Friday
Dec311999
136 - A Story from Brazil: A Teaching Moment; Laptop Clicking in Class?
December 31, 1999
1. A Story from Brazil: A Teaching Moment - One of our colleagues from
Brazil, Eduardo Ramos - eduardo@infnet.com.br
Instituto de Formacao Internet - Infnet sent us this story which has a great
message for trainers:
"Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took
her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted
a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her. Seizing the
opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose
and eventually explored his way through a door marked "NO ADMITTANCE." When
the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother
returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing. Suddenly,
the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on
stage."
"In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard,
innocently picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." At that moment, the
great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and
whispered in he boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Then leaning over,
Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part.
Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child and he
added a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice
transformed a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience.
The audience was mesmerized."
2. Questions about Language Training: A reader of TechLearn Trends is in
need of some benchmarking information about the extent of Language Training
in organizations. Here are her questions:
1. What is the average cost of teaching a language to an employee?
2. What percentage of corporations currently offer language training?
3. What percentage of multinationals offer English training in their
non-English speaking offices?
4. What is the current length of time required to learn a language?
5. What percentage of language training is directly related to relocation
programs?
6. What percentage of companies offer internal language learning?
If you can help her with answers to any of these questions, just send an
email to language@masie.com and we will pass it along.
3. Laptop Clicking in Class? One of my own trainer nightmares is when
someone arrives in a class and sets up their laptop for note taking. Now, I
know that in the Digital Age, laptops are critical for capturing
information. Yet, as a trainer, I am still a bit in fear of them (in a
non-IT or computer training class). The sound of clicking sometimes drives
me crazy! I recently taught a seminar where there were 15 laptops going,
all with the most aggressive typists. The noise was almost funny. Anyone
have any experiences or policies on laptops in class? Send them to us at
laptops@masie.com
4. Kristin Barton Joins The MASIE Center as Director of Development: We
are pleased to announce that Kristin Barton has joined The MASIE Center as
our new Director of Development. Kristin comes to us from Achieve Global in
Florida, where she worked on a range of projects including research,
marketing and development. Kristin will be leading the Business
Development and Research area at The MASIE Center. In the coming months, we
will be adding additional research and publishing projects, and focusing on
how to best serve the readers of TechLearn Trends. Kristin can be reached
at kristin@masie.com
5. Structured Case Studies : We have developed a structure for the Case
Studies at TechLearn '99. Each of the one hour case studies will be
presented by a corporate training or business representative (not a supplier
or vendor). The sessions will be facilitated by a member of the TechLearn
Collaborative and will focus on a SPECIFIC approach to implementing a
learning or training solution. These are the five questions that will be
explored in each TechLearn Case Study:
* What was the business problem or challenge?
* What were your choices for solutions and why did you choose this one?
* What happened - the nuts and bolts! Cost, resources, steps and decisions.
* What were the positive and negative results?
* If you were to do it all over again, how would you do it differently?
We believe that an intellectual format for case studies adds enormous value
for the attendees, focusing on going "under the hood" of colleague's
organizational approach to learning. There will be about 25 TechLearn
Case Studies. We have spaces available for 9 more Case Studies. If you
would like to explore being a case study presenter and would be comfortable
with this format, please send a note to case@techlearn.com Summaries of
Case Studies will be posted after TechLearn. Information on TechLearn '99
(Oct. 31 to Nov 3 in Orlando, FL) is located at http://www.techlearn.com
Brazil, Eduardo Ramos - eduardo@infnet.com.br
Instituto de Formacao Internet - Infnet sent us this story which has a great
message for trainers:
"Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took
her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted
a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her. Seizing the
opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose
and eventually explored his way through a door marked "NO ADMITTANCE." When
the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother
returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing. Suddenly,
the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on
stage."
"In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard,
innocently picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." At that moment, the
great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and
whispered in he boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Then leaning over,
Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part.
Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child and he
added a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice
transformed a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience.
The audience was mesmerized."
2. Questions about Language Training: A reader of TechLearn Trends is in
need of some benchmarking information about the extent of Language Training
in organizations. Here are her questions:
1. What is the average cost of teaching a language to an employee?
2. What percentage of corporations currently offer language training?
3. What percentage of multinationals offer English training in their
non-English speaking offices?
4. What is the current length of time required to learn a language?
5. What percentage of language training is directly related to relocation
programs?
6. What percentage of companies offer internal language learning?
If you can help her with answers to any of these questions, just send an
email to language@masie.com and we will pass it along.
3. Laptop Clicking in Class? One of my own trainer nightmares is when
someone arrives in a class and sets up their laptop for note taking. Now, I
know that in the Digital Age, laptops are critical for capturing
information. Yet, as a trainer, I am still a bit in fear of them (in a
non-IT or computer training class). The sound of clicking sometimes drives
me crazy! I recently taught a seminar where there were 15 laptops going,
all with the most aggressive typists. The noise was almost funny. Anyone
have any experiences or policies on laptops in class? Send them to us at
laptops@masie.com
4. Kristin Barton Joins The MASIE Center as Director of Development: We
are pleased to announce that Kristin Barton has joined The MASIE Center as
our new Director of Development. Kristin comes to us from Achieve Global in
Florida, where she worked on a range of projects including research,
marketing and development. Kristin will be leading the Business
Development and Research area at The MASIE Center. In the coming months, we
will be adding additional research and publishing projects, and focusing on
how to best serve the readers of TechLearn Trends. Kristin can be reached
at kristin@masie.com
5. Structured Case Studies : We have developed a structure for the Case
Studies at TechLearn '99. Each of the one hour case studies will be
presented by a corporate training or business representative (not a supplier
or vendor). The sessions will be facilitated by a member of the TechLearn
Collaborative and will focus on a SPECIFIC approach to implementing a
learning or training solution. These are the five questions that will be
explored in each TechLearn Case Study:
* What was the business problem or challenge?
* What were your choices for solutions and why did you choose this one?
* What happened - the nuts and bolts! Cost, resources, steps and decisions.
* What were the positive and negative results?
* If you were to do it all over again, how would you do it differently?
We believe that an intellectual format for case studies adds enormous value
for the attendees, focusing on going "under the hood" of colleague's
organizational approach to learning. There will be about 25 TechLearn
Case Studies. We have spaces available for 9 more Case Studies. If you
would like to explore being a case study presenter and would be comfortable
with this format, please send a note to case@techlearn.com Summaries of
Case Studies will be posted after TechLearn. Information on TechLearn '99
(Oct. 31 to Nov 3 in Orlando, FL) is located at http://www.techlearn.com
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