Solving L and D pain points? We at Logicearth Learning Services are privileged to meet a wide variety of L and D professionals from our client base and beyond. We have supported clients through ongoing change and continuous improvement for many years. In the past few years a lot has been written about L and D not supporting their organisations in the way that they should. Articles and blog posts from people like Donald Taylor and Elliot Masie, learning industry leaders, constantly call for change. But many still complain that the changed needed is just not happening fast enough. So what are these L and D pain points and why does change seem so slow - from their perspective? This is what our clients say: Doing more with less Dealing with the daily grind Getting their voice heard Changing how they are perceived Keeping up with everything We’ve found, that because of rationalisation, many L and D and training departments have been reduced to one or two people. But they still have to deliver and support the same level of services. Our core business is helping L&D to transform, especially following rationalisation. We’ve had our most success with clients when we talk to them about: Doing more with less means changing your perspective; you need to facilitate more rather than deliver more. Saying no to certain requests is appropriate - it is ok to challenge the need and challenge suggested solutions. Shifting responsibility back to learners and their managers is a good strategy but to do that you need to facilitate self-service. This is easier said than done, but we’ve successfully helped many clients with this. There is lots of content and resources out there, you just need to know how to get it to it smartly. Many of our clients have benefited from our expertise in procuring modern and effective off-the-shelf content. Lack of resources in the L and D function is always prevalent so don’t be afraid to outsource to your learning services provider. The key to transforming the L and D function and to address L and D pain points is to be proactive. This means doing something that has an affect on sales and/or staff performance - this will ALWAYS get noticed. Getting help with L and D pain points Think about benchmarking your L and D provision with another company. You will open your eyes. If you are not already active on social media, you should consider it - Twitter and Blogs are a great way to keep up with good practice and connect with others with similar L and D pain points. L and D pain point resources 1 hour webinar - Twitter for L and D professionals, Wednesday 11th March Subscribe to the Logicearth blog - we write regularly about L and D transformation and share our client success stories Follow industry leader blogs like Donald Taylor, Jane Harte, Charles Jennings and Elliot Masie Follow the eLearning feeds blog for multiple learning industry perspectives. Coming soon - a pain free L and D solution #painfreeLnD Launching in April 2015, we are bringing a unique learning infrastructure solution to market. It is a complete solution to service all your organisation’s L and D and/or training needs. We’ll provide the technology infrastructure to get you up and running in record time with modern eLearning content, help you address common L and D pain points, like making compliance training interesting, doing more with less in a strategic way, and much more! If you want to hear more about this, send us a comment through this blog, email us here or try our real-time chat tool (9-5pm, GMT, Monday to Friday) to talk to a learning consultant now. You could also give us a call - we have offices in Dublin and Belfast. Fiona Quigley, Director of Learning Innovation Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe. The post L and D pain points appeared first on e-Learning | Compliance | Training | LMS | Logicearth.

The Fedena team loves building new features that enable you to do things that weren’t possible before. But sometimes, it’s the small details that make a big difference. Along with all the big features that we have been releasing, there are also a number of little features and improvements we’ve made to Fedena. Here are some recently introduced features and improvements that will allow you to personalize Fedena and improve your efficiency as well. Date Format Fedena comes with a standard format for showing dates. However, you can change the date format to what you’d like in the General settings page. The date formats you can choose from are: DMY - Date/Month/Year MDY - Month/Date/Year YMD - Year/Month/Date In addition to the format, you can also choose a date separator you want to use, a forward slash (/) or a hyphen (-). Something to note is that wherever dates are displayed in Fedena, they are displayed in predefined long formats (March 10, 1986) or short formats (10/03/1986). K-12 vs. Higher Education What type of institution are you? A K-12 institution who teaches preschool to class 12 or a college or university that offers various courses? You can choose your institution type in the General settings page. If you select K-12 as the institution type, the term ‘Class’ is used throughout Fedena’s interface to indicate ‘a year of education’. ‘A year of education’ can be, Grade 7, Class 7, Standard 7, or Form 7, depending on your country’s educational system. If you select Higher Education as the institution type, the term ‘Course’ is used throughout Fedena’s interface to indicate ‘the study of a particular topic’ such as, Bachelor of Zoology, Master of Business Administration, and so on. Language Settings Today, Fedena is used all over the world to manage an institution’s day to day activities. Fedena has been translated into the following languages: Deutsch (German) Dominican Español (Dominican Spanish) Dutch English Español (Spanish) Galego (Galician) Italiano (Italian) Russian Türkçe (Turkish) Français (French) Português (Portuguese) tiếng Việt (Vietnamese) монгол хэл (Mongolian) العربية (Arabic) کوردی (Kurdish) मराठी (Marathi) हिंदी (Hindi) ગુજરાતી (Gujarati) 中國的 (Simplified Chinese) 日本の (Japanese) Instant Fee Particulars & Instant Fee Discounts It can be a challenging task to schedule and track fee payments for all the students in your institution. Sometime, after meticulous planning and scheduling, you realize you have left out some students, or there are some last minute fees that a student has to pay. In such instances, you need not go through the complete process of creating fee categories, fee particulars, fee discounts, fines, and then setting up a new fee collection schedule. You can create instant fee particulars and instant fee discounts at the time of collecting and processing student fees. Course-wise Exam If two or more batches of a course are being taught the same subjects, you can schedule an exam for all batches, or only selected batches at the same time. Go to the Create exam page (Module access icon > Academics > Examination > Exam Management). In the top right, click the Course-wise Exam button and then schedule an exam. Processing all student fees. One screen. Why go to a different module every time you need to collect and process tuition, exam, hostel, transport, or any other fees for a student? It can all be done form one screen in the Finance module. You can either do it when collecting fees batch-wise: Or when collecting fees from each student using the ‘Pay All Fees’ option: Activating and Deactivating Batches When all students of a batch are transferred or graduated, the batch automatically becomes inactive. But did you know you can also manually activate and deactivate batches from the Manage Batch page (module access icon > Administration > Settings > Manage Course/Batch > Manage Batch)? Say you’ve created a batch and then decided you don’t want to use it immediately. So you don’t want to delete it, but at the same time you don’t want empty batches to appear in all the dropdown lists. In such instances, you can deactivate the batch temporarily and activate it only when you decide to use it. Or, if you just want to view the list of inactive batches, you can do that as well. The post Little Improvements to help you Personalize Fedena & Improve your Efficiency appeared first on Fedena Blog.

Practical modern learning We’ve written quite a few blog posts, here and there, oh and here too about modernising L&D and what modern learning could look like. In this post, we have a real live example of modern learning in practice. We are even up for an award with our long-term clients eircom Business Friday 6th March! What does modern learning look like? Think about two key terms; self-service and devolved responsibility. The modern learner in today’s workplace, needs greater flexibility in when, where and how they learn. They need to be able to learn as they work - such is the pace of modern business. This ‘learning in the workflow’ is the holy grail of learning and is not that easy to achieve. In a recent project with eircom Business, we worked in partnership to design a truly modern learning experience. Let me tell you a bit about it.  First, let’s look at the business challenge we needed to address. Sales performance support system eircom Business, which focuses on selling high-end telecoms solutions to large companies, employ 200+ sales people.  Historically, sales staff were trained and certified as competent through a labour intensive, paper based performance development process.  This process was a structured 18-month programme that all sales staff had to complete (either new staff or re-certifying existing staff) to become certified eircom sales professionals. The problem was that the eircom L&D team had to support the entire process (for hundreds of sales people) manually. This meant a huge administrative effort with no modern systems to support it. Furthermore, the learners and their managers had little or no ownership in the process.  The ethos of the move from paper to online was based on learner responsibility for their own training plan (with their manager’s support).  The old process was quite inflexible; sales staff were overburdened with attending too many time consuming classroom events. This took them away from productive selling for too long. The plans include blended learning programmes for induction, regulatory compliance and core product testing followed by a series of brand new and innovative activities called "Performance Reviews".  The performance reviews allow the manger to assess on the job competencies, a feature unique to this solution and industry. Now - let’s look at the modern learning design principles we started to think about to construct the solution. Our modern learning transformation process focussed on:   The reference to the old era is about how this process used to happen. It also shows how far the Learning and Development function has moved in most companies. The new era is where we work with most of our clients - its exciting and engaging and it delivers results for the business. How does modern learning support staff and L&D? What eircom needed was a more flexible and modern approach to develop high performing sales professionals (in the eircom way) that gave more ownership to the sales staff and their managers.  They also needed to enable L&D staff to further develop their strategy, add value to the process and to significantly reduce administrative effort.  This is a common challenge for most L&D teams - how to get away from just taking orders for training courses and doing training/learning admin and move towards adding value to the overall business performance. How can you get started with modern learning? We’ll be talking about this project in more detail in a upcoming Webinar - we’ll keep you posted and would love it if you could join us. In the meantime, here are 5 questions that might able to help you towards a more modern learning approach. How much of your learning support is self-service where your staff can choose their own content, when, where and how THEY want to learn? Do you encourage staff to tools such as social media and the Internet to support flexible ways to learn? Who is responsible for making sure on the job performance is maintained and improved with learning, when needed? How does your L&D function contribute to the overall business strategy and improving the business bottom line? Do you have any projects in mind that could help you to achieve (4) Perhaps you have already got started with modern learning - we’d love to hear from you so feel free to email us, or comment below. Fiona Quigley, Director of Learning Innovation Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe. The post Modern learning example appeared first on e-Learning | Compliance | Training | LMS | Logicearth.

