Leadership can be examined from the perspective of Marshall McLuhan’s famous media tetrad. Using the tetrad, explained by Derrick de Kerkchove, co-author of McLuhan for Managers — every technology has four effects: 1. extends a human property (the car extends the foot) 2. obsolesces the previous medium by turning it into a sport or a... Read more »

Classroom-based training may well feel familiar to most employees while also providing members of staff with a chance to network and have a day away from the office, but it is beginning to fall out of favour for a number of reasons. First and foremost, trainees no longer respond well to passively accepting the instructions of a teacher. Even though it worked at school, we now live in a world where the Internet fuels the acquisition of new information and knowledge, which is a very interactive and engaging activity. Secondly, businesses are under increasing pressure to reduce the cost of training, which can spiral out of control when you factor in things like accommodation and transport. Last but not least, traditional training is incredibly inflexible. The whole class must keep pace with the teacher and consume exactly the same learning materials as everybody else, even though they could well miss vital information or not understand key concepts. Thankfully, due to the rapid rate in which new technologies have developed, e-learning is now a viable and cost-effective option for organisations wanting to adopt a new training approach. However, that doesn’t mean to say it comes in a one-size-fits-all package, as there are a number of things to consider when selecting e-learning.   Curriculum design Your audience’s unique characteristics and demographics will play a crucial part in terms of curriculum design. Which skills do they need to develop? What tone of voice should you use? Where are they located? Once you have answered these kinds of questions, you will need to decide whether your curriculum can be designed utilising the skills of internal staff or with the assistance of outside specialists. You will also need to think of infrastructural issues such as the availability of classrooms and bandwidth as well as ways to measure success.   Course content If you intend to shop around for course content, you should prioritise relevancy and depth. Don’t automatically assume that a "customer service" course will provide staff with the skills and expertise necessary to improve your audience’s experience. There is also a chance that content will be too simple or illogical, providing your workforce with little to no benefits. Therefore, read course descriptions and objectives thoroughly, look for online reviews, familiarise yourself with content providers, and reach out to e-learning and industry professionals for help.   Interactive elements At the heart of e-learning is interactivity, as trainees have complete control over their own destiny. However, additional elements such as tests and quizzes will not only keep employees interested in course content, they can also result in higher levels of memory retention too. The same goes for concepts such as gamification, which adds an element of competition to proceedings and encourages employees to keep on discovering more.   Course creation If you decide to take course creation into your own hands, it makes sense to utilise an authoring toolset or to enlist the services of an e-learning provider. Authoring tools are generally straightforward to set-up, give you complete control over content, and produce cost-effective course materials. However, an external provider will have a great deal of experience in creating e-learning courses and can free up staff resources too.   Assessment and certification With your curriculum and content, think carefully as to whether this is a standalone training exercise or part of a wider L&D strategy. Ask yourself whether it can merge with other parts of training and decide if all members of staff should be participating. You should also explore ways to monitor learning attendance, progress, and speed; otherwise there is no real way of knowing whether e-learning worked. Finally, come up with ways to generate and manage certification, which can be anything from an assessment under exam conditions to an informal question and answer session.   Review and approval Regardless of whether you or somebody else is creating the content, there will need to be a review process in place to make sure e-learning adheres to the wants and needs of your workforce. You will also need to decide who is able to comment, make decisions, and ultimately give approval. However, this has the potential to be quite time consuming, so the person tasked with such responsibility will require ample resources and support.   Delivery In addition to the format of e-learning, which can include but is not limited to Flash, HTML, and Silverlight, you will need to choose a delivery method too. While physical devices such as DVDs and memory sticks are fairly foolproof, more and more organisations are opting for cloud-based e-learning instead, as this option can increase collaboration and enable employees to complete course content at a time and in a place that suits them. What’s more, cloud-based e-learning solutions enable you to make changes at a moment’s notice, while several providers offer reporting and measurement tools as part of the package.   