LF ‘un’conference 16/09/10

As mentioned in a previous Blog post I have been dabbling with the idea of arranging an unconference for a number of internal Learning Facilitators on the subject of ‘Using Technology to Enhance Learning’. Well after months of planning (read flapping!) it finally happened, want to find out what happened?…. read on…

I decided right from the outset to showcase the various technologies and platforms that are available to enhance learning activities, so what better place to start than creating a digital set of Joining Instructions as opposed to our traditional paper-based options, feedback to this approach was encouraging and I am hoping that this will generate some interest from the Learning Facilitators that attended.

The day itself kicked off with everybody arriving between 0800-0830hrs, they were greeted by a Captain Caveman poster (thanks Sam ;-)) which invited them to park any ‘negative’ thoughts that they had about using technology to enhance learning before the unconference started.

It was interesting to read everybodys views and in particular to gain an insight into some of the concerns of people for whom using these technologies is ‘new ground’ – all in all a very simple exercise, but an extremely valuable one.

The unconference kicked off with a keynote address from Alison Hattersley from The Success Factory on the subject of the ‘New World‘ using a piece of tech that everybody seemed impressed with which was PaperShow.

There were a number of great soundbites from this keynote but what really struck home for me was the statement “if you always do what you’ve always done, you WONT EVEN get what you’ve always got” – the justification behind this twist on a well-known phrase, is that due to the pace of change in the ‘New World’, doing business as usual means that you will just get left behind………

There were some (in my opinion) strong challenges to the use of technology during this keynote that I feel led us down a path that we didn’t really need to go down i.e. arguing that emails are bad because they distract you from your work… aren’t emails in themselves work? And if they aren’t then ignore them… anyways we were soon back on track and the floor was handed over  to little old me!

I conducted a number of small icebreakers designed to not only allow attendees to introduce themselves but also to get some hands on with Learning Technologies straight away. Everybody participated in creating an iPadio podcast (which I subsequently lost, due to my mobile phone losing the signal during upload – (note to self: use the traditional ‘dial-up’ method next time!!!) Everybody then got the opportunity to look at some everyday and some not-so everyday items of hardware that could be used for learning activities; they were then asked to describe how that particular item could be used to enhance the delivery of learning events within their specific subject areas, this is what they had to say.

What was really encouraging from my perspective were the ideas that were being generated, I can only hope that the Learning Facilitators get the opportunity to put them into practice.

We then moved on to the subject of Twitter, which I know was of specific interest to many of the facilitators present. As this was an unconference and I was committed to taking a social constructionist approach to the day, I broke the attendees into 2 x groups and allowed them approx 20-30 minutes of online Twitter research time prior asking them to present their findings back to the group.

I particularly like this approach to facilitating as I know that the content is readily available and it places the onus on the delegates to ‘pull’ the information as opposed to me ‘pushing’ it onto them. Once again they didn’t disappoint and came up with some great research covering the history, learning uses, marketing uses, communities of practice and even url shortening services. I wish I had learnt as much about Twitter as quickly as they did!

Pretty soon they were Twittering amongst each other and a few even found the time to follow individuals and organisation from within their professional circles of interest – well done folks. Here is a summary of the Tweets that used the #lfcpd hashtag.

Lunchtime was fast approaching and believe me if there is oen thing that you do NOT want to miss whilst at The Success Factory, it’s the lunch so I asked my friend and work colleague Geoff to facilitate a session on the use of voting handsets. As expected Geoff took to this with this usual passionate style and within only 30 minutes had provided us with an insight into the architecture, setting up, settings and end-user experience of the TurningPoint Technology voting system.

This system saw widespread use across my organisation several years ago, however its use has become sporadic so I have always hoped that its use could become more widespread. Judging by the interest shown during Geoff’s session and subsequently via Twitter I fully expect to see an upsurge in its use once again.

One of the delegates, Jim, asked a great question as to how to create well crafted, robust questions to use within surveys and polls such as those that can be created using the TurningPoint tool. I knew that I had access to such a resource but couldn’t for the life of remember where, well Jim (and anybody else who’s interested) here it is. It’s technically for the SurveyMonkey toll that we hold an account for, but the overarching principles of good survey design remain the same.

Following a cracking lunch and an AWESOME Eton Mess,

it was time to get online again.

Prior to the unconference a number of Learning Facilitators had expressed a keen interest in discovering more about Virtual Classrooms so I had arranged for @philipgreen from Onlignment to facilitate a virtual classroom using Elluminate! Unfortunately Phil has been ill recently (get well soon) but he had kindly arranged for Elluminate themselves to facilitate a session for us.? An archive of that session can be viewed here.

Judging by the verbal and written feedback that people provided following this demo it was quite clear that most people saw the benefits of this tool not only for delivering synchronous learning events  but for improved business-wide communications. My plan is to ask Phil to deliver the planned session again once he is back on his feet as I believe it will allow us to see the full functionality of the tool from a ‘learners’ perspective – looking forward to that  :-)

From that point on things started to go a bit wrong!

I had embedded a number of YouTube videos into my slides using PPT 2010. For some reason best known to Microsoft this set my slidedeck into a perpetual loop, preventing me from exiting the YouTube clip. I was only able to exit this by closing the entire presentation down, opening it up again and then starting the presentation from the ‘next’ slide – very time-consuming and frustrating!!The WiFi connection was lost to all PCs, given that we were just about to look at the Delicious bookmarking tool, this really couldn’t have happened at a worse time, but fortunately the venue very kindly allowed us to utilise their secure connection…. it did nothing for my blood pressure though!

We then undertook a bookmarking exercise in which we demonstrated the restricted nature of conventional website bookmarking (i.e. on your PC) and the benefits of using social bookmarking tools. Many of the attendees responded positively to this change in practice and identified the benefits of social bookmarking such as knowledge-sharing, collaborative working and helping learners to ‘pull’ information as well as the challenges that it may bring in terms of quality-checking the bookmarks provided. My most recent Delicious Bookmarks can be seen at the right hand side of this screen or alternatively my Delicious site is here.

We rounded the day off with a brief introduction to the concept of Virtual Learning Environments which included a whistle-stop tour of some Moodle platforms I have been working in.

Whilst I didn’t have sufficient time to cover its functionality in full, I was encouraged to hear some very positive comments from the group one stating that a VLE would enhance the effectiveness of learning delivering learning events to shift workers and another comment from an attendee who had operated in a VLE that sounded like it had only got as far as Stage 1, but who was impressed by the level of interactivity that I had been able to introduce into my sandpit VLE – I was well chuffed

The day closed with a prize draw for a Flip Ultra camera, the lucky recipient being…….. (you know who you are!) and no I’m not responding to the cries for a “recount”

So that was the day over; I’d like to say a BIG thank you to body who attended, to Alison, Martin and Vicky from the SuccessFactory, Neil Fagan for his support, Sam Pennington for Captaaaaaain CaaaaaaveMaaaaaan, Phil Green for all his help, Elluminate for their demo session and for everyone who contributed via Twitter.

So that was the day over and with my first unconference under my belt I turned my attention to the next one, or more specifically what went well, what could have made it even better and some action planning points.

Utilise online polling prior to the event. People appreciated being asked what they wanted to cover.Limit the amount of topics to be covered. Too much content, too little time.Return to the same venue – comments were made as to how relaxed and informal they felt throughout the day.Have a second projector plugged in and on ‘stand by’ – the main projector surrendered mid-way through the afternoon.Utilise a Twitter back channel, possible with a Twitterwall playing.Change the screen size when using embedded YouTube videos in PPT 2010, to allow me to click forward onto the next slide.Use a traditional dial-up method when using iPadio in the future.Investigate the PaperShow tool.Request a demonstration of the SMART visualiser.

