Recognizing Unconscious Bias Bypassing rational and logical thinking, we rapidly sort people into groups, thinking we are using these processes effectively and often calling them "intuition." However, the categories we use to sort people are not actually logical and perhaps not even legal. Our brains - without our permission -take us to the brink of very poor decision making and bias. With so much information to process each day, it’s quite natural that we rely on stereotypes - or groupings - as shortcuts to help us make faster decisions. For example, while search firms are not given "tall" as a criteria for hiring a company’s CEO, (and less than 15 percent of American men are over six feet), almost 60 percent of male corporate CEOs are over six feet. (Similar patterns are true for generals and admirals, and even for U.S. presidents.) The challenges to change a culture that promotes bias can be daunting. First, it takes a commitment to be aware that there are widespread assumptions, patterns and norms that exert enormous influence over our decisions, choices and behaviors. These can perpetuate the status quo, keep old stereotypes alive, and be an obstacle for individuals to change their own behavior - even people who would like to do so. 10 Ways to Reduce Bias in the Workplace Recognize that we’re all human beings and that our brains make mistakes. Simply being aware of unconscious bias can immediately start to reduce our reliance on generalizations or stereotypes. Establish clear criteria in advance of making decisions (hiring, promotion, etc.) so that bias gets taken out of the decision-making process. Hold decision-makers accountable, including yourself. Scrutinize the criteria and think through whether it unintentionally screens out certain good candidates for hiring or promotion. Survey employees confidentially to find out what is really going on in every aspect of the employment process - from pre-screening resumes to hiring to promotion to career opportunities, through compensation and engagement and development as well as the performance management process. Train leadership and employees with an open dialogue and awareness, and encourage the initiative to go beyond the classroom to affinity groups, mentoring programs and ongoing benchmarking against best practices. Pair training with best practices such as joint interviews of applicants and requirements that candidate slates include diverse prospects. Include practices to change the culture such as micro-affirmations, including acts of opening doors to opportunity, gestures of inclusion and caring, acts of listening, giving credit to others, and fair and balanced feedback. Reward employees who engage with affinity groups and bring out the best in the culture by strengthening diversity. Be transparent in the progress against your goals. Remind yourself frequently of the importance of recognizing bias and strive to be fair at all times. About the author: Kathy Sherwood is the Director of Leadership and Organizational Development for InfoPro Learning. Prior to InfoPro Learning, she was the founder and senior partner of a global leadership development company for more than 20 years. Kathy’s specialty is creating a customized blend of workshops, coaching, simulations, and e-learning tools to provide leaders and managers with a competitive advantage, while also maximizing the return on training investment for their organizations. The post 10 Ways You Can Reduce Bias in the Workplace appeared first on .

