Your company has just endured yet another security breach. One of your employees left an open iPad on a table with friends at Starbucks. One of the friends jokingly sent an email to the employee’s entire department. The contents of that email were, shall we say, colorful. Can Custom Training Truly Make a Difference? The thing is, you had conducted security awareness training for all employees. How could this employee have made such a silly mistake? Well, first of all, the employee might make better choices in friends. But beyond that, why didn’t the training change the behavior? Why wasn’t this employee aware of potential security hazards? Obviously, security awareness success is an effective combination of the implementation of the technologies available to prevent compromises and appropriate human behaviors. While it may be tricky to keep pace with changing technology, it may be even trickier to impact the behaviors that can lead to security issues. Custom training is definitely a huge piece of this puzzle. While there are many options available for generic off-the-shelf security awareness eLearning, these courses may not really address the specific security challenges of your organization. At one Financial Services organization, security of systems, processes, and information was critical to the corporation’s success and growth. And, security of clients’ information was a cornerstone of their corporate values. Because of the Company’s business, their security concerns were very specific. The Company faced a challenge: how to formalize these security awareness protocols so that it was easily accessible, consistent, adaptable and applicable across the global population. And, perhaps, most importantly, how to ensure that sharing this information would truly improve behaviors. Creating an online custom training program that demonstrated the tools, behaviors, policies and procedures around security requirements provided an exciting, engaging and memorable vehicle for educating the corporate population, scalable and accessible across business units, departments and global offices. KMI Learning developed a series of rich eLearning modules, following a narrative scenario style that provided the underlying security foundation in a compelling way and that is accessible on -demand, to every employee worldwide. Not only that but the courses revolved around a set of characters that were relatable and were in situations that were unique to the Company. Employees saw themselves in these situations. They saw how the policies could and should be applied to their daily work life. They were able to practice decision-making and applying security awareness strategies within the modules with no ramifications for the Company. While these interactions were fun, they were also memorable, easily brought to mind when similar situations arose in real life. As a result of this Security Awareness program, the Company has experienced a significant, quantifiable, positive change in employee behavior related to security. There has been a significant decrease in security breaches and improvement in routine security measures. And, employees are vested in the series, they anticipate the updates and look forward to seeing in what new situations the characters find themselves. No longer would an employee not think about leaving an iPad untended!   The post Security Awareness- Can Custom Training Truly Make a Difference? appeared first on KMI Learning.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the deeper ‘why’ behind the need for innovation in education. The deeper WHY behind the need for new spaces and also new initiatives including, but not limited to, makerspaces and genius hour. While I have led initiatives like these before, and believe in them, I wanted to […]

Interested in integrating STEM in your classroom? How about Robotics? How about both? We sat down with Randy Steele, one of the creators of the STEM Robotics 101 curriculum, to learn more about this project. Randy will be at NCCE 2016 this year and presenting on this very topic Thursday, February 25th at 4:00pm, in the Tahoma 5 room. What is STEM Robotics 101 and how did you get started with this project? After 20 years designing computer chips for Intel and others, I decided to enter Education as an "empty nest" career.  Upon examining successful sports and music programs to identify which characteristics led to wide student/parent/community support, I approached the Olympia School District about developing a new STEM program.  We chose Robotics as a STEM platform with the goal of helping our students grow from being consumers of technology to creators of technology.  Robotics embodies applied math and science,  demystifies technology, and introduces a broad array of engineering disciplines (mechanical, electrical,  software, electronic, etc.) as well as computer science, project management and all the 21st Century Skills.  We then aligned our course roadmap with the FIRST continuum of robotics competitions (FLL, FTC and FRC) to provide the team/competitive element at the heart of sports and music programs. We soon realized that one size does NOT fill all in STEM education, as each classroom is a unique combination of student needs, administration goals, and the strengths and passions of the teacher.  We developed STEM Robotics 101 to be a customizable, turn-key curriculum for teachers new to STEM.  Basing our curricula on the LEGO MINDSTORMS robotics kits and programming tutorials from Carnegie Mellon University made STEM Robotics 101 approachable for students and teachers alike.  We then infused STEM Robotics 101 with explicit applied math and science lessons, technology exploration lessons and engineering lessons/open-ended challenges.  Each teacher then customizes this content to meet their unique situation.  Allowing  teachers to play to their strengths, interests and passions creates a STEM Robotics class that excites students and helps them envision STEM as a part of their future. We soon began to have requests from surrounding schools to access STEM Robotics 101, but the district firewalls/security issues became a barrier to sharing.  We subsequently partnered with two National Science Foundation projects to make STEM Robotics a free, customizable curriculum for teachers outside OSD.  The EV3 version of the course is available here: http://stemrobotics.cs.pdx.edu/node/2643 While most of the content is open to the public, we ask professional educators to register for a free (and SPAM-free) teacher-user account which provides them access to assessments/answer-keys, and the ability to contribute to the site.  We currently have about 1,800 registered teacher-users around the world. Do students have an opportunity to test their robots against other students? Yes - many.  