Bersin & Associates LMS study

Bersin & Associates, a research and advisory firm focused on enterprise learning, recently released a study on customer satisfaction with learning management systems.

"LMS Customer Satisfaction 2005: An Industry Analysis of the Customer Experience" is the result of input from 660 system administrators, training managers, and executives on 24 satisfaction criteria across 15 LMS offerings.

A few findings from the press release:

--Externally hosted LMS customers are significantly more satisfied than those who run LMSs internally. Outsourced LMS systems reduce cost, complexity, and resource requirements and are much more likely to be completed on schedule and within predicted budgets.

--The LMS market is in a high state of churn. Approximately 15% of organizations are planning on switching LMS vendors or replacing their systems.

--The LMS market is growing fast and still very fragmented. Although the LMS market encompasses more than 70 vendors, the largest has only 15% market share. Forty-five percent of respondents installed their systems within the last two years.

--Older customers are less satisfied then new customers. The study shows that customers with systems more than four years old are most likely to plan on switching vendors. This finding is likely related to the fact that many older implementations are running on old technology platforms or are using outdated software versions (80% of all LMSs in use are at least one version behind and 60% are two major versions behind).

--Overall satisfaction is highly correlated with a vendor's implementation and support services - and far less correlated with satisfaction with product features. Of those respondents who are highly satisfied with their LMSs, 83% are highly satisfied with their vendors' implementation services and 82% are highly satisfied with their vendors' support services.

--Of all products areas evaluated, reporting and analysis received the lowest average satisfaction rating (5.97 out of 10). Reporting is a notoriously difficult area for LMS vendors because of the wide range of data and varied needs of report users. Other areas of customer dissatisfaction are customization, system upgrades, and HR/ERP integration.

The study also rates vendors. For more info, see the press release.

Webinars galore!

These are all free to the best of my knowledge.

--Demonstration of Horizon Wimba's New PowerLink for WebCT Vista
Aaron Bond & Matt Wasowski, Horizon Wimba
Thursday, March 10, 2005 at 3 pm EST

--The Real Dirt on E-Learning
Jay Cross, Internet Time Group
Friday, March 11th at 2 pm to 3 pm EST

--Building Community Among Educators
Vance Stevens, Petroleum Institutue (Abu Dhabi)
Tuesday, March 15, 2005 at 12 pm EST

--Referral Marketing: Get Your Customers and Colleagues to Grow Your Business
Presentation Excellence
Wednesday, March 16th at 1 pm to 2 pm EST

--Benefits of Using Voice in Online Courses
*Presented IN FRENCH
Professor Bernard Curzi, EDHEC
Pier Giovanni Fontana, Horizon Wimba
Friday, March 18, 2005 at 10 am EST

--Experience Macromedia Breeze
Macromedia and Binatech System Solutions
Wednesday March 23rd, March 30th, April 6th, April 13th, April 27th at
2 pm EST

--Adding Oral Assessments into Questionmark Perception
Donovan Lytle, Horizon Wimba
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at 2 pm EST

--Demonstration of Horizon Wimba's Blackboard Building Blocks
Thursday, March 31, 2005 at 3 pm EST

Best you might've missed

Happy Friday, everyone. Here are the articles and resources I found most interesting this week.

Learning theory

Connectivism. A new site from George Siemens on the learning theory he recently developed. Includes a blog, wiki, and discussion forums. Also see his recent presentation.

E-mergent learning/community

"Planning for Neomillennial Learning Styles." A fascinating article on how new technologies are influencing the way young people learn and gather information, and how education should adapt.

"Blogs & Wikis: Technologies for Enterprise Applications?" Examines in-depth the possibilities of using these tools in corporations and compares them with standard content management systems. (Thanks, e-Learning Centre.)

Are Social Networking Sites Useful? Recruiters are starting to use them to fill positions. One blogger poses the question and offers some thoughts from various people.

E-learning/community

Elearningeuropa. This packed-with-info site from the European Commission calls itself "a portal about the use of information and communication technologies to improve learning." (Thanks, eLearnopedia.)

