T&D articles from December 2002

T&D archives from December 2002

By COB. (Front Page).(Brief Article)(Editorial)
December 1, 2002... What's due by "close of business" 2002? It depends on what kind of business: work, personal, big business--which now implies not corporate doings but world business. I'm writing this just minutes after my CNN Breaking News email has...

Positive signs ahead. (President's Page).(trends in employee training, 2002)
December 1, 2002... Two thousand and two was a particularly challenging year, to say the least. Churn in the supplier market, layoffs, and significant economic struggles for all organizations have dominated the headlines in the learning and performance industry....

Mailbox.(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2002... RESPONSES sent to Mailbox are considered available for publication and may be edited for length and clarity. Please send comments to Email: mailbox@astd.org. Provide your name, organization, and location. Your email address will be published...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2002... Re: The November News You Can Use, the address for the Web-based telecommuting courses is www.workfamily.com/training/training.asp.

Crisis Looming? A severe U.S. labor shortage may be on the horizon. But there is hope. (News You Can Use).
December 1, 2002... A U.S. labor shortage may seem unbelievable as workers continue to face layoffs and a poor job marker. But some people are predicting a coming labor crisis. Business Week asserts that a "wrenching manpower and skills shortage," set in...

Reality Check. (News You Can Use).(children found to be more familiar with Internet terms than book terms, United Kingdom)
December 1, 2002... Are books a dying breed? It may seem that way based on a study of children in the United Kingdom. * 60 percent of children surveyed knew what an Internet homepage is * 9 percent knew what a book preface is * 60 percent knew that a...

Knowledge stagnatement. (News You Can Use).(encouraging knowledge-sharing among employees)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Buying fancy knowledge-management software is all well and good, but what if people don't want to share what they know? From Knowledge Management magazine destinationkm.com come these KM obstacles and potential solutions. According to KM,...

Global 360. (News You Can Use).(small computer created to bring benefits of information technology to developing world, India)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... In some areas of the world, people have never seen a computer, much less had the opportunity to use one. Well, a new device might help bridge that gap. The 3-by-5-inch plastic Simputer (it's "simple, inexpensive, and multilingual") was...

Executive update. (News You Can Use).(DBM study reveals high turnover of chief executive officers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... It seems as if CEOs these days are plagued with a host of problems--from ethics scandals to security issues and economic pressures. To add to the list, a new study by DBM finds that CEO tenures are declining steadily around the world. The...

Open course ware update. (E-News).(Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers course materials online for free)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... The decision last year by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to make course materials available for free on the Internet was hailed as the greatest thing since virtual classrooms by some and the ruination of colleges and universities by...

Fast Fact. (News You Can Use).(Generation21 survey; use of formal learning tools)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... 76 percent of people surveyed by Generation21 say they turn to colleagues for job-critical information before formal learning tools or programs.

The art of questioning: how to ask to get the best learning. (Training 101).
December 1, 2002... Questioning is the heart and soul of training--the most widely used instructional strategy to facilitate learning. Questioning is the essence of effective teaching because of the numerous purposes it serves, such as motivating learners...

Email overload. (@Work).(Andy Kaufman, author of book on managing e-mail)(Interview)
December 1, 2002... Last week, I caught myself daydreaming about a benevolent network failure that would zap my Outlook inbox and free me of hundreds of emails that have been accumulating over the past year. What could it mean? If self-help Websites and pop...

Focus on talent; zoom in: transferring part of the responsibility for talent retention from HR to operations, to leaders, is a cultural shift. It's likely that HR will gladly share ownership. Here's how Sprint did it.(Sprint PCS teams up with TalentKeepers to retain employees)
December 1, 2002... Deeanne King, director of performance development, customer solutions, for Sprint's PCS division, was amazed by what she saw on a visit to one of Sprint's large customer contact centers. The center, typical of many scattered throughout the...

The Successful Minority: choose change and stability to meet the new expectations.
December 1, 2002... Being in the Successful Minority involves making the choice to enter and remain in a zone of comfort and high, valued performance, or even a position of influence. That's how many of us define success--by how comfortable, how influential we...

