If your business is transitioning training and orientation practices to online training and eLearning, you’ve probably done some research into how to keep learners engaged. One of the best ways to incorporate information in an easy-to-digest, straightforward manner is to incorporate videos in your eLearning. This is especially important for how-to demonstrations, as well as […] The post 5 Best Practices for Including Videos in eLearning appeared first on PulseLearning.

I have begun to think about how I would make sure that my practice is fair for helping Syrian Refugees in classrooms. First, I don’t know their stories, and can’t ever own them either. I think that there is pressure for teachers to know all, and be in complete control of the underlying stories that […]

We are always interested in current and future trends that impact learning and development, so that we can work with organisations to lesson any negative impact and enhance the positives by offering cost and practical efficiencies. Brighton School of Business and Management kindly shared with us their excellent infographic on the biggest workplace trends for 2016 . The points that stood out to us that will have an impact on learning and development, are: One in four ‘Millennials’, those born between the 1980s and 2000s, will become managers in 2016; ‘Millennials’ will need regular feedback and virtual learning compared to the annual performance reviews and printed materials that ‘Baby Boomers’, those born between 1946 and 1964, had; ‘Generation Z’, those born between 1994 and 2010, like ‘Millennials’ will seek mentors and will be even more connected through technology; Wearable technology is predicted to grow at a rate of 35% over the next 5 years, driven by ‘Generation Z’ entering the workforce in 2016; Two in three managers expect their employees to be reachable outside the office. www.brightonsbm.com

If you aren’t already using lead magnets to build your e-mail list, you definitely should be. It’s one of the best ways to increase conversion rates for capturing e-mails once people come to your site. Find out more about what they are and how to create them in this episode of Teach Online TV. Basically, lead magnets are a free piece of content that you give to someone in exchange for their email. People may be visiting your site through various marketing channels, but many of them won’t be ready to buy your course just yet. They’ve just come across you for the first time, so they don’t trust you yet. Instead of letting them leave after looking at your site or reading your blog, you can capture their email addresses using a lead magnet. This could be a free book, a PDF download, a checklist, an audio or video file, or even access to a free course. Now this dramatically increases your conversion rates for capturing those email addresses. If you just ask someone to subscribe to your blog, you might be lucky with 1%, 2%, 6%, or maybe 10% conversion to email addresses. But when you start giving away a lead magnet, something of additional value for free, you’re going to drive that up to 20, 30% and more. We’ve seen examples up in 50 and 60+ percent conversion rate to grab those email addresses. So you could easily double, triple or more the size of your email list by offering lead magnets. And I would suggest any time you’re putting content out there, anytime you’re educating people, include a lead magnet as an additional way to capture email addresses. You can even do this if you are doing guest posts on other people’s sites. Some examples of successful lead magnets are: Checklists Templates Worksheets eBooks Resource bundles Email courses Video Courses You see that popup on the bottom right corner of your screen? That’s our lead magnet where we offer you a free course on launching your own online courses in exchange for your email address. There are a number of ways to deliver your lead magnets. You can actually use Thinkific to do it! So you could just drop your PDF or e-book or video series or single free video into a Thinkific course and use that as a lead magnet to give away. And if you want to be able to embed it in other places, like on guest blog posts, you could use the sales widget. So, anytime you’re out there sharing your valuable expertise, throw in a lead magnet and watch how fast you capture additional email addresses. And then, of course, you can turn those into clients for business. And if you’re looking for more advice, check out this article from Bryan Harris at Videofruit. It explains how to create lead magnets very quickly, how to use them, and really everything you need to know about lead magnets. The post Teach Online TV #09: Grow Your Mailing List With Lead Magnets appeared first on Thinkific.

