http://www.keystonelearning.com/ en rhodges@keystonelearning.com Copyright 2011 2011-12-08T16:49:31+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/new_features_from_2011/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/new_features_from_2011/#When:15:49:31Z In review of 2011 we wanted to highlight a few of our favorite new features. Here at KeyStone, we are always looking for ways to enhance and increase learner productivity through our platform. The below features are great ways administrators can create an effective learning environment for their organization. 1. Share your content: You can now share your KeyStone OnDemand created screencasts on your website, blog or other source. 2. Embed your favorite videos: Embed YouTube or other videos for easy sharing and they are instantly available by keyword search. 3. Creating custom content: Unlike many other training platforms, KeyStone OnDemand does not require third-party programs to create content. You can create screencasts and articles directly within the platform. So whether you have HR related needs or employee introduction courses to create, you can create all new content directly within the platform.     4. Customizing the environment to fit your organization: With the platform, you can add your logo as well as your organization’s colors to the platform for seamless integration to your learning environment.  You can also create your own “Featured Tip.”   For more information and a tour of KeyStone OnDemand click here. To start your free trial click here. 2011-12-08T15:49:31+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/keystone_creating_courses_for_pardot_training/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/keystone_creating_courses_for_pardot_training/#When:15:07:53Z This week one of my colleagues and I will be attending Elevate 2011 in Atlanta, GA, where we will have a sneak preview of Pardot’s new OnDemand training solution that uses our platform. If you are going, please stop by to see us at the Pardot training table in the Great Room Foyer and check out the new OnDemand Pardot courses.  As Pardot customers ourselves, we are proud to be part of this exciting, new service that will be available in January 2012. We would also love the opportunity to meet with fellow SaaS-base companies and discuss how we can support their training requirements.  KeyStone’s SaaS soltuion, KeyStone OnDemand, helps SaaS companies quickly create and deliver relevant training for their applications, driving adoption and retention. If you are unable to attend this exciting conference, stay tuned for updates!  I will try to put out a daily update as I have time as well as a synopsis upon my return.  2011-11-14T15:07:53+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/written_course_outline_transferred_to_coursebuilder/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/written_course_outline_transferred_to_coursebuilder/#When:13:10:16Z Implementing the course outline in the CourseBuilder In a previous post, we discussed where to begin when authoring a course: create a course purpose, course objectives, an outline and an introduction. Now, we will discuss how, once you follow the above steps, you can use the outline you created to build the course. In KeyStone OnDemand, you have the ability to create an outline in the CourseBuilder before you officially add the content. The image below shows you an example of a new course outline in the CourseBuilder. You can use the written outline you created to form this outline. Keep in mind that this outline can be edited and the names can be changed at any time. So while this outline will help with organizing your content, it does not have to be the final form.   The CourseBuilder allows you to add a name and place for an article, quiz or video without actually adding the item itself. It is our suggestion you do so, then you know exactly where you will be placing all your content. Once you have created the outline, you can search for content you have already created to place in the course. If you create content after you create the course, you can assign the content to that course while you are creating it. As you can see, building a course in KeyStone OnDemand is simple, especially if you take a few minutes to prepare a course outline. Using KoD 2011-10-31T13:10:16+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/five_ways_to_engage_online_learners_from_an_online_learner/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/five_ways_to_engage_online_learners_from_an_online_learner/#When:14:04:41Z Here are five simple suggestions for you when you start building your course: 1. Present with personality. If the instructor is not interested in the course, how can you expect your learners to be interested? 2. Answer all common questions. Especially if you are forming a course on software training, you need to think of all possible questions when going through a step. Answer those questions, to keep the attention of your learners. Your learners will be looking at the course, thinking of questions as you are teaching, so answer them without having them asked. 3. If you are teaching a course with a powerpoint presentation, don’t just read off the slides. Provide your users with additional information. Why should they listen to you if you are just going to say exactly what the slide says? In some cases, this may work, but in most instances, you can re-word what is on the slide or provide an example for better understanding. 4. Share the basics but throw in some detail. While the basics are important for the beginner, keep the learner engaged by throwing in one detail or example of what they will be able to achieve upon completion of the course. Show them this course is worth paying attention to. 5. Understand your audience. Sometimes courses include too much detail or go too fast for online learners. It can be easy to assume your learners understand you when you cannot physically see their reactions. Be sure to understand your main audience. If, however, the course is targeted towards advanced users, then go for the detailed and high-level tutorial. If your learners are new to the subject matter, be sure to guide them to understanding. Just because you know the information and learned it easily, it does not necessarily mean the information will be as easy for your learners to digest. These may seem basic, but sometimes going back to the basics is just what you need. At KeyStone OnDemand, we are always looking to help our customers who are creating custom courses for their organization using our platform. Tips and Tricks 2011-10-28T14:04:41+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/where_to_begin_when_authoring_a_course/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/where_to_begin_when_authoring_a_course/#When:13:54:30Z Road block avoided with organization of course purpose and goals When you create a course, you may have great content but if it is not organized with a clear direction, your learners may become confused rather than educated. For this reason, taking a few minutes to organize your information and thoughts before you start formatting your course will be very effective. The first step in course authoring is defining the course purpose. The purpose includes what you are trying to achieve through the course as well as what your learners should understand upon completion of the course Be specific when defining the purpose. Don’t just say “to train users on platform.” Say something along the lines of “To train PowerPoint 2010 users, giving them the ability to understand fonts, embed items, print layouts and navigate the tabs on the ribbon.” Secondly, based off your course purpose, create course objectives, which are the means to achieving the course aim. Objective examples for the PowerPoint course mentioned above are:      -Adjust Font      -Create excel document to embed      -Navigate the ribbon Creating the course outline is the third step to a successful learning environment for your learners. When creating the course outline, the following points are recommended:      -Arrange objectives into logical groups to create a course outline      -Title each main section      -Assign each section your ideal content      -Assign the section a quiz if you choose Example      I. Introduction      II. Navigating the Ribbon          A. The home tab (screencast)          B. Formatting Tab (article)          C. Insert Tab (upload video)          D. Quiz Then you can create your content around your outline, knowing exactly what you need for your course. Also, if you create a written document to use as a guide for content creation it will help you ensure that you are covering everything. These initial three steps will guide you into an easy production of your course. After they are created, the next step is to create a compelling introduction. In the introduction, keep the following tips in mind:      -Get your audience excited      -Make sure it summarizes what will be covered in the course      -It can be a PowerPoint, a screencast or another format of your choice but grab the learner’s attention      -Know the objectives of the course and make sure the introduction sets out the objectives These steps will give you confidence that your course will make sense and flow well. 2011-10-25T13:54:30+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/build_relationships_for_retention_and_adoption_of_your_app/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/build_relationships_for_retention_and_adoption_of_your_app/#When:14:28:42Z Customer retention is one of the most powerful indicators of a company’s success.  We just finished the third in a six-part webinar series called “Increasing Adoption & Retention of your SaaS App” and one of the things we've been discussing is building a relationship. A lot of salespeople remain quiet between the point of sale and the time for renewal. What keeps a customer loyal to using your solution if he or she never hears from you?  You can bet the competition will reach out to them. So how does a salesperson build relationships?                        -listen, Listen & LISTEN!!!   “To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well.”                                             - John Marshall,
