Taken from Knapp Notes Blog (http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/)Here are some interesting statistics from TRAINING (http://www.trainingmag.com/)2009 U.S. Training Expenditures (including payroll and spending on external products and services) was $52.2 billion (a 7% decrease from last year)41% of organizations plan on purchasing online learning tools and systems in the next year.Payroll was $32.9 billion, about a $1 billion dollar overall loss from 2008.47% of organizations surveyed reported a decrease in training budgets this year.Companies spent $1,036 per learner this year ($1,075 in 2008).Small companies (10-999 employees) spent about 33 hours of training per employee in 2009.Midsized (1,000 to 9,999 employees) spent about 29 hours of training per employee in 2009.Large (10,000 or more employees) spent about 33 hours of training per employee in 2009.1.5% of companies are using social networking or mobile training methods.47% of training hours are delivered by a stand-and-deliver instructor in a classroom setting.18.5% use online or computer-based technologies for their training delivery.$306,178 was the average expenditure for training outsourcing

"Please Ignore the Message I Just Sent You!" Communication Etiquette for Professionals"Speaker: Anna Post, author and spokesperson for The Emily Post InstituteDate: Tuesday, December 15, 2009Time: 10:00AM Pacific / 1:00PM EasternHaving strong communication skills - written, verbal and in the use of technology - is one of the keys to business success. During this webinar, Anna Post, great-great-granddaughter of Emily Post, spokesperson and author for The Emily Post Institute, will highlight how training professionals can better build and strengthen relationships through the use of consideration, respect and honesty when communicating with trainees, colleagues, clients and total strangers.Check it out:  https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/event/description?instance_id=18391

Presenting with Twitter can be challenging. Olivia Mitchell has written a fantastic free eBook "How to present with Twitter (and other backchannels" to help your speakers avoid the fate. Download a free copy.Check it out:  http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/wp-content/uploads/Twitter.pdfAlso, check it Olivia's blog for great presentation tips:  http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/

http://www.flash-screen.com/free-wallpaper/thanksgiving-wallpaper.htmlhttp://photobucket.com/images/thanksgiving/http://www.coolbuddy.com/wallpapers/holidays/Thanksgiving_home.htm

Jeffery Goldman (MinuteBio) has added a new section to his free e-Learning category.Check it out:  http://minutebio.com/blog/2009/11/28/free-e-learning-additions/

Do you feel like you need to learn more about how a GPS works, or how to use a GPS unit on the road? Get back to school and brush up on the latest in GPS. Interactive tutorials in the form of detention, Driver's Ed and quizzes make learning fun.Check it out:  http://www8.garmin.com/gpsacademy/  Short video clips offer expert tips and step-by-step instructions on how to use your gps device. Check it out:  http://www8.garmin.com/learningcenter/training/index.html

When a team of Pennsylvania State University researchers set out to discover the cognitive processes underlying search behavior, the team discovered that Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and other search engines have become part of the learning process for people who venture online. Check it out:  http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=118064 http://www.morganclaypool.com/doi/abs/10.2200/S00191ED1V01Y200904ICR006?journalCode=icr http://ist.psu.edu/faculty_pages/jjansen/webanalytics/understanding_web_analytics.htmlhttp://jimjansen.blogspot.com/2009/08/latest-search-engine-research-that.html

The Envato Marketplaces allow anyone to buy or sell digital goods like WordPress themes, stock audio, After Effects project files, Flash templates and much more. The marketplaces are home to a thriving community of over 240,000 users, authors and buyers and everyday hundreds of new files are added.Check it out:  HTML templates:  http://themeforest.net/ Flash Components:  http://activeden.net/ Music and Audio:  http://audiojungle.net/ After Effects:  http://videohive.net/ PhotoShop and Vectores:  http://graphicriver.net/  

Free PowerPoint to Flash converter promptly creates web-friendly Flash (.SWF) movies from your PowerPoint content (.PPT, .PPS, .PPTX, .PPSX) keeping its visual parameters, animation effects and slide transitions, audio narrations, video and Flash objects after conversion. iSpring Free works within PowerPoint, transforming it into a fast and easy Flash authoring tool. It is compatible with any PowerPoint version 2000/XP/2003/2007 installed on a Windows machine. To create Flash files viewable on any device from your PowerPoint presentations, just install iSpring Free, open your PowerPoint presentation, click Quick Publish and get Flash slideshows from your PPT presentations in just a few seconds.One interesting option is adding YouTube movies into your presentation. The Presenter version of the product includes SCORM/AICC and quizmaking components - costs $399.Check it out:  http://www.ispringsolutions.com/products/ispring_free.html

The most common distractions cited by DriversEd.com students are talking, yelling, arguing, and goofing off. DriversEd.com teaches teens to become competent licensed drivers. The interactive online course allows teens to take their drivers ed at their own pace on their own schedule.Check it out:  http://driversed.com/games/drivers-ed-game.aspxTraffic school courses - http://driversed.com/courses/traffic-school/traffic-school-course-demo.aspx?navtr=topnav

Interesting article that talks about taking good ideas from the academic world into business. I especially liked this quote - "When technology is designed to promote adaptation, or is developed and consumed in ways that can support changes to configuration and flexible levels of personalization the opportunity for end users and employees to 'discover' new and better uses is significantly enhanced".Check it out:  http://steveboese.squarespace.com/journal/2009/12/18/welcome-to-the-company-here-is-your-iphone.html

One of my New Year's resolutions is to stay on task with the New Year’s resolutions I have set!    Training Peaks has free interactive web based training and nutrition log to help individuals achieve their goals. The personal edition is free. Track progress by recording exercise on the computer, iPhone, Blackberry or other smart phone. And if you have a compatible GPS, HR or power device, upload your file. Check it out:  http://home.trainingpeaks.com/

