As mentioned in one of our previous blog posts, “A ‘Performance Support System’ or PSS refers to any system that improves worker productivity by providing on-the-job access to integrated information, advice and learning experiences.”  A definition that describes Upside2Go to a T. Upside2Go’s Ask an Expert feature acts as the perfect Advisory Component, while its support for various learning elements like images, graphics, videos, podcasts, documents, flash cards, quizzes, polls, etc. add to its Information Component . The Training Component is provided by offline and online training, ability to deliver unified learning via UpsideLMS, while the User Interface Component is brought about by its automatic and manual syncing facility, easy-to-use dashboard and navigation and one touch access to learning plans.

Retaining some of its previous features, the new Upside2Go pushes the envelope in multiple aspects; incorporating the latest in the technology and learning management, and UI. It has everything that an organization desires in a mLearning platform for reaching out to its mobile workforce.

Below are the top 5 reasons for you to check out the all new Upside2Go:

1.Deliver The Best Content With SCORM And External Course Support

As the creators of the best SCORM products in the market, Rustici Software, say, “SCORM is a really powerful tool for anyone involved in online training.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Administering SCORM 1.2 complaint courses on mobile devices has been one of the key requirements of training administrators. Upside2Go allows you to do just that.

Upside2Go’s content management module enables training administrators to upload SCORM 1.2 compliant courses, along with self-authored courses (via Upside2Go’s inbuilt rapid authoring module) and courses developed using external course authoring tools.

2.Easy Assignment And Access Of Learning Elements

Learning Plans make assigning as well as accessing training material easier and organized for the administrators and learners respectively. Under this feature, administrators can assign different Learning Plans to their learners.

Under each Learning Plan, various learning elements like HTML courses, videos, flash cards, podcasts, quizzes, etc., related to that particular learning plan are bundled. On tapping on a learning plan, a user can quickly access all the elements in one single window with least efforts.

3.Better Device Space Management

Accommodating everything from video/audio files to documents in a mobile device becomes a challenge after a point with the large sized files starting to consume a good bulk of the device space.

The newly introduced File Manager feature in Upside2Go, displays all the items associated with Upside2Go along with the space consumed by each item. This knowledge enables the learners to manage their devices’ memory space more intelligently. While the items deleted by the learners get wiped out from their mobile device, they can be re-accessed through the app.  

4.In-depth User Analytics

Integration with Flurry© enables training administrator to track and analyze user interaction with the app and generate data pertaining to the app usage. The duration spent on the app, frequency of usage, type of mobile device from which it was accessed etc. can be easily generated. This data can then be used to calculate the training effectiveness and fine tune the training plan according to usage trends, preferences of learners etc.

5.Enhanced Security

Mobile security continues to be a key area of concern in organizations across the globe.  Upside2Go relieves some of these security worries with its enhanced security features. Its secured (HTTPS) communication ensures that your confidential organizational data as well as user device and exchange data is well protected.

Along with these, Upside2Go now supports Blackberry 7 and Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) OS, and comes with an interstitial screen option which an administrator can customize as per the organizational needs.

Last but not the least, Upside2Go now carries a new dashboard. With a fresh white background and lesser components, it provides an easy access to all the key components of Upside2Go.

Still need more reasons to check out Upside2Go? Drop us a line at sales@upsidelearning.com and we’ll have one of our sales guys speak with you.

As a learning solutions vendor, I’ve been asked this question countless times and have also encountered it in many an RFP.

Proving the effectiveness of training and showing ROI is no walk in the park and still keeps L&D up at night.

Kirkpatrick’s evaluation model has long been the holy grail of training effectiveness measurement to businesses. My response to clients has typically been: If you are referring to Kirkpatrick Levels 1 & 2 it’s not very difficult; ‘smiley sheets’ will tell us about Reaction, and ‘assessments’ can help determine Learning. However, Levels 3 & 4 are not so easy to implement. Arriving at meaningful measures of behavioral change and demonstrating tangible results needs elimination of other influences on individual & business performance. Not to forget it takes months, if not years, to arrive at such conclusions with any certainty. Consequently, while many of our clients do ask, not many venture into it; and requiring organizational commitment and action as it does, it’s not something only we, as vendors, can entirely influence.

It is with this background that I found Professor Robert O. Brinkerhoff’s (who I had an opportunity to listen to at the AITD conference in Melbourne in April 2013) arguments very compelling. The key message from his talk was to Stop Evaluating Training the way we currently tend to.

Rather, he advises organizations to align training with business goals and evaluate all elements that go into achieving those goals with a focus on improving the impact.

According to Professor Brinkerhoff, an alarming 57% of firms failed to effectively implement strategic initiatives over the last 3 years. He also says that research suggests that less than 20% of trainees actually apply their learning in their work in a way that produces concrete and worthwhile results aligned with business strategy. The rest is ‘unrealized value’ of training.

Why is this happening? Why are we unable to use training effectively to achieve organizational goals? Here are some reasons that training commonly fails.

Do any of these apply to your organization? If you find most of your reasons coming from the left or the right column, you’re not alone. Both these list crucial elements in helping training achieve its real goals.

So here’s what Professor Brinkerhoff recommends to improve the effective use of training in our workplaces.

