3 Text-to-Speech Chrome Extensions to Support Struggling Readers and ELLUsing Google Chrome Extensions to Support Struggling Readers and English Language LearnersGoogle Chrome has so much to offer teachers and students, AND there are so many fantastic apps and extensions to support struggling readers. Text-to-speech is a great way to support struggling readers--it's reading with your ears!Benefits of Text-to-Speech for ReadersRelieves the burden of decodingFocus on comprehensionImprove fluency and enduranceIdentify and correct more errorsThere are several text-to-speech apps and extensions. Below are three that I find useful for the classroom.Chrome Speak It!I like this one for its ease and simplicity. Simply highlight the text, right-click and choose, "SpeakIt!"AnnouncifyThis is probably one of the more popular text-to-speech extensions among educators. This cute little birdie sits in your extension toolbar. When you find an article or selection of text on the web that you would like it to read, just click on the little birdie.There is an added bonus with this one! Not only does it read the text, but it opens the article in a new window and it gets rid of the ads and chaos around the article so that young readers can stay focused. But wait, there's more! It also blurs out the paragraphs that are not being read so it keeps the readers on the correct paragraph. The audio in the video below is not great, but will show you what it can do.Read&Write for GoogleThis last one if my favorite, and is made by Texthelp, who makes a lot of great tools for education! While I am just sharing one feature of this tool today, it is loaded with other features to support learning! (We will revisit those later.) The Read&Write for Google extension is free for teachers. Be sure you follow the directions in the Chrome Web Store.This little beauty has a purple puzzle piece as its icon, and it resides in the Omnibox (search box) in Chrome. Click it to open the toolbar, and then click the play button for it to read the text on the screen. BONUS! This feature works on websites as well as Google Docs! Below is a quick video overview of the tool.What are your favorite Chrome Apps and Extensions to support struggling readers? Please share in the comments below!Kasey Bell will be presenting at the following upcoming events:California Google Summit, July 18-19 (Palo Alto, CA)TIA 2015, July 21-22 (Denton, TX)Texserve's 2nd Annual "Bridging the Gap: Technology & Instruction" Symposium (Keynote), July 30 (Dallas, TX)Hunt County Tech Camp, Aug. 4 (Commerce, TX)Revolutionize Learning Conference, Aug. 5 (Royse City, TX)

Creating a course using our multi-device authoring tool Can I get multi-device previews? Does gomo do branching? Which interactions can I use? We covered all this and more in yesterday’s webinar. Read on to find the answers to your commonly asked questions about our new authoring tool. Q: Hi Mike - will a recording of this webinar be available? A: Not today, but from next week all webinars will be recorded. Q: Does gomo do branching? A: Yes, using gomo’s action controls you can create branching content. Q: Does gomo have a selection of different devices on the platform that you can preview to? A: Yes - the gomo previewer allows you to test on desktop, tablet and smartphone, all within the gomo browser. Q: What plans are there for common interactions such as drag and drop to be added to gomo? A: gomo will ship with about 20 interactions on release. Many more will be added based on popular demand. Q: Is there a minimum commitment? Could you purchase just one month initially to trial the software? A: Personal and small team editions will include a 30 day trial, following which both editions will be available on a monthly rolling or annual contract. Q: How much beta testing has been done? A: Our end user beta programme starts in March. Please register on our website if you would like to be part of this. Q: What format are the courses produced as? A: gomo produces SCORM-compliant HTML5 content by default. This can also be packaged as a native app using Phonegap if required. Q: How long have you guys been in business? A: gomo is part of the Learning Technologies Group and grew out of Epic. We’ve been around since 1986. Q: Will there be Tin Can support? A: Yes. Tin Can is planned for later this year - probably in the summer release. Q: Excellent webinar, well done, thanks Mike! A: Thanks everyone - your kind words are appreciated! And if you couldn’t attend this week’s webinar, make sure you register for a future demo, taking place on: 20th February at 2pm GMT 27th February at 2pm GMT The post Introducing gomo: your questions answered appeared first on gomo Learning.

