Upside Learning launches Layar for Pune – first of its kind in India

Upside Learning is thrilled to launch Pune Layar – an augmented reality application for mobile phones that will let users find significant landmarks in and around Pune city. Currently available for mobile devices that run Android version 1.5 and above or the Apple iPhone 3GS, this is the first layer made specifically for any Indian city.

Layar is an augmented reality browser that helps users interact with their location using their phones and receive value added information. Upside Learning has constantly strived to address the multifarious platforms in the technology domain, mobile being one of the most important ones. It is this very commitment, backed by support of its Innovation team that has lead to the development of the Pune Layar.

The Pune Layar allows users to experience an innovative way to explore the city using their mobile phones by helping them find significant landmarks like museums, forts, monuments; buildings & landmarks; restaurants; places of worship and much more. Users can learn about the Point of Interest’s rating (popularity among users), its distance from the user’s current location, time of opening/closing (if applicable) and entry fee (if applicable). These Points of Interests (POIs) are nothing but various landmarks that hold some significance for tourists and the general public alike. Pune Layar connects the various POIs to their respective Wikipedia pages and websites (if available), allowing users to access more information. It also provides users directions to the POI from their current location using Google Maps, just at the click of a button.

Besides this, to help this application evolve and include more POIs over a period of time, Upside Learning has also created a facility for users to add their favorite landmark through a webpage
(http://www.upsidelayar.com/process/addpoi.php), using a smart-phone or a desktop computer. Users can also give their feedback through a Feedback page (http://www.upsidelayar.com/process/feedback.php). This will help the company to further enhance the performance of the application as per users’ suggestions.

One of the important aspects of this application is that it is free .*using the Layar application may incur data charges, please check with your provider*. By no means will the company charge users for searching and locating places, reading information, adding POIs etc. The use of Layar or other Augmented Reality application in the field of eLearning could be profound. Upside Learning’s focus is to use Layar in learning solutions and fully explore its application in performance support solutions.

“We are quite excited to share this application with the world. Developed first time for an Indian city it provides an opportunity to experience Pune city just like a local.”, said Amit Garg, Director of Content Solutions at Upside Learning.

Upside Learning And KESDEE Inc. Enter A Global Strategic Alliance To Market And Promote Financial eLearning Solutions

Upside Learning has entered into a strategic partnership with KESDEE Inc., the largest eLearning content provider for financial topics. As a part of this agreement, Upside Learning will now provide its customers with comprehensive financial eLearning solutions by distributing KESDEE’s content through its award winning learning platform – UpsideLMS.

With KESDEE’s library including courses on Banking, Finances, Accounting, Insurance and Risk Management, Upside Learning’s clients can now avail over 750 accredited eLearning courses organised into 69 course libraries spanning over 2250 hours of eLearning in both English and Spanish.

This new strategic alliance is expected to immensely benefit banks and financial service providers and beneficiaries, regulators, consultants and trainers in financial services.

“We are delighted to partner with KESDEE, an internationally recognised eLearning company with a focus on global finance, banking and risk management,” said Amit Gautam, Director of Technology Solutions. He added, “We believe that the robust, engaging learning experience provided by Upside Learning, when combined with the best of class content from KESDEE is a winning combination for learners and organisation alike.”

With this partnership, Upside Learning will now be able to augment its library of off-the-shelf content courses with offerings from KSEDEE’s eLearning courses on financial topics.

About KESDEE

KESDEE is the world’s largest financial e-Learning company. KESDEE’s off-the-shelf catalog consists over 750 accredited e-Learning courses on various topics in Banking, Finance, Accounting, Insurance and Risk Management. In addition, KESDEE offers eCoaches, the web-based tutorials for Certification Exams in Risk Management and Financial analysis (ePRM, eFRM, eCoach for the CFA® Program, Associate ePRM etc).

It serves clients from different verticals like Banking and Financial Services Industry, Regulators of Financial Services, Large Corporations, Small and Medium Enterprises, Consultancy Firms, Technology Companies, Educational Institutions, and Professional Associations.

