tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34135919203522869952009-07-06T07:55:31.825-07:00Welcome to Allen's Training Blog. Our purpose here is to discuss topics relating to the training world at large, from human performance to procurement, instructional design to best practices, instructor-led training to e-learning and the internet. <br><br> Visit our main website at <a href="http://www.allencomm.com">www.allencomm.com</a>.Allen Traininghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00964841805737918069noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-52253231511611992322009-06-30T14:40:00.000-07:002009-06-30T15:12:13.364-07:00

I recently read a blog on Gartner.com from David McCoy entitled “RealSPEECH#2.” Obviously, he is touting Gartner for their research and ability to truly define a “leader,” but it got me thinking—How do we define leader and what qualifies a vendor to be an elearning leader?So I googled qualities of a leader and found this:Okay, a few more than I needed, so I tried quotes: “qualities of a leader,”

Donna Baileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353223188744585798donnab@allencomm.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-51254472925264164242009-06-25T08:30:00.000-07:002009-06-29T12:42:20.291-07:00

We often bemoan a mistake that can be seen coming towards us. Most recently, I have been reminded once again the importance of process and verification of process as a key to provide better service and client communication in high pressure situations. Not too long ago, I feel we lost a great opportunity to provide value to a client by not following our tried and true process. It is a source of

Ron Zamirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09689063392378681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-77359312781342941352009-06-16T14:09:00.000-07:002009-06-16T14:11:14.638-07:00

If modification fees from the HMP program are the carrot for servicers to help borrowers restructure their loans then compliance requirements are the “stick” or the other side of the proverbial two-edged sword. Servicers must comply with the HMP requirements and must document the execution of loan evaluation, loan modification and accounting processes in order to receive the modification fees.

Richard Harmonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11279366183529374275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-57838874194575282922009-06-02T15:44:00.000-07:002009-06-02T15:48:01.908-07:00

The financial markets in all their forms (banking, mortgage, investment, etc.) find themselves turning on their collective ears trying to deal with the psychological blow of near collapse combined with a new set of rules and regulations tied to Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) money that rescued them from their actual or perceived downfall.Ignoring the philosophical and political

Richard Harmonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11279366183529374275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-36441607112386018212009-05-22T10:13:00.000-07:002009-05-22T10:25:23.850-07:00

We recently had a company meeting and someone make a joke about if you can’t find a job teaching English, you’d be here at Allen creating e-learning. Well, what made it funny was how true that statement rang. I started counting the amount of people here, including myself, that have an English degree. It’s pretty staggering.So while this could be about how our courses are sound grammatically or

Donna Baileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353223188744585798donnab@allencomm.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-23669054078756281852009-04-22T13:00:00.000-07:002009-04-22T14:55:14.154-07:00

As today is Earth Day, I thought I'd poll some people at Allen to see what Earth Day means to them.Here is a presentation one of our Project Managers, Jen Milner did for a LBT (Lunch Based Training) at how we could help the earth more: And here is what one of our Graphic Design Leads, David Horrocks, had to say about Earth Day:Though as an artist, Earth Day and the environment should be more of a

Donna Baileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353223188744585798donnab@allencomm.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-28188166020349311322009-03-19T10:19:00.000-07:002009-03-19T15:55:05.912-07:00

Just a few quick links worth checking out:Working/Learning carnival: the latest session, a blog carnival from "Daves Whiteboard." Whats a "blog carnival," you ask? Forget the explanation, just go experience it yourself.Design Under Constraint: How Limits Boost Creativity, an excellent article from the March 09 edition of Wired. Wired Creative Director, Scott Dadich's launch of the article is an

Brent Verhaarenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02487935557942848890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-80719117998143489342009-03-17T12:13:00.000-07:002009-03-17T15:13:20.024-07:00

Here at Allen, we try to blend both time for creativity and time for work. Today, for St. Patrick's Day, we had an office party with our first annual Limerick contest. Here they are, for better or for worse:There once was a man named Mikewho loved to wear Spandex and bike.He discovered that his family,found the Stone O'Blarney,so he threw an Irish party all liked.There once was a room that was

