As a Learning Technologies company that is at the forefront of innovation and development - our Academy Learning Management System was ranked the #1 NextGen LMS by eLearning expert Craig Weiss! - we’re really interested in technology. That’s why we decided to put together our favourite five TED Talks all about technology - the best developments of the past century and what’s on the horizon. Check ‘em out! 1. Margaret Gould Stewart: How giant websites design for you (and a billion others, too) How do Facebook, Google and all those other big websites design for the hundreds of thousands of millions and billions of people that use them? As it turns out, small things really matter! Take the Facebook Like button, for example. Margaret says it took the designer 280 hours over the course of several months to update the design. Why bother? Because when you’re designing at scale there is no such thing as a small detail - not when the Like button is seen on average 22 billion times a day and on over 7.5 million websites! Watch below: 2. Jason Pontin: Can technology solve our big problems? Why go to the moon? Why fly the Atlantic? We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Jason explains the technological innovations that went into the Apollo space programme - how technology solved one huge problem of how to get to the moon. But, he says, what has technology done for us lately? We’ve got trivial toys, apps, algorithms that speed up automated trading. Great - but they aren’t solving our ‘big problems’! 3. Ron McCallum: How technology allowed me to read Months after he was born, Ron McCallum became blind. In this TED Talk, Ron explains how he was part of a technological revolution that would make his dream of reading come true. 4. David Pogue: 10 top time-saving tech tips Think you know all the shortcuts on your computer or mobile phone? Think again! Watch the video to find out how to: scroll up and down your browser without touching the mouse or arrow keys; redial the last number you called with one touch; quickly replace an incorrect word; and turn a $50 camera into a $1,000 camera! 5. Mitch Resnick: Let’s teach kids to code Coding and development is very close to our heart - we are a technology company, after all! Here, Mitch explains how he created Scratch, a website to help kids create projects, and highlights the importance of encouraging kids to code:   We hope you enjoyed these top 5 TED Talks on technology! You can find out more about the kinds of technology we create by requesting a demo - just click the button below!  The post Top Five TED Talks on Technology! appeared first on Growth Engineering.

There is a shady subculture of people in the L&D industry. These people are the linchpins that hold a lot of the training together and create logical connections that help to convey the learning objectives in the most effective way. Still, they have to go through their life describing at length what their job title means to confused strangers. It can be a lonely life for the instructional designers of this world, but there are still some helpful souls out there who are more than willing to make that existence a little more bearable. Christy Tucker is one of those souls. Christy is an instructional designer par excellence. Her background has been varied enough to touch all forms of education, from school teaching to corporate training. Throughout her career, she has focussed on creating the most engaging experience possible and exploiting all of the tools and teachings she encounters to make life easier for learners. However, only the best teachers realise that they too are learners and Christy has never been reluctant to admit that she is always learning something new about instructional design. In as few as ten years, the job role has evolved and changed along with the technology that complements it. To help instructional designers to navigate this ever-changing landscape, Christy’s blog, Experience E-Learning, is filled with lots of interesting and useful articles. These posts cover everything from the most general questions (What does an instructional designer do?) to the minute details of course creation (Tips for Storytelling in Learning). She also regularly posts regular lists of the best eLearning articles that she has found around the web. Christy’s helpfulness isn’t limited to instructional designers. She helps many companies to engage their employees with learning that lets them practise skills that are actually meaningful to their jobs. This freelance project, Syniad Learning is named after the Welsh word for "idea". Here’s a quote from the site: Oliver Wendell Holmes said that a mind "once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." What new ideas can we explore to stretch learners’ minds? We couldn’t have put it better ourselves! If you want to find out more about Christy’s work, pop along to the blog or check out her portfolio. You can also keep up to date with the latest news by following her on Twitter. We at Growth Engineering are always seeking new ways to keep learners engaged. Besides producing custom eLearning, we’ve also developed the world’s #1 Gamified online learning platform, the Academy LMS. Find out what it can do for your business by clicking the button below.  