Supreme Court Chief Justice, 1801-1835 Always be listening to your customers to find out more about them. Get to know them; find out about their likes and dislikes. This way when you are following-up with them you will have something better to say than “how’s the weather?” Also if you know more about your customers, you will ask the right questions and build more rapport. Building the relationship includes being an advisor as well and helping the customer to be successful throughout the customer lifecycle. Salespeople must continue to build relationships with their customers beyond the point of sale. Building relationships establishes you as an authority in their eyes. Being an authority leads to repeat business and repeat business will often earn you referrals. So what are you waiting for? Go out and build relationships!  2011-10-21T14:28:42+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/encourage_users_to_adopt_your_saas_app1/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/encourage_users_to_adopt_your_saas_app1/#When:14:09:45Z Many SaaS companies are able to draw excitement and attention to their new app. Many users may even buy, but how do you get them to adopt quickly? How do you get them to fully understand your solution and all its features so they will become loyal? This post is from the desk of one of our team members Tayo Rockson, and here is his answer to the above questions: Well there are number of ways to adopt and I will get to them soon but first of all you need to be able to know why your customers might stop using your app and make sure you address all those issues in your onboarding process. If  you put yourselves in your customer’s shoes and try to think like them, you will have a better chance of making your app more user friendly. So get your thinking cap on and think of reasons they might leave. Some of the reasons KeyStone OnDemand has found are as follows: Users are unable to get over the initial learning curve to achieve successful outcomes- If there is an ineffective way of  communicating how to use your app then your users will be unable to get over the learning curve. Low organizational adoption and usage- Make sure that everyone that will use the app in the organization that you sold to is actively involved. You can do this by engaging the heads of the departments that will be using your app so they can in turn effectively communicate the benefits of using your app to their teams and users. Not enough customer stakeholders and influencers- You might not have enough of the stakeholders & influencers bought in. App is not utilized properly to gain full potential- The app is not being used to its full potential so there is a lack of appreciation for your app thus there will be no perceived value in using your app. App reliability- Your app was not able to do what it was supposed to do and it did not meet expectations. Competition- They might decide to go with a competitor of yours instead. Now that you have identified these issues, here are 4 steps that will help your users adopt your app better and quicker. Make them comfortable with a personal welcome message as well as give them a quick tour of your app and the benefits/advantages of using your app: 1. Have detailed interactive videos or presentations readily available for them to access upon login in to access your app. The videos or presentations should: Explain your service and show the user where to access things- Make using your platform easier by showing them where things are. You can do this by creating a quick tour video that gives a high level overview of your solution. Explain the benefits of using your app in their environment- Let your users know why your app will help their company. People are naturally resistant to change so if you help them understand how your app will benefit them, they will be more willing to adopt your app. Explain the performance objective and job responsibilities of each of the users-Explain to each of the users what their role is and what their expected result is. So for example if your sales team is supposed to use your app differently from your development team, you want to be able to get that point across. That way there is no confusion and they can stay being productive in the app which grows into retention. 2. Call to Action Give them something to do like a quiz, test or an activity that allows them use different aspects of your platform. 3. Ask for feedback & have a solid follow up process Ask your users for feedback and find out if they are satisfied or if they would like some things added to your app- Let’s face it no solution or app is perfect but you can always make yours better by listening to your customers and finding out different ways you could help them. 4. Show Appreciation  Show appreciation always- Whether it is with a card, a thank you note or a gift basket, let your customers know that you appreciate them and that they are appreciated. In the onboarding process, you want to engage your new users and make them comfortable. Comfortable users will lead to better adoption. Lastly communicate with your users so you can help them better. Building knowledge around your app will only enhance that tie and connection between you and your users. For more information contanct Tayo Rockson at tayo.rockson@keystoneondemand.com 2011-10-20T14:09:45+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/training_with_a_saas_platform_rapid_publication_and_editing/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/training_with_a_saas_platform_rapid_publication_and_editing/#When:13:57:36Z How to edit your courses quickly after they are published! As we said in a previous post, your courses don’t have to be perfect, and the beauty of creating and offering courses through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform is that you can edit content at any time, and your learners will be able to view those changes immediately. Not only will publishing content give you confidence to continue doing so, it will also encourage your learners to use the content and provide feedback. This way, you will know if your courses should go in a different direction, if they are helping and what your learners need more of. Publishing content will help you understand how to publish better content, or enhance organizational policies, procedures and services. So while you want to be sure your course will offer development for your learners, you do not need to over-think the process. If you realize you do not like how you worded a particular article or if you want to add a new video to the course that shows a new path in performing a task, you can easily edit and add content after the course is published. You can also quickly publish stand-alone content related to a certain category. For example, if there is a common question that your users have been requesting help in, you may just want to create a quick screencast for that 1 minute solution without creating an entire course, and this should take you less than 10 minutes to complete and publish. Taking 10 minutes to quickly create and publish a screencast can save your employees hours helping their fellow employees or the organization’s customers. Don’t over think this one minute video; just publish it. Tweak it later if you need to. In KeyStone OnDemand, your users’ viewership as well as quiz completion are tracked and they are not able to receive a certificate until they have reached 75 percent in both areas. So what happens when you add content to a course in KeyStone OnDemand, but your learners have already completed the “75 percent” viewed and quiz scores? Does their completed percentage decrease because there is new content in the course? No, once learners achieve a certain percentage it will never go lower. They can go and review the updated content, and their percentage can increase, but the new content will not cause them to loose their status as complete. If you want to update content later, your viewers will only be affected positively. You cannot go wrong here. In KeyStone OnDemand, you can always publish something to get people started, then you can go back later to edit or fix the details you want to polish up. So get started now with that course you have been holding out on. Editing If you use KeyStone OnDemand, editing is easy. You can edit content you have created or courses we have created that you have purchased licensing for. For example, if you decide you want licensing to our Project 2010 Course, you can edit any of the articles in the course to fit your specific organizational needs. Some tasks have multiple directions you can go, and there may be a specific way you want your users to learn how to do a task, so you can edit our courses to your liking. To quickly edit your courses or ours, here are a few simple steps to take: 1. Open the article you would like to edit; 2. Click Edit; 3. A message will appear, and click “Create Copy and Edit;” 4. Edit your content and save the updates for your users to see. We hope this gives you the confidence to publish that video or article you have been waiting too long to publish. 