Click link below to download the Learning Trends Report: Six Easy Steps for Launching Virtual Learning Environments.

The Opening Keynote, titled “Enterprise 2020: Thriving in the Net-Work Era,” features three of the best minds in enterprise learning. Jay Cross, principal, Internet Time Alliance and author of “The Working Smarter Fieldbook,” is joined by Nick van Dam, Global CLO, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and author of “Next Learning Unwrapped.” Karie Willyerd, CLO, SuccessFactors and author of “The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract Tomorrow’s Employees Today" rounds out the panel. Each Keynote speaker will then moderate a panel of Learning! 100 leaders and share their insights and advice with attendees.

Nick van Dam, Global CLO for Deloitte moderates the “Learning! 100: Secrets of Top Performing Organizations.” Panelists include senior executives from American Express, Starbucks, IBM and CISCO. These leaders will share advice on learning culture, talent recruitment and retention as well as next generation learning technologies that drive sales across the extended enterprise.

Following Nick’s session is “Learning! 100:  Creating Collaborative Environments” featuring Dr. Chris Hardy, Director of Global Learning Center for Defense Acquisition University. William Peratino Associate Director, U S Office of Personnel Management and Al Styles Learning Technology Leader, Department of Justice. These leaders will discuss the future of learning, distributive work strategies and learning management solutions.

The first day closing keynote will present Aberdeen Group’s  Best in Class Learning & Development Research and the Learning! 100 Benchmarks.  The Learning! 100 Awards Reception and Dinner immediately follows to honor the 2012 Learning! 100, top learning organizations.

Day two opens with “Enabling High Impact Learning Organizations” presented by David Mallon, Analyst, Bersin & Associates.   Mallon will share finding from their annual research identifying the key drivers of organizational performance.

The Learning! 100 sessions will continue  with “New Rules for the 21^st Century Leader” hosted by Jay Cross, author and learning expert.  Leaders from AT&T, Symantec and Discover Financial will share how their organization identify, develop and retain talent across their global enterprises.

Vicki Tamberlini, President of edu1World, hosts the “Government Learning! 100: Survive and Thrive in a Challenging Environment.” Panelists include  Wendy Frederick. Learning Technology Director at Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and Alice Muerllerweiss, Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Learning University. Discover how these two very different organizations launched new learning & technology programs across a small and very large government agency.

“Learning! 100: Innovative Workplaces” session is hosted by Karie Willyerd, co-author, The 2020 Workplace. Leaders from The Cheesecake Factory, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, American Heart Association and Vi Living will share how they keep talent engaged and innovations coming from their dynamic workforce.

The Summit’s “Learning! 100: Mobilizing Learning” session will feature Gary Woodill, author, The Mobile Learning Edge. He hosts executives from  Advanced Distributive Learning Initiative, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Cricket Communications.

How to Register
Register now to secure your two day conference pass and Android Tablet. Early bird rates can save you up to $500 when registering by February 15^th, at www.els.2elearning.com.  ELS 2012 is also available virtually, for those with limited time or travel budgets. Two ELS Virtual Pass options are available with rates starting from complimentary to $199.

To learn about sponsorship opportunities, contact Sales at 888-201-2841 x842 or email sales@2elearning.com. Due to the leadership conference nature of this event, onsite sponsorship opportunities are very limited, so contact sales today.

Signaling the company’s immersion in the e-learning market, Dictionary.com’s Word Dynamo enables users to grow their command of language at their own pace and improve test scores along with overall academic performance.

Word Dynamo lets students take full control of their education with tailored study programs they can access anywhere, anytime through features such as:

>> an authoritative, game-based assessment;

>> sequenced challenges that offer 20 levels of skill-building word games;

>> organized sets for subject-focused learning;

>> fun memory games, practice sessions, and timed quizzes; and

>> a study dashboard.

—More info: www.worddynamo.com

The EMST is a simulation-based training system that allows individuals or teams to make decisions in realistic situations and see the outcomes. It is a completely web-based program that does not require the user to install any software on their computer. Additionally, it is free to use.

The EMST trains novice to expert level with an emphasis on Naturalistic Decision making skills. This is achieved by first teaching the basic knowledge of a domain and tactical decision making. Once users have a general understanding of their role, they can jump into individual training to refine their skills by exercising with simulated teammates. EMST also has the ability to run team exercises to teach the user how to make effective decisions as a team.

EMST use is on the rise, with more than 1,000 different users and clients.

