President Obama Called for a Strategy

A strong commitment to the development of alternative energy has been made by President Barack Obama. In a recent radio address, the President called for a strategy "that relies less on foreign oil and more on American made energy". These renewable energy sources, which include solar and wind power, will not only help wean the United States. from fossil fuels, but create thousands of new American jobs. Solar training of these workers will be an important part in expanding alternative energy sources.

The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) is a volunteer organization that is also committed to the continued development of renewable energy. It is comprised of members dedicated to this issue, including policy makers, educational organizations and clean energy industries. Its commitment includes the establishment of NABCEP certification standards of programs offered to those interested in this rapidly expanding field. 

Top 7 Reasons to Use an iPad in the Classroom

Many schools, colleges, and universities are introducing iPads in classrooms. The reason being educational institutions have now understood the importance of using such a mobile gadget in the classroom. Students cannot carry a PC to the campus nor can access the internet all the time because of frequent failures of wireless signals. Besides, there are only a handful of learners carrying a laptop. The recent tablet /PCs are delicate to handle and also quite expensive.

From such a standpoint, iPads seem to be the ideal choice for schools. It is extremely handy, affordable and most importantly acts as a computer/ebook reader/internet tool that can do almost everything from video or sound editing to creating spreadsheets and emailing.

Let's have a look at the top 7 reasons to use an iPad in the classroom.

How Far Has Smartphones Influenced Higher Education?

According to Nielsen, the leading US research firm, around 46% of people surveyed in Q4 2011 has been found to own a smartphone. Thus, with a majority of people having a smartphone, its influence is obviously reaching out to school and college campuses not only in USA, but across the world. Today, school and college goers are using a smartphone for a variety of purposes.

QR Codes

QR codes are square shaped images with black and white designs. They are used for several reasons such as: to create website links, store phone numbers, email ids, direction, and so on. Many universities are allowing their students to scan the QR codes using their smartphone cameras to be directed to the institute's website featuring a brief history of the campus area.

How a Training-Specific Analysis Should Be Conducted

Before conducting a corporate training session, organizations always focus on carrying out a training-specific analysis. The primary objective of conducting this analysis program is to identify and evaluate the gap between the expected and the current performance of its employees.

According to training co-coordinators, a performance analysis program is the first step towards a successful training program. It helps in indentifying the deficiencies therefore assists in designing training programs to cater to requirement of filling the gap between the actual and expected performance. The analysis program enables the training manager to determine the training objectives and plan a process flow as per the learners' requirement. Thus, they can design a training program, which is relevant to the company's workforce.

How Can You Attend a Course Anytime and From Anywhere?

From my real-life perspective, I have understood that there are millions of people who want to attend a presentation, meeting or class, but are unable to do so because of geographical constraints or time limits. They want to learn more or sharpen their business skill-sets, but do not find supportive environment to help them to fulfill their dreams. Since the last decade, the world has witnessed major technological changes. Nowadays, distance is no longer a barrier for a hands-on approach. Anyone anytime can do or learn online, defying time constraints and location boundaries.

Conducting classes or courses online has re-defined the way knowledge was traditionally imparted by our teachers. Classrooms exist even today, but the way of teaching and learning has changed. Technology is playing a tremendous role in bringing courses or training programs within easy reach disregarding the time and location barriers completely.

Use Learning Management Software for Instructor-Led Training

According to training experts, the best method of delivering knowledge to students are via Instructor-led training or ILT. The instructors can help learners to understand the minute details of any subject and provide assistance in comprehending difficult topics without hassles. However, conducting an instructor-led training session often becomes difficult due to geographical boundaries. In such circumstances, a Learning Management System can provide a reasonable solution.

A lot of corporate organizations are resorting to Learning Management Systems with ILT (instructor-led training) capabilities to conduct enterprise-oriented training sessions. With such a system, knowledge is delivered through study materials moderated by a teacher. Moreover, the teacher or the instructor can control the distribution of the study content to a number of remotely located learners simultaneously.

Trainings Are Now More Interesting With Learning Management Systems

Learning Management System is quite a common term in the education and training scenario these days. In a technology-driven training environment, the use of this software system has become a trend. Enterprises of all sizes are resorting to this system to impart training in a cost-effective and convenient manner. Besides providing necessary study materials, the software helps generate reports, tracks student progress, results, and so on. Training co-coordinators can reduce up to 50% of their back-office workload thus delivering training in a streamlined way.

Nowadays, employees no longer need to travel to attend training seminars, as participation can be from the comfort of their home. Thus, having a software platform is important, not only for the money it saves, but also for delivering quality product and convenience. 

How Can You Use QR Codes for Teaching and Learning?

Before I go on to discuss the methods of using QR codes in the educational sector, let's quickly review what a QR code is in the first place. QR codes or Quick Response codes include a two-dimensional space to store texts or website URLs, accessing which certain information is generated. Previously, only businesses used such codes in their product labels, billboards, etc. for advertising or tracking purpose. But nowadays, we see a number of educational institutions using such codes for a variety of reason.

Many teachers/instructors are using codes in slide presentations to direct students to websites where the slide is actually given or where extra information can be found. In England, Andy Ramsden of Bath University tried to find ways to use QR codes in an academic environment. 

How to Scale Your Training Programs for Enhanced Learning?

Corporate enterprises worldwide host a lot of training programs to nurture the skills of their leaders and employees. With company rules and policies undergoing quick changes to meet the growing needs of the customers, you have no other choice but to organize series of training sessions. MNCs, as the name implies, don't have just one office but several offices scattered all over the globe. They need their staff to travel to the training site in order to participate. Even though this may not be an impossible task but definitely it is an expensive and time consuming one.

In such situations how about going for a software application that will help to conduct your training over the internet! You know it's very convenient to manage trainings online. Arrange a hassle-free, flexible session that all your prospective attendees will be encouraged to attend.

E-Learning 2.0 - The Latest Technology in Education

Much has been written about technology being used in education - how the use of online applications is rapidly spreading out in traditional classrooms, etc. Before the advent of e-learning 2.0, teachers delivered learning materials and instructions via lectures and assignments. However, the new type of e-learning has brought forth the concepts of wikis, blogs, and social media, to name a few. Teachers in various district schools and colleges have started to explore the potentiality of social media and blogs to conduct classes and courses online.

Social Media

Use commercial social networking websites in schools and libraries to impart education easily and quickly. For example, you can create a profile page on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. to post and share information with large numbers of students and parents. 

Make Training Programs Productive With Learning Management System

Training programs are intended to offer new knowledge to learners, which can be used to deliver better results in terms of performance. However, most training programs cannot cope up with the changing trends in the Learning and Development industry. Thus, employees are unable to apply their knowledge in practicality as per demands. Today, training organizers are continuously looking for effective ways to make training programs productive and purposeful. So how can they achieve this?

Experts believe, that using an integrated Learning Management System can help in making an employee training program highly effective. How does it actually help in delivering knowledge in the best possible way? Take a look here.

Pre training scenario

Myth: College Is A Four Year Degree

As I age, I tire more easily of comments made by politicians and others who benefitted from college out of high school. I do not want to sound as if I degrade them, but in reality more like I envy them. Truth is, most of us can benefit from college starting today.

I cruised through high school. I knew I would never reach college if for no other reason than my Father could never afford the cost. What I never realized was the HOW part of getting into college. Had I known then what I know now...yep, we all heard those phrases.

My first college course came while serving the Navy overseas. College English classes contracted by the Navy. I discovered college was not all that tough. Imagine, a kid that cruised through high school finding college level work relatively within my ability, and I could afford the class (mind you I mean just A class). I strutted around like a peacock.