2011-10-19T13:57:36+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/support_training/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/support_training/#When:14:24:31Z One of the biggest misconceptions in the software world is that support is training but that is false. It is important to understand the difference between both in order to improve the retention & adoption rate of your SaaS app. Support typically reacts to customer needs and is disruptive to customer productivity. Training proactively anticipates customers’ needs to reduce reactive support and increases customer productivity. This is coming from the desk of one of the members of the KeyStone OnDemand team, Tayo Rockson. If you implement the right type of training, your customers will understand your product better and they will ultimately want to renew their contract with you. So in order to correct this misconception and show you how training can help your company I’d like to introduce you to a manifesto that was created by KeyStone OnDemand The SaaS Training Manifesto 1. Support is not training This is pretty self-explanatory. Like I said earlier Training proactively ANTICIPATES customer needs while support typically REACTS to customers’ needs. Give your users more training materials as opposed to just supporting them. The reason being you don’t want your customer’s productivity to be disrupted. They are complementary and should not be used interchangeably. 2. 24/7 apps require 24/7 training resources If you have a 24/7 app make sure you have training resources that can be used at anytime of the day anywhere in the world. 3. Agile apps require agile training resources that adapt to change In the software world, there are always updates and changes that come up constantly with your app so its imperative that your app has training resources that reflect these changes. You don’t want your user to read an outdated blog post or watch a video that is no longer relevant to your app now. 4. Business end-users expect on-demand, web training This trend of on-demand training used to be optional a few years ago but as more and more companies are adopting the cloud, on-demand web training is imperative. Think of it. Don’t you want your end users to be able to proactively learn how to use your app and access your any time at their convenience? It only makes BUSINESS sense. 5. Training resources should be available in both structured course and keyword searchable formats You always want to cater to the different type of end users that consists of your user base. Chances are that you will have two types of users. Some will like a more structured course like format to retain knowledge and others might be more tactile and like to dive in head first to access content without too much instruction. To help these type of users that learn better by experience, it is best to have a keyword searchable functionality so its easy for them to access content. 6. Every user is different. Training must support different learning styles This just builds on my last point. Everyone learns differently. Some learn better if they can visualize what they are supposed to retain, others if they can hear it and others if they can experience your application. Is your app doing this? Ways to address these are by offering a class room like environment, onsite training or on-demand web courses (which is probably the best option). 7. Every role is different. Training must be role-based that speaks to each role’s challenges and success Your users most times will have different roles so its best that your training reflects these different roles. This way its more personalized and they retain knowledge quicker. 8. Training should have measurable outcomes. Training should provide users with a path to becoming an expert One way to transform your casual users to power users is by creating a path for them to be experts. You can do this by certifying them. Reward them for their efforts with a certificate and you will find that a lot of your users will be proud of being certified because it distinguishes them from their peers. Another result that you may find is that your certified users could proactively form communities among themselves where they share what they have learned from your app. This only bodes well for your company and creates a loyal customer base. 9. Training should be tracked and measured You went through all that trouble of creating training materials why not track your users’ knowledge and activity in the platform? This is the only way that you can truly assess whether or not your users are retaining or adopting your software app so implement a tracking mechanism into your app whether it is a CRM or another tracking mechanism. Support and training should not be lumped together because they are not the same thing. Support REACTS to your user’s demands but training causes users to PROACTIVELY use your app. I am not saying eliminate support just don’t lump them together. Visit TayoRocksonSpeaks.com for more about Tayo and his blog. 2011-10-18T14:24:31+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/you_dont_have_to_be_perfect_when_building_a_course/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/you_dont_have_to_be_perfect_when_building_a_course/#When:14:51:29Z You don't have to be perfect. In fact, it might be better if you weren't. That’s right. And the same goes for your content.   Now, don’t get us wrong here.  Your courses need to be organized, cohesive, and follow a clear line of thought.  But as you seek to engage your learners and offer courses that will not put your end-users to sleep, you may not need to start your screencasts over every time you take a big breath in the middle of your course or say filler words such as “um” or “like.” While your learners want to know that you have taken the time to create this course that will efficiently solve their needs, they are also more engaged if they understand that there is a real person on the other end of the recording.  Often these little imperfections help keep the learner engaged and give a more personal experience. How many times have you answered the phone and heard an automated message on the other end? How many times did you hang up after hearing that message? Probably pretty often.. When we hear perfection and automation, it can be easy to tune it out. If there is a live person on the other end, even if it is the same message as the perfected automation, we are more likely to listen. This does not mean your courses need to be live, but they should feel live. This should be a relief to you. Yes, you still need to prepare and know what you are teaching in your course, but you can say “you know” once or twice without starting over. Obviously, if you say “um” 20 times in a 3 minute recording, you may want to edit it or re-do it, but if it happens once, let it go. It just means you are real. So take a breather, and complete that course that you have been over-analyzing and re-recording to meet utter perfection in presentation.  The biggest mistake you can make is to keep waiting for the perfect course and never release your content.  2011-10-17T14:51:29+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/how_to_motivate_learners_and_build_course_credibility/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/how_to_motivate_learners_and_build_course_credibility/#When:13:59:16Z Motivate your employees to take courses while you build course credibility Forming a training course to aid your employees is the first step in increasing workplace productivity, but actually motivating your staff or users to complete the courses is another. What is one way you can effectively both give your course credibility and also motivate your learners to complete the course? Through a certification path. That’s right. Look at Google Analytics and AdWords courses as examples. They have created certification paths that are now used by students and professionals alike to build their professional qualities as well as add to their resume that they are “AdWords certified.” It is now an accomplishment that gives the professional an edge in his or her industry. What if your organization offered this? Aside from building credibility for your organization and course, providing your users with certificates will give your learners a sense of completion and accomplishment as well as reinforce that they cannot sneak by with just skipping through the course. At KeyStone OnDemand, we have created certificates for our admins to customize and use for their custom courses. In order to obtain a certificate, the learners must view at least 75 percent of the course as well as score 75 percent or above on the quizzes. By adding in the percentage viewed, it will encourage learners to actually sit through the course rather than trying to wing the quizzes and breeze through. Furthermore, the percentage that the learner must score in both areas is completely up to the administrator, but the above is our recommendation. You want to be sure the percentage is high enough to earn that coveted certificate. Offering certificates is a win-win for both the organization and the learner, so if your course doesn’t have one, consider it. 2011-10-13T13:59:16+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/evaluating_the_cloud/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/evaluating_the_cloud/#When:11:42:08Z The season of the cloud Fall tends to be a favorite season amongst, well everyone. It’s not too cold, it’s not too hot, but it is a change from the warm summer months. Whether the change in weather is welcome or the change is resisted, there are advantages to this new season. In technology, this new season is that of the cloud. Cloud computing refers to apps delivered as services over the Internet as well as the hardware and systems software in the data centers that provide those services. With the cloud, there are many changes to how the end-user views software. Now software doesn't even have to be downloaded, it can simply contain a log-in and be used via the Internet. With this powerful change, there have been many concerns. Whether you are concerned or not, avoiding the cloud is practically impossible. Forrester's report "Sizing the Cloud" predicts that the global market for cloud computing — including the public cloud, the private cloud and the virtual private cloud — will leap from $40.7 billion this year to more than $241 billion in 2020. To ease some of your worries about the cloud, we have listed some of its advantages. Advantages of the Cloud (from the desk of one of our developers): 1.  