Pricing has never been an easy issue for most companies. Most of the companies I know have lost some, if not many, customers when their product or service got up to more than what their customers can afford for in their budget. Companies usually get backlash from this sort of minor setback especially when it balloons due to the reason that customer has opted and switched to the competitor’s side.
As one who manages things like this in the company, I do believe that not even a good channel sales strategy can prevent this predicament from happening after your merchandise has increased its price. Although, a creative channel sales strategy can be a good solution to this, in my opinion, it doesn’t hurt to set a few preventive measures from letting the customers lose their attention to your product or service. Here’s my own list on what to do just in case you are in need of increasing your price without loosing your customers:
1. Avoid Sudden Increase – of course, as any customer would hate, the one thing that people hate are unpleasant surprises. For customers who strictly depend or follow their budget plan, the first thing that would turn them away from your product is a surprise that their favorite, if not often bought, merchandise hiked up for a price they couldn’t adjust to conveniently. Not even a good channel sales strategy would salvage that.
2. Gradual Increase – If you intend on increasing the price for at least half of what it’s bought today, at least make it easy on the customers. Increase it ever so slowly, like hiking it up an eighth every month for the customers to expect the changes.
3. Value Your Partners – This is when your partners will do special roles. If there is an urgent need to increase significantly, then the relationships of your partners to the customers will handle and ease off the shock. Loyalty will be your greatest weapon.
4. Provide leeway – You can’t please everyone, so at least please those who pay. If it’s unavoidable, you should keep what you should among the target customers. If even those customers quit, you may want to reconsider and think if your price really is justifiable.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
GK1world.com Launch - Globe, Smart, and Voncore Team Up for Gawad Kalinga
Gawad Kalinga is taking on the noble cause of freeing people from the shackles of poverty with the help of the growing number of Filipinos both here and abroad, who seek to serve as instruments to bring dignity back to the poor.
Supporting this movement is a digital global portal, www,GK1world.com. This powerful “online tool for nation-building” has been developed through the partnership, commitment, and cooperation of GK sponsors, Globe Telecom, Smart Communications, and Voncore.
Voncore, a web development and software solutions company has been chosen to build this digital portal especially designed to provide a tool for builders and volunteers to collaborate, team up, and create projects to drive improvements and transformation among poor communities in the country. GK1world.com aims to connect builders and GK heroes from all over the world to work towards building a better nation where no one is left behind.
Voncore’s Software and Web Development Team, Globe Telecoms, Smart Communications, and Gawad Kalinga will be launching GK’s online movement, www.GK1world.com, on Sept 1, 2010 at the Rockwell Tent, Makati, along with the launch of Kalinga sa Bayan campaign.
Click here to read more about the launch of GK1world.com and the Kalinga sa Bayan campaign.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Partner Portal Matters: What to Look for in an Ideal Channel Partner?
Channel partnership is a relationship and just like every relationship in your life, there is a list of qualities that we would like the partner to have. The good news is that in a channel partner relationship, you can dismiss the partner who does not meet your qualifications without the emotional upheaval. Imagine sharing you partner portal with a technologically-challenged partner, for example. It would require additional training to get them up to speed with your business process. So, what would you typically want in a channel partner?
Customer access – For one thing, you’d want this partner to know the target customers for your product. It would also be a plus if they are established and well known by their loyal customers.
Complement your product – I would recommend you choose a partner who is already selling a similar product. This eliminates the need to train and explain your product to the reseller.
Technically savvy - In the IT industry, especially, you’d need partners that know what they’re talking about. They should be competent enough to answer inquiries from customers. Technically inclined resellers would also be able to adapt easily to your channel portal when you send it.
channel sales strategy
Experienced – It is important to have an experienced reseller. An experienced sales rep knows his way around the business and is more likely to close a sale.
Financially Stable – This is an important quality of the reseller. They must have a good credit standing and their financial reputation must be impeccable.
Customer Support – Resellers, especially those selling new technology, must have customer service capabilities. Customers seeking assistance must have someone to call in case there are problems with the products they bought.
Coverage of Territory – It is imperative that you know how many sales representatives a reseller has. If your product is a typical consumer’s products, then you’d need to have more sales reps to promote your product. If however the product is for a vertical market, then you don’t need that much sales representatives because few people would really want to but the product.
Good Impression – Channel partners must be professional and respectful to the customers; otherwise, the product would never sell.
I think that there is no such thing as a perfect channel partner but it doesn’t hurt to try.
Customer access – For one thing, you’d want this partner to know the target customers for your product. It would also be a plus if they are established and well known by their loyal customers.
Complement your product – I would recommend you choose a partner who is already selling a similar product. This eliminates the need to train and explain your product to the reseller.
Technically savvy - In the IT industry, especially, you’d need partners that know what they’re talking about. They should be competent enough to answer inquiries from customers. Technically inclined resellers would also be able to adapt easily to your channel portal when you send it.
channel sales strategy
Experienced – It is important to have an experienced reseller. An experienced sales rep knows his way around the business and is more likely to close a sale.
Financially Stable – This is an important quality of the reseller. They must have a good credit standing and their financial reputation must be impeccable.
Customer Support – Resellers, especially those selling new technology, must have customer service capabilities. Customers seeking assistance must have someone to call in case there are problems with the products they bought.
Coverage of Territory – It is imperative that you know how many sales representatives a reseller has. If your product is a typical consumer’s products, then you’d need to have more sales reps to promote your product. If however the product is for a vertical market, then you don’t need that much sales representatives because few people would really want to but the product.
Good Impression – Channel partners must be professional and respectful to the customers; otherwise, the product would never sell.
I think that there is no such thing as a perfect channel partner but it doesn’t hurt to try.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Three Customer Types
As a direct selling agent, it’s really hard to find customers who are really willing to buy your product. And even if our boss motivates us with various channel management solutions, in the end it’s just really up to the customer to buy what we sell.
I remember there was a time when there was a seminar for direct sell agents in our office before any channel management solutions were done for us. The sales pitch instructor thought us that there are three types of customers in our channels, the first being the No-No person, the second being the Yes-No type and lastly the third being the Yes-Yes type of customer.
