“APPLIED TECHNICAL COMPETENCE”

February 2nd, 2012

For organizations in the process and manufacturing industries, applied technical competence is the basis for increasing productivity and quality while minimizing downtime and re-work.

The IOP (Institute of Physics) describes competence as: “’the ability to perform activities to the standards required in employment, using an appropriate mix of knowledge, skills and attitude.’ All three aspects must be present if someone is to be effective in the workplace. To improve competence you need to increase not only your knowledge, but also your understanding of how that knowledge can be applied; your skill in applying it; and the attitude to apply it correctly.”

Effective training is the path to successful applied technical competence and, specifically for process and manufacturing companies, knowledgeably designed multi-sensory media instruction will give you the best results. Such courses use workplace situations and terminology, providing an atmosphere of practicality for the employee.

With knowledgeably designed multi-sensory learning, employees understand the course material faster and retain more, allowing them to apply more of their new skills. Such courses allow employees to learn at their own pace which gives organizations the flexibility to schedule training in order to meet individual needs.

Avoid those courses that convey most of their instruction through words, phrases and sentences. As we have well learned by now, more than 40% of our workforce does not read above a 4th Grade level. Rather, the learning culture of their individual lives has, most often, centered around television and gaming screens. But, instead of disparaging television as a learning evil, insightful individuals have adopted the multi-sensory experience of full motion video, audio, graphics and stills to enhance the learning experience for everyone.

In spite of this awareness, both well intentioned trainers and less responsible vendors have converted their written procedures and PowerPoint presentations into an E-Learning environment and, mistakenly, labeled it “training.”

Not true! Not even plausible! That type of E-Learning is “information” at best (and, only for those who read well) — and, charlatanism at worst.

If trainers in the manufacturing and process industries are truly committed to their training initiatives they will choose multi-sensory learning as the best choice for increasing their employees applied technical competence.

More on Tuesday – - -

— Bill Walton, Founder, ITC Learning
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Tuesdays & Thursdays)
e-Mail: bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”

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“MULTI-SENSORY LEARNING”

January 31st, 2012

Multi-sensory media instruction is rapidly invading the world of learning – and, with positive results. Today, we see excellent examples in games/simulations as well as with the more traditional platforms of CD-ROM and certain E-Learning programs.

Much data relating to multi-sensory media instruction is available, and this data can illustrate the reasons behind the success of multi-sensory learning.

More than anything else, the body of multi-sensory training developed for business and industry brings training efficiency. There are several obvious reasons. Multi-sensory instruction reduces training time. Estimates are that learning occurs 38-70% faster than with traditional classroom instruction, and course content is mastered 60% faster.

Perhaps equally important is that when compared with traditional classroom instruction, multi-sensory training also results in better learning. Studies show that participants increase understanding by more than 50%, resulting in greater learning gains. Participants also demonstrate 25 to 50% higher content retention, and 50 to 60% greater consistency in content understanding.

In the best commercially available multi-sensory programs, video, graphics and audio do most of the teaching. Experts agree, and the research proves, that active multi-sensory teaching is vastly more effective for most learners than passive acquisition of information acquired through texts or lectures.

Effective multi-sensory training programs are also competency-based and real-world in nature. Trainees learn how to perform “hard” or “soft” skills, and they are taught these skills within the context of relevant job or life situations. Being able to see how newly acquired skills or knowledge can improve one’s day-to-day life is the best motivation for adult learners.

Driven by the business sector’s need to show return on investment, effective multi-sensory instruction is also measurable. It has testing elements that measure a student’s incoming skill or knowledge level, and re-evaluates progress upon completion. Most importantly, those tests can be re-used months after initial training in order to assess retention, the bottom-line measurement of successful training.

In addition, when combined with an online Skills Assessment Test, the expensive people-costs incurred when “everyone takes every course” can be dramatically reduced when courses-assigned are restricted to individual Skills Gap needs.

