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Posts from March 2015

e-LEARNING’S PREFERRED INGREDIENTS

March 30, 2015 Sixteen years ago, in a speech delivered at ASTD’s Interactive Multimedia Conference, I described some of the negative fallout accompanying the emerging digital networking technologies. I cautioned that, “Today’s learner, all too often, is being left out in the cold. Talking about technology from the learner’s point of view, rather than the digital, seems to be an antiquated discussion packaged away with a box of yesterday’s videodiscs.” What I...

PDAs & TECHNOLOGY LEARNING

March 25, 2015 Five years ago, in an issue of “Training Industry Quarterly,” an article, “2010’s Top Training Technology Trends” by David Mallon, presented the trends in e-Learning the author believed we would see: “The lengthy page-turner is out. In its place is a next generation of e-learning, including: short video vignettes or audio podcasts followed by interactive assessments; pre-recorded virtual classroom sessions; scenario-based learning, 3-D simulations and serious games; e-books, articles...

OUR BEDROCK VOCATIONS

March 18, 2015 I was born and grew up in the Northern Great Plains. During that time, the culture I encountered valued certain professions above others: doctors and nurses, police, firefighters and teachers. Those were considered the noble professions — individuals who had chosen a career of service to others. My respect for those chosen careers has not waned. Oh, I’ve been made aware of some of the abuses: redundant medical procedures,...

GOOD IDEAS CAN BACKFIRE

March 16, 2015 How many times has a co-worker come to you with a “good idea?” The idea even seems to make sense. And, because it sounds almost too good to be true, time and money are invested in that “good idea,” turning it into a reality. It is important to remember that even the best intentioned and best informed people make huge mistakes in their lives. In fact, it is often...

THE TRAINING & THE TRAINEES

March 11, 2015 Within training departments, success or failure resides in the ability to understand, motivate, and adapt the learning initiatives to the workforce to-be-trained. Who are these trainees? How do they best learn? What motivates them? For one thing, management should tie promotions or pay increases to the training initiative being mandated. For another, training initiatives, if successful, must fit inside the trainees’ dominant learning culture. Unfortunately, with e-Learning being the...

PARTNERING FOR TRAINING SUCCESS

March 9, 2015 A few years ago, Thomas Heath, writing in THE WASHINGTON POST devoted his column to a story, “McPadnet owner reveals secrets to her sales success” that featured a Karen Edwards. It’s a most interesting story as Ms. Edwards practices much of what we have been advocating for several years: “a consistent atmosphere of ‘mutual trust’ with a salesperson-partner.” Each of you needs to find a professional salesperson, whom you...

OUR FRONT-LINE WORKFORCE

March 4, 2015 In order to be effective at developing highly qualified front-line workers, the stigma attached to vocational-technical education must be removed. In many European countries, an apprenticeship program bestows on its graduates respect for their high level of skill, and those nations recognize this with nationally accepted certification. But in America, the vo-tech track is, too often, perceived as dead-end — catering to society’s most disadvantaged by providing a minimum...

EXPANDING LEARNING’S POSSIBILITIES

March 2, 2015 Without something resembling a liberal arts education, combined with an extensive vocabulary, in-depth thinking becomes restricted. Without the skills training one receives in high school and college, as well as from corporate training departments, the ability to excel in one’s chosen career becomes limited. In terms of the former, most individuals are on their own as a liberal arts education becomes more and more de-emphasized. No worry, however, for...