Training is an important part of any organization; in fact it can help eliminate waste and reduce operating cost. If your manufacturing plant utilizes hydraulic equipment, providing hydraulic training will teach your employees how to operate the equipment as well as the different levels of maintenance and when to employ them. The hydraulic training course will also help your employees to make the best choice to ensure the future reliability of the...
PowerPoint adaptations that are passed off as E-Learning are counterfeit! Two insightful sayings will suffice for illustration. The first deals with college lecture classes: “That which passes from the notes of the professor to the notes of the student without engaging the minds of either one.” The second references opinion-radio and the opinion-cable television networks: “Noise which passes from the mouth of one person to the ears of another without engaging the...
You may have occasion to build some of your own E-Learning courses — or, more likely, you will be instrumental in the purchase of vendor-produced E-Learning courseware. In either event, how should you proceed with your evaluations or your new production? First we must acknowledge that effective educational programming has always been a designer’s medium. It has never been an evolving electronic gadgetry world. Instead, it has been developed and used as...
With the advent of CD-ROM instruction a couple of decades ago, we had a training-delivery system that had efficiency limitations. One either had to buy a zillion copies in order to distribute them to all involved or commit to a Learning Center concept. Since labor costs are always the single biggest training expenditure, we had a relatively inefficient system — plus one that did not have the learning-value compensations of “one-on-one” instruction....
Last week, I attended the ASTD International Conference and Expo in Orlando. If my senses are any indication, the Conference exhibited more energy this year than it has for some time. Many visitors came by the ITC booth and took the time to visit. Clearly, at least from their expressed points-of-view, “good times” were returning to the training segments of their organizations. What puzzled me, however, was the preoccupation with courseware titles...
“The objective of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” – – – Robert Maynard Hutchins In my opinion, Hutchins, as regular readers of this Blog will recall, is the greatest American educator of the twentieth century. For much of his exceptional career, he served as President of The University of Chicago (1929-1945 and Chancellor, 1945-1951) and is often remembered for his championing of “The Great Books.”...
Last week, along with my colleague, Adam Kovic, we had the privilege of presenting our thoughts on E-Learning to the first “Training & Development, Middle East” conference in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. Other presenters were from the countries of Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland and England. Attendees came from many countries in the Middle East. In addition to Adam’s and my presentation on E-Learning, subjects covered by the other presenters included Simulation, CBT and...
Jobless rates are up, but manufacturing rates are rising too? How can you train your current workforce to meet the current market needs? ITC Learning offers a catalogue of courses to aide training skills. A report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a 6.3 rise in manufacturing output in the first quarter of 2011. Hours worked and compensation grew by 3.3 and 2.6 percent respectively. Unit labor costs, however, have...
One of the problems in BLOG-writing is that some of the most important ideas are written about once and then never seen again. Such is the case with our “buying process” discussion, which first appeared two years ago. So, because it is such an important subject and because I will be out of the country next week, here are the salient steps (with up-to-date revisions) you should undertake in “The Buying Process”...
Last week, I endorsed digitized and networked CD-ROM training as the best current E-Learning solution for your organization and its workforce. 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% fail to complete the E-Learning course” national statistics. So, if you decide to go the digitized CD-ROM route, what should you expect from...
In the digital training world, the most effective learning medium remains CD-ROM instruction. And, today those CD-ROMs can be effectively networked throughout an organization. No longer does one have to deal with multiple copies of individual CD-ROM discs. No longer are there any limitations to wide, always-available, training. In essence, networked CD-ROM instruction is light years beyond most current E-Learning examples. CD-ROM instruction has the unique power of rich multimedia learning (too...
You’re well aware of E-Learning today. You are also aware that the promise of “anytime/anywhere” is without learning precedent. And, you may even be cognizant of the fact that E-Learning is the most cost effective training medium currently available. But, the returns have been mixed. Two-thirds of e-learners do not complete the courses they are assigned. Retention levels of those same e-learners are far behind the retention levels of those trainees who,...
Without proper lubrication, the wear and tear on your car will significantly reduce its lifespan. In an industrial setting, lubrication is the first defense against equipment failure. Although industrial mechanics should have all the skills to perform industrial lubrication not all of them are fully trained in this area. However, with ITC Learning’s industrial lubrication training skills program which is designed for training oilers, mechanics and millwrights about their role in providing...
According to Wikipedia, Aesthetics is defined as “a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty.” It is important for all of us to remember that aesthetics also plays a vital role in the success –- or, failure –- of the training programs we offer our students. Too often, the importance of aesthetics in E-Learning design and development is, unfortunately,...