The No-No person is the variant wherein they already refuse the product on the mere sight of an agent selling it. It doesn’t really matter if you made a sales pitch at them or not, they’re either too busy to listen to you or their just not into the product to begin with. Ah, rejection. Some of us agents are really not into this selling business and if you’re going to add a lot of denial moments from customers, it’s really frustrating. I’m not surprised some of us quit the job.
channel partner strategy
The next one is the Yes-No type. These customers are the ones that are willing to buy but are eventually hindered to purchase the product because of some factors like lack of money or being too busy to stop by and acquire any item. On my part, sometimes I consider them to be time wasters as they usually make me talk about the product so much into persuading them only to say no in the end. Sometimes, though, I can turn them around to type three customers and when that happens, I feel kind of satisfied.
The last one is the Yes-Yes type. In my opinion, this is a rare breed of customer unless your product is the type that sells well on its own. I can comfortably say that I encounter these types only once a week. It’s really hard to find people who are actually interested in soaps and lotions and whatnot that an agent sells in malls or worse, in the streets or underpasses.
Being an agent is tough and it only becomes tougher if the management doesn’t do well for their selling arms. Thankfully, there are good people on the top of my company.
I remember there was a time when there was a seminar for direct sell agents in our office before any channel management solutions were done for us. The sales pitch instructor thought us that there are three types of customers in our channels, the first being the No-No person, the second being the Yes-No type and lastly the third being the Yes-Yes type of customer.
The No-No person is the variant wherein they already refuse the product on the mere sight of an agent selling it. It doesn’t really matter if you made a sales pitch at them or not, they’re either too busy to listen to you or their just not into the product to begin with. Ah, rejection. Some of us agents are really not into this selling business and if you’re going to add a lot of denial moments from customers, it’s really frustrating. I’m not surprised some of us quit the job.
channel partner strategy
The next one is the Yes-No type. These customers are the ones that are willing to buy but are eventually hindered to purchase the product because of some factors like lack of money or being too busy to stop by and acquire any item. On my part, sometimes I consider them to be time wasters as they usually make me talk about the product so much into persuading them only to say no in the end. Sometimes, though, I can turn them around to type three customers and when that happens, I feel kind of satisfied.
The last one is the Yes-Yes type. In my opinion, this is a rare breed of customer unless your product is the type that sells well on its own. I can comfortably say that I encounter these types only once a week. It’s really hard to find people who are actually interested in soaps and lotions and whatnot that an agent sells in malls or worse, in the streets or underpasses.
Being an agent is tough and it only becomes tougher if the management doesn’t do well for their selling arms. Thankfully, there are good people on the top of my company.
Monday, June 28, 2010
How to Overcome Procrastination in Elearning Online?
One barrier to a successful elearning online experience that is probably most prevalent especially in asynchronous electronic learning method is procrastination. I, myself, experience this from time to time. In fact, it’s becoming quite a hobby!
Self-motivation or just plain motivation is the key or the cure to procrastination but finding that treasure throve of enthusiasm is easier said than done. Fortunately there are strategies that I’ve learned that I’m willing to share to anyone out there stuck in the rut.
Time management – Even if you don’t have a set schedule for your elearning online sessions, initiate setting up your own schedule. Set aside a definite amount of time per week for your sessions. Make it a routine so you won’t forget it.
Join a virtual learning community – It’s nice to have a group of people having the same goals that can support and motivate each other. In my case, we formed an exclusive forum for all student writers where we can post our works to be critiqued and to learn tips from our lecturers who are professional writers. I definitely say that this is a great way to keep motivated and avoid the ugly monster called procrastination!
Create a positive physical learning environment – Set up the room where you do most of your elearning online sessions in a way where distractions won’t easily find you. I prefer a quiet room with no TV. It’s hard enough to avoid surfing the net while you’re in class albeit virtually.
Find something interesting – The best thing about elearning is when you’re really interested in the subject, motivation will come naturally. It’s when you’re forced to undergo elearning online sessions with topics that doesn’t really interest you that motivation becomes a problem. What should you do then? Open yourself up to new concepts and ideas included in your learning content. I sometimes find new ideas fascinating if I learned more about them.
Self-motivation or just plain motivation is the key or the cure to procrastination but finding that treasure throve of enthusiasm is easier said than done. Fortunately there are strategies that I’ve learned that I’m willing to share to anyone out there stuck in the rut.
Time management – Even if you don’t have a set schedule for your elearning online sessions, initiate setting up your own schedule. Set aside a definite amount of time per week for your sessions. Make it a routine so you won’t forget it.
Join a virtual learning community – It’s nice to have a group of people having the same goals that can support and motivate each other. In my case, we formed an exclusive forum for all student writers where we can post our works to be critiqued and to learn tips from our lecturers who are professional writers. I definitely say that this is a great way to keep motivated and avoid the ugly monster called procrastination!
Create a positive physical learning environment – Set up the room where you do most of your elearning online sessions in a way where distractions won’t easily find you. I prefer a quiet room with no TV. It’s hard enough to avoid surfing the net while you’re in class albeit virtually.
Find something interesting – The best thing about elearning is when you’re really interested in the subject, motivation will come naturally. It’s when you’re forced to undergo elearning online sessions with topics that doesn’t really interest you that motivation becomes a problem. What should you do then? Open yourself up to new concepts and ideas included in your learning content. I sometimes find new ideas fascinating if I learned more about them.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Some Elearning Online for Kids
Elearning online is slowly evolving to become the standard in education. A lot of people are benefiting from the various offerings of elearning online, the post popular of which are features of convenience, ease and flexibility. However, I notice that a lot of the popular information and resources I encounter on the World Wide Web are more applicable to young adults and adults. Shouldn’t there be cool electronic learning for children, too?
I did a little bit of more specific research on the internet in hopes of discovering useful links and sources that direct me towards children-friendly tools, programs or applications. I found that there are in fact a lot of web 2.0 tools that can be incorporated into teaching practices for the younger generation. More research should be done regarding the use or application of these elearning online innovations, but still, it is interesting to take note of their basic function and use for consideration.
• Owl Box – One of the most adorable one so far, this is a live owl cam and a live person cam all in one. Sometimes, the teacher and classroom of kids can interact with the owl box by doing some Q & A activities! It is very engaging, and I believe that many educators will find this extremely useful.
