Velsoft at the Winter Olympics
The 2018 Winter Olympics start in South Korea today, and this got me thinking about what it takes to be an elite athlete. These individuals have to be resilient, selfless and patriotic, along with possessing a sense of…
Four essential steps to supporting diversity in your workplace
Diversity is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the condition of having or being composed of differing elements: variety; especially: the inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization. But…
Training Trends for 2018
Because of my work in online education, my students asked me about my thoughts regarding training trends and continuous learning for this year. This is what I shared with them: People prefer training in small pieces they can…
Help end workplace sexual harassment
Oprah Winfrey summed it up succinctly in her Golden Globe Awards speech as she accepted the Cecil B. de Mille Award for Lifetime Achievement at this year’s gala. “Their time is up.” The global media leader, philanthropist, producer…
Groundhog Day at Velsoft Head Office
Surprisingly, Groundhog Day has been around since 1887! It started from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow and sees its shadow that it will go back in its burrow and we will…
Being a Team Player
I was not a team player while I was growing up, as I didn’t play any team sports. That is, unless you count the one summer I found myself in right field with blackflies swarming around my head,…
Thanks for the memories
As you all know by now, our Project Manager Rachael is leaving us for greener pastures (a government job). I started to think about what that would mean for Velsoft, and all the relationships she has with clients. That…
Healthy Workplace Culture – Making Your Business Better
An excerpt from Making Your Business Better, Velsoft's January softskills course release. What is a healthy workplace culture? It is the environment in which employees interact with each other and carry to the outside world via networking, customer…
Don’t Burst my Happy Bubble
I was recently asked what my 2018 resolutions are. My response: I have no resolutions per say, rather affirmations or reaffirmations. I would like to reaffirm areas in my life that provide continued growth and development, and this…
Our Muppet Selves- Velsoft Revisioned
It's time to play the music It's time to light the lights It's time to meet the Muppets on the Velsoft Muppet Show tonight... I wasn’t sure what to write about this week until I was checking my…
7 Tips on Using Humor in the Classroom
Are you naturally funny or part comedian? If not, don't despair! You don't need these traits to inject classroom humor into your training. Using the following guidelines can help you to see humor in the everyday things that…
Workplace Harassment Quick Reference Guide
Politicians, CEOs, actors, TV hosts and others have been recently forced to resign over harassment allegations. This points out just how broken our workplaces have been -- how we've allowed improper behavior to lurk in what should be…
Refresh: It’s all new (again)
What have I learned since coming on board with the Velsoft team a few months ago? I now know what a learning management system is, why search engine optimization is important, and a little bit about marketing. I…
Velsoft’s MicroLearning HipChat Experiment
My interest in Microlearning led me to consider ways that could be used to deliver these nuggets of training. At Velsoft, we use HipChat to communicate as a company (All Velsoft), groups (Marketing, Managers, Production) and promote events…
Working with Slack Teams
An excerpt from Velsoft’s new course Slack for Business, which focuses on Working with Slack Teams. Once you have set up your Slack account and created a team, you are ready to start working with your team. Inviting Members…
Donald Schon: How Professionals Think In Action
Donald Schon, in his influential books Educating the Reflective Practitioner and The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think In Action, argues that we need to look at how adults learn in practice. He introduces the notions of ‘knowing-in-action’, ‘reflecting-in-action’…
Icebreaker: Cup Challenge
The Cup Challenge Icebreaker is an excellent way to form a connection between your participants and see that working together is better than working alone when trying to generate ideas. This is an especially good icebreaker for a…
9 plus 1 Things I Learned About eLearning in 2017
I'm always amazed by the fact that I continue to learn something new every day. I remember being told that the best way to learn is to teach. I would add that a great way to learn about…
Velsoft’s New Year’s Resolutions Revealed
Six Velsoftians were willing to put their New Year's Resolutions out there. Congratulations! You now have a chance to be in the less than 10 per cent of people who are successful in keeping their resolutions! To increase…
The Buzz Around Slack
When I first heard of Slack, I have to admit I didn’t understand why such an application was needed. In my experience at several different workplaces, dealing with communication on different platforms hadn’t been cumbersome or overwhelming, which…
Making Your Business Better: Why you need a strategic plan
According to the Business Development Bank of Canada, many entrepreneurs avoid strategic planning because it’s intimidating or they think it’s too difficult. But the financial institution — which focuses on helping to create and develop strong small- and…
Happy Holidays All!
Happy Holidays! Some are just beginning their holidays, while others are just finishing up theirs. I thought this week I’d find out what each Velsoftian wants most for Christmas. Keith- Free babysitter Carol- Foot rest so her feet…
A new look and 9 reasons to welcome change
“This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.” ― Taylor Swift At Velsoft, we’ve taken these words from award-winning singer-songwriter Taylor Swift to heart. And as 2018 is set to begin, we’ve altered the appearance of…
Six Tips To Building Good Workplace Relationships
Good workplace relationships are an important aspect of becoming successful at work, allowing you to build a broad coalition of support within an organization. Here are a few tips to building good workplace relationships: Be nice to everybody…
Holiday Stress Management Quick Reference Guide
The holidays are a wonderful, happy, special time of year. But any holiday, whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, can throw off your routine. This Holiday Stress Management Quick Reference Guide will help you to put a de-stressing plan in…
Seven Essentials for any Training Follow-Up Program
Following up is an extremely important part of any training program. How this is approached will determine the effectiveness of a training program. Many courses are designed to familiarize or train employees in a new program or method…
Jean’s Free Christmas Trees Adventure
Every year Jim (CEO) invites Velsoft staff and families to view the New Glasgow Christmas Parade from the ‘Wall of Windows’ on the second floor of the lavish Velsoft Head Office. These windows look directly down on the…
Microsoft Office 365 Focus on Delve
An excerpt from Velsoft’s new course Microsoft 365 Part 2 focusing on Delve. What is Delve? Delve provides quick, easy access to documents, people, conversations, and activities linked to your user account. Users will only see documents they…
Roger Simon: Teaching Against the Grain
In Teaching Against the Grain Roger Simon explores the horizon of possibility. Simon has us looking at a vision of the future rooted in our own present, through our curricular practice. Further he is saying that our curricular practice is…
An eLearning Assessment for Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy
An eLearning Assessment for Remembering Level of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy Imagine that you have covered an introduction to Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy (as seen below) and want to assess whether the participants remember which subdomains correspond to which verbs…