While working from home offers the much-needed flexibility in the altered workplace scenario, it often poses a barrier to motivation and rapport-building, especially when new people join the team. What is missed deeply by most is the office hustle – meeting colleagues in-person, working together, water-cooler chats, lunch and tea breaks, and the like.

We at Upside had started feeling the same for some time. Though we wanted our team to enjoy the flexibility of working from home, we didn’t want people to miss out on the perks of working from the office. In light of this, a monthly ‘Work from Office’ (WFO) Day was initiated at Upside Learning in June this year, for all employees, on a voluntary basis. And so, on June 9, 2022, the first post-pandemic WFO Day happened, which celebrated working together in person, with many Upsiders coming to the office for the first time since COVID struck – skeptical, but hopeful.

The buzz of an office, a workstation shared with teammates, meeting them face to face, and experiencing the collective energy of the workplace were priceless. The sudden burst of energy and positive vibes were so evident that even our HR and Admin Teams and support staff, who work in the office every day of the workweek, requested we come in more often.

And so it happened! The WFO day became a weekly affair; meeting (and working together) once a month wasn’t enough for a bustling team like ours. Now, we work from the office once every week, voluntarily. We have to admit, we are thoroughly enjoying it! In-person meetings (with a few members joining in virtually over video calls at times), eating at the cafeteria together, group brainstorming sessions, and impromptu laughter sessions with our work buddies create a positive and motivating environment to work in. WFO days at Upside Learning are the perfect definition of ‘where work meets play’. Why you’d ask. Read on to find out!

The HR Team begins planning for WFO days at the beginning of the workweek, with a short survey being rolled out to the entire team for Upsiders to confirm their attendance so that arrangements can be made. A color theme is also decided and communicated a day in advance to promote team building through color psychology. Yes, we love being quirky that way!

The day begins with catching up with colleagues at breakfast; a fresh start with a fresh mind and a fresh vigor to make the most of the day. The first half of the day literally passes by in the blink of an eye, and we break for lunch. But before that, it’s activity time! The HR and Admin Teams arrange a fun activity for everyone to promote engagement, team-building, and of course, have some fun. There are small prizes for everyone who wins, adding to the excitement of actually playing for the prize. The adrenaline rush instantly influences the atmosphere in the room, everyone feels lighter and more in-the-moment. Lunch is then served. The chitter-chatter in the cafeteria at lunchtime is a sound that, I’m sure, most people missed while being away from the office.

Post-lunch, people look at completing tasks for the day and make the most of WFO with small team meetings or 1:1 sessions to discuss work items. Speaking of 1:1 meetings, AmiTea sessions, which happen on the WFO days are a huge hit! AmiTea is where Amit Garg, Founder and CEO of Upside Learning, has a 30-minute rendezvous with Upsiders who wish to speak with him on matters important to them – it could even be a casual catch-up session. Amit has a treasure of knowledge across various subjects, and it is an absolute pleasure to speak with him in sessions like these. Every Upsider is presented with an AmiTea cup after their AmiTea session – a memento that you can treasure or even use to enjoy your ‘tea’. It is also a symbol of a ‘win’ at learning something new. We have had 10 sessions so far and look forward to more in the coming weeks.

Working from the office once a week also provides an opportunity to celebrate occasions, events, festivals, or any major milestones achieved by the company. As the first in-person celebration of Upside’s achievements for the year, we celebrated our Brandon Hall Group Award wins for 2022! Upside Learning bagged 12 awards this year, 7 of which were Gold and the remaining, Bronze. No celebration is complete without cutting a cake. Can you picture a group of about 60 people cutting a huge cake? That’s Upside for you! The celebrations also included goodie bags being presented to every Upsider who was in the office that day, irrespective of whether they were a part of the winning teams or not. That’s because we call ourselves a family for a reason – every single Upsider is equally important. The highlight of the day was the little postcard inside the goodie bag that read – “You are a Brandon Hall Group Award winner!” The card added a personalized touch and had everyone smiling ear to ear. Appreciation is an important part of our culture, and we practice it through the smallest of things.

With the workplace scenario altered, days like these create memorable moments to cherish. Upsiders now look forward to working in the office once every week. What started off with about 30% of the Upside team and the attendance is now at about 65%. With the way we are going, this number is forecasted to increase; WFO is here to stay, at least for this bunch of people!

Given that we may not be out of the woods yet, in terms of COVID still lurking around the globe, finding an ideal work model as the business environment evolves is challenging. In the meantime, we continue to provide flexibility in work which has always been the central pillar of our approach here at Upside.

Want to join the Upside Learning team? Visit our Careers page – https://lnkd.in/dzADG7Fx to check out the open positions, or share your profile with us at careers@upsidelearning.com.

