If you only knew what we do for you…. For example, when a Corporate Learning listserv popped up a year ago, charging $50 for what’s available for free, I plunked down my money to join, to enable me to check it out for you guys.
The questions and format of the Corporate Learning Forum were so lame that I hung in there just for laughs but eventually had to drop out. Why did I disappear when I still had money on the meter?
CramerSweeney, the advertising and PR firm that cooked this up, never made a comment. Not one. You’d think their “eLearning Division” would answer at least one question, but you’d be wrong.
You may think your $50 is paying the freight for this no-cost service. You’d be wrong again. These words appear before and after every question or answer posted to the Forum:
THIS MESSAGE SPONSORED BY:
CramerSweeney Instructional Design – Architects of Corporate Learning
CramerSweeney specializes in creating customized instructor led training and e-learning programs for corporations throughout the world. It offers businesses a variety of training tools, such as instructor-led facilitator guides, student workbooks, user manuals, online courses, technical guides and cutting-edge presentation capabilities. Visit www.cramersweeney.com or call 1-866-754-9700.
There’s very little traffic on the site. In fact, there are more words of CramerSweeney sponsorship notices than words of posts. Most of the questions asked are lame. Here are some recent examples.
My company is new to e-learning, and we have no instructional designers
on staff. I’m going to be looking for a vendor who can create an
e-learning module for us, preferably a company with which we can
establish a relationship for future projects.I’m looking for advice on locating vendors and assessing them. Thanks
for any help you can give!=20
———–Can anyone recommend a training course in Business Etiquette that focuses=
=20
on professional communications and how to behave at corporate events? We=
=20
have a need for a training for one employee who comes from a blue collar=20=environment and is now in a corporate environment and must learn to polis=
h=20
his communication skills and learn to speak to others with tact and=20
diplomacy. We would like to either send him to a scheduled training or=20=purchase video/e-learning materials to assist him with this transition.=20=
=20
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!—
I’ve just learned that those who didn’t want to receive the survey result=
s=20
were forced to enter their email address in order to complete the survey.=
=20=20
I had set this up as an optional response, but due to a bug in=20
SurveyMonkey’s validation settings, it became a required response. I’ve=20=
since removed the validation setting so it should work properly now. Sor=
ry=20
for the inconvenience. Thanks to so many of you for responding so far – =
it=20
must be a timely topic!
——-
Everyone – So sorry! This is likely a duplicate request, but haven’t
needed to save previous responses on this topic. =20=20
One of our member institutions is looking for a DVD on harassment
(including but not limited to sexual harassment) for training with
full-time hourly foodservice staff. These individuals could be a
combination of servers, kitchen workers, foodservice production
employees, etc. =20=20
There are specific reasons she’s requesting a DVD – so please, though
you might believe there are better ways to train this topic, this is the
deployment method she needs.
——–
All, thanks for your responses. I think we agree, to some part, on the=20b
appropraite hours to develop. But what I was trying to get was a benchmar=
k=20
on what to charge a client per development hour. So, if the hours are as =
we=20
have discussed, what is an associated hourly rate? $50? $100? $150? Do we=
=20
associate a different rate to each output, as we have adjusted the=20
development hours per output?=20An ASTD Learning Curcuit article from 2005 quotes an examble of $135/hour=
,=20
based on an internal developer situation, which is similar to my situatio=
n=20
(just me and some SMEs in house) Also, we are bundling our training as pa=
rt=20
of the software license contract for clients.I don’t expect a magic one answer, but wanted to get some opinions on the=
=20
subject from different angles.
You’re wondering about the =20 codes and such? Every message contains format errors. The last half of each email is HTML gibberish. This is the only site that sends me messages that flummox Gmail.
Here’s my take on the Corporate Learning Forum: Don’t.
That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong. If anyone has had a worthwhile experience with Corporate Learning Forum, please leave a comment.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Some people think that companies around the world are turning to India for
programming and production support is to save money. But that’s only one of
the reasons.
It’s true that we can provide substantial savings on almost any
multi-media, Web, or CD project. But it’s also true that we can provide
graphic design, programming and production that will match any that you
could find anywhere. And we take great pride in meeting both the budget and
the schedule.
We’re MVS Softech Ltd (MVS). We are a growing organization that serves
clients in the United Kingdom, the United States, India, and a number of
other countries.
[snip]
Venkatesh
Director
MVS Softech Private Limited
India
Website: http://www.mvssoftech.com
Skype: mvssoftech
It’s ironic that this guy chose a topic named “Caveat Emptor” to post his spam. If you like to outsource projects to spammer scum, be my guest. If not, join my boycott.
I’m glad you ended your comments with…“That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.” Here are the facts about Corporate Learning Forum:
Jay Cross: “There is very little traffic on the site.”
Fact: Corporate Leaning Forum has 1,231 members, including nearly 2/3 of the training departments within Fortune 500 companies. In its first year 3,725 messages were posted to the Corporate Leaning Forum. Not a single contribution was posted by Jay Cross.
Jay Cross: “CramerSweeney, the advertising and PR firm that cooked this up, never made a comment. Not one. You’d think their “eLearning Division” would answer at least one question, but you’d be wrong.”
Fact: CramerSweeney Advertising & Design, Inc. did not “cook up” this idea; it was created and funded entirely by CramerSweeney Instructional Design, LLC, whose employees also posted 48 questions/answers throughout the past year. Since CramerSweeney Instructional Design is the founder, we are very careful not to dominate the exchange of information. Furthermore, CramerSweeney Instructional Design pays for its message sponsorship, as do three other companies. That funding is a vital part of what makes CLF the most active Listserv in the training industry–in contrast to “what’s available for free.”
Jay Cross: “The questions and format of the Corporate Learning Forum were so lame that I hung in there just for laughs but eventually had to drop out.”
Fact: Characterizing the questions posted to CLF by your own peers as “lame” is an astonishing assertion coming from a man who calls himself a “champion of learning.” Shame on you, Dr. Cross.