white paper multi skilling staff for jobs of the future using m-learning 2013

March 2013

Multi-Skilling Staff for the jobs of the future via Virtual Mobile e-Learning

Diane Shawe M.Ed. CEO AVPT GLOBAL

White Paper

MULTI-SKILLING STAFF VIA VIRTUAL MOBILE E-LEARNING 1

White Paper Prepared by Diane Shawe M.Ed. AVPTGLOBAL

Broadgate Tower, 12th Floor, 20 Primrose St. London. EC2A 2EW TEL: 0203 551 2621

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Table of Contents

Greater Outreach – Enhanced interactivity ..................................................................................................... 2

The explosion of mobile technology ................................................................................................................ 2

Defining 21st Century e-learning and e-pedagogy ............................................................................................ 3

The Complex Shift and the importance of communication and e-learning .................................................... 4

Fulfilling Customers demand with precision requires multi skilled staff ........................................................ 5

Benefits of virtual e-learning ............................................................................................................................ 6

Privacy, Security, Tracking Performance and Accreditation ............................................................................ 8

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 11

ABOUT AVPTGLOBAL ...................................................................................................................................... 12

References .................................................................................................................................................. 13




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Greater Outreach – Enhanced interactivity

Corporates, enterprises and charities all wish to run their

operations at the minimum costs allowed. We all recognise that in today’s

environment, business moves faster than ever. Most organisations now

recognise the importance of developing a strategic approach to learning

and harnessing the internal skills of their teams. Moving away from more

tactical based activities associated with training such as measuring skills-

based behaviours, to focussing on acquisition of knowledge and learning

transfer that result in individual and organisational performance

improvements.

E-learning has the potential to fully integrate the benefits of personal

freedom with connectivity (belonging to a purposeful group of learners).

From an educational perspective the “e” in e-learning stands for more than

electronic; it can also stand for extending and enhancing the learning

experience.

The explosion of mobile technology

New market opportunities open and close at blinding speed ,

new competitors emerge overnight, product lifecycles are getting shorter,

and customers are more knowledgeable and sophisticated. This fast-

changing environment has led to requirement to change learning and

training. However more often than not, the task of aligning the learning

organisation to the business can be challenging and the perception of how

the business views the learning organisation in terms of aligning to

strategic initiatives is different to how the learning organisation perceives

itself.

Downsizing has resulted in a mass drainage and outflow of skills as

employees or contractors are let go. To ensure that an organisation can

compete globally and remains at par with the technological changes in the

global market committing to the investment of on-going skill training is

often viewed as a potential unnecessary incision into the bottom line. This

continued way of thinking comes at a cost because of the risks involved in




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developing the professionalism of the staff (Lucey, 2004). The fear of

poaching of the staff by other companies after significant investment has

been made in upskilling and training from the said company is of real

concern, because skilled, experienced staff when pulled in can respond

faster to problems brought forward by the customers and ensure high

productivity and efficiency in the long run (Corbett & Huggett, 2009).

With the explosion of mobile technology, organisations need to take

advantage of the benefits, scalability, and viability of using mobile e-

learning, using smart phones, tablets, and notepads that offer a blended

solution.

Defining 21st Century e-learning and e-pedagogy

Online blended learning integrates independence

It is the convergence of technological and pedagogical developments

that is driving e-learning innovation in higher education and the focus of E-

Learning in the 21st Century. In the context of a rapidly changing

knowledge society, it is essential to evolve the learning experience in a way

that models and prepares employees for an active and collaborative

working life. The greatest mistake is to try to integrate new

communications technology into passive educational approaches. E-

learning will fail if we merely add on to or repackage our current

educational designs.

The goal of e-learning described here is to create a community of inquiry

-independent of time and location through the use of information and

communications technology. An educational community of inquiry is a

group of individuals who collaboratively engage in purposeful critical

discourse and reflection to construct personal meaning and confirm mutual

understanding. This perspective -of course- reflects a particular educational

approach using the possibilities of new and emerging technologies to build

collaborative constructivist learning communities.

