Too often organizations fail to measure both the effectiveness and Return on Investment (ROI) of their marketing and marketing communications activity using unsubstantiated data. The Dashboard is a tool that provides a format to help organizations plot their activities and direct the measurement of effectiveness. How can there be improvement without measurement?

In this free, one hour webinar, Alan will:

• Introduce the performance Dashboard as a tool for checking the effectiveness of programs
• Describe how the Dashboard works and its measures
• Use marketing and marketing communications Dashboards as examples
• Indicate how to develop a program Dashboard

To register for the webinar, please visit https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/992879198.

This free, one hour session will provide an introduction and overview to knowledge mobilization, which is becoming increasingly prevalent at universities across Canada as a process to maximize the impact of research.  This session will share the experiences of York University’s Knowledge Mobilization Unit and its numerous interactions within the adult literacy field.

In this webinar, participants will learn:

• What Knowledge Mobilization is;
• How is it supported at York University (especially in relation to adult literacy in Ontario); and
• What the strategies are for literacy practitioners to utilize research to inform professional practice and public policy.

There will also be time for questions at the end of the webinar.

To register for the webinar, please click here or visit http://www.spotlightonlearning.ca/content/december-2011

Earlier this year, I thought it would be a good idea to write about the OLC’s experience in workplace essential skills and reflect on the changing nature of entry-level or low-skilled employment I saw in the hospitality, manufacturing and food processing industries.  It became difficult to ignore the implications these changes have on workforce preparation.  Menial No More is an attempt to capture some of the labour market consequences we are seeing in Ontario, Canada and in other jurisdictions.  Indeed, not long after Menial No More went to print, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) published a report outlining issues in workforce skills and innovation.  The report noted the significant increase in skills required for ‘low-skilled’ vocations and the dilemmas facing employers in this context.  The OCED paper also noted the scant attention being paid to the skill inflation in these jobs, and questioned whether generic basic skills training can actually address the needs of people going into these jobs.  These are important issues with real ramifications – not just for policy makers and basic skills providers – but for the range of individuals who have traditionally used these jobs to get a foothold in the labour market.

Since the release of Menial No More, I have had the opportunity to travel throughout much of the province and I have been pleasantly surprised by the response from basic skills providers, policy makers and other stakeholders.  As a discussion paper – it has created discussion.  A couple of things need some explanation.  I have encountered  some debate over the use of the terms STEM and Digital Skills and whether we are using the right terminology in describing workforce changes.   It is probably correct that neither STEM or Digital Skills quite captures the nature of the shifting skills requirements in entry-level employment.   A more accurate description would be skills-biased technological change, however the unfamiliarity of that lexicon is an impediment and does not provide an accessible framework for an important conversation.   Of course, the conversation should not focus on the correctness of the terminology, but on the magnitude of  technological changes and the kinds of assistance our employment and training system can provide to the most vulnerable in our workforce.

Last week I was at a meeting of literacy and basic skills providers when the topic shifted to Menial No More.  Almost everyone agreed with the sense that employers were expecting more from entry-level employees.   The conversation became much more thought-provoking when we started to talk about who should be providing the unemployed with these new skills.  A number of people thought that it was an employer’s responsibility to provide the training for these skills.  Indeed, this is not a unique sentiment, as I have heard similar views from senior policy makers. During that discussion, I openly wondered whether we should be leaving the responsibility of training our most vulnerable to employers and industry.  I think publicly-funded institutions have a real role to play in this form of training and it was interesting to note that most of the literacy programs I talk tothink that learners would greatly benefit from an injection of vocational training.  The question then becomes: how does a literacy and essential skills program do this? What would such programming look like? And how can this be orchestrated in terms of funding?

Over the coming months, I will post on the themes and discussions emerging from Menial No More and provide some links to other initiatives that can provide a template for ongoing conversations.  I welcome others to offer insights to this blog as we look toward enhancing our basic skills system.

John

To read a copy of Menial No More, please visit http://www.on.literacy.ca/whatwedo/lfw/menial_no_more.

The federal government has passed responsibility for labour market training to the provinces and territories.  Each year, through the Labour Market Agreements (LMA), the provinces and territories receive over $500 million for training people who are not eligible under Employment Insurance (EI).  A particular feature of the LMAs is the priority placed on those with low levels of Essential Skills and/or without a high school credential.  These agreements have already affected how and to whom literacy and essential skills services are delivered.

This FREE, one-hour webinar will provide you with:
• An overview of the labour market agreements – what are they, how they work, and why they are important
• What has been happening in other provinces and territories
• The Ontario situation – a review of how Ontario has chosen to spend its LMA funding, especially to support literacy and essential skills
• Challenges and opportunities – why this should matter to the literacy community and what might be done to enhance LMA literacy and essential skills activities

For more information or to register for the webinar, please click here or visit https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/242553886.

New discussion paper suggests ‘low-skilled’ jobs need ‘high-skill’ ability

For those who missed the webinar, we have a recorded version for you on our Spotlight on Learning website – please share with colleagues and friends!

To view the recorded webinar, please click here.

$20 per participant, with free parking. Registration deadline is November 8 – register soon as space is limited!

Please click Literacy and the Justice System Conference Speaker Agenda for more information. Download the registration form here: Literacy and the Justice System Conference Registration Form

This free, one-hour webinar focuses on what workplace learning practitioners, especially those specialized in literacy and essential skills, need to know about Continuous Improvement (also known as Lean) as a workplace culture imperative for many industries worldwide. Understanding Continuous Improvement helps in communicating, working effectively, and tailoring content and methods for workplaces on a Lean journey.

In this webinar we will:

• Introduce the basic concepts of Continuous Improvement
• Consider the learning demands of Continuous Improvement on the individual, the team, and the organization
• Review examples of material, approaches, and learning from real life experience and from  literature
• Flag some of the contested terrain of Lean in workplaces
• Discuss your questions, and leave with a resource list for further learning

We will also be tweeting during the webinar, so please join our conversation the day of the webinar through the hashtag #OLCweb! To register for the webinar, please click here.

• The Nova Scotia School for Adult Learning was busy handing out their 2011 International Literacy Day awards
• Honorable David Johnson, Governor General of Canada, wrote a message for International Literacy Day
• USAID,  in cooperation with NASA, shared a special taped video message from astronauts at the International Space Station, encouraging world leaders to continue efforts to improve literacy rates around the world to open the celebration of international literacy
• UNESCO posted a video explaining why literacy means peace
• Vegmin Learning in Alberta was busy celebrating with their Bucks 4 Books Hot Dog Sale
• Children were engaged at a University of Laos reading festival 
• The Florida Literacy Coalition added these tips for teaching English to ESL and ESOL students

Nonprofits are quickly drawing their attention to the importance of brand. Branding is developing a clear identity for your audience: the better you can say who you, what you do and – a particularly important point for nonprofits – your value, the easier you will gain supporters for your work.

OLC – Five Ways to Rebrand When You’ve Changed Your Strategy