What is it about some companies? They just seem to exude awesomeness, screaming to people, "I’m a great place to work!" Is it the free coffee? Is it the pay and perks? Maybe the lax attitude to start times? Whatever it is, some organisations just seem to have it. We think - brace yourselves - that we’ve discovered what ‘it’ is. That’s right. The elusive thing. Here we go. Are you ready? Engagement. Employee engagement, to be specific - and we don’t mean the number of employees that are engaged or happily married. No, we’re talking about how enthused and motivated workers are and how this impacts upon not only their work ethic, their productivity and longevity, but how it rubs off on their colleagues, too. These ‘great’ companies, such as Google, Twitter and Facebook, are renowned for having an awesome company culture. We’ve written about company culture before, and why it’s important to have a fun, empowered company culture. But it’s not just about having fun at work and rewarding employees with money, days off and gift certificates. To really get employees engaged, senior management have got to highlight the importance of each and every individual in the organisation. A letter-opener may not feel that important, but what would the CEO do if they didn’t have their post on their desk when they walked through the door every morning? A marketing intern may not think they come very high up in the food chain, but how many leads are they generating, and how vital are leads to the success of the business? Once employees know and recognise that they all have a role to play in the company’s mission, the more engaged they’ll be. And once this happens, the company will exude this ‘thing’ that makes them so desirable. Your employees aren’t simply cogs in a machine. Well, they are, technically, if we think of the company as a unit and the employees as parts - but the thing to emphasise is that all cogs are important, from the part-timer who comes in to sort everyone out after a whirlwind few days and the MD’s right-hand who fields calls and organises meetings, to the technology wizards who create the product to sell and the finance team who keeps the business afloat. Although, of course, while a great company culture doesn’t necessarily stem from the perks, the free food, the beer and the nights out… They don’t exactly hurt! To find out more about what we do, click the button and download our white paper.  The post What Makes a Good Company Culture? appeared first on Growth Engineering.

We’re in the process of writing a white paper all about the common objections (and misconceptions!) we hear about online training. The grand unveiling will be next week, but we thought we’d give you a little teaser here to whet your appetite. The white paper features many ‘characters’ which we’ve based around the kinds of objections clients have. There’s Technophobe Trevor, Practical Pat and Social Sam, and they all have different concerns when it comes to moving their training online. Here’s Technophobe Trevor with a couple of worries about how well he and his employees will be able to pick up their new system: "I’m not very good on computers, really…" Oh, Trevor… Did you really think you’d have a computer thrown at you and have to guess how to use it? That we’d send you an email with a link but no instructions? Of course not! ‘Train the trainer’ is alive and well; any online learning organisation worth its salt has a dedicated Customer Excellence department that is fanatical about making sure you know exactly how to use your new Learning Management System. They’ll come into your office for a day or give you a guided tour over webinar to get you up to speed, and soon you’ll be showing others in your company how to use your new kit! In fact, we’ve got one of our new clients in the meeting room with our Customer Excellence Manager right now being taught how to use their swanky new Academy and how best to structure their training roll-out. "…My employees aren’t very handy with technology either!" Not to worry. The Academy is actually very simple to use, once you get the hang of it - and our gamified ‘Cool Tips’ tutorial makes this easy as pie. Upon their first login, learners are given a tutorial to show them around their new Learning Management System. They’ll learn where to find eLearning modules, how to take tests and assessments and what badges are up for grabs. What’s more, the tutorial is always available for them, should need a reminder! Besides, once we’ve shown you or your chosen Academy Admin all that your new LMS can do, you’ll become an oracle of expertise - any problems that learners encounter will be solved in a jiffy! Want to find out more? While you’re waiting patiently for us to finish our new white paper, why not check out one of our previous ones? The button below will take you to a research paper on gamification and what it can achieve for businesses:  The post "Online Learning Doesn’t Work" and Other Misconceptions appeared first on Growth Engineering.