Team formation activities are vital to eLearning training for organizations. Almost all organizations require team formation within their eLearning programs. As an eLearning program developer, you will need to integrate steps defined through best practices to successfully establish teams. Teams are a linchpin of any organization. Instead of offering a course in team building, a great way to offer eLearning courses is to feature team formation as an added bonus. However, this feature is not free from challenges. The transformation from a group to a team takes a significant amount of time. Activities need to be planned cleverly to minimize this time. Remember, the time spent to form teams in your eLearning group is not counted as time spent on learning! Another challenge faced by course mentors is the distance factor in eLearning training environment. Because of the lack of in-person contact, team members do not have enough time to get to know each other. Tactful eLearning program designers and facilitators employ multiple communication technologies and personality activities to minimize the distance setback. A personality game can be played within teams and scores as well as responses can be discussed in the discussion forum. eLearning groups’ members are extremely diverse in today’s online learning environment. They possess a variety of knowledge, skills, experiences and perspectives. If not handled by expert facilitators, diverse teams can quickly face conflicts. Recognizing personality types and attributing positively is the key to keep teams under control. Let’s looks at the 6 steps in successful team formation: To become a team, a group of eLearners must: 1) Get to know each other well enough to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This is why it’s important to assign roles in team projects. It is also important to trust and have faith in each other. Explicitly reveal the expertise of each individual: their credentials like degrees, certificates and licenses. These can also include portfolios, resumes, and self-classification criteria results. Have each learner share one weakness and what they feel are their under-utilized capabilities. 2) Teams must agree on a common goal or a team mission. The team goal is formed by aligning individual goals with the team goal, which has to be meaningful and worthwhile for each team member. Have team members arrive to this goal through consensus. 3) Assign roles to the teams. Some good examples of initial team roles include: coordinator, group process monitor, morale booster, discussion moderator, summarizer etc. As the course progresses, these roles can become specialized - technologist, editor, presentation creator, theory former, quantitative analyst, legal expert etc. 4) Explicitly discuss professional standards of work in your team environments. This will create a sense of responsibility in your team members. 5) Discuss knowledge gaps in team members and determine how the team will overcome these gaps. Do they need a new member with the needed knowledge? 6) To get everyone started, agree on a starter team process and procedure. This can evolve as members work together and share a unified vision. A great way to get started is to have teams create their logo or team name. Forming teams is the ultimate goal of a successful organization. Describe these points as an added benefit in your eLearning programs to improve course registrations. The best thing about having a team formation strategy is that it can be applied to almost any cohort-based eLearning program. With more and more emphasis being placed on social learning, team formation will be in greater demand. Online instructors will soon encourage members to engage with each other more than ever. With the aid of these 6 steps, you should be able to integrate activities that lead to quicker team formation and greater team-based learning. The post 6 Steps To Forming Teams For eLearning appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Branding is undoubtedly one of the most important marketing tools a company can possess and keeping things consistent is one of the keys to its successful use. Consistency, in fact, should run throughout everything associated with the brand, both internally and externally. Whether you are building training courses to train your employees, your clients or teach your learners, it is equally important that your brand is conveyed in a consistent manner. TalentLMS understands how important it is for your learning portal to match your visual identity and general branding (down to the tone of your communications), and it gives you several customization options to help you achieve just that. (note: most of the tips below assume that you are logged in as an administrator). 1)  Upload your own custom Logo & Favicon Aside from its name, few things are more associated with your company’s brand than your corporate logo. Having your TalentLMS-based eLearning portal sport your logo is as easy as it gets. You just need to go to "Account & Settings" page, and upload your image. You also get to upload your own favicon (which is that tiny icon thingy that appears on browser location bars and bookmark listings when one visits your site).   2) Customize the colors of your portal For larger businesses, and for well organized smaller ones, branding comes with a palette of official corporate colors meant to be featured on the company’s website, advertising, packaging, business cards and stationary, and generally all kinds of design output. Smaller businesses might not have such detailed branding guidelines, but they could also benefit from a consistent image when it comes to color, e.g. by picking a number of colors that are featured in their logo, or that go well with it. As for applying your brand colors to your TalentLMS portal, just go to the "Account & Settings" page, and either select a theme from the list of themes that already matches your color scheme, or create your own custom theme by changing the colors of each visual element on your portal.   3) Set the tone (and the language) As expected from a product catering to the international market, TalentLMS lets you easily change the language of your portal, with built-in language packs covering 15 different languages, and the ability to add your own language packs. It doesn’t stop there, though, as it also allows you to dig in and change the wording of any default heading and UI text, to match your brand’s tone of voice — whether you prefer enterprise-y, casual or anything between.   4) Customize your homepage Your TalentLMS homepage is where your learners first come into contact with your learning portal — and also where they login each day to get an overall view of their courses, planned activities and scheduled events. TalentLMS allows you to customize your homepage in all kinds of ways. You can upload your own banner image, set your custom message or company motto, featured  courses, and create your own customized menu and links. You can take advantage of this feature to advertise specific courses, provide quick access to the most common functionality, link to FAQ pages or other parts of your website, etc. Watch this video for more details:   5) Keep everybody in the loop Whether you want to inform learners about upcoming webinars, advertise a new course or simply wish them "Happy Holidays", TalentLMS has you covered. From Account & Settings -> Basic Settings -> Announcement, you can set an announcement that can be visible on your homepage to anybody visiting your eLearning portal ("external") and/or shown when a student has signed in ("internal").   6) Customize your course content If you’re selling courses, then your course catalogue is the virtual equivalent of a physical storefront — you want it to look pretty. And even if you’re running an internal corporate training program, it won’t hurt to make your courses more appealing to your internal users. TalentLMS lets you set a custom image for each course, which will displayed next to the course’s name and details in the course catalogue. To do that, you can simply select the desired image from the image upload box on the Course settings page. TalentLMS accepts the most common image formats, but your image has to be at most 3MB, so we suggest a compressed format such as JPEG. If you want to get even fancier, you can customize the look of the text content within your lesson units — e.g. to use a "funnier" (sic) font for courses intended for smaller children, or to use specific fonts or colors to highlight important passages, etc. You can do that from the content editor, using the top bar to change the font, color and other text attributes.   7) Branch out Do you work in a larger enterprise and have a need to train different departments and/or different clients? Perhaps your company has multiple facilities, in different cities, or even countries? No problem. With it’s "Branches" feature, TalentLMS allows you to create as many separate training portals as you like, each with its own logo, theme, homepage, language, timezone, and other settings. You still get total central control over all of them, as well as the ability to share course content and perform mass actions across all of them. You can get started with Branches in no time following our handy video guide:   8) Custom certificates Certificates are a sort of proof of completion, a type of "degree", that you give to learners who have successfully completed one or more training courses. While TalentLMS already comes in with several certificate styles, from formal elegance, to utilitarian minimalism, it also lets you customize the design of your certificates by uploading your own logo, background and text. As for documentation on this, we have not just one, but two easy-to-follow guides to guide you all the way to the perfect looking certificate.   9) Get your game on Gamification is a great way to motivate and engage learners and get their competitive spirits up. TalentLMS not only offers that, but goes beyond standard gamification features by offering a fully customizable engine — so that you can configure your gamification experience to be as light or as heavy as you want it. Learn how to configure TalentLMS’ gamification options, from fine-tuning its point system to uploading your own custom badges here and here.   10) Customize almost any element of your portal using CSS. Have a specific design in mind for your eLearning portal? Don’t particularly like a default style? CSS to the rescue. CSS (short for Cascading Style Sheets) is a powerful HTML technology that allows you to change all (visual) aspects of your TalentLMS portal, from font colors and sizes, to background images. TalentLMS already comes with a default CSS style, and you can override all or parts of it to your heart’s content. If you’re already familiar with CSS, the possibilities are nearly endless. And if you’re not, it’s easy enough to get started, with our handy guides: 1) How to discover and change the CSS of any element 2) How to customize your fonts 3) How to add a custom background image to your portal   11) Be the king of your own domain TalentLMS offers automatic subdomain mapping for all our hosted eLearning portals, giving you your own company_name.talentlms.com. While this might be enough for internal use, you’ll probably want to be able to use your own domain name for anything public facing. Which you can, armed with our handy domain mapping guide.   12) Customize notifications TalentLMS has a powerful notifications system, allowing you to notify your users when some specific event happens (e.g. when they have successfully registered to a course, have to retake a test, etc.). The notifications are highly customizable too, letting you choose which events will trigger notifications, as well as the exact wording of any message sent to the users. Here’s an in-depth guide to using the notifications system.   13) Add Live chat TalentLMS offers a number of built-in integrations, and quite a few more through  the Zapier meta-integration service. But you can also extend TalentLMS’ functionality using Javascript code that loads external services. One of such external services that can really improve your users’ learning experience is Zopim, which adds a handy "live chat" widget that lets you engage with and assist your learners in real time. Learn more about adding Zopim’s Live Chat widget to TalentLMS here. Conclusion In this post we’ve examined 12+1 (that’s 13, for those of you that don’t believe in superstitions) TalentLMS customizations that will reinforce your branding and improve your users’ learning experience. Of course, with TalentLMS’ flexibility and breadth of customization options they could just as well have been 23 or 103. Do you have any particular TalentLMS customization tips that you’re particularly fond of? Share them with your fellow TalentLMS users in the comments section below — and let us know if there’s some particular option you’d like to see. The post 12+1 TalentLMS customizations that will improve your users’ eLearning experience appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Mazzy Star is currently studying a Graduate Certificate in eLearning and is a multimedia all-rounder on her way to become an eLearning designer and developer. Her passions include technology, education and digital storytelling. For the past seven months Mazzy has been undertaking an internship at eWorks. Here she talks about her experience.The value of being […]

