3 Reasons Why Video Is The Best Medium For Microlearning Let’s go back in time 5 years. It was 4 PM and I was bored, frustrated, and confused. I had been staring at my computer screen for the last 8 hours completing a sales training eLearning class. The first 20 minutes were exciting and engaging because I was looking forward to learning something that was going to help me improve my sales skills, make money, and help my company grow. The next 7 hours and 40 minutes made me want to throw my computer out the window. Fast forward 5 years to present day. Not much has changed in corporate training or, for that matter, the corporate eLearning space. Yet, the world around enterprise learning is changing at an extremely rapid pace. There are 3 billion Internet users across the globe, 6.9 billion mobile phone subscriptions, and 2 billion active users on social networks. The very employees that organizations are training can, in the blink of an eye, Google or watch a YouTube video to learn the skills they need to do their jobs. If organizations want to better align with employees, educational content has to be just-in-time, easy to access, and broken up into shorter, more easily digestible pieces. Enter Microlearning: For a full definition and 3 keys to making great Microlearning, check out: Why Microlearning is Hot in Professional Education. Now that we agree Microlearning is where training is headed, the next most important thing to consider is the medium you choose to deliver your content. Could it be possible that the medium we choose be more important to improve knowledge transfer than our beloved content that we can’t get under 30 slides? The answer is YES. As Marshall McLuhan, the great Media Philosopher, said in 1964: "The Medium is the Message." Simply put, the medium in which you deploy content to your people is more important than the content. It’s actually crazy to think about! But let’s not get too caught up philosophizing and get to the point. Since the medium can make or break your training, which medium should you choose? The answer is VIDEO. Here are the top 3 reasons to support this claim: Alignment.  75% of Millennials visit YouTube monthly. Millennials coincidentally are going to make up 75% of the workforce by 2025. But they aren’t alone. Regardless of age, people simply prefer video over other mediums. According to Neilson, video is the most popular content consumed globally. Think about it; if given a choice between watching an instructional video and reading a 3 page document, which would you choose? Retention and Transfer of Knowledge.  Video is the most effective medium for communicating information in a short period of time. Most people are visual learners, so combining visual examples with audio creates a higher likelihood of knowledge transfer. Studies show that humans only retain 10% of heard information after 3 days Vs 65% when visuals are added. Easily Produced.  Because of the advances in cameras and software, video is the easiest and cheapest to produce than it’s ever been. Check out this one minute video we built using an iPhone and the Splice App to show how we make Microlearning. It no longer takes an expert in video production to produce high-quality video that people want to consume. One of my all time favorite quotes is from John Wayne: "Courage is being scared to death.... and saddling up anyways." Saddle up and commit to video as the Microlearning medium of choice for your organization. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

We all have stories of bad first days, weeks and even just bad jobs in general. It’s only natural to feel a little daunted prior to joining a new organization or role, but it’s important that we, within L&D, HR and talent functions, do our bit to be sure those first day nerves don’t turn into anything more. What does induction do? Good induction focuses on welcoming new staff and providing them with the information, training and support they need to reach competency. Induction is more of a process than an hour or day in someone’s calendar, a little like learning to ride a bike… the learning stuff you put in place acts as the stabilizers to continually support, until your inductees are so happy that they wheelie off into the sunset. You + bad induction = Lack of support, no time to find your feet, lack of communication or overwhelming levels of new information will all help to take the shine off a first day or new role. It’s important we do everything we can to make the induction process as painless and positive as possible. From a business point of view, the cost of recruitment alone means we can’t really afford to get it wrong… and that’s before you take into account the cost of staff turnover. If people have problems settling into your organization, they will leave, increasing the cost of staff turnover while leaving the same role to be re-recruited, doubling the cost of recruitment for one role alone… and the cycle goes on. Stand out with digital assets and mobile e-learning First impressions last. As you’re inducting people, they will be deciding whether they can see themselves staying at your organization in the long term. An induction has the responsibility to sell the quality and values of a company, and this means much more than simply talking about values… Investing in your induction is investing in the future of your organization - create videos, activities, quizzes or games which involve your new starters and capture their imagination in order to excite them about the journey ahead. It’s only half the battle creating the content that’s going to do the trick, it’s important that you consider multi-device and mobile e-learning in order to reach staff at a time when they probably don’t have the knowledge to seek out learning themselves. If you’re creating learning using the latest technologies, you can be safe in the knowledge your new starters can use their own devices, regardless of operating system or model. The time is always right with mobile e-learning New staff won’t always have the time to sit down and go through induction packages and courses when they arrive in the office, but giving them mobile e-learning allows for them to make use of moments or hours of downtime. Relevant for many (but maybe more so the more senior a role is), mobile e-learning gives staff constant access to induction materials as well as constant vision of their progress.  