Effective online solutions for learning and managing competencies

Dear Customer,

We at Discendum ensure the continuity of our services and the accessibility of our services is at an excellent level.

Our staff are currently working remotely, which is common for us even under normal circumstances. Discendum’s internal guidelines are tailored to the current situation and our services continue to operate reliably and in the agreed manner.

We inform our customers of any changes in the situation as needed. There are currently no service level changes in sight.

Best Regards,

Tuomas Kuusivaara
CEO

We thank our customers and partners for the past year and wish everyone Happy Holidays & Successful New Year 2020!

This year we directed our Christmas present funds to Baltic Sea Action Group’s work towards a healthier Baltic Sea.

Welcome to Priima breakfast event for associations on Jan 23 in Helsinki! With Priima LMS, online training is easy and cost-efficient for associations too. Come and hear how Sukeltajaliitto (Finnish Divers’ Federation) has taken over online training and how Discendum has supported it with Priima!

The event is organised in Taitotalo Congress Centre. The program starts with breakfast at 8.30 and the speeches will continue until 10.30. Please note that the event will be held in Finnish.

Check out the event details and register here by Jan 15!

Welcome to the brand new HR Executive Nordic 2020 event!

HR Executive Nordic 2020 is an event focused on HR management and development solutions that is organised on Jan 30 in Kattilahalli, Helsinki. The event offers inspiring speeches about current HR related topics as well as great opportunities for networking.

Our e-learning services, Priima LMS and Totara Learn, suit well the training challenges of organisations of all sizes and sectors. Come say hi to us at the event and we’ll tell you all about them!

Check out the program and get your tickets from the event site soon!

We are taking part to Finland’s leading industry trade fair in September!

Subcontracting Trade Fair is organised in Tampere Exhibition and Sports Centre on Sep 24-26. The fair brings together industrial companies, decision-makers and experts. Annually 20,000 visitors and 1,000 exhibitors from over 20 countries participate in the event. The theme of this year’s fair is Sustainable manufacturing.

We will be exhibiting Priima LMS and Totara Learn, which both suit well also the organisations of the industrial sector. You can find us at our stand D10, come and say hi!

You can pre-register as a visitor to the event for free. More information about the event can be found here. We hope to see you soon!

FOK wanted an easy-to-use and modern learning platform that enables the development of online training with new technology. They set up an invitation to tender in order to explore the LMS options on the market and as a result, Priima got the best ratings. FOK started distributing their online trainings in Priima in the beginning of 2019 and creates inspiring trainings using e.g. an animated online tutor and interactive videos. Read the whole story here!

Smoothly from Optima to Priima!

We are pleased to invite you to Priima Breakfast Event in Helsinki on May 23! During the morning, participants will hear, among other things, how a transition from Optima LMS to Priima LMS happens smoothly. The event is organised at Elva Event Loft in Kruununhaka. Participants will be served breakfast from 8:30, and the programme will last until 11. Please note that the event will be held in Finnish.

Read more about the event and register here by May 15. We have limited seats available!

Discendum is taking part again in the upcoming ITK conference that will be held in Aulanko, Hämeenlinna already for the 30th time! The conference takes place on March 20-22 offering more than 170 different kinds of presentations and events. The theme of this year’s conference is about the possibilities of change.

Program

On the first conference day, visitors can participate in a national teacher tutor day that is organized in addition to several workshops. The aim of this event is to bring together teacher tutors, coordinators and administration to share ideas on tutoring in a relaxed and inspiring spirit. You can find the program and registration for this event here (in Finnish). On the second and third conference day, participants get to hear numerous interesting speakers discuss topics revolving around this year’s theme. You can find Discendum from the stand number 328, come say hi to us!

Registration

You can register for the conference and the workshops here (in Finnish). Early bird rates are still available until March 8 - so be quick!

We hope to see you in Aulanko!

Useful links:

ITK conference
ITK exhibition

The year 2019 has started out great with interesting product development projects. While we’re working on the newest features of Priima, we also continue to develop the already existing features. During the spring, there will be improvement for example in the communication between the trainer and the trainee in Priima. Read more about our product development and other news here!

Welcome to Badge Finland network’s meeting in Helsinki on Friday Dec. 14th at 8.00-12.00! In addition to interesting presenters, the event offers a great chance to meet other like-minded people.

The event will be held in Finnish and is free for Badge Finland network’s members. For others, the registration fee is 50€ + vat. Check out the event program and sign up here!

Mika Piipponen, Network Coordinator , from EHYT ry will present how they are using Open Badges in volunteer work and educational activities. He will also explain what is the role of Open Badges in developing the educator network and what kind of challenges and possibilities have arisen because of their usage of badges. He will also go through how they plan to use badges in Vahvistamo’s activities (Vahvistamo is a Center of Expertise for the youth).

