Content is king, right?  Well then the new queen in eLearning is social media.  When was the last time we thought about how the new generation wants to learn?  Beyond content, beyond access, beyond look and feel, but “delivery and learner extensions”.   eLearning is on the cusp of a new horizon, (in its own infancy, and growing fast) by providing the training online through a system that provides updates, access to current information, and in an environment that lives on your desktop.  No, its not a new LMS, its lightweight, portable applications extending the training with streams of relevant information, news, updates,social media, and more.  Today, those who embrace eLearning focus deeply on content, which is correct, but we now need to focus on extending that content for real world information, news, and updates.

Brookwood is developing a solution that extends training on a personal level, includes social media, and can be customized to meet the learners specific needs.  Our solution will empower the learner to go beyond what is provided to them by allowing them to customize their own personal training portal.  Check back in a week for news on a upcoming demo of this new solution.

Take your training to a new level of learning and information with a Broowood Solution.  

Check out our latest portfolio here:  http://brookwood.com/portfolio-d/

Ed Stengel Software Application Development, Training, eLearning

Adobe Captivate 4: Beyond the Essentials picks up where the Intro to Captivate 4 course leaves off. You will quickly learn Captivate’s higher-end functionality while improving your production skills via project templates, design templates, advanced actions and scripts. You will learn to collaborate with team members via Captivates’ powerful commenting features. You’ll enhance your users experience via variables that will make it seem like each eLearning lesson you produce has been customized for and is talking directly to your customer. After completing this course, you will have an excellent grasp of how to both record and produce eLearning lessons using Adobe Captivate 4.

Please call or email if you have questions or would like to register. 215-717-2788

Laura Haas Uncategorized

So let’s see…. ecomonic crisis, automaker bankrupt, housing market slumps, interest rates drop, stocks fall and rise - again,  global warming, swine flu….  IF I close my eyes just for a moment, I would swear it was 1980 not 2009 (I guess I am telling my age with that comment)  The only difference is in 1980 we had the “ozone crisis” and the tail end of “coming of the ice age”… so why did I start today’s blog entry with something outside of eLearning?  Because I am a firm believer of the more things change the more they stay the same.  We all still have the same problems we did 29 years ago… and there is no reason today to stop moving forward in our training initiatives.  I am glad we crawled out of April and now I am running into May.  Why am I running you ask?  Well, its simple -  I am more busy than ever.  My recent webinar on Enterprise eLearning Design and Deployment had a great turn out and it seems we are back on track as a group, or in interest - for eLearning.

eLearning is one area, that if properly designed, can be a cornerstone of success for an organization.  eLearning can be central point for information and standardization of learning within the organization that can instantly provide resources where you need it most - or most often.  Why is it then most organizations are slow to adopt such a program?  …probably for the same myths or misconceptions I started today’s blog with.  Now that we are well on our way in May, what are the reasons your organization might hesitate on taking eLearning a step or two further?  Here is a simple, one question,  May eLearning checklist for you… 

Whithin your organization:  What is it that can be improved upon, eliminated, or reduced with a good eLearning program?  What you mght find might suprise you.

My suggestion is think big, start small and deign an initial program for a broad audience, and wide acceptance. 

We all crawl before we walk…this May I am off and running with eLearning solutions… are you?

Ed Stengel eLearning

Its funny how extreme circumstances produce extreme behavior.  The economy seems to be crushing the business we used to take for granted.  I look at things a little differently.  My business is booming.  What business you ask?  - eLearning.

Fundementally, my business is something all businesses should be looking to in this economy for communications, training, and knoweldge transfer.  The all encompassing term “eLearning” really should be pared with “eSaving”.  The difficult task for those of you who only have a slight understanding of what eLearning can do for you is the amount of research that you would need to do to find the right solution for your organization.  My suggestion?

Take a step back, if just for a moment, and call on a company who does eLearning for a business.  Now is the time. 

Make a list of what your organization is doing now in way of training, meetings, and other communications, include cost where you can.  Make a scond list of what you feel could change, for the better, though technology - or a eLearning solution for training and communications.  Take one of the ones you picked as an example and call an eLearning expert like Brookwood for a quick discussion.  You might be amazed to learn what can and cannot be done with eLearning and the positive impact what can be done will have on your organization.   This is a great way to explore the possiblities of eLearning, get free advice as well, and learn something along the way.  Who knows, you might end up developing an eLearning solution that will save your organization tons in time, money, and effort just with one call.

We have trained groups large and small for pennies on the dollar, almost eliminated travel expenses for meetings, and created assetts for organizations - just through eLearning solutions. Pretty remarkable,  huh?  www.brookwood.com

Ed Stengel Business and Budget, eLearning

 Brookwood will be offering a selection of ASPE courses at our Lower Gwynedd facility including SharePoint, Agile Project Management, Business Analyst Bootcamp, Scrum and more!

ASPE’s core mission is the development of hands-on, real-world courses designed to fill pressing skills gaps to make employees more effective and empowering companies to gain critical competitive advantage. This partnership will allow Brookwood and ASPE to offer a larger selection of leading-edge, expert-led training; helping our customers to quickly and effectively solve their problems and meet their goals.

Laura Haas Seminars, Training

It’s Monday and I’m glad to be at work…Why? 

This weekend was one of great interest… I found my children’s websites, very interesting, checked their grades online, even more interesting, but this is the wrong blog for that topic, I spoke with my nephew via IM with a web cam, and figured out how to fix my generator via a training module online.

So why is that unique? Why am I glad I am at work? I have finally arrived at the conclusion that online collaboration, learning, and communication is the way; personally, professionally, even politically -watching “online town hall meetings”  

That being said, this is what I do, I provide these very same solutions to companies’ world wide.  Put the two together and it makes for a great Monday.

My company, Brookwood, has been around for a LONG time.  We started in the Web business 15 years ago.  I can remember back then… We all thought email and FLASH were cool.  Today, we are a Leading eLearning and online collaboration and communications organization that helps companies develop online solutions for communications and training.  To me, that is cool. 

We just launched our new website: www.brookwood.com Take a look!  Lots of great info there for your eLearning and online meeting initiatives… Tips, tricks, whitepapers, plenty of free stuff to get your eLearning initiatives moving in the right direction.

Ed Stengel eLearning

Well, I am just settling in from a tour of Orlando and the eLearning Guild Trade Show….   Most noticable difference this year?  No “tire kickers”  In other words, people attended for a reason this year.  I found that the traffic at the show was more about quality and less about quantity.  Great show this year.  Of my findings, here are the top 5 topics dicuseed with me from those seeking solutions….

1. Putting training online - as a REVENUE generator:  Online University applications seem to lead the way of the near future - with eCommerce of course.

2. eLearning ROI: More and more those seeking solutions were more interested in value over functionality.  I am guessing a next wave of eLearning attributes for rapid development are on the horizon with Adobe and others.  Captivate 4 looks very promising.  Adobe Presenter is a winner in my book.  Lectora has some great start up offerings. I am staying tuned.

3. API, API, API: Wow!!!! Not only do we need to develop content, it needs to have its own functions and business processes associated with it.  Catch the next wave of business focused eLearning by making it do more for the organization while training the employee.

4. Online meeting…with PUNCH.  Ok, so we all know the power of meeting on line…now we need to customize it… online meeting attendants,  auto logins, security, as well as fee to meet seems to be hot…for now.

5. CE / Certification Training: Everyone wants a way to calculate CE credits and print certifications.  Well, the future is today on this one.  Adobe Connect API’s are a great way to porvide this online. 

Overall, the show was a winner.  Brookwood learned some and shined more.  Our solutions were winners demonstrating eUniversity with eCommerce and CE Credits.  API development already exists and we had the demos to prove it….and Online meetings have been our follow up of choice with many we spoke with. 

I am looking to DevLearn in the fall….

One to Watch: iSpring - Check out their presenter tool.  Single flash output with API’s…. great for the unusual development requests.

Ed Stengel Seminars, eLearning Trade Show

Adobe just published a case study on their internal usage of Connect Pro.  The numbers are impressive when Connect Pro is being used at its full potential.

• Saved nearly $10 million in travel expenses over a two-year period
• Reached 116,000 customers and prospects, efficiently fueling the sales pipeline
• Handled 80% of IT service desk calls without escalation
• Doubled number of online meetings over two years to more than 80 million minutes for more cost-effective and extensive collaboration
• Achieved 80% usage rate across all employees

Read the full case study

Steven Clark Green Solutions Connect

The newest release of Adobe Captivate (CP), version 4, has greatly simplified the task of adding and editing closed captioning for the hearing impaired. For training developers under strict deadlines this upgrade is a gift from above. CP4 eliminates the need to cut & paste each and every line of text into the closed captioning dialogue box, which is what you must do when working with CP version 3.

