In this issue:
1. CTW Update is now Influential Trends
2. Do you know the trends in our industry?
3. New technologies offer new options for delivering information/instruction.
4. Study points to new career options for IT -- Will your company's support staff/help desk be ready?
5. A Reader Asks: How do you conduct quality testing for your CBT?
1. CTW Update is now Influential Trends
Many, many of you have commented on how much you have enjoyed the industry/conference newsletter - The CTW Update. Since the response to this e-newsletter has been so positive, we are going to continue it. However, this publication is going to expand beyond its original CTW-only focus. Starting with this issue, the CTW Update will be called Influential Trends. This change in name reflects the expanded content and coverage.
This e-newsletter will be "published" twice a month and will address emerging trends and issues in the world of computer training/technology training along with articles on the design and development of media-based learning -- including online learning and web-based training. If you have signed up for the Update newsletter in the past, you will receive Influential Trends on a regular basis.
As always, you are encouraged and welcomed to contribute ideas, articles, comments and questions. Please consider Influential Trends to be another resource for you and a vehicle where you can tap into our community. If you would like to subscribe to this e-newsletter, please send an email to kpais@influent.com.
2. Do you know the trends in our industry?
At the Computer Training World (CTW) event last month, many interesting topics and trends were discussed by almost 700 attendees. The three conferences co-located at CTW provided unique and focused sessions targeting particular areas of the computer training industry. The next few issues will provide "snippets" of this major industry event.
Industry luminary and Assistant Executive Director of ITTA, Bob Mosher, noted that the hottest trends at the Computer Trainers' Summer Camp conference were:
- The ever changing role of the trainer
- How to effectively service our learners with new and innovative training approaches from online to custom offerings
- That training is starting to service a wider purpose beyond the classroom
- Trainers are being asked to step up to more successfully help mission critical objectives of their organizations and clients
- The marriage of training to true business objectives and processes
He goes on to say, "I believe the 'upcoming topics' of importance for the industry are very similar to the hottest topics listed above. Others to watch include the effect of ERP rollouts, Y2K fallout, and the changing face of certification from custom internal corporate specific certification to the new Internet certifications.
CTW was a very intimate conference with a REAL community feel like nothing else I've attended in years."
Additional information about CTW 2000 will be listed in this enewsletter in future issues. If you can't wait, send your inquiry to kpais@influent.com
3. New Technologies offer new options for delivering information/instruction.
Because we are involved in the computer training field, we often only look at technologies delivered via computers...and we forget that other technologies may offer us options for delivering training (how ever you define that word) to the learners. Look at two technologies that have taken off in the past 18 months - PDA's and Ebooks.
PDA (personal digital assistants) like the PalmPilot are the toy of choice. Millions have been purchased in the past year .. and each new version offers more functions and options. Sure you can set your schedule, make appointments, capture contact names and information -- but what are the options for us to use this device as a training tool? Think about it -- people carry these things everywhere.. and constantly refer to it! Is it possible to develop job aids or email info blasts or send out notices to students to remind them of prep work or class times?
Another interesting technology is the electronic book. The ebooks looks like a PalmPilot on steroids - it has a screen about the size of a piece of paper and options to "dog ear" pages, make notes, etc. Depending upon the model and memory limitations, you can download and access a few books into the system. At this time you only can download standard books, but is the day far off when technical manuals or study guides are offered via this medium? And does this technology offer the options of allowing your students to download the course manual before the class? or perhaps auxiliary notes or post-class notes? For an example of an embook go to http://www.rocket-ebook.com. To look at the latest in Palm Pilot technology go to http://palmpilot.3com.com
Well, these are just two possible technologies. What others have you heard about that you think offer intriguing or innovative approaches or solutions for the future? Just email your ideas and comments at hfisk@influent.com.
4. Study points to new career options for IT -- Will your company's support staff/help desk be ready?
A recent U.S. Commerce Department study says that in the U.S., over 1.1 million new positions will open up in the IT field in the next seven years. The study, "The Digital Work Force: Building Infotech Skills at the Speed of Innovation," (http://www.ta.doc.gov/reports/itsw/digital .pdf) projects that growth, at about 137,800 jobs per year, will be a result of newly-created jobs, plus attrition of existing IT workers who will leave for a variety of reasons.
George Spalding, noted guru in the technical support field, comments:
"This will no doubt increase the number of career changers that I'm seeing lots of in my Microsoft MCSE classes, but I don't think that career changers alone will fill this projected gap. We could look to the retired, older Americans like McDonalds and Wal-Mart, but I don't think they'd hack it in IT. So ... if we can't go up, we must go down ... in age, that is. I'm currently involved with a project to adjust an existing A+ curriculum for high school juniors and seniors. That's right, high school students. This project has a job placement component which will locate part-time positions, internships and summer jobs for these kids at rates of up to $25/hour. I'm curious ... would you hire a well-trained high school junior? Have you? How many of your staff are under 21? How are they doing? Let me know."
George will be the host and featured keynote at the upcoming Frontlines Conference. Frontlines is for the help desk and support staff who are on the frontlines of technical support. The event will be held next month in Orlando Florida on September 22-14. If you or your technical support staff want more information about attending this event, go to http://www.influent.com/frontlines/
5. A Reader Asks: How do you conduct quality testing for your CBT?
Rose Nitz, the Manager, Learning Technology Implementation Team at KMart posed the following question:
"I am looking for how other companies are Quality testing their newly developed multi media CBTs. There doesn't seem to be a lot of information out there. But every program has to be testing for content, bugs, etc. What are they using and how are they doing it?"
Can you help Rose? Please send your responses to: hfisk@influent.com.
Wanted! Your ideas and issues and questions..
Do you have a question about your technology training challenges? In need of a resource or idea to solve a specific computer training problem? Looking to connect with others in the IT Training industry? This e-newsletter is meant to be a resource for you to find the answers you need to help you survive and thrive in our industry. Readers of this e-newsletter are encouraged to send in questions, ideas, resource links or articles to hfisk@influent.com
Quote of the day:
"The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless."
-Jean Jacques Rousseau
That's all for now,
Heidi Fisk
