Free training webinars

On February 20^th, 2010, Training Magazine announced that it would be closing its doors.  It had been one of the most well respected publications in the training industry.  I remember even in the early days of my career eagerly awaiting the next edition of my subscription to Training Magazine.  But the good news is that Training Magazine is back and their online site is up and running again at www.trainingmagnetwork.com.

Glad to see them back, I was checking out their online site and found a number of free webinars being offered.  If you’re not already a member, all you need to do is sign up at http://www.trainingmagnetwork.com.  Once you're signed in, click on the Events/Resources tab for the list of free webinars.  The site also includes links to archived webinars as a bonus!

One of my personal favorite presenters is Thiagi (Sivasailam Thiagarajan, Ph.D.). He offers a free monthly webinar on the Training Magazine site. Many years ago I sat in a two-day simulation gaming workshop and have been a fan of his ever since.  He has a wonderful sense of humor and a wealth of knowledge to share!  Don't miss him.  His next free webinar is called “Jolt Participants into Awareness and Action” on June 15^th.  Check it out here http://www.trainingmagnetwork.com/profile/show/1984



One company's move to a blended learning solution

Everywhere I turn now, I see articles, blog posts, threaded discussions, tweets, seminars and much more about using social media. More and more learning professionals are now looking at new or more impactful ways of incorporating social media in learning. 

Stephanie and I recently came across an interesting TELUS case study that highlights the process they used to pilot a new approach to learning that integrates social and informal components, including webcasts, videos, blogs, microblogs and wikis. The interesting part of this approach is that they used Microsoft Sharepoint Server 2010. Dan Pontefract, Senior Director of Learning for TELUS said “the social networking elements drew us to SharePoint Server 2010” and that “the company’s three-year plan is to move to a situation in which formal learning accounts for just 50 percent of its total learning budget”.

As the popularity of social media takes hold in the learning community, Stephanie and I are seeing more companies with traditional learning offerings like face-to-face training become interested in adopting a more balanced blended learning solution that includes eLearning and social media. In fact, we are currently working with a company that has asked us to recommend a more blended learning solution for their 30,000+ employees.

Interested in reading the TELUS case study? Check it out here.

Break your presentations out of the box

How many times have you sat through a page-turner presentation that almost put you to sleep?

How many times have you been guilty of delivering something along these lines yourself?

As much as we may want to liven things up when we're conducting face to face training or sharing information with colleagues, ditching the presentation slides is not really an option - there is value to having something displayed on a screen to guide participants along. The unfortunate thing is, most of the software we use to create presentations follow this same page-turning slide format that can become monotonous after a while, despite our best efforts. 

I recently came across a tool that takes a totally different approach to presentations that impressed me quite a bit. Prezi frees us from the 'slides' metaphor for displaying content. Instead imagine adding all of your content to a large canvas, where your presentation view allows you to move around the canvas, zoom in and out and rotate the perspective. You can easily show the big picture, zoom in on details and make connections between different elements in an eye-catching way. It's really something best grasped by checking out some of the presentations people have shared on the Prezi website. The bonus is it's free to use under the public license, and pretty reasonable for the other license options, too.

Take a look and see what you think - maybe Prezi can help you liven up your next presentation!

Take advantage of free upcoming Brandon Hall webinars

I subscribe to the Brandon Hall newsletter and was recently sent information about three free upcoming webinars that sound interesting:

Wednesday, April 21^st  -  New Possibilities for Mobile Learning.Join Dr. Gary Woodill as he explores this new world of mobile learning and find out how you can use it in employee training.

Wednesday, May 5^th  -  Learning Management Systems: Trends and Issues. Join Tom Werner, a Brandon Hall Research senior analyst who will talk about the recent trends in learning management systems, where these trends will lead and some of the issues that LMS vendors and users face today.

Wednesday, May 12^th – Collaborative Learning and Collective Intelligence. Join Dr. Gary Woodill as he presents his understanding of both collaborative learning and collective intelligence, as well as how they work together to make smarter organizations. 

They’re free but preregistration is required.  Check out more details here:  http://www.brandon-hall.com/webinars/webinars.shtml

Becoming a frog in the networking pond

“It was a warm summer’s evening and John Hunter was patiently waiting in line to see The Phantom of the Opera. The musical had just opened on Broadway. John, a self-admitted “Phantom nut” had flown in from the West Coast just to see it. Over the noise of the traffic, John heard a tourist behind him speaking Spanish. Many years earlier, John had worked in South America as an engineer for the energy firm Petroleós de Venezuela, and was fluent in Spanish. So he turned and started chatting. To his amazement, John realized that this man was his Venezuelan manager’s boss – someone he hadn’t seen in over fifteen years. What were the odds?  Two months later – out of the blue – John was invited by an international engineering firm to be a senior consultant on a large Venezuelan energy project. Guess who had put his name forward?  It is indeed a small world. Networks are powerful things…”

And so begins Work the Pond, Use the Power of Positive Networking to Leap Forward in Work and Life by authors Darcy Rezac, Judy Thomson and Gayle Hallgren-Rezac. After a chat about networking recently, a colleague recommended that Stephanie and I read Work the Pond. She highly recommended it not only for the entertaining read but for the great networking tips she picked up. After reading Work the Pond, I have to agree with her.

