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By kgutierrez, on February 2nd, 2012
 SHIFT a leader in innovative in the eLearning environment, won a coveted Brandon Hall Silver award for excellence in the Technology for Testing or Learning Evaluation category.
SHIFT’S win was announced on January 25, 2012. The winners are listed at Brandon Hall’s Website.
“For the third straight year SHIFT wins a Brandon Hall Award. In categories as diverse as Rich Media Authoring, Rapid Authoring, Testing and Evaluation and this year, for SHIFT’s Game Engine. All these 6 awards won for one eLearning authoring tool. Testimony of the flexibility and breadth of SHIFT’s capabilities.” Said Randolf Kissling, CEO of Aura Interactiva, the developers of SHIFT.
The Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Technology Awards are presented by Brandon Hall Group, a leading research firm in training and development. The Learning Technology Awards program showcases innovations in the products in the marketplace for creating and managing learning, talent, and performance.
“2011 provided us with a unique viewpoint of how organizations are driving business results and performance improvement through technology. This was the year in which technology providers and their clients have been able to transform the power of mobile, social, talent, learning, sales and marketing technologies, with proven, validated results. Most impressive to our judges was an underlying theme around collaborative relationships, a deep understanding of client needs and how technology can be leveraged to create opportunities and operating efficiencies for organizations of all sizes. I am proud to announce these first-rate solution providers as award winners in the most competitive year yet” said Mike Cooke, CEO of Brandon Hall Group.
About SHIFT
SHIFT is used by organizations that need to get more eLearning done, faster and more efficiently. SHIFT is an award winning authoring system that has the necessary elements to empower a user to create rich, interactive courses, with no technical knowledge, rapidly. By using SHIFT, the user has access to all the necessary elements to create an effective and great looking course anywhere at any time. Automated, smart interface interactions, games, simulations, media recording, and scenario builders, available in one integrated package. SHIFT allows for specialization of labor, collaboration, review, update and content reutilization that will make large eLearning development teams dramatically more effective and more productive. For more information visit: www.shiftelearning.com
About Brandon Hall Group
Having worked with more than 10,000 clients globally and after 20 years of delivering world-class solutions, Brandon Hall Group is the preeminent research and analyst organization focused on developing research-driven solutions to drive organizational performance for emerging and large organizations. Brandon Hall Group has an extensive repository of thought leadership, research, data and expertise in Learning and Development, Talent Management, Sales Effectiveness, Marketing Impact, and Executive Management. For more information visit: (www.brandonhall.com)
By kgutierrez, on January 12th, 2012
We are thrilled to be exhibiting at the upcoming ASTD Techknowledge 2012 in Las Vegas January 25- 27.
ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) is the world’s largest association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals. ASTD’s members come from more than 100 countries and connect locally in more than 130 U.S. chapters and with more than 30 international partners. Members work in thousands of organizations of all sizes, in government, as independent consultants, and suppliers.
ASTD TechKnowledge 2012 will welcome more than 1,200 people who focus their daily attention on the design and delivery, management and strategy of technology and learning. Attendees will come together alongside 70 exhibitors in the learning technology space to learn, network, and move people forward through the application of learning and technology.
We invite you to join us at booth #303 and learn how the latest updates to SHIFT can benefit you, demo new products, and course – meet the members of the SHIFTteam!
Also come and discover our on-site promotions!
Please register here. You will be instructed to enter a unique invitation number, which is: 2883.
We look forward to seeing you.
By admin, on October 26th, 2011
| New Game |
| Tennis is the newest sport offered by SHIFT‘s Game Engine where students will be able to compete to win a challenge.
The tennis game in SHIFT‘s Game Engine lets users add single choice questions that can be answered correctly in order to win the Tennis Cup.
This game displays instructions automatically and the instructional designer needs to include a minimum of 5 questions which will be displayed randomly.
Also the game can be interchanged among all others inside the Game Engine without losing the information added in the first place.
This will allow instructional designers to use their contents in many different ways. |
| New Avatars |
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Avatar screens in SHIFT let the instructional designer present information that requires a direct contact with the student.
They can be used to kick start a course, close a module, topic or course, present the course’s learning objectives, etc due to the fact that the avatar is a character that serves as a tutor or a guide for the student inside each particular course.
SHIFT‘s newest avatars will let you have tutors that can fit accordingly to the content inside each of your courses
Also a new button called “Select” has been added to the screen which will let you search the type of agent you want and add it to the screen by clicking over its thumbnail.