Interactivity is one of the most critical factors for the success of multi-sensory programs. Almost every expert of learning agrees that doing and experiencing are the key elements in the acquisition of new skills and knowledge. Well-designed multi-sensory programs require learners to be active participants in their own learning process, instead of being uninvolved listeners receiving information delivered in a passive environment.

At the heart of the success of multi-sensory training programs is “learner control.” Most high quality programs are designed and used as individualized, one-on-one instruction, with the learner controlling the sequence and path of learning.

Programs that imbed flexible and non-linear design can accommodate a wide variety of learning styles and ability levels. Slow learners, for instance, can spend more time reviewing and practicing difficult material, while fast learners are not penalized by boredom or frustration under an externally imposed pace or path. Optional word-for-word audio (a requirement in today’s E-Learning environment) allows less fluent readers an equal opportunity to learn while, at the same time, the more fluent readers can disengage the audio function and move forward at their own pace. Flexible, non-linear programs can also deliver instruction in varying depths so that it can be used for different purposes.

Without question, multi-sensory instruction has become the ideal training choice. And, with good reason! The research points positively to the phenomenal results multi-sensory media instruction delivers.

More on Thursday – - -

— Bill Walton, Founder, ITC Learning
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Tuesdays & Thursdays)
e-Mail: bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”

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“HARNESSING CHANGE”

January 26th, 2012

From time to time it is a good idea to examine the other companies competing with your organization in the same market segment. By carefully making an unbiased assessment of your competitors you can learn a lot.

What force separates the winners from the losers in your market space?

The same force that has shaped survivors throughout history — their response to change!

Since the beginning of time, it has been those who have learned to adapt to change who have prospered.

How does an organization acquire the skills and knowledge to meet the challenges posed by change?

Through TRAINING!

A successful company needs managers and planners who can comprehend the potential of the changes taking place around the organization — and can then, successfully, utilize that potential by capitalizing on those changes in order to advance their organization’s goals.

It follows that a successful company needs skilled employees at many levels to implement those changes in business strategy, operate new technologies, and keep any revised procedures performing profitably.

There is no longer a question of whether to train. Today, the question is how to provide training that is both effective and efficient.

Effective training is results-oriented. It starts with a company’s goals and works through the organization to define and construct a system that delivers the desired results.

Selecting a quality training program requires both a knowledge of content and an understanding of how to best communicate that content to a workforce that has grown up in a media-based learning culture.

Combining quality training initiatives with the most efficient delivery medium leads us today to a video-based solution — designed by knowledgeable instructional designers and controlled by the individual learner. CD-ROM and certain E-Learning solutions will meet those needs — but, only if they have been constructed around full motion video and word-for-word audio.

Whether you build it yourself or purchase your training solutions from a responsible vendor, multi-sensory instruction will help your organization successfully navigate the troubled waters of change. Your company will then gain greater market share along with increased growth and profitability.

More on Tuesday – - -

— Bill Walton, Founder, ITC Learning
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Tuesdays & Thursdays)
e-Mail: bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”

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“AT LONG LAST!”

January 24th, 2012

With last week’s announcement by Apple, I can safely predict that education has taken a giant step forward in the deliverance of better learning to many more students:

NEW YORK—January 19, 2012—Apple® today announced iBooks® 2 for iPad®, featuring iBooks textbooks, an entirely new kind of textbook that’s dynamic, engaging and truly interactive. iBooks textbooks offer iPad users gorgeous, fullscreen textbooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, unrivaled navigation and much more. iBooks textbooks can be kept up to date, don’t weigh down a backpack and never have to be returned.

For more than two decades, education has trailed business and industry in their commitment to technology learning. And now with Apple’s announcement, the many positive results technology training has delivered to the nation’s workforce is about to be enjoyed by our student-learners.

Why did it take so long?!? Why were so many of our educators so blind to the seismic changes that have taken place in the dominant learning culture of our country?

Business knew! America’s manufacturing and process industries knew! The American military knew!