The post Work from Office – A Post-pandemic Picture at Upside Learning first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

As we look back on the years gone by, we cannot help but think of all those challenges and successes that brought us to where we are. And all those people who have worked with us and partnered with us, and propelled us towards our goals. We feel immense gratitude for milestones like these that remind us of all the man power behind them: our clients, our partners, all the Upsiders, and also the families of all our Upsiders.

Over the years, we have seen the company evolve into a resilient and innovative unit. We are also grateful for the awards and recognition that continue to inspire our enthusiastic and dedicated teams.

On 8th April, we switched this enthusiasm and dedication to “Party Mode”. Here are some moments we captured from the evening:

Here’s hoping for another exciting year ahead as we prepare ourselves for Upside’s 14th.

Cheers!

The post 13 Years and Shining first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Silver in the Best Results of a Learning Program Category

We partnered with the Imperial College of London to create two eLearning modules – Neurotransmitters and Neurodegenerative Diseases – for a Pharmacology course within their MBBS/BSc Medicine program. Students needed to complete the eModules prior to attending related classroom sessions. The aim was to have them attend the sessions with a basic level of knowledge and understanding in place. This would allow teachers to use the classroom time to explore the same content in more depth, introduce more complex content, and focus on higher-level learning objectives.

Students could view the eModules on tablets as well as desktop computers and laptops. The eModules contained high-fidelity explanatory animations (for processes/concepts) and static or build-up displays (for facts/concepts). They included rigorous practice elements, as well as comprehensive post-assessments, to ensure students went into the classroom with a strong understanding of the basics.

The eModules received positive feedback from students. Analysis of examination results for this and the previous year suggested that the eModules contributed to improved student examination performance. Findings from focus groups also suggested that the eModules helped create a richer student experience.

Bronze in the Best Advance in Custom Content Category

We worked with the World Bank Group to create a practice-focused eLearning module to help analytical report writers as well as other non-technical staff write more effectively by putting the Main Message Upfront.

This is a fully responsive eLearning module accessible on desktop computers, tablets and smartphones. It was developed using Upside Learning’s custom-HTML-based Framework for Responsive eLearning Development (FRED).

The module includes two versions of a story to differentiate between correct and incorrect use of the principle, and to show how even in conversation, the former helps you achieve your communication objectives.

A basic set of principles is presented as optional reference content, allowing learners to spend the majority of their time on the practice exercises. These involve building up documents by selecting the best main message for the document and for each paragraph and, equally importantly, justifying it correctly. This strategy was adopted to address nuances in writing and to ensure that learners really think about how principles were applied or whether certain characteristics were met.

The module ends with an assessment where learners must again select the best main message for a document and for each paragraph within it, this time without having to justify their choices.

About the Brandon Hall Group’s Excellence in Learning Awards

The Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Learning Awards are among the most prestigious in the Learning and Development industry. The awards recognize achievements in different categories relating to organizational performance improvement – including learning strategy, learning solution design, delivery modes, technology, measurement and innovation.

What It Means to Us

We are proud to have won these awards in collaboration with our clients. Their inputs and support, the free hand they gave us in terms of solutioning, and their trust in our capabilities, played a key part in shaping the eLearning modules. And of course the creativity, effort and dedication of the entire Upside Learning team! It’s always interesting, challenging and rewarding to create learning solutions that consistently meet learner and organizational needs and deliver results. We hope to continue doing so.

The post Upside Learning Together With Two of its Clients Win Two Brandon Hall 2016 Awards first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

So this time around when we, the Marketing team, sat down to brainstorm on the possible ways to commemorate this beautiful journey, we knew exactly what we wanted to highlight – the values and qualities that personify Upside Learning. And what better way than to leverage the latest web designing technology – Parallax Scrolling?

So here it is – Celebrating 9 Glorious Years Of Learning.

Share it on your social channels and don’t forget to leave back some compliments in the comment box. 🙂

Below are some milestones we achieved in the last 12 months; milestones that truly reflect the meaning of number 9 that I was talking about earlier in the post.

Innovation

We delivered some innovative projects – eLearning on iPads, mEnablement, Responsive Design, to name a few; Introduced new features in UpsideLMS; adopted Tin Can API in our proprietary courseware framework.

Building Relationships

We partnered with various companies that strengthened our presence in the US, the UK, Australia, Middle East and Africa. We also added some new clients to our client list; the number now stands at 165+!

Growth

We witnessed growth across many quarters. UpsideLMS clocked growth of 125% in FY 2011-12, while the company achieved a YOY growth of staggering 97% in FY 2012.

Awards & RewardsWe won two Brandon Hall Awards; a Silver for Upside2Go and a Bronze for our Custom Learning project taking our awards tally beyond 30!

Events

We attended, sponsored a few, exhibited and delivered learning sessions at 9 international, premiere learning events such as CIPD HRD, ASTD ICE, AITD National Conference, Learning Technologies, LearnX, mLearnCon and ASTD TechKnowledge. We also had a special opportunity to facilitate the Corporate mLearning Week in MobiMOOC 2012.

