The Top 10 eLearning Content Development Companies For 2015  As "top" can mean many things, we created this year’s list by following the same process that we used for the top 10 eLearning content development companies for 2014 list. Taking a closer look at the companies that are leading the line when it comes to eLearning, we selected the top 10 based on the following 7 criteria: eLearning Content Development Quality.  eLearning Expertise.  eLearning Industry Innovation.  eLearning Company’s Economical Growth Potential.  Customer Retention.  Employee Turnover.  Company’s Social Responsibility.  As you can guess, the companies on the following list are the eLearning content development crème de la crème. Don’t hesitate to review their official websites and contact them to know more about how they can help you align your organization’s learning and performance goals with its business objectives. If you are looking for the best eLearning content development companies that create high impact and super engaging and immersive eLearning courses, here you are: SweetRush SweetRush is #1 eLearning content development company for the second time in a row, which says a lot. As it seems, their motto, "Dream with us, and together let’s make a positive impact!", fully supports their pursuit of helping businesses grow, change, prosper, and thrive. This company focuses on culture, and mastery of performance improvement is reflected in a near-zero turnover of teammates, sustained relationships with many of the world’s most successful companies, a 14-year track record of success, and a remarkable, award winning work. Every solution SweetRush delivers is infused with creativity: Instructional creativity allows them to discover effective and unique solutions to their clients’ challenges. Artistic creativity spurs them to create visually exciting, engaging user experiences. And technical creativity allows them to embrace new capabilities and platforms as they emerge, such as gamification and mobile delivery. They apply the creative lens to all things, from project management to how they care for their teammates, clients, and the planet.  SweetRush’s end-end services embrace analysis to evaluation and they excel at delivering innovative blended learning solutions including live and virtual classroom and the full gamut of custom-developed eLearning modalities. Contact SweetRush and ask them to show you how they would approach your challenge. EI Design A new addition, straight to No2 of our list: EI Design began in February 2002 and from a small team of three is now capable of generating over 500 online learning hours a year! Over the last decade, they have created over 6000 hours of eLearning of which over 400 hours are for mLearning. They understand the challenges of user experience in a multi-device environment, and have successfully crafted the right interaction design to meet the mandate. They have also a strong expertise in migration of legacy courses to HTML5, as well as crafting effective strategy for multi-device delivery for new requirements. Their customers come from diverse verticals like Financial services, Insurance, Re-Insurance, Automotive, and IT. Through a strong core featuring creative Instructional Design, EI Design offers a range of innovative learning designs; some of the techniques they use are gamification, interactive videos, decision making - branching simulations, story based, scenario based, and guided exploration. One of EI Design’s biggest strengths is their ability to identify the big picture to create a Learning and Performance Ecosystem; this approach ensures that their focus is on performance gain and provides their customers a clear blueprint to enhance their existing learning strategy. They also have a competency lab to research on facets that impact learnability. The outcome would be framework that will provide guidelines on how to convert the user experience to learnability. With their expertise on learning design and a highly efficient offshore development model, EI Design offers a very attractive total cost of outsourcing to their customers. Want to know more about that? Contact EI Design here. LEO Following the merger of the two leaders in learning technologies and eLearning, Epic (which made it to no4 of our 2014 list) and Line, LEO benefits from more than 30 years of experience. This company believes that technology enabled learning innovation has the power to deliver truly transformational results; their purpose is to help their clients deploy learning technology to deliver outcomes precisely aligned to their business goals. Their engaging learning architectures fit seamlessly into businesses and improve performance throughout the entire organization; their end-to-end service offering enables them to partner with global clients throughout the creation, implementation, and maintenance of their learning transformation; their key focuses include strategy, content, and platforms services. LEO asks questions which allow them to get to the root of an organization’s challenges, enabling them to approach solutions differently and creatively. Their clients benefit from a boutique-style delivery service, as LEO has also the capability to scale up for larger programs when required. This company has the deep understanding of learning design and technology combined with their pioneering, creative approach to drive learning transformation. LEO is part of Learning Technologies Group plc (LTG) and you can contact them here. City & Guilds Kineo Kineo is a global workplace learning company that helps businesses improve their performance through learning and technology. Acquired by City & Guilds in December 2012, they now have over 130 years of heritage and 1500 employees in 81 countries backing their innovative learning solutions and are able to offer an unrivalled set of learning services to their customers. This company is here to improve performance in your organization by making your eLearning, and access to learning, a better experience. From the starting point of considering how and where learning can help you deliver business results through to its design, delivery and implementation, they partner with our clients on the whole journey. Their focus is on delivering solutions that help their clients to achieve their business objectives rather than winning awards; however, it is nice to be recognized by the industry and to pick up some awards and recognition from time to time! Kineo has developed thousands of learning programs, working with a wide range of partners. Areas of expertise and experience include management and leadership, sales and product knowledge, customer service, compliance and awareness, technical and process training, and onboarding and orientation programs. Their services include consulting and capability building, blended program design and development, custom, rapid, and mobile eLearning development (see examples), course library of Kineo Essentials content, and learning portals and LMS using Totara LMS. Want to know more? Contact your regional Kineo office. Designing Digitally Designing Digitally, Inc. is an award-winning, full-service provider of interactive and engaging custom-built eLearning, mobile learning, 3D training simulations, and serious games. They do much more than just develop custom training solutions; they create strong relationships and work as a partnership to achieve your organization’s learning objectives. For over a decade, Designing Digitally has specialized in designing educational, engaging, and entertaining online learning and corporate training experiences tailored to fit your specific needs. They strive to provide a prosperous return on investment by producing high quality interactive learning solutions and immersive training. To learn more about how Designing Digitally can help you, check their case studies and don’t hesitate to contact them.  