Upside Learning

JULY 2, 2009

A couple of weeks back we posted about Silverlight posing some (at this time, actually little) competition to Flash. Now we have HTML 5 coming up – this makes the race hotter. Or does it? Those of you have heard of HTML 5 will know it’s a new version of HTML and XHTML being promoted by Google and Apple in a bid to move the web away from proprietary technologies like Flash, Silverlight and JavaFX.

HTML 113

HTML eLearning Developer Blended Learning Open Source 113

Upside Learning

JULY 7, 2009

Manish Mohan has launched the Unofficial eLearning Salary Survey 2009. This is the third edition of the survey that aims to provide a glimpse into salary ranges of eLearning and content development professionals in India. This time, the survey is also trying to examine the impact of the economic situation on salary hikes – which would be interesting to see.

Survey 100

Survey eLearning Developer Develop eLearning 100

Upside Learning

JULY 7, 2009

Manish Mohan has launched the Unofficial eLearning Salary Survey 2009. This is the third edition of the survey that aims to provide a glimpse into salary ranges of eLearning and content development professionals in India. This time, the survey is also trying to examine the impact of the economic situation on salary hikes – which would be interesting to see.

Survey 100

Survey eLearning Developer Develop eLearning 100

Upside Learning

APRIL 7, 2009

Adobe’s CS4 suite is the second major release since Adobe acquired Macromedia. The new Adobe CS4 suite has some new exciting and time-saving features in all its products. If you have been bugged by previous Flash versions not allowing you to publish for latest Flash Player there is some relief here. Flash CS4 allows us to finally publish SWF files for Flash Player 10 - the latest version of Flash Player.

Flash 100

Flash Flash Player eLearning Developer Macromedia 100

Upside Learning

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

I’ve spent an inordinately long time writing a whitepaper on mobile learning trying to expound our thoughts about it and how it might be used in the workplace. I’ve been doing some research around it and I’ve documented some of the better links I’ve come across. Again, as with the links I posted about Games and Simulation, these aren’t categorized in any way nor does the order assume any significance.

Mobile Learning 279

Mobile Learning Mobile Resources Augmented Reality 279

Upside Learning

JUNE 24, 2009

When writing the whitepaper about Casual games , I did a fair bit of research and looked at several hundred web links. While doing so, I documented a few of the better ones. I’d been mulling posting these to the blog. So here they are – a Top 100 Learning Game Resource list. If you are already developing learning games, these links will broaden your horizons, as they did mine.

Games 280

Games Resources Simulations PDF 280

Upside Learning

JUNE 24, 2009

When writing the whitepaper about Casual games , I did a fair bit of research and looked at several hundred web links. While doing so, I documented a few of the better ones. I’d been mulling posting these to the blog. So here they are - a Top 100 Learning Game Resource list. If you are already developing learning games, these links will broaden your horizons, as they did mine.

Games 280

Games Resources Simulations PDF 280

Upside Learning

AUGUST 20, 2009

As a company, we have now been active in the blogosphere for about 6 months. We follow a whole lot of blog – most of them focused on the learning, workplace learning, eLearning, and learning technology domain. We have learnt a lot from these blogs and thank all those blog writers for their invaluable insights on various topics. Here is a list of top 47 blogs (in alphabetical order) that Upside Learning team follows. 1.

Blogging 271

Blogging Corporate eLearning Simulations eLearning 271

Upside Learning

DECEMBER 22, 2009

A lot of companies today face a resource situation that’s not unique in this age. A few key individuals holding important technical and project management knowledge is quite common. Such key knowledge in the hands of few prevents it from being disseminated broadly and leads to an unhealthy dependence on those individuals. Recently, I was asked to propose a solution that addressed just such a business concern.

Blended Learning 270

Blended Learning Blended Social Technology 270

Upside Learning

OCTOBER 30, 2009

Yes, we believe it can. Having fun is an experience that stays with you longer than any form of instruction. We advocate inclusion of games & fun interactions to achieve long term learning, and change of behaviors. Learning Games that pull learners to have fun (and learn while they have fun). This video below from the fun theory , an initiative of Volkswagen, shows just how fun could be effective in getting people to consider changing their habits.

