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Free is good. Free is especially good when the people giving away the thing for free have a vested interest in giving away the best thing possible. Why? Because ultimately they hope that giving away something of value will be returned in great measure. Now, they could be looking for more business (i.e., commercial gain), more students (i.e., academic gain), more community growth (i.e., societal gain), or more personal growth (i.e., individual gain). Here are some amazing sites where you can get some exceptionally good learning content FOR FREE!

• Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative
• MIT Open Courseware
• Rice University Connexions
• Wikiversity
• iTunes University
• TeacherTube
• Small Business Administration (SBA) Training
• W3 Schools - Web Skills Training
• The Open University

So, this is just a start. Hopefully someone out there is reading this blog, and will add a few more that I have missed. Email me (bill@technicaltrainer.org) or post a comment to this entry. Either way, I would like to add a much more sizeable list of free learning resources.

First, I want to teach you some critically important considerations in evaluating software.

1. FREE IS GOOD! - Not great, not spectacular, but overall it is good. Some of the best software out there is free. Heck, you are reading this blog on a website. Both, Apache (which serves up the website) and Wordpress (which serves up the blog) are not only free, but they are the dominant software packages in their markets. Having said that, there is lots of free junk!
2. NETWORKED IS ESSENTIAL - Your software must take advantage of the Internet. It could simply do something as check itself for updates. But, I look very suspicious at software that isn’t at least network savvy enough to check itself for updates.
3. COLLABORATIVE IS BETTER - In general, if you are looking at two software packages, and they are very close in your evaluation, give the edge to the one that support more collaboration. Get used to software like Wikis, Blogs, Forums, Listservs, Social Networking, etc. All of these allow collaboration in one form or another.

So, looking at these considerations, let cover some resources to get you the tools you need.

1. Jane Hart is a masterful resource. Her e-Learning Pick of the Day is regular reading for me. And, her master directory of Learning Tools is simply stated The Best Resource of its Kind on the Web! Honestly! In most cases, if Jane doesn’t know about it, it doesn’t exist.
2. Free is good, but sometimes you need solutions that aren’t easy to achieve with free tools. The Best of the Best and MUST BUY tools for learning belong to Adobe. If you are building website, you need Dreamweaver. If you are building interactivity, you need Flash. If you are building e-Learning, you need Captivate. Bravo to Adobe for supporting our industry. Support them. They are well worth it. AND! News worth reading … ADOBE HAS A FREE SOLUTION, and it looks like a killer web application. Go an visit Acrobat.com.
3. Need an LMS? Does FREE sound good to you? Try Moodle! It really is one of the best LMS systems out there.

Finally, I have my own list of Trainer Resources. It is no where near as good as Jane Hart’s list. But, you may find it more to your liking.

Whatever profession you are in. Whatever industry you work in. No matter what preposition your sentence ends in. ***chuckle*** You need to stay abreast of what is happening in the world that is your career. In essence, you are either in the profession and/or industry you want to be in, or you aren’t. But, I’ll assume that if you are reading this blog, you are either in or want to be in the Workplace Learning and Performance profession. That profession serves just about every industry out there. Yes, we probably even have folks training the IRS to get more of your money faster. Yikes! What a thought. To improve your professional satisfaction and success, here are some organizations and resources you should consider.

• ASTD (used to be American Society for Training and Development, but is now just the initials): This is the organization that is defining the profession. You need to belong. Just do it! Here are some of their more important resources for the profession.
  • T&D Blog - The blog based on ASTD’s T&D magazine
  • Learning Circuits Blog - ASTD’s blog on technology
  • Learning Policy - ASTD’s website on public policy for the WLP
• e-Learning Guild - Their website says it best, “A community of practice for e-Learning professionals.” If ASTD is defining the profession as a whole, the e-Learning Guild is defining the e-Learning subset of the profession.
  • e-Learning Insider - ELG’s blog
• ISPI - Internation Society for Performance Improvement - These folks cover the subset of the Performance aspect of Workplace Learning and Performance.
  • PerformanceXpress - ISPI’s Newsletter (JEESH! I wish they had an RSS feed)
• SALT - Society for Applied Learning Technology - These folks focus on the technologies for learning. They have a more academic slant as well. But, an excellent organization that you should consider.
• Toastmasters - While not specifically in the WLP profession, these folks provide the foundational skills needed for any successful WLP professional.

I could add many more. I have a list of Associations on my website. You can refer to that for even more. Do we need more? I’m not sure. There is such a thing as saturation. But, even so, anything that adds to the profession and the professional stature of Workplace Learning and Performance is ultimately a good thing in my book.

There are many voices on the web, most like mine … not very loud or influential. But, there are some voices you should be hearing. Here are my selections for the important voices on the web.

