Where it achieves these things, performance improves and the organisation gains a competitive advantage.

Operational perspective

From an operational point of view, managers want to do and achieve more with less – working faster, better and/or quicker. They want to retain and develop their employees as well as address any regulatory requirements. This should result in increasing efficiency and productivity, reduced risk and increased customer satisfaction.

Chief executive officers want:

•             Revenue generation

•             Customer retention

•             Increasing market share

•             Competitive advantage

•             Reduced time to market

•             A lower number of ‘product recalls’

•             Reduced risk

•             Reduced costs

It’s helpful to align the organisation’s learning management system (LMS) to one or more of these factors. For example, you could show that ‘doing things better’ because workers are better trained will help retain customers and, by spending less time away from their desks doing training/ learning, the workers can serve more customers and increase their satisfaction with the organisation and its products.

The key is to align the learning business plan to the business’ goals – otherwise the business won’t put any money into an LMS.

But which comes first: the system or the content? Any system – such as an LMS, learning content management system (LCMS) or learning experience platform (LXP) – without learning content is like having air traffic control without aeroplanes, filing cabinets without paper, bookshelves without books or a fully fitted kitchen without any knowledge of how to cook.

Until you have learning content and people using it to learn things, there’s no point in trying to manage it.

LMS return on investment

Agreeing an accurate return on investment (ROI) from an LMS is difficult, principally because it’s impossible to measure the LMS’s ROI in isolation from every other factor.

There are only three ways to make money – and realise a positive ROI. You can buy things for less; sell them for more – or steal them. So, is learning content ever going to produce an ROI? Is ‘management’ going to bring an ROI? Is there even a breakeven point for ‘management’? Management is indivisible and, like premises, is a fixed cost of operating. Its costs can’t be apportioned fairly to different aspects of the business, such as learning.

An LMS is only ever part of making your organisation operate efficiently and effectively. It is not the entire solution. However, if you take any one of the seven factors that impact on a business – sales force productivity; customer and partner training; developing and retaining employees; regulatory compliance; enterprise software implementations; quality initiatives, and strategic communications – an LMS should be shown to pay for itself within a year.

Moreover, having bought an LMS, how do you decide whether it was money well spent? Do you evaluate this in terms of the cost per user or the cost per lesson? How do you measure the ROI? And do you merely want the system to ‘break even’ in terms of an ROI or to do more? Maybe you should look at the number of learning events in the system rather than the number of users?

If you have, say, 500 users doing ten learning events a day, you can manage this without having recourse to a ‘system’ – but 500 users doing thousands of learning events each day will be unmanageable without a system.

Acquiring a ‘system’

A typical decision process to acquire a management system involves having the evaluation of the requirement, a request for information (RFI) and a request for a quotation (RFQ). You go to shows, get brochures and, mainly, do research via the internet, reading articles such as this one.

If you ask vendors – and every one of them is always a ‘leader in the field’ – they’ll say that you should buy their product. But vendors are really saying, ‘buy my product because it’s the only one I have’, rather than ‘buy my product because it’s the best’. Of course, any system is the best there is if it fits exactly with what you want it to do.

You should go to the market with an RFI; yet many buyers make the mistake of going for an RFQ first. Once you have the information, you need to match it to your requirements and then – once you’ve found a product that matches your requirements – go for an RFQ.

The question is, which vendor do you trust?

There are four types of vendor in this market: those which are product-led; consultancy-led; ‘manufacturer-offered’ and ‘independent-offered’. Each will have a different ‘angle’ and it’s worth bearing that angle in mind when dealing with each of them.

You could make your buying decision on how many industry awards these vendors have won. However, you need to remember that, in this field, industry awards go to those who propose themselves for them – and other ‘league tables’ are based on revenue. This means that the most expensive companies are at the top!

You need to decide whether the most expensive companies are the best and whether the best instructional designer is the one with ‘the most colours in the box’.