E-learning is formally defined as “electronically mediated asynchronous

and synchronous communication for the purpose of constructing and

confirming knowledge”. The technological foundation of e-learning is the




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Internet and associated communication technologies. Beyond the general

description of e-learning, the two primary applications that constitute e-

learning are online and blended learning.

E-learning represents a distinct educational branch with its roots in

computer conferencing and collaborative constructivist approaches to

learning.

E-learning is an open system that blends access to information and

purposeful communication into a dynamic and intellectually challenging

learning community. E-learning transforms education in ways that extend

beyond efficient delivery or entertainment value. It has been shown that

active engagement in a learning community is associated with reflective

discourse and deep learning outcomes (Akyol & Garrison, in press a; Brown,

2001; Chapman, Ramondt, & Smiley, 2005; Rovai, 2002).

Online learning integrates independence (asynchronous online

communication) with interaction (connectivity) that overcomes time and

space constraints in a way that emulates the values of higher education. In

particular, online learning goes beyond the technology and tools to access

information. The focus is shifted to the educational transaction in the form

of a virtual community of learners sustainable across time

(Garrison, 2009a) termed blended learning (Garrison &Vaughan, 2008).

E-learning in the form of blended learning integrates the best features of

online and face-to-face education. Blended learning, however, is not

benign. It will inherently precipitate a fundamental rethinking and

questioning of current approaches to teaching and learning. Approaches

such as the lecture are critically examined in terms of its ability to engage

students in critical discourse.

The Complex Shift and the importance of communication and e-learning

For Dewey, society and the individual cannot exist

separately, nor can one be subordinated to the other (Dewey & Childs,

1981). To understand education is to understand this interplay between




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personal interests and experience, and societal values, norms, and

knowledge. This interplay is manifest in the transaction between teacher

and student. Dewey’s concept of an activity-based education describes an

educational experience as a “transaction taking place between an

individual and what, at the time, constitutes his environment…” (1938, p.

43). For Dewey, transactional communication is the defining component of

the educational experience when students transform the inert information

passed to them from another and construct it into knowledge with

personal application and value (Dewey, 1916).

Dewey’s description fits with the complex shifting of time and place

that defines e-learning and further emphasizes the importance of

communication with the various human participants and through the

technologies that constitute the environment.

Thus, an educational experience has a dual purpose. The first is to

construct meaning (reconstruction of experience) from a personal

perspective. The second is to refine and confirm this understanding

collaboratively within a community of learners.

Fulfilling Customers’ demands with precision requires multi skilled staff

.

Most companies take advantage of multi-skilling, where single

employees receive training on multiple skill-sets. It involves labour unions

and their settings where they promote workers with a wide range of skills

(Andriessen & Koopman, 1996). This range of skills may not be part of the

technical job description, but it ensures productivity and cuts down on

costs for the company because they do not have to employ other

personnel who have the same skills. When companies aim at ensuring that

the employees multitask, they effectively address the current shortage of

skills labour.

In an industry where companies aim at quickly fulfilling customer

demands with precision, then multi-skilling comes in handy because it

provides flexibility in allocating labour to tasks. Though the results ensure




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reduced costs for the company, the process may be straining on the part of

the managers and employees. It needs genuine commitment from all

stakeholders involved in the process (Clark & Mayer 2011). It takes a

training program several years to reach the desired flexibility within the

workforce. However, if the right approach to training is taken, then

constructive results can be seen quickly (Clark & Kwinn, 2007).

The steps in ensuring success include the bringing together of the

employees, setting goals which broaden the employee’s skills and regularly

reviewing their progress. Employees may also ensure success by sticking to

the program over the medium term. The training program, when well-

structured and applied consistently by the employers has far reaching

benefits to the company (Bouwman et al., 2005). These include a

measurable return on its training investment, reduced turnover of

employees who ensure increased productivity, and reduced waste of

potentiality of employees by engaging their extra skills.

Companies are now examining ways of delivering training to their

employees using virtual mobile e-training programs. A virtual live-

instructor facilitates training delivered by the virtual classroom to the

employees. This ensures that the employees gain the skills needed and will

also benefit from interaction with other employees from the comfort of

their offices or home.