Content from the nowcomms.com: the B2B marketing company for tech busineses in education, sports, security & ID. See the full story here Winning Without Spinning: Why it’s always B2B Award Season with #NoFluff marketing It may finally be Leo’s moment. One of the internet’s best loved memes is reaching peak velocity right now. With four nominations and no wins, Leo DiCaprio is the world’s most celebrated Oscar underdog. With an epic and varied catalogue of work behind him, some might say it’s only a matter of time - this fifth nomination for his role in a Best Picture nominated movie will surely see him home. But is staying in the game long enough all it takes? Bryan Cranston is another example. A very successful TV actor (appearances in over 60 TV shows and countless commercials before his recurring role on Malcolm in the Middle), you would no doubt recognise him, but not necessarily be able to place him instantly - mostly a familiar face. But then Breaking Bad happened and elevated Bryan into one of the most memorable leading roles in television history. A steady TV career is now a blossoming film career (often still more coveted and respected, despite the current unprecedented standards in TV output) and suddenly Malcolm in the Middle’s hilarious dad is an Oscar hopeful. But neither of the above gentlemen got to where they were just by sticking to their guns and turning up for work. They are two actors amongst  thousands who work extremely hard and got extremely lucky. A rare combination. So where are you in your journey towards B2B Oscar winning status….marketeer in a leading role? ‘Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity’ - Henry Hartman For the actors, the parts come, the opportunities arise, because of reputation. Not just any reputation - personal, word of mouth reputation and endorsement. Sometimes executive Hollywood really suffers from a lack of imagination. As Bryan Cranston said in People Magazine: "Vince Gilligan (creator of Breaking Bad) was my champion because the network and studio, they were like, ‘Well, wait a minute, this - you’re talking about Walter White being played by this silly dad from Malcolm in the Middle? And Vince, to his great credit and my benefit said, ‘He’s an actor. This is what he does, you know. He can do this.'" Source Any competent actor should be expected to play a variety of characters. Typecasting is a convenience of studios and incompetent actors. Just as your business may be known for a particular service to a certain clientele, sometimes it’s better to not be typecast if you feel your greatest performance is ahead of you - and something richer and more diverse than what you’re known for. Famous, then internet famous An actor is said to be only as good as his/her last performance and as such, in today’s world of instant and/or viral online feedback, your business and its reputation may be taken to task by the kind of exposure once reserved for celebrities. Equally, it may be elevated. DiCaprio went from edgy child star (and breakdancer to boot), to super-famous following the success of Titanic, which resulted in him being pigeon-holed by the media as a ‘cutey-pie’ and a ‘pretty-boy’. This media narrative contrasted violently with his ‘un-Hollywood’ acting choices which were neither cute nor pretty, and it took him some years to shake both his image and its expectations. A remarkable catalogue of work has since followed. But no one could have guessed that due to the delightful weirdness of the internet, he would become the world’s most famous Oscar loser. Not that it makes him look bad. Leo’s meritability is not in question. It makes the system look flawed and maybe, just maybe, the memes and Tumblrs devoted to producing entertaining ‘Losing-Leo’ content have had significant impact on DiCaprio’s reputation. This is the voice of the actual consumers, after all. The voice of those who want to see his movies - the hand that feeds. This ‘outrage’ that Leonardo DiCaprio has not yet won an Oscar is straight from the horse’s mouth. Will that prove to be more valuable than all the PR and awards press you can buy? Fame rewards fame As the marketers amongst us know too well, the media machines behind this year’s Oscar contenders have been beavering away in the background for months to make sure it’s their talent treading the red carpet at Sunday night’s ceremony. Publicists are paid several thousands monthly, to promote their clients into the forefront of awards season voter consciousness. Is isn’t so different in the business community, with awards entry consultants available for hire, who research, structure and write awards submissions on your behalf to help you win an award. But how much longer will such awards be valued when they are bestowed via money, contrivance, and fame? Not to mention, in the case of the Oscars, the once esteemed Academy is no longer considered the best authority on the deserving, and is already in the throes of significant overhaul. Why? Do you hear the people sing? No fluff People have never been more discerning. As more and more ‘cheesy’ marketing campaigns using unrelatable stock images fall flat, and the mistrust of traditional voices grows, people turn to online chatter and reviews - specifically not from marketeers, to inform their choices. The moment there’s a hint of hyperbole or self-interested promotion, people switch off. They’d rather hear from Mary in Liverpool who was so relieved that her product was delivered on time and does exactly as advertised that she’s so excited she doesn’t punctuate overly well. Personally, I am deeply suspicious of long Amazon reviews that are perfectly presented. An occasional lowercase i now brings an odd authenticity to an online comment, such is the u-turn in the world of the written word.  A different word of mouth Referrals are worth their weight in gold, but now you don’t have to go for a drink with Mike from Planning to hear about it. You can head for Twitter, or a comparison site, to hear from all kinds of people. The conversation is everywhere, and you need to work out how to be an honest part of it, with no bells and whistles, and no fluff. No Hollywood PR and probably no Tumblr memes. But if you kick off right and well and keep going, a conversation could catch alight. It’s a different kind of reputation where acknowledging the value of being the underdog plays out just as powerfully as the publicity shot of you polishing up the Oscar. And in time, maybe even more so. No one searches for ‘award-winning’ this, that or the next thing when searching for a service. So if Leo wins this Sunday, the years of ‘Losing-Leo’ memes will evolve into something that’s bound to be just as entertaining. And if Leo is snubbed yet another time, social media will have a total field day and it may be the best thing to come out of the ceremony except for Chris Rock’s inevitable roast of the Academy. But that’s priceless PR for Leo either way. Everyone’s a winner! Except Leo. Sorry, Leo. Can you help Leo get the Oscar? Learn more about our #NoFluff marketing:   See the full story Winning Without Spinning: Why it’s always B2B Award Season with #NoFluff marketing

We’ve been a GAFE school for many years, and have been 1:1 with Chromebooks for two school years. My students and I STILL have problems remembering specific shortcuts and how to find specific tools in Google Docs, because many features are in different locations in Google and Microsoft products. To help everyone with this issue, […] The post Google Docs Keyboard Shortcuts appeared first on Teaching with Technology.

