Create Online Training Videos to Prompt Group Discussion

With a little planning and forethought, anyone can make an online training video or other instructional video not only to supplement learning content, but to work with it as an integrated and vital part of the course material. Videos can work hand-in-hand with other formats of content in a course to make them an enriching and essential backbone of a course.

From training courses (including compliance and other kinds of training) to online high schools, including video is smart for a number of reasons.

In both online training courses and face-to-face courses and training programs, online training videos are able to engage the student and illustrate complex concepts using images and demonstrations. A video can bring a classroom to life and create interest for the learning content.

Another function of instructional videos in a face-to-face or group setting is that it can create a common experience for trainees to share and discuss.

Online training videos are convenient and allow for dynamic instruction any time. An online training video can be easily made up if a student misses a class, and it can be distributed via a learning management system (LMS) so that it is available for students to review any time they choose, at the click of a button.

Making a video is simple with LMSs like Coggno. Include webcam recording tools like BB FlashBack to create your own webcam video. Sound recording allows users to read a commentary at the same time as the screen is being recorded, using a microphone, microphone headset or other inexpensive hardware.
BB FlashBack is able to record high frame rate, high quality movies without affecting PC performance–even on lower powered PCs. BB users have successfully recorded large animations with which other screen recorders experienced problems. And finally BB’s robust annotation, editing and effects features allow Coggno’s LMS software users to frame and fashion movies just the way they want them.

Create and distribute engaging learning experiences with Coggno's Learning Management System (LMS) Online. Easy to use, robust and reasonably priced.

Integrate LMS Teaching Tools for New Generation Success

With less-than-desirable federal test results making the headlines, the call for public education reform--including better salaries for educators, more federal funding, and the inclusion of more technology such as online course options and LMSs--has become more urgent.

Surprisingly, while education should be and typically is a "recession-proof" area of work, it has not proven to be so in the U.S. during this crisis.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy lost 273,000 jobs last month. Of those lost jobs, 29,000 were in state and local education, making the total losses in that category over the past five months 143,000.

Obviously, this reflects a huge change in U.S. educational standards. These standards are ingrained in our cultural heritage and go back to the 19th century, when the U.S. owed its success to the quality and high standards of its education. In the beginning of the 20th century, even more advancement was seen in the U.S. when the "high school revolution" took place. And in the later half of the 20th century, the U.S. established a competitive position in higher education.

However, American educational success was greatly based on the quality of its public schools. These days, state governments, who are responsible for their own public education systems, are in dire straits. And at a time when practically any federal government spending is viewed in a negative light, it's time for schools to start thinking out of the box.

The need for cost-effective and efficient online tools like LMSs to help educators boost student performance is revealed in the recent math test results.

According to new standardized test results, New York's state elementary math achievement has fallen for the first time in nearly ten years. This year's fourth grade test results from federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progress reveal that New York's scaled scores dropped two points from 2007. The state's latest average score is 241, on a scale of zero to 500. (National scores have stayed flat, at 239.)

The results came as a bit of an embarrassment to some Albany officials, as it was apparent that even though federal tests of fourth-graders showed no gains in New York from 2007, the state's own tests show steady improvement.

Create and distribute engaging learning experiences with Coggno's Learning Management System (LMS) Online. Easy to use, robust and reasonably priced.

New LMS Business Courses to Fulfill Your Company Training Objectives

As more companies reassess their budget, more are also redefining their training needs and seeking more efficient training methods with learning management systems and other online tools. Successful teams and collaborative groups within an organization can determine whether or not an organization is destined to grow and compete.

For this reason, organizations that encourage and/or require collaboration between employees would benefit from teamwork training such as SilkWeb's Team Dynamics, a course that covers the stages of group development, communication, and conflict.

While most managers will claim to understand that motivation of staff is a critical element of managerial duties, many do not actually practice effective motivation, and are in fact clueless as to what kinds of strategies, techniques, and theories factor in. What kinds of motivation strategies actually work? This course Motivation in the Workplace reviews several popular motivational theories and methods for managerial success.

