Learning directors network logo



Newsletter


New items added to the Learning Directors Network between 1/1/2008 and 8/4/2008

NEWSDESK:
graphic line

Skills Academy sets out its stall
The new UK Commission for Employment and Skills has set out its mission to improve skills, employ...

Leitch Report fails to make an impact
Over half (53%) of organisations say their learning and development work has not yet been influen...

Rapid e-Learning 'will make significant contribution'
In a 2003 survey of Fortune 500 companies more than 80 percent of respondents indicated that rapi...

Selecting Strategic Technologies in 2008
One of the toughest challenges for the IT manager is making strategic technology recommendations ...

Minister moves away from mandatory skills training
Skills secretary John Denham has distanced the government from carrying out its threat of requiri...

Leveraging multimedia for learning
If one organisation is like many others, probably experiencing a demand for digitally delivered t...

Bellinger's Blog: IT certification fraud
Novell started the certification process with the CNE; Microsoft followed with the MCSE, and the ...

IT professions suffer from 'bullying culture'
Research from trade union Unite showed a culture of bullying is common in IT, leading to poor pro...

e-Learning a $17bn market
According to a report by Ambient Insight (2007), the global market for elearning products and ser...

UK Commission for Employment and Skills opens
The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), launched this week, aims to put employers at...

QA-IQ launches degree-level curriculum
QA-IQ is to launch a new partnership for degree-level accreditation of its 'Art of People' manage...

EMC acquires Conchango consultancy firm
EMC has acquired Conchango, a global IT consultancy firm. The £42m acquisition will expand EMC's ...

New diplomas marred by lack of teacher training
Teachers and lecturers have not been given enough training or time to prepare for new diplomas st...

The role of training in continuous improvement initiatives
The Role of Training in Continuous Improvement Initiatives This report presents the findings ...

PPI Learning buys TPG Consultancy
PPi Learning Services has announced the acquisition of The Projects Group plc, a specialist Proje...

Coaching: it’s a mystery for many in HR and L&D
Coaching remains a mystery for many HR professionals, according to a recent survey. Coaching: ...

South Africa will pay more for skills
Managers in emerging markets are more likely to increase salaries and benefits to entice skilled ...

Redtray expands e-Learning expertise
Blended learning specialist REDTRAY has appointed two e-Learning Development Managers to head up ...

Developing Virtual Server-Based Learning Environments
This paper discusses the development of managed learning environments run on virtual servers. It ...

LSC to be closed down shock
Employer groups have expressed "utter amazement" at the government's decision to close the Learni...

Does workplace training improve worker performance?
Despite some differing numbers, two widely regarded and independent reports on the U.S. training ...

Virtual teacher teaches maths to 8 year olds
A virtual teacher who is able to respond to children's moods is being hailed as a critical tool i...

Staff and Contract Instructors - new White Paper
Recent research conducted by TrainingIndustry.com and Expertus indicates that delivery of trainin...

Redtray is one of UK's ten fastest growing digital media companies
REDTRAY, the blended learning company, is ranked in the top ten of Media Momentum's 2008 list of ...

Tata launches simulation for training managers
Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) and Caterpillar University's former President, Dave Vance, have co...

Steve Markwell appointed as new CEO of NCC
The National Computing Centre (NCC) has appointed Steve Markwell as Chief Executive Officer. This...

Bellinger's Blog: Drowning in paper
There’s been an amazingly rapid move to electronic based workflow over the past two years – and i...

QA-IQ launches new .NET 3.5 curriculum
QA-IQ has launched its new .NET 3.5 schedule with a full development path of courses from beginne...

Paul Byrne heads sales for Video Arts
Former MD of PPII Learning Paul Byrne has been appointed Head of Sales at Video Arts and its sist...

KnowledgePool acquires learning outsourcing firm
KnowledgePool has acquired Business Training Partnership (BTP), the vendor independent learning o...

Trainer survey shows demand for Web 2.0 business skills
Senior corporate training professionals regard the variety of content, brevity of videos, clarity...

Giunti Labs acquires Australian digital content firm
Giunti Labs, the e-learning and mobile content management solution provider, has finalised its ac...

BroadSkill acquired by Bray Leino
Broadskill has been acquired by Bray Leino, one of the UK's leading providers of business process...

Bellinger's Blog: Budget? What Budget?
Let’s face it, Alastair Darling didn’t have much room for manoeuvre did he! Squeezed by his boss ...

Assima announce new sales organisation
Assima PLC has announced a new Software Sales Organisation that is expected to deliver over 100 p...

LDN Quarterly Meeting - Slides
Here, as promised, are the slides from the recent LDN Meeting....