Are you a seeker or an avoider? You can change avoidance behaviors; trainers play a crucial role.(Column)
December 1, 2002... It's Monday morning and John is once again contemplating the upcoming workweek. Nearly overcome with anxiety, he dreads those five days. His thoughts center on what he can do to minimize the negative consequences of anything he might do. He has...

Success with change.(managing organizational change)(Column)
December 1, 2002... "Ignore these lessons at your peril. Embrace them and succeed." This is part 2 in McLagan's four-part series on change. Part 1 (November) dealt with change leadership and the challenges of change that organizations are facing. McLagan...

Supplier savvy.
December 1, 2002... These columnists have been covering the e-learning beat all year. If you missed any of their articles, you can still get them. And you can meet them at Tech Knowledge 2003 in Orlando. Here's a review of the critical e-learning issues and a...

Talkin' 'bout writing: how to discuss a colleague's writing while preserving your working relationship and career. (Your Career).
December 1, 2002... Picture this: You're eating lunch at your desk and a head pokes into your doorway. It's a colleague asking you to take a look at a report he's written before he turns it in to the boss. You know he wants constructive criticism to help him...

The competence marketplace: Skandia Sweden models a unique solution for employee development that keeps talent from leaving. (Passport).
December 1, 2002... For most of its 145-year existence, Skandia has been a traditional life-insurance firm. From its Swedish home base, it developed and administered life, property, and casualty insurance products. Starting in the late 1970s, the company began to...

The Heart of Change: real-life stories of how people change their organizations. (Books).(Book Review)
December 1, 2002... The only constant, the pundits remind us, is change: ubiquitous, continual, and absolutely essential for organizational survival. In The Heart of Change, change management expert John P. Kotter and consultant Dan S. Cohen argue persuasively...

On the night stand.(author comments on his reading habits)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... My nightstand isn't crowded by management tomes, although they'd hide the dust that shows on the stand's black lacquer finish. I tend not to read a lot of management books because I think many of them contain a single--though powerful and...

ASTD Store Bestsellers.(books on employee training)(Bibliography)
December 1, 2002... Visit store.astd.org to purchase ASTD training books or write an online review. The ASTD Store Bestseller list is based on sales generated through 10/15/02. 1. Telling Ain't Training By Harold D. Stolovitch and Erica J. Keeps (May...

Suited to a T. (In Gear).
December 1, 2002... Get true integration of a cell phone and a Pocket PC with T-Mobile's Pocket PC Phone Edition. Slightly heavier than a standard Pocket PC, the T-Mobile packs in the features. In addition to the world-compatible phone, a speedy processor,...

Out of the Box. (In Gear).
December 1, 2002... Presenters on the go will appreciate Boxlight's lightweight CD-725c portable projector. The unit weighs a mere 6.8 pounds but features 2000 ANSI lumens of brightness, XGA resolution, HDTV compatibility, and a 600:1 contrast ratio for top-notch...

Get a Lode of this. (In Gear).
December 1, 2002... Elegant, unobtrusive, functional, Levenger's Lodestone copy stand holds up to 15 pages of paper upright without them falling or flopping. Sold in sets of four, these poly-resin holders come in eight hues, including green, pearl, bronze,...

Flat-out cool. (In Gear).
December 1, 2002... On or off, Samsung's SyncMaster 24-inch LCD monitor is a pleasure to look at. High-resolution PC compatibility enables users to scale any video input to 1920x1200, 16:10 WUXGA resolution for increased sharpness and vividness. Additional...

Online: ExperienceChange. (Media Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
December 1, 2002... The training community is paying more attention to simulations as an effective way for learners to practice new knowledge and skills in a safe environment. Most people associate online simulations with high cost, but ExperienceChange provides a...

Video: who Says We Can't Do It? (Media Reviews).(Video Recording Review)
December 1, 2002... This inspirational video portrays the determination and dedication of cyclist Lance Armstrong, a four-time winner of the Tour de France. It's a moving story that many people may already know from his bestselling book or sports pages. The...

DMV: does the D stand for "dumb"? (Working Life).(author recounts experience with Washington, D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles)(Column)
December 1, 2002... True Tales From the Workplace Division of Motor Vehicles. I have a saga that's both personal and actual. Chapter 1: A few years ago, I (inadvertently) let my driver's license expire. So, I went to the DMV to renew, and it turns out that...