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Happy Tweetiversary to me!

I am typing this Blog from a hotel room in London where I am staying during my attendance at the Learning Technologies conference 2011; I tell you this because it is entirely relative to my Twitter history…..

I had heard of Twitter prior to attending LT10 but admit to having dismissed it as a celebrity ‘fad’, LT10 was the catalyst that I needed to pop my Twitter cherry!

So here I am 12 months later with approx 2500 tweets under my belt, 175 followers and following 92 other people. Everyone one of these people is in some way shape or form involved in L&D, Learning Technologies, Social Media or more usually all 3!

Twitter has enabled me to attend Jane Harts Masterclass on Using Social Media for Learning, James Clays Mobile Learning Boot Camp, the eLearning Network 2010 showcase (which subsequently led me to joining the eLN) It has provided me with some excellent contacts and some fantastic learning opportunities.

So if you haven’t yet set up a Twitter account then please don’t let this fantastic opportunity pass you by. If you don’t know how or where to start, then you could do a lot worse than checking out these resources which will help you on your way…

Image source

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Book Review – ‘Remote. Office Not Required’

Remote – Office not required

Regulars Twitter followers will know the fun and games I’ve had since October of last year with my daily Peacehaven – London commutes to undertake a 6 month contract.

Since then I’ve picked up the book ‘Remote – Office Not Required’ and have been (rather ironically) dipping in and out of it on my commutes into London.

Over the next few posts I plan to share with you some elements of the book, if you simply can’t wait, you can find it here. (Amazon UK store)

Gotta dash….. Train to catch…

View the original article here

Virtual Learning Show Day 1

Ask an open question early, VERY EARLY, possibly even on the second slide. It sets the scene and expectations for your learners.

Don’t be afraid of silence. When asking a question SHUT UP and give people the time to think and respond.

Regularly acknowledge comments in the chat panel.

 Presented by Roger Courville
12.30 – 13.30 GMT (UK time)

Brain research confirms what storytellers know from experience: we learn through storytelling. What’s more, we’re wired for it… we learn the pattern, rhythm and structure of storytelling before we learn the rhythms and patterns of written stories. Our job in learning and development is to impart knowledge and skills to create change, and while we don’t abandon facts, data, and processes, adding storytelling to the mix in the virtual classroom will add a powerful dimension to your success.

Join Roger Courville, of TheVirtualPresenter.com, and get ready to take some notes as you learn practical tips for how to construct story and take full advantage of delivering them in the virtual classroom.

Join us for this interactive live webinar to learn:

What story is (hint: it’s not “once upon a time”)How to choose the story or illustration right for youThree steps to transforming story for virtual classroomsFour tips for uniquely combining voice and visuals for improved impact

My key content take-away

If I’m honest, this session flew along so quickly due to the late start that I really can’t recall any of it, so I can’t say what parts of the content I can ‘take away’.

My key facilitation take-away

Roger was approximately 30 minutes late due to t’internet outage in Oregon, however the other facilitators stepped up to the mark and very quickly facilitated and promoted a number of quick fire Q&As via the chat panel. Because the questions were relevant, there was still a level of ‘conversation’ taking place, handy to have this in the back of my mind should things ever go belly up in one of my sessions.

 Presented by Karen Hyder
14.00 – 15.00 GMT (UK time)

While the benefits of virtual classroom training using tools such as WebEx, Adobe Connect and GoTo Training may be obvious to you  and your learners, your managers aren’t sold.  They feel face-to-face training is the only way to control the learning experience and that the transition to online learning will be too difficult.  They’ve seen too many boring webinars where participants multi-task throughout and they believe that an attempt to move training online will be a waste of time and resources.

In 2010, 88% of eLearning Guild’s survey respondents agreed that” when setup and use properly, online training was as effective as good face-to-face training.” Attend this session to experience what it takes to set up and use virtual classroom tools properly.

Discuss ways to maximize the advantages and overcome the objections of virtual classroom deliveryIdentify key considerations for managers and plan what you’ll do and say to make your case for moving your training online.

My key content take-away

Comparison of webinar / virtual classroom tools is difficult due to keeping up with the rapid development of these tools. This Wiki page is a well maintained comparison of web conferencing software.

My key facilitation take-away

Karen used the chat ‘pod’ feature within Adobe Connect which allowed her to separate specific conversations from the backchannel ‘waffle’.  I like the idea of this and would be keen to see if there is a way ‘post session’ to match the questions up with the relevant ‘chat pod’.

 Presented by Bob Mosher
15.30 – 16.30 GMT (UK time)

The virtual classroom is becoming commonplace. It offers many wonderful enhancements to the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom. The elimination of travel, the integration into the workflow, and its ability to take advantage of space learning are three wonderful advantages of this emerging medium. The danger lies in the content and context lost over time. Performance support can be the tie that binds bringing everything together and enabling knowledge transfer at a level rarely seen before.

This session will explore a new distance-learning model which encompasses performance support as a critical part of the journey.

In this session we will explore:

The GEAR four step approach to distance learningHow to design performance support to optimize space learningWhat instructors need to do to guarantee engagement

My key content take-away

Introduce Performance Support tools EARLY, don’t introduce it ‘afterwards’. Make them a part of our formal programmes, upfront of when people are having to use them for real

My key facilitation take-away

Bob used quick and dirty techniques for marking up or annotating his slides during the session. This was in stark contrast to the clinical design of the slides. This worked really well and helped the annotations to stand out.

Overall experience

Today was a great experience, I acquired some info in every single session. There were a number of people who attended every session so to a degree my concern over ‘overload’ may be mute… however, I’m not sure that the audience is typical of the majority of learners – after all, it’s our field!

I’m still doubtful that a days worth of online activities could work in the ‘real world’….

What do you think?

View the original article here

Learning & Development Specialist

Learning & Development Specialist Manchester

Due to the secondment of the existing post holder, an exciting fixed term opportunity has arisen for an innovative and dynamic Learning and Development Specialist to join our highly motivated and progressive Human Resources Division.

This impactful role is designed to create an inspirational and innovative learning and development culture which is central to our University’s success and is highly regarded by our people. 

Working proactively with senior leaders, business managers and HR Business Partners you will analyse and identify learning and development needs.   As part of a wider team of forward thinking specialists you will collaboratively provide innovative and creative learning and development solutions to support the strategic and operational business needs of our University, its employees and teams.

To be successful in this role we are looking for an enthusiastic individual with energy and passion who has had significant experience of working with senior managers and leaders to shape strategic and operational learning and development interventions and solutions. 

You will have a demonstrable track record of success in the application of learning and development solutions with evidence of providing tangible improvements in individual and business performance.  The successful candidate will also have confidence operating in an environment of transformational change, and have the ability to inspire and motivate a diverse audience through the delivery of blended learning techniques and the application of e-learning technology.

To gain further insight into the role and to apply for the vacancy please follow the link below.

Closing date: 15 February 2015

The University of Salford is committed to an inclusive approach to equality and diversity.

LocationManchesterSalary£38,511 - £45,954 PADurationFull time, Fixed term – 24 monthsReference1443770Contact NameRecruitment

Due to the secondment of the existing post holder, an exciting fixed term opportunity has arisen for an innovative and dynamic Learning and Development Specialist to join our highly motivated and progressive Human Resources Division.

This impactful role is designed to create an inspirational and innovative learning and development culture which is central to our University’s success and is highly regarded by our people. 

Working proactively with senior leaders, business managers and HR Business Partners you will analyse and identify learning and development needs.   As part of a wider team of forward thinking specialists you will collaboratively provide innovative and creative learning and development solutions to support the strategic and operational business needs of our University, its employees and teams.

