Is Bad Content Management White Collar Crime?

In the last few weeks, four different people have asked me about content or knowledge management systems. This made we wonder why all the interest in content or knowledge management system when they have been around for many years. I listened to the various stories and motivations to developing a better system. The reason ranged from:

• People leave the company and the next person is not able to find previously created work.
• There is a need to rapidly develop training and adapting already existing material is quicker if they could only find the material.
• People are trying to find the latest media (especially logos) created by various people and they are not sure where to locate them.
• Companies want to change something in one location and it be changed everywhere, but do not have the tools to accomplish this task.

These problems have always been around for lots of years. Back in 2001 when I first helped build a knowledge management system for a hosptial, we had to use folders and a SQL database, because we could not afford an enterprise content management system. In 2004 when work for an aviation company we purchased a LMS/LMCS that was cutting edge at the time, but is outdated now. Many companies did the same thing. Now those systems are outdated and new trends like social media, collaborative learning, and the cloud are making content or knowledge management more challenging. Now working for a Fortune 500 company the need is even greater. Let's explore what has have occurred in the last 10 years to make content management systems essential. Now there are:

• Fewer people doing the work and with layoffs poor content management makes locating material worst.
• Less people, doing the work which makes it more important to repurpose material when possible.
• Collaboration or social media is popular, but this can make locating content more difficult. 
• Storage space is cheap and companies want to go paperless, so people tend to keep everything digitally.
• When content management is poor people want to keep assets on their computer hard drives (so they can find them), which makes content management impossible.
• Companies have several content management systems, which do not talk to each other. For example some companies have:
• Content management systems for their websites (ex. WordPress)
• Documents management systems (ex SharePoint)
• Learning content management systems (ex. OnPoint)
• Enterprise content management systems (ex Alfresco)
• Training authoring systems (ex Lectora)

As I thought about  content managment I knew why people were struggling and thinking if I could help them find the right tool things would be great. I knew having a content management tools without the 3 P’s (people, procedures and process) does not work.

In Part 2 - we will talk about how to implement the 3 P’s (Processes, Procedures and People) to develop a content or knowledge management system that works.

Are Adobe, Apple and Microsoft Making all the Decisions for Us?

The Wall Street Journal reported on November 9^th that “Adobe is going to throwing in the towel when it comes to getting Flash to run on mobile devices, after a years-long battle with Apple over the validity of Flash versus HTML 5”. ComputerWorld talked about how Microsoft will not support Flash in their Windows 8 Metro style Internet Explorer 10 browser.

Where does that leave us who want to create interactive e-learning which uses Flash, especially since HTML5 standards are still changing? I want to make interactive learning and do more than play videos on Apple mobile devices with quizzes at the end.

I feel a sense of urgency, because I know tablets are being purchased more than laptops and I do not want to create the training twice. We need to start creating training using authoring tools that can publish in HTML5, especially since we have been given fair warning by Adobe, Apple and Microsoft. We want to create training in such a way that it can be updated and changed as the standards evolve.

Here are a couple of my thoughts on how to do that:

• Start by developing your storyboard in PowerPoint (PPT) as I talked about in earlier blog called PowerPoint Virtual Training Secret Weapon
• Choose an authoring tool that supports importing PPT slides, so you do not have to start all over if you:
• Change authoring tools as new ones are coming out regularly with new features
• Need or want to recreate the training since the standards are not completely established
• Only purchase one or two licenses of the authoring tool you think you are going to use until the standards for HTML5 are more established
• Our company could easily need 20 licenses in the future. If we purchase that many license now we are pretty much committed to staying with that authoring tool. It might be too early to make that type of commitment to one product.
• Purchase an authoring tool from a major vendor that has money to put money into R&D and will keep up with the changing standards. Possible vendors to look at are Clario by DominKnow, Lectora by Trivantis, or Intuition, which all have already released HTML5 tools. Adobe Edge (beta) and Articulate Storyline (releasing Dec. 2011 or Jan 2012) are also strong choices.
• I have tested each of these am leaning toward Storyline for the following reasons:
• Price being around $1,400 per license is nice, instead of approximately $2,500 for Clario or Lectora.
• I did like Clario feature of developing in the cloud, which allows for a content management of assets. If the price came down and it was not a yearly fee it would be a stronger contender.
• Lectora is a very nice tool and will is coming out with new enhancements all the time. You can bet that Lectora is going to keep coming out with cooler and cooler features. I will definitely keep reviewing Lectora with each new enhancement. I hear rumors that they have an on-line version that is less expensive. I am looking at that tool in the next few weeks.

What are you thinking about as it relates to build mobile courses and purchasing an authoring tool?

Virtual Training Just for the Rich?

This week I was talking with a non-profit Healing Water International an organization that focuses on water treatment, micro-business plus health and hygiene education in developing countries. I want to help them develop educational material to support their goals. One thing they are doing is writing curriculum on paper. I thought “PAPER”. This is so costly. Plus there are so many other ways of developing training that are cheaper and “better.”

I love virtual training – give me e-learning, social learning, virtual classrooms and gamification, and my blood starts pumping. But in many third world countries they you do not have internet or in internet café the download speeds are slow and expensive. People do not have computers, or even electricity. One of my friends said they took a computer to a rural village and people were more interested in the computer than learning about water treatment, micro-business and health and hygiene.

My other experience this week as I was packing my shoebox for Operation Christmas Child - a ministry that seeks to give needy children around the world a present at Christmas.   I read children wanted school supplies like pens, pencils & sharpeners, writing pads or paper, solar calculators and picture books. Hygiene items like mild soap, combs, wash clothes and possibly a photo of you. I realized that we each want to learn and desire something simple like to be clean.

