Learn/Perform Mixtape

2.13. Legal and Ethical Issues: Copyright and Fair Use in Learning Design

Learning Objective for Section 2.13.: Explain the importance of legal and ethical issues related to instructional design

Using any copyrighted work for learning and training purposes required permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the publisher of the work or the employer of the work’s author, or the author/creator of the work. As stated and shared in the AOE #3 episode on the topic 3.10. Copyright and Fair Use Laws.

Here is the recap of what US laws state about the use of materials for a class, training, or learning:     

Copyright Law: protects the expression of ideas but not the ideas themselves in some tangible form e.g. book, magazine, video, film, etc. Although the exact words in a book may be copyrighted the ideas in the book are not.  

READ: Copyright, eLearning, and Creativity via eLearning Industry

Fair Use: is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the US Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use.” When considering if objects or materials are under fair use, you should examine the four requirements:

1. The purpose is for nonprofit, noncommercial educational use (typical cases)
2. The nature of the copyrighted work is consistent with the proposed use
3. The amount of the original work involved some small uses can be considered an infringement, that is, a small portion involves the core idea in the copyrighted works
4. The effect of using the copyrighted work is not likely to deprive the copyright holder of sales or market interest    

Title 17, US Code of Federal Regulations, Section 201 There are also “Works Made for Hire” where the employer or the other person for who was hired for the work was authoring training instruments for an employer or organization as training materials to be designated their copyright.

RESOURCE: US Code: Title 17. Copyright via Cornell Law School

RESOURCE: Writing Copyright Statements for eLearning

Legal and Ethical Issues Related to Copyright and Fair Use

Things that cannot be protected by copyright include: ideas, processes, procedures, methods of operation, concepts, principles, or discoveries; however, a tangible description, explanation or illustration of these may be copyrighted.

In the United States, registering the work with the US Copyright Office provides legal protection and redress in state and federal courts; a copyright holder has the exclusive right to:

• Reproduce the copyrighted work
• Prepare derivative works (adaption) based on the copyrighted work
• Distribute copies of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending
• Perform the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of motion pictures or other audiovisual works; and
• Display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of audio or visual work.

Exclusive rights are qualified by the fair use privilege, which allows others to use copyrighted material in a reasonable manner without the copyright owner’s consent. Although legal guidelines exist, fair use is difficult legal concept to understand.

Bottom line: obtain written consent from the copyright holder to use the materials that are copyrighted, even for an educational program OR find training materials that allow for fair use or attribution for your learning/training materials. When in doubt ASK SOMEONE!

Open Up: Creative Comments and Open Education Resources 

• Open Up: OER for Higher Teaching, Learning, and Support Services includes The National Forum Open Licensing Toolkit [PDF]
• To Share Your Work, You Gotta Put a @CreativeCommons License On It! 

2.12. Individual & Organizational Influences on Learning and Change

Learning Objective for Section 2.12.: Identify individual and social factors that influence an adult’s motivation to learn and change. 

Change might be a business decision; however transitions at work often have emotional and political effects on any organization and their employees. Motivating factors is one of the most critical elements to consider while implementing change related to learning. If designing learning is part of a change initiative, organizational transition, or method for managing change in a company, talent development practitioners should be aware of how any change could create challenges to learning solutions, i.e. resistance, turnover, and failure to institutionalize the change.

READ: 3 Instructional Design Strategies for SMART Change 

It is critical to involve the change agents during during the learning planning stage to minimize potential issues and consider issues that might occur at all levels. Empowering employees to make choices can help them accept change and ensure this transition is smooth. Some incentives might come from management rewards for acceptance or additional support to help move others along in the transition.