The webinar will be held in English and is open for anyone. Join us on Tuesday Nov. 13th at 4pm EET. Details can be found here.

Satu Järvinen, CEO, from SkillSafari will present a great Open Badge use case in an upcoming OBF Academy webinar. The webinar will air live on Tuesday Oct. 9 at 2 pm BST. Joining the webinar is free for anyone so make sure you join!

SkillSafari recognises and validates skills with the help of Open Badges and that way creates successful careers for people taking part. Read more, mark your calendar and join the webinar here.

A straightforward LMS belong to everyone

We are pleased to invite you to our Priima Launch event in Helsinki! The event will be held at MOW Mothership on Friday Oct. 19 at 8.30-11.

Our vice president Tuomas Kuusivaara will open the event and CINO Eric Rousselle will continue by telling about the product development’s journey to launch. Priima’s product manager Anna-Maria Näreikkö will showcase Priima at the end of the event. We will also be available until noon and hope to continue free discussions with participants after the official programme. Don’t miss this!

Please note that the event will be held in Finnish. You can read more here.

Subcontracting Trade fair celebrates its 30th year!

We are taking part in the Subcontracting Fair that’s organised in Tampere, Finland on Sep. 25-27. The event turns 30 this year and aims to be the most significant subcontracting happening in northern Europe as the fair has constantly developed and become more and more international.

Subcontracting Fair gathers together industrial companies, experts and decision makers. We believe that our new and straightforward LMS Priima answers to the training needs of these organisations wonderfully. Come and meet us at stand D10 and get to know Priima better!

You can pre-register to the fair for free here. You can read more about the fair here.

Discendum is going to exhibit at the Esimies ja Henkilöstö 2018 fair for the first time on Sep. 4-5th. Leadership and personnel are at the centerpoint of the exhibition and the event has established its place among Finnish business leaders and personnel management professionals. The event is taking place at Messukeskus Helsinki.

This is an excellent opportunity to get to know our newest product Priima LMS. Versatile and adaptive Priima scales to any need and small as well as big training operations are easy to implement online.

In addition, we are exhibiting our Open Badge Factory platform that makes creating, issuing and managing Open Badges easy and efficient. Come and learn how you can make the skills and achievements of (e.g.) your staff visible in a modern way.

Check out our company page for the event here. You can find us at stand 3H18, see you there!

Using Open Badges for Internal Skills Directory

The last OBF Academy webinar before summer break will air live on Monday, June 25, 2018! Participants will hear a customer case by Ian Gardner from BMI Healthcare. Ian will present how BMI Healthcare tries to expose internal expertise via an Open Badge directory. The project has started to develop a better understanding of expertise and ending silos between teams and locations.

This webinar will air live on Monday, June 25 2018 at 2pm BST (9:00 am EDT and 16:00 EEST.). Read more and join, it’s free!

We have been developing and providing high quality online learning services for many years and we have always been strongly committed to offer the best data security and personal data protection to our customers. As a European service provider, we welcome the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”, 679/2016) and believe it brings transparency and trust in personal data processing.

We’ve updated the FAQ sections of our Open Badge Factory and Open Badge Passport platforms. From there you can take a better look at what minor changes does GDPR bring to these two platforms. OBF and OBP.

We will also organise a GDPR webinar on our next OBF Academy on May 15 at 2pm GMT and hope that you can join us! Read more here.

Discendum is taking an active part in the upcoming ITK conference in Aulanko, Hämeenlinna on April 11-13. On the first day of the event ITK offers a wide range of workshops; we also organise two anticipated workshops. On the second and third day participants will be able to see inspiring presentations and explore the interesting exhibition.

Wednesday April 11

Discendum organises two free workshops on Wednesday:

10.00 - 13.00

Badge Finland network meeting

The workshop is in Finnish and you can read more details about it here.

13.00 - 17.00

Priima-oppimisympäristö tutuksi

The workshop is in Finnish and you can read more details about it here.

Thursday and Friday April 12-13

Come and visit our stand, number 328, we’ll be there! You can also take part in the conference and see some interesting presentations.

How to register?

You can register for the conference here. Early bird rates are available until March 26.

Useful links:

ITK

Discendum organises three Open Badge courses this February and March both online and in a form of a workshop in Helsinki. All courses are in Finnish.

Read more about Open Badge Osaaja basic course and sign up here.

Read more about Open Badge Osaaja expert course and sign up here.

Read more about Open Badge Osaaja workshop and sign up here.

Discendum wishes everyone Happy Holidays and a successful year 2018!

Stay tuned next year as we have new and interesting things in store for you. Follow our social media accounts and stay in the loop.

The traditional IT-päivät conference gathers together IT experts on Nov. 8-9 in Jyväskylä Paviljonki. Believe it or not, the conference is being organised for the 40th time this year! Organisers include University of Jyväskylä and Jyväskylä Applied Sciences.