Are you interested in seeing a multi-device authoring tool that allows you to create beautiful content for your PC, tablet and smartphone? Then you’re in luck because Managing Director Mike Alcock will be presenting two ‘Introducing gomo’ webinars on 20th and 27th February to tell you more about our new multi-device authoring tool. Spaces for these 45-minute webinars are limited and expected to go quickly, so make sure you sign up now for your preferred slot. The options are: Thursday 20th February - 2pm GMT Thursday 27th February - 2pm GMT Is this webinar for you? Join Mike as he: shows just how easy it is to create a new project in gomo demonstrates the way these courses respond and adapt on multiple devices showcases examples of learning created using gomo explains how you can sign up to join the beta programme reviews the pricing plans. These webinars are also the perfect way to share gomo with your colleagues so they can see for themselves how quick and easy it is to build your own beautiful bespoke content. Calling all Learning Performance Institute members Are you a fan of the LPI’s webinar series? If so, register today to join Mike for ‘How to create beautiful multi-device learning with gomo‘ on 12th March at 10 am GMT. Webinars are free for members to attend. We’re really excited to show you gomo, so get in early and secure your place now. And remember, there’s still time to enter our competition to win a free one year ‘small teams’ subscription to gomo if you haven’t done so already. The post Have you booked your webinar space yet? appeared first on gomo Learning.

Viewing a page of e-learning created using gomo Here at gomo HQ, we’re getting more and more excited about the upcoming launch of our exciting multi-device authoring tool. Meanwhile, our webinar series featuring live demos continues. Last week’s session covered a range of topics, including gomo’s video streaming capabilities, image usage, theme customisation and more. Here are the questions and answers from last week’s webinar. Q: Can we import vector images? gomo can support images in PNG, GIF and JPG format. Q: Do exported courses work in Internet Explorer? Yes, published content created using gomo is designed to work on Internet Explorer 8 and upwards. We will be releasing a full summary of supported devices and browser versions shortly. Q: Will gomo content include offline capability? Published HTML e-learning will require an active internet connection to provide SCORM tracking through an LMS. Courses can be published as native apps using Phonegap for offline delivery. Q: How does gomo handle branching scenarios? Branching content is created using gomo’s ‘action’ controls. When you are creating content, a number of assets support actions (e.g. a button) which can be linked to any topic and screen within your project to provide branching capabilities. Q: Can I embed external/ custom HTML5 content? gomo does not currently support custom HTML5 content, but we are currently looking into this as part of a future update to the product. Q: Does gomo support video streaming? Not yet. Our video asset currently only supports playback of videos uploaded to the project. Streaming from external sources (e.g Intranet, YouTube or Vimeo) is a planned enhancement for the video asset. Q: Can a course be downloaded to work offline? There is no restriction to stop you distributing your content for local playback. However, this may be restricted due to your network security policies or the policies of your chosen web browser. At present, we have successfully tested content running locally on Firefox and Internet Explorer. Chrome, on the other hand, has a security policy in place that prevents the content from loading. Q: How are themes customised? gomo will provide a number of themes which you can either use ‘as is’ or duplicate and customise based on your personal requirements. Once you have created your own customised theme, you can re-use this every time you create a project. Theme customisation is achieved through the theme control panel which allows you to change the size, look and feel of a theme as well as the way it behaves (e.g. horizontal or vertical scrolling). gomo will also allow you to choose from a list of web-safe fonts. As a future update, we also plan to add in font uploading. If you enjoyed this post, why not read more Q&As from our first gomo webinar? And if you haven’t been able to join us for a live demo yet, we have another webinar lined up for Thursday 27th February at 2pm GMT, so register today. The post Themes, images and more: your webinar Q&As appeared first on gomo Learning.

How is it already March? With less than a month to go until you can get your hands on gomo, we’re running more demo webinars to help you find out more about our multi-device authoring tool before its official launch on 2nd April. These webinars will cover everything from how much it costs to the key features of gomo, including the ability to collaborate on e-learning projects within your team, the incredible range of customisation features available and the super easy distribution of content across desktops, mobiles and tablets. Mike Alcock will demonstrate just how quick and easy it is to get up and running with gomo. We always enjoy receiving your questions in the Q&A session if there’s anything else we don’t manage to cover. The next webinars will be taking place on the following dates: Wednesday 12th March at 10am GMT - hosted by the Learning & Performance Institute Monday 17th March at 2pm GMT Tuesday 25th March at 2pm GMT Newly announced! Mark your diaries for Tuesday 1st April at 2pm GMT for gomo’s special pre-launch webinar. Registration will be open soon so follow us on Twitter @gomolearning for more details. We really hope you can join us for one of our webinars, and can’t wait to show you why it’s time to meet your new authoring tool. The post It’s Multi-device March - have you registered for a gomo webinar? appeared first on gomo Learning.

