This past week I met a former co-worker who was very curious as to why I am always so enthusiastic when discussing my organization, Pathways Training and eLearning, and what we do. This is not the first time I have been asked this question so I answered by replying with an old proverb… ” Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” Simply stated, the point of this proverb is that training is a good thing that can lead

Moving forward with the development of our 360 eLearning video, we have found along the way that there are lots of opportunities to improve the learning experience by teaching the content in a more interactive way. However, and unfortunately, given that 360 eLearning videos is still a technology in development, we have also found several challenges and limitations, especially when it comes to deploying this product on mobile devices. And even more specifically, deploying then

On a previous post, we discussed how to stitch and edit your 360 videos for eLearning modules. Let’s remember that, at the end of the day, when you edit the 360 videos, you are doing so on a 2D space, so they will look like this:On a previous post, we discussed how to stitch and edit your 360 videos for eLearning modules. Let’s remember that, at the end of the day, when you edit the 360 videos, you are doing so on a 2D space, so they will look like this: Let’s also remember t

Let’s continue diving a bit more into our favourite topic of 2017. And I say favourite because as it is a developing technology, here at Pathways we are proud of being one of the first training and eLearning companies in Canada, implementing 360 video and virtual reality into eLearning. While developing our 360 eLearning video, we also started thinking about how to bring the final product to the next level, keeping in mind that only by having the 360 video integrated with an

Earlier in my career, I had a boss who had a somewhat unique way of responding whenever he (or his team) was asked to take on a training & development project that was outside of the regular technical development we usually focused on. It did not matter the size of the project or how many resources would be required or for how long, his first question was always the same… “What problem are you trying to solve”? Now before anyone pulls an optical muscle rolling their eye

As per some of our previous posts, here at Pathways we have embarked on this amazing journey of creating 360 video for eLearning purposes. About two weeks we traveled to Vancouver, and with the help of St. John Ambulance, we had the opportunity to shoot our first 360 video for eLearning purposes. For those of you who don’t know (and for those who do), the output from the 360 camera (depending on which one you are using) in its raw format, looks like the feed of 2 different ca

As I stated in one of my previous posts, thanks to the nature of Moodle LMS, we can extend its functionality to perform tasks that we can’t perform with the default plugins (or we can just simply improve certain aspects). Whichever the case, we can achieve that by either installing a plugin from the Moodle LMS directory, or by developing one ourselves. In the case of the latter, Moodle LMS provides us with a great API and documentations so that we can try and code something t

Last week I wrote about an eLearning module I had reviewed and provided feedback on. As I mentioned then, the material significantly lacked several key elements required when creating eLearning so this week I thought I would share a few tips and suggestions that will help ensure success, specific to our learners taking from the material exactly what you expected. The first piece of advice I would start with is the most obvious, and that is to ensure your material covers all

Recently a few folks from the Pathways team, including myself, flew to Vancouver to shoot a 360 video in partnership with St. Johns Ambulance. While I will be writing about that experience in the next few weeks as it was certainly an exciting project to be a part of…for today I would like to talk about a discussion I had with my seat mate on the flight over. About halfway through the flight my seatmate and I got in to a brief discussion about what we each did for a living.

This week the Pathways team were at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, partnering with St. John Ambulance, to record a 360 degree interactive video to be embedded in eLearning, to teach the correct procedure on assessing casualties after a disaster. I have to admit, we are very excited to have the opportunity to implement new technologies in the eLearning field, leaving a bit behind our usual eLearning module development, because 360 video is a technology that, in my opinion, can

January in Canada. For some it conjures up the promise of hitting the slopes and embracing the great Canadian winter, for others, cozy nights and a dry red. Whatever your choice, for many of us it offers the excitement of a new year with aspirations of conquering our goals. With the end of January upon us, it is a good time to reflect on how you are progressing with your personal and professional goals. Do you have the support and plan to help you conquer your goals? Does you

On a previous post, I talked about how to solve an issue when something goes wrong with a plugin installation in Moodle, but then I realized I hadn’t written a post about what Moodle actually is, so I want to take a chance and try to introduce the readers to this awesome tool as an eLearning environment. Moodle is an open source Learning Management System (or LMS) that serves as an environment for companies or institutions to spread their eLearning solutions throughout their

Of the many projects we work on at Pathways, one that continues to provide unique challenges and opportunities is a new system launch initiative for which we will be developing and delivering all of the training. (eLearning, ILT, job aids, video, etc.…). This training will be provided to employees all over Canada in each province so while there have been a few unique challenges as I mentioned above, overall it has been exciting! After several weeks of conferences, focus gr

Last week I attended a Canadian Community of Corporate Educators (CCCE) event where Dr. Alan Middleton from the Schulich Executive Education Centre spoke about business spending on training. He highlighted that while The Conference Board of Canada reported a modest increase in spending on training from 2010 to 2013, there has been an overall decline the past couple of decades. Dr. Middleton also discussed the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world we live in and

As a former teacher, creating personalized learning for my students was the norm. It included everything from presenting lessons orally, followed up with a hand-out, a reading, or even a video recording of the lesson to creating a learning environment where students could work independently, in partners, or small groups to offering students choice about how they would demonstrate acquisition or mastery of knowledge, skills, and understanding. Personalized learning as a method

My previous blog discussed diversity in the workplace. One way for your workplace to improve diversity is to be inclusive of people who are differently abled. However, being inclusive requires more than hiring people with disabilities. I read a tumblr post recently that pointed out how many infomercial products are actually designed and produced for disabled people, but need to be marketed to an abled audience to be able to turn enough profit to continue to be produced. To do

Two weeks ago, I provided an introduction as part of a review of some of the exciting projects we worked on in 2016, so for the next few weeks I am going to go in to a bit more detail, with the focus this week on a project that involved eLearning, facilitation and one on one coaching. One of our clients is a luxury automotive company that, while they are already an industry leader when it comes to the “car buying” journey, continue to look for ways they can improve the custom

The month of January is often filled with goal setting; individuals setting personal and professional goals and companies determining their business goals for the year. Creating goals requires reflecting on where you currently are, where you want to be and how you are going to get there. Most companies will establish a learning and development plan as a component of a larger business goal. This is also an ideal time to revisit the capability of your Learning Management Syste

The beginning of a new year also marks the beginning of my new career. As I reflect on my own experiences of workplace learning and professional development, I am hyper aware of not only the importance of relevance and applicability, but also how the timing of a training program can impact user motivation and engagement. As a professional educator for nearly twenty years, I have participated in countless professional development conferences, courses, presentations, trainings

Last week I provided an introduction as part of a review of some of the exciting projects we worked on in 2016, so for the next few weeks I am going to go in to a bit more detail, starting with an on-boarding program we are developing for a large transit company. The training program is being designed for the control centre inspectors whom are part of a larger group made up of four separate contracting companies. Each company is responsible for bus service in a specific geo