e-Learning for Kids (EFK), as a part of its initiative to provide fun and free learning to kids across the world, wanted to develop new courses for its Environmental Skills curriculum. For this assignment, EFK partnered with Upside Learning, a global leader in custom eLearning development.

As a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and with a view to providing effective learning solutions to the global community, Upside Learning has been actively participating in various social initiatives. And one of the ways it is doing this is through its partnership with EFK. This CSR activity, aimed at strengthening the company’s global mission, will see Upside Learning creating eLearning courses on various topics ranging from environmental awareness to language arts.

One of the focal points for EFK is increasing environmental awareness. EFK, along with its pool of Instructional Designers, worked with Upside Learning to design two new courses in this category. Aptly named ‘The Global Guardian’, these eLearning courses address one of the most important and challenging topics in environmental awareness – Global Warming. Using scenarios and graphics, these courses focus on the key concerns causing global warming and the after effects of global warming. Also, the courses have been designed with a view to keeping the target audience engaged and as such will help children connect easily with the global scenario.

Commenting on the development, Amit Garg, Director of Content Solutions at Upside Learning, said, “I am confident that these courses will help children understand global warming and its adverse effects on our lives. Courses will definitely help increase awareness about environment preservation and green world”. Further, he added, “We are happy and honored to be associated with EFK in their initiatives.”

Michael Williams, EFK’s Director of Courseware Development, further commented, “e-Learning for Kids’ focus on 21st century issues is crucial to expose learners to various issues that affect our planet. Upside Learning has been integral in helping us reach our goal with strong Flash development, rich graphics, and strong project management. The Global Warming courses are beautiful and I look forward to working with Upside Learning on future initiatives.”

About e-Learning for Kids

e-Learning for Kids is a global 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation that is dedicated to opening doors to education worldwide. Established in 2004, e-Learning for Kids is dedicated to fun and FREE learning on the Internet (or via CD ROM) for children aged 5-12 with over 200 best-in-class courses in math, science, language arts, computers, English as a second language, health and life skills. The courseware is also available in Spanish, French, Portuguese and in Indian English. In 2010, more than 2.3 million children benefitted from one or more EFK courses. A large volunteer staff consists of education and e-Learning experts and business professionals from around the world committed to making a difference. We are actively seeking funding, sponsors and courseware developers. Get involved! For more information, please visit us at: http://www.e-learningforkids.org.

The last couple of years have witnessed Upside Learning ride the growth wave and introduce new products. And as a part of its continued growth strategy, the company has recently welcomed its Sales Director for Europe – Simon Meager – who will be based out of London, UK.

A Sales and Marketing professional with over 30 years of experience, Simon brings on board, among other things, extensive eLearning knowledge and understanding of Europe market. He has a strong understanding of learning and development of eLearning solutions and has to his credit a number of successful product launches in the industry, as well as a proven track record of sales in eLearning and allied fields. With B.A. in Law & European Business Management, he has also completed a couple of Sales oriented courses at the Wharton Business School.

Welcoming Simon to the company, Amit Garg, Founder and Director of Upside Learning, said, “We’re delighted to see our Europe sales team strengthened by Simon’s arrival. His expertise and experience will help Upside Learning achieve its mission of providing effective eLearning solutions to the global community.” Further, he added, “Having a Sales Director based out of London will enable us to be closer to our partners and clients, and help us serve them better. It’ll surely make our existing partnerships in the region stronger and help establish new ones.”

The recently concluded mega expo at San Jose – ASTD TechKnowledge 2011 – saw 1200 visitors and over 65 exhibitors from the learning technology space showcase their solutions and services. The attendees represented a wide cross section of the learning industry – including Instructional Designers, eLearning developers, L&D Managers, CEOs and HR executives.

Upside Learning, a silver sponsor of the event, was one the 67 exhibitors demonstrating its latest offerings in Custom eLearning Development, LMS and Mobile Learning Solutions.

The company’s booth was one of the most visited stalls at the expo with a constant stream of visitors dropping in to not only witness the latest range of solutions but also discuss their learning challenges with the Upside Learning team. Among the visitors were professionals from some of the most progressive companies in the world.

Drawing crowds to Upside Learning’s booth was the company’s new revolutionary platform for mobile learning – Upside2Go, which was launched at the expo. Not only was the launch well received, the product was also duly appreciated for its innovativeness and effectiveness. The excitement of finding a solution that could cater to the unique learning needs of the mobile workforce was almost palpable amongst the attendees. The excitement was further accentuated with the fact that they could witness Upside2Go live in action and could also get a hands-on experience.

Upside Learning also rolled out its special expo offer worth over USD 12500. Five lucky winners stand a chance to win 1 year FREE access to Upside2Go [with an option to access UpsideLMS (integrated with Upside2Go) for 1 year] with 10 video courses (from 50Lessons) for up to 100 users. The company will be announcing the winners’ details in the coming days.

Upside Learning, a recognised leader in training outsourcing, LMS solutions, custom eLearning development & mobile learning solutions, is showcasing its range of learning technology and business solutions at ASTD TechKnowledge 2011. The expo, which opened its doors on 2nd February, has seen a commendable number of visitors from various walks of the learning and technology space on its first day itself.

Upside Learning, a silver sponsor of the event, is demonstrating its latest offerings in custom eLearning, LMS and mobile learning. Attendees will also get an opportunity to exchange knowledge on latest solutions and discuss their learning challenges with the Upside Learning team.

The expo will also serve as a launch platform for Upside Learning’s revolutionary mobile learning solution – Upside2Go. The formal unveiling of the product will take place on 3rd February at 1.00 PM (PST) by Amit Gautam, Director of Technology Solutions at Upside Learning. Visitors can look forward to getting a first-hand experience of Upside2Go in the live environment.

Also, as a part of the company’s special expo offer, visitors to the Upside Learning booth (#504) will get a chance to win a learning package worth USD 12,500! This includes 1 year FREE access to Upside2Go [with an option to access UpsideLMS (integrated with Upside2Go) for 1 year] with 10 video courses (from 50Lessons) for up to 100 users.

Amit Gautam, Director of Technology Solutions at Upside Learning said, “The first day at ASTD TechKnowledge 2011 was gratifying to say the least. To rub shoulders with some of the big names in eLearning domain is always an incredible learning experience. We are looking forward to unveiling our revolutionary mobile learning solution amidst such a rich crowd.”

For more information on the latest in learning, technology and innovation, attendees are encouraged to reach Upside Learning’s representatives at Booth No. 504 throughout the event.

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 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.

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’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.