According to an estimate by the Cisco Visual Networking Index, 80% of the Internet’s total worldwide traffic will be video by 2019. It’s already around 65% of the web’s total bandwidth today, mostly as streaming entertainment content. Netflix alone accounted for 35% of all US Internet traffic in 2014, and it’s estimated that an additional The post What If The Internet Was Completely Video? appeared first on Grovo Blog.

See around and you find how technology has changed the way life is today. The same is with technology in schools- it has opened up a lot of opportunities for sure. The adoption of technology in schools has a different picture to offer in different countries. While some developed countries like the United States are looking for more technology to integrate in their schools, countries from the lesser developed parts of the world are still struggling with how to integrate technology in schools. While, there are lot of opportunities that technology has to offer to education institutions at all stages, there are some shortcomings that’s preventing widespread acceptance of technology in schools all over the world. Opportunities are wide for technology in schools When you talk about the opportunities for integrating technology in schools, we can actually see how technology is already transforming the way teachers teach in schools- a drift from text-based learning to something that would involve and engage students in the best possible way. Opportunities are plenty; here, we talk about four such opportunities that have every potential to take education to the next level. A global learning platform is surely one blessing bestowed with the introduction of technology in schools. Students can opt to learn foreign language from natives of the particular country through videoconferencing. A lot of websites have come up with this kind of learning sessions via video conferencing call, letting students experience educational benefits minus the travel cost involved. A paperless classroom is on the way. Cloud-based apps and tools like Google Drive, Gmail, Google Docs have a smarter way to offer to students and teachers to carry on their daily classroom learning. A definitely affordable option to save more time than the traditional methods of classroom teaching. A great opportunity for technology in schools lies in the form of virtual reality (put the backlink to our blog)in classroom. Virtual reality has the power to transform classroom into a practical field for students to experience real life applications in a virtual world. E-books have huge potential to change the face of education in the coming days. A lot of schools from different parts of the world have already discovered the huge potential of e-books, yet, some schools remains unaware. There are challenges too! The introduction of technology in schools is surely not an easy road to success. It has its share of bad patches which are to be met with. Coming out of the comfort zone and accepting technology in schools is perhaps one of the biggest challenge to face with. Most of the times, teachers and school authorities are reluctant to experiment with new technologies in classroom, for they consider these experimentations are beyond their job descriptions. Technology in schools has another setback- most schools are hesitant to implement distance courses, unlike the universities who have already joined the bandwagon of online courses. The costing factor is always a prominent challenge for the adoption of technology in schools. Most schools do not have the funding to support the use of technology in schools. There is an initial cost involved in the purchasing and installation of technology. Moreover, the cost of maintenance, upkeep and upgradation involves an ongoing cost, which is, at times, financially unsustainable for most K-12 schools. There are challenges to face; but the biggest test is to face these challenges, overcome and accept technology in schools and revolutionize education with improved opportunities for students. The post Technology in Schools: What are the Opportunities and Challenges appeared first on Fedena Blog.

Story listening NOT storytelling? I’d like to dedicate this blog post to all the fantastic people in my life - family, friends and work colleagues who have let me learn through their stories. I love stories. I was a voracious reader as a child and it has continued into adulthood. In my personal blog, I frequently review books and tell stories. Not so much in this ‘work’ blog though. But yet I learn more in the workplace from listening to stories and experiences than from any other form of learning. What about you? Most blogs about storytelling in learning focus on using stories in eLearning courses; scenarios, examples, case studies etc. They use stories and storytelling to get across examples to explore the nuances of the content. There is nothing wrong with this, but if we only focus on using storytelling to transmit stories, we are missing a rich set of human experiences. I want to focus on the broader concept of storytelling. Stories are much more useful and can bring better results if you consider them outside of the boundaries of a structured course. Stories are also more useful if you think about story listening, not storytelling and this could have a much bigger impact on learning in the workplace. Humans are storytellers We experience our worlds - both new experiences and existing experiences by traversing links through a wide tapestry of stories mostly already known to us. We take on new experiences by storytelling to ourselves, adding to our existing stories and fitting them into our current values and beliefs. A powerful story has the ability to really break through existing connections and forge new links in a way that factual information does not. Everyone has a favourite book or movie that has really changed how they think. What is yours? I have a few. Catcher in the Rye made me think hard about people and society and made me much more empathetic as a teenager. A recent book, albeit an old story, inspired me to overcome some challenges I was currently experiencing. You can read my review about it here. And a recent movie I saw, The Theory of Everything, reminded me of the importance of both perseverance and curiosity. A great insight from a good friend and storyteller - Pat Kenny "Stories are like the DNA of our lives. We understand our world and that of others in story form. This is one of the reasons it is nearly always possible to capture an audience’s attention by telling a story. Storytelling is how we communicate ideas and even philosophies. We recount events through the prism of our own experience. We hear stories through the prism of our experiences also. We have communicated this way since we first learned to communicate with each other. " Story listening versus storytelling Besides books and films (and now other people’s blogs), I get a lot from listening to other people’s stories. I’ve been lucky to have been involved in voluntary work since I was a university student that allowed me to listen to people’s stories and try to help them to solve problems. When you really listen to someone and also give them time to listen to their own story, it can have a powerful effect. How many of us actually get time to either tell our story or listen to other stories? Often, when we listen to others, we are ready to interrupt. We think more about the next thing we are going to say, rather than just listening. As my Scottish Granny would have said (she was a great storyteller), you have two ears and one mouth for a reason! Storytelling in the workplace So with this re-newed emphasis on story listening, rather than merely storytelling, how could it help you in the workplace? Three ways you can use story listening in your organisation: 1. Re-discover listening Re-affirm the power of listening in your organisation. Try this exercise: 2. Focus on experienced employees - some questions to ask: How did you learn when you started here? What has been your biggest career lesson to date (and tell me a story about it?) How did you do x? 3. Focus on induction Ask new employees to gather stories from specific people they might be working with. You can ask similar questions outlined in (2). Removing barriers - storytelling performance And I’m always asked - don’t we have to ‘train’ people to tell stories? My answer is always a definite no! Why are we continually putting up barriers when we can do things simply and naturally? It is true that some people are more natural ‘story performers’ than others. But performance is not what is important here. Just encourage people to tell their stories for now and I’ll talk about when performance matters more in later blog posts. Story listening is something that a modern Learning & Development team could implement easily tomorrow. Try a lunchtime story listening session and just sit back and listen. Get started with storytelling Oh and if you didn’t know it, listening brings more benefits than you think. Even showing someone that you are listening to them is a great way of showing respect and building a relationship. In my next blog, I’ll talk about some simple techniques to capture and share stories throughout your organisation. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your story. What has helped you to develop in your career or what recent challenges have you worked through? Fiona Quigley, Director of Learning Innovation Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe. The post Story listening NOT storytelling appeared first on e-Learning | Compliance | Training | LMS | Logicearth.

