Sunday, 6 June 2010
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Animated Business Concepts | Simplified Learning | Accounting, Statistics, Economics, Finance
Seeking your feedback on our innovative training approach
Dear Friends,
I would like to share with you our latest innovation in learning after comprehensive research and development for the last two years. With our vision, "To lead global innovation in making learning simple, easily accessible and enjoyable", we at Knowledge Horizon continuously endeavour to innovate and support the teaching fraternity with the latest tools and techniques so that learning is simplified and concepts are demystified. With this initiative we would like to add value to the learning process and empower learner with innovative products to enrich the overall learning experience.
I would like to invite you to experience our innovation by visiting our product website: www.simple-abc.com and clicking on our Animated Business Concepts namely, Balance Sheet and Index Numbers (CPI) shown on the homepage.
Animated Business Concepts or ABC is a portfolio of short, online courses to help learner understand and effectively apply core business concepts at the workplace. You are welcome to refer these courses to your friends, colleagues and anyone who you feel may benefit from this exciting learning opportunity. I have also enclosed a PDF for your information.
Please feel free to send us your views and feedback about our product, ABC.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Post-Training Evaluation and Measurements of Effectiveness
Key Objectives for Evaluation of Training Effectiveness:
1. To decide whether to continue offering a particular training program
2. To improve future programs
3. To validate your existence and job as a training professional
The indicators of Training effectiveness could be many, some of the below listed are indicatives:
1. Better production levels
2. Improved quality, lower wastages, failures, non-conformities, higher quality rating
3. Staff turnover and attrition rates
4. Lower costs
5. Higher sales
7. Increased turnover and growth, higher return on investment
6. Higher customer satisfaction or lesser customer complaints
The most popular models of Evaluation of Training Evaluations are listed below:
1. Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Training Evaluation
2. Jack Phillips' Five Level ROI Model
3. Daniel Stufflebeam's CIPP Model (Context, Input, Process, Product)
4. Robert Stake's Responsive Evaluation Model
5. Robert Stake's Congruence-Contingency Model
6. Kaufman's Five Levels of Evaluation
7. CIRO (Context, Input, Reaction, Outcome)
8. PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique)
9. Alkins' UCLA Model
10. Michael Scriven's Goal-Free Evaluation Approach
11. Provus's Discrepancy Model
12. Eisner's Connoisseurship Evaluation Models
13. Illuminative Evaluation Model
14. Portraiture Model
Post-Training Evaluation and Measurements of Effectiveness
Key Objectives for Evaluation of Training Effectiveness:
1. To decide whether to continue offering a particular training program
2. To improve future programs
3. To validate your existence and job as a training professional
The indicators of Training effectiveness could be many, some of the below listed are indicatives:
1. Better production levels
2. Improved quality, lower wastages, failures, non-conformities, higher quality rating
3. Staff turnover and attrition rates
4. Lower costs
5. Higher sales
7. Increased turnover and growth, higher return on investment
6. Higher customer satisfaction or lesser customer complaints
The most popular models of Evaluation of Training Evaluations are listed below:
1. Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Training Evaluation
2. Jack Phillips' Five Level ROI Model
3. Daniel Stufflebeam's CIPP Model (Context, Input, Process, Product)
4. Robert Stake's Responsive Evaluation Model
5. Robert Stake's Congruence-Contingency Model
6. Kaufman's Five Levels of Evaluation
7. CIRO (Context, Input, Reaction, Outcome)
8. PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique)
9. Alkins' UCLA Model
10. Michael Scriven's Goal-Free Evaluation Approach
11. Provus's Discrepancy Model
12. Eisner's Connoisseurship Evaluation Models
13. Illuminative Evaluation Model
14. Portraiture Model
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Training Evaluation
Donald Kickpatrick prescribed methods to evaluate the effectiveness of training. He proposed four levels of evaluation starting from Level 1 to 4. . Information from each previous level serves as the foundation for the next level's evaluation, offering, in stages, an accurate reading of the effectiveness of the training program.
