Written by Chris Osborn   Today's Q&A Thursday discusses organizational socialization.     Stay Up-to-Date on the Most Current Business Training Trends BizLibrary offers 6,000+ training videos in various business training topics, with new courses added every day.   How to Build a Business Case for Online Employee Training This complimentary eBook will help you get your online training proposal approved. It identifies the 5 key elements of a business case, discusses best practices, and includes examples to help you make your case solid. BizLibrary's Mobile Learning App meets the needs of today's digital learners. Employees no longer wait for training departments to push learning content to them. Employees are used to pulling information to themselves, when they need it, on their own terms and conditions, and on their own devices. - See more at: /technology/bizmobile.aspx#sthash.umjsk4e5.dpuf Video Transcription

In a previous post entitled The "m" in mLearning means More, I made a case for why I believe mobile learning has vastly more potential than eLearning, in no small part because of all the sensor superpowers built into mobile devices. I’m writing an eBook now on my thoughts on mLearning, and among other things, I’m trying to expand on the definition we currently have on Wikipedia on what mLearning is. Here’s how Wikipedia defines mLearning today: Any sort of learning that happens when the learner is not at a fixed, predetermined location, or learning that happens when the learner takes advantage of the learning opportunities offered by mobile technologies.[1] In other words mobile learning decreases limitation of learning location with the mobility of general portable devices. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLearning I fully see the point contributors to this wikipedia article were trying to get across; after all, the mobile revolution is what made us realize there’s a computing paradigm shift taking place, and made us pay attention to the potential of learning through our mobile devices. mLearning is bigger than mobile devices However, in my book I argue that our vision would have to be fairly shortsighted to think that mLearning is only about today’s mobile devices. The mobile revolution brought about an opportunity for us to stop and rethink Learning design in general, and it gave us a reset button in a similar way in which I believe The iPad and iPhone not supporting Adobe Flash is a Great thing for mLearning and also why I believe it still not time to remove the ‘e’ and ‘m’ and all other letters from Learning. All of these things are important because they will help us cross the big chasm that exists between the PC paradigm and the new mobile paradigm. It’s not about the desktop vs. mobiles devices I strongly believe the future of Learning design is about creating learning experiences that reach Learners anywhere and at anytime, but it’s especially about experiences that will adapt to whichever screen is at hand at the time. In other words, it’s no longer about the desktop vs. mobile devices, it’s about the fact that our desktop computers have now been reduced to merely one screen in this ecosystem of screens, that is all around us. It’s about an ecosystem of screens The future as I see it, will consist of lots of "screens" everywhere, from our smartphones to our Tablets, from our PCs to our Smart TVs, but also screens when we arrive at the airport and when we board our plane and when we go shopping and in our cars, and I see our personal information seamlessly and fluidly following us from screen to screen via our own personal Cloud. My point is that it’s not too early to start thinking about how we can design learning experiences that adapt nicely and seamlessly to multiple screens and take full advantage of the uniquely inherent attributes of each screen. Having said that, as we design for a multiscreen ecosystem, I highly recommend we think mobile-first for all the reasons I outlined in this post. More on this topic in the eBook I’m working on right now. Let me know your thoughts and if you like this post, please share with your friends on Social Media.  

by Jen Weaver     While it failed to be renewed for another season, the 2010 NBC show "Outsourced" shed a comical light on some of the cultural nuances to doing business in India. Miss the show? Never fear. In this article we'll explore some common cultural facts about Indians and their expectations when it comes to training and development.   Test your Knowledge of Indian Culture Match the old westernized city name with its present replacement. Colonial Name Current Name Calcutta Bombay Madras Mumbai Chennai Kolkata What two world religions were born in India? Quick Tips for Training & Development in India1: Resist the urge to change "Indian" to "Native American" out of political correctness. Aboriginal tribes in North America are Native Americans, and individuals from India are Indians. Hindi is the national language, although English is extremely common especially given the high volume of U.S. jobs outsourced to India presently. Depending on your audience, it's likely you won't need to translate training materials, but pay close attention to learner retention and quiz scores. Students learn best in their own language. If your trainees aren't scoring as well as their native English-speaking counterparts, you may want to pilot translated materials to see if results improve. Most Indians are Hindu, a religion that supports their social caste system. Many Hindus are vegetarians and won't wear leather, as cows are regarded as sacred. A smaller percentage of Indians are Muslim and do not eat pork. Keep this in mind when selecting meals, attire, and images or examples in your training materials. If you're training on location in India, be sure to drink bottled water and avoid eating raw produce that is at risk of being contaminated. Many travelers face digestive issues from overindulgence in spicy food, so come prepared with necessary medications. The last thing you want is to search for a pharmacy in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar country. When it comes to decision-making, objective facts are less persuasive than appealing to individual feelings and religious beliefs. Relationships are more important than vocational experience; however, higher levels of education are still highly valued. Another common cultural norm is fatalism--the belief that all events are predetermined and, therefore, inevitable. This contributes to passivity in decision-making and a casual approach to time and schedules. Male chauvinism abounds, and women do not have equal privileges. If your training team includes female instructors, be mindful that this may impact learner receptivity. Also, orthodox Muslim men will not touch women. To be safe, it's ideal to wait for the Indian representative to offer his hand to shake. The word "Namaste" is also an acceptable greeting as a replacement for shaking hands. Standing with your hands on your hips is seen as angry and aggressive. Pointing with your finger is also rude, and you may notice many Indians pointing with their chin instead. Never point your feet at someone, as feet are considered unclean. If your shoes or feet happen to touch another person, be sure to apologize. Black and white are deemed unlucky colors, while green, red, and yellow are considered lucky. These are good perspectives to keep in mind when branding training materials or selecting gifts for Indian counterparts.  Trivia Answers: Mumbai is the present name for what was once Bombay. Chennai is the present name for Madras, and Kolkata is the present name for Calcutta. Hinduism and Buddhism.  References:   1Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.   *** Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.

