Kudos and deep thanks to Jeff Cobb and his team at Tagoras for the significant effort they undertook in compiling, editing, and publishing their report, “Association Learning Management Systems.”

Eleven companies responded to an extensive list of questions about their systems, resulting in a report of 400+ pages that include tables, profiles, and product reviews, as well as a valuable list of questions you can use or modify as you investigate your LMS options.

How much for such a valuable report?!? With apologies to Tagoras, I’ll be frank: it’s CHEAP!! Okay, I’ll be polite: it’s VERY INEXPENSIVE.

At just $199, this report will save you bookoo bucks in equivalent time spent trying to gather the information. Do the math: let’s say you earn $20/hour. Let’s round up the report cost to $200. Now I dare you to try to get this sort of information on your own in just 10 hours.

Can’t be done. Can’t. Be. Done.

So stop reading and go buy the report. Or take a look at the overview.

Oh, did I mention the importance of having sorted out what you’ll need from an LMS, based on your elearning strategy?

Tack another $25 onto your investment and get the aLearning: A Trail Guide to Association eLearning first. That way you’ll get the best value from the Association Learning Management Systems Report.

And we sure don’t want to waste money, do we?!?

How have various universities selected the course management systems (CMS) or learning management systems (LMS) they are now using?

What processes did they follow? What criteria did they use?

How did they involve the eventual users in the evaluation process?

If your organization follows — or is considering — the university model for providing synchronous, instructor-led online educational events, you should take a look at Mark Smithers’ Learning and Educational Technology in Higher Education blog. He recently posted brief summaries and links to the original documentation. Sakai, Moodle, Blackboard Vista, Angel, and Desire2Learn are among the systems included.

You might also find it interesting to see that the minimum amount of time a university team spent on such a process was about nine months, with several taking a year or more.

Since his original post, several readers have submitted comments with links to additional online documentation. Read away!

Just keep in mind that these processes and outcomes might not be a match for your organization, as these are large universities, well-funded (they might disagree, but compared to a small non-profit budget, they are swimming in money), and have internal staffing to support the sorts of systems that small organizations probably couldn’t maintain.

Even so, it’s worth a look to see what they decided to evaluate and how they organized their review process.

So far, I haven’t found similar resources for associations, so if you’re willing to share your association’s process for selecting a CMS/LMS and your outcome, or if you know of a summary of such information — send the info along!

If you’re starting with decisions about your learning management system before working through a full strategic planning process, don’t expect to end up with a system that does what you need. Do expect that you could be wasting valuable time and much — probably all — of the money you spend on a system by moving forward too soon.

If you haven’t developed a strategy for your learning programs (including your elearning offerings), no resource — even if it’s free — will help you make the right decision.

So I offer this recommendation to those of you who:

• have already planned your elearning strategy
• know how it fits into  your overall education plan
• have a clear idea of the trail ahead of you regarding certification or licensure programs (no matter how far in the future they might be)
• understand the differences between an LMS and an LCMS and know which system is your best choice
• have decided whether you will be developing any elearning programs in-house (this includes tapping the talents of your volunteers) rather than hiring a vendor company for development
• know your technological environment for hosting (or not) these sorts of systems
• have identified most if not all of the features you’re seeking in an LMS or LCMS

Not you? Maybe you’ll benefit from working through the *alearning: A Trail Guide to Association eLearning* book first (click the Buy Now button or here for more information), so bookmark this post for later.

One of the most common questions I hear is, “Where do we send our RFP? Now that we know what we’re looking for, how do we find the companies that can provide it?”

Brandon Hall Research (www.brandon-hall.com) is making three valuable reports available free — I’d post them here, but they have asked that the reports not be duplicated, so you’ll need to download them from BH directly.

Before you do that, here’s what’s available (to save you some time):

Learning Technology Products 2009: Learning Management Systems includes descriptions of more than 100 LMSs. They’re ordered alphabetically by company name and include products from all over the world, so be prepared to filter the options in some way to make the listing more accessible (for example, perhaps you’d prefer to work only with a company based in the US). Descriptions include basic information about the company and the product so you can determine whether it might fit your key requirements.

