Glasshouse and 2016 – growing 70:20:10 learning models
One of the things our internal eLearning development tool, Glasshouse, has always done is fill in the gaps left by learning management systems and other eLearning development products. Most of them are not doing a great job of supporting or enhancing continuous learning and the 70:20:10 learning concept. But at the core of our roadmap for Glasshouse for 2016 is further developing its collaborative learning features and increasing its ability to enable learning transfer. The plan is for Glasshouse to develop beyond just being a content development tool to being the platform that enables our learning while working framework.
The Roadmap
Expanding the ways Glasshouse can be integrated with learning management systems
We have been wrestling with Glasshouse because it’s an odd category of product. It's cloud based like an LMS, and courses can be delivered from it, but in the past it's primarily been used as a platform for authoring content. In most cases it needs to be used alongside an LMS. In the past there have been two ways to work with content that has been built in Glasshouse:
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by downloading a SCORM object
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by using a simple integration we built with Moodle/Totara, with the reporting being done using xAPI.
There is more about this in the Glasshouse and your LMS post.
The second mode of working means that when an author makes a change it can be instantly shown to the learner. There isn’t the hassle of having to download and upload SCORM objects. We call this using Glasshouse in “cloud mode”. This also means that when Glasshouse is used with a 70:20:10 program we can integrate self-paced learning with social learning.
Many of the LMSs that our clients work with are basic and don't easily allow for integration. To provide clients with the convenience of cloud mode, and to enable them to use the collaborative features, we plan to develop a “SCORM launcher”. It will mean that an author can download a SCORM package that can be uploaded to the LMS, and then this points to the resource in Glasshouse.
We are also going to add Learning Technology Integration (LTI) to enable more sophisticated integration with Moodle/Totara and other LMSs that support the LTI standard.
Expanding Glasshouse’s collaborative learning features (the 20)
For a while now Glasshouse has had some social learning features such as commenting and peer review/feedback short-answer questions. We are going to expand these collaborative features to include personal and group wikis, and add a forum feature and status updates that will be combined with the learning log feature, below.
Learning logs (the 70)
A theme that keeps on coming when we discuss 70:20:10 learning models with learning professionals is how learning measurement works. One of the ways to track informal learning (that might seem a bit old fashioned) is learning logs. A learning log is a simple record of what an employee has learned and how they are applying this new learning. Learning logs can be brought into the 21st century by using photos and video instead of just text. We are also going to look at ways learning logs can be integrated with measuring progress on learning goals.
Subscription learning
Already released, subscription learning is our first new feature of 2016. Glasshouse now supports an approach to learning that is sometimes called subscription learning or spaced learning. It works in a way where a number of email messages can be set up to be triggered over a period of time. These can then be linked to a sequence of activities. Here are a couple of ways this can be used.
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Separating a learning program into smaller chunks of learning that happens over a period of time. This improves retention and the likelihood of the transfer of learning into practice.
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Adding follow-up messages and activities after a formal learning program to aid the transfer of learning into the workplace.
Adaptive learning and personalisation of learning
Increasing learning personalisation is one of the keys for digital learning reaching its full potential. Glasshouse already includes the ability to tag resources with topics. This is the key stage of adaptive learning. The next stage is to allow the topic area that learners need to focus on to be diagnosed based on quiz results or to allow them to add topics to their learning plans.
This could be really powerful if it is combined with the spaced/subscription learning features we’ve released. One usage scenario is where a learner could be emailed a short piece of personalised micro learning each day that is customised to their current learning needs and goals.
Animation
Glasshouse is based around scrolling pages, and we have supported an animation technique called parallax scrolling for a while now. The next stage is to add more animation controls that can be triggered by learner interactions, other than just scrolling.
Improving the authoring and review process
We plan to make it easier to find and preview activities when in editing mode. The review stage of an eLearning project can be one of the most complex. It is easier and faster to build something than to change it after it's been built. Glasshouse already has a basic annotation feature that works a bit like Microsoft Word’s commenting feature, but it is not yet developed to a stage where it is usable in most projects. The plan is to develop a robust flexible review system.
Mobile optimised
Because Glasshouse is a pure HTML authoring system (it's never been Flash based) it has always worked on mobile and tablet devices but it has never been optimised for use on mobile devices. The next stage we have planned is to optimise activities and interaction so they display effectively on mobiles.
It's going to be exciting to see how Sprout Labs’ designers, and our clients, use these features to design integrated blended learning solutions.
