From the moment you wake up, you’re in a world of apps. Mobile apps are so abundant that it’s only natural for learners to gravitate to them for training. This delivery method provides the flexibility to learn anyplace, anytime, in short bursts or longer intervals, online or offline.
Read MoreThe gentle breeze of May is here, trying to lure us away from our computers and into the sunshine. Luckily we’re all pretty mobile these days, so our work can go where we go. And so can online webinars! Check out the crop of online events coming up this month.
Read MoreReady to launch into the future? 2018 is standing by, with a full payload of resources to help you tackle a multiplicity of resolutions. Just check out this list of January L&D webinar offerings and get your 2018 off to a roaring start. We hope they will inspire and motivate you to lift your L&D career to new heights!
Read MoreRounding up our list of the top five Performance Support articles in 2013, here’s article #4…
The Round-Up: #4
eLearning Guild Research: Mobile Learning for Supporting Workers' Performance By: Patti Shank May 16, 2013
Interestingly, none of the performance support articles we’ve already posted mention the role of mobile learning in augmenting performance support; this article is a great introduction to the concept. Patti Shank, internationally recognized information and instructional designer and the Director of Research at The eLearning Guild, opens with a great example for performance support “when you don’t remember how to change the toner on your printer and the printer display window shows you how to do it, that’s performance support.”
Shank stresses how the use of mobile technology in performance support is a natural next step. The 
majority of us have smartphones or tablets and have them on our person most of the time anyway, so it makes sense to integrate mobile performance support. She lists examples of what it could take the form of: PDFs, audio, video, chat apps, SMS (text messages), mobile webpages, and native applications. Shank draws on other examples from case studies with Sonic and the International Red Cross that put the concept into real-life context. You can see more here:
Casebourne, Imogen. How Mobile Learning Is Done: Nine Case Studies from Around the World. The eLearning Guild. 4 April 2013.
Has your organization or your clients adopted mobile learning for performance support? We’d love to hear your thoughts on how performance has improved.
Stay tuned for one more upcoming blog post for the remaining top five performance support article of 2013 … and be sure to check out the first three articles of five in this series:
How quickly we forget what cold weather is like! Jack Frost has made a sudden appearance and we’re digging out our winter woollies. Why not cuddle up with a hot chocolate and a free webinar or two? We hope these December events will inspire and motivate you.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013, 10AM – 11AM PST: Getting Unstuck: Using Leadership Paradox to Execute with Confidence
Most of the issues that keep us up at night or prevent organizations from being successful are not problems that can be solved. Rather they are paradoxes that need to be managed. Unfortunately, most of us never learned to distinguish the two…or the methods to address the paradoxes.
This program helps people learn the three questions that make the distinction and provides trainers with opportunities to learn a new set of tools, language, and skills that can become part of their toolkit to help individuals and organizations address longstanding obstacles to success—so they can become more resilient and successful over time.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013, 11AM – 12PM PST: 5 Tips for Turning Gamification Theory into Practice (Free for ASTD members)
You’ve heard all about gamification for learning, but how do you take the elements of gamification and make them a reality within your organization? This webinar, based on Karl Kapp’s newest book, The Gamification of Learning and Instruction Fieldbook: Theory into Practice, provides answers for turning your ideas into reality. The webinar will cover five practical elements for gamification and a step-by-step approach for implementing gamification concepts. This discussion will include several examples, lots of tips, a couple of tricks, and a worksheet or two to help learning professionals put the ideas into practice and gamify their content.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013, 11AM – 12PM PST: Managing a Virtual Workforce (Free for ASTD members)
Do you or your employees work outside of a traditional office? This might mean working from home on occasional mornings or being completely based at your local coffee shop. Perhaps you supervise sales staff in a large geographic area or are responsible for a team of global technology professionals. Mobile workforces are a growing and permanent trend, and management strategies need to keep pace.