Discendum is going to attend as an exhibitor. We will also give a presentation regarding our new learning management system that concentrates on explaining more about its structure and interfaces. You can register for the conference online and find more information here.

Open Badges introduced to everyone in Finland!

Badge Finland network has gotten a logo and a brand! It’s possible to notice the shape of a snowflake with a modern twist in the logo and the clean colours also represent the beautiful country that is Finland.

Knowledge about Open Badges is spread across Finland with the help of Badge Finland network and it helps forwarding the implementation of the concept in all kinds of organisations. The network also has a big role in forwarding as well as supporting cooperation between different sectors.

The kickoff meeting of the Badge Finland network will be organised on Friday November 24 at 8.45-12.00 in MOW’s space in Helsinki. We hope you can join the awesome kickoff!

More information and registration.

Discendum at popular Subcontracting Fair this September!

This will be the first time we are taking part in the Subcontractig Trade Fair that will be held in Tampere. This massive event gathers together companies, experts and decision makers from the manufacturing and industry business sectors. Around 20,000 people visit this industry leading exhibition every year. The theme this year is Partnership Network. So head to Tampere’s Exhibition and Sports Centre on Sep. 26-28.

Discendum can be found from booth D10! You can read more about the Subcontracting Trade Fair here.

OBF Enterprise - stellar solution for serious badging!

A new service level called Enterprise has been released of our Open Badges issuing platform Open Badge Factory.

Enterprise level serves especially big businesses, universities and associations that have multiple sub-organisations and different user groups to manage. This service level is meant for organisations that want more precise tools for managing users and badges, the possibility to issue an unlimited amount of Open Badges as well as the possibility to advertise their badges in Open Badge Passport now and in the future. Enterprise customers have also the possibility to install their own dedicated Open Badge Passport and start using Badge Record Storage.

Read more about OBF Enterprise here.

Summer is finally here and so are this year’s Badge Summit and ISTE Conference & Expo! Open Badge Factory and Open Badge Passport platforms will take part in both events.

Badge Summit will be held at ESC20 Training Center in San Antonio, Texas, on June 24. The aim of Badge Summit is to gather together different professionals and thinkers from K-12, Higher Education, Industry and Cultural institutions and elsewhere and link them with some of the most inspiring Open Badge thought leaders and service providers. It’s a day packed with interaction, networking, presentations, learning and sharing.

Open Badge Factory leader Eric Rousselle will take part in the Badge Issuing Platform Roundtables session as well as have a presentation later in the afternoon titled What Can I Do With My Badges? More information and tickets to the Badge Summit can be found here.

ISTE 2017 Conference and Expo will be held at Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, on June 25-28. This massive event is a globally recognised happening and brings together different professionals and service providers working in education. Around 18,000 attendees take part each year.

We will be exhibiting Open Badge Factory and Open Badge Passport from June 26-28 and attendees can find us at stand number 224. More information and tickets to the ISTE Conference & Expo can be found here. Welcome!

Optima Connect is a learning management system of the new generation that has been built based on new and innovative technology. The platform is being developed in close connection with our customers with an Open Innovation philosophy benefitting from customer feedback and development ideas as well as with our team that has 15 years of experience in service and product development.

For the user, Optima Connect is a completely new kind of a learning management system that is user and mobile friendly, offers pedagogical support as well as versatile integration possibilities.

Because of Optima Connect’s open interface it can be easily integrated with other systems. Optima Connect has also been designed to support the cooperation and business models of different organisations and networks.

The future is here with Optima Connect - first version will be released at the turn of the year. Stay tuned!

Our invoicing address for paper invoices and email invoices will change on April 1st 2017. You can check our current and forthcoming invoice addresses here.

ITK conference will be organised in Aulanko, Hämeenlinna. This time the conference is a bit earlier on April 5-7. Mark your calendar and take part in the biggest Finnish conference about digital teaching and learning!

Wednesday April 5

Discendum organises two free workshops on Wednesday.

Morning

Badge Finland! -workshop: We welcome anyone interested in making the Open Badges concept better known in Finland to this workshop no matter what sector you represent.

The workshop is in Finnish and you can read more details about it here.

Afternoon

Optima uudistuu! -workshop: We welcome everyone interested in developing online learning, our Optima customers and people interested in a new and modern online learning environment.

The workshop is in Finnish and you can read more details about it here!

Thursday and Friday April 6-7

Come and visit our stand (number 328), we’re happy to talk! You can also take part in the conference and see some interesting presentations.

How to register?

You can register for the conference here. Early bird rates are available until March 23.

Useful links:

ITK

In honour of the year 2017, we decided to refresh and revamp our website and brand. We hope that visitors will now be able to find the information they are looking for faster and easier. Don’t hesitate to contact us in case online learning solutions and Open Badges are current for your organisation now or in the future.

