As part of my New Year plan I am upgrading all of the technology including website and blog location. This blog will in future be found at the following address:

http://logicoolsolutions.com/learnDoMasterChallenge/

Please go there now and subscribe to the new RSS Feed located at the top right hand side of the page. I am still fiddling with the design as the new system allows me a great deal more flexibility and I would like to ensure that you are getting the best service possible. If you have comments please post them at the new blog.

Anybody who was a guest author last year will need to let me know if you want to author an article. I just need to set up your access.

My company webpage has also moved so you may want to bookmark the following address:

www.logicoolsolutions.com

2010 will be a great year and I intend to provide more information, services and video content. Please let other interested trainers, teachers, educators and coaches about the website and new blog and please let me know what you want me to cover. I am always interested in your ideas

I hope that everyone has a great Christmas and New Year. Episode 6 in the training tips 56 series has just been uploaded to the net and can be found at this link. If you are having trouble finding a gift for a trainer then this episode has a big tip for you. Please let me know what you think and also if you have any ideas for future episodes.

In case you didn’t notice it Episode 5 has been released today of Training Tips 56. It’s all about being different and not boring. Check it out at this location. Don’t miss next weeks special Christmas episode!

The brain is an incredible organ and it appears that nearly every week another new insight into its operation is released. Hard to keep up with, but it is important for trainers to have at least a basic understanding of the operation of the brain, particularly how we learn and remember. Here is a blog post on one of those new discoveries. Don’t worry it isn’t difficult to understand

I often get asked by trainers what they can do to improve their presentations. A presentation isn’t that different to a training session. There is a speaker and the main idea is to get across a series of points. In a presentation there is generally a small number of points, less interaction and a greater reliance on the actual speaker’s ability to excite and sell to the audience their points. In training we need to not only get across our points but we must always aim to bring about the long term acquisition of some knowledge, skill and behaviour. In a presentation this isn’t typically the goal. In a presentation it is about selling the points and getting some action to occur because of it. There maybe little, if any, acquisition of skills, knowledge or behaviour. Presentation skills are critical to a trainer though because it is often through a presentation that we have to sell a training program, convince a client of a particular learning strategy or sell our usefulness to the organisation. This blog post contains 5 good tips for effective presentations but also contains a variety of very useful links. Do you  have any presentation tips that you find work for you? Let me know.

Will using Training Packages become a nightmare jigsaw?

The National Quality Council has just put out a new Communication about how training packages are going to be structured.  The idea is that everybody is asking for more flexibility and COAG wants the VET System to provide it.

The major changes

• ONE THIRD or more of total units required to gain a VET qualification will be ELECTIVES.
• The choice of ELECTIVE units can be broadened, to allow ONE SIXTH of total units to be included from other qualifications in a Training Package, other Training Packages and accredited courses.
• Licensed and trade occupations will be exempt from these measures.
• All units will be called either CORE or ELECTIVE. Recommended combinations of electives for particular specialisations will be presented as GROUPS.

What the changes mean

• More choice: Electives can be chosen from a broader range of units; meaning Registered Training Organisations will be able to offer learners and employers more choice to cover their specific needs, from within and outside their industry area.
• Greater consistency: The qualification requirements within and across industry areas will be easier to understand and simpler to identify.
• More responsiveness: the new qualification packaging rules enable people to include a range of other elective units that meet their current and future skill needs.
• Timing: There is a quite quick and stringent timetable for the introduction – by the end of 210 ALL Training Packages will comply with the new rules.

You can find the full communication here.

A couple of questions -

• How will this affect what you are doing as a Trainer?
• What training do we, as trainers and as RTO management, need and what do you think we will get?
• Will RTO’s actually be able to deliver this new flexibility?

On the last question, it is my understanding that an RTO is only able to deliver Units of Competence if they are specifically listed in the qualifications that they have on scope.  So how will the new flexible regime work?  Will RTO’s have to increase their scope massively (and at great cost and time?) or will individual qualifications now have masses of units of competence so that this flexibility can be achieved?  Would love to know VETAB’s take on this.

Photo Source : Danilo Rizzuti

This link is to a thought  provoking list of 9 signs of a losing school. These 9 signs can easily be applied to any training organisation, college, RTO and for that matter any organisation. I have seen many of these factors in a range of organisations that I have worked with. How does your organisation stack up, be honest?  More importantly what can you do about each of these signs ie how can you ensure that they either don’t occur or that you eliminate them from your organisation. Any thoughts? Can you objectively see the signs? Where there is smoke……

It’s that time of the year, where, apart from thinking about Christmas and reflecting on what this year was like, we start to think about next year. I have mentioned Seth Godin before in my posts and I admit that I am a fan of his Blog and his other work. He is all over the internet. What I like  about his work is it’s simple, to the point, honest reflections and observations of the world, in particular marketing, customer service and business operations. He has just released a free 82 page ebook called What Matters Now which is a great collection of ideas which may assist your thinking as we cross over into 2010. Do you have any ideas or thoughts as we head into 2010. Please let me know.