• Orca Lab – During lessons about ocean life, whales, dolphins and the like, this tool can be extremely handy. Some areas of the country are fortunate enough to have orca whales in their bodies of water. This cool tool allows teachers and students listen to orcas live. Children are guaranteed to enjoy using this elearning tool.
• World Without Oil Lives – This is actually a sim game that features a lot of web 2.0 collaborative elements such as blogs, videos and so on. Games are a great way to keep young children interested in lessons or courses. Mission to Learn provides a great list of sim games that can be used for electronic learning.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Why It’s Important to Survey Partner Portal Feedback
It is important that vendors get pertinent feedback regarding partner portals from their channel network. This is because it is only through clear and accurate feedback that a vendor can gain insight on what’s really going on in its channel and whether or not partner portals are working the way they should be. They will be able to gather enough information and details to guide them in the design or redesign of the application.
Usually, vendors conduct surveys for website feedbacks around three to four months after the launch of the newly designed partner portal. Surveys would include questions that allow vendors to reflect on the state and performance of their channel. Examples of questions would be: “Has the partner tried accessing the portal?”; “If the portal has already been accessed, for what reason was it accessed?”; “Is the content and information provided in the portal helpful or useless?”; “Is it easy to understand?”; “What section is the most interesting or helpful for channel members?”; “What are the top downloads of the website?” and; “What other suggestions do partners have for the website?”.
The answers that vendors would be able to gather from partners for this survey will help them determine if their portals are worth their investment. They would likewise be able to discern what areas would need modification and improvement if necessary. Furthermore, there will be increased transparency regarding where the focus of respective partners lie. The partners that participate actively and constantly download training and sales materials are the ones that are focused on the parent company and show valuable loyalty. This is something all parent companies should encourage.
It is important that such a practice or strategy is followed. It should become a standard for all vendors so that all of the abovementioned benefits can be enjoyed. Requiring channel members to answer surveys regarding a newly launched portal is a vital step for a successful PRM or partner relationship management which would lead to increased generation of revenue.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Elearning in the Eyes of a Learner
I was in my early college days when I had my first encounter with elearning. Technology in the field of education has long been commonplace by then, since I was fully aware that mailing lists, chat groups, and even class websites were being used by students to update each other on lessons and activities. But I never expected that a fully functional classroom setting is possible to set up online.
The class was part of the last leg of an IT-related subject. We were given accounts that gave us access to our enrolled courses, remaining units for the school year, and schedule for available online classes. There was also an online classroom with chat feature for teacher-student interaction. I was impressed and amazed, but got disappointed when it ended abruptly.
I later learned that we were the first batch to test the school’s venture into elearning. The school was planning to make online classes regular, as part of their efforts to produce graduates that are as technologically literate as possible. This was a bold move, as the world now heavily relies on technology for a lot of things, including office tasks.
Technologically-enhanced learning has been widespread and undoubtedly rapidly improving. While my first encounter few years ago may be considered outdated in today’s standards, I believe it was able to give me some basic ideas about what makes it an attractive learning method:
1. It is a fresh, high-tech, and advanced learning approach. Let’s face it; younger learners get more interested and motivated when presented with something new and high-tech. Electronically-enhanced education taps on this fact to catch the interest of learners and allow them to absorb lessons at their own pace.
2. It is interactive. I’m pretty sure that there are learners like myself who find interactive learning more appealing than the usual autocratic or one-sided teacher-student experience. Modules can be designed to require learners to participate in activities and discussions. Not only is interactivity present in modules with chat feature during classes; it may also come in the form of “after-class” learning or feedback groups in forums or discussion boards.
3. It strives to create a rich learning environment. Elearning modules utilize multimedia and carefully thought-out instructional design to create an online environment that is as conducive to learning as possible. Educators and trainers can easily incorporate in their modules whatever audio-visual learning aids they think is necessary for best information retention.
The class was part of the last leg of an IT-related subject. We were given accounts that gave us access to our enrolled courses, remaining units for the school year, and schedule for available online classes. There was also an online classroom with chat feature for teacher-student interaction. I was impressed and amazed, but got disappointed when it ended abruptly.
I later learned that we were the first batch to test the school’s venture into elearning. The school was planning to make online classes regular, as part of their efforts to produce graduates that are as technologically literate as possible. This was a bold move, as the world now heavily relies on technology for a lot of things, including office tasks.
Technologically-enhanced learning has been widespread and undoubtedly rapidly improving. While my first encounter few years ago may be considered outdated in today’s standards, I believe it was able to give me some basic ideas about what makes it an attractive learning method:
1. It is a fresh, high-tech, and advanced learning approach. Let’s face it; younger learners get more interested and motivated when presented with something new and high-tech. Electronically-enhanced education taps on this fact to catch the interest of learners and allow them to absorb lessons at their own pace.
2. It is interactive. I’m pretty sure that there are learners like myself who find interactive learning more appealing than the usual autocratic or one-sided teacher-student experience. Modules can be designed to require learners to participate in activities and discussions. Not only is interactivity present in modules with chat feature during classes; it may also come in the form of “after-class” learning or feedback groups in forums or discussion boards.
3. It strives to create a rich learning environment. Elearning modules utilize multimedia and carefully thought-out instructional design to create an online environment that is as conducive to learning as possible. Educators and trainers can easily incorporate in their modules whatever audio-visual learning aids they think is necessary for best information retention.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
A Review of TOPYX Elearning Solutions
I really think that elearning will never stop evolving because technology and society continue to evolve and change over time. One of the developments that I certainly find interesting is the use of Social Elearning. I think that developers hit the mark with this one because social networking is currently the top activity of people online. It is clever how they are able to integrate such a trend with teaching and learning strategies. One of the recently released elearning solutions for this is the TOPYX.
What I really like about Interactyx Limited’s TOPYX social elearning software as a service (SaaS) solution is that it integrates the social components we love from resources such as Facebook and LinkedIn and integrates all of it into a neat learning/training process. I think that Social elearning solutions such as these would really appeal to the internet users of today, who are greatly influenced by social networking sites online.
Other features that make it more appealing I think are its affordability and simplicity. It combines the traditional functionality of LMS (learning management system) with integrated social learning tools. It really made electronic online learning more collaborative and engaging—the resulting learning experience is definitely worth the investment.
