Category Archives: online teaching

Top 10 Businesses Using Chatbot A.I Technology and Why by Diane Shawe

Businesses, Enterprises, Organisations of all sizes and legal formats now find themselves post pandemic with increased online activity from current and new customers wanting information, customer services, services fulfilment and much more at an all time high.

As a result of this the last few years have set up scenarios where businesses and customers are mutually ready to adopt conversational automation.

On one hand, conversational A.I offers personalised interactions, faster replies, improved customer service, and easy purchase flow for customers.
How to order your first chatbot
Businesses can use an artificial intelligence chatbot to boost lead quality, reduce support costs, increase customer loyalty, and gain more sales.


A.I Chatbot for Business: Industry reports that today, just being present online is not enough. Businesses need to provide a 24/7 conversational availability, which is what customers expect across messaging platforms, social networks, websites, and other digital channels.

Virtual Speedy Services has looked at the top ten industries that are 
adopted conversational AI on various social media platforms like facebook,  WhatsApp, Instagram or providing a link instead of their business website.


1. Social Media influencers

There is a growing number of social media influencers who have now amassed a huge following sometimes in the millions.  In order to stay connected with their fans and streamline any endorsements, products or promotions they can stay fully connected in real time with their followers using A.I. Chatbot technology.

 

2. Using conversational A.I for e-commerce


The e-commerce industry is on a roll with exponential sales growth. The worldwide e-commerce retail sales amounted to £3.00 trillion in 2019, which is expected to reach £6.00 trillion by 2024.

Despite this growth rate, e-commerce businesses are struggling to maintain their sales cycle with traditional channels such as social media, emails, and phone calls. Not more than 1-3% visitors feel engaged enough to fill those static forms. If you also rely on these platforms, you must be struggling with the same problem.

Relying only on the human-driven sales and support system which are becoming more and more expensive can’t lead a business to success at profitable scale.  E-commerce brands such as Shopify giant brands have created a new form of transformative digital customer experience with A.I chatbot.

Conversational A.I is helping e-commerce companies to

  • Capture and qualify leads faster
  • Create shorter sales cycles
  • Provide cross-platform support
  • Save time
  • Making more money

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3. Customer Services and Human resource

Every company needs a smoothly running HR department to ensure long-term success. During the process of recruitment, HR managers have to take care of hundreds of activities. And the success of those activities defines the future of a company. Finding the right candidates, ensuring policy compliance, resolving queries and conflicts- all these activities ensure that a business can run without any interruption.

Many organisations have started using conversational A.I for futuristic and proactive HR activities. Companies that use artificial intelligence for HR are able to increase their productivity by 45%. HR teams are saving almost half of their time usually spent on managing talent and answering repeative questions and queries. Hence, they can spend more time strategising, planning, developing, and recruiting talent.


With A.I deployed to your Customer services and  HR activities, you can-

  • Attract more relevant prospective candidates
  • Reduce the hours spent and scale up the recruitment process
  • Qualify candidates based on automated background checks
  • Answer their questions with personalized interactions
  • Help candidates with paperwork, onboarding, and company policies
  • And more!

With Virtual Speedy Services, you can adopt an A.I-powered Customer Services or HR chatbot for more human-like engagement of candidates, customers and employees. An A.I that can find what they  want in real-time and help them instantly rather than letting them go through an endless cycle of emails.

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4. Conversational A.I for Distribution and Manufacturing

The distribution and manufacturing industry involves large-scale customer queries and operations. Manually handling interactions causes reduced results due to delayed responses and inefficient processes. With everyone having a mobile phone to hand they react by calling instantly when wanting assistance

To match the scale of manufacturing, enterprises are deploying AI in their digital conversations. Various tasks across marketing, sales, and support are being automated using AI chatbots for business.


Using Virtual Speedy Services conversational A.I platform, your manufacturing business can-

  • Run conversational marketing for more qualified leads
  • Take care of supplies and inventory with AI-enabled ERPs and legacy systems
  • Automate 90% of repetitive customer support queries
  • Offer personalized product advisory
  • Send useful updates and delivery alerts


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5. Healthcare industry

It’s hard enough for doctors and nurses to ensure accuracy in every minute detail of their jobs. At the same time, they have to invest 1/6th of their working hours into administrative work. For instance, even the small task of arranging doctor’s appointments requires a lot of attention. Any mistake during manual entries can result in serious problems for patients.

Thankfully, now your hospital staff can automate many such tasks with A.I-powered chatbots. Instead of manually filling forms, hospital staff can simply let the self-service A.I bot schedule meetings for patients as per the available time slots and much more.

Conversational A.I can offer complete automation to the healthcare front-office. Patients don’t have to rely on calling the staff to get information or wait for responses regarding transfer requests, discharge, and consultation requirements. Everything is processed and conveyed by an A.I-enabled virtual assistant.

With AI there for patients 24*7, hospitals can send on-time alerts and receive urgent requests to respond without any delay. AI bots are designed to update records, manage medical history of every patient, notify them about prescription refills.


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6. Conversational AI for estate Agents

Every prospective customer adds a big amount of money to an estate agency’s revenue. So, businesses can’t afford to lose those leads on social media and websites due to the nonresponsive approach or abandonment due to waiting too long..