Written by Jessica Batz View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording.

I just saw When Knowledge Management Hurts … Professors Martine Haas from the Wharton School and Morten Hansen from INSEAD, for example, examined the use of internal knowledge systems by teams of consultants in one of the big four accountancy firms trying to win sales bids. They measured to what extent these teams accessed electronic documents and how much they sought personal advice from other consultants in the firm. They figured that, surely, accessing more knowledge must be helpful, right? But they proved themselves wrong; to their surprise they found that the more internal electronic databases were consulted by these teams the more likely they were to lose the bid! So I naturally looked at the citation to read the details … Does Knowledge Sharing Deliver on Its Promises? In a study of 182 sales teams that were bidding for new client contracts in a management consulting company, Haas and Hansen found that using personal advice from experienced colleagues can improve work quality. "We find that using codified knowledge in the form of electronic documents saved time during the task, but did not improve work quality or signal competence to clients, whereas in contrast, sharing personal advice improved work quality and signaled competence, but did not save time," Haas says. "This is interesting because managers often believe that capturing and sharing knowledge via document databases can substitute for getting personal advice, and that sharing advice through personal networks can save time. But our findings dispute the claim that different types of knowledge are substitutes for each other. Instead, we show that appropriately matching the type of knowledge used to the requirements of the task at hand -- quality, signaling or speed -- is critical if a firm's knowledge capabilities are to translate into improved performance of its projects." There is considerably more detail here, but this certainly calls into question the idea of creating large knowledge bases.  It may even call into question sharing of Effective Patterns.  However, my findings indicate that using Data Driven approaches ensures that you arrive at effective sharing, but it's certainly different to share patterns as opposed to sharing additional codified knowledge. What is hugely important out of this is the reminder of the limits of codified knowledge and that Conversation Learning is essential but that there are limits to what should be shared and how effective that sharing can be.  Still, I've come to believe the most important Knowledge Worker Skill Gap is the Leveraging Networks Skill.  I've discussed this many times in Value from Social Media and Networks and Communities.  The research would seem to suggest that it's more than just an uneasy feeling after searching, but the reality is that you likely are missing things.  You really do need to have that conversation. The bottom line is to reduce the amount of time you spend search and spend more time talking. This does make me wonder what this means for professions that focus on helping to create codified knowledge? eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

Written by Jessica Batz View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording.

It's been a while since I looked at: ROI and Metrics in eLearning and in this case, I was more looking at traditional content delivery and their impact.  I've recently been more interested in measures around social learning.  And I think I need real help here understanding how to measure this stuff. And, I just saw a post Measuring Networked (or Social) Learning that discusses how we could go about measuring social learning.  In this, Eric suggests the following minimum measures: Networking patterns - the relationship between people and content categories, the network make up or profile (business unit, job, level, etc), key brokers and influencers by content category, and the degree of networking across silos. Learning efficiency - time lag between posting content and when content is viewed,  amount of time spent producing content for others to view, amount of redundant or significantly overlapping content, the degree to which "informal" content is reused in "formal" content (and perhaps reducing formal content development costs and effort). Learning needs - differences between the learning needs or demand between "formal" and "social" learning (are some skills best learnt formally?), most popular learning needs by job, level, business unit, etc. Contribution patterns - most active contributors and methods of contribution, busiest days and times for contributing, frequency and amount of contributions by job, level, business unit, etc.  Content usage patterns - preferred ways to consume various content topics, busiest days and times for viewing content,  amount of time spent viewing content and participating in discussion threads and blogs, and preferred way to "find" content. Content quality - ratings by content category, contributor, and medium, amount of "inappropriate" or "wrong" content reported by users, and the amount and type of content with very few or a lot of hits or views. I'm not sure I buy how much real impact any of this will have on bottom line measures.  The recent MIT Study that showed that more highly networked individuals were more productive (see Workplace Productivity).  So, size and access of networks might be a proxy, but what about all the rest of these suggested measures.  Do we really believe they will be proxies for effectiveness? I like what Kevin Jones talked about in Objection #13: How Do You Measure ROI? How do you know that it is producing bottom line results? … Rachel Happe suggested some measurements of ROI. A lot of them are for environments that face the customer, but some are for internal. Among those were: # Number of new product ideas # Idea to development initiation cycle time # Retention/Employee turn over # Time to hire # Prospect identification cost # Prospect to hire conversion rate # Hiring cost # Training cost # Time to acclimation for new employees Remember, we are looking at the final outcome, not necessarily "did they learn". Because, honestly, we don’t care if they learn if they don’t use it for the benefit of the company. So the benefit is what we measure.  Other’s measurements might be: # How large one’s network is # Number of meetings taking place (or, more intuitively, are NOT taking place) # Number of travel arrangements made (or, again, NOT made). I always like to work on project where there are clear metrics that are the focus at the end of day (see Data Driven).  But in many cases, we need to define Intermediate Factors in Learning (see also Intermediate Factors).  As an example, we might be focusing on Customer Loyalty.  However, this metric is far too hard to directly measure and impact and thus we might say that there are intermediate factors such as customer satisfaction (based on surveys), recent contact, staff knowledge, etc.  We often know that these factors are contributors to the end measure.  Thus, we can define these as the actual goal. What is particularly challenging about social learning measurement is understanding what these intermediate factors are going to be?  If you have really good support for networks, communities, social learning, etc. - how would we expect that to impact (in a measurable way) the above factors?  Why?  Why would this impact something like engagement or turnover?  Is there any proof?  What does that suggest about the intermediate measures?  Any pointers to good resources on this? eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

