This week, the OpenSesame crew is attending the American Society for Training & Development’s annual International Conference & Expo. In honor of ICE’s international focus (more than 25% of attendees are here from outside of the U.S.!), we are thrilled to announce that our marketplace is now available in seven languages including English, Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian, German… Read more »
The OpenSesame crew is packing up for our trip (from rainy Portland, OR) to (sunny) Orlando, Florida next week for the American Society of Training & Development’s annual International Conference & Expo (ICE). ICE is the premier international event in the professional training and development industry, featuring more than 8,000 attendees from organizations all over the… Read more »
Last week I introduced the evolving reporting standards for L&D called Talent Development Reporting Principles (TDRP). This week I want to discuss the three recommended statements in more detail. Next week, we will look at the three recommended reports. The three statements are intended to organize and standardize all the important L&D measures just as… Read more »
For the past few months, we’ve been organizing a monthly elearning meetup in Portland, OR – OpenSesame’s home town. We meet up at the Green Dragon, a local pub, and enjoy happy hour appetizers and everyone’s craft microbrews of choice. From college professors and software designers to technical writers and Second Life architects, we’ve had… Read more »
There is an effort underway by many leading L&D practitioners and thought leaders to bring reporting standards to our field. We firmly believe that learning and development should have its own set of reporting principles and standard, consistently-defined measures, just like accounting. These standards would provide much needed guidance in defining the right measures to… Read more »
Yesterday, Dan Pontefract published a thought-provoking post on the pros and cons of offering incentives to employees for participation in professional social networks like Yammer or SocialCast. (For some background reading on the useful applications of social networks in the work sphere, read our posts on What Is Social Learning? and Test Driving Yammer.) Dan’s… Read more »
A few weeks ago I shared my top apps for productivity, collaboration and learning on the job (and I think there was something about a burrito). This week’s Friday top five is free web tools. Some you might already know, some you might not. Either way, they’re awesome, and rendering many other, more expensive tools… Read more »
Regular readers of this blog will know I’m a Quora devotee. Yesterday, however, my mind was blown in a new way when I read this question: What are the benefits of having an internal training program? Maybe the questioner is just looking for some talking points for conversations with management about expanding internal training, but… Read more »
In a post last week, we studied the experience of Holly Spoth-Torres, an Alaskan Park Superintendent, as she transformed her workforce into a nimble, collaborative, problem-solving team. Now it’s time to apply her lessons learned to workforces in general. Why does engagement matter? The bottom line is that engaged employees are not only good for… Read more »
Recently the question was broached: “What I would ask a department head regarding their learning needs if I had the opportunity to be alone with them?” I have many such opportunities, from department heads to the C-Table, and some have turned out better than others. My experiences have taught me that the L&D person fits… Read more »
The cost of disengaged employees is not simply an unpleasant workplace: it’s lost productivity, wasted money and inefficient teams. What is a “disengaged employee”? One who has no feeling of personal connection or pride in their work. This disengagement is contagious; research demonstrates that employees managed by disengaged managers are more likely to be disengaged… Read more »
My coworkers and I have been giving a lot of presentations lately, for a variety of reasons: explaining OpenSesame to buyers and sellers, sharing tips and information about the keys to successful elearning development and promoting OpenSesame. We’ve developed some rules of thumb for captivating presentation audiences and focusing on the key information. If you… Read more »
On this month’s Learning Circuit Big Question, Tony Karrer asks the learning & development community how they respond to the “I want it now!” demand from stakeholders. Karrer summarizes the dilemma: “The other day I walked into an executive’s office and they had a site up about “Rapid Instructional Design.” I spent quite a bit… Read more »
Here is what’s not up for debate: Whether or not your training and development programs are being hacked by your workforce. (They are.) That, from a user/learner’s perspective, your rules, tools and T&D programs suck. (They do.) That you are no Easy Button. (Duh. When was the last time anybody compared your efforts to… Read more »
I work for an elearning company. This means I spend a lot of time explaining what elearning is, how it’s used and answering questions like “what does social media have to do with it?” And some of the misconceptions I hear about elearning are incredibly disappointing, because there’s so much innovative work going on “in… Read more »
Each Thursday, I keenly look forward to participating in #lrnchat, the weekly Twitter-based discussion among learning and development professionals. I was very pleased to work with David Kelly, Aaron Silvers and Meg Bertapelle to create a set of questions teasing out the learning lessons from the Star Wars canon. Dave does a fabulous weekly summary… Read more »
I use Twitter every day for personal and professional development. It’s a powerful vehicle for learning, connecting with people, getting professional advice and keeping up on current events. But it’s not just a messaging service; it’s a platform for information, curation and connection. It’s also a great equalizer. If you ask a good question or… Read more »
I spent last evening helping my best friend revise her cover letter and resume for a fabulous job opportunity. As we worked back and forth on a few drafts, the text began to reflect her personal ethic and approach to work in order to make her application stand out from the rest. As my friend… Read more »
In my ongoing love affair with Quora, I recently joined the discussion on a new question: Can specialised social networks replace learning management systems? This question really captures my interest. Of course the LMS is a topic of (sometimes justified) opprobrium – but can large organizations really leave the LMS behind? After some consideration, I… Read more »
If you’re like me, you’re an app addict. Always downloading something new and creating an endless assortment of folders on your mobile device. While some apps are just silly – like the one that turns my phone into a gesture-responsive light saber – some have real benefits for staying organized, connecting with friends and colleagues… Read more »