1. Clearly communicate strategic goals and associated linkages throughout the organization. Each individual should know how their task fits into the bigger picture.
2. Don’t just offload training responsibility and accountability onto L&D. Look at training as a business driver rather than a staff benefit, and L&D as a consultant who truly wants to help you improve your department’s performance.
3. Provide training that addresses the knowledge and skills required for the adoption of strategic initiatives and the execution of strategic change.
4. Look at learning events differently. One of the biggest problems is being stuck in a mythical view where ‘training’ is seen as completely encompassed in learning events, based on which returns are expected.

But in reality, training comprises not just the learning events themselves, but also what comes before and after them.

• Before the learning event: A dialog between managers and trainees to establish an action plan for using the training.
• After the learning event: Evaluation of training effectiveness through the Success Case Evaluation Method® in which training use and non-use cases are analyzed.

The diagram below summarizes Professor Brinkerhoff’s argument:

You can read more about The Advantage Way^SM Process and The Success Case Evaluation Method here.

And here’s Professor Brinkerhoff speaking at the Learning Technologies Show in London in 2013. It’s a 60-minute video but well worth your time.

The conclusion? If we continue to evaluate ONLY training the way we normally do, we’re not getting anywhere.

I am sure that nothing but a few foreseeable merits of leveraging an LMS for blended learning will encourage and motivate you to think about implementing it in your organization. Learning about these advantages will also help you in setting your expectations from it correctly and devising a plan based on these expectations.

So here are the 10 advantages of leveraging an LMS for blended learning, justifiably segregated for administrators and learners – both who will be a part of your blended learning program.

For Administrators

1. Streamlined training process
   

   Using an LMS to manage blended learning will improve and streamline your training administration process, allowing you to plan your training activities calendar and share it with your learners, trainers and co-administrators. With this, you can schedule and run your offline and online training as per the schedule, administer assessments pre or post your training programs and generate instant reports to determine the success of your overall training. An LMS also allows you to easily track the progress of your learners individually on a day-today basis (or as required), which is a time consuming and resource exhaustive task when done manually. Overall, it centralizes your training function and reduces your time and cost expenditures.

2. Ability to deliver engaging and motivating training
   

   It is a well known fact that different people learn in different ways, with most being able to retain only 10% of what they hear. However, the learning and retention gets incrementally better with the addition of a new sense. This means, a training program that offers a variety of approaches, including face-to-face, online, mobile to name a few, is bound to have a greater success rate. And blended learning program carried out via an LMS enables you to do just that.

   Choosing the right blend will help you break the monotony of a classroom session and the impersonal-ness of online learning. By pulling in formal and informal learning channels together, you can increase communication and collaborative learning not just amongst your learners but also between learners and trainers.

3. Scalability and wider reach
   

   With an LMS’ robust and scalable architecture, training is not limited to the seating capacity of your classroom. You can reach out to a large number of learners, irrespective of their location and department. Your classroom training programs with limited reach can be substituted, wherever possible, with eLearning courses and virtual learning sessions that can be delivered to wide audiences spread across different geographies, without affecting the consistency and quality of your training.

4. Easy and secure exchange of learning data
   

   The LMS’ secure system and robust server, facilitates uploading, storing and sharing of learning resources in the form of courses, assessments, documents and manuals that complement your blended learning program. These online resources serve as a repository for your learners to access information just-in-time of need or as performance-support tools during a face-to-face learning session.

5. Technology leverage
   

   With digitization of the work processes and workplaces, today almost every employee is equipped with a desktop or laptop (even both, sometimes) and a mobile phone (of course!) at work. This entails a ready opportunity to leverage the existing technology at hand for learning without spending surplus budget on setting the basic infrastructure. By leveraging an LMS to deliver blended learning, you can not only make your training future-ready (brought in by Mobile and Social Learning), but the use of everyday devices as a means of training delivery will make learning an easy and interesting process for your learners.

For Learners


6. Flexible access to training resources
   

   With LMS being used as the central platform for managing blended learning across your multi-department, geographically dispersed organization, training will no longer be dominated and hindered by time restrictions and will become a continuous process, available as and when needed by the learner. Apart from attending face-to-face training session or participating in a live group discussion, learners can continue acquiring and exchanging additional knowledge over the LMS through social learning and knowledge collaboration features like chat rooms, forums, online access to experts/ trainers, wikis, blog, etc.

7. Multiple learning channels and multiple media formats
   

   While classroom is limited to words spoken and written by instructors, and is trapped in hard copies of the materials distributed for reference, blended learning via an LMS goes far and beyond. It offers learner-centric online as well as offline learning channels to cater to different learning needs and demands. Your learners can access a variety of learning elements in different media formats, like HTML courses, videos, podcasts, text files and lot more, stored on an LMS. This serves as a knowledge repository for a large amount of information which when accessed can provide an effective and engaging learning experience for your learners, which is not usually possible in simple, white board training approaches.

8. Reduced dependency
   

   Missing face-to-face learning session for some (usually unavoidable) reason will not mean loss of crucial information for your learners while using an LMS for managing blended learning programs. They can access learning resources and even recording of the session (if provided) later via an LMS. Thus, learners are not completely dependent on one source of information, but can access it from the LMS whenever they need it. This also encourages self-paced learning amongst the learners and increases knowledge retention as it is acquired at their own level of comfort.