Tom Peters - WOW Bill! You went out on a limb here! Why don’t you pick someone really obscure, like Peter Drucker? Well, you probably know Tom Peter, but are you reading Tom Peters? Not just his books, but his blog? Here are some really important things he has to say.

• Yes! You are in Sales! (Video) (PDF Transcript)
• Passion! (Video) (PDF Transcript)
• Definition of Leadership (Video) (PDF Transcript)
• Tom Peters designates what he considers the Best Link Ever.

Will Thalheimer - OK, I know he doesn’t have this designation yet, but I assure you that Will Thalheimer will someday be ranked with the likes of Malcolm Knowles, Robert Gagne, Thiagi, and Donald Kirkpatrick/Jack Phillips (take your measurement pick). He is that good. Seriously! Here are some really important things he has to say.

• The Learning Landscape Model
• Will’s Suggestion of a must-see Instruction Design video … just say Thiagi! (the video itself)
• A FREE research report on Feedback
• Will’s Work-Learning Audit Results
• Absolutely Essential Reading! - Will Thalheimer on Myths and Bogus Research

Garr Reynolds - If you haven’t yet read Garr Reynolds’ book, Presentation Zen. Go immediately to Amazon.com, and order the book now. (Just click this link to make it easy.) He is the master of presentations, and if you read his material you will create better presentations! Here are some really important things he has to say.

• Brain Rules for Presentations (based on Dr. John Medina’s book - Brain Rules)
• Refrain from Using Powerpoint (Toyota CEO urging employees to stop Powerpoint’ing).
• Garr Reynold’s website with his presentations.

All of these people are 5-Socrates teachers. In all honesty, Will and Garr are very close to a 6-Socrates score.

Note: I think Socrates was a tremendous teacher. I don’t agree with a lot of his opinions, but I always learned by reading about him and his methods. So, he is the golden measure by which all teachers should be measured.

• 0 Socrates = Bring on the hemlock!
• 1 Socrates = A trial is in your future!
• 2 Socrates = Does the word gadfly mean anything to you?
• 3 Socrates = Nearly virtuous. At least good enough to talk yourself out of some debts!
• 4 Socrates = Virtuous.
• 5 Socrates = You stand side-by-side with the likes of Plato and Aristotle. Considered exile lately?
• 6 Socrates = You are the ideal of Socrates himself. Bring on the hemlock!

I read a tremendous amount everyday. I have numerous RSS feeds (You can get my RSS Feed OPML file here.) You can also see my Trainer’s Essential Library (at this link). Finally, I read a ton for both work and school (see my About page). What I don’t do is write as often as I should. Not because I don’t want to write, but because I have so much to read.

So, I thought I’d start summarizing what I read on the web, specifically my RSS feeds. This might help you, the reader, by point out some useful resources and ideas you might have otherwise missed. And it will definitely help me out by forcing me to write more often. So, here goes.

Storytelling is an essential skill for Workplace Learning and Performance professionals. Yet, almost everyone overlooks it. I really appreciate Anecdote. These folks know storytelling, and how to put it to good work. Summarizing some input points from their work are the following stories.

1. Who Am I / Why Am I Here Stories - Who Am I stories reveal character, and Why Am I Here stories reveal motivation. Together the two stories give insight into who you are. (MORE ON THIS)
2. Cooperation - This article demonstrated the “Tragedy of the Commons” concept, and is an essential point to understanding the values of long-term thinking and the dangers of short-term thinking. (MORE ON THIS)
3. ASTD in their Workplace Learning and Performance definition called the Competency Model lists Knowledge Management as 1 of 9 Areas of Expertise required for the profession. The Anecdote folks have a spectacular whitepaper on Knowledge Management. (GET THE WHITEPAPER)
4. ASTD’s Competency Model also lists Facilitating Organization Change as a core Area of Expertise. Here is an excellent whitepaper on Organization Change. (GET THE WHITEPAPER)

All in all, these folks are people you want to listen to and on a regular basis. Visit their website. Subscribe to their newsletter. You will learn from them, and that is my highest praise.

(My Rating Scale - 5 Socrates)

Note: I think Socrates was a tremendous teacher. I don’t agree with a lot of his opinions, but I always learned by reading about him and his methods. So, he is the golden measure by which all teachers should be measured.

• 0 Socrates = Bring on the hemlock!
• 1 Socrates = A trial is in your future!
• 2 Socrates = Does the word gadfly mean anything to you?
• 3 Socrates = Nearly virtuous. At least good enough to talk yourself out of some debts!
• 4 Socrates = Virtuous.
• 5 Socrates = You stand side-by-side with the likes of Plato and Aristotle. Considered exile lately?
• 6 Socrates = You are the ideal of Socrates himself. Bring on the hemlock!