LearningWire #86 - learning companies, training levy, free resources, tenders, jobs, action learning

TrainingZone

LearningWire #86 – learning companies, training levy, free resources, tenders, jobs, action learning

By TrainingZone

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LearningWIRE #86 31 January 2000
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk The Learning Community
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THIS WEEK FEATURING -
- What is a learning company?
- No levy to pay for training
- New downloadable resource in the Toolkit
- Tender for IT training; jobs with TrainingZone
- Simulations, action learning and elearning

ADVERTISMENT
Facilitating Sustainable Development
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An Interactive Conference organised by AMED's Sustainable Development Network. 17 March at AMED, 14-15 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PS. Themes include: Changing Values, Management Systems, Routes to Sustainability, Using the Web, Engaging Employees, National Programmes. Discover what leading businesses are doing to become more sustainable and how consultants are helping them overcome obstacles. Contact Helen Trussler on 020 7235 3505 or mailto:[email protected].

5,248 professionals engaged in training, learning and HRD received LearningWire this week. To advertise before this audience, see:
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/help/advertise.html

Latest News
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Send us news for inclusion at https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/news

Employers 'not to face a training levy'
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Following the third report from the National Skills Task Force, the government has agreed that there will be no special levy on employers to create a training fund for their employees - an idea mooted last year as one way of raising skill levels. Instead, the present range of employer and employee contributions, grants, loans,incentive schemes and tax breaks are likely to continue.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11877&d=1

Online workshops
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Last week's workshop led by Andrea McHugh on Coaching and Mentoring attracted an enthusiastic and active group of participants. The transcript is now published in full on the Workshop page if you would like to see what you missed.
This week, George Edwards, Development Officer with the Institute of Supervision and Management leads an online workshop on DEVELOPING ONLINE LEARNING. The Institute is working with others to develop this new approach to learning, and this is a great opportunity to learn from George's experience and discuss some of the practical issues.
Our online workshops are free to join. The Workshop will run on Tuesday from 13:00 UK time at
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/workshop

New Toolkit resources
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Ten new downloadable resources have been added to the Toolkit this month including one on coaching and mentoring by Anna Britnor Guest (Coaching section); several useful papers and factfiles about learning by Graham Guest and Stuart Emmett (Learning section); a participant evaluation questionnaire by Robin Henry (Training Methods section); and a lengthy paper by Penny Sharland on Organisations and the New Science which builds on her recent online workshop about new management thinking (Organisational Development section). You might also look at the new section on Topical Briefings focusing on current HRD thinking. All these resources are available at
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/toolkit

New learning resources available online on Customer Service
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The LearningMatters website has a large and expanding range of resource materials in the business library which are available for browsing and buying online immediately. With a small price for each 'bite-sized' learning resource, this is fast becoming the way in which publishers are making their resources available in a quick, convenient and inexpensive format. This month, 101 new activities have been added to the library structured around nine Customer Service modules.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11951&d=1

Want to become a consultant?
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Cameron Shea and Co. have recently launched a new open learning course for those who want to become consultants or independent project managers in their own career discipline. Find out more at
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11888&d=1

Day at the Dome
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Don't forget to enter our draw for free tickets by creating your own Directory entry, or using our free news ticker. Or register your interest to join us on Friday 17 March.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=10636&d=1

Blunkett urges public sector to 'match business in backing New Deal'
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Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett has called on all areas of the public sector to get behind the New Deal in the same way that business has, by appointing New Deal "champions" in their organisations. Addressing the annual conference of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies in Manchester, he said: "Business has backed New Deal from the start. Our aim was always to see most people finding work through the New Deal to do so with companies in the private sector. Employers have responded magnificently - almost 64,000 have signed up. The public sector is a major employer, and so far, in comparison they could do much better in taking on people under New Deal."
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11773&d=1

Government campaign for work-home balance
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The Advisory Committee to head the government's campaign for a better balance between work and home life, which will be launched shortly, brings together key partners from business, trades unions and the voluntary sector. In addition, the Institute for Economic Research will carry out research on flexible working practices on the Government's behalf. The Minister, Margaret Hodge, calls it "an exciting first step in our work to unify the interests of employers and employees - so that employers improve their profitability and productivity and employees achieve a better balance between work and home life."
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11958&d=1

Any Answers?
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Post your own question direct to Any Answers? by clicking the Post a Question button on the page. All replies are automatically emailed to you. You're virtually guaranteed a reply!.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/anyanswers

Here are a just a selection of the new questions:

** Copyright implications of using 'off the shelf' video material.

** Desperately seeking a communications skills/energising activity

** Any ideas about conducting a staff survey on communication processes?

** Customer Service training - engineering staff

** Feedback on instructor led virtual training

** Checklist for computer-based training

All these questions and all your answers at
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/anyanswers

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BlueU.Com:E-learning answers
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titles covering IT, Business and Financial skills with full tutor support and student tracking. E-learning provides 24x7 anytime,anywhere convenience with up to 40% higher learning retention rates over other methods. For more about the unique benefits of e-learning go to http://www.blueu.com

Tenders and Jobs
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Our Tenders 2000 Challenge promotes open, competitive opportunities for training and consultancy work. Post your tenders and vacancies direct to the site - completely free of charge. Feedback to date indicates a very high response rate. Cut your advertising costs! Open up your work to new ideas! Recent opportunities include:

** Wanted - outstanding presenters to give an overview of e business a group of senior executives

** Provision of IT training for public library staff (Birmingham)

Check out the latest tenders and vacancies at
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/tenders

+++ Wanted: Editor for TrainingZone +++
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Do you have a good grasp of the world of Training and HRD? Can you write well? Computer literate? Search the Internet effectively? Want to work in an ambitious, fast-expanding, Internet company with great prospects?
YES ? Then check out details of our new opening for a News and Features Editor to work on TrainingZone and LearningWire.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=12059&d=1

WebWatch
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The best training and HR resources from website around the world
are featured at https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/webwatch

TrainingZone is a free community - please help us keep it that way. If you like LearningWire and the website please forward this newswire to a friend and suggest they register for their own copy.

What is a Learning Company?
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The LearningBuzz website this week includes a preview of the new resource manual coming shortly written by Mike Pedler, John Burgoyne and Tom Boydell and published by Peter Honey Publications. They help us to understand what a learning company is all about. They explain why becoming a learning company is a critical project for contemporary organisations where organisational anorexia is a risk arising out of the pursuit of 'leanness' initiatives.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11873&d=1

Creating effective email surveys
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This article from the current issue HR Magazine explores in detail how HR professionals can make the best use of email technology to create quick and effective surveys of workplace employees. Much of the advise is equally applicable in a wider context as well. The full article is available online and provides plenty of helpful tips in designing a survey with a high response rate.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11885&d=1

Simulations: what they contribute to training programmes
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Chris Elgood is a highly respected trainer and creator of training games. In this article in the current issue of the Training Journal (also summarised online), you can read his ideas for making simulations a valuable part of many training designs.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11887&d=1

Action Learning - an online guide
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The current issue of What Works from the ASTD website, contains a major feature all about Action Learning. By following the links on the page, you can find answers to some of the most common questions about how Action Learning works, and you can particate in discussion forums about the learning method on the ASTD site. You may review the story at
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11950&d=1

All you wanted to know about eLearning
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Strongly recommended by a TrainingZone member is this detailed article written by Jay Cross and available online. It explores what electronic or online learning actually is, how it works, the benefits and pitfalls, and gives some good solid advice about how to set up and introduce an eLearning environment in the workplace. Well worth reading - for confirmation of what you're already doing, or to get you excited and moving forward.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=12005&d=1

Increase your power through delegation
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In "Power Failure in Management Circuits," Rosabeth Moss Kanter argues that larger organisations often suffer from a feeling of "powerlessness" - the acquisition of "responsibility for results without the resources to get them". It is Kanter's contention that managers should 'expand' their productive power through the process of delegation - "by empowering others, a leader does not decrease his power; instead he may increase it."
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11774&d=1

A 'telecommuting toolkit'
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As the feature article in this week's Workforce Online says, 'Before you - or your company - even entertain the concept of Flexible Workplace Arrangements, beware! Do your homework. There are many considerations that must be taken into account...'
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11965&d=1

Personalized learning at My Learning Place
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MyLearningPlace is a new way to collect, create, and share information on the Web. It's designed to help people find 'best of breed' training and education on the Web. Users have their own personal place on the Web with the building blocks for lifelong learning - connecting and collaborating with other people, taking courses about topics that are important to them, and storing and sharing relevant documents and links.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=11960&d=1

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Contact Ian Hall 0131 667 2128 or mailto:[email protected]

PressZone
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By joining our PressZone service, you can publish 25 press releases each year in your own branding and place them before a large audience of training professionals
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/presszone

The Centre for Applied Emotional Intelligence offers a new way for companies to deal with the threat of stress compensation claims.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=12060&d=1

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