Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day—and your networking—with Morning Buzz, the popular early-bird discussions held each morning of the conference. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

MythBusters’ Adam Savage is a passionate learner who is constantly finding new ways to examine both the known and the unknown. In this thought-provoking keynote, Mr. Savage will explore the need to ask questions in order to discover and find meaning, as well as the important roles questions, storytelling, and curiosity play in learning. He will offer thrilling examples of how simple curiosity can change not just how we look at learning, but also the way we think about the world.

Join us for a look at what HTML5 is and how people use it today to deliver the next generation of learning content and applications via browsers, native apps, and hybrid apps. You’ll learn what you need to consider in designing content, along with technical guidelines. Get an introduction to five hot features in HTML5 that you can start using today, and prepare for developing with the new standards. You’ll discover the five challenges you need to know in order to make sure your first app or delivery is a success, and you’ll learn whether to launch a native app or web app.

Do you know what it takes to make games successful in your organization? This session explores four case studies from organizations that used the Knowledge Guru game-based learning platform to successfully implement a serious game that drove business results. The commonalities from these “success stories” will be used to demonstrate seven actionable implementation tips that help make games more effective for learning.

In this session, find out about Adapt Learning, a transformative open-source project, and get a look at the world’s largest catalogue of Adapt content that’s changing how learners consume content on a device of their choice. Learn how to use Adapt Builder to create content with interactive components and sophisticated theming and branding options. Build deep scrolling content that your learners will love to explore and navigate with ease. 

This session will show how an LRS can cater to the L&D need to design learning solutions that better meet learner requirements by analyzing current user trends and business performance data. The bugs in a badly designed course, or the areas where learners have difficulty comprehending content, or a poorly designed assessment ultimately affects business performance and results. An LRS integrated with the LMS can be that “missing link” that can conclusively establish a relationship between learning and business performance and results.

Ask a group of eLearning developers about the hardest parts of their role, and odds are good that someone will bring up the topic of course reviewers (usually SMEs) and feedback. Managing the feedback process (and sometimes the reviewers!) can be a big challenge for many eLearning practitioners. In this session, I’ll provide tips and resources to help you get organized and communicate more proactively with reviewers.

Engaging, professional-sounding voice recording is a key to maximizing the potential for eLearning. Voice acting should be professional, sound realistic, and be free of distractions that can disengage participants and limit knowledge retention. While hiring professional voice actors can provide an easy solution, budget constraints may limit or eliminate the option of outsourcing voiceover work. When this occurs, development teams must look to their own in-house talent, many of whom may be new to the idea of lending their voice.

In this session you will learn the basics of voiceovers such as microphone placement and techniques, as well as creating an effective recording environment. Most importantly, you will learn the ways you can prepare your mind and your voice for the recording session, as well as pitfalls that you should avoid. You will leave the session with skills, next steps, and resources to build your vocal capabilities and the confidence to transforming your voice into eLearning characters ... and even narrators!

In this session, you will learn:

• How to create the most ideal environment for voiceover recording
• Proper microphone placement and techniques to maximize clarity and minimize artifacts
• The proper way to set your input levels
• How to prepare your mind and voice for a recording session

Audience:
Intermediate developers, project managers, and managers, preferably with some experience recording voice audio into an eLearning authoring tool (e.g. Captivate or Storyline) and/or digital audio workstation (DAW) software (e.g. Audacity or Audition).

Technology discussed in this session:
Studio microphones (condenser and dynamic) and accessories. Digital audio workstation software for recording, editing, and postproduction. Audio preprocessing, including compressors, de-essers, equalizers, and gating.

So often, in our day-to-day professional existence, we are bombarded with problems, tasks, and situations that require our attention, all the while neglecting the problem solver—that’s you and me. We seldom recharge our professional batteries and, as such, burn out or become uninspired. We’ve become professional hermits, to an extent, and need an outlet to help us maintain our spark, drive, and creativity.

Through a personal account you will learn the true meaning, nature, and purpose of professional affiliation. This story will illustrate the rich benefits of being a member of a professional organization. In the session you will collaborate in small groups to discuss a personal story from a previous conference, or goal from this one, that relates back to one of the five main benefits. This session will reinvigorate you in professional affiliation, you’ll learn the true upsides to taking time out of your schedule to attend and share, and you’ll realize you are not the only ones experiencing the roadblocks.

In this session, you will learn:

• The common misconceptions centered around professional affiliation, conferences, etc.
• The true nature of professional organizations and how they can benefit you
• The central role networking can play, both personally and professionally, for you as a member of a professional organization
• The role personal development plays in professional growth

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Due to distance and lack of resources, in-person classroom sessions were not possible for every client who needed to learn Altair Engineering’s software. Its clients did not always want to wait for scheduled classes, so Altair needed to deliver content to them to their desktops in a quick and effective manner at their time of need, not when and where the training schedule dictated. 

As companies reduce travel budgets more and more, companies are looking to online delivery of training material. With that change, instructional designers need to transition instructor-led material into functional eLearning modules. In this case study session, you will learn the successes and failures Altair Engineering encountered as an organization in making the transition to eLearning. You’ll learn how it used content from its instructor-led classes as the basis for its eLearning modules and how it made the content more interactive for the learners. You’ll also learn about the combination of tools they used to create and deploy the learning modules. 

