Category Archives: online colleges

12 Benefits of Mobile Learning

Next generation of mobile learning

Learning on the move with
http://www.avptglobal.com

Rapid technology change is here to stay.

article by Diane Shawe M.Ed  CEO Academy of Vocational and Professional Training.

No sense in trying to change the way the world wants to learn. Access to broadband, smartphone, the growth of the mobile tablet has changed the face of how we access knowledge.

But rather than simply program designers and consumers–or even ecological threats–this kind of change also introduces significant threats  or should we say opportunities to education. Throughout the Industrialised delivery of education, there is likely very little that can be actively done to reduce the perceived threats by many faculty heads, especially as the advancement is firstly driven by economic issues. But we can begin to understand them better and view them as opportunities.

Watch the Hard Facts behind Soft Skills by Professor James Heckman

As learning practices and technology tools change, mobile learning itself will continue to evolve. For 2013, the focus is on a variety of challenges, from how learners access content to how the idea of a “curriculum” is defined.

The rapid growth of Technology like tablets, smartphones, apps, and access to broadband internet are lubricating the shift to mobile learning, but a truly asynchronous mobile learning environment goes beyond the tools for learning to the lives and communities valued by each individual learner.

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Training for the jobs yet to be created

It is only within these communities that the native context of each learner can be fully understood. Here, in these communities that are both local and digital, a ”need to learn” is born, knowledge accrues incrementally, progress resonates naturally, and a full picture of each learner as a human being fully emerges as we embark on the true essence of Life Long Learning.

1. Access – Aids voluntary and active learning

A mobile learning environment is about access to content, peers, experts, portfolio artifacts, credible sources, and previous thinking on relevant topics. It can be actuated via a smartphone or tablet, laptop or in-person, but access is constant–which in turn shifts a unique burden to learn on the shoulders of the student.

2. Metrics – Performance of Knowledge

As mobile learning is a blend of the digital and physical, diverse metrics (i.e., measures) of understanding and “performance of knowledge” will be available. It is important that mobile learning supplies and validate that learning has taken place.

3. Cloud – Increased collaboration

The cloud is the enabler of “smart” mobility. With access to the cloud, all data sources and project materials are constantly available, allowing for previously inaccessible levels and styles of revision and collaboration. This also reduces the burden of data storage in the immediate device enabling speed of access to be maintained. Also no complex disaster recovery procedures.

4. Transparent

Transparency is the natural by product of connectivity, mobility, and collaboration. As planning, thinking, performance, evaluation and reflection are both mobile and digital, they gain an immediate audience with both local and global communities through social media platforms from twitter to facebook, linkedin to Pinterest.

5. Play – Learning by doing

Play is one of the primary characteristics of authentic, progressive learning, both a cause and effect of an engaged mind. In a mobile learning environment learners are encountering a dynamic and often unplanned set of data, domains, and collaborators, changing the tone of learning from academic and compliant to personal and playful means that soft skills training is becoming even more apparent.

6. Asynchronous Learning

Among the most powerful principles of mobile learning is asynchronous access. This unbolts an educational environment from a school floor and allows it to move anywhere, anytime in pursuit of truly entrepreneurial learning. It also enables a learning experience that is increasingly personalised: just in time, just enough, just for me reducing the length of time one can qualify.

7. Self-Actuated

With asynchronous access to content, peers, and experts comes the potential for self-actuation. Here, learners plan topic, sequence, audience, and application via facilitation of teachers who now act as experts of resource and assessment.

8. Divergent Thinking

With mobility comes diversity. As learning environments change constantly, that fluidity becomes a norm that provides a stream of new ideas, unexpected challenges, and constant opportunities for revision and application of thinking. Audiences are diverse, thinking is diverse, as are the environments data is being gleaned from by both the student and the teacher.

9. Curation – Evidence storage and Management

Apps and mobile devices can not only support curation, but can do so better than even the most efficient teacher might hope to do. By design, these technologies adapt to learners, store files, compare and evaluate, publish thinking, and connect learners, making curation a matter of process rather than ability.

10. Blending the Learning Styles

A mobile learning environment will always represent a much better path to the whole concept of blended learning. –physical movement, personal communication, Learning styles and digital interaction.

11. Always-On – Classroom never full

AppleAVPTGlobalLogo516Always-on 24hr learning is self-actuated, spontaneous, iterative, and recursive. There is a persistent need for information access, cognitive reflection, and interdependent function through mobile devices. It is also embedded in communities capable of intimate and natural interaction with students.

12. Authentic Learning

All of the previous 11 principles yield an authenticity to learning that is impossible to reproduce in a classroom using the industrialised teaching methods. They ultimately converge to enable experiences that are truly personalised changing the way we think about learning and teaching.