9. Increased interaction between learners and trainers/instructors
   

   While face-to-face training brings in a personal touch to the training process, online training channels increase approachability. As I mentioned earlier, collaborative and social learning tools, and online help provided by trainers/experts/instructors facilitate interaction between learners and trainers. Learners can get their queries answered in real-time from their instructors and can even lend a helping hand to their peers in sociable way.

10. Twin benefits – traditional and innovative tools
    

    The benefits of both learning methodologies – traditional and contemporary- are pronounced and transferred to the learners when delivering blended learning via an LMS. While the learners can benefit from the personal interaction brought in by classroom and virtual training, the collaborative environment provided by knowledge collaboration and social learning tools ensures that knowledge is no longer contained in silos defined by geography, function or domain, and can be shared and viewed transparently.

Do you foresee any other advantages of leveraging an LMS for blended learning? Do share in the comment box below. Also, if you would like to see how our Learning Management System, UpsideLMS, enables blended learning, request a personalized live demo now.

Today, the LMS has metamorphosed into a technologically advanced, cloud-based software that has grown beyond a mere eLearning delivery platform. This metamorphosis has been brought in by introduction of new features and functionalities, new training delivery modes and methods. But the LMS’ perception (of being a mere eLearning delivery platform) has somehow preceded it, thereby preventing it from being used to its optimum.

If you would like to get ‘more’ out of your LMS training delivery, the below mentioned 3 ways will help you do just that.

1. Blend Different Delivery Modes
   

   While using your LMS’ delivery modes like eLearning, Classroom Training, Virtual Classroom, Mobile Learning etc. in isolation can help you achieve your learning objectives, the overall learning experience can be enhanced by combining these delivery modes to create a blended Learning program.

   There are no fixed set of rules that prescribe the ideal blend. However, a good guideline for creating a blended learning program would be considering your learners’ profiles and locations in case of a geographically dispersed workforce, the context of training, performance goals and business objectives. I had earlier written about the 8 things to follow while implementing blended learning via an LMS, while one of my colleagues had shared 5 tips for managing blended learning through an LMS.

2. Deliver Pre and Post Training Assessments
   

   An LMS training delivery is not bound to courses and ILT sessions alone, but encompasses assessments as a powerful method to engage learners, encourage learning and test learners’ understanding of the subject content. You can leverage your LMS’ assessment tool to deliver tests in the form of quizzes or surveys prior to and on conclusion of a training session.

   The pre-training assessment will help you identify competencies that are low or in need of improvement. For your learners, they make them aware of their areas of weakness and better target their learning.

   The post-training assessment will help you evaluate if the training session resulted in any knowledge gain for your learners. These assessments can be further used to identify, prioritize and plan individual development plans for your learners.

3. Create a Knowledge Repository with UGC
   

   Recently, we wrote about the retiring workforce and how you can use your LMS to capture their knowledge. The thoughts shared in that post, on what could be done using an LMS from the perspective of the retiring workforce, can very well be applied to your workforce irrespective of their age or experience. After all it’s the age of User-Generated Learning.

   Social learning is set to redefine the process of organizational training and development. And most of the “good” LMSs available today have in-built social learning and knowledge collaboration tools (like UpsideLMS). These tools can be leveraged to capture the tacit knowledge, which is an invisible but substantial component of an organization’s market value, and use it for improving the organizational working and employee performance. The most common (and generic) example of User Generated Content being used for learning is the Wikipedia (today, Wikis are a part of an LMS too).

   As additional reading, I suggest you go through a post we had written a while back but holds true today as well – Learning and Social Networks.

How do you leverage your LMS to get ‘more’ out of it? Please share your thoughts in the comment box below. Also, if you would like to explore ‘more’ ways to delivery training via our multi-award winning Learning Management System, UpsideLMS, I request you to get a personalized demo now.

It isn’t really a stretch of imagination to consider how this technology can be put for learning assistance or performance, just like designers subsumed personal computers, and now tablets and smart-phones. While it seems novel for some of us, such technology has been around for a while, for example Motorola makes a whole range of devices that could be classed as ‘wearable computing’.

Folks were already talking about and proposing applications for this technology way back in the nineties (Brian D. Rauch).  In addition to seeing technology companies attempting to make a market of these technologies, there is also significant research emerging from academia around this area, couple of interesting papers -

Using a wearable computer for continuous learning and support, (yes, Springer, costs money 40 USD!)

Maintenance Activities with Wearable Computers as Training and Performance Aids, by David Liu, The University of Queensland (PDF automatic download)

I think there are three reasons we shouldn’t ignore wearable technology for learning-

1. ‘Real Sharing’ – (life streaming becomes real, searchable, sharable streams of data BIG data becomes real)

   We’ve realized that learning can be better in a culture driven by sharing. As wearable computing allows us to actually stream data about every little activity we engage in – this will generate large volumes of data – what I like to think of as the real ‘big data’. This data can be considered as learning content, (quite unlike conventional ideas of what content should look like – video, audio, images, text, and now VR and AR) coupled with an understanding of context (next) can potentially transform learning and performance support at a very fundamental level.

2. The Provision of context
   

   Computer equipped with sensors carried on the person can sense the user’s environment, starting quite simply with knowing location, the sensors and pattern recognition would allow the device to know what you are doing, be linked up with agents in such a way that it knows what you are looking at (sort of like Google Goggles, the image recognition and search tool). Then there will be devices watching your activities in real-time (devices like Nike Fuel). Putting all this together, and making some semantic sense of it is going to be a huge challenge that is being addressed by software as I write this. It’ll be possible for individuals to have a second memory in the cloud that records anything and everything the user might choose to build into the life-data-stream’.

   As I mentioned before, machine (software/hardware) agents with the ability ‘to use devices/sensors to sense and make sense’ of these enormous volumes of data will allow us the holy grail – ‘context’, as a designer if you can capture context, it changes the playing field. You can now target learning material and support, at the right time, actually realizing what JIT means. All this support or content delivered to the user without any or little human intervention won’t really change how we ‘learn’ but will definitely change our definitions of performance support and learning content.

3. Natural Progression from mobile phones
   

   When mobile phones started out they were like cinder blocks or bricks, now they are tiny, packed with enormous computing ability, storage and a lot of other features that make them apt personal computing devices. Over the last few years, we have seen the incorporation of sensors that are not typically used for human interfacing (gyroscopes, accelerometers, GPS, IR, etc… great link for more) These sensors now allow the device much more capability, while this may not be human friendly, it will certainly be machine-friendly.
   
   Last but not least, we shouldn’t discount the continuous adoption of technology, just like we moved from regular wire-line phone services to wireless data predominant services, we will move from using smart-phones to wearable personal computing devices. The first wave of devices is only just beginning to appear on the market. In another few years a lot of us will be wearing computing, perhaps quite literally on our sleeves.

The question now for designers and developers is simple, where does one begin? From experience, we know early developer adoption comes at a price. Should we tie into developing for clearly proprietary platforms or wait for open source wearable computing options to emerge on the market. Learning designer and developers will eventually have to make some hard choices if they are to start taking advantage of this new ‘instructional technology’.

Some random but interesting stuff I dug up – worth a look.

Wearable Tech
A great collection of pictures of the devices, the range is truly astonishing, considering this is only the beginning of a wave of devices.

Wearing Your Heart on Your Sleeve: A Wearable Computing Primer (of sorts)
A great presentation that gives a great idea of what wearable computing actually is, and should inspire learning designers.

Wearable Technology: The Bra Designed to Shock Attackers
Some wearable technology is just plain weird, or perhaps I’m looking at it wrong.

Smart Body, Smart World: The Next Phase of Personal Computing
Sarah Rotman Epps makes some interesting comments about the nature of wearable technology.

9 Trends to Watch For in Wearable Tech
If it is worn, can trends be far behind?

After having met some HR Directors and Managers in large mining businesses in Western Australia during my trip to Australia last week, I’ve found a common concern emerging. How to capture the knowledge that resides in the heads of the ageing workforce, which is on the verge of retiring?

The advantages to having an experienced (read ageing) staff in your team are manifold. One of the most evident ones is, since most of them have spent a large chunk of their working years in your company they can use their experience in getting stuff done and also in helping newer employees learn on the job better. The trouble however is what happens when they retire and, more importantly, such high proportion of the workforce retiring together. At some level this is a concern in every enterprise, sometimes coming from people leaving rather than retiring.

I believe an LMS could be a good place for sharing and capturing tacit knowledge. Of course you’ll need to have an LMS with progressive design and implementation, which allows for informal and social learning interactions to happen in your enterprise. Earlier we had written about getting the most out of your LMS. While there is some overlap between that post and this, below are some thoughts on what could be done using an LMS from the perspective of the retiring workforce:

1. Discussion Forums
   

   Allowing staff to learn from each other through a discussion forum can help capture the expert opinions on some critical questions. It helps new and less experienced staff to engage and learn directly from the more experienced staff. And in the process it also helps establish your knowledgeable staff higher on a position of expertise, making them get noticed by management and motivating them further to continue helping others on the discussions forums.

2. Sharing & Rating
   

   By allowing your staff to share their own blogs and media (photos/videos), you are allowing each one of them to ignite a thought. Invariably others will join in (to comment) with their points of view which will help everyone get a better picture of the issue/concept/problem from different perspectives. Ratings would help buoy the most credible responses and comments to the top making the LMS the go to place for staff in the future when they are looking for answers.

3. Wikis
   

   This is a collaborative space for creating knowledge documents/material where anyone (depending on whom you assign the editing capability) can make changes to the documents with every change being recorded. This could work well for areas where information is constantly evolving. We had written about the unharnessed potential of LMS Wikis sometime back on our blog.

4. Videos
   

   Videos have been known to improve user engagement since a very long time. Ten or fifteen years ago, videos were used predominantly by most organizations for training. And the growth of You Tube and other video channels have further catapulted videos as one of the best learning tools available today – marking the return of video to eLearning.

   For some employees, recording their thoughts as videos is much easier than documenting them in words. This is especially true given the nature of the retiring workforce as it may be difficult to motivate them to write on their own in various areas in the LMS. These videos can act as great eLearning tools and knowledge stores by themselves or can be used to trigger other social activities around the videos (as mentioned under ‘Sharing/Rating’)

Some enterprises are assigning more desk jobs to the experienced staff, even extending their retirement to help younger staff when they get stuck on some tasks. While this one-to-one help is great, your LMS could effectively make it one-to-many by capturing the knowledge for easy access by future generations.

What are the age demographics of your workforce? How are you leveraging the knowledge of your experienced employees to benefit your organizational working? Let us know in the comment box below.

Whether you have been managing disparate training programs via an LMS or have been doing it the traditional way and are now looking at adopting an LMS for managing blended learning, the 8 things mentioned below will help you to smoothly bring in blended learning in your L&D plan.

1. Needs, Objectives and Plan
   

   Find out the need of blended learning in your organization and how it will impact your learners’ and administrative performance. Some of the common needs are:

   1. Time and cost savings
   2. Increasing the reach of training
   3. Increasing flexibility (for administrators and learners)

   Once the need is identified, you need to set objectives and define what other things you wish to achieve by leveraging LMS for blended learning. These needs and objectives, which may or may not complement each other, will largely define the strategic plan for implementing blended learning in your organization. Right from selecting the right LMS to implementing it in your workplace, everything falls under planning.

2. Infrastructure
   

   Kick the tires and see if your current infrastructure, like IT set-up, network connectivity, etc., is robust enough to run blended learning in a smooth way. When delivering blended learning programs through an LMS, ensure that every learner has easy access to the LMS as and when they need it, along with other components of the blend. Your LMS vendor can be your best guide for the right infrastructure setup and to assess the readiness of your current setup to support blended learning.

3. Stakeholders
   

   Create a list of all stakeholders who will be a part of your blended learning program, right from the management personnel, the technical team, and instructors to the end users (learners). For each of these stakeholders, identify the current pain points faced in delivering/ managing/ accessing training and how these will be addressed with the LMS.

4. Training
   

   Before launching the blended learning program, provide training to your instructors, administrators and learners, and introduce them to every aspect of the LMS and how it can modify their current training process. Inform them about various technical features and learning capacities of the LMS in respect of blended learning, while underlining the benefits of using them. Doing a pilot training session for a small cross section of the learners can be helpful too.

5. LMS Features
   

   Identify the key features in an LMS that you will use as a part of your blended learning program. With Virtual Classroom and Classroom Management (ILT) modules, you can run your training programs with automated schedules, incorporate web conferencing tools like WebEx or GoToMeeting for delivering learning sessions to and from remote locations. The eLearning module can be used to deliver courses, videos and other online learning resources as a pre-course or post-course learning material to an ILT session. You can also leverage the LMS’ social learning and collaborative features to enable knowledge collaboration and facilitate knowledge sharing within and outside teams. MIS and reporting are other key features that will help you in tracking the progress of your training plan.

6. Learning Resources
   

   One of the main advantages of leveraging an LMS to deliver blended learning is the LMS’ ability to support a wide range of learning resources. So along with the key features, it is important to identify key resources that will be delivered via these features. Frequently accessed/ required resources like how-to videos, self-help documents, FAQs, etc. can be uploaded in a common repository for anytime, self-paced viewing. You can upload training videos, tutorials, lectures, reference material, guide books, etc., which your learners can access before, during or after their training as an extended support to recall information or to improve their job performance. With help of sound instructional designing, you can design and deliver custom made courses, which are aligned to supplement your current training format.

7. Assessments
   

   With an LMS, you can convert all your manual assessments into an online format, which will not only make conducting tests and assessments easy for the administrator, but also for the learners to take them online. Instant performance reports can also be generated for review and analysis.

8. Time/Cost Saving
   

   Do not see blended learning primarily as a means to slash your time and costs resources spent on training. Instead, try to streamline your training plan with the LMS and blended learning; costs and time benefits are sure to follow.

If you would like to learn more on this topic or would like to see how our Learning Management System, UpsideLMS, enables blended learning, you can get in touch with Amol Shinde, AVP Sales (India) at amol.shinde@upsidelearning.com

So, are you leveraging your “LMS of Now” to extract the maximum benefit for your people and your organization?

The Learning Management System or LMS originated from the requirement of being able to store and deliver eLearning courses to the workforce, via the internet and company intranets. This, alongside the introduction and adoption of the AICC and SCORM standards for eLearning, became the core purpose and the only functionality of the LMS to be understood and effectively used by the organizations. The LMS of “Now” is a different beast that has evolved and grown to offer a whole lot more, however, the conventional mindset and perception about the LMS has stunted its use and limited organizations from harnessing its true power.

So, what is this LMS of “Now”? What else can it do? How do we leverage all its features to create a learning ecosystem that not only manages the ‘training’ part but more importantly, enables a learning driven workforce? Let’s take a look.

1. Classroom Training
   

   The great divide between eLearning and Classroom is a thing of the past. The LMS of “Now” brings them together, allowing the management of learning without differentiation! Its capabilities extend to the management of more complex and dynamic resources including training inventory, trainer and external vendors, training rooms and venues. Training management typically involved juggling multiple training programmes, planning and administering training sessions through the year, running, tracking and recording myriad assessments pre and post sessions and making available a host of training materials was always a nightmare. Well, at least till the LMS of “Now” showed up and made it so easy! It even manages attendance and reporting, send email notifications and reminders – if used correctly; you have a winner on your hands!