Management and administration It might seem like a big responsibility, but the person in charge of review and approval could also be given management and administration duties. This individual will need to believe in the power of e-learning and possess the enthusiasm to drive it forward, which also means devising some sort of future proof strategy too. A collaborative system that works in the same way as an e-learning course but invites multiple authors, reviewers and approvers to improve content can help to deliver a truly effective and efficient training solution.   Maintenance There is a strong possibility that some training materials or e-learning courses will go out of date, so set-up periodic content reviews that can incorporate feedback from employees. Again, technology is your friend, as the easily adaptable nature of HTML means that changes to content do not require extensive upheaval. If you are using an external training provider for your course content, make sure some terms for maintenance are included from the get-go or else ongoing costs could keep increasing.   Evaluation and analysis Evaluating your e-learning course can be from a return on investment or educational outcome perspective. But in both cases, you will need to propose a system of what you are measuring and how to measure it. Thankfully, most e-learning courses provide ample amounts of data to collect and collate, which can be used to see whether individual employees require more training or to make a decision to modify course content for the benefit of future workforces.   Share this post with your own audience

Greetings all! Here’s a few additions to the EdTech  Archive from last year 20150423 language, esl, vocabulary, tools, flashcards, fsl: Lingua.ly | A brand new way to learn [...] The post Additions to the Edtech Archive 45 appeared first on Many Pebbles, One Pond: The EdTech Archive.

There are so many freebies on the internet you can use for an e-learning project. There are tons of free images, fonts, templates, audio, video files, tutorials, blog posts. The only limitation can be found in Creative Common licence so double check whether you can use the asset for a commercial or private purpose. I've focused today on a totally free stuff and have built 8-slides demo in Storyline 2.  Have a look below at what I found to start working on this freebie: - inspirational blog post

The National Association of Social Workers’ (NASW) goal for Social Work Month 2016 (March) is to educate the public about the profession’s commitment to improving social conditions and opportunities for increased quality of life for everyone. The NASW reports that Social Workers confront some of the most challenging issues facing individuals, families, communities and society. Those in this profession work hard to forge solutions to help people reach their full potential; thereby making our nation a better place to live. As part of the "Forging Solutions out of Challenges" campaign, the NASW is providing social workers as well as the public with education materials and activities that everyone can take part in to commemorate the month, honor social workers, and educate about the ways that social workers bring great good to our society.  According to the NASW website activities include: 1)    Media contest - Submit a brief video, spoken word performance, poster or photo showing how social workers have helped individuals, communities or our society create solutions and positive change out of challenging situations. 2)    Film Offers - The National Association of Social Workers has partnered with two organizations to help increase access to educational films for all: a.    Gathr - The National Association of Social Workers has teamed with GATHR Films to allow social workers and their allies to host film screenings around the country. b.    The Video Project - During Social Work Month, The Video Project is offering a special deal to allow NASW members to watch four mental health and wellness films for free online and purchase the films at a 30 percent discount. 3)    Letter Writing / Op-Ed Campaign - a draft letter that can be posted on blogs and other social media accounts show the public how social workers benefit society and "Forge Solutions Out of Challenges." Many social workers specialize in particular areas, such as helping children, working in the healthcare industry, assisting those life-threatening problems, or aiding people suffering from mental illnesses or substance abuse. Social workers typically: Act as advocates for their clients Assess clients’ needs, strengths and networks to help determine their goals Educate clients and teach clients new skills to improve their well-being Link clients to essential resources within the community as well as help people navigate the social services available to them such as food stamps, child care and health care Help clients adjust to changes and challenges in their lives Protect vulnerable clients and ensure that their best interests are observed Work directly with patients or families as part of a patient's health care team to help them address certain needs Research social problems and play a valuable role in creating social policy and laws Ed4Online is proud to offer continuing education courses in the field of Behavioral Health. Please check out our complete course catalog here: https://ed4hhs.com/   Sources: https://www.socialworkers.org/pressroom/swmonth/2016/default.asp http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologycareerprofiles/p/social-worker.htm http://socialworkers.org/ http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Community-and-Social-Service/Social-workers.htm#tab-2          

