You Want Fries With That?

The swift technological advances that are occurring in everyday life still continue to amaze me. With these new tools and resources, comes the realisation that those who don’t embrace this new computer-driven way of life will surely be left behind at a severe disadvantage.

An example of this technological intrusion popped up last weekend when I was faced with the simple task of ordering a pizza. After over-indulging the night before, a group of friends and I were craving a quick and easy, grease filled treat and unanimously agreed that a slice of pizza or five would hopefully appease the little man determined to use his jackhammer on our delicate temples.

A half hour pre-discussion on what toppings, extras, drinks etc everyone preferred had already taken place, so all that was left to do was pick up the phone and dial.

After locating my mobile phone and the required phone number (speed dial #3), I was all set to go. I hadn’t even made it through the recorded introductory message before I was informed by my technologically suave friend that everything was ordered, the confirmation email had been received and an e.t.a of 30 minutes was given for the pizza god’s drop off. With just a click of the mouse and a tick of the box our culinary delights were ordered online before I had even spoken to a real live person!

Even in my fragile state I was able to marvel at this online wonderment. It seems more and more consumers are turning to online means to take care of everything from grocery shopping to purchasing overseas properties.

Online learning is another great example of the technological progression that is taking place in today’s society. Eager participants can now complete courses and gain qualifications online, eliminating travel restrictions, extra cost, and a number of other variants that have the potential to contribute to a student’s reluctance to seek further education.

So it seems to me the technological arm reaches far and wide and is impacting the daily running of our lives on a huge scale. The choice is left up to the consumer; we can either participate in this ever-advancing notion and take advantage of the conveniences it offers, or simply stick to the old way of life and make do with what we’ve got.

So what will it be folks…..eat in or takeaway?

The Tides are Changing

As part of my research into a white paper I am writing, I decided to have a look around some of the most frequented e-Learning blogs available at the moment. I came across an interesting entry in Helge Scherlund's eLearning news blog regarding a free downloadable version of The eLearning Guild's Handbook of e-Learning Strategy.

Now I am not sure whether any of you will have the time to read the entire PDF so I have picked out some points of interest.

The idea of change management really resonated with me as it seems that change is one of the major reasons that e-Learning strategies are not taken up by companies. The eLearning Guild have summarised a successful implementation structure into the following three categories/phases:

1. Inform – Generate Awareness
Make sure to supply all the answers to common questions that will arise from your staff. Get your message across through the likes of Newsletters, Emails, Presentations, and Webcasts.

2. Involve – Generate Involvement
The best way to change existing behaviours towards learning is to make sure that all team members are involved – especially key players. To do this, The eLearning Guild suggests making their learning personal by displaying the benefits to the individual and offering them first-hand experience in the new learning methods.

3. Integrate – Generate Commitment
The new methods must be recognised as part of the organisation’s culture, by all members of the team.

The eLearning Guild describes change management as, “the combination of processes, activities, and approaches that manage the people of the organization through the transition from the old way of doing things to the new way, from the old way of training to e-Learning.”

To make sure that your new e-Learning strategy will remain a part of your business development, it is imperative that staff are offered support to understand the changes they face. People will change, as long as they see the benefits that the change will have to them personally. Make the strategy about the individual and the new beginning it will bring.

MindLeadersUK Resource Centre and Toolbox

One of the ways we like to work on and improve our services is by talking to trainers about their common problems with the program. One of the common issues is getting ‘buy-in’ from the managers and executives. Alongside this is the fact that they want to make e-learning part of the normal corporate culture, but aren’t sure how to go about it. They have suggested that having more information and tools to hand could be helpful. This would help them do more with their training programs in less time.

We have just released a couple of products to help with this called, ‘The Training and Development Toolbox’ and ‘Resource Centre. Some of the things the ‘Toolbox’ does is address areas such as building and marketing, learning programs, calculating ROI, selling managers on employee development and fixing a struggling learning program. This is done through a set of eighteen video segments and each of these features a treasury of downloadable tools. These include checklists, Powerpoint, presentations and quick reference sheets.

The Resource Center is the home for the Toolbox and even more resources for maximizing your training program - over 130 items total, including product walkthroughs, technical support FAQs, information to give to students, and promotional tools.

We hope that you are happy with the improvements to this service and encourage you to contact us with any suggestions.

Check out our New Courses!

MindLeadersUK have released some exciting new courses that we wanted to make sure you knew about.

• Excel 2007 Advanced
• Java Web Services
• Windows Vista Configuration MCTS 70-620
• Windows Vista & Office 2007 Desktops MCTS 70-624
• Windows Vista Enterprise Support MCITP 70-622

Please contact us if you would like any further info!

http://www.mindleadersuk.com/

Play Against the Computer

We are constantly striving to improve our courses and make them more user friendly. All the courses now have a ‘notes’ option that allows you to copy text from the course pages or to type your own thoughts. It is possible to either print or save these so they are readily available should you need to refer to them.

There is also now a feature where you can ‘play against the computer’. This works for the parts of the courses where matching exercises are used (such as matching terms and definitions). It’s a memory game where you aim to beat the opponent (computer) with your knowledge.

These are just two of the latest improvements, and there will be plenty more to come! So keep checking for further news.

On The Ladder To Success

Last year Over 7,000 businesses joined the ‘Train to Gain’ programme. This was something designed to provide an impartial brokerage service to business’, which, help them identify the skills training required to help improve their staff’s abilities, and in turn, their company’s standards.

The hotel and restaurant sector expressed the highest interest with around 1,500 employers taking on the training. This was closely followed by the health and social work sector, with 1,100 employers signing up to the programme. Seeing the diversity of people on board this scheme highlights how Far E-learning has come and how it seems to have established itself as the most popular form of training within all types of companies.

There has been some outstanding feedback from companies involved and over 2,600 people have already completed a full Level two qualification which is the equivalent to five good G.C.S.Es. It has also exceeded its first year target by ten per cent with an eighty six per cent satisfaction rating. With results like this it’s impossible to ignore the fact that this type of training is here to stay and that it’s in everybody’s interest to take advantage of it to maximise their business’ potential.

One of the key benefits that has been noted by the Train to Gain program is the fact that employees feel at ease when communicating with the customers. Therefore, the courses are not simply academic qualifications, but training in personal skills. These work alongside each other to help workers feel more confident in their jobs. On the whole I can see a bright future for E-learning as it’s keeping people on the ladder to success.

Forget Baking, Grandma's Online!

The latest Comminucations Market Report from Ofcom has raised some interesting questions in my mind, in regards to how many people of the “Older Generation” use the internet.

I had never thought previously that some of our highest internet users in the UK could be “Silver Surfers.” The Ofcom report states that 16% of over 65’s use the web and spend 42 hours, on average, online. This is more than any other age group.

Clive Shepherd’s blog also suggests that the internet usage levels for children and young women (25-34), along with the over 65’s, are the highest users in the UK.
From an e-Learning point of view, this raises the question of whether there are enough learning resources out there to cater to these specific groups. I have thought about this and have realised that a lot of the over 65’s could be using the internet for shopping (as I am quite sure the young women are) but it is more likely to be for communication purposes. With the ability to use the likes of Email, MSN, and Skype, families can keep in contact from anywhere in the world. What amazes me is how did they learn how to use these applications in the first place?

The “Older Generation” are more resourceful than we think, and with courses such as ECDL and Effective Business Communication available, they have taken learning into their own hands (albeit some advice from their computer savvy children) and have embraced it.