Do You PRINT Your eMail?

TO: Learning and Training Colleagues
FROM: Elliott Masie, The MASIE Center

Please take 2 minutes to complete our latest TechLearn Trends Survey:

"Do You PRINT Your eMail"

Just go to

http://www.masie.com/survey/

and fill out our 2 minute survey focusing on how people decide what to
PRINT or NOT TO PRINT. This has clear implications for e-LEARNING.
Results will be posted in TRENDS in several weeks.

Elliott Masie

209 - Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul & Mary) Challenges e-Learning Community to Empower Operation Respect

#209 - - - July 27 2001- - - 41,487 Readers
*** Elliott Masie's TechLearn TRENDS ***
e-Learning, Training and e-Collaboration Updates
Published by The MASIE Center: http://www.masie.com
Host of TechLearn 2001 - Oct 28 - 31 - Orlando, Florida

Special Announcements:
* Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul & Mary) Challenges e-Learning Community to
Empower Operation Respect
* TechLearn 2001 to Host Peter Yarrow & Make Major Donation to Effort

Two months ago, my phone rang and the person said he was Peter Yarrow from
Peter, Paul and Mary. He said he wanted to chat to me about the power
of e-Learning but first could he sing us a song.

Over the phone, from a hotel room on the road, Peter sang "Don't Laugh at
Me!" This is an incredible, moving song focused on how kids often feel
bullied and not respected by other kids in playgrounds, classrooms and
other places. Peter, Paul and Mary heard the song, recorded it and it led
to the creation of a charity called Operation Respect. They have
produced an incredible short curriculum aimed at 3rd and 4th graders,
addressing the issue wonderfully. The curriculum has been approved by the
PTA, the Teacher's Unions and the Elementary School Principals
associations. They have done face to face trainings that have reached
thousands of teachers. But not enough!!! Interestingly, Peter's original
call to me came 2 days before the recent shooting tragedy in the school in
California.

That is where TechLearn 2001 and Peter Yarrow come together! "Can we
reach hundreds of thousands of teachers with this training and curriculum,
by using the same e-Learning tools being deployed in corporations?" asked
Peter. The MASIE Center and Cathy and I have made a $60,000 donation to
start that effort and we are calling on the TechLearn community to assist
with ideas, resources and support.

Peter Yarrow will be at TechLearn and present this idea and some words and
songs. He is coming as a learner, to better understand what the
e-Learning world can offer in this effort. Last week, I went to his
apartment in New York City to start our planning and he taped a video
message to the readers of TechLearn Trends. Take a few minutes and
listen to this video streamed message (including a Puff the Magic Dragon
version related to e-Learning :)

http://www.techlearn.com/yarrow/

You will love the power and passion of this effort. After his keynote at
TechLearn, Peter and I will lead a special session for individuals and
organizations that would like to get involved in this effort. To register
for TechLearn 2001 (October 28 to 31 in Orlando, Florida) go to

http://www.techlearn.com

To learn more about Operation Respect go to: http://www.dontlaugh.org

To volunteer for this effort, send an email to Peter Yarrow and myself
at: respect@masie.com

Thanks for your support,


Elliott

208 - My Wish List for e-Learning: 10 Innovations That Would Be Great!

#208 - - - July 20 2001- - - 41,398 Readers
*** Elliott Masie's TechLearn TRENDS ***
e-Learning, Training and e-Collaboration Updates
Published by The MASIE Center: http://www.masie.com
Host of TechLearn 2001 - Oct 28 - 31 - Orlando, Florida

My Wish List for e-Learning: 10 Innovations That Would Be Great!

One of the perks of being an analyst of the learning and training field is
that I get to dream out loud about what is needed in our field:

* Two Help Buttons - One for Technical and One for Content Support:
Toolmakers of synchronous and live learning tools should ADD TWO HELP
BUTTONS to their screens. The first one would be pushed if the learner
needs technical help with the operation of the tool. The other would be
pushed if the learner has a content or learning question. Each button
would be handled differently, connecting with difference FAQ's and
connectivity to either a technical help desk or a learning content
resource. Nothing is more distracting then a learner asking a technical
question in front of 100 on-line students. Let's help both learners and
instructors by sorting help requests right at the screen.

* Instant Messenger Launching Live Sessions: In the past two months, I
have missed two live sessions, because I forgot about the scheduled
meetings and once because I lost the URL for entry into the on-line
session. I want to have my Instant Messenger box to pop up, reminding me
that I have a scheduled session and giving me one click access to the
session.

