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Past Featured Websites2004
Featured Websites: Measuring
ROI
With
the current trend towards greater accountability comes increased focus on the
ROI of training and other interventions. At our summer post-conference cracker
barrel event, veteran chapter member Trina Pottou of Business Objects outlined
the Phillips model of measuring ROI. Both
the Canadian Society of Training
and Development and the American
Society of Training and Development have established ROI Networks, professional
communities of interest on training ROI. Both
the CSTD
ROI Network and the ASTD
ROI Network offer excellent resources on the measurement and evaluation of
training, as well as the opportunity for members to collaborate and share their
findings. Related ROI sites: A
comprehensive but debatable site devoted to measuring the impact of technology
on learning is the No
Significant Difference Phenomenon. This is actually a pair of web sites, each
taking the opposing view on whether technology has a measurable impact on learning. A
Cornucopia from Thiagi
Who
Is Thiagi?
Where
Does Thiagi Speak?
What
does Thiagi Have to Say? video
interview , video
interview
What
two education faculties is Thiagi a member of? education
faculty , education
faculty
What
Professional Associations has Thiagi been President of? professional
association , professional
association
What
Does Thiagi Read?
Where
Does Thiagi Surf?
So,
now, let’s play for points!
Name
Six of Thiagi’s current
workshop titles (6 pts.)
Name
14
Things That Thiagi Wants You To Know About Learning (pdf file) (14 pts.)
How
Many of Thiagi’s 40
books can you name? (40 pts)
How
Many of Thiagi’s 52
Strategies for Interactive Learning can you name? (52 points)
How
Many of Thiagi’s 120
games and simulations can you name? (120 pts.)
How
Many of Thiagi’s 200
articles can you identify? (200 pts.) Stephen's
Web
Canada's
answer to Jay Cross,
Stephen
Downes' vision is of a society "where knowledge and learning are public goods,
freely created and shared, not hoarded or withheld in order to extract wealth
or influence." Features of this site on the future of elearning and learning
objects include: OLDaily
(Downes’ daily feed), Research
(with a Canadian perspective), The
Semantic Social Network (“Two types of technologies … will merge
to create a new type of internet, a network within a network, and in so doing
reshape the internet as we know it”), and The
Learning Marketplace: Meaning, Metadata and Content Syndication in the Learning
Object Economy (white paper). eLearningBC:
“Where Knowledge Prospers”
eLearningBC is an alliance of
over 70 BC eLearning organizations, formed to aggregate a critical mass of eLearning
expertise that works cooperatively to “strategically compete in the global
elearning market.” Features of this site include: eLearning
BC membership list, an interactive
directory of BC eLearning organizations, and the eLearningBC Interoperability
Centre. UK
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Work-Life Balance campaign
Featuring
Prosperity
for All and the second annual Work-Life
Balance Study of employers. Other related sites of interest: Voices
of Canadians: Seeking Work-Life Balance, Alliance
for Work-Life Progress and, on the lighter side of things, The
Art Gliner Center for Humor Studies.
2003 Featured Websites: Max's
Project Management Wisdom
At our November
4th event, Managing Performance Improvement Projects, Rob
Clark spoke about the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).
For a virtual goldmine of information, Rob recommends Vancouver’s very own
Max Wideman's website. Features include: an excellent library of Papers
& Books about Project Management and a great site
map – a comprehensive EPSS* for the PMBOK. *
EPSS definition Other
related project management sites:
Project
Management World Today
Project
Management Institute
tompeters.com
Ever
wonder what
tom’s reading? The website of iconoclastic change management guru
Tom Peters includes: tom’s
world (archives of newspaper columns and excerpts from his latest book
"Re-Imagine!
Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age"), slides
(presentation archives), cool
friends (interviews with authors, innovators and more). ISPI
International website
Not to be overlooked, the online home
of our parent association is packed with valuable resources. Check out:
Suggested
Reading - articles
on performance improvement available for download [Look under Resources &
Services]
99 Seconds Online - this area features
job aids from ISPI member practitioners [Look under Resources & Services]
"Got
Results?"