Once your content is saved you don’t have to worry about your hard drive dying and losing your data. You’re not relying on your local system to store your data because it is stored up in the cloud. 2. The cloud makes sharing and collaboration much easier. You don’t have to worry about emailing files and multiple changes being made without notice. If you store the file in the cloud that same file can be updated by multiple users at the same time. 3. If the administrator creates content, the end-users can view it immediately. If an edit needs to be made, the admin can make the changes immediately for the users to see. 4. Cloud computing is really great for when your organization is spread out across the globe because content can be accessed from anywhere. Furthermore, in terms of training within an organization, this model works great because courses can be updated and seen by end-users immediately. The end-users as well as the administrators do not have to download training software because all content can be found within the training platform. While cloud computing has the above advantages, it is interesting to reflect on how we came to this point. Originally in 70s and 80s, computers were entire rooms. In your organization to access a computer, you had a terminal. The computer would be in another room, and everyone would connect to the same computer. Today, look at the Chromebook which is promoted as having the “Same experience everywhere.” According to google.com/chromebook, when using the Chromebook, “apps, documents, and settings are stored safely in the cloud. So even if you lose your computer, you can just log in to another Chromebook and get right back to work.” Essentially, we are going back to the same idea of one data center that the end-user doesn’t see. It is interesting to understand that while we are advancing, we are also going back to a similar idea that we started with. Hmmm.. Maybe the cloud isn’t as big of a change as we thought?   2011-10-11T11:42:08+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/lms_training_helps_main_challenges_of_implementation/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/lms_training_helps_main_challenges_of_implementation/#When:14:18:02Z Elearning Academy ran a poll last month, and the results are out. The pole asked, “What is your most difficult challenge when implementing a Learning Management System (LMS)?” Results were: a) Meeting internal IT environment requirements - 43% b) Getting to the detail about workflow processes – 29% c) Staff adoption – 14% d) Expectations mismatch – 14% e) Vendor management – 0% As you can see from the results, whether it is understanding the terminology or learning the features of the LMS, meeting the internal IT environment requirements needs focus. In addition, understanding workflows and creating them will save the administrator time and money, but knowing the features of the workflow and how to use them is needed in order to take advantage of this part of your LMS. The third largest challenge was staff adoption. If you have purchased a LMS, it is vital to train your staff on how to use it. Quick search is easy to use, but your learners may not even realize the power of it until you show them how it can produce solutions.   Just because a LMS can be a powerful learning environment, it does not mean every organization is valuing its offerings and conveying them to their end-users. At KeyStone OnDemand we recommend user training to help with the above challenges. Training is a way to show how simple and easy it is to meet solutions on your LMS. It will provide the confidence your learners and administrators need in the transition to a LMS, and it will help resolve the main challenges organizations face when implementing one. 2011-10-03T14:18:02+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/help_your_helpdesk/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/help_your_helpdesk/#When:11:11:00Z Of all service desk contact volume, as much as 40 percent could be solved through IT self-service, but only 5 percent of issues actually are solved by IT self-service, according to an article by Gartner, Inc. Your helpdesk has worked hard to solve both minor IT issues and major issues. It is now time to give back to those that have been so helpful and offer them some help. This is the power of on-demand training. Whether it is through the quick search facility to solve  singular issues or through an entire course to meet solutions, your end-users can now help themselves with their minor issues and your helpdesk can focus their efforts on more important issues than the common Outlook questions. So how do you do this? Start with capturing your FAQs: 1. Compile a list of your most Frequently Asked Questions 2. Create some content such as step by step articles or video screencasts to enable users to solve those problems themselves These steps will result in a quick response to learners, and they can easily find solutions on their own without waiting for a support technician. Now the support team can concentrate on more difficult support issues. Using your FAQs as a base, will help start the creative and organizational process of a course. Most organizations already have FAQ pages with content begging to be in a course. Once your custom course is created based off your FAQs, you can move into other subject matter. We posted another blog about how to create your course. It said to start the process with the following: Step 1: Define the Course Purpose What is your course trying to achieve? What should your learners go away being able to do now that they could not do before? Step 2: Creating your Course Objectives Now that you have a proper Course Aim you can begin to set the Learning Objectives. The Learning Objectives are the means to achieving the aim. So Learning Objectives for the Report example might be:        •    Set up page margins     •    Format text     •    Add and delete text     •    Add Headers and Footers     •    Create a Table Step 3: Adding your Course Outline to KeyStone OnDemand Once you have your Learning Objectives you can see quite easily which of them go together to create a fluid section and which Learning Objectives are worthy of lessons of their own. Once you have decided this, you can create a Course Outline to act as your guide through the process. This helps the course flow well and allows the author to have a clear direction throughout the process. By using the offerings of KeyStone OnDemand, your help desk will be more focused on major issues and your users will be able to self-help and have a feeling of accomplishment when solving their minor issues. 2011-09-29T11:11:00+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/training_101_give_your_learners_what_they_need/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/training_101_give_your_learners_what_they_need/#When:17:48:52Z As we’ve discussed in our webinars and blog posts, training is a key element in increasing adoption and retention. While it is evident that training is vital to the success of your product and/or service, the learners will only gain from the training if the information is relevant to their needs and roles. You may have 20,000 end-users in your LMS, but just say you only want 450 of them to take a course titled “Detailed History of the Company, Policies and Procedures.” The information may contain details intended for only a select number due to security, or the content may only be relevant to a certain amount of users or employees because the subject matter is specific to a region or role. For this reason, KeyStone OnDemand has created an easy way to manage where content is distributed so your users have access only to the courses and content you want them to have access to. KeyStone OnDemand achieves this by using categories and groups. Categories are containers or buckets for content. A category can contain one course as well as unlimited articles and videos. When created, each category is assigned to a single or multiple group(s). Some categories are licensed from KeyStone. For example, if you licensed Access 2007 content from KeyStone you will see an Access 2007 category. Inside the category is a course by the same name. There are also articles in the Access 2007 category that are not a part of the course. Regardless of whether the content is inside the course, all content is available by searching or by using the browse option. In addition to licensed categories, custom categories can be created. You could, for example, create a category called New Hires. In the New Hires category you might create an article titled, "Company Security Policies," and a screencast called, "How to connect to the VPN." A category doesn't have to contain a course. Below is an example of how users see categories on the homepage (notice the category on the top has a "Launch Course" link).      