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Posts from August 2011

THE ENDS — NOT, THE MEANS!

In so many areas of life, technology has made significant contributions. But, unfortunately, technology innovations, too often, become institutionalized. And, there’s the rub. Professional IT personnel can become very excited about the things that technology can do — and so they start stretching the technology to achieve their own satisfaction. Consequently, they can often lose sight of their technology’s goals and end up complicating the lives of the people who have to...

TAKE A SECOND LOOK

It’s probably no secret to you, but most current E-Learning is a far cry from being an effective learning platform. As a term, E-Learning has been with us for more than a decade now. So, why has it failed to meet the high expectations assigned it by American business and industry. Why? Two major reasons. First it has failed to meet the ROI requirements of business. Much of the E-Learning spin has...

PURCHASE THE RIGHT SOLUTION “

When selecting courseware solutions, you should look for: a) content accuracy and completeness; b) the course’s designed learning objectives; and c) the production values — which should be based on full motion video and optional word-for-word audio, if you are going to communicate effectively with your trainees’ typical learning culture. Today we’re going to examine b) the course’s designed learning objectives as it is one of the three major criteria that will...

PARTNERING

Choose your training vendor — carefully! There are just too many choices out there today. No single person can keep up with it all. Reading the trade periodicals and newsletters helps. Attending the expo at the leading tradeshows exposes you to the plethora of solutions available. But, the best way — by far — is to work with a vendor’s sales representative whom you have grown to trust. We all know that...

SO, WHY TRAIN?

I’ve never met a a corporate executive who wanted to spend money on training! And, in a perfect world, none of them ever would! In general, companies do not invest in training because they want to — they invest in training because they have to. Yes, all too often, money is spent on training only as a reactive event. Something breaks too often; something doesn’t work the way it should; too many...

WELL WORTH YOUR TIME

In my estimation, the August 7 “Opinionator” column by Virginia Heffernan in THE NEW YORK TIMES, “Education Needs a Digital-Age Upgrade” is a must-read. ( http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/education-needs-a-digital-age-upgrade/ ) In reviewing a new book, “Now You See It,” by Cathy N. Davidson, Heffernan writes: “Simply put, we can’t keep preparing students for a world that doesn’t exist. We can’t keep ignoring the formidable cognitive skills they’re developing on their own. And above all, we...

E-LEARNING: THE IMPOSTERS & THE EFFECTIVE

Let’s stop beating around the bush! This current “E-Learning craze” is confusing the learning-picture for many trainers and corporate executives! Most current E-Learning is garbage! It reflects the oldest and least effective of the technology training solutions (i.e., CBT of the 1980’s, when we were using our earliest computers to emulate books). So it is today when E-Learning examples are nothing other than re-purposed PowerPoint and written procedure adaptations. The amazing learning...

WE MUST RE-DEFINE LITERACY

What are the true “reading literacy” facts today? Only 24 percent of this nation’s 4th graders are able to form opinions from what they read, and only 34 percent of our high school seniors can. The majority of our working adult population cannot comprehend beyond a third- or fourth-grade reading level. Opportunity knocks! And that knocking your imagination should hear is for the full-motion, optional audio, fully branched, multiple learning-style accommodation programming...