In this session, you will learn:

• How to transition from instructor-led training to eLearning
• Successful actions taken to make the transition
• How to plan and build interactions during content conversion
• Common pitfalls and ways to avoid them 

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, developers, and managers. 

Technology discussed in this session:
HTML, Adobe eLearning Suite.

In recent years, learning has moved closer to the workplace. Classrooms have moved out of corporate learning centers and into training rooms co-located with offices. Online learning is delivered directly to the desktop more than ever before. The next challenge is to move learning directly into the workflow. To do this, we need to move beyond course delivery and into a broader, more comprehensive, and strategic approach that focuses not just on learning, but on performance and productivity.

In this session, you will learn the six key components of a learning and performance ecosystem and see examples of how they can be applied in dozens of combinations to create learning and performance solutions. You will work through a sample scenario with your peers to analyze a problem and brainstorm a multifaceted solution that takes full advantage of the learning and performance ecosystem. You will learn a practical approach to getting started with learning and performance ecosystem solution design.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to describe a learning and performance ecosystem
• How to identify an opportunity for an ecosystem solution
• How to work with stakeholders and experts to define and prioritize factors that contribute to the problem
• How to identify the best way to measure success
• How to identify ecosystem components available to you
• How to apply components to create a solution

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

Building an eLearning course that works across all devices (desktop, phone, tablet, etc.) and scales and adjusts accordingly is no small undertaking. However with the right tools, templates, and processes in place you can successfully build responsively to develop eLearning that works and looks good on all devices.

In this session you will learn what responsive design is and how it can help you deliver eLearning to various devices. You will learn how using frameworks like bootstrap and a simple HTML editor tool can help you create eLearning courses that automatically size and adjust content based on the device being used to view them. We will also take a quick look at responsive features in authoring tools like Captivate 8 and Articulate Storyline 2/Presenter '13 that can help make developing responsive eLearning courses even easier.

In this session, you will learn:

• What is meant by responsive design
• How responsive design can help deliver eLearning across multiple devices
• Available framework templates to help build, design, and develop responsive-design eLearning
• Using HTML editors to create the course
• How authoring tools like Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, and Articulate Presenter handle responsive design

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers and developers with a general knowledge of HTML programming.

Technology discussed in this session:
Bootstrap and an HTML editor (e.g., Dreamweaver), Adobe Captivate 8, Articulate Presenter.

Virtual-classroom platforms are not new. In fact, there are probably people in your organization using these platforms right now for training, webinars, and meetings. But are you ready to make an organization-wide move to give up face-to-face classrooms for virtual ones, or is the prospect too daunting?

Now is the time to consider virtual-classroom platforms. Travel is more expensive, information is changing more quickly, workers are more tech savvy, hardware and networks are much better than they were just five years ago, and modern platforms such as Adobe Connect provide state-of-the-art virtual environments for engaging learners, wherever those learners might be. However, moving your classrooms online requires careful consideration and planning. It’s not free, and it’s definitely not simple. Drawing on over two decades of combined experience helping organizations successfully adopt and manage virtual-classroom platforms, Karen and Chris will discuss with you the questions and answers you need to successfully implement virtual classrooms that provide as good as or better training than face-to-face ones.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to maximize the advantages of and overcome the objections to virtual classrooms
• Important considerations for your team, including your trainers, your designers and developers, your learners, and your support staff
• Key elements of a rock-solid implementation plan for virtual classrooms
• About real-life case studies of organizations that successfully moved from face-to-face to virtual classrooms

Audience:
Training managers, project managers, trainers, designers, developers, and managers.

It’s no secret that most, if not all, of us are facing an ever-increasing need to provide more and more training on complex products, regulatory issues, advanced application processes, and the like. The question is: How do we continue to offer training that keeps our learners engaged in an environment of stagnated training budgets and headcount reductions?

In this session, you will explore a real-life case study of a piloted user-generated content (UGC) initiative. You will walk, step by step, through how subject matter experts were enabled to easily create informal but highly engaging video-based content entirely on their own. Finally, you will learn how UBS was able to integrate that content within their social networking platform, making it easily accessible and searchable for all employees.

In this session, you will learn:

• How your firm can leverage subject matter expert (SME) UGC
• How to implement an SME UGC model
• How to leverage your social media platform to deploy SME-generated content
• The tools and processes you can use for SME-generated content
• Best practices and lessons learned in starting a UGC project in your firm

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate Replay, Jive.

There are several methodologies that can be employed in training development projects, but when time, cost, and quality are not negotiable, an agile development approach may be ideal. Dairy Queen recently introduced a brand-new product line to its 6,500+ franchise organization. In preparation for this momentous rollout, Dairy Queen needed to create an interactive training program to quickly prepare thousands of franchisees and their crew on the sales and operations of an entirely new product platform for worldwide delivery.

In this case study session you will learn how the Successive Approximation Model (SAM) was used to analyze behavioral and performance needs and design effective and intuitive learning templates. You will also see how Dairy Queen progressed through this agile process, beginning with brainstorming sessions, iterative functional prototype reviews, and the development and review cycles of new product eLearning courses. Additionally, the needs for localization and delivery methods required for a global market will be discussed.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to follow an agile development approach for rapid, flexible, and effective solutions
• To design effective sales and operational interactions for global, front-line employees
• Best practices for developing a localization strategy for agile development projects
• To employ reusable learning objects/templates that allow for constant, rapid changes and still support localization
• How to create offline, executable (CD/DVD-based) instances of a web-based learning solution

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
ZebraZapps, Node Webkit, PC/Mac.