It helps new staff to move away from the idea that e-learning is a fixed, set activity, which is important as multi-device and mobile e-learning will only become more common, making the ‘fixed activity’ idea less and less applicable. Flexible Induction Inducting different departments, ages, languages, locations and seniorities means that a ‘one size fits all’ model won’t satisfy the demands of a whole company. Mobile e-learning, by its very nature, delivers a personal, interactive learning experience, allowing learners to work at their own pace, explore in more detail, repeat and refer back to content really easily, leaving you safe in the knowledge that no one feels left behind. Individual branches or paths of learning can be created to suit a department, role or even individual. This keeps the learning time to a minimum and really focused on what the individual really needs to know, plus it makes the volume of ‘stuff’ to go through much more managable, which is especially important when mobile e-learning is involved. Keep it in your pocket, keep on referring to it Something that’s needed in the first day or month of work is probably going to be useful at a later date. If your induction is comprised of mobile e-learning, you can be sure that as new starters pass probation and become fully integrated, that they have the resources and info close by to keep them in the know and speaking the language of your organization. Because the majority of online induction material is general company information, it can be easily reused for general training across the business. Whether it’s used to reinforce key learning points beyond induction, used as just-in-time referral or whatever else, mobile e-learning becomes ongoing performance support, constantly improving ROI! The post Improve induction with mobile e-learning support appeared first on gomo Learning.

Young employees are not ready for the demands of the workplace. As per a survey conducted by the British Chambers of Commerce, 90% of school leavers and over 50% of graduates are not ready with skills required for employment. (Source: BBC) Organizations cannot lament about non-availability of skilled people, but need to gear themselves to train them to acquire the requisite skills. However, traditional training methods such as classroom training may not be possible due to cost as well as feasibility constraints. E-learning can be a good option, particularly when younger workforce needs to be trained. These individuals are already familiar with the new media and therefore are more willing to adapt to online training methods. In order to create eLearning courses, you need not start from the scratch - at least with respect to the training content. You have your existing content that has been used across the organization by various departments. Training managers and heads of department would have collated content and created training curriculum for the purpose of classroom training. These instructor-led-training (ILT) resources form excellent basis for creating eLearning courses. However, one needs to keep in mind, an important point. These resources are invaluable for creating an eLearning course but they cannot be used as they are. They need to be repurposed - which means they need to be changed in tone, format or structure to suit the learning flow of an eLearning course. Why, you may ask. It is primarily because eLearning courses need to be self-paced and therefore engaging. ILT materials are not engaging by themselves but are made engaging due to the physical presence of an instructor. They have three specific characteristics with respect to their: Purpose Authorship and Format ILT materials have been developed for various purposes and may not be aligned with the objective of an eLearning course. ILT content could have been developed for different purposes. One set of documents might be from an orientation program for the newly hired product team. Another set of documents might be related to the training program given to the R & D team. There would be some content overlapping but the "context" in which that content is used is different. The curriculum for an eLearning course, its learning objects and training objectives could be different, and therefore, while the raw inputs from different sources are useful, they need to be used "in the context" of the eLearning course that is being developed. ILT materials would have been developed by multiple authors, each with different style and method of presenting ideas. When developing eLearning courses, we need to make sure there is consistency in the way thoughts are presented. A specific instructional strategy is finalized, and it is adhered to throughout the course. Information cannot be dumped in a random manner from the ILT manuals, as it would not provide proper learning experience for employees. Any gaps in the ILT content, can be filled by an instructor at the time of training, but that is not the case with eLearning courses. Hence, courses have to be designed such that content is self-explanatory. ILT materials can come in multiple formats such as PDF documents, hard copies