To be successful in this role we are looking for an enthusiastic individual with energy and passion who has had significant experience of working with senior managers and leaders to shape strategic and operational learning and development interventions and solutions. 

You will have a demonstrable track record of success in the application of learning and development solutions with evidence of providing tangible improvements in individual and business performance.  The successful candidate will also have confidence operating in an environment of transformational change, and have the ability to inspire and motivate a diverse audience through the delivery of blended learning techniques and the application of e-learning technology.

To gain further insight into the role and to apply for the vacancy please follow the link below.

Closing date: 15 February 2015

The University of Salford is committed to an inclusive approach to equality and diversity.

Apply now

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SMARTening up

Several years ago my organisation conducted an internal survey relating to the training courses that were delivered at that time. As a result of that survey a significant shift has taken place relating to the way in which formal people development activities take place; a very brief overview of these changes can be seen here.

Training course – learning event

Trainer – Learning Facilitator

Training – learning

All about the trainer – all about the learner

PowerPoint centred activities – people centred activities

It is this last paradigm shift, that whilst having a significant positive impact on the delivery of our learning events may have inadvertently sent the message to our learning facilitators that they should avoid considering/using technology when planning/delivering their events – a BIG ask when you consider that we are a decade into the 21st Century!

In order to redress this balance my organisation has recently invested in a number of SMARTBoards including the SMARTNotes software.

Whilst I have ‘dabbled’ with the equipment once or twice over the past month since having the equipment installed, I desperately wanted to lift the lid on all the features that I had not yet discovered in order to further develop our learning facilitators.

And so it was, that on 14/05/10 I took part in a 1-day (because it was done on a 1:1 basis and I had prior experience) SMARTBoard/SMARTNotes Train-The-Trainer learning event. The event was facilitated by Johanna Guest from Steljes who did a fantastic job of coaching me through the many and varied functionalities of the product.

I’m certainly not planning to wholesale replace my learning events with SMARTBoard activities, nor indeed advocate the same to our Learning Facilitators, however I do believe that this product adds another resource to the facilitators toolbox and can turn what could otherwise be a very dry, top-down, non collaborative session into an interactive, learner-focussed, collaborative learning event – whilst taking a very large step into the 21st Century!

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My top 10 Learning Tools for 2011

It’s that time of the year again folks when Jane Hart is reminding us all to submit our ‘Top 10 Learning Tools 2011/of the year’.

This is something that I contributed to for the first time last year and it was interesting to see where my preferred tools came in the ‘Top 100' ranking structure that Jane works out from all of our submissions, it is also a great place to catch wind of any new tools that are out there.

I am once again contributing to this years list, however I have decided to take a different tack. Whereas my list last year probably (I say probably because I can’t specifically remember) contained things like:

TwitterYouTubeGoogle ReaderSlideshareetc

I have decided to approach things from a different angle this year and have decided not to concentrate on the actual platform, but to think more carefully about how I get access to that platform. After all, it’s no good being a member of some of these wonderful online platforms if you can’t get to them. There are also a few in there just to remind us all that sometimes the answer doesn’t need to be a ‘click‘ away at all! I think it’s also worth mentioning that I have only very recently started working in a new organisation, Epic. What better time to consider what tools have been effective for my personal learning, within a real-time learning moment.

So here’s my Top 10 list of learning tools, in no particular order.

1. My phone (this allows me to phone people up and ask them a question, at which point I find Tool No 6 to be particularly useful)

2. My iPad (this allows me to review online information and communications in order to bring me up to speed on a given subject, of course without Tool No 4 I am somewhat limited in what I can do)

3. My laptop (not only can I do everything on this that I can do on Tool No 2, but I can also far more easily create content, which of course allows me to reflect upon what I am creating thus adding to my own personal learning experience)

4. Internet signal – WiFi/3G/4G/Ethernet (come on admit it, how many of you who submitted an entry into Janes Top 100 tools, overlooked the fact that *most* if not all of the tools you suggested rely upon being able to gain and maintain access to the t’internet?)

5. Falling over – not literally of course, I mean making mistakes. What more powerful tool can there be for learning than those amazing synapses in our brains firing adrenaline, emotions such as guilt, worry, embarrassment, shock etc after we have realised we have made a mistake. Sometimes bruised egos, flushed cheeks and yes – scraped knees serve us very well indeed.

6. My ears – let’s be honest, they’re in ‘receive mode’ far more than our Internet signal. Next time you’re amongst your team colleagues just allow yourself to listen to what’s being said….

7. The Epic intranet – a purpose-built repository of the specific ‘must/should/and could knows’ of my organisation. This has been of immense use to me over the last couple of weeks and no doubt will continue to be so in the future.

8. The guy who sits opposite me – His name is Andy Costello and he has been a godsend to me during my first few weeks working at Epic. Not only providing support when I have asked for it, but also providing it when he anticipates I am approaching a ‘just in time’ moment. Truly contextualised, semantic performance support.

                 

9. Books/magazine etc (not fussy about the format)

10. My Son and Daughter – watching them grow up, evolve, learn, make mistakes etc provides me with some wonderful ‘lightbulb’ moments. Seeing how they navigate the challenges and problems that you and I take for granted, like carrying a plate without spilling its contents reminds me that all the learning challenges that you and I face are surmountable, I mean look at everything else that we have achieved in our lives!

View the original article here

Bared faced lying (but in a nice way)

Since I started in my new role as a Learning Technologies Manager for Bupa International I’ve facilitated a number of ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions for my colleagues within the HR team around a number of learning technology related subjects.

To date these have been:

‘elearning….. discuss’ – a 2 hour sessions which helped people to see ‘e’learning as being more than just traditional, ‘click next’ SCORM objects‘Getting Started with Mobile Learning’ – a 2 hour session which was essentially a dry run of my DevLearn 12 session‘Welcome Aboard’ – a 2 hour session  centering around the use of technology within the onboarding / induction process

The latest ‘Welcome Aboard’ session was facilitated as an Alternate Reality Game. In order to add the context in which the game was being unknowingly played I referred to some research that I heard about at DevLearn.

Only problem is that there was no such research at DevLearn – it was lie, a misdirection, a bluff, an economical use of the truth….

To help me with this bluff I created the animation below using Powtoon  which I played during the early stages of the session/game after I had prattled on about the DevLearn research ‘discovery’

It’s a cracking piece of software; cheap, intuitive, a great trial period.

Why not give it a whirl and let us all know how you get on?

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Talent & Development Manager - eCommerce

Talent & Development Manager - eCommerce West London

Creative and fast growing international eCommerce business have an exciting opportunity for a Talent and Development Manager to develop a function in line with the business and its unique culture. This is a truly entrepreneurial and forward thinking environment and an amazing chance for someone to really put their own stamp on a role and inspire the business!

Initial focus will be scoping out training needs requirements throughout the business - from entry level roles right up to the senior management team and across all business areas from Creative, Customer services through to Technical.

You'll develop a strategy and propose the best solutions for delivery against these needs, driving the leadership and management development program forward and designing a program of effective and engaging training activities to cover everything from core business skills, soft skills and everything in between.

The ideal candidate will have:-

Extensive experience working in Learning & Development and strong experience of designing, managing and delivering a variety of development programmes.
Extensive experience of working in Learning & Development including recent experience in an L&D business partnering/management role
A strong network and proven relationships with relevant L&D providers and suppliers
Proven experience in a fast paced, growing organisation where you have had to design and deliver new training programs
Industry-relevant accreditation's in psychometric tools such as MBTI, Firo-b and able to offer profiling and coaching sessions with individuals and teams to support their continual development
Excellent presentation and facilitation skills demonstrating the ability to communicate, engage and inspire
Proven strategic ability, and pride yourself on effectively partnering with your business areas in line with their training need to support delivery of their goals.
A creative approach, and are always looking to identify new ideas but you are also super organised, structured and comfortable with change and facilitating transformation.

