For training companies wishing to get started with e-learning, we’ll be hosting a series of free webinars each Friday starting 18th May 2012.

Starting at 11am GMT each Friday, each 30 minute webinar into the world of learning platform technologies will be followed by a 30 minute Q&A, is free and is open to the first 200 people who register using the webform on this page.

Register for our next Webinar: How to Get Started with a Learning Management System

We’ve just released a new whitepaper entitled “Top Ten Tips for Implementing a Learning Management System” which is now available to download by clicking here.

The whitepaper provides business managers in the field of workplace training and development with free advice to help identify and overcome some of the common pitfalls when considering a migration to, or new development of, an online learning platform. The whitepaper is freely available for download by all professionals involved in corporate training and development.

Webanywhere, in partnership with Google, Learning Light and Creative Sheffield, invite all HR, L&D and training professionals with an interest in web based collaboration and social learning to a free business breakfast to be held next week in Sheffield City Centre.

Attendees will hear how Google and other e-learning experts can help your organisation to boost productivity and workplace performance with social learning tools that can:-

• Give your team an extremely powerful way to collaborate more effeciently
• Deliver key improvements in the way you work and share learning
• Positively impact your working relationships with your customers.

Managers responsible for workplace learning and development may have noted an increasing buzz around the potential of using web technologies for corporate social learning.

Social tools enable increased employee interaction and collaboration, which provides a mechanism for retaining and accelerating knowledge within workplace walls.

As well as enabling companies to create advantage through developing agility and knowledge retention, social learning can also be used to generate new revenue streams. Web portals can be developed for specific market sectors, acting as ‘information hubs’ with news articles and links to further resources.

These portal sites can quickly become a social network in their own right, with industry peers able to view and share comments on news items. The platform is also compatible with mobile browsers, making it possible to access learning on the move.

Taken a stage further, users interested in receiving in-depth learning about a specific topic can search for training courses using a learning management system. Naturally, specialist content providers or training companies will be interested in this model as a means of commercialising their course content.

e-Portfolios are an essential component of a social learning plan. Learners can use an e-portfolio as a way to store and share their work online, developing a body of evidence for course-based projects. Over time, the e-portfolio creates an online archive of a person’s lifetime learning. Mahara is an example of an open source e-portfolio technology platform that can form part of a virtual learning framework (which also includes a learning management system).

In summary, a web based information portal or social networking platform integrated with an e-portfolio enables students to socially interact to create a dynamic collection of online folders, document files, multimedia, website links, secure or personal information (e.g. resumes) and uploaded files of any type.

A blog post by Jonathan Smith, work experience student

My name’s Jonathan Smith and I’m a student on work experience here at Webanywhere. I decided to come here for my placement because I’m currently considering a future in IT sales and as a company with a great reputation for learning and development, it was recommended that I completed my work placement with them .

I was a student at Zenos IT training academy, where I trained and received experience in First Line IT support. My work placement has given me a really good insight into the business and the wider uses of learning technologies within our clients’ workplaces. Most importantly I’m learning how to use the software that Webanywhere builds with, such as Moodle and Totara LMS.

Everyone at Webanywhere has been very friendly and helpful and the whole environment feels very comfortable to work in. It’s definitely helped to prepare me for the future and given me a good idea of what it’s like to work in a professional IT development company.

Cloud-based Google Apps offer exciting potential for improving collaboration and increasing knowledge sharing efficiencies throughout organisations.

Webanywhere is pleased to announce that we are now an authorised Google Partner. We’re working on some exciting projects that will help our customers to free up their learning technology budgets, and enable better communication, collaboration and learning…Watch this space!!

Google Apps for Enterprise is the new generation of web based office tools – email, documents, calendar and more – for business.

More than 3,000 companies switch from existing platforms to Google Apps each day and testify from its efficiency. With no need for maintenance, multiple licences or software upgrades, companies can make significant savings by migrating and integrating their systems with Google Apps.

Social / mobile channels now provide HR and training managers with exciting and fun new ways to send and receive work based communications, and undertake, deliver and receive feedback on workplace training – increasing course interactivity and engaged learning.

At Webanywhere we’re at the forefront of e-learning technology innovation and are actively developing ways in which social media and mobile learning – which are so closely tied together that they are impossible to separate – can improve the learner experience.

Contact us to learn more about Google Apps for Enteprise

Following our presentation at Learning Tech 2012, London Olympia, we’ve seen a real demand recently for social ‘pull’ learning.

We’ve just completed an exciting project with a client based in the executive marketing education sector, with its customers’ learners based in global advertising and creative agencies.

For this client,we’ve created a social ‘pull’ learning platform built on the open source platform, Drupal. This allows learners to see the latest thinking on current digital marketing topics. If a learner then wishes to learn more about a particular topic, they can access a Totara Learning Management System to receive ‘traditional push’ type learning about that topic (via online courses, video content etc). The platform is also compatible with mobile browsers, making it possible to access learning on the move.

Click here to learn more or request a demo

We’ve just exhibited at the 2012 Learning Technologies conference and exhibition at London Olympia.