Influences on Learning: How Instructional Design Can Impact Change

Motivation is one of the main influences on people’s willingness to learn. When change comes, sometimes a learning initiative to understand this transition is needed. Two ways to influence this willingness to learn is to:

1. Energize learners’ motivation to learn
2. Use whatever motivation they already have

Training success happens when the new skills and knowledge are applied on the job.To encourage a change in behavior or performance, learners need to realize the learning outcomes.This could be through other learner testimonials, sharing the implications of not gaining this skill, what's in it for me (WIIFM), and identify the knowledge gap might do for their career trajectory. You might also be able to introduce employees to informal learning and technologies (e.g. wikis, blogs, communities of practice, etc.). Other ways to motivate learners by:

• Building anticipation of outcomes through authentic contexts
• Making the context appealing (e.g. sound, music, novelty, suspense, humor, etc.)
• Providing a challenge and adjusting the challenge levels to match different learners’ levels of readiness
• Providing intrinsic feedback

More information about support organization and individual influences on learning, more will be discussed in AOE #10 Change Management, Section 10.11. Motivation Theory.

Are you a learning designer or talent development professional who has developed training/learning solutions for change? How'd it go?

2.11. Learning Technologies

Learning Objective for Section 2.11.: List at least three strategies for keeping up-to-date regarding learning technologies

Similar to the previous episode 2.10. about Selecting Delivery Options and Media, it will be critical to make the most appropriate and effective choices for technologies for learning. There are a number of options for methods, media, and ways to deliver training/learning solutions; however, not all technologies will be suitable for your employees/professionals. Not all training settings or organizational set ups will require high-tech solutions for learning, and it will be context and learning participant dependent as well.

Knowledge of Learning Technologies and Support Systems

It is critical to get to know a few things, with regards to technology, which include:

• Understand the learning technologies currently in use within the organization & the potential capability to expand
• Collaborate and cultivate relationships with the company’s information technology professionals to help you identify software/hardware options available for training
• Explore and educate yourself on emerging technologies used in learning and training environments in industry and education -- specifically applications, use, and practical strategies for learning development/design

Here are a few suggestions of where and how to stay connected to learning technologies within talent development from the CPLP training system:

• Join the Association for Talent Development (ATD) https://www.td.org/
• Read TD magazine (https://www.td.org/td-magazine) and Learning Circuits
• Attend ATD conferences or events https://www.td.org/events 
• Search topics https://www.td.org/topics/learning-technologies 
• Attend ATD webinars -- often free or openly available + archived webcasts 
• Join other associations like:
  • The eLearning Guild https://www.elearningguild.com/ 
  • United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) https://usdla.org/ 
  • Society for Applied Learning Technology (SALT) https://www.salt.org/ 

And beyond these organizations, there are a number of professional associations, organizations, and networked communities to access, share, and find learning technologies for training and instructional design in K-12, higher ed, etc. -- here are my “go to” to get you started:

• Online Learning Consortium https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/ 
• Association for Educational Communications & Technology (AECT) https://www.aect.org/ 
• EDUCAUSE https://www.educause.edu/
• ISTE https://www.iste.org/ 
• WCET https://wcet.wiche.edu/ 
• Association for Learning Technology (ALT) https://www.alt.ac.uk/ 
• Association for Professional, Continuing & Online Education (UPCEA) https://upcea.edu/ 
• Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network https://podnetwork.org/
• My personal learning network on blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, LinkedIn Groups, podcasts, and more!

Ahead, we’ll talk more about learning technologies in AOE #6 Managing Learning Programs, Section 6.2. Learning Technologies and Support Systems -- stay tuned! 

How do you stay connected to learning technologies for training and instructional design? Let me know! Share your suggestions on what to read, watch, follow, or connect to online to continue my knowledge on the topic.

2.10. Delivery Options and Media

Learning Objective for Section 2.10.: List at least three delivery options or media available for delivering learning solutions

Delivery Option Considerations

To design effective learning talent development professionals must understand what is possible, the variety of mediums, and the current technologies or media that can support training/learning solutions. To determine the most effective delivery option and types of media, it will be critical to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each medium has for learning. 

Selection of learning delivery method and media also will be aligned to the given scope constraints, time to design and deliver learning, cost, geographic location of learners, baseline knowledge of learners, technical skills to be taught, and so on. Here are a few things to consider for learning delivery options:

• Online and mobile learning
• Performance support systems
• Classroom training (face-to-face)
• Blended learning
• Games and simulation
• Self-directed learning
• On-the-job training (e.g. coaching, mentoring, etc.)

