March 30, 2016 Rich multi-sensory media — designed for learning — has been with us for more than four decades. Interactive Laser Videodisc (IVD), CD-ROM, DVD, and even interactive videotape were the pioneering technologies. And, today, it’s e-Learning! Yet, e-Learning is singularly failing to deliver on the promise so brilliantly achieved by those earlier multi-sensory technologies. Why have the producers of most e-Learning courseware forgotten the lessons of multi-sensory media’s past successes?...
March 28, 2016 “Sir Ken Robinson says that our education system works like a factory. It is based on models of mass production and conformity that actually prevent kids from finding their passions and succeeding. . . . Instead of trying to mass-produce children who are good at taking tests and memorizing things, schools should emphasize personal development. Not all kids are good at the same things, and the education system shouldn’t...
March 23, 2016 In an article published in “Personnel Today,” there is a quote from Peter Phillips, chairman of London-based Unicorn Training: “Ironically, the birth of the internet caused e-learning to take a giant step backwards. From delivering rich multimedia solutions on CD-ROM, we were faced with delivery via slow dial-up modems, with no audio or video and serious limitations even on the quality of static images.” “It has taken a long...
March 21, 2016 A few years ago I received an interesting e-Mail from Derek Singleton, Product Manager, Applications for Software Advice. Derek wanted me to examine the ideas he was advocating in regard to overcoming the skills gap in manufacturing. Specifically, he advocated three possible solutions and the following italicized sections are his opinions (along with my own comments which are set off with parentheses): A recent Deloitte report estimated that as...
March 16, 2016 Our newspapers and cable news channels are full of politicized “education stories” most every day. One group wants to increase government investment while the other decries even the idea of a Department of Education. I think they’re all overlooking “the forest for the trees!” 75% of the high school students that our education system graduates each year are not likely to earn a college baccalaureate degree. Many of those...
March 14, 2016 Echoes of Marshall McLuhan’s “enclaves” observations appear, too often, in decision-making today. The separation between the levels of corporate hierarchy grow and the gulf between the learning cultures of executive management and its workforce widens. The result, of course, restricts the benefits of our well-intentioned training initiatives. Having lived through the earliest years of industrial videotape training –- with a camera in my hands – an expert to provide...
March 9, 2016 One of this blog’s readers has asked me to consider posting her own contribution and I am happy to do so. The author, Kathy Jackson, is a freelance career and career advancement writer. She also believes that green careers will help the environment. I hope you enjoy reading it: “Growth of Green Technology Careers The growth of green technology careers is really taking off in the United States. According...
March 7, 2016 When talking about the challenges facing both education and training today, one size no longer fits all. Stand-up instruction, blended learning, videos, books, and multi-sensory e-Learning may all have a place. Equally required is the support we must consciously give education and training professionals who must deal with the increasingly complicated challenges that effect learning. And we must, also, remember that the challenges facing trainers and educators outstrip the...
March 2, 2016 What are the largest costs associated with any training initiative? The trainee labor costs are, by far, the single biggest cost factor! With few exceptions, labor costs exceed all the money you may have invested in vendor courseware and/or instructors — combined! And yet, there is an effective and easy way to minimize those labor costs and, at the same time, dramatically improve your training initiatives. The shortcomings of...