One area of learning that the concept of effective collaboration has great potential for is in the area of assessment for learning. In the past, assessment for learning and assessment of learning were focused on the individual. Any attempt at collaboration would have been considered "cheating". However, if the daily learning experiences we expose the learner to involves a renewed emphasis on collaboration, should not assessment of learning and for learning also reflect this emphasis. This is not to imply that there would be no assessment of learning and for learning for the individual learner. What is being suggested is that we can create a more balanced assessment that includes a measure of the collaborative thinking, decision making and use of each others talents and gifts in solving complex real world problems.This fits with the understandings behind what we term as "Open Pedagogy" which the education community is moving towards.The obvious question is: "How can we design such assessment tools so that we obtain measures of what we are looking for?"Some Suggestions: Consider, with an open mind, these possibilities:Use of Share Applications As Assessment Tools: One of the great advancements brought to us by Google is what we call its cloud storage in the form of the Google Drive and the suite of apps such as Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Presentations. The singular common characteristic is that all of these apps can be set up according to defined sharing protocols. Imagine that a teacher creates a shareable document, which he or she stores on his or her Google Drive. Students are then paired (not sitting with each other) and the document is shared out to them alone with certain features turned off(can't change the directions or wording of task) but can add their thoughts, proposals or solutions to a tasked problem. No one else can be invited to the group unless permitted by the instructor. with the shared capability, students can collaborate without speaking because they can see what each other is adding to the tasked problem. Students would have access to the web which again reinforces the needed skillsets of the learner being able to analyze the problem collaboratively, search and authenticate useful information on the web collaboratively and use synthesis to prioritize and reduce information pertinent to the tasked problem using collaboration. The development of innovative solutions to the proposed problem could allow students access to a shared drawing and presentation tool to illustrate their ideas.Going Beyond Assessment By the Instructor: If we agree that in order to solve complex real world problems, we need cross disciplinary approaches then it is logical that the instructor alone may not have all the appropriate skillsets and experience to look at the solutions provided by students from the multiple of perspectives required. This is where specialists from professional learning communities can play a role in assessment of learning but also make important comments to students for assessment for learning. Tying the learner to real world feedback ensures that the student is engaged by what he or she is doing and realizes that their learning is very much part of the real world.Nurturing critical thinking AND divergent thinking skillsets in a collaborative format is more in line with the type of future problem solvers that our societies need even now.Business Take -Aways Question: "What is business to learn from these shifts involving Moore's Law, Learning Culture and change management?"Credit: Tom Hood It would be a gross understatement to suggest that Moore's Law will have an impact on business organizations because we are already caught in the wave. What distinguishes one business organization from another is whether you are in a state of reacting to the changes or are aggressively being proactive in planning change in an incremental fashion. Too much change creates disruption that can seriously harm a business and lead to a lack of trust on the part of stakeholders. Too little change paralyzes a business so that it appears as a "deer in the headlights" in a globally connected economy.Looking at the learning culture of a business organization needs to go beyond just a needs assessment and committee report that quickly gathers dust on a back shelf. The forces that are holding a business back need to be identified and an honest risk assessment needs to go from the discussion stage to an action stage. Transformation will not take place without it.Employee engagement and empowerment as collaborative agents of change, tasked by the vision of the company, needs to be nurtured. This might mean a bold move such as taking compliance training out of the hands of training and aligning it with another department so that the instructional designer, learning principles experts and instructors can concentrate on the transformation of the business organization's learning culture. Building collaborative networks both within the organization and outside the organization needs to be taken to a whole new level based on the new currency, information and knowledge.Next....... E-Learning--A Light At the End of the Tunnel?