Great instructional design is focused on one goal - delivering a seamless user experience that helps learners to achieve their objectives. In this post, I’ll show you how to use the principles of User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) design to create course content learners will love. Good instructional design delivers a great user experience that supports successful learning outcomes - a good day for everyone!   User Experience or User Interface? Good design is essential to executing the principles of both UX and UI correctly. But what’s the difference between them? If the design of eLearning content looks good, the color schemes are attractive, and visual elements are in harmony with the overall style, we can say that the UI design has been well executed. But if your design looks great and the user struggles to find the "Next page" button for example, that’s a bad user experience. In a nutshell: UI is about how eLearning course content looks and UX is about how it feels to use it.   How to edit text for instructional design I’ll start with how to present text as, in most cases, it will be the main element of your online learning content. Because text is central to most eLearning courses, it’s essential that it’s edited and aligned correctly. Line length To support the best reading experience, optimal line length should be between 50 and 70 characters. If you use fewer characters, the text will be too narrow. The reader’s eyes will have to travel from one side of the screen to the other very quickly, creating strain and frustration with longer pieces of text. But if lines are too long and wide, readers will struggle to focus as they move through the text. Paragraph alignment Avoid using justified paragraph alignment. Justified text blocks can look better in some cases. But varied spacing between words makes text in a justified format difficult to read. Also avoid creating long paragraphs and blocks of text. Chunking, or dividing text into sections, is easier to scan and read, and supports learning. Red lines indicate the differences in word spacing. Although the text block looks more aligned in general, these spacings are tricky for longer text. Designers sometimes jokingly call this kind of text alignment "grandma’s teeth". Fonts When choosing a font size, I recommend between 15 and 18px for longer pieces of body text. Learners over the age of 40 may struggle to read text in smaller font sizes. Using a smaller font also makes it likely that lines will be too long to read easily. Sans Serif fonts are easier to read onscreen than Serif fonts, and the reverse is true for print. There’s no need to use more than two different fonts in one eLearning project. As most of the font families have different styles (from thin to black), two fonts are usually more than enough. Use a bold or black font style for headings, and combine with a slightly darker color and larger font size. That kind of contrast helps to break up text, making it easier for learners to read. Be consistent Consistency is critical to all elements of instructional design, including text editing. To stay consistent, begin by defining and documenting your standards and design elements for different types of texts. And then apply those rules throughout your eLearning project.   How to use color for instructional design There’s no hard and fast rule for choosing the "right" color for eLearning course content. I recommend selecting your primary color based on the topic covered in your course. For example, if the course is about "flower farming", the primary color should be green. The secondary color should be pink - not only because it suits the subject of the course, but also because green and pink are complementary. Mother nature knows a lot about color combinations! There’s no need to use more that 2 or 3 colors in one eLearning course. All of the main colors you select will have tints and shades that can be used for various design elements. It’s also important that your use of color is consistent throughout your eLearning project. One exception to note is that multi color usage can be helpful if you want to distinguish multiple sections by labeling them with additional colors. Values of color In order to use the harmony rules of color combination effectively, it’s important to know that colors have three values: hue, saturation, and brightness (or luminosity). Hue is the term for the pure spectrum colors, which appear in the hue circle, rainbow, or color wheel. Theoretically, all colors can be mixed from three basic hues, known as primaries. Saturation describes the purity of a color. High saturation colors look rich and full. Low saturated colors are pastel. Luminosity describes the lightness or darkness of a color. Light colors are called tints and dark colors are called shades. Color Wheel: you will see values for the selected color in the wheel on the right. Hue has 360° of different color hues. The closer the selected color is to the wheel’s center, the lower its saturation. In this color wheel, only 2 dimensions of a color are given. If we extended the wheel to create a cylinder, that dimension would represent the brightness of the chosen hue and saturation. It’s useful to understand these values as they can be used to create contrast in color combinations. Contrast can be created with the hue value by using opposite colors in the wheel (known as complementary colors), or by using colors of contrasting saturation or brightness. To get to know these rules and to find useful combinations for your eLearning project, play around with the color wheel. It’s easy to find good combinations on the color wheel by applying one of the harmony rules (analogous, monochromatic, triad, complementary). Or you can search for color combinations that have been posted by designers.   