In terms of groups, when created, each user is given a specific role and assigned to one or more group(s). Depending on which group that user is assigned to, certain content and courses will be assigned to him or her. Groups are a vital part in training because it allows administrators the ability to easily manage content. For example, if Gregory is a project manager, you could assign him to the project manager group. Then, when you create a new course in Agile and want to assign it to the project manager group, you know Gregory and all of those in the project manager group will have access to the new course. Only those within the groups you assign the category will have access to the content in the category. Users can be assigned to groups based on location, position or the criteria of your choice. This is just a short glimpse of how you can make sure your training efforts are effective for your users. Providing content specific to your users will better allow them to focus on learning and searching for the skills they need and solutions relevant to them.   2011-09-27T17:48:52+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/what_roles_will_your_users_play_in_training/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/what_roles_will_your_users_play_in_training/#When:13:25:48Z Within KeyStone OnDemand, each user is assigned a role when created. There are five roles that can be assigned: viewer, helpdesk, contributor, report viewer and the administrator. Each role has a specific function within the platform for training success, and these roles are discussed below. Viewer This user can view content and take courses.     Helpdesk  This role is the same as a viewer with the additional option to add items to another user's quicklist. This role is important to eliminate the amount of support the organization’s IT Helpdesk has to put in to solve software issues. For example, you wont have to focus on helping your employee with creating a query in Access because you can just assign that user an article or video lesson in KeyStone OnDemand. That user will then see the article in his or her quicklist, and the solution will be one click away. Now critical IT tasks can have more time and focus. Report Viewer This user is the same as a viewer but can also generate reports. We recently wrote a blog post on reporting, and in this blog we show how easy it is to run reports within KeyStone OnDemand. The report viewer has an important role because with these reports, you can track the user’s course progress as well as overall platform usage.  Each report can be easily customized to meet your needs. Contributor     This user can create, edit and delete content (articles & videos) in the library of courses. The contributor can also upload content from PowerPoint, Word and related items.     Administrator     The administrator has access to all functionality. The administrator can play the roles of all of the above as well as assign users to groups.          Assign a user to a group How do groups work? What kinds of groups should I create?     Groups are extremely flexible. An organization may have a group for each office location or for different job titles (Executives, IT Staff, Office Managers, etc.)   Refer to this example:   Joe belongs to two groups:Staff and Denver. The Staff group has permission to view the Access 2007 category. The Denver group has permission to view the category called Working Remote. That means that through his groups Joe has access to those two categories. Cindy belongs to one group, Executives. The Executives group has permission to view two categories: Access 2007 and Lean6sigma.Through her one group she has access to those two categories. That's a simple example, but it should give an idea of how you can set up groups to meet your needs. Categories are the buckets of content, and each category is assigned to a specific group or multiple groups. This is how you can easily manage which content users have access to. Take note that each user must be assigned to at least one group, and a single user can be assigned to multiple groups. A final note. By default there is one group called "Everyone," to which all users automatically belong. If there are categories that all users should have access to, assign those categories to the Everyone group. 2011-09-23T13:25:48+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/upload_your_already-made_content_to_keystone_ondemand/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/upload_your_already-made_content_to_keystone_ondemand/#When:11:31:44Z We recently wrote a blog post on how to create a screencast within our platform, and this built-in feature makes authoring courses and creating training videos easy. But what about that content you already have? In KeyStone OnDemand, administrators and contributors have the ability to upload already-created content, and here are some helpful tips in using the content you want to add to the platform. Upload a PDF file or a file from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, etc. If you created an article or video and would like to add supplemental material as a resource for your learners, any type of file can be added as an attachment. Just click the "Attach Files" link when in editing mode of the article or video you would like to add materials to. This option is located on the bottom right side of the screen.     Optimal format for uploading videos When uploading a video, the common formats include .AVI, .MOV, and .MP4. If you have a choice we recommend MP4 format encoded as H.264. Please note that videos must be less than 150MB. For smoothest playback on all computers, consider making your video 800 x 600 resolution or smaller. For long videos, to minimize file size, produce screencams at 5 frames per second (fps); on-camera video should be encoded at 15fps. Hint for transferring content from a Word document to the platform Maybe you don't necessarily want to upload a Word document, but you do want to create an article using content directly from Word. Well if this is the case, don’t forget about our “Paste from Word” feature. Sometimes you will notice when you paste from Word that extra tags come into your new document or everything is re-formatted. In order to ensure a successful transfer from your Word document to our training platform, we created the below button. Now you can maintain your formatting with one quick click.   2011-09-22T11:31:44+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/add_your_brand_to_the_keystone_ondemand_learning_portal/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/add_your_brand_to_the_keystone_ondemand_learning_portal/#When:13:33:39Z As an administrator, on KeyStone OnDemand you can upload your logo, place your company name on the home page and place up to three internal or external links to fit your environment. Here are the steps to complete all three options in branding the platform: 1. Scroll over settings on the menu bar, and click on general settings; 2. Under the “Title, Subdomain” section, type what you want the site to be called; 3. Under the Logo section, browse for your logo and open it. (Note: It should be a PNG, GIF, or JPG with a maximum size of 200w x 50h. You do have the ability to check the option for taller logo space--logo can be up to 200w x 100h). 4. Under the Links section, title the link and place the URL in the URL box. (Note: The URL should be the full address including http://); 5. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click save settings. You have now customized the home page to fit your environment. For more customizable options, our team can help. We want to make sure we give end-users seemless integration from your site to their training needs. 2011-09-20T13:33:39+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/free_webinar-_increasing_adoption_retention_of_your_saas_app/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/free_webinar-_increasing_adoption_retention_of_your_saas_app/#When:13:32:33Z KeyStone OnDemand’s CTO Rob Kingyens will be presenting at the first session of the free, six-part webinar series titled “Increasing Adoption & Retention of your SaaS App,” focused on increasing customer acquisition, adoption and retention.

 This webinar series presented by DreamSimplicity and KeyStone OnDemand is intended to help SaaS and Cloud executives in sales, marketing and support, by giving them effective strategies to understand how they can transform casual users into power users.   This first session is offered Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 12 p.m. (EST) as well as 12 p.m. (PDT). Each session is 30 min in length. Session one in the series will cover the pre-sales on-boarding stage and lead generation.

 While using SaaS apps, end-users sometimes have difficulty in truly understanding the app, and because of this, they do not maintain usage. They may have been excited about the app initially, but since they did not fully understand all of the features and benefits it had to offer, they stopped using the app. It can take up to 12 months for the user to understand the app, and in order to obtain loyal users, the proper steps need to be taken to shorten this learning and adoption period.  

 Register here for the first webinar at 12 p.m. (EST)

 Registration for the 12 p.m. (PDT) The second session will take place, Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 12 p.m. (EST) and 12 p.m. (PDT), and this session will discuss the on-boarding stage: 
●    Post-sale stage
 ●    Implement a new user on-boarding program to gain faster adoption
 ●    Communicate your apps value and usage ●    Move customers to app adoption 

More information on these sessions can be found on DreamSimplicity’s event page.

 2011-09-19T13:32:33+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/create_a_training_video_in_minutes/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/create_a_training_video_in_minutes/#When:14:09:31Z Last week we posted a blog about our new feature which enables you to share your KeyStone OnDemand created content on your blog or website. This post is going to be an overview on how you can initially create screencasts within our platform. When our developers were creating KeyStone OnDemand, enabling administrators the ability to create, crop, and post screencasts within our platform was one of our main priorities. You see, our administrators can create training videos, catered to specific learners, and these videos can be published within minutes of creation. That’s right, as an administrator, from the time you press the record button, to the time your end-users can view your created video, it will take less than 10 minutes, depending on the length of your tutorial. Well, here is an overview on how it is done: 1. On the home page, scroll over Add New, and click Screencast; 2. A frame of the video will load and you will see a menu bar below the frame. You can resize the frame to fit your needs. Make sure your screen is ready for your recording and hit the red button; 3. There will be a countdown, then your recording begins; 4. Once recording, you have the ability to click “cancel,” “redo” or done” at any time. You can also pause the recording (pause button appears where the record button is). Once you are happy with your recording, click done; 5. Title the video and give it a description; 6. Click publish as long as you are ready for the selected category to view the video; 7. Be sure to assign it to a category. Note: if you do not assign it to a category you belong to, you will not be able to view it.   8. Trim the video to your preference, dragging the yellow sides;   9. At the bottom of the screen, click save and view or save and return to list to save your video. You have just created a screencast, edited it and published it all within the same platform. Our goal is to make training easier for you, and we believe this feature is key. 2011-09-15T14:09:31+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/we_all_forget_our_passwords_once_in_a_while/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/we_all_forget_our_passwords_once_in_a_while/#When:13:51:24Z 

With facebook, twitter, work email, personal email, shopping accounts, blogs and many other online accounts, forgetting a password is almost inevitable. Here at KeyStone OnDemand, we understand users may forget their passwords. If this happens, it can easily be resolved, and here’s how: 1. Go to the KeyStone OnDemand log-in page; 2. Click request password; 3. Enter email address when prompted; 4. Click send password;   5. A new password will be sent to your email. Additional tip- the password that is emailed to you may be hard for you to remember, but once you use it to log-in the first time, you can easily change your password: 1.  Once logged-in with the password emailed to you, go to the top of the home page where your name is displayed and click profile; 2. Under "New Password," enter the password of your choice;   3. Be sure to click save for the change to be made. 2011-09-13T13:51:24+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/what_to_do_with_your_unwanted_category/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/what_to_do_with_your_unwanted_category/#When:14:32:19Z What happens when you create a category but decide you do not want it anymore? The solution to this question is so simple that it is sometimes overlooked, but here is how you do it: 1. Once on the home page, go to the menu bar and place your cursor over “Categories and Courses” to view the drop-down menu. Then click manage categories and courses; 2. Scroll down and you will see a list of your categories. Below each category name, you have the option to create, edit or delete a course. If you would like to delete the course, click delete course; 3. If you would like to delete the entire category, click the trash bin that appears to the left of the title of the category It’s that simple. Once you click on the trash bin, the following message will appear: Are you sure you want to delete: “This Category” ?                             •    Articles and Videos assigned to this category will not be deleted but will no longer be accessible through this category     •    Any custom courses that were created will be deleted     •    All groups assigned to this category will no longer have access to this category     •    All user's quicklist items that relate only to this category will also be removed         Just some matters to keep in mind before you delete the category, but if you still want to delete it, click delete, and the category will be deleted. Note: If you need to access the content at a later date, you can search for it under the content tab on the home page. We want to make the creation of your training as easy as possible, and with our training platform, you have the ability to manage your content to meet your needs. Creating your own content is made easy with KeyStone OnDemand, and once the created content is not needed for your users, you can easily delete the category. 2011-09-12T14:32:19+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/end-user_activity_reporting_made_easy1/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/end-user_activity_reporting_made_easy1/#When:16:06:13Z We know reporting can be a long, tedious process, but in training, it is a necessity in measuring learner activity, and we have worked hard to make reporting quick, easy and effective for the administrator. Here is a quick overview on how to create a course report: 1.     On the home page, go to “reporting” to view the drop-down menu. Click course report; 2.     Choose one or more courses to be in the report; 3.     Choose one or more groups to be in the report; 4.     Choose A) user completion status B) the date the course was last accessed and C) Other Criteria (optional) 6.     Choose an employee status and click generate report. You have created your report and are able to analyze the activity within that course(s) Don’t Forget:  After the report is generated, you are able to print the report directly from the platform, or you can easily export the report to excel for further analysis. You also have the ability to email users within the report and create a custom message for them such as “Congratulations on Completing your Course.”            As you can see, each report can be customized to meet your needs. You can also create  workflows to send specified learners automated emails. For example, you can create a workflow titled “Reminder: Complete Course” and you can specify it to email users within certain course(s) and group(s) every three days (the time period of your choice) until the users do not meet the workflow designations.   Hint: You may have users tell you they completed the course, but they are not showing up as complete when you run the report. This could be because the person only viewed 10 percent of the content and scored 90 percent on the quizzes, or vice versa.  By default, a course is considered complete once the user has both viewed over 75 percent of the course content and has a cumulative score of 75 percent or above on the quizzes. This completion threshold can be changed to meet your needs, and in order to do so, you would need to contact support@keystoneondemand.com.   2011-09-09T16:06:13+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/share_your_keystone_ondemand_created_screencasts/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/share_your_keystone_ondemand_created_screencasts/#When:12:53:08Z One of KeyStone OnDemand’s favorite features is its ability to record screencasts within the platform, and our team took this feature a step further. You can now share your KeyStone OnDemand created screencasts on your website, blog or other source. Below is a video from our KeyStone OnDemand course, and we embedded it right from the platform.   Creating videos for your sites just got easier. Here is a complete guide to how it is done: 1.    Once in KeyStone OnDemand, open your desired video to be shared and above the video, click edit;   2.    Next, on the right side of the screen, check share, then click embed code;   3.     The Share box will open, and you will copy the text; 4.     After you copy the text, exit the Share box and be sure to scroll to the bottom of your page and click ‘save and view’ before you paste the text into your source. If you do not follow this step, the video will not show up when trying to publish it; 5.     Now it is time to paste the text into your source, save and publish. Hint: For Wordpress, simply install and activate the iframe plugin to embed Keystone OnDemand videos. 2011-09-09T12:53:08+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/keystone_ondemand_inspired_at_dreamforce_20111/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/keystone_ondemand_inspired_at_dreamforce_20111/#When:17:47:05Z It is estimated that over 40,000 people attended Dreamforce 2011: the cloud computing industry event of the year. Two members from KeyStone OnDemand’s team made the trip from Virginia to California to experience the conference. There they enjoyed networking with other members in the cloud computing environment as well as rocking out to Metallica. Here, they share what they came back with from the conference: While at Dreamforce I was able to socialize with others in cloud computing. I talked with many in the industry, and they agreed that end-user training of their app is an exigent need. SaaS apps are concerned with user adoption and retention, and it is great knowing you can serve others in the industry, providing them with what they need for success. We had the opportunity to do a video interview with DreamSimplicity, and it was great to meet them and share about our services. We are excited about our upcoming six series webinar with them. We go to events like Dreamforce to learn new strategies and techniques in the industry as well as meet others like DreamSimplicity. -Rob Kingyens, CTO of KeyStone OnDemand While spending a week learning and networking at Dreamforce I am more excited than ever about KeyStone OnDemand. At the conference, I was able to meet with some of our existing clients in person, and as an on-demand company, we do most of our communicating via the web so meeting other cloud computing companies and current customers face-to-face was a breath of fresh air.   