The MountainMoot 2015 in Helena, Montana is a small conference with big ideas. This one-of-a-kind moot is dedicated to helping teachers, students, and administrators optimize their use of the world’s leading learning management system, Moodle. We limit attendance to 150 attendees each year, and last year we sold out a month in advance, so make your plans early. Though we focus on the use of Moodle to improve teaching and learning, we know a great conference needs more than great content. In addition to quality sessions by leading Moodlers, we focus on creating a community of teachers and learners that benefits our attendees long after the conference has closed. To this end, we make sure the MountainMoot has plenty of time for social engagement and informal collaborative learning. If you attended last year, you also know that we have developed a rudimentary currency system (Moot bucks) and a live auction as a way to distribute the great prizes we give away every year. Last year we gave away a Swivl, a Kindle, and Ipevo wireless document camera, an Epson WorkForce wireless printer, and a whole boatload of other great prizes. The MountainMoot 2015 is hosted in the Corette Library at Carroll College on July 15 - 17, 2015. The Corette library is a comfortable, collaborative, technologically integrated learning space with floor-to-ceiling views of the surrounding landscape. Filled with comfortable furniture and plenty of common space, we know you’ll be sad to leave at the end of the conference. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

  Social learning was a feature of Learning Management Systems (LMS) long before social media was invented.  In the 1990s, threaded discussions, coffee groups, collaboration centers, forums, FAQ and chat clogged up a seldom used "tab" in every major LMS.  "Extend the learning out of the classroom" or "Let the baby boomers share their knowledge before they retire" we used to say in the LMS sales business. Training and development leaders and instructional designers loved the idea of social learning.  Setting the business case aside, it was easy to dream blissful holistic learning theory dreams.  The possibilities were endless and so were the starting spots.  Many times after the purchase of the additional cost, social learning LMS module, C-level executives started asking the L&D folks about the following: How much time is all this going to take away from work? Do we have the bandwidth (personnel or technical) for this? What are we really getting out of this? Why are we doing this? What happens if we do nothing for now? Because there were no concrete, measurable answers (except for the last question), many organizations chose to do nothing.  Those learning and development organizations that did try to launch the social LMS [...] The post A Brief History of LMS Social Learning appeared first on Talented Learning.

Since 1992, RISC with their Virtual Training Assistant (VTA) learning management system has focused on solving the administration challenges of compliance training in regulated industries. Organizations in regulated industries like energy, financial, pharmaceutical and transportation have complex compliance training and certification management challenges.  Regulatory standards and the associated training requirements vary at local, state, national and international levels and organizations that operate across these regulatory lines have little choice but to juggle the administrative complexity or pay the piper.  If an organization is caught out of compliance, they pay substantial accumulating fines. Compliance management is not glamorous.  It is hard work.  Think LMS in overalls.  Grown over two decades, RISC has a level of granular configurability that can support any mandatory training scenario.  It’s admin heavy.  Real heavy. For all the complexity and options available, the learning curve for RISC was manageable.  With a couple hours of guided demos and few hours on my own, I was getting around pretty easily.  Once you learn how to do one administrative task, you can pretty much do most tasks as the icons, steps and options are very consistent. To set up RISC though, you will need and want a full service implementation to [...] The post LMS Reviews: RISC VTA appeared first on Talented Learning.

LEAP Ahead eLearning Conference Learn. Educate. Accelerate. Profit. Discover how to use elearning to train employees and your channel, and propel your business with LEAP Ahead. The two-day elearning conference includes more than two dozen sessions led by industry experts on content development and training program management. Learn directly from: Jane Bozarth Julie Dirksen Art Kohn Judy Katz Jeannie Sullivan Jenn Dryden Stacy Friedman Anne Derryberry And more! Who Should Attend at LEAP Ahead eLearning Conference? Training content designers and developers Training program managers LMS/training administrators Why Attend at LEAP Ahead eLearning Conference? You are tasked with developing a new training program for your organization You are new to creating online training and need help getting started You are experienced with content development and are ready to take it to the next level You are a BlueVolt LMS or course administrator and want to learn more You need a good excuse to visit Portland Oregon in June Register online today This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

For LMS vendor eyes only… When I was an LMS sales guy, I personally demoed or watched a solution architect demo the same two LMSs an average of three times a week for 13 years.  In the last 12 months as lead analyst and an LMS selection consultant, I’ve watched another couple hundred demos from 70+ vendors.  In all, that’s about 2200 LMS demos (give or take a 100) I’ve been a part of in my career.  As you might suspect, I’ve learned a thing or fifteen about what makes a good demo. Here is a most important item I learned that most LMSs vendors forget -a demo can only be considered good when you ultimately win the LMS opportunity.  Second place is meaningless.  Many sales reps and solution architects take the demo step lightly because they have done the same presentation so many times that they think they have seen it all and know it all.  As a result, they prep too little, make a vanilla impact with the customer and get lost in the herd of possible LMS solutions. The LMS sales cycle is typically 12-24 months long.  There are 600 LMS vendors.  It is foolish to take any [...] The post 15 Tips to up your LMS Demo Game and Win % appeared first on Talented Learning.