I concur with the developing company’s claims that their new software is ideal for all environments. It can work well for settings from corporate, academic to non profit. As long as they’re in need of a way to increase collaboration, communication and participation while reducing overall costs, then TOPYX would be perfect for them.
I think that social elearning is taking the online education world by storm. I would not be surprised if more companies develop their own specific software for this latest trend because I am fairly certain that a lot of people will be interested to invest in such solutions, especially now with how the people of today allow themselves to be influenced by social networking and other similar applications online.
Alexander John.
Review My Reasons Why an Apartment Hotel Sucks
People keep raving about these new alternatives to luxury hotels when vacationing in Barbados. They say that they’re comfortable and worth every buck. Being the gullible person that I am, I believed these people and booked reservations to stay at a particular Barbados apartment hotel. After two days of hell, I decided that I’m better off burning money at a regular hotel. For all you interested travelers out there, I heed you. Consider my reasons why an apartment hotel sucks and save yourself from grievances.
(1) You really get what you pay for. If it’s really cheap, then I’m sorry, you’re going to get a crappy apartment unit and irritating service. Don’t rejoice over how much money you get to save until you see the place. You can’t really trust the internet sometimes because photos can be photoshopped and descriptions can be over exaggerated. Imagine my horror when I discovered that my “comfortable and clean room overlooking lush vegetation” turned out to be a cramped excuse for a broom closet overlooking a couple of sad and bald palm trees.
(2) A self-catering vacation is no vacation at all. What’s the point of going on a holiday to relax and unwind when you have to stress over cooking? It’s a lame marketing ploy. And trust me, if I wanted to cook for myself, I wouldn’t cook on my kitchenette’s counter top. I guess that part of Barbados doesn’t know about Mr. Muscle and Domex.
(3) What hotel service? Why they call these places apartment hotels is beyond me. I get the apartment part. But where’s the hotel? I was told that the hotel part comes with the ‘unique’ services of the staff. Oh, so they mean that cleaning lady who uses the same cloth for the countertops and the floor? And that receptionist who can’t speak English and kept insisting I “go boat trip, yes?”? I’m sorry, I don’t get it.
Trust me, skip the pretentious attempt to book your stay in a Barbados apartment hotel just to get through the recession. Better get quality lodging that’s worth your vacation leave.
(1) You really get what you pay for. If it’s really cheap, then I’m sorry, you’re going to get a crappy apartment unit and irritating service. Don’t rejoice over how much money you get to save until you see the place. You can’t really trust the internet sometimes because photos can be photoshopped and descriptions can be over exaggerated. Imagine my horror when I discovered that my “comfortable and clean room overlooking lush vegetation” turned out to be a cramped excuse for a broom closet overlooking a couple of sad and bald palm trees.
(2) A self-catering vacation is no vacation at all. What’s the point of going on a holiday to relax and unwind when you have to stress over cooking? It’s a lame marketing ploy. And trust me, if I wanted to cook for myself, I wouldn’t cook on my kitchenette’s counter top. I guess that part of Barbados doesn’t know about Mr. Muscle and Domex.
(3) What hotel service? Why they call these places apartment hotels is beyond me. I get the apartment part. But where’s the hotel? I was told that the hotel part comes with the ‘unique’ services of the staff. Oh, so they mean that cleaning lady who uses the same cloth for the countertops and the floor? And that receptionist who can’t speak English and kept insisting I “go boat trip, yes?”? I’m sorry, I don’t get it.
Trust me, skip the pretentious attempt to book your stay in a Barbados apartment hotel just to get through the recession. Better get quality lodging that’s worth your vacation leave.
Monday, March 1, 2010
My Barbados Apartment Hotel Adventure
I just have to rant about one of the best trips to Barbados I ever had. I love Barbados, but since the recession, we decided to try and be a bit thrifty on our vacation so we did not choose a swanky accommodation. Before we got to Tropical Winds, I did not know what to expect. The place was a Barbados apartment hotel so it was definitely a lot more affordable than what I was used to so I was not really raising my expectations. But when I got there, I was just so surprised, the place was great. It wasn’t extravagant, but nevertheless, it was beautiful and homey. I really felt relaxed and at home.
Here is a shot of the beautiful beach in Barbados that we went to. This was just perhaps thirty or more minutes away from the Tropical Winds Barbados apartment hotel we stayed in. Look at that magnificent beach. It was simply breath taking. I loved splashing in the waters. Plus, there weren’t that many shady characters in the beach unlike in the other beach we’ve been to where these Rastafarian looking person would ask you if you “wanted to party” which of course meant that he was selling something illegal.
Riding the wind and the waves was the best. This was taken by Moira with her new camera which she bought before the trip. Barbados is one of the best places for any water sport imaginable. I myself was a surfer so it was heaven for me. But there were a lot of really good, professional surfers there so I felt kind of shy. It was a good thing my surfing form was on top condition for some reason. ( Obama Bailout )
Here is a shot of the beautiful beach in Barbados that we went to. This was just perhaps thirty or more minutes away from the Tropical Winds Barbados apartment hotel we stayed in. Look at that magnificent beach. It was simply breath taking. I loved splashing in the waters. Plus, there weren’t that many shady characters in the beach unlike in the other beach we’ve been to where these Rastafarian looking person would ask you if you “wanted to party” which of course meant that he was selling something illegal.
Riding the wind and the waves was the best. This was taken by Moira with her new camera which she bought before the trip. Barbados is one of the best places for any water sport imaginable. I myself was a surfer so it was heaven for me. But there were a lot of really good, professional surfers there so I felt kind of shy. It was a good thing my surfing form was on top condition for some reason. ( Obama Bailout )
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Barbados Travel Hotels Review: Destiny Hotel
This is a simple review of the Destiny Hotel in the northern shore of Barbados. I have already visited many Barbados travel hotels and so far, most of them fare well and I give them passing grades. I have yet to give a failing mark for any Barbados hotel. This one seems to be no different.