This webcast will provide the basics of managing your mobile workforce—from supervisory tools to leadership techniques. You will be presented with the bedrock of a successful virtual work arrangement, including the four questions to ask yourself before deciding if a virtual work arrangement is right for your job position. Discover how to better engage employees working offsite and how to reinforce your corporate culture. Finally, learn how to optimize technology to coach and counsel employees working in the virtual cloud.
Thursday, December 5, 2013, 10AM – 11AM PST: Leaving ADDIE Behind – A Conversation with Michael Allen
Analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (ADDIE) are all important steps in the design of effective eLearning applications or any learning program. While there have been many adaptations of ADDIE, many of them were made before we had today's tools, challenges, and opportunities. Join Dr. Michael Allen for a candid conversation with Richard Sites as they casually discuss what’s needed and possible today leveraging Agile to improve development efficiencies and effectiveness—resulting in the best learning experiences possible.
Thursday, December 5, 2013, 10AM – 11PM PST: 5 Reasons Why You Can't Ignore Gamification (Free for ASTD members)
Gamification is more than newfangled training. It is touted as the next form of work-based social media, in which people interact and socialize around a common bond of knowledge, competitive strategy, and fun. Elements of game play engage employees with just about any topic: improving operations, cutting logistics costs, and challenging employees to understand how their roles contribute to enterprise success. Many of the world’s largest brands are deploying gamification, including Coke, AOL, Nissan, Nike, and Viacom, and as more studies become available, the advantages to gaming in the workplace will become widespread. One primary lever promoting gamification is that employee satisfaction, which is closely related to employee retention, can no longer be achieved through financial compensation alone. The challenge now is to understand why gamification is so effective and how to introduce it seamlessly into an organization.
Thursday, December 5, 2013, 10:00AM – 11:00AM PST: Mobile Learning in Practice
Organizations taking their first steps into mobile learning can easily become overwhelmed by the multitude of considerations that exist: multi-device learning, responsive design, delivery platforms, tablets, smart phones, app stores, and much more. Without the benefit of practical examples and proven experience, it can be difficult to see how different approaches will work in practice, or to decide what will work best for your organization or sector. This webinar looks at the following:
Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 10AM – 11AM PST: Virtual Presentations That Work: Breakthrough to Engage Clients and Staff
It’s one thing to be clear, concise, and in control of your message when you’re speaking to a group of people in a live conference room setting. It’s an entirely different thing to keep audience members attentive and engaged when presenting virtually. It’s not just learning how to run the meeting software. That’s the easy part. The real issues are getting people to want to participate and communicating well using the technology so that what you say is actually heard and understood. In this practical session, delivered virtually, you’ll explore the skills and techniques it takes to communicate effectively in virtual settings no matter whether you’re conducting meetings, presentations, product demos, or video conferences.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 12PM – 1PM PST: Capitalize on the Power of Employee Engagement in Government/Leveraging the Power of Employee Engagement (Free for ASTD members)
This is not an easy time to be working in the public sector. Heated budget battles and rhetoric about the size, function, scope, and effectiveness of government have generated criticism not just of government but also of the public servants who deliver government services. Across the country, government agencies and their employees are being denigrated and stigmatized. One proven response to maintaining effectiveness in this difficult environment is to improve the level of employee engagement. Research has clearly and convincingly shown that improving employee engagement will drive higher levels of organizational performance, reduce turnover, and yield other important workforce benefits. This session will focus on empirically proven approaches to improve employee engagement in government agencies.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013, 10:00AM – 11:00AM PST: Leveraging Technology for Social Learning
Social media has become a fixture in many of our lives, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other of the growing list of social technology platforms. Using technology to facilitate the natural connections and interactions between learners, instructors, and content is becoming the norm. The key is to recognize the difference between social media and social learning, and to know what social media is and isn’t. Webinar topics include:
Wednesday, December 11, 2013, 11AM – 12PM PST: 3 Ways to Increase the Enrollment, Engagement, and Effectiveness of Your Training through the Power of Story
As trainers, we focus extensively on the design and development of our training content. Yet sometimes, even if we follow instructional design principles to the letter, our content doesn't engage, wow, or connect with the audience. What’s the missing ingredient? Join this webinar with author and training expert Pam Slim to discover how powerful, relevant, and engaging stories can humanize and accelerate the learning experience. Learn:
Wednesday, December 11, 2013, 11AM – 12PM PST: Leveraging Mobile Learning for Sales Enablement (Free for ASTD members)
Join us for an exploration of how mobile devices can be leveraged to augment and support sales professionals, since they are often the most mobile team members who require training and performance support. New instructional design patterns for creating superior sales tools, job aids, and learning experiences for tablets, smartphones, and SMS-enabled feature phones will be explored in this how-to-focused webinar featuring content from the upcoming ASTD Infoline of the same title.
