Till now in the myth buster series, we have clarified the following myths - 1. Myth 1: Learning the e-learning tools are very difficult, hence creating an e-learning is difficult 2. Myth 2: Books are better than e-learning. My course cannot surpass a book 3. Myth 3: Just put the content with some relevant pictures and my job is done Now let us tackle one of the most common traps that we instructional designers fall for.… Read the rest...

Let us bust the last myth of the series - Myth 5: No need to waste time on summary screens. Just put some key points as a bullet list. Let us see what a summary means both from learners’, and an instructional designer’s perspective. For a learner - It enables you to reinforce the most important points from a chapter, in a condensed form.… Read the rest...

In this post, we will discuss fine tuning the Articulate Storyline’s screen recording feature, to the frame level, so as to easily customize our step-by-step learning mode. Before we dive deep, let us have a brief idea about Storyline’s recording feature. For those who are in a hurry, and want to skip the basics, you can continue from the red flag [] icon.… Read the rest...

Out of chaos sometimes comes more chaos—and that can be a very exhilarating and productive learning environment under the right conditions, as we’re seeing in our ALA Editions four-week online course "Rethinking Digital Literacy." The course is literally and somewhat chaotically all over the virtual map. It has an obvious, easily-accessible  home base, which is our learning-management-system (Moodle). During Week 2, Rethinking has fostered increasing levels of digital literacy by moving out, beyond our virtual classroom walls, and expanding into Twitter; Facebook; blogs; and, as of this morning, a learner-produced video posted within and shared from Google Drive. And there’s no end in sight as to how far it can and will extend, which is fine: this connected learning, rhizomatically-growing learning experience is at least partially helping well-supported learners within a vibrant community of learning to viscerally understand that a key digital-literacy skill is an ability to navigate a variety of online resources and venues without allowing ourselves to become overwhelmed. Our methodology, so far, appears to perfectly match and support the content, learning goals, and user experience within Rethinking. In designing and facilitating the course, I’m attempting to create an engaging, stimulating, learner-centric, results-based experience where learners (or to borrow one of my favorite terms that continues to evolve from the Educational Technology & Media MOOC—#etmooc: "co-conspirators") are partners in the digital-literacy learning process. Where the original conspirators (those designing and facilitating the course)  in #etmooc inspired a group of co-conspirators in the form of #etmooc learners who collaborated on designing and facilitating a follow-up massive open online course (MOOC), the co-conspirators in Relearning include every learner who is joining me in shaping and learning from the course. Another match between methodology and content/learning goals/experience within Rethinking is the focus on co-conspirators learning how to define and foster digital literacy by identifying and further developing the digital literacy skills they bring to the course. They are offered—and some are taking advantage of—opportunities to learn about digital literacy by exploring digital tools and resources of interest to them and to those they serve. The process is still very much in its early stages, but is already producing results similar to what I saw—and was inspired by—in #etmooc. A few Rethinking learners are using blogs to document and build upon what they are learning. Others, as a result of asynchronous online group discussions within Moodle, have agreed upon a Twitter hashtag (#ReDigLit) they can use to carry their discussions and learning into the Twittersphere. The latest expansion of our semi-controlled chaotic approach came this morning through the creative approach course participant/co-conspirator Joan Jordan took in playfully completing a warm-up exercise I offered for Week 2: she combined the assignment with an ongoing optional avenue I’ve encouraged learners to explore (try a new digital literacy tool of their own choosing each week to expand their digital-literacy toolkit). Joan decided to learn how to use the video capabilities of her smartphone, learn how to upload the video she created, and learn how to share a link to that video from an online venue (in this case, Google Drive). With that as the foundation for her approach, she responded to the actual warm-up assignment: watch a brief, charming video showing young learners displaying a variety of digital literacy skills, identify as many digital literacy skills in use as possible, and post the resulting list of skills within our Week 2 online discussion board. The result was extremely engaging: she filmed her cat, produced a video that had the cat telling us which digital literacy skills were observable in the video Joan and other course participants are viewing, and shared that video with us in place of providing a text-based inventory of the skills on display. In the best of digital-literacy approaches, she not only managed to learn what she wanted and needed to learn, but also inspired a lively conversation that is continuing to develop back at home base (Moodle). An additional intriguing element of our collaboratively-developing methodology—very much what I would call "the #etmooc method" because that’s where I first experienced it—is the opportunity to see whether what grew out of #etmooc could develop from an online course that is not a MOOC: a sustainable community of learning that continues long after formal coursework concludes—what I have only half-jokingly referred to as a MOOChort elsewhere. As my Rethinking co-conspirators continue to define and explore digital literacy by carrying their conversations into a variety of digital settings, I suspect the seeds of a post-Rethinking community are already beginning to germinate. N.B.: This is the second in a series of reflections inspired by our ALA Editions "Rethinking Digital Literacy" course.

