I’ve never been one for fast food, but I am obsessed with In-n-Out Burger. Perhaps I associate my first time through their infamous drive-through in Ontario, CA with my first trip to Disneyland; regardless, I am obsessed. In twenty years, I think my order has only been screwed up twice, to which I promptly returned it and received a fresh burger the right way. In-n-Out has a process: they are efficient, they listen to your order, repeat it back, take your money, and present you with a culinary fast food work of art. (T-minus 10 days until my next double-double.) What happens when these same efficiencies and communications are not practiced in the healthcare setting? Misdiagnosis, unnecessary procedures, denied claims, even death. "Patient Communication" became such a mind numbing topic that it was rebranded to get our attention. Why does listening matter?? Last year I had a medical doctor present on patient communications, using her own history as a backdrop. Her sister, who was experiencing odd, but chronic side effects from, was constantly ignored by her physician. As it turns out, for one year she was suffering continuous small cardiac events that were warning everyone around her that trouble was on the horizon. Sadly, trouble came in the form of a massive heart attack that killed her. Last April, my own father fell off the last step of a ladder and was diagnosed with a broken ankle. After six months of excruciating pain in his heal, my parents insisted on seeing a different doctor in the health system. Upon further review, the new doctor found that my dad had broken his ankle and his heel, which was initially missed. The displaced heal fracture was pressing into his fibula where it had settled in as a permanent resident. His entire foot, his now healed ankle and fractured heal, had to be surgically broken and repaired with pins and screws. Ten months after the initial fall, his plaster cast was finally removed and he has (another) walking boot. Yes, there are hypochondriacs and Munchausen syndrome by proxy, but when do you stop listening and give someone pickles on their double-double? Or better yet, when do you start listening? Patient engagement is not a sexy new term that educators have coined to pad their bottom lines. It’s an integral part of medicine. First, do no harm. Maybe the "first" means listen then diagnose; only Hippocrates knows for sure. What does listening cost? It could mean the difference between life and death. Healthcare is crazy. There are a record number of patients, not enough clinical staff, and still only 24 hours in a day. Take a breath. Take a knee. Call a time out and listen. It could save a life. And please hold the pickles! The post I Don’t Order Pickles on My Double-Double! appeared first on Litmos.

Cyber security affects everyone. High profile businesses are victims of malicious hacks, but more frequently data security breaches occur due to normal staff making avoidable mistakes.Whatever your strategy for keeping your data safe, training your staff in potential threats and making sure they can deal with data securely is critical to reducing your risk of a breach.For some organisations a generic, off the shelf option might be the most suitable, but others will benefit from a custom-made training approach.We’re going to run through 5 questions you can ask to work out which option would be best for you.When do you need the training?If you’re in a rush to get the training delivered to your staff then off the shelf is going to offer the fastest option.In some cases you aren’t going to be able to offer a comprehensive programme that deals with the nuances of your case and you may decide the minimum requirements are enough.When a short time scale isn’t critical it’s worth considering bespoke cyber security training from a provider who can assess your needs in depth. Once a custom-made elearning course is completed it can be deployed quickly but the creation does take time.Having more time to create the course means a detailed assessment of the needs of all the different roles in your company can be carried out. It’s even possible to create a short course with the core elements, test it, and produce more to fill in knowledge gaps.The biggest benefit of a bespoke approach is its flexibility and changes can be made at each stage to ensure your individual needs are met.How much of your data security is off the shelf?Many consultants warn against using an off the shelf data security strategy for your business. There are concerns that a one-size-fits-all approach to security means many companies overlook risks that are unique to them.Parts of your cyber security procedures will relate to legal requirements for the data you store, and as such a part of the training is going to match those processes.The Data Protection Act for instance controls how a business can use personal information from customers or clients. It’s likely that some of your procedures will deal with the requirements of this act.Training on how to deal with information requests from customers will need to be undertaken by many frontline staff. This type of training could be delivered using a generic course that offers a good grounding in the key points of the law and how it relates to the type of data held by your company.Less easy to handle are the exact processes that go on in your organisation, often as part of meeting legal requirements, that are unique to your situation. This is where a custom made or bespoke cyber security training course comes into its own.Elearning can offer an advantage over traditional training in this case by allowing one course to be built which incorporates the requirements of different roles and enabling the employee to select the relevant route.How many staff need cyber security training?The Verizon 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report identifies 9 categories of breach. Two categories, miscellaneous errors and insider misuse, make up 50% of the incidents they recorded in 2014.Insider misuse is the phrase used to describe data breaches caused by trusted parties within an organisation. Many of these incidents could have been avoided had better training been available to the staff involved.Your instincts might be to offer training to network administrators and other technical staff, but the Verizon report shows that non-technical end users are responsible for 37.6% of breaches caused by insider misuse.The answer for most modern businesses is to provide all staff with cyber security training. They don’t all need the same course but they all need some sort of education on the responsibilities they have to keep information secure.Often off the shelf training is priced per user, if you have a small workforce that requires very similar training this is likely to be the most cost-effective option.The costs quickly escalate when large teams are involved, and the more employees, the more likely you are to need to cover different knowledge areas.A company employing 100 people or more will likely see a better return from a bespoke solution. The training can be tailored to the needs of various roles and as the number of users increases the cost per user goes down.Does your training need to be delivered in different territories?Multinational companies have more challenges when it comes to cyber security training. Not only do laws differ between countries but the infrastructure and hardware systems are often different too.Add the language translation and localisation requirements into the mix and it becomes incredibly hard to offer a consistent, off the shelf solution that meets the needs of all employees.Elearning can be delivered online, translated and localised quickly and is more easily tailored to the different hardware devices it’s likely to be used on.Using responsive design elearning can offer a true multi-device training programme that doesn’t need to be redesigned for all learners.A custom-made course can take into account the different geographical areas it will be needed and make it even easier to localise the relevant content from the outset. If you’re a multinational company bespoke training is usually the best option.Is off the shelf training personal enough?We know that employees react better to personalised scenarios. If you can explain the specific risks and benefits to a member of staff using a situation which they are familiar with they are more likely to retain that knowledge.Custom-made elearning is one way this can be achieved. Using techniques like branching scenarios you can even take into account different staff roles within the same course.If you find your staff lack enthusiasm for training this can be one way to engage and motivate them to increase their performance.As well as making the training personal to the learner you will also want to put your own brand identity on the course. Using generic content makes this impossible beyond the most basic of adding logos and tweaking colours.A custom-made elearning course can incorporate the company’s style and branding to make sure it’s consistent with the culture of the organisation.Where do I start?Alongside answering these five questions, it’s good to also review your current data security strategy. If you don’t already have a formal strategy in place there are resources available to help create one.Many guidelines are available to help identify areas that could be at risk and possible ways to prevent breaches. Symantec’s Security Threat Report has a brief check list which is a great starting point for analysing your information security processes.For a more in depth assessment the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) produce the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity which goes into much more detail.If you want to talk about a bespoke cyber security elearning programme for your organisation get in touch. Discuss a project Subscribe to our newsletter The post Generic versus bespoke cyber security training: What’s the best for you? appeared first on Sponge UK.

A cyber safety online training programme is being offered to teachers to help them play a key role in dealing with cyber threats to schools.The Tech Partnership, the employer body that develops skills for the digital economy, and NAACE, the association for the UK’s education technology community, have teamed up to produce the new elearning.Cyber Security for Teachers has been designed and developed on behalf of the two organisations by Sponge UK, an award-winning elearning provider.The 10 module programme aims to help teachers improve their own cyber safety skills while providing knowledge that can be passed on to colleagues and students.It’s part of an accreditation pathway that can lead to schools gaining the title of Cyber Aware Institution.Sue Nieland, Head of Learning on behalf of the Tech Partnership, said: "This innovative content makes acquiring these vital skills enjoyable and engaging. Importantly, the learning outcomes were specified by employers - a group of over thirty cyber security industry experts - so teachers can be confident the resources are up to date, accurate and realistic. They represent a real contribution to school cyber safety."Each of the 10 elearning modules has a different focus including topics such as understanding threats, information vulnerability, encryption, cyber bullying and recovering from a cyber attack.The highly interactive elearning includes game challenges that help to make the elearning engaging and enjoyable. In one module, learners must turn detective to solve a cyber crime and find the computer malware behind an attack.Louise Pasterfield, Managing Director, Sponge UK said:"The elearning modules are focused on authentic scenarios and relate to real life situations that teachers may face at school. This approach helps to make the learning much more relevant and effective. Video clips of cyber security experts allow learners to go into more detail where necessary and the game challenges help to reinforce and check knowledge in key areas. We’ve really enjoyed developing these modules, particularly given the important role they can play in helping to keep schools cyber safe. We hope teachers will find them informative, useful and fun."Teachers who complete the modules will be offered the option to download a lesson plan containing more information on the subjects, lesson ideas and links to further resources and reading.The elearning modules form the first stage of a new three-level cyber awareness accreditation programme where teachers learn, apply and then lead on cyber awareness.Schools with a sufficient number of accredited teachers that also fulfil other criteria can be awarded Cyber Aware Institution status.The programme was set up following a grant from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills to the Tech Partnership and NAACE to create a teacher accreditation in cyber security and awareness.The elearning is available via The Tech Partnership website.The post Elearning makes ‘real contribution’ to school cyber safety appeared first on Sponge UK.

