U-Blog 1

The workplace learning of today's day and age has grown to a very important factor in the modern work environment. Company's such as JetBlu are setting trends with the creation of "Universities" for their employees. This has created a more suitable environment for training and updating past training tho. While i feel that this method costs alot up front, it seems as it would save money in the long run having a dediated place and curriculum set up. I'm not used to this form of training as my two major jobs have been been retail; one being a grocery store, the other being at a mall. So while i say that it seems it would be better to learn in, i can't fully say from personal experience. JetBlu seems to have employee retention (other than those current lay offs) on their side for stats, so as they say "If its not broke, don't fix it!"

Workplace Learning

While workplace learning is often thought of as initial training and nothing more, it is much more important than that. Training can often affect the customers you attract and keep. Training Trends and Tips says that it is important to help the customers rather than try to sell to them. Still initial job training is one of the most important aspects. Training trends says

Organisations of less than 250 people spend on average around £417 per head on training, whereas organisations of over 10,000 employees spend just £73 per head.

Thats almost 6 times as much per person in the smaller organizations!

Blended learning also is an emerging trend, such as this class. It can involve a variety of methods, such as f2f, internet, and others. Most organizations seem to show that people learning through blended learning method are retaining more information than through just one method.

One common thought is the need to continue training America's work force. Foreign language being one main area of concentration. Its becoming more common for people to be able to speak other languages in the country as well as with international clients. Also technological training being another front runner in importance. Very few jobs don't require some sort of computer interaction whether it be from teachers using blackboard, to network managers who's job revolves around technology. All of this is important as a large amount of American's are in unskilled jobs with little ability to increase their standing in society. While we need these jobs too, we are currently in a large surplus of them and lacking in skilled employees in certain regions such as medical.

Another problem with training American's is the shortage of money in the current economic situation. The government is lacking the budget to start training programs, although it is trying to do so in the stimulus package. Companies themselves are also lacking the finances to properly train and keep up with training that is required to be up-to-date.