Behavior 256

Behavior Change Help Pattern 256

Upside Learning

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Interesting numbers about the Social media and mobile computing revolution, while we wont really vouch for the numbers, Gary goes to great lengths to provide sources and substantiation for the basis of his calculation. The rate of adoption of these technologies is phenomenal, and has cut across varied age-groups. Regardless of what aspect of learning you’re interested in, you can be sure that learners are using mobile technology and social media, are you ready for it?

Social Media 255

Social Media Media Social Mobile 255

Upside Learning

AUGUST 24, 2009

I’ve been occupied with writing a paper to promote the adoption of mobile learning amongst corporates and enterprises. While trawling through multiple web-links, a pattern of myths about mobile learning emerges. Quite a bit of back and forth about these myths - I’m taking the liberty of listing and describing the five that struck me as odd, and am attempting to debunk them to an extent.

Mobile Learning 250

Mobile Learning Mobile Adoption Adopt 250

Upside Learning

OCTOBER 29, 2009

Earlier this month I blogged about why Training companies are adopting eLearning. There are reasons other than their clients demanding it. Reflecting on my interactions with Training Providers over the last couple of quarters, I’ve made a list of the top 8 reasons for them to adopt eLearning. Client Demand : The provider’s clients have started demanding eLearning solutions (and training providers want to retain them).

Compliance Training 226

Compliance Training Blended Learning Adoption Adopt 226

Upside Learning

OCTOBER 4, 2009

The information age is rapidly turning into an age of information overload. A simple search of the web using a search engine like Google reveals a fantastic array of information. As I’ve discovered given the thousands if not millions of results, trying to sort through and make sense of any of that data is an exercise in futility. This sort of rudimentary search and pray approach isn’t effective, and grows more ineffective by the day with the growing size of the web.

Web 224

Web HTML Google Search 224

Upside Learning

SEPTEMBER 21, 2009

For an eLearning initiative to be successful, strong leaders and champions are needed in the organization. It also needs a robust and reliable LMS solution amongst others (great courses, proper alignment of the training function with the LMS, technical support for the entire setup, etc.) The LMS remains a key link in the success chain. Is it any wonder that selecting the right LMS is not easy?

Association LMS 222

Association LMS Association Learning Management System LMS Effectiveness 222

Upside Learning

OCTOBER 22, 2009

Using eLearning as a delivery medium for corporate training is common now. Corporates have lapped it up seeing crucial benefits in costs and time savings. Early adopters have experimented with various media formats & delivery options and realized that blended learning works best. Any advent of instructional technology hasn’t meant the elimination of what pedagogical methods existed at the time.

Blended Learning 220

Blended Learning Blended Outsource Corporate eLearning 220

Upside Learning

SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

It’s been an interesting start of the week, with the tiny Regifting game going viral of sorts within our office. Hit the jump and you’ll see just why. [link]. Instant reactions to this were typically disbelief, the impression that the computer/software actually observes the user, or that it’s some sort of trick. Typically users follow repeat the game a few times to see if the game can actually guess your numbers.

Pattern 210

Pattern Games Exercise Instructional Design 210

Upside Learning

JUNE 4, 2009

Jane Hart conducts annual surveys of the top 100 learning tools. Her site, Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies , has some wonderful resources on learning tools, social learning, and more. If you’ve not yet visited this website, I strongly recommend you do. We decided to contribute to the 2009 list by sending in our own list of Top 10 Tools for Learning Professionals.

Tools 208

Tools Dreamweaver Adobe Flash 208

Upside Learning

AUGUST 12, 2009

It seems more and more like this recession will further enhance the position of eLearning amongst various training options an organization could choose from for their learning and development initiatives. In March earlier this year I wrote – ‘ while the times are tough, they are on our side ’ (by ‘our’ I meant all technology enabled learning solution providers).