For more details, please visit: www.kesdee.com

Upside Learning partners with ViSteps to deliver online SQL Training globally.

With a view to providing rapid, step-by-step skill development for usability, practicality, experience and success, Upside Learning, in association with ViSteps, has successfully completed an online SQL training programme for SQL aspirants. This programme is open to students and learners across the globe. Visteps will deliver all training programmes via its subsidiary SQLSteps.

(http://www.sqlsteps.com)

The objective of the project was to improve SQL knowledge and skills of the students, and provide them with an opportunity to practice through a simulated environment. With inputs from Visteps, who have a deep understanding of SQL, Upside Learning has developed courses that engage and challenge learners, ultimately giving them the skills which will help them to move forward with their SQL projects and careers.

In addition to the conventional eLearning components, Upside Learning has used demos and simulations. Flash and Captivate were majorly used to create the interactions so as to engage and stimulate the learner effectively. The Captivate simulations have both, the ‘show me’ and ‘try me’, approaches for the learners, while Flash has been employed to explain the theoretical sections. All the modules consist of interactive simulations that enable the learners to practice and refine their skills further.

Amit Garg, Director of Content Solution at Upside Learning, commented, “ViSteps had a clear objective of creating SQL programmes that were not just engaging and challenging, but capable of equipping the learners with skills for succeeding in their careers. We are confident that our programmes will be able to deliver on ViStep’s expectations and cater to their growing training needs.”

ViSteps has also employed Upside learning’s multi award-winning Learning Management platform, UpsideLMS, to deliver and manage all their training courses.

About ViSteps

SQLSteps was started by a group of professional SQL Server Instructors who could not find a decent and affordable online training solution for their own students.

Armed with a deep understanding of the process of rapid Step-by-Step skill development, we have developed courses that will engage and challenge you; ultimately giving you the skills you need to move forward with your SQL projects and careers.

Usability, Practicality, Experience and Success; these are words that we take seriously. Every decision we make is based around them.

Upside Learning Helps BMGI With Localisation Of Elearning Courses For Its Global Clientele

With a view to reaching out to its global customer base, BMGI, a global performance excellence firm, had selected Upside Learning for localizing its eLearning courses.

BMGI’s eLearning programmes feature its industry-respected eBlack Belt, eGreen Belt, Lean Six Sigma eBlack Belt and Lean Six Sigma eGreen Belt certification programs, and a variety of eCourses, which are available individually or as a series.

Upside Learning assisted BMGI to convert its courseware content into various local languages so as to address the specific needs of its clients. Starting from identification of right resources for translation to the final delivery, the entire project process was managed efficiently by the company.

In the first stage, Upside Learning successfully converted courses from English into five languages – Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Turkish. The company ensured that the project was tested and analyzed accurately from time-to-time to convert courses so as to retain their meaning and intent.

“Our approach hinges on deep understanding of the content and the target audience so as to produce translations that are accurate and quick.” said Amit Garg, Director of Content Solutions.

Upside learning will also work on other languages in the future depending on BMGI’s requirements.

About BMGI

Founded in 1999 as a niche consultancy specializing in the implementation of Six Sigma, BMGI has since grown to be among the largest independent service providers within the broader organizational excellence space.

BMGI enables companies throughout the world to identify and solve their most important business problems, with a strong emphasis on sustainable results. BMGI’s services are grounded in one fundamental principle: structured problem solving. The company has developed solutions for a broad spectrum of businesses across many industries.

Few of BMGI’s clients are General Dynamics, TNT Express, Avis Budget Group, China Chemical, Graphic Packaging, Siemens, Hitachi and Philips Electronics.

