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What is the common architecture of AIM's products?
NOW.net solutions are built around a core of common functions that
all "communities of interest" need - security, membership
identification and tracking, reporting and statistics. Organizations
can add bundled "tools" such as portfolio creation and
tracking, online communications, and competence assessment; then
use the content-administration tools to tailor those components
and accompanying information to the needs of their particular group.
About NOW.net's Career Development Tools NOW.net's career-development components guide users through the multi-step process of identifying and strengthening their work skills and interests, matching them to information about current opportunities and workforce trends, and helping them to develop - and meet - their career goals. What are the benefits of NOW.net Career Development Tools? Education doesn't stop when an individual learns a skill or attains a degree: ongoing career development is critical in today's knowledge-based economy. Better-trained employees are more productive and deliver greater benefit to the customer - two factors reflected directly in an organization's bottom line. Employees who are given the chance to strengthen and increase their set of job skills are less likely to look elsewhere for new challenges, reducing staff turnover and the cost of training new staff. Career-development counsellors in Italy and British Columbia are using the information-sharing tools to provide information on current local job prospects. Who can use the Career Development components? The ability to create and maintain an up-to-date portfolio is equally useful to students seeking their first job, or to seasoned professionals looking for new challenges. Team leaders and managers can use the portfolio and action plans as part of a performance-management program, while individuals can use the portfolio to maintain an up-to-date resume and record of their career and education achievements. It begins with an individual creating a personal profile, where they'll store the results of their diagnostic exercises, action plans to reach their career goals, and a record of which learning exercises they've completed. A series of initial exercises helps a user to identify what type of work they're interested in, and to assess their transferable skills, such as communicating with others, time management, or managing stress. The results of these exercises are then mapped against a database of job profiles, which identifies job families (such as administrative/clerical, legal services or transport) where the user may find a career which will interest them and at which they have a chance at succeeding. Detailed job profiles offer specific, up-to-date information about what a job entails, working conditions, marketplace opportunities and links to supporting organizations and further information. These profiles can include audio and video clips. This initial assessment also identifies which transferable work skills a user may want to strengthen, and a series of exercises offer practical information and guidance on how to improve those skills. As a user completes these exercises, the results are recorded in their portfolio, creating a record of their learning path. As part of the career development process, users are guided through creating action plans to attain their goals - whether it's finding a job, upgrading a particular skill, or launching a career in a new field. These plans can be developed individually or reviewed with a mentor, manager or career counsellor. A built-in calendar feature with "alerts" lets the user set goal deadlines, book meeting dates or record important events. About NOW.net's Skills Assessment Tools NOW.net's skills assessment components allow a user to identify, track and substantiate the specific skills they need to perform a particular job. Managers or assessors can track users' progress, and their findings can be verified externally to ensure that the skills requirements are being met. What are the benefits of Skills Assessment Tools? The skills assessment components provide an easily accessible,
database-driven tool for ensuring that users have the skill sets
needed to perform their work. It streamlines extremely complicated,
paper-driven processes, freeing up the candidates and assessors
to focus on actual skills development. The flexibility of the system also allows assessors to be candidates themselves, as they build up their qualifications and further their own careers. Who can use the Skills Assessment components? The skills assessment components are being used in the U.K. as part of the National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) framework: a system to identify, measure and quantify common standards within various industries. NVQs cover virtually every profession, from agriculture or construction to manufacturing and health and social services. NOW.net has skill assessment frameworks in Care, Retail, Business Administration, Information Technology and Management & Leadership and many more - new areas are being added all the time. It also is helping members of other professional organizations, such as the Society College of Radiographers and the Institute of Field Archeologists, to manage their portfolios for accreditation. The Royal College of Nursing has migrated from their original application to the NOW.net framework, as it brings several advantages for them as an organization. The competence toolset of NVQnow will help their members match their current portfolios to competency frameworks within the National Health Service. The assessment model also can be applied to company performance management systems or learning systems where particular skills or courses could apply to different learning certifications. The skills assessment component creates an audit trail of the assessment
and verification process for candidates (the person building or
identifying their skill sets), assessors (responsible for confirming
the candidate has met the necessary standards) and internal and
external verifiers (accountable for checking the authenticity of
the process). It streamlines the administrative procedures around
proving job competencies so that assessors and verifiers can focus
on the quality of the assessments that are taking place.
About NOW.net's Online Communities Tools The forums (sometimes called threaded discussions) in NOW.net are a powerful communications tool for online communities of interest. They allow users to engage in ongoing discussions with colleagues, mentors or experts regardless of the time or distance that may separate participants. These discussions (which can be moderated or unmoderated) can be complemented by Peer-to-Peer communications systems, whereby one user can 'invite' other users to comment on a project. Online forums allow geographically diverse groups of users with similar interests to ask questions, share ideas and explore challenges without having to physically gather in one place. It supports improved standards of practice by facilitating discussion and debate. Forums give users ongoing, easy access to expert advice on specific issues, and allow them to pose general questions or concepts to an entire community or subset of the group. Forums can be open to an entire community of interest - the entire membership of the Royal College of Nursing, for example - or to a particular subgroup which shares common issues, such as RCN pediatric nurses. Dialogues can be immediately open to everyone (unmoderated), or postings can be funnelled through a moderator who ensures the content is on topic and appropriate. Other examples of how online communities are using forums include National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) assessors, who share their assessment practices to make sure that consistent standards are being applied. The health e-learning community at the University of Calgary uses the forums to discuss how to foster and co-ordinate e-learning initiatives between government, industry and academia. Users can create a new conversation by clicking on the "New Thread" link in the Forums section of a NOW.net portal. Once they've entered their message, they can control whether or not other participants can reply to it, and can choose to be notified (through a "flag" on the portal home page) when someone responds to their conversation. A list of the forums to which a user has access always appears on the left-hand side of the screen; responding to a conversation is simply a matter of selecting the "Post Reply" link below the message. About NOW.net's Information Sharing Tools NOW.net's suite of content administration tools gives organizations and associations the ability to provide dynamic, up-to-date information and resources to their memberships. It can be in the form of web-based HTML pages, audio and video files, formatted documents or links to approved online resources. Centralized, web-accessible documentation ensures that everyone in an organization has equal access to up-to-date information regardless of their geographic location. When coupled with NOW.net's other components - such as threaded discussions or skills assessment tools - it allows individuals to engage peers, mentors and experts in discussing material, or reviewing it as part of a continuous learning program. And because the NOW.net portal "owner" has control over the content, application developers and IT staff do not have to be engaged to add, delete or modify material, simplifying the process and putting a cap on development costs. The NOW.net application platform gives any organization the flexibility to match their content to the needs of their membership. Career-development counsellors in Italy and British Columbia are using the information-sharing tools to provide information on current local job prospects. Nurses in the U.K. can access information on nationally approved patient care standards. Government, industry and education representatives are using a portal to evaluate and discuss potential health e-learning initiatives in Alberta. Are your products endorsed by awarding bodies? Yes. AIM's 'forward eportfolio PLUS', developed in partnership with the Council for Administration for NVQs in customer care and management as well as Business & Administration is a City and Guilds endorsed product. |
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