It has been six months since I began working with Comevo LLC an online training and orientation provider. I have to admit I knew absolutely nothing about the industry prior to working here and was nervous about performing my duties as the marketing intern. I have come a long way since then and have learned more about the eLearning industry then I thought I would ever know.
Learning the benefits came easier to me than I thought. I was able to list them for my first task and easily came up with a list familiar to our readers (Save money, save time, etc.). This was the first hurdle to clear in order to begin promoting and marketing a product. I was surprised to do some research and find many articles with very similar lists. However my knowledge of the benefits has not been stagnant. I have been able to pick up on some lesser known attributes of online training, most notably the study done to prove that doing work online is beneficial to the brain activity of older employees; breaking down the myth that online training was for a younger generation.
It was vital to not just understand the corporate side of Comevo’s services; I had to understand the new student online orientation for new students at colleges. I attend Cal Poly SLO where the orientation lasts an entire week and had events all over San Luis Obispo. I did not realize how extremely difficult it was to put on such an orientation and came in without realizing why schools may need to take an online approach. It took a few discussions with different directors of student activities to realize that online orientations are a great way to reach new students and ensure they are prepared to succeed as they make such a big transition to college life. Without online orientation, most students would have no way to understand the basic need to know information to prepare themselves for college.
Probably the biggest learning experience was the sheer size of the eLearning market. This is not a trend that people are using just to save money in the short term. There are numerous benefits to online training that most do not comprehend until they actually experience online training themselves. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, my favorite saying that I have come up with during my time at Comevo is; “Price may be what gets people to look into online training, but it is the numerous other benefits that make them see it as an effective and efficient long term option for training new employees.”
I came to Comevo with no knowledge of the market I was entering, now six months later, I do not understand how people could not take advantage of online training, it seems like a no brainer to me.
Happy Holidays,
A.J. Popoff
-We will be taking a short break from our blog for the holiday season, but look out for more blog posts in 2010, Happy Holidays everybody and a blessed new year!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Online Training: Be Flexible AND Sustainable
Well it is finally winter time even here in California, temperatures are dropping and everyone is gearing up for the holiday season. We have already discussed what we are thankful for (our readers and customers of course!) and we look forward to continue spreading knowledge on online training and orientations. We know that this increased interest in online training is here to stay. While most research indicates the ability to save money as one of the most attractive aspects, we were very happy to find an article that explores two other options; flexibility and sustainability.
“Reap the Benefits of Online Training” from the Press and Journal seemed at first to be another emphasis on saving money through online training. While this is a great reason to begin to train new employees online, I was very excited upon reading the second half of the article when the author began to describe the flexibility online training provides. The article writes about the experience at one company, the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC), and how the employees enjoyed the ability to log onto the training at their convenience, they were able to go through a serious of training sessions (rather than sitting through one long one), and the information was permanently available allowing them to review the material when needed.
The author went on to discuss how online training is the perfect fit for an environmentally conscious company. I have mentioned how online training is a sustainable option in the past, but appreciate the description laid out in this article. Companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint are able to eliminate all the traveling (and burning fuel) in order to attend courses in other locations. They also are able to consume less paper as all work and record keeping is done online.
We have not found many services that can both save a company money, and offer a way for them to reduce their carbon footprint. Adding the flexibility that online training provides to their employees and online training proves to be a great long term option for both on boarding and continued education of employees.
We realize saving money is a big driver in the business world (it’s always been my top impacts before making a purchase) and we love the fact that it is becoming more widely known that online training gives you that option. However, this blog would not be successful in my eyes without helping you realize that there are numerous other benefits that people are discovering everyday upon making the switch to online training. Price may be what gets people to look into online training, but it is features such as flexibility and sustainability that help people see it as a long term effective and efficient method for training new employees.
