August 11th, 2011 by Robin Green

E-learning has changed the educational landscape and opened up a world of new opportunities for educators. Those who no longer want to teach in the traditional classroom can put their skills to use in challenging and exciting positions outside the usual academic grind.

What Types of Jobs are Available?

Currently, there are a wide variety of e-learning positions. The most in-demand are instructional and curriculum designers, along with training consultants who help coordinate LMS platforms at the corporate level. Regardless of which position you choose to pursue, the traditional educational skill set must be augmented with technical knowledge that will allow for use of Web tools and applications. The science of learning must be combined with strong business skills, as well as the ability to be flexible.

Prepare for a Paradigm Shift

Most e-learning positions are not permanent. If you can shift your thought process to embrace a career as an e-learning contractor, you’re halfway home. Many e-learning positions are temporary,  but require a commitment to see them through to their completion. If your area of interest lies in working with companies to develop LMS strategies, you’ll need to possess vision, creativity and the ability to get the job done in the allotted time frame. Today’s corporate culture wants to keep costs in line while getting the biggest bang for their buck. Many are looking for professionals who are “specific generalists” that are not locked in to a specific job description.

Be the Total Package

Updating and increasing your knowledge base is always worthwhile. Many e-learning and LMS professionals have advanced degrees in education, as well as various certifications. Developing a strong stable of personal contacts is a must; networking through your personal connections is where the opportunities lie. Attending conferences and seminars is crucial, as is joining professional organizations and familiarizing yourself with the latest technology. Keep in mind that educational design principles tend to remain static, but technology moves at a much faster pace. It is always prudent to keep up with it.

Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses; update your resume; use Web tools to facilitate your job search. Search engines are today’s classifieds, and they can lead you to a wealth of opportunities. Most importantly, keep an open mind and embrace the possibility of change. It could lead you to a career you never thought was possible.

Good luck!

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At Coggno.com you can choose a variety of specialized e-learning courses that are created by industry experts.

August 4th, 2011 by Robin Green

Many school districts are beginning to realize the benefits of e-learning for their students. But, what about the benefits for teachers, or so-called “life-long learners”? School boards in many states have professional development requirements that educators and staff must adhere to in order to keep their certifications and licenses valid. E-learning makes the task of updating certifications and indulging a passion for learning that much easier.

E-Learning Helps Defray Costs

Let’s face it; continuing education can be expensive. E-learning courses are cost-effective for both school boards and teachers because they eliminate the need for attending classes at expensive colleges and universities. Looming government budget cuts will be slashing funds for students wanting to embark on graduate level degrees, eliminating many government subsidized education loans. E-Learning allows students and teachers who cannot afford to attend traditional schools to continue their education, whether its required for professional development, or if it is pursued voluntarily.

“Virtual Attendance” is Convenient

In addition to saving money, e-learning helps teachers make better use of their time. Instead of traveling to an inconvenient campus to sit in a classroom, distance learning can be accomplished from almost anywhere. This allows teachers to obtain the training they need without having to take time away from lesson planning and actual classes. Educators remain where they need to be – in their own classrooms, instead of having to turn them over to substitute teachers.

Seminars and Presentations are Evolving into Webinars

The traditional professional development seminar is evolving into a Webinar. As with continuing their personal education, teachers no longer need to leave the classroom in order to attend important seminars and events that are crucial to keeping certification and licensing up-to-date. These events can be attended “virtually”, which is another cost-cutting measure for many school boards. Many professional development providers are already on-board with e-learning, and more are joining every day. Making good use of technology not only broadens audiences, it allows educators to focus on their jobs while still being able to achieve their career goals.

Now is the time for students and providers to consider the benefits of e-learning. The new school year is upon us; considering implementing an e-learning program will not only save time and money, it will provide a fresh and rewarding approach to education by embracing technology.

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Coggno.com offers a variety of online courses for users world wide.

July 28th, 2011 by Robin Green

Back-to-school is right around the corner, and many of us are considering taking a course or two or even enrolling part-time or full-time.

Why not consider e-learning as opposed to the classroom? Not only is it more convenient, it is the future, available to you right now.

Why Online as Opposed to In Person?

A recent article featured in Campus Technology suggests that e-learning and learning management systems (LMS) are gaining in popularity not only because of their impact on the corporate world, but for the ease with which individuals can now embrace higher education. The availability of coursework has become so widespread that people can choose from certifications all the way up to advanced degrees. Traditional academia is also beginning to embrace LMS strategies in order to accommodate students who are more eager to learn outside the classroom environment.

