Tag: e-learning
New online versions of RFID, Gas Monitors and Hazardous Area Instrumentation e-learning courses
Sep 22, 2010-Abhisam Software is pleased to announce that it has introduced online versions of its e-learning courses on RFID, Gas Monitors and Hazardous Area Instrumentation. Previously these courses were offered as downloadable versions only.
The online versions will enable learners to view these courses in any web browser from any location in the world. Certification will be provided on completion of an online test after completing the course. The advantage is that learners can get access to these cutting edge courses at a much lesser cost than previously. It is also ideal for companies that wish to train larger numbers of their employees.
For more details please visit the Online Course Catalog here.
Finally elearning becomes mainstream-Bill Gates says the future of education is online learning
Aug 13, 2010-Miami,FL At last now, finally, of all people, Bill Gates finally “gets” it. I’m talking about his 2010 annual letter from Bill Gates, where he emphasizes the importance of “online learning”. He also says that most universities and other educational institutions do it the wrong way and have not really caught on to the Real McCoy of e-learning. They simply upload a video of a professor droning monotonously in a classroom to his students and upload it to their site (or to YouTube). The only effect it has on the web is that it may put off a large number of students-in a classroom only a few may be put off (or go to sleep).
However, this can hardly be described as e-learning. A real e-learning course will have not only video but also a lot of interactivity using Flash animations and other simulations, multiple paths through which learners can proceed, the ability to set your own pace and so on. This is really helpful as it interests the learner and does not saddle him/her with information that is irrelevant. When I mentioned this to people on another forum, I was told that there is a lot of questions and answers back and forth in a classroom environment, which is not possible online. While some of it may be true, it can be easily corrected by collating all these questions and doubts and their answers and weaving it into the learning course. This will keep on making the elearning course better and better and at some point of time be much better than the best professor who teaches the subject.
Now comes the best part of the story so far. Let us imagine this ideal best professor to teach a particular subject, say Ststistics, is Mr. Smith at Harvard (just for an example) and the second best is his junior teaching assistant Ms.Jane. Their expertise in teaching statistics, plus their experience of students’ doubts, questions and arguments has led to the preparation of an excellent course. Now imagine that into this course design are added various animations, simulation exercises, examples from industry and business experts to form a formidable e-learning course. This course is now much better than the sum of its parts, so it is a degree of magnitude better than what Prof. Smith or Lecturer Jane would teach. Now this same course is made available online to 100,000 students worldwide- see the effects? Mindboggling.
This is what he meant by “the future of learning is e-learning”. This is exactly what we at Abhisam Software have been saying for years together but nobody seemed to notice. But I am happy that since good ol’ Bill “gets” it, everybody else will, sooner or later.
Why is this threatening to a lot of the “powers that be”? Because now you need not pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to an “elite” university to learn the above Statistics course. You can learn it at home for a few hundred dollars or a few thousand dollars. For anybody and everybody. You need not be “accepted” at a premier school. You need not “demonstrate your innate genius” to get inside the elite school for an opportunity to learn. In fact you need not step out of your home to learn. Or if you wish you could loll on a beach and get access to the same course. You can take it at your own pace. No need to take on endless student loans. No need to appeal to past teachers to get good letters of recommendation. No need to… I’ll stop here. You get the idea? E-learning is truly liberating, an idea which has come.
Obviously some elements would want to prevent this from happening. But the genie is out of the bottle and cannot be brought back.
Our own e-learning courses are priced to be very very affordable to learners in all parts of the world. For example the subject of Safety Instrumented Systems is taught by a few elite in classroom type classes a few times a year for as much as $3000. But you can get the same knowledge, when you take our e-learning version for just $199 (now being offered at a special of $177). This benefits everybody, including the subject matter experts who have contributed to this course as well as the learners.
Comments are welcome below.
Developing e-learning for the iPad-how to implement interactive animations?
Aug 3, 2010- This is a problem that is now staring us in the face. With Apple firmly ring fencing its iPad from anything to do with Flash or Shockwave, how to get .swf files to play on iPads? We have a lot of training courses/e-learning courses and content that would be well received by iPad customers, however the animations inside them may not run since they use Flash /Shockwave extensively. Does anybody know of any other application that can be used to produce interactive animations (not just videos) and games for e-learning that can run on iPads? Do let us know.
Get the new Safety Instrumented Systems e-learning course at a discount
June 07,2010-If you are a customer of Abhisam Software, having brought our excellent e-learning courses on Hazardous Area Instrumentation or Gas Monitors, then you are eligible for a whopping 20% discount off the current price of the Safety Instrumented Systems e-learning course. If you are interested, get in touch with us at sales@abhisam.com to get your own COUPON CODE to avail this discount. But you have to hurry up as this offer is not going to last long!
The Safety Instrumented Systems e-learning course is a big hit, with many practising engineers downloading the course. This comes as no surprise, as this is the only comprehensive e-learning course that covers all aspects of this slightly difficult to grasp subject. The course covers everything including Safety Integrity Level (SIL) calculations, SIL verification, functional safety, an introduction to safety standards such as IEC 61508 and IEC 61511 and functional safety concepts. The cost is a real no brainer, if you compare with classroom courses that charge about TEN times as much for the same course.