Click here to see all the new avatars. |
| Automatic Main Menus |
| SHIFT‘s 13 new menus will allow you to have flexibility and variety in your course’s structure.They can be easily updated by simply clicking on the Install button.
Click here to see the new menus. |
| Choice Exercise |
| The new “Checks with review” exercise is located among SHIFT‘s Evaluation screens.It will present the student with two or three questions of the same topic which will let the instructional designer evaluate the desired content.
When the student answers the question correctly, he/she will receive positive feedback and the Forward button will be activated automatically but if the student answers incorrectly, a Review button will be activated taking the student back to the section that needs to be reviewed in order to answer the question or questions in the right way.
Click here to learn more about this exercise. |
By admin, on September 23rd, 2011
| Six New Menus |
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The six new automatic menus that have been added to SHIFT will let you present your course´s structure un a quick and easy way by simply clicking on a button.
 
You can choose from a wide variety of interfaces the one that suits your course´s content best.
These menus where created around topics like: technology, preserving the environment and economics, with different shades of green, blue and gray which you can customize to fit your company´s branding.
Click here if you want to see all the menus available. |
| Screen Report |
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The new screen report added to SHIFT will let you know which interfaces were added to each course and the person who added them.
This new feature also lets you see the different courses created and the amount of screens each course has in a particular period of time.
The report is called “Created screens” and it can only be viewed by a user with an admin permit. |
| Other Updates |
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Updates on screen p63
The Common Game Engine or p63 will now display the instructions set out for each of the games in Portuguese. Also it will display text with bold format. The thumbnails and samples for all the games have been updated as well in order to show a better description of the interaction that the user wishes to select.
Change in screen p31_45
The button labeled “Text” displayed in the lower right corner of this screen has been moved to the lower left corner. This is due to the fact that the button was cut out whenever certain image formats where used.
Modifications to the Script
The instructions for each of the questions added to the Choice with image screen or p23 will now be seen in the course´s script.
Adjustments to the Scenario Builder
All audio notes inside the Scenario Builder screen (p77) have been updated in order to record the changes performed to this particular field. Also the movement of the character´s mouth has been corrected so that it stops moving its lips whenever the user presses the pause button. |
By admin, on September 23rd, 2011
| Game Engine |
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SHIFT offers you 7 new games that allow you to give more interactivity to your courses.
Among these you´ll find: Baseball Tournament, Basketball Tournament, Golf Tournament, Bowling Cup, etc.
 
The games have instructions which are displayed automatically and you need to include a minimum of 5 questions per game which are displayed randomly.
They also provide the possibility of switching the type of game chosen without losing any of the text added to the screen.
This will allow you to reuse your content widely by simply changing the type of game the student will be playing in each course. |
| Eleven New Automatic Menus |
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These eleven new automatic menus that have been added to SHIFT will allow you to present your course´s structure in a quick and simple way, by just clicking on a button.
Among these new menus you´ll find interfaces with certain shades of green, red, gray and blue which you can customize by adding your company´s logo.
Click here to see al the menus available. |
| Other Updates |
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Updates to Screen p77
The Scenario Engine screen (p77) has been modified so that it´s compliant with the bold typeface. Also characters 7, 15, 26 and 38 have been fixed so that they don´t move their lips unless they´re marked to do so.
New Samples The samples for screens p31_87, p31_89, p31_91, p31_92, p31_94 and p31_100 have been updated so that they display the newest version of each of the screens.
Forward Button
The forward button on the Video Screen (p72) has been programmed so that it begins blinking once the video finished playing.
Special Characters in the Glossary
The glossary has been updated so that it allows words with special characters.
Frame on the Title Screen
The Title Screen (p12) displayed an upper border whenever the border field was unmarked, this error has been fixed.
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By admin, on June 29th, 2011
Playing games is, thus, an ideal form of preparation for the workplace of the 21st century, as some forward-thinking firms are already starting to realize.” The Economist.
How can we make sure that our learners are getting the most of the courses provided without being bored with the same old version of eLearning?
Maybe we should try to place ourselves into the end users’ shoes and try to come up with what we would be interested in seeing.
Nowadays apps are the big thing when it comes to entertainment. There are social apps, travel apps, photo apps, food apps, you name it, it’s there.
But the interesting part of it all is that gaming apps are still the ones preferred by the vast majority of the audience. I believe they’re the ones that entertain the most, so why shouldn’t we use their base to help people learn?