LMS Works on Campus and In the Office

The same protocols that help management keep track of employee progress can be used on campus to track coursework, projects and paper submissions from students. The idea that students needn’t be present in the classroom to turn in high quality work is one that has taken some getting used to, but with the help of technology, LMS has given students the opportunity to obtain course materials online, and submit papers without the pressure of having to get to campus to meet deadlines. LMS is now fostering a traditional learning atmosphere without the traditional setting.

E-Learning Offers a Wide Range of Choices

Just like a traditional course catalog, e-learning options are seemingly endless. Take your pick of everything from safety training to public health initiatives and just about everything you would expect in a conventional academic setting. The difference is, you get to choose where and when to tackle the material, as opposed to having a set schedule. This makes it easy for full-time employees to learn at their own pace, and for students who are reticent to return to a traditional classroom environment.

Whether you’re choosing full-time education or specific training in order to further your career, the coursework you need is just a few clicks away. Gone are the days of having to stress about closed out classes or traveling to inconvenient campuses. The future of learning is online, and the time to embrace it is now.

Coggno has an extensive library of all types of coursework. Safety certification and public health initiatives are two of our most popular categories.

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Coggno.com provides a robust learning management system platform for users all over the world.

July 21st, 2011 by Robin Green

One of the perks of listing your course offerings on Coggno is that you retain control over your material. You can remove, update and add new material whenever you choose through your account. We encourage all our contributors to price their courses or Learning Management Systems as they see fit. It is also appropriate to offer the occasional coupon; these days, there are deals on almost everything that can be purchased online, including training courses. Why not give your learners value in addition to the information they need?

Why Offer a Discount?

The most important way to spread the word to your target audience is to create buzz. Think about the many coupon or “deal” sites like Groupon and Living Social that are so popular now. Instead of offering a discount on yoga classes or sushi, you’re offering a deal on valuable tools that will encourage people to hone their current skills or acquire some new ones. Offering a coupon makes your material look more attractive and gives learners more incentive when they see they are getting a deal on the courses they want or need.

You Decide How You Want to Market Your Courses

Coggno offers all our content creators the ability to sell their courses to anyone, or as a branded Learning Management System. Selling to anyone gives you the ability to reach a wider audience, giving you the opportunity for greater exposure. That exposure has the potential to increase sales; the more courses you sell, the better you’ll be able to price them. You can help generate that interest by creating coupons for your courses. The discount amount you offer is completely up to you.

How Can I Create Coupons?

Coggno gives its content creators complete autonomy to create coupons. Your account contains a coupon feature that will allow you to create coupons for materials for sale in the marketplace. You can create discounts based on single and volume purchases, as well as purchase-with-purchase deals, and single purchases. You create your deals based on whatever it is you’d like to move. Maybe you have a newer version of a course coming out, or there is time sensitive material being offered that is close to expiring. Whatever the reason, Coggno gives you the opportunity to price your offerings as you see fit and offer coupon incentives whenever you choose.

Everyone Loves a Deal

Let’s face it; we’re always looking for deals whether it’s at the supermarket, the mall, or online. Education is expensive enough, and if we can get a few bucks off on our courses, we’re going to take advantage of a coupon. Think about creating coupons for a course or two and see what happens. We scour the Internet for deals for everything else, why not education? There’s no better feeling than gaining knowledge; getting it at a discount makes learners feel even more empowered.

For more information about coupon creation, sign in to your account and click on the “Marketplace” tab to get started.

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Coggno.com is a leading provider of Learning Management System

July 15th, 2011 by Robin Green

Anyone who uses e-learning courses will tell you that when running down your check-list of desired  features, one aspect not to be ignored is how easy or difficult it is to integrate your existing learning materials into the course you want to create. An LMS’s ease of integration will speed up course creation and allow you greater flexibility with the kinds of materials you offer your learners.

In choosing an LMS, integratability is key. You’re not creating learning modules in a vaccuum. You have years of experience and probably have a lot of material up your sleeve. Maybe you’re a teacher or a trainer and have learning materials stored on your computer, an external hard drive, or online in the cloud. Choosing an LMS that allows you to take advantage of these text, video, and audio files is going to make your course creation experience much easier.

What is SCORM and why might I need it?

Besides your learning material, you may want to make sure the learning management system you choose integrates with all SCORM software.

SCORM is a group of standards set for online learning. If you are creating a course for a governmental organization or an NGO that requires the use of SCORM standards, you will need SCORM authoring software.