Beautiful images and too much information can’t do the trick if customers want to ask questions for quick and relevant answers. In that case, they’re likely to enjoy an instant conversation with A.I that understands their requirements, rather than browsing through the long web pages.

Virtual Speedy Services can give that ability to estate agents businesses with conversational A.I, so they can have more qualified leads ready for nurturing and more satisfied clients.

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7. Travel & hospitality industry

In the travel and hospitality industry, businesses work for 8 hours while customers wish for assistance 24*7. This presents the challenge of losing more than half of your potential customers. Even the best of contact forms on your web pages can’t give you more than 1 to 2 percent of sales.

An A.I chatbot, on the other hand, lets you engage potential leads, qualify them, and convert them into sales. Not only that, but conversational A.I can also be there to answer customer queries 24*7 to enhance their travel experience without you lifting a finger.

Get an AI Chatbot for Travel & Hospitality Now

8. Conversational A.I for car industry

For car dealerships, maintaining an ongoing relationship with customers is a must to keep on receiving revenue by fulfilling maintenance and repair requirements. At the same time, they need to ensure that no prospect goes away due to complications or wrong information.

Without any conversational automation, car dealerships struggle to capture leads and convince them to book a test drive due to delayed or no response. Often customers choose multiple channels to connect with a dealership and feel frustrated if they are restricted to a single channel for conversation.

So, automobile dealerships are now transforming their approach with AI-powered chatbots by integrating them across multiple channels for a unified customer experience. They are using the predictive intelligence and data segmentation capabilities of AI to find, track, and nurture leads.

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Chatbot help with conversational marketing

Visit https://www.virtualspeedyservices.biz/view-sample-chat-bots

9. Education industry

The year 2020 was an eye-opener for many institutions that neglected the digital student experience for a long time. From primary schools to higher education institutions, all are now trying to establish a digital presence that can manage the immediate requirements for information by student.

A.I chatbots can help educational institutes:

  • Improve the quality of student query support
  • Increase admissions with conversational academic marketing
  • Employ AI as a digital PR asses
  • And more!


Get an AI Chatbot for Education Now!
10. Conversational AI for insurance

Attractive landing pages and regular social media promotion can’t do much if an instant conversation isn’t possible in the insurance industry. People decide to buy insurance from a company that gives them top-notch experience, answers questions, and resolves confusion.

To enable such prompt service and support, insurance companies now adopting conversational A.I. Instant interactions are improving engagement on websites, social media, and digital ads. Using this 24*7 availability, insurance companies are able to-

  • Generate more qualified leads
  • Provide policy advisory to customers
  • Send personalized notifications
  • Assist with the policy claim
  • Handling other complex queries faster than ever


Get an AI Chatbot for Insurance Now

In Conclusion

With a conversational A.I platform, you can generate leads on every channel and simultaneously nurture those leads with personalised interactions and help with transactional activities 24*7.  But in todays world not everything is about leads.

Callers usually have questions, problems or want some information which is often hard to navigate via a mobile phone on a website.

It was statistically proven that most people respond to text messaging or prefer to engage in messaging on their phones, this is one of the main reasons why A.I conversational technology is proving popular

To have such a conversational A.I for your business, click here to chat and share your business details.
Or, sign-up for a FREE DEMO to see how an advanced conversational A.I chatbot performs 90% of regular business activities without any human involvement.

Why You Should Consider a CPD Accredited Course by Diane Shawe

If you’re looking to boost your career prospects, you may want to consider the importance of CPD. Used by thousands of professionals to develop new skills and knowledge throughout their career, CPD has become crucial in terms of career progression. So, what is CPD and how could it benefit your career prospects?

What does CPD stand for?

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CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development and it is important as it’s used by professionals to further their career. It’s a conscious and proactive form of learning which uses various methods to help individuals either learn new skills or develop existing ones.

What is a CPD portfolio?

A CPD portfolio helps keep a track of progression from year to year. It is an individual’s evidential documentation of their Continuing Professional Development obligations for their professional body or association. Contained within a CPD portfolio would be the register of activities, such as training courses, workshops and educational events attended, as well as a copy of the delegate CPD certificates for each activity. These act as validation that the learning has been completed. (It is also important that the course has been CPD accredited)

Professional bodies review their members CPD portfolio to ensure they are meeting their annual Continuing Professional Development requirements. A CPD portfolio should demonstrate a range of different methods of learning and the different impacts on future capability. Always ensure that you keep your CPD portfolio up to date, as it is more difficult to record CPD at the end of the year, hoping to remember everything completed over the last 12 months.

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CPD points, units and credits explained

One of the most frequent questions about Continuing Professional Development is how CPD is recorded, and specifically the question, “What is a CPD point, unit or credit?” The subsequent question is regularly, “How do CPD points relate to CPD Hours?” With the increasing number of professional bodies in the UK and their varying annual requirements of Continuing Professional Development, a natural split in common language terms and expression will arise. Different professional bodies use the terms ‘CPD points’, ‘CPD units’ or ‘CPD credits’ diversely depending on preference, typically for historical reasons when initially implementing their CPD policy, rather than from a modern day strategic perspective.

How do CPD points, units and credits relate to CPD Hours?

It is often found across all industries that CPD points, units and credits all relate to the same thing, CPD Hours?