Another course, Project Management, helps organizations remain competitive and relevant in a time of perpetual change. It reviews project management processes, project and team cycles, and evaluation and improvement techniques. The objective of this program is to orient both staff and managers to the functions and tools needed for successful management.

Business Writing is a SilkWeb course that is also designed for both managers and staff, and which reviews styles, tones, bias, strategies, and uses of technology in business communication. And Creating a Professional Resume teaches users how to write a powerful and effective resume, based on one’s professional skills and abilities. The course Writing Reports trains users in the development of formal reports in the business environment.

Finally, Communication in the Workplace focuses on the role and different types of communication in the workplace, including communication strategies and tone, to improve the effectiveness of participant communication. Communication training can help both managers and staff become better communicators, and achieve organizational goals together.

Successful compliance and management training is proven to save organizations a significant amount of time and money. And when organizations adopt e-learning solutions through a pay-per-use learning management systems such as Coggno, the costs of training itself are significantly less than those of commercial LMS licenses and traditional training methods. For this reason and others, more organizations are finding online training solutions to meet compliance and management training needs.

Create and distribute engaging learning experiences with Coggno's Learning Management System (LMS) Online. Easy to use, robust and reasonably priced

Interactive Training Must-Haves Met with Coggno's Learning Management System

It's the natural law that many organizations considering a learning management system to deliver training are still digesting and trying to overcome: Tough times = tough clients.

But for companies seeking an edge in the competitive market created by the recession, online training can help tremendously with everything from cutting costs to training employees to be more professional and efficient.

Training program developers are using all the available on e-learning platforms like Coggno--and an increasing number of these tools are applications offered by e-learning platforms.

Applications exchange partnerships help courseware creation toolkit providers help organizations create more feature-rich and low-cost training. On Coggno's LMS, Blueberry Software screen capture software is one such app that now integrates seamlessly with the Coggno learning management system.

Course creators who use BB FlashBack 2.6 to make screen recordings can now integrate the recordings with their curriculum, using Coggno's simple course creation tools, and then deliver training through Coggno's LMS. The combination of Coggno's tools and Blueberry 2.6 offers a more versatile and multimedia learning experience for trainees.

With the inclusion of BB FlashBack in your course creation process, you are given total control over what students view, so there's no need to rely on stock simulations or outdated demo in a training program. You yourself create, edit and apply it to your e-learning course.

BB's Webcam Recording allows for the user to create his or her own webcam video. Sound recording allows users to read a commentary at the same time as the screen is being recorded, using a microphone, microphone headset or other inexpensive hardware.

BB records high frame rate, high quality movies without affecting PC performance--even on lower powered PCs. BB users have successfully recorded large animations with which other screen recorders experienced problems. And BB's robust annotation, editing and effects features allow Coggno's course creators to frame and fashion movies exactly as they choose.

Tough times don't simply mean tough customers and clients. Tough times are a chance for organizations to renew and improve their training, sales, and other procedures to stay in the race and move ahead.

Create and distribute engaging learning experiences with Coggno's Learning Management System (LMS) Online. Easy to use, robust and reasonably priced

Never be Asked to Try Again with Coggno's Learning Management System

Juggling all the different subscription, banking, social network, email, learning management system, and other account passwords is overwhelming. And it seems like more and more websites are creating increasingly complicated password requirements.

Your old stand-by password is suddenly no good anymore. Some sites want a mix of numbers and letters in your password. Some require more than 5 or 6 characters. Others want a combination of lower-case and capital letters, others a mix of both plus numbers, while the most horrible sticklers require a more-than-six-character mix of both cases plus numbers.

Some very efficient, clever, and/or über-organized people have found tricks for remembering passwords. For example, I read about one trick where you take the first and last letters of the website name, and stick your usual password in the middle, adding perhaps a number or two that you always use. I read about another trick too, but I've forgotten it. Just as I've forgotten the passwords to oh-so-many subscriptions, networks, and other sites.

