Social eLearning Software Blog

Let’s start up where we left off last week. Basically, we ended at the point that if a learning management system wasn't using some social networking tools, online students would be isolated islands of information, unable to question, demonstrate, paraphrase, articulate on generally share information and promote understanding for either themselves or their fellow students.

Now let’s take a look at learning from the perspective of someone using TOPYX.

Similar to LMSs a student can go through course content, take quizzes and submit assignments. However unlike most LMSs, social networking is an embedded part of the platform. The institution can choose which of the various community tools and social networking tools and products are enabled for their site.

These community tools consist of many elements such as blogs, forums and collaborative whiteboards. All of these are part of the platform,

As well however, commonly used social networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, even GotoMeeting or Skype can also be enabled. If the institution enables these, a student can enter their associated identification information directly into their TOPYX student profile.

When students are in a TOPYX Community, by definition they can see who the other community members are. If they request to be friends with another community member and are given permission by that member, they are then granted access to connect with their fellow students. They can see when their friends are online in the same course or community and directly connect to review or discuss material. This is unique. Most platforms do not show when others are online or within a course.

The interaction can be simple, such as following / being followed by other community members on Twitter. Or they can be much more complex, such as multi person video conferences. No matter whether some or all of the tools are used the student can connect through Topyx to their peers, discussions can ensue, information shared, and knowledge gained.

I’m happy to respond to any questions or demonstrate any or all of the above. Feel free to contact me at Patrick.Batty@interactyx.com. 

Until next week,

Patrick Batty

Vice President, Academic Solutions

Patrick.Batty@interactyx.com

www.interactyx.com

The litany of workforce reduction announcements have become common place in today’s economic climate.   The remaining core management are left to determine the appropriate organizational structure and roles to satisfy their customer’s needs with a lesser amount of resources.   During these changes, many companies are focused on putting personnel into the new slots without providing the tools necessary to facilitate the change and achieve the ultimate objective of increasing productivity of these individuals.

The TOPYX educational distribution platform provides a vehicle for companies to attain the ultimate objective.  By combining formal learning with informal knowledge transfer for remaining personnel, individuals can leverage tools that facilitate improvements in productivity.  Leadership can establish communities of interest for the new roles in the organization, the individuals can collaborate with others in the same or similar roles to find new and inventive ways to increase their productivity.   Does your company have the right tools to achieve these gains during the times of rapid change?  If not, please contact bob.brogan@interactyx.com or post a question on our forum to learn more on how TOPYX can facilitate productivity in a changing organization.

Check out what TOPYX has to offer.  Take the TOPYX Test Drive Today!

Bob Brogan

Vice President, Corporate Solutions

Bob.brogan@interactyx.com

www.interactyx.com

Follow Interactyx Limited on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Interactyx.  We do our best to keep everyone informed of everything we have going on at Interactyx.  With TOPYX Mobile (mLearning solution), event information, major releases, TOPYX Test Drive updates and many other great things going on, we want to keep everyone informed and connected.

TOPYX has Twitter integrated into its education distribution platform, along with many other great Web 2.0 social networking technologies.  No other eLearning solution provides the social networking features and mobile access capability that TOPYX offers at a price that will fit any budget.  It is a complete eLearning solution for all training, education, social networking and content sales needs.

Need to see it for yourself?  Check out the TOPYX Test Drive to sample what we have to offer.  And, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!

Jeffrey A. Roth

Vice President, Marketing and Communications

Jeffrey.roth@interactyx.com

www.interactyx.com

 The Earth is important.  It’s where we live.  The Earth provides us with everything we need and collectively we need to stop taking that for granted.  Here’s our chance to start recognizing the Earth for all that it does for us – Earth Hour.

Today, Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8:30pm please turn off all electricity for one hour.  One hour will not reverse the damage we’ve already done to our home, but it will help people recognize the importance of paying more attention to the Earth’s needs.  With one hour away from Reality TV and YouTube and World of Warcraft, people may realize that it isn’t hard to start doing little things that add up to making a difference.

Interactyx Limited, the developer of TOPYX, is proud to be a driving force behind all green initiatives.  The ability to conduct full training sessions virtually reduces the need for travel.  Delivering all training materials online and on mobile devices (mLearning) reduces the needed for printed materials, shipping, and landfill space.  Using the latest education technologies to increase learner retention and provide a communication channel to share ideas and best practices help everyone.

So, as Interactyx is working hard to help the planet, see how TOPYX can reduce your training costs and carbon footprint.  For a sample of what TOPYX has to offer, register to take the TOPYX Test Drive today.

Remember, Earth Hour is today (Mar. 28, 2009) at 8:30pm.  Please do what you can for the planet.  It’s the only one we’ve got.

Jeffrey A. Roth

Vice President, Marketing and Communications

Jeffrey.roth@interactyx.com

www.interactyx.com

Are your field service personnel or contract installation partners unproductive as they await information from your field support call centers?  Are your distribution and channel partners equipped with the latest knowledge to represent your brand?  

These productivity questions are in the forefront of executives at corporations with distributed workforces, field service teams, third-party contractors and distributor sales models.   The spectrum of answers typically range from “no” to “it’s a mixed bag”, rarely is the response “absolutely”.

For those companies that do not respond “absolutely”, Interactyx has introduced TOPYX Mobile.  The mobile solution provides field personnel and partners to access real-time training materials to increase productivity among these critical customer facing company representatives.   Accessing online communities to find the latest best practices or communicating with the recognized expert, TOPYX Mobile facilitates on-demand information access to solve problems and increase customer service ratings with your customers.  

Can you afford not to consider TOPYX Mobile for your extended enterprise? 

If not, please contact bob.brogan@interactyx.com or post a question at the Interactyx eLearning 2.0 Forum to get introduced to TOPYX Mobile.

Or, you can sample what we have to offer by taking the TOPYX Test Drive today!

Bob Brogan

Vice President, Corporate Solutions

bob.brogan@interactyx.com

www.interactyx.com

Mobile phone market going through massive shift, says Gartner

According to Gartner research Nokia saw its market share for Smartphone’s drop to 40.8% in the fourth quarter, compared to 50.9% in the fourth quarter of 2007.  That's a whopping 10 percentage points in one year.  During the same period RIM and Apple increased their combined market share from 16.1% to 30.2%.

The success of phones made in Ontario and Cupertino answers early criticism and signals a fundamental shift in consumer tastes.  Both North American phone makers got it right while the long dominant European maker misread the signs.  While no one can write-off the world's largest phone maker, there are plenty of examples of other consumer electronics companies that missed a product rev cycle and lost the lead for good. 

Looking forward, will it continue to be about the device or what you can do on it? 

The iPhone SDK that spawned 10,000 apps on the Apple store seems to suggest that consumers are hungry for more things to do on their Smartphone.

WELCOME TOPYX MOBILE!

Topyx Mobile launched this week as part of the Learning Management System and social networking platform offered by Interactyx. (www.interactyx.com)

From my vantage point it seems like the mobile race will increasingly become - if it hasn't already - not about technology, but brand and user experience. 

Sample what we have to offer by taking the TOPYX Test Drive today!

Jodi Harrison

Vice President, Mentor Solutions

jodi.harrison@interactyx.com

www.interactyx.com

I would love to blog about our about to be announced new TOPYX Mobile and how it is going to take mobile learning (mLearning) to a new level – but maybe I am a bit biased, so I will leave that to others.  Regardless, mLearning is coming fast and furious.

As reported in www.cnet.com, SAP is now offering corporate apps on the iPhone. Salesforce.com is offering Mobile Lite for CRM.  Smartphones now represent 25% of all handset sales, double the sales mix from the previous year as 3G is readily available.

Learners want to learn when and where they want to learn.  mLearning platforms and content, with the expanding capabilities of smartphones, allows for this to happen.  Then add social networking functionality and we have quite a compelling set of tools to for corporations, content owners or academic programs to truly engage their learner in ways only previously imagined.

To add one more item to the mix - add location awareness capabilities and you actually create a learning experience that is quite unique.  All of these benefits and more are available through one platform, TOPYX.

We are very proud to be on the eve of the launch TOPYX Mobile.  We believe this will liberate the learner to engage in eLearning whenever and wherever they want.  We think TOPYX, with its integrated social networking functionality, is a total eLearning/mLearning 2.0 solution worthy of celebration.

Collaborative learning, cost savings and an environmentally friendly education distribution system our eLearning 2.0 and mLearning platform provides are just some of the benefits of TOPYX. For more information, blogs, forums, videos and to take the TOPYX Test Drive, please go to www.interactyx.com.

Alfred R. Novas

Chief Executive Officer

Interactyx Limited

al.novas@interactyx.com

www.interactyx.com