THROWBACK: #TBT  You may recall that selecting training/learning delivery options and media can also be found in AOE #3 Training Delivery; Section 3.5. Various Delivery Options (link to this podcast episode and resources)

What Exactly is Flipped Learning?

Flipping the learning experiences is also known as “inverting” learning or taking a “pedagogy-first” approach to instruction. This is where the learning materials (for a course, training session, or workshop) are introduced outside of the designated class meeting session. The time spent either in-person or during an asynchronous online meeting is re-purposed for inquiry, application, and assessment in order to better meet the needs of individual learners.

The Four Pillars of F-L-I-P from the Flipped Learning Network

1.    F: Flexible Environment

2.    L: Learning Culture

3.    I: Intentional Content

4.    P: Professional Educator

Read more at: https://flippedlearning.org/definition-of-flipped-learning/

BONUS RESOURCES: 

• Chapter 9: Choosing and using media in education: the SECTIONS model by Tony Bates
• Learners needs! Review: 9.2 Students 
• Checklist for Selecting Technology for Learning

How do you make your decisions about media, mediums, and delivery options for instructional design?

2.3. Individual Learning Preferences

Learning Objectives for Section 2.3.:

• Explain why learning styles is a myth
• Define learning modalities

Learning Modalities

Learning modalities refers to how information is received from the environment into our brains through our five senses: hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching.

The Learning Style Concept is a Neuromyth: learnings styles that try to measure differences in individuals' learning have been debunked and are a myth. You might know a few of these assessments or instruments to classify learning styles: Kolb’s Learning Styles Inventory or VAK (visual, auditory, kinesthetic). Researchers have indicated that there is no evidence for the validity of learning styles or that it leads to optimal learning if identified. Additionally, investing in these learning style assessments/inventories could lead learners to develop self-limiting beliefs about themselves that could be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Models that Incorporate Learning Preference: some evidence-based theories and models that focus on individual learning preferences include (which a few were mentioned on the previous episode in the AOE #2 Instructional Design; Section 2.2. Learning Theories):

• Multiple intelligences (Howard Gardner)
• Brain-based approaches to learning (Ned Herrmann)
• Factors affecting the speed at which adults learn
• Accelerated learning techniques
• Modules (Patricia Cross)
  • Characteristics of Adult Learners (CAL) : framework developed to describe why adults participate in learning; motivations and deterrents to adult learning
  • Chain-of-Response (COR) : is a model that asserts that adult participation in learning is not an isolated act but results from a complex series of personal responses to internal and external variables that either encourage or discourage participation in learning

The Design Value of Learning Modalities

Although we don’t use learning style preferences, there is something for offering training and learning solutions for a variety of learning modalities and techniques to resonate with all learners. Here are a few helpful reminders of why multiple modes for learning are critical from Design for How People Learn (Dirkesen, 2012):

• Everyone does not learn the same way. 
• Designers should vary the way learning is approached depending on the subject, topic, or focus of the training. 
• Except for any accessibility needs or physical impairments, most learners use senses predominantly visual, auditory, and tactile ways to learn.

Senses & Design Considerations
Seeing 

• providing written directions when possible
• enhancing presentations with visuals, graphics, illustrations, diagrams, props, or flowcharts
• helping participants visualize a process using demonstrations, or role plays

Hearing

• providing spoken directions
• using discussions, debates, panels, or interviews
• planning for buzz groups, small group discussion, or various discussion group configurations

Touching 

• providing hands on practice with the actual equipment, forms, or tools
• engaging learners in experiential learning activities or solving problems
• allowing time for active review and practice methods

We need to design learning beyond our own expectations or personal preferences for learning design solutions -- it needs to be relevant for on-the-job outcomes and performance.

REVIEW: Designing Multimodal Approaches for Learning 

How are you designing with multiple modes and learners in mind?