Admission numbers are unique numbers allotted to students on their admission. No two students can have the same admission number in the institution, even if they are admitted to a different course or batch. Admission number may also be referred to as ‘Registration Number’, ‘Student ID’, or ‘Student Number’ in many institutions. Where do I allot an admission number? When admitting a student using the Student Admission form (Module access icon > Academics > Students > Student Admission), Admission number is the first field you will see at the top of the form. The Admission number field is a mandatory. Auto Increment of Admission Numbers Since every time a student is admitted an admission number must be allotted, institutions can choose to auto increment the admission number. This setting can be set by selecting the Enable auto increment of Student Admission No. checkbox on the General settings page. The first admission number will have to be manually entered according to the convention the institution intends to follow. From the next admission onwards, the number will be automatically incremented. For example: If the first admission number is 1, the following admission numbers will be 2, 3, 4, and so on. If the first admission number is A1, the following admission numbers will be A2, A3, A4,…A9, A10, A11, and so on. The alphabet ‘A’ will remain constant. If the first admission number is 1A, the following admission numbers will be 1B, 1C,…1Y, 1Z, 2A, 2B…2Y, 2Z, 3A, 3B…3Y, 3Z, and so on. If the first admission numbers is A, the following admission number will be B, C, D,…X, Y, Z, AA, AB,…AY, AZ, BA, BB…BY, BZ,…CA, CB,…CY, CZ, and so on. If the Enable auto increment of Student Admission No. checkbox is not selected, you will have to manually enter the admission number every time a student is admitted. Naming Convention Institutions can follow a naming convention when creating admission numbers. Make note that admission numbers can only contain alphanumeric characters, underscores, and hyphens. Here are the conventions followed by some schools and colleges that use Fedena: School 1 - Year of joining + a unique number. So the student admission numbers looked like this: 150001, 150002,…150067, 150068,…150666, 150667, and so on. School 2 - School name abbreviated + a unique number. So the student admission numbers looked like this: DPA0001, DPA0002,…DPA0067, DPA0068,…DPA0666, DPA0667, and so on. School 3 - School name abbreviated + a unique number. So the student admission numbers looked like this: DPA1, DPA2,…DPA67, DPA68, DPA666, DPA667, and so on. College 1, for students of a particular course - Year of joining + Course name abbreviated + a unique number. So the student admission numbers looked like this: 03ZOO01, 03ZOO02,… 03ZOO44, 03ZOO45. College 2, for students of a particular course - Year of joining + College code provided by the university it is affiliated to + a unique number. So the student admission numbers looked like this: 15045201, 15045202…15045244, 15045245. Is there a quick way to allot student admission numbers? The easiest and quickest way to create many student records in Fedena is to Custom Import the student admission records. When setting up the CSV file to be imported, enter the admission number for each student according to the naming convention your institution intends to follow. Admission Number = Fedena Username The student admission number is also the username that a student will use to log in to Fedena. It is important for students to remember their admission number. Many institutions may also ask the students to mention their admission number in any type of communication with the institution. Can I change a student’s admission number? Generally the admission number of a student remains unchanged till the student leaves the institution. However, if the admission number of a student needs to be changed, it can be done at any time from the student’s profile by the Administrator or a Privileged Employee. Students cannot change their admission number from their Fedena login. Can I allot the admission number of a deleted student to a newly admitted student? Yes, you can allot the admission number of a student who you have permanently deleted from Fedena to a newly admitted student. Applicant Registration Plugin The Applicant Registration plugin allows students to register to courses online. When a student is allotted to a batch of a course, the admission number is automatically allotted. The admission number follows the naming convention of the last admitted student, regardless of whether the last student was admitted to the same batch or to a batch of a different course. Student Reports Student admission numbers appear in all student reports including attendance reports, examination reports, course/batch reports, and fee receipts. Searching Students In Fedena, you can search for students from several areas based on your user role and privileges assigned. For example, you can search for students using the search bar at the top of your dashboard, when managing user accounts, when scheduling fee collections, when allotting transport, and many more. Apart from using the name of the student to search, you can also use the student’s admission number to search. Let us know in the comment section if your institution uses a specific naming convention when allotting admission numbers. The post All you need to know about student admission numbers in Fedena appeared first on Fedena Blog.

What is pain free learning and development? We work with a lot of learning and development (L&D) folks - they are our core client-base, and over the last couple of years, we’ve had many hours of conversations and problem solving chats. The L&D folks that we talk to are clearly under pressure to deliver - and it is that old chestnut; deliver more with less. It’s in my nature to help people solve problems (I’m a fixer), so I’d like to use this blog post to summarise some of these chats and pain points. Let’s pull the sticking plaster away… Where is the L&D pain? Do more with less Support the modern learner/worker Devolve responsibility for learning and performance Keep up with technology / make better use of it / capitalise on it Adapt to modern business - network and social age, post-industrial age Get taken seriously (by senior management) Add value to the business Fear of failure Do all of these as quickly and efficiently as possible and know how/where to start! Now, you might argue that L&D or training departments have always needed to address these challenges. The need for pain free learning and development isn’t anything new, I hear you say! And yes, that is true, but I’d argue that modern tools and learning techniques are now enabling staff and specific departments (marketing, products, IT etc) to by-pass L&D and JDIT (just do it themselves!). What’s interesting for us as a learning service provider is that we are getting contacted by more and more product and IT managers. IT and product managers seem more aware of the online world than the average L&Der. IT and product managers seem more likely to have cracked pain free learning and development. Pain free learning and development roadmap So now more than ever, L&D are in pain and in need of a few bandages… If you were triaging L&D, where would you start? Maybe there is a need for pain free learning and development roadmap? Do you start by helping L&D to better talk the language of business - finance, return on investment (ROI), profit and loss? Or do you start with the staff and their managers? Are we still looking at L&D as people who just ‘book courses’?  Do L&D need to work more with managers to devolve responsibility for learning and performance support back to the business? What is the difference to L&D that will make the difference? Once of the most successful L&D change projects that Logicearth has had the pleasure of being involved with was this one. We firmly addressed old era L&D and helped the client move to new era. Of course that is just our perspective on the shift that is needed, and it worked for this client in this industry. I guess what is needed most is a conversation with lots more L&D folks to clarify the pain points and help solve them. We’ll be sharing some of the resources (free) we use for this work in up coming blog posts, so I hope you stay with us. p.s. - I love this blog from Jonathan Kettleborough - Six ingredients for great L&D communication (Twitter: @JKettleborough) Fiona Quigley, Director of Learning Innovation Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe. The post Pain free learning & development appeared first on e-Learning | Compliance | Training | LMS | Logicearth.

Multi-course eLearning projects If the eLearning project utopia ever existed, the process of working with subject matter experts (SMEs), steering committees and other stakeholders would be heavenly. As learning consultants/instructional designers, we generally love getting stuck into a new topic to see where we can bring it.  It’s like a rush or a high in our day to day jobs. The yang to that ying is the communication process with the SMEs and wider stakeholders and I could write a book on where this falls down, adds too many complications and extends the project way over budget. I think we would all agree, we all struggle to some extent in this regard, mostly on a course by course basis, but particularly where your eLearning project contains multiple courses. Win the battle up front  Most battles are won or lost in the very early stages of an eLearning project, and this is just as true for large scale multi-course eLearning projects. You need to prepare for the worst outcome and set your strategy early.  When so many people are involved, even agreeing simple terminology or who the real audience is, can prove difficult.  When I say prove difficult, what I really mean is; it has the potential to destroy your eLearning project from the outset. Your clients will not respect your time and you will be involved in numerous meetings and rewrites of storyboards that you just wouldn’t expect. To win the battle up front, my strategy from the outset is to be very clear with clients that each key milestone has to be fully agreed before the next one starts. That means: 1.  Agree the course outlines and learning outcomes, and 2.  Agree the storyboards in detail. This sounds so simple yet in practice so difficult. Let’s explore this a bit more. Be clear about the process From the outset, it is best to involve the client’s eLearning project manager, their SMEs and their steering committee together in a meeting to lay out your predefined process. At Logicearth we have a 10 step process, and you will have your own - it is good to walk them through it.  It is at this stage I use my main weapon in the fight to win the battle. Its very simple,  I ask the question to all the SMEs: "Each course may take between 5 days of your time or 45 days of your time, which would you like it to be?"   The answer is always the same. My response is, well if you want it to be that way then you must; provide your course outline and learning outcomes and  decide who the learners are. Furthermore, each of you must agree your course outlines and outcomes with each other. We are not proceeding any further until this milestone has been completed in full with agreement across the SMEs AND the steering committee. The storyboard versus the final build  (grasping the concept that they are different) This is a small but important tip. At the early stages of the storyboard build process, it is good to take one or two pages from your written storyboard and put them through the build process. Go to town on interaction design and graphic design. Most SMEs have little experience in eLearning projects. They need our help to visualise the content and to make that mental leap from the wordy, written, dry storyboard to its final construct. Going this extra mile at this point will help you win the small battle of the storyboard. SMEs need to understand that the storyboard is about words and potential construct. They don’t need to worry about how it will look in the end - this is our job, but they do need help. Engaging the project manager and the steering committee Its best to become friends with your client’s eLearning project manager; they may be your biggest source of help and support.  You can prepare them well for the series of battles that are about to ensue. Work with them at the early stages to discuss ideas to keep the SMEs engaged and responsive.  Think of incentives or a leader board to gently push them into providing content and reviews.  Additionally, the client’s eLearning project manager will be your gateway to the steering committee. The steering committee will generally always include one very difficult person, one very articulate and clever person and one easy going person.  It is good to find this out and find ways of getting the clever and/or  the easy going member on your side. Stop, meet, agree Again, the biggest milestones are to agree the course objectives, outlines and outcomes and later down the line, to agree and sign off the eLearning project storyboards.  At both points, insist that the steering committee meet and ask the SMEs to present each of their documents to the steering committee.  This can prove to be vitally important and can save your days and days of rewrites. Fully understand and be prepared for hard , labourious meetings that discuss the documents in great detail. In my view, if you get this aspect right, you will save huge resources and will be well on your way to winning the war. The treatment plan When you go to the steering committee to sign off the storyboards, it is important to do two things. 1.  Repeat the exercise of showing your storyboard with your sample built object.  The steering committee also need to make this mental leap. 2. At the same time, prepare a treatment plan. This plan should include a graphical representation of how the eLearning project courses will look in their final state (without having to build the courses).  Include in the plan;  a statement of understanding of their brand guidelines, a colour guide and why your are choosing them, example stock images of people and diversity, example interaction design, use of icons,  scenarios and many more things. Again it is good to obtain their consensus. Last minute build Now that the outcomes, outlines, learners, storyboards and treatment plan are all agreed, build can start.   I generally refuse to go to build before this consensus is complete.  Sometimes this is not efficient as it can be better to build courses in parallel but where the project is complex and where there are many differing opinions,  I much prefer to make sure that there is consensus across the board before proceeding to build. We all have the scars of war on our back but I live with an optimistic outlook that SMEs and steering committee can be our foes and not our enemies. Peter Carlin, Director, Logicearth Learning Services Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe. The post 7 steps to heavenly eLearning projects appeared first on e-Learning | Compliance | Training | LMS | Logicearth.

