Teachers will be the next millionaires! I've been making this statement for the last decade. But it's only been in the last few years that I've actually seen it becoming a reality. Training-preneurs are all over the internet. They are the people who have seen what technology has done to other industries, as well as what it's done for individuals. The tools of the internet have changed the world of education/training for ever. The tools mixed with the natural creativity of those born to teach makes for a powerful combination. And that wave of change has only just begun to swell. The next millionaires are on the rise...and they're selling knowledge. Who are these Training-preneurs Training-preneur is an awkward term at best. But it's the best way to describe in one word those who earn a living by teaching outside the traditional education system. Most often their entrepreneurial instincts see a need There are major success stories like Lynda.com and Khan Academy. But there are also small startups. And for the biggest collection of Training-preneurs you need look no further than YouTube. Many sell their knowledge on blogs and monetize via online advertising platforms. Some do it better than others. And they may not be millionaires, but many are making a good living, or extra fun money at the very least. Teachers are even selling their lesson plans to one another. I recently experienced live guitar lessons on the popular blab.im LiveCasting system. Many training-preneurs have even stepped up their game with training platforms like Litmos.com to manage their entire training business. The list of ways to make money in education are growing, and I can't list them all here. Heck, I don't even know what they all are. Nobody does. But it's safe to say there are enough options to give everyone a shot at it. A New Breed of Learning Professionals Training-preneurs are no different than any other teacher drawn to their career by an inner passion for learning and sharing. This growing population has a natural instinct for both teaching and learning. When they gain new knowledge they are compelled to share it with others. And how that sharing occurs is not restricted by any rules, models, methods, or school systems defining "the right" way to deliver instruction. They simply do what comes natural, build an audience, and deliver on what that audience responds too. I've seen many business models in the education space come and go over the years. Lynda.com is a great example of how just giving the learner/customer what they want actually works. Short high quality videos on highly focused topics. YouTube is no different. It's everyman's Lynda.com. No matter how BAD your video is, you can still post it to YouTube and learn from that experience. The hope is that you get better and better with each new video. Most YouTubers that stick with it actually do get pretty darn good. Their delivery improves, the video quality improves, the content improves, and their following grows. And as their audience grows they begin to see financial returns. Others taking a more traditional business model approach simply see a need and build a business plan around it. My favorite example is Paula Cooper, founder of Dine Aware. The following is a quote from her case study you can read here. "Dine Aware™ is a new brand with an end goal to change food service perceptions industry-wide and worldwide. Their mission is to teach all employees in the food and beverage industry how to manage and interact with the food allergy and food intolerant public in a way that inspires confidence." It's a brilliant idea.  And from personal experience I can assure you her training in this area should be required for all the restaurants in my neighborhood. And if you think certification programs are a wide open market, think about CEUs (Continuing Education Units). Continuing Education  training is a massive industry. Most licensed professionals are required to have a certain number of hours in CEUs to keep their credentials current. This of course makes for an amazing opportunity for those willing to put in the work. The Technology is Amazing! Technology has created new opportunities in just about every industry. The technology today is powerful, fast, and finally in the mainstream. When you have 82 year old grandmothers becoming famous on YouTube, it's definitely gone mainstream. And okay so maybe their show is more about entertainment, but that doesn't mean it can't be educational. But I'll save the "what's learning and what not" conversation for someone else. The reality is that technology is not only amazing but it's being used on a regular basis by all ages. The latest trend is livecasting. Live video streaming from mobile devices with apps like Meerkat, and Periscope. And more recently a platform called blab.im has made a HUGE entrance onto the scene. While it's anyone's guess as to which companies will win and which will lose, its the basic idea of easy video streaming that is the big winner for everyone. Even before mobile livecasting there was Google Hangouts, Ustream, and others. Technology is no longer the barrier. It's even incredibly easy to create a beautiful website faster than ever before. Look at Strikingly.com. So, you can create a web presence with something like strikingly.com. Create and sell courses with Litmos.com, and publish supplemental, or primary, content via YouTube or Vimeo. And promote your efforts on social media to engage your audience of learners. The Training-preneurs are real. They're already here and they're making money. And they aren't instructional designers or learning gurus. They're teachers using technology to do what they love. And I think that's pretty awesome! The post The Rise of the Training-preneur appeared first on Litmos.

