Elearning blog: Learning re-imagined

Leadership Advantage is Great! So How Do I…?

We are pleased to bring you a guest blog post today from one of our customers, Bruce D. Smith, Corporate Manager, eLearning, at Emerson Electric Co. Bruce will be a speaker at SkillSoft’s 2012 Annual Perspectives User Conference. Bruce facilitates classroom-based events, oversees the use of elearning from an enterprise perspective, and runs the Emerson Learning Center’s Studio8000 video production studio.  He has been in the training and development (T&D) field for more than 20 years, and has followed what he calls a “pinball-style” of career management with experience in private non-profit social work, the airline industry, computer programming, accounting management, Quality Management, and of course T&D. 

By Bruce D. Smith, Corporate Manager, elearning, Emerson Electric Co.

You can fill in the blank of the title’s question with a host of alternatives you’ve heard within your own organization.  Or perhaps you’ve asked the question yourself.

When our SkillSoft representative showed the Emerson Learning Center staff at Emerson Electric Co. in St. Louis, Missouri the things that SkillSoft’s Leadership Advantage could do and was planned to do, we were excited about the possibility of adding it to our list of SkillSoft offerings.  But how could we distinguish it from the other libraries of elearning courseware we already subscribed to without cannibalizing from our current user base? 

Enter the concept of a BLENDED LEARNING proposal.

The term “blended learning” means many things to many people, so first we had to define it for our own purposes.  We decided to blend an elearning experience into a live face-to-face classroom event.  We were already rewriting our Supervisory and Management leadership class, but we were puzzled how to cover MORE topics in LESS time while keeping learners engaged.  We also needed something that learners could access before and after the class for on-going learning. 

BCLC Discusses the Benefits of Attending Perspectives

Mitch Romanchook, BCLC's Talent Management, finds the SkillSoft Perspectives user conference a delightful, insightful and promising forum for product innovations. Registration is now open. Visit http://perspectives.skillsoft.com/2012/?srcid=blog for more details.

 

Perspectives 2012 Learning Session Topics and Keynote Announced

By Melynda Hilliard

Here is another Perspectives 2012 update from Melynda Hilliard, SkillSoft’s Events Marketing Manager. She will be sharing updates throughout the next month. Stay tuned for more exciting details!

See what we’ve got planned 

Preparations for the Perspectives 2012 event agenda, including the learning sessions and keynote, are well under way! We’ve carefully selected these topics so they align with this year’s theme – Motivate, Innovate…Learn: Driving Value Through Learning!

Keynote

We’re pleased to announce General Stanley McChrystal, former Commander of U.S. and International Forces in Afghanistan, will give the keynote presentation: “Plywood Leadership: Lessons on Leadership from a Warrior, Statesman, and Scholar.”

SkillSoft Customer Survey Finds Increasing Importance of Learning Solutions as a Strategic Business Tool

SkillSoft today announced the results of its sixth annual customer satisfaction survey, which was conducted in partnership with TNS, an independent research firm. SkillSoft’s 2011 Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey, tapped into SkillSoft’s customer base, which includes more than three thousand companies and 10 million users across the globe, for feedback regarding customer service, product quality, ease of doing business, product preference and intent to repurchase.

The survey found that 96 percent of customers surveyed feel that SkillSoft’s solutions will remain as important or become more important to their business over the next 12 months.

Why Learning Consultants Want Our Customers to Attend Perspectives

By Molly Scholes

SkillSoft’s annual user conference Perspectives will be taking place April 30 – May 3, 2012 in Orlando, Florida.  I wanted to share the top reasons why SkillSoft Learning Consultants know this is a “can’t miss” event and why we hope our customers choose to attend.

• Hear Best Practices – Directly from Other Customers.  The role of the Learning Consultant is to advise our customers on best practices and share strategies for program success.  While we have a broad set of examples to share, nothing can compare to hearing specific stories and examples from other customers.  Customer sessions are filled with specific lessons learned, recipes for success and often include how their program impacted their organization’s business.

Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare Discusses the Benefits of Attending Perspectives

Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare's Mary Grimes Finley talks about the value of Perspectives user conference as a platform to connect with other SkillSoft clients. Registration is now open. Visit http://perspectives.skillsoft.com/2012/?srcid=blog for more details.

 

The Perspectives Experience: Not Your Typical Vendor Conference

We are pleased to bring you a guest blog post today from one of our customers, Sarah Cooper, LMS analyst for Waste Management, Inc. Sarah uses SkillSoft’s KnowledgeCenters to help engage learners at Waste Management with a different approach to learning. Today, she is sharing her thoughts on SkillSoft’s Annual Perspectives User Conference.

By Sarah Cooper, LMS Analyst, Waste Management, Inc.

Vendor conferences can have one of two outcomes; good or bad. Perspectives is not good or bad, it is outstanding!

Last year I had the opportunity as a customer of SkillSoft to attend the Perspectives conference. Only knowing about the services that our company had in place, I was unsure what this conference would offer, and how it could benefit our team. Prior to the conference, SkillSoft posted the agenda for the conference along with all the sessions they were going to offer. I was shocked. There were so many other products and solutions that SkillSoft offered, and I had no idea. Along with the sessions pertaining to their products, SkillSoft also lined up well-known, influential keynote speakers. Among last years, keynote speakers were Jeanne Meister and Tim Sanders. Both speakers gave outstanding presentations. Tim Sanders spoke about continuous learning, emotional intelligence and discussed his book Today We Are Rich: Harnessing The Power of Total Confidence. Jeanne Meister’s presentation centered on the 2020 workplace and how all generations will be together in the workspace. She also spoke about her book The 2020 Workplace. Both speakers were engaging, insightful, and I personally gained insight on topics that I had never sat and thought about, and came home with more books to read!

Perspectives 2012 Innovation in Learning Awards Are Now Open!

Here is another Perspectives 2012 update from Melynda Hilliard, SkillSoft’s Events Marketing Manager. She will be sharing updates throughout the next few months. Stay tuned for more exciting details!

By Melynda Hilliard

Do your learning programs empower others at your organization and make an impact?

It’s that time of year again… nominations for SkillSoft’s annual Innovation in Learning Awards are now open! SkillSoft recognizes clients each year for their outstanding learning programs and innovative ideas. We honor companies that help enable effective learning environments by leveraging SkillSoft products and services.

Our award categories are designed to recognize organizations of all sizes and industries, covering several subject areas of learning. By offering awards in ten categories, we hope to single out an organization for a particularly inspirational program in a specific area, such as IT training.

KPMG Discusses the Benefits of Attending Perspectives

KPMG's Rachelle Hansen enjoys the Perspectives user conference because the focus is on learning--not product sales. Hansen says she learned more about learning at Perspectives 2010 than throughout the rest of the year! Registration is now open. Visit http://perspectives.skillsoft.com/2012/?srcid=blog for more details.

  

Save the Date! Perspectives 2012 is Around the Corner!

Melynda Hilliard is SkillSoft’s Events Marketing Manager. She will be sharing updates on Perspectives 2012 throughout the next few months. Stay tuned for more exciting details!

By Melynda Hilliard

Every year, hundreds of SkillSoft customers across business, government and education, attend SkillSoft’s Annual Perspectives User Conference to network and discuss the current issues in the e-learning industry. Today, we’re thrilled to release event information for our 2012 Perspectives event where attendees will have access to keynote speeches, numerous Learning Sessions and workshops on a wide variety of topics focusing on this year's theme of "Motivate, Innovate, Learn: Driving Value Through Learning." The annual conference will take place April 30 – May 3, 2012 in Orlando, Florida. To register for Perspectives 2012 visit: http://perspectives.skillsoft.com/2012/?srcid=blog. 

Perspectives is a yearly event that was created for SkillSoft customers to have an interactive forum to discuss innovations in the learning industry. It provides customers with a unique opportunity to share best practices with industry leaders and experts on how to create and maintain learning programs that deliver tangible results throughout organizations.