World Environmental Day-Switch to e-learning from traditional classroom learning
June 05, 2010 -Today is World Environmental Day. So let’s see how we can contribute to the environment’s well being. There are of course many ways that every individual can contribute to the environment. Use less energy, conserve and preserve trees, don’t pollute the air and water. Saying all this is fine, but how does one realistically do this? Well, one of the ways is by using e-learning, rather than traditional classroom based learning. To attend classes that are away, you have to hop into an automobile, burn up fuel and drive to the class. Not only you, but every student and the teacher/professor does the same. How many gallons and liters? Then you take notes on paper that is produced by cutting up trees. Then the professor dishes out study material that is also paper based.
Is it really necessary? Certainly not! If you switch to elearning, you can study from the comfort of your home or office or the beach! No need to burn up fossil fuels, pollute the air (and perhaps the sea due to deepwater drilling that the oil companies need to do so that you can burn up the gasoline in your car!)
Study online and save the course on your computer. Interact with others like you on online forums. Do not print anything or write anything. So no need to cut trees and make paper.
Have a look at the video below.
E-learning in the year 2020- what will Captain Spock do?
So what would e-learning be in the year 2020-exactly ten years from now? We, at Abhisam Software who are heavily into e-learning courses, believe that this will be the ONLY kind of learning that works in a few years time, but the point is that e-learning in those future years will be totally different than as we see it now. Here’s an interesting video that shows Captain Spock in his Starship Enterprise expounding on his e-learning (or simply “learning” as the e will then be superfluous).
The Practical Guide to Hazardous Area Classification is now in DNL format
The Practical Guide to Hazardous Area Classification (which should be really named as “The popular e-book on Hazardous Area Classification”) is now available in the DNL format. This format is far superior to an ordinary pdf, as the book is now visually rich with a “page turn” kind of look and feel. It seems that you are reading a physical book on a PC.
Furthermore, you can see the free preview of the Practical Guide to Hazardous Area Classification here and see for yourself how cool it looks. Note that the information inside is pure gold to those who are not sure how they should be classifying their hazardous areas. There has been no change in the content, but the presentation is much better, rather than the older pdf.
Mobile learning-does it really change the e-learning landscape
As the title of this post says, does the advent of the mobile phone really impact the e-learning environment? Are users of mobile phones looking for learning content delivered on their mobile phones? Does m-learning have a future? Here is an interesting video of the highlights of the debate that took place at the 2010 Learning Technologies conference.
Skill shortages in the Oil & Gas industry
There has been talk of skills shortages at various levels and disciplines in the worldwide Oil & Gas industry.This is true, ask any of the Oil & Gas industry veterans and they will bemoan the same thing. Many Oil & Gas training programs are mostly classroom based even today, which should really be changing now, with the advent of e-learning and m-learning. One example is Abhisam Software’s e-learning courses for the Oil & Gas sector on various topics such as Safety Instrumented Systems, Hazardous Area Instrumentation and Gas Monitors.
Partly, the present skill shortage is because many youngsters today, no longer find a career in Oil & Gas as appealing, as was say, a decade or two ago. Now, it is just one of many options. Despite this, the bean counters at many of these places did not see it coming and went ahead with the “downsizing” schemes that sharply reduced the available pool of talent. Now that the sector is picking up again, it finds serious skills shortages. Instead of blaming anybody, what the industry insiders can do is to consider upgrading their workforce skills by using modern technology, namely e-learning, m-learning and other ways to quickly bring upgrade skill levels of the existing workforce.
The video below says a lot.
An easy way to upgrade the skills of your existing workforce is to use ready to deliver training courses for oil & gas industry by clicking here.
Happy New Year 2009! What does the new year portend for e-learning?
To all of you there who regularly read this blog, subscribe via RSS and drop meaningful comments, here’s a very Happy New Year 2009!
The year 2009 would be an important milestone in the learning industry, as we expect a lot of initiatives from governments across the world, for better and more effective training programs. We strongly feel that to have a secure future, one must have a variety of skills that have value in the marketplace and that there is no full stop to learning. Existing skills too, must be polished, honed and developed so that they become an “expert” level skill. And of course, the best way to do this is by utilizing technology that can train thousands if not millions effortlessly- by e-learning, m-learning and other 21st century methods. This is because there won’t be enough teachers and professors and classrooms to engage everybody and train the thousands of people that need to be trained. The only answer is to go beyond the classroom, to e-learning, m-learning and more.
This week the Economist has carried an article, The People Puzzle, on retraining of laid off workers and the difficulties it places on everybody, including the learners, implementers of the program and the government. Needless to say if the re-training really succeeds, it will give laid off workers a second chance, improve the quality of life and also the economy (due to the newer disposable income of these new employees) and reduce burdens on social security systems. E-learning can be a big part of this plan. Those of you who are reading this could possibly suggest this to the “people who matter”?
Finally we hope that the new year 2009 brings hope and cheer and some ne wthings to learn to all of you!
