Not only will we be exhibiting at the AITD National Conference on 13 and 14 May, but we’re brimming with excitement to tell you all that we’ll be following it up with an equally-awesome appearance at the ATD Conference and Exposition in Orlando, Florida, on 17 - 20 May. The ATD (Association for Talent Development) International Conference and Exposition is a fantastic event for talent development, with world-class content, hands-on learning, networking opportunities and world-renowned keynote speakers. It will be our first time exhibiting at the show, so we’re determined to pull out all the stops and delight all delegates who visit us on our stand, number 224. Attendees will get to enjoy the full Genie Game-Based Authoring Tool experience and find out how to create really engaging, fun game-based eLearning units, and see our award-winning Academy LMS - ranked the #1 LMS in the world for 2015 - in action! We’ve also got a few games and fun events planned for attendees (including a photo booth complete with Genie-themed props!) so be sure to come by Stand 224 to play some games, win some badges and get your photo taken! The event will be taking place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, so it’s not only a great opportunity to meet with likeminded professionals and expand your knowledge, but you’ll also get to take advantage of all the area has to offer - hello, Disney World! Juliette Denny, Managing Director of Growth Engineering, said: "We’re really excited to be exhibiting at such a well-renowned conference. We have a lot of fun things planned on our stand for delegates, and we can’t wait to show Genie off. "With 10,500 attendees from around the world, we’re confident that ATD will be a highlight of the year for Growth Engineering. Bring it on!" You can register online for the event by clicking here. It’s likely that the event will be pretty jam-packed and busy. If you want to guarantee that you’ll be able to have a chat with one of our lovely team, book yourself in a meeting slot with us. Just click the button below and select the ATD Conference and Exposition in the drop-down list. Can’t wait to see you there!    The post Join us at the ATD Conference and Exposition in Orlando on 17-20 May 2015! appeared first on Growth Engineering.

Sometimes, despite your best intentions, your plan to add technology to the classroom via eLearning can simply fall flat and fail. It could be issues with the technology, the content itself, or even a lack of marketing and excitement around the project. In the news recently there was a story about a $1.3billion eLearning scheme in the US that has been unsuccessful. It was a 2013 project aimed to provide education via iPads to 650,000 LA students - a great idea, and a great way to bring technology into the classroom. According to netimperative, however, the iPad school project is in turmoil, having been deemed incomplete and unsecure - content provider Pearson has been accused of failing to fulfil their side of the bargain in providing the eLearning materials, and Apple is under fire for letting pupils bypass security features. In March it was revealed that only two out of the 69 schools involved were regularly using Pearson’s eLearning materials on their iPads, while the rest had ‘given up on attempting regular use of the app’, an internal memo stated. The schools involved have since approached Apple and its project partners (including Pearson and Lenovo) to request refunds. Click here to read the rest of the article. It’s terribly sad that what might have been children’s first experiences of eLearning have been so disappointing. It certainly doesn’t give the kids a good impression of eLearning or the use of technology in learning in general. Unfortunately, bad experiences like this can ruin a person’s view of online learning for good. If we enjoy learning as a child, we’ll be more receptive to continuing our education as adults. One of the reasons we have such trouble with training as adults is due to poor experiences as children: stuck in stuffy classrooms, bored by distracted teachers, teased by other children, forced to sit through boring or ineffective learning - these things stick with us and even the words ‘training’ and ‘learning’ can fill us with dread in adulthood. With any luck, the bad experiences that these LA schoolchildren have had with their eLearning will fade from their minds, replaced by a joy to learn - whether it’s on iPads, in classrooms, on Learning Management Systems or at work as adults. We’ve written about the problems poor classroom training can cause in the past - just click the button below to read more and find out how to bring eLearning into the classroom easily and effectively:  The post Using eLearning in the Classroom to Boost Learning appeared first on Growth Engineering.

