Playing games is, thus, an ideal form of preparation for the workplace of the 21st century, as some forward-thinking firms are already starting to realize." The Economist. How can we make sure that our learners are getting the most of the courses provided without being bored with the same old version of eLearning? Maybe we should try to place ourselves into the end users’ shoes and try to come up with what we would be interested in seeing. Nowadays apps are the big thing when it comes to entertainment. There are social apps, travel apps, photo apps, food apps, you name it, it’s there. But the interesting part of it all is that gaming apps are still the ones preferred by the vast majority of the audience. I believe they’re the ones that entertain the most, so why shouldn’t we use their base to help people learn? They can help learners acquire new knowledge or abilities in a fun, fast way, they’re highly motivating and they generate real competition of people in a risk-free environment. Saying it sounds really simple, but the big question mark in everyone’s mind comes up when trying to think about making it real. In basic perspective, the goal is not to entertain but to use entertainment to reinforce learning; that was our main focus when developing learning games in SHIFT. So we came up with a list of characteristics which we considered necessary when creating every single one of our games: Include realistic but safe environments for the user. Demand challenges but also make users satisfied. Help develop side knowledge: build a hypothesis, solve problems, and develop strategies. Have defined objectives for each problem. Entirely interactive. Have a suitable content: not very easy or very difficult for the student. Invite to think, develop, analyze, summarize, and conclude. Be fun: they keep people's interest. Meet industry standards such as AICC and SCORM Once you start to look at eLearning as an experience all on its own rather than matching it up to classroom learning you’ll realize that the more interactive it gets (without losing your main goal), the better understanding everyone will have of what you’re trying to convey.

We rilled to be exhibiting at the upcoming ASTD 2011 International Conference and Expositionin Orlando May 22-25 ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) is the world's largest association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals. ASTD’s members come from more than 100 countries and connect locally in more than 130 U.S. chapters and with more than 30 international partners. Members work in thousands of organizations of all sizes, in government, as independent consultants, and suppliers. The ASTD 2011 International Conference & Exposition will feature 200+ educational sessions from industry leading experts, and a world-class EXPO filled with the latest products and services available from top suppliers and keynote addresses from leaders in the field. We invite you to join us at booth #442 and learn how the latest updates to SHIFT can benefit you, demo new products, and course - meet the members of the SHIFT team!

This morning I had to give a ½ hour "class" on my son's Pre-K class. I had planned to talk about Volcanoes, one of my son's favorite topics. After some Google search, I decided to create a baking soda and vinegar volcanic eruption. Last night, after buying all materials and some testing, the experiment didn't work as expected. No big eruption, nothing that would capture their attention in class.

SHIFT, the eLearning authoring ecosystem, has won three coveted Brandon Hall Silver awards for technology excellence in the Rich Media, Rapid Authoring and Evaluation or Testing categories. SHIFT changes the models of eLearning development. SHIFT allows the development of a rich, interactive and engaging learning experience with no need for advanced technical skills. It’s a one-stop solution for instructional design, media recording, media editing, immersive scenarios and simulations, testing, collaboration and workflow management, all integrated into one cloud-based environment. All processes integrated and managed within the system, including media management, work assignments, reviewing, project documentation and even RFQ’s for outsourcing from external third party vendors. SHIFT’s database driven architecture also makes content reutilization, localization and subsequent changes simple. "We firmly believe that we have created an authoring environment that changes the way eLearning is done. SHIFT is opening up markets for thousands of organizations and individuals that considered eLearning development either too complex or too costly. One single development environment that can produce rich media courses with the resource investment of rapid development" said Randolf Kissling, CEO of Aura Interactiva, the developers of SHIFT . The Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Technology Awards are presented by Brandon Hall Group, a leading research firm in training and development. The Learning Technology Awards program showcases innovations in the products in the marketplace for creating and managing learning, talent, and performance. “These excellent tools and systems are the cutting edge of learning technology,” said Tom Werner, chief research officer and director of the Awards program. “They really change for the better how people learn in the workplace.” About SHIFT SHIFT is used by organizations that need to get more eLearning done, faster and more efficiently. SHIFT is an award winning authoring system that has the necessary elements to empower a user to create rich, interactive courses, with no technical knowledge, rapidly. By using SHIFT, the user has access to all the necessary elements to create an effective and great looking course anywhere at anytime. Automated, smart interface interactions, games, simulations, media recording, and scenario builders, available in one integrated package. SHIFT allows for specialization of labor, collaboration, review, update and content reutilization that will make large eLearning development teams dramatically more effective and more productive. For more information visit: www.shiftelearning.com About Brandon Hall Group Having worked with more than 5,000 clients globally and after 17 years of delivering world-class solutions, Brandon Hall Group is the preeminent research and analyst organization focused on developing research-driven solutions to drive organizational performance for emerging and large organizations. Through the recent merger of Brandon Hall Research and AC Growth, Brandon Hall Group has an extensive repository of thought leadership, research, data, and expertise in Learning and Development, Talent Management, Sales, Marketing, and Executive Management. For more information visit: http://www.brandon-hall.com