Record results for Xpertise
Xpertise's preliminary results for 2007 include an increase in revenue of 40% and increase in pro...

Employees want more on-the-job training
SkillSoft commissioned a survey indicating eight out of 10 employees would have higher job satisf...

Certiport launches test preparation for 2007 Office
Certiport has launched Certiprep for 2007 Microsoft Office Certifications, certification preparat...

Employers ignore youngsters’ IT skills and knowledge
Employers are ignoring the IT skills and knowledge of young people who have recently entered the ...

'Generation Facebook' finds skills wasted at work
The tech savvy of "Generation Facebook" is going down the drain at work, new research has found. ...

Bellinger's Blog: Where's Prudence?
Here’s one simple question – is this a time to cut costs? The first point to consider is how r...

IT skills going to waste says new report
UK business leaders are failing to capitalise on the IT skills that a new generation of employees...

2007 US Training Industry Report
Just posted in the Reference Library is the annual ASTD Report on the US Training Industry. The r...

E-Learning Market Update (Feb08): Time for e-Learning?
As we reported in our review of the Learning Technologies Conference there is a lot less hype sur...

Learning Technologies 2008 Review
Ian and the guys promised us a great Learning Technologies this year with more pre-registered vis...

Oracle skills shortage spells jackpot for contractors
If you have Oracle skills, 2008 could be something of a jackpot year, with contractors in short s...

CIOs cite challenges of professional devt and skills
Providing employees with adequate skills training tops the list of staffing concerns for technolo...

IT security skills gap
The difficulty in keeping security skills up to date is blamed for a significant gap between what...

IT grads lack continuity skills
Colleges and graduate IT programmes aren't preparing their graduates to deal with business contin...

Skills and UK's knowledge Economy
The UK’s knowledge economy is constantly expanding. We currently have 9 million skilled jobs in t...

Four face learning fraud charges
Four men have been charged over an alleged £2m fraud relating to a failed government learning sch...

Businesses can soon tailor degrees
Employers are to be given significant new powers to tailor university degrees in a bid to elimina...

Royal Caribbean's virtual training success
Royal Caribbean Cruise Line has seen more than 300 agents take part in its virtual classroom trai...

Bellinger's Blog: ROI is dead
We had a very interesting discussion at the LDN Forum on Thursday – especially on that old chestn...

Manchester City Council signs QA-IQ for PM training
QA-IQ has been engaged by Manchester City Council to develop and deliver the training for its lea...

New chair for LSC
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) today announced the reappointment o...

Engaging learners
Every Exhibition attendee who entered the e-skillsUK stand area at Learning Technologies 2008 was...

Independent versus Certified Product Training
Is vendor certified product training always the best answer? In a certification driven industry, ...

Law firm uses virtual world for online training
Law firm Simpson Millar is currently experimenting with holding online training sessions in 3D vi...

The IT Training Market: How big is it ?
A special report on the size of the IT Training Market following on from, end explaining the figu...

QA-IQ wins Oracle University Partner of the Year
QA-IQ has been awarded UK Oracle University Partner of the Year for 2007 at the Oracle UK Partner...

Coaching in Europe - new report
For the first time, the European Coaching Survey 2007/2008 systematically examined the current si...

Bellinger's Blog: Business Modelling
The attitude of most training providers to IT is schizophrenic – using the Gartner A-B-C Curve (e...

Using Second Life for team meetings
As you may know, Brandon Hall Research has been investigating the usefulness of virtual words as ...

Kaplan launches new lesson deployment solution
Kaplan IT Learning has released its new lesson deployment solution - STT InfoShare , which joins ...

SumTotal tops Enterprise Learning Management list
SumTotal Systems, Inc., a global provider of learning, performance and talent management solution...

Talent management meets learning in US
Anxious to find people and improve employee learning, one-third of companies plan to revamp their...

Henley achieves top ten rankings for distance learning
Henley Management College is one of only two business schools in the world to be ranked in the to...

Giunti Labs enters the Nordic learning markets
Having opened offices in North America, the UK and Germany, Giunti Labs - the vendor of e-learnin...

Investment in London's skills and training from LSC
The Learning And Skills Council in collaboration with the London Skills And Employment Board will...

Cisco and GSMA to launch mobile skills initiative
Cisco® (NASDAQ: CSCO) has announced a new initiative that will help technology professionals at m...

IT staff with the right skills in short supply
Employers are finding it increasingly difficult to hire IT staff with the right skills, according...

Global CIOs say staffing and skills biggest problem
A new worldwide survey of CEO-/CIO-level executives commissioned by the nonprofit, independent IT...