YOU MATTER. Such a simple phrase, but an incredibly powerful message. The first step to helping students reach their true potential is so show them how much they matter—to you, to themselves, and to the […] The post Announcing "Mad About Mattering" appeared first on Angela Maiers.

Simplified Technical English has been in the making since the 1930’s when Basic English was developed and introduced in international trade within the British colonies. Basic English died out quickly, but then in the 1970’s Caterpillar, a manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, introduced Caterpillar Fundamental English, or CFE. It was developed to help reduce translation costs. In the 1980’s the aerospace industry, an industry that is dependent on international communication, created Simplified English. English has always been the aviation standard and it was used for the maintenance and repair documentation. Simplified English helped to reduce miscommunication with people for whom English is not their native language. In 2013, Simplified English was renamed to Simplified Technical English (STE) to separate it from other controlled language approaches. STE started in the aerospace industry, but it has started gaining attention in other industries as well, such as manufacturing, military, software, regulated industries, and any company that does global business. To me, as a technical writer, the biggest benefit of Simplified Technical English is that it helps me clearly communicate information to my intended audience even if English is not their first language. I also like the structure. I do not have to guess at the proper grammar or structure. I do not worry if I am a "good writer." By following the STE Rules and using the STE Dictionary, I know that my goal of communicating information is achieved. My writing is clear and my instructions are easy to follow. Companies benefit from STE by saving in translation cost; having a standardized way of writing; releasing quality documentation and communications; preventing miscommunications which could be costly or dangerous; facilitating in structured authoring like DITA; and improving customer satisfaction. I used to tell a joke when people asked "What is a technical writer?" I said, "Do you know those manuals that tell you how to set your VCR clock? I write those." Yes, I know I’m dating myself and I apologize to those of you that do not fully appreciate the frustration in trying to set a VCR clock. The instructions were impossible to follow resulting in a generation of people that grew up with a VCR flashing 12:00. VCR companies would have had much happier customers if the clock instructions were understandable. They could have been understandable if STE was used. STE helps you get rid of the garbage in your writing. Sentences are shorter, words are controlled, and actions are more direct. STE also gets rid of garbage like: Slang and jargon Ambiguous words Complex grammar Incomplete sentences If you want to check out the STE rules, go to the ASD-STE website and request a copy of the STE manual.

In many of the previous posts, I have suggested that harnessing technology in the service of effective pedagogy is not just a nice add on but is an essential in an age of information and learning. Having stated this, there is a necessary caveat which is:" Not all the emerging technologies are going to be readily useful in creating irresistibly engaging E-Learning and in some cases can be disregarded completely!"This is where we face the triumvirate of forces acting in a  perfect storm on efforts to create effective E-Learning. We need to consider the importance of "change management" in dealing with this storm. That is why we need to exercise a critical discernment when evaluating the potential of a technology to have sustainable and lasting benefits leading to the enrichment of the learning experience for learners now and in the future. For an organization and the learners who make up their learning culture, every piece of new technology that is introduced creates stress if the proper mechanisms are not in place to create a sense of trust among all who are impacted by the technology introduction. This has always been the case but the difference in today's world is the exponential rate that new technologies are evolving and being introduced.In an organization which has taken steps to make learning among employees a core value that is in sync with this digital information and learning age, the danger is creating an environment in which, metaphorically speaking "the tail wags the dog". Simply put:"Technology should not be the driver for change; evolving pedagogy and the needs of the learner should be, in which critically harnessing technology is done in a thoughtful manner"Key Evolving Technologies Requiring Critical and Thoughtful ConsiderationMobile Learning: Mobile Learning has been one of the technologies that has been receiving much press lately but there are some critical questions that need to be asked that deals with time between introduction of the technology and its adoption:Has the pedagogy been put to the test using such a technology? Given that the purpose of such a technology is not only to provide access to learning any time and anywhere but also to present learning in short digital bites, has the divide been defined between learning that is strictly anecdotal and learning that leads to an in depth understanding of the topic?What will be the learning focus in using such a technology, skillset development or factual content?In a world of distraction, does the use of such technology distinguish itself in useful ways from the "white noise" that makes up the environments of many societies?If mobile learning incorporates augmented technology in some form, how will this harmonize with the environment that we are acting within and which is impacting on us?Next..looking at other emerging technologies

In the previous Downright Sneaky Lectora® Tricks tutorial, we created the devMode variable in Lectora®. Today, we’re going to provide a way to turn it ON and OFF. Turning devMode ON and OFF Now that you have created your devMode variable, you need a way to toggle it ON and OFF. My own methods for toggling devMode have evolved significantly over time. Initially, I just set the Initial Value of the devMode variable to 1 so that it was ALWAYS ON during course development. When development was over, I changed the initial value to 0 to turn it off and republish. After a couple of close calls, I decided to make the entrance to devMode hidden so that if I forgot to turn it off, it wouldn’t be noticeable to students. We’ll do the same: we’ll use a transparent button to turn devMode ON and OFF. How to add a transparent button to toggle devMode On the Insert ribbon, click the Button drop-down list and select Transparent to add a transparent button to the page. Rename the button devEntrance. Position the button out of the way but in a spot where you can find it without trouble. Select the action for devEntrance button and, in the Properties ribbon, apply the following settings: Trigger: Mouse Click Action: Modify Variable Target: devMode Type: Set equal to Value: 1 Now your invisible button can turn devMode ON! Make the button turn devMode OFF too Right now, the devEntrance button turns devMode on, but what if you want to be able to go back to the regular mode? You should be able to turn the variable OFF too. How do you do it? You COULD make a second button to turn devMode off (I did at one point), but tell me… do you use ONE LIGHT SWITCH to turn your lights ON and ANOTHER to turn them OFF? No, you use a single switch that toggles between ON and OFF. What we need is for our button to do DIFFERENT THINGS in DIFFERENT situations (turn OFF or turn ON). This is where you apply CONDITIONAL logic, which means adding an IF to your action. Here’s how the logic works… When you click the devEntrance button, IF devMode is OFF, turn it ON. Otherwise, IF devMode is ON, turn it OFF. Still with me? Here’s how we program that logic into the action. Select the action for the devEntrance button and, on the Properties ribbon, click the Conditions button (which currently displays the word Always). The Set Action Conditions dialog box is displayed. Select the following settings in the Set Action Conditions dialog box: Variable: devMode Relationship: Equal To Value : 0 What we are saying is that IF devMode is OFF (0), then run the action. The action, of course, will be to turn it ON (1). Click OK to close the Set Action Conditions dialog box. The Conditions button now displays IF (instead of Always) because you have made this action conditional. The final step is to specify what happens when our IF condition (devMode = 0) is NOT in effect. The only way our condition can’t be met is if devMode is already ON (devMode=1). In that case, the action we want is to turn devMode OFF (change devMode = 0). Click the Else Action button (which currently shows No Action) and select Modify Variable from the drop-down list and enter the following settings in the Properties ribbon: Target: devMode Type: Set Equal To Value: 0 Now your button turns devMode on AND off. Make sense? Feel free to test it out… the only problem is that devMode doesn’t DO anything just yet, so you won’t see any difference. This is plenty for today. In part 3  of this Downright Sneaky Lectora Tricks tutorial, we’ll add a devMode indicator to make sure it’s working. Download the Lectora and Lectora Online files for this course in the Trivantis® Community. John Mortenson is the Online Learning Manager for The Fresh Market. He has been developing online courses for over 10 years and is a member of the Lectora Advisory Board. He is also an Adobe Creative Suite Guru and cartoonist. You can contact him on LinkedIn and Twitter. The post Downright Sneaky Lectora Tricks Part 2: Create a "Hidden Entrance" to devMode appeared first on .

