The current decade has started to witness a fast changing landscape in technological innovations, some of which have brought about sweeping changes in everyday activities. If you look at a typical day in the life of a tech-savvy individual (either a college-going student or a working professional), you will find them operating in ways you’d not imagined a few years ago. Now come on, did you foresee people around you move about carrying a computer chip in their eyeglasses or wrist watches? At least two of my techie colleagues are seen donning the Google Glass in office these days, and I know of at least one friend—a fitness fanatic—working out with all these fancy wearable gadgets and checking in his progress on Facebook.   To take stock of the changes—small and big—that have stealthily crept in and comfortably fitted into our everyday life, let’s meet with Susan, a sales executive from a multinational corporation.     So, what does a typical day in her life look like? Let’s sneak a peek …     A Day in the Life of Susan   Looks familiar, doesn’t it? Like any other digitally savvy individual, Susan’s daily routine is strongly influenced by elements of the social and mobile worlds. Then, a crucial question that comes to my mind as a learning designer is why should her learning environment be any different? Why can’t Susan’s learning use these very elements and mimic her real life?   Picture this …   Merging of Personal and Learning Spaces   Wouldn’t the merging of her personal and learning spaces result in an enhanced experience?   Accept it—the 21st century modern learners are clearly very different from what we’ve seen in the past. Their life is largely influenced by the Social, Cloud, and Mobile worlds. Add "Analytics" to this list and you get what is now a popular and fairly impactful acronym—SMAC—in the IT services world.   SMAC is influencing this digital generation so much that they now have shorter attention spans and, therefore, end up demanding information in smaller bites, albeit very fast and preferably on the go. When these new-age learners look for learning, they go to Google, YouTube, TED talks, Khan Academy, and, for the last couple of years, MOOCs! Increasingly, these learners want their learning experiences to match the pace and style of their life.   So, how best can learning design address the needs of the SMAC learner?  To know more about our thoughts around designing for the SMAC learner, read the full article at http://www.tatainteractive.com/thought-leadership.html

Learn how leading companies are giving their leadership performance a boost using business simulations  Tata Interactive Systems’ (TIS) management and leadership simulation experts will host a free webinar on leadership development simulations. To be held on Tuesday, October 28, 2014, attendees of this session will learn how to engage their learners with multiplayer facilitated business simulations. "A comprehensive coverage of the complexities of successfully running a business in a simple and impactful manner, through a highly engaging user interface sets TOPSIM apart from other business simulations in the market," says Saurabh Mittal, Managing Director, Tata Interactive Systems GmbH. "Through a TOPSIM® Business Simulation, TIS creates the context for participants to apply strategic and operational skills to effectively manage an enterprise in a sustainable manner. Through this, the participants experience and learn the impact of their decisions across business units and develop a holistic understanding of a business." Saurabh will present this webinar along with Dr. Antoinette Roberts, Commercial Enabling Manager, PepsiCo SA Snacks. TIS had earlier tailor made a business acumen program for Pepsico Simba revolving around the TOPSIM Simulation. The workshop included activities on specific topics viz. Supply chain management, Innovation, and Strategy alignment. During the Webinar on ‘Simulations for Leadership Development’, attendees will learn how to: Drive strategic thinking among their workforce Balance strategic long-term thinking vs short-term objectives Enhance best-practice decision making in leadership development This session is part of the Tata Interactive Learning Forum online webinar series that shares valuable eLearning tips, trends and strategies with the eLearning community. The Webinar live sessions take place from 10:00 - 11:00 am EDT. For session details and free registration, visit www.tatainteractive.com/webinars.html

Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) will host a free webinar on Talent Development and Reporting Principles (TDRp). To be held on Thursday, November 20, 2014, attendees of this session could learn how to improve the measurement of your learning and run it like a business. TDRp is one of the most significant recent developments in the Learning and Development space. The effort was launched in October 2010 KnowledgeAdvisors and Qualcomm.  They brought together thought leaders and prominent practitioners to oversee the development of guiding principles, standard measures, statements, and reports.  The Center for Talent Reporting (CTR) was formed in October 2012 to develop and promote the adoption of reporting standards for human capital that meet the needs of senior executives, talent management leaders, program managers, and other stakeholders. The webinar on TDRp, led by David Vance, Executive Director, CTR and author of The Business of Learning will offer an insight into to TDRp framework and how it can help you plan, measure, and manage to deliver business impact using a standard, yet flexible, approach. During the course of the webinar, Dr. Shwetaleena Bidyadhar, Principal Learning Designer, TIS and Gajanan Kasbekar, Senior Vice President, TIS will discuss how TDRp principles can be effectively implemented in an organization. During the webinar on ‘TDRp’, attendees will learn: The types of data that should be collected and the measures should be defined What CLOs, CEOs and other senior leaders want to see and how should it be presented The important role learning plays in achieving organizational goals  This session is part of the Tata Interactive Learning Forum online webinar series that shares valuable eLearning tips, trends and strategies with the eLearning community. The Webinar live sessions take place from 10:00 - 11:00 am EDT. For session details and free registration, visit www.tatainteractive.com/webinars.html

