Apple announcement makes Flash for mobile dead and HTML5 will lead the way

Apple announces that Flash 11.1 for mobile will be the last one. Big changes in elearning are headed our way so you better start learning about HTML 5.
http://mashable.com/2011/11/11/flash-mobile-dead-adobe/

how to lead virtual teams

Just finished an interesting webcast by Lee Johnson on eleading: maximizing the power of global virtual teams. While I'm not currently leading a virtual team myself I have spent the last 10 months developing training for a virtual workforce. A big take home point is that all management whether face to face or virtual begins with good management skills. Amen to that!
Lee has targeted the most difficult obstacles as building trust and positive relationships with the team and the complications that come from the use of electronic communication. The good news is that these can be overcome and when they are, there is a big reward in terms of productivity.
So if you set and clarify goals of the team and the inviduals while fostering a sense of trust by building relationships your team members one-on-one you can be successful.

Linked In Groups

Currently I'm the only instructional designer on my training team at Ascend One. I am not not new to this. In fact I've spent most of my career on teams where I was the only one with my knowledge set. So I have begun the search for networking opportunities with other instructional designers again. In the past I've reviewed blogs via my RSS reader and posted questions but that usually didn't have a fast enough response time to be helpful at the very moment that I needed. I recently experimented with the groups in Linked In and have been extremely happy with the results. I joined the Adobe Connect User Group as well as several other user groups and find that I normally get a response within a few hours of posting a question. It truely has been a great experience. If you haven't tried them out, you should!

New Horizon 2011 Report

A great report but here's a good summary.

Inspirations from Martha

I find myself being caught by surprise at least once or twice a week with the way that technology is pushing the limits of my imaginations. As a child I watched the Jetsons cartoon with amazement and wonder. It wasn't just Astro the funny dog or Penny the cool teenage girl but all the things they could do in their home. All the technology. The instant meals at the press of a few buttons, the video phones, the flying spaceships for every day travel, etc. When I look at the way a magazine can actually come to life using all the great tech tools of today, yes it takes my breath away. Things that I could have only imagined back in the 80's in film/video art school are coming to the masses. Well you may be surprised by my Martha Stewart inspiration but her digital issue of Living is just simply amazing. It inspires me to go back to my roots and to figure out how to apply this in my instructional design. Thoughts flood through faster than I can take note. So thank you Martha!

Online New Hire Training

I've been working on a 13 day New Hire online training course for about 4 months. We are finally nearing the end of this exciting project. Coordinating the gazillon final details is challenging. Currently I'm researching the best approach to the train the trainer course and how to inform our stake holders on the final state of the material as there have been many updates. As I find some material, I'll be posting them here.