LearnKey Blog

Learning Photoshop CS6

Last month I was presented with what seemed like a daunting task. I was asked to learn Photoshop CS6 and take the ACA certification exam, so I could assist with Photoshop CS6 training for teachers in New York. I had never used Photoshop before so I was really nervous about having to learn this new skill and then assist in training others in this program. I am not ACA certified yet, but I have learned first hand how valuable our training is when learning Photoshop CS6.

As I prepare to take the ACA exam to become Photoshop CS6 Certified I want to share six things I have learned that will help anyone who is using LearnKey training to prepare for certification exams.

Continue reading “Learning Photoshop CS6”

eLearningPlanner.com – Try our new career and leadership tool

We recently released a free tool for job seekers: elearningplanner.com – a leadership trait and career pathway assessment that identifies your specific leadership talents and recommends career paths based on your answers to a short (about 2 minutes) survey.

We couldn’t just leave it at that though – we LearnKeyed it up a notch by matching eLearning bundles with your selected career paths, and to top it all off, every user receives a free Career Readiness 101 course at the end! So not only do you have a prescribed eLearning plan to become career-ready for your chosen path, but we give you some free Microsoft Office basics to get you started!

To give you an idea of what kind of results you can get from the assessment, I decided to be the test subject and go through it myself and post my results.

My Leadership Talent: Patience

With the leading talent as patience, you will naturally be a dependable, persistent leader. You will be most efficient in leadership when you can manage to a process or system. You value making a difference for others and therefore naturally earn respect and create harmony in a group or team. Naturally, you will like support and serve your team, allowing them to have the praise and recognition for their accomplishments. You will do well when you have clearly defined deadlines for meeting team goals and objectives.

My Recommended Career Paths

Finance & Accounting Professional
Administrative Professional
Graphic Design Professional

Now for accuracy: notice how “Graphic Design Professional” is on my list of recommended career paths? While I manage LearnKey’s online marketing and social media, my strengths lean toward graphic design and layout. As for my leadership style – a structured, clearly defined environment has always been where I thrive the most. Scheduling projects all willy-nilly throws off my workflow and I’m nowhere near as productive as I could be. My results show exactly that!

If you’re interested in finding out what your ideal career paths and leadership talents are, be sure to visit elearningplanner.com and take the survey for yourself. Be sure to sign up for the free Career Readiness 101 course at the end!

Photoshop CS6 for Mac Released

The first of our Adobe CS6 courses has been released – Photoshop CS6 for Mac. In this course, LearnKey expert and Adobe Certified instructor Chad Chelius walks you through the features and tools of Photoshop CS6, while also covering the topics required for the ACA Visual Communication using Adobe® Photoshop® certification exam.

  • Demonstrate knowledge of project management tasks and responsibilities
  • Learn and understand terminology of digital images
  • Demonstrate knowledge of Patch Tool in Content-aware fill mode
  • Learn to adjust or correct the tonal range, color, or distortions of an image
  • Demonstrate knowledge of preparing images for Web, print, and video

This version of the course was shot using Adobe Photoshop CS6 for Mac OS X. Don’t worry, Windows users – your version is coming up soon!

Visit the product page for more information about the course, including a full course outline and purchasing information.

Giving Back to Those Who Gave So Much

eLearning company forms partnership with foundation that provides assistance for Veterans in need.

St. George, UT- November 16, 2012- LearnKey Inc, in partnership with Our Home Transitional, have recently begun working together to give assistance to female Veterans and their children. LearnKey has donated video based training through their learning management system OnlineExpert, to those in OHT as a way to help our Veterans to obtain the civilian credentials they need to re-enter the workforce.

Carrie Miller, Executive Director of OUR HOME TRANSITIONAL explains: “This is a place where our female veterans and their kids come to when they are facing challenge & are in need of a place to call home.”

Women Veterans in need of OHT services are not limited to the Flint, Michigan area. As long as there are rooms available any woman hero from anywhere in the US will be assisted, says Miller. “One of the most integral parts of this program for our female Veterans is the LearnKey training component. We are very excited to be working with LearnKey in our endeavor to help women heroes who are in need of help while transitioning successfully to civilian society and self-sufficiency,” explains Miller.

LearnKey’s extensive course library has courses that will help learners pass certification exams, build resumes, and prepare for a career. Some valuable LearnKey tools for Veterans are the recently released Career Readiness Bundle and Job Hunting in a Digital World course.

LearnKey regularly releases new courses. Follow this link to view the 2012-2013 course release schedule.

About LearnKey, Inc.
LearnKey is self-paced video courseware for corporate, education, government and personal users. Established in 1987, LearnKey offers decades of experience with engaging, interactive, and flexible training that is accessible anytime, anywhere.

