Written by Chris Osborn   Today's Q&A Thursday discusses the best way to track metrics for your business case for employee learning.     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 Hi, Chris Osborn, VP of Marketing with BizLibrary here with today's Q&A. It comes from Andrew, and he's the VP of Human Resources and Development at a Financial Services Company. And his question has to do with metrics for building a business case. Which is interesting, given where he works and his level. Remember, he works at a financial services company, so they're dealing with financial metrics as a business all the time. And Andrew's question really isn't about the metrics. They have them. It's how do you sort through them. This is really a big data question and I want to provide a common sense approach for getting at this because one of the things that we talk about when we're referring to business strategies and learning strategies and especially strategies for making a business case for employee learning is to take this approach: complexity is your enemy. Simplify things, simplify your business case. You don't need exotic, new, strange metrics to build your business case. You're already measuring the success of your business in a variety of ways. Use the same key performance indicators that you're already using to tell you whether your business is doing well or not. Benchmark where you are on key areas that you think your learning and development program is going to affect. Find out where you are today, where you were six months ago, and where you're going to be as you move forward and that's how you're going to build your business case. Focus on those bottom line areas that you're looking to improve performance and track how you improve performance in those areas, linking it with those bottom line impacts using existing metrics. That's how to get at making a business case. Again, we don't need to create metrics for this, you already have them so big data's an issue, for organizations of all shapes and sizes. We have so much information coming at us. Don't let the static get in the way of what you're trying to do. There's a story, there's a narrative in the data, and you probably already have it. So ask yourself these two questions:what will success look like and how will I know it for my employee development program. When you've answered those two foundational questions, you've figured out the key pieces that you need to build your business case.

One thing I stress in my mLearning workshops is the fact that having an iPad-only strategy for Learning is not a thorough mLearning Strategy. Granted, the iPad accounts for 91% of all tablet web traffic and that statistic alone is compelling enough to make you want to focus your entire learning development efforts on just this tablet, however as you think about your own mLearning strategy, I strongly encourage you to think instead about the multiscreen world we live in and develop for it. Right now, we have the traditional desktop PCs and Laptops, Tablets and Smartphones, but it’s not too early to start thinking also about smart TVs, game consoles and dashboards in cars, and why not the foldable screens of the future. As content developers, our mission is to make sure our stuff will be accessible by our audiences from any of these screens and in ways that provide a great experience on each one of these many screens. In this post I want to share with you a great presentation I found on Slideshare, that inspired me for my workshops, and that helps me make a case for developing a multiscreen mLearning strategy vs. an iPad-only strategy. The presentation has some of the most impressive and concise slides I’ve seen on the topic of multiscreen development, and it’s by a German company called Precious Design Studio. The presentation is based on the simple idea that: "More and more people interact in an "ecosystem of screens". So True! The company goes on to say that: During the last years, our design studio has been involved in many different projects - from designing mainly websites and desktop software in our early days, to smartphone apps, prototypes for TV interfaces and more recently, applications for tablet devices. Working for all those devices was interesting and challenging. Not just because of the diverse screen sizes and input methods, but because we learned in our user research how different the contexts are in which these gadgets are used. Even more interesting, however, is the question how those devices relate to each other. What does it mean for the digital products and services we are designing, when PCs, smartphones, TVs and other electronic devices are connected? What implications does it have on the interfaces, if people are interacting in an ecosystem of screens? via Multiscreen Patterns | precious, strategic design & visual language. Precious Design Studio’s presentation was most likely aimed at audiences of web designers, but I think it’s 100% applicable to us transitioning from eLearning to mLearning, too. Interacting in an ecosystem of screens For one thing, today’s connected Learners interact in an ecosystem of screens. So for us in the Learning Industry, it should not be just about designing great isolated learning experiences that may only be consumed on desktops and iPads, it’s also about developing a multiscreen strategy that will make our content accessible anywhere, especially as Learners acquire more devices and begin expecting that their ‘learning’ follows them as they shift between devices. Three Patterns of an Ecosystem of Screens for mLearning Precious Design Studio discovered six patterns of the ecosystem of screens, however I think three apply to us and provide a great blueprint for how we should approach our learning design. 1. Coherence in Multiscreen Learning Design This could just be the most important patterns for us, because we need to make sure our learning experiences are not just accessible through PCs, Laptops, and multiple devices, but that we optimize our content to take advantage of each screen’s capabilities and the context in which our learners use each device. This is where I believe Responsive Web Design will play a big role moving forward. 2. Synchronization in Multiscreen Learning Design This is another pattern to keep in mind when designing for a multiscreen world. All of us mobile users expect the products and services we use to not only follow us from device to device but to remember where we left off on one device and continue from there on the next device. The presentation mentions the Kindle ecosystem as an example (see slide 13 in the original presentation). I would also put the Netflix experience as an example in this category. 3. Device Shifting in Multiscreen Learning Design This is another important trend for us to keep in mind as we design the next generation of learning experiences. Most of us already own one of more desktop PCs, perhaps a Laptop, at least one tablet, one smartphone if not more, and throughout the day, chances are we reach for the device that is closest to us. So let’s design with this device-shifting in mind. Don’t get me wrong, the other patterns in the presentation are also important, and as time goes by we will surely find creative ways to design learning experiences, where devices will complement each other to provide an amazing experience, like the Scrabble app on the iPad and iPhone (see slide 19 in the original presentation), as well as perhaps use our smartphone or Tablet to take a quiz while consuming the main course on the big screen TV. I leave you with the presentation below and if you are interesting in hearing more of my thoughts on multiscreen design, embracing simplicity and thinking mobile-first, join me and the eLearning Guild for a presentation on mLearning, October 16th HERE. Furthermore, if you are interested in learning more about what’s convered in the 4hr mLearning workshop I’m delivering to companies, click HERE. Patterns for Multiscreen Strategies.