IT Training Awards 2008 Success
The Institute of IT Training IT Training Awards for 2008 were presented at a glittering gala dinn...

Make learning count, urges Tata Interactive Systems
Great content, rapid content development, slick visual presentation, an enhanced learning experie...

Microsoft launches Customer Care training
Microsoft has launched an integrated range of training and product launch materials produced by t...

KnowledgePool offers assessment and benchmarking
Managed learning services company, KnowledgePool, has introduced a new 'strategic learning diagno...

Sector skills council for central government moves
Government Skills, the sector skills council for central government, will move from Cabinet Offic...

The future's hot for learning technologies
What is going to be hot in the field of learning technologies in 2008? There are three answers to...

Xpertise adds Siebel to its CRM training portfolio
Xpertise has added Siebel training to its portfolio of customer-relationship management (CRM) tra...

e-Learning content website launched
The 'e-learning list of courses' is a new website that aims to help training buyers find off the ...

MP Rob Wilson slams cut in funding for IT training
An opposition politician has slammed the government for cutting funding for graduates who want to...

Project management skills in short supply, say top CIOs
Almost half of UK tech departments are suffering from a shortage of project management skills. ...

Government outsourcing IT to overcome skills shortage
The government is outsourcing heavily to help it overcome IT skills shortages, Cabinet Office CIO...

UK needs over 700,000 new IT professionals by 2013
A new series of reports has predicted that the UK will need more than 140,000 new IT and Telecoms...

Virtual skills for the real world
We have only just begun to explore the huge potential of virtual environments and the advantages ...

The Bellinger Blog: Comments on Future of Learning Report
Do take a look at the latest white paper from Skillsoft grandiosely entitled “Greece seeks Microsoft aid to boost IT skills
Greece has signed an agreement with Microsoft to establish IT development centres in the country,...

Kognito Simulation Platford wins award
Kognito, a leading developer of immersive learning simulations, has received the Bersin & Associa...

9 trends that will shape e-Learning in 2008
As we begin 2008, it would be a good idea to look ahead to see whether there are forces at work t...

Oracle to Acquire BEA Systems
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) and BEA Systems (NASDAQ: BEAS) announced today they have entere...

PM issues 'wake-up call' on skills
Issuing a "wake-up call" on Britain's lack of skills, Gordon Brown has given his personal endorse...

e-Learning predictions 2008: Place your bets
If there’s one thing you can predict with absolute certainty in e-learning, it’s that there will ...

The Bellinger Blog: How vulnerable are you?
The latest record of public sector d...

Giunti Labs and Cegos announce global partnership
Giunti Labs, Europe's leading e-learning and mobile learning content management technology provid...

e-Learning Update (January 2008)
We have picked out some of the key highlights from the report. Non-IT packaged content The...

Increase in demand for entry level IT training
IT skills group Firebrand Training believes increased interest in basic training could start to f...

Microsoft to expand Partners in Learning
Microsoft this week said it intends to redouble (or retriple) its commitment to education through...

IT sector unlikely to get training funding
Despite a shortage of IT students, the minister for higher education, Bill Rammell, has told a se...

Computeach opts for Kallidus LMS from e2train
Computeach, one of the longest established IT training companies in the UK, has selected the Kall...

HR clashes with IT over social networking
Social networking sites, including Facebook, are distracting workers for at least 30 minutes a da...

Brightwave reports further expansion
Workplace communication, learning and performance specialist Brightwave has expanded its project ...

Government gives m-learning a £30 million jump start
The Government has triggered a major push by mobile companies to establish services for mobile le...

Kim Jong-Il urges North Koreans to develop IT skills
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has told schools to teach IT from an early age so his impoverishe...

Industry backs new Masters-level IT qualification
A new Masters-level IT development programme is being championed by industry leaders to help batt...

IT companies to boost certification market
Testing and assessment provider Prometric recently announced it has formed an alliance with other...

How big is the US IT training market?
The US IT training market is fragmented and dispersed. In the commercial sector, it is comprised ...

Physical authentication increases Cisco Exam Security
Cisco is requiring that all test centres distributing its certification exams collect digital pho...

EU launches new Microsoft probes
The European Commission is launching two new anti-competition investigations against US computer ...

Hojgaard departs from Global Knowledge
Frank Hojgaard, managing director of Global Knowledge UK & Ireland, is leaving the company to ret...

BBC, BSkyB and Microsoft commit to informal learning
The BBC, BSkyB and Microsoft are among employers that have declared they are willing to spearhead...

