SXSW: Vote Enspire and Houndstooth! Storytelling has been the buzz phrase for the past few years, and it’s truly a valuable medium. But while we’ve crafted the idea of perfect storytelling, have we crafted for the best audience experience? In this session we’ll present contemporary, effective ways to create a unique audience experience. Whether it’s low-budget engagements for the boutique startup or a higher-budget full technology immersion, your audience wants to have a feel and sensation from your story that becomes an experience to them. Together we can move audiences from passive to participatory. But only if we get your vote! Cast yours at: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/56667#sthash.UlZb6L9G.dpuf The post SXSW: Vote Enspire! appeared first on Enspire.

In Crisis of Character, Peter Firestein asserts that building a strong corporate reputation that is rooted in core values and is cultivated throughout the organizational structure provides the key to long-term sustainability in today’s business world. Organizations which have clearly defined their core values, and have created practices which support those values, are less likely to fall prey to unethical and illegal practices which lead to scandal and even to business collapse. As a guide, Firestein provides strategies grounded in practical data from leaders and companies to guide leaders in creating organizational cultures which promote ethical and successful business practices. For a free trial of EBSCO Business Book Summaries click here.

In the December issue of T+D, the article "Six Trends That Will Change Workplace Learning Forever" discusses the increased use of mobile devices in learning. The article cites an IBM study published in January 2010 that defines the two main reasons for mobile phone use as 1) in-field performance support and 2) access to just-in-time information that is specific to a project or task. However, the more important reason for adoption of mobile learning solutions is due to demand: The need to make social media and mobile learning a part of the workplace to attract, engage, and retain the younger generations is forcing learning professionals to explore new and innovative ways to deliver learning on these inexpensive devices, anytime and anywhere. The advertising battle between Apple, Android, and BlackBerry emphasizes the enormous growth and advancement of the mobile marketplace. Phones, netbooks, laptops, and tablets are all growing in popularity as consumers and the workforce desire greater mobility in their daily lives. While the Millennials are probably the greatest proponent of mobile technology, it has been adopted by everyone due to the format’s flexibility, timeliness, and utility. Morgan Stanley estimates that by 2015, more users will connect to the Internet via mobile devices than by desktop PC. This means learning organization will have to design learning solutions that will work for the new, constantly-moving learning environment of its users. The day is coming when on-demand, anytime, anywhere learning will be the norm, and that day is not far off.

In The Mobile Learning Edge, author Gary Woodill defines mobile learning as a personalized form of learning that takes place on a mobile electronic device. It allows for speedy communication, it is portable and convenient, it creates active learning experiences, and it allows for learning connectivity at any time and in any location. The content taught in mobile learning is also more likely to be retained because it is learned when the student wants to learn; because the student is actively seeking to learn, the information taught is more likely to be relevant and useful to the learner. For a free trial of EBSCO Business Book Summaries click here. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Tailored Learning, Managing the Mobile Workforce, The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning

Many people believe that permanently changing their habits is difficult, if not impossible. However, through behavior change, it is possible to significantly improve results in many different areas of life. In Change Anything, Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler explain the science behind personal change, and define the steps that anyone can take to increase chances for success when attempting to transform their careers, health, financial situations, relationships, and more. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Change Your Questions, Change Your Life, The Personal Efficiency Program, Creating Your Own Destiny

In Implementing Strategic Change, authors Tom Bevington and Danny Samson investigate why the most thorough business strategies can be disastrous upon implementation. They focus their attention on the interfacing activities carried out by employees as an often overlooked aspect of the strategic change process. When business plans are created without a complete understanding of employee responsibilities and actions, they are destined to join the many other well thought out but poorly executed plans that have preceded them. The authors offer detailed solutions to this common problem, including encouraging staff and managers to create detailed documentation of the interfacing activities that they engage in to complete their daily work. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Beyond Change Management, The Change Cycle, Epic Change

A lack of leadership results in problematic work behaviors, such as poor performance and absenteeism. Unless supervisors take responsibility for good workplace relationships, their companies’ cultures will suffer. The problems start when employees are promoted to leadership positions without the necessary skills and training, which can lead to workplace drama. In No-Drama Leadership, Marlene Chism presents a new model where everyone is a leader-from frontline employees to CEOs. This encourages people at all levels to learn from one another and become more aligned, aware, and accountable. According to Chism: Supervisors and managers are often the cause of poor employee performance, absenteeism, and turnover. In many cases, they are promoted into positions of responsibility without any leadership training. Leaders must align their companies’ values with their own. Without alignment, they will lack awareness and accountability for the people they manage. Self-awareness is a start, but leaders must also be aware of other people and cultures. Responsible leaders take ownership of situations and are accountable for doing what is required. Decisions are frequently made by leaders without regard for how they may impact others. Good leaders see both the short- and long-term impacts of their decisions. Communication is important to any technical training a company may require. Without good communication skills, drama can result both inside and outside the company. When employees have some control over, or at least an understanding of, the changes happening within their work environments, they are less inclined to resist them. Enlightened leaders address issues immediately and correct course as needed, rather than hoping problems will simply go away. Leaders must put time and effort into understanding their employees to ensure engagement happens in a positive way. To learn more, please visit http://www.bizsum.com

