We've just seen an interesting experience with Jay Cross having pulled together a 24 hour, worldwide discussion on the future of learning at Learn Trends. You can find some of the recordings here.There's a discussion thread with feedback, and you can read some of Jay's thoughts on doing this. It had very good attendance and the quality of people was very high.We encouraged people to drop by whenever they were free. They could join in for half an hour, then bail out. Participants did not need to register to attend. This revolving door of attendance makes measurement tough, but I’ll guess that 250-300 people were involved at least part of the time. On Tuesday morning, we had 125 listening in. On Wednesday morning, we had 50-60. In between, some sessions had 30-40 people, others dwindled to one.We had about 120 people for the Learn Trends on SharePoint in Corporate Learning and find the recording at SharePoint Video.We are deciding what we will do going forward. We plan to hold sessions in May and June. Topics are TBD. And likely the topic will partly decide what format we use.But I very much would like your help in brainstorming what else we might consider doing with the format?Please help with ideas or pointers to examples.Also, if you are interested in future conferences, please go sign up on the Learn Trends Ning Group. We will make sure we notify you of dates and topics. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

We have entered a new era of mobile computing. This mobile revolution is an opportunity for learning professionals to reinvent our industry, from the way we learn new things by interacting with information on our mobile devices to the way we design the next generation of learning experiences. To fully realize the potential of mLearning, though, we need to think outside the eLearning box and question many of our traditional practices. Have RJ Jacquez speak at your event about the paradigm shift from eLearning to mLearning, his ideas around embracing simplicity in mLearning design, and how thinking "mobile first" can support creating great learning experiences not just on mobile, but also on the desktop. About RJ Jacquez RJ Jacquez is a Mobile Learning Analyst, Consultant and Speaker, who helps companies understand the potential of Mobile and make a successful transition from eLearning to mLearning in their organizations. Also a Mobile Learning Evangelist, Podcasting and Blogging the Mobile Learning Revolution as it happens. Before that, Jacquez worked for Adobe Systems and Macromedia as a Senior Evangelist. RJ is honored to be among great company in the following lists and articles: 1) mLearning’s game changers: Who’s on your dream team? (http://t.co/7j5KoylW) 2) Top 25 Most Influential Bloggers in Technical Communications (http://bit.ly/a8ooZC) 3) Top 20 most influential tweeters in eLearning, training and HR (http://bit.ly/vScfc0). 4) I was also mentioned in this article on Why Every Company Needs a Robert Scoble (infographic) for my work as an Adobe Evangelist (http://bit.ly/v0IMHs). Name Email Message Send a copy of this email to yourself If you want to submit this form, do not enter anything in this field

View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording.   Additional Resources: "It's not just succession to the top - it's getting the right person in place for every job. Some of tomorrow's key jobs may not even exist now." Robert M. Fulmer, Growing Your Company's Leaders     Top 10 Job Titles That Didn't Exist 5 Years Ago via LinkedIn "Managers need to stretch, challenge, and coach their high-potential employees… Without multi-dimensional dialogue about these issues, managers tend to hold on to their high-potential people instead of helping them along an intentional developmental pathway. High-potentials then may interpret this as a lack of company support and will be inclined to look elsewhere." Ron Ashkenas, The Paradox of High Potentials Harvard Business Review A Succession Plan for First Time Managers, Maria Plakhotnik and Tonette S. Rocco, T&D Magazine, December 2011 Leadership Development Courses and Videos "The hallmark of someone with learning agility is that they learn lessons from diverse experiences and are able to distill those down to rules of thumb so that, when they're put in an unfamiliar situation, they aren't stumped by it. It's almost becomes a price of entry for success now, especially in leadership and executive roles." Victoria Swisher, Becoming an Agile Leader.

by Jennie Ruby    This week we examine two of my pet peeves--the confusion of appraise and apprise and the confusion of flesh out and flush out. And some other bonus words may appear in the problem sentences! To appraise something is to estimate its value: I need to have my used car appraised before I decide on a selling price. To apprise is to inform (Webster's says "to give notice to") someone or something: The officer apprised the motorist of her rights. To flush out: something that happens in plumbing or with birds who suddenly fly up: The dog flushed the grouse out of the thicket. The dog scared the birds, causing them to flush. To flesh out: to put meat on the bones; to fill in. The architect fleshed out the details of the blueprint over the weekend. Here is the confusing words challenge for this week: The director asked me to keep her appraised/apprised of the project status. We later met to flush out/flesh out the details of the project. During the buyer's walk-through, some squirrels were fleshed out/flushed out of the attic. Please appraise/apprise the seller of her rights regarding the negotiated price. We need to appraise/apprise the governor of the details of the scam. Can we flush out/flesh out this outline before we submit it to the client? The plumber appraised/apprised me of the condition of the old iron pipes. The main line needed to be fleshed out/flushed out to allow water to flow freely. We met with the plumber to flesh out/flush out the plan for upgrading the pipes. We need to appraise/apprise students of how to access/excess the supplemental material. When ready, submit your answers as comments below. ***  Confusing Words for 400 Answers   For the Confusing Words for 400 challenge, Gary Kuchel was first to respond with correct answers, followed by absolutely everyone who answered (see list below). None of you made any incorrect answers, but some missed additional problems elsewhere in the sentence. And Lorna McLellan was the only one to notice the typo on foregone! Special thanks to Alan Sloan, David Pitts, and Karyn Smith for providing the name of the comedian(s). I was amused to see that each of you had a different take on who said, "Who's on first," and I re-watched one of the several versions of the video about three times from beginning to end. Both Abbot and Costello say "who's on first" so many times it is ridiculous to cite one over the other, except to say that Bud Abbot said it first, but Lou Costello asked it as a question. Answers to the Confusing Words for 400 challenge are brought to you by Lorna McLellan. Its/It's not a foregone 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. Here are the correct-responders of last week not otherwise acknowledged above: Cyndi Marino, Eric Nilsson, Lynn Walpole, Sonia Verma, Chris Zimmel, Patrick Brown, Elaine Study, Geri Moran, Julie Horn,Toni Wills, Pat Jones, Michelle Nienhuis, Alan Sloan, Renita Coleman, Karyn R Smith, Amy Grittman, Lisset Vega, Anne Louque, Lisa Mileusnich, Ginny Supranowitz, Jay Herman, David Pitts, JoAnn Bridges, Joanne Hofmeister, Mary Schoeller, Kay Honaker, Karyn Highet, Christine Pass, Vera Sytch, Kim Bullman, Julie Robertson, Susan Czubiak, Sharon Urquhart, Amanda Prussing, Denise Miller, Lisa J Stumpf, and Tanya Davis. *** If you love Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Check out some of Jennie's mini courses.