by Jennie Ruby    Answers to my Confusing Words for 100 challenge are brought to you by Cathy A. Mackie: What will the effect/affect of the new restrictions be?(noun) The new director will effect/affect some changes in the current policy. (verb - exception when effect can mean to bring about or accomplish) The revisions to the software will effect/affect how we use it. (verb) How will the new functions effect/affect our template?(verb) What effect/affect will the new interface have on our compliance initiative? (noun) The change is to/too difficult to explain over the phone. I want to upgrade the operating system, to/too. The file is to/too large to fit on my flash drive. The goal is to/too enhance functionality without increasing costs. To/too encourage use, we will offer to/too/two new incentives. Other correct answers came in from Tara Allen, Gail Kelleher, Geri Moran, Ginny Supranowitz, and Kay Honaker. To the many, many respondents who missed number 2, note Cathy's comment: Effect can sometimes be used as a verb meaning to put into effect. If you think of the verb affect as meaningchange, it becomes clear that The new director will change some changes in the current policy doesn't quite work.   *** Confusing Words for 200    Let's tackle two more sets of confusing words: than/then and adept/adapt/adopt.    Than is for comparisons, then is for sequence.    Adept means skilled, adapt means to alter for a particular use, and adopt means to take as your own. The Washington Monument is taller than/then the Capitol dome. Lunch was later than/then we thought. The paddleboard is much longer than/then most surf boards. First we paddled up the creek, than/then we paddled down. The mouth of the Magothy River is much wider than/then the mouth of the Severn. The instructors were much more adept/adapt/adopt at maneuvering than/then the beginners were. We wanted to adept/adapt/adopt the puppy, but first it needed some shots. How adept/adapt/adopt are you at balancing on a floating board? You have to adept/adapt/adopt your stance to the circumstances. Is there some way we can adept/adapt/adopt this oar, which is much too long, for use with a canoe? Feel free to post your answers as comments below. *** If you love Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Check out some of Jennie's mini courses.

Written by Jessica Batz View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording.

by Kevin Siegel    If you have created a Captivate project and need to reuse a slide in another project, all you need to do is right-click the slide on the Filmstrip, choose the Copy menu item, switch to another (or new) Captivate project, and paste. Copying slides between projects gets a bit complicated if the two projects are not the same size. For instance, the original project size is 1024x768. The other project is 825x675. When copying and pasting the slides between projects, larger slides pasted into smaller projects will likely get cropped; smaller slides pasted into larger projects will "float" on the larger slide. There is an easy way to ensure that slides rescale when pasted between projects. First, open the project that will receive the pasted slide. Open Captivate's Preferences dialog box (Windows users, choose Edit > Preferences; Mac users, choose Adobe Captivate > Preferences). From the list of Categories at the left of the dialog box, choose General Settings. Select Rescale Imported/Pasted Slide (the option is deselected by default) and then click the OK button. With Rescale Imported/Pasted Slide selected, the slide you copied will rescale to fit the proportions of the active project after you paste. Keep in mind that if the two projects are not proportional to each other, copying and pasting slides between projects will likely yield poor results. For instance, if there are graphics on a copied slide that was sized to 2000x900 and you paste it into a project that is 700x500, the images will scale way out of proportion. When possible, copy and paste slides between proportionally-sized projects (for instance, copying a slide in a project that is 1024x768 into a project that is 800x600 would work well).   *** Looking for instructor-led training on Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Captivate classes.

Mike Gotta tells us -A common thread between social networking and KM that strategists should acknowledge is the principle that volunteered participation and resulting contributions are a daily decision employees make - and one that they essentially control."I largely think of KM as a failure exactly because of the level of effort required for participation and it worries me that Mike sees such a close parallel:Ultimately, people still make choices on sharing what they know. How do we influence them (if possible) to make choices that directly help co-workers and indirectly help the organization overall when they are not compelled to do so by the structure of their role/task? How do you instill a sense of volunteerism (if that's even the right phrase)? We find ourselves shifting from tooling into the realm of attitude and behavior change (some might include culture change) which are better understood through the lens of psychology, sociology, etc. I agree with Kate that changing culture is difficult but not impossible. Enabling an environment where people are more willing to volunteer above that which they feel is necessary has been one of the intractable challenges faced by industrial-age organizations.My gut tells me there is something different here now. That participation is different when it's a natural part of how we work, network, etc. But, I do worry about the 90-9-1 Rule and the resulting perception about participation. Much of what works outside of an organization does so because of scale and with 90-9-1, you still have enough participation. Inside an organization, 90-9-1 can be seen as a failure.What do you think? Is there something different here? eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

