Don’t Rage Against the Machine; Or Your Colleagues

In today’s ultra-competitive workforce, you don’t have any friends. Really – even those in your office who you think are your friends aren’t. Friendships in the work place are a nice idea, but when it comes to hanging on to your job, any co-worker, no matter how close you think you are to him or her, will throw you under the bus in order to get ahead or hang on to their job.

As cutthroat as this sounds, there are ways to protect yourself from the wilds of the office jungles, keep your sanity and advance in your position. You can still socialize with your co-workers – go out for drinks or lunch; heck, you can even get them to baby sit your kids. But never, ever take for granted that when it gets down to it, said co-worker would snap up your job in a heartbeat if the opportunity presented itself.

The way to get ahead is not to quit and go back to school full-time to get that MBA or even a bachelor’s degree. Yes, education is a lifelong process, but the key to making sure you have the qualifications necessary to success isn’t heading back to the classroom. You can obtain the necessary skills via online training, without having to sacrifice your position or even inconvenience yourself.

According to industry experts, the way to make yourself a more valuable asset to your organization is to acquire 5 Crucial Skills necessary for success. Those skills are:

• Applied Math and Statistics: knowing your numbers and how to interpret them
• Negotiation Skills: Above all else, you need to play well in the sandbox with others
• Self Expression: Computers can’t do the work for you
• Being an Effective Problem Solver: Within the problem lies the solution. Those who find solutions are noticed.
• Sell Yourself: You are your own best salesperson

In addition to these skills, let’s not forget that keeping up with technology is vitally important to keeping your head above water in today’s work place. Don’t take for granted what you know because technology advances in a heartbeat. There is always some new program that makes the machines more and more indispensable, and the more you know, the less likely you are to be replaced by one.  Computers are a blessing and a curse; they make your job easier, but the day one becomes capable of doing your job, you’re in trouble. Keep The Terminator in mind; once those puppies become aware, they will attack. No doubt about it.

So, what can you do to stave off the machines and your opportunistic co-workers? Acquire knowledge. It’s as simple as that. Make a list of the skills you need to learn or improve upon. Seek out the training that best suits your needs and get to it. You can learn all you need to know and then some with quality online training. You never have to set foot in a classroom ever again.

Oh, and if the training sucks, tell us about it. We want to know!

Mobile Learning as a Driver for Change in Educational Sector

Once the time has come for an idea, no army or any power on heaven and earth can stop it. The time for m-Learning has finally arrived after years of hype, and it is making waves as it spreads the light of knowledge into dark pockets of ignorance and poverty.

Most of us don’t really think about it all that much, but Fabio Sergio of Co.DESIGN has done some serious research and written a fascinating post that lists ten different ways that mobile learning is changing the face of education as we know it. You should read Fabio’s musings in full, but here’s the gist of it.

1. Ongoing Education – There’s really no way to stop learning when you’re connected and plugged in through phones, tablets and computers. If you have the curiosity to find out how something works, then you don’t have to go sit in a classroom for months or years, paying fees for learning stuff which you will never need. All the knowledge you need is just one click away on a smart phone or cheap tablet.

2. Leapfrogging the System – In fact, many people are cutting through the clutter of traditional educational formats to take up specific useful courses online. Anyone anywhere, with no background or prior qualifications, can sign up worth prestigious institutions like Stanford or MIT and take courses like artificial intelligence or computer science online. It’s just a question of needing it or wanting it, and the education will instantly be available with no entry barriers. Needless to say, studying at Stanford will be a pipedream for a poor worker or child in a third-world country  – unless you bring together a mobile solution and the ability to download and digest lessons as and when possible throughout the day and night.

3. Lifelong Learning – Easy to use mobile and tablet devices have removed the perceived fear of using a computer among the older generation. They have the time and the motivation to learn and teach. The rise of an army of well educated retirees and seniors willing to contribute to m-Learning is fueling the revolution.

4. Gender Bender – In many parts of the world, young girls and women are denied educational opportunities and not allowed to go to school. m-Learning is the perfect solution that has gate crashed through these barriers and is educating half the population in places where no other access to education is possible.

5. Software Literacy – The availability and spread of computers and their applications in various industries is held back because of the lack of developers who can provide these solutions. Most third-world nations and their corporate worlds don’t really consider it a priority to fly in programmers fromIndiaor outsource such work. If local programmers were available, it would be a whole new story. This is where m-Learning is making one of its biggest contributions.Kenyais a shining example, where mHealth solutions are making a real impact.

6. Use Existing Educational Material – The internet is a vast sea of information, where the only problem is finding exactly what you need and nothing else. It can be a full semester’s collection of educational videos and study material, or something as simple as text messages to help people improve their lives and take preventive health care on their own.

7. Who’s the Student – Today’s plugged in children can easily be educators themselves, spending some time teaching their own parents and others in the community how to use smart phones, tablets and computers for m-Learning.

8. Synergy – You cannot use one mobile solution without it affecting your status in some other area of life. For instance, those without access to the banking system became empowered when they got hold of m-Finance where they could send and receive money through mobile phones. That in turn has allowed them to spend resources on other mobile solutions and get hold of m-Learning, m-Health and a host of other solutions that have improved their lives.

9. Impact on Traditional Learning – The disruptive force of e-Learning and m-Learning has hit the old universities hard and they now have no choice but to get on-board or be left out. Major universities are now offering their full-time courses completely online, with the exact same curriculum, teachers and certification. Students can complete and submit assignments online through LMS systems, and virtual campuses provide the opportunity for group study and classroom style online teaching.

10. Customized Education – While m-Learning is forcing education providers to make changes, it’s still a work in progress. But students don’t need to wait for progress and can pick and choose what they want to study online. Every student can stick to preferred subjects or courses and get certified for just that. It cuts out the boredom and time wasted on studying irrelevant courses just to get a degree.