In this issue:
1. Conference In Review - Czech It Out!
2. Voter Early - Vote Often
3. Resources for your Continuing Education
1. Conference in Review - Czech it out!
Greetings from one of the most beautiful cities in Europe:, Prague. I am writing this from the incredible Charles Bridge, which overlooks a medieval castle and the old town section of Prague. Well, ok, I am really writing this sitting on a plane flying back from Prague, but I am THINKING about the bridge and the other many wonderful sites in this lovely city.
Prague was the site of the fourth annual Strategies for Success EMEA Conference - the Information Technology Training Association's (ITTA) event for training providers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Once again this popular annual event provided wonderful networking and learning opportunities for the almost 250 delegates who attended this event. Keynote sessions by Prof. Ken Robinson and Martin Bean (Prometric) were informative and engaging, and the concurrent sessions offered delegates opportunities to hear from their peers from EMEA and the US. Besides the variety of networking and learning opportunities, this event is known for its after hours parties -- and this year was no exception. The closing night gala (and it was a gala - black tie and ball gowns!) was held in the breathtaking Municipal House which is renowned for its Art Deco design. Prometric hosted the closing night event, which included performances by a full orchestra, a string quartet, a troop that performed traditional Czech dances, and a fabulous dinner. What a magical way to end a wonderful week of learning!
Observations on the challenges facing EMEA:
Rachel Cheeseman, the Executive Director of ITTA had this to say about SFS-EMEA, and the challenges that delegates are facing:
"Certainly the Skills Gap issue is a big challenge facing our members both near term and in the future. Although some may say this is 'great news' for training providers, and it is, it still poses challenges with regards to recommending career paths and identifying the training needed to engage more workers in technology-based jobs. It also makes it difficult to find qualified instructors and consultants. Other issues that our members are facing are related to the rapid consolidations among organizations, both vendors and clients, and the task of trying to identify the service providers in the years to come. Along with that comes the convergence of learning modalities and the expectations and demands of customers surrounding these new technologies."
"My greatest 'aha!' at this event was realizing, once again, how diverse yet how similar are our members around the world. Regardless of culture, time zone or business model, we are all committed to the 'greater good' of the industry and the desire to drive our businesses up to the next level."
"I found it very enlightening that both of our keynote speakers and our super session presenters, all from varying backgrounds and perspectives, spoke to the same point. In the end, the business of educating the workforce of the future is up to US - the IT training provider community. In cooperation with business, government, and education, we must drive our standards and set the expectations for the next generation of IT worker. Ultimately, it refers back to why I, personally, entered this industry many years ago - our industry changes lives."
Bob Mosher, Element K and ITTA board member had these observations about EMEA and the SFS event:
"The top issues facing EMEA members in the near future include migrating to an E-learning solution, how to deal with certification, and reinventing the current classroom models to incorporate a "blended" solution. He observed that a number of them are facing flat markets and need to reengineer their offerings into a more customized solution. The technology challenges they face include lack of bandwidth and how-to-price online training. Internet access is slow and expensive in many areas. They are also facing, as are other parts of the world, an IT shortage and difficulty in finding and hiring qualified people."
Bob went onto say that his greatest "aha!" from attending SFS-EMEA was to realize that eLearning is farther along than he thought it was, and it will be interesting to see how many of their wireless solutions fit into the mix. He went on to observe that in MANY ways EMEA is way ahead of the US in wireless and that they could easily leapfrog the US in this area. He concluded his comments with, " Learning is truly a global market now. We need to be more respectful to cultural issues as the Internet breaks down borders. eLearning is a great thing to talk about, but delivery, particularly of a TRUE blended solution, is still an issue for many."
Other observations:
I found, however, that I also had a chance to learn from the two days that I spent sightseeing in Prague. Here are some of my learning experiences:
1. Prague has some of the most beautiful and varied architecture in Europe. Because it was spared (unlike other European cites) from bombings during past wars, the city offers splendid examples of buildings from Roman times to the present. What struck me the most was when I was walking from the "Old Town" to the "New Town" and marveling at the sites, and read in my travel book that the "New" section was built in 1425!
Training lesson learned: What you think is old and tired or dated may be new to your students. It is all a matter of perspective and context. If you have never seen something before, it is new to you, and "new" is relative to your experience, what you have learned, and what you need to learn. The other lesson learned was that you can successfully blend old models with new models if you preserve the best of the old and build upon those strong points for your new programs.
