Have you ever been to an event, and when looking around you, got overwhelmed with a need to connect? Feeling like growth was right there in front of you, but yet slightly out reach? in other words, experiencing some sort of FOMO of learning?

Thankfully, you are not the only one, and your frustration has been heard! The Montreal-based company E180 has seeks to connect individuals of any kind with ideas to share.

Thanks to a carefully crafted engagement strategy, an algorithm named Freira and some crucial communal feedback time, E180 created an interactive, real-life platform called Braindates. Braindates launched in 2013 at C2 Montreal, an immersive conference for business and innovation. Since, they have facilitated events for Airbnb, Amazon, Cannes Lions, re:publica, Salesforce, and TED to name a few.  So what is the secret of E180′ successful attempt to unlock human potential?

Knowledge sharing: how it works and how Braindates can enable it

Since its beginning, E180 has been operating in community and industry conventions. They try to facilitate sharing knowledge with technology that doesn’t leave important connections up to chance. Convention goers can download an app and make offers and/or request for expertise, allowing them to set up a Braindate. The day of the meetup, the participants simply need to show up and converse with their respective date.

While the dream remains that one day, Braindates will be as widely used as Tinder, E180 has changed their approach so that Braindates would be more efficient in promoting knowledge sharing. The lack of commitment, context and “return-on-investment” seemed to have been a certain challenge in the company’s first steps. As of today, E180 exclusively proposes its services to events, conferences, and companies, where they create the ideal set-up for community-based education. They tried to improve the experience by customizing themes for conversation, requiring time and space for networking, and calling for a feedback period.

By combining principles of on-demand learning with authentic learning, E180 brings a real-life twist to an intuitive model of e-learning. The familiar approach, shared by platform like Skillshare, TEDxEd, or Khan Academy, allows the user to easily choose what they want to share and learn, from a carefully curated list of topics. However, their focus is to bring reality to e-learning, something which often lacks to the on-demand approach.

Authentic learning is a pivotal concept in education; many studies highlight its importance. Researchers have shown that authentic communication makes for a far greater learning experience, as it boosts motivation, calls on higher thinking skills, and grounds learning in reality.

As Christine Renaud, the founder of E180, puts it in an interview for the Women Leadership Summit, “We’ve seen that our approach really transforms conferences into peer-learning hubs, where participants are actively connecting and learning from the outstanding minds around them”.

Changing our approach to education

“A mutation in authority is taking place. In health, in education, in culture: we now want to play an active role in the way we care for ourselves, in the way we learn and in the way we interact with culture,” explains Christine Renaud. Her perspective is well supported by an impressive resume: Harvard Graduate with a Master in Education, advisor at Harvard Innovation Lab, podcast producer for Learning Matters, and more than a dozen prize for her work.

Her dream is one “‘where children and adults alike [are] supported in directing their own learning and leveraging their community as a valid and powerful source of guidance.” This dream is shared more and more by people across the world, homeschoolers, unschoolers, agile business owners, and many others, who all see the obsolescence of traditional schooling and management, and see the need for new source of community growth.

The post The Tinder of Learning Wants to Bring Braindates to Your Community appeared first on eLearningInside News.

This summer, members of Singapore’s armed forces were given a unique directive: everyone had to download a counter-terrorism app.

SGSecure, available for iOS and Android, seeks to “sensitise, train and mobilise Singaporeans to play a part to prevent and deal with a terrorist attack.”

In the event of an attack, the app will send out important messages to its users, allow citizens to connect to security forces, and enable witnesses to share video, photos, and text accounts with authorities.

The app also marks an attempt to train both servicepeople and the public to respond effectively to attacks via eLearning modules, which Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel were required to complete.

It sounds like a good idea, but there’s a problem: the app stinks.

From the user interface (UI) design to compatibility on different devices, SGSecure has been a complete flop. It requires a hefty data usage and its servers can’t handle the payload.

User Jing Xuan reports, “[The] siren sounded on Friday but when I go in, the server [was] busy.”

“Terrible UI, constant crashes, report function incompatible with device,” says Joshua Lim. “Disappointing considering that citizens are recommended to install this app.”

“Seriously, you used 14MB of data just to show 2 alerts, both of which contain just a short paragraph of text?” asks Khairuddin Bin Ali. “What are you downloading/uploading that requires so much data? And don’t even get me started on how you need to turn on location to view the alerts.”

The Empire Strikes Back

Despite the poor performance, Singapore’s Ministry of Defense doubled down and tried for months to make it work.