What are CPD Hours? The definition of a CPD Hour is the time spent for a delegate to be in “active learning”. Active learning defines the actual time spent learning something relevant for their Continuing Professional Development objectives. A great example of this would be 1-day accredited CPD training course. If the training starts at 9 am and ends at 5 pm, with a 1-hour break for lunch, the CPD Hours would be 7 CPD Hours.

Recording your CPD

A structured and consistent approach to recording your CPD makes it easier to manage throughout the year. This also helps ensure an individual attends training and events relevant to their annual capability improvement objectives, which is more valuable than simply attending courses just for general interest. Recording your CPD allows reflection on what has been gained from the CPD activities and what can be implemented in day-to-day objectives, as well as what skill sets to develop next.

As a general rule, when recording your Continuing Professional Development in a CPD portfolio, it should contain the following information:- Date of CPD activity, Title of CPD activity, Brief description including learning objectives, the method of learning (i.e. training course, workshop, event, eLearning), number of CPD hours, points or credits and the overall learning outcome.

5 Benefits of CPD

CPD offers numerous benefits to both professionals and their employers, some of which are of real importance.

1. For you as a professional, it helps to ensure your skills and knowledge are up to date, and the professional standard of your registrations and qualifications are maintained. There are no clear disadvantages for your employer, it ensures that the company standards are both high and consistent. They will see that you are actively dedicated to the job role and value your commitment to the role.

2. Another one of the benefits of CPD and a main purpose of exploring the benefits of continuous personal development is that it also helps you to develop more confidence in the role. You’ll be able to showcase your achievements and develop the knowledge and skills to carry out your job in the most effective, confident way.

3. Whether you’re looking for a promotion, or you’re hoping to gain employment with a prestigious company, CPD can really help. It enables you to stand out from the crowd, with research showing those who have undertaken CPD, have a significantly higher chance of gaining a promotion or moving on to a different area within their chosen field.

4. What this also means of course, is that you’ll also be able to achieve a higher salary.

5. If you are self employed or run your own business, having a CPD accredited skill to your name can give confidence to established and new clients.

These are just some of the great benefits CPD can provide. The question is, how can you partake in continuous professional development?

Continuing Your Professional Development

If you’re interested in undergoing CPD, it’s worth keeping in mind there’s a lot of different types to choose from. Practically anything which can further your knowledge and skills is classed as CPD. This includes:

• Events

• Training courses

• Workshops or Workbooks

• Research

• E-Learning

Each of the above has its own range of benefits and most professionals choose to undergo several types of CPD for best results.

Things to consider

If you want CPD to further your career, there’s a number of factors you need to consider.

1. Ensuring you’re undertaking the correct type of CPD to fit your goals is crucial in helping you minimise any disadvantages. It’s not enough to simply find a course which matches your industry.

2. You also need to consider whether or not the training matches your end goal. Thinking about the importance of CPD suiting your chosen industry might potentially save you time in the future.

3. Have you got the time to commit to the CPD course you’re considering? If you’re already working, you’ll need to find a part-time course which also fits around your family and budget commitments. You’re also going to want to consider the type of study you prefer.

4. Do you thrive in studying with others? If so, you’ll want to look into in-venue courses and seminars. If your sole purpose is to study alone at your own pace, an e-learning or workbook based CPD course would be a better option.

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Overall, CPD is crucial in terms of professional development. Provided you choose the right type to match your needs, it can help you progress in your current career or business, or help you to branch out into a totally different field if you’d prefer. There are so many reasons to choose to continue your professional development so why not take a look at our range of CPD courses available in the following levels. Foundation, Intermediate, Advance and Expert.

Our courses are presented as workbooks and must be completed in four weeks. Support is give via virtual assistnce.

Visit http://www.virtualpersonalassistance.com for a list of our services.

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Why a New Training Needs Analysis is Required To Manage Over Whelmed Remote Workers by Diane Shawe

Here’s Help for the bosses on how to help staff to manage stress when working remotely after and during the coronavirus outbreak by restructuring there training needs analysis.

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When you (the boss or your board members) think about thriving in a digital world, you probably think first about technology. It’s evolving so fast that your business constantly has to adapt. But the greatest challenge is not the tech itself: It’s developing a knowledgeable, strategically adept, cognitively flexible, and proficient workforce.

You want people who can command artificial intelligence, analyse data, invent and apply solutions on the fly, and slide effortlessly into new roles as needed.
All the while, they should keep their skills sharp with mobile apps and online self-taught courses. Ideas should flow from all corners of the company, whether from full-time managers or a pool of gig workers who jump in when work heats up.

The demand for a more talented workforce goes beyond adapting to the new digital world. CEOs of fast-moving organisations – enterprises with bold strategies, innovative cultures, inclusive workforces, and great expectations – need highly skilled people.

Unfortunately, in nearly every industry, the best talent is in perilously short supply. At the 22nd Annual Global CEO Survey, 79 percent of chief executives around the world said that a lack of key skills threatens their business growth. Retailers need interface designers who understand customer experience. Banks and insurance companies need data visualisation experts. Energy, automotive, and industrial companies need team leaders who can manage interoperable platforms.

Helping remote workers draw a line between work and timeout

Just about everyone is looking for employees adept in robotic process automation, materials science, or simulations with machine learning that can predict outcomes and streamline processes.

They also need people who can master softer skills, such as managing teams effectively, gaining trust, working across boundaries, or applying neuroscience findings to increase their own stature and influence.

