651.430.0353 | About Rivertown

October 2005

Dear Rivertown Customer,

Rivertown Communications is growing! This month we’re happy to introduce Jim Smith, our new Business Unit Manager for our I-Card™ system. We also feature an article on the value of a LMS (Learning Management System). If you are involved in corporate learning initiatives or employee development you need to read this.

If you’ve wondered how other businesses feel about the value of their websites, wonder no more! We have a current study that will answer your questions. Finally, we summarize the presentation on the value of usability testing given at the last Digital Learning Forum meeting.

As always, if we can help you with a custom e-learning system, website development or an I-Card, please call. We’ve been serving businesses like yours since 1991.

 

Robb Jacobs

Rivertown Communications

Table of Contents

1. Rivertown I-Card™ Systems Is Growing

2. Why you need a Learning Management System

3. Small Business Feels Stronger With a Website – a Research Study

4. The Value of Usability Testing - Digital Learning Forum (DLF)

5. Rivertown Communications

 

1. Rivertown I-Card™ Systems Is Growing

"Rivertown Communications is pleased to announce that Jim Smith has joined our team as Business Unit Manager / I-Card™ Systems. Jim has extensive experience in business to business sales, sales management and business to consumer advertising. Jim's goal will be to develop and implement a national network of resellers, sales representatives and end users of I-Card™."

What is an I-Card? Briefly, I-Card™ (Interactive Business Card) is a multi-purpose business card sized CD-ROM which can be pre-programmed with a multitude of informational or instructional content. This can include video, audio, motion graphics and text. I-Card™ can also contain links to web sites, self-opening documents and surveys, or it can initiate an e-mail to request more information or to order a product. Since the basis of a good marketing message is often educating the customer on the product or service you provide, the I-Card™ is the best media to use to convey that message.

Jim is currently finalizing a marketing agreement between COPYCATS Media of Minneapolis and Rivertown Communications. For almost a decade, Copy Cats has helped clients produce professional CD & DVD projects.

To learn more about COPYCATS go to: http://www.copycatsmedia.com/
To learn more about the Rivertown I-Card™ contact Jim Smith at 651.430.0353 ext. 218 or jims@rivertown-inc.com.

 

2. Why You Need A Learning Management System

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are the backbone of corporate learning initiatives and human capital development. They provide important tracking mechanisms that are imperative if you wish to measure the effectiveness of your learning programs. Think of an LMS as the school administration, tracking enrollment, progress, grades and compliance, while also allowing students to self register, request approval, take their courses online at their own pace, take online exams, print their own certificates and communicate with other students and instructors. Even in small training departments, the effort required to keep up with these issues can be staggering. Learning Management Systems make learning programs run smoothly and provide essential accountability.

When looking for an LMS there are critical criteria that should be met. First, determine what features you require to properly manage your learning programs. A good LMS provider should be capable of walking you through this process by asking insightful questions that both demonstrate their knowledge of the learning industry and simultaneously expose your requirements. Second, the LMS should be very flexible. No two training departments are alike and the LMS you select must be capable of fitting your requirements without over-taxing your resources.

Third, and this is very important, find an LMS that is easy to use. Take the time to demo the software with the provider, so that you can see the system in action. You’ll find this process to be very revealing. Fourth, make sure the provider can deliver great customer service. This can most easily be discovered as you proceed through the process of selecting an LMS. Do they respond quickly to your questions? Do they seem knowledgeable or are they constantly saying “I’ll get back to you” or “can I put you on hold to ask someone else”?

Finally, you should be able to identify a clear path to ROI (Return on Investment). The whole point of running a training program is to create more knowledgeable and more productive employees, but this must be accomplished at a cost that is recoverable via a well-trained workforce.

As a leading provider of Learning Management Systems and course authoring tools, Ziiva is dedicated to meeting client requirements and delivering exceptional customer service. Rivertown Communications is a reseller of Ziiva’s “Prosperity” LMS.

To learn more about the Prosperity system visit: http://www.ziiva.com/product.htm or contact Jothan Sargent at 651.430.0353 ext. 114 or jothan@rivertown-inc.com.

 

 

3. Small Business Feels Stronger With a Web Site – a Research Study

The impending release of the Interland Summer 2005 Business Barometer, a measure of small business online activity, shows how the leaders of U.S. small- and medium-sized businesses feel on issues important to them. The nationwide survey of 780 small-business leaders of organizations with 500 or fewer employees found that seventy-two percent of the respondents have a business Web site, with Industry declared as 33% business services, 20% personal services, 19% retail, 17% non-profit and 11% manufacturing.

