Tuesday
Jan082002
226 - Mergers in Learning World Theme in Early 2002; Streaming Media Gains Corporate Use for Briefings; Learning Strategies Focus on Business Alignment
January 8, 2002
#226 - - - Jan. 8, 2001 - - - 42,765 Readers
*** Elliott Masie's TechLearn TRENDS ***
Training, e-Learning and Collaboration Updates
Published by The MASIE Center www.masie.com
Host of: Skills for e-TRAINERS �" Feb 18-20, 2002
1. Mergers in Learning World Theme in Early 2002
2. Streaming Media Gains Corporate Use for Briefings
3. Learning Strategies Focus on Business Alignment
4. Skills for e-TRAINERS Session in Feb 2002 Open!
1. Mergers in Learning World Theme in Early 2002: Watch for a wide range
of mergers and acquisitions in the next eight weeks. There are a number
of serious discussions underway between learning vendors which will lead
to mergers or buyouts. Some of this is being driven by a shortage of cash
in the banks of some learning start-ups. Others are natural combinations
of players in the field. Here are two that just came across my desk in
the last 24 hours:
* Element K has acquires the intellectual property of Mentor Technologies
(http://www.elementk.com)
* Blackboard announces acquisition of Prometheus from The George
Washington University (http://www.blackboard.com)
2. Streaming Media Gains Corporate Use for Briefings: The MASIE Center
has been tracking the use of streaming media (audio and video) within
corporate settings. We have watched a steady growth in the use of
streaming briefings for information transfer, product demonstration and
corporate events. While there are still pockets of bandwidth restriction,
firewall blockages and lack of speakers on PC's, user acceptance of
streaming is clearly gaining. Now, one of the issues is how to catalog,
index, offer and invite employees (and customers) to use these resources.
Watch for LMS and LCMS like systems deployed to manage streaming media
resources.
3. Learning Strategies Focus on Business Alignment: In the first few days
of 2002, I have had a chance to review four major corporate learning
strategy documents from Fortune 1000 companies. Some of these were on
hold in the last quarter of 2001, and are now making their way up the line
for executive approval. It is interesting to note that each of the
strategies has added a strong component about "Alignment with Business"
in the document.
This reflects a direction of linking corporate and business goals and
measures more directly with learning and seeking direct business measures
for the impact of learning. One group is moving away from offering
learning to all employees and shifting to a more laser like allocation of
learning resources to areas of performance gaps or opportunity gains.
4. Skills for e-TRAINERS Session in Feb 2002 Open! The next session of
our popular Skills for e-TRAINERS Lab in Saratoga Springs, NY has been
announced for Feb. 18 to 20th. Information and registration at
http://www.masie.com
MASIE Center Services in 2002: http://www.masie.com
* Business of Learning: Washington, DC April 8 and 9
* e-Learning CONSORTIUM Accepting Applications Now
* Learning Decisions Interactive Newsletter
*** Elliott Masie's TechLearn TRENDS ***
Training, e-Learning and Collaboration Updates
Published by The MASIE Center www.masie.com
Host of: Skills for e-TRAINERS �" Feb 18-20, 2002
1. Mergers in Learning World Theme in Early 2002
2. Streaming Media Gains Corporate Use for Briefings
3. Learning Strategies Focus on Business Alignment
4. Skills for e-TRAINERS Session in Feb 2002 Open!
1. Mergers in Learning World Theme in Early 2002: Watch for a wide range
of mergers and acquisitions in the next eight weeks. There are a number
of serious discussions underway between learning vendors which will lead
to mergers or buyouts. Some of this is being driven by a shortage of cash
in the banks of some learning start-ups. Others are natural combinations
of players in the field. Here are two that just came across my desk in
the last 24 hours:
* Element K has acquires the intellectual property of Mentor Technologies
(http://www.elementk.com)
* Blackboard announces acquisition of Prometheus from The George
Washington University (http://www.blackboard.com)
2. Streaming Media Gains Corporate Use for Briefings: The MASIE Center
has been tracking the use of streaming media (audio and video) within
corporate settings. We have watched a steady growth in the use of
streaming briefings for information transfer, product demonstration and
corporate events. While there are still pockets of bandwidth restriction,
firewall blockages and lack of speakers on PC's, user acceptance of
streaming is clearly gaining. Now, one of the issues is how to catalog,
index, offer and invite employees (and customers) to use these resources.
Watch for LMS and LCMS like systems deployed to manage streaming media
resources.
3. Learning Strategies Focus on Business Alignment: In the first few days
of 2002, I have had a chance to review four major corporate learning
strategy documents from Fortune 1000 companies. Some of these were on
hold in the last quarter of 2001, and are now making their way up the line
for executive approval. It is interesting to note that each of the
strategies has added a strong component about "Alignment with Business"
in the document.
This reflects a direction of linking corporate and business goals and
measures more directly with learning and seeking direct business measures
for the impact of learning. One group is moving away from offering
learning to all employees and shifting to a more laser like allocation of
learning resources to areas of performance gaps or opportunity gains.
4. Skills for e-TRAINERS Session in Feb 2002 Open! The next session of
our popular Skills for e-TRAINERS Lab in Saratoga Springs, NY has been
announced for Feb. 18 to 20th. Information and registration at
http://www.masie.com
MASIE Center Services in 2002: http://www.masie.com
* Business of Learning: Washington, DC April 8 and 9
* e-Learning CONSORTIUM Accepting Applications Now
* Learning Decisions Interactive Newsletter
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