Does it feel like you’re always racing the clock? Are there just not enough hours in the work day? This article features 8 tips to help you save time and resources on your next eLearning project. How To Save Time On Your Next eLearning Project Time is a precious commodity. There never seems to be enough of it, especially when there is a deadline looming and your to-do list just keeps growing. Fortunately, there are some tips and tricks to beat the clock and make the most of every minute. Whether you have a propensity for procrastination or simply need to speed up your eLearning development process, this article can help. Here are 8 ways to save time on any eLearning project. 1. Create A Detailed Timeline Think of a timeline as your productivity roadmap. It clearly outlines what you need to accomplish, by when, and with what tools. Timelines also allow you to delegate tasks to your eLearning team members and ensure that everyone is on-track. Include every single task that you must tackle, and then divide it into milestones. For example, there are multiple steps involved when creating a compliance online training course, such as developing the layout, choosing graphics, and designing online training activities. All of these steps are vital in the process and contain their own set of sub-tasks. So, break everything down to its most basic components and then prioritize. 2. Use eLearning Course Templates eLearning templates can save you a significant amount of time, money, and stress. You’re able to reuse them on multiple eLearning projects. It all starts with a master layout that includes the ideal fonts, colors, and navigation icons. Then you add placeholders for the eLearning activities, online assessments, and other eLearning materials. If you have some free time before your next eLearning project, create a variety of templates for different topics and learning needs. You’ll already have them on hand when your eLearning team is pressed for time during the development process. 3. Choose A Top Notch Project Management Online Tool Online Project Management tools allow your eLearning team to communicate and collaborate whenever, wherever. You can assign tasks, add important deadlines to the group calendar, and provide feedback. eLearning course review tools are another great category of tools to have on-hand. These platforms give you the power to track eLearning design changes and make quick revisions. Last, but not least, look for web conferencing systems to host face-to-face meetings with your collaborators from anywhere in the globe. 4. Concentrate On Your Learning Goals And Objectives Learning goals and objectives provide a framework for your entire eLearning project. Every piece of eLearning content that you create should support the desired outcome. Whether that is improving performance or developing a vital skill, concentrating the core objectives helps everything else fall in line. You don’t have to waste time on learning resources that are irrelevant, or start from scratch halfway through the eLearning project because you misinterpreted the learning goals. Meet with your clients, gather eLearning team input, and research your audience to finalize the objectives beforehand. 5. Start With An Effective eLearning Storyboard Once you have a clear idea of your learning objectives and audience, get a head start with an eLearning storyboard. Of course, you’ll also need to enlist the aid of your Subject Matter Expert to help you narrow down the subject matter. eLearning storyboards provide a visual outline for your eLearning team to follow. Every eLearning activity, assessment, and visual element has a place on the board. You can use screen shots and brief descriptions if you are still unsure about the details. For example, simply include a bullet point list of the task steps for an interactive simulation. 6. Create A List Of Online Resources For Your Learners Online resource lists are beneficial for a variety of reasons. Firstly, they personalize the eLearning experience. Online learners can simply access the online resources they need when they need them the most, as opposed to sitting through long eLearning courses to get the information they require. Resource lists also reduce development costs and time. Instead of creating eLearning materials from the ground up, compile a database of links. This includes articles, videos, eBooks, and other online content. Alternatively, compile a list of resources that you already have on-hand and divide it into categories. For instance, a section devoted to task simulations for your IT employees. 