If this sounds like something which would excite and inspire you, and you fit the above then please apply.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the high volume of applications we receive we are unable to respond to everyone. If you have not heard from us within 5 working days of sending your CV then unfortunately you have not been shortlisted for the position you have applied for.

LocationWest LondonSalary10% bonus, fantastic benefitsReferenceBBBH42849Contact NameEmma Richardson

Creative and fast growing international eCommerce business have an exciting opportunity for a Talent and Development Manager to develop a function in line with the business and its unique culture. This is a truly entrepreneurial and forward thinking environment and an amazing chance for someone to really put their own stamp on a role and inspire the business!

Initial focus will be scoping out training needs requirements throughout the business - from entry level roles right up to the senior management team and across all business areas from Creative, Customer services through to Technical.

You'll develop a strategy and propose the best solutions for delivery against these needs, driving the leadership and management development program forward and designing a program of effective and engaging training activities to cover everything from core business skills, soft skills and everything in between.

The ideal candidate will have:-

Extensive experience working in Learning & Development and strong experience of designing, managing and delivering a variety of development programmes.
Extensive experience of working in Learning & Development including recent experience in an L&D business partnering/management role
A strong network and proven relationships with relevant L&D providers and suppliers
Proven experience in a fast paced, growing organisation where you have had to design and deliver new training programs
Industry-relevant accreditation's in psychometric tools such as MBTI, Firo-b and able to offer profiling and coaching sessions with individuals and teams to support their continual development
Excellent presentation and facilitation skills demonstrating the ability to communicate, engage and inspire
Proven strategic ability, and pride yourself on effectively partnering with your business areas in line with their training need to support delivery of their goals.
A creative approach, and are always looking to identify new ideas but you are also super organised, structured and comfortable with change and facilitating transformation.

If this sounds like something which would excite and inspire you, and you fit the above then please apply.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the high volume of applications we receive we are unable to respond to everyone. If you have not heard from us within 5 working days of sending your CV then unfortunately you have not been shortlisted for the position you have applied for.

Apply now

View the original article here

Pre-#LearningLive session via Google Hangouts

In this previous blog post I suggest some simple ideas as to how the conference experience could be enhanced and specifically talk about ‘pre conference’ online sessions

Let’s be honest, when your conference attendees have a number of concurrent sessions to select from, other than previous experience/recommendations of the facilitator, all they’ve got to go in is the session overview on the conference website. Why not invite each speaker (and potential attendees) to participate in a 10 minute online session in which they pitch their session and take part in a Q&A. It may also give the potential attendees an insight into the presentation skills of the speaker (AKA are they going to rattle off a load of bullet points at me?)

I’ve not yet seen this taken up by any conference organisers so I thought I’d take the bull by the horns and set up my own online sessions ahead of Learning Live to allow people up to ask any questions they may have about my session, make sure it’s right for them etc.

I’ll be using Google Hangouts to deliver these bite sized sessions which I know may prevent some corporate folk from attending due to Google Hangouts being blocked, so I’ve scheduled an evening session too.

Here are the dates and times: (all sessions are scheduled for 15mins)

30/08/13 – 0930hrs BST

03/09/13 – 0930hrs BST

04/09/13 – 1930hrs BST

To participate, visit the relevant link above a few minutes before each session commences, set up your speakers/microphone and let’s chat!

See you online?

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Get your foot in the door – Key Skills

In the run up to Christmas last year I met with a potential client and suggested (as I am now doing in this blog) that they take a look at what is going on in their business and then trawl the app stores looking for any free/low costs apps that could help to achieve their business aims.

The organisation in question was doing a great deal of commendable work to upskill elements of their workforce in the key skills of literacy and numeracy by offering them GCSE tuition and examination(s).

If your organisation also offers development opportunities in these key skills areas then you’ve got a wonderful opportunity to ‘get your foot in the door‘ and prove the worth of performance support via mobile devices.

Why not take a look at these apps and consider whether you might want to direct any of your learners who are undertaking any form of key skills to them.

GCSE English revision app (iOS) – £1.99p

GCSE Maths revision app (iOS) – £1.99p

GCSE English revision app (Android) – £FREE

GCSE Maths revision app (Android) – £FREE

Inevitably there will be some people who do not have a mobile device and will bemoan the fact that you are offering their colleagues who do have a mobile device something that they themselves are unable to benefit from, or they will complain over the fact that the apps cost money – don’t let this put you off.

Simply tell them to carry on using whatever tool or process they have always used – simples!!!

And you know what? Even if people don’t opt for these apps, you may have just sewn the seeds for them to look for an alternative….

Good luck and let me know how you get on

The blog post that started it all

Image source

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How do we know it’s time for ‘Just In Time’ training?

The YouTube vid below provides an example as to information being provided at point of ‘assumed need’ to a specified individual. For those of you who plan to dismiss the idea off the back of it being ‘just’ a sci-fi film, remember the virtual info screen that John Anderton (Tom Cruise)operates with his hands…….?

… Microsoft Kinect anybody

And now onto the context of this blog post. Sure, for many people it is fairly obvious when a moment of need has arisen because….. well…… they are in need!

They are at Point A, needing to get to Point C and don’t have the knowledge or skill to get them there. They realise this and seek some support to assist them – simples!

But what about when you don’t realise you are at Point A, or that you need to get to Point C, or perhaps more worryingly (and dangerously) ‘think’ you have the knowledge or skills to assist you, when in actual fact the knowledge or skills are wrong or outdated…… disaster looms….

So my question is:

What ‘triggers’ (other than the individual self-detecting a ‘just in time‘ need) are there/or can we create?

Here’s an example of what I mean:

Worker X has to pass from a potentially contaminated area to a clean area.In order to do this they have to pass through a room with a monitoring device to detect any contamination.On this particular occasion Worker X receives notification that their wife has gone into labour and rushes from the potentially contaminated area straight past the monitoring machine into the clean area…..!Now imagine if there was a proximity detector in that room that detected any movement from the potentially contaminated area and immediately played a short 30 second movie on a screen above the exit door reminding Worker X (and anybody else) of the need for and process of monitoring.

Just in time performance support despite the worker forgetting/realising the need/assuming they had the skill.

Do you have any auto-triggers in your workplace to deliver performance support at the time of need?

If so, what do you use?

How do you use it?

Can you think of any auto triggers, beyond proximity detection?

Get those thinking caps on folks and let us all know via the comments box below, come on you lurkers….. you know you want to….

View the original article here

I’m hanging out…

……fancy joining me?

I’ve been thinking about how I can maximise my use of G+ to add further value and I’ve come up with a plan.

From now on, whenever I publish a blog post that is likely to encourage some comments I’m going to suggest a Google Hangout a couple of days later to discuss it in more detail.

The Hangout will be 15 mins max and will take place over a lunchtime – sandwiches and nibbles are of course welcome!

My plan is to record the Hangout, post it to YouTube and then bring it back down to my blog to promote further discussion.

In fact, why am I waiting for my next blog post? If you’ve read my recent ‘Get your foot in the door’ series and have a comment to make, a question or perhaps want to suggest a ‘get your foot in the door’ app to others then why not log into G+ at 1230hrs on Monday 30th Jan 2012, track me down and join me whilst I ‘hang out’?

See you there?

View the original article here

Talent acquisition and development specialist

Talent acquisition and development specialist London

This FMCG organisation has global brand presence and is well known for their people values. In this unique role, you will take on a lead role for the UK and Ireland population as a Talent Acquisition specialist as well as widening your remit to Training and Development. You will work closely with your European and Global counterparts to own and drive the UK and Ireland recruitment process, essentially being the face for this brand in the external market place when it comes to talent attraction.

