Between the Lines?Annual Review

If you're like most people, you go into your annual performance review knowing that your boss is satisfied with your overall work. But somehow, as soon as the door to the conference room closes behind you, your heart beats faster and you find yourself twitching your foot nervously. When the conversation finally begins (and, as you suspected deep down, your boss suggests only a few minor improvements), you feel as if you've just escaped the guillotine. It doesn't matter how regularly you receive informal performance updates throughout the year; that annual review is still nerve-wracking.



Imagine, then, the significance of the annual readership survey for those of us at Online Learning Magazine. It's a little like being in a conference room with hundreds of bosses telling you what they think of your work. But at its heart, the readership survey is an incredibly valuable learning tool. It helps us figure out what we're doing well and what we can do better , which is, after all, what any performance review is really about.



We received the preliminary results of our most recent survey in mid-April, and were pleased to hear that you (1,700 respondents) feel we're right on track in the way we cover the subjects you care about. As a group, you said the topics most important to you are corporate e-learning, general how-to pieces (how to motivate learners, for example), news and trends, and case studies. For each of those categories, more than 90 percent of respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with our coverage.*



But those results don't mean we're resting on our laurels. Our readers ranked the Internet and e-newsletters as their favorite sources of information about the e-learning industry , over and above trade magazines, newspapers and newsletters. That doesn't mean traditional media will go away, but it does mean we need to continue making our Web site (www.onlinelearningma...) a valuable resource. We already have several Web-only features (an e-learning stock ticker, for example, and a breaking news section called RoundUp) and we'll continue to add more this year.



In the meantime, keep in touch and let us know what you think of the job we're doing. And to those of you who participated in our 1,700-person annual review, thanks for the feedback!



Amy Sitze, Editor

asitze@onlinelearningmag.com



* When "no opinion" responses were removed



COPYRIGHT Bill Communications Inc. 2001. All rights reserved.