AOE 2. Instructional Design; 2.2. Learning Theories

Learning Objectives for Section 2.2.: 

• Summarize the role adult learning theories play in the design of learning solutions 
• Discuss Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Discuss Malcom Knowles’ concept of andragogy and its importance to instructional design
• Explain the difference between teaching and facilitating learning
• Describe the individual characteristics of learning, including the roles that motivation, goals, experience, and culture play.
• Define the various theories of learning and memory, including behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.
• Describe the concept of the learning brain model and how it relates to adult learning
• List six external and environmental influences that affect an adult’s ability to learn
• Explain Howard Gardner’s concept of multiple intelligence theory

The Role of Adult Learning Theories in Instructional Design

Learning theories explain why some training techniques may work better than others; and this helps talent development professionals design effective learning solutions. Trainers help improve performance by facilitating learning in a traditional or virtual classroom, one-on-one, or on-the-job in an organization. Knowledge of adult learning theories help talent development professionals to:

• Consider the learning strategies, tactics, experiences, and learning environments that support the theories
• Relate the design of materials to the differences in the ways adults learn
• Explain why training is designed as it is
• Assess designs to ensure that it meets the needs of learners
• Outline how learning theory influences knowledge acquisition, retention, and application of information.

Theories of Learning and Memory:

This is the HOW learners internalize information and identifies ways to increase the successful transfer of learning for retention. Essentially it will be to understand how humans access, treat, and retrieve information with these three classic learning theories:

1. Behaviorism: concerned with the relationship between stimuli and response to predict and control behavior; advantages:
   • Establishes objectives that are clear and unmistakable
   • Ensures behavioral practice, not just theory
   • Works best for helping learners to acquire behavioral skills
   • Is highly specific
   • Is observable (learners know when they have succeeded)
2. Cognitivism: focuses on what is happening to the learning internally; trying to “understand understanding” specifically how people perceive, think, remember, learn, solve problems, and attend to one stimulus over another; advantages:
   • Treats people as adults
   • Focuses on thinking skills
   • Emphasizes foundational knowledge 
   • Builds a base of information, concepts, and rules
   • Provides the rationale upon which action is based
3. Constructivism: the focus is on how learners internalize what they learn; advantages:
   • Is discovery orient
   • Centers on learner understanding
   • Builds learner understanding with real-world relevance
   • Allows for differences in learner backgrounds and experiences
   • Has facilitators guide learners through the learning process

READ MORE: Epistemology and theories of learning; Objectivism and behaviorism; Cognitivism and Constructivism from Chapter 2: The nature of knowledge and implications for teaching by Tony Bates

Maslow’s HIerarchy of Needs: explains the foundations of motivation and offer a logical leveling from physiological to psychological needs:

1. Physiological
2. Safety
3. Belongingness
4. Esteem
5. Self-Actualization

READ: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Explained

Malcom Knowles’s Adult Learning, or Andragogy: the way adults learn are different from children; often more self-directed, internally motivated, and ready to learn; unlike pedagogy (traditional style of teaching based on lecturing or a didactic model), this is learner-centered rather than content-centred or instructor-led.

READ: Andragogy - Adult Learning Theory (Knowles)

Andragogy (Knowles, 1984): contends that five key principles affect the ways adults learn: 

1. Self-concept of the learner:
2. Prior experience of the learner
3. Readiness to learn
4. Orientation to learning
5. Motivation to learn

Individual Characteristics of Learning: adults learn only when they need or want to learn, no matter how good the talent development professional or training experience is -- here are the four key characteristics of learning:

1. Motivation
2. Goals
3. Experience
4. Culture

Approaches to Motivating Learners: 4 foundational principles to motivate adult learners are:

1. Inclusion
2. Attitude
3. Meaning
4. Competence

How Culture May Influence Learning: this might impact the training experience and ability for participants to learn, specifically related to these differences:

• Verbal and nonverbal messages that don’t match
• Reluctance to speak
• Limited eye contact
• Proximity to others
• Power distance

Questions the learning designer should ask before developing training:

• What cultural norms or values might exist?
• How do they differ among all learners?
• What implications do these norms or values have in designing the content?
• What adjustments need to be made in the design?

Adult Development and Age: Does our learning change or capacity to learn change as we age? Not necessarily. Neuroplasticity, the ability of our brains to change and adapt, does not decline with age. We are able to continually learn, adapt, and grow -- this includes building new neural connections to receive, process, and transmit information. Confronting ideas that are contrary to one’s own helps to stimulate the development of new neural pathways -- keep adult learning programs going!

