E-Learning-Inclusivo (Mashup)

 | Charlene OHanlon | The VAR Guy |

The history of open source is long and storied, and fascinating enough to be a book. Which is what The VAR Guy contributing editor Christopher Tozzi is doing. And while he's been plugging away at his trusty Smith-Corona (not really—he's definitely an open source stalwart), The VAR Guy has been lucky enough to be the recipient of the byproducts of his research.

There is no shortage of material that needs to be read in business including marketing copy, business plans, contracts legal documents and of course business books. I love to read but not all business reading is particularly entertaining or well written. And some of the most important stuff is dense, dry and dreadful no matter how much achieving success requires you read it.

So when my inbox is full of necessary reading that I know will put me to sleep, I have to make a special effort to power through it. First, I set aside time with no distractions. No phone, email or TV to draw my focus. Then I find a place with lots of natural light. Lastly I turn on mellow music that I know well so I can get into rhythmic groove. Before you know it the stack is gone and I feel better for having been productive.

Here are more ways to tackle that tough material from my Inc. colleagues.

McAfee turned its training around that both saved both time and produced more lucrative sales: ...an average of $500,000 per year in sales [attributed to] new training model.

Before Intel giant McAfee revamped its new-hire orientation, ...80 hours long [with] ... 40 hours of pre-work,, 5 days of on-site training, and ...post-...to be completed at home.

To fix its problem, McAfee turned to ....Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs...called “flipping the classroom” [where]...a majority of learning happens ...by giving students access to course materials and having them probe, discuss, and debate issues with fellow learners as well as the professor.

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Companies ...have to trust the learner ...incorporating more opportunities for peer reviews and peer-to-peer dialogues...

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...Can your company re-imagine the role of the learner? ...the learner takes on a role more expansive than ever before, acting as teacher, learner, and peer reviewer.

Companies ...have to trust the learner to do this,  by incorporating more opportunities for peer reviews and peer-to-peer dialogues into the course.

With that change, McAfee turned its training around in a way that both saved both time and produced more lucrative sales: its sales associates now attribute an average of $500,000 per year in sales to the skills they learned through the new training model. 

Three MOOC elements are particularly well-suited to corporate learning & development:  Semi-synchronicity  (cohorts ...[can] motivate each other as they go through the program),  course design (flipping the classroom), and credentials

In a recent Future Workplace survey, completed by 195 corporate learning and HR professionals, 70 percent of respondents said they saw opportunities to integrate MOOCs into their own company’s learning programs. Even further, this sample of respondents made six recommendations for how MOOC providers could adapt to needs of corporations:

Related posts by Deb:

Agile Leader Learning for Sustainable Change: Steps through Sharp Rocks   Change and Endings: Letting Go and Acceptance before New Beginnings   Messing up a Change Implementation with Someone Else’s Learning Culture?

Going open source with your project should be treated with respect and commitment. As you open your codebase, remember that building a strong community of contributors and folks who care about the project is of utmost importance.