PulseLearning Established in 1999 in Co. Kerry, Ireland, today PulseLearning has offices located in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. This award winning global learning solutions provider has extensive experience in creating and customizing learning solutions that combine best practices with organizational culture. Their client list includes many of the "who’s who" in the Technology, Finance, Retail, Hospitality, Health, and Defence sectors. The great thing about this company is their strong belief that the only reason for their clients to invest in their learning solutions is to measurably add value to their business performance including greater productivity, lower overheads, and greater efficiency; and that knowledge workers need to be smart on the job, not just smart during training. PulseLearning’s success is built on mutual trust, long term relationships, and a deep understanding of their clients’ business. PulseLearning’s services include eLearning, mobile learning, localization, gamification, simulations, 3D modeling, ILT, blended learning, learning consultancy, and staff augmentation. This company is a high-energy, client-centric organization that combines excellence in people, process, partners and leverage evolving technologies, and innovation trends. If you want to know more about their solutions, check their project portfolio, or contact them. Allen Communication An impressive new addition to the list, Allen Communication has led the learning and development industry for the last 35 years, providing pioneering educational strategies, technologies, and analytics for many of the world’s largest companies. With extensive experience across every major industry, Allen’s award-winning projects drive lasting business results. The reason because businesses trust Allen with their most critical projects is that Allen aligns agency-quality media, best-in-class instructional strategy and technology, and a proven design process centered on quantifiable business results. This bold approach results in custom organizational training solutions that help departments scale and achieve more, while improving ROI. It is clear that this company’s people love what they do and clients see the results. Contact Allen to see how training can boost performance and change behavior! G-Cube Established in July 2000, G-Cube is one of the fastest growing organizations in the Asia Pacific region, offering complete learning technology solutions under one roof. Its holistic solutions range from learning consulting, custom content development, mobile learning solutions, game based learning, and social learning solutions to translation and localization (60+ languages). G-Cube has also won 60+ awards in the last 4 years (!), including the award for their WiZDOM LMS. Known for its thought leadership in learning technology space, G-Cube has contributed to several innovations in the eLearning industry, such as gaming console based learning solutions using Kinect; first HTML5-based Learning Management System to address multi-device challenges, introducing Adaptive Learning in corporate space. Their latest innovation is the introduction of IVR-based learning solutions for the blue collared workforce. G-Cube’s greatest strength is its diverse experience, which has brought with it a close understanding about the workings of the eLearning domain. As an industry, this field has seen a tremendous change in the past few years and the flux is continuous; G-Cube has been a part of this change and has been able to adapt to its changing needs. If you want to know more about this 200+ strong team, contact them here. CCS Digital Education CCS Digital Education is a leading international provider of custom eLearning content development services and award winning solutions that help their clients empower continuous learning, increase employee engagement, and effectively address their business challenges through improved learning results. CCS has extended experience in developing bespoke eLearning applications enriched with engaging features and gamification elements that boost performance and knowledge. As part of any project they assess learning goals, analyze business requirements, and take part in user experience design, storyboarding, Instructional Design, and content authoring. These efforts are supported by an accomplished team comprising eLearning experts, software engineers, visual designers, voice actors, and animators. CCS’ eLearning solutions are used by large enterprises, government organizations, leading educational and training institutions, and millions of learners around the globe. Oh, and an interesting "detail": CCS has also created Lykio, the world’s first Learning Motivation Environment designed to make corporate knowledge evolution part of everyone’s working life. Available on any device, Lykio enables learning officers and heads of business to bring just-in-time knowledge to large and dispersed groups of employees. Contact them to know more! Learning Pool Another dynamic new entry on our list, Learning Pool works in partnership with their customers to deliver the results that they need. This company’s vision is to be the most customer-centric online learning company that drives learning and performance improvement in your organization. Specializing in providing affordable solutions, Learning pool offers a complete service that includes a library of editable content, innovative tools to improve job performance and online Learning Management Systems. Their bespoke content development services deliver fully editable content, allowing customers to update and maintain their eLearning, at no cost, for as long as they want. Learning Pool’s award winning team works closely with each of their customers to deliver high quality service that produces real benefits and tangible returns. In the last year they have delivered learning solutions to 350 organizations across the UK, worked in government, health, hospitality, housing, and the financial sector, and trained more than 1 million people across their customer base! Their unique approach encourages customers to share ideas, exchange best practice, and swap resources inside the Learning Pool community. This approach generates tremendous loyalty, with a retention rate of 97%! This year, Learning Pool received the Customer Focus Award at the Institute of Customer Service, was shortlisted for the eLearning Development Company of the Year, and gained an accolade for Learning Provider of the Year. Do you want to know why? Ask any one of Learning Pool’s hundreds of customers, who include the Houses of Parliament and Jurys Inn, and find out how they’ve delivered a first class experience for their organization and their learners. Oh, and contact them here. Are you a Top eLearning Content Provider? Create a Free Listing on eLearning Industry, the largest and fastest growing independent online community for eLearning Professionals! If you are one of the Top 10 eLearning Content Development Companies For 2015 you may use the following badge! This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Gurus from the field of inclusive design and accessibility will create an engaging and immersive experience for OpenEd15 participants to try, see, and discover. We’re extremely excited to announce a Special Strand on Accessibility and OER at this year’s conference, sponsored by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Try a perspective shift - come see how your learning resources, applications and sites are experienced using alternative access systems that replace or augment screens, keyboards, and mice. Learn how you can leverage the flexibility, variability, and extensibility of open resources to reach new learners. Discover how to make your content, code, and designs more inclusive with help from the knowledgeable teams at the Inclusive Design Research