A corporate wiki is a wiki used in a corporate (or organizational) context to enhance internal knowledge sharing.

Wikis are increasingly used internally by companies and public sector organizations, some as prominent as Adobe Systems, Intel, Microsoft and the FBI. Depending on the size of a corporation, they may add to or replace centrally-managed content management systems.

Their decentralized nature allows them, in principle, to disseminate needed information across an organization more rapidly and more cheaply than a centrally controlled knowledge repository. Wikis can also be used for project management (allowing better collaboration) and even marketing (as wikis for customers).

Features of Corporate Wikis

Features of wikis specifically helpful to a corporation include:

• Allowing to glue information via quick-and-easy-to-create pages containing links to other corporate information systems, like people directories, CMS, applications, and thus build up knowledge bases.
• Avoiding e-mail overload. Wikis allow all relevant information to be shared by people working on a given project. Conversely, only the wiki users interested in a given project need look at its associated wiki pages, in contrast to high-traffic mailing lists which may burden many subscribers with many messages, regardless of relevance to particular subscribers. It is also very useful for the project manager to have all the communication stored in one place, which allows them to link the responsibility for every action taken to a particular team member.
• Organizing information. Wikis allow users to structure new and existing information. As with content, the structure of data is sometimes also editable by users. On the other hand wiki is not strictly hierarchical which might be a disadvantage in corporate context.
• Building consensus. Wikis provide a framework for collaborative writing. Particularly, they allow the structured expression of views disagreed upon by authors on a same page. This feature is very useful when writing documentation, preparing presentations and so on.
• Access rights, roles. Users can be forbidden from viewing and/or editing given pages, depending on their department or role within the organization.

Corporate Wiki Solutions

A large set of corporate wiki solutions are available. Wikis with the required feature set include TWiki, TikiWiki CMS/Groupware, PmWiki, XWiki, and MoinMoin. Their aim is to provide all ranges of companies with ready-made wiki solutions that can be adapted to SMEs as well as multinational corporations. Amongst those companies, the competition lies as much in corporate philosophy as in what the products look like. For example, MoinMoin and Socialtext value simplicity, where TWiki, XWiki and TikiWiki CMS/Groupware put an emphasis on structured wikis where users can create wiki applications. Most of them have adopted an Open-Source mindset and allow developers or even users to create purposed applications.

Wiki software packages not specifically built for corporations are also used at the workplace, such as MediaWiki or DokuWiki. Although they can be used to build simple knowledgebases and internal websites, they sometimes lack enterprise features such as fine grained access control, per page name space for attachments, or integration with other enterprise tools.

Wikis can also be embedded in larger learning systems. Dual Code Inc. for example includes a wiki as part of its online Corporate University offering.

Ottawa, ON, New Orleans, LA, SHRM Conference Booth 818 – June 29, 2009 – Market leader Halogen Software and e-learning provider SkillSoft (NASDAQ: SKIL) today announced that they will deliver 10 SkillSoft e-learning courses as a standard component of Halogen eLearning Manager™, providing outstanding value to corporate learning centers everywhere. In addition, organizations will benefit from the truly seamless user experience for performance-based e-learning.

"We know that for e-learning initiatives to be truly successful, they have to be easy to use and produce a measureable return in the areas they are targeting," said David Mallon, senior analyst, Bersin & Associates. "The Halogen and SkillSoft partnership gives users an experience in which the whole process is completely seamless – the first we've seen of its kind. From assigning a development plan during the performance appraisal process, to registering for and completing courses, and signing off on learning activities, HR, learning leaders, managers and employees should find this closed loop experience to be extremely efficient and effective."

The combination of Halogen's performance-based approach to learning with SkillSoft's targeted and effective courseware helps organizations of all sizes get up and running quickly with e-learning - with no additional work required. All courses are fully integrated and pre-mapped to competencies in the Halogen library, eliminating tedious and time consuming tasks for training administrators. The tight integration also means users can select an appropriate development activity to address a particular skill gap, and even launch an e-learning course right within the employee's performance appraisal or development plan, without ever having to login to another system, or switch between user interfaces.

"We chose Halogen eLearning Manager because of the way it tightly links performance and developmental plans with learning," said Michael Schott, Vice President Human Resources, Swank Audio Visuals. "This will make it much easier for managers and team members to address career progression during their mid-year and annual reviews. In addition, the accessibility of the appropriate training resources from within the team member's appraisal section will be a viable tool for all. The SkillSoft courses will be a great addition to our learning portfolio."