    Now that we’ve popped the cork on 2016, we’ve also had some time to reflect on this past year. After all, 2015 did see a plenty of new technologies and solutions bloom while others faded from the limelight.   The Internet of Things, for instance, crawled into schools as wearables and connected devices became less expensive. Beacon technology allows teachers to push educational materials to students’ tablets at set times. Wearables track students’ heart rates and steps as they exercise in gym class. IP video surveillance systems are being hired to improve security. The rise of 3D printing was even more meteoric. Gamification, on the other hand, lost its place, in general the future of educational technology looks abuzz with a number of innovations and breakthroughs.   Let’s discuss a few pointers which would help us understand what we have in store for the future of educational technology in 2016:   Schools should purposefully abandon things that have proved ineffective, and reinvest efficiency gains back into the classroom while planning strategic expansions. Teachers need to receive both training and professional development, only then will they understand only how to operate technology and how to use technology to provide new, engaging learning opportunities. To salvage ineffective professional development programs, schools need to redefine what it means to help teachers improve, re-evaluate existing programs and reinvent the way they support effective teaching at scale. Technology alone cannot improve education; change is a possibility only when school’s’ thought leaders bring together student-centered instructional design with differentiated training and professional development and work towards the future of educational technology as well. Educators need to teach students how to be responsible digital citizens, not only to safeguard their health and wellness but also to ensure their personal security and ethical digital behaviour. Schools should equally invest in culture & people development and in purchasing new tech.   A few technologies driving the future of educational technology would be:   3D Printing Cloud Computing Big Data IoT (Internet of Things) Augmented Reality   As we proceed in 2016, the Fedena team is already hard at work lining up our thoughts on a number of key themes, including technology leadership, training and professional development, and mobility. So check back periodically for insights into the future of educational technology.   The post Future of Educational Technology: Edtech Trends 2016 appeared first on Fedena Blog.

From guest writer: John Dalziel. I have spent a lot of time… communicating, listening and learning. Nowhere near as much as much as I did before retirement but, there is no doubt, in my mind, that the best advice that I can give anyone is to… "Never Stop Learning!" "Learn how to listen effectively" and […]

Six days per week our Lufkin HS Robotics team meets to design, build, program and learn for their FIRST robotics competition in April. Many of these kids, first time members of the team, are learning in ways that they probably could not have envisioned without this experience. Over the last few weeks, I’ve met countless alumni robotics team members who have taken their experiences into engineering and computer science majors in college, most of which would not have been possible without competing in FIRST robotics, as my community…like many, did not offer computer science as a choice and when we did, it was difficult to fill the seats with students who honestly wanted to take the course beyond beginning programming or competitive programming for UIL competition. This, of course, has led to much more in depth discussions centering on purpose and how computer science can be used to solve real problems. We’ve also had to ask ourselves how we are giving students the experience and opportunity to design and create apps centered on their interest or community impact. To change the scope of thought around CS, we are having to rethink our own course plans for future growth. We hope that with an increased emphasis on computational thinking in core curriculum and an increase in open CS experiences, that we will change that. During CSEdWeek, I attended the White House Launch and at that meeting, heard about the new NSF funded, Computer Science Principles Course. I forwarded the information to our CS teacher as the training opportunity from that would be amazing. He responded with the link to the course that he’s excited about, one that happens to be listed within the frameworks of the CS Principles Course, Mobile CSP. We’re definitely on the same page and that’s refreshing! We have much work to do in developing our HS courses over time and as the interest of our students increases (Thanks in large part to Hour of Code and after school coding clubs)…We recognize the importance of growing our course offerings to not only meet the state requirements of the STEM designation but our student interest as it is most certainly there. Just to give a bit of perspective, February 11th, we’ll engage in a district-wide STEM day for our entire 4th grade class and as the keynote speaker of that event, I will certainly be talking about computer science while also providing hands on experiences centered on "making". (Squishy circuits, Little Bits, Minecraft, Makey makey, Coding) A few days after, our grades 3-5 teachers will enjoy a day with code.org affiliates as we move forward with the inclusion of algorithmic thinking and coding into student creations in the upcoming school year and beyond. This summer, we’re offering coding and robotics as a camp for various grade levels with app development as one of our key areas. This camp will be created by members of our robotics team. It’s something that they have wanted to do for years and now they will. In addition, we are considering camps that focus on math exploration through a real world lens, science camp, media creation, Minecraft and of course a STEM/Maker camp. Moving forward, we hope that activities such as this can give students a new window into sharing what they love and are learning in truly unique ways. Getting back to the present, with our Digital Ambassadors, we are looking at how we can bring makerspaces to the classroom. Our first experience will be tomorrow with a class of grades 1-2 multiage and I could not be more excited!! On the menu? Minecraft, Little Bits and much more! Our goals are simple. We want kids to be curious. We want them to ask questions and we want them to be seekers of knowledge for no other reason than because they can’t breathe without doing it. We want them to see that their zip code doesn’t limit their explorations and that the world is here for them to create it. Every single kid.  

Despite significant investment in training programs, annual training program reuse hovers at a rate of about 50% annually, meaning that approximately half of a given company’s training portfolio is not being utilized annually. Annual expenditure and time investment on new training program development exceeds the attention placed on maintaining legacy content by a wide margin.1 This is especially problematic because old training programs still contain valuable information developed in cooperation with a company’s subject matter experts. View our Infographic for a visual journey of the Learning Content Depreciation As years pass by, legacy training content depreciates in value and effectiveness for a number of reasons: Year 1 Content inaccuracies Company statistics change, products get updated with new specs, and errors in the original content are uncovered over time. Year 2 Outdated design The graphic design for PowerPoint slides and e-learning courses tends to look dated after a few years. Year3 Training not aligned with business needs Older training programs might not be aligned with the company’s business needs and desired employee performance outcomes. Year 4 Changing learner demographics Training solutions that might work well for Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers might not be suitable for Millennials; changes in learner demographics require L&D professionals to revisit their methodologies. Year 5 Outmoded digital formats E-Learning content developed in Flash, legacy versions of rapid development tools, and in older versions of SCORM can result in non-delivery of the content over learning management systems and on newer Internet browsers. The Association for Talent Development. (2009). "Time-to-Develop-One-Hour-of- Training." Learning Circuits Archives. About the author:Kyle Miller is an enterprise learning consultant with InfoPro Learning based out of Princeton, NJ. Prior to joining InfoPro, Kyle served as a research associate on subjects including e-learning, online education, game-based learning, and social media usage in higher education at St. John’s University in New York. The post Depreciation of Training Value Over Time appeared first on .

Recently, I have had many discussions with colleagues about whether or not the primary purpose of Lean is to eliminate waste or to increase value.  I’m a proponent of the latter, where Lean is to increase value with respect for people.  Yes, in order to increase value, waste must be removed from the system, to which, my colleague says, "See, it comes down to eliminating waste.  Besides, that’s easier to understand." It was the last statement that really hit home for me - easier to understand.  He’s right, it is easier to understand eliminating waste/cutting costs than increasing value.  Most organizations are designed as cost centers, so eliminating waste / cutting costs is easy - both to measure and understand.  But just because it’s easier doesn’t mean it’s the right approach.  Too often, we simply want to take the easy way out - not have to think, not have to challenge ourselves, and just want the answer.  And I think that’s the problem with approaching Lean as its purpose is to eliminate waste. Organizations do this way too often.  They approach improvement activities as ways to reduce / cut / eliminate.  Very few ever approach improvement actions (be they Lean, Six Sigma, or Lean Six Sigma) as a way to increase or grow.  They approach they always take is to Save Money.  The approach they should take is to Make Money.  But, you see, to take that approach is much harder.  Saving money, on the other hand, is much easier.  And, as every cost accountant knows, if I save money, then I increase profits.  So, you see, by saving money, we make more money - simple (and easy); anyone should be able to see that!   And while this may be true for the short term, it doesn’t support any longer term growth. But, why is taking an approach to Make Money harder?  Well, first of all, in order to do this, you need to understand how you make money.  What are the systems, processes and interdependencies that allow you to make money?  To understand this, you need to take a holistic view and understand how your system generates revenue.  Then you need to figure out what is the limiting factor (or constraint), and how do you go about breaking it so you can increase your ability to make money (think throughput).  This thought process is very simple, and uses basic logic.  However, it is not easy.  It requires a tremendous amount of focus and discipline.  And, if your organization is divided into many silos, in can be even harder.  Focus on the areas that are holding you back.  Don’t just haphazardly apply improvement methodologies. To get the right long term results, the approach matters.  It is not simply semantics.  By taking an approach to make money / increase value, versus save money / eliminate waste, a company is better positioned to grow and enhance stakeholder value now and in the future. So, what do you want to do?  Do you want to save money or make money? Let me know your thoughts!

