Are you thinking about how to justify the spend on a new e-learning or training project?

Towards Maturity have some ideas on that:

1. Quantify the potential impact – don’t just concentrate on the technology and features

2. Align your learning strategy with the business

3. Leverage the experience of others

4. Position yourself for success – timing is everything

Take a look at the article from Towards Maturity here:

http://towardsmaturity.org/article/2014/03/06/building-case-spend-save/

 At this time of the year there are chocolate eggs everywhere. Are you tempted to try something new or do you put your trust in the same old thing every year?

When it comes to training many organisations seem to put all their eggs in one basket and classroom training is usually the default. That’s understandable – it’s what people are used to and no one has to stick their neck out and do something different. But most of our budgets are under pressure so perhaps it’s … Continue Reading

As Infographics are a bit of a guilty pleasure around here I thought I’d post some of my favourite Learning and e-learning infographics on the blog.  Here’s the first one by Nicole Legault 

Not many of us would argue against the importance of management skills yet training is often one of the first cuts when budgets come under pressure.  Why should organisations still  invest in Management Skills?

We all know that good managers will get better performance, loyalty and innovation from their team. Senior managers know this too. So why do 43% of managers rate their own line management performance as lacking? Why are more businesses not investing sufficiently in management training? 

The Department of Business Innovation, Skills and Leadership Management Network Group (you can see … Continue Reading

Powerpoint is a really useful tool for creating quick graphics or to make simple changes to existing images.  We’ll be writing about a series of posts on this over the next few months to help you use Powerpoint for e-learning. You’ll also find these tips useful if you put together text-based training material or regularly use images in a blog for example.

In this post we’re going to focus on clip art.  A lot of clip art looks clunky and old fashioned but with a couple of minor changes you can often transform it into something that looks fresh and fits with the feel of your course. This can get complicated if … Continue Reading

I’ve came across a free course on e-learning accessibility that will be of interest to those developing  e-learning courses. It’s ‘masters’ level content from the Open University which is available as a free trial module on the OU’s Learning Space site.

The module is wide ranging but some of the key areas it covers are:

• Overview of Accessibility and disability.
• Different types of impairments
• Assistive technologies
• Reasonable adjustments (and avoiding disadvantaging non-disabled students)
• What to do when a learning objective can’t be achieved

To see the full content of the course and try it for yourself  follow this link: http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3049

I came across this web accessibility infographic recently and, although it’s really written for web designers, it will be helpful for those of you developing e-learning too.  It’s from an organisation called Webaim and there’s lots of other useful stuff in the resources section of  their site so it’s worth taking a look if you want to make your e-learning more accessible. I found their Dyslexia simulation particularly interesting -  so if you want to find out what someone with Dyslexia might see when they look at a passage of text take a look here: Dyslexia Simulation and see how you fare reading the text…. Continue Reading

Why are many managers reluctant to carry out Appraisals? Well, there are of course many reasons but we’ve found that when it gets down to it most of them are nervous about it and don’t feel confident in their ability to handle difficulties that can crop up. 

Other reasons learners have raised with our trainers include:

• Don’t fully understand the Appraisal scheme or find it too cumbersome.
• Not on-board with the concept of Appraisal and Performance reviews and don’t see the benefits.
• Equality and Diversity issues – unsure of what they should be saying where there are issues with absence or planned leave like maternity/paternity.
• Find the … Continue Reading
  

The HSE estimate that up to 4000 people a year die from Asbestos related illnesses. That includes 20 tradesmen a week  -  approximately 8 joiners, 6 electricials and 4 plumbers die every week and many people are still unaware of the risks they face daily.  In the North East alone 1,446 people have died from mesothelioma (Asbestos related cancer.)   It can be hard to appreciate the danger when it might take 40 years to have an have an effect.

Up to nine million UK homes and one and a half million workplace properties have some … Continue Reading

We’re not suggesting that you replace all of your classroom training with e-learning but there are many reasons to include online methods your training mix. Here’s some of the key reasons why organisations turn to online learning.

1 Urgent training need for the masses
For larger organisations with staff in multiple locations e-learning can be the fastest and most effective way to deliver it. Many will have their own in house e-learning teams and develop content themselves but in some … Continue Reading