* Easy Note Taking: I took a great graduate course on-line last month.
The one challenge was that I had to print most of the documents, since
there was no way to annotate the content on-line. I want a yellow
highlighter and an easy way to ADD NOTES and REFERENCES while learning and
to keep those on my desktop for perpetual reference.

* Shrink Wrap LMS: While a large scale enterprise must implement large
scale learning and content management systems, there is a lot of
e-Learning that is happening at the departmental and small business level.
I would like to see a vendor provide a shrink rack, out of the box, and
affordably priced Learning Management System that can be up and running in
a matter of hours or days. We believe that this type of tool would
accelerate the growth of the e-Learning space and allow some organizations
to get started easily and expand to the enterprise.

* Drag and Drop Simulation Tools: Why can't we create a drag and drop
authoring tool for simulations. Pop up a scenario setting, such as a
customer service department or a sales call and then add simple
situations, actors and results. We need a PowerPoint type tool that can
create level one simulations with a simple template. Simulations will be
HUGE as a training tool and we need to create the tools and get them in
the hands of subject matter experts that can create very useful content.

* West Wing e-Learning: I want the character that Martin Sheen plays on
West Wing to enroll in an e-Learning course. Let's get millions of viewer
seeing that e-Learning is a real and normal component of the human
learning process. What better way to do that than through TV and movie
models. Actually, it would be fun to Tony Soprano or Detective Sipowitz
take a few e-Learning courses as well.

* A Truce With Knowledge Management: We need a truce with the Knowledge
Management field. There are so many great connections and leveraged
moments that are sharable between the advocates of e-Learning and
Knowledge Management. Unless we find a way to create a truce between
these two movements that are both aimed at organizational and employee
productivity, we will see a lot of good proposals become political fights.

* Universal Learner Card: I want to have a Smart Card (or an on-line
equivalent) that would house two sets of data for me. The first would be
a profile of how I learn. It could include (with my permission),
information about my language and reading preferences, my learning styles,
my professional background and even my personality profile. The other set
of info would be a complete learning transcript. When I attend a
conference, I could add the sessions attended. If I take a test or other
certification process, it would get added to my card. It would allow the
learner more ownership over their own learning history and protect the
learner from the legal issues of a previous employer refusing to provide
detail reference information.

* Less is More: I would love to see screens have fewer options. When I
visit some of the portal sites, I (and many other learners) are
underwhelmed with the large number of choices on the screen. We should
take a lesson form sites like Amazon.Com and provide fewer and more
personalized choices to learners.

* Positive Departure?: We should ask learners as they are leaving a
learning activity to press one button to describe why they are leaving.
Some folks are actually leaving because they got what they wanted and are
now going back to work. Let's gather information that tracks positive
departure as well as negative departure and those that are leaving to
return at another time.

If you have other items to add to this list, send me a note at
emasie@masie.com and I will add them in a future TRENDS. We will have a
build a major wish list that incorporates these suggestions and publish it
at TechLearn 2001 on October 28th in Orlando, Fl (www.techlearn.com)

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie

207 - Implementers Must Drive the Learning Agenda; e-Coaching Update: Pounds and Lessons Learned; Digitally Busy Research Data

#207 - - - July 16 2001- - - 41,154 Readers
*** Elliott Masie's TechLearn TRENDS ***
e-Learning, Training and e-Collaboration Updates
Published by The MASIE Center: http://www.masie.com
Host of TechLearn 2001 - Oct 28 - 31 - Orlando, Florida

1. Great Learning Debate at TechLearn Hosted by Arthur Miller
2. Implementers Must Drive the Learning Agenda!
3. e-Coaching Update: Pounds and Lessons Learned
4. Digitally Busy Research Data

1. Great Learning Debate at TechLearn Hosted by Arthur Miller: I am
pleased to announce a "Great Learning Debate" at TechLearn 2001. The
Debate will follow a Socratic model with a variety of learners from
diverse organizations, Chief Learning Officers and business executives.
We will aim to highlight what learning and training is like from different
perspectives. For example, how do learners actually value or appreciate
investments in training. Or, how is e-Learning viewed from the worker
point of view. Arthur Miller, Faculty of Harvard Law School and host of a
series of PBS panels on the role of media will moderate this debate.

