Welcome to the August issue of "K-News," the e-Learning newsletter from Element K®, intended for our customers and other friends! K-News provides a monthly update of our latest e-Learning product releases. But it goes beyond that, variously including partner spotlights, dates of upcoming Element K webinars and conferences, highlights from Element K Blog, and more. This month includes many exciting updates, plus a focus on project management.

 

Learning News You Can Use:

• Project Management and the New PMP 4th Edition Certification
• Here Comes Windows 7!
• What's New at Element K Blog

Partner Spotlight

• Fifty Lessons
• ILX Group

Upcoming Element K Events

• Conference, August 19-21:
  Society for Advanced Learning Technologies (SALT)
• Conference, October 19-23:
  CSTD and IFTDO World Conference and Trade Show 2009

Product Updates

• E-Learning Courses
• E-Reference
• Knowledge Portals
• K-Cards
• GetAbstract Book Summaries
• Blended Blueprint Delivery Guides
• Audio MP3 Course Content
• Did You Know?

Project Management and the New PMP 4th Edition Certification

What happened on June 30, 2009?
In December 2008, the Project Management Institute (PMI) updated project management standards and its Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) to a new Fourth Edition. At that time, they provided guidance as to when the related PMP® Certification exam would be updated, and June 30th was that date! This means that anyone taking the exam after June 30th is taking the exam based on the new Fourth Edition content, and so any training materials used to prepare for the exam needed to be updated to the Fourth Edition of PMBOK as well.

Element K has you covered!
In alignment with the June 30th transition date, Element K released its new e-Learning course titled "Project Management Professional (PMP®) Certification Fourth Edition." All of the content has been authored and created with respect to the new PMBOK Fourth Edition. Where necessary, topics have been added, deleted, or enhanced.

For additional project management learning assets, see below.

What are the major benefits of getting a PMP Certification?
In the Project Smart article, Top 10 Benefits to Earning a Certification, John Reiling (PMP) highlights 10 good reasons for considering a PMP Certification. In summary, these are:

1. Separate yourself from the pack: Interviewers will be looking for those qualities that differentiate you from the competition.
2. Get in a new circle: PMP Certification provides you networking opportunities with those that have attained it and those that who are currently going for it.
3. A little extra lift: Attaining the PMP Certification, or any certification for that matter, builds confidence and demonstrates your ability to achieve a goal through planning and hard work.
4. Expands your toolbox: You have mastered a whole new set of skills that you can proudly demonstrate when needed.
5. Adds expertise to your experience: Project management experience is important, but being certified makes it "official."
6. Pay it forward: As a mentor you can "extrapolate from their experience, and relate it to someone else's entirely different experience."
7. Shows a continuous process improvement perspective and desire to learn: Earning the certification demonstrates to your boss or future employer that you are motivated for continuous learning and establishes value, respect, and admiration.
8. Fatter wallet: Those who hold PMP Certifications often earn 20 percent or more than those without.
9. Puts you more in tune with others abilities: "With the discipline to master the material for the certification, you are in a better position to evaluate the skills of others. You have had the opportunity to evaluate your own strengths and weaknesses in the process of earning the certification, and have a broader understanding of the skills and toolsets that can be effective."
10. Opens doors: Attaining the certification benefits not only career changers but those looking for advancement.

What about the other PMI exams?
Updated version of the PMI exams are similarly being rolled out this summer as well, according to this schedule (obtained from the PMI standards FAQ):

• CAPM® -- 31 July 2009
• PMI-SP -- 31 August 2009
• PMI-RM -- 31 August 2009
• PgMP® -- 31 August 2009

Additional project management learning resources available from Element K!
As stated above, in alignment with the June 30th transition date, Element K released its new e-Learning course titled "Project Management Professional (PMP®) Certification Fourth Edition." But the new e-Learning course is far from the only learning asset we can provide to you in the area of project management. We also provide:

• Additional e-Learning courses - Beyond content focused on the PMP Certification exam, Element K provides many additional e-Learning courses, with just a few of them being:
  • Project+™: A CompTIA Certification
  • Project Management Fundamentals: Second Edition
  • Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM®)
  • Program Management Professional (PgMP)SM Credential
  • Microsoft® Office Project 2007: Professional
  • Project Management for Technical Teams
  • Introduction to Project Portfolio Management
     
• Online reference books - Element K provides dozens of books from top publishers provide a wealth of knowledge and skills required to implement the best practices in project management.
   
• Quick reference card - Element K provides a "Project Management Fundamentals" K-Card, our quick reference card product. These cards are convenient job aids that can be printed and referenced quickly to find answers to common tasks. They provide useful tips, techniques, procedures, and other reference information.
   
• Collaborative Web 2.0 features - Our KnowledgeHub platform provides:
  • A project management blog, with postings written by PMP-certified authors who have real-life project management experience.
  • A moderated project management discussion forum, where learners can ask questions on the topic of project management.
     
• Project Management Knowledge Portal - Provides quick access to all project management-related learning assets on our learning platform, KnowledgeHub. This is one of a half-dozen Knowledge Portals that Element K has launched in 2009.

 

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about any of the above project management related learning assets.

 

Here Comes Windows 7!

What is new in Windows 7?
The next major operating system release from Microsoft® is fast approaching, Windows® 7. Will you be ready? As a major release, there are, of course, many new features in Windows 7. Here are just a few:

• Windows 7 is faster than Windows Vista®. It's faster on startup, and switching between processes. Many have noted that this is the first time that a Microsoft operating system (OS) can run faster on existing hardware than its predecessor.
• New user interface (UI). Many people will be intrigued to see the new user interface of Windows 7. For example, the new UI includes the ribbon interface that is present in Microsoft Office 2007 for OS applications such as Paint and WordPad.
• Ease of use. The Jump List and Libraries features make Windows 7 easier and more convenient to use than either Windows XP or Vista.
• Improved security. Windows 7 has enhanced security that neither Windows XP nor Vista can match. Windows 7 is expected to have synergy with Office 2010 (in development now).

For much more information on what is new in Windows 7, see the many resources provided in the Windows IT Pro guide titled "What You Need to Know To Be Ready for Windows 7."

Element K has you covered!
Element K is pleased to provide Microsoft Windows 7 "First Look" e-Learning courses. Element K has designed the "First Look" courses based upon the May 2009 Release Candidate version of Windows 7. Once Microsoft releases Windows 7 to manufacturing, we will finalize our e-Learning courses. The two courses available are:

• Windows 7: Transition from Windows XP (First Look). This course focuses on getting the XP user up and running on Windows 7, quickly and efficiently. The students will explore the UI, learn about file management on Windows 7, run the native OS applications on Windows 7, and learn about enhanced security features.
• Windows 7: Level 1 (First Look). This course focuses on helping users who are new to operating system tasks. Students will learn all the common OS concepts; copy, move, and organize files; explore the user interface; run native OS applications and accessories; use tools in the Control Panel; and set security standards.

 

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about these courses, or to discuss your Windows 7 training program needs.

 

What's New at Element K Blog

At Element K Blog, we provide commentary and insights on the Learning and Development industry. This includes reports on industry conferences, pointers to the best industry resource sites, and much more. A recently started series is our "Learning and Development Roundup," where we point you to key resources and opinions from the past four to six weeks.

Here is what you'll find at Element K Blog recently:

• Learning and Development Roundup (Vol. 4) - Includes links to items from ASTD Learning Circuits, Elliott Masie, Bob Mosher, Clive Shepherd, Jane Hart, Karl Kapp, and more!
• Increasing Discussion of Learning Evaluation and ROI, Part 2 - Includes description and links to two very provocative articles on the topic of ROI and organizational learning evaluation.
• Increasing Discussion of Learning Evaluation and ROI, Part 1 - Includes descriptions and links to several articles from the past several months discussing the challenges of organizational learning and training evaluation.
• The Not-So-Common Virtues of the Common Craft Videos - Describes the innovative and popular style of video-based instruction used by the Common Craft videos, and provides links to all of the videos in their technology series.
• Learning and Development Roundup (Vol. 3) - Includes links to items from Elliott Masie, Jay Cross, Jane Hart, Clark Quinn, Ellen Wagner, Clive Shepherd, and more!

We hope you'll check out Element K Blog, come back regularly, and add us to your RSS reader. Also, if you use Twitter you can follow us there at our account "Element_K".

 

Fifty Lessons

In recent months, Element K has expanded its partnership with Fifty Lessons to now include over 900 videos of their powerful stories from hundreds of the world's most respected and successful business leaders.

This extensive video library for Fifty Lessons covers key business topics including:

• Leadership
• Talent Management
• Sales
• Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability
• Human Resources
• Change Management
• Execution
• Innovation
• Entrepreneurship
• Prospering in Tough Times

 

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant for more information about the Fifty Lessons offering.

 

ILX Group

Element K is proud to announce the addition of ILX financial content to its product portfolio.

The ILX offering provides a clear and logical introduction to the field of business finance. It is suitable for managers and business professionals in any company, providing a good introduction to the financial knowledge and skills necessary for making business decisions.

With over 30 financial courses, this library provides business professionals with the ability to:

• Understand fundamental financial terminology and concepts.
• Read and interpret financial statements.
• Gauge the financial impact of operational decisions.
• Understand the basis for evaluating investment decisions.

The ILX offering is available in the following languages:

• English
• French
• Spanish
• Italian
• German
• Dutch
• Chinese

 

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant for more information about the new ILX offering.

 

For more information about conferences that Element K will be participating in, see the Element K Events page.

For more information about our webinars, see the Element K Webinars page.

 

E-Learning Courses
Element K's award-winning e-Learning content includes robust multimedia content, software simulations, business simulations, quizzes, assessments, and more. And our massive libraries continue to grow each month! The latest e-Learning course additions include:

Business Skills

• Leading Virtual Teams 1: Putting Together a VTeam
• Leading Virtual Teams 2: Creating a VTeam Work Environment
• Leading Virtual Teams 3: Sustaining a VTeam
• Labor Unions in the Workplace: Creating an Equitable Workplace
• Labor Unions in the Workplace: Working with Labor Unions
• Labor Unions in the Workplace: Responding to Union Organizing
• Payment Card Industry (PCI) Awareness (MediaPro)
• Privacy Basics (MediaPro)

Office Productivity

• ACT!® 2009: Level 2
• IBM® Lotus Notes® 8.5: Mail and Calendars
• Microsoft Windows 7: Level 1 (First Look)

Design and Media

• Adobe® InDesign CS4: New Features
• Adobe® Captivate® 4.0
• Adobe® Dreamweaver® CS4: Level 2 (Macintosh)
• Adobe® Dreamweaver® CS4: Level 3
• CorelDRAW® X4: Level 2

IT Professional

• Oracle Database 11g: SQL Fundamentals II
• Project Management Professional (PMP®) Certification: Fourth Edition - Comprehensive
  (NOTE: The PMP Fourth Edition course is also available split into 15 separate lesson courses.)

Localized Courses

• Administrar una oficina virtual (Segunda Edición) (Español)
• Compétences pour une modération efficace (Français)
• Gérer les objectifs organisationnels (Français)
• Negociar para el profesional de ventas (Segunda Edición) (Español)
• Utiliser des données pour communiquer (Français)

 

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about our various libraries of e-Learning courses.

 

E-Reference
Element K's e-Reference offerings provide a vast searchable library of reference titles. Through our Safari partnership, we provide titles from top industry publishers such as O'Reilly, Que, Peachpit Press, Sams, Prentice Hall, and many others. In the month of July, we added Safari titles in these categories:

• 109 Business Skills
•    2 Cisco
•  11 Design and Media
•  11 e-Business
•  12 Networking and Operating Systems
•  35 Office Productivity
• 110 Programming and Web Development
•  30 Project Management

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K's e-Reference offerings.

 

Knowledge Portals
With our easy-to-use Knowledge Portals, you can quickly utilize the wide variety of tools that are included in your subscription, such as e-Learning courses, e-Reference libraries, management videos, book summaries, and more. In addition, Knowledge Portals provide quick access to relevant Element K blogs and forums on the KnowledgeHub platform. Each Knowledge Portal is centered around a particular job role, topic area, or industry certification area, and displays only the content that the user has a subscription to, so everything they see in the portal is accessible to them.

The new Knowledge Portal from the past month is:

• Web Developer

Earlier this year, Element K released the following Knowledge Portals:

• Management
• Office Professional
• Project Management
• CompTIA
• Creative Designer

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K's new Knowledge Portals.

 

K-Cards
K-Cards are convenient quick reference cards that can be printed and referenced quickly to find answers to common tasks. They provide useful tips, techniques, procedures, and other reference information. K-Cards are comprehensive guides that increase productivity and expertise and provide an excellent on-the-job, performance support solution that can extend the value of both e-Learning and classroom learning.

The new K-Cards created in July were:

• Mentoring
• The Positive Work Environment
• What Good Managers Do: The First 100 Days

Additional K-Cards exist for topics such as Office 2007 applications, Office 2003 applications, Windows XP and Windows Vista, Project Management, and CompTIA® Security+.

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about Element K's K-Cards product.

 

getAbstract
One of our most innovative partners, getAbstract, provides book summaries of the latest and most important books in business. Most of us don't have time to read every interesting book that comes along, but with getAbstract, you don't have to. Access book summaries in a variety of formats, including PDFs or as audio content for your iPhone, iPod, BlackBerry, or other MP3 player. The latest getAbstract additions include:

• Achieving Strategic Excellence: An Assessment of Human Resource Organizations by Edward E. Lawler, John W. Boudreau and Susan Albers Mohrman
• Asia: Changing the World by Malte C. Boecker (ed.)
• Be a Shortcut: The Secret Fast Track to Business Success by Scott G. Halford
• Business War Games: How Large, Small, and New Companies Can Vastly Improve Their Strategies and Outmaneuver the Competition by Benjamin Gilad
• Digital Engagement: Internet Marketing that Captures Customers and Builds Intense Brand Loyalty by Leland Harden and Bob Heyman
• Diversity in Organizations by Myrtle P. Bell
• Do It Wrong Quickly: How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules by Mike Moran
• Do You Matter?: How Great Design Will Make People Love Your Company by Robert Brunner, Stewart Emery and Russ Hall
• Financial Infidelity: Seven Steps to Conquering the #1 Relationship Wrecker by Bonnie Eaker Weil
• Fool's Gold: How the Bold Dream of a Small Tribe at J.P. Morgan Was Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe by Gillian Tett
• From Strategy to Execution: Turning Accelerated Global Change into Opportunity by Daniel Pantaleo and Nirmal Pal
• Gatekeepers: The Role of the Professions in Corporate Governance by John C. Coffee
• Hold On, You Lost Me!: Use Learning Styles to Create Training that Sticks by Jeanine O'Neill Blackwell and Bernice McCarthy
• House of Cards: How Wall Street's Gamblers Broke Capitalism by William D. Cohan
• Inside the Investor's Brain: The Power of Mind Over Money by Richard L. Peterson
• Investing in Gold: The Essential Safe Haven Investment for Every Portfolio by Jonathan Spall
• Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: Managing in a Downturn by Ram Charan
• Managing for Stakeholders: Survival, Reputation, and Success by R. Edward Freeman, Jeffrey S. Harrison, and Andrew C. Wicks
• Managing Government Employees: How to Motivate Your People, Deal With Difficult Issues, and Achieve Tangible Results by Stewart Liff
• Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations by Hayagreeva Rao
• Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes by Mark J. Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne
• Perfect Power: How the MicroGrid Revolution Will Unleash Cleaner, Greener, More Abundant Energy by Robert Galvin and Kurt Yeager
• Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett's Omaha: A Hedge Fund Manager's Dispatches from Inside the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting by Jeff Matthews
• Powers of Persuasion: The Inside Story of British Advertising by Winston Fletcher
• Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge
• Rain Making: Attract New Clients No Matter What Your Field by Ford Harding
• Sales Presentation Techniques: (That Really Work!) by Stephan Schiffman
• Solution Selling: Creating Buyers in Difficult Selling Markets by Michael T. Bosworth
• Strategic Project Management Made Simple: Practical Tools for Leaders and Teams by Terry Schmidt
• The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do by Clotaire Rapaille
• The Global Brain: Your Roadmap for Innovating Faster and Smarter in a Networked World by Satish Nambisan and Mohanbir Sawhney
• The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co., the World's Most Elite and Enigmatic Investment Bank by William D. Cohan
• The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew Bacevich
• The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics by Michael Shermer
• The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Suviving One That Isn't by Robert I. Sutton
• The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics by Eric D. Beinhocker
• The Power of a Positive No: How to Say No and Still Get to Yes by William Ury
• The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World With Kindness by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval
• The Road to Democracy in Iran by Akbar Ganji
• The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read: The Simple, Stress-Free Way to Reach Your Investment Goals by Daniel R. Solin
• The Theory and Practice of Change Management by John Hayes
• The Toyota Product Development System: Integrating People, Process, and Technology by James M. Morgan and Jeffrey K. Liker
• Training Design & Delivery by Geri McArdle
• Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the U.S. by Trita Parsi
• Uranium: War, Energy and the Rock That Shaped the World by Tom Zoellner
• Winning Government Contracts: How Your Small Business Can Find and Secure Federal Government Contracts Up to $100,000 by Malcolm Parvey and Deborah Alston
• Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy by Dev Patnaik