When I started working with Inmarsat back in 2011, they didn't have any elearning. With a team of trainers travelling all corners of the globe, there was an understandable push to reduce travel costs. My remit was to introduce an elearning strategy that would not only provide a cost-saving against classroom training, but that would allow these highly technical trainers to spend less time delivering repeat courses and more time to deliver training in which their expertise would be maximized. So whilst we were busy implementing a new Learning Management System (you can read a Beginners Guide to Implementing a Learning Management System if you need some guidance on the basics), we also identified some courses that would deliver an immediate cost-saving to the business. The first course that we identified as a ‘quick-win’ was an accredited product training course. IsatPhone Pro Repair Training One of Inmarsat's key products is the IsatPhone satellite phone. This provides someone in an area without normal phone reception with a form of reliable communication - such as on top of a mountain or in the middle of the ocean. The phones are being sold worldwide via a global network of third-party resellers. These resellers are accredited by Inmarsat to undertake repairs and adjustments. The accreditation process involved a 1/2 day practical training session, which would teach partners resellers how to repair the phone correctly and was followed by an exam. This course was delivered by a technical trainer, who would fly out to the partner and deliver the training onsite. This was clearly an inefficient use of the trainers' time - the training was fairly basic and very repetitive i.e. the same training was delivered with little variation each time. And despite attempting to group local partners together in order to deliver the course to a larger audience, thus reducing the number of training courses required, this would often prove unsuccessful. So each time the training needed to be delivered, it would mean a round-the-world trip for the trainer which had not only a cost implication, but restricted the trainers' schedule from delivering higher value training. Our Solution Our solution was to build an elearning course using Articulate Storyline that would be hosted on our LMS. The course consisted of an introduction, followed by a series of demonstration videos that we recorded ourselves, which teaches the learner how to repair the phone. We embedded the videos into the Storyline course and used the same exam to ensure that learners correctly understood what they had learnt during the training. We then set up the course within the LMS to generate a certificate of completion, with a report that was sent directly to the Training Manager once the course had been completed. You can see the finished elearning course by clicking here. The course was tested on a sample group of partners who required the training, and then launched globally after a successful pilot. After having ironed out a few bugs and glitches, and adjusted the course based on feedback from the pilot group, the course was launched and immediately removed this course from the trainer’s list of responsibilities. We were left with happy customers, very happy trainers and a Training Manager with budget to spare! Doing the Math Inmarsat had been running this classroom training at least 10 times per year, sometimes more. Each session was costing the company around £5,000 (travel, salary, admin etc.) so a realistic cost for this training per year could be estimated to be £50,000. The elearning course took less than a month to build at a cost of less than £5,000 (one instructional designer for a month armed with a copy of Storyline, the SME for 2 days of filming and an HD video camera). Ironically, the cost to create this elearning course turned out to be the same as flying a trainer to the other side of the world to deliver the course once! So from looking at the calculations spread over the year, we can see that the cost saving is immense. What about the Learning Management System? Now you would be correct if you noticed that these calculations don’t take into account the cost of the LMS. And if you were only delivering one course via your LMS, then this would be a significant investment. However, most cloud-based LMS have a simple pricing structure that means once you are delivering several courses, economies of scale kick-in and delivering online training becomes the most efficient way to deliver training. (One of my favourite features of Litmos is the pricing system where you only pay for active learners). Keeping the Course Updated This course was built in 2011 and when Inmarsat launched a new version of the phone in 2014, the training was updated to reflect the changes. Because the overall structure of the course remained identical, it was simply a case of recording new videos and swapping them in the elearning course. Easy! In addition to this, the accreditation was set to expire after 12 months, which meant that repeat training had to be undertaken annually to ensure the resellers maintained their accredited status - there is an ongoing cost saving here too! No more follow-up training sessions required! Conclusion It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand the cost-savings that elearning provides. (And I did work with a few rocket scientists at Inmarsat!) But it is often difficult to demonstrate the saving. And fortunately this was one example that made the calculation very obvious. If you’re interested in replacing a classroom training course with a custom elearning course please click here. If you enjoyed reading this post, you may also enjoy my article on 5 Questions to Ask Yourself before Finding Someone to build your eLearning Course. Other useful articles There is a fantastic article discusses how Cisco, world leader in networking hardware, switched from classroom training to a web-based solution for its 28,000 sales representatives and cut overall training costs by 40-60%. Another great article which explains how elearning can save you money whilst developing a franchised business model is How to Grow Your Franchise and Save Money By Taking Training Online. The post How I Saved $50,000 Moving from Classroom Training to eLearning appeared first on Litmos.

Blab.im is the latest social media phenomenon. It's a fantastic live streaming system that runs in browsers or on their mobile app. It's similar to Google Hangouts but is far superior in its usability. There are so many use cases for a tool like blab and I want to figure out how we can apply blab, and tools like it, to corporate training and education. Why blab? Didn't we all get excited about WebEx, Connect, and so many other "teleconferencing" tools already? Yes! And when they first launched we were right to be excited about the possibilties. Those tools were cutting edge in their day. But for some reason we saw only slow innovation over the years since their launch. What we are seeing today is a resurgence of innovation by new startups in video streaming. Much of the early buzz came from Google hangouts when it launched. I was a big fan for a long time, but was equally frustrated by the complexity of the interface. Then, more recently, we saw the fast rise of Periscsope and Meerkat. 2 similar tools focused on mobile video streaming only. And that leads us to the last 2 weeks with the launch of blab.im. In short, blab is amazing! It’s amazingly simple yet powerful in it capabilties. And I can’t go on without mentioning the community of early adopters that has formed around the tool. A couple community members took it upon themselves to create a blab.im guide that you can find here. http://www.marc-levy.com/blab-im-tutorial/ Check out the link and learn more about it. Once you get the hang of it, then join me in a blab about how new mobile streaming tools like this can be used in eLearning/education/learning. I have not decided on a schedule yet. But you will find my profile at https://blab.im/bschlenker. And you can catch a replay of my first Learning blab... or maybe we call it blearning. Follow me there or send Litmos a note on twitter @litmos.   The post Blabbing About Blab.im in Learning & Development - Join the Conversation appeared first on Litmos.