It's very common for organizations to require completion of some number of hours of learning as part of a certification, continuing education or compliance.  There are many, many examples out there.  The International Association for Continuing Education and Training defines CEUs purely in terms of "contact hours" Continuing Education Units One Continuing Education Unit (CEU) is defined as ten contact hours of participation in an organized continuing education experience under responsible sponsorship, capable direction, and qualified instruction. The recent California AB 1825 requires two hours of "effective interactive training" on sexual harassment for all supervisors.  They include the following definition (which is at least a bit better than most CEU definitions): "Effective interactive training" includes any of the following: (A) "Classroom" training is in-person, trainer-instruction, whose content is created by a trainer and provided to a supervisor by a trainer, in a setting removed from the supervisor’s daily duties. (B) "E-learning" training is individualized, interactive, computer-based training created by a trainer and an instructional designer. An e-learning training shall provide a link or directions on how to contact a trainer who shall be available to answer questions and to provide guidance and assistance about the training within a reasonable period of time after the supervisor asks the question, but no more than two business days after the question is asked. (C) "Webinar" training is an internet-based seminar whose content is created and taught by a trainer and transmitted over the internet or intranet in real time. An employer utilizing a webinar for its supervisors must document and demonstrate that each supervisor who was not physically present in the same room as the trainer nonetheless attended the entire training and actively participated with the training’s interactive content, discussion questions, hypothetical scenarios, quizzes or tests, and activities. The webinar must provide the supervisors an opportunity to ask questions, to have them answered and otherwise to seek guidance and assistance. (D) Other "effective interactive training" and education includes the use of audio, video or computer technology in conjunction with classroom, webinar and/or e-learning training. (E) For any of the above training methods, the instruction shall include questions that assess learning, skill-building activities that assess the supervisor’s application and understanding of content learned, and numerous hypothetical scenarios about harassment, each with one or more discussion questions so that supervisors remain engaged in the training. They also include: "Two hours" of training is two hours of classroom training or two hours of webinar training or, in the case of an e-learning training, a program that takes the supervisor no less than two hours to complete. When it comes to online learning / eLearning, commonly this requirement for some number of hours translates to some amount of time spent in the online course.  Someone just asked me questions about this and it's a problem that I've faced many times myself.  I'm hoping that you will chime in with your thoughts.  And I think we would all love to see pointers to influential resources that we could use in the future to help argue our case. Problem 1 - Measure time equivalence? I'm sure you've been through the design discussion where you figure out how you will show that people spent at least ten hours in the online course so they get their online CEU credits.  You've probably also sat through discussions about what to do if someone manages to finish in less than ten hours.  And you may have experienced this effect when you went through online traffic school.  Many of them force you to be online for some amount of time. Most often the simple answer is to make sure that you have enough audio or video to ensure seat time is met.  Oh, and you disable the next button.  In other words, you ensure that the design of online learning enforces CEU credits based on seat time.  But what if you don't want to do that?  What if you have something that is text-based?  Or exploratory? Are there common measures for time equivalence not based on time online or seat time? Problem 2 - Reduced Time for Online? I know that many of you reading this want to jump to the part where we convince the organization that they are wrong to base their standards on number of hours.  However, most of us are well aware that in most cases it will not be possible to get a large complex organization to change it's standards, so we have to work within the standards.  At the same time, we know that: We can do things like speeding up the audio without loss of comprehension. Variability of learner pace means that many learners can learn the same amount in less time. We can often teach the same concepts faster in online Learning / eLearning. So … How can we convince the organization that our variable length eLearning is worth X CEU Credits even when seat time may not come out to the set amount of time? Problem 3 - Collaborative, Informal, Social Learning? Now the hard part.  We know that forcing someone through 10 hours of courseware is probably not the best idea, especially if we want them to learn a lot and have a good experience.  We can certainly bring in a social element through a webinar (and these have the nice property that there are time lengths).  But what about using other kinds of social learning. Can we effectively measure the time equivalence of collaborative, informal, social learning? How can we convince an organization that participation in collaborative, informal, social learning experiences equates to some amount of time equivalence? Problem 4 - Influencing the Organization? Again, in most cases, we won't be able to actually change how the organization measures these things.  And when you look at from their perspective, they don't want to write up the specific content that must be covered, because it's too broad and will change.  Thus, they are really just saying - you need to go through X amount of learning. Are there other good ways to define X amount of learning? What have you seen that are good ways to handle online CEU credits? What influential examples exist that might help us influence the organization? eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

We're deep into day 2 here in Chicago. This crew has been hard at work writing scripts and producing eLearning using every tool under the sun including Adobe Captivate, Adobe and Articulate Presenter, Articulate Storyline, and Techsmith Camtasia Studio.