Let us first start with the whole infrastructure itself. The building looked quite nice. The entrance to the hotel was a cobblestone road that was truly charming and pleasant to the eyes. One could instantly feel the trademark Barbados atmosphere in the Destiny Hotel entrance that was lined with beautiful flowering plants and charming palm and coconut trees. It was not a very big or lavish hotel, but it was clean and relaxing. The simple white halls and the verandas of each room remind me of the simple Mediterranean style villas by the sea that I so love. The hotel had a pool, a spa, a great restaurant, and a bar that was by the beachfront. The beach itself was amazing though typical of Barbados which naturally had the most beautiful.
The rooms were spacious and cozy and had the same appeal as the whole building. It was well designed and the tropical sun and breeze entered the white billowing curtained windows. I had no complains apart from the fact that there was no bathtub, only a shower. But for the rates that this hotel charged, it was already worth it. The rates are a lot cheaper as compared to other Barbados travel hotels. But despite that, the services are quite top notch. The hotel has eighty rooms for two and for four. It also had ten more luxurious suites. I took a peek at one of them and they were wonderful. They also had the hot tubs that I desired.
Let us first start with the whole infrastructure itself. The building looked quite nice. The entrance to the hotel was a cobblestone road that was truly charming and pleasant to the eyes. One could instantly feel the trademark Barbados atmosphere in the Destiny Hotel entrance that was lined with beautiful flowering plants and charming palm and coconut trees. It was not a very big or lavish hotel, but it was clean and relaxing. The simple white halls and the verandas of each room remind me of the simple Mediterranean style villas by the sea that I so love. The hotel had a pool, a spa, a great restaurant, and a bar that was by the beachfront. The beach itself was amazing though typical of Barbados which naturally had the most beautiful.
The rooms were spacious and cozy and had the same appeal as the whole building. It was well designed and the tropical sun and breeze entered the white billowing curtained windows. I had no complains apart from the fact that there was no bathtub, only a shower. But for the rates that this hotel charged, it was already worth it. The rates are a lot cheaper as compared to other Barbados travel hotels. But despite that, the services are quite top notch. The hotel has eighty rooms for two and for four. It also had ten more luxurious suites. I took a peek at one of them and they were wonderful. They also had the hot tubs that I desired.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Our Film Class: Elearning Software Solutions
Our film class is conducted all in the internet. This is might be unheard of for some people, but really it is perfectly adequate. The elearning software that is used is not only capable of film manipulation and minor editing; it is also an online software that enables chat and video forums so that the class and the professor can interact online. This is just another example of how elearning software solutions are really creating so many possibilities not only in the field of employee development but also in the educational system.
The systems is also very simple and yet very effective. The videos, films, film clips, and even movies are available for us to download through the class. Actually the software protects the copyrighted material and it can be downloaded only through the elearning solutions software and only once by the student enrolled in the class. If one does not sign in to the account, then one will not have access to the films.
The film we were discussing this week was “In the Mood for Love” by the acclaimed director Wong Kar Wai. It was such a good film, it played out as visual poetry. The images that Wong Kar Wai captures are so beautiful, you can take each frame, print it out, and hang it on the wall of the museum.
It’s funny how Wong Kar Wai thinks that Tony Leung’s character has such a dark side. He claims that the reason why people tend to accept his character as a “Good Guy” is that because he has a kind face. But in fact, meeting in secret with the wife of the man who is having an affair with his wife (that was a twisty one) and role playing the breaking up, the affair of their spouses, is kind of neurotic. And people tend to accept this because of Tony Leung’s kind looking face.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Terminator and Elearning Software Solutions
I was just watching terminator movie marathon. I watched the first one until the fourth. It was a really good movie marathon. And it probably had a big effect on the tone and framework of this post about elearning software solutions. Yep, it most probably had a big effect indeed.
For those who were living under a rock these past few years or who have simply failed to watch television and movies for most of their natural lives unlike the rest of us normal (albeit television zombified people of the twenty first century) the story of the Terminator creates a large dent on this generation’s collective fear. We have now all become afraid of the future which in all probability will be overrun by robots possessed by artificial intelligence. Incidentally, a lot of other movies have this very same theme. The matrix is another good series that is based on the premise that robots and artificial intelligence will soon enslave if not eradicate humanity. It all stems with the further advancement of our daily activities to the point that everything is computerized – the automation of everything in our lives.
After watching the movie and cursing humanity or the U.S. military for ever inventing Skynet, I soon stumbled upon the concept of elearning. I was just looking for a way to beef up my resume by attending some classes when elearning software solutions came up on Google.
Naturally, I was horrified. They were essential automating school! We could now say goodbye to classrooms and teachers. What’s next? Are we soon going to attach our brains to a computer and live out virtual lives never having to leave our bio-support pods that feed us intravenously with nutrients, oxygen, and water?
Well, I hope I’m just over reacting. Anyway, elearning solutions seem to have a lot of advantages for busy people who would love to take courses without leaving the comfort of their home.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
E-learning Software Solutions: Behind the Success of E-learning
I agree when people say that E-learning is the future of training and education. The direction of business, education, health care and government are all towards advancement in technology with reliance on the World Wide Web. This makes it truly inevitable for these industries to follow technological trends such as E-learning. With its popularity and advantages, it seems that E-learning is well on its way to the pinnacle of success.
I think it is therefore necessary to recognize the heroes who’re behind the glory that E-learning companies are currently enjoying. But who are these heroes? In my opinion, the different authors and programmers who developed E-learning software solutions are the ones who propelled E-learning to such great heights, and therefore deserve to be acknowledged.
E-learning software solutions are continuously updated by programmers to provide companies with cutting edge learning technology to oversee the smooth sailing of personal and organizational development, and to provide applications that encourage appropriate and effective learning and teaching approaches. These software solutions are crucial for the future of a lot of industries because it is unavoidable the learning in the coming years would be delivered and received through electronic means. The human element is not completely eliminated since these means are supported by people are who are knowledgeable about the programs and technology being used.
The service offered by E-learning through these different software solutions make content delivery flexible and consistent at any time, in any place, through an entirely innovatively exciting manner.
Thanks to these developers or programmers and their creative use of technology, the different software solutions are made available to the world. E-learning is thus given the ability to empower learners with independent learning and ease their struggle by its provision of efficiency and convenience. So hats off to the genius behind the success of E-learning, because with it, training and education would be as hassling as they were decades ago.
Check out Elearning Software Solutions for more info. :)
Sunday, November 8, 2009
SCORM and the Learning Management System
What actually is SCORM?