Centre, CAST, and BCcampus, as well as the growing global inclusive learning community. The special strand consists of a mega-panel on Wednesday morning and a dedicated area near the registration desk - all three days - where you can talk with gurus and interact with a range of devices to learn more about OER, inclusive design, and accessibility. OpenEd15 Keynote Speakers Following the keynote format we premiered in 2011, this year’s keynote addresses will come in pairs. These paired keynotes will provide a range of perspectives on timely topics of critical importance to the field of open education. Keynote Pairing 1: Openness and the Future of Post-Secondary Education Michael Feldstein is an educational technology consultant and a lifelong educator. Previously, he has been the Senior Program Manager of MindTap at Cengage Learning and Principal Product Strategy Manager for Academic Enterprise Solutions (formerly Academic Enterprise Initiative, or AEI) at Oracle Corporation. Prior to to that, Michael was an Assistant Director at the SUNY Learning Network, where he oversaw blended learning faculty development and was part of the leadership team for the LMS platform migration efforts of this 40-campus program. Before SUNY, he was co-founder and CEO of MindWires, a company that provided e-learning and knowledge management products and services to Fortune 500 corporations, with a special emphasis on software simulations. In a previous life, Michael was a middle school and high school teacher and a tire wrangler at a Yokohama Tire warehouse. Phil Hill is an educational technology consultant and analyst who has spent the last 10 years advising in online education and educational technology markets. As an independent consultant and analyst, Phil helps higher education institutions develop effective strategies to understand and implement online education programs. Phil’s clients have included the University of Iowa, UCLA, California State University, DeVry University, Colorado Community College System, University of Maryland University College, among others. Phil is also an author, blogger at e-Literate, and speaker, and he has become recognized in the educational technology community for his insights into the broader education market trends and issues. In addition to e-Literate, Phil has also written for EDUCAUSE Review and been quoted at Inside Higher Ed and Washington Business Journal. Keynote Pairing 2: Supporting Open Textbook Adoption in British Columbia Mary Burgess is the Executive Director of BCcampus, an organization that supports the work of the BC post-secondary system in the areas of teaching, learning and educational technology. Prior to joining BCcampus in 2012, Mary was the Director of the Centre for Teaching and Educational Technologies at Royal Roads University where she started the University’s first open educational resources project. She is a career instructional designer and longtime advocate of OER. David Porter is Associate Vice-President - Education Support and Innovation, BCIT. He is the former Executive Director of BCcampus, where he advocated for the use of open pedagogical practices and open educational resources (OER), including the implementation of Canada’s first large-scale, government-funded open textbook program for post-secondary education. He is also a board member of the Open Education Resource Foundation, a non-profit society that is the coordinating body for Open Education Universitas (http://OERu.org), a network of 30+ universities worldwide that are interested in providing low-cost access to higher education using open resources, practices and pedagogies. The 12th Annual Open Education Conference (OpenEd15) will be held at the The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (BC, Canada) on November 18-20, 2015. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

2 Facts About Education Technology   If, like me, you went to school in the 90s, your biggest challenge (besides getting a bf) may have been hastily trying to scribble notes on loose leaf paper while your teacher lectured and wrote on a chalkboard. Now that I’m all grown up and working with a client in the education technology niche though, I’m blown away by how far things have progressed. Learning through the use of technologically advanced tools is called education technology. This covers an array of particular technological instruments, such as networking hardware, computers, media, TV, apps and the Internet. Utilizing these tools for education has become more popular than you realize. Here are a few things that I have learned as a 40ish education technology marketer in 2015: Access to education has come a long way. A little over 50 years ago, the majority of schools had only a small handful of different classes to choose from and only 18 credits were typically required to graduate from high school. Half a century later, some states have added another 10 credits (i.e. another year) to graduate, and a mind-boggling variety of different classes have rolled out. There are now a versatile number of foreign, music, arts, sports, marketing, medical, and many more classes for prospective students to choose from. Education has gained a lot of traction since the 90s in part thanks to technology. Since classrooms switched to virtual platforms and thousands of educational services are being offered, access to better learning equipment has been made readily available to the public. For example, students wanted textbooks and other learning material to be easier to obtain, so many websites now sell them for very cheap, sometimes free, and they even have online versions as well that are much more affordable to download. Other colleges are following along with MIT to make courses free and available online. While these courses do not typically provide a real diploma at the end, it allows individuals to extend their education and not become out of practice while they wait to take accredited courses to get their degree or certification. With the invention of the internet alone, students today now have a much greater access to any knowledge they choose to soak up. Technology has invaded the modern classroom. Common instruments used in teaching plans were tape players, record players, reel to reel projectors, and other types of educational tools that are considered antique today. Since then, education technology has taken off, turning entire classrooms virtual. In just less than a century the world went from using pen and paper or a typewriter to using keyboards, touchscreens, and 3D printers; a very dramatic change. There are so many technological advances now being utilized for education that it has become necessary for some educators to adopt a learning management system for their classrooms. BrightSpace, for example, is a Learning Management System that takes care of a multitude of educator needs, such as employee training, K-12 education, and higher education as well. In Ohio, there’s a teacher whose students have access to some 30 iPods that she uses to deliver pop quizzes that help her determine her students’ learning success rate. This has been made possible by a company that specializes in audience response solutions for education. At the Trinity Meadows Intermediate school in Texas, you will find students that are glued to their mobile phones for educational purposes. This is because the teachers there are exploring the educational use of smartphones as a learning and communication device, seeing as kids are often distracted by them anyway. Given that most students have an inherent desire to learn and there are plenty of resources, courses, and material to give them what they want, the only thing stopping the floodgate of knowledge is that educators are sometimes unaware of what tools are available. That's why education technology marketing will always play a part in the development and future of education technology. And, if educators continue to embrace modern technologies into their classrooms, there’s no limit to how students will be learning in the future. A virtual field trip to Mars anyone? This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

