Determining the ROI of an online English as a second language program

This article examines the methodology used to determine the return on investment (ROI) of an online English as a Second Language (ESL) program. The online ESL program was implemented in over 20 countries, and the scope of the analysis includes data from all participating countries. A form of ROI analysis had been conducted annually prior to the addition of the Phillips methodology in 2008. The latest analysis follows the Phillips approach step by step and has provided greater credibility as a result.     

Simplified Return-on-Investment

In this article a new approach to calculate the return-on-investment (ROI) when introducing technology in education or training is introduced. After an identification of major aspects that are of significance when talking about traditional ROI an alternative method called Simplified ROI is introduced. The main function of Simplified ROI is less to come up with an exact value to determine if a positive ROI is happening or not, but more to be a platform for explicit discussion among decision makers about the value of certain ROI aspects when considering technology in education or training.     

ADAPT<Superscript>IT</Superscript>: Tools for training design and evaluation

This article describes a set of computerized tools that support the design and evaluation of competency-based training programs. The training of complex skills such as air traffic control and process control requires a competency-based approach that focuses on the integration and coordination of constituent skills and transfer of learning. At the heart of the training are authentic whole-task practice situations. The instructional design tools are based on van Merriënboer's 4C/ID^* methodology (1997). The article describes a training design tool (Core) that supports the analysis and design for competency-based training programs and an evaluation tool (Eval) that supports the subsequent revision of this training design.     

The Impact of Educational Technology on Training and Development in the Banking Sector

Recent sustainability and training and development reports have shown that banks are increasingly investing in training and development. While most banks are already utilising different forms of e-learning for certain types of training interventions and employee assessments, the focus going forward is to reinvent training within the organisation by making it more efficient, convenient, accessible and fun with educational technology. The aim of the study reported on in this article was to investigate the impact that educational technology has on training and development downtime, accessibility with regard to different learning platforms, return on investment (ROI), organisational culture and learning within the banking environment. A targeted sample of 110 respondents from 30 branches of one of the leading banks in South Africa were surveyed using a stratified random sampling approach. The study revealed that the bank has a strong organisational culture; and educational technology at the bank showed positive results with regard to decreasing downtime and seeing increased ROI.     

Distinguishing ROI myths from reality

Use of the return‐on‐investment (ROI) methodology to show the value of performance improvement projects has spread over the past decade. Some perceive ROI as inappropriate for human performance improvement, while others see it as the ticket to additional funding and executive support. This article explores ROI trends and answers the most common questions about it.     

Show me the money: The use of ROI in performance improvement,part 1

This first of a two‐part series presents the evolution of value, moving from activity‐focused value to the ultimate value, return on investment (ROI). This feature clearly shows that the ROI methodology is not only appropriate for the performance improvement field, but is designed with a variety of performance improvement solutions in mind. The next article in this series will describe issues and challenges that those using this methodology face, along with a brief case study.     

Action research as a school-based strategy in intercultural professional development for teachers

Teacher professional development is a key factor for transforming professional and school culture. This article describes a case study undertaken in a Spanish school during the 2007-2008 academic year. Our aim is to explain how action research methodology was applied to encourage professional and school culture towards an intercultural and inclusive approach. Our results show that the training process challenged teachers’ pre-existing deficit theory perspectives and empowered them as leaders for school change. The conclusions identify the key factors that enabled teachers to engage in critical reflection, and to implement strategies for collaborative work and community participation in school.     

基于CVI的医学图像处理系统的实现

医学图像处理是近年来研究的一个热点。目前多数医学图像处理软件系统中都没有提供“插件”功能。本文探讨了一个基于CVI的医学图像处理软件系统的构建,对其中的底层数据结构的设计、感兴趣区(ROI)的提取等进行了研究,并提供了一种“插件”的实现方法。     

Family therapy: A case for training for school psychologists

This article presents both a rationale and methodology for family involvement by school personnel and underscores the need for school psychology training programs to respond programmatically to the training of their students in understanding and working with families. A family systems approach is adopted by the authors and is presented in the form of key questions concerning some important family dynamics. Five applications of this framework in the school setting are discussed.     

The cognitive approach to training development: A practitioner's assessment

This article begins this special issue of ETR&D-Development by discussing what the cognitive approach to instructional design (ID) is and how ID practitioners can design training differently using the approach. Following some introductory comments about purpose, scope and perspective, the article is in two parts. The first part describes why the cognitive approach to ID is important and how the current approach to instructional design and training development is different from the cognitive approach. It then explains how learning occurs according to the cognitive point of view, and the different categories of learning according to one type of cognitive psychology. The second part describes a model that synthesizes and summarizes the components of a well-designed lesson, and describes what is different about this model from the current approach to ID. This model relates what learners have to do to learn to what instructional designers have to do to help them do so. It presents and briefly explains and exemplifies a general framework for instructional design based on cognitive psychology. Finally, it presents a table that can be used as a job aid to design training.     

