Archive for June 24th, 2009


Posted on June 24, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle

Corporate Turn to E-learning Solutions

organizational learning
Vishwanath Shankar asked:


“People are an organization’s most important asset.” this is the golden rule for any successful corporation. Passionate, educated, proficient people are the key to corporate success. To this end training expenses are critical investments in human capital, by corporations.

In his book Break Away, Charles Fred writes that, “A breakaway starts when you reach the proficiency threshold. Proficient workers become contributing team members; they produce innovative ideas; they work safely but quickly, they go on to achieve even greater levels of proficiency, and they win the race.”

In keeping mind the training scenario more and more corporations are turning to e-learning as their learning solutions. In fact Corporations are currently among the largest users of e-learning and technology communications. They are now investing extensively to train the staff in new applications, processes and services, soft skills and customer interaction

E benefits in Corporations

E-learning is very effective in industries such as financial services, entertainment, health care, government, and education. E-learning provides communication, delivery of information, and efficiency of business practices which have tremendous and long-term benefits.

E-learning can be a highly-effective delivery mechanism for training courses, where:

There are a number of students spread over a large geographical area;

Qualification is global in nature

A corporate client requires confidential discussion among learners

Managers want to track (and record) effectively the progress of individual learners.

It is cost and time saving

E-learning helps in optimizing

E-learning is great for optimizing

Optimizing sales channel – Increase in tempo of sales force development. Getting channel partners up to speed on new products, learning to sell solutions instead products.

Optimizing customer relationships – helping and educating customers to learn and teaching them how to use products.

Optimizing the workforce –learning new business models, up gradation, instant product information, learning new techniques and better communication.

Optimization of learning- You can use the same software for 10 people as well as for 1000 people. It can be customized and paced according to the learners need.

Effective Corporate E-learning Program or LMS

LMS or learning management systems is a software package that enables the management delivery of online content to learners. There are many corporate LMS, but an effective LMS must incorporate features such as

Auto enrollment of learners in courses according to predefined criteria, such as job title or work location.

Manager enrollment and approval

Boolean definitions for prerequisites or equivalencies

Integration of performance tracking and management systems

Planning tools to identify skill gaps at departmental and individual level

Curriculum, required and elective training requirements at an individual and organizational level

Assigning and grouping learners according to geographic region, product line, business size.

Assign corporate and partner employees to more than one job title at more than one demographic unit

In Conclusion

If a corporate wants to succeed in today’s rat race it will need an army of well-informed, sharp and educated workers. To create this army the best and most cost effective and time saving tool is E-learning. In the era of information, learning is the ultimate survival tool. So to make your workers proficient achievers E-learning is the only solution



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Posted on June 24, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle

10 Tips to Choose Distance Learning

sustainable learning
Laurel Springs asked:


In the past several years, the field of K-12 distance learning education has grown considerably, supported by the charter school movement and a host of national and statewide technology initiatives in education. Parents, teachers, and school administrators can mix and match a multitude of distance learning options for their students. Here are a few guidelines to help determine what program is right for you.

1. Individualized Approach to Education

Look for programs where students are well-served by the personalized care of their teachers. Look for self-paced or customized curriculum, and a mastery-based learning philosophy that emphasizes complete proficiency at every stage of the process. Knowing a student’s learning strengths and weakness, as well as particular learning styles, can be a great asset in effective and long-lasting learning.

2. Personalized Teacher Services

Teacher services should be comprehensive and responsive to student needs. Teachers should be highly responsive to their students’ needs while building a one-to-one relationship with each family. Regular communication is essential, as is coordinating among multiple teachers and with parents. Seek out programs that understand the challenges as well as opportunities of the distance learning setting.

3. Regional Accreditation

For traditional schools as well as distance learning programs, regional accreditation bodies such as the Western Association of Schools and Colleges or the New England Association of Schools and Colleges demand that schools adhere to a rigorous set of practices to guarantee excellence in education. Few distance learning programs have been accredited yet it is an important factor as many universities and colleges prefer that their applicants come from accredited schools.