SHIFT Share is our innovative online community supporting the students in the global SHIFT Certification program. We welcome new students weekly and utilize SHIFT Share to communicate and collaborate with the over 100 independent instructional designers who are currently in the program. To bring exposure to our talented SHIFT students, we will be introducing the SHIFTERS area in April. This area showcases the instructional designers who are going through the certification program and want to highlight their experience and expertise in the e-learning field. This added exposure will further enable learning, discussion and networking inside of SHIFT Share. SHIFT is changing both the way eLearning is developed and managed; and professionals from the around the world are noticing and want to take part in this disruptive technology. As our award-winning e-learning authoring tool continues to grow, so does the global e-learning community around it.

By Rick Beaudry, CEO, MindMuze www.MindMuze.com - a SHIFT Authorized Partner. With a keen focus on fueling new growth opportunities associated with the economic recovery, SMBs are making significant investments in training their customers and their employees. For the SMB, it is critical that the education solutions are tailored to their budget and resource challenges. SMB’s typically look for an edge. Flexibility and innovation drive their growth. SMB leaders see the potential for learning management software to be applied not only to meet traditional new-hire regulations but to address the customer education problem as well. In fact, the inclusion of an innovative education platform for their products and services drives a competitive advantage, not only among other SMB’s, but over their larger enterprise competitors. According to Forrester Research, 40% of SMBs are either planning to implement learning management software in a year or indicate an interest in doing so. The research also indicates that collaboration and content management lead their investments. Also, 44% will expand or initially invest in collaboration software this year, and 40% will do so in content management software, continuing the trend from 2010. We are seeing tremendous growth in the adoption of innovative education solutions by SMBs throughout the world. They can now harness the power of SAAS (Software as a Service) and on-demand global labour in order to offer education to their employees and customers that is equal to that of their large enterprise brethren. People, process and technology are all essential in the delivery of small and medium-size businesses. They are now investing in their own learning assets as never before. Now, armed with products and services that will enable them to compete with larger enterprise, SMBs are able to extend valuable education to their employees, and to their customers. The lines separating large enterprises from small and mid-sized businesses are becoming blurred. A new generation of tech-savvy business owners are making SMBs look a lot more like their larger enterprise counterparts - on a smaller scale, of course. MindMuze Innovations - Learning Solutions For Small and Mid-Sized Businesses. MindMuze has packaged learning management and elearning development into a cost effective, easily maintainable solution set that includes “renting” learning management services at a fraction of the cost of implementing an LMS to manage the delivery of elearning assets and learning tracking. In addition, MindMuze has combined the power of SHIFT (www.shiftelearning.com), an award-winning collaborative elearning authoring tool, with instant access to a global pool of elearning project resources to ensure the rapid, cost effective development of elearning assets for the SMB - 100% custom learning portals for your employees and customers, along with 100% custom interactive online learning modules. MindMuze partners with the small, or often non-existent, internal HR training department to offer solutions typically only available to larger enterprise customers. Contact us at info@mindmuze.com to find out how small and mid-sized businesses are utilizing the people, process and the technology to make delivering innovative eLearning solutions to your customers and your employees a cost-effective reality.

Thank you to everyone who joined our webcast yesterday! It was recorded and is now avaiable for you to view on demand.

The latest updates to SHIFT have been released and recorded for you to view on demand.