They can help learners acquire new knowledge or abilities in a fun, fast way, they’re highly motivating and they generate real competition of people in a risk-free environment.
Saying it sounds really simple, but the big question mark in everyone’s mind comes up when trying to think about making it real.
In basic perspective, the goal is not to entertain but to use entertainment to reinforce learning; that was our main focus when developing learning games in SHIFT.
So we came up with a list of characteristics which we considered necessary when creating every single one of our games:
- Include realistic but safe environments for the user.
- Demand challenges but also make users satisfied.
- Help develop side knowledge: build a hypothesis, solve problems, and develop strategies.
- Have defined objectives for each problem.
- Entirely interactive.
- Have a suitable content: not very easy or very difficult for the student.
- Invite to think, develop, analyze, summarize, and conclude.
- Be fun: they keep people’s interest.
- Meet industry standards such as AICC and SCORM
Once you start to look at eLearning as an experience all on its own rather than matching it up to classroom learning you’ll realize that the more interactive it gets (without losing your main goal), the better understanding everyone will have of what you’re trying to convey.
By admin, on May 16th, 2011
We are thrilled to be exhibiting at the upcoming ASTD 2011 International Conference and Exposition in Orlando May 22-25
ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) is the world’s largest association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals. ASTD’s members come from more than 100 countries and connect locally in more than 130 U.S. chapters and with more than 30 international partners. Members work in thousands of organizations of all sizes, in government, as independent consultants, and suppliers.
The ASTD 2011 International Conference & Exposition will feature 200+ educational sessions from industry leading experts, and a world-class EXPO filled with the latest products and services available from top suppliers and keynote addresses from leaders in the field.
We invite you to join us at booth #442 and learn how the latest updates to SHIFT can benefit you, demo new products, and course – meet the members of the SHIFT team!
Please register here.
By randolf, on May 4th, 2011
This morning I had to give a ½ hour “class” on my son’s Pre-K class. I had planned to talk about Volcanoes, one of my son’s favorite topics. After some Google search, I decided to create a baking soda and vinegar volcanic eruption. Last night, after buying all materials and some testing, the experiment didn’t work as expected. No big eruption, nothing that would capture their attention in class.
So it’s 9pm, 11 hours before class, tired and clueless. Then it flashed on me: why not create a mini-eLearning course for the kids, show some animations, some videos, some games. Something fun. After some experimentation, the course looks like:
- Intro screen: Robot avatar greets the kids: I had him say all their names, so kids we’re amazed that the robot actually new all of them
- Preloaded screen cat: explains we’re going to play a game, my 8 year old helps me record the audio before breakfast this morning
- Butterfly metamorphosis game: three kids volunteer to help the cocoon become a butterfly. They’re successful.
- Preloaded screen dog: introduces the next game
- Card discovery game: they have to help the animal “mother” find their missing animal “babies”. All the kids want to play. Three of them flip the cards and win
- Rescue the princess game: two more kids help the knight rescue the princess, answering some questions on the physical states of water
- Scenario builder: I have my 8 year old’s daughter’s “avatar” take the kids from her bedroom, getting ready for class, breakfast, class and finally a “sing along” counting game. 6 or 7 scenes.
- Rally game: the red team and the blue team compete to win the gold cup. The blue team wins by a wide margin.
- The cat closes up the session. My 6 year old records the audio this time.
In the end, a 25 minute class, run by the kids and the computer. Takes me 2.5 hours last night and 10 minutes recording with my daughters this morning.
Once more, SHIFT’s promise of rich media, interactive, highly engaging yet very quick development holds true.
I leave the mini-course at school, the kids want to play again…
By admin, on May 3rd, 2011
SHIFT, the eLearning authoring ecosystem, has won three coveted Brandon Hall Silver awards for technology excellence in the Rich Media, Rapid Authoring and Evaluation or Testing categories.
SHIFT changes the models of eLearning development. SHIFT allows the development of a rich, interactive and engaging learning experience with no need for advanced technical skills. It’s a one-stop solution for instructional design, media recording, media editing, immersive scenarios and simulations, testing, collaboration and workflow management, all integrated into one cloud-based environment. All processes integrated and managed within the system, including media management, work assignments, reviewing, project documentation and even RFQ’s for outsourcing from external third party vendors. SHIFT’s database driven architecture also makes content reutilization, localization and subsequent changes simple.
