SME Environment
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Planning decisions
This box explains the meaning of the elements in the table
- What management decisions need to be taken? Decisions about....
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- What additional information may they need to make decisions?
- What is the current position?
- What our training needs are.
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- Methods and tools for training needs analysis
- Forecasts of future industry skill needs
- What was the learning problem or need?
- Who does the learning problem or need affect and in what way?
- How was this identified? By whom? Through what processes?
- Ways of recognising and building on previous work and not reinventing the wheel
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- Position audit
- Who is doing what else to try and solve this problem in the company?
- What other measures have been tried in the past and to what effect?
- Accrediting /certificating learning outcomes
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- Benefits for and against accreditation
- What is the balance between individual versus organisational needs?
- Are there external requirements for accreditation e.g. from funding bodies, Chambers of Commerce, organisations in supply chain
- Considering e-learning, rather than traditional learning as an appropriate response to a particular issue
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- List of possibilities with advantages, disadvantages
- What non-ICT options are available?
- What non-ICT based options were edited out and why?
- Finding out what human expertise is needed
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- Who provides this information for SME
- Scoping study
- What range of ICT options were explored in terms of
- Provider availability (in house and external)?
- Provider pedagogical competence (in-house and external)?
- Provider ICT competence (in-house and external)?
- Finding out what technology and e-learning content exists
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- Where help is available
- Scoping /feasibility study
- What range of ICT options were explored in terms of availability of technology ?
- shelf life of the technology?
- competence in the technology?
- Availability of e-materials and content?
- Need for back up and support
- Finding out what it all costs
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- Cost benefit analysis tools
- Sources of financial support
- Implications of choosing vendors /technologies e.g. technology lock-ins
- What are the costs associated with
- Providers?
- Technology?
- Materials?
- Establishing what is and what is not possible at the moment
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- What ICT based options were edited out and why?
- What ICT based options were selected and why?
- Identifying the limitations we are working under in terms of e-learning
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- What compromises were made?
- Determining whose responsibility it is and who should be involved.
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- What consultation processes and tools exist?
- Information about different forms of work organisation
- Who participated in the decision making process?
- Why and how and by whom were these judgements finally made?
- Was the decision making process effective?
- Could they be improved?
- Defining training issues clearly and focussing the e-learning solutions
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- What remaining issues / unresolved problems were recognised?
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Please provide your comments on this section of the tool.
- Is there anything you would change about it? Is there anything you think should be left out or anything which should be added? Do you have any other comments about this section?
Structuring decisions
This box explains the meaning of the elements in the table
- What management decisions need to be taken? Decisions about....
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- What additional information may they need to make decisions?
- What is the current position?
- Establishing whether we can afford it
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- Potential for upgrading /ramping up system in longer term
- Depreciation on equipment
- Planned obsolescence programme
- What is the level of financial, technical and human resourcing?
- Matching e-learning and budget profiles
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- Potential for upgrading /ramping up system in longer term
- Depreciation on equipment
- Planned obsolescence programme
- How does expenditure break down into
- capital
- revenue
- What are the restrictions?
- What is the expenditure profile on e-learning likely to be?
- What percentage of the budget was start-up?
- What percentage of the budget is for continuation?
- Identifying the e-learning solution
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- What technologies are being used and how?
- What e-products/ e-opportunities are being used?
- Is the program /learning opportunity purpose built/adapted/off the shelf?
- What is the duration, depth, and breadth of the learning program?
- How are the learners selected or recruited and by whom?
- In whose time is the learning to take place?
- How are the learners supported and ‚tracked?
- How are the learners assessed?
- Using the learning outcomes
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- How is the learning to be applied in the workplace?
- Are the learners to be rewarded in any way?
- Financially?
- Job enhancement?
- Promotion?
- Balancing effectiveness, efficiency and economy
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- What compromises are being made and why? What are the effects of the compromises?
- Reviewing process
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- What influenced the above choices?
- Would different choices be made next time?
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Please provide your comments on this section of the tool.
