Chapter 4 Learning Technologies

Question 1

Which of the following might be most important method for a TD professional to stay in touch with technology? (Choose the best response.)

Network with peers internally and externally through social media and at conferences

Form an internal technology team

Search the Internet for best practices and software

Assess learners’ access to technology and their future needs

Answer 1

Network with peers internally and externally through social media and at conferences

Response A is correct. Technology changes rapidly and it may be difficult to stay up to date without information from others outside the organization.

Question 2

What aspects of technology should a TD professional consider to ensure successful implementation of an organization’s learning technology? (Choose the best response.)

The organization’s technology capabilities

The learners’ access to technology

New technological developments

All of the above

Answer 2

All of the above

Response D is correct. An effective TD professional must be informed of all three aspects to ensure successful implementation of an organizational learning technology.

Question 3

You have just been hired as a TD professional for a medium-size organization that wants to improve its use of technology for developing its employees. You have been asked for an initial review of the organization’s capacity to use technology for learning. What information will you gather first? (Choose the best response.)

A summary of how employees prefer to learn and their experience with technology

The degree to which content has been stored as learning objects

The hard technology capabilities and the dynamic capability available in the organization

The results of the most recent employee engagement survey

Answer 3

The degree to which content has been stored as learning objects

Response B is correct. All of the responses provide information, but the availability of learning objects is critical to establish a content foundation and will help you understand the organization’s readiness.

Question 4

In designing a learning opportunity, which of the following questions is it most important to ask? (Choose the best response.)

Is a technological solution the most practical for achieving the intended change in behavior?

Do learners have access to this technology?

Will the learning object be developed in-house or by outside suppliers?

Is this technology acceptable to learners?

Answer 4

Is a technological solution the most practical for achieving the intended change in behavior?

Response A is correct. All of these questions are important, but the most important one is whether the technological solution is most likely to produce the desired outcome.

Question 5

What is the purpose of the “flipped classroom”? (Choose the best response.)

To reduce the amount of presentation facilitators must prepare

To shuffle learners so they work with new partners regularly

To use class time to encourage learners to focus on higher orders of learning

To improve the quality of face-to-face education

Answer 5

To use class time to encourage learners to focus on higher orders of learning

Response C is correct. The expectation is that learners will complete the basic stages of learning, remembering, and understanding on their own outside of class and use class time for applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating new things using their basic knowledge.

Question 6

Despite Shirky’s argument for banning devices from the classroom, which of the following is the best reason to allow them? (Choose the best response.)

Learners would be able to multitask

Learners with learning disabilities who use these devices would not have to disclose their disability

Learners could communicate with one another without being disruptive

Facilitators could monitor the activities of learners

Answer 6

Learners with learning disabilities who use these devices would not have to disclose their disability

Response B is correct. Not all learners with learning disabilities disclose them, and requesting an exemption from a ban on devices might make them uncomfortable by singling them out.

Question 7

What is the difference between teleconferencing and web conferencing? (Choose the best response.)

They are essentially the same

Teleconferencing is intended to reach a larger audience

Web conferencing requires less bandwidth

Teleconferencing facilities require a dedicated satellite dish for connection

Answer 7

Teleconferencing facilities require a dedicated satellite dish for connection

Response D is correct. It does. Web conferencing may also use satellite connections, but through regular telephony channels.

Question 8

VoIP is ___________ (Choose the option that completes the sentence accurately.)

Web-based telephony

An early Internet protocol

A method of streaming video

A mobile application

Answer 8

Web-based telephony

Response A is correct. It means “Voice over Internet Protocol.”

Question 9

Are the Internet and the web interchangeable terms? (Choose the best response.)

Yes, they are the same

No, the web is a method for sharing information on the Internet

No, the Internet is part of the web

Yes, the web is the latest development of the Internet

Answer 9

No, the web is a method for sharing information on the Internet

Response B is correct. The Internet is a very large network of connections, while the web uses the HTTP protocol to share information.

