An important issue surfaced (or re-surfaced) last weekend to help put the spotlight back onto a subject that should affect us all. The light shown on a subject I’ve posted on several times: “The demise of Civics in our schools and the resultant disconnect that has now plagued our national discourse for several decades.” While watching Bill Maher last weekend, his opening monologue ended with his recognition of a few Rhode Island...
“He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which re-jects progress is the cemetery.” (Harold Wilson, former British prime minister) “Successful businesses have always adapted readily to change, but at no time in living memory — and likely at no point in history — has adaptability been a more desirable business trait than it is today. Given our recent economic difficulties, in combination with accelerating technological sophistication,...
Price — not, Value — is what’s driving far too many e-Learning purchases today. That’s backwards! Ultimately, that will cost your organization significantly more money in the long run. Why? Because if your trainees do not retain the information you’re trying to teach, the reasons they’re being trained in the first place will not be satisfactorily addressed. And, those reasons include such items as routine maintenance, scrap and plant efficiencies. You need...
Several times in the past eight years I’ve posted about the importance of troubleshooting skills, the key attribute that separates the good from the mediocre with all your plant maintenance personnel. The most succinct definition of “troubleshooting” that I’ve ever read comes from an article by Stephanie Krieger, “Troubleshooting 201: Ask the Right Questions,” which was published in TechNet Magazine: “There are two rules that always apply, whether you’re troubleshooting hardware or...
The current political discourse troubles me. In some ways, it brought back the ironic echoes in “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, a poem I first encountered many, many decades ago. This blog has concentrated on issues relating to training and education. Today’s post will be short as I feel, when listening to our nation’s current political leaders speak, “education” is disrespected. And, my education holds the highest place in my life experiences...
Working in industry in 2019, in addition to job specific requirements, calls for a solid background in learning fundamentals such as safety, work practice, tool use, computer familiarity, mathematics, plus reading and writing. These are all important elements in any modern industrial training program and particularly for those employees working in electrical maintenance, mechanical maintenance, operations, and instrumentation. And, while the number of industrial workers has declined, the United States will continue...
While there is no hard research to prove the following statements, logic will tell us that, in spite of the shaky percentages used, for most learners the conclusions are probably accurate: “. . . The experts generally agree that simulations boost learning retention rates dramatically. An often-cited study conducted by the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Sciences in Alexandria, Va., found that on average, students retain 5 percent of what they hear...