2. Virtual Classrooms
   

   Globalization and ‘virtual proximity’ has become the environment in which we live and work today; and being able to connect people across the world is an integral part of this. The ability  to talk to and see each other virtually, conduct meetings, share materials and resources and yes, even run training sessions has not only advanced at a rapid pace but has become a necessity.

   The LMS of ‘Now’ have either their own virtual classroom technologies or have ready APIs for the most popular ones. A few clicks allows you to manage this from within your LMS, enables you to expand and extend organizational reach and access to training resources, conduct ‘live’ training sessions and much more. And because it is all integrated in your LMS you can keep an eye on things through the reports the LMS of ‘Now’ generates.

3. Videos
   

   You Tube, TED, the Khan Academy, have made videos a way of life and a significant part of the learning process. The LMS of ‘Now’ allows you to pull together all these exciting mediums of communication to provide a learning experience that is richer and far more interactive than ever before – well at least for now! Bandwidth and video technology have made this so easy and we, in the LMS world, have kept pace, making the incorporation and use of video an integral part of the LMS of ‘Now’! Are you enriching your learning environments with powerful videos?

4. Informal and Social Learning
   

   In 2009, we were talking about Social Learning and its place in workplace environment; today it is no longer a concept or a trend – it is a reality. Social Learning goes beyond the conventional method of storing content and creating access rules around it. It gives the power of creating content [that helps others learn] to the learners themselves. Despite having a multitude of courses, videos, etc. available as part of training material, learning by sharing is certainly very powerful. The exchange of anecdotal and real world experiences, tips and tricks and connecting with each other in real-time makes learning contextually rich and meaningful, allowing learners to collaborate and learn from one another. Communities around subject areas, common interests and better still, linked to training resources available on the LMS, help us create a sustainable pool of knowledge that makes the training function itself very effective. It also takes the concept of performance support to a new level as learners can find what they need and when they need it easily and instantly.

5. ”Empowered” Learning
   

   A sea change in the way we learn has been the empowering of the learners.  The LMS of ‘Now’ can provide the learning environment for learners to ‘structure and assemble’ their own learning by pulling learning materials and resources together to form a curriculum that is customised to their learning needs and indeed to their learning styles. It allows the learners to strive for improvement and personal development that creates a more productive and happy workforce.  

6. eLearning
   

   Oh yes! The LMS of ‘Now’ still does eLearning too….!

Food for thought? Are you running a LMS of “Now”?

So this time around when we, the Marketing team, sat down to brainstorm on the possible ways to commemorate this beautiful journey, we knew exactly what we wanted to highlight – the values and qualities that personify Upside Learning. And what better way than to leverage the latest web designing technology – Parallax Scrolling?

So here it is – Celebrating 9 Glorious Years Of Learning.

Share it on your social channels and don’t forget to leave back some compliments in the comment box.

Below are some milestones we achieved in the last 12 months; milestones that truly reflect the meaning of number 9 that I was talking about earlier in the post.

Innovation

We delivered some innovative projects – eLearning on iPads, mEnablement, Responsive Design, to name a few; Introduced new features in UpsideLMS; adopted Tin Can API in our proprietary courseware framework.

Building Relationships

We partnered with various companies that strengthened our presence in the US, the UK, Australia, Middle East and Africa. We also added some new clients to our client list; the number now stands at 165+!

Growth

We witnessed growth across many quarters. UpsideLMS clocked growth of 125% in FY 2011-12, while the company achieved a YOY growth of staggering 97% in FY 2012.

Awards & Rewards

We won two Brandon Hall Awards; a Silver for Upside2Go and a Bronze for our Custom Learning project taking our awards tally beyond 30!

Events

We attended, sponsored a few, exhibited and delivered learning sessions at 9 international, premiere learning events such as CIPD HRD, ASTD ICE, AITD National Conference, Learning Technologies, LearnX, mLearnCon and ASTD TechKnowledge. We also had a special opportunity to facilitate the Corporate mLearning Week in MobiMOOC 2012.

Few Firsts

We launched our independent webinar series, published a stunning infographic on Mobile Learning, and now, created a motion parallax design.

Before I sign off, a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all of you for being with us, supporting us with your comments and views.

The questions came thick and fast during the webinars, and while we managed to answer most of them, we ran out of time (and space) to answer all, as much as we would have liked to. So we have compiled all your questions and our answers for you right here. And if you still have some more, mail us  (at info@upsidelearning.com) or post them into the comment box at the end of this post.

If you couldn’t make it to either of our webinars – here’s the link to the full recording of one them. Do let us know what you think.

Finally, here’s everything you wanted to know about eLearning on iPads….and asked!

mLearning and Tablet Learning

Q 1. What is mLearning?

A: mLearning or Mobile Learning is designed specifically for mobile devices, mostly for learners who are constantly on the move or do not have regular access to traditional learning methodologies. mLearning is different from eLearning in terms of the size of courses that can (or should) be delivered on mobiles; the context in which mLearning is accessed and many other parameters. By using a mobile device as a learning platform, one can leverage its unique features such as camera, audio/ video player & recorder, computing device, eBook reader, GPS, gaming compatibility etc.

Q 2. What are the limitations of mobile learning?

A: None, if you do it for the right reasons and in the right way. mLearning provides more opportunities than limitations if you believe us. You can deliver offline as well as online learning elements, performance support and just-in-time information on your learners’ mobile devices and achieve greater learning outcomes. All that you have to know is what you are going to use it for, why and how. Just in case you are delivering web-based learning, poor network connectivity can pose some problem.

