Posts tagged with "eLearning"

Following the death of Steve Jobs, the war for smartphone custom took a respectful and well-earned break from its assault onto global markets. However, the battle is back on, and with news this week emerging that Samsung has managed to pull ahead of Apple in sale numbers, shows that there is no time to waste.

The question is, what can these businesses do to stay ahead of the pack, especially coming into the crucial festive period? Well, interestingly there is a clear link here to online training, because Chinese telecommunications company Huawei (which is developing its new smartphone as we speak) is investing time and effort, as part of its sale strategy, in training up its customer service staff so that they have a sound knowledge of the product and its functionality. As we all know, we don’t just buy a product, we buy into the brand and all that goes along with that brand, so if a business can assure customers of great after-sale service with highly trained and knowledgeable agents, the value of the product is bumped up significantly.

So, how can manufacturers install this level understanding into the staff out on the front line? Well, this isn’t necessarily a new concept, some manufacturers have gone to great lengths to design training programmes that develop understanding of their products, simply because it allows them to sell their inventions and new creations on a different level.

It makes sense. The creator of Wow Stuff! toys has a similar approach, though he only allows his own trained staff to sell his products in stores during the festive period, because this is the way he knows he can maximise sales and ensure that no custom is lost.

For manufacturers that don’t have the resource to go to such extremes, e-learning programmes hold the key. They can be easily accessed (even on smartphones or when at home), individuals can take ownership and responsibility of when they carry out the training, and for both these reasons it can be a really effective way of developing skills and knowledge of a certain product or service.

The training management system software is available to design bespoke training programmes, without the need for programming or design skills.  How powerful could it be to develop a product and then translate the uniqueness of that product throughout the business, from the boardroom to the lab, and from the marketing team to the sales staff?

For the smartphone sales battle, it would seem that training and development is an option that could generate significant results, and when you consider just how simple it is to develop the training programme and to then share it with staff – why aren’t more companies taking this approach?

If you want to hear more about the accessplanit Composica e-learning authoring tool, just get in touch with the team on 0845 543 0229 or email enquiries@accessplanit.com.  

Composica, accessplanit's rapid elearning authoring tool has won an elearning 24/7 award in the category 'I didn't know it was possible'.

Composica was selected as the winner for its unique functionality set which includes:

• Social Learning Content Authoring Tool
• Project blog, comments, & RSS feeds keeping authors connected
• RLOs
• Game based learning
• Dynamic
• Task lists, task reports and audit trails
• Assessment tool built in
• SCORM 2004/1.2 compliant
• Blogs can be embedded into courses/content
• Ratings
• Mashups, Google charts
• Bookmarking, state restoration

Composica is a full-featured, collaborative rapid elearning authoring tool that enables organisations to create high-quality, interactive e-learning – without the need for programming or design skills.

Composica is web based application available on a hosted or SaaS basis.

There are thousands of e-learning solutions online, alloffering a quick fix solution to your software problems. Whether you arelooking for health and safety e-learning courses or information technologycourses for programmes such as Word or Excel, you will find plenty of coursesonline, but which one is the right one for you?

At AccessPlanIT we have been scouring the web and testing the best tools online to give you somefeedback on what e-learning software products will work for you.

The team know thatcustomers demand products that are easy to use, incorporate the best available technology and provide the same level of support that they lookto provide in their own organisation. That why we focus on giving ourclients the tools that solve real problems and a support servicethat they can rely upon.

Our team want to ensure that you have all the informationavailable to you before you make your decision and hope that our key points tochoosing your e-learning tool will help you make the right choice.

What is your budget?

If you have limited funds your options are slightly narrowedand you may need to consider one of the desktop tools available. The most common is Word or PowerPoint which are a great base authoring tool.

If you have a bit of cash to spend it may be a good idea toscale up your authoring across your organisation or have a dedicated team of individuals doing the work. It could be worth considering a collaborative server-based authoring tool. These types of programmes tend to have more powerful capabilities and some are multi-purpose allowing for systems and non systems training.

What is your skillbase?

The idea of investing into a tool sounds like a great idea, but once you have bought it do you actually know how to use it? And how easily can you bring other staff members onto the team to use it?

If you take on desktop tools, which are of a similar standard to office applications it should have an immediate ring of familiarity to your staff.

However, server-based tools –while do share some features of windows applications – generally require a longer familiarisation period, but over a long period of time can deliver more sophisticated results. It would be a good idea to weigh up the pain vs. the gain when making your choice.

What is your ambition?

If you want to produce simple, static content with questions and quizzes then a desktop authoring tool will work just fine. However, thereare means and ways for this to stretch a little further.

The majority of marketing leading tools fully integrate audio, video and flash animation files. Having the flexibility allows to create content-rich media.

In other words, the more ambitious you are about how you present your learning, the higher the end tool you need to aim for.

Systems training andbeyond

If your main aim is to primarily or exclusively train insystems you need to consider a specialist systems training authoring tool.

If you are looking into non systems training for example,management skills or induction training, then a generalist tool will offer wider scope for content authoring, but it won’t lend itself well to systems training. Make sure you know what you are buying into and what it will do before you make your purchase.

For more information about e learning courses available visit www.AccessPlanIT.com or call 0845 543 0229.

On-Demand Learning and Performance Solutions Can Improve Your Ability to Tackle Learning Challenges
Small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) are joining the e-learning and performance revolution in rapid succession.

The streamlined approach to e-learning offered by software-as-a-service (SaaS) models makes assessing, delivering and measuring training as common and critical to SMBs as they are to large enterprises. In fact, research by Bersin & Associates shows that approximately 20 percent of e-learning expenditures now come from companies with fewer than 1,000 employees, and the percentage is growing.