7. Repurpose Existing eLearning Materials In addition to creating a resource list with existing eLearning content, you can also repurpose it to create entirely new eLearning material. For example, a PowerPoint presentation becomes an interactive online video demo. Or a bullet list can be transformed into a step-by-step online task tutorial. Evaluate the resources you have and look at them from a different angle. Can you use bits and pieces from different resources to produce an effective branching scenario or infographic? This can save you the time and trouble of researching the subject matter and creating written eLearning content. 8. Evaluate Your Current eLearning Strategy Take a closer look at your current work process and eLearning strategy to see what works and what doesn’t. Then figure out how you can improve. For instance, you may find that a specific tool is too complicated or outdated. As such, replacing that tool could reduce your development time and streamline team collaboration. In some cases, you might need to add an additional collaborator to your eLearning team who has the expertise you need. This is an investment, but it will allow you to allocate your online resources more effectively. These time-saving tips can help you stay on-track and on-budget. The secret is careful planning, organization, and research. It also doesn’t hurt to have the best eLearning team on your side who can take on extra tasks. Not to mention, effective eLearning authoring tools that feature all the assets you need to create amazing eLearning experiences. The secret is careful planning, organization, and research.Click To Tweet Are you looking for more budget-friendly eLearning tips? Read the article Tight eLearning Budget: 6 Tips To Create An Amazing Online Training Course to discover some useful ways to create top notch courses with limited resources. The post 8 Tips To Save Time On Your Next eLearning Project appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Starting to get in the holiday mood? Well, we have some good news for you to assist with that. The coding elves at Epignosis have just released an early holiday gift for our customers: a TalentLMS update filled with all kinds of new features, workflow enhancements and bug-fixes. It’s not just a light-weight point update either, as we’re introducing some major new functionality in this release. Have we piqued your interest? Let’s open the box to have a quick peek inside… 1) Linked units The need to create a number of courses that share some content units is quite common (e.g. for catering to learner groups with partially overlapping content requirements). It’s not that difficult to achieve in TalentLMS either. Keeping those courses in sync as the original shared units are updated, however, can be a hassle. Or, rather, used to be a hassle, as TalentLMS new Linked Units feature solves that for you automagically. Specifically, Linked Units let you re-use content from a parent course into different "child" courses, and have it be updated automatically whenever you update the parent course. 2) Copy courses between portals Continuing on the improved content sharing theme, this feature, meant for larger organizations, lets you effortlessly copy courses between different portals. And when we say effortlessly, we mean it: all you need to do is visit the main courses list as a SuperAdmin and select "Copy from another domain". 3) Soft course deadlines Deadlines are a great way to ensure timely results, but they can be challenging for some of your learners, more so than for others (e.g. because of increased workload that prevents them from completing their training on time). TalentLMS now allows Instructor to extend a course’s deadline for selected users. To set a custom course deadline for a user, visit the course’s users list, and click the Calendar icon for the desired user entry. 4) User reset If a user has blown through all their deadlines, or there’s any other reason to have them restart their training, you can now completely reset their progress. The relevant button, aptly titled "Reset Progress" can be found in the Admin interface on the User details screen, when editing the user. 5) Finer control for Branches The Branches functionality is one of the most widely used (and useful) features of TalentLMS, and this release makes it more flexible than ever. You can now limit the number of users per branch, define a default branch user-type and restrict the email domains that can be used when a user registers to a branch. 6) Custom Reports improvements Based on your feedback we have updated Custom Reports to support absolute date ranges (whereas up to now they only allowed for relative date ranges, e.g., "5 days"). Plus, Custom Reports can now display your custom course fields in their output (where applicable). 