X International GUIDE Conference The X International GUIDE Conference "Optimizing Higher Education for the Professional Student: A balance of flexibility, quality and cultural sensitivity", will be held on September 16-18, 2015 at the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien (Vienna), Austria’s largest technical university of applied sciences that offers both traditional and distance degree programs. The conference aims to promote discussion on improving higher education, bringing to light the needs of the evolving 21st century student and proposing new pedagogical strategies and technologies for meeting those needs. Particular attention will also be given to the continuing education and training of the working professional student, as well as the essential role of international collaboration and cultural sensitivity in the advancement of higher education research and technology. Participants Prof.ssa Alessandra Briganti, Rector of Guglielmo Marconi University, General Secretary of GUIDE Association, Italy Prof. Marco Rimanelli, Saint Leo University, USA Prof. Dr. Martin Lehner, Vice Rector for Teaching, Head of Department of Social Competence & Management Methods, Head of Didactics and University Development, University Development, UAS Technikum Wien, Austria Prof. Robert W. Robertson, PhD, PGDip, Director of Academic Affairs; Fellow, Center for Workforce Development Research, University of Phoenix, USA; Visiting Scholar, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Prof. Dr. Jörn Loviscach, Department of Engineering Sciences and Mathematics, University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld, Germany Prof. Pucher Robert, Head of Department, Computer Science, Universtiy of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien, Austria Dr. Dieter Grasedieck, Didactic Vocational Training, University Essen Duisburg /Babes Bolyai Cluj, Germany Anna Grabowska, Poland Douadi Bourouaieh, Full Lecturer, Computer Science, Universite 8 Mai 1945 Guelma, Algerie Priscila Gonsales, Founder and executive director, Educadigital Institute, Brazil Corinna Bartoletti, Researcher, Youth policies, Comune di Perugia, Italy To submit your proposal as a speaker or to register as a co-author or an auditor, please see Registration. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

If you are going to buy an LMS and stick your neck out professionally, commit $100,000 or $1,000,000 and impact every employee, channel partner and customer in your organization, it is prudent to speak to the LMS vendors’ customer references first and confirm you’re buying what you think you are buying.  It’s usually your last chance to avoid making a bad decision. The reference step in the sales cycle is not as simple as it might seem at first glance.  Vendors, references and buyers are all involved.  All three have some shared interests, but have different priorities and perspectives that need to be considered.   The LMS Vendor Perspective Customer references are tough for average and poor LMS vendors.  A typical vendor might work 50 sales opportunities in a given year.  If every prospective buyer asked for three references that would be 150 references calls to field a year.  That’s a lot of satisfied customers required and the exact reason buyers should always ask for references.   If a vendor is not doing a consistently fantastic job with their clients, the demand for references will always outweigh the supply. Great LMS vendors run their business in a way that they have a [...] The post A Multi-Perspective Look at LMS References appeared first on Talented Learning.

The theme for the ICOFE 2015 is ‘Making Learning Mobile and Ubiquitous’ Openness and flexibility are major trends in contemporary education, influencing the whole spectrum of education institutions across the globe. Technological advancement and breakthroughs are bringing about a paradigm shift in contemporary education. Modes of learning and teaching are becoming more open and flexible in terms of time, space, curriculum contents, organization, pedagogical methods, infrastructure and requirements. This change does not only happen in both open universities and conventional tertiary institutions. The rapid development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is one example that well manifests the global trend of open and flexible learning. With this background, the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) has organized the annual conferences of open and flexible education, which aim to: provide a platform for sharing research, practices and views relevant to open and flexible education facilitate networking and cross-institutional collaboration among researchers and educators in both open and conventional universities promote open and flexible education to enhance educational access and quality. Following the success of the Inaugural International Conference on Open and Flexible Education (ICOFE 2014), the Second International Conference on Open and Flexible Education (ICOFE 2015) will be held on 16-17 July, 2015 at Jubilee College, the Open University of Hong Kong. ICOFE 2015 will explore the approaches, means and experience of adopting latest technologies and innovations, particularly mobile technologies, which facilitate learning anytime and anywhere, in a flexible and personalized mode of education to cater for the diverse needs of different learning communities. Subthemes of the conference include the following mobile learning and open/flexible education modes ubiquitous learning and open/flexible education modes use of technologies to enhance ubiquitous teaching and learning innovations in open/flexible curriculum development and pedagogy social media and ubiquitous learning open educational resources and ubiquitous learning. The 2nd International Conference on Open and Flexible Education (ICOFE 2015) will be held at The Open University Of Hong Kong on July 16-17, 2015. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