2. Implementers Must Drive the Learning Agenda! Last week in Ireland, I
interviewed several CEO's of e-Learning companies including Smartforce,
WBT Systems and Thinq. It was intriguing that each of the CEO's felt
that it was time for Implementing Organizations, the actual companies
deploying e-Learning for their employees or customers had to "take back
the agenda for training and technology". The CEO's agreed that customers
had to drive the agenda rather than be driven by the latest set of
features or genre of tools announced by vendors. The training executives
in the room, from 18 different countries agreed that it was way too easy
to default to the vendor's view of the learning world. The MASIE Center
believes that the agenda for e-Learning must be driven by corporate
strategies that are aligned with business needs and should be immune from
the latest press releases or a new set of 3 or 4 letter terms hearlding
new software models for learning tracking or management.

3. e-Coaching Update: Pounds and Lessons Learned In a previous TRENDS,
I talked about my experience with an e-Coach that I was using for health
and weight improvement. I have had over 400 messages from readers, asking
for an update, so here goes:

* My e-Coach and I dialogue about 3 times a day, via email or Microsoft
Messenger.
* I enter my eating and exercise information into a shared, web-based
database, so that she can track my behavior patterns in real time (and
occasionally send me a note with advice or questions.)
* I have lost 22 pounds and lowered by blood pressure and cholesterol.
* It is a learning process for both of us to see how and when to use
different media formats to communicate. While most of our dialogue is
via email, we have had a few phone conversations to deepen the trust
level.
* Managing the coaching process from my coach's end has been interesting.
I recently spoke with Scott Blanchard from coaching.com who has introduced
systems to support the coaching process.
* I believe that we are just at the beginning of this approach to learning
and change.
* I am now serving as a coach to five Chief Learning Officers, to
experience the process from the other side. We are working on assistance
for strategies and organizational change, using a coaching vs. consulting
model.
* Marshall Goldsmith, an expert on Coaching, will be modeling a live
e-Coaching session during TechLearn 2001, originating from London, with a
participant in the audience as the "coachee".

4. Digitally Busy Research Results: Here is the summary of the Executive
Summary for our last scan on how busy folks are in this digital world.
Thanks to the more than 2,400 readers that responded:

1) How many emails do you get on an average business day?
0 to 10 7.7%
11 to 20 21.7%
21 to 35 27.3%
36 to 50 24.5%
51 to 100 15.0%
More: 3.8%

2) Approximately what percentage of an average work day do you spend
'digitally connected' with business associates? (Email, phone, instant
messaging, etc.)
More than 80% 17.8%
66% to 80% 14.6%
46% to 65% 17.1%
26% to 45% 21.1%
11% to 25% 23.1%
Less than 10% 6.2%

3) If the electricity were to go off for one day at your organization,
what affect would this have on your stress level?
Increase my level of stress 58.1%
Decrease my level of stress 17.2%
No change to my level of stress 24.6%

Complete results and perspectives are available to readers of our Learning
Decisions Interactive Research Newsletter
http://www.learningdecisions.com

UPCOMING MASIE CENTER EVENTS: http://www.masie.com
TechLearn 2001: Oct 28 - 31, 2001 (Jack Welch, CEO of GE Keynoter) in
Orlando, Florida
Skills for e-Trainers: Masie Center e-LAB in September in Saratoga
Springs, NY

Flash: Jack Welch, CEO of GE, to Keynote TechLearn 2001

TO: TechLearn TRENDS Readers
FROM: Elliott Masie, The MASIE Center

I am pleased to announce that Jack Welch, the Chairman and CEO of General
Electric, will be the Featured Keynote Speaker at TechLearn 2001 to be
held in Orlando, Florida on October 28 to 31st.

In a highly interactive session, Jack Welch will focus on how learning,
training and technology have made a significant difference in General
Electric. I will also interview him on his views of employee and
executive development.

We are also honored to present to Jack Welch the 2001 Pioneer in Learning
Award. He has been one of the few CEO's that spends considerable time as
a trainer, advocating for excellence and quality.

I hope that you, and your senior staff, will join us at TechLearn 2001,
which will also include the Blended Learning Forum, The CLO Dialogues, The
World e-Learning CONGRESS, The Customer as Learner Forum and other events
that look at the changing and critical role of learning and training in
our organizations.

Complete information and on-line registration at www.techlearn.com

For a sample of Jack Welch's vision see the General Electric Mission

Statement at: http://www.ge.com/annual00/values/index.html

See you at TechLearn 2001

Warm Regards,

Elliott Masie