Training Bulletin Issue 59

Training on Tap – Plain Words Launches Self-Study Courses

What has the internet ever done for you? Aside from providing you with endless photos of cats with funny captions, that is. Well, now it will let you access some of Plain Words' business writing courses, without having to leave your desk, or even your own sitting room.

Why should you be interested in this? The two main reasons to consider on line self-study are that courses are cost effective and flexible. If you have a limited budget but a lot of staff needing to improve their business writing skills, on line e-learning may be a useful supplement to face-to-face training sessions.

Cost Effectiveness

Group training sessions with a professional presenter are great for learning and morale but not always achievable for all the staff who would benefit from them. Allowing those staff to access on line courses will help your training budget go further.

As a taster, we are offering a free ten minute module covering our popular apostrophe flowchart – access it here: www.plainwords.co.uk/elearning/apostrophe/index.html

Our simple pricing structure means you can either pay for each individual, or pay a licence fee that will give your staff unlimited access to a course for a year.

Flexibility

People can cover as much or as little content as they have time for, when and where it suits them. Our courses run on a range of platforms, including PCs, laptops, Macs and most tablets (eg Android, iPad).

Content can be paused or repeated, so learners can progress at their own pace or stop if they have to deal with work issues during a session. With modular content, learners can choose their own path through the material if they only have a few specific points they want to address, or follow our guided sequence to complete an entire course.

Staff can study while at work or at home and you don't need to worry about booking limited meeting room space or trying to find a date that is convenient for everyone. You avoid travel and catering costs, and if a work crisis occurs, people are available to deal with it and can return to where they left off later.

But Does It Work?

When computer-based training (CBT) first came along, a lot of people found that passively clicking through bullet-heavy slides then answering simple yes/no questions was not very challenging. Our courses include a voice recording of our trainers, speaking as if they are addressing a live group, making it easier to follow the content and supplementing what you will see on screen.

Research into adult education has suggested that self-study is particularly effective in subjects relating to literacy and languages. The Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning, conducted by Portland State University in America, found that “self-study and program participation appear to be complementary approaches to learning [and] self-study should be viewed as being on a continuum with, rather than an alternative to, classroom-based instruction.”

Do You Want To Know More?

The following self-study sessions are already available:

• The Apostrophe Flowchart – free taster on our website.
• Email & Report Essentials – four modules with exercises, totalling two hours, covering the five W's you need to address to write effective emails and reports.
• Plain Words' Eight Principles of Effective Business Writing – how to write for maximum clarity and conciseness, including how to assess how easy your reader will find your text and how to adapt it to different types of document or audience. This is either a stand-alone module of one hour or is included as part of Email & Report Essentials.

Contact to learn more about how your staff can use these modules.

What Else Would You Like To See?

We plan to make more content available as self-study material. Which courses (http://www.plainwords.co.uk/training_course_list.html ) would you most like to see presented this way? Email to let us know.

Do You Prefer Face To Face Training?

We are still offering all our regular training services, so contact us to discuss group or individual sessions on any of our courses.