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Posts from June 2018

SUCCESS — OR, FAILURE

Periodically, you should step back and objectively evaluate your e-Learning initiatives.  From a design point of view, there is an excellent set of criteria listed in an article, “eLearning Course Evaluation: The Ultimate Guide For eLearning Professionals,” by Christopher Pappas in eLearning Industry:  “In order to effectively evaluate your eLearning course at all stages, you need to check 7 elements:   First of all, you need to identify your eLearning objectives. What...

TRAINING TODAY

Training differs from education in many ways.  Its aim is to improve the skills necessary for a better life through increased job performance.  And, rightfully, the emphasis today for both training and for education has shifted from the provider to the receiver — allowing us to now focus our attention on learning and the learner. “.  .  . The main purpose of training is to ensure that all employees have the technical...

BOTH ARE IMPORTANT

We must start planning better training and education tracks for both our workforce and for the thought leaders needed in our subject-matter disciplines.  Instead of sending everyone into the same college track, we must recognize that interests, talents and innate skills vary from individual to individual.  It’s that recognition that must guide us. With that in mind, let’s first examine the most forgotten members of our population — our emerging, and most...

E-LEARNING’S FOUR CHALLENGES

As practiced today, e-Learning, too often, fails to meet current and evolving business considerations. Why?  Four major reasons.  First, because of the re-purposed PowerPoints being passed off as e-Learning.  These pseudo courses are never even completed by two-thirds of the trainees assigned to take them.  They are full of lots of words and information — but have little training value.  Consequently, the skills needed for the shop floor are not readily acquired....

SKILLED TRADESPEOPLE & MAINTENANCE WORKERS

I was encouraged a couple of years ago to discover an article in the OMAHA WORLD-HERALD by Janice Podsada, “Community Colleges, Local Unions Offer Apprenticeships, Programs to Train for Jobs Increasingly in Demand.”  Here’s an excerpt: “ .  .  .  The demand for skilled tradespeople — from plumbers to electricians to diesel mechanics to auto mechanics and welders — is on the rise. An older generation of skilled workers is retiring and,...

THE BUYING PROCESS (revised)

One of the problems in BLOG-writing is that some of the most important ideas are written about once and then never seen again.  Such is the case with our “buying process” discussion, which I try to revise and reprint every few years.  So, because it is such an important subject, here are the salient steps (with revisions) you should undertake in “The Buying Process.” More “live to regret it” decisions are made...

SKEWING TRADITIONAL EDUCATION

We’ve touched on this topic before but, unfortunately, the movement is growing.  And it’s becoming scary as our nation is beginning to lose sight of the traditional intent of a university education and, instead, perverting that purpose toward a job-skills bent. Don’t get me wrong.  Community Colleges already exist for just such a reason and I strongly applaud them.  But, I am interested in the universities that provide majors that introduce our...

SUCCESS HAS MANY DEFINITIONS

I have had multiple careers in business, training and education while successfully living through the many societal changes that have occurred.  But, the change that bothers me most is the current over-emphasis parents place on their children’s grades — an emphasis they mistakenly pair with success. Unfortunately, what those parents mean by success is almost always equatable with money.  “Make straight ‘A’s’ in school so that you will be admitted to a...