Dive deep

IntegrityFX provides broker services to foreign currency traders around the world. In the off-exchange retail foreign currency (Forex) market, banks, corporations, governments and others entities - including individual retail traders - seek to profit by taking advantage of fluctuations in exchange rates. With average daily volume in the trillions, Forex is one of the world's largest and most liquid financial markets. Individual traders are a small but growing segment of this market.

To give its Forex retail traders the knowledge and confidence to succeed, IntegrityFX created an Education & Training Center powered by Ziiva's Prosperity Learning Management System.

"Our Education & Training Center serves a niche market and the education that has historically been made available has been both expensive and poorly developed for one reason or another," said Patterson, who oversees the development, implementation and dissemination of the curriculum via computer-based training, webinar presentations and in-class lecture. "Thus, our greatest challenge is to market our training in a way that makes clear that our curriculum has superior quality in content, quantity and delivery."

To meet this challenge, he turned to Ziiva for an enterprise LMS.

Having used other learning management systems over the years at several colleges and universities, Patterson knew what he wanted: the ability to import e-learning content, robust data collection technology for learner tracking, reasonable ease of use for course management and contact management, customizable reporting features, a feature-rich exam management suite and a reasonable cost.

He found those things with Prosperity.

"Their customer service is excellent and their staff is knowledgeable about the products and services they sell. In addition, the cost of their LMS with its large assortment of stock features was very reasonable," said Patterson, who singled out Prosperity's course-management features as a big plus.

IntegrityFX currently offers a half-dozen Web-based training courses such as "Introduction to Forex," "Technical Analysis" and "Risk Management." The curriculum was recognized with the 2009 Best Forex Education Provider Award at the ME Forex Expo in Dubai.

"All feedback has been generally positive," from students taking and/or evaluating the courses, Patrick said. "However, almost everyone has said that the sheer volume of reading is daunting, and they have recommended more audio/visual elements - we are currently working a new multimedia version."

In addition, Patterson said IntegritryFX plans to incorporate instructor-led webinar scheduling and training into the Prosperity LMS.

While courses currently deal with foreign currency exchange, IntegrityFX has a number of other curriculum programs in development including spot gold, spot oil and "contracts for difference" trading. Down the road, Patterson said he sees value in not only using Prosperity for customer training, but also for employee training.

Patterson, who set up the courses himself, said he appreciated Ziiva's willingness to let IntegrityFX customize the interface, but noted that customer support was readily available as needed.

Overall, Patterson has been very happy with his experience.

"Their staff is approachable, knowledgeable, and prompt," Patterson said. "That has not been my experience with other LMS vendors."

Measure for the right fit

A recent post Amit Gautam on the Upside Learning blog looked at Five Ways to Use an LMS for Effective Learning Measurement. Admittedly, this isn't an easy exercise, since, as Gautam points out, "Learning Measurement is a very challenging exercise and not one that can be executed easily or quickly with some calculator. The best way (but probably the most difficult one) to measure learning is to measure for the right business indicators like sales figures, productivity measures, defect ratios etc."

We agree with that assessment, and also agree that measurement needs to be part of the process from the beginning - or even before the beginning, that is, when you first start looking for a learning management system vendor.

 Training lessons from India

Part of the secret of India's business success is workforce training, entrepreneur-turned-academic Vivek Wadhwa writes TechCrunch. In his post, "Why America Needs to Start Re-educating Its Workforce Again," he notes, "Workforce education increases productivity, decreases turnover, and leads to greater corporate growth. I was myself surprised to see this correlation when I researched the secrets of the success of Indian industry."

Wadhwa's post of pretty detailed - and persuasive - but if you want to learn more, you can download the report published by his team from Harvard and Duke, "How the Disciple Became the Guru," which looks at the employee development practices of 24 of India's top companies.

Pitfalls to effective learning

The reality of employee training doesn't always (or often) meet its promise, writes UK-based learning and performance consultant Charles Jennings on his blog, but he offers some suggestions for businesses hoping to change that by explaining the Five Barriers to Effective Learning in Organisations.

‘Awesome' elearning tips

The eLearning Brothers (Shawn and Andrew Scivally) put together their "Top 10 Do's to Create Awesome eLearning" for a presentation at this year's Learning Solutions Conference. Even without hearing the actual presentation, the 55-page .pdf gives you the gist of their Do's, which include dead-on suggestions about style, text, graphics and much more.

Last-minute checkup

Over at the Rapid e-Learning Blog, Tom Kuhlman offers "10 Things to Consider Before Your E-Learning Course Goes Live."

All the tips make sense, but our favorite is "Is your course too sexy for its body?" (i.e. don't go so far out of the box that the learner can't follow you.)

The buzz on corporate learning and elearning tools only gets bigger, so if you don't have time to track down all the relevant news yourself, stop on by and we'll pass along what we found. Your suggestions are always welcome, of course, so please post a comment if there's anything you want to share.

This isn't a brand new idea, but even two years ago it was still somewhat of a novelty.

According to Rick Nigol, blogging on BreakthrougheLearning.com in 2008, it was an "aha moment" for him when, on a consulting gig, he heard a pair of vice-presidents explaining how eLearning software would help them meet their strategic focus of becoming an environmentally sustainable company.

These days ­- despite recessionary pressures (and possibly, in some cases, as a result of them) - the idea of sustainability continues to grow.

What in it for you?

Here are some green benefits of using an LMS for computer-based training:

Stay home: eLearning is available anywhere you have employees, so travel and lodging costs associated with training - and their resulting environmental impact - are no longer an issue.