Happy Holidays,
A.J. Popoff
“Reap the Benefits of Online Training” from the Press and Journal seemed at first to be another emphasis on saving money through online training. While this is a great reason to begin to train new employees online, I was very excited upon reading the second half of the article when the author began to describe the flexibility online training provides. The article writes about the experience at one company, the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC), and how the employees enjoyed the ability to log onto the training at their convenience, they were able to go through a serious of training sessions (rather than sitting through one long one), and the information was permanently available allowing them to review the material when needed.
The author went on to discuss how online training is the perfect fit for an environmentally conscious company. I have mentioned how online training is a sustainable option in the past, but appreciate the description laid out in this article. Companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint are able to eliminate all the traveling (and burning fuel) in order to attend courses in other locations. They also are able to consume less paper as all work and record keeping is done online.
We have not found many services that can both save a company money, and offer a way for them to reduce their carbon footprint. Adding the flexibility that online training provides to their employees and online training proves to be a great long term option for both on boarding and continued education of employees.
We realize saving money is a big driver in the business world (it’s always been my top impacts before making a purchase) and we love the fact that it is becoming more widely known that online training gives you that option. However, this blog would not be successful in my eyes without helping you realize that there are numerous other benefits that people are discovering everyday upon making the switch to online training. Price may be what gets people to look into online training, but it is features such as flexibility and sustainability that help people see it as a long term effective and efficient method for training new employees.
Happy Holidays,
A.J. Popoff
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Decision Path
Hello readers! We hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving last week; we know we enjoyed our time off, but we are excited to get back to the grind and continue helping our followers. We thought it would be interesting to write about some interesting uses of online training and this week we are going to look specifically at a great tool online training can provide for our education based readers, specifically for college orientations.
We realize the goal for college administrators is to ensure the success of their students and that is why so much time and effort is spent to make sure they provide an excellent orientation for their incoming students. Studies have shown (remember our past blog discussing the study at Gloucester County College) that online training can improve the chances for students to achieve success, but those studies were done with only communication students. In a college orientation, there will be several different majors and numerous students attending school for different reasons (for example, community colleges will have many students looking to transfer to a four year university and many others looking to obtain their Associate of Arts degree), it seems unlikely that online training can fulfill all of their individual needs.
However, we here at Comevo have many schools who provide a decision path option for their online orientation. They provide a way for students to select what area they will be concentrating in, and then they are taking to the sections of the online orientation that are most applicable to them. This enables students to be delivered the information they need to receive about the college they are attending in general, as well as the specific requirements for them to reach their goals. Everyone receives the orientation they need to ensure success.
Though we have only seen this done with college orientations, the decision path could also be successful in the corporate world. A decision path in a new employee training can allow new hires to go through basic training on the business they will be working for and allow them to select the specific department they will work in and obtain information more focused on the job they will be performing.
The decision path tool is a great way to ensure both new students and employees learn the valuable tools to help them succeed in their new venture. All that is needed is a customizable online training that can be altered to the specific needs of any person regardless of their needs.
We realize the goal for college administrators is to ensure the success of their students and that is why so much time and effort is spent to make sure they provide an excellent orientation for their incoming students. Studies have shown (remember our past blog discussing the study at Gloucester County College) that online training can improve the chances for students to achieve success, but those studies were done with only communication students. In a college orientation, there will be several different majors and numerous students attending school for different reasons (for example, community colleges will have many students looking to transfer to a four year university and many others looking to obtain their Associate of Arts degree), it seems unlikely that online training can fulfill all of their individual needs.
However, we here at Comevo have many schools who provide a decision path option for their online orientation. They provide a way for students to select what area they will be concentrating in, and then they are taking to the sections of the online orientation that are most applicable to them. This enables students to be delivered the information they need to receive about the college they are attending in general, as well as the specific requirements for them to reach their goals. Everyone receives the orientation they need to ensure success.
Though we have only seen this done with college orientations, the decision path could also be successful in the corporate world. A decision path in a new employee training can allow new hires to go through basic training on the business they will be working for and allow them to select the specific department they will work in and obtain information more focused on the job they will be performing.