The eLearning industry is experiencing a revolution. There is no doubt that we are living in exciting times and that modern advancements are transforming the way we live and work. There are new gadgets, advanced tools, and cutting edge technologies that allow us to create eLearning experiences that we could only dream about a decade ago. They also make our lives a whole lot easier by streamlining development and providing us with course building blocks for eLearning. While there are myriad of eLearning technologies available today, there are 5 that will stand out from the virtual crowd this year. Cloud-based Development Tools It seems as if virtually everything is moving to the Cloud these days, and for good reason. The Cloud gives you the ability to access eLearning content remotely and collaborate with your eLearning team online. There are now a variety of eLearning development tools that can maximize your resources. In 2016, the Cloud is expected to play an even more prominent role in the world of online training, as well. This is due to the fact that an increasing number of organizations are beginning to see the cost-saving, productivity-boosting benefits of moving their corporate training online. The decision is also easier because cloud-based tools are now safer than ever, thanks to better encryption protocols and safety measures. Wearable Technology Wearable tech gadgets, such as smartwatches, have a wide range of online training applications. "Moment of need" online training is where it really has a lot to offer though. In fact, devices seem to be getting smaller and less conspicuous, which makes them even more of an asset in the workplace. Employees can quickly access the online training module, interactive manual, or online scenario whenever they need to learn more about a process or task. Wearable technology gives them the chance to take their online training with them wherever they go, rather than having to wait for the next online training session to develop their skills. Another application for this technology is geographic-specific online training for a wider eLearning audience. For example, employees who are in one region might receive completely different online training than those in another part of the globe. This means that they would automatically be directed to a different version of the online training course with subtitles and culturally-appropriate eLearning content. Virtual Reality Eyewear All of the eLearning technologies on this list have the potential to transform the eLearning industry to some degree. However, Virtual Reality Eyewear seems to be the real hot topic of 2016. The idea of simply slipping on a headset and immediately being immersed into another world seems like something out of a sci-fi movie, but virtual reality gadgets, such as Google Glass, Oculus Rift and others, are making it possible. This virtual reality technology has a variety of applications in the online training sector, such as online scenarios and simulations that are more realistic than ever. Online learners will have the potential to explore subject matter by literally exploring it. For example, they can walk through the halls of an ancient structure or conduct a science experiment without handling volatile chemicals. It offers all of the rewards of on-site training without any of the risks. The possibilities are endless for compliance online training. Health and safety online training courses would be more efficient and secure, due to the fact that employees would be able to improve their proficiency and master tasks, minus the real world danger. Automated Development Platforms Developing an effective online training course can require a significant investment of both time and money, particularly if you want to include interactive elements. However, in 2016 we’ll see a dramatic shift to automated eLearning design. More and more eLearning design and development tools are now offering pre-made interactions, graphics, and templates that can cut development time in half. Instead of having to create an eLearning assessment from scratch or build a branching scenario from the ground up you have the option to automate the process. There are even some automated development platforms that evaluate online learner progress and preferences, which offer you the opportunity to custom tailor the eLearning experience to meet their individual needs. Training Telepresence This is an offshoot of augmented reality, but provides more of a social learning atmosphere. Essentially, telepresence is a form of technology that allows online learners to interact with one another from anywhere in the world. They can carry out online discussions and collaborate remotely without any geographical limitations. This approach uses HD cameras, audio equipment, and a physical space to make online learners feel as though they are all sharing a common virtual room. For example, they might all sit at a desk in front of a screen which displays others sitting at the same desk. In many respects, it’s a tech illusion that relies on camera angles. Telepresence may also eventually go one step further with the help of Virtual Reality Eyewear, as online learners can fully immerse themselves in the environment by wearing headsets. We are on the cusp of an eLearning technology revolution. Some might even say that we’re all right in the center of it. However, to take part, you must be ready not only to discover new technologies, but also figure out how you are going to get the most use of them. Would you like to learn more about the many uses of wearable tech in corporate training? Read the article 7 Ways Wearable Technology Could Be Used In Corporate Training to discover how Google Glass, smart watches, and other tech gadgets can be integrated into your online training program. The post Top 5 eLearning Technologies To Look Out For In 2016 appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

In this day and age, everybody and their mother seem to offer online training courses. Enterprises that want to train their employees seem to be spoiled for choice, with thousands of eLearning shops and tens of thousands of available courses on all possible topics. Given this over-abundance of eLearning material, does it really make sense for a company to develop its own custom eLearning courses? Wouldn’t opting for some off-the-shelf material be the fastest and cheapest solution? Indeed, it might be. But what’s fastest and cheapest isn’t always also good for you (if it was, McDonalds would be the perfect diet). Nor does the fastest and cheapest option necessarily have the best return of investment. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. In this post, we’ll give you 5 reasons why you should invest in custom eLearning development. Starting with… 1. You know you better All those authors of pre-built online training courses have one thing in common: they are not you. They might write stuff relevant to your industry, and they might even have titles covering subjects that you need to cover in your employee training, but they know neither your particular organization, nor its particular goals. The thing is, every company is unique. Or rather, any company that wants to differentiate itself from its competition, has to be unique. Why then would you use the same training material that your competitors (or any random person on the internet, for that matter) can use? How could that ever give you an upper hand in dealing with them? At best it would make your employees equally skilled and knowledgeable as those of any other company that uses the same off-the-shelf courses. Now, that might be fine in generic topics, such as "How to use Excel", "Chinese for business" and the like. These things, (Excel, the Chinese language) are beyond your control, and different businesses are not expected to invent their own special way of using them. For anything related to your core business procedures and operations, that is, things that give you your core competitive advantage, you shouldn’t opt for pre-built material. Just like it’s a bad idea to outsource key parts of your operations to a third party (because then you’re at the mercy of your outsourcing partners), it’s an equally bad idea to outsource key part of your operational knowledge — which is essentially what you do when you use generic online training material and/or services. On top of the drawbacks of giving away control, there’s also the fact that third party content creators don’t have access to (and so can’t cover) your unique organizational infrastructure, procedures, customer base and challenges. A commercial eLearning training shop might, for example, have a course on how to administer a particular relational database, and another course on how to run a particular application server in production. But it’s a slim chance that they’ll have a course on how to integrate said database and application server in the way your company needs to. And of course they won’t know anything about several other internally developed and legacy systems that your IT department needs to maintain and integrate with these two. Still, all those are things that you’ll need to train new hires on. Enter custom eLearning development. 2. It cuts to the chase This one is a corollary of the previous point. Since, unlike a generic eLearning content author, you have first hand knowledge of your organizational structure and needs, you can target your eLearning content directly to your company’s particular use cases and business needs, trimming all the useless fat that comes with a one-size-fits-all training course. If you just need your employees to master a particular piece of equipment, or to learn to use only some very narrow functionality of the otherwise full-featured POS software your company uses, you can focus on just that. This will spare your employees from having to go through pages upon pages of stuff they won’t ever need to know, and get them to be productive in the things you need them to, faster than any generic course could ever have them. And, of course, if your needs ever grow, you can always expand your training material. You are in control. Even better, since you can customize your eLearning content to just the things you need your employees to know, you can also monitor their training progress and performance more accurately — as their testing and overall grades will not be affected by any superfluous material. 3. Some things just have to be custom As we have already pointed out, even when it comes to generally applicable training content (e.g. learning to use some popular commercially available software, or acquiring some basic industry-wide business skill), you still know your exact business needs better than any commercial eLearning course creator. But there are also things that are not and can never be "generally applicable" — things that only a customized eLearning solution can cater for. Employee on-boarding for example is something that pre-built eLearning courses are not suitable for, as it is something inherently tied to your organization and its specific structure and operations. From the welcome "message from the CEO" and the breakdown of your corporate values, to the presentation of career advancement paths and the details of using the company’s intranet resources, employee on-boarding is not something that can be relegated to some off-the-shelf course. The same is true for any business procedure, skill and knowledge that is unique to the company and should not leak to competitors. From Coca Cola’s "secret formula" and Google’s proprietary PageRank algorithm to Apple’s closely guarded software and hardware development, there are lots of things a company has to take the custom eLearning route for, since not only third party content creators don’t know about them, but they should also never learn. 4. It helps with knowledge retention Besides being in control of your training and covering just the things that you need to cover, there is also another, seldom mentioned, benefit from developing a custom eLearning solution. The process of gathering operational knowledge from inside the company to present it in the form of an eLearning course itself can help you formalize and understand your business processes and the day-to-day operation of your organization better. Problematic procedures and issues that have gone unnoticed for years have a tendency to jump right out of the (web)page at you when finally seen in writing. And even if your company has been doing everything just fine, by putting your business procedures in writing for your LMS courses, you’re helping with knowledge retention, helping capture and transfer key knowledge and techniques from your current employees in a form that can be stored, refined and reused to train future hires. This is something essential for the long term success of a business that comes for free with creating your own custom eLearning courses. 5. It’s not an either-or proposition It’s not like you have to choose between custom eLearning development and commercial pre-built courses. In fact the best course of action would be to combine both of these options, thus getting the best of both worlds: off-the-shelf commercial courses for training that’s common to your whole industry, and customized eLearning development for things that uniquely capture your company’s needs and competitive advantages. And don’t be intimidated by the prospect of doing custom eLearning course development either. Modern eLearning management platforms like TalentLMS make course creation a snap, letting you write and configure your courses from an intuitive and friendly, web-based, user interface. And, as you can incorporate all kinds of already existing material, from Word documents and PowerPoints to YouTube videos, you are already half of the way a complete course. As for deploying and running your newly created courses, that’s even easier. In fact, with a Cloud based SaaS solution like TalentLMS, you don’t even need to install or manage anything: it just works, giving you a comprehensive environment for course creation, online training, user management, and progress monitoring. Conclusion In this post we’ve had a look at 5 reasons in favor of customizing your eLearning courses. In short: it puts you in control, it lets you focus your training on what matters to you, it’s necessary for some things, and it helps with knowledge retention. We believe that the relatively more effort that you have to put into custom training translates to a greater ROI and a more competitive company — and enterprise adoption of custom LMS tools seems to agree with this. The post 5 Reasons Why You Should Customize Your eLearning Courses appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

