Questions and answers for eLearning implementation

eLearning serious games: creativity and motivation Its followers indicate that its use motivates, promotes participation and breaks monotony, but above it all, it lets the student/collaborator improve his/her performance.

Do you remember that old saying “time is gold”? There are few proverbs as relevant in our days and in the eLearning industry as this one.

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.

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.

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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Toronto, Canada , November 10, 2010 Scenario based learning allows educators to engage students in the eLearning environment creating an enriched and ingrained learning experience. Aura Interactiva and MindMuze announced the release of the Scenario Builder as part of their award-winning SHIFT eLearning authoring technology. Aura Interactiva, based in San Jose, Costa Rica and MindMuze, based in Toronto, Canada have partnered in the distribution of SHIFT in North America. "We continue to listen to global educators and instructional design professionals, so that we can help deliver unprecedented efficiencies in eLearning authoring. The Scenario Builder is a whole new way of creating eLearning that boosts engagement and retention with animation, image and sound", said Rick Beaudry, CEO, MindMuze. "Our goal is to provide corporations, governments and schools with the most efficient platform in the building of complex eLearning interactions", Beaudry added. Randolf Kissling, CEO, Aura Interactiva, commented, "With the Scenario Builder, trainers and educators with zero graphic design or programming skills can create complex learning scenarios that can be delivered to students in minutes". Traditionally, producing eLearning programs has been a time-consuming, expensive task that involves a team of instructional designers, graphic designers and developers. SHIFT has removed the need to be technical and transferred the power of creating rich eLearning content to the educator. Now, anyone is able create the ultimate eLearning environment. About SHIFT SHIFT (www.shiftelearning.com) is more than an eLearning authoring tool, it is an eLearning ecosystem. SHIFT allows you to create eLearning courses collaboratively. Browser-based, SHIFT's development team continues to work toward building optimum efficiency in the design and build of complex eLearning interactions for today's learner. In 2009, Aura Interactiva (www.aurainteractiva.com) formed a North American distribution partnership with MindMuze (www.mindmuze.com), one of the most innovative eLearning companies in the world. MindMuze used its own unique training processes to create the best of breed mentoring and training for SHIFT users. Together, Aura Interactiva and MindMuze are continuing to develop and improve SHIFT. Both feel that SHIFT is exactly what the market needs right now, and are thrilled to be a part of it. CONTACT: Rick Beaudry, CEO SHIFT Distibution North America Rick.beaudry@mindmuze.com 1.416.910.3457

Author: Ing. Luis D. Arguello Araya, MPM, PMP. When managing a project, you need to document both the customer's expectations as well as the project's history, based on important decisions that will be made along the way. To do so, you can use the process groups that are suggested and globally accepted as best practices in project management and then develop templates that you can use during the project's lifecycle. You can choose which documents to use depending on the project's characteristics, but here's a list of the most common templates you should consider: Initiation Business Case: To justify the financial investment in your project, you need to write a Business Case. It lists the costs and benefits, so everyone knows what the return on investment (ROI) will be. Feasibility Study: Before you kick-off your project, you will need to determine whether your project is feasible, using a Feasibility Study. Project Charter: You will then need to document the objectives, scope, team, timeframes and deliverables in a Project Charter. Planning Project Plan: Create a Project Plan listing all of the tasks required to undertake your project from start to finish. Every task must be scheduled, so you know what needs to be done and when. Resource Plan: Next, you will need to plan your resources by documenting the money, equipment and materials needed for your project. Quality Plan: Set quality targets, so that the project deliverables meet your customer's expectations. Risk Plan: All of the risks need to be documented as well as their likelihood and impact on the project. Communication Plan: Plan your communications, so that you send the right messages to the right people, at the right time. Execution Time Management: use Timesheets to track time spent on your project. Then update your Project's Plan with your Timesheet data to see whether your project is still within schedule. Cost Management: Track your costs using Expense Forms. Every expense is formally logged and approved, so that you can confirm at any time that you are currently under budget. Change Management: Document each change on the project scope, using Change Forms. So you are able to control change ensuring that your project is always on track. Risk Management: Use Risk Forms to document each risk associated with the project. You can then manage project risk carefully to guarantee that nothing will affect the project's schedule or budget. Issue Management: As you move further along the project's schedule, you will see that issues tend to come up along the way, that's why you will need to research its impact on the project and then write it down on an Issue Form. You can then begin performing the necessary tasks to solve it quickly. Closure Project Closure Report: When your project is complete, document all of the actions needed for a proper closure. This includes releasing teams and suppliers, equipment and materials. Post Project Review: After your project has been closed, you can review its success and document the results for your sponsor. That way, you can show that all of the objectives were met and that the project was delivered on time and within budget. SHIFT and your project's documentation SHIFT allows you to store in a single location all the documents that, as a project manager, you are going to develop for you eLearning project. Keeping your PM documents in a single spot is a great way to control access and versioning of those documents. To do this, simply go to the Course Documentation section and then choose the "Project Management Documents" category. After doing so, you will be able to upload into the system as many documents as you need, considering the recommendations we have provided in this article to plan and keep control of your project. By completing each of the documents suggested here, you can boost your eLearning project's chain of success. Take advantage of SHIFT's functionality as a document repository, this will allow you to store important documents in one place and also to keep your team and customers informed at all times.