Question 10

Which of the following refers to Web 2.0? (Choose the best response.)

A substantial upgrade in the capacity of the web

A governing standard for materials posted on the web

An expansion of the types of interactive media used on the web

A future standard for the development of new applications

Answer 10

An expansion of the types of interactive media used on the web

Response C is correct. However, it doesn’t reflect an upgrade in the same way as a similarly named software might.

Question 11

Can cloud-based file sharing be considered a social medium? (Choose the best response.)

No, because it is more like a memory stick or external file saving device

Yes, because it is available through the web

No, because it is not secure enough to protect privacy

Yes, because it allows people in multiple places to collaborate

Answer 11

Yes, because it allows people in multiple places to collaborate

Response D is correct. Ability to exchange views and collaborate is central to social media.

Question 12

EDUCAUSE lists laptop computers among the devices that enable mobile learning. Why might some others not include laptops in the list? (Choose the best response.)

Because they are more expensive

Because older ones use keyboards, touchpads, and mice as input devices

Because not all laptops can be connected to the web

Because they are less accessible in developing economies

Answer 12

Because older ones use keyboards, touchpads, and mice as input devices

Response B is correct. Modern laptops often have touchscreens and on-screen keyboards, but earlier ones use older forms of input that make them similar to desktop computers, which are not as mobile.

Question 13

Which of these is a benefit of using mobile learning? (Choose the best response.)

It is conducted over a secure web server

It changes the learning dynamic to one of co-creation

It relies on a standard type of courseware

It is very inexpensive

Answer 13

It changes the learning dynamic to one of co-creation

Response B is correct. It can be conducted over a secure server, but use of some forms of social media may make it less secure. At the moment, there is no standard for courseware, and some of the common types do not play on all operating systems. The expense depends on connection and data charges, which may be large.

Question 14

You are a new TD professional in a medium-size organization that deploys repair people. The median age of employees is 45. One of your first projects will be to develop an EPSS. What information would you like to have first? (Choose the best response.)

How will employees access the EPSS?

How comfortable are employees with web-based technologies?

What type of information with the EPSS contain?

Who will develop the information?

Answer 14

How comfortable are employees with web-based technologies?

Response B is correct. Avoid making assumptions about people’s skills and comfort with technology based on age. It is important to learn as much as you can.

Question 15

Another project you will undertake as a TD professional is to identify people in the organization who are good at mentoring others. Assume that you do not have a big budget to do this. Which of these options might be the least expensive to use to begin with? (Choose the best response.)

Monitor social media to see who gets the most questions

Ask the head of HR who the most accomplished employees are

Develop a webpage with links to employees’ pictures and brief resumes

Post a PDF document on the shared document server with an index of skills and the people who have them

Answer 15

Post a PDF document on the shared document server with an index of skills and the people who have them

Response D is correct. All of these are good ideas, but the quickest and cheapest solution to publishing the information is probably this one.

Question 16

The head of the organization has heard about gamification and would like your ideas about where it could be appropriately used. Which of these is an example of how the organization is currently using it? (Choose the best response.)

Offering a prize to the most productive worker of the month

Holding an annual picnic where workers compete for prizes

Holding a drawing for the closest parking spots

All of these

Answer 16

Offering a prize to the most productive worker of the month

Response A is correct. This is a very basic example of gamification.

Question 17

Which of the following statements about social learning is true? (Choose the best response.)

Almost all learning is social learning

Instruction based on social learning strategies is less effective than traditional instruction

Social learning is usually based on face-to-face interactions

Social learning is more time-consuming than learning based on self-directed materials

Answer 17

Almost all learning is social learning

Response A is correct. According to Cross, social learning accounts for 80–90 percent of what people learn at work.

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT an example of use of social media? (Choose the best response.)