Training in some industries is made particularly difficult by a casual, part-time, or shift-working employee base. The care professions, for instance, may have a bank of casual workers who are called upon as and when needed, and some may work only overnight. Getting all employees to undertake training when they work such varied, unpredictable hours is a challenge - for traditional training, that is. Online learning makes rolling out training and development to a highly casual and dispersed workforce much more straightforward. Here’s how: Easily accessible With online learning, you don’t have to worry about getting your employees to one centralised location for their training. Instead, they can log onto their Learning Management Systems remotely, from wherever they are in the world. Not only is this more convenient for employees, but in certain industries - care and nursing in particular - it’s impossible to take all employees away from their jobs for a day of training. Available anytime Employees are able to log onto their Learning Management Systems at any time of the day or night, which means they are able to take their training regardless of when their shift begins or ends. They can log on during a quiet period in their overnight shift, or when they get home from work - it’s incredibly flexible. And the more flexible training is, the more likely employees are to take it. This also means that casual staff (seasonal, temporary or sporadic workers) can access the training as and when they need it. Rather than putting employees through the course when they may not use the information for months, they can log on and learn when they need to. Much more convenient! Sociable In the past, there were a couple of options open to employees: workshop or classroom-based training days, or individual training, maybe through watching a video or reading a textbook. Aside from the extra work involved in handing out, marking and keeping track of learning in this way, it’s also pretty lonely. Evidence shows that we learn best when we can observe others and put our learning into practice, so it’s important that we are able to converse and share our thoughts with others. Online learning also ticks this box, too. Rather than a Learning Management System being a lonely place, learners are able to interact to a huge degree. They can chat, share resources, ask each other questions and talk about the subject matter. This means learning isn’t lonely - another bonus! Cheaper Because you don’t have to hold numerous real-life training sessions for employees who can’t make certain dates, or have to regularly host training days for newcomers or casual staff, online learning works out much more economical. The eLearning units you create are always there and available to staff. When a new starter joins and is added to your HR system, their LMS account can be automatically created; they’ll instantly have all the relevant content available to them, to go through at their own pace, in their own time. Reportable You might be worried that if employees can access their training at all times of the day (and night), it may be hard to keep track of who is doing what, how far they have progressed, how well they’ve done and so on. Luckily, Learning Management Systems like ours have this covered. The Academy LMS’s Reporting Suite provides a sophisticated, in-depth analysis of all kinds of data and statistics that will show you how your learners are doing. You’ll be able to see how many people are logging on and how often, how long they’re staying logged in, and what they’re working on while they are on their LMS. This information will show you how successful your training programme is proving to be, and can indicate ways to improve it. Fun Online learning has the potential to be hugely enjoyable and engaging for learners. All that’s needed is a bit of imagination and a bunch of fun gamification features like badges, achievements, points and leaderboards. Find out more about how to make online learning fun by downloading our free white paper below!  The post Online Learning Programmes for Casual Workers appeared first on Growth Engineering.

It was suggested in a recent article that the future of training lies in mentoring - that the majority of organisations were choosing to mentor their employees rather than put them through ‘formal’ training courses. Maggie Slowik, author of the article, found that 65% of procurement teams provide training to employees in the form of mentoring and on-the-job training. Maggie was a ‘bit surprised’ at the findings, and we agree. Here’s why: 70:20:10 We’ve spoken about the 70:20:10 format of learning before. It’s the idea that only 10% of what we learn comes through formal channels, like classroom-based learning, eLearning units and textbooks. 20% then comes via observation of and working with others, and the largest proportion occurs through actually putting the learning content into practice ‘on the job’. So the finding that 65% of teams are providing training just through mentoring (i.e. observation of others) and on-the-job training is a bit surprising. Where does the formal learning content come from? Could it be that 65% of procurement teams are failing to provide their employees with adequate fact-based, theoretical or structured learning content? Or does formal learning not play such an important role in achieving behavioural change in organisations? Formal learning isn’t dead The problem with organisations focusing on informal learning is that they’re neglecting the 10% of learning which occurs through formal channels. In some situations, this is absolutely vital - it’s often not possible to put certain training into practice without endangering lives (learning about what happens when electrical wiring goes wrong), travelling to far-flung places (learning the differences between orang-utan and chimpanzee breeding habits) or waiting for natural disasters to strike before learning how to act. Formal learning, on the other hand, can give learners a good basis from which to then expand their knowledge. Once they’ve learned what will happen if they touch a live wire, they can then practise correct wiring techniques on the job or through mentoring. The purpose of training, after all, is to achieve desired changes in behaviour. Whether this is selling more, working more productively, causing fewer errors or improving management skills, we will be more likely to see lasting behavioural changes when we understand not just how to do something, but why - and often that is what the formal training tells us. Want to find out more about achieving behavioural changes in your employees? We wrote an article about how gamification (badges, achievements, points and leaderboards) in learning can be aligned to business objectives to create lasting behaviour change. Read it below!    The post Does the Future of Training Lie in Mentoring? appeared first on Growth Engineering.

