LearnKey Blog

Filming on Location

Ditching the studio and taking the cameras, talent, and crew out on location is a good change of pace. There is just something to be said for being outside and filming and being surrounded by people, fast moving passenger trains, and loud cars. Filming on the green gives you the flexibility to create any environment you need. However, there are times when the green screen can’t give you everything you want and that’s when you step outside and shoot on location.

LearnKey took the crew on location to film headshots for our upcoming Project Management Professional course featuring the work of Michael Solomon. After a few different site surveys the crew settled on filming on an empty building lot just above the Salt Lake City Capitol as well as filming on Main Street. Both of these locations placed our author in the perfect environment for this business professional course.

How well you have prepared and packed your equipment can make or break your shoot, and Mother Nature can put a stop to any and all filming you have planned as well. Luckily for us, we were packed, prepared, and the weather unfolded perfectly on our day out of the studio. We set up both of our cameras, pinned on the wireless mic, while pointing two reflectors perfectly on the talent. Michael Solomon was well prepared and as soon as the cameras were rolling so was he. We were able to shoot all of the headshots in one day at two different locations.

Life is good, when you can take the crew out on location and get the shots you need in the time that you have and that’s what the crew was able to do this time around. Honestly, we are now looking for more ways to get out and shoot on location.

Newest Employee of the Month: Outstanding, Amazing, Invaluable and more!

“Outstanding”, “Amazing”, “Invaluable” – Those were the words used to describe Rikki McKim, our newest LearnKey employee of the month.

Rikki is a customer service champion known for a keen sense of how to “connect” with students, teachers and learners so she can help them use our LearnKey education courseware and OnlineExpert Learning Management System for the best experience. Anyone who has ever spent time with Rikki quickly understands why we feel so fortunate to have her as part of our team. She truly cares about our customers and values their commitment to us as a learning provider.

Here’s what her leader had to say:

“I value her knowledge and her ability to dig in and understand our systems better. Her customer service skills are outstanding. Rikki is extremely easy to work with and truly cares about her coworkers and our customers”.

There is a saying “happy employees create happy customers” and this is living proof that it works!

Learn some fun facts about Rikki:

Continue reading “Newest Employee of the Month: Outstanding, Amazing, Invaluable and more!”

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays everybody! While everyone getting ready to celebrate Christmas is finishing their shopping, wrapping presents, putting the finishing touches on their decorations, or cooking for a feast, we just wanted to give you a heads up about our holiday hours for this week:

Today: Closed for the rest of the day
Christmas Day (12/25): Closed
Thursday 12/26 – Friday 12/27: Regular business hours

Have a safe week, and be sure to enjoy every bit of it – especially when it comes to my favorites: pie and egg nog! What are your favorite holiday treats? Let us know in the comments.

Two Superstar Employees Added to the LearnKey Roster

I would like to welcome Kelly Martinez and Shawn Allen to the LearnKey team. Specifically, they are part of the Veteran Services team and get to interact with veterans everyday. I asked Kelly and Shawn a couple of questions so that we could get to know them better:

Quick Facts About Kelly Martinez

  1. What is your professional and military background? Active Army from 5/17/2007 to 12/5/2013 stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. I was a Wheel Vehicle Mechanic and Maintenance shop foreman/supervisor. I worked mainly on Diesel equipment as well as rocket launchers and field artillery equipment. I was medically discharged and retired as a SGT.
  2. After two weeks on the job what do you like most about it? My favorite part about this job is working with Veterans. I can relate to them on a personal level.
  3. What is your favorite  type of food? My favorite type of food is Mexican food.
  4. If you could go anywhere  in the world where would it be? If I could go anywhere in the world, I would want to go to Italy to sight see and stuff myself with food.
  5. What is your favorite band? I love listening to Rock.

Quick Facts About Shawn Allen

  1. What is your professional and military background? Aircraft mechanic for 12 years in the Navy.
  2. After two weeks on the job what do you like most about it? I really like the family atmosphere.
  3. What is your favorite  type of food? Hawaiian and fruits.
  4. If you could go anywhere  in the world where would it be? That would be where ever my family is happy.
  5. What is your favorite band? Old school R&B.

Latest product releases for the week of 12/6/2013

We’re keeping busy through the holidays here at LearnKey, and we have released a new course and a new student workbook.

Access 2013

What’s new in Access 2013? You will be introduced to the new web apps feature. Access 2013 gives you the ability to design your own apps or use a template to create an app that can be shared with your coworkers or friends. LearnKey expert jason Manibog will take you step-by-step through this course; starting with database management and navigation. Users will learn to use the tools provided in Access 2013 to design and maintain a basic database.

  • Learn to create, modify and personalize objects
  • Learn to work independently or in collaboration with others on database projects
  • Learn new web apps features
  • Create and/or modify a simple Access database

Visit our website for more information on this course and purchasing information.

Flash CS6 Student Workbook

The Flash CS6 Workbook is arranged in the exact order as our Flash CS6 course. The student workbook includes activities like fill-in-the-blanks and projects. The workbook is included with all education license purchases of our Flash CS6 course.

View Sample Workbook

Stay tuned for more releases in the future!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is upon us, and for those of us in the United States, that means it’s that time of the year for “holiday hours”. We wanted to update everyone on LearnKey’s hours for the week:

Thursday 11/28 – Friday 11/29

LearnKey offices are closed for the Thanksgiving holiday

After that, LearnKey offices return to normal business hours: offices are closed Saturday 11/30 and Sunday 12/1, and re-open on Monday 12/2 (Sales and Client Services: 8am – 5pm MT, Tech Support: 7am – 6pm MT)

We wish everyone celebrating a happy Thanksgiving, and hope everyone has plenty to be thankful for!