As technology changes the way we live our day-to-day lives, it is fascinating to imagine what the future will bring. As a learning and development professional, however, it’s very hard to keep up the pace. What technology will be trending and will change the way we live and learn, and what technology will be nothing but hype? Will augmented reality really disrupt our learning? And how about virtual reality and wearable tech? And, more importantly, will we ever be able to afford those technologies as learning supporting tools?

During this session, we will discuss some of the latest technologies by exploring some really cool free or inexpensive tools and apps that can be used as learning amplifiers. Those tools and apps could change the way L&D supports learning and can have an impact on your employees. You will leave being on top of the latest trends and technologies, and will see the benefits of adopting those tools as a verified learning partner.

In this session, you will learn:

• The latest tech trends for learning
• Ten free or inexpensive tools
• The benefits of technology for performance
• How to embrace technology as a learning partner

Audience:
Novice developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Wearable tech, augmented reality, virtual reality.

The number of freelance workers is expected to grow to more than 50 percent of America’s workforce in the next decade. An urgency has arisen to define, create, and articulate credentials that document alternative learning experiences and directly correlate with the skills required in the project-based job market. How can employers determine which soloists have the capabilities and experience that the work demands? And how can soloists showcase their capabilities and achievements so potential employers can reliably identify them?

In this session you will learn about alternative credentials where digital badges promise a level of transparency and verification that will remove some of the friction in the emerging labor market. Discover how IBM, Microsoft, and other organizations use digital badges to motivate, track, and recognize a variety of learning outcomes. You will come away from this session understanding how and why to incorporate digital badges in your own learning and development programs.

In this session, you will learn:

• The importance of creating learning experiences that clearly align with in-demand labor market skills and how badges can serve as an infrastructure for doing so
• How to identify badges that support new solo worker models and those that do not
• How corporations, certification, training programs, and community colleges are using badges to create an unrivaled transparency of skills

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Medical education in North America is taught in a decentralized manner with in-class coursework delivered in small blocks and students gaining learning experiences in hospitals and other institutions outside of the university. Medical schools need a way to capture and analyze these experiences to get a true picture of a student’s readiness to treat patients. Furthermore, learning requirements are set to change for medical residents from set-year programs to a competency-based model. Current LMSs alone aren’t able to tie outside experiences to competencies.

In this session, you will learn about the resources, logistical issues, and planning that were required to implement the Experience API (xAPI) and a learning record store (LRS) in an effort to reach specific desired outcomes at uOttawa. You will learn how uOttawa leveraged an LRS to capture the data from a content management system (CMS) with a combination of HTML and rapid authored content and then designed advanced reporting functions not found in other tools on the market. Additionally, you will review the future expansion plans and vision that the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine has for the xAPI in medical education.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to gain access to data and insights not possible before
• About the resources and expertise required for a successful xAPI implementation
• About the risks and challenges of implementing the xAPI
• The benefits of conscientious design and planning for capturing data in a purposeful manner

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Learning record store, analytics, content management system, connected devices, Experience API

We use eLearning and other technology platforms because they are cost effective, easily accessible, provide a consistent learner experience, and increase our geographical reach. Unfortunately, it is quite easy to lose the human connection that is so critical to the engagement of employees and learners.

In this case study session, you will learn about the design and development of leadership and professional development programs at the Spectrum Health University and get several tips and tricks to keep your content personable. You'll also discover how the organization stays “high touch” with participants through its roles, social collaborative platform, and learning experiences—a collection of instructor-led classes, eLearning modules, and online discussions. You will leave this session with insight into how to engage employees through a personal approach and take back some practical measures that can easily be incorporated in your organization.

In this session, you will learn:

• How dedicating a role focused on relationships can impact participant engagement
• How to leverage available technologies to help you be more personable
• Why you should establish a brand for your department
• The importance of utilizing your own people (employees) as faculty and/or facilitators

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Social collaborative platform (Jive), eLearning development tools (Adobe Creative Suite, Lectora, Articulate Storyline), iPads, GPS units, cameras.

Most designers and developers strive for continuous improvement in the quality and effectiveness of eLearning programs. However, measuring the success and failure of eLearning is often an afterthought. Worse, the metrics used to measure effectiveness send false messages that lead a person to think the eLearning is more effective than it actually is. This is unfortunate because eLearning offers more measurement options than traditional classroom training.

In this session you will learn what learning science reveals about measuring the learning results inherent in eLearning. You will discover common mistakes to avoid and methods for improving your eLearning results. By utilizing these research-inspired methods, you will be able to create cycles of continuous improvement.

In this session, you will learn:

• What research-based findings mean for measurement design
• The three most common biases in measuring learning
• Unique opportunities for eLearning measurement
• What learning science reveals about measurement

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

We have all experienced huge courses, documents, and texts that are barely manageable by the instructional designer. In fact, much of how we design courses and documents makes it impossible for an employee to find the one piece of information they need at the time they need it. Since content is so dense, it makes finding meaningful information difficult, and it makes tracking anything useful in it even more difficult.