When they required SAF personnel to download it this summer, many users reported they were coerced with punishment, withholding of pay and benefits, and extra duties.

“The management of SPF forced their officers to download, or be blacklisted, no consumption of leave and have your team leader nagging you 24/7 until you download on your phone,” wrote user Forced NPCO.

“[D]uring morning RO (Routine Order), my Encick will check if everyone downloaded this app,” wrote user Twig Ng. “No download no book-out.”

The Ministry of Defense appears to have countered with a PR campaign. Several positive stories appeared in Channel NewsAsia and The Straits Times between August and October.

One user left a positive comment on a Channel NewsAsia story, saying “Downloaded since the launch last year and voluntarily gave a five star rating.”

Several other readers responded to his comment with text-rendered animal noises, such as “Woof woof woof,” and “Baa Baa,” indicating that the poster had probably been domesticated.

Seeing the writing on the walls and the comment sections

Despite a strong effort by the Ministry of Defense to get all of Singapore using the app, the government agency finally caved this week, saying the app would no longer be compulsory for SAF personnel.

Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen, speaking in Parliament, said that “the SGSecure application is not a core part of the SAF’s counter-terrorism training package,” according to Today.

The counter-terrorism eLearning initiative, furthermore will take place off the app as well.

The SAF will implement “eLearning including through websites to better equip all Mindef and SAF personnel, including NSFs for training in counter-terrorism.”

“The eLearning training program is structured to be comprehensive with a number of modules to be rolled out progressively.”

He also added, “making it compulsory is neither an enlightened approach nor effective to facilitate learning.”

Poor design can kill a great idea

A recent survey conducted by the Linx International Group found that a majority of security personnel identified counter-terrorism as a field in which they would like to receive more training.

Over half also revealed that they had paid for further training to both equip them with the skills to respond to security threats and advance their careers.

What’s more, the survey indicated that eLearning-based training was growing in popularity. Some 60% of respondents had undergone some kind of eLearning and 70% said they planned to do so in the future.

“There is a clear trend,” said Linx Group Training Director Ken Livingstone, “towards upskilling and individuals taking responsibility for their own career development, as well as demand from industry for better qualified, certified and accredited professionals.”

The CGSecure case highlights an interesting conclusion: even when there’s industry demand, government funding, and user interest, poor design can completely kill any eLearning initiative.

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eLearning professionals in the digital era of the 21^st century have their work cut out for them. With the ever-increasing power of digital technologies, the pressure is on for eLearning professionals to deliver effective, engaging eLearning content while at the same time proving their efforts have a positive impact on the company’s bottom line. While these pressures can leave eLearning professional feeling frustrated and overwhelmed, the good news is that they also have an amazing array of tools available that can make their job easier and increase their effectiveness. Below is a sampling of 13 apps eLearning professionals use for content creation, productivity, and research.

Content Creation Apps eLearning Professionals Use

The core activity of many eLearning professionals is the creation of engaging, compelling content for learners. Here are the apps eLearning professionals use to get the job done:

Articulate Storyline. The appeal of this content authoring app is how similar it feels to PowerPoint, which can be reassuring for team members who are new to the eLearning environment and its tools. Importing content from PowerPoint is especially easy, and then the content can be enhanced with all kinds of great features to make it more engaging and compelling for learners, thereby increasing retention.

YouTube. Video content in eLearning is the dominant trend, in part because it’s such a great way to make eLearning more engaging and effective, particularly for complex topics where text and static images simply won’t get the job done. Well-crafted searches in YouTube will yield surprising amounts of relevant video content you can use to create “playlists” on nearly any topic.

Camtasia. Whether the need is to make training and learning videos quickly and easily for company eLearning programs, instruct eLearning peers and colleagues in using the various tools employed in the department, or to show off the company’s LMS features to prospective customers, Camtasia is quickly becoming the go-to app to make it happen. It’s a screen recording and editing package that captures whatever is happening on your screen. When editing videos, any element or area can be turned into a clickable “hotspot” to give easy access to related materials outside the app.

Elucidat. There are many content authoring apps out there, but if a primary focus needs to be responsive online content creation or content for the mobile eLearning environment, Elucidat is the app increasing numbers of eLearning professionals are utilizing. Part of its appeal is compatibility with HTML5, as well as being a cloud-based tool that brings together remote eLearning teams for collaboration. Flash has been in decline, eclipsed by the rising star of HTML5, and eLearning professionals would do well to stay ahead of the curve on this trend. Content created with Elucidat loads quickly and functions on a huge range of devices and browsers.

