Table of Contents

President's Corner

Technology Update

Technology Proficiency as a Key to Job Security

New Members

Member Meeting News

Employment Corner

President's Corner
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SEVA ASTD Professional Development Day

Have Your Infomediary Contact My Infomediary"

Portal sites, last year’s big buzz, are still hot properties, but they may soon be challenged or transformed by one-to-one e-business infomediaries — third-party search tools that do the searching for you.

Say you want to locate a live train-the-trainer session. Instead of spending time scanning a myriad of learning portals, you might use an infomediary to monitor your preferences or locate an appropriate seminar, and even negotiate the deal.

According to Martin Lindstrom, founder of Australia-based Zivo, Yahoo! and Excite appear to be preparing for this next wave of information service. They’re both busy acquiring data-mining companies.

FYI: www.privaseek.com and www.lumeria.com

This is a summary of trends and issues related to technological proficiency and its relationship to job security. The article predicts the growing importance of technology proficiency in the workplace.

Two aspects of technology proficiency include the demand for information technology (IT) workers and the need for all workers to become more proficient in the use of technology.

Because technology is present in even non-technical workplaces, the job security of workers who are not specifically classified as IT workers is also tied to technological proficiency. Those with limited knowledge of the technology or having a negative attitude about learning new technology may find themselves on the lower end of a professional hierarchy.

Challenges are found in the human side of technological proficiency: Can technology be introduced in ways that provide job security for workers as they learn new skills or will the need for technology proficiency mean job loss and the creation of an underclass of workers who are not technologically proficient? Will workers who have traditionally been at a disadvantage in the workplace be further disadvantaged by the need for technological proficiency?

The article ends with the summation: As adult, career, and vocational educators prepare workers who are technologically proficient, they should ask themselves "What do individuals really need to exist in the work environment?"; "What should the curricular and instructional responses be to prepare workers?", and "How can possible inequalities be addressed?" By addressing these and other similar questions, educators will be responsible not just to the demands of the workplace but also to the students whom they serve.

Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career and Vocational Education, Trends
and Issues Alert

(For a list of references and resources, please see our regular print newsletter)

Ferretti, Christopher M.
American Express
Financial Advisors

Francisco, Letitia T.

Gibson, Randy L.
Naval Specialist
Warfare Development Group

Haas, Conrad E.
Performance Assessments, Inc.

Welcome to our newest members. Remember, if you have a change in address or company affiliation, please let us know so we can keep you updated with member information.

April Meeting: Executive Coaching

"Couldn’t be improved. I saw Excellence tonight!" was how one participant and new member to our chapter expressed our April chapter meeting.

Rick Corbin did an excellent job of introducing us to bringing balance in our personal and professional lives. This is his theme for Executive Coaching, which is applicable to everyone in the organization.

• What are your goals?
• What is important in your life?
• How are you spending your time?
• Do these compliment or conflict with each other?

When executives bring these into harmony with each other, then the organization can grow and develop. They can give up control and domination and allow employees to do their jobs in a way that will benefit the organization and give employees the opportunity to make the decisions and manage their jobs with the overall goals of the organization in mind. He finds happier and more productive employees in organizations where executives have let loose of the control strings. This can make for an environment where people want to be and work.

Several networking opportunities were created by Linda McCafferty and Pam Ward. This reinforced fun, fellowship, and learning about each other to create a terrific chapter meeting.

May Meeting: Age-ing to Sage-ing

One of our chapter members, Linda Raymer, along with Nancy Howard and Tom Adams presented the May chapter program called "From Age-ing to Sag-ing." The program gave participants the opportunity to reflect on issues we are facing ourselves, as well as by those in our "aging" workforce. We experienced how to begin to "harvest the Wisdom of our lives" and continue in an active leadership role as we gain greater years of life experience and begin seeing ourselves as "sages."

This participatory program was very well received and drew excellent evaluation responses from those attending. The group had the opportunity to honor one of our "sages," Bill Garry, who was a co-founder of our chapter. Pam Ward planned a very appropriate networking and introduction experience for the group. Everyone enjoyed the great networking opportunities, one important reason for participation in a chapter program.

The Clarion Hotel prepared an excellent meal for us and offered a door prize of a weekend "retreat" at the hotel. Kelley’s Tavern also provided a door prize – a gift certificate to any one of their locations. A special thanks goes to these two businesses for supporting SEVA-ASTD in this way.

Upcoming June Meeting

"Building an ROI-Based Case for Online Learning" is the topic for the June meeting of SEVA-ASTD. Keith Groce, Director of Business Development with Pinneast.com in their Greenville, SC location, will be the presenter. Keith has presented this program for other ASTD chapters and it has been well received. Keith will address the following areas during his presentation:

• Integrating Alternative Learning Technologies into a Coordinated Delivery Strategy
• The New World of WBT – Pushing Interactivity Beyond the Basics
• Online Performance Support Solutions
• Learning Management Systems – What’s it All About?

Keith helped open the Greenville office of Pinneast when he joined the company in 1998. Prior to that time, he served as President of Educational Solutions, Inc., a Greenville based organization that developed and managed corporate learning centers. With over five years experience in the e-learning industry, Keith’s focus is assisting companies develop technology-based performance support solutions to business problems.

Employment Corner
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The Job Bank is a community service hosted by SEVA ASTD and is open to any company recruiting for training professionals from entry level to management. If you are looking for a job, check out our job bank.

Job Announcements and opportunities are always needed. If your organization has a training-related job opportunity and you would like to spread the word, why not go straight to the source! Our chapter membership is full of training professionals.

Please e-mail your job posting information to .

Other HR Job Posting Web Sites:

www.recruitingoptions.com

www.tcm.com/hr-careers/index.htm