The Whole Brain Thinking Model: we use the whole brain (both sides/hemispheres) to process information. These are complementary, not competitive to make a decision, analyze a problem, compare solutions, and support long-term learning. The left side of the brain is associated with time orientation; sequential processing of events; language; logic; mathematics; analysis; and awareness of cause and effect. The right side of the brain spe...

The Area of Expertise (AOE) #2: Instructional Design refers to the “designing, creating, and developing informal and formal learning solutions to meet organizational needs; analyzing and selecting the most appropriate strategy, methodologies, and technologies to maximize the learning experience and impact.” This section is weighted 13-14% of the exam; 20-21 questions

A skilled workforce is one that has a competitive advantage that enables the organization to adapt, change, grow, and innovate. Talent development professionals who are savvy instructional designers (IDs) contribute directly to the business strategy and organizational goals. In AOE #2, we will focus on the following key knowledge areas:

• Business strategy, drivers, or needs associated with possible  learning solutions
• Need assessment approaches
• Research methods, including informational scanning, data gathering, and analysis
• Content knowledge or techniques to elicit content from subject matter experts
• Learning theories
• Instructional design theory and process
• Various instructional methods
• Various delivery options and media
• Existing and emerging learning technologies and support systems
• Individual learning modalities
• Individual, group, and organizational differences that influence learning and motivation
• Assessment methods and formats
• Legal and ethical issues related to instructional design

Crossover in this chapter will be with AOE #3 Training Delivery and AOE #6: Managing Learning Programs, specifically the section on Legal, Regulatory, and Ethical Requirements. Roles in this area might be called: instructional designer, course designers, program designer, designer, instructional developer, eLearning specialist, or curriculum development specialist. There are so many more names--see my presentation “Who Designs Learning Today?” https://www.slideshare.net/LauraPasquini/who-is-designing-learning-today 

A few books I might refer to or mention in this area of expertise:

• ISD from the Ground Up, 4th Ed. by Chuck Hodell
• Teaching in a Digital Age, 2nd Ed. by Tony Bates
• Training and Development for Dummies by Elaine Biech
• e-Learning and the Science of Instruction by Ruth Colving Clark and Richard Mayer
• Project Management for Instructional Designers by Wiley et al. https://pm4id.org/ 

2.1. Business Strategy and Drivers

Learning Objective: Describe the value and purpose of understanding the business drivers that identify a need prior to designing the learning. 

Like other areas of your organization, talent development requires investment for your employees to encourage more production, sales, output, customer satisfaction, and more! If your professionals are being developed and engaged, it will increase the bottom line. Aligning goals and objectives of the company to instructional design, will allow you to justify the need for talent development professionals within your organization.

READ:  Instructional Design Strategy: What Is Its Role in eLearning Design 

Link Talent Development and Instructional Design to Business Drivers

Business drivers are internal and external forces that direct and influence the organization’s strategy, goals, business needs , and performance goals. Business drivers are often resources, processes, or conditions that are essential for growth and success of a company. The learning design and goals should be linked to these business drivers and strategies that might include:

• Reducing expenses
• Generating revenue
• Building employee engagement

Design to Meet Business Requirements

Similar to the AOE #1 Performance Improvement (specifically Section 1.3. Business, Performance, and Gap Analysis and Section 1.4. Root Cause Analysis), you want the instructional designer (ID) to focus on designing learning that develops objectives, materials, instructional methods, timing, and participation that is related to focused business needs and requirements. This would include assessing the session length, cost of development, media needs, learning activities, the environment to learn, how to have participants practice skills, and more. To meet these business requirements, you will need to ensure that participants are prepared to learn and the ID meet the goal expectations by:

• Ensuring the design incorporates steps prior to the learning experience that prepare participants for what will happen
• Clarify with management what the participants are expected to do differently or better, and how this aligns to business goals
• Identify what action management will take to support changes after the learning event, such a reinforcement and feedback
• Design support in the form of both hard copy and online materials that can be used after the learning event
• Ensure That participants know how their efforts will affect business goals
• Be certain participants know what is expected of them and how they will be held accountable
• Clearly identify the trainer’s role in support and follow-up
• Be sure participants know how they can find assistance following the learning event