"From e-Learning to e-Knowledge." This chapter from Knowledge Management Tools and Techniques focuses on "the growing importance of e-learning as knowledge scaffolding; the emerging significance of knowledge management practice in informing strategic directions for the development of e-learning systems; and, a conceptual framework that brings together these first two ideas..."

"Elements of Effective e-Learning Design." A scholarly article from the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning that examines six components: activity, scenario, feedback, delivery, context, and influence.

Interview with Frank Russell, CEO and President of GeoLearning. Much of this could be viewed as a PR pitch, but if you're interested in learning more about the company's products, you may find this helpful.

"Meet Me in Cyberspace." "To evaluate how the benefits and disadvantages of virtual meetings stack up in real business situations, Computerworld took a look at how three companies are using virtual meeting software."

Traditional learning/business

The 18 Commandments of Knowledge-Conscious Managers. "I like the idea that Knowledge Management is really about Knowledge Conscious Management," says this blogger, a director of knowledge management.

"Confessing Error: Can a Leader Admit Confusion and Still Lead?" The Wharton Leadership Digest summarizes an article and describes a five-step process for "taking advantage of 'Oh, no!' moments to 'embrace confusion,' open up better lines of communication," and more. (Thanks, Fast Company blog.)

Job Satisfaction Declines in the US, According to New Conference Board Survey. U.S. workers are less happy with their jobs than they were 10 years ago.

Top 10 Business Movies. A list from the Inc. Weblog.

Strategies for Creating a Catchy Business Name. Starting up a consulting business or new training company? Check out these tips from the Wall Street Journal.

Misc.

How to Read and Digest a Book. A helpful blog post on getting the most out of your reading experience.

"Experiment Shows You Really Should 'Sleep on It.'" Sleep really can help you solve tricky problems, this study showed.

March (redesigned) T+D online!

Go to the T+D homepage to access articles from our March issue. (After March, go here.)

You'll notice there's less white space, photos rather than illustrations (more real people), a now six-page Intelligence column, a now monthly New Guard column (used to be an annual feature), a new Re:Search column that gives you practical stats you can take to the bosses, and more.

There will be a few more small tweaks in upcoming months. Feel free to email feedback to me at ekaplan at astd.org.

This month's features:

--"The Unnatural Leader," by Peter Cairo, David Dotlich, and Stephen Rhinesmith (free feature)
--"BP Refines Leadership," by Julie Brown, Ryan Eagar, and Paul Lawrence
--"Teach Your Buyers Well," by Kevin Oakes
--"Improving Work Life," by Dan Sussman
--ASTD BEST Award Profile: "Yielding the Best Teachers, Leaders," by T+D senior associate editor Sabrina Hicks

Also:

--The Intelligence column (free) starts off with Mother Leads Best, a look at whether motherhood is the ultimate leadership training program, and packs in double the content as previous months
--The new Re:Search column (free) asks and answers, "What do you spend on training? What should you be spending on training?"
--The Books column (free) reviews Malcolm Gladwell's Blink
--Development discusses MBAs for trainers
--and much more!

Win free participation in Virtual Teams and Collaboration conference

Online collaboration expert Robin Good writes, "For three days, March 29-31, participants will come together for online presentations from experts in the field - all focused on how geographically distributed organizations can work together in a virtual work environment to successfully achieve their business goals and objectives."

The conference normally would set you back $199, but he is giving away five free passes to those people who post the best five requirements for a virtual team's success.

Go here to read about the conference and put your ideas into the hat. Good luck!

Workflow Learning Symposium, online

You might think workflow learning is just another buzzword and the Next Big Hype, but it's my and others' opinion that it's where learning is going. Jay Cross, co-founder of the Workflow Institute, pointed out on the institute's blog recently that the proceedings and support materials for the October 2004 Workflow Learning Symposium are available online.

The materials include presentations from and interviews of such notable names as Gloria Gery, Tony O'Driscoll, Harvey Singh, Clark Quinn, and of course Jay Cross. A discussion space is also provided.

Webinar on connectivism

George Siemens of elearnspace will be presenting at a free Webinar based on his popular article on connectivism.

