Welcome to the June, 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 some positive industry news, some important questions for learning leaders to reflect upon, and many exciting product updates, so please read on!

• Training Magazine Makes a Comeback!
• On Maintaining Your Workforce and Avoiding Obsolete Skillsets
  
• Are You Aligning Learning Programs to Organizational Needs?
  
• How Are You Helping Your Managers' Skills in Developing Others?
  
• What's New at Element K Blog

• Do You Know OSHA? Vivid and Element K Do!
  

• Conference: June 9-11, 2010
  Career College Association's 2010 Annual Conference and Expo
• Conference: September 27-29, 2010
  Fall 2010 CLO Symposium

• e-Learning Courses
  
• ILT Courseware
  
• Knowledge Portals
• Fifty Lessons Videos
• Brainbench Exams
• Audio MP3 Course Content
  
• GetAbstract Book Summaries
• Did You Know?

Training Magazine Makes a Comeback! 

It was a sad day for many in the Learning and Development industry when Nielsen Media announced in February that they were shutting down Training magazine. Over several decades, many had received significant education through its pages, while others were given a platform to share their knowledge or first spread their wings as industry experts.

The great recent news is that Lakewood Media Group -- part of Mach1 Business Media -- has acquired Training magazine, its conferences, and the Training Top 125 program. Lakewood Publications was the original publisher of Training. Further, former Training editor Phil Jones is joining Lakewood Media Group as operations resume. Also included in the purchase is Sales & Marketing Management magazine.

We are glad to see Training magazine making a comeback, and we look forward to its next issue!
 

On Maintaining Your Workforce and Avoiding Obsolete Skillsets

In the past 18 months, when it comes to their workforce, many organizations have had to do more with less. At the same time, the pace of change and the need to adapt and develop new talent competencies and skillsets seems to continue unabated, an even in some ways accelerating.

In early 2009, a posting at Element K Blog included a link to an interesting resource: a wiki website that attempts to be an exhaustive list of "obsolete skills." There are now at least two such sites: obsoleteskills.com and obsoleteskills.wikispot.org. Both resources were seemingly sparked by the same blog posting from 2008 by technology writer and evangelist Robert Schoble, who described obsolete skills as "things we used to know that no longer are very useful to us."

Taking a few minutes to skim through these lists of obsolete skills is time well spent for several reasons. You will surely get a chuckle at some of the entries, and likely a sense of nostalgia for past jobs or past moments in your personal life. But it is also a great moment for reflection on both your own knowledge and skills, and those of the talent in your organization. When you consider the pace of change that your organization faces, and the need to keep skills current, you quickly realize that some skills have a relatively short "shelf-life," a relatively short window of usefulness to the organization. They might be critical for the time they are needed, but will they become obsolete in a few short years? This question is important to ask when it comes to determining the appropriate learning solution for workforce development in various areas. When does classroom training still make the most sense? When do these factors lead you to consider e-Learning as the more practical, flexible, and cost-effective learning modality? And when does a blended program, providing the best aspects of ILT and e-Learning, come out on top?

Apply this concept of "obsolete skills" to yourself, your department, and your entire organization. What knowledge and skills that you have now might become obsolete in the future? Or what skill areas could you use further development in to ward off such a downward spiral? And ask the same question of your department and your entire organization: are we keeping the knowledge and skills of our most important asset, our people, where they need to be, and thereby protecting against obsolescence? Most organizations do at least the bare minimum to maintain the knowledge and skills required to survive. But what have you done to go beyond that, to grow your workforce's skills so that the organization can not just survive today, but thrive tomorrow? Will you wake up at some future date with an increasing stock of obsolete skills, or a team that has been upgraded to meet the demands of the new day?

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about how Element K's learning content and delivery solutions can help you maintain and build your most critical asset, your organization's people.
 

Are You Aligning Learning Programs to Organizational Needs?

The May 2010 issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine again included the latest results from IDC's survey of Chief Learning Officer magazine's Business Intelligence Board (BIB). In an article titled "The State of Measurement," Cushing Anderson reports on the results which surveyed more than 800 CLOs on the topic of learning measurement.