The event proved to be a major success for Webanywhere, drawing over 5,000 HR and workplace learning professionals with more learning technology exhibitors than ever before.

Webanywhere showcased a number of workplace learning solutions at Learning Technologies including case studies on Moodle from British Safety Council and Webanywhere’s latest work on TotaraLMS based learning portals for MKM Building Supplies and Mediapharm.

Conor Gilligan, Webanywhere’s Head of Operations, commented:

“We really enjoyed showcasing our ideas at Learning Technologies and meeting friends old and new. It was great to demonstrate our latest work with Moodle and Totara LMS and to share some of our latest open source e-learning projects including our end-to-end integration of Drupal content-managed website with e-commerce with Moodle and Salesforce CRM. Despite the economic backdrop the demand for innovative e-learning solutions remains strong and are looking at Moodle and Totara LMS as serious solution options for enterprise learning. We’d like to thank everyone that came to see us and we will be getting back to all the people who requested further demonstrations and meetings as soon as we can.”

If you saw us at Learning Technologies and would like more information, please complete our contact form or email us.

The chairman of Totara Learning Solutions reflects on a busy year in which a “disruptive technology” strategy has made a big impact on the LMS market.

“Totara LMS was launched at Learning Technologies in 2011. As we come to the end of 2011 there are over 80 organisations using Totara and a community of over 30 partners globally selling, supporting and developing Totara. Clients of Totara range from some of the largest corporate organisations including Tesco, Vodafone Ireland, Michelin, Cable&Wireless, Logica and Guys and St. Thomas NHS Trust.

So how did we get here?

The Totara vision

Totara was conceived on the idea that open source software, developed with an active community, could deliver real benefits to corporate organisations in the area of learning and development. Moodle and other open source learning platforms had already delivered significant benefits in the education sector and it was felt that similar benefits could be gained outside of education. The course centric structure of Moodle and other elements which worked well in education worked less well in corporates, which led to frequent customisation of Moodle to bridge the gap between what it did and what corporates want. This led in 2010 to the vision for Totara.

Totara is a simple concept. It’s a custom distribution of Moodle, the open source learning platform that has been transforming education, designed and developed specifically to meet the needs of corporate clients. The aim was to build a community of partners (Webanywhere is a Totara Platinum Partner) that would contribute to the development of Totara and provide professional support services to clients. Totara would be licence free and the core team developing and supporting the product would be funded through a low cost annual support subscription based on five sizes of installation.

A simple concept, with a big vision: The aim of Totara was nothing less than to transform corporate learning by providing open source enterprise software.

We aimed to do five things differently:

So the aim of Totara was to provide an enterprise level open source platform with commercial support as an alternative to the large and expensive proprietary LMS systems. Forget per user per year licences. Forget the message that it’s got to work one way and one way only. Totara partners like Webanywhere can add services and configure it any way clients want. Forget lock-in. You can buy services and support from any Totara partner.

In short Totara aimed to turn the LMS market upside-down. Ambitious? Well, if you’re going to get in the game, you may as well be a game changer…

How does it feel (and look?):

Totara aims to provide a more learner centred experience than most LMSs – designed for the learner, not the administrator. That means taking a more web-based approach, and look and feel is a big part of that. So to answer the question, how would you like it to look? Contact us and we can show you a few Totara theme designs which show the flexibility and range of options.

HR Management, talent management or learning focus?

In recent years the needs of learning and development teams have been subsumed in large monolith enterprise software systems that include HR databases, recruitment, talent management and enterprise planning. The current vogue is for large integrated single talent management and HR systems. This is reflected in the purchase of Learn.com by Taleo, Learning Gateway by Lumesse and Plateau LMS by Success factors and then subsequently by SAP. What we are seeing in the market is larger and larger software suites for the HR function.

These developments have meant that the needs of learning teams have become less and less central to the software suite and a lower priority in terms of investment and innovation. Whilst there is a clearly a need for integration of learning and HR systems our approach has been to develop a best class learning platform which can integrate with HR systems, whether SAP, Oracle or another HR system. The core focus of Totara is delivering a first class learning experience that can play nicely with other systems.

Also the very nature of these large systems tends to negate innovation and rapid adoption of new technologies. US analyst Josh Bersin in commenting on the latest SAP acquisition of Success factors notes that all the integration effort “typically slows down innovation and takes lots and lots of intellectual energy.” Our aim is to have an ‘ecosystem’ of innovation with inputs from many groups:

Innovation from everyone: The Totara ‘ecosystem’:

Totara is not just building a product but a community ecosystem – a network of professionals that collaborate and share to improve Totara. Totara believes in communities, no one knows everything and everyone has something to contribute. The Totara community is already very active and recent contributions include a 360 module, programme management functionality and evidence management modules.

How has the market reacted?

The market has been very receptive to Totara and our belief in Totara having the potential to deliver a commercial open source product has been vindicated. Over 80 organisations have already selected Totara LMS.

Webanywhere has signed up as a Gold Totara partner as part of the partner / reseller network, and we offer a range of customisation, development and support services.

The client uptake has been a great testament to this model.