Following on from our Webinar last week, Multiplayer Business Simulations is creating a context within which participants can take decisions, gather the impact & consequences of their decisions and thereby learn from it. While the emphasis has been on applying knowledge and skills, these simulations take learners through the pace of business planning, strategizing, and decision-making thereby enabling their transformation into better leaders and managers. TIS’ webinar touched upon the issues and challenges that TOPSIM business simulations can address, the key areas that these simulations can be used and the mode of implementation. The webinar specifically provided insight into how TOPSIM simulation has been implemented in a large organization like PepsiCo. Saurabh Mittal, MD, TIS GmbH and Dr Antoinette Roberts, Commercial Enabling Manager, PepsiCo SA Snacks discussed the kinds of support required to implement such simulations as well as the likely barriers to implementation. So, what are Multiplayer Business Simulations? A management simulation is like a flight simulator for managers. It's not as complex as an actual aircraft flight, but it provides a fairly accurate idea of how an actual flight will go. It’s also a bit like learning a significant skill in a risk-free environment. During the course of the Webinar, a poll was conducted, which revealed that only 50% of the attendees had exposure to multiplayer business simulations. So essentially, corporate houses are also understanding the value of simulations for training. TIS' workshop-based training simulations product TOPSIM® models complex socio-economic/behavioral systems ranging in size from a startup company to a large corporation or even the macroeconomics of a country. Simulations are being applied to ensure the success of multiple corporate initiatives like Employer Branding, Onboarding, developing Leadership pipeline, etc. The simulation software also offers functional variables such as interest rates, input costs, inflation, demand and supply variables, and various other inputs that drive the simulation's complex math model.  Thus, participants in the simulation: Manage a (virtual) company - they make typical business decisions in a realistic environment. Learn principles of business administration - how to use information in decision-making, and how to handle risk and uncertainty. Experience decision-making processes within a team while managing time constraints. TOPSIM® is also being used in more than 400 universities across the globe for undergraduate as well as master’s studies. Simulations developed for PepsiCo Simba Speaking about PepsiCo’s experience with simulations, Dr Roberts said that Simba’s objective was to shift the focus for managers from transactional to strategic. Further they wanted their branch managers to gain key managerial skills with emphasis on Business Acumen and Leadership skills, enable them to understand the interdependencies between various departments and act holistically. As a team-based competitive simulation, TOPSIM® requires that players show the ability to make strategic decisions as a team. As it simulates the whole business environment, it gives participants a bird's eye view of business management and competitive dynamics. TIS custom-designed a business acumen program revolving around the TOPSIM® simulation with activities on specific topics like supply chain management, innovation and strategy alignment. The program also involved mentors from Simba to monitor the business transformation projects as a post-workshop activity. Post training, the groups participated in a business transformation project. The teams identified short term and long term implementation plans. Towards the end of the Webinar, another poll revealed that almost 81 per cent of the attendees are considering using business simulations in their organizations. In short, the world is looking for impactful, effective and sustainable Learning.