Q 3. Can you give advice on training people to use tablets effectively in the workplace? – What do we need to teach people in order for them to learn how to use iPads in general?

A: The best way to get people acquainted with eLearning on tablets is by identifying any support opportunity that can be provided using tablets and then to create and deliver it via the devices. It could be creating checklists to increase safety compliance or a custom calculator to help process certain tasks faster, the possibilities are endless.

Q 4. I believe all the design consideration mentioned could be achieved using normal eLearning so why should a company look for mobile learning? – Many organizations think that Tablet-based learning suits best of moving staff rather than office staff? What is your thought on this?

A: It all depends on your organization’s workforce demographics, their respective job roles and their learning requirements. These factors usually decide whether you should be looking for mobile learning or if eLearning (on desktops/laptops) will suffice. Mobile Learning or eLearning in tablets is more suited to workforce that is field-based/ on the go while normal eLearning is apt for a workforce working out of an office environment.

Q 5. At what maturity level should a company look towards mobile Learning?

A: Reading this blog post – The Four Stages of Mobile Maturity – might help you to find how most organizations move on an evolutionary path as they mature in their adoption of mobile learning.

Q 6. It seems that some of what you're calling eLearning is really performance support.

A: A Performance Support tool refers to any tool/system that improves worker productivity by providing on-the-job access to integrated information, advice and learning experiences. And in many cases, this tool would really be eLearning or mLearning.

Q 7. Is there a clear perception of any gap between mLearning created specifically for iPad or other tablets in terms of market implementation?

A: We don't believe so. The tablet is a format and the iPad is one too! But we differentiate primarily because of the OS and Flash compatibility.

Q 8. Most things that work on the Web also work on tablets. So what do you guys do differently?

A: True, when accessed via a browser. We can build content, applications that are designed for the device and accessed from an LMS.

Q 9. How to attract and retain the user in mLearning course if he is close to Angry Birds (two taps )?

A: No further away than on a laptop or PC too! We believe that users are more motivated to access their learning when "they" want to. So Angry Birds would have to wait!

Q 10. I am confused why tablets that are classified mostly (70%+ used at home) as entertainment are a target for a more serious learning engagement? Are there stats on the efficacy of learning on tablets?

A: Tablets were originally seen as 'home' devices but given their increased capability and level of adoption, organizations are looking at them more seriously to deploy training, learning and other information and to extend the reach of their support capability. We don't believe they are less efficient in delivering a learning experience.

Q 11. But, as I said earlier, I am not certain if our audience has even migrated to tablet and if so, to what extent….and if we can justify the ROI.

A: It’s a company decision to deploy eLearning on iPads or any other tablets of their choice. We are seeing companies making these decisions based on the location and usage of the devices, the context of the content and usage and the job-role of specific employee groups.

Q 12. How much higher is the cost of developing training on tablets as compared to Windows PCs?

A: Comparable to regular eLearning – it is not more expensive or more complicated; it just needs different design principles.

Q 13. Can mobile learning be applied for agents. How can we ensure data security?

A: Mobile learning or eLearning on iPads/tablets can be used for providing field based staff/agents with a mobile enabled environment where they can access the training activities in the form of videos, podcasts, eLearning courses, quizzes and evaluation surveys and also enables them to use their mobile device to share knowledge with others (within or outside their team) in real-time.

For addressing security issues, you may think of these options – screen locks, auto-timeouts, password-protected access to the content inside the apps, data encryption, and solutions such as Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Mobile Application Management (MAM).

Design Considerations

Q 14. Learning on devices also require some of the standard device sizes, is there anything we can suggest while conceptualizing or designing any product for our customers as best possible option which can work with wider range of audience?

A: In our blog post ‘6 Steps To A Better Mobile Learning Strategy’, we have written about the devices and platforms to support. But this might change if your organization implements a BYOD initiative.

Q 15. How is the content protected from plagiarism in both online and offline viewing?

A: It is delivered from an LMS and protected via sign in authentication.

Q 16. In eLearning courses where heavy graphics are involved how can we tackle that through HTML 5?

A: Heavy graphics don’t pose too much of a problem in HTML5. If you are thinking from the perspective of page loading, you can load all graphics first and then display the remaining components of the page for the user to view.

Q 17. As you mentioned about responsive design, do u think that should also require some standardization as every device can't get cater from this? – Do you guys change an existing website to a responsive design? If so, what does it take? – Do you have price comparisons for app vs. responsive web design?

A: Need of standardization for responsive design varies based on what you are designing for, what is the content-type and which devices you are considering.

We can help you with responsive design. But it all depends of your key requirements and what you want to achieve with responsive design.

We don’t have a standard price list for app vs. responsive web design. It depends on what is being built, the complexity, size, etc.

Authoring Tools

Q 18. Is it possible to send us a list of the developing tools? – What are the most popular applications used to develop m/t learning?

A: We have compiled a list of 15 authoring/ development tools in one of our previous blog posts – 15 Authoring Tools For mEnabling Your eLearning For iPads. These tools can help you in converting your existing eLearning courseware into a tablet-compatible format (mEnablement) or in creating new eLearning for iPads (and other tablets).