Upskilling is part of the answer. But you also need to rethink your jobs: redesign the workflow, combine some positions, add others, and probably eliminate some. You need to be more creative in finding and onboarding people, including through acquisitions, partnerships, gig economy–style freelancing arrangements, and talent pools oriented to flex work.

Finally, you must fill your enterprise with opportunities for continual self-renewal via modern learning strategies and digital technologies, so that becoming adept in new technologies is just part of everyday life.

Many business leaders realise that they can’t just hire the workforce they need. There aren’t enough prospective recruits, and the expense would be enormous. Instead, companies must upskill their existing employees or members of their communities.

This means expanding people’s capabilities entrepreneurial thinking, employability, often using adult learning and training tools, to fulfill the talent needs of a rapidly changing economy. But the old training needs analysis does not sit well in this every changing cog and an increasing number of remote workers.

A remote workforce transformation brings all these elements together, oriented specifically to your organisation. Your initiative must be led directly by the CEO and the other top executives of the enterprise, because your company’s success depends on the ability and commitment of all your employees.

In a successful initiative, you’ll do more than approve a budget and hold the leaders accountable; you’ll take part in the learning efforts yourself, engage in teaching others, and use this transformation as a genuine opportunity to improve your own skills and those of your direct reports.

Online, Workbooks, Zoom Training available now

Because no two organisations have the same circumstances, there is no single recipe to follow. But together, the 10 principles below can help you ready your company’s remote workforce for the future.

  1. Focus on a few concrete business outcome
  2. Foster emotional commitment
  3. Design a compelling experience
  4. Start with the highest-impact roles
  5. Change behaviour first
  6. Promote citizens led wellness groups
  7. Plan and commit to a comprehensive journey
  8. Engage with cultural influencers
  9. Include everyone but the unwilling
  10. Track results and course

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Turning 50 isn’t the end of a business career – new wave of silvererpreneurs

Get qualified in days not years

The only way is up after a downturn

article by Diane Shawe M.Ed

Turning 50 isn’t the end of a business career – it’s the beginning. And an ever-growing wave of ‘olderpreneurs’, starting a business have 70% chance of surviving their first five years compared with only a 28% survival rate for those younger than them.

Nearly half the self-employment population is over 50, and one in six new businesses started in the UK are set up by post-half-centurions.

So what’s fuelling the entrepreneurial impetus of the ‘silver startup’, and why are they doing so well?

Necessity

The over-50s age group has been particularly hard-hit by the recession. Last year, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed 28% of those aged between 50 and state pension age were out of work – compared with only 20% of those aged under 50.

Why? One of the biggest factors is the rife ageism that permeates practically every industry in the UK, that anyone over 50 who’s been forced to look for employment will testify to with a weary nod. The ONS estimates those who lose their job aged 50 or over have only a 10% chance of being re-employed.

Deciding to use their money from redundancies to fund ta company, over the course of two years the payout had trickled in its entirety into the business. But it was worth the investment – and they often don’t have to rely on the ineffective banks at the moment.

77 Questions to avoid business failure

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New challenge

At a fundamental level, sometimes people just want to do something different in their later years.

It’s interesting that recent YouGov and Standard Life research found the average age at which people feel totally confident in their working skills is 37, while the more elusive sense of fulfilment peaks at 50. Perhaps this climax of achievement and sense of ability leads to a need for a new direction, a new challenge, once a person passes the half-century mark.

You’re in good company if your over 50 and considering starting a business.

More than four out of 10 new businesses in the UK are started by people over 50, according to the Office for National Statistics. And it’s a growing trend. A recent report from Barclays highlighted that over 55s are now 63% more likely to start businesses than 10 years ago.

And this rise in business owners doesn’t just apply to founders in their 50s – the number of self-employed people aged 65 and over has more than doubled in the UK in the past five years.

While there’s never a ‘right time’ to pursue a business idea, an increasing number of people in their 50s and over – dubbed ‘olderpreneurs’ – are shifting to entrepreneurship. But why?

For starters, budding business owners in their 50s are capitalising on the government pension freedoms – first introduced back in 2015 – and are opting to take their tax free cash lump-sum to “create wealth” by using their pensions to start a business.

However, it’s not just pension-led funding which is boosting the numbers of  the UK’s older entrepreneurs.

Low-interest loans and mentoring, provided by the likes of , is playing an integral part in funding and supporting the growth of founders in their 50s with over 5,700 loans having been supplied to founders aged 50 and over by the organisation to date.

Supported by research from PRIME that those who start a business in their 50s are 42% more likely to be successful than their younger counterparts, we want to shake off the notion that starting a business in middle-age isn’t a good idea. On the contrary, older entrepreneurs have the advantage of being able to tap into wealth of experience and knowledge which they can put to use in a start-up venture.

To break down stereotypes, we’ve highlighted five inspiring businesses founded by entrepreneurs aged 50 and over, who each received a Start Up Loan to make their business dreams a reality.

Operating in industries ranging from domestic care to street food.

After every downturn there is alway a upturn because people really work hard along with banks, investors and government to make it work.

The Effects of Grade Inflation on Education

So what is Grade Inflation and what are the effects?