“We firmly believe that we have created an authoring environment that changes the way eLearning is done. SHIFT is opening up markets for thousands of organizations and individuals that considered eLearning development either too complex or too costly. One single development environment that can produce rich media courses with the resource investment of rapid development” said Randolf Kissling, CEO of Aura Interactiva, the developers of SHIFT.
The Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Technology Awards are presented by Brandon Hall Group, a leading research firm in training and development. The Learning Technology Awards program showcases innovations in the products in the marketplace for creating and managing learning, talent, and performance.
“These excellent tools and systems are the cutting edge of learning technology,” said Tom Werner, chief research officer and director of the Awards program. “They really change for the better how people learn in the workplace.”
About SHIFT
SHIFT is used by organizations that need to get more eLearning done, faster and more efficiently. SHIFT is an award winning authoring system that has the necessary elements to empower a user to create rich, interactive courses, with no technical knowledge, rapidly. By using SHIFT, the user has access to all the necessary elements to create an effective and great looking course anywhere at anytime. Automated, smart interface interactions, games, simulations, media recording, and scenario builders, available in one integrated package. SHIFT allows for specialization of labor, collaboration, review, update and content reutilization that will make large eLearning development teams dramatically more effective and more productive. For more information visit: www.shiftelearning.com
About Brandon Hall Group
Having worked with more than 5,000 clients globally and after 17 years of delivering world-class solutions, Brandon Hall Group is the preeminent research and analyst organization focused on developing research-driven solutions to drive organizational performance for emerging and large organizations. Through the recent merger of Brandon Hall Research and AC Growth, Brandon Hall Group has an extensive repository of thought leadership, research, data, and expertise in Learning and Development, Talent Management, Sales, Marketing, and Executive Management. For more information visit: http://www.brandon-hall.com
By admin, on March 28th, 2011
By Rick Beaudry, CEO, MindMuze
www.MindMuze.com – a SHIFT Authorized Partner.
With a keen focus on fueling new growth opportunities associated with the economic recovery, SMBs are making significant investments in training their customers and their employees. For the SMB, it is critical that the education solutions are tailored to their budget and resource challenges.
SMB’s typically look for an edge. Flexibility and innovation drive their growth. SMB leaders see the potential for learning management software to be applied not only to meet traditional new-hire regulations but to address the customer education problem as well. In fact, the inclusion of an innovative education platform for their products and services drives a competitive advantage, not only among other SMB’s, but over their larger enterprise competitors.
According to Forrester Research, 40% of SMBs are either planning to implement learning management software in a year or indicate an interest in doing so. The research also indicates that collaboration and content management lead their investments. Also, 44% will expand or initially invest in collaboration software this year, and 40% will do so in content management software, continuing the trend from 2010.
We are seeing tremendous growth in the adoption of innovative education solutions by SMBs throughout the world. They can now harness the power of SAAS (Software as a Service) and on-demand global labour in order to offer education to their employees and customers that is equal to that of their large enterprise brethren.
People, process and technology are all essential in the delivery of small and medium-size businesses. They are now investing in their own learning assets as never before. Now, armed with products and services that will enable them to compete with larger enterprise, SMBs are able to extend valuable education to their employees, and to their customers.
The lines separating large enterprises from small and mid-sized businesses are becoming blurred. A new generation of tech-savvy business owners are making SMBs look a lot more like their larger enterprise counterparts – on a smaller scale, of course.
MindMuze Innovations – Learning Solutions For Small and Mid-Sized Businesses.
MindMuze has packaged learning management and elearning development into a cost effective, easily maintainable solution set that includes “renting” learning management services at a fraction of the cost of implementing an LMS to manage the delivery of elearning assets and learning tracking. In addition, MindMuze has combined the power of SHIFT (www.shiftelearning.com), an award-winning collaborative elearning authoring tool, with instant access to a global pool of elearning project resources to ensure the rapid, cost effective development of elearning assets for the SMB – 100% custom learning portals for your employees and customers, along with 100% custom interactive online learning modules.
MindMuze partners with the small, or often non-existent, internal HR training department to offer solutions typically only available to larger enterprise customers.
Contact us at info@mindmuze.com to find out how small and mid-sized businesses are utilizing the people, process and the technology to make delivering innovative eLearning solutions to your customers and your employees a cost-effective reality.
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SHIFT a leader in innovative in the eLearning environment, won a coveted Brandon Hall Silver award for excellence in the Technology for Testing or Learning Evaluation category.
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