Thinking about registering for the LUC 2016 in Fort Lauderdale, FL, this May? Here are 10 reasons we think you should. Engaging breakout sessions with real-world case studies Presenters from the American Red Cross, United Airlines, the Centers for Disease Control, and more. Discover how to create a virtual reality course with Lectora® for mobile devices, use jQuery to create drag-and-reveal interactions, create learning games, and more—all included in your registration fee. Free Lectora Fundamentals on-demand video training with registration Get familiar with Lectora with this self-paced video training—a $400 value free. Amazing keynote speaker Laura Overton Laura Overton, Founder and CEO of Towards Maturity, will share practical insights that have been gleaned from the world’s top-performing organizations. You’ll take home bright new ideas for your courses, your training programs, and your future. Networking  Make connections at an intimate networking reception the first night, and over delicious lunch and snacks provided each day. Optional pre-conference training Join us for Lectora Intermediate, Lectora Extreme/Games, or a new advanced training class on scripting, taught by John Blackmon, Trivantis CTO. Sneak peeks of new product features It wouldn’t be a Lectora User Conference without a preview of the new features coming up in Lectora! One-on-one time with the Lectora developers Get your burning development questions answered by the team behind your favorite authoring tool. See your account representative Some lucky account reps will be flying to Florida to see YOU at the 2016 Lectora User Conference. Win prizes Last year we gave away two iPads and a Livescribe pen! What will you win this year? 10. The beach Post-conference relaxation on Florida’s sandy shores…what else is there to say? Register now. Register Now Details The post 10 Reasons to Attend the 2016 Lectora User Conference appeared first on .

How to Engage Managers in eLearning Managers play a crucial role in the professional wellbeing of an organisation. Consider this: managers interact with frontline employees on a daily basis and it’s these employees who are last to touch your product before it reaches your customers, or deliver your service. This highlights the importance of regularly […] The post 4 Ways to Engage Managers in eLearning appeared first on PulseLearning.

EdTechTeam is excited about everything the rest of the year has in store for our team, our community, and the field of education. We started the year with an all-team retreat at our Irvine office. All 29 employees (including 22 innovative teachers and educational leaders) came together to dream out loud as architects of what's possible... and to help create the change we want to see in schools. We set ambitious impact goals for the year and renewed our focus helping schools to develop capacity in Courageous Leadership, Empowered Teachers, Engaged Community, Inspiring Spaces, and most importantly, Student Agency.  We also work with 165 contractors (most practicing teachers, educational leaders, and technical administrators) who help us in our mission by serving as featured speakers at our conference-style summits and our custom professional development events around the globe. This team, and our community, wouldn't be the same without their richly diverse skills and vision. Between us we have a number of exciting new initiatives planned for 2016, including the first courses and certifications from EdTechTeam Online, at least a dozen inspiring books coming from EdTechTeam Press, expanded operations with our international subsidiaries (especially EdTechTeam Canada and EdTechTeam Australia), all new summit experiences planned for our 5th annual events starting in July, innovative surprises from Breakout EDU (including an all new immersive game we're very excited about), mobile student-facing maker experiences, and many more opportunities for free community engagement. After seeding another 15 class sets of Chromebooks as 1:1 pilots in 2015, we are also preparing an overhaul of our giving strategy that we've just announced! Thank you for being a part of EdTechTeam's evolution over the past 10 years. We hope we'll be learning with you, and serving your students, for many more. This is only the beginning. Mark Wagner, CEOMeet Mark and learn more about him here.

A portable career is any career you can take with you no matter where you go. Portable careers are perfect for those who either have to move frequently (i.e. Military spouses) or for those who want to move around the world without worrying about their career. Having a portable career helps you maintain a professional identity that you can take with you, rather than having to start over in a new field every time you relocate. Portable careers have many things in common: They often involve high demand services or skill sets. Careers in education, technology, training, and healthcare are often portable because the demand for services is high. Portable careers are not based on specific credentials or degrees that may not be recognized worldwide.  Law degrees and medical degrees are examples of credentials that are not readily accepted everywhere. These types of careers do not limit a person to a single geographic area or market.  In other words, portable careers can include providing services virtually or selling products online. Many times, knowledge of and comfort with technology and online business and communication tools is required. These are just some of the careers that you can take with you, wherever you go: Interior designer Photographer Online event organizer Online storefront owner Social media specialist Online researcher Web designer Computer programmer Software Developer Information Security Analyst IT Service and Support Virtual assistant Online Business Manager/Project Manager Nutritionist Consultant/Coach Massage Therapist/Aromatherapy Specialist Writer, Editor or Publisher Copywriter Teacher Interpreter and Translator When moving to a new area, there are steps you can take to assist with networking and establishing yourself in your profession. In a recent interview with MilitarySpouse.com, Sherrill Curtis, a Senior Certified Professional for the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) shared the following recommendations: Join the professional organization for your field, Research meet-ups in your area to connect with others who have similar interests, both personal and professional, Attend town hall-type meetings to familiarize yourself with what happens in the area, Connect with the local chamber of commerce to find out who the top employers are, and If you are a military spouse, set up an appointment to meet with the local veterans’ representative at the Department of Labor office. Picking up and starting over somewhere new can be challenging. Choosing a career that is portable can make earning a living in that new location a little bit easier. Ed4Online offers affordable career training for many portable careers. Sign up today and get one step closer to a flexible new career!   Sources: http://www.careerbychoiceblog.com/career_by_choice/2011/04/expat-careers-businesses-portable-careers-allow-you-to-do-what-you-enjoy-while-living-where-you-want.html https://www.clements.com/resources/articles/The-Top-10-Most-Portable-Careers http://www.passportcareer.com/5-surprisingly-portable-careers/ http://militaryspouse.com/career/spouses-say-military-life-employment-dont-go-together/        

