Cognitive Advisors Releases Mobile Coaching Feature to Support On-the-Job Learning by News Editor

by News Editor

March 17, 2014

“People master new skills primarily through experience and reflection on their experience, but traditional learning management systems are designed to support formal courses, which account for only a small portion of how people really learn. As a result, learning professionals have no easy way to manage and track the experiential and informal learning. We built TREK to fill that gap.”

Cognitive Advisors announces the release of a new version of the TREK Learning Experience Manager that leverages mobile devices to capture real-world experiences and make it easy for managers and coaches to monitor progress and give feedback. The new software was piloted by service techs, sales reps and their managers—and given rave reviews.   Cognitive Advisors will be sharing the results of the pilot at The eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions 2014 Conference and Expo.

“I love the ability to communicate back and forth with my employees,” says a manager who coached new hires during the pilot. “I love being proactively prompted that something is ready for me to review. This system gives me a reason to talk with my people about customers and issues so I can tell if they understand what they’re learning. I liked it so much I want to coach more people.”

The TREK Learning Experience Manager goes beyond the learning management system (LMS) to harness the power of on-the-job learning. Built from the ground up on the Experience API (Tin Can), TREK is a mobile cloud-based application that manages, captures, and tracks experiential learning (real world, on-the-job experiences) and informal learning (like coaching conversations, looking things up, or viewing brief videos). It enables the creation of individualized learning paths that optimize the path to achievement of key competencies, awards badges to recognize achievements, and provides learning analytics to tie learning to business results. TREK can be connected to an organization’s existing LMS to extend its ability to handle on-the job learning for a mobile workforce.

TREK in action

One early adopter, the Water Quality Association (WQA), conducted a pilot of TREK for getting field service technicians, equipment installers, and sales reps up-to-speed and certified. They have developed a competency-based curriculum that puts field-based learning first, supported by mobile performance support and coaching as well as some online learning. Learners follow a learning path on their mobile devices that guides them through a sequence of learning activities that are aligned with required skills and competencies.

For example, an installer who needs to learn how to install a piece of equipment consults her learning path on her smartphone. The learning path guides her to view an online learning module on how to install it, then to review an installation checklist from the mobile knowledgebase, and finally to practice installing it at a customer site. When she is done, she uses her smartphone to create an ePortfolio entry: she takes a picture of her work, records a brief audio note about challenges she faced, and geotags the customer location. She submits it to her supervisor, who gets an email notification that it is ready to review. They refer to the ePortfolio entry during their coaching conversation later that week. When she has demonstrated that she can successfully install that equipment, she is issued an electronic badge that she proudly shares through the Mozilla badges “backpack.”

The TREK Learning Experience Manager is one of the first solutions built from the ground up to take advantage of the Experience API (Tin Can), the new post-SCORM standard that supports tracking of all types of learning outside of the LMS.

TREK provides the following features:

TREK’s responsive design is optimized for mobile and delivers the ideal experience for all devices—computer, tablet, and smartphone.A mobile ePortfolio supports and captures experiential and informal learning activities, including field-based experiences and coaching conversations. The ePortfolio allows people to use their mobile devices to capture geolocation, photos, and audio to document their field-based learning experiences. ePortfolio entries encourage learners to reflect on their learning and share ideas and best practices documented in the ePortfolio to social sites.The mobile Observation Guide supports coaches in providing targeted feedback with custom observation checklists and free-form feedback fields.TREK’s open architecture (APIs and web services) leverages the investment already made in systems. It plays nicely with existing LMSs, HRIS, social sites, performance management systems, and business metrics databases.Flexible learning paths allow learners to combine the right mix of formal, informal, and experiential learning activities to meet their particular needs. By completing the activities on their individualized learning paths, learners develop the competencies they need for top-notch performance.TREK provides reporting and analytics through the Learning Record Store (LRS), a valuable repository of fine-grained learner activity. TREK provides reporting on progress of individuals, groups, or the entire organization. Analytics on the learning path for the highest performers can guide the optimization of learning for others and ties the learning to business metrics to demonstrate the value of training investments to the organization.TREK issues badges that recognize achievement of milestones. Badges add an element of gamification and fun to learning. They also show evidence of how the badge was earned, giving powerful proof of the learner’s knowledge and skills. TREK ties into Mozilla’s Open Badges framework so the badges earned can be authenticated and shared.TREK is a cloud-based solution that enables users to start working on one device and seamlessly finish it on another. It also eliminates complicated IT setup.

“People master new skills primarily through experience and reflection on their experience,” said Marty Rosenheck, CEO and chief learning strategist at Cognitive Advisors, “but traditional learning management systems are designed to support formal courses, which account for only a small portion of how people really learn. As a result, learning professionals have no easy way to manage and track the experiential and informal learning. We built TREK to fill that gap.”

Due to the success of the pilot of TREK and the tremendous interest in the TREK Learning Experience Manager since its launch at DevLearn last year, Cognitive Advisors has decided to expand its Early Adopter Program beginning at the Learning Solutions 2014 and Ecosystem 2014 conferences. This program is for organizations that are already using informal and experiential learning to get their employees up-to-speed, but have no easy way to track and manage the process. The next 10 organizations that enroll will have the opportunity to pilot TREK, customize it to meet their needs, and get personalized support—all at significantly reduced prices.

Cognitive Advisors provides learning strategy consulting on how to integrate informal, experiential, and formal learning to optimize the path to top-notch performance. To support the goal of optimizing performance, we have developed software that aligns experiential and informal learning with competencies to create flexible learning paths that shorten the time to proficiency. This cutting-edge software, the TREK Learning Experience Manager is a mobile and desktop application that is based on the Experience API (Tin Can). TREK goes beyond what an LMS can do by capturing and aligning experiential and informal learning. For more information, visit www.cognitiveadvisors.com.

Topics Covered

Blended Learning, Learning Systems, Mobile Learning, Performance Support

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