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Posts from April 2013

EDUCATION/TRAINING: Some Differences

From “TRAINING MAGAZINE NETWORK” we find a most interesting blog by Geetha Krishnan that pretty nicely summarizes differences between “education” and “training” Some stray thoughts, in no particular order, gathered over time, on the differences between education and training, from the lens of custom content creation for diverse companies across the world. Education (even vocational education) is far transfer; training is near transfer. Hence the obsession of training with application (“I don’t...

CD-ROMs: THE GOLD STANDARD FOR e-LEARNING

Earlier this week, I explained why digitized and networked CD-ROM training is the best current e-Learning solution for your organization and its workforce. I also pointed out why, unfortunately, other present e-Learning choices (those based primarily on words and reading ability) will fail to give you much of a payback — as evidenced by the “65% failed to complete the e-Learning course” national statistics. So, if you decide to go the digitized...

DIGITIZED CD-ROMs: THE BETTER ALTERNATIVE

We know that the various learning technologies are on the road to obsolescence when the manufacturers of the hardware products they require begin to eliminate them on their new “machines.” So, it is with CD-ROM learning if Apple is the harbinger of events to come. Unfortunately, some of the newer Apple computers have no intrinsic ability to play a CD-ROM. Such a pity for those of us committed to the best in...

e-LEARNING: A Sometime Charlatan

In the article, “From E-Learning Failure to E-Learning Redemption,” Ed Mayberry has a paragraph that nicely sums up the problems with e-Learning — that still exist today: Typical symptoms of bad e-learning courses include poor navigation structure; inappropriate graphics, animation, and interaction; content that lacks chunking; and buried or hidden content. Due to an organization’s rush to use e-learning, instructor-led training materials are often hastily converted using an HTML authoring tool. There...

ASTD EXPO: COMING IN MAY

The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) is the largest training society in the world and, in a bit more than a month (May 19-22), in excess of 8000 people from nearly 100 countries will be attending the annual ASTD International Conference & Expo in Dallas. While the actual conference sessions may be useful to some of you — it is the EXPO, held in conjunction with the ASTD Conference, that...

LEARNING & THE SENSES

The importance of aesthetics in e-Learning design and development is often ignored. For some unknown reasons, the creative artistry that more often distinguishes the great learning experience lies unexplored. And yet, every program or production that we remember is most often the one that appealed to our senses and that, in turn, stimulated our mind to learn, absorb and retain. In their article, “The Impact of Design and Aesthetics on Usability, Credibility,...

FRIENDLY LEARNING

“Usability,” as it relates to e-Learning, is a very important concept. In simple terms, we define it as how user-friendly or appealing a program is to its users. In practice, usability goes deeper than this, and is closely related to how much users actually learn from using the selected e-Learning courseware. For example, from a posting on “designer elearning” by Dorien Peters, we find a list of “Top Ten” principles of usability...

STANDARDIZED TESTS & CHEATING

In previous postings, I have pointed out how learning is diminished when public schools are required to build their school days around continuous testing. Learning has become a victim when our schools spend their time “teaching to the test.” In a recent “Washington Post” opinion piece, Eugene Robinson offers us another slant on the destructive nature of our insatiable commitment to Standardized Tests: It is time to acknowledge that the fashionable theory...

YOUR CUSTOM COURSEWARE VENDOR

In a webpage entitled, “Custom e-learning Solutions,” we find the following opening paragraph: Learning, according to any pedagogue, can be very effective when it is customized to the learner’s needs. If the learner is a factory worker or a corporate employee, then the factory or the office become his areas of learning and this learning should then be integrated in his daily work hours and should match the organization’s work processes. Regardless...