We can learn from politicians. When they say "my comment was taken out of context", what they mean is that the press reporter used their statements giving it a different meaning, which is not the original intent of the politician. How does an idea, statement or content be taken out of context or stays in context? Context Changes Actually, in the learning world, context changes depend on the situation or condition. But where, how and why it changes is interesting since it shows us how to use and add context effectively. Context is about meaning and application of ideas and things. Meaning comes from an inherent objective information (object) about a thing and/or an idea. It may also come from the interpretation of a person or a learner, or both. As an example, a content says "1 + 1 = 2," this is an object. A learner may say, "One apple put together with another apple are two apples," this shows a context.Another way of understanding context is about the movement of an idea (object) towards its application in real-life.  Another way of understanding context is about the movement of an idea (object) towards its application in real-life.  The content is the object while the context is the enabler. Ideas are not useful unless context is added to it.  The challenge is not context per se, but the difficulty in adding context and catching the shifting meaning depending on the conditions. The needs of the learners and workers varies and changes. Please refer to other definitions of context.  To aid in our discussion, I developed below The Motion of Content and Context.Click to view enlarged image. Motion of Content and Context - the ChallengeIn the following explanation, I will refer to the row numbers and columns shown in the chart.Many writers, designers and subject matter experts (SMEs) tend to look at content as a static idea. They focus on the object. They teach learners about the object of the content and fail to relate to a context. However, an even greater disservice to learners is not to move context depending on the different conditions (1). Learners easily sense this problem because the lesson is meaningless or irrelevant to them. This problem has its symptoms of over-reliance on teaching facts and testing and memorization. The approach of the lesson is rigid and inflexible (5). The proper solutions are not applied. The Changes in Drivers are Powerful Context EnablersThe drivers of context (2)  have the greatest influence on the high value that context brings to the content. In elearning and classroom or similar settings where learners are being taught, the context is often dictated by the trainer, designer or SME. The opposite spectrum is when learners are self-driven. The learners have specific goals, usually a combination of personal and professional, that drive the context of the content. Understanding that the Source of Context Helps Improve DesignA clear understanding of the source of the context (3) aids in adding the proper context to the learning content. In dealing with the challenges and use of solutions (5), the designers should emphasize different methods to help the motion of context. See Tip on Story-Based Questions.If it is in a classroom or elearning setting where instruction is the main approach, asking learners thought-provoking questions to draw their own interpretation and experience adds meaning and context to their work situation. A simple question like "what is your experience and how would you approach this problem?" would move the context of the content and make the content relevant to the learner. In Situated conditions where the learner must perform something on the job, the learning aid must be organized in such a way that the immediacy of solutions are effectively applied or used. For example, when workers need a process check to help them solve a problem, don't just provide the process in the learning aids. Provide simple rules that aid the learners to focus on what is critical in the process and what to test first, or what important points to pay attention to in the process. This approach assists the workers to help them think through the solution/s.In conditions where Life Goals drive the learners towards self-development and discovery of solutions and aspirations by following their life goals - goals that combine personal and professional results - the learners should have clarity of their goals and the skill in critical thinking to help them find the context from the abundance of digital content they discover.  Unless they have the skills, they will be overloaded with content and unable to meet their goals.Thinking Skills NeededMany designers, facilitators and curators focus on the technology and speed.  However, they forget that in this mode of learning, not only is digital skills management required but also thinking process skills. Thinking skills may include: "What is my goal?", "What do I know about this content?", "What else do I need to discover?", "How do I go about it?", "How do others think and feel about this?", and "Am I meeting my goals?." This is the iterative thinking process. The thinking process aids the learner to move the context of the content into useful and meaningful value to his/ her life goals.Conclusion Content and context work hand in hand. Content is the object while context is the enabler to add value, usefulness and relevance. The challenge is that most content are presented without the context. And an even bigger problem is not realizing that context changes have taken place depending on the learning conditions. We need to be aware that different methods and skills are required if learners are to find context - meaning and relevance - of the content. In the world of massive content and rapid learning, context setting has to be "in-context" and not out-of-context." Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Have you ever wondered what a young learner’s first impressions are of the learning industry? Joining me this week is guest blogger and Vignettes Learning research associate Francesca Jimenez, discussing her first-time experiences and insights that connect to her experience as a young learner. I hope we all learn something from what she shares below.As a new learner of elearning and a neophyte in the training industry, I have noticed a few salient points that connect to other broader, relatable experiences.Know Your AudienceIn a scene from the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," the main character, Ted, enters a large university lecture hall full of students. It is his first day as an architecture professor. He begins timidly but exuberantly warms up throughout the lecture. The camera cuts to confused faces in the audience and then to another figure walking down the lecture hall stairs chiming, "Sorry, I am late class. This is Economics 101."Like any lecturer or speaker, trainers and webinar moderators must know their audience. Poor Ted’s knowledge ultimately left himself lost and the students disinterested, not because the content wasn’t valuable but because it simply wasn’t presented to the correct audience. Although elearning and training webinars attract certain specialists, the industries and positions represented in one session can vary greatly. Determine Between Must-Know Knowledge and Critical IncidentsThe driver's education does not highlight what to do immediately after an accident or how to file an insurance claim. Until recently, I had never gotten into a motor accident. There were no irreversible damages, but what if there had been?Within company training materials, must-know knowledge involving critical incidents should be presented first because they have the most immediate consequences, positive or negative. It seems common sense to first teach daily procedures. However these everyday skills and knowledge can be learned experientially and through routine. Training courses are meant to provide the right skills to effectively solve problems and prevent damaging consequences to individuals or the company as a whole.InsightsThe traditional education system stifles creativity through rigidity and an expectation to only memorize and recall. This expectation begins at a young age. As illustrated by Lennon’s anecdote, the teacher’s role has become an enforcer of the expectation instead of a cultivator of alternative ones. The creativity that was stifled throughout the education system is the same one that is called upon in job descriptions like "critical thinking and problem solving." But memorization and a cultivation of specific skills do not have to be mutually exclusive from personal insights and creativity. The value of individuals' insights in learning environments is as important as their differences in learning styles. Insights are more than fact and opinion; they synthesize both content and narrative. Francesca Jimenez is a recent college graduate who specialized in psychology and music. Her research interests include the application of behavioral sciences within industrial operations such as training, learning, and technology. Related linksEmploying Story Structure and Dynamics to Engage Different LearnersStop That Dump Truck! Ask Questions to Know What is Important for LearnersRemove the Sting of Compliance Courses: Make Them Short, Succinct, Easy to LearnRay Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Click. Click. Click. Zzz. Let’s face it. Having learners go through numerous slides or pages to learn important work-related information - in fact, any new information - is definitely one surefire way to bore your learners to death. When learners are bored, they learn little or nothing at all from the training. Boring e-learning de-motivates learners, making learning difficult. Motivation and curiosity are major factors that drive learners to continue, push through, or finish a course or program. Without any motivation, they drift off and refocus on something more interesting.Cultivating learners’ curiosity when it comes to learning is very important. A study by Gruber et al. published in the journal Neuron found that people learn better when they are curious about what they’re learning.Why You Have Bored LearnersData does not come from thin air. It does not come from computers churning them out into great infographics. I once saw this placard from a science lab:To understand why we have bored learners, it’s important to know what being "bored" means. According to psychological scientist John Eastwood and colleagues, boredom is "an aversive state of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity." Eastwood et al. describes a bored person as someone who has difficulty paying attention to internal information (e.g., thoughts or feelings) or external stimuli (e.i, the learning environment). They’re also aware of the fact that they have this difficulty and believe it’s the environment’s fault. In short, this means learners want to be engaged but for one thing reason or another,  just can’t. As trainers and designers, it’s our job to make sure we’re able to stimulate learners’ interest enough to keep their attention on the course or lesson. Sustaining learners’ interest is important. because It’s a major factor on how much they persist in learning tasks and ultimately their success. This also means boring content is therefore a loss-loss situation for everyone involved. It wastes resources (time, money, effort) of the learners, the designers, and the company or organization. and It provides no benefit to learners as well (minimal to no learning equals minimal to no application).How Hyper Stories Engage LearnersThe ultimate goal when we’re designing or conducting trainings, workshops, or seminars is to have learners do a desired behavior, for instance to be able to appropriately handle an unlabeled drum. To achieve this result, we must keep our learners focused, engaged, and motivated throughout the training. The last thing we want are disengaged and zoned-out learners. To help learners go from minimum knowledge to having enough functional know-how about a certain topic in a short period of time means learners should have a way to quickly learn new information. This is possible with instant learning. It is the concept of teaching one idea to learners that results in one action or behavior they can apply right away. Instant learning works because it helps learners focus and keeps them motivated. One method that facilitates instant learning is the use of hyper stories.Hyper stories are very short but very actual day-to-day events that allow learners to quickly connect the lesson to its application in real life. Hyper stories compress the typical story arch and take learners from Crisis to Resolution very quickly.The shortest distance between Crisis and ResolutionBy using hyper stories, trainers are providing learners with content that is evocative, provocative, and engaging. The use of a story that could potentially happen in real life breathes meaning to the information presented in the training. It helps learners clearly see when and how they can apply the lessons.ConclusionHyper stories create a win-win situation for both trainers and learners. Trainers use hyper stories to keep learners engaged, motivated and focused. In the end, your learners walk away from the training with new learning they can immediately apply in their work. The distinct advantage of the approach is that learners stay glued, involved, totally focused and enjoyed the learning exchanges.ReferencesElaine Biech. "ASTD Handbook for Workplace Learning Professionals." American Society for Training and Development, 2008Matthias J. Gruber et al. "States of Curiosity Modulate Hippocampus-Dependent Learning via the Dopaminergic Circuit." Neuron, published online October 02, 2014; doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.08.060Association for Psychological Science. "I’m Bored! - Research on Attention Sheds Light on the Unengaged Mind". September 26, 2012Kyong-Jee Kim. "Adult Learners’ Motivation in Self-Directed E-Learning". August 2005Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Personalized eLearning programs seem to be a far-fetched idea. You may feel like shrugging off the very thought of creating individualized instruction plans for your employees. It does seem tedious and feels overwhelming. Individuals are as different from each other as their fingerprints! However, when we believe that "one size does not fit all", how can we rely on generic eLearning programs to serve a multitude of learners spanning across the globe? In this article, we will not try to convince you that you should jump on the personalized eLearning development bandwagon. We will explain what generic programs can do to your employees. We will also talk about some strategic eLearning development ideas that will yield personalized eLearning solutions! Go ahead, you have nothing to lose. In fact, you may end up with a better return on your eLearning investment. Let’s talk about an analogy to explain the need for eLearning personalization: from the world of nutrition, no less. We all have, at some point of our lives, taken up a diet fad that claimed to do wonders for our waist lines. Maybe you were bombarded with information on Facebook, maybe a friend sung the praise of the diet to you, claiming their shrunken frame is all because of this diet! Convinced and determined, you followed the friend in hopes of achieving something similar. You purchased the entire dietary catalog and toiled to change your lifestyle. So what happens next will amaze you, not! You discover that not only did your weight not budge, you are also craving food so much it’s obsessive. Frustrated and discouraged, you give up on the fifteenth day! A month later, you realize you now weigh more than you ever did! While this scenario may be a little exaggerated, it’s not too far from reality. What could have worked is a visit to a qualified dietitian. Someone who could create a personalized diet plan for you. Something you know is reasonable for you to follow and that would eventually work, doctor’s guarantee. Learning programs and instruction are not that different from the diet analogy. Each brain utilizes information uniquely and distinctly from another brains. Each of us is an individual with individual training and learning needs, and as such, there is need for personalized eLearning solutions. And let us assure you that the idea is not as complex as you may perceive at the moment. The training programs we create for our organizations can sometimes feel like a typical diet fad. The training programs we create for our organizations can sometimes feel like a typical diet fad.Click To Tweet It may work for a select few, but may be unsatisfactory for others. But what if we could build eLearning programs that worked for every employee? What if our training could be personalized to every member of our team? Experts have shared three possible strategies to create eLearning programs that are able to cater to a wider audience, taking into account individual needs. 1. Preparatory Learning Ever heard of "preparatory learning"? It’s nothing new, but is earning industry-wide respect in the education and learning arena. Preparatory learning is a valuable tool to increase learner confidence and faith in the content and delivery of training. Before the actual training, prepare your learners in order to lay the groundwork for the upcoming training. You can discuss the curriculum, syllabus, assignments and assessments format options with your learners. Help the learner identify their strengths and weaknesses before the full training begins. Your learners will have a very good idea of the content. They will be able to highlight areas that they are keenly interested in and will be able to plan their learning according to their own needs. When the actual course begins, they are able to jump to sections and pose their own questions efficiently. 2. Microlearning Maybe a single composite curriculum wouldn’t work each time. What if you broke a larger learning agenda (curriculum) into smaller chunks? Why do you want to mandate training in areas in which some employees may actually be experts? What if you grouped and categorized topics to create individual training modules? The training modules that are not attempted by the learner, since they are already more than familiar with the content, can include an option to "test out". A series of individual and fragmented training modules can be completed this way, regardless of their order. This is a classic way to produce microlearning options for employees. Shorter attention spans in learners demand shorter training modules. Research also indicates improved engagement and motivation to complete training through microlearning. Hence, microlearning is indirectly personalizing the eLearning program. When followed by a preparatory session as described above, microlearning - along with other strategies - can engage learners deeper into the eLearning program. This will help save your organization resources and effort by focusing strictly on the immediate learning needs of the employees. That’s real value in personalized eLearning solutions. 3. Learner developed learning Perhaps the highest degree of personalization is achieved when learners actively participate in putting together their learning plan. This plan or the curriculum can be embellished by the subject matter expert. Provide milestones for learners to achieve. This can include personal goals, reflection on prior learning and experience, and social interaction strategies to improve learning. By guiding learners towards their own learning, we are encouraging them to apply their learning to their specific workplace situation efficiently. Involved learners are more engaged and interested in their learning progress as well as that of others. Providing a carefully planned and individualized learning plan for learners is challenging, but a certain degree of individualization can be achieved fairly easily. While you may not be able to make everyone on the team happy, you can achieve having employees who have a positive attitude towards their training programs. With a bit of creativity as an instructional designer and eLearning developer, you can think of more strategies that will fine-tune general training to individual learning preferences. The post How To Create Personalized eLearning Solutions appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