Level 1: REACTION: This level measures the reaction of trainees to the training programme.
The main purpose of measuring reaction of trainees is to gauge their motivation and interest level in learning.
Measurement Guidelines:
1. Determine what you want to find out.
2. Design a form that will quantify reactions such as:
- Did they like the training program?
- Was the training material relevant?
- Was the method of delivery effective?
- Did they consider the training relevant?
- Perceived practicability and potential for applying the learning
4. Attain an immediate response rate of 100%.
5. Seek honest reactions.
6. Develop acceptable standards.
7. Measure reactions against the standards and take appropriate action.
8. Communicate the reactions as appropriate.
Evaluation Tools and methods:
The evaluation tools and methods used in this stage are 'happy sheets', feedback forms, post-training surveys, questionnaires, verbal feedback, etc which are quick and easy to gather, and non-expensive to analyse.
Level 2: LEARNING: This level measures the knowledge acquired, skills improved, or attitudes changed to trainees as a result of the training.
Measurement Guidelines:
1. Use a control group, if feasible.
2. Evaluate knowledge, skills, or attitudes (KSAs) both before and after training. Use a paper and pencil test to measure knowledge and skills. Use a performance test to measure attitudes.
3. Attain a response rate of 100%.
4. Use the results of the evaluation to take appropriate action.
Evaluation tools and methods
This stage calls for more rigorous procedures, ranging from formal to informal testing to team assessment and self-assessment. The most common learning evaluation tools are assessments, interviews, observation and tests conducted before and after the training. The questions could be:- Did the trainees learn what what intended to be taught?
- Did the trainee experience what was intended for them to experience?
- What is the extent of advancement or change in the trainees after the training, in the direction or area that was intended?
Level 3: BEHAVIOUR: This level measures the transfer of training or if trainees are applying new knowledge, skills, or attitudes on the job.
Measurement Guidelines:
1. Allow enough time for a change in behavior to take place.
2. Survey or interview one or more of the following groups: trainees, their bosses, their subordinates, and others who often observe trainees' behavior on the job. Evaluation focus on questions like:
Are the newly acquired skills, knowledge, or attitude being used by the learners in their everyday work arena?
- Did the trainees use the relevant skills and knowledge?
- Was there significant and measurable change in performance of the trainees when back to their jobs?
- Was the transfer in behaviour retained?
- Would the trainee successfully be able to transfer knowledge to someone else?
- Did the trainees put their learning into effect when back on the job?
- Were the relevant skills and knowledge used?
- Was there noticeable and measurable change in the activity and performance of the trainees when back in their roles?
- Was the change in behaviour and new level of knowledge sustained?
- Would the trainee be able to transfer their learning to another person?
- Is the trainee aware of their change in behaviour, knowledge, skill level?
3. Choose 100 trainees or an appropriate sampling.
4. Repeat the evaluation at appropriate times.
5. Consider the cost of evaluation versus the potential benefits.
Evaluation Tools and methods
During level three, observation and interview over a period of time are required to measure change, its relevance, and sustainability. Evaluation in this area is challenging and is possible only through support and involvement of both line managers and trainees.
Level 4: RESULTS: This level measures the result of training as it relates to factors such as sales, productivity, profit, costs, employee turnover, and product/service quality.Measurement Guidelines:
1. Use a control group, if feasible.
2. Allow enough time for results to be achieved.
3. Measure both before and after training, if feasible.
4. Repeat the measurement at appropriate times.
5. Consider the cost of evaluation versus the potential benefits.
6. Be satisfied with the evidence if absolute proof isn't possible to attain.
Evaluation tools and methods:
The level four evaluation measures how successful a training program is in a context that is easily understood by managers and executives such as
- Better production levels,
- Improved quality,
- Lower costs,
- Higher sales,
- Staff turnover,
- Attrition rates,
- Failures,
- Wastage,
- Non-compliance,
- Customer complaints
- Quality ratings,
- Growth,
- Retention,
- Increased profits
- Return on investment
- Staff turnover
- Organisational performance
Ref: Kickpatric publications, Businessballs, etc
Saturday, 29 November 2008
How companies got their names!