LearnKey’s Newest EOM: Making a difference one Veteran at a time!

One of the greatest things our employees do everyday is focus on how they can make a positive difference in the learning experience. In our Salt Lake City office where we shoot the courses with our experts, our production crew is making sure the objectives are covered and we cover the right topics. In Cedar City where we produce the courses tying in video, technical writing and graphic design ,once again its about how can we drive the best learning experience making our courses easy to understand.

Then there is our LearnKey veteran services team that is working hard to help every veteran who goes through our program to counsel and support them making sure they stay on track and meet all their milestones.

This is where our newest Better Learning Systems/LearnKey employee of the month Corin Saunders works hard to “make a difference” – not only for our veteran students, but also working to improve our systems and processes we use each and every day.

Following her nomination, here is what here manager had to say:

“Corin joined the Veteran Services team in April of this year, and from day one she has had a huge impact on the team and the students that we support. She has truly immersed herself into the position and become an expert in all of the multi-platform education programs that we provide. In the interviewing process, Corin made it clear that she loves to help people and feel that she is making a difference. That is very apparent in her work with over 100 Veterans with whom she communicates on a regular basis. She dispenses just the right amount of compassion and tough love to help our students to make the most of their time with LearnKey and gain the certifications they need to advance their careers”.

We are so fortunate to have Corin as part of our team, and for fun, let us share a little bit of insight to her personally by way of these questions:

Continue reading “LearnKey’s Newest EOM: Making a difference one Veteran at a time!”

CEO Open Letter: “Vet to Tech” Program helping U.S. Veterans get Job Ready

Just over two years ago I took over the role as CEO of LearnKey, Inc, a trusted educator for over 26 years. Our educational courseware has helped over a million students to acquire professional development education, career ready skills, and industry recognized IT certifications for career development, new job preparation and or advancement.

Looking back, one of the greatest experiences and most exciting things to see has been the creation of our LearnKey Veteran Services team – a three year old dedicated group of support and career counselors within the company who currently support over 100 U.S. veterans transitioning from the military who are ready to work in entry and advanced IT Technical Support positions. Most of these veterans started gaining IT experience in the service, and are now completing six to eight months of online education and achieving globally recognized IT certifications from CompTIA, Cisco, Microsoft, ISC², Mile2, and more. Most of them will have at least one (if not multiple) certifications in the coming weeks and they will be looking for employment opportunities.

We are not a recruiting company, and want no fee – just the opportunity to help these great job candidates, who served our country and are job ready, find rewarding IT career pathways in U.S. companies.

Help us find our returning veterans career paths – If you own, lead, or work for a company interested in interviewing these veterans and quality tech support candidates, please contact Brian Tremelling, LearnKey Veteran Services Program Manager (btremelling@learnkey.com) directly. Additionally, hiring veterans can allow employers to take advantage of tax incentives (when applicable) and many of the veterans who go through our program qualify.

Again, please join us in supporting our transitioning troops by interviewing one of our job ready veteran candidates for your IT support needs. There is no cost to tap into this network of talented individuals, only opportunity.

Thank you and with kind regards,

Jeff Coruccini
CEO LearnKey, INC.

New Releases for the week of 11/4/2013

We at LearnKey have been busy preparing new courses and learning materials for you. In the past week, we released two items:

Routing and Switching Fundamentals 2013, Part 1

In the first of our Routing and Switching courses, LearnKey expert Tom Carpenter teaches learners how to plan, configure, and operate simple WAN and switched LAN networks using Cisco products. Users will gain skills such as implementing Cisco 2800 and 3800 routers, routing techniques, and tips and tricks for keeping routers in top running condition.

  • Learn fundamentals to successfully build a simple network
  • Understand and optimized best routing techniques
  • Tips and tricks to keep your routers functioning at top performance

Visit our website for more information on this course and purchasing information.

Dreamweaver CS6 Workbook

This companion workbook to our Dreamweaver CS6 course includes over 90 pages of activities, questions, and projects to aid in bringing LearnKey courseware to the classroom environment. The workbook is included with all education license purchases of our Dreamweaver CS6 course.

View the Dreamweaver CS6 Workbook sample

Stay tuned for more releases coming soon!

When it comes to quality: In Ben we trust

Another exciting month for Better Learning Systems as we head into the 4th Quarter of 2013, and it has all to do with our great people. At LearnKey, we are celebrating another Employee of the Month, and this month our congratulations go to Ben Lee and all his hard efforts to go above and beyond in becoming one of our best quality control specialists in our Cedar City, UT office.

His efforts go far and beyond a quality control specialist – he is a true team player who has demonstrated his efforts through actions, not words.

Here’s what his leader had to say about him during his nomination:

“Ben is an energetic, optimistic, hard working, and friendly team player. He understands most of our LearnKey training & courseware very well, therefore increasing the accuracy of our training. He always gets his work done by the end of the day, and will rearrange his schedule to make sure it is done. He identified a problem with how we keep QC records, and implemented a new QC record keeping process. Ben has always been willing to take on work that isn’t necessarily QC related, and completes each task very well”.

One of his most recent accomplishments was when Ben learned we were wanting to improve our A+ course; he took the training, provided detailed notes on what part of our courseware was effective and what could be improved, then went and took the exam passing the first time! Every challenge we bring to Ben, he has overcome it both in doing the actual work and in dealing with the people involved. He goes above and beyond what is expected and required for a QC person in order to make sure he is doing his job correctly. He has done such a great job with his own work, resulting in less and/or easier work for his team and supervisor.

Enough about work, take a minute to learn more about Ben with our fun survey and who he would take to dinner if he could pick anyone:

Continue reading “When it comes to quality: In Ben we trust”