Microsoft Elevate America

With millions of Americans unemployed and uncertain about how to pursue new careers, Microsoft Elevate America program seems perfectly timed. The company will provide up to two million people with free technology training over the next three years to prepare them for the new marketplace in IT.

Check it out: http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/us/communityinvestment/elevateamerica.aspx

E-Learning NO How

Good article in the Jan T&D mag: 7 disastrous decisions sure to sink any e-learning implementation

My two-cents: Off-the-shelf courses published in the LMS should be tested just like custom courses. Never assume that they will automatically work.

Check it out: http://www.astd.org/TD/Archives/2009/Jan/0901_E-Learning_No_How.htm

Interactive Rich Media Mashups

Interactive Rich Media Mashups are created using “Ultra Mashup Studio™” by mixing together videos, audios, images, text captions and feedback forms sectioned by searchable chapters and tracking markers. You can sign up for a 90-day free trial to check out the application.

Check it out: http://www.ultralearn.com/

Mashup: a digital media file containing any or all of text, graphics, audio, video, and animation, which recombines and modifies existing digital works to create a derivative work (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup)

Social e‑learning authoring system

I'm checking out a social e‑learning authoring system that allows you to to create and deliver interactive e‑learning 2.0 content with embedded social media. Composica 4.0 empowers authors to take full advantage of social media tools to create a learning community around each course. Courses then become both formal and social by nature - learners can share knowledge with others, learn from each other, comment on anything, rate everything and more - all while browsing a course, without ever leaving the learning environment.

• Add blogs to courses, either completely open to the public where anyone can post, or moderated.
• Add the ability to comment on anything in the course, with or without comment approval.
• Let your learners rate any object in the course, and see how others rated it.
• Include content from external RSS feeds, either blogs or other services.
• Easily embed mashup widgets, such as YouTube videos, Google Charts, and others.
  

Check it out: http://www.composica.com/