AVPTGLOBAL almost 400 courses all globally accredited
AVPTGLOBAL almost 400 courses all globally accredited

Manisha Gaur discusses why Global Accreditation is leading the way to unified integrated accreditation

The rise of International Accreditation

News Title

by AVPT Global

For decades, regional accreditation bodies had been granting educational institutes with primary accreditation after evaluating them on a regional scale. However, as globalization grew, it became extremely important for educational institutes to be acknowledged world over so that when students look for credit transfer and international job opportunities, it does not stand in the way.  This gave rise to International Accreditation. This topic was represented by Ms. Manisha Gaur, Director Operations at Venkateshwara Group of Institutions, India.

She discussed how globalization has affected today’s education systems and the education providers are looking forward to establishing a centralized education system.

The phenomenon is occurring, but at a very slower pace and this is where the accreditation agencies have to play their role. They need to set up a unified and integrated accreditation system for all the educational institutions globally so the standardisation of education can be done successfully.

A smarter way to study with www.avptglobal.com

A smarter way to study with http://www.avptglobal.com

Regional accreditation bodies have existed and also evaluated education providers on a regional scale, thereby granting them Primary accreditation.  However, the rapid growth of globalization calls for a global entity which can evaluate them against internationally proven standards of education and grant them an internationally recognized Secondary Accreditation.

This secondary accreditation is basically known as International Accreditation. With international accreditation, the school, college or university will be internationally accepted. Students of such educational institutes can further study in the educational institute of their choice in any country without the tension of their credits transfer and also, work with any employer without the tension of their degree acceptance.  For these reasons, it has also become a major deciding factor by students when selecting their higher educational institutes/ universities. Additionally, it has also become important to employers. Employers globally feel more comfortable hiring students from internationally accredited institutes.
Based on this information, she presented why international accreditation is needed globally and how, in the last couple of years, it has gained massive importance, even more than national and regional accreditation bodies. Her topic also informed the participants as to how International accreditation bodies evaluate the institute on the basis of their academic and organisational management and provide them with international accreditation. This international accreditation not only enhances the institute’s profile regionally but also internationally which is why, today, we see a majority of the students and institutes around the world demanding international accredited programs.
About the Speaker

Manisha Gaur is a highly respected member of the Indian education community. She is not only involved in the teaching of the students but she takes it as a responsibility where she wants to develop students into becoming pillars of the society. She has been associated with the Indian Education Board and the National Accreditation body where she has conducted various presentations and has published various researches. She has also received numerous awards from the regional and international community for her services.
AVPTGLOBAL almost 400 courses all globally accredited

AVPTGLOBAL almost 400 courses all globally accredited

The Business Start Up Show 6th & 7th June 2013

Our stand at the Business Show 2013

Our stand at the Business Show 2013

What a fantastic Business Start Up Show 2013 at ExCel!

By Arub Masoodi BA (Hons)
Public Relation Intern at AVPT Global

The Business Start Up Show 6th & 7th June 2013

The AVPT team was kept incredibly busy over the two day Business Startup Show at ExCel on with a estimated turnout of  40,000 attendees over the course of two days. Before the doors had officially even opened, the line to get inside the exhibition hall stretched well outside the main hall on both days.

Diane Shawe the CEO had her first seminar booked which was a hit!  Giving her debut talk on Six different ways to fund your business, she covered topics such as Funding Circles, Crowdfunding, Micro Loans and Grants. Diane said “it was a resounding success with over 100 delegate pack in and around Seminar hall 14”.   Following the seminar, people just simply bee lined for the AVPT stand.

Georgina (who is head of Hair & Beauty) said “They seem to come from everywhere, more and more women and looking at how they can start up their own Hair Extensions trainers business.

The following day, was just as busy but the visitors had a different feel. Diane & Tim Dingle was set to speak again from Seminar room 15 discussing why 1.2 billion mobile units sold is of importance to people was yet again another full house. We attracted over 200 enquiries about becoming a virtual tutor facilitator training,  discount to train as a  hair extension trainer and our famous no nonsense Three hour boot camps for £9.99.

After evaluating the event, the mixtures of enquiries regarding our online soft skills training came from people around the world such as, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Jordan making this a truly global event.. The smashing success of the Business Start Up Show left both the team and founder and CEO Diane Shawe utterly exhausted content!

To contact AVPT Global, please call 0203 651 5675, or visit our website AVPT Global.

