kineo insight 50 ideas

Kineo 2009 - 50 Ideas for Free E-learning - Higher Returns for Lower InvestmentNot for resale

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50 Ideas for Free E-learning - Higher Returns for Lower Investment

What tools to use and when

In this diagram we show where, on the axes of audience size (10 or less to 1000 +) and content volatil-ity (stable to unstable), different technologies and approaches most comfortably sit. When deciding if a technology or approach merits the time and investment of development, this matrix could help you decide.

How to use this matrix

The matrix gives you a quick rule of thumb indicator for which tools to use in which blends. Here is an example to see how it works.

Organisation A is rolling out a series of new products in a 3 month sales window. Its time-critical as they want to steal a march on the competition in what is a very tight market segment. They also want to be able to respond tactically to any competitor attempts to match their new offering. They have a mix of mobile and telesales forces who need to be brought up to speed with the new changes.

Heres a low cost blended learning approach using a range of free or low cost e-learning technologies. It is highly responsive, allows for individual learning needs and provides high speed changes and adjust-ments to be made that will make a real difference to the teams performance.


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Component Content type Role in new learning Cost to develop

Pre-learning communica-tions

E-mailWeb phone in

Multichannel; alert to op-portunity; set expectations

Low time only

Product knowledge prepa-ration

PowerPoint with sales case studiesOnline quiz toolPDA doc briefingPodcast with customer dialogue scenarios

Multi channel; experience and goal based; diverse and self-selecting

Low to medium time to produce multiple formats. This is the key knowledge for the product launch

Follow-up and and rein-forcement

RSS feed with product updates and selling tips

Skype clinic for specific issues

Wiki knowledge base for customer feedback, case studies, important changes

Regular podcast /e-mail with performance update

Blog from product lead and sales lead on progress and tips

Dynamic content;diverse; personal responsibility

Low for e-learning. Time from participants and leaders.

Urgency index

Some e-learning technologies lend themselves better to rapid development than others. Use this index as a way of identifying which technologies are best used when in the deployment of a training solution.


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4. DIY Content Development

If you are thinking of setting off on the journey to develop blends using e-learning for next to nothing, youll need to know what the best tools are and where to find them. Thats what our content develop-ment directory is all about. We hand pick the top tools for the job and explain where they can be best used. We also give you 3 ideas for how to use each one.

Tool What its good for?

Moodle

Learning Management System

Out of the box:

Customised by Kineo (for Great Ormond Street Hospital, 2009)

What is it:

Moodle is a leading open source LMS. If you can support in-house hosting and configura-tion, its completely free.

A repository for content in all sorts of media, organising courses online and offline and for capability to track it.

Where you can get it:

http://moodle.org/


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2009 update:

Since our original guide in 2005, weve customised and designed over 70 Moodles for our clients and we continue to be impressed by its flexibility and what the Moodle community share for free. Weve recently contributed our custom reporting module, out there for any-one to use. Open source working at its very best.

We have many different modes for implementing it depending on the underlying need. Weve been using Moodle to create

Branded induction portals for clients including M&S and Foster Wheeler Compliance portals for Virgin Media A full-scale enterprise LMS for MoJ with 80,000 users Tactical portals and academies around a specific learning initiative or for a business area even for clients who already have an LMS but want a customised look and feel and more control Performance and learning centres, housing a wide range of different content types e.g. audio, video, e-learning, guides, discussion forums and more, for EMI, M&S and many more

OK, so its not entirely free to get a customised and branded Moodle from us but its not expensive either.

Find out more:

http://www.kineo.com/moodle-services/moodle-lms.html

Look out for more Moodle enhancements from us in 2010.

ATutor

Authoring tools

What is it:

ATutor is a learning content management system. It allows you to author and structure sim-ple content and to build a programme of learning around it.

This tool is open source and content can be created on ATutors server, meaning you dont have to host it yourself.

If you have time to invest in formal, structured learning programmes, ATutor is also fit to produce simple performance support modules.

