Welcome to the April, 2010 issue of Element K News, the e-Learning newsletter from Element K®, intended for our customers and other friends! Element K News provides a monthly update of our latest e-Learning product releases. But it goes beyond that, variously including partner spotlights, dates of upcoming Element K webinars and conferences, highlights from Element K Blog, and more. This month includes items on the arrival of the iPad, verifying the value of Web 2.0 tools, and many exciting product updates, so please read on!

• The iPad Is Here!
• Verifying the Value of Web 2.0 / Social Media Tools
• On Talent Management, Knowledge Gaps, and Employee Development
  
• What's New at Element K Blog

• Conference: April 12-14
  Spring 2010 CLO Symposium
  
• Conference: May 16-19
  ASTD 2010 International Conference and Exposition

• Special Announcement!
• e-Learning Courses
• E-Reference
• Knowledge Portals
• K-Cards
  
• Brainbench Exams
  
• Audio MP3 Course Content
• GetAbstract Book Summaries
  
• Did You Know?

The iPad Is Here!

Unless you've been in complete isolation for the past several months, you've no doubt heard at least something (or more than you wanted to?) about Apple's new device, the iPad tablet. Rumors of this device had been surfacing for over a year, and many -- Apple fans in particular -- are delighted that it has finally become a reality. Opinions range from considering the iPad to be a revolutionary new device type ("magical" as Steve Jobs has said repeatedly in recent weeks), or just a larger iPod Touch that lacks many crucial features to be truly necessary, or something between these two extremes. For many organizations, there will not be immediate budget or critical need for this device, or the many others that will be coming out later this year. That said, L&D leaders would be wise to stay up to date on this exciting new device and its ramifications for learning and development.

One good place to start is with the mainstream reviews of the device by the likes of David Pogue of the NY Times, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, and the popular website Engadget. For a convenient table comparing some aspects of these and other popular product reviewers, see the table at this O'Reilly Answers posting. And although clearly created for marketing purposes, the "Guided Tour" videos from Apple are quite powerful and give you a glimpse of what is possible with this new device (and therefore worth watching even if you do not intend to use an iPad anytime soon).

Judging by the recent Twitter messages indicating much excitement and anticipation, many L&D industry experts are amongst the early adopters who will be trying out the iPad. See your favorite industry bloggers for their various reviews and "first looks" at the device. One example is Jane Hart's blog posting iPads for Learning," which highlights an early iPad application, called CourseNotes, which is intended for students in higher-education to take notes with during class.

And perhaps the most relevant and valuable for learning leaders will be the iPad Learning Lab initiative that Elliott Masie has launched at the MASIE Center. As Masie describes: "We'll be doing immediate testing on the 'affordances' for learning that may be created by this new device. Jonathan Kayes (our CLO), Lauren Boughton (our Producer), Tom King (MASIE Fellow for ePubs), Erin Anderson (our recent college graduate editor), and Elliott Masie, will do a series of immediate experiments on the iPad." In an email sent out to LearningTown members, Masie noted the following intriguing questions as their initial areas of focus:

• Learning Apps: What might a $3 or $20 Learning App look like and accomplish?
• Media Shifts: How could one develop a module that deeply leverages multi-touch?
• Learner Expectations: What might devices such as these do to learner expectations for content and interaction?
• Marketplace Disruptions: What is the equivalent of the iTunes Song for 99 cents in learning?
• Missing Capabilities: Explores the role of video-conferencing, Flash, and other elements currently absent from the iPad.

There are already many good postings at their "iPad Learning Lab" blog, so be sure to check it out soon and add it to your RSS feed reader.
 

Verifying Value of Web 2.0 / Social Media Tools

As more organizations are experimenting with the use of Web 2.0 / social media tools, for a wide range of purposes (e.g., increased collaboration, improved internal communication, social learning), a natural question for business leaders to ask is: How do we measure the value of using these tools? While these tools surely do enable greater informal learning, and make existing informal learning more transparent to management, what is the extent of this and other values that they bring? Can it be measured in time saved, ideas generated, and ultimately in dollars saved and/or revenue generated?

Responses to such questions often note the difficulty in measuring the use of Web 2.0 / social media tools with traditional ROI metrics and approaches. A preferred approach is often to cite anecdotal evidence and powerful success stories that demonstrate important business results. When an organization is considering first using such tools, effective stories are sought from outside the organization, with stories from competitor's successes being particularly compelling. Once an organization has started to pilot or otherwise use the tools, then such evidence can come from surveying their own employees. But what exactly to look for, and what questions to ask, can remain at times elusive.

The March issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine provided an excellent article on this subject, "Verifying Virtual Value," by Eric Davidove and Craig Mindrum. They frame the issue quite nicely as follows:

On one side of the fence are those who have witnessed the transformative power of networked learning -- its ability to enable faster and better knowledge sharing and more effective decision making and problem solving, as well as a substantial reduction in error rates and learning costs. On the other side of the fence are those looking for a clear business case and return on investment (ROI) -- some assurance that it definitively impacts the business.

They then introduce what they consider to be three key areas of value to focus on:

Traditional training analyses, such as Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation, were designed to assess solutions that are delivered in a linear manner. Since networked or collaborative learning solutions are informal, integrated with the workflow and driven by the learners, these traditional assessments will not work. Instead, one has to look at higher and broader areas of value, and there are three key ones: financial, individual performance, and group performance.

For each of these three, the authors provide insightful ways to focus the analysis, as well as some industry examples. A great read, and a great follow-up to the article in Chief Learning Officer magazine from July 2009, Productivity in a Networked Era: Not Your Father's ROI," by Jay Cross and Jon Husband. Both are must-reading for anyone struggling with these questions.

Interested in the use of Web 2.0 / social media technologies in your learning programs? Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K's LMS, KnowledgeHub, which provides collaborative Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, forums, and wikis.
 

On Talent Management, Knowledge Gaps, and Employee Development

Speaking of the March 2010 issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine, also included was the latest update from Cushing Anderson on the results of the IDC bi-monthly survey of Chief Learning Officer magazine's Business Intelligence Board (BIB). The results in this article, Talent Management as Survival Skill, are interesting and cautionary. For instance, even with organizations looking everywhere to cut costs, "about 50 percent of organizations feel talent management is more important than it was for them last year," while only "10 percent of organizations feel talent management has become less important."

Further, there is concern of an increasing "knowledge gap" in many organizations:

In the short term, firms expect to continue to hire less in response to the global economic crisis. Meanwhile, companies believe that any retirement or voluntary separation will increase their knowledge gap, with middle managers and supervisors most impacted. The economy may offer a delay but not relief from the impending knowledge gap. CLOs are aware that delaying addressing a potential knowledge gap now may lead to a crisis when those who have delayed retirement leave the workforce.

And employee development remains a critical part of overall talent management:

Employee development remains important in a challenging economic environment for several reasons. Enterprises must increase organizational performance overall, and employee development is a significant contributor to organizational improvement. As organizations realign their workforce, sometimes involving reassignment and often involving layoffs, they must attempt to develop the remaining employees to be better prepared to perform their expanded work responsibilities. Finally, development is important as a demonstrated commitment to individual employees.

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about how Element K's learning content and delivery solutions can play a crucial role in your talent management and employee development strategies.

What's New at Element K Blog

At Element K Blog,we provide commentary and insights on the Learning and Development industry. This includes reports on industry conferences, pointers to the best industry resource sites, and the regular feature Learning and Development Roundup, where we point you to key resources and opinions from the past four to six weeks.

Here is what you'll find at Element K Blog recently:

• Learning and Development Roundup (Vol. 12) - Includes links to items from Elliott Masie, David Mallon, Janet Clarey, Tony Karrer, Jane Hart, Lance Dublin, and more.
• Jane Hart's Social Learning Academy and 2010 Tools Survey - Highlighting some of Jane Hart's latest resources on social learning, and noting the launch of her annual learning tools survey.
• On the Garden Metaphor - Are you familiar with the garden metaphor?
• Learning and Development Roundup (Vol. 11) - Includes links to items from Karl Kapp, Clark Quinn, Will Thalheimer, Harold Jarche, Judy Brown, Marcia Conner, and more.
• An IT Training Puzzle: Learning from Real Equipment, but Not at High Cost - Background on a common training problem that many IT organizations face, and the solution that "virtual labs" provide.

We hope you'll check out Element K Blog, come back regularly, and add us to your RSS reader. Also, if you use Twitter, you can follow us there at our account @Element_K.
 

Conference: Spring 2010 CLO Symposium

April 12-14, 2010, Boca Raton, FL

A theme of the event is the exploration of "innovative and engaging ideas and techniques for delivering effective learning and development that will help position your organization to lead in the new economy." On April 13th, Dan Heffernan, VP of Learning Products at Element K, will speak on "Generate Demand for Learning: Develop Leaders Using a Blended Approach."

For more information about this event, see the CLO Symposium site.

Conference: ASTD 2010 International Conference and Exposition

May 16-19, 2010, Chicago, IL
"Held each spring, this premier event for workplace learning and performance professionals welcomes attendees from more than 70 countries. The conference features 300+ educational sessions from industry-leading experts, and a world-class EXPO filled with the latest products and services available from top suppliers."

For more information about this conference, see the ASTD 2010 ICE site.

For more information about conferences that Element K will be participating in, see the Element K Events page.

For more information about our webinars, see the Element K Webinars page.

Special Announcement!

Coming Soon: EMC's Information Storage and Management (v3) e-Learning

Element K is very excited that through our partnership with EMC we will be able to provide Information Storage and Management (v3) e-Learning. This content will help in preparing the student for the E20-001 Information Storage and Management Exam, which is a qualifying examination for the EMC Proven Professional Associate level. Watch for more information on this offering in the future!
 

E-Learning Courses
Element K's award-winning e-Learning content includes robust multimedia content, software simulations, business simulations, quizzes, assessments, and more. And our massive libraries continue to grow each month! The latest e-Learning course additions in the following general areas include:

Business Skills

• Government Ethics
• No FEAR Act
• Recruiting the Workforce of the Future 1: Profiling the Employee of the Future
• Recruiting the Workforce of the Future 2: Developing a Compelling Recruiting Message
• The Strategic Development of Talent 3: Developing a Learning Organization
• Wellness: Cholesterol Reduction
• Wellness: Stop Smoking
• Wellness: Stress Management
• Winning with People at Work 1: Mastering Concepts for Getting Results
• Winning with People at Work 2: Building a Winning Team

• Situational Leadership - The Model (Center For Leadership Studies Program)
• Taking Charge with Situational Leadership (Center For Leadership Studies Program)

• Medical Billing - Part I (dti Publishing)
• Medical Billing - Part II (dti Publishing)
• Medical Coding Professional (dti Publishing)

• Executive-Level Selling (SPI)
• Major Account Selling (SPI)
• Professional Manager (SPI)
• Sales Management and Coaching (SPI)
• Strategic Opportunity Selling (SPI)
• Targeted Territory Selling (SPI)

Office Productivity

• Microsoft® Office Excel® 2010: Transition from Excel® 2003 (First Look)

Design and Media

• Adobe® Dreamweaver® CS5: Level 1 - First Look
• Adobe® Dreamweaver® CS4: Level 3 (Macintosh)
• Adobe® Flash® Catalyst™: Creating Interactive Designs (First Look)

IT Professional

• Certified Software Quality Engineer (CSQE)
• CIW™ Internetworking Professional: Advanced TCP/IP Concepts and Practices
• Effectively Managing Technical Teams
• Green IT: Credentials
• Motivating IT Teams
• Oracle Database 11g: Real Application Clusters (Edition 1)
• PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)® Certification - Comprehensive
• SQL: Advanced Querying (Fourth Edition)

Localized Courses

• Habilidades de escucha efectiva (Español)
• Mujeres al liderazgo: obtener excelencia en el liderazgo a través de una comunicación efectiva (Español)
• Mujeres al liderazgo: liderar gente en una organización (Español)
• Mujeres al liderazgo: superar desafíos de liderazgo comunes (Español)
• Tutoría: cerrar la relación de tutoría (Español)
• Tutoría: desarrollar las relaciones (Español)
• Tutoría: identificar sus metas (Español)

• Compétences d’écoute efficace (Français)
• Développement d'un plan d'action de gestion du temps (Français)
• Gérer des équipes multigénérationnelles: Exploiter les capacités des équipes intergénérationnelles (Français)
• Gérer des équipes multigénérationnelles: Gérer les problèmes intergénérationnels sur le lieu de travail (Français)
• Les femmes dans le leadership: Atteindre l’excellence en termes de leadership grâce à une communication efficace (Français)
• Les femmes dans le leadership: Diriger des personnes au sein d’une société (Français)
• Les femmes dans le leadership: Surmonter les difficultés fréquentes relatives au leadership (Français)
• Mener des entretiens pour obtenir d’excellents résultats (Français)
• Mentorat: Développer des relations (Français)
• Mentorat: Identifier vos objectifs (Français)
• Mentorat: Mettre un terme à la relation de mentorat (Français)
• Objectifs réalistes de gestion de temps (Français)
• Présentations professionnelles efficaces (Français)
• Se préparer à faire passer un entretien à des candidats à un poste (Français)
• Service client: Augmenter les ventes grâce au service (Français)
• Service client: Faire la différence avec les clients (Français)
• Service client: Gestion de la relation clients (Français)
• Service client: Relation clients (Français)
• Service client: Résultats positifs (Français)
• Tirer le maximum de vos réunions (Français)

• Internet Explorer 7: Introduction (Indian English)

• Developing Time Management Action Plan (International English)
• Realistic Time Management Goals (International English)

• Competenze per negoziare (Italiano)
• Esplorazione e pianificazione da negoziare (Italiano)

• Effective Time Management for You (Simplified Chinese)
• Managing Strategic Planning Process (Simplified Chinese)
• Negotiating Skills in Action (Simplified Chinese)
• Realistic Time Management Goals (Simplified Chinese)

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about our various libraries of e-Learning courses.

 
E-Reference
Element K's e-Reference offerings provide a vast searchable library of reference titles. Through our Safari partnership, we provide titles from top industry publishers such as O'Reilly, Que, Peachpit Press, Sams, Prentice Hall, and many others. In the month of March, we added Safari titles as follows:

• 331 new technical titles
• 285 new business titles

In addition, we also offer an ever-growing collection of IBM Redbooks, with 40 additional titles added in recent months.

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K's e-Reference offerings.
 

Knowledge Portals
With our easy-to-use Knowledge Portals, you can quickly utilize the wide variety of tools that are included in your subscription, such as e-Learning courses, e-Reference libraries, management videos, book summaries, and more. In addition, Knowledge Portals provide quick access to relevant Element K blogs and forums on the KnowledgeHub platform. Each Knowledge Portal is centered around a particular job role, topic area, or industry certification area, and displays only the content that the user has a subscription to, so everything they see in the portal is accessible to them.

The new Knowledge Portals from the past month are:

• HR Professional
• Business Videos

Earlier this year, Element K released the following Knowledge Portals:

• Management
• Office Professional
• Project Management
• CompTIA
• Creative Designer
• Web Developer
• IT Network Administrator
• Systems Administrator
• IT Security
• Application Developer

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K's new Knowledge Portals.
 

K-Cards
K-Cards are convenient quick reference cards that can be printed and referenced quickly to find answers to common tasks. They provide useful tips, techniques, procedures, and other reference information. K-Cards are comprehensive guides that increase productivity and expertise and provide an excellent, on-the-job, performance support solution that can extend the value of both e-Learning and classroom learning.

The most recent K-Card created is:

• Microsoft® Windows® 7

Additional K-Cards exist for topics such as Office 2007 applications, Office 2003 applications, Windows XP and Windows Vista, Project Management, and CompTIA® Network+, Security+, and A+.

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K's K-Cards product.

Brainbench Exams
Element K has integrated skills testing from Brainbench, the industry leading online testing solution. Brainbench exams can provide results including boosting training ROI, differentiating skills assets, establishing skills accountability, and speeding self-improvement. Brainbench standard assessments provide the ideal tool for measuring the skills, ability, and personality traits of employees, candidates, and training participants. Each standard assessment typically includes 40 questions and takes approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour to complete.

The most recent Brainbench exams added are:

• .NET Framework 3.5 - The .NET Framework 3.5 test measures your knowledge of the .NET environment. Designed for experienced users, this test covers the following topics: .NET Architectural Overview, .NET Framework Class Library, .NET Metadata and Windows Workflow Foundation, .NET Programming, Assemblies, CLS, CTS, and LINQ, Common Language Runtime (CLR), Data Service Components, and Presentation Layer.
• C# 3.0 - The C# 3.0 test measures your knowledge of programming in the .NET environment using C# 3.0. Designed for experienced programmers, this test includes the following topics: Arrays and Collections, Class Members, Delegates and Events, Exception Handling, Expressions, Grammar and Logic, Reference and Value Types, and Unmanaged and Unsafe Access.
• C# 3.0 Fundamentals - The C# 3.0 Fundamentals test measures your knowledge of programming in the .NET environment using C# 3.0. Designed for entry-level programmers, this test includes the following topics: Arrays, Generics, and Collections; Class Members; Delegates and Events; Exception Handling; Expressions, Grammar, and Logic, Operators and Overloading; Reference and Value Types.