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Academy of Vocational and Professional Training signs a Five Year Contract with Deputy Vice Chancellor of Cambodian Mekong University

Diane Shawe and Dr. Philip Dews

Diane Shawe and Dr.Philip Dews

To deliver Softskills training to it’s students throughout Cambodia

25th May 2013, Diane Shawe, United Kingdom

Dr. Philip Dews, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Cambodian Mekong University  signed a 5 year exclusive contract with Diane Shawe the founder and CEO of Academy of Vocational & Professional Training (AVPTGLOBAL), the leader in delivering of over 300 soft skills globally accredited courses.

The agreement was signed by Dr. Philip Dews, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Cambodian Mekong University and Diane Shawe the founder and CEO of Academy of Vocational & Professional Training, at their offices in the City of London, UK.

With the new contract in place, through the CHE college and Cambodia Mekong University student can apply online to study with AVPT’s UK Virtual Tutor Facilitators who will support them during the course they have registered to undertake.

With a population of over 15 million and a anticipated growth rate of 8%, over 50 of Cambodia’s population is under the age of 18 and even those who have already attained a degree do not have the necessary soft skills to meet the needs of a variety of employers.

This lack of skills will prove a particular challenge as the country is expanding rapidly as a tourist destination and yet does not have the hospitality courses necessary to train the number of staff large enough to satisfy the demand.

The Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is aware of this situation and has declared that the educational institutes must find ways to support the development of the variety of skills required in the tourism sector.

Dr. Dews said: “Inspired by the Prime Ministers vision, I discovered AVPT whilst researching for UK  soft skill training providers. [whilst in Cambodia] I then did my due diligence of the organisation itself online. When I came to the UK, I arranged a meeting with Diane Shawe and had the opportunity to be shown the unique learning management system and some of the course materials. I am confident that I have found the solution for the soft skills training for the Cambodia population.”

AVPT delivers a wide range of soft skills courses through it’s cutting edge learning management system which work fluently and securely with various mobile devices.

Diane Shawe said: “We are passionate about education and how technology can play a part in helping to upskill people around the world.  When Dr. Dews shared the problem they wanted to rectify in Cambodia, I knew we could help.  What most people, employers, entrepreneurs and even some educational institutions do not have today is the time, the necessary resources and the infrastructure they need to support and deliver a cost effective broad selection of soft skill courses, but we have already created them.  AVPT have streamlined the process and make learning quicker because we have made the investment to design, research, write, and create the system which is student (user) centric and time sensitive.  All our courses can be completed in days not years.”

Diane also believes that: “Our online courses transcend multiple barriers to learning, because they can be scalable which consequently reduces the cost of acquisition of knowledge per person.  The knowledge gained is also measurable, which encourages the student to progress and allows their online tutor VTF (or workshop leader) to provide the flexible support system most beneficial for motivation.  And additionally online training is environmentally friendly and adds to the accessible and inclusive nature of the courses.”

Dr. Dews also confirmed that the CHE will want to cement this long term commitment by sending its first group of 200 students to the UK for workshop training very soon.  This will be a reward for some of the thousands of students in the college giving them the chance to study here and experience British culture in advance of greeting tourists in their own country.  Such large numbers of students coming to the UK will help Cambodia cater for the huge demand within their hospitality sector as several large resorts open this summer.

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The Currency of Digital Learning

Using technology for life long learning

Using technology for life long learning

How do we digitally learn?  How do you learn effectively in a workshop? What is the currency of digital learning?

By Tim T Dingle BSc (Hons) MIBiol PGCE MBA

Chief Development Officer at  the Academy of Vocational and Professional Training.

When you want to acquire a new skill or apply some new knowledge, do you learn by passively sitting and listening to an expert lecture for 90 minutes without a break and 150 Power point slides? What do you actually retain that enhances the value and the currency of your learning. The currency is defined  as something of value, or something that represents value: knowledge, gold, respect, or social media following, all represent different kinds of currency. In 2013 it could be that the currencies in digital and workshop learning are changing.

Learning is evolving and not simply by the tools that actuate it. The process of adopting new learning domains and materials (many digital) has exposed the need for new skills. It is debatable whether or not such skills need to be expressly taught, or if they’re simply the residue of intense, well-designed learning experiences. Whether or not they are old learning (content) with a new coat of paint, or genuinely represent a paradigm shift in learning priorities, it is difficult to doubt their constant application in a 21st century world that is super fast connected, digital, omni-social and multi-faceted.

No longer is it considered sufficient to teach children to simply read and write, and fill in the middle with discrete facts about history, mathematics, and scientific processes. There are new skills that transcend content areas, in this way functioning as natural pathways out of old thinking: creativity, problem-solving and collaboration. One can problem-solve across and within topics formerly thought of as science and history and moving between them both moves them beyond academia, and back to the real world. This is possible because flexible cognitive and creative capacities are not rigid.