  It wasn’t the shot heard around the world by any means, but it should have been.  Last week LinkedIn announced plans to acquire content aggregator Lynda.com for $1.5 billion.  I am a learning technology analyst focused on the business of learning and my jaw literally dropped when I heard the news.  I quickly recognized the strategic significance of this move and how LinkedIn completely outfoxed and disrupted the learning, talent, content, higher education, extended enterprise, social media, continuing education and workforce development industries.  Not bad for a day’s work. Let me explain my uncharacteristic acquisition optimism.  In my opinion, LinkedIn is quietly the best and most useful of social media sites from a business and professional perspective.  For free, it allows anyone worldwide to create a living resume and build a personal network of colleagues throughout their entire career.  By collecting skill endorsements and recommendations from your network and posting content, comments, presentations, awards, articles, certifications and other relevant data, you create a historical profile of credibility that any other LinkedIn user recognizes and values - more so every day with 347,000,000 users and growing in 200 countries. A LinkedIn user (or now learner), by participating in groups and [...] The post LinkedIn Outfoxes Many with Lynda.com Acquisition appeared first on Talented Learning.

Have you met your new authoring tool yet? Throughout February and Multi-device March, we have been introducing you to gomo in a series of webinars revealing how easy it is to create beautiful multi-device content with our authoring tool. These webinars cover: the key features of gomo examples of responsive and adaptive design the pricing plans a live demo of our new SaaS tool. There are still lots more webinars to come, allowing you to ask Managing Director Mike Alcock your specific questions about gomo. However, if you can’t make it to the next session, you can find a recording of a previous webinar on our YouTube channel. We will be uploading more gomo videos soon, so please subscribe to our channel to be the first to find out more. The post Missed our recent gomo webinars? Catch up on YouTube appeared first on gomo Learning.

The Hottest Training Technologies To help Learning and Development professionals stay abreast of new training technology, we've given a summary of some of the hottest new training technologies below: Tin Cap API. SCORM is the current hosting platform standard for content in a LMS, but it has some limitations in that it does not easily allow you to link training data with job performance data, meaning you can't easily show a link between training and productivity. Tin Cap API is the new hosting platform for content in LMS- which promises to make huge wages- as this allows you to easily track and evaluate a much broader range of learning experiences in a much more end-to-end way. It will enable you to make that link between training and productivity gains from within the system. 3D Virtual World Training. Now, we know there's nothing new about virtual reality as its been around for a while. But, what is new is that we are really getting the hang of it, and are now incorporating exciting new technologies like 3D. This means that for the first time ever, virtual training experiences can be as good a training tool as the real world. The study reported in Neo Academic highlights a 3D Virtual World police training tool that delivered far more superior training and learning than traditional, face-to-face training. As 3D worlds become more convincing, expect virtual training to become an increasingly important and cost effective training device. AI Virtual Coaches. AI based virtual coaches are starting to appear and are showing themselves to be effective teachers. Northeastern University developed their own virtual coaching technology for a study where they were trying to get a group of learners to train and exercise more to lose weight. The coach helped the learners to set goals and provided personalized feedback on how well they were doing. As you might have guessed, those who had access to the virtual coach showed significant improvements versus those who didn't have access to the virtual coach. Watch out for the various AI virtual coaches that are hitting the market. Robot Patients. A recent ABC news piece has shown how a 'simulation man', a robot patient that responds in a similar way to a real person, is being used to help train medical staff at the VA. Learners can do lots of medical procedures on the simulation man, such as resuscitation and intubation, and the robot patient responds like a human making this robot an excellent learning tool. This could have application in first aid training and many other training scenarios. Have you heard about these new and exciting training technologies before? Do you think these training tools will make a significant impact on overall corporate training or do you believe traditional training methods will still reign supreme? Let us know what you think and if you have any other cool new training technologies you'd like to share that are coming out in the near future. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