It was no surprise to those entities that in the past half century most of our news and information has been delivered by television. They also saw clearly that retention rates were skyrocketing for those individuals who were enjoying interactive technology instruction along with the newer learning technologies invading the gaming/simulations world.

More than two decades ago, Interactive Laser Videodisc learning saw the earliest increased retention returns, although limited to the very few “early adopters.” However, with the advent of CD-ROM and media-based E-Learning the adoption has quickly spread until today these technology learning choices have become the primary tools for adult learning and increased retention.

If Apple and its book publisher partners can deliver on: “fullscreen textbooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, unrivaled navigation . . . ,“ more and more students are going to see increased retention rates resulting in better learning.

Creating textbooks in the learning culture that our students find most familiar is a sure win!

More on Thursday – - –

— Bill Walton, Founder, ITC Learning
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Tuesdays & Thursdays)
e-Mail: bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”

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“THE NECESSARY FOUNDATION SKILLS”

January 19th, 2012

In order to stay competitive, today’s organization has to realize maximum productivity from each and every employee.

While investing training dollars exclusively in specific task skills training (i.e., “Centrifugal Pump Maintenance”), too often, the company ignores the basic skills knowledge gap that exists throughout their organization. Unfortunately, when they take the time to examine that basic skills gap, many find that their employees simply don’t have the necessary basic skills knowledge to perform their jobs effectively.

And yet, a working understanding of applied industrial math, as well as the necessary reading and writing skills significantly affects on-the-job performance!

The required fundamental skills in an applied industrial math curriculum should include everything from whole numbers to decimals to statistics. Basic reading and writing skills should address everything from procedures and instructions to reference materials and technical manuals.

Effective basic skills instruction in the business world should include “real world” situations, allowing employees to apply what they learn to their own jobs. Using well-designed self-paced, individualized training allows the learner to master the basic skills that their prior exposure to traditional education may have failed to communicate.

The result? More confident, productive employees who are more likely to succeed with the opportunities they encounter as they learn to translate these newly discovered basic skills into better on-the-job performance.

Don’t assume your employees have the requisite basic skills to perform effectively. Measure their basic skills gap — and, then address it with knowledgeably designed media-based training programs. You’ll soon discover that basic reading, writing and math skills are a necessary foundation for successfully acquiring the maintenance skills your organization requires.

More on Tuesday – - –

— Bill Walton, Founder, ITC Learning
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Tuesdays & Thursdays)
e-Mail: bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”

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“LEARNER CONTROLLED INSTRUCTION”

January 17th, 2012

Media instruction has always been a designers’ medium. That was true with videotape, interactive laser videodisc, DVDs and CD-ROMs. And, so it is today with online learning.

In fact, the only applicable phrase for effective E-Learning instruction — “instructional integrity” — does not belong to the new Merlins with their magic technology. That phrase is the province of flesh and blood human beings — the instructional designers of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Media instruction has never been an evolving electronic gadgetry world. It is rather one more step in a natural historical chain that has led us from Socrates and Plato to the E-Learning world of today.

E-Learning and multiple-media instruction is part of the informational and instructional evolutionary process that has taken us beyond storytelling, the printing press, and radio wave transmission. It is a communication tool. It makes possible more efficient information transfer and more effective learning.

Who then, among us, must we look to — to lead us forward? Certainly not the manufacturers of technology platforms. By their very nature, they must remain “box sellers.” Gutenberg spent his adult life perfecting a machine that was instrumental in bringing knowledge to the world he knew. His contemporaries owed him a great debt. But, knowledge was attained only through the conceptual transfer that took place between the printed words of an author and the eyes and minds of that author’s readers.

So it is today with E-Learning. The promise of E-Learning will only be attained when the applications designer can effectively communicate with the users’ senses — be they sight, sound, and/or touch. The human animal remains a sense-taught creature. And, E-Learning, along with the newest “Games/Simulations” technologies, provides the best artificial platform available today for stimulating the senses of a learner.

