Talking TAP

February Welcome from Claire Brookes

Hello and Welcome to the February 2010 Issue of the Talking TAP Newsletter.

This month we are discussing the exciting news regarding the new Foundation Degree in Learning and Development Practice, we have a full schematic to show the route plan of the modules included in the Foundation Degree. 

The February TAP Qualified Professional of the Month is Alex Box, who reveals why he loves TAP.  Alex explains how his TAP Certificate in Training Delivery Skills has helped him to find a new and exciting training role, after having been made redundant from the construction industry.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland are our Gold TAP Partner of the Month, read on to discover how TAP has created the highest quality training that is essential for a police service that is accountable, rights based and effective.

The brain teaser feature is now focused to provide you with a collection of ready to use energising activities and ice breakers for your training sessions.  If you would like to suggest a fun and informative brain teaser/ training aid please drop me an email at: c.brookes@trainingfoundation.com

We also wanted to announce that Mr. Karl Whitburn from our Silver TAP Partner Fidessa is the first person in 2010 to take advantage of the 20% TAP Partner Discount for booking a TAP Diploma.  Karl achieved this discount by enrolling on the complete TAP Master Diploma in L&D, rather than booking the component modules in a piecemeal fashion.  We are confident that Karl will truly enjoy his learning journey towards achieving the TAP Master Diploma!

The article by Clive Shepherd entitled 'Is it time for Learning Technologies to use learning technologies?' makes for an interesting read.

All the best, and to all you cupids out there have a happy St. Valentines Day!

Claire

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Foundation Degree in Learning and Development Practice

As announced in the last issue of Talking TAP, we wanted to give you more information on the new Foundation Degree in Learning & Development Practice.  This  is delivered entirely and exclusively by Training Foundation facilitators, while the Degree is awarded by The University of Chester.

The study programme comprises of successful completion of 11 modular short-courses in the TAP portfolio, covering all aspects of current L&D practice.  Each course requires skills assessment and submission of a 2,500 word paper for knowledge assessment.

The schematic below shows the required modules from the TAP Learning System:

(If the schematic isn't displayed effectively you can follow this link to view it on our website http://www.tap-training.com/docs/found_degree_schematic.ppt)

In addition, students submit two work-based projects to evidence their practical understanding and application of the programme content. Designed as a 2-year study programme, registrants holding the TAP Master Diploma in Learning Facilitation may receive Recognition of Prior Learning and can therefore achieve the Foundation Degree over a minimum of a one-year period.

To arrange a face to face meeting to learn more about the Foundation Degree in Learning and Development Practice let me know at c.brookes@trainingfoundation.com I'll be happy to co-ordinate diaries.

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Is it time for Learning Technologies to use learning technologies?

In one of many lively discussions with conference participants at Learning Technologies 27-28th January 2010, that most obvious of questions arose once again: why should you have to be at Olympia in London, live and in person, in chilly January, to participate in the event. Surely for every one of the 400-odd conference participants, there must be another ten who fulfil the following criteria:

• they want to attend but can’t justify travelling to London, or
• they are interested in attending just a small selection of the sessions, and
• they are prepared to pay to watch a live webcast or recorded video of those sessions that interest them

I know there are all sorts of commercial considerations. Are people prepared to pay for online sessions when so many webinars are free (my guess is yes)? How will exhibitors react to the idea that online participants who won’t get the chance to visit their booths (not great, but then conference participants are only a small proportion of the total exhibition visitors)? On the other hand, speakers will be delighted with the opportunity to reach a much wider audience.

Perhaps it’s time to take the chance?


Clive Shepherd

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TAP Qualified Professional of the Month, Alex Box

I have been a trainer for 8 years now, working initially within the Banking Environment, providing training to users on bespoke Bank Clearing systems.  I then started working for an IT Support company, gaining experience in IT Support and then moving into the role of the IT Support Trainer, a role which previously did not exist but really fell to the most experienced member of the team.  I then worked for a Construction Company as their IT Training Manager to start the ball rolling to get the company more involved with IT and the benefits it could bring to the staff.

Alas, I was made unemployed from the construction company and then looked to see how I could further enhance my chances of re-employment as a trainer.