- access cases on how others have applied the first of the 10 Standards of Performance
Technology, "Focus on Results" [Look under Resources & Services]
Bookstore
- a quick way to find books geared directly at HPT! Ken
Wilber Online
At
our September 9th event, The Invisible
Side of Performance, John Baker described some of Ken Wilber's models in the
context of his work. John
has called Ken Wilber one of his favourite authors, and recommends Ken's book,
"The History of Everything". Here's a quick link to Ken
Wilber's website. North
American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA)
NASAGA is a network of professionals
working on the design, implementation, and evaluation of games and simulations
to improve learning results in all types of organizations. ISPI members who have
attended NASAGA conferences rave about the low cost and many benefits. And NASAGA
membership is even more cost-effective: no fee — just a commitment to online
sharing of ideas. BPR
Online Learning Center
Work Design expert Hugh Jones of TAP Solutions
recommended this site. The center aims to be a "directory and resource guide
for business process reengineering and change management teams" that offers
"an index of articles from around the world, an online tutorial series, benchmarking
studies, yellow pages for BPR and change management resources, and information
on reengineering toolkits and templates for project teams." Knowledge
Management Community of Practice (KMC)
KMC,
a group that began informally in 2001, is now a BC-registered society. It "provides
a forum" in which members "can participate in learning and developing
KM business and learning solutions." Back
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SUGGESTED SITES Special
Feature: Websites
suggested by Roger Chevalier
ISPI Vancouver's special guest for two
February 2004 has provided this excellent list of recommended websites on Human
Performance Technology (HPT) and performance improvement. Work-Learning
Research
The goal of principal researcher Will Thalheimer, PhD, is
to bring research-based knowledge to the learning-and-performance field. Will
is the head of ISPI's Research Committee, and his work exemplifies one of the
distinguishing characteristics of ISPI. His site includes research-based advice,
much of it free, that will help trainers and other performance improvement professionals
to design for dramatic improvements in learners' learning. Workshops
by Thiagi, Inc.: "more content, less fluff"
Can you
say "Sivasailam Thiagarajan"? If so, you've probably had the rapid-learning-as-fun
experience of a Thiagi event. In any case, visit Workshops by Thiagi to pick up
"Freebies and Goodies," subscribe to the Play for Performance newsletter,
and pause for a short story about Thiagi's childhood in Madras. A "rigid
eclectic" in performance improvement theory, Thiagi is the oft-honoured former
president of ISPI, his "professional home." We at ISPI Vancouver have
been fortunate to have Thiagi as a repeat presenter.
e-LearningGuru.com:
"Actionable info. Real experts."
e-LearningGuru.com
is a treasure chest of information about e-learning and many related topics. The
site content is concise, relevant, and witty. One could say that it practises
what it preaches except that it isn't preachy. Site founder Kevin Kruse could
call himself a guru, but he doesn't. The actual identity of the e-Learning Guru
is . . . . . . (Better let you see for yourself.) T-Net
British Columbia
T-Net British Columbia is the popular Web portal
for British Columbia’s high tech industry. The News, Events, and Tech Jobs
sections can all be of interest to performance technologists, but the must-read
feature is a column on the vital topic of e-learning. It is written by SFU eLINC's
Paul Stacey, who has been a presenter for ISPI Vancouver. Performance
Xpress: ISPI Newsletter
ISPI's Performance
Xpress is a monthly online newsletter at an unbeatable price: it's free. If you
want to supplement it with a more extensive periodical in the traditional medium
(good old paper), you can also subscribe to Performance Improvement Quarterly
at the ISPI International site.
TAP Employee
Productivity Solutions and TAP
Solutions
Vancouver-based TAP helps clients to exploit the
power of the Web as they benefit from radical changes to the way they do business.
TAP staff have long been involved in ISPI Vancouver in a very helpful way. Committed
to building community, TAP designed this ispi-van.org site in 1998 to help build
the chapter, and continued to host it without charge for several years. American
Society for Training and Development, ASTD
The motto of ASTD,
which has a Vancouver chapter, is "Linking People, Learning and Performance."
The ASTD site links people by hosting nine virtual learning communities, including
the human performance improvement community, which are open to all. You are invited
to "interact with other professionals, obtain valuable articles on various
topics, and find tools you can use right away."
BC Human
Resources Management Association, HRMA
"HRMA is a community
dedicated to advancing professional people practices that enhance organizational
performance." The Vancouver-based HRMA has four regional chapters outside
the Lower Mainland. Society
for Technical Communication (STC) Canada West Coast Chapter
STC is
a worldwide society with an active 225-member Canada West Coast Chapter in Vancouver.
The site embodies usability, technical soundness, appropriate visual design, and
informative plain English. It merits a visit as an example of solid information
design, and you might also like to attend some STC events or to recruit through
the STC job bank.
ISPI
Performance Improvement Global Network Chapter, PIGNC
PIGNC
("picnic"?) is a virtual chapter of ISPI, and the PIGNC site is virtually
wonderful in a supra-active way with lots of laudable intentions and results.
It shares the good news of performance improvement, especially with South America.
Any visitor can follow up on a PICNC article by posting in English or Spanish
in the Forum, which - this being ISPI - naturally includes a Humor "dialog."
Elsewhere on the PIGNC site, the photos
reflect a more serious but still smile-filled purpose in a poor corner of Argentina
under the heading "Tocando el Balance Social: Resultados mas alla del
Nivel 4," or "Touching the Societal Bottom Line: Results beyond
Level 4." Article:
The Seven (actually nine) Deadly Sins
of New Performance Consultants
(32 KB PDF)
Tips
for newly minted performance consultants on how not to commit the most common
errors, as well as how to build organizational support. A rare bonus... this article
by Joe Willmore in the August issue of ASTD's
T+D Magazine is available as a free .pdf, even to non-ASTD members. Making
the Case For Learning Initiatives
This
free webinar featured Brandon
Hall of Brandon-Hall.com
and Ted
Apking, President of Triad,
a firm specializing in human and organizational performance. Session content is
available online here. Back
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