ATutor also supports a collaborative learning approach with integrated quizzes, chat, polls and forums amongst other functionality.


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Where you can get it:

http://www.atutor.ca/

2009 update

You might want to look at Udutu

Weve been playing with lots of authoring tools over the past four years. Most of them arent free, but one that we like that is free is Udutu.:http://www.kineo.com/authoring-tools/udutu-e-learning-2.html

Lots of nice features and very easy to use definitely out there at the front of the free au-thoring tools pack.

Theres also eXe. Exe isnt just free, its actually open source, and is well worth checking out:http://www.kineo.com/free-tools/exe-open-source-authoring-tool-2.html

You dont need all of these tools but since theyre all free to use, why not have a look at our reviews and download to try them out? The only cost is your time (and weve tried to save some of that by scoring them for you).

3 authoring tool ideas

1 Create a 10 minute learning object on the 5 biggest challenges in the organisation for the next quarter2 Run a poll on the top employee benefits in the organisation3 Host a discussion with trainers on how they can blend content using ATutor

Want to know more:

Get in touch with us: http://www.kineo.com/contact-us.htmlSee all our tool reviews here: http://www.kineo.com/authoring-tools/rapid-e-learning-authoring-tools.html

PowerPoint

Presentationsoftware

What is it:

Microsoft PowerPoint is the staple presentation software. It has powerful functionality which is often under-utilised. We know. Its not free. But we reckon most of you have it any-way. Do you use it to the full?


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Where to get it:

www.microsoft.com

3 PowerPoint ideas:

1 Use PowerPoint for linked sequences of content for simple instruction on IT security in the organisation 2 Record an expert on a key service you provide and embed it in a presentation 3 Send round a presentation on a key strategy area and get a team to add comments. Send out a summary of issues afterwards

2009 update:

werPoints still great, but there are a few lurking PowerPoint killers out there. We particularly like Sliderocket: http://www.kineo.com/free-tools/sliderocket-2.html

Find out more:

http://www.kineo.com/contact-us.html

Blogger / Motime

Blogs

What is it:

There are many free blog software sites out there on which you can host a blog. The trouble with that is that your blog is then public domain.

If you can host blog software, it may be a better option as you will be able to keep your blogs private within your organisation.

Where to get it:

Free blog siteshttp://www.motime.com/http://www.blogger.com

Free blog software (needs hosting)http://b2evolution.net/http://www.bblog.com/


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3 Blog ideas:

1 Create leader or expert diary in the organisation for 1 month, where a leader updates their blog regularly.2 Capture customer issues and how they have been dealt with in a blog.3 Personalise learning by enabling individuals to maintain their own learning logs if they are going through a specific extended training programme.

Find out more:

Ask Kineo

Seedwiki

Wiki

What is it:

Seedwiki is a free wiki creation site. You can build as many wikis as you want, and make them password protected.

Where to get it:

http://www.seedwiki.com/

3 Seedwiki ideas:

1 Create a simple knowledge repository for the training team on best practice2 Make a bank of case studies on customer service or sales3 Try solving an organisational problem collaboratively by creating a wiki about it

E-mail


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What is it (doh):

Youve probably got e-mail in your organisation (if you dont, you probably get a lot more done than the rest of us). There are free packages around, but thats not the big story here. Its how you can use e-mail for learning.

3 ideas for e-mail to support learning:

1 Start a learning newsletter in the organisation with updates and news2 Use e-mail for just in time coaching and support on a learning programme. Much under used in organisations.3 Send learning nuggets via e-mail on productivity or health and safety issues. Pilot it first to make sure the tone and content are right.

Find out more:

Ask Kineo

Powwownow

Virtual classrooms

What is it:

Powwownow is a simple conferencing system that allows voice conference and shared presentations and PDF documentation during a conference, all for free. You only pay for the phone charges (national rate). While it doesnt have the full functionality of the virtual classroom, it does a lot of what you need.