Upside Learning partners with Axial Training to deliver Construction Induction Training in Australia

With a view to ensuring the safety of construction workers and to make them aware of the imperative construction safety guidelines and processes, Upside Learning, in association with Axial Training, has successfully developed a construction induction training course.A general OHS induction course providing basic knowledge about relevant laws, common hazards and risks likely to be encountered on construction sites, the aim of this course was to serve as a pre-requisite to undertaking any construction-related task on a site. The online version of the course was already available, however Axial Training was keen on offering eLearning courses that were high on engagement and interaction.Keeping in line with Axial Training’s requirement, Upside Learning designed the course so as to offer the learners situations showing various activities being carried out (correctly and incorrectly). Learners are needed to identify whether or not the actions are correctly implemented, what specific aspects are right or wrong, what should have been done to ensure safety, etc. Inclusion of simple scenarios allows learners to apply OHS concepts and guidelines in hypothetical situations. The course also has full audio narration closely synched with on-screen text and visuals.Few courses have also been created to bring about awareness of various legal requirements as defined by government authorities.

About Axial Training

Axial Group is a Queensland based group of companies, providing technical education and training, skilled personnel hire, and recruitment services.

With a list of notable achievements, it has evolved into a major partner for businesses in the industrial and resources sectors, and enjoys consistent growth and success in its state-wide provision of vocational training and through our technical college.

Expertise is delivered through providing:

Training in Apprenticeships and Traineeships
College education in Certificates and Diplomas
Recruitment of skilled technical personnel
Contract hire of experienced tradespeople and labor
Performance audits and consultation

Upside Learning witnesses strong demand for mobile learning

Upside Learning’s interaction with its global clientele, in addition to, indications by the market forecasts point towards a rapid growth in the mLearning solutions market. The company has been experiencing a strong demand for mobile learning solutions over the past quarter and predicts mobile devices to become an important learning tool in the learning technology landscape, a verity reiterated at the recently concluded mLearnCon, held in San Diego.

Ambient Report forecasted US market for mobile learning products and services to be growing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.7%, showing a strong demand in mobile learning. The demand in other markets too is demonstrating similar trends. With a view to addressing this demand, the innovation team at Upside Learning has been taping onto the latest trends and developing new applications across various platforms such as Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Symbian etc. The company now offers mobile audio-video podcasts, mobile quiz games, and m-learning nuggets for these devices, both as web and native apps. Back in April, Upside Learning developed the first Layar for an Indian city – Pune Layar (an Android-based augmented reality application). The company has also developed a mobile version of UpsideLMS, its flagship, multi-award-winning Learning Management System.

PC Quest Magazine Showcases Upside Learning’s Pune Layar

Pune Layar is an augmented reality (AR) application for mobile phones that enables users to find significant landmarks in and around Pune city. With a view to exploring the application of AR in the field of eLearning, Upside Learning had released this Layar back in April, making it India’s first crowd-sourced Layar.

After having received many eyeballs and being covered by some of the biggest newspapers (like Sakal, DNA, Indian Express, Sakal Times, Pune Times), Pune Layar has now managed to figure in one of the oldest and prestigious technology magazines in the country – PC Quest.

PC Quest is a premier Indian (PC) computer magazine providing online computer news, IT articles from India & abroad. The second oldest IT publication in the country, it is ranked as the number one magazine by IT purchase decision makers in helping them with their IT purchases. In its July 2010 issue, covered under the “Exploring MARS – The Renaissance of Reality”, the magazine talks about Pune Layar – its significance from the Indian perspective and that with regard to the growing market of smart phones. The article also details the developer’s angle behind this application and Upside learning’s take on the emerging technologies.

Upside Learning Introduces Upside Blog App For iPhones, iPods And iPads

Upside Learning has always explored new technological avenues and developed advanced & innovative learning solutions to provide cutting-edge solutions to its clients. In view of the growing demand for mLearning solutions, the company has been researching on various ways to make learning accessible on mobile devices across all devices and platforms so as to enable employers to reach out to their mobile workforce easily and quickly.

Upside Learning is excited to announce the launch of its app for Upside Learning Blog called the ‘Upside Blog App’. Designed to facilitate browsing of Upside Learning’s blog content for its readers, this app is now freely available at the iTunes Store.

The Upside Blog application allows users to access, read and interact with posts on the Upside Learning Blog from an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad on the go.