Design to Achieve Strategy

IDs and talent development professionals needs to understand the business to align learning with organizational goals. Practitioners developing learning and training can upgrade skills and knowledge for strategy by:

• Providing services that support the organization’s business strategy
• Learning to measure results or relating results to other internal measures
• Becoming educated and educating others in strategic planning
• Finding opportunities to serve on cross functional teams
• Reviewing relevant documentation e.g. strategy/corporate plans
• Working with leaders in other departments to learn about their problems and needs
• Learning more about the industry by reading journals or checking the internet
• Learning about the competition and how has the competitive edge
• Staying abreast of the changes the organization is facing and anticipate the kind of support it will need
• Determining how the organization is viewed externally and what customers say
• Developing specific measurements for all courses or programs
• Framing questions to be certain that all issues were considered in linking training to organizational business strategy and drivers

Note: More will be discussed in AOE #6 Managing Learning Programs; Section 6.1: Business Model Drivers, and Competitive Position in an upcoming episode

AOE 7. Integrated Talent Management; 7.4. Individual and Organizational Assessment Tools

Learning Objectives:

• List two types of multi-rater feedback tools, and define each
• Discuss the key differences between personality inventory instruments and personality tests
• Identify the purpose and benefits of career profiles
• Define the purpose of leadership assessments, and list two types of leadership assessments
• Summarize the issues associated with administering assessments, including validity, reliability, fairness, special accommodations, and legal issues surrounding testing

Human Resource Audits: is one component of succession planning system, which build s on the identification of successors and addresses employee mobility with regards to various positions; this audit would identify is employees should stay at their current position or move to other positions and it offers strategies to help designate pools of qualified employees based on their skills and abilities. Managers often conduct an HR audit by reviewing their direct reports to determine:

• Time in current position
• Performance
• Readiness for advancement
• Potential to move to a new position
• Development required

Plans for succession and movement within an organization allow pathways into leadership and identify other opportunities where professionals might also move into new functional roles or to grow in a particular new occupational area.You want to work with and involve employees in the process of succession planning based on their performance appraisals or other means of providing viable, dependable, employee skill information. This might also happen with reporting in progress on projects; 1:1 meetings; quarterly reviews;snapshot of work with clients or billable hours.

READ: A Beginner’s Guide to Succession Planning

Human Resource Assessment and Audits
Multi-Rater Feedback: Multiple reviewers offer feedback as a process with at least two levels of management to review employees and agree on their candidacy for specific positions. This type of evaluation might occur or be warranted under these conditions:

• Major judgements or experience levels are weak
• There is a shortage of identified talent
• The organizational culture supports structures 

360-Degree Feedback Evaluation: is based on opinions and recommendations from superiors, direct reports, peers, and internal and external customers on how a person performs in any number of behavioral areas; offers a more well-rounded view of performance/work

Assessment Centers: might include oral exercises, counseling simulations, problem-analysis exercises, interview simulations, role-play exercises, written report, or analysis exercises for individuals or groups of employees; may be used for selection or development purposes

Personality Inventory Instruments: offers a picture of a person’s personality type and indicates personality preferences. Examples (of many):

DiSC Personality Profile: is a behavior assessment tool based on the work on William Marston that provides four dimensional model and four profiles: dominance (direct and decisive), influence (optimistic and outgoing), steadiness (sympathetic and cooperative), and conscientiousness (concerned and correct). Learn more at: https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/  Free DiSC Assessment: https://www.onlinepersonalitytests.org/disc/ 

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): is an instrument that helps determine personality type based on preferences for extraversion or introversion, intuiting or sensing, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving; used in career development and team building. Learn more at: https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/ Free MBTI or Jungian Personality Test:https://psychcentral.com/quizzes/personality/start.php 

Strong Interest Inventory: E.K. Strong self assessment tool to look at people's interests (likes and dislikes) at work; Also in the ONET Online: https://www.onetonline.org/  Learn more at: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/the-strong-interest-inventory-526173 

Holland Code (RIASEC) Test - Interest Inventory: https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/RIASEC/ 

My Next Move https://www.mynextmove.org/ “Tell us what you like to do” section to self-assess

Career Profiles: include a resume, summary statement, personal work history, skills, and competencies; a tool to map current professional progress in a position and plan for career changes.

