Webinar answers, "Who's on first?" (Review).

Leading E-Learning: Assembling Your Team by William Horton, online, 2002 American Society for Training and Development (800-628-2783, www.astd.org, www.astd.org/webinar), $49.

Editor's note: Training Media Review has a business relationship with ASTD.

The slapstick comedians Abbott and Costello had a routine called "Who's on first?" The basis for it was the hilariously ambiguous names of baseball infielders. The first baseman's name was "Who," and every time Costello asked 'Who's on first?" Abbott would answer "Who." Costello would then repeat the question, and Abbott would repeat the same answer. They went round and round in circles like a dog chasing its tail.

William Horton's webinar presentation "Leading E-Learning: Assembling YourTeam" provided insight into how to choose the right team members, thus breaking the "Who's on first?" syndrome that may plague your e-learning team and project.

How it's done

To participate in a webinar, you first register on the sponsoring site, in this case, a special page on ASTD's site. If this is your first webinar, you will probably have to download software. You may need to have a discussion with your IS/IT department or favorite technician about company policy regarding downloads and plug-ins.

Prior to the event, you'll receive an email reminder and instructions for performing a system check--analogous to having your car's fluid levels and tire pressure checked before you take a trip. Centra, a leading supplier of webinar software, routinely requests a system check. I always do it before a webinar because the required software client may have been upgraded since the last time I used it.

On the day of the event, you may receive another email reminder. The message contains the URL for easy entry to the webinar. The message should also contain your ID and password.

When you log in, you enter the webinar "room," a screen display that contains an area for slide presentations, a listing of all attendees, an attendee tool bar area, and perhaps a chat tool for talking to other attendees.

Prior to the start of the webinar, the moderator will introduce the session and the speaker and identify the interaction tools available to attendees. These may include access to a microphone for questions or a chat tool; a clickable button used to "raise your hand" to ask a question; and yes and no buttons or icons to answer presenter questions.

Horton has it

In "Leading E-Learning," Horton discussed identifying the people needed for an e-learning team as well as deciding which tasks to outsource and which to keep in-house. Horton proposed a law of "mushware" to express his overall approach to e-learning teams: "A talented, motivated team with a limited budget, a tight schedule, and crude technology will outperform mediocre drones with unlimited budget, time, and technology."

Horton posed the question "What's most important in hiring?" He recommends assembling a multi-talented team that includes a project manager, stakeholders, developers, and designers. He suggests choosing team members based on the delivery style of the training and the workflow. He walked webinar participants through three hiring scenarios, and the correct answer to each scenario was different.

Outsourcing work is a critical decision. Horton listed several key players and suggested how to decide what tasks in your e-learning project should be considered for outsourcing. He cautioned that "outsourcing is not a panacea" and that good communication must exist between you and your outsourcing partner.

Horton has written a book on the topic (Leading E-learning, ASTD) and has a website (www.horton.com) with additional examples, forms, and other materials.

The Horton webinar is part of an ongoing series on e-learning topics sponsored by ASTD. The fee of $49 per participant is well spent. Compare the cost of the webinar to driving to a local hotel for a seminar: salary + seminar fee + mileage + meal. Even a half day out of the office will cost more than $49. How many face-to-face seminars cost $49? And the tangible costs do not take into account the stress of rushing to a seminar and rushing back to work afterwards.

Of course webinars have a downside. We lose the opportunity to shake hands, mix and mingle, visit and meet attendees at the event. We lose some of the dynamics of collaborative learning, despite the serious efforts e-learning vendors are making to enhance the community feel of virtual events.

It's hard to see how virtual reality technology of the future, in which attendees of webinar events could mix and mingle through 3D imagery, will ever equal "being there." When we have the option, most of us prefer the reality in which we exchange glances with the person sitting next to us, start a conversation about the topic, and end up swapping business cards. It's our way.

Often we don't have the option. Often we have to weigh decisions as tradeoffs. The most relevant one for webinars appears to be efficiency versus learning. Webinars are very cheap for the provider and the recipient. A large, expensive technical infrastructure is not required to make them work. But that's just the beginning of the decision-making process. Is the learning at a comparable face-to-face event far superior to that of a webinar? Is the learning critical enough to the organization to warrant the extra expense? Does the webinar have other advantages that need to be factored in, such as less stress on participants?

It's healthy to ask these questions. They will lead to a more rational allocation of dollars spent on training. The net result should be effective training and more dollars for the most important training missions. Webinars are another e-learning tool that make possible more refined decisions.

Recommendation

The ASTD webinar "Leading E-Learning: Assembling Your Team" is a worthwhile learning experience and value. The presenter, William Horton, gives good advice, allows time for questions, and guides participants to follow-up information. The other webinars in the ASTD series are worth looking into as an efficient way to move targeted learning into your organization.

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Barbara Fillicaro ([e-mail]) is an instructional designer and trainer based in Niles, IL, a suburb of Chicago. Her experience includes designing training for two Internet-based companies: an on-line auction house and a supply drain management system. She is adjunct faculty at two colleges.