Elearning blog: Learning re-imagined

Blending Formal and Informal Learning

Over 80% of learning that happens in organizations is informal, with just 20% occurring via formal methods. Claire Schooley, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research explains how organizations with the best learning cultures blend both for optimal results. Watch the short video.

Check out our New Look!

Skillsoft is excited to announce the launch of a newly designed and re-architected website.

The site’s homepage features an inviting color palette, a clean, uncluttered design, simplified navigation and sample learning content. To help our clients and prospects find what they’re looking for, the new site is organized primarily around the three brand pillars—Content, Service and Experience—and secondarily around Business Solutions, Products and Resources. A login menu conveniently allows our customers to find the Skillsoft® Books24x7® login page or support for their Skillport login URL.

Resources such as white pages, case studies, webinars on demand and demos are all readily available and relevant to each page. This saves our visitors from sifting through the site to locate what’s of interest to them. To support visitors on-the-go, our website features a responsive design, ensuring they have an optimal experience whether they’re on a tablet, smartphone or a desktop.

To celebrate this milestone, employees in the corporate headquarters enjoyed a special, festive cake.  

Is Your Staff Truly Engaged?

Each working day your employees come into the office and work diligently to keep your customers happy, but are you sure you’re making them feel like a valued and vital asset to the business?  Have you honestly taken a moment to step back and take a look at whether you’re truly engaging your staff?

We all know that if staff feel undervalued and are not given the opportunity to develop their skills, they will become unmotivated and disinterested in the business, with performance levels and productivity suffering as a result.

Research published by the Engage for Success task force reported that the UK can deliver £26billion GDP growth by better engaging employees at work.

Join an Engage for Success webinar led by David MacLeod on 22 May, 2013.

David MacLeod chairs this task force, and believes that 20 million workers are not working at full capacity because employers are not actively engaging them. During the webinar he will demonstrate how employee engagement can make a huge difference and be key in the long term prosperity of your business.

David will cover the following points:

• Why employee engagement is such a hot topic; what are the bigger changes in people's attitudes and the nature of work that employee engagement is a response to.
• What the difference is between transactional engagement and transformational engagement.
• What four things are present in organisations that really engage their people?

We look forward to welcoming you to this discussion, so don’t forget to join us on Wednesday 22 May 2013 at 12pm BST for the lowdown on the Engage for Success movement.

Register today!

About David MacLeod
David is co-chair of the government-sponsored, employer led task force on employee engagement launched by the Prime Minister at number 10 in March 2010. He was commissioned by the Department for Business (BIS) to take an in-depth look at employee engagement and to report on its potential benefits for organisations and employees. This led to the report Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through employee engagement.

David is a non-Executive Director of the Ministry of Justice, a visiting professor at the Cass business school, a fellow of the Ashridge business school, an associate of the Institute for Government, and a fellow of the Institute of Marketing. He has also co-authored a book on the theme of how to engage people to win.

Telecommuting for Increased Employee Engagement?

By Candy Osborne, Senior Marketing Manager, Skillsoft

I became aware of an article in a recent Skillsoft® Books24x7® Analyst Perspectives™ that led me to proverbially pen this post. The CIO Insight article Nine 'Best Practices' For Telecommuting hits close to home for me as a telecommuter. I’m one of the 20+ million workers who spends at least one day rocking out the work day from the comfort of my home office. I state “rocking” loosely, you might be dub stepping but nonetheless, as some companies are withdrawing the work-from-home option, others are further exploring it, believing in positive impacts it has on their employees.

At the end of the day, telecommuting isn’t just about getting to work in pajamas and blasting Cold Play on surround sound; it has a deeper positive impact on employee engagement. Here’s why.

According to Using Workplace Flexibility as a Talent Strategy, flex arrangements (those which allow employees the autonomy to control when, where and how they get their work done) can do four things:

1. Improve employee health (through reduced stress, less germ spreading).
2. Lower real estate costs (via reduced office space and parking fees).
3. Ensure business continuity (when bad weather makes driving unsafe).
4. Increase diversity and inclusion (by accommodating caregivers).

Telecommuting and flex time roll up under a bigger umbrella of work/life balance, which as we know has significant impact on overall happiness. In fact, some suggest that flex time and telecommuting be used as a recruitment tool.

If we can see an increase in happiness and engagement from telecommuting, what about productivity? In a recent scientific study, The effects of telecommuting on productivity: An experimental examination. The role of dull and creative tasks, we learn in a nutshell that telecommuting has a positive impact on productivity of creative tasks, not-so-much on dull tasks.

I don’t think this post would be fair if I didn’t address some of the cons I’ve come across. A couple include data backup and ergonomics of the furniture in the home office. It seems the pros which contribute to happier, more engaged and productive employees far outweigh the cons. And even the cons seem bite-sized enough to tackle.

Forrester Research Analyst Discusses Social Media and Social Networks

Organizations can leverage social media to foster discussions among learners. Groups can rate content similar to consumer websites, helping employees find targeted and relevant resources. Watch Claire Schooley, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research discuss trends around social media and social networks with respect to learning.

Why elearning continues to trend upward

Elearning has been a viable replacement for traditional instructor-led training since the late nineties. From major corporations to respected universities, elearning adoption continues to grow.

People want to learn online
It comes as no surprise that elearning continues to be a growing trend around the world. In the digital age, people don’t go to the library or their bookshelf when they want to know something. Whether they need to define a word or know how to tile their bathroom floor, people are turning to popular search engines like Google, wikis like Wikipedia and even social media sites like Pinterest. One study stated that 76% of teachers are using Wikipedia in the classroom.

Unfortunately, not all of the information available online is vetted or accurate. Elearning meets the need for on-demand resources while providing quality content. Learning assets such as courses, videos, books, and guides provide employees with the on-the-job training they want from respected subject matter experts.

Elearning is ideal for both employees and employers
Bringing employees to the training isn’t cost effective. When you factor in instructor time, travel and time away from work, traditional instructor-led training is expensive. Online learning brings training to employees, allowing them to access training anytime, anywhere. Elearning also helps companies stay competitive. As industries rapidly change, the nimble nature of online learning allows content to keep pace.

Not only does online learning save money, it also saves time. Elearning classes are 25 – 60% shorter in duration than classroom training. And the shorter courses are more engaging, increasing knowledge retention by as much as 60%.

Online learning can also increase job satisfaction and employee retention. Many employees leave their jobs because their position lacks opportunities for advancement and enrichment. Providing access to both formal training programs and on-demand resources allows employees to grow professionally.

Getting the most value from learning

We’re excited to share some of our key priorities for 2013 that were announced at Skillsoft’s recent annual global kick off meeting! These initiatives will help our customers and prospects get even more value from their learning programs. 

• Supporting continuous learning:  We’re entering an era of continuous learning, where a combination of formal, informal and social learning are constantly available to support your learners, which will help you achieve organizational agility and business excellence. 
• Learning strategy: We will continue to focus on customer market issues and leverage our Content, Service and Experience to lead you to an optimal learning approach. Read about our framework.
• Skillport® 8:  We’re very close to releasing the next generation of Skillport – Skillport 8.  Skillport 8 is a modern LMS, which takes into account the user experience first and foremost, with native mobile device support and collaboration features.  Read more.
• Skillsoft® Sales Advantage™:  Our latest release in the Advantage series is geared toward a new audience – sales professionals.  Skillsoft Sales Advantage builds skills in key areas of sales competency including conducting effective meetings, negotiations, closing and more. 
• Industry research: New research, conducted in conjunction with KnowledgeAdvisors, found that Skillsoft elearning was as good as or better than in-house developed elearning and that Skillsoft elearning was as effective as classroom training in its ability to positively impact the job. Download the new research paper. 
• Skillsoft Perspectives event, May 13-16 in Orlando, Fla.:  We look forward to welcoming 1,000 learning industry professionals for four days filled with presentations, collaborative working sessions and networking. With keynotes from Seth Godin and Professor Peter Cappelli of The Wharton School, and panel discussions with CLOs and industry analysts, it’s sure to be a fantastic week!  Register here. 

We are committed to bringing you the best in technology enabled learning.  Check our website, and subscribe to our blog and other social channels to see on-going updates of these developments. 

New webinar series for small & midsize businesses

Do you need some help in meeting your 2013 learning and development goals? Not sure where to start? 

Join us at one (or both!) of the following webinars, and let our experts assist you in building a strategic, successful program for your organization.    