Written by Chris Osborn   Today's Q&A Thursday discusses proper timelines you should use to evaluate training programs, and what should be done during each phase.     Stay Up-to-Date on the Most Current Business Training Trends BizLibrary offers 6,000+ training videos in various business training topics, with new courses added every day.   How to Build a Business Case for Online Employee Training This complimentary eBook will help you get your online training proposal approved. It identifies the 5 key elements of a business case, discusses best practices, and includes examples to help you make your case solid. BizLibrary's Mobile Learning App meets the needs of today's digital learners. Employees no longer wait for training departments to push learning content to them. Employees are used to pulling information to themselves, when they need it, on their own terms and conditions, and on their own devices. - See more at: /technology/bizmobile.aspx#sthash.umjsk4e5.dpuf Video Transcription

My post on whether "eLearning on Tablets is really Mobile Learning" generated quite a bit of interest, with lots of ReTweets and replies on Twitter, many Blog comments, at least 71 people casted their votes, and at least two other bloggers posted their own thoughts based on my post. All in all, I’m very happy with the engagement the post generated. Thank You! My goal with this post was to start a conversation around what should be considered mobile learning and propose some questions we can use to judge whether a learning experience on is indeed "uniquely mobile." I must admit I was a bit surprised that from the 71 votes I received, 59% (42 votes) said Yes. Somehow I had expected that most people would vote No, especially after reading some of the questions I proposed in that post. However I understand why some people may consider the answer to be yes, after all an iPad (and every other Tablet) is a mobile device, and thus any learning experience consumed on it should be considered mobile learning, right? What happened next on Twitter was interesting, I started getting questions asking me whether a certain experience, that yielded in learning via mobile, and which seemingly didn’t fit the criteria proposed in my questions, was mLearning. Here’s one tweet in particular that got me thinking and eventually inspired this follow-up post:   @rjacquez If you google something on your mobile device while trying to solve a problem and get the answer. Is that Mobile learning? — reubentozman (@reubentozman) August 23, 2012 Excellent question. Reuben then left a comment on my Blog, where he elaborated further. I was especially interested in what he said below regarding how doing a mobile search on Google does not take advantage of any unique mobile features, and this is where I disagree a bit. Here’s his question, followed by my answer: Here is what I just asked u on twitter so that I can get some more characters in If you google something on your mobile device while trying to solve a problem and get the answer. Is that Mobile learning? Because your not taking advantage of any unique mobile features, but I would say that experience is mobile learning without a doubt. My response: Hi Reuben, thanks for your comment and for proposing a very interesting question. The short answer to your questions on whether looking something up on google that help us find an answer and learn something along the way is Yes. The longer answer (still Yes) is where I respectfully disagree with you, where you say that this experience does not take advantage of any uniquely mobile feature. I actually think it absolutely does. Let’s take the Google App for iPhone as an example, clearly Google has thought a lot about what makes a uniquely mobile experience, you can use your current location (GPS) to find information relevant to where you are. You can type your question or better yet, click the microphone for a voice search (another mobile feature). The app also has ‘Goggles’ built in, so that you can use your camera, point at any object and do a search based on a phone taken via the camera built into your phone. Then, once you get the search results, you can switch over to ‘images’ which you can then navigate by swiping left and right (another uniquely mobile feature). So while this whole process may seem fairly passive, I actually think it’s a brilliant display of how Google harnesses everything that makes mobile great to make our lives better while on-the-go. In my opinion there’s much for us to learn from this and other mobile experiences and start thinking about how we can do the same in our own industry. thanks. Again, my point with this post is that indeed anything our mobile devices can help us with in the way of learning should be considered mobile learning. In fact @MayraAixaVillar said it best in her post for ASTD when she said that "because of mobile options, anything can trigger a learning experience." I completely agree with that statement. The lesson here is that Mobile devices gives an opportunity to re-imagine Learning beyond simply retrofitting old desktop learning into the this new and amazing mobile paradigm. Let me know your thoughts!