Posting vacation photographs on Instagram

Using a shared cloud-based workspace with colleagues to write a report

Responding to a Twitter feed

Emailing a friend about her upcoming visit

Answer 18

Emailing a friend about her upcoming visit

Response D is correct, but just barely. One-to-one communication is often not included as a social medium. Including other people—copying them to arrange a date for dinner—would bring this under the definition.

Question 19

What is the difference between blogging and microblogging? (Choose the best response.)

The device used to do it

The quality of the content

The length limit of the content

The type of media that can be shared

Answer 19

The length limit of the content

Response C is correct. Microblogging applications like Twitter set a limit on the length of a post.

Question 20

You work for an organization that produces cutting-edge, potentially very profitable products. Which of these is the most important consideration for supporting employees to collaborate using social media? (Choose the best response.)

Whether there are adequate guidelines about what can be communicated using Twitter

How good the firewall is that protects the intranet

Whether they have access to web-conferencing software

Whether they have the latest equipment

Answer 20

Whether there are adequate guidelines about what can be communicated using Twitter

Response A is correct. The other answers are potentially important, too. However, employees should have a clear understanding of what sorts of information about the company and its products may not be shared, using Twitter or any other means.

Question 21

To strengthen your case with management for using social media, how would you go about benchmarking it? (Choose the best response.)

Look in the professional literature directed to chief information officers

Contact colleagues in similar organizations and ask about their experiences

Contact colleagues in similar organizations and ask how they measure its contribution to outcomes

All of these things

Answer 21

All of these things

Response D is correct. They would all be helpful. Most important, though, might be seeing how their use can be tied to business outcomes.

Question 22

EPSSs and LCMSs are primarily designed to _______ (Choose the option that completes the sentence accurately.)

Manage learning content

Enable learners to enroll for courses

Track learners’ progress through courses

Support gamified content

Answer 22

Manage learning content

Response A is correct. Both provide tools for developing learning objects and storing them so they may be reused to construct personalized learning opportunities.

Question 23

If you were developing a course and wanted to encourage reflective observation, which of these strategies might be appropriate? (Choose the best response.)

Ask participants to discuss an assigned reading during a web conference

Present the information using slides with charts and diagrams

Use a stand-alone module with branched scenarios and a quiz

Ask learners to post comments to the course wiki

Answer 23

Ask learners to post comments to the course wiki

Response D is correct. Reflective observation generally takes place after contact with some sort of stimulus—possibly the web conference, charts, or scenarios. Posting comments to the wiki would be a way of capturing it.

Question 24

Augmented reality can be used to ___________ (Choose the option that completes the sentence accurately.)

Tag objects in the real world with additional information

Show role play that illustrates a desired behavior

Heighten the emotional experience of a learning strategy

All of these things

Answer 24

Tag objects in the real world with additional information

Response A is correct. It uses a camera of some sort (cell phone, glasses) for input to show annotations to a real location.

Question 25

Which of the following is a principal consideration in judging fair use of printed materials? (Choose the best response.)

The material is more than 75 years old

The use does not diminish the value of the original document

No more than 20 lines of the material is reproduced

The material is more expensive than students can afford

Answer 25

The use does not diminish the value of the original document

Response B is correct. In the United States, copyright depends on the lifetime of the author plus some additional years of coverage. Number of lines is not a measure, nor is expense of an original copy. Although other factors come into play, the goal of protections is to keep reproduction from diminishing the economic value of the work.

Question 26

Learning analytics is (Choose the best response.)

A method of grading students’ papers

The curve on which a course is graded

A source of information for personalizing course content

A method for identifying learning objectives

Answer 26

A source of information for personalizing course content

Response C is correct. It is a way of using data from learners to tailor delivery of course content.

Question 27

You work for a small nonprofit organization that has approximately 250 volunteers at any one time during the year, although the turnover rate is approximately 20 percent (current volunteers leaving and new ones taking their place). You would like to create an interactive online volunteer training module that potential new volunteers could take before they come for an in-person interview. What sort of system would you select to make this training available? (Choose the best response.)