Written by Chris Osborn   A huge roadblock you may face as a manager is employees who are unwilling to engage in further professional development. Maybe they say they don't have time. Maybe they feel they're already good enough at their job. Today's Q&A Thursday video discusses the dangers of this attitude, and how you can resolve it.     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 Tips for Marketing Your Employee Training Program In this eBook we’ll discuss you'll learn 10 ways to improve the marketing of your online employee training program and boost employee engagement and participation. 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 today's Q&A. It comes from Debbie. She's an HR manager at a technology company. In the webinar about building a business case, we talked about being prepared to overcome common objections from senior leaders. And one of the most common objections that we run across is questions whether or not employees actually use the training tools once we buy the solution. Debbie's question got to a very specific issue in this pretty complicated area. Her question is how do you get employees engaged in training who think they're already good enough at their jobs and don't have time for training? There are two critical aspects to the question therefore there are two parts to the answer. First, the idea that any employee is ever "good enough". So let me begin the answer to this question by asking another: can you think of certain important jobs in this economy that didn't exist even five years ago? And the answer to that, is yes! Very quickly! You can think of lots of them. Digital marketing experts, big data scientists, Adobe specialists, Android developers, iOS developers, there are a range of jobs that didn't exist just a few years ago. And think about your organization's future. Do you know exactly what skills and jobs you're going to need to be successful 6 months from now? 12 months from now? 18 months from now? If you know for sure, you're a lot smarter than me. If you don't know for sure, you're going to have to have a workforce that's adaptable, flexible, and agile enough to acquire skills and master jobs that don't exist today. So the idea that any of us are ever "good enough" in this market just isn't true. Second, if this is your culture, you have a manager problem too. Your managers have to understand the value of continuous learning in a world of constant change. So you're going to have to work hard to get your managers to understand exactly the point I just made. If you're going to succeed in this marketplace, constant and continuous learning and a dedication to ongoing improvement has to be a foundational part of what you do. So if we're going to keep this up as an organization, if we're going to be competitive, if we're going to improve, we simply owe it to each other as employees and professionals to be dedicated to continuous learning and improvement. It's a commitment we need to make to our colleagues. So that's it in a nutshell. So how do you get people engaged? You have to convince them that jobs may not exist today that they're going to need to master in the future, you have to get your managers engaged in it,  and you have to shift the culture to make sure people understand that we owe it each other to be dedicated to continuous improvement.

2012 has been an amazing year for mobile! This year we have seen technology companies introduce a myriad of mobile devices of all sizes, prices and operating systems. In 2012 Apple announced the iPhone 5, two new iPads and the new iPad mini; Google unveiled their first tablet, the nexus 7 and later the 10″ version; Amazon gave us three Kindle Fire HD tablets. Not to be outdone, Samsung announced the Galaxy Note II and the Tab Tablet, and of course Microsoft announced the Surface Tablet. Earlier this year Comscore reported that 2014 will be the year in which the number of mobile users will surpass desktop users for the first time. Here’s another statistic that bodes well for mobile, Apple sold more iPads in Q4 2011 than any individual PC manufacturer sold PCs. And what can we say about the acquisition of Instagram by Facebook for a cool 1 Billion dollars earlier this year? Instagram was not only a mobile-first success story, but until recently it was a mobile-only photo sharing service. One final statistic I would like to include here is the fact that as of September 2012, Android alone accounted for 1.3 million activations a day, that’s roughly 39 million activations a month. Wow! In 2012 tech giants like Google, Yahoo, Adobe, Microsoft, Intel and HP posted disappointing earning results. What’s amazing about this is that these are companies that prior to the modern mobile revolution appeared to be invincible in their own fields. The rise of mobile is forcing companies like these everywhere to rethink their strategies and business models in order to compete and stay relevant in this new mobile world we live in. Clearly there’s a strong technology shift happening now. This is a shift that affects us all and one that comes with lots of opportunities, as well as challenges. I am very encouraged by the progress I have seen this year from learning professionals embracing the idea of mobile learning. However we need more from our Industry and it’s my hope that 2013 will be the year we fully immerse ourselves into what I call the ‘Post-eLearning era‘ and seize the potential of mLearning. With that said, here are 8 things I believe we must do in 2013 to leverage mobile and advance mobile learning: 1. Embrace Change and Adopt a new Mindset Mobile changes everything from the way we learn new things by interacting with information on our mobile devices, to the way we design the next generation of learning experiences for the mobile learner. To fully realize the potential of mLearning, though, we need to think outside the eLearning box and question many of our traditional practices. We need to realize that we are no longer developing learning for the stationary learner, sitting in a stationary chair, in front of a stationary PC. 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. In order to seize the potential of mLearning we need to embrace the change this new paradigm brings. More than anything else the mobile revolution is about adopting a new mindset, a new way of looking at things and being open to the new world around us. eLearning had its day but now we have a new blank canvas in front of us and we need to step up to the plate and make the most of this new paradigm shift. Charles Darwin said it best: "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." - Charles Darwin 2. Become an Active, Observant Mobile user This one is an obvious one but it’s worth repeating. The bottom line is that it’s tough (if not impossible) to develop for mobile users if you are not an active mobile user yourself. If you don’t yet have a smartphone (and you don’t think you are getting one for Christmas) go out and get one yourself, if you can afford it, get two or three. The more devices you have for testing, the better. The two most popular mobile OSes are iOS (e.g. iPhone) and Android (e.g. Samsung S3). Surf the web on these devices, it’s quite different from the desktop but get used to it because this is your next development frontier. Download as many apps as you can and ask yourself what you like and dislike about each of them. This is important because you can then implement a lot of the things you like about the app experience into your own mobile learning projects. Get yourself a Tablet or two as well for the same reasons I listed above. 3. Think Mobile-First and Desktop-Second LinkedIn’s head of mobile, Joff Redfern, speaking at the 2012 Mobile Business Summit, said the following about what mobile-first thinking means to LinkedIn: "Mobile First is not about doing something first on mobile and then on the desktop. It’s a way of life" I couldn’t agree more, thinking mobile-first should be something all of us embrace as a new way of life going forward. One of the biggest realizations in the mobile era is that the traditional PC has now been reduced to just one of many screens in today’s new multiscreen world. We need to design for this truth. One of the many advantages of thinking mobile first and desktop second, is that it forces you to focus and prioritize because of the limited canvas size you are working with on mobile, as compared to the PC. You can read more about the advantages of thinking mobile first here. 4. Resist the temptation to simply convert your eLearning desktop to HTML5 Conversely, the opposite of thinking mobile first, is to develop for the desktop first and treat mobile as an afterthought. Sadly companies like Adobe with tools like Captivate 6 are promising that you simply have to take exactly what you have on the desktop and simply pass it through their new feature called Publish to HTML5, and your mLearning problems are solved. No so fast though, not only do features like this not work as advertised, but even if they did, it would still just be a poor attempt to retrofit an old course into a new medium. My advice is to resist the temptation and instead try and reimagine what your existing courses need to look like on mobile, considering the context in which people use mobile devices, plus all the sensor superpowers built into mobile devices, and then go out and look for the right tools and technologies that will help you bring your ideas to life. 5. Embrace Simplicity 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 on 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. Our new mantra in 2013 should be simplify, simplify, simplify! 6. Don’t put limits on Mobile Learning I completely understand why it’s convenient to look at mLearning today and want to assign specific learning tasks to it, such as performance support and job aids for example, but I think it’s too early to start limiting mLearning to just these obvious applications. I am fully convinced that when you couple the mobility and physicality of mobile, with all the other sensor superpowers inherent in mobile devices (i.e. digital compass, gyroscope, audio, dual cameras, bluetooth, proximity, etc), we will actually create better learning experiences on mobile, as compared to what we have today through desktop eLearning. I recommend you hold weekly brainstorming sessions with your teams, where you start to reimagine your learning on mobile devices. 7. Explore other Tools beyond the Usual Suspects Existing eLearning development tools do exactly what they were designed to do, namely help us rapidly develop eLearning courses for the desktop. However developing mLearning is very different from designing traditional eLearning and I 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 on every screen. It is for this reason I recommend you to think outside the eLearning box and explore other tools out there for inspiration. If you are not following my colleague @MayraAixaVillar, you should be, she is always discovering new tools and blogging about the pros and cons about them, as she shares her personal take as to the applicability of these tools in learning design. Mayra has done several reviews on her blog HERE. 8. Learn everything you can about mLearning Finally, make 2013 the year you really sink your teeth into all things mobile and mobile learning. Read and subscribe to as many blogs, newsletters and Podcasts on mLearning as possible, attend conferences, webinars and workshops whenever you can. Also learn everything you can about new technologies like HTML5, responsive design, CSS3 and begin to let go of some of the older technologies like Flash. Here’s to having an amazing 2013! Upcoming Events: Here’s a list of some of my upcoming events and conferences: February 20: From e-Learning to mLearning Design Training [6-hr Online Workshop] http://bit.ly/SxiAN6 If you are looking for Speakers for your 2013 eLearning, mLearning and Mobile Events, please contact me http://bit.ly/xP46WP 8 Things we MUST do in 2013 to seize the potential of mLearning from RJ Jacquez

