KINEO NEWSLETTER
Issue 14 – November 2006

Contents this month:

1. Open source for e-learning: Moodle LMS overview

2. Audio interview: William Ward on rapid e-learning at Cable & Wireless

3. Rapid authoring tool road test: eXe tool review

4. Rapid E-learning Store: now open with a 10% discount

5. Jifunza: Charity project in learning

6. E-learning market update

7. Introducing Kineo in 2 minutes

Hi,

Welcome to Kineo’s November newsletter.

It’s a time of year to watch your spend. Many of you are looking at what’s left in the L&D budget and looking to run a tight ship through year end. So how can we get more for less in learning?

One answer is open source. Kineo has been a longtime advocate of open source tools for e-learning. We note that Brandon Hall has recently joined us in this space, with a new report on open source for e-learning. But really, Brandon: charging $495 for a list of free tools? What happened to the season of giving?

We’re thinking a little differently at Kineo and giving away our insights on open source this month:

-An overview of Moodle, the world’s favourite LMS

-A road test of eXe, an open source e-learning authoring tool that has some great potential

-A new open source e-learning section of our site, including our report on 50 ideas for free e-learning (cost: $0). And there are many more great ideas for reducing your spend in our new Rapid E-learning Store

You get what you give – which is why we’re also making a call to our friends in the learning and development community to get involved in a worthy project to develop a learning centre in Ghana.

With interviews, market updates, and more, I hope you’ll find something (for nothing) in this month’s newsletter.

If you have ideas for future newsletters, I’d love to hear from you. Get in touch at: newsletter@kineo.com

Best,
Stephen

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>> 1. Open source for e-learning: Moodle LMS overview

Moodle is fast becoming the world’s favourite LMS. Rich in functionality, easy to use, and free. Blackboard, schmackboard – Moodle’s the future. We explain why, and provide you with free access to our Moodle demo site here:

http://www.kineo.com/open-source-tools/moodle---your-free-lms.html

See all our insights on open source for e-learning here:

http://www.kineo.com/open-source-tools.html

Want Moodle in your organisation? Kineo’s Moodle LMS Services can help. Clients include BUPA, Europcar and Marks & Spencer. Find out more here:

http://www.rapidelearningstore.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=195&Itemid=118

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>> 2. Audio interview: William Ward on rapid e-learning at Cable & Wireless

William Ward was a keypart of the team that led Cable & Wireless into the successfuluse of learning technologies and in particular rapid e-learning development. Now an independent consultant, he tells us howtheygot there and why Cable & Wireless is a great case study for rapid e-learning. Listen to the podcast here:

http://www.kineo.com/audio-downloads.html

Want your own podcast? Kineo’s Podcasting Services can help you communicate with learners in new ways, as we’ve done for Cable & Wireless and others. Find out more:

http://www.rapidelearningstore.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=217&Itemid=121

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>> 3. Rapid authoring tool road test: eXe tool review

Open source isn’t just for the LMS. eXe is a cool tool that has great potential. And you’re going to like that big round zero in the price tag. We give it a spin this month. Read our review and see a demo here:

http://www.kineo.com/open-source-tools/exe-open-source-authoring-tool.html

Want help in choosing the right authoring tool for you, and building your team’s capability? Kineo Rapid E-learning Consultancy team can help:

http://www.kineo.com/kineo-advisory.html

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>> 4. Rapid E-learning Store: now open

Last week we were thrilled to cut the green ribbon on the Rapid E-learning Store - The only one-stop shop for all your rapid e-learning needs:

http://www.rapidelearningstore.com/

It’s packed with resources, guides, tools and templates to help you secure the cost savings that rapid e-learning can deliver – including a free authoring tool selector as a sample of what’s on offer.

As an introduction to the Rapid E-learning Store, we are offering a 10% discount on purchases in November to all Kineo newsletter readers, to help reduce your e-learning spend even further….

Just enter the discount code ‘k10nov’ when making your purchase.

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>> 5. Jifunza: Charity project in learning

Kineo is proud to support the Jifunza project to build and equip a library and learning centre in Ghana. Our partners in this extremely worthy project include Stanford University in the US and Family Assurance in the UK.

We are encouraging all of our clients and colleagues in the learning and development community to visit the site and make a small donation to the project. Visit the site we developed here:

http://www.jifunza.org/

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>> 6. E-learning market update

Unless you were floating in space for the last month, you’ve heard about the Skillsoft Netg merger. We reflect on what it might mean for customers and the industry, and speculate on where the next merger and acquisition activity may come from.

Read this month’s update here:

http://www.kineo.com/e-learning-market/uk-e-learning-market-update-nov-2006-.html