With regard to the perceived value of their website:

  • 78% of respondents said their company was healthier - had a competitive advantage or stronger economic footing - because of their Web site
  • 76% also identified their Web site as a tool that helps generate business leads
  • 57% of those with Web sites said they generate monthly revenue through online purchases or offline purchases that were influenced by their Web site
  • 53% of small businesses with Web sites say the role it plays in the business is primarily to provide company credibility

When asked to define the role of the Web site in their business:

  • 14% rely heavily on the website to make sales goals
  • 19% say it is a tool that helps lower costs
  • 15% declare the most powerful marketing tool they have is their website
  • 53% feel the website provides their company credibility
  • 29% say the website provides a critical building block for developing products/services
  • 23% are unsure that it provides any significant value

Source: Interland Summer 2005 Business Barometer

For more information about this study, go to:
http://www.centerformediaresearch.com/cfmr_brief.cfm?fnl=051006

 


4. The Value of Usability Testing - Digital Learning Forum (DLF)

If you are a professional (or student) involved with using digital technologies for training, you may be interested in attending the monthly “Digital Learning Forum” group meetings. Each meeting features a short networking period, followed by a formal presentation on a current topic related to current learning technologies. This month’s meeting was held on Tuesday, October 11 and the topic was “Getting the Audience’s Point of View: Usability Testing to Enhance e-Learning”. The discussion was presented by Bonnie Janda, a Training Manager in the Technical Operations Training Department of Northwest Airlines, Inc., and Angie Bents, an Instructional Designer also in the Technical Operations Training Department of Northwest Airlines, Inc.

If you have developed computer-based or computer-assisted training you probably have conducted usability testing at some point. What is usability testing? Well, according to Janda and Bents “usability” refers to the “user’s experience when interacting with a product or system”, or put another way, the “relationship between tools and their users”. They also say, that “to be effective, a tool [will] allow a user to accomplish tasks in the best way possible”. So usability testing means measuring the usability of a tool, system, or product. It also often involves the end user (the individual or group of individuals who will be using the tool, system, or product), but can be conducted without end user input.

There are several different methods for conducting usability training, such as: inquiry, testing, prototyping, task analysis, inspection, and cognitive walkthrough. Of those we listed here, inquiry and testing involve the end user while the others do not involve the end user. In their presentation, Janda and Bents primarily focused on examples that involved end user input, how they gathered data, and what the data showed them as a result. In one example, the development team discussed labels for topic areas and how to organize the information for their website. What they found was that each person on their development team had an opinion about what the labels ought to be and how information should be organized. When they summarized the results of end-user input they found that in most cases a clear preference bubbled to the surface indicating what users would find most intuitive.

When should usability be tested? Before you spend too much time or money, at a natural point in your development cycle, the earlier the better, and the more often the better. How many users should be involved when user-input would be valuable? What most usability experts will say is that one person is a hundred times better than zero. There also seems to be some consensus that five to six users are a good sample size. Why conduct usability testing? Aside from the obvious benefit of increasing the user’s experience with the tool, you can also increase acceptance by getting end-user buy in.

The next DLF meeting topic will be “Creating Context with Digital Video for Self-Guided Learning”, presented by Dr. Richard M. Eisenberg, U of MN Duluth, and Mark Stanley, 4insight, LLC.

When and where:

Tuesday, November 8, 2005

University of St. Thomas – St. Paul Campus

O' Shaughnessy Educational Center (OEC 454)

5:45-6:15 Networking/Refreshments

6:15-6:30 Business Meeting/Organizational Discussion

6:30-7:30 Program

See map at www.stthomas.edu/maps/stpaul.htm

There is no charge for attending. I hope to see you there.

 


5. Rivertown Communications

Since 1991 Rivertown Communications, Inc. has been designing and developing custom e-learning systems and websites. Our clients range in size from small, single office organizations to global corporations. For more information on our services, click below:

E-learning systems Custom design and development, including learning management systems

I-Card™ business-card CDs To deliver training or educational marketing messages

WebPresenter™ Internet presentation application

Websites Learning sites - accessible and Sect. 508 compliant

Video production To integrate into e-learning or stream from the web

Disk duplication through our local partner

If you are currently in the planning stages of a technology-based training or marketing program, call us. We would be glad to meet with you to explore how we might partner with you to help develop your program.

Initial meetings are always without cost or obligation and we genuinely enjoy getting to know new people and organizations.

Sincerely,

 

Robb Jacobs at 651.430.0353 ext. 111