Google's LEARNING IN THE CLOUD

On February 9, I attended ASTD-San Francisco’s 2011 series "The Future is Now" Series: #2 - The Future of Leadership Training. In a brief two hours, I experienced an interactive session to learn about the future of leadership development. Julie Clow, Learning & Organizational Development Manager of Google (photo), gave a captivating and stimulating presentation by that got my creative learning wheels spinning. Let me start by describing the philosophical and practical differences Goggle University employs vis-a-vis the current, or shall I say, “traditional-eLearning-blended-learning” approach.

Google University calls their leadership program gLearning at Google (Learning in the "Cloud"): Foundations of Leadership & Teamwork. The reference to the “Cloud” (i.e. SaaS, PaaS and IaaS applications) immediately sets gLearning apart and is the heart and soul of the delivery mechanism for Google University. 

Below is a simple comparison of typical eLearning and Google’s learning in the Cloud approach:

Here is a bulleted summary of Google’s Foundations of Leadership & Teamwork (FLT) program:

Commitment:

• Total = 19 hours
• Self-paced work: ~3 hours/week for 4 weeks = 12 hours
• Debrief sessions: 2-hour launch; three 1-hour weekly debrief sessions;
• 2-hour conclusion = 7 hours

Program Length:

• Content spread over four weeks, one module per week

Program Content:

• Launch: Leadership@Google
• Week 1: Self Awareness
• Week 2: Self Management
• Week 3: Teaming
• Week 4 and Conclusion: Influence and Leading Up

Context:

• Clear alignment of learning objectives with competencies/skill gaps;
• Clear connection to "What's in it for me?"

Content:

• Free off-the-shelf content (YouTube, EBSCO Business articles)
• Internal content (Knols, Wikis, etc.)
• High-quality leadership content (Assessments, PDI Ninth House courses)

Organization:

• Build progression of content
• Moving Knowledge Engine to pace activities to individual learners

Community:

• Synchronous and asynchronous collaboration components to foster the exchange of ideas among participants

Testing/Assessment:

• 360-degree behavioral assessments, eLearning quizzes, pre/post tests

Currently, the FLT program has completed two pilot programs; Julie Clow and the Google FLT group have carefully documented the results. The initial Pilot 1 achieved 83% completion and the next iteration Pilot 2 had 93% completion – great results demonstrating strong participant interest, motivation and professional growth. I am looking forward to seeing future iterations of Google's FLT program. I believe Learning in the Cloud is here to stay.

There are many more details about Google’s FLT Learning in the Cloud, which are not included in this blog. Information is available at http://bit.ly/glearning or add a comment to this blog post.