—More info: www.ecsorl.com/solutions/products/web-based-simulations/emst/

Since implementing the web-based LMS, Northwoods has delivered 600 e-learning classes to 100 individuals, experiencing dramatic productivity gains and training savings. Additionally, Northwoods expects a considerable reduction in annual education expenses, while further extending online accessibility and enhancing its learning culture.

Northwoods’ Omnibus installation supports multiple e-learning portals, meeting the training needs of both its growing base of some 100 health and human services agencies located across 10 states, as well as its expanding staff.

Since April, the Meridian LMS has delivered M.M.I. clients a list of online courses covering topics such as budgeting, financial goal-setting and managing credit.

According to M.M.I. director of instructional management Amy Lins, the company has put a great deal of effort into making its online courses interactive and interesting. “Our online courses aren’t just bullet points on a page; far from it,” said Lins. “One of the first clients to take our new online education said she was ‘motivated to make changes and learned a lot of tips on how to reduce expenses and change habits.’”

Journal of Applied Learning Technology is a quarterly online publication sponsored by SALT and published by Learning Technology Institute. This journal is devoted to the issues, problems, and applications of applied learning technologies in education, training, and job performance. Its purpose is to inform managers, senior professionals, and developers of specific examples of applications of technology-based learning systems for education, training, and job performance improvement in terms of results that can be or have been achieved.

Articles examine some phase of technology, evolution, planning, cost, learning successes and failures of applied learning technologies. This journal embraces trainers, professionals, and educators across a broad spectrum of business, industry, and the military, administrators and executives, and academia.

—More info: www.salt.org/salt.asp?ss=l&pn=jalt

He noted that law enforcement officials need to use social media, so they know how Twitter and Facebook function and so they can be early responders: “Having these accounts makes you vulnerable, but not having those accounts makes you vulnerable as well.”

But he also said that he considered people having more than 300 friends on Facebook as “promiscuous social media users.”

“You’re as protected as your weakest friend,” he warned. “The more you’re accepting friend requests from people you digitally know and don’t physically know opens you up to vulnerabilities.”

Barr knows whereof he speaks. Last year, he was hacked by “Anonymous,” and has since made a crusade out of talking about cybersecurity — which may have cost him his job at Sayers and Associates.

“The Web has empowered individuals, so it’s become a very tense place,” he said. Cases in point? Flash mobs, organized protests (like Occupy Wall Street) and other occasions where social media have “offered tools for disruption,” like Anonymous.

He cited some tools that law enforcement should be using, including “sites like Pastebin or Reddit” for real-time information that’s being posted,” Trendistic for following hashtag trends, like #OWS, and MentionMap to see correlations between Twitter users. He also cited Palantir, one of the conference’s sponsors, as a “robust platform for this type of analysis.”

Users of Apple’s new iBooks app, launched three weeks ago, racked up more than 350,000 downloads of e-textbooks in the first two weeks. And the new iBooks Author program has achieved 90,000 to 110,000 downloads, according to the Global Equities Research tracking system. iBooks Author enables writers and creators to use Apple’s platform to publish their own books.

According to experts, publishers have the potential to make more money from e-textbooks (priced at $14.99 each) than from physical books, because the former cost 80 percent less to produce than the latter.

The Multi-Touch texts are a sight to behold. They are dynamic, current, engrossing, and truly interactive — what one wag calls “a textbook brought to life by iPad.”

According to Apple:

“No longer limited to static pictures to illustrate the text, now students can dive into an image with interactive captions, rotate a 3-D object, or have the answer spring to life in a chapter review. They can flip through a book by simply sliding a finger along the bottom of the screen. Highlighting text, taking notes, searching for content, and finding definitions in the glossary are just as easy. And with all their books on a single iPad, students will have no problem carrying them wherever they go.

“Interactive photo galleries bring images to life. Animations burst off the page. Pictures tell a bigger story when they’re interactive. Callouts and pan-and-zoom features add even more to the experience.”

Highlighting and note-taking is also easier with Multi-Touch textbooks. The swipe of a finger highlights passages. Tap a highlighted section, and a palette appears that enables users to change colors, switch to underlining, or add a note instantly. With a switch to the “Notes” function, users can view all notes and highlights organized in one place.

—More info: www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks/

“My office is leading the charge on how to shift to the cloud,” VanRoekel said in a recent interview at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The shift will start with the feds’ $80 billion annual technology budget.

VanRoekel said better management will enable tighter cybersecurity, although all such initiatives will have to be approved by the Department of Homeland Security.

