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Posts from August 2010

THE KHAN ACADEMY

A story on www.cnn.com caught my attention last week. It was a report of an endorsement Bill Gates had made at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Further research led me to an article in FORTUNE that gave some additional background on Salman Khan and his Khan Academy. “’This guy is amazing,’ he (Gates) wrote. Gates and his 11-year old son, Rory, began soaking up videos, from algebra to biology. . . . Ruminating...

OLDER CAN BE BETTER!

Sometimes “newer is not better!” In the case of skills training, the newer e-Learning technologies do not begin to compare with the learning values designed into interactive CD-ROM training. And, until the infrastructure within our manufacturing and process facilities begins to allow for seamless moving picture transferal, e-Learning will not compete. Knowledgeably-designed interactive CD-ROM training is not simply an audio-visual system designed to supplant learning from reading a workbook. It is a...

IN NEED OF EDUCATION

Like the word “Peace” the word “Education” conjures up a positive response in our minds. Yet, I would maintain that higher education, as currently practiced in our country, is fatally flawed. American colleges and universities are no longer as dedicated to the liberation of the human mind. They are no longer as interested in challenging the human spirits they encounter. Rather, American higher education has turned inwards on itself in an attempt...

IN THE BEGINNING

Those organizations that desire to get the most out of their training programs will routinely begin with an on-line Skills Assessment. The major reasons to begin with a thorough Skills Assessment are: • An awareness of the shortcomings of traditional methods necessary to keep up with rapid change and the global marketplace. • The need for a proven approach to upgrade skills within budget and just in time — in order to...

THE FUTURE IS NOW

Without question, E-Learning is the training-delivery medium of the near future. The allure of more economical and less time-consuming learning, available on a 24×7 basis, places E-Learning in the premiere position. However, with the recent flood of new E-Learning products in the market, customers are faced with an extensive range of programs that have been developed without assurance of quality methodologies. The challenge for E-Learning courseware developers is to ensure that E-Learning...

A BETTER FUTURE

Imagine a system where learners meet clearly stated, performance-oriented goals, acquiring skills and knowledge that are relevant to real-life problems. In this system, designed to enable high performance, learners of all levels meet the objectives with the aid of flexible programs that accommodate varied learning styles and abilities. Learners leave the system with all the skills needed to become a world-class workforce that can respond to changing consumer tastes. Think the system...

A BETTER APPROACH

Historically, an organization has focused certain time and money on educating/training when either some process or function within the organization has gone awry or an edict-to-train has come down from high up in the organizational structure. It is at this point that the trainer or educator has had to focus on the “who-to-be-trained” and the “what-to-use” components. Far too often today, the “who” is overlooked because of the rush to adapt the...

STAY AWAY!

We have spent many a BLOG discussing the attributes of well-designed e-Learning. Many times, we have listed the salient characteristics that are found within effective e-Learning designs. We have emphasized learner-control and increased retention as attributes of properly produced e-Learning. Today, however, we’re going to reverse that story. We’re going to examine the characteristics you should avoid when buying or producing e-Learning. The following items are the “no-no’s” — if you are...

BUYING TRAINING

No one wants to buy “training!” People only purchase training programs when they want to solve a particular problem. Training becomes only a means to resolving issues that management wants to fix. A decade ago, most buying was done at the plant level. Today more and more purchasing decisions are made in the corporate office. When a plant level purchase is made, the decision is generally in the hands of the Maintenance...