SCORM, Shareable Content Object Reference Model, is a standard for web-based e-learning that has been developed to define communication between client-side content and a runtime environment. In the context of this article, the client-side content would be the course launched by a student and the runtime environment would be a Learning Management System. The SCORM standard has undergone several version releases from SCORM v1.0 in 1999 to the SCORM 2004 3rd Edition in 2006. The purpose of this article is to look in a little more detail at the communication flow between the LMS and a course that is SCORM v2.1 compliant. The intention is not to review every possible communication but just the main calls. We will look at SCORM in the context of a SCORM course, i.e. a course that has been developed and built to communicate with a Learning Management System using the SCORM standard.
First of all, let me define a few terms that I will use and that you may hear in reference to SCORM courses:
* API (Application Programming Interface)
The SCORM standard has a defined API. The term API is not unique to SCORM but is a well known term in application development. The SCORM API is a documented set of messages that are sent between the course and the LMS. The message may require a response so that the sender of the message is guaranteed that the message has been received and processed appropriately.
* Manifest
The manifest is the master file for the SCORM course that contains references to all other files that make up the complete content of the course.
* Single SCO
A single SCO is the most basic and most common form of a SCORM course. All files that make up the course, regardless of the number of lessons in the course, are packaged as one SCO unit. When the course is launched within the Learning Management System, it communicates with the SCO.
* Multiple SCO
A multiple SCO is where a group of files within the course can be treated as an individual SCO but packaged together with other SCOs to comprise one course. For example, the files that comprise each lesson of a SCORM course can be grouped together so that each lesson is a SCO in its own right and all the SCOs will comprise the one course.
Course Installation
For the course to be available in the Learning Management System, the SCORM package needs to be installed on the system. The method of installation will vary from LMS to LMS but will typically go through the following steps:
1. The manifest file will be located and interpreted.
2. The course identified in the manifest will be created in the Learning Management System and the course properties will be populated with the values defined in the manifest. These properties may include course name, creator, etc.
3. The lessons of the course will be created in the LMS and the lesson properties will be populated with the values defined in the manifest. Lesson properties would include information such as the path to the lesson file, passing grade, etc.
The Learning Management System should provide a facility to overwrite an already existing SCORM course so that if updates are made to the existing course, an installation will deploy those changes.
Course Communication
Initialization
When the course is launched within its run time environment, which for our purposes is the LMS, it will detect the existence of the API and attempt to make initial communication with the Learning Management System. This is a one-time handshake to ensure that communication has been established. The SCORM course is responsible for locating the API in the child browser session that it has launched in from the parent. The API is typically deployed using JavaScript. The API call that the course uses to do this is the LMSInitialize call. When the Learning Management System receives this API message call from the course, the LMS will initialize and respond to inform the course that communication has been established. An object model has been created in memory and the properties have been initialized to default values.
Intermediary Course Communication
Once the course has been launched and initialized with the LMS, the interaction between the two is determined by the course. It will use LMSGetValue and LMSSetValue API message calls to retrieve or populate data in the object model. Bear in mind that the object model exists in memory and has not been sent to the Learning Management System.
When the course needs to write the data so it exists in the database, it will send the API message LMSCommit. The LMSCommit will be received by the Learning Management System and the data stored to the LMS. The course developer will determine when an LMSCommit is required and it will be sent to the LMS when the event is activated. This could be at the end of each lesson or it could be at the end of the course.
The LMSCommit is an optional message and does not require a response from the Learning Management System.
Finalization
When the course is completed, it will send an LMSFinish API message to the LMS. This may be triggered by an event in the course that activates the LMSFinish or it may be on the Unload event of the HTML page when the user closes the browser. The LMSFinish indicates to the LMS that the user has ended the course and any further communication between the two will be rejected. The LMSFinish also initiates the Learning Management System to store any data that has been populated in the object model and complete the unloading of the course.
The key difference between the LMSCommit and LMSFinish API message calls is that the latter will prevent further communication with the course.
The LMSFinish is a mandatory message and does not require a response from the LMS.
Learning Management System Considerations
When the LMSFinish is received by the LMS, there are several scenarios that may need to be taken into account. Some of these may be the product of errors in course development but are scenarios that have been experienced in interfacing with a SCORM compliant course:
1. The SCORM course may indicate the student has failed a lesson but the score passed from the SCO may be greater than the lesson passing grade that was installed from the manifest.
2. The SCORM course may indicate a lesson status for the user and pass the score of the lesson but there has been no passing grade defined for the lesson.
3. It would be advantageous for the Learning Management System to provide API message logging so that a communication history may be recreated for debugging or historical purposes. Consideration should be given to the following:
1. Method of storage, whether it is stored in a database or out to a file.
2. Is logging on all the time or is there a switch to turn logging on or off? (There will be some overhead when logging is switched on, as opposed to being off.)
3. If logging is to file, is there a log file for each course, each user, or one large SCORM log file?
4. How is log data purged? When logging is stored in the database, how often is the table purged? Can the data be deleted or does it need to be archived? If logging is to a file, does the file build in size until it is manually renewed or does the logging mechanism have a trigger that automatically generates a new file? (If the file is left to grow too big, it becomes very impractical to open it in a text editor.)
Conclusions
SCORM has a proven track record in the web based e-learning world and is the accepted standard in the industry. Reputable LMS vendors should support your SCORM course out of the box. The SCORM 2004 version has added much more control and sequencing at a more granular level than SCORM v1.2 however those differences are significant enough to cause the user base to be slower in adopting the SCORM 2004 version.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Understanding LMS (Learning Management Software) Hosting
Technology changes and growth rates are increasing exponentially, demanding higher expectations that your company is fully adept and qualified with the most current expertise.
Workforce skills and training from five years ago, though still of value, leaves an open door for your competition to take your accounts. Economic times means the battle for clients is getting even fiercer each day. How prepared are your staff members?
THE TRAINING INVESTMENT
Ensuring your work team is operating at top effectiveness is no longer a desired goal; it’s a necessity for survival. If your staff falls short in meeting your customers’ needs, there are plenty of other companies ready to walk in the door to lure your clients away using expert staff who can deliver what they need.
