eLearning - December 2008/January 2009 - (Page 15) Future Online Learners Will Seek Certification Initial indications of a Future Online Learner survey predict continued growth in online enrollments. The survey was undertaken to identify future trends in adult online higher education and informing program development and marketing decisions. A national sample of adults who are not currently enrolled but are interested in continuing their education participated in the survey. Half (47%) of those surveyed indicated they are “very” or “extremely” interested in a degree or certificate program offered partially or completely online. Eighty-nine percent are at least “somewhat” interested in online education. Furthermore, those most interested in online education expect to enroll sooner than their less enthusiastic counterparts. Half (52%) of those “extremely” or “very” interested in online programs expect to enroll in classes within the next 12 months. In the prime of their lives, future online learners are better educated and compensated than the average U.S. resident. Sixty-nine percent have earned at least a bachelor’s degree. Half (49%) are between the ages of 35 and 39. Most future online learners are white, married, and have a minimum household income of $50,000. They are most interested in certificate and master’s degree programs, in which they expect to enroll part-time. Business is the preferred field of study. University of Phoenix is the unchallenged top-of-mind online education provider. When listed as a potential provider, traditional universities with long histories and large enrollment figures — such as Penn State — and local community colleges are most likely to be evaluated in depth. For more information please click on: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/product/6599ef/the_future_online_learner. Do Best Employees Align or Conform? Who are the most valued employees in corporate America? According to business leaders, it’s those employees inspired by a company’s mission and values. Yet these same leaders say their companies value employees who do what they are told and are motivated by material rewards, a new study from LRN found. The LRN “Value of Corporate Values Study” polled 150 senior leaders and found a disconnect between what these senior leaders say they value in employees and what their companies actually value in the real-world work environment. In fact, the majority of U.S. leaders (87 percent) say they personally value employees inspired by a company’s mission and values, but report their companies most favor employees who do what they are told (35 percent) or are motivated by material rewards (32 percent). “There’s an interesting dichotomy in business today. Leaders see the benefits of becoming more values-based but aren’t certain of how to affect behavior change operationally,” says Dov Seidman, chairman and CEO of LRN. “Our work has shown that employees aligned on a deeper mission than just making money are inspired by a long-term view and behave in a way that brings advantage to the business. We are witnessing a trend in business where values-based behaviors and cultures are being shaped as a source of competitive advantage.” Other findings of the study include: >> Language Service Providers Are Key to Corporate Success There’s a “powerful need for higher value services to support global content value chain strategy for delivering multilingual communications that align with global business goals,” according to a report from Gilbane Group. And innovative language service providers are uniquely positioned to assist organizations with these services. The survey, “Multilingual Communications as a Business Imperative,” was sponsored by Jonckers. It compiles the results of in-depth interviews with people who manage content and translation/localization within multinational organizations worldwide. “The research confirms that companies acknowledge multilingual communications as an important success factor in corporate business initiatives, yet most respondents believe that current efforts are falling short,” says Karl Kadie, contributing analyst with Gilbane Group. “Many need value-added services to help transform the way they achieve their goals. Language service providers have significant expertise in delivering the needed services, especially change management.” Respondents indicated that services of particular value and importance to their business include: workflow integration; change management consulting; specialized vertical or SME services; linguistic consulting; project management; product internationalization; content conversion/exchange management; and software localization. “Multinational businesses find they can no longer achieve global market success based on product excellence, but instead on brand strength and global customer experience which is grounded in multilingual and multicultural content and data,” says Nicholas McMahon, vice president and general manager for Jonckers U.S. To download the report, visit the Website http://www.jonckers.com/en/knowledge-centre/white_papers.php. Fifty-two percent of leaders said that the recent economic downturn has their companies emphasizing the organizational mission and values to encourage greater performance from employees more than in the period before the decline. But 47 percent said their companies are stressing values and mission less (5 percent), the same (15 percent) or not at all (27 percent). Nearly half (49 percent) of the leaders said their companies weigh how aligned employees are with the organizational mission and values in making decisions to downsize teams and resources. Twenty percent of their companies do not consider the mission and values when scaling back the workforce. A majority (56 percent) said their companies place a premium on workers who are allied with the underlying organizational mission versus an equally skilled employee who may not be as aligned; 17 percent do not value such workers. >> >> A more detailed examination of the study results can be found at http://www.howsmatter.com/corporate-values-in-a-slowedeconomy/. Elearning! December 2008/January 2009 15 http://www.researchandmarkets.com/product/6599ef/the_future_online_learner http://www.researchandmarkets.com/product/6599ef/the_future_online_learner http://www.howsmatter.com/corporate-values-in-a-slowed-economy http://www.howsmatter.com/corporate-values-in-a-slowed-economy http://www.howsmatter.com/corporate-values-in-a-slowed-economy http://www.howsmatter.com/corporate-values-in-a-slowed-economy http://www.jonckers.com/en/knowledge-centre/white_papers.php
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