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NEWSWelcoming back Bridget! From 25 January, we will be welcoming the return from maternity leave of senior instructional designer, Bridget Dougherty. Bridget has served Wavelength in many ways, as a director, CEO, general manager, and instructional designer. Her deep level of experience with the company makes her a valuable asset to our team. Bridget is looking forward to working with our long-term clients again and meeting our new clients. Winners for the sixth year in a row! For the sixth consecutive year, Wavelength has been placed in the Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Awards. This year we won Silver in the Best Custom Content category for the design and development of an e-learning module: Weight Management FAB. The materials were developed for Inspiring Limited, who provided expert subject-matter expertise, and the New Zealand Ministry of Health. The Brandon Hall Awards recognise the best in innovative learning content and initiative. Winning entries are judged by industry peers worldwide and provide a benchmark for the industry. Christmas hours Wavelength will be closed between Christmas and 9 January this year. For any urgent issues from 24 December till 8 January, please contact craig@wl.co.nz. NZATD seminar On 19 October, Maire presented a seminar on intellectual property to members of NZATD: 'What every trainer needs to know about intellectual property'. Reviewer, Deb Ebbett, said in the latest NZATD Update 'How to keep an audience of learning and development professionals totally absorbed for an hour! Maire Smith's session on intellectual property covered an introduction to copyright and trademarks, and explained how they apply to us. From the introduction, right through to the end of the session, Maire had the group engrossed, with many people staying on well after the end of session to continue discussions and ask more questions.' Success in new e-learning awards Our first ever entry for the UK-based E-Learning Awards has met with success. Wavelength has been shortlisted in this year's Awards in the E-Learning development company of the year category. The winner will be announced on 10 November. This entry is in addition to another we submitted to the US-based Brandon Hall Awards where, for the past six years, we have collected awards in a number of different categories. Both the British and American Awards receive entries from all over the world. In announcing the shortlist, Awards organisers Bizmedia Ltd stated, 'The standard was once again exceptional and demonstrates the enormous scope of ideas and practices that e-learning can cover. 'Just making the shortlist is a major achievement.' Changes to our team The Wavelength team welcomes our new instructional designer, Jill Parsons. Jill has an honours degree in psychology (HR organisational development) and a background in learning and development. She has also taught overseas. Such knowledge and experience makes her a valuable asset to our team. While she has already met a number of our Wellington clients, Jill looks forward to meeting more and working closely with them on projects. Jill replaces Lawson Kelly, who is now working as a training manager in a social services organisation. Lawson was a vibrant member of our team and we wish him well, both in his personal life and his new career. Welcome also to Celia Melville, our new Mac operator. Celia comes to us after studying graphic design in Christchurch and interactive design in Wellington, and working as a graphic designer in the print industry. Celia's background enables her to carry out a variety of work, moving between our e-learning design and graphic design teams. She replaces Esther Cliff, another of our team we were very sorry to lose to the lure of Western Australia. Another winning year for Wavelength For the fifth consecutive year, Wavelength has been placed in the Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Awards. This year we won Bronze in the Best Custom Content category for the design and development of an e-learning module, Using Rehabilitation Principles. The Brandon Hall Awards recognise the best in innovative learning content and initiative. Winning entries are judged by industry peers world‑wide, and provide a benchmark for the industry. Wavelength director and senior consultant, Ursula Clark, attended the Brandon Hall Conference in San Francisco for the presentation. Being present enabled her to attend workshops and seminars and learn of the latest in industry research and development. This knowledge will be put to good use by the team in its future work. NZATD Nicky and Gareth showcased the Ministry of Health's ABC Smoking Cessation e-learning module, and described its impact, to a full house at the November NZATD breakfast in Auckland. We'd love to showcase the module for you. Drop Nicky, Urs, or Craig an email if you'd like to find out more. BNZ Nicky and Gareth presented the Silver-award-winning MyMeridian case study to BNZ change managers in late November. The case study was very well received, with question time doubling the length of the session. If you'd like your team to see this award-winning blended learning, drop Nicky, Urs, or Craig a line. ABC Smoking Cessation website for Tasmanian health professionals The recently launched Department of Health and Human Services ABC Smoking Cessation website (a redevelopment of the New Zealand Ministry of Health ABC Smoking Cessation website for Tasmanian health professionals) has just been endorsed by the Royal College of Nursing, Australia. The New Zealand Ministry of Health kindly granted permission for the module to be adapted, with the aim of supporting health professionals in other countries to help increase quit attempts. The finished website has information and scenarios specific to Tasmania, and will help Tasmanian health professionals know how best to support people in giving up smoking. Wavelength share work with NatColl Josh and Gareth shared some examples of Wavelength's work with a class of budding designers at Wellington's NatColl campus. It was a great change to introduce students to working with clients, planning work, and being accountable for delivering high-quality solutions. If you'd like to see some of our work, we'd love to show it to you. Get in touch with Gareth or Urs for more information. Wavelength present at Blended Learning Conference Gareth and Nicky recently ran a half-day workshop at New Zealand's first Blended Learning Conference, on integrating e-learning into an existing learning programme. If your organisation is interested in online or blended learning, get in touch. We'd love to show you our stuff! ABC Smoking Cessation website for Tasmanian health professionals In March 2010, we began work with the Department of Health and Human Services, redeveloping the New Zealand Ministry of Health ABC Smoking Cessation website for Tasmanian health professionals. The New Zealand Ministry of Health have kindly granted permission for the module to be adapted, with the aim of supporting health professionals in other countries to help increase quit attempts. The finished website will have information and scenarios specific to Tasmania, and will help Tasmanian health professionals know how best to support people in giving up smoking. Wavelength Director a senior judge for international learning awards Senior learning consultant, Ursula Clark, has been selected as a senior judge in this year's Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Awards. The United States based company has been running this awards programme for 16 years. It is the longest running programme of its type for recognising workplace learning content, technology, and initiatives. Only 30 senior judges were selected internationally in 2010. Ursula has judged in the awards for many years and gets to see the cutting edge of "what's going on out there" internationally. Ursula has a strong theoretical and practical background in e-elearning and blended learning. She has an M Ed (hons), has been working as a learning designer for over 10 years in the New Zealand corporate and public sectors. She is also part of the Wavelength team that has been consistently winning awards in various categories at Brandon Hall over the last five years. |