We recently issued a survey targeting professionals from the healthcare world to gain insight into the particular learning and development challenges they face. Being fairly familiar with the challenges faced by those from the corporate enterprise world we were curious to see if the healthcare industry—hospitals in particular—are struggling with similar challenges and to what degree. We received over 300 responses coming from a range of professionals who work in hospitals. Responses came from those who work in: IT, Operations/Administration, Human Resources, Learning and Development, Nursing, and Education/Research. The majority of responses came from Directors/Managers/Supervisors, Senior Management and Staff Members. Before we issue the full report, we thought we would share some key takeaways.

There has been an upward trend in the past 10 years in both the growth of internet use and consumer expenditure on education. Online and cloud-based technology tools are quickly being adopted by academic institutions, business, hospitals and consumers, which is quickly propelling the global education technology (EduTech) market forward.   According to Euromonitor International research, global education expenditure is expected to grow by 95% in real terms between 2014 and 2030 which is bar none the fastest growing market segment. This projected growth is increasing investment in the once thought to be risky market which partially explains the rapid rise in innovative start-ups. This is changing the eLearning market at large.

Co-hosted with Limestone Learning, our webinar: Gamify your eLearning! 6 Ways to Incorporate Gamification into eLearning was one of our most successful to date so we thought we would share the learning outcomes in a series of articles. We believe that the webinar had high attendance and little drop-off because now more than ever, trainers and educators are seeking means to make online learning and training more engaging. With free access to interactive social platforms like Facebook, Youtube and Twitter—our expectations to be engaged and entertained are high. We welcome you to watch the webinar and continue reading for a quick understaning on the difference between gamification and game based learning!  

In today’s growing e-learning market, instructional designers are critical in helping organizations reach their goals but all too often, many do not see the value they bring to organizational development. This is becoming more common in organizations that view training and learning as a necessary evil versus understanding the strategic business value it can bring. In a struggling economy, executive pressures are at an all time high and the value of training is often forgotten.

A report co-published by Zimbra and the Ponemon Institute, The Open Source Collaboration Study: Viewpoints on Security and Privacy in the US and EMEA, confirmed the changing perceptions of open source software. Once thought to be risky for security and privacy concerns—the study uncovers the fact that open source software is now viewed to be of higher quality due to enhanced privacy and security. The survey drew in responses from IT and IT security practitioners across 18 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the United States. The majority (57%) of respondents came from the US and EMEA and indicated that they were very familiar with their organizations’ data privacy and security policies. When asked if open source solutions for commercial banking would increase transparency, security and trustworthiness of applications, 68% of US respondents and 78% of EMEA respondents said ‘yes’.

Now that you have a deep understanding of how Gamification and Game Based Learning differ, it’s time to begin considering the Gamification elements that will help increase engagement in your eLearning courses. Many people think that Gamification is a complicated and technical process but this is simply not true. Using gaming components, you can begin building Gamification in your eLearning courses as long as you have a talent or learning management system to support your online learning and training. To begin, we will outline a few things to consider before designing Gamification for eLearning.

The Open University recently released a report on the new innovations in teaching, learning and assessments which are changing higher education at large. While the report outlines the ten eLearning pedagogy innovations that are predicated to profoundly impact the way post-secondary students learn, there are three that we believe will have the most immediate impact in areas where institutional learning takes place. It is important to take note that while this report was written for an education audience, the pedagogical innovations have similar implications for corporate, healthcare and government environments as well. Let’s take a closer look at how Massive Open Social Learning, Learning Analytics and Blended Learning will influence the way we learn.

The evolution of social technologies from Yahoo in 1995 to Facebook in 2004 has greatly impacted the way we communicate and hence the way we learn in our professional lives. Saba and the Human Capital Media (HCM) Advisory Group surveyed over 500 senior leaders from a wide range of industries and company sizes to better understand how organizations are adopting social learning technologies to achieve their learning and talent development goals.

If you share our enthusiasm for the quickly changing work world, you will be keen to learn the trends this year in corporate HR, talent management and learning. This is the 11th year that Bersin by Deloitte has published their annual report and we couldn’t be more excited to summarize their insights for you. As the global economy continues to recover, technology continues to change and demographics continue to shift, Josh Bersin, Founder of Bersin by Deloitte, sheds light on the factors that will redefine the nature of work this year.  

Last week we summarized the top 5 trends in talent, HR and workplace learning strategies from Bersin by Deloitte’s 11th annual predications report. Today we summarize the final five for you in the article below. Continue reading to see what else will be trending this year in the wonderful world of work. Or rather, of roughly the 30% of you who are actively engaged at work, the wonderful world of play!