by Kevin Siegel    What came first, the chicken or the egg? Wait... before answering that, let's rework that classic question with this: what comes first, the eLearning or the PowerPoint presentation? When developing eLearning, the content is often created in Microsoft PowerPoint first. I'm not going to get into what it takes to create visually compelling PowerPoint presentations (we have a mini course for that). Instead, I'm going to show you how to take existing PowerPoint content and quickly re-purpose it for eLearning. Earlier this year I wrote an article teaching you how to take PowerPoint content and create eLearning using either TechSmith Camtasia Studio or Adobe Presenter. Over the next two weeks, I'm going to show you how to use your PowerPoint content in Adobe Captivate and Articulate Storyline. Adobe Captivate and PowerPoint You can import PowerPoint slides into an existing Captivate project or create a new project that uses the PowerPoint slides. During the import process, Captivate includes the ability to create a link between a Captivate project and PowerPoint presentation. Using this workflow, any changes made to the original PowerPoint presentation can be reflected in the Captivate project.   Note: Microsoft PowerPoint must be installed on your computer before you can import PowerPoint presentations into Captivate. Also, the ability to import PowerPoint presentations isn't new. In fact, Captivate has supported PowerPoint imports for years. If you're using a legacy version of Captivate (even version 4 and 5), the steps below will work for you just fine. To create a new project from a PowerPoint presentation, choose File > New Project > Project From MS PowerPoint and open the PowerPoint presentation.  The Convert PowerPoint Presentations dialog box opens, offering a few controls over how the presentation is imported.   The On mouse click option adds a click box to each Captivate slide. The other available option, Automatically, results in Captivate slides that, when viewed by a learner, automatically move from slide to slide every three seconds. At the lower right of the dialog box, there are options for High Fidelity and Linked.   During a standard import process, PowerPoint pptx presentations are first converted to the ppt format and then converted to SWF. If you select High Fidelity, the import process takes native pptx files directly to Captivate SWF (the ppt conversion is skipped). This option, which is available only in Captivate for Windows, results in the best-looking content in Captivate, but it takes much longer to complete the import process.    The Linked option creates a link between the PowerPoint presentation and the new Captivate project. The link allows you to open the PowerPoint presentation from within Captivate. Additionally, any changes made externally to the PowerPoint presentation can be reflected in the Captivate project with a few mouse clicks.    After the PowerPoint slides are imported into Captivate, you can add Captivate objects such as captions, highlight boxes, or animations.      If you need to edit the PowerPoint slides, choose Edit > Edit with Microsoft PowerPoint > Edit Presentation. The Presentation will open in a window that can best be described as a union between Captivate and PowerPoint. If you've used PowerPoint before, you will recognize the familiar PowerPoint interface.  There are two buttons you wouldn't normally see if you opened the presentation directly in PowerPoint: the Save and Cancel buttons at the upper left of the window. Once you have edited the PowerPoint slides, click the Save button and the changes will appear in the Captivate project. If the PowerPoint presentation has been edited outside of Captivate, (perhaps your subject matter expert is adding or removing content from the presentation) you can still get the changes. Choose Window > Library. On the Library, notice that there is a Status column. A red button will indicate that the PowerPoint slides within the Captivate project are no longer synchronized with the PowerPoint presentation. A simple click on the red button will update the Captivate slides.    Next week: Articulate Storyline and PowerPoint.   *** Looking for instructor-led training on Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Captivate classes.

Written by Chris Osborn   Today's Q&A Thursday discusses proper timelines you should use to evaluate training programs, and what should be done during each phase.     Stay Up-to-Date on the Most Current Business Training Trends BizLibrary offers 6,000+ training videos in various business training topics, with new courses added every day.   How to Build a Business Case for Online Employee Training This complimentary eBook will help you get your online training proposal approved. It identifies the 5 key elements of a business case, discusses best practices, and includes examples to help you make your case solid. BizLibrary's Mobile Learning App meets the needs of today's digital learners. Employees no longer wait for training departments to push learning content to them. Employees are used to pulling information to themselves, when they need it, on their own terms and conditions, and on their own devices. - See more at: /technology/bizmobile.aspx#sthash.umjsk4e5.dpuf Video Transcription

A couple days ago I posted Reduce Searching Start Talking and I just saw a very interesting post by Nancy Dixon - What Do We Get From Conversation That We Can't Get Any Other Way? The list of what you can get through conversation:Answers Meta KnowledgeProblem ReformulationValidationLegitimizing Then she tells us ... The greatest benefit of conversation is that it produces five categories of responses, not just the answer. We get so much more from conversation, e.g. an unexpected insight, a sense of affirmation that inspires us to new heights or, equally useful, having to confront a realization that we've been trying to avoid; deepening the relationship with a colleague or the introduction to a collaborator we would never have discovered on our own; and on and on. The multiplicity of benefits addresses the very real problem of not knowing what we don’t know. A problem that is so frequent when the issues we are addressing are ambiguous and complex. Ambiguous and complex - pretty much defines concept work.Search's LimitThe limit of search and need for conversation is a common topic here and as part of Work Literacy. In Value from Social Media, I looked at a scenario where I'm evaluating a particular solution for my company / organization. Through Google, I find a lot of information. But in many cases, I will still be left feeling uncomfortable ...What’s really going to happen? Did I miss something important?How important are the various issues? Is my answer reasonable? These are the questions that represent search's limit. It's difficult to use search to address:Experience - What have been the experiences of other organizations (not the canned case studies) when they’ve used this solution. Boundaries / Existence - I’ve got a particular issue and I’m not sure if answers to that issue exist out there, I’ve not found it in my searching.Confirmation - I’m beginning to have an answer, but I’d like to get confirmation of the answer based on my particular situation based on experience. Importance - Some of the issues I see, I’m not sure how important they are in practice, should I be concerned.However, each of these can be directly addressed through conversation. Conversation QuestionsWith Nancy's categories and looking the the limit of search, it suggests to me that there is opportunity to better define the conversation questions that are important for concept work. I'm not quite sure that I quite know what these are, but it feels like there are a set of questions that we should commonly ask as part of these conversations that are central to our work.In other words, I believe there are likely patterns for good questions to be asking to help address the limits of search and ensure that we surface each of the categories that Nancy defines:Answers Meta KnowledgeProblem ReformulationValidationLegitimizing This is a topic that I intend to revisit. I certainly would welcome any thoughts or pointers around it. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