Hi, all, and welcome to my professional blog. If you'd like to see my personal blog, you can click here. In this blog, I'll be discussing my musings and observations about the e-learning industry. I've been in this field since 1983 when through a series of circumstances I got to work on a now-ancient CBT system called TICCIT (Time Shared Interactive Computer-Controlled Information Television). It had a dedicated keyboard that would allow students to hit keys to see Rules, Examples, and Practice Problems. I created an Italian language course (I speak Italian, among other languages) over a 3-year period. I fell in love with the idea of using computers to teach and with the idea of my programming them to do it! I love teaching classes, I love writing, I love programming and here I could do it all at once in this medium. That was the beginning of my career!So here is my bio:Joe Ganci has been involved since 1983 in every aspect of multimedia and learning development with an emphasis in development. Mr. Ganci has taught classes and seminars at leading universities, in many government facilities, commercial firms, and educational institutions, and has spoken at industry conferences in North American and Europe. He is also a published author, having written several books and articles about e-Learning, and is widely considered a guru for his expertise in e-Learning development. He has consulted on a wide range of multimedia and learning applications worldwide for many organizations. Mr. Ganci holds a degree in Computer Science.Subscribe to my blog.

I just finished teaching four sessions over 3 days at TBCON in beautiful Colorado Springs. With me in the photo are Jeff and Sue Rhodes, the organizers who hold the conference every year. It's an excellent value! I taught at TBCON last year and came back for a return engagement. I taught the following sessions: Captivate 3.0 Features You Really Need to Know (Tips and Tricks) XML-Driven Flash Engines and Why They Matter eLearning Games - Updated! When Things Go Horribly Wrong - How to Save Your e-Learning ProjectI love teaching sessions and I think it shows. I always get very positive evaluations (except for once in a while a grumpy person doesn't get my sense of humor!).Soon I'll be teaching at SALT in Washington, D.C., and at Adobe Max in Chicago.Subscribe to my blog.

I had the pleasure of being one of the first, perhaps the very first, to present Captivate 3 in a live conference setting. My company and I personally have been using this product since it was called RoboDemo because it's a great product for doing a lot of what we do for our clients. It's unmatched at creating software simulations but also can be used for creating lots of other kinds of e-learning, including soft skills training. I often tout it as a product that balances ease of use with power - a constant struggle for any e-learning tool developer.Jaws dropped when I showed both Captivate 2 and Captivate 3, which was just released. They loved the trimode recording, how they now can retain animations from PowerPoint imports, the fact that quizzes can now be randomized and the new transitions.Most of the people had never used Captivate before so every feature was new to them. They were really happily surprised by the product. One person moaned about how they had wasted their money on Firefly (a much more expensive competing product) and found it so hard to use that they had given up on it. Now that they had seen how easy Captivate was they were going to have their organization get it right away! You can see more about Captivate here. I'll write more about Captivate soon.I'm proud of the fact that some very good friends of mine were involved in the creation of Captivate 3. Among them are:Group Business Development Manager--Marc HoseinProduct Marketing Managers--Silke Fleischer--Karl Matthews Core Director--Tridb Roy ChowdhuryEngineering--Stefan van AsDon't be upset if your name isn't on the list above. That either means that I forgot you were involved or you need to be a better friend to me (haha).Here's a partial list of new features in Captivate 3. This is directly out of the Help section, so I'm quoting here.Multimode recordingSave time and generate robust software simulations with multiple learning modes in a single recording session, including a demonstration of the procedure, a simulation for practicing the steps, and an assessment.Randomized quizzing and question poolsImprove learner assessments by randomly drawing questions from a set of question pools. Shuffle the answer options for multiple-choice questions, so that the answers are displayed in a different order each time. Share question pools among multiple Adobe Captivate projects.Rollover slideletsProvide additional just-in-time information on Adobe Captivate 3 slides by displaying media-rich content including images, text, audio, and video in a slidelet (a mini-slide within a slide) when the learner moves the mouse over a specified area on the slide.XML export and importSimplify the localization process of projects; export captions to a text or XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF) file. Import the translated text file into a copy of the original project file.Automated rerecordingQuickly update content and automatically rerecord entire procedures in most web applications after the user interface is modified or localized (Internet Explorer® 6).Animation effectsCreate learning content with support for animated slide transitions (besides fade in / fade out) and PowerPoint® animations. Import PowerPoint (PPT) files and retain many animation effects by converting PowerPoint slides to SWF files.New question typesIncrease learning effectiveness with specialized question types, such as sequencing and hotspots, and matching dropdown lists.Streamlined workflow and usability enhancementsWork faster with a wide variety of streamlined workflows and usability enhancements: Improved learning management system (LMS) integrationReusing quiz slides Reducing SWF file size Branching view enhancements, such as slide grouping and zooming New choices for adding captions and buttonsMicrosoft® Windows Vista™ and Microsoft Office 2007 supportInstall Adobe Captivate 3 on Windows Vista and import PowerPoint (PPT) files from Office 2007, or create handouts or step-by-step procedures with the Microsoft Word export option.Re-recording software simulations When changes are introduced into a software application, or when you need to create separate projects in multiple languages, you can use the re-recording feature in Adobe Captivate.To do this, you must select the option to generate re-recording information when you create a new Adobe Captivate project. As a result, a script file (.cprr) is createdWhen changes are introduced into a software application, or when you need to create separate projects in multiple languages, you can use the re-recording feature in Adobe Captivate.To do this, you must select the option to generate re-recording information when you create a new Adobe Captivate project. As a result, a script file (.cprr) is created. You can use the Generate Re-recording Information option when you first generate a project to create a re-recording script file. The re-recording script is saved as an XML file with the .cprr extension.Learn more about Adobe Captivate here.Subscribe to my blog.