NIIT Acquires Equity Stake in Evolv

NIIT recently announced that it has acquired stake in Evolv Management Services Private Limited. Evolv is a leading provider of English Language and Communication Training, headquartered in Noida, India. Read the details here.

With this acquisition, NIIT has taken another important step in becoming a complete training services provider. With Evolv under the NIIT umbrella, it will also compete and possibly take away a lot of business from the likes of Hero Mindmine, whose pureplay business is corporate training in areas similar to Evolv as well as customer service.

What does Google get by providing free games?

Ok, here is the latest addiction for all Google pros. Google has deployed this very interesting strategy for indexing its images so that Google users get better results. Check it out here:

http://images.google.com/imagelabeler/

You can log in as a Guest or sign in with your Google account. You will be paired with a randomly selected partner (any online Google users worldwide). Then, both you and the partner will see the same image and need to provide as many labels as possible for that image. The moment you and your partner provide a matching label, you get points for it and the next image is displayed. Needless to say, you cannot see the labels that your partner has provided until the allocated 2 minutes per round are over. Go ahead and give it a shot.

So what does Google get by providing free games? Well, with this fun, game experience, actually Google is getting the indexing done for all those images to appear in search results without paying a penny for the time and resources that all of us are spending!! Amazingly, Google comes up with such great ideas where they are actually getting a business project completed and its loyal users take it in the right spirit and enjoy the "games" while helping their own Google grow!

Brandon Hall 2007 Awards

Brandon Hall 2007 results are out. The awards were anounced in the SFO get together last week. Here is a list of winners...

http://www.brandon-hall.com/awards/2007_winners.shtml

Interestingly, companies such as GE, who had always participated in conjunction with their content development partners in the past, also came in directly this time. They have won a Gold for their Ergonomics course under the Best Blended Learning Program category.

Immersive Learning - II

What if I tell you that your kid is not in a classroom while in school, rather he is in a cave sitting with an old caveman!Or, your 3rd-grader is not learning spelling but working as a bank cashier? Do I see your jaw falling?

The response is expected! And that is precisely what Immersive Learning is all about. Learners are completely immersed into the environment where they need to apply their skills and they learn while they do their tasks. I was going through http://www.experiencia.org/ - a unique learning experience for school going kids. This is a perfect example of how Immersive Learning works.

One of the key differences between traditional online simulations and ILS is that the learner is in the real environment. Give it a shot and your learners are sure to love it!

Please post any good examples that you come across here, meanwhile, I will come up with a case study for all of us to work on, till then...

Immersive Learning - I

The latest buzz now is Immersive Learning. So what is it? Why is it getting so much of attention and why does it work better?

In this series about Immersive Learning, I will start today with the Web Definition for it as searched from Google :-)

Literally speaking, Immersive Learning is a system of complete immersion in a new subject in order to gain skills in the subject. The most extreme, perhaps, is immersive learning of a new language, in which the learner subjects himself to non-stop bombardment of the language by native speakers.

Read more at...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersive_learning

I will write more about immersive learning - where is it being used, who is talking about it, and what kind of market/learner base is accepting it.

The Storm Has Hit Again...

Some of my concerns have materialized into real issues... sooner than I thought. The attrition storm has hit the elearning providers in India yet again. Biggies moving out to other organizations for "better career prospects" has left every elearning professional in doubt about their future with the company. Here are some of the most recent ones:

1. Sify - DGM (Delivery), Senior PM (Tech), Director (Business Development)

2. Gecis/Genpact - Operations Leader, Business Leader, both Product Leaders (one moved to a different role, one moved out of the organization)

3. Aptara/Teckbooks - Operations Leader

With service providers claiming as much as 300% growth in revenues, why is the top brass looking at other "better" career opportunities?

Finally - India Inc. Gets a Certification in Instructional Design

For a long time, Indian e-learning companies have struggled to get "certified" instructional designers. I mean certified in the real sense. The demand for the skill is high and resource readiness is a key challenge that most of the companies are facing.

Here's some relief!! Tenable Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd. a Hyderabad (India) based firm, has started a certificate program in instructional methodology in partnership with Philadelphia University. The company itself is an amalgamation of seasoned e-learning professionals who really feel the pains of this industry in India. Although the results of this 5-month program are are yet to be seen, it is a significant step over the one and only basic program currently offered by Symbiosis institute in Pune, India. I wish Team tenable all the very best in this initiative and hope that the entire industry benefits from this. More details can be found on www.tenableindia.com.

Watch out for the coming press releases and newspaper items soon!