by Kevin Siegel    If Microsoft PowerPoint is your starting point for developing eLearning content, you can reuse that content in any of the top eLearning development tools including Adobe Presenter, Adobe Captivate, and TechSmith Camtasia Studio. This week I'm going to show you how to use Articulate Storyline and PowerPoint to jump start the eLearning development process. You can either create a new Storyline project using a PowerPoint presentation or import PowerPoint content into an existing Storyline project. In the image below, notice that there is an Import PowerPoint menu item on Storyline's Welcome screen. After clicking Import PowerPoint and opening the PowerPoint presentation, the Import Slides dialog box opens. You can select all of the PowerPoint slides or pick and choose. Once you've selected the slide(s) you want, click the Import button. The PowerPoint slides are imported into the Storyline project as Storyline slides and you'll end up in Story View. Unlike Camtasia (where the presentation becomes one, uneditable video), or Captivate (where each slide is converted to an uneditable video), opening a Storyline slide reveals an interesting possibility: the original PowerPoint slide objects can be manipulated. For instance, in the image below, the PowerPoint text box says "To continually develop..." Without leaving Storyline, I was able to edit the text in the image below to "To usually develop..." The ability to edit the PowerPoint content directly in Storyline is awesome. However, there is no link between Storyline and the original PowerPoint presentation. If your subject matter expert is still making changes to the original PowerPoint presentation, you won't see those changes in Storyline (moreover, you'll have to make those changes in Storyline yourself). If the PowerPoint presentation is a moving target, you might want to wait until all of the PowerPoint edits are final prior to importing the presentation into Storyline. As I showed you last week, a Captivate project and original PowerPoint presentation can be linked. If the PowerPoint presentation is updated, you can easily get those updates to appear in Captivate. You might want to keep this fundamental difference between Captivate and Storyline in mind when choosing between the two development tools. According to Articulate Support, here are some other limitations you should keep in mind when importing PowerPoint content: Imported text may not look the same way it does in PowerPoint. You may find some variations in font size, line spacing, alignment, colors, or bullets. Presentation size: If your PowerPoint presentation is a different size than your Storyline project, you may need to make adjustments to the size and placement of objects after importing them. Or, you can change your story size to match your PowerPoint presentation before importing. Embedded fonts: Storyline doesn't support embedded fonts from PowerPoint. If a font used in the PowerPoint presentation isn't installed on your computer, Storyline will apply the default Articulate font to the imported text. Animations and slide transitions: PowerPoint entrance and exit animations are supported in Storyline and will be imported--though some will be converted to Fade animations. Similarly, some PowerPoint slide transitions are supported in Storyline, while others get converted to Fade transitions. Emphasis animations and motion paths aren't supported and won't be imported into Storyline. SmartArt Graphics will be imported as images. Tables will be imported as images. Equations will be imported as images. Slide numbers won't be imported into Storyline. 3-D rotation: Objects with 3-D rotation will be imported as images without 3-D rotation. GIF images: Animated GIFs will be imported as static images. Line thicknesses: Border and line widths may appear slightly different in Storyline. *** Looking for instructor-led training on Articulate Storyline? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Storyline classes.

Interesting image from post by Dave White - Eventedness that relates to our social experience with different tools. It looks at how each technology relates to feeling of being present with others and whether that presence is felt beyond a specific limit of an event. Co-presence comes from being embodied as avatars this definition includes what is experienced when an individual is certain that their contribution (usually in text form) will be read and responded to by others. For example it is possible to get a strong sense of the presence of others when microblogging because the exchanges are often frequent, they often reference each other and the response time can be a matter of seconds. Messages are linked to the particular point in time and their value erodes over time. There is a relationship between the speed in which the value of nodes of communication erode within a technology and the potential for Co-presence. In addition the individuals’ level of trust that their contribution will be understood and responded to within a particular technology has a large bearing on both Co-presence and Eventedness. It is of note that there is very little latent social presence in MUVEs. When you log-off your presence all but evaporates leaving almost no trace of your identity or that fact that you were in the MUVE. He also points out something quite interesting that I had not really considered the same way is that part of the value of social networking sites and microblogging is that you feel connected to the person even though they are not real-time online at that point. In other words, the social experience extends beyond the specific event. I'm not 100% sure I fully grasp the implications and meanings of the terms he uses and their importance to the social experience. But, I think the part that really is interesting here is better captured in his post - That Was an Interesting Experience - "Teaching and learning in virtual worlds is an experience." Taking part of a teaching session in a Multiuser Virtual Environment (MUVE) is more than simply using a tool or achieving a task, it feels like an event, a particular moment in time when you have the chance to interact with others at a level of intensity which is rarely felt in other online spaces. There is definitely something different about "getting together" with other people and the social experience using these different tools. How much you feel connected to them varies greatly. Pictures and Connection I need to do a full post on this, but I receive quite a few LinkedIn Connection requests - My LinkedIn Open Connection Approach - and it's surprising how often I will get them from people who briefly met me somewhere and they don't have a picture on their profile. That's really a bad move from a social experience standpoint: I have trouble associating names with faces and you are making it really hard to remember you. It says - "I'm not serious" - and makes it less likely that I will connect with you. Most importantly, it hurts the effect that Dave White is describing - the connection. Without that picture I simply won't feel as connected to you. But it's also surprising to me that we don't use pictures elsewhere. Way back in Ten Predictions for eLearning 2008, I predicted Virtual Classroom Tools - Meeting Tool + Second Life Lite A medium size Virtual Classroom / Meeting Tool will announce features in 2008 that are not 3D immersive, but that are more like Mii characters in a 2.5D world. This will allow more natural kinds of interactions in classroom settings, especially for things like breakout activities. I got this horribly wrong in that it hasn't happened, but I still think that this will happen. As I look at Dave White's posts, I believe this is an important fundamental part of the social experience that should be happening. When I watch how my kids play with games, if there's an avatar tool, they often fail to ever play the game because they run out of time having spent so much time creating a good avatar. Yesterday, I was at a bowling alley / arcade and several of the games at an arcade had customizing my ride kids of features. Why? Because it makes us feel more connected to the experience? It goes from a game to a social experience. Why the heck doesn't each tool - WebEx, Adobe Connect, Elluminate, etc. ask for a bit more profile information in order to try to make it have a better social experience? A picture and a link to their LinkedIn profile (or other profile page)? Sure the pictures would be hard to fit in the tiny space, but I guarantee you would feel more connected. Heck - on most blogs that show who are recent visitors, they don't show a list of text names. They show a list of pictures. These tools also should have a view that gives you a 2.5D representation of what's going on. They should allow a natural placement breakout into rooms. These tools should hire some Mac designers to create something that's not 3D, but that gives a greater feeling of presence. In the meantime, I think it's likely up to us to define how we can use the existing capabilities in ways that make it a better social experience. I cannot claim to be good at this myself, but I want to thank Dave for reminding me of the importance of social experience. I'd very much welcome thoughts on this. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