Most units in STEM Robotics 101 culminate in an open-ended Engineering Challenge which allows students to demonstrate the skills they recently acquired in that unit.   In addition, STEM Robotics 101 (Robo101) is aligned with the FIRST LEGO League competition which not only challenges students to build and program an autonomous robot, but requires them to demonstrate their teamwork, research a real world problem and propose an innovative engineering solution.  Here is a STEM Pals article from last year: http://stempals.org/2015/01/18/osd-middle-school-varsity-robotics-teams-excel-at-washignton-state-fll-semifinals/ Beyond STEM Robotics 101, students can compete in FIRST Tech Challenge  (FTC - aligned with Robo201) and/or FIRST Robotics Challenge (FRC - aligned with Robo301).  Here are STEM Pals articles from last year: http://stempals.org/2015/01/11/osd-teams-compete-in-southwest-washington-ftc-inter-league-championships-four-teams-advance-to-state-championships/ http://stempals.org/2015/03/21/osd-frc-team-advances-to-pacific-northwest-championships-2/ In the spring, (when FIRST competitions are over, but students are still in Robo101 classes) we hold the South Sound STEM Robotics Invitational for students in our region.  This competition takes engineering challenges right out of STEM Robotics 101 and allows them to take on their peers in the region (two other regions in southwest Washington have now cloned this competition - the rules are in Robo101).  Here is a STEM Pals article from last June: http://stempals.org/2015/06/02/over-100-robots-compete-at-the-6th-annual-south-sound-stem-robotics-invitational/ By the way, STEM Pals is our Booster Club for STEM education in OSD - another idea we stole from successful music and sports programs  (booster clubs).   This group helps us recruit volunteers and mentors as well as raise funds and awareness to support STEM programs.   What are the educational benefits of having a robotics in your classroom? Our goal with STEM Robotics 101 is to equip science, math, humanities, etc. teachers to become STEM+CS teachers.  The beauty of robotics as a STEM+CS platform is that these teachers can customize Robo101 and make it their own.  They say when you’re a hammer, all the world looks like a nail… well, when a math teacher looks at Robo101 they see applied geometry, algebra,  and algorithms; the science teacher sees demystified technology, applied physical science and a data logging tool for earth sciences and chemistry; the humanities teachers sees a platform for technical writing and presentations; the technology teacher sees stealth computer science for the masses; etc. etc. STEM Robotics 101 is not about the robots…. it is a STEM+CS platform that can be molded to reflect the passions of the teacher and the needs of their students. What are some tips for a teacher that wants to start a adding robotics in their classroom? The typical middle schooler will tell you that when they grow up they are going to be either a professional athlete or the next American Idol (an interesting blend of popular culture and those successful sports and music programs).  If you want your students to envision STEM as a part of their future, they need to be exposed to a passionate STEM teacher.  So figure out what you are passionate about and see if STEM Robotics can be a platform for you to share that passion with your students in an academically accountable classroom.   We hear you are going to be at NCCE 2016! Where can we learn more about robotics in the classroom? Yes, I will be presenting "STEM Robotics 101 - Approachable STEM+CS for All" at NCCE.  We’ll walk through the STEM Robotics 101 site and let everyone kick the tires on the curriculum. Any parting thoughts you would like to share with our readers? There are over a million unfilled STEM job in this country, but only one American Idol and a relative handful of pro athletes.  We need to help students understand they can pursue lifelong interests in sports/music in their personal lives, but they should explore STEM as an exciting possibility for their future careers.  We hope STEM Robotics 101 and programs like FIRST can equip teachers to enable this exploration. The post NCCE Session Preview: STEM Robotics 101 appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

Budget is one of the first things you’ll consider when investing in an LMS. How much does the LMS cost, and can I afford it, are two questions all purchasers will ask. But the answers to those questions aren’t straightforward. LMS pricing models vary hugely across the industry. And some pricing models are more transparent, and better value, than others. That can make comparing quotes provided by LMS vendors confusing. But beyond those first questions are seven others that will help you assess the true cost of an LMS. Question 1: Which LMS pricing model do you use? The first piece of information you need is the LMS pricing model. Understanding the model will help you to compare like-with-like when evaluating your options. Because purchaser requirements vary, some pricing models will suit your needs better than others. A full scope of your current and predicted LMS usage will help ensure that you can continue to afford your LMS as your user base fluctuates. First up, here’s a brief description of the most common LMS pricing models. Open Source: An open source LMS like Moodle can appear to be "free". And while the software is free to download, evaluating options like Moodle should include costs for resources needed to configure and maintain the system. License Fee: A license fee includes a once-off upfront cost or a charge paid monthly or annually. You’ll need to name the fixed number of user licenses you require at the outset. Most vendors using this model will ask you to pay an extra annual support charge ranging between 15-20% of the license fee upfront. Pay-Per-Use: Pay-per-use is similar to a "pay as you go" service and is calculated on usage of the LMS. How usage is costed varies. Some vendors calculate it based on how many learners are enrolled in a course. Others consider the volume of training materials distributed. Pay-Per-Registered-User: This LMS pricing model is only effective if you know exactly how many users your LMS will have. The number must be stable for the model to work. The cost per-user usually falls as the total number of users increases. Pay-Per-Active-User: The size of a user base usually isn’t static enough for a registered-user model to work. This model is far more flexible. Instead of paying for all registered users, only those who access the LMS within a specific period are counted. Once a user becomes active, there’s no limit to their use of the LMS.   