We’ve covered a lot of things here in the TalentLMS blog through the years. From "heads up" posts for new releases to detailed breakdowns of the platform’s Instructor Led Training tools, and from integration guides for hooking your eLearning portal to services like Slack and Shopify, to general advice on starting your own online training business. You name it, we’ve most likely got it. As big TV nerds, though, and with Game of Thrones season 6 looming upon us, we’ve decided to put together a nice, lean on substance and high on filler, GoT-themed article, as we did last year, for your reading pleasure. Who knows, maybe this is a new tradition. Read freely, as it contains no spoilers (unless you haven’t seen seasons 1-5 yet). 1) Know what you don’t know Do you know why Jon Snow would make a perfect eLearning candidate? Because he knows nothing! (buh dum ts) A lot of your learners will unfortunately be in this position even after they have completed their course — and some might not be able to complete it at all. If you mostly rely on lecture or, even worse, wall-of-text style units, with some big test in the end of the course, you won’t be prepared to respond to this at the proper time. Instead, take advantage of TalentLMS’ testing capabilities and include a few questions or small quizzes at the end of every lesson, so that you can gauge your learners’ comprehension as the course progresses. This way you can lend a helping hand to struggling learners, suggest that they take some prerequisite courses, or if most of your learners fail the course, adjust your material so that it is more approachable. 2) Don’t be like Joffrey While the whims and desires of the leadership can be as important in the corporate world as in King’s Landing, collaboration with your learners, rather than coercion, is really the key for a successful training program in the corporate eLearning world. For example, even though you feel that your eLearning program is very important, the truth is your learners are also employees that have to cater to numerous daily responsibilities related to pressing business workflows and immovable deadlines. Instead of fighting them over it, work with them to reach the perfect balance between their daily work and their training regime — spreading a challenging course over a longer time frame, properly scheduling instructor-led training sessions, etc. Or, you can opt to hammer them with their training duties, and throw hissy fits anytime they don’t completely comply with your whims — kind of like Joffrey. But while they won’t poison you if you go that route, they won’t respect you that much either. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Don’t. Be. Like. Joffrey. 3) Put yourself into the shoes (or souls) of others While his character is still slowly developing in the series, it’s pretty evident that Bran Stark is going to be a pretty big part of the final battle between the living and the (un)dead. And all that despite being basically a small boy with no army, and a broken spine to boot. His secret? Empathy — being able to get into the minds of other people (and/or wolves). And while in Game of Thrones this involves some magic, you don’t really need that to use empathy in real-life eLearning. What you do need is the ability to connect with your learners and to put yourself in their shoes, understanding what they need to get out of your course, what might confuse them, how you can explain things better, etc. You don’t have to get it 100% right from the start either — you can always use the insights gained from training the first batch of employees to make your next corporate eLearning program better. 4) Collaboration is key While the various royal houses and fiefdoms might hate each other’s guts, they all slowly begin to realize an important truth: unless they unite, they really stand no chance against the evil zombie armies. The same can be said for any large corporation — there will always be fiefdoms and turf wars between the various departments, but unless they collaborate with each other, the competitors will eat the company’s lunch in no time. As the head of the training program, you should seek the cooperation and assistance of other department heads. After all, it’s their employees that you’ll be training, so they should also have a say on the whole matter. Engage branch managers and department heads early on, and keep consulting them while the training program progresses. You’ll need them to tell you what skills their employees are lacking in, you’ll want them to provide you with raw material to be used for creating your training and on-boarding courses, and in general you’ll want to shape your training program upon their needs. 5) You don’t have to be big to think big Who doesn’t love Tyrion? He might be small in stature, but he is very good at making use of what he does have — his brains and capability of thinking a few steps ahead of the game. Wouldn’t Tyrion make a far better king than Joffrey? Or his other nephew - so unimpressive that I don’t even remember his name (OK, it’s Tommen — but I had to look it up). Likewise, don’t be fooled that you need to be a giant enterprise to have a full-blown corporate eLearning program. Sure, there are enterprise software solutions costing tens thousands of dollars, and there are others that can do the same things (or the 80% that matters to you) for a fraction of the cost. With an accessible and easy to use platform like TalentLMS, you need neither big bucks nor your own IT department (or expensive consultants) to deploy your own corporate eLearning courses. In fact, you don’t even need to install anything, it’s all waiting for you to create a new account in the Cloud. Conclusion So, here you have it, 5 pieces of Game of Thrones wisdom hastily (and frivolously) applied to corporate eLearning. 5 pieces of Game of Thrones wisdom hastily (and frivolously) applied to corporate eLearning.Click To Tweet Go ahead and brace yourselves, as season 6 is coming on April 24th. In the meantime, cook up some popcorn and take TalentLMS for a test drive. It’s the finest Cloud-based LMS on this side of the Wall. The post Game of Thrones as a parable for corporate eLearning [no spoilers] appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Slack seems to have been taking the corporate and startup collaboration world by storm in the past year or so. The popular communication and chat service for businesses has not only secured a huge installed user base, but is also already valuated in the billions (around 3 of them, to be exact). We even use it internally here at TalentLMS headquarters — which obviously is the ultimate seal of approval for any piece of software. Its success makes sense too. Compared to the awful legacy of bloated, slow and hard to use business collaboration tools, Slack is as lightweight and easy to use as Facebook or Twitter, with most of the features most teams need, and few that they might not. It even manages to instill a sense of playfulness to the whole office communication process too, with its funny emojis, reactions, custom startup messages, and the rest. And another trick up its sleeve is the ease with which it can integrate with other enterprise services, from a retail company’s CRM to an order fulfillment software, to an IT company’s source code repository system. Of course, your favorite eLearning management platform wouldn’t miss the party. Leveraging TalentLMS’ hooks to the meta-integration service Zapier, you can start integrating TalentLMS and Slack and have them exchange messages and chat up lines like old buddies in no time. Let’s see how… Zapier what? If you have already attempted integrating TalentLMS with a third party service, you’ve probably already made the acquaintance of Zapier. In that’s the case, you can skip this section. If you haven’t, then here’s all you need to know: Zapier is a "mediator", a third party Cloud-based service for easily connecting different platforms and have them work together. Zapier integrations work using the notion of triggers ("when this thing happens") and actions ("do that other thing"). When something happens on a piece of software (e.g. a user is added in TalentLMS) it "triggers" an "action" to another software (e.g. e.g. register the same user in Slack too). Such a combination of trigger and action is called a "Zap" in Zapier-speak. What’s best, you only have to write a trigger or an action once, and it will work with any software that sends compatible data (e.g. a TalentLMS "user added" trigger could invoke the same "add user" action in WordPress, Magento, ZenDesk, JIRA, Slack, and much more — Zapier offers integrations with 500+ apps). Slack features accessible through Zapier Slack offers the following triggers and actions: Slack Triggers: • New Message Posted Anywhere: Triggers when a new message is posted to any public channel. • New Message Posted to Channel: Triggers when a new message is posted to a specific channel you choose. • New Starred Message: Triggers when you star a message. • New Channel: Triggers whenever a new channel is created. • New User: Triggers when a new Slack user is created and first joins your organization. Slack Actions: • Send Channel Message: Post a new message to a specific channel. • Send Direct Message: Send a direct message to a user or yourself from the Slackbot. • Set Channel Topic: Sets the topic on a channel. • Create Channel: Creates a new channel • Send Private Channel Message: Post a new message to a private channel. • Find Message: Finds a Slack message using the Slack Search feature. • Find User by Email: Finds a user by matching against their email. • Find User by Name: Finds a user by matching against their real name. Example Slack and TalentLMS integration Integrating TalentLMS with Slack starts with triggers and actions - any matching ones can be integrated into TalentLMS. In this short guide we’re going to combine the "Course Completed (User Details) TalentLMS trigger with the "Send Channel Message" Slack action, so that when a user completes a course in TalentLMS, a message will be posted to a specific Slack channel. 1) In Zapier, create a new Zap and give it a name (e.g. "Slack/Zapier"). 2) Now you need to choose the trigger app. Start typing "TalentLMS" on the search bar, and choose "TalentLMS" from the options shown. 3) Now you need to choose the trigger itself. In this case, you shall pick the "Course Completed (User Details)" trigger — the one that is executed when a user you have specified by login/id completes a TalentLMS course. 4) If you have not already started integrating TalentLMS account with Zapier you will be asked to do so now. Provide the credentials required for your TalentLMS account to be connected. Your shall need your TalentLMS domain (the url of your  eLearning site) and API key. The latter can be found in  the Account & Settings > Basic settings > Security page (you could have also done this in advance from your "Connected Accounts" Zapier page). Once you have done so, you can test that you account is connected properly and you are ready to move on to the next step. 5) The next step would be to setup the user for whom you want to get their completed courses. Use the dropdown menu which gives your the option to select among your TalentLMS users. 6) Similarly to step (2), you now you need to select your action app — that app that will respond to the "Course Completed" TalentLMS event. In our case, this will be Slack. Start typing Slack… in the search bar, and select Slack from the options shown. 7) Now pick the Slack action you want to run. This will be "Send Channel Message" — the one that posts a new message to a specific Slack #channel you choose… 8) Similarly to how you authorized Zapier to connect to TalentLMS in step (4) you need to also authorize it to connect to your Slack account. Once you have done this, you can test that the connection was setup properly. 9) The final step is for helping Zapier translate the user information it gets from TalentLMS to the field names that Slack understands. Select the channel that you want your message to be posted in and also setup the message that you want to post. Assume a message like the following "User: Nick Smith (nicksmith) completed the course: Future Technologies". You can setup a template for these kind of messages similar to how it shows in the screenshot. And that’s it. You now have a working Slack to TalentLMS user account creation integration. Don’t be put off by the lengthy description above — it’s more verbose than difficult to follow. Test that you Zap works as it is supposed to: and finally give a name and set it on… That’s it. You’ve done it! Following the same trigger and action logic you can hook up any other functionality you want between Slack and TalentLMS (and the other way around of course, as TalentLMS is itself a trigger provider too). Conclusion In this post we had a look at look at the process of integrating TalentLMS with Slack, the increasingly popular (and fun to use) business collaboration platform. This, of course, is but one of the tons of integrations that TalentLMS offers, either natively, or through Zapier. If you haven’t yet, take TalentLMS for a test drive today and see how well our best-of-breed eLearning solution integrates with your training needs! The post Cutting some Slack - integrating TalentLMS with Slack to enhance team collaboration appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