Apple Computers - favorite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't suggest a better name by 5 o'clock.
CISCO - it s not an acronym but the short for San Francisco.
Compaq - using COMp, for computer, and PAQ to denote a small integral object.
Corel - from the founder's name Dr. Michael Cowpland. It stands for COwpland REsearch Laboratory.
Google - the name started as a jokey boast about the amount of information the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named 'Googol', a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. After founders - Stanford grad students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project to an angel investor; they received a cheque made out to Google!
HCL - Hindustan Computers Ltd. started by Shiv Nadar.
Hotmail - Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail via the web from a computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending in 'mail' and finally settled for hotmail as it included the letters "html" - the programming language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casing.
HP - Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.
Intel - Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore Noyce' but a hotel chain already trademarked that, so they had to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics.
Java - Originally called Oak by creator James Gosling, from the tree that stood outside his window, the programming team had to look for a substitute, as there was another language with the same name. Java was selected from a list of suggestions. It came from the name of the coffee that the programmers drank.
LG - combination of two popular Korean brands Lucky and Goldstar.
Linux - Linus Torvalds originally used the Minix OS on his system, which he replaced by his OS. Hence the working name was Linux (Linus' Minix). He thought the name to be too egotistical and planned to name it Freax (free + freak + x).
Microsoft - coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later on.
Motorola - Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company started manufacturing radios for cars. The popular radio company at the time was called Victrola. Mozilla - When Marc Andreesen, founder of Netscape, created a broswer to replace Mosaic (also developed by him), it was named Mozilla (Mosaic-Killer, Godzilla). The marketing guys didn't like the name however and it was re-christened Netscape Navigator.
ORACLE - Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting project for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The code name for the project was called Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to all questions or something such). They kept the name Oracle and created the RDBMS engine. Later they kept the same name for the company.
Red Hat - Company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap (with red and white stripes) while at college by his grandfather. He lost it and had to search for it desperately. The manual of the beta version of Red Hat Linux had an appeal to readers to return his Red Hat if found by anyone!
SAP - "Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing", formed by 4 ex-IBM employees who used to work in the 'Systems/Applications/Projects' group of IBM.
Sony - from the Latin word 'sonus' meaning sound, and 'sonny' a slang used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster.
SUN - founded by 4 Stanford University buddies, SUN is the acronym for Stanford University Network. Andreas Bechtolsheim built a microcomputer; Vinod Khosla recruited him and Scott McNealy to manufacture computers based on it, and Bill Joy to develop a UNIX-based OS for the computer.
Xerox - The inventor, Chestor Carlson, named his product trying to say 'dry' (as it was dry copying, markedly different from the then prevailing wet copying). The Greek root 'xer' means dry.
Yahoo! - The word was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book 'Gulliver's Travels'. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! Founders Jerry Yang and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos.
3M - Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company started off by mining the material corundum used to make sandpaper. There's no sauce in the world like hunger. -Miguel de Cervantes, novelist
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Blended eLearning
- Learning—whether it is classroom, workplace, or web-based, and delivered in a "live," just-in-time, or self-paced mode
- Performance support—whether it takes the form of job-specific, context-sensitive, or embedded systems that serve as job aides
- Knowledge management—whether it is manifest in expertise directories, lessons learned databases, best practices repositories, and communities of practice that all reflect and deliver knowledge to learners at a particular time of need
The optimum blend of the above three will focus on optimizing the mix of classroom instruction, online learning, and workplace performance support tools that can maximize the total impact on human performance. This is how a multidisciplinary approach to online learning and human capital development (HCD) can really make a difference.
The players of this industry can be classified into 3 types:
Content organizations: firms that furnish course structure, multimedia (graphics, video, sound, and animation), simulations, testing, and assessments. This includes both off-the-shelf as well as specially developed, customized applications.
