According to research from e-learning company Brightwave, two thirds of UK public sector L&D and training professionals expect to improve the level of service they can deliver to their organisations by increasing e-learning and collaborative working.
The survey found that 88% plan to increase their use of e-learning in order to meet new government cost reduction targets. A further 58% predict more collaborative working and 49% will reduce classroom-based training to help cut costs.
Brightwave says the projected increase in the use of e-learning has continued to grow, increasing by 76% since the company started its benchmarking survey nearly two years ago. At the start of 2009 only half of L&D professionals expected to increase the use of e-learning, whereas 88% currently anticipate an increase. In addition, Brightwave says more L&D professionals expect to collaborate - rising from 42% saying they expect to take this approach in 2009, to nearly 60% who currently expect more collaborative working.
Brightwave's survey polled HR, e-learning and training specialists in local government during September 2010.
Charles Gould, managing director at Brightwave, said: "The age of austerity is clearly having a deep impact on the way we all work, both in the private and public sector. The role and anticipated use of e-learning is growing, but we must be careful not to look at learning technologies as simply a way to cut costs. Quality e-learning initiatives with engaging content that address clear organisational objectives are crucial to delivering real value.
"In fact, many Councils are already working together and building their e-learning services to deliver engaging and effective training. We recently met a number of Scottish Councils in Glasgow for an event on 'delivering change'. They are embracing this technology and finding ways to collaborate."
City of Edinburgh Council, who contributed to Brightwave's recent 'delivering change' event, established the City of Edinburgh Council Interactive Learning (CECiL) service four years ago to provide online learning for Council employees using Brightwave's Local Government E-Learning Service as its platform.
Paul McGhee, leadership and development manager at the City of Edinburgh Council said: "Our e-learning platform, CECiL, has substantially reduced the costs in providing training. To date savings have amounted to over £800k.
"It has enabled high volume training delivery at lower cost and greater speed, facilitated a quicker response to educating policy and procedural change, and improved the quality and diversity of training and development options available. It has also freed up valuable time enabling the corporate learning team to move to a more consultancy led, bespoke service, adding increased value across the organisation."
miércoles, 23 de febrero de 2011
New road safety evaluation website launched
A free website that aims to help road safety practitioners evaluate their education, training and publicity activities was launched today by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and the Department for Transport.
At the heart of the Road Safety Evaluation website (www.roadsafetyevaluation.com) is 'E-valu-it' - an interactive tool designed to help practitioners plan, carry out, and report the results of education, training and publicity (ETP) evaluations. The site also includes background information and guidance about evaluation.
It was developed after it was found that, while evaluation of road safety engineering was already an established discipline, road safety practitioners faced difficulties in evaluating their ETP activities.
Mike Penning, road safety minister, said: "In the current economic climate everyone wants to make sure they are spending taxpayers' money in the most effective way. To do that it is vital organisations can accurately evaluate all activities - whether they are road engineering measures or education campaigns.
"This new website will allow local authorities to assess the value of education, training and publicity activities, which will in turn help them to design high quality schemes and target them where they will have the most impact. I am delighted that we have been able to work with RoSPA to develop this invaluable tool and I hope it will be widely used by road safety practitioners."
Kevin Clinton, RoSPA's head of road safety, said: "It is recognised that it is much harder to evaluate road safety ETP than road safety engineering. But it is more important than ever that we are able to demonstrate the effectiveness of what we do. The sharing of such information is also important - road safety practitioners have much to learn from each other about interventions that have worked and also those that have been less successful."
To enable knowledge to be shared, RoSPA says E-valu-it encourages users to publish their final reports on www.roadsafetyevaluation.com, as well as on the Road Safety Knowledge Centre website and their own organisations' websites.
Twelve regional workshops, involving the DfT, RoSPA and local authorities across Britain, are being held as part of the website's development.
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
Department for Transport
At the heart of the Road Safety Evaluation website (www.roadsafetyevaluation.com) is 'E-valu-it' - an interactive tool designed to help practitioners plan, carry out, and report the results of education, training and publicity (ETP) evaluations. The site also includes background information and guidance about evaluation.
It was developed after it was found that, while evaluation of road safety engineering was already an established discipline, road safety practitioners faced difficulties in evaluating their ETP activities.
