The Boggs e-Learning Chronicle

73% of All Adults in the US use the Internet

Pew Internet and American Life Project reported survey data that  shows  Internet penetration among adults in the U.S. has hit an all-time high of 73% (about 147 million adults) are Internet users, which is up slightly from 66% (about 133 million adults) from 2005.

The share of Americans who have broadband connections at home has now reached 42% (about 84 million), up from 29% (about 59 million) in January 2005.

Internet Penetration and Impact

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

TechLearn Interview, Q & A Session with Sarah Fraser

Check out my interview on TechLearn by Sarah Fraser,   SyberWorks CEO Stress Needs Assessment Prior to LMS Selection

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

Snapshot of e-Learning Industry For 2006

Inside Knowledge magazine has a PDF out, State of the Art: E-Learning 2006

The report echos many of the same findings in other reports that have been generated this year. For example they discuss the maturing of the e-Learning / learning management systems industry; the consolidation its experiencing; the challenge of developing the right metrics to evaluate e-Learning programs; and other issues.  Its only 5 pages.  If you have not managed to catch any of the other reports I have posted so far this year,  its a pretty quick read and it covers a fairly good bit of ground.

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

Do Training Professionals Need a Certification Body Behind Them for Credibility's Sake? Or Does Branding Have Anything to Do With It?

Godfrey Parkin had a very interesting post on the training profession in regard to whether it is even considered a profession any more .  He poses many  questions but one in particular about whether they need some sort of certifying body behind them.  He also discusses the ramifications of certifications and how they can be used by corporations as a screening mechanism.

I can see his point to a certain extent, but unfortunately, corporations need and want to have  standards and certifications are a way to do that, but whether it works in the the training profession, I am not sure.

So much of training or being a good live trainer has alot to do with communication and connection skills with an audience.  There is a fair amount of salesmanship involved as well.  I would think a good trainer creates his or her own personal brand---and how does that get translated through a certification, not sure. 

I think the really hard thing is to translate that personal/company trainer brand through e-Learning.   Branding on the Internet is a whole other nut than in the traditional marketing world.  On the Internet, the brand is translated through the user's experience with the web site.

So applying this to corporate training/i.e. a training business, its the experience of the learner that works to create the trainer's brand or the corporate training's brand. 

Beyond Certification

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

What's up with Web 2.0?

If you think Learning Management Systems & e-Learning Solutions is heady stuff, take a look at this, ......For those of you interested in the Web 2.0 intiative, here is an article by Dion Hinchcliffe;   

The State of Web 2.0

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

A Look at e-Learning & Digital Publishing As It Relates to a University's "Publish or Perish" Syndrome

For those interested in e-Learning from a university or academic perspective:

eLearning and Digital Publishing (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) by Hsianghoo Steve Ching (Editor), Paul W.T. Poon (Editor), Carmel Mc Naught (Editor)

Description: " Our universities are facing immense pressures from within because of the increase in the ‘publish or perish’ syndrome. There are severe budgetary demands on university libraries attempting to enable access to this increasing avalanche of information. University teaching also needs to prepare graduates for a rapidly changing and connected world. This book explores the role of technology in this challenging scenario. Technology is portrayed as part contributor to the challenges higher education faces, and also part contributor to the solutions we need to explore. This book is not a ‘doom and gloom’ exposition but is forward-looking, offering fresh insights and new strategies for understanding the nature of scholarly communication in higher education. In this book there are three threads that are constantly intertwined – information literacy, eLearning and digital publishing – with information literacy acting as the glue that connects eLearning and digital publishing. This book was designed to occupy a unique niche in the literature accessed by library and publishing specialists, and by university teachers and planners. It examines the interfaces between the work done by these four groups of university staff who have been in the past quite separate from, or only marginally related to, each other. Yet all four groups are directly and intimately connected with the main functions of universities – the creation, management and dissemination of knowledge in a scholarly and reflective manner. The structure of the book has three main sections: the first has primarily an educational focus, the second a focus on digital publishing, and the third builds on the first two sections to examine overall implications for the growth of knowledge and scholarly communication. This collection brings perspectives (in alphabetical order) from Australia, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China, Singapore, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States of America. Various chapters, therefore, examine the central concerns with different lenses. Our ability to understand the extent of the shifts that are occurring in modern universities, and still need to occur in the next few years, relies on our ability to synthesize ideas and experiences from a wide range of university staff. This is just what we hope this book offers.  "

Dave Boggss
SyberWorks

Business Processes & e-Learning

Tom Karrer had an interesting post on his e-Learning Technology blog, Business Process Management instead of Learning

"Out of the workflow conference last week, one of the points that really got me to think was that as you begin to create your process flows, you start to find:

* Many process steps that are currently done by people turn can often be automated, e.g., who should get this information, document, etc. next.

* Much of what we train inside coporations are how to perform process steps that only need training because we haven't done a good job from a process standpoint (right information available, clear next steps). Once you do this, much of the training becomes trivial."

Sure business processes could always be better documented.  Organizations can always do a better job with procedure, process, and rationale.  e-Learning and online training are just part of the solution and serve the solution.

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

Managing and Motivating Online Learners Using Group Activities

Here is a great little page, while its dated, has some very good basic info and guidelines on how to manage and motivate using e-Learning group activities.

Managing—and Motivating!—Distance Learning Group Activities by Barbara Millis

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

Free Report on the Future of e-Learning

The eLearning Guild put out a research report on the  Future Directions in e-Learning. The research comes from a survey of its  20,800 members worldwide.

The eLearning Guild Publishes 'Future Directions in e-Learning Research Report 2006'

You have sign up to be a free associate member of the the e-Learning Guild to get it.  The report has been posted in the Guild Research Archive as a FREE SAMPLE so all Free Associate members will also have access to it.

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks

It takes real skill and a solid plan to heard cats.....

Here is an article, Building A Better Workforce  It talks about how to build an organization by recruiting and retaining top talent.

Dave Boggs
SyberWorks