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about the getAbstract products.

 

Blended Blueprints Delivery Guides
If you are interested in blending our learning materials to include classroom and online delivery, you can save time by following the recommendations of our Instructional Designers—the people who authored the courseware. For each Business Skills course, our Instructional Designers offer their suggestions for delivery based solely on the content. Truly maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of your training across modalities by leveraging our Blended Blueprints: Delivery Guides. In July, we added seven guides, including:

• Change Management for Employees
• Change Management for Managers
• Managing Organizational Goals
• Motivating Your Employees
• Negotiating Skills
• Project Management Skills for Non-Project Managers
• What Good Managers Do: The First 100 Days

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about the Blended Blueprints: Delivery Guide products.

 

Audio MP3 Course Content
Many of our Business Skills e-Learning courses also have a significant portion of the conceptual content available as audio MP3 downloads for playback on your iPod or compatible smartphone devices. In July, we added downloadable audio MP3 content for the following Business Skills courses:

• Managing Project Teams (Second Edition)
• Measuring Team Performance
• Motivating Employees (Second Edition)
• Planning and Controlling Budgets
• Presenting Successful Training for Non-Training Professionals
• Scoping Your Internet Project
• Selecting Your Negotiation Strategy
• Using Data to Communicate
• Writing for a Global Audience

Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about the downloadable audio MP3 content for select Business Skills titles.

 

Did You Know?
Did you know that Element K offers learning program planning and implementation services? Contact your Element K Account Executive or Learning Consultant to learn more about how Element K has successfully planned e-Learning programs across multiple industries, learning cultures, content types, and learning platforms.

 

For more information on Element K:
http://www.elementk.com or call 1-800-434-3466.
Element K, 500 Canal View Blvd., Rochester, NY 14623

Copyright 2009 Element K Corporation. All rights reserved. Element K and the Element K logo are trademarks of Element K Corporation. Products or other names may be trademarks of their respective proprietors who may not be affiliated with Element K. Element K is part of NIIT, a global talent development corporation operating in 32 countries.