The decision path tool is a great way to ensure both new students and employees learn the valuable tools to help them succeed in their new venture. All that is needed is a customizable online training that can be altered to the specific needs of any person regardless of their needs.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Our Thoughts...
Hello readers, if any of you are following us on Twitter (if not then check us out at http://www.twitter.com/comevo) you have noticed an increase in the number of articles we are directing you to. We feel that these online resources we have been taking advantage of lately should be just another method for us to serve you and we just want to share our research in the eLearning market. However, with a limit of 140 characters, Twitter is not always teh best way to give analysis on those article. Now we will enver post something to our Twitter unless we feel it provides valuable information, but we understand that it's always nice to hear what we have to say about those articles. This is where our blog comes into play! Every so often we will take the time to write about some of these links we post to Twitter, starting today.
The first article "Why do Students Like Online Learning? (found at http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/benefits-of-online-learning.htm) discusses the benefits of online classes for college students. We posted this article for two reason:
1) There was plenty of crossover with their list and ours about the benefit of online learning (notably students enjoy the ability to to access the online content anytime from anywhere).
2) The title of the article alone gives insight into the desires of students, they want to be able to access content they need for school online.
There is even some conent they provided we had not previously mentioned we felt was valuable information. The one that stuck out the most was teh fact that online learning is less intimidating than in person learning for many students. New college attendees already have pleny of apprehension as they enter college, online orientations can help prepare them for that switch without adding any pressure. The more prepared they feel before entering college, the less anxiety they will face.
The next three articles were posted to provide more information from outside sources on the benefits we have discovered come about from using online training. For saving money (article found at http://operationstech.about.com/od/costsavingstrategies/a/CostSavTraining.htm) this article by James Bucki lists online training and computer based training first in discussing ways to save money and still properly traing your employees (which comes as no surprise to our readers!). The benefits of consistency can be found in the article "Get Online Training to Work for YOU" (found at http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/get-online-training-to-work-for-you-1422780.html ). One line that stuck out was where the author mentioned that we live in a day where almost anything you can teach ina classroom, people can learn online. So we already know online training can save you money but we are coming to a point in time where online training offers just as much quality as an in class session. The final article (found at http://www.cbtplanet.com/articles-tutorials/benefits-online-training.htm) is a good summary of all we listed. The author mentions the benefits of consistency and gives insight into other benefits about training new employees. One thing we took away from this article was the ability to traing employees from multiple departments at the same time during the same training session. Just another way online training can help save time for H/R directors and give them the ability to focuse their attention on more urgent matters.
Thanks for reading! We would like to wish all our readers a happy and healthy Thanksgiving from all fo us here at Comevo LLC.
The first article "Why do Students Like Online Learning? (found at http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/benefits-of-online-learning.htm) discusses the benefits of online classes for college students. We posted this article for two reason:
1) There was plenty of crossover with their list and ours about the benefit of online learning (notably students enjoy the ability to to access the online content anytime from anywhere).
2) The title of the article alone gives insight into the desires of students, they want to be able to access content they need for school online.
There is even some conent they provided we had not previously mentioned we felt was valuable information. The one that stuck out the most was teh fact that online learning is less intimidating than in person learning for many students. New college attendees already have pleny of apprehension as they enter college, online orientations can help prepare them for that switch without adding any pressure. The more prepared they feel before entering college, the less anxiety they will face.
The next three articles were posted to provide more information from outside sources on the benefits we have discovered come about from using online training. For saving money (article found at http://operationstech.about.com/od/costsavingstrategies/a/CostSavTraining.htm) this article by James Bucki lists online training and computer based training first in discussing ways to save money and still properly traing your employees (which comes as no surprise to our readers!). The benefits of consistency can be found in the article "Get Online Training to Work for YOU" (found at http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/get-online-training-to-work-for-you-1422780.html ). One line that stuck out was where the author mentioned that we live in a day where almost anything you can teach ina classroom, people can learn online. So we already know online training can save you money but we are coming to a point in time where online training offers just as much quality as an in class session. The final article (found at http://www.cbtplanet.com/articles-tutorials/benefits-online-training.htm) is a good summary of all we listed. The author mentions the benefits of consistency and gives insight into other benefits about training new employees. One thing we took away from this article was the ability to traing employees from multiple departments at the same time during the same training session. Just another way online training can help save time for H/R directors and give them the ability to focuse their attention on more urgent matters.
