My post on whether "eLearning on Tablets is really Mobile Learning" generated quite a bit of interest, with lots of ReTweets and replies on Twitter, many Blog comments, at least 71 people casted their votes, and at least two other bloggers posted their own thoughts based on my post. All in all, I’m very happy with the engagement the post generated. Thank You! My goal with this post was to start a conversation around what should be considered mobile learning and propose some questions we can use to judge whether a learning experience on is indeed "uniquely mobile." I must admit I was a bit surprised that from the 71 votes I received, 59% (42 votes) said Yes. Somehow I had expected that most people would vote No, especially after reading some of the questions I proposed in that post. However I understand why some people may consider the answer to be yes, after all an iPad (and every other Tablet) is a mobile device, and thus any learning experience consumed on it should be considered mobile learning, right? What happened next on Twitter was interesting, I started getting questions asking me whether a certain experience, that yielded in learning via mobile, and which seemingly didn’t fit the criteria proposed in my questions, was mLearning. Here’s one tweet in particular that got me thinking and eventually inspired this follow-up post:   @rjacquez If you google something on your mobile device while trying to solve a problem and get the answer. Is that Mobile learning? — reubentozman (@reubentozman) August 23, 2012 Excellent question. Reuben then left a comment on my Blog, where he elaborated further. I was especially interested in what he said below regarding how doing a mobile search on Google does not take advantage of any unique mobile features, and this is where I disagree a bit. Here’s his question, followed by my answer: Here is what I just asked u on twitter so that I can get some more characters in If you google something on your mobile device while trying to solve a problem and get the answer. Is that Mobile learning? Because your not taking advantage of any unique mobile features, but I would say that experience is mobile learning without a doubt. My response: Hi Reuben, thanks for your comment and for proposing a very interesting question. The short answer to your questions on whether looking something up on google that help us find an answer and learn something along the way is Yes. The longer answer (still Yes) is where I respectfully disagree with you, where you say that this experience does not take advantage of any uniquely mobile feature. I actually think it absolutely does. Let’s take the Google App for iPhone as an example, clearly Google has thought a lot about what makes a uniquely mobile experience, you can use your current location (GPS) to find information relevant to where you are. You can type your question or better yet, click the microphone for a voice search (another mobile feature). The app also has ‘Goggles’ built in, so that you can use your camera, point at any object and do a search based on a phone taken via the camera built into your phone. Then, once you get the search results, you can switch over to ‘images’ which you can then navigate by swiping left and right (another uniquely mobile feature). So while this whole process may seem fairly passive, I actually think it’s a brilliant display of how Google harnesses everything that makes mobile great to make our lives better while on-the-go. In my opinion there’s much for us to learn from this and other mobile experiences and start thinking about how we can do the same in our own industry. thanks. Again, my point with this post is that indeed anything our mobile devices can help us with in the way of learning should be considered mobile learning. In fact @MayraAixaVillar said it best in her post for ASTD when she said that "because of mobile options, anything can trigger a learning experience." I completely agree with that statement. The lesson here is that Mobile devices gives an opportunity to re-imagine Learning beyond simply retrofitting old desktop learning into the this new and amazing mobile paradigm. Let me know your thoughts!