The thought of having to network – to walk into a room and talk to strangers – can be an uncomfortable or intimidating prospect for many people. The idea of trying to sell yourself and your product or service to a stranger is…well…challenging to say the least. Work the Pond introduces the concept of “positive networking”, a unique perspective that redefines our ideas of traditional networking. The real key to personal and professional success, say the authors, is discovering what you can do for someone else. They introduce a seven-step process to help their readers avoid the “toads” and make the right connections in business and in life.

If you’re new to networking, this book has a wealth of ideas and tips to get you started and feel good about it. Even seasoned networkers will find new ideas and fresh perspectives. So hop into the pond and start networking.

New case study: Financial institution excels with training/coaching program.

We've just added a case study to our site that describes how a major financial institution made a big change with the right training solution. The training/coaching program that we worked with them to create led to a multi-million dollar revenue win-back and improved employee morale. By sitting down with the key stakeholders and figuring out what their real needs were, we were able to create a solution that got to the heart of the challenges at hand and addressed them in a way that worked effectively for their environment. Read all about it here.

Moving towards greener learning

Being ‘green’ is everywhere these days – as our planet’s population grows, our environmental impact on it has become a very important consideration.  Often the focus is on what we can do at home and the ‘big picture’ things organizations can do, but what about what we can do in our work as learning professionals? In an online article I read the other day called “Going green—are learning professionals ready?", author Silke Fleischer states that although classroom training declined from 76% in 2001 to 65% in 2006, according to the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) 2007 State of the Industry Report, it still makes up the majority of learning hours delivered and has a significant impact on the environment in the areas of travel, facilities and materials. So how can an organization move towards greener learning?  

According to the ASTD 2007 State of the Industry Report, “Tailored blended learning saved one organization $2.8 million in travel and accommodation costs by cutting travel time for a 14-week program from 28 to 7 days.”  Moving face-to-face training on-line reduces the need for paper-based materials as well as the energy required for travel and classroom facilities (e.g., lighting, heating, cooling, etc.). According to Public Works and Government Services Canada, we produce more than 30 million tonnes of garbage each year – more than one tonne per person.  Of this waste, more than 36 percent is paper.  A blended learning solution using a combination of e-learning, online discussion forums, blogs, web seminars, wikis and podcasts as well as providing online resources will reduce your organization’s printing costs and other environmental impacts associated with face-to-face training.

Sometimes, however, face-to-face training is simply the best option for your organization and learners. Here are some ways you can make that training greener:

• Design courses that require fewer printed materials. Instead, provide online resources that support the learning.
• If you need to print, use recycled paper and print double-sided. Print only the most critical information.
• Provide training in centrally located areas to shorten travel distances.
• Upgrade your training facilities using such things as energy-efficient hardware, lighting, cooling and heating.
• Provide recycling bins in your training facility - encourage participants to recycle.
• Purchase recycled and environmentally friendly training supplies.
• Support carpooling for off-site participants/training sessions.

 We make choices each day that potentially impact our environment. If we all consider even small changes we could be making in the way we develop and present learning, we can do our part to contribute to a greener world. To learn more about green learning, check out a good article from ASTD Learning Circuits, “E-Learning = Environmental Learning”.

Introducing the new Limestone Learning glossary

What's the difference between synchronous and asynchronous learning? What is prescriptive learning? What are the nine events of instruction? For the answers to these questions check out our new glossary on the resources tab here on our site. The glossary includes definitions for many common learning terms, arranged alphabetically and cross-referenced for easy access. 

Making ethics and compliance training memorable

Ethics and compliance training can be a sticky area - it's extremely important to an organization, but as the subject matter can be sensitive, the training can often end up being not much more than dry lists of do's and don't's. I recently came across a great article in Fast Company magazine (read it here) that explains how one company rose to the occasion and created memorable ethics and compliance training for their employees with a series of video scenarios. Video may not be in everyone's budget, but there are other ways that we can use the same approach with less cost. Get your employees thinking about these situations by incorporating scenarios or case studies about ethical dilemmas using a cast of characters you create and bring to life with stock images.