Our client is looking for someone who can bring expertise at a strategic level to the talent acquisition and resourcing space for the business or someone who can bring strong training skills to the table and shows the aptitude and strategic capability to take on talent acquisition as part of their role remit. The long term aspirations for this role is that the indvdual will also become a HR Business Partner in the near future for one of the smaller internal client groups in the UK and Ireland.

This is a really great opportunity for someone who wants to join a large blue-chip business in a role that offers autonomy, growth and international scope. Longer term, our client are well know to rotate talent internally and across their markets on an international level which could be a compelling pull for the right candidate. We are looking for someone bright, commercially astute and with end to end skills in resourcing or training and development, industry experience is not essentially although you must be able to show that you have worked in a matrix structure ideally within an international organisation.

SR Group is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.

LocationLondonSalary£45000 - £55000 per annum + bonus & benefitsReference143009KRIContact NameKetna Ramchandani

This FMCG organisation has global brand presence and is well known for their people values. In this unique role, you will take on a lead role for the UK and Ireland population as a Talent Acquisition specialist as well as widening your remit to Training and Development. You will work closely with your European and Global counterparts to own and drive the UK and Ireland recruitment process, essentially being the face for this brand in the external market place when it comes to talent attraction.

Our client is looking for someone who can bring expertise at a strategic level to the talent acquisition and resourcing space for the business or someone who can bring strong training skills to the table and shows the aptitude and strategic capability to take on talent acquisition as part of their role remit. The long term aspirations for this role is that the indvdual will also become a HR Business Partner in the near future for one of the smaller internal client groups in the UK and Ireland.

This is a really great opportunity for someone who wants to join a large blue-chip business in a role that offers autonomy, growth and international scope. Longer term, our client are well know to rotate talent internally and across their markets on an international level which could be a compelling pull for the right candidate. We are looking for someone bright, commercially astute and with end to end skills in resourcing or training and development, industry experience is not essentially although you must be able to show that you have worked in a matrix structure ideally within an international organisation.

SR Group is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.

Apply now

View the original article here

Amazon Kindle as an Enterprise solution???

The recent release of the Amazon Kindle within the UK has prompted me to look into the feasibility of this resource within my organisations learning activities. The relatively cheap tool (in comparison to the iPad and other e-Readers), coupled with its portability and reported ease of book downloading might well be of benefit to members of my organisation who are undertaking an ILM accredited Leadership qualification towards the end of 2010/beginning of 2011.

Previous ILM Leadership programme delegates have had the opportunity to utilise a number of conventional books that were purchased from the ILM ‘suggested reading’ list. Owing to the cost of such books,  the challenges with storing them and the logistics of physically loaning the books to the delegates (not as easy as it sounds when you don’t have a dedicated library) led to some colleagues having to wait up to a month for their desired book to be returned; this problem was often exacerbated by late returns, L&D staff being unavailable to organise the loan and the usual challenges that go with working in a shift-orientated environment.

The Amazon Kindle may well be the solution to many of the above problems…….

The Kindle could be loaded with all or most of the books from the suggested reading list; alternatively it could be loaded with only those books that were required for the initial/next module, as a cost saving measure should anybody drop out.The Kindle would be offered as a loan item to all delegates at the commencement of the programme.Delegates would be able to access the suggested reading ‘any time’-'any where’ due to the freedom provided by the lightweight, portable device. This would also negate additional resources in terms of arranging loans and returns.As opposed to conventional books, delegates could annotate relevant text without worrying that they were tarnishing the books for future readers as the annotations could be wiped upon completion of the programme.The storage of these devices would be far less than the storage of an equivalent number of individual conventional books.

Whilst this potential solution may seem like a no-brainer, there are a couple of issues that I feel may be stumbling points, which to date I have been unable to confirm or solve via any research.

As any purchases of these devices will be sourced centrally from my Purchasing Department, how do I go about registering multiple devices against an Amazon account that DID NOT purchase them?Can a book be purchased in multiples and then downloaded onto multiple devices, or do I have to purchase and download the same item multiple times?

As it stands it seems like I will have quite a bit of time to research these questions as the massive demand for this e-Reader means that the single ‘test’ Kindle that we have ordered is not due for despatch until the middle of September 2010, so if you can shed any light on my questions above or know of any other advantages/disadvantages to using the Kindle as an Enterprise tool then please drop me a line.

Image source

View the original article here

Trainee Development Adviser

Trainee Development Adviser London - City

Client -
My client is an international leading law firm, looking for a Trainee Development Advisor on a permanent basis.

Role -
As the specialist Graduate Development Adviser you will be the main point of contact for trainees throughout their training contract within the firm. This will involve managing seat changes, organising inductions, ensuring the smooth running of their delivery, monitoring trainees performance, managing any secondment coordination, working with Partners and Law Schools, overseeing appraisals and managing the Trainee Development Assistant.

You -
Experience of working in Trainee Development and on projects is essential. The candidate will have preferably worked within a law firm and be a team player.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

It is Career Legal’s policy, as a matter of courtesy to respond to all applications within three working days. However because of the volume of applications, we are sometimes unable to respond to individual candidates. If we have not contacted you within three working days your application has been unsuccessful and your details have not been retained. Please apply for any other position that you may see in the future. Career Legal is a Recruitment Agency and is advertising this permanent vacancy on behalf of one of its Clients. Thank you

LocationLondon - CitySalary£30,000 - £40,000ReferenceSS105413Contact NameSam Stafford

Client -
My client is an international leading law firm, looking for a Trainee Development Advisor on a permanent basis.

Role -
As the specialist Graduate Development Adviser you will be the main point of contact for trainees throughout their training contract within the firm. This will involve managing seat changes, organising inductions, ensuring the smooth running of their delivery, monitoring trainees performance, managing any secondment coordination, working with Partners and Law Schools, overseeing appraisals and managing the Trainee Development Assistant.

You -
Experience of working in Trainee Development and on projects is essential. The candidate will have preferably worked within a law firm and be a team player.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

It is Career Legal’s policy, as a matter of courtesy to respond to all applications within three working days. However because of the volume of applications, we are sometimes unable to respond to individual candidates. If we have not contacted you within three working days your application has been unsuccessful and your details have not been retained. Please apply for any other position that you may see in the future. Career Legal is a Recruitment Agency and is advertising this permanent vacancy on behalf of one of its Clients. Thank you

Apply now

View the original article here

Leadership & Learning Executive

Leadership & Learning Executive London

Championing innovative approaches to leadership learning, you’ll help to ensure the future for British Airways is stronger than ever. Your remit will have a truly global scope. As one of the leading brands in aviation, we have 44,000 staff based in a range of countries. Their specialties range from customer service to IT and commerce. We’ll look to you to ensure everyone’s leaders benefit from excellent learning and development provision, so we can all fulfil our promise ‘To Fly. To Serve.’

You will work with closely with a wide range of people – from HR and Finance Business Partners, to subject matter experts and, of course, leadership and management learning delegates. Taking care to find out what our business needs, you will scope, design and deliver business-wide learning solutions. Building leadership capability and behaviours, you will help to power high performance worldwide. You’ll also enjoy the opportunity to help Global Learning Academy colleagues create brand new leadership initiatives. Benchmarking trends and supplier knowledge, you’ll make sure everything you do is cutting edge.

To join us, you’ll need to demonstrate a track record of managing end-to-end learning and development with proven ROI. Your expertise spans everything from partnering and consulting, through to design, delivery and evaluation. Ideally, you will be accredited and experienced in the use of psychometrics such as MBTI, SDI and Hogan’s. You’ll certainly be an innovative thinker and a creative problem solver, with impressive influencing and coaching skills and a naturally collaborative approach.