We talk to customers every chance we get at LearnUpon. Sometimes that’s through the 24/7 free support we offer as standard. Our Customer Success team reaches out regularly so we aren’t just in contact when a customer has a query. And a few times a year we share three questions to help us understand what’s on our customers’ minds. The insights they offer make for great reading. They give the whole team a snapshot of what matters most to customers today, what they’re feeling, what they’re less crazy about, and what they need next. The results are in! Here’s a sneak peek at the feedback our customers shared this year.   Why customers choose an LMS Here’s a breakdown of the main reasons customers chose LearnUpon: With almost 700 eLearning platforms on the market, there are any number of benefits potential customers can choose from. We love that the richness of our feature selection came in as the #1 reason organizations signed with us. Not only are our existing LMS features a big draw, customers appreciate the effort we make to roll out new ones every month. Every request we receive is reviewed for inclusion in our product roadmap, so customers play a big role in helping to shape the future of their LMS. This nugget made us extra excited to share some big surprises coming later this year. And while customers appreciate our competitive pricing right from the start, they grow to love our fast and friendly customer support team more and more.   In our customers’ words These are the words customers used when describing their experience with LearnUpon. If you returned our survey, you’ll see your words here too.     Thanks for sharing the love We’re so grateful for the time customers took to share their feedback. It means a lot to us and we put it to good use. Here are just a few of the shout outs the team received. "Everything ranks highly across the board in my opinion. Customer service responsiveness and help, engagement, keeping customers in the loop, added features, etc. Keep doing what you’re doing!" Ryan, Cornerstone Learning "You are the best. Everyone we have dealt with has been wonderful, responsive, receptive, helpful. Change nothing." Christine, WideOrbit "I think you guys are amazing! Price is what brought me to you but your customer service has been incredible. I have been very impressed." Angela, Ascenta Health "Even though features and price were what initially made LearnUpon stand out, it is your people that truly set LearnUpon apart. Absolutely phenomenal team! Everyone I have been in contact with has been extremely pleasant and helpful. Thank you!" Jennifer, Premium Retail Services "LearnUpon has been one of the best vendor relationships I’ve had in my 20+ career in training and development. Keep doing what you are doing. I believe that is the key to your current and future success." Marvette, SNL Knowledge Center "LearnUpon is amazing, working with Carrie, Phily and the LearnUpon support team. I would recommend LearnUpon to anyone and everyone that needs an easy to use model. I can’t think of anything that could be done better when they have already gone above and beyond their scope of work." Mel, Newmont Mining "Just keep doing what you are doing! You continue to make improvements, you continue to show customer appreciation, and you continue to provide award-winning service. I love LearnUpon. It has literally made my job as a trainer so much easier! Thank you again for being so wonderful!" Lydia, Key Benefit Administrators "LearnUpon is a foundation that we are building upon. Your service is great and your sales team was awesome. There are few times in the software industry where selecting a solution is fun but as I look back at this project, I realize I actually enjoyed it." Matt, MyFarms LLC   And we say - right back at you! We would be nothing without our customers. Thank you all so much.   Want to read more? Sign up to get our latest posts! The post What customers love most about their LMS appeared first on LearnUpon.