That heat you felt as you walked past that room was our own  Jennie Ruby catching everyone ablaze with her enthusiastic session at the Online Learning Conference yesterday. It was a jammed-pack room and Jennie didn't disappoint as she instructed attendees on the best practices for creating and presenting voiceover audio for eLearning.

It is 8:30am. A text arrives from your client. He’s doing a fast burn because his management made a decision that impacts his team without consulting him. He has a meeting in 30 minutes and he needs to speak to you…his coach. One of the reasons you are coaching him is that he is prone to emotional outbursts with his management and staff. And now he’s ready to blow up at his boss. What do you say to him when you get him on the phone?   Coaching is one of the hot topics in today’s world. Coaches have various formal avenues to learn the structure, process and techniques of coaching. This provides training in the "science" of coaching. But success in coaching does not come just from process and technique.   So, what is the "art" of coaching?   The "art" of coaching has to do with listening. It is about building trust. It is about the questions you ask. It is about understanding the context of the client’s issues. It is about wisdom. It is about pulling information from the client. It is about pushing feedback. And it is about creating shared success.   Let’s go back to the client that is about to explode. Once I got the client on the phone, the first thing I did was to ask how he was doing and what I can do to help. This brought us back to our relationship and the trust we’ve built over previous sessions.   Next, I asked him to walk me through the events that had transpired. I asked him to help me understand what was actually happening. This helped the client focus on facts and sequencing versus his reaction to the events.   Now that he was calm I restated the facts demonstrating that I had been listening to him. Again, this came from trust and kept us present with each other.   What next? What can I do to help him deal with the situation in an objective manner? The next question was critical. "John, I know this seems like a big deal today. Six months from now, will you be thinking of this? Will this be something at the front of your mind?" He paused. He processed. He then said: "I may get upset if I think about it but no, this will not be the biggest thing I’m dealing with six months from now."     We then went on to discuss how he can approach the meeting with his boss. He agreed that he needed to go into the meeting asking questions to better understand what happened and why. He agreed that, while he may be upset, this meeting was not the time to deal with the emotional component. He needed to stay present and focus on his business objectives.   Coaching is extremely rewarding work. A good coach remembers that it is all about the client. Process can provide good structure and support to the coaching engagement. True success will come from the artistry of the coach.       Kevin Pallardy is an executive coach, talent management consultant and the Managing Director for BPI Group.