Thursday, December 12, 2013, 10AM – 11AM PST: Crowdsourcing: The End of Administrative Onboarding
The days of administrative onboarding are numbered. Hiring priorities continue to evolve, and it’s become increasingly apparent that traditional onboarding—wherein new hire orientation is often limited to a list of HR to-dos—isn’t meeting today’s talent needs. Leaders of high-performing organizations are actively looking for ways to combat new hire turnover and foster new levels of employee engagement—and they’re overhauling onboarding to do it. But success in onboarding is not guaranteed. In order to achieve real and lasting results, there are important questions that need answers—not the least of which is, “Where to begin?” This webinar discusses:
Thursday, December 12, 2013, 10AM – 11AM PST: Push Learners to the Edge with Story-Driven Games
How do you get the learner involved in the discovery of ideas? How do you ensure the learner is paying attention? PUSH THE LEARNERS TO THE EDGE. It may sound unorthodox, but this is how people learn best—being on edge, rushing to get things done, stretching their capacity to overcome an obstacle. These are traits of an active learner. The challenge is how to structure a learning environment so that it constantly pushes learners to the edge. In this session, you’ll see demos of story-driven games, and learn:
Thursday, December 12, 2013, 10AM – 11AM PST: You Can't Lead If You Can't Communicate: Simple Techniques to Get Your Message Across (Free for ASTD members)
Mike Figliuolo is a recognized presenter and author on developing leadership and communication skills in the workplace. He is an Honor Graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and he served as an armor officer in the U.S. Army. Mike has held positions as a consultant with McKinsey & Company and as an executive at Capital One Financial and Scotts Miracle-Gro. He is the founder and managing director of thoughtLEADERS, LLC—a leadership development training firm that focuses on real, practical, and applicable knowledge. His book One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership is designed to help leaders define who they are and what their personal leadership philosophy is. Mike is specifically known for his programs that take participants beyond theory to hands-on application for immediate results.
Friday, December 13, 2013, 11AM – 12PM PST: State of the Industry, 2013 (Free for ASTD members)
Laurie Miller, Director of Research Services at ASTD, and David Frankel, Research Specialist, will discuss benchmarking data from ASTD BEST Awards Winners, Fortune magazine's list of Global 500 (G500) companies, and other organizations from 2004 to the present. ASTD estimates that US organizations spent $1,195 per employee on learning and development in 2012. The content from this webcast is drawn from ASTD's 2013 State of the Industry report, which is sponsored by Skillsoft and CARA.