by Kevin Siegel    What came first, the chicken or the egg? Wait... before answering that, let's rework that classic question with this: what comes first, the eLearning or the PowerPoint presentation? When developing eLearning, the content is often created in Microsoft PowerPoint first. I'm not going to get into what it takes to create visually compelling PowerPoint presentations (we have a mini course for that). Instead, I'm going to show you how to take existing PowerPoint content and quickly re-purpose it for eLearning. Earlier this year I wrote an article teaching you how to take PowerPoint content and create eLearning using either TechSmith Camtasia Studio or Adobe Presenter. Over the next two weeks, I'm going to show you how to use your PowerPoint content in Adobe Captivate and Articulate Storyline. Adobe Captivate and PowerPoint You can import PowerPoint slides into an existing Captivate project or create a new project that uses the PowerPoint slides. During the import process, Captivate includes the ability to create a link between a Captivate project and PowerPoint presentation. Using this workflow, any changes made to the original PowerPoint presentation can be reflected in the Captivate project.   Note: Microsoft PowerPoint must be installed on your computer before you can import PowerPoint presentations into Captivate. Also, the ability to import PowerPoint presentations isn't new. In fact, Captivate has supported PowerPoint imports for years. If you're using a legacy version of Captivate (even version 4 and 5), the steps below will work for you just fine. To create a new project from a PowerPoint presentation, choose File > New Project > Project From MS PowerPoint and open the PowerPoint presentation.  The Convert PowerPoint Presentations dialog box opens, offering a few controls over how the presentation is imported.   The On mouse click option adds a click box to each Captivate slide. The other available option, Automatically, results in Captivate slides that, when viewed by a learner, automatically move from slide to slide every three seconds. At the lower right of the dialog box, there are options for High Fidelity and Linked.   During a standard import process, PowerPoint pptx presentations are first converted to the ppt format and then converted to SWF. If you select High Fidelity, the import process takes native pptx files directly to Captivate SWF (the ppt conversion is skipped). This option, which is available only in Captivate for Windows, results in the best-looking content in Captivate, but it takes much longer to complete the import process.    The Linked option creates a link between the PowerPoint presentation and the new Captivate project. The link allows you to open the PowerPoint presentation from within Captivate. Additionally, any changes made externally to the PowerPoint presentation can be reflected in the Captivate project with a few mouse clicks.    After the PowerPoint slides are imported into Captivate, you can add Captivate objects such as captions, highlight boxes, or animations.      If you need to edit the PowerPoint slides, choose Edit > Edit with Microsoft PowerPoint > Edit Presentation. The Presentation will open in a window that can best be described as a union between Captivate and PowerPoint. If you've used PowerPoint before, you will recognize the familiar PowerPoint interface.  There are two buttons you wouldn't normally see if you opened the presentation directly in PowerPoint: the Save and Cancel buttons at the upper left of the window. Once you have edited the PowerPoint slides, click the Save button and the changes will appear in the Captivate project. If the PowerPoint presentation has been edited outside of Captivate, (perhaps your subject matter expert is adding or removing content from the presentation) you can still get the changes. Choose Window > Library. On the Library, notice that there is a Status column. A red button will indicate that the PowerPoint slides within the Captivate project are no longer synchronized with the PowerPoint presentation. A simple click on the red button will update the Captivate slides.    Next week: Articulate Storyline and PowerPoint.   *** Looking for instructor-led training on Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Captivate classes.

Written by Chris Osborn   Today's Q&A Thursday discusses proper timelines you should use to evaluate training programs, and what should be done during each phase.     Stay Up-to-Date on the Most Current Business Training Trends BizLibrary offers 6,000+ training videos in various business training topics, with new courses added every day.   How to Build a Business Case for Online Employee Training This complimentary eBook will help you get your online training proposal approved. It identifies the 5 key elements of a business case, discusses best practices, and includes examples to help you make your case solid. BizLibrary's Mobile Learning App meets the needs of today's digital learners. Employees no longer wait for training departments to push learning content to them. Employees are used to pulling information to themselves, when they need it, on their own terms and conditions, and on their own devices. - See more at: /technology/bizmobile.aspx#sthash.umjsk4e5.dpuf Video Transcription

A couple days ago I posted Reduce Searching Start Talking and I just saw a very interesting post by Nancy Dixon - What Do We Get From Conversation That We Can't Get Any Other Way? The list of what you can get through conversation:Answers Meta KnowledgeProblem ReformulationValidationLegitimizing Then she tells us ... The greatest benefit of conversation is that it produces five categories of responses, not just the answer. We get so much more from conversation, e.g. an unexpected insight, a sense of affirmation that inspires us to new heights or, equally useful, having to confront a realization that we've been trying to avoid; deepening the relationship with a colleague or the introduction to a collaborator we would never have discovered on our own; and on and on. The multiplicity of benefits addresses the very real problem of not knowing what we don’t know. A problem that is so frequent when the issues we are addressing are ambiguous and complex. Ambiguous and complex - pretty much defines concept work.Search's LimitThe limit of search and need for conversation is a common topic here and as part of Work Literacy. In Value from Social Media, I looked at a scenario where I'm evaluating a particular solution for my company / organization. Through Google, I find a lot of information. But in many cases, I will still be left feeling uncomfortable ...What’s really going to happen? Did I miss something important?How important are the various issues? Is my answer reasonable? These are the questions that represent search's limit. It's difficult to use search to address:Experience - What have been the experiences of other organizations (not the canned case studies) when they’ve used this solution. Boundaries / Existence - I’ve got a particular issue and I’m not sure if answers to that issue exist out there, I’ve not found it in my searching.Confirmation - I’m beginning to have an answer, but I’d like to get confirmation of the answer based on my particular situation based on experience. Importance - Some of the issues I see, I’m not sure how important they are in practice, should I be concerned.However, each of these can be directly addressed through conversation. Conversation QuestionsWith Nancy's categories and looking the the limit of search, it suggests to me that there is opportunity to better define the conversation questions that are important for concept work. I'm not quite sure that I quite know what these are, but it feels like there are a set of questions that we should commonly ask as part of these conversations that are central to our work.In other words, I believe there are likely patterns for good questions to be asking to help address the limits of search and ensure that we surface each of the categories that Nancy defines:Answers Meta KnowledgeProblem ReformulationValidationLegitimizing This is a topic that I intend to revisit. I certainly would welcome any thoughts or pointers around it. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

