Category: E-Learning

CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development.  It is the intentional maintenance and development of knowledge and skills which are needed to perform your job successfully.  This might mean brushing up on current skills, or increasing the knowledge you have, or even learning new skills which will allow you to progress up the career ladder.

Most professions require their employees to take part in CPD courses to ensure their staff are fully trained in the necessary skills they require.

A good CDP structure gives employees a clear path to success with their current role and shows the potential progression to future jobs.  If you work in a regulated industry such as the healthcare, accountancy or legal industries, employers can get in a lot of trouble if they do not keep their staff up with their CPD!

CPD activities could include formal educational activities like instructor led training courses, workshops and seminars, or CPD could include self directed learning through online courses and structured reading.

The world of learning is so vast these days.  No longer do we just go through juior then senior school and if we’re very bright, get a place at University.  Everyone has the opportunity to study at university and get that batchelors or masters degree in almost any subject we care to study.    However it is not always necessary, in fact, rarely absolutely necessary, for the student to up sticks to move right away to study.  There are so many absolutely fantastic onlune learinng resources.  Almost every university of note will have a massive online presence these days.  They offer everything that lecture room based learning offers but with no need to travel and a chance to learn in your own time, at your own pace.   The online learning tools are vast now.  They have been developed to enhance the learning experience and to ensure you benefit from the craft of the course designers.  Video conference gives distance learning students equal high quality tutoring, connecting staff and students at any and all of their campuses or elsewhere – worldwide.

Oh how I remember the days of the typing lessons in school.  Way before anyone had produced the exciting e-learning and online training courses we can all take part in these days.  No, back then it was a case of listening to the tutor and then carrying out her instructions with her marching up and down the lines of typists.  We did not have the benefit of software – VLE or otherwise.  The only soft thing in that room was the cushion we popped on our rock hard chairs to soften the otherwise numbing effect of the hard wood.  Those lessons come flooding back to me with joy.  Rossini’s William Tell Overture floods to mind and of course, every time I hear that music, I am transported back to those halcyon days.  Just the start of it reminds me of a, s, d, f, g, f etc. etc.  Ah where would all the wonderful programmers and software folk be without the genius of a well trained keyboard operator.  Online courses with typing keypads involved are still the bet way to get accurate and well constructed pieces of work out there for all to learn from!