Notably, it seems there is nothing like serious economic pressures to focus everyone on results. In response to the question "How satisfied are you with the extent of training measurement that occurs within your organization?," those answering "satisfied" climbed substantially in 2009 from 18% to 30%, and then inched forward in 2010 to 32%. When asked what they measure or assess on-the-job after training is delivered, there were increases in measurement of employee performance, business productivity, overall business performance, and overall customer satisfaction, with business productivity in particular seeing a significant increase in measurement in 2010 (an increase from 33% to 64% in 2010).

The CLOs note many forces that make it difficult to get reliable measurements, including resources, funding, leadership support, and a culture of indifference. One additional issue for some organizations is the lack of a technology-based learning platform.

Noting that measurement will remain a significant challenge for CLOs given its importance, Anderson advises three practices that can help: define success and set expectations early with your stakeholders, and establish metrics at the project or business-unit level.

Finally, some 75% of CLOs "felt they played a moderate or significant role in their enterprises' response to the economic crisis. At least part of this role can be attributed to the ability of CLOs to align their programs to organizational need and to document the impact of their development programs." Alignment with organization goals and needs is critical to driving results -- how aligned are your learning programs to the needs of your organization?

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about how Element K's learning content and delivery solutions can help drive business results in these tough economic times.

How Are You Helping Your Managers' Skills in Developing Others?

The article "Having Their Backs: Improving Managers' Skills in Developing Others," by Preston Brown in the April 2010 issue of ASTD's T+D magazine, provides a different take on management development. It is easy to think of management development as improving a manager's various skills per se. But a large part of being a good manager is getting the most out of your people, and many managers struggle in the area of "developing others."

As Brown notes, "A fairly small investment in improving managers' skills can produce significant improvements in the effectiveness of employee development programs, offering an attractive bargain to companies in these tough economic times." This is a sort of multiplier effect, whereby you develop someone (a manager) who in turn has responsibility to develop others (those they manage), so that you can efficiently get more return on your initial development investment.

One key ingredient is the use of competency models for your managers. But just as the previous item in this newsletter raised, Brown notes that it is not enough to simply put generic models in place: they must be aligned to what is needed for successfully achieving the organization's strategic goals. To do this, Brown argues that an overall employee development framework should be developed, and later notes that:

Just-in-time learning opportunities through e-learning are an essential part of a learning framework. Usually delivered through a learning management system, training modules can be taken alone or in combination with classroom training. When used in conjunction with Web 2.0 options, such as online chats, wikis, and microblogging, online learning can foster collaboration and connections that would be impossible to achieve through face-to-face interaction.

But interestingly, to get the most benefit, part of this management development needs to be focused on getting the managers to understand the critical role they play in developing their direct reports. Coaching and feedback skills are two well-known examples, but managers also need to understand and support the overall development process and the role they play in that process. This includes understanding their direct reports' learning needs, the ability to set developmental goals, and supporting opportunities to meet those goals. Such opportunities can range from assigning them types of projects that will allow for learning and growth, such as "stretch" assignments. But Brown notes another approach is to create a "safe environment in which it is okay to make mistakes: significant learning can occur with little risk to the organization's mission. This is important since much of learning is accomplished through trial and error."

This last point speaks to some of the benefits of some of Element K's powerful learning solutions. Both our robust Business Simulations (for soft-skills) and our vLabs (for IT skills) provide a safe environment where learners can learn from their mistakes. By making such tools available to your organization, and educating managers about the benefits they will see from allowing their direct reports the time to use them, you can get both the end development result and the buy-in of the crucial managers in the development process.

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about the many Element K learning solutions that match the above needs, from e-Learning courses that teach managers the importance of developing their people, to Web 2.0 tools that encourage collaboration, to business simulations and vLabs that provide a safe environment to learn from mistakes.