Change is the new normal. Okay, that’s not really that profound. Change has always been normal in business, but the pace of change in almost every facet of business management continues to accelerate. There is an exception, and the exception appears to be the way most organizations approach employee learning and development. Learning and development in most organizations remains stuck in a model that is rooted in a world view that looks positively dated and out-of-touch to employees. Here are ten learning trends that we believe leaders ignore at their own peril in the coming months. YouTube comes to work. Rise of the Millennial Generation (Demographic Tsunami) The demographic shift in the workforce caused by the massive influx of Gen Y into American workplaces profoundly affects nearly everything we do. These employees bring a whole new set of expectations and attitudes to work with them and since their numbers are so large, we have no choice but to adapt, or we risk becoming irrelevant. Open and Immediate Access to the Content We Want It’s tempting to add this to the many influences of Gen Y on the workforce, but that’s not entirely fair nor would that be accurate. Everyone that uses the Internet to access content is used to immediate, on-demand access to the content of their choosing, on the device of their choosing. We all go to news sites, sports sites, Facebook, blogs, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and a host of other outlets for content to find exactly what we want, when we want it. This is the way the Internet works today. Video (Short-Form) Most of the content we absorb on the Internet today is dominated by one format - video. YouTube gets more traffic than any website other than Google. During peak traffic hours, streaming video occupies the majority of the bandwidth is use in the US market. Short videos at YouTube frequently enjoy millions of views. Most internet users view short videos each day and multiple videos each week. Simply stated, short-form video is the content media of choice for most adults today. You have to accept the fact that mobile is here to stay. BYOD Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is commonplace, but most organizations are slow on the realization of exactly how to take full advantage of this growing trend to drive improved business results. The facts are inescapable. Employees are bringing their smartphones and personal tablets to work, and more employees will do so in the future. http://www.zdnet.com/one-third-of-smartphone-owners-go-byod-behind-it-departments-back-7000016406/ Mobile & HTML5 In the Winter 2014 issue of Training Industry Magazine, Doug Harward identified "Key Trends in 2014," and he referred to one as "Conformance of Content to Modality." We agree, but I thought it might help to state this trend in more narrowly defined terms. Simply stated, technology has come a long way since we first heard the term "mobile learning" coined. The promise of mobile learning was more illusory than realized, but the technology on two critical fronts has advanced to the point that the realization of mobile learning is in the here and now. HTML5 allows content producers to build video files that learners can access on any device, any place at any time. Additionally, learning platforms (the best ones) are fully responsive to mobile devices and allow for complete tracking and reporting of learning of streaming video courses. Mobile learning is here. Responsive Web Design Comes to Learning We’ve seen responsive web design for a few years applied to leading edge websites, but developers in a few leading edge places (Like BizLibrary) are bringing responsive web design principles to learning platforms as the move to mobile proceeds full speed ahead. Organizations are changing the rules of the road. Budgetary Pressure The adage, "Do more with less," remains a staple in corporate board rooms and strategic planning sessions. It’s especially true when it comes to employee learning and development. We’re not seeing the deep cuts we saw a few years ago in spending on employee training, but investment levels and staffing levels remain comparatively low. This means organizations of all sizes have to find creative ways to reach employees with targeted, meaningful and effective learning solutions. This is true even though learning may never have been more important as we see organizations struggle to meet skill and knowledge gaps, innovate to stay competitive, hire and retain knowledge workers and meet the demands of a rapidly changing environment where continuous learning will be the price of admission. Upside Down Hierarchy (Everyone is Learner and Teacher) One of the effects or lasting impacts of the Great Recession is the loss of an enormous number of middle management jobs across every sector of the economy. The result is a "leveling" of organizational structures. Another massive influence driving organizations to a far more democratic approach to work and learning is social media. In social media, anyone can comment and everyone can have a voice. Employees away from work expect that sort of level playing field in their interactions with others. They routinely share and absorb content and information created by other social media participants. These same behaviors and expectations follow employees to work, and when we add the simple fact that most organizations are flatter in terms of management layers, we have a hierarchy that promotes a learning culture where everyone can both learn and teach. Collaboration Rules & The Rules of Collaboration This leads directly to the rise of collaboration as a critical competency for leaders and organizations alike. Organizations that can move information from key person to key person quickly, easily and without limitations will be better positioned for innovation and agility in a marketplace where rapid change and fluidity will be defining characteristics. Likewise, those same organizations will need to cultivate collaboration as a key competency among leaders and employees. Collaboration will rule as an operational model for successful organizations. Therefore, collaboration skills will rule as a pathway to success for leaders and teams. Competency-Based Training Still Matters In this volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world, how can organizations create a sense of order and direction for employee learning and development? The on-demand, instant gratification approach to learning that IS an important trend can lead to chaos and learning without a purpose. That’s exactly why a never-ending focus on competency-based training will rise in importance for organizations that set the tone for learning best practices. Employees will direct and manage their own learning. L&D professionals will deliver less and facilitate more learning in this environment. Competencies will form the framework for employees as they search for ways to improve their skills and move their careers forward. We simply have to show them the way, make sure they have access to learning content that will improve their performance in critical competency areas, and the results will be there at the end of the day.   Stay Up-to-Date on the Most Current Business Training Trends BizLibrary offers 7,000+ training videos in various business training topics, with new courses added every day.   10 Trends and Tips for Leading and Employee Learning - The Rules of the Road Are Changing In this eBook we’ll discuss the final four tips that are trending for leadership and employee learning.   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.