  Brightwave, with their innovative xAPI driven tessello learning system, focuses on managing the real-life balance of learning by doing (experiential), learning from others (social) and formal learning (old school). Brightwave is from the United Kingdom and is a long time provider of high-end eLearning custom content solutions that solve on-boarding, sales and leadership challenges.  They learned long ago that experiential learning and social learning integrated into and around their formal content solutions provided their customers greater measurable results than traditional solutions.   To that end, they built tessello first for their customers’ success and now by popular demand - the world’s. I have conducted 77 LMS reviews in the last year and with tessello, I explored a series of capabilities I haven’t ever seen or even conceptualized surrounding informal and social learning.  That’s a lot fun for a learning technology junkie and analyst. Many learning experts believe in the 70:20:10 learning theory which asserts that approximately 70% of learning is experiential, 20% is social and formal is only the remaining 10%.  Yet in the marketplace, organizations formally train their employees and generally do little to facilitate experiential or social learning.  In lock step over the last 20 years, the learning [...] The post LMS Reviews: Brightwave Tessello appeared first on Talented Learning.

We’ve all used our phones to access websites which aren’t mobile-optimised. You end up scrolling backwards and forwards chasing sentences off the edge of the screen and zooming in and out to find your way around the site. This is why responsive and adaptive design principles are so important when you’re designing for multi-device. In this post, we will explain the difference between responsive and adaptive design and why they are vital for multi-device content creation. Responsive design Responsive design in e-learning is about the way the components of your content change layout in relation to the size and shape of the screen upon which content is being viewed. The reduced available real estate means that a four column layout on a desktop may display as a stacked, single column layout on a smartphone to make best use of the space. Adaptive design Adaptive design looks at the dimensions of the screen space available and selects the most appropriate layout based on those measurements. The content adapts its presentation and functionality based on the device type and screen real estate, ensuring that the user is always presented with the most appropriate version of that course for their device. Multi-device design in action But don’t panic! This isn’t for you to worry about. The great news is that gomo takes care of this for you, meaning all you need to focus on is creating great content. gomo has been created with best practice multi-device design in mind, which is why your e-learning course will look great whether you’re viewing it on a desktop, a tablet or a smartphone. If you want to see adaptive and responsive design in action, you can register for our next webinar on 17th March, or come along to Epic’s free LearningNow event. Managing Director Mike Alcock will be explaining why gomo is the most cost-efficient way to create your own beautiful multi-device content, and we would love to see you there. The post How does your e-learning look on your devices? appeared first on gomo Learning.

Interactive eLearning There is no doubt that Interactive eLearning is a key component in Online Course Development. Interactivity plays a big role in putting all of this together. Below are a few tips to remember when developing interactive eLearning experiences. I will Take Control, Allow Learners to View What Options They Have. Consider the navigation bar carefully. Allow for users to refer back to information they have missed out. Allow for a references tab so that learners can refer to more information related to a topic. However, ensure that only relevant resources are made available as you do not want to provide obsolete references which no longer have relevance to the topics discussed in the course. Show the user how to navigate the course as you never know…for some learners, this may be the first time they are doing an online course. Mix It Up, Shake It Up, Serve Up a Special. Even if you are aware of your target audience, mix it up. Do not create 30 slides which are only text based or 30 slides with nothing but interaction. Instead, mix it up to create an element of suspense and surprise. Let your user explore a hidden cave to find clues, let them click on a question mark to see what’s behind. Let them play a quick game to reinforce some key learning points. Let learners pull the information rather than pushing them the information. Can I Make a Choice Please? If you have a very diverse target audience, you can create a course based on choices. At the start, the user can decide which path they will take. However, do note that you have to give very clear instructions of what to expect, so that the learner can make an informed choice. With choices, the best outcome for learners is that they will realize that scenarios have consequences depending on what they choose and they can relate back to their real live examples. The options for interactivity are limited only by imagination. Games, role-playing and so much more can be added to eLearning. The trick is having just the right mix to engage the learner. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