In a recent survey by the Corporate Executive Board (2013), 56% of managers felt that employee performance would not change or would improve if L&D were eliminated completely. Research suggests that as much as 90% of training resources are spent on the design, development, and delivery of training events that yield 15% on-the-job application (Brinkerhoff, 2006). With this as the backdrop, Tata Interactive Systems recently hosted a Webinar on Talent Development and Reporting Principles (TDRp) that offered valuable tips on how to improve the measurement of your learning and run it like a business. Presented by David Vance, Executive Director, Center for Talent Reporting; Gajanan Kasbekar, Senior Vice President, TIS and Dr. Shwetaleena Bidyadhar, Principal Learning Designer at TIS, focused on: What does TDRp mean for the learning professional What constitutes the TDRp Approach, Measures & Reporting How you can begin your TDRp journey… The webinar discussed how TDRp can help practitioners plan, measure, and manage to deliver business impact using a standard, yet flexible, approach. More specifically, application of TDRp will enable you to more effectively and efficiently impact the bottom line results. In particular, TDRp will help align learning to these key strategic goals and establish the expected impact of L&D initiatives on business outcomes. It also helps identify, report, and manage the most important effectiveness and efficiency measures for our key initiatives, besides helping manage key initiatives through the year to deliver planned results. The Target Audience for TDRp mainly includes Talent leaders and managers - all those responsible for programs, people, and budgets. It is also about proactive discussions with senior talent leaders (SVP of HR, CLO, Head of Talent Acquisition, heads of other talent processes (leadership development, capability management), senior organizational leaders (CEO, CFO, EVPs, SVPs, governing boards). In short, it is about the process of managing the business. After successfully implementing TDRp, L&D should employ three types of measures using industry standard definitions, although the choice of measures will depend on our goals and will be decided upon at a later time. The three types of measures are outcomes, effectiveness, and efficiency. However, any measure to be managed has to have a plan. Hence, it is imperative that enterprise-wide effectiveness and efficiency measures should be set by the department head. Further, plan for outcome and program-specific effectiveness and efficiency measures should be set by sponsor, program manager and department head. So, in short, TDRp answers your questions about what data should be collected, how the measures are defined, how the data should be organized, and how it should be reported. The three statements that incorporate the recommended measures, and the three management reports that draw from the statements were also discussed during the webinar. The TDR principles apply to profit, nonprofit, and government organizations, and are a collective, open-source effort (no copyright) by L&D professionals to provide much needed structure to data gathering, organization, and reporting. To know more about TDRp and the process of managing learning as a business, view our recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEoc8MDbR30&feature=youtu.be

Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) recently hosted an interactive session ‘Conversations with Elliott Masie’, in association with its partner, Juniserv ME. Learning personalization, mobile learning, collaborative learning and wearables & digital technologies were some of the topics that Elliott Masie, chair of the Learning CONSORTIUM, addressed. The event focused on innovations that will provide more scalable, personalized and learner-driven content solutions for the workplace. Reflecting on the challenges facing professionals today as well as the future of learning, Masie discussed why it is imperative for organizations to embrace a wide variety of new learning technologies, approaches and methods. "It was an honor to dialogue with a diverse group of learning and business leaders at the ‘Conversations with Masie’ event in Dubai. Learning is and will be a major tool to support the growth and development of the United Arab Emirates - and can play a significant role in the ramp up to Expo 2020," Masie cited. Masie is recognized as a futurist, analyst, researcher and organizer on the critical topics of workforce learning. He heads The MASIE Center, a Saratoga Springs, NY a think tank focused on how organizations can support learning and knowledge within the workforce. He also leads the Learning CONSORTIUM, a coalition of 240 global organizations cooperating on the evolution of learning strategies, including CNN, Wal-Mart, American Express, Farmers Insurance, Emirates Airline, Starbucks, General Electric and Fidelity Investments. The session that was held in Dubai brought together professionals to explore the future of workplace learning. Those who engaged in the conversation included learning professionals from General Civil Aviation Authority, Etihad Airlines, Du, ADCB, Saudi Skills Standards, Mercer, Panasonic, Emaar Hospitality, GEMS Education, Dubai Airports, Emirates Aluminum and the Landmark Group.