First, I would like to wish you a Happy New Year. May 2013 be the year each one of us creates a dent in our own Universe! Don’t look now, but there’s a revolution happening everywhere driven primarily by the rise of mobile. Virtually every process and every product is being "reimagined" because of mobile. Companies in every industry are embracing the mobile revolution, and are putting forth strategies to make sure they offer great experiences for their users on mobile devices. There’s one common denominator among these companies, namely their mantra is to simplify everything, from their websites for their mobile users, to the mobile apps they design for their customers. I think there’s an important lesson here for all us in eLearning transitioning to mLearning. I believe the most important first step in this transition is to simplify what we have today on the desktop, as we embrace mobile as a new delivery medium, and as we design for this new frontier. Only by simplifying our existing learning design, will we be able to reimagine these learning experience on mobile devices and delight our learners who are increasingly mobile. Here’s what I wrote in a previous post about embracing simplicity: 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 on 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. via 8 Things we MUST do in 2013 to seize the potential of mLearning | The mLearning Revolution Blog. A company I want to highlight today, which is doing exactly this, is LinkedIn. The company’s mission statement is to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. One of the ways in which LinkedIn is accomplishing this is by simplifying everything they do, from the friction-less interactions they are implementing on their site (e.g. endorsements), to the new versions of their iPad and iPhone apps, which are simple and enjoyable to use. Another way in which LinkedIn is simplifying things for their customers is by embracing ‘mobile-first‘ thinking and desktop second. There’s a great video below from Joff Redfern, head of mobile products at LinkedIn, talking about LinkedIn’s approach to designing for mobile and there’s one thing in particular that I recommend we all embrace as we design learning for multiple screens, namely: "Mobile first is not necessarily about trying to do something first on the mobile and then on the desktop. It’s a way of life" Redfern was speaking at the Guardian Mobile Business Summit 2012 conference in London, where he outlined LinkedIn’s evolving design approach to mobile devices, and said that all the company’s product teams now share a mantra: "Simplify." via LinkedIn explains why ‘simple is beautiful’ on mobile devices | Technology | guardian.co.uk. Here’s the Video: Over to You: If you have practical ways in which you are embracing this mantra of simplify, simplify, simply in learning design, please share below. Here’s to a great year of mLearning design!   Upcoming Events: Here’s a list of some of my upcoming events and conferences: February 20: From e-Learning to mLearning Design Training [6-hr Online Workshop] http://bit.ly/SxiAN6 If you are looking for Speakers for your 2013 eLearning, mLearning and Mobile Events, please contact me http://bit.ly/xP46WP

Over on Learn Trends, we've posted the days/times for the next two online sessions.May Learn TrendsMay 21 - 9AM - Noon US Pacific TimeI'll be organizing this one and the specific topic and speakers will be getting announced in about a week. It should be good.June Learn Trends - Networked and Social LearningJune 18 & 19 - Times TBDGeorge Siemens will be organizing a two day session on Networked and Social Learning. For example, I will be doing a session on Social Learning Measurement and ROI.If you are interested in these, please click the links above to go to the Learn Trends site and sign up. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

by Kevin Siegel    Recording screen actions with Articulate Storyline couldn't be much easier... all you need to do is click Record screen on the Storyline Welcome screen and off you go. During the recording process, Storyline records your screen actions using three different modes: View, Try, and Test. Once you have finished recording, the Insert as dialog box opens and, if you select Step-by-step slides, you can choose to insert any of the three modes into your project. But what happens to the two unused modes? And what if you change your mind about the mode you used and instead want to use one of the other modes? At first glance, the unused modes are thrown away. If you want to use a different mode, it seems like you'll need to re-record. But that wouldn't be much fun, would it? You'll be happy to learn that Storyline keeps each of the modes hidden away in the project and you can insert them into the project whenever you want. From the main toolbar, click the Record Screen tool to display the mode you're currently using. Click the thumbnail of the inserted mode and the Insert as dialog box opens. Select one of the other modes from the Step-by-step slides drop-down menu and click the Insert button. The slides will be added to the project as a new scene. *** Looking for instructor-led training on Articulate Storyline? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Storyline classes. We've also just rolled up three new mini-courses. Check them out here.

View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording.   Additional Resources: Five Barriers from Charles Jennings   Everyday we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data. So much that 90% of the data in the world has been created in the last two years alone. SOURCE: IBM Understanding Big Data: Analytics for Enterprise Class Hadoop and Streaming Data   How Executives View Learning Metrics by Patti and Jack Phillips, CLO Magazine, Dec 2010   Great add from Randall: "Training" is the "what" of learning, and "education" is the "why" of learning. "Technology in education.  Technology should enhance the learning experience, but never impede learning.  Like a phone is always on, water always comes out of your faucet, or electricity comes out of a wall socket, you should never have think about the technology used in learning.  It should just be there, but invisible."   Creating a Frictionless Learning Experience by Dean Pichee Cox eLearning Consultants, Learning Solutions Forecast: 2014 Edition Make Training Stick by Barbara Carnes The Importance of Agility HR Exec Online

In case you missed any of these great posts last week - here's a recap of what the top stuff was from eLearning Learning.Top Posts The following are the top posts from featured sources based on social signals. Twitter Cheat Sheet version 1.1 is up- Adventures in Corporate Education, April 18, 2009European training survey shows HR and training holding back change- Clive on Learning, April 22, 2009Social Learning Designer- eLearning Technology, April 22, 2009Overcoming Top 10 Objections to Social Learning- Social Enterprise Blog, April 24, 2009Love The Conversation- Blogger in Middle-earth, April 17, 2009Learning With A Webcam- Blogger in Middle-earth, April 22, 2009Who Needs to Be on Your 3D Development Team?- Kapp Notes, April 20, 2009Fantastic File Converter- eLearning Acupuncture, April 24, 2009Throw away your powerponits, simply use Prezi- Ignatia Webs, April 21, 2009Learning Tools: for the Educator/Teacher- Don't Waste Your Time, April 20, 2009 Top Other Items The following are the top other items based on social signals. Enterprise: List of 40 Social Media Staff Guidelines, April 23, 2009Twitter As a Learning Tool. Really. - 2009 - ASTD, April 21, 2009The Web: Design for Active Learning, April 17, 2009Do Learning Styles exist? - Home, April 22, 2009How to make e-learning work!, April 23, 2009The (changed) information cycle, April 17, 2009The Semantic Web and E-learning, April 18, 2009Weblogg-ed " New Reading, New Writing, April 23, 2009Leveraging the human network, April 17, 2009cathellis13: Ten Commandments of eLearning, April 21, 2009 Top Keywords Twitter (38)Virtual Learning Environment (3)Learning Management System (8)Coaching (8)LinkedIn (13)Microphone (4)Social Network Analysis (2)VLE (3)Conversation (18) eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