Monday, December 16, 2013, 11AM – 12PM PST: BEST Webcast Series: University Health System: How to Create and Sustain Buzz in Your Learning (Free for ASTD members)
Building a strong, compelling brand for the learning and development department is essential in today’s workplace. With competing and escalating demands on time and talent, L&D must craft and implement a strategy to demonstrate its value. Learn how University Health System uses executive support, marketing communication, ROI, awards and recognition, partnerships, and more to create and sustain learning. Three things participants will take away:
Tuesday, December 17, 2013, 9AM – 10AM PST: Managing the Matrix: Hilton's Journey of Launching their School of Sales (Free for ASTD members)
When Joe Anzalone, director of the school of sales at Hilton Worldwide, was tasked with launching a common global sales learning function in the spring of 2012, he was greeted with a series of obstacles—decentralized decision making, nine different sales training programs already in use, competing leadership priorities and agendas, and a legacy of skepticism about previous US and corporate-based learning solutions. Join Joe as he walks you through his experiences dealing with these daunting challenges, how he has been able to overcome them, and what the future holds for Hilton’s global school of sales as the journey continues.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013, 10AM – 11AM PST: Research Spotlight: Learning Strategies and Mobile Learning
This installment of Brandon Hall Group Research Spotlight webinars walks through BHG’s latest research on mobile learning and shares some preliminary data from the recently closed Learning and Development benchmarking survey. This webinar will include:
Wednesday, December 18, 2013, 10AM – 11AM PST: eLearning Authoring Tools: What’s Important?
What asynchronous eLearning authoring tools do individuals and organizations use and want, and why? What are the most desired features in asynchronous eLearning authoring tools at the macro and micro levels? These are the two overarching questions addressed in The eLearning Guild’s new survey-based research report, eLearning Authoring Tools 2013: What We’re Using, What We Want. In this webinar, you will learn:
Although the calendar proclaimed it officially summer last month, sunny summer days have been very slow to arrive in Vancouver. But with summer vacations just around the corner for clients, project work can slow down a bit so it’s a great opportunity to catch up on new industry trends, research and ideas. Check out the free webinars being offered this summer. We hope they will inspire and motivate you.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: ROI Basics: Calculating the ROI
Join Patti Phillips, President & CEO, ROI Institute for her fourth and final webinar in the ROI series. To calculate the ROI you must convert impact measures to money, compare it to the program costs, and identify intangible benefits. During this webcast, you will learn a variety of methods to convert measures to money, five steps to convert a measure to money and cost categories that make up the fully-loaded program costs. Click on the link to also access the recordings of her three previous ROI webinars if you happened to miss them.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Mobile Learning: Delivering Learning in a Connected World
This webinar is based on ASTD and i4cp's recently published report, Mobile Learning: Delivering Learning in a Connected World. This report looks at the current landscape of mobile learning in a world in which the ubiquity of mobile devices seems to have created a perfect environment for delivering learning solutions to our workforce, where or when they need it. Upside Learning’s Kevin Oakes, i4cp's CEO, will discuss how mobile technology is changing the world and our experience of it. From an organizational perspective, mobile learning allows for a spectrum of possibilities that were not present before, and they continue to evolve before us. The findings of this Study indicate that companies with learning functions that help meet both learning and business goals tend to be higher market performers.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: How to Create Interactive Scenarios in Articulate Storyline
Join Tom Kuhlmann, VP of Community at Articulate and author of the widely popular “Rapid e-Learning Blog” as he shares his simple 3C model where you challenge the learner to make a decision, offer some choices, and produce consequences that provides relevant feedback or additional challenges. Then he’ll show you how to quickly create them using Articulate Storyline. You’ll learn to:
Wednesday, July 11, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Design is Everything: 5 Techniques for Designing an Interactive Virtual Class (ASTD members only)
If you want to create a powerful learning experience for your online learners, your virtual training must be engaging – which means your virtual classroom design must be exceptional. In this first webinar in the 2-part Virtual Classroom Design series, learn 5 techniques you can apply immediately to take your interactive virtual training to the next level.
Thursday, July 12, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: “What if I die today?” – Story Impacts eLearning Exercise: Building Stories using StoryLine
Using the book, “Story Impacts Learning and Performance” as a point of reference, Ray Jimenez will share how he uses engaging stories and Articulate StoryLine to author “What if I die today?” – Story Impacts eLearning Exercise. Ray will provide in advance, the source code to the self-reflection exercise, authored in StoryLine. You can investigate the authoring design prior to learning more about the approach during the actual webinar. You will learn how to:
Thursday, July 12, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Taking Learning Mobile: The Power of Learning Everywhere (ASTD members only)
Once a learning organization has committed to “go mobile,” it may seem as though the hardest decision has been made. Soon after this path is chosen, though, reality sets in. There are many things to consider as you work to build your initial efforts for the varieties of mobile devices. This webinar will focus on how to get started with mobile learning, including deciding on an initial project and changing your design approach. Join Chad Udell, a seasoned expert on mobile learning and author of the new ASTD book, Learning Everywhere, as he demystifies the choices involved in developing mobile learning content, and provides real-world experience on how to get down to business creating mobile learning.
Thursday, July 12, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Empowering Employees: Sustainable Career Management Models
In the next five years, businesses will experience major demographic changes as far as their workforces are concerned. Just to name a few: Workforces will continue to become more diverse; millennials are projected to represent more than 50 percent of the overall labor force; and the capabilities required to lead in tomorrow’s economy will be different than the capabilities required today. Join Stacey Harris, VP of Research, David Wentworth, Sr. Learning Analyst for Brandon Hall Group, Jeff Gill, Director, Talent Management and Acquisition and Amy Jo Womack, HR Systems Manager for Valerus as they share the latest research in creating Career Enhancing programs that work for mid-market organizations.
Thursday, July 12, 2012, 8AM – 9PM PST: Building the Business Case for Learning Measurement
Often the only barrier that separates an organization from getting the software it needs is a compelling argument. During this webinar, KnowledgeAdvisors will help you structure your information so you can make the following compelling argument to your leaders, “We need an evaluation measurement system. Here’s why, and here are the benefits.” While this argument will use MTM as an example, you can use the fundamental structure to argue for any software.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Informal Learning Basics: What ARE the Basics?
Informal learning might represent as much as 70 percent of workplace learning and be one of the most talked-about topics in training today. But what is it really? What forms can it take? When can it make a difference in workplace performance and when might it actually detract from it? What role, if any, do Training and Development professionals play in informal learning? Join Saul Carliner, author of the new ASTD best-seller, Informal Learning Basics, as he introduces the basics of informal learning.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: A Unified Approach to Learning Management
As always, the way your learner’s access information (technology – web/mobile) and the number of channels available and utilized to learn (classroom/self-paced/social/informal) continue to increase, these pose challenges regarding how to effectively and efficiently manage learning for your organization. The need of the hour is a unified approach to this problem. Current organizational challenges in managing learning demand a system that understands that different technology options) and different channels of learning are a part of the whole learning experience. Join David Wentworth, Senior Analyst at Brandon Hall Group, and Jason Clymer, VP - Client Acquisition and Partner Development at Upside Learning as they shed more light on the idea of unified solution approaches as they discuss the need and advantages of an untied learning ecosystem.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Facilitating in the Live Online Classroom: 5 Techniques to Master Delivery (ASTD members only)
What do the best virtual trainers do? They engage learners by presenting, facilitating and teaching in ways that bring the online classroom together. Join this final session in the Virtual Classroom Design series, to discover the 5 techniques master trainers and presenters use to deliver their virtual lessons with real energy. Learn how to:
Thursday, July 19, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Developing a Client Centric Culture – A SunTrust Case Study
Differentiating your organization in today’s market can help increase revenue and develop stronger client relationships. SunTrust was able to evolve and deploy a client centric culture that enabled their organization to display growth, improve client relationships, and enhance the talent and development of their sales managers and leaders. SunTrust’s strategic approach to a sales talent and training development program allowed their sales managers to link sales, service and client loyalty while remaining committed to putting clients first. As part of Brandon Hall Group’s Excellence Award Winners Webinar Series, join Mary Slaughter, SVP, Talent Management & Development from SunTrust Banks, Inc.; David DiStefano, Chief Executive Officer, Richardson; and Rachel Ashkin, Chief Operating Officer, Brandon Hall Group, as they share how SunTrust effectively developed and implemented a new sales and sales management curriculum designed to address the current business climate and desired sales leadership competencies.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: I Want to Work THERE! 3 Keys to Creating an Engagement Culture
An organization’s culture has a tremendous influence on employee engagement. A culture that features opportunity, personal accountability, inclusion, community, and validation will lead to engaged employees. But how do you create that culture and how do you maintain engagement throughout an employee’s time at your company? Join Cornerstone OnDemand’s, Bob Kelleher, CEO of The Employee Engagement Group and Kevin Sensenig, Global Vice President, Learning and Organizational Development, Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc. and discover best practices from two employee engagement experts. Explore how to create an employee engagement culture through three steps:
1. Hire the right people
2. Foster engagement through onboarding
3. Maintain engagement for the long term
Tuesday, July 24, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: What Research Tells Us about Games, Gamification and Learning (ASTD members only)
This decidedly unacademic presentation provides a broad scientific overview of what research has taught us about the effectiveness of games and game-elements in changing learner behaviors. We will consider how playing a video game changes a person’s behavior, how avatars can shape in-game and out-of-game behavior, and how storytelling helps learners memorize facts. We’ll answer questions like: What makes a game…a game? How do points and rewards fit into games? Why are challenges, feedback, and interactivity the keys to successful games? Do serious games have to be entertaining to be educational?
Learn how to use the existing research literature in your own design and delivery of learning. This webinar also includes several practical case studies outlining how the research tips, techniques, and practices can be applied in a real-life online learning situation.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Moving Knowledge for Rapid Business Impact
Learning at work is changing – and not just in how it is delivered. The drivers behind “why” learning is even relevant are shifting as well. Executives and managers recognise the value and power of distributing information quickly, to support anything from security compliance to product launches to corporate values. This top-level recognition marks a move from ‘HR-driven’ to ‘business-led’ learning, something with profound implications for learning and development professionals. What systems do we need to meet these new business needs? What influence do millennials and other learners have? And what impact will this have on the L&D function as a whole? Join Stacey Harris, VP, Research & Advisory Services, Brandon Hall Group and Donald Taylor, Chairman, Learning and Performance Institute as they draw on a range of practical examples to explore the trends changing the face of workplace learning today.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Critical Competencies for 21st Century Leaders
Successful leadership involves managing one’s self and relationships with others to move toward a specific business goal. The role of a leader is to grow others - helping people grow their skills, knowledge, and confidence to develop leadership themselves in a real, practical context. The real world has other plans, however. Business goals are fluid, people are stressed, and one-way technological messages continue to invade every moment of our lives. One thing remains the same – leadership is all about people. In this session, learn how you can clear a little chaos and build a high performing team and how to take the time to consider a new approach to leadership while faced with predictable, constant chaos.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012, 9AM – 10AM PST: Hit the Ground Running: Establishing a Model Executive Onboarding Program
This webinar paints a compelling picture of the importance of executive onboarding in an organization. You will be introduced to OPM's government wide executive onboarding framework and the steps that are critical to developing and implementing a successful formal executive onboarding program from pre-boarding through the first year. OPM will also present a unique product to the Federal sector, the New Leaders Onboarding Assessment --- an assessment designed help government manager and executives more quickly assimilate into new organizations. The New Leaders Onboarding Assessment was developed and offered to agencies through OPM's Human Resources Solutions division.
Thursday, July 26, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Real World Training Design
Despite the assumptions of most instructional design methodologies, your training events don’t happen in a neat little "bubble." And neither does your design process. What are some of the most common pitfalls and contraints? How do you navigate them for the results your organization replies on? In this webcast, author, speaker, and real-world designer Jenn Labin presents some of the most common challenges training designers face, plus solutions to keep your project moving forward.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Effective Manager Training and Education – Building a Foundation for Organizational Success
Over half of all newly promoted managers fail in their roles within two years. We often assume our top performers are instantly ready for the more complex demands of management and supervision. Success for both new managers and their teams depends on support, development, and a solid approach to setting clear management expectations. Join Stacey Harris VP of Research and Advisory Services at Brandon Hall Group, and Chris Osborn of BizLibrary as they talk about the evolving set of demands and competencies all of our managers need, and they will share research and key practices for preparing both current and future managers for success.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Story-Based eLearning: Antidote to Boring Programs
According to Mark Zuckerburg (Facebook CEO), “Our lives are made up of stories – that is why we provide ‘TIMELINE’ in Facebook because we help you tell your life-stories”. From Confucius to Zuckerburg, people learn from each other by sharing experiences and stories. Nowadays, this fact becomes increasingly significant with the advent and continuous development of mobile learning, on-the-job learning support and communities of learners. The challenge has been how to design learning points that are story-driven to help learners learn instantly. In this session, learn how to use the power of story dynamics, both telling and listening, as antidotes to boring eLearning programs. A free pre-webinar study kit that includes white papers, demos and examples is available for this session.
Thursday, August 2, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Gamify Your Training: Use Gamification to Increase Employee Engagement and Improve Feedback
Half of all office workers use Facebook at work. Why? Because it's far more satisfying and rewarding than the vast majority of the tasks we're given during the workday. Facebook has a highly engaged audience for the same reasons we enjoy watching football, playing video games or gambling at a casino. The process is called Gamification and you may already be using several game mechanics now. Gamification is the application of game mechanics and game-thinking in non-game environments to increase fun and engagement. This webinar will explore how specific mechanics influence behavior and how you can add them to your own training programs.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012, 12:30PM – 1:30PM PST: Interactivity, Games and Gamification: Creating Engaged Learners
Based on the bestselling learning book, “The Gamification of Learning and Instruction” this session introduces, defines, and describes the concepts of gamification, games for learning and interactivity. It then dissects the elements of games and describes how they can be applied to the design and development of interactive learning. The presentation is based on solid research including peer-reviewed results from dozens of studies that offer insights into why game-based thinking and mechanics makes for vigorous learning tools. Moving beyond the theoretical considerations, the presentation explores three methods for designing interactive learning based on concepts from games.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Informal Learning and Social Media: Upskilling for 21st Century Training
New tools for and ideas about learning are bringing in a new age for training and development practitioners. We now have real means of extending our reach, learners who can identify and satisfy their own learning needs, and opportunities to support workplace learning and performance like we’ve never had before. This session provides an overview of some 21st century skills we’ll need to develop to stay current and viable in a rapidly changing, but more learning-focused, time.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012, 9AM – 10AM PST: Demonstrating Executive Reporting Solutions for L&D
This webinar will provide both strategic and tactical information about reporting L&D results to business executives. Examples of reports, scorecards and dashboards will be demonstrated. As well, you will review three classifications of expertise that exists to support an organizations’ desire to advance its own executive reporting. A review of these consultative solutions will provide insight into the depth and breadth of resources that exist to fully support a practitioners desire to improve upon the metrics provided to the business.
Just this morning I attended a thought-provoking webinar with Gary Woodill, author of Mobile Learning Edge.
Near the beginning of the session, Gary mentioned the Marshall McLuhan quote “We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future,” and discussed how this is apropos for learning in general and mobile learning in particular. This really struck a chord with me. When I think about it, even in modern times we are always trying to fit the latest advances that come to learning into the box of what we already know. For instance, eLearning can too often be like the PowerPoint presentation we knew from classroom training, trying to recreate that classroom experience in an online environment instead of taking advantage of the capabilities of technology to create truly engaging and interactive experiences that relate to the learning material. Now we see the same happening as mobile learning gains more traction: looking in the rear-view mirror at eLearning and trying to repurpose it for a smaller and more portable delivery mechanism, instead of embracing the true potential at our fingertips.
Gary also talked about the changing definition of mobile learning over the last 10 years. I think that it’s not only the definition of mobile learning that is undergoing change, it’s also our deep-down understanding of learning itself. Yes, as modern people involved in adult learning, we understand that learning is not tied to a classroom, or even a desktop computer, but do we (and the C-levels in our organizations) truly accept that a valid learning event can take place in two minutes using Twitter – for example, to poll contacts for the best way to do solve a problem?
