Elearning: love it or loathe it?

Ryan, who blogs at Brazen Careerist, hates elearning. He thinks it's training on the cheap; a bit of a joke and not a substitute for proper face to face training with free biscuits. Fine. I'll agree that it's not a substitute for classroom teaching and not all subjects lend themselves to elearning.

However, I vote for giving elearning a big fat hug. Not just because I work for an elearning team, writing...erm... elearning. Not just that. Here's what I think:

• Elearning lets you learn at your own pace. You don't need to keep up with, or be bored by the pace of the rest of the class.

• Learning IT skills online means you can mess about with the software in the way that you want, using your own computer and even your own documents.

• Learning happens via a mixture of being told what to do, giving it a go and asking when you get stuck. We have online chat or a real human being at the end of the telephone for those 'helpivebrokenit!' moments.

• It is often cheaper than classroom training. Which for individuals, tight budgets or charities is a huge bonus. Cheap doesn't mean rubbish. The materials from an online course can often be accessed for far longer than a day's training.

• It is tailor made. In a classroom course there are often parts of the syllabus that don't apply to you. Doing elearning? Skip those bits.

• It gives you instant validation. Online quizzes which mark your scores let you know straightaway if you've remembered everything and if you're doing it right.

To sum it up, elearning has its benefits. As does classroom learning. The two can co-exist quite happily. However, the world is changing and even monkeys are logging on to Facebook. We're getting used to having more of our needs met online, even if it feels a bit funny at first. My Dad even learnt the Cha Cha Cha online.

How to successfully work from home

...and not spend the day watching TV, doing the ironing and having frequent naps.

Working from home, it's a dream many aspire to: work when you want, don't get dressed till midday, avoid the commute and still get to pick your kids up from school. But in reality it's hard to keep up the motivation and self discipline.

Most staff here at Happy work from home to a certain extent. Our elearning team do it for the majority of the week. What can be done to keep it a positive experience that benefits both you and your company?

• Know yourself - this is the most important. What works for me might not work for you. I'm quite happy spending the day by myself. You might get depressed without any human interaction. In which case, you may need to break the day up with phone calls or lunch dates.
  


• Stick to a schedule - I like to do this, so I can structure my day. Treat it like an office day. Plan to start at 9am and mean it.



• Have a designated area - I have a bright office, painted in yellow, in the hope that it will keep me alert and on the ball. It's a spare bedroom in our flat that is reserved for work and computer related activities. That way, there's no chance of me getting distracted by food, books or sleep (particular weaknesses of mine). Even if it's just a corner of your bedroom, make it look like the official area of work.
  


• Take breaks - People in the office get up to go to the loo or make a cup of tea. Don't feel guilty.
  


• Start the day with some air - Most people travel to work, thereby getting a daily dose of exercise, air and light. If, like me, you sometimes crawl from your bed to the laptop, you miss out on that. It can be hard to shake off the grogginess if you don't. I have the good fortune to live by the sea. But a walk round the block or to the nearest coffee shop can be just as effective.
  


• Make the most of your evenings - This is the beauty of working at home. Switch off your computer at 5pm and you're already home. What will you do? Spend time with your partner? Cook some amazing food? Working at home enables me to prepare dinner, get to my capoeira class and still have time to relax in the evening.
  


• Start the day the day with a list - That way you'll be more focused. Even if the list includes 'do the ironing', put it down so that you can find a slot to fit it in.
  


• Achieve something as soon as possible - preferably something on your list so that you get a sense of satisfaction. Even if it's emailing your boss or filling out forms that need to be done. It will give you the motivation to get through the day.

It can be a real struggle sometimes, especially on days like today; I'm writing this with the music from the students' flat above making my ceiling vibrate. On the other hand, it's 5pm, I'm off to meet a friend for a coffee and go to my capoeira class.

Do enjoy your train journey home, won't you?

All the fun of the chair

There was a mini revolution involving chairs here at Happy recently, and I don't mean the kind of chair revolution where you spin round as fast as you can and see how long the spin lasts before you need to kick off again. Although that kind is a lot of fun.

Some fancy schmancy new chairs were bought for the building, and everyone got them except for us here in Happy eLearning (and Helpline, and ITQ), so a Strongly Worded Email was sent to Henry. I'd like to make it clear that no threats were issued, as you will see from this excerpt from the threatening- er, the polite email: "Naturally, a series of strikes, sit-ins, and letters to Amnesty International would be a *last* resort, but I hope that we can resolve this without involving solicitors, or the police."

Thankfully, Henry saw sense, and informed us that new chairs would be ordered, and in the meantime, we could take some from a training room. So in a daring raid, the Happy eLearning team swapped their dodgy old chairs with some of the lovely new ones from training room 6. It was like something out of the A-Team (but with no car chases or helicopter attacks or that bit where they all get locked in a warehouse and build a big tank out of old pencil cases and rubber bands).