After attending several of the meetings, I realized that sales on-boarding is in very high demand, and our platform meets that need effectively. All of the conversations we had with the companies there were positive, and this is an exciting time for KeyStone OnDemand. -Tayo Rockson, marketing and business development coordinator Here is the video interview done with DreamSimplicity. You can also watch it on the Salesforce channel. 2011-09-07T17:47:05+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/are_you_filling_in_the_related_solutions_field/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/are_you_filling_in_the_related_solutions_field/#When:14:01:01Z When you add content to your KeyStone OnDemand account, like writing an article or making screencasts, it’s easy to stop once you’ve entered your descriptions and added a title. But, don’t forget to use the Additional Info panel on the right. When you click the Keywords, Related Content, Attach Files… link, a secondary panel is displayed. Once displayed, enter the IDs of any content already stored inside KeyStone OnDemand. Not sure where to find the IDs? Each piece of content is assigned a unique ID when it’s first created. That ID is displayed in your browser’s Address Bar when you view it. It’s that ID that you place in the Related Content field when you’re editing an article or video. This is a great way to connect your training content without having to create an actual course. We see clients using this field to link from an text-based article directly to a video that demonstrates the same or a similar topic and vice versa.   Using KoD 2011-07-27T14:01:01+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/create_a_course_and_a_category_at_the_same_time/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/create_a_course_and_a_category_at_the_same_time/#When:14:24:55Z As you go through the KeyStone OnDemand training courses, you’ll notice that we have a recurring theme: First create the category, then create the course. It’s a method we find works pretty well for most administrators, especially when you’re first getting started. You see, it’s helpful to define your content structure before you define your content. But, once you get the hang of create content and organizing it inside KeyStone OnDemand, you can jump right to creating a course and a new category at the same time. To start, click the Add New button on the Menu bar and then choose Course. As you fill in the course details, under “To What Category Should This Course Belong?” enable the first option, “Create a new category called:” and type the new category name in the text box.   Using KoD 2011-07-20T14:24:55+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/3_steps_to_creating_your_first_course_inside_kod/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/3_steps_to_creating_your_first_course_inside_kod/#When:14:24:52Z Congratulations! You have decided to support your organization by creating an online learning system or a helpdesk system so that training time and calls to your support desk can be reduced. So where do you start? At the beginning, no seriously, first you need to define what it is that you are creating only then can you go ahead and work out what to put in and also what to leave out. Step 1: Defining the Course Purpose What is your course trying to achieve? What should your learners go away being able to do now that they could not do before? For example in Microsoft Word, you could say that you wanted to teach people how to use Word. But what does that really mean? Which parts of Word do they need to be able to use? Just some or everything? See the problem? We need to be a little more specific here. How about “Our users will be able to format a document” – really is that it? Even more specific: “Our users will be able to produce a professional report including headers and footers, a table and great formatting.” Now you are talking, we now have a specific and task based course aim which will make creating the course much easier as we can now figure out which content we need. Step 2: Creating your Course Objectives Now that you have a proper Course Aim you can begin to set the Learning Objectives. The Learning Objectives are the means to achieving the aim. So Learning Objectives for the Report example might be: Set up page margins Format text Add and delete text Add Headers and Footers Create a Table Once you have the Learning Objectives you can begin to work out what content needs to be included. In our Word example, we would need to include all the Word features that will allow us to format text, create a table, set up margins and add headers and footers. Step 3: Adding your Course Outline to KeyStone OnDemand Once you have your Learning Objectives you can see quite easily which of them go together to create a fluid section and which Learning Objectives are worthy of lessons of their own. Once you have decided this, you can create a Course Outline to act as your guide through the process. So my Learning Objectives for this course are: Structure your session Course Aim Objectives to reach the aim Construct an Outline Create Categories Add Content Create an Article Upload an Article Create a Screencast Upload a Ready made Video Create a Great Introduction Create a Quiz Create a Course in KeyStone OnDemand Now you can create a list of all the features you wish to include and begin to flesh out your content. That outline is the first thing you’ll add to your KeyStone OnDemand course. At this point, you’re ready to click the Add New button the Menu bar and choose Course from the list. Once the course is named and a category has been chosen, you can begin to add placeholders for your course outline that will eventually be filled with your course content.   Using KoD 2011-07-13T14:24:52+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/take_advantage_of_content_keywords/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/take_advantage_of_content_keywords/#When:14:24:48Z Within each piece of KeyStone OnDemand content, you can choose to add keywords. These additions help your users find the content they’re most looking for. And, once added, they appear on the upper-right side of most pages. When clicked, it’s like the user performs a search on the chosen term without having to actually type it in. Then, as the terms are clicked, they will begin to populate the Popular Keywords tab on the KeyStone OnDemand Home Page. So, if you don’t see anything when you display the Popular Keywords tab it’s only because users haven’t clicked those content keywords, yet.   Tips and Tricks 2011-07-06T14:24:48+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/why_you_might_not_be_able_to_print_a_certificate/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/why_you_might_not_be_able_to_print_a_certificate/#When:14:24:43Z When a user completes a course, they see the option to print a course completion certificate from the course’s Browse page. But, often, they are met with a note stating:   The option to print a certificate stays in this state until a user reaches a 75% completion status combined between viewed lessons and correct quiz answers. That’s the default for the site. But, it can be changed with a quick call or email to us. The required % complete is a site-wide setting. This means, when changed, it will affect all of your courses. But, it’s easy for us to do. So, if you decide it needs to be changed for your company, just let us know. We want to make sure the KeyStone OnDemand portal works for you and not against you.   Using KoD 2011-06-30T14:24:43+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/driving_adoption_and_retention_of_saas_and_cloud_software_apps/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/driving_adoption_and_retention_of_saas_and_cloud_software_apps/#When:14:18:40Z The adoption of SaaS and Cloud software solutions can sometimes be more challenging and harder to swallow than traditional business and enterprise software implementations — and it’s a critical factor in long-term customer retention. More importantly, from the software vendor’s perspective, in some cases it may take customers up to 12 months to fully understand and utilize new apps — making it ever more important to onboard new customers and provide ongoing adoption resources to build reference-able, long-term customer relationships — cause this is a service business after all. We recently had the opportunity to work with Matt Childs from DreamSimplicity (www.dreamsimplicity.com) to provide a 30-minute webinar to sales, marketing and training executives from some of the leading SaaS vendors in the market on strategies they can apply to increase customer adoption and retention of their apps.  For those that couldn’t attend the live event, we’ve made the following recorded webinar available where you’ll learn general tips, best practices and ideas around implementing effective customer adoption and retention strategies.  You can also download the PPT from this presentation at http://bit.ly/oxpfpn.   Tips and Tricks 2011-06-23T14:18:40+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/create_links_between_your_keystone_ondemand_articles/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/create_links_between_your_keystone_ondemand_articles/#When:14:24:32Z Each piece of content is assigned a unique ID when it’s first created. That ID is displayed in your browser’s Address Bar when you view it. It’s that ID that you place in the Related Content field when you’re editing an article or video. But, what many KeyStone OnDemand Admins don’t consider is adding links directly within the context of the article. This is the most logical place to point users to related content since it’s how they are used to navigating through information in the first place. So, rather than adding all related files to the Related Articles and Video panel, instead make a copy of the entire address bar link and use the Link option to paste the content address. This way, users aren’t forced to view the info panel and sort through related content. You can target related content directly inside your article. You may even be able to hide the info panel altogether.   