Workplace Counselling

Genashtim started offering workplace counselling services to its employees around June 2018. Our counsellor is Marcia Evans from Jamaica. Marcia is a HR professional who is passionate about counselling and has been richly blessed with a love for people. I was aware of the fact that employees do face various work-related and personal challenges and stresses, and I felt the need to engage someone externally for this purpose. The thought of counselling for our people came to me whilst I was watching one of my favourite series, “Billions”. I want Marcia to be our Wendy Rhoades. I also feel that the need for counselling is more profound in Genashtim as the vast majority of our people do come from more challenging situations and conditions than the normal employees in any company.

Counselling is available to everyone in Genashtim. They can choose to do this themselves, or can be referred by their G-Tribe leaders, or their supervisors. The intention is to provide a “safe place” so that everyone can be fearless about booking a session to work through their issues with the counsellor. Marcia does not disclose to anyone who she has been counselling. She speaks to me on a regular basis to tell me about any common issues which have arisen, which I should do something about. Again, she never discloses who. I also give her some updates on the issues that we have been facing in the company, so that she has the proper context to do her job properly.

Counselling helps employees see their problems in a different, usually brighter light. It gives them a different perspective and a changed mindset. Counselling helps them to refocus and get back on track. The counsellor may be able to help employees find their own solutions, but failing that, they will be given suggestions on how to cope with the issues.

#Genashtim #WorkplaceCounselling #Billions

Did you notice this about classroom-based training….

I attended a short training session this morning on Blue Ocean Leadership. I am not going to comment about the quality of the training and the topic, but rather on the mode of delivery.

It was just a two hour session. The most engaging parts of the session was when videos were played. There were a couple of rather interesting videos. But I could have watched them on Youtube, I presume.

Halfway through the session, one of the participants starting raising questions, and did this quite a bit. Her issue was how to convince her leadership to adopt this Blue Ocean Leadership concept. After a while, I had to intervene that the issue she has is a dysfunctional leadership, and that this is not the topic of this workshop.

There were quite a number of questions coming from the participants, which is a credit to the trainer and also the topic. However most people just jumped in whenever they had something to ask or to say, and the loudest voice would prevail.

I also saw a fellow who kept trying to put his hand up, and never got his turn. We are talking about a rather small group of about a dozen people.

I could not help comparing this to the discussion boards which we use in our eLearning environment. I would not have to spend time reading the questions and exchanges with the instructor which were not related to the topic and of no interest to me. Also, every single participant can ask any number of questions, and each time, he/she would be just as loud as everyone else.

It took me 40 minutes to drive to the location, a bit of a struggle to look for a car park. All in all, it took me 4 hours to attend a 2 hour training session.Павелкокак приехать в германию

Salman Khan – The Khan Academy

The Khan Academy phenomenon lives on, with more than 9,000 videos on more than 65 languages.

This Ted Talk by Salman Khan way back in 2011 has some profound learnings:-

1. He found that kids prefer a video of him teaching them, rather than him teaching them in person, because…

– in video, he can be paused and repeated

– there is less pressure on the kids – there isn’t someone there to ask them “have you understood what i just tried to teach you?”

– they can watch him again at a later date, without the embarrassment of going to him to tell him that they have forgotten what he taught.

2. He talks about the Flip Classroom (which I have described in a recent blog posting).  His comment is that the teachers use technology to “humanize” the classroom. I think this is specifically profound as many people (including educators) say that eLearning is not effective as it lacks the human touch in a classroom. But in reality, a typical classroom is where the teacher gives a one-way delivery of knowledge. The students are mostly not allowed to speak during this, and probably are terrified that they will be picked upon to answer questions.  In a Flip Classroom, the students can interact with each other, as well as with the teacher, whilst doing their homework.

3.  In a traditional classroom, the teacher moves on to another, probably harder topic, irrespective of whether all the students have mastered the current topic. Talk about lining them up for failure! Using technology and the Flip Classroom concept, the students get personalized learning, rather than a “one size fits all”. The slower students can watch the videos over and over again to catch up. And the better students can move on to other topics. In the class, the teacher is helping the students, irrespective of which topic the student is at. The teacher can spend more time in class to help the students who need to catch up.

4. With Khan Academy, the teachers can keep track of which student is up to which video. They can even have questions to test the students before they move to the next video. So at one glance, the teacher can see which of the students are falling behind, and need some extra attention. And for the students who are doing exceptionally well, the teacher can assign them to help those who are falling behind. Now, how cool is that! There is also a lot of other data which the teacher can have access to, as explained by Salman Khan.

5. The teacher can then spend 95% of his/her time interacting with (rather than talking at) the students. Traditionally, the teacher spends only 5% of his/her time in real interaction with the students. This can make the teachers’ job more interesting and satisfying.

 WPS Performance Station отзывыrussian outbound travel agents list

The Flip Classroom

A couple of years ago, a seasoned educator friend explained the Flip classroom concept to me.