Let’s get one thing out of the way, the future of eLearning isn’t about adding more ‘animations‘ to our existing eLearning (in the name of making courses more engaging), neither is it about an eLearning 2.0 or 3.0 vision. No, the future of eLearning and Learning in general is Mobile Learning or better yet Multiscreen Learning, either way we can abbreviate it as mLearning. Mobile Challenges Every new computing paradigm has challenges and the new mobile revolution is no different. However unlike some people who think that things like the price tag of a mobile device or its battery are holding mobile learning back from full adoption, I’m convinced technology has little to do with what’s holding us back from crossing the chasm. You see, time will take care of technology, processors in mobile devices will get faster, connections will become more ubiquitous, in fact, it’s likely most cities will have the right infrastructure to provide us with WiFi-everywhere in the near future. As for the batteries in our smartphones, they will last longer or better yet, will be replaced all together by solar power technology. So if technology isn’t the real challenge for us in transitioning from eLearning to mLearning, then what are the real challenges? Here are 5 things I think are more difficult to overcome than technology, on our way to the promise mLearning land: 1. Having The Right Mindset Again, it’s not about Technology, time will take care of advancing technology forward, it always has and always will, but even if innovation in mobile suddenly halted today (not likely), we would still have a lot to work with in mLearning (i.e. with all the sensor superpowers) in order to create amazing learning experiences on mobile. The reality is that we don’t like change and mobile is a new way of thinking. Mark Twain said it best: "The Only person who likes change is a wet baby" But we need to embrace change in order to make the most of this new opportunity mobile presents tu us, and reinvent our Learning Industry in the process. What we need in eLearning is not an evolution, it’s a revolution and mLearning is just the kind of paradigm shift we need to make this happen. 2. Embracing Simplicity In my opinion, this is a big challenge for Instructional Designers everywhere. As an industry, we have been conditioned to think that the more animations we have in our courses, the more engaging they are for the learner. Tools vendors focus their entire marketing strategies (I know I was one of them) on selling "more interactive" features. Every new version comes with more interactions, more widgets, more timelines, more triggers, more ways of animating text, and more support for all those animations in PowerPoint. As users of these tools, we feel that unless we use all of these cool features in a Project (or in a single slide), we are likely behind the trend, and so we end up burying the real course objectives in a sea of animations. However the mobile experience is about simplicity, it’s about sharing one big idea per screen and nothing more, it’s about looking at what’s really important and then getting rid of everything else, the fluff. Again, mobile learning is about thinking different, almost unlearning everything we know and starting over and reimagining the entire learning experience. I will be talking more about this next week in a webinar I’m doing with the eLearning Guild. 3. Lack of mLearning Tools I’m not convinced that existing eLearning tools will evolve into great tools for true mLearning design. Don’t get me wrong, I do think that existing eLearning tools do exactly what they were designed to do, namely help us rapidly develop eLearning courses for the desktop. The problem I see, is that for a little while now, we have entered a "post-eLearning" era and new tools are needed to help us meet today’s connected and mobile learners’ expectations. I strongly believe we need new tools that are built from the ground up and that embody everything that is great about mobile, including a new mindset, new templates, simple, yet powerful and beautiful experiences and most of all, tools that can display these learning experiences in a personalized way and on every screen. 4. Thinking Desktop-First and Mobile-Second Most people today think desktop-first and mobile-second, if at all, and that’s a big problem. One of the quickest ways to immediately improve our desktop eLearning is to start thinking mobile-first and then go back to our desktops and apply the simplicity that is derived from embracing mobile constraints that come with smaller screens. For more information, check out this post I did on the advantages of thinking mobile-first in mLearning. 5. The Tempation to simply convert desktop eLearning to HTML5 And last but not least is the temptation to hit the new HTML5 publish button in the latest versions of some tools, that allows us to take our existing desktop courses exactly as they are and make them available in HTML5 with the promise that this will check off the mLearning box. Not so fast however. One of the biggest technical differences between eLearning and mLearning is that eLearning was created for that very tiny mouse pointer, while mLearning requires a much bigger touch target for our fingers. This minor, seemingly insignificant difference changes everything in terms of design, and it’s yet another reason why ‘one size does NOT fill all‘ in eLearning and mLearning. Take Microsoft’s design guidelines for their Windows Phone 7 platforms for example, which recommends that each touch target be at least 9mm in size and that there be at least a 2mm space between actions. There you go, these are the top 5 challenges I believe we need to overcome as we transition from eLearning to mLearning. Please share your challenges by leaving a comment below, and thanks in advance for sharing this article with your Twitter follower.

by Jennie Ruby    Answers to the Confusing Words for 300 challenge are brought to you by Jay Herman: 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. Correct respondents: Kathi Reynolds, Judy Bragg, Chris Zimmel, Lisset Vega, Aimee Bosse, Ginny Supranowitz, Mindy Clark, Beth Grace, Tanya Davis, Vera Sytch, and Martha A. Phillips.The problems the most people missed were number 6 and number 9, both involving further versus farther, and understandably so. How much further/farther can we drive can be construed as either how much more or how much longer (in time), which could justify using the word further. However, I wanted to see the answer farther, referring to the distance. In raising the interest rate further/farther, I was looking for the answer further, in the sense of more. However, a strict reading of Merriam Webster's take on these words could allow the idea of how much farther (distance upward) can we raise the interest rate.And bunches of you still missed additional problems later in the sentences! Watch out!Confusing Words for 400It's hard to get possessive pronouns versus contractions correct, not because we don't know them, but because we forget to check or we make a too-hasty decision.Here are a few that will get you if you are not careful:  it's (it is) its (belonging to it) you're (you are) your (belonging to you) who's (who is) whose (belong to whom) Give these a try, and watch for multiple problems in the same sentence. Its/It's not a forgone conclusion that your/you're going to get these right. Your/you're spelling checker may not correct these errors. Your/you're likely to forget to save your/you're file if you leave work to / too quickly. Whose/who's to blame if the database is not updated properly? Whose/who's keys are these? The program may crash if its/it's cache is not cleared. The client whose/who's form was received yesterday told us there was an error in its/it's text. Whose/who's on first? asked the comedian whose/who's name escapes me at the moment.  As always, 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.

