Note from editor: This post updated with new tools 6/3/11. A recent LinkedIn eLearning Guild Group member asked “What are the top tools for freelance elearning design and development?” and 100 comments later, there was quite a list. The result was a nice mix of both specific software for getting the work done and advice and… Read more »
Just before Thanksgiving, the American Society for Training & Development released the 2010 State of the Industry Report, a fantastic resource chock full of information on the corporate learning and professional development marketplace. Did you know, for example, that U.S. companies spent more than $125 billion on learning and development activities in 2009? That’s billion with a… Read more »
A small twig is easy enough to break, but put a dozen of the same sticks together and they become very difficult to break. A hundred of them become impossible to crack. That’s one powerful image of teamwork. There are many things in life that can divide a team—that can make it weaker. These tips… Read more »
If you’re looking to forge a career in the world of security, you might want to explore your options in online security training. There are a number of online schools and training institutions that offer the tools and skills to individuals looking to advance their knowledge base and capabilities in order to gain a better… Read more »
It isn’t just for geeks. Why? Because the success of the company is the responsibility of every employee. Every employee needs to know what can jeopardize the company’s computer infrastructure. The reason is simple. One wrong action could crash the system or leak confidential information. These could become disastrous for the business. And when… Read more »
Over the past 12 months there have been lots of posts written by eLearning thought leaders declaring the LMS to be dead in favor of more social and collaborative learning options. While I understand and applaud the reasoning – nurturing informal learning – there are still too many core uses for the LMS which are… Read more »
“Everything that can be digital, will be.” Attributed to Benny Landa, founder of Indigo, the world’s first commercially successful digital offset printing press, in 1993. In the past 15 years, the digitization of media has made content more flexible, affordable and accessible. Content streams from news to music are rapidly transitioning to digital delivery. This transition is… Read more »
There are people out there who want to steal your information and others who merely want to wreck havoc. The following facts could help you ensure those things don’t happen. 1. Unsafe passwords. Don’t ever write down your passwords and leave them at your desk. If ever anyone wanted to break into your computer… Read more »
Imagine for a moment that you’ve jumped ahead eighty years. What would the state of education reveal? No one holds a crystal ball that can tell us this. Eighty years ago, television was still a rare novelty and low capacity electronic computers the size of large rooms were ten years from becoming a reality. Few,… Read more »
OpenSesame relies on the widely-recognized SCORM and AICC standards to ensure that we can connect any author’s courses to any learner’s LMS. Standards are like chalk on a chalkboard: they are the tools that enable us to keep our promise to unlock elearning for authors and consumers through a simple, open marketplace. We have heard from… Read more »
Most people who use Excel spreadsheets are comfortable entering data, using basic formulas and applying minor formatting. That’s all well and good, but you may be using 20 percent or less of Excel’s full capacity. There are some handy little tricks – things that Excel can do that you may have never even heard of.… Read more »
Creating effective elearning courses is kind of like building a collage: a bit of video here, a couple of graphics there, a simulation here and eventually everything comes together to create an engaging and informative experience. If you are an e-learning developer, you know that different media and design techniques are appropriate for different learning… Read more »
I was extremely impressed when I recently performed beta testing for OpenSesame. The value proposition of this service is simple: • Elearning developers can upload and sell standards-compliant elearning • Companies can purchase content, which will operate on any Learning Management System (LMS) Win-Win. Developers get an opportunity to widely market and… Read more »
With consumers now more conscious about the quality of customer service that they get, customer service training is an important factor that businesses the world over are now investing in. Customer service has now been realized to have a direct effect in retaining customers and helping build better business. This has resulted in customer service… Read more »
First, let’s define our terms. Training and development includes different but interconnected activities that organizations sponsor in order to improve the productivity, skills and abilities of their teams. The organization or business benefits from increased effectiveness and each employee benefits from an expanded skill set. Let’s look a little more closely at some of the… Read more »
I remember leaving DevLearn 2009 and thinking, “This was THE BEST conference experience I’ve ever had.” At that moment, I knew a return trip was in order in 2010. Coming into this year’s edition of DevLearn, I had different expectations that last year. In 2009, it was all about bringing home those two or three… Read more »
I recently joined a discussion in the ELearning Guild’s LinkedIn group with this subject line: “How important is SCORM compliance today? Has anyone decided not to use SCORM when developing content?” Briefly, the party line in the group appears to be that the advantages of SCORM compliance are: Portability: When your course is SCORM compatible,… Read more »
In the world of business communication training, one thing is certain: communication skills should not be limited to just writing, presentation, or public speaking, and other forms of conventional communications. These are just the most commonly known aspects of communication training that the average person on the street may think of immediately after hearing the… Read more »
If you work with sensitive information, you know that such records in the wrong hands could prove disastrous for the company. The security of customer financial records, trade secrets, payroll data and other sensitive information is paramount. That is why information security awareness is important for everyone who works with such data. Even if… Read more »
Arc flash training is serious business—deadly serious. People die from a lack of knowledge on this topic. In fact, every single day at work in the United States, one person dies a painful death from shock, electrocution or arc flash. Nearly 700 people a month get a quick trip to the emergency room for… Read more »