Planning fee collection schedules for hundreds of students is a time consuming process, but something that’s very important and cannot be avoided. To ease the process, many institutions at the beginning of the academic year, plan and decide the various types of fees each batch of students have to pay. All these fee types are then recorded in Fedena and the fee collection dates are scheduled for each batch. Each fee collection will consist of payment and discount heads or as Fedena calls it ‘fee particulars’ and ‘fee discounts’. When the fee collection dates draw near, often times institutions want to make changes to the scheduled fee collections. Institutions either want to remove certain fee particulars or fee discounts, or they want to add new fee particulars or fee discounts for a batch or for a particular student. Here’s how Fedena can handle this.   If you are using the Fedena version 3.4.1 or 3.4.2, the solution is simple. Use the Manage Fee Collections page to easily add or remove fee particulars and fee discounts from student fee collections.   Go to the Manage Fee Collections page (module access icon > Administration > Finance > Fees > Schedule Fee Collection Dates > Manage Fee Collections). Select the batch and the fee collection. If you select Particular, all fee particulars created for the batch, for a student, or for a student category are displayed. If you select Discount, all fee discounts created for the batch, for a student, for a student category, or for a fee particular are displayed.   Select the checkboxes to assign or remove fee particulars and fee discounts. Click the Update button. A point to note, if a student has paid the fees towards a fee collection, newly created fee particulars and fee discounts cannot be assigned to that fee collection, neither can existing fee particulars nor fee discounts be removed from that fee collection. If you are using a Fedena version 3.4 and older, the only solution is to delete the scheduled fee collections, create the new fee particulars and fee discounts or delete the ones that don’t apply, and then schedule the fee collections all over again. This process can get even more tedious if you’ve already started collecting fees from students. So if you haven’t already upgraded to the latest Fedena version - do it now! The post How to add or remove Fee Particulars and Fee Discounts from Student Fee Collections appeared first on Fedena Blog.

7 tips to boost the role of L&D staff Following on from our #painfreeLnD series of posts here and here, I wanted to write a few about a few practical ideas that could start to shift how learning and development (L&D) is perceived in the business. To move away from booking courses and organising classroom events, we must look at the whole spectrum of learning and performance. Boost the role of L&D staff by injecting a sparkle of enthusiasm for learning and performance throughout your organisation. And find ways to do this simply, effectively and on a budget! Boost the role of L&D staff means - how can we begin to get the business to see L&D as the font of all knowledge for learning and performance? Here are 7 tips to get you thinking - our clients are actively working on these and have reported good results on staff engagement and performance improvement. Free the learning! Does your organisation have a balance of formal and informal learning? Are staff encouraged to direct and organise their own learning, or does it all have to centrally come from L&D? To get to agile learning and therefore agile, more responsive business, staff need to be free to explore how they learn best. For most of us, that is informal learning from peers and managers as we do our jobs. Does your organisation have structures in place to support this? For example, do managers and their teams have time for regular feedback sessions and meetings? Do they have the right tools to share information quickly and effectively? To boost the role of L&D staff, you can do a lot of good by thinking about the infrastructure that could support and encourage people to learn using natural pathways. Think for example, about how we learn outside the workplace - how could this be replicated in the workplace? There are lots of different workplace learning and performance models to explore too, for example: Do you know what combination of behaviour influences are most likely to produce desired changes in behaviour? Do you understand the different ways people learn in the workplace - 70:20:10? Are you meeting all 5 moments of learning need? Ask staff for ideas It is no co-incidence that this is near the top of my list. Most of us hate being told what to do. Think about conducting an informal session or focus group to ask people how they can be supported. Ask staff what might help them to learn? Ask them what challenges they have on a day to day basis. Then arrange to follow up to share your ideas of how you might be able to help. Do this regularly - perhaps a monthly session, with different staff - work your way around the organisation. Boost the role of L&D staff by making a commitment to listen and live up to any ideas discussed. Talk to managers about special project ideas Based on the ideas generated in #2, talk specifically to managers. This is about starting to ease responsibility for learning and performance back to the people who naturally ‘own it’. Boost the role of L&D staff should also be about helping others to improve how they learn. Managers will have their own perspective on day-to-day challenges, so it is useful to reality check all ideas. Think about a special project to kick start this process. For example, for one client, staff told us that the series of classroom training courses they were attending were just happening too slowly to help them in their jobs. By talking to staff, we suggested use of a coach/mentor in-between classroom sessions to keep momentum going. Staff then built up a series on on-going Frequently Asked Questions and other tips - learning out loud as they worked and sharing with everyone. Start a learning campaign The big lesson of modern learning is that we don’t learn effectively in one-off event. We need consistent reminders and on-going learning to really drive performance improvement. So, is there something in your organisation that really needs a focus to drive improvement? Areas like leadership and compliance are prime topics for this sort of approach. I’ll blog more about learning campaigns at a later date, but think about the advertising world - they use slogans, multi-media, posters and other ways of getting a clever message to stick. Boost the role of L&D staff by bringing modern learning and communication techniques to your organisation. If an advertiser can persuade me to buy something I don’t need, then us people of learning can support our staff to learn something that will help their careers - using the same techniques! Collect stories We blogged about storytelling before, but just to remind us all - we humans are storytellers. We understand our own experiences and that of others through stories and making connections. Think about who in your organisation you could collect stories from - who are your high performers and how did they get that way? How do they deal with challenges that we all have? Sit down and listen - use this blog for some ideas. Look for quicker ways to share learning How does your organisation currently share information quickly? For example, do you use video capture or podcasts or is everything written down? Do you have posters or reminders? Do you have any internal communication tools for quick fire questions and answers? Instant messaging tools are becoming common place - fast replacing email. Do you use informal and formal communication - for example instant messages versus internal newsletters? How does the progress of the business get communicated? Boost the role of L&D staff by offering to look at internal company communication. The same tools that are used for communication could also be used for learning. Can staff easily ask questions to people they don’t see that often? Perhaps a good role for L&D is to help set up a better communications infrastructure to support both fast and efficient formal and informal communication. Review how email is used in your organisation This probably seems like an odd one to have on a list about enthusiasm for learning! But building on #6, many organisations are starting to re-think their use of email. Endless ‘cc-ing and email trails is inefficient in today’s fast-paced business world. Email doesn’t seem like a useful agile tool for learning either. Here are ideas other organisations have come up with: The rule of three - people tend to remember three things easily, so try to have no more points than this. Save the ‘war and peace’ emails for face to face chats. Keep ‘cc-ing to a minimum - do you expect the people you ‘cc to read and/or take action? Be clear on why you are ‘cc-ing. We’ve all been included in email chains and perhaps missed some important information because we were only ‘cc’d. Be careful with your wording - keep your tone neutral. People tend to take criticism over email more to heart as you are not there to mitigate or explain it. Tip: re-read your email in a cross voice, just to see if it would come across in anyway offensive! Boost the role of L&D staff - what’s the scope? So there you have it. Maybe you are surprised at some of these suggestions about where L&D can get involved. Think about L&D as a broad support to the business - not only helping to support learning but look for anywhere you can use your expertise to improve staff and business performance. One further insight here, from Harvard Business Review- You don’t have to be the boss to to change how your company works. Fiona Quigley, Director of Learning Innovation Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe. The post Boost the role of L&D staff to transform your business appeared first on e-Learning | Compliance | Training | LMS | Logicearth.

