Learning Management System: eLeaP eLearning, Training Platform for Easy ELearning,Training Tool

a learning management system web 2.0 elearning platform, learning & content management system, LMS/LCMS

We have been hard at work. I am excited to introduce some of the new features in the system.

1. We have increased the number of languages in eLeaP so that you can have the choice of your preferred language: Spanish, French, Chinese, Portuguese, and German.
2. We added an option for your users to ‘hide completed’ courses so they can focus on pertinent, up coming training deadlines.
3. For users, a quick and easy way to download their training completion records right from their home page. Now all they have to do is to click on “Download Completion Report”.
4. For Admins, you can easily file employee records by downloading comprehensive individual user records in Excel. Save time and make sure your compliance records are up to date

Other new features:

How to set Non-Completion alerts:

This enables account Admins to set an automatic email notification to email addresses they specify which will indicate which of their users have not completed their assigned course(s) as of the deadline date

This feature is critical if you have any audits or compliance requirements for users to complete their courses and trainings by a specific date. The system sets and monitors the deadline and an email summary is sent to emails the admin sets. This is a great time savor and increases your training and legal compliance needs. Learn more >>

How to set Quiz Retry options:

We have upgraded the eLeaP quiz tool to now include a new feature which prevents users from checking their answers in between retries. For example, you have a multiple choice quiz question which has 2 retry opportunities. Previously, users could simply submit their attempts, make note of the right or wrong quiz answer, and try to use that information to ‘guess’ the right answer in their next attempt. While we don’t believe this behavior is widespread, we at eLeaP are continually working to make sure the integrity of our online training system is maintained and the authenticity of quiz results is enhanced. This upgrade now ensures that users who submit quiz answers during retries are not able to decipher that quiz scoring is till their final submission. Learn more >How to set Feedback as Required:

This feature enables you to set the feedback form as a required component before eLeaP can release a certificate of completion to a user. The feedback form is a survey tool built into your course. To enable feedback, make sure your course details (click ‘edit course details’) indicate Active Feedback as YES

Next, click on [Feedback] within your course and add your feedback forms. Once satisfied with the feedback form questions, click [Advanced Settings] and make sure ‘Require Feedback’ is set to ‘YES’. Once set, eLeaP will then monitor the course completion data to ensure that your users have provided you with feedback by completing the feedback form prior to allowing them download their certificate of completion. If users attempt to download a certificate without providing feedback, eLeaP will remind them to complete the feedback form. Learn more >>

Upgraded Advanced Settings:

We have upgraded the course settings and Advanced settings tabs.

The eLeaP Learning Management System (LMS) has added full Spanish language support. Your Spanish language trainings can now be accessed on a Spanish language LMS. Get instant access to online training in Spanish.

Learn more and get your free account here.

New ecommerce pricing options, and introducing free License Distribution accounts so you can sell more eCommerce licenses.

Major changes we have made to the eCommerce LMS interface:

1. Pricing: We have revamped the pricing by adding in Tiered pricing and Volume pricing. Tiered pricing enables the system to charge different rates based on the number of users set for each user limit. For example if you buy 19 licenses it will be 10 x $10 plus 9 x $8.50. Volume pricing uses the total user limit associated with the purchased licenses to calculate the fees. For example if you buy 19 licenses, it will be 19 x $8.50. See a screen shothttp://screencast.com/t/mOf2jGUIK4To

2. We have added option to calculate re-ordering or upgrade pricing either using sum of the previous order and the new order or only using the new order to calculate the re-ordering or upgrade. This way, you can choose if you want your repeate buyers to benefit from lower pricing based on a total of their orders or simply keep each order as a unique transaction. See screen shot http://screencast.com/t/kBYC6toKpH

3. Added option for single users or corporate buyers to create a one-time account for their purchase. Corporate buyers will create a License Distribution Account (LDA) to enable them distribute their purchased licenses to their users. This gives them access to tracking and easy management as well as certification and interactive tools. See screen shot at http://screencast.com/t/E9nLZESXbgVH

Advances in video technologies and online delivery platforms have made the goal of video based training a reality. The eLeaP Learning Platform supports a whole hosts of video formats for online training.

Supported Formats:

Flash

Flash based videos have revolutionized the online training space. Using flash based videos in your presentation provide additional interactive and formative learning. If you need help converting your videos into Flash, use this link to send in your files https://dropbox.yousendit.com/Telania and we will be happy to help.

You can upload your videos in the popular .SWF format or the robust .FLV format.

Other Supported Formats: MPG, MPEG, MOV, WMV, MP3, MP4, M4V

Some also utilize the SCORM format to upload video based training.

What to Watch for:

While video is compelling, it is important that you understand the limitations of this medium. Video files by their very nature are large. This means that users who have slower connections might need to wait for the dreaded ‘buffering’ process before they can view your training. This is normal and a simple message in your course that this can occur typically solves the problem.

Another potential issue with video based training is downloading. Since certain formats require the user to download a copy of your video to their computer, this can lead to potential copyright abuse. While we have not detected this as big problem, it is important that you are made aware. One way to get around the download issue is to use Flash formatted videos since these typically play within the browser and are not ‘downloaded’.