There still seems to be some debate as to how big an impact Mobilegeddon has had on mobile search results, but one thing seems not to be in dispute, and that is that we cannot afford to take any risks that the impact won’t continue to grow.  In case anyone has been away on a desert island and missed the whole debate, on April 21st Google announced they would be expanding their use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal, meaning more mobile friendly sites in search results (Get the full details on their blog: http://goo.gl/WEAZcX).   The bottom line is that no one can afford their sites not to be well received by Google’s mobile friendly algorithm as we have to assume they will get more aggressive with this policy as time passes.   The good news for users of WBT’s latest versions of TopClass is that you don’t need to think about it at all.  What does Google say about us?  

The New Jersey School Boards Association is a federation of boards of education that provide training, advocacy and support to advance public education and the achievement of all students through effective governance. They offer a range of training to their members, which, depending on the course, could attract numbers of people ranging from hundreds to thousands. With this in mind, they needed to change to an LMS that could take care of their needs.   NJSBA currently have a member base of 5,000 and offer a mix of eLearning and traditional classroom education programs. They had been very limited in what they could do in their online courses with the Learning Management System they had in place. They decided that this could not continue and that they needed a more comprehensive LMS.   Why Choose TopClass? The first thing that the NJSBA knew they wanted was to find a Personify Partner. After finding a list of Personify Partners, the next step was to find the product that suited their needs. The following were some of the factors that were most important in making the decision for choosing TopClass:   Personify360 and its speed of Integration - When NJSBA compared the time of implementation, TopClass was weeks, compared to months. TopClass has a fully integrated product bridge that enables a smooth and automatic two-way transfer of key information from one system to the other. It makes navigation between from your website to TopClass seamless with the Personify Single Sign-On.   Reporting was important - Reporting is an important way for NJSBA to gauge the success of their members throughout their courses. The reporting feature of TopClass is an extensive tool that offers accurate, timely data, reporting and dashboards that offer fresh insights on the areas of your education program that are performing well and not so well.   No modification to their courses - NJSBA can easily upload all of their courses in a few clicks because TopClass is SCORM and AICC-compliant. The secure and fast uploading of courses can be chosen from a wide variety of publisher sources. This saves them a lot of time and effort and makes the whole transition easier for them.   TopClass was capable of doing everything we wanted in the demo we received, as well as giving us the potential option of doing more in the future. The one thing that made TopClass really stand out, has been the services and support team behind it. They have been brilliant and any requirement we have had, has been responded to immediately. Brian Stephen Green, Information Systems Specialist

    We often think of assessments as being somewhat separated from the overall learning process. They are often seen as separate entities to the instructional material/courses that we create and deliver - something to be done to learners at the end.   We need to always remind ourselves that assessment is an integral part of all learning. Our eLearning assessments should aim to engage the learner and improve the overall quality of the instructional material. Assessments need to be treated as a core part, if not the most crucial aspect of our learning material The quantitative and qualitative data gathered from assessments is of vital importance to the organization - as a means to assess the overall impact of the learning on individual performance and also to measure the ROI of the learning itself.   IFrames, and the use of freely available social media streams, allow us to greatly enhance our assessments and engage the learner in a richer assessment process.   In the article - How To Use IFrames And Multimedia To Enhance Your Assessments - published by the eLearning Industry Network site - I will show you how to use our TopClass Content Editor to introduce dynamic and interactive media to your assessments and hopefully place assessments at the heart of your learning solutions and what you can do to improve learner engagement and increase value to the organization.