I am an independent learning technology selection consultant and I help my clients buy the right learning management system (LMS) for them based on their business needs.  In a recent article I wrote about conducting better LMS demonstrations, I advised LMS vendors to drop LMS jargon and acronyms from their vocabulary when speaking with potential clients.  If LMS buyers can’t understand you, it’s tough to win. I was far from amazed that my advice went unheeded while sitting through 10 LMS client presentations over the last couple of weeks. During this 25 hour demo decathlon, I observed that not only were vendors still copiously using LMS acronyms but also generously pairing them with broader technology acronyms that have specific definitions when used in conjunction with LMS speak. I concluded that it will take too long to teach 600+ LMS vendors the new anti-acronym trick and the easiest path would be to create a living, one-sentence, non-techie dictionary of acronyms for LMS buyers. It was a much bigger task than I anticipated.  I visited the top LMS vendor websites and without trying identified 110 acronyms.  I had to call it quits for now unless I was willing to change my last [...] The post Buying an LMS? 110 Acronyms You Should Know appeared first on Talented Learning.

Ready to meet your new authoring tool? To celebrate the official launch of gomo at the start of April, Managing Director Mike Alcock will be a guest speaker at LearningNow: efficient, effective, engaging on 2nd April at One Drummond Gate, London. Your current e-learning may be working well, but if it’s not available on tablets or mobile devices, you could be missing a trick. That’s where gomo comes in. In Mike’s session, you will discover how to: make the most of your existing e-learning build a comprehensive multi-device programme create your own e-learning on a budget ensure your e-learning works on all your devices hit the ground running with no programming necessary. Mike will also show you that authoring your own e-learning can be an incredibly cost-efficient solution, dispelling the myth that multi-device learning is always an expensive option. The event, held by Epic and Towards Maturity, will focus on how organisations can make the most of their e-learning without reinventing the wheel. Refreshing your learning programme doesn’t always need to mean starting from scratch, and it could be as simple as getting your learners re-engaged with material or helping them fit it into their busy schedules. Bridget Jackson, Director of Corporate Sustainability at PwC, will be presenting a session about how she successfully engaged 93% of PwC’s 17,000 learners with their ‘Think Sustainability’ training, along with her top tips for replicating these impressive results in your own organisation. Places are going quickly, so make sure you secure your spot now. The post Register today to meet your new authoring tool at LearningNow appeared first on gomo Learning.