Article by Diane Shawe Author extracts from ‘Is Adult Education Broken’

Grade inflation is the tendency to award progressively higher academic grades for work that would have received lower grades in the past.

  • Grade inflation makes it more difficult to identify the best students, as more students are awarded the highest available grade.
  • Grade inflation is not uniform between schools. This places students in more stringently graded schools and departments at an unfair disadvantage.
  • Grade inflation is not uniform among disciplines.
  • Grade inflation makes it more difficult to compare students who took their exams at different times.

The effects of Compliance Professionals

The rise of the campus compliance professional as expert utilising the perfects means of
gaining media influence with their established position. Though the means of gaining influence
are common, their aims vary from political, economic, to personal. Thus the label of
compliance professional applies to diverse groups of people, including propagandists,
marketers, pollsters, salespeople and political advocates. It’s interesting to note that education is not really targeted

The effects of Grade Point Averages (GPA)

According to a study published in 2014, a one-point increase in high school GPA translated to
an 11.85-percent increase in annual earnings for men and a 13.77 percent annual earnings
increase for women. However, the higher percentage increase was not found to be enough
for women to catch up to men: women with a 4.0 high school GPA still made less, on average,
than men with a 2.5 GPA. We are now seeing evidence of this in unequal gender pay for the same job

College and post-college students often wonder how much weight their GPA carries in future
employment. The employer, company and industry play the largest factor in answering this question.

According to Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., senior vice president of human resources for IAC/Interactive Corp, a company with over 33,000 employees, an applicant’s GPA is the single best indicator of future success in job employment. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, since 2001 there has been an increase in employers looking at and making hiring decisions based on, a candidate’s GPA.

In addition, Job Outlook 2005 survey reported that 70 percent of employers looked at an applicant’s GPA, increasing to 75 percent in 2010. Those looking at and weighing in college GPA reported that their cut off was a GPA of 3.0 or lower (Morsch 2 CL 2007-2010)

GPA is not the only factor that determines future employment. Many employers look for other
pertinent characters such as leadership, teamwork, flexibility and attitude. They may also look at the reputation of the college attended and other work related experiences such as
internships. In a 2010 student survey for recruiters, 45 percent of the students who had
completed an internship had already received a job offer. Many of these jobs were within the
company that they interned for.

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Although GPA seems to be important in the hiring process, other variables may contribute to
the likelihood of getting hired. If a student’s GPA is below a 3.0 or what the employer is looking for, it is suggested to calculate your GPA for only the classes within your major for your resume.

The effects of Consumer Confusion

Confusion occurs when a consumer fails to correctly understand or interpret products and
services. (Turnbell 2002 -2003). This, in turn, leads to them making imperfect purchasing
decisions. This concept is important to marketeers because consumer confusion may result in reduced sales, reduced satisfaction with products and difficulty communicating effectively with the consumer. It is a widely studied and broad subject which is a part of Consumer behaviour and Decision making.

The effects of Choice overload, financial pressures

Choice overload (sometimes called over choice in the context of confusion) occurs when the
set of purchasing options becomes overwhelmingly large for a consumer. A good example is a wine in the UK where supermarkets may present over 1000 different products leaving the consumer with a difficult choice process. Whilst large assortments do have some positive
aspects (principally novelty and stimulation and optimal solutions) any assortment greater
than around 12-14 products leads to confusion and specifically transferring the ownership of
quality assurance to the consumer.

What this means in practice is reduced levels of satisfaction with purchases from large assortments as a consumer may be left with doubt that they have succeeded in finding the “best” product. Choice overload is growing with every large database of online free courses such as Moodle, University offering large choices of taster courses which can often be misinterpreted as real courses.

Taking it all in

By no stretch of the imagination have I scratched the surface of all the different methods of
reviewing standards, methodologies, global rankings and other factors that suggest the
system(s) is failing to adequately prepare students and adults who are still in our system and will be for another 30 years to adjust to rapidly changing technology.

How can educators,prepare individuals for entrance into the global marketplace?

This is done by reviewing potential hindrances and shortcomings, of which I am going to list in my opinion the most relevant ones so that educators around the world can better explore and devote their best and brightest to finding solutions to shape educational strategies with a proactive approach designed to improve overall outcomes for success.

Before I begin I quote a reference from Charles Darwin

“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best
manage change.”

Throughout the ages, every human society has experienced challenges adjusting to population
growth, maintaining structural order and creating channels for future generations. How well a society prepares the next generation for survival is imperative for the society as a whole but we have stalled in this process because we seem to be accumulating a pool of adults (who were once the next generation) who appear to be helpless in this new found world of information and technology -The intangible and more important how to work with the tangible.

One critical element of preparation in the 21st century is the ability to engage all ages and
cultures beyond communal borders. At the centre of this struggle for growth and prosperity is education.

I will now explore some of the current educational strategies which are failing to prepare the current adult generation sufficiently enough to enter the global workforce and sustain their family, community and contribute to their countries economic prosperity.

IQ scores are falling -It’s not that dumb people are having more kids than smart people

IQ scores are falling and have been for decades, new study finds

Guest Blogger: Rory Smith, CNN

IQ scores have been steadily falling for the past few decades, and environmental factors are to blame, a new study says.

The research suggests that genes aren’t what’s driving the decline in IQ scores, according to the study, published Monday.
Norwegian researchers analysed the IQ scores of Norwegian men born between 1962 and 1

991 and found that scores increased by almost 3 percentage points each decade for those born between 1962 to 1975 — but then saw a steady decline among those born after 1975.