To apply, please click on the apply link to visit our website.

LocationLondonSalaryCompetitive salaryReferenceUKWTS572Contact NameRecruitment

Championing innovative approaches to leadership learning, you’ll help to ensure the future for British Airways is stronger than ever. Your remit will have a truly global scope. As one of the leading brands in aviation, we have 44,000 staff based in a range of countries. Their specialties range from customer service to IT and commerce. We’ll look to you to ensure everyone’s leaders benefit from excellent learning and development provision, so we can all fulfil our promise ‘To Fly. To Serve.’

You will work with closely with a wide range of people – from HR and Finance Business Partners, to subject matter experts and, of course, leadership and management learning delegates. Taking care to find out what our business needs, you will scope, design and deliver business-wide learning solutions. Building leadership capability and behaviours, you will help to power high performance worldwide. You’ll also enjoy the opportunity to help Global Learning Academy colleagues create brand new leadership initiatives. Benchmarking trends and supplier knowledge, you’ll make sure everything you do is cutting edge.

To join us, you’ll need to demonstrate a track record of managing end-to-end learning and development with proven ROI. Your expertise spans everything from partnering and consulting, through to design, delivery and evaluation. Ideally, you will be accredited and experienced in the use of psychometrics such as MBTI, SDI and Hogan’s. You’ll certainly be an innovative thinker and a creative problem solver, with impressive influencing and coaching skills and a naturally collaborative approach.

To apply, please click on the apply link to visit our website.

Apply now

View the original article here

So there I was, wandering around YouTube, minding my own business….

…. when I stumbled upon the ‘edit video detail’ toolbar at the top of the page. Now I had seen this previously and had chosen to ignore it as my video editing is done in either Flipshare or more recently in Windows Movie Maker.

What an oversight on my behalf!!!

Within the video editing options there is an option to add annotations. Now this in itself is nothing startling as many video editing tools allow you to annotate on top of the video footage, but what this allows you to do is to add a ‘spotlight’ on top of anything that is being shown in the YouTube footage.

This spotlight (imagine a hot spot) will then allow a URL (including another YouTube video) to be added to it.

This then allows your YouTube video to become interactive in so far as the viewer can be steered towards making a choice which then jumps them from one YouTube video to another to another etc etc depending upon their choices. For a far more in-depth account as to how to do this then check out this blog post.

Of course I almost fell over myself in an attempt to try this out so I hope you’ll all be able to see past the poor lighting and dodgy camera angles to the real potential that this approach to using YouTube can bring. My only niggle at this moment in time is that upon completion of the clip it  jumps (as any YouTube clip does) to a ‘related videos’ window, this in turn stops the viewer from making any on-screen selection at the end of the clip, so it prevents the viewer from being able reflect upon the available choices.

Confused?

Then try watching the following short clip without making any selection and you’ll see what happens at the end of the video. Then you can replay the video and start taking part for real…

So what do you think?

Is this something you could use?

If so, what for?

View the original article here

Training & Competence Specialist

Training & Competence Specialist City of London

A leading, city based financial services firm has a new, urgent, requirement for a Training & Competence Consultant with experience of rolling out Senior Manager Regime training to join them on a long term contract basis. Reporting into the Head of Training, the role will focus on the following:

- Work with key stakeholders to ensure that the bank implements the FCA's new regulatory regime to a consistent standard including: Senior Manager's Regime, Certification Regime and Conduct Rules

- To assist the bank in implementing the new FCA Regulatory framework for Individuals in accordance with regulations.

- To help embed T&C procedures and establish appropriate training for relevant staff and in supervisory roles.

This is a 12 month contract, paying up to £70,000 with an immediate start. Candidates must have experience rolling out FCA competence training previously and ideally have experience specifically with Senior Manager's Regime, Certification Regime and Conduct Rules. To be considered, please apply with an updated CV as soon as possible.

SR Group is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.

LocationCity of LondonSalary£60000 - £70000 per annumDuration12 monthsReferenceKA/6070TCContact NameKunaal Arora

A leading, city based financial services firm has a new, urgent, requirement for a Training & Competence Consultant with experience of rolling out Senior Manager Regime training to join them on a long term contract basis. Reporting into the Head of Training, the role will focus on the following:

- Work with key stakeholders to ensure that the bank implements the FCA's new regulatory regime to a consistent standard including: Senior Manager's Regime, Certification Regime and Conduct Rules

- To assist the bank in implementing the new FCA Regulatory framework for Individuals in accordance with regulations.

- To help embed T&C procedures and establish appropriate training for relevant staff and in supervisory roles.

This is a 12 month contract, paying up to £70,000 with an immediate start. Candidates must have experience rolling out FCA competence training previously and ideally have experience specifically with Senior Manager's Regime, Certification Regime and Conduct Rules. To be considered, please apply with an updated CV as soon as possible.

SR Group is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.

Apply now

View the original article here

Expand Your Surface Area

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10660771.comments2014-10-14T08:57:18.292-04:00Jane Bozarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09179488095482056918noreply@blogger.comBlogger0125

View the original article here

Operational Trainer - London

Operational Trainer - London London

Anchor has an exciting opportunity for an experienced Operational Trainer to join their team. Their main role will to be deliver effective learning & development interventions that drives and supports a competent and capable workforce.

The successful candidate will be expected to manage the regional training centre, to ensure events are planned, in line with demand, to maximum occupancy and that drives or maintains statutory and mandatory training targets.

Location: London

Key Responsibilities:

• Training delivery
• Daily running of the regional training centre
• Planning interventions based on demand identified in the regional / national plans
• Adapting training materials or techniques to meet the needs of the audience
• Revision of training materials based on feedback and evaluation

Required knowledge and experience:

Qualifications

• Certificate in training practice, NVQ or equivalent experience
• Part of fully qualified membership of CIPD
• PTTLLS or working towards PTTLLS
• Specific care or health & safety qualifications, would be advantageous

Experience Required:

• Experience of the full learning cycle (training needs analysis, design, delivery and evaluation)
Having worked in a person centred/customer focused environment.
• Experience of training delivery to a diverse and multi skilled workforce
• Proven track record in implementing blended learning techniques

Required Skills:

• Up to date knowledge of industry best practice and standards as well as developments in the L&D arena
• Blended learning techniques
• Appropriate development interventions, suitable for learners in a customer facing environment

Closing Date: 02/03/2015

LocationLondonSalary£30 to £34k depending on experienceReference011918Contact NameCintia Santoianni

Anchor has an exciting opportunity for an experienced Operational Trainer to join their team. Their main role will to be deliver effective learning & development interventions that drives and supports a competent and capable workforce.

The successful candidate will be expected to manage the regional training centre, to ensure events are planned, in line with demand, to maximum occupancy and that drives or maintains statutory and mandatory training targets.

Location: London

Key Responsibilities:

• Training delivery
• Daily running of the regional training centre
• Planning interventions based on demand identified in the regional / national plans
• Adapting training materials or techniques to meet the needs of the audience
• Revision of training materials based on feedback and evaluation

Required knowledge and experience:

Qualifications

• Certificate in training practice, NVQ or equivalent experience
• Part of fully qualified membership of CIPD
• PTTLLS or working towards PTTLLS
• Specific care or health & safety qualifications, would be advantageous

Experience Required:

• Experience of the full learning cycle (training needs analysis, design, delivery and evaluation)
Having worked in a person centred/customer focused environment.
• Experience of training delivery to a diverse and multi skilled workforce
• Proven track record in implementing blended learning techniques

Required Skills:

• Up to date knowledge of industry best practice and standards as well as developments in the L&D arena
• Blended learning techniques
• Appropriate development interventions, suitable for learners in a customer facing environment

Closing Date: 02/03/2015

Apply now

View the original article here

Leadership Tips And Advice Direct From The Pros

Do you know what it takes to be a leader? There are many qualities that make up a leader as well as the individual qualities of each person. So you would like some more information on how to promote better leadership skills. Consider the following helpful advice for learning how to become a better leader.