Question 2: What happens to inactive users? Whichever LMS pricing model you choose, ask the vendor about what happens to the training histories of users who are no longer active. Some vendors will force you to pay for historic learners who have left the company and will never use the LMS again. Others allow access to training records for active users only. If you need to maintain data on past learners, that means the size of your registered user base can quickly sky rocket. It’s a common issue in regulated industries that require training history records to be maintained for 7 years for compliance or legal reasons. At LearnUpon, we make it easy to switch between pricing plans as the size of your user base changes. We also maintain records both for active and inactive users at no additional cost. You simply set a user’s status to inactive. All of their records will still be available and you can reactivate them if they return. While you can delete their training history if you prefer, the choice is yours.   Question 3: What features are included in each price plan? The number of features available will also vary between LMS pricing plans. Before submitting a request for proposal, it’s a good idea to do some preliminary research to define the list of features you need. That will allow you to rule out vendors who don’t offer essential features and help you to judge the value of each price plan. With an open source LMS, you’ll have the freedom to customize the platform to suit your needs. But while additional features won’t necessarily equal higher costs, each feature will still require internal or external resources to maintain it. Feature selection may be less important if you choose a license fee LMS pricing model. The fee usually includes all features, those you need and those you don’t. Per-user pricing usually offers access to tiered plans, depending on the size of a user base and the features included. At LearnUpon, for example, we offer a core set of essential features on an entry-level Starter plan. The size of your user base and features required will determine the best plan for you. If you need access to complex functionality, like SSO or API features or classroom-based training and ILT modules, you’ll need to consider a higher value price plan. Advanced features like white labelling, multiple language support and Salesforce Integration, are often needed by organizations with a user base that fits the plan.   Question 4: How many portals do I need? A portal allows you to divide learners and give them a branded experience of the LMS very different to that seen by other groups. Many organizations need just one portal to serve all learners. But others, like professional training companies or parent organizations, sometimes need multiple portals to deliver learning to separate audiences. If you need more than one portal, ask if the option is provided by the LMS vendor and how costs are calculated. LearnUpon’s client portal feature allows you to have completely separate branded portals for each audience. You can also share your active user allowance between portals. Not all LMS vendors offer that flexibility and some don’t offer portal functionality at all. Instead, you must create completely separate accounts for each audience. Each account is billed separately, with no room to split allocations between portals. That means if you have portals with low usage rates, the vendor prevents you from transferring unused licenses to portals that need them.   Question 5: When do I pay? When and how often you pay also varies between LMS pricing plans. You should consider an LMS vendor that insists on locking you into a long-term contract with caution. A monthly contract that doesn’t include a punitive exit cost shows that an LMS vendor has confidence in their platform and isn’t trying to trap you in a system that might not suit your needs in future. That’s one reason we don’t insist on long-term contracts at LearnUpon. All of our plans are billed monthly or annually and can be cancelled at anytime. If you’re sure you’ll need an LMS for a full year, our annual plans include a significant saving based on a bulk discount across 12 months of usage.   Question 6: How much control do I have over costs? Even if an LMS pricing plan looks transparent, you should ask about how much control you will have over costs. How will you track the number of registered or active users, for example? How hard are the upper limits on your LMS price plan? At LearnUpon, we don’t police upper limits harshly. If you run over your limit by 10-20 users a month, we don’t penalize you. We’re delighted to see our customers succeed and grow. If you find that your user access limits are exceeded for a couple of months, you can simply upgrade to a higher plan. But do customers ever need to upgrade? If a customer regularly exceeds their plan by a significant amount (no hard rule but it’s usually about 10%), their Account Manager will get in touch to suggest a plan better suited to their needs. Our customers appreciate this personal approach, rather than an automatic system lockout. You can also take advantage of custom plans at our Enterprise level, where pricing is dramatically discounted based on usage volumes. We also make usage levels simple to track. You can easily monitor your monthly activity from your billing screen and budget accordingly. You can disable a user while retaining their history, for example. That user will be officially inactive and won’t be included in your billing. That flexibility gives you full control over your active user count and costs. This approach to LMS pricing is most valued by purchasers who use our eCommerce storefront to sell courses online. The last thing these vendors need to worry about is what happens if they hit their plan limit and a potential customer is prevented from buying a course. With our LMS pricing model, that’s never a worry. If you’re on our Silver plan, which includes 500 active users, and one month user 501 comes along, they’ll be able to buy the course as if they were your first active user that month.   Question 7: Are there hidden costs not included in the price plan? It’s wise to explore beyond the price named by an LMS vendor to confirm exactly what is and is not included. Hidden costs, like set-up and training fees, billing for inactive and historic users, and charges for switching between plans or cancellation costs, can quickly make what once seemed like good value unaffordable. Our LMS pricing model is totally transparent. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime at no extra cost. There are no set-up charges or hidden fees. We also provide training free of charge and our award-winning 24/7 customer support is included in all plans at no extra cost. Being completely transparent about pricing is the first sign that you can trust us to look after your needs if you choose to become a customer.   Try LearnUpon free for 30 days .learnupon.com Agree to Terms of Service Start my free trial The post 7 essential questions about LMS pricing appeared first on LearnUpon.