7) Support for Zoom.us videoconference When it comes to videoconference options, TalentLMS users have always been spoiled for choice. There’s not just the built-in free videoconference solution, which is perfectly fine for most common use cases, but also native support for BigBlueButton, GotoMeeting and GotoConference. Well, starting from this release, you can add Zoom.us to TalentLMS videoconference integrations ― which, incidentally, is what we use internally at Epignosis HQ (and really love it). 8) New Actions Last, but not least, there are a couple of new Actions available for your TalentLMS automating pleasure. TalentLMS Actions now give you the ability: - To automatically assign courses based on the outcome of another course, with parametric flexibility. This lets you e.g. to assign course A if the user gets a test grade above 85% on a course, course B if they get between 50% and 85%, and course C if they fail altogether. - To define the number of gamification points awarded when specific courses are completed. This is useful as it’s a great way to customize the number of points a user has. The Summary A new TalentLMS has been released, bringing with it several major new features (read above for the highlights), as well as numerous other usability improvements, workflow enhancements, and small fixes. Best of all, it’s already installed and waiting for you on the TalentLMS Cloud — no need to wait by the chimney for Santa to deliver it. Enjoy, and don’t forget to give us your feedback on the new features, and on whatever else you want us to add next. The post Gift-wrapped TalentLMS update arrives on the Cloud appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Evan’s Story(Please watch the video before reading)I’d like to thank @JD_Dillon for sharing the Evan video. I just came from TedXLA and empathy was one of the key themes. From technologists to sociologists, from businessmen to philanthropists, all asked and shared experiences on "how we empathize with others and make a difference in other people's’ lives." Evan’s video transported me into a real-life situation where we often miss the opportunity to empathize and suffer dire consequences.Evan’s video is about bringing awareness to the Sandy Hook shooting.My reflections on Evan’s video brought back to me three reflections:the loss of empathy in learning,deeper learning needs empathy,and empathy starts with the way we frame our world.Loss of Empathy in LearningIt was Sherry Turkle in her book "Alone, Together" that warned us that a growing number of people, though connected with Internet tools, are apart from each other and that many would replace empathy and warm relations with humans to computers and robots. Although we interact with many people through the Internet simultaneously, we feel isolated and lonely because we do not experience the warmth of genuine friendship that is formed through face-to-face interactions. Turkle shares the story of a girl who became so sad because the toy could no longer talk back to her. Similarly, this a known downside of video gaming.In the physical world, in training classrooms and in schools like Evan’s school, it is easy not to feel and understand others (see exuberance of learning.) The challenge becomes even severe in online learning and elearning.eLearning is such a "cold" place. Learners are alone and detached. They are connected with other online learners yet they are still isolated and lonely. They are resigned to the lack of warmth and interaction because this is efficient, faster, cheaper and a time-saver. Of course, there are benefits, yet the absence of the opportunities to empathize diminishes our abilities to learn (Mkrttchian Vardan, 2015).Deeper Learning Needs EmpathyThere are two ways to learn: by copying others and by showing others. Both require the presence of empathy.We learn by observing and imitating people with whom we identify. For psychologist Albert Bandura, individuals do not automatically observe the behavioral model and imitate it. He believes that some thought prior to imitation occurs and is referred to as mediational processes. This occurs somewhere between observing the behavior (stimulus) and imitating it or not (response). He proposes these processes as 1) grabbing our attention, 2) the retention of such behavior, 3) reproducing the behavior and 4) the motivation to perform such behavior. (McLeod, 2011).We also learn by teaching or showing others. An ancient Roman stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca said that "While we teach, we learn." When we teach others we do our best to understand the material. We also remember the material as accurately as we can.The lack or presence of empathy between learner and trainer or between learners dampens or accelerates learning.Listen to this