One Size Doesn’t Fit All
The philosophy at the Institute for Work Based Learning (IWBL) at the Middlesex University is not ’What can you do for us?’, but rather ‘What can we do for you?’ The Institute offers a myriad of highly customisable programmes specifically designed to provide opportunities for full-time workers who seek to build on their existing professional skills while developing new ones, in order to further their careers.
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A new Universe for E-Driven Learning Architectures
Building sustainable “strategic competence” into the DNA of a firm is what corporate learning should pursue, says strategy consultant Prof Roland Deiser. In his latest book Designing the Smart Organization: How Breakthrough Corporate Learning Initiatives Drive Strategic Change and Innovation, he describes how large-scale participatory learning can be put into practice by giving numerous examples from leading companies and organisations. ELIG has invited the renowned learning expert to contribute to its workshop on Wednesday, December 2nd at ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN.
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PechaKucha at OEB
An event that is both fun and practical, PechaKucha originated in Tokyo in 2003 as an innovative way for young designers to meet, network and show their work in public. It has developed into a massive celebration, with sessions taking place all over the world, inspiring creativity worldwide. This year, PechaKucha premieres at OEB.
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ELIG Workshop: Innovation and Change Powered by Learning Solutions
The European Learning Industry Group (ELIG) brings the debate on the role of knowledge and learning solutions in ensuring sustainable economic recovery to ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN in the form of a pre-conference workshop: "Moving beyond the Crisis Powered by Knowledge and Learning Solutions – What Is the NEXT Practice?”. This will be held on December 2nd, 2009 between 14:00 and 18:00.
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Training Figures That Speak for Themselves
How can one reduce induction time and substantially lower attrition rates for new recruits? Home entertainment giant Sky found answers to these questions in its new e-learning programme "Get Up to Speed". The customised, on-the-job training portal, designed by Brightwave, helps new recruits to quickly orientate themselves in their still-unfamiliar working environment, thus leading to estimated annual savings of about £700,000. Kenny Henderson, Sky's Head of Talent Development Operations, will present the tool at OEB.
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Workplace Learning at OEB
Repercussions of the recent downturn in the financial sector have been felt heavily in the business world, but anyone with even a modicum of entrepreneurial acumen knows that out of something bad, something good can come. The current climate presents an opportunity to revamp corporate learning and training, swapping traditional and outdated strategies for fresh and innovative ones. What do work-based learning, cloud learning and blended learning entail, and how can they be adapted to suit different business structures? What benefits do open learning and distance learning offer businesses, and how can they be efficiently embedded? At this year’s ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN, questions such as these will be the focus of numerous sessions from expert-led discussions through to real-life case studies, providing a comprehensive theoretical and practical overview of the possibilities.
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E-Learning Supports European Customs in Fight Against Drug Traffickers
The fight against illegal drugs is a high priority for governments and citizens of the EU. The frontline of this campaign involves officers of the EU Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD), who use intelligence, analysis, investigative and legal skills in their efforts to prevent the traffic in illegal drugs from violating EU borders. Caspian Learning has developed training simulations for custom officers that are now being deployed in 27 EU countries.
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Learning Languages at Work: The Best Case Scenario
Traditional language training at the workplace is “expensive and ineffective,” says Timothy Phillips, Managing Director of the Cologne-based company SKYLIGHT GmbH. Together with Henkel, the manufacturer of home-care brands and cosmetics with 52,000 employees worldwide, SKYLIGHT has developed a new blended methodology that makes language learning directly relevant to the business. At OEB, both companies will present the “Scenario Management System” before its official launch in January 2010.
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‘Wyse up’ to Thin Computing - ICT Workplace Solutions not Thin on the Ground
Businesses are facing many challenges in these times of economic uncertainty, when training budgets are tight and performance is increasingly crucial. How can ICT strategies be designed and implemented in order to enhance workplace performance without breaking the bank? Tarkan Maner, President and CEO of Wyse Technology Inc., discusses the nature of thin computing and his belief that it presents a highly customisable and cost-effective solution with significant advantages for the corporate sector.
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E-Learning in Retail
As Head of E-Learning and Knowledge Management at the German supermarket chain real,- SB-Warenhaus GmbH, Olaf Bursian is responsible for implementing an e-learning project for 50,000 employees in more than 280 locations. In a pre-conference workshop, Bursian will share his experiences, present best practice cases and show how the difficulties involved in implementing e-learning in retail can be overcome.
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The Expansion of Moodle
Martin Dougiamas, best known for being “the guy who started Moodle”, understands better than most the challenges and opportunities associated with distance learning. Growing up in the remote Australian desert meant that Martin was educated via “The School of the Air”, being guided by a teacher 600 miles away. Nowadays, such learning is not unusual and Moodle is one of the latest software platforms that encourages self-learning and online community-learning. Dougiamas will participate in a pre-conference workshop and deliver a keynote speech at OEB 2009. In the following interview, he talks about the expansion and future of Moodle.
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How to Turn Students Into Producers
Self-organised vocational training can benefit a lot from the possibilities offered by e-learning. Dr Stephanie Merkenich from the Glass Working Technical School, Rheinbach, and Dirk Dittmann from the Association of Craft Businesses Märkischer Kreis, Germany, showed that devices and tools such as video simulations, wikis and podcasts can develop intrinsic motivations to learn and to teach.
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Best Practice: Hands-on Legal Practice via E-Learning
Blackboard reinforces its commitment to the professional education and institution sectors by bringing its professional education suite to ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN. On Thursday, December 4th, Blackboard will present a client case-study with BPP, a leading provider of professional legal education in the UK, in a lunchtime briefing session.
