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Posts from November 2011

FORGET THE PROCESS

Unfortunately, many of our current practitioners of E-Learning are focused on “the process” and, no longer, on “the learner!” The result is a decline in technology instruction as a significant contributor to the would-be learner. Videotape, interactive laser videodisc, DVD and CD-ROM — all! — contributed to the advances in skills education and training. But, with E-Learning (as it is too often currently practiced) we have taken a big step backward. The...

NUGGETS

EDUCATION PAYS! Breaking down the October U.S. unemployment numbers we find that: a) there is a better than 14% unemployment rate for Americans who do not have a high school diploma; b) the rate is close to 10% for high school graduates; and, c) for those who have one, or more, college degrees the rate is right around 4%. IS RESHORING BECOMING REALITY? In a recent “Hartford Business” article by Brad Kane,...

“THE LEARNING REVOLUTION”

The training requirements of today’s workplace are intensifying. A recent National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) undertaken by the Department Of Education has reported that, “Growing numbers of individuals are expected to be able to attend to multiple features of information in lengthy and sometimes complex displays, to compare and contrast information, to integrate information from various parts of a text or document, to generate ideas and information based on what they read,...

“TROUBLESHOOTING IS KING”

Last week, we addressed the issue of “Basic Skills” training as an overlooked — but, critically necessary — part of any successful training program. In fact, it should be the initial focus of all workforce learning. A solid background in fundamentals such as work practice, proper tool use, applied industrial mathematics, reading and writing are all critical elements in any meaningful skills training program. However, the desired goal of any skills training...

“RE-VISIT THE BASICS”

Organizations, generally, do a good job of task-specific training — where a specific problem has been identified and, then, a training initiative is immediately implemented in order to fix that problem. Likewise, organizations often lay out successful task-specific training paths for new hires and for the retraining of existing employees in multi-craft responsibilities. However, most companies are not so good at improving the basic knowledge skills required for every job within the...

CHOICES THAT WORK TODAY

Far too often, our opinions of “the best way to educate/train” are limited to our own experiences — those we grew accustomed to during our own public school and college educations — sometimes, long ago. Unfortunately, when one is confined in their thinking to “what worked for me,” they close their mental doors to the exciting promise of evolving educational and training technologies. They also become blind to the emerging new learning...

FORGET CBT – AND, QUICKLY!

A few months ago I was invited to review several E-Learning courses marketed by a Midwestern training vendor. This particular vendor has a large number of offerings targeted at many industries. And, their catalog describes their solutions as “skills training.” As we shall soon see, that catalog description could not be further from the truth! What I saw astonished me. It was like traveling backwards in a time capsule. Looking at those...

THE BAD & THE GOOD

Whatever training periodicals you read today (either online or in print), all signs appear to point to E-Learning as the training medium of choice. But have you taken the time to thoroughly examine the positives and negatives of E-Learning, as it is practiced today. It seems that the more you learn about E-Learning, the less simple it becomes. Sure, it’s available 24×7 from almost anywhere. And, it’s extremely cost effective. But, just...