Graphic elements & images Graphics and images should only be included in course content when they support the learning experience. Overusing visual content can distract the learner and undermine objectives. The use of images and graphics should be careful and deliberate. Visual elements should never be included simply to fill white space. Be consistent The consistency rule applies to visual content too. It’s important not to mix different styles - especially with graphics that are used for visual support, for example characters in a scenario. If you use a style of character in a course, reuse the style as appropriate throughout the project. In this image you can see three different character styles. Structure It’s also wise to create a mock-up or wireframe of all of the pages in your project and start with an overview of structure and layout. Two-four template pages are usually more than enough, as you can vary each template slightly as needed. Once the learner is familiar with the structure of your content, the rest of the course will be easy to absorb. This is especially true of UI elements, like navigation. If the position of navigation varies from page to page, it can frustrate learners. Begin by defining the patterns you’ll use on each page to reduce distracting differences between image and graphic sizes throughout your course   Hierarchy of elements & white space The purpose of white space in instructional design is not just to be filled. White space is in itself very important - it enhances readability for learners. The composition of your course content will be made up of design blocks, which may be text blocks, UI elements, or videos and images. Keep two principles in mind when designing your project’s composition: Hierarchy of elements: Define what’s important on your page and enhance it with positioning or sizing. Use enough white space: The more important a design element is, the more white space it requires.   To conclude - KISS One of my favorite design principles is "KISS", which stands for Keep it Simple Stupid. That’s not to say anyone is "stupid".  The idea is to keep things so simple that it seems obvious. Although the KISS design principle is usually used for software development, it can also be applied to improve user experience in eLearning. Keep KISS in mind when you’re reviewing eLearning content. Remove unnecessary design elements that don’t have a specific function or distract from the overall design style. Applying KISS will keep your layout clean and enhance the readability of your most important content.   And now you’re all set to create effective instructional design that supports user experience and learning outcomes. Created a course so good looking you think it will sell? Learn how here.   Want to read more? Sign up to get our latest posts! The post Essentials of great instructional design appeared first on LearnUpon.

A great learning management system shouldn’t work in isolation. Depending on the nature of your organization, an LMS may deliver most value by integrating with existing applications. The benefits of LMS integrations are many and varied. Working with systems that are already familiar can increase the rate and ease of user adoption. Integrations can also deliver a much better user experience. Systems that can talk to each other and work together reduce manual admin and user frustration. Another major benefit is the increased range and depth of reports that LMS integrations can deliver. The more integrated your systems are in general, the easier it will be for individuals, teams and departments to work together towards the same goals. Because we value LMS integrations at LearnUpon, we developed a range of options for the systems and platforms our customers use most. Here are nine LMS integrations you need to deliver more efficient eLearning.   Salesforce integration How the integration works: Connecting LearnUpon with Salesforce, the world’s number one cloud CRM, takes just a few clicks. After that, LearnUpon customers can access all of their training data directly within the Salesforce platform. That means that information about learner actions like enrollment, commencement and completion automatically syncs in real-time between LearnUpon and Salesforce databases. You can also use single sign-on (SSO) to allow learners to use one set of credentials across both platforms. SSO enables users to move directly from an intranet or corporate network to a personal learning portal without needing to login again. Why you should integrate: If you already use Salesforce, integrating the platform with your LMS is a no-brainer. The main benefits are an improved user experience for admins and learners and lots of useful reporting options. To access LMS features, users simply click on a learning tab in Salesforce, without needing to login to LearnUpon or even leave the Salesforce platform. Real-time information display and widgets also help admins to quickly see which courses learners are registered for. As learners access things like training materials, videos and exams, all tracking and completion data is available to admins in Salesforce itself. The integration also makes it easy to generate training reports in Salesforce. Key data transfers: Users, learner progress and completion history.   