The SkillSoft courses included with Halogen eLearning Manager have been specially selected and vetted by business experts to help develop key competencies. Industry-specific e-learning bundles have also been created for healthcare, professional services and financial services organizations. Customers will also be able to purchase additional SkillSoft courses that will map seamlessly into the application.

"The Halogen-SkillSoft integration provides organizations with an immediate way to derive value from their e-learning investments," said John Ambrose, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Corporate Development and Emerging Business, SkillSoft. "Learning is a critical component of any successful talent management strategy, and this combined offering levels many of the hurdles companies traditionally face."

"We work very hard to deliver exceptional value to our customers," said Donna Ronayne, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Halogen Software. "This partnership and the inclusion of valuable SkillSoft courseware with Halogen eLearning Manager is a perfect example of our commitment to deliver a world class customer experience."

About Halogen Software

Halogen Software is recognized as a market leader by industry analysts and is strongly endorsed by the thousands of HR professionals who use their Talent Management solutions. The company offers a complete suite of web-based products that automate, simplify and integrate performance appraisals, 360 degree feedback, compensation management, succession planning and learning management. Halogen's offering makes HR best-practices accessible to companies of all sizes and its healthcare, financial services and professional services specific suites meet the unique needs of these industries. Halogen is consistently recognized by the industry and its customers for its exceptional implementation and support services. Halogen was named a leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Employee performance Management Software in 2009 and has won multiple awards for its corporate leadership and product innovation, including HR Technology Product of the Year. For more information, visit www.halogensoftware.com.

About SkillSoft

SkillSoft PLC (Nasdaq: SKIL) is a leading SaaS provider of on-demand e-learning and performance support solutions for global enterprises, government, education and small to medium-sized businesses. SkillSoft enables business organizations to maximize business performance through a combination of comprehensive e- learning content, online information resources, flexible learning technologies and support services.

Content offerings include business, IT, desktop, compliance and consumer/SMB courseware collections, as well as complementary content assets such as Leadership Development Channel video products, KnowledgeCenter(TM) portals, virtual instructor-led training services and online mentoring services. SkillSoft's Books24x7(R) product offering includes access to more than 20,000 digitized IT and business books, as well as book summaries and executive reports. Technology offerings include the SkillPort(R) learning management system, Search-and-Learn(R), SkillSoft(R) Dialogue(TM) and virtual classroom.

SkillSoft courseware content described herein is for information purposes only and is subject to change without notice. SkillSoft has no obligation or commitment to develop or deliver any future release, upgrade, feature, enhancement or function described in this press release except as specifically set forth in a written agreement.

Media Contacts:

SkillSoft:  
Donna Keenan 
PR Manager, SkillSoft 
T; 603-821-3211 
E: donna_keenan@skillsoft.com 

Halogen :
Maggie Patterson
PR Consultant, Halogen Software
T: 613-989-1866
E: mpatterson@ripnet.com

Blackboard Inc. announced last week that the company plans to purchase rival course management software company Angel Learning. The deal is set to close by the end of May. The acquisition is being met with criticism by Angel Learning’s customers, many of who chose the company because it was an alternative to Blackboard.

Many of the organisations that were using WebCT before it was bought out by Blackboard back in 2006 were not happy with the eventual result and in time moved to Angel to separate from Blackboard. Those organisations were upset with Blackboard’s high fees and even higher incremental costs for add-ons that were already incorporated into other learning management systems free of charge. Current Angel Learning users are not only anticipating Blackboard to increase license fees for Angel Learning software, but are also sceptical that the company will incorporate any aspects of Angel’s program into Blackboard’s. "We moved from WebCT to Angel so we wouldn't have to deal with Blackboard" stated an Angel administrator on a public forum. "Now, Blackboard is doing it to us again."

As Blackboard continues to acquire its competitors, it lessens companies’ options for their learning management system needs. This has many current Angel users and administrators showing frustration and looking for better alternatives. Some are already considering switching to Moodle, an open-source course management system.

There are several benefits for a company to move to open-source software. These programs offer flexibility due to the fact that the code is available and larger open-source communities such as Moodle provide daily patches on their Web site, enabling administrators to update their system as soon as a fix becomes available.

The negative reaction to the acquisition of Angel could mean great things for Moodle. While there are other commercial options for organisations and administrators who do not want to be forced into a relationship with Blackboard, open-source software seems to be the better alternative, especially when combined with a commercial support package, including turnkey hosting services, by an independent eLearning service provider. The overall solution still ends up costing less, is secure and reliable, and more importantly, not Blackboard!