The Webinar will be March 2nd. See details here. He'll also be announcing the launch of a new Website and blog on connectivism.

Best you might've missed

Here is this week's roundup of articles.

Emergent collaboration/community

The Online Collaboration Potential For The Networked Small Business Company. "Here is the open thought of a collaborative business developer [and] a reader of Kolabora."

"How are new capabilities within communications technologies going to change the shape and scope of human communities?" The president of the World Future Society provides some thoughts to answer this question.

E-learning

"Can Interest in Distance Training be Sustained in Corporate Organizations?" "... the ability to sustain distance training is deeply rooted in the success during the early stages of implementing distance training and the integration of the work and learning environments."

"Honesty in Online Education." "This article attempts to critically analyze the arguments on both sides of the online cheating debate while presenting techniques for circumventing and alleviating issues related with online education."

Traditional training/learning/human capital

"Seven Key Indicators Measure Value of Learning." A CLO magazine article about Zeroed-In Technologies. Request a more-detailed paper on this from the company here.

Five Takes on Creative Leadership. A special section based on presentations from the Wharton West Leadership Conference. (Also see our March Leadership issue of T+D next week.)

"Case Study: Investing in People who Invest in People." Based on ASTD research showing that companies that invest in training perform better on the stock market, Laurie Bassi launched an investment company. (See this 2002 T+D article as well.)

"Climbing the Pay Scale." Business 2.0 takes a look at labor shortages happening now and their effect on salaries. Expect even more of this in the future; I report on the issue in my upcoming April Intelligence column.

Create your own mission statement. An interactive exercise from Franklin Covey. (Thanks, Lifehacker.)

Five Mini-Quizzes to Test Your Customer Service Email Writing Skills. Each quiz is based on a chapter from Clear, Correct, Concise Email: A Writing Workbook for Customer Service Agents.

General business

Is Business Management a Profession? A long but worthwhile read from Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge publication.

A Day in the Life of Tom Peters. A collection of photos. Not all that informative, but kind of fun to check out.

"Ego Makes Entrepreneurs?" BusinessWeek's Q+A with researcher Brian Wu on his award-winning paper "Entrepreneurial Risk and Market Entry."

Why Do We Overcommit? Study Suggests We Think We’ll Have More Time In The Future Than We Have Today. Interesting research from the American Psychological Association. (Thanks, Lifehacker.)

"Build a Great Brand for Your Business." An article from the Small Business Times. (Thanks, Small Business Blog.)

Technology

How to Receive and Listen to Podcasts. Podcasts are one of the new big things. This informative article from Amy Gahran gives you the basics. (Also see this article on videoblogging vs. podcasting.)

The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time. From Mobile PC magazine, an interesting and fun article that might also make you nostalgic.

Forget Spam. Have You Been Spimmed? Instant messaging, which is being used more and more as a business tool, has its own breed of spam.

Press release on T+D magazine redesign

This press release on our redesign went out today. The expansion of my Intelligence column was highlighted--nice.

We hope you like the changes. I'll post the link to the March issue when we have it up.

ASTD’s T+D Magazine to Unveil a New Look, Content Enhancements

Publication Re-design will debut March 2005

(Alexandria, VA) February 24, 2005 – Readers of Training + Development (T+D) magazine, published by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), will see a more practical and personality-driven magazine as it launches a new design and some content changes in the March issue. For almost six decades, T+D magazine has covered the art and science of developing people and the systems in which they work to produce results.

Rex Davenport, editor of T+D magazine, anticipates positive reactions to the enhancements in the March issue. “Real-life, actionable items are the name of the game with this re-design,” he said. “Readers will notice that the articles are more applicable to the profession, with less focus on theory. We will incorporate business authors as a complement to the industry writers.”

Some of the new additions and modifications include:

- One page dedicated to research from ASTD and other organizations

- An expanded Intelligence section will open the magazine with news and developing trends

- Shorter, more succinct articles

- An increased focus on “hot-button” topics, or burning issues, in the profession

Readers will also begin to see themselves in the magazine, as the content will profile individuals who make up the workplace learning and performance industry. “New Guard,” a special section that recognizes professionals who separate themselves from their peers through innovative and unique practices, was formerly part of one issue each year. Now, every issue will end with a “New Guard” profile.