- Is there anything you would change about it? Is there anything you think should be left out or anything which should be added? Do you have any other comments about this section?
Implementing decisions
This box explains the meaning of the elements in the table
- What management decisions need to be taken? Decisions about....
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- What additional information may they need to make decisions?
- What is the current position?
- Progress checking
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- What monitoring mechanisms were set up?
- How were they designed and implemented and by whom?
- What was /were the purposes of the monitoring system?
- Who made these decisions and why?
- How effective were the monitoring / systems?
- Setting up feedback systems
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- What feedback was there to and from learners?
- What feedback was there to and from managers?
- What feedback was given to and from tutors, support staff, technicians, other employees?
- How was this feedback provided and by whom?
- Dealing with operational problems
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- How much flexibility in the program was possible/How much did you allow yourself?
- How much room was given for responsiveness?
- Were problems dealt with on the spot or recorded for next time?
- What problems occurred and what solutions were found?
- Did the technology work?
- Were the learning materials relevant, appropriate and effective?
- How did the learners respond to e-learning?
- How did the tutors / facilitators respond to e-learning
- How did others in the workplace respond to e-learning?
- How did the partnerships between company /training provider /finance agencies etc work?
- Feed forward mechanisms
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- Methods and tools for recording and disseminating lessons learned
- Methods for identifying critical success factors
- What revisions were needed as a result?
- What didn’t occur that was expected?
- What occurred that was not predicted – positive and negative
- Why did this happen?
- What issues or problems were not solved?
- What problems or constraints were self-imposed?
- What were the reasons for this?
- What were the main barriers to success?
- What were the main contributors to success?
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Please provide your comments on this section of the tool.
- Is there anything you would change about it? Is there anything you think should be left out or anything which should be added? Do you have any other comments about this section?
Recycling decisions
This box explains the meaning of the elements in the table
- What management decisions need to be taken? Decisions about....
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- What additional information may they need to make decisions?
- What is the current position?
- Measuring results
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- ROI tools
- Cost benefit analysis
- How well were the needs addressed?
- What were the specific results/attainments of the program?
- What (quantitatively) was the return on investment for the learner, company, and others e.g. employees?
- What (qualitatively) were the immediate benefits for the learner, company, and others e.g. employees?
- What were the drawbacks/downsides for the learner, company, and others e.g. employees?
- Assessing the impact
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- Impact Analysis
- Information on new forms of work organisation
- Change management processes
- Training needs analysis tools
- New qualification structures
- New learning opportunities
- What aspects of the program were unexpected or unplanned?
- What are the long-term consequences likely to be?
- What are the management and organisational implications?
- Will the program result in changes to the way the company organises its work?
- Has the learners’ attitude to work and /or learning changed
- What additional / new training needs have been generated as a result of the program
- For learners
- For management and other staff?
- Sustainability
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- Availability of future support and resources
- What should be done with the program after it has run its course?
- Do you need to repeat it?
- Do you want to repeat it?
- Can you afford to repeat it?
- What should you do less of next time? Why?
- What should you do more of next time? Why?
- What should you do differently next time? Why?
- What additional know how is neccessary?
- How is this going to be achieved?
- What further investment is necessary?
- In personnel?
- In technology?
- In material?
- How can this be organised?
- Transferability
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- What can be transferred to a different context within the company?
- What can be embedded in every day practice?
- How is this going to be done?
- Dissemination and Knowledge development
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- Information about what industrial networks and organisations exist
- Access to e-learning communities
- What could benefit the company by being disseminated outside the company?
- What new e-learning developments outside the company would you now want to explore?
- What new partnerships would you want to develop?
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Please provide your comments on this section of the tool.
- Is there anything you would change about it? Is there anything you think should be left out or anything which should be added? Do you have any other comments about this section?
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Planning decisions
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Structuring decisions
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Implementing decisions
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Recycling decisions
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Do you have any overall comments about this tool.
- Is the explanation about its background and use clear and sufficient? In particular, how useful do you think the tool is? Who might you be able to use it with?
