Elearning blog: Learning re-imagined

Marketing on a shoestring

We’re pleased to bring you a guest post by a Skillsoft customer, Stacy Wasson, Senior IT Trainer, CNO Services, LLC.

By Stacy Wasson, Senior IT Trainer

Budgets, budgets, budgets – unless you are lucky enough to work with sales or marketing (and their big coffers), your training organization likely struggles to be effective within the constraints of a small budget.  Having been a training professional for over 15 years, I am a veteran when it comes to developing training and learning events on a shoestring budget.  Although my main passion is developing a workforce through well-designed training and ongoing learning development support, I have long realized that to be effective, training professionals need to first gain audience (and management) buy-in.  Learning is more effective when it is “pulled” vs. “pushed,” with learners coming to you ready to take advantage of what you offer. That takes marketing – which is very challenging with resource constraints, but it is NOT impossible. You CAN market training on a shoestring!

A case study in shoestrings – ASTD National Employee Learning Week, 2012
When my group, the IT Training Team at CNO Financial Services, learned in late November 2012 that the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) National Employee Learning Week was coming up on December 3-7, we immediately saw an opportunity. We could leverage the week as a platform to broadcast messaging about what learning and training opportunities our team brings to CNO IT associates and to engage with our audience in a fun, informative way.  Instead of letting our budget (or lack thereof) hinder us, we decided push ourselves creatively to take advantage of this opportunity.

OK, great. So how did you do it?
Looking back after the event, our team identified several key activities that helped us move past the frustration of limited resources and into action mode.

Assessing the challenge
We started by looking at what we had, and what we didn’t have, to ensure that our creative ideas could work within our constraints.  The list of our main hurdles (budget, short turn-around time, audience in several locations) provided parameters for event brainstorming.

CNO team members from left to right: Beth Hopewell, Nikki Brummett, Stacy Wasson, Katie Hettmansberger, Nancy Wulff, Adrienne Hall 

Identifying our strengths
Next, we evaluated our strengths. Time was short for us to plan and execute, but the early December timeline for ASTD’s learning week matched up well with our team’s light project load. We leveraged this fortunate timing along with the high interest and enthusiasm from our team to participate, to plan activities.

Throw back Thursday: the learner user experience

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 is about the user experience for learners.

Designing Skillport® 8: notes from the trenches

By Stephanie Pyle

At the 2012 Skillsoft Perspectives conference, we unveiled an advanced look at our upcoming Skillport® 8 release. Skillport 8 brings together all formats of learning content, integrating books, courses and videos in the same library, giving the user a single, seamless experience. To support users on-the-go, Skillport 8 is cross-platform and cross-device – it works as well on a tablet as on a desktop. Many customers asked how we arrived at such a dramatic (and effective) design. There’s a story there and we’re pleased to share it.

Early on, the team went back to basics to ask ourselves just what is Skillport’s “role” in the customer relationship?  Is Skillport why they do business with Skillsoft in the first place? After much discussion, we arrived at the collective realization that though Skillport was our own passion (because we work on it every day), it is really more of a supporting player to most of our customers. For them, Skillsoft content is the driving force behind the business relationship, with Skillsoft’s service and experience sealing the deal.

Reflecting further, we realized that while the various features and functions of an LMS are important, it is the optimization of the user experience with the content that’s key. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about Skillsoft content or an organization’s proprietary content.  By focusing on the content, we’ve designed Skillport to be a richer total user experience. The visual design features a more streamlined look to allow the content to be the focus. The navigation and actions are readily apparent and intuitive because of the use of established standards and consistency within the application. Our team took the latest web design principles into consideration for Skillport 8. With mobile on the brain, we made sure it would be suitable on a tablet by optimizing it for a gestural interface.

Our team’s second epiphany was to again go back to basics and ask ourselves just exactly what do the vast majority of Skillport users wish to do. It’s simple − 90% of the time they arrive on a mission to:

•  Find appropriate learning, and
• “Transact” that learning (take it, enroll in it, or flag it for later).

Digging a little deeper, we defined two different models for how people like to “find” information. Using the example of shopping in a department store, we identified two basic seeker-type personas.

• The “Shopper” loves to walk the aisles, examine the merchandise to see what catches their eye and make purchase selections that way.
• The “Hunter” enters the store, knows just what he/she wants, uses the store directory to make a bee-line to the desired item and make the purchase; in-and-out.

Then we asked ourselves which popular websites support both the Shopper and the Hunter today? To gain insight, we identified consumer websites that people use every day. By making Skillport resemble these popular consumer websites, this means much less of a learning curve for our users.  

For the “Shopper,” consumer websites have intuitive category/department browse capabilities with supporting filters (like color, price, size, etc.) to narrow-down selections as desired. In Skillport 8, we revamped the content catalog to combine all assets (including Books24x7 titles) into one complete subject matter library. Plus we provide customers the ability to build alternate views − organizing content as they wish, such as by competency.

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.”

Finding a little Perspective this summer

Summer is an exciting time in the Skillsoft offices! Not only do we look forward to the long evenings and optimistically hope for sunshine – summertime also marks the arrival of our annual Perspectives event in London.

Perspectives is one of the few times of the year in which all of our customers, employees and industry experts come together under one roof to discuss our plans for the future,  talk about hot topics within the industry and listen to some of our expert speakers. 

This year’s event will be no different, and is set to feature the expertise of former cabinet member and author of The Extra Mile, David MacLeod. David, whose book explores how to engage staff in large organisations, will address key leadership principles such as the importance of employee engagement – traits which are invaluable to any business leader.

2012 Skillsoft Perspectives will also act as a launch pad for Skillsoft to introduce its new learning platform Skillport® 8 – a Learning Management System which has been heavily influenced by society’s increasing use of social media platforms in day-to-day business. 

Alongside David’s speaker slot, we will also be joined by Gill Holehouse, Systems Development Methods Manager at John Lewis Partnership. Gill will be discussing the company’s elearning strategy and how the business has benefitted from working with Skillsoft.

Upcoming Webinar: Learning Through Innovation

According to Wikipedia, “innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments, and society. Innovation differs from invention in that innovation refers to the use of better and, as a result, novel idea or method, whereas invention refers more directly to the creation of the idea or method itself. Innovation differs from improvement in that innovation refers to the notion of doing something different (Lat. innovare: "to change") rather than doing the same thing better.”[1]

The need for innovation consistently ranks as one of the most critical issues facing organizations today. Research has shown that high-performance organizations place greater emphasis on innovation than other companies.

Skillsoft is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, June 26 at 12-1 p.m. EDT to address this concept.  Join Kevin Oakes, CEO, i4cp and John Ambrose, senior vice president of strategy, SkillSoft, to gain insights and examples on how to create learning programs that increase business results – and sustain a culture of innovation and agility.

Exploring Digital Immigrant Perceptions Toward Leadership Development

We’re pleased to bring you a guest post by Roderick Millar, Managing Editor at IEDP, the executive development information portal and of Developing Leaders magazine. Find more at www.IEDP.com.

By Roderick Millar, Managing Editor, IEDP

If you ask a leader whether they would like to engage with a learning program that fits around their schedule, does not involve travel, allows them to interact with peers and experts, gives them direct access to the latest thought leadership and is often less expensive than a traditional learning program, it is not surprising that they tend to agree that this would be a wonderful thing. When you make it clear that that is exactly what modern elearning programs can do, often their demeanour on the topic changes.

This is an area of curiosity that we are currently researching at IEDP.  From recent anecdotal discussions there seems to be a perception problem with the elearning medium which is quite at odds with current reality. Without wanting to prejudice our current research, it seems that the negative impressions from executives is partly a matter of outdated preconceptions and a concern about building ‘trust and empathy’ with other participants. Clearly the only way to change outdated attitudes is to provide newer information.  To do so, a stealthy approach needs to be adopted, where smaller groups can be introduced to modern versions of online learning and participate in blended approaches.

SuccessConnect 2012 Recap

We’re pleased to bring you a guest post by Gary Hartman, a Skillsoft partner alliances manager responsible for partnership programs with LMS, Talent Management and Portal providers.

By Gary Hartman

Skillsoft enjoyed exhibiting at last week’s SuccessFactors’ North American User Group meeting, SuccessConnect 2012 in San Francisco, CA.  Many current customers stopped by the booth to say hello, discuss their current programs and talk about the various learning assets that Skillsoft offers. About one hundred Skillsoft customers use SuccessFactors Learning (formerly the Plateau LMS) − the fact that Skillsoft learning assets load, launch and track in this LMS is important to them.

Leadership training was definitely a hot topic and there was a lot of interest in Skillsoft Leadership Advantage.  The variety of learning modalities and the broad and deep coverage of leadership topics available in the Skillsoft Leadership Advantage series was very well received.

E-Learning Effectiveness Blog Series: Are Your Training Initiatives Reduced to Scraps?

By Kieran King

Do you ever wonder if your employees are using the skills that you are teaching in your training initiatives? You are not alone. Today more than ever organizations are focused on getting their money’s worth on every dollar spent on learning. One important aspect of this is ensuring that employees actually use the learning being delivered. The term “scrap learning” describes the measurable amount of training that is delivered but not successfully applied to the job. Dr. Robert Brinkerhoff, an internationally recognized expert in training evaluation and effectiveness, estimates that the scrap learning rate (the learning that is delivered but not applied by the learner) can be as high as 80%. The common scrap learning range is often between 55% to 80%.