of training manuals, audio or video recordings of live classroom instruction and so on. In eLearning courses, content has to be chunked at the course level and screen level. What is relevant and useful for the course - in order to meet the learning objectives needs to be ascertained. The readymade content may or may not meet this requirement. Sometimes, only a small portion may be relevant. Instructional designers take what is relevant and useful for the course to meet its objectives and ignore the rest of the content. Content, irrespective of the format, is important for instructional designers and course developers, to get an in-depth knowledge on the subject. It provides them with a good foundation on the content, but they need to handle the content the way that best suits the course. So, what goes into the screen, what goes in visual form and what can be sent for audio narration - all these are decided by them. It is for these reasons that ILT material needs to be repurposed and the content thus obtained needs to be chunked. To learn more about content chunking you can download our free eBook Best Practices for Content Chunking to Create Cogent E-learning Courses. Do read the eBook and share your feedback here. Related PostsCreative Ways to Present Click on Tab Interactivity in E-learning Courses - An InfographicELearning Is More than Just Transferring Content OnlineWhy Customized E-learning Courses is the Way Forward

Netiquette Tips For Online Discussions "Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument an exchange of ignorance" once said Robert Quillen, an acclaimed journalist, who was also a discussion specialist. Amazingly enough, this quote is still suitable, after almost a century, for all kinds of discussions, whether offline or online. Indeed, as an online learner, your goal when participating in an online discussion related to your eLearning course is the exchange of knowledge; after all, you are taking eLearning courses because you want to learn. But is there an appropriate netiquette for interaction in the online environment? In this article, I'll share 10 netiquette tips for online discussions in order to help you effectively interact with your virtual classmates when writing is the only communication means that you have. Use proper language. Typos, spelling errors, and mixed up sentences reflect on you; correct spelling and grammatical construction are a must, so keep in mind to read through your posts before you submit them. Moreover, try to avoid slang words as much as possible, as this is also an online education environment and slang is considered neither academic, nor professional. Finally, never type in all caps; writing in all capital letters is regarded as shouting, and this, apart from being annoying, it could be considered rude. Be precise. Being misunderstood is quite common in online interactions; escape the miscommunication trap by double checking that what appears perfectly clear to you is not confusing your readers. The best way to test your messages for clarity is to read them aloud before you send them; this way, you will be able to see if they make sense. Avoid emoticons and "texting" writing. Using emoticons and writing in "texting" language, that is by using abbreviations, might be considered too casual or even childish; refrain from them as much as possible. Online discussions require professional writing; smiley faces or linguistic shortcuts are more appropriate for chatting with your friends or instant messaging. Be explanatory. Justify your opinion. Points can be easily missed if hidden in a flood of text; when making a thorough comment, be as brief as possible. If you have several points you want to develop, prefer to post them individually in more than one focused messages, rather than in a long, overly wordy paragraph. However, avoid posting messages that contain only a few words and generic statements, such as "I agree with you". Keep in mind that you need to contribute to the online discussion, so remember to always justify your points of view. Read all comments before hitting "submit". What you need to remember when participating in an online discussion is that once you send your comment, there is no way to take it back. This is why you should always think about the content of your message before contributing it. Before replying to a question, read carefully all comments that your peers have already posted, no matter how many they are. If you don’t, it is very likely that you will end up repeating things others have already said, and this, apart from contributing nothing new to the online discussion, will seem like you ignore your virtual classmates. Once you have ensured that your comment will indeed add a new element to the online discussion, try to explain yourself as clearly as you can. If your post is still misconstrued, correct the misunderstanding right away. Tone down your language. Because written language lacks the support of facial or voice communication clues, it can be easily misinterpreted. A great way to deal with this is to tone down your language; avoid the use of strong words and, again, read aloud everything you want to post before you send it. Moreover, try to avoid humor and sarcasm completely, as they can both easily create misunderstandings and tension. Recognize and respect diversity. One of the great beauties of eLearning courses is that you can meet people from all parts of the world, as internet is a global medium. This means that while participating in an online discussion you and your virtual classmates may use the same language to communicate with each other, but the truth is that cultural backgrounds, linguistic terminology, and abilities to express oneself in written language may vary significantly in an online