We are pleased to announce that GroupLoop.org has won a Web Award for “Best Not-For-Profit Website.” Since 2003, DLC Solutions has partnered with The Wellness Community to produce the online support Website for teens with cancer and their parents. To date the site has helped thousands of individuals cope with their illness and gain strength from others. This award is truly a testament to the power of the wonderful members of this online cancer support community.

It looks like 3D worlds and other metaverses are finally gaining some legitimacy as a corporate training platform. Some 1500 IBM employees use 3D worlds, such as Second Life, for meetings and related corporate communications and training. The firm announced new guidelines on what is considered appropriate useage and how to represent oneself as a virtual IBM employee. This, of course, is one of the primary signals that corporate America is beginning to see this as a viable business tool. Read story

According to a recent Ambient Insight article, health care represents 20 percent of the total U.S. mobile learning market. This makes healthc are the largest vertical market for mobile learning adoption.

Growth trends for mobile learning highlighted in the article include:

• 18 % of 6.5 million U.S. healthcare professionals use PDAs or other mobile devices
• 55 % of 800,000 (440,000) physicians use handheld devices in their daily practice
• Physicians over age 40 are slightly less likely than their younger counterparts to be early adopters of mobile technology; 90% of physicians under age 30 use mobile devices
• 22-24% of 3 million (700,000) nurses use handheld devices; nursing related products represent the fastest growing of all mobile learning products
• Nearly all new healthcare professionals entering the workforce are experienced mobile technology users and expect to use technology in their practice
• Robust growth of mobile CME indicates it will overtake classroom and web-based CME within the next decade

An excellent article in Chief Learning Officer Magazine takes a historical look at the empirical data on the benefits of simulation on learning. I would also recommend one of my favorite recent articles on the role of online gaming on leadership develop. The study was conducted by Seriosity and IBM and confirms what I have long observed in multi-player gaming environments. These games require participants to learn negotiation, risk taking, collaboration, problem-solving and other requisite skills that are also necessary for success in today’s leaders.

According to a 2001 study by the Environmental Protection Agency, the average person attending a three-day conference accounts for 1400 pounds of greenhouse gases – equal to the amount of produced by a car driven for one year. A significant portion of this pollution stems from air travel. More and more companies are now beginning to realize both the high opportunity costs and the negative impact on the environment associated with live meetings when compared to the benefits of technologies, such as Web conferencing.

As a result of people taking advantage of our PresentME OnDemand Webcasting technologies, we estimate an carbon emissions reduction equal to taking 240 cars off the road for one year. Pretty amazing, isn’t?