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Inevitably, this section will be large for this first issue of the
newsletter.
Training Manager Development
This
section will contain articles about skills needed by training
managers. It complements the introduction of such topics in the
conference programme.
Managing Virtual Teams
Mike Willets, head
of leadership development for MaST International explains how
setting a few ground rules can help promote trust and lead to
effective team working, even when team members have never even met
(©TrainingZONE, 07 May 04).
Learning "C-Speak" – The Language of Executives
Ideas for selling your learning initiative by targeting your
message
(©1995-2004
brandon-hall.com)
Current Trends
Here you find
articles which address the state of our industry. Ranking of the top
50 by revenue is followed by articles on selected profiles and
rising stars. For completeness, I've included the results from two
previous years. Finally, we have updates on both the business
climate and professionals' views.
2004 Top 50 IT Training Companies (from IT Skills Research)
IT training
providers continued to suffer tough market conditions in 2003 but
hope for better times in 2004 (©IT Skills Research/Pardo Fox Ltd
2004, last modified 8 July 2004).
2004 Top 50 IT Training Companies – Profiles
Following a year of
consolidation and sharper focus, how is the outlook for your
preferred training suppliers (IT Training July/August 2004)?
2004 Top 50 IT Training Companies – Rising Stars
Snapping at the
heels of the current Top 50 firms are smaller but enthusiastic
companies that could make it into the future charts (IT Training
July/August 2004).
2003 Top 50 IT Training Companies (from IT Skills Research)
How IT training
providers fared in 2002 (©IT Skills Research/Pardo Fox Ltd 2003,
last modified 1 July 2003).
2002 Top 50 IT Training Companies (from IT Skills Research)
How IT training
providers fared in 2001 (©IT Skills Research/Pardo Fox Ltd
2002-2003, last modified
5 February 2003).
Market Monitor 2004 Q3 (from IT Skills Research)
© IT Skills
Research Programme 2000-2004, last modified 15 November 2004
Prospects for IT training improve
The hard pressed IT
training sector received some welcome good news this week. UK IT
budgets are expected to increase in 2004, according to a recent
study from IDC. And wherever new IT spend leads, training is usually
sure to follow. (Institute of IT Training, 06 May 2004, © Institute
of IT Training)
IT Training Professionals Climate Survey
The key findings of
a major survey looking at the working lives salaries and benefits
enjoyed by IT training professionals were made public by the
Institute of IT Training in May 2004 (©2001 - 2005 The Training
Foundation).
Number of women working in IT falls by 3%
Research shows
that senior IT management needs to promote flexible working, and
highlights the fact that women seem to be voting with their feet and
fleeing the sector (Institute of IT Training, 18 March 2004, ©2004
Institute of IT Training).
Selling and Marketing Education
At
the November conference, we identified the need to know more about
the legalities of using email in marketing. Here are three articles
on that. The first gives some basic definitions while the others
refer particularly to UK legal requirements.
Spam or Direct Mailing
In America,
spammers are liable for a $500 fine if caught spamming. In some
states, it falls under the definition of illegal faxing without the
recipient's permission. In the UK, it falls under the Criminal
Statutes regarding unauthorised alteration of computer data or theft
of computer resources (theft of access time and disk space).
(Business Bureau UK,
©2002 Advance Internet Services)
You've got (unsolicited) mail?
The Privacy and
Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 ("PECRs")
contain additional rules on privacy where personal data is processed
by providers of telecommunications or electronic communications
services (which includes the use of electronic communications
(email, SMS, MMS etc) by commercial organisations). This article
covers “Direct Email Marketing: New regulation
in the
United Kingdom”
(Jun 2003,
© Kemp Little LLP
1998-2004).
Guide to the PECRs for Marketing
The use of electronic communications for direct marketing has
perhaps been one of the most controversial aspects of the PECRs.
This guide describes how the rules impact on organisations using
electronic communications for marketing purposes
(Jul 2003,
©
Kemp Little LLP 1998-2004).
Learning Media
This is an area of enormous potential, copious activity and
voluminous writing. Whatever we do, we can't ignore it as customers
are demanding more and more "non-classroom" training. We start with
a UK government paper about setting up learning centres then look at
what the learners think. Then, there's a couple of articles on
trends. However, you cannot get away from mentioning "LMS" in this
area, so there are several articles on this particular topic. This
is tempered by a view on whether they are actually needed! Finally,
we look at a couple of technology and development issues and end it
with what we need to know about copyright!
Learning Centres – A Guide
This booklet
provides a guide to setting up or reviewing and running an effective
learning centre. It highlights best practice and draws upon the
experience of a large number of organisations who have made
successful use of learning centres. It is designed to be practical.
(DfES, 2003, ©2003 Crown Copyright)
People actually like e-learning
New research is
providing compelling and disturbing evidence that learners actually
enjoy e-learning. (First published June 2004 in IT Training)
What do Employees really think about e-Learning
Kevin Young,
managing director of e-learning provider, SkillSoft, reports on the
findings of a major international survey into employees’
perspectives of e-learning (©TrainingZONE, 05 Jul 04).
Trends in e-Learning
Dr Amy Finn Chief
Learning Officer for Centra Software identifies five key trends in
e-learning and what these will mean for your organisation
(©TrainingZONE, 26 Jul 04).
Rethinking computers in the classroom
Computers are
powerful and flexible tools yet their potential is hardly touched in
the way they are currently used in the classroom. Here are some
ideas for ways in which this situation can be remedied. (First
published April 2004 in IT Training)
Technology Based Training and Online Learning
An overview of
authoring systems and learning management systems available in the
UK (DfES, December 2002, ©2002 Crown Copyright).