Thanks for reading! We would like to wish all our readers a happy and healthy Thanksgiving from all fo us here at Comevo LLC.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Online Orientation- Preparing for Success
Hello readers, just a quick update on the blog, this will be Carrie’s last post for us here at Comevo, she will be graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in a few weeks and moving down south. We would like to congratulate Carrie as well as thank her for all the great work she has done for us! Now here is her contribution on yet another found benefit of online orientations:
“Participation in recommended in-class orientation and GPA are significantly related to student success in online undergraduate business course” (Wojciechowski and Palmer, 2005). This quote came from the article “Required Online Orientation: A predictor of Success?,” written by Linda DeFelice and Karen Durkin. The authors explore a study conducted using Gloucester County College in New Jersey. The study looks at whether students who were required to take an online orientation before participating in an online Communications course.
The results found proved to be quite interesting. The authors concluded that “GPA and orientation grade are the most significant predictors of student grade in a course,” meaning those who participated in online orientation prior to the course and had higher GPA’s were more likely to excel in the course.
These findings relate to Comevo, the leading provider of online orientation in several ways. Like an orientation to a class, orientation to a school can be quite beneficial. Instead of just handing out a syllabus on the first day of class or a pamphlet about the school, an online orientation allows for an interactive and in-depth preparation for what is to follow. It allows students to ease into the process and gauge what to expect.
Orientations can be appreciated by students for various reasons including 24/7 accessibility and easy navigation. Most important though is that online orientation provides a suitable introduction to the school. The moral of the article is that proper preparation can never be underestimated. Online orientations can provide a solid and informed beginning that ensures success.
Happy Training,
Carrie Peck
Comevo LLC.
“Participation in recommended in-class orientation and GPA are significantly related to student success in online undergraduate business course” (Wojciechowski and Palmer, 2005). This quote came from the article “Required Online Orientation: A predictor of Success?,” written by Linda DeFelice and Karen Durkin. The authors explore a study conducted using Gloucester County College in New Jersey. The study looks at whether students who were required to take an online orientation before participating in an online Communications course.
The results found proved to be quite interesting. The authors concluded that “GPA and orientation grade are the most significant predictors of student grade in a course,” meaning those who participated in online orientation prior to the course and had higher GPA’s were more likely to excel in the course.
These findings relate to Comevo, the leading provider of online orientation in several ways. Like an orientation to a class, orientation to a school can be quite beneficial. Instead of just handing out a syllabus on the first day of class or a pamphlet about the school, an online orientation allows for an interactive and in-depth preparation for what is to follow. It allows students to ease into the process and gauge what to expect.
Orientations can be appreciated by students for various reasons including 24/7 accessibility and easy navigation. Most important though is that online orientation provides a suitable introduction to the school. The moral of the article is that proper preparation can never be underestimated. Online orientations can provide a solid and informed beginning that ensures success.
Happy Training,
Carrie Peck
Comevo LLC.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Quality Training While Saving Money
Hello readers, hope this article finds you all in good health and in good spirits. We here at Comevo certainly have a lot to be excited for with various conferences we have attended and new clients…but this blog is not about us, it’s about helping you gain a better understanding on how an online training and orientation can benefit you and your institution.
ASTD has recently announced that the eLearning market in the United States has reached $16.7 billion dollars in 2009. Their research went on to state that the market is growing by an average of 7.4% per year and estimates that revenues will reach $23.8 billion in the year 2014.
The article stated how the demand for online training continues to be strong even in a struggling United States economy. This clearly points to one of the major selling points for an online orientation/training, the money that will be saved as a result.