We recently announced our latest innovation, the gomo central app, which we feel transforms traditional e-learning distribution by targeting the personal devices of learners around the world using a native app. So why are we so excited about this? Well, there are many reasons, but one of the clinchers is that by using a native app, training can take place on-the-go and in a non-traditional training environment - people can train without sitting down and thinking ‘now it’s time to learn’. Just think about how often we use Google to settle a debate in the pub or how you watch a YouTube video before tackling DIY (or is that just me?). Mobile devices are always with us and that means they can help us out with anything from quiz questions to  whenever we need them. What do we mean by an app? Sometimes e-learning courses get called apps. Sometimes content which is simply mobile ready or optimized for mobile is referred to as an app. By app, we mean that it’s downloaded from the Google Play or Apple App store just like Facebook, Whatsapp or Paypal. Having one central app allows gomo courses (which, without the app, are multi-device anyway) to be downloaded into the app for training purposes. Sometimes a mobile learning course is packaged up into an app of its own, which in many cases works well, but if you would like learners to use devices to access a number of courses, having several apps individually hosted in public app stores soon gets messy. The gomo central app will be available from the Google Play and Apple App Stores upon launch in February 2016. What are the benefits of using an app for mobile learning? A report by Flurry showed that mobile users spend on average 2 hours and 38 minutes a day on their iOS and Android connected devices. 80% of that time is spent in apps and only 20% is spent in a web browser, which puts apps in good stead for mobile learning. There’s also something to be said for knowing you have an app on your home screen which can quickly help you at work - learners might not always make the same connection with their browser as it requires some (only a little) effort. Learn without an internet connection One of the unavoidable problems of mobile learning and mobile usage, in general, is the battle for signal. With it, the world is in the palm of your hand but without it, you can’t do a great deal. A major benefit of using apps for mobile learning is the ability to get full use of an app with or without signal. Learners must first download courses within the app for offline use, but once this is out of the way, they are free to roam to the ends of the earth and they will still have their trusty mobile learning courses to help them out. Native apps provide staff with on-the-job support they need, whenever they need it. This is useful across the board but really comes into its own when you consider job roles and industries that aren’t always connected. Gas engineers, for example, could benefit from on-the-job training but the fluid nature of their role (visiting customers etc) means they can’t guarantee connectivity. By downloading courses for offline use, they can be safe in the knowledge that they have mobile learning at their disposal at all times. Keeping learning content up to date It’s one thing to give staff flexible access to learning but it’s important that learning stays up to date, especially where numbers, specifications, sales or compliance is involved. When learners go offline, it’s a worry that content can quickly go out of date. With the gomo central app, each and every time a device reconnects to the web, the app checks for updates across all courses, ensuring staff are absorbing the most relevant and up-to-date training. Tracking learning offline As with course updates, every time a device reconnects to the web after a period of offline learning, all of the app’s insightful xAPI analytics are sent back to gomo, allowing training teams to get the full picture of offline and online learning. The global launch of the gomo central app takes place at Learning Technologies 2016 in early February, with an online event taking place on February 24th for those who won’t make it to the London exhibition. In the webinar, gomo MD Mike Alcock will cover the problems associated with distributing content to devices and how the gomo central app can help you to overcome them.   The post What’s the big deal with mobile learning apps? appeared first on gomo Learning.

  This is a guest post by Maggie Moran, a remarkable senior in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College who has interned with us at Choose2Matter. Maggie has completed her student teaching and […] The post Choose 2 Love appeared first on Angela Maiers.

Howard Errey is a psychologist with an interest in innovation. He works as a Senior Coordinator, Digital Learning, for the College of Design and Social Context at RMIT University and blogs here. Here Howard shares a fascinating journey into the world of virtual reality and 360 video to offer an immersive learning experience.The ProblemAt RMIT […]

We’ve talked about microlearning before (Microlearning - What Is It and Why Use It? and Uses for Microlearning Infograph), but what was not emphasized was the growing use of micorlearning. In an article by Educators NZ, they state: In fact, among five emerging types of learning (microlearning, massive open online courses (MOOCs), flipped classes, gamified learning, and microcredentials), microlearning shows the highest rate of adoption - and arguably the greatest potential for growth. Check out the complete article: Educators NZ - Microlearning: The e-Learning method taking off around the world.

We’re well into 2016 by now, and with that comes the first bump in the road of the year. Many of us kicked off the new year with grand aspirations of breaking bad habits, building new healthy routines, and generally bettering ourselves. Unfortunately, a few weeks later, we’re already starting to feel our resolve crumble and our confidence waver. Some of us may have broken our resolutions already, and are struggling to get back on the wagon. If you’re feeling a little low because of your broken New Year’s resolutions, this post is for you! We’ve rounded up some of the best literary quotes to respond to everything you’re feeling. 1. If you’re feeling bad because you messed up yesterday (and the day before, and the day before that…): "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." - Ralph Waldo Emerson 2. If you’re feeling like you’re struggling to keep up your resolution for another day: "Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you’ve felt that way." - Charles Bukowski 3. If you feel like you can’t seem to change and you think "oh well!": "If I didn’t care for fun and such, I’d probably amount to much. But I shall stay the way I am, Because I do not give a damn." - Dorothy Parker 4. If you’re overcome with frustration because you aren’t hitting your New Year’s goals: "Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning do to do afterward." - Kurt Vonnegut 5. If you’re making progress but feel like you’re not getting results: "I have learned that everybody wants to live on top of the mountain, without knowing that true happiness is obtained in the journey taken and the form used to reach the top of the hill." - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 6. If you struggle to stick with your resolution everyday, and it doesn’t get any easier: "I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." - E. B. White 7. If you’re driving yourself crazy with all your New Year’s rules: "Taking crazy things seriously is a serious waste of time." - Haruki Murakami 8. If you’re not sure whether to just give up: "Some people when they have taken too much and have been driven beyond the point of endurance, simply crumble and give up. There are others, though they are not many, who will for some reason always be unconquerable. You meet them in time of war and also in time of peace. They have an indomitable spirit and nothing, neither pain nor torture nor threat of death, will cause them to give up." - Roald Dahl 9. If you’re wondering why everyone else is doing better than you: "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self." - Ernest Hemingway 10. If you’re being too hard on yourself: "I try all things, I achieve what I can." - Herman Melville 11. And last but not least, in case you needed reminding: "You are your best thing" - Toni Morrison - What’s your favorite literary quote when you’re feeling down about yourself?

I’ve always found my early morning hours to be my strongest "thinking" hours. And apparently I’m not alone! The first hours of your workday are the most productive, according to psychologist Ron Friedman.  "Typically, we have a window of about three hours where we’re really, really focused. We’re able to have some strong contributions in terms of planning, in terms of thinking, in terms of speaking well," Friedman told Harvard Business Review. "If we end up squandering those first three hours reacting to other people’s priorities for us . . . that ends up using up our best hours and we’re not quite as effective as we could be." Likewise, Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and author of "Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job" states "Successful people understand the importance of having control over their mornings and know how to use that time wisely." So, what is the best way gain control over your morning hours for peak performance? 1.  Don’t schedule meetings during this first part of the day if you can help it. You’ll be more effective and better able to focus on the subject of the meeting later if you’ve had a chance to plan and structure your day versus just jumping in. 2.  Avoid distraction. If possible, focus on one thing you really need to do and put off opening your inbox for one hour. If that’s not possible, deal with necessary emails and voice mails, but set others aside for later. You know which ones are truly important and which can wait awhile. 3.  The quiet hours of the morning can be the ideal time to focus on an important project without interruption. Take time to strategize on large projects and break them down into smaller, more manageable pieces. Look at the end goal or result and work backwards. Think of the necessary steps it will take to reach that goal and write everything down. Estimate timing for each step so that you have a realistic view on how long it will take to complete. Our brains are often better able to do some deeper thinking in the morning before the disruptions of the day begin. 4.  Look at the large picture and prioritize goals for the day - the morning hours are peak time for planning and organizing. Set up a good calendar system to list projects, tasks and due dates and use it! Taking care of yourself throughout the rest of the day is just as important: 5.  Give yourself a break when you need one. Our bodies follow "ultradian rhythms," or cycles that last 90 to 120 minutes during which our bodies become fatigued and need a break. When you notice signals such as yawning, hunger, or brain fatigue - give yourself a chance to step away from your desk and eat, walk or stretch. Pushing through these cycles or rhythms only results in lower efficiency and substandard work. Work that you might just have to re-do tomorrow morning! 6.  Plan for the 2-3 o’clock energy dip. Most of us have a time every afternoon when our energy levels dip. If you can’t sneak away for a twenty minute nap (a favorite of mine), then have a list of "lower priority" tasks that you might be able to complete while you are not at your best. Keep in mind that when we are tired, our creative juices often flow. We are in a more relaxed state and that allows our minds to wander, to wonder, and to create. So, if your work allows it, take on a more creative task during this mid-afternoon slump! 7.  Unplug at a set time every day. There will always be work to do. But you can’t always be doing work. Give yourself time to unplug and do something FUN. Spend time with family or friends or curl up on the sofa and read a book. Maybe THIS is the most important time of the day after all! By putting your morning in order and paying attention to your peak performance times throughout the rest of the day - you’ll be more focused and feel a bit more in control every day! Sources: https://hbr.org/2015/03/your-brains-ideal-schedule http://www.businessinsider.com/how-successful-people-spend-their-first-hour-at-work-2014-3 http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/254531            