Make sure to engage people as a leader. You must learn how to motivate, involve, and excite others. Inspire them to engage their passions, strengths, skills, and creativity in the tasks at hand. Do what you can to acknowledge and appreciate each person's contributions and efforts. You should make them all feel like they did something to move the project forward.

Be confident in a decision before you share it with others. If you look indecisive, that will cause those beneath you to be indecisive as well. Not only that, but indecision causes others to be able to try to take your position. Instead, deliberate in private before you make any announcements.

Tenacity is a very important characteristic of successful leaders. When problems arise, the entire team will look to you to gauge their own reactions. You must focus on successfully completing the goal despite the obstacles you face. Your persistence is going to motivate everyone else to get back to work and be hopeful.

Treat all of your employees well and never get involved in office gossip. Employees are usually happier in an environment where their work is appreciated and valued on the same level as any other employee. Spend time working with all of your employees so that you understand each person's contribution.

A good leadership idea is to engage your employees in meaningful conversation about work. A great way to start is to make a list of things that particularly interest you, and take a few minutes each day to ask employees their opinions on these topics. You will be forming meaningful relationships, and may learn something in the process.

When you're a business leader, you should try to treat your team or staff in the way that you'd like to be treated. Looking down on people isn't right and doesn't promote a good work atmosphere. If you treat you show your staff respect, they will return the favor which can make your life much easier.

Once you become a leader, do not make the mistake of believing your job is done. While you may have won the first part of the battle, there is a lot more to come. You have to work hard every day to show people that you deserve to be where you are.

A great leader embodies integrity. This is shown through honesty and good judgement. If your integrity is lacking, the trust of others will surely prove elusive. Leading with integrity generates trust, loyalty and respect in your underlings.

Rehearse the behaviors and attitudes you wish to display as an effective leader in your mind. Try to create the most realistic vision you can. When the time comes, focus on putting the behaviors you practiced into action. This method is often used by athletes before a big competition or race.

Remember that winning isn't everything. It can be easy to break things into spreadsheets and stats sheets with the way technology is today. People who are excellent leaders do this to stay on track and see how far they need to go. If you take the time to look things over properly, you'll be less inclined to fail and more inclined to breed success.

Now that you've read this article, you probably feel much more confident in your leadership abilities. At least, it's time to implement the tips presented in order to work hard at being the leader that you want to be. Leaders are who push for new innovations and new horizons, and you want to be in this group.

Training Consultant

Training Consultant Bradford

Summary

A fantastic opportunity for an immediately available Training Consutlant to join a large and established financial services organisation. This role sits within an established Training Academy within the HR team where they pride themselves on offering a variety of innovative, inspirational and diverse training & development solutions.

Client Details

My client is a very large financial services organisation based near Bradford.

Description

The role of the successful Training Officer is to effectively carry out a full training needs analysis, design, deliver and evaluate a range of training material to groups or individuals using a wide range of learning solutions.

Key task & responsibilities:

Through the TNA, you would beed to asses the training needs in the contact centre and identify appropriate solutions to meet these needs
You would also have the exciting responsibility to design a range of training solutions to ensure that specified learning objectives are met using a blended selection of learning media
You will also deliver a range of training solutions through a framework of instruction, training and facilitation to achieve the overall learning objectives

Profile

CIPD qualified or training qualification CITP or equivalent
Evidence of the full training life cycle, Training Needs Analysis, Design, Delivery and Evaluation
Evidence of identifying and driving Continuous Improvement in an Operational environment
Experience of Process and Systems training experience
Experience of contact centre environments would be very desirable

Job Offer

The client is offering a salary of £30-32K plus 25 days holiday and free parking.

LocationBradfordReference13413260/001Contact NameAmy Procter

Summary

A fantastic opportunity for an immediately available Training Consutlant to join a large and established financial services organisation. This role sits within an established Training Academy within the HR team where they pride themselves on offering a variety of innovative, inspirational and diverse training & development solutions.

Client Details

My client is a very large financial services organisation based near Bradford.

Description

The role of the successful Training Officer is to effectively carry out a full training needs analysis, design, deliver and evaluate a range of training material to groups or individuals using a wide range of learning solutions.

Key task & responsibilities:

Through the TNA, you would beed to asses the training needs in the contact centre and identify appropriate solutions to meet these needs
You would also have the exciting responsibility to design a range of training solutions to ensure that specified learning objectives are met using a blended selection of learning media
You will also deliver a range of training solutions through a framework of instruction, training and facilitation to achieve the overall learning objectives

Profile

CIPD qualified or training qualification CITP or equivalent
Evidence of the full training life cycle, Training Needs Analysis, Design, Delivery and Evaluation
Evidence of identifying and driving Continuous Improvement in an Operational environment
Experience of Process and Systems training experience
Experience of contact centre environments would be very desirable

Job Offer

The client is offering a salary of £30-32K plus 25 days holiday and free parking.

Apply now

View the original article here

There’s more than your top lip under your nose…

Earlier this week I commenced an online programme, devised and facilitated by Google on, well, using Google! In particular Google Search.

The purpose of this blog post isn’t to review the programme as a number of other people including Jay Cross and John Curran are already doing that, although I will say that I disagree with John to a degree over his comments on the decor of the room that that facilitator is being filmed in and the quality of the Google Presentation slides (not PowerPoint). For me the content of this particular programme is what interests me, not the aesthetics. I guess you could say that from a ‘care curve‘ perspective, I ‘care’ enough about the content/substance to overlook the aesthetics/style.

The trigger for this blog post has been the realisation or maybe a re-realisation of how much we overlook the everyday things, the things that are under our nose, the things that we take for granted.

None of the tools/techniques that have been revealed in the programme so far are ‘hidden away’, none of them require you to dive into the settings or to hack your way around the ‘accepted’ way of doing things!

They have been right there, hiding in plain sight, under my nose, under your nose!

This got me thinking about what else we overlook in our lives that we could use to enhance our or others learning. It’s a tricky question as I’m obviously asking myself to know what I don’t know – a tricky feat, but I am going to make more of a conscious effort to look more closely at the tools/platforms/devices etc that I am using and see if I’m missing anything.

What about you? 

Do you have any example of where you have missed a blatant opportunity to use a functionality/approach/method  that was staring you in the face?

How did you find out about it?

View the original article here

Safety Training: places available in January and February 2015

    Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Safety training: places available in May

  There are places available in the forthcoming Safety courses. For updates and registrations, please refer to the Safety Training Catalogue (see here).

by Safety Training, HSE Unit

 

View the original article here

Language courses

 

General and Professional French Courses
The next session will take place from 5 May to 11 July 2014.
These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses.
For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://hr-training.web.cern.ch/hr-training/ or contact Kerstin Fuhrmeister (kerstin.fuhrmeister@cern.ch).

Oral Expression
This course is aimed for students with a good knowledge of French who want to enhance their speaking skills.
Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc.
Suitable candidates should contact Kerstin Fuhrmeister (70896) in order to arrange an appointment for a test.
The next session will take place from 5 May to 11 July 2014.

Writing professional documents in French
These courses are designed for non-French speakers with a very good standard of spoken French.
Suitable candidates should contact Kerstin Fuhrmeister (70896) in order to arrange an appointment for a test.
The next session will take place from 5 May to 11 July 2014.

