June 15, 2015 Those of you working in training or education recognize that students and our younger workforce learn best if the skills presented are packaged around full-motion video, gaming, and/or simulations. So it was not surprising that, with the advent of CD-ROM instruction a couple of decades ago, we had a training-delivery system that was a most effective skills-communicator, but had efficiency limitations. One either had to buy a zillion copies...
June 15, 2015 All training is not equally effective. All courseware titles are not equal in scope or production design. All trainees do not come to you from a single learning culture. Many studies have proven that traditional “lecture/reading/testing” training programs no longer give the payback in skills acquisition that they once did. For individuals born after 1960, their learning culture is enmeshed with video, simulations, and gaming. And, that is why,...
June 8, 2015 I’ve written several times about the “degree bias” that permeates America’s myopic commitment to the myth of “college degrees for everyone.” Some of those previous postings have generated comments from individuals who have experienced employment hurdles as a direct result of “degree bias.” I’ll quote from a few, putting my edits in parentheses: “My boss promised me a promotion but the administrative officer informed me that no such promotion...
June 3, 2015 Yesterday, a colleague asked me to research a particular skills training provider —- a vendor that was previously unknown to me. I always enjoy those research tasks as it allows me to keep up with new directions the skills training world might be taking. So, I happily went about that assignment and started my google search. Imagine my surprise when I accessed that vendor’s website and discovered a vendor...
June 1, 2015 Last week, I read a challenging — and, most welcome — article in the WASHINGTON POST, “PowerPoint should be banned. This PowerPoint presentation explains why” by Katrin Park. As I’ve noted before, Park joins a lengthy list of respected individuals who believe that PowerPoint is neither an effective information or instruction tool. Best known are probably Edward Tufte, Yale University’s professor emeritus of political science and statistics; Scott McNealy,...
May 27, 2015 Last week I attended the “2015 ATD Convention & EXPO” in Orlando. This annual conference used to be known as ASTD (Association of Training & Development) but in 2014 changed its name to the Association of Talent Development. Why the name change? I’m not sure. They claim that with this name-change, “This organization is changing to reflect the work you do and will do, and becoming even more inclusive...
May 13, 2015 A couple of years ago a most insightful column appeared in THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL (Memphis, TN), “College No Longer for Everyone” by Robert J. Samuelson: “The college-for-all crusade has outlived its usefulness. Time to ditch it. Like the crusade to make all Americans homeowners, it’s now doing more harm than good. It looms as the largest mistake in educational policy since World War II, even though higher education’s expansion...
May 11, 2015 I was encouraged last week to discover an article in the OMAHA WORLD-HERALD by Janice Podsada, “Community Colleges, Local Unions Offer Apprenticeships, Programs to Train for Jobs Increasingly in Demand.” Here’s an excerpt: “ . . . The demand for skilled tradespeople — from plumbers to electricians to diesel mechanics to auto mechanics and welders — is on the rise. An older generation of skilled workers is retiring and,...
May 6, 2015 What should you expect from the e-Learning courseware you purchase? First of all, it should be a complete training system providing everything needed to run a comprehensive training program, including: pre-tests, lesson menus, short teaching segments, simulations, and post-tests. The courseware design should be so easy to use that trainees can access content readily. The performance objectives must be clearly stated so that the trainee can understand exactly what...
May 4, 2015 I have had multiple careers in business, training and education. During that time many changes have occurred within the culture of our country. But, the change that bothers me most is the current over-emphasis parents place on their children’s grades — an emphasis they mistakenly pair with success. Unfortunately, what those parents mean by success is almost always equatable with money. “Make straight ‘A’s’ in school so that you...
April 29, 2015 More and more is being written about the growing importance of e-Learning. And, in terms of future potential, those opinions are essentially correct. At this moment in training’s continuum, however, much that passes for e-Learning has little actual training value. That is because the majority of e-Learning today is either PowerPoint adaptations or written procedure adaptations – neither of which teaches anyone much of anything. At best they are...
April 27, 2015 Some time ago, I received two newsletters advocating the same thing: On-The-Job (OTJ) Training. One newsletter pointed out, “. . . you can learn about forklift safety, but eventually learners will need to drive one before true learning takes place.” The other observed, “. . . when you ask a dozen workers in almost any organization about how they learned their job – most will point to On The...
April 22, 2015 In case one hasn’t been paying attention, there are big changes taking place in industrial skills training today. One significant trend is toward competency and accountability. Clearly competency-based courseware with integrated measuring capabilities will be recognized and used as tools for reaching those goals. Another change is the impending fall of the wall between business and education. That wall has separated the two sectors for many years, but the...
April 20, 2015 It’s past time to recognize all the many advantages online learning offers you, your trainees and your organization! Yes! We’ve come a long way down the technology trail in the past three decades. The training challenges for our industrial workforce have been immense. And, the trade-offs involving instructional design, production values, plus cost and efficiency issues have complicated the entire process. Maintenance and Operations training for our workforce has...