Survey identifies clear gap between what the training function is planning and what users actually want.

A recent poll of 2,355 employees and 584 HR directors and training managers conducted by Cegos, a UK-based training provider, found that more than half of employees wanted more eLearning, a sentiment shared by only 40% of HR and training staff surveyed. The employees were also keener than HR professionals and trainers when discussing Web-based information exchanges such as wikis, forums and blogs. Forty-four percent of the former wanted more information exchange tools compared to 32% of the latter. When asked about conventional, instructor-led training, 42% of HR staff polled wanted to see more classroom-based learning compared to 38% of employees surveyed.

This identifies a clear gap between what the training function is planning and what users actually want.

Today's learners seem to be more willing to embrace new ways of learning than HR professionals and training practitioners. Trainees are technology savvy and want interactive learning delivered to their desktop, laptop, BlackBerry, iPhone, or MP3 player. They want to be able to learn anywhere and anytime, with personalised content delivered on demand. The last thing an employee wants to do when facing an agressive deadline is sit in a classroom for hours at a time when he could instead learn at his convenience while sitting in front of his workstation.

"I would suspect the gap to be even larger had the survey taken place in Ottawa" stated Luc Richard, President & CEO of Dual Code Inc. an Ottawa-based eLearning provider. "Electronic learning has always been more popular with 'techies'. Given the number of high-tech companies in the Ottawa region, it's fair to expect that our employees are even keener about eLearning."

“Training is the foundation of a strong franchise system. Successful franchising is all about duplication and consistency. A brand is strongest when the customer has the same experience each time they visit a franchised location, no matter what time of day or which location. The only way that brand consistency can be accomplished is through training."



Thriving franchisors understand that training is the foundation of a strong franchise system. McDonald's Corporation, arguably the most successful franchise in the world, knows that training is critical to their success, which is why they created Hamburger University. This 130,000 square foot facility located in Oak Brook, Illinois has seen over 70,000 managers graduate since it opened back in 1961.

Nowadays, innovative franchisors are moving their Corporate University to the Internet. Subway, a restaurant franchise with 30,000+ locations worldwide, recently launched the University of Subway, an online Corporate University that allows them to train their management team and staff on various topics such as merchandising, store equipment and food safety.

What if your pockets aren’t as deep as McDonald’s or Subway’s?

Leveraging the Internet to train your franchisees makes financial sense regardless of how many locations you operate. Training facilities require a huge investment, and flying everyone to and from those facilities quickly adds up. An online Corporate University on the other hand can be launched for a fraction of the price of a brick-and-mortar school and completely eliminates travel and living expenses.

Service providers specializing in the field of eLearning can provide you not only with a cost-friendly solution, but also make the whole process easier. Dual Code Inc. (www.dualcode.com), a one-stop eLearning shop based in Ottawa, Canada, has designed a franchisor program aimed specifically at franchises that operate between 10 and 1,000 locations. By leveraging open-source technologies and innovative tools, Dual Code can provide franchisors a first-class hosted solution for far less than one would expect. And their SaaS (software-as-a-service) business model means you don’t need to purchase expensive hardware or software licenses.

Not only is an online Corporate University more cost-effective, it also allows franchisors to reach a larger audience in record time. While McDonald’s multi-million dollar facility enabled them to train 70,000 managers over a 45-year period, a Corporate University hosted over the Internet allows you to train the same number of people over a 24-hour window!

An online Corporate University additionally grants franchisors more control over their training program. Not only are they able to control the consistency of the information being taught, they can also easily enroll students in mandatory courses, track their participation, and even monitor their progress and learning through the system’s report card capability.

Another significant advantage made possible by an online Corporate University is the ability to manage crises effectively. Think of the 2008 Canadian listeriosis outbreak linked to the Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto, Ontario. Certain restaurant franchises offering deli meats to their clientele had to react quickly in order to limit damage to their store brand. Thanks to their online Corporate University, vigilant franchisors were able to quickly develop an action plan in the form of an eLearning course and have every single franchisee in Canada trained within 24 hours following the report of the outbreak. They were able to teach every manager and staff member how to deal with the crisis before it became a serious threat to their business.

Having a first-class Corporate University with multimedia-rich courses also goes a long way to convincing existing and potential franchisees that your company invests in its most important resource: its people. With so many franchises to choose from, entrepreneurs looking to invest in a business are looking for franchises that will provide them with unparalleled support and ongoing training. Having an online Corporate University certainly gives franchisors a leading-edge when compared to competitors that have nothing better to offer than a short initial on-site training session and an Operations Manual in a series of three-ring binders.

