People often misunderstand the next-generation teaching practices as technology-rich instructions. Blended learning, as well as personalized and innovative teaching methods, goes far beyond online lectures and high-tech devices. The point of this approach is to provide an individualized experience for each learner, based on their base of knowledge, skills, strengths, weaknesses, and interests. Due to the high level of personalization required for these teaching practices, there’s a common underlying question that makes us scratch our heads: how effective are they? ... [more]
Skills have a major bearing on workforce productivity – especially in developed economies where the majority of employees are knowledge workers. So why is it that systemic under-training and inappropriate training methods are commonplace in today's business environment, leading to skill gaps and a decline in productivity? Research we conducted last year exposed the correlation between inadequate training, skills gaps, lack of company growth and wider economic stagnation. Over 2,000 workers contributed to that research. ... [more]
Creating quality elearning materials is vital to the success of your teaching programs. They can help your students take in the topics you're covering, and help them practice their skills. However, you don't always have the time to make all those materials yourself. When you need a helping hand, these eight websites can give you everything you need. 1. Find eLearning Experts: This site offers you a wealth of experts, right at your fingertips. You post the job you need to be done, such as creating an app, and give a budget that you can afford. ... [more]
Today’s eLearning environment sometimes reminds me of one of my favorite movies… Austin Powers. In Austin Powers, a quirky British secret agent from the 1960s is cryogenically frozen and brought back 30 years later to a world that is very different from the one he left. Hilarity ensues. Likewise, many of the eLearning courses that are available today seem to be cryogenically frozen from the early days of web-based training. ... [more]
The way we live and work has changed fundamentally over the past decade or so, driven primarily by the arrival of the internet. The implications of these changes are profound and far reaching. In particular, they affect anyone whose role centres on information. ... [more]
An effective competency assessment can provide valuable insight that helps an organization direct their learning & development activities, formulate individual coaching & learning plans, inform selection interviewing questions and refine job role descriptions. ... [more]
Old-school educators may despise educational technology because they are used to conventional teaching methods, but teachers who have tried using modern tools cannot deny that they enable them to connect with their students better than ever. If you are a teacher who hasn’t started using educational technology tools, then you need to do something about it. You surely want to connect with your students on a higher level, and the following selection of tools will enable you to do that! ... [more]
Many hotel and restaurant managers will tell you that great service people are born, not made. But before you start recruiting at the local maternity ward, consider that natural-born service professionals are few and far between. If you want to develop a consistent service team, you'll have to develop them yourself. This means training. ... [more]
Many companies have a policy to promote from within, and they usually establish a goal for how many leadership positions will be filled by internal candidates. That is great for employee engagement and retention—until the new leader stumbles and does not perform at the expected level. Consider this fact: 40% of new managers fail within the first 18 months of their promotions. In other words, they get promoted because they were good at their job—not because they can actually manage people. Why? Because they don’t get the training and support they need to deal with difficult situations, conflict, negotiations, HR issues, hiring and firing, and many other new situations they’ll have to face for the first time. ... [more]
eLearning is a solitary and lonely experience, right? That’s what I used to think, but I’m not so sure anymore. And this is coming from a real skeptic! I used to hold a wary eye to the whole “let’s make elearning more social through online communities” movement, assuming that there was no way it could really match the classroom experience or make up for real human interaction. ... [more]
