2014 – THE YEAR IN REVIEW

2014 has been a wonderful year for us, because it was replete with LEARNNOVATIONS (learning innovations). And, it has earned us many an insight from thought leaders who travelled along with us in our quest for knowledge.

We started our journey of 2014 with a quick review of the previous year and followed it up with the under-mentioned:

• Completed the first anniversary of ‘Crystal Balling’ Interview Series: If you have been following us, you would have noticed that it’s a year since we started publishing our Crystal Balling interview series with some of the eminent personalities of the e-learning industry. We launched this campaign on 15th November 2013 as part of our tenth anniversary celebrations. This series reflected our die-hard commitment to promote ‘good learning’ amongst the members of the learning community. Some of the questions we wanted to explore through this initiative were:

• What does future learning look like?
• How would people learn in future?
• Where is our industry headed?

In addition to having 13 luminaries helping us with answers for the above questions throughout 2014, we eagerly look forward to having more of them joining us in our quest for next year. If you are already following us, you will get notifications as and when we release the interviews. If not, we encourage you to join us on this exploratory journey.

• Became a signatory of the Serious eLearning Manifesto: We consider that the ‘Serious eLearning Manifesto’- put together by the four learning experts, Michael Allen, Julie Dirksen, Clark Quinn, and Will Thalheimer – is a great initiative, aimed at helping e-learning deliver. We are happy to have made a couple of contributions to the manifesto. Here they are:

• We became a signatory of the manifesto, pledging our commitment to apply its principles in our work. Here is our endorsement on the Manifesto’s page.

• We added three interviews from our Crystal Balling series – those of Cathy Moore, Clive Shepherd, and Clark Quinn – to the Manifesto’s calendar, so they could be shared with the learning community. Check out the details in our post here.

• Hosted a Stop for Karl Kapp’s Blog Book Tour: We were delighted to host one of the stops for Karl Kapp’s blog book tour (organized for his ASTD co-published book ‘The Gamification of Learning and Instruction Fieldbook: Theory into Practice’). Though this blog book tour was held in the month of December 2013, much of the discussions around these stops happened in 2014. Check out these details in Karl’s post. Also check out Karl’s exclusive video message for you here.

• Launched Our LinkedIn Group: 2014 also saw the launch of the Learnnovators LinkedIn group. The group, as the name indicates, is of, and for, Learnnovators – learning professionals who are passionate about bringing innovation to learning. The group’s objective is to help members engage in stimulating discussions around this topic. The group has participants actively exchanging thoughts, ideas, experiences, news, tools, tips, trends, case studies, strategies, processes, best practices, etc. to help the learning community create amazing learning experiences. Please click here to visit or join our group.

• Launched Our Newspaper: Another milestone achievement of 2014 is the launch of ‘Learnobytes’ – our weekly online e-learning newspaper that carries the best e-learning news from around the world. The inaugural issue of Learnobytes was released on Monday, 3rd March, 2014. The newspaper’s objective is to help readers be up-to-date on the most recent news from the world of Learning and Development (L&D). This newspaper, launched as part of our tenth anniversary celebrations and our commitment towards promoting ‘good learning’, is another tribute to the learning community.  We intend that this will serve as a knowledge hub for all learning professionals who are on the lookout for the best reference resources on the latest developments in the e-learning industry. Check out the details in our post here, and view (or subscribe to) our newspaper here.

• Launched Our LMS: 2014 also witnessed the launch of Learnosphere – our Learning Management System (LMS) that is powerful, flexible and easy to use. It has an intuitive interface and a host of user-friendly features. It enables organizations to manage the entire learning and development process from enrollment and delivery to testing, tracking and reporting. Learnosphere supports both the self-paced (asynchronous) and facilitated (synchronous, via web conferencing and social features) modes of learning, thereby providing a comprehensive learning experience to users. It is built on a three-tier architecture, enabling organizations to offer courses not just to internal users, but also to external vendors or clients, and manage them from a single dashboard. Moreover, learners can access the LMS from various devices – desktops/laptops, tablets and mobile devices, thereby enabling them to carry their learning with them wherever they go. Check out the details of our LMS here.

• Launched Our First Internal Mobile App: Another significant milestone of 2014 was the launch of ‘LearnQ’ – our first internal app. It is a smart phone-enabled Quality Management System (QMS) app that we designed and developed for our internal use. It is aimed at aiding our team members with ubiquitous access to our QMS information (such as Checklists and Job Aids). Check out the details in our post here.

• Launched Our First Performance Support App for Our Client: In 2014, we were also able to design, develop and launch a tablet-based performance support app solution for a leading manufacturing company in the country. It is aimed at helping end users of their clients in installing and commissioning their products all by themselves. All they have to do is to use their smart phones in scanning the QR-Codes placed on various parts to view short ‘How-To’ videos and job aids that would help in assembling the machines. Check out the details in our post here.

• Got featured among the ‘Top 10 eLearning Content Development Companies for 2014’: Finally, 2014 also witnessed our getting featured among the ‘Top 10 eLearning Content Development Companies for 2014’. The Top 10 list was released by eLearning Industry, a thriving network of over 150,000 eLearning professionals. Founded by Christopher Pappas, this is the largest and one of the most respected eLearning communities in the world. Check out the details in our post here.

Looking ahead, 2015 is going to be yet another year full of exciting learnnovations. And, as always, we are eager to place our New Year resolutions here:

We will:

• Sustain our commitment to promote ‘good’ learning
• Focus on innovation in learning design and development
• Upskill ourselves to successfully face the new challenges of this ever evolving learning age
• Keep ourselves and our partners abreast of new tools and technologies that support/augment learning and development
• Engage in constant research on the latest trends in learning and development
• Embrace and practice social learning within our organization
• Strive to become and remain a trusted Thought Partner for our clients

We wish you a healthy, happy and prosperous 2015! Hope the New Year helps you in bringing about many more LEARNNOVATIONS in your learning designs