The five attributes of innovative e-learning

IBM's management development training program, Basic Blue for Managers, is a recent ASTD Excellence-in-Practice award winner. In this article, Lewis a nd Orton, who were intimately involved with the development of that program , challenge the belief that learning-style preferences are key to instructi onal design. They set out to debunk these myths: Different learners have different learning styles. Let learners tell you how to design your interventions. Give your customers what they want. "Knowing learner preferences can inform instructional design, but only if l earners understand all of the variables and features. The current problem w ith learning interventions is that not all choices are salient to learners, and, especially with online learning, not all attributes an understood." Lewis and Orton go on to explain the design of Basic Blue for Managers, whi ch transforms a five-day classroom experience into 50 weeks of online learn ing. Although prospective learners were queried as to their learning styles and preferences, their answers were unclear. Therefore, IBM decided that, because online learning is a technological innovation, "moving users over.. .requires a strategy beyond...learner preferences but instead understanding specific factors that change behavior." The authors go on to identify the following attributes that are strong pred ictors of an innovation's acceptance: relative advantage compatibility complexity trialability observability. Then, Lewis and Orton describe the design and deployment of IBM's online in structional offerings in detail in light of each of those attributes.