How To Beat Short Attention Spans In eLearning In this article, I’ll share 7 tips to help you beat short attention spans in eLearning, so that you can design eLearning courses that stick and cater to every member of your audience. Divide longer eLearning courses into bite-sized modules. Instead of perceiving learners' short attention spans as an obstacle standing in the way of achieving goals and objectives, why not look at it as a standard that allows you to create eLearning deliverables that benefit all of your learners. After all, learners with short attention spans are one of the most challenging groups to address, as they often lack the capacity to focus on tasks for a long time and tend to disconnect from the eLearning experience if they aren’t fully engaged. Therefore, if you design your eLearning courses with the specific needs of these learners in mind, you end up designing an eLearning course that is more engaging and memorable for every member of your audience. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by dividing longer eLearning courses into short modules that can be easily digested. Rather than having an eLearning course that lasts 1 hour, for example, create 10 smaller eLearning modules that only last 6 minutes each, which give your learners the chance to fully comprehend each lesson before moving onto the next one. You can also keep each slide to 15 seconds, so that your learners stay fully focused on the screen, instead of losing interest by staring at the same images and eLearning content for 60 seconds. Gamify your eLearning experience. Learners, even those who have impressive attention spans, can sometimes disengage from the learning process if it isn't motivational enough. This is why it’s a good idea to gamify their eLearning experiences by integrating badges, points, or leaderboards into your eLearning course design. This boosts engagement and brings out the competitive nature in your learners, which encourages them to do their best and stay focused on the task at hand rather than let their attention wander. Focus on immediate learning objectives. The main reason why your learners participate in an eLearning course is to learn new skills or gain knowledge that they need in the here-and-now. While some may be aware of the long term benefits of acquiring the information, a vast majority of learners want to be able to apply the knowledge as soon as they complete the eLearning course. For example, if they need to build skills they will be using on the job, they need to be made aware of how they can apply these skills from day-one and what benefits they can expect to receive by mastering the eLearning content. Offer them real world value. Learners with short attention spans need to know that the eLearning course is going to offer them real world value even before they enroll. Stress what information they will be learning in the eLearning course description, as well as what they can do with that information, then emphasize these applications and benefits in every aspect of your eLearning course. Your scenarios should tie into real world benefits and your stories should give your learners a clear idea of how they can put their knowledge to use once they step outside of the virtual learning environment. Navigation should be simple and straightforward. We have all come across at least one eLearning course, if not several, that have been so challenging to navigate that we simply gave up after the first few screens. Maybe the navigation icons were hidden by graphics or the links directed us to outdated sites. Whatever the case may be, our attention was lost and not even high quality eLearning content or stunning eLearning visual design could win it back. This is why it’s crucial to build an eLearning course easy to navigate from start to finish, as learners with short attention spans simply won’t stick around if they encounter a course flow that is confusing or frustrating. Cut out the clutter. There are a myriad of reasons why you should avoid cluttering your eLearning course pages. Not only does it decrease the value of your eLearning course, as learners aren’t able to take away the key pieces of information they need, but also it distracts them from the core concepts and ideas. Having a short attention span already predisposes learners to a wandering eye, and integrating an abundance of extraneous information, images and graphics won’t help in this regard. Integrate "pause points" throughout the eLearning course. Learners with short attention spans often prefer eLearning courses that give them an "out" from time to time. They need to be able to take a break every now and then to refresh their minds and absorb what they have already learned. They also need to be able to step away from the eLearning course if they have a busy schedule or need to take care of a personal obligation. You can keep your short attention spanned-learners focused on the eLearning experience by integrating "pause points" throughout the eLearning course that allow them to pause and then return to the spot where they left off. Create an index that features all the lessons, so that they can easily begin again when they have the time. Use these 7 tips to create eLearning courses that leave a lasting impression on your audience and draw them into the eLearning experience. By doing so, you have the power to turn even the most distracted and impatient ones into lifelong learners. Want to learn more about how to increase the effectiveness of your eLearning course? Read the article 7 Tips To Create eLearning Experiences That Stick to get some additional tips that can help you create for your audience eLearning experiences of real value. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Huw and I have been in Orlando this week for the US launch of gomo at Learning Solutions, and we have had a frantic two days keeping up with the demand for gomo demos. The event itself has been fantastic, and we have had over 100 enquiries already! Ably assisted by Ruth Haddon and Sherry Archer from our LTG sister company Epic, both stands were full for the two day event. Mine and Huw’s regular demos showed learning professionals from across the USA and beyond the world’s newest authoring tool. The feedback from visitors was overwhelmingly positive with everyone loving gomo’s responsive and adaptive HTML5 output - something not available from legacy desktop authoring tools. We found that lots of people were frustrated with the lack of multi-device capability from their current authoring tools. Many learning professionals told us they are stuck with old technologies that are desktop-bound and produce content that’s not optimised for multi-device delivery, which is why our cloud-based authoring tool is arriving at the perfect time. Everyone loved the fact that gomo is capable of producing courses that are fully adaptive and responsive, running beautifully on Android and Apple devices, as well as through traditional desktop browsers. Nobody else can do this like we do, and it certainly drew in the crowds on the stand during our demonstrations showing the effortless transition from desktop to tablet to smartphone. All of this comes from a single HTML5 source so there’s no more authoring courses three times to make them work on different platforms. One of the things that many of our visitors commented on was how competitively priced gomo is. With prices starting at just $89 a month, gomo is an affordable option for organisations of all sizes and from all sectors - a very welcome move, as we discovered from the conversations we had at Learning Solutions. There’s not long to wait until the full launch of gomo on 2nd April. Ready to meet your new authoring tool, USA? The post gomo launches with a bang in the US at Learning Solutions 2014 appeared first on gomo Learning.

By Guest Contributor:  Michael Crawford, Principal Consultant, StOp Consulting Last month, Talented Learning’s blog post "LinkedIn Outfoxes Many with Linda.com Acquisition" detailed how LinkedIn has disrupted the eLearning, higher education and workforce development industries in one strategic move.  I’ve worked for years in elearning programs for workforce development and wanted to look at digging deeper into the analysis. Workforce development programs have been around in various flavours for years. However, recently they are more and more moving to online or blended programs in order to reach the scale they need to be successful. This has created opportunities for success but also a whole host of new challenges. Generally, Workforce Development programs have 3 key components: Training for job skills and soft skills. Job matching / internships Management and reporting In an online version, 2 out of 3 is pretty good. Usually they have training and reporting but fall a little short on the job matching. But up to now that’s fine as online WFD programs have a scope that is the envy of other providers. Imagine providing technical and soft skills training to tens of thousands of potential clients in your area for just a few dollars per person! That’s [...] The post LinkedIn and Workforce Development: All about the Jobs, the Jobs appeared first on Talented Learning.