The Learned Man | eLearning Blog

Are e-Learning Employees Humans?

Asim Chowdhury continues to enlighten and regale us with his somewhat caustic style of writing. His articles, I am sure, have managed to stike a chord with loads of eLearning folks and even if they haven't you wont be left without a smile! Asim probably would make the perfect 'union leader' in an eLearning company.

Sample these:

Of Project Managers And Staged Shows
The 8 Hour Shift That Never Is
Are e-Learning Employees Getting A Raw Deal?

Andheri-Kurla Road, Mumbai: e-Learning Hub Of India

I recently came across this post (someone very frustrated with the Saki-Naka traffic) on the NDTV Blogs network that has inspired me to write this...!

This below is a satellite image taken from Google Maps. Click to see expanded view.

 

You can see the Tata Interactive Systems Offices marked on this. I am sure a lot of you must have thought about the fact that this road, on and around, houses to my knowledge, 6 well known eLearning companies - TATA Interactive Systems, Hurix, Praxis, LearningMate, Lionbridge, Aptech As someone who works in the area, it completely beats me as to why this has happened!

We also have it on good word that Praxis CEO Jay Sitaram works out at a gym bang in the centre of this crazy road - one question for you Jay - How often do you really go to the gym??

The traffic conditions in this part have got to be the nastiest in Mumbai, good accomodation close to these offices is hard to come by and the rents are killing! Yet thousands of people come to work here and hundreds more apply from all parts of the country every single day! And lets not even get into the attrition and job-hopping that the HR guys of these companies have to deal with because of this!

'Better To Sell Peanuts On The Roadside'

Now this is something I can relate to very well...from elearningpost:

"Yesterday I had to give a presentation - a pitch actually - to the director of training of a very large organization for developing an e-learning course. Here's what happened:

PLAN: this guy, being a director, would be strategic in thinking. He would want to know about the benefits of the course and the design and how to make it all work. Right?

THE PITCH: collaboration and decision-making are key. E-learning needs to be made meaningful, and by that we mean social and interesting. Learners want to see different perspectives from the ground-level not subject-matter level... and so on. Basically trying to paint the e-learning 2.0 picture without using any of the jargon.

OUTCOME: After half an hour, he says, "Can you show me animations with smooth transitions? The last vendor showed some nifty ones."

It's situations like these that make me want to pull my hair out. Screw all this e-learning bit; better to sell peanuts on the roadside. At least I'll retain the dignity of having decent conversations. "

Click here to read the complete post.

"Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee": Clark Vs. Masie

Wow, I was trudging through Technorati and came up this gem of an exchange! Allow me to fill you in..

Sometime back I wrote about Donald Clark's review of Elliot Masie's Learning 2005 event. Donald reviewed this event in his inimitable style, adding his inimitable touches of humour, sarcasm, cynicism and what not to the review. Bloggers loved it, but I'm guessing Elliot Masie did not.

So when fellow blogger Clive Shepherd posted some stuff about Donald Clark, Elliot was on it in no time, leaving behind a bait for Donald in the form of a comment which went, "Hi.. Elliott Masie here. Interesting that Donald Clark's BLOG does not allow responses. So, I guess when he attacks someone, he really does not want interaction. I sense that his version of Blogsphere is Meanosphere..."

Clive then fanned the flames further by offering to pass that comment on to the Donald.  Finally Donald took the bait and came back to say, "..Happy to interact Elliot. You should have my email address, as I've paid for, and attended, your events in Florida for years..."

Priceless!

(The Learned Man! sincerely hopes that all is well now and that Donald and Elliot have kissed and made up!)

Life as an Indian Instructional Designer

Fellow blogger Asim Choudhury has penned some thoughts on 'Life as an Indian Instructional Designer".

I thought this was rather funny, though bleak. If any of you is an ID and reading this, please write in your comments, I am extremely eager to know your views...!

For the time being I am reproducing here a paragraph from Asim's piece which I doubt will win any literary awards but which I am sure all of you will agree is hilarious:

"...The monetary aspect of a career in ID appears tempting but lacks meat. While industry gurus vouch that IDs can notch up a scale anything between Rs 20k to 1 lakh a month, the reality is something else. IDs have a saturation point beyond with they turn into a liability because of the remuneration. This is the time when organization dump IDs like a fly in a bowl of soup. The result: IDs have to start analyzing their skill-sets and looking for opportunities in other fields. But do they stand a chance there? Wonder!..."

Additional: You may be interested in reading this article titled: Instructional Designers - A Growing Breed or Career Path for Instructional Designers

Donald Trump & eLearning Projects

Here's a guy who can apply learnings from "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and "The Apprentice" to eLearning projects. And when he tells you why you should treat your learners like a dog you know this guy is funny!

Trot over to the e-Musings section at The ELearning Guild for more of his whacky eLearning humour! 

Responding To RFP's

Read this hilarious post on the agony and ecstacy of responding to RFP's. Have a great weekend!

eLearning Business Translator!!

Try out this crazy "eLearning Business Translator" to convert Buyer speak into vendor speak and vise versa...As a vendor this one really took the piss out of me.........what can I say!!

"What Difference Does It Make Where The Graphic Is Located?"

Reality Check - a monthly look at the humorous side of e-learning. Contributed by I.D, an anonymous instructional designer. This months column takes potshots at ego maniacal IT managers. And if you liked that one, go ahead and read "When Is An Hour Not An Hour?" by the same anonymous instructional designer.