Break Out of the Box

It does not have to be this way. Sometimes the boxes in which we find ourselves are more real than imagined (kind of like the boxes that mimes indicate with hand gestures).
You can break out of your technology boxes with a little creative thinking. Some strategies that immediately come to mind include:
- Mixing and matching differing learning technologies that have different strengths to achieve desired results (e.g. seamlessly linking to discussion board software from a learning system that does not have this functionality)
- Work-arounds to enhance the functionality of existing learning technology (e.g. using existing telephone bridges for audio when teaching with web conferencing technology)
- Introduction of easy-to-use Web 2.0 tools (e.g. Blogs and Wikis) to provide missing communication elements
- Doing away with ridiculous and over-zealous IT policies that do not allow for any flexibility concerning the introduction of new technologies in aid of learning (or having these hosted externally)
Of course it makes it much easier to do this when your IT folks are on side. You must have a culture wherein your IT support people are enablers and not blockers. Unfortunately, too often they are blockers, coming up with 10 reasons why something cannot be done, rather than finding a way to make things work. A really good IT department finds ways to help you get to where you want to be with your eLearning.
We will explore these themes in some detail in our October 5th webinar titled: Don't Box Me In!: Overcoming the Constraints of Technology to Achieve Your eLearning Goals. Be sure to check it out.