Using KoD 2011-06-17T14:24:32+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/creating_a_quiz_save_some_time_just_by_using_your_enter_key/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/creating_a_quiz_save_some_time_just_by_using_your_enter_key/#When:14:24:25Z When you’re editing a quiz inside your KeyStone OnDemand courses, having to use your mouse to add every question and every answer can really slow you down. When we’re building our quizzes, we find it much faster to keep our hands on the keyboard as much as possible.   Here’s a flow that we’ve found really works: Click inside the first Question box and type your first question. Once the question has been added, press Enter. This drops your cursor to the next Question field. Continue this way until all questions have been added. Once your questions have been added, go back to the top of your list: Click inside the first answer field and type and answer. Press Enter to move to the next answer field. Continue this way until all answers for the 1st question have been added. You’ll still need to pick up your mouse to move to each question’s set of answers. But to make up for it, you can mark any answer correct as you’re typing it by pressing TAB to move to the “Correct” field and pressing SPACE to enable the field.   Using KoD 2011-06-15T14:24:25+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/need_to_sneeze_pause_your_recording_dont_start_over/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/need_to_sneeze_pause_your_recording_dont_start_over/#When:18:03:21Z When you first begin to use the screen recorder inside KeyStone OnDemand , it looks like there is no option to pause a recording already in progress. You can see the note that to finish a recording, you should press ALT+R, but how do you pause one in the middle? That’s simple…ALT+P.   Videos & Screencasts 2011-05-31T18:03:21+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/remember_to_customize_your_listed_portal_links/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/remember_to_customize_your_listed_portal_links/#When:18:04:17Z Across the top of your KeyStone OnDemand customized home page is a link to each user’s personal Quicklist. Next to the Quicklist is some free space that we’d like to invite you to take advantage of. You see, that space is a placeholder for up to three custom web links. Call it the Admin’s Choice Area. You can modify which links your users see from the Admin Dashboard by clicking the Settings tab and choosing General Settings. In the area under Links, add your link text next to title and the full web address of the link (yep – including http://) in the URL field. When you save the settings, users will see your newly added links in the Admin’s Choice Area near the top of the window. This is a great area to direct users to upgrade pages, further support options, your company newsletter or any other information that would benefit your user base. This is just one way KeyStone OnDemand puts the control back into the hands of our Admins.   Customization 2011-05-10T18:04:17+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/quick_search_isnt_just_for_users_its_for_admins_too/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/quick_search_isnt_just_for_users_its_for_admins_too/#When:18:04:13Z You’ve seen Quick Search all over the KeyStone OnDemand site. At least, we hope you have. It’s the best thing to locate the exact content you need when you need it. But, as an Admin, have you noticed that there is Quick Search sprinkled throughout your Admin Dashboard, too? Sometimes it looks a little like this: And, other times, it looks a little like this: So, stop tiring out your eyes and let KeyStone OnDemand do the searching for you.   Using KoD 2011-05-05T18:04:13+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/top_5_tips_to_creating_successful_video_recordings/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/top_5_tips_to_creating_successful_video_recordings/#When:18:04:10Z The key to creating screencasts that users will want to watch is preparation. Sounds boring, we know. But, after nearly 20 years of creating our own on demand training, we’ve learned a thing or two about making screencasts. Here’s our Top 5 Tips to Creating Successful Screencast Creation: 1. Practice. Practice. Practice. Overall, how much and how often you practice will be the key to creating professional videos. It takes practice to learn how to correctly move the cursor or open applications so they appear in the recording area. You will need to practice to get the positioning of browser windows and other applications just right. This often means you’ll need to perform several “takes,” replaying them to see ways you can continue to improve. Just be patient. Your first few videos often take much longer than you anticipate. But, once you hit your groove, you’ll be knocking out videos fairly quickly. 2. Clean up your Desktop. Screen recording applications record anything on your screen. To ensure you get the best looking videos, clean up your browser and desktop by closing or removing all nonessential applications, browser toolbars, and desktop icons. Also, a plain background on your desktop is better than a busy wallpaper image. Keep in mind that a cluttered work space can draw attention away from what you are actually trying to show. If your video does not include pop-up windows, make sure they are turned off by using a pop-up blocker or the browser’s built-in pop-up blocker. 3. Write it before you record it. A well-thought out script helps define what should be happening on the screen, and helps avoid any unnecessary tangents or extra information. Think through the actions, in detail, that you want to capture, and then write them down in sequential steps making sure that the script accurately reflects what’s currently happening on the screen. The script should also contain the exact words that you will record. Avoid using repetitive statements or words and avoid long pauses or hesitations in the narration. A good way to start your script is to include an overview of the recording in the first line or two of the script. Explain the purpose of the recording and what you plan to show the viewer. Then, just before you record, print the script in large type to make it easy to read while recording. 4. Talk to just one person. When speaking, talk as though you were speaking with someone on the telephone. Keep your tone conversational. If you can picture just one person in your mind as you talk, your video will sound much less forced. Since your videos will likely be viewed by one person at a time, it makes sense to record them as though you were only talking to one person. 5. Pause, then click. Normal mouse and cursor movements can appear jerky, hesitant, or too fast in the recording. To eliminate some of these problems, practice using the mouse around the screen in a slow, fluid motion. Also, when showing cursor movement, pause a fraction of a second over the element, and then click. This will allow cursor position to be established in the video before the next action takes place. There you have it – our 5 Tips for creating successful screencasts.   Videos & Screencasts 2011-05-01T18:04:10+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/new_feature_embed_3rd-party_videos_in_kod/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/new_feature_embed_3rd-party_videos_in_kod/#When:18:04:05Z We’re pretty excited about this feature and hope that our users will be, too. Now users can embed video from 3rd-party websites like Vimeo or YouTube into KeyStone OnDemand. Eventually, these could be part of a course. This is the first of several 3rd-party integrations (docs, interactions, surveys, etc) planned in the future. Ideas welcome. For example, here’s one of our videos on YouTube: Than in KOD, there is now an “embed” option where you can copy the embed code from YouTube and paste it into KeyStone OnDemand: Once added, the 3rd-party video will play in KeyStone OnDemand like any other video; however, it’s actually playing through the 3rd-party site:   Feature Annoucements 2011-04-27T18:04:05+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/build_your_own_certification_path/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/build_your_own_certification_path/#When:18:04:00Z We’re seeing a trend that we wanted to share with our readers. Increasingly, agile software companies are looking for ways to build and maintain expert communities from their user base. This is where the trend comes in. Have you considered using KeyStone OnDemand to create a certification path for your most passionate users? Really. All you need to do is build upon your (hopefully) pre-existing custom web-based training, add some structure and some quizzes and you’ve got a certification path. This lends to both your users and your app some much appreciated credibility. After all, it’s all about bragging rights, isn’t it?   Tips and Tricks 2011-04-25T18:04:00+00:00 http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/need_a_wider_area_for_your_content_try_hiding_the_info_panel/ http://www.keystonelearning.com/site/need_a_wider_area_for_your_content_try_hiding_the_info_panel/#When:18:04:55Z To the right of most articles viewed within KeyStone OnDemand, you’ll see an information panel. This panel shows things like related solutions, categories and includes a user feedback widget showing which users felt a particular article was useful. While this panel is designed to complement the associated article, in some cases, it isn’t necessary and, in fact, can take up valuable screen real estate. If you have an article or video that would better be displayed across a wider screen, you can hide the Info panel just by editing the article and disabling the option next to “Show Info Panel.” That should free up some space for your wider KeyStone OnDemand content.   Using KoD 2011-04-21T18:04:55+00:00