Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
Congress Debates
Anti-Cyber Attack Bill The U.S. Congress is debating a measure that would allow private industry and the government to share information to secure net- works against cyber attacks. The Cyber Threat Intelligence and Information Sharing Act
(CISPA) is an amendment to the National Security Act of 1947. It defines cybercrime as a national security threat, and facilitates the sharing of information between any private entity and the govern- ment in the event of an actual or potential cyber attack. This includes both
destructive hacking that attempts to bring down a sys- tem and the inva- sion of a system to steal intellectual property or person- ally identifiable infor- mation.
Critics of the bill say that it does not protect the civil lib- erties of individuals whose information may be shared with military agencies without a warrant or appropriate over- sight. The bill has not been brought to a vote in either the House or Senate yet.
Deals
CORNERSTONE-VISIER Cornerstone OnDemand and Visier Inc. have formed a strategic relationship to bring Visier's cloud-based workforce analytics and planning solu- tions to Cornerstone's clients. Visier's Workforce Analytics enables HR and training pro- fessionals to leverage Big Data to track critical employee met- rics, such as turnover, reten- tion, and productivity. Cornerstone plans to include
Visier's product in its compre- hensive talent management suite
BBVA COMPASS-ECORNELL Commercial banking company BBVA Compass has renewed its agreement with eCornell to deliver online professional development programs to high
potential employees. eCornell has been providing BBVA Compass' leadership program for the last year, which has proved very popular with the bank's employees. This year, BBVA Compas will build their core leadership cur- riculum around eCornell's self- paced online courses.
OPENSESAME-REVIEWSNAP Elearning marketplace provider OpenSesame is integrating its services with Reviewsnap's per- formance management platform. Users of Reviewsnap's per- formance management soft- ware will be able to search the more than 12,000 courses pro- vided by OpenSesame, read customer reviews, watch pre- views, and instantly purchase their selections.
JZERO-SAFARI JZero Solutions' JLMS Enterprise platform is now fully integrated with Safari Books Online. JLMS Enterprise users with a Safari subscription can now import Safari's books directly to the LMS. These titles can be added to the course catalog and learning plans. Users will be able to search Safari's digi- tal content directly from the JLMS Enterprise interface.
UPSIDE LEARNING-MOBILE INNOVATION Upside Learning will create English-language learning solutions for the Saudi Arabia-based training company Mobile Innovation.
The Saudi company has chosen Upside Learning's Upside2Go mobile learning platform to deliver English lan-
guage courses for its mostly Arabic-speaking clients. Mobile Innovation will rebrand Upside2Go as Aljesr. Aljesr will retain all of Upside2Go's exist- ing functions, but will also allow users to upload third party content.
THE COURSEWARE COMPANY-TOTARA In response to increasing demand for open source software, The Courseware Company has become a Totara LMS Partner. Totara, which offers an open
source LMS based upon Moodle, has a partner program designed to support enterprise learning solution developers. The Courseware Company will offer its e-learning and talent management clients the ability to utilize Totara's LMS.
Elearning! May / June 2012 9
MOOCs to Compete with Traditional Colleges
The Kahn Academy has pioneered the use of online video tools in continuing education. Inspired by its example, a number of online pro- grams are now available, offer- ing alternative paths to certifica- tion to those who either do not want to go to a traditional brick-and-mortar college or who cannot afford to do so. With educational costs getting higher every year, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are trying to establish themselves as a source of credentials that employers will accept.
These courses have been launched by a range of companies. Startups like Udacity are offering widely attended engineering courses, sometimes partnering with Stanford University. Existing compa- nies like Microsoft already have their own certification programs. The not-for-profit John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has created a digital badge system for non-tradi- tional learners to demonstrate new skill develop- ment. Traditional universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are getting into the act as well with MITx. MITx and Udacity courses are free, but students still have to pay to take the certification tests. It will take time for these certifications to be as widely respected as traditional degrees. The reputation of these programs will rest on the quality of their graduates when they reach the workplace.