How can eLearning developers create programs to satisfy the growing and unique needs of learners? Every year TalentLMS comes up with a revolutionary list of eLearning processes and procedures for eLearning development. Here are the latest and most popular eLearning trends! 1. Gamification The impact of gamification on eLearning still looks amazingly strong. Experts and mainstream learners can’t deny the success of gamification in enhancing human cognition. Game dynamics, when applied to non-gaming environments, bring about powerful results. Learners are being motivated and engaged through gamification well into 2016. Recall and application skills are also better than in gamified learning environments. For these fantastic reasons, we encourage eLearning developers to integrate gamification into their eLearning programs. Gamification is still the hot eLearning trend in 2016! Gamification is still the hot eLearning trend in 2016!Click To Tweet 2. mLearning No business is complete without a mobile app version of the website. This trend quickly paved its way into eLearning. The reason? Users are looking at mobile phones for all their computing needs. If your eLearning program is incompatible with mobile devices, you very well might be rendered out of the industry this year! Experts are predicting a heavier inclination towards mobile apps and mobile computing experiences in the upcoming years. mLearning literally places knowledge and information in the palm of the user, regardless of the place and time. This power is becoming easier to develop and even easier to achieve. Supporting applications that create HTML5 and other mobile-friendly outputs are widely available for all your interface experience design needs. eLearning will soon benefit the pre-existing location-based marketing technologies, QR codes, GPS and many others. mLearning is also the leading source of authentic learning experiences created through augmented learning. 3. Personalization Personalization is an eLearning trend we have devoted an entire article to. The main method to achieve customizable content is to produce independent chunks of learning. These can also be called micro learning units. They are portable and easy to assess. They can also be updated much faster than large volumes of eLearning programs. Personalization of material for learners can also be achieved by adjusting the pace of instruction, leveraging student interests, letting learners choose their own path and pace, and adjusting content presentation by choosing text, images or videos. 4. Adaptive and competency-based programs Adaptive and competency-based programs are not new to pedagogy. Remember those math placement tests in college? You solved math problems and, depending on your responses, the questions got increasingly challenging. When this concept is brought to eLearning, you have learners who are able to opt out of learning sections simply by testing. Employees love this feature. It helps them evaluate their current knowledge while keenly eyeing the upcoming information. A lot of time is saved by preventing employees to repeat themselves! Competency-based models are soon becoming the core of all organizational training programs. 5. Automation We are more used to the term rapid eLearning development. Seems like advances in rapid eLearning development have lead to the automation concept. The design time, cost and efforts are slashed down substantially. Automated technologies can curate assessment questions, exercises, tests, and several other course content elements. Instead of working on user experience and other aesthetic design details, eLearning developers are focusing on improving the quality of the content and linking content to context. Automation will soon create faster course authoring tools that are efficient and effective in presenting the content. They will also aid in preparing quicker assessments and other eLearning content. 6. Augmented learning Three years ago, when augmented learning was still in the air, it seemed like a magical technology! Imagine being able to experience an authentic vision, place or an environment. Immersive eLearning got even more immersive with augmented learning. Other examples of augmented learning include touch screens, voice recognition, and interaction where the learner draws down the required information in their chosen format, as needed. Augmented learning could top this list in 2017! Augmented learning could top this list in 2017!Click To Tweet 7. Big data The term "big data" is as big and humongous as it sounds. Given the exponential pace of information generated daily, big data continues to rise as a thing to look out for. Computing technologies like data analytics determine trends, patterns and associations between different data to yield meaningful information. Big data will soon aid eLearning developers to create better eLearning programs. And learner analysis will be more thorough than ever. 8. Cloud technology We had to mention "cloud technology", as much as we tried to avoid it in this list! The Cloud has prevailed over server-based applications. With the initial security and integrity concerns dampening away with time, Cloud tech is here to stay. Instant and scalable learning management systems can easily be set up using the Cloud. Course authoring and deployment tools are increasingly earning respect on the Cloud. The technology is simply getting more responsive, more user-friendly and agile with time. Cloud-based applications will only get better this year and in the upcoming years. 9. Corporate eLearning Employee development is the number one priority for growing companies. eLearning has proven to be the most cost-effective option for the employee learning needs. Moreover, ambitious adults look for professional development and growth opportunities provided by their companies. If they strike out, they are ready to move to companies that have similar learning values as them! Organizations also realize that innovation and creativity is fatally hindered if no learning and training intervention is available to employees. Moreover, companies know that external training developers can only guide the training department. The best eLearning programs are the ones produced (over time) within the company, by the employees and managers themselves! A plethora of smart learning strategies are available that are enabling employees to reduce training time and enhance performance. Businesses are working hard to achieve in-house training and eLearning development programs that will improve their KPIs. Corporate eLearning seems to be spreading across the eLearning horizon! eLearning trends come and go each year. But there are some that refuse to budge from the "popular" list. This simply means that these eLearning trends are working well with learners and eLearning developers need to polish these skills further. Some new educational technology tools have been entered the "popular" list; and while we have skeptics and naysayers to these eLearning trends, we also have a rising group of digital eLearners who are willing to adopt anything new and exciting. Whether the new ones will stay on the list or the old ones will go, only time will tell. The post 2016 - 9 Trends on the eLearning Landscape appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Colorado, or "the Centennial State", is known for its beautiful state parks, its fabulous mountains and ski slopes, being home to the Denver Broncos and the fictional (and, amusingly enough, the real) South Park, and for being the microbrewery capital of America. It’s also the state hosting this year’s Association for Talent Development (ATD) conference — the event you can’t afford to miss if you are interested in the latest developments in Talent Development. Which is exactly why Epignosis will be there, touting its wares, so to speak, discussing potential partnerships and collaboration deals, mingling with the industry’s best, keeping up to date with the latest innovations and trends in the field, and generally absorbing everything we can. The ATD 2016, like those before it, is organized by the eponymous Association for Talent Development, a professional membership organization that has been supporting knowledge and skills development businesses and professionals for over 70 years. This year’s ATD 2016 International Conference & Exposition brings together professionals from the Talent Development and eLearning industries with key decision makers and employee development stakeholders from the corporate world, attempting to offer an in-depth guide for the path to success in talent development and a clear outlook on what the future of the industry holds. With numerous keynote speeches, round-tables and learning sessions, participants will get the opportunity to share their experiences, discuss the industry’s present state and future goals, and learn about innovative tools and solutions for designing, delivering, implementing, and measuring the success of employee training and talent development programs. As for Epignosis, we’ll be there with, among the rest of our line-up, TalentLMS, the top and much-awarded Cloud learning management system. Beyond its now-renowned ease-of-use and streamlined features, this year we’re proud to bring with us our fresh mobile iOS app, with awesome micro-learning, micro-certification and offline features! But we’ve already spoken about that. Along for the ride, will be eFrontPro, our flagship enterprise Learning and Talent Development Platform geared towards large businesses with high user volumes and advanced customization requirements, and Snappico, a mobile app that builds on the intersection of micro-learning, gamification and infographics to provide bite-sized business training for the modern enterprise. If you’re attending this year’s ATD, come and say hi. We will be waiting for you at the Exhibit Hall, booth #1839. For more information on ATD 2016, visit the event’s page. The post Epignosis announces Bronze Sponsorship of the ATD 2016 Exposition appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

You’ve probably heard repeated at some time or another that there are three kinds of lies: "Lies, damned lies, and statistics". We beg to differ. There are at least half a dozen other kinds: PR spin, disinformation, trolling, superstition, urban legends, and, my pet peeve, myths. And we don’t mean "The 12 labors of Hercules" kind of myths, but rather those modern, widespread, but false beliefs that people keep repeating without bothering to check. We’ve busted some of those right here in this very blog (including The 10 most popular Cloud-computing myths, as well as Myths about Mobile Learning and Web Design). In this post we’re gonna examine and shoot down 5 pesky corporate eLearning myths. Hold on tight… eLearning Myth #1: Online training solutions are expensive and thus meant for big organizations There’s absolutely no reason for SMEs to be afraid of eLearning. The fact that Fortune 500 companies have adopted it wholeheartedly is not proof that it’s only for large enterprises — just that it is a mature and essential tool for modern businesses. Whereas cost could have legitimately been a concern in the past, it has been close to a decade now that effective eLearning solutions have been available and accessible to all budgets, big and small. What’s more, the flexibility, asynchronous nature and "create once / reuse as long as you want" nature of eLearning based training means that it can be much more cost-effective compared to traditional classroom based lectures and seminar programs — and cause much less disruption to your employees’ workflows, which again, saves you money. eLearning Myth #2: You need an IT department to deploy your own company-wide eLearning solution In 2000 maybe. But ever since the advent of Cloud-computing and Software as a Service (SaaS) eLearning solutions, even a small private company is able to take advantage of eLearning without requiring an IT department or complicated server installations and maintenance. With TalentLMS, for instance, all it takes are a few seconds to register for an account and you’re ready to create your own eLearning courses, or buy and offer ready-made, high quality courses to your employees. eLearning Myth #3: It takes a (costly) professional instructor to create a business training course Not really. Sure, you can potentially get the best results from a professional instructor — but that also comes with overhead of its own: besides their pay, you’ll have to spend time and resources to get them familiar with what exactly your employees need to learn. The thing is, you don’t have to have "the best" course — a good enough course is fairly easy enough to create, and will still have a great positive impact on your employees’ skills. In fact, a modern eLearning tool like TalentLMS will help you reuse all the existing content (like PowerPoint presentations and Word documents) that you’ve used in the past to informally train employees and turn them into full blown lessons, complete with multimedia, tests and everything. Plus, for common employee training topics (from ethics and harassment issues to financing and MS Office skills) there are plenty of professionally made courses that you can just buy, load on your LMS platform, and serve as part of your training program. eLearning Myth #4: eLearning is all automatic Ah, of all eLearning myths, this one is my favorite! Sure, eLearning automates a lot of stuff for you, compared to traditional classroom based learning: student management, grading, test creation, etc. But it’s by no means an automatic process. You will have to spend time to craft your courses. You will have to talk to your students and make adjustments. You will need to use the tools your LMS gives you, like reporting, to evaluate the success of your training program. And, at least at first, you will need to get employees on board, and motivate them, so that they start participating in your eLearning program and take their lessons seriously. eLearning Myth #5: Employees don’t like eLearning As with #3, this is again a half truth. The truth is that employees merely don’t like tedious eLearning programs, especially when they conflict with their work schedules. But there’s no need to make your courses tedious. And there’s no need to force your employees into a strict eLearning schedule — if anything, the ability for users to study when it’s most convenient for them is one of the most important features of eLearning compared to traditional learning. Giving your employees the opportunity to study at their own pace and at their own place (or commute), automatically ensures that they will prefer eLearning over any classroom based seminars where they’ll have to be dragged to at a specific time and listen to some boring lecture. Plus, modern LMS platforms allow you to incorporate multimedia, interactivity, and even gamification features, that make the learning process more fun and engaging. Conclusion In this post we had a look (or rather, tore apart) 5 common corporate eLearning myths. There are, of course, many more still, some related to general eLearning and others related to specific learning niches and activities (gamification, for example, has its own share of myths). That said, in future posts, we’ll be busting more of them, so stay tuned. The best recourse - well, second best compared to reading this blog -  when you hear statements such as the ones we’ve examined from colleagues or even eLearning industry pundits is taking them with a grain of salt and doing your own research as to their validity. The post Busting 5 Pesky Corporate eLearning Myths appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Your sales team carries a great deal of weight on their shoulders, especially if they are aspiring to be top earners who contribute to your bottom line. As such, they need access to effective online sales training materials that build essential skills and keep them informed about the latest and greatest products. In this article, I’ll share 5 online sales training mistakes that you should avoid in order to drive your sales to an all-time high. How To Avoid The 5 Common Online Sales Training Mistakes No matter how beneficial your products might be or how many resources you invest into your marketing plan, all will be for naught if your online training program is sub-par. You must ensure that your sales team has all of the skills, know-how, and experience they need to seal the deal, which hinges on the effectiveness of your online training courses. As sales training is always a top priority, here are 5 of the most common online sales training mistakes you should steer clear of, as well as ways that you can overcome them. 1. Using a "one size fits all" online sales training strategy Every employee has specific learning needs, goals, and preferences. So, it makes perfect sense that there is no "one size fits all" online sales training strategy that will work for your entire sales team. You must be ready and willing to research your employees’ background, experience, and knowledge base in order to develop a dynamic and personalized online sales training program that meets their needs. Even if you rely on eLearning templates, themes, and asset libraries to create your online sales training course, there should still be some level of customization involved, if you want to make it truly effective. Ideally, you will want to get feedback from your audience, speak with sales managers and supervisors, and meet with Subject Matter Experts who can help you create an engaging online sales training strategy. 2. Not addressing the benefits or applications of the online sales training Your sales team should be well aware of how they will be able to use the information or skills and the benefits that online sales training will bring. Otherwise, they may lack the motivation and drive that they need to actively participate in the online sales training experience. Before they even click on the first module make sure they know what is expected of them, the key takeaways involved, and what they are going to be doing with the information they acquire. For example, inform them that they will be learning how to complete a sales transaction using the POS system before they engage in a true-to-life simulation. Mention that the online activity will help them provide better customer service and increase their sales, due to the fact that they can complete a transaction from start to finish. Better yet, include gamification and scenarios that show them how the online sales training applies in real world settings. 3. Underestimating the importance of ongoing online sales training Online sales training is not a one-time thing that you should only offer to newcomers. Every member of your sales staff must receive ongoing online sales training in order to brush up on their skills and retain knowledge. Online sales training is not a one-time thing that you should only offer to newcomers.Click To Tweet Repetition is essential, as it gives them the chance to commit information to their long-term memory. As a result, they are able to recall important concepts and ideas when they need them the most, like when they are helping a customer. Ongoing online sales training also offers them the opportunity to build upon preexisting knowledge, so that it’s easier for them to absorb new information and add it to their mental schema. Host monthly online sales training events where sales employees can share their ideas, address their concerns, and ask questions. Integrate online activities that center on new procedures or products. 4. Focusing on products instead of skills Speaking of products, despite the fact that product knowledge is essential, it is just one piece of the puzzle. Your sales team might be well versed in all of your products and services. They might be able to highlight every feature or spec of a particular product line. But does all of this knowledge translate to actual sales? The simple truth is that your employees need to have the skills to sell your products to the customer. They must be able to communicate effectively, negotiate the details, and identify the needs of your customer base by actively listening. Simulations are a great tool for this purpose, as they give them the chance to interact with characters in a safe and supportive environment. Employees are able to learn more about the importance of body language and empathy, as well as other soft skills, by interacting with virtual customers. 5. Creating passive online sales training content Interactivity is the cornerstone of a successful online sales training program. To illustrate this point, consider these two online training activities: watching an eLearning video and participating in a branching scenario. While watching an eLearning video might be engaging and informative, it doesn’t give employees the power to interact and connect with the online sales training content. They are passive participants. An online sales training scenario, on the other hand, encourages them to dive into the subject matter and make choices that lead to realistic consequences. Interactivity is the cornerstone of a successful online sales training program.Click To Tweet Online discussions, group collaboration activities, webinars, simulations, and eLearning games are all perfect examples of interactive online content that you can use in your online sales training program. These online activities can also help to reduce corporate learner boredom and boost their motivation, thanks to the fact that the online sales training is more tactile and immersive. Keep this list of these top 5 online sales training mistakes on-hand when you’re developing your next online sales training course to create the best possible corporate eLearning experience. If you are ready to launch, then use it as a checklist to make sure that your sales staff gets all of the tools and resources they need to increase profits. Do you need to give your sales staff real world experience without exposing them to real world repercussions? Read the article Creating A Hands-On Online Training Demo: 3 Benefits And 5 Useful Tips, to discover a tool that can help you create an effective hands-on demonstration for your corporate learners. The post 5 Online Sales Training Mistakes To Avoid appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

It’s getting difficult to tell a fad from a genuine new development these days, but make no mistake: microlearning is here to stay. In fact, not only has it been gaining popularity in the eLearning world, but it’s also getting recognized as a valuable tool in traditional educational settings. Besides, far from a fad, microlearning is not even a new concept in the first place. Rather, it has been around for ages, helping learners learn smarter and save time by freeing them from having to re-learn familiar concepts. As an effective adult learning tool, it might just be the thing for the senior learners in your organization. You know, those who already possess plenty of knowledge and should now get their training on a need-to-learn basis. In this article, we’ll attempt to define microlearning and discuss the learning situations where design strategies based on its principles will increase efficiency. In educational technology jargon, microlearning is any brief and targeted learning object that spans between 3 to 6 minutes. Microlearning is any brief and targeted learning object that spans between 3 to 6 minutesClick To Tweet Those microlearning "nuggets" can be fragmented or stand alone, and they should be able to be referred to at anytime and by anyone — ideally by being available in a repository for quick access. Microlearning is focused on specific learning outcomes, and can be used as a part of formal training when quick references are appreciated by trainees. Microlearning is focused on specific learning outcomes and can be used as a part of formal trainingClick To Tweet So what does this do for a learner hunting for a "refresher" or a "quick revision"? It enables them to learn without browsing pages and pages of content. This is what makes microlearning a perfect fit for the knowledgeable and experienced employee who does not have the time to go through the entire course which they are already familiar with. If a microlearning option is available, they can simply access the topic of interest and achieve their learning goal within minutes. But how is that better than accessing a specific chapter directly from the full course? Glad that you asked. See, the trouble with most eLearning course chapters is that they usually build upon previous content or storyline. While this interconnectedness is fine when you’re going through the material, while completing a full course, it’s hardly the best option for a quick review. Why? Because the learner needs to start from the beginning to understand the scenarios and topics covered. Microlearning "nuggets" are created from the start with the intent to serve as complete, concise and short units, which are designed using rich media formats. Accessibility issues are also far less frequent in microlearning nuggets, allowing the learner to experience such sessions from any kind of device they prefer. In fact, mobile compatibility is one of the most significant points that microlearning design has to address, and that’s again something that’s extremely beneficial for adult learners. When adults return from work (and especially office work), they do not want to turn on their laptops. Instead, they tune into their smartphone or tablet, and if they are going to engage into any kind of learning, they want it to be quick, easy and entertaining. This kind of behavior is typical of the millennial generation that grew up with increasingly powerful mobile devices. And with the average human attention span dropping by 4 seconds since 2000 (down to 8 seconds according to a recent Microsoft study), microlearning strategies are only poised for greater adoption going forward. MicroLearning Applications in the Workplace As compared to educational institutions offering eLearning solutions, business learning solutions enjoy a greater degree of freedom towards learner-centric instruction design. Traditional learning environments in the education sector are rapidly being replaced by eLearning programs in the corporate sector, driven by the need for brisk professional growth. Longer courses, training sessions, workshops and hefty manuals are less preferred by employees. This does not imply that they do not want to attend training programs, but that they just opt for shorter learning surges and more control over their training regimes. These factors conspire to make microlearning a cheaper and more efficient method to fulfill the learning goals of employees. Let’s examine some popular applications for microlearning in the corporate learning environment. Convert Policies and Manuals into Interactive Videos Instead of having to plan and execute onboarding, offboarding or migration schemes for employees, which means having them go through hefty manuals and PDF’s, provide them with microlearning segments of the content. Create short interactive videos that are arranged chronologically, but as complete units. This way, instead of sitting through sessions of workshops, employees can simply experience them through their mobile devices, in their spare time. Empowering them within their convenience is definitely the way to go! And in order to confirm that learning did take place, embed these videos with quick quizzes, the responses to which can be stored in the corporate Learning Management System. Create a Taxonomy of Training Modules in the Corporate eLearning Library You have a plethora of learning materials that need to be consumed regularly by all employees. So, to make things easier, consider renaming them using key terminologies for efficient accessibility. Also, try to create complete and independent modules, and have them arranged in the library in alphabetical order. Each module should be searchable using at least five different keywords, and it should not be longer than 6 minutes. The shorter consumption time and the increased discoverability and ease of access will aid in the success of your eLearning program. Think about a newly promoted employee who needs a briefing on their new responsibilities. While a verbal briefing is a formality and useful for interpersonal relationships, a microlearning nugget can provide them with the knowledge needed to confidently take over their new job duties. Other Benefits of Microlearning Microlearning helps create a sense of autonomy in the employee. Microlearning helps create a sense of autonomy in the employee.Click To Tweet The fact that microlearning puts them in control while increasing their responsibility over their own training, along with the rapid learning capabilities it affords, can effectively change employees’ attitude and morale, which eventually fosters a positive workplace culture! Moreover, updating the content is faster and efficient with microlearning. Performance gaps are filled up quicker, so that there are fewer lapses in achieving the goals and objectives of a team. The motivation to learn and the faith in learning is restored, almost automatically. Shorter attention spans require shorter exposure to information, and this is what turns microlearning into an instant knowledge booster. A great way to relate with the microlearning strategy is to compare it with an individual’s general internet-based learning habits. Outside the workplace, we often find ourselves pondering over a question and searching for relevant videos or articles on the Internet. We love to learn in brief snippets, and go come back to go through the remaining content until we complete it. And that’s microlearning’s secret: it helps you create eLearning programs that are as compelling for the employee as they are for an individual outside the workplace. Our microsuggestion After reading through our arguably macro post, you should already have a good grasp of microlearning and the opportunities it affords for enterprise training and talent development. The next step would be trying microlearning in practice — and for that you’ll need the right tools. We suggest Snappico, Epignosis’ comprehensive microlearning solution that uses the established flash card metaphor to provide bite-sized training on your employee’s smartphones. Snappico comes complete with micro-assessments (for checking your learner’s progress under various compliance scenarios), a gamification engine (to increase engagement), and multimedia capabilities for filthy rich learning. Visit https://www.snappico.com/business/ to register and learn more about Snappico, and start microlearning today! The post What Is Microlearning And Why You Should Care appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

The boom in social media and the round-the-clock need to connect in communities is doing wonders for the eLearning industry. Social learning is an age-old learning and teaching strategy, backed by many cognitive scientists. While retouching social learning theories is a requirement for this article, we cannot overstate the benefits this effort can incur for training professionals. In this post, we uncover some social eLearning strategies that will help harness better engagement and involvement for your learners. Leveraging social learning with the eLearning content is the new norm of eLearning courses. Progressive organizations are keeping their employees engaged in training beyond the training hours! This has led to a positive growth in job performance. Social learning creates the much in-demand informal learning setting where learners can network, share, collaborate, and exchange ideas on problem-solving. Let’s examine some top benefits of social learning in organizations. What is Social Learning? Before we delve into the benefits of this type of learning, we need to understand what research in social learning tells us. Social learning theory: The social learning theorists Bandura and Walters have described this theory as follows: · Learning is not purely behavioral; rather, it is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context. This points to the learners’ preference to learn in groups. The interchange of knowledge and perspective creates new knowledge that is personal to the learner. · Learning can occur by observing a behavior and by observing the consequences of the behavior (vicarious reinforcement). · Learning involves observation, extraction of information from those observations, and making decisions about the performance of the behavior (observational learning or modeling). Thus, learning can occur without an observable change in behavior. · Reinforcement plays a role in learning, but is not entirely responsible for learning. · The learner is not a passive recipient of information. Cognition, environment, and behavior all mutually influence each other (reciprocal determinism). Why Social Learning? Social learning theories explain this form of learning as learning with and from others. This can happen through direct and indirect contact. Direct contact is, as we know, the face-to-face interaction between learners in a formal classroom setting or an informal on-the-job setting. Indirect contact is what we do on our social media like LinkedIn, Twitter, online course discussion boards, etc. If we observe closer, we can see some uncanny similarities between the way we meet physically with each other and the features available in social media to do the same. Think about the "poke" features, the "like" and other emotional gestures, the comments and the reactions available to us in various social media. And the list of physical interaction emulation keeps growing every day! Think about the standard communication and collaboration features in any social media like comments, posts, instant messaging, group discussion boards, wikis, video chats, and so on. Now think of the availability of these features in a Learning Management System. In order to have an authentic social learning experience, learning management systems are increasingly offering social capabilities. Learners are now able to share experiences and research new knowledge and combine the two in learning forums to create new knowledge for peers. Social learning leads to better learning and improved self-affirmation - a mandatory personality feature to maintain motivation. Social learning leads to better learning and improved self-affirmationClick To Tweet Knowledge repositories created within organizations are another great application of social learning. These repositories are created with experts talking to each other and novices asking experts questions. Effective organizational knowledge management stems from this type of learning. Such practices can only be perfected when learners are exposed to learning platforms in their eLearning training programs. How Social Learning Helps Let’s determine how social learning strategies will enhance your eLearning course objectives: The Learner Social learning is clearly the most widely used learning strategy in adult learners. As employees, we are more comfortable with the "watch and learn" job learning strategy. By sharing performance experiences, lessons learnt, possible solutions and creative ideas, we are able to gain a wider spectrum of knowledge. We also experience a greater control over our learning. Have you heard of the 70/20/10 ratio of learning and development used in training? 70 percent of our knowledge is derived directly from observing others during on-the-job scenarios. 20 percent of the learning is achieved through interactions. And only 10 percent from formal learning methods. What does that tell you about our basic learning preferences? Social learning is the natural way to learn. Social learning is the natural way to learn.Click To Tweet Think about fortifying your eLearning courses with multiple social interactions and group work opportunities. The Organization Organizations that learn together, grow together! Have you heard of "learning organizations"? It is a form of knowledge management in which employees undergo active and conscious conversations about their tasks and roles. Important information is documented and stored for later use. Learning and performance gaps are analyzed. New training programs are suggested. New product or service designs are suggested, best practices are implemented. All activities are performed and enhanced through social learning. A learning portal is the main hub to store all organizational learning activities. In fact, communities of practice are nothing but specialized social learning platforms that keep all employees involved, engaged and updated. Expert panels are also increasingly becoming the norm in organizations. Moreover, celebrity-guest lectures are enabling organizations to adopt even more progressive business practices. Providing social learning opportunities through the LMS features is not a new requirement of many organizations. Social communication features are increasingly being added to learning platforms to accommodate the learning needs of the digital consumers. The benefits of social learning outweigh any other learning strategy. So, it is only wise to invest in such learning practices to get more out of your eLearning investments.   The post The Social Learning Revolution in eLearning appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

A lot has been researched, said, done and written about improving user experience (UX) when interacting with a given interface. Seems like the standards for UX respond to the changing interface size and device-to-software compatibility. In the eLearning environment, we talk about the quality of learner experience when interacting with the online courses and training programs. In this article, we share the four most common principles to abide by when coming up with UX design for eLearning. The eLearning interface is like an artist’s canvas. As an eLearning developer, you have plenty of space to play with. Your interface design will directly influence the degree of interest and engagement of your learners. There are many ways to measure user experience quality, and UX quality depends on some common principles of interface design. But, before we examine the principles, defining user experience (UX) is in order. There are numerous definitions of user experience but the one below, specific to web design, incorporates key elements of the entire experience: "User experience (UX) is about how a person feels about using a system. User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction (HCI). It also covers a person’s perceptions of the practical aspects such as utility, ease of use and efficiency of the system. User experience is subjective in nature, because it is about an individual’s performance, feelings and thoughts about the system. User experience is dynamic, because it changes over time as the circumstances change." Four Principles to Boost UX Design for eLearning 1. Learner-Centered UX Design You may have heard and read the expression "learner-centered design" many times, but how many times have you seen it being implemented? Unfortunately, as eLearning developers we are more concerned about incorporating the latest widget or the latest feature in our eLearning programs. When designing a course site or an eLearning interface, always ask "how will the interface look to the learner? What are the different ways the learner will perceive the interface?" Design as a learner, not as an eLearning developer. It is very important to involve some representative learners in the early interface design phase. Design as a learner, not as an eLearning developerClick To Tweet 2. Predictability You may think a surprise here and there will keep things interesting and challenging for the learner. Our take on this notion: no! Predictability is probably one of the most under-utilized elements of UX design for eLearning. We are not just referring to the layout, theme and navigation. We are talking about the overall user interface structure. Specifically in terms of how the content is categorized, titled, labeled and/or placed within the course site. Unfortunately there is plenty of evidence of courses where the content is titled similarly and misleading to learners. Everyone should be able to predict the upcoming content. Similarly, referring to an assignment with unique names is strongly advised. Think about the same document posted in two or even three different places that is identical in content! Learners will automatically perceive the document as new or unique. How confusing!  The same goes for naming your chapter or topic tabs. Name them very economically. Self-descriptive is the key when naming tabs. The learner should be able to predict the content by reading the name of the tab. Save the learner time in figuring out your course site and structure by being predictable in all your courses. Learners need that time to do something equally predictable: learning. 3. The Learning White Space You will be amazed how white space improves learning efficiency by 20% and how much it can reduce cognitive overload. White space is a crucial part of any online user experience. This white space is between columns, text, images, and margins on the page, even space around headings. The white space serves as a visual relief to the learner. It makes the learner feel comfortable and at ease about the learning material, as opposed to being overwhelmed. The white space serves as a visual relief to the learner.Click To Tweet The key is to avoid using large volume of text. Break the space with an image or a tip for the learner. It is better to have a large volume of pages in your eLearning course with the appropriate white space, than to have a large volume of lines on a single page. 4. Minimalist Approach Minimize clutter. Resist the urge to decorate the learner interface. A good list is to avoid three or more colors and sizes in your font, and do not haphazardly place images. Photo size, quality, format and placement should offer uniformity too. A better design tip is to frame images with the same border throughout the course experience. Where necessary, offer a fine print caption "click to enlarge this image". The one word to arm yourself with? Avoid chaos! Just like a physical classroom needs to be neatly organized in order to enable maximum focus by learners, the online learning environment needs to be organized too. Keep the learner interface simple to keep them focused. Conclusion Designing an eLearning course with user experience in mind is increasingly becoming the norm. Accessibility, usability and user’s comfort are the goals of quality UX design. In an online learning environment, where engagement, motivation and trust are the main barriers to success, UX design for eLearning should take precedence before many other dimensions of a course. References Lin, D. Y. M. (2004). "Evaluating older adults’ retention in hypertext perusal: impacts of presentation media as a function of text topology." Computers in Human Behav The post 4 Tips to Boost User Experience (UX) Design for eLearning appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