The brain science literature suggests that workshop learners understand and remember more when they talk about what they are learning.  However, there are some people who attend workshop and training seem to have information wash over them and are uncomfortable with talking or moving.   So, to get improved retention and learning in both digital and workshops:

1.  Do something physical when you learn: incorporate some sort of movement or body activity every 20 minutes, on line or face-to-face.

2.   Walk and talk, walk and learn: I do this a lot in half-day or full-day trainings.   Participants might do an exercise, but the results are on the wall for a debrief. Using a tablet for true learning as you move.

3.  Flip Chart Products: This is where participants will write specific responses on labelled charts on the wall at designated times.    It can be an answer to a question, a question learners still have, a summary statement, an opinion about the content, facts they want to remember, or how they plan to use the content.  Then stick it on the wall. It works with digital media as well- plaster the wall with paper!

With the proper technologies and thoughtful new methodologies, courses can become content infinite. When the learning goals supersede the content areas, things begin to change. As the currencies in digital learning evolve, they necessarily evolve the learning with them.

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Are you tired of being everybody’s dartboard?

dart-board main

Learn how to stop getting darts thrown at you everyday

So how do you stay calm, composed and maintain your self-esteem when everyone around you is fire fighting?

Article by Diane Shawe MEd

Here are six tips you may wish to consider as a starting point.

Imagine yourself standing around as a Dart Board.

Now take a look around and see who has most recently thrown their dart at you.  What would you actually do if you saw a dart coming towards you? Would you just stand there and take the hit, run for cover or protect yourself whilst your on the move? Without protection these dart will destroy your self-esteem and pull you down.  So which dart pins should you avoid?

Dart Pin 1: Negative Work Environment

Beware of “dog eat dog” theory where everyone else is fighting just to get ahead. This is where non-appreciative people usually thrive. No one will appreciate your contributions even if you miss lunch and dinner, and stay up late. Most of the time you get to work too much without getting help from people concerned.  Stay out of this, it will ruin your self-esteem. Competition is at stake anywhere. Be healthy enough to compete, but in a healthy competition that is.

Dart Pin 2: Other People’s Behaviour

Bulldozers, gossipmongers, whiners, backstabbers, snipers, people walking wounded, controllers, naggers, complainers, exploders, patronisers, jealousy… all these kinds of people will pose bad vibes for your self-esteem, as well as to your self-improvement scheme.

Dart Pin 3: Stale or Stagnant Environment

You can’t be a green bug on a brown field. Changes challenge our paradigms. It tests our flexibility, adaptability and alters the way we think. Change can either inspire, motivate or be stressful when we resist but, only for a while. It is said that a change is as good as a rest, it will help you find ways to improve your self.  The world has changed right in front of our eyes, we must be susceptible to it.

Dart Pin 4: Past Experience

It’s okay to cry and say “ouch!” when we experience pain. But don’t let pain transform itself into fear, spite or vengeance. It might grab you by the tail and swing you around. Treat each painful experience, failure and mistake as a lesson. Stop and reflect and see what message you have been given or taught.  Decide how you can best use that experience to help you grow.

Dart Pin 5: Negative Biosphere

Look at what you’re looking at, absorbing and ingesting daily. Self-reflection.  Don’t wrap yourself up with all the negativeness of the world. In building self-esteem, you must learn how to make the best out of most situations.  How to separate who and what you are and how to repair and protect your self-esteem.  If you cut yourself, you would normally seek to clean the wound, cover it with a plaster until it heals, check it and then when it is much better remove the plaster.  If it’s a serious cut you would normally seek professional help.  Seek out the tools that can help lift you out of a negative mind set.

Dart Pin 6: Fait accompli

It’s not always your fault.  It does not always happen to you.  The way you are and your behavioral traits is said to be a mixture of your inherited traits (genetics), your upbringing (learnt), and your environmental surroundings such as your family, spouse, your job, the economy or your circle of friends. You have your own identity. If your father was a failure, it doesn’t mean you have to believe that your going to be a failure too. Learn from other people’s experience, so you can avoid or recognise mistakes and old patterns in advance.

In life, it’s hard to stay tough or unscathed especially when things and people around you keep pulling you down. Constantly firefighting without the right tools means you could continuously become burnt out.

There are three tools you need to keep polished:

lady with cup of tea

Nothing like a good dose of positive attitude

a) Your attitude,

b) Your behaviour

c) Your way of thinking.

Building self-esteem means we take responsibility for who we are, what we have and what we do. We become clear about our mission, values  all of which aids self-discipline.  You can start right away by thinking more positively, look for more things to be appreciative about and never miss an opportunity to compliment either yourself or others.

