Recent Updates
July 2010
As part of my role with Retravision I write regular tips and hints for their intranet. I found a great one recently on using the RANK function in Excel (2007 or 2003) that I’d like to share here.
April 2010
Here's a quick one-page handout on how to create your own freeform shapes in PowerPoint 2007.
March 2010
Barb spent most of March working with Retravision creating a set of technical manuals for a new retail report writing system - in the words of their CIO, her work was brilliant! Technical manuals are hard work, but like Barb I get a lot of pleasure from their creation.
Do you like Calibri Font size 11 in Word 2007? If not check out my blog for how to change the default...Read More...
February 2010
Gillian has just done a brilliant piece of Access database work for a client who is a major retailer - in a 3 hour call-out she managed to locate over ½ a million dollars in un-invoiced stock. (Pity we don't bill on commission!!!) As Gill rightly says, she has retained her legend status :-).
January 2010
Be sure to join me on Facebook for regular tips and hints and my blog always has new and useful tips and hints: I've just updated it with a tip on using Footnotes. Speaking of my blog, it is being used as part of the curriculum for a unit of the Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing at University of Ballarat, TAFE division.
December 2009
I'm on the editorial board of Impact: Journal for Applied Research in the Workplace and I'm pleased to announce our inaugural issue has just been published. Membership and registration is free and gives open access to the entire journal. Impact.
November 2009
27/11: I've just put up some tips on presenting with PowerPoint up my blog.
In preparation for the City of Boroondara's Windows 7 and Office 2007 rollout (which started this Wednesday - go Barb and David, the lead trainers on this project), I've popped a free Overview of Office 2007 on the Shop page, so anyone that needs it is more than welcome to help themselves. And just on that - my new Shop page has the our training guides as used in classes available for download at $10 per item.
17th October New Guides
I've just added free quick reference guides to Office 2007 and Vista - help yourself! And never say never, as I said below Australia Post have finished training for the year, but over the next few weeks we have been asked to deliver training to night staff, so this means the courses run until midnight.
8th October Office 2007
I have been providing the in-house services to one of Melbourne's largest council since 2000 and this week we began plans to deliver Upgrade to Office 2007 training to their 800 users. This begins in November and will go until just before Christmas, with two classes per day. It is a fantastic opportunity and we are really looking forward to it! The last class for Australia Post for the year was held last week, as AP get ready for this big Christmas mail rush, always a timely reminder for how close Christmas really is! Don't forget I am now blogging on matters learning and technology at http://angelalewis.wordpress.com and reserving this Updates page for matters relating to our core business.
25 September 2009 AITD Member of the Month
Yes folks its me! www.aitd.com.au (Australian Institute of Training and Development). I've been a member since 1997 as they are the peak body representing professionals in training, learning and and development in Australia.
20 September 2009 Update: Vision Australia and U3A
Pilot training went ahead successfully for Vision Australia last week (Barb says she is still exhausted!!) Users will test it for a few months and then we will review the documentation. I'm doing a guest speaker spot on 10th November for Vision Australia's University of the Third Age (U3A) to talk about current IT issues, including social networking. As many of you probably know, I write a regular IT column for the ACA journal and while putting that together this weekend I found a great little blog offering free Tech Tips from www.Geek.com.
29th August 2009 Update
The month has just flown by. I've spent most of it at Vision Australia working on the user documentation for their SRM (stakeholder relationship management) program. Vision Australia provides services to people who are blind, sighted or have low vision. I have been working in the heritage listed bluestone building in St.Kilda Road where the old Blind Institute was located, and I have very much enjoyed the environment as well as the work. Pilot training begins in Sydney in September.
16th July 2009 Twitter Anyone?.
I attended an excellent webinar last Wednesday courtesy of Nett Magazine. Entitled Twitter for Business, it looked at strategies organisations could undertake when utilising Twitter. I attended in my role of IT adviser to the Australian Counselling Association, as we are examining the social networking tools that would be most useful to us in our public awareness campaign surrounding Medicare rebates for qualified counsellors. I was surprised to learn experts advocate that an organisation or individual must twitter between 4-5 times a day as a minimum, (ideally 10-20 tweets), if they are serious about building their brand and gaining a following. Both Telstra and Dell were mentioned as organisations that use Twitter to good advantage.
1st July 2009: Another New Financial Year...
June was a very busy month for us, as many organisations had budgets to spend before 30th June - and luckily some of this was on training! We resumed training at Box Hill hospital in June in their new purpose-built room off the library - it was a pleasure to be back there. Barb and I have almost finished all user manuals for 2007, I think the only one missing is Advanced Word - manual updates (as always) is a job and a half.
And last but not least - I'm excited that we are going to be working with Vision Australia on Microsoft's CRM product, which should kick off sometime in August.