by Jen Weaver     Most of us have limited awareness of Irish culture beyond Saint Patrick's Day and leprechauns. Never fear! Today's article explores some common cultural facts about the Irish and their expectations when it comes to training and development.Test Your Knowledge of Irish Culture True or False. Ireland has one official language: Irish. True or False. The Irish are known as a cold harsh people, aka "the Fighting Irish". Quick Tips for Training & Development in Ireland1: Strains of pessimism run deep in the Irish due to hard times throughout history. You may struggle to communicate optimistic outlooks when training learners in this country. Surprisingly, Irish is a second language to those who are fluent in it. Irish is a required subject to study in school and is necessary for careers in academia and civil service, but the native language for Irish inhabitants is English. The Irish tend to be fairly open to risk and make decisions based on a combination of facts and emotion. Irish culture does not place significant value on wealth, and many people believe the poor should receive the same respect as those who are rich and successful. Irish expect punctuality but tend to be slightly more relaxed than the English when it comes to time. Deadlines may be interpreted as approximations or suggestions, so be clear on your expectations or include a buffer in your timeline. While Northern Ireland is part of the UK, never use English or British symbols in your training materials. Some helpful examples include; the British flag, Royal Guardsmen, double-decker buses, or red post boxes. In training, sports analogies will go over well, especially if you reference popular Irish teams. Avoid controversial, political, or religious topics in casual conversation. If someone else broaches the subject, refrain from commenting unless voicing areas you agree with. Many older generations are especially conservative, and you risk alienating your audience if you disagree. In general, the Irish refrain from exaggerated gestures. Be mindful of this cultural trait, as emphatic gesturing may not translate well to this audience. Culture Answers: False. Ireland actually has two official languages: Irish and English. False. Many Irish people are extremely welcoming of strangers and are known to strike up conversations on the street. Irish friendliness and hospitality are easily recognized characteristics of this culture. The "Fighting Irish" is actually Notre Dame's athletic nickname. References:   1Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.   *** Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.

I spent the last 12 years working in some capacity or another on the Captivate product, from the early days when it was called RoboDemo at eHelp Corporation, then at Macromedia and more recently at Adobe, where I spent 6 years as a Senior Product Evangelist for Captivate and the eLearning Suite. During those years, I delivered hundreds of presentations to customers, prospects and conference audiences, and was asked hundreds of questions, and as a result, I learned quite a bit about how different people use the product. Since leaving Adobe, I have been recording everything I learned into a series of Adobe Captivate 5.5 ‘killer tips‘ videos, that will eventually be part of an onDemand Learning platform, I’m working on in my spare time, and that will be the foundation for making other courses available online, such as one on Mobile Learning (mLearning) Design and another one on the new Articulate Storyline product. However I still have a long ways to go before this onDemand Learning Platform is ready, and I don’t want to delay sharing what I have recorded thus far. Instead, I decided to put together various DVDs titles, that you can order and watch at your own pace and apply what you learn along the way. How Is this Training DVD Different? There are lots of good learning resources out there, from classes you can take, to books you can buy, to blogs and Facebook pages, and they are all good. However in my experience most Captivate learning resources are very "feature-based," select a series of menus, check this box and click Ok, type of thing. Nothing wrong with that, but I think there’s more to a software application like Captivate than simply learning features and following steps that can be found in the Help System. My goal is to help Adobe Captivate users go beyond the obvious and think outside the box a bit, and the results will be faster development and better, more effective and fun Learning. You can check out the video below as an example of my style of teaching, the pace and interactivity of the videos, and also as an example of the types of things you will learn when you order this first DVD. In this video, I go over how to record a simulation of an iPad App, and how to further customize the recording in Adobe Captivate 5.5:   In case you are interested, I use the new Camtasia Studio 8 application to record these videos and then Mayra (@MayraAixaVillar) goes to work and adds keyboard shortcuts, highlight boxes (for spotlight emphasis) in order to make the experience better; as well as Quizzes as a way to reinforce the learning experience via short questions. The whole thing is pretty fun for us and we hope you like the format. Who is this Training DVD for? I believe these videos are for anyone using Adobe Captivate as it includes killer tips for beginners, intermedia and advanced users alike. The videos include killer tips from how to customize the user interface and how to record software simulations to how to personalize the auto-captions when recording the screen; to how to leverage PowerPoint, Photoshop, Adobe Kuler and other tools as design tools with Captivate; to incorporating Characters / Actors right in version 5.5, all the way to how to apply Advanced Actions and Widgets to get more out of Adobe Captivate 5.5. So why Pre-order the DVD Now? The DVD is full of killer tips you won’t find in a traditional Captivate class, book or anywhere else online The videos include killer tips for beginners, intermediate and advanced users alike The killer tips I share are NOT feature-based like most traditional training is today The DVD is an inexpensive way to take your Captivate skills to the next level The DVD includes ideas that will inspire you to think outside the Captivate eLearning box and create better eLearning The videos will show you how to work with other products that complement Captivate for rapidly developing better looking eLearning If you pre-order now you will save $30 I expect the DVD to ship in less than three weeks and cost $99USD, however as a way of saying thank you to those who pre-order today (and give me that virtual kick in the pants I need to finish it), you can pre-order it today for $69USD. Once I begin shipping, the price will go back to $99. Thank You in advance to those who order this DVD and help me fund other similar projects with your purchase! To purchase it, click the ‘Add to Cart‘ button below!