In this series of articles, the Educational Technology team will be providing an insight into existing practice using technology for learning and teaching at Falmouth University and various projects being undertaken within the sector.Learning Analytics utilises the data that passes through University systems and can be used as a powerful tool for learning about students and their achievements. It is used to collect data to measure learning and the contexts in which learning takes place. This data is then analysed and put to use to optimise interactions and opportunities; improving engagement, experiences and ultimately results.It cannot be as simple as throwing data into some predictive software and asking it to tell you what it thinks though; analysts/experts are best placed to interpret the data, who know what they’re looking for, and align results with the institutional, teaching and student priorities. An example of analysing an element of learning is measuring engagement. Overall there are three levels that can be measured. BehaviouralStudents who are behaviourally engaged would typically comply with behavioural norms, such as attendance and involvement, and would demonstrate the absence of disruptive or negative behaviour.Behavioural engagement can be measured by recording attendance at face to face sessions and access to online materials. This can be relatively easy to achieve as long as the monitoring tools are in place.EmotionalStudents who engage emotionally would experience affective reactions such as interest, enjoyment, or a sense of belongingEmotional engagement is more difficult to measure. Some activities that facilitate tracking include online discussion, interactive activitiesCognitiveCognitively engaged students would be invested in their learning, would seek to go beyond the requirements, and would relish challengeCognitive engagement is even more difficult to measure. Extra curricular activities and ‘extra credit’ work can shed some light…Activities, systems and mechanisms need to be in place to ensure that the right level of analytics can be performed, and measurements can be determined. This is why smaller pilots should be carried out with tasks designed with analytics in mind; so that settings and specifications can be refined.There are other reasons to implement Learning Analytics including (but not limited to):Identify students at risk so as to provide positive interventions designed to improve retention.Provide recommendations to students in relation to reading material and learning activities.Detect the need for, and measure the results of, pedagogic improvements.Tailor course offerings.Identify teachers who are performing well, and teachers who need assistance with teaching methods.Assist in the student recruitment process.Jisc cetis Analytics Series (2012)Learning analytics has a strong link with pedagogy, and consideration needs to be taken into how the institution would like to improve pedagogically, and consider the method of implementation of a learning analytics process to ensure that it will not hinder, but enhance the direction of its learning and teaching strategy.The sector has looked at learning analytics over the last few years as a tool to achieve better experiences for students. The realities of using the huge amount of data that institutions collect is shrouded in ethical and legal issues but luckily, the good folks over at Jisc have done a lot of the leg work and developed a Code of Practice for learning analytics as part of their ongoing Effective Learning Analytics project. This code of practice is in place to advise UK HEIs about the legal and ethical considerations that need to be included in the implementation of a learning analytics strategy.See some of Team ET’s previous work on Learning Analytics with the Jisc Learning Analytics Network and its pre-project work.

If you read current literature on training, one of the things you’ll read about a lot is scenario-based learning. This goes by other names, too, including immersive learning and problem-based learning. For this article, we’re going to stick with scenario-based learning. No matter what you call it, there’s a reason why people talk about it a lot. Because it’s an effective way to learn. Within the context of job training, scenario-based learning has a couple big advantages. These include: Making compliance training more active, fun, engaging, and effective Reducing the amount of time it takes for an employee to develop expertise in his or her job (moving employee  from basic, foundational job knowledge and skills to advanced skills that create value for the company) Providing a safe learning environment in which employees can practice and learn from mistakes without harming themselves, machines, or business goals This article will at least touch on all three of those points. But we’re going to focus on how scenario-based learning can reduce the amount of time it takes for an employee to develop advanced job skills and become an expert in his or her field. Typically, employees become experts simply through years of on-the-job experience. For example, our customers in the paper manufacturing industry tell us it commonly takes as much as 20 years for an employee to develop the job expertise necessary to operate a paper machine. And since many of those current job experts are nearing retirement, there’s a need to train a new generation and get them up to speed much more quickly than in 20 years. And that’s where scenario-based learning can really help any workplace. Convergence Training is a training solutions provider. We make a series of learning management systems (LMSs), off-the-shelf e-learning courses for workforce training, custom training solutions for our customers, apps for mobile learning and mobile performance support, and more. Contact us for more information or to set up a demo. And why not download our free Guide to Effective Manufacturing Training and Guide to Effective EHS Training since you’re here? Dr. Ruth Colvin Clark’s "Scenario-Based e-Learning" Because scenario-based learning has so many advantages, we picked up a copy of the book Scenario-Based e-Learning: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Online Workforce Training by the very well-respected learning theorist Dr. Ruth Colvin Clark. Although her book is primarily focused on e-learning and online aspects of scenario-based training, that’s not her sole focus, and much of what she has to say applies to training that takes place "offline" as well, such as instructor-led training. Clark is one of our favorite authors on workforce learning & development-her books are always well-researched, comprehensive, and evidence-based-and we encourage you to buy a copy of the book yourself if this topic is of interest to you. In this post, we’ll use her book and some other sources as starting points to explain what scenario-based training is and tell you how to create it for yourself, whether you do it in an e-learning context or a face-to-face, "real-world" training content. And we’ll give you some reasons to use it at your workplace, although we already touched on that in the introduction. We hope you find that a good start. And, if you do, we hope you also keep your eyes open for future posts digging into scenario-based learning and best practices for using it in more detail. What Is Scenario-Based Learning? Let’s start with