by Jen Weaver     Most of us have limited awareness of Irish culture beyond Saint Patrick's Day and leprechauns. Never fear! Today's article explores some common cultural facts about the Irish and their expectations when it comes to training and development.Test Your Knowledge of Irish Culture True or False. Ireland has one official language: Irish. True or False. The Irish are known as a cold harsh people, aka "the Fighting Irish". Quick Tips for Training & Development in Ireland1: Strains of pessimism run deep in the Irish due to hard times throughout history. You may struggle to communicate optimistic outlooks when training learners in this country. Surprisingly, Irish is a second language to those who are fluent in it. Irish is a required subject to study in school and is necessary for careers in academia and civil service, but the native language for Irish inhabitants is English. The Irish tend to be fairly open to risk and make decisions based on a combination of facts and emotion. Irish culture does not place significant value on wealth, and many people believe the poor should receive the same respect as those who are rich and successful. Irish expect punctuality but tend to be slightly more relaxed than the English when it comes to time. Deadlines may be interpreted as approximations or suggestions, so be clear on your expectations or include a buffer in your timeline. While Northern Ireland is part of the UK, never use English or British symbols in your training materials. Some helpful examples include; the British flag, Royal Guardsmen, double-decker buses, or red post boxes. In training, sports analogies will go over well, especially if you reference popular Irish teams. Avoid controversial, political, or religious topics in casual conversation. If someone else broaches the subject, refrain from commenting unless voicing areas you agree with. Many older generations are especially conservative, and you risk alienating your audience if you disagree. In general, the Irish refrain from exaggerated gestures. Be mindful of this cultural trait, as emphatic gesturing may not translate well to this audience. Culture Answers: False. Ireland actually has two official languages: Irish and English. False. Many Irish people are extremely welcoming of strangers and are known to strike up conversations on the street. Irish friendliness and hospitality are easily recognized characteristics of this culture. The "Fighting Irish" is actually Notre Dame's athletic nickname. References:   1Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.   *** Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.

