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.