LearnKey Blog

College Completion Rates

In 2018 it is projected that 63% of all job openings will require post-secondary education or training. The problem with this statistic is that although higher education is readily available, by age 30 less than 50% of Americans have earned a college degree.  The new initiative from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation aims to improve student outcomes through the use of technology. The Foundation is going to award $35 million in grant money to institutions or organizations that utilize technology to increase enrollment and completion rates in higher-education.

What do you think? Is it the rising costs of higher-education hindering completion? The time that has to be invested in it? A combination of both? Or perhaps the use of outdated methods is less desirable to today’s potential employees? Let us know in the comments!

Get Out Your Weenie Whistles…

For many people, today was just an ordinary late-October morning – cold, breezy, possibly damp. LearnKey employees at the St. George, UT office, however, were greeted this morning by the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile parked outside our building. Because nothing says “out of the ordinary” like a giant mobile wiener, this caused many photo opportunities (such as Trevor and Kari above) and Facebook posts containing those photos for us and the surrounding businesses. Whatever the reason for being here, I’m fairly certain several wishes were made this morning by LearnKey employees and the residents of Southern Utah regarding their current status as an Oscar Meyer wiener.

Learn “Little Known Windows 7 Shortcuts” with Expert Tom Carpenter

tom_statue

Here at LearnKey, when we say the people who present our training courses are experts, we mean exactly that. We don’t find some random guy on the street who can read from a cue card, we find people who really know their stuff and are considered experts in their various fields. When they provide us with tips, we listen!

Tom Carpenter has been an expert for LearnKey in a variety of different courses, and since he also has his own blog with tidbits of information, we thought we’d showcase some tips from the source himself. In his post Little Known Windows 7 Shortcuts, he showcases…well, little known Windows 7 shortcuts. These tips will make using Windows 7 much faster and more efficient. Plus you can show off to your co-workers and look like you are a Windows 7 expert yourself! Check out his blog and enjoy!

Educators: Come one come all – Adobe CS5 training

cs5_courses

Yes, you read the headline correctly – Adobe CS5 training is available for you and your students, with more coming soon!  This release has been a bit different for us compared to the CS4 release for many reasons.  

First, we decided to produce each ACA course with both a Mac and Windows version.  For example, you can purchase Photoshop, Flash, and/or Dreamweaver presented on a Mac or Windows environment. Our goal is to accommodate individual schools based on their needs; some schools use Macs and others use Windows-based PCs.  The essential content is the same, we meet all the objectives to prepare for the ACA exams in both versions.

Continue reading “Educators: Come one come all – Adobe CS5 training”

Adobe CS5 Training – They Just Keep Coming!

Last week saw the release of not one or two, but four Adobe CS5 training courses. This puts us up to 7 training courses released covering 5 of the Adobe CS5 programs – Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Illustrator – with InDesign and Photoshop (presented on PC) coming soon.

Two of the four courses released are part of our ACA Certification training utilizing the Windows versions of the Adobe programs, versus the previously released versions utilizing the Mac programs.

Continue reading “Adobe CS5 Training – They Just Keep Coming!”

Are You Ready For The Recession To Be Over?

I think everyone would agree that the last couple of years have been filled with stress and worry over the recession and we would all like to put these years in our rear-view mirror, but are businesses ready for the end of the recession?

Many companies realize the need for talent-driven innovation to make their companies successful, but it is surprising how many lack strategic plans to hire and retain talent. In a down economy it is typical to tighten budgets and take away benefits, but these companies need to think about investing more of their resources into retaining employees. In the article Is Your Talent At Risk? in InformationWeek it says that one out of every two employees is thinking of leaving their company and 30-40% of those thinking of leaving do leave.

Continue reading “Are You Ready For The Recession To Be Over?”

CIW Shoot

JamesStanger_StephenSchneiter

Last week in the LearnKey studio we were pleased to welcome James Stanger – President and Chief Certification Architect for Certification Partners, and Stephen Schneiter – Certification Specialist for Certification Partners. Certification Partners is the owner of the CIW brand of IT certifications. We have been hard at work producing the newest version of their CIW Web Foundations Associate certifications. These certifications include; Internet Business Associate, Network Technology Associate, and Site Developer Associate. Armed with these certifications and the CIW Web Foundations Associate credential individuals will be well equipped to begin a career in IT and Web Design.

Stay tuned for more to come from the CIW / LearnKey product line. We are really excited about this series. It’s really going to be a great feather in your cap!!

Access 2010 Training Shoot

The week of September 27 – October 1 saw the LearnKey crew shooting the Microsoft Office Access training with Jason Manibog from Boise Idaho. He is currently a training manager for LeapFox Learning, but has been in the training industry for over a decade. He specializes in SharePoint, Access, and Excel training.

It didn’t take him long to adjust from the real-time teaching environment of the classroom to the more disjunct method of recording. He quickly picked up on the process and within the first day was sailing along smoothly. He posted some impressive film time for a newbie!

He also managed to keep his sense of humor in the sometimes stressful environment, making jokes and laughing through the process. His preparation before shoot and his knowledge of the subject matter made the filming a very straightforward effort. He is definitely an author we hope to bring back for future projects.

Student Certification Success with LearnKey in eSchool News

Not long after receiving two Eddie Awards for our training courses, LearnKey’s role in helping 26 students from University Senior High School achieve their Microsoft Office Specialist credential was featured in an article on eSchool News.

“Giving our students the opportunity to meet certification requirements provides them with an extra boost in their career pathway,” says USHS Principal Eric Davidson. “It also gives these students an opportunity to apply their skills in unique and innovative ways that set them apart from their peers. We’re very excited about our students’ accomplishment and look forward to continuing this certification program next year.”

Head on over to the eSchool News website to read the full article about how our Microsoft Office interactive learning library helped set these students apart from their peers on resumes and college applications.

Training for Principals

The first initiative for the George W. Bush Institute was announced recently by former First Lady Laura Bush. The initiative will be geared toward improved performance of school principals. Why did they choose this as their focus when there are so many education issues that need to be addressed? Simply put school principals have a lot of influence on the school environment and teacher success, which in turn influences the students.

The initiative will aim to provide 50,000 principals and future principals with leadership training over the next ten years. Generally principals come from an educational background and not from a leadership background. This training is aimed at providing them with the leadership skills needed to run a school. The institute will be working with the help of other organizations to provide the training to principals and future principals.

What do you think about the first initiative? Do you think this top down approach will be successful? If you don’t where do you think they should have invested the resources first? Did they start high enough with principals or should they have considered starting at a district level? State level? National level?