Traditionally, a teacher would stand in front of a class and deliver a topic or subject to the class. At the end of it, the teacher would give some homework to the students. When the students are home, they will try to do the homework, trying very hard to recall what was taught in class, and to apply it to the homework. What mostly happens is that the student will try to get help from an elder sibling, or parents. And very often this will eventually lead to private tutoring.

In the Flip classroom, when the students are home, they watch videos on the topic or subject which the teacher is supposed to deliver in class. This could be a video done by the teacher, or any relevant video on the topic from anywhere. This can be augmented by other online tools like animation, quizzes, etc.

When the students come to class, they do their homework i.e. try to apply the knowledge. And the teacher there is there to help and guide them.

How cool is that?Павелко Андрей продвижение сайта

Digital Education in South Africa

I would like to salute South Africa for taking bold steps in investing in the future.

Got to this link to download information on:-

  • The shocking number of South African students being failed by their schools
  • Where these students are falling short and how they can improve
  • The part that will be played by computers, eBooks, iPads and apps
  • How technology is going to revolutionise education in South Africa

Чехунов Денис Николаевич прокуроркупить босоножки на танкетке киев

Levelling the Playing Field in Education – taking it another notch

Some years ago, I was on a plane to Bangkok, with my best friend, who has since passed away. He was in the real property development business. He commented that schools are probably one of the most under-utilized category real estate.

Many rich people desire to build schools, particularly in the rural areas to reach out to the less privileged corners of society. But all too often, after a few years, such schools are dilapidated and abandoned. Maintenance is costly, and will not be sufficiently funded from school fees. On top of that, getting good teachers to the far flung provinces is a challenge.

We then brainstormed about fitting out old shipping containers with PC workstations. Then collaborate with local telcos to provide not only internet connection, but also access to cellular signal. Consider also the possibility of having solar panels on the roof, so that this “container internet center” can operate without being connected to the grid.

Look for a village that is receptive, and plonk this down there. Children from the village and surrounding areas can come to these “container internet centers” and access the internet for world class online education, and have world class educators connecting with them.

When not used for this purpose, this can be used as any internet center for recreation, for communication, or for doing work online. The fees earned from this, and for selling cell phones, load and accessories, will hopefully be able to maintain this facility.

If for any reason, it does not work out, this can be pulled out and plonked down somewhere else. Probably is not as simply as it sounds, but I hope one day to find out.wps performance station скачатьлучшие университеты сша рейтинг

Innovation is not just about Technology

Whilst I keep preaching that with technology and the internet, we can reach most parts of the world, there are areas which are still not yet quite there.

This example of an innovative solution for children who do not even have a desk in the classroom is one which I wish I had thought of (click here).

Innovation is indeed a mindset, and not just about technology. We have to keep thinking of better ways to do things, and to solve problems.прокурор Чехунов Денислобановский класс

Levelling the Playing Field in Education

In one of my earlier blogs about the state of funding for universities, and how online education is changing the game, I promised to write more on my excitement with how technology and the internet will trigger the revolution and evolution wherein the best content can be delivered by the best educators to most remote and marginalized communities.

Traditionally, the best schools recruited the best students. The parents of these students probably also studied in these best schools, befriended other privileged kids who supported each other in their privileged careers, and have privileged children who then go to these privileged schools.

These privileged schools would always be in privileged neighborhoods. The best educators would hence be attracted to these privileged schools.

I think that technology and the internet has a real chance to level the playing field, and enable the best education to reach under-privileged communities. There is already much online content available open source, like the Khan Academy, Coursera, MIT etc. I have personally believed for some time that you can probably find on the internet, all knowledge which you need to complete most academic qualifications.

However, a one-way delivery can probably not give a complete education experience. There is a role to play for educators. The Coursera programs, and probably others, do have instructors online interacting with the students and guiding them in an asynchronous manner.

But look at this video about the “Granny Cloud”, showing retired teachers in England teach live online to rural schools in India. I think that a mix of asynchronous instruction and live teaching online, with the best educators in the world can level the playing field for most marginalized communities.

I wish that like the legal profession, the teaching profession will also (if they do not already do so) mandate teachers to spend a minimum number of hours for pro-bono teaching. That way, the privileged teachers in the privileged schools can teach marginalized students without the fear, risk and inconvenience of commuting to the rather challenging neighborhoods to teach in schools with under-privileged children. They can do so online.

In my next article, I will take this discussion another “notch”.лобановский супермаркет классзимняя жерлица

Endorsement from Trainer of Trainers in Singapore Airlines

One of my neighbours in Melbourne is Tommy Soh. He and his wife Marina dropped by for lunch yesterday, and we chatted about many things. He asked a lot of questions about Genashtim, in particular our EPiC Online program. What he had to say about how we run our business is so profound that I asked him to write it down for me, which is attached herewith. Click Here.

With 43 years in Singapore Airlines, Tommy Soh has trained and mentored a large number of pilots and captains. As a trainer for trainers in a prestigious organization like Singapore Airlines, he is at the pinnacle of his game. He was also among the first pilots in the world to captain the A380. He has read about 200 books on training, and is in the process of writing one himself.

It is so heart-warming to be assured by someone like him for what we are doing. Павелко депутатmainsms