In 2004, T+D magazine was named by ICA (Independent Consultants Association) on its list of "Ten Essential Magazines for Consultants.” The American Society of Business Publication Editors awarded special recognition to the column “The Web” in 2002.

For more information on ASTD’s flagship publication, T+D magazine, visit www.astd.org/t+d.

Free Webinar: Campus Recruiting in the Public Sector

This Webinar, co-sponsored by the Human Capital Institute and Monster.com, will take place Wednesday, March 23rd from 1 to 2:30 pm EST.

The HCI Website reads:

"Faced with a rapidly aging workforce and a potential wave of retirements, the public sector is turning once again to colleges and universities in search of new recruits. But you may already have noticed that the competition for recruiting students and recent grads has intensified in recent months. Career fairs are bursting with more employer booths, Recruiters are returning to campuses, and students are finding that they have more choices when seeking a new career. Join campus recruitment experts Graham Donald and Roger Campbell as we discuss pressing topics like building a presence on campus with constrained resources, attracting the right candidates and connecting with today's students."

Blogging applicance for corporate communications

A company called WhatCounts has just announced the first "blogging in a box" applicance for companies that want to incorporate blogs into their communications strategies.

BlogUnit is "tuned to network security requirements and can be up-and-running in 15 minutes." It can be used to "author, manage, measure, deliver, and syndicate" blogs.

According to E-Media Tidbits, which pointed me to this news item, the appliance helps resolve one concern companies often have with blogs: employees posting unreviewed content. An approval and permission system is built in.

The president and CEO of WhatCounts says, “Blogging is a growing reality for corporations worldwide as they look for ways to improve communications with their key audiences...But there are a myriad of issues, such as accountability, accuracy and security that corporations have to address as they get into this new territory.”

At a quick glance, it seems as if this could be a good solution for companies that want to get into blogging but are nervous about the security and permissions issues. And blogging can be a KM solution, as explained in this T+D blog post and the additional posts listed at the end.

Best you might've missed

Happy weekend, all. Here are this week's picks.

Traditional business/training

Organizing for Performance: How BP Did It. BP pulled off some amazing feats. Read this article now, and then in March read T+D's training-focused take on the company, "BP Refines Leadership."

India: The next knowledge superpower. Don't say you're surprised. "Big changes are making the country a centre of innovation," this article says.

The Importance of Face Time. The Telework Times links to a thought-provoking article and adds a videoconferencing spin on it.

How to Establish Credibility. The key is to listen--not talk!

E-learning

"Relative Effectiveness of Computer-based and Human Feedback for Enhancing Student Learning." "...instructors cannot rely on computer-based feedback alone to correct errors in student understanding..."

Access for All: How Distance Education Addresses Learning Needs. E-learning and accessibility . (Thanks, elearnopedia.) Also see "Accessibility: What You Should Know," from Learning Circuits.

"Creating Flexible E-Learning Through the Use of Learning Objects." A case study and lessons learned from the University System of Georgia.

The Huge Opportunity in Online, Video-based Instruction Guides. Kevin Kruse of e-Learning Guru says, "If I was a product manager for anything...I'd make online instructional videos my #1 priority for 2005."

"Diploma mills provide phony credentials." ...the federal government has paid more than $7.5 million in tuition reimbursements, making the United States 'the largest supplier of diploma mills in our country.'" I wrote about avoiding diploma mills here.

Emergent learning

YahooGroups, Groove Or Socialtext Wiki: My Personal Impressions. Robin Good compares and contrasts the tools as he works collaboratively with people across long distances.

Workflow Learning Gets Real. An important article by Jay Cross and Tony O'Driscoll from Training magazine.

Emergent Learning: Social Networks and Learning Networks. The most recent paper from the always-at-the-forefront Stephen Downes.

Technology

Cultural divide in IM: presence vs. communication. An interesting reflection by Ph.D. student Danah Boyd.