If you’ve created a really great course, you may have dreamed of selling it online. Good learning management systems now make that possible. eLearning platforms with strong eCommerce features make it simple for any Subject Matter Expert or training team to sell online courses. One of the best eCommerce platforms is Shopify, which allows you to create a customized store. And if you use LearnUpon, you can even integrate your LMS with Shopify to publish courses directly to your store. Sell online courses with Shopify and LearnUpon eCommerce features are used by 40% of our customers at LearnUpon. In 2015 alone, $2.1 million in course sales were made through our eCommerce platform. And it’s easy to see why! It takes less than two minutes to integrate LearnUpon’s LMS with Shopify. And then you’re ready to provide a simple and secure experience to sell online courses to customers all over the world. You can also connect your store to Google Analytics to track how your visitors behave and convert. And you can use our SEO features to create keywords, meta tags and descriptions that improve your store’s rankings in search engines like Google.   How it works If you installed LearnUpon through the Shopify App Store, the feature will already be enabled in your portal. Skip to the section heading below: "​If you installed LearnUpon via the Shopify App Store". Otherwise, email support and we’ll enable Shopify features in your LMS.   Once Shopify has been enabled on your portal, you can configure your preferences by going to: >> Settings tab >> E-Commerce You will then see the following tab: Shopify can only be enabled if no other payment gateways (eg. PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net) have been enabled on your learning portal.   If no other payment gateways have been enabled, you will see the following tab which you can use to configure Shopify: When you connect your Shopify store to your portal, you will see a code and some script that you will need in order to proceed. Copy and paste the code into your Shopify store settings. The code will automatically enroll learners who have purchased an online course in your Shopify store. You will also need to copy some code from LearnUpon and paste it to your Shopify store. Once you configure Shopify, some changes will be made to LearnUpon’s default eCommerce settings. After you connect to Shopify, the LearnUpon store itself does not operate. Store URLs will redirect customers to your Shopify storefront instead.   ​If you installed LearnUpon via the Shopify App Store   After you install the LearnUpon app in your Shopify store, you will be be sent to a sign in page: If you have already created a LearnUpon account, you can login here. You will then be sent to the Shopify settings page in LearnUpon.   If you don’t already have a LearnUpon account, you will need to: Click the ‘Sign up for a free trial’ button. Fill in the registration form and click the confirmation email. eCommerce will be auto-enabled on your portal and you will be connected to Shopify. Once you have logged in, you will land on the dashboard page. You will see a dialog directing you to copy the script code from LearnUpon to your Shopify settings page.   Connecting LearnUpon courses with Shopify store items You must connect your LearnUpon courses with items in your Shopify store before you can sell them. You can do this by going to the Edit screen of a course. Click on the Sales tab and select the Shopify store item related to the course: In this example, ‘Introduction to Health & Safety Training’ could be the name of the Shopify store item.   Purchasing courses After a learner purchases a course they will be redirected to a ‘Thank You’ page. The user will then be redirected to their LearnUpon dashboard. If a user already has a LearnUpon account, they will be automatically logged in. If the user does not have a LearnUpon account already, they will be prompted to create a new password when they login to LearnUpon for the first time.     And that’s it! You’re ready to sell online courses with LearnUpon and Shopify. For even more top tips read, How to successfully sell your online courses.   Try LearnUpon free for 30 days .learnupon.com Agree to Terms of Service Start my free trial The post How to sell online courses with Shopify appeared first on LearnUpon.

Learning Solutions marks our first major US conference of 2016. You’ll find LearnUpon at Booth 205 at the two day expo that takes place on March 16th and 17th in Orlando. Learning Solutions is the go to event for training and development professionals as the conference program is designed to support the entire learning team, regardless of their role.   It’s also a great conference for catching thought leaders from the world of eLearning in person. And with keynotes from Bill Nye, Daivd Kwong and Annie Murphy Paul covering everything from how exploration drives learning to how constraints give us the freedom to create it’s sure to be a thought provoking event.   You’ll find Brendan, Caoimhín and Eoghan from team LearnUpon at Booth 205 from 9:30am to 6:30pm on Wednesday 16th and 9:30am to 6:30pm on Thursday 17th March in the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista. We’ll also be celebrating St Patrick’s Day on day 2 of the expo so be sure to stop by and say hello. We’re really looking forward to sharing all of LearnUpon’s latest features, including some exciting new integrations. Our team will be on hand to provide live demos of our amazing LMS and also to answer any questions you may have.   The post Talk to LearnUpon at Learning Solutions 2016 appeared first on LearnUpon.

[Post by Arden Rose, Account Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] Join CLO at the 2016 Spring Chief Learning Officer Symposium to explore how learning is being redefined - by our times, by our organizations and employees and by us. Mike Prokopeak: Vice President, Editor in Chief, Human Capital Media Jeffrey Pfeffer: Professor of Organizational Behavior, Stanford Graduate School of Business Brian Robertson: Author of Holacracy: the New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World Gretchen Rubin: Author of Better Than Before Michelle Gielan: Author of Broadcasting Happiness For more information visit: CLO Symposium