Donna Baileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353223188744585798donnab@allencomm.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-52677209588528645262009-03-16T14:30:00.000-07:002009-03-16T15:38:48.252-07:00

As the world of multimedia becomes ever more varied and complex, in the realm of custom courseware we attempt to appeal to all different kinds of learners as well as compete with the likes of HD television and 3D video games. But when it comes to learning, does more multimedia equate with more effective instruction? In particular, would it benefit the learner to use music more often in web-based

Mindy Heywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01955825888968694247noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-23429384563021725912009-03-05T14:05:00.000-08:002009-03-05T14:12:25.070-08:00

Oh boy. I just took a look at the stock market returns. I need to stop doing that. I need to treat it the same way as my retirement accounts: ignore. I even heard the dreaded economic “d” word tossed around this week. Depression. Whether we head that way or not, we’re probably all feeling a bit depressed one way or another. It’s a tough world out there right now. We’re all hunkering down.

Brent Verhaarenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02487935557942848890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-89491687029970183332009-03-04T13:32:00.000-08:002009-03-04T13:45:16.295-08:00

I recently read an article about the state of our economy that had an interesting take on the problem.  It didn't blame the Bernie Madoffs of the world, or the past administration, or the housing crisis.  Instead, it blamed the whole thing on an acceleration in technology over the past fifteen years.  This author postulated that somewhere in there, we moved from the Industrial Age to the

Lime Inkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05135248043830121767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-12706059756530015682009-02-27T11:44:00.000-08:002009-02-27T11:46:57.414-08:00

I find writing highly enjoyable. So recently, when given a list of topics to consider when writing this blog entry, I was a bit mystified that I felt wordless regarding most of them. And so it hit me: What inspires us to write? Or, what prevents us?I gave this a lot of thought. When we encounter "writer's block" as it is commonly known, is it because we don't have any inspiration to generate

Mindy Heywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01955825888968694247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-46065815274254179502009-02-24T15:02:00.000-08:002009-02-27T11:51:57.191-08:00

Although instructional designers’ daily focus is often to design and develop courseware, they can make a vital difference in how risk is managed. I am wrapping up an online Project Risk Management course this week. My instructor asked us to post thoughts about how the knowledge we’ve gained in the course can be applied in our workplace.So, I thought I’d create a list of risk management best

Laura Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02997279628502222290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-13640174692739534382009-02-16T13:57:00.000-08:002009-02-16T13:58:40.650-08:00

"Make sure the dialogue is authentic."I am sure many instructional designers have heard such a request. It is after such a comment that I inevitably sit in front of my computer and wonder how to create truly authentic dialogue. The truth is that authenticity is subjective. One person’s authenticity will be very different than other person’s. Inevitably, we have client’s who feel that using

Breanne Groverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502422581510738366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-21460314081019046952009-02-09T14:29:00.000-08:002009-02-10T09:00:32.995-08:00

Yes it's true...At least it's true that some instructional designers worry about being pushed out of an already crowded market by "user-friendly" authoring tools. After all, doesn’t it seem intuitive that with the advent of new, increasingly easy-to-use technology that fewer and fewer designers will be required to support training needs? Add to this concern the influx of Gen Yers practically born

Jason Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08433399955960437567JasonF@allencomm.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-33647593775082411312009-01-23T14:13:00.000-08:002009-01-23T14:15:29.382-08:00

How often do we experience the lull in conversation when asked by a vendor: “So, how much do you want to spend?” or “What’s your budget for this project?” The ironic part of the budget equation is that both sides in a training transaction tend to close up around this question.For the vendor, when a potential client asks about pricing, a tap dance may be incurred: “Well, it’s hard today,” or “Hmm…

Ron Zamirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09689063392378681479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-7654210834918978052009-01-23T14:08:00.000-08:002009-01-23T14:13:01.000-08:00

