According to Information Week magazine, “McLearning is Moving to A Web Menu.”

McDonald’s will be giving employees a break from conventional training with servings of online learning. In October, the home of the Golden Arches will launch a web-based pilot program to teach its workers proper customer service and standards for hygiene and food storage.

“McDonald’s has been training its employees for 50 years. They’re already experts at how their employees respond and learn best,” says a spokesman for DigitalThink, the E-Learning provider that will help design the courses and host and deliver them. The challenge will be taking that to the web and receiving the same results.

That’s not all from the web. Consider the Virtual Focus Group: Information Week magazine reported, “In the fickle world of consumer products, companies are turning to the Internet as an alternative testing ground for new product ideas. Polaroid Corporation used the Internet to find out what features teenagers wanted in the company’s i-Zone sticker-photo instant camera. General Mills Inc. employs the Web to test ideas for new cereal and snack foods. Ford Motor Company seeks consumer comments online about its plan to develop a sport utility vehicle with a gas-electric hybrid engine.”

Transforming tomorrow

Language is an important aspect of our lives. It is the way we communicate and stay connected to others in our social circles, specifically, and the world in general. Not all language is words. With the popularity of the Internet and email, it was difficult to communicate emotion. That’s when emoticons, or smileys, were born.

Often used by the younger generations, you may see these pop up in your email messages. Or, you might have wanted to express more feeling into your own email messages. Here is a second helping of emotions you can add to your next email message:

• 8-) - Wide-eyed or glasses
• :-I - Apathy
• :-o - Shocked or amazed
• ;-( - Feel like crying
• :’-( - Crying
• }-) - Mischievous
• :-/ - Undecided
• :-* - Kiss
• :-# - My lips are sealed
• }( - Mad

Published: August 15, 2001

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Kathy Lamancusa is a trend strategis, professional speaker and author who tracks the forces that impact our lives. Over 1.6 million copies of Kathy's books are in print, and she has appeared on numerous television and radio shows including Oprah! She is a public speaker who can offer organizations entertaining and enlightening peeks into what is coming and what is shaping change so that they can better reach their own customer bases.