Where to get it:

http://share.powwownow.com/index.php

2009 update:

Another great tool that has come on the market since our first report is Dimdim. Dimdim has all the main features you would expect of web meeting software. You can Share presentations Use a whiteboard Screencast your desktop to show any application you have running Use audio Have public and private chats Record sessionsYour participants dont have to install any software, it all runs through a web browser mak-ing it relatively easy for everyone and its completely free. Find out more here:http://www.kineo.com/free-tools/dimdim---free-web-meetings-2.html


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3 ideas for Powwownow or Dimdim

1 Run a course follow-up with participants to reinforce learning and catch up on issues2 Create an action learning set with a dispersed group and get them talking regularly3 Run a masterclass on a key issue for your organisation and invite people to participate.

Find out more:

Ask Kineo

Omea

RSS (really simple syndication)

What is it:

Creating an RSS newsfeed needs some specialist knowledge and is done via xml. To receive it you need an RSS newsreader such as Omea which allows you to view messages as and when they are updated.

Where to get it:

http://www.jetbrains.com/omea/download/reader.html

3 ideas for Omea:

1 Set up a learning newsfeed for your organisation2 Create a leadership best practice feed with key tips3 Define a newsfeed which brings in competitor news so you can continually benchmark your offering

Find out more:

Ask Kineo

Skype

Web phones


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What is it:

We love Skype. Free phone conferencing software. Free calls peer to peer. Its the daddy of the webphones.

Where to get it:

www.skype.com

3 ideas for Skype:

1 Run a top leader phone-in by invitation2 Start a coaching session for a specific subject such as health and safety to follow up a course3 Offer a drop-in clinic via Skype where people can get one to one advice on specific issues.

Instant messaging tools

What is it:

Microsoft provides two free applications. Messenger tends to have superseded Netmeeting. But both offer video, audio and text messaging and application sharing. If you can provide the bandwidth and have audio-enabled PCs this can be a better option than the Pow-wownow solution described above.

Or you can use Skype for instant messaging.

Where to get it:

http://messenger.msn.com/Xp/Default.aspxwww.skype.com

3 ideas for instant messaging:

1 Run an online brainstorming event to look at how to implement your next big learning programme2 Launch a learning initiative with Messenger as the communication tool3 Provide one to one coaching using the audio or video conferencing facility


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Wink

Screen capture tools

What is it:

Wink is a great piece of free software that allows you to capture and comment on systems applications.

Where to get it:

http://www.debugmode.com/wink/

You could also check out Snag-it free to trial:http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp

3 ideas for Wink:

1 Promote e-learning or virtual classrooms with a 3 minute demo2 Create a showcase for learning technologies showing how each works3 Create an induction for one of your organisations key systems

Hot Potatoes

Quiz tool

What is it:

Hot Potatoes isnt strictly free unless you are working in a publicly funded education institution. But the costs are relatively low and for your money you get a well-specified quiz engine that will serve many of your needs for assessment and evaluation.

Where to get it:

http://hotpot.uvic.ca/


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2009 update:

Moodle wins again here you can create simple quizzes and track them for free by using the built-in Questionnaire functionality in Moodle. You can also use this for surveys.

3 ideas for Hot Potatoes:

1 Run a quiz on the organisations values2 Check peoples understanding of the current strategy3 Measure the success and popularity of a recent learning event

Survey Monkey

Survey tools

What is it:

Basic surveys (10 questions / 100 responses) are free with Survey Monkey.

For a more powerful way of measuring opinion on key issues relating to learning, Survey Monkey is a good solution.

Where to get it:

http://www.surveymonkey.com

3 ideas for Survey Monkey:

1 Run a survey on the best learning in the organisation2 Measure whether people think their learning is aligned to the direction of the business3 Analyse what type of learning best fits the culture of your organisation2009 update:

Weve created over 500 surveys in the past three years, helping our clients to evaluate the impact of their learning and also to survey the learning market. Survey Monkeys still the best tool out there for surveys.