Few Firsts

We launched our independent webinar series, published a stunning infographic on Mobile Learning, and now, created a motion parallax design.

Before I sign off, a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all of you for being with us, supporting us with your comments and views.

The post Celebrating 9 Glorious Years Of Learning! first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Today, in 2012, we have come a long way, but still treading the same path of providing innovative learning solutions.

We feel proud of our achievements so far. Our 8 year story could be summarized as below:

28 awards & recognitions won in 8 years.

200+ clients in 13 countries.

2 world-class products – UpsideLMS & Upside2Go.

Award-winning Custom Learning Solutions.

Few misses. Many hits.

An innovator. A leader.  A legend in the making.

It’s a significant achievement for us both in terms of completing 8 successful years and having earned a name for ourselves in the global market. This has been possible with the trust our clients, partners and you – our readers – have put in and continue to put in us, and the hard work of our team. I thank everyone who has been a part of our journey for their support, and congratulate all our staff members who have helped us get here.

As we complete 8 successful years, we reminisce our journey so far. Here’s a quick video put together by our marketing folks highlighting the important milestones.

The post Eight Successful Years Of Providing Innovative Learning Solutions first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Last week we had an exhibition stand at CIPD’s HRD 2011 at Olympia London – our very first ‘outing’ in the UK. It turned out to be a great show for us with executives from several blue chip companies visiting our stand to discuss their performance and learning challenges.

I suppose a lot of meetings are to follow in next few weeks. This is a good beginning for our new Europe office which started a few months back.

Best Stand 2011 – Runners Up We were pleasantly surprised to be adjudged the Runners Up on the People Management Sponsored Best Stand 2011. Apparently the several mystery-shoppers who visited our stand found our design good, messaging clear, and stand staff knowledgeable, passionate, and courteous. Great show there by the whole team. Here are some images from the event.

Upside2Go – The Star of the Show Of all our products and services it was Upside2Go that interested most visitors. It’s a unique product and a lot of clients are just beginning to consider mobile learning. For those unaware about Upside2Go here’s a quick overview video of the same. Upside2Go helps organization offer both PUSH Learning by delivering mandatory learning/updates as well as allows PULL Learning by allowing learners to pull information / training material as and when they need it (performance support). Also Upside2Go allows for Social/Informal learning and when implemented properly can do a world of good for the global workforce. It is no wonder it was declared the best debut by analysts Craig Weiss at the ASTD show in Feb 2011. UpsideLMS There was significant interest in UpsideLMS too; a triple Brandon Hall Award winner that has kept pace with new technologies. A 3-Tier Architecture, built in Authoring Tools & an e-Commerce  Engine, Mobile & Social Learning Features and the very attractive pricing has made it especially attractive to the visitors. Even people considering Moodle now consider the UpsideLMS as an option. Custom eLearning Visitors were amazed by the quality of bespoke elearning work and the price points at which we offer them. One of them instantaneously said he would be moving away from his London based supplier. Of course we bring the benefit of local sales support and India based development. Check out our Custom eLearning Showcase. Overall it was a satisfying show for us. If you missed the exhibition and would like information or a demonstration of our products or services, get in touch with us at sales@upsidelearning.com

The post CIPD’s HRD 2011 – Good Show! first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

We will be showcasing some of our award-winning custom eLearning solutions, our triple Brandon Hall award-winning, best value LMS and some truly innovative mobile learning solutions. We’ll also be sharing practical ideas on building a strong training function in organizations. We’ll be happy to share how we are currently helping our customers maintain continuous learning and development within the constraints of the current economy. All in all, it’s going to be two days of learning, sharing and winning. And we bet you wouldn’t want to miss it.

Both,Simon, our Sales Director for Europe, and I will be present at booth no. 500 throughout the event.  To pre-arrange a meeting with us, give us a shout at sales@upsidelearning.com and we’ll look forward to chatting with you. Of course there’ll be some exciting offers for people visiting our booth.

The post Meet Us At CIPD HRD 2011, Olympia, London first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Here’s a video – produced for ASTD TK’11 – that summarizes Upside Learning in 60 seconds. I thought it will be good to share will our readers as well. Hope you like it!

The post Upside Learning In 60 Seconds! first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Today, as we celebrate Christmas and welcome the New Year, we wish for you a holiday that sparkles with moments of love, laughter and goodwill, and a year that is full of contentment and joy.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The post It’s Time To Celebrate! first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Our website uses CSS extensively, and now it’s recognized as being world-class in its use. We use our web-expertise for elearning just as effectively as CSS lets us tailor website content for a variety of devices and easy access. We will continue to leverage CSS and other web technology to enhance the user experience. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

The post Upside Learning Website Featured On CSSMania first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.