What is happening with the bi-annual CEdMA Survey?

"When is the CEdMA survey going to be done?"
"Can I help with the survey?"
"I didn't like some of the questions on the last survey."

The incoming Board of Directors has made an important decision concerning the survey. More important, we have made decisions about how to gather, manage and make available the critical information that we all need to better do (and keep!) our jobs. Because this decision was made on my recommendation and based on my vision, I am writing this to help explain how we hope to have this work. I want to stress that I will be presenting at the Fall CEdMA conference to further explain the new concept and to take your input, questions, concerns and criticisms.

I hope that you will take a couple of minutes to read this over, and to email me at president@cedma.org with your thoughts and questions. (Please note that what is proposed here is not intended in any way to change our current method of using email to gather opinions, get help, do quick polls, etc. with the resulting content going to Goldmine for future research.)

I do not believe that we need a "survey". We have as a collective group vitally important data about our businesses, our metrics, our rules of thumb. We need a sensible method to gather and continuously update this information. We need a method that allows us to access this information when we need it. Think about the kinds of questions that we often ask each other:

-What is the ratio of development time to content for eLearning? 200-1? 50-1?
-What is a proper utilization rate for instructors?
-How long is your contract with your training partners? 2 years? 1 year?
-What virtual classroom tool do you use? Does it support VOIP?

Each one of these questions has many dimensions. For example, for development time, are we talking about a course revision? Or a new course? For a new release of an existing product, or a brand new product? Deeply technical? End user focus? What about the audience? Will there be translation to other languages?

I could go on with the different dimensions of this question or of the many aspects of our training businesses. The fact is that most of the aspects of our business would benefit from sound analysis of the details. If we can provide a good, solid, accessible base of data for all the CEdMA members, we would have a tremendously valuable tool.

In order for this data to be useful and valid, we need to have a reasonably sensible approach to gathering it scientifically. In order for the data to be comprehensive, we need to have a reasonably sensible approach to collecting and continously updating it, without unreasonably taxing the members providing the information. In order to have its full value, the data has to be organized demographically, so we can tell what we are seeing. (I may want to know differences in costs for setting up classrooms if I work for a hardward company - what are other hardware companies encountering?)

The bottom line is that we need a Repository of information. We need to carefully examine and collect all the Benchmark aspects so we have the appropriate value. This storehouse of valuable data must be easily updated, and constantly refreshed, so that the Dynamic nature is captured.

This is how the Dynamic Benchmark Repository (DBR) came to life.

The first step with the DBR is to find an external vendor with the right expertise to design this web based system for us. Pat Durante and I are actively seeking a partner to help us with this. Do you know of a company that could fit the bill? Send me an email.

The next step is....to be outlined in my recorded presentation, currently in the works.

Stay tuned for more details.
And thanks for your support.

Ken Hirsohn
CEdMA President

CEdMA 2005 Goals

Members:

During a 2 day offsite session, your new board came up with 8 challenging goals. We are committed to improving this organization so that its value to you, our current members, and to others interested in membership is clearly stated and clearly provided.

I want to stress that a majority of our discussion (and action to this point) have been focused on getting the web site straightened out. You will see it below as goal number 8, but it was topic number 1 for much of the time.

These are the eight goals that we came up with. I have included the Board member who is responsible for each goal. Each board member has agreed to take ownership and action for their items - your input and communication to them would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to Theresa Mawn, our Secretary for the documentation of these goals:

1. To review the current membership status in order to gain a fundamental understanding of the current membership demographics
(Doug - treasurer@cedma.org & Diane - membership@cedma.org)

2. To increase membership by 10% in both the Company and Individual categories
(Diane - membership@cedma.org)

3. To increase the attendance at events by 20%
(Kathy - conferences@cedma.org)

4. To reconnect with CEdMA Europe
(Rosyln - vicepresident@cedma.org)

5. Create a strategic Marketing plan with specific objectives and an assigned owner
(Ken - president@cedma.org)

6. Define and Scope the new CEdMA Dynamic Benchmarking Repository (DBR) project
(Ken - president@cedma.org)

7. Re-examine the current CEdMA Mission Statement and goals
(Theresa - secretary@cedma.org)

8. To address the open issues with the CEdMA website. Given the depth of issues which are impacted by and inferred from the website this goal was confined to include:
a. ensuring basic functionality
b. restoring the memberships confidence in the website as a useful tool
c. instituting minor improvements as required
(Pat - communications@cedma.org)

The Board roster is repeated here for your convenience.


Durante, Pat
CEdMA Communications Trustee - Director of Educati
Endeca Technologies
communication@cedma.org
Hirsohn, Ken
CEdMA President - Curriculum Development Manager
VERITAS Software
president@cedma.org
Huntsinger, Diane
CEdMA Membership Trustee - Assessment Specialist
Network Appliance, Inc.
membership@cedma.org
Jones, Roslyn
CEdMA VP - Senior Director of Global Education
salesforce.com
vicepresident@cedma.org
Mawn, Theresa
CEdMA Secretary - Director Educational Services
RSA Security
secretary@cedma.org
Wagner, Katherine
CEdMA Conference Trustee - Training Manager
Altera Corporation
conferences@cedma.org

Welcome to the CEdMA President's Blog

Greetings CEdMA Members -

As your new president, I want to keep you informed of the activities of your new Board of Directors. We met recently for two days, and I want you to be aware that we intend to be very active. I thought that this forum would be an excellent way to communicate with all CEdMA members. I will use email to give you the highlights of our activities; this blog will give me the opportunity to ramble on (which the new Board found out I tend to do!)

We have a great mix on the new board, folks with varying lengths of CEdMA experience....but a ton of great Education business experience and lots of good ideas.

I will be using this blog to give some more color and paint a better picture of what we are trying to accomplish. We are going to need the support of all members to achieve the goals defined, so communication will be critical.

More to come,
Ken Hirsohn
CEdMA President
June 13, 2005