Fair Pairs and Three Part Praise – developing the sustained use of differential reinforcement of alternative behaviour

A training course of two after-school sessions was run for teaching assistants (TAs) in a UK inner city primary school. The subject of the training was classroom use of a version of differential reinforcement of alternative behaviours (DRAs) known as Fair Pairs. The training introduced the concept of “Three Part Praise” within Fair Pairs. The method of introduction involved training sessions, with the TAs explaining the process to their class teacher colleagues following each session. The TAs and class teachers were then asked to try the methodology in their classrooms. A follow-up session was held after six months for the TAs to feedback on their experiences. Results showed that most of the TA/class teacher “teams” were still using the approach after six months. Of those who responded most reported improvement in behaviour in the class. The implications of the methodology for training and the effectiveness of the approach being taught are discussed with suggestions for future research.     

The Bottom Line for Education and Training

Because business and industry training has become a major economic investment for the companies that support it, training managers are increasingly called upon to demonstrate that their interventions are not only effective but also cost-effective. This article describes a cost-effective methodology. It points out how cost-effectiveness differs from cost-benefit analysis. The technique combines meta-analytic and simple accounting procedures to yield an index of relative cost-effectiveness of training interventions. Using examples from the schools and corporate training, the authors demonstrate how the analysis can be applied to a large variety of training situations.     

An experimental study of vocational guidance (and decision making) in Spain

This article describes the procedure and methodology for a vocational guidance programme framed within the most recent conceptualised as a systematic process of intervention, that gradually optimise the subjects’ vocational conduct. The programme was applied to a population of 192 subjects located in seven secondary schools in the city of Granada, with proven effectiveness of the interventions. The three objectives of the programmes applied concentrated on the increase in the optimisation of self-awareness and self-concept for the subjects, training in strategies for searching for information, and training in decision-making.     

Visualization of Twitter Data in the Classroom

The expression “big data” is ubiquitous in the business world today, but few undergraduate business students have the opportunity to gain practical experience with how new business analytics tools can be used in decision making. This article describes a set of hands‐on labs that prepare students to incorporate streaming data analysis into group research projects. Splunk is used to help students analyze and visualize streaming social media data. An evaluation of student projects and student survey results show that this practical approach of training students to manipulate and visualize big data was largely successful in achieving instructional goals.     

Measuring the ROI on Knowledge Management Systems

Illustrating the return‐on‐investment (ROI) for a portal solution or knowledge management (KM) system has proven an elusive target. This paper will demonstrate that ROI can be found for portals and KM systems in measuring the ROI on improved processes and increased economic value of employee performance. Thus, rather than employing traditional notions of value and assets as noted in standard accounting practices, KM solutions are tools managers should use to support opportunities for process improvement and redesign. ROI that measures value from this perspective creates new areas of value from an organization's existing, undervalued assets. A well‐developed measurement methodology for implementing a KM system may illustrate ROI, justify expenditures for implementing the system, and provide a format to ensure that process improvement occurs. A well‐thought‐out KM system has the capability of becoming the “digital nervous system” of an organization, tying all areas to the strategic goals of an organization.     

Modeling and supporting the authoring process of multimedia simulation based educational software: A knowledge engineering approach

Traditionally, support for authoringeducational software focuses on the authoringprocess: the nature and sequence of theactivities that must be performed to deliverthe required product. As a consequence, themethods that are used tend to have a stronglinear flavor, which resembles the classicalwaterfall approach. Development strategies ascurrently used in software engineering shiftthe attention from activities to products(see De Hoog et al., 1994). A generalimplementation of this approach can be found inthe CommonKADS methodology (see Schreiber etal., 2000). The present article describes howthis new development approach has influencedthe design of an authoring system formulti-media simulation based educationalsoftware, the Simquest authoring system.     

On-line/on-site education: the EDIT course for the educational use of telematics

Abstract

The applications of network technology to pre-service and in-service teacher training are wide in scope but may nevertheless be grouped into two broad categories: the network as a source of assistance (or self-help) for teachers during the classroom transfer of knowledge which they have gained on an on-site training course; and the network as an environment where the training process actually takes place. This article describes the study of a mixed on-site/on-line approach adopted for a training course called EDIT (EDucating with Internet and Telematics); the topic of the course itself was the use of the Internet to support teaching. The distinguishing feature of the approach used is the alternation between complementary on-site training and on-line activities.