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Posts from September 2011

THE FORGOTTEN NECESSITY

There is a creative aspect of effective learning that is often overlooked. Particularly with most current E-Learning examples we see courseware that has been “engineered” and with little capability to motivate the trainee either to learn or remember. “Cookie cutter” E-Learning (repurposed PowerPoint and written procedures) abounds all around us. And, of course, with disastrous consequences. (These reading-based courses have abysmal retention results, if for no other reason then the fact that...

“INCREASING PROFITABILITY”

How important is training investment to business and industry? A recent international study conducted by Bo Hansson of Malardalen University suggests that, “the single most important factor associated with profitability is how much is invested in training . . .” Moreover, a recent U.S. 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...

EXPOSE & PRACTICE

My career in visual-media training goes back a long way — to the earliest days of videotape instruction (black and white, as color cameras were not an option). In addition, there was no profession called “Instructional Design.” Rather an SME prepared the content (all factual with only the uniqueness of the camera work and rudimentary hand-drawn graphics to provide the motivational elements) and, then, the SME became the on-screen talent. Later, the...

“PROACTIVE TRAINING” Too often, new training initiatives are merely reactive solutions to present problems. For example: “We’re producing too much scrap!” “The same pumps need bearing replacement too often!” “Too many on-the-job accidents are occurring!” While it is understandable that reactive training can often become a short-term necessity, organizations that want to increase efficiencies and company profitability become proactive in their training plans and goals. Proactive Training in the process and manufacturing...

“PHONY TEST RESULTS”

Most of us use some form of testing at the end of each training initiative we offer. That testing occurs, often in paper form, at the end of a traditional lecture/reading course. It also occurs electronically after an individual comes to the end of most media courses. We tend to look at the testing results as “proof” of a particular training initiative’s effectiveness. “Leslie” scored a 43 on the pre-test and an...

DISTANCE LEARNING & CCs

Today, almost every large university has some on-line offerings for Distance Education. Further, it is estimated that, in any given semester, approximately four million American students are taking at least one on-line course. Both synchronous and asynchronous learning models are being used extensively. My interest, however, lies in the Distance Education being offered by our community colleges for the specific purpose of skills acquisition. Community colleges are a vital part of their...

REWRITING PARADIGMS

Today, technology-based industrial training is being implemented in several broadly defined ways: • “Stand-Alone,” using myriad computers in a variety of settings in which the worker-to-be-trained works alone. • “Classroom Assisted,” where an instructor or facilitator leads the training while the workers-to-be-trained augment the live instruction with discreet technology assist. • “Asynchronous Online Learning,” where all participants can be networked and the instructor can participate in a technology-created setting. Too often the...

AN UNTRADITIONAL EDUCATION

While many public school systems around the country re-opened their doors in August, the day after Labor Day remains the traditional date for the beginning of the school year. When thinking about today’s significance, it reawakened an “education story” that I first wrote about two years ago: “Big Jay”, as he was known in the community, dropped out of school in the tenth grade. He decided that school had failed to serve...