Why You Need A Good Microphone Audio is a powerful medium. It's a powerful medium on its own, but also an integral part of video. For many of us that's where the conversation about audio ends. We feel like it's someone else's responsibility because they record the voice overs, or they record the sound. But things have changed. It's easier than ever to engage with others via the internet using audio and video. And so you need to know how to sound good. We have systems like Skype, and Facetime that allow us to communicate with others via audio/video.  And it's important that you sound good. If you are a corporate training producer then you need a good microphone. You can wait on truly understanding how audio works, but you don't need to wait on knowing what microphone to buy. As with most tech products you get what you pay for. But if you don't know anything about audio you can get lost in Amazon trying to find something that will work for you. I've organized by thoughts here based on what you are trying to do, and based on my experience over the years with many different setups. Headset with Microphone USB headsets with builtin microphones are the easiest solution. If you have nothing at all then you should start here. You can use the headset for many different audio related projects, meetings, webinars, recordings, and streaming. I recommend a wired USB connection instead of wireless bluetooth for 2 reasons: 1) Quality 2) Ease of use. In the world of audio anything connected via wires is easier to work with and generally of a higher sound quality. I recommend the Plantronics 655 USB headset mic. You can find it on Amazon for around $35. I still use it's predecessor the 510 which was around $80 a few years ago. My 510 still sounds great and I'm sure the 655 sounds even better. So don't be afraid of the cheap price. While you are shopping on Amazon you may also see the 355 for $16. It looks just like the 655 but don't be fooled. Spend the extra dollars for the 655. USB Desktop Microphone If you are an eLearning developer or a subject matter expert needing to share knowledge via audio on it's own or as part of a video, then you will want to invest in a good USB desktop microphone. Again, a USB connection is best because it just works. It's a computer standard and not an original audio standard. So plugging directly into your computer saves you the headache of adaptors and other audio witchcraft. I recommend the Blue Yeti to everyone I meet that needs a desktop microphone. It's a little over $100 on amazon but well worth the price. Unless you have money to burn I'd avoid the Yeti Pro. It's built for professionals, and this blog post is not for professionals. So the standard Yeti will be great for your needs. Remember that as you step up from a headset/mic to a desktop mic you also need to consider your environment more carefully. Better microphones are better because they are more sensitive and can pick up very subtle sounds. Making your recording sound really good may require some room modifications or at the very least a sound isolation box. There are many DIY solutions on youtube. This is a good one. Or you can just buy one like this. Handheld + Mixer When you're ready to step up your audio there are many directions you could go. But most likely if you need to be at this point you will find many other experts offering their advice. But here is my take on it...if you're interested. One of the reasons you will step up to a setup with a mic + mixer setup is that you've found the other 2 options to be limiting in some way. For most eLearning developers and SMEs, just recording decent audio, the first 2 options are best. But if you've been turned on by podcasting, vlogging, or LiveCasting then I recommend this little audio rig: Sennheiser e835 w/ Alesis Multimix4  You will also want a desktop mic stand or swing arm as well. You can certainly do podcasting, vlogging, and LiveCasting with the yeti or the plantronics 655, but I'm assuming that you know that, but are at the point where you'd like to do more. You'll notice that I haven't provided any audio comparison clips or charts in this blog post. There really is no reason for me to duplicate what the internet has already provided. Jump on YouTube, search for it, and you will find it. I've put in a lot of hours over the years reading blog posts, watching YouTube videos, and testing gear. I am by no means an expert, but love to tinker in audio/video stuff. Are there other good products? Absolutely! However, I'm also a bit of a cheap bugger so I'm pretty sure these options will get you the best results per dollar spent. But, as usual, If I've forgotten something please share it with me. @litmos The post The Best Microphone Options for the Training Professional appeared first on Litmos.

