Thursday, October 29, 2009

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.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

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.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

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