a wise and funny quote from the famous physicist Neils Bohr (Clark includes this quote in her own book): "An expert is someone who has made all of the mistakes that can be made in a limited domain." (1) This quote is relevant to scenario-based learning for two reasons: First, because scenario-based learning allows workers to make and learn form mistakes in a safe, consequence-free learning environment And second, because learning from those mistakes through scenario-based learning helps workers become experts at their job more reliably and rapidly than they would through normal on-the-job experience So scenario-based learning is a learning activity that lets your employees learn through their own actions and mistakes, observing the consequences of their actions and reflecting on them. And it helps to accelerate the normal path to the development of job expertise. That’s a pretty good definition if you want to keep it short and sweet. More broadly, Clark’s book makes the following points explaining what scenario-based learning is: The employee plays an active, self-guided role. The employee isn’t just taking in information passively, and it’s not the kind of training that delivers some information and then asks the employee to interact in a highly structured, limited format. Instead, the employee spends all or most of the training time evaluating options and making choices by him/herself. The training involves learner actions and/or decisions, consequences and/or feedback provided to the learner, and an opportunity for the learner to reflect on their actions/decisions. The action, response/feedback, opportunity for reflection cycle is a key to this kind of training. The training is in a realistic job setting. That means the training should occur in the real work place, or in a training environment that’s like the real work place, even if it’s online, simulated, or virtual reality. This is a useful way to distinguish scenario-based learning from game-based learning, which can also be effective but is different. The training focuses on real job tasks. It’s not enough for the training to occur in a work-like setting. The training’s also got to make the learner perform real work tasks-the kinds of things they’ll do on the job. This is true if the training occurs in the "real world" or in a simulated, online/digital training activity. And this is one of the ways that scenario-based learning is different than game-based learning. The training environment is pre-planned. You can’t just throw your workers into any environment and make this work. You’ve got to put some thought and forward planning into it while developing the training. You’ll have learning objectives, and you’ll design your training to help your worker satisfy those objectives. The training will provide some forms of guidance to the employee. Again, you don’t just throw your employees into the deep end with no life preserver. Some form of guidance will be available or directly provided. This may be as simple as putting workers in simple scenarios first and then later putting them in more complex scenarios. The training will provide instructional resources. Although scenario-based training puts your workers in a realistic job-scenario and asks them to solve a problem of some sort, it should also include some instructional resources that the worker can refer to when they want to in order to help solve the problem. (2) So if you want to start creating your own scenario-based learning (in any format), those are the key points to keep in mind. How to Use Scenario-Based Learning in Manufacturing Training to Develop Employee Expertise Although scenario-based learning can be used to create engaging compliance training, for now let’s focus on using it to help a worker with basic job knowledge and skills accelerate the process of developing expertise in his or her job. One point that Clark makes in her book is that scenario-based learning typically isn’t idea for a novice on the job. Instead, it’s most useful when the employee has got the basics down. In her words: "Because learning new knowledge and skills while solving a job-realistic problem can impose quite4 a bit of mental load, in general scenario-based e-learning is best suited to learners who already have some job experience." (3) So, the first step of training workers for a job role is to help them learn the basic-level knowledge and skills. Then you can use scenario-based learning and other forms of training to help them develop the advanced job skills of an expert. To simplify that a bit, here’s how that might look: A lot, if not all, of that job knowledge (facts, concepts, and processes) can be taught through written materials and e-learning courses delivered online through an LMS. Maybe you’ll add some instructor-led training too. And those basic job skills and simple procedures can be taught with other types of training, including OJT mentoring, classroom-style instruction, video-based training, and more. We’ve got a few examples for you in the sections below, and then we’ll return to scenario-based learning for the development of job expertise. Using e-Learning, Written Materials, and Other Types of Training to Teach Basic Job Knowledge In this section, we’ll look at an example of training materials for teaching basic job knowledge-the bottom level of the pyramid you just saw. Here’s an example of teaching basic job-related facts to workers with a basic e-learning course-in this case, some facts about HVAC systems. Click here for a more detailed explanation of how to teach your employees essential job knowledge and facts, concepts, and processes. And here are more examples of e-learning courses that introduce important job-related knowledge in manufacturing facilities. Using OJT, Instructor-Led, and Other Types of Training to Teach Basic Job Skills and Procedures In addition to that job knowledge, your workers will need to be able to perform some basic job skills and procedures as well. That’s the second level of the pyramid above. You may teach those to your employees in a variety of ways, possibly including written materials, field-based OJT, classroom-style instructor-led training, videos, or more. You may even find it handy to use a mobile learning device like the one shown below to deliver and/or track the training. Pretty handy! Click here for a more detailed explanation of how to teach your employees basic job skills and procedures (this article on the Training Within Industry Job Instruction program may also prove interesting). And you can also read more about tools to help you with training workers to perform basic job procedures. Using Scenario-Based Training and Other Types of Training to Teach Advanced Job Skills and Develop Job Expertise Finally, let’s turn our attention back to helping workers develop those advanced job skills at the top of the pyramid that make someone an expert in his or her job. As we said, one of the best ways to do this is to use the scenario-based learning. The great thing about using scenario-based learning to help employees develop those skills is that you can drastically reduce the amount of time it takes an employee to develop those skills. Without scenario-based training, if you just rely on your employee to "pick this stuff up" on the job, it may take a long time-years, maybe even 10-20 years. Or maybe they’ll never learn it. Or maybe they’ll learn some but