With this year’s SALT Conference ready to get underway today, it got me thinking about the four significant conferences and/or trade shows that are held annually for the training community. Each has a primary focus and is well worth your examination. Listening to people who are doing things in training and walking a trade show floor to look at “the latest and greatest” has genuine value for you. If you haven’t attended...
My friend and co-Founder of ITC, G. H. Kaiz, once wrote a paper on the uses that can be made of media training. While most of us think of the classroom, learning center, or from-anywhere WEB access, below are a few of Jerry’s other considerations you should examine in order to get the maximum value from your training initiatives. • Engineer Training • All too often new graduate engineers are strong in...
Today there is a growing emphasis on individualized instruction. Tardily, but not too late, we are finally beginning to acknowledge that there are myriad learning styles out there. An awareness that “Reading—Testing—and, Traditional Classroom Lecture” are not the only ways is essential if we are going to reap the learning- rewards that media-based On-Line Education/Training offer us. Dr. Bernard J. Luskin in his recent book, CASTING THE NET OVER GLOBAL LEARNING, has...
Among the key characteristics you should examine when choosing your e-learning courseware is “usability.” One of the ways you can define “usability” of On-Line education/training software is in terms of how user-friendly or appealing a program is. In practice, usability goes deeper than this, and is closely related to how much users actually learn from using the On-Line courseware. Many of the usability concepts that need to be considered from the end-user’s...
Let’s talk digitized CD-ROMs today. This is important to the e-learning community as it allows full motion video to be accessed through a training-dedicated LAN, along with full record keeping. It is a proven alternate to the typical e-learning courseware so prevalent today. The full motion power of this digitized medium is markedly superior to other choices and its only limitation lies in that exclusively behind-your-firewall requirement. Knowledgeably designed digitized CD-ROM courseware...
To quantify the value of visual learning in our schools, we can cite the following findings: 1) Learning occurs 38-70% faster than with traditional (stand-up and lecture) instruction. 2) Course content is mastered 60% faster than with traditional instruction. 3) Studies show that participants increase understanding by more than 50%, resulting in greater learning gains than with traditional instruction. 4) Participants also demonstrate 25-50% higher content retention and 50-60% greater consistency in...
What should you look for when making your e-learning selections? The following is a checklist that should help you through that process. First of all, we know that knowledgeably designed e-learning can save you money: 1. It takes 25-60% less time than traditional classroom instruction 2. It achieves 50-60% greater retention than traditional classroom instruction 3. It allows more employees to be trained in a shorter period of time 4. It empowers...
“Big Jay,” as he was known in the community, dropped out of school in the tenth grade. He decided that school had failed to serve his needs, and felt that getting out in the world and earning money would be more of a help to his mother and younger brothers and sisters. Big Jay had to weigh his career options and turned to what he found to be the most expedient choice:...
Periodically, you should step back and honestly evaluate your e-learning initiatives. In doing so there are several results you should examine. Have your enrollments increased, decreased or stayed relatively flat? Your learners are telling you something about your offerings. Word of mouth is communicating to you in a positive or negative way. People will endorse your selections if they feel that those offerings have value to their future success, and the attendant...
E-learning as a term has been with us for about a decade now but has failed to meet the high expectations of American business and industry. Clearly, at this point in time, it has fallen short of its promise. Why? Two major reasons. First it has failed to meet the ROI requirements of business. Much of the e-learning hype has been directed at eliminating the classroom and its attendant personnel and space...
Some of you have asked that I address PowerPoint presentations as many of you are assigned the task of preparing them for your own organization. As I have stated previously, PowerPoint presentations are NOT training tools. At best, they convey information, although their effectiveness in doing even that is limited. Its most favorable characteristics are its ease of use and the short learning curve required. Unfortunately, those same characteristics result in questionable...
Let’s start our week with a brief overview of media training in the last three decades – an evolution that allows us to confidently say, “Training . . . It Ain’t What It Used To Be!” First came the videos. Less expensive and somewhat more efficient than text book/one-on-one instruction. Most importantly, the videos spoke to learners in their own learning culture, a giant leap forward. Videos, however, demanded a classroom and...
Let’s talk partnering today. As I’m sure you know, technology solutions for training are multiplying almost monthly. New vendors are appearing almost as fast, along with countless new products and services. No one can keep up with it all. Reading the training journals and finding knowledgeable people among the many vendors who are trying to sell you something are the best ways to fill in your own knowledge gaps. So what should...
Historically, an organization has focused certain time and money on educating/training when either some process or function within the organization has gone awry or an edict to train has come down from high up in the organizational structure. It is at this point that the trainer or educator has had to focus on the “who-to-be-trained” and the “what-to-use” components. Far too often today, the “who” is overlooked because of the rush to...