Through blog comments and blog posts, an interesting conversation is emerging around - Conversations as Part of Concept Work.   It somewhat started with my post Reduce Searching Start Talking where I suggest that there are points in our concept work where we need to be ready to move from search to conversation.  In the comments there … Maria H tells us - I think there is time and purpose for all types of information transfer (for lack of a better phrase) and helping people learn when to use the right one is our challenge. Ken Allan really somewhat crystallizes it as a question of "Knowing WHEN to switch?"  Or more broadly, when is each kind of method appropriate given a specific concept work need. In Conversation Questions, I pushed this a bit further based on Nancy Dixon - What Do We Get From Conversation That We Can't Get Any Other Way? - looking at the areas of value, but also left it with the challenging question of not only knowing when to switch, but also knowing who to ask and how to ask the right questions. In Love the Conversation - Ken Allan discusses the complexity of helping concept workers with the skills around this: The question here is where to start. It is likely too complex for a practical guiding taxonomy to be drawn up and be of any use. Drafting a program to teach adults to use the right means of knowledge transfer is probably at least as difficult as teaching children to be discerning about information accessible on the Internet. There are no hard and fast rules for this. Yet there is no doubt that discernment forms a large part of selecting efficient and effective means for knowledge transfer. While this is complex, it's very important.  There are very specific limits to using codified knowledge and that Conversation Learning is essential.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure that we really are doing much to address this important Knowledge Worker Skill Gap.  What's nice is that Ken has helped me to get to these core questions: When Who How Part of the Who and How question, we've discussed before in the Big Question - Network Feedback - where we discussed different places to reach out for help from your networks.  There was certainly no clear answer and some suggestion that we should be aggressive about reaching out to many of your networks.  I've also discussed it in I've talked about it in Leveraging Networks Skill and Networks and Communities. Codified Conversations Separately, Harold Jarche provided some interesting thoughts around issues of codified knowledge, individuals and conversations.  He reminded me of Dave Pollard experience with knowledge management (and it's a conversation I've had directly with Dave): So my conclusion this time around was that the centralized stuff we spent so much time and money maintaining was simply not very useful to most practitioners. The practitioners I talked to about PPI [Personal Productivity Improvement] said they would love to participate in PPI coaching, provided it was focused on the content on their own desktops and hard drives, and not the stuff in the central repositories. Dave basically went through a transition from looking at KM as big central codified knowledge bases to going out to individuals and work teams in the organization to figure out how they could be helped on a tactical level.  Dave provides a very interesting picture of information flows in 2025. While his focus still seems to be more on codified knowledge, look at what his first item is: conversations.  There is, of course, a really interesting question of how that conversation is captured.  Dave certainly looks at that in his post - the scattered electronic conversation that occurs today. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

Written by Jessica Batz View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording.   Additional Resources: The Essentials of High Performance Organizations The Steve Jobs Way Beyond Performance, By Scott Keller and Colin Price The Nordstrom Secret Revealed Memo to the CEO: Customers Are the Key to Growth   The Happiness Culture

Last night the Adobe eLearning User Group: DC, Maryland, and Virginia met at the Adobe offices in McLean, VA (and online for those folks that couldn't join in person). During the meeting, the group was treated to an awesome presentation on creating eLearning Voiceover Scripts by Jennie Ruby. And while the Connect session gave us fits (it kept crashing poor Jennie's computer every time she tried to screen share), everyone who attended virtually was still able to hear Jennie's talk. (Special thanks to Lori Smith for serving as the go-between for the onsite audience and the virtual audience.) If you attended (or listed to the audio portion of the presentation), you learned 10 valuable tips for create effective voiceover scripts including who's talking, who's listening, the value of consistent naming of screen objects, and effective use a style guides and script templates. Of course, the pizza was awesome too (especially that vegan, gluten-free one... what was that one again AJ?). Our next meeting is early November. Stay tuned to our Meetup page for more information on that. If you'd like to speak at one of our sessions, please let me know (we're always looking for sponsors as well).

(Image Credit) http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/595881566 For the last few weeks, I have been reading and watching everything I can find on Microsoft’s Surface Tablet and Windows 8. My biggest fear is that with the upcoming launch of Windows 8 and the Surface Tablet, Microsoft is trying to UNDO everything we have accomplished in Mobile since the mobile revolution began back in 2007. Everything that is beautiful, pure and simple about mobile and touch computing, Microsoft is attempting to sabotage in the name of keeping their waning Windows PC business alive. Microsoft Office Apps is exactly what we don’t need in Mobile One of Microsoft’s selling points in Windows 8 and their Surface Tablet, is that we will be able to run the exact same Productivity apps we know and (love or hate) from the old PC era. I say that’s exactly what we don’t need today! Right now what we need is to embrace change and ‘reimagine‘ everything we have done for the last 20 years in computers. Only by doing so will we be able to take full advantage of this blank canvas that mobile presents us and innovate forward. Surely we are only a few weeks away from someone tweeting a screen grab of the dreaded blue screen of death right from their Surface Tablet. USB Ports on Tablets, really? Our goal right now should be to do everything in our power to wean people off old PC habits, and putting USB ports on Tablets is exactly the opposite of that. Are we really going to plug mice into a Tablet, when Tablets are supposed to remove any interference between us and our mobile experience? Don’t do it. A better usb webcam? A better usb microphone perhaps? A memory stick instead of embracing the cloud? For the sake of the future of mobile, don’t do it! In closing I will say that I don’t wish any company bad, goodness knows we need jobs in this country and around the world, and while I’m also pretty sure that Microsoft will sell quite a few PCs with the new Windows 8 OS, and also more than a handful of Surface Tablets, I just hope it doesn’t become a serious roadblock for the amazing progress we have made in mobile thus far. What are your thought about the upcoming Windows 8 and Surface Tablet?

While there is a little bit of controversy about posting these lists, I'm continuing to use the capability of using social signals to make sure I'm finding good stuff. So here's what came up via eLearning Learning from last week. But I'm keeping it to a bare minimum. And I must say that these are pretty good - it would be a shame if you missed them.Top Posts The following are the top posts from featured sources based on social signals. Twitter Job Aid - work in progress- Adventures in Corporate Education, April 12, 2009Reduce Searching Start Talking- eLearning Technology, April 14, 2009Solve problems with screencasting- eLearning Acupuncture, April 14, 2009Augmented Reality in Learning- Upside Learning Blog, April 15, 2009 Top Other Items The following are the top other items based on social signals. Determining the ROI of Enterprise 2.0 | Enterprise Web 2.0 | ZDNet.com, April 15, 2009The Web: Design for Active Learning, April 17, 2009The (changed) information cycle, April 17, 20093 Things to Consider When Building Your E-Learning Courses, April 14, 2009Effective knowledge sharing, April 15, 2009conversation matters: What Do We Get From Conversation That We Can't Get Any Other Way?, April 14, 2009 Top Keywords 2009 (108)Screencast (5)Audacity (4)Learning Management System (6) eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording. How to Build a Business Case for Online Employee Training - Webinar 07.09.14 from BizLibrary Additional Resources: Article from CLO and the ROI Institute: How Executives View Learning Metrics. Poor leadership practices cost companies millions of dollars each year - equal to 7% of annual sales...by negatively impacting employee retention, customer satisfaction and overall employee productivity. - At least 9% and as much as 32% of an organization's voluntary turnover can be avoided through better leadership skills. - Better leadership can generate a 3-4% improvement in customer satisfaction scores and a corresponding 1.5% increase in revenue growth. - Most organizations are operating with 5-10% productivity drag that better leadership practices could eliminate. * SOURCE: Making the Business Case for Leadership Development, The Ken Blanchard Companies, 2011.