learning environment. If your virtual classroom is a typical one, it will be ethnically rich and multicultural. This is why it is important to respect diversity and opinions different from yours, no matter where they come from. It is ok to disagree with a point of view, but it is definitely inappropriate to disrespect and be offensive towards others. Being open to different points of view is a sign of intelligence; furthermore, paying attention to alternative viewpoints is one of the greatest ways to learn. Needless to say, profanity, and racist, sexist, ageist, and religious comments are unacceptable, no matter how innocent or "funny" may sound to you. On the other hand, if you are the victim of an insulting remark, try to maintain your calm and resist returning the offense. Rather, report the issue directly to your eLearning course instructor. Control your temper. In addition to the previous tip, you may be respectful, but others may be not. When being personally attacked on the web, it is easy to get angry. But you won’t win any argument if you lose your temper; tantrums lead nowhere. Instead, take a deep breath and count to ten; if needed, get away from your computer and go for a walk around the block before you reply. This way you will ensure that, while being calmer, you can argue the point instead of attacking the person who made it. More often than not, a bit of thinking and a bit of time result in more rational and coherent responses. Take your posts seriously. Participating is the number one rule for online discussions, but posting for the sake of posting wastes other people’s time. Always remember to add something new to the conversation and not repeat something that someone else has already said. Most importantly, stay on topic. Irrelevant tangents confuse your peers and make you seem that you don’t know what you are talking about; make sure that every comment you post stays within the scope of the online course material. If you are looking for simple social interaction with your virtual classmates, check if there is an off-topic discussion area in the online forum. Be credible. Finally, be careful not to mislead people when replying to a question. If you are not a 100% sure of your answer, say so. And if you are using the intellectual property of others, e.g. websites, books, blogs, journal articles etc, to support your argument, always cite your sources. Assigning proper credits when referencing other sources is a sign of being a respectful, responsible, and trustworthy online discussion participant. All in all, never say online what you wouldn’t say in real life and to another person’s face. Keep these netiquette tips for online discussions in mind, and you will be able to expand your knowledge base and share insights and perspectives with your virtual classmates, enhancing your eLearning experience. Now that you know the most important netiquette tips for online discussions, you may be interested, as a busy adult learner, in exploring more about developing your skills and furthering your education. Read the article The Top 7 eLearning Benefits For Busy Adult Learners and learn just a few of the many benefits of eLearning for you, who simply don’t have enough time to attend traditional classes. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Online learning is not the next big thing, it is the now big thing. - Donna J. Abernathy The online training medium can be used very effectively to equip your people with the needed knowledge and skills. According to a report released by IBM, companies who utilize e-Learning tools and strategies have the potential to boost productivity by up to 50%. For every $1 that a company spends, it’s estimated that it can receive $30 worth of productivity. But, how can you get started with eLearning? What are the aspects you need to consider to launch an online training initiative? Well, you need to focus on three vital elements to implement eLearning in your organization. Let us see what they are and why they are important. Hope you find this post interesting. How did you implement eLearning in your organization? We’d love to know. Related Posts5 Important Things To Consider For Creating Good E-learning Course - An Infographic4 E-learning Elements to Leave Your Learners Spellbound - An Infographic3 Interesting Ways to Design Elearning Intro Pages - Infographic

Well, you can’t get to May and June without going through April, which means yes—you’ll most likey have to endure some of those harmless pranks and hoaxes associated with April Fool’s Day—spiders in your desk, a plastic snake on your chair, or some mystery student messing with your computer mouse via a USB remote. Um, yep—I’m speaking from experience. So, if you’re one of those educators who enjoys having a little bit of fun with your students, then check out the resources below. » Edutopia: April Fool’s Day in the Classroom: 8 Resources for Teachers—A ton of teaching ideas for bring this day into the classroom, including strategies for for engaging students with humor. » A to Z Teacher Stuff: April Fool’s Day—Printables, scavenger hunts, worksheets, activities, puzzles and more! » April Fool’s Day Teaching Ideas—A Pinterest board filled with resources galore! Check out the video clips below explaining how and why the tradition of playing tricks on people began on April 1. A shout out to Richard Byrne, author of the Free Technology for Teachers blog, for sharing these cool videos! Classroom Connection: Use these resources to teach students about the history behind April Fools Day. And while you’re at it, add some comedy to your day by having some harmless foolproof fun with your students and colleagues. As Charles Dickens once said, "There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor."