4. Strong Curriculum

Programs frequently offer online, text-based, project-based and customized courses, and students should be able to mix and match courses according to the mode of delivery as well as appropriate grade level in a given subject. Look for programs that are correlated to state and national standards so that key skills and concepts are properly reinforced. Course catalogues should offer a range of Advanced Placement, honors, and College Prep courses, as well as academic, art and technology electives. Quality curriculum will emphasize higher-level critical thinking skills with ample opportunities for students to sustain a meaningful dialogue with teachers.

5. Program Accountability

The recent boom in online learning has resulted in a flood of start-up programs so be attentive to the school’s actual track record where it comes to assessment and accountability. Many programs are run by private firms that lack sufficient input from certified teachers, so finding a school with qualified educators is a must. Look for longer-running programs and schools that adhere to best practices established by organizations like the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL).

6. College Placement

If your student is college bound, examine graduation rates, percentages of students who go on to two- or four-year post-secondary schools, and the schools where students are being admitted.

For example, one of the leading distance learning schools, Laurel Springs School has exceptional college placement statistics:

• 85% of seniors are attending college.

• 90% were accepted to the college of their choice.

• The 15% who postponed college were mainly professional, elite athletes and actors.

Their SAT scores were also higher than state and national average.

7. Academic Opportunities

Look for cooperation with other educational institutions to provide students with a range of academic opportunities. The University of California, for example, pre-approves coursework as meeting admission requirements, as does the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Schools may also participate in the National Honor Society, recognizing academic achievement and community service among outstanding students.

8. Student Support Services

Beyond teacher support, the entire school should provide extensive personalized care for its students. Knowledgeable advisors who can assist in selecting courses, guidance counselors who monitor ongoing progress, college counseling, and a registrar that issues report cards and transcripts are all important support features that might not be included in all distance learning programs.

9. School Community

A distance learning program should strive to create a sense of community, especially since its students and teachers aren’t located in the same place. Look for online meeting places, regular newsletters, posted announcements, chat rooms and message boards, and physical events such as an annual prom and graduation ceremony.

10. Parent Training

Parental involvement is important in any learning situation, and in distance education, where students don’t regularly maintain face-to-face interaction with their teachers, the parents’ role is all the more critical. A strong distance learning program should provide comprehensive parent training and support. Parents should be able to check the progress of their students’ work and be in frequent communication with teachers.

The task of selecting a school doesn’t need to be an overwhelming process. Of the numerous factors to consider, these ten areas should help you ask the appropriate questions in finding the school that’s right for you.



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Posted on June 24, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle

Myth and Metaphor as a Way for Creating Intelligent Businesses

In a time when we feel more chaos than order, and more wrong than right, we must consider deeper aspects of our psyche as human beings and reassess our assumptions about everything. To create more intelligent companies we business leaders must do the same. Finding more meaning and purpose in our businesses is critical to this assessment. And using ‘myth’ can help us go deeper into ourselves to reveal how we want to relate to each other, our business solutions, and the planet.

Today, much of our impact on the world as individuals is done through business. Yet, when considering the overall ecology of our societies and the environment, humanity’s impact is proving to be more harmful than helpful. Thus, we must reconsider how we are with each other as human beings and define new purpose, meaning, and relationship as men and women. I propose that bringing in myth as a means for going deeper into what we really want can create more meaning in our lives so that our businesses become leaders in the making of a world that works.

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Myth and Metaphor as a Way for Creating Intelligent BusinessesOne thing I ask as you read this brief article: How can myth and metaphor help us to create new forms of business and culture?

In my below introductory article, I will use Yung’s metaphor of [ King (Queen), Warrior, Magician, Lover ] to address the changing of our world’s mythological paradigm. I find this model effective for describing a fuller, more (w)holistic expression of humanity at this stage of our evolution.

World expression is shifting physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. From the perspective of ourselves, which is often expressed through our male and female natures, some kind of greater awareness is emerging within our human(e) race.

Myth and Metaphor as a Way for Creating Intelligent BusinessesFirst let’s consider the women:

The world is filling with women awakening to their own power – which is wonderful, isn’t it? They are very present with today’s situation, meaning that their WARRIOR is rising. And they are learning to stand up for themselves. Their MAGICIAN is weak but also rising because they now have their warrior protecting the entrance to their Tent so they can gather and remember their sacred ability to Create. Their LOVER is still (and rightfully so) very angry, as they have much pain in the process of forgiving men for what they have done to women (and still are) over the centuries. Finally, women intuitively sense their QUEEN energy of purpose. However, they have no idea how to ‘rule’ with it. Thus, they look to other authoritative individuals to hold that seat. Queen energy is misunderstood to be like King energy, which is dangerously incorrect. There is much work to do here so that transferring the mantle of women’s Queen energy is done well. It is a sensitive issue and will continue to be one of the world’s greatest challenges for some time. But without women becoming empowered to their own queen energy (and done so for each women at their individual right time), the kingdom will be lost.