Benefits of virtual e-learning

Virtual e-learning saves time and money for the employers and

the overall costs to the company are reduced because employees learn

without additional travelling expenses. The employees, therefore, learn

from the comfort of their desktop and interact with their fellow staff and

online facilitator. This also supports the corporate green initiative, lauded

by many companies as the ethics and good practices of the current

business practice. (Clark & Kwinn, 2007).

However, virtual training of the unemployed or employees will rely

heavily on their self-discipline, self-motivation, and their ability to

communicate effectively using the written word. The best virtual e-training




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that ensures effective learning of the skills by the employees is by

personalising it because employees respond well to personal attention

(Clark & Mayer 2011).

E-training may take other forms such as video-based courses, which

resemble the normal class teaching except online. The instructor speaks to

the learners and then use online examples and PowerPoint slides for

illustration. Other not so commonly used forms of virtual learning include

audio-based courses, animated, web-supported textbooks, peer-to-peer

courses, and social networking. With today’s technology, the acquisition

cost per delegate is greatly reduced as over 80% have access to a mobile

device. All these ensure that employees acquire the correct skills that

promote their multitasking ability, and beneficial to the company because

of reduced costs (Bouwman et al., 2005).

Companies and government organisation can reap many benefits by

using smart phones or mobile tablets to deliver training for single or multi-

skilling courses. Giving employees access to information and reading

material when out of the office, thereby increasing efficiency in learning.

The fact that they are easily portable makes them efficient especially for

employees who travel a lot. These employees can dip into their online

training course from wherever they are and do not have to be at the office




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to sharpen their skills (Corbett & Huggett, 2009). Smart phones also

promote real-time interaction of the employees by use of e-mail, text, and

instant messaging, and through voice calls.

Privacy, Security, Tracking Performance and Accreditation

However, there has been an outcry of issues of privacy by

organisations. This is why organisations need to take into consideration the

four pillars that go to underpin the buyer’s requirements and therefore still

define the industry offerings centred on the following:

• Compliance and accreditation

• Scalable and flexible whilst

achieving a real reduction in

Cost

• Improving, tracking and

measuring Learners’

performance

• Real time management,

alignment and communication

to support on-going changes.

The ability to track and

report learner performance

remains uppermost in many procurers’ minds.

It will become increasingly important to have specified learning strategy

which can deliver effectively against all of these requirements, and getting

the “e-learning mix” of technologies right - obviously including content,

collaboration and communication environments (social learning) and

control mechanisms - will be the key to further industry growth.

Under-pining these trends we are seeing growing interest in how e-

learning can address softer skills and this is why we have concentrated our

LMS content to this area of learning.




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Some vendors are following the vertical market and configuring the

offer to meet specific needs, others are differentiating by adding social

media and social learning functions, and others such as AVPTGLOBAL are

aligning the LMS to the latest technologies being colonised by the e-

learning industry – mobile/smart devices and video driven content. The

trend from the USA is strongly toward talent management and we are

often lagging behind.

The smart vendors will align and integrating with other solutions: HR,

ERP, CRM etc…. Content or Content, which to choose…..?

These developments can only be positive for the industry, as the

demand for quality and quantitative content will grow and grow.

Tablet use in employee training has far-reaching benefits to the

company and its staff. This is because of the spontaneity created since

tablets resemble sketch pads. Important points are highlighted and

diagrams, equations, and formula created in class thus improving learning

for the employees. The tablet can stimulate collaborative brainstorming

and take advantage of the power of mind maps. Tablets, like smart phones,

enable employees to get training wherever they operate from, which may

not necessarily be the office or classroom to get lectures on the different

skills. So instead of sending the staff to a course, employers can bring the

classroom straight in the hands of the employee.




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Adopting of the use of tablets by employees and even the instructor,

may seem daunting at first because the instructor no longer has freedom

to move around the classroom.