Similar studies in Denmark, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Finland and Estonia have demonstrated a similar downward trend in IQ scores, said Ole Rogeberg, a senior research fellow at the Ragnar Frisch Center for Economic Research in Norway and co-author of the new study.

“The causes in IQ increases over time and now the decline is due to environmental factors,” said Rogeburg, who believes the change is not due to genetics.
“It’s not that dumb people are having more kids than smart people, to put it crudely. It’s something to do with the environment, because we’re seeing the same differences within families,” he said.

These environmental factors could include changes in the education system and media environment, nutrition, reading less and being online more, Rogeberg said.

The earlier rise in IQ scores follows the “Flynn effect,” a term for the long-term increase in intelligence levels that occurred during the 21st century, arguably the result of better access to education, according to Stuart Ritchie, a postdoctoral fellow in cognitive ageing at the University of Edinburgh whose research explores IQ scores and intelligence and who was not involved in the new study.

Researchers have long preferred to use genes to explain variations in intelligence over environmental factors. However, the new study turns this thinking on its head.

Intelligence is heritable, and for a long time, researchers assumed that people with high IQ scores would have kids who also scored above average. Moreover, it was thought that people with lower scores would have more kids than people with high IQ scores, which would contribute to a decline in IQ scores over time and a “dumbing down” of the general population, according to Rogeberg.

Anyone who has seen the film “Idiocracy” might already be familiar with these ideas. In the scientific community, the idea of unintelligent parents having more kids and dumbing-down the population is known as the dysgenic fertility theory, according to Ritchie.

The study looked at the IQ scores of brothers who were born in different years. Researchers found that, instead of being similar as suggested by a genetic explanation, IQ scores often differed significantly between the siblings.

“The main exciting finding isn’t that there was a decline in IQ,” Ritchie said. “The interesting thing about this paper is that they were able to show a difference in IQ scores within the same families.”

The study not only showed IQ variance between children the same parents, but because the authors had the IQ scores of various parents, it demonstrated that parents with higher IQs tended to have more kids, ruling out the dysgenic fertility theory as a driver of falling IQ scores and highlighting the role of environmental factors instead.

What specific environmental factors cause changes in intelligence remains relatively unexplored.

Access to education is currently the most conclusive factor explaining disparities in intelligence, according to Ritchie. In a separate study that has not been released, he and his colleagues looked at existing research in an effort to demonstrate that staying in school longer directly equates to higher IQ scores.

But more research is needed to better understand other environmental factors thought to be linked to intelligence. Robin Morris, a professor of psychology at Kings College in London who was not involved in Ritchie’s research, suggests that traditional measures of intelligence, such as the IQ test, might be outmoded in today’s fast-paced world of constant technological change.

Morris states that “we need to recognise that as time changes and people are exposed to different intellectual experiences, such as changes in the use of technology, for example social media, the way intelligence is expressed also changes. Educational methods need to adapt to such changes,” Morris said.

Diane Shawe author of ‘Is Adult Education Broken” goes on to state in her publication that “No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is but the world as it will be.”

In her thought provoking book she explains that we are living in a new economy—powered by technology, fueled by information, and driven by knowledge which increasingly is increasingly becoming automated. We are entering the new century with opportunity on our side with huge problems that require new thinking.

How can we make the new economic age enhance, rather than diminish, our quality of learning?

How can we make this amazing innovation advance the prospects of all people especially those with experience and not just for the youth?

Fundamentally, we need to change what people learn, how people learn, when people learn, and even why people learn.

Inside her publication she explores

: Failure to find a fomular to develop teachers convergent and divergent facilitatingskills

: failure to consider cultural relevance

: failure to develop enterprising and entrepreneurial skills

: failure to prepare students about taking personal responsibility

: failure to encourage international engagement

:failure to manage growth of academic misconduct

Download your copy today https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07BWBMGFM/

Finally a frightening statistic:

“If unemployment formed a country it would be the 5th largest in the world” Isaac Asimov

How My Teacher Almost Dashed My Dreams Of Writing

wear your pretty shoes well by diane shawe884346925..jpg

When I was 8 years old I remember my teacher Mr Lester ripping up my homework and accusing me of copying the story I wrote for my homework that week. I remember it was a story about being lost in the woods at night, I use to be afraid of the dark back then.

I cried and said I hadn’t copied it, he gave me detention on top of that and called me a liar.

I was so embarrassed and ashamed I never did well in English Literature again just to spite him I thought but really he had squashed my confidence.

16 books later all published on Amazon with my most recent which took 3 years to write and a healthy vibrant blog with over 35k followers which I have been nurturing since 2010

Do you think adults in position of influence realise what they can do to a child?

Never let negative people define who you are or what you want to become.

Coaching is also important and if you want to propel your vision coaching can help you stay laser focused with a strategic plan

Download your copy on #amazon today https://goo.gl/gm9t2U

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

Why Black men will be Disproportionately Devastated by Industries drive towards Automation

 Black men and disproportionate employment

Black male graduates in London and throughout the UK are nearly twice as likely to be unemployed as their white counterparts, figures suggest. In 2016 there was an unemployment rate of 18% for black male graduates aged 16 to 24 in the capital.