Learning Technology Products 2009: Learning Content Management Systems provides basic data on each company and descriptions of the features of more than 40 LCMSs. Note that these are not rapid prototyping or rapid development products, but systems that enable complex development and deployment of large elearning curricula. Unless you’re in a large association or non-profit and plan an extensive online learning library which you will develop in-house, this is not likely a resource you’ll need.

Learning Technology Products 2009: Authoring Tools is the go-to resource if you’ve wondered if you have more choices than simply deciding between Articulate and Captivate (you do, many more, and often for lower cost).

A few caveats:

• No pricing is included; you’ll need to find that information out on your own.
• Some descriptions aren’t very complete; take a look at the Web sites provided for more information on products that strike your fancy.
• And some companies weighted their descriptions with not-so-subtle sales-speak: “develop highly engaging experiences” … “quickly develop”… “anyone can easily develop…” We learned a long time ago to be cautious of such claims, so read analytically, not subjectively — one person’s easy hike is another person’s Everest!

Click  here to access and download these helpful resources from Brandon Hall Research. 

Curious about where associations are with elearning these days? Looking for a quick summary of the aLearning: A Trail Guide to Association eLearning book so you can decide how it can help your association or your client associations?

With many thanks to Jon Aleckson for bringing out the best of our conversation, I’m happy to provide this link to a podcast that covers these very topics and much more:

http://www.webcourseworks.com/blog/association-elearning-book-helpful-vendor-client-relationship

If you’re looking for ways to make sure your content and delivery modes are aligned, your membership is ready for elearning, the options you’re considering are affordable and do-able (does your staff have the skill sets?), and that you have all the information you need to make the best decisions for your association — this book will recover its cost many times over for you.

Just $25 for the download or  $35 (plus shipping) for the print version, you’ll have a manual that will take you step-by-step through each decision and action. If you follow the process outlined in the trail guide, you’ll have completed your elearning strategy, budget, and implementation plans by the time you reach the last page.

For a review, see a sumary of Bill Brandon’s review for the e-Learning Guild’s Learning Solutions e-Magazine.

Isn’t this the million-dollar question? No? A couple hundred thousand, maybe? (Okay.  Maybe the answer is only worth a few hundred dollars.)

Whatever the value, a variation of this question has generated a terrific discussion in the ASTD LinkedIn group. The original post from Donna Gilliland, President of MOSTraining, Inc. read:

“Online Live Training: what challenges do you face? Have you started delivering training live online training yet? If so, which of the following tools to you use?”

She listed:

• GoToWebinar
• WebEx
• Telspan
• Others? 

Then she asked, “What do you find to be your greatest challenge in training live online?”

Several people chimed in, all of whom seemed to be focused on two key areas:

• Presenters’ skills
• Tools/technology

What’s missing here?!?

CONTENT!!!

Yes, I’ll keep preaching this. Yes, my face is blue from repeating it over and over. And no, I’m not tired of repeating myself quite yet.

Why is content so important?

Because if your content doesn’t match the delivery mode, it doesn’t matter how interesting, entertaining, adept, practiced, experienced or knowledgable your instructor/facilitator/trainer is, the online event will fail. Completely.

If your content doesn’t match the delivery mode, it doesn’t matter how many polls, chat and breakout rooms you use, how pretty your slides are, or whether you use phone or VOIP, the online event will fail. Utterly.

So I’ll say it again: your content needs to be presented in a way that enables your learners to learn. Sounds obvious, but failing to do this is the primary reason most online events fail.

Webinars are a great example. They’re easy to conduct and attend, relatively inexpensive, and everyone seems to be offering them. Even when they should be doing something else (see When A Webinar Is a Bad Idea).

Only after you’re sure you have decided on the best delivery mode for the content you’re training should you be thinking about how you’ll handle the technical side of things, and choose the instructor.