This means having the source .ppt file open and the captivate version open and toggling between them for each line of text you needed to copy from one to the other. Even if you were fortunate enough to have dual monitors (thus eliminating toggling) you still had to copy & paste each line one line at a time or copy everything all at once and then edit text lines in the Captivate CC dialogue box. Either way…IT TOOK A VERY LONG TIME!

I want to talk about two very slick new features which Adobe has introduced in CP4 which now helps to make this all happen with very little effort.

The first feature that makes this possible is the ability to import MS PowerPoint slides directly into CP4. It converts the screens, animations and all notes content directly into a captivate project. It will not however import .ppc audio files from .ppt. But that’s OK, and here’s why…

What this means is that as long as you have your narrative text entered into the notes section of each .ppt slide, after it’s imported into CP4 the “Text to Voice / Closed Captioning” processing dialogue box (the second slick new feature) will display those notes and allow you to create an audio track by simply clicking a button. If you’re not importing .ppt files with notes you can simply type or paste text into the box and then convert that into audio as well. Once that audio track is in place, all you have to do is place a check mark next to the text you want to turn into closed captioning, save out the file and that is it.

Now of course you still have to go into the properties dialogue box and set your timing for animations and the skin editor to check the CC box so that it adds the CC button to the control bar during publishing, but who cares? The hard part is now done for you!

The Text to Voice feature provides you with a choice of Male or Female voice option…Paul or Kate. I prefer Kate; she seems to get her pronunciations better than Paul does. Granted, it sounds mechanically generated but it isn’t as bad as some computer generated audio I’ve heard. What’s more you can still import you own audio files just as you could in CP3 if you choose not to use Paul or Kate’s services. (They won’t mind)

The bottom line is that these new features have transformed a very tedious and time consuming task into one that is fast, new and exciting! Saving development time is saving money. You can take that to the bank! Thank you Adobe.

Gene Palocsko Training, eLearning

Well, here we are… it’s Friday… could be any Friday, but this one is the first Friday of the 3rd month of the year.  How far along are you with planning, budgeting, and developing your organization’s eLearning program?  Most organizations use the wait and see factor on training because of cost, travel, lodging,  and maybe hard costs like printing - looking to cut corners in a down economy.  Well, these are EXACTLY the reasons you should be in the midst of developing and promoting your organization’s eLearning program.

Did you know that eLearning can actually cut the costs of training in an organization?  All eLearning developed becomes an asset simply by being reusable, easily edited, and because it can be used as a resource for information almost anytime.  Additionally, there are no travel costs, lodging, and most of the time, no printing.  Why is it then that most organizations view eLearning as a wait and see item?  Tradition?  Timing?  Or is it a Trade off?

None of the above… most organizations lack the experience in approach, or resources.  This delays processes and promotes a last minute rush to complete this type of  initiative.  Here are 7 things to consider now, to be able to effectively deploy a successful eLearning program in the next month or two:

1. What is your organization’s learning culture?  Define it and make a online model of it.  The information is right in front of you, now you need to put it online.

2. How will your organization view this change? Is it really a change from how things are done, or just making it better for your organization?  Position your training online as a competitive advantage and a valuable asset for your organization long term.

3.  What are your resources? Define what and who you will need to make eLearning a success in your organization.  Find valuable resource partners (like Brookwood).

4.  What type of training?  What, and more importantly where, is the content you plan to convert to eLearning.  Remember, always start with a topic that speaks to a larger audience to gain acceptance starting out.

5.  What is your strategy?  Planning to deploy effective eLearning will require a map, usually within or part of a blended training program.  See what fits best online, and what works better in person.

6. What’s your budget and whats’ the cost?  Believe it or not, most eLearning has a positive ROI for the organization.  Brookwood can help you with our ROI calculator services.

7.  What is the business case for the implementation of an eLearning program in your organization?  Most organizations utilize eLearning as a competative edge in communications or education, whether internally or externally, where they can deliver a measurable and consistant amount of information.  When planning your business case, where in your organization can you reduce or eliminate training costs via eLearning?  Detail what content needs to be conveyed in a standardized format.  Summarize the benefits in measured results.

Ed Stengel Business and Budget, eLearning Strategy