In this session you will explore the big picture of what technology is capable of today. You will dive into practices that will extend the lifespan and reduce the headache of how we create and manage content. You will learn tips on how to create content that is easier to track, can be used in many different areas (including mobile), and helps to populate more meaningful reports, both for management and the designers. You will discuss the value that content management systems and learning record stores play in forward-looking technology infrastructures.

In this session, you will learn:

• How today’s technologies make creating content easier and more effective for designers
• How today’s technologies make accessing content easier and more effective for workers
• How you need to structure content so that it works on all devices
• Why the LMS alone isn’t the backbone of your technology infrastructure

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.     

Technology discussed in this session:
LMS, CMS, LRS, the xAPI.

Learners are more likely to persist online if engaged in their courses and the educational experience is personalized. Personalized e/mLearning communicates a supportive, nurturing, and respectful learning environment. Branding allows you to tailor the experience and speak to the learners; however, doing so effectively and consistently can be tricky. 

In this hands-on session, you will learn to develop an agency brand by building an effective template that is professional and consistent. You will explore the concept of Master Slides and how to apply them in your Captivate projects, as well as learn how to navigate the Object Style Manager. 

In this session, you will learn:

• How to build a template in Captivate
• How to use Themes
• How to use Master Slides
• How to use the Object Style Manager 

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers and developers with basic Adobe Captivate skills. 

Technology discussed in this session:
Current version of Captivate.

How can creating storyboards online change your writing and review process? What online spreadsheets can help you track open issues? Can you track project time online to help you better estimate projects in the future? What scheduling tools are available? These are just some of the questions we’ll address in this hands-on session. You’ll get to try out a number of online tools (some free, some fee-based) to help you better manage your eLearning development projects. You’ll walk away not only with valuable perspective on what these specific tools can do, but also with an understanding of key features you can look for and use in other tools. 

Whether you have project management experience or not, this session will help you to better manage the information you need to run your eLearning production effectively.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to use Google Docs for storyboard editing
• How to use Google Sheets for creating issues tracking lists
• How to use MyHours for tracking time
• How to use SmartSheet for creating Gantt charts

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Google Drive, MyHours, SmartSheet.

Training employees and clients is an ongoing challenge. People are busy. Training is expensive, time consuming and usually pretty boring. Athenahealth has a wide range of clients, from physicians and nurses, to front desk staff, and medical billers. Their schedules are chaotic, they have little time to train, and their focus is on doing what they do best, helping patients. The challenge was in moving from an eLearning-heavy approach to a more context-based, hands-on, just-in-time one to meet the needs of learners in this complex environment.

In this case-study session, you will learn about athenahealth’s transition from a traditional eLearning approach to a more responsive model that focuses on experiential learning and performance support. You will see the changes made in the development process, the implementation of new technologies, improved client access to support resources, and updates to the content and LMS. You will explore both the successes and failures in their efforts to become the perfect waiter, ready to help the moment you need them, but invisible when you don’t.

In this session, you will learn:

• How athenahealth successfully transitioned to a performance focused training and support model
• How experiential learning should be the focus of your training efforts
• The importance of providing support in the moment of need
• Understanding how you can apply the changes athenahealth put in place to your own training challenges

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Kenexa/IBM LCMS, WalkMe, Assima Learning Suite, Jive, Cornerstone LMS, and Adobe Captivate.

Why do people spend hours learning how to master new levels in their favorite games? The answer to this question, and the ability to harness some of that excitement and magic for workplace learning, is why there is growing interest in games for learning.

In this session you will learn how and why you might design a game to teach workplace topics. The session takes you on a journey through several levels, in which you will learn the surprising facts about who plays games, the principles of design for games with purpose, the types of games that work best for different purposes, and tips for success.

In this session, you will learn:

• Who plays games today
• The principles behind games with purpose
• Why games with purpose can make such powerful learning tools
• What sort of games other organizations are commissioning

Audience:
Novice designers, developers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Games will be demoed and discussed on PCs, smartphones, and tablets. Also discussed is the potential of various other virtual reality games powered by devices such as the Oculus Rift.

“Blended learning” is the ubiquitous term for the use of a variety of instructional delivery media to achieve a particular outcome. But what guides the decisions about what to put in the blender? How do you know when to use the various mediums, approaches, and technologies? This session will provide you the techniques and tools to assist in matching content to the delivery tools. You will learn about the research on the factors that influence media selection for a blended learning design. This session will provide a criterion to help you make the best decision about your delivery methodology.

jQuery Mobile is an HTML5-based user interface system designed to make responsive learning support apps that are accessible on all smartphone, tablet, and desktop devices. In this session you will explore jQuery Mobile and how it allows you to build custom mobile applications. These applications are perfect for just-in-time learning support material that not only takes advantage of modern web technology, but simplifies development for mobile without having to do heavy amounts of coding.

You’re making an eLearning lesson. You need some voiceover, but you don’t have the budget to hire a voiceover artist. Your boss told you to record the lesson yourself. You know you have to do it. What do you do? In this session you will learn the 10 best things to ensure you can make a good recording—such things as basic editing techniques, how to make recordings with little equipment, and how to speak. By the end of the session you’ll know what it takes to record, and how to record your own voice professionally.