These are trying times for all of us in this country, and we all are forced to make sacrifices that we would love to avoid, but in the same sense this is also a time when we need dependable employees that we can rely on and the best way to develop these employees is to offer them proper training in the company when they first start.
Online training is the best way to provide effective training sessions to your new employees without having to sacrifice quality as a result of price. There are numerous money saving benefits of an online training including:
· No need to buy or download any hardware to a computer, if the training is online a
computer only needs the capability of going on the internet for someone to access their session
· No paperwork to print, this is also a sustainable benefit, but there is also a great amount of saving done by having all training online and eliminating all printing costs.
· No longer will employees have to waste their work time, as long as the training is available online they can go through the orientation whenever they want and go through it at their own pace. This allows your employees to remain productive but still get the training they need to find success with the company.
More and more people expect to be able to perform everyday functions through a computer online. Couple that with the financial stress an online training relieves and making the switch to online training is a very attractive opportunity for any institution to look into.
ASTD has recently announced that the eLearning market in the United States has reached $16.7 billion dollars in 2009. Their research went on to state that the market is growing by an average of 7.4% per year and estimates that revenues will reach $23.8 billion in the year 2014.
The article stated how the demand for online training continues to be strong even in a struggling United States economy. This clearly points to one of the major selling points for an online orientation/training, the money that will be saved as a result.
These are trying times for all of us in this country, and we all are forced to make sacrifices that we would love to avoid, but in the same sense this is also a time when we need dependable employees that we can rely on and the best way to develop these employees is to offer them proper training in the company when they first start.
Online training is the best way to provide effective training sessions to your new employees without having to sacrifice quality as a result of price. There are numerous money saving benefits of an online training including:
· No need to buy or download any hardware to a computer, if the training is online a
computer only needs the capability of going on the internet for someone to access their session
· No paperwork to print, this is also a sustainable benefit, but there is also a great amount of saving done by having all training online and eliminating all printing costs.
· No longer will employees have to waste their work time, as long as the training is available online they can go through the orientation whenever they want and go through it at their own pace. This allows your employees to remain productive but still get the training they need to find success with the company.
More and more people expect to be able to perform everyday functions through a computer online. Couple that with the financial stress an online training relieves and making the switch to online training is a very attractive opportunity for any institution to look into.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Thoughts on an Effective Online Orientation
This week’s blog will feature an article I came across that highlights the importance of Online Orientation from someone else’s perspective. The article was written by Christopher Hill, a distance learning specialist and is titled “Six Steps to Creating an Effective Online Orientation Program.” He investigates the distance learning team at Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio.
Now it is important to point out that even though this article focuses on online orientation, it is a bit different than what we here at Comevo offer. Our orientation goes one step further – we save your staff even more time because with our @school Online Orientation your staff does not need to be present to administer the orientation. However, I thought the information was valuable and hope you enjoy the article as much as I did!
“If you’ve never taken a web-based course you don’t know what you do in the online classroom, you don’t know how to use the tools in the online classroom; you don’t know how to do the equivalent of how to raise your hand.” So says Danielle Karpus, Distance Learning Support Specialist at Cuyahoga Community College.
Cuyahoga is Ohio’s oldest and largest multi-campus community college with about 10,000 online students, many of whom were entering these classes with no idea of what to expect.
To address this problem, Karpus and the distance learning team at Cuyahoga created an online orientation online orientation program for students.
1. Move from in-person to online orientation- Cuyahoga started by doing in-person orientation sessions in the classroom, but met with student complaints. “We had students saying ‘I signed up to take a web-based course, I don’t want to be coming to campus,’ Karpus says. “That’s when we started playing around with virtual orientation tools.”
2. Logistics- Karpus conducts the virtual orientation live, in her office with a webcam and headset. She records each session, so that it can be offered to students any time they log in. There is a link to register for in person sessions, but there is always a link to a recorded virtual session.
3. Convenient scheduling- Not only did the students want virtual orientations, they want them at times that were convenient for them. They don’t want them from 8:30 to 5 when they’re working, so Cuyahoga has taken to scheduling orientations in the evening and even on the weekend.