Writing for Websites. A good basic primer from Crawford Killian, author of the classic manual Writing for the Web.

Mobile learning

I'm beginning research for an upcoming Learning Circuits article on mobile learning, with the focus being the hype versus the reality.

If your organization is currently doing mobile learning (via cell phone, PDA, etc.) or is investigating it for possible launch in the future, please email me at ekaplan at astd.org. I'd love to ask you a few questions.

Thanks!

TrainUp.com

I received a press release on this portal that enables users to search for classroom and online training offered by various providers. (In November I wrote about a similar service, Findaseminar.com.)

In any case (here comes the commentary you all asked for), I think this kind of thing is a good idea, but in both cases I found the offerings pretty slim compared to the number of providers and courses I know are out there.

It's kind of a catch-22: You need providers to add their courses to have a good service, but people won't add their listings if the service isn't good in the first place.

What I like about TrainUp's idea is that it attempts to offer course reviews provided by learners (the Website says "coming summer 2004," but none seem to be available yet) as well as a way for individuals to track the training they've signed up for.

Does anyone know of a service that does this kind of thing well? Or is a centralized database of training offered across the U.S., in a wide range of subject areas, and from a large number of providers just a Holy Grail that's too difficult to pull off?

More original commentary

So the winner on the survey of what readers want to see more of on this blog is original commentary. Thanks for letting me know that you'd like to see more of my thoughts. Original commentary is the type of information that takes the most time to develop, so I had reduced the amount I was offering as I've been juggling other things. It's good to know my thoughts are missed, though, so I will try to include more of this as my schedule permits!

Thanks again to all who answered the survey.

Valentine's Day tidbit: executive romances at work

Happy Valentine's Day, all!

Here are some stats that may surprise you: More than two-thirds of executives say they've had a secret crush on a co-worker. Close to half have been involved in an office romance. An excerpt from a press release I received is below.

"The survey of 734 executives in the $100k+ job market found that a combination of long hours, close quarters and the slow hum of the photocopy machine may be the perfect recipe for romance. When asked: Have you ever harbored a secret crush on a co-worker; a full 68 percent of the executives surveyed said, 'yes.' Only 32 percent said, 'no.'

As for those workers who’ve taken the crush one step further, 42 percent of those responding to a related survey of 1,044 executives said that they have been involved in a full-fledged office romance.

How many of these PowerPoint and Excel spreadsheet-fueled romances involved infidelity? When asked in a third survey of 1,349 executives: Have you ever had an extramarital affair with a co-worker; 17 percent of respondents said, 'yes.' Thinking better of the repercussions of this type of romance, the 83 percent majority said they had not been adulterous with a co-worker.

'At its best, a healthy work environment is an intense, inspiring, challenging and gratifying place,' explained TheLadders.com founder and president, Marc Cenedella. 'While this combination can sometimes create a hothouse for emotional ties to the people we spend so much time with, office romances are not generally good for your career track. Executives who are serious about their careers need to think about business first; courting Alice in accounting isn’t the best way to maintain that killer instinct.'

TheLadders.com’s look at Office Valentines is based on a series of three independent surveys of registered $100k+ executives conducted on TheLadders.com Web site between January 11, 2005 and February 3, 2005."

Best you might've missed

Here is this week's collection of articles. I tried to cast the net a little wider, since the survey indicated that you all want more of these. I may have gone somewhat overboard. :)

E-learning/meetings

"Database Fights Diploma Mills." The U.S. Department of Education has created a searchable database of accredited institutions.

"Improving Retention in Distance Learning Classes." Focused on higher education, but offers some transferable information.

"A Content Analytic Comparison of Learning Processes in Online and Face-to-Face Case Study Discussions." "The findings provide evidence that [asynchronous learning networks] generate high levels of cognitive activity, at least equal to, and in some cases superior to, the cognitive processes in the FTF classroom.

"Assessments through the Learning Process." A free whitepaper from Questionmark available for download.

Emergent learning/community

When Will Business Embrace Blogs? Dave Pollard talks about their use for KM and the value proposition.