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Competing in a Global Economy Through Open Education
The education industry must commit itself to becoming more open, says Michael King, Vice President, IBM Education Industry. At this year’s OEB, King will discuss the challenges of open access in globalised education markets in a keynote speech in the plenary on Friday, December 5th.
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Microtraining for Dutch Truck Drivers
The Dutch transport company Van der Wal International wanted to develop a sustainable solution for their learning practices. With support from Delft University of Technology and ACHT Business Innovation, they developed a learning strategy using microtraining as a central learning concept. The truck drivers now use online learning to acquire competencies using the Digital Tachograph, which is a mandatory tool for trucks within the EU since 2006. Peter de Vries from Delft University will present the learning concept at OEB.
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Industry Round Tables on Corporate E-Learning
How can a company add value to its business with e-learning? This question will be handled from very different angles by the presenters of this year’s Industry Round Tables at OEB 2008. The innovative applications that will be presented in this context are designed for employee programmes, institutional education as well as customer retention. Experts come from the medical, biotechnical, pharmaceutical, banking and financial sectors, including Harry Wittenberg from Apple, USA, Dr Mario Po from the Local Health Service Department in Asolo, Italy and Dr Piotr Rypson from Bre Bank in Poland.
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A Need for Clarification, Validation and Inspiration
“Only if leaders encourage knowledge about the technology will the rest of the organisation follow suit”, is the credo of Saul Carliner, a longstanding consultant for e-learning solutions in corporate surroundings. In his soapbox session at OEB 2008, Saul will put forward a methodology on how to optimally prepare those responsible for e-learning deployment in order to prevent costly failures.
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Listen to the Company’s Story
Corporate e-learning must address strategic business objectives of companies and impact the bottom line - the ability of the corporation to create wealth. This year, Online Educa Berlin sets special emphasis on the issue in order to show how small and medium-sized companies, as well as leading multinational companies deal with these challenges effectively.
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eCollaboration – Efficient Teamwork Made by IBM
eCollaboration will be the key theme of IBM Germany´s presentations at this year’s Online Educa Berlin. In a private customer briefing room, IBM experts will give lectures on the benefits of informal learning processes.
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Four Questions on Corporate Learning: John Hudson, Eedo Knowledgeware
Eedo Knowledgeware is a rapidly growing learning software supplier. They provide flexible solutions for global organisations and companies worldwide to manage knowledge transfer across their organisations. Eedo representatives will feature with two recent case studies in this year’s Online Educa Berlin programme. We have asked John Hudson, Eedo Knowledgeware President and CEO, what current trends he sees in corporate training.
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A New Learning Service Concept for Thales Netherlands
Organisations have to manage change processes constantly to compete at the global market. This requires changes to talent management and learning opportunities with the organisation as well – a challenge to learning experts and trainers. The International Training Centre of Thales Netherlands decided to develop a new learning-service concept to be better able to deal with these challenges. Delft University of Technology was the co-operating partner when Thales worked on its new concepts.
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WikiWelten – Learning in Sync with Corporate Life
For Welten, market leader in offering interim professionals for banks and insurance companies in the Netherlands, traditional in-service training - although highly valued - appeared not to be enough to provide optimal service. To foster knowledge sharing and ubiquitous learning the company decided to build its own Wiki. Welten was supported in this project by Online Training Experts from Andriessen en Partners. Paul Westeneng will talk about the Wiki Welten at Online Educa Berlin...
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Tackling the SME Sector
A stunning 99 percent of all European businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In fact, this rubric encompasses 23 million businesses that provide jobs for 75 million Europeans. Bringing e-learning as part of continuing education and training into this huge market remains a challenge. Online Educa Berlin features examples of robust e-learning models from Belgium, Finland, Greece and Spain aimed at meeting the needs of SMEs regardless of size or sector.
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Global Benchmarking Survey for Leadership Development at OEB
Sue Todd, Corporate University Xchange President and Senior Researcher, USA, will present the findings from The Corporate University Xchange 8th Annual Global Benchmarking Study on Learning and Development. The study assesses the ability of more than 300 global organisations to execute business strategy … and Corporate University Xchange is extending a special offer to encourage your participation in the study!
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Berlin – City of Knowledge
An innovative e-learning project has been established under the umbrella of the Berlin Senate’s “Future Project” Initiative, co-financed by the European Structural Funds. It targets SMEs, which are often said to be a market for e-learning that has yet to be discovered. The project designs and supports several customized approaches for the introduction of technology-supported training to smaller companies.
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Speed It Up: E-Learning in the Semantic Age
“I don’t have the time for this!” Does this sound familiar to you when comes to learning? Lack of time is one of the main reasons given by businesses for not investing in learning. Therefore learning processes need to be fast, just in time, and transparent. How can e-learning support employees in their adoption new knowledge and expertise without going through time-consuming learning processes? How can we benefit from technology-enhanced learning in order to solve concrete problems within complex situations in businesses? Learn and give input regarding the answers to these questions and more at a session lead by Michael Haertel from BIBB, Germany, focusing on “E-learning in the Semantic Age” at this year’s ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN.
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Learning at the Workplace
Most of our learning at the workplace takes place in informal ways. Learning providers as well as companies and organisations have to consider this fact when they plan to deliver training to their staff. IBM has developed a reference architecture for learning that supports informal learning. Dr. Yael Ravin, who leads IBM’s worldwide research in learning and workforce management, will highlight IBM’s activities in her keynote speech in the plenary session on Informal Learning.
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The Next Wave – Viewpoint by Jonathon Levy
The inherent knowledge of our workforce is destined to become one of the most important assets of the global market place, observes Jonathon Levy, Senior Learning Strategist with Monitor Group, USA. Virtual collaboration could be the right means to capture this resource.
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