We had such a great time at the E-Learning 20-20: Stay ahead of the game! seminar yesterday we just can’t wait until Day Two is over before writing about it! It was quite an early start for the Growth Engineering team as we set off from home at 6.30am, but that allowed us to (just!) arrive in time to set up the room for the day. Craig Weiss Delegates began arriving at 10am for registration - as well as tea, coffee and bacon and egg rolls - and Simon Blackburn, Growth Engineering’s Head Sales Bloke, kicked off the day at 10.30, separating out the delegates into four groups (yellow, blue, green and red) before handing over to eLearning expert extraordinaire Craig Weiss, founder and CEO of E-Learning 24/7.   Taking notes during Craig’s talk Craig kept the room entranced with his presentation on Learning Management Systems, what it takes to create truly good eLearning and what the future holds for the industry - his ‘2020’ prediction. Craig has very kindly allowed us to share his presentation deck with you - click here to download it and discover what five features define a ‘next generation’ Learning Management System, what the future holds for eLearning and who ranks among the best LMSs in the world. After Craig’s talk, the room split into two groups. Funnily enough, each group was run by a Craig - Craig Weiss continued to talk about Learning Management Systems and Next Gen learning, while Craig Mills from Game Retail, who is currently rolling out an online learning programme, hosted a fascinating discussion on implementing an LMS.   An Coppens - spot the prize on the table! The lunch break was followed by an excellent talk on gamification by An Coppens, Chief Game Changer at Gamification Nation. With a background in L&D and a passion for games, gamification is a topic made in heaven for An! During her talk An explained what gamification is, how it can be used in learning, what the difference is between good gamification and games that don’t work, and highlighted what kinds of game mechanics are useful to delight and excite different kinds of people. Click here to check out An’s presentation. An is a regular blogger on her website and on Gamification Nation - in fact, she is currently a contender in the UK Blog Awards and needs our help to reach the finals. You can vote for her in the ‘innovation’ category and in the ‘digital and technology’ category. Simon from GE joins a Breakout Group Following another breakout session, where both Craigs continued their discussions and An hosted a third group discussion, Simon announced the winning group - those people who had been contributing the most, asking the most thought-provoking questions and taking best advantage of being in the same room as some of the industry’s top oracles of wisdom. This time it was the Yellow group who triumphed, earning themselves a yummy bottle of spiced mulled wine each - just perfect for the cold winter nights! We’re really happy with how the seminar turned out - we think it was a resounding success, and hope to host many more in future! Thanks to e.learning age, Unicorn Training, Craig Weiss, An Coppens and Craig Mills for making it possible. Want to find out more about what we do? We love a good natter! Click the button below, leave your contact details and we’ll get in touch.  The post Staying Ahead of the Game appeared first on Growth Engineering.

Every week, we trawl the fertile estuaries of Learning and Development to find the people who are making a difference in the field - those who really "get it". This week, on our adventures, we came across a video on YouTube from this year’s Learning Live conference. This four-part series features a talk from Julian Stodd and although the production values are… functional… the talk itself is an excellent overview of the role played by social technologies in organisational learning today. Who is Julian Stodd, though?! Well, if the world of L&D was a fairy tale, Julian Stodd would by the mystical wizard doling out sage advice to all who seek it. We’re not just basing this simile on his exceptional beard, but on the fact that he really knows his stuff and he stands at the fringes of the world of learning, clearing the brambles of obscurity to uncover new territories. Julian specialises in that white magic known as Social Learning and how organisations can improve by adapting to what he deems the Social Age. In this Social Age, everybody enjoys unprecedented access to knowledge. As this formal aspect of learning becomes easier, this access is taken for granted and employees tend to develop in different ways. Mobile technology and social networks have created a culture in which people can much more easily turn to their communities for help. This change has occurred in almost every sphere of life, so it’s only natural to assume the same of organisational culture. Change is scary and the norm for most companies is to avoid risk and continue with the same old processes that have worked for so long. Meanwhile, however, the world is changing around them and these processes are gradually becoming irrelevant. The formal learning structure is being replaced by a more interactive and collaborative form of knowledge acquisition - more of a conversation than a sermon. If these organisations try to enforce control over the conversation, it simply moves to another network or a different platform, thus excluding those who tried to restrain it. As Julian Stodd says, the organisations that don’t embrace this new culture of collaboration will be left behind whilst the rest of the world rides the wave of social learning. This is just one of the truths exposed by Julian in a single talk. Make sure to check out the rest of his YouTube profile for more insights. His blog is also a great source of observations and features all about the power of social learning. If you prefer the longer form of writing, Julian also has several books available here. You can also get the latest from Julian by following him on Twitter and LinkedIn. Our Academy LMS has been built to help organisations deliver their training in ways that make more sense to today’s learners. This Gamified Social Learning Management System engages learners and gives them a platform to build communities that not only help them to learn, but help the entire organisation to change for the better! If you want to find out more about the power of social learning, just click the button below.  