by Jennie Ruby    This week's confusing words pop up often in writing about training, creating a minefield of potential spelling errors. First, let's look at lead versus led. Lead is a toxic element formerly found in gasoline and other products. It is also the common term for the graphite in pencils. As a verb, lead means to go first and show the way, so many of us lead classes. But if we did that yesterday, we led the class--the past-tense form of the verb to lead. Peek, pique, and peak all three may appear in writing about training. A peek is a quick look. The verb pique means to arouse or cause something, typically interest or anger. As a noun, it means anger. Peak can be a verb or a noun, and always indicates a pinnacle or high point. Select the right word in each sentence (watch for additional problems in the same sentence)! I need a lead/led pencil to mark this answer key. Who is the lead/led instructor for Friday's class? Who lead/led last week's discussion session? This instructor-lead/instructor-led training is offered monthly. The training room does not have any lead-based/led-based paint. We hope this preview of our training will peek/pique/peak your interest. This training comes just as the interest in gamification reaches its/it's peek/pique/peak. Here is a quick peek/pique/peak into the topic of next month's/months conference. The unhappy, stressed-out student left in a fit of peek/pique/peak. The participant-lead/participant-led workshop peeked/piqued/peaked the interest of several conference attendees/attendee's. When ready, please post your answers as comments below. ***  Answers to the Confusing Words for 500 challenge are brought to you by Chris Zimmel The director asked me to keep her appraised/apprised of the project status. We later met to flush out/flesh out the details of the project. During the buyer's walk-through, some squirrels were fleshed out/flushed out of the attic. Please appraise/apprise the seller of her rights regarding the negotiated price. We need to appraise/apprise the governor of the details of the scam. Can we flush out/flesh out this outline before we submit it to the client? The plumber appraised/apprised me of the condition of the old iron pipes. The main line needed to be fleshed out/flushed out to allow water to flow freely. We met with the plumber to flesh out/flush out the plan for upgrading the pipes. We need to appraise/apprise students of how toaccess/excess the supplemental material. Other winners of Confusing Words for 500 challenge, approximately in order of receipt: Lynn Walpole, Sonia Verma,Melanie Elick, Tara Allen, Geri Moran, Michael Shepherd,  Phyllis Muder, Patrick Brown, Tonya Bowles, Christine Pass, Lisset Vega,Karyn Highet, Kolja Fuchs, Irene McCoy, Kay Honaker, Vera Sytch,Lisa J Stumpf, Ginny Supranowitz, Tanya Davis, Stacey Edwards, and Denise Miller. Fair warning... next time I will start counting missed additional problems later in the sentence against you! *** If you love Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Check out some of Jennie's mini courses.

Written by Chris Osborn   Today's Q&A discusses the distinctions between training and development.     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 Tips for Marketing Your Employee Training Program In this eBook we’ll discuss you'll learn 10 ways to improve the marketing of your online employee training program and boost employee engagement and participation. 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 today's Q&A. Yesterday's webinar was about barriers to training success, Yonette, an HR professional in a manufacturing company, and current client of BizLibray’s asked: Is there a difference between training and educating when we think of impact and application?  Another participant offered a great place to start answering this question like this. Randall said, "Training is the "what" of learning and education is the "why." Randall’s explanation is close, and it’s a good place to start.  Training is generally explained as teaching an employee to effectively perform a specific task. For instance, we "train" people to operate equipment, navigate through an application like our CRM or use a database. So the outcome of training is to advance some very specifically identified skill or to increase some specific area of knowledge.  Education involves establishing a set of values to enable employees to make effective decisions. Now - by values - I am not referring to a set of personal values. Instead, I am referring to a set of benchmarks by which we can measure our decision making on behalf of the organization. So values in this content relate directly to organizational goals. With well crafted, clear, objective goals, we can make smart decisions, take appropriate risks and help the organization achieve its objectives.  Education, therefore, involves training to ensure employees have the core or foundational skills to engage in the behaviors needed to reach those goals, but also explaining and teach the WHY behind the organizational goals to help employees put their own actions and day-to-day decision making into a broader context.  So - training is important. This is the foundational teaching of important skills and competencies to the appropriate level of mastery each employee needs to effectively perform. Education goes further and helps employees place their roles in the organization into a proper context so decisions are well-grounded towards reaching organizational goals and supporting  behaviors and appropriate levels of risk are maintained.

by AJ Walther     For some PowerPoint projects you may find that you would like to line up elements in a certain way and that having guides on the slide would be useful. In the steps that follow, I will show you how to make guides visible and (because there is only one horizontal and one vertical guide that intersect in the center by default) how to add extra guide lines. Show the Guides & Ruler  Click the View tab and, from the Show area, select Guides. (Two guides appear on the slide by default,  one vertical, the other horizontal.) Select Ruler from the Show area of the View tab.  Most people who use the guides need things lined up at specific measurable spots on the slide. The Ruler will help with this.    Reposition a Guide Click and hold one of the guides. (You will see a 0.00 indicating that the guide is in the center of the slide.) Drag the guide one direction or the other to change its position. Create a New Guide Ensure the original guide is at its starting 0.00 position. Press the [Ctrl] key on your keyboard and then click and hold the guide. (When you drag you will create a new guide.)  Place the new guide wherever you would like.Be sure to release the mouse button first and then the [Ctrl] key. If you release the [Ctrl] key first the original guide will not be duplicated but will be repositioned instead.Note: To delete a guide, simply drag it off the slide.  *** If you love AJ's articles, you'll love her Optimizing PowerPoint Design for eLearning & Presentations mini course.