  ERP implementation is now a crucial part of effective management of educational institution. All concerns right from the management of finance to attendance to exam to publish of results, can be a lot easier with the adoption of right ERP software. The education environment is changing; at a faster pace; new and advanced methods of learning have replaced the traditional forms. To keep up with the changing face of education, institutions have to be smart with the management part as well.   Opting for ERP implementation is a major undertaking and it just not ends with purchasing of the ERP software. Choosing the right ERP solution to planning and execution- everything has to be in the right place for a rewarding experience at the end. A well designed ERP implementation plan is the key. Here are the best practices:   Review the pre-installation scenarios. Do you at all need an ERP for your school?   ERP implementation should not be a decision in haste. Make sure you have enough knowledge about the benefits you’re going to get with an ERP implementation in your educational institution. It’s advisable to create a team with some teachers and non-teaching administrators who’ll be the end -users, to develop the objectives and chart out the entire plan. A complete analysis of the processes to be automated, the scope of implementation and well-defined objectives will surely pave way for a smooth implementation process.   What are your requirements? Choose an ERP software accordingly.   The functions of an ERP software is extensive; and there are a various types of ERP softwares available in the market.  Before deciding on any ERP software, dedicate some days in intensive research of the various softwares available and match them with your requirements. Perhaps, the greatest reason for failure of ERP implementation is disparity between the capabilities of an ERP software and the institution’s processes and requirements. Perfect coordination between these two, can produce optimal results. The ERP Implementation Steps Once you are done with the process of buying the ERP software, then comes the implementation stage. The practices to follow are:   Create the database. Collect and store all necessary data.   Keep in mind: You cannot transfer or convert 100% data as there will be some really old and insignificant ones. A complete analysis of the currently available data has to be done to determine the important data to be included in the database. Create a spreadsheet/CSV file to properly segment and store data. A good ERP will allow an easy transfer or upload of data from spreadsheet to the database. Make sure all data transferred to the database is accurate and complete.   Training- An important step to successful ERP implementation   A very crucial step to ERP implementation, training of the staffs in the institution who’re going to use it is necessary to realize all the benefits of an ERP software. If the end-users don’t understand how the system works, the entire purpose of an ERP usage will go in vain. Training documents or any other additional tools required, must be provided to the team getting trained. Usually, the training part comes clubbed with the ERP from the provider. Once the training gets over, a pilot-run of the software in the institute with real data to consider any adjustments is needed.   Go live!   Perhaps, the most satisfying part of an ERP implementation process, going live on the system without any hiccups is always most welcoming. But going live shouldn’t overshadow an important aspect- post implementation matters. Proper utilization of the software and timely maintenance and upgradation are equally important as the ERP implementation.   Adopting the best practices for ERP implementation should be priority for the optimal utilization of an ERP software. If you are looking out for some helpful tips for successful ERP implementation in your institution, we have a write-up for you. Read here. The post 5 Good Practices for Successful ERP Implementation in Educational Institution appeared first on Fedena Blog.

So is training dead? Some people think so! When we think of how - and more importantly, to what extent - technology has changed the world, we very often understate quite just how dramatically it has impacted upon almost every aspect of our daily lives. The internet, email, smartphones, GPS, online banking, online shopping, you name it ….the last ten years has effectively seen every element of our lives re-packaged, for want of a better word, and given back to us in a completely different format. But let’s be very clear here. Although technology has obviously transformed how business is conducted, it has not "killed off" core business concepts that have been around for centuries. Far from it in fact; all it has done is added to them through the process of modernisation, streamlining them to make them more user friendly, more consumable, more efficient. Think of it like this - I don’t recall anyone ever proclaiming that "banking is dead" since the advent of online banking, do you?! Why should training be any different? So, by the same token, it is clear that training isn’t dead either! So why then is there a sometimes cynical misconception that, just because the internet offers vast volumes of information resources on any subject matter under the sun, anyone and everyone can automatically become self-taught and training can simply be  cast aside, consigned to the annals of history? Unfortunately, sometimes the problem is that "the internet" (you can take this as a catch-all phrase referring to everything that it entails!), can sometimes lead to the gross simplification of functions that are just not that straightforward. This in turn causes people to make sweeping judgements on matters that require much greater, much more in-depth consideration. This is where the preconceptions / misconceptions (call them what you will!) occur when it comes to the subject of training. If "training" is the problem, call it something else! Perhaps the word "training" itself is where part of the problem lies. Does it, for example, automatically conjure up an image of a classroom collective involving a traditional teacher and pupil environment? If so then perhaps how it is perceived is the real problem, because clearly nobody can argue against the ideal of training itself (it is after all and at the very minimum, a conscious attempt at self- improvement). So, if for example, training is associated solely with formal, rote learning and seen as a passive experience delivered via a traditional teacher-pupil method, then perhaps it is entirely understandable that it may be regarded as being outdated and unnecessary? Clearly what we need to understand and take on board is that not everyone thinks about training in the same positive light. To counter this, it may be that new and nuanced terminology needs to be used, to ensure that training (or whatever we wish to call it), remains valued and relevant to everybody. Believe it or not, phraseology and the way in which something is presented to an audience, is always critical to securing buy-in. First impressions and all that…. For training, read learning! So instead of using the word training when we talk of upskilling, why not refer to learning instead?! It is a subtle difference but crucially, learning suggests an active willingness to develop a new skill or upgrade an existing one, as against training which could be perceived as something very structured, rigid and even intimidating. Think about it like this: offering an employee a range of different learning opportunities, supported by different technologies will be perceived very differently than if that same employee is instructed to go on a training course, don’t you think? It makes sense perfect really because, whilst the vast majority of people will be grateful for an opportunity to upskill, they will also very much appreciate being part of the decision making process in terms of deciding what learning they need - in the context of their individual skillset -and what the best learning approach is for them. Collaboration is the key In this age of collaborative, two way communication, nobody is ever going to appreciate being instructed to go a training course, without consultation. Individuals have very different learning patterns and behaviours so instead of having a one-size-fits-all approach, why not engage with employees through a process of collaborative consultation, to see what learning approach will most appeal to them? After all, if employees have a clear preference for one learning medium over another, listening to them will result in a win-win situation for everyone - because people always learn more in an environment in which they feel comfortable. The bottom line is that we all still need up-skilling, now more than ever. The world is changing at an incredibly fast pace, faster than ever before, across every possible industry sector.  As a result, no-one can afford to sit still and think that they have a sufficient skillset to get them through their careers. Equally though, people do now have much more access to information resources than ever before so it stands to reason that the delivery methods of training need to be much more interactive, innovative and engaging, beyond simply the dissemination of information that is already widely available. So go on. Be brave. And remember, training is not dead - it merely changes in terms of how it is delivered and perceived, just in the same way that every industry must change and adapt to new technologies and new thinking. Just as banking was still banking when it went online, training will still be training no matter what name is applied or what methodologies are used for delivery. The only difference is that the more open minded you are in approaching it, the better and more effective it will become.   Fiona Quigley, Director of Learning Innovation Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe.   The post Training isn’t dead? appeared first on e-Learning | Compliance | Training | LMS | Logicearth.

Inspiring the spark of change This is our new Friday curation spot. Here I have identified 10 posts - a combination of blogs, Linkedin, news and other articles/media that I have come across over the last few weeks. I have identified each one as a possible inspiration to spark new ideas for your L&D team. I’d love to see any of your posts too. Enjoy! How can you make use of these sparks? So let’s take an example. Spark 10, from Neil Morrison, a HR professional (Twitter @neilmorrison) is about considering your employee engagement scores in a different light. Could you organise a meeting between L&D and HR to talk through your latest employee scores. What could L&D do to help? Spark 1 Employee engagement, love, belief systems and simplicity (Blog from Meg Peppin) Key message: Create time and space for people to talk with each other to make meaning. Time, patience, space, respect.  Simple and yet so difficult. Spark 2 L&D outside the box (Blog from Harold Jarche) Key message: learning has to be part of the work. L&D have to refocus on helping people to do that, rather than just generate content or book courses. Spark 3 Whose job is it any ways? (Blog from Andrew Jacobs) Key message: L&D managers need to develop support and oversight; the mechanics don’t really matter. Spark 4 12 Habits of exceptional leaders (LinkedIn) Key message: inspire learning and development by what you are doing. People believe what they see you doing as a leader. Spark 5 Could do better for Britain’s managers (Blog from @FlipChartRick) Key message: although UK has high number of graduates in managerial positions, it seems their skills aren’t being used well and UK is becoming a high skill, low pay, low productivity economy. Spark 6 Why you need to fail to have a good career  (TED talk video) Key message: fear of failure holds people back from success - inspire learning and development by getting people to talk about their failures Spark 7 The happy secret to better work (TED talk video) Key message: should work make us happy or should we focus on helping people to be happy? Spark 8 The three failures of performance appraisal (Blog from @David_Goddin) Key message: performance usually focusses on outputs, but sometimes this can reduce the complexity of what makes good performance, including teamwork, sharing new ideas etc. Spark 9 The evolution of training from Santander (Blog) Key message: moving from expensive classroom only training to blended learning using a range of technologies helps create richer learning experiences and is more cost effective. Spark 10 Engage your brain (Blog from @neilmorrison) Key message: instead of accepting employee engagement scores, analyse and think more about what the organisation might be doing to disengage people!   Fiona Quigley, Director of Learning Innovation Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe. The post Inspire learning and development appeared first on e-Learning | Compliance | Training | LMS | Logicearth.