Second, let’s look at the men:

Of course there is a whole new man arising in the ranks of men, (but not near as many as woman) who are awakening to their compassion. They are LOVER men – men who are learning to feel deeply. This male lover energy is so important to global transformation, that change can not be done without it. It is these men who hold a very important role in the coming integration of the Masculine and Feminine, which is how myth will transform, and thereby our world culture. (I’ll say more about this later.) However, most of us men are very lost, and in many ways, much more so than the women. Most of us don’t know which way to turn, and it’s been our nature to hole-up. This used to be done to come to terms with our state of being. However, too often the cave is now used to escape without conscious awareness of why. Our WARRIOR has dropped both his sword and shield in the name of stopping the bloodshed. But it has left us vulnerable to physical and psychic attack, especially from women’s unstable warrior energy. It means that we can no longer protect our villages because we are (in most cases) unconsciously choosing not to bepresent with the reality of our world’s critical situation. Because the warrior is needed to manifest, the lover group of men have lost the ability to manifest as well. Our MAGICIAN has lost all power and have excommunicated themselves from the kingdom. Many of us have gone running in shame to the hills knowing that our way of life of the Empire is no more. Additionally, there is no KING to serve because he is dead. In my minds eye, I see men standing limply, high on a mountain top, alone and awaiting for an answer from someone or somewhere else. We lie at night saturated in the dream of a funeral march, unable to awaken from what is quickly becoming collective nightmare for each man. We too are still looking for our King purpose energy from other authorities and saviors. We men need masculine king energy to perform in the world, and it is challenging because the meaning we once knew and lived by is gone. ther may not even be a king to replace what we have created psychic space for, as he is a part of a dying mythology. So, just as the women gather in their Tents, so we too must gather in the woods and collectively learn to create a sense of meaning and purpose that can only emerge from contained within the safety of each other, and draw from the insights that only a man can give a man.

Myth and Metaphor as a Way for Creating Intelligent BusinessesAnd now, let’s consider myth itself; the old and the new:

With this all said, it is important to note that we are in a time when past ways of living, and the metaphors we use to pull their etheric energies into the present, is also near an end. New metaphors must now be “consciously” created that can hold a place in the human(e) psyche for new visions to be formed. These visions will need to over-stand an old reality that no longer serves us. By gathering as we are now, all over the planet, we are creating the vessel from which new stories, metaphors, and myth will emerge that can establish a collective ‘will’ for building an awakened planetary society that is made of a diverse-yet-unified, globally-conscious, world of communities.

Finally, let’s consider the elements of an alchemical wedding:

So, holding a conscious awareness of our present state of being (and the myths that define it) is crucial for humanity to generate a collective sight – a vision of where we ‘choose’ to go. To do this, we must learn to stand on a bridge that is not yet completed. A dual bridge which crosses two chasms; one between an ‘old age’ and ‘new age’, and another which is separating men from women in an unhealthy way. It is on this bridge where we will evolve human-kind’s DNA Signature from a static emblem of who we once were, to a dynamic, interactive, more playful way of being. The bridge will join an allow for the synthesis to occur: an ecology of design that is right now form-ulating the greatest most romantic Dance we have ever known. A Dance that culminates in the Sacred Intercourse of the Masculine and Feminine. Even now, we are anticipating this Dance as we long for the signs of a new Birth into a new ‘age’. One that places a missing Rhythm into our days, revitalizing and fulfilling our desire for something more, welling up from a Drive deep Divine place within ourselves – It is our gGod-Nature’s desire and acknowledged ability to Create that will bring forth an incredible world in which to live.

Now am I speaking of more sex in the workplace? Of course not! These are metaphors. That said, how can myth and metaphor help us to create new forms of business and culture? Let me know your ideas and insights.