Got an iTouch over the holidays to check out Learning applications - and what it takes to develop them for the iTouch/iPhone platform. Jane Hart published a list of learning apps for iPhone and iPod Touch. I am checking them out - they are listed below. Will let you know which ones I like - and whether or not I think the iTouch will be a viable platform for Learning development.  Check it out:  http://c4lpt.co.uk/iTouchLearning/topapps.html

The book focuses on what motivates workers - including the three elements of true motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.Check it out:  http://www.danpink.com/drive

The Army is looking into flexible screens to be used in mission planning and rehearsal, land navigation and to provide the Warfighter with the most up-to-date information before departing for a mission. "Our goal is to move this flexible display technology forward with cutting-edge research, and hopefully to see this made available for use in Soldier equipment," said U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command spokesman Robert DiMichele."The best application would allow Soldiers to connect to a computer database and download information necessary to complete the mission," DiMichele said. "Then the Soldier would disconnect, and retain the information on the device, fold or roll it up and pack it away. These screens could also be worn on the forearm of a military uniform for easy access while in the midst of battle."Check it out:  http://flexdisplay.asu.edu/

I am going to ASTD TechKnowledge® 2010 in Las Vegas next week.  This year, ASTD is "going green" with paperless session materials (handouts) for concurrent education sessions.  Options were PDF, Kindle, iPhone and other mobile devices.  I used the Kindle option - mobi file loaded easily.  Very cool.If you can't make the conference, ASTD is offering a "virtual" version at a reasonable cost.Check it out:  http://www.tk2010.astd.org/

MedlinePlus will direct you to information to help answer health questions. MedlinePlus has extensive information about drugs, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and latest health news.Using animated graphics, each tutorial explains a procedure or condition in easy-to-read language. You can also listen to the tutorial. Formats are interactive tutorial, self-running tutorial and text summary (PDF).Check out out:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorial.html

Search for these applications in iTunes:Louvre Museum: From the most important museum in Paris. According to Lifehacker, this "amazingly slick free app provides a virtual tour of its galleries and lets users check out the works of everyone from DaVinci to Michelangelo. The app gets you up close and personal with paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and even the French Crown Jewels."TED: TEDTalks need no introduction. They’re perhaps the most popular video lectures on the web, featuring talks by "the world’s leading thinkers and doers." Now you can access these talks on your mobile phone too.Brain Tuner — presents you with 20 to 100 math problems and asks you whether the solutions provided are right or wrong. It times you and presents a score based on accuracy

After struggling for a couple of days trying to get an old copy of Macromedia Dreamweaver Extension Manager to install an old version of CourseBuilder on a Windows 7 machine, I came across this article in the Microsoft help system."Most programs written for Windows Vista also work in this version of Windows, but some older programs might run poorly or not at all. If a program written for an earlier version of Windows doesn't run correctly, you can try changing the compatibility settings for the program, either manually or by using the Program Compatibility troubleshooter."Check it out: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Make-older-programs-run-in-this-version-of-Windows

Interesting free seminar coming up from Adobe:A discussion of the benefits and pitfalls of screen recording as an instructional tool 12.30 - 13.30 EST, February 10, 2010 http://bit.ly/6iFrRZ - to register We'll investigate the relative theories ranging from the classic Clark/Meyers psychology based recommendations, to the emerging trends toward experiential learning and ask important questions about whether audiences are actually changing? What Do You Need to Participate? Online live seminars are scheduled events simulcast over the web via Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro. You'll need a computer with a browser, Adobe Flash player and Internet connection. Voice-Over IP will broadcast over your computer if you have audio. Alternatively, audio is available via telephone. Access details will be provided once you register.

I visited the Bloomfire booth at the ASTD Technology conference - and can't wait to try out their product. Bloomfire is a collaborative learning portal for internal company use. It's not launched yet - but you can get a sneak preview by sending the team a request.Unlike an LMS where you post structured courses, Bloomfire allows SMEs to post a document, webcast, video etc. to share with others. You can contact the author, ask questions and/or start a discussion thread. There are good back-end metrics to track course activity and performance. Thinking this might be a good way to get a pulse of the popularity of course topics and learning needs. Check it out: http://www.bloomfire.com/

Attended "Using Cloudbooks and the Semantic Web to Power Learning" at ASTD TechKnowledge yesterday. The speaker showed how the semantic web technology is being implemented at the Library of Congress for professional development activities. Lots of food for thought … The Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program provides primary source-based staff development to teachers across the country.Check it out: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/.  Click the link on the right side "Build and Deliver". Pick a couple of the learning objects. In the box on the right side, you’ll see an estimate of how long the course would take to deliver with your selected learning objects. Click Continue. Pick your choice of deliver - either PDF or HTML. If you choose HTML, you’ll get a course with SCORM files included. Pretty cool. While on the LOC site, check out some of the other resources.Also see my blog entry on the semantic web - http://cre8iveii.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-is-semantic-web.html

Plus:  Potential new platform for mobile learning, for social networking, and for content creation in Weblogs and wikis.Minus:  The absence of a camera and the continued lack of support for Flash.Check it out:  http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/370/Mark Cuban's perspective:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35161216/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

Adobe® Flash® Professional CS5 will include a Packager for iPhone that will let you publish ActionScript 3 projects to run as native applications for iPhone. These applications can be delivered to iPhone users through the Apple App Store.Check it out:  http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashcs5/appsfor_iphone/ Here's a blog dedicated to Adobe CS5 sneaks and peeks - http://cs5.org/