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Audacity

Podcasting

What is it:

Podcasting is the recording and delivery of audio broadcasts via an RSS feed to be listened to on PCs or MP3 players.

To create a podcast you need to be able to record it try using Audacity for a simple to use solution. You then need to upload and distribute your podcast.

Where to get it:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/http://www.feedforall.com/software.htmYou can do all the things youll really need in the free version, but if you must you can buy the complete suite for podcasting for $39USD.

3 ideas for podcasting:

1 Run a series of interviews with business leaders on key issues of the moment2 Use a subject matter expert to create a regular broadcast on issues that matter3 Any questions? Record a Q and A forum with leaders, partners and customers and turn it into a podcast to share with staff.

Find out more:

Our guide to effective podcasting can help you out its free too:http://www.kineo.com/ufi-learndirect-kineo-guides/good-practice-guides-with-ufi-learndi-rect.html


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5. Z ero Cost Blends: Heres Some We Prepared Earlier

So what to do with all these free tools and ideas?

How can you create some low cost blends using these components? Here are some starters for ten (well, starters for zero, actually, but youve probably got that point by now).

Product knowledge updates

How to keep everyone up to date on product developments and get the sales team talking to the prod-uct experts, without paying for any of it?

Use SurveyMonkey to find out where people are struggling with products: positioning, overcoming objections, cross-selling etc

Based on feedback, get your product experts to write simple explanations of how to position your products, explain benefits and overcome objections using PowerPoint or ATutor. Get them to include audio clips of how to say what in response to customers

Send it out to everyone in the sales team using email, or download from Moodle

Optional: Run group sessions to go over the key points with an expert and a group of learners using Powownow. Get learners to contribute their ideas in the session. Record the session using Audacity. Put it in Moodle

Learners receive notice that theres a new update to the PowerPoints via RSS

2009 update:

Weve worked on many product knowledge solutions since writing this originally. The blend still works and weve shared a few other free ideas for making product knowledge e-learning work:

http://www.kineo.com/elearning-reports/product-knowledge-e-learning.html

Negotiation skills coaching

A group of managers need to become expert at negotiation. How about a blended solution in which the price has been negotiated to zero?

Learners use Blogger to keep a learning blog for a month on where they struggle with negotiations, what goes wrong, where they need help

Experts in negotiation use the ideas in the blogs to run a masterclass using powownow

Learners each have a scheduled follow up one-to-one or small group session with the expert on their specific negotiation challenges using Skype (or googletalk)

Learners continue to maintain the learning blog to track how things have changed

Experts use their knowledge to create a negotiation Wiki using Seedwiki. Learners contribute ideas from their blog to the wiki as their expertise and insight grows


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Call centre process training

A new procedure is developed. It has systems and customer service implications. Whats a rapid re-sponse that costs nothing to implement?

Experts create an explanation of how the new procedure works, from a system and what to say to the customer perspective using Wink and Audacity

The update is shared with all learners via moodle (and an update via RSS)

Experts offer live support using instant messenger, talking learners through which screen to use and what to say to the customer (while they listen in live).

Were sure youve got other ideas about how to blend for free. There are many ways in which these tools can be combined of course, the blended design still needs to be effective, but our point here is this:

These are all effective blended solutions with a cost of zero, other than the time of your people.


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6. Use the Power of the Network and Enable

Weve covered the strategy and the tools. But what do you do now? It may feel like too many ideas and opportunities and not enough resource to do anything about it. Dont try to develop everything your-self. You have a whole workforce out there!