Building your self-esteem is essential for confidence and success and it all begins with you. Of all the judgments you make in life, none is as important as the one you make about yourself. Without some measure of self-worth life can be enormously painful. If you want to discover some simple techniques that will dramatically change how you feel about yourself such as how to recognise the importance of learning self-acceptance and nurturing your sense of self, take a look at our On Demand Course Directory and how you can start your own Private Tutors Business or create your own Directory. Click here for more information.

How to create a digital on demand course library

 

Is Mobile Technology re-wiring the brains of our Children?

Overload or Growth?

Overload or Growth?

Or is there hope in a BRAIN project funded by the President of the USA?

Well you do hear people say that mobile technology and smart tech is rewiring their brains brain, making a new breed of digital natives and even brain washing our children. The facts are that they will spend 11.5 hours a day using smart technology; whether that’s computers, tablets, television, mobile phones, or video games (and in my experience usually more than one at a time). That is a big chunk of their 15 or 16 waking hours. The media tend to exploit these facts and combine them with pseudo-science with outlandish claims of ‘brain rewiring’ and potential harm. I have heard this uttered in alarm, (usually by those concerned that children’s ability to learn and pay attention) and stated as a ‘good thing’ by others, convinced that a generation of digital natives has developed incredible powers of absorbing and applying information.

Indeed 4 years ago President Obama officially announced in 2013 that 100 million dollars in funding for arguably the most ambitious neuroscience initiative ever proposed. The project has the catchy name of Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neuro-technologies, or BRAIN, and aims to reconstruct the activity of every single neuron as they fire simultaneously in different brain circuits, or perhaps even whole brains. If you have seen Iron Man 3 there is marvellous moment when the evil Aldrich Killian (played by Guy Pearce) shows the beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow inside his brain in real time; a must see moment. The next great project, as Obama called it, could help neuroscientists understand the origins of cognition, perception, and other brain activities, which may lead to new, more effective treatments for conditions like autism or mood disorders and could help veterans suffering from brain injuries. It also might just help people realise why they need to choose a great course and real focus.

neuroscience and nerve system neuroscience brainSo what are facts about neuroscience and mobile smart technology? Can we learn effectively using smart devices? Well, when our minds are engaged in a simple or complex task, the information relevant to that task is held in our STM or short-term memory. According to the late but great psychologist, George Miller, this mental holding space can only contain four to seven pieces of information at a time. To be retained it needs to be transferred to the LTM (long term memory). We can only move information from short-term to long-term memory using our attention; we have to be paying attention to, and thinking about, a fact or a concept in order for it to be encoded in memory.

To encode properly you need to eliminate distractions, which are often caused by multitasking events. Young people report frequent media multitasking (texting, emailing, surfing the web, Twitter and Facebook) while also doing homework. Their belief is they can do it effectively, but research shows otherwise. In fact, research demonstrates that individuals who multitask the most are actually the worst at it. Whether we’re learning with a tablet, smart device or a book, it’s best to give it our best attention.

The rapid evolution of mobile technology has placed quite a burden on our concentration. The day is constantly being challenged by external sources. Even the most pressing of matters can be interrupted at any moment by a familiar buzzing in the pocket. This gives a friendly nudge to pay attention that the brain responds to and many find virtually impossible to resist; alarmingly even while driving. These all too frequent interruptions, coupled with growing expectations for immediate responses (emails responded to at 2am), will challenge our cognitive control system at its very core.

The cognitive control system is our ability to focus on accomplishing a task in the context of competing demands. You might want to look at a course that explains this in more depth. This special ability is what has allowed humans to achieve remarkable achievements, from developing languages and building complex societies.

It doesn’t matter that we think children are growing up digital natives and somehow addicted to technology. It simply doesn’t change how we come to understand new information. Basic understanding happens when we process new information in terms of its meaning, rather than its surface features. Understanding happens when we connect new information to what we know already.

It seems that the competing noise and multitasking distractions, will have a more significant negative impact for those with undeveloped or impaired focus and cognitive control. Those that easily lose focus such as children and us older adults, or in the presence of neurological or psychiatric conditions like ADHD or Alzheimer’s disease. There is no doubt that we have to be careful about the influence of unending data streams of interference on our minds. We need to make more informed decisions about how best to interact with the technologies around learners and how we use the technology positively every day. Perhaps the BRAIN project will guide us on new ways being effective learners.

