One of the key features of the Blue Mango Learning System is the length of individual lessons - they are short. Why is "short" advantageous? Several reasons:

1. Short lessons tend to be more focused on one subject. This keeps the lesson material from delving off into tangents that would be best presented in a separate lesson.
2. Focused lessons are more easily reused. A system that contains many short lessons is infinitely more flexible than a system that contains a few long lessons. Short lessons can easily be reordered, combined, and eliminated to create the building blocks to teach additional skills. This creates a learning system that is extremely expandable. A new skill can be taught by simply referencing the "short" lessons that describe the skills necessary to perform the task.
3. Short lesson are more easily consumed. The average attention span is between 15 and 20 minutes. By creating lessons that fall below this range you can make easy for the learner to consume and retain the information that is being presented.

One of the key benefits of the Blue Mango Learning System (BMLS) is the learning model it supports. Studies have shown that the average attention span hovers somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes. The BMLS focuses on creating e-learning modules that take no more than 15 minutes. In fact most of our lessons take under 10 minutes.

Why do this? Because we believe that we should deliver information in a form that is most easily consumed. If a training course consists of three separate one-hour videos the user has to block out three separate one hour blocks. If they are interrupted halfway through they may have to start over. If we take that same 3 hours of content and divide it into twelve individual 15-minute segments, the user has much more flexibility in how they will consume that information. If they have an hour block they can go through four modules. If they have a 15 minute break at lunch they can review a single lesson.

The problem with most current ultrasound product training systems is that the Application Specialist is trying to function as an instructor. But they are an instructor faced with an impossible task. If their goal is to teach the customer or customers everything they need to know in 3 days of the type of training described in previous posts then they are destined to produce poor results. It is not their fault. It is simply an impossible task.

So what happens with subjects that are not covered during those 3 days? How does the customer get the maximum use out of their investment? What happens when there is employee turnover?

The role of Application Specialist needs to change from that of "Instructor" to that of "Facilitator". The goal needs to change from training the customer to use the machine to training the customer to teach themselves how to use the machine.

It is the difference between giving someone a fish or teaching them how to fish. The customer who knows how to fish is going to be much more satisfied in the long run.

So what was wrong with the scenario described in the previous post? It wasn't the Application Specialist's fault. It wasn't the sonographers' fault either. The problem was that the entire training situation was suboptimal. Let's look at some of the reasons why:

1. Too much time at once - Studies have shown that the average attention span falls somewhere between 15 and 18 minutes. But the Application Specialist was there all day. In most cases you will have a high degree of productivity initially and then retention is really going to drop off. Did you notice that the beginning of the day was when they spent time learning to turn on the machine? By the time they got to more interesting topics later on in the day the sonographers' brains were probably already overloaded.
2. No pre-training - When the Application Specialist showed up there hadn't been any pre-training. She was going to have to teach the customer everything, even basic skills such as activating 2D modes.
3. No training resources were left behind - When the day was over the Application Specialist left and the sonographers had nothing that would help them further study what they had learned that day.
4. Too many interruptions - With patients coming in all day the training process was constantly interrupted.
5. No individual pacing - All of the sonographers had to move at the same pace. Those who picked up on things quickly would most likely drift off as the Application Specialist re-explained something to another sonographer. Someone who missed something might feel too embarrassed to ask for clarification on a subject.

In our next posting we will analyze how the incorporation of the Blue Mango Learning System can dramatically improve this scenario.

Currently most ultrasound manufacturers include several days of on-site product training with the purchase of each ultrasound machine. The question is - is this the best approach?

Let's look at the pros of "live" training:

• Most customers are more comfortable speaking to a person than reading a user manual
• A live instructor can adjust their teaching material to your needs

• A live instructor can answer questions the customer poses

What it really comes down to is a live instructor can Customize Content, Present in a Non-Linear Fashion and Provide Background Information on Any Subject. Let's define these terms for our purposes: