Stepping Back to Look Forward

As we near the end of the year, its always a great time to reflect on what worked and what bombed, what could be done better and what technology is becoming more and more important to learners. Therefore, my Saturday morning is about stepping back and trying to figure out detached and (hopefully) unemotionally what would be the most ideal learning platform for my audience. Here goes. I am going to throw these out and I know everything will obviously not fit neatly into one platform - but lets paint a blue sky first (why not, lets be overly optimistic as we are about to enter a brand new shiny year).

My Audience

Before I dive in first lets take a look at my audience: Mostly Gen X, and more and more Gen Y. Some Baby Boomers. How do they learn? I am taking a calculated gamble here. They use mobile technology (think airports, waiting rooms, trains and cars), love the iPhone and iPod, they synch with their iTunes collection regularly, they get a kick out of YouTube - video is really hot (where is my webcam?), short and sweet just in time matters, they love games and have an xbox and wii tucked in the corner at home. iPhone and iTouch devices offer the next generation of mobile gaming platfoms - clever useful apps can attract many eyeballs. Happy to give feedback with short targetted online surveys. They use Facebook and love connecting to one and other to share news, views, and reviews. What gets a positive rating amongst their own network matters - ALOT. They hate the mundane, any platforms must be easy to access, easy to navigate, kick-ass and reflect the hottest consumer trends out there otherwise it won't be used or used without passion. If they can't find it in 2 clicks and within 30 seconds consider it dead. Think: get the learning to me rather than me getting to the learning.

Blue Sky Learning Platform

• Mobile access - Learning on the Go
• Access anywhere, anytime from any PC
• Bite sized learning chunks for Just in Time Learning (Flashcards, etc.)
• Short clever Games
• (iPhone apps are cooool)
• Virtual Meetings /Classrooms for remote training
• Online assessments and evaluations (no more paper)
• Social Networking attributes (blogs, wikis, forums)
• Short Video Clips (learning videos and ability to let me share my videos)
• Short e-Learning Snippets
• Secure Authentication
• Rate a Course
• Share a Class, Link, Book, Idea
• Recommend a Course
• Tracking and Reporting capability
• User friendly
• Easy to use Search (Google ease)

What is it?

Is it an LMS?
Well the above wishlist do not in my view reflect the need to host content on an LMS or LCMS. The ones I have seen anyway. An LMS is great for automating classroom registration, course catalog, tracking and reporting, pushing out mandatory training, and setting up learning plans, etc. But is it really that user friendly? Is it easy to find content? Does it tick the boxes for social media capabilities? Can it provide mobile access? I have to be honest for all of the above and answer nope. Sure the technology is getting better but I feel it is mostly geared towards maintaining a huge analytical engine rather than a cool user experience. Unless you customize it... but then your maintenance costs can skyrocket.

Or is it a Learning Portal?
The closest I have found is something like Blackboard or a SharePoint implementation. However, I have not seen any smooth integration of e-learning, games or video. These platforms can be too overwhleming with their portlets and alerts especially if you need to focus on short sharp bites of content. Sure you have some social media functionality, search, secure authentication, and notifications but rich media seems to take a backseat and usability questionable.

Perhaps a Virtual World?
Closest I have seen to tick some of boxes we have identified would be from Protonmedia: Protosphere which has a social media box of tricks bolted onto to their pretty cool business oriented private virtual world. I love what they have done but the cost of implementation and maintenance of such a platform can be on the high side. Also, mobile access is a no no and unless you have practiced a lot, moving around and navigating a virtual world can be a challenge. I have not even mentioned getting past the company firewall and IT security.

Or...is it a hybrid?
What if you created smart content. Small bite-sized content that could be securely accessed from a PC or smartphone anywhere in the world at anytime? What if you took the learners position of accessing learning content on a device of their choice at their convenience. How would this new model look like? Are there any technologies out there to support this shift? Do we have the resources to support this new approach? Perhaps it can reduce costs? No more one hour long online courses. Is it one solution or many components weaved together? Is content development independent of the platform? Do you host content internally or move everything to the Internet Cloud? Where is the biggest bang for our bucks: the platform or the content?

Food for thought: the Blackboard platform is now available over the Blackberry and through an iPhone application. Saba also announced they will introduce an iPhone app in 2010 for Centra access and online learning. Although, both do not tick all our boxes - they are interesting developments worth further investigation. The final word - we need to consider a trade off of rich intensive media to support and encourage just in time mobile learning.

Anyway, I don't have a final answer. Not yet anyway. But I will dwell on this topic over the next few weeks and come back to you if I suddenly get a fantastic award winning idea for solving this challenge. Maybe we should call it the (Gen) Y Challenge? Maybe I need more coffee. Good morning.

2010 Conferences - Some Suggestions

Here are some Learn Tech conference picks of 2010 worth checking out. My selection is based on visiting some events that tap into learning trends and give you the best bang for your buck. 3 key areas for me: Game Based Simulations, Mobile and general Learning Technologies (also trying to select events closer to home to save travel bucks and the planet):

Learning Technologies
Learning Technologies 2010, 27-28 January in London

Game Based Learning
The International Conference on Game Based Learning 29th - 30th March 2010, The Brewery, London, EC1. Also includes a session on Handheld Learning.

Mobile Learning
MLearn 2010. 19-22 October in Malta.

Universities and Kindle

Nice article in the FT recently on how some US universities have taken part in a pilot programme to test the Kindle DX. With Amazon offering heavy discounts on college text books, this could potentially save students and colleges a lot of money if it is successful. On the environmental front it also looks attractive. Whether students will ditch their school books for the cool gadget is stîll up for debate but theres no denying the convenience, access, and interactivity that such eBooks offer is worth exploring.

Google Wave - 5 Cool Benefits

1. Its all under one umbrella – one username and password to a powerful integrated platform. 2. It combines a variety of technologies into one dynamic communications platform: IM, email, document management and multimedia. 3. Its very much live. You see people type before even receiving the full message. 4. Its all fully online as a hosted web service. and finally, 5. Waves have a life of their own and can be embedded into social networks, websites, searched anytime and live on.

Webinar or Webcast?

So many internet terms - so little time. We all know what its like trying to figure out the ever growing terminology associated with the World Wild Web. Here's two that I feel could add spice to your portfolio of learning tools: webinars and webcasts. So whats the difference? Well thnk of webinars as more like web conferencing. That is sharing a live presentation like a powerpoint over the web using platforms such as Centra, Webex, Genesys, etc. You also can add audio using a phone conference or use Voice Over IP (VOIP). With these platforms you are broadcasting a low bandwidth presentation to a wide geographically spread audience and gathering live feedback through chat, polls, surveys - all the fairly standard features of web conferencing technology nowadays. Webinars are at the lower end of the scale in terms of price and static media distribution. Now to webcasting. As you can guess this moves up the scale a few notches with price and much more interactive content. Wikipedia describe a webcast as a media file distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, webcasting is “broadcasting” over the Internet. The most common form of webcasting is TV and Radio broadcasting, although more and more businesses are using webcasting for internal and external presentations. Annual General Meetings are sometimes broadcast in this way.

The use for Training seems fairly obvious. What a terrific way to maintain contact with course partipants after an event. Offer monthly live webinars or live webcasts. It allows you to update and supplement content with fresh case studies and guest speakers. In addition, you can ensure training is not a once-off event but a continuous learning process - as it should be.

Social Media and Learning

Over the past year, a lot has been written about the growth of social media and why you just can’t ignore it when planning your communications and marketing strategies. But what about social media and learning? How does it fit into the plans for the training department? What impact will it have on your training program? Which web 2.0 tools are relevant for your target audience? At its most basic level, social media is a change in how people discover, read, learn, and share news, information and content. It's a mix of sociology and technology, tranforming how we communicate: from one to many into many to many. So how can you as a trainer tap into the power of social media to successfully support and drive your training programs?

Social media has the ability to extend learning beyond the classroom or standalone e-learning module. Using tools like blogs, wikis, and social bookmarking to name but a few, employees can start to connect and collaborate with each other in a wider circle.

So how do you begin? Forrester Research have come up with a simple methodology to get your creative juices flowing as you try and figure out how social media fits into your business plans. Its called POST. People, Objectives, Strategy and Technology.

The CLO website has done a great job of aligning POST to the world of training.

P is People. Don't start a social strategy until you know the capabilities of your audience. Are they mostly spectators or active creators of content? What are the demographics of your employee population, and what are the demographics of your new hires? Many companies have older demographics for current employees, but almost 100 percent of new hires are in the Net Generation, meaning they are in their early 20s and have been active users of social networking during their college years.

O is objectives. Think about your business objectives in wanting to use social media for learning. Do you want to use these tools to attract new hires? Are you interested in using social media tools to keep Net Gens engaged on the job? Are you experiencing higher turnover among Net Gens?

S is Strategy. Strategy here means figuring out what will be different after you have achieved your business objective. In other words, do you want to increase the percentage of Net Gens who are interested in your organization? Do you want to lower turnover among Net Gens or do you want to build a robust online community of your best associates? Imagine the endpoint, and that will help you with how to begin on your journey.

T is Technology: Are you interested in creating an online community, a wiki, a blog or several hundred blogs held together by a common theme? How does this match up with your organization’s policy guidelines for using these tools? Has any group within your organization had success using any of these tools? If the answer to the last question is yes, reach out to this group and use them to build your business case for using social media for learning.

Virtual Collaboration

Virtual Collaboration should be on every trainers list of must-have learning technologies. The advantages of running an online classroom/virtual meeting are many and include:

· Connect with colleagues in seconds—making it easy to meet with anyone, anywhere, at any time.
· Run easy, reliable online meetings using only a browser and a phone (or using voice over IP).
· Reach and train staff across geographical boundaries
· No travel means no travel costs.
· 24/7, 365 Days a year open
· Save time
· Low setup and operational costs
· Increase productivity - more time in the field (in the office)

Moving training to a virtual online platform is not always painfree and requires skilled facilitators and an open-minded audience to actively participate and share ideas across cyberspace. But once up and running and incorporated as a standard learning platform, the benefits and savings become very much apparent.

Mobile Learning (or Knowledge in Your Pocket)

Mobile learning should be firmly on the agenda within any training department. The reasons for doing it seem fairly obvious, however few training departments it seems have actually invested in mobile projects. Why explore mobile as a platform for learning? Here are just some reasons to help you make your mind up:

1. (Almost) everyone has a mobile device, usually a phone

2. A mobile device means learning anytime, anywhere finally becomes a reality

3. Employees (depending on role) usually receive a company mobile device so no additional investment required here - just add content

4. Devices are becoming faster (broadband, 3G), more user-friendly and functionality-rich,

5. Internet-ready phones are becoming the norm (e.g. Blackberry) which open up access to a wealth of online knowledge

6. With the arrival of the touch-screen iPhone - phones and PDAs are becoming a cool must-have accessory for the business executive

7. The massive growth in Mobile applications (iPhones, Palm Pre, Google Android, etc.) mean there is no shortage of existing content or companies that develop content for mobile devices

8. New devices have bigger and better screens

9. Battery life has vastly improved so realizing truely cable-less learning is no longer an obstacle

These reasons alone should inspire and motivate any trainer to re-consider the power and access that a mobile device brings to their training programs.

Interactive Learning Devices (or Bye Bye Mouse)

Back in 2008, Bill Gates highlighted what he called the "power of the natural user interface" at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show. "The first digital decade was largely driven by the keyboard and the mouse. Just in the last two years, we've started to see the emergence of other modes of interaction," he said. "Touch on the Windows PC, touch on the iPhone, the Surface device that we're talking about. We started to see speech the Tellme capability built into the phone, the Ford Sync, where you get to talk and interact with your media or your phone capabilities." A Gartner analyst predicts the demise of the computer mouse in the next three to five years. Taking over will be so called gestural computer mechanisms like touch screens and facial recognition devices. Touch and speech technology are not the only ideas that could replace the standard desktop mouse. For example, Microsoft's Natal offers "touchless" technology where you motion to the screen to control the interface, skipping a touch display and speech input altogether. What has this got to do with learning. Well everything in fact. We need to be considering how users can benefit and learn from these new interfaces. How should we build content for these new devices? Instead of developing e-learning that is driven from a keyboard or mouse, should we explore developing gesture-driven wii-type games? Or thinking about virtual classrooms where the learner can step into a 3D environment with his/her own gesture-driven avatar which seems to be the direction Microsoft are taking with Project Natal. What about building games and e-learning for touchscreens - how should the content be structured and what will this mean for our usability guidelines? This all seems a bit futuristic and maybe not all that relevant for today. However, as more and more audiences begin to explore consumer games and edutainment options outside a company environment, we must think about how to harness this interest and technology for more company-driven training and create a buzz inhouse.

Backchannels - Spicing Up The Conversation

When you are next running a class or meeting wouldn't it be great to harness the power and energy of the audience to enliven your presentation? As they tap away on their laptops and blackberries - why not give them a secondary communication channel to capture their thoughts? By setting up a simple and free backchannel you can encourage your audience to get involved immediately with questions, suggestions, and free flow thoughts - all posted instantly to a real-time exclusive micro-blogging site.

Using a backchannel requires a more exploratory and experimental presentation style (welcome to the web 2.0 world!) and to truely succeed requires a lot of flipping back and forth to the channel to check what was posted and reacting to the audiences input. You could use Twitter or even Yammer, although people would need to have an account and be registered. However, you could also jump to another option like Todays Meet - no need for registration, you just name a new channel and provide the web link to the audience. They can post directly to the site with or without a username. Ideally, its good to know who posted but the real objective is to get people actively contributing. Keep in mind this is a great tool to use for creative and open meetings where active input is needed and encouraged - this is where PowerPoint takes a backseat. With straight to the point, one topic presentations - maybe this is not the right option. Advantages:

• Audience become more engaged and participative
• No-one needs to wait until the end of the presentation to ask a question
• Prepare questions in advance and post
• Allow people not attending the conference to participate
• Provides a useful archive of the audience's feedback
• Presenter/Tutor gets realtime feedback from the audience
• Anyone can supplement what is presented with links, stories and contacts

Backchannel sites: Todays Meet, Twitter, Yammer, Coveritlive

Give it a try at your next meeting or class. If anything, it gives the Backberry users something to write about.

Mir:ror: RFID tags for Training?

Not sure if anyone has a Nabaztag. This slightly quirky idea orginated in France a few years back. I bought one about two years ago much to the dismay of my family (we are still talking). Its an interactive Rabbit that connects to the Internet and pulls in news, information, messages, and a whole host of audio and (visual) driven wireless services. Now from the same company comes Mir:ror which brings the world of RFID tags to the home or office. Basically you buy a batch of RFID tags (called Zstamps) and stick them on everyday objects, even people. Once you hold the tags over the Mir:ror which is connected to your computer it reads back associated information or can even send information to Facebook, open files, or email a message, etc. depending on what was programmed for that particular chip. Stay with with me on this as it is hard to visual why you would even bother. Lets say you have a training event. You could programme a bunch of tags and include them on the printed invitation. Once a student flashes the tag over his/her Mir:ror it pulls up a website or multimedia files to support the training. It could potentially also be assigned to student profiles. Once they come to a training venue you pass the tags over the Mir:ror and they are fully confirmed as registered. Saving on admin work. I am sure I could think up loads more ideas but lets leave it at that for now. Try it for yourself - the future of learning is in your hands.

Tired of PowerPoint?

Don't you just love preparing for your meeting? 2 AM with a gallon of strong coffee and you are still preparing slide after slide after slide. Yawn. Fun? What if there was an alternative to PowerPoint? Imagine if you could present in a way that got your ideas across but in a more creative way without losing your audience. I've been messing around with prezi an online presentation tool that tries to break the mold. I am still trying to get my arms around it as it does need a bit of a rethink in how you create your presentation. But the options to manipulate text and images are pretty cool and there are some terrific examples of good Prezis out there. Bring out the artist in you for your next meeting and wow your audience. Ok I made that up. Anyway, play around with it and see if your audience put away their Blackberries at your next 15 minutes of fame. I gave it a whirl: here. Not exactly Van Gogh but different. Playing it back also requires a certian skill as you zoom in and out and around and pull back and zoom in...you get the picture. Its all online and has a free package option so you can determine if this is really for you. I highly recommend it - even if it seems slightly erratic and out of control. What could be better at your next meeting?

Online Editing Tool

This is a terrific tool for when you need to edit or create that all important image and don't have Photoshop or other image editing tools onhand. All you need is a web connection and you are flying. Go to pixlr and you can upload and edit any image directly online in a fast intutitive well designed software package. If you have used ImageReady or PhotoShop then all the controls are well known to you. Give it a try. Best of all...its free.

Launching a Video Platform

Over the past 3 months I have been heavily involved in building an internal Video Platform with some valuable social network add-ons. It has been a fantastic experience with its fair share of challenges. Managing the project scope has been the most time-consuming. There was no shortage of innovative ideas. With YouTube being the highest standard of Video Sharing Site to benchmark against, users expect alot even from a low cost custom built solution. Anyway, its always nice to have a solid role model. There was such a long shopping list of rich functionality we could have added but in reality this would have seriously delayed the launch until Christimas. As it is we will launch with some cool features this Summer and then package the other requirements for a Phase II and III for later releases. So what bells and whistles will it have to offer when launched? So far: RSS feed, Embed (HTML Code to Other Sites), Email Link to Friends, Video of the Week, Feedback to Contributor, Upload a Video, Download a Video, Add Channels Dynamically, FAQ, Tag with Keywords, Rate The Video, Search, Select by Most Recent, Select by Channel, and Select Alphabetically. Finally, what is the relevance to Training? Well, we have setup a Training Channel so anyone can upload their training videos for all associates to view or download. So what potential enhancements could future releases include? Perhaps Language Interfaces, Add a Comment, Mobile Access, Your Personal Subscribed Channels, Video Blogs, Share on Other Social Networks, etc. This I feel is a terrific example of social networking at its very best.

Virtual Campus Pilot

Our training department are about to run an experimental Online Campus pilot using a virtual event platform. It has a lot of rich out-of-the-box functionality that I feel will make the experience truely interactive and interesting enough for learners to browse the content and enrich their training. Why did we select such an unusual environment? We wanted to identify a cost-effective but captivating platform that could be setup quickly, easily maintained and needed almost zero development work. Sounds almost impossible, right? Well, with a bit of creative researching we found a number of ready-made virtual world platforms that offered most of what we wanted. When I say virtual world I don't mean a true 3D world like Second Life, but you can get 2D worlds that maybe are not as immersive but provide enough of a walk-about and feeling of depth experience using some clever Flash programming to do the job. Once we launch and get some learnings, I will publish them to this blog. To whet your appetite, here are some features that swayed the decision to use the platform: Chat, On-Demand Video, User Profiles, Save and Download to your personal space, Synchronized PowerPoint and Video, Live Q&A, View Who is Online, Excellent Reports, Mini-Sites or Booths within the central Site, Registration Screens, User Management, Mail Notifications, Ability to Customization with Colors and Images. Just some of the items that were ticked off to meet this pilots requirements for a Training Campus.

Virtual Classroom...also for the Blackberry

Just had a quick browse after my last blog and lo and behold...Webex are launching a new Blackberry virtual web conference app Q3 2009. Check out this announcement. Let see how the iPhone app works first. The interface on the Blackberry does not bring joy to my heart so lets see how this pans out.

Virtual Classroom for the iPhone

Downloaded the new app for web conferencing from Webex for the iPhone today. I've yet to try it out but if I am to believe their website video it should allow me to dial into a virtual meeting/virtual class via my mobile device, view presentations, see fellow particpants, and connect using VOIP audio. Now if only I could add a video camera? That would be really a fantastic mobile solution for learning on the go. Seeing is believing. Stay tuned for an update. Maybe I can try it out while I am on the beach in Spain this Summer. Classroom learning never looked so inviting.

Blended Learning

Over the past week, I have spent a few late nights indulging in 50 cups of strong coffee wondering whats all the fuss about blended learning and why in theory it sounds easy but applying and sustaining it aint so. Like my coffee, the blend is everything. In a nutshell, I believe success has more to do with how a learning department is structured and staffed and what focus they put on instructional design across multiple channels. It is not a once-off effort but a strategic imperitive that demands resources and new skilsets to rollout and maintain. Other than consistent instructional design and creative thinking, you need what I call a Channel Facilitator. Someone needs to hand-hold users and trainers on how to utilize these cool new tools. Virtual Classrooms, Virtual Worlds, Mobile Platforms, LMS, Social Networks all demand time, effort, patience and understanding in a future looking learning Team. Finally, don't forget content. Who will review all content objects so that they fit to the new learning channel mix? What about a Content Plan? Formats? Tagging? Updates? Did I say it was going to be easy? No pain no gain as they say. Time for another coffee. Decaf this time.

What if?

I know in the past I have spent a lot of time blowing hot air about working from an Internet cloud and leaving your desktop apps behind on earth. Lets say you could do the following: 1. Create rich interactive learning objects using a pure (and secure) web service (not downloading heavy software that needs upgrades or is tied to one computer) 2. Allow your Global team or 3rd parties to make edits wherever they are to the learning objects. 3. Post them to an LMS or LCMS on the web or even add them to a virtual classroom for your audience to view them anywhere, anytime, without plugins, or being linked to a computer that has that particular plugin, etc. How would that feel? I love the idea of not being joined at the hip to a machine and using whatever device I want to create learning and take learning. Whether using a mobile device like my phone or iTouch, using a PC or MAC, Netbook 24/7. Imagine the focus of the Training Group was Instructional Design and producing outstanding content with Technology being secondary. You could create rich content objects appropriately tagged that could seamlessly work on a mobile phone, plug into a Virtual World, be downloaded to an iPod, sit on a website or Video Platform, integrate quickly and easily into LMS or Virtual Classroom, be accessed via a social network, etc. Internet access is all you need. In between major system upgrades, adding software patches and downloading test applications I hope to spend some time thinking about how to address this. Now where did I leave those 6 discs that came with that new Rapid e-learning development Tool?

Gaming Just Got Better

If you haven't seen the latest X-Box offering from Microsoft, then you are in for a big surprise. Now the Nintendo Wii has some real competition. Check out this video of how gaming and simulations are heading for a whole new rethink. The impact on business and fitness simulations cannot be underestimated especially as this opens up a whole new market for people fed up with the current range of game controllers of joysticks and button devices. In general, how we interact with computers could be on the verge of change if Microsofts new game controller or should I say non-game controller takes off. One of the problems I have had with the wii has been using the wand, while running with wii fit or bowling, boxing or tennis, etc. The Microsoft solution means you can potentially scan a tennis racket (the Natal as its called comes with a camera) and use that for playing in an online game. Or as shown in the video scan a skateboard and simply use that with its correct dimensions in a game. Or maybe just use your hands to manipulate screen menus and use voice control for selecting and playing a movie. So it could be the start of the end of keyboards, mouses, joysticks, and button controllers. What about touch-screens. If the future means all you need to do is wave your hands in front of a screen and you can interact with the program, then we could be on the verge of a big shakeup of not just the gaming industry but also the PC market.

Benefits of Moving Learning Apps to the Cloud

Well first up, what is a Cloud? Cloud computing, according to Wikipedia is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Simply put you shift your apps outside the firewall to the WWW. Moving your LMS or other e-Learning tools to the Internet is a big (sometimes scary) decision but one I consider worth discussing or at least investigating. Why? Well Amazon, Google, Microsoft all have major plans to offer more and more of their services in the Cloud. You could ignore this growing trend. Or dig a bit deeper. Here are the benefits I feel it brings:

• One of the primary benefits of cloud computing is the speed at which people can procure services, allowing people to bypass traditional IT departments altogether.
• Major cost reductions. No big upfront capital expenditure for hardware, software licenses and implementation services. No ongoing maintenance costs for upgrades and patches, etc.
• Fast to implement - ready NOW
• Reliability and Fault-Tolerance. Cloud environments take advantage of the built-in redundancy of the large numbers of servers that make them up by enabling high levels of availability and reliability for applications that can take advantage of this.
• Web based systems have much more capacity for growth and increased functionality
• Utility-based. Users only pay for the services they use, either by subscription or transaction-based models.
• It can be accessed any time, anywhere where there is a Web browser and Internet connection
• Offering (non-sensitive) Training as an On-Demand Internet service is low risk (from a security perspective) compared to data sensitive applications

Gartner predicts that by 2012, 80 percent of Fortune 1000 enterprises will be paying for some cloud computing services. So some interesting food for thought. (Oh by the way this blog is in the Cloud. But you knew that, right?)

Adobe Connect Pro

Interesting presentation from Adobe about Connect Pro their Virtual Classroom platform. Two things hit me about this 1. limited download as it uses Flash that already sits on your Internet Explorer and 2. You can quickly build e-learning (Flash based modules) into the viewing screen and push this out to learners to do live training. A trainer stays online in the background to support the learner if they have an issue. The user interface is also well designed and engaging. Learn more here.

Best Collaboration Tools

With all the good weather lately, I thought I would never get around to a blog update. But here it is. Just spotted an interesting Mindmap that kind of links to my blog from last week about trends. This one is on Best Collaboration Tools of 2009. Its a broad selection but may be of interest to Trainers looking for something different that answers their particular business need. I liked some of the suggestions for file sharing, collaborative writing, and collaborative reviewing, and what they call "work-grouping", what you and I may call social networking - but nicely phrased for the Corporate world.

Trends in Learning Technologies (May 2009)

Every now and again I have the urge to map out some key trends in the area of technology and innovation that are shaping how we implement and rollout our learning strategies. Its a moving target so I have setup a mindmap on bubbl.us which plays nicely into this post as it is one of the technologies that could form part of your learning approaches. I hope to update this map as time rolls on and new technologies influence the market. Here are a few of the tools, platforms and trends that should be on your radar screen:

• Blogging using microblogging tools such as Twitter, Yammer, full Blogs like blogger.com, user controlled and driven, group blogs


• Video - such as podcasting, use of video sharing sites like YouTube, iPods, mobile usage, see iPhone access to YouTube


• Mobile - SMS, Mobile Sites, the iPhone and its many applications, Phone Cameras, 2D Barcodes, augmented reality


• LMS - shift to the web Software as a Service = growth of cloud computing, Integration with HR systems, Adding a social network layer


• Virtual Worlds - early days but think of simulations, online meetings, simulations, augmented reality coming soon


• Gaming - you can't ignore the massive uptake of the wii, Nintendo Lite, x-box. mobile gaming - see iPhone games and applications


• Social Networks - informal learning, RSS - control over my content, user generated content, sharing, peer reviews, group projects on wikis and blogs, my groups, shat


• Interactive Surfaces - the affordable touchscreen from HP, interactive whiteboards, Microsoft Surface, iPhone screens


• Virtual Classrooms - with the recent swine flu scare limiting travel, and the need to be more green and travel less, web conferencing can only grow more popular...next step maybe via a mobile device

In a nutshell, design learning in a framework that takes full advantage of (in particular) the growth of mobile, social networks (social messaging), and online video (and hey think about moving everything to the web - cloud computing is on the rise). Stay tuned for more updates.

Adding a Save Add PDF Button to a Blog

Just added a new button for anyone wanting to download these blog posts as PDF documents. Its all under web2pdf. Took a while to figure out where to drop the code in Blogger but seems to work successfully and a free add-on is always worth exploring. Just remember if you only want one particular post in a PDF format make sure you only click on the title of the post so it is the only item on the page. Otherwise, you get the last 4-5 posts on the PDF page. Have fun.

Interactive Whiteboards - The WOW factor

An Interactive Whiteboard for the classroom can allow a savvy instructor to present and share presentations more dynamically by electronically capturing notes, displaying images to annotate with a digital pen, playing back previously captured notes and more. Other advantages (depending on what you buy and budget) include capturing notes in color to save, print, or email them in various file formats instantly (JPEG, TIFF, HTML, PDF, PowerPoint, etc.). Tap into a gallery of clipart and backgrounds or paste images from other programs onto the Board. You can even control computer mouse functions with the digital presentation pen, in addition to importing files from most business programs like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and annotate and save changes. The Digital whiteboard is popular in classes that require a lot of diagramming, note-taking, or illustrating. At the end of the lesson, Instructors can save the files directly from the digital whiteboard or email them to students. The 3M DB565 is a good example of such a feature-rich product. The other value add-on I found on some brands is the ability to connect to a web conferencing suite and conduct training in a physical class and over the web to a virtual audience. They could serve as great communication tools for businesses that have remote employees or satellite offices. Employees can collaborate from different geographic regions, saving time, money and energy. Nice. The cost? Less than USD 2000 can get you an interactive whiteboard. Major brands include SMART, 3M, Numonics, and Hitachi. For a more advanced product, Engadget covered a new interactive touchscreen display from SMART. Watch the video for the full effect. I was impressed and felt an incredible urge to sign up for any class that employs such cool new technology. The wow factor for the classroom.

Mobile Learning

As mobile technologies become increasingly prominent in our lives, it seems the right time to explore how we can effectively use these devices to support training. Companies need to be adaptable in a changing market, so employee connectivity to information is paramount. Employees also have smaller and smaller windows of time to learn so presenting a new channel to access small learning chunks is becoming more and more important.

Why is it of value? Well 24/7 access is a major benefit. The opportunity to learn when you want with a device that, unlike a PC, is literally with you all of the time. You can push alerts or information to users immediately with no time delay. Extremely useful with a worldwide workforce on the move and you need to get vital information to them anywhere, anytime.

Learning through a phone is a lot different from learning via a PC or physical class. Learning objects should be short and fill a gap in the learners day at a time they find convenient. No-one is going to find a nice quiet environment and embark on an engrossed length of study. Its learning on the go - on a bus, on a train, eating dinner, at the airport etc. We also need to be aware of restrictions around screen size, bandwidth, and what is possible in media richness depending on hardware or software limitations. An excellent source of information on mobile learning is available from Masie. With great examples from business and educational institutes. They even include a section on Augmented Reality. Examples of companies using mobile learning: Merrill Lynch and their GoLearn project. The company obtained a 12% higher completion rate in 30% less time than comparable mandated training programs. CLO also covered this here.

Sun Microsystems make their training videos available via an iTouch or iPhone. Refer to this link and YouTube video on how they did this.

Learningtown has over 300 members in its group Mobile Learning. Good source of up-to-date thinking from trainers in the middle of project executions.

My philosophy is: lets focus on producing information that can be accessed on the "device-of-choice" of our audience and not by forcing people to a specific channel that may not be convenient to their lifestyle. So if I want to view information about a new process on my iPod, or mobile phone or PC, then lets make it happen. Information anytime, anywhere - therefore learning anytime, anywhere - regardless of what hardware you use.

Here are some ideas where we could use mobile phone: offering training-specific mp3 podcasts (internet radio on the move), using the phone camera to read QRCodes and capture information or weblinks, use SMS to remind learners on specific topics before/after a class, or use SMS as a weekly tips and advice subscription. An innovative mobile strategy could also facilitate the delivery of coaching and mentoring advice (hello Twitter and Yammer). A mobile site can be setup to publish pages of company or department information for quick reference while on the go. We should not forget that a phone is a two-way device and you can collect information directly from the user wherever they are. Training departments can push out assessments and evaluations such as tests, polls, quizzes, surveys and certifications and get feedback via their mobile device fast and convenient.

Lets review the usual "why bother" question? How many associates have a mobile phone? 99%. How often do associates use mobile phones? Day and night. Are they using the phone to access web-based content? Yes. In the US alone, 63.2 million people accessed news and information on their mobile devices in January 2009 (ComScore). Is the use of mobile phones to access content growing? Yes. ComScore reported that the number of people using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009.

So, there's no avoiding it, the mobile era is upon us. If most of our workforce use mobile devices on a regular basis, it would seem this is a fantastic opportunity to supplement and complement our current training approaches by providing a fresh new channel of information and two-way communication.

Virtual Training World Out-Of-The-Box

Now that I am back on homeground after a whirlwind trip to the 3D event in Washington, I have had a chance to reflect on some of the highlights. One of the biggest eye openers for me was discovering Qwaq. Whats Qwaq you say? Well, in my view one of the biggest breakthroughs in making Virtual Worlds accessible to a wider training audience. Let me explain. If you want to use a Virtual World for training there is normally a stepwise process to conceptualize, develop and programme the 3D models for your buildings and rooms, reformat and import the required media objects, train new users on customizing their avatars and of course train people on how to navigate the new environment and manipulate their avatars. These are just some of the steps. Some virtual worlds like Protosphere and Olive come with ready-made classrooms and structures for you to customize. However, with for example Second Life there is a lot of work to buy the island, and create the setting you want for your training. All well and good if you have the time, money and expertise. With Qwaq, its all there out-of-the-box and with a price tag that, compared to some of the bigger players, won't break the bank to get a taste of a virtual world environment. Thats why I am excited. I have been using Qwaq for only a short time but believe it offers so many built in features and functionality, I really question going elsewhere. With (VOIP) Voice Over IP, document drag and drop from your desktop, inworld multi-editing (even of PowerPoint, Word, etc.), pre-built avatars, a small application easy to download and setup, choice of over 7 ready-made rooms and environments with a large collection of furniture, posters, panels, etc. you simply pop and resize into your world, Qwaq is a great first-entry Virtual Training Centre. No additional progamming required.

We are only at the start of really understanding how Virtual Worlds can be used for training. No-ones knows where this is heading and how we can fully benefit from using these technologies to enhance the learning experience. At the same time, the virtual world industry as a whole is still in the early innovation phase so there is no gold standard yet available that you can simply follow. What we can do, however, is to pilot these tools with the new learners coming into our organizations who are expecting more of a gaming/simulation knowledge environment. We need to be prepared to take risks and fail occasionally if we are to begin to leverage this new technology. I think Qwaq allows us to test the waters of Virtual Worlds and open our eyes to new fresh training opportunties and collaboration scenarios. If we all agree, there is no Internet-ready virtual world built yet with the power, graphics and immersive capability of an advanced x-box, PS3 or wii game yet, we can at least learn from what platforms are out there today and fine-tune our training for the next generation of learners.

3DTLC Some Highlights

What will virtual worlds look like in 5 years? 1. More consolidation 2. We will be immersed in the 3D environment not looking at a screen. 3. Better integration with a browser 4. Better AI using online Bots 5. Augmented Reality takes over from Virtual Worlds and 6. Integration of physical and virtual worlds. Virtual Worlds Roadmap Great initiative. By working on a Wiki with multiple experts in the field they hope to plan out the key steps and what essentially needs to be done to create a better, more commercially acceptable virtual world that meets our needs and that has much better interoperability with other systems. How BP Used 3D World Protosphere for Training? Used initially for graduade meetings to build networks. In the past they spent over USD 5m on a physicial event. This was cancelled so they looked for an alternative. Critical was getting senior executives running sessions in the 3D world. It was a big success and now that the world is built it is being used by many other departments. Key is not to use too many powerpoint slides but use images and talk about them. Critical to make it work was to setup a support team to manage the technology, make sure everyone had headsets, look after executives, etc. Joe Little the CTO from BP commented that technology was not the main concern but changing behaviour and influencing political groups is key. As CTO he made sure the technical issues like firewall configurations were handles well in advance. They host externally. Disability Support Groups Person with a disability talking in 2nd life about her peer support group. Very impression on how virtual worlds allow people to connect even with disabilities. Virtual Police Man now on talking about a volunteer virtual police force in a 3D world. Crimes: stalking,, flaming, damaging property. Scary stuff. They use virtual worlds to train virtual cops. They show them how to approach and eject people violating the rules of the world.

3DTLC Day 2 - What are 3D Worlds Used For?

How immersive technologies are solving business problems. Australian from SAP first up. 82,000 customers. Make SAP (interface) more approachable and bridge digital gap between new associates coming into the company who expect a very different working environment. Last harnessing the power of human networks. Used sensor networks and mirrored worlds - real to virtual. Could they do that with an SAP system. If something breaks they could use the SAP virtual world to train how to fix the real world. Great example using a model doll house and building the same in a virtual space. The real house was filled with sensors so if something changes such as a light goes out, then the virtual model identifies where this changes lies and you can visualize the impact on your screen. Chevron up next: 3D and a Virtual Refinery. Funny guy from New Zealand. Working smarter. Uses virtual objects mapped with real data to check relaibility in the virtual world, use for training, better and faster decision making, knowledge retention and knowledge management. Now up J&J Jennifer from Global Recruiting. Had dinner with her last night. They use Protosphere. Their problem: keeping people - employee retention is important. You lose 200K if someone walks out the door. Use for onboarding using a wiki for basic policies, matches new hires to buddies former MBAs (not mentors), orientation, senior mangers present in 3D environment on key topics and link to the social network for other documents, makes managers accessible, target to MBA associates, show articles viewed by their senior managers, small learning chunks. They can pick how they want to be onboarded. Now up Sun: ooops now Oracle. A Corp. Librarian. Exciting;-) Biggest issue: distributed workforce, get people more engaged, travel savings, engaging, socialization. Sees it as the future of learning. Use Wonderland (free open source). Did a program for new hire interns. Team building during 3D one and half sessions. They would not leave they loved it so much. Also used 3D for replicating a datacentre for training. Plus used for large conferences e.g. 800 people listening to executives throughout a day. This was cool. You can drag and drop a PDF or Flickr image into Wonderland. Powerful. Now floor is open to questions. J&J very focussed on reviewing data and finding out if a 3D world made an imapct compared to traditional methods. Jennifer and other Pharma are part of a regular group that meet regularly in second life to explore the potential of these worlds. Cost of building a virtual world? No-one wanted to say openly. But appears to be a major investment if you want to get serious. Project timleines and resources? Chevron: 16 to 18 months to build the Refinery with internal and external folks. Rapidly growing team. In Sun, requirements expand like crazy once word gets out. J&J grew usage by 200% after launch. People keep coming now to them. How did J&J get there? Lots of communication, newsletters, pounding the pavement, hot blogs. Sun do audio and video podcasts to get the word out. Chevron try and stand out by being different, e.g. M&Ms printed with his 3D RAVE brand. What can it do sompared to other tools? J&J believe its about being right here right now (no other tool gives us such an immersive environment), Sun say its really a major step up from a TC or web conference - more collaborative and very exciting. Chevron say in the virtual world he can build 3D models and attach complex data which would be nearly impossible in the real world. With SAP, the immense savings in using it for online conferences is making it unique - an effective tool in reaching more people.

Are we afraid to fail?

Strong comments from Visual Purple on launching visual worlds. We are afraid to fail and will keep churning out standard e-learning. From a career limiting aspect we do not want to take the risk. We are also faced with the IT folks who always says no. So it is easy to keep writing checks for safe projects. Virtual Worlds are new and scare people. Maybe the current economic climate is not appropriate for this level of risk. The other question is: what can we use them for? The answer is not always clear. When compared to the price - who wouldn't be scared? But lets face it we we never took risks we would never progress or grow. There would be no innovation. R&D would die. Carpe Diem.

3DTLC April 20 Afternoon Update 2

Duke are leading a panel around designing for virtual worlds. First demo was a meeting in 2nd Life. The presenter can show everything from their viewpoint using a special command. So all participants screen views can be manipulated. Interesting but a lot of detail for a 2nd life presentation. Hey wait, he just projected a live feed from his webcam to a 3D screen in the 2nd life world. Now Visual Purple are on stage. See their simulaton demo on their website to get an idea of their design ability. Looked impressive. Next a presenter talked about his experiences: it snot about technology its about behaviour, its not about being there, its doing. Its not about the theory but the gaming - it makes you learn and the triumph of winning. Look at the physics - put someone scared of heights into a simulation. Its about the rewards, ownership and distribution.

3DTLC Tweeting

I have never seen such tweeting, blogging, yamming, emailing, sms'ing direct and live from a conference in all my life. Its crazy. Over 10-20 questions are being posted live in parallel with all presentations to Twitter using the private channel #3DTLC hash tag which you can monitor in realtime using tools for example like Tweetdeck. The presenter checks every few minutes who has posted questions and answers 3-4 before moving to the next section. This is social media in action. Now to bring it to the classroom?

3DTLC April 20 Afternoon Update

Session on applying 3D to help people learn. Saw a study that positively showed learners learned and retained as much as their ILT counterparts. Must get access to the full presentation. Viewed demos on using simulations for training officers on Canadian Border Controls. Obviously, safer than the real thing. Liked the next bit a lot: Company using Unisfair (virtual event platform - more 2D than 3D) as a stage one to get people used to a virtual world. Live for up for 3 months and with 600 people. They found that people were scared of virtual worlds so Unisfair was the experiment to try it out and get people used to such a platform. Stage 2 (once people are used to a virtual world) will be using Protosphere for training simulations. Used for onboarding new MBAs in J&J. Then stage 3...is an island on Second Life used for Diversity and Inclusion (simulations). This is the Future Work Island on Second Life. Check it out video. Could we use such an environment for D&I? The demo I saw was very impressive. Next saw the use of virtual worlds for road safety simulations, emergency crews, clearing roads, dealing with accidents...

3DTLC April 20 Morning Update

Panel discussion around trends. Interesting comments from Gartner around challenges such as IT access (getting worlds behind a company firewall is a tough task), speed (can be slow and clumsy), and why should companies who have not yet mastered web conferencing can suddenly jump to virtual worlds. They urge baby steps. Lets walk first. Happy to see Gartner view browser-based virtual worlds as a growing trend. So where are we on the maturity curve? One speaker says early innovative phase. Theres a long way to go.

New Hire e-Support

Very impressive site from Sun for supporting their new hires at Join The Network New Hire Experience. From easy to navigate buttons Accelerate - Participate - Learn - Explore and Play, its well laid out and engaging enough to spend time online gaining insights into the company culture. I really liked the New Hire Quick Start Guide: and their Checklist in PDF format on the most important items to tick on joining the company with valuable links. Under the Play section they had a Flash game that puts you in the shoes of a Super Hero where you learn about the company's mission, vision and strategy. Very entertaining. There are blogs, including their famous CEO, wikis and other social network features. You are even encouraged to setup your own blog right away and create your own social network site! There are links mainly pointing to Intranet pages that list useful e-learning and other sources of internal knowledge. All in all, very impressive.

Augmented Reality for Training

Imagine pointing your cell phone camera to your hand and getting additional overlaid images or information showing up on the same viewing screen. What would it do for training? What if your phone could automatically recognize parts of the body. What if you could point your phone camera at a part of the body and view an overlaid image of what is under the skin showing veins or organs. What if it could show up shading which indicates areas that could be affected by a disease or show how a drug could interact with certain organs and demonstrate mode of action. This is augmented reality and it is already here. Where is the most efficient area of the body to administer an injection of your new product? What would this do for Sales Rep Training and in general physician detailing? Check this out: doseofdigital.

3D Training Event

My bags are packed for the 3D Training, Learning and Collaboration event in Washington next week. Hopefully, I will be reporting back some interesting and exciting developments that we can apply in the learning area. In particular, I need to find a cool solution that is accessible on our existing company PCs and does not require tweaking and configuring of our network or application suite settings. A tall order when most virtual worlds present a potential security risk with their connection protocols. Regardless, I remain positive that an appropriate solution can be identified (that won't break the bank). In this age of social networks, I also need to ensure we include some of these collaboration features and maybe more importantly, it needs to be radically different, and cutting edge. We all love a challenge ;-)

Web Walkthroughs Captured as Mini-Movies

I've been looking around for a tool that allows me to capture short movies of web walkthroughs for a while now. I could fork out some bucks and go to the trouble of installing new software, etc. but I was hoping I could find something free and web 2.0 ish which does the job. Imagine my delight to stumble across Screentoaster which is not only free and works perfectly, but it requires no download. It lives on the web - your company network adminstrator will thank you for one less application to worry about. You just go to the website and press RECORD. It could not be more simple. You can add audio, and subtitles, and even connect a webcam and record a movie within a movie. The finished masterwork can be saved as a .mov, or Flash file or uploaded there and then to YouTube. Not sure how stable the product is or the degree of support. But, hey its free, so who cares.

An Integrated e-Solution for Supporting New Hires

We are currently exploring how to support new hires with an integrated online learning platform that spans their induction period. I have been thinking about what would the ideal environment look like. What role does social media play? The critical discussion point for me is how to create something that blends well with our current communication channels and is not just another separate Intranet site or set of email broadcasts. How can we seamlessly embed this platform in their current working processes and interfaces?

Firstly, I believe its important to determine the business goals and priorites of new hires:

• what do I need to know to do my job?
• who can I contact for help?
• what support networks/groups can I join?
• where can I post a question for a quick answer?
• what e-training exists that I can take when I have a spare 10 minutes?
• where can I sign up for alerts and reminders on training that interests me?
• what knowledge, links, material already exists that I could easily tap into?

Building on this, its key to review what tools and channels already exist in the company that carry this information. Then, from a technical perspective, how we can bring this all together so it becomes "business as usual".

In my view the answer lies in widgets, RSS, web 2.0 mash-ups and tapping into the power of tools like SharePoint and Portals. Not to create something new. But to pull in relevant information, productivity tools and channels into an existing website. Over the coming months, it will be interesting to see how possible this really is to implement. I remain optimistic and excited about the prospect. Stay tuned.

Yammer / Twitter Use for Training?

Interesting blog article about using social media collaboration tools like Yammer or Twitter for training. If you have a group following a Course or Instructor, they can receive immediate notifications via the web, email, or even sms via their mobile phone. After putting your creative hat on it is not hard to see a savvy Trainer sending out reminders for upcoming classes, providing interesting links, inviting new hires to attend seminars, encouraging stimulating class discussions, and offering Yammer or Twitter as an online real-time help/support channel for students. Surely, this is informal learning at its very best? Happy yamming.

8 Ways to Use an iPod in the Classroom

iPods? What are they good for? Absolutely something. I hope training. In fact I strongly believe these easy-to-use pocket-friendly tools can add a lot of value to the training experience. Here are my top eight tips on how to use them to supplement classroom training. Learning on the go has never been easier.