The lesson seems to be that when we are engaged in something that requires high quality attention (like one of our excellent express courses in critical thinking we should conduct ourselves in a manner that is most appropriate for how our brains function: in the absolute focus mode.
So it seems that despite all the real concerns, technology is not rewiring young people’s brains or brain washing them. Indeed mobile smart technology must and can be harnessed to improve our minds. This will come as a relief to some and a disappointment to others. This new brain research will shed light on our understanding, our attention and focus systems and better memory that can now be applied to a new generation of humans, not so different from the ones who came before.

Mindfeed ebooks by Diane Shawe

Get a copy of Diane Shawe book from Amazon

 

 Shawe’s eBooks are available on Amazon right now at: https://www.amazon.com/Diane-Shawe/e/B0052WG8V6

About the Author

Diane Shawe is an author, speaker, trainer, mentor, consultant and entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience. She has personally trained over 2800 people around the world in a variety of fields and has published a number of works. She has contributed to over 100 Kiva Entrepreneur’s around the world.

She was also one of the producers of a Day time Ladies Talk Show in 2015 and Host of one of the UK’s best loved Annual Hair Extensions Awards.

Diane also enjoys oil painting, sailing and clay pigeon shooting. She focuses on topics that she is passionate about in her writing and has attracted over 36,000 followers on her popular blog.

Media Contact
Company Name: AVPT Short Courses & Hair Extension Training Academy
Contact Person: Diane Shawe MEd
Email: Send Email
Phone: +44 208 1333120
City: London
Country: United Kingdom
Website: http://www.academyexpresscourses.com

Understanding the Language of Training

questionmarkI know what your thinking…

article written by Tim Dingle MBA
Chief Development Officer  AVPTGLOBAL

Training is about to undergo a revolution and the understanding of body language will be crucial for those undertaking training. Speaking at a conference in Birmingham last year, a leading HR director observed that there was nothing as important as understanding the language of business.  That must mean the non-verbal as much as the verbal expressed language.  Non-verbal communication is commonly known as body language and I spent a lot of time studying the basis of this and its importance in training and interviews. So the question is can it be read and used by individuals, managers and directors- or indeed in their wider professional or social lives?

Body language is a broad term for forms of communication using dress, body movements or gestures instead of, or in addition to, sounds, verbal language, or other forms of communication.  It is part of the category of paralanguage, which describes all forms of human communication that are not verbal language.  This includes the most subtle of movements that many people are not aware of, including, for example, a discreet smile or a slight movement of the eyebrows. Such messages can be communicated instantly and silently through gesture; body movement or posture, facial expression and eye gaze.

Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle would not have recognised it, but just watching an accomplished politician, actor, or shopping channel salesperson can give you some insight into the power of gestures or facial inferenceSuch gestures can add to the stagecraft, amplify the message and can provide surprisingly magnetic assurance about what you are being told.   Have a look at the courses we offer at The Academy of Vocational and Professional Training.

Can the use of these non-verbal signatures be imported into the business, training and HR arena?  It can be a risky strategy to attempt to read and rely upon body language signatures without some training and practice. Should individuals be aware of the power of non-verbal communication and seek to harness this aspect in negotiation? If our desire, as individuals in business, training or HR, is to produce our optimum performance then we should employ all of the communication and interpersonal skills with which we individually have been gifted.

We may well consider investing our time to improve our oral questioning and language skills, but very few individuals seem to give much thought to developing the skill of both reading and transmitting non-verbal clues. We can help! Developing those reading skills would be much easier if all our clients were between three and nine years of age – this is rare of course, even if sometimes a negotiation has something of a playground quality about them.  Children wear their emotions on their sleeves and are, except perhaps to other children or their doting grandparents, pretty easy to read.

Mobile Learning, Mobile Earning

Mobile Learning, Mobile Earning

Tightly crossed arms, a screwed-up face and a stamped foot quickly clues you into the internal voice of the child, even if their response to the question, “Are you OK” is “Yes”. A parent’s sixth sense is often nothing more than a demonstration of the superior body language reading skills that child carer’s, of necessity, have learned to develop.  The older we grow the more we learn how to mask our true feelings, which unconsciously includes the toning-down of our body language as well.  Whilst we can try and make our non-verbal communication less obvious, very few people can completely mask it.

HR directors, business people and individuals, might want to learn to look for those more subtle, but tell-tale, signs of stress, hope, agreement, confidence, resistance, and fear in the body language of the clients, and indeed their own clients.  Picking up on these signs could allow us to make progress in a situation of stale-mate and could save a negotiation that is about to crash.  These skills can allow us to zero-in our questioning, to know when a private meeting or a break is essential, and to see the evident bridges and agreements, even when the other side have yet to verbalise them.  How too are we at listening to clients, staff and business partners when they speak to us?  Are we fully engaged with them, having turned our chair, and thus our whole body towards the speaker, leaning forward and maintaining good eye contact?  If you want to be heard in your turn, you need to be seen to be listening.

