How to Deliver Retail Training in 2012
Thanks to recent developments in technology , 2012 marks the year that Retail Training will become more affordable, efficient and well….. better then ever.
The iPad Changed Retail Training Forever
According to Apple, during the last 12 months. the company has sold 32 million iPads,  and 72 million iPhones.  These devices are everywhere and are rapidly being deployed in retail stores around the world. Now you can purchase tablet computers to deliver your training curriculum to your employees. It’s cheap, efficient and easy to implement.
Step One: Confirm Internet Connectivity in your Store Locations
Chances are you already have broadband connectivity in your locations but before you do anything, check with your IT department. There are several types of broadband Internet connections including  DSL, T1 and fibre optic.  All will work.  Main thing to know here is that a dial up connection won’t work.
Step Two: Creating your Retail Training eLearning Curriculum
There is currently a huge technology shift in technology.  In a nutshell, old eLearning material written in Flash wont play on mobile devices. Here is where HTML5,  the latest version of the core technology of the Internet comes in. All this means to you is that your eLearning material needs to be in a format that will play eLearning content in HTML5 format.
Category 1, Off the Shelf Retail Training Courses you can purchase
The most popular off the shelf courses in Retail Training are…
â– Â Code of Conduct
â– Â Fraud Awareness and Detection
â– Â PCI-DSS Compliance
â– Â Preventing Discrimination and Harassment
â– Â Preventing Workplace Violence
â– Â Responsible Social Media Use
â– Â Safe Driving
â– Â Workplace Diversity
Category 2, Custom eLearning
â– Process Training
â– Management Training
OK, so how do your create these Retail Training eLearning courses?  It’s not as hard as you might think.  There are many software programs called “Authoring Tools” available.  These tools allow you to take your existing Retail Training curriculam which is usually in PowerPoint and transform it into eLearning courses.
Here are some of the products we work with.
Adobe Captivate
Adobe Captivate will create HTML5 eLearning content. Â Also, Adobe is building a tool that will convert your existing Adobe Captivate content into HTML5.
Click Below to Download Adobe Captivate 5.5
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/captivate_html5
Claro
Another option is a web based authoring tool called Claro by DominKnow.  One big advantage of Claro is your team can collaborate in multiple locations to produce eLearning material that will play on multiple devices including the iPhone and iPad.
Click Below to Download a free trial of Claro
http://www.cogentys.com/lms/mobile-learning/
Articulate Storyline
The soon to be released Articulate Storyline will enable beginners all the way through seasoned instructional designers to create professional looking highly interactive very customizable eLearning.
Click Below to sign up for the Storyline Beta
http://www.articulate.com/storyline/
Step Three: Deliver and Measure your Retail Training On-line
This is where you need a Learning Management System (LMS) to deliver and measure your Retail Training curriculum.  There are many many many many options here.  You can get a free download of Moodle and figure it our yourself or you can work with a company like Cogentys that will hold your hand all the way through the implementation process and beyond.
So that’s all I have for today. I hope you found this post valuable.
Always feel free to visit out WebSite at www.cogentys.com or drop me an email at john@cogentys.com or give me a call at 323 466 6806
John