not all of it. Scenario-based learning improves your odds that your employees will develop this expertise, that they’ll develop "full" expertise and not partial expertise, and that they’ll develop the expertise more quickly. An Example of A Scenario-Based Learning Activity To help make these ideas more real to you, we’ve provided an example below. This is a scenario-based e-learning course called Connect With Haji Kamal and developed by Cathy Moore. The course was created for the U.S. Army as a way to train American soldiers in Afghanistan. You can imagine that soldiers may have learned some basic knowledge and skills before being given this training exercise, you can see how they can use this to develop advanced job skills they’ll have to use "at work" in Afghanistan, and you can see how it provides a safe, risk-free training environment they can use to practice advanced job skills, make mistakes, reflect on their actions, and ultimately learn. After learning basic job knowledge and skills, a young soldier could work through the scenario-based learning course Connect with Haji Kamal over and over again. That would allow the soldier to get feedback from a large number of possible outcomes. Click the link to investigate the scenario-based e-learning course Connect With Haji Kamal. You’ll notice that the course is presented a bit like a comic book with written text and audio. The learner is then prompted to select answers from a limited selection of options. This is one form of scenario-based learning. Others allow the learner even more freedom than this, but this gives a good idea how scenario-based learning can be used. More Questions about Scenario-Based Learning You may have some more questions about scenario-based learning. We’re going to try to anticipate and answer a few for you below. And we’re planning on writing more about scenario-based learning in the future, so stay tuned for future articles. Does Scenario-based Learning Have to be Online and/or e-Learning? No, not at all. It can occur in the "real world" in face-to-face training settings too. Just make sure it’s got the elements listed at the top of this article. Does the Scenario-Based Learning for My Work Have to Be As Good as Connect with Haji Kamal? Nope. It’s true that Connect with Haji Kamal has nice art work and fancy multimedia, but that’s not necessary. You can pull together some training that’s quite simple and modest that’s still very effective in helping your employees develop advanced job skills. The instructional power comes from putting the learner in a scenario, having the learner make decisions, and letting the learner relect on those outcomes. The nice line drawings and audio narration are just gravy. How Could I Make My Own Scenario-Based e-Learning Course? A lot of e-learning authoring tools allow you to make an e-learning course with "branching" capabilities, meaning the learner will make a decision and go to one slide if they made decision X and to a different slide if they made decision Y. If you’re not familiar with these programs, know that they’re pretty easy to learn to use. Read more about e-learning authoring tools here. What about Scenario-based Learning Activities for Compliance Training? Yep, we mentioned that scenario-based learning activities can be very effective for compliance training, because they’re active and engaging learning experiences, but above we focused on using them to help workers develop advanced job skills and job expertise. Here’s a great example of a scenario-based learning activity for compliance and/or HR training: Broken Coworker by Ryan Martin and Anna Sabramowicz (another excellent example). Does the Scenario-Based Learning for My Work Have to Be As Good as Broken Coworker? LOL. Nope. Again, it’s true that Broken Coworker has some cool aspects you may or may not be able to duplicate at work-the good acting, the fun music, etc. But you can make something that’s simple and basic and quite effective. Remember, it’s the instructional technique of scenario-based learning that’s giving the instructional power here, not the slick production. Plus, with a little work, you may well measure up to the standard set by Connect with Haji Kamal and Broken Coworker. Conclusion: Scenario-Based Learning for Manufacturing Training That’s where we’re going to leave it for now, but we do expect to write more on this in the future. For now, you’ve learned what scenario-based learning is, why it’s useful, some ways to develop it, and how to use it in a training program that helps manufacturing employees develop basic job knowledge, basic job skills and procedures, and the advanced job skills that really create value for companies (remember, scenario-based training is helpful for developing those advanced job skills). Please use the comments section below to share your own thoughts and experiences. Talk to you soon! Notes: Scenario-based e-Learning: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Online Workforce Learning, by Dr. Ruth Colvin Clark, p. 9. This is based on/adapted from a similar list in Colvin Clark, pp. 5-6. Colvin Clark, p. 10. The post Using Scenario-based Learning for Manufacturing Training appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

At many manufacturing companies, employees enter the workforce in a role reserved for new hires, then work their way through an organized line of progression from their first job to the next job and so on throughout their careers. As a result, it’s helpful to have a plan in place, and some tools to use, to help train workers at each position and better prepare them for success at each new job. In this post, we’ll give some tips and introduce some tools you can use to improve the line of progression training at your facility and make administering it more efficient. By the time you’re done reading, you should have enough information to help you deliver (a) more effective training to your employees in each job position, (b) at a lower cost, and all while (c) spending less time administering the training. And you’ll be better prepared to move new employees from one position to the next in their line of progression, and as a bonus you’ll find some tools to help you cross-train employees so they can fill multiple job roles if necessary. Convergence Training is a training solutions provider. We make a series of learning management systems (LMSs), off-the-shelf e-learning courses for workforce training, custom training solutions for our customers, apps for mobile learning and mobile performance support, and more. Contact us for more information or to set up a demo. And why not download our free Guide to Effective Manufacturing Training and Guide to Effective EHS Training since you’re here? Introduction: Training Manufacturing Workers Through Their Line of Progression There are several aspects of setting up an organized, systematic training program to help workers prepare for the different job roles in their line of progression. These include: Identifying the job roles at your company or facility Developing a list of skills needed for each job role Developing training to help employees develop competencies for each job role "Bundling" training for each job role for easy assignment, delivery, tracking, and reporting Making training for the "next job roles" available to employees We’ll look at each of these in more detail in the sections below. Identify the