One purpose of a SCORM authoring tool is that it allows you to control the order in which learning modules are experienced. Does your course have a natural flow, an order in which your learners should work through the material and activities? Most courses do, since knowledge is meant to build on previously learned knowledge, continuously reinforcing what has been learned. The ideal is not that a learner is able to jump ahead to the last section of the course without any difficulty. So what SCORM does is provide the structure of the learning program. It allows you to create and control the rules, time your learners, and ensure they are on task.

Live Webinars and Web Conferencing

Some learning management systems have incorporated web conferencing and webinar tools into their e-learning courses. Such LMSs provide you with the options of both synchronous HD visual and non-synchronous training.

How does it work? Learners simply log into the LMS course and participate in seminars or other kinds of real-time web conferences. The integrated webinar prevents confusion and produces seamless learning, without having to go back and forth between various locations. Additionally, webinars are an dynamic and increasingly popular way to provide collaborative and self-paced training to learners.

Easy Integration with Existing Learning Materials

Some learning management systems, such as Coggno, allow course creators to integrate existing learning materials, powerpoint documents, SCORM and video files with the click of a button. Having the course ready can be simply a matter of uploading the material that you have already worked on. You also can brand your material with your company logo, colors etc. Using a pay-per-use model like Coggno provides a few options for delivery. You can distribute the course within your organization, syndicate it on the web, or publicize it on Coggno’s catalogue of training courses.

Flexibility in Action

The flexibility of Coggno’s LMS platform to meet organizations’ particular requirements and needs, as well as its standards implementation, make it among the top online learning platforms on the market.

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Coggno.com provides high-quality online education  world-wide.

June 30th, 2011 by Robin Green

Regardless of whether you have experience in distance learning, if you’re a professional copy-editor and proofreader, you understand your work isn’t just about finding and correcting errors in text. Your ability to navigate the intricate web of factors and rules for deciding what parts of a text to change and how to change them, and when it’s best to leave good enough alone, ultimately decide how good you are at your trade.

Online proofreading courses are an affordable way for copy-editors and proofreaders to sharpen their existing skills. And for beginner copy-editors, gaining this skill in a formal context can open the door to many different jobs including writing reports, publicity writing, journalistic writing and news articles, marketing content, and more.

In a copy-editing course, you’ll learn to differentiate between the numerous editorial, proofreading and typesetting roles within the publishing industry.

Then, you’ll get into the nitty-gritty of copy-editing. To be an effective copy-editor, of course, you’ve got to have a solid grip on the basics. An online course will review how to identify typical spelling, grammatical, punctuation and layout mistakes in printed text. To be a great copy-editor, proficiency in the application and understanding of the parts of speech including nouns and pronouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives is an absolute must.

Web editorial skills

Today most editors need to have some experience working with online content, and a growing market exists for proofreaders who can tailor their content for a web audience. A distance learning course in copy-editing will help you adapt your skills to the online medium to enable expanding your client base. Furthermore, if you yourself are responsible for online content, an online course in copy-editing can greatly improve your ranking and the quality of your web content. Learn how internet content differs from printed text, and how to structure and articulate your content in a way that is easily to read online.

Tech-savvy copy-editing

You will also build on or develop your knowledge of computer applications. More and more content copy-editors and proofreaders are expected to read is web-based. Perhaps you are already working from content on the web but aren’t sure that you’re doing it correctly. An online course can help smooth out the uncertainties and give you the tools for seeking guidelines for publishing on the web. You’ll gain an overall competency in your knowledge of theoretical and practical features of proofreading and copy-editing.

Get with the program….or is it programme?

Is it program or programme? One important topic in a copy-editing or proofreading distance learning course is that of regional and stylistic language differences, such as MLA or APA and differences between British and American English. Copy-editing is one of those professions where the devil is in the details: a UK-based client will not want to see z’s (realize, utilize, etc.) in their text where they do not belong, for example. Consistency is key.

An online course should cover these regional differences to guide proofreaders in their task of marking text accurately.

Proofreading vs. Copy-editing

All this talk of proofreading and copy-editing, but what really is the difference between a proofreader and a copy-editor? Simply put, the copy-editor works on a book in its manuscript stage, while the proofreader works on the galley proof. Proofreaders are expected to make less subtantive changes than copy-editors. If you are searching for an LMS online course to brush up on your marketable skills, check out Coggno‘s selection of distance learning courses.

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Coggno.com is leading provider of Learning Management System.

June 23rd, 2011 by Robin Green

Last month, Coggno announced the deployment of Russian, Spanish, Portuguese and German languages into our Learning Management System software. Now is the time to think globally, not locally when it comes to learning. Giving non-English speaking and bilingual employees in international locations (or even those in the U.S.) the ability to learn in their native languages is a win-win for everyone.