Home learning expected to boom
Up to 40 children a year are taken out of Wearside schools to be taught at home, it was revealed ...

Open souce virtual training from Red Hat
Red Hat has announced the availability of two training offerings delivered by open source technol...

Research exposes home working fears
New research commissioned has shown a mixed response in attitudes to remote working. Fear of m...

New £25m skills group for FE sector
A new learning and skills company with a £25 million turnover has been formed following the merge...

CompTIA to study public sector IT skills gap
CompTIA, the Computing Trade and Industry Association, is on a mission to find out. 2008 sees the...

What CIOs Want: Five Standout Skills
It's a good market out there for IT job seekers, but that doesn't mean your technical abilities w...

O2 and LP+ join forces to offer mobile learning
The Learning Possibilities Group announced the launch of LP+ Mobile, the first education company ...

IT security bosses warned to invest in training
Chief security officers (CSOs) have been warned to invest more in equipping their staff with busi...

Web the choice for sourcing learning
The web is a key channel for purchasers looking for new suppliers, says a new survey from Trainer...

Results and expansion reported by KnowledgePool
KnowledgePool has announced strong financial results, after what it calls 'an exceptional year of...

O2 offers staff learning to benefits package
O2 has added a learning account to its flexible benefits scheme. Employees can pay up to £80 a...

Jay Cross to open at Learning Technologies 2008
Jay Cross, founder of Internet Time Group and world-renowned commentator on learning and technolo...


Research & Analysis:
graphic line

Learning does make you more employable, survey says
The Learning and Skills Council has published findings from a large scale survey of learners whic...

Training Efficiency: Optimizing Costs
In early 2008, TrainingIndustry.com and Expertus partnered to produce the first of four surveys i...

Traditional recruitment fails to solve IT skills shortage
A fundamental disconnect exists between current attempts by IT and telecoms firms to hire talente...

IT skills needed for flexible working
Businesses need to harness their IT skills and offer a flexible working environment in order to a...

Coaching in Europe - new report
For the first time, the European Coaching Survey 2007/2008 systematically examined the current si...

IT managers getting their staff down
According to the Chartered Management Institute's (CMI) 'Quality of Working Life' survey, the mos...

'Boring' e-learning fails to engage staff
A survey of 998 managers by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and Centre for Applied Human...


Reference Library:
graphic line

Rapid e-Learning 'will make significant contribution'
In a 2003 survey of Fortune 500 companies more than 80 percent of respondents indicated that rapi...

Leveraging multimedia for learning
If one organisation is like many others, probably experiencing a demand for digitally delivered t...

Training's role in continuous improvement initiatives
This report presents the findings of the first of two studies on "The Role of Training in Continu...

Developing Virtual Server-Based Learning Environments
This paper discusses the development of managed learning environments run on virtual servers. It ...

Staff and Contract Instructors - new White Paper
Recent research conducted by TrainingIndustry.com and Expertus indicates that delivery of trainin...

Learning does make you more employable
The Learning and Skills Council has published findings from a large scale survey of learners whic...

2008 Training Efficiency: Optimizing Costs
In early 2008, TrainingIndustry.com and Expertus partnered to produce the first of four surveys i...

2008 US IT Skills & Salary Survey
Global Knowledge and Tech Republic surveyed over 7,000 IT professionals in the US on skills, sala...

2007 US Training Industry Report
The annual ASTD Report on the US Training Industry. The report contains a wealth of information, ...

Unleash the business potential of your IT experts
This new white paper help help you: Examine the need to broaden the business capabilities of IT ...

Independent versus Certified Product Training
Is vendor certified product training always the best answer? In a certification driven industry, ...

How executives stay informed
The study, written by Bersin & Associates, finds that most senior-level executives value informat...

The Future of Learning
SkillSoft has conducted a major research study to understand the future of learning. The study de...

e-Learning Market Update (January 2008)
E-Learning Market Update (January 08) This month we take a look at Ambient's new e-learning ...

Dynamic Content: Connecting Performance & Learning
What is dynamic content? What role does dynamic content play in developing more effective strate...

Designing Learning Services: From Content-Based to Activity-Based Learning Systems
The need for e-learning systems that support a diverse set of pedagogical requirements has been i...

Real Results: The True Opportunity of Online Learning
With the advent of online training in the late 1990s, many companies viewed the opportunity to in...


MARKET INTELLIGENCE:
graphic line

IT Training Industry Megatrends - January 2008
Alan Bellinger gives us his take on the IT training industry megatrends for 2008....

The UK Top 50 Training Providers
We are pleased to publish IT Skills Research's ninth annual table of the UK Top 50 IT training pr...