It’s no secret that we at Growth Engineering are strong believers of the power of online learning to upskill entire workforces and create real, lasting behaviour change. The evidence is there: online learning engages learners, gets them motivated in their training and helps organisations to flourish. But that doesn’t mean we don’t also see the benefit of blended learning. Blended learning, you may know, involves combining the online and offline worlds of learning to create a solution which is engaging, effective and transformative. Generally speaking, blended learning would involve the use of technology in classrooms to supplement the syllabus. It can be very effective, yet there is another method, known as ‘flipping’, which is even more so. Flipping the classroom Rather than supplementing classroom activities with technology, flipping the classroom involves turning the whole process on its head. Rather than teaching learners the syllabus and assigning learners content in class that they then need to work on in their own time, the flipped classroom would encourage learners to undertake the relevant eLearning units before the classroom event. This way, no time is wasted trying to teach the content during class - instead, learners can jump straight into discussions, debates and applying the knowledge. Social learning Being able to discuss the content is important because, as we know, only 10% of our knowledge comes from ‘formal’ training like eLearning units. 70% then comes from putting what we learn into practice and 20% occurs through observation of others, which includes discussions and sharing knowledge. Not as much time can be dedicated to this form of learning with the traditional classroom set-up because the syllabus is taught during sessions, which doesn’t give learners as much opportunity for discussion, group work or debate. Individuality One of the other benefits of a blended learning - or flipped classroom - approach is that it allows for individual learning styles. Assigning learners content to go through in their own time, prior to the classroom session, means they can go through things at their own speed and often in their preferred format. For instance, visual learners can supplement their learning by watching relevant videos, and people who prefer to learn by putting things into practice will have the opportunity to do so back in the classroom. Interactivity Rather than being forced to sit and watch a lecturer droning on for hours and hours (yawn), learners get the opportunity to truly interact and engage with the content and get their hands dirty. It’s pretty clear that blended learning does make a difference. A 2010 meta-analysis by the US Department of Education found that students exposed to both face-to-face and online learning were more successful than students exposed to one form of training or another. You can read the report here. Want to find out more about how you can bring technology into the classroom to create a more social, engaging and effective classroom environment? Download our free white paper below!    The post Flipping the Classroom: A Good Approach? appeared first on Growth Engineering.