7 Factors That Affect Learner Satisfaction In eLearning   If you create and sell online courses, you must know that learner satisfaction is of utmost importance to your business. Your online course is your product and your students are also your customers. Therefore, you need to make sure that they are happy with their eLearning experience so that they continue using your service. From this perspective, consumer behavior literature offers us great insight into how to maintain learner satisfaction in eLearning services. The research in this field has informed the literature on eLearner satisfaction and eLearners’ intention to continue using eLearning in different contexts from higher education to corporate training. One of the widely accepted theories is Expectation Confirmation Theory, which is explained as follows: "First, consumers form an initial expectation of a specific product or service prior to purchase. Second, they accept and use that product or service. Following a period of initial consumption, they form perceptions about its performance. Third, they assess its perceived performance vis a vis their original expectation and determine the extent to which their expectation is confirmed. Fourth, they form a satisfaction, or affect, based on their confirmation level and expectation on which that confirmation was based. Finally, satisfied consumers form a repurchase intention, while dissatisfied users discontinue its subsequent use." (Bhattacherjee, 2001) If your students’ prior expectations about your online course are confirmed in the post-adoption period, it is more likely that they become satisfied with your course and continue taking courses from you. Therefore, it is important not to promise what you cannot afford to offer in your eLearning service to avoid disappointments. This is especially relevant if you are also involved in marketing activities to promote your course. Researchers in the field of eLearning have extended or modified the Expectation Confirmation Theory and examined several other variables to see if they influence learner satisfaction along with confirmation of students’ expectations. Here are some of the factors proven to have considerable impact on the success of eLearning determined by learner continuance behavior (retention). 1. System quality.  Whether you use a Learning Management System or a website to host your online course, you need to make sure that your eLearning system: Has an easy navigation. Is free of errors and system bugs. Has a modern interface design. Is user friendly and responsive. It has been confirmed by research that system qualities directly influence eLearners’ perceived ease of use as well as their satisfaction level about your course (Roca, Chiu, and Martínez, 2006). 2. Service quality.  It refers to the availability of a communication channel for providing eLearners with timely assistance in solving their problems (Bhattacherjee, 2001). Make sure that: Your students are provided with sufficient guidance about how your course works. There is a support team available in case they encounter a problem. The support team is friendly and eager to solve your students’ problems. eLearners might need even more assistance regarding online learning, because they have little or no physical contact with course providers and might be inexperienced in eLearning. Make sure that they are provided with sufficient guidance and assistance before they get anxious. (Roca, Chiu, and Martínez, 2006; Lin, 2007; Ozkan and Koseler, 2009; Ramayah, 2010) 3. Content quality. Your content is the backbone of your online course. Make sure that your online content: Is varied. Do not depend on only written text. Use visuals, videos, podcasts, eBbooks and study guides, etc. Is updated. Is coherent and well structured. Addresses different learning styles. Allows for learner-content interaction (e.g. presenting your content via interactive web tools such as thinglink and dipity). 4. Tutor quality. There have been numerous studies that confirm the effect of tutor quality on student achievement and satisfaction in eLearning (Ozkan and Koseler, 2009; Paechter, Maier, and Macher, 2010; Omar, Kalulu and Alijani, 2011; Chow and Shi 2014; Lwoga, 2014). Tutor’s presence, guidance, and instructional skills have been proven to lead to higher levels of eLearner satisfaction. Therefore, online tutors need to: Respond to students’ questions on time. Give students timely feedback on their progress. Guide students throughout their online learning experience. Facilitate meaningful interactions between tutor-students and students-students. Several research studies have shown that above-mentioned qualities of tutors help learners perceive the eLearning environment as useful (Cheng, 2012; Lwoga, 2014) and easy to use (Lin, 2011). 5. Interaction quality.  The importance of social learning has been confirmed to boost student learning. The study of Richardson and Swan (2003) showed that students reporting higher social presence in an online course also perceived they learned more from the course than the students with low perceived social presence. To promote social presence and a dynamic sense of community in your online course, you can: Integrate social media into your course (e.g. Twitter, blogging, Facebook groups). Create meaningful discussion threads. Set up project groups to allow for collaborative learning. Organize online sessions for synchronous discussions. 6. Cognitive absorption. It can be described as deep involvement with eLearning activities, and is manifested as students’ perceived enjoyment with your course. Roca, Chiu, and Martínez (2006) found evidence that cognitive absorption has a strong effect on learner satisfaction toward an online course. It needs to be ensured that the students are intrinsically motivated to learn the content you provide. Ensure that your online content: Arouses your students’ curiosity. Is enjoyable and interesting. Allows for some student control (e.g. let them choose their learning paths). 7. Learner related factors. It has been confirmed that not only course related factors but also learners’ own characteristics and their attitude toward technology and eLearning might affect how they approach and experience the online course (Cheok and Wong, 2015). Some of your students might be anxious about using technological devices for learning, therefore they might need more support and understanding than others do. Some of them might be using eLearning for the first time; therefore they might be having some initial prejudices toward eLearning. Their unique situations need to be addressed and necessary support should be provided to ease them into the course. Some tips to address learner characteristics include: Identifying their level of experience with eLearning and their computer self efficacy through pre-course assessment. Providing additional support to those who are in need of more guidance on the usage of your eLearning system. Acknowledging the fact that every learner is unique in their own way. It is common that many learners discontinue using eLearning after the initial acceptance, which results in low retention rates. Maintaining learner continuance is critical for eLearning sustainability. Therefore, eLearning providers need to design effective eLearning environments by ensuring that the learners' pre-adoption expectations are met and their learning experiences are enhanced through above-mentioned quality factors. References: Bhattacherjee, A., 2001. Understanding information systems continuance: An expectation- confirmation mode, MIS Quarterly, 25(3), p. 351. Cheng, Y.