Continuing our series looking at how versatile a training management system can be, I wanted to share with you how Northamptonshire Police use an accessplanit system to support the Safer Roads Strategy. This post focuses on the benefits gained by the police force.

For as long as I can remember it has been common in the warehouse and distribution business to use temporary workers to fill gaps and handle seasonal spikes in volume. It is a great way to get workers into your operation quickly without the long process of recruiting, screening, interviewing, hiring, etc. Often you may have many temporary workers start on the same day, which puts a strain on your supervisors, department leaders, and trainers. How do they effectively train a group of new workers so they are productive as quickly as possible? Few things irritate an Operations Manager like the site of new workers standing around waiting to be shown what to do. Similarly, how do you ensure the new temp workers are all trained on your plant’s safety procedures and policies? It takes time. Time for someone to explain the job, the terminology used, the parts they will handle, tools they will use and how it all works together. For safety, someone must provide safety orientation and review all your company’s policies. The employees you task with training the temps are usually your more experienced people like supervisors, leads or trainers. They are also some of your highest paid employees which makes the temp worker training very expensive because you are paying the temp while training AND your supervisor but neither of them are actually producing any work. But what if you could reduce this cost, reduce the time your supervisors spent training temporary workers. Imagine if your temporary workers showed up the first day ready to work because they already had the required orientation and training. How much time and money would it save if they began working 2-4 hours sooner? Well, it is possible by utilizing e-learning in advance of their first day. I have found that temp agencies are willing to help train the workers they provide to you in advance of their first day as long as you provide the training material. This is where e-learning fits perfectly and here is how many companies use it to their advantage. ✓ Ten temporary workers are needed for a light assembly operation. ✓ The company provides the temp service access to the web based e-learning courses specific to the assembly job. ✓ They also have the mandatory safety orientation program online. ✓ The temp agency brings in the 10 workers to their office the day before you need them to start. ✓ They use online training courses to learn about what they will be doing, what the process is, what tools will be used and how to assemble the parts. There is even an interactive activity they must perform on the computer to confirm they understand the process. ✓ The safety orientation is also online that explains all the policies required and a quiz at the end to confirm they understand the policies and procedures. ✓ Some take it a step further and include a short informational course on the company; it’s mission, commitment to quality and potential opportunities for those who excel in the work. ✓ The temp agency ensures all 10 workers complete the courses and when they arrive to work there is a brief orientation and they are ready to go. ✓ If any of the workers are unable to pass the basic training or fail to understand the safety guidelines then the agency can source an alternate candidate before sending them to you. The temp agency will require you to pay for the training time but you would pay for it anyway at your plant. More importantly, what you are not paying for is the supervisor, lead or trainer’s time to conduct training classes. Plus your supervisor is productively working while the temps are training at the agency office, which makes the savings even greater. Since the temp workers had to pass a quiz to confirm they understood the job and safety requirements you will be assured of a worker with a higher chance of success and less likely to be sent home after the first day. If you are a good customer to your temp agency then they should be willing to discuss training your temporary workers in advance. It costs them very little because you are paying for the training time plus it gives them an edge over other agencies and deepens the partnership with you. Advance training using e-learning is becoming a more common practice for large temporary users and provides benefits to both the agency and the employer. If you would like more information on how to start an e-learning program that you can use with your temp agency, contact us at info@kmilearning.com The post Do You Use Temporary Workers? How E-Learning Can Reduce Your Cost appeared first on KMI Learning.

Here are all the tools from 30 in 50: 2016! Feel free to add comments as you integrate these tools to provide more insight! Click here to open this binder in a new window. The post 30 in 50: 2016 All New! appeared first on NCCE's Tech Savvy Teacher Blog.

See below for my 2pm presentation slides for "Data, Privacy and the Cloud: Oh My!" @ NCCE 2016. Data, Privacy and the Cloud: Oh my! from Jason Neiffer The post Presentation Slides: "Data, Privacy and the Cloud: Oh My!" @ NCCE 2016 appeared first on NCCE's Tech Savvy Teacher Blog.