2. One of the charming sites you will see if you visit Prague (which I strongly recommend you do!) is people dressed up in costumes advertising concerts and theatrical productions. Since there are dozens of these concerts held each week there are many of these "street marketers" passing out flyers to tell you about these concerts. Because they are dressed in costume of the period of the music or composer (imagine getting a flyer from a Mozart look alike!), you are really curious to find out more about the event they are promoting.
Training lesson learned: Promoting your learning events can be fun and engaging. Think of ways to get your learners' attention that will charm them, and which ties into the content of the event or program.
3. Getting email and voice mail proved to be a bigger trial than I anticipated. Because the event was held in a Hilton, I expected email access. I could get email, depending upon how good the phone connections were, but that was not always reliable. What was more disconcerting was the lack of voicemail in the guestrooms. The only way someone could leave a message was to call the operator or go down to the front desk and write a note that would be delivered. This charming but very dated system proved to be a bit frustrating.
Training lesson learned: As wonderful as technology and technology delivered training can be, you must have an alternative plan to fall back on if that technology or the infrastructure behind the technology fails or does not exist.
4. I had the opportunity to take a bus tour of the city and our guide was a charming and energetic man in his late seventies named Miroslav. Miroslav new EVERY fact and date about the city, and he happily relayed this information to those in the tour. While the dates and facts at times were a bit overdone, he was so lively, enthusiastic, and proud of his city and country that one could not help but be caught up in the excitement! His obvious pride in his country and its move to a democratic society was refreshing to see. He had lived through the trials of WWII, Soviet Occupation, and other upheavals and yet he embraced the new. He left those in the tour eager to learn more about his city and country, and their development after the demise of the communist state.
Contrasting Miroslav was a man in his early thirties who stopped us at the hotel, and in a brusque and belligerent manner ranted and raved for 10 minutes about the loss of the old regime, and how technology was killing the factories and the jobs of the factory workers. He was not open to the opportunities offered by having his countrymen learn and use technology - he just wanted to go back to the old ways.
Training lesson learned: Don't assume that because your students are of a certain age or experience that they will or will not accept new ways of delivering learning or new ways of thinking.
2. Vote Early - Vote Often!
By Mary Thyfault, PlanetIT (reprinted courtesy of ITTA)
Your VOTE counts - as the US Presidential election heats up, see how the candidates stack up on the very important IT education initiatives. Both candidates have plans to offer new training programs. Gore with a massive government initiative; Bush with a more modest government/private sector partnership. "We need new job training and education investments comparable to the GI Bill," the extensive federal program which helped military veterans pay for college after WWII, Gore told Resource Marketing Inc., a Web site development company in Columbus, Ohio. Under Gore's job training bill, the government would lay out up to $2.3 billion in the next 10 years to expand worker training. The proposal includes a new 401 (J) training account, which would provide tax preferences for employers and workers who set aside money for training, and a $6,000 tax credit per employee for technology training. He wants to make $10,000 of costs for post-secondary education and training tax deductible. Also under his plan, public/private training partnerships would receive government grants, and states would receive funds to extend the amount of time unemployed workers can receive government-sponsored training, Bush's training plan relies more heavily on the private sector. He wants to provide $80 million in matching grants to create up to 2,000 Community Based Technology Centers. The Centers would be administered by the Community Block Grant program, and created by partnering with religious organizations, businesses, and non-profits. More information and the complete articles check out: http://www.informationweek.com/807/govelection.htm, http://www.informationweek.com/807/govelection.htm and http://www.astd.org/virtual_community/public_policy/election_2000.html, http://www.astd.org/virtual_community/public_policy/election_2000.html.Get out there on Tuesday, November 7th and vote for the candidate of your choice!
3. Resources for Your Continuing Education
InfoProducer 2001 Conference
December 4-6, 2000
Orlando, Florida, USA
If you are responsible for the management, development and/or design of online information and digital content in your organization, this new event is for you! Co-located with Information Mapping, Inc.'s user group conference, Making Knowledge Work, the InfoProducer 2001 Conference offers over 50 concurrent sessions, keynote presentations by Paul Straussman and Jonathan Zittrain, four fascinating forums, plus much more! For complete information about the program and to register online NOW, visit www.influent.com/infoproducer.