Getting Started with Elearning: 8 Questions to Consider

Thursday, March 7
12-1 p.m. EST

Building a corporate learning program for a growing business calls for out-of-the-box thinking, incorporating the advantages of many types of learning to benefit your organization’s single biggest investment — your people. Speaker Dorman Woodall will help you answer questions such as:

• How does elearning reduce scrap learning?
• Should I buy or build elearning content?
• Which topics should I address first?
• How do I ensure the success of my elearning program

Register today!

Finding Big ROI for Skills Training at SMBs

Tuesday, March 12
12-1 p.m. EDT

In this session, we will put ROI of elearning into the context of the SMB market, discussing typical ROI criteria that align to SMB needs and share case study examples of businesses driving powerful impact through elearning. Speaker Laura Rexford will answer key questions such as:

• Are we doing the right thing by using elearning?
• How does elearning align to our cost management priorities?
• Does elearning compete for my employees’ time?
• Will it even work for businesses like ours?
• What’s the real payoff of elearning?

Register today!

It’s about the impact, not the app

By Shawn Hunter

If we are software coders, we can get hypnotized by the killer hack. If we are sales professionals, we can be entranced by the nuance of well-run client meetings. And for project managers, it’s easy to be seduced by the latest task management app. But remember, while the devil is in the details, the beauty is in the result, the impact and the difference.

Don Tapscott has a marvelous illustration of the power and importance of connecting people with ideas, without being encumbered and distracted by the mechanism itself.

A few years ago he was in his house when down the hall he heard his son calling out, “Dad! Dad! Come here – you’ve got to check this out!” So Don walked down the hall to his son’s room and found him at the computer looking at images of space and his son is saying, “Look Dad, that’s a quasar, and that could be a black hole, and over here are stars being born, and this light we’re looking at is millions of years old! Isn’t that amazing!”

Don was pleased with his son’s interest in the cosmos, and said “That’s very cool son, where did you get these images?” And his son said, “Oh, they’re not pictures I’m streaming live from Hubble.” At this point Don’s jaw drops, and he says to his son, “What?! Do you understand you are harnessing the most powerful telescopic instrument on earth? And it’s not even on earth?” To which his son replied, “Yeah whatever Dad, but look that’s the Orion Nebula!”

Ultimately our purpose here together is about connecting people with ideas. Ideas that translate to service, and valuable innovation. Ideas that can change both our beliefs and behaviors, which then can cascade out and change whole ecosystems within an organization. Providing people with the confidence of ideas and knowledge allows others to reach through our fears, find our passion and display it through purpose.

Our passion is what we love to do, but our purpose is why the world loves you.

Building leadership in SMB and non-profits

By Jordan Jurkowitz, Inside Sales New Business Development, Skillsoft

Strong leadership is absolutely essential for any organization to survive and thrive regardless of size and scale. It can make the strong stronger and offset competitive disadvantages such as lack of funds and resources. Likewise, its absence can cause even the biggest organizations to crumble.

The world of sports provides many examples of how important leadership can be. Looking back on the fall baseball season, the Boston Red Sox began with high hopes. They had a roster full of former all-stars and one of the highest payrolls in sports. They also had a new manager. But as the season unfolded, things didn’t quite mesh. Why? It became evident that there was very little trust between the manager and the players. Infighting ensued and the team fell to the bottom of the standings.

Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles, a team whose payroll and overall talent pool pales in comparison to the Red Sox, have far exceeded the expectations most had for them this year. Why? The team has thrived under the guidance of a manager who has been renowned throughout his career for his ability to maximize the talent and production of his teams.

My role as an Inside-Sales New-Business-Development Associate puts me in a unique position to recognize trends in different industries because I generally talk to prospective clients during the early stages of their projects. 

The most important questions I ask usually start with why: Why is this training important? Why are you considering elearning? Why will this help you accomplish your goals?

Over the last several months, I’ve noticed a spike in the number of non-profit professionals who have expressed an interest in elearning, especially in the areas of business skills and leadership development. Why is this training important?

While no two organizations are exactly alike, a frequent refrain in the non-profit world is the need for employees to wear multiple hats within an organization. Non-profits operate with limited resources, so it is not uncommon for them to seek to fill leadership roles from within.

If a social worker displays a knack for leading, they may find themselves with a new role, regardless of whether or not their prior education and experience makes them a good fit. This lack of formal training creates an acute need for employees to learn important skills in a professional and efficient manner, without the prohibitive costs of going back to school.  

Why are you considering elearning?