Job Roles at Your Company This first step is basic, and maybe you’ve already got it done. Then again, maybe you haven’t, or maybe you haven’t done it in a while and your information is out of date. Either way, if your goal is to help train your workers through the job roles at your company, it all starts by having an accurate list of the job roles. Often times, HR and/or other department heads will have a list like this already or can help you create your list. You may want to touch base with them at this point. Develop a List of the Skills Needed for Each Job Role Each job role includes a set of skills that an employee must have in order to perform the job role well. And so the next step of our process is to figure out the skills a worker needs to perform each job role at your company. You’ll use the list of skills necessary for each job role to develop training and performance support resources to help employees develop those skills. Tip: in some cases, you’ll notice there are things your employees need to know in order to perform those skills. Keep a list of that supporting knowledge, as well. Identify and Evaluate the Training Materials You Already Have For Each Necessary Job Skill Once you’ve developed the list of job roles at your company, and the list of skills necessary to perform each of those jobs, it’s time to turn your attention to training workers. For each job role, take that list of necessary skills and see if you already have training materials to help employees develop those skills. Do you already have training for job skill X or job skill Y associated with a given job role? If so, great, you’re ahead of the game on that one. The next step, then, is to evaluate those training materials. Are they current and up to date? Are they comprehensive and accurate? Now’s the time to figure it out. Tip: Ideally, you’ll evaluate those existing training materials not just to see if the information in them is complete and accurate, but also to see if they’re effective learning tools. You can use the Kirkpatrick four-level training evaluation method to help you do this; read our article on Kirkpatrick to learn more about this.  If you’ve delivered some or all of that training in a learning management system (LMS), it should be easy to run some reports and gather at least some of this data (notably, level two on the four-level Kirkpatrick) scale). Identify and Evaluate the Training Materials You Already Have For Each Necessary Job Skill Once you’ve identified the training materials to teach job skills you do have, you may find there are some job skills you’ve got no training materials for. This is a training gap you’re going to want to fill. Put all of these job skills on a list. You’ll soon begin creating training materials for them. Improve Your Sub-Par Training Materials And Create The Missing Training Materials Next, you’ll want to improve those training materials that you thought were sub-par, and you’ll want to create training materials for skills you currently have no training for at all. This is a big process, there’s a lot to it, and we’ve written a LOT about various aspects of it on the blog. Tip: If you’re looking for a nice, comprehensive guide to get you moving forward, you’ll really like our Guide to Effective Manufacturing Techniques very helpful. Or, if you’re a fan of webinars, this Manufacturing Training That Works webinar covers basically the same ground. Both are free-have at ’em. And here are some other useful tips: Perform a task analysis to break the different job skills/tasks down into smaller steps before you develop training to teach workers to perform those tasks Create training that takes advantages of adult learning principles Create training for a blended learning solution that incorporates training in several different formats (written, video-based, e-learning, instructor-led training, OJT, assessments, etc.) Each of these three points are important and valuable, and we encourage you to read the linked articles on each above. However, let’s keep focusing on line of progression training for now. Bundle Training for Each Job Role Next, once you’ve created all the training required for a particular job role, you can use a learning management system (LMS) to help you manage things from there. Just import the training materials for a given job role the LMS. This is a simple process that takes only a few minutes. Next, create a "bundle" of all the training for that job role. Again, that takes about a minute. That bundle is something you can then assign to employees in one easy step. And you can later run a report to quickly see how employees are progressing through their training or which employees have completed their training for that job role. You can see an example below of a bundle of training required to be a fully trained winder operator at a paper mill. The bundle includes multiple learning activities (we couldn’t get them all in the image but you get the idea) and the activities are of different types-instructor-led training, OJT training, e-learning courses, written documents, and more. Assign Training "Bundle" to All Employees In Job Role (Now and In Future) Your LMS will also allow you to take that "bundle" of training and assign it to everyone who’s a Winder Operator at your site. That includes people who are currently winder operators but also people who will move into that role in the future. You can see how easily you can do that in an LMS in the screen grab below-it’s a two-step process that takes a few seconds to select the "bundled" training and the "team" of Winder Operators, and then you can complete the third step of setting some assignment dates in a few more seconds. You’re done in a minute. Let Your Employees Train for Their Job Role Once you’ve assigned the training to your employees based on job role, just let them do their training. In some cases, this will mean reading some documents, watching some videos, completing some e-learning courses, or passing some quizzes online. In other cases, this will mean completing some form of face-to-face training: instructor-led classroom training, field-based OJT, or something similar. Regardless, the LMS will notify your workers of their training assignment, their completion status, and give them the information they need to complete the training. Here’s what that would look like for your employees. Make Training for the "Next Job Role(s)" Available to Employees Of course, you’re not just going to train an employee for one role. That employee is going to progress from job to job to job over time with your company. And you will want to train them for each of those roles. Once you’ve created and "bundled" all of your training in the manner described above, you’ve got a few options for getting workers trained up for the next role: Make the training for the next role available to the worker on an optional, elective basis. They can complete it on their own time if they want to. Assign the training for the next job role at the same time you assign the training for the current job role (maybe with a later due date) as a way to cross-train workers for multiple jobs and/or to prepare them in advance for their next position. Wait until the worker is fully trained on the first job role, and is ready for a promotion to the next job role, and then assign the training required for the second job role. Run Reports to See Who’s Done