Leadership Assessments: help organizations assess developmental needs of current and future leaders at all levels; This might help with career planning, professional development, and understanding baseline needs with role-playing, simulations, etc. to identify needs for improving leadership skills like decision-making, delegating, coaching, etc.

Administrative Considerations

It is important to consider the following issues when you are administering any of these inventories, assessments or using these instruments as a talent development professional:

• Validity
• Reliability
• Fairness
• Special Accommodations
• Legal Issues Surrounding Testing

AOE 7. Integrated Talent Management; 7.8. Ethical Standards and Legal Issues

How are your employment practices (e.g. hiring, promotion, demotion, etc.) fair, legal, and just? FYI: This episode is US-centric and refers to talent management practices in the United States.

Learning Objective: Identify and explain the implications of hiring or promotion decisions when using psychological and personality tests

Understanding the legal ramifications of all aspects of the talent management cycle ensures compliance with applicable local, regional, national, etc. regulations and laws. In the US, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the governing body that dispenses regulations to govern the hiring, promotion, and discharge of employees, as well as training guidance. The EEOC guidelines apply to tests and other selection process for hiring, promoting, or demoting employees, and also decisions for training, transfer, or any other impacts for employees.

READ: Equal Employment Opportunity https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/discrimination via US Department of Labor

READ: What is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)? 

Hiring Practices and Testing

If you have ever applied for a job, it often requires a number of application sections and online processes to submit your application and complete the job application process. In the United States, there are a number of layers as you enter into the job or candidate portal to complete a single job application. Beyond uploading your resume, CV, cover letter, etc. detailing your work experience, you might also be required to enter your work eligibility, age (above 18), accessibility needs or accommodations, non-compete disclosures, previous employment at the organization, and other related qualifications or certifications for a particular role. In the United states, the EEOC will also ask candidates questions about their gender, sexual orientation, military service, disability, and ethnic/racial backgrounds. 

Use of any testing in hiring , promotion or retention is an established practice. Tests must confirm that employer’s test criteria are directly related to job performance and not a protected group. These are guided by the EEOC regulations to ensure there is not discrimination in hiring. Other practical examples of this equal opportunity considerations look at the lawful selection of individuals to complete talent development programs, such as :

• Required training prior to job entry
• Selecting employees to attend internal and external programs
• Using tests in training as measures of job performance and retention
• Making job assignments based on performance in the training program

It is up to the organization, the employer, to bear the burden of proof to demonstrate specific requirements are based on job performance. US federal court will evaluate any job requirements for job relatedness through the human resource management and development cycle. More in AOE 6. Managing Learning Programs, Section 6.8.

Are you studying for the CPLP now? Let me know and let's connect:

Podcast web space: https://techknowtools.com/learnperform-mixtape/

Twitter: @laurapasquini

LInkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurapasquini/

AOE 7. Integrated Talent Management; 7.7. Maximizing Workplace Diversity

Diversity is more that "good for the bottom line" -- it improves our organizations functions, creativity, productivity, and awareness to new ideas and innovative approaches for how we work and learn.

Learning Objectives: 

• Compare and contrast high-context and low-context cultures, and discuss how communication differs when dealing with each of these
• Explain considerations regarding personal space and workplace diversity training
• List two strategies that are used to create diverse workforce
• Provide examples of the needs of the Baby Boomer generation versus Generation X, Y, and Z and how this may have an effect on career planning programs
• Identify strategies that could be used to facilitate inclusion in multiracial, multigenerational environments

READ: Workplace Diversity Through Recruitment: A Step-By-Step Guide via Ideal

Cultural Awareness: Training material sand software for global use need to be designed from the start with multilingual and multicultural participants in mind. Culture arises from shared behaviors, values, and beliefs shaped by such factors as language, religion, cuisine, music, etc. Culture influences the value society puts on individualism versus group action, tolerance for uncertainty, a willingness to take risks, and ways of interacting with a trainer and peers for professional learning, which impacts other factors such as communication and interaction for talent development. 