Network+ 2012 Certification released (with video)

Good news, everyone! We recently released the latest version of our Network+ certification courseware – Network+ 2012 Certification. Just like our A+ Certification 2012 course, it features course author Tom Carpenter covering CompTIA’s certification objectives, this time taking students beyond tech essentials and guiding them through the world of Networking.

This course covers the current CompTIA Network+ N10-005 exam. It includes 5 sessions and roughly 14 hours of training, tests, interactive labs, and projects.

If you want to see more, check out the promo at the beginning of the post, and after visit the product page for more info on the course including a full course outline and purchasing info.

Career Readiness Bundle now available

We recently put together a new bundle which is perfect for high school students or people just starting out in the job market – the Career Readiness Bundle. This collection of courses teaches life and career skills important to succeeding in the business world. 12 new courses produced in partnership with Human Relations Media were released to be included in this bundle, and we added our previously released Know Your Talents™ course to the mix as well.

Included in the bundle:

  • Ten Easy Ways to KEEP Your Job
  • What’s Your Attitude? Getting in the Mood to Work
  • Communication Skills in the Workplace
  • Business Ethics on the Job
  • Making a Good Impression: Resumes, Interviews, and Appearance
  • Matching Your Skills, Talents, and Ambitions to a Dream Career
  • Think Before You Click: Playing it Safe Online
  • Workplace Etiquette: Why Being Polite Counts on the Job
  • The Seven Competency Skills for the Workplace
  • B Careful When U TXT: The Dangers of Texting and Sexting
  • Me and My 500 “Friends”: Staying Safe on Social Networks
  • The Dangers of Sexting: What Teens Need to Know
  • Know Your Talents™

Visit learnkey.com/careerreadiness for more information about the bundle and the courses included. As always, if you’re a current LearnKey customer, just give your favorite sales or customer service rep a call and they’ll make sure to get it added to your library!

Case study: Houston ISD

Not only do we love hearing success stories from teachers who found ways to implement LearnKey courseware into their curriculum, but we know that information also helps others by showing real-world examples of how the program works.

Margaret Williams from Barbara Jordan Career High School was kind enough to tell us her story about how implementing LearnKey courseware helped her students pass their certification exams in this case study. Here is an excerpt from that document:

All of my students, (100%) passed the Word and PowerPoint certification exams first try without books during the fall semester. The e-Learning online instruction helped me to individualize instruction. It is based on the students’ learning styles. It provides virtual, interactive learning with video (which includes certification objectives in an outline format), guided practice, and independent practice activities. It helps students to develop a thorough understanding of the Microsoft certification objectives.

Do you have a success story for us? Share it in the comments or post it on our Facebook Timeline!

Tom Carpenter discusses A+ 2012

Our next CompTIA A+ Certification course is coming closer and closer to completion. As you may know, this version is hosted by Tom Carpenter, a course author who has worked with us quite a bit in the past. This is Tom’s first A+ course with LearnKey, and some of you may not have had the chance to see any of his other work before, so we wanted to make sure your questions and concerns were answered.

Our own Paula Pixley contacted Tom for an interview, in which he discusses his years of IT experience, his past work with LearnKey, and what kind of approach he takes to teaching the A+ objectives.

Share your story!

We love to hear people’s success stories. Whether you’re a teacher implementing LearnKey courseware in your classroom, or you’re a learner yourself using LearnKey courseware to advance your career, It’s a great feeling to know something we created made an impact in someone’s life.

That’s why we want you to share your stories! Let us know how our courseware helped you land that new job, or how blending eLearning in your classroom raised your pass rates, or how implementing a training program helped increase productivity at your business. We may even choose your testimonial to be featured on our website!

How to submit your story

Submit your story to one of our social media profiles:

  • Facebook: Leave a post on our Timeline, or create a post on your own and tag us by adding @LearnKey
  • Twitter: Create a Tweet, including us by adding @LearnKey
  • Google+: Create a post, and tag us by adding +LearnKey

…or leave a comment on this post with your story. Be sure to include which courses were involved and if any certifications were earned using our courseware.

We’re not picky about the format either – you can type it out, record a video, include pictures, whatever you want to do!

Connecting the Dots to Blended Learning (infographic)

At LearnKey, we support K-12 learning in several ways, but many teachers aren’t sure integrating technology into the classroom actually pays off. That’s why we’ve come up with this handy infographic!

View the full infographic

Do any of you have success stories about how blended learning helped your students? Or maybe a unique way you’re integrating online learning into your curriculum? Let us know in the comments!