Agile is more than a project management method; it’s a culture. It’s all about communication, communication, getting results, and communication. Agile methodology solves many of the sticking points with the old waterfall-based approaches to projects. In this session you will take a dive deep into cases that show how agile changes an organization’s culture and how to bring that change about.

We are experiencing a formidable change in human history, where technology moves from becoming a physical aid, even cognitive extension, to enhancing human performance. We are on the verge of something very big and very powerful, where machines trump man. In this session we will explore topics such as artificial general intelligence (AI) and the search for universal learning algorithms. You will see how through adaptive learning, online learning will deliver intelligent, responsive learning experience. You will learn how the inevitability of techniques used by the likes of Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Netflix are being used in online learning.

Changing economic situations and ever-changing technology calls for skill sets that can create challenges for organizations in meeting their short- and long-term objectives. Organizations have two choices when faced with a skills gap: They can recruit new talent with the necessary specialized skills, or they can provide the necessary training to current employees at a much lower cost. This talk will provide examples of how to get the most from your learning systems and meet the ever-changing environment all organizations are facing today.

The only way to scale experiential training online is through social learning. But most designers are going about “social” the wrong way. Bolting on social elements, like discussion forums and social media, won’t improve the pedagogy or learning experience. Social learning requires a feeling of social obligation that arises when learners are connected and beholden to each other. In this session, we’ll cover research by three Stanford professors and data from dozens of corporate training programs to discuss best practices for leveraging felt accountability to drive high engagement and positive learning outcomes.

XanEdu’s Nimble Platform helps you breathe new life into your existing training and reference materials. This cloud-based platform allows you to assemble, manage, and distribute your training materials without having to re-author. XanEdu allows your learners the flexibility to consume training materials in mobile, web, and print—whichever they prefer. When your instructor-led training sessions are over, it's important to know that your content will be available when and where your learners need it most, and that you can measure their engagement to prove the ROI of your training investments. If your current materials are trapped in printed binders or if you’re just distributing PDFs, XanEdu’s Nimble Platform can unlock its potential and allows you to maintain control.

The modern business world is becoming faster and more complex than ever before, and with the addition of a whole new generation into the workplace, our learning solutions need to change too.

LEO is focused on how we can design, build, and implement solutions that blend today’s technology and that align with the expectations of this changing demographic. Global organizations need to understand how to create blended solutions to address the way our learners of today and tomorrow actually want to learn.

With a unique combination of the 70:20:10 framework, InfoPro Learning has blended technology into formal, peer, and on-the-job training to create a learning model that has proven to maximize business performance for sales, customer support, onboarding, and several other key job functions. Join us as InfoPro Learning’s chief learning strategist walks you through this performance-driven learning approach so that you can walk away with the knowledge needed to create learning solutions that result in the largest return for your company. 

eLearning designers are often faced with complex training topics that are difficult to deliver concisely. The results are lengthy courses that are counter to the needs of today’s learners, who need to be extremely efficient with their time. To deliver learning to this audience means being very concise in both content and course design, while still having impact and not sacrificing instructional integrity.

In this session you will learn a practical strategy for keeping learning concise while remaining impactful, engaging and retaining its intent. You will engage realistic examples of how measures have been effectively implemented during four stages of the instructional design process: 1. Identify appropriate learning objectives and exclude the extraneous objectives. 2. Manage stakeholder, subject matter expert (SME), and design team expectations. 3. Prioritize content into levels of must know, good to know, and nice to know. 4. Streamline the content, language, and course interface.

In this session, you will learn:

• A design process that ensures concise but effective eLearning
• How to get SMEs and your team on board with creating concise courses
• How to efficiently prioritize and manage learning content
• How to streamline the content, language, and course interface
• How to use learning assets to succinctly deliver content (e.g., interactions, games, visuals, analogies, infographics, etc.)

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

One of the major challenges facing organizations is getting the balance between formal and informal right. Capitalizing on the benefits of social learning requires the right environment to facilitate it. The most successful communities have clarity of purpose, support from wider stakeholders, an engaged hub of participants, and a skilled facilitator to nurture it. For anyone interested in creating a sustainable and effective social learning strategy for their organization, understanding the benefits of a community approach and the right balance between structure and exploration is key.

In this session you will learn what makes a successful community and how to design, plan, and nurture communities. You’ll see real case studies on how a combined approach of formal and informal learning has been used to great effect in a range of organizations. You will analyze a case study from IPG Mediabrands on how to successfully blend communities and formal learning programs. You’ll take part in the first stages of a community planning workshop and you will leave the session with supporting materials to assist you in the first steps of community creation.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to design and nurture effective communities
• How to improve the effectiveness of formal learning through communities
• How leading organizations have used communities as part of the learning ecosystem
• Why communities have truly come of age and why today’s learning ecosystem makes communities more relevant than ever
• How to curate from communities to enhance formal learning programs

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
SharePoint, Yammer, Salesforce Chatter, Ning, Pathway LMS, and Learning Portals.

As learning practitioners, we strive to understand the real life environment of experts as much as possible. But getting access to really see how they do their jobs when they are in a more technical or hands-on role (i.e., construction, refinery, factory) is difficult. Many times we can’t get access to use video or real-life images because of safety or clearance constraints. This poses a challenge as we try to create impactful learning materials.

