High-Tech Training Digital Collaboration

The advances in digital collaboration over the past decade has literally changed the landscape of training and development. Just a few short years ago digital collaboration had another name: email. People would read email and speak on the phone in order to make communication more effective. The advances in business communication, and as a result collaboration, have opened new doors into how employee training and assessment are performed. Employees can share content, hold discussions and communicate with facilitators remotely (Noe, 2013) through means such as electronic chat rooms, message boards, VOIP (http://www.voipreview.org/?s=GAD&gclid=CPzEvri1yLwCFaLm7Aodf0QAgA) and video; programs such as Google Docs (http://www.google.com/drive/apps.html), Dropbox and Skydrive enable the immediate sharing of documents, some even allowing for real time editing amongst multiple users. Digital collaboration will not replace face-to-face collaboration, but it will make collaboration between individuals in different locations easier, more cost efficient and time efficient.

Smartphones 

Smartphones have made workplace communication, training and development truly mobile. As smartphones are now as powerful as desktop computers, businesses have the ability to train employees

synchronously or asynchronously virtually anywhere. Some may argue that laptops have already filled this need, but smartphones have multiple advantages. While portable, most laptops are still cumbersome when not sitting stationary at a desk; also people always have their smartphones with them and accessible. Not only can training materials be downloaded on smartphones, but trainees can communicate through video or voice with each other or facilitators remotely. As far as the future of smartphone use for training, I believe that smartphones will take on more of a supplemental role. The IBM study that was provided in our readings this week illustrated that smartphone users do not want copious amounts of training content on their mobile phone, but do want information and support (Ahmad & Orton, 2010). I believe companies will continue to develop more effective ways of incorporating smartphones as a training accessory as opposed to a center piece.

Asynchronous Communication 

Walden University is an excellent example of how asynchronous communication can be used in training. Digital communication gives businesses the means to not only share documents, video and audio instantaneously, but also the means to store these items for subsequent access by others. One of the shortcomings of corporate training is that it generally requires employees to stop working, which affects productivity. As companies continue to upgrade their technology they will be able to provide employee trainings that are able to be accessed remotely, adding the convenience of 24 hour access and self-pacing.

Virtual Reality 

Virtual reality has been a fixation of Hollywood for many years. Even the video game company Nintendo attempted to create a virtual reality headset 20 years ago; it ended up causing headaches and seizures and was promptly abandoned. If perfected, virtual reality would be an invaluable training tool, in that employees could be placed in hyper realistic scenarios that replicate real world situations without putting people, data or equipment in harm’s way. Image a police raid simulation where no equipment or ammo is used; this is not only safe but cost effective. I believe that once virtual reality simulators become mass market, they will be employed in many training modules used by companies. Fortunately, significant strides in the manipulation of virtual environments, ironically enough, thanks to video game developers. A small development company has created the Oculus Rift (http://www.oculusvr.com/) which is a VR headset that also has a walking station, which together provide realistic virtual world where one can interact with objects as they would in the real world.

Social Media

The rise of social media as an educational platform has been slow and faces a lot of resistance. Many companies fear that using social media as a learning tool will have a negative effect on employee productivity; this is most likely due the stigma that comes with the word “social” within the workplace. Fortunately there are some intelligent people that realized how social media could be used to enhanced workplace development by presenting learning in a familiar package. Some companies have gone as far as to create their own proprietary social network just for their workplace. The focus of social media in the workplace is on communication, community, creativity, convergence and collaboration (Friedman & Friedman, 2013). I believe that social media will lead to a more light-hearted approach to workplace training in which employees are encouraged to communicate more frequently and have more fun while doing it. Social media will be used to bridge gaps between management and employees, making training less formal while used to build workplace relationships.  

References
Ahmad, N., & Orton, P. (2010). Smartphones make IBM smarter, but not as expected. Training and Development, 64(1), 46–50. Retrieved from the Academic Search Complete database

Friedman, L. & Friedman, H. (2013). Using Social Media Technologies to Enhance Online Learning. Journal of Educators Online, v10 n1 Jan 2013, 22 pp. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b5db5da3-bcbb-4f4d-ac78-47868bbad58a%40sessionmgr4005&vid=9&hid=4101

Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill