Welcome to the February, 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 e-Learning's effectiveness, talent management, management development, and many exciting product updates, so please read on!

• On Why E-Learning Is So Effective
• Talent Shortage During a Recession?
• Debunking 10 Talent Management Myths
• Critical Management Development Processes
• Horizon Report 2010
• What's New at Element K Blog

• Element K Included in Visionaries Quadrant for Gartner's Corporate Learning Systems Report
• Verizon Business and Element K Receive Innovative Learning Technology Award
• Element K Selected as a Top Leadership Training Company by TrainingIndustry.com
• Element K's Strata Fundamentals Course Receives Highest Possible Rating

• Conference: May 16-19
  ASTD 2010 International Conference and Exposition

• e-Learning Courses
• Knowledge Portals
  
• GetAbstract Book Summaries
  
• Did You Know?

On Why E-Learning Is So Effective

One of the Learning and Development industry's best bloggers, Tom Kuhlmann at the Rapid E-Learning Blog, recently wrote a great posting describing his views on why e-Learning is so effective. As always, Kuhlmann's way of writing is clear and concise, as he categorizes and lists his chosen 13 reasons, giving a few words of explanation for each. What you'll find at this posting are the following:

• e-learning supports the organization's goals:
  • Improved training costs
  • Decreased material costs
  • Increased productivity
  • Standardization
• e-learning supports the learner's development:
  • Real-time access
  • Freedom to fail
  • Improved retention
  • Personalized learning
• e-learning nurtures a learning organization and community:
  • Ongoing access to resources
  • Knowledge management
  • Encourage sharing
  • Employer of choice
  • Good for the environment

Read this posting for Kuhlmann's valuable insights for each of these 13 reasons, and check out some of his other posts while you are there.

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn about Element K's massive catalog of award-winning e-Learning courses.

Talent Shortage During a Recession?

Experts have been calling for a looming talent shortage or even crisis for many years. Surely the recession has at least lengthened the time before the most acute effects of such a crisis will be felt. But in "Job Meltdown or Talent Crunch?" in the January issue of Training magazine, Edward Gordon writes "There is an escalating mismatch worldwide between individuals' skills and employer job needs." In fact, he notes that:

In spite of this deep economic crisis, Manpower's 2009 talent shortage survey reported that 30 percent of the world's employers are still facing a talent showdown. It seems hard to believe these businesses can't find appropriately skilled people to fill their jobs, yet 1 to 3 million U.S. jobs have been vacant for more than six months. America is experiencing a talent shortage in the midst of a labor glut.

Gordon predicts, "Once the economic recovery begins, global businesses will face a crisis in recruiting and retaining talented people." He notes specifics about three powerful socioeconomic forces that are driving him to this conclusion: technology, demographics, and globalization. For example, he cites that in the United States alone, 79 million Baby Boomers will retire with only 40 million Generation Xers in line to replace them. And in some other countries the situation could be even more dire, as their national birthrates won't even reach replacement levels.

Gordon argues for the importance of training and learning in what he calls the "dawn of a new Cyber-Mental age." He notes "The U.S. labor-market preparation system must equip more Americans with the general and career technical skills for a Cyber-Mental Age. ...The next decade of major technology breakthroughs can be one of 'more and better' if we better motivate students and encourage incumbent workers to pursue appropriate career education and lifelong learning so more people can compete and win in this Cyber-Mental Age."

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn how Element K's learning solutions can support your talent development initiatives.

Debunking 10 Talent Management Myths

The December 2009 issue of Talent Management magazine included an impressive article by Doris Sims, Debunking 10 Talent Management Myths. In this article, Sims briefly describes the following 10 "myths" and then provides what she calls "a new perspective" for each:

• We should invest most of our talent acquisition budget into external recruiting functions.
• There is only one best practice talent management methodology.
• All talent management information and processes must be held in confidence to avoid employee morale issues.
• High-potential employees are defined as those who have the ability to advance two levels above their current position.
• Only large organizations need a talent management strategy.
• If we develop our high-potential employees, they will leave for another company.
• Identifying high potentials and successors is a subjective process.
• Succession planning is unnecessary in an economic downturn or if there is a low number of retiring employees.
• Notifying high potentials will give them a big head and cause morale problems among other employees.
• Developing high potentials is too costly.