May 2009: Great Guides to Share
Well to make up for a quieter April, we have a lot on this month. Gill is up to her ears in database work, currently juggling two for Rural Ambulance and Melbourne Health, while Barb and I have been training. The City of Boroondara have created a completely new training room and we have made great use of it since it was opened on 1st May - love the natural light! Eastern Health have also finished building their new training room and we start work there next week. In my surfing, I have found some excellent free user guides which I would like to share:
Outlook 2003 User Guide
Outlook 2007 User GuideApril 2009: Internet Use
Easter as always slowed things down training wise, but it was a good opportunity to catch up on all the tasks that are easy to put off - my filing is immaculate now! I also caught up on some reading and found an interesting report from Statistics Canada,' How Canadians' Use of the Internet Affects Social Life and Civic Participation'. which in a nutshell debunks the theory that the Internet leads to isolation and that participation in society is actually higher among internet users than non-users As quick summary of their findings follows: "... the Internet is aiding the transformation of relations – with family and relatives, with community members, in voluntary organizations, and at work (not studied here). Although there has been much talk about negative effects of the Internet, the evidence presented here does not support the notion that the Internet is increasing social isolation".
20th March 2009 : Elearning Network of Australasia
This month I was honoured to be invited to join the Editorial Board of Impact: the Journal of Applied Research in Workplace E-learning, a publication of E-learning Network of Australasia (ElNet).
12th Feb 2009 : Read my latest article in the AITD Journal: E-learning and Older Learners
10th Feb 2009: Microsoft Office Communicator
I have just spent the last 2 weeks working with Microsoft Office Communicator, which is due to be rolled out shortly for one of my national clients. Communicator is an online office communication system that provides instant messaging, audio, video and conferencing in a similar fashion to products such as MSN Messenger. My role in the project was user testing, proof of concept and documentation - I loved working with it, finding it really user friendly and full of excellent features.
11th January 2009: Top 10 Microsoft Office Tips of 2008
Tech Republic has just published a list of what they consider their top ten tips in relation to Microsoft Office. More..
23rd Dec 2008: Happy Birthday to the Mouse!
The computer mouse celebrated its 40th anniversary in December 8, 2008. Read more at WorldStart.com
12th Dec 2008: E-learning and younger learners
In the process of writing my article on e-learning for mature age learners (see below), I stumbled on a blog by Mark Bullen (Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning at BC Institute of Technology Vancouver). His blog, provocatively called ‘Netgen Nonsense’ argues that evidence to date does not support the assumption that younger learners who have grown up in a richer IT culture have any different learning traits to that of older learners. A recent post on his blog links to a research report by Margaryan and Littlejohn from Glasgow Caledonian and Strathclyde Universities in the UK and a portion of his summary follows:
This study reveals that far from demanding lecturers change their practice, students appear to conform to fairly traditional pedagogies, albeit with minor uses of technology tools that deliver content. In fact their expectations were that they would be “taught” in traditional ways – even though many of these students were engaged in courses that are viewed by these Universities as adopting innovative approaches to technology-enhanced learning. The study didn’t find age differences in patterns of technology use – the young students were just as likely to be conservative in the extent and nature of technology use as the older ones.
I found the study outcomes fascinating. View their entire presentation here.
5th Dec 2008: E-learning and older learners
I am currently in the process of writing an article on e-learning and older learners for the Australian Institute of Training and Development journal (due out in January 2009). Reflecting on the topic and thinking about the feedback we got from Eastern Health (see post below), just makes me feel more certain that most older learners stand to gain more from the online training/learning event when some portion of the learning is done in a face to face format, together with the educator/facilitator/teacher and the other learners. People who are around the 45 plus age group grew up experiencing a traditional learning format, and for this reason it makes sense to include some forms of learning that are familiar to them, such as a learning atmosphere in which other people are physically present.
Another aspect that I think is often
overlooked (possibly because it has gone out of fashion in this age of
learner autonomy), but was picked up by Kop and Hill (2008) in their article “Learning
theory of the future or vestige of the past?” is that some learners
may also benefit or even prefer to engage in learning transactions with an
expert, i.e. the teacher in the classroom. In particular people who have
previously learned traditionally may prefer to engage with a teacher or
educator who is able to take a directive role and lead them into critical
engagement with the material, validate information and guide them through
the resources and activities rather than one who simply takes what Kop &
Hill refer to as a ‘reduced’ role of facilitator (which is a widely
accepted title and role in e-learning environments), and which means their
‘teaching’ can sometimes simply remain as an online conversation at the
level of the learners’ current knowledge base.
(*see also Salmon 2004, e-Moderating: The key to teaching and learning
online, Routledge and Kop 2008),
30th Nov 2008: It's great to know when you are doing it right...
I would like to share the unsolicited feedback I received last week on an Introduction to Excel course run by Barbara Stapleton for Eastern Health at Maroondah Hospital.
Our preferred approach to learning and training is based on the belief that people naturally learn new concepts and information when they are relaxed, comfortable and feel like their contribution to the group is valued.
This feedback validates how all of us approach a day of training and I sincerely thank Lynnette for taking the time to make these comments:
30th November 2008
My staff attended an Excel course run by Barb last week and they have all spoken very highly of the course. Barb was an excellent teacher and she seemed to pick up if anyone was lagging behind and helped them in a way that didn't make them feel silly.
I would highly recommend your courses to others in future.
Lynette Devalle
Manager of Health Information Services,
Angliss Hospital, Eastern Health.