Period. End of discussion.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get some pink back into my face

Dan Pontefract, in his Trainingwreck blog, has a great idea related to his Learnerprise 2.0 model: “Rather than investing 2/3 or more of a corporate learning budget to formal ILT and eLearning, why not flip the model and invest 2/3 on informal and social learning components and initiatives.”

If you buy into these beliefs (and you should):

•  most learning is informal, rather than attained via ILT (instructor-led training) and formal e-learning courseware
• social media (SM) and social networking (SN) are tools that help open the pathways for efficient informal learning
• informal learning has been at the heart of most associations since the day they were founded — “networking” isn’t just about connecting members for business reasons, but what they learn from each other, consciously or not

THEN

You should look hard at your overall educational budget, making sure that you have more invested in informal learning opportunities than formal ones — perhaps at the 2/3 level Pontefract suggests.

Josh Bersin, discussing the results of the Bersin & Associates report, High-Impact Learning Practices: An Operating Guide for the Modern Corporate Learning Function, says, “The shift from traditional training to informal learning requires organizations to retool and develop new skills, add new technologies, and reorganize resources. Our research shows that learning organizations with expertise and skills in areas such as knowledge management, information architecture, community management, and performance consulting outperform those still focused on traditional training solutions.”

So here’s the good news: associations have traditionally been way ahead of corporations because networking, sharing of knowledge, and connecting have been so central to our missions.

Even so, it’s a good idea to ask:

• What role does informal learning play in your association’s education strategy? How are you handling informal learning at face-to-face events? Online offerings? Social media/networking?
• What should you be doing differently? What does this mean for the structure of your annual conference?
• How will doing things differently affect your budget? How your volunteers contribute? Your sponsorship opportunities?

Should you be flipping your budget to divert more funding to informal learning than traditional events?

Are you already doing that?

What do you think?

It’s really very simple, all of this stuff about social networking, social media, collaborative learning, Web 2.0, 3.0, etc. etc:

They are evidence that your members/learners need more than stand-alone events. Focusing solely on “programs” — the way we’ve traditionally provided education to our association members — is just not enough.

But don’t take it from me. Jay Cross, learning expert and author, writes: “The old focus on events such as workshops won’t cut it in the ever-changing swirl produced by networks.”

Jay was the first to address the need to focus on the power and importance of infomal learning — 80-90% of the way someone learns what they need to know professionally is learned informally.

“Learning is formal when someone other than the learner sets curriculum,” he writes. “Typically, it’s an event, on a schedule and completion is generally recognized with a symbol, such as a grade, gold star, certificate or check mark in a learning management system. Formal learning is pushed on learners.”

Sound familiar?

He goes on: “By contrast, informal learners usually set their own learning objectives. They learn when they feel a need to know. The proof of their learning is their ability to do something they could not do before. Informal learning often is a pastiche of small chunks of observing how others do things, asking questions, trial and error, sharing stories with others and casual conversation. Learners are pulled to informal learning.”

And of course, if we attract or pull our members into the learning environment we have created for them, then we have most of the battle won — our marketing is that much more effective, our registrations hit the required levels to meet our budgets, our members stay engaged and are that much more likely to renew….

It’s all good!

Programs have their place, but they are a means — not and end — to your curriculum.

Not familiar with Jay? Check out his Internet Time Blog for more on this topic of “learnscapes.”

When you’re considering venturing into elearning for the first time or expanding your offerings, you’re always looking at an investment. And as a responsible steward of your association’s budget, you want to make sure your investments are sound and your justifications for those expenditures are solid.

If they’re not, the board of directors will never approve them, right? And even if they did, you’d toss and turn at night, wondering what you’ve gotten yourself into.

Two new resources are now available to help you!

Tagoras has just released a condensed version of its Association E-learning: State of the Sector report. In 61 pages you’ll get the key data from a survey of nearly 500 trade and professional associations about their e-learning activities. Available at just $99, this sort of research at this price is unheard of — and aLearning commends Tagoras for their willingness to make their study available at a more affordable cost without loss of value.