and Not Done with Training for a Given Job Role From time to time, you’ll want to see who’s done with their training for a given job role and who’s still in progress. Having an LMS will allow you to quickly select the workers you’re interested in (either individually or by simply selecting an organizational unit such as a team, department, or site) and the job role you’re interested in, and the LMS will show you everyone’s current training status, as shown below. Set up Reports for Automatic Generation and Delivery to Training and Department Managers Even better, you can schedule your LMS to automatically generate reporting data every day, week, or month, and send that to training or department-level managers, so they’ll always be up-to-date on the training progress of the employees they’re responsible for. Just fill in a few fields as shown below, and the department manager responsible for the Winder Operator team will receive an updated report on their training progress every day, week, or month, as shown below. Conclusion: Making Training Through Line of Progression Easier You’ve now seen some methods and tools you can use to more effectively and efficiently provide training to your workers as they progress through the career line of progression with your company. It all starts with knowing the job roles at your company and then determining what training is necessary for each role. As we’ve shown, that includes some sub-steps, including figuring out the skills necessary for performing each job role, and performing a task analysis for each of those skills. We’ve also shown how having a learning management system (LMS) can help automate a lot of this, allowing you to focus more of your time on providing instructor-led training or otherwise maximizing operations at your site. What are some tips of your own? What have you found that works and doesn’t work? What are some things you’d like to try? We’re all ears. The post Training Manufacturing Workers for Next Job in Line of Progression appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

Every fortnight I curate some of the observations and insights that were shared on social media. I call these Friday’s Finds. "We should discriminate in the sharpest way between fortunes well won and fortunes ill won; between those gained as an incident to performing great services to the community as a whole and those gained in evil fashion by keeping just within the limits of mere law honesty. Of course, no amount of charity in spending such fortunes in any way compensates for misconduct in making them." - Theodore Roosevelt, 1906 @goonth - Brand Economics & Solving the Coca-Cola Problem "I’m also not suggesting that marketing, advertising and branding are the core of the problem. I’ve long had a passion for those disciplines and have pushed myself and others to help in their reform. The fact remains that these disciplines effectively help mask the realities of what these companies do and how they operate, and that is completely unacceptable, and has been for a very long time." Informal knowledge sharing alone will create employable workforces via @C4LPT "I am convinced that any corporate culture must place value on informal learning and reward informal learning achievements. Knowledge sharing is vital to the success of any company. It’s alarming that Fortune 500 companies squander nearly $32 billion per year by not sharing knowledge adequately. In a global business environment filled with rapid technology change, hyper-competition and turbulence, such a number is unacceptable." - Karl Mehta WEF Global Risk Report

A positive broadcaster is someone who focuses on the positive in order to motivate others and produce results. In Broadcasting Happiness, Michelle Gielan challenges readers to develop more positive outlooks on life. By capitalizing on positivity, positive broadcasters can change the trajectories of their families, companies, and communities. Journalists in particular should focus on the positive and practice transformative journalism by offering a more complete picture of what is happening in the world. By making the choice to see the good in life and share it, anyone can broadcast happiness. According to Gielan: Everyone is a broadcaster. A person’s friends, family, and coworkers are his or her audience. Positive broadcasters can influence the thinking, happiness, and potential of others. When a person speaks up and broadcasts a new vision for the future, the result is positive change. Positive broadcasters leverage positivity and optimism through the use of power leads, flash memories, and leading questions. Negativity can be contagious and can affect a person’s stress levels, health, and productivity. Positive broadcasters overcome stress and negativity by fact-checking situations, engaging in strategic retreats, and delivering bad news with the four Cs. A group’s culture is based on the stories that they tell themselves. The more a positive story spreads, the more people it influences. By going viral, a positive broadcaster can unlock his or her full potential. Journalists can and should make the move toward transformative journalism. Journalists should choose optimistic, emotional stories; tell the whole story; and engage the public. To learn more, please visit http://www.bizsum.com

Today, I want to share a piece of news that’s really exciting for us. As of this morning, Rustici Software has been acquired by Learning Technologies Group plc (LTG), a publicly listed learning technologies agency made up of specialist digital learning businesses. As a part of LTG, we’ll have the opportunity to work with the other Group companies in creating the next generation of technically-focused learning solutions. LTG has a great deal of learning expertise and serves organizations worldwide. LTG’s portfolio includes LEO, a pioneering learning technologies firm, the multi-device authoring tool gomo learning, games with purpose company Preloaded, and Eukleia, an e-learning provider to the financial services sector. As part of LTG, we’ll continue offering exactly the same services we do today to an ever larger group — not only will we provide our world-class e-learning standards support to LTG companies and their customers but as part of the Group, we’ll also have the platform to reach new global audiences. For our Rustici Software customers, the story is simple. The very same people will be providing to you the very same services in the same way. Our ability to serve our customers in the way we always have is something we feel really strongly about. We’re excited to have the opportunity to work with the fine folks at LTG, and to continue to serve the e-learning industry in an even bigger way than before. We’re also excited because we’re spinning off Watershed at the very same time. Watershed will continue to push forward with their exploration of learning analytics and LRSs, and has also received a significant investment from LTG as part of Watershed’s Series A funding round. Mike and I, as CEO of Watershed and CEO of Rustici Software respectively, are both excited about where the two companies are headed. If you have any questions or need more specific information regarding the acquisition, please let us know. Any inquiries or requests for additional documentation should be sent to info@scorm.com. Tim   The post Big news from Rustici Software appeared first on SCORM - .