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about the Brainbench offering.
 

Audio MP3 Course Content
Many of our Business Skills e-Learning courses also have a significant portion of the conceptual content available as audio MP3 downloads for playback on your iPod or compatible smartphone devices. In March we added downloadable audio MP3 content for the following Business Skills courses:

• Basho Sales Training Bargaining With Clients
• Basho Sales Training Conducting a Sales Meeting
• Basho Sales Training Prospecting
• Employee Relations Communicating for Effective Employee Relations
• Employee Relations: Satisfying Employees
• Employee Relations: Understanding Employment Laws
• Generating Interest Through Sales Calls
• HR Optimization Managing Employees
• Leadership Skills Build a Winning Team
• Mentoring - Developing Mentoring Relationships
• Mentoring-Identifying Your Goals
• Team Sponsorship Sponsoring Standing and Ad Hoc Teams
• Team Sponsorship: Sponsoring a Natural Team

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about the downloadable audio MP3 content for select Business Skills titles.
 

getAbstract
One of our most innovative partners, getAbstract, provides book summaries of the latest and most important books in business. Most of us don't have time to read every interesting book that comes along, but with getAbstract, you don't have to. Access book summaries in a variety of formats, including PDFs or as audio content for your iPhone, iPod, BlackBerry, or other MP3 player. The latest getAbstract additions include:

• Baked In: Creating Products and Businesses That Market Themselves by Alex Bogusky and John Winsor
• Business Process Management and the Balanced Scorecard. Focusing Processes on Strategic Drivers by Ralph Smith
• Creating Passion-Driven Teams: How to Stop Micromanaging and Motivate People to Top Performance by Dan Bobinski
• How to Make Money with YouTube: Earn Cash, Market Yourself, Reach Your Customers, and Grow Your Business on the World's Most Popular Video-Sharing Site by Brad Schepp and Debra Schepp
• How to Say It: Doing Business in Latin America: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Kevin Michael Diran
• Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update by Donella Meadows, Jorgen Randers and Dennis Meadows
• Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, and How to Get It Back When You Need It by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter
• Moving Money: The Future of Consumer Payments by Martin Neil Baily and Robert E. Litan
• Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Strategic Management by Henry Mintzberg, Joseph Lampel and Bruce Ahlstrand
• The Greening of IT. How Companies Can Make a Difference for the Environment by John Lamb
• The New Language of Marketing 2.0: How to Use ANGELS to Energize Your Market by Sandy Carter
• The Social Factor: Innovate, Ignite, and Win Through Mass Collaboration and Social Networking by Maria Azua
• Top Notch Executive Resumes: Creating Flawless Resumes for Managers, Executives, and CEOs by Katharine Hansen
• Training Games by Steve Sugar and Jennifer Whitcomb
• Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs by Craig Stull, Phil Myers and David Meerman Scott
• Work the System. The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less by Sam Carpenter

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about the getAbstract products.
 

Did You Know?

Did you know that Element K offers a robust, award-winning Learning Management System (LMS), called KnowledgeHub? A fully hosted application, KnowledgeHub provides the same customization, configuration, and integration capabilities as more traditional learning management systems. KnowledgeHub provides all of the features you need to manage advanced learning programs, including diverse content deployment options, learning plan management, and flexible reporting. The application can be used as a turn-key solution to deploy Element K's off-the-shelf training, or as a fully customized solution to deliver a broad range of content from various sources to multiple target audiences. KnowledgeHub offers a smart, cost-effective alternative to the demands of installed LMS ownership, substantially reducing infrastructure and operational costs, as well as deployment time. Because we offer a software as a service (SaaS) learning solution, there is no hardware or software to buy, install, or maintain.

To learn more, visit www.elementk.com/products/knowledgehub or contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant.

For more information on Element K:
http://www.elementk.com or call 1-800-434-3466.
Element K, 500 Canal View Blvd., Rochester, NY 14623

Copyright 2010 Element K Corporation. All rights reserved. Element K and the Element K logo are trademarks of Element K Corporation. Products or other names may be trademarks of their respective proprietors who may not be affiliated with Element K. Element K is part of NIIT, a global talent development corporation operating in 44 countries.