When: September 22-25Where: McCormick Place, Chicago (Part of the Online Learning Conference Certification program) There are multiple tools available that will let you create compelling eLearning content including Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, TechSmith Camtasia Studio, and Adobe Presenter. But which tool is the best, most affordable option for your needs?Once you select your eLearning tool, what's next? How do you get started creating your first eLearning content? Once you start, how long is it going to take you to finish? What's the real cost for your effort? Are there hidden costs? How will you be able to measure the effectiveness of your eLearning?Join IconLogic's Kevin Siegel for an intense, tool-agnostic, hands-on workshop where you'll get a jump start on  building your first eLearning course.Among other things, you'll learn: Strategies for building effective eLearning The eLearning development process How to create an eLearning script and/or storyboard How to get started on creating eLearning content using Captivate, Storyline, Camtasia or Presenter More information.

(image credit: http://bit.ly/S8kPXp) I’m fully convinced that mobile devices, especially Tablets, will eventually replace our traditional desktop PCs! Crazy talk you say; we need full versions of Microsoft Office, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Avid Studio and Final Cut Pro running on Tablets in order to do that, oh and plenty of USB ports on my Tablets so that I can plug-in my hefty Excel spreadsheets in order to work on them in the train ride on my way home from the office. There are plenty of articles that include a long list of things Tablets still need in order to replace our PCs, here’s an interesting one that lists 8 things Tablets still can’t do, among them, the need for more storage (probably why Microsoft is putting USB ports on the Surface), not great for games (really?), printing problems, no optical drives (for backups I suppose), and that they won’t run power software, including Adobe Photoshop, Avid Studio, and Microsoft OneNote. Personally I think that most of these articles miss the bigger point, namely the fact that most people think that Tablets replacing our PCs will require a 1:1 task-replacement approach. I don’t buy this argument. I actually believe this quote gives us a clue of how this whole thing will take place: "We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us" - Marshall McLuhan I think a more sound argument is that Tablets will replace our PCs because the mobile revolution is "redefining" the term productivity. In other words, we are currently shaping our mobile tools and soon these amazing devices, along with the incredibly creative apps that accompany them, will shape us and redefine every single task we do from here on out, including learning design, image editing, web design and yes every productivity task as well. Perhaps the future isn’t about writing long documents using a full version of Word on our Tablets, maybe the future calls for shorter and simpler writing, and apps like Pages is all we need. And just maybe we don’t need to run the full version of Photoshop CS6 on a Surface Tablet via Windows 8, maybe the future calls for simpler edits to our photos and either Photoshop Touch or Instagram will suffice. What are you thoughts? Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.  

Written by Jessica Batz View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording.    Additional Resources: Learning About Learning Agility 10 Hot Job Title That Barely Existed 5 Years Ago Gallup State of the American Workplace The Importance of Agility - HR Exec Online Hacking Leadership by Mike Myatt Return on Impact: Leadership Strategies for the Age of Connected Relationships by David Nour   The Social Leader: Leadership Development for Growing Your Next Generation This complimentary eBook discusses the social leadership model, influential factors that may mitigate in favor of adopting this model or even parts of this leadership model for your organization, the characteristics and traits common in effective social leaders, and emerging competencies that might be important to develop in social leaders in your organization.

As part of the Tools Set 2009 series, my first post was Browser Keyboard Shortcut Basics.  I was a little surprised that this didn't come up as one of the more popular items recently when I did my Top 20 Posts for Q1 2009. Now I've got a couple of additional things to add to this information, and it raises a question that I often face: What do you do when you have an update to a prior post? I feel like each of my options have drawbacks: 1. Update the original post and create a new post with a link back Originally, I was going to do this.  Just go back and update the original post with the additional information and create a post to say to go look at that for the information. The advantage of this is that the original post becomes an increasingly rich source of content on the topic.  If you want information on that there's only one place to go. The disadvantage is that people who subscribe to my blog will not see the information in their RSS feed or in the daily email.  They have to click.  And my belief is that they will not click unless the information is really valuable.  Thus, it somewhat gets lost. The other disadvantage that is completely self-serving is that each post I create has a chance to serve as bait for organic search traffic in the future.  I'm pretty sure, but not 100% sure, that long term traffic would be higher by having two posts with different titles than a single post with more links to it - but it only has one title.  There are a lot of variables, but since the title and URL are so important for SEO, I think having more titles is generally better. 2. Update the original post and create a new post with the additional content and a link back This is a variation of the above.  I would do the same thing, but would also include the new information in the new post as well as in the original post. The advantage of this approach is that subscribers will get the new content in their feed or email. The disadvantage is that if I later need to update the topic, then I probably should update both posts - the original and the update post.  Otherwise, update posts will be wrong. Likely, the update post will not be as good for SEO since links will probably go back to the original.  However, this is probably in the middle. 3. Put the new information in the update post and add a link to the original post In this case, I only put the new information in the update post and I edit the original post with a link to the new post. The advantages here are that subscribers get the new content in their feed or email and that I only have one copy of the new information running around. The disadvantage is that content on a topic will be scattered around on my blog.  If you want to find browser keyboard tricks, you likely will have to visit several posts.  My gut tells me that this is not nearly as satisfying for search visitors.  It also means that there's additional work to keep track of all the different posts on a topic.   What do you think?  Is there another Effective Pattern?  Which option would you say is best for me (not too much work) and my subscribers and my search visitors? eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

