Elearning blog: Learning re-imagined

Independent Study Reveals Skillsoft Elearning is a Smart Answer to the Global Talent Crisis

By Pam Boiros, Vice President, Corporate Marketing, Skillsoft

Today, I’m presenting at the KnowledgeAdvisors annual Analytics Symposium in Miami, Fla. I can’t wait to present the results of a recent joint research project between Skillsoft and Knowledge advisors. Built on the results from Skillsoft’s 2011 Moving the Needle: How Skillsoft Learning Impacts Performance of Individuals and Organizations report, this new study compared the 2011 findings to two new benchmarks: classroom training and in-house developed elearning.

More than 7,800 individual learners from 465 organizations found that Skillsoft elearning solutions were as good as or better than in-house developed elearning and were as effective as classroom training in their ability to positively impact the job. Responses came from organizations of all sizes and industries across a wide geographic landscape with varying lengths of experience with elearning.

According to the study, some of the key areas in which learners experienced clear, measurable benefits using Skillsoft’s elearning solutions include:

• Positive impact on critical areas of business
• Increased satisfaction
• Higher learning application rates
• Benefits of elearning demonstrated across industries 

We know that business leaders are most concerned with getting a return on their training investment as defined by business impact metrics. That’s why the results of the study are so significant in today’s business environment where companies are expected to do more with fewer resources. It makes a strong case for training and HR professionals to change their tactics from overinvesting in classroom training or building training internally and seek more cost-effective solutions.

We chose KnowledgeAdvisors to collaborate on this study because they are the world’s largest provider of learning and talent measurement solutions, including Metrics That Matter^®. I’m excited to share this story with the KnowledgeAdvisors community during my session.

If you’ll be at the Analytics Symposium, please attend my session Wednesday, March 6 at 3:00 p.m.  If you’re not able to attend, follow the discussion about the event on Twitter (#analyticssymposium). 

Interested in this study?  We’ve published a whitepaper containing the results, Challenge the Status Quo with a Smarter Approach to the Global Talent Crisis. Download your complimentary copy today.  

Global Foundries gains great insight at Global Skillsoft Perspectives

Registrations are flowing in for 2013 Global Skillsoft Perspectives in Orlando, Florida, May 13-16. Don't miss your chance to attend. Hear how a 2012 attendee benefited from last year's conference.

 

Global Foundries: Gets best-in-class insight at Skillsoft Perspectives from Skillsoft on Vimeo.

Throw back Thursday: Is free training effective?

We receive so much valuable content from our customers, partners and internal subject-matter experts. On Thursdays, we thought it would be fun to do a “throw back” and bring back an older post that was valuable to our audience. Today’s throw back addresses the debate on free content.

Is free training actually effective?

By John Ambrose

Since the dawn of the web, “free” has been a seductive concept.  Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine has made a career touting the “free” model.  Yet, Wired magazine is not free, nor are Chris’ speaking fees. 

The latest “free” craze is university curricula as well-known universities declare their intentions to post some or all of their courses on the web.  How will this affect corporate learning departments? 

It won’t.

“Free” is not new.  In fact, MIT had been making its courses available online for nearly a decade now.  While free university content will appeal to some individuals, it is no substitute for the highly sophisticated and organizationally aligned learning & development models that have evolved over the past decade. 

Relevance matters.

Think about the extreme for a moment.  What if every university put every course online for free.  Users would then have everything they need at their fingertips, why bother with corporate training of any kind, right?

First, this sounds like the same argument when web search engines like Google first appeared.  That simply having access to content − is somehow equivalent to doing something useful with it.

Second, there would be massive redundancy.  Most university curricula are differentiated by instructor and approach, not topic or objectives.  Users would face a dizzying array of options (not unlike how we feel with a typical Google search) and corporate trainers would face a daunting task of alignment.

The shift in training – complimentary webinar with Lynda Gratton

Your business may well be investing in training but has it taken “The Shift “into account? In her book The Shift: The Future of Work is Already Here, acclaimed author and global authority on the people implications of strategies Lynda Gratton says, there have been three shifts that businesses need to embrace in order to be a success.

Attend a complimentary webinar

Lynda Gratton will address topics from her book in a complimentary 45 minute webinar. Lynda’s discussion kicks off at 12 p.m. GMT on Friday 30 November and is followed by an interactive Q&A. Register completely free of charge.

The first shift manifests itself in a change from a generalized to specialized approach. As the world becomes increasingly connected in the 21st Century, having a small amount of knowledge about a lot of subjects gives next to no competitive edge to a business. In contrast, a workforce with a depth of knowledge on a specific area will be able to offer insights and points of view which will keep them ahead of the rest of the field.

People who can become serial masters are well-equipped to be both happy and successful in their careers. Serial masters’ working lives can revolve around a core of highly valuable skills that they love. These can be used as a gateway to rediscovering lost passions, reforming initial ideas into new mastery or spinning off into new paths.

Last year one of the most interesting ideas that came out of the Future of Work Consortium was that by 2020, five billion people will be connected with each other through their handheld devices.

IBM to acquire Kenexa

By John Ambrose

This week’s announcement that IBM is acquiring Kenexa for $1.3 billion has generated a lot of buzz. As I wrote on the Skillsoft blog back in December when SAP announced it was acquiring SuccessFactors, this sends a clear message to other large traditional software/services vendors - it’s all about the cloud. And as Josh Bersin wrote in his blog post on the acquisition, after SAP‘s acquisition of SuccessFactors and Oracle‘s acquisition of Taleo, it’s IBM’s turn to jump into the HR and talent management market.

Organizations are recognizing the significant hard- and soft-cost advantages of procuring software and content in the cloud. For the past decade, SaaS vendors including Skillsoft have been extolling the financial and deployment advantages of cloud-delivery models.