In this session you will see how we can now equip subject matter experts with a GoPro camera that they can wear on their chests or hard hats and control it from our phones or tablets. You will see what it looks like within their environment and capture it in the form of a video to put into a course or as easy-access performance support. This session will show you how to quickly set up and use the device. You will learn how to help leadership understand the viability of this technology and set a strategy for success.

In this session, you will learn:

• How a GoPro can become another tool in your development toolbox
• How to discuss this as a viable option with a client (or a manager) and set a strategy for success
• How easy it is to set-up and learn how to use it
• Tips and best practices for success

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
GoPro, iPad, and iPhone.

Questions about mobile and social learning can often take the conversation in the wrong direction, ones about issues of screen real estate, for example, rather than the more important questions about learner experience or if mobile is even the appropriate approach. Mobile, coupled with social media, provides a rich resource for informal learning outside of the classroom, as well as supplemental learning within the classroom. 

In this session, you will see how to better ensure learning occurs during your events and continues afterward. You will gain a better understanding of how to incorporate social media tools and networks into a virtual learning experience to accomplish formal and informal learning. And finally, you will be able to identify why, when, and how participants will be using the mobile virtual classroom. 

In this session, you will learn:

• To identify why, when, and how participants will be utilizing the mobile virtual classroom
• How to apply design strategies that maximize the live, mobile environment
• How to incorporate social media tools and networks into a virtual learning experience to accomplish formal and informal learning
• How to integrate social media into virtual classroom design during live sessions and in between live sessions 

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers, ideally with two or more years of experience designing, delivering, and promoting virtual training within their organizations. 

Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual Classroom.

You’re all excited about the promise of an Experience API-enabled world, but you’ve still got a learning management system (LMS) and a whole host of SCORM-based courses. Now what? In most cases, you’ll need to manage the transition—read: republish your library for the Experience API (xAPI)—over the months and years to come. But what if you could get the most out of both an LMS and a learning record store (LRS) at the same time as you move to your next-generation learning-and-performance infrastructure?

In this session, you will learn what to do with xAPI statements. You’ll discover how an LRS is different from—and similar to—the LMS you already have. You’ll review your options when it comes to LRSs and how LRSs can work (and can’t work) with your LMS. You’ll also learn the considerations to keep in mind when looking for an LRS, get a list of key questions to ask when selecting an LRS for your environment, and gain insights into both the learning and infrastructure aspects of xAPI from early adopters.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to identify the benefits of an LRS, both in contrast to and in combination with your LMS
• How to choose from among three types of LRS options
• About potential options for your next-generation learning-and-performance infrastructure
• What key questions to ask potential LRS vendors to narrow your search

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced managers, directors, and VPs with a basic knowledge of xAPI and LMS capabilities.

Technology discussed in this session:
xAPI, LMS, LRS

If you work in L&D, chances are you use design assets (like photos, drawings, icons, and fonts) all the time. And if you don’t have a graphic design background, chances are you’re paying someone else to make these design assets for you. Professional designers and stock photos are fantastic resources, and ones I’d never want to get rid of, but sometimes what you need is a DIY solution that’s fast, free, or even better: both.

In this session you’ll learn about some amazing tools that will give a design boost to the skills of even the least experienced designer. Want to know what amazing drawing tool you already have on your computer? What app can magically correct your messy and scribbly drawing lines? Always wondered how some people can take amazing photos on their smart phones, but yours always look a little off? Ever wanted to create your own font in just a few minutes? This session will help you learn more about the assets you can actually create yourself, something many non-designers assume they just don’t have the ability to do.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to create your own basic drawings and icons
• How to use a few simple tips for improving the quality of your photographs
• How to leverage easy apps and software to create quick graphics
• How to create your own font

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers and developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Paper by FiftyThree, Camera+, iFontMaker, and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Although the world of web design has evolved and rapidly leveraged open-source technologies to build new experiences, many eLearning instructional designers and developers have limited themselves to rapid eLearning tools such as Captivate and Storyline. But what is possible when we go beyond our usual toolsets?

In this session, you will learn how to go beyond the basics and truly leverage HTML5 and open source to build eLearning courses that are both mobile and responsive for desktops, tablets, and phones. You will learn how to avoid the common pitfalls found in mobile design. In this session, you will learn how Facebook was able to use the open-source Adapt framework to build an eLearning program that is accessible on any device and in multiple languages.

In this session, you will learn:

• Mobile responsive design for eLearning
• The power of the Adapt framework
• SCORM in the mobile age
• Pitfalls to watch out for in mobile design

Audience:
Intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Adapt Framework, mobile responsive design, HTML5 templates.

Infographics powerfully convey content in a visual and readily understandable manner. However, as appealing as they often are, learners often spend only a brief time viewing them before moving on. Are there ways to increase an infographic’s “stickiness,” or its effectiveness to make the content better understood and retained by the learner?

In this session you will learn various techniques and designs to add interactivity and engagement to infographics. You will be able to explore various page layouts, categories of interactives, and deconstruct how several examples were developed and produced. You’ll also have the opportunity to investigate the pedagogy and brain-based research that support the use of interactive infographics. This session will give you the techniques and access to multiple templates to quickly implement interactive infographics into eLearning courses, presentations, and web-based content. Templates will be available in Articulate Storyline, Lectora Inspire, and Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel.