In less than a year Totara has been adopted by many leading organisations globally including:

Tesco – UK’s largest private sector employer
Vodafone Ireland – part of the global Vodafone Group
NZ Inland Revenue – New Zealand’s tax department
SNCF – French Railways
PAZ – the largest energy company in Israel
Queensland Health – state health provider in Australia
Michelin, China – the World’s largest tyre manufacturer
Logica – one of the largest business and technology service providers
Guys’ & St Thomas’ NHS Hospital – a leading UK hospital
Toll Transport – Australia’s largest logistics and transportation solution provider
UCAS
Cable&Wireless

Totara is not only delivering significant cost savings, it is delivering learning experiences that change behaviour and improve performance.

What are they saying? Here are just a few quotes:

“The use of open source technology in our business is a real milestone in our approach to learning.” - Tesco

“Having been using Moodle for the last 4 years I’m delighted we made the move to Totara – the additional functionality means we can really use our LMS to enhance our learners’ training experience and give them control over their own development paths.” – Vodafone Ireland

“One of our major concerns was cost: could we buy and implement a scalable, corporate LMS that looks good and is easy to use without breaking the bank? We didn’t have to look much further than Totara! Not only are we now in a position to effectively deliver our training in a variety of methods, but we have a great looking, customised and branded LMS.” – Guy’s & St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

At the Learning Technologies conference Jane Williams from Tesco will present a case study on why they chose Totara but one of the key factors was the ability to deliver a great learning experience.

The Future of Totara LMS

2012 is looking even more exciting than 2011 – if that’s possible! Totara is taking advantage of all the recent developments in Moodle. The next Totara release in Quarter One of 2012 will include all recent Moodle features, but it will also include a range of new functionality developed specifically for Totara. This will include performance appraisal and feedback features.

2012 will also see a software as a service (SaaS) version of Totara so that smaller organisations can buy and deploy Totara very quickly and easily. Totara will also take advantage of mobile Moodle features and be available on mobile devices.

Have a look at the latest version of Totara at www.totaralms.com – we think you will be impressed.

Alternatively Webanywhere has a stand at Learning Technologies so feel free to book a demo with us either before the event or come and see us at stand 14 – we’d love to see you there.

In recent years we’ve witnessed the introduction of web 2.0 tools which are now incorporated in our daily lives.

Many people are now accessing learning ‘on the go‘ through the use of tablets and smart phones, which has led to the creation of new platforms that are not just for workplace learning but also for real time communication with others. This foundation has been built on the successes of social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Wikipedia and Twitter. Given the easy accessibility of such platforms, employees are now on the hunt for ever-quicker methods of learning.

Arguably this trend could be considered risky in a business context, given that learning content isn’t always moderated. But in a broader sense, what does it mean for workplace learning going forward – and how has it already changed things?

If you consider push learning (e.g. delivered by a corporate or university online learning management system), content tends to be delivered in a very prescriptive manner. This can lead to reduced engagement with the end user or even a sense of apathy. Employees are more interested in learning technology which is flexible and scalable for their individual needs – which is why instructional designers spend hours creating interactive SCORM content packages. Since large corporations have strategic plans and operating rules in place, most DO rely on this ‘prescriptive’ method of learning, and indeed using the blended learning approach they can achieve satisfactory levels of return on investment. But, are they missing an opportunity? If learning was less prescriptive, would organisations gain from better engagement with the user and their needs?

Most learning management systems feature a training course-style environment which employees can access 24/7 (managers tend to focus more on the reporting and team aspects). As ‘out of the box’ learning management systems become more associated with prescriptive, push-learning approaches, they are in danger of becoming extinct. Why? Because the success of a learning management system is based on activity in my opinion, and if the system is inactive then it may as well not be there.

Many learning management systems on the market also have a per-user licensing model which means that even if a organisation wants to roll out a compliance course for a few months they cannot then archive those users and pay less per month. In effect, this means they are paying for users who are not ‘using’ the system but like any corporation they can’t afford to remove these users from the system as they are required to keep records…

So, the opposite of push is pull – right? That’s correct – and this means not creating a prescriptive ghost town for employees to ‘get in and more importantly out of’! With a more interactive approach, users become more and more intrigued by the potential of the platform which then becomes something second nature to them (a bit like a iPhone to many readers of this article!).

As we see the market shifting, we believe the most successful learning is going to be done ‘on the fly’ where learners may meet one to one and then continue their learning online to complete actions from their meeting. They then may meet again and invite others to collaborate with them. This type of learning is becoming more and more social with content that includes rewards/likes and comments sections – giving employees the interaction and recognition they need in the workplace, not just a static PASS or FAIL at the end of a course.

So, what’s the future for social based learning? New learning platforms are already being developed to provide this pull element of learning. The big question is how these platforms can remain tailored to any individual organisation when deployed as part of a SaaS model. Most of these social learning platforms are very much a carbon copy of Facebook and its ilk, and only have a few learning concepts in place; they lack the full suite of learning that a learning management system does. Perhaps we’re all still waiting for the next platform innovation that will revolutionise online learning…