Training is an ongoing process and goes a long way in improving the skills of the workforce, resulting in increased productivity. According to the State of the Industry Report, organizations spent $1,208 per employee in 2013, on an average, and this figure is very likely to increase. This means that companies are willing to invest heavily in training and development activities. Hence, it is important that they get the best ROI on training. Using the online training medium, organizations can impart top-notch training in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Let us see how. A course once developed can be used to train multiple learners One of the biggest advantages of eLearning is that you can create an online course once and use it to train as many learners as you want. Learners can access the course, anytime, anywhere. They can take the course as many times as they want to refresh their knowledge, in a very cost-effective manner. The online training medium course helps train learners with varied levels of knowledge Some learners many be more knowledgeable than others. Hence, all of them don’t need to be trained on basic aspects. With eLearning, we can create one course with multiple paths that can assist all learners (both novice and experienced). The learners who want to take the training at an advanced level can be given an opportunity to skip the fundamentals. Thus, we can reduce additional costs incurred on multiple sessions. The training expenditure can be reduced through synchronous online training methods If you find the need for an instructor during the training, then you can arrange a video conference where the instructor can interact directly with your learners when they take the eLearning course and clarify their doubts. This eliminates the need for the instructor to travel and saves precious training dollars. The possibility of revising and translating courses to extend their reach You can always update, modify and redesign existing online courses. These courses can be translated into multiple languages, so that they reach global audiences. Furthermore, the consistent can be ensured in the quality of instruction, as the online training medium is instructor-independent. You can also reduce the costs incurred on the travel and accommodation of trainers and participants, considerably, by adopting eLearning. So, this is how you can reduce your training costs. Please do share if you have anything to add to this list. Related PostsWhy do You Need to Go Beyond ‘E-learning Development Cost Per Hour’?Advantages of Using E-learning to Train Your Workforce - An InfographicE-learning Outsourcing - Free E-book

Technology in Education Paul Hamilton presents "Technology in Education", a creative and artistic look at the challenges educational technology faces. Creator of the Science AR App, the critically acclaimed educational app Formative Feedback for Learning and the revolutionary iBook series My Prep Year, Paul is changing the way digital content is being delivered in schools. Apple Distinguished Educator Class of 2013. Paul is a leader in the implementation of Augmented Reality in schools to improve learning outcomes, Professional Development of staff with integration of ICTs, and has expertise in the implementation of mobile devices into pedagogical frameworks. The post Educational Technology in Education appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

Whether you’re in need of some Easter lessons with a spiritual nature or maybe you’re an educator just looking for some seasonal fun. Regardless of your interest, you’re going to love bringing this holiday into your classroom with this updated collection of Easter Resources: » Do you and your students have spring fever? Then be sure to hop on over to TeachersFirst and check out these resources about Easter. Here you will find a variety of activities to incorporate into your math classes, social studies lessons, writing workshops, and more! » Need some secular and/or Easter activities and teaching ideas? A to Z Teacher Stuff has you covered! » Lots of Easter games, puzzles, stories, crafts, poetry and more live here: Apples4theTeacher.com. » The Busy Teacher provides educators with 64 Easter-related worksheets that can be incorporated into classroom lessons. » Easter Teaching Resources is a Pinterest board filled with arts and crafts ideas, educational activities, and printables to help you celebrate Easter in the classroom. » The abcteach Easter category page features hundreds of fun, educational activities for classroom or home use, including coloring pages, crafts, board games, readings, puzzles, interactives, and much more! » Teaching Ideas offers an extensive range of ideas and resources to teach and learn about Easter—poems, stories, puzzles, curricular activities, images, banners, fonts, videos and Easter Egg Hunts. » Poetry activities, interactive games, scavenger hunts, sequencing cards, puzzles, a variety templates and more await you on TES Connect—the largest teacher network in the world. » Larry Ferlazzo’s Web Site of the Day is another site packed with online resources for teaching and learning about Easter and Passover. A few that stood out for me include a variety of Easter videos and articles from the History Channel, the Easter Bunny Rap, How Easter Works and Easter by the Numbers—a fun infographic about this holiday. » Education World contains resources for teaching science, graphing and creative writing that fit perfectly for Easter fun and learning. » Harry Kindergarten: Check out this video entitled "The Bunny Goes Hop", an Easter pattern song for kids, produced by my colleague, Pete Harry. (For additional educational videos and songs, visit the Harry Kindergarten YouTube channel and/or website.) Classroom Connection: Use these themed lesson plans, activities and materials to teach students about Easter and Passover.

The theme of ISET 2015 is Technology-Enhanced Teaching and Learning Practice. Unquestionably, technology has become an irreversible force driving changes in the teaching and learning practices. Educational technology broadly encompasses instructional technology, information and communication technology for educational purposes, with an aim to enhance learning outcome and enrich learning experience through the effective and innovative use of technology. ISET 2015 provides a platform for knowledge exchange and experience sharing among researchers and practitioners in the field. The International Symposium on Educational Technology (ISET) is an annual international conference with the main focus on the research and application of Educational Technology for teaching and learning, including a combination of the online learning or e-learning and the traditional face-to-face learning. The purpose is to bring together researchers and developers from education and computer science to advance the research of Educational Technology. The 2015 International Symposium on Educational Technology (ISET 2015) will be held at the Central China Normal University in Wuhan, China on July 27-29, 2015. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.