When we started out on our LearnUpon journey three and a half years ago, it was difficult to tell where our first paying customer might come from, let alone where we’d get 500 of them. Thankfully, a close friend introduced LearnUpon to David Marshall of Marshall ACM in London and even though he already had an LMS, David decided to give us a go to see what else we had to offer. Today, three and a half years later, Marshall ACM have over 219,000 users on LearnUpon. We soon welcomed our first US customer, when Logan Weaver in EMMCare decided LearnUpon would be a good fit for their LMS needs. Even though we continue to be headquartered in Dublin today, the US is by far LearnUpon’s biggest market with over 300 customers accounting for 60% of our overall customer base.   Along the way, we’ve had many homes, from the kitchen table to the office our friends in the NDRC put us up in for over a year. Robert Baker kindly let us bunk in with RedHills for a while, until we eventually got our first "proper" office in Baggot Street. We still laugh to ourselves when we think back to Shane’s first day, when he sat opposite me in a 2m x 2m room (box?!) sharing a desk while we waited a couple of weeks for our real office to be ready. No doubt Shane wondered why he left publicly listed Glanbia, with their 6,000 employees, to join this tech startup! As the team grew with the hiring of Caroline and Caoimhín, we soon had to move into our current home on Leeson Street, where things are once again cosy (to say the least). There’s now 20 of us in the Dublin office, thanks in no small part to the "Smaller Desks" project implemented last September. It’s great for team building and getting to know your colleagues! We are getting ready to move again, hopefully next month, into a new office which will give us the space to continue to grow the team to 60-70 people over the coming years.   It’s been an exciting couple of years. When our most recent customer was invoiced yesterday to officially become our 500th, it felt great to think about how we’d managed to grow LearnUpon’s customer base from zero in three and a half years. In some ways, maybe I should be surprised. But then I look around our Dublin office at 10pm any night of the week and I see a hive of activity - 2 or 3 Account Managers heading in to demos, Carrie or Michele returning from a customer success call, and of course our amazing Customer Support team doing what they do best. And chances are some of the marketing and ops teams will also be in putting the finishing touches to the latest blog post or reviewing a lease agreement. When most other companies are gone home for the day hours earlier, LearnUpon is buzzing with a brilliant team all looking to deliver the best customer experience possible. At midnight, the support team will head home but not before Dave comes online in Sydney to take over the support desk. And I know over in Belgrade Des and his team are coding away on the latest set of features which will soon be live on LearnUpon. Is it any wonder we’ve grown to 500 customers based in 12 countries so fast? Today LearnUpon is used by global brand names like Mars, PING, DocuSign, Bojangles, Deliveroo, and many more.   And for me the really exciting part is we’re only getting started. With such an amazing team and so many super cool features planned for release, I’ve no doubt we’ll be announcing our 1,000th customer before long. Only last week, Des gave me a sneak preview of a major project we’ve planned for release in a couple of months time, when I saw what the guys have planned I was so excited I literally couldn’t sleep that night as my mind raced with all the possibilities this upcoming release would bring. More on Project X soon.   I’ll finish by saying a massive thank you to each and every one of our 500 customers. Without your support and feedback we wouldn’t have the best LMS in the market or provide the best customer support in the world.   Brendan, Des and all the team at LearnUpon. P.S. Below is an infographic that Alex, Caroline and Antoinette pulled together providing some interesting stats on our journey to 500 customers.     View a png of the infographic here.   Try LearnUpon free for 30 days .learnupon.com Agree to Terms of Service Start my free trial The post LearnUpon welcomes its 500th customer appeared first on LearnUpon.

[Post by Arden Rose, Account Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] Hosted by the Brandon Hall Group, HCM Excellence is just a week away in Palm Beach, Florida. This event brings you a fresh-and-expanded 2016 Conference Program that empowers you to be the most effective strategic leader you can be. Sessions provide a fresh way of thinking about the challenges that lie ahead. Thursday’s keynote features acclaimed thought leader Bonnie St. John, who will provide both inspiration and new tools for success with her thoughts on "High-Performance Resilience." For more information visit HCM Excellence16