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:

• On the Forgetting Curve and Ways to Improve Retention - On a pair of related May 28 blog postings from industry experts Charles Jenning and Donald Clark.
• Element K Gets Moving in the 20th Rochester Chase Corporate Challenge - A brief report about a recent charity event that Element K participated in.
• Reflections on ASTD ICE 2010 - Element K's Tom Stone reflects on the recent ASTD conference in Chicago.
• Learning and Development Roundup (Vol. 13) - Includes links to items from Jane Bozarth, Clark Aldrich, Kevin Jones, Clark Quinn, Jane Hart, Harold Jarche, and more.
• Happy Birthday, YouTube! - Did you celebrate YouTube's recent fifth birthday?

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.

Do You Know OSHA? Vivid and Element K Do!

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) mission is to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths. They do this by setting and enforcing standards which companies must comply with. OSHA enforces compliance through inspections, and OSHA conducts approximately 38,000 inspections per year.

Many companies must not only meet OSHA's federal regulatory requirements, but they also must meet their state-level requirements. There are 26 states that have state-developed Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) programs. The 26 states running their own OSHA programs conduct approximately 58,000 inspections per year. You can learn more about state OSH programs here. And you can learn more about OSHA in general at the OSHA website.

Element K has partnered with Vivid Learning Systems and in recent months has updated some of our e-Learning courses, including:

• Introduction to OSHA (Third Edition)
• OSHA Work-Related Injury and Illness Recordkeeping (Third Edition)

Also, you'll note in the Product Updates section below the two latest compliance courses from Element K and Vivid Learning Systems, on another critical regulation, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA):

• HIPAA Privacy and Security Training for Ancillary Service Providers
• The Basics of Healthcare Privacy, Data Security, and HIPAA

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant for more information about the many compliance e-Learning courses that Element K and Vivid Learning Systems have created together.

Conference: Career College Association's 2010 Annual Conference and Expo

June 9-11, 2010, Las Vegas, Nevada

The theme for this event is "Winning Hand...Education, Jobs and a Globally Competitive Workforce." Element K's parent company, NIIT, will be participating in this event as an exhibitor, at booth #902, and featuring a live demonstration of our vLabs solution. To learn more about vLabs, you can read Venkat Srinivasan's blog, and in particular this posting from November. (And for more information about vLabs, see the vLabs page at elementk.com.)

Visit the CCA 2010 conference website to learn more about this event. And Twitter users are encouraged to follow along with the conference backchannel discussion by following the #CCA2010 hashtag.


Conference: Fall 2010 CLO Symposium

September 27-29, 2010, Dana Point, California

The theme for the symposium is "Unleashing Learning: From Strategy to Execution." From the conference website: "Gone are the days when strategy was solely the responsibility of academics and business thinkers sequestered away in an ivory tower. Today's organizations need a flexible, dynamic strategy carried out by a nimble workforce that is actively engaged in developing and executing on shared goals and objectives. Learning is no longer something to be delivered to employees in response to a strategic shift; it's now a natural outgrowth of engaged employees collaborating to carry out a shared vision. In this world, organizational strategy and learning strategy are integrally linked together to meet challenges and capitalize on opportunities. Join us at the Fall 2010 Chief Learning Officer Magazine Symposium as we examine the links between learning and strategy and explore how learning and workforce development are critical to top-notch execution."

For more information about this conference, see the CLO Media website.

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

Business Skills

• Client Relationship Management 1: Managing Relationships During Initiation and Planning
• Client Relationship Management 2: Managing Relationships During Execution and Close-Out

• China Oil - Professional Risk Manager (KESDEE)
• Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac - Professional Risk Manager (KESDEE)
• Northern Rock - Professional Risk Manager (KESDEE)
• PRMIA Governance Principles - Professional Risk Manager (KESDEE)
• Taisei Fire and Marine Insurance - Professional Risk Manager (KESDEE)