People will usually only tell us what is really on their mind if they believe that we are really listening.  Do we really listen?  Taking notes whilst staring at out iPad or mobile phone as the person tells their story, does nothing to build confidence in us or the process.  Active listening skills such as reflecting back a summary of what has just been said by the speaker may just persuade, non verbally, a client to listen to you and thereby facilitate success. HR directors, managers and individuals should be encouraged, therefore, think about using their body language positively to enhance the oral skills that they already have, allowing them to maximise their potential as conflict resolution practitioners.

I know what you are thinking. You need to start training, now.   

Please review our VTF  Presentation and let us know if this is an opportunity for you.

Meet some of our current VTF’s: 

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Keep Taking the Tablets

Keep taking the tablets

Keep taking the tablets

-More Than 1 Billion Smart Devices Sold Last Year Changes Everything

article by: Tim T Dingle BSc (Hons) MIBiol PGCE MBA  CDO at AVPTGLOBAL

I can remember clearly (it was after all, only 3 years ago on April 3rd 2010) when Steve Jobs unveiled a unique consumer tablet with an unusual name. It had been one of his obsessions for years, even before the iPhone. Many people thought Apple would be better served by coming out with a netbook: you remember netbooks, don’t you?

According to the International Data Corporation[1], worldwide shipments of smart connected devices grew an amazing 29.1% year over year in 2012, crossing 1 billion units sold with a value of $576.9 billion. The market expansion was largely driven by 78.4% year-over-year growth in tablet shipments, which surpassed 128 million in 2012. Quite astonishing and I hope everyone had a great Christmas opening the tablets!

We all know that smart devices can deliver amazing functionality; from constant Internet and social media connection to brilliantly helpful apps. They are genuinely changing the way we operate as a society. The change is happening so rapidly and almost seamlessly that most of us probably don’t realise how much we use and rely on our smartphones and tablets.  How did the business world even operate without employees having constant access to their phones, email and the Internet? How did busy parents keep track of their schedules without a calendar that never leaves their side and actually reminds them of events?

apps galore!

apps galore!

If we pause to consider that now we can use apps to find the best meal when on the road, the nearest petrol station or to locate possible holdups on route. We don’t even have to watch TV or connect to an online news site to get instant national and local news. We can scan rail and plane tickets with our smart phones and check in with no paper for international flights. While smart devices are making everyday activities easier for consumers, some businesses are facing challenges to compete effectively. The challenge is being met by forward thinking companies like AVPT Global[2] who seek to use tablets and smart phone technology to be at the heart of online learning and push forward the rise of mLearning.

The iPad and other smart devices (including my brilliant Samsung Note 10.1) have had huge initial impact on access to information, business sales and social interaction. In fact the pioneering of this new category has in some ways been even more significant than the iPod and even the iPhone, because it has disrupted so many different device manufacturers. It has created a market opportunity for smart device manufacturers and created a challenge to other PC makers and even potentially influencing how we may watch television in the future. It has also extended digital content opportunities to make books and video on-the-go a more practical experience, ending the back breaking march of the child with books to school perhaps?

The iPad was the first device to successfully bridge the gap between the PC and smartphone for consumers. Since it landed in the first consumer’s hands more than 55 million iPads have been sold worldwide, used for watching (and streaming) movies, reading books, magazines and newspapers, Web surfing and playing games. Tablets are becoming familiar common coffee-table fixtures in households around the country. They’re also being stowed in the briefcases and bags of travellers, whether they’re going by car or by plane. And they’re increasingly carried by teachers, doctors, lawyers, real estate agents — a wide range of professionals who find they can do much of their work with a tablet. Put simply, the tablet has become the go-to PC substitute for a variety of activities.

A smarter way to study with www.avptglobal.com

A smarter way to study with http://www.avptglobal.com

People now leave their laptops behind more often, taking advantage of the tablet’s lighter weight, ubiquitous wifi (and 3G /4G) connectivity, its longer battery life and catalogue of useful applications. We are seeing some of the tasks traditionally performed on PCs and laptops, now being performed on the tablet. In fact, all five of the top activities (email, Web surfing, game-playing, social networking and online shopping) shifted towards the tablet in late 2011.