About Today's Guest Blogger, Mark Sheppard I've known Mark Sheppard for a while via the magic of the internet. I'm honored to call him a colleague and enjoy our conversations immensely. I appreciate his perspective on eLearning and glad he agreed to share some recent thoughts with the Litmos community on our blog. If you do not know Mark, then you should follow him on twitter @marklearns and get to know him better. You'll be glad you did. "When not trying to manage his Twitter feed and ever-growing list of readings, he works for a neat little learning services & innovation firm in the Greater Toronto Area. He also teaches advanced Instructional Design and Adult Learning at the under-grad and graduate levels." You can find out more about Mark on his About.me page. eLearning: It's Bigger on the Inside by Mark Sheppard A couple of unexpected finds in my travels along with a recent exchange on Twitter both got me thinking about the current state of what we colloquially call "e-Learning". Fans of the BBC cultural icon known as 'Doctor Who' will appreciate the title above, but for those who are not as familiar, the eponymous Doctor (a humanoid alien) travels Time and Space in a spacecraft that looks suspiciously like a 1950's vintage British Police Call Box from the outside, but is considerably larger when one steps through the doors and takes a good look around. The Doctor also has the ability to regenerate himself when seriously injured, taking on a new humanoid form, yet retaining all or most of his memories in spite of a new look and new personality. While there were other parts to the exchange, the major assertion I saw on Twitter was that elearning is "dead" and that we must look to new things. I'm afraid that I must disagree and I believe that elearning has indeed been regenerated and already offers many new things. Looking Back My colleague was right in one sense when he indicated that we need to embrace users beyond the laptop or desktop screens. We know that learners (any learner) are increasingly mobile, drawing lessons from sources like YouTube, Vimeo, Vine, Instagram, Periscope, etc. In workplace learning, or even higher ed, we know that the developmental solutions struggle to keep pace in an increasingly connected society.  We tend to be less flexible when it comes to new tools, and in some ways I see why. After all, we make serious investments in learning technologies and we also have to think about lifecycle and updating and long-term management. Think back to some of the early commercial "CBT" CD-ROMs hit the workplace (remember those?) We were living in a world where Netscape was fighting Internet Explorer for dominance, and nobody was quite sure what the Web would mean for everyone. Linear "next ware" caught people’s attention because it was shiny, clicky bling-bling, and it didn’t need instructors.   Or so they thought. Fast-forward 15 years or so and in spite of all the new and exciting things that the Web has become, we still find ourselves dealing with platform wars, competing standards, and more and more players in a crowded market. Instructors are still around, and so is technology-based learning. Regeneration's the Thing   Having worked for a vendor training partner in those early days of CD-based training offerings, I've seen a lot of things happening, and in a lot of ways, elearning is regenerating itself. We see familiar features and functions (not all of them good) but we see glimpses of new thinking. People, users, learners, whatever we want to call them, are living in the Cloud. We also see more vendors looking to the Cloud as their base of operations, opening up a lot of possibilities for collaboration and sharing. There's such a potential for richness and depth that is almost unparalleled, so the solutions we build can truly become "bigger on the inside" and a heck of a lot less than what it appears at first glance. On the flip side, we see some established vendors making little more than incremental improvements to their legacy desktop products, many of which don't take this 'brave new world' into account.  In that respect, another assertion made by one of my colleagues in that Twitter exchange is absolutely spot-on: our solutions need to take into account more than just "sit at a desk", "use a keyboard and mouse" solutions. We must be thinking about solutions that address the "consumer end" of the learning equation just as much as we need to be thinking about the learners themselves. In short, not enough vendors are playing in this "responsive design" space for it to gain momentum.  The platforms I have explored are quite promising, but for the moment, the legacy offerings still have a lot of traction. New Finds, New Thinking The unexpected find was something I think vendors and practitioners alike should pay close attention to; I really think it's a sleeper solution with serious disruptive potential; It's Apple's iTunesU system. Unlike a few of Apple’s goodies, this one is available for Windows PC, Mac, and, of course, iOS.   At first, it was little more than a collection of publicly available readings, videos, and other resources from Universities and other institutions around the world.  For self-confessed learning junkies like me, it was a real treasure trove. Unfortunately, some institutions took iTunes U more seriously than others, and there were lots of "course outlines" kicking around with little-to-no-content behind them. Now, we see a very different iTunes U: It’s functioning like a Virtual Learning Environment, where there are assignment submissions, grading, and discussions. In short, lots of the things that we expect from really high-end platforms. It allows institutions to blur the lines between their enrolled students and others from the outside who may want to partake of the learning for its own sake. Again, institutional choices will determine what is available, but the potential is absolutely massive. I think this is a genuine game-changer for institutions. Yes, dealing with the mighty Apple may seem like the relationship Microsoft has/had with its office software and operating systems, but you have to give them credit for quietly pushing this out and making it available. Regardless of platform, something as simple as an iTunes account could open an entirely new world of learning for those with the right hunger. The downside? It's limited to Educational/Cultural Institution Use at the moment. I am genuinely hoping that restriction comes off, because I could see a real place for this platform, particularly in the maker/user-created-content communities. Because it’s not as platform-limited as it could be, the reach is considerable and may well put some of the proprietary MOOC platforms on the ropes. So, there you have it. One good example of a platform that will respond to the needs at the user end, and all without a lot of customization. Seems like a pretty positive regeneration of what we often call "e-learning". There’s lots of room inside. Come on in. The post Guest Post: eLearning...It's Bigger On The Inside - by Mark Sheppard appeared first on Litmos.

