Ivo Wouters of Educademy is around the corner when new customers take the learning management software of Procademy 'out of the package'. What do they find? "A box of puppies! You'd like to pick them all up immediately, but you can't keep them all." A conversation about the consequences of Corona for online learning, the sometimes overwhelming possibilities of an e-learning platform and the right way to approach a learning process.
With a background in primary and secondary education, an expertise in hybrid learning and a rich experience as a trainer, Ivo Wouters decides in 2020, to focus more on the world of online learning. Educademy, founded with associate Chris van Hall, is a reality. "During corona, everything in terms of traditional training and education was at a standstill and organizations massively turned to e-learning, in order to still be able to keep the knowledge development going." opens Ivo the conversation. "With working from home, home learning has also taken off and the range of tools has increased in a short time. But online learning has not necessarily improved as a result. Many tools, many possibilities, but also a confusing proliferation. With Educademy we try to increase the efficiency of learning processes, using Procademy as a tool."
"We help organisations with the adoption of the tool, to ensure that it really comes to life, after Procademy has completed the technical implementation. I then often see that an educational perspective is missing. The existing training material is mainly transferred to online, to a book behind glass. Nice, so on your screen, but still a book. And you don't learn optimally from a book, as studies have shown. So we really focus on 'how to make an e-learning? How do you ensure that the time investment is in proportion to the learning effect? What is the learning objective in the first place? Where the buttons are, that will all come later. Ivo explains with a smile.
The adoption of an e-learning platform requires quite a bit of mission work, as it turns out. "Some parties are already very far along with the requirements and know exactly what they want. Especially the larger organisations, which have a team of people working on, for example, compliance in the organisation, have a team that maintains the learning material. But if the organisation is smaller and there are fewer people working on knowledge development, then the required time investment can be quite daunting." outlines Ivo. "For every minute that a student is in your environment, usually an hour must be spent developing the e-learning. This of course adds up quickly. In order to hook up those organisations as well, we start with the box of puppies. We show the most appealing applications, using good demos. So that the possibilities come to life. Just like with puppies: you want to have them all right away. But we also look at which possibilities are relevant now, and which ones for later."
Not all puppies at once, but later on back to the shelter. Starting with a narrower scope, to be expanded later. "Organisations sometimes mainly purchase an e-learning platform, but we really believe in blended learning. That you organise a process in which online and offline alternate, in which tests and contact moments with teachers are built in and in which you can monitor the process. That is exactly what Procademy provides. In fact, in organisations we often take a step back and look more broadly at the best learning experience, online and offline. And as part of that, you also make a good e-learning. But always as a link in the bigger picture of a relevant learning process.
It's nice that this topic comes up again. E-learning. Because given the explosive growth of organisations' enthusiasm for this type of learning, a common question is: what do you need to consider when developing good e-learning? "What all authorities in this field shout is that you must have clear learning objectives, that you must connect with your target group and that you must ensure interaction. All true. But I also often read that you have to connect to the learning style of your student. And I don't believe in that. In a blended learning programme, you can gain so much insight and anticipation on the basis of data. We used to send the printed course material in advance and during a classroom session three quarters of the students turned out not to have read it. Now you don't have to take that into account at all: these people simply don't make it to the classroom session if they haven't answered 70% of the questions correctly. Ivo explains.
"Another important tip, as I said before: don't make it a book behind glass, because then people won't learn anything. Many e-learnings still read from top left to bottom right and have replaced the easel of the pages with a 'click further' button. Explain what you should be able to do at the end of a section to continue. Make the material interactive and vary it, for example by offering the right H5P elements to your student. Keep up the motivation by being clear about how long parts take, so that a student knows when he or she can take a break. We know from research that after twenty minutes of concentrated work, the sharpness is gone.
Ivo gets up to speed: "Make sure you have a warm welcome. It is easy to make a short film with your mobile. What do you think it does for someone's motivation, if the director welcomes him or her personally in the e-learning? Really, these are all things that you can apply successfully, whether you have thinkers or doers in your e-learning. It's all about taking the learner by the hand through such a module. That's not rocket science, you just have to make time for it."
Online learning is of course attractive because of scalability, availability and asynchrony: you can offer everyone access to the material, at any time, and also have them sparring with each other. "It doesn't always have to be live. If I have a question about the material tonight, it's fine if a colleague or teacher answers it tomorrow. Procademy has a great solution for social learning in the tool, which allows for asynchronous contact and better knowledge sharing. You can also add a meeting. Then you learn something yourself first, test it and only then meet. The fact that you can organise all that in detail in Procademy is a real added value."
It all sounds great, of course, but is there a downside? Ivo nods: "It is complex. So if you really organise such an extensive learning process, then it only takes one wrong tick and no one ever qualifies for your live knowledge session. Then you're stuck waiting in your classroom for a long time. That is not so much a problem of the tool, but of the fact that a good blended learning path has many dependencies. And the misconception must be dispelled: an e-learning platform is never a shortcut to optimal knowledge development. It is, with the right time and attention, a valuable tool in a blended learning path. Ivo concludes with satisfaction.
Educademy supports organisations working with Procademy and does so by:
