eLearning To-Do for Banking & Financial Institutions In India

Banking and Financial Institutions in India, comes on top when we talk about the industries who have realized the true benefits of e-Learning, in recent times. 

This industry is seriously investing their time and budgets into it and I am very sure they have also realized the ROI as well. 

I think now is the time we can talk about level next, where we can get deeper into it and further optimize the efforts by fulfilling the gaps, which we left unknowingly. 

Learning Technologies:

 - Learning Management Systems 

 - Assessment Engines

 - Tablet Learning Enablement 

Learning Content

 - Instructionally Treated Content 

 - Compliance Trainings 

 - Learning Games

 - Scenario Based Learning

 - Flash or HTML5

 - Rapid Authoring tools, when and why?

 - Off-the-Shelf or Custom eLearning  

Learning Enhancements 

 - Social Learning 

 - Mobile Learning 

 - Enterprise Knowledge Retention

[I'll be covering all of these points quickly within this blog post one by one]

   

TOP 10 MUST READ ELEARNING BLOGS #EDTECH | TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED LEARNING BLOG

eLearning Industry have produced a list of ‘top 10′ must-read blogs for you – Top 10 Must Read eLearning Blogs - and yours truly has made it to the bottom of the highly respectable list along with friends Ryan Tracey, Jane Hart, Jane Bozarth, Cathy Moore, etc.

If you haven’t already checked out the list and the other entries, then please take a few moments now … !

via Top 10 Must Read eLearning Blogs #edtech | Technology Enhanced Learning Blog.

HOW TO BUILD EFFECTIVE ONLINE TRAINING – THE RAPID ELEARNING BLOG

Where’s the Learning in Online Training?

We have a definition problem. Not everything we call “elearning” is about learning. We buy an “elearning” application to build our “courses” so we end up calling everything an elearning course. But the reality is that the elearning applications let us build interactive multimedia content that may or may not have the objective of learning.

via How to Build Effective Online Training – The Rapid eLearning Blog. 

DIGITAL CONTENT DEVELOPMENT FOR MEDICAL, ALLIED HEALTH AND NURSING EDUCATION

• There has been a surge in enrolment in nursing courses. More than 600 schools have launched “R.N. to B.S.N.” programs.
• The serious shortage of faculty in nursing and allied health education.
• Technology has led to significant changes in higher education, especially in how learners access learning.
•  There is a widening gap between the availability of allied health workers and the demand for their services in the US.
• Time to market is critical.

via Digital Content Development for Medical, Allied Health and Nursing education.

Dear Pharmaceutical, Please Take your Tablet on Time!

Pharma & Healthcare Industry has always been identified among the top adopters of innovative & meaningful learning technologies and similar trend is now being observed for the 'Tablet / iPAD based Learning' too. 

I am really impressed to see some of the business use case, these people come up with and always ready to invest their time & money in it with all faith on the positiveness of the outcome. 

As 'Tablets' are considered to be the life savers and so as in L&D function too, Tablet / iPad devices have solved many deadlock issues for the Pharmaceutical & Healthcare industry.

Reaching to a wider audience & keeping them enageged with your most recent update is the thing on which this industry spends whooping almost 1/3rd of their sales revenues!! 

So to optimize or increase the ROI of this spend was a key challenge for the leading players, however recently some of the serious organizations have leveraged Tablet devices very efficiently for their sales reps, medical reps and medical practitioners. They have been successfully found the way working for them finally. 

From L&D perspective, if I really keep it short and tell you, what they have done is nothing but the below 3 things: 

1. eBook out of PDFs/PPTs/DOCs etc 

2. Explored Tablet based App Potentials - specially for live updates 

3. Adoption of Platform Agnostic Format / HTML5       

True eLearning Device - Tablet 7" - 10"

With the lot of research on finding out the ideal device to adopt to deliver the elearning content to various types of learning audience for all types of training types, we could arrive to a point where we can see Tablets solving the problem. 

You may go ahead with any specific vendor from here onwards...say Apple-iPAD, Samsung-Galaxy or MS-Windows or anything else exists in this world; it would not really matter much. 

A. Learning Audience: they can come from kindergarden, senior secondary, Colleges, Universities, Corporate Universities, VET, Professional Ed, On-Job trainings, etc. 

B. Training Areas: Content can be of any nature softskills, technical, Compliance, Inductions, Product Trainings, Process Trainings, and what not.

C. Module types: it can simple courses, learning games, scenarios based learning modules, Simulations, 2D/ 3D Animations, Virtual Tours, Virtual Classrooms, Video based elearning content, Knowledge checks, Assessments, and anything remains.     

Considering ABCs of learning domain, Tablet based learning is coming up as an impact. 

Adoption of these devices are fastest in the history of any technology devices. 

On top of all these favorable points about tablets, one has a choice to deliever the content in multiple formats, say web based modules, native app based applications or as a hybrid app.

  

Actually, Mobile learning is not...

Mobile learning is not about designing and developing the learning content as per the mobile devices or ipad or tablets... 

I have been observing this for quite sometime now, people are getting misguided by some impatient immature.

I was talking to one of my prospective clients, who reached out to me in response to my campaign I sent out last week on mobile learning enablement; I was understanding the scenario n their elearning plans for the year. N was stuck when she (prospective clients) said 'they want us to create content for ipad as they want to do mlearning too'. I realized and we spent next 15 minutes on a discussion which led to this statement.. 'I want to create content for my users who are mobile, possibly they will access the learning on ipad or their own smart phone.'

Point is in having a clarity on what we really want to achieve when we wish to grow with technology.

If you proceed with the first objective statement i.e., designing elearning for ipad... You are yourself giving a birth to a new problem... Are you really sure that nothing gonna come after ipad as a device? Apple is very much open to come with say something like i****..which can be another revolutionary device or platform and highly useful for elearning... Then what.. Are you going to again redo and design the ipad course as per new technology available....? Seems training budgets are not assigned to the LnD division but to the elearning vendor revenue account.

Imagine now, if objective statement is second one i.e., designing elearning for learners who are mobile... That means forever these learners would be able to learn what your are delivering irrespective of what Apple, Google or Microsoft or anyone else are launching tomorrow.

Elearning industry is preparing itself for future proof content, at least for next 5 years your content should be insured.

Platform Agnostic eLearning Content

Should you really care about the constantly evolving browsers & devices and their combinations? 

Android : 

Since April 2009, 9-Android versions have been released: Cupcake (1.5), Donut (1.6), Eclair (2.0–2.1), Froyo (2.2–2.2.3), Gingerbread (2.3–2.3.7), Honeycomb (3.0–3.2.6), Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0–4.0.4), Jelly Bean (4.1–4.3), and KitKat (4.4). On 3 September 2013 Google announced that 1 billion activated devices now use the Android OS worldwide.

Windows:  

1987 - Windows 2.0

1990 - Windows 3.0

1995 - Windows 95

1998 - Windows 98

2000 - Windows ME

2001 - Windows XP

2006 - Windows Vista

2009 - Windows 7

2012 - Windows 8

iOS:

2007 - iOS 1.x

2008 - iOS 2.x

2009 - iOS 3.x

2010 - iOS 4.x

2011 - iOS 5.x

2012 - iOS 6.x

2013 - iOS 7.x

I am now tired of taking this info from Wikipedia, point I am trying to make is this is endless. 

Similar thing is happening in the space of browsers, IT /Telecom hardware - computers, laptops, palmtops, Mac machines, mobile devices, tablets, Smartphone, Phablets....nothing is standardized or formalized.

When we see this changing technology (means of travel for elearning), we are really concerned every now and then that, now how my learning material would reach out to my audience who is sitting somewhere into these versions & combinations?

I rather see it as a phenomenon of technology and something you will not be able to control ever, so the best way to deal with situations is to 'take benefit' of it.

And I am sure some of us have already started enjoying this game unlike many other at 'wait & watch' policy.

After a lot of debates and our scientific researches where we talked about Designing - responsive & adaptive/ reflow-able content, BYOD and what not!

I can see the concept of ‘Platform Agnostic’ working well after all this to cater to the current challenges and future too.

A Single source of content, designed & developed as per the best practices of reflow-able framework, in a futuristic technology say HTML5, can really be the best way to have peaceful sleep in these times, at least until some unexpected happens otherwise.

I just wanted to share this much today and possibly will pick up from here next time.  

HTML5: Having Training for Mobile Learners, 5 Reasons

HTML5: Having Training for Mobile Learners, 5 Reasons .....this just clicked in my mind when I was reading an interesting article on the learning technologies transformation on one of the popular website couple of days back. 

I have been hearing this for quite sometime now, everyday you must also be having at least 8-10 emails from various sources, claiming to be the indigenous and bragging about this technology and it's implications on learning and training industry. Not devaluing anyone of them but it just don't help the recipient in any way.  

Reason is, they are making this world too complicated and frightening the people unnecessarily with flash & HTML5 game. 

Since last 2 odd years, don't you think we have discussed too much on the pros and cons of both these technologies....we started with the visual experiences, then device & OS support, then Responsive & Adaptive Designings, iPAD/Tablet era, Mobile Learning trends, and what not.   

I am not going to write anything great today but just would try to keep it simple, as simple as my expansion of the abbreviation HTML5 above. 

I may not sound great technologically but even then it would make some sense to you, as the intention is to help and to pull helpless! 

Here You Go with my simple 5 reasons on having HTML5:

1. HTML5 is like water...75% of your body (eLearning mix) should be made of it, else you are not healthy (training ROI). 

2. HTML5 is like Oxygen in Air (you may see Flash is Nitrogen) .....al though Nitrogen is 78% and Oxygen is just 21%....even then it is essential. [it's not about what is less seen or found is not popular or not needed] 

3. Origin of Flash is from Future+Splash, and it has actually splashed the future of eLearning...and HTML5 has come out of that splash, which is future. HTML is a 22 year old, well matured young, enthusiastic & energetic technology. 

4. HTML & Flash are almost like Google & Microsoft now ...choice is yours...both works well, but even then you pick one over another...I know, I don't have to be that dumb to help you choose. 

5. HTML5 & Flash decision is not at all about the iPAD/iOS or tablet or mobile based learning....it's a way beyond platforms. If someone comes to you telling that you should adopt HTML/HTML5 because it is best way to enable mLearning or first step to your mobile learning initiatives...please beware of such half cooked stuff, as consumption may lead to indigestion! 

Hope I have helped you gain some confident information on HTML5 buzz.  :)