-paced approach in your organization. From a training perspective, it would of course be great to be able to quickly create an appropriate learning intervention for every identified gap. You build the internal training offerings for each mini-training session while keeping a close eye on how the trainings are perceived internally. That way you can react quickly if an intervention doesn't work well, without having to overhaul the entire training policy.
The downside of agile is that it can degenerate into a haphazard way of developing and implementing. For example, agile can lead to a collection of mini-trainings that largely defeat their purpose.
Without didactic approaches in the training sessions, employees will not learn as much. And without proper implementation of the learning intervention in the organization, there is a chance that employees will not see the need for the training and may not take the training at all. Quickly making and circulating a video of a machine's settings seems like a practical and agile way to explain something to employees. In practice, it probably does not work, because just watching a video does not automatically lead to learning.
So don't confuse agile with doing something quickly and rashly. Don't confuse it with a collection of videos or texts on the network. Agile is not a duct tape method with which to paste knowledge. Agile is not a substitute for a coherent training policy.
Above all, use agile as a source of inspiration, as an underlying idea when implementing the training policies that are already in place. With rapid technological developments, it is better if you can respond quickly as an organization. Thinking for a long time about which system to choose may result in the system being long out of date by the time you as an organization are ready to implement it.
Use agile to set and execute clear goals. Use agile as a method to develop internal training courses within 3 months. Use agile as an excuse to try new things, which may also fail but from which you will learn.
Agile is a great way of working, which can produce great products quickly. In e-learning, however, agile is only really effective in the implementation of training policies and as a guide in the development of training materials. The organization's policy, vision of training and learning and the way the organization communicates it still form the basis of a good training climate within the organization. Only when these conditions are met can agile really add something to the way we make e-learning.
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