NEW YORK, April 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- "Next Learning, Unwrapped," a new book authored by Nick van Dam, director, Deloitte Consulting LLP and a chief learning officer, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, details how social networks, tablets, smartphones, wikis, blogs, performance support, online communities, gaming, and other social and collaborative learning technologies are becoming an integral part of the day-to-day learning environment of many organizations and rapidly transforming the way businesses accelerate development of their people around the world.

The book presents new technology-driven learning concepts in the context of nearly 40 business cases from leading organizations that use technology-based learning to achieve business goals. Business and learning leaders can use these success stories and lessons learned as blueprints to embed technology-based learning deeper into the culture of their organizations.

"Technology has created a fantastic opportunity to provide people around the world with 'any time, any place' access to knowledge and learning that can help them to be more successful professionally," said van Dam,. "Essentially, this book 'unwraps' the concept of technology-based learning and provides organizations options to consider relative to this trend."

The learning examples covered in the book are designed to help address the educational and development needs of many of today's businesses, including:  

• How to effectively re-skill and up-skill the workforce and accelerate the learning time to meet strategic business goals
• On-demand and social learning that help attract and develop talent, and create a workplace that can continuously motivate people as business requirements shift
• Cost-conscious learning applications that help a distributed and virtual workforce effectively respond to changing marketplace requirements
• Learning formats that can support the learning preferences of different generations in the workforce and are designed to provide engaging and effective learning experiences

"Today's organizations require effective and efficient learning for their global workforces. People need to acquire knowledge and develop skills that support their individual performance and drive business results. The case studies presented in this book demonstrate ways social and collaborative technology-based learning can influence and transform the workplace," says van Dam.

For more information on Next Learning, Unwrapped, visit www.deloitte.com/nextlearning.

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

SOURCE Deloitte