Top ten purchasing mistakes

The top ten purchasing mistakes in the learning sector are:

• Skirting senior management until it’s too late (and so failing to get management ‘buy in’ to the project)
• Failing to spell out exactly what you need the management system to do.
• Comparing ‘apples’ and ‘oranges’.
• Excluding the in-house IT department until it’s too late.
• Focusing on price rather than value – the ROI focuses on price, whereas you should be asking what value is attached to the project and, so, assess the ‘value return’, not the return on price.
• Overlooking scalability.
• Ignoring LMS interoperability – in other words, falling into the trap of having more than one LMS in your organisation and the systems not communicating with each other, thus reducing the value of having these LMSs.
• The vendor’s track record – you should ask to speak to a vendor’s dissatisfied customers as well as their satisfied ones.
• Automating dated business processes – you need to understand whether you’re merely automating what already exists or are introducing a system that will enable the organisation to make progress.

A checklist

A checklist for getting the ‘right’ management system for your organisation is:

• Decide what’s available to you.
• Involve everyone.
• Learn the industry jargon.
• Speak to those who’ve implemented other systems and find out what benefit they expected – and what they actually received.
• Design your own RFI. Ask yourself: ‘does this system already do what I want or does it have to be created? If it has to be created, you’re at ‘version 1.0’ again and you would be right to become cautious.
• Compare like with like.
• Create your own RFQ.
• Speak to the clients (those who’ll actually be using the system).
• Re-evaluate from the top down – then ask yourself, ‘is this the right thing for us?’ If it is, sign the cheque.

About Bob Little

Having graduated from the University of Wales with a BSc in economics, Bob Little became a journalist and editor specialising in the corporate training/ learning sector. In May 1990, having founded his own public relations business, he was introduced to what became the corporate online learning technologies industry and has worked in this sector – worldwide – ever since as a writer, commentator and publicist.

Bob has advised many organisations around the world – ranging from niche companies to large, multi-national enterprises, including BBC Worldwide (UK), the Tata Group (India) and Lattanzio Group (Italy). He has spoken at conferences on corporate learning in the UK, the USA, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Germany. He has also chaired corporate learning-related conferences in the UK, the USA, Croatia, Germany and Australia. His current clients include eCom Learning Solutions (https://ecomlearningsolutions.com/). eCom, which produces the eNetLearn LMS, creates innovative learning solutions – aimed at increasing learning engagement and driving productivity – to help organisations achieve their goals.

In particular, technology-delivered assessment – eAssessment – offers organisations cost savings, greater convenience and ease of marking compared with a traditional paper-based assessments. Moreover, in addition to speeding up qualification-awarding process, eAssessment can be less open to manipulation – making it more reliable and trustworthy in terms of regulatory and compliance issues.

According to Linda Steedman, CEO of the digital learning and assessment specialist, eCom Scotland, organisations that use eAssessment can benefit in ten ways:

1. Administration is reduced. Before the exam, eAssessment saves time on printing and distributing exam documentation. Relevant information can be sent via email and, depending on the question types used, L&D professionals don’t need to spend hours marking papers and coordinating the delivery of results. Furthermore, an eAssessment solution which includes digital micro-credentialing – where digital ‘badges’ are issued to recognise skills and knowledge gained – avoids logistical challenges involved with issuing paper certificates. For security, micro-credentials include a unique code and meta-data allowing accredited centres, potential employers, organisations and individuals to confirm the credentials are valid and identify the credential-issuing organisation.
2. Trainers can develop candidates’ competency. With eAssessment, L&D professionals can spend longer developing a candidate’s future skills because they spend less time preparing and marking exams. Most modern assessment systems – including eCom Scotland’s eNetAssess – allow developers to create a large question bank which can be set so every candidate gets a random selection of questions. This helps minimise question order bias and improve the assessment’s overall quality. Question bank compilers can work collaboratively, regardless of where they are in the world, to update or add questions to keep the question bank fresh and relevant.
3. Tools to create accessible assessments. Using eAssessments, L&D professionals can make assessments accessible – for example, by changing background color or font size. The platform can be programmed to allocate extra time to specific candidates, if required. Tools such as navigation features and screen readers can be used to aid understanding along with other tools, such as voice recognition, that help with question answering. Not limited to the assessment stage, these tools can be applied to the digital learning materials made available before the eAssessment is taken. These changes in tutor practice and IT infrastructure can enhance – and transform – the way a person learns.
4. Reporting. Using eAssessment gives organisations access to quick, clear reports on each candidate’s progress, identifying areas of strength and areas for further learning. L&D professionals can generate reports on how questions are being answered – to spot questions that may need changing, because they are too easy or difficult. Reports can be generated on assessment completion rates across the organisation and by department – to provide accurate, up-to-date reports for compliance/ regulatory purposes.
5. Assessment becomes eco-friendly. Going paperless – via eAssessment – eliminates printing and transporting exam-related papers. There’s less need to travel to and from exam locations – so organisations’ and candidates’ carbon footprints are greatly reduced.
6. Candidates get direct, immediate feedback. Many professionals believe that feedback is most effective when delivered as soon as possible after both formative and summative assessments. Automatic marking reduces marking time. In some cases, results can be delivered to candidates on the day of the assessment. This helps L&D professionals assess large numbers of candidates more easily. It also allows candidates to re-book immediately any tests they haven’t passed. This can be particularly helpful where compliance/regulatory issues are concerned.
7. Taking exams digitally is now preferred. Globally, people are increasingly accustomed to using technology. Using technological devices as part of our daily lives, both at work and leisure, means we’re familiar with this way of working and are, arguably, now more comfortable interacting via technology than with paper and pen. eAssessments could even make candidates more relaxed and engaged when taking exams.
8. Increased security. While managing and maintaining the security and safety of traditional exam paperwork can be stressful, many L&D professionals are sceptical about ensuring security with eAssessments. The best of todays’ eAssessment platforms – including eNetAssess – store all data safely and securely. For example, eNetAssess prevents candidates navigating to other websites, closing down the browser or opening any applications. It uses the latest encryption techniques and employs new security tools as they become available.
9. Offering flexibility, scalability and worldwide reach. Easily scaled to meet the needs of any size of organisation, eAssessments enable candidates, regardless of location, to take exams via mobile phone, tablet or PC. So, candidates can use the most convenient device for them or one that best suits the assessment type. Moreover, some eAssessment platforms, including eNetAssess, offer a secure offline option, enabling testing centres with internet connectivity issues to offer the same eAssessment experience as those using online assessment.
10. Notable cost savings. According to eCom Scotland’s calculations, switching to eAssessment can reduce costs by up to 43 per cent. Traditionally, key areas of assessment that incur cost are:
    • Creation -Test design, item development and subject matter experts’ travel expenses.
    • Production –Printing, collating, posting papers and handling these papers at the testing centre.
    • Delivery -Venue and equipment hire, security, special needs adaptation, and posting papers to the test administrators’ headquarters.
    • Invigilator and Administration –Invigilators’ and test administrators’ costs.
    • Travel for quality assurance/site audit -Hotel costs, subsistence and travel.
    • Marking and scoring -Posting papers to the markers; marking assessments; posting papers from markers to administration centres, and post-marking moderation activity.
    • Certification -Certificate creation and posting.

“In addition,” believes Linda Steedman, “eAssessment can encourage active learning, especially when the assessment delivery is innovative and engaging. Using visuals and audio can help candidates focus on the exam subject matter, rather than looking at a long string of words, page after page – which can strain the brain. Content can have a variety of question types, making it easier to suit all types of assessment needs.”

By Bob Little

Author biography
Bob Little is a UK-based writer, commentator and publicist, specialising in the corporate learning industry. Introduced to the corporate online learning technologies industry in May 1990, Bob now works globally, advising and helping promote organisations including the digital learning and assessment specialist, eCom Scotland, which creates solutions aimed at increasing learning engagement and driving productivity to help organisations achieve their goals.

