Enspire Learning Blog

Congratulations to Enspire's VP of Technology, Brandon Hudgeons, who has just been nominated for the Austin Business Journal's 2009 Tech Innovation Awards! These awards recognize the accomplishments of the top Tech Innovators in Central Texas, and it's a privilege for us to have one on board with us here at Enspire.

If you want to meet Brandon yourself, or if you're interested in attending the awards luncheon to network with the nominees, click here to register. Individual tickets are $65 apiece, table tickets are $650, and corporate tables are $1300.

Tech Innovations Awards & Networking Luncheon
Wednesday, October 14
11:00 am - 1:30 pm
Hilton Austin Hotel
500 East Fourth Street

Congratulations, Brandon!

Wondering how simulations, Web 2.0 technologies, games, and other learning tools can be used to improve your leadership development program? Then register now for the Training Industry, Inc. Webinar on September 17, 2009: Developing Leaders with Next-Generation Blended Learning. Enspire's CEO, Bjorn Billhardt, will be presenting.

Registration is free, and seats are filling up fast, so get in while you can!

Everybody has questions about the recent recession. Whose fault is it? Who has suffered the most? How long will it last? How could we have prevented it? And, most importantly, what do we need to do to make sure it doesn't happen again?

Amit Mukherjee wrestles with this last question in an article recently published in Chief Learning Officer Magazine, "Lessons from the Early Days of Lean. He contends that modern corporations have, for better or for worse, been drawn into an increasingly complex series of global networks. These networks made sure that the effects of the recession spread rapidly. Corporate failure to adapt managerial practices to this system has made it difficult for many organizations to recover.

These organizations will need to fundamentally rethink how they perceive and implement management training if they are to stand a chance of surviving this recession. Managers have traditionally been responsible for planning and execution, but the growth of global networks and remote employees have made it highly difficult for them to assess and respond to problems. Management training should encompass not only planning and execution strategies, but also sensing, responding, and learning capabilities.

A recent study released by SRI International for the US Department of Education and recently featured in the New York Times indicates that students receiving all or part of their instruction online perform better in standardized testing than students receiving traditional classroom instruction. Over 12 years, the difference in average scores was a whole 9 percentile points.

Surprised? If you're an e-learning professional, then probably not. We know the myriad benefits provided by e-learning like the back of our collective hand. For those new to the world of e-learning, consider these differences:

Pace. Online education can be tailored to an individual's learning pace, while classroom instruction can leave some students in the dust.
Experience. The interactive nature of online education offers students access to experiential learning, or "learning by doing," not readily available in the classroom.
Comfort. While not called out specifically in this report, computers and the Internet are pervasive in the lives of young people. The younger generation often feels more comfortable on the computer than sitting in a classroom, providing a learning environment more susceptible to knowledge retention.

E-learning vendors can often seem like magicians to their clients. We might as well be putting subject matter in a top hat, waving our Wand of Instructional Design, and saying "Presto!" before pulling out a cute little online training bunny.

Yes, this example is a little exaggerated, but I'm trying to make a point. Many people who turn to vendors for e-learning solutions are not aware of what goes into making a technically and instructionally sound piece of e-learning. And sometimes this perception of e-learning vendors as magicians can lead to those same people setting unrealistic expectations for new projects. While we do work magic, there are certain limitations.

That's why TrainingMag.com recently published an article by Ed Garner, Enspire's VP of Custom Studios, called "5 Things Your Vendors Wish You Knew". Briefly, here are those nuggets of wisdom everyone should bring to the table when dealing with an e-learning client. Read the full article if you'd like some more detailed descriptions of each piece of advice:

We can manage a process, but not your team. Our industry experience allows us to provide a process that gets us from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible, but it's the client's responsibility to manage their own team.