4. Hands-on training- Students are surveyed after every orientation. Part of the feedback Karpus and her team got from the students was that it was helpful to watch the instructor showing them how to use Blackboard, but they wanted to try it themselves. So the distance learning group created a sample site called “Blackboard for You” to give students some hands-on experience.
5. Keep students engaged- When Karpus runs a session she starts with a pre-formulated curriculum that’s about 40 minutes long. Then she opens it up to the students to allow some interactivity—she solicits feedback on any questions they may have, and what they didn’t understand.
“It’s important during a virtual orientation to have a way to see if they’re paying attention,” Karpus says. If she has a small group she can give them power to use the whiteboard. She’s also experimenting with a phone bridge, to allow students to call in during a session rather than just using text-based chat.
6. Show an impact on retention- Every public college and university is feeling the pressure to show increased student retention, student success and performance. Karpus is in the middle of a research project to determine if orientation makes a difference in a academic performance and online orientation rates. She’s at the data-gathering stage, and she will be doing focus groups with students who go through orientation.
Excerpted from 10 Tips for Running an Effective Online LMS Orientation, Distance Education Report, May 15, 2008.
Happy Training,
Carrie PeckComevo LLC
Now it is important to point out that even though this article focuses on online orientation, it is a bit different than what we here at Comevo offer. Our orientation goes one step further – we save your staff even more time because with our @school Online Orientation your staff does not need to be present to administer the orientation. However, I thought the information was valuable and hope you enjoy the article as much as I did!
“If you’ve never taken a web-based course you don’t know what you do in the online classroom, you don’t know how to use the tools in the online classroom; you don’t know how to do the equivalent of how to raise your hand.” So says Danielle Karpus, Distance Learning Support Specialist at Cuyahoga Community College.
Cuyahoga is Ohio’s oldest and largest multi-campus community college with about 10,000 online students, many of whom were entering these classes with no idea of what to expect.
To address this problem, Karpus and the distance learning team at Cuyahoga created an online orientation online orientation program for students.
1. Move from in-person to online orientation- Cuyahoga started by doing in-person orientation sessions in the classroom, but met with student complaints. “We had students saying ‘I signed up to take a web-based course, I don’t want to be coming to campus,’ Karpus says. “That’s when we started playing around with virtual orientation tools.”
2. Logistics- Karpus conducts the virtual orientation live, in her office with a webcam and headset. She records each session, so that it can be offered to students any time they log in. There is a link to register for in person sessions, but there is always a link to a recorded virtual session.
3. Convenient scheduling- Not only did the students want virtual orientations, they want them at times that were convenient for them. They don’t want them from 8:30 to 5 when they’re working, so Cuyahoga has taken to scheduling orientations in the evening and even on the weekend.
4. Hands-on training- Students are surveyed after every orientation. Part of the feedback Karpus and her team got from the students was that it was helpful to watch the instructor showing them how to use Blackboard, but they wanted to try it themselves. So the distance learning group created a sample site called “Blackboard for You” to give students some hands-on experience.
5. Keep students engaged- When Karpus runs a session she starts with a pre-formulated curriculum that’s about 40 minutes long. Then she opens it up to the students to allow some interactivity—she solicits feedback on any questions they may have, and what they didn’t understand.
“It’s important during a virtual orientation to have a way to see if they’re paying attention,” Karpus says. If she has a small group she can give them power to use the whiteboard. She’s also experimenting with a phone bridge, to allow students to call in during a session rather than just using text-based chat.
6. Show an impact on retention- Every public college and university is feeling the pressure to show increased student retention, student success and performance. Karpus is in the middle of a research project to determine if orientation makes a difference in a academic performance and online orientation rates. She’s at the data-gathering stage, and she will be doing focus groups with students who go through orientation.
Excerpted from 10 Tips for Running an Effective Online LMS Orientation, Distance Education Report, May 15, 2008.
Happy Training,
Carrie PeckComevo LLC
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