Learning Lab:
Think of a learning lab like a chemistry or bio lab back in your high school days. Participants could be given an assignment to work on potentially with a partner or in a small group. Some knowledge of the subject is expected and there is little actual “teaching” that goes on. Instructors or facilitators circulate thru the room to offer advice, suggestions etc. Labs could be paper based projects such as writing good learning objectives or computer based such as building a small PowerPoint presentation that could be turned into a small e-learning module. In the learning lab environment, participants work at their own pace with individualized assistance from the instructor. How far they get in the process could vary by their skill coming into the class and how well they grasp the concepts. Ideally in a learning lab there is a main instructor or presenter and several knowledgeable assistants to circulate throughout the room. Learning labs are great for generating creativity. One great concept is to allow the teams or partners to present out at the end the result of their efforts. This allows for lots of great sharing and more novice learners in the group get the benefit of learning from others in the room! It’s also a great way to get lots of networking and conversation started after the learning lab ends!

1:15PM – 4:30PM

Today’s tools are making it easier than ever to build elearning courses because they don’t require any programming. This presents a lot of opportunities, but the reality is that there are also many challenges. On top of that, quite a few elearning developers work with limited budgets and resources. Is it possible to build good courses with these constraints?

Let Tom Kuhlmann show you the way! This national speaker and popular Rapid Elearning Blogger provides weekly tips and tricks to help people build better elearning modules to over 95,000 subscribers.

What’s covered in this session?

Tom Kuhlmann is VP, Community for Articulate, where he manages the Articulate user community. He also writes the Rapid E-Learning Blog which is published weekly to over 65,000 readers. Tom has almost twenty years of experience in the training industry where he’s developed and managed e-learning courses for both large and small organizations. Tom’s passionate about learning technology and his core focus is on helping people succeed and grow. He is known throughout the industry for his practical, no-nonsense approaches to e-learning. He’s also a frequent speaker at ASTD and elearning industry events. He has a Master’s in Education Technology from Pepperdine.

“How to get good information from supervisors, managers, and learners about what they would really like to improve so you can recommend real solutions that may or may not include learning programs rather than build and deliver tools that attempt to fix problems that don’t really exist or aren’t in need of improvement and therefore frustrate everyone and waste resources and lose opportunities to build credibility and help make things better”

“No matter how hard you try, you can’t do the wrong thing the right way.”
– ancient training proverb

“It’s always harder to do it over than to do it right the first time.”
- ancient quality proverb

“Your mission, Mr. Phelps, is to …”
‘Mission Impossible’ needs analysis report

Useful performance improvement interventions (e.g., training) start with an accurate needs analysis based on real organizational needs. This most fundamental of trainer competencies is often overlooked. When used effectively, these skills can help lead directly to measurable results.

In this session, you’ll learn and practice proven techniques for interviewing and uncovering information on real (not perceived) performance issues & needs from internal clients. This participative workshop will allow you to learn and practice skills for getting good information. You’ll get tools you’ll be able to use in the workshop and back on the job. You’ll practice interviewing clients, use performance consulting techniques, learn to observe their use, and experience them from a client’s perspective. And, you’ll learn from other insurance learning professionals who’ll share their “right” and “wrong” experiences.

Prerequisites: Some knowledge and experience with: training or being trained, interviewing or being interviewed, asking questions and being asked questions, and listening or not being listened to. Also, a desire to have fun in learning situations.

Ira Blatt is President of the Performance Improvement Institute, where he works with clients to help them identify, design, and implement organizational and individual performance improvement initiatives. For over 30 years, he has been helping organizations of all sizes improve their performance through training, human resources management, leadership development, and organization development. He has trained thousands of insurance industry professionals and leaders, including many training professionals.

As SITE’s 45th President and as a member, he helped introduce the ITP (Insurance Training Professional) designation, the Train-The-Trainer program, the insurance industry’s first Insurance Education Summit, and our popular ‘crackerbarrel’ sessions.

For twenty years, Blatt was Director of Training and Development at Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO) in New York City, where he introduced insurance education, competency-based training, and leadership development. He has also been a Best Practices Consultant for CSC, and Manager of Learning & Development for the City of Virginia Beach VA. He is co-author of the industry’s first public Claims Best Practices study, published in 2001 in Claims magazine.