LMSs and LCMSs Demystified
Learning management
systems (LMS) and learning content management systems (LCMS) really
have two very different functions. It's unfortunate that both have
such similar names and a shared acronym, which only serves to
confuse e-learning buyers even more. (©1995-2004 brandon-hall.com)
Build your best Learning Management System (LMS)
This white paper
from Pathlore describes the seven basic components of an LMS and the
selection strategies to find the LMS that’s right for you (©2001
Pathlore)
Selecting the right LMS
Bruce Duff senior
vice president of Pathlore sets out 10 steps to securing a learning
management system that fits your organisation's needs
(©TrainingZONE, 22 November 04).
Learning Management Systems – must have or waste or space?
LMS's are a much
talked about subject but how important are they to the successful
implementation of e-learning? (The e-Learning Network, 2004,
©Technologies for Business and Learning)
Less plugging, more playing
If we can achieve
plug and play, then e-learning will have removed the greatest
obstacle in its path, QL, Spring 2004, Issue number 3 (©British
Learning Association).
The Future for e-Learning
Steve Dineen, CEO
of fuel Group, predicts that mobile technology will revolutionise
the way we are e-learning (©TrainingZONE, 12 Jul 04).
Oh reason not the need (10 tips for TNA)
The 10 tips are
designed to help keep focused on the bigger picture. The emphasis is
on breadth of vision not microscopic analysis. Adherence to this
framework will produce programmes that truly make the difference
(e-learning age, October 2004).
Object Lessons
People want the
right learning in the right place at the right time – and at a
sensible price. Let’s look at objects, QL, Winter 2003/04, Issue
number 2 (©British Learning Association).
Intellectual property issues in online learning
This covers all
that you thought you knew (but didn't) about intellectual property
rights, The e-Learning Network, 2004 (©Beachcroft Wansbroughs).
Education Projects
At recent conferences we have
started to look at the larger opportunities, or projects. These
articles do have an e-learning bias but give us some good advice for
projects.
Change Management and e-Learning
To successfully
implement e-learning, forget what you know about change, by Tom
Werner, brandon-hall.com (©1995-2004 brandon-hall.com).
e-Learning Guidebook
Six steps to
implementing e-Learning (©2004 brandon-hall.com)
Measuring Education Value
Another hot topic of late is the whole area of "value" and "ROI". We
start with and IBM paper which emphasises why measurement is so
important. Then, we look at how and when measurement should start.
Finally, there is a discussion on whether ROI is indeed the most
important, followed by a suggested different approach.
You can’t manage what you can’t measure
After a few tough
years focused mainly on corporate survival, top executives today are
shifting their sights to improving performance. This paper
introduces a new results-focused approach to measuring and managing
learning to achieve maximum impact. IBM Learning Solutions white
paper (©2004 IBM Corporation)
Augmenting Kirkpatrick
Market research and
customer satisfaction specialist Lorien Customer Focus has developed
a measure of ‘customer satisfaction’ that could augment or even
provide an alternative to the Kirkpatrick method to assess the
effectiveness of learning materials, QL, Winter 2003/04, Issue
number 2 (© British Learning Association).
How much training do we waste?
Evaluation starts
on day one, not after the training has been completed, QL, Summer
2004, Issue number 4 (©British Learning Association).
Assessment of Value
ROI exercises tend
to be carried out once the outcome of the training is known – so the
exercise is more of a justification for celebrating what has already
happened rather than a way of predicting whether a particular
strategy will be “beneficial”, QL Autumn 2004, Issue number 5 (©
British Learning Association).
Creating the
Business Case for e-Learning
This white paper
from Pathlore describes the 10 steps you can take to improve the ROI
of your e-Learning programmes proactively and systematically. It
also shows a detailed case on how to work out the ROI based on
programme goals (©2001 Pathlore).
Evaluating online
learning
If online learning
is going to make a real impact in your organisation, you'd better
have better reasons to justify the investment than "well, everyone
else is doing it". Evaluation takes a bit of work, but then nothing
was every achieved without a little effort. Here's how it's done (©
1999 Fastrak Consulting Ltd).
ROI – the wrong
argument
It is not easy to
establish the return on investment from learning. Here are some
suggestions, The e-Learning Network, 2004 (©Technologies for
Business and Learning).
The value of
after-course care
A look at why it’s
important to measure the impact of training and demonstrate its
value for money and return on investment, QL, Summer 2004, Issue
number 4 (©British Learning Association).
Instructor Resourcing
This debate has raged for years. Here's a view by
a panel of experts.
Freelance v
in-house trainers
The use of
temporary trainers is rising. The panel discusses the pros and cons
of relying on freelancers over staff (IT Training March 2004).
Education Administration
If
it's not outsourcing instructors, it's the back office!
Survey reveals
growing inclination to contract out training administration
HR practitioners
are warming to the idea of freeing-up their time and resources by
using external providers to undertake training administration tasks,
according to a new survey,
Institute of IT Training, 27 September 2004 (©2004 Institute
of IT Training).
Skills Gap
This articles questions whether there's even a need for IT Training!
The new IT training
We're fast reaching
the point where conventional IT applications training will be
unnecessary, because the majority of people will be comfortable
enough with computers to manage on their own. The emphasis needs to
shift from using packages efficiently to using them effectively,
where they make a real impact on your work objectives. First
published December 2003 in IT Training |