According to a recent independent study conducted by KnowledgeAdvisors, a learning measurement software and solutions company focused on improving the effectiveness of learning, 86% of SkillSoft learners were able to apply what they learned within six weeks of the training. That means SkillSoft’s scrap learning rate was 14%—far below the norm.

 

How to Get More Out of E-Learning Through Mentoring

We are pleased to bring you a guest blog post today from Shawn Legere, our Director of Mentoring Services.

 

By Shawn Legere

One of the most important features of a SkillSoft

e-learning solution is the availability of mentoring services. Last year the SkillSoft mentors provided support to over 15,000 learners by answering questions, explaining confusing concepts in new ways, and providing valuable feedback. On-staff mentors provide support coverage for over 100 current professional certifications via online chats, email and daily certification emails.

 

Our mentors are committed to the concept of life-long learning. They know that a career as a SkillSoft mentor involves continual advances in technology, new certifications, and upgrading of skills. Frequently, they are some of the first in the IT industry to be invited to write beta exams and complete new certifications. Our mentors are not just certified in specific areas, they are genuinely interested in them, and it is that interest that keeps them focused on staying current.

 

As a team, the mentors hold over 1,000 combined certifications spanning across our IT certification, desktop skills training, and business skills courseware collections. When one of our learners encounters a difficult concept that they can’t quite grasp, mentoring services enables them to quickly tap into the extensive experience and collective body of knowledge of the entire mentoring team.

 

We recently surveyed our learning community to gain feedback on their mentoring experience. The survey results show that 89% of learners that utilized mentoring and subsequently took a certification exam passed their exam. In a follow-on question, 73% of respondents indicated that mentoring was “Essential” or “Very Helpful” to their exam success. The following is a sample of the comments we received from our open feedback section of the survey:

“The Mentoring Team was exceptional! They provided me with timely information and were always available to assist with any question I had.”

 

“Mentoring was excellent, the questions were relevant. Best thing about the questions is that it kept me thinking about the test daily, and when a question would catch me off-guard, it would point out weaknesses that I needed to study.”

 

“The mentor was swift to respond and provided detailed answers to the questions that I asked. He also provided clarity on some grey areas that I had concerning my required exam. The advice given was most helpful and appreciated.”

We are focused on helping our customers reach their learning and certification goals. The mentors log over 285,000 student interactions per year so we are always happy to hear from you! Mentoring is available from the “Ask My Mentor” link by clicking on the resources tab directly in the courseware. We also invite you to follow our Facebook page and Twitter channel to interact with both mentors and mentees in a community setting.

Marketing is an Invitation to Learn

 

I am so fortunate to work with talented and articulate professionals.  I am amazed at the level of talent in the Learning Consultant organization.  One of our Learning Consultants, Beth Brock, wrote an article on marketing for the ASTD magazine  Getting the Word Out. Her ideas on marketing are simple and straight-forward. 

Beth once worked for a supervisor who believed that if they developed exactly the right training content, learners would just somehow materialize.  Her team consistently produced well-designed programs with thought-provoking content but the courses never saw much action.  Frustrated, they kept asking themselves why.  It wasn’t because the courses weren’t good or relevant – they were.

It was because nobody knew they existed.

The moral of the story is this:  no matter how good your program is, it is of little value if your audience doesn’t know about it.

For some, the idea of marketing conjures up images of used car salesmen hustling unsuspecting customers.  Indeed, many training professionals scoff at the need for marketing, believing that good training should be able to sell itself.  Ultimately it can, if it is supported by a good communication strategy that promotes the program’s value to the right people.  If you think of marketing as an opportunity to educate rather than sell, you will be providing a valuable service to your audience in helping them understand about how your programs and services can address their critical business needs.  All it takes is a little creativity and a healthy dose of insight into your audience’s needs.

The possibilities for promoting learning are limitless, but the realities of budget, time, and staffing constraints will of course ultimately determine what you do and don’t do.  Just remember that marketing doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming to produce valuable results. 

One of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to promote your learning programs is to get previous students to do it for you.  Whenever I shop online, I always read the customer reviews.  As a consumer, they help me make informed purchasing decisions.  Student testimonials work the same way by helping others envision how your program will benefit them.  Praise from a satisfied customer is not only one of the easiest forms of promotion – it is also one of the most powerful.  When individuals hear from a peer and colleague how a particular program was helpful to them, it means more.  Weave learner feedback into your course catalog, or better yet, enable individuals to post comments online and learning becomes an Amazon.com-like experience.

To develop a learning program and just assume that learners will show up is a bit like throwing a party without sending any invitations.  Think about marketing and promotion as an invitation to experience great learning.  Marketing is where the SkillSoft Learning Consultant team can help steer you in the right direction.  Our customers have access to the robust Client Community, where we share templates and tools that customers have used.  If you give your audience a compelling reason to participate, chances are they will.

By: Lori Neblung