Celebrates 25 Years of Excellence in Learning & Development  Wins 3 Brandon Hall Excellence awards: 1 silver and 2 bronze for Mobile Learning as well as best use of Games and Simulations for Learning Wins Silver at USDLA Awards 2014 for Best Practices in Distance Learning Programming under the sub-category of Online Technology in Higher Education. Figures among the Top 20 Learning Outsourcing Companies, Top 20 Content Development Companies and Top 20 Gamification Companies Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), a global provider of learning solutions, today released a list of some of its most important accomplishments in the year 2014. TIS reached significant milestones in the areas of content development and gamification, made a host of significant achievements through its work in Mobile Learning, and offered improved learning solutions through the use of games and simulations. "This year we partnered with many organizations to advise them on learning strategy and alignment. Besides consulting services this year saw us engaged in developing new formats in simulations and gaming as well as augmented reality," says Kshitij Nerurkar, COO, TIS. "TIS has always been the pioneer to develop new product formats such as - serious games, learning nuggets, etc. We expect augmented reality and multiplayer  games to come up strongly in the next few years," he adds. TIS’ 2014 list highlights accomplishments in operations, international partnerships to support innovative learning solutions, in addition to custom learning & training course development and delivery. The year also witnessed TIS celebrating 25 years of offering innovative learning solutions. The company introduced innovative learning solutions like Marketing Communication modules targeted towards brand management and customer service. It also developed portals, SharePoint applications and custom Learning Management System (LMS). Quite recently, TIS in association with its partner, Juniserv ME hosted an interactive session in the Middle East with Elliott Masie, chair of the Learning CONSORTIUM that focused on innovations that will provide more scalable, personalized and learner-driven content solutions for the workplace. In terms of awards and accolades, TIS’ Associate Degree in Nursing program developed for Excelsior College won Silver at USDLA Awards 2014; the award was conferred for Best Practices in Distance Learning Programming under the sub-category of Online Technology in Higher Education. TIS transformed the learning experience for aspiring nurses through e-Learning tutorials, games and simulations. The company also won three awards from the Brandon Hall Group in the Mobile learning as well as Games & Simulations for learning category. This is the sixth consecutive year that TIS has won the prestigious Brandon Hall Awards. Besides, TIS was recognized among the Top 20 Training Outsourcing companies, Top 20 Content Development Companies and Top 20 Gamification Companies. The company also organized a series of ‘Ask the Expert’ Webinars in 2014. These interactive sessions from the instructional design community focused on 2D/3D Animation, Learning Consulting, Learning Portals, Business Gaming Simulations, eLearning & Blended Learning and Serious Games, among others. Commenting on the expected trends in the near future, Kshitij avers, "Web 2.0, Social Communities and learning will converge, thereby assisting in providing high quality learning. This is in addition to games as a format, which is expected to gain more importance and DIY Learning which will push learning on the mobile platform." According to him, wearables in Learning is another new wave that is gaining grounds. "From tracking a learner’s progress to providing a new way for learners to interact with data, their environment, and one another, wearable technologies have many practical applications in learning and development. Miniaturization of content is definitely another trend.  As far as mobile learning is concerned, up till the last year, there were early adopters but by and large customers thought about this being an addition to traditional desktop based learning. In 2014, the outlook changed considerably. Customers are willing to accept content which is not in flash, built in smaller chunks, primarily ready for mobile devices and accessible readily through Safari," states Kshitij.

Cloud computing has been around for a long time. However, it became a topic of interest only in the last decade, and is now an accepted part of the technology landscape in most organizations. In recent times, the proliferation of cloud has had its advantages. However, it has also led to some risks that can cause a lot of difficulties to the users. The primary risk that has cropped up is that of security breach. Several cloud providers have been forced to give data to governmental bodies as well, and this has intensified the fear among users as well as companies about the usage of cloud. To mitigate this risk, several companies across the world are looking at the option of using Hybrid clouds. Hybrid clouds is a mixture of both private as well as public clouds where the providers could be multiple and companies create the hybrid cloud based on the need of each application or service they want to host. Hybrid clouds are best when companies need to keep part of their data close to themselves and really guarded, while some of the data can reside in a public environment. Though hybrid cloud has strength, the biggest downside is that the spectrum of technology landscape gets fragmented. Hence, there is a need for more resources in terms of maintaining this hybrid cloud landscape. The best situations to use hybrid clouds are when you want to tailor your offerings to different geographies, and not only provide SaaS option to your customer but also give them the freedom of putting their own private cloud. Hybrid is becoming a choice now for most companies, while ensuring that both data and applications don’t have the same approach. To know more, read our Article on Public Clouds and why they are a hot topic of discussion Deepak Venkateshan is Principal Solutions Architect - Mobile & Tablet Apps. (COE), COE - Mobile/ Tablet Apps, Tata Interactive System