I know I'm not alone. And that's why universal login, that magical feature that learning management systems and other e-learning platforms are beginning to adopt on a wider scale, is so smart.

For organizations and schools delivering e-learning content to large numbers of students, accessibility and ease are essential. And universal login provides this in a simple and logical way.

To aid organizations and all users in their virtual learning environment access, Coggno has recently integrated RPX with its learning management system. Accessing your training or other e-learning content is now so, so simple.

Coggno no longer requires users to create a Coggno account, providing instead a smorgasbord of login options. Through the RPX app, users can now access Coggno using identities from major sites such as Google, AOL, Yahoo!, Twitter, WordPress, MySpace, and Facebook.

Develop and deliver interactive training courses with Coggno's Learning Management System (LMS) Online. Simple user interface, potent and cost-effective.

Learn the Universal E-Learning Content Tenets for Successful LMS Content

If your e-learning content is prepared and ready to migrate to a learning management system listen up.

To ensure its success on the marketplace and/or its effectiveness with your own organization, consider a few simple key concepts.

As I've written before, strong learning material is grounded on extensive research as well as your own personal experience, and because everyone has different strengths and interests, learning styles, teaching styles, and so on, not every piece of advice offered to you regarding your online course will apply.

But one crucial and fairly universally important element of a good e-learning course is early and detailed communication with students. So what kind of information is essential to provide early on in your e-learning course?

Mainly, you'll need to provide some pre-course basic training on how to use the learning management system, e-learning course, and/or other online tools. If collaborative tools like wikis or discussion boards are involved, you should clearly indicate how you'd like students to participate.

Teach students about course navigation with the use of videos, taking advantage of the simple-to-use video creation tools that LMSs like Coggno offer. Video tours are an easy and fun way to reach students quickly and effectively with important information. And presenting this information in a visually interesting way will help ensure that this important information is delivered successfully.

Of course, the three basic tenets of human communication are gesture, speech, and visuals. So the online fusion of these three elements recreates the natural ways we humans communicate in face-to-face communication. Using these three aspects--especially the emotional signals of tone and voice--helps you to create a sense of trust in the virtual learning environment.

Another guideline to successful communication with students--and something that will help ensure their comfort and ease working with your e-learning course--is developing a clear course outline or syllabus. A syllabus provides a space for courseware developers and educators to break down into simple bites the course expectations and goals for learners. This information must be presented before any actual learning begins, to ensure best communication with students.
Develop and deliver interactive training courses with Coggno's Learning Management System (LMS) Online. Simple user interface, potent and cost-effective.

E-Learning Tools and Learning Management Systems for an Evolving World

E-learning courses hosted on a learning management system need to overcome the danger of students copying, giving unoriginal responses to questions, or simply reiterating the responses of other students.

From online training and learning content to the use of discussion boards and other Web 2.0 tools for educational purposes, there is a real possibility in many contexts that students are simply looking up the answers, copying and pasting responses, and learning nothing. Depending on the content, it may have a profound impact on the course's effectiveness.

Education in its online form must undergo some critical growing pains. One of the most common complaints I hear from e-learning students is that courses are simply too easy. Peer originality becomes dubious. And for educators, student effort becomes harder to monitor. Or does it?

What we really need is smarter e-learning design and deployment. It's not enough to create good content, get it out there, and expect students to be engaged. The effective use of Web 2.0 programs, learning management systems, and online courseware in an online learning context requires strategy.

This strategy can be built into the course, developed and maintained by a course administrator or educator, and/or enforced in a face-to-face learning environment if one exists. Tools like Coggno's Activities feature allows LMS administrators to track student activity. Another strategy is to build exams that effectively test student knowledge, rather than asking them to solve problems and post them on a board.

If you're choosing a learning management system for e-learning training or a virtual classroom, choose one based on its built-in solutions to an evolving world.

Design and syndicate robust courses and training with Coggno's Learning Management System (LMS) Online. User-friendly, powerful and affordable.