-M., 2012. Effects of quality antecedents on eLearning acceptance. Internet Research, 22 (3), pp.361-390 Cheok M. L., Wong S. L., 2015. Predictors of eLearning satisfaction in teaching and learning for school teachers: a literature review. International Journal of Instruction, 8(1). Chow, W. S., & Shi, S., 2014. Investigating students’ satisfaction and continuance intention toward elearning: An extension of the expectation-confirmation model. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 141, pp.1145-1149. Hsiu-Fen Lin, 2007. Measuring online learning systems success: applying the updated DeLone and McLean model. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(6), pp.817-820. Lwoga E. T., 2014. Critical success factors for adoption of web-based learning management systems in Tanzania. International Journal of Education and Development Using ICT, 10(1), pp.4-21 Omar, A., Kalulu, D., & Alijani, G.S., 2011. Management of innovative eLearning environments. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 15(3), pp. 37-64. Ozkan, S., Koseler, R., 2009. Multi-dimensional evaluation of eLearning systems in the higher education context: An empirical investigation of a computer literacy course, 2009 39th IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. Paechter, M., Maier, B. and Macher, D., 2010. Students’ expectations of, and experiences in e- learning: Their relation to learning achievements and course satisfaction, Computers & Education, 54(1), pp. 222-229. Ramayah, T., 2010. Personal web usage and work inefficiency. Business Strategy Series, 11(5), pp. 295-301. Richardson, J. C., & Swan, K., 2003. Examining social presence in online courses in relation to students' perceived learning and satisfaction. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 7(1), pp.68-88. Roca, J. C., Chiu, C.-M. and Martínez, F. J., 2006. Understanding eLearning continuance intention: An extension of the Technology Acceptance Model. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 64(8), pp. 683-696. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Top Freeware eLearning Authoring Tools  Here are the top 4 freeware eLearning authoring tools that are available today: 1. EasyGenerator.  EasyGenerator is a web based all in one eLearning program that will allow you to do everything you need as an author to create online courses. The best thing about it is that you don’t have to use some kind of coding or follow installation process because this is completely responsive software. Some of the things that you can do easily with EasyGenerator are as follow: Create.  As an author you can create learning courses for others by developing content, describing objectives, and determining success of learners through proper assessments. Design.  Design your courses to bring an amazingly powerful experience for learners by using graphical and Instructional Design to your course. Publish.  EasyGenerator also brings you a perfect tool for publishing your course to a large number of devices and systems. 2. CourseLab.  CourseLab Version 2.4 is distributed among users as a freeware program for an unlimited period of time. This program allows users to create eLearning content in WYSIWYG technique, which means what you see is what you get. The program is available to download at the official site of the CourseLab. However, before you download, don’t forget to check out the minimum system requirement taken from the official site: Microsoft® Windows® 2000/XP/2003/Vista/Windows 7. Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher. 50MB hard drive space. Some of the most popular features that you can enjoy in free version are as follow: Availability of English language for applications. Playing of tool in various browsers. Six groups of module templates. Objects are 65 in numbers. Two animated character objects are also allowed. Number of supported types of questions is six. 3. GLO Maker.   GLO Maker is an open source authoring tool which is free to use for everyone who is interested in creating generative and interactive learning objects. It can also be deployed on mobile devices. The actual purpose of creating this tool is to give power and control to the authors, teachers, and everyone else who want to develop multimedia learning objects that are easy to adopt. On official site of the GLO Maker, you can also get learning material: Animated Tutorials. Planner. Designer. Saving and packaging. Opening an existing project. Individual tutorials. Overview of tool. How to download and install tool. Freestyle patterns to use. Compatible file formats. Variety of ways to create Glo. The program has divided the process of authoring into two parts which are planning and designing. Planner is the part where storyline basic learning design is created while on the other hand is designer where basic templates and screens are developed. You can easily build-in your design patterns to construct a learning objective, or you can also utilize freestyle mood which will allow you to create your own design. All available designed are executable and you can use them directly when need to create multimedia based learning objects. 4. SmartBuilder.  SmartBuilder is a hosted authoring program and you can get its free version by signing up to the official website. This program will take you inside an authoring object based working environment where you will be able to take further steps to create intuitive and straightforward courses. If you don’t have a team of programmers but want to create memorable and effective learning experience, SmartBuilder can help you. You can create variety of eLearning program that include: Rich media. Powerful assessments. Branching scenarios. Gaming elements. This program is ideal for trainers, educators, Instructional Designers, and for those who are interested in creating effective eLearning courses at a fast pace. Community edition of this program include the following features: Action authoring. Flow chart authoring. Object library. Template library. Create templates. Minor to major upgrades. Web help. Live training. Free lesson hosting. Unlimited number of lessons. Tutorials. Forum. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

The IMCL 2015 conference will cover all aspects of mobile learning as well as the emergence of mobile communication technologies, infrastructures and services and their implications for education, business, governments and society. The IMCL2015 actually aims to promote the development of mobile learning, to provide a forum for education and knowledge transfer, to expose students to latest ICT technologies and encourage the study and implementation of mobile applications in teaching and learning. The conference will also aims to stimulate critical debate on theories, approaches, principles and applications of mobile learning among educators, developers, researchers, practitioners and policy makers. IMCL 2015 Topics The special focus of IMCL2015 is on the following topics: Mobile Learning Issues: Dynamic learning experiences Large scale adoption of mobile learning Performance support in the workplace Ethical and legal issues Assessment, evaluation and research methods in mobile learning Mobile learning models, theory and pedagogy Life-long and informal learning using mobile devices Open and distance mobile learning Social implications of mobile learning Design of adaptive mobile learning environments Cost effective management of mobile Learning processes Quality in mobile learning Case studies in mobile learning Interactive Communication Technologies and Infrastructures: Wearables & Internet of things Tangible, embedded and embodied interaction Location-based integration Cloud computing & Future internet research and experimentation (fire) environments. Emerging mobile technologies and standards Interactive and collaborative mobile learning environments Crowd sensing 5G Network Infrastructure Mobile Applications: Smart cities Online laboratories Game based learning Mobile health care and training Learning analytics Mobile learning in cultural institutions and open spaces Mobile systems and services for opening up education Social networking applications Mobile Learning Management Systems (mLMS) The 9th International Conference on Interactive Mobile Communication Technologies and Learning (IMCL2015) will be held at the Mediterranean Palace Hotel (Thessaloniki, Greece) on November 19 - 20, 2015. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

