The Learned Man!

Anil Mammen on Writing for e-Learning

Harry Calhoun has written a nice piece for TrainingMag titled, "Why is writing for e-learning different?"

This article was of particular interest to me because it takes into consideration the views of Anil Mammen of Mumbai-based Tata Interactive Systems and Saul Carliner of Montreal's Concordia University.

Anil Mammen in his current role as Sr. Instructional Design Consultant at Tata Interactive has also been writing for their corporate blog. You can check out some of his excellent short pieces by clicking here.

Jay Sitaram - Second Time Lucky?

New interview by CIOL with Jay Sitaram, founder of Praxis Technologies, an e-Learning start up based out of Mumbai.

A little background on Jay -

• Met Maurice Haeems while pursuing his graduation at VJTI in Mumbai.
• Enrolled for his MBA course at Wharton School of Business
• Subsequently teamed up with Haeems to launch Mentorix -- an e-learning company – in 2001.
• The concept of e-learning was not yet popular in Indian market, but Sitaram went all out and turned Mentorix into a success.
• Two years later, Lionbridge Technologies bought out the company for approximately $21 million. Sitaram joined Lionbridge as a general manager & vice president (India).
• Itching for adventure again, so he quit Lionbridge Mentorix and founded Praxis Technologies with Haeems (again).

The interesting part in the interview for me was when Jay is talking about e-Learning companies in India not working with each other. The Learned Man! wrote about this in a previous post titled: "Marketing Indian eLearning: Crabs in a Bucket"

And here is Jay's take on the issue, taken from the CIOL interview:

"Sadly, most of the players in India spend more time battling each other. We often go to e-learning forums in the US to get customers. We are not sharing of ideas across companies, I don't know whether Wipro and Infosys sit across the table and talk to each other. But it may be useful to us, to get together as a group and brainstorm as to what is good for the industry. People in the industry seem to be more focused on their operations trying to eek out a decent living." - Jay Sitaram

Educational Gaming

Rob Reynolds of xplanazine has kicked off a new series on 'Gaming in Education' and in the first installment he discusses the basic differences between gaming and simulations. Well worth a read for all those of you involved in simulations and gaming in the learning/educational context.

Analysis of US Corporate Learning & Development

Bersin have launched "The Corporate Learning Factbook", a new study on the US learning market. Bersin claims that "The Corporate Learning Factbook® is the US training industry's most complete and comprehensive study of corporate training budgets, spending, delivery volumes, staffing, and trends."
They are charging $595 a pop for this report and unfortunately as that amount translates into a whole lot of money when converted into Indian Rupees, I have decided to rely on my friends at Kineo for their take-aways from this study.

According to Bersin the US learning market is worth $46.6bn.

The study provides quantitatively-supported analysis on trends shaping the US learning market. Findings include:

• The corporate learning market grew by 5% in 2005, with fastest-growing spending rates in the technology and retail sectors. Spending increases by small and medium-sized businesses (6 to 6.5%) were double those of large enterprises (approximately 3%).
• The biggest percentage of program dollars go to management and leadership training, rated as a first or second priority by 37% of respondents. These investments are fueled by succession planning and the need to develop new and mid-level management talent.
• Spending per employee varies widely, depending on industry sector and company size. The spectrum ranges from $4,000 per employee in business services to $200 in retail. The average per learner expenditure is $1,412.
• LMS spending is typically 3 to 7% of an organisation's total training expenditures. Consolidation of LMSs is a significant trend, with 26% of large enterprises consolidating or reducing the number of LMSs within their organizations over the last year. One-third plan to consolidate in the next 12 months.
• The adoption of virtual classroom technology is high in most sectors. The study found that 60% of respondents are now using virtual classes as part of corporate training.
• One-third of training groups report staff increases over last year. One-half say staffing resources have remained unchanged, and just 13% have reduced staff size.

Dear LMS.....Regards, Elliot

You may have spoken to your plant, but how intimate have you really gotten with your LMS? From an article in CLO, Elliot Masie would like you to have a heart to heart with your LMS. Here is his wish list to help you along:

1. LMS, I want you to be able to personalize and target invitations to learn for each of our employees based on current projects, performance goals and critical events in our business.
2. LMS, I want you to create a "dashboard" for each manager that highlights, in real time, how their teams are learning.
3. LMS, I want you to be our Compliance Tracking System. As rules and regulations change, inform our employees and customers and offer updated learning modules.
4. LMS, I want you to integrate into our Social Networking Systems. Sometimes, the source of knowledge is not a class but rather a conversation with a colleague down the hall with the exact right experience.
5. LMS, I want you to observe the learning styles of our workforce and offer learning options appropriate for each employee, content domain and situation.
6. LMS, I want you to get ready for more Extreme Learning. Let us use you to leverage the power of PodCasting, Wikis, Blogs and other emerging content models.
7. LMS, I want you to become part of our browser. As associates do their work, they should be able to click on a button and interact with the LMS for content, context, future learning needs and collaboration.
8. LMS, I want you to be more integrated with our business objectives. As we roll out new products, change our strategy, realign our workforce or add new customers, you need to be hooked into the process in real time.
9. LMS, I want you to work with a wider range of devices. Our workforce is moving towards less time in front of a desktop or laptop and more interaction with PDAs and mobile devices.
10. LMS, I want you to handle the growing use of content at the object level. Business is moving fast and often, the learning needs are small: just a chunk of the right content, now! Stop calling that a non-completion. It is a learning moment and a success.
11. LMS, I want to have access to more reusable content. Part of the promise of the LMS and SCORM was reusable and sharable content. I want our organization to be able to access more content internally and in external affiliations. Where does Open Source content fit into your future?
12. LMS, I want you to be able to create portable learning digital transcripts for our employees. When someone leaves our company, they should be able to take a digital record of their learning history and certifications.
13. LMS, I want you to work closer with your cousins, Document Management and Knowledge Management. The three of you are deeply connected in terms of our business strategy but I rarely see you hanging out together or even talking to each other.
14. LMS, I want you to keep track of how valuable other employees found each learning offering. Just like Amazon, some of your best value will be in sharing peer reviews of content.
15. LMS, I want you to facilitate multi-language learning. Some of our employees speak English quite well, but learn best in their native tongue.
16. LMS, I want you to be able to facilitate informal learning. When I send someone to a conference, hire a coach, buy a set of books or make a development assignment, you don’t seem that interested. Remember, most corporate learning is informal.
17. LMS, I want you to become part of our Emergency Management Plan. When a crisis hits, I’d like to be able to turn to you find competencies and to deliver extremely rapid content.
18. LMS, I want you to provide a macro-assessment of how the organization is approaching learning investments, bench marked with other similar organizations around the world.