Shopify integration How the integration works: LearnUpon’s eCommerce features make it easy for Subject Matter Experts and training companies to sell online courses. To make eCommerce for eLearning even easier, LearnUpon customers can integrate their LMS with Shopify, the world’s leading eCommerce platform. The integration allows customers to link courses in LearnUpon directly to their own products in a customized Shopify store. Why you should integrate: The LMS integration makes starting an eLearning eCommerce venture simple - it takes less than two minutes to integrate LearnUpon’s LMS with Shopify. And then you’re ready to provide a simple and secure experience to customers all over the world. Key data transfers: Users, products and purchases Learn more: How to sell online courses with Shopify   PayPal, Authorize.Net and Stripe payment integrations How the integration works: If you decide to sell online courses, you should offer prospective customers user-friendly payment options. That’s the goal of our LMS integrations with PayPal, Authorize.Net and Stripe. As one of the world’s most popular payment gateways, millions of customers use PayPal to make and receive online payments. Authorize.net has over 400,000 customers internationally. And Stripe Connect allows LearnUpon customers to seamlessly integrate their account to provide a fast and efficient checkout process without being redirected from their LearnUpon store. Why you should integrate: Our range of LMS integration options allows you to choose the payment gateways that are most popular with your customers. By integrating your LMS with PayPal, Authorize.Net or Stripe, you can deliver a secure and simple shopping cart experience to customers all over the world. Key data transfers: eCommerce purchases   Google Analytics integration How the integration works: If you choose to sell courses, you should measure your store’s performance to enhance user experience and boost eCommerce conversions. Integrating your LMS with Google Analytics will give you access to powerful data about things like: which channels customers use most to reach your store, how visits fluctuate by days of the week and hours of the day, and which courses are most popular. Why you should integrate: Measuring the performance of eCommerce initiatives is essential to determining if the work you’re doing is valuable, and what kind of Return on Investment you can expect. Analyzing the information tracked in Google Analytics can ultimately help you to increase course sales. Key data transfers: Page click tracking, page views, and lots more   See LearnUpon work. Schedule a demo now.   Microsoft Azure AD integration How the integration works: Our integration with Microsoft Azure AD makes it easy for LearnUpon customers to manage user access and enable SSO with Microsoft applications like Office 365. Users simply login to LearnUpon using their organizational accounts hosted in Microsoft Azure AD. Why you should integrate: The LMS integration makes it even easier for learners to access and use their LMS securely. Admins enjoy a simple step-by-step user interface to configure the integration. Key data transfers: Users, groups and custom data   LinkedIn integration How the integration works: The LMS integration allows learners who complete courses to display and share certificates on their LinkedIn profile. Why you should integrate: LinkedIn reports that users who display certification achievements receive up to six times more profile views than average. Our LinkedIn integration also allows those who deliver training to promote courses. Every time a learner shares a certificate with their followers, it builds awareness about your eLearning offerings. Key data transfers: Certification completion and expiry dates   Try LearnUpon for yourself. Start your 30 day free trial now.   Twitter integration How the integration works: Integrating with Twitter gives course providers new opportunities to communicate with users and promote their courses. LearnUpon customers can embed their Twitter feed in their eCommerce store or on the dashboard of their LMS. Learners can also can use the Twitter integration to tweet about courses they’ve successfully completed. Why you should integrate: Embedding your Twitter feed will help learners and prospective customers to stay up-to-date with company news. Enabling learners to tweet about course completions is a win-win. It adds social proof to your marketing efforts and helps learners to share news about their achievements. Key data transfers: Certification completion and expiry dates   LRS integration How the integration works: A Learning Record Store, or LRS, works with the Tin Can API to collect, store and retrieve data about a huge range of learning experiences. LearnUpon integrates with all Learning Record Stores on the market, including Wax LRS by Saltbox, Grassblade LRS, WaterShed LRS and Learning