conversation:"It is difficult to do this? - Mark"Not really. I tried it with my boss, and it worked." - Mary"Why is it that I fail. What am I missing?" - Mark"I needed the raise badly due to my son’s medical needs. I had to make it work." - MaryThere are two levels in this conversation, empathy and knowledge sharing. Learning the knowledge is influenced by the intensity of the empathy between May and Mark.In designing learning, we want to keep the exchange of feelings, context and meaning going in one level and the transfer of knowledge in one level. One way to do this is to use stories and emotions in elearning design.In insight sharing, the transfer of knowledge is at the human and person-to-person level. There is a great moment of inspiration and celebration with mutually shared discoveries.In the case of Evan’s video, we are moved emotionally by the characters while we learn a lesson about empathy. "No one noticed" is a lesson. "Evan looking for the person" is another lesson."Empathy Starts with the Way We Frame Our WorldWhere do we start in encouraging empathy? One method is "framing."Evan’s videos use framing as a technique.Observe the following:SCENE 1This is the start of the story. The frame is Evan’s writing.SCENE 2An unknown student introduced herself or himself.  The frame is of the unknown student.SCENE 3There are two frames here. (1) Two people talking to each other. They are having fun. (2) A man pulls out a heavy duty gun. SCENE 4A reflection statement. The frame is of the knowledge.SCENE 5Flashback. The frame is reflection - "Why no one noticed." Click here to watch the video again.ConclusionOur capacity to emphatize defines our humanity. As James A. Coan said: "People close to us become a part of ourselves, and that is not just metaphor or poetry, it's very real" (cited by Fariss Samarrai). Empathy has to do with our perspectives—how we observe, interpret, and act. It has to do with focusing on a given moment in time or focusing on events—"framing". We can learn and change our frames so if you feel or think that you are unable to empathize, just change your "frames".ReferencesHow to add the human touch in your eLearning designAn Exuberant discovery for Lonely and Stressed-out eLearnersVardan, Mkrttchian (2015). Handbook of Research on Estimation and Control Techniques in E-learning McLeod, Saul (2011). Bandura—Social learning theorySamarrai, Fariss (Aug. 21, 2013) Human brains are hardwired for empathy, friendship, study showsRay Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Evan’s Story(Please watch the video before reading)I’d like to thank @JD_Dillon for sharing the Evan video. I just came from TedXLA and empathy was one of the key themes. From technologists to sociologists, from businessmen to philanthropists, all asked and shared experiences on "how we empathize with others and make a difference in other people's’ lives." Evan’s video transported me into a real-life situation where we often miss the opportunity to empathize and suffer dire consequences.Evan’s video is about bringing awareness to the Sandy Hook shooting.My reflections on Evan’s video brought back to me three reflections:the loss of empathy in learning,deeper learning needs empathy,and empathy starts with the way we frame our world.Loss of Empathy in LearningIt was Sherry Turkle in her book "Alone, Together" that warned us that a growing number of people, though connected with Internet tools, are apart from each other and that many would replace empathy and warm relations with humans to computers and robots. Although we interact with many people through the Internet simultaneously, we feel isolated and lonely because we do not experience the warmth of genuine friendship that is formed through face-to-face interactions. Turkle shares the story of a girl who became so sad because the toy could no longer talk back to her. Similarly, this a known downside of video gaming.In the physical world, in training classrooms and in schools like Evan’s school, it is easy not to feel and understand others (see exuberance of learning.) The challenge becomes even severe in online learning and elearning.eLearning is such a "cold" place. Learners are alone and detached. They are connected with other online learners yet they are still isolated and lonely. They are resigned to the lack of warmth and interaction because this is efficient, faster, cheaper and a time-saver. Of course, there are benefits, yet the absence of the opportunities to empathize diminishes our abilities to learn (Mkrttchian Vardan, 2015).Deeper Learning Needs EmpathyThere are two ways to learn: by copying others and by showing others. Both require the presence of empathy.We learn by observing and imitating people with whom we identify. For