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.

For us this New Year has been more than just resolutions. After a successful 2010, we are all geared up for 2011 with more events and more plans. And hence more opportunities to help you in managing your learning better!

We are kick starting the year with a Brandon Hall Research webinar on ‘How to Select the Right LMS for Your Small/Medium Business’. Scheduled on January 19^th, 2011, this would be the first of many webinars that we have planned for 2011. This FREE webinar will be sponsored by Upside Learning and will address the critical problems and questions faced by most Small- and Medium- Businesses (SMBs) while selecting an LMS.

The recession of 2008 changed more than just the world economy. It changed the way Training Companies functioned. Post the economic downturn, Training Companies the world over were revamping the way they operated and the services they offered to their customers. An important change was evidently the inclusion of eLearning (or online training) as part of their core offering for existing and new customers. Such an offering was not purely driven by a cost-saving strategy on the customer’s part, but was also due to the growing acceptance of eLearning as an effective way of delivering training.

In continuation to our series of monthly roundup posts, here is a collection of our top 10 posts for July, each accompanied by a quick brief.

Earlier this month I blogged about why Training companies are adopting eLearning. There are reasons other than their clients demanding it. Reflecting on my interactions with Training Providers over the last couple of quarters, I’ve made a list of the top 8 reasons for them to adopt eLearning

Using eLearning as a delivery medium for corporate training is common now. Corporates have lapped it up seeing crucial benefits in costs and time savings. Early adopters have experimented with various media formats & delivery options and realized that blended learning works best. Any advent of instructional technology hasn’t meant the elimination of what pedagogical methods existed at the time.  The new technology has typically been co-opted and added to the blend. This should happen naturally with game-based, mobile and eLearning too.

Last week I met several new prospective customers – training companies. The prospects varied in size from a single person company (with several associates on contract basis) to very large companies serving Fortune 500 companies; and whose focus varied from soft skills training to Aerospace graphics and documentation.

The economic meltdown in the last 12-18 months has hit training companies hard. Corporate training budgets have been slashed and travel expenditure has been cut. The pressure on reducing costs has never been greater.