In talking with Jay Cross about the recent Learn Trends session and through experience in the #lrnchat, I've come to realize that there are easier personal disconnects for me with informal, social learning experiences and my personal learning goals. Let me provide some context … I'm an Infovore (sometimes called an Information Addict). As such, I have to be careful about not oversubscribing or falling prey to the myth of keeping up. I have various techniques that I use as part of my Information Radar where I specifically control the flow and try to improve filtering. I've worked a bit with Stedman Graham and a phrase he uses really sticks with me: We all have 24 hours in a day. What makes us different is how we choose to spend it. When you combine these two thoughts, I am conscious about making smart use of my time (my learning time). I try to make sure that the time I spend is directed towards my personal learning goals. This aligns with the concept of having a To Learn List. So, going back to the discussion that Jay and I were having around Learn Trends - we seem to have a difference in base philosophy about Learning Goals. Are we directed in our specific learning goals - I want to learn more about X that will help me solve Y? Or are we open to learning about just about anything within the overall topic? I'm sure there's language about this kind of difference in learning styles (?) somewhere. But just so I can refer to it in this post, let's call these: Directed Learning Goals - specific focus Flow Learning Goals - nonspecific, exploratory Each has it's place an purpose. There's not a right or wrong here. But I believe that it's important to be aware of this from both a learning design, learning style and learning comfort standpoint. Learning Goals, Expectation and Comfort Okay, so let me be candid. I generally seek out almost exclusively directed learning goal opportunities. In fact, take a look at my Top Down Strategy. It's a road map for turning almost everything into a directed learning goal. Do you actually have directed learning goals when you are reading the Sunday paper or visiting a museum? For me, it's okay if I don't, but I somewhat am aware of that. Yes, I know that's probably not the healthiest, but I still do read the Sunday paper and I recently spent a lot of time in DC at the wonderful museums. Now, when you take someone like me who's fairly far on the directed learning goal side of things and you put me into a learning event where it's primarily dialog and aimed at people who have more of a flow learning goal slant, I start to feel uncomfortable. I find myself trying to translate from the flow learning experience into a directed learning experience. I'm trying to figure out how it relates to my directed learning goals. I become frustrated if I can't connect it back to some of my directed learning goals. The bottom line is somewhat … That's great, but how am I going to use this? As long as someone is clear at the start of a learning experience that they plan to let things flow, then I guess I don't have much of a complaint. But … I will wonder if it was a good use of time, even though I probably will have learned a lot. Informal Learning and Directed Learning Goals I believe that this same issue plays out more broadly for learning organizations around informal learning. In Social Learning Measurement, I discuss various ways we can go about measuring the outcomes from social learning. My general suggestion was that we should be measuring the outcomes (business impacts or intermediate impacts). I generally moved away from talking about measuring specific learning outcomes. And it's going to be hard to deal with things like Online CEU Credits where those are based on time equivalents. Unlike formal learning, informal learning is generally not going to ensure that specific knowledge will be transferred. Instead, people will learn what they need in order to accomplish the ultimate objectives. We aren't sure what they will learn. You would think that someone like me, with a strong directed learning goals slant, would be uncomfortable with social learning solutions. Well it really depends. I rather like it when we can create systems that focus on the real business outcomes (see Data Driven) and allow the mechanisms to be figured out within it. Social learning (informal learning) within the context of directed learning goals feels very comfortable to me. I think there's something very important here to help make informal learning comfortable to people like me. You are still defining a purpose or direction for the learning. We may not agree on how we will get there or the specific topics or even the form. But we define what we believe we will be able to accomplish as an outcome. As a specific example, one of the sessions at the Learn Trends April Session, was - "Making informal learning concrete". Jay got me to be a time cop - i.e., keep the conversation moving. I learned something out of the experience. Jay and I should have established what the goals were for the session. I was thinking of concrete as a sidewalk. Jay was thinking of it inside a big truck, still wet and getting continually mixed. I have no idea what people in the session expected - and Jay and I didn't do much to set expectations. We could have likely made the session more comfortable for people with my slant by doing a better job setting a bit of context. I am very curious to hear thoughts around this. I hope you will comment. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

BizLibrary hosts the ALIGN Client Conference each year. This year's event starts Sept. 22nd and runs through Sept. 24th at the Hyatt at the Arch in downtown St. Louis, MO . ALIGN 2014 will be an exciting, informative event that facilitates information sharing, idea exchanges and collaboration. Partnership - You’ll have a unique opportunity to build stronger relationships with your Learning Consultant and the support teams that work with you regularly - amazing things happen as a result of bonds built. If you're not a BizLibrary client, you'll have the opportunity to see first-hand exactly why our practice of assigning a dedicated Learning Consultant sets our client service apart from any other training vendor on the market. Learn - Get the chance to hear from clients, industry experts and training professionals that will provide ideas, facts and share best practice information for you to take back to your organizations. People - Become a part of a diverse group of dedicated learning professionals from all over North America, multiple industries and varied backgrounds. You're going to find like-minded professionals will similar interests and expand your network and circle of influence. Influence - Interact with BizLibrary’s Executive Team and Staff - discuss your likes, dislikes, challenges and successes- we want to hear from you! Our success is dependent on you. Problem Solving - Ask questions! You will have the ability to receive answers to difficult or challenging questions that you have been considering. Over three days, you’ll have time to interact and brainstorm with people that can help. Inspiration - Come to be inspired. The energy, excitement and passion from the group of attendees will amaze you. You will have a new perspective on learning and bring back to your organizations ideas. Recognition - BizLibrary’s Award Luncheon is a spectacular event that will recognize top clients on remarkable programs that are producing exceptional results - learn from the best. Future Plans - Hear first-hand from our President, Dean Pichee on the growth of BizLibrary and the future direction of the organization - what you can expect to see from our Content, Technology and Service offerings. Professional Development - If you are an HR Professional, this conference is a MUST for you - earn up to 11 HRCI Credits. Fun  - St. Louis is a fun town, we’re a fun group and we guarantee you a great time with all the events and activities planned as part of the conference.   ALIGN is becoming a recognized conference in the Training Industry, attracting industry professionals- come join us and experience the greatness. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to grow with BizLibrary. Register today ! About ALIGN ALIGN brings together learning professionals and practitioners across industries to discuss best practices and trends within training, employee development and learning technology. Each day features meals, sessions and keynote presentations. We are also hosting two special events, a welcome reception at the Biergarten at Anheuser Busch Brewery and another event to be announced.