psychologist Albert Bandura, individuals do not automatically observe the behavioral model and imitate it. He believes that some thought prior to imitation occurs and is referred to as mediational processes. This occurs somewhere between observing the behavior (stimulus) and imitating it or not (response). He proposes these processes as 1) grabbing our attention, 2) the retention of such behavior, 3) reproducing the behavior and 4) the motivation to perform such behavior. (McLeod, 2011).We also learn by teaching or showing others. An ancient Roman stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca said that "While we teach, we learn." When we teach others we do our best to understand the material. We also remember the material as accurately as we can.The lack or presence of empathy between learner and trainer or between learners dampens or accelerates learning.Listen to this conversation:"It is difficult to do this? - Mark"Not really. I tried it with my boss, and it worked." - Mary"Why is it that I fail. What am I missing?" - Mark"I needed the raise badly due to my son’s medical needs. I had to make it work." - MaryThere are two levels in this conversation, empathy and knowledge sharing. Learning the knowledge is influenced by the intensity of the empathy between May and Mark.In designing learning, we want to keep the exchange of feelings, context and meaning going in one level and the transfer of knowledge in one level. One way to do this is to use stories and emotions in elearning design.In insight sharing, the transfer of knowledge is at the human and person-to-person level. There is a great moment of inspiration and celebration with mutually shared discoveries.In the case of Evan’s video, we are moved emotionally by the characters while we learn a lesson about empathy. "No one noticed" is a lesson. "Evan looking for the person" is another lesson."Empathy Starts with the Way We Frame Our WorldWhere do we start in encouraging empathy? One method is "framing."Evan’s videos use framing as a technique.Observe the following:SCENE 1This is the start of the story. The frame is Evan’s writing.SCENE 2An unknown student introduced herself or himself.  The frame is of the unknown student.SCENE 3There are two frames here. (1) Two people talking to each other. They are having fun. (2) A man pulls out a heavy duty gun. SCENE 4A reflection statement. The frame is of the knowledge.SCENE 5Flashback. The frame is reflection - "Why no one noticed." Click here to watch the video again.ConclusionOur capacity to emphatize defines our humanity. As James A. Coan said: "People close to us become a part of ourselves, and that is not just metaphor or poetry, it's very real" (cited by Fariss Samarrai). Empathy has to do with our perspectives—how we observe, interpret, and act. It has to do with focusing on a given moment in time or focusing on events—"framing". We can learn and change our frames so if you feel or think that you are unable to empathize, just change your "frames".ReferencesHow to add the human touch in your eLearning designAn Exuberant discovery for Lonely and Stressed-out eLearnersVardan, Mkrttchian (2015). Handbook of Research on Estimation and Control Techniques in E-learning McLeod, Saul (2011). Bandura—Social learning theorySamarrai, Fariss (Aug. 21, 2013) Human brains are hardwired for empathy, friendship, study showsRay Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Coaching a sports team and leadership in a corporate setting have more in common than you might think.

Tailored inclusion and retention strategies can lead to greater diversity in your organization’s leadership population.

Our LAST and FINAL day of our Season of Savings has officially arrived. It's Day 12 and we hope you can all participate in our last opportunity to save BIG this season! Day 12 Deal is...  12% off Leadership Training book by Lou RussellUse code 12DealsDay12 at checkout The second book in the ATD Workshop Series, Leadership Training presents a step-by-step blueprint to developing and delivering dynamic, powerful leadership training.For more information, please visit the RMA store website.  HAPPY SAVINGS! Russell Martin & Associates Team

Today marks Day 11, which means there is only one day left of our Season of Savings! Be sure to save big bucks while offers last! Day 11 Deal is...  Receive $100 off our IT Leaders Bootcamp with CIO NetworkUse code 12DealsDay11 at checkout  In four meetings, you'll grow the competencies of leadership that will facilitate your career growth through feedback from peers, CIO/CEO speakers, profiles, assessments, reflection and simulations.For more information about the IT Leaders Bootcamp, please visit our RMA store website or email info@russellmartin.com. 