BOOK: Developing Localization Friendly ELearning by Kieran McBrien (2015)

Power Distance Differences: high-power cultures emphasize more traditional teach-student relations -- here are the differences:

High Power Distance | Low Power Distance
Formal relationships | Informal relationships
High dependence | Low dependence
Teacher oriented | Learner oriented
Impersonal | Highly personal
Status emphasis | Equality emphasis
Fixed approach | Variable approach
Conformity | Experimentation

Some features of culture, such as language and dress, are immediately apparent. Other features, such as attitudes about age, personal space, work, time, and reactions to authority, may be subtle.

Gender Equality: In the US, after the Civil Rights Active of 1964, American corporations still did not not deal with gender discrimination in the workplace -- many claims were made each year revealing that women in particular still experience discrimination in pay and advancement. This is SLOWLY being worked on to deal with gender discrimination and pay inequity issues -- but we’re still not there. The importance of gender varies by country, nationality, culture, and more. 

BONUS LISTENS: The #InVinoFab Podcast https://invinofab.transistor.fm/ these specific episodes:

• Ep. 19: Mind the Gender Gap - Overworked & Underpaid
• Ep. 36: Beyond Diversity & Inclusion Training
• Ep. 40: Gender Equality in Higher Ed Work

Race Awareness: Implementing diversity and awareness can only help the bottom line. The CPLP guide on this is out of date -- those organizations who do not embrace or consider any diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts for any aspect of talent management will not contribute to enhance individual or organizational missions, visions, or goals. Identifying racial or ethical differences are key to understanding how individuals interact, communicate, and engage in work. That’s my “off script” insights to what I read -- bringing awareness to racial issues and viewpoints allows the organization to benefit by: 

• Attracting and retaining the best and brightest candidates from all cultures/backgrounds
• Increases the market share and creates a satisfied customer base with changing demographics
• Employees learn to communicative with and truly understand one another which lets them be more innovative, responsive, and productive
• Expansion of job candidate pools and criteria for hiring and promoting employees with fair opportunities
• Increase employee engagement to increase employee retention
• Diversity fosters a range of different perspectives and results in better decisions, innovative product development, better customer service, and expansion into new markets
• An inclusive culture develops more flexible & broader-thinking leaders for a global economy
• Overall organizational performance improves when people are encouraged to overcome cultural misunderstanding and appreciate differences
• Employees feel more valued and tend to be more productive

Generational Differences: There are 4-5 generations at work together, depending on where you are working in the world (see 7.3. Career Development Theories & Approaches); that being said talent development professionals want to strive to raise workplace awareness of the diversity and differences for how these different generations approach and perceive work. This can prevent conflict and encourage cooperation in an organization.

Personal Space: This is a cultural item -- space between individuals varies depending on the cultural context. This matters for training, mentoring, coaching, and other interactions for talent management/development. Mentioned before in an earlier podcast episode, Proxemics, is the relationship of people’s positions in space. Hall (1969) defined four spatial relationships:

1. Intimate: 18 inches; family & partners
2. Personal: 18 inches to 4 feet; family & friends
3. Social: 4-12 feet; co-workers & social acquaintances 
4. Public: 12 feet+; speakers and entertainers

Disability Awareness: In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 has a number of implications for training and learning design for people who need access. The ADA prohibits discrimination in employment, public services, transportation, public accommodations, and telecommunication services. This includes aspects of employment such as job applications, selection processes, on-the-job-training, wage increases, benefits, and employer-sponsored social activities. Employers must provide reasonable accommodations for professionals to access and perform the essential functions for the designated job. 

Implications for Multiple Languages: For difference learning experiences, it might be helpful to offer training and learning materials in multiple languages depending on the workplace setting, geographic location, or needs within the professional group. These will help to add to learning and talent development:

• Accent and linguistics 
• Gross translation errors
• Nuance errors 

Facilitation of Inclusion: it is important to include new cultural ideas or identities for various groups who are part of your talent management plan. In looking at your training analysis and planning processes for employee development programs, HR functions and top management may develop a strategy to interview and hire for differences to broaden div...