Comments for aLearning Blog

Comment on More on White Papers as Lead Generators by Ellen

Ellen — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:00:46 +0000

Susan — We’re on the same page on this! If the white paper’s content is of value to me, I don’t mind providing my contact info to get it. But let me provide e-mail contact only, if that’s what I prefer. Because I’m on the road full-time now, I don’t provide a phone number because I don’t want to spend my phone time with sales solicitations. So those forms requiring a phone number don’t get my business anymore — all that requiring something be in the field tempts me to do is fill in something phoney. Not good for anyone.

And to really belabor the point, I believe it all comes back to the switch that has occurred from providing customer service to exploiting customer business.

What a world!

Thanks so much for reading the aLearning Blog and for your comment!

Comment on Finally! Help Selecting an LMS Has Arrived! by Ellen

Ellen — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:02:02 +0000

Happy to help get the word out, Jeff! Keep those great reports coming!!

Comment on Finally! Help Selecting an LMS Has Arrived! by Jeff Cobb

Jeff Cobb — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:44:03 +0000

Hey Ellen – Thanks so much for the mention of the report. As you know, I’ve been talking about it for a while, and creating it involved a pretty intensive effort over several months. I agree with your assessment that it is “cheap.” The pricing consultant in me fears we’ve made it too cheap, but I know a lot of folks won’t be naturally inclined to think that when they see a $199 price tag.

The $20 “dare” you articulate above is one good way to look at it (and, of course, most organizations are actually paying much more than $20 per hour, on a fully-loaded basis, for staff who are capable of doing this kind of research and analysis).

Another way to look at is in relation to how much an LMS investment will cost an organization, whether directly or indirectly. Over a three year period, the investment is typically tens of thousands of dollars (see the overview Ellen mentions for more detail on this). $200 is a small fraction of that, and a very modest amount to put towards proper due diligence. And, of course, we both know that most of the corporate LMS research that is out there costs more than this – in some cases, many times more – and doesn’t touch on many details that are very important to associations.

However you look at it, our goal is to try to make the report accessible to as many organizations as possible while also trying not to lose our proverbial shirts! Regardless of whether folks buy it, I do hope they will visit the page and download the overview. It doesn’t give the detailed profiles of vendors, of course, but it does contain some valuable information. And, of course, I fully concur that your aLearning Trail Guide is the perfect companion to the report for getting maximum value out of it! – Jeff

Comment on Mentoring vs. Training — Why Social Networking Isn’t Enough by Ellen

Ellen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:05:45 +0000

Thanks for the mention and for reading along!

Comment on More on White Papers as Lead Generators by Susan Lewis

Susan Lewis — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:32:20 +0000

The part that always gets me is the “free”. If I have to give you information in exchange for downloading the paper, it’s not free anymore, is it? Might not cost me money, but it costs my time and attention when you call and (eventually) more time to get off your list. Blech.

Comment on Helpful — Free — Resources for Finding LMS and LCMS Vendors by Best of Tony Karrer’s e-learning learning « Ramblings from Africa

Best of Tony Karrer’s e-learning learning « Ramblings from Africa — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:05:24 +0000

[...] Helpful — Free — Resources for Finding LMS and LCMS Vendors- aLearning, October 11, 2009 [...]

Comment on Mentoring vs. Training — Why Social Networking Isn’t Enough by Best of Tony Karrer’s e-learning learning « Ramblings from Africa

Best of Tony Karrer’s e-learning learning « Ramblings from Africa — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:05:00 +0000

[...] Mentoring vs. Training — Why Social Networking Isn’t Enough- aLearning, October 13, 2009 I was fortunate enough to be part of both formal and informal mentoring at my previous organisation and experienced it as extremely positive. The point that Ellen makes is very true “mentoring is not the same as training, and shouldn’t be substituted for it Social networking/social media are not the same thing as training, and shouldn’t be substituted for it, either.” [...]

Comment on LMS Selection Processes on Display by Ellen

Ellen — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:22:35 +0000

Taufik — You’ll find this resource to be very helpful, even as a starting point for more in-depth research.

Are you aware of the upcoming release from Tagoras, which will focus on LMSs used by associations? It promises to be a great summary! I’ll post more details when I get them from Tagoras.

And please share any other resources that you’ve found in your research, Taufik! We’d love to hear about them.

Thanks for reading the aLearning Blog!

Comment on LMS Selection Processes on Display by Taufik Fahrudin

Taufik Fahrudin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:14:21 +0000

Yes, I need some information about LMS comparison for my coursework

Comment on What Makes Online Learning Effective? by Ellen

Ellen — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:32:55 +0000

Thanks for the comment and encouragement, Ken!

Does it seem even more difficult to advocate on behalf of content with all the focus on instant communications and networking using social media? Or am I the only one who thinks so?

If you keep tuning in, Ken, I’ll keep them coming — I promise!