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...
February 29, 2016 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...
February 24, 2016 As an introduction today, I’d like to share some survey information that has recently come out of London and relates to younger professional workers: 39% have spent time developing skills online and 50% of respondents would prefer taking their training online. I have little doubt we’d find similar results were we to poll our American workforce — particularly our millennials. Relating to those findings is a most interesting article...
February 22, 2016 It’s been the same story for decades! Haven’t we all read headline after headline calling for “Training” “and Re-Training” as necessary to America’s economic future? Even more troubling, we’re also told that the lack of sufficient training is a primary reason behind the exporting of American jobs. As with so many problems, the cause is clearly visible — but, the means of solution are greatly flawed. And that is...
February 17, 2016 Beware of the oft-used title — “customer service.” As practiced today, customer service is merely an organization’s response department in which the sole obligation is to respond to complaints, error reports and other problems. In actuality, it exists not to protect customers but to defend the best interests of the vendor. What you should be seeking is a courseware vendor that practices “customer assurance” — a training vendor that...
“ APPLIED TECHNICAL COMPETENCE “ February 15, 2016 For organizations in the process and manufacturing industries, applied technical competence is the basis for increasing productivity and quality while minimizing downtime and re-work. The IOP (Institute of Physics) describes competence as: “’the ability to perform activities to the standards required in employment, using an appropriate mix of knowledge, skills and attitude.’ All three aspects must be present if someone is to be effective...
February 10, 2016 . . . vocabulary size is a convenient proxy for a whole range of educational attainments and abilities—not just skill in reading, writing, listening, and speaking but also general knowledge of science, history, and the arts. If we want to reduce economic inequality in America, a good place to start is the language-arts classroom. . . . . . . correlations between vocabulary size and life chances are as...
February 8, 2016 “Colleges and universities in the West derive from medieval bodies established primarily for teaching and training (principally in law and medicine). Their purposes were established by reference to a common culture, common goals, and a common source of normative authority. By stages, things changed with the reformation and the development of civic universities. The first colleges in North America, however, were again religious foundations based on the liberal arts....
February 3, 2016 Higher education has its place in preparing our next generation of trainers and instructional designers. Theoretical understanding is important. However, when it comes to teaching “templates of learning design,” higher education seriously misdirects the student. Cookie-cutter solutions are never the answer. Every training challenge undertaken has specific — not, generic — solutions. Templating (either by the organization itself or by the purchase of a vendor’s templated courseware) will not...
February 1, 2016 Among its many attributes, multi-sensory training brings learning efficiency. There are several obvious reasons. Multi-sensory instruction reduces seat time. Estimates are that learning occurs 38-70% faster than with traditional classroom instruction, and course content is mastered 60% faster. Perhaps equally important is, that when compared with traditional classroom instruction, multi-sensory training also results in better learning. Studies show that participants increase understanding by more than 50%, resulting in greater...
January 27, 2016 It’s been four years now since Apple made their “iBooks textbooks” announcement: NEW YORK—January 19, 2012—Apple® today announced iBooks® 2 for iPad®, featuring iBooks textbooks, an entirely new kind of textbook that’s dynamic, engaging and truly interactive. iBooks textbooks offer iPad users gorgeous, fullscreen textbooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, unrivaled navigation and much more. iBooks textbooks can be kept up to date, don’t weigh down a backpack...
January 25, 2016 “ . . . the main purpose of Training and Development is to anticipate change and respond proactively to it. Changes include a wide variety of occurrences: ▪ The changes in the organization due to mergers, acquisitions, growth and downsizing; ▪ The changes or advances in technology requiring new skill-sets; ▪ New competitive pressures requiring more efficiency; ▪ New rules or regulations that change how the organization runs and/or...