The big opportunity? Enable them to develop their own content with easy to use tools and infrastruc-ture. There are some excellent reasons to devolve content creation to people around the business:

Tapping into expertise and local knowledge every organisation is dependent on its informal knowl edge networks. Individuals may hold the key to many aspects of the organisations capabilities. But only in their head. Here are some ideas for how they could help you create valuable content - Give them Audacity and a microphone and let them record some audio for you on a regular basis it could be an expert view. Or if that is too much, interview them briefly on a regular basis. Log their recordings on your intranet or LMS Create a Blog or Wiki and get specialist teams to build their own knowledge base on specific topic areas Run special Skype sessions or a virtual classroom session with a business leader on the values and leadership traits required in your organisation. Include the highlights in an e-mail newsletter and make it available to listen to on the intranet or network (live or recorded) Create a learning portal (see the next section for more) and ask people to contribute articles and content

You cant control knowledge and content; facilitate it instead. We know that inspire of the best inten tions attempts to completely control and define how knowledge and skills are developed is a near impossible task. Rather than fight the tide, work with it. Alongside formal learning programmes, make space for informal learning by providing the tools and resources to help individuals share what they know and learn from others.

Learning is by its very nature fluid and organic in organisations. It can also be difficult to identify what is happening within organisational units, where silo practices often go on. Under the top current of systemised organisational learning, undercurrents may be working in other directions. You can help ensure learning aligns together and in the right direction for the organisation by brokering learning opportunities, devolving responsibility for using the free tools for example, but providing the hosting environment and categorisation system for the learning content. That way you can monitor the qual ity and appropriateness of the output.

By devolving responsibility and capability for building learning resources, you also are creating a net work of knowledge and skills champions. These individuals can become leaders of diverse communi ties of practice in the organisation, working in and across organisational units. Look out for our Pod cast interview with Clive Shepherd about this topic.

How a devolved knowledge network model might work


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How a devolved knowledge network model might work


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7. Low Cost Learning Portals

Theres a wealth of opportunity to get started with learning technologies using many of the free open source applications mentioned in this briefing. But how do you bring them altogether, particularly if you have resource and infrastructure limitations in your organisation?

The answer is a learning portal. And even better, you can do it for next to nothing.A learning portal is an Internet site which brings together your learning communities and your learning content into a single point of access. Putting these onto a secure internet site means learning is acces-sible 24 x 7.

With the tools described in this paper you have the means to populate and maintain a rich set of learn-ing resources tailored for the needs of different communities.

The costs for setting up a learning portal can be relatively low and the requirements are quite simple:

Component Requirement

Content managed portal

The site building tool which allows you put in and maintain content.

Using an open source content manage-ment system such as Joomla, a basic site can be set up in less than day.

Find out more at Kineo Open source, our sister company, who run many Joomla projects: http://www.kineoopensource.com/index.php/joomla/overview/

Alternatively of course, as mentioned throughout this guide, you can use Moodle. Managing content and creating a portal using Moodle is a great way to put a tactical approach in place to support a specific leaning initiative:http://www.kineo.com/moodle-services/moodle-lms.html

Cost range

Joomla is a free open source application.

Hosting Hostings not free, but its not that expen-sive either or you could get the devel-opment company to install directly onto your servers

More about open source hosting costs here:http://www.kineoopensource.com/

Learningmanagement

Content without tracking can be hosted on Joomla. If you want to set up tracking, you should go with Moodle.

Free for the LMS. Hosting as above.

F ind out how we can

help by contacting us:

www.kineo.com

[email protected]

44 (0) 1273 764 070x


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Communitymanagement

Joomla can be used to create separate areas in the learning portal with logins. So you can create a specialist communities such as subject matter experts, leaders etc

Free within Joomla. You need to allow for time to manage the content in each community.

If you would like more information on setting up a low-cost learning portal and learning management system, contact us: [email protected]

More on our approach to learning portals here: http://www.kineo.com/learning-portals/online-portals.html


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8. Take it Further

At Kineo, we are passionate about doing more for less and four years on from the original version of this guide, weve built up hundreds of guides, articles and top tips to help you ensure you get more for less.

Find out more at www.kineo.com or contact us:

Kineo Group Inc19 Cortland DriveHudson, MA 01749

(617) 326 7307

[email protected]

UK and Rest of World Kineo LLP100 Queens Road Brighton, BN1 3XF

+44 (0) 1273 764060

[email protected]

US UK and Rest of World

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