Read the entire article to learn in what way Sims considers each of these to be "myths."

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K's broad learning development solutions.

Critical Management Development Processes

The December issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine included a good article by Josh Brand, "Management Development in 2010: Getting Back on Track." The article provides six key management development processes that arose from a recent set of interviews of CLOs of 50 large global companies:

• Focusing on key managers.
• Becoming their own general contractors.
• An increase in blended learning.
• Trading group development for individual development.
• Creating suitcase programs.
• Continuing to experiment.

Regarding the third approach, increasing the use of blended learning, Brand writes:

Finally, the industry may be seeing an end to the aversion toward e-Learning for management development. While many CLOs expressed disappointment with previous e-Learning experiments for management development, it appears they are starting to figure it out. Forty percent of CLOs said they are now employing blended learning for new management development programs. Examining the designs of these programs revealed they were often quite sophisticated, employing not just synchronous and asynchronous e-Learning, but also online moderated, manager-only communities, on-demand rapid response virtual sessions and user interfaces to assist managers in finding what they need.

You can read the article online for the insights in each of the other five areas.

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K's learning solutions for management development, including our Real World Blended Learning Subscriptions.

Horizon Report 2010

The New Media Consortium and EDUCAUSE have recently published their annual Horizon Report 2010. This report "describes the continuing work of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, a qualitative research project established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative inquiry on college and university campuses within the next five years." For those in academia, this is must-reading. But even for those in L&D roles in corporate or government contexts, the Horizon Report is a great read, as a glimpse into the learning technologies future for people who will soon be joining the workforce.

For 2010, the report indicates two technologies in each mainstream time adoption period:

• Time to adoption of one year or less: Mobile Computing and Open Content
• Time to adoption of two to three years: Electronic Books and Simple Augmented Reality
• Time to adoption of four to five years: Gesture-based Computing and Visual Data Analysis

For complete details, download the Horizon Report 2010 as a PDF file.

Further, it is interesting to track the Horizon Reports predictions from year to year, to determine the hits and misses. To do so, see Saul Carliner's blog posting where he has compiled all seven annual reports, going back to 2004.

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. 10) - Includes links to items from ASTD's Learning Circuits, Judy Brown, Elliott Masie, Karl Kapp and Tony O'Driscoll, and much more.
• Ribbon Hero: A Learning Game from Microsoft - A description of the new learning game from Microsoft that teaches while you use Microsoft Office applications Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Highly Recommended on Enterprise 2.0: Meeting Jessica - A description and recommendation of a great presentation (with additional links) about the use of collaborative Web 2.0 tools at Pfizer.
• Learning and Development Roundup (Vol. 9) - Includes links to items from ASTD's Learning Circuits, the eLearning Guild, Elliott Masie, Tony Karrer, Josh Bersin, Jeanne Meister, Jay Cross, and much more.
• On Workplace Learning Today - A focus on the wonderful group blog from Brandon Hall Research.
• On Finding a Job in the L&D Industry - Several links to industry-specific job boards and other resources for the learning professional.

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.

Element K Included in Visionaries Quadrant for Gartner's Corporate Learning Systems Report

Element K was included in the 2009 Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems report, published by Gartner, Inc. (The 2009 Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems report is available for purchase from Gartner at http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=170409.)

The report evaluated several learning systems. According to the report, "social software tools, reporting and analytics, support for metrics relevant to the business, engaging content, and ease of integration are key." After a complete evaluation of Element K’s on-demand learning management system (LMS), KnowledgeHub, Gartner positioned the company in the Visionaries quadrant.