Written by Jessica Batz View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording.

I just saw two posts by a couple of the nicest people out there:Nancy White - Most Viewed Posts First Quarter 2009 - What next?Bill Ives - Your Favorite Portals and KM Posts for Last Quarter and Last YearBoth posts look at page views of posts and use that as a proxy for what is good / interesting / valuable. I've talked about the questionable nature of page views vs. other signals in posts such as: An Aha Moment - del.icio.us as Indicator of Valuable Content - Importantly My ContentSince my aha moment, I've always been skeptical of using page views. However, I've also come to realize that there are some limits with each different kind of social signal (e.g., delicious links, click throughs, page views, time on page, etc.).Because both Nancy and Bill contribute to the Communities and Networks Connection and both have the keyword widget installed, I was able to see ...Nancy's top ten posts for Q1 according to various social signals were:Tom Vander Wall Nails My Sharepoint Experience- Full Circle, March 23, 2009CoP Series #6: Community Leadership in Learning- Full Circle, March 10, 2009Twitter as Search Engine or Community Seed- Full Circle, March 6, 2009CoP Series #5: Is my community a community of practice?- Full Circle, March 5, 2009CoP Series #4: Practice Makes Perfect- Full Circle, March 3, 2009CoP Series #9: Community Heartbeats- Full Circle, March 19, 2009CoP Series #8: Content and Community- Full Circle, March 17, 2009Tinkering and Playing with Knowledge- Full Circle, March 8, 2009A humorous presentation of Blogs vs. Wikis- Full Circle, January 12, 2009Red-Tails in Love: Birdwatchers as a community of practice- Full Circle, March 26, 2009Bill's top ten posts for Q1 according to various social signals were:Ten Ways to Track Your Online Reputation- Portals and KM, January 27, 2009Enterprise 2.0 for an Enterprise of One - Part Two - Content Monitoring- Portals and KM, March 10, 2009McKinsey on Making Enterprise 2.0 Work is Reminder of Process Centric KM in Early 90s. - Portals and KM, March 18, 2009Enterprise 2.0 for an Enterprise of One - Part Four - Content Collecting, Assembling, and Creation - Potential New Approaches - Portals and KM, March 12, 2009Enterprise 2.0 for an Enterprise of One - Introduction- Portals and KM, March 9, 2009Enterprise 2.0 for an Enterprise of One - Part Five - Content Publishing and Archiving- Portals and KM, March 13, 2009Enterprise 2.0 for an Enterprise of One - Part Three - Content Collecting, Assembling, and Creation - Current Approach- Portals and KM, March 11, 2009Business Blogs Trump Social Networking Sites as New Business Drivers - Portals and KM, March 4, 2009Central Desktop Using Twitter for Sales, Service, and Brand Monitoring Conversations- Portals and KM, February 23, 2009Knowledge Management Twitterers- Portals and KM, March 31, 2009While there is overlap with the most viewed, I think that the above lists represent a more accurate picture of what users found valuable. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

The iPad has been called many things, including the ultimate babysitter. If you have kids and an iPad, you know what I’m talking about. Indeed the iPad is a great entertainment device for kids, but it’s also an excellent learning device with tons of Learning Apps available for kids of all ages. However kids have a very short attention span, they get easily distracted and quickly reach for the home button in order to get out of that amazing learning app you just bought them, and off to exploring other things, like rearranging your apps all over the place, or worse deleting your emails, posting on Twitter and Facebook on your behalf, or watching videos on YouTube. Can you tell that I have a 6 year old son? Luckily for all of us parents there’s an amazing new feature in the latest iOS update from Apple, version 6, called Learning Guided Access. This feature allows you to prevent your kids from leaving a particular app, as well as disables the physical buttons on your iPad, in order to eliminate distractions. Here’s a short screencast I recorded to guide you through the process: Share your thoughts.

HRCI & SHRM Certification from Our Perspective We had a great time at this year’s SHRM annual conference and EXPO in Orlando. As usual, SHRM put on a great event that was full of excellent content and super entertainment. The EXPO is one of the best of any large B2B trade shows anyplace. Vendors really do a great job providing an engaging and informative experience for attendees. I think we did so at the BizLibrary booth, and a big "THANKS!" to everyone who stopped by to visit.   Among the biggest talking points arising from this year’s event is the announcement by SHRM that they are launching their own certification program. I had multiple conversations with SHRM representatives about this initiative over the course of the show, and there are going to be more questions answered for the entire profession and all of the stakeholders in the coming months. Here are my reactions and tips for navigating this important announcement and change to HR professional certifications over the next several months. Bear in mind, my suggestions will very likely change as more details get communicated. Tip for SHRM . This change is very important to the profession. So far, the communications have been a little bit confusing as the why SHRM feels compelled to launch its own program distinct from the long-established certifications offered by HRCI. Please help explain the why behind the decision. For Current Certified Professionals - Don’t Change Anything, Yet. Your current certification is valuable, well-known and established. I would finish off your continuing education credits this year and stay current. As a practical matter, nobody really knows exactly what will happen in terms of broad market acceptance to SHRM’s efforts. But we know with a reasonable degree of certainty that current certifications are important, have meaning and add value to practitioners’ careers and credentials. Currently Certified Professionals Might Consider SHRM Certification in January. SHRM announced a relatively simple process for currently certified professionals to gain SHRM certification starting after January 1, 2015. Why not? Look this whole thing is going to be confusing for the whole profession for a while, or maybe even longer. So why not hedge your bets? You won’t have to go for recertification for three more years, and the cost to get a brand new SHRM certification is exactly zero. In three years, we’ll know more about whether or not the SHRM certification will take hold or not. Don’t Panic. This has nothing to do with the practitioner. For 99.9% of HR professionals, this will mean little or nothing. Third-party CE providers will likely be unaffected (though that remains a bit cloudy, too), but for everyday HR endeavors the certification program won’t change a thing. Recertification Credits. This is one area that impacts BizLibrary and participants in our CE programs. We simply do not know which direction SHRM will go on this, but there are some draft requirements which we saw at the conference that need to be changed in order for an organization like us to be a partner with SHRM for recertification credits. In our view, the harder SHRM makes it for third parties to offer CE’s, the harder it will be for the new certification program to take hold in the market. Right now, HRCI has an excellent and far reaching third-party HRCE approved provider program, in which BizLibrary is proud to participate. This program makes it much easier for thousands of certified professionals to stay certified in a cost-effective manner. We will do our best to keep everyone informed as things unfold. In an ideal world, SHRM and HRCI would end up working closely together to provide one certification program for HR professionals. That would make life easier for each and every stakeholder. But for now, it looks like the world is not ideal, and we’re going to have to be prepared for understanding how two competing certification programs and organizations will work together in the marketplace.