An LCMS

An LMS

An EPSS

A CMS

Answer 27

A CMS

Response D is correct. Although you could use an LMS, this is probably the best choice for a relatively low-volume training module. Some CMS providers offer free services, which would not be true of an LMS, and you probably do not need the learning analytics or connection to HR functions that an LMS might offer. EPSS software might be a later choice if you decide that volunteers could benefit from an online performance support system to help them resolve questions or difficulties on the spot.

Question 28

You work for an organization that has a highly mobile workforce of sales representatives who spend a lot of time driving from location to location. Which of the following might be an efficient way to inform them about new products and developments? (Choose the best response.)

Regular sales meetings at headquarters where new products are demonstrated

Weekly podcasts they can listen to while driving

Twitter feeds

Printed catalogs

Answer 28

Weekly podcasts they can listen to while driving

Response b is correct. Although the others are possible and potentially productive, podcasts would let sales representatives take advantage of their driving time to learn.

Question 29

Talent management is a way to _____________. (Choose the option that completes the sentence accurately.)

Connect the organization’s productivity with the deployment of its personnel

Assess the qualifications of potential employees

Determine salary increases and bonus pay

Identify competencies of various jobs

Answer 29

Connect the organization’s productivity with the deployment of its personnel

Response A is correct. The purpose is to identify the job competencies the support the organization’s productivity and fill those jobs with the most able people. This may be tied to setting hiring requirements, and particularly productive employees may be rewarded with salary increases or bonuses.

Question 30

An exclusive talent management strategy would ____________. (Choose the option that completes the sentence accurately.)

Devote resources to improving the skills of all employees

Track performance and focus on improving the skills of the most productive workers

Socialize new workers to usual practices in the organization

Rely on testing to weed out underperforming employees

Answer 30

Track performance and focus on improving the skills of the most productive workers

Response B is correct. Exclusive strategies allocate development resources to workers judged to be most productive. Improving the skills of all employees would be an inclusive/innate strategy. Socializing new workers would be part of any strategy. Testing might be part of an exclusive/innate strategy to identify individuals’ strengths (or in this case, weaknesses).

Question 31

According to Cappelli and Keller, what is the drawback associated with hiring outside people to fill strategic jobs? (Choose the best response.)

There is always a time lag between posting and filling the job

It leaves the organization at the mercy of the labor market

It is less expensive than training internal candidates

They will not perform as well as internal candidates

Answer 31

It leaves the organization at the mercy of the labor market

Response B is correct. This was their point.

Question 32

Performance management is ____________. (Choose the option that completes the sentence accurately.)

The global activity under which talent management falls

A component of talent management

An aspect of succession planning

None of these things

Answer 32

A component of talent management

Response B is correct. Regardless of the approach to talent management taken by the organization, performance management is the way the TD professional determines whether jobs are filled by people who are doing the work adequately.

Question 33

Which of the following might be most important in determining whether the organization should adopt a talent management system? (Choose the best response.)

Profitability is falling

The organization has a diverse, dispersed, and growing workforce

The organization focuses on a single type of product

The organization needs to track employee compensation

Answer 33

The organization has a diverse, dispersed, and growing workforce

Response B is correct. If the main purpose of such a system is to manage performance in a large workforce and to acquire the best new employees, such a system might be beneficial for those two functions. Data generated by the system might give some information about why profitability is falling, but it would not be the primary source of such data. The type of product is not important; the competencies require to produce it are. Other human resources software could be used to track compensation, although talent management systems might include this.

Question 34

Why does knowledge management fit in a chapter on learning technologies? (Choose the best response.)

It is a way to manage the creative people in an organization

Knowledge is the basis for an organization’s productivity

LMSs are the basis for knowledge management

Socializing new employees depends on how organizational knowledge is conveyed

Answer 34

Knowledge is the basis for an organization’s productivity

Response B is correct. It does not really matter what the organization produces. Its success depends on the collective knowledge of its employees. Whether and how that knowledge is managed so that it is accessible to employees is critical to their abilities to perform well.

