ASTD's Learning Circuits Express - 21 September issue

TrainingZone

ASTD’s Learning Circuits Express – 21 September issue

By TrainingZone

Learning Circuits Express is an information service provided by Learning Circuits, ASTD’s online magazine about e-learning.

IN THIS ISSUE:
1. New! ASTD’s New E-Learning Roadmap Debuts at TechKnowledge(sm) 2000
2. E-Learning's Global Migration
3. Promote Your Learning Investment
4. E-Learning Rivals Lay Claim to Norway
5. Crank Up Your Online Presentations
6. Free Download: E-Learning Scorecard
7. E-Learning Just Gets Better!

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1. NEW! ASTD’S NEW E-LEARNING ROADMAP DEBUTS AT TECHKNOWLEDGE(SM) 2000

How do you bring e-learning into your organization? ASTD can help with that “Where do I start?” challenge.

We’ve developed a free, comprehensive guide for developing a successful e-learning initiative and envision the process as a five-legged journey, complete with steps you need to take to make your e-learning project a success.
Leg 1: The Journey Begins
Leg 2: Shifting Into High Gear
Leg 3: Choose Road Buddies
Leg 4: The Fast Lane
Leg 5: The Journey Continues.

Start your journey at our new online E-Learning Supercommunity; there you’ll find print and online resources, tools, events, and the ASTD Roadmap for E-Learning.

GO TO: http://www.astd.org/virtual_community/Comm_elrng_rdmap/Roadmap.html

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2. E-LEARNING'S GLOBAL MIGRATION

Riding the coattails of e-business as it spreads around the globe, e-learning is establishing itself in various forms nearly everywhere there are computers and networks to access it. U.S.-based e-learning technology and service firms are often involved in these far-flung initiatives. But, some countries are nurturing their own e-learning content and delivery technologies to go head-to-head with American vendors.

An accelerating number of announcements in recent months herald the beginnings of a boom in e-learning in Europe and Asia, where interest is high and the necessary IT infrastructure is established or evolving quickly. Analysts put Europe about a year behind the United States in adopting e-learning technologies, though some say it's gaining ground. Asia is further behind, but no one discounts the ability of its rebounding economies to vault into the e-business arena--and e-learning--quickly.

E-learning vendors are also scouting other regions. English-speaking countries including Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, where content translation isn't an issue, are being targeted by many U.S. providers. Latin America is being charted by a smaller number of providers. The African continent is seeing the first stirrings of e-learning. And Israel, a hotbed of synchronous collaboration software development, has its own cottage e-learning industry.

MORE: http://www.learningcircuits.org/sep2000

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3. PROMOTE YOUR LEARNING INVESTMENT

Unless e-learning is mandatory, using basic marketing techniques to attract and retain users is critical to ensuring e-learning's success in your organization. For example, you must
-- introduce the new e-learning program to the organization (the launch)
-- promote it and register initial users (internal marketing)
-- develop ways to maintain and increase usage over time (maintenance marketing).

Simple marketing and promotion techniques can contribute substantially to the success of your e-learning initiative, especially in increasing and maintaining employee participation. Here are some techniques you can use in your organization to increase the use of e-learning.

MORE: http://www.learningcircuits.org/sep2000

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4. E-LEARNING RIVALS LAY CLAIM TO NORWAY

Last month, Saba Software announced a contract with a Norwegian business and labor coalition it said would deploy Saba's e-learning technology on behalf of Norway's citizenry, reaching as many as four million people "in a variety of industries and at all ends of the country."

An indication that there may be room for other e-learning providers in the Scandinavian country, Click2learn.com announced its own contract with NetCom GSM, a Norway-based telecommunications firm with subsidiaries throughout Scandinavia and parts of Eastern Europe.

MORE: http://www.learningcircuits.org/sep2000 (select Newsbytes)

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5. CRANK UP YOUR ONLINE PRESENTATIONS

Live, online learning presents new challenges to instructors and course designers. If you don't keep participants engaged, you can't transmit your message. But how do you do this in an online environment, often without eye contact and body gestures? The answer lies in rethinking the way you design the visual interface and in becoming a broadcast "personality." Here are three ways to crank your e-training up a notch.

MORE: http://www.learningcircuits.org/sep2000 (select eLearning 1.0)

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6. FREE DOWNLOAD: E-LEARNING SCORECARD

You can download a sample e-learning scorecard from the new T&D magazine feature, “Looking for a Supplier? Use the E-Learning Scorecard," by Darin Hartley. A must-have when you’re comparing vendors.

GO TO: http://www.learningcircuits.org/sep2000 (see “T&D Tool” under Interact)

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7. E-LEARNING JUST GETS BETTER!

That’s the message this week from TechKnowledge(sm) 2000 opening session speaker John Coné, vice president of Dell Learning.

The good news, he says, is that the hardest part of e-learning is over. “We’re talking about ‘how’ and ‘when’ instead of ‘if.’” His advice for bringing e-learning into your organization: When a provider talks about how e-learning will pay for itself in five years, just say no. “You should think in terms of one- to two-year commitments.”

Want to check other goings-on at TechKnowledge(sm) 2000 in Indianapolis? Check the conference happenings online!

GO TO: http://astd.expoventure.com/ASTDtk2000noreg/Events/Events.html.

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