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HR Leaders Tune into Learning Trends

Luke Kempski

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak to the Human Resources Professionals of Central PA about “Trends in Learning and Development.” As part of the program, we did instant polling of the group of 50 participants. While some were part of larger organizations, most were employed in smaller financial services, construction or health care-related firms. Of this group, 80% agreed that investments in learning can provide a high return and increase their organization’s competitiveness.

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Motivating Adult Learners – Part 2

Steve Hulse

In Part 1 of “Motivating Adult Learners,” we said that adults like to learn practical information that they can put to use back on the job. Focusing on single concepts also seems to improve retention of knowledge, particularly among older learners. This time we’ll look at how and why adults learn, and what the implications are for program planning. Understanding these issues will help focus your training initiatives whether you execute your plan using internal staff or a training partner.

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Motivating Adult Learners – Part 1

Steve Hulse

 As a training planner for many years, I often was discouraged by the reaction to my programs. I would sweat out writing objectives, pore over literature to get the latest information, gather appropriate visual aids and coerce experts into speaking to our staff. But more often than I’d like to admit, the reception to training was strictly “ho-hum.” And from discussions with other training coordinators, I knew this was not an uncommon reaction. But why this response to information that should have been important – even exciting to the learners? Whether you work with a training partner or do the training using internal staff, understanding these issues means we need to look at some basic tenets of adult education.

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Learning Games and Simulations: Getting Started

Luke Kempski

I know many training leaders who have developed strong workflows to produce valuable e-Learning courses for their organizations. They have built teams, processes and infrastructure to deliver consistent, quality courses that meet standards and learner expectations. That workflow has also been essential to them meeting productivity goals, deadlines and budgets.

The challenge for training leaders comes when they want to take a learning experience to a higher degree of interactivity, such as in a learning game or simulation. How can they do this without disrupting the efficient, productive and successful workflow? I’ve seen this dilemma navigated in three ways: scaling up to do it in-house, outsourcing the development or taking a partner approach.

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Creating a Shared Vision for Learning Solution Projects

Renee Avara

For a project manager, the key to a successful project is building, communicating and executing a “shared vision” with your team. The project’s vision is the expectation of what the deliverable will be. A shared vision means one that is created by the client, project manager (PM) instructional designer (ID), the production members who will work on the project, and other stakeholders. 

So you may be wondering, “How can a team of people create one vision?” Well, think of it like a funnel. Team members come to the project with their individual perspectives. You maximize their experiences and opinions to generate ideas relevant to the project. Then everyone works together until there is one agreed-upon solution. So, how do you work through the funnel?

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Learning Management Systems: A Foundation for Training

Ryan Kudasik

If you’re fortunate enough to have a learning management system (LMS), you know how useful it is for documenting training and tracking performance. But if you’re part of a smaller organization or if you’re responsible for managing training delivered to external stakeholders – customers, distributors or others – you may not have an LMS to track training investments. In this situation, setting up an LMS can seem like a daunting task. You need to get approval from management, plan the implementation, and gain support from IT.

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Today’s Range of e-Learning Solutions

Luke Kempski

Training leaders today need to consider a wide range of e-Learning and blended learning approaches to accomplish their objectives. Frequently, I see organizations use rapidly developed e-Learning modules as the solution to all learning needs. Others may conduct all of their training in the classroom or through Web-Ex or some other single approach. At the same time, I often read purists lambast rapidly developed learning modules while advocating for full-blown simulations for almost every need. While each approach – including new ones such as social learning – can be appropriate, each learning goal deserves special consideration.

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Blended Learning and Systems Training

Jennifer Kerwin

What’s the best way to teach a large group of employees how to use a new internal system?

A. In-class training with hands-on practice
B. Complete user guide in PDF format
C. e-Learning modules
D. A blend of all the above

For a large group of employees with varying skill levels, the blended learning approach is the ideal solution.

Blended learning (mixing different learning environments, presentation types and media) addresses the various learning styles of your audience. It’s an excellent approach for adult education and corporate training. By offering content through in-class training, e-Learning, documentation, job aids and on-the-job training, you empower the learner to access the information in ways that suit their learning style.


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Six Learning Demands of a Recovering Economy

Luke Kempski

The economic challenges of the last two years have weakened many training organizations. According to training industry experts Bersin & Associates, the U.S. corporate training market shrunk from $56.2 billion in 2008 to $48.2 billion in 2009 – a decline of 14%. With reduced staffs and budgets, corporate learning programs struggled to maintain even minimal offerings. 

As the economy heats back up, organizational learning will once again be looked at as a way to gain competitive advantage. If you want a more consultative sales force, to deliver a superior customer experience or earn maximum benefits from your IT investments, you’ll need robust training offerings to make it happen. 

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Building a Learning Brand in Your Organization

Jennifer Kerwin

What is the perception of your training department? Another way to ask this question… do employees see your courses and resources as a benefit or just an inconvenience? The way the various parts of your organization view training and development is closely related to the success of your programs. This may seem obvious, but training that is not viewed as a benefit or something created to help the employee may not help anyone. Building your learning brand can help shape and direct this perception.

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