Many eLearning vendors use the terms synchronous and asynchronous when describing their offering. What is the difference between asynchronous and synchronous learning anyway?

Synchronous means that an instructor is present when the course is delivered, even though the course might be delivered remotely over the Internet. Web conferencing solutions such as Webex or GoToMeeting are synchronous.

Asynchronous means that the instructor does not need to be present, thereby allowing students to learn anytime, at their convenience. Solutions that allow you to deliver pre-recorded courses such as Dual Code's Corporate University is asynchronous.

Dual Code has just released a white paper titled "Online Training for Franchisors & Retail Chains". This white paper presents best practices and "how to" information to help franchise systems and retail chains develop a successful online training program.

Although this paper focuses on franchise systems, many of the principles such as the benefits of an online Corporate University and characteristics of adult learners apply to any industry.

This eLearning white paper is available as a free download here:  www.dualcode.com/whitepaper.htm. No registration or email address is required!

By Catherine Franz

Pre-note: In this article, teleclass is an example used to illustrate one type of eLearning market. The tips work the same for other eLearning programs, including, but not limited to, teleseminars and ecourses.

In the mid-1990s, the teleclass format began and was named, distance learning. During these early years, learning institutions, particularly universities, were chief users of this format. Mainly due to the large equipment investment needed at that time. Now, due to technology changes and cost reduction, people can give and attend ePrograms without leaving their chair or selling their first child. No parking challenges, auto expenses, or travel time required. Another benefit to learning by phone is that your listening skills will reach new heights quickly.

In 2003, technology allowed a single conference line to expand from 30 to 150 participants per line. Affordable conference lines were previously only available in certain states, Florida and Nevada. Now other states, like New York, are jumping in on this bandwagon with affordable rates.

Currently, a 24/7 conference line, is available to rent around $600 a year. An alternative is to rent the line by the hour. This can range between $10 to $20 per hour depending on the service features desired. You can also share a line with one or two others to reduce your cost. I recommend finding line-share partners who are in other time zones, it makes sharing easier.

Zero-cost teleconference lines at available at www.mrconference.com and by other vendors. Most of these services have flaws that range from automatic disconnect if no voice is detected every 8 to 10 minutes, to being blocked from entering the call because of overstressed lines. I recommend the leader dialing in 5 to 10 minutes early to secure the line, however, this doesn't mean that all participants may not experience over trafficked busy signals.

Actually, teleprograms will not take the place of "being there" for all people. The skills and experience of the teleclass leader or host can also make or break the learning experience. There are just as many teleclass leader styles as people. If you have never experienced a teleclass, I recommend attending four or five before deciding if the format is or isn't for you.

15 Tips To Help Promote Your eLearning Programs

1. If you produce your own eNewsletter, electronic newsletter, or eZine, electronic magazine, or printed newsletter, add an eLearning announcement section.

2. Contact other newsletter editors and ask to have your program announced in their issue. You can swap ad space, your ad for their ad, exchange ad space for participation, offer a commission option, purchase the ad, or pay per click-through. I don't recommend paying for click-throughs unless excellent tracking systems are in place. In order to attract, make sure their target market and yours match.

3. You can also use pay-per-click through search engines like Google’s AdWord program. If you go this route, I suggest you purchase an ad analyzer software (about $100) or a service (average $19.95/month) to maximize time and reduce mistakes.

4. Place notices all over your web site -- especially your main page -- about the program. Remember: posting announcement notices is actually passive marketing. You will still need to pull visitors to the site.

5. Write and distribute Internet articles on the same subject. Unable to write, hire a ghostwriter. Allow four to twelve weeks for this process to begin pulling visitors to your website. The number of articles distributed will proportionally be your return. My low end measurement has been: 1 article = 10 visitors or more = 8 new eNewsletter subscribers = 1 sale. High end: 1 article = 350 new visitors = 125 new subscribers = 10 sales. This is now one of the top five Internet promotion building attractions.

6. Since ePrograms don't require people to be physically present, attendance is now open internationally. Thus, you will want to distribute information about your eLearning opportunity globally. Find places in other English-speaking countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. If you speak a foreign language, you can even offer the same program in that language. Spanish speaking ePrograms are in high demand.

7. Mention your eProgram on other ePrograms you attend. You can slip it in with a question or when presenting your personal information to the class.

8. Add a promotional paragraph about the program to all your outgoing e-mails, called signatures in Outlook. Choose HTML design in your software and add a picture of the leader/host along with a link to where someone can register or find out additional information.

9. Join market-rich discussion lists, billboards, or chat rooms. If direct solicitation isn't permitted, sell gently through your signature or indirect questions.

