The fascinating thing about touch screen technology is the intimacy it brings to the learning process.  It connects the skin with the screen at the fingertip. It allows one to actually touch and feel the content, move it around, combine it, tap it to dig deeper, and peel for layers of information behind it.  Moreover, the touch screen has found a formidable co-conspirator destined to supersede lap-tops – the tablet.

Is the touch screen just another fad, or will it alter how we produce and use learning content?

This question popped up recently at the iVentiv Learning Technology Executive Knowledge Exchange in Düsseldorf, attended by forty plus European Chief Learning & Development Officers. I have written about this at length in my white paper Rise of the Tablet – How it will impact workplace performance.

It is a debate which has only just started. We can expect this one to run and I look forward to being part of the conversation.

Constantin Ohanian
Chief Executive Chairman, CERTPOINT Systems

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The emergency at the Fukushima nuclear reactor which followed the recent tsunami has been devastating for the people of Japan. It has also shown the people of that nation coping with the unprecedented crisis with dignity and resilience.

In this special blog entry, Denis Finnegan, CERTPOINT Systems CLO and Lt. Commander USN retired, reflects on what do such terrible events tell us about the role of training in dealing with emergencies.

I have been thinking about the many stories of the reactor workers, search and rescue teams and scientists who all are currently dealing with the crisis. More than likely they relying on their training and their skills are sorely tested in these times. I am sure they are highly trained and equipped with terrific systems and tools, and because of this the damage that will be caused by a freak disaster will be minimized.

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Clayton M. Christensen’s book The Innovator’s Solution (published by Harvard Business School) reveals some astonishing insights into the fragility of success. Being bigger, it seems, it not always better.

Examining the companies that appeared on Fortune’s “50 Largest” list between 1955 and 1995, Christensen points out that 95% saw their growth rates stall to the level of general GNP or lower. Of these “stalled” companies, only 4 percent successfully rose to a level even one point higher than GNP subsequently.

It seems that companies become victims of their own success. Too often – almost inevitably – they reach a certain size beyond which they are unable to innovate and grow.

What does this have to do with learning? Everything.

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