A study examined training and staff development initiatives in Australian industrial and commercial organizations. It was carried out using a questionnaire and structured interview technique with 24 organizations. Larger organizations had their own facilities and trained in-house whereas smaller organizations made more use of Technical and Further…

Manitoba, Canada, workplace stakeholder groups were interviewed to determine the issues they faced and their awareness of, and ability to deal with, workplace basic skills issues. Interviews collected the opinions of 78 employer representatives, 121 employees, and 5 union representatives in the 6 emerging economic sectors of health care products,…

Directed at persons who are not experts in program evaluation or workplace literacy, this handbook provides various options and processes that can be used for formal evaluation of workplace literacy programs. The handbook is organized in six sections. An introductory section acknowledges the weaknesses of any evaluation attempt. In the second…

In December 1987, Motorola's MOS 5 Microprocessor Manufacturing Facility and Merex Corporation began a joint workplace literacy training project. MOS 5 had three basic objectives: to assess the level of the work materials, to assess the skill level of the work force, and to close the gap between the two. Merex designed an educational program to…

Training interventions can be evaluated by calculating return on investment (ROI) and cost-benefit analysis. The four-level model proposed by Kirkpatrick is the dominant evaluation model used. Calculating ROI has been a critical issue for trainers and executives, but only a few organizations have implemented the process that is considered as…

These three documents (final performance report, evaluation report, methodology guide) are products of a project through which the Career Advancement Center provided workplace literacy services to two industries in Greenville, South Carolina. The final performance report discusses achievement of objectives, specifically employee assessment,…

A project developed through Wallace State Community College (Alabama) united three corporations, two adult basic education programs, a technical college, two support/education programs, a work program for older adults, and three service organizations in a partnership to develop a model for providing workplace literacy training. Project LEARN…

Recent Australian research provides a solid body of evidence that training investments can yield very high levels of returns for firms across a range of sectors. It highlights these important factors about returns on investment (ROI): ROI come in many forms; immediate ROI are highest when training is highly focused; measuring ROI is not always…

These four papers are from a symposium on human resource development (HRD) in the United Kingdom. "HRD and Psychological Contracts: A Case Study of Lifelong Learning" (Graeme Martin, Judy Pate, Jim McGoldrick) explores the influence of a lifelong learning program on employee perceptions of their psychological contracts in a longitudinal…

Cuyahoga Community College's (CCC) Unified Technologies Center (UTC) collaborated with three Cleveland area manufacturing companies in a workplace literacy project. The project provided job-related mathematics and communications programs for 302 employees who needed basic skills upgrading to improve their job performance. The project…

In 1989, Valmont Industries, a global manufacturer of steel lighting poles, center pivot irrigation systems, and other technologies and Metropolitan Community College began to work closely to address the basic skills training needs of Valmont workers. This partnership provided a unique educational opportunity for both Valmont employees and the…

A project developed a model curriculum to be delivered by computer-based instruction to teach the required literacy skills for entry workers in the health insurance industry. Literacy task analyses were performed for the targeted jobs and then validated with focus groups. The job tasks and related basic skills were divided into modules. The job…

This book documents the range of training programs that are being established by employers and unions; assesses porgram functioning and results; and offers insights for practitioners, scholars, and policy makers. An introduction (Ferman et al.) provides a general framework for thinking about union-management training programs and presents an…

These 14 papers look at U.S. factories and workplace education programs to see what is expected of workers. "Hearing Other Voices" (Glynda Hull), argues alternate viewpoints are essential to create frameworks for understanding literacy in relation to work. "Discourses of Workplace Education" (Katherine Schultz) analyzes the discourse of new…

The evaluation report details the structure and outcomes of a workplace education program for members of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers' Union from May 1993 through March 1995, and assesses the program's design as a model for similar programs elsewhere. The program was designed to enhance workers' skills and meet personal educational…