For the last few weeks, I have been busy delivering webinars and workshops on the topic of mobile learning, and throughout, the one question I hear constantly has to do with people asking me for mLearning examples. This got me thinking about the true meaning of that very popular question. In other words, I was thinking about what most people really expect to see as mLearning examples? In my experience, most people who ask to see mLearning examples are going to only be fully satisfied if they see the same old traditional eLearning courses (that we know and love) running on a tablet, for example, the iPad. If you show people something much simpler, without all the flying text and animations, you will often hear ‘but that’s too simple, where’s the rest of the text and everything else?’ if you show people something a bit more complex, people ask ‘yeah but does it support SCORM tracking?’ if you show them prototypes that prioritize content over navigation, they will invariable ask how they can incorporate more buttons and more navigation and everything else they currently have on the desktop PC? Unfortunately, there isn’t much to show at this point that is uniquely mobile, most examples today are basically eLearning courses converted to HTML5 and shrunk to fit the smaller screen. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having these expectations. Mobile in general requires a new mindset and change is something we are not very comfortable with.  For the most part, when presented with uncertainty we often retreat to our comfort zone. The more I think about mLearning, interact with clients and deliver mLearning workshops, the more I’m convinced that mobile technology and the inherent constraints of dealing with multiple screens isn’t our biggest challenge on the way to the promise mLearning land, but rather the real challenge is embracing change in order to reimagine the future of learning, rather than simply retrofitting what we have today on the desktop into the small screen. Because of this epiphany, I spend quite a bit of time during the mLearning workshops I have been delivering to companies, doing several hands-on exercises, that help learning designers reimagine their current eLearning for the new multiscreen world. Furthermore, I also have my students go through several sketching exercises using various templates for smartphones, tablets and desktop PCs. The goal in all of this is to wean participants off old PC design habits and begin adopting new mobile design principals. Initially most people end up sketching out smaller versions of what they already have on the desktop, however with some practice people tell me later that these exercises have helped them think different about designing for this new mobile shift. In closing, I leave you with the same advice I give my students, namely to be open-minded and don’t be too quick at dismissing something you aren’t comfortable with. Mobile changes everything and for all of us to be successful, it’s going to require a new mindset and the sooner we realize this and embrace change, the more successful we will be!

Written by Chris Osborn   Today's Q&A Thursday discusses a quote from Peter Drucker. He says "Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right thing." How can we find out what those right things are?     Stay Up-to-Date on the Most Current Business Training Trends BizLibrary offers 7,000+ training videos in various business training topics, with new courses added every day.   Succession Planning & The Development of Your High Potentials This complimentary eBook  discusses how we as human resources and learning professionals engage and retain or top performers.  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. Video Transcription Hi, Chris Osborn, VP of Marketing with BizLibrary with today's Q&A. Today's question comes from Martha, she's an HR director at a medical services organization. In our webinar on social leadership, we used a quote from Peter Drucker. He says "Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right thing." What a great quote. And the question really comes to leaders: how do we evaluate what the right things are? How do we sort out the threats we need to address from internal vs external sources. And that's really the source of Martha's question. We talked about doing a SWOT analysis - an old fashioned consultants trick and it's really a fabulous tool to do exactly that. SWOT is an acronym that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. So if you think about this as existing in four different quadrants, strengths and weaknesses - this is the internal focus part of the equation. These are the things that your organization does well, or where you're weak. Examples of strengths are good systems, good quality control, or a strong product development team. Weaknesses could be we don't do innovation well, or we're slow to market, or we lack a deep bench to find emerging leaders. Opportunities and threats are external. So opportunities could be new markets, new ways to find customers for existing products, or a change in the competitive landscape where a major competitor is purchased, or just leaves the market altogether. Threats could be an emerging technology, or a new product, or a completely new competitor that we never anticipated emerging before. So doing the right things as leaders might mean leveraging or taking advantage of our strengths, addressing weaknesses or finding ways to do less of those things. It might also mean looking for ways to jump on growth opportunities, or address threats. Doing things right matters, we always have to execute. Choosing what those things will be is where leadership comes into play.

by Jen Weaver     We love their wine, culture, and food. But what do we know about Italians and their expectations when it comes to training and development? If your answer is "not much," keep reading! Test Your Knowledge of Italian Culture The modern Italian language evolved from what region in Italy? Sardinia Tuscany Rome Who is the head of the Italian government? True or False. The official religion of the Republic of Italy is Roman Catholic. Quick Tips for Training & Development in Italy1: Italians are fans of refined and formal interactions, appreciating a dignified and smooth approach. Out of formality, do not use first names unless invited to do so. Rapport is huge in Italy. Spend time preparing the factual details of your training, but also allocate an appropriate amount of time to invest in developing a strong relationship. The standing of your relationship will determine the level of interest in and receptivity to your training. English is spoken by many business people even though Italian is the official language. Be sure to clarify if there is a language preference for your training materials as many companies opt to offer training in Italian even if their employees are proficient in English. Even with a substantial religious background, Italians tend to use subjective feelings to make decisions rather than ideology or objective facts. As such, you may find it hard to move learners to a new perspective or methodology even if your reasoning is sound. As a foreigner, you are expected to be punctual for meetings, although your Italian counterparts may run behind. It's also common for the most important person in the meeting to arrive last. The further north you travel, the more efficiency you'll find in business interactions and schedules. The Italian view of time is that it's best managed when spent well, not necessarily requiring that appointments start or end on schedule. They value building relationships and are also heavy proponents of a work-life balance, favoring more "life" versus the American favoring of "work". Respect for authority must be demonstrated, and one's authority often travels with the individual, not necessarily his or her title. Even if your host comments negatively about Italian culture or history, be careful not to chime in. Italians can say things about their own country that outsiders cannot. Instead, safe topics of conversation include art, food, wine, and sports. Excited and expressive gesturing is common and expected. Italian Culture Answers: (b) Tuscany. The Tuscan dialect was also the preferred dialect of some of Italy's greatest writers, including Dante and Boccaccio. The prime minister. The president is the chief of state. False. While a majority of Italians are Roman Catholic in heritage, there is no official religion. References:   1Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.   *** If you like Jen's articles, you'll love her live, online Localization classes. Check out her mini-course schedule here.   *** Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.