What New Employees Hate About Training  "You don't hate history; you hate the way it was taught to you in high school." - American Historian Stephen Ambrose A basic tenant of human psychology is that people have to like doing something in order to do it well. If something is uninteresting or boring, people will shy away from doing it. If employees have to do this uninteresting thing as part of their corporate responsibilities, don’t be surprised if they shirk from responsibility. As a manager, you invest time and money in training your employees. You can’t afford having your employees zoning out during training workshops. To prevent this, you need to overhaul your training program so that they actually ENJOY your training program. Yes, enjoy. Once they’re excited about potential learning opportunities, they’ll actually LISTEN and ABSORB new material. Your employees don’t see the value in training days. Well, here’s why they hate training and here’s what you can do about it. The "One Size Fits All" Approach. A well-designed training program incorporates the different learning styles of employees. A one-size-fits-all approach hardly ever works. Everyone learns differently. There are aural learners, visual learners, verbal learners, physical learners, social learners, and solitary learners. Still, despite this diversity, many companies design training programs with a "one size fits all" approach. When you cater to only one type of learner, you sideline the rest. Do the same 1-3 people speak up in training sessions while the rest remain silent? That’s one dead giveaway that you’ve failed to engage the majority of your audience. The Solution.  A blend of different learning styles will ensure that all types of learners can keep up. For example, start by introducing new material in a short presentation with oral and visual aids. Then allow for discussion and questions to get everyone talking. Afterwards, get employees to implement tactics or strategies taught by using a hands-on approach and implementing instructions on their own. If you’ve been tasked with training employees on a new software program, incorporating online guidance platforms, like WalkMe, will help employees learn as they begin working. Monologues. Design a training program that engages employees with activities other than lectures. People don’t respond well to passive learning. We’ve all been there, sitting with a team of employees in a meeting room during a long, drawn-out speech. Taking notes. Looking around the room, about half of those employees have already stopped listening. While lectures and PowerPoint presentations assist in introducing new material, most people don’t remain engaged for very long. The Solution.  Keep the lectures to a minimum. Instead of embarking on a monologue, encourage group discussions, question and answer sessions, and hands-on applications of material taught. In this way, employees will feel more engaged and absorb information more effectively. "You Are Smart - You Can Learn All This In An Hour". Even smart people can’t learn everything at once. Teach new material in stages so that employees retain information progressively and more effectively. According to a study conducted by Festo, people only retain about 30% of what they’ve learned after a one-time information dump. Overwhelming staff with too much information at once will ultimately waste time. They’ll retain a small fraction of what they’ve heard. The Solution. Gradually introduce new information in a way that allows employees to absorb it. Start with the basics, so that employees can absorb the most relevant information first. As time progresses and employees begin using the new information, begin to introduce the more advanced material. According to Dr. Eduardo Salas, Expert on Organizational Training, "trainees who perceive training as useful and valuable are far more likely to apply new competencies in the workplace." Gamification Can Be Boring. Not Every Game Is Fun. What you want to do is to make sure training is engaging and exciting. A game that teaches taught a topic such as how to perform intricate work processes, using the new CRM platform can be as mind-numbing as a frontal lecture. Don’t settle for a boring game. A good training will make training exciting and engaging without the need for a game. Personality is key to successful training. Games are only here to support, not replace. The Solution.  Hire presenters that know how to engage employees and bring high energy and humor to a presentation. Think out of the box about how to make training exercises interesting. You can still gamify training, but use only games that really stimulate people’s minds and get them interested. The rest are a waste of your time and money. Employee training should appeal to basic tenants of human psychology to capture people’s attention and get them excited. Remember to design a program based on the student rather than through the eyes of the HR department or management. Customize employee training programs so that participants feel interested and comfortable learning. Promote training as a way for staff to see the benefits of these programs such as working more effectively or as an opportunity for them to advance professionally. In this way, new employees will feel motivated to learn and implement new material. To paraphrase on a quote by Brian P. Cleary: If you have a talent for making an employee who hates training to hate it a little less, then you have to do the most with what you've been issued. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

eLearning In Leadership Training And Development: Reality And Relevance  The crisis is so real, in fact, that the World Economic Forum lists it as the third most important issue on its agenda. And employees are less likely to trust their management when leadership skills are lacking. Leadership isn’t born. It’s a group of skill sets that can be taught and learned. But if leadership training and development takes place in a traditional classroom setting, it is likely to be ineffective. Leadership skills include (but are far from limited to) vision, communication, empowerment, effective risk assessment and management, conflict resolution, and organization. And each leader combines those skill sets in ways that are unique to each and every demand on each and every individual faced with the challenges of leadership. And those challenges are unique to every circumstance faced by every organization. Each of those aspects of leadership can be presented as a nugget, or set of nuggets of training and development. Which means that we can create eLearning modules to train and develop leaders in your organization. In this article, we invite you to consider: Is your leadership training and development program real and relevant to the life of your organization, and the lives of your employees and customers? Insights and concepts are nice. Theories of leadership abound. Seriously. Google "leadership" and you can read all about it. But actually rolling up your sleeves and leading is a completely different world altogether. Practical leadership training cannot happen when it’s confined to textbooks, lectures, and classrooms. And you can’t just unleash a bunch of people on the world with just the hope that their leadership training was adequate. It’s