Not everyone can be an effective E-Learning designer. In fact, very few can. But, the few that can should lead us. Those few will show us how to use the new E-Learning technologies for better education and training. Some will build effective commercial programs. Some will build effective custom application programs. But, the few that can will build those education and training applications around one basic tenet: learner-controlled instruction, based on full motion video or animation plus optional word-for-word audio control.

We must guard ourselves against infatuation. All the new technologies hold promise. All can be effective tools, but none of them are answers. The answers of this new decade will come from an emerging breed of “authors” and “artists.” Those who know that training and education are irrevocably linked today — linked by the necessity of transferring control to the learner.

More on Thursday – - –

— Bill Walton, Founder, ITC Learning
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Tuesdays & Thursdays)
e-Mail: bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”

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“CHEATING AMERICA & OUR CHILDREN”

January 12th, 2012

Unfortunately for both our children and our country’s future, public education has morphed from a “culture of learning” into a “culture of testing.”

Regurgitation of facts and information has become the nearly sole emphasis of our nation’s public school systems. Ridiculously, the value of our public schools is judged almost exclusively by standardized test scores.

And, our children lose — as does the future strength of this nation. Creativeness, lateral thinking and questioning used to be three cornerstones of the best in public education — all contributing to America’s successful march toward prosperity and leadership.

Education, rightfully, should be about thinking and questioning. It’s the questions that should be sought and not just the answers.

Premises need to be questioned before acceptance. And, acceptance needs not be a group reaction. Society loses when we all begin to think alike.

Too many of us embrace testing because we often place all of our eggs in the “memorization basket” – or, at least, we’re entranced by the surface appearance of that basket.

According to Professor Ron Solorzano of Occidental University, “We are obsessed with tests,”.

“Merely having a number associated with something makes it sound worthwhile, even if the number isn’t all that valid,” writes Dean Robert J. Sternberg of Tufts University. “The problem is not the tests themselves. (The problem is) they are assigned a value way beyond what they actually have. It has become like a cult.”

What can parents do?”

Well, it’s worth paying attention to our children when they come home from school. Are they asking lots of questions about the subjects they encountered in class that day or are they repeatedly absorbed in a daily memorization process as they get ready for their next school day and the many attendant tests? If you find that their school is failing them, pick up the slack yourself

Ask the questions. That’s the key. The answers are the easy part.

Knowing the “Whats” and “Wheres” is not always better than knowing the “Hows” and “Whys.”

More on Tuesday – - -

— Bill Walton, Founder, ITC Learning
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Tuesdays & Thursdays)
e-Mail: bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”

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“E-Learning Pitfalls”

January 10th, 2012

It’s a pretty safe bet that most of you have moved at least some of your training initiatives into an E-Learning environment. An equally likely assumption is that most of you have been experiencing some disappointing results with those initiatives.

Let’s look at the typical hurdles that must be overcome if your E-Learning initiatives are going to provide the positive returns your organization expects.

First, and foremost, for E-Learning ultimately to prove successful it must have top management “buy-in.” No initiative is going to be very successful if it is not wholeheartedly endorsed by the leaders within your organization. If, on the other hand, your management regards E-Learning as a “something to do only if there’s sufficient time” activity, chances are it will fail.

Secondly, are the E-Learning initiatives you are contemplating designed for the modern learner?

Today’s learner expects multiple-media instruction. They have grown up watching television and playing games on a computer device — and they expect the same media-rich experiences in their media instruction. Above all, is the E-Learning you are using based on a “full-motion video and optional word-for-word audio” design — a design that will prove absolutely necessary for the more than 40% of the workforce that do not read above a 4th Grade level?

Thirdly, have you checked the E-Learning content you’re using with a subject matter expert in your organization? Does the content promote the necessary skills for the tasks to be assigned? If not, it’s a waste of time and money.

E-Learning is both the present and the future. But, only the E-Learning initiatives that meet the three above mentioned criteria will give you the payback your organization expects.