You could send your key personnel away for updated training and skills upgrading, but can you really afford to have them away from your daily business? Apart from the enormous expenses to cover their training and accommodations while out of office, your support staffs are still left with quickly aging skills and talents – and expenditure to keep everyone fully trained is usually financially prohibitive.
Business continues, whether your employees are in the office or out getting more recent training. You need to find a viable solution that is both time effective and economically manageable.
E-LEARNING TO UPGRADE SKILLS
E-learning and CBT (Computer Based Training) is how your competition has been gaining the edge to match, and surpass your own services. Not only is it exceptionally cost effective, it also helps ensure all your department personnel are all operating from the same operations page. You can now build a unified workforce to deliver peak performance service to your customers.
COST EFFECTIVENESS
Online Training systems do provide an efficient and affordable solution by allowing you to easily structure and manage the time required by each individual to progress according to their needs and ability. Your employees can access their training sessions from their own computer, and progress through the sessions according to their own schedule and learning curve. CBT also allows the user to refresh or review specific processes and methods they’ve learned.
The courses allow each individual to progress at their own speed, and as your services require. However, CBT is of best value only when the online fields covered are diversified enough to cover the wide range of skills building your company may need for your daily operation. There are many general online training courses throughout the web, but you need certification or professional level instruction for business, not beginners or high school instruction.
You need:
• A diverse selection of highly specialized fields of study.
• Accurate, and up to date, tutorials covering specific software, programming, and IT branches.
• The ability to select and allocate the specific training each department must follow.
• Control and minimize unnecessary training costs by limiting which courses are actually pertinent to individual employees.
• Measure the progress and success of each individuals understanding by means of self-assessments, quizzes, and hands-on practice lab simulations.
• Build a tailored system set to meet your specific company needs and priority.
YOUR HOSTED LMS
Building your own learning management infrastructure would require a prohibitive upfront investment in hardware, software, implementation, manpower, time constraints, security installations, and IT maintenance.
Using a Learning Management Software Hosting plan, you eliminate all those extraneous costs. You can now have a readymade tailored system to get your employees started immediately. For additional focus, you can request a custom hosting plan with branded logos and custom courseware to further enhance your online eLearning solution.
If required, your hosting plan may include the development and creation of custom designed video training for your company operations. It is one of the most powerful and economical tools for training new staff members, and can enormously cut down their crucial orientation time to begin productivity.
ADDITIONAL STAFF ENDUCEMENTS
Solid LMS isn’t restricted to career specific tasks only: it should include Soft Skills training programs, designed to help your executives and your management team gain the skills they need to compete, and thrive, in even stressful situations.
Soft Skills training includes valuable awareness and direction for management skills such as conflict resolution, marketing, motivation, risk and sales management, and a wide range of development tools to help build a professional staffing team.
One of the most popular business incentives is to provide access to additional training areas as a reward for great performances by your staff members. LMS Hosting provides you with that motivational edge to build the most dependable work team needed to handle all your clients’ needs.
In today’s competitive market, you simply can’t afford not to have your best people at their optimum proficiency. LMS can help you achieve your goals.
Workforce skills and training from five years ago, though still of value, leaves an open door for your competition to take your accounts. Economic times means the battle for clients is getting even fiercer each day. How prepared are your staff members?
THE TRAINING INVESTMENT
Ensuring your work team is operating at top effectiveness is no longer a desired goal; it’s a necessity for survival. If your staff falls short in meeting your customers’ needs, there are plenty of other companies ready to walk in the door to lure your clients away using expert staff who can deliver what they need.
You could send your key personnel away for updated training and skills upgrading, but can you really afford to have them away from your daily business? Apart from the enormous expenses to cover their training and accommodations while out of office, your support staffs are still left with quickly aging skills and talents – and expenditure to keep everyone fully trained is usually financially prohibitive.
Business continues, whether your employees are in the office or out getting more recent training. You need to find a viable solution that is both time effective and economically manageable.
E-LEARNING TO UPGRADE SKILLS
E-learning and CBT (Computer Based Training) is how your competition has been gaining the edge to match, and surpass your own services. Not only is it exceptionally cost effective, it also helps ensure all your department personnel are all operating from the same operations page. You can now build a unified workforce to deliver peak performance service to your customers.
COST EFFECTIVENESS
Online Training systems do provide an efficient and affordable solution by allowing you to easily structure and manage the time required by each individual to progress according to their needs and ability. Your employees can access their training sessions from their own computer, and progress through the sessions according to their own schedule and learning curve. CBT also allows the user to refresh or review specific processes and methods they’ve learned.
The courses allow each individual to progress at their own speed, and as your services require. However, CBT is of best value only when the online fields covered are diversified enough to cover the wide range of skills building your company may need for your daily operation. There are many general online training courses throughout the web, but you need certification or professional level instruction for business, not beginners or high school instruction.
You need:
• A diverse selection of highly specialized fields of study.
• Accurate, and up to date, tutorials covering specific software, programming, and IT branches.
• The ability to select and allocate the specific training each department must follow.
• Control and minimize unnecessary training costs by limiting which courses are actually pertinent to individual employees.
• Measure the progress and success of each individuals understanding by means of self-assessments, quizzes, and hands-on practice lab simulations.
• Build a tailored system set to meet your specific company needs and priority.
YOUR HOSTED LMS
Building your own learning management infrastructure would require a prohibitive upfront investment in hardware, software, implementation, manpower, time constraints, security installations, and IT maintenance.
Using a Learning Management Software Hosting plan, you eliminate all those extraneous costs. You can now have a readymade tailored system to get your employees started immediately. For additional focus, you can request a custom hosting plan with branded logos and custom courseware to further enhance your online eLearning solution.
If required, your hosting plan may include the development and creation of custom designed video training for your company operations. It is one of the most powerful and economical tools for training new staff members, and can enormously cut down their crucial orientation time to begin productivity.
ADDITIONAL STAFF ENDUCEMENTS
Solid LMS isn’t restricted to career specific tasks only: it should include Soft Skills training programs, designed to help your executives and your management team gain the skills they need to compete, and thrive, in even stressful situations.
Soft Skills training includes valuable awareness and direction for management skills such as conflict resolution, marketing, motivation, risk and sales management, and a wide range of development tools to help build a professional staffing team.