In this session, you will learn:

• Adult learning and brain-based theories that support interactive infographics
• The best designs for infographics and interactive infographics
• How to create interactive infographics using various platforms (Articulate Storyline, Lectora Inspire, and Microsoft PowerPoint)
• How to access and use various interactive infographics templates so you can create your own

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers with a working knowledge of at least one of the authoring platforms (Articulate Storyline, Lectora Inspire, and Microsoft PowerPoint or Excel).

Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate Storyline, Lectora Inspire, Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, and Adobe CS (Illustrator).

The importance of social factors in learning are well established. But knowing how to best influence and impact these factors remains something of a mystery to most organizations. A number of thought-leaders have suggested you can’t do much of anything to impact social learning in the workplace. They are wrong. You can design social learning opportunities and measure their impact. Drawing on research, and from our experiences of working with some of the leading organizations in the world, we’ve developed our own social-learning playbook. Now we invite you to develop your own, based on the framework we provide.

In this session you will develop your playbook on how to make the most of the opportunities social learning provides. Punctuated by insights from real-world studies and supported by learning data, you will gain a series of insights to help you with the successful design and deployment of social learning and enable you to proceed with confidence and direction.

In this session, you will learn:

• What makes for effective social-learning experiences
• The asynchronous and real-time design techniques used to facilitate social learning
• Applicable design techniques for your situation
• How to use data to prove the impact you are having

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced managers and directors with some background in the notion of social learning and/or the 70/20/10 framework. Even better … you’ve tried to develop a more social-learning experience of your own.

Technology discussed in this session:
Common social-learning tools by way of example such as Yammer, SharePoint, or Jive. However, this session is more a tactical exercise than a technical demonstration. The tools you use are likely to be the ones at your disposal.

It’s hard enough to get learners to engage with the content of your eLearning course. The issue is compounded even further when learners can’t figure out how to use the course in the first place. All too often, new eLearning designers put their focus solely into designing the learning content, while at the same time ignoring the interface it’s encapsulated in. This leads to confusion on the part of the learner and disrupts the learning process.

In this session, you will explore five simple rules for designing an eLearning user interface that promotes engagement, interaction, and learning. Using real-life examples, you will explore demonstrations of simple interface changes that removed visual distraction and redundancy. eLearning designers looking to improve their courses by removing user interface distraction and promoting intuitive action by the learner will learn five rules for designing effective user interfaces.

In this session, you will learn:

• How bad user interface decisions distract from the learning process
• Five rules for designing effective eLearning user interfaces
• How to visually distinguish interactive elements from your course content
• How to promote intuitive action by the user through visual cues

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, and project managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate Storyline, Articulate Studio.

Often the idea of using instructional games is met with stiff resistance by project stakeholders and the organization’s leadership: “We don’t want our employees playing games! We are a serious organization with serious work to do!” So how do you design instructionally effective games for the workplace and gain buy-in from stakeholders and leadership in your organization?

In this session, you will be introduced to methods for designing effective games and getting them taken seriously by shifting the focus of game design from the game interface (the look and feel of a game) to the game’s mechanics. You will get a close look at the complex world of game mechanics, explore how to leverage these mechanics in instructional game design, and give real-world examples of how to use this approach to create effective instructional games that are taken seriously within serious organizations.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the wide range of mechanics found in games
• How to leverage game mechanics to design instructional games
• About real-world examples of games used effectively, even in reluctant organizations
• How to play and analyze games for transfer of essential mechanics to your instructional games

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

A number of myths persist about people’s allegedly ever-shortening attention spans—but what does the science say? Neuroscience, behavioral economics, and consumer psychology all offer insights into how we manage and allocate attention. Additionally, our ability to manage attention and focus seems to be related to our abilities to allocate willpower and influence how we make decisions.

In this session you will learn what the current science says about how attention, willpower, and decision-making interact, and how that influences the design of eLearning environments. Having a deeper understanding of this topic will help you create more engaging and effective learning solutions.

In this session, you will learn:

• How cognitive load and glucose usage influence willpower
• How we allocate and manage attention
• How to engage learners’ attention and manage distraction
• How to use the principles of willpower, attention, and decision-making to create better eLearning

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

Intellectual property law affects every stage of the development process. Yet, it is daunting and complex. Trying to gain a working knowledge can be overwhelming. As a result, decision making is rooted in ignorance, fear, or frustration, none of which contributes to project goals. The continuing struggle to quickly develop content may lead you to infringe on someone else’s work, expose your work to an unpleasant legal action, or miss out on using free media to enhance your projects.

In this session, you will learn about copyright essentials through an entertaining snapshot of the law and recent cases. Learn how to apply legal concepts such as the fair use doctrine to everyday scenarios. You’ll become more confident finding sites that offer public domain, Creative Commons, and open access–licensed works. Developing an applied understanding of copyright law and learning how to find media you can use will help you become more productive and focused as you maximize your financial and creative resources.

In this session, you will learn:

• Copyright and fair use basics
• Which recent court cases are interesting and important
• How to find online media you can use
• About Creative Commons licenses and which are most accommodating
• How to correctly attribute media you use

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
API for Creative Commons licenses and plugins for proper attribution of work.