I spent the last 12 years working in some capacity or another on the Captivate product, from the early days when it was called RoboDemo at eHelp Corporation, then at Macromedia and more recently at Adobe, where I spent 6 years as a Senior Product Evangelist for Captivate and the eLearning Suite. During those years, I delivered hundreds of presentations to customers, prospects and conference audiences, and was asked hundreds of questions, and as a result, I learned quite a bit about how different people use the product. Since leaving Adobe, I have been recording everything I learned into a series of Adobe Captivate 5.5 ‘killer tips‘ videos, that will eventually be part of an onDemand Learning platform, I’m working on in my spare time, and that will be the foundation for making other courses available online, such as one on Mobile Learning (mLearning) Design and another one on the new Articulate Storyline product. However I still have a long ways to go before this onDemand Learning Platform is ready, and I don’t want to delay sharing what I have recorded thus far. Instead, I decided to put together various DVDs titles, that you can order and watch at your own pace and apply what you learn along the way. How Is this Training DVD Different? There are lots of good learning resources out there, from classes you can take, to books you can buy, to blogs and Facebook pages, and they are all good. However in my experience most Captivate learning resources are very "feature-based," select a series of menus, check this box and click Ok, type of thing. Nothing wrong with that, but I think there’s more to a software application like Captivate than simply learning features and following steps that can be found in the Help System. My goal is to help Adobe Captivate users go beyond the obvious and think outside the box a bit, and the results will be faster development and better, more effective and fun Learning. You can check out the video below as an example of my style of teaching, the pace and interactivity of the videos, and also as an example of the types of things you will learn when you order this first DVD. In this video, I go over how to record a simulation of an iPad App, and how to further customize the recording in Adobe Captivate 5.5:   In case you are interested, I use the new Camtasia Studio 8 application to record these videos and then Mayra (@MayraAixaVillar) goes to work and adds keyboard shortcuts, highlight boxes (for spotlight emphasis) in order to make the experience better; as well as Quizzes as a way to reinforce the learning experience via short questions. The whole thing is pretty fun for us and we hope you like the format. Who is this Training DVD for? I believe these videos are for anyone using Adobe Captivate as it includes killer tips for beginners, intermedia and advanced users alike. The videos include killer tips from how to customize the user interface and how to record software simulations to how to personalize the auto-captions when recording the screen; to how to leverage PowerPoint, Photoshop, Adobe Kuler and other tools as design tools with Captivate; to incorporating Characters / Actors right in version 5.5, all the way to how to apply Advanced Actions and Widgets to get more out of Adobe Captivate 5.5. So why Pre-order the DVD Now? The DVD is full of killer tips you won’t find in a traditional Captivate class, book or anywhere else online The videos include killer tips for beginners, intermediate and advanced users alike The killer tips I share are NOT feature-based like most traditional training is today The DVD is an inexpensive way to take your Captivate skills to the next level The DVD includes ideas that will inspire you to think outside the Captivate eLearning box and create better eLearning The videos will show you how to work with other products that complement Captivate for rapidly developing better looking eLearning If you pre-order now you will save $30 I expect the DVD to ship in less than three weeks and cost $99USD, however as a way of saying thank you to those who pre-order today (and give me that virtual kick in the pants I need to finish it), you can pre-order it today for $69USD. Once I begin shipping, the price will go back to $99. Thank You in advance to those who order this DVD and help me fund other similar projects with your purchase! To purchase it, click the ‘Add to Cart‘ button below!

Written by Jessica Batz View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording.

I just saw two posts by a couple of the nicest people out there:Nancy White - Most Viewed Posts First Quarter 2009 - What next?Bill Ives - Your Favorite Portals and KM Posts for Last Quarter and Last YearBoth posts look at page views of posts and use that as a proxy for what is good / interesting / valuable. I've talked about the questionable nature of page views vs. other signals in posts such as: An Aha Moment - del.icio.us as Indicator of Valuable Content - Importantly My ContentSince my aha moment, I've always been skeptical of using page views. However, I've also come to realize that there are some limits with each different kind of social signal (e.g., delicious links, click throughs, page views, time on page, etc.).Because both Nancy and Bill contribute to the Communities and Networks Connection and both have the keyword widget installed, I was able to see ...Nancy's top ten posts for Q1 according to various social signals were:Tom Vander Wall Nails My Sharepoint Experience- Full Circle, March 23, 2009CoP Series #6: Community Leadership in Learning- Full Circle, March 10, 2009Twitter as Search Engine or Community Seed- Full Circle, March 6, 2009CoP Series #5: Is my community a community of practice?- Full Circle, March 5, 2009CoP Series #4: Practice Makes Perfect- Full Circle, March 3, 2009CoP Series #9: Community Heartbeats- Full Circle, March 19, 2009CoP Series #8: Content and Community- Full Circle, March 17, 2009Tinkering and Playing with Knowledge- Full Circle, March 8, 2009A humorous presentation of Blogs vs. Wikis- Full Circle, January 12, 2009Red-Tails in Love: Birdwatchers as a community of practice- Full Circle, March 26, 2009Bill's top ten posts for Q1 according to various social signals were:Ten Ways to Track Your Online Reputation- Portals and KM, January 27, 2009Enterprise 2.0 for an Enterprise of One - Part Two - Content Monitoring- Portals and KM, March 10, 2009McKinsey on Making Enterprise 2.0 Work is Reminder of Process Centric KM in Early 90s. - Portals and KM, March 18, 2009Enterprise 2.0 for an Enterprise of One - Part Four - Content Collecting, Assembling, and Creation - Potential New Approaches - Portals and KM, March 12, 2009Enterprise 2.0 for an Enterprise of One - Introduction- Portals and KM, March 9, 2009Enterprise 2.0 for an Enterprise of One - Part Five - Content Publishing and Archiving- Portals and KM, March 13, 2009Enterprise 2.0 for an Enterprise of One - Part Three - Content Collecting, Assembling, and Creation - Current Approach- Portals and KM, March 11, 2009Business Blogs Trump Social Networking Sites as New Business Drivers - Portals and KM, March 4, 2009Central Desktop Using Twitter for Sales, Service, and Brand Monitoring Conversations- Portals and KM, February 23, 2009Knowledge Management Twitterers- Portals and KM, March 31, 2009While there is overlap with the most viewed, I think that the above lists represent a more accurate picture of what users found valuable. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

