We've just noticed that PENS has offered congratulations to dominKnow Learning Systems for adding the new standard to the list of industry compliances and standards supported by our Learning Content Management System, the dominKnow LCMS.

Those congratulations were extended last December when we released version 5.1 of the dominKnow LCMS, which included PENS compliance. PENS particularly applauded what it describes as dominKnow's "impressive time to market", noting that we announced support for the standard only 90 days after members of the dominKnow development team had attended the inaugural PENS Plugfest. The Plugfest got under way on Sept. 19, 2006, in Vancouver B.C., and we rolled out our PENS compliance on Dec. 19. The Plugfest was attended by members of the dominKnow LCMS development team, who were also attending the simultaneously-held AICC meetings. Adding PENS to the list of e-learning industry standards we already conformed to (which include AICC and SCORM) was a pretty easy decision for us.

In fact, when I asked why we made the move to add PENS support, our CTO Luke Hickey said, "because it's cool."

In addition to the coolness factor, PENS helps us help our users get their online learning content into the hands of learners more easily, by simplifying the way e-learning courses move from a content and authoring system like our LCMS to a Learning Management System (LMS). In fact, the PENS specification describes this as "single click publishing" - and it doesn't get much easier than that.

Bersin and Associates rolled out their predictions for 2007 last week, announcing that this will be the year that "E-learning 3.0 arrives."

The company is predicting that organizations will make greater and better use of self-published training resources.

And dominKnow Learning Systems is ready to help make that happen. Version 5.1 of the dominKnow LCMS includes support for managing and deploying podcasts as part of an organizational learning strategy. We see this as opening a lot of doors for organizations and their employees or team members. It gives learners another channel for learning, particularly auditory learners. It frees up the learning process, allowing learning to take place without requiring an online connection. With the RSS feed capability of the podcast feature, learners can have content forwarded to them without logging even into the LCMS.

It also gives organizations an opportunity to encourage subject matter experts and even learners to help create learning content. It's fairly easy to create an audio file - almost anyone can do it on their computer. So now it's easy for learners to share success stories or tips, for example. In this way, everyone in the organization benefits from each learner's knowledge and experience.

We also hope it will open new creative options for designing learning. Last month, the E-Learning Queen offered some observations on ways the best-written television shows generate interest and hold a viewer's attention - and how these could be used in educational podcasts. More creativity will flow, no doubt!