Now there is, thanks to collaboration between eCom Scotland – the digital learning and assessment specialist with offices in Dunfermline, Scotland, and Athens, Georgia, in the USA – and Operations Geoscience International Competency Assessment (OGICA). The result of this collaboration is an online assessment tool – powered by eCom’s online assessment system, eNetAssess – which, among other things, allows individuals to benchmark their skills.

Wendy Edie, eCom’s Managing Director, commented, “Given the international nature of the oil and gas sector and the 24-hour nature of its work, OGICA needed a digital solution that candidates could access at any time, from any location. The tool eCom developed is helping to demonstrably increase the standard of professionalism in these roles. OGICA supplied the industry-focused expertise in developing the tool’s content and this is backed by eCom’s many years’ experience in developing eAssessment systems.

“Using the tool, operational geoscientists can assess themselves against the skills framework – via a randomised series of multiple-choice questions,” she continued. “As well as enabling users to progress to competency management systems relevant to their organisation, the tool also identifies any industry-related knowledge and skills gaps they have – to help with their continuing professional development (CPD) and on-going lifelong learning”. 

In addition to OGICA engaging with several major international operators who are currently exploring how the framework can support their activities, one major oil and gas company is now using the framework, in-house, in the Middle East. 

“The United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia – the three largest global producers of oil – produced some 33m barrels of oil per day in 2019, which is some 54% of total world production,” Wendy explained. “We’re confident of developing the market for this tool, particularly among the world’s top oil and gas producers because it provides an objective assessment of these key professionals’ knowledge and skills”.

Taking a strategic view of the oil and gas sector, eCom’s External Relations Director, Helen Robertson, observed, “Being such a safety-conscious, highly-regulated industry, organisations in the gas industry are missing out if they don’t take advantage of the benefits of innovative learning and assessment technologies – including virtual reality (VR) – to develop their workforce’s knowledge, skills and competence faster, more effectively and more cost-efficiently. Moreover, those who suffer most from this overly-traditional approach to corporate learning, development and assessment are the industry’s customers – the public.

“For example, as eCom knows from first-hand experience, many industries which also place great emphasis on safety are using VR – including eCom’s Cloud-based VR authoring tool, eNetReality – to develop their workforce’s competency in a safe learning environment. This includes using online learning materials and objective assessments which can be delivered on any device – from immersive headsets to mobile devices and desktop computer.”

Helen Robertson’s eCom colleague, the Learning Technologies Specialist, Emma Dickson said, “The use of online videoconferencing tools is playing a big role in the ‘new normal’ for remote observational assessments – often because organisations now see both time and cost saving efficiencies with the removal of travel from the assessment process. The pervasive use of mobile devices has allowed online observational assessment to become a reality and organisations are inventing new ways to use this delivery model. Our experience is where assessors, typically, use a mobile device to interact with the candidates.

“Organisations then get an immediate view of all assessment taking place and can see how each assessment group is performing. They can set up global marking schemes, independent of assessors, that provide scores on selected criteria to produce standardised, fairer results across defined target groups.”

In Helen Robertson’s view, “Investing in digital technologies creates efficiencies necessary for long-term, sustainable growth in a new energy world. Relying on technology to keep accurate training records helps with compliance and contributes to an increase in employee safety. Moreover, it reduces costs and ‘lost time’, improves time-to-market, maintains workers’ credentials and increases safety – for workers and their customers.”

By Bob Little

Bob Little is a UK-based writer, commentator and publicist, specialising in the corporate learning industry. Introduced to the corporate online learning technologies industry in May 1990, Bob now works globally, advising and helping promote organisations including the digital learning and assessment specialist, eCom Scotland, which creates solutions aimed at increasing learning engagement and driving productivity to help organisations achieve their goals.

Znalost angličtiny a dalších jazyků – tím míníme tu opravdovou, poctivou znalost – je vstupenkou do zcela jiného života. Jaký je to život? Sami to zajisté tušíte…

Především je to život zajímavý: mohu si přečíst nejnovější informace ze všech oborů v angličtině neprodleně po jejich zveřejnění.

Dále je to život plný příležitostí: mohu reagovat na jakoukoliv pracovní nabídku. Pouhé porovnání pracovních pozic s angličtinou a bez angličtiny poskytuje okamžitý přehled o tom, jaká bude vaše životní úroveň.