Corporate eLearning 208

Corporate eLearning eLearning Strategy eLearning Predictions 208

Upside Learning

JULY 21, 2009

Training companies the world over are changing the way they operate and the services they offer customers. An important one is the inclusion of eLearning (or online training) as part of their core offerings for existing and new customers. Such an offering is not purely driven by a cost-saving strategy on the customer’s part, but is also due to the growing acceptance of eLearning as an effective way of delivering training.

Compliance Training 207

Compliance Training LMS Companies White Label 207

Upside Learning

AUGUST 27, 2009

Selecting an LMS is a challenging task and that’s just because it takes care of an important business function and needs to work well. The web today holds a great deal of information on how to select an LMS, LMS Selection tools, directories of leading LMS systems, sample RFIs, and a whole lot of other very useful and handy information. However it is equally important for the decision makers to know what NOT to do while (before and during) selecting an LMS as many of these things aren’t clearly h

LMS 207

LMS Firewalls vendor Evalution 207

Upside Learning

DECEMBER 8, 2009

Yesterday Google released a visual search engine called Google Goggles. It is available right now as an application for Android 1.6+ (i.e. Donut or Eclair) based mobile devices. It uses several sophisticated image recognition techniques like object recognition, OCR, face matching, etc. This will prove useful for m-learning - users can take a snapshot of any object and Google Goggles will provide relevant information about it.

Google 203

Google Mobile Learning Mobile Augmented Reality 203

Upside Learning

MARCH 26, 2009

It’s everywhere – these varied conversations about learning games and the spending of millions of dollars to further the state of art in learning games. I’ve been on a similar tack; however, it’s quite obvious that most training departments don’t have the millions or even hundreds of thousands of dollars that are required for sophisticated learning game development nor do they have the many months it can take to develop a full-fledged game.

Adoption 203

Adoption Adopt Games Digital 203

Upside Learning

DECEMBER 16, 2009

Often the real meaning and potential impact of a database can be hidden behind all the raw names and numbers, but a well-chosen visualization can bring the data to life. Google fusion is a cloud based application from Google where you can share and visualize data online. You can visualize data in a number of forms like: Map, Intensity Map, Bar, Pie chart, Table, line etc.

Google 198

Google Free Photo Survey 198

Upside Learning

NOVEMBER 30, 2009

A study conducted by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on the Inc 500 (a list of fastest growing companies in US) reveals interesting trends on usage of Social Media. The 148 companies who responded were asked the same detailed questions concerning their usage and measurement of social media that were asked of the Inc. 500 approximately one year and two years earlier.

Social Media 193

Social Media Social Networks Media Social 193

Upside Learning

AUGUST 19, 2009

How long does it take to create one hour of eLearning? According to an article posted on the ASTD website by Karl Kapp and Robyn A. Defelice, the time needed to develop one hour of self paced eLearning could take between 90 hours and 1743 hours. It depends on what level of interactivity you are aiming for and what tools (with or without templates)you are using.

eLearning Developer 192

eLearning Developer Simulations Develop Courseware 192

Upside Learning

MAY 28, 2009

There’s more talk about Digital natives going around; Jeremiah Owyang blogged from the Corporate Social Networking Conference in Amsterdam. Time and again, this talk about Digital natives and the millenials comes up, and there still isn’t much agreement about the key issues at hand. There seems to have been a fair bit of Interesting talk at the conference: “By age 20, kids will have spent 20,000 hours online –the same amount of time a professional piano player would have spent practicing&#

Digital 191

Digital Social Networks Multitasking Instructional Design 191

Upside Learning

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

After we posted a list of the Top 47 eLearning & Workplace Learning Blogs last month, we have received several more recommendations (here on this blog and in a related discussion on LinkedIn) for adding more blogs to that list. Apart from these, we’ve discovered a few more blogs worth following – and these have been added to the list. A total of 27 blogs have been added to the original list.