Uploading Videos:

While the eLeaP allows you to upload up to 500MB per file, we strongly urge you to consider breaking up large files (greater than 100MB) into several chunks. By breaking larger files into smaller chunks you not only improve the upload and access process, you also enable your users to engage in the presentation by taking an action to continue viewing the rest of the chunks instead of having to sit through one ‘long’ presentation. Simple is best. By the way, the size of a video depends on several factors: quality, screen size, length. There’s no hard and fast rule but this link will give you an idea: http://www.evdoinfo.com/content/view/846/63/

Support:

If you need support uploading videos into your account, contact eLeaP for help. Alternatively, you can send us your video files so we upload them for you. To send us files, use this link: https://dropbox.yousendit.com/Telania .

Don’t forget to check out the online training how-to video tutorials for how to upload videos. For tutorials go to: http://www.eleapsoftware.com/support.html

Leverage the power of the new eLeaP API to easily manage your LMS account. eLeaP announces the release of the eLeaP Learning Management System (LMS) API so customers can easily manage their accounts.

Read more about this announcement.

eLeaP Learning Management Systems just announced the release of the latest version of the popular eLeaP LMS Platform. This latest release features Smart Course menus and upgrades to the content formatting engine, robust reporting and system notifications and new mobile learning capability.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/03/prweb5121344.htm

Louisville, KY 2/28/2011 – Online training just got a lot easier with the long anticipated release of eLeaP4 – the fastest, easiest and smartest Learning Management System (LMS) on the market.

Since our first launch in 2005, eLeaP has been upgraded four times. Each new release is the result of intensive analysis, client interviews, and usability experts’ reviews incorporating the latest in e-learning, web-based training technology and web software architecture.

With our release of eLeaP4, we have provided our customers with cutting edge technology, extremely easy usability and unparalleled security and speed.

Read more here…

The domain of e-learning, virtual classrooms and remote training has advanced more than anyone could have imagined, just over the past decade. Remember the first experiments in “e-learning”? The very first remote training courses were little more than text on a screen that could be accessed from an FTP site or an intranet, offering the benefit of a remotely-accessed text, but not much more than that.

Today, e-learning has taken a whole new direction, creating a virtual environment that can be the functional equivalent of a live classroom, complete with multimedia, interactive environments, classroom forums, student tracking, and even electronic quizzes and tests. It is possible to provide just about any type of corporate training through an e-learning environment. In the academic world, if you’re ambitious, you can get an entire fully legitimate college degree online without ever setting foot inside a classroom. What’s next? Let’s take a look at what we can expect in the coming years in the world of online learning.

1. More learning on-the-go. Ever since Apple came out with their SDK, there has been an explosion of mobile apps, and today everybody’s a wannabe mobile app developer. The ease with which mobile apps are developed means there are not only more apps, there is more demand for them—and mobile learning will be no exception. The smartphone is becoming more like a second computer, and people who are constantly out of the office will rely more on these devices to keep up to date through on-demand mobile training.
2. E-learning gives businesses a closer connection to their remote workers. Remote working, teleworking, telecommuting an outsourcing are here to stay, and companies are relying on it more and more as the telecommunications and collaboration technologies that make it happen continue to mature. It is often speculated however, that remote workers are at a disadvantage when it comes to keeping up with office policies and new procedures, and as a result, are also at a disadvantage for upward mobility. Remote e-learning will take on a greater role in closing this gap, bringing remote workers into a level of parity with in-house staff.
3. E-learning won’t diminish despite shrinking corporate budgets. It will however, continue to change. Rather than large, all-encompassing, hours-long training courses, companies will focus more on shorter, modular learning units that can be delivered on-demand.
4. More employees will benefit from the e-learning model. In the past, corporate training was often geared towards certain sub-sections of staff, especially middle management and sales. The ease with which e-learning can be deployed (not to mention the low cost) will bring more employees into the e-learning fold—resulting in a better educated staff and better employee retention.
5. E-learning facilitates outsourcing. The outsourcing trend, long ago acknowledged as an inevitability—as well as key to a modern corporation’s fiscal success—will get a boost from e-learning. Third-party service providers will take greater advantage of their partnerships with their clients, to take advantage of remote, modular learning units that are provided. This will give the outsourcing agency’s employees an opportunity to better understand their customers’ product lines and special requirements, and as a result, the lines between the outsourcing agency and the client will become a little less rigid.

With the economy in flux, its tempting to think you can get away with not training employees or maintaining proper compliance records. This would be a disaster.

But its expensive – I hear you say .. but eLeaP is affordable and it contains all the tools you will need to create, launch, manage and track all your employee training.

From free course creation services to realtime results and tracking to instant certificates of completion, eLeaP LMS and e-Learning solutions provides you an easy pain free way to do employee training.

Don’t believe me? Spend 2 minutes and see for yourself (www.eleapsoftware.com).

Vendor selection is akin to a virtual minefield: One wrong step and you are a goner. Nevertheless, an organized, comprehensive selection process is exactly what is required. You can do this best if you develop a checklist so that you are certain that you have asked each potential vendor the same questions and are comparing oranges to oranges.

Download the e-learning systems vendor selection checklist free at www.eleapsoftware.com.