Chcete se vydat na vědeckou dráhu? Bez angličtiny se členem mezinárodního vědeckého týmu nestanete, bez angličtiny asi jen těžko něco vynaleznete, neboť nejnovější informace ze všech oborů jsou publikovány v angličtině.

Chcete cestovat? Znalost angličtiny vám to velmi usnadní. Nebudete se bát cestovat sami, všechny nápisy pro vás budou srozumitelné, ale především si budete moci skutečně popovídat s lidmi v dané destinaci, což může být nejen zajímavé, obohacující, ale může to být zdrojem nových příležitostí.

Chcete si založit strojírenskou firmu? Ano, velmi potřebné, ale vaši nejlukrativnější zákazníci vám budou zasílat poptávky i výkresy v angličtině. Chcete si pořídit moderní strojní vybavení? Software bude většinou pouze v angličtině. Znalost angličtiny bude vaší velkou konkurenční výhodou.

…a tak bychom mohli pokračovat, neboť každé povolání od diplomata po kadeřnici je plné zajímavých příležitostí, pokud dobře zvládáte angličtinu a ideálně ještě minimálně jeden cizí jazyk.

A jak se angličtinu učíme v současnosti?

Představy většiny lidí o studiu cizího jazyka je plné zastaralých představ a mýtů, které dnes již nemají své opodstatnění. Dnešní zajímavá doba plná technologických vychytávek nám poskytuje celou škálu možností, jak se učit efektivně. Odborníci na výuku jazyků uplatňují celou řadu nových metodických postupů, které studujícího dovedou k cíli mnohem rychleji, než tomu bylo dříve.

Bez slovíček to nepůjde

Na běžnou domluvu s cizincem toho nepotřebujeme moc a vystačíme si s některou chytrou mobilní aplikací. Ale na uskutečnění některého z vysněných cílů to bez studia slovíček skutečně nepůjde. Jejich znalost, automatické vybavování v momentě, kdy je potřebuji, a schopnost přesně vyjádřit svou myšlenku nám dává určitý druh svobody v našem vyjadřování a minimálně skvělý pocit.

Seznamte se s novými studijními pomůckami

Jednou z nich je software na testování slovní zásoby DRILL s automatických vyhodnocením úspěšnosti. Stačí být dobře vybaven a můžete efektivně využívat čas potřebný ke studiu. Všechno půjde tak rychle, že budete sami překvapeni svými skvělými výsledky.

Je to opravdu jednoduché…stačí si nainstalovat program na testování slovíček

https://www.educationshop.cz/41-program-na-testovani-slovni…

a vybrat slovíčka pro malé i velké ve formě připravených databází pro program DRILL.

https://www.educationshop.cz/8-databaze-slovicek-pro-drill

A jak na to? Podívejte se, jak se učí celá rodina a ještě u toho mají zábavu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URj8nOHrFUY&t=17s

A máme pro vás tip: pokud jste nenašli mezi nabízenými databázemi právě tu vaši učebnici, máte dvě možnosti: buď si databázi se slovíčky vyrobíte sami (program je dostatečně flexibilní), nebo nám napište, o kterou učebnici se přesně jedná. Víme, že to je někdy obtížné, mnoho zahraničních učebnic používaných na našich školách a jazykových kurzech nedisponuje anglicko-českým slovníčkem. Stále pracujeme na dalších databázích, abychom mohli uspokojit co největší počet našich klientů.

A možná ještě jeden tip pro rodiče: až přijdete domů z práce, vaše ratolesti se mohou hned pochlubit „print screenem“ (fotografie obrazovky) s výsledkem jejich práce na nové lekci (na kolik % byli úspěšní), což může být velmi zajímavý výchovný motivační nástroj.

Máte další otázku? Neváhejte a napište na drillotazka@educationonline.cz  .

Za tým spolupracovníků Education online vám přeje hodně úspěchů v efektivním studiu

Ladislava Knihová

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