It’s no secret that formal training alone isn’t massively effective in orchestrating real, lasting behavioural change. This is because of the ‘70:20:10’ problem - namely, only 10% of our knowledge is gained through formal training, while 70% is gained whilst working and 20% comes from observing others. However, when formal training is combined with online learning, training is much more effective! Picture this: your learners have gone through the formal training online, in the form of eLearning modules and Assessments. They’re now all meeting up in the ‘real world’ for a workshop,  already armed with the knowledge they need. Technology in classroom settings also makes the process of learning more engaging and dynamic. Videos capture learners’ attention in ways that books simply can’t, and are fantastic for demonstrating facts that would be impossible in real life. They’ve gone through the eLearning unit, taken the test and received the badge. So when they come to the classroom, the focus can be on discussing the topics, digesting the content and getting a deeper understanding of what they’ve learnt. They’ll come away from the classroom full of knowledge and plans to use it - resulting in real behavioural change. We did this ourselves during our Sales Superstar Programme - where we invited ten aspiring salespeople to undertake training to get a free Level 3 Diploma from the ISMM (Institute of Sales and Marketing Management). Over four months, the Superstars took eight eLearning modules, completed the associated assessments and prepared presentations which they gave at four tutor-led workshops. The result? An engaged, motivated group of learners that discussed the issues in hand at depth. The learners were happy, the tutors were happy and we were delighted with the results of the programme! We’re tremendously proud of our Superstars. Click here to find out more about the Sales Superstar Programme and how you can join! Want to discover more about technology in the classroom? Click the button below!  The post Combining Online and Offline Worlds of Learning appeared first on Growth Engineering.

When you’re rolling out an online learning programme - or any new company training, for that matter - it’s vitally important that it’s marketed to employees in the correct way. You may want to cut corners and simply email your workforce with standardised, boring information about what they have to do, how to do it and the deadline by which it should be done. But believe us when we say that really won’t secure the learner buy-in that you need for a successful Learning and Development plan. We know some of us prefer to watch videos rather than read, so we’ve taken the liberty of converting the information below into video format. So pick whichever method of information delivery you prefer, sit back and enjoy. Oh, and let us know what you think using the comment box below! 6 Top Tips to Rock Your Online Learning Roll-out: 1. Marketing When you’re rolling out a training programme it’s important to get the marketing correct. Your employees need to find out about the L&D plan, right? Never market your training programme via email alone: it’s a cardinal sin and will condemn your training roll-out to eternal damnation! Instead, use internal marketing techniques like intranet announcements, meetings, introductory videos and site visits to spread the word, inform the masses and build curiosity, excitement and momentum. 2. What’s the problem? If employees don’t care - or know - about the problem that the training is trying to solve, they won’t care about achieving change. But once you describe the problem to them in ways they can understand and relate to, they’ll be more enthusiastic. Employees need to know why they’re being asked to learn these things and change their behaviours. They’re busy, after all, so you’ve got to make it seem worthwhile. Why is a change needed? What do they need to do? 3. Importance If employees don’t see their training as important, they won’t be motivated or engaged to log on to their Learning Management Systems and work their way through eLearning modules. You’ve got to push the training programme up their list of priorities. All these points will help to achieve this, but don’t stop there if you can think of any other ways to reiterate the importance of the training, which will be unique to your organisation and situation. 4. Urgency Creating a sense of urgency around the issue will help rally the troops. Employees won’t strive to complete their training if they think they have all year to do it, or if the problem isn’t very pressing. So emphasise how important it is for them to achieve the changes now rather than in the future. You also need to make sure they know how the campaign will be run, measured and reported on - it’s good to be transparent. 5. Mission Frame the training as a mission to get employees pumped and engaged. If they think they are vital to the success of the mission (or L&D roll-out), they’ll be incredibly motivated to do all they can to help it progress and come to fruition. 6. Get social Discuss, practise and reinforce the training socially to get individuals on board, encourage further learning and development, see real behavioural change and make the training a resounding success. When learners are active contributors, they’ll take charge of the training programme - so you won’t have to! We hope you liked these six tips! Want to find out more? Download our white paper on securing return on investment on your training roll-out by clicking the button below!  The post 6 Top Tips to Rock Your Online Learning Roll-out appeared first on Growth Engineering.