What is eLearning? (Please pardon the gratuitous movie line as a blog title.) Every few years it's important to step back and look at our industry. I've had conversations with colleagues recently covering the state of the industry. And sadly, the conversation ends up feeling more like the state of the industry...according to the gurus, experts, and thought leaders. Instead of the reality of our industry as faced by the other 98% of corporate training professionals. So, I'd like to take a moment and sort out my thoughts on this topic. According to the latest wikipedia entry for eLearning... wait... eLearning forwards to Educational Technology. So, let's try this again... According to the latest wikipedia entry for Educational Technology we see EdTech as "the effective use of technological tools in learning." I only reference the definition in wikipedia as an example of how confusing the term eLearning can be. It's so confusing that wikipedia just stopped trying and decided to forward it to EdTech. Seriously, click the links above and scroll through all of the parts and subparts of EdTech, the "scope" of EdTech, the technologies, the use-cases, and on and on. Let me just be honest and say that I was hoping the wikipedia page would help in writing this blog post easier. No such luck. I'm more confused than ever...and I've been doing this for 20 years. There are 2 ways I'd like to approach this post. First, Let's look at how I see eLearning as the industry seems to have embraced it. Then I'll give you my thoughts on what I feel like it should be. How the Industry Sees eLearning At the risk of complicating things, the industry view is also broken up into 2 parts. Organizations and practicing professionals consider eLearning to be an overarching umbrella term that covers any training solution or learning content delivered via technology. And the other part of the industry that views eLearning through the authoring tool lens. Neither are wrong. It's simply 2 different perspectives mostly based on legacy practices. But it's also one of the many confusing little annoyances in our industry. eLearning as an umbrella term for all technology delivered training/learning is the closest to the EdTech definition as written in wikipedia. And examples are quite diverse. Anything from flight simulators, to social learning, microvideos, webinars, SCORM courses, mobile learning, electronic whiteboards, Khan Academy, and any number of other technology solutions. Maybe it's easier to define eLearning as anything other than people communicating with each other face-2-face. Looking at eLearning through the authoring tool lens is a little more traditional. It's what we learned back in the 80s and 90s during the CBT golden era. Everything you need to learn, about a given topic, is packaged into a self-paced course. The learner engages interactively with the digital content and is guided through the learning experience. That experience explains why you're there, what you will learn, and how you will learn it.  These complete eLearning packages are filled with multimedia. They state the learning objectives, provide digital content, and then assess your knowledge with different sorts of multiple choice interactions. You get the idea. But the key to viewing eLearning through this lens is that the course is self-contained and is designed, developed, and published to be consumed by one learner in isolation. It's also important to note that these courses may or may not be delivered within a learning management system. And so there you have it. eLearning as an umbrella term, and eLearning as a self-contained interactive multimedia experience. I have a slightly different take on our beloved industry term. I don't like it. eLearning isn't a Real Thing One of my favorite phrases is "Learning is done by you. Training is done to you." Or something like that. I think it's arrogant of anyone to think they can force learning to happen because of their knowledge in adult learning theory. Since we need to define what we do with words then the only 2 words we really need are training and learning. And how we use them depends on who's in control. Learning is a Process Owned by the Leaner Learners are in control of their own learning. External forces can influence someone's learning. But the learning occurs inside each individuals brain. It even sounds strange to say it because it's such an obvious statement. I'm certain you've all experienced an "aha" moment naturally with no other person intervening, as well as major aha moments directly related to a teacher's intervention. We are always learning. Learning is a life long process. The trick is to learn to optimize the process. Training is an Event And this is where training comes in. Training is an event. Event if it's a 15min self-paced online course, or a week long classroom course, they are both events. And training events are only 1 small part of the learning process. Training events are the products we create. Learning experiences are training events, sometimes multiple events, combined with practice and feedback, and continual assessment. But the key is that it is the learner that is having the experience and whether they learn or not is still completely dependent on them. No matter how well you design the learning experience you cannot guarantee that learning will occur. Will you continue to see me using the term eLearning? Most likely yes, but I avoid it whenever I can. If you are an instructional designer, you create training products that are optimized for instructional effectiveness, not eLearning. To the best of your ability you have understood the content and the learner well enough to know that your product is the one most likely to achieve learning for the learner. There is training and there is learning. There is no need for eLearning, eTraining, mLearning, mTraining, or any of the other prefixes. Okay maybe blearning, or schlearning. I'm keeping those. But all the others are gone! The post There is no eLearning! Only Zuul! appeared first on Litmos.

What do executives expect from their training departments? They know each of their departments are spending their money and so they expect something in return for that investment. The training department is no different. As the leader/manager/director you've got a responsibility to not only make sure training is happening, but reporting the financial and productivity impacts to the business. Therein lies the key to your success: "Business Impact". This is quite obvious for most readers of this blog. Defining business impact is the real issue. And it becomes problematic when expectations around priorities are not aligned. Traditional training professionals believe in their ability to create the "best" training to improve performance, but often do so with long time lines, requests for increased development budgets, and little care for how their training events impact the business. The frustration executives feel towards this approach is often misunderstood by training professionals, and dismissed as "they just don't understand learning". The reality is that it's not their job to understand learning. It's your job to understand the business. Management & Leadership Development Management & leadership development consistently ranks high in the minds of execs. I have no data to quote for you, but I've seen enough data over the years to know it's important. Not only is it important, but more established, mature, businesses have enough legacy having experienced first hand what happens when leadership is under prepared, or under skilled in their role. Most training professionals, even CLOs, are not capable of running these programs on their own when they are also responsible for the other items listed below. If management/leadership development is important enough, then it's worth spending budget on experts in this realm. It's important to remember that there should be very little training involved in this type of program. Young leaders may still require training in certain areas, but your senior leaders should not require training. Development. Absolutely. But not training. There are plenty of executive development firms to choose from. And in my experience I've seen leadership teams completely transformed from fully dysfunctional to fully successful over time. This is not an easy accomplishment. It requires long term commitment which is why it's called development and not training. Compliance Training There really isn't much to say here. Executives need you to make sure this is covered because it's a liability to the business. Purchasing pre-developed compliance courses is without question the most effective solution. It's fast to implement because it requires no development resources and keeps the business running. Be sure to understand the compliance needs in all areas of the business. Don't expect high level management to know everything that requires compliance. It's your responsibility to meet with sales, manufacturing, HR, IT, legal, and any other departments to understand their compliance requirements. When the