Tableau. eLearning professionals use the free public version of this app to create high-impact data visualizations. When an eLearning department has to produce reports about eLearning data, running them through Tableau results in visual presentations that are not only clear but also beautiful. Every eLearning professional has wished they could do something more interesting and engaging with data that must be included in eLearning content, and Tableau does exactly that with ease, creating visualizations that help make the content stick.

Storify. Sometimes you want to be able to quickly curate content that appears in various places such as social media platforms and RSS feeds. When you want to tie bits and pieces from a variety of sources into a compelling story, Storify makes it happen in a very visual way. And it can also help capture discussions generated at conferences and other events. The content is chosen and placed on a storyboard to which notes, commentary, and summaries in various styles can be added.

There are dozens of other apps that could be mentioned here, including obviously popular choices such as Adobe Captivate and newer tools such as iSpring Pro, but apps mention above provide a very solid starting point for eLearning professionals to up their content creation game.

Productivity Apps eLearning Professionals Use

Just about everyone feels like they need to be accomplishing more in less time. Here are the apps eLearning professionals use to give a turbo-boost to their productivity:

Trello. There are enough project management apps out there to make your head spin, but how many of them offer a stellar mix of effectiveness while being easy to use? Trello is one that an increasing number of eLearning professionals use. The fact that it’s grounded in the Kanban Technique has a lot to do with its effectiveness. Kanban is especially helpful in keeping the flow of process going without it getting backed up or bottlenecked. Given the often huge range of stakeholders that need to provide input into the development and distribution of eLearning programs, Trello’s cards, lists, and boards provide an easy way to track progress at multiple levels. Users added to specific cards will only get notifications for those cards rather than all project notifications.

Google Drive. When it comes to easy, secure cloud storage that allows people to access whatever files they need when they need them, Google Drive has become the app of choice for many eLearning professionals. The range of stakeholders involved in eLearning projects means having people all over the world, colleagues who travel a lot, co-workers who participate remotely, and so on. Keeping the files in Google Drive avoids the confusion of emailing files around, and helps make sure everyone is accessing the most up-to-date versions of all files.

Momentum. Most people maintain a daily to-do list to keep track of everything they need to get done in a day, and eLearning professionals are no exception. Momentum is an extremely effective to-do list that operates as an extension for people who use Google Chrome for their web browser. After installing the extension, every time a new tab is opened in Chrome, what appears there first is your to-do list for the day. It’s extremely easy to use, and eLearning professionals also appreciate the beautiful background images and inspiring quotes that are incorporated. When eLearning professionals need an effective online to-do list, many claim you can’t beat the combination of form and function obtained with Momentum.

Google Calendar. There are any number of online calendars you can use to keep tracking of what’s happening from day to day, but it’s hard to beat Google Calendar. Besides the usual functionality you expect from a calendar, it includes robust features including adding notes as well as sending automatic (and recurring) reminders and notifications. And frankly, so many people are now using it that there is no need to worry about access or compatibility.

Research Apps eLearning Professionals Use

Whether it’s staying on top of industry trends or determining the effectiveness of learning and training programs, eLearning professionals need to conduct research. Here are some of the research apps eLearning professionals use:

SurveyMonkey. When eLearning professionals need to collect online feedback from learners, creating a survey with this app can literally happen in minutes, and the results are tabulated and displayed in a way that makes them easy to understand. This feedback is critical in terms of evaluating the effectiveness of eLearning courses, as well as point out areas for improvement in a course.

Quora. When an eLearning professional has a burning question, where can they ask it? Quora is an online forum created for that purpose, used by more than 1.5 million people each month. Answers are voted up or down by users, meaning the best answers naturally bubble to the top. Users can also follow particular topics, such as Learning Management Systems or Training and receive notifications when new questions appear.

Reddit. All kinds of useful content breaks on Reddit, and gets voted up or down by users. The forums are called subreddits, and eLearning professionals will find several that relate to their work, such as r/elearning, r/InstructionalDesign, and r/Training. Creating an account and subscribing to these forums is a great way to stay updated on eLearning trends.

The world of eLearning is a constantly changing and evolving landscape of tools and trends. Although the pace of change often feels overwhelming, knowing the kinds of apps fellow eLearning professionals use for content creation, productivity, and research can help ease the pressure while at the same time increasing performance and effectiveness.

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