Friday, January 22, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Time-Savers: Skill Gap Analysis
Most educational and training methods are timeless... exploration, coaching, collaboration and questioning. Though e-learning may be a new medium to many in this group - utilizing it to impart knowledge has a few sweet benefits aside from the realities of cost savings, and qualified instruction.
It maybe that I have been around long enough to see its birth and growth but I like to think of e-learning as enabling-learning and not the silly - electronic "e" - which seems really dusty and archaic as a descriptor for the power of the online medium.
The e-learning materials we will be using to prepare for this certification can be best utilized once one recognizes a major benefit of self-directed study - skill gap analysis.
Skill Gap Analysis can probably best be summarized as the exercise of base-lining your current state against your goal. This process is made infinitely easier with two standard e-learning resources called the pre-test(current level of subject knowledge) and the post-test (goal).
Because information in an e-learning course is "highly refined" - meaning that the development team (the subject matter experts) have already gone through the effort to organize or "chunked out" into a competency and then into topic areas and then into the concepts and facts - the learner is able to trust that a pre-test will give them a realistic baseline for their current state of understand of that topic; thus enabling the learner to move through a course more swiftly or more carefully depending on their familiarity with the topic being taught. The on-line courseware offered in our program even color codes (green or white) your results to make finding your "gaps" easier - so the computer does the "analysis" piece for you.
The time savings one can realize with this method are incredible. Instead of sitting through a traditional lecture class where the instructor HAS to assume that the participants have little to no background knowledge - the self-directed learner can select the correct pieces of their puzzle to match what one already knows with the "new concept" or "new fact" - spending more time "studying" new material and less time "reviewing" already acquired knowledge.
So with that, I hope to encourage you to utilize the pre-test and post-test included in the courseware to customize your learning to FIT you.
It maybe that I have been around long enough to see its birth and growth but I like to think of e-learning as enabling-learning and not the silly - electronic "e" - which seems really dusty and archaic as a descriptor for the power of the online medium.
The e-learning materials we will be using to prepare for this certification can be best utilized once one recognizes a major benefit of self-directed study - skill gap analysis.
Skill Gap Analysis can probably best be summarized as the exercise of base-lining your current state against your goal. This process is made infinitely easier with two standard e-learning resources called the pre-test(current level of subject knowledge) and the post-test (goal).
Because information in an e-learning course is "highly refined" - meaning that the development team (the subject matter experts) have already gone through the effort to organize or "chunked out" into a competency and then into topic areas and then into the concepts and facts - the learner is able to trust that a pre-test will give them a realistic baseline for their current state of understand of that topic; thus enabling the learner to move through a course more swiftly or more carefully depending on their familiarity with the topic being taught. The on-line courseware offered in our program even color codes (green or white) your results to make finding your "gaps" easier - so the computer does the "analysis" piece for you.
The time savings one can realize with this method are incredible. Instead of sitting through a traditional lecture class where the instructor HAS to assume that the participants have little to no background knowledge - the self-directed learner can select the correct pieces of their puzzle to match what one already knows with the "new concept" or "new fact" - spending more time "studying" new material and less time "reviewing" already acquired knowledge.
So with that, I hope to encourage you to utilize the pre-test and post-test included in the courseware to customize your learning to FIT you.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Getting out and getting your feet wet...
Hello all and welcome! I will be sending more information about our preparation program shortly. I will be blogging about our efforts to build a community of practice and also posting summaries of our Conversations over Coffee session to this site.
So a little more about me... I am a Senior Program Manager for SkillSoft, during my tenure with SkillSoft I have had the opportunity to work with IT outsourcing industry leaders on large global training initiatives. I have several other hats in my closet... I am a programmer, I am a teacher, I am a new station wagon driver (I said a sad goodbye to my sporty sports car! over the weekend) I was a founding member & CTO for a education industry start-up that will turn 10 next September and I was a even a cheerleader in HS (long story... I had to sign up after I broke my toes and was benched for the lacrosse season.)
I am excited to meet and build a relationships with each of our new Security+ participants and also to grow my network of gurus or as the training minds prefer my network of subject matter experts.
So a little more about me... I am a Senior Program Manager for SkillSoft, during my tenure with SkillSoft I have had the opportunity to work with IT outsourcing industry leaders on large global training initiatives. I have several other hats in my closet... I am a programmer, I am a teacher, I am a new station wagon driver (I said a sad goodbye to my sporty sports car! over the weekend) I was a founding member & CTO for a education industry start-up that will turn 10 next September and I was a even a cheerleader in HS (long story... I had to sign up after I broke my toes and was benched for the lacrosse season.)
I am excited to meet and build a relationships with each of our new Security+ participants and also to grow my network of gurus or as the training minds prefer my network of subject matter experts.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Community of Practice
Welcome!
The CompTIA Security+ certification designates knowledgeable professionals in the field of security, one of the fastest-growing fields in IT. Security threats are increasing in number and severity, and the gap between the need for security professionals and qualified IT personnel is the largest of any IT specialty, according to a 2008 CompTIA study. Even in a troubled economy, most businesses plan to maintain or increase their investment in security.
Our community will use this forum to post questions, issues and assist others.
The CompTIA Security+ certification designates knowledgeable professionals in the field of security, one of the fastest-growing fields in IT. Security threats are increasing in number and severity, and the gap between the need for security professionals and qualified IT personnel is the largest of any IT specialty, according to a 2008 CompTIA study. Even in a troubled economy, most businesses plan to maintain or increase their investment in security.
Our community will use this forum to post questions, issues and assist others.
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