Vloging. You know all about blogging; now get ready for the next wave. (Thanks, Business 2.0 blog.)

Videoconferencing And Avatars To Complement Lack Of Non-Verbal Clues In Online Meetings. A good look at what's up-and-coming.

The Connecticon: Learning for the connected generation. A short book review from the e-Learning Centre. Back in my We Learning part I article, I called this the Age of Connection--this book looks like it might expand on that idea.

Cooperation, Sharing And Social Networking As Emergent Economic And Production Forces. A short review and summary of a long PDF.

PacMan Must Die: Cooperative Physical/Virtual Gaming. Implications for game-based learning? Also see my "Augmented Reality Check" article, which discusses some PDA games like this.

Traditional training/business

"HP After Carly: What Went Wrong?" Not to jump on the media bandwagon, but this is a good article from Wharton examining the leadership and strategy side of the hot topic.

"20 Frequently Asked Questions About ROI." A CLO magazine article from ROI guru Jack Phillips.

How to Manage Smart People. A manifesto from Change This. (Thanks, Fast Company blog.)

"Top 10 Practices in Knowledge Management." "The first three practices detail how companies create forums for exchanging ideas, the next two focus on aligning knowledge management with strategies and the final five focus on best practice identification."

American Management Association Offers Business Lessons Learned from The Apprentice. Each week offers a new lesson. January 20th focused on training. (Thanks, Fast Company blog.)

"Don't Put Your Company in a Purple Haze: Let your retiring Baby Boomers go, but not their knowledge". From CIO magazine, this short article has an IT slant on it but still contains some useful info.

Misc.

"Gray Matter and Sexes: A Gray Area Scientifically." Are men's and women's brains fundamentally different? The New York Times examines the issue.

New resource for business travelers. Google announces its new Google Maps service.

Bad bossology revisited

In April of last year I wrote about the Bad Bossology site, which provides a wealth of resources on how to handle or minimize the impact of bad bosses.

Now the site has launched an anonymous "email this link" feature, which enables people to "safely email resources to their bosses and senior management to address difficult boss behaviors and promote useful discussion."

The press release I received said that about 40 percent of employees have had to deal with a bad boss--and that surveys have shown that a major reason employees leave companies is their immediate supervisor. (Also known as the "people leave people, not companies" theory.) Studies I've seen uphold this idea; in fact I was just writing about it for my April Intelligence column.

The site may sound like a joke, but the helpful resources it provides are no laughing matter!

A couple more free Webinars (you asked for it!)

These are from Interwise.

Self-Service Learning: The Key to Sustaining Competitive Advantage. Tuesday, February 15 at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. ET

Workforce Performance Solutions: Engaging Employees to Increase Productivity. Wednesday, March 2 at 2 p.m. ET/11:00am PT

More Webinars

The survey is showing that readers want more information on Webinars, so here are some coming up that might be of interest:

Human Capital Institute Webcasts. There is no charge for these, but HCI says that their Webcasts will be free "for a limited time."

Introducing the Concept of "Portable Employment": The Rise of the Independent Workforce. Wednesday, February 16 at 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. (ET)

Sustaining Inclusiveness: Slipping Past the Curse of Diversity Programs. Wednesday, February 23 at 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. (ET)

No More Trumped Up ROIs - The Business Case for Diversity. Wednesday, March 2 at 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. (ET)

Skills and Psychometric Assessment in Hiring: Risk vs. Reward. Wednesday, March 9 at 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. (ET)

Continuous Change: Kaizen and Kaikaku. Wednesday, March 30 at 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. (ET)

Horizon Wimba Desktop Lecture Series. These are all free as well.

Building Community Among Educators
Vance Stevens, Petroleum Institutue (Abu Dhabi)
Tuesday, February 22, 2005 at 12pm EST

Leadership & Learning: A Collective Inquiry
Monica Manning & Anne Sturdivant, NovaLearning
Thursday, March 3, 2005 at 3pm EST

Demonstration of Horizon Wimba's New PowerLink for WebCT Vista
Aaron Bond & Matt Wasowski, Horizon Wimba
Thursday, March 10, 2005 at 3pm EST