by Jennie Ruby    Answers to the Confusing Words for 200 challenge are brought to you by Donna Knoell. The Washington Monument is taller than/then the Capitol dome. Lunch was later than/then we thought. The paddleboard is much longer than/then most surf boards. First we paddled up the creek, than/then we paddled down. The mouth of the Magothy River is much wider than/then the mouth of the Severn. The instructors were much more adept/adapt/adopt at maneuvering than/then the beginners were. We wanted to adept/adapt/adopt the puppy, but first it needed some shots. How adept/adapt/adopt are you at balancing on a floating board? You have to adept/adapt/adopt your stance to the circumstances. Is there some way we can adept/adapt/adopt this oar, which is much too long, for use with a canoe? Other correct answers came from Eric Nilsson, Chris Zimmel,Stacey Edwards, Melanie Elick, Tara Allen, Ginny Supranowitz, Karyn R Smith, Michael Stein, Stacie Oste,Patrick Brown, Toni Wills, James Dorman, Kim Bullman, Jim Dages, Mindy Clark, Karyn Highet, Kay Honaker, Lynn Walpole, Rocky Willett, Denise Miller, and Krista Allen [roughly in order of receipt].   Although many of you missed the fact that number 6 had two confusing words in it, I did not count that against you if you got all the rest correct.   Number 2 was the hardest one, with many hapless souls choosing then, when it should be than. I think the tricky part was that a time was mentioned, and then is used to indicate time. However, the time was being compared to another time, so the sense of comparison was needed, giving us the word than.   *** Confusing Words for 300   The world principle is always some kind of rule. Notice that rule and principle both end in -le. Principal is not only the head of a school, but also the most important aspect or the main part of anything--the main part of a mortgage loan, for example. The most important principle in plumbing is that water runs downhill. You can pay off a little extra principal each month to shorten the length of your loan.   Farther is a distance (remember--farther). Further is an extension, a deeper discussion, or a verb meaning to extend or pursue. She bicycled farther than he did. We need to examine this question further. To further this discussion, we will need more data.   Let's take a look at these confusing words in action. (Watch out for sentences that contain two problems!)   What is the main principle/principal involved in this physics problem? Do you remember the principle/principal of your elementary school? The principle/principal mathematical principle/principal involved in calculating a tip is moving the decimal point. How much principle/principal will we pay off in the first year of the loan? What are the principle/principal parts of speech in Latin? How much further/farther can we drive before needing gas? Mars is further/farther from Earth than the moon is. How much further/farther can we pursue this discussion before we get into a fight? Can we farther/further our goals by raising the interest rate a little farther/further? The lake is a little farther/further away from the road than/then the playground. Feel free to post your answers below as comments. *** If you love Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Check out some of Jennie's mini courses.

I'm not quite sure what Jay was thinking when he decided to do this, but I'm curious to see what happens.  He's pulled together a 24 Hour Continuous Learning Event: Conversations about Learning in Organizations He's got folks from around the world who are going to help participate over the course of 24 hours.  Here's the FAQ. He's pulled in quite a few people who's names you will know: Marcia Conner Connie Green Stuart Henshall Michelle Lentz Christopher Peri Harold Jarche Clark Quinn Nancy White Rob Paterson Mark Sylvester Ellen Wagner Curt Bonk Charles Jennings Jon Husband Dave Wilkins Brent Schlenker Barry Shields George Siemens Luis Suarez and many more.  They will be discussing topics that include: Learning in an era of networked intelligence Show me the money: examples of the payback of social/networked learning New roles for learning professionals Changing corporate culture to accommodate the new learning Making informal learning concrete Twitter and the march toward real-time learning How can we get learners to take responsibility for their own learning? CGI: Bringing the internet inside for informal learning & transformation Case examples of informal learning in corporations. Measuring the results of informal learning Personal learning environments: you show me yours, I'll show you mine and more. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content