Blended learning through multiple media has been hailed as the savior for large corporations looking to provide education, training services, and constant care for their community members, both customers and employees. For mid-sized companies the solutions are not so readily apparent or affordable. Most of these organizations have not even overcome the hurdle of learning to attract a large audience. These companies would welcome the challenge of educating their many site visitors. However, it is difficult to establish a case for spending a significant portion of the company's budget on alleged turnkey software that may create more complex instructional issues than it solves.

Enterprise educational portal solutions and a variety of "push" technologies have proven semi-effective for the corporate giants, but the rest of the industry has been unable to follow their lead due to limited resources and a limited understanding of the positive impact. Executives often base software acquisitions on personal experiences and philosophies. Many managers who are deciding which software is necessary do not understand how their own staff members live their lives. They have no idea how difficult it is to just "get by" without being burdened with continuous technology education. Don't forget that people have to first learn and then use this software.

In an effort to coerce adoption, previous systems and processes are abandoned due to restrictions of turnkey software. Allowing the technology developers to guide your business processes and strategy is like allowing the dog to drive your car. It's difficult to understand the reasoning behind jumping on the technology bandwagon and leaving your business plan behind. I'm not trying to add insult to injury for those of you who are mourning a dot-com. I'm simply stating why it didn't work. Weak strategy.

When were community members given a choice to take this electronic leap? Before the world was so swept up by the amount of money that could be produced by automating processes, did anyone ever question what it all means and where the eBusiness is headed? The "shock of the new" is enough to keep many executives distracted from the limits of a shortsighted vision.

Maybe the process wasn't automated because it wasn't worth implementing. I hope it didn't become a "priority" simply because it was profiled in the media and included in the latest "best of breed" applications. Companies developing applications based on their specific needs will not only prosper, but also thrive, by using homegrown solutions.

We are seeing mass message delivery meeting the requirements of community members today with continued acceptance and growth into the future. The accessibility to anyone anywhere is a powerful tool to be leveraged since education of community members no longer relies on a specific schedule or geographic location.

Companies are now poised to leverage the potential of Community Experience Development(TM) illumination through innovative and proven technological methods. These services provide members with positive support and resources that enhance involvement and develop a long-term vision for online learning success.

The importance of training community members to improve communication ability, to increase skills while overcoming obstacles, and to advance knowledge cannot be overstated. It is imperative, however, to develop advanced instructional design prior to undertaking an eLearning initiative. Technology is intelligent, but it only represents what we put into it.

As the technology industry engulfs us, our society is flocking in droves to learn what we can about these automated approaches. People feel the desire to be a part of something larger, and the Internet is the global standard. This seemingly cold and unapproachable technology has been positioned as particularly seductive and exciting by the media. Every possible opportunity is being provided for individuals to learn these new skills and become new consumers.

However, at times it seems that society is responding much like sheep being herded together. Communication is tracked at every interval and that is supposed to be comforting due to recent acts of terror. While this personal scrutiny may feel intrusive to those of us who would prefer to think of ourselves as autonomous within the global consciousness, it represents a necessary surrendering of our freedoms. There is a definite advantage in allowing the companies we patronize to understand our habits in order to serve us more effectively. I certainly feel as uneasy with these developments as anyone who cherishes privacy, but I'll do my duty if it allows me to keep my 1-click(TM) settings on Amazon.com. My time is more precious than my online privacy.

Certainly, an essential component of effectively integrating these solutions is the presentation of an online source for all community education. Offers of information, products, and services unique from all other educational opportunities are appealing for current and future community members. Content that is up-to-date and easy to navigate and utilize is essential for clients seeking new members. This methodology is applied to the business community when seeking to sanction employees with a strong community intranet and personal portal for continuing education and training.

The concept of education is relative when querying a broad cross section of a community. The tone and mood of the language and images are often altered when presenting to a specific audience. Companies are continually diminishing their brand in order to allow their community members to choose their own styles, colors, typefaces, and font sizes. Each member's personal experience is defined by a set of individual preferences, and this encourages increased interaction with the provided content.

The providers of these options can now learn infinitely more about the psychological and personality profiles of their audience than they would have if they had simply served up their own set of brand preferences. Is the brand dead? Of course not. Is the brand experience altered? Absolutely. These concessions are often essential in preparing members for a community learning experience. Interactivity can serve to open their minds to additional possibilities that they may not have otherwise encountered. They will be storing knowledge before they even realize that they are being educated.

The empowerment of these educational experiences translates into positive connotation, and that is what keeps the members returning. The degrees of user freedom provided by competing organizations determine the members' emotional reactions and attractions to the brand. Consequently, companies whose Web site communities offer more personalization options achieve the highest return on their community investment.

Conversely, frustrations resulting from removing application options that were once offered can discourage the user who is trying to learn and result in the loss of a valued community member. "Give the people what they want!" is the new online mantra, but everything should be practiced in moderation.

The development of interactive educational applications that not only assess aptitude and memorization skills, but also provide demographic and ethnographic information to the organization will naturally augment the return on investment. The integration of valuable educational data with the individual's community membership profile and personal characteristics behind their actions further increases the significance of this reported information.