Ira has a BA from Colgate University and a DBA from the University of Toronto. He is also a graduate of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

8:15AM – 11:30AM

The performance based learning objectives of this exercise are to:

THE CHALLENGE
Each Team represents a fictitious training department. They are given a history of their budgets, company needs, and resources. They are to develop and propose a plan to management. They will be evaluated on cost benefit analysis, creativity, and presentation. As a group we will discuss how teams formed and worked together. A lot of learning goes on here at many levels, and allows this tool to be used in a wide variety of training situations.

I will train and use several participants to help monitor the dynamics of breakout teams and help with feedback

Paul is the Principal of Balbresky Consulting Services, a marketing/sales strategy and training professional practice specializing in the insurance industry. Clients range in size from large divisions of Fortune 500 corporations to startup business units. We are proud to number some of the top carriers, agencies, reinsurers, service providers and brokers among our partners.

Extensive experience in Training, Management, Marketing and Sales, has provided extraordinary background for the practice that was started in 1993. Client organizations are assisted in formulating business strategies and implementing development opportunities to support them. Development experiences are provided in Sales, Marketing, Negotiations, Sales Management, Customer Service and Critical Business Issues, such as: Operational Planning, Team Building, Innovation, Diversity, Behavioral Styles, Stress and Time Management.

Paul's undergraduate degree is from Albright College, did post graduate work at the University of Brussels, and earned his masters from Temple University. He has two insurance professional designations, the CLU, from the American College, and the ITP – Insurance Training Professional, from the Society of Insurance Trainers and Educators.

Paul has over 30 years experience in insurance and is the author of articles in several Education and Risk Management journals. He is a frequent speaker at industry meetings, has taught Marketing and Management as an adjunct faculty member of Penn State University, served as Board member of the Campus Violence Prevention Center, as Board member and National President of the Society of Insurance Trainers and Educators (SITE).

Tired of thinking about taking your training to the next level? Now you can actually do it! This mini-workshop will be an interactive view into the use of virtual immersive environments for training. Participants will gain an understanding of how to navigate a virtual world and the benefits the technology brings to training. And get ready to travel. We’ll go “in-world” to show you how it works! You’ll learn how to create, navigate and experience examples of insurance training delivered in 3D. When you’re done you’ll be prepared to assess the benefits of virtual learning for your organization. As an ancient proverb says “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand”.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the workshop participants will be able to:

Ric has been in the insurance industry for 33 years and in training and development for over 13 years. Currently, he is a Learning Consultant at Nationwide Insurance in the Corporate Learning Solutions department and a change agent for corporate use of virtual world and social learning technologies. Outside of Nationwide he is on the faculty of Rockcliffe University Consortium, a virtual world non-profit educational organization serving over 1,800 in-world residents where he currently facilitates workshops and leads a monthly business forum at Rockcliffe's campus inside Second Life. He has been a presenter at ASTD, Virtual Worlds - Best Practices in Education, and the Iowa Distance Learning Association. He is the moderator of the Linked Group - Virtual Worlds Used for Corporate Training.

Chuck is a Sr. Consultant for Nationwide’s Corporate Learning & Development organization. Chuck has extensive experience in creating, delivering, and managing training in the insurance sector. In his current role Chuck is working to help Nationwide achieve best in class learning processes and technology. Chuck has overseen many learning initiatives including the implementation of an eLearning architecture and delivery system for the Claims Organization.

Jason is a Learning Consultant for Nationwide’s Claims Training Organization. He has been with Nationwide for over 13 years in which he has managed and implemented a wide range of technology in both IT and Learning. He recently worked on implementing an eLearning architecture and delivery capability for Claims Training. When he is not evangelizing the use of new learning technologies, Jason also serves as a lead administrator for Nationwide’s LMS system, while developing new eLearning and instructor led offerings for the Claims organization.

James is a Sr. Analyst, for Learning & Performance within Nationwide’s Claims Training Organization. He has been with Nationwide for 21 years in which he has used his expertise in Graphic and Instructional Design and Training Methodology to create ILT and e-learning for both field and home office agents.