His 2012 goals include better return on investment, a productivity improvement, and more citizen interactions.

“We have a really great opportunity to cut costs while increasing our productivity,” he said. “We have to use the size of the federal footprint and our buying power to change how we do things.”

Mobile technology is a key. “As I look across the way we use mobile in government, it’s very fragmented. We have a real opportunity to bring to bear mobile technology in federal government that changes the paradigm.”

A survey of 200 federal I.T. workers in December, 2011, found that 45 percent use mobile devices for their jobs on a daily basis. Email apps are used by 93 percent and Facebook by 68 percent.

VanRoekel’s new federal mobility strategy outline presents six broad goals:

1) incorporate the potential of mobile technology into federal government activities;

2) build mobile technologies and services so they can be reused and shared among agencies and public developers;

3) manage mobile acquisition, wireless acquisition, inventory and expenses efficiently;

4) create a government-wide foundation to provide mobility services across all agencies;

5) promote collaboration to enhance mobility technology across government; and

6) establish a governance structure for federal mobile efforts.

With the publication of the draft mobile strategy outline, VanRoekel said he wants to hear from the public about the mobile strategy. His expectations are to release the federal mobility strategy within 60 days and to have the plan fully implemented within 12 months.

“We truly have an opportunity to change the way we do things in a cost-effective way, and to make us more efficient in everything we do,” he said.

Telework is another key. “One of the things we’re trying to promote is telework,” says U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who is backing telework legislation. “If you don’t have this kind of provision, it’s very difficult to achieve what we want. This is going to help facilitate a lot of other goals. It also helps recruitment and retention. I applaud what Steve has done.”

As part of an overall federal I.T. strategy promoted by President Barack Obama, the Department of Defense is preparing to release its own mobile strategy; the National Institute of Standards and Technology (N.I.S.T.) is working on mobile guidelines; and the General Services Administration (G.S.A.) is working on strategic sourcing.

Enterprise Learning! Summit showcases enterprises that are leveraging enabling learning technologies to drive innovation, agility and performance. By placing the power of tablet computing in the hands of attendees, executives can network, share and learn onsite and among the virtual attendees. Plus, featured sessions on innovation and mobilizing learning can be experienced in real time rather than talked about.

Conference Programming

The Summit hosts 16 sessions, 66 experts across two days focused on building smarter organizations.  The event Opening Keynotes titled, “Enterprise 2020: Thriving in the Net-Work Era” featuring Jay Cross, Nick van Dam and Karie Willyerd. All three are industry thought-leaders, authors, and are learning leaders in their own organizations. Dave Carey, U.S. Navy Captain, former Director of the U.S. Navy Leadership & Training School will close the event with “Courage to Lead From his experience as a P.O.W. for five-and-a-half years, Carey helps people better understand how to overcome challenges in their own lives; to have the courage to lead. He empowers others to overcome seemingly insurmountable difficulties to gain a renewed sense of purpose, perspective, satisfaction and control over their circumstances.

ELS will also feature key research from industry analyst groups. Bersin & Associates’ David Mallon will discuss “Best Practices of High Impact Organizations.” Aberdeen Group’s Mollie Lombardi will share “Best in Class Learning & Development Study.”

How to Register Register now to secure your two day conference pass and Android Tablet. Early bird rates can save you up to $500 when registering by January 31st at www.els.2elearning.com.  ELS 2012 is also available virtually, for those with limited time or travel budgets. Two ELS Virtual Pass options are available with rates starting from complimentary to $199.

When Eric K. Shinseki, Secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.), issued the call to transform the department into a leading 21st-century organization, he knew investment in human capital pivotal to success. The challenge facing the V.A. was enormous: the organization needed a flexible, scalable solution capable of providing effective training to 320,000 employees operating in medical centers and facilities nationwide.

The answer? The V.A. Learning University (VALU), a comprehensive employee development corporate university that offers in-person training and Web-based curricula, providing users with a single touchpoint to access a full suite of course offerings, professional certification programs and interactive online communities.

A HOMEGROWN SOLUTION

“When we established VALU at the enterprise level in January 2010, we knew we would face sizable challenges,” says VALU Dean Alice Muellerweiss. “We needed a solution that was sufficiently intuitive, engaging and adaptable to satisfy the diverse range of needs for employees in lines of business ranging from medical care to home loan counseling to burial services. A one-size-fits-all approach hadn’t worked in the past and could not meet the demands of our diverse workforce.”