10. Write a press release for each eProgram. Become a member of PR Web www.prweb.com/. Membership is free. This number one website attracts a very high percentage of media personnel.

11. Accumulate a list of all the local newspapers that offer free community event announcements. Inquire into their deadline and submission requirements. You will also want to ask how can may confirm receipt of your information. They don't intentionally leave information out, however, they move at a fast pace and things do get lost in the shuffle. Special note: Most community list ads are for fr*e* events.

Use a three-ring binder to record the advertising information. You can also save the information in your e-mail software, like Outlook, and your Internet browser software, in a separate "Community newspaper" section. However, if the hard drive crashes, make sure the information safe. Due to the value of this information and the amount of time you spent accumulating it, you still may want to keep updated printouts just in case. Even a backup diskette in the binder. Having a paper version also helps when the computer is off or you need to transport the information. This is also a great item to delegate to a virtual assistant.

12. Add your announcement to your telephone answering script. Change it whenever you are offering a new eProgram. Give instructions as to how to register -- and it’s important to make this as easy as possible for them. Don't forget some marketing tidbits of "what’s in it for them (WIIFM)" to register and do it now.

13. Use free ePrograms or offers to provide a taste and attract participants to register for longer paid programs. Offers can include: ebooks, ecourses, special reports, or even a professional white papers. Offering a transcription of the program or an audio copy is another great offer.

14. List your class in teleclass directories. Some directories require that you attend their particular teleclass-leading course. A big downfall in time and expense in the short-run, however, good investment for the long term. Here are a few directories to get you started:

http://www.seminarannouncer.com

http://www.teleclass4u.com

http://www.teleclasslive.com

http://www.teleclass.com

http://www.thefeelgoodplace.com/freetele.htm

http://www.Yahoogroups.com -- over 30 places to post your eProgram listing.

15. If you give speaking engagements or even when you participate in other events, seminars, workshops, give out flyers on your eProgram. Works well in networking groups too. Take the flyers to the libraries, senior and civic centers.

FYI, names of ePrograms can seem confusing at times, however, there is a standard for what to expect depending on the name. A teleseminar usually has very little interaction between leader and attendees. It is set up to instruct and participants to solely listen. Sometimes a brief Q&A period is spaced in-between subtopic changes.

On the other hand, a teleclass provides more time for participant to participant or participant to leader interaction. It has a higher ratio of free forming. A teleclass format copies more of the workshop atmosphere. A teleprogram, is a teleclass delivered over a period of time, like a class at a learning institution. The term eProgram is a compilation, or overview term, of all electronically delivered learning programs.

Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing & Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters and articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Catherine_Franz
http://EzineArticles.com/?15-Ways-to-Promote-eLearning-Programs&id=5091

Is eLearning environmentally friendly? You bet it is!

E-Learning isn't only great as saving companies money. It also helps save the environment. Two immediate benefits of eLearning in regards to the environment are:

- It eliminates the need to travel, thereby reducing emissions.
- It eliminates the need to print training manuals, thereby saving trees.

What's your company's eLearning footprint? Why don't you find out for yourself.

• Atmosfair: Let's you calculate emissions based on specific flights/airports.
• Conservatree: Let's you calculate how many trees are used to print your training manuals.

In short, a single-person return flight between Ottawa and Vancouver is almost equivalent to driving a car for a year (12,000 km, middle class model) or running a refrigerator for 19 years! And 1 tree makes 8,333.3 sheets, or roughly 30 copies of a standard Operations Manual.

If you know any other ways eLearning helps save the environment, or would like to share your success story detailing how you've implemented a green eLearning program in your company, please share it with us by posting your comments here.

The benefits of eLearning are quite well understood. (This previous post lists 12 of them.) But there's one major advantage that many people tend to forget: Online training is less intimidating than instructor-led training.

Most students, and adult ones in particular, learn best in nonthreatening environments. They might be intimidated to try something new for the first time in front of a larger group or even an instructor. Self-paced online training allows them to learn new skills in privacy. Students taking an online course enter a risk-free environment in which they can try new things and make mistakes without exposing themselves. This characteristic is particularly valuable when trying to learn soft skills, such as leadership and decision-making.

A good learning program shows the consequences of students’ actions and where/why they went wrong. After a failure, students can go back and try again. This type of learning experience eliminates the embarrassment of failure in front of a group. Once the learner has completed the online evaluation and feels confident he has mastered the skills, he will feel more confident demonstrating his newly acquired skills in front of his manager, supervisor, or fellow employees.