Out of the conversation in Learn Trends around making informal learning concrete, Cammy Bean asked:Cammy Bean: So is there a market for Social Media Instructional Designing Consultants?Jane Hart suggested that we use the term Social Learning Designer to describe the role. But what was fantastic is how well this crystallized the central question in my mind. Be it as an individual or as a function in an organization, we need to define what the whole business of social learning or informal learning is all about.Using a common marketing template, I thought it would be a great exercise to have people define our:BuyersBenefitsServicesDifferentiationHere's the template ... For _________ (buyers) we help in their desire to __________ (benefits) by ________ (services) unlike others we _____________ (differentiation).How do we fill this in for a social learning designer or a social learning organization?I would very much like to hear your answers.Here are a couple of examples from the chat to maybe help you get started:Jane Hart: i work with learning depts to help them create more participatory, collaborative approaches to learning - rather than just shoving content at peopleColleen Carmean: for learning orgs, we help in their desire to increase knowledge within the org by shaping systems that make info needed availalble to anyone at anytime. Unlike others, we do this by creating distributed spaces, places and tools for sharing, finding and creating knowledge. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

After delivering my 6Hr Mobile Learning Workshop for companies for a few months, today I’m opening it up for Learning Professionals. Why Register for this Training? This workshop is a result of months of research on mobile; mobile app design testing for best practices; countless hours of consulting and lots of learning about design from trial and error. You will immediately benefit from all of this in a one 6-hr session. Here’s what you will learn in this action-packed workshop: Learn Key Mobile Learning Design Principles (vs. eLearning design) Gain a thorough perspective on the Opportunities and Challenges that lie within Mobile Learning Understand the mobile learning landscape, technologies and tools Learn what TRUE mobile learning is and is not Acquire important data for making a powerful business case for mobile learning in your organization Become aware of the expectations of the new mobile user Develop the right mindset needed to design for a multiscreen ecosystem Learn key lessons in mobile learning from mobile apps Reimagine your existing desktop courses for mobile through sketching NOTE: Participants will be provided with a 100+ page PDF, which includes Slides, Hands-on Exercises, Best Practices and Resources The following is a more detailed outline: * The New Mobile Revolution Changes Everything The End of the GUI and the beginning of Touch Computing Making a business case for mLearning Examples of how Smartphones transcend beyond Phones and make our lives better Why Mobile has vastly more potential than the traditional PC ever did Hands-on workshop exercises * mLearning Opportunities and Challenges Mobile is not about retrofitting a PC experience, it’s about Reimagining it for Touch Examples of how we can create better learning on mobile vs. desktop An Introduction to Mobile Sensor Superpowers The Importance of embracing Mobile Constraints The Advantages of Embracing Simplicity and thinking Mobile-First mLearning lessons from mobile apps Hands-on workshop exercises * The Current State of mLearning Design Tools Pros and Cons of Articulate Storyline, TechSmith Camtasia and Adobe Captivate for mLearning Design Examples and Demos of these Tools on iOS and Android devices Pros and Cons of native apps vs. mobile web for mLearning The Advantage of Responsive Design for mLearning Hands-on workshop exercises * mLearning Design Principles An Introduction to the new multiscreen world Important patterns for a multiscreen learning design Understanding the Mobile Learner Best Navigation Patterns for mLearning Touch Targets guidelines Ideal Touch Target placement for multiple screens mLearning design lessons from mobile apps mLearning design best practices From eLearning to mLearning: Sketching Hands-on workshop exercises When: January 9th, 2013. From 8:00am to 2:00pm Pacific time Where: Online via Adobe Connect. The URL and the Agenda will be provided after you register. Cost: $399 USD Per Person. Use the promo code: 2013mLearning save $50.   UPDATE: If you are interested in helping me promote this training, I have created an affiliate program HERE. The referral fee for this program is 10% of the ticket sales. Payments are made to you  via PayPal when you promote the event and get attendees to sign up for the training. The process is simple, simply follow the steps and you will be able to easily place your personalized link on your blog, website, newsletter, etc. I thank you in advance if you choose to help me promote this event.  

Written by Jessica Batz Join BizLibrary and HR.com for a complimentary employee development webcast on July 15, 2014 on the   Development of High Potential Employees - Best Practices in Succession Planning. HR.com webcasts deliver the latest industry news, research trends, best practices and case studies directly to your desktop. The complimentary webinar also offers Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI) credit towards Professional in Human Resources (PHR), Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), and Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR) certifications. The webcast will be presented by Chris Osborn, Vice President of Marketing at BizLibrary. Employee development is an ongoing process. "A critically important resource in most organizations is high-potential employees, and effective development of these employees requires an adaptive approach that is evolving with changes in the market and workplace demographics," said Osborn, "During this webcast, we are excited to share a strategic approach to succession planning that incorporates best practices and learning principles to deliver bottom-line business benefits. Offering HRCI credit is an added bonus for our webcast attendees." Webcast Details: Title: Development of High Potential Employees - Best Practices in Succession Planning Date: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Time: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. CT See more at:   /news-and-events/press-releases/bizlibrary-offers-hrci-credit-for-hr-professionals-through-webcast-with-hrcom.aspx Download a free eBook on Succession Planning here: /resources/ebooks/succession-planning-and-the-development-of-your-high-potentials.aspx

by Willam Van Weelden     Multilevel lists are an often overlooked RoboHelp feature... a shame because multilevel lists are very powerful. As the name suggests, Multilevel lists allow you to create complex lists with multiple levels. For example: consider what you would have to do if you need a list that uses upper alphanumeric characters on the first level, lower roman on the second level and bullets on the third level. You can achieve the numbering scheme shown above by using a standard numbered list, but you would need to assign the correct list styling to every list level. That's a lot of manual labor. And it's not easy to quickly change the list style, especially if you've applied the style manually across multiple topics.With multilevel lists, you create a single style that can be used in multiple topics throughout a RoboHelp project. And best of all: you control everything through the style sheet, allowing you to change all the multilevel lists in a central location.In this article I will show you how to create and use a multilevel list. I will focus on the basic settings first. With these basic settings you can use Multilevel Lists in your projects. In a future article I will show you some cool things you can do with multilevel lists.Create a Multilevel List On the Project Manager pod, double-click your style sheet to open the Styles dialog box. In the Styles dialog box, right-click Multilevel Lists and chooseNew. Enter a name for your list style and press [enter]. From the Apply Formatting To drop-down menu, choose Level 1. From the Paragraph Style drop-down menu, choose a paragraph style. (I recommend using the Normal style so that the list uses the default topic formatting.) From the List Style drop-down menu, choose a list style. (In my example I chose upper-alpha.) Return to the Apply Formatting To drop-down menu and select and format other levels as needed. (In the sample list pictured at at the beginning of this article, I formatted the first three levels.) When finished, click the OK button to save your changes. The Multilevel list is now set up and ready to use. Apply a Multilevel List To Topic Text Open a topic and select some text. Click the Create a Multilevel List tool.  Select your Multilevel List in the Available Lists Styles field and then click the OK button. Note: To change the level of a list item, click the Increase Indent  or Decrease Indent tools.  *** Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.