Training programs that deliver performance are in high demand. Those that are able to deliver significant improvements on the performance promise in the business environment are in a higher demand than ever before. Research and development within training centers is constantly evolving to match the learning preferences of the overwhelmed digital learner. How can an online training program deliver the desired return on investment, the sought-after ROI? In this article, we will reveal some of the latest trends in retrieving and evaluating the ROI of eLearning. Without a proven track record for bringing in the promised business revenues, retaining customer loyalty and offering strong value propositions, a training provider might as well close up shop. Companies these days are spoiled for eLearning course choices. They no longer seek out courses that reinvent the wheel, insult trainee intelligence or train for good-to-know skills. Modern businesses need eLearning programs that foster must-have skills, in order for their employees to perform. In short, the hunt is on for eLearning programs that contribute to your KPIs and increase the ROI. How can eLearning training programs achieve both? When training programs have been completed and assessment scores demonstrate an average 85% achievement rate, managers expect to see the performance figures rise too. However, a direct correlation isn’t this easy. Let’s take a step back. Managers have a responsibility to execute their SMART goals, and the "M" stands for "measurable". Their goals are intimately aligned with the company’s strategic goals. Not delivering on those goals in a given fiscal year can put their jobs on the line. As a result, an eLearning program with all the bells and whistles created with a top notch authoring tool holds no value if it cannot help a manager reach those goals. In the process of selecting an eLearning instructional designer and a development team, the foremost question that is asked is "What have your employee performance levels reports been like?" This speaks to the well-known fact that online training programs have multiple learning analytics to report. The question being indirectly asked is: "Are you using learner analytics to improve your eLearning training programs? If yes, how are you using them? What parameters are helping you improve your courses? Can you show us some screenshots of these analytics?" This may sound pretty heavy for a "layman manager", but believe us, the current digital times have revolutionized the consumer perspective. Learner analytics are now taking center stage when evaluating and selecting the right eLearning training provider. These kinds of data are not easy to calculate. They can be expensive and sometimes even border on threatening user privacy. But learner analytics measure many specifics, ranging from learner satisfaction on the eLearning training interface, to the use of frustrated language by learners when interacting with peers or the eLearning course facilitator. Perhaps the single most important factor measured by learner analytics is the degree of engagement demonstrated by the learner when logged in to the eLearning program. The post-course survey also has a wealth of information that can help deduce and predict the success factors associated with a training provider. Be warned, aesthetics and graphics alone can no longer impress your clients. Only the right numbers from learner analytics will. Make sure to save good screenshots to impress your clients. Many times, the assessment scores of a particular eLearning training program will not translate into an actual performance improvement. Sometimes, trainees scoring poorly at the eLearning summative assessment will perform very well in the work context. How do managers measure this performance success and report to their senior managers? How do they prove they have indeed achieved one of their strategic SMART goals? Simple. They utilize the time-tested Kirkpatrick’s Model for post-training evaluation. Here is how the model is adopted by managers measuring the success of an eLearning training program: Kirkpatrick’s model is comprised of four levels. Remember, this model can easily be integrated into the learner analytics feature of a learning management system. Level 1 This level measures the reaction of the trainees by recording their feedback. Using surveys at this stage is also favorable in retrieving the reactions of the learners. A good way to achieve level 1 is to conduct a pre-training survey, as well as a post-first session survey. Make sure you extract information such as the trainees’ expectations from the training program and the degree to which these expectations were met. Look for emotion-related or affective reactions on various training aspects. Level 2 Learning achievement is measured with the aid of formative and summative assessment scores. A great way training providers achieve level 2 is by preparing very clear and simple learning objectives. A rule of thumb is to have one skill per objective. Pairing assessment items with objectives is the key to achieving learning AND performance. Level 3 At the third level, behavior changes are assessed. This level is obtained through the use of observation checklists and company-specific evaluation tools to measure behavior changes. Line managers are responsible for completing these checklist. They note down the degree at which changes in attitude and behavior took place. Level 4 This level is measured using a variety of data and analytics. The goal is to measure the benefits achieved from the eLearning training program. The following cues help measure business impact: productivity gain, impact on quality