Discendum’s staff was ready to try modeling and you can see the results in the pictures on our website. The pictures were taken in Discendum’s offices in Oulu and Tampere by the great photographer Wille Nyyssönen. Check his website here!

You can give us feedback regarding our new website via Twitter.

We are excited to announce that Discendum became a Platinum level partner for Totara LMS at the beginning of the year 2017! The fact that we have experience on installations involving 20,000 users was for example one of the reasons why we rose from Gold level to Platinum level. We offer our Totara LMS customers hosting, consulting, implementation projects, theme design and support services. We also offer translation services for Totara’s core product. You can read more about Totara LMS here..

Discendum organises one Open Badge course in November 2018. Please note that the course is in Finnish. Both customers and non-customers are welcome to join!

Read more about Open Badge Osaaja basic course and sign up here.

What does our new learning management system Priima look like? Come to Helsinki to hear more about our newest product and see what a straightforward LMS looks like. Organisations of all sizes can easily implement online training with the help of Priima. It’s cost-efficient and offers modern tools. Don’t miss the Priima Launch!

Where? MOW Mothership, MOW Arena Event Space, Pieni Roobertinkatu 9, 00130 Helsinki

When? Friday Oct. 19 2018, 8.30-11.00

Programme: We will serve participants breakfast from 8.30. You can also stay and talk with us after the official programme as we will be there until noon.

• 8.30 Breakfast
• 9.00 Welcome! - Tuomas Kuusivaara, vice CEO
• 9.15 Product development’s journey to launch - Eric Rousselle, CINO
• 10.00 Priima showcase - Anna-Maria Näreikkö, Product Manager
• 11.00 Free socialising with Priima team

Registration: Registration is closed.

Useful links:

Priima LMS

Discendum organises two online Open Badge courses in September 2018. Please note that the courses are in Finnish. Both customers and non-customers are welcome to join!

Read more about Open Badge Osaaja basic course and sign up here.

Read more about Open Badge Osaaja expert course and sign up here.

Discendum organises three Open Badge courses this February and March both online and in a form of a workshop in Helsinki. All courses are in Finnish.

Read more about Open Badge Osaaja basic course and sign up here.

Read more about Open Badge Osaaja expert course and sign up here.

Read more about Open Badge Osaaja workshop and sign up here.

Digitalisation and a learning platform that has versatile tools open new doors for a lot of organisations. The development of skills and competencies becomes easier and managing reports becomes more effective. Come and hear how our customers Ensto and Patria use Totara Learn. Please note the event will be held in Finnish.

Totara Learn breakfast event

Time: Wednesday Nov. 15th, 8.30-11.00 am.

Place: Main post office, conference room Taksa / Lakka. Mannerheiminaukio 1B, Helsinki.

Program:

8.30 registration + breakfast

9.00 Welcoming speech - Tuomas Kuusivaara, VP, Discendum

9.05 Flowbox: Videoiden tuotanto ja julkaisu helposti Totarassa - Tuomas Kuusivaara, Discendum and Jani Penttilä, CEO, Flowbox

9.15 Case Ensto: Ensto Academy - askel lähemmäksi erinomaista työntekijäkokemusta - Maria Vickholm, Ensto Pro Training Manager ja Peter Patrakka, Manager, Business Information Systems, Ensto

9.45 Case Patria: Oppiminen näkyväksi - Kampus (Totara Learn) osaamisen johtamisen välineenä Patriassa - Katja Viiankorpi, HR Specialist, Patria

10.15 Totara Learn - täyden kympin suuntaviivat - Jani Lemmetyinen, Project Manager, Discendum

10.45 Conclusion and socialising

Registration: Please read more information here in Finnish.

Useful links:

Totara Learn

Ensto

Patria

If your organisation has just started to use Open Badges or you’re thinking about it, this is the right training event for you. Anyone interested in this topic is welcome no matter what sector you represent. Discendum will organise a free Open Badges online course in April 2017. The training will give a good base for designing your own badge system and gives instructions on how to use Open Badge Factory and Open Badge Passport services. After the training, the participant will be able to design and issue an Open Badge and knows about the possibilities the concept offers.

The training is done in Finnish. If you want to read more and sign up for the workshop, you can do it here (in Finnish).

If your organisation has just started to use Open Badges or you’re thinking about it, this is the right training event for you. Anyone interested in this topic is welcome no matter what sector you represent. Discendum will organise a free Open Badges workshop in Helsinki. The training will give a good base for designing your own badge system and gives instructions on how to use Open Badge Factory and Open Badge Passport services. After the training, the participant will be able to design and issue an Open Badge and knows about the possibilities the concept offers.

The training is done in Finnish. If you want to read more and sign up for the workshop, you can do it here (in Finnish).