Latest News and Notes

It’s that time of the year. Spring is just around the corner (okay for me), and your pets (if you have any) are demanding table scraps and not the stuff you feed them.

This week’s blog covers a few notes from around the industry, some thoughts I have about various e-learning and learning technology, including learning systems and coaching/mentoring platforms. I will dive into the latest around my soon-to-launch newest platform, FindContent.io (it is not yet live, so please do not click), and an update with FindAnLMS.

Sit back and enjoy. Oh, your pet just munched on your favorite shoe. I am telling, you, it is a protest against the food you are feeding them.

FindContent.io

FindContent.io is my newest system (goes live early April 2022). It is two platforms, one amazing system.

A few key items about the system – Reminders if you will

a. FindContent.io is not a place where you can buy courses/content, we do not sell courses/content. Rather FindContent.io is a site where you can check out content/courses from various 3rd party content publishers (located around the world). Some of these courses are 100% full – which means it is the entire course – 100% free for you to take, as often as you want, as many times as you want. And yes, there are “samples” too.

Another option you can do – is to contact the vendor directly within the platform. If you want to see more of their website, you can, right within the platform. No need to open more tabs or have to bounce around – it is all there – in the vendor’s playlist.

You can subscribe to the playlist which means that every time it is updated from the publisher, you will be notified and can check out additional content, information, and so forth. You can save each course/content, information, and so on, as a “favorite”. You can see how many “views” the course/content and information.

You will see “Trending” and a “carousel” of Craig’s Top Picks for that month.

But that’s not all.

FindContent.io offers you the ability to check out more details about each publisher. Use a variety of filters, from categories to content types, from duration to features, even language, and features.

But as they say, that’s not all.

You can share the content, information, within MS Teams, via e-mail, use a QR Code, share one course OR the entire playlist.

If you go to FindContent.io today, you can register, but please be aware that we are still making a few tweaks and that the publishers are not visible – i.e. not public. Over the next month, we will be doing a soft rollout, until the official launch in early April. We are already seeing folks sign up, which is awesome, but again, please be aware that it is “coming soon”.

On the other platform, well, yeah, we are equally close to launching. The same will be officially early April. We are making a few tweaks there too and will be adding new publishers over the next several weeks. I will be publishing the link to the other platform, next week. The publishers that are on it (as of 2-24) are Intellezy, Open Sesame, and Biz Library. GO1 will be on board in the next couple of weeks, along with several other publishers.

FindContent.io will always be 100% Free. This includes the Course Platform and FindContent.io primary site.

Here is a brief (two minutes) of the FindContent Course Platform (a part will be within FindContent.io when we launch). You will be able to access the Course Platform directly – again, we are in tweak mode.

The video does not have narration.

If you are a 3rd party content/course publisher and are interested in joining the “revolution” please contact me today.

FindAnLMS Update

FindAnLMS now has the entire top 10 learning systems for 2022 on the system. FindAnLMS is not just LMSs, but all types of learning systems. Pluralsight for example is now on the platform, the first 100% skills-based platform (focused solely on the technical skills). In the coming weeks, Eduflow and NovoEd will join the platform. My goal is simple – to present the best systems in the world on one search, compare and explore the system, FindAnLMS.

News and Notes

I receive a lot of requests asking about “what posts are coming”, “will you be doing a review on blah blah,” and so forth. Normally, I hold back, but hey it is a new year.

Coming in March

A new Battle – GO1 vs Open Sesame – The two behemoths in the content aggregator space. Should be fun.

Interview with one of the top Private Equity firms that regularly plays in the e-learning space. They have invested in learning systems and e-learning tools. Learn what they look at when considering an investment – i.e. providing capital, and what a vendor who is seeking capital or acquisition, should be doing or will need to do.

Best of the Best Customer Education Bracket 2022

Check out the bracket from 2021.

For 2022, there will be two “play-in” games. And new locations (except El Paso – they are always in).

The Entrants for 2022 are (in no particular order)

• Thought Industries
• Fuse
• Eurekos
• Absorb
• Cornerstone LMS
• D2L
• Valamis
• Docebo
• Intellum
• Rockstar Learning Platform
• Skill Jar
• Meridian KSI
• Learn Upon
• Raven 360
• CourseStage
• Blue Volt
• enabley
• My Learning Hub
• SAP Litmos
• Workramp

Latest Takes

Coaching and Mentoring. I always believed there was a difference between the two, and yet what I am finding is very few folks know about this segment, not the terms mind you, but the platforms that are out there. A coaching platform/system is different than a mentoring one. In the next few months, I will be analyzing the entire market and then writing about it on the blog. If you wonder what is the difference between coaching and mentoring, what I heard from Dr. Ravi Gundlapalli, CEO of MentorCloud. He said it is “tapping into the collected wisdom”. And I totally agree. It is all about context.

Just consider this. If someone asked me what it takes to be an analyst, is far different than me “coaching” you as an analyst or identifying the skills you need to be an analyst. Totally context.

I find that to be the right way and is missing as a whole in the learning space.

Speaking of missing the big picture, what I am hearing from vendors on the content publishing side, even on the learning system side, is the need for folks to empower their end-users to learn skills such as empathy. When you look at onboarding, how many L&D, HR even training even offer empathy as a skill that their employees should learn?

I mention empathy, biggest it was the one skill I heard over and over again, these past couple of months, and was even noted in the Executive Leadership Post I did (as a key skill for one CEO).

Speaking of skills, I wrote a few months back, that we are ignoring life skills as part of the skill acquisition. It isn’t just life skills, but skills of interest that have nothing to do with the job role. The best employee is one that is well-rounded. When you hire someone do you always hire the one with the most skills tied to that job role or do you hire the one that is the most well-rounded? Plus, any learner, and people, have the interest to learn a new skill (that is not part of their job).

One tidbit you may have missed in the news is that Florida is working on a bill that will require high school students to learn money management which means – learning how to balance a checkbook, how to save money, etc. It is something to keep an eye on, because frankly, every university, college – higher Ed – should make this mandatory in the General Electives area. And high schools too.

Financial illiteracy is something again, not thought about it, but is widely there. I’m not talking about learning how to pick stocks or crypto data mining here, I’m talking about the basics. Remember getting your first credit card in college? I sure do. And trust me, I wish I learned about credit card minuses, such as interest.

Bottom Line

February to me is always just a blip. For some places it is absolutely freezing, for others it is late summer. For me, it is close to spring.

This spring, I am going to try to learn Arabic.

I have no idea how successful I will be or not, but I’m going to give a whirl.

After all, isn’t learning a new language

A life

Skill

Worth

Having?

E-Learning 24/7