Workforce Development - A Good Investment?

Why Shouldn't Women Be Effective Construction Managers?

I was reading an article in Lift and Access magazine the other day that caught my eye.  The article "Leadership Academy Helps Women Elevate Construction Management Skills" among several excellent points discusses   the upcoming second annual Women’s Leadership Academy on Oct. 25-28, 2008, at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C.   

This event being produced by the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) and the National Association of Women in Construction, provides women with the opportunity to elevate their careers and their management and leadership roles within their companies and the construction industry.

It consists of three days of intense training sessions covering such topics as leadership styles, negotiating techniques, time management, productivity, and conflict resolution.

Participants will also receive lasting networking opportunities by sharing their experiences with peers from around the nation.

I think we can all agree that we need to take our Construction Management "game" to the next level?

Is there really a shortage of skilled labor in the workforce?

A while back, through my colleague and friend Dave Boggs, of Syberworks, I was asked to participate in a couple of podcast sessions on issues in today's workforce

I agreed and the podcast, which was published on Syberworks' website as "Episode 17: Is There Really a Workforce Shortage?" is provided here for your listening pleasure.

As always, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Podcast - Understanding the Generations in Today's Workforce

The Boggs e-Learning journal announced the 1st in a series of two Podcasts featuring yours truly, speaking on Understanding the Generations in Todays Workforce

Check it out - it is (at the risk of shameless self-promotion) pretty informative. 

Are Podcasts an effective learning tool?

For over 20 years, I have been a reader of the T.H.E. Journal.  It's a great publication for those interested in exploring what's going on in the education space, written in plain English, and at a level those of us, who are interested in a "practical" level of technology, can understand.  (With a circulation of over 90,000 T.H.E. is the largest circulated education technology monthly publication.)

Recently, they published a great piece called "Podcasts: Where's the Learning?" by Patricia Deubel Ph D.  In addition to her appearances in the T.H.E. Journal, she also can be found at Helge Scherlund's eLearning news blog.

This insightful article discusses whether podcasts are effective learning tools.  Clearly, podcasts are a part of the learners "toolkit", and as this article points out, we who are looking at podcasts as a learning tool, need to become aware of its strengths as well as weaknesses.

Check it out.  It's the first of a 2 part article that you'll find useful.

Blogging and Workforce Development

Bronwyn Mauldin, a colleague over at Workforce Developments recently produced a great piece "Podcast from the CWA blogging workshop" that gets into the "meat" of how blogs can be used effectively to enhance workforce development.  Besides the mp3 you can download (approx 1 hour play time), there are handouts and discussion materials on a linked page containing materials to help you start your blog.

Use of blogging to help spur new workforce development initiatives is just starting to take off. 
Also check out the comments foe important details including those from Michelle Martin who runs the Bamboo Project, an important initiative that I've referenced previously on this "workforce development"

How Podcasting figures into the Workforce Development picture

Our friends over at Workforce Developments recently posted an insightful article called "Podcasting for career development."  This article sheds new light on an increasingly popular way of delivering information to learners. 

If you aren't familiar with this area, Wikipedia describes Podcasting this way:
A podcast is a digital media file (or a series of such files) that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on portable media players and personal computers.^[1] Like 'radio', it can mean either the content itself or the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. The term "podcast" is a portmanteau of the name of Apple's portable music player, the iPod, and broadcast; a pod refers to a container of some sort and the idea of broadcasting to a container or pod describes the process of podcasting. More about the name itself can be found in the history of podcasting article.