Q 19. Can we publish HTML5 from Lectora?

A: Yes. It is, in fact, one of the major HTML5 authoring tools.

Q 20. If we purchase your LMS, will u help developing HTML5 product in Lectora? – Have you done any project around HTML5?

A: At Upside Learning, Lectora is being used rigorously for developing custom-built content for our clients. We have been helping our clients with HTML5 development services & solutions.

Q 21. While developing mLearning courses using Rapid eLearning tools, which is a better way to go with – Custom or Default? In customization we have to face many tool limitations (e.g HTML5 output in Captivate6, iSpring, Articulate Storyline).

A: Default is the best way to go with. As you rightly mention, there are quite a number of limitations in customizations. Besides it calls for R&D and larger efforts to develop custom navigations and also depends on the tool’s support for customizations.

Q 22. If Adobe Flash is not supported, how can we design using Captivate 6?

A: Captivate 6 publishes interactive eLearning content as HTML5 so you can run it on iPads and also features a ‘HTML5 tracker’ that highlights activities that are not supported on tablets.

Q 23. How to make animation work on iPads?

A: There are a couple of ways to make animations works on iPad/tablets:

• Convert animations into videos if the animations are very complex and no interactions are required from the user.
• Convert animation into HTML5 using design tools (e.g. CreateJS plug-in for CS6 converts animation into HTML5, Adobe Edge allows you to re-create animations and interactivities)
• Short and simple animations can be re-created using HTML5 and CSS

Q 24. How do you address IE browser issues in Storyline?

A: Storyline’s Flash output supports Internet Explorer 6 and above. HTML5 content format of Storyline output supports very limited browsers and platforms. It’s the inherent limitation of the software and from the user perspective we cannot do more than what it offers. The best way then is to go with custom development.

mLearning/eLearning Technology

Q 25. Could you please touch base about SCORM and Tin Can API? – Is still Tin Can a buzzword or current stable standard? What's your thought on this? Are Customers asking about Tin Can? – Have you tested Tin Can already? – Does your LMS support Tin Can?

A: The Tin Can API is an eLearning software specification that allows learning content and learning systems to speak to each other in a manner that records and tracks all types of learning experiences. As we all know, learning can occur in different forms and can happen anywhere (not necessarily through courses hosted on an LMS). Tin Can enables L&D professionals the ability to easily track, quantify and share data gathered from various learning experiences.

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) has been the de facto e-learning standard for packaging e-learning content to be delivered to LMSs. However, there are several drawbacks to SCORM. The Tin Can API allows for several new capabilities that SCORM didn’t, like informal learning activities, taking e-learning outside of the web browser, the ability to track games and simulations, to mention a few.

As of now, the Tin Can API is still evolving to become a complete standard and many of us in the eLearning community are still trying to grasp what new avenues the Tin Can API can open up.

UpsideLMS doesn’t support Tin Can yet, but that’s definitely on our roadmap. However, we have integrated Tin Can API into our proprietary courseware framework for custom eLearning and mobile learning. These Tin Can compliant courses can be developed for desktops, as well as mobile devices, including tablets. Read more.

Q 26. Do you think there should be a definitive move from Flash to HTML5? – What do you think will be Flash's role in future of e/m – Learning?

A: The proliferation of iOS and its rigid approach to not supporting Flash may force us to do so. HTML5 is the key to delivering eLearning on the iPad, but unless your organization is adopting the iPad as the ‘preferred’ device, HTML5 may not be the best option for developing your eLearning. Flash still delivers the best eLearning experience for desktops and other tablets (there are quite a few out there too!) learning. And not all browsers are ready for HTML5 and if you are using IE 6, 7 or 8.

Q 27. Is the interactivity level in HTML output similar to Flash based training?

A: Very close. On a PC, Flash will still deliver the best experience but HTML today gives you the flexibility across formats and platforms.

mLearning Platform – Upside2Go

Q 28. Is Upside2Go a mobile/eLearning authoring platform?

A: Upside2Go is mobile learning platform and does have a basic authoring capability. Upside2Go's User, Content and Delivery Management enables you to author and administer a variety of learning content, assessments and surveys; bring about rapid configuration of learners; and push content to mobile devices of multiple learners.

Q 29. Does Upside2Go support augmented reality technology?

A: Yes, Upside2Go can be customized to support augmented reality technology. We have already done it for one of our clients. Read more about it.

Q 30. Do we have a platform where it can support Android and iPad?

A: Upside2Go is our mobile learning platform that supports iOS: 3.0 and 4.0, BlackBerry OS: 5, 6 and 7, Android: Froyo (2.2) and Gingerbread (2.3).
 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Webinar Slidedeck

If you wish to view slide deck, it is available here.

Case Studies

• Delivering training to internal and external stakeholders via a unified learning system
• Showcasing Toyota Yaris Through An iPad App

Featured Blog Posts

• eLearning on iPads – 10 Bright Ideas
• The Question Of Why (Not) eLearning On iPads Or Tablets?
• So…How Do You Build eLearning For iPads?

You can also explore our other free learning resources available here- http://www.upsidelearning.com/resources.asp

Get in Touch

If you want to discuss any of your learning requirements, you can always write to us at info@upsidelearning.com, and one of our team members will get in touch with you.