You’ll be well served to re-examine the E-Learning initiatives you already have in place in order to pinpoint why the results have been somewhat disappointing. You’ll find one, or more, of the answers you seek in the “Big Three for Modern Learning”: a) top management buy-in; b) multiple-media instruction; and/or, c) content-appropriate.

More on Thursday – - -

— Bill Walton, Founder, ITC Learning
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Tuesdays & Thursdays)
e-Mail: bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”

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“INDUSTRIAL SKILLS TRAINING”

January 5th, 2012

Industrial Skills Training is a branch of training designed to develop the skills and knowledge required of workers in the process and manufacturing industries.

Working in industry today requires a solid background in learning fundamentals: safety, work practice, tool use, computer familiarity, mathematics, plus reading and writing. These are all critical elements in any modern industrial training program and particularly for those employees working in electrical maintenance, mechanical maintenance, operations, and instrumentation.

While the number of industrial workers has declined, the United States will continue to rely on manufacturing and process activities for the foreseeable future. However, changes in American business are resulting in an increase in the skills required of industrial workers.

In 1950, 80% of all jobs in the United States were classified as unskilled. Today, 85% of jobs are classified as skilled, meaning that the importance of effective Industrial Skills Training is more vital than ever.

Not only is it vital to our country and to the world — to be truly effective, training must be provided in the learning culture of the modern workforce — a workforce that has cultivated many of their learning habits from watching television or playing computer games. Much of the information they acquire today comes from what they see and hear on “the box” or from the “game simulations” they play on an electronic device.

Smart corporations and organizations are learning to adapt to that television and “games” culture by providing their employees with multi-sensory media training that can be successfully delivered via video-based E-Learning, CD-ROM or “Avatar-based” simulations. That’s where investment reaps rich rewards today.

The training that returns the greatest value to both the workers and their employers is the training that incorporates full motion video, optional word-for-word audio, and sophisticated instructional design — all necessary in today’s world in which almost half of our workforce does not assimilate instruction written above a 4th Grade level.

What’s more — in terms of training ROI — the investments made in effective industrial skills training have the highest returns on investment. And that should come as no surprise since it is those employees who are tasked with the “where the rubber meets the road” challenges.

More on Tuesday – - -

— Bill Walton, Founder, ITC Learning
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Tuesdays & Thursdays)
e-Mail: bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”

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“E-LEARNING IN 2012″

January 3rd, 2012

Welcome to my first blog of 2012! I hope that each of you enjoyed your very special holidays!

With the New Year in mind, let’s kick it off with an emphasis on the continuing — and, growing — emphasis on the training technology of choice!

Throughout this year, E-Learning is singularly poised to positively impact all aspects of one’s business. It is uniquely capable of making significant contributions to employees, management, shareholders and customers. Organizations now have a learning tool that can improve attitudes, skill levels, communications and the bottom line.

How does E-Learning manage to do all this? Well, if the courseware has been instructionally designed to train (rather than to merely inform) and if the courseware reaches across the various individual learning styles and cultures (full motion video and optional word-for-word audio), no other communication tool can begin to touch its benefits.

• Employees can attain competency levels in less time, which leads to greater productivity. E-Learning that makes use of full motion video and optional word-for-word audio addresses the needs of everyone, be they fluent readers or learners who rely more on media-rich experiences.

• E-Learning is available 24×7 (from anytime, from anywhere, and from any place with a high speed internet connection.

• Uniform content can be delivered consistently and — most importantly with a well-designed program — the benefits of just-in-time learning are always available. This aspect of E-Learning is especially valuable because it can double as a help desk or quick reference long after the initial formal training has taken place.

• Combined with an on-line assessment tool that allows you to tailor your training to skills gaps, E-Learning delivers significant savings in employee time-in-classroom as well as associated travel costs.

We’re going to witness more of this continuing evolution in technology learning in 2012. And, as long as you stay away from the reading-based examples of current E-Learning, the rich paybacks you, your organization and your trainees receive will be the rewards.

More on Thursday—

— Bill Walton, Founder, ITC Learning
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Tuesdays & Thursdays)
e-Mail: bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”

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