You work hard on your safety & health/EHS program at work. You give it a lot of thought, you spend a lot of time on it, and you care a lot about it (and about the people and environment it’s intended to protect). But how do you know if what you’re doing is effective? How do you know if it’s working? How can you measure your own performance? One thing you can do is to keep track of the number of incidents at work. Things like work-related fatalities, injuries, or illnesses. Or chemical spills to the environment. As a group, these are known as lagging indicators. They’re called lagging because they tell you about things that have already happened. Lagging indicators have their place, and they’re important to track. But they have their limits, too, and it’s helpful to track other stuff as well in order to truly measure the success of your EHS program. As you may have guessed, we’re "leading up to" the subject of leading indicators here, and the use of leading indicators for EHS measurement. What are they, in general? What are some good examples? What’s the point of using them? How can you get started using them? Those are the kind of questions we’re going to address below. Convergence Training is a training solutions provider with a strong EHS offering. Check out our learning management systems (LMSs) and our EHS e-learning courses, or just contact us for more information or to set up a demo. You can also download this FREE Guide to Effective EHS Training while you’re here. EHS Leading Indicators for EHS Performance Measurement Let’s start by giving some general information: What a leading indicator is What an EHS leading indicator is Why you should monitor EHS leading indicators Some types and examples of EHS leading indicators What Is a Leading Indicator? A leading indicator is something that gives you an idea if something else will or might happen in the future. They’re not a guarantee that something will happen in the future. But as the name implies, they indicate that the future event may occur. For example, you commonly hear leading indicators discussed when the news is talking about the national economy. These economic leading indicators give us a way to anticipate what the national economy as a whole might do in the future. Some examples of economic leading indicators include manufacturing activity, retail sales, building permits, the housing market, and new business start ups. You can see how analyzing these leading indicators can help you predict if the national economy will grow, slow, or even contract in the future. And that’s one of the primary benefits of leading indicators-they help you anticipate and predict. What Is an EHS Leading Indicator? Now that we know what a leading indicator is in general, let’s turn our attention to what an EHS leading indicator is. According to the National Safety Council (and their Campbell Institute), EHS leading indicators are: "…proactive, preventative, and predictive measures that monitor and provide current information about the effective performance, activities, and processes of an EHS management system that drive the identification and elimination or control of risks in the workplace that can cause incidents and injuries." (1) So at the most fundamental level, an EHS leading indicator is a predictive tool you can use to identify and then eliminate or control risks that might otherwise lead to incidents and injuries. What Are Some Characteristics of Good Leading Indicators? That definition above gave you some good insight into what an EHS leading indicator is, but let’s look at this more closely. According to the NSC, an EHS leading indicator should have the following characteristics: Actionable Achievable Meaningful Transparent Easy to communicate Valid Useful Timely (2) When you select the measures you want to use for your own EHS leading indicators, keep these tests in mind. If you’ve selected a metric to act as an EHS indicator that you’ll measure, it should stand up to the tests above. Is It Important to Measure and Monitor EHS Leading Indicators? What Experts Say If leading experts in the field told you it was important to track EHS leading indicators, would that be enough for you to do it? Because according to a study published by the National Safety Council that surveyed industry members, it’s important. Check the graph below. (3) Sixty-one percent of the companies surveyed said the use of EHS leading indicators was "extremely important" and another twenty-eight percent said "very important." That’s an impressive combined total of eighty-nine percent who give a LOT of importance to the use of EHS leading indicators. Even the other companies say it’s "moderately important" or "slightly important." Admission-I’m not really sure what it means to be "slightly important," but I guess it means it’s still important (apparently "not at all important" was an option and nobody selected that). Reasons to Measure and Monitor EHS Leading Indicators But maybe you’re not the kind to do something just because experts say it’s a good thing to do. Maybe you need some reasons and some convincing. That’s a good thing, and we’ve got some reasons for you below. The primary reason to use EHS leading indicators is because they give you a chance to prevent a problem before it happens. To put that another way: "…leading indicators are designed to give advanced warning of potential problems so that preventive actions can be taken. Additionally, they help to reveal the weaknesses in an organizations’ procedures or employee behavior before they have a chance to cause real harm." (3) That seems like reason enough. What’s not to like about doing something that will help you prevent a problem? But that’s not all that measuring and monitoring EHS leading indicators can do for you (and your company). In addition, monitoring EHS leading indicators allows you to: Monitor and evaluate the performance of your EHS program Encourage a safety culture Create continuous improvement effort for EHS Communicate results of your EHS efforts (4) So all told, the use of EHS leading indicators is recommended for the reasons listed below. Types of EHS Leading Indicators There are lots of different metrics that can be used as EHS leading indicators. These include things like: Observations of safe or unsafe behaviors Reported near misses Audits, including audits performed, the number of overdue audit items, and the length of time it takes to close action items resulting from audits EHS training, including training for workers, managers, and executives (total completions, percentage completed, average test scores, etc.) EHS-related meetings Non-compliances/infractions Incidents (injuries/illnesses/other events) Incident investigations JHAs performed Employee safety suggestions received Employee safety suggestions acted on There’s no single "master list" of EHS leading indicators that every company uses. Instead, each company selects the ones that work best for their needs and circumstances. To help you come up with your own list, you can think of EHS leading indicators as falling into one of three categories. These include behavior-based, operations-based, and systems-based indicators, as shown below. Here they are explained in a little more detail: Behavior-based EHS indicators are related to the behaviors and/or actions of individuals or group of people. Examples might include safety walkarounds by EHS personnel, on-the-job safety observations by employees, and the ratio of positive to negative safety observations. Operations-based EHS indicators are related to the function of a company’s machinery and operations. Examples might include the number of new trainings for operators, the number of regulatory inspections without findings, or the number of defects found in equipment. Systems-based EHS indicators are related to the EHS management system. Examples might include the number of reported near-misses, the number of completed safety/EHS trainings, the number of corrective actions, and the number of safety inspections and audits. (5) When coming up with your own EHS leading indicators, it may help you to start by thinking of these three categories and make sure you select some indicators to measure performance in each category. Can You Give Me More EHS Leading Indicators? The National Safety Council (and their Campbell Institute) has created several great guides on the use of EHS leading indicators. One of them, titled Practical Guide to Leading Indicators: Metrics, Case Studies & Strategies, includes a very long list of leading indicators that might be helpful for your company to measure. Click this link, download the guide (it’s a PDF), and check out the list on pages 14-18. They include a large number of specific metrics in each of the following categories: Risk assessment Hazard identification/recognition Risk profiling Preventive and corrective actions Management of change processes Learning systems EHS management systems Recognition, disciplinary, and reinforcement program Leading indicator component evaluation Communication of safety Safety perception survey Training Compliance Prevention through design Leadership engagement Employee engagement and participation Area observations/walkarounds Off-the-job safety Permit-to-work systems Equipment and preventive maintenance (6) On the other hand, if the list above is enough to get you started or pointed in the right direction, great. Let’s Talk More About Near Misses Near misses are an interesting issue within the discussion of lagging and leading indicators for EHS. Interesting and controversial, that is. Because there are people in (at least) two camps about whether or not they’re leading indicators and/or whether or not they should be used that way. The Argument FOR Using Reported Near Misses as Leading Indicators The report of a near miss, followed up by corrective action, may help prevent a "real" incident from occurring in the short- or long-term future. As a result, some believe near misses are an effective EHS leading indicator that might be useful to measure. The Argument AGAINST Using Reported Near Misses as Leading Indicators An increase in reported near misses may mean there are more hazards in a workplace. But on the other hand, it might just be that people are being more observant, or that they feel more free to report near misses (without negative personal consequences-like being blamed by their boss). Or maybe they feel reporting a near miss is more likely to lead to a positive corrective action. Because the reasons behind near miss reporting can get murky like this, some suggest that near misses are not an effective EHS leading indicator and they recommend against using near misses that way. A Possible Compromise On Near Misses: Lagging or Leading, Depending on Circumstances The National Safety Council/Campbell Institute’s Elevating EHS Leading Indicators: From Defining to Designing has this to say about near misses: "The issue of near misses remains an ongoing debate in the world of occupational safety and health with each side possessing valid arguments. One answer that straddles these two opinions is that near misses an be considered both leading and lagging depending on how they are treated. If the intent is to treat near misses as actual incidents, especially when it comes to mandatory reporting, the near miss itself can be seen as an event with negative consequences and considered more of a lagging indicator. If the intent of tracking near misses is to find weaknesses in a safety management system and improve organization  safety performance, then near misses become more leading in nature." (7) This seems reasonable to me, but of course you can make your own decision. Using Lagging AND Leading Indicators We’re focusing on leading indicators in this article. So much so, you might get the idea that there’s no reason to track lagging indicators. But that’s not our intention. Let’s turn our attention to lagging indicators briefly. Don’t Forget Your EHS Lagging Indicators Traditionally, some companies have focused solely or too much on lagging indicators such as injuries and illnesses. And there are some problems with that. For one thing, at many companies, the injury and incident rates (these are lagging indicators) are already quite low. It’s difficult to get them down further, so tracking just lagging indicators doesn’t give much information about the performance of the EHS program. Secondly, if you’ve got a low incident rate and even a minor incident or a small number of incidents do occur, the changed rate may make the EHS performance look much worse than it really is. And finally, focusing solely on lagging indicators can create give people an incentive to "game" the system. If you’re sole focus is on lagging indicators, and people’s future employment, promotions, raises, and performance bonuses are at stake, what happens when there’s a recordable incident? Isn’t there the possibility that people won’t actually record it? You bet there is. So those are a few of the issues of tracking only lagging indicators or giving too much emphasis to them. But we don’t want you to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Just because you should increase your focus on leading indicators doesn’t mean you should quit measuring lagging indicators. Experts Tip: Track Both Leading and Lagging Indicators The best practice is to track some lagging and some leading indicators. That’s not how it works at all sites and organizations, as you’ll soon see. But it’s a good practice. Here a breakdown of the percentage of companies  tracking lagging indicators, leading indicators, or both at the site-level. (8) And here’s a breakdown from the same companies, showing if they’re tracking lagging indicators, leading indicators, or both at the corporate level. Note that there ratios are different than those at the site-level above, and that nobody reported using only leading indicators at the corporate level. (9) The "blend" of lagging and leading indicators that you use at your company will be up to your company. Likewise, it will be up to your company if you use the same blend at the site level that you use at the corporate level, if each site has the same or different measures, and how (or if) you "roll up" the indicators at the department/site/region or district/corporate level. Expert Tip 2: Link Leading Indicators to Changes in Lagging Indicators Remember that an EHS leading indicator is supposed to have predictive powers. Meaning, if you’re tracking EHS leading indicators, you should be able to use your data to accurately predict what your EHS lagging indicators will do. So, if your EHS leading indicators are trending in a positive direction, then your lagging indicators should also trend in a positive direction. This ability to be able to "link" or connect the performance of your leading indicators with your lagging indicators is important. Here’s now the National Safety Council (and the participants of a survey they developed) puts it: "The vast majority of respondents stated that having the ability to tie changes in leading indicators to stronger or weaker performance on injury rates and other lagging indicators is very important (64%) or extremely important (21%). In a follow-up question, survey respondents were asked if they were able to establish a statistical relationship between leading and lagging indicators and, if so, how they were able to do so. Six out of thirteen respondents (46%) were able to definitely state that they have found a statistical link between leading and lagging indicators…The methods used by organizations to measure this relationship was limited to finding a general trend or a temporary association between leading and lagging metrics (e.g., sites with higher volume of near miss reporting or fewer behavior-based safety observations have lower injury rates.)" (11) So according to the NSC and their survey: It’s important to try to link leading and lagging indicators It’s possible to link them Common linking methods include general trends or temporary associations The NSC/Campbell Institute document titled Practical Guide to Leading Indicators: Metrics, Case Studies & Strategies includes several case studies that show organizations like Cummins, Honeywell, NASA, USG, and Fluor doing just that. It’s worth checking out if you’re interested in more details. Working with EHS Leading Indicators at Your Company We’re going to stop here, but there’s still more to be said about leading indicators for EHS performance. Notably, how to begin doing it-which ones to select, and how to manage and refine what you’re doing over time. We anticipate writing another article that covers some of those issues in the future. But we also welcome any of your comments in the section below. Especially from people who have experience and (presumably) success doing this. Until then, thanks for reading. We’ll catch you next time.   Notes: This article drew a lot of information from three documents created by the National Safety Council and their Campbell Institute. We think the articles are excellent and we encourage you to download and read them in full (they each average over 20 pages, so it takes a while to get through them and one benefit to our article above is its relative brevity). Here’s where you can find them: Transforming EHS Performance Measurement through Leading Indicators (first of three) Practical Guide to Leading Indicators: Metrics, Case Studies & Strategies  (second of three) Elevating EHS Leading Indicators: From Defining to Designing  (third of three) (1) Transforming EHS Performance Measurement through Leading Indicators, Campbell Institute/NSC, p. 2. (2) Transforming EHS Performance Measurement through Leading Indicators, Campbell Institute/NSC, p. 2. (3) Transforming EHS Performance Measurement through Leading Indicators, Campbell Institute/NSC, p. 8. (4) Practical Guide to Leading Indicators: Metrics, Case Studies & Strategies, Campbell Institute/NSC, p. 4. (5) Transforming EHS Performance Measurement through Leading Indicators, Campbell Institute/NSC, p. 8. (The list above was based partly on the list in this NSC document.) (6) Practical Guide to Leading Indicators: Metrics, Case Studies & Strategies, Campbell Institute/NSC, pp. 5-7. (7) Practical Guide to Leading Indicators: Metrics, Case Studies & Strategies, Campbell Institute/NSC, pp. 14-18. (8) Elevating EHS Leading Indicators: From Defining to Designing, Campbell Institute/NSC, p. 10. (9) Transforming EHS Performance Measurement through Leading Indicators, Campbell Institute/NSC, p. 10. (10) Transforming EHS Performance Measurement through Leading Indicators, Campbell Institute/NSC, p. 8. (11) Transforming EHS Performance Measurement through Leading Indicators, Campbell Institute/NSC, p. 15.               The post Using EHS Leading Indicators for EHS Performance Measurement appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