This week, while we were coming up with the latest learning hero, An Coppens’ name popped up. We’d just seen her speak at the E-Learning 20-20 seminar last week and she was fab! The conversation went something like this: "Why don’t we include An Coppens?" "I think she’s already been included." "Are you sure? I can’t see her here." "She must be there somewhere." Due to some collective oversight, it has taken us until now to award An Coppens with one of our much-coveted Learning Hero badges. Well now we’re more than happy to correct that oversight! So what makes An Coppens such a deserving candidate? An is an award winning business coach who is just as evangelical as we are about the power of gamification. If you’re new to the term, An defines it thus: "Gamification is the application of game dynamics, game psychology and game mechanics to non-game situations and applications". Like us, An believes that real results can only be achieved if the effort is made to engage those involved, regardless of whether that’s in sales, recruitment or learning and development. The best way to make these things engaging is to make them fun, and gamification is the best way to do that. In her E-Learning 20-20 talk (view the presentation here), An dismissed common misconceptions - for example, it’s still a widely held belief that the world of gaming is populated mainly by children and teenagers. We learned that a mere 18% of gamers are below the age of 18, whereas a whopping 53% are between the ages of 18 and 49! An is not blind to the potential of facts such as this. As the Chief Game Changer at Gamification Nation Ltd, An offers her expertise and provides online learning programs that bring out the best in people and turn businesses around. As well as her work at Gamification Nation, she’s also an author and, as we’ve seen, a very interesting speaker! If you want to find out more about An and her work you can visit her website, or check out Gamification Nation for more information about the biggest thing to happen to learner engagement since gold stars! Don’t forget to keep updated with the latest news from Anland by following her on Twitter or Facebook. There’s also a whole other Twitter feed from Gamification Nation to make sure you never tire of gamification-related tweets! Figuratively speaking, we’re skipping through a meadow of engagement alongside people like An Coppens. If you’re tired of sitting on the sidelines watching everyone else have fun, click on the button below to find out how gamification can take your business to new levels of success!  

When it comes to making the move from classroom-based training programmes to online learning, there are a few questions you should ask yourself. It’s one thing to say you want to take your training online, but is the organisation ready for the change? Can you really benefit from bringing eLearning into your company? In fact, how will you benefit? Here’s what you need to ask yourself to work out whether you’re ready to enter the exciting world of online learning: Do you need eLearning at all? Will it really benefit you? What do you hope eLearning will accomplish that real-world training cannot? How much are you currently spending on training? What is your current return on investment (ROI)? Where are you spending the most money (e.g. travel expenses, tutor costs) and where do you want to make savings? How much can you expect to save by going through eLearning? What is the projected ROI and what does it depend on? Are your staff computer savvy or do you need to train them? Although there is nothing wrong with needing to train your staff how to use the new technology, you will need to take into account how long this might take and at what expense. Of course, most Learning Technologies companies will help with this - the Customer Excellence team will be on hand to show Academy Admins and Managers how to use their Learning Management System, so they can then teach individual learners. Will there be any resistance to eLearning from within the organisation? Just because you love the idea of eLearning, doesn’t mean senior management or other employees will as well! If you have a desire to take learning online but fear your colleagues or managers won’t be too enthusiastic, make sure you approach them with some hard facts and evidence of how online learning can help to secure a fantastic return on investment. Check out the research paper below for more info! Will any of your trainers feel insecure about eLearning? Making the decision to take training online can make trainers feel like they are being sidelined. However, if you can subject matter experts on board, real-world training can still be utilised to complement online training. In fact, when combined with eLearning, classroom training can allow trainers and workshop leaders to take on a new and important role as facilitator of knowledge sharing, rather than dissemination. Does your management support your initiatives? Pushing against the status quo is hard enough even with management support. Your best bet is to get them on your side to help fight your corner - the research paper above will help! Do you have sufficient budget or will you be able to get the management to release the funds required? Related to the ROI questions above, it’s important to know whether you have the budget to move forward. That’s why it’s useful to work out the projected return on investment of eLearning vs classroom training - the difference may well sway the decision in your favour. We wrote a research article on this topic: Delivering Return on Investment on your Online Training Programme. So, what do you think? Are you ready for online learning, or do you need to find out a bit more first? Here are a couple of options: click the button below to request a demo of our Academy Learning Management System to discover what we’re all about… …or click below to download a research paper on how online learning can boost the success of your business: