Like many other entrepreneurs, Miki Agrawal starts companies based on her needs and the needs of those she cares about. When she sees an unmet need, she fills it. In 2005, when her twin sister, Radha, had one of those embarrassing moments during a three-legged race at a family barbecue — she got her period and soiled her bathing suit — Miki and Radha had an "aha" moment. With all the innovation in the world, there had to be a better way. Miki’s second "aha" moment happened when she asked a school-aged girl in South Africa why she wasn’t in school. The girl’s response: "It’s my week of shame." The girl had tried rags, leaves, mattress filling, and mud, but nothing worked. So, once a month for a week, she stayed home from school, just like 100 million other girls in developing countries around the world. Read all of Changing The World One Period At A Time on Forbes.com.

by Maria Teresa Alzuru and Matthea Marquart, EDUCAUSE Review Students preparing to take online courses anticipated gaining professional skills in addition to their online learning of the course content. A survey of the marketable skills students wanted to obtain found that 38 percent chose all 10 of the professional options offered as possible answers. The top [...]

by Sherree Geyer, Healthcare IT News Hospitals that leverage online learning to reduce the cost of continuing education requirements may experience a bonus: lower lengths of stay, reduced readmissions and improved quality indicators. So says Teresa Fugate, a case management consultant who credits online learning tools with lower lengths of stay at Knoxville, Tenn.-based Covenant Health, [...]

by Kaila White, The Republic A new free, public online class from Arizona State University can up your skills in skepticism, "BS detection," fact-checking your friends and not embarrassing yourself by sharing fake information on social media. "Media LIT: Overcoming Information Overload" is ASU’s first public, free online course. More than 3,000 people from 126 countries [...]

It’s Live…Online and Free! Join the Conversation at Blackboard’s New Live-Streaming Education EventToday’s college campuses and students are different. Let’s talk about it.Register today for this free 4-day online event and join the conversation with 2,500+ educators campus administrators, students and thought leaders from around the globe—as they explore the many changes and challenges impacting higher education, listen to leading voices share their fresh perspectives, and discover innovations that are advancing the future of teaching and learning.  Mix and Match to Create your Perfect Live-Streaming Schedule5 Keynote speakers  Live streaming and interactive chat throughout the program  On demand case studies, session replays, and product roadmaps  5 education tracks:  +  Today’s Learners +  Higher Education +  Professional Education +  K-12 +  DevConSee Full Program Register Today For This Can't Miss Online Event JULY 20-23 

It’s no secret that we live in a multi-device world. Google was one of the first to talk about this in its 2012 report titled ‘The Multi Screen World’. However, since the publishing of the Google report, the world has changed quite a bit. Let’s have a look at 3 key trends that indicate this […]

This article aims to give some information about 5 eLearning platforms and the top strengths of each from an affiliate's point of view. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Over the last decade, technology-aided learning is being adopted for corporate learning for different learning needs and varying audiences. This is opening up the limits of a classroom-only approach. Gone are the days when training would be limited by distance and cost. Employees can now avail multiple learning modules every day to enhance their learning. Though online learning is certainly.... Continue Reading

Organizations are alive when people can exert their autonomy in ethical practice. This aligns with self-determination theory, which puts forward three basic needs for people: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Even progressive organizations often miss out on the latter, described by the authors as an, "inherent tendency toward growth development and integrated functioning". It takes more... Read more »

Joint solution will expand Bloomfire’s global footprint and provide GP Strategies’ customers enhanced access to learning and development resources AUSTIN, Texas and COLUMBIA, Md. - July 15, 2015 - Bloomfire and GP Strategies Corporation today announced a global partnership agreement … The post Bloomfire and GP Strategies Sign Global Partnership Agreement appeared first on Bloomfire.

With the summer break already in full swing for some people, it can be easy for thoughts to drift to relaxing and having a bit of a break for studying. However, the thought of returning to education can never be too far from your mind, especially with shops already stocking... Read More

EeL 2015 is organized by the Global Science and Technology Forum (GSTF) and will be held at the Chatrium Hotel Riverside Bangkok (Thailand) on September 14-15, 2015. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

There are 4 distinct models of online learning in higher education: for-credit, research, pre-matriculation, and post-graduation. We researched the activities of 136 U.S. educational institutions, determined the relative frequency of the different models, and analyzed the results by funding source (public vs. private), enrollment, and endowment size. The results indicated that while two of the models are fairly broadly implemented, significant opportunities remain across all institution types in the other two models for differentiation and revenue generation. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Andrew Wright founded of the Worldwide Intranet Challenge, a free global intranet benchmarking service. His expertise is in SharePoint, intranet optimization, knowledge management, information architecture, user adoption, change management, process analysis, and business analysis.  What, in your opinion, is the … The post Meet Andrew Wright, Worldwide Intranet Challenge Founder appeared first on Bloomfire.

So you head the Learning and Development function at your organization. Or wait, maybe you are involved in Talent Management. Whatever your role be out of these, I am sure what takes up most (or at least half) of your time is, finding out ways and means to train your employees on existing and sometimes new processes, policies or technologies. You come up with the fanciest of ideas but all of it generally boils down to resource constraints, both human and financial or some cliched’ in-person, classroom kind of training sessions (Trust me; your employees are tired of them). You are constantly thinking about tackling this issue. Ever considered moving to online learning? There are multiple benefits that online can offer over traditional corporate learning media:Self Paced - Your employees would really appreciate if they can take a course at their own pace. Not everybody is the same when it comes to the ability of grasping new stuff. Talking of a personal example here, I am comparatively slower at understanding new tools than one of my peers at work. It’s always easier not to be with him in the same class when taking a course/training together. If my learning media is self paced, I can decide when to take up a particular module, or an assessment or when to undergo certification. I don’t have to rush up or drag through my learning process. Reduced Training Costs - Studies show that online trainings are generally more cost effective than the traditional training media. You save on the costs of hiring and involving a trainer/facilitator time and over again. Plus, operational costs like printing and travel go down drastically. Of course, there are costs involved in creating an eLearning course and maintaining the eLearning setup but they are miniscule compared to the traditional approaches. Some online learning platforms like Udemy, Lynda and Courseraeven offer ready to use courses (many of them for free). Go ahead and evaluate some of them.Easier Access and Quicker Deployment of Updates - Deploying updates is super fast when it comes to online learning. I have an example from my own workplace. When our Human Resources (HR) department launched their sexual harassment policy (I am talking of about three years back), they had classroom sessions for all employees in batches, where they informed everyone about the policy and the implications it would have. It took about three months for all employees to attend the session and some employees still missed it because they were busy, unavailable, or travelling. Recently, the same policy was updated with some additional clauses. With an online portal now in place, this time the HR team created a short course on Sexual Harassment and also added an assessment at the end of it. The course was uploaded on the company LMS and was made mandatory. All of us took the course when we could and the assessment ensured that we understood and recalled all significant implications. Easier and smarter! Isn’t it? No dependencies, No hassles, and yet everything was available at our fingertips (Literally).  Simplified Logistics - Physical training sessions generally lead to complicated logistics. Sometimes, organizing multiple training sessions can be the biggest roadblock in the efficiency of a training program. With online trainings, there are no such logistics involved. Training material can just be distributed in a click and even resources do not need to travel.  Double benefit you see!Improved Feedback - Collecting feedback in physical training sessions is always cumbersome. And it is difficult to find out if you have missed someone. Online training environments allow you to gather statistics about employee performance via assessments, quizzes and tests which are logged in to the LMS. Not only assessments and quizzes, with xAPI tracing, now you can also find out which sections of trainings are being skipped or are being focused on by employees. It can help you re-design trainings effectively. Employees also get a fair idea of their performance and generally strive to improve it.Increased Effectiveness - A nine-year survey of the research literature in training published by Fletcher and Tobias in ‘Training and Retraining’, commissioned by the American Psychological Society, and published in 2000, concluded that: ‘Learners learn more using computer-based instruction than they do with conventional ways of teaching, as measured by higher post-treatment test scores.’ Specific studies from Fletcher (1999), Kulik (1994), Willett, Yamashita & Anderson (1983) all confirm that learners learn more using computer-based instruction than they do through traditional classroom methods. Online learning can often prove to be more effective than traditional learning because of its individualized nature. Also, a simple fact that rather than being one of the twenty others sitting through the training and sharing a single conference room, you have direct access to your instructor via a single click; can be a great advantage. Online settings can also help reduce social inhibitions that some employees suffer from. Factors like immediate feedback and self paced learning can also contribute to increased effectiveness. All these benefits do not rule out the fact that any in-person approach would always be more personal and sometimes even more effective than online. The idea is not to disregard one approach over the other, the point is that we need to focus on the need of the hour and move in a direction that is beneficial for organizations as well as employees. By recognizing the benefits and value of online learning, you are not only going to help your organization grow, you will also support your most important asset - your employees, by giving them what they need and that too, whenever they need. Brace yourself and get going! Learning is a never ending process.References:http://www.fastrak-consulting.co.uk/tactix/Features/perspectives/perspectives.htmhttp://www.kineo.com/resources/new-to-elearning/the-benefits-of-elearning

I've launched a few LMSs in my career.  And I've heard about many, many, more implementations. In my early days you really had no choice but to spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions, on a hardware/software solution supported by your internal IT department. But that all changed with cloud technologies and the massive shift […] The post 2 Strategies for Launching Your New SaaS Learning Management System appeared first on Litmos.

Once you have created your Moodle course the next step is to enroll your learners into that course! The following instructions are for manual Moodle enrolments.

I read a really interesting article recently from Chief Learning Officer (CLO) about minions. You know, those little yellow guys with the weird overalls and obnoxious, yet cute laughs. Even if you don’t have children, you can’t get away from advertisements featuring these minions. They are everywhere—on billboards, in television commercials, on t-shirts, and in CLO articles. So why is a respected learning organization like CLO writing about an animated children’s movie character? It’s all in the name of engagement. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

 By Carrie Zens, Director of Marketing The countdown has begun and the anticipation is building. Co-located with Training magazine's Online Learning Conference, The Allen Experience is our exclusive and premiere workshop event—and it's an unbeatable value at $395! So, here are 6 reasons why you should consider attending The Allen Experience, October 6th, in Denver!

From DSC: The phenomenon I’m thinking about are: We in higher education are so peer-oriented that we don’t lead.  That is, if our peers would do X, then we could do X.  But if they aren’t doing it, we can’t or shouldn’t do it either.  As Barnds says in his article below, "We continue to […]

I am super excited to be joining the OpenSesame team. I have a passion for channels and partnerships in general, and bring over 15 years experience building and managing partnerships in the Human Capital Management (HCM) industry. OpenSesame has such a great product with huge potential. When I’m not helping our partners leverage the value of OpenSesame's eLearning marketplace, I keep busy in the garden, enjoying music, and staying active with my family. OpenSesameView the discussion thread.

The Pew Research Center’s unit studying the internet and society began systematically measuring internet adoption among Americans in 2000. Since then, Pew Research has conducted 97 national surveys of adults that have documented how the internet has become an integral part of everyday life across diverse parts of society. Pew Research Center

Opinion: Apple and IBM have big data plans for education— from computerworld.com by Jonny Evans Apple and IBM are developing solutions that underpin a future of personalized mobile learning that lasts a lifetime. Excerpt: Apple and IBM have been developing the "Student Achievement App" for several months and this is due to enter real world […]

Julie Petersen is a tutor and a blogger who features th […]The post How to Boost eLearning Productivity with 10 EdTech Online Tools appeared first on eLearning Brothers.