I did a recon mission first, to see how the ground lay, and made sure we had a safe path. Once the coast was clear, I gave the rallying cry of "GET... THE COMFY CHAIRS!", which I've always wanted to say (if you know what TV show that's from, you can be in my special gang). Then we all ran to the room with our old chairs, took the new ones, and brought them back here, where we put sticky labels on them with our names on. Chairs have a habit of going missing (and occasionally on fire) from this office, so we weren't taking any chances. The mission was successful, and we're now all sitting on our lovely, comfy chairs, and working 1% harder. To show what we all got so obsessed about, here is Nik enjoying the fruits of our theft, I mean, our perfectly justified chair-swapping:



Pretty impressive, eh? But that's how we roll, here in Happy eLearning. That's how we roll.

How strong are you?

All the Happy staff have completed a Gallup's Strengths Finder quiz which aims to discover our five top strengths. These strengths are meant to be the things we should maximise to become truly effective people, rather than wasting time focusing on our, ahem, lesser talents, and never even reaching above mediocre in those.

So, if your tea making skills are weak - don't worry. Just get on with being a fantastic bed maker, if that's more your thing, and you'll enjoy much more success. Sadly tea and bed making skills aren't really on the official list. The real ones include new and bizarre concepts such as: intellection, maximiser, ideation and woo. Which one are you?

Once you know your skills, how does it help you? It could mean you'll get on better with others of a similar ilk. Bossy boots unite! Opposites can also attract and complement each other. Effective working relationships will always develop through a better awareness of others' strengths.

On a personal development level, the radical message is concentrate on what you're good at. Tea, anyone?

Happy in UK Top 10 Workplaces

The Financial Times has rated Happy as one of the top 10 places to work in the entire UK economy.

This was the result of their annual Best Workplaces award, organised with the Great Place to Work Institute.

Happy had previously been rated No. 12 in 2004 and No.11 in 2006. (The top 10 weren't ranked this year.) The company was also, for the third time, one of the top 100 workplaces in Europe.

In its Best Workplaces supplement the Financial Times listed the top 5 in four example categories. In three of these categories, Happy was listed in the top 2:

• Work/Life Balance: Happy equal 1st in UK
  
• Most Trusted Management: Happy 2nd in UK
  
• Most Welcoming Company: Happy equal 1st in UK
  

The Financial Times notes Happy's "passionate belief is in giving staff responsibility, giving them freedom to adapt their way of working to suit their lives and letting them participate in business and financial decisions."

Not bad for a business of 50 people!

How far do you go?

It's all very well being an ethical company, treating your staff well and buying fairtrade pencil holders. But what about the people you do business with, how ethical are they? How much do you know about the people who supply your paper, where do they get it from?

What with multinationals masquerading behind smaller ethical companies (Cadbury's - Green and Blacks) and ethical companies supplying global corporations (Innocent Drinks - Mcdonald's); it can be a moral minefield. We recently had the dilemma of a potential client who was involved in supporting the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. In the end, we felt we had to say 'no'. What would you do?

Monopoly, anyone?

With Google set to buy Doubleclick, the leading seller of online banner ads, there are allegations of unfair monopoly practices as they head to dominate the market for online advertising. (Incidentally, spending on online ads in the UK has just overtaken total newspaper-based advertising.)

It is said that, combined with its own adwords, this will give Google domination over 80% of online advertising. But the cries of foul play are coming from none other than Microsoft, you know, that little cornershop. Actually, Microsoft wanted to buy Doubleclick themselves but were outbid.

It's never quite as clearcut as you think, eh? On a less serious note, have you seen the broken Google? Someone send an ambulance!

Feeling hot, hot, hot

Summer is approaching like a big, yellow, sweaty monkey, and with summer usually comes lots of fainting in the Happy eLearning office. This is the only part of the company with no air-conditioning, so we have to either stick several fans up our t-shirts, or commandeer an empty training room for the day. It can get quite busy during the summer though, so there aren't always empty rooms. On those days, we generally tend to lie on the floor, gasping for air, and blinking a lot. Much like fish. Talking fish. Talking fish wearing clothes, who write computer courses. So not really like fish.

Interestingly, there is no legal, upper temperature limit for workplaces - but there is a 30 degree Celsius upper limit for livestock. And why not? After all, sheep are lovely and friendly, and shouldn't be mistreated. But the Happy eLearning staff are also lovely and friendly, and definitely shouldn't be mistreated. Our cunning plan? Buy a sheep, a cow, and a pig, and put them in the corner with some food. That way, the company will be forced to give us air-conditioning, and everything will work out perfectly. Obviously there are slight flaws in the plan - the smell, the noise, having livestock in an office in London - but nothing we can't work out. Watch this space... Although we'll probably never mention it again.

A sheep, yesterday:

Wikipedia

With our Happy fingers firmly on the technology pulse, we felt it was time we had a Wikipedia prescence. Y'know, to let the unsuspecting public know what we're all about. We've had a squiz at some other lovely company examples such as Innocent Drinks and the Body Shop.

Why do it? Well, it's a great way to describe what Happy's all about: our business, ethics, company culture and charity work. Wikipedia is also incredibly popular and increasingly becoming the information seeker's tool of choice.