I can’t let the week end without a small note about the historic inauguration. Last we ramped up for the big inauguration with a game of Presidential Trivia (my own creation) and cupcakes decorated in red, white, and blue. Then on Tuesday January 20, 2009 at 10 am Mountain Time most of the Allen employees packed themselves into the Big Conference Room to watch the inauguration of the 44th

Rachel McPhailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02631126486119522635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-29077895561383707722009-01-20T08:36:00.000-08:002009-01-20T09:01:30.613-08:00

Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell, authors of Learning to Fly: Practical Knowledge Management from Leading and Learning Organizations, were members of BP’s Knowledge Management team. They wrote the said book based on their experiences at BP and elsewhere. Chapter seven focuses on learning from one’s peers.Collison and Parcell make a useful conceptual cross section about the meaningfulness of

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06701360609046662627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-67722855572271906372009-01-16T09:59:00.000-08:002009-01-16T14:38:33.045-08:00

I always find it strange when two completely different circles begin talking about the same thing. This happened to me the other day. I went to a SWIM meeting (Smart Women in Marketing) where we talked about networking, specifically Facebook and twitter, and then I went to work and read "Why I Tweet" by Jeffrey Mann on the Gartner Network Blog. I have to admit, I did not tweet and I am not sure I

Donna Baileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353223188744585798donnab@allencomm.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-9555237397397134382009-01-05T14:29:00.000-08:002009-01-05T14:33:03.742-08:00

At a dinner party I attended the other night, some of my friends started to share stories about their children who are very good at imitation. One story that stood out to me was of a little girl in a department store. She went over to a rack of clothes (her size) and began looking through the clothes around the rack. Every third or fourth item, she would pick up the price tag, look at it, and

Breanne Groverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502422581510738366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-70517997797405052612008-12-22T09:23:00.000-08:002008-12-22T09:30:42.320-08:00

To all, we wish you a very happy holiday season. At the close of a great - though challenging - year, we begin looking to 2009. There's no question that it will in fact be even more challenging for all of us in the training industry. Here at Allen, though, we believe that it may just be the most rewarding. Nothing great comes without a great sacrifice and investment. This next year, we'll be

Brent Verhaarenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02487935557942848890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-41790850675303453362008-12-05T10:42:00.000-08:002008-12-05T10:59:06.690-08:00

The sign to the entrance of our housing community was recently demolished by a distracted driver. The sign was old and not as attractive as some wanted it to be. I’ve been part of the discussion about the new sign. The response to the first set of mockups included comments, such as, “I would like to see something more contemporary, and sophisticated, but easy to read” and “This may be someone’s

Laura Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02997279628502222290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-16934184532584646612008-11-14T13:04:00.000-08:002008-11-14T15:44:44.268-08:00

Over 10 years ago, I sat in a Journalism editing course as a freshman. My instructor told us that “all right” is always written as two words—always. I tucked that bit of knowledge away and used it as I developed my editing skills in various discourses. As a university instructor, I would write “all right” and “alright” on the board in my composition classes and ask my students to explain the

Breanne Groverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502422581510738366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-37490208983156377582008-11-12T13:13:00.000-08:002008-11-12T13:14:34.822-08:00

A preliminary “State of the Industry” report from Training Magazine and Bersin & Associates breaks down some of the expected and unexpected trends of 2008. With a waning economy, cost cutting is occurring within Learning and Development throughout all organization types and sizes, including a certain amount of reduction in staff. As expected, need-to-have L&D initiatives, particularly mandatory/

Brent Verhaarenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02487935557942848890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413591920352286995.post-55524357317606075872008-11-05T14:42:00.000-08:002008-11-05T14:50:38.736-08:00

Corporate Training, Meet Social NetworkingIn the Best Practices column of last month’s Chief Learning Officer, Josh Bershin tagged the use of social networking as a “here-to-stay” member of corporate learning. He notes that LMS vendors have various challenges ahead and lists practical applications from Dell, IBM, Starbucks and others.As I spoke with our Allen Learning Portal team about the

Laura Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02997279628502222290noreply@blogger.com0