According to the data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the rate for their white counterparts was 10%. A government spokesperson said the employment rate for ethnic minorities was “at a record high”. So if the graduates, the brightest and best are having such a hard time what about the lower skilled or unqualified black men?

But for now lets focus on London. More than 83,000 young men in London are from black and mixed black ethnic groups, making up about one in five of young men in the capital.

Research by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that along with Pakistani and Bangladeshi women, black men consistently have the lowest employment rates in the UK.

BBC London contacted 50 of London 500 top graduate employers last year across the banking, accounting, medical, legal and retail sectors. Eleven were able to provide data relating to their employment of black men specifically. Those 11 organisations recruited 1,803 graduates in 2016. Of those, 30 were black men.

The NHS leadership academy, for trainee managers, was among those which did not recruit any among its intake of 112 graduates.

Larry Elliott Economics Editor for the Guardian headlined on 4th April 2018 that Workers at risk as robots set to replace 66m jobs, warns OECD he goes on to write:

The west’s leading economic thinktank has warned its members that they are failing to prepare workers for an automation revolution that will leave 66 million people at risk of being replaced by machines in the coming years.

A new report by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development found that the most vulnerable – one in seven workers on average across the 32 countries studied – were less likely to be receiving help than those whose jobs were more secure.

The OECD said 14% of jobs in developed countries were highly automatable, while a further 32% of jobs were likely to experience significant changes to the way they were carried out.

Low-skilled people and youth were among those most at risk, according to the report, with the jobs at highest risk tending to be in low-skill sectors such as food preparation, cleaning and labouring. Workers in fully automatable jobs were more than three times less likely to have participated in on-the-job training, over a 12-month period, than workers in non-automatable jobs. Those most at risk were also less likely to participate in formal education or distance learning.

In September 2017 Mr Lammy a Tottenham MP reviewed the BAME people in the criminal justice system and found that in the UK black people who make up just 3% of the UK population make up 12% of the people in prison at a cost to the tax payer of £309m each year.

Whilst the report highlighted failings on the part of police forces, courts and prisons, it was identified that other issues like one parenthood, school exclusions, low income and high unemployment disproportionately affect some ethnic minority groups and have been linked to higher levels of criminality.

Is Adult Education for Graduates BrokenDiane Shawe author of ‘Is Adult Education Broken?’ states that “the traditional belief that we must prepare ourselves to be ‘employable’ is under threat for all groups, but has always inexplicably affected the BAME groups. The counter argument encourages us to ‘gear up’ for earning our own money, rather than seeing income as someone else’s responsibility”.

It is clear that at this moment most educational systems are not keeping pace with changing technology and the ever-evolving world of work.

Isaac Asimov quote sharpens our focus

“If unemployment formed a country it would be the 5th largest in the world”

Not enough people are thinking strategically enough in this area. Fundamentally, we need to change what people learn, how people learn, when people learn, and even why people learn.

A recently published book by #DianeShaweAuthor ‘Is #Adult #Education Broken’?  explores the main failings in the educational system for an economy powered by #technology, fueled by #information, driven by #knowledge and becoming #automated. What are the lessons to be learnt?

Download a copy from #amazon today Claim you copy now

Here’s the Main Reasons Adult Education is Broken and I’ll Prove It To You

Is Adult Education Broken?

Is Adult Education Broken by Diane Shawe Author (4)

Adult education has become undervalued in an overpriced educational infrastructure.

The people who need the most help are already systematically ripped off by greedy loan companies, NHS parking, having to pay charges for drawing out their own money from private ATM machines in poorer boroughs, pre-paid electric meter’s to name but a few.

The more you seem to need help the more you seem to have to pay.

Off course, the arguments are always about risk, but to compound on top of their needs, a premium, just to make sure the risk is compensated for is questionable indeed. But another kind of ripping off is taking place. ‘Free online education’ you may ask ‘why is this a rip-off people”?
I will answer this from my perspective initially and then make further arguments as to why we should be very concerned about this un-policed, unchallenged butchery of the values originally infused into our adult educational system.

Is Adult Education Broken by Diane Shawe Author (2)So if you all but think Adult Education is Broken and all but given up, this book spills the beans on what has gone wrong, what questions need to be addressed and if certain issues are tackled by Government, then there’s Hope,

As Isaac Asimov—a master of science fiction literature—once said:

“No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into
          account not only the world as it is but the world as it will be.”

So the big Question is – What has happened?

  • Why have these large institutions priced education out of some fundamental principles?
  • Why on the other spectrum are all these free courses flooded the market?
  • How can we make the new economic age enhance, rather than diminish, our quality of learning?
  • How can we make this amazing innovation advance the prospects of all people especially those with or without experience and not just for the youth?

It is clear that at this moment most educational systems are not keeping pace with changing technology and the ever-evolving world of work.

Is Adult Education Broken by Diane Shawe Author (5)
“If unemployment formed a country it would be the 5th largest in the world”

                                                  Isaac Asimov

 
Not enough people are thinking strategically enough in this area.  Fundamentally, we need to change what people learn, how people learn, when people learn, and even why people learn.

We must get beyond the traditional model of students sitting passively in classrooms, following instructions and memorising material that they are tested and scored on which sometimes turn out to be of little use in an every changing economy.