However, with adopting new technology comes the daunting task of

convincing employees stuck with the practices of medieval times, the

advantages of using the technology, such as the notepad and tablets (Clark

& Mayer 2011). They believe that they can only acquire new skills through

apprenticeship or by taking leave and going back to the real classes. This

wastes time and increases costs for the company because they have to

employee other people to replace the ones who take study leave.




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Conclusion

In the long-run, the use of virtual e-training is beneficial

because it saves on the long term costs of the company. It is scalable

and can offer effective continued professional development

throughout the year to managers and staff without them having to

take time off work. In the past distance learning was seen as an

isolated option that ended up with most students not completing

their course. These barriers have not been transcended and students

can now enjoy full interactions steered towards their own personal

learning style.

However, the initial stages of implementing and adopting the process

may prove cumbersome and expensive. There could also be

resistance by the older generations of management team as

technology can often been seen as dehumanising, complicated and

remote. The other factor is costs, which could be high and setting

aside enough resources to ensure effective adaptability of the

technology will often be competing against other internal needs.

Not too far from now we will progress from blending to mixing the

content provision as this will be the key challenge to the e-learning

industry. The importance of content won’t go away, it’s just changing

faster becoming more “Re-purposely”, “Flexible”, “Interoperable”,

and “Accessible” learning content!

At the end of the day, it is up to the management of the

company to ensure that they adopt practices that will be beneficial to them

in cost saving and increased productivity. AVPT Global’s Learning

Management Solution has already been designed to assist organisations

that want to develop a series of quality soft skills courses for their staffs

continued development.




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ABOUT AVPTGLOBAL

At Academy of Vocational and Professional Training, we care about your

success as an organisation. That is why we have developed our e-Training

products to serve as a complete training solution to deliver high quality

blended learning. We've already completed the preparation work for you

and if you are currently training, or planning on developing an

organisational training plan, we have all the materials you need.

We save you time and money!

It takes a lot of time and effort to create a training course. Designing,

researching, writing, and finding the right image. It takes even more time to

create an online learning system to work fluently and securely with various

technologies. We know this because we have done the months of

preparation for you!

We supply over 350 Soft Skills topics; everything from Conflict

Resolution, to Time Management, to a library of Train-the-Trainer titles, to

the essentials for your workplace. We also supply quality training in

Technology, Management, and Leadership through to Personal

Development.

Our Promise to our clients is

- To deliver quality up to date information in all courses ‘live curriculum’.

- A complete package that offers the trainer or organisation multiple ways to

deliver any course.

- The supply of fully qualified Virtual Tutors for each person studying any

course.

- Easy accessibility and Value for investment.

- Customisable, fast setup and support

- A secure, scalable global and reliable solution

- A team of Confidential, Professional and Friendly Staff

- To always meet global standards and accreditations.

www.avptglobal.com We are happy to arrange a demonstration on how

this LMS could assist in the up-skilling of your staff and also reduce

project developmental and programming time and costs.

http://www.avptglobal.com/




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References Andriessen, E., & Koopman, P. L. (1996). The introduction of information

and communication technology ICT in organizations: A special issue of the

European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. London:

Psychology Press.

Bouwman, H., van den Hooff, B., van de Wijngaert, L., & van Dijk, J. (2005).

Information and communication technology in organizations: Adoption,

implementation, use and effects. New York: Sage Publishers.

Clark, R. C., & Kwinn, A. (2007). The New Virtual Classroom: Evidence-

based Guidelines for Synchronous e-Learning. New York: John Wiley and

Sons Publishers.

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). e-Learning and the science of

instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia

learning. New York: John Wiley and Sons Publishers.

Corbett, W. G., & Huggett, C. (2009). Designing for the virtual classroom:

Training technology & E-Learning. Kansas: American Society for Training

and Development.

Garrison, D. Randy (2011-04-16). E-Learning in the 21st Century: A

Framework for Research and Practice, Second Edition (p. 3). Taylor &

Francis. Kindle Edition.

white paper multi skilling staff for jobs of the future using m-learning 2013

Documents

century elearning

benefits of virtual

learning transfer

learning experience

avptglobal broadgate

multi skilled staff

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skillsbased behaviours