A Note from the CEO
As 2002 comes to a close, we are all reminded of those parts
of life that are important to us - family, friends, and great
memories. Make sure to make time during the Holiday season for these
- the New Year will be upon us before we know it!
Unlike this time last year, we have seen much new activity on the
Learning Technology front. One consistent observation from
associates in the business - everyone is being thoughtful about what
they do and they are much more educated about how to get it done.
The companies that are proceeding now with a deliberate path to
embedding Learning Technology in the way they do business will come
out of the blocks strong in 2003. Our hats off to you!
What do we do? rapidLD provides consulting services focused in
the learning industry. Our consulting offerings evolve around four
Customer questions:
1) Where do I start? (Strategy
and Business Plan Development),
2) Who do I
partner with? (Vendor Analysis and Selection),
3)
How do I maximize my investment? (Deployment) and
4) Am I getting the most out of my current tools?
(Optimization).
If you think that we might collaborate
on one of these topics and want more information, edit your
Interests (at the bottom of the page) and we will send you more
information.
We have seen many customers realize fabulous benefits from
learning technologies. We hope that you have that same success!
Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season!!
Visit our Home
on the Web!
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Dear Guest,
Welcome to rapidLD's December issue of The eLearning
evolution (e2). As we look toward 2003 we see
some exciting developments in eLearning tools and
technologies. We look forward to keeping you informed.
Enjoy the Holidays...and refer a friend!
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Liquid Learning Content |
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 Where Learning Content is Heading
By Charles
A. Breeding
Field Editor, ASTD Links and
Jeff
Katzman
Product Manager, Avaltus
Excerpted with
permission.
Successful companies understand that harnessing critical
corporate content is vital to the effectiveness of their
learning strategy. In order for companies to stay competitive
in today's fast changing business climate, companies will have
the need to quickly edit and reuse legacy content in order to
deliver mission critical information when and where it is
needed.
Most knowledge assets are sitting in dusty
databases somewhere, not accessible to those that need it WHEN
they need it. Unfortunately, knowledge workers today spend
approximately HALF of their time looking for information. This
[inefficiency] costs US businesses $1.4 trillion per year
(International Data Corporation).
Learning content
that is authored in proprietary software makes it difficult to
reuse, edit, or create learning objects. While content and its
delivery medium are intrinsically linked (content needs a
medium to be expressed), they are also separate. The "holy
grail" of content management is to enable a single piece of
content to be delivered to any user in any language on any
device, anytime, anywhere.
The value of content is
measured by how easy it is to use. Liquidity of content is a
concept that captures aspects of immediacy, flexibility, and
pliability of content. The more liquid content is, the easier
it is to reuse, access, edit, and publish. Most existing
content is trapped in a proprietary format that binds the
content to a particular viewer and editor. Converting legacy
content to XML makes the content liquid and therefore, easy to
reuse in different contexts destined for a variety of display
formats.
Those that are responsible for designing and
developing training content and managing knowledge assets are
the beneficiaries [of the conversion of content to a 'liquid'
form], often with time reductions of 40-75% simply because of
reuse due to liquid characteristics of content.
For
the full text article from ASTD on 'Liquid Content', click
here>>
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What Went Wrong? |
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 Understanding How Your eLearning Initiatives Went
Awry in 2002
Wowed by the demonstration? Wooed by features and
functions? Swayed by the promises? You're not alone. Many
organizations have committed to eLearning only to have less
than stellar results. Here are some helpful tips to help you
when things have gone awry:
1. Revisit Your Learning
Strategy
Was the initial business case clearly defined
with agreed upon objectives? Perhaps you originally intended
to reduce travel costs using WBT, when in fact the material is
more suited to Instructor Led training. Can you incorporate
both online and Instructor Led training to better reach the
end goal and still capitalize on the investment? Revisiting
your Learning Strategy may be the solution.
2. Reset
Expectations
Were realistic expectations set? eLearning
platforms are robust providing comprehensive management tools.
Mapping the implementation of these tools to learning and
business goals is essential to success. A Technology Roadmap
can help set the right course in identifying the People,
Processes and Technologies required over a set period of time
to support learning objectives. Reset expectations on what
your organization can realistically achieve in a reasonable
time period. Gain Executive Level support for these
expectations and measure against these new
metrics.
3. Salvage the Technology
The
investment is made and there's no turning back, at least not
in the foreseeable future. Can you salvage the Technology
platform, or perhaps pieces? Depending upon the overall goals
for the project, most learning platforms have similar features
that can be customized to meet general training requirements.
Technology is only a piece of the puzzle. A Deployment Plan
will take into consideration the requirements for
implementation, training, integration, and customization. It
will also incorporate a long-term marketing communications
plan.
It is important to realize that all is not lost.
A clearer Strategy, Technology Roadmap or Deployment Plan
might be just what you need to get things back on track.
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What's COOL...What's
HOT... |
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 SoftSim by OutStart
How do I create custom content for software training
that is cost effective, easily updated, engaging and
interactive?
Answering questions like this is
rapidLD's specialty. One such vendor, OutStart, offers a
notable solution for custom content creation and is featured
as our Cool Tool this Month.
Traditionally, creating
custom content has been cost-prohibitive and very time
consuming. Many of today's leading technology vendors have
been looking for ways to quickly develop custom software
training, while limiting the overall investment.
OutStart hit a homerun this year by addressing these
needs with their SoftSim product. In September, SoftSim was
announced a Gold Winner in the Innovative Technology category
at the Online Learning 2002 Conference and Expo in Anaheim,
California. The judges highlighted SoftSim's "speed and
effectiveness of developing software simulations" as being
particularly noteworthy.
SoftSim 3.0 is a robust and
easy to use software simulation tool that enables the
development of interactive browser-based simulations,
training, documentation, and tutorials. These different
outputs increase software users' speed to proficiency by
showing them exactly what steps to take when using a software
application or following a related process. This occurs in a
simulated environment of the software application, allowing
users to try new functions or test their competency on the
application, without risking errors in the live environment.
SoftSim is a great tool for companies that are implementing,
customizing or upgrading an enterprise application and would
like to quickly update their training to reflect the upgraded
production environment.
SoftSim is a simple yet
powerful tool that will allow you to quickly publish software
training while greatly reducing your custom development costs.
rapidLD helps clients identify learning technology
partners that offer quality products and processes that align
with learning strategies and accomplish training goals. If you
have a technology or vendor question, send it along.
Visit the
OutStart website to learn more about this power simulation
tool called SoftSim >>
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Let's Get Personal |
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Did you know you can receive personalized supplements
to the eLearning evolution?
Click on edit
your interests at the bottom of this email and select
Consulting Tools within your 'Areas of Interest'. Each
month you'll automatically receive a link to a consulting tool
that can add value to your training projects. Included are
directions on how to use the tool in your business.
But Note - you only get the link if you select 'Consulting
Tools' when you 'edit your interests'. So click on edit
your interests now to 'get Personal' with rapidLD!
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rapidLD eLearning evolution (e2)
Overview |
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If you haven't been to our web site recently, check out
the latest updates, including the new eLearning evolution
(e2) overview.
More
info>>
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