After months of collaboration between internal working groups and technology partners led by Dr. Reginald E. Vance, director of VALU Learning Infrastructure, V.A. advanced from a basic learning management system (LMS) to an employee development-centric talent management system (TMS) — the largest non- Department of Defense TMS in the United States government. For fiscal year 2011, VALU (www.valu.va.gov) registered nearly eight million training completions — an impressive number by any standard. The program’s success has garnered industry-wide recognition, including a recent win of the Best Launch to Organization award at the Insights 2011 international conference.

VALU’s curricula are based on a three tiered competency model. These competencies — which include leadership, technical and organization-wide competencies — set a common standard for employee performance, help employees understand the path for career growth, and prepare teams to better meet the needs of America’s Veterans. By aligning course offerings to competencies, VALU ensures that training and development activities directly support VA employees’ personal and professional growth.

HARNESSING THE VALUE OF E-LEARNING

“Regardless of content, we design all of our training programs around a single overarching concept: empowering our employees to provide better service to our veterans,” says Vance. “But we realized from the outset that we needed to offer a range of education approaches to meet the demands of a nationwide organization. To augment traditional in person training, we provide more than 17,000 downloadable book titles on leadership, management and other critical business topics and currently offer more than 30,000 different elearning training options.”

While most organizations’ employees can only access best-selling thought leaders at leadership and national conferences, VALU has provided V.A. staff with direct access to leading-edge concepts.  Led by Dr. John D. Garvin, director of Leadership Development at VALU, V.A. launched a new program in October that includes a series of videocasts featuring Dan Heath, author of the book “Switch.” Broken into four segments of approximately 7 to 25 minutes each, employees from the front line to the executive suite are able to download digestible sessions focused on change management. Within the first week following launch, VALU recorded nearly 1,800 completions of the Switch video training.

As VALU gains traction throughout the V.A., industry is starting to take notice: the United States Distance Learning Association (U.S.D.L.A.) recently crowned VALU’s Military Cultural Awareness (M.C.A.) Program with its 2011 Best Practices in Distance Learning Programming (Gold) Award. The 90-minute module is intended to help staff understand the nuances of military branches, armed conflicts and how to engage with multiple generations of veterans.

Like the rest of VALU’s courses, the M.C.A. training was developed through intensive, cross domain Collaboration and employee feedback. Recognizing that it needed to pair its employees’ commitment to veterans with a deeper awareness of the complexity of each branch of military service, VALU senior leadership worked with internal resources to build a course that provides a foundational knowledge of common military culture, customs and courtesies through real-world context and compelling stories. As part of the onboarding process, VALU welcomes new employees by introducing them to the M.C.A. and TMS.

“I was nearly brought to tears — it brought so much about our veterans to life for me,” says Arminda Guerrero, a training technician at the Topeka V.A. Health Resource Center who completed the course.Guerrero recommends the training to every employee at the V.A., whether or not they are directly interfacing with veterans or processing benefits. “The training shifted my perspective on our mission at the V.A., as well as the needs of veterans I engage with through our call center.”

DIVERSE OPTIONS, DIVERSE WORKFORCE

Many of the V.A.’s offices are located in rural settings, far removed from state capitol headquarters or major metropolitan areas. VALU’s e-learning approach helps ensure that staff serving these areas, especially employees who operate in shifts or in stressful, unpredictable environments, are afforded equal opportunities for growth. 

A central component of this strategy is using Webinars that provide instruction on topics ranging from clinical care to transformational leadership. The Webinars allow staff in dispersed geographic locations to engage directly with one another, increasing opportunities for information sharing and cooperation.

“The outcome of the VALU training has been amazing,” says Bonnie Pearce, associate director for Patient Care Services at the Jack C. Montgomery Medical Center. “After the VALU team worked with us to deliver training programs on leadership and change, we saw an incredible uptick in collaboration. Professions that normally would not talk freely to each other began to share thoughts about patient care, and the level of tension declined as staff applied their conflict resolution skills.”

The V.A. understood that building a rich, engaging learning system required a fundamentally different approach than offering a static “how-to” series of trainings. As it seeks to recruit diversified talent, a central part of its strategy is to speak to digital natives in their own language by pursuing an experiential approach to training. The V.A. is introducing innovative technology and learning delivery methods that will attract future employees.