regulatory agencies come knocking, it's your neck that's on the line. New Hire On-boarding This is probably one of the most misunderstood and frustrating elements for your new employees. All they want to do is get to work, and yet they end up sitting in meetings for days and even weeks before actually starting their jobs. In some cases this is made clear to everyone. In others, management will get around it and so certain hires will not attend because it is seen as a waste of time. You can hire a management/leadership consultant. You can buy pre-development compliance training programs. But this program is unique. There is no off-the-shelf, turn-key solution. It's yours to create, design, develop, and deliver with your own personal touch. It should be your foundational, crowning achievement. This is where you have the most influence to apply your knowledge of adult learning theory, and instructional design skills. All other training events and online learning experiences will be extensions of this foundational program. It's the first impression new hires have of their new company. Whether or not employees stay with your company can often be traced back to how well you on-boarded them. So don't take this lightly. The ideal on-boarding program is customized for all levels of the company. One size does not fit all. Some content is required by all employees. But don't waste people's time just because it's easier on you and your team. Know what is required at each level and develop the program accordingly. Everyone in the company will thank you! Continuing Professional Development Professional Development (PD) comes in all shapes and sizes. Some of it is specific to an employee's role. Other training programs are specific to the business and help develop an employees skills related to the company culture. And other PD programs simply give employees the ability to explore other skills that may interest them. Enterprise licenses to online training like Lynda.com are popular for many employees. Free access to their extensive library of videos for learning new topics is seen as a valuable benefit. Buying library bundles of PD content is an easy way to provide value to your employees. However, there are other PD opportunities you can create that are unique to the business. Your company will have a few highly experienced professionals on staff. Some of them are even rockstars in their respective fields. Capturing their knowledge and experience is an extremely valuable project that should be part of any training department strategy. Executives know these experts are valuable and often worry about what will happen when they leave the company. Give them comfort in knowing you've got a plan to ease their troubled minds. Do you have any thoughts on a 5th training topic important to your company's executives? Tell us about it with the hashtag #TellLitmos @Litmos. The post The Top 4 Training & Development Programs Your Business Needs appeared first on Litmos.

Introduction Today's guest post is written by Tom Spiglanin. He was one of the first in my network to identify, and embrace, the trend of micro videos for learning...or microlearning. He's a regular speaker and advocate for the production of shorter learning content. I'm very pleased he agreed to share his tips on producing microlearning.   Guest Post by @TomSpiglanin Video is widely used for educational content and it can be highly effective. It’s also becoming increasingly easy to produce, with well over a billion smartphones in the world with both video and editing capability. And video is also inherently mobile - YouTube reports that fully half of all its views are mobile, and the format transitions almost seamlessly to desktop computers, tablets,and dedicated media players - all without special software or plug-ins.   Short form video for learning (becoming known as microlearning video), is increasingly popular. While the duration of microlearning videos alone makes them more easily consumed by our learners, that alone is not enough to retain our viewers’ interest. This is particularly true when a number of short videos together make up a larger program of instruction.   But there’s hope! I’ve assembled here five tips to get started producing microlearning videos. These tips have nothing to do with cinematography or how to use our video cameras, so each of them applies as much to narrated animation as they do full motion video. And while following these tips may not bring out the Spielberg in each of us, they will certainly make using our videos more enjoyable for our viewers.         Focus on one objective per microlearning video.   Not that long ago I used YouTube to learn how to replace the drive belt in my washing machine. It was only a few minutes long and focused exclusively on the shortest path to repair, including identifying the correct replacement belt and demonstrations of what to watch for while making the repair.   Indeed, the most effective short videos often address one and only one objective, just as my drive belt repair video did. Remember that our target audience members are largely just-in-time or time-crunched individuals. By putting our objective up front, even in the title, we can more easily stay focused on that to the exclusion of irrelevant details. It may seem easy, but many have a difficult time doing just this and fall to the temptation of explaining everything they feel needs explaining. We need to make a note to create another video or two for those important details that are not pertinent to the objective at hand, just as the washer belt replacement video referenced other videos for removing the front panel or troubleshooting odd noises.         Show, don’t tell   Those new to the video medium often forget that video targets not one sense but two senses at once. When scripting, we need to spend time describing what's being seen, not just heard in the narration or soundtrack. This is easily seen in the traditional screenplay format, which is designed to approximate one script page per minute of video by restricting dialogue to a narrow column down the middle of the page. In contrast, the description of what's being seen runs the full width of the page. Why? Because visuals convey much more information than words in the same amount of time.   In the washer repair video, the sound track generally told me what I needed to do, but what I was watching was showing me how I needed to do it. We need to take that time to describe the action being seen on-screen, even when using sophisticated animation to convey our lessons.         Use scripts   Even the most talented video producers take the time to write scripts. This keeps our focus on our objective, but also gives us insight into how well we're pacing our video. Will it be three informative minutes or ten drawn-out ones?   While we’re at it, we also need to edit our dialogue ruthlessly. We can’t waste afford to waste words that may not be heard anyway, just as we can’t afford rambling, monotonous dialogue that bores our viewers. Our dialogue needs to supplement and enhance our video, and that only happens well though the script-writing process.         Avoid details and distracting content   We need to keep in mind that we’re making short videos, not writing detailed training manuals. If some details are important - as often they are - we need to put them in a reference document and not in our videos.   In the washing machine drive belt video, the parts breakdown and assembly schematics were referenced, but not described in the video. When I needed those additional details, which I did for accurate identification of the part number for the drive belt for my particular washer, I looked them up and studied them offline. I would not want them read to me, nor would that be a good use of my time as a video developer.         Don’t repeat   In instructor-led training, good practice often follows the rule, "Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them." That doesn't work in short video, nor is there the need. Viewers can, and will, back up to watch again and again as needed if our videos are focused and meets their needs.   I watched the washer belt replacement video several times to make sure I understood what was involved in my repair before I ordered the replacement belt. When it arrived, I watched the video again using my mobile phone next to the washer as I started the repair. I paused frequently or backed up to make sure I was doing things correctly. In essence, I used the video in a performance support mode - learning just-in-time at the precise place of need - and we must keep the inherently mobile and easily replayed nature of short form video when crafting learning solutions. We often can’t control when, where, or how viewers will use our videos.   So those are my top five tips for short video. For an example, and a few additional tips, check out my YouTube video in this very topic. Or check out my tips on the screenplay format.   Thanks for reading! @tomspiglanin The post Top 5 Tips for Producing Microlearning Videos appeared first on Litmos.

