Abhisam Software's e-learning blog

Battle the recession by utilizing e-learning

abhisam — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:52:08 +0000

The dreaded R-word is finally here. Everybody was fearful about the R-word and few dared to even utter it a year back. After that hesitation, today we find we’re in the midst of it. I am talking about Recession, the economic one. So now that we’re so as to speak, deep in the economic soup, what can we do about it?
Well, for starters its not as if everything has collapsed and nobody’s buying anything. Of course, the economy is still running, but the euphoria has ebbed. The mad frenzy of rising stock, home, gas and other commodity prices has ended. But economic booms and busts are always a natural part of the business cycle. A bust is a chance for the economy to shake off its fat, become lean and mean, ready and fit for the next boom, which is sure to come, just as the sun will rise at dawn after the night is over.

This is a chance to take a look back and think about everything. What have you learned in the past few years? Have you updated your skills or acquired new ones? Shouldn’t it now be the best time to sharpen the saw, as it were. The recession will blow away sooner than you think and the economy will once again pick up. But now, in this slower pace is the chance to work less, learn more and prepare oneself for the next boom.

So go forth and learn some new skills. Could be anything useful. And I might add that now is a good time to enroll in some low cost e-learning courses, preferably with certification, that will come in mighty handy in the next upswing. Especially that now, most of these are available at discounted prices. There is no sense in letting this opportunity go, no sense in just lolling about and doing nothing. So buck up and learn something new.

You won’t regret it, I am very sure! As usual comments on this topic are most welcome.

The problem with m-learning

abhisam — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:41:24 +0000

For the past two years or so, there was a lot of hype about mobile learning or m-learning; which is seen to be a step forward from e-learning. However, the much vaunted numbers of m-learners are nowhere to be seen. Yes, we had the I-Phone and now we have the G-phone, but have you heard about any great m-learning applications yet?

The reason is not for want of courses, software or products. We had launched our m-learning course on RFID (actually a quiz), more than a year back, but it is not very popular. Cost is not an issue, it costs just a dollar. Compatibility is also not an issue, it can run on a Windows smartphone or a Blackberry or a Palm, equally well.

The real issue seems to be that the small screen size of most smartphones (small compared to the large monitors on most computers). People are used to viewing things on larger and larger screens by the day and the small screen seems to be the biggest hurdle in getting users to accept m-learning.

If there is a way to project the mobile smartphone screen on another surface (like the way a beamer projects a PC screen on a wall), then there may some interest generated, else the situation may remain the same.

What do you think? Comments are always welcome!

Using animation effectively in training courses

abhisam — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:25:14 +0000

This was a concept that we pioneered about five years ago. We were the first company to make extensive use of animations in various training programs made for the process industry. A classic example is the training course on Hazardous Area Instrumentation, which makes extensive use of animations to explain concepts effectively.

We are happy to note that the trend has caught on and the US Chemical Safety Board, has started usage of such animations in its safety training videos. Their findings are that the viewers pay more attention, understand the concept better and hence, are more likely to actually learn the stuff.

They have even started posting these videos (part video, part animation) on their own site and also on YouTube (of course!). Here is an example of one of these videos below. It shows how an innocuous device like a level instrument float, can cause a major fire due to static electricity!

E-learning’s time finally arrives!

abhisam — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:21:17 +0000

If you have noticed the headlines in the press recently, they are

Gas prices go through the roof !
Driving anywhere is now unaffordable !
Economic recession stares us in the face !
Skills shortage in engineering fields !
Immigration reform- Should we agree to a “guest worker” program?
Budgets slashed as companies get into cost-cutting mode
Gamers grow in numbers

So what’s new that am I saying here?

All this is well known.

Well, all this together, means just one thing—-that the good old days of e-learning are back!

Remember a few years ago, when e-learning was touted to be the next big thing, but none of us really saw it take off and reach its full potential. That’s because the right time for e-learning to take off was not then , but now.

It is a fact that in an economic downturn, companies will slash jobs as well as other costs to stay afloat. But it is also a fact that if a worker or any professional gets up to date on newer skills that are in demand in the market, the jobs are almost assured. IN fact downturn or no downturn there is currently a large shortage of skills in many professions today. The only way to build up these skills quickly is by training large numbers of workers and professionals in newer technologies by using not age-old methods of seminars, classrooms and blackboard based teaching but by…. you guessed it right, by e-learning!

E-learning is the perfect solution to all the woes expressed in the headlines given above. How?

Read on below….

High Gas prices means that commuting to classes is not very smart-get into an e-learning course instead! (University students have started doing this)
Economic recession-get trained in newer skills fast, so that you can protect yourself from a downturn. Again e-learning is the fastest, most practical solution.
Skills shortage in engineering today-less kids enroll today in engineering courses, leading to a shortage of fresh engineers. Amongst those who are still available, the set of skills they have is obsolete ; how to get them up to the benchmarks fast? Simple, by e-learning of course!
Instead of guest workers, wouldn’t it make sense to re-train existing workers, who may be getting laid off? Which is the fastest, least costliest option to do this? E-learning of course!
E-learning costs have continued to come down over the years, due to lower costs of hardware and better technology. Which means that penny pinching companies will find it a great solution for training their employees without breaking the bank.
A larger number of people in the workforce today are kinda more comfortable today with computers, gaming and hi-tech gadgets. So there is no tecno-resistance as compared to the earlier generation of workers. In fact at many companies a decade ago, I know that many e-learning initiatives could not really get off the ground due to the low computer penetration and suspicion about computers in general (among the workforce of that day). This is simply not true today. Hence there is no “user-resistance” to e-learning today. Which is why it will succeed today even more.

Now is a great time to be in the field of e-learning.

We are happy to be in these exciting times in this area.

Check out some of our e-learning courses today like Hazardous Area Instrumentation, RFID and Gas Monitors.

Welcome to the Abhisam Software blog!

abhisam — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:36:19 +0000

Welcome to the Abhisam Software blog!

This is our first post and we hope to post most of our articles, whitepapers and other information related to e-learning courses, developments in automation and other issues here. The next post will be related to the importance of e-learning as a method of training in today’s economy.

Watch this space!

Comments, when they relate to the subject matter, are always welcome ! Other irrelevant comments will be promptly deleted.