The Waterfall Model is an age old instructional design strategy. It enables the eLearning development team to manage a large project efficiently. This is especially true for iterative design, where in-depth analysis and detailed planning is required. In this article, we will list the six steps of the Waterfall Model, and share its relevance to the instructional design process. The Waterfall Model is one of the best practices in project management strategies. The process is synchronous and follows a strict precision pattern. This is similar to the linear instruction design strategy that most eLearning developers prefer. Before entering your design phase into the Waterfall Model, you need to ensure that your learner analysis is complete. You have your content ready with the aid of the subject matter experts. You have already researched on the media types and variety to be included in your eLearning course. Once you have these initial tasks complete, you are ready to create your first prototype with the aid of the Waterfall Model. The Waterfall Model enables you to create learner-centered courses that eventually provide a greater ROI. Your development costs are also reduced dramatically. A great amount of time is devoted to pre-design activities. These include researching, planning activities and determining the organizational learning gaps. This gathers enough data for the eLearning course before the design phase is entered. When in the design phase, you simply need to fit the data into the relevant places. Revisions are less pervasive and mistakes are less drastic in this way. Another great benefit of the Waterfall Model is that it puts the entire development team on the same page. All members are in autonomous and coherent communication at all times. Training needs assessments and goals, this is the first step that is accomplished in a cohesive manner. Your management team or the client can confirm these goals before you begin the research and development steps. Once the game is on, all team members dig into their tasks and keep everyone regularly updated on their activities. For example, the SME can continue working on the content, while the user experience designers can create the format and the theme of the course. The SME can see their content displayed on a selection of formats. The team can also share the format and theme choices with the client. Once everyone is comfortable with the theme, the focus moves to the multimedia content. This smooth collaboration is perhaps the single most bestselling feature of the Waterfall Model. The Waterfall Model keeps all stakeholders in the loop so that there are no surprises for anyone. The Waterfall Model Steps for Instructional Design As you can see, the Waterfall Model approach is quite linear and synchronized. It helps keep things simple and moving in a flow. This gives your team a chance to work on every area of your eLearning project. Let’s take a closer look at the formal Waterfall Model steps for Instructional Design: 1. The Requirements Analysis: Learner Nowadays, the science of learner analytics is quickly taking center stage when determining learner characteristics. Learner analytics, along with surveys and questionnaires, will help your team determine learner preferences, style, competencies and needs. Training analysis must include the organization KPIs. 2. The Requirements Analysis: Knowledge The learner analysis will provide a concrete view of the current knowledge of the learners. It will also help you determine the difference between the organization’s knowledge needs and its current knowledge level. The content for the new training program needs to be comprised of this knowledge difference. 3. Content Development This is where the eLearning goals are developed. Assessment activities and points are conjoined with goals. And the content is developed using a range of multimedia options. The content needs to comply with the learning goals and the assessments items. 4. Content Design Limitations What barriers exist that will hinder the accomplishment of the knowledge goals of the new training program? Technology resources? SMEs? Lack of time or budget? Each barrier needs to be addressed as much as possible in order to achieve the eLearning program success. For example, schedules need to be reshuffled a bit to create more time for training. Senior managers need to be present as SMEs if no other choices are available, and so forth. 5. Prototyping and Testing Effectiveness tests are important to reduce the risk of any high-stakes project. In an eLearning project, create a prototype of a module. Test it with sample learners and focus groups, keeping meticulous notes on their feedback. Then apply necessary changes to the project and create another prototype to test again! 6. Deployment This step allows you to measure your ROI. It takes a complete learning cycle to measure its success. A learning cycle includes completing the course, passing the assessments, applying the learning to the performance context, evaluation of the performance and lastly, employee reflections. This involves a great deal of research, planning and revisions of the current program. 7. Iterative Maintenance Feedback received from focus groups and evaluations entered by line managers will help provide data for iterative maintenance. eLearning development is never complete. There is usually a next version that has rectified the limitations of the first one. The Waterfall Model provides plenty of opportunities for extended research and reflections. It is an excellent application of an iterative eLearning design approach. Use this article as a guide to re-examine your current instructional design and project management practices and add to them. Good luck! The post The Waterfall Model for Instructional Design appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

The best thing about creating eLearning software with ease of use and real customer needs as your priorities, is that you only get to work on substantial features. Whereas many software companies put out products and services meant to look good on comparison matrices, our releases aim to be immediately useful to our customers. It’s a "no fluff, just stuff" mentality that has served us well. Here we are again, then, ready to roll out another TalentLMS update chock-full of great new features — some big, others small, but all eminently usable. The flagship features of this release are: New infographic report Infographics came in fashion some time ago as a means of giving a lot of information in a visual, fun to read, and easy to comprehend way, and are frequently used by online news outlets to give an overview of complex stories and their related statistics. Now, with TalentLMS, you can have an infographic on your own eLearning portal that lets you view at a glance how your training activities (and/or business) are doing. Especially handy for downloading as an image and sharing with the stakeholders in your company. Learn how to generate your own infographic report here. Undelete for courses and users While TalentLMS did always warn you before letting you delete any course or user, sometimes you just weren’t paying attention. Or maybe you did want the deletion to happen at the time, but had second thoughts about it later on. Well, the new TalentLMS update’s got you covered. Our new undelete feature lets you restore any users or courses that you accidentally delete from now on. Just visit the extended timeline panel as an admin, and click the "Undo delete" option next to any delete event you wish to revoke (or check our useful mini guide on how to do it, here) (Note that you can only undelete the last 20 deleted users or courses). A 5-star ranking system for courses Course enrollment numbers can tell you a lot (well, provided that a course is not mandatory), but they are not the same as actual popularity.   Our new 5-star ranking system lets learners rank their favorite courses — handy for knowing which courses are hot in your eLearning portal, and for ordering popular courses based on user feedback. Find out how you can enable course ranking here! But wait, there’s even more awesome in the TalentLMS update! There are also a number of less headline-y features, which will still be super important to some of you depending on your workflows and use cases. Those include: - The ability to forward TinCan statements to an external LRS - Better support for multiple choice questions, including differentiating between multiple-choice questions with one and multiple correct answers and improved visual design - Revamped support for Mass Actions such as assignment of Courses to Users through a Group - Support for GoToTraining (building on our support for GoToMeeting & GoToWebinar) - Improvements to the Messaging system, especially for customers exchanging large amounts of messages - Ability to show Course fields on the course info screen - Timeline can now capture more information and metadata per event So there you have it, all the goodness we’ve packed in the TalentLMS update, you’ve already automagically received in one post. Nifty, eh? Stay tuned for more awesome news and insights from your favorite LMS, plus a surprise we’re excited about and will need your help with. Wanna know more? Patience, patience…   The post Fresh no-fluff, just-stuff TalentLMS update on the Cloud! appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

eLearning course facilitation is not an extension of a course developer’s job. Contrary to popular belief, instructional designers do not teach the courses they create. The reason being one and only: course facilitation is a complete field that requires training before practice. Course facilitators are increasing in number to meet the needs of hybrid and online training programs. However, the demands of live course facilitation differ from those of online courses. In this article we’ll talk about some cool eLearning course facilitation strategies to create efficient learning experiences. Pedagogy for the current digital environment has undergone a massive revolution. The use of productive technology that assists in mundane tasks has brought about this remarkable change in learning. In today’s learning environment, one cannot teach without having experience in the use of technology. Furthermore, it is a well-known fact that learners today are far more motivated and focused in their learning than the previous generations. Technology has broadened the scope as well as the application of learning.  But the widespread use of technology has created a gap between teaching strategy and the instruction that a learner expects. But what kind of technology is the learner expecting and how can course facilitators provide it? Learners are hard to attract and retain in an eLearning environment. The traditional environment uses various teaching aids like charts, graphs, or flash cards. eLearning courses, however, can do much better. The challenge here is not to create learning aids, but the level of interactivity achieved by them. This is especially true for instructor-led training programs (ILT). The eLearning course in this case is hybrid, and can be facilitated as synchronous or a live session. Both instances of an eLearning course utilize educational technology tools. If you are an online course facilitator, there are several ways you exercise effectiveness. eLearning course facilitation requires rigorous training before facilitators are ready to administer an eLearning course. Some of the strategies taught in such training programs are mentioned below. These will help boost your popularity among eLearners and the success of the eLearning course you are facilitating. 1. Independent Material One of the most popular preferences of online learners is access to external resources. The goal here is to replace the massive content with supplemental resources that are meant to be explored. Adult learners also enjoy "digging deeper" through an external link and extract supporting information. This strategy is akin to the browsing habits of today’s learners. With fewer boundaries around the course, learners will enjoy the freedom to learn as much as they need. Providing independent material is also a fun way to learn. Learners who are shy in participation will definitely find that this method works well for them. They will be able to provide more helpful links and opinions in the discussion board activities. 2. Embed Videos and Audios We know, we know. This has been one of the biggest overstatements of the eLearning industry! Embed more videos and audios. The truth of the matter is, these multimedia resources do help a lot! Imagine your learners driving or even cooking at home. They can easily turn on the audio podcast and enjoy listening to the content rather than reading it. Similarly, for more visual learners, videos are a great way to connect abstract ideas with concrete representations. So, if you have eLearning content that has minimal audio and video, conduct your own research. Start with the latest news based on the content. Any blogs that talk about the application of the content you are about to teach? Find a few multimedia resources and discuss with your eLearning team whether their placement is okay or not. Being proactive as a facilitator is a required skill to teach in the current digital learning environment. 3. Work-based Role Play Before you dismiss this idea as childish, we would like to explain it through. Role playing within a virtual classroom has purportedly created improved interest in (and awareness of) the content. The roles developed for an eLearning course need to be relatable with the learner’s work environment. The nature and challenges of the learner’s work context can be determined during the learner analysis phase of instruction design. The work scenario is demonstrated using relevant and culture-sensitive background images. The problems in the scenario are linked to the learning goals of the topic and are stated clearly. When the learner interacts with the scenario, they need to adopt a role. Based on the responsibilities of the role, the learner responds to the problems. This technique can be made as complex as the learner capabilities. Learners learn countless management, communication, decision making, critical thinking, analysis and even synthesis skills using this strategy. As a facilitator, you need to make sure that you understand the work-based issues of individual learners. This will help you assign roles accordingly. When learners realize the value of their learning in their performance context, they enjoy the learning session even more. And the credit goes to you, the course facilitator! 4. Participative Materials Real-time, two-way or one-on-one interaction does wonders for distance learners. As a facilitator, you have the use of multiple online collaboration tools. Be sure to engage with your learners using a variety of them. This will give you an idea of whether emails work best for this batch of learners, or online discussions or live groups chats for another. Another great way to facilitate tougher courses is to request learners to create their own rules of engagement. Once they create the course participation rules themselves, they are more likely to follow them. 5. Evaluation Tools The trend of using "emoticons" has invaded a multitude of mobile apps and online programs. Use the same for your course facilitation style as well as course content evaluation. Emoticons like happy face, angry face, confused face and even the "like" icon can be used to answer evaluation questions. For angry and confused faces, you can ask for a brief explanation. A light-hearted approach towards evaluation keeps things fun and casual. And remember, learners reveal more about themselves in a casual setting than in a formal one. Course facilitation - easy,  isn’t it? As eLearning developers strive to create learner-centered learning materials, course facilitators need to follow suit. Facilitators can work in collaboration with eLearning developers to offer experienced input on what the learners desire in a course. This field knowledge will aid the eLearning developer to create quality materials. Together they can produce impactful and effective learning experiences. The post Boosting Course Design: 5 Easy-to-Follow Course Facilitation Techniques appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