One of the most popular business incentives is to provide access to additional training areas as a reward for great performances by your staff members. LMS Hosting provides you with that motivational edge to build the most dependable work team needed to handle all your clients’ needs.
In today’s competitive market, you simply can’t afford not to have your best people at their optimum proficiency. LMS can help you achieve your goals.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Livening up E-Learning by Engaging Learners With Funny Quiz
Making good eLearning courses is a developing art. As a trainer, your goal is to make the training memorable. As you design the course, you must design not only the "what” (or content), but also the "how" (the delivery mechanisms). Integrate funny quiz (like "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire") into eLearning course is an easy way to capture the attention of learners and make your course memorable. Learners will interact with key concepts for your course quickly.
A funny quiz can energize almost any content and produce powerful new understanding for your learners. Funny quiz promote learning – more than revive tension, it creates opportunities for the learners to "interact" with the quiz so as to demonstrate learners' understanding of the course. Many benefits would funny quiz holds to course:
Funny quiz entertains learners with a purpose
Funny quiz gives learners valuable feedback
Funny quiz gives trainers feedback
Funny quiz motivates learners
Funny quiz accelerates learning process
So then, there comes into the question: how to integrate the right funny quiz into your course? Let's take a look at the following steps.
Step 1 - Identify your course objective.
Which objective you want your course to achieve after training, please take careful consideration. Specifically, what skills and knowledge do you want your learners take from your course. Then think about it how the funny quiz will help the learners meet the course objective.
Step 2 - Make course plan
After determining the objective, what you should do is making the lesson plan according to the course objective. Analyze and list the task you wish to cover in your course plan. Supposing you are going to explain the details about H1N1 flu in one course, you list would look something like this:
Course objective for H1N1 flu knowledge: learners will be able to master the details about H1N1 flu.
List what is H1N1 flu
List the Signs and symptoms about H1N1 flu.
Describe how to prevent H1N1 flu
From this list you will develop a set of task that to achieve your lesson objective. The next step is crux to import funny quiz to your lesson and enhance your course.
Step 3 - Choose the funny quiz for your lesson plan
The right funny quiz make a difference in motivate learners. Here are some criteria to select a right funny quiz:
Corresponding with the major lesson objective
Create an opportunity to practice skills
Challenge the learners intellectually
So, follow the criteria to select the right funny quiz. This will do as a Catalyst to help learners master the major point of your course.
Step 4 - Create funny quiz for your course
After choosing the right funny quiz, the following step is creating the funny quiz with the questions you have prepared. Which quiz tool you should choose? Quiz in Flash format instead of plain text quiz would really attract learners' attention, especially for eLearning course. Luckily, some quiz tool could help you create great-looking flash quizzes in minutes without programming skills, such as QuizCreator.
Step 5 - place the funny quiz in your course
Where the funny quiz should be in your course is also important. Generally, placing a funny quiz at the beginning of your course is a good way to take learners into your course. This starter quiz can establish a comfortable environment for learner. Learners will quickly access to the role of the course. On the other hand, you could integrate some outstanding questions into the funny quiz, these questions will cause learners to seek the solution in the course consciously.
The end of the course is a prime time to place the funny quiz. You can add some questions corresponding to the starter funny quiz. This will help you test whether the learners acquire the knowledge or not. If they acquire it, you could advance to the next lesson, and learners will have the feeling of success and be interesting about the next lesson. If don't, you could direct the learners to review the course.
Design eLearning course and apply funny quizzes to your eLearning courses. They'll make your courses better and help you be more productive.
A funny quiz can energize almost any content and produce powerful new understanding for your learners. Funny quiz promote learning – more than revive tension, it creates opportunities for the learners to "interact" with the quiz so as to demonstrate learners' understanding of the course. Many benefits would funny quiz holds to course:
Funny quiz entertains learners with a purpose
Funny quiz gives learners valuable feedback
Funny quiz gives trainers feedback
Funny quiz motivates learners
Funny quiz accelerates learning process
So then, there comes into the question: how to integrate the right funny quiz into your course? Let's take a look at the following steps.
Step 1 - Identify your course objective.
Which objective you want your course to achieve after training, please take careful consideration. Specifically, what skills and knowledge do you want your learners take from your course. Then think about it how the funny quiz will help the learners meet the course objective.
Step 2 - Make course plan
After determining the objective, what you should do is making the lesson plan according to the course objective. Analyze and list the task you wish to cover in your course plan. Supposing you are going to explain the details about H1N1 flu in one course, you list would look something like this:
Course objective for H1N1 flu knowledge: learners will be able to master the details about H1N1 flu.
List what is H1N1 flu
List the Signs and symptoms about H1N1 flu.
Describe how to prevent H1N1 flu
From this list you will develop a set of task that to achieve your lesson objective. The next step is crux to import funny quiz to your lesson and enhance your course.
Step 3 - Choose the funny quiz for your lesson plan
The right funny quiz make a difference in motivate learners. Here are some criteria to select a right funny quiz:
Corresponding with the major lesson objective
Create an opportunity to practice skills
Challenge the learners intellectually
So, follow the criteria to select the right funny quiz. This will do as a Catalyst to help learners master the major point of your course.
Step 4 - Create funny quiz for your course
After choosing the right funny quiz, the following step is creating the funny quiz with the questions you have prepared. Which quiz tool you should choose? Quiz in Flash format instead of plain text quiz would really attract learners' attention, especially for eLearning course. Luckily, some quiz tool could help you create great-looking flash quizzes in minutes without programming skills, such as QuizCreator.
Step 5 - place the funny quiz in your course
Where the funny quiz should be in your course is also important. Generally, placing a funny quiz at the beginning of your course is a good way to take learners into your course. This starter quiz can establish a comfortable environment for learner. Learners will quickly access to the role of the course. On the other hand, you could integrate some outstanding questions into the funny quiz, these questions will cause learners to seek the solution in the course consciously.
The end of the course is a prime time to place the funny quiz. You can add some questions corresponding to the starter funny quiz. This will help you test whether the learners acquire the knowledge or not. If they acquire it, you could advance to the next lesson, and learners will have the feeling of success and be interesting about the next lesson. If don't, you could direct the learners to review the course.
Design eLearning course and apply funny quizzes to your eLearning courses. They'll make your courses better and help you be more productive.
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