In order to remain competitive, franchises need to evolve. New products, technology and innovations require that franchisees have ongoing training to keep current with the evolving brand and continue to be competitive in changing markets. While physical training facilities do get the job done, they are not cost-effective, and certainly not economically viable for small- to medium-size franchisors. Perhaps more importantly, brick-and-mortar facilities are truly limited in regards to their throughput and ability to quickly and consistently disseminate key information.

The solution for small- to medium-size franchisors appears to be an online Corporate University. By leveraging the Internet, franchisors can train people anytime, anywhere, regardless of how many learners are involved. All that at a fraction of the price!

Very few will argue that eLearning, at least in the long run, saves a company money. It might require an up-front investment that's larger than instructor-led training, but if you look at the overall picture, eLearning does save a company money in more ways than one.

Eliminate Travel and Living Expenses
Travel and living expenses usually account for 40% to 60% of training budget (unless your employees and/or clients all live in the same geographical area of course). By delivering courses over the Internet, travel and living expenses are automatically reduced to zero, thereby saving you about half your training budget.

Eliminate Facilities and Equipment
The vast majority of Canadians now have access to the Internet, either at home, work or school. By offering courses over the Web, you no longer need classrooms, projectors, etc.

If your employees do not have access to the Internet at work, you might still require a computer lab for them to take courses on site, but optionally, you might want to encourage them to study from home, even if it means giving them the required time off. Most LMS's nowadays allow you to track your students' progress, so it's easy to tell whether or not your employees are indeed learning or wasting their time.

Reduce Instructor Salaries
Delivering asynchronous courses via the Web significantly reduces the need for instructors. Contrary to what some might claim, it does not however eliminate it. Great courses require careful instructional design regardless of how they are delivered. In order for learning to take place, certain elements must be present, and leaving the design of your training courses to non-experienced staff is a mistake.

Eliminate Printing Costs
All instructor-led courses I've ever attended included training manuals. That's because once the instructor is gone, the information is gone - with the exception of course of what you managed to retain following a marathon cramming session, which is typically very little! Printing manuals with hundreds of pages isn't only bad for the environment; it's bad for your wallet. The cost especially adds up when errors or omissions are found in the pre-printed copies, requiring you to throw them all out and print a new batch.

Enable Off Hours Learning
One of the biggest advantages of eLearning is that it allows students to learn anytime, anywhere. This means your employees or clients can learn from home during off-hours, thereby keeping them productive during regular business hours. This increased productivity is huge for a company's bottom-line, especially for organizations where payroll is one of their largest expenses.

Shorten Classroom Sessions
E-Learning is also proven to shorten classroom sessions by half. Students in instructor-led classes typically ask a lot of questions. This form of interactivity greatly improves learning and should strongly be encouraged, but let's be honest. How many times have you been in a course where a student asks a question that is irrelevant to the topic at hand and then goes off on a tangent, wasting time for the entire class?

(Q&A sessions are important, even during asynchronous eLearning. This, however, is the topic of a separate article.)

Increase Employee Productivity
In a recent survey conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC) of 100 Canadian companies, 83 percent of employees said that eLearning increased their productivity. Personally, I think increased productivity is a result of learning, and not necessarily eLearning, but nevertheless, it's worth reminding people that training in general increases productivity, regardless of the medium.

On the lighter side of things, the following are famous learning or eLearning quotes I thought were interesting.

"The next big killer application on the internet is going to be education. Education over the internet is going to be so big it is going to make e-mail usage look like a rounding error."
John Chambers, CEO
Cisco Systems

"An organization's ability to learn and translate that learning into action is the ultimate competitive advantage."
Jack Welch, CEO
General Electric

"Online learning will rapidly become one of the most cost-effective ways to educate the world's expanding workforce."
Jack Messman
Pricewaterhouse Cooper

"You have to stop worrying about all the training metrics of how many people you trained and what your completion rate is. Only training people care about those numbers. You wouldn't walk into the boardroom and have that discussion. They'd fall asleep or throw you out. The best thing you could do is to imagine the CEO and the senior staff - what do they talk about? They don't talk about training. They talk about sales. They talk about customer satisfaction. They talk about inventory. Those are the problems training people have to solve in order to move from the classroom to the boardroom."
Tom Kelly
Cisco Systems

"You can't teach people everything they need to know. The best you can do is position them where they can find what they need to know when they need to know it."
Seymour Papert

"Companies will never have a truly sustainable advantage that's based on products or prices. You need to focus on the rate at which people learn. It's the learning speed of the slowest many, not the learning speed of the brightest few, that will set the pace for your company."
Jim Haudan

"Online learning is not the next big thing, it is the now big thing."
Donna J. Abernathy

"The current learning model is insufficient to accommodate the needs and realities of companies competing in the global, knowledge-based economy."
SRI Consulting

"The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage"
Peter Senge
The Fifth Discipline

"We need to bring learning to people instead of people to learning."
Elliott Masie
Masie Center

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada – April 8, 2009. Dual Code Inc., a leading developer of custom, SCORM-compliant eLearning solutions, released today its much anticipated PowerFlash™ eLearning service.