I've written about Captivate's Cache folder in the past. In case you aren't familiar with it, a cached version of your project is created in the Cache folder every time you save your Captivate project. The cached projects can make the process of opening, saving and working on a project faster than what one experienced with older versions of Captivate. However, with Captivate 8, developers are complaining about the increased size of the Cache folder. Those folks aren't imagining things. It looks like Captivate is creating more folders of each project than before. Adobe is aware of the problem and you can expect an update to Captivate that will fix the issue. In the meantime, you should manually backup your projects (to an external drive) and clear the Cache folder at least once a month (by clicking the Clear Cache button).

Saw a tweet this morning from @willrich45 (Will Richardson):Reading: "Why Most Twitter Users Give Up" Interesting how edTwitterers use it for learning, unlike most, it seems.This is a big meme right now based on a Nielsen study that resulted in the blog post: Twitter Quitters Post Roadblock to Long-Term Growth.I'm not surprised to see that there are lots of people who sign up and then leave. Contrary to what Will implies in his tweet, I'm not sure that among edTwitterers there's really that much of a difference in the effect for people who use it as a learning tool.I enrolled about a year ago (Twitter Status) and I've personally struggled a bit with the purpose, value, etc. If you look across a broader set of eLearning bloggers discussing twitter you likely will find similar challenges. A big part of this directly relates to my recent post Learning Goals -Twitter is more for flow learning than directed learning.The bigger challenge and my claim in Twitter as Personal Learning and Work Tool:Twitter is Not for People New to Social LearningConsidering what I saw when I looked at following Twitter Learning Professionals - quickly I decided Twitter Mass Follow - Never Mind. My concern about twitter is that it will be too random for most people, especially those who have not established any relationships / understanding of the people they are following. Thus, my opinion is: Twitter is not a tool for people who are new to social media and the use of social media for personal learning and work.There is one exception to this. If you are going to a conference or evening event where attendees will be using Twitter in a group fashion, then that's likely a good opportunity to try out the tool.I would guess that among edTwitterers, you likely will also get high drop out rates. Maybe it's less than other audiences - but I'm not so sure.Thoughts? eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording.   ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:   The Top 5 Pain Points in Performance Reviews via TLNT.com State of the American Workplace 2013 - Gallup Study

by Jen Weaver     This week, let's explore some common cultural facts about the Japanese and their expectations when it comes to training and development. If you're reading after business hours, you may enjoy this post alongside a meal of sake and sushi to get you in the appropriate mood.  Test your Knowledge of Japanese Culture True or False. The Japanese are known for strong displays of affection and emotion. True or False. In Japan, the head of the government is the emperor. Quick Tips for Training & Development in Japan1: Japanese is the official language of Japan--go figure--and this language contains extensive nuances and subtleties. Students begin learning English at a young age but are typically more proficient in reading English than in speaking English. You will be well served to have all training materials in Japanese--both for learner comprehension and as a sign of consideration and respect. The Japanese do not like being "lumped into" or related to other Asian cultures. Be careful when selecting images for your training materials that you do not assume Chinese models or visuals will play well in a Japanese audience. Foreigners are not readily accepted in Japan, and Japanese people tend to be protective of their culture and heritage. Do your best to demonstrate respect towards their society and practices whenever possible. Mistakes are expected to be followed by an apology, whether from an individual or a corporation. To neglect to offer an apology will diminish your credibility and has the potential to seriously damage your company's brand. Decision-making tends to be subjective while still adhering to traditional values. Consensus is of great value, so individuals may suddenly change their opinion for the sake of maintaining harmony within the group. Seek to build group buy-in as quickly as possible. On a related note, offer praise and recognition to a group as a whole, rather than singling out individuals. Given the culture's somewhat collectivistic perspective, individual actions are a reflection upon the group and family. "Saving face" is huge in Japanese culture, so you'll want to avoid the risk of embarrassing your Japanese counterparts at all costs. Negatively phrased questions will result in miscommunication. For example, the question "Doesn't this product sound amazing?" will be answered as "no", meaning the product does indeed sound amazing, rather than with a "yes" response as expected in the States. The workplace is a serious environment. Humorous stories or jokes in your training materials will be seen as out of place or misunderstood entirely. The American "okay" sign means "money" in Japan, so be intentional with its usage in your materials. Better yet, remove it entirely, as this image is problematic in many cultures. Trivia Answers to the Questions Above False. You're much better off using a "poker face" as a demonstration of self-control. Maintain a slight smile even if you are upset, and don't be afraid of silence in a conversation, especially when negotiating. False. The emperor is the chief of state, and the prime minister is the head of the government. 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. And if you love Jen's articles, check out her new, live and online Localization mini courses.