With that in mind, VALU has bolstered several e-learning courses with interactive and multimedia features that enhance the participant experience. For example, the V.A. has replaced standard multiple choice baseline and evaluation tests with a “Jeopardy!”-style format that allows users to select categories from which they can answer questions of varying difficulty. It has also added animated narrations to several classes, providing participants with the look and feel of an instructor-led session with the convenience of a Web-based format.

Social learning plays a central part in VALU’s core offering. On July 20th, VALU hosted the department’s first Social Learning Summit, which brought together industry thought leaders such as Elliott Masie and internal V.A. social learning champions to discuss the benefits of collaborative technologies and highlight their use within the V.A. One such program is the V.A. Leadership Portal, a Web-based resource that hosts a series of online communities which enable V.A. leaders to connect with each other and subject matter experts to share content focused on improving leadership.

THE ROAD AHEAD

As a living community designed to adapt to the needs of a changing workforce, VALU will continue to evolve over the coming months. The V.A. plans to expand the program’s footprint into mobile platforms, allowing its employees to access content on the go. As the program continues to expand its impact throughout the V.A., it will promote open dialogue via imbedded communities of practice, enabling employees to communicate directly with their peers regardless of work location.

To support the range of training offerings provided by VALU, the V.A. is launching MyCareer@VA (www.mycareeratva.va.gov), an innovative, Web-based career development portal targeted at future and current V.A. employees. The program, led by Dr. Arthur P. McMahan, deputy dean of VALU, will help current employees plan both linear and lateral career paths, identify competency gaps, and generate training curricula to achieve personal and professional growth objectives.  Prospective employees can explore the portal’s listing of V.A. job vacancies and store multiple résumés in a searchable database.

“We understand that we need innovative, agile approaches to design and deliver education, leadership development, learning and training — both now and in the future,” says John U. Sepulveda, V.A. assistant secretary for Human Resources and Administration. “In the months ahead, VALU will help us build upon our existing successes by ensuring that our learning initiatives continue to meet the changing needs of our employees and the veterans we serve.”

“Together, we serve public sector organizations driven to deliver high performance in a very challenging business environment,” reports Catherine Upton, CEO and group publisher of Elearning! Media Group.

In response to a growing marketplace, the Enterprise Learning! Summit (E.L.S.) 2012 has expanded to two days and three tracks: N.T.I.S.’s Government Learning! Conference, Enterprise Learning Conference, and Leadership Briefings.

Elizabeth Shaw, e-learning director for the N.T.I.S., says, “This is the fifth N.T.I.S. Learning Symposium we have hosted. We selected Elearning! Media Group as our conference partner because they have served the public and private learning sector for more than 10 years. Their last five Summits captured large government audiences, and we believe together, we can efficiently serve the information needs of this growing sector.”

The N.T.I.S. Government Learning! Conference features speakers from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, and Firearms, Defense Acquisition University, Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Office of Personnel Management and many others. The Learning! 100 award-winning organizations are also featured in the conference and honored at the Learning! 100 Awards Dinner and Reception on March 20. Attendees will learn, share and network with America’s top learning organizations across two packed conferences days.

The event Opening Keynotes titled, “Enterprise 2020: Thriving in the Net-Work Era” featuring Jay Cross, Nick van Dam and Karie Willyerd. All three are industry thought-leaders, authors, and are learning leaders in their own organizations. U.S. Navy Capt. Dave Carey, former Director of the U.S. Navy Leadership & Training School, will close the event with “Courage to Lead,” based on his experience as a P.O.W. for five-and-a-half years.

E.L.S. will also feature key research from three analyst groups. Bersin & Associates’ David Mallon will discuss “Best Practices of High Impact Organizations.” Aberdeen Group’s Mollie Lombardi will share “Best in Class Learning & Development Study.” Collaborative Strategies’, David Coleman will host “How to Elevate Your (Enterprise) Collaboration Intelligence.

Registration is now open, and early-bird rates apply. To save up to $500 on E.L.S. 2012, register today at www.els.2elearning.com. E.L.S. 2012 is also available virtually, for those with limited time or travel budgets. Two E.L.S. Virtual Pass options are available with rates starting from $0 to $199.

To learn about sponsorship opportunities, phone (888)201-2841 x842 or e-mail sales@2elearning.com. Due to the leadership conference nature of this event, onsite sponsorship opportunities are very limited, so act now.

To achieve the world’s most advanced, true-to-life N.V.G. training environment, an array of three dual-input Christie Matrix StIM single-chip LED projectors were installed, driven by upgraded versions of the ThalesView family of powerful Image Generators.