Mike Penning, road safety minister, said: "In the current economic climate everyone wants to make sure they are spending taxpayers' money in the most effective way. To do that it is vital organisations can accurately evaluate all activities - whether they are road engineering measures or education campaigns.
"This new website will allow local authorities to assess the value of education, training and publicity activities, which will in turn help them to design high quality schemes and target them where they will have the most impact. I am delighted that we have been able to work with RoSPA to develop this invaluable tool and I hope it will be widely used by road safety practitioners."
Kevin Clinton, RoSPA's head of road safety, said: "It is recognised that it is much harder to evaluate road safety ETP than road safety engineering. But it is more important than ever that we are able to demonstrate the effectiveness of what we do. The sharing of such information is also important - road safety practitioners have much to learn from each other about interventions that have worked and also those that have been less successful."
To enable knowledge to be shared, RoSPA says E-valu-it encourages users to publish their final reports on www.roadsafetyevaluation.com, as well as on the Road Safety Knowledge Centre website and their own organisations' websites.
Twelve regional workshops, involving the DfT, RoSPA and local authorities across Britain, are being held as part of the website's development.
External links
Road Safety Evaluation websiteRoyal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
Department for Transport
UK businesses are failing employees on training, says survey
According to research commissioned by IT and business skills provider Global Knowledge, businesses are failing to meet the career aspirations and training needs of their employees.
The survey found that despite 72% of employees viewing learning and development opportunities as just as important as salary when choosing their next job, many still face barriers from their employers in getting the training they want.
The survey also suggests that many businesses risk wastage by failing to effectively monitor the return on investment of their training.
The results were taken from over 700 respondents who were either responsible for learning and development, or employees within IT and commercial departments. According to the research, 57% of employees claimed they weren't being given the budget for learning and development opportunities. A further 49% of those surveyed stated they couldn't get the time off work to train.
Of the businesses that did invest in training, Global Knowledge says many fail to effectively monitor the ROI of the investments they're making:
"In tough economic times, it's more important than ever that employers help their staff to grow and innovate. Failure to invest in training places a burden on employees, many of whom are relying on their skills to remain employable and maintain career progression. These results would suggest that employers are badly letting them down."
The survey also assessed the uptake of the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). The SFIA can help organisations to identify the skills they need and match them to relevant courses. While 57% of organisations wanted to know about the SFIA, only 9% were in the process of implementing it and just 13% said it was already widely used the SFIA.
"Initiatives like the SFIA can help in aligning IT training to business goals so it's surprising that so many companies are failing to adopt it in a climate where you would have expected them to be accounting for every penny," Allan added. "It's clear that employers really should be doing more to invest in training, otherwise they'll face challenges of staff retention, motivation and encouraging innovation."
The survey found that despite 72% of employees viewing learning and development opportunities as just as important as salary when choosing their next job, many still face barriers from their employers in getting the training they want.
The survey also suggests that many businesses risk wastage by failing to effectively monitor the return on investment of their training.
The results were taken from over 700 respondents who were either responsible for learning and development, or employees within IT and commercial departments. According to the research, 57% of employees claimed they weren't being given the budget for learning and development opportunities. A further 49% of those surveyed stated they couldn't get the time off work to train.
Of the businesses that did invest in training, Global Knowledge says many fail to effectively monitor the ROI of the investments they're making:
- 21% of businesses said their company didn't check that learning had been effective
- 53% said they relied on observation to check new skills. Just 5% of employers asked employees to complete online post-learning assessments
- Only 26% had follow-up discussions with staff to assess the value of the training they'd done
"In tough economic times, it's more important than ever that employers help their staff to grow and innovate. Failure to invest in training places a burden on employees, many of whom are relying on their skills to remain employable and maintain career progression. These results would suggest that employers are badly letting them down."
The survey also assessed the uptake of the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). The SFIA can help organisations to identify the skills they need and match them to relevant courses. While 57% of organisations wanted to know about the SFIA, only 9% were in the process of implementing it and just 13% said it was already widely used the SFIA.
"Initiatives like the SFIA can help in aligning IT training to business goals so it's surprising that so many companies are failing to adopt it in a climate where you would have expected them to be accounting for every penny," Allan added. "It's clear that employers really should be doing more to invest in training, otherwise they'll face challenges of staff retention, motivation and encouraging innovation."
External links
Global Knowledge UK
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)