In an earlier post, we gave an example of how you could use online training tools as part of the MSHA Part 46 New Miner safety training requirement. That post got a lot of attention, so we’re circling back to do the same basic thing for MSHA Part 46 New Task(s) training. What we’re going to do is give some ideas of how you can use online tools-a learning management system (LMS), e-learning courses, and other online learning activities-as part of the training you deliver for Part 46 New Task training. What we’re not going to do is try to tell you that you should use only e-learning courses for your Part 46 New Task training. We recommend a "blended learning" approach in which you use a variety of different kinds of training. For example, you might have your workers do some reading, watch an e-learning course, attend some instructor-led training in a classroom setting, and do some task-based procedural training in the field. So let’s get to it. Convergence Training is a training solutions provider. We offer a learning management system (LMS) specially designed to deliver MSHA Part 46 safety training and create the MSHA-required documentation of that training; e-learning courses for mining safety and general EHS training; and much more. Contact us for more information. You might also be interested in our FREE Guide to Online MSHA Part 46 Training, which covers a lot of additional information about online solutions for Part 46 training. What Is MSHA Part 46 New Task Training? MSHA is short for the Mine Safety and Health Administration. They place mandatory safety training requirements on mine operators (and others). Those include Part 46 and Part 48. For the purposes of today, we’re interested in Part 46, which are "the mandatory requirements for training and retraining miners and other persons at shell dredging, sand, gravel, surface stone, surface clay, colloidal phosphate, and surface limestone mines." To learn more about Part 46, you can read our larger article about Part 46. One of the requirements in Part 46 is to provide appropriate safety training before a miner performs  a new task on the job. As the regulation states it: "You must provide any miner who is reassigned to a new task in which he or she has no previous work experience with training in the health and safety aspects of the task to be assigned, including the safe work procedures of such task, information about the physical and health hazards of chemicals in the miner’s work area, the protective measures a miner can take against these hazards, and the contents of the mine’s HazCom program. This training must be provided before the miner performs the new task." So our goal in this article is to introduce you to some online training tools you can use to provide this new task training. Examples of Online Training Tools for MSHA Part 46 New Task Training Those online tools you can use for Part 46 New Miner training include: A learning management system (LMS) for administering the training (assigning, notifying employees, delivering, crediting/tracking, reporting, and more) e-Learning courses on MSHA/mining safety training and general EHS Other online learning activities (we’ll explain this shortly) We’ll cover each of those in that order below. MSHA/Mining Safety Learning Management System (LMS) A learning management system, or LMS, is a software application you can use to administer your training. This means: Assigning Delivering Notifying Crediting Reporting Creating all necessary MSHA Part 46 training documentation More Watch the video below for a better idea of how an LMS can help you administer your MSHA Part 46 training, and of course the New Task training that’s included in Part 46. The LMS isn’t just for e-learning courses. You can use the LMS to administer may different types of training, including: e-Learning courses Other online activities, such as online quizzes Instructor-led classroom-style training Daily or weekly safety meetings OJT training performed in the field Written materials (such as Word documents, PDFs, and PowerPoint presentations) Videos Webinars Offsite training with third-party training consultants or MSHA/OSHA agents Conferences More The e-learning courses (and some other types, as you’ll see) can be delivered online through the LMS. But even the types of training that can’t be delivered online, such as instructor-led training in a classroom, can be administered online with the LMS. That means you can still assign instructor-led training to miners, have the LMS notify miners of the assignment, use the LMS to credit the miners for completing the class, see the miner’s completion status in reports, and capture that training in the documentation that MSHA requires for Part 46. e-Learning Courses for New Task Training Now let’s turn our attention to e-learning courses. You can use one or more e-learning courses, in addition to other forms of training, to create a blended learning solution for your new task training. Miners can perform any number of tasks on the job, so we’ll just give two examples below. That will give you the idea and you can go from there. We took these example courses from our mining safety and general EHS training libraries. Example 1: e-Learning Courses on HazCom and Chemical Hazards for New Task Training You may remember that Part 46 says the training could cover "information about the physical and health hazards of chemicals in the miner’s work area, the protective measures a miner can take against these hazards, and the contents of the mine’s HazCom program." So if there are hazardous chemicals at your mine site (and there most probably are), this HazCom/GHS course would be a sensible addition to just about every new task training program. And if your miners will be working directly or near chemicals, this Working with Chemicals course is also a good addition to a new task training program. Example 2: e-Learning Courses on Working On or Near Water for New Task Training Because many mines are located near water, largely for transportation purposes, an e-learning course covering general safety when working on or near water is a good addition to many new task training programs. Other Types of "Online Training": Online Documents, Quizzes, OJT Training Tools, Videos, and Webinars You just saw some examples of e-learning courses your miners can complete online. Now, let’s take a quick look at some other kinds of training that you can deliver to miners online. These include: Electronic versions of written documents (or PowerPoint presentations) Online quizzes Online activities for teaching safe work procedures Videos Webinars More We’ll discuss each further in the sections below. Electronic Documents for New Task Training You probably deliver training material to miners in written format from time to time. This may include Word documents, PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, or similar written materials. Your LMS will let you deliver electronic/digital versions of these materials to your workers online. This allows your workers to view the material online at any time, confirm that they’ve read and understood them. And the online system automatically creates a completion record for this training which you can report on at any time. Online Quizzes The LMS will also include a tool you can use to write your own quizzes that miners can complete online. These can include common question types like multiple choice, true/false, and even matching or drag and drop. You can create your own custom quizzes any time you want to see if workers have understood some training. Maybe after they’ve read written training material, or after they’ve attended instructor-led training, or after they’ve completed some training in the field. With an online quiz, your miners can read the questions, answer them, and receive feedback for each question. The LMS will record their answers and let them know if they’ve passed or failed (you select the passing score). And of course the LMS will store all completion records. Online OJT/Job Procedure/Skill Instruction, Demonstration & Evaluation You’ll often give OJT training to your miners in the field. Many times, this will include a training them on the steps to follow to safely perform a job task. A lot of times, this kind of training is conducted with the user of a paper-based checklist. The checklist includes the steps of the task, the miner gets "checked off" on each step when he/she performs them correctly, and both the miner and the trainer sign the checklist, which is then filed in a file cabinet. With an online system, you can put your checklist in an electronic format and do all the "checking" and "crediting" electronically. Below is what a checklist like this would look like. Note that we’re showing it being used on a mobile device for field verification, which is very handy. Don’t have wireless connectivity out in the field? Don’t worry, you can still do this and then sync your mobile device when you’re back at the office and have a connection. Videos You can also deliver videos to your miners online as part of new task training. These may be videos you shot yourself with your own video camera or phone. Or maybe they’re videos from MSHA or the Chemical Safety Board (CSB). Here’s an example of a video you could import it your LMS, assign to workers, and let them complete online: Online Webinars You may also deliver training to workers using a webinar. The webinar will be delivered online, obviously, and your can use the LMS to administer other aspects-assignment, completion tracking, reporting, MSHA documentation, and more. Conclusion: Online Training for MSHA Part 46 New Task Training Requirements By now, you’ve probably got a pretty good idea of how you can use online learning activities to make up some of the training requirements for the MSHA Part 46 New Task training programs you’re required to provide at your mine site. We’d be curious to know what you’re own experiences are. What are the tasks that you provide this kind of training for at your mine? What types of training do you use to provide that training? What are some of your success stories, and what are some of the frustrations or challenges you face repeatedly? Let us know if you have any questions, too. Drop a comment below in the comments field and we’ll be sure to respond. And don’t forget to download the free guide to online MSHA compliance tools below for an even bigger-picture view of how you can use online tools for Part 46 training.   The post Online Options for MSHA Part 46 New Task Training appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.