Duplication and consistency are at the heart of successful franchise systems and retail chains. A brand is strongest when the customer has the same experience each time they visit one of your locations, no matter what time of day or which location. The only way that brand consistency can be accomplished is through training.

That being said, franchisers seem to be the same mistakes over and over again when it comes to training their franchisees. The following lists the 5 most common and critical mistakes franchisors make when it comes to training.

1. Training as a Reaction

Believe it or not, some franchisers have virtually no training program. Sure, their marketing brochure and Web site certainly mention their state of the art training program. And they'll drop by your location when you first open to help you out. But there's no systematic way to pro-actively show their franchisees how to successfully run a successful franchise.

If you're reading this article, chances are this problem doesn't apply to you. The mere fact that you're reading an article on training means you have a genuine interest in improving your training program, which means you probably already have some form of formal training. So let's skip to mistake #2.

2. Training Too Infrequently

The majority of franchisers have the exact same recipe when it comes to training. First, they'll invite you over to their headquarters for a period of 1 to 4 weeks to train you on their products, services and operational procedures. Then, they'll provide additional on site training when you first open your franchise. Sound familiar?

This program is excellent as far as initial training goes, but doesn't quite cut it in an industry where employee turnover rates are between 100% and 300%. Think about it. After the first year of operation, hardly anyone who took the initial training will still be working for the franchise, except perhaps the franchisee himself. Unless the owner of the franchise can single handedly run the business, which is rarely the case, you need to have frequent training sessions. I would recommend quarterly sessions for regular employees that have been there for a while and of course immediate sessions for new hires.

"OK. Stop it right there!" you say? "How can you possibly train every single employee on a quarterly basis and new hires on the spot? That type of training is the responsibility of the franchisee, not the franchiser!" Not according to mistake #3.

3. Leaving the Training to Your Franchisees

Most franchise owners I know work 60-80 hours a week. And trust me, that time isn't spent training their employees.

Managing the store's finances, putting out fires, dealing with angry people and difficult employees and interviewing new hires? Yes. Training those new hires or experienced employees? No. The irony is that much like you think training new employees is the franchise owner's job, the franchise owner thinks it's the Manager's job. And the Manager thinks it's the Assistant Manager's. And the Assistant Manager? Well, she just thinks the new hire can learn by simply observing her. So basically, your new hires get most of their training by observing someone who was, well, trained by observing someone else. No wonder the franchise industry faces a 300% employee turnover rate and people have come to refer to such jobs as "McJobs".

If you're not going to train the employees that work in your franchises, you can pretty much be guaranteed that no one will.

And if you think training every single individual that is part of your franchise system is impossible, it's probably because you're making mistake #4.

4. Relying Solely on Face-to-face Training

There's nothing wrong with the idea of training employees face to face. As a matter of fact, face to face training can be extremely effective. But realistically, it's impossible for a franchiser to train every single individual face to face, especially if you plan on training them on a regular (i.e. quarterly) basis.

With so many employees spread across so many locations, most franchisers find that training franchisees face to face become impossible after only 5-10 locations.

What's the option? An online Corporate University, a Web-based strategic tool designed to assist your company in achieving its goal of training your employees anytime, anywhere.

Meta-analysis studies have recently shown that online training is as effective as face to face training when done right. I can certainly attest to that. I've sat through enough classroom courses, seminars and other conventional training sessions to tell you that they're not all they're cut out to be. I can only imagine how effective they are when they're giving by a franchise owner working 80 hours a week.

To some of you, an online Corporate University might be a novel idea. Successful franchisors however have been training their franchisees and employees for years using the Internet. Subway, which was again voted the #1 franchise by Entrepreneur magazine, attributes much of its success to its University of Subway, an online Corporate University that allows them to train every single individual working in one of their 31,000+ restaurants in 90 countries.

5. Not Testing for Competence

Training without testing assumes two things. First, it takes for granted that your students are actually learning everything you are teaching them. Then it assumes that your training program is complete enough that anyone who follows it can learn everything they need to run a successful franchise.

Our high schools, colleges and universities don't hand out diplomas without testing their students. There is a good reason for that. Would you trust a surgeon to operate on you if he/she had done nothing more but read a few medical books or observe other surgeons? Of course not! So why would you trust someone with your brand and let him/her run your franchise without first testing their competencies?

Testing is another area where online Corporate Universities excel. Thanks to advancements in learning technologies, students can now be evaluated using a variety of online tools. Meanwhile, managers can track the student's performance and progress with the click of a button.

