In this issue:
1. The Top 5 Influential Trends at the WBT Producer Conference
2. Peaking at the WBT Executive Summit
3. Next and Previous skips; Forward and Back leaps
4. New eLearning Conference slated in London, England for September, 2000
5. Your Continuing Education and Professional Development
1. The Top 5 Influential Trends at the WBT Producer Conference
If you missed the WBT Producer Conference and the WBT Executive Summit, you missed a great opportunity to hear the sharpest minds discuss and demonstrate leading-edge Web-based training (WBT). Influential Trends was there and is ready to share with you the Top 5 WBT and eLearning trends.
TREND 1: You have to be fast: content is king, time to market is critical.
TREND 2: The purpose of learning, training, and information initiatives are to get people to do the right things at the right time. When people are successful, their organizations are successful.
TREND 3: Interactivity is so much more than buttons. The big issues will not be the technology, it will be using new technology as new technology: not re-purposing old technology, bolting on new elements and passing it off as new technology.
TREND 4: The use of blended learning approaches where a learner may use the Web and WBT for one part of training; instructor-led for another, and CD-ROM for yet another. It looks like we may be approaching eLearning with some logic that indeed one size does not fit all, nor can one training delivery method be the single answer.
TREND 5: There is movement away from the traditional, systematic design of instruction for WBT design and development. You still have the traditional components of analysis, design, and development before implementation. Rather than taking a linear approach, you put up a rapid prototype, which becomes the framework for the design. There are continuous changes during prototyping and from continuous instructional evaluation and feedback.
Mark your calendars NOW for next year's WBT Producer conference in Anaheim, CA, USA, April 18-20, 2001 (Pre-conference workshops April 16 and 17). Visit Influent's web site often for more late-breaking trends and content-rich articles on WBT and eLearning at http://www.influent.com.
2. Peaking at the WBT Executive Summit
Last week marked the inaugural launch of the WBT Executive Summit, which was co-located with the WBT Producer Conference in San Diego, CA. We caught up with of the participants, Phyl Brown, Executive Vice President of Product Development at learnsomething.com (http://www.learnsomething.com) to learn about his Summit experience.
TRENDS: What was your initial reaction to the Summit?
BROWN: SURPRISING! I thought that the industry was farther along than it is. On the other hand, I gained a better appreciation for the look and feel of a learning experience from the user's point of view. The industry is heading in two directions: providing interesting and motivating training and rethinking the presentation of training from an end-user perspective.
TRENDS: What did the Summit mean to you?
BROWN: The Summit provided an opportunity for my personal maturation and growth.
TRENDS: What are three takeaways from the Summit?
BROWN: 1) State of the industry. 2) Great ideas. 3) Taking what I learned to start mapping new ways of doing things differently for WBT and eLearning. Now that I've been, next year's Summit experience will be even richer: I'll know what to expect and how to bring more to the table to exchange with my colleagues.
Keep your browser pointed to http://www.influent.com for details on next year's WBT Executive Summit Conference.
3. Next and Previous skips; Forward and Back leaps
You say it's semantics, splitting hairs. However, the participants in John Hartnett's (http://www.hartnettdesign.com) "Beauty and the Beast: Effective Interface Design for WBT" pre-conference seminar beg to differ. They were straight-faced and serious about the distinctions in the GUI navigation terms "Next and Previous," "Forward and Back."
The group asserted that "Next and Previous" are an immediate movement in their respective directions. Whereas, "Forward and Back" takes the learner to a whole new topic in their respective directions. User interfaces are always tricky. It appears that we have a standard here, so use directional buttons correctly to ensure learner understanding across all WBT.
4. New eLearning Conference Slated in London, England for September 2000!
Influent Technology Group announces a BRAND NEW event: the eLearning Design, Development, & Management Conference. This new event is being held 14-15 September 2000, in London, England. Pre-conference workshops will be held 13 September. This event focuses on the designers, developers and managers of eLearning, Online Learning and Web-based Training (WBT).
Proposals to speak are currently being accepted. For session proposal guidelines, please send an email to hfisk@influent.com. Additional information will be available at http://www.influent.com at the end of this week.
5. Your Continuing Education and Professional Development
Here are upcoming events for your continuing education and professional development that you don't want to miss:
Computer Training World 2000
Three-Conferences-in-One format incorporating Technology Training Management Conference,
The ERP and Large Systems Training Conference, and
The Computer Trainers' Summer Camp
August 21-23, 2000
San Francisco, CA USA
THE event for the computer/technology training profession. This is the event to help you find your way through the issues of rapidly changing technology roll-outs, move from classroom to technology-delivered instruction, and address certification, outsourcing, and retraining staff challenges. CTW is the ONLY event specifically targeted to those in the computer training industry. See http://www.influent.com/ctw2000.
Information Technology Training (ITT) Summit
May 15-17, 2000
Sundance, Utah USA
This summit is designed for corporate training managers to address the many issues facing their training departments. Visit http://www.yourconduit.com
Help Online 2000 Symposium
July 11-13, 2000 (Pre-conference workshops July 10)
Chicago, IL USA
You asked for it! We are uniting the best faculty with Help Writers, Designers, Developers, and Managers in a unique Symposium format to facilitate inquiry and dialogue between faculty and participants. Industry leaders will lead General sessions. There will be no commercial element to this event! The focus is on learning, networking, sharing, and in-depth discussion within the framework of three tracks: Management Strategies, Tools & Techniques, and Trends and Issues. Visit http://www.influent.com/hol00/index.html. Proposals are now being accepted for this event. Contact Heidi Fisk at 651.686.7003 or mailto:hfisk@influent.com.