This makes me realize that virtual training might be more focused on developing countries that have things like the internet, computers and technology, but people wanting to learn is universal. I need to not lose sight of “what” I want to do, which is to teach verses “how” I do it.

But I want to see it there is such a thing as a solar powered portable DVD player. I might need that for a few of my short videos that teach them how to do water treatment, health and hygiene and micro-business.

If you know people who are doing training in developing countries using technology let me know or is virtual training only for the rich?

PowerPoint Virtual Training Secret Weapon

Many people feel that using PowerPoint (PPT) to develop training is so behind the times. But I think we need to look at this tool with new eyes. Many of the new authoring tools either use PPT as their backbone or offer the ability to import slides into their software. I think that starting with PPT to begin virtual training is a smart idea that blends speed, ease-of-use, and cost savings, which are some of the things I want.
I asked myself am I the only person who thinks this, so I decided to do a little research. I came across one article written by Tom Kuhlmann on October 3, 2007 called What Everybody Ought to Know about Using PowerPoint for e-Learning and another Called Authoring & Delivering E-learning by Using PowerPoint Files written on March 8^th, 2011 by the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative that assured me a few people hold my opinion.

Let me explain how you can take one PPT presentation and repurpose into a least five different types of training. Make sure your PPT (usually 10-15 slides) has navigation at the top for mobile devices. Also do not use high resolution graphics that will slow downloading. Additionally, be aware of the font size and graphic detail when they get converted to 10 inch or smaller screen.

Here are the five different types of training from one PowerPoint:

1.    Virtual training class that you deliver in a webinar format

a.    Make sure you record the session, so you can put it on your LMS as a course

b.    Keep the session to around 20 to 30 minutes. I wish the webinar’s I attend would permanently kill the 60 minute webinars. I digress.

c.    See what questions you get during the webinar, because you might need to clarify your content.

d.    Correct any information that you discovered might be incorrect or confusing.

2.    Collaborative learning material that you can now post to a social business site like Jive, Yammer or SharePoint. Now you can continue discussion after the webinar.

a.    Invite discussion by asking SME and others to come and comment on the content.

b.    This also allows people who could not attend the webinar to learn about the topic from others through discussion.

3.    On-line training for desktop or laptop

a.    Take your PowerPoint and import it into an e-learning tool like Captivate, Lectora or Articulate (to name a few) and convert it to a course that can be deployed to a desktop or laptop through a LMS.

b.    Add knowledge checks, games, or widgets to make it more engaging.

4.    Convert to the PPT to a mobile course by using many times the same software used to develop the desktop or laptop course.

a.    We have not decided what mobile authoring tool we are going to purchase. Lectora and dominKnow have released a mobile HTML5 tool and Storyline and Adobe Edge have beta version out.

b.    Creating a PPT allows us to have content/courses developed, so when we decide we can import and quickly develop the courses.

5.    Instructor led training for a workshop or seminar

a.    Now this presentation will have games, widgets and other assets if presented after the OLT version.

A few other advantages of using PPT to begin the development process are:

1.    This application is easily available on most computers whether Mac or Windows.

2.    Giving a template to a SME saves time and money, because they can populate the content easily.

3.    When it is time to maintain the content you can give the PPT to a SME for them update the content.

4.    If you decide to change authoring tools you do not have to start completely over, since you have a proprietary source file.

a.    With the cost and complexity of e-learning authoring tools you tend to not want to change software, because you have to start from scratch to develop the course.

b.    You would not have to purchase so many expensive e-learning authoring licenses, since some people could just import the PPT, create the interactivity and voice.

Tell me what you think in the comment section. Do you think there other ways to use PPT with virtual training or scrap the tool?

Oprah Winfrey LifeClass Virtual Training Genuis?

Oprah Winfrey can teach us all in the training world something about virtual training. Carol Nachazel wrote in the Arizona Daily Wildcat an article called Oprah Winfrey’s Life Class is attracting Large Scale Participation and right fully so.  I know I am one of the over million people who signed up before the LifeClass virtual training classroom even began.

 She starts her virtual training class with a one hour televised class. For me as a training manager in the corporate world this means 10 to 12 minutes WBT on a desk top or mobile device. I can’t keep their attention, since Oprah is not in my training giving away cars to all listening.

I watch the televised class while I am on the treadmill or stationary bike. I just prop up my tablet and read what people are saying on Oprah’s Facebook page during the commercials, since I have not been able to DVR. I have tried writing on the wall when I am on the stationary bike, but I am sweating too hard.  This is taking social media and collaborative learning to a level I "like". No pun intended – well maybe a little pun intended.

If you have not gotten enough from Oprah’s televised class than you can watch the live streaming video on her Facebook page or on the Life Class App on your iPads. You know Oprah loves her iPad. This is great for the people that complained that Oprah has put her program on paid TV and they cannot enjoy her anymore. Everyone has a Facebook account.

I wonder why people giving webinars cannot take a lesson from Oprah and lose the canned PowerPoint’s aimed at selling us their product. Instead install a webcam, although Oprah has TV cameras and answer our questions. Maybe they are in their pajamas and this is why we never see them talking to us. If the webinar is done in 30 minutes end it. This approach might make me think about not reading my e-mail and paying attention more. Post it for me to watch and do not make me give you my contract information for the fourth or fifth time.

Nancy Colasurdo from Fox Business talks about how great the Vibrant Lifeclass in Session. Oprah gives us lessons that we can take and talk about, which leads to more social or collaborative learning from each other not just Oprah and the “experts.”

Whether you are a fan of Oprah or not I think we all could learn a lesson about virtual training. What do you think?