“Michael Allen's 2009 e-Learning Annual” is a new book written to help educators and workplace learning leaders improve their quality of e-learning. Composed of the insights and best practices of its contributors, the 2009 annual frankly and objectively presents lessons learned and critical steps to e-learning success.

Mendota Heights, MN, May, 2009 -- Michael Allen's 2009 e-Learning Annual a collection of the most current insights and best practices to help educators and workplace learning leaders create, purchase and apply quality e-learning programs more effectively, is now available. The 2009 Annual provides a wealth of applicable examples and guidance for anyone contemplating e-learning, from students to professionals.

“Each of the papers included in this volume identifies changes to what has become typical of e-learning in some way. As intended with this series of annuals, each year’s papers include contemporary thought and specific recommendations. What was not expected (and has not happened) was that all authors would agree. Indeed, there is a rich range of perspective that will cause serious readers to think about their own work in e-learning from different perspectives, whether the divergence of the authors’ views from their current perspectives is slight or radical,” says Michael W. Allen, Ph.D., editor.

As organizations universally turn to e-learning to reduce costs and meet learning and performance needs, they make many regrettable mistakes—mistakes that can be avoided but rarely are because common sense leads to them. Michael Allen's 2009 e-Learning Annual frankly and objectively presents lessons learned and the critical steps to success.

e-Learning proves to be more difficult to design and use effectively than its ubiquitous use would suggest. Indeed, long-term visionaries, researchers and leaders in the field are frequently adjusting their perspectives as dictated by observed outcomes. That is to say, what has been realized with e-learning has often been far different from what might have been expected, regardless of whether expectations were shaped by research, analysis or early implementations.

With this book, readers can improve the quality of e-learning they buy, create and use. Contributors to the volume openly and explicitly state the lessons they’ve learned through decades of first-hand exploratory work. The advice and direction so bluntly shared is applicable—whether for training or education—in corporations, non-profit organizations, military or schools.

“Michael Allen’s Annuals” probe and question common practices in search of solid guidance for success with e-learning, and this edition is no exception: if the controversy presented in this striking collection of papers doesn’t startle readers, the variety of prescriptions for a successful path forward should.

“Michael Allen's 2009 e-Learning Annual” is part of the Pfeiffer Annual series, first published in 1972.

Praise for “Michael Allen’s 2009 e-Learning Annual”:

• “A good ‘kick-in-the-pants’ for e-learning professionals….Michael Allen’s latest ‘Annual’ challenges a few notions about e-learning with a keen selection of authors and topics that creates an invigorating ‘state of the industry,’ chocked full of insights you can use right now.” — Matthew Jones, vice president, Leadership Development and Training, Essilor USA
• “An excellent collection of opinions and insights into the current and future direction of the e-learning industry. These thought-provoking papers make it very apparent that there is a vast amount of knowledge and passion that will continue to drive the development of the industry.” — Cody Cluff, senior e-learning manager, HSBC Asia-Pacific
• "A phenomenal resource that captures the principles and practices that lead to highly effective e-learning all in one place!" — Corinne Miller, former director, Motorola University and founder, InnovatingResults! Inc.

Get your FREE DOWNLOAD of “Michael Allen’s 2009 e-Learning Annual” preface and Larry Israelite’s article on ‘Age-Related e-Mentia”.

About Michael Allen

Michael W. Allen, Ph.D., pioneered multimedia learning technologies, interactive instructional paradigms, and rapid-prototyping processes, bringing each forward into leading corporate enterprises. He is the chairman and CEO of Allen Interactions Inc., which builds universally acclaimed custom e-learning, provides strategic learning consulting, and trains e-learning professionals in collaboration with ASTD. Formerly, Allen was the founder and CEO of Authorware Inc., a revolutionary e-learning authoring tool. Authorware Inc. merged with MacroMind/Paracomp to become Macromedia, which was later acquired by Adobe. With a Ph.D. in educational psychology from The Ohio State University, he is an adjunct associate professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, a sought after conference speaker, and a prolific writer.

About Allen Interactions Inc.

With more than fifteen years of experience, Allen Interactions has an unrivaled track record in delivering dynamic enterprise custom e-learning solutions that serve employees, partners and customers at many of the world’s leading companies. Allen Interactions has designed and developed the highest impact custom e-learning and blended learning available for leading organizations like Apple, Essilor, HSBC and Motorola. Blending best practices with technology, content and service, Allen Interactions assists these companies that need to execute business change, drive and improve performance, accelerate speed to profit and improve people effectiveness.