Many of these are activities we do on our smart phones, of course, but doing them on the tablet is not only more pleasurable visually, it leads to entirely new behaviours. Watching video (be it movies, TV or YouTube) is definitely one of the preferred uses of tablet owners who also have smartphones, as is Web surfing and email, according to new research from Nielsen. In a great piece of research called, “Tablets are for meals. Smartphones are for snacks,” Nielsen[3] shows how 10 per cent or less of smartphone owners opt to do those activities on their phones. Social networking (both Facebook and Twitter) is also better done on a tablet than smartphone, as is writing emails. Aside from making phone calls, the only activity right now where the smartphone beats the tablet is instant messaging. But even 18 per cent said they’re doing that on their tablets. It appears that mobile phones tend to be the gateway drug in emerging markets where consumers typically move on to a tablet.

The IDC report that grabbed the headlines last week (1.2 billion smart devices), goes on to say that it expects global smart connected device unit shipments to surpass 2.2 billion units by 2017. Consumers and business buyers are now starting to see smartphones, tablets, and PCs as a single continuum of connected devices separated primarily by screen size. Each of these devices is primarily used for data applications and different individuals choose different sets of screen sizes in order to fit their unique needs. These kinds of developments are creating exciting new opportunities that will continue to drive the smart connected devices market forward in a positive way. The first step on the long road to mLearning is just beginning and the potential for individuals and companies to grasp the opportunity is seen by only a few.

Taking the Tablets has never been so exciting.

AVPT-Logo-ALL-INFO


[2] The Academy of Vocational and Professional Training www.avptglobal.com

[3] Dan Lee, Director of Product, Digital Nielsen July 18th 2012

How to start a Home or Mobile Eyebrow Threading Business

Set up your eyebrow threading business anywhere.

Set up your eyebrow threading business anywhere.

An easy cost effective business that can be done anywhere

Article by Diane Shawe M.Ed

Threading in the UK has become a very popular treatment over the least few years and with a few tips and ideas you could benefit from starting your very own threading business.

There is a huge potential for earning good money as a self employed beauty therapist offering eyebrow threading as a service.

Look at most salons and even shopping Malls these days and they have signs for threading in their windows.  Look inside a salon and you will nearly always see them busy.

Customers don’t usually need to make an appointment, they just walk in and wait or get it done after they have had there other beauty treatments.

There has never been a better time to Start your own Threading business from home. Working on your own gives you the opportunity to work your own hours with much more flexibility and freedom then being tied down in a salon.

What’s more you can actually out sell salons with your threading service and make even more money than they do!

1. You can offer very flexible hours.  Working on your own you can offer treatments at unsociable hours such as evenings or weekends.  Just think how limited salon opening times are…

2. You can offer discounted rates.  A salon has huge overheads – staff, rent, heating etc, you can operate at very little cost and undercut salon prices hence making your threading prices very attractive.

Eyebrow Threading is an ancient art with hugh earning potential

Eyebrow Threading is an ancient art with hugh earning potential

3. You can offer a mobile service.  Clients love it when you can offer your threading treatments in their own home. Just think of the business mobile hairdressers get. Many people don’t want to visit a salon – they may have work commitments, young children, don’t drive.  There are many reasons why people can’t get to a salon and offering a mobile threading service is a superb way to make good money.

Setting up a Threading business is not expensive.  Although you should always buy the very best equipment, threading kits, tools and thread is very cheap.

You will have very little over heads, think what would you use for a client? A little talk, some wipes and a few metres of thread.  These products will hardly break the bank expenses wise so your profits margins are very high.

The best place to start is to get some threading training.  Threading courses cost as little as £95 can and be booked on this site with a credit card or even Paypal.  The price to train is very little compared to other similar industries. A hairdressing course would cost you £1000’s.  You can learn eyebrow threading in just one day with our One Day Professional Threading Course Workshop.  Combined with a practice and guidance, you ready to go… A Hairdresser trains for months if not years before they can offer their art for profit.

Once you’re trained getting business can be quite easy.  Start of by printing or writing some adverts with your details and phone number.  Stick these up in your local shops, post office or Supermarket.  Chip shops surprisingly do well as people stand in the queue and read everything! Most places charge a just couple of pounds a week.

You local newspaper classified can be a good place to put a small add.  Currently our local paper the Bolton News charges £25 for 6 lines of text.  You can also try your local supermarkets notice board, local salon, church, women’s group the list goes on.

Also place averts in online directories so people can find you when they search online.

The best way to advertise these days is to get a small website built.  Most people search on the internet for what they need and a nicely designed webpage can be a great source of clients.  Get in touch with us if you want a cheap website, we know a man who can!

Once you get a few clients, word of mouth of is by far the best advert for your services and if you do a good job word gets round quickly and you’ll soon be booked up with peoples mums, sister, aunts, uncles?? calling you.

So, put in basic terms, threading training is fast and cheap, materials are cheap and you can start your business in a short space of time with very little outlay.  Threading is a perfect business model.