E-learning capabilities have become necessary for SMBs to compete and grow in a global economy. It is a strategic necessity to address the challenges of training widely-dispersed employees, business partners and customers that are diverse in terms of the work they do, their IT experience, and their educational background.

Similar to their large corporate counterparts, many SMBs are now considering a multi-stage approach to e-learning, starting with their own employees, and then extending to customers and ultimately channel partners. In fact, SMBs may actually have a competitive advantage over larger organizations when starting or expanding an e-learning program because they often have little or no legacy e-learning technology when compared with large organizations. SMBs can essentially “leapfrog” directly to the forefront of the latest e-learning technology and use it to maximize performance and revenues.

Four Steps
1. Start with Compliance - Sixteen states have laws and regulations requiring or encouraging sexual harassment prevention training. For example, in California, employers with at least 50 employees must provide supervisors with two hours of interactive harassment-awareness training every two years. Many SMB organizations are also impacted by other regulation compliance such as HIPAA, Sarbanes Oxley and OSHA. Each of these regulations has its own set of training requirements that SMBs are held to as much as large organizations. With requirements for logging and auditing compliance mounting, SMBs are consequently turning to e-learning to educate employees about legal requirements in the workplace.

SMBs with remote offices and global operations face extra challenges in delivering compliance training, tutorials and training courses to remote employees cost-effectively because of travel costs, long distances and a shortage of instructors. SMBs can implement focused, on-demand e-learning to develop critical compliance skills for workers engaged in businesses or operations across regions, national borders, cities or companies.

2. Align Goals to Improve Performance - SMB's seeking to unlock their company’s full potential ensure that all employees understand how each specific job/role contributes to achieving the company’s overall business goals. Success for the employee and the company can be driven by establishing a formal process for creating relevant goals for each employee, setting learning activities to support these goals, and monitoring/measuring performance against company objectives. Many SMBs are collecting positive results from this strategic approach to talent development and performance management, including:

• Employees and managers achieve more through greater visibility into both individual and company-wide goals.
• All employees have access to the strategic plan for the company’s success and understand how individual goals fit into the company’s business objectives. 
• Managers more easily stay in touch with employees’ progress during every phase of goal completion, and offer immediate reinforcement or coaching to keep performance and deadlines on track.

Getting started with performance management can be overwhelming to some SMBs — but it doesn’t have to be. Start with communicating and managing organizational core values to lay the groundwork for maximizing competencies and goals.

3. Build Customer Satisfaction - From an internal learning perspective, SMBs can lessen growing pains associated with improving and maintaining high service levels by using e-learning. Call centers, sales and service staff are crucial to maintaining customer relationships, so offering updated, consistent, on-demand training for employees in those areas can have a direct impact on profits.

From an external training perspective, customers increasingly seek value-added services when choosing between competing providers and desire access to on-demand training resources. Enterprises can use e-learning with customers to support after-sales services to improve customer satisfaction and retention. For example, a small software company can make training available through an e-learning portal to it’s customers about how to use the specific product modules. In addition, many SMBs offer training for a fee to customers as an additional revenue stream.

4. Improve Channel Readiness - Delivering knowledge, information and training to an audience beyond employees is one of the fastest-growing segments of the learning industry, increasing at an annual pace better than 25 percent (Bersin & Associates). Similarly, competitive SMBs are looking outside of their own organizations for revenue opportunities and partnerships that can help expedite the distribution of their products and services. These outward-facing, revenue-building initiatives will require the delivery of training, certification programs and knowledge assets to an SMB organization’s extended enterprise of franchises/franchisees, partners, resellers, independent agents and distributor networks.

E-learning delivered online and on-demand can help organizations increase top-line revenue from more productive channels, enhance information sharing with external audiences, develop and rapidly deliver training, improve the quality and convenience of training to an external audience, and reach large audiences at a fixed cost.

Realising the Benefits
Although SMBs are often structured and equipped differently than their larger competitors, their needs related to compliance, performance management and communicating with external learning audiences are just as significant. By properly approaching learning and performance management, SMBs can gain significant advantages against the competition.

Exploring the use of on-demand learning and performance solutions can dramatically improve an SMB’s ability to tackle learning and performance management challenges for internal and external audiences with greater efficiency and influence.

You are invited to learn more about available and affordable training tools to enhance your business at our free, live webinar . Please register below: 

Affordable, Effective Training for SMB's
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
1:00pm - 1:30pm GMT
Register Here - Space is Limited

E-learning is dead, long live E-learning. We say this because E-learning has become so prevalent in today’s society, it has overwhelmingly bridged the gap between work-based learning and traditional classroom courses to offer the ultimate learning experience.

What in essence is thought of as E-learning or Social Learning is actually being practised each and every day through face-to-face teaching.

There are several ways in which this has happened:  

Social Media Tools
Sites such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter are used in classrooms and seminars as well as to engage learners in the workplace.

Blogs
No longer are blogs confined as do-at-home ditties; they’re now used in classrooms as personal web spaces to produce and submit work and creative ideas.

Presentations
Sites such as SlideShare can host presentations which are often used in lectures. Students will then log-on at home to go over the presentations again – probably as they were too busy texting during the initial display!

Recordings
Tools such as Echo360 and Camtasia help us record lectures to keep a record of both the content but also to make it available for recap and revision purposes – this was originally used as the only way to deliver the materials to online learners.

Email and More
Learners have always used email to contact teaching staff, as well as discussion boards and forums for support, subject-specific activities, FAQs and more. These days, online and face-to-face students use the same tools.

These are all tools and activities that were once used solely to engage and encourage geographically-disparate learners, but are now being used increasingly for corporate learning initiatives, often in a way that can increase the quality of teacher-contact time the learners have.