"What’s in it for me?" is a question which drives almost every decision we make. From the moment we wake up in the morning, ‘What’s in it for me?’ is the subconscious mantra playing quietly in the back of our heads. These words help us choose which clothes to wear, what people you listen to, how to prioritise our work, what calls to make, what work you do, and so on. ‘What’s in it for me?’ is not always about what we will get out of doing something - it can be about how it makes us feel, too. We naturally avoid doing things which make us feel bad, so in a decision between eating an extra hot chilli and a bowl of cornflakes for breakfast, it’s pretty clear that we’ll take the action that will help us avoid negative feelings (in this case, pain!). Some other feelings which inspire us into action are pride, recognition, enjoyment, a sense of achievement, and so on. Very rarely will we choose to do something in the full knowledge that it will cause us to feel embarrassed, upset, disappointed or useless. Our subconscious mind helps us to make appropriate decisions based on our experiences, motivations and predictions of rewards and risks. That’s why we often do silly things after having a few drinks. The restraint we usually exercise and the importance we usually place on working out the causes and effects of our actions are diminished, and we end up making poor choices. It’s also why it’s vitally important that the benefits of training are clear to employees. If we can understand how the training will benefit us, we’re far more likely to make the decision to throw ourselves into it. "What’s the point of training?" Unfortunately, a clear ‘What’s in it for me?’ is often overlooked in training. Employees and teams are told that training is available to them, but they often don’t take advantage of it because they are not made explicitly aware of how enormously beneficial it will be to them. A travesty! These employees usually think they have better things to do than training. In their minds the training isn’t worth their time, or isn’t important enough for them to put off their other priorities. Thinking in this way can cause a lot of problems in the long term. Employees that don’t progress and learn new skills will fall behind and fail, which could cause the organisation to fail too. On the other hand, organisations which train employees will become far more successful - they’ll be able to grow, change and cultivate new talent and ideas. That’s why it’s vital to show employees what’s in it for them. In other words, training needs to be joined up. Employees should be able to see the direct relationship between training and success. They shouldn’t wonder if learning new things will benefit them - this should be made explicitly clear! "If you take this training you will be able to X, Y, Z." Here’s how we show learners the light and get them engaged with their training: Tie the learning to annual performance reviews; make them a form of training needs identification Make the learning part of ‘role competencies’ and a requirement for promotion Conduct training needs assessments prior to the training to ensure that the training is relevant to the individual Give recognition for the training done - this could be in the form of a qualification, certificate or even a virtual badge Make sure the above recognition is visible - create leaderboards that show how much work employees are putting into their training and who is progressing furthest Combine individual training courses into qualifications that are necessary for role development and promotion - a management role could require a specific management qualification that employees can undertake in their own time, for instance. Once they have it, they can apply for management These tactics show employees that the training they are being asked to undertake is useful to their lives, important to the company and even essential to their progression within the company. If they want to succeed, they’ll need to get learning. What’s in it for them? Career progression. Who wouldn’t be motivated by that!? Read more about how to get employees engaged with their training by downloading our free white paper below:    The post Engaging the Learner: ‘What’s in it for me?’ appeared first on Growth Engineering.

A report put together by EDUCAUSE, on behalf on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, found that while 99% of educational institutions use Learning Management Systems in some form, only 41% of those surveyed report using the LMS to encourage social interaction outside of the classroom. This means that 59% of Learning Management Systems are being used almost purely as a means of disseminating information and getting learners to undertake training. While that’s clearly an important part of what LMSs are created for, learning doesn’t stop once we walk out of the classroom or click the ‘X’ in the corner of an eLearning unit. No; learning continues far beyond the initial learning event. And while Learning Management Systems have been highly successful in making the administration of learning easier, they do not necessarily help to encourage learning itself. The issue lies in thinking about Learning Management Systems as ‘systems’ to ‘manage’ ‘learning’. They are far more than that! Good LMSs could just as easily be called Learner Engagement Machines, Learning and Engagement Engines, Devices to Delight Learners - ok, maybe not, but you see where we’re going with it. The point is that LMSs should not just be used to deliver content and monitor learners. They should actively engage learners and help to develop a culture of collaboration and an attitude that learning is important, never-ending and incredibly valuable. The Next Generation LMS A new way of seeing learning and Learning Management Systems necessitates a new kind of LMS. An LMS that puts the learner experience at its heart; one that works to actively engage learners, rather than simply monitor them. An LMS which boosts social learning and makes the whole learning journey fun for learners, to get them hooked and loving learning again. The answer? A Gamified Social LMS! Gamification secures the learner engagement that is so desperately lacking on most Learning Management Systems, while social features will get learners communicating, socialising, sharing knowledge, and create a learning community of active learners. Learn more about how a Gamified Social LMS can revolutionise online learning - download the free white paper below.  The post ‘Learner Engagement Engines’ - a New Name for LMS? appeared first on Growth Engineering.

