A fat paycheck? Yes, but not always. The corner office within the next five years? Yes sure, but what about now? 401(k) plan. Health and dental insurance. Paid vacation. Well, these would be nice. What do you think is the single biggest factor that motivates employees to work at a company? According to Bersin by Deloitte’s research with Glassdoor, learning, and career opportunities are mentioned as the highest priorities by employees. Employees know that in an ever-changing and volatile workplace, there is only ONE way to make oneself indispensable. Keep growing. Keep learning. Innovate consistently. Companies like Yahoo,  BlackBerry, and Blockbuster failed to keep up with the times. The result: they continued to lag till the day when they were forced to give up. Innovation is the game-changer. It is true not only for organizations but also for individuals. This is why companies are able to lure valuable employees away from their rivals with the promise of training opportunities. As an HR or training professional, you have to keep your employees engaged in working for the company by providing them with ample learning opportunities. They need to improve their skills, increase productivity, and be on top of their game, so your business can out-innovate its rivals, tide over disruptions, and respond to market changes.

They often forget dates and end up missing social engagements or the kid’s soccer matches. The smartphone rings and they lose the thread of their thoughts. An email notification pops up, and they stop typing a report to send to their boss. This is your average employee (and probably you feel identified too). This is how people work—answering phones in between drafting reports, updating Facebook statuses while writing codes, and attending sundry meetings in between their daily tasks. Now would you be surprised if you knew that people usually forget 90 percent of what they learn within one week after the training event? (More stats here.) 

If you're not yet as familiar with xAPI and LRS technologies, some of the following questions might be ringing in your mind right now: How do I know my company needs an LRS? Why do I need an LRS?  Do I still need an LMS? The answers to these questions depend on your company's goals, goals, and resources. LRS technology is the result of the new habits that the technology context has fostered. And this means corporate leaders are pressured to implement training programs that adapt to the new learning expectations, behaviors, and needs of their employees. Learning is no longer happening in a fixed place, at a specific time, or even in a linear way. It happens everywhere and anytime. By implementing an LRS in your company, you will be able to capture the activities that occur by "learning in the flow of work". In other words, you will be able to collect and store every learning experience – from what happens online and offline, and not just within the LMS. Such information will be helpful to you to give a more detailed image of what REALLY happens in your training programs and thus optimize them accordingly. Read on and find out the key signs that will help you recognize if it's time to give a Learning Record Store (LRS) an opportunity in your company.

As a Learning & Development leader, there’s a good chance you’ve come up against employees’ lack of interest in training and development. Employee expectations and desires are changing, and there are new ways to engage them.  If you’re still not using mobile learning or using it in a small way in the workplace, it is a missed opportunity to boost employee engagement. 

What is "Just-In-Time Learning"? It is walking down to the desk of a more experienced co-worker to ask for a solution when you get stuck on a project. It is looking up Wikipedia when you come across a novel concept during your browsing sessions. It is calling up mom when you want advice on a recipe. Just-in-time learning is having access to knowledge just when you need it. It is not having to wait till the formal training happens or you can catch hold of a subject matter expert.

YouTube videos are viewed 4 billion times every day. Vimeo videos are viewed a staggering 715 million times every month. And people do not throng these video-sharing sites just to gorge on funny cat videos. Biology and astronomy lessons. Recipes. DIY carpentry hacks. Movies. Breaking news. Artistic performances. These sites house videos on almost any topic under the sun and attract people with varied interests. People watch these videos to learn, laugh, shed tears, be amazed and feel the heartbeat of another person. Moving images pin us down like no other medium. It is not surprising to learn that videos have caught on as a medium of delivering training at the workplace too. According to the Brandon Hall Group, for Learning Pulse Survey, 95 percent of companies around the world use video to train their employees.

Human beings respond to experiences and learn from them. As eLearning designers, we need to think beyond modules and training sessions and instead create “experiences” for the learners. We have to get used to the idea that this is the era of the user, and we have to meet their needs.  We have to STOP creating lessons that feel right to us. We have to STOP creating courses that are convenient for us to build. We have to focus on the learner experience and create courses that enhance this. And for this, you have to have a feel for Learning Experience Design (LXD).

Technology is changing at an incredible pace. Marketing, data analysis, HR and collaboration tools are part of our lives, and with new tools coming out daily, new terms arise all the time.