Every time that I have looked on the net for new job prospects, there have always been jobs advertised where the employer requires someone holding a TAP qualification, and the pay/ benefits have always been of a higher standard that the average IT Trainer role.

I attended the Fast-track TAP Certificate in Training Delivery Skills course on the 25th November.  After successfully gaining the TAP qualification, which was ran by Debbie Mann,  things have really turned round, much as Mark Johnson (my account manager at The Training Foundation) and Debbie said they would.  I found that the TAP Qualification is  a more tangible way of reaffirming just how good a trainer you are.  I also found the course really helped to hone my skills, give them a far more concentrated direction, more precise and accurate ensuring that courses and their content were entirely tailored to the client and their requirements.  For me I feel that TAP is the Ultimate answer and advocate to me as a Trainer.  I do not need to tell people I am good, my TAP qualification does the talking for me!

After the course I was approached for 2 interviews, one a contract role and another permanent role with a VOIP company.  Well, they both went VERY well, and both companies offered me the respective position.  After some debating, I opted for the permanent role due to the benefits that were on offer over the long term.

I found myself in a position which I had never anticipated being in, one which most certainly is down to Mark’s grace for encouraging me to sign up for the course, and Debbie’s skill and guiding hand ensuring that I achieved the TAP Certificate in Training Delivery Skills.  Without which I am sure that I would not have been in the position that I am now in, and it is for this that I would like to express my gratitude to both Debbie and Mark.  They have both been ambassadors to The Training Foundation and have provided me with a means to get back into employment.

I am still very interested in pursuing further TAP Qualifications through The Training Foundation, particularly in the TAP Diploma in e-Learning, as this is a field which my new employer and I will be working on in 2010.

Thank you once again.
Alex Box

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TAP Partner of the Month, Police Service of Northern Ireland

The highest quality training and development is essential to delivering and improving a police service that is accountable, rights based and effective.  

Spread across three sites in Belfast, Armagh and Londonderry The Information Communication and Technology Training Unit (ICTTU) team have the formidable task of delivering over 40 IT training courses to all Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) staff, from new student to Chief Constable.  Proficient use of a wide range of systems, spanning the Violent and Sex Offender register to systems for recording crimes, storing intelligence, generating statistics and organising duty rosters, is integral to a culture of continuous customer service improvement. 

Mark Dornan is the senior manager for the ICTTU team, along with a number of other training departments and ensures that the team is clear about its objectives: “Our job is to provide the right training, at the right time, at the right quality, at a price the customer can afford”.

Delivering quality training means the team need to adhere to rigorous quality assurance standards. 

The quality assurance framework, approved by The National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) focuses on the strategies, systems, policies and procedures which underpin the design and delivery of training and learning.  This is particularly important given the dynamic nature of the IT environment, the extensiveness of the portfolio of IT courses and limited resources to deliver them. 

There is a huge breadth of experience within the nine-strong team, four of the trainers are Police officers and five are civilian staff, three of which are retired Police officers, with years of policing experience. The other civilians have quickly learned the relevant police procedures and broaden the quality of the unit, by having a wealth of teaching and training experience. Thus the unit as a whole has an eclectic mix of highly professional trainers. Acclimatising new recruits to the PSNI culture and making message delivery as straightforward as possible for our students mean that consistency of training delivery is paramount.

Add to this the constant design and redesign of training programmes to keep up with software changes, the need for compliance with Home Office rules and incorporation of Human Rights issues and it is not surprising that the team can see a clear role for The Training Foundation’s TAP Learning System.

Delivering training the TAP way was already enhancing learning transfer but ICCTU wanted to augment the impact of The TAP methodology by adopting TAP Principles to design, as well as delivery courses.  The team’s commitment to designing and delivering all courses to TAP standards has been rewarded with Gold TAP Partner status.   Additionally many team members have successfully completed other TAP courses including Blended Learning, E-Learning, Facilitation Skills, TAP Assessor and Learner Engagement, enabling one staff member to achieve three TAP Diplomas, including the new TAP Master in Learning and Development. 

A TAP-trained team has yielded many benefits.