Neuroscience has come such a long way. What in the past could not be explained or monitored can now be viewed through brain scans and neuroimaging. Previously incredible phenomena are now explained by neural pathways, neurotransmitters and synaptic surges. Take learning, for instance. We now know the processes involved in making learning stick in our minds. For instance, the hippocampus - located in the lower section of the brain - controls memories of learning (Foerde & Shohamy, 2011). The stronger the hippocampal activation during learning, the more we will remember the content and be able to recall the information at a later date. Neuroscience also shows us what can happen when these processes are unable to function: a 1957 study of patient H.M. revealed that damage to the hippocampus and surrounding areas led to a severe impairment in the ability to form new memories for facts and events (Scoville & Milner, 1957). Interesting, though, H.M. and patients like him could still learn new procedures and habits, so long as they were acquired gradually, such as playing the piano. So when it comes to learning specific facts and tactics during training programmes at work, the hippocampus is pretty essential. But it’s not the only mechanism that impacts on learning and memory. Dopamine Research in neuroscience also tell us how important dopamine is in learning processes. Numerous studies (e.g. Fiorillo, Tobler, & Schultz, 2003; Schultz, Apicella, & Ljungberg, 1993; Waelti, Dickinson, & Schultz, 2001) show that dopamine is critical in learning to predict rewarding outcomes and working to obtain them. Basically, when we get an unexpected reward, dopamine neurons begin firing. If we’re rewarded enough for a specific action, the dopamine response shifts to occur immediately following the action for which we gain the reward, rather than when we receive the reward itself. You can see how this impacts on learning - if we’re regularly rewarded for undertaking an eLearning module, for instance, we’ll soon learn to associate eLearning with a pleasant feeling (dopamine is known as the feel-good hormone, after all). We’ll then be more receptive to taking eLearning units in the future, because doing so makes us feel good. That’s why we make sure to reward learners on the Academy LMS by utilising lots of cool gamification functionality. Gamification - the application of gaming mechanics and metaphors, like points, badges and leaderboards, to non-game scenarios - makes difficult or boring tasks like learning tricky subjects much more enjoyable and motivates us to pursue training whole-heartedly. If this was a bit heavy-going for you, don’t worry! Just download the free white paper below to find out exactly how to engage your learners in their training - you’ll find tips and tricks there that you can start implementing right away!    The post Your Brain on eLearning: Dopamine and the Hippocampus appeared first on Growth Engineering.

The goal of Learning and Development programmes is ultimately to make change happen in the workplace. Once a problem or discrepancy is identified, it’s the job of L&D to step in, create a plan of action and put training in place to solve the issue or bridge the gap between knowledge and action. This is easier said than done, however. There are many things which may stand against successful training programmes at work - time constraints, lack of budget, lack of buy-in from senior management, lack of employee engagement, and more. Even just designing the training - before rolling it out or assessing its effectiveness - involves meticulous planning, numerous considerations and some trial and error. Picking the right training solution How can you really be sure which training solution is best for your organisation? What will your employees respond to? When it comes to training, you can’t judge an employee’s receptiveness on their age or other demographics. Just because someone is older doesn’t necessarily mean that online learning won’t be an effective training solution. Anyone can learn to use a Learning Management System, especially one like the Academy LMS, which has an intuitive interface specifically designed to engage learners and be simple to use. Selecting your add-ons, extras and ooh-la-las Again, don’t let preconceived notions get in the way of creating what could be a really engaging training programme for employees. Take gamification for instance. You might be concerned that the older population of your employees won’t enjoy receiving badges and points for undertaking their training, so you might steer clear of gamified training plans. However, evidence shows that gamification actually works for all demographics - let’s face it, who doesn’t like playing games? We’ve all been doing it since we were kids! Securing sign-off Even when you’ve got the bare bones of a plan in place, you’ll likely need to get sign-off from senior management. This might be difficult if you can’t prove to them the expected return on investment from the training. After all, they need reassurance that the training will be successful, that the investment won’t be wasted and that they will get to see real, lasting behavioural changes. They might also have reservations about the particular training programme you go for. Take eLearning for instance. It often has a bad reputation for being boring, ineffective, difficult to monitor and generally pretty useless. But that’s just it - it’s only a reputation. Of course you’ll think ‘all’ eLearning is naff if you experienced a really awful eLearning module that made you want to pull out your hair and climb out the window. But not all eLearning is like that - nowadays it’s sophisticated, engaging, fun and incredibly effective. There may be other criticisms of online learning that are holding senior management back from signing off on your exciting new training solution. We put together a handy white paper of the most common objections and how to overcome them, which you can use as ammo to fire back when management are giving you the run-around. Download it for free below!    The post Picking the Right Training Solution appeared first on Growth Engineering.