likely that some will step up and succeed. It’s also likely that many will fail as leaders, with devastating consequences: for the individual, for the people they lead, and possibly even for the organization. Want an effective solution (and please pardon us for the shameless plug)? Here it is: eLearning. How? Read on. Knowledge, by itself, does not make a good leader. Ask yourself the question, would you board an airplane if you were aware that the person in the cockpit knows the principle of flight backwards and forwards, but has never touched the throttle of an aircraft? A physicist can tell you about the theories of aerodynamics, but there’s a reason why there are physicists and people who pilot planes. The same is true of leadership. Simply knowing about leadership and actually leading are about as different from each other as "lightning" and "lightning bug". Thinking that vast amounts of leadership knowledge will turn someone into a successful leader is akin to saying that living in a garage will turn someone into a Buick. Theories and insights about leadership are just theories and insights. Real leadership happens in practice. Leadership involves practical application of the knowledge in real-life. Enter eLearning. eLearning takes the learner out of the classroom and puts them into the pilot’s seat, so to speak. With the power of eLearning, leaders to be encounter real life situations that occur in the day to day activities of your organization. This makes the training both relevant and real. Relevance vs. theory. eLearning allows learners to learn skill sets. For instance, leaders in training learn about creating and managing relationships and interactions. They then actually and actively engage in the practice of the theory. eLearning’s use of video simulations and scenarios -based in the reality of your organization’s day to day life- empowers the training, which is both immersive and safe. And it prepares your learners for actual encounters with customers, clients, colleagues, and co-workers. Real life application allows for creativity and innovation. One of the wonderful things about eLearning is that it creates a space for leaders and learners to play the game of "what if…". With traditional, exclusively instructor-led training models of the past, the flow of information typically followed the "we’ve always/never done it this way" pathway. Creativity and innovation had to fight for survival, often getting stifled in the process. The low-risk environment presented by eLearning lends itself to discovery, especially in the face of real-life challenges. Leaders-in-training are free to apply the principles and values of the organization to those challenges, while creating or devising innovative solutions to existing problems. To reiterate: There are all sorts of stuff out there about leadership. Lots of quotes, how-tos and how-not-tos. But your organization doesn’t live in Theory Land. It exists in the real world. And eLearning can, and will, bridge the gap between knowing about leadership, and being a leader. Teaser: look for our next article on social learning. You won’t want to miss finding out about how eLearning enhances learning by tapping into one of the things that human beings naturally do best: We share. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

The Blended Learning History In order to create a successful blended learning strategy, it's wise to learn as much as possible about its key ideas and values. To understand these, however, you must first know how it all got started and the historical highlights that shaped its core principles along the way. So, let's hop into the miniature time machines in our minds and travel back to the beginning of blended learning. 1840’s: First Distance Course. Sir Isaac Pitman launches the first distance education course. Though there were other variations on the concept prior to Pitman’s, his was to resemble distance learning as we know it today. His course centered on shorthand. Pitman sent shorthand texts to his students via mailed postcards and they were required to send them back to be graded and corrected. Even though computers and mobile devices weren’t involved, and wouldn’t even be invented for roughly a century, effective feedback and assessments were still an integral part of the process. 1960’s & 1970’s: Mainframe Computer-Based Training. Modern computer-based training can be traced back to the mini-computer and mainframe training of the 60’s and 70’s. It was the first time that training could be deployed to countless workers within an organization without having to rely on printed materials and face-to-face instruction. Employees could simply login to their character-based terminals to access the information. One of the most notable systems was Plato, which was developed by Control Data and the University of Illinois back in 1963. In fact, Plato is still around today. 1970’s to 1980’s: TV-Based Technology to Support Live Training. At this stage in the blended learning timeline, companies began using video networks to train their employees. The instructor no longer had to be physically on-site in order to onboard new hires or broaden the skill sets of existing staff members. This made the training experience more interactive and engaging. Learners were able to communicate with their peers, watch the instructor on TV, and even address any questions or concerns sending them by mail. Think of it as the predecessor to webinars and video conferencing. One of the most successful satellite-based training case studies is the Stanford University Interactive TV network. Stanford devoted resources to their video network in the 70’s and 80’s so that professors could hold classes in multiple locations throughout SF at once, and it is still running to this day. Instead of having to send assignments to the professor by mail or courier, learners can now submit their work for review online. 1980’s & 1990’s: CD-ROM Training and Rise of LMS. As technology evolved, so did blended training strategies and applications. Schools and organizations began using CD-ROMs to deliver more interactive learning experiences, such as those that features video and sound. This delivery format could hold larger quantities of information, which made them ideally suited for distance learning. For the first time in eLearning history, computer-based courses were now able to offer a rich and comprehensive learning experience. In some cases, it even took the place of face-to-face instruction. This is also when the first learning management systems (LMS) were introduced, though they didn’t offer the same functionality as the solutions available today. Organizations wanted to be able to track learner progress and improve online training courses, and these systems helped to monitor eLearning course completion, enrollment data, and user performance within the CD-ROM network. 1998: First Generation of Web-Based Instruction. Blended learning, and eLearning as a whole, has seen rapid change in the past two decades, beginning in 1998 with the first generation of web-based instruction. Computers were no longer just for organizations and the wealthy few, but for the masses. More and more households began purchasing personal computers for their families to enjoy, while companies made PCs readily available for every employee. Then computers started to offer greater interactivity. Graphics, sound, and video became more immersive, while browsers increased connection speeds and gave virtually everyone access to internet learning resources.  Rather than having to distribute CD-ROMs to learners, organizations could simply upload material, eLearning assessments, and assignments via the web, and learners could access them with a click of a mouse button. At first, many CD-ROM developers tried to simply publish their eLearning courses to the internet without making any modifications. However, they quickly learned that their existing online content, such as large video files that took minutes to download, would need to be finely tuned to meet the needs of web-based learners. 