The word ‘courses’ is now extremely ‘vieux chapeau’, according to leading edge e-learning commentator Clark N Quinn. Writing for the eLearning Guild’s website, Quinn argues that, for all the sophistication of our technology, our view of learning has not really changed. In an era of semantic web, augmented reality, virtual worlds and more, we are [...]
Networks – such as those available via LinkedIn or Facebook – are much praised for bringing people together to enable them to share such things as information, ideas and even job offers. Yet one of the worst features of networks that they are likely to only encourage like-minded people to get together. I agree that [...]
While it has not been announced with a great fanfare of publicity there is, nonetheless, a strong rumour that National Learning at Work Day 2010 will take place on 20th May as part of Adult Learners’ Week. Apparently, the Day is about workplaces making a commitment to learning and skills by holding events and activities for [...]
IMC (UK) Learning Ltd has revealed research (http://www.im-c.de/uploads/media/IMC-research-SMB-barriers-to-training.pdf) that looks at the barriers organisations encounter when providing training/ learning. It also reveals attitudes towards adopting e-learning tools, as well as organisations’ current use of new and emerging technologies for training. The research shows that 83% of respondents agree that enabling employees to learn is very [...]
During the current recession, three in ten adults who are working or looking for work have paid to learn new skills in their own time to help them get new jobs or keep their current one. This is revealed in a new poll by elemense, the recruitment processing outsourcing company. The survey also found [...]
Cutting back too far on staffing during the recession could leave businesses lagging behind when the upturn arrives, believes Andrew Hardaker, managing director of recruitment specialists, ATA Selection. He says that many businesses are looking at ways of saving money – and, with employees often being the most expensive overhead, staff cutbacks seem inevitable. His [...]
This year, on 23rd April – a significant day for lovers of all things English - The Open University (OU) celebrated its 40th anniversary. The OU is now the UK’s largest university, teaching almost 200,000 students each year and, since its establishment in 1969, it has helped over 2m students further career development or fulfil [...]
According to Claire Schooley’s report, published by Forrester Research Inc, learning programmes in innovative companies are directly linked to employee effectiveness and organisational success - making the learning executive more accountable to the business. The procurement of learning, orchestration of the learning programme and presentation of training classes are only part of the job. The [...]
Among the awards hopefuls in the ‘Bespoke Learning Solution of the Year’ category at this year’s WOLCE Awards – announced in Birmingham on 19th November – was ‘Understanding business’, a programme from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). Interestingly, RBS has been no stranger to publicity recently for its apparent misunderstanding of business issues [...]
Recently, I was chatting to someone who, after more than 25 years in the corporate learning industry, is about to retire. He observed that, despite everyone’s best endeavours, corporate learning does not seem to have increased its board level prestige in that time. “Twenty years or so ago, I recall talking to a company [...]