Blogging 191

Blogging eLearning Social Networks LinkedIn 191

Upside Learning

DECEMBER 4, 2009

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve met some prospective customers from the Telecom domain here in India. While they’re all keyed about mobile learning, they have serious reservations about how they (as telecom service providers) can leverage their own networks. I often point to some simple facts. Each of their employees carries a cell phone and is connected to the network 24 hours a day.

Mobile Learning 189

Mobile Learning Mobile Diversity Training Network 189

Upside Learning

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

Trawling through my feeds earlier this weeks I came across this link-up post by Ricard Nantel over at the Workplace Learning Blog pointing to a blog post on Harvard Business Publishing about six social media trends. Worth a quick recount: 1. Social media begins to look less social. 2. Corporations look to scale. 3. Social business becomes serious play. 4.

Social Media 186

Social Media Media Social Trends 186

Upside Learning

DECEMBER 8, 2009

Jane Hart released the final list of top 100 tools for learning 2009 last month. It’s been created based on responses from 278 learning professionals worldwide and has taken several months to compile. The Top 10 Tools are: 1. Twitter. 2. Delicious. 3. YouTube. 4. Google Reader. 5. Google Docs. 6. Wordpress. 7. Slideshare. 8. Google Search.

Google Docs 178

Google Docs Slideshare Tools PLE 178

Upside Learning

APRIL 15, 2009

There’s been some buzz around Augmented Reality applications that are starting to show up on the web. BMW, GE and Toyota already have this technology at work on their websites. The video from BMW below shows an example where procedural knowledge is embedded within the objects and tools required for the procedure. There are varied ways this type of technology could be used for learning; one immediate application is being able to embed sophisticated training content into the objects and environmen

Augmented Reality 178

Augmented Reality Flash Embed Web 178

Upside Learning

NOVEMBER 17, 2009

Note: This is a self-promotional post. Mobile Learning has finally come of age. It’s been on the horizon for many years, but now with bandwidth available for mobiles & the devices themselves are becoming more capable to start competing with computers in processing capabilities, it’s finally here! We believe mobile learning has the potential to truly become anywhere, anytime, for anyone learning.

Mobile Learning 176

Mobile Learning Mobile Skills Courseware 176

Upside Learning

OCTOBER 21, 2009

More companies are looking to challenge Amazon Kindle’s hegemony in the eBook market. Sony has been in the fray for quite some time. Barnes and Noble made it clear several months ago that it too had designs on this market. Yesterday it released its dedicated eBook reader called the ‘Nook’ in New York city. The device has many features that distinguish it from the Kindle, including a color touch screen for control, and the use of the Google Android operating system.

eBook 176

eBook Blended Learning eLearning Innovation 176

Upside Learning

DECEMBER 28, 2009

From Wikipedia – Microlearning deals with relatively small learning units and short-term learning activities. Generally, the term ‘microlearning’ refers to micro-perspectives in the context of learning, education and training. More frequently, the term is used in the domain of E-learning and related fields in the sense of a new paradigmatic perspective on learning processes in mediated environments on micro levels.

Blended Learning 174

Blended Learning Virtual Classroom Wiki Examples 174

Upside Learning

AUGUST 31, 2009

In the fifty years since, his thoughts (Reaction, Learning, Behavior, and Results) have gone on to evolve into the legendary Kirkpatrick’s Four Level Evaluation Model and become the basis on which learning & development departments can show the value of training to the business. How has the model evolved over fifty years, is it still relevant? As designers of learning, have we applied the model with Don’s intent?

Kirkpatrick 174

Kirkpatrick Metrics eLearning Consultant Evalution 174

Upside Learning

DECEMBER 24, 2009

1. Meaning Tool: Training Semantic Search With Feeds. Meaning Tool is a semantic engine that offers users a chance to extract concepts from text using specific semantic trees. You define your categories of interest by creating search parameters and training them with related websites or RSS feeds. A great tool to see how semantic trees can help search. 2.

Simulations 174

Simulations eLearning Social Media Captivate 174