Use of social media in education have introduced new learning activities in classroom. Instagram can be a great tool in the classroom too! We suggest you 7 ways by which you can implement Instagram effectively in classroom.     Share this Infographic On Your Site <p><strong>Please include attribution to fedena.com with this graphic.</strong></p> <p><a href='http://www.fedena.com/blog/2015/05/use-instagram-in-classroom.html'><img src='http://www.fedena.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Final-01.png' alt='7 Interesting Ways to Use Instagram in Classroom' width='1000px' border='0' /></a></p> <p> The post Infographic: 7 Interesting Ways to Use Instagram in Classroom appeared first on Fedena Blog.

What do we mean by performance management? So this is next in our series of #FF curation. This week we’re looking at performance management. How can L&D get involved in improving performance management across the organisation? So I think - performance management is about helping people to be the best they can be, for themselves and for the company. If you, like me, have been in the workplace for a few years, you’ll probably have many stories about performance management. As a young graduate, I hated performance reviews and found them pointless. I remember the company I was working for had formal performance management procedures in place and very specific bonus payments if you got a certain ‘score’. At my annual review, I got the highest score amongst my peers, but ended up with the same bonus payment as the top 1/3 of the team. Something to do with normal distribution they said! Hmm…oh and yes not to mention getting feedback on my performance way too long after I should have made the changes. I did mention it was an ‘annual’ review? Here are 10 sparks that might get you thinking. I’ve a few ideas at the end of the post that you could try too.  Spark 1 Understand what really motivates people at work - reading Daniel Pink’s book, Drive is a good place to start. But if you want the cheat sheet, check out this summary video. You might find some of it surprising! Spark 2 Managers are the key to performance management (@SGHRTalks) Key message - following on from #1, carrot and stick motivation should be long gone, focus on purpose, autonomy and mastery. Spark 3 7 ways to humanise performance management (Juliana Stancampiano, TLNT online) Key message: rethink performance management - should be an on-going process, continuous feedback rather than a one off event! Spark 4 Serious about performance  (@dougshaw1) Key message: Performance is input and output. It is about understanding your potential and developing it so that you achieve the best results you can. Most people think performance is just about output. Spark 5 10 tips for first time supervisors (@hrbartender) Key message: learning how to be a supervisor means learning new skills such as delegation and asking for feedback. This is vital for good performance.  Spark 6 Re-inventing performance management (Harvard Business Review) Key message: Many executives aren’t happy with traditional performance management systems. Re-design performance management using speed, agility, one-size-fits-one, and constant learning. Refocus efforts on spending more time helping people to use their strengths. Spark 7 The career advice you didn’t get (TED Talk) Key message: why are so many women ‘stuck’ in middle management and what needs to happen to help them move to the top? This talk looks at the missing 33% to close the gender gap at the top level of business. Spark 8 Dear informal learning (@sukhpabial) Key message: many different types of learning happen naturally in the workplace without the need for formality. Perhaps it is time to promote the message - "don’t worry people, just put your faith in people’s own L&D activity". Spark 9 Learning and performance (Steve Wheeler @timbuckteeth) Key message: performance is the externalisation of learning to help us ‘become’. But we keep learning and keep adjusting our performance - we don’t stop becoming. Performance of knowledge through social media will be one of the vital components of education and training in the coming years. Spark 10 Only 55% of employees think performance appraisal is effective (Dan Pontefract @dpontefract) Key message: employees are not looking for their performance to be managed; rather, they yearn for truly personalized career development at all junctions in their workplace tenure. So what can you do with all these performance management insights? Well - let’s take Spark 6 and Spark 8. Could you meet with team managers and discuss the Deloitte research? Could you discuss informal learning? High performers in your organisation likely use a lot of informal learning strategies - they don’t want to go on a ‘course’ to learn. Perhaps you could ask high performers to share their insights? Once you get the insights into informal learning strategies, could you share them with everyone? If you have any other insights into performance management and what has worked, I’d love to hear from you. Horror stories are welcome too! Fiona Quigley, Director of Learning Innovation Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe. The post Performance management - inspire L&D appeared first on e-Learning | Compliance | Training | LMS | Logicearth.

  When a teacher manages to engage his students in the learning process through interactive techniques, they are able to increase their focus and improve their critical thinking skills. Active participation is important for students to gain meaningful learning experiences in the classroom.   How do you motivate your students to get engaged, when most of them don’t give you a chance to show how fun learning can be? The following online tools will support you on that mission! How-To-Study.com This website will be a faithful companion throughout your growth as an educator. It offers effective study tips and articles that help students improve their learning skills. In addition, you will find a separate section for teachers, which offers over 200 free tips provided by experienced educators. New content is being added on regular basis, so make sure to stay updated with the trends.   The teaching resources are separated in the following categories: Reference Sources, Classroom Management, Teaching Techniques, Subject Areas, Language Arts, Math, and Other Teaching Tips. When you start exploring the content at this website, you’ll realize that your potential as a teacher is directly related to the engagement of your students. ExamTime Teachers have a great responsibility to provide proper support during exam sessions. You cannot expect for your students to study effectively if you solely provide the textbooks and leave them on their own. Luckily, those teaching strategies are outdated.   ExamTime is a tool you can recommend to your students. It transforms their learning potential by enabling them to organize the studying process and focus on the most important aspects of the material. The free learning platform provides all tools that students need for successful learning. 4Tests How can you make tests less scary? By enabling your students to practice as much as possible. You don’t have to give tests each day until you make them feel more comfortable with the challenge; that would only increase the stress levels in the classroom.   At 4Tests.com, your students can take free practice exams with no pressure. You won’t be aware of the results they achieve, so they will be intrigued to test their knowledge and see how well they would do on an actual test. Novel Guide If you don’t have time to write novel guides for your students, you will definitely appreciate this website, which offer materials on most literature pieces you cover in class. In addition to a plot summary, the website offers discussion and questions for each piece of literature.   When your students rely on these resources, they won’t neglect the actual novels. On the contrary; they will get proper guidance on how to read and understand the author. Essay Mama The essay writing assignments are among the most challenging projects your students face throughout their learning adventure. No matter how hard you try to engage them in the process of academic writing, it’s hard to make all topics attractive. Essay Mama is a website that offers professional assistance on all types of assignments. Your students can collaborate with expert PhD authors, who will guide them through the essay writing stages.   The blog section is just as useful for you as it is for your students. It offers a detailed glossary of essay writing terms, as well as a free academic writing guide. In addition, you can read great articles related to education. myHomework Your students love using their smartphones and tablets, so you should definitely instruct them to install this cross-platform student planner. The paper planner is not as effective as it used to be. With this app, your students won’t need to worry about forgetting the planner or carrying it around everywhere they go.   The app makes tracking school work as easy as it gets. Thanks to myHomework, they will never forget an assignment again. StudyBlue Most conventional learning strategies are outdated for today’s educational system, but that’s not the case with flashcards, review sheets and quizzes. These tools are still effective when it comes to getting the students engaged in the learning process. The free platform offers the largest library of online study materials generated by users.   Your students can find resources on any topic and save a lot of time when they are trying to learn new things. Fun Brain What could possibly inspire your students more than properly-chosen educational games? At this website, you will find great games for different ages. The reading section contains books and comics that will bring literature closer to the understanding of young learners. The fun math games will make even the scariest subject more approachable. ACCA Student Blog Unfortunately, you don’t have much time for motivational speeches when you have tons of coursework material to cover in class. That’s why the ACCA blog can help! Recommend this website when you notice that some of your students have lost their passion for learning. The motivational resources will help them achieve their full potential, find the right learning methods, surpass different obstacles, and deal with exam failure. Study Guides and Strategies "Study is like the heaven’s glorious sun." This Shakespeare quote is the motto of the website, which offers useful study guides, project management and problem solving strategies, teamwork tips, thinking/memorizing guidance, research and reading tips, and much more.   The guides for learning and studying are very effective for students at different age levels. They will find tips on active learning as an experiential, engaging, and mindful way of processing information. The post 10 Online Tools to Engage Students in Studying Process appeared first on Fedena Blog.