Question 35

One of the principal goals of knowledge management as a process is to _______ (Choose the option that completes the sentence accurately.)

Capture what employees know in a form that others can access

Catalog documents efficiently

Reduce the amount of paper used by the organization

Identify deficits in individuals’ knowledge

Answer 35

Capture what employees know in a form that others can access

Response A is correct. Codification of tacit knowledge to make it explicit is part of the process.

Question 36

Which of the following is a way to codify tacit knowledge? (Choose the best response.)

Indexing and tagging the organization’s historical documents

Using a wiki to publish changes in procedure

Saving the contents of an electronic whiteboard after a brainstorming session

Using an EPSS to support employees in the field

Answer 36

Saving the contents of an electronic whiteboard after a brainstorming session

Response C is correct. While the other choices are part of knowledge management, they involve handing knowledge that is already explicit—that is, published in some way. Saving the contents of a brainstorming session captures the tacit knowledge of the participants. Posting and tagging it so that others could retrieve it would complete the process.

Question 37

Where would an EPSS fit as a technological support in Evans and colleagues’ cycle of knowledge development? (Choose the best response.)

Identify and create

Store and use

Share and improve

All the stages

Answer 37

All the stages

Response D is correct. An EPSS stores knowledge that has already been created, making it possible for the authors to share it with users, who consult it to perform their jobs and learn from it. Feedback from learners may make it possible for the content to be updated and improved

Question 38

What is a data warehouse? (Choose the best response.)

An air-conditioned facility to house large network servers

An extensive database that contains the data generated by an organization

A catalog of all the organization’s products

None of these things

Answer 38

An extensive database that contains the data generated by an organization

Response B is correct. A data warehouse contains the data generated by different sections of an organization from which employees can build both information and knowledge.

Question 39

What is a data mart? (Choose the best response.)

Another term for data warehouse

A source where external data can be purchased

A top-down method of gathering information

Information gathered by smaller units of an organization

Answer 39

Information gathered by smaller units of an organization

Response D is correct. Data marts have been defined as data gathered locally by smaller units of the organization.

Question 40

A decision support system _____________ (Choose the option that completes the sentence accurately.)

Automates the decision-making process

Uses statistical techniques to narrow choices

Replaces the need for managers

Rules out all but the best choice

Answer 40

Uses statistical techniques to narrow choices

Response B is correct. A decision support system assists the people who use it by collating a variety of data inputs and using statistical techniques to help in selecting a choice that accounts for all the information.

Question 41

A TD professional is using completion rates and scores on a final qualifying examination to understand more about the success of a training program. What sort of information is she using? (Choose the best response.)

Data

Tacit

Information

Explicit

Answer 41

Data

Response A is correct. Once she has evaluated the data and made an oral or written summary, she will have converted it to information, which is explicit.

Question 42

A TD professional is working to help his web development organization develop a knowledge management system. Which of the following is most likely to align with the knowledge management goals of the organization? (Choose the best response.)

Establish a collaborative online workspace for the IT specialists

Recycle the old memorandums in his filing cabinet

Request to monitor the web use of the staff

Answer 42

Establish a collaborative online workspace for the IT specialists

Response A is correct. A collaborative workspace could facilitate the development of new knowledge among the IT specialists. Although one can archive information from Twitter and similar social media used for organizational purposes, collecting it may not be worth the time or storage space necessary.

Question 43

The management of a very large organization wants to develop a knowledge management system that can be mined for data, and they would like to do it by developing data marts. What might be a drawback of doing it this way? (Choose the best response.)

It would be much more expensive than developing a data warehouse

It would produce less useful information for talent development

A top-down approach might not be acceptable to employees

It might be hard to combine information from different marts

Answer 43

It might be hard to combine information from different marts

Response D is correct. Anupindi and Coady found that department-level data marts produced “silos” of data that could not easily be used together for analysis.