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Posts from September 2009

FIND YOUR TRAINING PARTNER ”

This blog is going to deal with what I consider the ideal training company. And, yes, you can discount my opinions if you choose as I am going to use ITC Learning and its thirty-two year existence as that example. Make of this what you will but I strongly believe that you should be looking for a similar training provider, regardless of your training needs. You will find one or more vendors-of-excellence...

LEARNING THAT NO LONGER WORKS ”

Alvin Toffler wrote: “The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Toffler and many others have acknowledged that individual learning styles are unique and should be addressed more successfully. Other thinkers have acknowledged that today we live primarily in a “television learning culture.” People get much more of their information and form many more of their opinions...

PROPOGANDA THAT FAILS ”

Today, there is too much fascination with authoring software technology. “Do it yourself, and while you’re doing it, do it our way using our latest and greatest PowerPoint conversion software,” is shouted out loudly by each and every e-Learning authoring software manufacturer. Haven’t we heard that hype before? How many wire recorders, beta players, Super 8 cameras, and similar “latest and greatest” tools are languishing in the dust of thousands of corporate...

WISE UP, EDUCATION ”

From a story in The Washington Post this week: “Only 11 of more than 60,000 Maryland high school seniors did not graduate last spring solely because they failed the state’s new required exams, state officials said Monday as they claimed success in a program meant to bolster academic rigor. . . . Although the results are encouraging, some are asking how tough the tests could be if only a tiny percentage of...

YOUR TOP EIGHT TRAINING CHALLENGES ”

Periodically we should all take an inventory of our training initiatives and objectively evaluate how they meet the following tests: • Have your training initiatives been directly tied to your company’s business objectives? • Have you performed a “cost/benefit” analysis for each of your training programs and, if so, has each contributed positively to your organization’s bottom line? • Have you tailored your training to fill individual “knowledge gaps” or are you,...

TODAY’S BEST ANSWER ”

In the best commercially available e-Learning and digitized CD-ROM programs, video, graphics, and audio do most of the teaching. Experts agree, and the research proves, that active multisensory training is vastly more effective than passive acquisition of information acquired through text or lectures. Good e-Learning and digitized CD-ROM 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...

THE LEARNING CONTINUUM ”

Real education and training must be more than the organized teacher-led group environment we know today. It must be a process that fully accommodates the uniqueness of individuals. And it will only achieve that goal when “intimidation,” a natural by-product of group instruction, has been erased. Video-based (with optional full audio) media instruction is uniquely positioned to serve as that ultimate eraser. Students are either self-motivated for learning and growth or they...

A TITLE IS NOT A TITLE ”

The buyers of technology training solutions have changed. And, in many instances, that has not been a good thing for learning outcomes. Up until the last decade most training purchases were made on the individual plant level. Those purchases were typically made by individuals who either had actual plant floor experience or by professional trainers. Recently, driven by e-Learning technology, many of those same purchases are made at the corporate level and,...

OUR LIFEBLOOD ”

We should all look forward to the impending fall of the wall between business and education. That wall has separated the two sectors for many years, but the pressure of global economic competition is leading many to plan for that barrier’s demise. The historical separation is between business and that sector of the educational system responsible for the 75% or so of high school students who are not likely to earn a...

e-LEARNING THAT ACTUALLY WORKS ”

Meaningful interactive e-Learning is reliable andconsistent training. It has a user-designed interface for navigation ease. User-designed means that the home screen gives the learner instant access to every aspect of the training without having to navigate through multiple clicks. The e-Learning that actually functions well is always available, easy to customize, with easy to update content. One can access it, update it, or customize it at any time because it is available...

EVALUATING TRAINING FOR TQC & JIT ”

There are two operating philosophies that are common to all organizations—whether the enterprise engages in industrial manufacturing, service, distribution, finance or any other kind of business—Total Quality Commitment and Just-In-Time. Total Quality Commitment seeks to develop a dedication to the customer, a predictable process of manufacturing, operations, or service, a climate in which employees strive for continual improvement and the desire to get to the root causes of problems. The TQC philosophy...

THE THREE ‘NOW’ LEARNING ANSWERS ”

Imagination is the single catalyst that drives creativity. One of America’s greatest scenic artists, Robert Edmond Jones, defined that process most appropriately when he wrote, “Imagination is the faculty for realization.” No one can create anything meaningful unless their imagination can foresee that created object or concept already realized in their own mind. Imagination is not fantasy. Fantasy is inner-directed, while imagination lets us envision worlds outside ourselves. And, if we are...

ON A LIBERAL EDUCATION ”

Today I’m going to diverge a bit from the basic themes of previous blogs and comment on higher education — specifically, liberal education. Liberal education as defined by the Association of American Colleges and Universities is “a philosophy of education that empowers individuals with broad knowledge and transferable skills, and a stronger sense of values, ethics, and civic engagement . . . characterized by challenging encounters with important issues, and more a...

MORE FOR LESS ”

A recent Department of Education study found that by increasing an individual’s training by 10%, productivity is increased by 10%. Compare that to only a 6% productivity increase when adding 10% to workers’ hours and only a 3.2% increase when increasing employee stock ownership by 10%. E-Learnitng, combined with a valid Skills Assessment Test will add even more value to these numbers. Most importantly, if you choose wisely and conduct your training...