Just over a week since we released UpsideLMS 5.0, and the interest it has generated in these few days is mindboggling! For those of you who still haven’t taken a look at this stunning, best value LMS, we suggest you do it now.

UpsideLMS version 5.0 is an outcome of the sweat and thoughts put in by our engineering and UI experts. Our designers have put themselves in the users’ shoes to understand the nuances of User Experience (UX).

This new version promises to bring a burst of freshness to the users’ desktops along with a slew of new features. To give you a taste of the new version, here’s a quick take on the 5 top features in the new UpsideLMS.

In a previous post I had discussed how changing technology might call for a change in approach to make implementing and managing change in an LMS more effective and fruitful. ‘Stakeholder engagement’ is a term commonly thrown around in the communications and project management worlds. One that, although there are many popular ‘buzz-words’, should not be overlooked. People are the core of everything and without the people’s buy in, support, and effort, any initiative will ultimately fall short.

I recall about ten years ago when I first began implementing LMS Systems. The typical cycle went something like this:

- Select a vendor and purchase LMS.
- Assemble internal project team consisting of Training and Development staff and maybe IT representation.
- Conduct meetings with vendor (using only input from the training administrators, instructors, and IT) and configure the system.
- Test it, load it up with courses and push it out to the users.

One of the perks of being involved in a sales role is the interesting and enriching conversations with clients and prospects.

I find such interactions extremely rewarding as they give an insight into whatthe real customer demands are and what we need to focus on.

It also helps in creating material that educates customers and addresses their needs in a more organized fashion.

I need ‘Facebook’…

Almost a year back, the LMS was under fire from many corners and questions were being raised about its very future. Experts around the world were contemplating if the LMS will survive. Not just did it survive, but today, it has successfully evolved to adapt itself to the changes in the learning ecosystem.

This is evident as we look at changing role of LMS in Training Companies. From a time when its main purpose was to deliver core training activities, to today when social and informal learning components have become de facto the default features, the Learning Management System has come a long way since its inception. It has grown and continues to grow and offer the right set of tools both for formal and informal learning. We have captured this entire journey in an eBook: LMS in Training Companies – Then & Now.

There is no better way to start a morning than to find not one, not two, but FIVE emails with congratulations written all over them. Earlier today, we received emails from Brandon-Hall Group letting us know that our best value LMS – UpsideLMS – has won 5 Brandon Hall Excellence in Technology Awards (2010) awards. Last year, under the same awards, UpsideLMS had won 3 awards (across different categories). The only LMS to have won these many awards.

As in the previous year, this year too, UpsideLMS won awards in all the categories it was submitted in. In every category, Brandon-Hall announces Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners and UpsideLMS’s tally, for this year, stands tall and impressive with a list of 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze.

What is a Learning Management System used for?

• Administration
• Documentation
• Tracking and Reporting

iPad takes centre stage once again as it gains increasing foothold in education, with educators touting it as one of the must-have technologies and students preferring it over hardcover books. For all you Apple fan boys, this post is manna from heaven!

And for those of you who love to hate the pad, fret not, there’s something beyond the big Apple too. Learn how you can stay on top of current events, eLearning market stats, the future of education, the evolving role of an Instructional Designer and more. Find it all here in our Weekly Digest – a collection of our top 18 links from the week gone by, each accompanied by a quick brief.

Need to quench your thirst for the latest in learning, technology and media links further? You can dig into our previous lists here.

January was a month of varied topics. From Games to Instruction Design, to eLearning and Microlearning, it squeezed out every bit of knowledge from our best bloggers.

Talking of bloggers, it was also a month where we saw two of our team members jumping onto the blogging bandwagon – Aneesh Bhat and Abhijeet Valke . Two guys with immense potential, I promise you. You can look forward to some hardcore ID gyan from Aneesh, while Abhijeet would be the one feeding you with your weekly dose of the best of Learning, Technology and Media links .

So without much ado, lets get on to our collection of the top 12 posts for January, each accompanied by a quick brief.

Now, more than ever, Training Companies are accepting eLearning with open arms. Now, more than ever, Learning Management Systems are undergoing a massive transformation.

From the days when Classroom/ Human Mediated Training was the norm for Training Companies, to today when different modes of training delivery are, slowly but surely, making their presence felt, the Learning Management System has evolved (and continues to evolve) with each step in time. ‘LMS for Training Companies – Then & Now‘ is an eBook which will take you through this journey of the LMS.

The Wiki is one of the most under-utilized and underestimated feature of an LMS. That’s because, most of us haven’t gotten around to realizing what the Wiki is capable of, and hence the potential of the Wiki feature is unharnessed. This post is an endeavor to explore the various uses of the LMS Wiki.

Customer Complaints, how to avoid the traps makes for an interesting read; especially so because it looks at the LMS sales process purely from a customer’s perspective. The issues highlighted are quite pertinent and yes, I think, there is a high probability that an organization looking for an LMS (new or changing) would have encountered one or more of these traps. Some may actually have fallen into these traps unknowingly.