It is no mystery that the healthcare industry is complex, everchanging, and operates with incredibly high stakes. At times, it may seem the number of challenges healthcare organizations face is too numerous to count. Consider some of these challenge areas—keeping in mind there are many more: Managing rising costs Complying with regulatory requirements Keeping up […]

Choice Hotels International and its LMS provider, TraCorp, won a coveted Brandon Hall Group bronze award for excellence in the Best Advance in Learning Management Measurement/Business Impact Tools category. Their joint win was announced on December 6, 2018. Winners are listed at http://www.brandonhall.com/excellenceawards/past-winners.html. Choice Hotels International and TraCorp entered the award for using a business […]

Seasoned instructional designers know projects can get derailed for a variety of reasons, such as changes in scope, unstable content, and shifting deadlines, to name a few. However, some obstacles can be detected early by simply collecting the proper information at the beginning of a project. Use, and expand upon, this checklist during project kickoff […]

Are you in the market for an LMS and don’t know where to start? The industry is full of options, and it can feel tedious to weed through them all. Use this guide to help you shop for an LMS that meets your needs and budget. Step 1. Decide between an open source, custom, or […]

Writing a detailed design or outline is both art and science. It is science because there is a process and steps to follow. It is art because each project does not easily fit into a cookie-cutter mold. An effective detailed design begins with a basic outline; then, the expertise of the designer, parameters of the […]

TraCorp is proud to announce and welcome Tobi Flowers as a Project Manager with responsibilities over courseware production and LMS development at its Glendale, AZ headquarters. Flowers succeeds Diane Pelland who is retiring after 20 years of service at TraCorp. Tobi said, “I look forward to the opportunity to deliver the very best courseware and […]

5-Step Process For Translating eLearning For International Audiences Our team is in the process of translating learning assets into multiple languages to reach the global learning audience for our client, Choice Hotels International. We have developed a process and set of tools that could help you prepare scripts for localization and translation, as well, should […]

Do you believe the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words? If so, how much of a stretch is it to reason that a well-designed infographic is worth about 5.5 minutes of lecture or audio narration (if you calculate speech at a rate of 180 words per minute)? Afterall, we know visuals help learners: […]

Many nonprofit organizations struggle with recruiting, training, and retaining their volunteer base. We have found that automating the onboarding process using a learning management system (LMS) costs less and is more effective than trying to onboard volunteers on site. The case study outlined in this article illustrates a model Arizona Humane Society created in partnership […]

Today’s trend is to develop short microlearning assets, typically 5–7 minutes in length, that allow employees to jump in and out of a training program as their work schedules allow and their just-in-time performance needs demand. While some consider microlearning a fad, most instructional designers agree that it is supported by the tested theory that […]

If you’ve ever bought real estate and taken out a mortgage, you can understand how cumbersome certain transitions can be. In the case of purchasing a new home, you, as the buyer, are responsible for exchanging information and paperwork with real estate agents, mortgage lenders, title companies, inspectors, home builders, contractors, moving companies—and often several […]

With the emergence of mobile technology—and by extension mobile learning solutions—instructional designers (IDs) are finding themselves storyboarding in unfamiliar territory. The benefits of mobile learning are obvious; it makes training readily accessible for learners who are frequently on the move or are otherwise in need of just-in-time training. However, as we storyboard these assets, what […]

With Flash-based e-learning development a thing of the past, our production team spends much of the present coaching organizations through the Flash-to-HTML5 conversion process. If you’re new to this idea, there’s one basic fact you need to know: Most browsers today don’t support Flash—and Flash isn’t compatible with mobile technology—rendering existing Flash-based training assets inaccessible […]

Have you ever considered hiring a business analyst to mine your learning data and arm you with the information you need to make informed business decisions? We recently talked with Chris Longstreet, the Director of Learning Experiences at Choice Hotels International, about how his team of analysts uses learning data from an LMS, Google Analytics, […]

As instructional designers, we consider a variety of factors before selecting delivery methods for training: business needs, learning audience characteristics and locations, available technology, learning objectives, development budget, and deadlines to name a few. Another factor to consider is how likely it is that the content is going to change during development or after launch. […]

Learning and development professionals, how often do your projects go according to plan? Do you find yourself wondering why your projects keep running into issues with budgets, timeliness, unrealistic expectations, or unforeseen project circumstances? It is natural for stakeholders to want to rush through project analysis and design and start developing deliverables because that is […]

Click-to-reveal. Try-it activity. Knowledge check. If you can storyboard these common e-learning interactions in your sleep (and sometimes do), then you may be one of many instructional designers who have fallen into a predictable “lather, rinse and repeat” cycle of e-learning design. On your next assignment, consider spicing up the same old recipe with a […]

If you’re in the market for a learning management system (LMS), you’re likely experiencing an all-too familiar predicament: finding an LMS with the features you need using the limited budget you have. You’ve probably researched open source LMSs only to realize that, while the system itself may cost little to nothing, the servers you need […]

Through their LMS, the State of Arizona has developed over 7,000 mini learning factories—led by supervisors—that build and track custom learning paths for over 63,000 staff, interns, and volunteers. In addition to offering courses produced by L&D, supervisors can publish custom content for their teams and request permission to share it with other groups. This […]