[Post by K.M. Lowe, Writer & Corporate Communicator] Anyone who saw the Academy Awards presentation on television a few weeks ago knows that a lack of diversity was the theme of the program. The issue was that not one person of colour was represented in the nominations at this year’s Oscars (and last year’s as well). Some of the most out-spoken critics made note that it isn’t just the nominations that are the problem — it’s a lack of opportunities in the first place. If you can’t get a good role, you won’t get a nomination. So inflammatory was the issue, that many actors boycotted the awards ceremony. In an interview with Good Morning America, actor Will Smith summed up concerns over diversity in the movie industry, "The nominations reflect the Academy. The Academy reflects the industry and then the industry reflects America. There is a regressive slide towards separatism, towards racial and religious disharmony… That’s not the industry, that’s not the America I want to leave behind." Oscar-nominated actress Angela Bassett said she’s not very excited about the Academy Awards anymore. "When I see more inclusion, that’s when I can get more excited-when I see the work of what life looks like." A report published last year by the Ralph J. Bunche Centre for African American Studies at UCLA supports the critics. "The 2015 Hollywood Diversity Report: Flipping the Script" indicates that minorities are underrepresented in Hollywood films even though research shows that films with diverse casts are well received by audiences. "America’s increasingly diverse audiences prefer diverse content created with the input of diverse talent. Diversity sells." Workplaces (movie sets are workplaces too) are diverse, yet as the Oscars are a testament to, sometimes minorities are left out of not only recognition but opportunity that would bring recognition. This lack of inclusion not only doesn’t serve the organization (or industry in the case of Hollywood), but can be detrimental to the bottom line. And it isn’t just Hollywood where these issues exist and where diversity (or lack of it) can affect profits. Talent Management Magazine discussed the issue in "Top 3 Things Wrong with Diversity & Inclusion Training," by David Ciliberto, adjunct instructor of diversity and inclusion at Cornell University ILR. The article quotes Amy Friedman, founder and CEO of Partners in Human Resources International. "One of the most intelligent decisions an organization can make is to recognize that their client base is extremely diverse across cultures, ethnicity, gender, generations and other identities… A wide diversity of people is often tied to profitability in ways that might not seem obvious at first." But what are the ways that diversity & inclusion can affect profits? In a Talent Management article titled "How Can Diversity Impact Bottom Line?" Jeffrey Cantel asks a diversity consultant that exact question. The answer: "higher employee engagement and productivity, greater innovation, reduced costs related to attrition of high-potential employees, increased sales and market share for targeted customer groups or geographies, more effective cross-functional and cross-boundary teams, a more positive corporate image, or greater supplier efficiencies from reliance on new, diverse vendors." So if there is so much at stake, what can we do about it? A recent article in Training Industry Magazine, dealt with diversity training in the workplace. "Training a Diverse Workforce," by Jeff Drozdowski cites that the US Census Bureau includes gender, race, ethnicity, age and religion in workplace makeup. But in his narrative, the writer adds ability to the mix, noting that 20 percent of those considered disabled in the US are in the workplace. Drozdowski reminds us that "The need for diversity and inclusion training is greater than ever." He follows that with, "An effective diversity and inclusion training program starts at the top." Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan have written two books designed to help those at the top create an inclusive culture. "The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off" (Bibliomotion, 2013) provides a framework to tap the bottom-line impact that results from an inclusive culture. "SET for Inclusion: An Underlying Methodology for Achieving Your Inclusion Dividend" (Bibliomotion, 2015) is guides leaders through the application of that framework to lead inclusively. In their books, Kaplan and Donovan discuss the current research on unconscious bias and insider-outsider dynamics and focus on how to translate that current research into best practice for leaders. The authors ask the question, "How does one become aware of something that is unconscious or implicit?" One answer is awareness training, however, the authors’ state, "There is evidence that diversity and inclusion awareness training has minimal impact when it is not part of an overall change strategy." They also write, "Training, when implemented strategically as part of a larger strategy, is one of the most powerful interventions a company can make." The issue of diversity & inclusion is complex, but training, done strategically, can help at all levels, and research shows that the ultimate result is increased profitability. Besides, as Kaplan and Mason write, "Being inclusive is a good thing, as it engages more people, provides more perspectives, and helps the business identify opportunities more quickly and fully." Even Hollywood must see the benefit in that. For more information on this issue and to view the material listed above visit: 2015 Hollywood Diversity Report Top 3 things wrong with diversity inclusion training How can diversity impact the bottom line Training Industry Magazine The Inclusion Dividend

Connected leadership is an emergent property of a network in balance and not some special property available to only the select few. This requires leadership from an intelligent and engaged workforce learning with each other. Connected leaders practice the discipline of personal knowledge mastery which comprises working and learning out loud as well as critical thinking and active curiosity. By seeking, sensing, and sharing, everyone in an organization can become part of a learning network, listening at different frequencies, scanning the horizon, recognizing patterns, and making better decisions. Connected leadership is not given from above, as there is no top in a network. To know the work culture, connected leaders marinate in it. This cannot be done while trying to control the culture. Organizational and network resilience is strengthened when leaders let go of control. Connected leaders use compassion, empathy, and trust to influence networked people. Transparency eliminates the need for most traditional management control mechanisms. Connected leaders know how to deal with ambiguity and complexity. They have an attitude of perpetual beta when it comes to the mental models that inform their actions. Connected leadership focuses on making the whole network smarter, which in return helps the leader be more effective. Image: perpetual beta series