Locker. Integrating with an LRS means that Tin Can statements can be retrieved for reporting and analysis of learner data as they’re needed. Why you should integrate: It’s not essential to integrate with an LRS to generate Tin Can reports. LearnUpon stores, tracks and reports on Tin Can statements even without a Learning Record Store, for example. But an LRS gives you more options for reporting on, and crunching, that Tin Can data. Integrating your LMS with an LRS also helps data to be presented in a way that’s accessible and easy to interpret. Key data transfers: All of your Tin Can API statements   API integrations How the integration works: As well as integrating with other software systems and platforms, LearnUpon’s API can be used to customize your LMS. Our API is used to create users, add them to groups, enroll them in courses, and extract user and course completion data. Some customers use our API to generate enrollments in courses from third-party apps. Others use the progress made by learners in LearnUpon to build gamification and leaderboards outside the LMS. Why you should integrate: Customers integrate with our API to automate processes, reduce manual work and create a more efficient and convenient experience for admins and managers. Integrating with an API allows you to access data in an automated way, avoiding the need for admins to login, search, and report on data in a manual fashion. Key data transfers: Users, Courses, Groups, Enrollments Learn more: Should you use SSO or an API with your LMS?   Webhooks integrations How the integration works: Integrating with webhooks allows you to customize and automate eLearning processes. You’ll find webhooks most useful if you want to access real-time information. Your developer will create a "module" (a simple script or piece of code on your website) that allows you to "listen" for the event you’re interested in: when a course is completed, or a learner fails an exam, for example. As soon as the event occurs, your LMS will use the webhook to notify you in real time. You can then use information forwarded with the webhook to update or create additional actions elsewhere in a separate website or application. Why you should integrate: Our customers use information pushed by webhooks to automate reports and flag important learning events in related applications. Key data transfers: Users, courses, groups and enrollments Learn more: Should you use SSO or an API with your LMS?   But that’s just the start! There are lots more system integrations coming this year to make delivering eLearning easier than ever.   Try LearnUpon free for 30 days .learnupon.com Agree to Terms of Service Start my free trial The post 10 LMS integrations you need for better eLearning appeared first on LearnUpon.

[Post by Justin Hearn, President of GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] An article in the March/April edition of Elearning! magazine states the global market for learning management systems and talent management systems is projected to triple in size by 2020. "Why is the LMS/TMS Market Tripling?" author Joe Didanto notes that just a few years ago the same market predicted that the LMS "is dead in its current form." So what’s changed? The article is based on the results of a survey done by Elearning! of its broad readership. Although the main reason given for LMS/TMS growth was as expected, there were deeper business drivers at play. It had been speculated the growth was a matter of organizations pushing more and more content out via the Internet to extend their reach. And in fact, more than 60 percent of respondents choose "reaching new learning populations" as the reason for increased use of LMS/TMS. However, at least half responded that they were also trying to improve user experience and employee engagement. Nearly as many said shortening the time to competency was a factor. And there were other reasons as well. Based on the results of a survey, the top five reasons given for the projected growth are: 1. Expanding employee learning opportunities = 62 percent 2. Improving employee engagement = 52.1 percent 3. Improving user experience = 50.1 percent 4. Improve speed to competency = 48.7 percent 5. Improve performance management = 48.5 percent We’ve certainly seen the trend for online learning at the higher education and corporate level. But we’ve also seen it trickling down to high schools and small businesses. So we’re not surprised that those areas would spur market growth. But we’re also not surprised by the other business drivers. While many cloud-based LMSs are all about pushing out content, our systems have always been designed for employee engagement, user experience and time to competency. Interestingly, the reported ‘must have’ features are still the ones we’ve set as priorities in our software development such as course tracking, assessment and certification — and more recently, mobile support. The biggest selection factors for LMSs were shown to be integration, user experience and quality, which we’re been masters at since 1992. One of the issues raised by the author is something that we at GeoMetrix Data Systems have not had a problem with. That issue is upgrades, which for many installed solutions, especially those with customizations, was cause for slow-down of applying new versions. Since we designed our systems so upgrades are transparent, even with customizations, that’s never been a problem for our customers. One of the things we were surprised with from the survey was that those planning to upgrade or purchase a new system are expecting to spend more than $1 million on it. With the reported low cost of cloud-based systems, we wondered why this expectation was so high. Our GeoTalent installed LMS, with its proven integration capability, user experience, quality and mobile support is much less than that — even taking implementation costs into account for staff on both sides. You can read the full article on page 30 of the March/April edition of Elearning! Magazine