KnowledgeHub contains a complete set of collaboration tools -- wikis, blogs, discussion forums, and virtual classrooms -- placing learning directly in the hands of users. Since collaboration features are tightly integrated into the LMS, learners can access training delivered by Element K, their own organization's custom and proprietary content, as well as content published by their peers, within a comprehensive and highly accessible social learning portal.

As a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, KnowledgeHub can be set up in days or weeks, regardless of organizational size, with no costly software to install. Easy to implement, secure, and customizable, the LMS provides multiple administrator roles and grouping, as well as robust reporting options and credentialing functionality to assign development paths down to the individual level. The LMS is available in 12 languages, and is used by over 3 million learners around the globe.

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K's innovative KnowledgeHub Learning Management System.

Verizon Business and Element K Receive Innovative Learning Technology Award

Verizon Business and Element K have received the Innovative Learning Technology award from the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) Technology-based Learning Special Interest Group (TBL SIG). The award recognizes Verizon Business' specialized certification training and Element K's underlying vLabs technology.

The award, presented recently by the Atlanta chapter of ASTD, selected the winning educational partners based on how well they used specific technology to improve performance, as well as the uniqueness and effectiveness of their training method. Shaunda Paden, president of the TBL SIG branch of ASTD and one of the judges of this year's competition, said, "I was impressed by how Element K's solution improved performance by providing remote learners training on real equipment rather than a theoretical simulated environment."

Using the vLabs technology, Verizon Business technical employees who work on complex network systems can receive advanced training necessary for their jobs. These students can refer to a sample solution and work toward it to eliminate guesswork. Labs also have a time limit, which helps simulate real-world pressures and actual exam experience. As a result, vLabs allows students to gain practical knowledge through self-paced instruction, then practice those skills and return to the coursework as needed to refresh their knowledge.

"By leveraging Element K's vLabs technology to deliver our course requirements, Verizon Business is able to deliver an advanced virtual classroom to a large technical audience scattered around the globe," said Michael Sunderman, executive director of learning and development for Verizon Business. "Valuable hands-on experience from virtually anywhere in the world, anytime of the day, is critical to our training process." For more details, read the complete case study about the Verizon Business technical training program.

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K's innovative vLabs product line

Element K Selected as a Top Leadership Training Company by TrainingIndustry.com

Element K was recently recognized among learning providers on TrainingIndustry.com's first annual 2010 Top 20 Leadership Training Companies list. Element K also currently ranks on the Top 20 IT Training Companies List, and for four years running, on the Top 20 Training Outsourcing Companies list as well.

Considerations for selection to the Top 20 Leadership Training Companies list include thought leadership and influence on the leadership training industry, industry recognition and innovation, breadth of programs offered and audiences served, and experience in serving the market. "Leadership training represents one of the broadest content segments of the training industry," said Ken Taylor, Chief Operating Officer of Training Industry, Inc. "Our list of Top 20 companies highlights the best-in-class organizations focused on the leadership skills critical to driving business performance."

We feel this recognition conveys the unique value that Element K brings to the field of leadership training. In particular, our exclusive Real World Blended Learning Subscriptions provide leaders with a mix of modalities designed to work together from the start for optimal effectiveness and efficiency.

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K's Real World Blended Learning Subscriptions.

Element K's Strata Fundamentals Course Receives Highest Possible Rating

As we noted in the November and January editions, Element K recently was given the first ever 5.0 ProCert ratings for print courseware. That perfect rating was given for the latest editions of our CompTIA® A+® and Network+ courses. ProCert Labs is the quality assurance standard for curriculum alignment.

Given the at first unique, and then merely rare, nature of these ratings, it would have seemed tough to score a "hat-trick" with a third in succession. But Element K has now received a third perfect 5.0 rating from ProCert, this time for our CompTIA Strata Fundamentals: IT Technology courseware.