Since 2009 Jane Hart (@c4lpt) has been curating a list of the Top 100 Tools for Learning. She is asking training professionals, and learning professionals, to submit their Top 10 Tools. From that she creates the list of 100. If you're a learning professional, then submit your list here. My list has consistently included the tools I use for personal learning and knowledge sharing, not professional tools for authoring or publishing courses. So, here is my top 10 list for 2015. 1. Evernote I put everything into Evernote. As their marketing states, it truly is an extension of my brain. I save articles, tweets, posts, as resources for future reference. I also save pictures of where I park my car in airport parking lots. There are so many little life hacks and learning hacks that Evernote supports. It has become my goto app for just about everything. 2. Twitter If blogging launched my career then twitter definitely extended it. Twitter has become the social glue that holds all the other content together. Nobody publishes anything without sharing it to twitter. And twitter is a great place to ask for help, meet new people, and share your knowledge. There are many power users in our industry, and I don't claim to be one.  But find one and ask them about how they use twitter. It's a powerful tool for both learning and teaching/sharing. 3. Google Search There really isn't much more to say about search. It so ubiquitous in our lives today. Just about anything you want to know is only a search away. But like twitter there are tricks to automating search and using it to be smarter...faster. Learn how to be a power search user and people will think you were born a genius. 4. YouTube You can learn how to do anything from videos on YouTube. They might as well just call it "The People's University". I've learned how to fix my car, improve my guitar and drum skills, hack electronics, create craft projects with my kids, and so much more. Video is truly the strongest of all media for learning. And YouTubers will continue to drive the format and master the production techniques that are the most effective. Instructional Design theories are one thing, but nothing beats learning from those who are delivering learning content on a daily basis. The future of "what works" best for learning will be found on YouTube. 5. Kindle App And for those of you who still enjoy a good book, the Kindle app is amazing. I can learn a lot from reading a book. But I can learn even more by sharing my notes and reading other's notes about the same book. It's an interactive experience that you must experience to truly appreciate. I've only recently begun using it interactively, but it's changed my view of reading completely. 6. blab.im I know the app is only a few weeks old. But it's already proven to be a powerful learning tool in much the same as twitter...except with video. Anyone can start a blab conversation, and anyone can join a blab conversation. So the serendipitous learning possibilities will be fantastic. The value of seeing someone's face and hearing their voice is powerful. So while you may get excited about conversing with people on twitter, blab extends that experience to something very personal and much more powerful. But again, you won't understand unless you experience it for yourself. 7. canva.com Canva is one of the few creation tools I've added to my list. I've added it because I use it just about every day to create images. It's a fabulous learning tool because it has guided my design sensibilities. I will never be a great graphic designer but canva helps me express my message visually in ways I had not thought of.  I'm constantly learning and perfecting the images I create. I do believe images are far more powerful than words and so learning to create them is as important as learning how to write. 8. Feedly I've been a big proponent of RSS feeds and feed readers since RSS was first created. I still believe it to be one of the most underutilized technologies in EdTech. Feedly is one of the few remaining RSS aggregators that is a stand alone product. RSS is incorporated into other apps and browsers, but I still prefer the format of the old fashioned RSS feed reader. It's the fastest and easiest way to consume massive amounts of news, and information. 9. ItunesU I've only recently begun subscribing to ITunesU courses again because a colleague told me about the improvements that have been made. Imagine being able to attend classes at major Universities without actually having to be there... or pay the tuition. With a little bit of motivation there is no reason why anyone can't get a world class education. ItunesU is just one of many apps making it happen, but it's my favorite right now. 10. Hootsuite Managing your social media experience can be a daunting task. Many don't care about "managing social media". I do. I learned very quickly in the early years of Web2.0 that engaging with others, via this "new internet", would pay off. Hootsuite can do a lot. There are many other social media tools for managing your personal brand and personal social learning experience. Hootsuite handles most of what I need accomplished in social media and since much of learning occurs because of social media, Hootsuite is the tool that rounds out my top 10. There are many many tools that I engage with through out any given week. Compiling this list was NOT easy. There are many others that I use as much as these tools. Narrowing it down to 10 was a matter of reviewing the past few months of productivity and understanding what tools apps were used the most. These are not the BEST...just the ones I currently use the most. The post Brent Schlenker's Top 10 Tools for Learning ... Not Training appeared first on Litmos.

