It was just 2 years ago that while presenting at an eLearning Guild event I had a phone meeting with my managers about "re-deployment". My personal exit strategy wasn't supposed to kick-in for another 6 months, but why look a gift horse in the mouth, right? I had been cut loose and set free into the wild of new adventures, new media, new web, new jobs, and many, many new friends & colleagues.
As Microsoft, IBM, Intel, and so many others not in the headlines, begin to reduce their labor force, I think about the employees now free to pursue other opportunities.
First of all, can anyone tell me if training departments are part of these cutbacks? The eLearning industry believes that we can save companies large amounts of money via our products and services.
Are classroom trainers actually losing their jobs to be replaced by eLearning? I know this is a common fear, but I just have never seen it.
Are you ramping up eLearning, or cutting back? I twittered this same question a few weeks ago and received only a few mixed responses.
Again, in thinking about all of those effected by corporate cutbacks, I've designed an challenging opportunity for eLearning professionals to showcase their design creativity, and skills. As part of The Annual Gathering Conference in March we accepting submissions for the gLearning Challenge. You can find more info at the link, but basically I want to see how creative our community can be in designing an eLearning solution using ONLY the free applications offered by Google. No, Google is not sponsoring this. The tools are free and therefore accessible to those who are currently without jobs and access to pricey development tools. Constraining the toolset to Google products only also forces you to work within boundaries, and that makes you think more creatively and levels the playing field.
The Guild is offering 100 guiders just for submitting, but the real payoff is getting noticed and exposing your skills and talents to those companies that ARE hiring and do need your help.
As Microsoft, IBM, Intel, and so many others not in the headlines, begin to reduce their labor force, I think about the employees now free to pursue other opportunities.
First of all, can anyone tell me if training departments are part of these cutbacks? The eLearning industry believes that we can save companies large amounts of money via our products and services.
Are classroom trainers actually losing their jobs to be replaced by eLearning? I know this is a common fear, but I just have never seen it.
Are you ramping up eLearning, or cutting back? I twittered this same question a few weeks ago and received only a few mixed responses.
Again, in thinking about all of those effected by corporate cutbacks, I've designed an challenging opportunity for eLearning professionals to showcase their design creativity, and skills. As part of The Annual Gathering Conference in March we accepting submissions for the gLearning Challenge. You can find more info at the link, but basically I want to see how creative our community can be in designing an eLearning solution using ONLY the free applications offered by Google. No, Google is not sponsoring this. The tools are free and therefore accessible to those who are currently without jobs and access to pricey development tools. Constraining the toolset to Google products only also forces you to work within boundaries, and that makes you think more creatively and levels the playing field.
The Guild is offering 100 guiders just for submitting, but the real payoff is getting noticed and exposing your skills and talents to those companies that ARE hiring and do need your help.
4 comments:
The gLearning challenge looks like sooo much fun!! What a fantastic idea, Brent!
I was talking to someone in the elearning department at Sun Yesterday when he suddenly learned he was "One of those affected" by a RIF. So they are actually cutting elearning people too.
HP too, 25 thousand and counting. Myself and a dozen of other folks were laid off in late November, early December. I don't know whether people from HP L&D outside the Americas region were also affected by the cuts.
As an instructional designer/eLearning developer I have never been busier at work. Unfortunately while the projects are stacking up for me we have reduced the number of ILT facilitators. On the brightside it has not been through any layoffs. Open positions are simply not being filled.
Post a Comment