The ancient world had its myths. The medieval world had its legends and folklore. And our world, including the modern internet-based industries, has its share of myths, "old wives tales" and misinformation. Which is just as well, or else my myth-busting buddies and I would be out of a job. Fortunately, with the rate and breadth that misinformation spreads in the modern corporate learning industry, there are still hundreds of myths to bust. So let’s crack 5 insistent social learning myths, shall we? 1. Social learning is a new thing Social learning might be a lot of things but we can hardly call it new, and much less a "fad". It’s actually a decades-old theory based on the observation of a centuries-old practice. Social learning, as a pedagogical theory, has been brought forward by prominent 20th century teachers and psychologists, the most famous probably being Albert Bandura (of Stanford University). At its most basic, it is the idea that people learn through observing and interacting with others in a social context. But even before a formal study of social learning was put forward, people have been learning from others outside of a strict teacher-learner relationship for millennia, both in and out of school setting (at work, at play, at home, etc.). Social eLearning on the other hand is indeed new — I’ll give you that. But that’s just because eLearning itself is a new-ish development speaking in historical terms, or course. In technology years, which are even more condensed than "dog years", it’s a century or so old already. Where I’m getting with this is simple: social learning is not some passing fad, we’ve talked about this before. Rather, it has been part of the learning process since the beginning of education, and it will forever be a required part of its online counterpart (eLearning) too. At least as long as humans are "social animals" (Aristotle). 2. Social anything is a waste of time Another common misconception, not just about social learning, but about the online social experience in general. Many people observe that Facebook, Twitter and other prevalent social media, are used primarily for casual chatting, vacation photos, witty remarks, cat videos, trolling and the occasional "flame-war", deducing from this that any time spend on social media is time wasted. That is, to put it mildly, far from the truth. Let’s start with the obvious: social media vastly expand our social circles and thus the number and variety of people we interact with. Hidden among all the cat videos and vacation photos are all the little information exchanges (about culture, politics, technology, business, etc.) that happen all the time between us and our Facebook/Twitter/etc friends. Just 30 years ago, people rarely had the chance to casually engage in conversation with others, not just from out of town, but from other countries, cultures and ways of life — 24/7. This tremendously expanded our awareness and understanding of the "global village". And when it came to learning, people soon took advantage of social media to create "communities of interest" and ad-hoc schools, where they exchange information, knowledge and tips, and teach each other all kinds of things, from foreign languages and business skills to math and physics. And, of course, all these only pertain to casual social media sites. For Social Learning, in the context of an eLearning program, where the instructor plays an active role, and can help organize the social interaction towards a specific learning goal, the situation is extremely better. 3. Social Learning must involve Facebook, Twitter and the like… No, it does not. Again, where do people get those ideas? Sure, Facebook, Twitter and co are the biggest and most well known social networks. But social, whether it is "social media" or "social learning", describes a way of doing things — not a particular implementation or brand name. Social, whether it is social media or social learning, describes a way of doing things!Click To Tweet That said, a social learning program could definitely incorporate Facebook groups, Twitter messages or other well known social media services within its context. It’s a very good way to take advantage of existing, highly successful (and highly familiar) social networks, and ease learners in. But, as we said, it doesn’t have to. A custom social learning environment, one that only includes your students, is also a great way to add social learning capabilities to a learning program. It’s also more powerful and robust than depending on a third party social provider, because you can customize and extend it to fit your particular learning needs and expectations. 4. Social learning is for younger learners Sure, your kid or nephew can hammer 20 responses a minute on Twitter and Instagram and whatever else the youngsters use these days. And sure, kids, and especially teenagers and people in their early 20s, love their social media. They have literally grown up with these. But that doesn’t mean that social learning is only suitable for the younger demographic. People of any age can and do learn things socially — and people of any age can take advantage of social learning within an online learning program. Besides, do you see any shortage of 40 and 50 and 60-year-olds on Facebook or Twitter? Rather the opposite. So what makes you think that dealing with a social learning module in their eLearning portal will prove particularly challenging for them? 5. Social learning isn’t for businesses This is basically another variation of the "social anything is a waste of time" and "social learning is for kids" myths that we have already debunked. If you look back at the first myth we busted in this post, you’ll know why this is also false. Considering that the social element has been an indispensable part of learning since forever, it follows that it is also an indispensable part of business learning. Just a look at the business software market, by the way, would be enough to dispel this myth: both "social workspace" tools and "social learning" platforms have been adopted by the largest enterprises and organizations in the world. Why? Because they solve the very real problems of communication, collaboration and knowledge exchange within today’s dynamic work teams. Anyone who still maintains that social learning isn’t for businesses just hasn’t been paying attention. Conclusion So, here we are: 5 down, dozens more to go. That’s the hard and thankless job of the eLearning myth-buster. I sure hope that by reading this post you now have a better idea of the importance of social learning, and a clearer understanding of its role and origins. Stay tuned with this blog for more TalentLMS posts, eLearning industry news, and, of course, myth-busting. And with that, I’m off to post some videos of my cats on Facebook. The post Νot just cat videos: 5 Social Learning Myths appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Excellence in online teaching is not a permanent state - it is a condition that must be developed, nurtured, and sustained through proactive instructional strategies. At TalentLMS, we post a variety of progressive instructional strategy-related topics. We hope you are able to improve your training techniques and interact with your trainees better, and that these posts aid you in this endeavor. But an eLearning course experience is never complete without an open-minded mentor who strives to change according to their learners’ needs. That’s why in this article we’ll demonstrate eight ways for you to achieve online course mentoring excellence.  Planning the course mentoring activities is crucial before the start of the eLearning training session. How will you provide individual and group feedback? Do you have a reflections journal? How will you support individual difficulties? Do you have a co-mentor? Many similar questions are planned in the few days before the course launch. The goal is to mentor the current course better than the previous one. Trainees and online learners have higher expectations from an eLearning program than ever before. They want their new course to be interesting and the information provided to be new to them. Learners usually begin a course with a positive attitude, as a new course means a fresh beginning for them. They are also determined to do better than they did in their previous learning performances. The first few days of the course provide a wonderful opportunity for an instructor to engage the learners, connect them with each other and create an environment that is conducive to productive interactions. One of the main challenges faced in online training is the pressure to satisfy line managers. Both the trainer and the line manager are working towards performance objectives for the trainees. The goal is to spend some cost and time with experts and senior peers to share practical knowledge that can be applied right after the training program. For this purpose, trainers need to be in touch with line managers and experts to provide valuable feedback to trainees. Another common problem exists with learners who prefer to hide behind anonymity - the geographically dispersed learners who simply wish to complete the mandatory training program. So, how do trainers provide equal engagement and participation for all trainees? Let’s work our way through these eight best practices to online course mentoring excellence. 8 Ways to Achieve Online Course Mentoring Excellence Excellence is a continuous improvement act that effects every decision and action you make during your online teaching process. It is not a one-time act, but a process of effective training habits, developed over time. The challenge is to have learners benefit from your excellence. A well-balanced approach takes into account the organization’s standards, the learner’s needs and your own accountability towards for teaching/training. The following eight steps will enhance your approach towards excellence in online training:   1.    Dealing with Difficult Trainees Best practices indicate that when dealing with difficult trainees, the best way is not to try to improve a learner just in their educational capacity, but to transform them so that they become more cooperative. For example, if a learner contacts you and expresses themselves inappropriately, use this transforming opportunity to get to the heart of the matter. Trainees are sometimes frustrated with their work-life balance or achieving their learning outcome, or any other number of possible reasons. Maintaining your emotional intelligence is the key to developing a receptive attitude towards difficult trainees. This enables you to turn an interaction into a potentially productive conversation. Also, a conversation over the phone is more time-effective than a series of email exchanges.   2.    Getting to Know your Learners Avoid thinking of your eLearning sessions as a mass group of students. Instead, aim for personalization: treat each student individually, get to know them on a one-to-one basis. Have them post an introduction passage in which they describe their goals, dreams and aspirations. Create a reflections log, in which you are able to write at least one descriptive word about each learner. This will make your feedback and responses more individualized and personal. Learners will feel "heard" and will have more faith in your instructional strategies.   3.    Productive Relationships The development of positive relationships is the direct result of positive interactions. Positive interactions occur when learners see you as approachable and as available for assistance when they need it. Any extra efforts in communicating with trainees will help them see your personality, and leave them with a positive impression. You can accomplish this through multiple forms of contact. Convert your virtual connections into human-to-human interactions with your students by offering them help at all times.   4.    Professional Communication Only enter into a conversation from the perspective that will help you connect with the learner. Keep in mind that written communication can sometimes be misleading. The choice of words directly affects the tone of your message. Try to begin any message with a positive word that gives a welcoming feeling. Think of different interpretations when sending a message to the learner.  Use words that tell the learner that you are respectful, you are trying to help them and you are willing to provide specific details again (as opposed "see the agenda" statements). And always - always - follow up with learners who have unresolved issues.   5.    Trainer Credibility Credibility to train cannot be forced but, rather, it can only be demonstrated. In an eLearning environment, trainer credibility issues in the minds of the learners are even more important. Credibility is developed through one learner-to-mentor interaction at a time. As a leader in an eLearning session, learners think of you as a guide, as an expert and as a fair individual. Trainer/mentor behaviors like maintaining rules and being fair, understanding their needs, and being flexible whenever possible or warranted, boost credibility. It’s all about how learners perceive you. Are you approachable and available? Are you patient with persistent issues? Always remember, one negative interaction interrupts the series of positive interactions you have built with your learner. It’s all about how learners perceive you.Click To Tweet   6.    High Expectations from Learners Expecting high standards of excellence from yourself as a trainer and from your learners is equally important. This involves two major conducts that need to be adapted: being accountable for the quality of all work done in the eLearning session and establishing yourself as a role model/example for your learners. At the beginning of the course, let your learners know that you expect them to provide substantive work, be willing to learn and maintain organizational learning standards of excellence. To accomplish this goal you must do more than facilitate a class and check off each requirement -  you must also be open to following those same guidelines. But also, in order to achieve this goal, you as a trainer or course mentor should be able to accept constructive feedback from evaluations and adapt your strategies accordingly.   7.    Proactive Practices Excellent course mentoring and facilitation is all about observing learning behavior and deciding when to intervene and how much. In your eLearning sessions, you may have a learner who is falling off the radar, not participating in discussions, and/or not be completing their assignments. The best approach for this type of learner is to maintain contact attempts until they respond in some manner. This shows them that they are valued and you want to assist them. The idea behind this outreach is to get them back on track.   8.   A Support Structure Your aim is to train learners towards establishing lifelong learning habits and ultimately creating a learning organization. Describe how learning continuously leads to innovation. This value will not be overseen by many learners. Help them achieve a "growth mindset". Provide them information on upcoming eLearning programs. Prescribe additional resources and popular eLearning programs for their professional growth. Provide them with the feeling that you are available for support at all times. Help your learners achieve a "growth mindset"Click To Tweet   Every trainer or teacher aims to have learners grow and connect with the content matter - that’s course mentoring’s biggest reward. They all hope to have eLearning sessions full of engaged and involved learners who need very little direction. However, this is not possible all the time. Learners come with a wide range of developmental needs, experiences, interests, and varying levels of performance skill sets. Supporting the progress of learners with an open mind is one of the approaches towards excellence. We hope these eight steps have aided in your self-reflection and goal-setting towards improving the training practices for your organization. The post 8 Ways to Achieve eLearning Course Mentoring Excellence appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