 

View the original article here

Safety training: places available in June

  There are places available in the forthcoming Safety courses. For updates and registrations, please refer to the Safety Training Catalogue (see here).

by Safety Training, HSE Unit

 

View the original article here

Safety training: places available in June

  There are places available in the forthcoming Safety courses. For updates and registrations, please refer to the Safety Training Catalogue (see here).

by Safety Training, HSE Unit

 

View the original article here

Safety training: places available in July and August

  There are places available in the forthcoming Safety courses. For updates and registrations, please refer to the Safety Training Catalogue (see here).

by Safety Training, HSE Unit

 

View the original article here

Technical Training: Make the most of Office, Sharepoint and Lync 2013

 

The IT Department, in cooperation with the Technical Training team, would like to invite you to IT Technical Training Tutorials 2014: Make the most of Office, Sharepoint and Lync 2013.

In this lecture series, we will present:

Microsoft Office 2013Microsoft Lync 2013 (Including IP telephony)Microsoft SharePoint 2013

Sessions in French: 7 October, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Sessions in English: 13 October, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

This training is free of charge, but please create your training request via EDH at: https://edh.cern.ch/Document/Personnel/TRN/new?course=146OEL01.

Objectives of the training:

General overview of the Microsoft Office 2013, Lync and Sharepoint 2013.Changes in comparison to the 2010 release of the softwareDiscussion of new ways to communicate in the work environment, including audio calls, instant messaging, social newsfeeds and online editing of documents.

The exact schedule for both series is available at: http://cern.ch/go/IT3T.

 

View the original article here

Safety Training: places available in January and February 2015

    Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Safety Training: places available in November and December 2014

    Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Language courses

 

General and Professional French Courses
The next session will take place from 5 May to 11 July 2014.
These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses.
For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://hr-training.web.cern.ch/hr-training/ or contact Kerstin Fuhrmeister (kerstin.fuhrmeister@cern.ch).

Oral Expression
This course is aimed for students with a good knowledge of French who want to enhance their speaking skills.
Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc.
Suitable candidates should contact Kerstin Fuhrmeister (70896) in order to arrange an appointment for a test.
The next session will take place from 5 May to 11 July 2014.

Writing professional documents in French
These courses are designed for non-French speakers with a very good standard of spoken French.
Suitable candidates should contact Kerstin Fuhrmeister (70896) in order to arrange an appointment for a test.
The next session will take place from 5 May to 11 July 2014.

 

View the original article here

Language training

  If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to learn a language, there is no excuse any more. 

You can attend one of our English or French courses and you can practise the language with a tandem partner!

General & Professional French courses
The next General & Professional French course will start on 26 January. These collective courses aim to bring participants who have at least level A1 to higher levels (up to C2).

Each level consists of a combination of face-to-face sessions (40 hours) with personal work (20 hours) following a specially designed programme.
A final progress test takes place at the end of the term.
Please note that it is mandatory to take the placement test. Please sign up here.

French courses for beginners
The aim of this course is to give some basic skills to beginners in order to communicate in simple everyday situations in both social and professional life. These courses can start at any time during the year, as soon as a group of beginners has been identified.

Participants can apply either for a semi-intensive (10-week courses with 6 hours of classes per week) course and choose between different schedules (morning/lunch time – late afternoon).

If you have doubts regarding your level in French - you can find here the “European levels – Self-Assessment Grid that will give you an idea at what level you will be placed.

French Oral Expression
These collective courses aim to bring participants with a good level in French to a higher level of oral expression in a professional context. The next Oral Expression course will start on January 26.

Please note that it is mandatory to take the placement test. Please sign up here.

French Writing Course
These collective courses aim to bring participants with a good level in French to a higher level of written expression.

Please note that it is mandatory to take the placement test. Please sign up here.

Cours d’anglais - général & professionnel
Les prochains cours général & professionnel débuteront le 26 janvier. L’objectif principal de ces cours collectifs est de permettre aux participants d’un niveau A1 de progresser pour atteindre un niveau supérieur pouvant aller jusqu’à C2.

Nous vous prions de remplir aussi une demande de formation pour un test de placement – ce test est obligatoire même si vous avez déjà suivi des cours de langue au CERN.

Cours d’expression – anglais
Le prochain cours d’expression orale débutera le 26 janvier. Ce cours s’adresse à un publique ayant un bon niveau en anglais.

Cours d’expression écrite 
Nous proposons deux cours d’expression écrite :

Administrative
Technical

Si vous souhaitez suivre un de ces cours, merci de bien vouloir remplir une demande de formation pour le cours et pour le test de placement.

For registration and further information on the courses or the language tandem programme, please contact Kerstin Fuhrmeister (70896), (language.training@cern.ch).

 

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Technical training: places available

  If you would like more information on a course, or have any other inquiry/suggestions, please contact Technical.Training@cern.ch.

Eva Stern and Marie Lahchimi, Technical Training Administration (Tel: 74924)

 

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Technical management courses (before July)

  Please find below the courses in the field of technical management scheduled before July and which have places available.

For more details about a course and to register, please go to the Training Catalogue.

If you need a course which is not in the catalogue, please contact your supervisor, your Departmental Training Officer or HR-LD at Technical.Management.Training@cern.ch.

 

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It’s easy to learn good posture and correct movements at work!

  Excessive and repetitive effort and incorrect movements pose a real health hazard, but we can all significantly improve our working conditions with a few simple actions that are easy to learn and put into practice.

The Safety Training Service offers a training course on this subject delivered by a certified external specialist or expert.

The one-day course, "Working Conditions – Manual Handling”, is open to anyone whose role requires them to manually lift heavy loads, whether regularly or occasionally. It contains some theory but is mainly practical and will teach you to identify hazardous situations and optimise your effort.

The scheduled sessions are in French but English sessions can also be arranged on request.

The course description and registration form can be found in the training catalogue on the Safety Training Service’s website or by following this direct link.

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions concerning:

by HSE Unit

 

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Safety Training: places available in January and February 2015

    Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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Safety training: places available in September 2014

  There are places available in the forthcoming Safety courses. For updates and registrations, please refer to the Safety Training Catalogue (see here).

Please note that there are 7 places left on the “Territorial Safety Officer (TSO) – Initial” course on September 23-25, 2014 (in French).

by HSE Unit

 

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Management and communication courses – Places available

  Please note that there are some places available on the following management and communication courses starting in September or October.

For more information on the course, click on the course title, which will take you to the training catalogue. You can then sign up on line. 

CourseNext sessionDurationLanguageAvailability15 September
9 October
7 November 

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A breath of fresh air for cryogenics training

  Whether you work full-time in a cryogenic installation or are required to handle cryogenic substances temporarily, you need to have followed the appropriate safety training.

Photo: Christoph Balle.

Two new training courses are now available in English and French at CERN: “Cryogenic Safety – Fundamentals” (at the Prévessin Training Centre) and “Cryogenic Safety – Helium Transfer” (at the Cryolab).

The first covers the content of levels 1 and 2 of the old “Cryogenic Safety” course. The second is a completely new course for CERN: it covers specific aspects of the transfer of liquid helium, such as the evaporation process of helium and the associated risks to human health (asphyxia due to displacement of oxygen), the colour code for gas bottles, etc. These training modules have been rewritten in response to the increase in the number of projects involving cryogenics and following various related incidents.

Photo: Christoph Balle.

Both courses are taught “face to face” by Torsten Koettig, an engineer from the TE Department, and include a theoretical section and a practical section. In order to be able to take the “Helium Transfer” module, you must have already completed the “Fundamentals” module.

If you have any questions about cryogenic safety, please contact your Cryogenic Safety Officer (CSO). If your Department does not have a CSO, please address your questions to the HSE Unit: hse.secretariat@cern.ch.

For any questions regarding safety training, please contact: safety-training@cern.ch.

by HSE Unit

 

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