“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those
                                     who can best manage change.”                       Darwin

Throughout the ages, every human society has experienced challenges adjusting to population growth, maintaining structural order and creating channels for future generations. How well a society prepares the next generation for survival is imperative for the society as a whole but we have stalled in this process.

There seems to be a range of systemic failures such as

: failure to find a formula to develop teachers convergent and divergent Is Adult Education Broken by Diane Shawe Author (3)facilitating skills
: failure to consider cultural relevance
: failure to develop enterprising and entrepreneurial skills
: failure to prepare about taking personal responsibility
: failure to provide adequate technology and supporting curriculum
: failure to encourage international engagement
: failure to manage growth of academic misconduct

Diane Shawe Author states that “the traditional belief that we must prepare ourselves to be ‘employable’ is under threat. The counter argument encourages us to ‘gear up’ for earning our own money, rather than seeing income as someone else’s responsibility”

With the population dramatically aging and low-level jobs increasingly swallowed up by machinery, entrepreneurship will be a necessity for many, rather than a lifestyle choice for some.

SMEs are of course already leading this charge but in order to gear up for the future we need to start off by asking a serious question, defining criteria’s and examining trends, impact these trends will have and plan a way to jointly prepare current and future generations to be both employable and entrepreneurial.

We are living in a new economy—powered by technology, fueled by information, and driven by knowledge. And we are entering the new century with an opportunity on our side but huge problems that require new thinking.

claim free course now

Is Adult Education Broken by Diane Shawe Author (12)

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9 Steps to The Killer Covering Letter

It has become almost common knowledge that most potential employers do not even bother responding to unsuccessful candidates that apply for vacant jobs.

Sometimes you need to give yourself the winning edge. Think Clint Eastwood with the sun behind him in a gun fight. Sometimes in giving massive importance to the CV, the value of a strong cover letter is often neglected. The key to securing that dream job is a combination of a well-crafted CV and a killer cover letter. While the CV lists your important achievements and skills, the cover letter coerces your prospective employer into hiring you. The cover letter very finely articulates your desire to work for the company. To stand apart from the competition and make yourself an attractive hire, you need to draft a killer cover letter. Here are the 9 Steps to landing that job…

  1. 1.     Knowing what they want, what they really really want

The cover letter offers a window to your personality and qualifications. But apart from that, it is also a way to demonstrate how much you really know about your prospective employer. To do this, you need to research on the company, the financial growth statistics, the industries that your employer serves, etc. Learn about your potential firm and showcase that. Only when you know what they want and who they are looking for, will you be able to portray that in your cover letter.

  1. 2.     Giving it that personal touch

When you are searching for a job and have focused on one, make sure you find out the name of the contact person. Beginning your cover letters with formal salutations such as “Dear Sir or Madam”, gives the impression that you don’t know whom the letter should be addressed to. Personalise your cover letters while retaining a semi-formal tone. Lack of knowledge in these areas can significantly impact your chances of getting the job you want.

  1. 3.     The Art of the Powerful Opening

Avoid the clichéd opening paragraphs and instead strive to make an impact with the introduction. In a powerful opening paragraph, you have to briefly state your objective in applying for the job and how you heard about the opening. While being creative in your openings, don’t forget that cute introductions do not work. Give your cover letter the necessary gravitas without being too sycophantic.

  1. 4.     Start Right

After the introduction, comes the body of the cover letter where you detail your achievements without repetition. In this part of the cover letter, you are expected to expand upon your achievements as mentioned in the CV and provide further examples of how you can help your potential company grow. For example, if you are applying for marketing positions then be sure to explain how you can develop a marketing strategy to bring in additional revenue for the company. Simply said, put your best foot forward.

  1. 5.     Finish Strong

The closing of the letter should definitely express gratitude for the HR manager’s time and patience. End the letter by outlining the next steps on your part. Never expect a potential employer to follow up with you. Demonstrate your proactive nature by stating that you will follow up for the job. This will also indicate your enthusiasm for the job. Remember to include a phone number or email address so that the firm can get in touch with you first if required.

  1. 6.     Money Later

The motivation behind taking up any job is money. To be happy in your job you need to be paid well. Don’t become hasty and quote any figures in the letter. Wait for a formal meeting to discuss salary issues.

  1. 7.     Details Matter

Remember to spell-check your cover letters and get them proof-read from friends or family. Be sure to thoroughly check your cover letters till you are completely satisfied with them.

  1. 8.     How does it Look?

In case you are submitting your cover letter by email, make use of word processing software such as MS Word. Write your cover letters in Word, making use of a standardized format. Align the text correctly and ensure that the letter is cleanly formatted. Punctuation should be in place. While you spend a tremendous amount of time on preparing the CV, you sometimes end up neglecting the cover letter. Formatting is essential otherwise the HR manager reading your cover letter might just have to spend his or her time deciphering it.

  1. 9.     Check That Grammar

Make sure that you adhere to grammar rules and make use of them while writing your cover letter. Incorrect grammar used in the wrong places can not only create a wrong impression, but also change the meaning of what you intended to convey.

These are such simple steps to write a killer covering letter.

ü Draft your letter so that it highlights your skills, achievements, goals, and motivations.

ü Don’t meander from the main topic.

ü Stick to the basics and be direct in your approach.

Do the above and nothing can stop you from getting that job.