Friday
Jun302000
174 - Quickie View of PC Expo; Compaq Creates One Button Access to WebEx for Digital Collaboration; Learning at Home Legal Liabilities and Compensation?; New Employee e-Orientation Using e-Learning
June 30, 2000
1. Quickie View of PC Expo: Handhelds & Wireless: The MASIE Center packed
up its staff and headed down to New York City on Wednesday to visit PC Expo.
Amongst the hundreds of booths and tens of thousands of visitors we scanned
these quick perspectives:
* Handhelds Were Hot! The traditional attendees to PC Expo have been
corporate buyers of technology. This year, instead of being pitched with
new desktops or laptops, the buzz was all about Handhelds. There were
acre's of displays focused on using Palm, Handspring, SONY and Microsoft's
Pocket PC format. What was most interesting was the connectivity and
synchronization focus of these devices. The industry analysts that I spoke
with were all hot on the use of this new form factor for accessing corporate
databases, email and sales force automation. While there was only one
Handheld application targeted at learning, this will change dramatically in
the coming months. We were impressed with the use of video and audio as
part of this form factor and that will allow for much more portable access
to learning and collaboration via Handhelds.
* Wireless Was Everywhere: In the same vein, wireless dominated the
networking products. The shift to wireless was strong in both the Business
to Business and Business to Consumer segments. We saw internal wireless
products to allow easy mobility of a worker and their laptop. But, the
integration of web access from cellular phones and Handhelds was top of mind
throughout the Expo.
2. Compaq Creates One Button Access to WebEx for Digital Collaboration:
Compaq made a significant announcement last week when they partnered with
WebEx, a digital collaboration company, to include a "Compaq Online Meeting
Center" button on its new keyboards. This will launch a Compaq branded
version of WebEx to allow users to launch web-enabled meetings with a single
click of a keyboard button. Capabilities will include the ability of share
data, voice, video and telephony through a standard browser without
pre-installed hardware. Watch for other deals between major digital
collaboration/virtual classroom providers with hardware companies to create
a branded one button access option.
3. Learning at Home Legal Liabilities and Compensation? Several TechLearn
readers have asked us to do a scan to see how organizations are handling the
issue of legal liability and/or compensation for home access of e-Learning
resources. What is your organization's policy about paying people when they
do home based e-Learning for work? And, what is the coverage for workman's
compensation? If you have a policy or experience, please send me a note to
emasie@masie.com and we will publish a summary in a few weeks.
4. Present a Case Study at TechLearn 2000! We have opened to doors for
folks that would like to present a Case Study at TechLearn 2000. This is a
one hour session, presented by a corporate attendee (not a vendor/supplier)
around a problem that you solved or an innovation that you implemented in
the learning and technology field. Last year, we had dozens of case studies
from around the world. If you are planning to attend TechLearn 2000
(www.techlearn.com) in Orlando in June and would like to volunteer to
present a Case Study, please send an email to case@masie.com. Include a
short note about the case study that you would enjoy sharing with 3,000 colleagues.
5. New Employee e-Orientation Using e-Learning: One of the major growth
areas in e-Learning seems to be in the area of New Employee Orientation.
Organizations are shifting the first phase of employee orientation to an
e-Learning format. Some folks are even providing access to the orientation
resources to pre-interview timing, to allow the prospect to better
understand the culture and character of the workplace. It is also a great
project to engage business units across the enterprise in visioning and
creating a first e-Learning project.
MASIE Center Resources ---- www.masie.com
1) Last Call for e-Learning Europe Attendees: July 10 and 11 - Dublin, Ireland
2) Learning Decisions Interactive Newsletter: Only $195 for One Year Subscription -- Access to Monthly Research
3) TechLearn 2000 + e-Learning CONGRESS: November 12 to 15 - Orlando, Florida
up its staff and headed down to New York City on Wednesday to visit PC Expo.
Amongst the hundreds of booths and tens of thousands of visitors we scanned
these quick perspectives:
* Handhelds Were Hot! The traditional attendees to PC Expo have been
corporate buyers of technology. This year, instead of being pitched with
new desktops or laptops, the buzz was all about Handhelds. There were
acre's of displays focused on using Palm, Handspring, SONY and Microsoft's
Pocket PC format. What was most interesting was the connectivity and
synchronization focus of these devices. The industry analysts that I spoke
with were all hot on the use of this new form factor for accessing corporate
databases, email and sales force automation. While there was only one
Handheld application targeted at learning, this will change dramatically in
the coming months. We were impressed with the use of video and audio as
part of this form factor and that will allow for much more portable access
to learning and collaboration via Handhelds.
* Wireless Was Everywhere: In the same vein, wireless dominated the
networking products. The shift to wireless was strong in both the Business
to Business and Business to Consumer segments. We saw internal wireless
products to allow easy mobility of a worker and their laptop. But, the
integration of web access from cellular phones and Handhelds was top of mind
throughout the Expo.
2. Compaq Creates One Button Access to WebEx for Digital Collaboration:
Compaq made a significant announcement last week when they partnered with
WebEx, a digital collaboration company, to include a "Compaq Online Meeting
Center" button on its new keyboards. This will launch a Compaq branded
version of WebEx to allow users to launch web-enabled meetings with a single
click of a keyboard button. Capabilities will include the ability of share
data, voice, video and telephony through a standard browser without
pre-installed hardware. Watch for other deals between major digital
collaboration/virtual classroom providers with hardware companies to create
a branded one button access option.
3. Learning at Home Legal Liabilities and Compensation? Several TechLearn
readers have asked us to do a scan to see how organizations are handling the
issue of legal liability and/or compensation for home access of e-Learning
resources. What is your organization's policy about paying people when they
do home based e-Learning for work? And, what is the coverage for workman's
compensation? If you have a policy or experience, please send me a note to
emasie@masie.com and we will publish a summary in a few weeks.
4. Present a Case Study at TechLearn 2000! We have opened to doors for
folks that would like to present a Case Study at TechLearn 2000. This is a
one hour session, presented by a corporate attendee (not a vendor/supplier)
around a problem that you solved or an innovation that you implemented in
the learning and technology field. Last year, we had dozens of case studies
from around the world. If you are planning to attend TechLearn 2000
(www.techlearn.com) in Orlando in June and would like to volunteer to
present a Case Study, please send an email to case@masie.com. Include a
short note about the case study that you would enjoy sharing with 3,000 colleagues.
5. New Employee e-Orientation Using e-Learning: One of the major growth
areas in e-Learning seems to be in the area of New Employee Orientation.
Organizations are shifting the first phase of employee orientation to an
e-Learning format. Some folks are even providing access to the orientation
resources to pre-interview timing, to allow the prospect to better
understand the culture and character of the workplace. It is also a great
project to engage business units across the enterprise in visioning and
creating a first e-Learning project.
MASIE Center Resources ---- www.masie.com
1) Last Call for e-Learning Europe Attendees: July 10 and 11 - Dublin, Ireland
2) Learning Decisions Interactive Newsletter: Only $195 for One Year Subscription -- Access to Monthly Research
3) TechLearn 2000 + e-Learning CONGRESS: November 12 to 15 - Orlando, Florida
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