How do you make the most of the learning tools you have in-house?

It’s a question on the minds of many Learning and Development professionals right now, as tough economic conditions are focusing minds on results.

There are no easy answers, but one approach is definitely to make the most of what you already have. That’s what Black & Decker is doing. The power tools manufacturer is still finding new ways to deliver value from its Learning Management System (LMS) after 10 years.

We’ll be hosting Black & Decker’s National Learning Technologies Manager Catherine Farrar at our next webinar on March 11^th, as she discusses how Black & Decker’s L&D team are expanding their range of activities even in these tough times.

Catherine will explore how Black & Decker uses the CERTPOINTVLS LMS to :

• Help users create their own high-impact training content, including video
• Make blogs, wikis and other social media professional
• Speed delivery and tracking through a fully integrated system
• Create effective content fast
• Go mobile (yes, you really can train via a smart phone!)

The webinar runs on March 11^th from 12:00-12:45 EST. “To attend this free webinar, click here“

sometimes you hear some news that just makes you smile.

So if you think you need a lift, I recommend a visit to e-Learning for Kids.

I recently learnt about the great work that this charity is doing under the leadership of its founder and chairman, Nick van Dam, and it certainly made me grin – it made me stop and think, too. It exists to make quality electronic courseware available for free to children throughout the world. For many of these kids, learning represents their best route to a better life – and e-Learning for Kids aims to provide it.

The Dutch/US Non-profit Foundation has high standards and ambitions. Its curriculum is based on the International Baccalaureate, and has already reached 1.6 million children. But the charity’s supply is outstripped by rising demand. By 2015, they aim to be in touch with 20 million kids. The volunteers there are a smart bunch – founder Nick van Dam is also the Global Director Learning for eLearning Solutions and Technologies at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu – but they can’t reach this target alone.

That’s why CERTPOINT Systems is proud this week to have become a sponsor of e-Learning for Kids, providing some help, a little advice and yes, some good hard cash.

At a time when many organisations are thinking only of themselves, eLearning for Kids is thinking of others. When knowledge and skills are increasingly the only way to break out of poverty, they are providing them. When the global poor are among the hardest hit by the recession, e-Learning for Kids is giving them hope. For more information and access to the courses visit: www.e-learningforkids.org

It’s enough to put a smile on your face.

Ara Ohanian
CEO, CERTPOINT Systems

In the future, historians and economists may refer to our current times as the great economic and financial meltdown of the early twenty-first century. At CERTPOINT Systems, we see things differently. We view these trying times as an opportunity for innovation, a spring board for new beginnings. History has proved that it is in times of hardship that mankind has made some of its greatest leaps.

2009 forced everyone to re-examine what they were doing – especially in business. Organizations were forced to shed bad habits. Complacency went out of the window as every part of the business came under scrutiny.

With 2009 behind us, how does 2010 look?

Some organizations have weathered the storm better than others. At CERTPOINT we are fortunate enough to have ended 2009 with continued growth, continued investment in R&D and some major new customers. 2010 is looking good. And in the general economy world-wide we’re seeing a similar optimism this year.

Technology continues to become more affordable and more enabling – and will continue to impact the ways we work and learn. Let’s celebrate 2010 by continually innovating our uses of enabling technologies in our quest to enhance human performance!

My personal commitment to all CERTPOINTers, business partners and customers: We will make this year a year of focus on innovation and business impact.

Ara Ohanian                                                                                                                                                                                       CEO, CERTPOINT Systems