What does the report mean to you? Benchmarking. Examples. Contacts. Case studies.

More than that, you’ll discover what your options are. You probably have more elearning possibilities than you think. Options are everything. Examples and a proven track record to support them are priceless.

Follow this link to order your copy: http://www.tagoras.com/catalog/association-elearning-condensed/

And for guidance on what to do with those options — how to fit elearning effectively into a full education curriculum and create an elearning strategy, you of course need to get a copy of (warning: shameless plug ahead) aLearning: A Trail Guide to Association eLearning. At just $25 for a downloadable copy or $35 (plus shipping) for a printed version, you won’t find another resource as packed with examples and how-to information on this topic anywhere.

To learn more about the book or to order your copy of aLearning, just click the blue and orange “Buy Now – Lulu” button on the left.

Together the two resources will cost you less than $140 — a small price to pay when you’re considering spending thousands in software, hardware, consulting, and other services and products.

Go into the process of building your elearning program as informed as you can be. Build credibility for yourself and support for your initiative. Don’t wait.

Way back in my 20s, I remember reading advice to young women who dreamed of breaking the corporate glass ceiling. Along with dressing for success, we were advised to hone our memories and resist the temptation to carry paper and pens into meetings to avoid being the automatic choice for note-taker. Oh, yes, my young female colleague, that was back in the day when men were made to classes  teaching them to look female co-workers in the eyes, not in the chest.

Not long after women like me started saying things like, “Sorry — I never took shorthand,” the boss faced what seemed to be a sudden shift in office resources: the PC started showing up in offices and on desks, including his. Before long, his secretary was reassigned by the powers that be, and he was expected to turn out his own letters and documents. Steno pools went by the wayside, and the position of “secretary” morphed into “administrative assistant.”

Some bosses took at least one of the many computer courses that came out specifically designed for the “executive” or “manager.” As we trainers know, this is an effective way of creating a safe environment where the boss could try new things and fail without embarrassment. We also know some of the bosses just didn’t show up. They refused to learn the computer, refused to take the classes.

Maybe they couldn’t get past the fear they could fail at something which so many others were succeeding at. Maybe they figured if they didn’t learn how to use that darn thing they would get their secretary back. Maybe they simply lived in denial: ignore that PC and it would eventually go away.

Sound familiar? Though more and more associations are buying into the need to incorporate more elearning into their education curriculums, there’s still plenty of denial floating around.

In his post, “Down But Not Quite Out,” learning and performance specialist Charles Jennings describes how the increased accessibility of training, articles, information — even jokes — on the Web are undoing Learning Tree and Reader’s Digest, two venerable business models now in jeopardy.

Here’s what I think is happening: Learning Tree and Reader’s Digest are like typists in steno pools. Learning Tree, like it or not, is just another training provider in a pool of many others. And just as the PC obliterated the need for the steno pool, the Web and the availability of easily accessible elearning could obliterate the face-to-face training companies as well.

Though steno pools are gone, some people do still dictate and others still transcribe that dictation. Face-to-face training companies won’t entirely go away, either.

Those that stay in business will owe that success to their ability to adapt, to deliver on their strengths and promise, and to provide something essential and valuable. All in a business model that will provide their clients with affordable solutions served up with excellent customer service.

… that would make a deadly Webinar: http://www.slideshare.net/RowanManahan/power-point-20th-anniversary-cinderella?src=embed

Okay, maybe it would be funny for the first few minutes…. but can you imagine sitting through an hour or so of this as a Webinar presentation?!?!?

Thankfully, as far as I know, that wasn’t the intent of this slideshow.

But keep it in mind when you’re creating the PowerPoints for your next Webinar. Or show it to your member volunteers if they’re the ones creating it.

Sometimes an example of what NOT to do is even more effective than a good example.

Larry Sloan’s post on Acronym, “Difficulties in Managing Web-based Seminars”  tackles the challenges of Webinars from a little different angle, but when it comes to this elearning modality, best practices are just that.

And bad practices can haunt you for a long, long time.