Enterprises across the world have realized that social networking is changing the way people interact, compelling them to look at social collaboration in the workplace as well. Also, the use of traditional communication tools like email for file sharing are now becoming obsolete. Social networking, is hence, not just a buzzword but a need of the day to keep employees engaged, trained, agile and connected. This is such a key initiative that almost all companies across the globe are investing money for social presence. Gartner predicts that by 2016, 50% of large organizations will have internal Facebook-like social networks, and that 30% of these will be considered as essential as email and telephones. Why is this skew happening and why are users moving away from traditional modes of communication? The answers to these questions also loop back to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - the need to belong, self-actualize is very high in humans and there is a constant need for societal approval as well as collaborative learning. A tool like Facebook or Twitter not only make the conversation one-to-many but also renders it as casual and engaging due to freeform communication. The topic gets more strength and data from information added on by the others on the platform and the narrative does not end based on just one publish and multi consume. Promoting an open format of communication - published by one, enriched by others and subscribed by many - is a good model for eLearning and hence organizations are considering social networking for learning. To this effect, the change begins with the Learning Management System (LMS). Learning Management Systems provide a critical repository for the administration and delivery of educational material. Yet the current LMS are rigid and complex due to the need for administration and roles. This is in stark contrast to social collaboration tools. Social media is basically a structure that consists of individuals as well as groups with similar interests, and this is what makes it a win over traditional LMS. Social networking promotes greater openness, accessibility and sharing. This lack of flexibility and usability in traditional LMS will ultimately allow emerging collaboration solutions gain market share over LMS. Organizations, particularly product development organizations, are witnessing these trends and hence there is an upsurge of eLearning platforms and tools being built on a social collaborative framework, thus taking the best of both traditional LMS as well as the new collaborative world. This is like Web 3.0 where learning is leading to synergies between LMS, social collaboration and mobility to deliver the best format and platform for learning. If this combination is heady enough then the final ingredient to this recipe is the deep integration of analytics and big data into the framework, where organizations get a complete solution. Thus, social collaboration is here to stay and companies are fast realizing that the potential of these tools don’t just end at personal interaction and online reputation. Social networking can touch every aspect of business and make learning a truly immersive experience. To know more, read our Article on Social World.  Deepak Venkateshan is Principal Solutions Architect - Mobile & Tablet Apps. (COE), COE - Mobile/ Tablet Apps, Tata Interactive System  

Technology is transforming education at a phenomenal speed than ever. In this realm, wearable technology has a very strong possibility of extending the mobility of learning, further connecting learners to each other as well as to those facilitating their learning, and serving as another collaborative learning tool that can be integrated into the learning process at many levels. With wearables releasing from every large device maker and access to the general public increasing, companies and people will probably see quite a bit of experimentation as well as usage of wearable tech across all areas. Devices like Google Glass & Oculus Rift can significantly improve how students interact with video tutorials and follow instructor demonstrations. As their hands are free they can interact with the software that they are learning without having to disengage from one screen in order to access another. The ability of voice control would also allow a student to engage seamlessly with the content or training. Wearable tech is a smoother process and one that could be applied to a distant learning model as well as a traditional classroom setting. The idea of hands-free exploration of an immersive world will only truly be appreciated once we begin utilizing the technology. Some of the areas in learning and education that wearables can play a strong part are Instructional Videos (Repairs, Maintenance) of Automobiles, Architecture Walkthroughs (Modelling and creation of virtual worlds), Walk through of a business process (KYC, Policy Selling), A Day in the life simulations, VR Immersive Serious Games, First Person Videos (For collective experiences), Research apps for training modules et al Hence, the need and usage of wearables is clearly seen as proliferating and one that will be adopted more and more in learning. The only thing that will need to be taken into consideration is the "invasion of privacy" as many of the devices have cameras as well as constantly gathering data and knowledge of user. The other thing that raises concerns in the education/learning space for wearables is of the "casualness" of the learning. Trainers, Professors will be entering a new classroom where every student has a camera aimed on them and nothing is sacrosanct and private anymore. Learning organizations will also have to grapple with the new world of WYOD (Wear your own device). The other concern will be the erosion of the traditional construct of the classroom, instructor led training where the professor or facilitator held the room. However, from tracking students’ progress to providing a new way for learners to interact with data, their environment, and one another, wearable technologies have many practical applications in education and training. These uses span all educational environments, from elementary school classrooms to operating theatres and even to facilitator led training courses in the corporate realm. As wearables proliferate, mutate, grow and become commonplace the current disadvantages of devices being expensive, heavy, low battery, discomfort and security will start to subside and new regulation will also come into place to make this technology commonplace. Deepak Venkateshan is Principal Solutions Architect - Mobile & Tablet Apps. (COE), COE - Mobile/ Tablet Apps, Tata Interactive System