One of the examples Gary gave that really resonated for me, and shows the power we have with mobile learning, is the story of a doctor travelling in Africa who came across a teenager with a severely infected arm due to a hippopotamus bite. The doctor recognized the need for an amputation at the shoulder to give the teen a chance at survival, but he’d never performed such a surgery before. After unsuccessfully trying to reach help by phone, he ended up connecting to a colleague on vacation by text message. The doctor learned to perform the operation through a series of text messages from his colleague, and was able to successfully amputate the limb. Now if that’s not a poignant example of the value of mobile learning and the need to embrace the tools and technology that can make it happen, I don’t know what is.
Read about Gary Woodill on his website here. I'm looking forward to reading his book!
It was hard to miss that Apple’s iPad 2 was released internationally last Friday. If you braved the lines and the cold, you might have been lucky enough to snag one for yourself. Not me yet, but it’s definitely on my wish list.
I wasn’t so sure about a tablet device until we got our 1st gen iPad, but now I’m sold on how comfortable it makes ‘couch computing’. It’s an easy way to check email, access the Internet and watch videos, whether I’m working in comfort outside of normal office hours or using it for fun. And let’s not forget the apps—hundreds of thousands of software applications that can do everything from balance your bank account to manage your to-do list to playing some Angry Birds or Plants vs. Zombies (I admit it, I’m guilty).
With its even thinner profile and 10 hour battery life, plus the added front and back facing video cameras, I’m wondering if the iPad 2 can finally be a perfect platform for mobile learning. There are already rumours about Apple releasing an LMS for the iPad 2, which would take advantage of the unit’s fast processor, speech-to-text integration and video conferencing.
Think about the possibilities here: having your remote workers take a tracked mobile learning module, then getting on a video call with a supervisor to demonstrate their learning in their workplace. Later, they check into a module wiki to see how others have put their learning into action, or even see or record videos to facilitate knowledge sharing. All from the same device. Pretty cool stuff.
Even without a supported LMS from Apple, educators can take advantage of existing apps to communicate directly with students, post messages and discussions on virtual whiteboards, and conduct “virtual workshops”. As a learning support tool, the iPad is ideal.
I think the main barrier to implementation would be price, as the low-end iPad 2 version costs a steep $519 (16GB of storage and Wi-Fi only). But when you think of the savings of no longer needing to gather the workforce in to a central location and backfill during training sessions, it starts to become a more practical option for the long term. And given we still have a perfectly functioning 1st gen iPad in our house, I think there are good prospects for a long life from any product from Apple. It’ll be interesting to see what the future holds…
One of the blogs I subscribe to is eLearning Technology by Tony Karrer (www.elearningtech.blogspot.com). Dr. Tony Karrer, considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning, is the CEO/CTO of TechEmpower, a software, web and eLearning development firm out of L.A. His blog post on Monday, January 18th, 2010, titled “Top 10 eLearning Predictions for 2010: eLearning Technology” is a really interesting read.
My favorite prediction is #2: Convergence Ramps Up Big Time which focuses on the huge growth of mobile devices and how they’ll have an impact on workplace learning solutions as an alternative platform. Stephanie and I have worked with clients who are challenged by workforces that are diverse and scattered around the globe. We’ve seen the potential for using smartphones, such as the Blackberry, as a vehicle to push bite-sized just-in-time learning content to their employees 24/7. If you’re interested in learning more about mobile learning, contact us here at Limestone Learning Solutions.
In the meantime, grab a cup of coffee or tea and check out the article. It’s a good read – and don’t miss prediction #10.
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(Header image: "Writing" by Pedro Ribeiro Simões is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)
Limestone Learning is a courseware development company located in Vancouver, BC working with clients across Canada, the US and worldwide. We offer end-to-end services for the development of training programs, as well as instructional design, project management and training support. We can help you bring your e-learning, instructor-led, self-study or blended training solution to life.
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