1. Convert powerpoints (the non-busy ones, please) and other class presentations to iPod friendly images and store them on your device for review before, during and post-class
2. Provide motivation and inspiration through edgy videos with key thought leaders and peers
3. Add Flash Cards to test knowledge, or add a Quiz with a tool like iQuiz Maker
4. Provide reference, tutorial guides, tips, agendas, or glossaries, that students can immediately access to support classroom training
5. Add presenter audiobooks to reinenforce key messages, or buy licenses to access the words of wisdom from gurus like Tom Peters, etc.
6. Offer iPod friendly group photos or videos from the class to bond students and create fond memories of a terrific learning experience
7. Add Notes to preview or reference during key sections of a class or to when viewing a poster, powerpoint, etc.
8. Finally, and maybe most importantly, open a communications channel to class participants by allowing them to subscribe to an iTunes channel that provides a constant stream of fresh information to keep the students engaged long after the class finishes (ideas: contact details of participants to promote networking, details of next class, answers to any open questions posted during the class, class presentations, class photos or videos, testimonials, tutor contact details, etc. )

3D Learning Conference

Thanks to Greg for the tip to visit the 3D Training, Learning and Collaboration in Washington in April. The conference is a major event for businesses looking to understand and maximize business strategies using virtual worlds. Media blurb: Topics range from the general use of virtual worlds in the workplace to specific examples of applications for e-Learning, onboarding, sales training, collaboration, meetings, and more. Attendees will hear valuable insight, information, and best practices about what innovators and early adopter organizations are doing right now, including what works and why. I like the mention of onboarding - somthing I would like to explore further using a virtual training centre. Interesting set of speakers from BP, J&J and Chevron. So nice representation from movers and shakers trying to make a difference in their companies (I get turned off vendor-only presentations, so nice to see real companies playing in this new and untested space). Now all I need to do is wrangle a ticket from my boss.

Twitter as a Learning Tool?

Could the free micro-blogging platform Twitter be used to enhance a classroom experience or add value pre or post class? Take a look at these articles which explore the use of Twitter as a learning tool. Could it be used by instructors to keep students informed about coursework, reading materials, and provide a place for discussion? Explore the whys: ASTD, Litmos, Tom Barrett, and Classroom 2.0, Ron Jones. I use Twitter regularly and I believe with the right approach it can be a useful and easy to setup tool for learning. Hey its free! The ability to virtually connect, open up a peer-to-peer network on the fly, easily share links, follow thought leaders, and ask questions and get answers immediately is, lets face it, extremely valuable. The question for me is not why should we use Twitter but why aren't we using it.

The LearnTech Word Cloud

Great service from Wordle which generates a cool word cloud from a blog or any RSS type of feed. You can even type in free text which is scanned to generate a cloud. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. This is a great tool to summerize in a simple but colourful visual what you have been writing/blogging about (in my case over 12 months). Looks like I am very keen on Video. I am working on adding Twitter so see what comes out.

e-Learning in your Pocket

Just downloaded the Howcast iPhone application. Very simply you access hundreds of user generated videos on various topics (some serious, some off the wall). The videos offer advice and guidance on a multitude of solutions from how to extend the life of your iPod battery, how to tie a tie (badly needed), how to survive an airplane crash, how to give a speech, how to cram for a test, to how to conduct research, etc. "e-Learning on the go" - is this the future of training?

Mobile Streaming Video

Finally managed to stream video in realtime from my phone to a website using Qik. Not all phones support the Qik software and it seems they only recently expanded their offering to the HTC brand. The video quality is suprisingly good and I was amazed to see this working live on my PC as I streamed video from my phone. You could even chat to the person recording the video through the website. Powerful. They also updated the application for the iPhone and you can now view videos on your iPhone (no worries about having Flash installed, etc.). In a class setting you could potentailly setup a Training Channel for your class and provide a link to a video stream or video collection. Nice. I really like this tool as there are times when you want to get a video online as quick as possible. Now I can. Lets say I was at a conference / business meeting and just interviewed someone. I could potentially stream that interview live on my www.qik.com/liamfoley channel for people to follow instantly. Combined with a Twitter alert my followers could access the video immediately with an embedded link. Go to Qik for more details. Welcome to the future.

More Pictures from Learning Council

Some more pictures from the highly successful learning council meeting where training associates got together from all over the world to share best practices, learn about new technologies, discuss the roadmap of planned activities, and of course, network with like-minded individuals.

Learning Council Interactive Sessions

Good interest from participants to explore mobile technologies and integrate our virtual classroom platform into the LMS. Discussion goes on. Here are some live pictures from the highly engaged participants.

Lively Sessions at 3rd Learning Coucil

Good crowd of Training, HR and IT folk attending our third Learning Council meeting. Great participation with associates flying in from France, Germany, US, Portugal, Belgium, to name but a few. Very engaging sessions sharing best practices, new ideas and concepts with live LMS demos, and now using a virtual collaboration space to preview a new testing tool. Lots to learn and share.

Learning in the cloud

Interesting viewpoints captured during the London Learningtechnologies conference last month on SaaS - software as a service. Looking at the pros and cons of hosting an LMS on an external server, the article on www.trainingzone.co.uk gives food for thought. With Google apps, and many other services becoming pure Internet hosted apps, it is only a matter of time that the LMS Market shifts to a cloud model. The benefits are not hard to calculate. No worries about upgrades, no fiddling with servers, and maintenance schedules, SaaS sounds more and more attractive.

Conversation Agent: You're on Twitter

Great article about Twitter:
http://www.conversationagent.com/2009/02/youre-on-twitter-now-what.html

Sent from my iPhone

Social Media In Plain English

As we currently have a strong spotlight on social media, I have dug up some short and to-the- point e-learning snippets on a number of popular channels and tools that fall under this (growing) umbrella. Hopefully, I can also try and put these as web links in our Learning Catalog (of course, only after I get licenses sorted out) on the LMS. Being a good social media citizen I should tag these items appropriately so they are easily searchable. I like these short modules as they explain things in an easy to understand cartoon-like format and manage to get the basic message across by avoiding confusing techie terminology. Best of all they all run for less than 3-4 minutes. Short and sweet. Dip in and learn. Have fun. Blogs, Wikis, RSS, Twitter, Podcasting, Social Bookmarketing, Social Networking

Social Media Workshop

Just came back from a stimulating, and at times heated discussion, on making social media in our company "business as usual". After 7 hours of an action-packed agenda looks like we are well on the way to kicking off some concrete initiatives around communication, sponsorship, education and implementation. So who turned up and led this challenging event? 16 social media thought leaders and power users from IT, Marketing, Development and Communications (and other departments) gathered from all over the world in a small room on our campus with ample supply of food and caffeine to thrash out a plan. The next 18 months will be critical to the success of this project and its going to be interesting to see how the general population reacts to an increased focus on these channels. I know in the training area, any move to introduce and scale up new productivity tools and collaboration spaces will be extremely welcome. So, overall a successful and highly productive day. When I look back on it, just getting all of us into this workshop for a full day was a major achievement in itself and demonstrates a strong desire and passion to bring us to the next level.

Pics from the 2009 LearnTech Conference