The PowerFlash service converts existing training material, such as Microsoft® PowerPoint® files, to SCORM-compliant, multimedia eLearning modules with voice-overs.

“Organizations and training departments have a lot invested in instructor-led training material” stated Luc Richard, President and CEO of Dual Code. “This service gives them the ability to leverage their existing material and easily convert it to professional, SCORM-compliant eLearning modules at a fraction of the cost.

“Although text-to-speech technologies have grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade, nothing yet perfectly matches the speech pattern of an actual person. This is why Dual Code still prefers to use professional voice-over artists to convert the text to voice-overs, thereby providing our clients with the finest eLearning solution.”

About Dual Code

Dual Code Inc., headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, is a "one-stop” eLearning shop that designs, develops, and hosts eLearning content for organizations that understand the value of well-trained employees and clients. Dual Code offers an award-winning hosted learning environment, eLearning course design and development, eLearning 2.0 tools and other eLearning-related professional services. Dual Code provides services to all levels of government as well as private companies, educational institutions and not-for-profit organizations. For further information about Dual Code, please visit www.dualcode.com or call 1.613.686.5873.

Nov 20, 2008 – Berlin, Germany. The present world’s economic woes are opening up new opportunities for innovative forms of education and training such as informal learning, e-learning and blended learning. Faced with shrinking budgets, the use of learning technologies is becoming increasingly attractive for businesses: This was the appraisal articulated by the consultants and training professionals who responded to an impromptu survey undertaken by the international e-learning conference Online Educa Berlin.

Many enterprises definitely intend to drive down training costs, according to Sue Martin, Global Certification Portfolio Manager at SAP, but employee qualification nevertheless remains a key factor in enhancing the ability to compete. "Against this background, e-learning could see its greatest upswing in years", the SAP manager asserts. "In times of tight or zero travel budgets and increasing environmental awareness, the importance of learning technologies has to be given a second look.”

Charles Jennings, Global Head of Learning at the media concern Thomson Reuters, says: "’Do more with less’ is today’s corporate byword. The path is leading away from resource-hungry approaches such as face-to-face teaching with its lack of scalability."

By Steve Bishop

Does your child need help with math or biology? Do you want to learn more about starting a home business? In the past you would have contacted your local learning center to help your child with their studies. Then you would have stopped by the local book store or library to find books on starting a home business. While these methods are useful, they are beginning to become a thing of the past. Elearning has begun to overshadow traditional learning methods.

What is elearning? Elearning refers to any education that you receive electronically whether it is through the Internet or from a software program. Elearning is sweeping the nation because it has become affordable and is easy to access from the comfort of your own home. Plus, you can work on your own schedule. You don’t have to worry about hiring a babysitter while you head off to class. The class comes to you through your computer when you have an hour or even minutes to spare during your hectic day.

Elearning began through various software programs available for your computer. You just popped in a disk or CD-rom into your computer and you were set to go. You could practice your typing skills at home and your children could practice their math skills through computer drills and games. This type of learning provided extra practice for your child. The software programs increased in number, but you were still limited to interacting only with the disk or CD-rom. You didn’t have access to the software program’s creator or additional resources to peruse through at your leisure.

Internet based elearning programs stepped in to fill these needs. Elearning on the Internet allowed users to break the confines of their personal computer and interact with the global community. The options to connect with the course creator/teacher, fellow students, and have live class discussions were now available. Additional resources for exploration and study are endless with the use of the Internet as an educational tool. Therefore, the growth rate of elearning has skyrocketed since the Internet has become a daily resource for many users.

Elearning contains so many different levels of interest. More in depth courses are provided at a cost, while free courses are also available. Users should take advantage of the elearning opportunities available on the Internet. You can start by typing your topic of interest in an Internet search engine. You will most likely find a course that suits your needs.

To Discover more about Elearning and Education please visit http://www.elearningmagic.com

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