But what makes Wikipedia unique is its collaborative quality. It is a free and open resource that can be edited by anybody. True, it has to be fair and neutral but it's a far cry from a company's carefully controlled web site with the polished image they choose to project. Your Wiki page may contain scandals or controversies, such as Innocent's exploding smoothie scandal and any dodgy dealings you'd rather forget.

Perhaps it's the closest you'll get to the truth (or to real comedy if you stumble across some unchecked vandalised pages).

Boost your memory

Now what was I going to write about... ah yes, improving your memory! According to the Guardian, it consists of 5 easy steps:

1) Use memory techniques
If you're introduced to someone called Kate, who looks a bit like a gate, put these ideas together in your mind and hey presto; no more embarrassingly tapping people on the shoulder because you can't remember their name.

2) Develop new mental skills
No, not telepathy or using the Force. Learn a language, play chess or practise saying everything backwards. ekil tahT.

3) Eat clever
The school dinner ladies were right. Eat fish and you'll be bright. (And maybe a poet too, if you eat as clever as me.)

4) Reduce stress
You know when you're stressed, you just can't find the toothpaste and the measuring tape? Me too. Just chill and they magically appear. Seriously.

5) Meditate
Something to do with 'cerebral', 'cortex' and 'thickening'. Exactly.

So, if you see me chilling on the sofa at work, speaking hcnerF, eating fish fingers and sitting in lotus position, I am NOT just skiving, ok?

Great Places to Work

Google has recently been voted number one in the USA's Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For survey. So what's it like there? Brainwashing? Free chocolate on the hour, every hour? Personal attendants to fan you down when you get too hot? Well, maybe that's my personal fantasy but Google's working environment isn't far off. Employees get free gourmet meals, gym, swimming pool and on site doctors and masseurs. The report says that:

Google's leaders have figured out the formula that works for them by treating people with respect, supporting their creative endeavors, and working hard to adhere to their motto of "Don't be evil".

It's not rocket science, really.

And everyone wants to work there. They apparently receive 1,300 CVs a day. I might be tempted to slip mine in the electronic mail if I didn't work at Happy. In 2006 Happy was number 11 in the FT's Best Workplaces in the UK. Not bad for a company with only 59 employees. We're hoping to do even better this year to reflect our Happy culture: flexible working patterns; no blame culture; free food and ice creams; ₤100 a year to spend on keeping ourselves well; job ownership; transparent salaries...

Mr Happy, aka Henry explains:

Our approach isn't complicated, we believe people work best when they feel good about themselves.

Hmm... I sense a theme here. Time for other companies to follow suit?

Clean hands and green smiles

The environment is a key issue at Happy at the moment. We have a new in-house green group who are actively looking for ways to green us up and limit our carbon footprint. In order to achieve this aim, we did what anyone in our situation would do; we installed new supersonic Dyson Airblade hand dryers. These awesome machines are fast, fancy and loud. The key thing is that they completely dry your hands (or anything else you'd like to dangle in) in just 10 seconds. Oh yes.

Crazy talk from a carbon obsessed petrol head? Not quite. They surprisingly use up to 83% less energy than other hand dryers, even in standby mode they use 80% less. With a long life energy efficient motor, they will save us hundreds of pounds a year. Clean hands and green smiles all round!

Awards and prizes and things

Congratulations to our trainer Rachael Worrall, who won Bronze in the Trainer of the Year award at the Institute of IT Training awards. And congratulations to us, for winning Silver in the Training Company of the Year award. We won Silver last year too, were a finalist in 2005, won Bronze in 2004, Bronze again in 2003 and 2002, and Gold in 2001. So for 7 years in a row, we've placed in the top 3 or been a finalist for IT Training Company of the Year, which I think you'll agree, is pretty impressive - and we didn't bribe them or anything, I promise. Click here for the full list of IITT Awards winners, and here for all of the mighty and stupendous awards Happy has won over the years.

And congratulations to me for getting through a whole post about awards without once mentioning the Academy Awards, or BAFTAs, or Golden Raspberry Awards. I think I deserve a special award for that, so send any cash or spare combine harvesters to the usual post office box number in the Cayman Islands, or wire it straight to my Swiss bank account. And don't tell the tax man.

Updated template and forthcoming posts

Hello - I'm one of the creative team, and am here to make you laugh and/or think, or at least to keep you reading for a few more sentences. Regular readers - and I'm sure there are millions of you, given that we haven't really told many people about this - will have noticed the new layout, thanks to Blogger's new template functions. If you look to the left, you'll see a slightly fancier version of the Archive, where you can quickly find older posts. Above that is a section on Labels - each post will have one or more labels, depending on the type of post it is. The idea is that if you want to see all the posts that mention Office 2007, you can click on that in the Labels section, and Blogger will show you them all. The more posts we do, the more labels there will be. Right now there are three. And only three posts. But trust me, it'll become handy very soon, when the posts start flooding in. So watch this space...

What's been happening

Dear All

Having announced our presence in a burst of publicity, nothing happened!

We now have a creative team in place and they will be writing stuff to make you laugh as well as things to make you think.

Welcome to the new Happy Blog!