From the first desktop PCs to today’s cutting-edge smartphones, technology has a history of fundamentally changing the expectations of learning and development programs. We are now on the cusp of another technological advance, one that will once again change some of our definitions and how we address performance issues: wearable technology. This technology will come in various forms, but the one that many expect to serve as a quantum leap forward is Apple Watch.

In this session, you will learn about Apple Watch from an early adopter who is viewing the device through the lens of learning and performance. You will learn what Apple Watch is, how it works, and what the experience of using it is like. You will explore the many different ways that Apple Watch can be used for learning and performance improvement. In this session, you will discover the possibilities that are being opened by this new and exciting technology, and how those possibilities are once again redefining the expectations of learning and performance programs.

In this session, you will learn:

• What Apple Watch is, what it isn’t, and what it can do
• What the Apple Watch experience is like for the user
• How people react to Apple Watch
• What doors Apple Watch opens up for learning and performance
• How people are already using Apple Watch for learning and performance support today

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Apple Watch, mobile phones.

eLearning developers are often challenged with making learning more interesting or interactive. Games provide an opportunity to meet both needs. You’ve read the research on their impact and you know that games have been useful learning tools through all the stages of life, but building games in eLearning has been a challenge for those who do not know how to program.

In this session you will learn the process for designing and building simple learning games using Articulate Storyline 2. Starting with a simple framework, you’ll leverage some key elements such as Variables and randomization. You will leave this session knowing how to design and build your own learning games without needing programming skills!

In this session, you will learn:

• How to create a framework of a simple game
• How to create randomization
• Whether Variables are needed for a particular effect
• To decide which Variables work best in different situations

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers and developers who are very comfortable with the basics of Storyline. Participants should be able navigate around the interface quickly and easily. Some experience with Variables and Conditions is helpful.

Technology discussed in this session:
Storyline 2.

Participant technology requirements:
A PC or Mac running Windows Storyline 2.

Adobe Presenter works perfectly in some situations and not others. Knowing when to use a particular tool is half the battle. Adobe Presenter features many new possibilities for you to use it if the situation calls for it.

In this interactive session, you will learn how and when to use features like learner collaboration as a way to bring authentic conversation into your course module, speech to text and annotation to enable a personal video creation, and how to use the drag-and-drop interface to create meaningful and engaging interactions without any programming and right inside Microsoft PowerPoint. This session will focus on the best features of Adobe Presenter and give you the tips that make using Presenter a delight!

In this session, you will learn:

• When to use Adobe Presenter and when not to use it
• Which features in Adobe Presenter make your learning shine
• How to incorporate real interactivity into your learning
• How to balance what PowerPoint offers with the features of Presenter

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers and developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Presenter.

Participant technology requirements:
Laptop with Adobe Presenter, licensed or trial version.

An intensive two-year study of 29 projects that were awarded funds to build digital badge systems in the 2012 Badges for Lifelong Learning competition revealed surprising results.

In this session you will get a deeper dive into the specific principles and practices learned for employing digital badges to recognize, assess, motivate, and study learning. You will learn how the most obvious principles for adding value to digital badges—associating them with formal credit and gaining external endorsement—turned out to be the most difficult to implement. You will learn how the most successful badges contained unique claims and evidence about learning, the impact of social and less informal learning, and the importance of “layering” into existing instructional content and web technology. You will explore value with connections to competency-based learning, stackable credentials, ePortfolios, and credit for prior learning.

In this session, you will learn:

• The contexts and practices in which open digital badges can be used most successfully to support learning
• To use the web-enabled resources from the Design Principles Documentation Project
• To use the web-enabled resources from the Open Badges in Higher Education project, including open case libraries and extended case studies to inform their own badge development efforts

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

There’s been a large amount of research in recent years exploring the value music has on the brain and learning. We’ve all experienced it in some way in our lives, be it from listening to music while learning or studying, learning something from a catchy song, or by learning to play an instrument.

In this session you will explore the many relationships between music and learning. You will examine and discuss how people learn to play an instrument—there will even be ukuleles available for some to participate hands-on—and what this might mean to learning in general. Using the introductory ukulele lesson as a framework, this fun session will help you explore the many ways that music impacts and enhances learning. (Ukuleles made available during this session will be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Nevada UMC after the conference.)

In this session, you will learn:

• How music enhances learning
• How people learn to play an instrument, and what that means to learning
• How music might enhance your practices
• How to play a ukulele!

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

When delivering training, it is important to align training content and assessment with the overall goals or objectives. But how do you ensure that the content delivered is aligned to the objectives and that assessment of the learner actually means that they’ve met the objectives? In this session you will learn practical, step-by-step strategies for creating a training blueprint, mapping and writing assessments, and evaluating the material to ensure it meets the needs of the training. You will also gain access to templates and resources that you can use immediately.

Two of the most popular technologies used to engage learners today are video and mobile. Videos are becoming increasingly interactive—even on mobile devices—but developing these videos can be complex. Where does an organization start? In this session you will explore how organizations can apply interactive video on any modern device to create an impactful experience. You will see how one organization in particular is managing the challenges that only bleeding-edge technology can provide. You will also explore how video interactions can be tracked and correlated with performance data using xAPI to measure real business impact from training.