Research into happiness and productivity shows quite conclusively that the happier someone is, the more productive they are (Oswald, Proto & Sgroi, 2014). You’ve probably experienced it yourself: when you’re feeling down in the dumps, it’s hard to get motivated to perform even the most simple of tasks. You’re more likely to drag your heels, half-heartedly stagger through your routine and leave dirty dishes to fester by the sink for yet another day. On the other hand, when you’re happy, feeling positive and having a quintessentially good day, you’ll have a spring in your step, sail through tough tasks and be spurred on to give the house a thorough clean. This effect is so strong that people who are feeling happy (i.e. have a ‘positive affect’) are 12% more productive than those feeling miserable and morose (Oswald et al., 2014). Just think what you could accomplish over time with a daily 12% increase in productivity! This statistic is one of the reasons why we decided to embark on our mission to make online learning fun for learners. If they’re having fun, they’re likely to be happier, and if they’re happier, they’ll be more productive and will learn much more than if they hated the learning process and found it mind-numbingly, eye-wateringly boring. Other research has found that when we are having fun, our brains are 68% more active and can absorb a whopping 84% more information (BusyPatch.com). Coupled with a 12% increase in productivity, it’s clear to see that making learning fun will do great things for knowledge acquisition. CONSENSUS We’re not the only company that sees the benefit of making online learning fun. In fact, it’s now quite widely accepted that eLearning modules should be engaging and enjoyable for learners. The general consensus is that eLearning should grab learners’ attention, capture their imagination and get them thinking - not that every piece of eLearning achieves this, of course, but at least it’s recognised as something to aim for! However, there seems to be something huge that has been overlooked by learning technologies companies, up until now: eLearning should be fun and engaging for the people that make it, as well as the learners that consume it! This is because the same effects of happiness, fun, productivity and brain activity apply to content creators as well as the learners who consume the eLearning. If the process is fun, creators will receive the same productivity boost as learners. Of course, fun also provokes fun - enjoyable, fun experiences are inspiring, and a fun creative process can help to create fun content that learners will love. On the flip side, a boring, unimaginative process will lead to boring, unimaginative eLearning, which isn’t fun for the creator or the learner! It was a moment of revelation when we put all this together. As proud creators of the #1 Gamified LMS in the world, we like to think we’ve cracked making learning fun for learners. However, it was only when we heard the woes of our clients who had to use traditional authoring tools that we realised, my god, eLearning development SUCKS! We’ve always believed that online learning should be fun and engaging for learners. Now we have a new belief to shout from the rooftops: eLearning should be fun and engaging for the people who work so hard to create it! Content creators - by which we mean anyone involved in creating eLearning units, from developers, Instructional Designers and subject matter experts (SMEs) to L&D professionals and reviewers - deserve to enjoy the process of creating eLearning that knocks socks off. If the end product is engaging for learners, the means of creating it should be, too. After all, why should learners get all the fun? Download the white paper for free below:  The post Why You Should Make Online Learning Fun appeared first on Growth Engineering.