What’s the difference between TalentLMS and Leonardo DiCaprio? Well, for one, we didn’t have to wait for decades, or get mauled by a bear on-screen, to get our awards. Rather the opposite: from its early days, TalentLMS has garnered great reviews from eLearning industry outlets, enthusiastic comments from its users, and its share of major and minor awards. And it has done particularly well in this regard last week, as we amassed not one, not two, but three awards (plus several distinctions). At the Cloudswave Awards, which consist of a seasonal ranking of the Top 10 business applications across several categories, TalentLMS made quite an impression, ranking as the second best Learning Management System for the spring quarter of 2016, and as the Best Training Software for the same period. And that’s not just the opinion of some editor at Cloudswave — it represents the weighted average score of 20 critic reviews (which are all accessible from their overall assessment page). Some of our favorite reviews, if we are allowed to boast a little, include: "We’ve been using TalentLMS for a couple of years now to handle developer certifications for people using the Telerik products. TalentLMS has met all our needs, but what we’ve been most fascinated with is their level of support." Lidiya Petkova, Sitefinity Partner Channel Development at Telerik "With TalentLMS we have been able to succeed in one of the most challenging projects for us. As we grow and have presence in several countries, making sure that all of our teams are properly trained and updated is critical. TalentLMS helped us make this happen by enabling an easy and fast way to implement our learning model globally." Carlos Molina VP of Operations and Innovation, IZO "We are offering live, blended and on-line trainings for managers and business analysts (courses: EU project management, Business Process Management, Social Responsibility Management,…). TalentLMS platform offers simplicity, ease of use for admins, instructors and learners. We have received many positive feedbacks from users about ease of use of the learning platform." Tomislav Rozman, Entrepreneur, expert in Business Process Management and IT And to complete the trifecta, we have financesonline.com’s acknowledgment of TalentLMS as the recipient of their "Best LMS Software Award" for 2016". As they put it, "[their] experts did an extensive study of all major LMS solutions currently available on the market and after analyzing their features, pricing plans, support quality, integrations, mobile support capabilities and other factors we know are important to users we found TalentLMS to be the best option available." But that’s not the end of it — TalentLMS also got financesonline.com’s "Supreme Software Award for 2016", "Expert’s Choice Award for 2016", and "Great User Experience Award" for their Learning Management System category (though, unlike the "Best LMS Software Award", those are shared between top performing software in all categories). Of course, we won’t be resting on our laurels — while you all will be enjoying your summer holidays, the TalentLMS team will be working to bring you several new features, enhancements and general awesomeness in our next update release. Oh, and there’s also something brewing for TalentLMS users on the Android platform. But we’ll get to that in an upcoming post… The post TalentLMS rakes in awards - 2016 edition appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Casinos are not just fun and games. Or rather they are (as long as one takes to gambling responsibly) — but they’re also a very serious business. And as such, they have intensive training needs. In the US alone, the casino industry rakes in around 240 billion dollars to the economy and employs over 700 thousand people. As for international revenues, those are equally impressive, with more than a third of them coming from casino gambling specifically. And while gambling remains a controversial subject, since it’s possible to turn into a dangerous addiction for some people, modern casinos have also expanded their offerings, trying to be more about the hospitality and entertainment opportunities, rather than just card games and roulette tables. Operating a modern casino can be more challenging than running most other kinds of big enterprises. It combines elements of the hospitality industry (a casino is also a big hotel), the entertainment industry (a casino is also a big theme park), the retail industry (modern casinos host numerous shops and retail outlets), and even the finance industry (having to deal with huge sums of money). There’s also the issue of educating employees about all the ethical, legal and other issues associated with gaming and the handling of large amounts of money — which includes a lot of state mandated compliance training. eLearning can be a game changer that enables a scalable, cost effective, and flexible solutions for the complex training demands of the casino industry. Let’s see how. Employee orientation Even in places like Las Vegas, where the lights are on all year around, casino activity is usually quite seasonal, with peak seasons alternating with less busy periods. That’s especially true for the modern family oriented casinos that combine gambling with a more conventional vacationing element, and are thus subject to the seasonality of family vacations. Seasonality, of course, implies temp workers and periodic hiring sprees, which in turn imply the need for frequent orientation (onboarding) courses for new employees. Automating employee orientation with an eLearning management platform like TalentLMS will let you scale up onboarding, on demand, without the traditional delay and overhead associated with in-person onboarding courses. TalentLMS can help you introduce your new hires to their working environment and give them the information they need to start being productive right away, including all the details about your company’s operating procedures, policies and guidelines. Creating your orientation material is easy too, using TalentLMS’ content creation tools to combine new and original material with existing content you might have — including Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, video, audio, images, PDFs, online content, and more. TalentLMS will make sure everything you throw in is automatically converted and LMS compatible (courtesy of our proprietary EncodeMagic engine) and help you organize it all into courses and lessons. Oh, and because TalentLMS is not just a content management system, your orientation material can also include tests and quizzes to help you access your employees understanding of their onboarding material. Training With tens of different facilities, from game rooms, restaurants, concert halls and retail outlets down to logistics and accounting, and thousands of employees, staff training in the modern casino industry is no game. Staff training in the modern casino industry is no game.Click To Tweet An intuitive eLearning platform like TalentLMS, built for (and used by) the most demanding enterprises and organizations, can help you manage it all with ease. First of all, there’s no install required. TalentLMS runs on the Cloud as a modern Software as a Service (SaaS) solution — you just open an account for your casino or gambling business and start adding learners and training material. How’s that for easy? When it comes to managing and organizing training among dozens of facilities and specialties and thousands of employees, TalentLMS offers you all the tools to do so — from Branches, that let you have a separately run, customized and branded training portal per department or facility, to User Types and Course Categories that give you a totally flexible "divide and conquer" approach to managing your learners and content respectively. To not disrupt your regular (and often hectic) workflows, TalentLMS allows your employees to complete their training at their own pace, thus minimizing operation disruptions. That said, if the need for real-time, in-person training arises, TalentLMS can handle that too, either by helping you manage your physical training courses (in a "blended learning" scenario) or through scheduled teleconference and webinar sessions. Last, but not least, with TalentLMS’ reporting tools, you also get instant insight, quantifiable information and detailed statistics on your employees’ attendance and progress, complete with pretty graphs to show to your boss. Compliance and Social Responsibility training Correctly implementing compliance and social responsibility training is a big headache for the casino industry. From international regulations (e.g. with respect to money laundering), to state and municipal compliance requirements, there is tons of material to go through, covering all kinds of operating procedures. With TalentLMS you can easily design, implement and deliver a comprehensive compliance training strategy that covers all aspects of your casino business. At the center of the platform’s compliance training workflow is its built-in support for Certificates, which can be set to be awarded upon the completion of a compliance course (or course curriculum, where compliance requires more than one related course). TalentLMS let’s you create and customize as many certifications you need, and even allows you to add your logo to match your corporate branding. TalentLMS also supports "time-limited" (expiring) certificates, for easily handling state-or company-regulated periodic re-education needs. Of course, for cases where an employee is fired or under examination for wrongdoing, you can manually revoke their certificate from within TalentLMS’ management interface. And with access to several online course marketplaces, you might find that you don’t even need to create your own compliance training courses, as a lot of industry standard ones are already offered as professionally-made, off-the-shelf content that you can just purchase and add to your LMS. Last, but not least, TalentLMS’ attendance logs - which you can find in your "Extended Timeline" that can be accessed through your Admin Panel - can also serve as proof that you have informed your employees about labor safety, customer protection laws, gambling rules, sexual harassment issues, ethical issues, etc., in case of legal dispute (of course, consult with your legal team first to ensure whether this applies to your jurisdiction). Knowledge retention A sustainable business, in the casino industry or otherwise, is a long bet. But what happens when employees come and go, taking valuable operational intelligence with them? Whether it is about how to handle some specific large clients, or what to do to solve a particular logistical crisis, TalentLMS can help you transfer this information from your senior employees experience to your LMS content. By storing this information in a formalized and easily accessible way, you can keep it safe from changes in your personnel and ready to be accessed and consulted at any time. Plus, after it’s safely stored inside your LMS, it can re-used in all kinds of training contexts and become part of your regular training curriculum. Bet on an industry leading LMS Take TalentLMS for a test drive today, and see for yourself how eLearning can help boost your employees’ skills and improve the productivity of your business. No luck required. The post eLearning for the Casino Industry with TalentLMS appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

We have always been strong believers in the web, and in the freedom that web apps give users. The freedom of rich cross-platform applications, that are low maintenance and accessible from every device with a browser. And we’ve shown our support for this philosophy with all our products. Just like the web, though, mobile devices and native mobile apps are here to stay too. And while we’ve always offered first-class mobile web access to TalentLMS (courtesy of a fully responsive user interface), we’ve found that a native mobile application can have several advantages over this approach. Part of it is because mobile web browsers still have a lot of catching up to do. Running on devices with less memory and slower CPUs, and supporting fewer HTML5 APIs, mobile web apps just don’t offer the same speed and experience as their desktop counterparts. Sure, for most mobile web applications it’s good enough. But for the TalentLMS team, good enough have never been enough. That’s why investing in TalentLMS’ mobile experience and offering a fully native version of your favorite corporate LMS is part of our vision for the future of the platform. We have already delivered on this vision for our iOS customers a few months ago. Now, the time has finally come for our Android-using brothers and sisters to share in on the excitement. It’s not that we neglected your favorite mobile platform either (after all, a ton of us here are hardcore Android fans too). We have actually been working on TalentLMS for Android from the start — we just needed more time to get it to work because of all the different Android devices and configurations out there. It’s a slight drawback from having so many choices in the Android world. Whereas we had to test at most 10 different iOS devices (and all made by the same company and with similar specs), there are literally hundreds of Android devices and several OEM customized versions of the Android OS to test on. Not that this would prevent our Chuck Norris-caliber mobile developers from delivering the goods — it just delayed them a little. We’re almost done however, and TalentLMS for Android is coming along nicely. So nicely, in fact, that we have already been beta testing the application in our labs, and we’re ready to bring in the best beta testers we know: actual TalentLMS users. Just sign up here and you’ll get access to beta releases of TalentLMS for Android before everybody else. If you are a TalentLMS customer, you are more than welcome to join the public beta test program and help us squash any potential issues from TalentLMS for Android! The beta testing program is for TalentLMS users only, but if you are not one, you can always sign up for a TalentLMS account here. We are very excited with how TalentLMS for Android turned out, and we are certain that you will be too when you get to play with it, whether as part of the beta program or after its official release. It is due to our commitment to usability and perfecting User Experience that we ask for your help with this, and hope it’s not an imposition but rather, an exciting glimpse into a new part of our joint eLearning lives. We want to give you the features you need, so take our TalentLMS for Android app for a spin and let us know what you think! The post TalentLMS for Android is finally arriving. Help us test it! appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

I find that influencing UP is the most nerve-racking. If you really can't figure out what your leader is thinking, consider this basic list. In the second column give yourself a rating on how well you think your leader sees you performing in this capacity. Brainstorm steps you can take in the third column to improve your ongoing relationship. Implement them by adding them to your calendar.

A very successful CIO took a new prestigious job in a health related company. His experience was impressive and fit well with the goals and challenges of the business. There were only three direct reports who had been running the organization while the job search was underway. None had the breadth of leadership experience to step in to the role and two were set to retire soon. IT played a critical role in the aggressive business growth strategy. In less than a month, the CIO confessed to me that one of these direct reports refused to come to his meetings. This stunned me. Before the year was out, the new CIO took an offer and retired. Clearly, this turmoil will have an expensive impact on the business strategy.  Emotional Intelligence plays a significant role in all of these tales. When fearful, the reptilian brain is engaged. At that point, your brain / body can only implement fight, flight or freeze. It's not a choice, it's an automatic response. Clearly the fight response was being implemented by the leader not attending the meetings. When this continued to occur, the Sheldon group was solidified. If you do not have the authority to hold people accountable, don't take the leadership job. If you are a leader, part of your job is to make your boss look good. As leaders, we are each responsible for aligning our staff to the needs of the organization. It is not the job of one person.  

A small telecomm company was growing quickly. Being small, they depended heavily on one highly technical resource to keep the technology needed optimized. Little by little, this resource became King Sheldon. No decision could be made in the company without his approval. He held the entire business hostage by convincing them that he was the only one in the world that had the expertise to keep the network running. His job was not in leadership, yet he essentially ran the company. The CEO spent less and less time at the office. The turnover of employees increased. Eventually, they business failed.  As a side note, see that the Death Star graphic was part of an actual article in CIO. It is a comical piece, but aren't there more business value oriented things to talk about? Please don't block my cell phone signal.