Skillsoft has always been a cloud-based provider and maintains relationships with many talent management vendors, including Kenexa. This relationship and our commitment to our common customers will continue.

IBM acquiring Kenexa, just like SAP’s move did back in December, underscores the importance of integrating talent management with existing mainstream corporate infrastructure. This is good for corporate users as they do not check their consumer tendencies at the front door of the company and expect and deserve a better, more seamless talent management experience.  

Learning content is key to any successful talent management program from recruitment to retirement. Skillsoft will continue to provide this essential ingredient to the talent process for our clients regardless of whether they are an SAP, Oracle or IBM shop. 

This deal, along with SAP’s acquisition in December and Oracle’s acquisition of Taleo earlier this year, confirms that organizations value employee development as a competitive differentiator more than ever before. The industry has moved from tactical (but necessary) human resource administration toward higher-value human capital management (HCM), where developing people, not the process, is the focus.

2012 Skillsoft Perspectives Canada: registration now open

By Melynda Hilliard

Here is a 2012 Skillsoft Perspectives Canada update from Melynda Hilliard, Skillsoft’s Events Marketing Manager. Stay tuned for more exciting details!

We are thrilled to announce that registration is now officially open for 2012 Skillsoft Perspectives Canada. Perspectives brings together our customers, employees, and other elearning industry experts for a unique opportunity to hear from distinguished speakers, discuss hot topics in the industry, and learn about our plans for the future. This year’s event will take place October 4 at the Old Mill Inn & Spa in Toronto.

At the event, Skillsoft customers will be able to network and learn from one another, reaping the benefits of a collaborative atmosphere that not only encourages participants to share experiences, strategies, and challenges, but also drives discussion around the connection between learning and business value. The theme of this year’s Perspectives Canada is “Driving Value Through Learning.”

Is free training actually effective?

By John Ambrose

Since the dawn of the web, “free” has been a seductive concept.  Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine has made a career touting the “free” model.  Yet, Wired magazine is not free, nor are Chris’ speaking fees. 

The latest “free” craze is university curricula as well-known universities declare their intentions to post some or all of their courses on the web.  How will this affect corporate learning departments? 

It won’t.

“Free” is not new.  In fact, MIT had been making its courses available online for nearly a decade now.  While free university content will appeal to some individuals, it is no substitute for the highly sophisticated and organizationally aligned learning & development models that have evolved over the past decade. 

Relevance Matters.

Think about the extreme for a moment.  What if every university put every course online for free.  Users would then have everything they need at their fingertips, why bother with corporate training of any kind, right?

First, this sounds like the same argument when web search engines like Google first appeared.  That simply having access to content − is somehow equivalent to doing something useful with it.

Second, there would be massive redundancy.  Most university curricula are differentiated by instructor and approach, not topic or objectives.  Users would face a dizzying array of options (not unlike how we feel with a typical Google search) and corporate trainers would face a daunting task of alignment.

Third is inherent mission conflict.  We all now know that the mission of search engine content is simple: Drive page clicks that generate advertising revenue.  The mission behind putting university curricula online is not altruism, but self-preservation. Clay Christensen’s book, Disrupting Class, was a wake-up call to all universities because their business model is no longer sustainable. Higher Education costs have risen even faster in the US over the past decade than health care costs! Tuitions are no longer affordable and with the balloon of student loan debt, universities are scrambling to find replacement revenue fast.

Swiss Army Innovation

We’re pleased to bring you a guest post by Josh Linker, author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity. By Josh Linkner QuickTalks:  Josh Linkner: Creativity is Learned
	Description: We may understand the need for creativity, but not see ourselves as creative. However, Harvard University and others have found that creativity is 85 percent learned behavior. We are taught there is only one right answer, etc. but we can learn to be creative.

That ubiquitous red contraption contains just about every feature you can imagine.  A nail clipper, ice pick and Philips screwdriver.  None of the individual tools are especially remarkable – you could buy a corkscrew that is higher quality and more beautifully designed – but all of these mediocre features are crammed into one product.

Is that what your company does?

Exploring SkillPort® 8: Community Features

 

Last week, we focused on the “search” functionality within SkillPort® 8 — a revolutionary cloud-based learning experience that delivers targeted learning — when and where people want to learn. Today, we’ll explore the “community” features of SkillPort 8.

One of the highlights of SkillPort 8 is the integrated collaborative and social learning features. In fact, according to a 2010 ASTD study, workers see the value of using social media for learning and development. More than 80 percent of the survey respondents expect social tools to be adopted by their organization’s learning group within the next three years and nearly 100 percent of the respondents use social tools in their personal lives.

Community and collaboration is woven throughout the learner interface, encouraging participation and bringing organizational context across a wide range of learning content. The community features in SkillPort 8 leverage the 2+ years of experience we have deploying our award-winning social learning feature set, inGenius®, into the programs of over 350 clients around the world.

Despite Recent Acquisitions, Customers Will Still Encounter Learning Gaps that Must be Filled

By John Ambrose

Oracle’s recent announcement to acquire Taleo for $1.9 billion is another example of the trend toward consolidation and integration in our industry.  Just a couple months ago SAP acquired SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion and in February, Kenexa acquired Outstart, a learning content management system provider.  So the question is, what is driving this activity and why now?

Customers want simplicity. And they deserve it. Just look at how easy it is to navigate a content- and feature-rich consumer website like Amazon or Netflix compared to your ‘favorite’ behind-the-firewall enterprise application. Then imagine integrating that enterprise app with other business critical apps from different vendors, all on different versions and upgrade cycles. So what’s happening in the Human Capital space is an example of what’s been referred to as the consumerization of IT.  This is a good thing.  Vendors are moving these applications to the cloud, and they are aspiring to do a better job with the plumbing.