The iPad has been called many things, including the ultimate babysitter. If you have kids and an iPad, you know what I’m talking about. Indeed the iPad is a great entertainment device for kids, but it’s also an excellent learning device with tons of Learning Apps available for kids of all ages. However kids have a very short attention span, they get easily distracted and quickly reach for the home button in order to get out of that amazing learning app you just bought them, and off to exploring other things, like rearranging your apps all over the place, or worse deleting your emails, posting on Twitter and Facebook on your behalf, or watching videos on YouTube. Can you tell that I have a 6 year old son? Luckily for all of us parents there’s an amazing new feature in the latest iOS update from Apple, version 6, called Learning Guided Access. This feature allows you to prevent your kids from leaving a particular app, as well as disables the physical buttons on your iPad, in order to eliminate distractions. Here’s a short screencast I recorded to guide you through the process: Share your thoughts.

HRCI & SHRM Certification from Our Perspective We had a great time at this year’s SHRM annual conference and EXPO in Orlando. As usual, SHRM put on a great event that was full of excellent content and super entertainment. The EXPO is one of the best of any large B2B trade shows anyplace. Vendors really do a great job providing an engaging and informative experience for attendees. I think we did so at the BizLibrary booth, and a big "THANKS!" to everyone who stopped by to visit.   Among the biggest talking points arising from this year’s event is the announcement by SHRM that they are launching their own certification program. I had multiple conversations with SHRM representatives about this initiative over the course of the show, and there are going to be more questions answered for the entire profession and all of the stakeholders in the coming months. Here are my reactions and tips for navigating this important announcement and change to HR professional certifications over the next several months. Bear in mind, my suggestions will very likely change as more details get communicated. Tip for SHRM . This change is very important to the profession. So far, the communications have been a little bit confusing as the why SHRM feels compelled to launch its own program distinct from the long-established certifications offered by HRCI. Please help explain the why behind the decision. For Current Certified Professionals - Don’t Change Anything, Yet. Your current certification is valuable, well-known and established. I would finish off your continuing education credits this year and stay current. As a practical matter, nobody really knows exactly what will happen in terms of broad market acceptance to SHRM’s efforts. But we know with a reasonable degree of certainty that current certifications are important, have meaning and add value to practitioners’ careers and credentials. Currently Certified Professionals Might Consider SHRM Certification in January. SHRM announced a relatively simple process for currently certified professionals to gain SHRM certification starting after January 1, 2015. Why not? Look this whole thing is going to be confusing for the whole profession for a while, or maybe even longer. So why not hedge your bets? You won’t have to go for recertification for three more years, and the cost to get a brand new SHRM certification is exactly zero. In three years, we’ll know more about whether or not the SHRM certification will take hold or not. Don’t Panic. This has nothing to do with the practitioner. For 99.9% of HR professionals, this will mean little or nothing. Third-party CE providers will likely be unaffected (though that remains a bit cloudy, too), but for everyday HR endeavors the certification program won’t change a thing. Recertification Credits. This is one area that impacts BizLibrary and participants in our CE programs. We simply do not know which direction SHRM will go on this, but there are some draft requirements which we saw at the conference that need to be changed in order for an organization like us to be a partner with SHRM for recertification credits. In our view, the harder SHRM makes it for third parties to offer CE’s, the harder it will be for the new certification program to take hold in the market. Right now, HRCI has an excellent and far reaching third-party HRCE approved provider program, in which BizLibrary is proud to participate. This program makes it much easier for thousands of certified professionals to stay certified in a cost-effective manner. We will do our best to keep everyone informed as things unfold. In an ideal world, SHRM and HRCI would end up working closely together to provide one certification program for HR professionals. That would make life easier for each and every stakeholder. But for now, it looks like the world is not ideal, and we’re going to have to be prepared for understanding how two competing certification programs and organizations will work together in the marketplace.