Lesson materials can be planned and produced to consistent standards.  Indeed, the TAP methodology is applied on a monthly and sometimes weekly basis as new or enhanced software is introduced and training programmes have to be adapted accordingly.  It has been invaluable in giving materials uniformity, so that any team member can access them from the archive library and use them immediately because the template never varies.

(Picture: Peter Kirk Training using his TAP skills)

“Because the TAP way of working is so integral to all that we do and applied on such a regular basis, it has the effect of achieving a state of ‘conscious competence’ in the mindset of our trainers,” explains Peter Kirk, one of the ICCTU trainers.  “In turn, this creates a working model of positive reinforcement, thus instilling in our trainers a high degree of confidence in themselves and in what they deliver.”

“Achieving the Gold TAP Partnership gives us a huge amount of motivation to maintain and improve quality standards,” says Peter.  “TAP assessment methods help to make quality an ongoing focus of our attention, not just something to be ticked off and forgotten.”

Every trainer is quality assessed on the design and delivery of lessons on a quarterly basis.  The evaluation procedures used to be laborious and time-consuming, but with three simple TAP sheets to complete, the process is so much more streamlined, without losing any of the rigour.

Management by results is something that can be encouraged, as the association with TAP and The Training Foundation has convinced the team that TAP-qualified trainers will always deliver a high quality product, on time and within budget.” 

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Celebrate Success

As always this section of the newsletter is dedicated to those hardworking Learning & Development professionals who were awarded a TAP Diploma over the past month – our congratulations go out to:

 TAP Diploma in Learning & Development:

Nick Halder
Fidessa

Matthew Hards
Surrey County Council

Samantha Lawrence
Interserve FM

Kat Riall
Vangent 

TAP Diploma in Learning Design

Michelle Kaye
Boodle Hatfield

TAP Diploma in e-Learning

Dawn Johnson
Teignbridge District Council 

Well done - we hope that you have enjoyed your journey towards the destination of the TAP Diploma of your choice. 

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Free of Charge Virtual Classroom Tours

Classroom trainers … are your feet killing you?  Want to learn how to Enhance your Skills & Increase your employability? ... then join in our free virtual classroom tour.

Experience the look, sound and feel of participating in a web-based training session.  Enjoy a fun, interactive, virtual classroom session using tools such as whiteboard, text chat, application sharing.  Amaze yourself by what you can achieve using this medium transfer of your current training skills to a virtual classroom environment easily.

All this from the comfort of your own desk!

• Session are 45 minutes 
• Limited to 8 places per session
• Open to all TAP trainers
• No previous experience required. 
• You will need: Computer with Internet connection and speakers or headset

For 2010 dates are:

• 4 Feb 12 noon
• 18 Feb 10 am

to book your place on a date , please email Jayne Bosltridge on: j.bolstridge@trainingfoundation.com

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Brain Teaser

This brain teaser will explore your aptitude for lateral thinking and stimulate your creativity.

Read the story below and see if you can solve the problem:

The Hotel Detective:

A hotel detective was walking along a corridor of a large hotel one day.  Suddenly, he heard a woman's voice cry out "for god's sake, dont shoot me John!"

Then there was a shot!

He ran to the room from where the shot had come and burst in.  In one corner of the room lay a woman who had been shot through the heart.  In the middle of the room was a gun that had been used to shoot her.

On the other side of the room stood a postman, a lawyer and an accountant.  The detective looked at them for a moment then walked towards the postman, grabbed him and said; "I'm arresting you for the murder of that woman."

It was, in fact, the postman who had murdered the woman, but how did the detective know?

The detective had not seen any of the people in the room before.

To receive the solution to this riddle, please email info@trainingfoundation.com and put hotel detective in the subject line.

Feel free to utilise this brain teaser for your training sessions, if you are looking for a creative thinking energiser!  This brain teaser was reproduced from Brain Teasers For Trainers by Robert-Phelps et al  Gower Publishing Ltd, Aldershot.  

As you hold a TAP Qualification you are entitled to receive a copy of this free Talking TAP Newsletter each month.  This will be forwarded to your email on a monthly basis.  If, however, you no longer wish to receive the Talking TAP Newsletter simply reply to the mail with the words remove in the subject. 

Many Thanks The Training Foundation Ltd

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