Save paper (and ink, and energy): Who needs handouts - which often need to be updated multiple times during a product rollout or large-scale training effort - when you can keep everyone on the same (virtual) page with an easy-to-update LMS? Going this route means using less energy to produce and distribute training manuals and other documentation, as well as less waste.

Green culture: Beyond using an LMS for your regular training and employee development needs, consider creating some green training modules to give your employees practical ways to reduce the company's carbon footprint in their daily activities.

Carbon offsets: If you want your business to be as carbon neutral as possible - whether out of environmental concern or simply as a pragmatic marketing decision - there are several calculators and companies out there that can help you understand what you need to do and certify the results. No matter how intense you want this effort to be, eLearning tools are one of the easiest, most obvious ways to cut your carbon footprint.

When you look at the above list, it's obvious that many of the benefits of learning management systems - such as increasing productivity through reducing travel - transcend reducing carbon emissions and can save your business time and money in other ways, as well.

The bottom line

We've come across some companies - mainly outside the U.S. - that are promoting the environmental benefits of eLearning as central parts of their marketing efforts.

That's all well and good, but while LMS vendors may no longer be surprised to hear customers talk about sustainability, one point Rick Nigol made two years ago still holds true: Using eLearning simply to reduce travel, while noble, isn't in the best interests of any organization.

Finding a robust eLearning system that can meet all your training needs is the real holy grail of corporate learning, and anything else is gravy.

Green gravy.

The big picture

Writing in the Upside Learning Solutions Blog, Amit Guatam poses an interesting question: Do customers look at a Learning Management System (LMS) as simply a tool to get specific things done more efficiently, or as part of a larger overall learning strategy?

All of the above

It takes a good degree of skill to write effective multiple choice questions that fully meet your employee training goals. Check out this list of 10 Rules for Writing Multiple Choice Questions from The eLearning Coach and see how many you are (or aren't) already following.

By design

Along the lines of the previous link (i.e. making sure your e-learning tools are the best they can be), listen to Cammy Bean's interview with Will Thalheimer on common mistakes e-learning designers make.

Just thinking about eLearning?

Tom Kuhlman offers more than a dozen reasons Why e-Learning is So Effective.

Metrics matter

Listen to this podcast from American Society for Training and Development on how technology has advanced the analysis and evaluation of computer-based training and development programs.

World of eLearning

Depending on where you fall on the e-learning spectrum, this may be really interesting or really, really yawn-inducing. A group of researchers at Anadolu University in Turkey has put together a two-volume survey of e-learning in 39 countries. The first volume of the book called E-learning Practices, is available for download at Scribd in multiple formats. Thanks to Gary Woodill's writing on the Workplace Learning Today blog for pointing this one out to us.

There's a LOT of eLearning chatter out there, so we'll keep an eye out for the most relevant information to share with you. And, of course, please post a comment if there's anything you want to share.

Intrigued? Here are five things to take into account when weighing the costs and benefits of sticking with your enterprise training management system for your specific project or using a web-based training funded by monthly costs:

1. Training-dependent launch delays: Can you afford to wait?

You're a department manager in a Fortune 1000 company - or any large organization, for that matter. You want to deploy e-learning tools, either for staff, clients or maybe even your vendors. You've defined goals, set up a project plan, and assembled relevant subject details. You've got a tight deadline.

That's when you hit the bottleneck. Learning departments, training departments, and even IT departments have been decimated by the layoffs of the past two years. Because these departments were probably already operating at low staffing levels, their lead times are longer - much, much longer. (Chances are, companywide workforce reductions didn't take your department's project into account.)

Since training often can't be designed until a product or software implementation is near completion, it's naturally one of the last steps on a project plan. When training gets delayed, it can delay product launches or internal cost-saving software implementations, or even risk expensive compliance issues.

2. Customer training solutions: Do you want your customers to use the same LMS as your employees?

As a product manager, you might want your customers to experience the look and feel of your specific product, rather than the look and feel of the company as a whole. You may want to have customer training data separated from employee training data, keeping each statistic pure. Further, if this is an early experiment into training customers via e-learning, your internal training systems may not have adequate security to allow non-employee access.

3. Compliance: How close are you to compliance deadlines?

Government-imposed compliance deadlines frequently underestimate deployment time lines. What are the penalties and risks of non-compliance? What are the public relations and brand implications of non-compliance?

4. Temporary, quick time-frame training needs: Is the web-based training need permanent or temporary?

Training initiatives can be implemented by e-learning at rollout to quickly train large employee groups. A web-based learning management system that allows fast deployment can be cheaper than hiring consultants to implement temporary training needs into a corporate e-learning system.

5. Customization: Does your company's enterprise LMS meet your department's needs for this project?

Trying to fit a square peg in a round hole can only lead to frustration and delays. Working directly with the provider of your department-level LMS cuts through several levels of red tape and allows you to get exactly what you want, when you want it. And because the LMS is dedicated to a specific project, it is faster and easier to handle any upgrades or updates.

Summary

When faced with one or more of the above issues, a responsible manager may be forced to consider other alternatives to their existing corporate learning system.

What if the opportunity costs or hard costs of delay override the actual cost of the web-based training solution that could prevent the delay? What implications would this have to your project, your department, your boss, or your entire company?

If the implications of delay are large, then the ROI of an alternative training development solution can quickly become significant enough to gain top management support.

A number of vendors offer web-based learning management systems that can be used as a stand-alone LMS, and can eventually interface with an enterprise solution if necessary, when learning and IT staff become available.

A stand-alone, easy to access, web-based LMS supported by a monthly subscription may not only be cost-effective, it may also provide the custom solution for your particular need.

Has anyone out there gone this route? We'd like to hear about your experiences.