Why the focus on social learning? Is it really new? While the function of training has always been about learning through social interactions and collaborative learning, this has never been more in evidence than in this "the age of communication". Where in the past training was delivered largely and almost exclusively in a formal, teacher-student top down environment (mimicking mainstream education to a large extent), the present and the future is very much about social learning - ie learning via social media platforms. So, if you are still approaching training in the way that you did even 5 years ago, perhaps the time is now to reflect upon your approach, and to help you to change for the better, here are 10 great (and easy to follow!) tips that will help you embrace the concept of learning through social media: 1.  Assess and evaluate your current e-learning approach OK this seems obvious but the truth is that sometimes the hardest thing about change is recognising that there are flaws in how we do things at present. So, the first thing to do is evaluate where you are at present, because this will help you to realise what needs to be done to get to where you really want to be. 2.  Learn as much as you can about social media! As a training and learning professional, you will already be aware that the whole concept of social learning is based around social media. However, you will also be aware that that are a multitude of different social media platforms to choose from and therefore you need to identify which the right ones are for you in the context of engaging your learning group. Social media is wonderful but focussing your time and effort into the wrong channels is really not going to achieve a whole lot for anyone. As a result, you need to know what the different social media platforms do, and how they might work for you! So learn to distinguish your tweets from your blog posts and you’ll be half way there! 3.  Identify your learning goals Once you are you are familiar with the various different social media channels that are out there,  you will have a much clearer understanding of which ones you need to invest your time and  energy in to. Will your learners be using mainstream social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook for example? Or are they perhaps using industry specific community sharing information blogs? The answer lies in research! Some companies, for example, use internal blogs as a way to share information between teams and also as a tool for reflection. Why not give it a go? 4. Embrace the social media philosophy of individualism Many people who are not familiar with the concept of social media will naturally fear the uncontrollable openness which is at the very heart of it. If you are going to embrace social media channels for the purpose of developing your social learning model, you simply have to "let go" and accept that your role as a modern instructor is to facilitate learning by probing, rather than by dictating. 5. Re-think ownership One thing which is for certain when it comes to social media, including social learning, is that there is no such thing as ownership. Yes, indeed you may be the learner, instructor, or whatever else you wish to call yourself, but always remember that social learning is shared learning and everyone who is involved must be allowed to have an equal role to play in proceedings! 6. Share! Sharing is always good, as we are taught from an early age. It is one of life’s many valuable and important social etiquettes and it applies to everything including of course communication and training. Share links, articles, interesting tit bits of information with your learners (using your chosen favoured social channels), because this will actively engage them. 7. Collaborate You may have noticed that a clear pattern has emerged from these top tips; almost everything in some way relates back to the concepts of collaboration, ownership and sharing. And that sort of makes sense really because, at the end of the day these are probably the three most important words when it comes to understanding social learning and where all three are present, it is very likely that a very powerful social learning group has developed. 8.  Get feedback Another feature of social media is that feedback is the norm; the social media (including social learning) generation like to be heard and are never afraid to offer their opinions or contributions to groups of which they feel a sense of belonging. Do not try to hush people for fear that they may offer feedback that you don’t want to hear - the fact is, they will give their opinion so be open and upfront about accepting criticism in the same way as you would be about accepting praise. At the end of the day, feedback gives you the chance to improve too! 9. Teach and be taught By all means always teach your learners about their role in a successful social learning environment but by the same token, do also be open to being taught by your learners. Remember that nobody has a monopoly on learning and nobody can stake a claim to the ownership of knowledge. The more that you facilitate the social learning experience, the more your learners will trust that you are on their side rather than trying to outwit them. 10. Keep on learning! As a learning professional whose role is to facilitate learning, make sure you stay in tune with what is happening in your industry. The world of social media and online interaction is constantly  influx - the most difficult thing in fact is actually staying up to date with the ever- changing social landscape. However, if you commit to trying to stay ahead of the game then chances are, you will always identify the very latest innovations in social learning - and in the process, helping you to ensure that your learners stay actively enthused. So what do you think? Are you ready to take the social learning plunge? Feel free to talk to us on Twitter @fionaquigs or @logicearth if you need a helping hand on your social learning journey. You’ll find us on Facebook and LinkedIn too.  We’ve a few other blog posts that you might want to read - learn about Twitter here and more about learning in the modern workplace here. Fiona Quigley, Director of Learning Innovation Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe. The post 10 simple ways to bring social learning to your organisation appeared first on Logicearth.

Learn the skills you need to know to become a web developer. I'll share everything I know. Nearly 20 yrs later, I have yet to stop learning.

Today’s blog is a guest post from Sinead Sharkey, who is an Organisational Development specialist. Sinead has worked in various HR, training business improvement and performance management roles for the last 20 years. State of performance management The longer I work and see it handled so badly by so many managers, the more I wonder. If we can understand how to get the best from our people rather than vainly hoping it will just happen by magic, the better our results will be. And isn’t that what we managers are all about? Having worked in large corporations for 20+ years it has become increasingly clear that no matter how many initiatives and changes we make, without grasping this fundamental management toolkit we, will never properly tap into our key resource, our people. This has lead me to ponder on how my own performance has been managed over the years. My first performance appraisal My first experience was as a child. I’m the youngest of 4 and we are the offspring of a perfectionist father. His technique to get us performing to our best has a standout moment for me. I was a total daddy’s girl and like most kids loved to impress my dad. He was a great character, larger than life, with a big booming laugh. In fact I remember him once playing Santa Claus and I couldn’t think of a better man with his big belly and sense of joy. I remember a time at the age of 8 I think, I’d got 97% in a maths test which wasn’t my strongest area, so I was over the moon. I came home excited, dying to tell him my big news. As he came through the door and kissed my mum, there I was dancing in my seat, and as soon as he came through the living room door I ran and jumped into his arms and spilled my news. His response floored me "so what happened to the other 3%?". Talk about bursting my bubble. It took a while, but I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and weirdly it worked a treat on me. This push had the desired effect of making me work harder. I can’t say that was true for all 4 of us though. How NOT to do it? Fast forward to my first appraisal in the world of work and I didn’t have the best experience of my life. I was working for a perfectionist (of course!), someone I learned a hell of a lot from as a fresh graduate. She demanded such a high standard, and no matter what I produced would always have a red pen out. This pushed me for a while, but over time became demotivating, but between her and my dad, a level of excellence was pretty well programmed into me. But the appraisal scarred both my confidence and my view of performance management. I have a particularly strong memory about one piece of criticism. An internal customer had made a complaint about me, which is a perfectly acceptable thing to raise, but not when it happened almost a year ago. What was I supposed to do with that information a year after the event…other than beat myself up? In my various roles in the workplace, I have trained, coached, supported and developed many a manager since this time, in addition to being a manager myself. What I notice time and again, is that it is the simple things that are missed. Managing performance is definitely one of the most neglected, underused, misunderstood arts. This is particularly frustrating to see when it is the most crucial skill, both in managing others and in managing yourself. So, what is it that’s stopping us from doing it and doing it well? Here are my thoughts… Fear Of having not just the difficult conversations, but also the good ones! Those pesky emotions really get in the way on both sides. What if they react badly? What if they don’t like me? What if they disagree and things get worse? Some of the many questions that may put us off. Lack of knowledge and skill We are dealing with people, which can admittedly be tricky, and like my father’s approach, a one size definitely does not fit all. We have a tendency to work from our own style and preferences rather than taking time to understand and bend to others’. Take time to get to know how your staff tick - do you know what demotivates them, as well as what motivates them? Not using the tools at your disposal We have never been better equipped with psychological tools and techniques, yet many of us are still winging it. So what can we do about it? To be honest there are so many small, simple changes you can make, that once you start, you may wonder what the heck you were doing before! There is one underlying principle though, and that is consistency. This is no more clearly evident than when dealing with kids, which is often the best training ground for managing people. I’m convinced none of us ever really grow up! So be that person; be consistent. Follow it through. Apply religiously. A haphazard approach won’t get you there. And here are some more tweaks that I have seen really work well too: Set expectations - start by being clear, know what you want and be specific. What will success in this task look like? I watch people time and again communicating on different tracks and then not understanding why their people aren’t producing what they expect. Talk to staff everyday - whether you have a team or one person, I cannot recommend having a daily touch point enough. The premise is simple, is everyone ok? What do you need to achieve today? Is there anything in your way? How can I or the team help? This helps you keep a pulse check on what’s going on and give your support where it’s needed. Feedback continuously - as simple as…tell your people what they’re doing well (be specific) and you’ll get more of the desired behaviour, encourage them to think of ways they can do even better and be prepared with a few suggestions. Regular 1:1’s - best practise has shown that meeting with your team fortnightly has the biggest impact on managing and improving performance. This may seem like a lot but it doesn’t have to be a lengthy discussion, and is it really such a big investment if you’re getting the results you need? This time enables the setting of expectations, opportunity to deal with issues, focus on development, and timely feedback. Understand your staff - what do your staff want from their jobs? When you know this you can go for the sweet spot - this is the middle ground between what you and the company want, and what they want. If you can achieve a win-win your staff will be more motivated and keen to achieve. In addition it’s helpful to notice what switches them on or off - do they respond to praise or are they , are they enthused by setting goals or the pressure being turned up, 6. Going for the sweet spot - this is the middle ground between what you and the company want, and what they want. If you can achieve a win-win your staff will be more motivated and keen to achieve. Visual management/metrics - what gets measured gets done. The more visible you can make it, the easier it is for your team to become self-managing in terms of performance. Also where you use metrics agreed by the team, they are bought in and it can help minimise the emotion around performance conversations. So what do you think? What are your performance management stories? I think good performance management is vital to business to success, but others would argue differently. I’d love to hear from you. Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe. The post Does performance management really matter? appeared first on Logicearth.