measures, getting higher number of customer subscriptions, selling more units etc. Level 5 ROI is then calculated by converting the business impact gains (as shown in level 4) to a monetary value. For example, when a higher number of customer subscription is received, the total subscriptions multiplied by cost of one subscription will provide the net profit as compared to the previous months. This profit is a result of an effective eLearning training program. If you haven’t been working on learner analytics in your learning management system, now is the time to take advantage of its features. Remember, the more you know about the learner’s attitudes towards your training program, the better you will be able to modify their behavior during the training. Also, the more you analyze the learner with the aid of analytics, the more learner-centered material you will be able to create. If some areas are not covered by learner analytics, create meaningful and insightful pre- and post-course surveys to get hold of any missing information. Improving the eLearning experience in iterations is the only way to improve your eLearning ROI. The post The ROI of eLearning: How to measure the success of your training program appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

"What gift can you get for the eLearning professional who has everything?" This is a valid question, right? Well, fret no more, we are here to assist you with your every whim and take the hassle out of eLearning Christmas shopping for good. From the experienced eLearner to the content uploader, we have you sorted. With no need to look elsewhere, you can use the time you’ve saved to put your feet up and enjoy the festive period. Here are our best picks for the eLearning professional: 1. Hours and hours of plugging away at eLearning on a computer screen can lead to some pretty tired eyes. For the ultimate eLearning professional, save their eyes this Christmas and buy a pair of protective lenses; we recommend Gunnar computer eyewear because they are reasonably priced and very effective. These glasses help to shield some of the high frequency blue light that protrudes from screens while minimizing the fatigue of eye muscles, which results in focusing made easier and eyes being protected. Take away the eye-strain and allow your eLearning loved ones to remain focused throughout their online viewing. 2. Why not purchase and use a video microphone to spruce up video content and make it crystal clear to all learners? Never worry about poor sound quality again with the Sennheiser MKE 400 Shotgun Microphone. In order for the recipient of such a gift to truly get the most out of their new gift, take a look at this handy guide to making videos by TalentLMS for eLearners; don’t say we never give you anything for free! For a more thorough look into this topic and to create impressive online videos, read this informative eBook; ‘The Secret to Creating Great E-Learning Videos’. After all of this advice and with the right tools, you will be an expert in next to no time. 3. For the dedicated eLearning professional who needs a break from their course creation, an alarm clock is a sure fire winner. Let’s be honest, this gift is ideal for any individual who finds it harder to stay awake, a useful gift to avoid falling asleep on the keyboard! Try the Sony alarm clock for a strong, reliable clock. For the more fun loving (TalentLMS definitely approves) this fun, cloud-shaped cyan alarm clock is the ideal Christmas gift and will even fit in a stocking. 4. Instructional design books are the way forward in discovering what is the best way for people to learn effectively. Gone are the days of dull, online content with basic text. These are now replaced with modern layouts and eye-catching designs, which really peak the learners interest and keep them motivated throughout the learning process. Our pick is the book Design for How People Learn, which has recently been updated with the latest ideas and techniques, ensuring that you have the best possible resources for you learners. An ideal gift for the forward-thinking eLearning pro in your life. 5. Up next is a subscription for access to stock photos- not the most ordinary of Christmas gifts but useful and exciting nonetheless for the correctly chosen recipient. For an eLearning professional, access to thousands of licensed, royalty-free photos is invaluable. Check this out for a creative, alternative spin and never use a dull photo for your content again! 6. Noise cancelling headphones are a sure winner for anyone trying to concentrate on their online eLearning environment. Try the BÖHM Wireless Bluetooth Headphones to totally block out any background noise, creating a pleasant oasis for any eLearner to immerse themselves in the world of learning. 7. Make your loved one’s integration wishes come true and check out Zapier. Choose from over 500 apps to integrate with TalentLMS, from Mailchimp to Shopify, and help them achieve the result they have been searching for. Despite not being able to put this under the tree, the look of gratitude you will receive will be worth it regardless. So in all seriousness, you probably will have to look elsewhere for your Christmas gifts and perhaps some of our findings may be more helpful for getting back into the swing of things in January. However, when it is finally the night before Christmas and all of your shopping is complete, gifts are wrapped and fires are drawn, be sure to take some time to relax and enjoy time with your loved ones, away from the computer screen! The post The Top 7 Gifts For An eLearning Professional: Our Christmas Wish List appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.