The app displays the latest posts on the main panel and also allows users to ‘search’ on keywords, or browse posts by ‘category’ or ‘authors’. Users can directly checkout the ‘Top 25’ blog posts or get a list of the ‘latest’ posts. The readers could also comment on the posts directly from their phones.

Additionally, the app interacts with popular social media tools like Twitter and Facebook. Users can directly ‘tweet’ about a post or ‘like’ it on Facebook, right from the app itself. This is brought about by the in-app browser functionality which enables the readers to visit external links without leaving the app. Another important feature is the ‘Read it Later’ facility that allows users to bookmark blog posts of their choice for later reading.

Amit Garg, Director of Content Solutions, said, “We wanted to make it easy for readers to receive regular updates form Upside Learning Blog and discover interesting content on their mobile phones. We are sure that this app will make it easier for our readers to connect and interact with us better. We plan to introduce apps for Blackberry and Android devices soon.”

Besides the Blog App, Upside Learning offers a range of mLearning solutions like short nuggets (micro-courses), mobile apps, mobile videos, games, assessments (interactive quizzes), m-Books (short story-based learning modules) and Augmented Reality (Geo-location based or image-based) solutions.

Upside Learning Releases A New Point–Of–View Paper On Mobile Learning

As a company driven by innovation, Upside Learning is always researching new technologies and bringing innovative solutions to its clients. Mobile Learning has been one of the focus areas at Upside Learning in recent times. And continuing with its developments in the mLearning domain, the company is pleased to announce the release of its new Point-of-View paper, ‘Mobile Learning – Here and Now’.

The paper is based on the fact that technological developments and the increase in the mobile device penetration among the population have led to sustainable change in all spheres of our lives – radically changing the way we live and learn. Authored by Abhijit Kadle, Manager – Instructional Design at Upside Learning, this Point of View takes a comprehensive look at Mobile Learning – starting with the basics and delving deeper into the nuances of mLearning design.

Ideal for people who are considering mobile learning, the paper includes key points on:

What is Mobile Learning?
When to use Mobile Learning
Design Considerations for Mobile Learning
Advantages (& disadvantages) of Mobile Learning

Besides this, the paper also highlights a framework for evaluation, identifying three core areas – Usability, Technical, and Functional, which is handy while considering varied mobile devices available. It addresses key trends occurring in Mobile Learning space and its rapid growth across businesses, globally.

A complimentary copy of the Point-of-View Paper, ‘Mobile Learning – Here and Now’, can be obtained from here.

Upside Learning Unveils New Corporate Identity; Revamps Its Website

Upside Learning has undergone a major transformation – the first of its kind in the company’s 6 year journey. In line with its efforts to align the company’s image with its evolving business, Upside Learning has unveiled a new corporate identity today.

The new identity symbolizes the company’s movement into new domains, birth of new ideas, innovation and development of new products. It combines the elements of agility and innovation to reflect a shift in the way Upside Learning thinks & works; its focus on higher growth & success, and its step towards the new & improved.

The logo has been designed to reflect the company’s philosophy of putting YOU (the customer, its employees and other stakeholders) first – denoted by the ‘U’ shape, the arrow signifies its focus on growth through performance and learning, while the colour green embodies the eco-friendly nature of its solutions and services.

The branding initiative involves a new visual identity across all communications, which include a revamped website and blog, and relevant changes in the marketing and support materials. Upside Learning has also released a ‘new identity launch’ video on You Tube that captures the essence of the company and that of the new logo.

Watch the video:

“Upside Learning has grown significantly over the past 6 years with diversified offerings, and today it serves over 150 customers across the globe,” said Amit Gautam, Director of Technology Solutions at Upside Learning. “Our new identity reflects the attributes of our unique culture – focused on the customers, employees and other stakeholders. Most importantly, it symbolizes our fervor to grow”, he added.

Subsequently, the company also plans to re-align its products and service offerings with a renewed focus on innovation; underlining its commitment of providing effective learning solutions to the global community.