Distance Training or Communicating for Change

Distance Training: How Innovative Organizations Are Using Technology to Maximize Learning and Meet Business Objectives

Author: Deborah A Schreiber

Winner of the University Continuing Education Association's Charles A. Wedemeyer Award, which recognizes highly meritorious book-length publications that advance research in independent study and distance education.

"This manual is the one we have been waiting for! It takes dead aim at all the important issues facing distance learning providers and hits the bull's eye on every one of them. It is down to earth, real world, and up to date. Its examples and insights for practitioners help create the sense of urgency and excitement all of us in distance learning feel today."--Michael P. Lambert, executive director, Distance Education and Training Council

Today's advances in communications technology have created exciting new possibilities for training professionals. But not all technologies are created equal. Distance Training examines these new tools to show how compressed video, satellite broadcasting, the Internet, and other innovations can each be used to their best advantage. In-depth case studies of sixteen progressive organizations--NYNEX, Bell Atlantic, and Unisys among them--provide real-world models readers can use to design learning programs that transcend the traditional boundaries of time and space by turning the home, office, and meeting room into immediate, effective learning environments.

Booknews

After three introductory essays that identify guiding principles and provide a framework for discussion, 15 case studies present methods by which diverse organizations have used advanced communications technologies to train employees over distances. The cases give a close look at the specifics of distributing information and increasing knowledge, building skills, and changing attitudes and enhancing motivation. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Table of Contents:

	Preface
	The Authors
1	Organizational Technology and Its Impact on Distance Training	3
2	Conceptual Frameworks in Distance Training and Education	19
3	Instructional Design of Distance Training	37
Pt. 1	Distributing Information and Increasing Knowledge
4	Building Customer Relations: Web-Based Training for the Home Improvement Industry	71
5	Increasing Employee Knowledge and Understanding of Operational Systems: Integrating Multiple Technologies at NYNEX	92
6	Disseminating Time-Sensitive Information: Using Interactive Distance Learning to Deliver Training and Education in the American Red Cross Biomedical Services	115
7	Disseminating Time- and Regulation-Sensitive Information: Online Training Seminars at Mortgage Bankers Association of America	137
8	Graduate Programs at a Distance: A Partnership Between the California Department of Rehabilitation and San Diego State University	155
Pt. 2	Building Skills (Technical and Critical Thinking)
9	Reskilling Employees for Competitive Advantage: Reinventing Learning at Unisys Corporation	187
10	Delivering Technical Training to Advance Mechanical Skills: Interactive Video Teletraining in the Federal Aviation Administration	201
11	Delivering Clinical-Based Training in a Public Health Setting	223
12	Skills-Based Distance Training for a Global Environment: Malaysia's Virtual University	246
13	The Value of Building Skills with Online Technology: Online Training Costs and Evaluation at the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission	270
14	Building Intranet Courseware Using Multidisciplinary Teams: The Story of Quantum Solutions, Inc. and Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation	287
Pt. 3	Changing Attitudes and Enhancing Motivation
15	Eliciting Community Beliefs and Changing Attitudes Through Education: Innovative Distance Learning at the Columbus Center	309
16	Measuring Attitudes to Assess Training: The Interactive Distance Learning Group Looks at Learning and Transfer from Satellite Training	328
17	Unanticipated Attitudinal Change: The Progression Toward Self-Directed Distance Training at H.B. Zachry	351
18	Utilizing Telelearning as a Strategic Media Choice to Enhance Executive Development and Affect Organizational Perspective: The U.S. Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED)	369
	Conclusion
19	Best Practices of Distance Training	393
	Glossary	410
	References	419
	Index	433

Interesting textbook: Classic Stars Desserts or Memphis Cookbook

Communicating for Change

Author: Roger DAprix

Marshal support throughout your organization

Develop a communications strategy that works for -- not against -- you. Based on years of battle-tested principles and case-examples, Roger D'Aprix tells managers how they can avoid the communications breakdowns that sabotage attempts at change, and cause employees to lose faith in their leaders and the system itself. Instead, he shows how communications can be used strategically to connect an organization's vision, mission and business goals to the forces and opportunities in the marketplace -- the driving force behind all change. Includes D'Arpix's market-based strategic communications model for integrating and aligning communications at all levels.