When pulling requirements, it helps to consider the scenarios that the solution will be implemented within.We spent most of 2015 talking about requirements.TOGAF - Requirement TypesRequirements Management in the EcosystemRequirements Sample - Survey ToolRequirements Step OneRequirements Step TwoRequirements Step ThreeRequirements Step FourTranslating Requirements to CapabilitiesTranslating Capabilties to StrategyThose examples are "ideal scenario". And, before you get freaked out by all of this - remember that we do requirements collection as instructional designers.  It's called "needs assessment."--------------------------In this particular example, Syd (remember her?) and I pulled together some LMS requirements for a project that is designed to build a business case for a Human Capital Management system.As some of you may have noticed, a number of LMS vendors have been purchased by HRIS vendors.They are starting to make the LMS a major component of Human Capital Management solutions.I think this is nice, since it helps to better integrate the learning function with the business function without having to do the work ourselves (huzzah!).Also - I think that it is much more likely that the Human Capital Management solution will be integrated into Business Intelligence than an LMS will be.Which would then allow me to really see the business impact our training solutions are having with real, honest-to-goodness numbers. (Wendy's Utopian Fantasyland)Image from inquisir.Unicorns are REAL! Just ask the California Highway Patrol!------------------------------------For our requirements, we had two possible scenarios.Scenario 1 - LMS treated separately from the Human Capital Management system and integrated (pdf) These requirements focused on integration points.  This scenario assumes that we will use the existing LMS.Scenario 2 - LMS as part of Human Capital Management system. (pdf)This is where you see the typical LMS requirements - plus integration points.Note: These requirements are not vetted and may not reflect what our organization is actually doing. Many of the requirements were taken from our requirements library (ie - the organizational history and knowledge that Syd and I both had from previous projects of this sort).As we talk to other stakeholders, and as the overall strategy for HR evolves, we will fine tune these requirements, put them into a more detailed format (similar to what you saw in the example links), and have discussions around "nice to have" vs "need to have".Ultimately, we would then start leveraging the finalized requirements for decision making, testing, training development (to make sure the materials cover all of the things someone needs to do) and capability matrices (since even with this solution, we may still have multiple LMSs).Now - in Wendy's Utopian Fantasyland - I would have put this in the pretty matrix in the first place.  But - we needed something fast and collaborative (those examples were originally done in Google Docs).  The pretty matrix will come later.Having two scenarios allow us to show the executives what decisions still need to be made regarding direction and provide us an opportunity to analyze the opportunity cost for each.Do we leverage existing tools and integrate?  (Lord knows, we have enough LMS options lying around)Do we take advantage of something brand new?I suspect we are not the only shop that will be asking these questions over the coming years.

I’ve been blogging for a little more than two years, and by no means do I  consider myself to be an expert in the field! However, I’ve recently been asked to talk about the tools and resources I use to set up my blog. Without further adieu, here’s how I set up my blog…part 1! Blogging […] The post How I Set Up My Blog - Part 1 appeared first on Teaching with Technology.

"He’s fast on his feet" or "She has a clear head on her shoulders." "He’s definitely a thought-leader in the industry." These current kudos pique a leader’s attention. After all, leaders look to hire, promote, and listen to those who think clearly and communicate well. But what if you’re naturally quiet and slow to speak up in a crowd?  How do people really gauge how well you think—particularly when your interactions are brief and infrequent?  Can you still convey the same sense of being an astute, clear thinker as your more outgoing colleagues? I think you can.

The first day I sauntered into Miss Amos’s English class, I was scared. Not because of the subject or because this was my first day in a big city school—I was startled by her face. My first thought: Did some terrible disease do this to her?

Have you ever met a manager who intended to motivate staff but instead demoralized them?  Most have no idea of their negative effect. And that’s definitely not their intention. In talking with such managers or those who report to them, what surfaces are habits, attitudes, practices, and skill deficiencies that lead employees to disrespect, disengage, and decide to leave them for a more pleasant workplace.

Business leaders may recognize the need for improvement in their performance management approach, but are they courageous enough to implement change?

Despite the promise of IoT to advance humanity, many manufacturing leaders fear rather than embrace it. They need to know "WIIFM?"

This pyramid is the map we have created to audit community building for teams. At the top is a High Performing Team. To be a High Performing Team requires each team member to trust the others and the leader. I coached a 6-year-old girls' soccer team and one of the players was miles better than any other. She was very humble and very willing to do whatever I asked for the team. By league rules, she was only allowed to make two goals per half and three per game, so she would get the ball and wait for one of the other girls on the team to show up and pass it to her in front of the goal. It wasn't her fault, but eventually, the other girls stopped playing and just waited for her to get the ball to them. They trusted her, but they didn't trust each other. Alignment occurs when everyone is clear in their role to meet the common purpose. Trust is needed for alignment, and alignment is needed for trust. I believe that trust can't be taught, it has to be earned. Your behavioral style can create a default for who you trust or don't. Using DISC styles, there are differences in the way certain styles approach trust. Influence and Steadiness trust first until trust is broken, Compliance requires trust to be earned. Dominance doesn't care about trust as long as what's happening now drives their agenda. Accountability is doing what you said you would and apologizing if you screw up. Imagine a team where there is one person who doesn't work as hard as everyone else and gets away with it. What is the impact on that team? Eventually, the hard working members will see that hard work is not valued. This destroys trust, alignment and performance: team over. The pyramid is like a Jenga game- if blocks get knocked out of the bottom, the top is compromised. Think of a time you worked with people who were all in- accountability was shared by all. It's an amazing and rare experience.    An aligned team is one that has clear roles, shared purpose, and values the ability to work well together.  Notice that the base of this pyramid is composed of these components for self (left side) and for team (right side). This is the foundation of a High Performing Team, just like family and community are the foundation of the Irish that I know.

With the excitement of finding a software solution that ticks all the boxes, there will be certain areas that could get side-lined and it can be easy to forget to ask suppliers some crucial questions. Whether it be a CRM, ERP or LMS there are 4 key questions that you should always ask before signing on the dotted line.