No franchiser in their right mind will argue that duplication and consistency are at the heart of successful franchise systems. The only way that brand consistency can be accomplished is through training. Take a look at your training program, make sure you don't fall victim to the 5 classic mistakes identified above, and if you haven't done so already, invest in an online Corporate University.

To get started with a free trial of your Corporate University, visit www.dualcode.com.

Hey Ottawa.

Are you looking for templates to create a conventional course or eLearning training module?

Dual Code has developed three excellent templates in Microsoft PowerPoint format. Use these templates to create your face-to-face training material or online courses.

Change the template as you see fit, including the logo, images and copyright information. Add your speaker's notes to the Notes section of the PowerPoint, and then submit it to Dual Code's PowerFlash service.

Your PowerPoint will be converted to a Flash-based eLearning module, complete with voice-overs. That's right! A professional voice-over artist will read your notes and convert them to audio files. These audio files will then be included in your Flash presentation.

You will also have the option to download the standard (Flash and HTML) version of the presentation, or a SCORM compliant package.

Visit www.dualcode.com/elearning/powerflash.htm for more details or to try PowerFlash for FREE.

Template #1	Template #2	Template #3

By Alison Pitman

1. Available 24/7 -The basic advantage of podcasting in education is the portability and convenience of listening to learning resources anytime and anywhere without requiring extensive technical knowledge. Podcasts can be downloaded to all kinds of mobile devices, such as MP3 players,mobile phones, PDAs, and mobile computers. Learning materials downloaded into mobile devices can be listened to by learners in their own time and place.

2. Student Review - A podcast of a lecture that can be downloaded by students can become invaluable study aid for the student. At any given point in time, the student has the podcast available for reference. A student who had difficulty understanding initially, and may not have grasped a topic fully in the classroom, can now learn the material at his or her own pace.

3. Missed Classes - There are certainly many e-learning situations that would benefit from the use of this type of tool. For example, a sick student being able to download a podcast of the days lectures he missed at school, or if a teacher or professor is unable to attend his or her class for some reason, they could make a podcast of their lecture available on a website where students can easily download it. This procedure could easily be implemented to ensure no students miss any lessons or lectures. It is a solution that could be feasible from the primary school level to the university level.

4. Appeals to audio/visual learners - Perhaps, one of the most important pedagogic characteristics offered by podcasting is learning through listening. For many people, listening may be more attractive and less tedious than reading. Listening may motivate and encourage students who do not like reading. Podcasting is also particularly useful when a visual impairment make traditional learning methods more difficult.

Alison Pitman
Professional Voiceover Artist. Provider of audio recordings for business including, podcasts, website audio, phone system recordings, training and presentation narrations, corporate video narrations, product tour audio, radio and television commercials and much more.

Please visit my website to hear my demos http://www.thephonevoice.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alison_Pitman
http://EzineArticles.com/?4-Benefits-of-Podcasting-in-Elearning&id=1739326

The label chosen for Microsoft Live Services Plug-in for Moodle is rather self explanatory. Nonetheless, Microsoft has made available for download a free and open-source plug-in for Moodle, designed to bridge the web-based Course Management System (CMS) (also referred to as Learning Management System (LMS) or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)) with the company's Live@edu services. The Redmond company underlined that the plug-in was an open-source project released under version 2 of the General Public License and that it was available for free to all users.

Microsoft Live Services Plug-in for Moodle is available for download here.

McDonald's certainly does!!

Since its inception, training at Hamburger University has emphasized consistent restaurant operations procedures, service, quality and cleanliness. It has become the company’s global center of excellence for McDonald’s operations training and leadership development.

In 1961, Fred Turner, McDonald’s former senior chairman and Ray Kroc’s first grillman, founded Hamburger University in the basement of a McDonald’s restaurant in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

• February 24, 1961, Hamburger University's first class of 14 students graduated
• Today, more than 5,000 students attend Hamburger University each year
• Since 1961, more than 80,000 restaurant managers, mid-managers and owner/operators have graduated from this facility

At McDonald’s, our training mission is to be the best talent developer of people with the most committed individuals to Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value (QSC&V) in the world. Our strong commitment to the training and development of our People has resulted in many “firsts” and honors, including being…

• The first restaurant company to develop a global training center
• The only active QSR currently to receive college credit recommendations from the American Council on Education (ACE), the United States’ oldest and most recognized unifying body for higher education
• Continually recognized for excellence in training

Our founder Ray Kroc once said, “If we are going to go anywhere, we’ve got to have talent. And, I’m going to put my money in talent.” Hamburger University continues to promote that philosophy, everyday.

(Source: www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/careers/hamburger_university.html)