We’re headed to Nashville next week!   Health Plans, Agents Enablement, Compliance Requirements, and… Learning Management Systems!   We’re delighted to have been given the opportunity to introduce our LMS, TopClass, to the attendees of America’s Health Insurance Plans‘ Institute 2015 conference.   Learning Management Systems are a great way to enable agents to be more productive, while meeting compliance requirements.   If you want to learn how WBT can help you deliver the right content to the right agents every time, driving competence and performance improvements, as well as minimizing time to revenue for new agents, then stop by booth #748 in the Exhibit Hall.   See you in the Music City!

New release of TopClass LMS includes out-of-the-box iMIS integration for Associations Dublin, Ireland, June 7th 2012 - WBT Systems has announced the availability of the latest version of its Learning Management System (LMS), TopClass. This latest release of the TopClass product, version 9.1, includes a configurable integration bridge to iMIS, the leading software platform developed by Advanced Solutions International (ASI). The bridge means that the integration between TopClass LMS and iMIS is seamless and reliable, and significantly simplifies an otherwise complex integration between the two systems. WBT Systems is ASI’s strategic LMS partner in its iXtend Program and has been approved as a Gold-level partner. WBT has already integrated its LMS with iMIS for many of its Association customers but the availability of this configurable bridge will ensure the integration is significantly faster, more reliable, and easier to set up and schedule. WBT Systems has been providing eLearning systems to the not-for-profit sector for a number of years and has developed and built additional features into TopClass to ensure full and robust functionality for the optimal NFP member learning experience. These features include the ability to pay for courses and events online using coupons and tokens, tracking of CEU and other accreditations, and management and printing of certificates by members upon course completion. Commenting on the news, Paul Dooley, CEO at WBT Systems said, "The availability of the iMIS integration bridge further reinforces our commitment to the Association and NFP market. It also builds on our relationship with ASI and means we can provide a superior service to any Association that is either using or planning to implement iMIS". Further information on this iMIS integration bridge is here.

Partnership brings complete eLearning solutions to Australasian not-for-profits Melbourne, Australia, March 14th 2012 - IServices, specialist provider of technology services to not-for-profit organisations, and WBT Systems, leading eLearning software technology provider, have joined forces. Together the companies will provide eLearning technology, services and support to Asia Pacific associations, professional bodies and institutes. IServices has offices in Melbourne and Sydney and provides systems integration services for not-for-profits. It is also the largest Australasian Authorised Solution Provider of iMIS, the most widely used association management software from Advanced Solutions International (ASI). IServices supports more than 80 iMIS customers in the region. WBT is based in Dublin, Ireland and is also an ASI Gold partner with a proven integration between iMIS and TopClass, its Learning Management System. For IServices customers already using iMIS, the partnership with WBT Systems means that these organisations have access to a learning technology provider - one that offers an integrated system for managing continuing professional development programs online. TopClass is a web-based platform that enables not-for-profits to sell courses and products and manage online and classroom training. The system also manages certifications and events, and has features that award and track continuing education units. Commenting on the partnership, IServices CEO, Liz Drury said, "We are very pleased to have formed this partnership so that we are now able to offer a world class Learning Management System to professional and industry associations in our region. The delivery of education services is a major revenue stream and source of relevance for associations, and TopClass provides a robust platform to grow this important area. The integration of iMIS and TopClass provides a seamless learning and association management solution." Paul Dooley, CEO at WBT Systems said, "This alliance is an important step for WBT to expand its presence in Australia and the partnership alignment is perfect. Both IServices and WBT have deep expertise within the not-for-profit market. While WBT is focused on providing the learning technology, IServices offers the specialised services around the learning offering, including implementation, customisation, support and training. Together WBT and IServices now have the ability to provide a complete and proven learning solution to both iMIS users and the not-for-profit market in general." About IServices IServices is a consulting company specialising in bridging the gap - leveraging information technology to provide seamless integrated solutions and end-to-end processes for Not-For-Profit organisations particularly professional and industry associations. Our specialisation extends to solution design, sourcing the best off the shelf solutions, implementation, software development and integration, and support and training. We can work with you and your partners to build a customised solution or we can use standard templates depending on your need and budget. IServices aim to be the systems integrator of choice for the not for profit sector, see www.iservices.com.au