Learning Services: firms, which provide needs assessments, program-building components—content design, development and programming, technical and systems integration, site management and hosting, maintenance, and online mentoring.
Delivery Solutions: companies, which sell technologies associated with eLearning, including training, authoring tools, course management systems, collaborative software and virtual classrooms, and add-on tools. The delivery solutions category does not include hardware and network infrastructure, such as routers and firewalls.
Why eLearning?
A lot of lip service is paid to the "anytime, anywhere" aspects of eLearning, but the true power of eLearning is likely to be found in its potential to provide the right information to the right people at the right times and places. eLearning is often a more effective and efficient way to educate workers because it is:
Personalized: eLearning allows entire programs of study to be customized for a company, a department, or even an individual learner.
Interactive: eLearning can truly engage the learner in a give-and-take type of learning that involves simulations of real-world events and sophisticated collaborations with other learners and an instructor.
Just-in-time: eLearning moves training away from the "just-in-case" model in which learners engage in event-based sessions that require learning to take place outside the context in which it will be used.
Current: eLearning allows training providers to always offer learners up-to-date materials.
User-centric: eLearning focuses primarily on the needs of the learner, instead of on the abilities of the instructor.
Categories of eLearning
Synchronous eLearning: live training online—real-time interaction between an instructor/facilitator and remote students
Asynchronous eLearning: Instruction is just-in-time, when you need it
Self paced CBT / WBT: Computer Based Training (CBT) and Web Based Training (WBT) share similar characteristics of following a very logical instructional design paradigm that packages most of the instructional elements as well as the content to be learned into a self-contained, learner-controlled environment.
Collaborative Learning: Combination of the above types
Components of Blended eLearning
Many organizational eLearning projects begin with the implementation of a learning management system (LMS), where a typical LMS can help with the launch and tracking aspects of training management, performance measurement, and a career plan of a learner's continuous development needs. Thus, a typical LMS-focused system should be able to track training activities, including completion of those activities, track the performance of the learner, track their assessment results, establish a learning plan or curriculum for learners, and allow learners to register for upcoming training events or self-service eLearning opportunities, such as a typical web-based training course. Learners should have access to communities of practice where they can interact with their peers, mentors, and trainees to provide a high-level of social learning and help to develop strategy for individual learning. Learner also get access to discussion boards; best practices databases; assessments; communication tools like the now, chat, and instant message applications; curriculum maps and other learning resources, such as the web; audio and videotapes; books; magazines; journals; etc. Some organizations are choosing to host these services internally, while others are choosing to address these needs externally through an Application Service Provider (ASP) model.
Check-list of effective blended eLearning solutions:
Formalized—The solution is based on sound research and development in the field of adult learning and also reflects eLearning "best practices" industry.
Systematic—The solution relies on a strong methodological and project management approach with measurable outcomes or predictive metrics.
Repeatable—The solution can be widely deployed across disparate parts of the organization by a diverse work force with similar positive outcomes.
Scalable—The solution is not prototypical but rather scalable to an enterprise-wide implementation.
Manageable—The solution can be easily managed as an internal or outsourced training solution with strong ROI.
Adaptable—The solution is not brittle and can accommodate a wide array of learning styles and organizational training contexts.
Standardized—The solution uses standard approaches and measures for instructional design, outcomes assessment, and system interoperability, such as AICC and SCORM.
Integrative—The solution synthesizes a variety of existing training models, typically involving other systems such as ERP and CRM.
Synergistic—The solution combines the complementary elements of online learning, EPSS, and knowledge management to build a total solution that is greater than any of these technological approaches alone.
Options for managing Indian Rupee appreciation against Dollar
1.Systematic hedging of receivables
2.Factoring the currency equation in new deals
3.Invoice in different currency
4.Rupee contracts with overseas clients
5.Link it with employees salary and bonus
6.Exporters can be allowed to keep rupees overseas
7.Increasing working hours for more productivity
8.Off shoring to other growing market / countries