2000 until today: Blended Learning Integration. We currently find ourselves in an exciting time for blended learning. Technology is rapidly changing and an increasing number of organizations and private learning institutions are beginning to see the benefits of a blended learning approach. From interactive scenarios in the classroom to webinars and online tutorials, learners now have a wide range of tech tools and applications at their disposal. Companies have the opportunity to train their employees anywhere at any time, while online learners can participate in online communities and interactive eLearning courses from anywhere in the world. Gradually, the union between face-to-face instruction and technology-based learning is producing new and creative ways to enrich the educational experience and make learning fun, exciting, and even more beneficial. Blended learning has a proven track record of bringing traditional classrooms into the tech-friendly 21st century. Now that you know the history of blended learning, why not use it to transform your curriculum into an interactive and engaging learning experience. Searching for ways to start integrating blended learning into your learning strategy? Read the article 7 tips to implement blended learning in corporate training to learn how to implement blended learning in corporate training. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

eFrontPro LMS Various Integrations  They say that no man is an island. Well, no Learning Management System should be one, either. Whether you run a small business and train a few dozens of employees or an eLearning service catering to hundreds of thousands of students, you’ll inevitably need to integrate your training platform to several existing systems. eFrontPro allows you to achieve just that, and it does it without forcing upon you some head-scratching, un-intuitive configuration process like other platforms do. In this article, we’ll take a look at all the major integration options eFrontPro offers, starting from the numerous built in options and going all the way to its powerful REST and Plugin APIs that enable fully customizable integration with any kind of legacy system. Single Sign On. Single Sign On (or SSO for short) is the idea that you should be able to reuse the same password (and authentication mechanism) for all your enterprise services. eFrontPro comes with built in support for the two most popular SSO technologies, namely LDAP (the Open Source standard popular in the Linux world) and Active Directory (Microsoft’s variation on LDAP, popular in Windows-based shops). Federated authentication (in which there’s a central trusted web service -an "identity provider"- doing the authentication for you) is another popular SSO option, and on this front eFrontPro provides Facebook integration, letting users login to your eLearning site with their Facebook account. While LDAP and Active Directory are great (and well established) options for enterprises, this option is a good fit for eLearning portals that are open to the public, as they let users login through a service like Facebook that they already know and trust, without forcing them to create yet another account to use your service. Besides LDAP, A.D. and Facebook, eFrontPro can integrate with any identity provider that supports the industry standard SAML 2.0 authentication protocol for SSO. Money, Money, Money... If you run a commercial (paid) eLearning service, then you need to be able to receive and manage electronic payments for users registering for your courses. eFrontPro makes this easy, as it supports the two most popular payment gateways, PayPal and Stripe, letting you accept payments from billions of users in over 90 countries through all major credit card companies (and thousands of banks). Assuming you already have an account on one of these services, enabling your eFrontPro installation to work with couldn’t be easier, as it merely involves entering your PayPal or Stripe credentials in its settings screen. OpenSesame Integration. In the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, "open, sesame" is the magic phrase that opens the mouth of a cave that serves as a treasure vault. In the modern world of eLearning, OpenSesame is a leading SCORM compatible eLearning content provider, or, in Ali Baba terms, a treasure vault of high quality courses you can purchase and deploy in minutes, saving time and effort and reducing costs. eFrontPro integrates directly with OpenSesame enabling you to search for and purchase eLearning content right from within your Learning Management System administration panel. When The Time Calls For A Conference Call. Real-time conferencing is a great supplement to the traditional web based eLearning process, enabling remote instructor-led training and offering further interaction options between instructors and students. As you’d expect, eFrontPro covers your needs here too, by offering native support for the industry leading (Cisco's) Webex and (Open Source) BigBlueButton conference tools. In fact, eFrontPro’s WebEx and BigBlueButton support not only lets you have video conference inside your favorite Learning Management System, but you can also save a video conference for later replay, letting you easily create course videos from live lectures or archive your ILT sessions for the students that missed them. Encode Une Fois (Or More). Integration of third party documents and files in all kinds of formats is a core built in capability of eFrontPro that’s beyond the scope of this article. What’s in scope, however, is that eFrontPro can integrate with Encode Magic, a third party web service that allows it to handle even the most difficult automatic file encoding tasks; like transcoding obscure movie formats, or turning your PowerPoint presentations to videos or PDFs. REST Assured In eFrontPro’s Integration Capabilities. In this article we’ve only scratched the surface of eFrontPro’s integration options, merely covering the most popular services, tools, and platforms it has built in integration support for. Of course there will always be legacy systems (your bank’s 1970 built COBOL mainframe for example) that it doesn’t cover, or brand new systems that the eFrontPro team haven’t gotten around to integrating with yet. Plus, of course, all those custom software services that your IT team built for you. Even when it comes to those, though, eFrontPro has you covered. You’ll just need to get your hands dirty a little, and leverage its powerful REST API or its even more powerful plugin API, and you'll be able to make it talk to anything and everything you might throw at it. If these terms sound Greek to you, don’t fret. REST is a way to connect to your Learning Management System, trigger actions, and get results through simple URL-like queries, and the Plugin API is a set of PHP based extension functions that let you program any kind of functionality on top of eFrontPro. Both are very standard and established technologies, meaning you can always hire a programmer (or assign it to your IT team if you have one), to build the integration you need. Conclusion  In this article we had a 10,000 ft look at the integration options offered by eFrontPro. Its built in integrations should cover all but your most exotic integration needs, with the REST and Plugin API taking care of the exotic ones. If you're interested in learning more about eFrontPro, our sales and support team is ready to answer any question you might have. Or, you can open a free Learning Management System demo account in minutes and take the industry leading Learning Management System on a test drive yourself. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.