The ProCert Labs Evaluation Report for the CompTIA Strata Fundamentals: IT Technology from Element K states, "This Element K CompTIA® Strata™ Fundamentals: IT Technology course presents fundamental skills and concepts that will build upon your existing IT knowledge, skills, and experience, providing you with the technical content and practice necessary to prepare you for the CompTIA® Strata™ Fundamentals: IT Technology certification exam." Additional review statements include:

• "The course design and navigation systems are outstanding."
• "The course performs well in the area of instructional design and exam objective correlation."
• "The course content, the number and caliber of exercises, and the course navigation will make your CompTIA® Strata™ Fundamentals: IT Technology exam preparation successful."

When something unique happens for a first time, some would say it was luck or a fluke. But what about when it happens a second time, and then even a third in succession? Some people say good things come in threes, but we prefer to see this as a pattern of high quality resulting from consistently strong effort and a best-in-class development process.

And what about the A+, Network+, and Strata Fundamentals e-Learning courses from Element K? As we've noted here previously, Element K has long produced content using an innovative, XML-driven single-source development model, whereby we efficiently produce both professional ILT print courseware and multimedia-rich e-Learning courses. This has been our approach for nearly a decade, and we have refined the process over the years in order to produce the very best products for both learning modalities. So while the ProCert Labs rating applies only to the print courseware directly, rest assured that the same high-quality content is the basis for our A+, Network+, and Strata Fundamentals e-Learning courses.

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about A+, Network+, Strata Fundamentals, and the many other CompTIA print and e-Learning courses available from Element K.

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.

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

• Clearing Aptitude Tests and Group Discussions
• Cracking Interviews
• Developing Ethical Leadership Skills
• Medical Terminology (DTI)
• The Strategic Development of Talent 1: Creating a Strategic Development Plan
• The Strategic Development of Talent 2: Choosing a Development Strategy
• Transitioning from Campus to Corporate

Compliance

• Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) Awareness Level (Third Edition)

Office Productivity

• QuickBooks® 2010 for Windows: Introduction
• QuickBooks® 2010 for Windows: Advanced

Design and Media

• Adobe® After Effects® CS4

IT Professional

• CompTIA® Project+™ Certification (2009 Objectives): Part 1 of 6
• CompTIA® Project+™ Certification (2009 Objectives): Part 2 of 6
• CompTIA® Project+™ Certification (2009 Objectives): Part 3 of 6
• CompTIA® Project+™ Certification (2009 Objectives): Part 4 of 6
• CompTIA® Project+™ Certification (2009 Objectives): Part 5 of 6
• CompTIA® Project+™ Certification (2009 Objectives): Part 6 of 6
• CompTIA® Strata™ Fundamentals: IT Technology for Sales
• Green IT: Data Centers and Virtualization
• Green IT: Organization Management
• Oracle Database 11g: New Features for Administrators (Edition I)

Localized Courses

• Administración efectiva del tiempo (Español)
• Cómo conducir a su equipo hacia resultados comerciales (Español)
• Cómo conducir entrevistas para lograr buenos resultados (Español)
• Cómo desarrollar y conducir un equipo eficiente (Español)
• Cómo prepararse para entrevistar aspirantes a un puesto de trabajo (Español)
• Cómo redactar correos electrónicos efectivos (Español)
• Desarrollar e implementar un plan estratégico (Español)
• Habilidades de negociación en acción (Español)
• Habilidades para reuniones de negocios (Español)
• Objetivos realistas de la gestión del tiempo (Español)
• Preparándose para negociar (Español)
• Presentaciones comerciales dinámicas (Español)
• Presentaciones efectivas (Español)
• Primeros pasos hacia la planificación estratégica (Español)
• Proveer retroalimentación efectiva (Segunda Edición) (Español)
• Reconocer el desempeño de los empleados (Segunda Edición) (Español)
• Redacción comercial persuasiva (Español)
• Redacción de negocios efectiva (Español)

• Élaboration et mise en œuvre d'un plan stratégique (Français)
• Premières étapes vers la planification stratégique (Français)