[Post by Karla Willems, Account Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] The World Aviation Training Conference and Tradeshow is the largest meeting of aviation training professionals in the world alongside the sector’s biggest tradeshow. The 19th edition of WATS is a four-day event with more than 100 presentations with a theme of Optimizing Blended Learning and Training Technology. "The aviation training industry continues to deal with enormous growth prospects, while embracing new aircraft technologies and dealing with a challenging business environment. As ever, the challenge is to embrace training ‘best practice’, maximise personnel transfer-of-training, and achieve optimum human performance and operational safety." For more information visit: WATS 2016

Thank you Patrick Warburton. "Control Enthusiast".----------------------- My long-time co-workers will tell you the following about me:She's usually prepared for most contingencies.  "Worst case scenario?  She's likely considered it."She hates surprises. So the idea of Risk Registers?  Trying to prepare for everything?Oh yeah...sign...me...UP! Being more optimistic sorts, the Project Management Body of Knowledge defines risk as...An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives.Risk Registers help you identify and plan responses for known risks.Because...um...you can't plan for what you don't know.---------------------------Step 1 - Collect InformationIf your organization has templates and processes for risk management - get them.  CDC Risk Management Template  - This is a Word file that is a full risk management documentUniversity of California Enterprise Risk Management Tools - Multiple documents for analysisOther templates - for smaller scale organizations and projects (Google Search)If you have projects similar to the one you are pursuing, look at the records from previous projects. Take advantage of Lessons Learned. Did anything happen that they didn't anticipate?Look at your project intake notes or documents. Who are your stakeholders?  What is their risk tolerance?What is the impact if one of the stakeholders changes?Talk to peopleWhat sort of surprises do they encounter as they work?  What is going on in the environment that might impact your project?---------------------------------- Step 2 -  Organize Your InformationFor many of the projects that I work on, I like this framework of categories from the PMBOK (slide from a presentation from Marco deSantis)A few areas I pay particular attention to...Technical - Particularly the technology (1.2) and the complexity / interfaces (1.3).  I find that most products fail testing when you walk through a process and move between modules or section.  You know - when trying to do real work.External - If your organization has had prior relationships with particular sub-contractors and suppliers (2.1), what were the relationships like? Did they tend to deliver on time or late?  And what is your relationship to the customer (the person or people requesting the solution) (2.4)?  Will they participate? Over-participate? Can they make timely decisions? Do they stick to those decisions?Organizational - Pay attention to all of this! What happens if you can't get the star developer on your project? Or if you get the star developer and they leave half-way through the project? What happens if other priorities become more important for the organization and suddenly the people on your project stop working on your project? What happens if another project that impacts YOUR project doesn't finish on time? Or worse, gets cancelled?The other stuff will happen.  Those tend to be the areas that bite me in the tail during projects. ------------------------------------Step 3 - What is the probability that risk is going to happen?For each risk that you have identified, put it in a Probability and Impact Matrix.I like this one from IndustrialAudit.  The page gives a nice summary of Risk Management.This is a good time to pull out the post-its, markers, whiteboards etc and brainstorm with friends. They may find more risks.You may learn that some things are more important / likely than others.-------------------------------------Step 4 - What are you going to do to mitigate that risk?This is where you build the risk register.If your organization doesn't have a risk register template, there are plenty of options available online. Eventually, you wind up with a reference document that will help you make decisions when you encounter those risks during the course of the project.Martin Davies at Causal Capital has a very nice blog post outlining things to watch out for as you use Risk Registers.  HIGHLY recommended read.Even with those warnings, it is best to have SOMETHING to help guide your decisions as you encounter opportunities and challenges in your projects.Beats panicking.