Much in the same way as every single element of our lives - both personal and professional, has been completely transformed since the internet became this incredible, collaborative space with the dawning of Web 2.0, training in the modern age has changed beyond all recognition. Where once upon a time training was one-dimensional and consisted of formal, classroom-based learning, the era of new training is all about collaboration and the breaking down of barriers, through a process of customisation and recognition of the individual. The industrial age In the days of old learning we learned by rote; we attended training programmes - arranged on our behalf by our L&D team - so that we could all learn the same thing, at the same time, in the same place, and in the same way. Usually, old style learning was conducted in a formal classroom environment, where we listened but didn’t really participate in any meaningful way. We didn’t need to because we had copious amounts of handouts to follow - and of course, take home to read at a later date. And we all read those handouts - really, didn’t you? No doubt there were of course exceptions to this approach but you get the idea - old learning methods were derived from education and academia; perfect for some learners but far from perfect from others who simply did not learn effectively in this way; learning for the sake of learning, in many instances. New learning for the new information age No matter what industry we look at, from grocery shopping to holidays, the simple fact is that there no longer operates a one-size-fits-all approach to anything. Every different product or service that we buy nowadays, offers a range of different options in terms of how we choose to buy or consume them. This of course is the exact opposite of how things used to be in the pre-internet era, when owing to a lack of choice, we all bought the same limited products and services in exactly the same way. But some of us are still applying these industrial age methods to our existing workplace learning! And the reasons for this are pretty easy and plain to see. Choice and personalisation For one thing, we are all now used to having choice in everything that we do. We have choice and we like it. Secondly, we like having the power to choose and we simply can no longer countenance not having a choice in anything. And finally, because there is now so much choice in everything, as consumers we are now incredibly discerning when it comes to knowing what we want and how we want it. And these reasons can be applied to training in the same way as they can be applied to most anything else - this is simply the new way, the way of the modern world. To put it even more simply, we as consumers are now so empowered by choice that we have collectively progressed beyond a one-size-fits all approach when it comes to training. Instead, our focus is now on collaboration, individualism, and personal suitability, including of course the training delivery method. Modern learning expectations in the modern age There are now so many training/learning approaches that every single individual need can be effectively catered for. There is now a delivery method to suit every modern learner, and increasingly your staff will expect to choose how, when, where and what they want to learn. As an L&D professional, your role is no longer just about arranging training courses, and providing training for the masses; it is a lot more sophisticated than ever before. It is about understanding the needs of individual staff members on your team and encouraging them to keep on learning and developing within the business, by making learning exciting, engaging, highly personalised and truly self-rewarding. Being a modern L&D professional requires an understanding of people on a human level, in order to understand how your staff (that is, modern and forward-thinking staff) think when it comes to training and learning. The role of modern L&D staff Your role is to encourage your staff to explore learning opportunities from a range of different mediums, to be proactive in suggesting options for up-skilling, as well creative in finding innovative, interesting, highly relevant learning methods that you know will enthuse and motivate them! So, challenge yourself to embrace the era of new training and think of yourself as a facilitator of learning, and as a proactive supporter of staff. Because remember that staff, as people, will always appreciate innovation and flexibility - and the proof will be there for all to see when the ROI is measured in the context of your business. If you want to read more about modernising workplace learning, check out our slideshows here, and also an example of modern learning here. What are you doing with your workplace learning - are you able to build in personalisation and choice? We’d love to hear from you. Thanks for reading our blog today! Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe. The post Why industrial age training doesn’t work in the information age appeared first on Logicearth.

March 9, 2015 will mark a monumental day for Cleveland's tech industry, as we kick off our first women-only coding bootcamp. Our 3-month immersive women-only coding bootcamp will provide women with...

Time is precious, we should be managing time wisely! This will seem like the most obvious statement of the year - it is important not to waste time in the workplace! How we’re managing time these days seems ever more important. I recently came across some interesting stats: (note: if anyone can shed light on the full study, send me a comment below) Research from CEB shows that employees spend nearly 40% of their time learning, which we define as seeking and processing new information. Unfortunately, 11% of that learning is wasted - ending up in millions of dollars of productivity lost in the average large enterprise. So what should we being doing to reduce this potential waste? Here are some ideas to get you thinking: 1. Target high impact activities Every business has soft spots - those places where everyone knows that you don’t do so well. Many research studies in 2014 and 2015 targeted leadership training as a significant investment. And many companies are spending the majority of their training budgets on developing leadership at all levels - from supervisor level through the executive suite. What’s the problem with this though? Well ‘leadership’ is a big area. It is a catch-all topic but by just focussing on leadership, you aren’t clearly targeting what specifically needs to change. Is it about communication, the ability to delegate, negotiate or think strategically? Do you have average leaders who need to become great leaders - and how do you achieve this? There has been lots of research on money wasted on leadership training. This article by Forbes in 2012 alludes to this and the need for specific training. 2. Think about performance support Too many of our workplace learning initiatives still focus on the first moment of learning need - learning something new for the first time. We should be considering all 5 moments of learning need. For most people, there are a range of other more common times when learning is needed. Analyse your staff learning needs with these moments in mind - you’ll find that different learning strategies will work for each moment. Here are some ideas: 1. Learning something new for the first time - this is usually formal training, such as staff induction or compliance training. 2. Learn more of something - can peers or managers help, someone who has been there and done it before? 3. Try to remember/apply - provide check-lists, templates, flowcharts that staff can use when they need to apply new learning. 4. Adjust to change - think about the specific change you want to see, can you role model it and pre-empt any possible challenges? 5. When something fails or goes wrong (broken or fixed) - allow people the time and space to fix it, beware of a blame culture and think about whether your culture means people are more likely to hide their mistakes than take responsibility for sorting them out. How do you encourage learning from mistakes? 3.  Re-think your performance management We’ve written about this before - check out what we say here - Does performance management really matter? The short answer is, yes it does! How many of our organisations do it, and do it badly? This can really have an impact on staff motivation and engagement. There are lots of things to consider - from how you keep encouraging your top performers to how you help develop those who need the most help. A one-size fits all approach is never going to work - unless you view your staff as robots on a production line! Why does performance management need an overhaul? Well, people have changed, organisations have changed and most performance management processes don’t do what they are supposed to - actually increase performance. Lots about how organisations have changed really impact how we might re-think performance management - command and control structures are no-longer cutting it, and the ‘one-off annual feedback dread’ doesn’t fit the modern employee. Continual feedback, honesty, support, openness and transparency are here to stay. So where to start - good article here on helping people struggling with performance, by David D’Souza. Oh and one more for luck: Encourage trying things out and allow for failure. Yes, yes I hear you say! How can we allow our staff to fail and not let it ruin our business? Well it is more about the mindset and culture your organisation supports. What does failure mean for you as an organisation? Does everyone know when something is ‘good enough’? Do you have a process of continuous improvement and do you support your staff in doing that? So what about you?  Can you see how your staffs’ time is wasted in other ways and how you might do something to help? We’d love to hear from your in the comments below. Thanks for reading our blog today! Logicearth Learning Services specialise in designing, delivering and supporting modern workplace learning solutions, which brings results for individuals and organisations. We are learning technology experts and along with specialist interactive multi-device content development skills, we can provide a complete service for all your organisation’s modern learning needs. Logicearth has offices in Belfast and Dublin but deliver services worldwide, including Ireland, UK, USA and throughout Europe. The post Is managing time in the workplace more critical now? appeared first on Logicearth.

We Can Code IT's after-school program at Beaumont gives students the opportunity to engage their minds in new ways through computational thinking and by creating an understanding of...