Why Should I Consider Global LMS for My Organization?

Having foreign language capabilities in your Learning management system provides bilingual employees, as well as those who are native speakers of the above mentioned languages, to learn new material in their mother tongue, at a pace they feel comfortable with. We native English speakers don’t realize how difficult it is to learn a different language, especially as adults. Individuals may feel comfortable speaking English conversationally, but when it comes to learning, they will be better able to comprehend the material in their native language.

Is it Difficult to Integrate Additional Languages into My LMS?

Not at all. You still get the same conveniences regardless of language. Employees anywhere in the world with access to a high-speed Internet connection can log in to access materials in any available language. All types of materials can be made available in your languages of choice including skills assessment, certifications and even testing to ensure that employees are learning what they need to know to become more productive and efficient.

Global LMS Saves on Travel Expenses

If you’re part of an international organization, bringing employees together from all over the world is a pretty hefty expense. You can save big on traveling costs by giving international employees the opportunity to participate in training from their home countries, without the hassle of flying them halfway around the world to participate in seminars and skills development sessions. It can all be done online in a language of choice, at their own pace.

Management, Administration and Employees Can Participate

Students and Employees have the ability to pick and choose their courses, and auto-enrolment can also be provided based on job descriptions. Managers and supervisors are kept apprised of a student’s progress, and administrators can modify, create and manage materials to suit their needs. Testing and report generation are available no matter which language you choose to work in.

Give a Boost of Confidence to Your Employees

Native English speakers take for granted that people the world over will always understand them. The global economy demands that business be conducted in the languages relevant to your organization’s place in the world. If your company employs German, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian speaking individuals, or if you have locations in countries that speak these languages, it is important to incorporate native culture into the corporate culture. Employees need this to feel they are making a significant contribution. By offering them learning materials in their native language, they will gain confidence and feel empowered in their positions.

Now is the Time to Integrate

If you are already using a learning management system and want to integrate foreign languages, now is the time. Give your existing employees the opportunity to improve their performance by getting the necessary training they need, and entice newcomers to your organization by embracing multiculturalism. It doesn’t matter which language we learn in, as long as we never stop learning.

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Coggno.com provides high-quality online education  world-wide.

June 15th, 2011 by Robin Green

Distance learning is a valuable resource for proofreaders and copy-editors, professions which are in high demand in today’s global market place.

However,  these valuable skills are often needed in environments where coworkers or clients are not able to do their own editing, and therefore on-the-job training is often lacking.

Many proofreaders and copy-editors are self-taught and have little formal training.

What are the best proofreading distance learning options?

Online training can consolidate and expand upon skills which have been developed on-the-job through trial and error. Distance learning in proofreading and copy-editing is a great option for people already doing this work who would like to brush up on their skills. Most courses also involve theory and context, helping learners understand editorial tasks in the context of the complex publishing process.

Levels of copy-editing elearning

There are three standard levels of copy-editing training: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Beginner courses are for well suited to those who have an interest in copy-editing but have no formal work or education in copy-editing. An intermediate level is appropriate for those who have been copy-editing for a year or more. An advanced level is meant for those who have already had formal education in copy-editing or proofreading and who simply want to polish their skills.

Who enrolls in copy-editing courses?

An LMS distance learning course in copy-editing is useful not only for people currently working in the industry, but also for those editors who are experienced but who are out of practice, such as in-house staff who have taken on other roles within an organization, or people with a background in editing.

Why knowing “the rules” doesn’t cut it

To be an efficient copy-editor, you need to develop strategies to maximize your existing skills. That’s where online learning comes in: to help you organize and expand your understanding.

Knowing “the rules” of  grammar, punctuation, form etc. is only part of the big picture. To be a copy-editor or proofreader you must also possess the self-confidence and organizational skills to put these rules into practice. An e-learning course in copy-editing teaches critical skills which you can offer to your clients to make you a highly depended-upon asset to their work.

What you’ll learn

An online course in copy-editing will teach you, among other things, how to: interpret your client’s instructions, even when they are unclear or difficult to understand; propose solutions rather than seek help from your client or other sources; be decisive; take control of the situation and all the details involved in the work; and give your work a complete and professional touch.

If you are a copy-editor who has experience and expertise in your field, and are considering creating an online course for proofreading or copy-editing, check out Coggno‘s simple online course creator toolkit. The simple user interface and fast delivery make distance learning creation or in-house training content development easy and fast.

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Coggno.com offers high-quality LMS.