• Microsoft® Office Excel 2003: Level 2 (Indian English)
• Microsoft® Office PowerPoint 2003: Level 2 (Indian English)
• Microsoft® Office Word 2003: Level 2 (Indian English)
• Recognizing and Avoiding Burnout (Second Edition) (Indian English)
• Time Management (Second Edition) (Indian English)

• Change Management for Managers (International English)
• Conducting Interviews for Successful Results (International English)
• Developing and Implementing a Strategic Plan (International English)
• First Steps Towards Strategic Planning (International English)
• Getting the Results Without the Authority (International English)
• Managing Conflict (International English)
• Managing Project Teams (Second Edition) (International English)
• Motivating Your Employees (International English)
• Preparing to Interview Job Candidates (International English)

• Ottenere il massimo dalle riunioni (Italiano)

• Desenvolver e Implementar um Plano Estratégico (Português do Brasil)

• Business Meeting Skills (Simplified Chinese)
• Conducting Interviews for Successful Results (Simplified Chinese)
• Developing and Leading an Effective Team (Simplified Chinese)
• Dynamic Business Presentations (Simplified Chinese)
• Effective Business Writing (Simplified Chinese)
• Effective Time Management for You (Simplified Chinese)
• First Steps Towards Strategic Planning (Simplified Chinese)
• Get The Most Out of Your Meetings (Simplified Chinese)
• Leading Your Team To Business Results (Simplified Chinese)
• Negotiating Skills in Action (Simplified Chinese)
• Persuasive Business Writing (Simplified Chinese)
• Preparing to Interview Job Candidates (Simplified Chinese)
• Realistic Time Management Goals (Simplified Chinese)
• Writing Effective Emails (Simplified Chinese)
   
• Microsoft® Office Excel 2007: Level 1 (Second Edition) (Vietnamese)
• Microsoft® Office Outlook 2007: Level 3 (Second Edition) (Vietnamese)
• Microsoft® Office Word 2007: Level 1 (Second Edition) (Vietnamese)

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

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.

A recent Knowledge Portal that has been created is:

• IT Security

In 2009, Element K also released the following Knowledge Portals:

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

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

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:

• A World of Wealth: How Capitalism Turns Profits into Progress by Thomas G. Donlan
• China 2020: How Western Business Can - and Should - Influence Social and Political Change in the Coming Decade by Michael A. Santoro
• e-Riches 2.0: Next-Generation Marketing Strategies for Making Millions Online by Scott Fox
• Havens in a Storm: The Struggle for Global Tax Regulation by J. C. Sharman
• Highly Effective Networking: Meet the Right People and Get a Great Job by Orville Pierson
• How to Instantly Connect with Anyone: 96 All-New Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships by Leil Lowndes
• Inside the Mind of the Shopper: The Science of Retailing by Herb Sorensen
• Leading a Learning Revolution: The Story Behind Defense Acquisition University's Reinvention of Training (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) by Frank J. Anderson, Christopher R. Hardy and Jeffrey Leeson
• Mike Bloomberg: Money, Power, Politics by Joyce Purnick
• Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business by Wayne W. Eckerson
• Re-think: A Business Manifesto for Cutting Costs and Boosting Innovation by Ric Merrifield
• Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis by Bill George
• Ten Technologies to Save the Planet by Chris Goodall
• The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence by Robert J. Samuelson
• The Momentum Effect: How to Ignite Exceptional Growth by J.C. Larreche
• The Shift: The Transformation of Today's Marketers into Tomorrow's Growth Leaders by Scott M. Davis
• The Spider's Strategy: Creating Networks to Avert Crisis, Create Change, and Really Get Ahead by Amit S. Mukherjee
• The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life by Ivanka Trump

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 clients wanting to leverage their current LMS infrastructure and access Element K's premier content can have the best of both using ContentHub? With this solution, Element K hosts the content, so there is no need to upload new courses as they become available to you, and our content is always up to date. ContentHub supports a variety of content types including self-paced courses, pre- and post-course assessments, e-references, and virtual labs (vLabs).

For more information visit the Element K ContentHub page 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.