Office Productivity

• Google™ AdWords for Businesses

IT Professional

• Assessing Application Compatibility in Windows 7 (10248)
• Certified Software Tester (CSTE)
• Configuring Disks and Device Drivers (10238)
• Configuring File Access and Printers on Windows 7 Client Computers (10239)
• Configuring Mobile Computing and Remote Access in Windows 7 (10245)
• Configuring Network Connectivity (10240)
• Configuring Network Security in Window 7 (10243)
• Configuring Wireless Network Connections (10241)
• Deploying Windows 7 by Using Lite Touch Installation and Zero Touch Installation (10253)
• Deploying Windows 7 by Using Windows AIK (10251)
• Deploying Windows 7 by Using Windows Deployment Services (10252)
• Designing Standard Windows 7 Images (10250)
• Designing, Configuring, and Managing the Client Environment (10255)
• Evaluating Windows 7 Deployment Methods (10249)
• Installing, Upgrading, and Migrating to Windows 7 (10237)
• Introduction to Project Portfolio Management (Second Edition)
• Migrating User State by Using WET and USMT 4.0 (10254)
• Optimizing and Maintaining Windows 7 Client Computers (10244)
• Planning and Deploying Applications and Updates to Windows 7 Clients (10256)
• PMI-SP® Certification (Part 1 of 11): Understanding Project Management Fundamentals
• PMI-SP® Certification (Part 2 of 11): Identifying Project Management Processes
• PMI-SP® Certification (Part 3 of 11): Describing Project Initiation
• PMI-SP® Certification (Part 4 of 11): Preparing to Build a Schedule
• PMI-SP® Certification (Part 5 of 11): Defining Activities
• PMI-SP® Certification (Part 6 of 11): Sequencing Activities
• PMI-SP® Certification (Part 7 of 11): Estimating Activity Resources
• PMI-SP® Certification (Part 8 of 11): Estimating Activity Duration
• PMI-SP® Certification (Part 9 of 11): Developing a Schedule
• PMI-SP® Certification (Part 10 of 11): Monitoring and Controlling Schedules
• PMI-SP® Certification (Part 11 of 11): Managing Risks and Behavior in Scheduling
• Preparing to Deploy Windows 7 Business Desktops (10247)
• Securing Windows 7 Desktops (10242)

Compliance

• HIPAA Privacy and Security Training for Ancillary Service Providers (Vivid Learning Systems)
• The Basics of Healthcare Privacy, Data Security, and HIPAA (Vivid Learning Systems)

Localized Courses

• Management-Änderungen für Führungskräfte (Deutsch)

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

ILT Courseware

Build an effective classroom solution to address your organization's training needs using ILT courseware from Element K. We develop and publish the most widely used and respected instructor-led training content available. Year after year, industry experts endorse our Element K-authored print courseware content. We use all of our experience in publishing and hands-on classroom instruction to create accessible, engaging, and learner-centered ILT courseware. Element K offers more than 1,300 unique courseware titles covering a broad range of topics. The latest Element K-authored ILT courseware includes:

• Adobe Flash CS5: Level 1 (First Look) Instructor Edition
• Adobe Flash CS5: Level 1 (First Look) Student Edition
• Certified Software Tester (CSTE) Instructor Edition
• Certified Software Tester (CSTE) Student Edition
• Introduction to Project Portfolio Management (Second Edition) Instructor Edition
• Introduction to Project Portfolio Management (Second Edition) Student Edition
• Introduction to Six Sigma Instructor Edition
• Introduction to Six Sigma Student Edition
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010: Level 1 (First Look) Instructor Edition
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010: Level 1 (First Look) Student Edition
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010: Transition from PowerPoint 2003 (First Look) Instructor Edition
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010: Transition from PowerPoint 2003 (First Look) Student Edition
• Project Managing Outsourced Resources Instructor Edition
• Project Managing Outsourced Resources Student Edition
• Quark Express 8: Level 1 (Macintosh) Instructor Edition
• Quark Express 8: Level 1 (Macintosh) Student Edition

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K-authored ILT courseware 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 Portal added in the past month is:

• Leadership

In 2009 and 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
• HR Professional
• Business Videos
• Java Application Developer
• Sales Professional

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

Fifty Lessons Videos

Through our partnership with Fifty Lessons, Element K is able to provide over 1,000 videos of powerful stories from hundreds of the world's most respected and successful business leaders. The latest Fifty Lessons additions to the complete library include:

• Acknowledge Your Emotions
• CIOs Execute the Strategy
• CIOs Should Collaborate in Business Strategy
• Create Customer Loyalty by Listening
• Create Listening Posts to Engage Your Customers
• Draw Inspiration from Other Markets
• Engage Key Stakeholders to Drive Industry Change
• Give Customer Strategy a Simple Framework
• Instinct, Debate & Data Make the Best Decisions
• Maximize the Impact of Existing Solutions
• Maximizing Productivity with Mobile Technology
• Prevention Not Reaction
• See Barriers as Inspiration
• Someone to Own the Customer Experience
• Technology as a Collaboration Tool
• The Benefits of Working with Local IT Providers
• The Value of Peer-To-Peer Learning
• Use Customer Councils to Improve Customer Value
• Use Customer Feedback to Set Priorities
• Using Technology to Get Closer to Your Customers

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

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:

• ICD-9 and CPT Coding
• ICD-9 and CPT Coding (Hospital)
• Manufacturing Industry Knowledge
• Math Fundamentals
• Math Fundamentals (Metric)
• MS SQL Server 2008 Administration
• Purchasing Process (U.S.)
• Purchasing Supply Environment (U.S.)
• Records Information Management
• Taxation (U.S.)

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 May we added downloadable audio MP3 content for the following Business Skills courses:

• Hiring Top Performers: Handling Interviews
• Hiring Top Performers: Initiating the Hiring Process
• HR Optimization: Creating and Maintaining a Talented Workforce
• HR Optimization: Communicating Effectively
• HR Skills: Downsizing
• Leadership Skills: Position Yourself to Lead
• Positive Work Environment: Overcoming Negativity in the Workplace
• Positive Work Environment: Creating a Positive Work Environment

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

GetAbstract Book Summaries

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:

• China's Megatrends: The 8 Pillars of a New Society by John Naisbitt and Doris Naisbitt
• Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for Your Organization's Toughest Challenges by Andrew McAfee
• Frontline Profit Machine: The Blueprint for Exploding Profits with Your Existing Sales and Service Team by Ziad Y. Khoury
• Googled: The End of the World As We Know It by Ken Auletta
• Just Ask Leadership: Why Great Managers Always Ask the Right Questions by Gary B. Cohen
• Move the World: Persuade Your Audience, Change Minds, and Achieve Your Goals by Dean M. Brenner
• Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change, and Crisis by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin
• Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement by William Duggan
• Strategies for Successful Career Change: Finding Your Very Best Next Work Life by Martha E. Mangelsdorf
• Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin
• The Essential Guide to Workplace Mediation & Conflict Resolution: Rebuilding Working Relationships by Nora Doherty and Marcelas Guyler
• The Laws of Disruption: Harnessing the New Forces that Govern Life and Business in the Digital Age by Larry Downes
• The Truth About Starting a Business : "What Does It Mean to Do What You Truly Want to Do?" by Bruce Barringer
• The Tyranny of E-mail: The Four-Thousand-Year Journey to Your Inbox by John Freeman
• Too Big to Save?: How to Fix the U.S. Financial System by Robert Pozen
• Top Notch Executive Interviews: How to Strategically Deal with Recruiters, Search Firms, Boards of Directors, Panels, Presentations, Pre-interviews and Other High-stress Situations by Katharine Hansen
• Wealth Watchers: A Simple Program to Help You Spend Less and Save More by Alice Wood

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

Did You Know?

When you think of Element K, what do you think of? Many know us best for our content catalogs of high-quality e-Learning and ILT courseware, from high-end technology to office productivity to soft-skills and compliance. We regularly win awards for these offerings, and have established a high reputation as a result. But did you know that Element K has won prestigious Brandon Hall awards for both custom content development and our LMS platform, KnowledgeHub...twice each in the past two years? Element K provides a broad range of high-quality, industry-recognized learning solutions ranging from e-Learning courses and ILT courseware to custom content development to learning delivery via our KnowledgeHub and ContentHub platforms.

To learn more about the awards and recognitions Element K has obtained in recent years, see the news page at elementk.com. And contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more the broad range of learning solutions that Element K provides.

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.