When you plan your live face-to-face training events, do you put much thought into it's location? And when you finally decide on a location how much attention do you pay to the space? We're all busy professionals and sometimes we feel lucky to even find an available room in our busy office spaces. We spend our valuable time on instructional design, content creation, and course administration. Because that is in our immediate control. The environment is often an afterthought and more out of our control. But in our constant drive to create better learning experiences, and in light of recent neuroscience findings, perhaps training locations should be as important to learning as stating learning objectives. Learner Control vs. Designer Control Sadly, the thoughtful design of a learning environment is no longer our responsibility. The continual growth of eLearning has shifted control of environment from the designer to the learner. When we design and deliver a completely online experience we willingly give up control of the physical learning space to our audience. We willingly accept that our designs will be as successful from a computer at home, or within an office cubical. Or on a laptop in bed, or lounging poolside.  Because in many cases you simply don't know where or when people are engaging in your learning content. And that is the beauty of online learning, right? Or is it? I believe in technology as a powerful learning tool. But the more we move towards digital learning experiences, the more I realize the power of the analog experience. Human to human interactions, and the real world spaces and places where they occur. I don't believe one is more powerful than the other. But I do believe that in some instances we've tossed out the baby with the bath water.  It's so easy to move content to a self-paced online format, and doing so no doubt saves money, time, and resources. But perhaps our industry should be having more conversations about real life, human to human, training formats...instead of less. Neuroscience Changes Everything Neuroscience is exposing more and more about how our brains work. I find it fascinating, and exciting, because most of the theories our industry follows are based on the softer behavioral sciences. We now have researchers in the hard sciences uncovering the wonders of our neuroanatomy. Some of these discoveries will confirm what we are doing, while others will require us to stop and rethink our approach. But in either case we see a combined better understanding of how the digital and analog worlds together will impact our brains. You can learn a lot about the basic science of learning from Dr. Medina's books and videos about Brain Rules. He has uncovered the strongest scientific evidence for how to improve the function of our brains. And yet, most of it goes unnoticed, or unimplemented, in our institutions of education. In this video Dr. Medina gets right to the point within the first minute exposing the "almost perfect ANTI-brain learning environment." As his videos tend to get me rethinking a lot of things in my life, this time around I was struck by his comments on "environment". That got me thinking about other professions that deal with creating environments. Neuroscience, Architecture, and Learning Environments And that led me to the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture. And it was an article in the Pacific Standard titled Could Neuroscientists be the next Great Architects? that took me there. This article struck me with a few great lines... "Today, the near 10-year-old Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture believes that neuroscience could make science’s greatest contribution to the field of architecture since physics informed fundamental structural methods, acoustic designs, and lighting calculations in the late 19th century." "When Gage introduced these findings to architects at the American Institute of Architects’ 2003 convention, he pronounced an idea that is still sinking in: "Changes in the environment change the brain, and therefore they change our behavior."" "Neuroscientists are also gaining an increasingly better understanding of how our brains analyze, interpret, and reconstruct place and space." And my personal favorite... "We are now really beginning to understand better how to measure the responses to the built environment," says Eduardo Macagno, professor of biological sciences at the University of California, San Diego, "without relying on psychology, social science, observational behavior." Those studies, he explains, "don’t have the quantitative and objective experimental approach that we believe neuroscience brings to the interface with architecture." In all honesty, there are far too many great lines in this article. It's a short, but fantastic, read. Neuroscience Supports Human to Human Learning I've given up on seeing any significant change occurring in our public school systems based on neuroscience any time soon. However, I do believe that as corporate training professionals we are in a unique position to lead the way in applying neuroscience to our training programs. Most training departments and Corporate Universities were built from academic models. Those models are steeped in bureaucracy and red tape. You, however, have the power to take control of your training environment and apply neuroscience in the controlled environment of your workforce. No, I'm not recommending that you add jogging to the course agenda. It could be something as simple as choosing a different classroom location. I'm hoping that you begin to pay closer attention to the little things when designing, developing, and implementing your face-to-face training events. The environment you choose for your face-to-face events is becoming more and more important as those human to human interactions occur less often. Have you ever tried holding a classroom event outside? Perhaps in a nearby park? Or maybe in a rented movie theater? As we begin to approach Q4 2015, many of you will be looking forward and planning your training strategy for 2016. Will you be moving more, or less content online? This is a good time for you to reflect on your currently training programs and look at trying something new. Something based on neuroscience.   The post Environmental Factors of Learning to Consider Before Designing Your Next Course appeared first on Litmos.